Office Visit
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Dick bounced around the table.
It was a Friday morning and Gotham Academy was still on break, which meant he didn't have school. Alfred was in England for a family emergency, but Bruce didn't want to get a babysitter. Dick had only just turned 10, he couldn't leave him alone in the giant Manor. He would've called Leslie to babysit, but he assumed she was working.
'And I can't leave him here by himself.' For a moment Bruce thought of all the trouble a ten year old could get into in this giant Manor. But he knew the real reason he didn't call anyone to babysit was because he wanted to spend time with Dick. So he did the next best thing to a babysitter; Dick was coming to Wayne Enterprises with him. He had only been the ward of Bruce Wayne for little under a year, and all the girls in the office were simply dying to meet him.
"Grab your jacket." Dick stopped jumping up and down long enough to snatch the jacket that was lying on the back of a chair into his hands.
"I was so bored, Bruce! But now I get to go with you? To Wayne Enterprises?" He continued to bounce on the balls of his feet. Bruce chuckled. 'Wish I could get this excited about going to work every day...'
He pulled the jacket from Dick's hands and slid Dick's arms through while the boy continued expressing his excitment. Bruce put a hand on his shoulder to guide him through the door and into the car.
"I'll get to see your work building, I bet it looks huge on the inside! I mean, I've seen it from the outside, and it sure looks big from out there. And... Bruce?" He paused when he realised he didn't have Bruce's full attention. They had reached the car and Bruce had stopped to fish the car keys from his pocket.
"Ya, chum?" Once he found them he looked up at Dick.
"Am I going to get to see your office?" Bruce gave a slight chuckle at the excitment clearly written all over the young boy's face.
"Of course." Bruce smiled at Dick and opened the passenger door for him. Once Dick was inside and seatbelted correctly, Bruce continued walking to the driver's side.
As they pulled out of the very long driveway, Bruce looked over at his young adopted son. He had his nose close to the window and was gazing at the sky with large blue eyes and a big smile. He felt something in his chest tighten at the picture, and a small smile broke out on his own face. He didn't want to tear away his gaze but he was driving.
It didn't take long for Dick to start asking more questions.
"Who else works there? At Wayne Enterprises I mean." Bruce looked over at his adopted son for a moment before turning back to the road.
"Lots of people work at Wayne Enterprises." Bruce said simply.
"How many am I going to see?" Dick rephrased the question.
"Well, I'm sure the secretaries outside my office have been dying to meet you,"
'They've only told me that everyday since you came to live at the Manor...' he thought before continuing,"And Lucius Fox, I'm sure will show up as soon as he hears your in the building..."
"Awesome!" The boy seemed satisfied with the answer, as he smiled and continued looking out the window.
They had arrived at the building. Bruce was not used to driving himself, usually Alfred drove him, so they would have to park themselves instead of being dropped off. Bruce had his own parking space, after all it was his name on the side of the building. Once they parked he came around and opened Dick's door.
"Okay, remember manners. Say please and thank you-"
"Yes sir and, no sir, I understand, Bruce." Dick interrupted politely and finished Bruce's sentence with a smile. Bruce smiled back and turned toward the building, he wasn't worried. 'Dick's the most polite kid I've ever met. And if he acts up, what are they going to do, fire me?'
When they entered the building the young secretary at the door about had a heart attack.
"Oh hello Mr. Way-" She saw Dick peeking out from behind Bruce and gasped, "Is that him! Oh my gosh! It's Dick Grayson! We've all been dying to meet you!"
Dick gave a shy smile to the woman as Bruce continued walking toward his office. Bruce threw a flirty smile back just to keep up appearances. He saw her take her cell phone out and start texting someone excitedly.
'No doubt everyone upstairs will already know he's here by the time we get there.' He assumed she was texting the other women in the building. They entered the elevator, which was thankfully empty, Bruce may be an active believer in taking the stairs, but his floor was several flights up.
'That girl about had a heart attack when he walked in...' He thought as they stood in comfortable silence. As the elevator doors opened he took Dick's hand in his gently. Dick smiled up at Bruce brilliantly and even Bruce couldn't help but to smile back. He lead the boy out of the elevator and toward the direction of his office.
They didn't make it anywhere close before they were stopped by two young women who worked in the building.
"Aww! We heard Dick was coming today!" The first one, Bruce knew as Cara, said as she came to a stop in front of him and Bruce.
"OhmygoshOhmygosh! It's true!" The second one, Bruce knew as Anna, bounded to her side. They 'Ooh-ed' and 'aww-ed' over the young boy for a few moments as he stood close to Bruce's side. Dick gave a beaming smile at the women, which only made them more excited.
'Gosh, you'd think I brought in a puppy...' Bruce thought to himself, he was very amused by the reactions he was getting with his young ward in the building, but they did have to get to his office sometime.
"Come on Dickie, we have to make it to my office." Bruce said kindly. They both smiled politely at the women before continuing to Bruce's office. He heard a simutanious, 'Aww!' come from behind him at Dick's pet name.
By the time they entered the next room, Bruce's secretary, Vida, was already waiting for them. A grin broke out on her face as she saw the young boy still holding hands with Bruce. A hand flew to her mouth to cover a giggle.
"Hello there, you must be Dick Grayson." she immediatly addressed him.
"Yes, hello." Dick smiled back. Anna and Cara had followed them and were watching from the doorway, and a few other women were peeking from behind him.
'Gosh, women...' Bruce thought, 'He's a kid not a puppy...' But he himself had a proud smile on his face. It was that moment that Lucius Fox came in.
"Ah this must be the young Dick Grayson!" he made the sentence a statement rather then a question. Bruce looked down at the young boy and released his hand, instead putting his hand on the boy's shoulder.
"It sure is, how've you been Lucius?"
"Fantastic and even better now that I finally get to meet this young boy." He smiled down at Dick at the last part of his sentence. He held a hand out for him, Dick took his hand and gave him a polite hand shake.
"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Fox." Bruce ignored the 'aww's coming from all the women in the room.
"How about you come back for a tour of the building sometime? We'll show you all the workings." When Lucius said 'sometime' he meant in a couple years, he wasn't sure a ten year old would be particularly excited about business related matters. But he didn't know Dick Grayson.
"Cool I'd love to! If that's alright with you." He added as he turned to look at Bruce.
"That'd be fine, I'm sure you'd be the most interested in the business section of the building. He is top of his class in Math." Bruce added to Lucius. He then thought about what he said and realised that Dick was only supposed to be in fourth or fith grade, but he had skipped a few when he moved to Gotham Academy.
"He's top of his seventh grade class in most subjects actually, he skipped a few grades." Bruce explained. At this Lucius looked impressed. 'Maybe I'll scoot up that tour date...'
A frazzled looking women in sharp business attire pushed through all the other women at the door to stand in front of Bruce and Lucius.
"I'm sorry Bruce, the people at Star Labs want to push the meeting to now. They say their secretary entered the wrong date, and this was the one they had originally planned out." She looked apologetically from Bruce to Dick. Bruce sighed audibly.
"There's no other option?"
"They've arrived in the building." She explained. Bruce sighed again.
"I'm sure I have plenty of people willing to watch him." he addressed the unsaid problem they were all thinking about. Bruce looked to the women at the door while gesturing to Dick.
"That's fine, Bruce. I'll see you after the meeting." Dick continued smiling at Bruce. 'The kid's so happy all the time, that almost makes me feel worse for leaving him.' Bruce thought.
After Bruce, Lucius and the woman had left, the women at the door immediatly flocked to surround Dick.
When the meeting was done thirty minutes later Bruce hurried back to the room where he left Dick. As he stepped outside he heard the women giggling and cooing over Dick still. When he reached the entrance he stopped and looked. Dick was in the center of the giggling women, he casually sat in one of the chairs and was politely speaking to one of them in the center.
'What person hasn't fallen in love with this kid.' He thought as he entered the room. The women collectivly gave a slightly sad sigh, as they knew Bruce was coming to take Dick away.
"Hi, Bruce! Done with your meeting?" Dick criss-crossed his legs in the chair.
"Yup sure am, Dickie. Now come on, we never made it to my office." Bruce gave a proud smile to his son. It was one of his rare kind of smiles that Dick always cherished. He held a hand out for Dick to take so they continued walking to his office.