The next few weeks were relatively quiet, July rolling into and then August with little incident like that when the Court had attacked the Manor. Zucco had fled Gotham, possibly to some island nation without an extradition agreement with the United States; and now Gotham's headlines were all over the fact that Bruce Wayne was officially going to take in Richard Grayson. The news seemed to interest every tabloid and newspaper in the greater Gotham area. Stories of the billionaire bachelor bringing another child into his home, either for good or ill reasons, were flashed everywhere and everyone seemed to have their own opinion.

One of the things that everyone agreed, was that Wayne had not thrown party or otherwise entertained the social elite for months. There seemed to be a call from certain sectors of society that called for Bruce to host some kind of party. There seemed to be no escape for Bruce from the vultures of society, and once Bruce's guardianship of Dick was established he finally set a date for a charity event.

Jason stood outside Dick's bedroom as the boy was being all dolled up by Alfred. A smile found his way to his lips as the boy tugged at the tie Alfred had just finished tying around his neck.

"Do I really hafta wear this Alfred?" The boy asked as he put on the suit coat Alfred held open for him.

Alfred chuckled under his breath, "I'm afraid so Master Dick. You can remove the jacket and tie as the night goes on, but for now proper formal wear will be required."

"Well, at least it's blue." Little Dick frowned at his reflection for a moment before running his fingers through his hair. "Will there be anyone my age around?"

"Master Jason will be in attendance," Alfred answered, looked at Jason with a slight frown at the older teen's less put together look. "Beyond that I'm afraid there may not be any other guest in your age group."

"Oh," Dick frowned, pulled at the sport coat. "Will there be a lot of people."

"Don't worry, Dickiebird." Jason finally said, pushing off the wall to fully enter the room. "You can stay with me the whole night. These things get pretty boring after everyone stops staring at the Wayne kids."

"Why doesn't Jason have to wear a tie?" Dick instantly protested, Alfred answering with only a sigh directed to his older charge.

Jason could not protest, he was dressed in slacks and a button-up shirt with a vest instead of a sport coat. The first two buttons were open and the collar slightly up. "This isn't my first rodeo Little Bird, and besides I'm the street rat. No one expects me to be dressed to the nines anyway."

Dick looked at Jason slightly confused, the frown on his lips turning into a pout. "Not fair."

"That's life kiddo." Jason laughed before moving next to Dick and whispered in his ear. "The moment there's a chance, we'll lose the tie. Okay?"

Dick nodded, "Will Dami be here tonight?"

Their 'oldest' brother left two weeks before to help with something or other with the older Titans. He called in when he could, but whatever he was working on was not necessarily shared with Jason or Dick. "Last I heard he said he was going to try and make it."

"I hope he can come." Dick said almost wishfully.

"As do I." Alfred said, "But for now we must be getting to the party, it will start soon"

The event was as boring as Jason remembered. Most of the guests were middle-aged socialites with way too much time on their hands as they stood around looking at the finery of the event hall. Jason really wondered if the people really cared about the charity, this one being one of the Wayne Foundation's hunger relief programs. He was almost sure the people only came to this for the excuse to dress up and to gossip about Bruce taking in Dick.

The kid was maybe the most sought after person in the room, with Damian and his ever elusive presence in Gotham's gossip mills coming in second. Jason's novelty had seemed to wear off with the new addition to their family, but there was still the overbearing mother-types who just had to talk to him about how lucky he was that Bruce had taken an interest in him; as if he did not know that fact.

It was becoming annoying to avoid those type of people, and to keep them away from Dick. Not that Dick did not seem to be having too bad of a time. He was small enough that he was able to stay out of sight if he wanted to; Jason just knew that tongues became loose on questions that should not be asked when too many glasses of champagne have been drunk.

Jason had left Dick in a corner while he went to look for some appetizers the kid would like, and was returning when he spotted Dick talking to a rather annoyingly familiar red head.

"I didn't know you were going to be here, Harper." Jason greeted the two, causing Roy to jump and Dick to grin as he was handed the plate of sandwiches.

"Jaybird!" Roy greeted, throwing a hand around Jason's shoulder. "I was just looking for you. This is such a snooze fest; if this was Ollie's party someone would have thrown champagne on someone..."

Jason tried not to smile as what could be said was maybe his best friend prattled on. "And that's why Bruce never comes to Oliver's parties."

"Probably true." The younger boy answered, looking back at Dick who seemed to be looking suspiciously at one of the sandwiches before grabbing a different on. "Ollie had some business in New York, so we thought we'd come down to see you all. And I was curious about your new little brother. Shot me."

"Don't tempt me," Jason smiled and then looked back to Dick. "Something wrong with the sandwiches, Dickie?" Jason caught himself from adding 'bird' to Dick's nickname. Last thing he needed was Roy thinking his system of giving people pet names was spreading.

"I don't like cucumbers." Dick frowned. "Who makes a sandwich with just cucumbers on it?"

"No clue." Jason replied, sitting down by the boy on the floor and shortly joined by Roy. "Want me to find you something else?"

"No, it fine." Dick replied. "Who's Oliver?" Dick asked Roy as the other grabbed one of the offending cucumber sandwiches.

Roy swallowed his mouthful of food and then used the rest of the sandwich triangle to point at a blonde man with a goatee. "The guy over talking to Bruce. He adopted me a few years back."

"Oh," Dick nodded thoughtfully, "Is that normal? Being adopted by people like them?"

Roy laughed and rubbed the top of Dick's head affectionately. "No, not really. Ollie and Bruce are special, real good people the both of them."

"Bruce is the best." Dick agreed, making a face as he accidentally bit into a cucumber sandwich.

"Ollie's probably better." Roy muttered as he looked around, "Is Mr. Big-and-Scary here tonight?"

Jason wanted to laugh at Roy's slight discomfort around Damian. It was not necessarily anything antagonistic between the two, but they definitely do not get along. "Damian's probably trying to avoid his latest group of fangirls. Half of the city seems determined to get him to settle down with some nice girl."

"Those poor girls." A new voice interrupted with a laugh making the three of them look up.

Mia Dearden was leaning on the pillar behind them, somehow avoiding detection like some kind of gold clad ninja. "Hello Jason." See greeted with a smile, "and I guess the little cutie is Richard."

Dick smiled at the girl, a small apprehension now coming off of him at the newcomer. After a night of being clucked over it made sense. "I am, and who are you?"

If Dick was not as young as he was it may have come off rude, but Mia just chuckled and crouched down to their level. "I'm Mia."

"She's kinda my sister." Roy added, receiving a playful push from the older female.

"Dick meet Mia, Mia this is Dick." Jason quickly said to avoid any further interruption from Roy. "Mia's Oliver's other adopted child. Though I guess technically she's an adult now."

"And don't forget it squirt." Mia added, reaching over to ruffle Jason's hair. "It's good to meet you Dick, how's the night going."

Dick frowned, looking at Jason who gave him a reassuring nod. "It's fine... Everyone wants to talk to me though."

Mia laughed, "They like to do that, don't they? And I'm sure they ask a lot of questions they shouldn't, right?"

The boy nodded quickly. "Yeah... Are all adults rude like them?"

"Nope, just the ones who never been told better." Mia mused, "They think their money protects them from normal manners."

"You can say that again!" Roy said, maybe just a bit too loud.

"Shut up, Roy." Mia and Jason said at almost the same time, causing Dick to laugh and the loud mouthed red head to stuff another sandwich in his mouth.

Mia laughed, giving Roy a noogie. "Have you met Ollie yet? I can promise he's a little bit better than the others here; he definitely won't ask too many stupid questions."

"No." Dick answers looking to where Oliver and Bruce were still talking. The crowds seemed to be letting the two men talk to each other without an interruption. "Is he friends with Bruce?"

"Yeah," Roy answered before the other two, "their companies work together a lot. They're probably plotting on how to take over the world right now."

"Why would they want to do that?" Dick seemed confused at the statement. While he knew that Bruce was Batman, any other identity of the other heroes had not been shared with the boy. Not that Oliver tried to hard to hide he was the Green Arrow. What with that stupid goatee. It seemed to almost be a formality for him to /not/ say he was Star City's resident hero.

"Roy's being an idiot." Jason deadpanned, "If anything, they're plotting on how to stop Lex Corp from taking over anymore cities."

"Oh." Dick said.

A smile suddenly appeared on the boy's face as he saw something behind Mia. Jason was about to ask when Damian appeared in his peripheral.

"Todd, I know that Harper is your friend; but must you let Grayson be infected by him as well?"

"Damian." Mia greeted, standing back up to look at the oldest Wayne. "It's good to see you coming out of the shadows to rejoin the rest of humanity."

"Dearden." Damian said in reply to the blonde girl. It made Jason want to laugh as the small girl who barely came to Damian's shoulders gave him what could be described as a stare down. It made it look almost ridiculous in her golden dress that made her look even smaller than she looked in her hero uniform. "I hope the girls aren't giving you too much trouble."

Damian scoffed, "They are just an annoyance."

As Mia and Damian stared each other down, Jason almost missed Dick handing his plate of food to Roy and standing up. He moved towards to Damian and almost surprised the other man with a hug. "Dami! I missed you."

Damian stiffened for just a moment and then put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "I saw you twenty minutes ago." There was detectable annoyance in Damian's voice though he shot a glare at Mia at the face she made after Dick had called the elder Dami.

"See, I told you Brucie." A new, friendly but firm, voice spoke behind them, "The kiddos gather before we even have to suggest it."

Bruce chuckled, somewhere between his normal laugh and the facade he creates for when he has to be 'Brucie Wayne'. It's weird to Jason how easily Bruce and slip in and out of the persona. "Dick, can you come over here real quick? There's someone who'd like to meet you."

Dick detached himself from Damian and moved around the group to stand in front of Bruce. The older man pointed to the blonde man beside him. "This is Oliver Queen. Oliver this is Dick Grayson, my newest ward."

Oliver bent down to Dick's height and held his hand out for Dick to shake. "It's nice to meet you, Dick. I see you've met my children already."

"Yessir." Dick replied, taking Oliver's hand. "They are really nice."

Jason wanted to laugh. Alfred and Bruce had made sure Dick knew how to probably respond to the people Bruce would have to introduce him to. Honestly, Dick did much better than Jason himself had done; his parents being a world class act put Dick in situations where at least some manner of decorum had to be met. Rather, than you know, the bad habits ones pick up on the streets.

"I'm glad you find them to be so." Oliver looked at Mia and Roy with a crooked smile. "I personally find them to be a little bit disagreeable."

"Ollie!" The two mentioned children exclaimed, Mia adding, "You're the disagreeable one."

"See what I mean, no respect." Dick laughed at the exchange, looking completely at ease for maybe the first time all night.

"It's called being a parent, Oliver." Bruce added, his voice definitely trying to hide some laughter. "And Dinah doesn't count. Or maybe she does and it's just you. Who knows anymore."

Oliver pouted, Jason wondering for not the first time in his life if these really were the world's heroes. "So mean. And you're one to talk, not everyone has a wise old butler."

"While it nice to be able to make Queen look like a fool," Damian interrupted, "I believe it is about time to be getting Todd and Grayson home. It is getting late."

"That sounds reasonable." Oliver said before Bruce, a challenging look in his eye almost shouting 'See, Bruce, I can be responsible'. He turned to his own to charges and added, "Mia, you should probably take Roy back to the hotel as well."

A look shared between the vigilantes followed and Jason moved to help Roy stand up. "That's fine with me. Never really liked these things."

"Do they really have to go out tonight, Alfred?" Dick pouted, slowly eating the small meal Alfred made the boy when he and his brothers had returned from the Wayne Foundation benefit.

Alfred was finishing polishing the silverware. "I'm afraid so, Master Dick. Apparently it was too important, but they shouldn't be out long."

"Can I stay up until they return?" Dick asked hopefully. It really ever happened, but sometimes if there was a slow night Alfred would extend bedtime long enough so Dick knew they were on their way home.

"I suppose I can allow it tonight." Alfred sighed, "But you will have to do extra studying tomorrow."

Dick thought the offer in his head. After his residency at the Manor had come to be an almost permanent arrangement, Bruce had started preparing him to be ready to enroll in school. Not that Dick had not been receiving schooling at the circus with the other kids, it just was not as comprehensive as what was being offered at Gotham Academy. With the tutors and Alfred helping Dick make up the learning gap, Dick was projected to be on par with his peers by the time school started in a few weeks.

"Okay, deal." Dick smiled. "Can I wait in the Cave? Steph is down there and I promise I won't be a bother." Dick started excitedly.

Alfred sighed, "I'll speak with Miss Stephanie. Why don't you grab your maths book so you can start on the book work."

Dick made a face but got up to grab his homework.

I apologize that this is so late... TBH I posted this to AO3 but I must have forgotten about this (I could have sworn I had added this chapter but I digress).

Anyways, I also added the first chapter of a companion story for this. It is a reverse-Flash Family fic starring a time traveling Irey West II. Go check that out and let me know what you think.

And before I let you go on with your lives let me take a moment to apologize in advance. I recently had a death in my family and it's kinda messed up my typing time. Things have finally gone back to normal, so hopefully I can get back to updating more regularly.

Anyways, thanks and have a wonderful life!

Kai H & Co.