With Annie in the hospital, Bruce handling Wayne Tech and Damian handling the police, Dick was pretty much left to his own devices over the course of the next week.
Once he knew Annie was going to be ok, he had turned his focus onto the turmoil in his mind. He felt different, hyper-aware of his body. He healed faster and could control his heightened senses more easily, turning them in and out when needed. He was stronger, but also more controlled. But that was what had scared him the most, he had been perfectly aware of what he was doing to the man who had shot Annie, he knew that he was squeezing the life out of him. But he hadn't cared. Terry said to him it looked like he had lost control. But he hadn't, at that moment he had forgone the rules of the Bat, the morals that he had been taught growing up. He had been the Talon, he had been prepared to kill, to complete the mission.
Dick gripped his hands into fists. The mission had been to protect Annie or avenge her. Even now, as he thought about Annie lying so still on the floor covered in her own blood, Dick knew he would do it again.
'You alright Buddy?'
'I'm fine.'
Jason stood awkwardly in the door to his room then went to leave.
'Jay?' Dick called, when the man came back, he bowed his head. 'I'm sorry.'
'For what?'
'Being a brat.'
Jason chuckled and came and sat on the window seat next to him.
'Dick, if anyone deserves a free pass for being a brat occasionally, it's you.' Jason's face turned serious and he began kneading his hands in his lap. 'But I think you need to make a decision.'
Dick raised an eyebrow, what decision did he need to make?
'You need to decide which life you are going to hang on to. This life, as Richard Todd, with me as your father, going to school, making friends, being a normal 18-year-old for as long as you can. Or,' he turned to face him. 'You can hang on to your old life, as Richard Grayson (Dick flinched), accept what has happened to you and pull away from the world and hide.'
Dick frowned, what kind of a choice was that?
'Those are your options, Dick. At the moment you are trying to hang on to both and I can see it's dragging you down.'
'You're talking about Nelson.'
'I'm talking about you acting as though neither Richard Todd or Richard Grayson is you.' Said Jason. 'Dick you act like you are a ghost. Neither one or the other. Decide on your life and commit to it.'
Dick shook his head. If only it were that easy.
'There's the little problem of my ageing.' He said.
'We're working on it.' Said Jason, 'We have all the tech from the Justice League at our disposal. We'll find a way to reverse it, or at least speed it up a bit.'
'And what if you can't?'
'We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.' Jason reached forward and placed his hand on Dick's shoulder, squeezing it. 'It's up to you Dick, I'm just happy I've got you back in my life. Whether that's as your brother or as your father.'
Dick noticed the bags that were starting to crawl under Jason's eyes. The man was working so hard, he looked so stressed and Dick had to wonder if the man was sleeping. The few nights he slept in Jason's bed, the older man had tossed and turned the whole night. Dick had to wonder if it was worrying about him that was causing Jason so much stress.
'Do you want to go and see Annie?' Jason almost laughed at how fast Dick reacted, the kid was up from his seat and grabbing his coat in seconds. In the last week, Annie had been in the ICU and they hadn't let many people visit so Bruce had gone in every day. Dick hadn't been able to see her since she was bleeding out on the floor.
'I'll take that as a yes.' Jason chuckled, following Dick out of the door.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Annie was sore. Thanks to the amount of morphine coursing through her system she wasn't in pain, but she was still sore. The doctors had told her she had a guardian angel. Somehow the bullet hadn't caused too much internal damage, and due to how she had been placed after being shot, she hadn't suffered a fatal amount of blood loss. She'd almost cried upon hearing this because it had been Dick who had come to her rescue.
Apparently, all three men had been apprehended by Batman and Gordon had arrested them. They would be charged for her attempted murder and the murder of Karly. Poor, poor Karly.
She was led, pondering the loss of her friend. She would need to contact Karly's family once she was out of the hospital.
A knock on the door brought her from her thoughts and she smiled as Jason popped his head around the door.
'Evening Sleeping Beauty.' He grinned, 'You feeling up to having a couple of visitors?'
'Always.' She said, and Jason came fully into the room, followed slowly by a nervous looking Dick. Once he saw her, Dick looked like he either wanted to cry or scream. He looked broken.
'Hey hey hey. What's all this?' she said, hating how weak her voice still sounded.
'I'm sorry.' Said Dick, 'I should have gotten there sooner, or reacted faster.'
Annie opened her arms and told him to come to her. He gingerly came over to the bed and ever so gently sat beside her, resting his head on her shoulder and avoiding her wound. Annie wrapped her arms around him.
'You are not to blame for this.' She said, 'You saved me. You stopped them from finishing the job.' She kissed the top of his head, Bruce had told her that the three men all suffered from several injuries, but they would all live long lives, in prison. 'I am so proud of you.' She whispered.
'I finished all the badges.' Dick mumbled.
'What?' said Annie.
'I finished all the name badges.'
Annie chuckled, looking up at Jason who was smiling down at them. Dick may be 18, but thanks to the electrum he still had the slim build of a 16-year-old. But this meant he could easily fit onto the bed and rest comfortably in the nook of Annie's arms. It was uncanny how much they looked like mother and son at that moment.
Dick stayed wrapped in Annie's arms for the entire time they were there. Annie didn't seem to want to let him go and Dick didn't mind, it felt nice to be held like this. When it was time to go, Annie gripped him tighter, kissing the top of his head again.
'I love you.' She said into his hair.
'I love you too.' Said Dick, getting up off the bed.
They left Annie to sleep and Dick slowly followed Jason through the halls of the hospital. While he walked, he thought. He had so many people in his life who were trying so hard to help him. People who had seen what he had become and loved him anyway. If he held onto the person he used to be, he would need to turn his back on them. There would be no way he could stay at the manor and live with them if he stayed as Richard Grayson. He didn't want to give up his family, he didn't want to give up hope that he could live a normal life. He didn't know what had happened to him after Annie had been shot, but for some reason, he now felt more in control of his Talon abilities. His electrum had always felt so unstable, but suddenly it seemed his body was more balanced. He was under no illusion that he was still dangerous, maybe more so now. But he no longer felt like he was going to lose control if he let go of his emotions. This in itself gave him hope.
'You coming?'
Dick hadn't realised he'd stopped walking. Jason was looking back at him with concern. Dick ran to catch up to him. 'Are you alright?'
'Yeh, I'm fine.' Said Dick, he took a deep breath knowing his next words were going to cement his decision. 'Dad, can we come to see Annie again tomorrow?'
Jason looked down at the kid in shock and then he smiled, ruffling the kid's hair and putting his arm around his shoulder.
'Of course.'
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
'There's something different about you?' said Max, eyeing him up. 'Did they brainwash you or something?'
Dick grinned at her, he was finally back at school and it was lunchtime.
'I don't know what you're talking about.' He said.
'You always seemed so reserved, like you were scared to completely enjoy yourself.' Said Max. 'But today you seem relaxed, and dare I say normal.'
Dick laughed a proper laugh that forced Max to smile.
'Thanks,' he said sarcastically, 'Does that mean I'm not normal.'
'No Todd, you are far from normal.'
Dick smiled at her. 'Nearly getting shot will put things into perspective for you.'
'Oh god, yeh!' said Dana. 'How is Annie?'
'She's fine. She's home now but can't do much but sit on the couch.' Finally, the Bat-family was able to take care of the person who had spent the last few years endlessly taking care of them.
'She was lucky Batman got there in time.' Mused Dana.
Dick glanced at Terry quickly, but the other teen wasn't looking at him. Terry hadn't properly spoken to Dick since the shooting.
'Well, it's nice to see you happy.' Said Max, deciding to change the conversation. They chatted for a while longer until the bell finally rang. As they were heading back, Dick took hold of Terry's arm and held him back.
'Can I talk to you?' he said.
Terry nodded, and they slipped into an empty classroom.
'What's the problem?' asked Dick.
'What do you mean?'
'You've barely looked at me for days. What's wrong?' Dick crossed his arms over his chest. Terry narrowed his eyes and then sighed.
'I saw your eyes, at Wayne and Powers. They were different, you had black veins around them and you looked murderous.' Terry admitted.
'Someone had just shot a member of my family, of course, I was murderous.' Dick hissed.
'But what happened to your eyes?'
Dick shrugged. 'I don't know. But ever since the shooting I've felt different.'
'Different how?'
'I dunno. More stable, I guess. I think the levels of electrum in my blood have finally balanced themselves out.' It was hard to explain, he didn't really understand it himself, but he had a feeling when he was first turned, there had been a cap on his powers, maybe to teach him control. Now that the cap was gone, he had the full power of a Talon, but thanks to his family he had kept the one thing that separated him from the other Talon's. His humanity.
'So, you're not going to go all Victor Frankenstein on me?' said Terry, he had heard what Dick had said to the shooter. "I'm Frankenstein's monster."
'Victor Frankenstein was the creator, not the monster.' Said Dick.
'You know what I mean.'
'No, for the first time in a very long time I think I'm actually ok.'
Terry slapped his arm in a kind gesture. 'Glad to hear it. We better get to class.'
They walked together to the lesson that was quickly becoming Dick's favourite.
'Good morning Mr McGinnis, Mr Todd nice to have you back.' Said Mr Willbourne as they took their seats. They were learning about a book Dick hadn't read yet, so the lesson was actually interesting to him. He wrote down notes about the book, feeling excited about learning something new and happy in his new life. His family was safe, his friends were great, his new father figure was working on a way to let him age and everything seemed to be finally sorting itself out.
He smiled to himself as his neat handwriting filled the page. Then his next word was blocked by a circle of red.
He frowned as another red dot appeared on the page, and then another. He touched the red and it smeared on the white background. Blood.
He brought his hand to his nose and felt wetness, bringing his hand away he saw more of the crimson fluid.
His nose was bleeding. Why was his nose bleeding?
'Dick are you alright?' Willbourne had stopped the class and everyone was looking at him.
'I'm fine, I'll just go clean myself up.' He stood from his seat and headed to the door. Accepting the tissue that Dana handed him as he passed her.
Out in the halls, he hurried to the bathroom still holding the tissue to his nose. He entered the toilet and went straight to the mirror over the sinks, using water to wash away the blood that was still coming.
He took deep breaths and focused on this area of injury and then he saw what Terry had seen. The veins spread around his eyes as a rush of electrum healed the issue with his nose. Once the blood stopped his eyes returned to normal. The whole process only taking a matter of seconds.
Clearing up the rest of the blood he calmed down his thoughts. It was just a nosebleed, probably just his body adjusting to the electrum. Or stress, stress can cause nosebleeds. He was alright, he was fine. Right?