Chapter Text
It was always hard to let go of her copies, even if there was a good reason to, no matter how annoying the copy in question can get. And unfortunately for Beatrice this extended to The Royal Dandy. After managing to accidentally duplicate the painting once again, she was now stuck with this bratty child following her around, and probably would be for a while. What's done is done, and all she could do now was think about how she should have listened to Wordgirl and just stayed away from the art museum this time, especially given that she had to go to work, considering what happened last time Dandy was in the copy shop.
The presence was strange, she thought that the previous encounter with him where she teamed up with Wordgirl would have been the last, so she hadn't exactly thought about the repercussions of getting rid of him, if there were to be any. And yet, here he is. Having only had powers for a couple of years there were a lot of questions about the nature of the copies. In particular: If all of the Royal Dandy copies are the same, does he remember the last time? Was he upset at her for what she did? Would he bring up what happened? He didn't seem to be too bothered given that he was still happily bothering her, continuing to refer to her as his mother despite the numerous times that he had been corrected. She wondered if it would in fact just be better to get rid of him sooner rather than later, but it wasn't as if he had done anything to warrant that yet, and despite being annoyed by him she still cared for him, as much as Beatrice would hate to admit it. He was one of her creations after all. It was too early to be having to think this deeply about things.
She turned the street corner to go into a coffee shop, still having a solid while left before work. The place was nearly empty, with it being only around 6AM at the moment. Well, it was empty, except for one person. Someone she wasn't sure if she should have been happy to see right now or not. She stopped next to the table he was sitting at.
"Dr. Two Brains?" She asked in a confused tone, with him being one of the last people she'd expect to see here at this time of the morning, and definitely the last in terms of people she knew from the Villains Association.
"Oh, hey Bea! You have got to try the grilled cheese sandwiches they serve here." Sure enough he was completely scoffing one of said grilled cheeses down the moment he finished speaking. She sighed, staring at him but ultimately choosing to not even bother to question why he was awake and here this early in the morning. She took off her coat and put it on the back of one of the chairs.
"Dandy, you wait here with Dr. Two Brains while I go order." She patted him on the shoulder before she walked away, leaving Dandy alone with the scientist.
He intently observed the appearance of the man, who seemed to appear relatively normal except for a few things that he had spotted near immediately: the whiskers, the shiny red eyes, and what appeared to be a second brain on top of his head. The sight made him cringe a bit, being unsure if it was real or just a prop. The man almost looked as if he was dressed up for Halloween, but the features felt a bit too realistic to just be a mere costume, and there was the also the fact that Halloween was not for another couple of months yet. Dandy cleared his throat to break the silence before speaking.
"Is that a brain sticking out of your head?"
"Sure is kid."
A very clear look of disgust swept over the boy's face, as he let out a nervous laugh through his words. "That's gross."
"Hey, don't say that! He's sensitive." Two Brains chuckled, jokingly patting the brain as if to console it. "So, how come you're here? Is Beatrice your babysitter or somethi-"
He was interrupted by her returning with two drinks, a hot cocoa and a latte. She sat down next to the boy, who was now grinning from ear to ear.
"I wasn't sure what you'd want so I just got you that."
"Thanks Mum!"
A loud gasp came from across the table, with all eyes suddenly turning their attention to the source. Dr. Two Brains had shot up, leaning foward on the table with his gloved hands. He was shaking a bit, with an almost cartoonishly extreme shocked expression, jaw dropped and all. "YOU HAVE A KID???" He blurted out, making Beatrice glad the place was still practically empty, although that only slightly detracted from the embarrassment of the drastic reaction.
Looking around frantically in hopes that maybe they hadn't noticed, she tried to regain her composure, but was unable to and instead became a blabbering mess as she tried to deny it. "He's not- I'm not- I'm not his mom! It's…complicated. A long story. Kind of a tricky situation." She looked away for a moment, taking a sip of her latte. "Can you please sit down? You're embarrassing me."
After taking a moment to try to process things, he promptly sat down, taking a deep breath as he did. It was near impossible to shake the disbelief, the fact that he, as someone who considered himself to be close to Beatrice, didn't know about this. Would it be appropriate for him to ask for more details? He didn't exactly want to intrude and press her on something that was none of his business, but it's not everyday you find out the woman you went on a date with just a couple of weeks ago has a child. Both of them were avoiding eye contact, and trying to ignore the mocking giggles from Dandy, who seemed to be enjoying the drama. Most of the rest of the time spent there was sat in silence, with Beatrice praying in her mind that she wouldn't have to explain the situation, unsure if it would even change anything considering Dandy had never stopped insisting that she was his mother.
After some time she suddenly spoke again. "Actually...would you be able to look after him while I'm at work? I don't think Dave would mind me having him around, but I would rather not have him there for other reasons." A slight glare at Dandy came with those last two words, with the boy giving an expression that almost seemed proud of whatever the reasons she wouldn't want him around the store were in return.
"I mean, I could but I have a big heist planned later today… Can't you just leave him with Chuck or something?"
"Are you kidding? Dandy would probably tear Chuck to shreds."
Dr. Two Brains sighed and scratched his head, throwing out some other suggestions but having all of them be denied for various reasons, some better than others.
"Fine." He conceded. "I'll just reschedule the heist for another day." He grumbled those words, feeling as though the "other reasons" that were mentioned probably weren't a good sign for how his day is going to go. As much as he liked Beatrice and was happy to help her out, he was wishing he had just said he was busy. Maybe this was her revenge for all of the times he'd tease her by trying to boop her nose.
"Thanks Doc!" Checking the time, she stood up, appearing to be suddenly in a rush. "I need to go, but if you need anything just drop by anytime! See you later, have a good day, bye!" Two Brains was unsure if this meant she was running late, or if she wanted to escape before he could go back on his choice.
The bell above the door rang as it opened, with Beatrice being glad the copy shop was only a couple of minutes away, she had decided to walk instead of driving since she got up so early, and yet she still managed to almost be late. Stepping outside she let out a sigh of relief, at least for a while Dandy was not her problem.
Dandy crossed his arms on the other side of the table. Shaking his head. "Hmph! Mum should know that I don't need anyone to take care of me." Turning his nose up, he looked over at the Doctor. "Especially not you."
Sinking his head into his hands, Two Brains groaned. This was going to be a long day indeed.