ᑌᑎᔕTᗴᗩᗪY

Parental Instincts (Part 2 of 3)

Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques,
Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?
Sonnez les matines, sonnez les matines
Ding ding dong, ding ding dong.

...October 12, 2010...

The next day comes and I storm down the hallway, pissed off. "CHAD!" I slam open the door to our first class, making everyone jump. The look in Chad's eyes tell me he's scared. "You asshole! You ditched and left this damn thing with me! I told you I couldn't take it last night!"

"I-I'm sorry! I couldn't take Luke either! I had a date!"

"I don't give a damn about some stupid date!" I shout, shoving the baby into his arms and dumping the diaper bag beside him. "You can take care of it all day and tonight." I leave the room, slamming the door behind me.

~~~

"I heard what you did this morning," Artemis says at lunch.

"About what I did to Chad?"

"That's the one. Good for you."

"Yeah, my dad almost killed me because of all the crying Luke was making," I groan, burying my head in my arms.

"That bad, huh?"

I groan and look up at her. "Whoa, what happened to you? You have some major bruises."

"How could you tell?" she gasps. "I thought I covered them pretty well..." She sighs. "I was getting some training in and my teacher didn't hold back."

I chuckle to myself. More like a building fell on you...

Richy arrives and awkwardly sits down, pain written across his features as he does. He sets his bag on the table, readjusting the baby in his arms.

"Is there a stick up your butt?" I ask. "Because you're walking funny."

"No," he sighs. "Just sore. I was practicing my gymnastics and fell."

"Ouch," I wince. "So... isn't Barbara your partner for the project?"

"Yeah, I'm supposed to take the baby tonight," he groans.

"Artemis, you're so lucky that you don't have to do this," I sigh.

"Yep," she gloats. "I chose classes early."

"Stupid, history and writing was full..." I huff. "If I wanted to be in chorus the only other class I could take was this."

"Well, maybe it's a good thing," Richy says. "It'll help if you want to raise a family one day."

"Me? A parent? Yeah, I don't think so," I laugh.

"I think you'd be a good mom," Richy says. "I've seen how you interact with the baby. You seem to know what you're doing."

"I agree with him," Artemis says.

"I never said I wouldn't be a good mom," I laugh. "It's just that I can't imagine me being one."

Artemis chuckles. "Sometimes I wonder why I even try."

"Correction we even try," Richy snickers just before his baby begins to cry. He places the bracelet against it's chest to see what it needs.

"It needs a diaper change," I admit before he even looks at his screen.

He glances down to see that I am indeed right. "How'd you know?"

"The cries for each problem are different. Of course, you probably won't hear that unless you pay close attention," I admit. Of course, being electrically involved helps.

"All sounds the same to me," he huffs, changing the non dirty diaper to a new one.

Artemis nudges me, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Oh, shut up! I'm not gonna be a mom!" I huff, crossing my arms. Lord help those children if I do...

~~~

The school day finally ends and I return home without a certain bird following me home. Papa and momma must be out because the only ones to greet me are the hyenas. I feed them before heading up to my room to do some homework. Storm comes in a little later.

~Whatcha up to?~ Storm asks.

"Finishing up my homework. Where are Lou and Bud?"

~Went to explore.~

A ring interrupts us. I sigh, realizing it's the communicator, and I turn my hair to pink, shaping my costume over my head. "Hello?"

"Bolt! You gotta come to the cave!" Wally shouts while laughing. "We need to tease Robin together!"

"Wally! It's not funny!" Robin cries out somewhere off-screen.

I grin. "On the way." The communicator is placed on my desk, and I turn to Storm. "Looks like I'm leaving. I can't miss the chance to tease Robin over whatever it may be."

~Fine, go.~

I laugh before disappearing in a blur to the zeta-tube, transporting once inside.

"Recognized: Bolt, B08."

"Bolt!" Wally shouts, skidding to a stop in front of me. He grabs my arm and speeds off with me to the living area. "Look at this!" He shoves me in front of Robin, who is holding a fake baby like the ones from Gotham Academy.

My eyes widen before my face turns into amusement. "So, who'd you knock up?"

"I-I didn't knoc– I didn't g-get anyone pregnant! It's a fake baby!" Robin huffs.

"I know," I smirk, slinging my arm around his neck.

He notices the bracelet on my arm, and I quickly retract my arm.

"You have one too!?" he cries out.

"Ah, shit. I didn't mean for you to see that," I confess.

"So, you go to Gotham Academy too?" Robin asks.

"Too?" I smirk. "Mmm, that means I can narrow down my search of who you are."

"I could say the same to you. How many people in our school have pink hair that takes family studies?"

"True."

"I think it's cute," Megan says, taking the baby from Robin's grasp. "I wish our school had this class. I think that'd be fun, don't you think, Conner?"

"Oh, um, sure..." Conner hesitantly agrees.

"Oh, so get this," Wally says. "Last night Joker was broken out of prison by Harley and Jester Quinn, and Jester had a fake baby too!"

"She also had a cobra-venom enhanced hyena," Artemis adds.

"Really?" I ask.

"Yeah, might've been bigger than Wolf," Robin says, rubbing Wolf's head.

"That's cool but not really," I admit. "So, what are we doing today?"

"Simulation training," Megan perks up.

"Originally, we were going to do in the field training, but Batman changed his mind because Robin has this baby," Wally laughs.

We head back to the mission room and enter the circle to meet Batman. Robin hands the sleeping baby to Batman as he types up on the screens and the simulation begins. Batman disappears and is replaced with Bane, Bizarro, and Grundy. The area around us becomes a forest.

"Oh, we got the big guys," Artemis huffs, loading an arrow.

"Let's do this!" I cheer, taking off into the battle.