"What the fuck are you doing here?"

Tim and Damian tensed further under his hands, still unable to see who is at the door under Jason's restraining hand. Jason suddenly moved, throwing back the covers and climbing over Tim to get to a pale and shaking Dick. The younger boys sat up quickly. Tim unconsciously put a precautionary hand in front of Damian, who was furthest from the door, before gasping quietly when he realised who was in the doorway. Damian muttered indistinctly, but Tim thought he heard a, "…god dammit Grayson.."

"Had to see you and the babybirds, Jay.." Dick mumbled slowly from where he was leaning up against the doorway, blinking drowsily, "Had to make sure-"

"Just shut up, alright?" Jason snapped, interrupting him as he reached his brother's side. Deciding that the cave was too far away, he took Dick's arm gently and placed it over his shoulder, "Lean your weight on me and walk as slow as you want, okay?"

Dick took him at his word. Jason had no idea how the acrobat had made his way from the cave to his bedroom; up the stairs and even more stairs. He shuffled more than he walked, breathing heavily and sweating profusely. Tim and Damian wisely kept quiet in the bed, realising that it was probably taking a lot of concentration to put one foot in front of the other in his state. However, they had no such problems laying into him as soon as he had reached the bed.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Grayson, are you dumb as well as stupid? Why would you-?"

"Wait"

Both boys fell silent once more and Jason paused from where he had been trying to release his hold on Dick's arm. Their older brother had no shirt on, white bandages, speckled with red patches, were wound tightly around his torso and wore sweats that hung loose on his hips and extended beyond his ankle, nearly to the tips of his toes – they were far too big for him, and Jason had an inkling that they were his. Looking up into his brother's face, he saw a pale, gaunt face with eyes screwed shut and a literal bead of sweat run down his temple.

Jason had had enough. "Okay, circus freak, you've had your walk about. Tim, go get Bruce-"

Dick started, his eyes snapping open as they fixed on Jason's face. "No!" Then, softer, quieter, "Please, Jay, I wanna stay with you guys.."

Jason had no reply. Damian let out a low whistle. "That dream messed you up good, didn't it, Grayson?"

Dick flinched and Jason cursed as he nearly lost his grip. He glared Damian, who looked back innocently. The vigilante sighed and shifted, finally getting Dick's arm off his broad shoulders and gently positioning him on the bed. Without being told, Damian and Tim shuffled over to make room as Jason bodily dragged Dick up the bed to lie with his head on the pillow. Thank god Dick had a ridiculously massive bed.

But Dick still didn't calm down, his breath coming in short bursts, his chest rising and falling dramatically. Jason paused. "Uh, Dickie? Calm down, we're not going anywhere.."

Dick still didn't stop. He suddenly gasped loudly and Jason started, snapping, "Dick, I swear to god if you have a panic attack right now, I will drag your ass back to medical so fast-"

A firm voice interrupted him from behind. "Move"

Distracted by Dick's hyperventilation, Jason hadn't noticed Tim crawl to the end of the end and amble over to a chest of drawers, realising what was happening. When Jason turned, he saw Tim holding something small, blue and plastic. Jason jerked, unsettled.

"He has asthma?"

Tim sighed long-sufferingly but explained, "A mild case, but yeah"

He moved out of the way of Tim and watched him as he sat beside Dick, holding the medication up to his lips and counting as Dick sucked the medicated air in and out. A billion questions buzzed around his head and he tried to angrily swat them away. It wasn't that bad, Dick is a grown man and he can take care of himself - he shouldn't be this concerned. But still, how did he not know this? What if Dick had taken an asthma attack while on patrol? What would Jason have done? Just have stood there?

Damian rolled his eyes. "Oh, good grief, give over. I can hear you thinking from here. He's fine"

"But he runs about rooftops and does all that acrobatic shit-"

Tim answered him. "He had it as a kid, but grew out of it, like most people do. It comes back sometimes - usually in summer or when he has a cold or chest infection or something like that," Tim paused and added, "Or when he gets shot, apparently"

Dick snorted around the plastic.

"But-"

Damian cut him off with a sniff. "Stop fretting, Florence Nightingale, your patient is fine. God, you're worse than Alfred when Dick has a cold.."

Jason grumbled, but fell silent, unhappy. Tim threw him a smirk over his shoulder. After Dick caught his breath, the younger boy asked, "So, what happened?"

"Well, we didn't have to call out Leslie, so that was good. Had surgery to-"

"Who did the surgery then?"

"Oh my god, Todd, stop being a worrywart," Damian said, exasperated. Jason huffed. The younger boy turned to Dick, "What did Alfred say?"

"The vest didn't stop it fully, but it slowed it down. The bullet wasn't as far in as it would have been. Alfred just had to go fishing for a while to find it. It looked worse than it was"

"So Bruce didn't do the surgery?"

"No, he was controlling the anesthesia and, you know, all that jazz.."

Damian smirked. "So… he was the nurse?"

Dick paused, tilting his head, as if he was thinking about it. Then, with a sly smile on his pale face, he nodded. Both Robins snorted and even Jason chuckled – they were so getting Bruce a little nurse's uniform for Halloween. With a tiny, tiny skirt.

After a moment, they settled down, and Tim carefully scrabbled over Dick to his other side - under Damian's intense glare. Jason shook his head - that kid had a protective streak a mile wide. With Damian, Tim and Dick tucked up in bed, he smothered a smile. He dragged Dick's desk chair over to the side of the bed, chucking the dirty clothes to the floor. He unconsciously put himself between the door and the Batkids.

Tim turned into Dick's side - his uninjured side - and the older brother slowly lifted his arm to wrap around him so that his head rested in the crook of his shoulder. He brought his hand down to curve along the younger boy's back. Damian immediately claimed ownership of the limb and latched on to it, enveloping with both of his own arms.

The boy frowned at Jason over Tim's shoulder, as if he was challenging him to say anything. Jason raised his hand and waved it in a 'go ahead' gesture and held back a sigh. He didn't know when this kid was going to realize that he wasn't going to judge him for seeking love and attention if he needed it – god knows the kid needed it after being brought up by Talia al Ghul and Ra's al Ghul.

A strange sort of tranquility settled over them. He likened it to a blanket surrounding them; protecting them. It was warm and comfortable, and Jason swore the world outside had disappeared, leaving the four of them alone. It was quiet for so long that Jason would have been convinced that the other three had fallen asleep if he hadn't been trained to recognize the difference between conscious breathing and unconscious breathing. Jason knew both Damian and Tim were exhausted and were on the verge of an adrenaline crash, but they seemed to be waiting for something. Sure enough, Dick didn't disappoint.

"That guy," Dick mumbled quietly into the stillness of the room, "I followed him halfway through the fight after I saw him leave – he was walking to the pier. He was dragging a sack, and it was full – bulging, really.."

They all stayed still and silent as their older brother paused, seeming to be collecting himself. Dick sucked in a large breath and let it out slowly, muttering, "I didn't make it in time… he threw it over the edge into the water.."

He chuckled darkly to himself and, in the dark, Jason saw him shake his head self-deprecatingly. "It's stupid – really stupid. I had just left them, fighting with you, but- but I thought it was Tim, or Damian…"

Ah. That explained it then. Jason nodded understandingly and murmured softly, "It's okay, Dick"

Dick shook his head as if in disagreement, staring at the ceiling. "I saw red, Jay, I didn't even think. I just ran.."

Jason hummed. He would have done the same.

"I- I, uh," Dick cleared his throat, as if he were embarrassed, and carried on, "I didn't even stop with the guy. I just ran straight to the pier to look over. I saw the sack sinking, but it was close enough to reach so I- I dropped my escrimas to grab it.."

As he trailed off, Jason stiffened and his hands curled into fists as he remembered the man with his brother's weapons.

"I dragged it up, but it was so heavy. I'd just got it up over the edge when the guy hit me – with my own weapons. I- I should have been able to beat him back, still," Dick paused and Jason pointedly ignored his wet sniff before he continued, "but I thought it was one of you two, and the bag wasn't moving…

"I saw the bag," Damian revealed as they tactfully ignored Dick trying to compose himself. His voice softened uncharacteristically as he added, "But, Dick, it was just the drugs… he was getting rid of evidence

"Oh," Dick breathed, seeming to shrink in on himself.

"D, what did you dream that night?" Tim whispered after a long while.

Dick sighed heavily. "It was stupid. It's all so stupid-"

"Dick," Jason interrupted him sharply, "You're okay. Tell us, come on"

The acrobat sighed once more and shifted, getting comfortable. "Well, you all know that I grew up on the circus before Bruce, right?"

Jason snorted. Damian rolled his eyes. Tim just hummed, tapping Dick's chest for him to go on.

"Well," Dick started, "At that time, I was really the only kid in the circus, so, by default, I was everyone's kid," he chuckled, "I had a lot of Aunts and Uncles, as you can imagine"

Jason winced. Yeah, Grayson had only lost his mom and dad to Zucco, but he had lost an entire family to CPS

"I used to have these dreams. I'd tell Aunt Vadoma about them – she was the seer, like the fortune teller person," Dick explained, "And she'd tell me that I was very… gifted," he stuttered. Jason smirked when he saw Dick blush, hurriedly moving on, "She said that I had some sense of foresight-"

"Oh, come on," Damian began, "Surely you can't be-"

"Dami, I dreamed about falling for weeks before they did"

Damian fell silent. Jason watched as Tim shifted back to push comfortingly against the boy behind him. He then whispered, sounding young and ashamed, "I'm sorry, D..."

Dick twisted his arm in the young boy's grasp to grab his hand, strengthening his grip as the boy squeezed back almost desperately. "It's okay - you're alright…"

"Over the years," Dick continued after a while, "I had some dreams, now and again. Not all of the dreams would come true, but enough of them would that I never forgot about what Vadoma said. My grandmother- on my dad's side - was a seer, so maybe…"

He never finished that thought, trailing off and leaving it lingering in the air. The room fell silent once more. Jason stood from his place in the chair and pulled the curtain. The sun would begin to peak over the Wayne Manor trees soon. He sat at the bottom of the bed, resting his hand on Dick's blanketed foot. "Get some sleep, babybirds. You, too, Dickhead"

Damian lifted his head, tilting it towards the bed. "In"

"I know, I know…" he huffed. He fell back and shifted around to get comfortable, curling up at the bottom of the bed like an overprotective dog. Tim threw him down a pillow.

"Love you guys"

"That's deplorable, Grayson"

Jason heard Tim snort in agreement, but felt both boys slip closer to Dick.

He waited until they had all fallen asleep. About half an hour later, the sun peering through the gaps in the curtains, Jason whispered back, "G'night, assholes"

Dick kicked his foot.