fic: Birdwatching part 5:Broken Wings
Title: Birdwatching part 5: Broken Wings
Author: darthbatgirl
Rating:PG-13
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Characters: Roy/Tim, Nightwing, Black Canary, Batman, Dr. Mid-Night, Wally
Summary: a mission goes wrong
Word Count: 4152
Warnings: angst, very slight language
A/N: much thanks to both
aiyokusama and stalinglim for their help on this. Previous parts can be found here.
Roy stood quietly in the doorway of his bedroom, arms crossed over his chest, worried eyes watching Tim go through his gear. He efficiently and systematically went over each item, making sure there was nothing wrong with it. The items that passed his inspection was packed away in his bag, the items Tim deemed too damaged to use was set aside for later repair. Once in a while he would pause and consult a list he had laying on the bed.
“You going to tell me whats wrong or just stand there and brood?” Tim asked as he glanced up from his packing.
Roy shrugged, “Nothing's wrong.”
“Liar.”
Roy chuckled at Tim's statement. He pushed himself away from the door and walked over and picked up Tim's list. “You'll laugh at me.”
“It probably won't be the last time either,” Tim said smiling.
Roy returned the smile half-heartedly, “It's your first mission alone.”
“Well I'm not totally alone, I'll have Black Lighting, Vixen, and Flash with me.” Tim said as he continued his packing.
“But it is the first time without me or Bruce - or even Dick - being with you,” Roy said softly.
“And?” Tim asked as stopped and looked at Roy with a guarded look. “You said you were okay with me being part of the League, with me going on missions by myself.”
“I am! I have no problem with you being part of the League. I know you can handle yourself. Hell, you should be in charge of running half the missions. I just - I just have a bad feeling about this.”
“You have a bad feeling?” Tim repeated and cocked an eyebrow at him.
Roy nodded dumbly as he put down Tim's list back on the bed. “I know. I know. It sounds stupid and a little bit paranoid. You've done this stuff since you were fourteen years old. You didn't need me then to protect you and you don't need me now to protect you, but it doesn't mean that you shouldn't have someone at your back.”
Roy looked helplessly at Tim and shook his head and turned to leave the room. “I'm sorry, I'm acting like a paranoid old woman. I'll just let you get back to checking your gear.”
“Tell me to stay.”
“What?” Roy asked as he stopped and turned around to look at Tim.
“Tell me to stay,” Tim repeated as closed the distance between Roy and himself and wrapped his arms around Roy's waist. “If you don't want me to go, then I won't.”
Roy wrapped his arms around Tim and nuzzled the top of his head. “You make it sound so simple.”
“It is, or it can be. I'll stay if you want me to”
For a moment Roy almost gave in and said yes.”No, you have to go if only to keep Wally from annoying Black Lighting. Just . . . just come back to me. Please?”
“Always,” Tim said as he kissed Roy softly on the lips.
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Paper work was the bane of Roy's existence. He usually avoided it with everything he had. It had taken a not so very veiled threat from Dinah to get him to catch up on the week's worth that he allowed to pile up on him. Even in spite of Dinah's threat though, the crossword puzzle had grabbed his attention and instead of doing the paper work that the JLA chairwoman had demanded from him, Roy was busy finding what would fit a twelve letter word for seven down, the clue was 'ornithologists do it on the weekends'.
“Roy.”
Dinah's unexpected appearance nearly had Roy falling out of his chair. He quickly leaped to his feet, hiding the newspaper under some file, which almost immediately tumbled to the ground. “Dinah! This isn't what it looks like . . .well it probably is what it looks like . . . Uhm . . hi?”
“Roy, something's happened,” Dinah said softly. Her face was drawn and pale, fear and worry filled her eyes and all thoughts of paperwork and crossword puzzles left Roy.
“What? What happened?”
Dinah came forward and took Roy's hand. “Roy . . Boy-o . . .it's - it's Tim. There was an explosion - a bomb. Tim got caught in the blast.”
Roy felt hot and cold all at once as he shook his head. “I looked over the mission description myself, it was suppose to be a milk run - a simple in and out. There was nothing to suggest that anyone would get hurt.”.
Dinah shook her head as she tighten her grip on Roy's hand. “Roy honey, it happen too fast. No one could stop it.”
“Where are they now?” Roy asked, not being able keep his voice from breaking.
“They're on their way here. The Javelin should be arriving in ten minutes, Dr. Mid-Nite is prepping the operating room.”
Without waiting to hear more Roy turned and walked toward the hanger. He forced himself to take even, measured steps, his hands balled into fists, his back straight and ridged, in Roy's time he had seen too many bomb explosions and right now his mind was more than willing to put Tim into those images. His Tim. His lover, being nothing more than a body twisted and mangled, lifeless eyes looking up at him. Roy felt his heart seized as he broke into a run the rest of the way to the hanger.
Roy burst through to the hanger, only to be brought up short by the sight of Batman standing there. The Caped Crusader paid no mind to Roy's entrance, his own posture stiff and unmoving, his entire attention was given to the hanger's bay doors. The man who tried so hard to keep his son safe and away from the type of danger that he would face while in the JLA, Roy may not always like the man, but he had always respected him and the part of Roy that made Lian's lunches and read her bed time stories at night held nothing but sympathy for the man. In silence Roy stood next to Batman as they waited for the Javelin's arrival.
An agonizing ten minutes later the hanger doors opened and the Javelin landed, at the same time Dr Mid-Nite and Black Canary came rushing in pushing a gurney.
“Please stay back,” Dr. Mid-Nite said as he hurried up the loading ramp and into the Javelin. Roy and Batman promptly ignored Mid-Nite and followed up the ramp as well. Tim laid on a stretcher unconscious, he had a breathing mask on and had an IV started in one arm. His left arm and leg were in splints, his costume had been cut away revealing bruises and burns covering his skin that wasn't already bandaged.
“Robin!” Roy cried out as he pushed past Mid-Nite to get to his lover. “Tim? Tim can you hear me?” Roy asked softly as he carefully ran his hand through Tim's hair.
“Roy you have to stay back. Let Mid-Nite do his job,” Dinah said as she started to pull him away.
“No! I'm not leaving him.” Roy said as he shook off her hands.
“Roy! Please!”
“Red Arrow, stand down!” Batman said firmly as he placed a hand on Roy shoulder. “Roy, let Mid-Nite take care of Tim,” he said more softly.
The softly spoken words made Roy look up. Despite the cowl, Roy could see the worry written on Batman's face instead of the feared vigilante it was a fearful father that stood in front of him. Wally came up and tentatively wrapped an arm around Roy's shoulders. “Come on Buddy, let them do their job.”
Nodding dumbly Roy let Wally lead him out of the way.
“What's the status of the patient?” Dr. Mid-Nite asked Black Lighting as he stepped up and started taking Tim's vitals.
“Left arm and leg broken, four broken ribs, flash burns to his neck and face. He's had been coughing up blood so . . “
“Internal bleeding,” Mid-Nite finished.
“Do you have the operating room prepped?” Batman asked as he doubled checked Tim's vitals.
“Yes.”
“Good, lets get Robin in there now. The sooner we start the better.” Batman said as he motioned for Tim to be placed on the gurney.
“I usually don't allow family members to help with operations.” Mid-Nite said hesitantly.
“You'll make an exception this time,” was Batman's reply.
Wally and Roy went to the small waiting room outside of med lab. Roy sank down in the nearest chair, elbows on knees, and face buried in his hands. Wally took the seat next to his hand, worried eyes never leaving his friend.
“This is all my fault,” Roy said in a tight voice.
Wally shook his head, “Stop talking nonsense.”
“But it is,” Roy insisted. “I had a bad feeling about this, didn't like the idea of Tim going without me. He told me he'd stay if I wanted him to. I could have prevented all of this, he would have been safe. Instead I joked about him keeping you from bugging Black Lighting.”
“Well he did do that, I'm pretty sure if it wasn't for Tim my backside would be a little crispier,” Wally attempted at a joke. “Seriously Roy, there are somethings we can't control. Even if he stayed with you there's no saying the exact same thing couldn't have happened to Tim here or in Gotham.”
Roy nodded his head, not knowing anything else to do. “I just found him Wally, I can't lose him.”
“And you won't. Mid-Nite's the best there is,” Wally said giving Roy's shoulder a reassuring squeeze.
For the next several hours Roy and Wally sat in the waiting room. Every once in a while Wally got up and did a super speed lap around the building. Just stretching his legs, he said. Dinah and Hal came in and sat with Roy, Dinah told him Connor was with Lian so he didn't have to worry about getting home anytime soon - which relieved Roy. Both Ollie and Mia called asking how Tim was doing and how was Roy holding up, he appreciated his family's concern, really he did, but at the moment all Roy wanted was to see Tim.
Well after sundown Dr Mid-Nite walked in the room, “How is he?” Roy asked immediately.
Mid-Nite smiled. “He's fine. He's in recovery right now and will be moved to a room within the hour.”
“Then what the hell took so long,” Roy snarled.
“Ah, what Roy meant was how was the operation?” Wally said apologetically.
Dr. Mid-Nite smiled not bothered by Roy's outburst.“Robin's left arm and leg have been put into casts and the broken ribs have been taped up. Stopping the internal bleeding was what took the longest to repair, but we finally got it contained and Robin is expected to make a full recovery.”
“He's okay?” Roy asked almost surprised at the optimist results. “The burns . . .”
“Were only minor and will heal just fine, “ Dr. Mid-Nite said patiently. “I have to make sure the room ready for Robin. Go get something to eat and come up in an hour, you can see him then.”
With a sigh of relief Roy sank back down in his seat as Mid-Nite left the room. “He's going to be fine. He's going to be fine.”
“Told you he'd be okay,” Wally smiled as he squeezed Roy's shoulder. “Come on, lets go get something to eat and then you can go see Tim.”
“Yeah, that sounds good,” Roy nodded as he followed Wally. They went down to the cafeteria to see what was left. Wally was able to find some leftover burgers and fries and Roy made some fresh coffee for them and the two friends sat down with an air of relief between them. Despite the relief that Roy felt that Tim was out of danger, he did little more than pick at his food and stare at the clock waiting for time to pass.
Wally rolled his eyes and sighed as he helped himself to Roy's fries, “Go on, Tim's probably in his room now, and I'm getting tired of watching you pick apart perfectly good food.”
Roy smiled as he stood up to leave, “Thanks Wally, for everything,”
“What are friends for? Now go take care of our Boy Wonder.”
Without another thought Roy turned around and went back to the med lab to find where Tim had been moved to. After a brief conversation with a nurse Roy walked down the hallway that the nurse had directed him to and peered inside the room. Tim lay sleeping in the bed, his left arm and leg were in casts, bandages were wrapped around his chest, an IV had been started in his right hand, machines were monitoring his vitals, and a breathing mask had been placed on his face.
Batman stood next to the bed, bent over and whispering softly in Tim's ear. Roy shifted his weight from foot to foot, uncertain if he should leave or not. “Come in Roy,”
Roy was startled out of his musing and walked in to stand on the other side of Tim's bed. “I didn't want to intrude. I - I can always come back later.”
“No,” Batman said with a shake of his head. “I - I have to leave. The League wants to look more closely at what went wrong with this mission. Superman and I are leaving in an hour.” Batman paused and caressed Tim's cheek. “Will you take care of him?”
“Uh - yeah, I mean yes. I'm not going any where.” Roy said.
Batman nodded and turned to leave, pausing at the door to say. “I'm glad he has you in his life.”
Roy stared after Batman for a moment, taken by surprise by the vigilante's compliment. “Huh maybe he's warming up to me,” Roy mused as he pulled up a chair and sat down next to Tim's bed.
He took Tim's hand and simply stared at his sleeping lover. He supposed he knew Tim wouldn't be awake when he came in, but Roy couldn't help the pang of disappointment that Tim wasn't conscious to tell Roy that he was fine. “That's alright Tim. I'll be here when you do wake up,” Roy said as he settled into his seat.
Somewhere around one in the morning Dinah walked in to find Roy in the same position. Her heart going out to her boy and his lover. “How is he?”
Roy looked up as Dinah came in, stretching a little to relieve his stiff muscles.. “Still asleep, but doing okay I guess.”
Dinah nodded, “Pieter said he'd probably sleep till morning. How about getting a cup of coffee with me?”
Roy shook his head. “I want to be here if something happens.”
Dinah rolled her eyes at Roy's stubbornness. “Nothing's going to happen, he's safe. There's nurses right down the hall to let us know if you're needed,” Dinah said as she linked her arm through Roy's and pulled him up from the chair. “I want some coffee and you're coming with me.”
Roy just smiled as he was pulled from the room, He knew from experience not to argue with Dinah when she wanted something and allowed the petite blond to steer him from the room. Dinah dragged him to the lounge and forced a cup of coffee on him and then proceeded to tell Roy every bit of gossip she had heard over the past week. For the first time all day Roy began to relax and even found himself laughing at some of Dinah's stories.
Roy put down his coffee cup and enveloped Dinah in a fierce hug. “Thanks so much Dinah.”
“Not a problem boy-o,” Dinah said hugging Roy back just as fierce.
In better spirits, Roy went back to Tim's room, only to stop short and felt some of his earlier tension come back as he saw Nightwing sitting in the chair that Roy had vacated holding Tim's hand tenderly. “You're in my seat,” Roy grounded out.
Dick looked up at Roy and after a moment's thought stood up leaving the seat free, but remained by Tim's side. Roy pursed his lips and stalked over to the foot of the bed. “What are you doing here?”
Roy could see see Dick's eyebrows raise behind his mask. “My brother got caught in an explosion and almost died. Where the hell else would I be?” he snapped.
“I don't know. I don't pretend to know what your thinking these days.”Roy responded in kind.
Dick clenched his jaw and Roy could clearly see him debating what to say next, he finally settled on, “I didn't come here to fight.”
“Oh well then lets not fight then, after all we've been all friendly and buddy-buddy, there's no reason to even acknowledge that you've been busting my balls for the last couple of months for even looking at you little brother.”
“I'm sorry,” Dick said, barely audibly.
“You know something Dick? I don't deserve your crap and more importantly, neither does Tim . . .what?!” Roy asked looking at Dick feeling derailed.
“I'm sorry,” Dick said louder, his shoulders slumped and worry and fatigue showed on his face.”I said a lot of things I shouldn't have. I was wrong.” Dick said as he looked down at Tim.
Roy leaned over the foot of the bed, resting his hands on the foot board as his head fell forward for a moment. He finally looked up letting out a gusty sigh as he looked at Dick. “Talk to me Dick. Where did this all come from? You've been protective of Tim before sure,but nothing like this. It doesn't have anything to do with me dating him, or Tim joining the League. It's something else.”
Dick reached out and ran his fingers through Tim's hair. “Tim never told you what happened about a year ago did he?”
“No. What happened?”
Dick laughed mirthlessly, “Tim called me up one night. He was going on a stake out of Two-Face and wanted me to come along, and I blew him off. I don't even remember what I was involved in, but to me it was more important to me than my little brother. Tim knew I was blowing him off, but didn't say anything, just said maybe we could hook up later. So Tim went on his stake out alone. He decided that he needed to put a bug in the building so he could listen in to Two-Face's plans, so he found a broken window on the second floor of the building and slipped in. Just like Two-Face was hoping for.”
“It was a trap,” Roy supplied.
Dick nodded. “As soon as Tim stepped away from the window, steel plates covered the door and all the windows, sealing the room, then Two-Face started pumping in a gas he had gotten from Poison Ivy. It was colorless and orderless so it was a minute or so before Tim knew that there was something wrong and used his re-breather. By that time it was too late, Tim had breathed in the gas and it had coated his lungs and was shutting them down. Tim was slowly suffocating to death. I'm pretty sure that the only reason that Tim survived was because he had his Titan's communicator with him and was able to call Kid Flash. Bart was able to get him out of that damn room and back to the cave. By the time Bruce and I got there, Alfred had put him on a ventilator because he couldn't breath on his own.
It took us a day to figure out that the anti-toxins we had weren't going to help Tim, and another one to track down Two-Face, only to find that he didn't have the antidote. He only asked Ivy for the poison, he wasn't interested in curing whoever he ended up poisoning. It took a week to track down Poison Ivy, we almost lost Tim three times while we looked for her. Not once did Bruce ask me why I didn't go with Tim, why I abandoned my brother. After Tim recovered I moved back to the manor, wasn't going to let him down again.”
By the end of Dick's story Roy had stopped looking at his friend and concentrated on Tim's face. Each rise and fall of his chest drew Roy's undivided attention. “I've some new toxins you could help me test,” Roy muttered to himself, he looked up at Dick and said louder. “That night we went against Ivy, she made some stupid comment about toxins, he just said it was an old case and nothing important.”
Dick nodded as he continued to pet Tim's hair. “He didn't want me to feel guilty about it Even after I blew him off he never held a grudge about. So I thought I could make things up to him - was going to make sure he never got hurt again. Thought I could look after him like a big brother should.” Dick said as he bent down to kiss Tim's forehead.
“And your solution was too . . . wrap him up in bubble wrap and live his life for him? Dick that doesn't work. Not at all.” Roy said as stepped over to Dick's side and laid his hand on his shoulder.
“I know. It wasn't the best plan. Hell it wasn't even a plan Was just trying to . . . “
“Make things up to Tim?”Roy offered, understanding the need to right wrongs that seem so unforgivable.
“Yeah,” Dick said as he held out his hand. “I'm sorry Roy,”
Roy took Dick's hand and pulled him into a hug. 'It's all right,” he whispered.
Dick returned the hug and whispered back “Thank you.” He broke the hug and turned for the door. “I'll get out of your hair now . . .Oh almost forgot, I found this on the Javelin,” from one of his hidden pockets he pulled out Tim's pendent and handed it to Roy “It must have fallen off when they were working on Tim. I think it should go back to it's owner.”
Roy nodded as he gazed down at the golden robin holding the arrow. Without another word Dick left, leaving Roy and Tim alone.
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Roy didn't even know that he had even fallen asleep and had laid his head down on the bed next to Tim until he felt a finger tracing an eyebrow. Startled, Roy sat up and looked around the room, wondering if Dick had come back. A quick look around showed that there was no one in the room. Just as Roy was wondering if he had dreamed it, he felt fingers cover his own and squeezed.
“Tim?”
Tim looked at Roy with tired eyes and gave him a half smile through the breathing mask. Roy stood up so he could pepper kisses on Tim's forehead all the while murmuring, “Tim. Oh Tim. Thank God you're all right,” he whispered relief washing over him, “ . . .so worried I was going to lose you.”
Tim tried to remove the breathing mask with his right hand, only to have Roy take his hand away. “Hey stop that. You need to keep that on,” Roy scolded.
Tim shook his head and tried to remove the mask again.
“Alright, alright, but just for a minute. If Dr. Mid-Nite finds out, I'm blaming you.” Roy said as he carefully took the mask off.
“Pr-Promised I'd come back,” Tim whispered softly. “Love you.”
Suddenly Roy's throat felt tight and his eyes stung as all the fears of losing Tim came back. He bent low and softly kissed Tim, “Love you so damn much,” he whispered.
“Never . . . never going to leave you,” Tim said tiredly.
“Always together,” Roy agreed as he kissed Tim's cheek. Roy reached into his pocket and pulled out Tim's pendent and fastened it around Tim's neck where it belonged. “Can't be any place else since you hold my heart, Beautiful.”