Bats in the Attic
Easy, Yet…

The night ended with Warren bringing out a beer for everyone, yet not much conversation occurred. Instead, he found himself looking over the strict schedule Mary set up for her toddler which she expected the boy's father, or whoever was at the time in charge of child care. Dick handed Terry over to Warren and watched the tot taken off to bed.

Wally said something about him not necessarily knowing what he was getting into, yet Dick felt he would be fine. Taking care of a toddler didn't seem like such a hard thing to do, but Warren would be working from home tomorrow, having made arrangements with his boss. Watching Wally leave, Dick couldn't help see the reluctance to leave. A look of wanting to help wasn't a look of pity, yet there was that nagging feeling at the back of his head.

He found himself lying on his back, looking up the ceiling, reminding him of all the nights he slept outside. The rain pelted the windows, echoing through the room making him feel even more alone despite knowing Warren and Terry were also in the apartment. The anxiety he felt –

Taking a deep breath, Dick found himself getting up early and starting into his morning routine of exercises. The sun had yet to rise over the place, and yet he knew full well the sun rarely rose in Gotham, and instead, residents arose to find clouds greeting him.

The sound of a child waking up came from the other room, causing a sigh to escape Dick's lips. He headed over to the room he saw Warren take the toddler to. Taking a deep breath, he found Terry sitting on a toddler size bed looking at him, possibly miffed that Dick wasn't one of the parents he was looking for. Snot also dripped from his nose. Dick frowned, before scooping the child up, only to suddenly grimace. "I thought you were potty-trained?"

Terry struggled to get out of his arms, ignoring the question. His stuffed bat fell to the floor, and Dick carefully nudged the toy over to the edge of the bed, so nobody would trip on the item. He set the boy down, allowing Terry to escape through the open door. With a quick flick, the sheets came off, and he headed into the living room area. He found Terry over on the couch. "Say? You don't know where the laundry is, do you?"

The boy turned, allowing Dick to see the child slobbering on his hand. Terry's bright blue eyes blinked, before walking over and holding his drool covered hand. Dick swallowed, before taking Terry's hand. The child tugged, leading him to the small side room before taking off. Dick wiped his hand off on his pants before dumping the sheets into the machine.

The machine roared to life, reminding Dick of the times he sat on the dryer watching Alfred do the laundry, but how the man told him the rules to follow regarding different materials. The things the man drilled into his head – Dick shook his head. Memory wise, it felt as if he'd spent more time with Alfred than his foster father.

It also felt like he was forgetting something.

Specifically, upon arriving in the living room, he found Terry attempting to climb up onto the back of the couch. Dick sighed, hurrying over to scoop the toddler up, watching as Terry attempted to latch onto the couch's cloth material. He'd certainly not forgotten about his charge, but he had forgotten the fact Terry's clothes needed changing.

The toddler struggled to get lose but started yelling, which of course woke Warren up.

Warren stepped out of the room, rubbing his eyes. "You're both up already?"

Dick attempted to transfer Terry slightly to get a better grip on the boy. "Yup. I'm always up this early. I don't know about him, though."

"Mary doesn't' let him out of bed until eight in the morning, but it's only six."

"He's wet. I already put the sheets in the wash, but he doesn't seem to like me much."

The red-haired man sighed, before heading over to scoop Terry out of Dick's arms. "I'll see to it that he gets changed."

Dick took a deep breath, heading over to the counter and looking at the schedule. He frowned, still not understanding the method behind Mary's list. Terry was supposed to sleep from eight to eight, giving Terry twelve hours of sleep, but he also only had a single nap every single day. Each meal had specific times. This differed from what he remembered of his own childhood.

"Something the matter."

"I'm not sure, beyond the fact this is rather different than what I remember from my childhood."

"How so?"

"Well, I don't think my parents ever made me sleep for twelve hours straight, until I was four I had a couple of naps each day, not just one. I was still taking naps before becoming Bruce's ward, but I think that had more to do with my activity level, and it wasn't a very long one. I also ate when I was hungry."

Warren took a deep breath. "You and I aren't experts on toddlers."

"Is Mary?"

A laugh escaped his friend's mouth. "Well, no. I don't know what I'm going to do with Terry, as he's usually not up to this early, and I need to get to my work."

"Don't worry. I can keep him occupied until breakfast time."

"Yes, well, I'll start with our breakfast." Warren took a deep breath. "Anything you want specifically?"

"Not really." Dick found Terry placed in his arms but saw the pout forming on the boy's face. He sat down at the counter with Terry propped on his lap. The toddler attempted to struggle, yet Dick held on easily. The smell of food filled the room, and Terry's nose began to wiggle, but his stomach grumbled. "Should I feed him?"

"Before Mary's schedule?"

"He seems hungry."

"There's baby food in the cupboard."

Dick lifted Terry up and placed him into the highchair, which made the child glare at him again. Pulling up the stool, and opening the jar – the smell made him want to vomit, but he also wondered how a child would eat said food. Dick found his answer upon Terry spitting the food out. The toddler started to laugh when he winced. "I don't think he likes it. Your wife makes him eat this?"

"Ex-wife. Remember?"

"Gotcha." Dick took a deep breath, wiping the food away. "She has better luck?"

"Nope. Not really. She sees it less as him not liking the food, and more of him simply being a toddler."

"Ah." Dick narrowed his eyes, glaring back at the toddler, attempting to make his glare just as fierce. The look resulted in a laugh from the boy, which made Dick frown, rubbing the back of his neck as Terry returned to glaring at him. "Okay. I'm not sure if he hates me or not."

"The two of you just met, so give him some time."

"Yeah, well, it was your idea that I play nanny, remember?"

Warren shook his head, continuing to cook the breakfast and make the coffee. Dick turned back to Terry and watched the toddler's mouth open and close as if wanting to eat the food in front of him. "What's wrong with him having the same breakfast as us?"

"Nothing, I guess. He is after all old enough to eat solid foods. Smaller portions as well, I guess. And cooled off slightly."

Dick continued to watch the child, and the child continued to watch him. For some reason staring was amusing, particularly since the toddler seemed quite perturbed regarding the stranger in front of him. He didn't make a noise until Warren motioned for Dick's attention. "So, pretty much this is the portion size for a toddler."

"Small, but he's smaller." Dick watched carefully, watching Warren set the plate of food to cool a little while handing his friend a plate. Taking a drink of coffee, he watched Terry's eyes go wide looking at the plate. "Are you sure about this? I know we knew each other – college roommates and all, but that's kind of..."

"Do you feel like you're still the same person, even though parts are missing?"

"I don't know. I didn't feel different before. Simply as if something was missing. Finding out it's my memories actually makes sense, I guess." He munched on his food, watching Terry's wide eyes before moving to give the child the plate of food. His own eyes widened upon hearing the smacking of lips before watching the toddler reach out for the scrambled eggs, squeezing them through his fingers.

A shudder ran down his spine as he watched Terry drop the eggs, then pick it up and squeeze again. Warren noticed. "Don't worry. That's supposed to happen."

Dick shook his head, watching the child eat, but also make a mess as he explored the various breakfast foods. When Terry finished, Dick scooped up the child, getting food all over himself before proceeding to pull wipes from the diaper bag to remove the nasty mess from the toddler. He sat down in front of the playpen and found himself yet again having a staring contest with the toddler, while Warren went to work at the counter.

So far, easy, but also boring.