Notes: Setting the stage now.
Dick Grayson burst into the kitchen the next morning, his blue eyes wide with panic. "Alfred! Have you seen Dusty's jacket?"
The old butler was unfazed by his charge's panic as he calmly checked the roast in the oven. His steady voice carried clearly through the large kitchen in answer, "Master Dustin's jacket is on the coat rack in the foyer, Master Dick, as is yours."
"Got it!" And the young man ran for the foyer, paused, and ran right back. "Thanks, Alfie!" He ran off again without waiting for a reply.
Moments later, packed children's snack in one hand and small jacket in the other, Dick waited by the stairs for his son to finish getting ready. It was Dusty's first day of school and both father and son were excited - well, the son was more excited and the father was more anxious as this also signifies the day when his son started staying out of the house without his family to supervise. This was the day when Dick would hand over his child to strangers and trust that they could protect him.
"Richard," Damian's voice took him out of his thoughts. "I would like to patrol with you tonight."
All thoughts of Dusty's school fled at the conviction in his youngest brother's voice. Dick kept an exasperated sigh to himself as he knew there was only one reason why Damian demanded to patrol with him.
"What did Bruce do now?"
His youngest brother glanced away, silent. Dick inwardly sighed in relief because the silent treatment meant things weren't bad bad, while stomping and yelling meant he needed a bottle of aspirin in his pocket.
Still without meeting his eyes, Damian said softly, "He doesn't trust me."
Dick let out the sigh this time, already feeling the frustration of an old argument between his adoptive father and his youngest brother. This wasn't the first time the fourteen year old had complained of Bruce's lack of faith and it won't be the last. He adopted a reassuring smile this time as he said, "Of course he trusts you. What on earth gave you that idea?"
"He intervened when I had the situation under control."
The smile turned into a laugh. Yes, the situation was still salvageable and he had the experience to prove it. "Damie, he does that to all of us. It's his way of being protective."
"T-t. You sound as if you enjoy it."
"Oh believe me, I don't. It's annoying as hell, but it's just how Bruce is."
"Overbearing?" Damian's nose scrunched up in disgust.
"Overprotective." Dick corrected. "Damie, you know he-"
"Morning, Uncle Damie!" a high-pitched squeal interrupted them as a tiny bundle suddenly dropped right on Damian. To the teen's credit, he staggered a few steps but did not fall on his rump nor did he drop the precious burden he suddenly found himself carrying.
"Daddy! Daddy! Did you see me?" The bundle turned bright blue eyes and a million-watt grin to Dick, expecting a proud response.
But Dick smiled and shook his head. "Sorry, kiddo. I was busy talking to your uncle." At the crestfallen look on his son's face though, he reached out and patted the little head. "But that means you'll have to do it again sometime and show me."
"Richard..." Damian growled as he gently but firmly pulled his nephew off him and set him down on the floor. "You are not to encourage your spawn's rowdy behavior. If Father hears of this..."
"Daddy? What's 'spawn' mean?"
"I'll tell you later, Dusty." Dick said quickly, aiming a warning glance at his youngest brother. "We need to get you to school."
"Yeah!" Dusty shouted excitedly. He squirmed out of his uncle's hold then took off for the front door with his father hot on his heels.
"Dusty! Wait! You can't go out without a coat!"
Before the boy could reach the front doors, a large figure swooped down and grabbed him. "And where do you think you're going?"
"Grampa!" The boy squealed, laughing when Bruce started tickling his sides. "G-grampa!"
"Grampa...what, you little scamp?" Bruce had a mischievous glint in his ice blue eyes as he kept up the tickling.
"Grampa Bruce!" Dusty finally gasped, slumping in the man's arms in exhaustion.
"Aw come on, Bruce," Dick complained as he neared. "I just got him properly dressed..."
"Dressed for what?" Bruce asked, patting the boy's back.
"School, Grampa!" Dusty cried in excitement, bouncing in Bruce's arms as he quickly regained his energy after the laughing fit. "I'm going to school!"
"At least someone is happy to enter the wretched place." Damian muttered softly enough that only Dick, who was closest to him, could hear. His older brother elbowed him in the side. "Ow!"
"It would appear that once again the old adage is true," Alfred's voice rang out in the foyer, bringing everyone's attention to him, "like father, like son."
Dick and Bruce exchanged glances as Dusty tugged on Bruce's lapels, "What does he mean, Grampa? I'm going to be like Daddy?"
"No, he means you're already like Daddy, kiddo," Dick laughed and took his son from Bruce, setting him down gently on the floor. "Now say goodbye to everyone or we'll be late for school."
"Bye!" And with that, Dusty tore out of the foyer, with his father hot on his heels once again.
"Dusty! Your coat!"
The high-pitched protest echoed through the still open Manor doors, "No late! No late for school!"
The drive to his son's school passed too quickly for Dick. He kept glancing time and time again at the excited bundle of energy beside him, and this morning's worries came crashing down on his head again.
For the first time, Dick was going to be separated from his kid. Well, it would only be for a few hours but...he was going to entrust his kid to strangers. Were these the right strangers? He had Tim and Bruce and Babs help him with the background check but...sometimes, small bits of information can still fall through the cracks. What if one of those small bits said that one teacher had a previous record for child molestation? What if it said that one of the staff was a pedophile?
And what if Dusty went through his first day without anything untoward happening? Was that too much to ask?
"Daddy!" His son's happy squeal snapped him out of his worries just in time for him to slow down the car and park by the school's entrance. "We're here! We're here!"
"We sure are," He forced a smile on his face as he unbuckled himself and climbed out. Dusty was still grinning from ear to ear when he went around the car to open the passenger door and pulled him out.
"School! School!" His boy flailed his arms and almost slapped Dick in the face with his excitement as Dick gently set him down.
He grabbed Dusty's shoulders before the boy could run off and leaned close, "Remember, Dusty," he slipped a tiny transmitter onto the boy's front pocket, "if something goes wrong; like if you get scared or the teacher is looking at you funny or your classmates are bullying you, you just press that little button and I'll come running, okay?"
Dusty nodded solemnly, taking his cue from his father's serious tone. "Yes, Daddy."
"Good. Now what do you do when someone makes you unhappy?"
"Press button!"
Dick smiled and ruffled his boy's neatly groomed hair. "That's my Dusty. Go on now, enjoy your first day of school."
Dusty gave another squeal and ran off for the school's front doors. Halfway there though, he paused and turned to look back, his eyes wide. Dick smiled and waved at him but a second later, he found himself with an armful of trembling, frightened boy.
"Hey, hey now," Dick murmured in Dusty's hair as he soothed the boy's back. "What's wrong?"
"No leave." Dusty whispered in a voice that was suddenly bereft of the joyful shrieks that morning. He buried his face deeper into his father's neck as his tiny fists clutched tight onto Dick's dress shirt. "Daddy no leave."
"Excuse me," a gentle voice called softly. Dick glanced up to find a young woman in a conservative pink blouse and modest skirt smile at him and Dusty. She tucked a strand of brown hair behind one ear as she bent to get closer to their crouched forms. "Hello, I'm Ms. Jeanine."
"Dick Grayson." Dick extended a hand out for the woman to shake. "And this is my son, Dustin."
"Hi Dustin," Ms. Jeanine smiled warmly at the little boy. "Are you ready to go to school?"
Dusty, his face still buried in Dick's neck, glanced at the pretty woman out of the corner of his eye and shook his head.
"Come on Dusty," Dick coaxed, "I thought you were excited for school?"
Dusty shook his head more vigorously than before, prompting Dick to turn a helpless look at the woman.
In response, the woman smiled wider and crouched, despite the pencil-skirt she was wearing. "It's alright, Dusty - may I call you Dusty?"
One watery blue eye looked at her with suspicion before slowly nodding.
"Well then, Dusty, I'm Ms. Jeanine. And I'll be one of your teachers for today." Her smile never wavered.
Dusty kept his suspicious look.
"Now, I'd like you to do me a favor, Dusty," she shifted her weight so she's not blocking the view of the schoolyard behind her. "Could you tell me what you see behind me?"
Dusty shyly lifted his head from Dick's neck and looked, his father similarly following his gaze to see a group of children - some as young as Dusty - playing and running while two adults watched over them.
"Other kids," The boy replied slowly, "Playin'."
Jeanine nodded. "That's right, Dusty. Other students playing." She smiled and extended her hand, palm up. "Would you like to join them? I'm sure some of them would like to meet you."
Dusty looked at her, at the kids behind her. His blue eyes had become wistful as he watched the other children play but his grip tightened on his father's shirt.
"Dusty?"
The young boy glanced at her again and turned to Dick. "...Can play?"
Dick brightened. "Sure you can! I bet you'll even make friends there, too!"
"Promise?"
"I promise."
Small lips pressed together in determination, Dusty gradually let go of his grip and Dick gently set him back on the ground. With cautious but sure steps, the boy started walking towards the schoolyard. Halfway there, he paused and glanced back.
"Don't wave goodbye." Jeanine whispered urgently in Dick's ear. "Encourage him to keep going instead."
Dick did as instructed, adding a bright grin as he made shoo-ing motions for Dusty. He squashed the urge to run in, grab Dusty, and race back home where he could keep his boy safe under lock and key.
But Dusty trotted on.
A little past halfway, he glanced back again. Dick was about to make encouraging gestures again when one of the playing children spotted his boy and rushed over. He watched with Jeanine as the two children talked briefly before the other kid ran off, and Dusty followed.
"Oh good, he's met Kevin," Jeanine murmured with a smile.
"Who's Kevin?" Dick asked, curious.
"One of our friendliest students. He loves meeting new people and he's our foremost helper in getting new students acclimated."
"I see." Dick inwardly winced at his next question, but he knew he had to ask, "Is he a troublemaker or a bad influence in any way?"
"Kevin?" Jeanine laughed a tinkling laugh that eased his worries. "The only bad influence that boy has is he sees everyone as a friend to be made! Why, he'd even come up to a grumpy parent once and asked if they could be friends." Then she winced at a remembered mishap. "The parent must have been in a bad mood at the time. She immediately told him off and dragged her child away."
"What happened next?"
Jeanine gave a small shrug. "She and her daughter never showed up again at this school. And little Kevin's been wary of approaching other parents ever since."
Dick winced, knowing what it felt like to have his little joys curbed. He'd stopped sliding down the banister and leaping up to grab the chandelier just a couple of years since he started living in the Manor. When Bruce and Alfred scolded him for doing 'a reckless stunt', he'd been afraid they were going to toss him back into Juvie. But Bruce had explained to him why they didn't want him doing stunts, along with a promise that Dick wasn't going to be sent back to that place. Years later though, he was still sliding down the banister when he could get away with it.
"I'd better go," Jeanine said, extending a hand for him to shake. "Dusty might have found a new friend, but he will still need to be reminded that his father will be back to pick him up later. Will you be the one doing the drop-off and pick-up regularly?"
Dick shook his head as he took the teacher's hand. "No, I'll be busy at work all day. But I have someone trusted to pick him up every day."
Jeanine nodded. "Alright then, I'll be seeing you in the morning Mr. Grayson. I'll also make sure to keep an extra eye on your son for you."
"Thanks, I'd appreciate it." He grinned at her. Already, he could feel this morning's anxieties fading away with her answering smile. Dusty is in school now, a school they had all picked through with a fine-toothed comb. Even if he couldn't trust his own research, he could trust Bruce's. Dusty is - will be safe.
But as he walked back to his car, an unexplainable and unshakeable cold feeling settled in his gut.
