Pawn of the Sea

Chapter 8

Author’s note:  Thanks to my beta, B, for keeping me in line.

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When Garth awoke a few hours later he quickly swam to the surface of Bruce's pool, anxious to find out how Dick was. He was surprised to see Bruce sitting in one of the deck chairs holding a towel and a stack of clothes.

He pulled himself out of the pool and eyed Bruce warily. Bruce eyed Garth's scantily clad body with a slightly pained expression before speaking. "Here." Bruce handed him the towel. "Alfred thought you would be more comfortable in these." He held out the clothing.

Garth thought he caught a hint of resignation in Bruce's tone and maybe a tad of irritation. "Thank you," Garth replied politely. "How is Dick?"

"Leslie thinks the anti-venom has slowed down the poison. She doesn't think he'll get any worse."

"But is he any better?" Garth asked as he set down the clothes and began to dry himself.

"No, not yet," Bruce replied. "But I thought he squeezed my hand. Leslie said it was probably a muscle spasm, but I'm not so sure."

Garth rubbed a hand over his face and picked up the clothes, determined not to let Bruce see his emotions. He quickly moved behind one of the changing screens and began to dress.

Bruce used the fact that Garth was out of sight to start his apology. "Garth, I'm sorry."

Garth, who had been in the process of pulling on a pair of sweat pants almost fell over. He pulled up the pants and walked out from behind the screen. "You are? For what?" he asked with awe in his voice.

Bruce looked annoyed. "Don't seem so surprised. I'm not a machine. I can admit when I'm wrong."

Garth just stared at him.

Bruce blew out an impatient breath. "Look, I shouldn't have blamed you for what happened to Dick. It's not your fault."

Garth did not reply, turning away to lean over behind the screen and pick up the sweatshirt Bruce had brought for him.

"Garth?" Bruce coaxed.

Garth turned back. "I appreciate your apology, but I think your initial reaction was correct. If it had not been for me, Dick would not be in this situation."

Bruce shrugged. "I know how you feel, I just wanted to let you know you are welcome to stay here as long as you'd like; for as long as Dick wants you here."

"Thank you," Garth answered politely, still unable to quite believe that Bruce was saying these things to him.

Bruce stood there for an uncomfortable moment before he was able to get the next words out. "I also need to tell you something else."

"About the rape test?"

"Yes."

"It was positive?"

"Yes."

Garth clutched the edge of the screen and for a moment Bruce thought he might have to support the younger man, but Garth waved him off weakly. "It's all right. I'm fine."

"How did you know to check?" Bruce couldn't help asking.

"It was something Braden said about Dick when I captured him. I had no idea he hated me so much. He's always been a little jealous of me for some reason, but none of us knew he was capable of…"

Out in the corridor, Barbara Gordon had frozen in shock. She had just arrived at the manor and had been looking for Bruce when she had heard voices in the pool area. She had unashamedly listened to Garth and Bruce's conversation and had been surprised, but pleased, by Bruce's seeming acceptance of Garth and Dick. She had always liked Garth, and Dick had seemed much more cheerful lately. It was the last piece of news that had frozen her heart.

"Oh, God, Dick had been raped!" Images of her own assault by the Joker flooded through her mind and she was horrified that Dick had been violated in the same way.

She loved Dick Grayson with all her heart. Maybe not in the way he had wanted or needed, but she did love him. In many ways he was her best friend and it broke her heart to think of what he had gone through. "I'm so sorry, Dick. I'm so, so sorry," she whispered to herself.

"Oh, hey, Babs," Timmy called to her as he ran past.

She heard the boy's exuberant voice echoing in the pool area. "Bruce! Garth! Leslie says to come right away! He's waking up! Dick's waking up!"

Barbara was almost run over by two super heroes as both Garth and Bruce rushed toward the cave.

"Hello, Barbara," Garth called out, as he rushed past, polite as ever.

"Barbara," Bruce said tersely, following closely on Garth's heels.

Tim stopped. "Did you hear, Babs? Dick's waking up! I think he's going to be okay!"

"I heard, Tim."

"I'm going to go tell the others," he replied, rushing off in the opposite direction of Garth and Bruce."

"I'll meet you in the cave," Barbara responded, not sure if he heard her or not.

Barbara took a deep breath to put on a brave front and wheeled herself to the elevator that would take her down to the cave

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The other three Titans, had rested a bit in the various spare rooms of the mansion and were now lounging somberly in Bruce's study waiting for word of Dick. Alfred had just entered the room, with a tray of tea for his guests.

"Oh, thank you, Alfred," Donna gushed. "This is lovely."

"You are most welcome, Mistress Donna."

"So, Alfred, what's your take on this whole Dick and Garth thing?" Roy asked the butler as Alfred began to poor tea into the delicate china cups.

"Good Lord," Wally rolled his eyes. "Here we go again."

"I'm not freaking out. I'm simply asking the man's opinion." He turned to Alfred. "I mean you're a pretty straight laced guy, right Alf? It must be pretty hard to take, knowing that Dick's doing the nasty with a man."

"Roy, don't be so crass!" Donna admonished.

"What? I just want to know?" Roy whined.

"I am puzzled as to why you'd like my opinion, Master Roy, but to answer your question, I am not bothered in the least by Master Dick's choice in Master Garth. I think he is a rather fine specimen, don't you agree?"

"Well…I…guess…uh…sure…" Roy was flustered.

"Yes, he is, Alfred," Donna chimed in, still giggling from Alfred's surprising comment. "And please ignore Roy. We think he was dropped on his head as a child."

"Hey!" Roy protested. "I…"

"Can it, Harper," Wally retorted. "You've already made a big enough ass of yourself.

Just then Tim ran in with his news, and cleared the room as they all left to see about Dick. Alfred even left soiled tea dishes behind.

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Bruce and Garth tiptoed into the room and Leslie looked up and smiled. "I see Timmy has alerted the masses," she commented quietly.

"He said Dick was waking up?" Garth said as he moved to study his partner.

"Yes, he opened his eyes for a moment, but he didn't seem to comprehend much. It may be a slow process, but his vitals are stronger, and that's a good thing. Try talking to him, Garth, it may help."

Garth took Dick's hand and bent close to him. "Robbie, open your eyes. We need you to wake up. Please."

Meanwhile, the rest of the gang quietly filed into the spacious infirmary. Leslie pondered kicking them all out, but in the end she simply gave up, knowing it would be more trouble than it was worth. She signaled for all of them to be quiet and stay back.

Back in the bed Dick's eyes were fluttering open again, and roving around in confusion. His gaze landed on Garth and he began to thrash weakly, shaking his head, grabbing at the tube that was coming from his mouth.

Bruce quickly moved in close. "Dick, son, it's me, Bruce. You need to calm down." Dick's fearful eyes continued to track Garth fearfully and he continued to struggle.

Leslie gently moved a confused Garth out of the way to get to Dick's other side. "Dick, it's Leslie. Honey, you have a breathing tube in your throat. I want you to calm down before you hurt yourself."

Dick seemed lost in himself and didn't respond to Leslie's pleas. Finally Bruce leaned very close to Dick's ear. "Nightwing, stand down! You are safe here," he said in his most authoritative Bat voice. Dick immediately stopped thrashing and stared at Bruce. The older man firmly gripped Dick's hand and spoke softly to his son. "Dick, you're okay. You're in the cave and Leslie is taking care of you."

Dick nodded calmly, and then his mouth moved around the tube as if he was trying to speak.

"Don't talk, honey," Leslie chided. "I've had you on a respirator to help you out with your breathing. I think we can take it out now, though. Okay?"

Dick nodded weakly.

"All right, sweetie," she moved to remove the tape holding the tube in place. "On three I want you to cough, and I'll take it out." Dick nodded again and Leslie pressed the button to move the bed up a little so Dick was in a semi-sitting position and then got ready for the procedure. "Okay, Dick, here we go. One, two, three."

Dick coughed and Leslie carefully dislodged the breathing tube from his throat. Dick gagged a little and coughed some more while Bruce kept a comforting grip on his hand. When the offending tube was gone he coughed weakly again.

Garth poured a glass of cool water and moved to give it to his lover. When Dick's eyes landed on Garth again they opened wide and a fearful look crossed his face as he shrank away from him.

Garth looked puzzled and hurt for a moment at Dick's reaction to him, until an idea dawned on him. In his hazy confusion Dick was mistaking Garth for his cousin Braden. People had often mentioned the resemblance. Garth silently damned his cousin one more time and then spoke aloud. "I believe he thinks I'm someone else," Garth said quietly.

Bruce nodded and deduced the situation quickly. He leaned down and spoke to Dick again in a gentle tone. "Dick, it's okay, it's just Garth. He's been waiting for you to wake up. He's been worried about you. We all have."

"Garth?" Dick croaked out through his raw and irritated throat.

"Don't speak too much, honey," Leslie said. "Your throat will be sore from the tube."

Dick's eyes moved back to his lover, who was still standing nest to the bed, holding a cup of water. A look of recognition finally crossed Dick's face and he smiled slightly. "Garth," he rasped out again as he weakly reached a hand out to the other man.

Leslie smiled and stepped out of the way as Garth made his way closer, clutching Dick's outstretched hand. "Yes, Robbie, I'm here," he said. He moved in and held the straw to Dick's lips so he could drink the soothing water, while leaning over to place a gentle kiss on Dick's forehead at the same time. "I'm so glad you're safe."

When he was done drinking Dick turned loving eyes to Garth. "What…" he asked weakly. "What happened to me?"

"You don't remember?" Bruce asked.

Dick scrunched up his face and looked thoughtfully at his mentor. "No." He turned his troubled blue eyes back to his lover. "I can't remember anything. What happened to me, Garth?"

Bruce and Garth shared a concerned look, but Leslie spoke up. "That's normal, honey. You've been through a lot. Your memory should return soon enough."

Dick looked a little more at ease and nodded, then he looked beyond the three people around his bed to see Wally, Roy, Donna, Barbara, Alfred and Tim around the edges of the room, trying to stay out of the way. "Hey, guys," he said weakly.

"Hey, bro," replied Tim. "We're happy to see you're awake."

"Yes, Master Dick, it is a relief to see you conscious again," added Alfred.

Dick smiled at him and tried to shift a bit. His smile turned into a look of panic when he couldn't get his body to move the way he wanted. "What? Why…why can't I move?" He clutched at Garth's hand even tighter and looked pleadingly into his eyes. "Oh, God, Garth, why can't I move my legs?"

Before anyone could reply, Dick suddenly hunched over, his body folding in on itself and he let out an anguished cry of pain.

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