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Part Seven
Two Years Ago
The day started out less than stellar. The alarm didn't go off. There was no hot water for the shower. He was out of coffee. The last piece of bread was moldy. He'd meant to pack his uniform last night but had forgotten after an all night stake out for that heroin ring down at the docks he'd finally shut down. Now he was having trouble finding all the components he needed plus a gym bag to put them all in for the trip to the station. A button popped off his only clean uniform shirt. His new shoes killed his feet. His cycle, his new Ninja wouldn't turn over and he ended up with sprayed motor oil on his uniform pants from coaxing it into starting. He hit traffic. It started to rain. By the time he got to the station he was thinking it had to go up from here.
Parking his bike in as secure a place as he could find and chaining it to a lamppost, he walked in the front door of the precinct, presenting himself to the desk sergeant, like he'd been told to do. "I'm Grayson, reporting in. I was just assigned."
The man, who was at least two hundred and fifty pounds of donut flab didn't even look up. "Find yourself an empty locker, get changed and go to the briefing room, second floor. You're late."
Dick found a seat in the back, after the morning's briefing had started with the Lieutenant giving him a hard look as his foot caught a chair leg, causing someone's cup of coffee to spill. After getting paper towels in the bathroom, he'd missed half of the meeting. Shit. Luckily he caught the nametag of the woman beside him "You're Amy Rohrbach, right? I believe we've assigned together."
"So you're the newbie I've been hearing about—rich, pretty and Daddy bought you your commission. Congratulations. Now let's get in the car, keep your mouth shut and your head down. And that's Sergeant Rohrbach to you, kid. And I drive."
His first day consisted of two muggings, a purse snatch, suspected arson with pages of paperwork and a talk with a bunch of third graders in their falling apart elementary school during which Amy did all the talking and the teacher spent an hour hitting on Officer Grayson in the rear of the classroom. On the way back to the station house they happened upon a group of teenagers harassing a man who looked to be your basic businessman with a three piece suit an a briefcase. Seeing the squad car they started jeering and throwing bottles but took off when Amy gave started to pull over. The kids headed into alleys and over fences, anyplace the car couldn't follow so Dick did what came naturally to him and gave chase on foot with Amy yelling at him to get back in the Goddamned car. Three blocks later she caught up—he had two of the kids cuffed and two more standing quietly to the side, cowed and apologetic. And Dick knew he'd made a total bonehead move.
"Excuse me? You always do this kind of thing your first day on the job?"
"I know these kids, Sergeant and they know me so they let me catch them, okay? They're not bad kids, they were just being stupid and acting tough." He actually did know these kids from his Nightwing patrols and they weren't as tough as they pretended. In fact, they were good kids if given half a chance but they needed their wrists slapped a little if they were going to go to the right side of things and this could do it.
She called for back up to get the kids down to the station then turned to Dick. "Look, I don't give a rat's ass what you're used to, but you pull something that stupid again and I'll have your balls for breakfast, you understand me, Grayson? You didn't know if they were armed, if they had friends waiting to jump you—you didn't know anything, you just ran off like some Goddamned superhero. This is the real world and in the real world we have a way of doing things and going off half cocked isn't on the list. You want to finish out the week, you toe the line or you hit the road. Now get in the damn car."
"So how was the first day, Short Pants?" A disembodied voice was coming from Dick's computer screen.
"I hate when she calls him that, John. I really do. It's just so patronizing and I can't begin to understand why he takes it from her."
"He's in love with the girl."
"He thinks he is."
"Mary…behave."
Dick hit some button and Barbara's face appeared, glasses in place, hair tied up in a loose and messy bun. "It was all right. It takes a while to fit in but it'll be okay."
"So it's not all smooth sailing, Twenty Something Wonder?"
"Babs, c'mon, lighten up, will 'ya?"
"Okay, I'm sorry, but how was it, really?"
"I had three different regular cops try to find out if I'm open to bribes and my captain hinted around that if I see anything I shouldn't in the locker rooms or on a street corner involving cops and money, I should assume they're working undercover and not worry about it." Dick took a long swallow from the bottled water he'd just pulled out of his fridge. He'd unbuttoned his shirt and stood in front of the small table fan that couldn't possibly keep up with the heat wave Bludhaven was in the middle of.
"And if you do worry about it?"
"He hinted that would probably be a bad idea."
"So you have your work cut out for you, little Dickie."
"Babs, c'mon, lay off. You want to share some dinner? I can be there in like half an hour."
"Sure, FBW. Chinese, you can buy."
"I swear, John, if that woman was here, I'd smack her and then I'd talk to Dick."
"Mare…"
"Oh for God's sake, he can do so much better and you know it as well as I do."
"Mary, leave his love life to him. Don't butt in here."
She gave him a look that promised nothing and went to get the remote. "Sweetheart? I know you think you're in love with this girl, but that doesn't mean you have to lie down and be a doormat for her. Stand up for yourself and tell her what you really think. If you just stand there hemming an hawing you won't get anywhere."
"So how was it really? You think it's going to work out for you?"
Dick swallowed the last piece of General Tso's and wiped his mouth. Damn, this was pretty much what he needed; relaxing with Babs, finally getting rid of the hunger pangs and talking out the day. "It's going to be okay, I just have to get a feel for who everybody is and what their connections are, but then I should be able to make some major inroads with the bribes and stuff, really clean out the crap that's filling the department now."
"Sounds good, but Dad says that it's probably the worst department in the country and he thinks anyone who tries to clean it up is going to end up regretting the effort or dead."
He broke out with the big smile and a laugh. "Wouldn't be any fun if it wasn't a challenge, darlin. Like you." Reaching over, he tried to pull her closer, but she pushed him away.
"Cut it out."
"What?"
"Just…don't."
Dick sat back only slightly chastised and barely deflated by the rejection, glancing at his watch. "I have to get going anyway, I have the early shift and I should patrol." He put his shoes back on and started towards the dinner mess.
"Just leave it, Dick, I'll get it." Shrugging and smile back in place, he cleared the plates and containers anyway while Barbara sat at the end of the couch. "You know it's not like that for us, okay? We both know it and we both know it's never going to change as long as I'm stuck here like a bump in a chair."
He came back to where she was sitting knelt beside her, serious for a change. "I've told you a dozen times the chair doesn't matter to me, enough times that you should have gotten it by now. If there's something else, some other reason, if you're not interested or if there's someone else, then be honest enough to tell me but if it's just that you're afraid then it's boring now, Barbara, and it's time you dealt with it because we both know that it is like that for us and it could be a whole lot more like that if you'd get off the pot." He leaned over and kissed her cheek. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"
She finally laughed and he left happier than he arrived.
"I still don't like this idea of him laying himself on the line like this as a uniformed cop. I understand what he's trying to do, but this isn't necessary, there are other ways he could accomplish the same thing if he wasn't so Goddamned stubborn."
"I can't for the life of me imagine where he learned that, sir." Alfred placed the turkey sandwich, no mayo or butter, lettuce and tomatoes with a glass of milk on the side where Bruce could reach it, the same as he did every night when the Master came home from patrol. Ten years ago there would have been two sandwiches, or perhaps three, an entire pitcher of milk and freshly baked cookies to go along side. Then there was Master Jason and now Master Tim, but he didn't seem to like the late night snack the way the others all did and rarely joined in.
"Plus the chances he's taking with someone uncovering his identity—he knows better than this. Nightwing's work is too close to that of a cop on the street—he'll be dealing with the same people in both roles and—damn him—he knows better." Batman was sitting at the main computer console down in the cave and was not well pleased this evening. On top of Dick's insistence on being foolhardy about working with the BPD, he was also adamant about his courting Barbara Gordon and while Bruce had nothing against the woman—respected her quite a bit, in fact—a blind man could see they were wrong for each other. Dick was the eternal optimist; Barbara saw the dark side of things. Dick loved adventure, Barbara loved research. Dick was an athlete, Barbara was too, in her way, but…
"Perhaps if you spoke to him, sir…you are his father now." But of course that wasn't likely, considering that almost every time the two masters spoke, it turned into an argument.
Bruce became more thoughtful than usual. "I wonder if that was a mistake, adopting him at this late stage. Maybe if I'd done that when he was younger it would have made a difference, but when he was in his twenties I think he may have resented it after all that time had gone by."
"My boy, you proved to him you love him more than anyone in your life, you're…"
"He was so hurt when I adopted Jason, though. He had a right; I guess, but it all seemed to make sense back then. I screwed up, Alfred."
"A gentleman never 'screws up', sir. He might occasionally make a mistake or miscalculate, though." Bruce gave him a thin smile and turned back to the monitor. Perhaps it would be better to let Dick find his own way and be prepared to pick up the pieces once again if he failed. Let him do it his way for now. "Are you through for the evening, sir or will you be requiring me again?"
"Get some sleep, Alfred. I'll just be a few minutes." Before he left, Alfred glanced at the monitor; Master Bruce was scanning the Bludhaven police frequencies and checking through that's city's newspapers to make sure his son was still all right. It was what he expected.
"You know I don't mind him being a cop, but being a cop there? My God, John, it's almost like he's determined to get himself killed."
"He's as well trained as anyone could be, Mary, you know that, Plus he does have the back up of both the Titans and the JLA is he needs them, all he has to do is call and they'll be there for him."
"This is a mistake. You know it as well as I do. I can feel it. This is going to end badly and he's going to be hurt one way or another."
"Mary, please. He's not a child any more, he's in his twenties, he's been a vigilante for a dozen years—more, in fact. He's been through police training and he's a world-class athlete. Plus you know how smart he is—he'll be all right. Besides, he's a sergeant now, they think highly enough of him to promote him; he's doing well and, more importantly, the in-house crime for that police force is down by more than half. That's what he wanted and he's getting it done."
"And he's distracted by that little bitch he's supposedly in love with. I swear, if I had my way he'd just walk away from her before she just tears his heart out or worst. You saw him today out on patrol—he was barely paying attention and it was just dumb luck and the remote that stopped him from skidding into that phone pole. She's playing him like he was a deck of cards. I just wish he'd come to his senses about her." She knew her husband wasn't listening. "John?"
"Where does Wayne come off adopting my son? I know why he did it, but the gall of the man. He's my son. Mine."
"Master Bruce, I really think Master Dick would appreciate a call or visit from you, sir. I believe he needs…"
"Needs what?"
"Needs to know you love him, Sir." Alfred stood without moving, clearly ready to do battle. "In the last few days he has violently lost both his new home along with a great many friends there and his childhood one with Haley's burning. His young lady has refused him comfort and he is without a job. I would think he is very much in need of his friends rallying about and doing what they can for him." Alfred handed Bruce his jacket. "And he needs that help now.
"Thank you, Mary. You were right about calling on Alfred for this."
"I don't think Bruce is the one to help Dick, though. He never really was; it was always Alfred who was there for Dick when he was younger."
"Dick will bounce back, you'll see. He always has; it's what he's made of. He has more friends than anyone I know, he'll call the right one."
"Remember when he was little and you would clean off his scrapes and cuts? You used to promise him that nothing would ever hurt him, remember that? I used to think it was so sweet of you, but he had to get hurt, it was just a matter of time."
Dick was restlessly asleep in Catalina's bed, naked, dreaming.
"You know this isn't right for you, son. You know this won't solve anything and you know there are still places you can go now."
He was tossing, tangling the covers around his legs, mumbling in his sleep.
"You know Roy or Wally would be here in a heartbeat. Even Garth if you can get a hold of him. Clark has been a good friend to you since you were nine years old, he'll do anything you want. Call them, Dick. Let your friends help you."
The tossing continued, becoming more pronounced and waking Tarantula. "You all right, babe? You need a sleeping pill or something?"
"You're stronger than this, Dick. You always have been stronger than any three people put together. Otherwise you wouldn't be who you are, you wouldn't have been able to handle our deaths or being locked in Juvie. You couldn't have been the best Robin of all of them and you couldn't have overcome losing him by evolving into Nightwing. You can do this, son. I know you can."
"Maybe a drink of water, babe?"
"You've taken some hard hits, I know that, but you're still here and we're not leaving you, Dick. Remember when you were little and you knew we'd always be there? We still are. Lots of people still are. Let them help you, son. You've helped so many over the years, let your friends help you now. It's right. Let them help you now."
He looked up at Catalina leaning over him, just able to make her out with the slight light coming in from the shaded window. "You okay now, babe? You want anything?" The bedside clock read four-ten.
"Cat, I gotta go, okay?"
"Don't be silly, it's raining out there."
"I'm sorry, I gotta see someone." He pulled his uniform on over her protests and questions and walked down the stairs out to the street. Pulling his cel out he pushed number four on the speed dial. "Roy? You busy?" He started to feel the broken pieces hurt a little less.
TBC