Light in the darkness

[-nightwing-.livejournal.com]

Nightwing doesn't wait to see who's in the teleportation room. He doesn't stop to talk to anyone as he tears through the Watchtower's complex corridors. He has only one thing on his mind since he got word from Oracle.

Mary.

Infused with a new energy, he reaches the infirmary in record time. And one of the first things he hears even before he steps inside is the crying - oh, God, the healthy crying - of his daughter.

He stands near the doorway for a moment, and opens his private comms. His voice is barely above that of a whisper.

Do you hear that?

Comments

[oracle-watching.livejournal.com]

"Yes--how does she look?" No synthesized voice now.

[-nightwing-.livejournal.com]

As he steps inside, he can see her, kicking up a fuss in the arms of the medical staff. It's the kind of crying that comes from being in the strangest of places without a parent in sight - that is, until now. The moment she lays eyes on him, she's leaning from the grasp of her caretaker, arms outstretched with a plaintive look on her round face.

"Dada!"

He doesn't need a further cue. In a matter of seconds, she's in his arms; and he's not sure he'll ever want to let go. He closes his eyes and turns his face to kiss her tiny, tear-stained cheek. It's all he can do not to match her.

She's fine. She's... she's doing fine...

God. He needs to sit down.

[oracle-watching.livejournal.com]

"Hold the com so she can hear me--Mary? Mary, it's Mama. Sweetie?"

[-nightwing-.livejournal.com]

"Mama?"

She sits back, reaching for the gauntlet in her father's hand as he watches with the dopiest grin on his face. How the hell can she be this happy with all she's been through?

Yeah, baby. We'll be going home soon, okay? Say hi to mommy!

"Hi Mama!"

And then, she leans over and plants a wet one on his glove.

[oracle-watching.livejournal.com]

"Hi, sweetie ... be a good girl for Daddy. Honey, how soon can you come home?"

[-nightwing-.livejournal.com]

He consults briefly with the attending nurse, bouncing her gently in his arms as she attempts to gnaw on his gauntlet.

They're just waiting on a final blood draw to come back -- Honey, no... hold on, I'll get you something a little better to chew on.

She looks up at him, eyebrows rising to her hairline.

"Gowfiss?"

[oracle-watching.livejournal.com]

"No Goldfish," declares her mother. "Not until she's had real food to eat for a while."

[-nightwing-.livejournal.com]

Mary's mother, however, isn't the one who has to deal with the Power of the Pout.

...

I don't think there's any Goldfish on the moon, Mary.

"No gowfiss?"

She still looks pale. And there are bandages on her arm from the IV line she's had in. But she's okay. And that's all that matters.

I should talk to J'onn about that...

[oracle-watching.livejournal.com]

"Are those blood results back yet?"

[-nightwing-.livejournal.com]

Mary's sudden burst of energy seems to fade, as she leans against her father, her head under his chin.

Thirty minutes.

He strokes the baby's head softly.

[oracle-watching.livejournal.com]

"She's quiet--is she falling asleep? Can you turn about 20 degrees to the right so I can see her on video?"

[-nightwing-.livejournal.com]

Sure.

A balled fist comes up to rub at her face as she snuggles closer - if that's even possible. He turns around, and lifts Mary's arm in his hand in a wave at the surveillance camera.

She yawns.

[oracle-watching.livejournal.com]

Silence for a few minutes as she automatically waves back, despite Mary's inability to see her mother. "Are they done with that lab work yet?"

[-nightwing-.livejournal.com]

He's grinning up at the ambivalent lens of the camera.

Twenty-nine minutes and counting, hot stuff.

[oracle-watching.livejournal.com]

"Hold the com up to her ear again?" Barely waiting, she starts singing:

Speed, bonnie boats, like a bird on the wing
Onward, the sailors cry
Carry the lad that's born to be king
Over the sea to Skye....

[-nightwing-.livejournal.com]

Gently, he shifts his weight from foot to foot, swaying gently in time to the familiar song. Mary's breathing deepens, and slows. For a moment, he has to bow his head and check, some part of him freaking out - but she's fine; both middle fingers of her right hand shoved into her mouth as a kind of pacifier, her face turned away from the harsh lighting of the infirmary.

To think, just a short time ago, he muses, that he wasn't sure he'd ever get to hold her like this again. And he knows his wife is desperate for their return so she can do the same.

[oracle-watching.livejournal.com]

"How is she sleeping?" his wife whispers. "Is she breathing all right?"

[-nightwing-.livejournal.com]

A pause, as he doublechecks. Just in case.

She's fine.

Another pause, and then, just so she can hear alone:

I love you.

[oracle-watching.livejournal.com]

"I love you," she whispers back, "te'sorthene."

[-nightwing-.livejournal.com]

We'll be home soon, miri kushti. Soon.

[oracle-watching.livejournal.com]

"You'd better, or I'm coming up there myself to drag you back home."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

The com has been silent for a half-minute or so before a hand closes on Nightwing's shoulder.

[-nightwing-.livejournal.com]

The events of the last couple of days are really catching up to him. Mary has fallen asleep in his arms. He's so tired, he hadn't even heard anyone approach. He turns at the contact, slowly; not wanting to wake his daughter. His face looks raw from the still-healing acid burns from earlier, his kevlar muddy and torn in places from the fighting. There's still the slash marks on his face from their earlier altercation. All in all, he's looking the worse for wear.

Hey.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

Batman is a strong advocate of deeds speaking louder than words. He says nothing, removing his hand to stand beside Nightwing and look at the child in his arms.

[-nightwing-.livejournal.com]

His hand rubs the baby's back gently. He's not sure there's anything he can say. Even if he knew what to say. 'Sorry I broke your back earlier' doesn't seem to cut it. To think that bastard brought the Titans and the JLA into such conflict with that threat of what was happening to the kids...

Another fallout he'll have to deal with.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

A finger brushes Mary's cheek. Ungloved.

[-nightwing-.livejournal.com]

Silence is nothing new for him. It comes in many forms, and resents breaking. But eventually, he does.

I never understood what it is to really want to kill someone as much as I wanted to do it today.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

The bleak, black figure at Nightwing's side straightens. The finger moves away from Mary's face, the glove returned to its hand as Batman raises his cowled gaze to his former sidekick. Attentive, questioning.

[-nightwing-.livejournal.com]

He looks over at the imposing figure beside him for a moment.

Last time I felt that helpless was the night my parents were killed. Only back then, I didn't have the skill to really hurt anyone. I didn't have to worry about trusting my own instincts.

In his arms, Mary shifts in her sleep.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

The stare does not flinch, blink or otherwise change.

[-nightwing-.livejournal.com]

I did everything I could think of, and some things I'd rather not think about again, and I couldn't help her.

And I can't guarantee I won't feel that way again. Maybe I should quit this gig while I'm behind. She deserves better than that.

He lapses into silence once more, and kisses the top of Mary's head. He doesn't expect an answer.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

When in the Bat suit, Bruce's features settle naturally into a scowl. Part of the mask...or perhaps the affable smile his public persona wears is the mask that covers the glower more naturally his own. Either way, the expression he tenders Dick is not precisely compassionate. "Quitting won't change you. But you know that."

[-nightwing-.livejournal.com]

There's a long pause.

Leopard can't change its spots, and all that.

He moves away from the Batman, sitting down in the chair that Selina had been using to keep vigil over Mary beside the incubator.

I screwed up today. I screwed up bad.

A look up, over the top of Mary's head.

Never did do failure real well.

Gee. Can't think why.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

Arms fold over the powerful chest, covering the distinct logo that lets the truly ignorant know whom they face.

[-nightwing-.livejournal.com]

He returns the look, blue eyes hooded with fatigue that isn't merely physical.

Mid-Nite did a good job.

Change of topic. Better that than the alternative.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

Like a stone wall, the Batman's features. Maddeningly still, impassive past that glower, as if shifting mood would make the facade crack like old plaster.

He takes a step closer until looming over the father and daughter like an avenging angel. Or a demon. Gotham City's citizens are divided on which guise their protector takes. Then then gloved hand returns to Nightwing's shoulder, and this time the touch implies compassion rarely won from the relentless figure of the Bat.

Very, very softly: "Dick."

[-nightwing-.livejournal.com]

Dick Grayson has always met that look unflinchingly, never backed down from it. Raged at it. Even thrown things at it.

Today, in the face of that, he does the unexpected.

He looks down. His face is a taut measure of a tempest lying just beneath a calm exterior.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

He excels at so many things: consummate martial artist; avid student of law, society, psychology; skilled pilot of any variety of craft. The World's Greatest Detective. Why, then, is offering (or accepting) comfort so difficult for him, even with one of the few people he calls family? "If it helps," he finally allows, in that quiet rumble like a jungle cat's warning to its prey, "I wouldn't change a thing about you or what you did."

[-nightwing-.livejournal.com]

He's spent most of his life trying to live up to impossible standards; trying to win the smallest of compliments, or a nod of approval. The irony of this, having had possibly his worst day to date yet, is something that won't occur to him until much later.

The temptation for a smartass remark is resisted, if only because he can only find it in himself to nod, as his eyes close.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

When Dick opens his eyes, the Batman has gone. In his place is a box of small orange crackers.

[-nightwing-.livejournal.com]

So there really are Goldfish on the moon, he muses, a half-smile finding its way to his lips.

Twenty minutes later, the attending nurse will have to wake him up so he can take his still-sleeping daughter home.

[femme-du-chat.livejournal.com]

Catwoman pauses in the shadows, watching the interaction and then Nightwing and his little girl. There is a small smile on her face. Mary's okay. A tension she hadn't entirely aware of eases away and she turns to head toward the teleporters.

She has to get off of this thing. All she wants right now is a long hot shower and to sleep for along time.