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Barbara Gordon- Pneumonia

Request- Pneumonia

Fandom- DCU

Requested by MelodyTheMusicMaker

I'm still fairly new to this fandom, so please don't come for me if this is all terribly out of character!

The wheels of Barbara's brain slowly began to turn as she woke up. There was a general since of ick that she could feel rapidly taking the place of the tiredness in her muscles. She shivered and curled into herself, despite the three blankets she kept on hers and Dick's bed, even in the summer.

She stretched her arms up, the motion apparently aggravating her lungs and making her chest ache. All in all, this didn't raise any alarm bells. Ever since the Joker, her lungs and heart-pretty much everything, if she were being candid about it- worked at about half the capacity it used to.

She coughed lightly and reflexively reached for the side of the bed that should, in theory, hold one sleeping Dick Grayson. Empty, how unusual. Barbara rolled her eyes and sat up, trying not to pay attention to the odd pain in her chest, she'd probably just slept weird.

Sitting up fully, Barbara reached for her chair, but a sharp pain in her chest pulled her back and into a coughing fit. Barbara put her hand on her chest, willing her body to remember how to breathe. After a moment, the pain subsided, but it felt as if there were a block sitting under her lungs, making it impossible to take a deep breath. 

Once again, carefully this time, Barbara reached for her chair and expertly scooted herself into it, even if the exercise did leave her way more winded and tired than it should have. Trying to force her lungs to cooperate, Barbara took a few shallow breaths and pushed herself into the living room where the famous Dick Grayson was dead asleep and drooling over his laptop, the screen long since faded to black.

"Did you even attempt to come to bed last night?" Barbara asked- maybe a little louder than she needed to for the close quarters- noting the dark circles under Dick's eyes and the rumpled button up. 

"Batman's wearing pants!" Dick yelled, sitting bolt upright and almost flinging his computer across the room.

"I certainly hope so, also, I guess that-"Was it usually this tiresome to wheel herself ten feet?       "-answers my question." Barbara laughed, wheezing slightly. 

Dick, not one to miss subtleties-unless you were his girlfriend and you happened to want to kiss him sometimes- looked over at Barbara, a question in his eyes.

"You alright?" He asked, yawning as he stood up to stretch. Man, sleeping in a computer chair really did hit different when you were thirty versus seventeen. Barbara looked, well, sick, Dick thought. Her skin was pale and Dick could just see a few beads of sweat on her hairline, despite a notable shiver. He surveyed Barbara further, seeing how her shoulders hitched just slightly every time she inhaled.

"Yeah. Just feeling ugh today." Barbara shrugged.

"You kind of look like crap, Babs" Dick sucked at his teeth.

"I'll try not to take offense to-" huff "that." Barbara laughed, although it came out sounding more like the broken squeaky toy from Toy Story. 

"Seriously, you look ready to pass out. Plus," Dick walked over and squatted to look Barbara in the eye as he put a hand to her forehead. "You are almost definitely running a pretty impressive fever." Dick stood up, feeling a small tendril of worry wrap around his stomach.

"Dick, seriously, I'm fine. You know as well as I do that ever since the Joker, my immune system has all but given up hope on me and that I latch onto any and all cold bugs like they're a life raft. If it will make you feel better, I'll take it easy today, let this bug run it's course." Barbara bargained, fixing Dick with a glare that said this was the final offer.