There was something eerily familiar about a quiet Dick. It took the quiet drive back to the apartment in the back of the patrol car, Dick mutely escorting her up the stairs into their apartment, the frown set on his brow, and the pinch of his lips as he gestured for her to sit at the kitchen table to wait for him to change out of his uniform for Hailey to finally understand why it was so familiar. An angry, quiet Dick transformed into Bruce; her dad.
She noticed it when she met Dick for the first time. Once she took in the set of his jaw and the piercing way he looked at her, she realized that he was very much his father's son. But every other interaction with him was met with boisterous aplomb. Hugs that made her feel special and transferred his love into her. Conversations that forced sound into the quiet place in her soul. He was so much the opposite of Bruce that it was easy to forget they were father and son.
As she waited for Dick to return and ground her even more for what he perceived as her ditching school, all she could do was miss her dad.
When Dick returned, dressed in casual clothes, he found Hailey crying at the table. He sighed heavily and sat beside her, pulling her onto his lap to hold her. The comforting didn't last. She pulled away after a moment. She didn't want her brother, not right then.
Hailey cleaned the tears and wetness dripping from her nose in the bathroom with a splash of water or two over her face. She went back into the kitchen where Dick waited for her as he cradled a cup of coffee. He looked tired. But Hailey was tired too. Tired of being cooped up in an apartment.
Suddenly, the quiet snapped and the arguing began. Their voices started at a low careful timbre that reached a desperate crescendo as their emotions swelled and spilled out of their mouths as vehement complaints.
"...I should be able to see my friends!"
"Two times, Hailey! You went out without permission on two occasions! And both times you could have died!"
"Stop exaggerating! The earthquake was a once in a lifetime event! And I was nowhere near dying! I didn't even have a broken bone! Just like today!"
"It took me hours to find you, Hailey! I thought you'd died! And you don't need me to tell you how you could have died today!"
"But I didn't! Not today and not then! And you have to stop holding that against me!"
"I'm not!"
But he was. He realized it right then. And Hailey knew she'd hit a cord. She quieted down as Dick took in her words. He just couldn't lose another sibling. He'd been so worried about his own life, responsibilities, and his anger at Bruce that it kept him away from Jason and Hailey in turn. Now he had a chance to really be there for her. And he was so scared to lose her that he held on tighter. He covered his face and fell heavily into his seat. He hadn't even known when he'd stood up. He took a deep breath. He'd done to Hailey the opposite of what Bruce had done to him. Their fear manifested in unhealthy behavior; Bruce had pushed Dick away and Dick held on tighter to Hailey.
Hailey sat down too. She clasped her hands in her lap and took a deep breath. She had to do this right or she'd be looking at another five years of being locked away by Police Officer Dick Grayson who had Warden Bridgett in his right pocket.
"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I was just tired of being cooped up. But I wasn't ditching school. We finished our test and the teacher let us go home. We just wanted to hang out. I haven't seen anyone from my school since...since Gotham." She didn't want to say the word earthquake again. It would be counterproductive in convincing Dick that her life wasn't in danger if he wasn't watching her every moment. "And I wasn't looking forward to being locked away again, so I didn't call you or come home."
"I know," Dick said and laughed softly. "I'm sorry too. But I can't have you leave without permission. Just… next time, tell me where you're going to be and with who."
"Are you serious? I'm not grounded anymore?!" Hailey said with a hopeful look in her eyes.
"You were never grounded, Hailey," Dick said with distaste. Though he could see why she saw it that way. "But I don't want you to go out alone. Blüdhaven isn't any safer than Gotham was. Scratch that. It's actually worse."
Hailey was grinning so hard that her mouth hurt.
"Come on," Dick told her and gestured for her to follow.
"Where are we going?"
"To get food. I'm starving," Dick said and ushered her out of the apartment. "We can talk about curfew and ground rules later. And at some point, I do want to meet your friends."
"Whatever, Dad," Hailey said sarcastically.
Dick shook his head and decided to ignore the comment. He already knew he behaving more like an overprotective dad than a brother. But he didn't have a choice. She was under his legal guardianship until Bruce returned. And he hoped, for Hailey's sake, that it would be sooner rather than later. He wasn't so obtuse that he hadn't realized Hailey's tears earlier were for Bruce. She never said anything but he knew she missed him. All they could do was wait for Bruce to return. For Hailey's sake, Dick hoped that was soon.
A few days later Dick received a call from Bruce. It was a couple of hours after Hailey's bedtime. Right before Dick went out to patrol as Nightwing.
"Bruce, why are you calling so late?" Dick said upset. He hadn't called in over a week. Not to mention, it was unusual for Bruce to call when Hailey wasn't available to talk to him. And Bruce knew that Hailey had school the next day. Dick didn't want to wake her up but he also didn't want to deprive her of a chance to talk to Bruce. "Hailey's asleep."
"I know," Bruce said. Dick heard something in his voice. Some sort of resolve that put him on alert. "I can't talk to her Dick. If I do, I won't be able to do what I have to do."
"Bruce," Dick said in exasperation. "Bruce, no, it's been long enough. You have to come home."
"There is no home, Dick," Bruce said dryly. "And I'm not getting anywhere in Capital Hill. I figured it out too late."
"What?" Dick said curiously.
"The earthquake wasn't natural. Someone caused it. And the No-man's-land order was set in motion before it hit," Bruce said and sighed tiredly.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes," Bruce said and Dick imagined how frustrated he must look. "Lucious is going to continue to look into who was behind it. But I have to go to Gotham."
"Bruce!"
"I don't have a choice, Dick," Bruce said.
"You can't get in. Superman wasn't even been able to get too close," Dick said. "All you're going to do is become a target for the entire military that have Gotham surrounded. It's too dangerous."
"I already have a way in," Bruce said. "I just wanted to let you know. Lucious is ready to hold a press confren—"
"For what? To say you died?!"
"No!" Bruce said angrily. "Bruce Wayne has to disappear if I want to infiltrate Gotham as Batman. Once I'm inside, I won't be able to leave."
"Why?!" Dick said and blew out a breath. He had to calm down if he wanted answers. "I don't understand. What could you do from inside that you couldn't do in Washington?"
"If we take back control of Gotham, we can have the order lifted."
"We? Who's we?"
"Jim Gordan and the rest of the GCPD who chose to stay."
"Bruce, this is crazy," Dick said and rubbed his face. "Are you sure it will work?"
"Yes, I made sure of it," Bruce told him. "I managed to speak to Jim—"
"As Bruce?"
"No," Bruce said and let out a soft sigh. "There were rumors that Batman was in Gotham. He thought it was me. I need to get in there, Dick. I know I'm asking a lot from you but I need you to continue to watch over Hailey."
"Dammit, Bruce," Dick said and tightened his fist over the phone. "You know I don't mind. But she misses you, just talk to her first—"
"No," Bruce said and Dick could hear the set of his jaw with that one word. "I can't do that. The announcement will come out in a couple of days. I told Lucious to keep you and Hailey out of it. You don't have to worry about the press coming to you—"
"Bruce, I don't care about that! But you can't do this to Hailey! You're going to make her think you died?!"
"No, that's not what Lucious is going to say—"
"But that's what she's going to think! Bruce, you can't be that callous! Not to her!"
"I'm not trying to be!" Bruce said and then went quiet. Dick thought he'd hung up but then he heard him blow out a breath. "I trust that you can keep her from thinking that. I need you to do this for me, Dick."
"You make it sound like I have a choice," Dick said feeling completely frustrated with Bruce. Deep down, Dick knew that Bruce was doing the right thing. He just wasn't doing the right thing for Hailey. "What if I tell her the truth? About who you are, you know."
"No, Dick," Bruce said with so much vexation that it scared Dick.
"Okay, okay, I won't," Dick said quickly. He just didn't understand why Bruce was so against it.
"We don't know what that will do. If she gets her memories back…"
"Okay," Dick said and blew out a breath. He understood why Bruce had reacted that way. Dick didn't want that for Hailey either. The last two lives she'd lived, she'd taken her own life. If Zatanna wouldn't have been able to remove her memories at a soul level, Hailey probably would have kept trying. The thought of that sent a chill down Dick's back. All the fight he'd had in him dissipated. "I know. I'm sorry. I'll take care of her, Bruce. It's the least I can do."
"Thank you, Dick," Bruce said with so much emotion that it made Dick swallow hard.
Dick imagined that it had had the same effect on Bruce when he heard the line cut out without so much as a goodbye.
Hailey wasn't sure what had woke her. But it had taken her a minute or two to completely wake up. She heard someone talking. She quietly got up and made her way to the living room. The room was dark, no one was there. And it was then that Hailey realized that the voice was further away. She went back towards her room and she heard the voice coming from a vent. She bent down close to the floor and recognized Dick's voice. He was on the phone. He sounded upset. Hailey stood up and tried his bedroom door but it was locked like usual. His voice got louder. Hailey bent down again to listen in.
"Barbara just listen!"
Hailey frowned. She knew a Barbara but she didn't think Dick would be talking to that Barbara.
"I don't understand why you're so upset," Dick said patiently. "Your dad is there. I thought you'd be happy that he'd gone to help him out."
Hailey wished she could hear the other side of the conversation. Whoever it was he was talking to was making him upset. Who would want to make such a happy person feel that way?
"What are you talking about? I'm happy to have her here with me," Dick said sounding taken aback.
Hailey reeled back a little. Was he talking about her?
"What?" Dick said and let out a surprised laugh. "She's my sister, Barb. How could having my sister live with me be an inconvenience?"
Hailey felt limp at that. She had felt that way in the manor at first. But she'd never felt that way with Dick. Dick loved her, didn't he?
"I know that's going to be hard. I still can't believe Bruce decided to do that," Dick said and blew out a breath.
Hailey closed her eyes tight. She had no idea what the other person was saying but if Dick agreed that she was an inconvenience—what he'd just said about Bruce, did that mean her dad thought she was one too?—would she have to run away?
"He said that Lucious is having a press conference in a couple of days. I just have to make sure I'm close by to be there for her."
What were they talking about? Hailey fisted her hands and pushed them into her eyes to hold her tears back.
"Barbara, you need to stop saying that. Hailey isn't a burden on me at all. She's my sister—"
Hailey let out a shaky breath. Hearing that made her feel so much better.
"Of course, I said yes!" Dick said raising his voice. "I would say yes every time. She's my family. You can't say you wouldn't do the same."
Hailey was trying to keep her emotions in check. She couldn't break down and start crying now. Because if she did and Dick heard her, would that make him change his mind about her? Hailey got up and went back to bed. She prayed to herself until she'd calmed herself down. By the time Dick's voice died down, Hailey had fallen back to sleep.
When Hailey came out of school on Friday, Dick was outside waiting for her. She quickly said bye to her and ran towards Dick who hugged her tightly in greeting. Hailey had noticed that he'd been a bit more affectionate towards her since the night she's heard him on the phone. He had no idea how much that meant to her. They picked up take-out on the way home and Dick told her about a gym he'd found that he wanted to take her to the following day. Hailey perked up at that. She hadn't been very active since she moved to Blüdhaven. She was looking forward to getting back into a gym.
After they ate, Dick turned on the TV and found a baseball game. The Blüdhaven Bloodhounds were up against the Keystone City Patriots. Hailey was a little surprised. She had never seen Dick sit down to watch a game before. Jason would force Bruce into the sitting room whenever the Knights or the Guardsmen were up against the Metropolis teams. Hailey thought it was ridiculous. Gotham teams were notorious for losing especially their football team. Whenever it seemed they made it to a playoff game, they would fumble the ball and lose at a crucial moment. She never paid attention to the baseball team. They were never as exciting. But she sat down next to Dick since the game seemed to make him a little giddy. The Bloodhounds were winning but even so, Hailey yawned. She couldn't help it, baseball was boring. Just when she was about to fall asleep, the game was interrupted by breaking news.
Hailey felt drowsy as she heard the nonsensical words but they started to make sense when she saw her dad's face on the screen. The word missing that was written underneath his picture seemed to glare at her.
"What's going on?" Hailey said and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Was she dreaming?
Dick didn't answer. He simply wrapped an arm around her. Hailey stared at the screen as she heard Lucious answered questions. It took her a while before the words began to make sense. And at the same time, Dick's conversation came to her mind. Dick had already known this was going to happen. He was watching Lucious with rapt attention, but other than that he wasn't reacting at all.
Hailey listened carefully and decided that if Dick wasn't worried about the news that she shouldn't either. Even though she didn't understand, Hailey knew that Bruce wasn't truly missing. The entire thing was staged. If Bruce had wanted her to know the reason why he was hiding, he would have told her. The fact that he hadn't made her heart clench a little. And without her permission, tears ran down her face. It took one little sniff to make Dick finally react and take her into his arms. He turned off the TV and told her over and over again that Bruce was okay and that they would see him again soon. Even though Hailey knew that was true, she couldn't stop the sob that escaped her mouth. Because no matter what Bruce's reasons were, he'd abandoned her. At least this time, she wasn't alone. She had Dick.
