Alpha, Beta, but Never an Omega

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Chapter 4: Meet The Parent

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"Bruce, and you. Introduced. In public." Chopping his words, Dick's became deadly and mind hectic in trying to evade the condition- the very fact that Slade biting him into submitting was far worse than a fat bruise on the cheek!

"I'm going…. but, a call? How?"

"You know the line." Slade rung a towel to dry his hair, now dressed aa he tossed Dick the burner with his other hand. The boy instinctively caught it, but with a bewildered glance, he looked just as willing to back out and shoot out the door as earlier. "I…you can't say anything." Commented the kid. "I mean it, his ears never miss. Alfred too. You'd be tracked back even with this to crush under your heel. I don't care." Dick heaved out a sigh. "When I'm on call. Not. A. Sound."

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He was pacing as it ran, not once or twice. More than four times. Dock bit the end of his thumbnail and then ran a hand through his raven locks, looking twice as tortured. Slade though, saw a chance to get the bird calmer. He moved as serpentine as ever from behind and to the kid's hips, he glued himself. His hands found that spot of the boy's abdomen and pressed, the lime going in as someone finally picked up.

Slade chuckled and slipped back, Dick was now red and distracted, sending a death glare before answering back to the recipient. "Y- yellow?"

Slade sighed, Dick glaring once more as the voice turned out to be younger than Wayne's. Another bird, one more coy and conscience of this caller's reluctant nature than he posed to let on. ~ Who is this? ~

Dick bit his lip and soon, his smile came with a high sigh. " Timmy...it…it's, Dick." He swallowed with a sniffle. "I'm ok. I'm fine, where is Bruce."

~ DICK? ~ Tim turned a corner and took the cordless to the next room where the walls weren't in his case. Paper thin.

"Tim, listen. I need to meet at the Gotham Ritz Hotel Rooftop Restaurant. Tomorrow night. Seven. I'm sorry. Minutes are low. I l –

~ Dick, tell us where you are? Why was that photo…I want to know what he did. Dami won't talk, and he said you hurt…I don't care. ~ Huffed the middle child. The one next to inherit in Damian's place before he came of age. Wayne tech was mire to him than any other bat in the family. The trust and foundation that was supposed to go to Dick, had he waited. Had he…. stayed put.

He was eighteen and now claimed by a man that knew about the fault in caging him up. Or so he believed, if Bruce…Bruce had only told him that he knew. He KNEW what a freak Dick really was. "I can't talk now. Tim. Tell Bruce. Seven, tomorrow night."

~ Dick…I don't-

"Bye, Timmy." Dick clicked off the call and swung his arm i over his eyes. "You're not going to cry over that, are you? I'm not demanding you stop being a family. You only needed space." Slade clarified, seeing Dick's anger spike back up in seconds. He growled and pounced at the older man, being led to the wall as Slade allowed the pesky boy to get it out if his system. "You…if he sees you, he will either get you to bow or break first. Damn it! Why ?" Dick pounded the man on the chest, nothing to hurt a stack of abs as the boy drooled and wept like a toddler into the man's pecs. "Why…"

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Bruce was in the gym letting off steam. He kept eying the high bar where Dick had his sessions, the balance beam. The perfect flips and…

"Master Bruce??"

Alfred was in the room as Bruce let the stance falter. His mind was slipping too far. Dick wasn't going to come crying home without a valid reason. He didn't know, because Bruce had expected him to deal with learning eventually on his own. Or worse.

"Alfred." Bruce knew his call was urgent as Alfred took the damp towels to wash and Bruce went to seat Tim in the cave for a talk. "I heard him, he said to tell you by tomorrow at seven that he wants a meeting at the Gotham Ritz Hotel Rooftop Restaurant."

"A funny place to explain one's situation of being long gone from the eyes if the press, sir."

"It would be. Did he say anything else, Tim. What was the number –

"Burner from the trail, he didn't want to be found yet."

"That…is truly disconcerting, Master Bruce." Swallowed the butler feebly. "Might I see to the bat mobile in the meanwhile and gathering the family for this moment. Should there be an intervention in the future –

"Alf! Dick ran away because of something you two did to him! I have no idea but…I think it has to do with what he's been trying to do. His degree. That day he left, he was in your office. Jason's lips are pretty loose if you give that rodent a cookie." Tim snorted. "And I know you two. You'd never hurt him, so…why did he punch you and end up getting abducted on the news? They found that footage and it was not a source anyone could leak back –

"Have you been having the computer from your laptop? Again?" Bruce slammed down a palm to demand. "Tim, this could be a criminal at work who's using Dick to gain sensitive information. He's not on his own, who knows what that video actually meant. He has no access to the rooftop suite and only those who know the area would say otherwise. Tim, I'm ordering you now, to drop this case."

"But I can help!" Tim exclaimed. "I'm your ear to every place and everything! That's-

"Why don't you posers just trace it back to his scent, then"

From the doorway of the elevator to the cave, Jason was picking his teeth with what appeared to be a dinner toothpick. He had his hands in his pockets as he growled at B under his breath and walked in uninvited against any what for from Shouldn't places it doesn't work that way the oldest adult in the room. "Timmy, if you're such a great detective or if dad thinks he has the nose for being disturbed already; chew on this." Todd tossed his pick into a nearby wastebasket with the greatest precision of a professional knife thrower. "Think. Dick was so torn up over taking his exams and axing the shot out of any stereotype that said Beta never prosper, until one of you set his ass on fire and told him to quit while he was ahead. Alf, one thing I know is that you see us as your family. When you go, there is no replacement in your bloodline or branch that will represent the Wayne family. None of us, but one candidate."

"Jason, none of this –

"A- BUP – BUP." Jason put up a hand as he went along to press at the adults' fragile egos some more. "Also, you told B this but he has a whole stigma of Omega in this city or the world getting a job with a gun or baton in place of a damned child."

"B…what…what's going on with Dick? Is he –

"Stop it right now, Jason. If you bring anything –

"His scent, in that moment he left when I walked into the garage. It STUNK of miserable. Omega . Male."

Tim's eyes got wider as he looked at Bruce. "Dick isn't…he's a beta."

"Tracked a whole lot of shit when you were busting a vein. Tim left the damn thing unlocked, so I went to see why he was do pissed off myself. Dick, isn't all of that. He's a Beta by his physiology, but…not his hormone levels, his behavior or his emotions. He literally is part Omega. The kind that can get hit and still know how to stomach that kind of pain. How he also never went through a rut, did he? Never got a knot? You didn't want him on the force, because you never told him that he's both. That any alpha would know. And I did." Snarled Jason. "Now I might as well have known all along. Cause you two certainly were cozying into keeping that little secret going."

"I…." Alfred watched as Bruce shuddered out the work.

"I…did it to protect him."

"Ya fucked up." Snorted the second eldest rather snide in his stance. "I swear, if the big lame bat over here suddenly came out and said that Stephenie is actually a damn Alpha, I'd get that too."

"She isn't. He was the only one…and there was one more issue. He has a gene. One that makes him unable to be accustomed to just, any alpha. He…has a defect and, it would have him killed if his body were put in danger - all because I couldn't say anything to him."

"Oy, don't just shit it out to me!" Groaned Jason as Alfred had the boy a dirty look. "Well, even so. Jason, Master Timothy? You must not breathe a word to another living soul until we're aware of what Master Richard is after with this meeting. Will you not accept his invitation, sir?"

"I have no choice, Alfred." Sighed the bat as he staggered to his feet and went for the elevator door. "I made this mess and it's up to me alone to clear things up with my ward…"

The door shut and Tim looked down at his hands. "Dick is…"

"He's his flipping son too." Sneered Jason as he stomped off to have his cycle and the wind at his back. Dick was not the only one getting older in this stupid family.

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