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The moment they crossed the threshold of the chalet, they split in three directions.
Jason had beelined for the door closest to the entrance, the one that lead directly into the kitchen and living area. He would make a fire, no doubt, and he might very well use the oil from the kitchen to start it.
Tim had instead bounded up the stairs, his snow boots dropping white all around him in his rush. He would be grabbing the blankets, as many as he could carry back down again.
Dick brought Damian straight to the dry room, a wave of humid air slamming into them as he opened the door.
The dry room was small, spare jackets and snow pants still hanging from coat hangers high above the vents. While there was a door that led into the living area that Jason had gone for, Dick stayed exactly where he was instead, already tugging Damian a little further in so that the door leading to the metal grated entrance of the chalet was.
Damian didn’t fight the action, nor did he so much as glare as Dick began stripping the soaking wet gear from his body. Hell, he barely even blinked as Dick knelt fully in front of him, a hand on his stone cold cheek.
The humidity was already making Dick feel ill even as the warmth started soaking into his own bones. Not trusting Damian to remain on his feet for any longer, as soon as Damian was down to his thermals Dick gently coaxed him down onto the ground, his back pressed up against a wooden wall.
They’d been lucky that the dry room had retained this much heat in the time they had been gone, the vents pumping the warm air in connected to the very same fireplace that Jason was hopefully already working on reigniting.
Damian’s thermals were just as wet as his jacket, pants and boots were, his beanie having long since been lost to the ice cold water that had tried to damn well claim Damian too. His hair was soaked and yet not a single shiver ran through him, not a single blink as Dick cupped his cheek once more.
The door leading to the living area shot open, damn near crashing into Dick in the rush.
Tim was instantly by Damian’s side, bringing with him fresh, and most importantly dry, clothes.
They moved as efficiently as they could to change Damian into them, making certain to towel off his skin and hair as they worked in tandem, Dick needing to tug Damian up against his chest in the process of peeling the long sleeved thermal shirt away from his too cold skin.
The sweater that Tim had brought down swamped Damian’s too small, too still, body but Damian did not so much as blink let alone complain.
Tim was still in his own snow gear, though the remaining ice that was on his jacket was already melting in the humidity of the cramped room.
“Get changed.” Dick told him.
“But you’re still in your-”
“Get changed.” Dick said firmly. “Make Jason change too the moment the fire’s stable.”
“Dick,” Tim said. “We got him here in time.”
If they’d gotten Damian here in time, it would have been before the kid had ever been in the ice water to begin with. Damian still wasn’t shaking, his breathing so shallow that it made Dick’s chest ache even though he knew that he should be glad that Damian was breathing at all.
“Dick.” Tim tried again.
“Get changed, Tim. Now. Get dry, we can’t afford for you to get sick.”
Even in the hard shelled layers, Dick could feel Tim’s entire body tense beside him, his glare sharper than Dick had ever seen it. Dick looked away first, not because he was allowing Tim to disregard the clear order but because right now the priority was, above all else, Damian.
Damian’s blink was slow, his eyes glazed over in a way that made Dick fairly certain that he was completely unawares of everything that was going on around him.
At last Tim pulled away and while Dick could hear the rustling of fabric as Tim took off his own snow gear, he did not dare shift his gaze away from Damian just in case he lost consciousness completely.
Despite the warm heat that surrounded them, Damian’s skin was still like ice as Dick took his hands into his own, rubbing at the skin carefully.
A hand tugged at Dick’s arm.
Damian had already been barely breathing but now with the oversized sweater it was even harder to see each shift in his chest and diaphragm and with every fucking gap between breaths Dick couldn’t help but expect another one to simply not follow.
The hand tightened on Dick’s arm, pulling at it.
Dick shoved Tim away but Tim barely moved at all, having braced himself as if he had expected the blow.
Tim’s hand was already back on Dick’s jacket again because Timothy Jackson Drake was a stubborn asshole who didn’t know when to back the fuck off but he was also Tim and when Dick tore his gaze away from Damian’s to instead meet Tim’s eye, he found that Tim was giving him a tight smile.
“Please.” Tim murmured. “You won’t be able to help him if you’re get too cold too.”
Dick… Let Tim take the jacket away.
It was only when Dick was absolutely one hundred percent certain that Tim was watching Damian with his full focus that Dick stood up and changed out of his snow boots and pants, finding out that when Tim had brought Damian’s clothes down from the bedrooms, he had also gotten Dick’s hoodie as well.
Dick tugged it on and the split second that the fabric had covered his eyes had sent his heart rabbiting in his chest as if Damian might disappear completely even though Dick knew full well that Damian was fine.
But Damian wasn’t fine, not really.
Damian did not so much as try to knock Tim’s hand away as Tim pressed two fingers up against a pulse point, nor did he fight it as Tim inched just a little bit closer to him in order to cup his cheek just like how Dick had done.
From Tim’s distinct lack of expression, Damian had not become any warmer in his time here.
Dick knelt back down in front of Damian, tilting his head towards Tim until Tim at last gave the two of them more space.
“Dami? Dami, can you hear me, Bud?”
Damian’s blink was slow, so slow that it couldn’t possibly have been in response to Dick’s words.
Shuffling just a little closer to Damian, Dick took Damian’s hands into his own, trying to warm them up. Hell, Dick’s own hands were aching from the cold but compared to the unyielding chill that had taken over Damian’s body, Dick’s own might as well have been a blazing wildfire.
“We should get his hair dry too.” Tim said.
Dick stiffened.
He had known that, of course he had known that, he had known full well that they would need to dry Damian’s hair too in order to give the boy the best chance to fight against the unending cold just like how he knew that if they’d had access to the cave they would have already started a warm saline infusion already to try to help.
Dick had known about the hair needing to be dried and yet… And yet the thought had not so much as crossed his mind.
“Get me a towel.” Dick said.
In an instant Tim was off and Dick was once again left alone with his baby brother.
“Damian, everything’s alright Buddy, just try to stay with me, okay? You’re doing so great Sweetheart, I promise, it’s just a little bit longer and then everything’s going to be alright.”
If Damian heard Dick at all, he gave no indication.
Every breath Damian took was fragile, so shallow that Dick couldn’t help but wonder during the eternal break in between each breath if maybe the next breath just simply would not come.
Dick knew it was just the hypothermia, the cold having set off a primal instinct to retain as much energy as possible by limiting bodily processes in order to try to survive just that tiny bit longer but the mere thought that Damian was in such a survival mode tore through Dick’s very soul.
Damian was meant to be safe with them, Dick was meant to have kept him safe and yet the ice had given way all the same and his baby brother had disappeared along with it.
It must have only been a minute or two before Tim was back with a towel and yet it had been an endless eternity of too shallow breaths and too vacant eyes before Tim at last sat right back down by Damian’s side once more.
Dick verbally warned Damian what he was doing before he did it but he may as well have stayed silent for how Damian had shown no sign of all of having heard him.
No, it was still worth having warned him. Sure, Damian wasn’t showing any sign of processing anything that was happening, but it was also completely possible that there was still a part of Damian left in that too still too cold body.
Once Damian’s hair was as dry as they could get it, Dick coaxed Damian up and into his arms.
Damian didn’t fight the contact but he didn’t try to hang on either, not until Tim helped shift Damian’s arm up and around Dick’s neck.
It was Tim who spoke softly to Damian, warning him that they were going to start moving in a moment but it was Dick who cradled him close to his chest as he slowly stood.
Damian was Dick’s responsibility, no one else’s.
Even as still as Damian was, it was awkward trying to bring him through the door that lead out into the kitchen and living area, Tim having propped up the door as much as he can while also trying to stay out of Dick’s way.
While the dry room had been a godsend, especially with it’s nearly oppressive heat, it was an immediate relief to step into the living area instead. It was already warming from Jason’s fire but the spaciousness was really what made Dick be able to almost breathe again.
The chalet’s kitchen was extensive but Dick barely let himself so much as glance at it as he beelined instead for the long couches sat close to the fireplace, Jason still perched in front of it as he fed much larger logs onto it.
There was already half a dozen blankets thrown haphazardly onto the couches, blankets that Dick instantly recognised as having come from the bedrooms upstairs. How Tim had managed to scavenge not only clothes for Damian and Dick but the blankets too Dick had no idea but he was grateful for them all the same.
Hell, Tim had even brought down Bruce’s comforter from upstairs.
The thought of Bruce made Dick’s heart seize because Bruce was going to fucking kill him for this, Bruce had been incredibly clear that nothing was to go wrong in the time that he had been forced away from their annual snow trip for a Justice League matter, just like how he had been clear that Dick was in charge in the interim.
Dick forced himself to breathe, to focus on Damian and Damian alone because right now he was all that mattered.
Sure, all of this was Dick’s fault but then again, when wasn’t it?
Damian had only fallen through the ice because Dick had not noticed the cracks in time, Tim was now going to get double pneumonia because Dick had not insisted that he return to the chalet in time, Jason was now going to know what it’s like to lose a younger brother because Dick hadn’t been able to protect him from that heartbreak in time.
All of this was Dick’s fault, everything that has ever gone wrong was always Dick’s fault.
“Whoah there, Dickie,”
There was a hand was gripping tight on Dick’s elbow.
He blinked hard, holding onto Damian a little more tightly because someone was trying to take him away and Dick could never let someone take him away.
“Dick.” That same voice said firmly. “Timbo, the fuck is wrong with him?”
“I think it’s just stress.” A voice said on Dick’s other side.
Someone tugged again at Damian but Dick couldn’t let him go, he could never let another little brother go, he will never again let another fucking brother die, not now, not ever.
“Hey hey, Dick, it’s just us. It’s just Tim and Jason. Let us help, okay? Then everything’s going to be just fine.”
Fine. Damian wasn’t fine. He wasn’t okay. He wasn’t moving. He wasn’t even breathing, he wasn’t even-
Damian was breathing. It was shallow, far too shallow, but he was breathing even though it almost felt like Dick himself wasn’t.
He let Jason take Damian for his arms, distantly aware that it was now Tim that had a hand on Dick’s elbow and not Jason as if he wasn’t yet confident that Dick could stand on his own.
“Here you go, Kid,” Jason said.
Jason was careful, just as careful as Dick would have been, in how he set Damian up in front of the fire. He would be close enough to soak up the heat but far enough away as to not be overwhelmed by it and certainly not be burned by the closed fireplace.
He wrapped blankets around Damian, prioritising warming his core first and foremost compared to his extremities while also trying to make sure that he didn’t get warmed up so quickly that his body would go into shock.
Jason did everything as he should have and yet Dick felt fury rise up within him because it should be Dick doing all that, not Jason.
Dick shook his head hard, forcing himself to focus. Jason and Tim were allowed to help, of course they were. God knows he will need their help in the coming hours, it was going to be absolutely hell for Damian to come out of this and every single one of them knew just how rough it was going to be.
Their baby brother was going to need them now more than ever and Dick could not compromise Damian’s care just because of some misguided attempt at keeping him safe.
While Dick knew full well that it was a good thing that Damian had started shaking because it was a sign that he was finally actually warming up, he wished nothing more than for Damian to be able to settle fully instead.
As it was, Damian was shaking so hard that it was causing him genuine pain and while Damian was trying to hide it, there was nothing he could do to tamp down the broken sobs as the muscles around his cybernetic spine quaked.
Dick had tried to soothe him but so much as touching Damian was apparently too much for the boy right now. Hell, Dick and Jason had to fight to convince Damian that the blankets that were helping to warm him up needed to stay exactly where they were when Damian had tried to shove them away.
He was moving at least, if only to shake, and that was a good thing, that was a good thing even if it was causing the boy unimaginable pain because pain was far better than the faraway look that had been in his eye since Dick had pulled him from that frozen lake.
Jason was in the kitchen, preparing another hot chocolate even though Damian hadn’t been able to have any of the first one because they simply hadn’t been able to trust him to be able to swallow it.
Now that Damian was more aware, though he was still well and truely far from his normal baseline, they might actually be able to coax him into drinking the warm liquid.
As it was, Tim was cradling his own hot chocolate, his gaze trained on an arbitrary spot on the ground. Tim’s entire body tensed each and every time Damian made a pained sound and while Dick knew that he should go over and check in on Tim, he couldn’t bear the thought of leaving Damian’s side for so much as a moment.
It didn’t matter that Dick couldn’t hold him now that Damian was warming up, what mattered was that Damian knew that Dick was right there by him if Damian wanted the contact again.
A particularly strong shudder made Damian rock forward, new tears slipping down his face.
Dick reached out to wipe them away but Damian flinched back hard from him, giving off a broken sob that tore through Dick’s very soul.
“I’m sorry, shh, it’s okay, I’m sorry.”
“Dick,” Jason said. “Here.”
Dick accepted the mug even without looking at it. He shuffled a little closer, hating when it made Damian flinch. He held the hot chocolate out to Damian but if Damian could see it through the tears and misery and pain, he showed no sign.
“Dami,” Dick said. “Sweetheart, Jay made it just the way you like it, it’ll be nice, I promise.”
But Damian made no attempt at all to reach for it and when Dick tried to bring it to Damian’s mouth instead, Damian’s hand shot out, hitting the mug hard and knocking it to the ground. Dick scrambled to make certain it didn’t burn any part of Damian’s skin but the cocoon of blankets had kept him safe.
When Dick reached for the mug itself, or the two pieces of ceramic that had once been a mug, Damian rocked forward with a new sob.
“Oh Bud,” Dick murmured. “It’s okay.”
Dick didn’t know when Tim had raised from the couch, already placing the broken mug in the trash can be the kitchen by the time Dick registered that he had moved at all.
Instead of returning to his place by on the couch away from Damian, Tim crouched by Damian’s side. Damian did not flinch away from him, but he certainly did not leap into Tim’s arms either. If anything, it was like Damian hadn’t noticed Tim’s presence at all.
“Habibi,” Tim said softly. “Do you want space?”
A nod, firm and undeniable.
Tim stood, tugging at Dick’s arm but Dick shook him off.
“Dick,” Tim said. “Damian’s stable now.”
But Tim couldn’t know that, none of them could, warming up from severe hypothermia was almost as dangerous as the state itself was, there was every chance that Damian’s heart could give out from the strain or he could start struggling to breathe or hell, a million other terrible things could go wrong.
No, Damian was not stable, not until he had fully returned to an acceptable body temperature and mental state. The nod might not have been a nod at all, it could have been a flinch or a shudder or anything other than a conscious and aware nod to say that he wanted Dick to leave him.
Dick wasn’t going to leave a little brother alone, never again.
“Dick,” Tim said. “He needs, and wants, space.”
“So fuck off then.” Dick snapped. “I can handle him by myself.”
“I never said anything about doubting your ability to take care of Damian.” Tim said. “I just said that he’s gotten to the point where he knows what’s happening and he knows that he wants space. Come on, Dick, just for a little while.”
Just until the worst of the pain passes, Tim did not say.
What Tim wanted Dick to do was leave Damian to face his agony by himself and there was no way in hell he was going to do that.
A shadow passed over Dick and Dick threw his hands up and over Damian to protect him from their attacker but Damian gave off a loud sob of pain all the same because Dick had failed, Dick always fails and now Damian was going to die and it was all Dick’s fault.
“Listen to Tim, Dickie,” Jason said. “The brat’s out of the danger zone, at least enough that he’s coming back to himself. Give him space, we’ll still be nearby if he needs us.”
Even as Dick shook his head, he let Tim guide him away from the couch.
Tim tried to get Dick to go upstairs to the bedroom but Dick stood fast instead, refusing to budge no matter how much Tim tugged at his arm. Tim relented first, letting Dick be the one to choose where they would sit.
Damian was still in sight for Dick and if Damian called out for him or made even the slightest suggestion that he wanted Dick by his side again Dick could be there in an instant.
“It’s going to be a long night,” Tim said. “I’ll keep first watch.”
Dick was already shaking his head again because there was no way in hell he was sleeping, not until Damian was completely and utterly out of this state and fully back to his normal self.
There was a low pained whine that came from the couch and while Dick yearned to go to Damian’s side, he instead stayed exactly where he was.
There was a shadow looming above Dick and he absolutely did not have a fucking heart attack just like he absolutely did not fall flat on his ass in his attempt to get up and off of the bed. No, Dick got up and on his feet ready to defend himself in a very professional practiced impressive way.
Sharp green eyes glowed in the dim light, the only thing visible amongst the shapeless form of darkness. No, it wasn’t shapeless shapeless, and it wasn’t darkness either; It was Damian, quirked brow unmistakeable even if most of him was covered in a large blanket that curled from his head to all around him.
Guilt swiftly replaced any panic or outright primal fear that had risen up within him when he woke to the presence looming over him because to have been awoken meant that he had fallen asleep in the first place.
Dick had fallen asleep.
Damian had been deathly ill and Dick had fallen asleep.
It didn’t matter that by that point Damian had stopped shivering fully, nor did it matter that his core temperature had stayed consistent at safe levels for a long enough period of time that he wasn’t at risk of relapsing into hypothermia, none of that mattered when Dick had left him alone and vulnerable on that couch while Dick had climbed up the staircase to the bedrooms above.
Those big green eyes blinked owlishly at him and they were clear, they were so much more clear than they had been after Dick had pulled him from that lake.
Wordlessly Damian came to the edge of the bed. He looked down to it before shifting his gaze up at Dick.
“Are you okay?” Dick asked. “Are you still cold? I’ll make you another heat pack, no, I’ll make you a hot chocolate, or a hot chocolate and a hea-”
Dick’s voice trailed off because Damian was still staring at him.
Sure, Dick had gotten used to the various types of Damian there were ranging anywhere from furious murder child to gentle infatuated animal lover to everywhere in between but for some reason after everything that had happened yesterday, Dick’s nerves were maybe just a tiny bit frayed right now.
Damian blinked. He twisted again, tilting his head towards the bed.
“You… Want to sleep in my bed?”
A nod this time, so slight it was as if Damian himself wasn’t so sure about it.
Unlike Jason or Tim, Damian doesn’t often choose to sleep in Dick’s bed, not even after particularly rough patrols. Damian likes to know that Dick is nearby, certainly, but he usually would choose having his own space in his own familiar bed over having company.
Then again, they were still in the chalet so Dick supposed even Damian’s bed wasn’t all that familiar here either.
The realisation that this was Damian’s first trip up to this chalet, and the resulting realisation that Damian would probably never want to come here again, made Dick ache for him. It was meant to be a week of fun and snow and it had become nothing less than a fucking disaster because Dick hadn’t noticed that the ice was far thinner than any of the times Dick had come here with Bruce before.
Damian was blinking slowly again. Maybe he really was hypothermic still, maybe he was hallucinating or about to pass out or-
Dick forced himself to breathe.
Damian was okay. His eyes were clear, he wasn’t shivering, he had chosen to come here and he had chosen Dick’s bed to sleep for longer in which was completely okay.
“Sleep well.” Dick said, turning on his heel.
“Richard.”
The voice was rough but it was Damian’s all the same. Damian was okay. Sure, he was in a blanket but he was awake and he was aware and Dick’s hands for some reason were shaking at that revelation.
Damian was okay.
At least, he was okay enough to have come here on his own strength and his own volition.
Damian’s head dipped low. He raised it again, apparently having reached some kind of decision. A small hand crept out from the bundled blanket, tugging Dick’s own towards the bed. He nudged Dick until he was forced to accept that his place right now was on the bed and Damian came to nestle up against Dick’s chest, his warm body curled against Dick’s own.
Warm body. He was warm. Exhausted, certainly, and probably will be for days, but warm all the same.
Dick, too, felt warm, as he held his baby brother closer to his chest.
He felt even warmer a moment or an eternity later as two other warm bodies pressed up against him, then even more so as a third much larger body at last joined them, their Dad right there with them once more.