Chapter 3

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The sounds of choking and gagging assaulted his ears, pulling him out of a restless sleep, an instant later Dick was on his feet, met by the sight of Tim pulling the rest of the ventricular tube out of his mouth.

"Timmy, no!" Dick exclaimed, pressing the alert button on the wall behind the bed.

"Tim, calm down, it’s okay," Dick said, gently taking hold of his brother’s arms as he fought against the blankets, only to find himself knocked backward, hitting the floor-- hard and sat stunned for a moment, tasting blood from his split lip.

"Oooh, no, you don’t!" said Dick, scrambling off of the floor and dove onto the bed just in time to prevent Tim from jumping off the other side.

Quickly turning to the side, Tim brought his arm back and elbowed Dick in the gut, knocking the wind out of him. "Uuff!" Dick wheezed, "You are so going to get it, little brother. Remember, -ngh- pay backs are a bitch," he grunted and captured his brother in a bear hug, pulling his back against his chest. "Sssshh... It’s o-kay, Tim," he said as the confused teen fought against the strong arms that held him in a tight embrace.

"Calm down, little bro, I’ve gotcha… I’ve gotcha." Dick soothed over and over and it wasn’t but a few minutes later that Tim stopped grunting and fighting to get free. Instead, he leaned back against his brother’s chest, turning his head to the side and rested his forehead against the crook of Dick’s neck.

Wanting to say something to calm his fears, Dick simply rested his chin atop Tim’s head, unsure if he’d understand or even heard him at all.

"Wha, w-what happened in here?!" Leslie stammered from the doorway with a jaw-dropped Alfred and Bruce standing directly behind her.

"Dear heavens!" Alfred exclaimed as he took in the state of the room: overturned chair; broken drinking glass; knocked-over iv stand; pile of blankets hanging off the bed; Dick’s bleeding, split lip; and lastly-- his eyes alighted on the boy, who sat perfectly still; eyes wide open.

"Tim’s up," Dick answered with a fat lip and a smile.

"It would appear so," Alfred said flatly as he stepped around Bruce and began to straighten up the room.

"Tim… honey? Can you hear me?" Leslie asked as she slowly used her penlight in a flickering motion toward his eyes, frowning when he didn’t flinch or squint, giving them no indication that he even saw her at all.

"I think all three of us stopped breathing all the way from the kitchen until just now." Leslie said as she lightly touched Tim’s wrist, taking his pulse.

Dick furrowed his brow while accepting an ice pack from Bruce for his busted lip. "I didn’t hit the panic button did I? I swear I’d pressed alert."

"No, no. You pressed the alert button-- about 15 seconds before my pager gave me a code blue, it’s networked into the heart monitor."

"Code bl…" Dick looked over to Tim’s heart monitor and saw Bruce standing next to it holding a limp electrode by its wire. "Oh. It must have come undone with all the struggling."

"Struggling?" Bruce asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Struggling. What? You think I got this busted lip from tripping on my shoe laces?"

"He hit you?" Leslie asked in amazement as she moved in close to Tim, looking in his eyes with an ophthalmoscope, dialing through its different lenses every couple seconds.

"Yeah, and a damned good one at that," Dick said, tasting a hint of copper as he ran his tongue over his split lip, "but he was so confused and scared, it was more out of instinct than anything else."

"Has the young sir said anything?" Alfred asked as he sat down in the previously-overturned chair.

"Other than grunts and groans, no. I heard him choking and jumped up just in time to see him yank out the vent tube from his throat."

"Oh, Timmy..." Leslie cooed as she felt the sides of his neck.

"Then, all hell broke loose; he started to get out of the bed, I went to stop him and-- next thing I know, I’m flat on my ass and Houdini here, is trying to escape off the other side." Dick paused, cocking his head to the side to look at his brother, "The only thing I could think to do, was to grab him and keep him from thrashing around. I don’t know if it was because he wore himself out or what, but he got really quiet and, well… here we are. Once he calmed down, I was afraid to move-- didn’t want to set him off again."

"Tim?" Leslie called in a sweet voice, finger tips barely grazing through his hair. "Can you follow the light, honey?" she asked and waved the penlight across his eyes again, moving it from left to right, "Follow my light, Timmy." But, other than the occasional blink, his gaze never wavered.

Giving him a smile, Leslie stood up straight, "How about we lay you back down now. Ok?"

Bruce stepped in and snaked a hand behind Tim’s shoulders as Dick slipped out from behind him before carefully laying him back down against the pillows. "Is he in a coma, Leslie?" asked Bruce, knowing that there were several different stages of coma ranging from complete unresponsiveness to awake and very responsive.

Leslie sighed, nodding sadly, "I can’t say for certain, but I estimate he’s somewhere around a level V-stage. The diagnosing scale ranges from I-stage to VIII-stage. The lower the level, the more severe the coma, but... we’ll know more after we have him looked over by a Neurologist." She answered, straightening out a nasal cannula and leaned in to slip it under Tim’s nose, who turned his head to the side, thrusting out his hands as soon as it touched his face, knocking Leslie off balance and into Alfred.

"Tim, stop it." Bruce ordered while arching away from a quick punch and took hold of Tim’s wrists.

A veil of fear and confusion shadowed over Tim’s face, his eyes opening wide as he leaned back, trying to wrench his wrists free.

Dick reached over and lightly placed his hand on Tim’s shoulder, "Cam’mon, Timmy… settle back down," he said, trying to sooth his confused little brother who continued to fight against being restrained. "Let him go, Bruce. I-I don’t think he understands." Dick said, trying to ignore the voice in his head, screaming at him–  telling him that this was his fault. Tim was his responsibility. He should have been there– should have been him.

Once free, Tim quickly scooted back against the pillows until he couldn’t go any further and brought his knees up to his chest, taking gulping breaths as his eyes darted around the room.

Dick placed his hands on Tim's arms, not to hold him still as much as it was an attempt to ground him and help him focus. "It's okay, Timmy, you're safe. Calm down, little brother... easy... take slower breaths... you’re okay– easy...easy... there ya go– a little slower..."

Bruce watched in near amazement as Dick repeated his words of comfort, spoken in a low, soft tone begin to have a calming effect on his young partner and before long, he had been able to coax the teen into resting back against the pillows– his respirations now under better control.

"My word..." Alfred gasped and stood up, "Would you look at that."

"He's looking directly at you, Dick." Leslie said. "Even when I was nose to nose with him a moment ago, he wasn't looking at me, it was more like he was looking through me. But he's seeing you."

"It’s probably just because I was the one here when he woke up." Dick said casually, extinguishing the flair of hope fluttering in his gut.

"I wouldn't dismiss it so easily, Master Dick. Not only has he focused on you, but the young sir has stopped fussing about as well."

"Let's try something. Dick, get up and stand at the foot of the bed.... good. Now–" Leslie paused, taking a deep breath, "slowly, take five steps to your right."

"Good boy, Tim," said Leslie when his eyes followed. "Now, can you follow Dick again, this time to the other side?" Leslie nodded and Dick walked the other way, five steps from the bed. Again, Tim followed without hesitation. "Good, Timmy. Very, very good," Leslie said and turned to the side, rummaging through a drawer.

Dick allowed himself to smile, telling himself it was solely for Tim's sake and not to reflect any sort of relief he might feel.

"Tim, I'm going to put this under your nose. Okay?" Leslie said as she unwrapped a fresh nasal cannula before his gaze. "I'm sorry about before, honey. I should have told you what I was going to do. That was my fault. I promise not to make that mistake twice." added Leslie as she began to place the thin, clear tube under her patient’s nose.

"Hey, hey now...cut that out. " Dick gently scolded. "Tim, let Leslie take care of you. You remember Les– she's trying to make you feel better." he coaxed, gently holding his little brother’s jaw in his hand to allow Leslie a chance to slip the cannula under the nose and behind his ears.

"There, see," Leslie said, smoothing Tim’s hair back from his forehead, "that wasn’t so bad now, was it?" Smiling, she turned her back and began to measure out a mild sedative. “Now, how about we let you get some rest, hmm?”

Alfred stepped forward and slowly took Tim's hand in his own, "Rest easy, young sir, and don't you fret, everything’s going to be just fine. I'll be back to check in on you after a short while." He smiled, giving the back of Tim's hand a quick pat.

"I‘m sorry if I upset you. I'll be close by.” Bruce said and gave his youngest boy's shoulder a squeeze.

"All right, kiddo, stay put this time, cuz I don't think I could stand getting knocked on my ass twice in one day. Man's got an image to uphold, ya know." Dick smiled and placed a hand on his brother's upper arm, leaning in to speak in his ear, "Come back to us, Timmy. You can do it. We’re all here for you," then got up to meet Bruce and Alfred just outside the infirmary to wait on Leslie but, only made it about three feet from the door when Tim began to grunt and struggle about. Dick stopped and turned around to find Tim looking at him with an expression that teetered on the line between panic and frustration.

Alfred leaned in and placed his hand on Dick's shoulder, "Go back to him, lad."

"It's all right, sweetheart, we're all right here," Leslie soothed as she injected the sedative into Tim's iv line. "We're just going to let you rest. No one's leaving you. You're not alone."

Taking his brother’s hand, Dick leaned, placing his other hand on the bed next to the pillows, "Everything’s alright, little brother, you can close you eyes. I'll be here when you wake up. Okay?" Dick said as Tim fought the sedative. "We're all right here, and if you wake up and I'm not here, I'll see you in that camera right over there…" Dick paused and pointed up to a corner of the room, not surprised when his brother’s blue eyes never left his own, "and I'll come right in. I promise. Okay?"

"I'll wait for you, before we start discussing things," Leslie told Dick then silently left the room.

Dick sat down on the side of the bed again and returned his brother's gaze. "Why me, Timmy? Why not the others?" Dick asked, watching his brother snap his eyes open a couple of times before being overtaken by the sedative, sinking back against the pillows. Dick stayed there for a few minutes, watching his brother sleep, then breathed a deep sigh as he slowly rose from the bed to join the others and hear what Leslie had to say.

To be continued....

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