Title: In Another Land Part Six
Author: Simon
Pairing: Dick
Rating: PG-13
Summary: An AU look at what might have happened if Bruce hadn't taken Dick in.
Warnings: None
Disclaimers: These guys aren't mine, they don't belong to me, worst luck, so don't bother me.
Archive: Fine, but if you want it, please ask first.
Feedback: Hell, yes.
Thank you, Jim.
In Another Land
Part Eleven"Hi, Pop? It's Dick Por—Grayson. Is this a bad time?"
"Dickie? Good lord, son, it's never a bad time for you. How on earth are you? It's been, what—three years since I heard from you? You keeping out of trouble?"
"Yeah, Pop, I'm good. I just wanted to talk with you. How are you doing? Everything alright down in Florida this year? How are the elephants?"
"You know elephants, they never change. I think Susie misses you, though. You always were her favorite, you know. So, is everything going alright with you in that fancy school they have you in up there? You getting good grades, are you?"
"Yeah, they're fine."
"And those nice people you're with, they treating you good, are they? They treating you the way you should be treated?"
"...Everything's good. You're alright? I heard you were sick—you're better now, are you? You had me worried, Pop."
"It was just a little spell I had. I'm fine now, but I tell you, it's not like the old days here. Not like when your mom and dad and you were headlining the show—the crowds aren't what they were when you were flying, Dickie and that's the truth. I look up at those traps and I think I'm going to hear your father teasing your mother about her getting fat—and you know she never weighted more than a hundred pounds dripping wet, but he'd tell her she was putting on some weight and she'd get so mad. I swear, I can still hear him teasing her about that and she'd get so mad at him then he'd give her that big smile he had, the one just like yours and she'd forgive him and he'd laugh—I miss them, Dickie. I miss all of you being with us like you used to be."
"I miss all of you, too, Pop."
"But you're doing alright? You're not getting into any trouble, are you?"
"No, I'm good."
"Aren't you about to finish school? You going to college? I know your parents always thought you should go to some fancy college, you were always so smart. You going to do that, make them proud, are you? Make us all proud of you?"
"I'm not sure about that. I, I haven't decided yet." He wasn't sure how to ask this. Okay, jump in with both feet. "I sort of have a job offer, and I'm not sure what to do about it."
"What kind of job, Dickie? So you think you need money more than you need schooling, do you?"
"I guess, maybe. It's sort of helping out a man I know."
"Nothing illegal, is it?"
Well... "That's the thing. Not really, I mean I don't think so, but..."
"But it's not really legal, either? Is it something you want to do? There must be something funny if you're calling me about it."
"Maybe. It's nothing bad. I mean it's not like the mafia or anything like that. It's sort of helping the cops, sort of undercover work."
"Dickie, you getting into something that would make your mama worry if she was here?"
"Nah, no more than she ever worried about me turning a quad. I guess, I mean, I guess I'll think about this a little bit longer."
"Dickie? You sure you're not in any trouble? You don't sound right to me. You're not doing anything you shouldn't, are you? You're too smart for things like that. You always have been."
"No, I'm good, Pop. I swear. I just wanted to talk to you and make sure you're okay."
"Well, if you called to talk, I don't know why you aren't telling me what you want to talk about. You haven't said squat about anything, now what's on your mind, boy? You are in some kind of trouble, aren't you?"
"No, no trouble, I'm just not sure what I want to do about this offer, that's all."
"You gonna tell me what it's really about?"
"It's sort of hard to explain, but I think it's mainly helping out some private cops, sort of like a gofer."
There was a pause while Dick could hear Pop opening and pouring something from a pull top can, probably a beer, knowing Pop. "You were a little kid when you left us, but you always had a good head on your shoulders. You know what's right and what isn't—your parents taught you that, but you always knew anyway. You're one of the ones it's just sort of born in. You think this is a good thing to do, something that will make you happy, something you can live with and look at yourself in the mirror in the morning if you decide it's for you—then you do it. You think it's going to make you miserable, make someone else miserable, maybe cause trouble for people who shouldn't have trouble, then you walk away." A beat while Dick could hear Pop swallowing. "That make sense to you?"
"Yeah, it makes sense."
"Then you make the decision that's right for you. And Dickie? I saw your picture in the paper when you won that gymnastics meet last year, so I got a friend of mine to scare up some video of you there and you were looking real good—good form, good moves, good combos and you can still wrap a crowd around your little finger like nobody's business. I swear, nobody works a crowd like you do—even when you were little you could do that. I'm proud of you—and your parents would have been, too, you hear me? You looked real good doing all those moves."
"You saw that? God, I, jeez, I never thought you'd, you know. I never thought you'd see that. It wasn't that big a deal, just an age group thing."
"You know I keep an eye on you when I can. You keep your nose clean, you hear me? And when are you going to get yourself down here for a visit?"
"I don't know, I'm pretty busy up here and..."
"Well, we're playing Gotham this fall, you come see me, okay?"
"I will."
"You promise me now. And you know this job thing doesn't work out, you ever need work, all you have to do is give me a call, you know that, don't you?"
"I know, Pop."
"You're family. That don't change. You need me, you call, Dickie."
"I know, Pop. I will."
Dick went down to dinner when Bonnie called him a few minutes later. "Who were you talking to so long, sweetie?" Dick had the feeling lately that she half expected him to tell her he was just checking in with his dealer.
"I called Pop—Pop Haley, just to catch up. It's been a while."
She handed him his cheeseburger. "How is he? You two were talking such a long time. Everything alright with him?"
"He seemed fine. Are we out of ketchup?"
She handed him a new bottle from the cabinet. "I got a call from your guidance counselor this morning." She saw his immediately suspicious look. "She just wants to talk about your college applications. I think maybe we should start looking at schools for next year, honey. Maybe we could take a road trip this weekend and see a couple ones close by."
Okay, time to drop the shoe.
"I was thinking of maybe waiting a year before going to college. You know, take a year off."
Bonnie looked like she was about to stop breathing. "Dick, sweetie—why?"
"Because I need a break and I'm not sure what I want to study, anyway."
The food was forgotten. God, Dick was nothing if not good at throwing curves. And Bonnie was, after all, a teacher. School, education—was everything to her, well almost everything, anyway. "Well, what would you do for a year? Get a job, travel? You know I won't have you just sitting around—you have to do something constructive."
"Actually Bruce sort of offered me a job helping him out—sort of like an assistant."
Dear Lord. "But you don't have any experience in business and, I, well—are you thinking about helping around his house, like one of the household help?" He wanted to be a footman or a butler?
"He said I would be like a personal assistant to him."
She got up and poured herself a glass of water, needing to move more than she needed a drink. "Is this what you were talking to Mr. Haley about just now?"
"He says that if it's something I want to do, I should give it a try." Okay, that wasn't exactly what he'd said, but close enough. "I was over at Bruce's yesterday, he'd asked me to stop by in a few days, and we talked about it then. I think, I sort of think that it may be interesting."
"Do you think you'll go on to college later, then?"
He took a bite of his burger. He was hungry, even if she wasn't. "I guess I'll see what happens in a year."
Bonnie seemed less than thrilled.
"Mr. Wayne, Bruce. How could you do this behind my back? Knowing what I've been through with him—what he's been through the last year and a half. You go ahead and offer him a job without even bothering to find out if he has any college plans, without even having the courtesy to ask me if I even approve of any of this? I mean, forgive me after all you've done to help him—and us, but you've overstepped, you really have."
"Mrs. Porter, Bonnie. Honestly, I'm not offering him charity. I'm offering him a job which may lead to a career if it's something which interests him and if he's as good at it as I suspect he'll be."
"He said something about working as an assistant to you, is that what you offered? Don't you have enough assistants to fill a small town?"
"This is something different. I'd have him working on some special projects directly with me. And, in fact, I've been thinking about taking someone on for this position for a while now."
"But—Dick is still a high school student—surely he's not the best qualified for something like that."
"Bonnie, he's exactly what I'm looking for. He's young enough and intelligent enough for me to train him exactly as I want for this. I think he's perfect for my needs."
"Your needs? But what about college? If he starts working with you, he may never go and..."
"If he wants to continue his schooling it can be arranged. To start, the job will be time consuming, so it would probably be best if it were delayed a year or so, but I'd completely support him if he wanted to enroll somewhere. In fact, if everything works out, I'd probably be willing to pay his way as an investment."
"Well...would he be living at home here or would he be expected to stay with you?"
There was a small pause. "To be honest, I hadn't considered that. I suppose it might be easier if he stayed here on occasion, now that you mention it."
"...You should have discussed this with me, first. You really should have, after everything that's happened and everything he's been through, I would have hoped that you would think before you made your offer to him."
"If I didn't think that this was in his best interest, I wouldn't have spoken to him about it. Now, I've simply made an offer. It's up to him whether or not he wants to accept."
Dick was out back again, sitting in that old chair, wrapped in Andy's old Irish hand knit, the one he'd had since he and Bonnie had gotten married. In fact it had been her Christmas present to him that first year—a splurge she couldn't really afford but one she knew he'd love, and he did. It was almost eleven at night and they had to get up early for school, but Bonnie walked out instead of just calling him to come in.
"Thinking about things, sweetie?"
He nodded, quiet, reflective. "I'm going to take Bruce up on his offer when I graduate. And I'm going to up my training with Sergei so I can compete in the senior championships in a couple of months." Bonnie didn't say anything. "Is that alright with you?"
She sat next to him, pulling the other chair close. At least he seemed to have some direction, something to do other than the drugs he'd been hiding behind. Maybe this really was it, maybe he really had turned a corner. "You know I'd like you to go to college, but I can't complain about you making your own decisions. And I know you've wanted to do this gymnastics thing for a while, I'm so proud that you've been able to make it happen—as for the job with Mr. Wayne—can we really call him 'Bruce'?"
How odd to think of him like that, like just another neighbor down the road.
Dick nodded again in the dark.
"Bruce's job may pan out and it may not, but if you want to try then it's fine with me."
"And I don't think working with him will solve everything, Mom, okay? I know it's all still my problem to deal with."
"I didn't say you did think that, honey."
"You think that's why I'm going to do it, though. I know you and you're wrong. I think that this may be something I may be good at, something where I can really do something important—Bruce does a lot of stuff that makes a difference, you know."
He sounded a little too defensive to Bonnie and she wondered what his real reason for wanting to take the job was.
They were both concerned with their own thoughts for a few minutes.
"Dick, the drugs—do you really think that you've beaten them?" She was so frightened for him.
"I don't know."
She'd expected some assurance from him, a promise that it was over and behind them. "Have you...?"
"No."
God, she was so frightened for him. He was still a baby in a lot of ways, still so young despite everything that had happened to him.
"Have you ever thought how things would have been if my parents—my real parents—hadn't died?" He knew that she was alright with talk about the Graysons. In fact, she encouraged it as healthy for him, for both of them. "I'd still be with the circus. Well, probably, anyway. We'd still be touring. I'd have been home schooled, I guess." He shifted in the chair. "Do you think you and Andy would have adopted some other kid if I hadn't come along?"
"I guess so. We were on the list. I suppose we would have sooner or later." She tried to see what his expression was in the dark. "You know how much we both loved you, though—how much I love you now. You're my son and you always will be. You have to know that, Dick."
"Andy would be alive if it wasn't for me."
"Andy would be alive if that truck driver hadn't been over the line. It could still have happened. You know that, Dick. Blaming yourself is an excuse and I'm not going to have you go down that road again. Andy died because of a mistake another driver made, not because of anything you did."
He didn't answer.
"Dick?"
"I know that." He stood up, obviously refusing to discuss this any longer. "It's getting late, I'm going to bed."
"I'll be there in a minute—oh, I forgot. Sarah called earlier, she was wondering of you wanted to go to a movie with her tomorrow. Are you two seeing each other?"
"She wants to." He shrugged; silhouetted against the lights from the house she could just make it out. "She's alright, I guess." He went inside, ending any questions about that. Well, he was old enough to have a girlfriend, certainly.
Working for Bruce Wayne as some kind of personal assistant. This could go anywhere.
"Bruce? It's Dick. I've given your offer some thought, but I have a few questions. Is it alright if I come over to talk?"
"Of course. Tomorrow is Saturday, you were going to come over anyway to help Alfred—we can talk then."
"Look, I think we both know what you want me to do, more or less, but I need to know some details before I commit to this. I mean, what are we really talking about here? Do you want me to open the mail or am I supposed to sit next to you when you go out at night?"
"Go out at night?"
"You know—c'mon, Bruce, I'm not stupid. I know who you are. Do you think I'll just be a flunky or do we really work together? Are you looking for some hired help or are you looking for a sidekick, a student to teach what you do and who might be able to fill in if, you know, if something happened?"
Bruce leaned back in the big leather desk chair. They were in his study, the fire was burning, the room—unlike the rest of the mausoleum—was warm and inviting, relaxed. "A lot of that depends on how you take to the training and your attitude. I know you're a top athlete, I know you're coachable and I know that you're intelligent. Beyond that, I think you have a basic understanding of what some of my friends and I do, in addition to which, you have personal reasons to want to make some inroads against the lesser examples of our population."
"So you're saying I could take this as far as I was willing to work with it?"
"Pretty much, yes. That's up to you and my evaluation of your performance."
"And what happens if I wash out, if I change my mind or you decide that I suck?" Dick was sitting across from him on the long couch, angled towards the fire and the warmth. "You kill me to keep my mouth shut?"
Bruce actually gave a small smile. "Nothing so dire. You saw 'Men in Black'? The neutralizer? I use one of them." Dick looked like he was about to bolt. "I'm joking, Dick, relax. If you don't end up staying, I'm sure you'll keep things between us. I doubt if anything would go any further." And he had the neutralizer.
Dick stared at him, thinking, making a decision, coming to a conclusion.
"I finish school in June. After that, okay?"
Wayne nodded. "Fine. We'll start with some of the basics today. First of all, you need to understand a few things..."
TBC
10/21/04
10