Disclaimer: So I'm sitting here talking with Bugs Bunny and he's asking me "What's up Doc?" and I'm telling him that I'm neither a doctor, nor do I own him, or DC Comics or anything of any value. What a shocker. There. I said it. Happy?
Author's Note: Wow! I have to say thank you first to all of the feed back on this story. I'm really glad that everyone's enjoying it. I want to point out that as the chapters progress, Richard's going to get older, and in this chapter, he's two. Also, for those of you wondering where on earth I'm getting some of these names, most of them are from the DC Universe. Jayna's probably the only one that's not. In any case, hope everyone's summer's going well and I hope that this story will only make it better for you! So on to "Chapter Two: Responsibility"!
-N-
Flying
Chapter Two: Responsibility
Perhaps one of the worst things for practice is heat. Normally, everyone would practice their routines outdoors to avoid being inside the sweltering hot tent. So that was a down fall of being an aerialist, you had no choice when it came to where to practice. It was always inside and one would always end up sweating like a dog. Mary and John would often need to re-chalk their hands because of the sweat and waste even more time inside the tent.
While it really was murder for his parents, Dick couldn't really care less. Mary would set a small fan next to him and put down a blanket for him to play on with some toys while they practiced. Sometimes someone would come in and entertain him while his parents worked. His favorites were the clowns and he would often grab at their face to wipe off the make up. But that wasn't too often and so instead, Dick would just sit quietly on the small blanket.
The only thing that the heat did was make Richard sleepy. So on some occasions, he would just lie down and while looking up and watching his parents swing back and forth, back and forth... By the time that they had come down, Richard was fast asleep and already taking his afternoon nap.
"John," Mary said, "Can you please keep him asleep? I'll get his toys and stuff."
John finished a swig of water and nodded. Walking over, he slowly bent down and carefully scooped Dick up into his arms. As they walked out of the tent, Dakar came running over to John, looking frantic.
"Dakar, you look like Jayna had gotten out of her cage and had bitten off your arm," John said and Dakar inhaled deeply.
"I've... found... those... stores that you... asked about," Dakar breathed.
"Oh," John said, suddenly remembering that he and Dakar were in the same situation. Mary's birthday was coming up and Dakar's mother's birthday was coming up. That only equaled one thing: both men searching in whatever town they had landed in that month for a nice gift to wrap up and/or send.
"What did you find?" he asked, whispering on and off.
Finally regaining his breath, he replied, "There's a small store with, I swear, with hundreds of pieces of jewelry that Mary and Mom would die for. Plus, it's a Mom and Pop shop, you know, so it's not too pricey and they can even make personalized pieces."
"That's perfect," John said. "Here, let me get my wallet and will you go out and buy a necklace for Mary for me? I'll write down specifics that I'm looking for."
"You're not coming with me?" Dakar asked, sour that his best friend couldn't take part in their annual birthday spree.
"Gotta put Dick up in bed and then Mary wants us to work on the routines route a little more. Sorry." John said, "I think she wants to be with me when I get her present. She enjoys figuring out a surprise."
"No kidding." Dakar said, remembering that the last time John and him had gone out to get gifts, Mary had insisted on coming along.
"Well, I have to put this little guy down. I'll see you later?" John asked.
"Behind the generators?" Dakar inquired in response.
"Sure." John answered.
The two parted ways and John headed back to their trailer. It wasn't until he felt a tugging on his sleeve that he noticed that Dick was no longer sleeping at all, but rather was wide awake. John looking down to see him rubbing one eye with a small fist.
"Did I wake you up, Dick?" John asked.
"Daddy, wha were you an Daka talking 'bout?" The notes of sleepiness and the two year-old's small vocabulary apparent at the moment.
"Your mother's birthday is coming up and I wanted to get her something special." John told him.
"Special?" Richard asked.
"Something that she won't forget and love." John answered.
"Can I get Mommy something special?" Dick asked again.
"You already have." John told him.
"What?"
"You."
"Daddy! I mean like wha you're gettin' he." he laughed.
"Well, I'm going to make her breakfast in bed tomorrow. If you want, you could help me. You only have to keep it a secret." John replied.
"Okay." Richard answered, and yawned.
"I think someone needs to take a nap," John whispered.
"I'm not..." A small yawn interrupted, "tired."
John only smiled and slowly opened the door to their trailer. Carefully, he put Dick into his small bed and walked to the front where Mary was at the table and had their routine sheets out.
"Did you wake him up again?" she asked irritably.
"You know, I wouldn't have even noticed if he hadn't tugged on my sleeve." John answered, "He's such a little sneak."
"No, you're just a loud mouth, now come on, it's almost the end of the season and Pop wants something new for the finale." she scolded.
"I love you." John said and just gazed at her teasingly.
Mary looked at him for a minute and then rolled her eyes. "So I was thinking for the beginning we could switch up the..."
And so work began. By the end of it, John was exhausted and was surprised that Mary still had the energy to get up and make dinner. It smelled wonderful. As he relaxed in the kitchen, the only thing that kept him awake was the aroma of taco seasoning and a small chocolate flan baking for dessert. It was their Mexican meal of the week.
It was one of the things John love about Mary. She always went out of the way to prepare a nice meal. Traveling all of his life, John had basically accepted that food wasn't always going to be edible, so you should just shut your mouth and eat. Mary was living proof that that was the biggest lie anyone could make.
After about half and hour into cooking, Mary looked over at the sound of tiny footsteps coming out of the small bedroom on the side of the trailer. Dick was rubbing his eyes and holding a small old blanket in one hand. It looked like he was on the same quest as his father was: by the scent of smell.
"Mommy, wha's for dinner?" he asked.
"What, Dick, wha-t." she said enunciating the 'T'.
"What." Dick repeated, "What-s for dinner?"
Mary laughed and answered, "Taco salad and for dessert, Flan, hon."
"Where's Daddy?"
"I'm right here," John said, raising his hand from off of the table, put keeping his head down.
"When you going to talk to Daka?" Dick asked.
John looked up at him and answered casually as to avoid Mary's tentative ear. "Dakar's still gotta work some more with Jayna. I'll talk to him if he stops by."
Dick raised a brow, but shrugged and jumped up onto the seat and walked over next to his dad. Mary continued to cook, when she heard a knock on the door. When she opened the door, Creighton was standing outside with sweat on his brow.
"Hey, Creighton, what can I do for you?" she asked.
"Do you have your new routine done yet? I need to see it to make sure everything's tight enough for Friday." he told her.
"Oh, I'm sorry, it's almost done. But John might be able to give you an estimate." Mary said, "John, could you come here?"
John sighed, put Dick on the floor, and walked over to the door. "Yeah?"
"Could you tell him how tight to have the wires for Friday?" Mary asked.
"Ugh, Creighton, just put on our safety maximum." he said.
It was their own way of saying: Just tighten it up to where there isn't a chance for anything to go wrong one way or another even if it might mess with the routine a bit.
"Are you sure John?" Creighton asked.
"Yes, Creighton, we'll work to comply with the weight limit." John said, slightly irritated.
"Alright." he answered, not noticing. "I'll see you this evening."
Once Creighton was out of ear shot, John muttered, "Does he even have to ask?"
"John!" Mary said, astounded.
"Well, I'm serious, we always try to comply with that weight stress." John said as they went inside and Dick averted his attention to them. "So why does he always ask us?"
"You know the answer to that, John." Mary said, "It's just something Haly wants him to do. We don't do it with a net, so we're going to be safe with the wires."
"I know, but really, I'm starting to believe that thing that says if ya want something done, ya gotta do it yourself. It would mean that we'd have to deal with one more thing, but so what?"
"You mean, you'd have to deal with one more thing." Mary said, while setting the table. "There is no way that I'd have the time to do that and, actually, neither do you. Now are you going to sit down and have dinner with us or not?"
"Alright, alright." John said.
Picking Dick up, John slung him over his shoulders. Dick laughed and then climbed down to sit in between his parents. For the rest of dinner the subject was dropped and Mary continued to help Dick cut up his food and finish everything on his plate. John finished first and just in time for his rendezvous time to meet up with Dakar.
"I'm going to go talk to Pop about the new routine, 'kay?" he asked Mary.
"Alright, but be back soon before we put Dick to bed, okay?" she said.
Kissing her on the cheek, he answered, "Thanks."
Dick watched his dad run out of the trailer and shut the door behind him, before turning back to finish up his meal.
"Mommy?" he asked, while taking another bite, "Is cooking hard?"
"Not really, not once you get used to it." she answered, "Open up."
Dick took another bite and then she continued, "Why do you ask sweetie?"
Dick shrugged his shoulders. For the rest of the evening, Dick played with his toys while Mary made the final changes to the routine. John came back, inconspicuously as possible. Mary looked up, but didn't pay attention as John went down to their room to hide the newly made pearl necklace in his drawers for safe keeping. Finally, Mary thought it was time for Dick to go to bed.
"Ready for bed, my little Robin?" she asked.
"No." Dick said stubbornly.
"Come on, Dick, we need be well rested for the morning." John said, winking behind Mary at Dick.
"Oh!" Dick said and ran off to his room, while Mary looked behind at John, quizzically.
They both walked into the room to find Dick already in his pajamas and under his covers, ready to be tucked into bed. Mary gave him a kiss goodnight, as did John.
"Sleep tight, Dick." she whispered as she gave him an extra big hug.
"I will, Mommy. Love you," He said as he lied down in bed.
"I love you too." she said, and quietly shut the door.
Spinning around, she looked John in the eye, and John realized that he was in trouble... somehow, "What was that all about?"
"What was what all about?"
"John Frederick Grayson, you know exactly what I'm talking about!" Mary hissed.
"Oh, come on, why do you have to use my full name?" he asked, hoping the subject change would distract her long enough to forget about it.
"You... you... You're up to something, and I know that Dick knows about it." Mary said.
"He's just excited about your birthday tomorrow and your favorite double chocolate mouse ice cream cake," John said.
"Fine, don't tell me, let's just go show Pop the routine and get to bed ourselves." Mary said.
John breathed a sigh of relief and followed his wife. The evening was uneventful, but tiring in all. The Grayson family went to bed easily and when morning hit, it was as though no amount of sunlight would be able to wake them... Well, some of them. Dick woke up early and jumped out of bed. He ran down to his parents' room (since he was still so small, it was easy to run) and went to shake his dad awake.
"Daddy, come on, wake up." Dick said, "Mommy's break-fast, remember?"
But John only sighed and rolled over in bed. Dick scrunched up his face and folded his arms as though it would make his father wake up. When it didn't, his shoulders slouched and he looked up at where the kitchen would be in the floor above. His face suddenly brightened. His father had said that to get something done, you had to do it yourself. And his mother had said that cooking was easy...
Dick ran upstairs to the kitchen. It was neat and clean, just as his mother always had it. And he knew where everything went... He might have been small for his age, but he had watched his parent's every day that they had ever practiced. It didn't take long for Dick to figure out how to climb up to the counter by using the drawer handles. John and Mary didn't even hear the dishes, pots, and pans being pulled out.
Now, for the ingredients... that Dick didn't remember... or know... or could read. That was a problem. Well, they always used that white powder for pancakes. Dick stood up on the counter and opened the cabinet where the flour was. The only problem was that it was stuck. Dick looked at the thing and gave it a hard tug. Then a punch. Then a growl. Finally, he resorted to tugging on it again. He jumped up and down again and again and again, always pulling. But there was so much on the counter.
The alarm might have gone off several times already, but neither Mary nor John had bothered to get up for it. But when they heard a large clatter and big thump upstairs, they both woke up, startled and raced up to the main floor. Both their jaws dropped as they saw Dick, sitting in the middle of the floor with a bowl over his head, looking very confused along with the whole bag of flour that had busted open during the fall.
Seeing that Dick appeared to be okay... somehow, John was more worried about how Mary would take to all of the flour all over the place. But Mary simply stared at Dick, with a large smile on her face, suppressing a small laugh at the sight.
"Dick, honey? Are you okay?" she asked finally.
Dick turned his head, picked up the bowl and looked over at his parents with big blue eyes. And suddenly a water fall of tears came rushing down his small cheeks.
"Dick." Mary said, racing over and picking her son up in her arms as he cried, "What's wrong? Did you hurt yourself?"
"You, you, weren't... supposed... to wake... up." Dick said through tears.
Suddenly John realized what had made his boy cry and couldn't suppress a laugh-turned-cough. Dick had taken the responsibility for his mother's breakfast himself.
"Why, Dick?" Mary asked sweetly.
"It... was for... your... birthday." Dick said, still crying.
"Really, Dick?" Mary questioned, looking him in the eye and Dick nodded his head through the tears.
"It's okay, Dick." John said, kneeling down next to them. "We still have to give your mother her birthday present. Want to come down with me to get it?"
Dick looked over at his father and slowly the tears began to stop. He nodded his small head and took his father's hand who brought him down to the bedroom below. Mary decided to sit in the middle of the mess that was her kitchen and wait. Dick and John came up a moment later, with Dick carrying in his hand a beautiful pearl necklace.
Mary smiled and held out her arms for Dick to run into. He handed her the necklace and John helped Mary put it on.
"Do you think it's pretty, Dick?" she asked him.
Dick nodded his head. "Happy Birthday, Mommy."
"Thank you, Dick," he said, with a quick glance up at John, "Thank you."
-N-
A/N: Alright, so Chapter Two is down! How did you like it? I'm guessing for those of you who have read some of my other stuff, this is a big break from what I normally do. But I'm having fun with it. Sometimes it's just nice to lavish in innocence. Oh, by the way, John's quote that was in italics is from Devin Grayson's Inheritance, part 3. Please Review! I hope you enjoyed it! Later!
Rena