Part 6

Dinah felt bad, she knew she had over reacted a little to the situation..She had known as soon as she looked at Ollie's distressed face when she had finished lecturing him about the stupidity of turning his back on a small child in a room that held as many danger's as Ollie's basement did...that he was already beating himself up over the same thing..

She had expected him to come back at her angry tirade with the characteristic hot headed emotional response that the Archer was renowned for..Not the look of remorse and guilt that had flooded over the man's face making her instantly regret her angry and emotive response. Ollie hadn't intended to hurt the boy, that wasn't a thought that even crossed her mind..the man was just careless that was all..he had a tendency to get locked in his own world and not see what was happening around him.

But Dinah also knew carelessness had once before lead to Roy's being hurt...he may have been older at the time, and it may have not have been the same as dropping a weight on his foot..but he'd been hurt never the less and Dinah had no idea how long Roy would be stuck in the young body he was now trapped in...someone had to look out for him...still, she wished she had been a little more tactful than she had been.

Now that things had calmed down, and a trip to the emergency clinic up the road had revealed the little boy's foot was just bruised and swollen..not broken as she had feared, she couldn't help feeling bad about her harsh words. It was blatantly obvious that Ollie cared for the boy..he'd refused to leave the boy's side, even when the precautionary x-rays needed to be taken, the whole time he had held the boy close and whispered words of reassurance Dinah believed were not only to comfort Roy..but to comfort himself as well.

Now she stood quietly in the doorway, watching as thearcher sat beside the little boy who had fallen into and exhausted sleep. Ollie held one of the boy's tiny hands in his large one...his thumb gently caressing the back of the tiny appendage.

"You okay?...You want a coffee or something?" she asked as she moved further into the room to stand beside him.

If Ollie heard the question, he didn't acknowledge it..he remained deep in thought for a moment before looking up at her. "It's weird seeing him like this..so damn vulnerable...I'm just beginning to know how he musta felt." he said softly.

"Roy?"

"Yeah...you know, when he first got Lian...when he first realised how breakable they are..I mean there's no way he'd ever have let this happen to his kid."

Dinah smiled reassuringly and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Don't you worry..Roy's made his share of mistakes with Lian too." she replied.

Ollie looked surprised. "Really?..But he's so good with her...I mean I alway's wondered where he got his parenting skills, 'cause he sure as heck didn't get them from me..I don't know how the hell he's been doing this by himself for five years when I can't even get things right for two day's." he said..his voice beginning to sound strained.

Dinah chuckled softly. "Let me tell you a little secret or two..Roy didn't just fall instantly into the role of great Dad, he had to a lot to learn, and he's made mistakes...I've lost count of the phone calls I've gotten over the years..especially when Lian was a toddler, everything from 'help Dinah she's eaten a bug, what do I do?' to, she's got a bead stuck up her nose and I can't get it out!..I takes time to learn to develop the skills to be a parent...and taking on a thirteen year old counts for very little when your faced with a three year old, there is no comparison."

Ollie looked back at the boy. "Well I was hoping I wouldn't need the time to learn..I kinda hoped this would be over with quick..But after what Bats said today it's looking like it could be awhile..." He paused for a moment suddenly remembering something. "Aww damn..I forgot I didn't hang up the phone when I was talking to the pointy eared rodent..he's probably been flexing that detective mind of his all day trying to figure out what I did to the kid this time...he's gonna be so smug...so 'I am so much the better parent'.. it's gonna be laughable." Ollie said in irritation.

"I'm sure he won't think like that Ollie...Bruce would understand..." the little boy stirred in his sleep and Dinah lowered her voice. "Maybe we should talk outside so we don't wake him, she whispered.

"What?..And leave him alone?..I don't think so!" Ollie replied.

"Just while he has a nap..."

"You have no idea how much trouble he can get into...I'm not taking my eye's off him for a second!" Ollie said seriously, wondering if Dinah had lost her mind.

Dinah suppressed a smile..maybe there was hope for the Archer yet. "Ollie I know I said you needed to keep a closer watch on him..but that's not quite what I meant." she paused for a moment to look around the room, noting all the things the little boy could get into..Ollie was justified in worrying, the boy couldn't be left alone in this room. "Why's he in your room anyway..why not just put him back into the room he stays in when he comes to visit you as his adult self..that faces the living room and we could see if he was to open the door to..."

"We couldn't put him in there..not when we first brought him home..You should see the crap the boy has in there. I was always gonna put in a weapons safe or something for him to lock his gear in when he stay's but I haven't gotten around to it yet...He's got gear in there that I've never even seen before..I didn't want the kid zapping himself with a neuro blaster thingy or some other such do hicky." Ollie replied cutting off Dinah's words.

Dinah smiled to herself..she could just imagine the sorts of weaponry Roy carted with him everywhere he went.."Well from what Bruce has told us we still don't know if this situation is going to last a month or a year..either way we need to get ourselves more organised. This place needs to be child proofed a lot more than it is. We also need to tell Lian whats happened..she's a smart little thing I'm sure she'll take it all in her stride..I've left her with Bruce and Alfred so I'll organize to pick her up tomorrow. We'll also need to go shopping and pick up a few things we'll need for him." she said quietly..lowering her voice yet again as the little boy sighed and rolled over, curling up into a ball but staying asleep.

"Like what?. Mia already bought him some clothes before she was called into this Titans thing she's on." Ollie whispered, reaching out to lay his hand gently on the boy's shoulder.

"He needs more than clothes Ollie..I think we need to clear out Roy's room and make it safe and get some sort of monitor in it so we know when he wakes up..we don't want to be faced with any more early morning fridge raids..and toy's, he needs toy's to keep him occupied..throwing him on the mini tramp in the gym just won't do."

Ollie's face lit up..this was a plan he could deal with, anything that meant keeping this kid busy was worth pursuing. "Toys..yeah that's a great idea...Something electronic, with buttons and lights, and it'll hafta make a noise..preferably a bang or a zap, even better if it shoots some kinda fake laser beam or something..The kid likes that kinda crap...well he does as an adult anyway." he said enthusiastically.

"Well that's what we'll do then..We'll sit down tonight and work out exactly what we need to do, then get started on organising that room." Dinah said..It wasn't a perfect solution, the only perfect solution would be to find out how to change Roy back and do it..but seeing as that wasn't happening anytime soon this would have to do in the meantime.

end 6