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“Hey, Bruce, you got a second?”
Bruce looked up to see Barry Allen, pediatric endocrinologist, standing over his desk.
“Sure, Barry. I’m just catching up on some charting. Did one of my residents call you for a consult or something?”
The blonde crossed his arms over his chest, barely exposing the outline of his DexCom. “Well, not exactly. This is actually a personal visit.”
The guy looked nervous. Bruce and Barry weren’t super close, but he was a well-respected colleague. “Sure, Barry. I’ve got a few minutes. How about we grab some coffee?”
Barry looked relieved. “Yeah, coffee. Coffee is good.”
They headed to the hospital’s on-campus coffee shop. Bruce bought them both coffee and a pastry then settled down in a table near the back.
“So, Allen, what’s got you so frazzled?”
Barry sighed as he fiddled with his insulin pump. “Do you remember my nephew Wally? The one who lived in Central City?”
“Of course.” The endocrinologist was always showing off pictures of the red-headed boy, just as Bruce loved to show photos of Dick. It was an activity that the doctors bonded over frequently.
“Well, Iris and I have just been given custody over him. Wally’s been living with us for about two weeks now.”
That made him raise his eyebrows. “May I ask how that came to happen?
“CPS took him from his parents. He was being abused. Iris and I had no idea.”
There was deep sorrow and guilt in the man’s eyes, like the weight of the world hung on his shoulders.
“Barry, I’m so sorry,” Bruce offered. “How is he holding up?”
“About as well as he can be, given the circumstances. At least with it being summer, he has time to get settled and adjust to his new life before school starts. But to make things even more complicated, he was actually just diagnosed with type one diabetes. Which is ironic, I know, considering we aren’t even related by blood. He was in the hospital in DKA when one of the nurses noticed the suspicious bruising. Things kinda unfolded from there.”
Bruce leaned forward and put a hand on his friend’s forearm. “It wasn’t your fault, Barry. You had no way to know it was happening.”
The blonde sighed, gripping his coffee cup more tightly. “But it still eats at me, you know? Like, if he hadn’t gotten diabetes, how long would it have gone on for? Until his dad killed him? All those times he visited us, we had no idea, Bruce.”
“The important thing is you have him now,” he reminded gently. “Things will only get better for him from here on out.”
"But he’s so lonely, Bruce. And scared. I don’t know how to help him. His entire life’s been uprooted, and now he has a chronic illness he has to learn to live with on top of everything else. I was just hoping you could give me some advice.”
Ah, of course. That made sense. News had traveled through the hospital fast when he had adopted the young, orphaned acrobat. Many of his coworkers had been quite invested in the boy’s progress over the three years he’d been with Bruce.
“Well, the way I see it, you have a few key advantages that I didn’t have with Dick. For one, Wally knew and trusted both you and Iris before he came to live with you.”
“That’s true, I guess,” Barry relented. “What are the others?”
Bruce cracked a smile. “He already speaks English and won’t require intensive physical or neurological rehabilitation.”
The blonde laughed. “Fair enough.”
“But in all seriousness, my advice is to be consistent. It took a while for Dick to fully trust me, and he had never been abused. Even with the added benefit of having a prior relationship with Wally, he’s likely to be guarded, or push boundaries to see if your love and patience have conditions. You just need to keep your head level and let him see that you won’t hurt him. A good counselor would also be beneficial. I can put you in touch with Dinah Lance, if you’d like. She was really able to help Dick through the worst of his recovery.”
“That would be great, thanks, Bruce,” Barry let out a breath. “Anything else?”
Bruce thought for a moment. From what he knew of Wally, the kid was very social and bright. He was right around Dick’s age, too. His son had been struggling to make friends at Gotham Academy (save for Barbara, of course). Between the crutches, his neurological issues, and his English struggles, even his outgoing personality wasn’t enough for a lot of the children of Gotham’s Elite to give him the time of day. Maybe he could offer a solution that would benefit both Wally and Dick.
“Barry, what would you think of arranging a playdate?”
They decided on the zoo. Dick, having grown up in the circus, loved animals (especially elephants), and the Gotham City Zoo had plenty to see. Plus, it was fairly accessible, with gentle slopes and plenty of seating areas in the shade. As Dick had grown more comfortable with Bruce, it had become one of their go-to spots.
“Barry, hi!” Bruce greeted as he and Dick approached the pair.
The other doctor smiled, his hand resting on his nephew’s shoulder. “Hey, Bruce. Good to see you, too, Dick. This is my nephew, Wally.”
Dick hobbled forward on his crutches and held a hand out to the redhead. “Hi, Wally. My name’s Dick.”
The other boy, who was twelve if Bruce remembered correctly, took the offered hand and shook it with a toothy grin. “Whoa, your accent is so cool!”
His son’s face lit up. “Thanks! I was born in Romania, but I grew up speaking Romany, too. My parents were acrobats in a traveling circus.”
“Really? That’s awesome!”
“One of the elephants here is actually a retired circus performer. Her name’s Xena. Wanna see her first?”
Wally grinned. “Okay! This is my first time here, so you’ll have to lead the way.”
Dick smirked mischievously, tightening the grip on his crutches. “For sure, as long as you can keep up with me.”
And with that, the pair rushed off.
Barry clasped him on the shoulder. “Well, I feel like that went amazing.”
“Agreed,” Bruce smiled. “We’d better get going if we want to stay with them.”
The adults kept a respectful distance from the boys, allowing their relationship to develop organically. They went all over the park, stopping for lunch about halfway through, and then got ice cream a little while after that.
“Man, Wally hasn’t smiled this much since he came to live with us,” Barry observed, taking a big spoonful of sugar-free chocolate froyo out of his bowl.
It was true. Dick and Wally took to one another like they’d known each other their entire lives. Bruce hadn’t seen his son this carefree around anyone who wasn’t himself or Alfred, except for maybe Barbara. It was such a special thing to see.
“It’s definitely been good for Dick, too. He’s had such a hard time getting his confidence back. Evidently, most of the other children at Gotham Academy have no desire to be friends with a disabled orphan from Eastern Europe.”
Barry snorted. “Imagine that. Kids can be cruel… Adults, too.”
“But not all of them,” Bruce reminded. “You and Iris are doing a really admirable thing, taking Wally in.”
“Yeah, well, the kid’s family. He should stay with family. I just hope I can do right by him.”
Bruce watched as Dick and Wally chatted excitedly about some new video game that was coming out. Neither boy paid attention to the crutches propped up against the bench or the DexCom stuck to the redhead’s arm. They were just boys being boys.
“Somehow, Barry, I think they’ll both be just fine.”