I almost missed posting this on Father's Day! I'm pretty sure Lawrence is out of character and I know Ra's is, but sometimes taking characters out of their comfort zone is fun. And in my headcanon, the two get along well. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing. All DC characters belong to DC and the part of 'Bare Necessities' belongs to Disney.
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The moment Lawrence Crock hears about his daughter, he can't believe it.
"Daddy! Look!"
"Dad! He's just a friend!"
There's pity and something like sympathy in Ra's eyes. He's a father himself, Lawrence vaguely remembers in that moment. Talia. Ra's little girl.
But there's a difference. He maybe disappointed that his little girl is a hero, but he loves her all the same. Ra's uses his daughter.
"Take some time off," he says kindly. "You won't be needed in our plans for a while. I believe your ex-wife found out not long ago."
Paula. This is going to kill her. Ra's doesn't miss the look on Lawrence's face.
"Go." he said. Lawrence nods stiffly, salutes and leaves. His head is swimming, filled with thoughts, memories. The last time he saw Artemis was the evening after her graduation.
Lawrence knocked on the door he used to enter without a thought. It had been hard to honor Paula's wish that he leave so Artemis can try to have a better life. It looked like his little girl succeeded. He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly as he hears her call to Paula, saying she'd answer the door. He hasn't seen her since Santa Prisca, but he can't let her high school graduation pass without some kind of acknowledgement.
"Can I- Dad!" she says, surprise clear on her face and she drops into a defensive stance. Carefully, Lawrence spreads his hands apart, a gesture of I'm not here to hurt you.
"I wanted to come say congratulations." he said quietly, hoping, wishing that she'll see the truth in those words.
"You said it, now you can go." Artemis says coldly just as Paula wheels into the room.
"Artemis! He is still your father. Let him in." Paula commands. Artemis glares at him, but lets him in anyway. He knows she was speaking literally, but part of him wishes she meant emotionally as well. He still loves his family, his daughters, his wife. He's just made too many mistakes.
"I... I wish I could have seen it." he says lamely as he takes a seat on the sofa.
"I recorded it. I can... give you a copy." Paula offers and Lawrence smiles a little gratefully at his wife.
"Thank you." he said. Tension fills the air and when he reaches into his coat pocket, he doesn't miss the way Artemis tenses. He produces a small package wrapped in forest green paper, a silent call to her own forest green costume. "A graduation present. Don't worry. I bought it." he said at her suspicious look. Artemis opened it and cracked the box it came in. Her gasp was audible and Lawrence grinned. It was an emerald/diamond/gold flower framed in a gold frame. Artemis' eyes flickered up to look at her father, then back at the necklace.
"Dad, I... I..." she stammered. Normally, Lawrence would have corrected this, but he didn't want to spoil the moment. Then Artemis did something she hadn't done since she was four.
She hugged her father.
Lawrence climbed out of the car, tugged his ball cap low and entered the apartment building. For the next week, before he went to sleep, he had watched Artemis' graduation video. Lawrence's stomach dropped as he climbed the stairs. His heart pounded as he approached the familiar door. It opened before he could reach it.
"L-Lawrence?" Paula asked, voice wavering. Lawrence stepped in, closed the door, dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around his wife.
"Lawrence! I have amazing news!" Paula said over the phone, the small blue tooth device in his left ear.. Lawrence dropped a security guard with ease, tying him up. God bless technology.
"Oh, yeah? What's that?" he asks, walking over to kill the silent alarm.
"Artemis got into Stanford!" Paula said, excitement clear in her voice. Lawrence's hands don't pause their motions, but he blinks anyway.
"Stanford?" his voice is colored with disbelief.
"Yes, Stanford!" there's a brief silent before Paula speaks hesitantly. "I'm having a small gathering. You're invited. Jade is too... If you... Run into her or something." Paula knows the life and knows the chances are slim.
"And how does Baby-Girl feel about that?" Lawrence asked, putting down a particularly tenacious guard. That's one of Sportsmaster's things. He doesn't kill unless it's absolutely necessary. It's been necessary a few times in the past, but not if he can help it. The poor sap might have a family to go back too. And, though he's feeling his way blindly, he just might have one to go back too as well.
"It was her idea."
Paula shifts in the bed and Lawrence tightens his hold on her. They hadn't made love, but he had stood by, watching her climb into their futon, before accepting her invitation to curl up with her, like they used to.
"I'm going to find out who did this. I'm going to kill them." Lawrence murmured in her hair. Paula sniffles. She's cried hard and has exhausted her tears.
"I know."
"No one hurts, no one k-," Lawrence takes a shaky breath and releases it slowly, forcing himself to say the word. "No one kills one of my little girls and gets away with it." he says savagely, fist clenching. Paula rolled over and kissed him gently. Lawrence cupped her face and kissed back, equally gently. It quickly evolves into more.
"Um... Thanks for coming." Artemis says. She's wearing the necklace he gave her as a present. He smiles. She's beautiful in a forest green dress that shows enough of the curves she's developed (his little girl has developed curves) to show she isn't a little girl anymore. "Come on in." she said. Lawrence steps in and immediately pauses. He should have known. Artemis' friends are there. The little raven, the little robin, is there, glasses concealing any tell-tale features. The larger boy who doesn't bother to hide his 'secret identity' because he doesn't have one. The Martian, Aqualad, Rocket... Young heroes and he's the only... But he isn't. Jade steps out of the shadows, holding a large plate with a large cake on it, behind Paula who is nervously watching the tableau, waiting for the fight to start out. A red haired boy, the speedster, the one Artemis is smitten with, (Lawrence develops a sudden and intense dislike of redheads right there and then.) is balancing a bowl of chips with a small tub of chip dip in the middle, sneaking chips every now and then. The tense silence is broken by Artemis.
"KF! Dammit, what did I tell you about eating before anyone else!" Artemis barks and Lawrence can't help it. He starts laughing.
"S-Sorry, kiddo. You just sounded like your Mom right then." he said, trying to contain his laughter. The little robin snickers.
"They say daughters take after their mothers." he teases. The rolled eyes tell him it's an everyday thing. Lawrence crosses the living room to take the cake from Jade, because it looked like it was getting heavy. He eyes her for a moment, noting something is different about her.
"What's wrong?" he asks, seeing the distant look in her eyes. Jade's eyes flicker around the room and he gets the idea. "Hey... Superb-" he fights the urge to say 'brat'. "-Boy, can you take this? Make sure the speedster doesn't eat it all?" he asked, forcing his tone to be light and teasing. It's not generally used for that. Connor nods, understanding the need for code-names here.
"Sure." he takes the cake and Jade leads her father into the kitchen.
"Okay, Jade, what's wrong?" he asks as they sit down at the table.
"I'm pregnant. I think." she said, squirming a little. She had expected to have this talk with Paula, not Lawrence.
"You know the father?" Lawrence asked quietly. She's surprised as the calmness he's displaying. He had told them, that getting pregnant young was for the stupid and the romantics of the world. Then he'd given them the complete facts of life, with no sugarcoating. The bad and the good. But, as Jade thinks, it shouldn't surprise her that he's being this calm. He had added, after he was done with the 'talk', that he was there for them, when it came to this. Questions, problems, anything.
"It's... Red Arrow." Jade said softly. Lawrence just nods. This is strange. She had thought that he would have blown up hearing that.
"Do you want to keep it?" he asked softly. Jade's eyes fly up to his.
"Of course!" she snaps. Lawrence holds up a hand.
"Had to ask. Is he going to marry you?" he leans back in the chair, watching her.
"We already are." Jade said. Lawrence nodded, accepting this, before listening to Jade speak.
The next morning, when Paula wakes up, for a moment, everything is okay. Artemis is alive, Jade is alive, Lawrence is alive.
Everything is okay.
Then it hits her like a ton of bricks. Artemis is dead. Jade has disappeared. The only bright spark is Lawrence is, was, here. The smell of bacon tickles her nose and her stomach rumbles. She hasn't eaten since lunch yesterday. Slowly, Paula pulls herself into her chair, then to the bathroom. After pulling herself out of the shower, Paula pauses, hearing singing coming from the kitchen. A deep, pleasant male voice.
Look for the bare necessities
The simple bare necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife
I mean the bare necessities
That's why a bear can rest at ease
With just the bare necessities of life
Her eyes widen as she recognizes the song. It's from the Jungle Book, the Disney version. That was the one movie both Lawrence and Jade liked. Their girls had always loved Alice in Wonderland, but the Jungle Book had been Lawrence and Jade's. She dresses as quickly as she can, barefoot, and wheels into the kitchen. Lawrence glanced at her and smiled, breaking off in the next part of the song.
"Morning." he said, somewhat cheerfully. If Paula didn't know better, didn't know Lawrence better, she'd say he was over Artemis' death. But she knew he wasn't and she wasn't going to push him. He meant his promise last night. He would find who killed their daughter and kill them.
"Good morning. I haven't heard you sing in... Forever." she said. Lawrence smiles shyly and turns away, grabbing two plates with bacon, eggs and toast for them.
"I... I felt like it." he stops in the middle of retrieving the orange juice from the fridge and Paula is treated to an extremely nice view before he finally straightens. "I'm sorry, Paula. I should have trained them harder." he says, fiddling with the pitcher, before pulling two glasses down.
"You trained them well, Lawrence. It's a hazard of the Life." Paula said reassuringly, reaching out to take his hand in hers. His eyes close as a pained expression crosses his face.
"It wasn't supposed to be." he chokes out.
"Well, I guess that's my cue." Lawrence said, getting up from the sofa. The party had broken up. Jade had gone home a few minutes ago, the others from the team before that. The only one that was still around was Wally and he was helping Paula in the kitchen. Artemis opens her mouth, maybe to ask him to stay a bit longer, but thinks better of it.
"Um, Dad, there's... Something I need to tell you." Artemis said nervously. A trickle of dread enters his stomach. Is she pregnant too?
"What's up?" he asks casually, sliding his hands into his pockets. If she is, he'll kill the speedster, League and reconciliation be damned.
"I'm... I'm retiring. Stanford's going to be hard without the added stress of... You know." she said with a shrug.
"Heroing." he finishes without ire. Artemis nods. "That's a sound decision, baby girl. Focus on school, be the first Crock to graduate college!" he says this so grandly, that Artemis laughs. She's forgotten that he can funny sometimes. "Be the first Crock to graduate Stanford." and in that moment, he is so proud of her it almost hurts. "I'm...I'm proud of you, Artemis. You're doing really good." he said, uncomfortable with spitting it out. "I'd better-" he gestures lamely at the door.
"Um, yeah. Thanks for coming, Dad."
Months later, when it's revealed that Artemis is alive, Lawrence is both relieved and angry as all hell.
And he's living with Paula again.
"You couldn't tell us!" Sportsmaster rages. In the middle of battlefield. "You couldn't even let your mother know? Artemis Rebecca Crock, I am ashamed of you!" he snaps and knocks a minion aside, still yelling at his daughter. "What the hell is the matter with you?" he demanded.
"Can we talk about this later?" Artemis demands right back, firing one explosive arrow after another as the bio-ship comes hovering in, ready to extract the team of Kaldur, Nightwing and Artemis. And, in a last minute addition, a suddenly-fighting-with-them Sportsmaster. They scramble aboard and take off. Sportsmaster waits until they're in the air before turning to look at his daughter.
"Really, Artemis? You couldn't even have told your mother?" he asks. Artemis can't decide which she finds more annoying. Wally's over-attentiveness or her father's sudden paternal instincts.
"Why are you yelling at me?" Artemis fires back, then gestures at Jade, who is on board as back up with Roy. "They're married and have a baby. You're a grandfather." she says. Jade scoffs and Roy makes an indignant sound.
"I know about that. I didn't know about you. And I almost killed him," he said, waving a hand at the injured Kaldur, who is being fussed over by M'gann. "Because I thought he had killed you." he said.
"That's touching, guys, really. But we can't go back... you know, with him aboard." Nightwing said, gesturing at Sportsmaster.
"Gotham." came three voices in unison. If Nightwing's eyebrows go up, you can't tell.
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Somehow, Paula isn't surprised when, at three in the morning, a bickering trio, two long-suffering boys and a sleeping grandchild, arrive on her doorstep. She's overjoyed to see her youngest alive and well. And promptly scolds her with much less irritation than Lawrence did.
"Artemis Rebecca Crock! You had me believe that you were dead! Oh, never mind, I'm just glad you're safe and home." she said, wrapping her arms around her daughter. After they separate, Paula takes her grandchild from Jade and smiles at the sleeping babe. It's clear they are all spending the night. Lawrence considers making the boys sleep in the living room, but one is married to one of his girls and if the other doesn't... He hasn't retired yet.
"I'll get the crib. Red Blunder, come with me." Lawrence said. Roy trudges after (horrors!) his father-in-law while Wally slips into the kitchen as Lian gets attention.
"I'm sorry, Mom." Artemis says softly as Jade takes Lian and sits on the sofa, with Artemis sitting on the other end, with their mother between them.
"I understand, sweetheart. It goes with the territory. And you, young lady, where's my apology?" Paula demands jokingly. Jade shifts and gently lifts Lian a little higher.
"Grandchild?" she offers weakly. Paula laughs, because it's funny and because it's the closest she'll come to an apology. Lawrence and Roy enter, both at either end of the crib and arguing about something.
"What if there's lead in the paint?" Roy demanded. Lawrence shook his head.
"Jade and Artemis both slept and cried and played in this crib and they're okay today. Shut up and help me set it up." he ordered. "You know, that's whats wrong with parents today. You always worry over nothing..."
Roy can only sigh and be grateful he isn't trying to kill him.
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Later that evening, Jade and Roy are sleeping in the pullout in the living with Lian in the crib. Paula and Lawrence are in their bedroom and Wally's arms are wrapped around Artemis, his face buried in her hair.
"I think your family is crazy." he murmured. Artemis turned and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"You're just now figuring this out?" Artemis said and kissed him. They start to make love, but at the first moan, a banging on the wall startles them and Artemis almost falls off the bed.
"Don't even think about it!" Lawrence roars through the wall, miraculously not waking Lian up.
"I've changed my mind. Your family is definitely out of their minds." Wally said, shaking his head. Artemis laughs and settles for having his arms wrapped around her.
"I've known that for years."
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fin