Chapter 41

Picture Perfect

Alexis Pov.

My memories had settled finally, after all this time I had answers to my questions, I now know who I am, who I was, and why I am the way I am. I don't know what to do with this information, but for now, just having the information is enough for me. I could feel my body, the faint pain mostly coming from my leg and head. I focused on opening my eyes, hoping that I'd be able to wake up and see my family, praying that I would see their faces.

I winced at the bright light shining in my face from the ceiling lamp, I moved my hands and fingers around feeling a soft blanket, and let out a sigh of relief when I opened my eyes and saw a bright white ceiling and hearing a beeping beside me. I moved my head a bit, just to see and confirm. I saw dad sitting there with Damian leaning against him, both sleeping soundly, both of them looked as if they didn't know what a brush even was, bags were also very much evident under their eyes, they were so big I bet a diva could fit her chihuahua in there. I didn't have much more time to look at them as the door opened wide and the room was filled with familiar voices and laughter that I'd recognize from anywhere. In came Dick, Jason, and Tim all dressed in their normal clothes but had the same bags and hair as dad and Damian, well except Dick who had managed to get a brush through that hair. As they walked in they didn't seem to notice me being awake, however, their voices did manage to wake up dad and Damian.

"You three are infuriatingly loud, how you can even stand to be near one another I will never understand," Damian said sitting up and glaring at them, well as much as he could glare with sleep in his eyes. Dad simply stood up and stretched, managing to pop a few joints as he stretched.

"Fuck off you sorry excuse for a demon, we'll be as loud as we want!" Jason said, clearly annoyed from being talked down to by Damian. Dad shook his head fondly with a small smile on his lips as we went over to the other boys taking the bag of chips Tim had gotten for him.

"Oh come on Dami, we even brought snacks," Dick said as he showed several bags of chips and other various kinds of candy.

I decided this was the time to speak up with my scratchy and horse voice "You better have some Ben & Jerry's chocolate fudge ice cream for me among that candy"

It was kinda like time froze after I said that, all of the boys had frozen and their heads had sprung in my direction and they were staring a hole through me. Dad was the first to move as he came over at a speed that would impress even the Flash, he hugged me and I felt his tears sink through my hospital gowns shoulder, I slowly wrapped my arm around him as best as I could, I didn't even care if it hurt, I had waited for this for so long and to hell if some pain is gonna stop me from enjoying it now. Dad's motion seemed to start the entire machine as the others all burst out of their shock and either began full-on crying(Dick and surprisingly Damian) or let a few tears slip(Tim and Jason). As soon as dad let me go Dick went in for a hug along with Damian, while Tim and Jason came to my side and stood alongside dad.

I looked at them, but something was wrong, someone was missing. I felt tears fill my eyes as I began crying more than I've ever done. Dick moved back while Damian stayed and sat on the edge of my bed still looking at me. Their faces turned from happy and sad to worried and confused.

"Alex, it's okay. You're safe now" dad said softly, his voice filled with concern and sadness.

I shook my head wiping the tears away as best as I could "I cou- I couldn't sa- save him" I cried, my voice still rough. "I couldn't save Alfred!" I wailed into my arms, this realization of Alfred being gone hurt much worse than anything I had gone through back at the tortured place.

"Oh my dear, I am still very much alive" a voice rang out, my head shot up and he was there, Alfred was there, alive and okay. Tears overwhelmed my eyes out of pure happiness and relief, Alfred walked up on my other side and took my hand in his. Every one of them had a soft smile on their faces, all came in for a soft and careful family hug.

They were all alive, I was alive. I was back with my family.

Timeskip

"Jason no!" I yelled before subsequently getting driven around unwillingly in my wheelchair, unable to stop. Jason however seemed to be having the time of his life as he yelled "Jason Yes!"

"JAY STOP!" I heard Dick yell behind us, I turned my head to see a very worried looking Dick running faster than I thought was humanly possible. Behind him, I could see the distant shapes of dad, Damian, Tim, and Alfred who was shaking his head at the scene. I turned back around just in time to see that we were going towards the pool.

"Jason Peter Todd don't you fucking dare!" I cried out, only for it to be too late as I was submerged by water, I quickly swam to the surface as best I could with my new leg. And yes you heard that right, new leg, turns out that pain I felt before I went unconscious was several of my arteries in my leg being cut meaning when I was found I was on the very verge of death because of blood loss. When I was rolled into the hospital I got an immediate blood transfusion but the old injuries from my car crash years ago apparently re-emerged and messed up my leg so much that it had to be amputated. My other leg was injured as well but not nearly as bad, but I still had to go through some physical therapy to get the muscles to work probably again, so I was forced to use a wheelchair. At first dad and the boys had been extremely careful, and rightfully so I was weak and frail, I had severe mood swings and paranoia so I would often start crying out of nowhere and if someone tried to calm me down I would go all demon on their asses. And that's not to mention the nightmares which rarely happened since I rarely slept, dad had to give me a sedative several times and Alfred had to crush up sleeping pills and put them in my food just to get me to get some rest. It was bad, and I'm not gonna lie it still is. I was still incredibly pale and boney, my paranoia kept me from going outside into the garden, now I only went out if I had the others with me and I at times refused to eat any food, I was, however, sleeping more now than I was before.

The boys, dad, and Alfred had also stopped babying me so much, at first the attention was nice but after a week It got to the point that I refused to be near them, they were somewhat confused as to why but figured it out soon enough and calmed down. Now things were easier and more lighthearted.

"Jason I've never hated you so much in my life, I just bought this skirt yesterday!" I yelled at my laughing younger brother.

"Jason! she could have drowned what were you thinking!" Dick yelled as he ran over to the side of the pool and helped me up. I simply got all the water out of my hair, skirt, and crop top. I wasn't worried about drowning in the least, I didn't need the wheelchair anymore it was mostly for when I was too tired to stand, but since I wasn't tired at all currently it wasn't necessary, I was just being lazy. And my amputated leg, well right after the subsequent blood transfusion my leg was amputated, I woke up a few hours after the amputation screaming and crying and ripped out the Iv, they ended up giving me a strong sedative to keep me asleep while my body healed. I however didn't remember a thing about that. While I was sleeping the days away in the hospital, dad and Tim worked alongside Lucius Fox to create the best kind of prosthetic they could, and they sure as hell made a wonderful one. When they were done all they had to do was wait for me to wake up so they could adjust the final things and make sure everything was comfortable and worked as it should. It was completely water and fireproof and even concealed a hidden stun gun and knife, but best of all It looked just like my other leg.

"Oh get off my back, she can take it. See she's fine!" He said pointing at me to which I just glared back at him making the idiot grin even more.

"I'm fine Dick, besides I was just out swimming earlier this week remember?" I said looking at Dick with a softer expression, I did see Jason's smugness from the corner of my eye though.

"That doesn't mean you're forgiven you asshole, you still got my new skirt wet" I sternly said to Jason.

Dick was just about to retaliate but Alfred lucky came over just before an argument between the two children could break out. "Master Jason, you're current cookie privileges have been removed, if you wish for them to be brought back I'm afraid you'll have to earn Miss Alex's forgiveness" Alfred stated handing me a towel, the transformation from prideful and grinning Jason to regretful and horrified Jason was instantaneous. Jason then turned and looked at me hopefully, I sighed and waved my hand asking him to come closer, Jason raised a brow but came over anyway.

"Are you sorry?" I asked looking up at him from my wheelchair, Jason nodded slowly. I gave a soft and polite smile with closed eyes before pushing him backwards into the pool, I heard Dick, Tim, and Damian laugh while Alfred and dad chuckled. Yeah, it was good to be back.

Jason and I had finally dried off with the help of several towels and the fresh air. We had all gone back to the patio where Alfred stood at the grill with Jason beside him helping him out, yes Jason could cook, he had been able to since he was young after all he was the one who cooked for his mother when she was still alive, after he came to live with us there were times where he would come into the kitchen and help me and Alfred, he still did it whenever he was over for dinner, although it was without my help at the moment for obvious reasons.

"So when is it Laura, Marco and Katrina are coming over?" dad asked eating another bite of salad.

"Katrina and Marco are coming around 4 or 5 pm. Laura is coming over at 1 pm" I replied, It wasn't like I hadn't seen them, they came to visit quite a lot in the hospital, well Laura did it was a bit more difficult for Katrina and Marco since they lived pretty far away. I learned that Katrina got a boyfriend, it turned out she ended up scoring that James guy who we went to a party for and who she has had a massive crush on for forever. Marco and Laura were still looking.

Speaking of visits, some members of the League also visited me in the hospital, mainly Green Arrow or Oliver, Dinah aka Black Canary, and Roy aka Red arrow. Kid flash aka Wally and The Flash aka Barry had visited as well.

One of the best things about being home was that I was able to see Luna again! I missed her so much since she wasn't allowed into my hospital room. And now ever since I got home she hasn't left my side, although she made it very clear she doesn't like my new leg too much.

"Anyways I heard you're gonna go back to work at the shelter tomorrow, does that mean you'll be back at the Watchtower too?" Dick asked. Dad had called both Lainey and Ryland(my two bosses respectively) and explained the situation to them, they both held my position open so I could come back to work when I was ready again, which was now.

"The doctor said I had to take it easy and that I shouldn't stand up and walk around too much so I don't overwork my leg but otherwise I'm fine to go back to work" I was way happy for an opportunity of getting out of the house, I don't like to go outside alone but as long as I have others around me I'm fine, Ryland had made sure that whenever I had a shift I would always have one or two others working with me, and in the Watchtower, I was surrounded by hero's so safe to say I felt safe there.

"I will accompany you to the shelter tomorrow" Damian decided out of the blue, from what I've heard Damian had taken his new internship at the shelter very seriously and had been a great help even when I was in the hospital, from what dad told me he's also been calmer since he started working there.

"That would be nice, thank you," I said with a smile.

The rest of the dinner went on, it was nice and we all talked and just relaxed for the first time in a long while, reminiscing, laughing, and just all around having a peaceful evening.

"Alright, would you all please be so kind as to calm down, Alfred said while setting up the camera. Damian kept trying to push Tim out of the picture and Dick tried to make bunny ears over Jason's head and Jason was having no of it. Dad ended up separating Damian and Tim so they were now standing pretty far away from one another, Alfred came over and stood beside dad. We were all ready for the picture, well except Jason and Dick who were busy with a little discussion on how the bunny ears thing may or may not be funny anymore.

Was I ever gonna tell anyone about my memorize… No, I think I'll be keeping that to myself, I might tell dad and the boys about my future vision, but for now, I just smiled, happy to be home, happy to be safe.

Happy to be me.

SO what do you think, did you like it? Hate it? Or maybe you're just confused, either way, I enjoyed writing it and reading all your great comments. Anyways I'm putting out a new story soon, It's with Danny Phantom and an Oc so if any of you are interested check it out. And lastly happy birthday to my dear mommy may she enjoy the brownies I baked.

Thank you all so so very much for reading I hoped you enjoyed and I hope you all have a great day or night wherever you are in the world!

Misker Out!