I own nothing but my Oc everything else belongs to DC Comics
I remember that day so clearly. I had convinced Bruce to do something fun for himself that didn't include the vultures of high society. He went to the circus. When he came home...there he was.
A little boy no older than eight or ten with black hair and bright blue eyes. He was so small and he looked so scared it pulled at my heartstrings.
Bruce had adopted him after his parents had met an unfortunate end, he was an orphan like us, but we wouldn't let him be like us. I would make sure of it.
In time I learned that the boys name was Richard Grayson, the last remaining member of the famous Flying Grayson's, and I became one of the most important people in that boys world.
Bruce wasn't around much during the day and I knew that upset Richard, I refused to call him Dick despite him telling me I could, I did what I could, but I knew he needed a male role model, not just a broken woman trapped in a chair.
Richard loved me anyway, despite the fact I couldn't play with him the way we wanted to, the boy loved me. Often on days when it was to wet and muddy for me to venture outside the boy would do all he could to cheer me up. He'd put on little shows just for me, preforming all the little tricks and acrobatics that his family was famous for, just to get me to laugh and smile.
On the nights that his nightmares were at their worst we would cuddle together in bed with cups of hot chocolate and I'd tell him stories. In the morning I'd place him on my lap and wheel him back to his room, I promised him Bruce would never know if he didn't want him to. Secretly I think Bruce already knew, but he would never interfere with my time with Richard.
Time went by and the nightmares stopped and then Richard changed, just like Bruce had. They told me not to worry, that they were just bonding, that they were training Richard to take over the family business. I worried that this was putting too much pressure on the boy, that Bruce was pushing him too hard or pushing him into something he didn't want. Both of them, and even Alfred, assured me that this is what he wanted and if it ever became to much he'd stop.
A few months later I learned what they had been doing so late at night. I think I fainted for a moment because the next thing I knew Richard was holding me up in my chair and both of them were looking at me with worry in their eyes.
To say this secret scared me was an understatement, but once I was done being scared I was furious and hurt. I didn't talk to Bruce or Alfred for days, despite Richard trying to convince me otherwise I was upset and angry at Bruce for doing this and then bringing a young boy into it.
It took me weeks to come to terms with their...nightly activities, I didn't approve and it scared the hell out of me that they were doing this, but I couldn't stop them I knew that. So every night since I found out I would stay up waiting for them despite them telling me that I didn't have to and that I should get my sleep. Some nights Bruce had to carry me to my bed because I had fallen asleep waiting for them.
It wasn't long after that, that Robin decided I needed a name too, even if I would never go out into the field, he and Bruce debated for days over it. Eventually Richard came up with a name for me, he decided to name me Killdeer, after the bird, he said he named me that because the mother Killdeer would lure predators away from her young by faking a broken wing. Even to the point of getting dangerously close to the predator. He said I reminded him of that because if either of them were ever in trouble he knew that's exactly what I'd do.
Years passed in this manner and the little boy I knew and loved was slowly becoming a teenager. He was growing up, already he could pick me up and carry me around...something he confessed to enjoying, but he would always be my little bird. It took some time, but eventually he came to see me as a second mother. I told him he didn't have to call me that, and that I would never try to replace his mother, he just looked at me and said "I know." with this big smile on his face.
And just like all little birds I knew he would leave one day, I just didn't expect that day to be so soon. He was still a boy in my eyes and I realized he always would be.
So on the day he left to find his own path...I let him go and only when I knew he was gone and couldn't hear me...did I let myself cry. My baby bird was growing up...and I wasn't ready.
Richard still talked to me as often as he could and he'd visit now and then, but it wasn't the same as what we had, had. I missed my baby bird terribly, but I knew if I ever said anything he would come home and be miserable so long as it made me happy. I couldn't do that to him...no matter how much his absence hurt me.