Forced Bonds

Chapter 32

Gotham City
June 7, 00:40 EDT

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Dick Grayson appears on the Gordon's front door step with a single bag on his back. It is raining so the teen is drenched and shivering by the time he presses their doorbell.

Leslie Thompkins opens the door and white light spills from around her. "Dick? What are you doing here?" Dick fidgets with the straps of his bag, thinking about what he was going to say. "Oh how rude of me, please come inside. You're sopping wet!"

She gives him some spare clothes (that she kept around for kids on the streets) and a clean towel. Ordering him to go shower, she grabs a blanket and some cookies and sits at the table while she waits for Dick to come back.

She is sipping at tea and playing solitaire when Dick appears in the entry way. She sees the hasty bandages that cover his arms and hands and gave the teen a curious look before snorting. "You've been hurt again haven't you. Let me guess, Bruce is being difficult?" A relieved look crosses his face and he nods eagerly. "Well, unfortunately I'm the only one home tonight. Gordon's off doing police work since the Joker escaped and Barbara is probably out there helping Batman." She shuffles the deck and offers it to Dick, "Wanna play?"

He nods and they begin the simple game of war. It is good to see the kid relax, he seemed so tense when he got here. I wonder what's going on, Leslie thinks as she booed about loosing her king. They make small talk and play card games until Dick starts to nod off. Leslie glances at his empty water glass and smiles.

"Why don't you stay in our guest room tonight? I'm sure James won't mind," she offers sweetly. Dick has already passed out in his chair with his head hung low. She carries him bridal style into the spare bedroom and lay him down under the covers. "You've lost more weight," she comments hotly. "Bruce not been feeding you?"

Dick doesn't answer as he sinks into the mattress. The phone rings in the other room, much to Leslie's annoyance. It is one in the morning for crying out loud- don't these people ever sleep. She ruffles Dick's still damp hair and closes the door on her way out.

"What?" She asks, making it very clear that she is displeased with the call.  Batman's cold tone comes through on the phone, but Leslie is not intimidated.

"Have you had contact with Robin?"

She snorts before giving a clear, "No. Why? What happened?"

"He's unstable. He attacked his teammates and is now on the run. I've got Batgirl coming over to make sure that he's not hiding in your house."

"Why would he do that?"

"I believe that he is trying to find some stability."

"Wait- are you talking about that same stability you were supposed to give him?" She askes innocently. There is silence of the phone before she snorts again, "Have Batgirl help you instead, I'll check the house myself." And without giving Batman time to respond, she hangs up.

She goes back knowing that her time with the boy would be short, but she knows just what she is going to do. She climbs into the bed with Dick and pulls him into her arms. The kid has always been a cuddler and he seems to sink into her. She strokes his hair and presses his head against her heart.

"I sorry," she breathes. "Your situation must be awful. I also probably shouldn't have drugged your drink. That was really my bad, but in my defense you looked like you were going to die."

Leslie lay there until James opens to door. "Hello Commissioner," she says playfully.

"I thought I told you to stop calling me that," he sighs. He walks over and gives his wife a kiss before asking about the boy in the bed. "Please tell me that you didn't abduct another orphan," he starts.

Leslie gives him a light laugh, "Even if I did, you wouldn't do anything about it. But no. Dick is just running away from home. He needed a place to relax for a bit."

"Oh, I see. Well I'll let Barbara know that he's here-"

"No need to wake her up now, it's too early in the morning. Just wait until breakfast."

"Oh, okay. Should I contact Mr. Wayne then?"

The older woman hums in thought before concluding, "I have a feeling he'll be here soon enough."

The Commissioner just yawns and said that that is fine. He tiredly gives Leslie another kiss before collapsing on his bed in their bedroom. Leslie laughs at her husband. "What an idiot." She looks down, holds Dick tighter, and whispers, "He's my idiot."

Dick wakes up crying as he tightly clutches onto Leslie's arm. He quickly lets go and notices the blood on his fingertips. "Ah-" Dick shoots up in the bed and looks around.

"Good morning, sunshine," Leslie's voice sounds from behind him and he quickly turns to face her. She laughs and gives him a quick kiss on the forehead.

"What time is it?"

She hums and gets out of the bed. She is still wearing the same clothes she wore last night. Does she ever take that doctors coat off? No, Dick thinks admiringly. "It's around noonish."

"Noon?!"

"Yeah, I took the day off so that I could take care of you. Don't worry, Barbara came home after they had put the Joker away again and went right back out for school. She didn't even notice you were here she was so exhausted!"

Dick follows her into the kitchen where she starts to fix up some coffee. "Um... I'm sorry about your arm..."

"Oh this?" Leslie asks holding up her bloodied arm. Dick cringes when he sees it. There are bright red scratches and crescent shaped cuts all along her limb. She laughs seeing his reaction, "Don't worry about it, Dick. You were suffering from a nightmare, you couldn't help it."

A nightmare? He doesn't remember it.

"Hey, Dick," she asks suddenly snapping Dick out of a daze. "I was wondering if I could look at your injuries." There is a silence shared between the two of them until Leslie gets uncomfortable. "I don't mean to offend you- or Alfred for that matter- but I just would like to see what's gotten Bruce all riled up... And you know, administer finer care."

Hesitantly, Dick nods and Leslie adopts a relieved expression. "Oh good! I'll go get the car!"

At the mention of a car Dick starts to protest but Leslie already has an answer: "Wait, Les-"

"I'd figure that Bruce would be pretty much hunting you down, so I thought we could change locations. I have a private room that we could go to that should buy us some more time. Then, maybe we can go get ice cream afterwards! On second thought, that might not be such a good idea. Do you think all-natural smoothies would work better?"

She looks over at him and stops her verbal onslaught. Dick is shaking with a haunted expression on his face. She quickly wraps him in her arms and pulls him close. He flinches, but then immediately sinks into her. "But that's only if you want to, Dick. I'm not going to force you to do anything that you don't want to. If you feel safe here, we'll stay, but I can't promise that they won't come breaking down our door. So...

"Do you trust me?"

Dick tightens his grip around her before letting go and wiping away tears. He smiles thankfully up at her and nods.

"Yeah."