Chapter: Accident (Daddy Dick)

Dick's days went by and were not the same.

Every day, Marinette would invent a new idea. Dick was now immune to her " kitten eyes ". Somehow, he felt like he could finally consider himself a parent.

He had found his rhythm.

Never in his life would Dick have thought his days would be so organized. Everything was scheduled down to the minute. He had even managed to include his activities as Nightwing.

Well... He had an average of four hours of sleep a day... That wasn't so bad, was it?

No.

Really, there were days when he was so tired that he found himself physically unable to go out on patrol... Bruce had already criticized him for being "lax". His answer was very simple: he challenged Bruce to take care of Marinette ALONE for a week. Bruce managed to hold out for 3 days. Strangely enough, since then, he didn't make any more remarks to him.

Taking care of a child was a full-time job, with no break time, and no " off " button to press.

And yet, he wouldn't change this life for anything in the world.

Marinette was an extremely energetic little girl. (She had accomplished the feat of tired Wally!).

"Uncle Wally, AGAIN!"

"Just a minute baby bird... uncle Wally... needs to breathe..."

She broke the furniture of the house by doing spins... (She climbed on the cupboards, jumped from the couch). She jumped on her bed, climbed on the curtains, climbed on the table...).

"Marinette! The couch is not a trampoline!"

"Okay!"

-Two minutes later-

"MARINETTE, don't climb on the furniture!"

"All right."

-Five minutes later-

"Marinette."

"Yes, Papa?"

"What are you doing with my uniform?"

"I'm fixing it. It's all white, it's ugly!"

"...*Has now a pink police uniform, with sequins, little flowers and a note with "best papa" written on it.*"

She said absolutely EVERYTHING that came into her head... (Which had already gotten him into trouble because Marinette was TOO honest).

"Hey, Cup Cake."

"Hm. *focus on her drawing* Yes, Jay-Jay?"

"What do you think of Bruce's new girlfriend?"

"Which one? Grandpa changes girlfriends every week."

"The new one with the blonde hair."

"Oh... The Bit**?"

"…"

She talked a lot, asked too many questions. (Dick now had a notebook in which he kept track of all the questions Marinette asked him, which was a perfect "blackmail" tool for later. Yes, he was a sadist. He had to make the most of his years of suffering).

Sometimes she was capricious. (It was definitely Bruce's fault. He spoiled her way too much! He never refused her anything! That's why he didn't leave Mari alone with Bruce for too long... Marinette would be able to convince him to offer her a toy store as a birthday present... -she had already tried, fortunately Jason was there to stop Bruce-)

Marinette managed to make him laugh like no one else.

She lit up his days...

He was definitely a masochist...

-XxxX-

It was an early afternoon. He was about to go on patrol with a colleague when Amy came running into the parking.

"Grayson, I'll take over for you. The school called, there's been an accident with Marinette, she's in the hospital in Blüdhaven."

The world suddenly stopped spinning for him at that moment.

His blood froze completely.

He couldn't tell if his colleague had said anything else. Dick ran away to his bikes to get to the hospital. Once there, he quickly made his way to the reception, where he was directed to a ward.

As he approached the room, he began to hear a familiar laugh. He felt like he could breathe again. At least Mari was conscious.

"He is a vampire!"

"Oh? really?"

"YES! He only goes out at night, because if he goes out during the day, he will become ashes!"

"Hmmm."

Marinette was telling the doctor who was examining her, that Batman was a vampire. Luckily Mari was still a little girl, and no one was taking this story seriously, but he was going to have a serious discussion with Marinette on the subject. The doctor, obviously very amused by her explanations, had a huge smile on his face. Dick had barely had time to walk through the door when Marinette spotted him immediately.

"DADDY!"

She was clearly going to jump out of bed, but the doctor held her back.

"Slowly, little Grayson, no sudden movements."

Dick approached the bed quickly to take his daughter in his arms. Marinette had a bandage covering her forehead. He turned to the doctor.

"Can you tell me what happened? Is she okay?"

"Don't worry, Mr. Grayson, it's much less serious than it sounds. As for what happened, however, I don't have the details. All my colleagues have told me is that the little lady fell down the stairs."

"It's a lie!"

The two adults turned to Marinette, who was frowning, and looked at the doctor.

Dick put Marinette back on the bed. Then he ran his hand through his daughter's hair while talking to her softly.

"Sunshine, can you tell Daddy what happened?"

"It's Chloe's fault! She attacked me with her scissors, Chloe is mean! But I'm faster, and I managed to run. But then, at recess, she pushed me and I got a very, very bad headache because I fell on the table corner. But then Miss Bustier told me that I had to say sorry to Chloé, because Chloé is mean and it's not her fault, and you have to be nice to girls like Chloé. So I said NO! Because it wasn't my fault. Then afterwards I still had a very, very bad headache. And then everything turned very, very fast, and then it was all black. And... After... Uhuuh... I don't know what happened after that... Oh yes, there was the nice lady in white... And uh... After... well... uh... after Papa was there."

Dick frowned.

This story was extremely strange. However, the young man knew that the story his daughter was telling him was probably true. Marinette had never lied to him until now. She was incredibly honest (sometimes too honest...). If so, why had the school reported that Marinette had fallen down some stairs? It didn't make any sense.

The doctor asked Dick for permission to do some additional tests to avoid complications. He agreed immediately. Marinette was able to leave with him at the end of the evening.

Once back home, Dick ordered a pizza. Then, he called his friend Amy to inform her of Marinette's condition. He also told her the strange story Marinette had told him.

"She must be talking about Chloé Bourgeois."

"Bourgeois... As in André Bourgeois, the mayor of Blüdhaven?"

"Unfortunately, yes. She is in 3rd grade. Her favorite pastime is to terrorize those smaller than her. I know this because she tried to harass my son. Bad luck for her, a friend of mine who also has her son in the same class, warned me. I immediately asked the principal to change my son's class if he didn't want me to sue him. Since I am a police officer, he took me seriously. This brat loves giving orders to others. Marinette probably had to refuse to do what this little brat asked her to do."

"…"

Dick began to see more clearly into the matter. If this girl was indeed the daughter of the current mayor (who was corrupt, by the way), then the director was not doing anything for fear of retaliation (or was just as corrupt as the mayor). If this girl was in 3rd grade, she must have been about eight or nine years old, something like that. If this kid was already doing this at that age, what would she become when she grew up?

The young father was angry. Especially since Marinette's teacher seemed to be aware of the situation, and had asked his daughter to apologize to her bully! And apologize for what exactly?! For defending herself?!

It was absolutely outrageous!

Dick's anger only increased when he had to take Marinette back to the hospital in emergency around three o'clock in the morning. She was puking and complaining of head pain.

Marinette had a concussion.

She had to stay in the hospital for two full days. She also had to stay in a dark, dimly lit room because the light was hurting her eyes. Fortunately, once she was well rested, this incident would not leave any lasting effects on her.

Dick went from anger to rage when he went to school to ask for an explanation. The principal had the nerve to tell him that Marinette was a little liar and that Miss Chloé Bourgeois was an exemplary student. Worst of all, he told Dick that Marinette was a little pest, that she was the one who annoyed "poor" Chloé, and that the blonde had already complained about his daughter on several occasions.

Basically, this jerk was telling him that what had happened to Marinette was not only her fault, but that she deserved it.

"So... If I understood correctly what you're telling me. My daughter is wrong because she refused to serve as a slave to the mayor's daughter?"

"Watch your words, sir! What I'm telling you is simply that Marinette is not innocent in this case. She is nevertheless a disruptive student, who quarrels very regularly with other students."

" Other students who harassed younger students."

"Mr. Grayson, you-"

"Needless to say, Mr. Damocles, I understand that you prefer to protect the bullies and crush the weak. Just know one thing, Mayor Bourgeois is not the only one with contacts."

He got up and left the room without waiting for the director's explanations.

Indeed, the Bourgeois kid was so exemplary that Dick, on leaving the director's office, had the pleasure of seeing the brat at work. The little blond girl was forcing a little girl, probably about Marinette's age, to carry her bag.

Dick had had the mayor of Blüdhaven in his sights for some time. Unfortunately, he had other, more urgent matters to attend to, so he had stopped his investigation of Mayor Bourgeois.

But this time it was different.

He didn't give a damn if it was just a little girl.

No one in this world had the right to attack his daughter. And this damn town was about to find out how ruthless Nightwing could be.

It was high time that Blüdhaven was purged of its parasites.

Within a week, almost all city officials were indicted. Their corruption was exposed. Newspapers were full of stories about the corrupt municipality of Blüdhaven.

The town hall had helped traffickers of all kinds, extorted money from the citizens. They had agreements with several criminal organizations.

The mayor, Mr. Bourgeois, used public money to pay for trips, to buy houses and cars, to give gifts to his daughter...

Dick had never been so happy to know Clark Kent. The Kryptonian had had a great time. It was the scoop of the century!

As for Mr. Damocles... Dick left him in the hands of Bruce. The young man knew that there was no more cruel form of vengeance.

Bruce loved Marinette. He spoiled her every chance he got. She was his precious granddaughter.

So when Dick called him to tell about what had happened at school, the word "anger" wasn't enough to describe the state of his former mentor.

Usually, the young man hated using his mentor's name to get anything. He liked his independence, and more than anything else wanted to get out of Bruce's shadow. But for once, he just wanted a bowl of popcorn and enjoy the show.

He will never forget the terrified look on Mr. Damocles' face when he realized that Marinette was Bruce Wayne's granddaughter. In other words, this guy wasn't going to be back to being a director anytime soon. The teacher, a certain Câline Bustier suffered the same fate.

"So... I'm going to have a new teacher?"

"Yes, Sunshine. I think the new teacher's name is Miss Mendeleïev."

"Hm. Is grandpa okay?"

"Bruce? Yes, why?"

"Are you sure? It was very hot yesterday... there was a lot of sunlight."

"... Bruce has great sunscreen ..."

"Hm. Okay."

Marinette was still convinced that Bruce was a vampire. Dick had given up trying to talk some sense into her.

The next day, Blüdhaven, 9:00 a.m.

"Grandpa! Can you lend me your sunscreen? I don't want to get sunburned."

"My Sunscreen?"

"Yes, the one you use so you don't turn into ashes!"

"…."

Yeah... He wouldn't change this life for anything in the world!