Okay, next chapter. Please let meknow what you think of this chapter. It still has the terminal cuteness, but also some darker elements. I want to make sure I don't lose my audience, so if its too much let me know. On with the story! Scribbles
The next morning Dick awoke late. He didn't remember falling asleep for the second time last night, just some memories of climbing back into bed with 'I'm a little teapot' reverberating in his head. Dick lay in bed for a little while savoring the luxury of sleeping in. At the JDC, there was a schedule to follow and when the wake-up bell went off in the morning, everyone got up. There was no such thing as sleeping in. As Dick lay in bed, he noticed his door push in a little and a head peek around the frame. Dick sat up in bed when he recognized the head belonged to Tim. Deciding to take a chance with the timid boy and remembering the musical performance he had seen last night, Dick decided to try and talk to the boy.
"Hi Tim. How are you this morning?"
The head quickly pulled back behind the frame. Dick panicked. He was messing this up. He was determined to make at least one friend of his two new foster brothers. Tim being the youngest seemed the most likely choice, but what did he know about little kids anyway. Giving it one last try, Dick hurriedly called out to the boy once more.
"Wait Tim! Please come back. You don't have to talk if you don't want to. I'm... I'm just a little bit lonely and would really like to talk to someone. Please?"
Dick didn't know where that last part had come from. He was pretty good at not letting his emotions show from the time he had spent in the JDC. He had learned real fast after his first fight that crying and showing you were sad was considered a weakness and encouraged the other boys to pick on you. To his surprise, though, the plea must have done the trick because he noticed Tim peeking cautiously around the door frame again.
"Well if you don't want to talk, I hope you don't mind if I talk. Mom always said I could talk up a storm. We really didn't get a chance to meet yesterday. My name's Dick Grayson. I've been staying ... well I've been staying somewhere else until they could find me a foster home. I guess they did find me one, finally, huh? I can't believe I slept so late! Dad used to have all of us out of bed bright and early in the morning to practice and limber up. You see Dad, Mom, and I used to be part of the circus. We were The Flying Graysons and nobody in the world was better than us on the trapeze! You ever been to the circus, Tim?"
Dick really didn't expect an answer to his question, so he just kept right on talking when he didn't get one. As Dick talked to Tim telling the boy all about his many circus adventures and experiences, Tim slowly eased his way into the room. As he talked to Tim, Dick moved out of bed and began the morning exercises his father and mother taught him a long ago. He was in the middle of a one-arm handstand telling a story about the time he had taken the miniature poodles out of their kennel to play with even though he knew was not supposed to, especially when the roustabouts had the elephants out for their evening stroll.
"I tell you Tim, I turned my back for one minute and when I looked back those stupid poodles where gone! You would figure little dogs like that would know better than to play around the elephant cages. Anyway when I went looking for them..."
Realizing his tongue had run away from him and thinking better of telling the young boy this story he looked over to see if Tim was still listening. Dick was surprised to see that not only was Tim still listening, he had moved over onto the end of the bed to listen to Dick and watch him exercise. That in itself didn't surprise Dick so much as how the boy was listening. Upside down. That is he was lying on the bed, hanging over the edge, upside down, listening intently to everything Dick said. They where looking each other in the eye upside down as Dick was still in the middle of his handstand. Dick blinked for a few seconds at the upside down boy before he started to giggle. The giggles turned into full-blown laughter and he fell out of his handstand. Dick lay on the floor laughing and Tim hung upside down on the bed with a big grin on his face. It was at that moment alerted by the noise that Alfred arrived.
"My word! What is all the racket in here?"
Tim pulled himself up and off the bed and ran to hug the older man in the doorway. Alfred picked Tim up and smiled at the grin that was still on his face.
"Why Master Timothy! I thought you were still in bed. I hope you didn't wake Master Richard."
Afraid he might have done something wrong, Dick quickly got control of his laughter and spoke up for the boy.
"Oh no, Alfred. Tim didn't wake me up. I was already up and asked Tim to stay while I did my morning workout. I hope I wasn't making to much noise and bothering people."
"Certainly not young man. Laughter has never been known to bother anyone in this house. The more laughter there is the better off we all are. Now how would you both feel about some chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast?"
Alfred was an old pro when it came to raising boys and he new the fastest way to put any boy at ease, especially teenage ones, was through their stomachs. He was not surprised when Dick quickly jumped up and followed him downstairs.
Alfred, Dick, and Tim spent the morning eating pancakes and talking. Well that is Alfred and Dick talked. Tim listened for a while and then sat down to play with some of his toys on the kitchen floor. In addition to his toys, his blankie had somehow managed to magically appear in the kitchen, too. Dick, his stomach full, and feeling at ease with the older man, regaled Alfred with some of the circus stories he had been telling Tim. He wisely left the poodle story out, however.
It wasn't until about noon that Dick realized he had spent the whole morning in the kitchen speaking with Alfred, Tim playing nearby. Where were Mr. Wayne and Jason? Feeling comfortable enough with the man to ask questions, Dick decided to ask Alfred about the whereabouts of the other two.
"Why Master Richard. Today is Monday and Master Jason has gone to school. Master Bruce... something came up last night and Master Bruce was up into the early hours of the morning taken care of it. He'll probably sleep a little longer and then we'll all go pick Master Jason up from school together. Now if you'll help me finish preparing lunch, you can both eat and Master Tim can retire for his n-a-p," Alfred finished by spelling the word out.
Dick grinned remembering when he was Tim's age and his parents used to spell words out they didn't want Dick to hear. It must be some kind of universal parent thing.
Not knowing what was going on, but still a little suspicious whenever people used letters instead of words around him, Tim climbed into his seat at the table for lunch. Together they sat down to eat a nice meal of tuna sandwiches.
"Alfred?" Dick asked tentatively.
"Yes Master Richard?"
"When do I get to go to school, and where will I go?"
"I imagine Master Bruce will have you enrolled in the same school Master Jason attends by week end. The school covers all grades Kindergarten through high school. In fact young Master Tim will probably begin attending Kindergarten there next year after the summer term, if he is ready."
As Alfred mentioned the younger boy, both he and Dick turned to look at Tim. Of course, Tim wasn't tired, but after a long morning of watching his new brother perform such amazing feats and then playing very hard with his toys, he was drowsing over a mostly eaten tuna sandwich.
With a finger to his lips for Dick's benefit, Alfred moved over to lift the drowsy (not tired!) boy and his blanket from the chair. The definitely not tired boy snuggled closely into Alfred's shoulder and continued to drowse all the way upstairs into his room. Dick followed Alfred upstairs and with a soft smile on his lips, he watched the older man tuck Tim snugly into bed for his n-a-p.
As Tim slipped his thumb into his mouth and pulled his blankie closer, Dick had to admit the little guy was kind of cute and he just might not mind having him around. The only thing that bothered him about Tim was in all the time he had spent with the boy this morning, Dick hadn't heard him speak once, not even a giggle. While Dick could understand Tim being too shy to talk to him, he had not spoken to Alfred all morning or Mr. Wayne last night in the study. So far, Dick had been batting 1000% when it came to asking Alfred questions, so he decided to try his luck once more.
After seeing Tim safely tucked away, Alfred and Dick returned downstairs to clean up their lunch plates.
"Alfred can I ask you one more question?"
"You may ask me as many questions as you wish, Master Richard. I will endeavor to answer all I am able."
"Well its kind of about Tim. It's just that I haven't heard him make a sound the entire time I've been here. He doesn't talk to you or Mr. Wayne that I've seen and when I ask him questions he just gets scared and slips away."
Alfred let out a weary sigh and sat down at the table. He called Dick over to it with him.
"You will find Master Richard, that both Master Timothy and Master Jason did not come here under happy circumstances as you yourself did not. That's not to say that Master Bruce and myself are not happy to have you here, of course. We just wish you did not have to endure the heartbreak you did in order to find your way to us," Alfred quickly reassured Dick on the last point.
Alfred sighed again. Dick hadn't even thought about the possibility that Jason and Tim had lost their parents like he himself had. Obviously though, they were not Mr. Wayne's natural children and they had to come from somewhere. He waited for Alfred to continue.
"I normally would not discuss these personal matters with others, but Master Tim is not able to tell you himself and knowing will help you deal with him better. Timothy came to us after being taken from his father. It seems Tim's mother passed away and for some reason we do not know, Jack Drake, Timothy's biological father chose to ignore Tim's existence after the death. The boy was severely neglected and had virtually no contact with other people. Jack Drake must have occasionally remembered to feed the boy, but he was still dramatically underweight when the authorities took him into custody. We are quite sure Tim knows how to talk, since videos were found in the home with Tim and his mother laughing and talking, he just no longer chooses too. He understands when others talk to him quite well and will sometimes respond as long as it doesn't require speaking on his part."
Dick thought back to last night when Tim had responded with five fingers when asked how old he was going to be. Thinking about the little boy sleeping upstairs being all alone as he himself was at the JDC made Dick really upset. At least he was 14. Tim was only four years old. If nothing else, at least the JDC always fed him three meals a day. Poor Tim obviously didn't even get that. As long as his parents had been alive, Dick had always felt safe and loved.
"But Alfred, why would anyone do something like that to Tim? He's so little and cute, why didn't his Dad love him?" Dick's voice cracked a little on the last few words.
"I wish with all my heart I had an answer to that question Master Richard. All I can say is that sometimes horrible things happen to people that make them forget everything else, even others they love and who love them. Its up to us now to give Tim the love he needs."
Dick sat quietly at the table thinking over what he had just learned about Tim. He sat for a long time trying to figure out a world where parents didn't love their children, didn't even remember them to feed them. Alfred gave Dick's shoulder a brief squeeze and got up from the table to finish the afternoon's chores.
A little while later, Bruce Wayne emerged fully dressed from upstairs carrying a smiling Tim. Obviously, the n-a-p was over.
"Good afternoon, Dick. How did you sleep? Everything was okay, I hope. Nothing woke you up last night, right?" Bruce asked the young man with a mischievous grin on his face.
Dick blushed remembering his excursion last night and rushed to answer. "Everything was fine, Mr. Wayne. I slept great! How about you?"
Bruce gave Dick a knowing smile before answering. "Please, Dick, call me Bruce. To answer you're question, I was sleeping peacefully until this little bedbug decided to hop on pop!" As he talked, Bruce tickled the young boy in his arms. Tim squirmed and laughed without making a noise.
Bruce smiled and looked back to Dick. "Dick why don't you go get dressed and we'll all go and pick Jason up from school."
Dick looked down at himself and blushed a little when he realized he had yet to change out of his pajamas. After quickly excusing himself, he ran upstairs and changed. Coming back down when he was done, Dick stopped in the kitchen for a glass of water before they left. Bruce came strolling into the kitchen following a running Tim.
"Alfred's pulling the car around front. Tim just wanted to come and show you his teapot from the miniature tea set Alfred gave him last Christmas."
At the word teapot, Dick eyes went big and he accidentally swallowed his water down the wrong tube and began coughing.
"Whoa, there son. You all right?" Bruce asked with innocent eyes and a hidden smile. Dick slowly nodded his head while looking up at Bruce trying to figure out what he knew.
"Come on. We don't want to be late. Tim will have to show you later on."
With that Bruce moved to leave the house with Tim walking beside him trailing his blanket. Dick followed behind thinking about teapots.
The next morning Dick awoke late. He didn't remember falling asleep for the second time last night, just some memories of climbing back into bed with 'I'm a little teapot' reverberating in his head. Dick lay in bed for a little while savoring the luxury of sleeping in. At the JDC, there was a schedule to follow and when the wake-up bell went off in the morning, everyone got up. There was no such thing as sleeping in. As Dick lay in bed, he noticed his door push in a little and a head peek around the frame. Dick sat up in bed when he recognized the head belonged to Tim. Deciding to take a chance with the timid boy and remembering the musical performance he had seen last night, Dick decided to try and talk to the boy.
"Hi Tim. How are you this morning?"
The head quickly pulled back behind the frame. Dick panicked. He was messing this up. He was determined to make at least one friend of his two new foster brothers. Tim being the youngest seemed the most likely choice, but what did he know about little kids anyway. Giving it one last try, Dick hurriedly called out to the boy once more.
"Wait Tim! Please come back. You don't have to talk if you don't want to. I'm... I'm just a little bit lonely and would really like to talk to someone. Please?"
Dick didn't know where that last part had come from. He was pretty good at not letting his emotions show from the time he had spent in the JDC. He had learned real fast after his first fight that crying and showing you were sad was considered a weakness and encouraged the other boys to pick on you. To his surprise, though, the plea must have done the trick because he noticed Tim peeking cautiously around the door frame again.
"Well if you don't want to talk, I hope you don't mind if I talk. Mom always said I could talk up a storm. We really didn't get a chance to meet yesterday. My name's Dick Grayson. I've been staying ... well I've been staying somewhere else until they could find me a foster home. I guess they did find me one, finally, huh? I can't believe I slept so late! Dad used to have all of us out of bed bright and early in the morning to practice and limber up. You see Dad, Mom, and I used to be part of the circus. We were The Flying Graysons and nobody in the world was better than us on the trapeze! You ever been to the circus, Tim?"
Dick really didn't expect an answer to his question, so he just kept right on talking when he didn't get one. As Dick talked to Tim telling the boy all about his many circus adventures and experiences, Tim slowly eased his way into the room. As he talked to Tim, Dick moved out of bed and began the morning exercises his father and mother taught him a long ago. He was in the middle of a one-arm handstand telling a story about the time he had taken the miniature poodles out of their kennel to play with even though he knew was not supposed to, especially when the roustabouts had the elephants out for their evening stroll.
"I tell you Tim, I turned my back for one minute and when I looked back those stupid poodles where gone! You would figure little dogs like that would know better than to play around the elephant cages. Anyway when I went looking for them..."
Realizing his tongue had run away from him and thinking better of telling the young boy this story he looked over to see if Tim was still listening. Dick was surprised to see that not only was Tim still listening, he had moved over onto the end of the bed to listen to Dick and watch him exercise. That in itself didn't surprise Dick so much as how the boy was listening. Upside down. That is he was lying on the bed, hanging over the edge, upside down, listening intently to everything Dick said. They where looking each other in the eye upside down as Dick was still in the middle of his handstand. Dick blinked for a few seconds at the upside down boy before he started to giggle. The giggles turned into full-blown laughter and he fell out of his handstand. Dick lay on the floor laughing and Tim hung upside down on the bed with a big grin on his face. It was at that moment alerted by the noise that Alfred arrived.
"My word! What is all the racket in here?"
Tim pulled himself up and off the bed and ran to hug the older man in the doorway. Alfred picked Tim up and smiled at the grin that was still on his face.
"Why Master Timothy! I thought you were still in bed. I hope you didn't wake Master Richard."
Afraid he might have done something wrong, Dick quickly got control of his laughter and spoke up for the boy.
"Oh no, Alfred. Tim didn't wake me up. I was already up and asked Tim to stay while I did my morning workout. I hope I wasn't making to much noise and bothering people."
"Certainly not young man. Laughter has never been known to bother anyone in this house. The more laughter there is the better off we all are. Now how would you both feel about some chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast?"
Alfred was an old pro when it came to raising boys and he new the fastest way to put any boy at ease, especially teenage ones, was through their stomachs. He was not surprised when Dick quickly jumped up and followed him downstairs.
Alfred, Dick, and Tim spent the morning eating pancakes and talking. Well that is Alfred and Dick talked. Tim listened for a while and then sat down to play with some of his toys on the kitchen floor. In addition to his toys, his blankie had somehow managed to magically appear in the kitchen, too. Dick, his stomach full, and feeling at ease with the older man, regaled Alfred with some of the circus stories he had been telling Tim. He wisely left the poodle story out, however.
It wasn't until about noon that Dick realized he had spent the whole morning in the kitchen speaking with Alfred, Tim playing nearby. Where were Mr. Wayne and Jason? Feeling comfortable enough with the man to ask questions, Dick decided to ask Alfred about the whereabouts of the other two.
"Why Master Richard. Today is Monday and Master Jason has gone to school. Master Bruce... something came up last night and Master Bruce was up into the early hours of the morning taken care of it. He'll probably sleep a little longer and then we'll all go pick Master Jason up from school together. Now if you'll help me finish preparing lunch, you can both eat and Master Tim can retire for his n-a-p," Alfred finished by spelling the word out.
Dick grinned remembering when he was Tim's age and his parents used to spell words out they didn't want Dick to hear. It must be some kind of universal parent thing.
Not knowing what was going on, but still a little suspicious whenever people used letters instead of words around him, Tim climbed into his seat at the table for lunch. Together they sat down to eat a nice meal of tuna sandwiches.
"Alfred?" Dick asked tentatively.
"Yes Master Richard?"
"When do I get to go to school, and where will I go?"
"I imagine Master Bruce will have you enrolled in the same school Master Jason attends by week end. The school covers all grades Kindergarten through high school. In fact young Master Tim will probably begin attending Kindergarten there next year after the summer term, if he is ready."
As Alfred mentioned the younger boy, both he and Dick turned to look at Tim. Of course, Tim wasn't tired, but after a long morning of watching his new brother perform such amazing feats and then playing very hard with his toys, he was drowsing over a mostly eaten tuna sandwich.
With a finger to his lips for Dick's benefit, Alfred moved over to lift the drowsy (not tired!) boy and his blanket from the chair. The definitely not tired boy snuggled closely into Alfred's shoulder and continued to drowse all the way upstairs into his room. Dick followed Alfred upstairs and with a soft smile on his lips, he watched the older man tuck Tim snugly into bed for his n-a-p.
As Tim slipped his thumb into his mouth and pulled his blankie closer, Dick had to admit the little guy was kind of cute and he just might not mind having him around. The only thing that bothered him about Tim was in all the time he had spent with the boy this morning, Dick hadn't heard him speak once, not even a giggle. While Dick could understand Tim being too shy to talk to him, he had not spoken to Alfred all morning or Mr. Wayne last night in the study. So far, Dick had been batting 1000% when it came to asking Alfred questions, so he decided to try his luck once more.
After seeing Tim safely tucked away, Alfred and Dick returned downstairs to clean up their lunch plates.
"Alfred can I ask you one more question?"
"You may ask me as many questions as you wish, Master Richard. I will endeavor to answer all I am able."
"Well its kind of about Tim. It's just that I haven't heard him make a sound the entire time I've been here. He doesn't talk to you or Mr. Wayne that I've seen and when I ask him questions he just gets scared and slips away."
Alfred let out a weary sigh and sat down at the table. He called Dick over to it with him.
"You will find Master Richard, that both Master Timothy and Master Jason did not come here under happy circumstances as you yourself did not. That's not to say that Master Bruce and myself are not happy to have you here, of course. We just wish you did not have to endure the heartbreak you did in order to find your way to us," Alfred quickly reassured Dick on the last point.
Alfred sighed again. Dick hadn't even thought about the possibility that Jason and Tim had lost their parents like he himself had. Obviously though, they were not Mr. Wayne's natural children and they had to come from somewhere. He waited for Alfred to continue.
"I normally would not discuss these personal matters with others, but Master Tim is not able to tell you himself and knowing will help you deal with him better. Timothy came to us after being taken from his father. It seems Tim's mother passed away and for some reason we do not know, Jack Drake, Timothy's biological father chose to ignore Tim's existence after the death. The boy was severely neglected and had virtually no contact with other people. Jack Drake must have occasionally remembered to feed the boy, but he was still dramatically underweight when the authorities took him into custody. We are quite sure Tim knows how to talk, since videos were found in the home with Tim and his mother laughing and talking, he just no longer chooses too. He understands when others talk to him quite well and will sometimes respond as long as it doesn't require speaking on his part."
Dick thought back to last night when Tim had responded with five fingers when asked how old he was going to be. Thinking about the little boy sleeping upstairs being all alone as he himself was at the JDC made Dick really upset. At least he was 14. Tim was only four years old. If nothing else, at least the JDC always fed him three meals a day. Poor Tim obviously didn't even get that. As long as his parents had been alive, Dick had always felt safe and loved.
"But Alfred, why would anyone do something like that to Tim? He's so little and cute, why didn't his Dad love him?" Dick's voice cracked a little on the last few words.
"I wish with all my heart I had an answer to that question Master Richard. All I can say is that sometimes horrible things happen to people that make them forget everything else, even others they love and who love them. Its up to us now to give Tim the love he needs."
Dick sat quietly at the table thinking over what he had just learned about Tim. He sat for a long time trying to figure out a world where parents didn't love their children, didn't even remember them to feed them. Alfred gave Dick's shoulder a brief squeeze and got up from the table to finish the afternoon's chores.
A little while later, Bruce Wayne emerged fully dressed from upstairs carrying a smiling Tim. Obviously, the n-a-p was over.
"Good afternoon, Dick. How did you sleep? Everything was okay, I hope. Nothing woke you up last night, right?" Bruce asked the young man with a mischievous grin on his face.
Dick blushed remembering his excursion last night and rushed to answer. "Everything was fine, Mr. Wayne. I slept great! How about you?"
Bruce gave Dick a knowing smile before answering. "Please, Dick, call me Bruce. To answer you're question, I was sleeping peacefully until this little bedbug decided to hop on pop!" As he talked, Bruce tickled the young boy in his arms. Tim squirmed and laughed without making a noise.
Bruce smiled and looked back to Dick. "Dick why don't you go get dressed and we'll all go and pick Jason up from school."
Dick looked down at himself and blushed a little when he realized he had yet to change out of his pajamas. After quickly excusing himself, he ran upstairs and changed. Coming back down when he was done, Dick stopped in the kitchen for a glass of water before they left. Bruce came strolling into the kitchen following a running Tim.
"Alfred's pulling the car around front. Tim just wanted to come and show you his teapot from the miniature tea set Alfred gave him last Christmas."
At the word teapot, Dick eyes went big and he accidentally swallowed his water down the wrong tube and began coughing.
"Whoa, there son. You all right?" Bruce asked with innocent eyes and a hidden smile. Dick slowly nodded his head while looking up at Bruce trying to figure out what he knew.
"Come on. We don't want to be late. Tim will have to show you later on."
With that Bruce moved to leave the house with Tim walking beside him trailing his blanket. Dick followed behind thinking about teapots.