Chapter 10: Troubled Kids Club
"Good morning Jamie," Dr. Billings greeted me.
"Morning," I replied, plopping into a chair.
"Anything you wish to discuss today?" He asked.
"Not really." I gave my usual reply pulling out a notebook to doodle in. It was November and Nakamura was still forcing me to go to these stupid counseling sessions. It had been three months and I hadn't gotten into any fights or suspended. That was a record for me. I think being around Bruce and Terry in the cave gave me more patience.
"Are you sure? I know moving can be hard and take a long time to adjust to. You told me when we first started that you felt your new home was terrifying and you felt uncomfortable there. Do you still feel the same way?"
"I'm fine now. Just needed to get used to living in such a big place." I gave him exactly what he wanted to hear. I've learned that withholding from him only makes this drag on and makes him think we should extend the meeting. The sooner he believed I was making "progress" the sooner I could leave.
"And what about your grandfather? Do you talk to him more like I suggested?" He asked. I smirked.
"Yes." I told him. Me and Bruce got along surprisingly well. He was really good with electronics and robotics because he had created most of Batman's devices himself, along with the coding for the Bat computer. He was a secret technical genius. Bruce was more than willing to help me with the plans for the patrol bots which I was grateful for. I had been working on those since September and I was still working on the blueprints. I was surprised he hadn't just taken it over himself but he left me be and gave me advice when asked. I think he saw me as redemption for whatever happened between him and Dad. At least I felt like I had an actual grandparent now.
"What is that like?" He pressed. I really hated psychologists.
"Its nice. I've learned a lot about him." I really couldn't elaborate on what me and Bruce talked about since most of it was related to Batman. I was still working on learning the family history.
"What is your favorite part?" That question seemed kind of odd but I answered it anyway.
"I guess just learning about things. He tells me stories about the manor." I left out that it took a lot of questions from me for Bruce to tell me anything about the art and heirlooms in the manor.
"Okay. What about your dad? Have you talked to him lately?"
"He called last night. Said he had some news to tell me over Thanksgiving. So I have that to look forward to." I said, absentmindedly doodling a robotics sketch.
"What do you think it could be?" He pried.
"I don't know. He's pretty spontaneous. It could be anything." I lied. I had a very good idea of what it was. I was pretty sure Dad was retiring from the force and moving back to Gotham. He seemed serious about it when I was home for my birthday. He was probably waiting to finish the prison break case before officially announcing his retirement. And yes the two escapees were still on the loose.
"And your friend in New York, Anni? Have you spoke to her recently?"
"Not since Friday. She's been busy lately." Another lie. Anni had taken her dad's escape really hard. I don't think anyone realized how close she really was with him. Ko told me she's become more introverted and only talks to Jonah and Ko at school. It doesn't help that kids at school still pick on her. Ko thinks with me gone and the drama at school and with her dad, Anni doesn't really want to face reality anymore. Anni only calls me about once a week now and keeps our conversations short. I felt bad because I can't do anything from Gotham. I could only hope my visit over Thanksgiving would help.
"Jamie?" Billings snapped me out of my thoughts.
"Sorry. What?" I asked.
"The bell rang. You can head to second period unless you want to talk more?"
"No, I'm good. See you after Thanksgiving. " I grabbed my bag and headed to family studies.
"Do you have the notes from yesterday?" Dana asked me when I sat down.
"Yeah. Give me a sec." I pulled out my laptop. I opened it to see one of the failed plans for the patrol bots. "Slag it." I exclaimed.
"Whats wrong?" Dana asked.
"I forgot something in Billings office." I pulled up the notes and handed her my laptop. "I'll be right back." I told her then made my way back towards Billing office for my notebook. I was halfway there when the bell rang, meaning I was late. Oh well. I approached the office to see Terry peering in.
"What are you doing?" I whispered. He jumped and then indicated for me to be quiet. I looked in to see Commissioner Gordon talking to Dr. Billings.
"I wanted your opinion first." The Commissioner was saying.
"To be frank, this is Chelsea's pattern. She commits these destructive acts for attention, then claims they weren't her fault. Unfortunately, by humoring her stories, her father encourages her behavior." Billings said. I frowned. Chelsea didn't seem like one to make up stories for attention.
"In other words, she made the whole thing up." The Commissioner said, standing.
"That would be my opinion. I'm sorry you wasted your time." Billings said shaking her hand. The Commissioner started towards the door. I dragged Terry away from the door and part way down the hall so we wouldn't get caught.
"What was that about?" I asked once the Commissioner was gone.
"Chelsea threw one of her dad's fancy art pieces in the river last night and said she doesn't remember any of. The last thing she remembers is a guy with an eyeball looking thing." Terry explained.
"Weird. Well we should probably get to class, since we're already late." I suggested. It wasn't until I got home that night that I remembered my notebook again.
"I don't buy it. I mean Chelsea's flakey, but she's not stupid. She's not gonna make up some goofy guy with a magic eyeball. It's too crazy not to be true." Terry was telling Bruce about what we saw today. We were in the study, me doing some reading on a couch, Bruce looking for a book, and Terry just standing around.
"Leave it alone. She's just a troubled kid lashing out at daddy. Nothing for you to get involved with." Bruce told him.
"Guess you're the expert on troubled kids. You collect them, right?" Not a wise choice of words on Terry's part. Bruce gave him a stern look. I let out a chuckle, earning my own stern look.
"Go get ready for patrol." Bruce instructed. Terry looked like he wanted to say more, but went without a word.
The first half of the night was pretty calm for Gotham and Batman. For me it was just frustrating. The patrol bots were starting to be more trouble than they were worth. Terry should just learn to manage his time better. To help me think, I would often walk around the cave. This usually helped me with whatever I was stuck on, but tonight, inspiration seemed to be avoiding me. It didn't help that what Terry had said about troubled kids was bothering me. I stopped in front of the memorial case for Jason Todd. Did Bruce have a reason for taking in kids? Each one of them had issues and used their connection through Batman to give out their own brand of justice instead of facing their issues. That was apparent just by looking at the relationship between Bruce and my dad.
"Are we really all troubled?" I asked, more to the memorial than to Bruce.
"Yes." I wasn't expecting a reply, let alone one so brutally honest. I turned towards Bruce.
"And what? You thought you could fix us? The mighty Batman to the rescue?" I asked sourly. I know Bruce didn't have to take anyone in and I was being rude, but I was tired of trying to figure him out. It had been three months and I still knew very little about him personally. My life had changed so drastically since I had come to Gotham and I just wanted some sense of familiarity. Don't ask why I thought Bruce would be that for me because I still haven't figured that one out.
"No. You've all saved me." He approached the case and stared at the suit."Each one of them saved me more than I ever helped them. Even you and Terry." He said, not once looking at me. I was perplexed as to why he decided to share so suddenly.
"How have I? I haven't been here that long and don't do anything. Not much time to make a difference to anything." I pointed out. He gave me a long unreadable stare.
"You've never needed saving. You're redemption for this family. Especially for Dick and myself." Bruce explained. I looked at him, really looked at him. I could see the years of pain in his eyes from watching as each child he had taken in drifted away from their association with him, altogether ignoring him. But I also saw something else. Hope.
"Can you tell me something?" I asked hesitantly. "What happened between you two?" The look he got when Jason was mentioned flashed across his face. Apparently that look was for Dad too.
"Dick didn't agree with how Batman operated. So he quit and left Gotham, became his own hero." He stated. I resisted rolling my eyes. So much for learning that story.
"All available units report to the museum" the police scanner announced. "Possible hostile threat."
"Sounds like Terry is going to be busy." I commented as Bruce returned to the computer.
"Did you get that McGinnis?" Bruce asked into the com.
"On my way boss." Terry replied. I decided to give up on the bots for the night and listen to Terry work through the com-link. I sat petting Ace as Terry told Bruce what was going on.
"He's carrying a... mannequin?" Terry questioned. "Okay, he's new." Terry commented a second later. There was the sound of his rocket boots going off.
"What the heck are you?" Terry asked. There was no reply, just the sound of a struggle.
"This would be easier to understand if his vid-link was on." I mumbled to Ace. Bruce either didn't hear, or ignored me.
"I don't want to hurt you, but..." Terry warned. There was a faint "Whats going on?" heard.
"You tell me." Terry demanded. "Who was your partner in the spooky get up?"
"I have...no idea." The other voice said. Well that was interesting.
"So you're grounded all of break?" Dana asked Chelsea the next day in English.
"Yeah. Dad thinks that'll teach me a lesson, even though I still don't remember anything besides a man with a weird ball." Chelsea complained. I had almost forgotten about that. I wondered if the man Terry saw last night was the same one Chelsea saw. I wrote a note in my notebook to look into it later.
"What are you writing?" Max asked coming up behind me. I almost jumped out of my seat.
"Nothing." I said quickly, shutting my notebook. Max gave me an unconvinced look but class started, not giving her a chance to ask.
Batman stuff was getting harder to hide around Max. So was coming up with reasonable excuses of why I didn't seem more social. My excuses were almost as bad as Terry's. My excuse had been helping Terry with his job, but it was getting old and there was a limited time before I knew Max would call me out on it. Dana was trusting and took people for their word most of the time. Max wasn't nearly as trusting and could tell a lie better than Dana could. I really wished I could tell her. Max could be very helpful to Batman's cause, but I knew Bruce would never agree. The only reason I even knew was because I was family, so to speak. When did my life become so messed up that I had to lie to all but two people I knew? No wonder all of the Robins eventually quit (except Jason). This stuff was tiring to keep a secret.
Things are about to get interesting for Jamie with Spellbinder around. Sorry about the abrupt ending, but I had to split this into two parts so it would be a reasonable size
Fun Fact: Bruce is by far the hardest person Jamie has ever met. It's her personal mission to get him to tell her what happened between him and Dick which is why she won't just ask Dick.