Dick found that having a dog around was fantastic. He'd found that because of how often he'd been at Regan's apartment and around the dog, she'd started listening to him, as well. Any order Dick gave, Gracie followed. And she knew some pretty awesome tricks.

He had patrol that night, so he was able to update everyone on what was going on. He'd fed Gracie, and then shut her into his bedroom with the dog bed he'd bought and her favorite toy- a little stuffed Batman that she carried with her everywhere. He'd be getting back around 3 AM and always snuck in through his living room window, so he hoped it wouldn't scare her and make her start barking.

As he grappled his way across the rooftops, he quickly found Red Hood and Robin, standing at a gargoyle Dick had named Max as a child.

"Hey, guys," Nightwing said, finally walking up to them.

"You're late," Red Hood said, almost gleefully. He'd gotten back into the family's good graces about a year ago, and hadn't killed anyone in nearly a year and a half. He was living back at the manor, but he still had some safe houses he went to when he needed to hide out.

Nightwing grimaced, and put a hand on the back of his neck. "Yeah, sorry, my girlfriend had a family emergency, I was waiting for her to call me that her plane had landed in Metropolis," he said.

"A girl is no reason to skirt your responsibilities, Nightwing," Robin, AKA Damian, said.

"I'm not skirting my responsibilities, Robin," the first Robin said with a sigh. "Besides, she asked me to take care of her dog for the weekend, so I had to make sure she was okay at my apartment, too."

"A dog?!" Robin exclaimed. Seemingly realizing that he had lost his composure for a moment, Robin straightened back up. "I mean, tt. I guess taking care of her dog is important," he said, crossing his arms.

"I thought you were coming to the manor this weekend?" Red Hood asked, leading the way as the three brothers walked across the roof.

"I am," Nightwing said. "I'm bringing Gracie with me."

Hood laughed. "I don't know if Bats is gonna like that," he said.

"I've seen that dog lay down and let puppies and children crawl all over her, she'll be fine," Nightwing responded. "Speaking of, Jay, I need you to be at the manor for Sunday dinner."

Red Hood snorted. "I'm always at the manor for Sunday Dinner," he said.

"Well great, because I'm going to pick her up from the airport and bring her to the manor to meet everyone Sunday, and no, she won't be bringing cookies," Nightwing said.

"Awe, I love those cookies," Red Hood pouted. "Oh well, I've been wanting to meet this girlfriend of yours, Wing, it's been 6 months of hearing you talk about how perfect she is, I hope she lives up to that standard."

"She'll go past it," Nightwing said.

"As much fun as it is to hear about your girlfriend, Wing," Robin said dryly, "We have a patrol to do."

Nightwing and Red Hood shared a look. Well, as much of a look as they could share seeing as Red Hood had a helmet on.

"Well, you heard the man," Nightwing said, gesturing to the youngest vigilante. "To patrol we go!"

…

Friday afternoon found Dick fitting Gracie into her harness, clipping the leash to it, and loading her into the passenger side seat of his mustang. Her bed, food and bowls, and favorite toy were all in the backseat with his own bag, ready for a weekend at the manor.

"Alright, Gracie, ready for the craziness?" Dick asked as he pulled out of the apartment complex's parking lot.

Gracie just stuck her head out the window.

Dick laughed.

He reached the manor about half an hour later, grabbed his bag in one hand and Gracie's leash in the other, and jogged up the steps. As per usual, the door opened before he even reached it.

"Master Dick," the older man said, "How lovely to see you again."

"Hey, Alfred," Dick grinned. "I brought someone along."

"I see," Alfred said, eyeing Gracie with a critical eye. "And who might this be?"

"This is Gracie," Dick said, "She's my girlfriend's dog."

"And where is your girlfriend?"

"Regan's in Metropolis, her grandma fell and broke her hip, so her parents asked her to go up and help out. Neither her parents' complex, or her grandmother's allow dogs, so she asked me to watch her for the weekend," Dick explained.

"Well, she certainly seems to be well behaved," Alfred said, allowing Gracie to smell his hand. She, obviously, licked his hand.

"Failed service animal," Dick said. "Great with other dogs and kids."

"Then I'm sure she'll be a model houseguest," Alfred said, moving aside to let him in.

"Thank you, Alfred," Dick said with a grin. He dropped his bag right inside the door, and unclipped Gracie's leash from the harness. "Go explore, Gracie," he said.

Gracie did not do as he said, instead sitting down and waiting for him to get her stuff from the car. It was only once he returned and grabbed his bag back up did she move, only to follow him up the stairs to his old room. He laid the bed down in the corner of the room, under a window, and she went over to lay down on it.

"Oh, come on, Gracie, you've got a big old manor to explore, and you chose to come in here?" Dick asked, going over to pet her head. "Maybe if I take the harness off…" reaching around, he forced the 70 pound dog up into a sit, and got the harness off. He dropped it on the dresser, and then stood up straight. "Come on, girl, let's go explore."

This time, Gracie did as told, and followed him back down to the kitchen as he searched for a snack.

"Hey, a dog!" a delighted voice behind him exclaimed while Dick was busy searching through the pantry. He knew he'd left a bag of chips in here, somewhere…. Ah-hah!

Turning, Dick found Tim sitting on the floor. Gracie had laid down in front of him, and was happily accepting belly rubs.

"Hey, Tim," he said, popping open the bag and reaching in. "I see you've met Gracie."

"Hell yeah I've met Gracie," Tim said, "I didn't know you got Damian a dog."

Dick chuckled. "I didn't," he said. "She belongs to my girlfriend; I'm watching her while she's out of town."

"Good luck getting her away from Damian once he sees her," Tim grinned.

Dick laughed, "I'm probably gonna need it," he said with a nod. "Wanna see a trick I taught her?"

It was a trick that Regan would either find hilarious, or kill him for, but he thought it was funny, so he did it.

"You taught her a trick?" Tim asked, eyebrow raised.

"Oh yeah I did," Dick grinned. "Gracie, talk shit."

Sitting up, Gracie barked.

"Talk shit!"

She barked again.

"Good girl, talk shit!"

Once again, Gracie barked.

"That is hilarious," another voice said, and Dick glanced over to see Jason, leather jacket on like normal, and staring at Gracie with a completely delighted look on his face. "Please tell me she knows other hilarious tricks."

"Nah, she's a failed service animal, so she knows mostly useful things. Never grasped the whole opening cabinets thing, though. Regan's got a tug rope tied to one of her cabinets, and she'll give the command, but then Gracie'll just go stand next to it. Won't open it."

"Wait, but doesn't that mean she knows how to bring things to people and stuff?" Tim asked.

"Oh yeah," Dick said. Opening the cabinet again, he grabbed a closed box of crackers. "Gracie, take this to Jason. Take," he pointed at Jason as he said it.

Taking the box gently into her mouth, Gracie trotted across the kitchen and dropped the box at Jason's feet.

"Holy shit," Jason said, his smile growing. "This dog is amazing. Black lab, right?"

"Half," Dick said. "Black Labrador, Golden Retriever mix." Gracie looked like a black lab, but her fur was noticeably longer than a lab's normally short fur.

"Well shit, no wonder she's so smart," Jason said, going down to his knees to be face-to-face with the dog. She licked his face, he laughed, and then he brought his hands up to run up and down her neck.

"Yeah, I think Gracie'll be just fine, here," Dick said, sneaking out his phone. Taking a picture of Jason on the floor happily petting the dog, and Tim leaning over to also pet her, he quickly sent it to Regan.

Somehow I think Gracie's going to be okay at the manor

Oh my god I love that. That's Jason on the ground, right? And Tim leaning over?

Correct! Yeah, they were both really excited to see her. Damian hasn't even seen her yet, I suspect he'll be the happiest

From what I've heard about Damian, I think so too.

Dick smiled and put his phone back into his pocket. Jason was leading Gracie into the main living room where they actually hung out; there was a second one they used for interviews, but this one had all their DVDs lined up around the big screen television. Tim was eagerly following his brother, so Dick followed as well.

"Hey Damian!" Jason exclaimed upon entering the room. "Dick brought a present!"

"Not a present, I'm just watching her, she'll have to go back on Sunday," Dick broke in, unwilling to let Bruce think he'd bought another dog. Titus was a big dog himself at over 100 pounds, which made sense for a Great Dane. Gracie was 70 pounds herself, so Dick just hoped the two dogs would get along. Alfred the cat was another thing entirely, and he hoped she wouldn't even get around BatCow.

By the time he saw his youngest brother's face, though, he knew. Oh yeah, he knew that getting Gracie away from Damian was going to be hard. He was just glad that Regan would be there on Sunday.

Titus was sitting by the couch, with Bruce running a hand over the Great Dane's head. He had both eyebrows raised as he stared at the Labrador mix his youngest son was currently fawning over.

"Her coat is nice and shiny, her gums are perfect, perfect weight, and she's perfectly trained!" Damian exclaimed, inspecting the lab mix with a critical eye. "This dog is perfect!"

Dick chuckled. "Gracie!" at his call, Gracie stood up, abandoned the loving treatment she was getting, and came over to Dick. "Good girl, sit!" she sat.

"Grayson, this is your girlfriend's dog?" Damian asked, as if surprised someone associated with Dick could have such a well-trained dog.

"She is," Dick grinned, proud.

"Your choice in mate is acceptable," Damian nodded. Dick snorted.

"Glad to get your approval, Dami."

"So you didn't buy Damian another dog?" Bruce asked, eyebrows still raised up to his hairline.

"Nope," Dick said. "Regan got called to Metropolis with a family emergency, her parents' apartment doesn't allow dogs or she would have taken her with. I said I'd watch her."

Titus, apparently tired of watching this other dog get the attention of his favorite person, walked over to the smaller dog. He sniffed at her, Gracie sniffed at him, and every human in the room stood stock still, waiting to see if a fight would break out. Instead, Gracie licked Titus's muzzle, and then the two dogs walked over to the fireplace together and curled up.

"Well shit," Jason said, watching this with a raised eyebrow. "I think the dogs are in love."

"Good thing Titus is neutered," Tim added.

Dick didn't even say anything, just raised his phone to take a picture to send Regan.

She loved it.

…

Sunday afternoon, Dick left Gracie in Jason's capable hands while he went to pick Regan up from the airport. He got there just a few minutes after her flight got in, and waited in the pickup lanes, leaning against his mustang and scrolling through his phone.

After a few minutes, he spotted his girlfriend, wearing dark wash skinny jeans and a long-sleeved dark orange V-neck shirt. He himself also had on jeans and a white t-shirt with a North Face jacket on over it.

"Hey," he said as she approached him.

"Hi," she responded, dropping her duffle bag onto the ground at their feet so he could kiss her.

"I missed you," he said, pulling away from their kiss with a hand still cradling her cheek.

"I missed you, too," she said, wrapping her arms around him to hug him. "Think I missed your hugs most of all."

Dick laughed and wrapped his own arms around her tightly. "If only everyone appreciated my hugs like you do," he said.

This time it was Regan who laughed. When she pulled away, Dick stooped down to pick up her bag, so she slid into the passenger seat of the mustang. However, as he went to put it into the backseat, he realized there was a fresh baked scent coming from it.

"Why does your bag smell like cookies?" he asked.

Regan at least looked sheepish, bringing a hand up to push some hair behind her ear. It was a look Dick knew well- he called it Regan's panic baking face.

"Did you panic bake?"

"I panic baked," she admitted, pushing her glasses back up the bridge of her nose. Dick snorted, laying her bag more carefully into the back of his car now that he knew there was cookies in it. "I told my mom I was going to meet your family tonight and she said she didn't raise me to not bring something, so I panicked, and I baked chocolate chip cookies."

"You didn't have to bring anything," Dick said, "Alfred cooks a lot of food, I promise." He slid into the driver's side seat and started the car.

"I know, and I told her that, but then I remembered the last time I panic baked, and you brought some of the cookies to your brothers so we wouldn't eat them all, and you said they loved them, I couldn't come meet them for the first time and not bring cookies I know they like!" she exclaimed. "I even changed in the bathroom after we landed so I wouldn't smell like an airplane." She said that in a lower tone, and Dick frowned.

"Rae, I promise, they're going to love you. Cookies or no cookies, you are an amazing woman, and they'd be stupid to not see that," he said gently.

Regan allowed the tiniest of smiles to lift her lips up, and she nodded.

Dick smiled himself, and leaned over the center counsel to kiss her again.

"I love you, and they will too, okay?" he asked, eyebrows up.

"Okay," Regan agreed. "I love you too."

…

An hour later, they pulled up to Wayne Manor.

"I know I've seen the manor before, but damn," Regan said, eyebrows up and eyes wide.

"Well, to be fair, that last time you saw it, you were a sophomore in high school," Dick reminded her.

"Yeah, that's true," Regan said with a nod of her head. "Still, it's beautiful."

"Alfred works hard to keep it up," Dick said, pulling his car in next to Jason's favorite Jeep Wrangler. It was bright red, and had a parking pass for Gotham University stuck to the back window. Tim's own black Mercedes was on the other side of the Jeep, with a matching parking pass.

They got out of the silver mustang, and Regan went into her duffle. Wrapped up in a hoodie with the Wonder Woman logo on it was a large Tupperware container with a red lid. Upon opening it, Dick found several chocolate chip cookies.

"Oh good, I was terrified they'd be all broken up by the time they got here," Regan said, visibly relaxing, even if it was just a tiny amount.

"I'm sure they would have been loved even if they were broken up into a bunch of pieces," Dick said.

"Yeah, but it's nice to have a full cookie," Regan said, closing the lid back onto the container. Making sure she had her phone in her back pocket, Regan straightened up. "Alright, let's do this."

"If you're not ready to meet the madness, yet, we can put this off," Dick said, a worried look in his blue eyes.

"No, I'm ready," Regan said. She looked determined, he had to admit. "Besides, the way you talk about them, I'm sure I'll love them in no time!"

"That's the spirit!" Dick exclaimed, taking her hand in his own.

He led her up the stairs, and the door opened just as Dick reached over to open it.

"Master Dick," Alfred said, looking as professional as ever.

"Hey, Alfred," Dick said, "Regan, this is Alfred, the family butler. Although he's more like our grandpa, if I'm being honest," he introduced. "Alfred, this is Regan; my girlfriend."

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Alfred," Regan said, letting go of Dick's hand so she could shake Alfred's. "The house is beautiful."

"Well thank you, Miss Regan, it is very nice to meet you, too," he said, shaking her offered hand, mildly surprised. Not many guests shook the butler's hand upon meeting them.

"I brought cookies," Regan said, holding out the Tupperware container.

"She panic baked," Dick added.

"Sorry, if there's too much food, I can put it back in the car," Regan apologized, suddenly feeling foolish for baking cookies when Alfred probably had a batch that he, himself had made.

"Nonsense, there's never enough cookies," Alfred responded. He took the container. "Master Bruce and your brothers are in the living room, if you'd like to join them, dinner will be ready in an hour."

"Alright, thanks, Alf," Dick said, taking hold of Regan's hand again to pull her into the house.

"Thank you, Mr. Alfred!" Regan added.

Once the old butler had disappeared, the blonde turned to her boyfriend.

"So, what now?" she asked.

"Now, you get thrown to the masses," Dick said. "I promise they'll like you, Rae, but if you start feeling uncomfortable, we can grab Gracie and get out of here."

"Speaking of, was Gracie okay here?" Regan asked nervously.

"Gracie was perfect," Dick said. Taking a step forward, he put his hands on her shoulders. "Just like you will be. You need to believe in yourself, Rae, they will love you. Just be yourself, alright?"

Regan took a deep breath, met his gaze, and nodded.

"You're right," Regan said. "I-I got this! I totally got this!"

"That's the spirit!" Dick exclaimed, and he leaned down to kiss her quickly. Pulling away, he slid one hand down to clasp her own. "I'll be right there with you, okay?"

"Okay," she nodded. "Let's do this."