Part 11

Ollie leaned back in the sofa and propped his feet up on the coffee table..The past two weeks had been nothing short of exhausting..he couldn't remember pushing his mind and body this hard in many months..Sure the heroing business had intense moments, but it was usually confined to a few day's and nights of solid physical and mental work during a fight or a case, with time to unwind afterwards. But this was different it was unrelenting and constant..not only was there the pressure of trying to find a solution to the problem of a certain adult ex sidekick being reduced to near toddlerhood..but the level of alertness it required to deal with the boy's antics was nothing short of extreme in Ollie's view point any way.

Ollie had to wonder whether there was actually something wrong with the boy or not..maybe he was hyperactive or something he thought..that would definitely explain a lot of things about the man the boy would one day become..He'd expressed that concern to Dinah, but she'd just rolled her eye's and told him to get over it.."welcome to the real world" she had said..He still couldn't quite understand what she had meant by that..Surely it was obvious that it wasn't normal for a kid to wake up at the break of dawn every day..just like it wasn't normal for the boy to scream the place down and throw himself on the floor yelling like a banshee and spinning himself in circles whilst kicking his little legs in an impressive impersonation of a rap artist, all because he's been refused a second helping of icecream.

Yet looking at the child now as he happily sat on the floor reading the picture books Connor had bought him on his return from his case with Kyle, you'd never know it was the same little boy that just an hour ago had refused to have his bath and spent a good half hour crying and hanging onto the doorframe, his little fingers locked viselike..almost impossible to pry off..and once Ollie and Connor combined had been able to get him into the bathroom he'd thrown himself yet again on the floor and proceeded to lay there yelling and banging the back of his head on the ground. Maybe he had some sort of dual personality disorder..that and a dash of ADHD would certainly explain a lot of things...All Ollie could say was that he was glad Lian hadn't taken after her father..Roy would never know how lucky he was in that respect, he'd never know how tough it was haveing to deal with a kid like him.

The doorbell rang, cutting into Ollie's thought's and he rose to go answer it..wondering briefly who it could be..it wouldn't be Dinah..she had her own key now and she wouldn't be back for another couple of hours anyway..she'd taken Lian to buy clothes...What was it with woman and clothes?..Between Dinah, Lian and Mia it seemed someone was alway's trying on some new outfit, and whether he liked it or not Ollie was expected to tell them how great they looked..even if he thought they looked like a bag lady..he'd learnt to lie well, something he needed to teach Connor to do better he thought as he answered the door.

"Sheesh..I shoulda known you lot would turn up sometime!" he grumbled as he let his unexpected visitors in.

"Wouldn't miss this for the world." Wally replied as he walked inside, followed closely by Dick and Garth.

"He's not a frikin freak show, you know." Ollie grumbled as the men filed in.

"C'mon Ollie..we don't know how long this will last, it's an opportunity that can't be missed..Do you know what Roy would do if it was one of u..." Wally's voice trailed off and his eye's widened as Roy walked from the living room to see where Ollie had gone.

The little boy walked over to the Emerald Archer, and wrapped his arms around Ollie's leg..staring suspiciously at the visitors for a moment before his eyes settled on Dick.. a spark of recognition flickered in the child's eyes as he remembered seeing the acrobat when he had visited Gotham two weeks earlier..His face brightened as a smile formed on his lips. "Hi." he chirped.

"Shit!" Wally said.

Ollie placed a hand over the little boy's mouth to stifle the response that was about to come from the child.

"Watch what you say..he repeats everything he hears." Dick said as he squatted down in front of the boy..amused to see the t-shirt the boy was wearing had a Bat emblem emblazoned across it.

"He's going to love it when he finds out you made him wear that!" Garth said, giving a chuckle.

"I don't make him wear it..he likes it, it's his favourite shirt..though I wish Mia hadda bought him something else, she's got a warped sense of humour that girl." Ollie muttered. "Are the three of you going to stand in the doorway or are ya gonna come in?" he snapped.

Dick held his hands out to beckon the child to him, and the little boy easily walked into his arms to be scooped up and carried into the living room.

"This is way weird!" Wally muttered as he followed behind.

"That's an understatement." Garth replied.

After they were all settled in the living room Ollie headed to the kitchen. "I'll make a pot of coffee..Watch him while I'm gone..and I mean watch him..I don't want any repeats of last week." Ollie said..pausing to look at Dick and add "I bet your old man never toldya he lost the kid on me?"

The three younger men all turned to face Ollie at once."Batman lost Roy?" they all asked incredulously at the same time.

Their shocked looks pleased Ollie no end.."Yep..You'll hafta make sure you ask him about it when you see him next." he said smugly. "Anyway..I'll be back in a few minutes..don't take your eyes off him..and don't pis..I mean don't make him angry..kids got a set of lungs on him like you wouldn't believe..not to mention a set of teeth that he ain't afraid to use." the archer added before he disappeared into the kitchen.

"Batman lost him?" Wally mumbled again, shocked.

Dick smiled wickedly. "That's a story I'mgoing towant to hear." he said, as he sat on the sofa with the little boy still in his arms.

"I bet that's one story he'll love hearing when he gets turned back." Garth replied, sitting on the arm of the sofa and reaching a hand out to run over the little boy's soft red hair. "This is incredible!" he added amazed.

Wally had disappeared for a few seconds, reappearing in front of the others, a camera now in his hands. "We've got to get a record of this...Harper's not gonna believe it if we don't have the physical proof to wave under his nose." he said as he snapped a couple of photo's.

The little boy blinked at the sudden flash of light, then grinned "More?" he asked happily.

Garth chuckled. "Mr photogenic..even at three..It's almost a shame to change him back, I like him better like this." he joked.

"Well that wish might be granted yet." Dick replied seriously.

Wally lowered the camera. "Come on Dick..they'll find the guy that did this and we'll just make him change him back, that's all." the speedster replied.

"I wish it was that simple Wally..but it's a lot more complicated than that. Not only do we not have any idea who the guy that did this is, but even when we find him we need to be sure he can change him back safely..that he's not going to make things worse or refuse to cooperate." Dick said as he released the little boy who was desperately trying to wriggle off his lap and climb to the ground.

"You mean he really could be stuck like this for good?" Wally asked shocked..he honestly hadn't thought that this could be permanent..that had never been something that he had even considered..he looked at the camera, suddenly feeling ashamed of treating the situation so lightly, then glanced over at the little boy who was busy pushing buttons on the television remote control..he couldn't even begin to imagine that his friend might stay like this forever..the entire concept seemed too unbelievable to accept.

end 11