He picked up the phone hesitantly as it rang, he was at work trying to make sense of a particularly elusive scheme some lunatic bank robber was putting together, 2 bank robberies in two weeks. Same execution plan and yet something was different about the second case, something that led him to believe that there was more to come.
He looked at the phone number and read the caller ID, in seconds the phone was pressed to his ear.
"Hello?"
"Hey Dick, it's Janelle, how are you?" she asked.
"Good Janelle, thanks for asking." Dick said cautiously.
Janelle was a good friend of Dinah's and the teacher of Wyette and John. She knew everything there was to know about the twins, the Bats, the League and when she found out the twins would be attending Gotham Academy, she kindly volunteered to teach their class in order to keep an eye out for them in case something were to happen at school.
Although John and Wyette were well behaved, they were just turning five and couldn't be expected to control their powers when they manifested. Thus, having a teacher who was also a homo magi, made things a lot easier to account for.
"I'm sorry to bother you at work, can only imagine how busy you are." she said with a bit of chagrin and reluctance in her voice.
"Is something wrong?" Dick asked tensely. "You can't be calling during school hours with good news."
Janelle sighed, "They don't give out the title of detective to just anyone, huh?" she joked weakly. "I think Wyette should go home early. She's had a pretty rough day."
"What do you mean?" Dick asked. "Did something happen?"
"There's been a small incident and Wyette's reacting like any child would, but as her tantrum got worse a bit of her power slipped out and the classroom was a mess."
Dick tore his keys off their hook and started for the door. "Did anyone get hurt? Did anyone notice?"
"No, no." she assured him quickly, "I took care of that but I'm afraid her tantrum might upset John when he comes back from recess, their flows of magic are so closely intertwined I didn't want to risk it, so if you wouldn't mind-"
"I'm on my way." Dick said as he put the keys in the ignition and hung up the phone.
He jogged into the school briskly and went straight for the office, he saw the secretary and just before he spoke he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Dick."
He spun around to face the voice and Janelle stood in front of him, her mahogany brown hair in a neat ponytail held up by a creme bow that matched her fitted sweater dress. Wyette, whose hair sat in an uneven tangled mess, slid off her chair and ran over to him sobbing. He ducked down and scooped her up in his arms.
"What happened?" he asked either of them. Wyette tucked her head into the crook of his neck and cried harder as she clutched her arms around his neck. Dick's heart sank, he'd never seen her so low. She was usually so happy and easygoing, even at the young age of four she never let anything bother her, it was her natural disposition to be happy; a childhood trait of both her parents.
Janelle's shapely lips pulled into a frown at the sight of the girl. "Apparently a disagreement broke out at recess about whose turn it was to play with a toy and because Wyette refused to give it up, one of the girls stuck gum in her hair. The teacher on duty didn't notice and another one of the girls tried to help Wyette by cutting the gum out and clearly it didn't go well." she explained before shaking her head in exhaustion.
Wyette pulled back to look at him, fisting her hair in her hands to show him before throwing her head back and wailing.
"Mommy!" she cried. "I want mommy!"
Dick looked to Janelle expectantly and she answered his unspoken question, "We've tried reaching Zatanna, but she must be busy or something. There's no answer."
"She's probably teaching at the university right now." Dick explained.
"I'm so sorry." Janelle said suddenly. "I wish I could've been there to stop it but between monitoring and occasionally suppressing their magic with my own and watching a class of twenty other kids, I thought recess-"
"Hey," Dick said cutting her off softly, "It's fine. We appreciate all that you do Janelle, really, we don't expect you to be omnipresent. They are kids after all, stuff like this happens."
Wyette continued to weep inconsolably into his neck and Dick pulled her off his shoulder and onto the ground.
"I've tried to soothe her, but she's pretty distraught." Janelle explained.
"Hey, hey, hey," he said trying to get her attention, "Come on, you're okay."
Wyette shook her head coughing and crying while Janelle looked on. "Mommy…"
Dick's heart sank as he mustered up the strength to smile and took her small hands away from her face and smiled, "Hey, it's okay, mommy's gonna be here soon but right now, you've got me and I've got you. So we're gonna fix it together. Okay?"
Wyette nodded through her tears.
"Hey," Dick said, wiping the tears from her face and picking up her chin, "We're gonna get through it. You know we will."
She nodded again trying to stifle her tears and only slightly succeeding.
"So what are we gonna do?" Dick asked.
"Fi-fix it." Wyette mumbled.
"Yeah," Dick said, "And why will it get fixed."
Wyette took her hand and wiped her face, "B-because you've got me."
"And I've got you." Dick promised before kissing her forehead, scooping her up and spinning her around until he heard a small squeal and giggle. He set her on the ground and chuckled. "You ready to fix it?"
Wyette with a resigned frown but set look of determination on her face looked up to where he towered above her and nodded before taking a deep breath. Wyette reached up and stood on the tips of her toes as Dick scooped down to pick her up, she took his face between her hands and brought their foreheads together and closed her eyes.
Dick could feel the air rush out of his lungs and the hairs on his neck stand up. His eyes, now opened with shock, closed after a beat instinctually.
Zatanna.
It was like his subconscious breathed the word to his conscious mind, as he recalled all the times she'd done the same thing to him in their youth. It was something she'd done to comfort him time and time again, just as her father did it to comfort her and now Wyette did it to comfort herself or maybe even him….he wasn't sure. He was damn sure of the part that came next.
He brought his hand up to gently stroke her hair and broke the embrace for only a moment to plant his lips on her forehead before returning to the same position for a few more moments. As if it were the release she were waiting for Wyette breathed a sigh of release and rested her head on his shoulder in a state of total comfort and relaxation.
Dick turned around to smile at Janelle who flushed considerably.
"Thanks for the call." Dick said as he reached out to shake Janelle's hand.
"Thanks for answering." she smiled. He nodded and turned to leave, just as he'd walked out of the office door she called out to him.
"Dick?" Janelle called out.
He turned to face her.
"I know you're new at…..at all of this but I hope someone is letting you know that you're doing a great job." she gushed.
"Thank you." Dick said in a shocked but pleased tone.
She flushed and smiled at him, "Well….I'll let you go then."
He nodded and watched as she hurried down the hall and into the stairwell.
