Terry tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. Driving down the parkway was a good time to get out of his own head. Taking Dana to the beach and letting her blast her EDM with the moonroof popped on one of Bruce's cars were his favorite memories from this past summer.
Driving down the parkway with Bruce stewing in the passenger seat and only the whirr of expensive tires on worn road to occupy him was much less enjoyable, but Terry was trying to get what he could out of it.
"Would you quit making all that noise, McGinnis," Bruce snapped, startling Terry out of his thoughts.
"Are you okay, Bruce?" Terry asked, opening the window to let one arm hang over the side. "You seem.. Well, you seem the way you always seem, except much worse."
"I've just got a lot on my mind." Bruce shifted his gaze to the side window to sulk.
"Right." Terry paused. Bruce was obviously not in the mood to talk. But then, he never was. "You know, most grandparents don't treat picking up their granddaughters like some solemn event."
"It's complicated," Bruce growled, keeping his eyes fixed on the window.
"You gonna tell me her name at least? I'd feel really awkward just calling her 'hey you' after driving an hour to pick her up."
"Her name's Mary. Not that you'll need to speak to her much."
"I'm picking up a little hostility here. Just to remind you, Dana and I are going really strong right now."
"Don't try to be funny," Bruce growled. "I'm not in the mood."
"First of all, I'm not being funny. Girls flip out for this," Terry said with a flourish to himself. "Maybe you should relax a little bit. She's just a person."
"It's not Mary I'm worried about."
Terry gripped the wheel tightly. He should've figured. Dick Grayson, the first Robin, the only Nightwing. Not on good terms with Bruce. At all. And Mary's father. Bruce was actually… anxious?
"You'll get to spend some quality time with her for a while. I know you've been looking forward to it."
"You'll need to keep away from her."
"Uh. What? I mean, I really wasn't kidding before. Things with Dana are-"
Bruce interrupted, not in the mood to listen to Terry a second longer than he needed to. "She doesn't know about our work. And she's smart enough to figure it out if she has any clues at all. I don't trust you not to gum everything up. So when you talk to her, end the conversation as soon as possible"
Terry remained quiet as he navigated the turn off the exit, but when he pulled up to a red light he fixed Bruce with a confused look. "I mean… She's going to be living with you. I don't really know how you expect me to avoid her. Every single night."
"Just act like your normal idiot self and I'm sure she'll get tired of trying to talk to you."
"Okay, so I'll just avoid her and you for the rest of the day."
"Sounds fine to me."
Terry rolled his eyes and continued to follow his GPS app. Bruce in a bad mood was nothing new, and Terry knew better than to bother him too much.
Bludhaven was a wharf town, and Terry could smell hints of the sea through the open window. The houses were narrow and tall, many on stilts, and several had stones on their lawns instead of grass. The pavement seemed lighter than the pavement in Gotham, flecked with sand and stones from the bay.
The Grayson's house had a brick facade, with tall steps that led to the second floor. A garden, filled with colorful flowers blooming in front of dense bushes, lined the front of the house and wrapped around the side. It was a nice house-cozy-but not something that Terry would expect of someone directly related to billionaire Bruce Wayne.
Terry hurried to the side of the car to open the door for Bruce. It would be hard on his knees getting up all those stairs, even with his cane. The doorbell chimed a cute, simple tune when Terry rang it, and it was opened quickly by a woman who was taller than Bruce.
Deep red hair spilled down Mrs. Grayson's back, and Terry got an accidental faceful of it as she pulled Bruce into a warm hug.
"Bruce! It's so nice to see you. Please come in, sit down!" she said, taking the hand that was not holding his cane.
"Thank you, Kory, but we're really only going to be a few minutes," Bruce said, and Terry was mildly surprised to see that he was smiling. It was almost a little scary.
"And you must be Terry!"
Terry was not prepared to also be pulled into a hug, and before he could figure out what to do with his arms he was released. "I'm Mrs. Grayson, you can call me Kory."
"Oh, um… Okay! Great."
"Kory, you know they're not staying."
Dick Grayson, the first Robin, was standing before them, looking masterfully neutral even though Terry knew he was probably just as tense as Bruce. It was a little odd, after everything that he'd read about and gleaned from Bruce, to see what mostly looked like a regular guy standing in his own living room, in a nice, quiet little neighborhood in a town with a beach in Southern New Jersey.
"Dick," Bruce said with a nod.
"Bruce," Dick returned, and they grasped each other's hands in a terse handshake.
"Grandpa!" a girl's voice shouted from somewhere else in the house, and Mary Grayson appeared coming up from stairs at the back of the living room.
She was not quite as tall as her mother, although she was taller than her father. Like her mother, she pulled Bruce into a hug. He placed a hand on top of her head, and Terry almost pinched himself to make sure that he wasn't imagining things.
"McGinnis," she said, and offered him her hand to shake.
"Uh, yeah." He took her hand and gave it a shake. "And you're Mary, right?"
"Yeah. My bags are in my room, if you want to give me a hand."
Terry shot a sideways glance at Bruce, who gave him a severe look in return.
"My pleasure," he said, and she flashed him a smile before heading to the stairs again, presumably toward her room.
The first level looked more casual than the main floor. A plant that looked too wild for its planter greeted them at the bottom step, and knick knacks like framed kids' drawings and caricatures of the Grayson family lined the walls.
It looked like a nice place to grow up, Terry thought. The Graysons' house was much more humble than the Manor in every conceivable way, but it was also so much more homey. Dick may have been on to something, keeping Bruce at arm's length the way he had been.
Mary's room was mostly purple, with one wall painted navy blue. Posters were taped up haphazardly, and above her bed was a letter decal set that read, 'She needed a hero so that's what she became'.
"Cute," Terry said, indicating the wall with his chin.
She made a face at him. "Yeah, yeah, I've had that since I was like, twelve. I was a budding feminist then."
A pile of suitcases was thrown against her closet door, and to be honest, Terry couldn't imagine what she could possibly need besides some clothes.
His face must have been easy to read, because Mar'i sounded embarrassed when she said, "Please don't judge. I wasn't sure what to bring and I didn't want to have to run back here for a while."
"No, it's great. We'll move you into one of the bigger guest rooms in the Manor, that's all."
"There are small rooms?" she asked as started slinging bags over her shoulder.
"Oh, yeah. It's an old house. The rooms are small, the windows are drafty, and all the bathtubs have two faucets. Have fun living there." Terry joined her in picking up some of her bags. She only left him a few, but she didn't seem bothered by the burden.
"It can't be worse than living in a co-ed dorm with thousands of residents."
"You could just… take the train."
"The train station in Bludhaven smells like low tide and urine. Try again."
"Mary," Bruce said as they appeared at the top of the stairs. "Aren't all those bags a little heavy?"
"Uh, not rea-" She paused when Bruce raised his eyebrows at her and dropped two of the bags. "Yeah, actually, it's kind of hurting my shoulder to carry all these. Do you mind?" she asked Terry, and she dropped two of the bags and kept walking toward the door.
That was definitely suspicious. Terry shot Bruce a questioning look, which he pointedly ignored.
"Bruce, before you go, I just want to speak to you for a minute," Dick said as Mar'i opened the door.
"Dad! You're going to embarrass me!"
"It's fine, Mary," Bruce said as he stepped into the living room behind her father.
"Mom," she said, pleadingly.
Kory gave her a sympathetic look. "Dick, dear, let me join you."
Mary sighed in relief as she and Terry stepped out onto the porch.
"Seems kind of tense in there," Terry said conversationally.
"Yeah, my dad can be kind of an ass sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I love him, but he's so overprotective. The last few weeks have really been not so good."
"I get it," Terry said as he popped the trunk. Bruce had been in a foul mood for some weeks now.
"Thanks for helping me carry this stuff. I'm just going to save Grandpa from my dad and say goodbye to my parents."
"Sure," Terry said. "I'll stay out here."
She smiled at him before turning away to bound up the stairs again.
Dana had texted him a few minutes ago, so he fired back a quick text saying that he would see her tonight.
He leaned against the door of Bruce's car and fished in his pocket for a lighter and a cigarette. Terry's mother always scolded him for smoking, and while Bruce would stare at him in a way that Terry assumed must be disapproving but seemed mostly like his normal expression, he never said a word about it. He probably had the same thought that Terry did, which was that if smoking killed him, he would be lucky.
The Graysons' house wasn't fancy, and honestly the side of the house could do with a power wash, but compared to the Manor, it looked like a storybook. Mary was leaving her home, and her parents, and her secure, normal life, and she was coming to Gotham to live with Bruce. It seemed innocent, but really, Terry couldn't imagine how Bruce planned on keeping the Batcave hidden from her.
Not his problem though.
At least, not yet. Terry was almost sure that Bruce would find a way to make it his problem.
The door opened and Bruce stepped out. Terry could see Mary hugging her mother and then press a kiss to her father's cheek as he held the door open. She took her grandfather's arm and helped him down the stairs. Bruce normally hated to be held onto and would normally shoo anyone who tried to help him away with his cane, but with Mary he didn't seem to mind at all.
Terry noticed that Dick's eyes were not on his daughter, but rather on him. His expression was mostly neutral, although his mouth was set in a frown. Whether it was because of the smoking or because he knew that Terry had been moonlighting as Batman for the past two years, he wasn't sure. Dealing with Dana's father hadn't left him completely clueless about dealing with fathers, and one of the things he'd learned was to be respectful without trying too hard.
Terry smiled easily, raised his eyebrows, and threw his cigarette on the ground before crushing it with his heel. Dick raised his eyebrows in reply before Kory nudged him and his attention was once more on his daughter.
What they'd just said to each other, Terry wasn't exactly sure. But he was pretty sure that things were good between them.
Bruce and Mary had made it down the stairs, and Terry pulled the door open for Bruce.
"Have some class, McGinnis," Bruce chided him as he pulled the back door open for Mary.
"Grandpa, if you're going to be opening car doors for me you're setting the bar way too high for guys from Gotham."
"Guys from Gotham aren't all bad," Terry protested as Bruce closed the door.
Bruce glared at him before saying into the back seat, "Don't date any guys from Gotham."
"What about the girls from Gotham?"
Bruce furrowed his eyebrows at that and Terry could tell he didn't know what to say.
"They're all into EDM," he informed her. "Even the good ones."
"You don't have a girlfriend then?" Mary asked as Terry clambered into the driver's seat and started the engine.
"No, I do. I put up with the EDM because I love her."
"Aw, what a guy," she said sarcastically.
Before too long, Mary popped in her headphones, and Bruce was completely lost in his thoughts the way he always got when they went on long car rides.
Traffic was pretty good until they hit the Bristol Expressway, which bypassed downtown Gotham by way of a towering bridge and placed them down in the suburbs, where Wayne Manor was located.
"Home sweet home," Terry announced as they pulled up to the wrought-iron gate bordering the Manor and its expansive property.
A glance in the rearview mirror revealed Mary's thoughts. Her face was aghast, eyes wide as she surveyed the property.
Mrs. Grayson's garden couldn't seem farther away.
The grounds had not been properly maintained since Alfred passed away. The wild grass had several dead patches and was dotted with weeds. The gate swung open for them, creaking as it did so. Good thing it was light out, or this would have seemed like something out of a horror movie.
The driveway led right up to the front steps, where it turned in a circle so the driver could continue back down the long path to the main road. The facade of the Manor wasn't in the best condition, either. Brickwork on the front of the building was worn and patchy.
Terry cut the engine and Mary jumped out. Probably excited to be inside a mansion. He could remember when he felt that way about the Manor.
This was turning out to be kind of soul-crushing. It would be good for Bruce to have someone around whose company he actually enjoyed. Seeing Mary disappointed made him feel bad not only for her, but for Bruce.
He popped the trunk and hurried to the back to get her bags. He was used to catering to Bruce's guests, and at least Mary wasn't another cranky old man or a rich snob.
She took two bags while Terry balanced four on one arm.
At least the foyer looked pretty all right. Vaulted ceilings and tiled walls and floors made the entrance look like a cathedral, although the window above the double doors was so covered in dust that it didn't let much light in.
"Terry," Bruce said as he stood with Mary's arm wrapped around his. "Why don't you take her bags upstairs, I'm going to give her a tour."
"Sure thing, boss," Terry said. The bedrooms in the Manor had pretty much not been used since everything happened with Tim Drake, and they were all unused and dusty with sun-damaged furniture.
There was one room, though. Terry wasn't sure whose it used to be, and all the furniture was definitely old. It was at the end of the hall, kind of far back, but it didn't look as dark and gloomy as the other rooms because it had three windows. The wallpaper was vintage, pink roses on a gray background with vertical stripes separating them. It was ugly, but in a way that seemed like it was on purpose.
Terry took the two bags from Mary, who smiled at him before turning her attention back to Bruce.
"I want to show you my office. I kept all the birthday cards you ever sent me," he said as he began to lead her down the hall.
When Terry set Mary's bags down on the bed, a puff of dust blew up in his face. He waved his hand in front of his face to disperse the dust cloud. He hoped this would work out, and not blow up in his face.
He checked the time. It wasn't even six o'clock yet, so he still had some time to bring Dana to dinner before he had to be back here.
"I'll see you Bruce," he shouted as pulled the front door closed behind him.
Whether Bruce heard him or not, he wasn't sure. It was nice to know that Bruce was having a nice evening with granddaughter rather than just sitting in his office going over some nonsense paperwork.