September 13th, 2006. 21:06

"Are you okay?" Iris asks and I snort at the question, looking at her with worried eyes through the mirror.

"You're asking me?" I ask and Iris smiled gently. "You're the one with a broken wrist and dislocated shoulder"

"I meant emotionally" Iris clarifies and my smile disappears at the sentence. I look in front of me again, focused on the road.

"As good as I could be" I mumbled, barely loud enough for her to hear. "Wally?"

"Sleeping" I glance backwards again, seeing the small boy leaning against Iris with tears littering his freckled cheeks. "Barry, what the police said.. he can't live with Rudolph and Mary again" There was an underlying anger in her voice but she pushed it down, for Wally's sake right now.

"And you want to take him in"

"Charlotte wouldn't want him, and lives too far. And Ira.. " I sigh at the statement, knowing what Iris meant. Charlotte, Iris' older sister, wouldn't want Wally, she hated kids. Nothing personal to Wally, she just despised them. And she was too busy anyways, and always travelling in Europe.

Wally needed a stable home right now, and Ira wasn't, despite the fact that he was still young, a good option either. Wally wouldn't want to grow up with his grandpa.

"I know" I whisper softly, focusing on the road for a second again as I pulled up in front of our house. "Wally needs a stable home, and if that means we have to adopt him.. we'll do it" I say, turning back to face Iris as I stopped the car. She smiles at me, eyes watering slightly.

I quickly got out of the car, running over to the other side without superspeed of course. Silently I open the car door, reaching out to take over Wally and Iris handed him to me as much as she could with one injured arm. I balanced Wally in one arm, helping Iris out of the car as well.

"I'm going to put Wally in the guest room and then I'll be back okay?" I say, rubbing Iris back comfortably as we step into the house.

"Don't worry about me" Iris tries to assure me but I wouldn't budge, looking her into her eyes until she laughs at me. "Don't trip" She grins, walking over to the living room while I walked up the stairs. Wally was still fast asleep when I opened the door to the guest room, eternally grateful that we had a guest room.

And a bed for Wally to stay in.

I look around the room for a bit, we would need to clean it out, buy new stuff for it to look like a real bedroom. I shake my head at the thought, that didn't matter right now. I walk over to the bed, clumsily pulling away the blankets and laying him on top of the bed. I stop for a moment, but eventually cover him with a blanket.

Bruises hidden beneath the fabric, lashes hidden from view. I carefully put his broken arm on top of the blankets, hoping he wouldn't have too much trouble with it while sleeping. I look around again, we would need to get his clothes from his old home. Not to mention finding a way to get legal..

I groan at the thought, rubbing my face in frustration. So far I had no regret of promising Iris we would take him in, I knew how much he meant to iris, and I had no intention of letting him go because of that and because I didn't want to send him somewhere where he wasn't familiar.

He needed a stable home, like I needed a stable home after my dad was sent to jail, and mom was murdered.

But… we were too young to have a kid this old. Heck, we weren't even ready to have kids in the first place. Iris was only 25 and barely started her new job, I was just 28.. we couldn't raise a kid that was 11 already.

"We'll make it work Wally, I promise" I whisper, more to myself than to him, before leaving the room. I zip downstairs, to the kitchen and grabbing the first aid kit and rushing to the living room, where Iris was already sitting on the couch, television turned on already. I drop the kit next to her, zipping away and draping a blanket over her shoulders.

"Thanks" She says, cradling the blanket around her and I sit down next to her, searching the kit for some pain killers. Perks of being a hero right now, not like I needed them. Scratch that, I needed them sometimes, I just couldn't use them cause my body burned it down too fast. But other heroes have been over many times when they were injured.

Like Robin when he was injured on a mission in Central. Bruce was not happy when I had rushed him to my house instead of the batcave. Robin didn't seem to mind though, especially how Iris smothered him with hugs and food.

"What are you thinking about?" Iris asks me as she took the pills I gave her, swallowing them dry. I look at her, blinking a few times. "Is it what happened?" True to my word I shook my head, snickering slightly.

"I was thinking about that time Dick got injured and I rushed him here" Iris smiled at the memory, leaning into me. I immediately wrap my arm around her, rubbing her arm gently.

"Do you think I will be a good mother to him?" She suddenly asks me but I know she's not talking about, she's talking about Wally. I suck in a breath, looking at her but she was staring ahead of her.

"Don't doubt yourself Ariel*, you know you're a good mother. Dick loves you, you're always so good with kids" I try to assure her, tucking some hair behind her ear. This time Iris sighs.

"This is different, Wally will be our kid if this is over, I'm too young to be a mother and he never had a mother figure before. Dick has Bruce, and had his parents, the other kids still had their parents, I was just a caretaker.. "

"Hey stop that" I frown, tipping her face so she was looking at me. "I'm pretty sure Dick sees you as his mother figure, and you think Bruce was the best dad? Lemme tell you he wasn't. He never had experience with kids and Dick just lost his parents in one of the most traumatic way imaginable"

"But that's how they bonded, I will only remind him of Rudolph" Iris whispers and I shake my head.

"Show him what having an awesome mom is like. Don't doubt yourself"

"Then stop doubting yourself as well Eric" Iris teases and I grin despite the comment.

"Well can't blame me, you are kinda right. We're too young, but we'll make it work. For Wally's sake."

"Are you sure you want to take him in? I mean he's my nephew but I would understand if .." I shake my head immediately, playing with her hair again.

"I can't say I have the same connection to Wally as you do, or that he means as much to you as he does to me. But I want to take him in, he deserves a familiar face with him, someone who can love him." I lower my head slightly. "I don't want him to end up in an orphanage like I did."

A soft hand was placed on my cheek, trailing down slightly and Iris tipped my chin up, similar to what I had done just moments ago and she looks at me, bright green eyes looking at me, so similar to Wally's, but so full of life unlike his.

"Thank you Barry" She smiled, kissing me softly.

September 26th, 2010. 15:36

"You know you don't have to go right?" Dick asks softly as the rest gets out of the car. Wally was visibly tensed next to him, anxious at the prospect of meeting his dad for the first time in 4 years. Wally took a deep breath, looking at Dick.

"I know" There's short silence. "But I want to" Dick frowns slightly at the sentence but doesn't comment on it, unbuckling his seatbelt as well and climbing out of the backseat. Wally getting out on the other side of the car and catching up to Dick as they walked into the prison. Another prison, roughly 45 minutes away from Central City.

Of course his parents were separated, Mary was charged with a lesser sentence than Rudolph after all.

"How long has it been?" Wally asks as he walks next to Barry, not looking at him.

"I think a year or so since she last visited him" Barry admitted. "Don't be fooled, Iris despises Rudolph for what he has done to Wally" He says, directed towards Dick and the latter nods with a frown, looking at his best friend with a worried expression.

Mary and Iris were walking ahead of them, so they didn't hear the conversation, and Wally was glad Iris was doing everything she could to create distance between him and his mom. There was still an immense pressure on his chest from the events of the last couple of days, especially today.

All five of them went through numerous body scans and had to stash personal items like keys, wallets and phones inside a safe before they were allowed inside the prison itself. They were led to a room with a glass wall in between them, speakers on their side of the prison.

On the other side of the glass was a chair and a phone attached to the glass, a door in the back. They had to wait for now, as Rudolph would be able to come here any second. Two guards stayed on their side of the glass, but in the back and silent. Then suddenly, the door opened and two guards came in, watching as another man followed them.

Wally visibly tensed as he recognised his father walking into the same room, only separated by thick glass. He took a step backwards but a hand snaked around his and he grimaced as he looked at Dick, giving him a comforting nod.

"Rudy!" Mary exclaimed, walking over to the glass as Ruy did the same, taking the phone and putting it to his ear.

"Mary" He breathed, his voice ringing through the room as it echoed through the speakers in the room.

"I missed you" She whispers, putting a hand to the glass and Rudy did the same, sitting down and putting his hand on the glass as well, two hands only separated by glass. After a few seconds Rudy's eyes travelled to the rest of the room, first noticing Iris and then Barry.

And then to Wally and Dick.

"Haven't seen you in a long time son" Rudy announces, watching his son, how he had grown, and how confident he looked, how muscled he was actually. Still lean, but toned as well.

"Can you blame me?" Wally glares back, but his stomach was turning upside down. Rudy chuckled at that.

"I guess not" He shrugs before looking at the other boy in the room. "Who is next to you?" Wally glances at his best friend next to him, and Dick nodded to him.

"My best friend"

"So my son has befriended the richest kid in Gotham" Rudy breathes out, snickering. Dick shivered, not because of the comment, granted he was disgusted that such a man knew him and his status, but he shivered because that exact same grin was a grin that Wally had as well.

"Tell me Wallace, how did you two meet?" Barry narrowed his eyes as well at the man, he had only seen him once in his lifetime, going with Iris the second time she visited, but he absolutely hated this man.

"They met at school, Wally was picked to represent a couple of schools in the state in science, a contest held at Gotham Academy"

"Guess you were wrong about me being stupid" Wally snapped at his dad, taking an involuntary step forwards.

"If you're waiting for a confession or an apology boy, you've come here for nothing" Rudy glares at his son.

"I didn't come here for an apology!" Wally screamed almost and the two guards tensed slightly, Wally looked at them, taking a deep breath.

"Then why did you come here?" Rudy retorts. "I haven't seen you in four years, Iris has come to see, even Barry has, but not you. So why now?"

"Maybe I wanted an answer" Wally admits honestly, looking his dad straight in the eye. "Why me? Why hit me when you know.. it's wrong. You grew up with a loving father, grandpa did nothing but love you!" Rudy chuckles at this.

"Think about it son, every cycle has to start somewhere, not every bad guy had an abusive family. Just as you try to convince yourself that you won't become one" At this Wally winces again, recoiling from his dad as if he had been struck by lighting.

"I won't turn into you" Wally glares but Rudy just shook his head in amusement.

"Maybe, maybe not-"

"And I'm not your son!" Wally hissed but Rudy didn't pay attention to it.

"We'll see" He shrugs. "As for the answer, I'm not some lunatic who still beliefs what he has done was right" Instead of relaxing Wally kept tense, he didn't want this answer, he didn't want his dad to regret what he had done. He needed to be able to hate his dad.

"You were so useless back then, so unfocused and causing me so much trouble. You broke so much, and you cried so much as an infant. So when I lost my job and had to get another one, it paid less and I had to work harder. I had to come home to yet another broken window, your mom broken down from the stress and me tired beyond belief"

Wally gritted his teeth, because even if he was a child, he knew that this was highly over-exaggerated, partly the truth. He did cry a lot as a baby, as aunt Iris told him numerous times, but never so much for it to become .. too much. And his dad was just lazy. Had been since he was a child.

His new job involved going to work from 9 till 3, double the hours he usually made, and yet it paid the same.

"You were easy to blame because you were already a failure." Rudy finished.

"So I was the black sheep in the family?" Wally asks and Rudy shrugs.

"If you want to call it that" Rudy speaks and Wally glares at him, tears burning and threatening to spill.

"Good to know" Wally grinds out. "Then it must hurt you to hear I found happiness. I found friends I can trust with my life, and I found a father. Barry is a better father than you can ever be" Wally spoke up, looking at Barry almost shyly, but found the blond man smiling at him, proud.

"And Iris is more of a mother than you can ever be Mary, they raised me right, they loved me when you didn't." He took a deep breath, looking at Dick. "Walk with me?" He whispers and Dick nods with narrowed eyes, allowing Wally to lead him away, turning their backs towards Rudy and Mary.

"I used to be sad that I lost my parents, but at least I lost mine knowing they loved me" Dick mutters as they both walk out of the room. Wally just wrapped an arm around the smaller boy, walking them both over to chairs in the waiting room.

YJ

*Did I mention already Barry likes to call Iris Ariel? I think I did but in case you haven't.. I like the nickname personally (is that shallow to say?), so here you go. Barry calls Iris Ariel because of her red hair.

Also, I like Wally's and Dick's friendship to be known to the public so this is their cover story, it actually happened, Wally was picked to represent his school with something science-y at Gotham academy but they were friends before that. (They met in March 2007, which will be in chapter 7 actually :D)

Fun fact; Bruce actually messed with the competition for it to be held at Gotham academy cause he was bribed by Dick. Bruce went along with is because it would make Dick happy if they wouldn't have to hide their friendship anymore.

Also also; Don't kill me for giving a bad representation of prisons. I know this isn't how things usually go but I wanted Rudy to speak to them all at once for dramatic effect.

Reviews would be appreciated and would make me update faster ^^