Your Cheatin' Heart

Chapter Three

DISCLAIMER: Hello out there in Internet World, I am your DJ this morning... call me TAP and welcome to radio station BAT-FM! XD This program is brought to you by DC Comics, which owns all of the characters you recognize in this story, and by The Almighty Panamint, who made up the rest. Remember, we do not condone stealing all (or any) of the characters invented by The Almighty Panamint, and doing so could get you fined for up to a million Neopoints so that TAP can get more furniture for her Neohome. And flames are punishable by a two million Neopoint fine. Now let's kick off another fun-filled chapter of this story, and remember to keep it here on BAT-FM! (does live-long-and-prosper thing, ignoring really weird looks from Dick)

The next couple of weeks were devoted to planning a wedding I still wasn't quite sure of. Tracie seemed really nice and all that, and she treated me just as if I was her own son. We talked a lot and did a whole bunch of stuff together, like families should. Over time, I forgot my fears entirely and really began to enjoy Tracie's company. Turns out she knew how it felt to lose someone you love, too: her sister, June, was killed in a car accident three years ago.

"I'm sorry," I had told her. And I really meant it, too.

Tracie had just smiled and said how sweet I was. Then she suggested we go horseback riding and get to know each other a little better. We did a lot together after that.

But for some reason—just for a moment, mind you—I felt rather jealous of Tracie. Bruce was going to marry this woman, to make her his legal relative. Now I didn't nor will I ever want to marry Bruce, so just forget that. But if he could make her his legal relative… why didn't he do the same for me? We'd known each other for six years; why hadn't he adopted me? I know it sounds weird, but that's what I really wanted.

I knew it was never going to happen, though, so I hastily put the thought out of my head for what I knew wouldn't be the last time.

Now. Back to Tracie.

I remember one evening in particular. The three of us—Bruce, Tracie and I—were hanging around outside. They were talking about what I assumed was nothing in particular; I was riding Rainforest along the shore. I liked the sound his hooves made whenever we ventured into the surf and sprayed water up behind us. That was why I always made very sure that nobody was in back of us when we did that, otherwise I'd be in big trouble and receive nasty looks for a month.

Bruce called to me, so I rode up to the porch and tethered Rainforest to the railing (since Alfred didn't appreciate horses on the porch—I found that out the hard way when I was twelve). Then I went over to stand near my guardian's chair.

"Did you want something?"

"Sit down, Dick."

Noticing that both chairs were taken, I sat on the floor instead.

"Now," Bruce said when he noticed I was settled. "Tracie has been telling me about that conversation you two had in the stable a few weeks ago."

I gave Tracie the most vicious glare I'd ever given anybody in my life. The blonde appeared to be looking at everything under the sun except me.

"Don't blame Tracie—I almost had to wrestle it out of her."

Now that the initial shock was over, I could feel my face flushing tomato-red with humiliation. Why did Bruce have to be such a good detective? I knew I'd never hear the end of this one.

"Look at me, Dick."

Reluctantly, I did so. To my great surprise, there was no anger in his eyes. Just… nothing. Disbelief, maybe. I'd never seen that look before.

"How could you think such thing?" he questioned, sounding like he didn't have the slightest idea how my fifteen-year-old mind worked. That part wasn't new.

"What else was I supposed to think?" I muttered. I dropped my gaze. Or at least, I almost managed to get away with it before Bruce cupped my chin in his strong hand and forced me to look up at him once again.

"Why?" was all he said.

I shrugged. I didn't have a reason he'd accept. And it sounded so darn ridiculous when I said it out loud. Boy, did I feel like an idiot.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, Richard, you aren't leaving my custody until you're eighteen at the very least. Whether you like it or not."

I didn't say anything, still a bit embarrassed. It was good to know I was still wanted, though. But why did I always have to learn these things the hard way?

I turned away. This time, he didn't bug me about it. The sun had set a few minutes earlier, and the half-moon was clearly visible in the darkened sky. The first stars of the night winked at me from above, and I could feel my eyes getting heavy with sleep. Pretty soon, my head was resting against Bruce's lap, and he was gently stroking my hair. Since he'd never even come close to doing anything like that before, I was reasonably shocked at first. I didn't move, though. It reminded me of when my dad would do that after a hard day of trapeze work. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed that… of course, I realized Bruce was probably just doing it to reassure me that I wasn't going anywhere for as long as I wanted. But I still liked it.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tracie smiling at the two of us. And I could have sworn that, just for a moment, Alfred was looking at us through the window with a satisfied expression on his face.

Me: We apologize for the shortness of this chapter, but we've been having technical difficulties over here lately...

Dick: You mean you wanted to leave off on a happy note before the real torture begins.

Me: And now we'll take your calls...

Dick: You mean do the reviewer replies.

Me: The first three callers will receive personalized thank-you notes...

Dick: You mean you only got three reviews for this chapter.

Me: Everyone please ignore my co-DJ here, he's just here to annoy...

Dick: Hey! Just for that, I'm not doing the replies today!

(Dick storms out of the room in a huff)

Me: (sigh) Okay, I'LL do 'em...

Reviewer Replies

lizaln-Don't worry, no heart attacks here. And you are really good at humor, what's wrong with YOU? ;-) Hehe, thanks for the really nice reviews. I appreciate them.

Alexnandru Van Gordon-Never fear, I have never nor will I ever delete a story because of a lack of reviews. Ten per chapter sounds nice, though, LOL...

perfectdisaster-Thank you! B)