Hurting? Try Traumatised.

                                    

                                          
Categories: Fluff/Daddybats/Team 
                          
A/N: Set after 'Failsafe'. Cheesy ending 'cause they're the best:)
                          
***
                          
Dick stared at the TV with a blank expression. He hadn't been to the mountain since the failed mission. He saw his team mates, the Justice League and the world perish. He thought it all was real. 
                          
Bruce watched his ward with sad eyes. He looked at his faithful butler.
"What should I do Alfie? He isn't dealing with it as well as I thought." 
                          
Alfred sighed. "I don't know Master Bruce. Maybe you could try talking to him?"
                          
"No." he disagreed. "Black Canary already tried. It hasn't worked." 
                          
"Maybe he needs to talk to you. He may need his father's words." 
                          
The wealthy man stood silently. Maybe he was right. How could he help him though? Did Dick really need him?
                          
Bruce wearily walked over to his son. The boy didn't realise. His eyes didn't leave the screen.
"Dickie?" 
                          
The little bird looked up but didn't speak.
                          
Bruce sat next to him. "How are you doing?"
                          
"Fine." he told him, moving away ever so slightly. 
                          
The man sighed. He could see right through him. "No, you're not."
                          
Dick turned off the TV and looked at him. "Okay. I'm not fine. I finally get to be a leader, and I sacrifice my entire team."
                          
Bruce shrugged his shoulders. "You saved the world. You did what you had to. They understand." 
                          
The little bird didn't know why he was surprised. After all, he did learn from Bruce. Of course he would think that. He stood up abruptly.
                          
"I got them killed! They trusted me! I should have found away! I, I," Dick shouted.
                          
Before Dick could say anything else, Bruce did something unexpected. It was like the shell that he had been hiding all his feelings in, cracked. 
He stood up and pulled Dick into a hug. He buried his face in his shoulder and cried. "I'm so sorry, son. This is my fault." 
                          
The boy hugged his father back and cried too. The warmth of his dad comforted him more than Bruce could imagine. 
                          
Alfred stood in the doorway. He watched his boys proudly. He just watched silently, not wanting to interfere. He didn't need to.
                          
***
                          
The next morning, the Boy Wonder faced his biggest challenge. Going back to the mountain. He stood nervously in front of the ZETA tube. Bruce placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. He didn't need to talk to encourage Dick to walk through.
                          
He was expecting to see the team bundled in front of the TV laughing. He expected them to glare at him and hate him. However, they were so completely unaware of their surroundings, they didn't here the ZETA announce his arrival. 
                          
They were in fact bundled around the TV. However they were in silence. Megan was the first to notice that their youngest member had returned. Her smile was as big as the Joker's. 
"Robin!" She ran towards him. 
Five faces turned to him. Their eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. They all ran up to him (yes, even Connor and Artemis). They all tried to hug him at once but evidently tacked him to the ground. 
                          
"Dude, I've missed you so much." Wally cried. Hopefully they were tears of joy.
                          
Kaldur was the first to stand. "It's been weeks my friend." he stretched out his arm and pulled him up.
                          
Robin thanked him. "I wasn't really feeling the aster."
                          
"C'mon man," Wally wiped his eyes. "None of us have."
                          
Then it hit him. They were all upset. They were going through the same thing.
                          
"You don't hate me?" he asked. 
                          
They laughed, but it was a serious question.
                          
Artemis smiled. "At first we though that you could have used that brain of yours to save us and the world. Then we realised the mission was designed to fail."
                          
His eyes glistened. They didn't hate him. They understood.
                          
"Can we please watch some static." Connor asked innocently like it was the normal thing to do.
                          
"No." Artemis said what was on everyone's mind. She didn't need to be a martian to know what everyone was thinking. "I have the entire box set of Friends?" 
                          
"Yes!" everyone agreed, even the half Kryptonian. 
                          
They bounced back to the couch. Robin wriggled in between Wally and Kaldur. As the theme music came on and they started to sing along to it (badly), Robin looked at his team mates. His friends. They would always be there for him. Through the good times, and the bad times.