August 19, 1716h

        Tim sat in the garage.  The back door was open, letting in a storm
cooled breeze that swept away the stale air.  They'd opened all the windows
in the house, too, turning off the air conditioner in favor of the scent of
rain.  To get rid of the hospital smell, Dinah had commented.
        Everyone was here, now - Alfred and Leslie and Dinah and Bruce and
him and Cass and of course Spud and Babs.  And Dick.  Dick was physically
present anyway.  And sort of there mentally.  But not all the way back.
Not by a long shot.  Leslie's pleased announcement that Dick could control
his bodily functions and respond to commands had been too much.  Too much
joy for so little a sign of consciousness.  Tim had slipped away at the
first opportunity.
        So now he sat with the bike.  Or what was left of it.  It seemed a
fitting metaphor.
        Bruce had taken care of that detail.  Tim didn't know how he'd
snuck through Babs security array and gotten the bike back to the cave, but
he had seen the tell-tale marks the length of the cave exit.  Bruce must
have dragged it behind the Batmobile, damaged it almost beyond recognition
following the specs that Babs and Dinah had put together.
        Babs hadn't questioned it when Tim arrived in the guise of a tow
truck driver, bearing the mangled machine on the bed of a Larson's Towing
and Wrecking truck.  She'd only directed him to stow it in the garage where
it now lay, all but forgotten.  A broken symbol of a broken life.
        He heard the connecting door to the house open and shut, then Cass'
voice said, "Hey."
        He looked up wearily.  "Hey," he replied.
        She, too, was looking at the bike.  "Dick will be mad."
        Tim nodded, a lump in his throat.  If he ever woke up.
        Cass seemed to read his unspoken thought.  "He will be," she insisted.
        "Cass," he began hopelessly, but he couldn't voice his argument.
Why kill someone else's hope?
        She walked up to him and stood in front of him, blocking his view.
Her eyes were determined.  "He will be," she repeated.
        He averted his eyes from hers.  "We have to get back to Gotham," he
reminded her, changing the subject.
        "Tim."
        Her tone forced his eyes back to her.  He realized that she, too,
looked tired, and that he really had no idea how this was affecting her.
They'd barely had time to talk since Dick had been hurt.
        "Dick is still there," Cass said firmly, her eyes searching his.
"I see him."
        Tim shook his head.  "Cass, what if he's not?  What if -"
        "I see him, Tim.  He will wake up when his mind can understand his
body."
        Tim sighed.  "I hope you're right."
        "Stupid Tim," she said in disgust.  "I say goodbye to Spud, then we
go.  I drive."
        Tim nodded his acquiescence, not prepared to argue.  It wasn't
until she had disappeared back into the house that he realized that she
hadn't left out a single word when she talked about Dick.