The Birds Who Smile, a Batman fanfic by Raberba girl
Deleted sequence: Dad Richard - Part 1 (rough draft)
A/N: I forgot to add that the mask scars and I guess also the kids' status as legally existing people are not an issue in these deleted scenes, either.
o.o.o
Dick, wearing a domino mask with his civvies, stormed out of the Zeta-Tube and across the Watchtower. He ignored Simon, who was currently on duty and frowning at him in confusion. Dick marched straight to the lab, hurled his Nightwing suit into the destruction chamber for inanimate objects, sealed it, jammed a pair of protective goggles over his mask, and hit the middle-level incineration button.
Then he just stood there and watched the symbol of his vigilante life burn. He kept staring even after it was nothing but ash and the chamber beeped its completion signal. Simon finally came up beside him and asked, "What's all this about?"
Dick drew in a deep breath and slowly let it out. "I love kids. But I wasn't planning on having any for a long, long time, because it's pretty much impossible to be a good dad when you're illegally fighting crime at night. I'm young and I'm selfish and I didn't choose them or plan them and I don't even..." He closed his eyes, which were stinging. "But I realized...I really would do anything for them. Even this. And it hurts and I'm so mad and I'm so friggin' sad, too, and, just...everything sucks right now."
Simon awkwardly patted his shoulder, then looked surprised when Dick leaned right against him. Simon cautiously hugged him.
"It'll be okay," Dick sniffled.
"Yeah." Simon patted him, slightly less awkwardly this time. "It'll be worth it."
Dick smiled a little, then pulled away. "Thanks, Simon. I'm okay now." His squared his shoulders, drew in another breath, and made sure he was smiling when he went back through the Zeta-Tube.
o.o.o.o.o
"Alfred, even the van isn't big enough to hold all this!"
"We shall see."
"My apartment is already fully-equipped, you know. All we need is whatever of your own things you guys want to bring."
"Master Dick, keeping house for six people, three of them children, is quite a different matter than it is for a young bachelor."
"*sigh* You know best, Alfie..."
While the butler worked on re-arranging the luggage, Dick went back into the house to check on Bruce. The man was lurking in the Batcave so as not to distress the birds, but Dick knew that not even being able to say goodbye was probably killing him. "Hey," he said softly as he approached the Batcomputer. "How are you holding up?"
"I'm fine." Bruce wasn't wearing the Batsuit, but he was still clearly in Batman Mode, probably as a coping mechanism.
"I'll send you videos and pictures and stuff."
"Hnn."
"You'd better not bug my apartment, or I won't."
"..."
"I'm gonna sweep for surveillance when we get there. If I find any cameras or anything afterward, I'll stop sending you pictures."
Bruce kept typing and didn't bother to answer.
"Bruce...it's okay to be sad, you know."
"Goodbye, Dick," Bruce snapped in a prompting way, though he didn't resist when Dick stepped closer and hugged him. He did at least stop typing. Dick kept his arms around his stock-still, unresponsive father until it started to get awkward, then he stepped back. "It might not be forever. They'll get better as they get older, and you'll be able to see them again-"
Bruce stormed away. Dick bowed his head for a moment, then retreated back upstairs.
John was curled up in an armchair, gazing into the distance as usual, and Peter was playing with Cassandra, Damian, and Titus, but Jack was huddled on the floor by John's chair with his heavily bandaged thumb in his mouth. He hadn't torn through the protective material yet, but he would soon, judging by the drool-soaked, shredded white tendrils blooming outward. Dick crouched down to his level, tugged the digit out of Jack's mouth, and offered the chew fidget hanging from the boy's neck instead, which Jack readily started chomping on. "Hey, buddy. Is something wrong?"
"...Bad."
"What's bad?"
Jack mumbled something around the chew fidget.
"I'm sorry, baby bird, I can't understand you. Can I maybe take this out for juuuuust a minute...?"
"Ssssome'ting bbad hha'ppen!" Jack practically shouted, then shoved the fidget back in his mouth.
"What bad happened?!"
Jack gave him an incredulous look. "You."
"Me? ...I'm making something bad happen?" Dick finally figured out.
Jack made an "All this" gesture and then pushed the fidget deeper into his mouth.
"Are you worried because there's been a big commotion yesterday and this morning?"
Jack gazed at him solemnly.
"I told you this, Jackie," Dick said gently. "You and Peter and John are coming to live with me. We're going to leave this house, and you baby birds will live where I live, and Alfred and Cass are coming with us to help me take care of you. It's a lot smaller - I'm looking for a house to buy, but it'll still be a lot smaller than this one. Anyway, Bruce is staying here at the manor. He's staying here, baby bird, and we're leaving. I was hoping that would make you happy, that you won't be so scared if you don't have to live here anymore."
"...Safe brothers."
"Yes. You're safe here, too, but maybe you'll actually feel safe in Blüdhaven." He leaned to kiss the top of Jack's head.
When everything was ready, they said their goodbyes to everyone but Bruce. Damian clung to Alfred for a long time. "...Cassandra is going; why can't you stay?" he asked plaintively. "Your place is here, Pennyworth, at Wayne Manor!"
"Undoubtedly, young master, yet my higher calling is serving the Wayne family. I have left the estate before to care for my masters elsewhere, and now I do so again."
"He came with us to the penthouse, Dami, remember?" Dick pointed out.
"Yes," Damian grumbled. "But that was...different."
"Because we were all together," Dick said sympathetically, hugging him. The boy did not return the hug, but Dick knew how much his younger brother still needed it. "I doubt it will be forever, kiddo. You'll have Alfred back someday, and in the meantime, I need you to take care of your dad for me, okay? He's going to need you now more than ever, you know how he gets when he loses kids."
"Father is not a child in need looking after," Damian grumbled, but seemed to have calmed a bit. "However, I will be at his side for moral support."
"Good." They switched, Dick turning to Duke and Damian gripping Cassandra's hand with dignity before she pulled him into a hug. "My man."
"Dick," Duke acknowledged, reciprocating the friendly handclasp and man-hug. "Got your work cut out for you."
"When have I ever not?" Dick laughed. "Oh well; I managed to coax Damian down from demon to cactus, I'd better be able to handle a trio of baby birds."
"You ever need anything, just give me a call."
"Oh, I'll be calling you whether I need anything or not," Dick laughed. "I'm not Bruce."
Goodbyes to the birds had to be cut short because it seemed to disturb the children, who anxiously kept signing things about death and going away and bad meat.
"Beloveds who stay, safe," Cassandra tried to soothe them. "We who go, safe."
"Bad Laugh Man here!" Peter signed urgently. "Kill you!"
"Fall down bones," Jack added tearfully.
"Baby birds," Dick said sternly, "we are going to Blüdhaven, and then we are going to call Dami and Duke and Tim, and we're going to see that they're perfectly safe and everything is fine."
The birds still clung to their brothers and had to be dragged away. Then they had to be coaxed into the seatbelts and given distractions, which took a long time, and then they were finally off.
At first, even with the distractions, Alfred had to pull to the side of the road every fifteen to twenty minutes so Dick and Cassandra could let the birds out of the car for a break, after which came more coaxing to get the children buckled up again. Anticipating this, they had left as soon as possible after morning rush hour and allotted the entire day for the trip, hoping to arrive at Dick's place before evening rush hour. Still, Dick found it a struggle to keep his patience, and started relying on Cass's calming influence more and more.
It was a huge relief when Peter dropped off to sleep, and Alfred had the idea to give Jack a phone with their route mapped on the screen in real time, which the boy seemed riveted by. It was hard to tell whether John was asleep or overwhelmed, since his eyes weren't completely closed, but in any case, Cass kept hold of his hand and Dick whispered encouragingly to him, and they were able to drive continuously once they were in Blüdhaven proper.
Dick, with Jack clinging to his shirt and eventually joined by a newly awakened Peter, got John out of his seatbelt at once and helped him up to the apartment, where he put on a movie and held the boy and made sure Elephant and some snacks were nearby. He and Cass took turns staying with the children and vidchatting with the family back at the manor, while the other helped Alfred bring up the luggage. The birds huddled together on the couch in a little pile of trauma, though it wasn't long before the younger two started peering around the apartment very curiously. Peter was the first one who started to explore.
"That's it!" Dick laughed when Peter made a confused bird noise after coming back out into the living room. "I've got crime-fighting stuff above and below, but the actual living part is only this." He planned to sleep in the living room so that Alfred could have one bedroom and Cass the other, with it being assumed that the birds would choose whom they would like to sleep with every night. "But I'm looking for a house that'll have four bedrooms and a nice yard, so we should be getting a bigger place soon."
Alfred, already tired from the drive, was looking a little frazzled as he unpacked and put things away, so Dick quietly ordered pizza before the old butler could feel obligated to cook. When the deliveryman arrived, Alfred looked miffed and insisted on eating a sandwich rather than the junk food, but he didn't complain much, and the younger household members dug into their meal readily. Maybe not so readily in John's case, but at least he was eating, sloooowly picking up and sloooowly chewing the bite-sized bits of pizza that had been cut up for him.
"Peter, you don't have to keep asking," Dick explained again. "Look, all your pizza is right there, you can have it whenever you want." The birds were fully experienced in communicating in this context now for it to do much more good in that respect, and they weren't desperate enough to gobble too much at once anymore, so there didn't seem to be any point in continuing the morsel-by-morsel practice.
Yet, "Please give me pizza; ppIT'zza pllease!" Peter kept insisting.
"Petey..."
After they ate, Alfred went to lie down for a nap, and Cassandra offered to stay with John, who was starting to look around in wary confusion but didn't seem inclined to move. Dick took the younger birds outside for a walk.
"Noisy!"
"Yup. We're not at a secluded mansion in Bristol anymore; this is Blüdhaven."
"Bbutt'aybah."
Dick laughed and taught them how to pronounce it better, then figured he might as well take them to pick up some groceries. He knew that Alfred would find his apartment sorely lacking in food supplies, and the butler hadn't been able to fit much food in the car. "Okay, guys, let's see if we can guess what Grandpa will consider real food."
Peter was ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTED to walk into a building filled with shelves and shelves and shelves of food. He kept grabbing as many random packages as he could to drop into the cart, until Dick fished a scrap of paper out of his pocket, started to scribble a list, remembered that the birds weren't great at reading yet, and drew pictures instead. "Petey, help me find the stuff on the list. What's that first one?"
"Fffissh."
"Ooohh, fish! Look up at the ceiling, do you see maybe what part of the store they sell fish in?"
Peter's eyes widened when he spotted a gigantic artificial fish hanging from the ceiling halfway across the store. "FFIIIIIIISSHH!" he shrieked in delight.
"Ssshh, Peter!" Dick gasped, laughing.
Peter seemed to enjoy hunting down specific food items, and it successfully distracted him from dumping the whole store into the shopping cart. Jack shuffled along behind Dick, clinging to his shirt and staring wide-eyed at all the people they passed. After a while, he started shyly calling out greetings. "Hhhello! Hhello!"
Some ignored him, others smiled and nodded before moving on; a few looked delighted and charmed. "Hello, sweetie!" one woman cooed back. "Ohh, your son is precious!"
Dick didn't bother to correct her, since he was functionally the children's parent now. "He's a little cutie and he knows it." 'Wish Timmy did, though...'
Eventually, however, Jack stopped greeting people and got quiet, and Dick was so busy trying to keep Peter safely occupied that he didn't notice the smallest boy emotionally fading. They were in the checkout line, Dick praising Peter for helping him load the conveyor belt with their purchases, when Jack suddenly burst into tears. "Jackie?!"
"Too many people...!"
"Oh no, Jackie- Just hang on for a little longer, okay? We're almost done, we just have to pay for all this and then we can go home."
Jack stared at him silently, fresh tears spilling down his cheeks.
"...Do you want to help me count the money?"
"...Wuh...ttwo...ffee..."
"It's-" Dick glanced at the number that had just popped up, "-$58.75. Can you help me count five thousand, eight hundred seventy-five cents?"
Jack slowly wiped at his cheeks and looked warily interested.
"C'mere, baby Timmy, help me count," Dick crooned, hoisting the child up onto his hip and handing him a stack of bills. "Can you find the fifty?"
It took a while and most of the people behind them in line got restless and irritated, but Jack eventually did successfully count out the full amount in change. "No kko'tta."
"Yeah, I'm out of quarters, so give her another 1, and she'll give us change, okay, baby bird?"
Jack looked so fascinated by the process of making change that he had apparently forgotten his tears, to Dick's relief. They made their way out of the store, Peter proudly carrying one bag and Dick carrying all the rest. "You kids are awesome. You're so smart and helpful and I love you."
"Ggo hhome," Jack quavered, clinging to Dick's shirttail and looking apprehensive rather than eager.
"Yeah. To my apartment," Dick suddenly clarified, wondering if Jack was upset because he didn't know what Dick meant by 'home.' "We're going back to my apartment where Alfred and Cass and Johnny are."
Jack relaxed. "Ggam'pa, Ccassie, [chirp-chirp]."
Dick stopped dead when he realized he was only accompanied by one child. "Where's-?!" He whirled and found that Peter had dropped behind because he'd been preoccupied prying apart the packaging and digging peanut butter straight out of the can. "PETER, don't do th-!"
"CROW!" Peter shrieked, hurling the rest of the grocery bag at Dick. He shoved the open can of peanut butter right into his mouth and simultaneously backed to crouch in a niche by a shop door to protect his prize like it was Gollum's Precious.
"Uuuuuggghhhh, I am not ready to be a dad," Dick wailed.
He eventually did get both children and most of the groceries home successfully, at which point he collapsed on the couch and silently handed over parenting duties to the other adults.
As soon as they'd come in, John had leaped up and run to his little brothers, twittering wildly; Jack responded in a soothing tone, Peter ignored him in favor of licking at a spot of peanut butter that had smeared on his shirt collar. Alfred descended swiftly, a clean shirt already in hand. "None of that, Master Peter. Arms up, let's get you changed."
To be continued...
A/N: At some point, I will have to put this "Dad Richard" arc on pause until I finish the main story, because the kids' recovery is too similar and will probably have spoilers. There will be differences in the details, and obviously the kids will be raised by Dick rather than by Bruce in Gotham, and John will take YEARS to reach the breakthroughs that in the main story will only take...not sure yet how long, but definitely less than two months. Anyway, so I think there will be enough differences to make writing this arc worthwhile, but some parts will have to wait until I've written and posted their corresponding scenes in the main story.
I'm at my new house~ Not 100% settled in yet, but I have completed the move and am incredibly relieved to have such a vastly improved living situation. Here's hoping that improved quality of life will also mean that I'll eventually get the chance to organize my writing properly so that I'm not only doing stress-relief stuff by the seat of my pants.