Untitled
a Batman story
by jayson
"Alfred, I don't feel so good."
"What's wrong, Master Timothy?" Concern lined the British voice as the elderly gentleman made his way over to the young man leaning against the door frame. It was very rare for one of his masters to admit weakness. He took in the young lad's appearance. He shivered slightly, but sweat had formed on his forehead and his knuckles were white from the tight grip he had on the door frame. As Alfred made his way to the door, Tim slid down to the floor putting his head on his arms. He was clearly not feeling well.
Just as Alfred reached Tim, Dick Grayson came into the room, "Hey, Alf, get this, so Barabra was all 'you have to rent a tux'...what's wrong with Tim?" Dick said finally noticing his "little brother".
"That's what I was about to find out, Master Richard."
"Hey, Buddy, you okay?" Dick asked bending down to check on Tim. As Dick lightly shook Tim's shoulder he heard a weak...heh- shoo. "Okay...I'll take that as a no."
"Does he have a fever?"
"Yeah, not too bad, but it's there."
"Pick him up, let's get him back to bed."
"No, I can walk," Tim said making a pathetic attemp to stand.
"Right and the Joker and I are engaged," Dick said lifting Tim up into a standing position and then scooping him inot his arms, "Why must every one of us superheros be stubborn?"
Dick carried Tim back to his room and gently set him on the bed. "Well, I guess no school for him today, eh Alfy?"
"I suppose not, but you better be off before you're late." Alfred said as he looked at the now-sleeping Tim.
"Sure thing. See you later tonight, Alfred."
~*~Later that day~*~ Where was he? He must have died, no other reason could explain the level of wretchedness he was feeling. Without warning, a tickle hit his nose strongly, not allowing him time to cover, forcing him to sneeze to the side...Heh-ishh!
"God bless you, Sir."
"God?" Ugh! His voice sounded like crap. Had he swallowed sandpaper in his final dying hours, and why did God sound like Alfred? Alfred had to smile, "No, sir. You are still here at the Manor."
"Ugh!" Tim groaned turning toward Alfred, "Please tell mehh...hehh...ESHOO!! excuse me, tell me *sniff* you got the name...man, not again..." Tim paused feeling the tickle coming back, "ahh...ahhhhh...ahhhESHOO!HEH-SHOO! oh forget it," Tim said exhaustedly. The sneezing had taken thelast bit of energy he had managed to muster.
"No, Sir, but if I find the name of the man who hit you, I'll let you know," Alfred smiled, he knew Tim was again fading fast. Acting quickly he handed him some tissues, and patiently waited as Tim blew his nose. Then, handing him some Tylenol and water, he wished him a pleasant rest and left, turning out the light on his way out.
"Where is he, Alfred?"
Tim woke to the sound of his mentor, Bruce Wayne, yelling at Alfred downstairs.
"He's asleep upstairs, Sir. He was feeling unwell."
"What's wrong with him?"
"He had a fe..."
"Nevermind, I have work to do. Tell him he is to stay in bed for the evening. Robin will not be needed." Bruce said opening the hidden door that led to the Batcave, and leaving Alfred alone upstairs.
"Yes, Sir." Alfred sighed disappointedly.
"Well, that figures, at least he actually asked what wahhh...damahhhh damn it!AHH-SHOO! what was wrong this time...ahhhhhESHOOO!"
Alfred turned around to see Tim standing next to the staircase trying to hold his robe up as he crossed the room toward Alfred.
"Master Timothy, you know Master Bruce is very busy."
"Its okay Alfred. *sniff* I think I'm going to go lie back...heh...hehh...HEH-SHOO! ESHOO!ahh..."
"Hey, Buddy, slow down before you sneeze your nose off," Dick said coming up behind Tim and patting him on the back.
"Damn it! Dick you made me lose concentration! Now it just tickles...ahhh...ahhhhhh....AHHHSHOOO!" Suddenly, the room swam. He couldn't focus on anything. Little black spots appeared before his eyes. "Why me?" Tim muttered as he sank into Dick's arms.
~*~ "Tim, are you okay?" Dick asked as he saw Tim's eyes flutter open. When he didn't receive an answer, he dipped the washcloth he'd been using back into the bowl of water and placed it back on Tim's forehead. He sat there concentration on bringing Tim back.
"Are you trying to drown me?"
"Yes, and I must have failed, because you're awake," Dick said laughing. "Are you feeling any better?"
"Yeah."
"Really?"
"No." Tim said smiling up at his "big brother".
"Well, I'll go get you some tea, you just stay here and dry off." "Dry off? But I'm not wet."
"Sure you are," Dick said dumping the last of the water from the bowl onto Tim's head, laughing as he left the room.
Tim shivered miserablely as he pulled off the wet clothes as quickly as possible, "Haha. Very funny...ahhh...ahhhhhhSHOO! heh...heh....HEHISHHH!ESHOO!!!!ahhhhhhhhESKSHOO!AHCHOOO!ahhhh....SHOO!"
Dick could hear Tim sneezing as he poured the tea in a mug. 'Poor kid,' he thought.
"Is that for Tim?"
"Yes. Is that okay, Mr. Jerk-to-a-sick-kid?" Bruce was not amused with Dick's sarcastic attitude. "Take that up to him and then get downstairs."
"Why don't you go up and see how he's doing," Dick stated coldly, "I'm sure he'd like to see your caring side for once, Bruce." A knife could have sliced the tension that had built in the room had Alfred's perfect timing not taken place, "Master Richard, Miss Gordon is on the phone."
"Thanks Alfy." And with that Dick left the room.
"Master Bruce, perhaps you should go upstairs and see Master Timothy. He truly has been feeling under the weather..."
"Fine, Alfred, its bad enough I get a guilt trip from Dick, I don't need one from you as well."
~*~In Tim's bedroom~*~ "Come on, Tim, open the door." Receiving no answer, Bruce slowly opened the door. He looked around, finding nothing but the window open and the curtains floating in the breeze, Bruce opened Tim's closet and realized the duffel bag where Tim usually kept his spare Robin suit in, was missing. "Shit."
~*~Somewhere else~*~ Sitting high on a ledge above Gotham City, Robin was thankful it seemed like a quiet night.
"Its not like you to be without the Bat."
The voice startled him at first, but he quickly regained composure, "Catwoman."
"Robin..." There was a brief silence before Robin felt the tickling sensation in his nose that he'd been fighting all day.
'Not now,' he thought. He concentrated as hard as he could not to sneeze in front of Catwoman, not realizing she'd been talking to him.
"Boy Wonder, I'm talking to you." Catwoman looked over at him, "are you alright?" She asked him noticing his distress.
The fact that she had noticed he was doing less than perfect broke his concentration, "heh....hehhh...HEHCHOO!ahhhhhhhESHOOO!!!!" Done sneezing for the moment, he slowly lowered his hands from his face, but continued to stare at the ground. Feeling his cheeks burn from embarassment, he didn't even notice Catwoman had come up in front of him until he felt her hand on his forehead.
"Robin," she said with a sigh, "you aren't alright at all. You definitely have a fever. Does Batman even know you're out here?"
He didn't care anymore. He felt lousy. His day sucked, and she was being so caring (something Bruce never was). He felt the tears welling in his eyes, but he couldn't stop. He felt them rolling down his cheeks, and....and Catwoman hugged him. It was like having a mom again. It was wonderful. He had dreamed of having his mom back all day while his fever had raged, and now it was coming true. He felt himself relax in her arms.
"Thank you," he whispered, feeling himself lose concsiousness for the second time that day.
"Batman...Bruce, you know I wouldn't do any of your sidekicks harm. He's resting here at my place. Besides, I wouldn't mind seeing you and that handsome butt of yours."
"I'll come get him," and with nothing more the line went silence. "That bastard always leaves me hanging," Selena (a.k.a Catwoman) swore as she slammed the phone down. A small groan came from the bedroom and she quickly rushed over to the bed as Robin started to stir. "Oh sweetie, shhhh, don't move too fast," she said getting the cool cloth she'd been using and putting it on his forehead again.
Any struggling Tim had been doing, stopped as the coolness of the cloth hit his hot forehead, "What happened?" he managed to croak out. "You passed out, and I brought you back here..."
"aahhhhhhh.......AHHHHSHOOO!" His sneeze caught her offguard and she stopped midsentence and burst out laughing.
"You have the most adorable confused look on your face when you sneeze," she managed between laughs. He felt his face go red and it almost seemed he was trying to bury himself into his covers as if they were his final resting place. "I'm sorry, its just you look so confused after you sneeze. You look like a deer in the headlights," and with that she burst out laughing again, but this time Robin kind of chuckled along with her.
"hehhhh....hehhhh...HEHSHOOO!"
"Okay that reminds me I need to get you more Tylenol, I'll be right back." She got up from the chair she had been sitting on and left the room. Tim had stared off into space, contemplating on what to do next, "Bruce is going to kill me. I'll be like a sandwich on the bottom of some kid's shoe."
"Robin, let's go. You're going to go straight home and to bed." Tim was so startled by Batman's voice suddenly being in the room that he almost feel off the bed. When Batman saw him jump, he felt a little guilty. 'Tim must be sick. He usually knows when I'm in a room before anyone else does.' he thought
"But I have to say thanks to Selena."
"I'll leave her a 'thanks', get your stuff and let's go."
Forcing himself out of bed and to the window, he realized he wasn't in his Robin suit anymore. The only part of his suit still in place was his mask and his boxers, "I'm kind of not dressed."
"Then, get dressed."
"No."
Bruce turned from the window and took a good look at his ward. He was shaking, a thin layer of sweat beaded his forehead, and he was pale... ahh...ahhhhhh...ahhhhhhEESHOOO! and he was sneezing, there was no way he could take Tim out into the cold air without making him worse.
"Okay nevermind, lets go. I don't even feel well enough to be rebelous," Tim said as he climbed out the window onto the ledge, shooting off a grapling hook.
'Way to go Bruce, if the Kid gets worse Alfred's going to have you ass.' Bruce thought as Tim took off into the night.
When Selena came back into the room, she found nothing but a not pinned to the pillow from Robin, "Thank you for your hospitality, sorry I didn't tell you bye, but I appreciate what you did....Robin" "Damn those boys! They never stay for long and they always disappear when you're not looking!"
Hot, weak and tired Tim Drake dragged himself up the stairs to his bedroom. He threw himself onto the bed and was asleep before his head hit the pillow.
"Tim. Come on, Tim sit up for me." Feeling his shoulders being lifted, he opened his eyes. Unable to focus on anything, he tried to lie back down. "Oh no you don't, it took me way too long to get you to sit up," Dick's voice waved out to him.
"Please let me lie down, I feel really bad, Dick."
"I know, Buddy, but let me finish sponging you down and then you can sleep all you want. Now, tell me what doesn't feel good."
Evahh...every..*sniff*AHHHSHOOO!everything!" Tim moaned miserably. "My head feel like its going to explode, my stomach is doing flip-flops, and I...I...I just don't feel well," Tim burst into tears, and suddenly, Dick felt sorry for the Kid. He looked so small and fragile, like a hug could break him into a thousand pieces.
"Oh, man, come here," Dick pulled Tim to his chest, and let him just cry until sobs racked the younger man's frame. Dick felt helpless as he held his little brother, he wanted so much for Tim to feel better, but nothing seemed to be working.
Finally, Tim sniffled and looked up at Dick, "Thank you, I'm sorry I'm just falling apart."
"Don't be sorry, in the end all men are babies when they get sick." That made Tim laugh, and in turn made Dick laugh. Dick hugged Tim again and helped him lay back down on the pillow.
heh...hehhhhh....HEHSHOOOO!!!!! Tim suddenly turned his head, sneezing away from Dick.
"Bless you! Damn you're going to kill someone with that thing!" But Tim wasn't quite over yet, he quickly dissolved into a fit of rapid fire multiples, finally finishing with a very wet, very harsh ESHOOO!!!!!
Upon hearing Tim sneeze his final sneeze, Bruce entered the bedroom. "Dick, can I have a moment with Tim?"
"Yeah, sure. Be good...both of you," Dick said leaving the room.
"How are you feeling?" Bruce said moving toward Tim's bed. 'Damn this was worse then taking on all of Gotham cities nutcases.' Bruce thought as he got closer to Tim's bed.
"Better than I was *sniff*...I think," Tim mumbled.
"Look, Tim, I..."
ahhhh...ahhhhhh...ahhhhESHOOO! HUH-SHOO! ESHOO!! ehhhh...ehhhhhhh...ESHOOOO! *SNIFF!* "Can you hand me a tissue?" Tim's stuffy voice made it difficult to understand. "Bruce, a tissue," he said pointing toward a tissue box when he noticed that Bruce wasn't understanding him. Finally, Bruce got it reaching over and handing Tim the tissue box. 'Damn it! This wasn't easy at all. Everything always comes so easy, why is this so difficult.' Bruce swore to himself silently.
"Look, Tim, I know I've been really hard on you..."
"Its not fair! I'm your ward! Your ward, Bruce! That means I'm your responsibility, but you aren't even here to be responsible for me!" Awkward silence.
"Tim, I do care, I'm just so busy..."
"Too busy! If...ifffahhhhh....FUCK! ahhhESHOOO!ehhhSHOO!HUHSHOO!" Pulling out a couple of tissues violently, he stuck them to his face blowing briefly and then continuing, "If you're so busy, why did you even bother coming up here? Because it was the polite thing to do. Huh?! What's your excuse? No, save it. I don't feel good, go away!"
After a few more minutes of awkward silence, "Are you done?" Bruce envied the glare sent him.
"Please just leave," Tim said in a low voice.
"No...You know, the first time Dick was sick, I was actually like a mother hen." Bruce smiled as he looked at Tim.
"No, you weren't, you're just saying that."
"I really was. I called Leslie the doctor every five minutes it seemed." Tim's mood started to lighten. "I made Dick stay home from school for a week before I realized he'd been better for three days."
Tim started to laugh, "Oh man, thats rich, Bruce."
"The thing is, is that as Dick got older, he got more independent from me, and I guess I just thought you'd be the same. Tim, I'm sorry."
"Don't be... ahhhSHOOO!...but will you stay here tonight?...and tell me more stories about Dick," Tim said laughing.
"Well, there was this one time he was only in his underwear..."
The End. Fade black.
These aren't mine, but if they were the world would be a better place. I'm not making money off of them. (If I left anything out please tell me)