Caffeine Withdrawal | T. Drake ✔

[42] Trauma

A slight tumble was heard and Alexander looked up at last. Jay had stood up and gone towards the sound and soon after Red Robin stumbled inside. He was carrying Dora and seeing her, Alex too stood up shakily.

His heart was sinking from worry and seeing Dora as such made him get even more anxious. He followed Jay and Red Robin to a nearby room where he placed Dora down on the bed and stepped back.

Alex had bent down on his knees beside her unconscious form and taken her hand in his own, eyes welling up for he had always cared for her like a parent does for a child and seeing her in such a state was tearing him apart.

"Are you alright?" Jay asked Red Robin as he took him aside but he merely nodded in reply. But he was bleeding though the red of his suit hid it well. "And Dora?"

"Scarecrow had given her a toxin. I don't know what effects it had on her but... She's not... She's..." His voice was trembling and he could not complete the sentence, eyes focused on Dora in concern. 

Stephanie gestured Jay to stay with Alex while she led Tim out and straight up to his room though he was a bit reluctant to leave Isadora. "You have to change," she told him, "and I am certain you're hurt too but not showing it."

"But Dora..."

"She will be fine," she assured him, "she will want us all to be with her when she wakes up and you have to fix yourself up before that. You can't go down there like this."

She took out a pair of clothes for him and heated the water in his bathroom and though he was reluctant since his thoughts were still going back to Dora, she had to force him to get out of the vigilante suit.

"He gave her a toxin, Steph, a toxin that he hasn't used on anyone before! How can we know what effects it could cause to her? How can we be sure that the damage won't be permanent? How... How..."

She gently grabbed him by the shoulders to steady him but he winced so she softened her grip, "Tim, I'm just as worried as you are for her but being stubborn right now is not going to help. You have to fix yourself up and be there for her. Panicking is not going to get us anywhere."

He groaned wearily, turning away from her, "leave me... Please."

"You're hurt," she objected and refused to step out.

"I'll manage."

"You know I am even more stubborn as compared to you," she remarked, "so the sooner you do as I say, the easier it would be for you to get rid of me."

He knew it was useless to argue against her as she pushed him in the bathroom and shut the door. He finally removed the cape as well as the shirt of his suit and saw that his skin was dented with cuts almost everywhere due to the fact that he had to crash in through a window.

"Make it quick because the bandages won't go on you by themselves. And since I'm being generous today, you can thank me later for this," she called from outside though she was searching for the first aid kit and bandages in his closet.

"Third drawer under the bed," he replied knowing that she was rummaging in his items for the kit, "and don't mess my stuff up."

"Shut up."

***

The medic had just left after thoroughly examining Isadora's state and prescribing the required medication. There had been no physical injury other than the cut on her right arm but the extent of the mental damage she had received could not be determined just yet.

Jason had asked Alex to go rest in the room next to the one Dora was kept in but he had refused, all his exhaustion seemed to have evaporated and replaced by concern for her. He was still sitting on the chair beside the bed, holding Dora's limp hand in his own.

Tim was sitting on the couch in the same room, he had been bandaged well by Steph and was wearing Jay's over sized jacket over his shirt to hide the white bandages peeking through. His blue eyes were restless and fixed on Dora.

It was near morning but she had not even stirred and while Alfred had tried to convince them it was due to the painkiller injections she had been given, still all of them were quite worried.

Jason had left with Barbara a little earlier to check up on Selina who was in Helena's care while the rest of the Waynes were in their respective rooms.

After what seemed like hours, Dora's hand that Alex was holding twitched and he straightened immediately. Tim and Stephanie had also noticed the slight change and their tired sleepy eyes had refocused.

"Dora?" Alex spoke gently because he wasn't sure how she would react.

Her eyes had fluttered open but there was a very blank expression on her face as she stared up at the ceiling, not a single word passing her lips.

"Dora, look here. You're with us, you're safe."

Her head tilted slowly towards him but soon as her eyes locked with his honey colored ones, a slight gasp escaped her and she retrieved her hand from his immediately.

Her eyes were wide and fearful as she scurried back, her body trembling slightly as an intense wave of fear raked through her nerves, "no... No..."

Tim was beside her in an instant gently holding her but she screamed, retreating from him as well.

"Dora... It's us. Your friends Stephanie and Tim," Steph spoke in a soft tone, "and your brother Alex."

"No... It's not real... You're not... No..."

They had no idea what had made her so terrified of them. But the pain of seeing her like that stabbed through their hearts.

"Dora..."

"I saw you people die!" Her voice had risen to an alarming pitch and she was shaking violently, her eyes wide in fear, "all of you... All of you died in front of me! I saw... I saw..."

Tears had started to pour from her eyes as she curled herself up tightly in a ball, her head resting on her knees and her arms wrapped around herself.

She would flinch each time any of them tried to reach out to her so they had to back off.

"You're not real..."

"Dora, whatever you saw wasn't real," Steph made one last attempt, "nothing happened to us. We are all with you, alive and well."

"No... I saw..."

"Dora..."

Alex's face was evident of the pain he was going through but he gently placed a hand on Steph's shoulder, silently asking her to stop. He gestured Tim and Steph to step out and much to their surprise, he did the same.

But he had paused in the doorway eyes still focused on her so Tim stopped as well.

"Alex, what are we going to do now?"

"She's traumatized," he answered, "she used to have nightmares back when we lived with our parents, terrible nightmares that left her troubled for days. It took her long to overcome it but I think... I think this situation has triggered those terrors again in her." 

His gaze was still fixed on Dora who had closed her eyes out of exhaustion but was still trembling slightly, burying herself deep among the pillows and blankets as if terrified that someone would come and hurt her.

"And are we to leave her there by herself?" Steph asked, green eyes glimmering in concern, "she's so terrified, Al. Should we really leave her alone?"

"I'll handle her but right now she needs to be by herself. She will not calm down otherwise and in order to make her believe that nothing happened to us, she has to be calm enough to understand. And that won't be possible if we stay with her and terrify her further."

Tim's voice was concerned as he asked, "will she be alright?"

His eyes connected with his blue ones and an uncertain look was evident in his irises, "I don't know. But I will try my best. I can't give up on her."

Stephanie added in a gentle reassuring tone, "we are all with you, Alex. We can't give up on Dora either."

***