Pearls

Dick Grayson, one of the only kids in the world that made bill gates look homeless, was walking down the shopping district of Gotham city. Christmas dressed windows surrounded him on both sides. Groups of people young and old bustled in and out of shops ready to find the perfect gift for the person that they most cared for.

And that was exactly Dick's problem.

It wasn't that he didn't like this time of year. In fact he adored this season. It was the one time of the year when you didn't have to check your wallet and valuables every other minute. Once an hour was all you needed.

The problem also wasn't a shortage of funds to buy something. He had more than enough money. With an allowance of fifty bucks a week (when he followed orders that is), he had more than enough.

The problem was that it was very hard to buy presents for Bruce Wayne.

What was he supposed to get for a man who's only real desires were untouchable and therefor you couldn't purchase, and who wouldn't really care for anything that you could buy. Then there was the whole, "I-can-never-repay-you-for-taking-me-in-when-I-had-no-one" thing that Dick was constantly struggling with. What do you buy the person that gave you everything?

He was pulled from his mental dilemma by the sound of a giggling child. In front of him was a jewelry store. Coming out of the store window were a small boy and an older man who was obviously the boy's father. A woman walked to the two. The boy opened the bag and handed the woman a jeweled necklace. She smiled and kissed the boy on his forehead.

They walked off then…

Happy…

Together…

A full family.

Not bound by the confusing emotions of a ward and guardian relationship.

It hurt more than he would ever admit. Sometimes the thing he wished for more than anything was for an actual family relationship with Bruce. But deep down he knew that Bruce was just too scared to allow Dick to get that close to him.

The scene he had just witnessed was heartbreakingly familiar to the story that he had only once ever asked to hear. The story was told to him as a shaky retelling in response to his uncertain question during a late night thunderstorm. It was the first last and only time Dick had asked Bruce about the event that cost the man his parents. The retelling had been burned into his memory ever since.

Dick walked to the shop window. The man inside was replacing the diamond necklace that had just been purchased with a simple string of pearls. He wondered if the pearls that had cost Thomas and Martha Wayne their lives and Bruce his childhood had looked like these.

So innocent . . . so simple . . . so beautiful. . .

So dangerous.

To think the greatest detective in the world, and the greatest man Dick would ever know, were created by a simple string of ocean marbles. It boggled the mind to think that common thug whose eye had been caught by a necklace, could have changed the way the world worked so drastically.

Because of that string of pearls it was no longer impossible for a man without superpowers to save a city, the world, the universe, or the multiverse depending on how you looked at space and time.

Dick chuckled when another thought struck him.

That necklace had also changed the way his life would have ended up. If Bruce had not lost his parents, then it would have been more than likely that the man would have looked at a poor circus orphan with a sad gaze, and then just have walked away.

He walked into the shop. The store worker eyed him suspiciously (this was Gotham, Christmas season or not). Dick smiled, not bothered by the healthy suspicion. After all he was a thirteen year old that had just walked into an expensive jewelry store with no adult companion in sight.

"I was wondering about the necklace on display" Dick pulled out his wallet, the man relaxed almost instantly. He pulled the piece from its display case and brought it to the counter. The man chuckled "For a special someone, yes?" the man's slight Italian accent broke through as he spoke.

Dick chuckled, "Ya, something like that." He looked down at the jewelry piece again. A small bittersweet smile came to his face.

"How much?"

HALLWAY-

December 26th.

About three o'clock in the morning. Bruce sat in his room with a small box in his hands. The man would occasionally glance at the box's contents, but his attention was almost entirely transfixed on the small note that had accompanied the package.

After having to go to three separate parties, four tree lightings and dealing with an attempt to destroy the holidays by Gotham's residence clown prince. The dynamic duo was finally given reprieve and been permitted to return home in order to actually enjoy the holiday. Dick had opened his gifts before they had left for the first party, so as soon as they got home the boy had promptly collapsed on his bed.

When Bruce entered his own room he was slightly surprised to find a small present on his night stand.

The note was short, written in the small neat handwriting of his ward. Bruce smiled as he read it for the twenty-eighth time.

Destroy and create,

Go figure

Your family, Dick

HALLWAY-

I am putting that chapter question onto the pole question thing on my profile because I have honestly lost track of who wants what. Thanks

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