Devin Grayson has talked about being a sexual assualt survivor (which, if you don't believe me, somebody else has already referenced upthread...or on the Huntress thread that precipitated this one) -- I'm not 'assuming' any facts that aren't a matter of record.
And I really doubt that you could infer much from my 'retcon' other than 1)I thought the story was beyond awful, 2)I'd prefer that Nightwing not be a rape victim in DCU canon, 3)And I consider 'beating into a coma' to be an acceptable punishment for rapists -- which, yeah, guilty on all counts!
Believe it or not, I liked most of Grayson's GK stuff, and, hell, even a good chunk of her Nightwing stuff -- so the fact that this storyline rang such a terribly dissonant note is significant, IMHO -- as is her hemming and hawing about what 'really' happened thereafter.
Devin has my sympathy (heck to some degree, my empathy) for being a survivor. But knowing that, and reading the storyline under discussion -- I find the whole thing reads like id-fic of a rather disturbing sort.
Is that speculation? Sure. Is it baseless speculation? I don't think so.