Laura (homeandhearth) wrote in doorslogs, @ 2012-12-11 09:18:00 |
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Entry tags: | door: dc comics, huntress, oracle, red robin |
Who: Tim, Helena, and Barbara (guest texts from Dick)
What: Post-gas watchfulness/waking up
Where: Wayne Manor
When: *handwave* Recentish?
Warnings/Rating: Injuries, memory loss, strange text messages
Tim had promised to wait with Barbara until she woke up, but he’d made that promise before he realized it’d take her all night to wake up. She must have hit her head really hard, but he checked her vitals nearly every hour and redressed her wound twice just to make sure. Rudimentary medical knowledge was a must in the Batfamily and Spencer knew a great deal himself. If she didn’t wake up by morning, he promised himself he’d take her to the hospital. At least Gordon wasn’t around to freak out about it. Hels was doing okay from the looks of it and the walk she’d taken had helped as far as he could tell. Sometime in the night, he’d drifted off, perched in a chair next to Barbara’s bed. It wasn’t comfortable, not by a long shot, but he’d been exhausted lately and some sleep would be good for him.
Unfortunately, a particularly strong wind blew a tree branch against the glass of the window and the noise startled Tim awake. He was wide awake in a matter of seconds, looking first to Helena and then to Barbara. Dressed in jeans and a tee, covered by a black leather jacket, that he hadn’t bothered to change out of after returning to the Manor. It was the first time he’d set foot in the place since leaving and the unease was starting to set in. He checked his watch. Another ten minutes, and then the time frame was up. It’d be hospital time. In preparation for that, he turned to Hels. “Hey, you doing okay?” he asked, kneeling down in front of her.
Unlike Tim, she'd changed earlier in the night into her standard PJs: a black t-shirt with the bat insignia on it and a pair of flannel hello kitty pants. Her slippers were on the ground next to her chair, but she'd kept a pair of plain white socks on her feet. At some point during the night she'd gotten up to get a blanket out of the closet and had it tucked up to her chin.
The same tree branch that woke Tim up woke her up too and she glanced at Oracle, then the window and promptly shut her eyes again. She hated sleeping in chairs, but she knew there would be no going back to sleep, not yet. Blearily she opened her eyes once she heard Tim's voice and nodded slowly, the lower half of her face pushing under the cover of the blanket. She had no idea what happened to the blanket she'd gotten him when she got hers, but at least he wasn't shivering. "'M good." Mornings should come with coffee.
His blanket was on the floor, off to the side. It must have been discarded sometime in the night, but he didn’t notice it then. He was more focused on Helena’s slippers and trying desperately not to smile too widely. At least he wasn’t laughing. That had to get him some points. She was obviously tired and he felt bad that she’d stayed with them. He was glad she was doing alright though. Without thought, he stood and fixed her blanket so that it was more securely wrapped around her. “Good. I’m glad you’re doing okay,” he replied softly, one hand going to carefully push some of her hair out of her eyes. He realized how affectionate the gesture was and winced just slightly. “Sorry, Hels,” he whispered softly, backing up. “I’ve got to take Babs to the hospital. She still hasn’t woken up and I’m getting worried,” Tim told her. “Do you want to go back to bed?”
She shifted a little as he adjusted the blanket around her, making sure that her toes were tucked up underneath the warm edge of it. "Little bit of a headache, but I'm okay," Hels said quietly, the corners of her mouth turning up slightly as he brushed hair out of her face. She knew why he did it and more importantly why he apologized for it. This wasn't the time to talk about it though as her eyes opened wide and she went from being drowsy to wide awake, looking over Tim's shoulder to the woman sleeping on the bed. "No, I'll go with you." Hels didn't know her, but she wasn't going to let him go alone.
She’d mentioned a headache last night and that had him worried. Ra’s had already threatened her and now she’d gotten caught in whatever point Scarecrow was trying to make. Tim didn’t like it, but he knew it wasn’t going to change anything. She was one of them and it was a hazard of the job. All he could do was make sure that she got the medical attention she needed when she needed it. He noticed the smile, but he tried not to think about it, because that only led to thoughts of actions he knew he couldn’t follow through with and now wasn’t the time or the place. They’d gotten lucky last night and he wasn’t prepared to take that risk again, not now when Babs was the priority. “Okay,” he replied, moving away. “Why don’t you go get dressed?” he suggested. “Might as well get you checked out too while we’re there,” he explained with a slight shrug.
Everything was dark, and that was a good thing. If it was dark, and quiet, then the pounding that she knew was waiting in her head wouldn't start. She tried to stay as still as possible, to take stock of things, but... she couldn’t. Where was she? What had happened? Trying to remember things made the throbbing start in her head even though she hadn't moved at all, and the pain didn’t help her gather her thoughts any. Maybe she should start from the beginning. Simple things. Who was she? Barbara. She was Barbara. Okay, that was good. What else? She had a wheelchair. She remembered that too. Certain things about herself she could focus on, but anything else...
Why wouldn’t her head stop pounding?
The voices started softly, and she was able to ignore them for a bit in favor of scouring her mind for more elusive answers, but they eventually mixed with the pounding, and she wanted them to stop. “Stop.” Her voice came out as a whisper, something rough forced from her throat, and the sound of it definitely didn’t help her head any.
Tim’s head whipped around at the sound of her voice, soft though it was. “Babs?” he asked, and he quickly made his way to her side, sitting on the bed a reasonable distance from her. Her eyes were still closed and her voice sounded rough, but she was talking and that was a good sign. “Can you open your eyes?” he asked, keeping his voice quiet. “I’ve got some water,” he added. “Might help.” He reached for the glass that he’d gotten at some point in the night so it wasn’t quite as cold as it could have been but something was better than nothing. He turned to Hels and caught sight of the clock on the wall. “I’m going to get kicked in ten minutes. How much time do you have left?” He turned back to Babs, worried about her and how she was feeling. “How’s your head?”
Hel's attention went to the woman on the bed and that quiet whisper. Tim made it to her first as Hel's unwound herself from her blanket cocoon, slippers ignored as she stood up and went to the foot of the bed. Babs – Oracle wasn't someone she knew from her world, but given Stephanie's response to her sudden disappearance while they were talking and how Tim was treating her now – she knew the woman was valued. That was enough for her. Glancing up at the clock, Helena replied quietly, "I've got a couple hours." She didn't ask why he didn't just come back through; on the other side, Spencer had a life too, and work that he probably couldn't miss. "Do you need me to get something?"
“Hurts.” It was the only thing that Babs could manage to croak out for a moment, and the sound of it vibrated in her skull again. She couldn’t yet focus on the words being said, and she sighed as she slowly, so slowly, tried to pry open her eyes. The little bit of light lanced at her, and she squeezed them shut again and slowly lifted a hand up to cover them. Her fingers encountered something soft, definitely not skin, and even though it ached she traced the bandage on her head. “...what...?”
Tim watched as Barbara tried to open her eyes, but it was obviously too bright because she shut them right away. “Can you grab the shades?” he asked Helena quietly, looking to the large window that was just across from him. Hopefully that would help with the light sensitivity. “There was an accident,” Tim explained to Barbara. “You’ve probably got a pretty bad headache. You hit your head hard when you fell out of your chair.” He didn’t have much time, but if she needed to get her head checked out, which she probably did, then he’d rather know what to tell people sooner rather than later. “Are you nauseous at all? Dizzy, confused? You remember your name and where you are?” They were all important questions, because a concussion would be particularly bad, but he was slow in asking them, giving her a chance to comprehend and answer.
While Tim asked the woman on the bed questions to assess if she had any cognitive impairment, Hels went over to the shades on the window and lowered them gently, slowly, trying to make a minimum of noise. As soon as they were down, she adjusted them to block as much light as she could while leaving a little sliver of light so they could see well enough to move around and examine Babs if they needed to. Walking back over to Tim, she leaned over enough to say lowly to him that they needed to check her pupils. "I'll go get a penlight."
Barbara frowned, her eyes still closed, and the movement of her forehead made the bandage pull slightly over her skin. It didn’t help the throbbing, though the reduction of light did. At least a little. The questions were annoying, but she knew they were necessary. “Head hurts,” she managed to say. “Little nauseous.” She sighed out loud, ended with a discontent, pained little sound. “My name’s Barbara.” She finally opened her eyes, squinting, but doing her best to focus on the two other people in the room. Things were a little fuzzy around the edges as she tried to focus on them. “I’m...” She trailed off, her frown obvious as she attempted to say where she was. Trying to move her head as little as possible, it was still obvious that she was looking sharper between Tim and Helena. “...who are you?”
“Thanks,” he murmured softly to Hels, his hand lingering on hers for a moment before she left to get the item in question. Babs was answering his questions, which was good, up until she didn’t know where she was or who they were. Tim’s eyes widened slightly, nervous and worried all at once, but he tried not to let it show for more than a flash. “I’m Tim Drake, a...neighbor, to Bruce Wayne. Do you remember him?” he asked. “This is Helena, she’s Bruce’s daughter, but it’s okay if you don’t remember her I think,” he added, because he didn’t know if there’d been an Oracle or Barbara Gordon in Hels’ worlds. “You’re in Wayne Manor, one of the spare rooms. You’re safe, but I think a trip to the hospital might be a good idea,” he suggested softly.
None of the names registered for Barbara, though maybe there was the tiniest push of recognition in reaction to the Wayne name. It was drowned out by the continuing throb of her head, though. Even though it was painful, and the room tipped slightly when she moved, she used her arms to push herself up slightly in the bed. She paused once she was a bit more upright, closing her eyes again as a throb of her head caused her stomach to turn. Into the space where she was about to argue about going to the hospital, something in her pocket began to vibrate, giving off a soft chirp from under the covers. With a frown and a fumble, she pulled it out, cursing softly and letting out occasional whimpers at the way everything hurt. Squinting at the screen, she then frowned up at Tim and Helena. “Someone named The Mightiest of the Mighty says that there is pork belly incoming.” Even with the way nothing else made sense, that seemed like an especially odd thing to have to say.
Tim was getting more and more anxious by the second. His time was winding down, he only had a few minutes left, and even though he knew he could just walk right back through, he wasn’t sure what was going on with Spencer and if they could spare a few more minutes to get things going. The buzz of her phone distracted him for a moment, and when she related the message, he couldn’t help but smile. “That would be Dick. I completely forgot to talk to him. He’s...well, he’ll probably explain better than I can because I don’t know when you two come from, but he’s someone you can trust okay? We all are. Anyone with Wayne for a name, okay?” He paused there, and then turned to Helena to say something, but then he was gone. And unbeknownst to all of them, he wasn’t coming back for a while.
"Dick's last name isn't Wayne," Helena said quietly, deliberately keeping her voice down so she wouldn't bother Oracle further. "It's Grayson, but you can trust him. I'm Helena Wayne. Bruce's daughter from a different world." She sat down gently on the edge of the bed, penlight in her hand. "Where I came from, Dick was a mentor to me. He's younger here, but still one of the good guys." It was getting easier to accept the new people that she didn't know and let them know who she was. She'd never been ashamed of her last name, of who she was but the last world had taught her caution. This world was removing it. "Are you okay if I do a quick check of your pupils?"
Babs’ eyes went wide as Tim suddenly disappeared, followed quickly by squeezing them shut again and trying to keep her breath from beginning to race. It was finally starting to dawn on her that while she could remember her name and certain small things about herself (she liked computers, had the knowledge to bend them to her desires, spent her time in a wheelchair), the world around her was fuzzy and confusing. She listened to Helena, the quiet statements flowing around her even as she tried to find her composure again. She opened her eyes again upon request, but with a hard swallow looked at Helena. “I don’t know you.”
She wasn't as bothered by Tim's disappearance as he'd told her that his time was running out, but it was a little strange that he hadn't returned. "Tim's okay," she added, seeing the other woman's panic. "He had to go back to Vegas. Do you remember Vegas? The Doors? Passages?" She was really hoping she wouldn't have to explain that. If she did, both their heads were going to be hurting more than they already were and Hels wasn't looking forward to the return of a pounding headache. "No, you don't know me. We haven't met before." She'd never spoken to the other woman over the comms or in the cave, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to help her.
“I don’t know him either,” Babs said, eyes fixed on the spot where Tim had disappeared. The talk about Vegas was strange, but there was something that made her think that she knew about it, at least. Something that was already in her head, quiet but steady. It was the one comforting thing when everything else made no sense at all. “I think I know about Vegas,” she replied with a frown. She wasn’t certain, but she was pretty sure. She looked down again at her phone, staring at the message from “Mightiest of the Mighty” and wondering if she should reply. She finally typed in “What?” and then returned her attention to Helena. “But I know people you know?”
Helena nodded slowly. "Yes. Tim. Bruce. Stephanie. Damian. Bruce. Dick." On the last name, she tilted her head towards the phone, but she didn't say Selina's name, in case Oracle hadn't spoken to her. Or, like Tim, she had some bad experience with her in the past. "Do any of those sound familiar to you? Besides Tim, obviously," she said with a little huff and smile. Dragging one leg up on the bed, she tucked her foot beneath the knee of the opposite one, her socked toes dragging slightly on the rug beneath the bed. "You were talking to Stephanie when you hit your head," she added, in case that helped any.
Barbara looked down at her phone at Helena’s gesture, repeating quietly “...Dick.” The name pushed at something in her mind that seemed familiar, but she couldn’t put it together yet past the continuing confused throbbing of her head. She set the phone on the blanket next to her and rested her fingers on it for a moment, ignoring the way they trembled a little. “The rest of it... it’s fuzzy. I don’t...” She took a breath. “Maybe I just need to rest...”
"Don't try too hard," Helena said as she watched the other woman, the tension in her face as she tried to concentrate. "Let me check your pupils and then you can lay back down until Dick gets here." As long as everything was fine and her pupils reactive, Helena wasn't going to take her to the hospital. Clicking the penlight on, she waited for acceptance from the other woman before she moved any closer.
Babs was reluctant to let someone close to her when she could barely remember anything, and definitely not this young woman, but if it would earn a bit of quiet for her to try to sort her thoughts... She gave the slightest nod, something that didn’t jostle her head too terribly much. Her phone beeped again near her fingers, a quick check revealing the “Mightiest”’s response of “OMW”. She frowned at it and didn’t reply, returning her attention to... Helena, she forced her mind to remember the recent introduction.
Helena tried to give her a reassuring smile and she made it quick, hovering the penlight at Babs' mouth first, just enough to see her pupils well before flicking it upwards to watch the response time. Both pupils shrank under the bright light, and when she used it on both of them at the same time, they dilated quickly. "All done," she said, the smile coming easier as she stood, clicking the light off. There were no pockets in her pyjama pants to slide the light into, so she simply kept it in her hand, thumb rubbing over the end. "looks okay, but you should probably get checked by a doctor when you're up to it. Or if anything gets worse."
Barbara tried to return the smile, but it came mixed with a slight wince, especially as spots danced in front of her eyes in response to the light. The entire thing seemed familiar in a way she couldn’t quite define, like she'd had to go through all of this before, but she didn’t say anything about that to Helena. She simply watched as she stood, finally giving a careful little nod. “Okay.” She raised a careful hand to the bandage on her head again, exploring the clean dressing and wondering how bad the cut was underneath. She settled herself more comfortably in the bed and glanced down at her phone again, but there were no more messages after the last. With a sigh, she looked back up. “I think I’ll just rest now.”
Helena nodded again, lips curling faintly into a soft smile. "Yes, of course. I'll be in the next room over if you need anything, okay? I'll leave the door open so I can hear you." But otherwise, she'd leave the other woman alone to rest. Grabbing her blanket and Tim's from where they laid draped across the chairs, she paused to shove her feet into her monster slippers before padding out of the door. If she stayed inside, she'd be too tempted to talk and Oracle needed her rest. Hels could do that.
Barbara settled in more, pulling the covers around herself as Helena left the room. She didn’t know what was going on, but she didn’t want to be under someone’s watchful eye while she tried to figure it out. With a sigh, she closed her eyes and waiting for some sort of revelation to hit her. ...or for her head to stop pounding, whichever came first.