The next part of Fighting Bullies. Told ya they wouldn't always be in order. =P Wrote this while waiting for the Dark Knight Rises. Awesome movie, think of it as AU and don't read spoilers and you'll be fine. ^^V

Dick-13 Jason-10 Cass-8 Tim-6

Suspension

The balding man really didn't like having to make these house calls, but his job occasionally required it. He really didn't like making them to these big of places. Why did this particular person have to have such a huge house? And Mr. Bruce Wayne at that! Did he really have to do this interview? This assessment? The guy seemed to be on the up and up.

But four suspensions at the same time? Child Services had to take a look at this.

He rang the doorbell and expected to hear shouting. There wasn't any, which immediately caught his interest. Was nobody home? Was this Mr. Wayne taking his kids out on vacation during their time off? Who knew what rich people did when no one was looking. Maybe the tabloids did but he never read them. The misses did.

After a minute or so, he debated ringing it again. But just as his finger reached the button the door opened. An older gentleman, the butler no doubt, answered. "May I help you?"

"Collins Welhm, from Child Services? We were called in by the vice principal of Gotham Academy when she found out all four of the children here were put on suspension. I have a court order here to—"

"That will not be necessary. Please," the butler stepped aside, "do come in. I dare say we've been expecting you."

"Expecting?" The man's man did not answer but offered his hand out to take his coat. He handed it over and followed the butler further into the house, nearly hugging his satchel. "Uh, I need to talk to Mr. Wayne immediately. Then to the children in question."

"Understood sir. If you will just follow me to the parlor." Slowly he was guided through the house, momentarily seeing several large and secluded rooms. The door to the study was barely open and he could hear a small girl's voice reading large words out loud.

"When it is… ex…pead… ant… for re…lo…k..ation…"

Welhm wondered if that was the one girl he was supposed to look into, Cassandra Cain-Wayne. She was taken from an abusive situation after Captain Gordon's daughter found her. Couldn't even talk back then according to the report. Mr. Wayne took her in without question, his most recent adoption. Her birth parents were reportedly still at large, though not together. Did she even know who they were?

He shook his head as he went past. He saw a couple paintings on the wall, some of them familiar from Gotham history books. Wayne was never a name taken lightly and always held some meaning to the people there. And this one seemed to like taking in strays, orphans like himself. He was almost to the parlor when he heard it.

"Why didn't you tell us about it?" a young man demanded shortly.

"It wasn't that important," a teenage voice cracked.

"Dick, your ribs may be cracked. We should take you to see Leslie."

"But I hate going to the doctors!"

"Leslie isn't like other doctors."

"I hate hospitals."

"The clinic isn't like hospitals."

"It still smells like one."

There as some giggling after that one. "You're not helping Timmy."

"But he's right," a little boy's voice pitched in. "They all smell the same."

"Sterile. Clean. Perfect for safely healing someone. Which reminds me, someone needs to finish getting their shots."

"I hate needles!"

"You still need that vaccination."

"But Daddy!"

There was a sharp intake of air then a slight growl in the man's voice. "Dick! What did you do to your shoulder!"

"Nuthin'."

"That wasn't nothing."

Some silence came, just as the butler brought the guest into view. A little boy (Timothy Drake-Wayne if he remembered right from the files) was laying on the floor with a book in front of him. He was watching Mr. Bruce Wayne and a shirtless teenage boy (Richard Grayson, the kid hadn't added Wayne to his name, despite being the oldest) on the couch. A very good first aid kit sat on the coffee table next to them along with the teen's shirt as the man was treating some cleverly hidden bruises on the teen's back and side. Neither the man nor the teen seemed happy about all this, especially since the bruising was very apparent on the kid's side. The shoulder in question was on the side the social worker couldn't see.

Dick cringed. "Okay, I dislocated it while on the bars this morning."

"Who was spotting you?" Bruce was clearly not pleased. He took out some wraps from the kit and gauze, trying to help it heal best he could. He already taped up the kid's ribs.

"Cass."

The man scowled at the kid's back before giving a grudging sigh. "Well, that explains why it's back in place, but you should have wrapped it. And had an adult watching you."

"You were gone and Alfred was busy!" He took in another breath before continuing. "I wanted to get a new routine in before I started on the cars."

"You've had yesterday to start on them. What kept you?" The wrapping was in perfect precision, making the social worker wonder how often he had to apply medical care. Judging from the reports he read, this kid was a dare devil and did nearly everything to get a thrill. Probably got hurt on a daily basis. And judging on how unhappy the man was about the injuries, he wasn't the one who'd make them.

Dick laughed slightly. "Well… Cass was having a hard time reading that book you gave her so I had to dig out a dictionary for her that she'd understand. Then Jason started complaining about cobwebs and nearly fell through one of the rotted beams in the attic and—"

"Fell?" The alarm on the man's face made the kid bite his lip. That was clearly a secret. "Why on earth was he up there to begin with?"

"You told him to help with the spring cleaning and Alfie said it was always best to start from the top down so—"

"Excuse me Master Bruce," the butler started, getting everyone's attention, "but you have a guest."

They all looked up at Welhm, curious. The man was already nervous. He'd been listening in and assessing them already. So far he could confirm one thing: they weren't being abused. Richard was causing his own injuries and his guardian wasn't very happy about it. Wayne was even trying to help him heal and stop him from getting hurt. Richard was trying to be a good big brother by helping out his siblings, even covering for them. And a kid didn't hang about two people like that if they felt they weren't safe. Timothy's presence clinched the option of abuse away.

Same with neglect. Wayne was clearly involved with their lives, even asking questions to know more about what had happened. He knew their interests and he kept taps on what they were doing. The man was with two of them right then, at the end of his work day and not making any excuses to leave at the moment. Both the boys there seemed healthy and happy.

"Can I help you?" There was some defensive annoyance in Mr. Wayne's voice, which honestly he couldn't blame him for.

"I'm sorry to intrude. Collins Welhm, Child Services. I was told to do a follow up assessment because of the multiple suspensions."

"Ah." He looked over Dick's bare torso one last time before handing back his shirt and closing up the first aid kit. "We're not done talking."

"Got it got it." The teen struggled to put the shirt back on and needed some help tugging it over his back. Bruce lended a hand, then motioned to the doorway.

"Call Jason up for dinner and tell him to take a shower first. Timmy, can you grab Cassandra? She should be in the study."

"Got it." Both Timmy and Dick headed back the way the man came, giving him annoyed expressions as they passed by. He could tell already they had dealt with social services before, and didn't like it. It was too bad he had so many bad reputations going with his job. He really was just trying to help people, kids especially.

"Please come on in Mr. Welhm." Wayne put on one of his best smiles, proving what social class he was. Only the rich hid behind smiles when they were mad or annoyed. The visitor quickly shuffled in, giving a small smile of his own. "Have a seat. I'm willing to bet this will take a while."

"Not really," he tried to explain. "I've already done a partial assessment."

"What?" Honest confusion entered the man's face.

"On how you acted when you weren't aware of me being here." He smiled to himself now. People liked him because he wasn't just a social worker, he had a degree in psychiatry. He knew what made people tick. And already he had a good idea what the dynamics of this household was. "I just need to see Jason and Cassandra and then I think I'll be done here."

"I knew you'd want to see Cassandra," the man started, still a bit confused. "I'm lobbying for her teacher's removal."

"Why?" Welhm hadn't heard this part.

"Because he groped her. It was why she broke Wash's arm and was suspended."

At this, the man's eyebrows shot up. Okay, he really didn't know what was going on here. "Oh. And Jason? Why was he suspended?"

To this Bruce took a deep breath for patience. "He was jumped by five others at school and nearly beat them senseless. Course he has quite the mouth on him and antagonized the attackers beforehand but that doesn't justify a fight."

"Really." Another thing the report missed.

"Yes. Jason's currently helping with the cleaning as punishment."

"Do you regularly discipline them by menial labor?" He'd heard of this method before. Made hard workers and usually got the point across without any harm to the child.

"Usually. Dick's cleaning cars and motorcycles. Cass on the other hand has some extra reading practice." Bruce smirked. "Each individual is punished in different ways, depending on what they did and to what extent. Cass needs more practice reading and talking anyway, so two birds…"

"Ah." Welhm had out the files now, looking in on the eldest. "Richard was suspended or participating in a fight involving four others?"

"Dick was defending another classmate. Apparently he took more blows than he let on." He shook a disapproving head. "Would have added them in the incident report if I knew about them. I saw his muscles were sore earlier, before you came in, and was trying to apply some icy hot when I spotted the other wounds. That kid…"

"I can tell." He switched to the youngest's file. "And Timothy. The nature of his fight—"

"Wasn't really a fight. He was bullied for months and finally decided to hit back." The man smirked slightly. "One blow to the nose and he walked away."

"Ah." Things were making sense in the social worker's head. "Alright. You have told them to not fight at school, right?"

"I have a harder time getting them to not fight at home."

To that the man laughed. Cass came in right about then and froze at the sight of a stranger. Welhm smiled at her but she was more focused on getting a sign from her father than from him. Wayne nodded. "It's okay Cass. He's not here to take you away or harm you."

Slowly the girl nodded, then moved around the coffee table to the opposite side of the man, clutching his arm. She was clearly just shy and uneasy around new people. Interesting girl. But she clearly trusted Bruce Wayne, more than him by a long shot.

It was another five minutes before Jason made his appearance, annoyed and wet more than anything. "So, when's dinner? And who the heck are you? "

One good long look at the boy and his attitude was all the social worker felt he needed to confirm his father's statements. The kid was a trouble maker. The bandaids were nothing compared to his jaded glare at them all. He didn't want to be there, not under a microscope. But his dad requested his presence and he came without any argument.

Collin Welhm smiled, standing up. "No one of consequence. Mr. Wayne, I'll assist in that lobbying if you need a child psychologist. My apologies for the intrusion."

"Not at all. I'll walk you out." With that the social worker was led back out of the Wayne Manor, a little more confident now than he was before. With the man gone, all four children converged on their father.

"What the heck was that?"

A/N: didn't know how to end it and i was kinda out of it when I was typing so I added the last line. I will not ever say I know a thing about Child Services so don't jump me on this guy. Made him up just this once. I just thought someone would be checking up on them since all four were suspended at the same time. Jason was in the Batcave by the way, and it was filthy so he had t wash up before seeing the social worker. Hiding bruises and other injuries is such a bat trait. =P

Well, until I feel like updating again. TTFN!