Chapter Text
“And they all lived happily...ever...after.”
Dick yawned as he gently shut the book, careful not to wake the little girl tucked into her unicorn pajamas, fast asleep. “Goodnight, Lian.” He whispered as he crept from the bedroom and flicked off the lights before shutting the door, leaving it open only a crack.
Downstairs, he heard a grunt. A stumble. A crash. He sauntered down the steps, in no hurry. He knew exactly who it was.
“Roy Harper. Where the hell were you,” he demanded in an angry whisper.
Roy swayed and steadied himself on the kitchen table and tried to form a response. Drinking had been his go-to self-medication since he’d gotten ‘clean’. He had completely sworn off methadone after the first few weeks out of rehab, saying it made him ‘fuzzy’, but he functioned only slightly better as an alcoholic than a heroin addict.
Dick ignored Roy’s slurred, unfinished protests, “You didn’t pick Lian up from school. I was on her emergency contacts so they called me. You’re lucky I wasn’t off-world or something!”
Roy found his tongue. “Go to hell Grayson,” he slurred. “ I don’t need your preaching or your speeches. Won’t happen again. Now leave.”
“You want me to leave? With you, drunk off your ass and your daughter asleep upstairs? No chance. Get a shower and go to bed. Hopefully you’ll wake up tomorrow and decide you’re ready to be a father. In case you don’t, I’ll be on the couch.”
Roy groaned and Dick stormed into the living room.
You can’t keep bailing him out, you know, Dick thought as he angrily arranged pillows and a blanket on the sofa. Almost instantly, he realized there was little choice.If you don’t, they might take Lian away, and if he loses Lian…
you might lose him.
There had already been so many losses.
Too many. He wasn’t sure he could bear another. And Roy was struggling. Badly. Dick practically had to drag him through rehab by the ear to make sure he stayed with the program and didn’t OD.
And now the drinking.
He flopped down and set an alarm on his phone, not trusting Roy awake early enough to get Lian to school. A pointless precaution - it wasn’t like he was going to get any sleep anyway. He listened as the shower ran long. Then heard the stumbling steps upstairs to Roy’s bedroom. A loud fwump noise as his friend threw his inebriated body into the mattress. Finally, deep, guttural snoring.
At least he’s home. And safe, Dick thought, We’ll figure the rest out in the morning.
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As anticipated, Roy was still asleep when Dick’s alarm went off. He dragged himself off the couch, exhausted, and headed to the kitchen to make coffee before he woke Lian. He was stunned to find her already situated in a kitchen chair with a large bowl of cereal, overflowing with milk, in front of her.
“Daddy got home late so I wanted to help so he could sleep,” she said with a grin and a yawn when Dick came into the room, gawping at the mess on the table.
“That is really thoughtful, sweetheart,” he said, trying to hide the absurd laugh that threatened to bubble out. “Once you're finished we can brush your teeth and I’ll help you get dressed.”
He was taken aback when Lian rolled her eyes. “I’m in first grade Uncle Dick. I can do it myself. I’m a big kid.”
A chuckle and a smile from Dick had the little girl beaming.
“I suppose you are,” Dick agreed.
From the massive bowl of Cheerios, Lian only took a few bites before declaring herself ‘full’ and marching off to the bathroom just off the kitchen. Dick reached to clear away the meal but hesitated. He should make her eat more, right? She would be hungry at school and it would be his fault for not pushing the issue.
He called after her, “Lian, honey, I think you should finish your breakfast before you brush your teeth, don’t you?”
She poked her head out of the bathroom, toothbrush already firmly in her mouth. “I am finished,” she argued, spraying toothpaste on the floor.
With a deep breath, Dick insisted, “I get that, but you’ll be starving later and I just want to make sure…”
“I told you, I’m a big kid. And I know when I’m finished eating. Daddy doesn’t make me eat after I’m done,” she interrupted.
She ducked back into the bathroom without another word, and Dick could hear her scrubbing at her teeth erratically. He hopped up and knocked at the door frame.
“You sure you don’t want some help with that. You want to make sure you get all the germs off…”
Spit flew onto the mirror as Lian shook her head and replied, “Nope,” popping the ‘P’ for effect, and drooling more wet, sticky toothpaste onto the counter. When she decided she was finished (at the one minute mark, Dick noted. Alfred would never have let that slide) she rinsed briefly, hopped off her stool in front of the sink, and declared, “I’m going to pick out my own clothes today!”
Brightly, she skipped off, up the stairs and out of sight.
With Lian in her room, Dick took a moment and surveyed the damage with mild horror. A puddle of milk on the kitchen table. Cheerios on the floor. A bathroom that was almost completely redecorated with electric blue, ‘Finding Nemo’ toothpaste. And they were just halfway through the process of getting ready with only…
Dick cursed.
Fifteen minutes before they had to leave, based on the dropoff time posted on the school’s website.
He couldn’t shake the persistent feeling that he was, perhaps, not cut out for parenthood. An amused voice brought Dick back from his impromptu self-reflection.
“Not so easy, is it?”
Roy’s voice was a little gravelly, and he cleared his throat sleepily, then winced against his obvious headache.
“Lian woke me up, said you were doing an ‘ok’ job of helping her get ready for school. Looks like she was being generous,” Roy teased, smiling as much as his hangover would allow him.
Dick kept any acerbic remarks to himself. Roy was here, awake, and engaged. He didn’t want to risk pushing Roy away and causing a fight in front of Lian. The argument that was looming would have to wait.
“I meant what I think I remember saying last night,” Roy began, dashing Dicks hopes of avoiding a serious conversation before Lian was off to school. Fights with Roy were usually loud, and on rare occasions came to blows. He was only in town to get Roy back on track, not make things worse and leave a mess in his wake.
“Hm,” Dick said, hoping for a deflection as he crouched down and swept cereal off the linoleum.
“That it wouldn’t happen again. It was a one off, I don’t miss picking Lian up from school. Ever. You know, more than anyone, how important she is to me.” Roy grabbed the half-full bowl of cereal off the table and dumped it in the trash and placed it in the sink, then leaned on the counter and waited for a response.
“I have to leave to get Lian to school in ten minutes,” Dick dodged, “can we talk about this later?”
“You mean I have to get her to school. She’s not your responsibility, Dick,” Roy countered in a harsh, biting whisper.
“No,” Dick said, shaking his head, “I’m not arguing with you. Not now. And you’re hung over, so I meant what I said. I have to get Lian to school. In seven minutes.”
The tension was reaching a boiling point, and Roy’s silent glare had Dick’s stomach twisting uncomfortably. But an unexpected smile broke on his face when he saw the little girl standing on the steps behind her father in the most outrageous outfit he could have imagined.
Mismatched, striped socks came up past her knees, covered, in part, by a polka dotted skirt. Her shirt sported a large, fluorescent, smiling narwhal under a rainbow. Other, smaller rainbows covered her cardigan, and she had wrapped a feather boa around her neck. It was an outfit fit for the circus, not school, and Dick laughed in spite of himself.
That was, apparently, the wrong decision. Lian scowled at him with a disapproving frown.
“It’s not nice to laugh at people Uncle Dick,” she said with reproach.
“I wasn’t laughing at you, sweetheart,” he said, standing and tossing the remains of the cereal in the dustpan into the trash. “I just really like your clothes, they made me smile.”
She glared at him suspiciously, but seemed appeased. “What do you think, Daddy?”
Roy tilted his head critically, then mussed her hair and yanked up the hood on her sweater dramatically.
“Perfect,” he said with a chuckle, “let’s get you to school.”