Mask of Glass

Ch 7

Any progress that had been made with Dick's sleeping schedule was completely thrown out the window once he got his memory back.

At first Bruce couldn't figure out why Dick refused to sleep at night. He tried keeping his son up all day, locking him in his room at night, and even bribing him. Nothing seemed to work. Bruce was at the end of his rope, so after one sleepless day Alfred decided to take matters into his own hands.

"Master Dick, would you like some milk and cookies?" Alfred asked politely.

"Sure Alfie." Was Dick's response.

Alfred set down a tray of milk and cookies on Dick's lap and left the room.

Dick dug into the cookies, quickly finishing them. The glass of milk was cool in his hand and the two calming foods made Dick feel the effects of his recent sleepless nights and sleepless days. Dick finished the milk and set the cup back on the tray, standing up and starting towards the kitchen to return the tray to Alfred. Dick's thoughts wandered as he walked through the halls. The sun had set a few hours ago and it was now about the time when Bruce would come find him and beg him to go to sleep.

'Why can't I just sleep during the day? It's not that weird...' Dick thought to himself, wondering why Bruce refused to let him be nocturnal like he wanted. "He doesn't understand..." Dick muttered out loud. There was a reason Dick didn't want to sleep at night.

Dick had almost made it all of the way to the kitchen when his head started spinning. Pain throbbed behind his eyes and he was suddenly covered in a cold sweat. "Ughh." Dick moaned as he fell to the ground. Dick had just enough time to realize what Alfred had done before he drifted into unconsciousness. Alfred had drugged his food.

--

Bruce found Dick laying in the hall and picked him up. Bruce chuckled as he carried his eldest son to his room. Bruce tucked Dick into bed before going to the batcave to get ready for his patrol.

--

After patrol Bruce hauled his aching body up the stairs. Tim and Damian hobbled after him, all three looking like some sort of zombie parade. It was well past 2am, and when Bruce checked on Dick he seemed to still be sleeping.

Bruce got himself ready for bed and flopped down on his luxuriously soft mattress, closing his eyes.

It seemed to Bruce that his eyes had only been closed a few seconds before he heard screams. He had shot up in his bed and rushed across the hallway into Dick's room before he had even had time to register what he was doing.

Dick was laying on his bed. Sweat ran down his face in rivulets and his voice was hoarse from his ragged screams. Bruce shook his son's shoulders, trying to snap him out of his nightmare. Dick's golden eyes opened, terror clear in them. His screams were traded for shallow rapid breaths.

Bruce pinned his son's thrashing limbs and spoke soothing words. "Shhhhh. I'm here Dick. It's me, Bruce. Everything is alright." Dick slowly calmed down, and looked at Bruce with tears running down his cheeks.

"B-Bruce..." Dick sobbed.

"It's alright Dickie." Bruce said, pulling his shaking son into his arms.

Dick took shuddering breaths as he sobbed into Bruce's shoulder. "That's why I don't sleep at night." Dick whispered, looking at his lap.

Bruce's heart constricted in his chest. "Dick it's alright to have nightmares, it happens to everyone." Bruce said, rubbing soothing circles on Dick's back.

"They're not normal nightmares... Whenever I close my eyes I'm back with the court, being tortured... 'discipline' they called it. They chip away at my will until I finally submit, and do what they want. I kill..." Dick looked absolutely horrified with himself and curled into a tight ball. "I can usually deal with them during the day... But during the night they all seem so real."