Work Text:
Sybil was in a part of the Wayne Enterprises' office building that she never normally worked in. The Alpha had agreed to cover one of her colleague's work shifts while they were on heat-leave, and so she found herself on the executive's floor of the building—closer to the CEO's office than she had ever gotten before. It was almost exciting, and who knows? If management was impressed by her efficiency, it could even spell out a promotion for her further down the line! Adjusting the thick-framed glasses falling down the slop of her nose, she answered phone calls and edited schedules with vigour, falling into the methodical swing of it easily.
It's then that she smells the strong scent of another Alpha in the entry way. Sybil pauses her rapid-fire typing, looking up curiously. Scent patches weren't mandatory in the company, but it was extremely rare to have people forgo wearing them in the workplace. The strong musky smell of pinewood and pertichor invades her senses as she searches for its owner, curiously, she sees nothing. Absolutely nothing.
That is...
...until she peers over her computer monitor, far closer to the ground. Her eyes widen. Sybil takes off her glasses, wipes them down on the fabric of her blouse, the puts them back on again and—sure enough—the tiny figure was still there. The little pup is far too small to be anything but a nestling. He wears striped footie pyjamas His black wispy curls stick out every which way as he waddles slowly but surely around the workplace, he trails a baby blue blankie on the ground behind him. A few of her colleagues stop to peer over at the tiny toddler, who smelled so strongly of protective Alpha that it completely hides any indication of his milky pup scent.
Had one of the pups escaped from the employee's daycare? It wouldn't be too surprising as there were always a handful of children attending at any given time. She remembered using that free daycare service when her pups were four and five, and her wife had gotten ill with the flu. It was a good employee benefit to have.
Sybil swallows, brows creasing in indecision as she watches the nestling toddle along, peering curiously at all things that seemed to catch his interest. A part of her inner Alpha bristles, it had been more than a decade or so since her own teenaged pups were that small, but she remembered vividly (and fondly.) Nestlings were too small to navigate the world alone, and—aptly named—stayed in their pack's nest for the most part. They were too small to properly regulate anything, let alone when outsider's scents and the business of the world outside of pack territory was mixed in. Just where was the tiny pup's guardians? This was dangerous! She has half a mind to pick the boy up herself, but the strong scent of Protective-Alpha-Mine wafting off of him tells her that that was not a good idea.
Nevertheless, she keeps an eye on the waddling nestling as she slowly resumes her typing.
Not even thirty seconds later, another pup—a lot bigger this time—races into the room, his kid's version of a suit is wrinkled and he's out of breath as he scans his surroundings. The scent of sour milk with just a hint of thyme fills the air. The tension in the boy's shoulders visibly dissipates as he spots the nestling. "There ya are!" He runs a hand through messy curls as he speaks in possibly the strongest Crime Alley accent that Sybil had heard in a while. The older pup—(though older was a stretch, he didn't look older than ten or eleven.)—quickly closes the gap between him and the baby. His voice is scolding. "You're not supposed'ta run off like that!"
The nestling blinks, giving the older pup a mostly-gummy grin—with the exception of one of two baby teeth growing in. He doesn't appear chastised at all as he babbles, making no complaint as the Crime Alley pup scoops him up and glares at him. "You were supposed'ta be nappin', Dami!"
The nestling—Dami—doesn't seem to care about this fact, instead he chooses to nuzzle into his packmate's scent glands, chirping all the while. "Daydun....Play."
"No! No play! It's naptime." He huffs, turning his head away from the toddler in his arms. Sybil can see the freckles glittering his nose and cheeks much better now. The pup turns around again before screaming so loudly that it makes her jump. "Dadddd!!! I found 'im!"
Sybil just barely manages to catch her bearings when CEO of Wayne Enterprises Bruce fucking Wayne rushes into the office, his expression is one of frazzled relief as he spots the nestling in his elder son's arms. And oh, that boy with the Crime Alley accent was Jason Todd-Wayne. The recognition dawns on her. The nestling must be the Wayne pack's littlest member, Damian Wayne.
Mr Wayne breathes a sigh of relief, looking over both of his pups with fondness. "Oh Jason, thank God."
"Da!" Damian shouts, letting out a series of churrs and puppish yips. He wriggles in his big brother's arms, apparently determined to escape him.
"Ugh!- Dad! Take 'im, he's too fat and heavy!" Jason grumbles.
The CEO just shakes his head, but readily takes the baby from his pup's arms, a purr rumbles in his throat, and Sybil looks away because of the intimacy of it. "Don't be mean to your little brother Jaylad. He's not fat, he's perfect."
The nestling chitters up a storm, nuzzling happily into his Alpha's arms as Mr Wayne wraps him up in the baby blue blanket like a little burrito. "Even if he's proving to be a little escape artist." He presses a kiss to the baby's head, holding him possessively. "You've been escaping your naptime again? You can't keep doing that, munchkin...you're little," Damian attempts to wriggle himself out of the blanket burrito, squealing. "you need your sleep."
"He's still fat." Jason counters, the older pup had curled himself into the CEO's side. "Fat and an escape artist."
"He's a baby, he's supposed to be fat....not sure about the escape artistry though." Mr Wayne hums, turning away as they slowly make their way out of the office space. The nestling manages to free an arm and paw at the Alpha's scent patches and growling in annoyance when the thing blocking his Father's scent wasn't going away. "Alright, alright...." He surrenders, peeling back one of his scent patches. Immediately, pine and pertichor spreads around the room. The baby's growling ceases, replaced with the tiniest of puppy purrs.
Mr Wayne melts while Sybil continues to watch from the corner of her eye and pretends to respond to emails.
"I was watchin' him, I swear! I looked away for a second 'nd poof!"
"I'm sure you were Chum, he's slippery when he wants to be..." The Alpha hums, swaddling the nestling tighter in the baby blue blanket. Pausing when he spots his older son climbing on a vacant desk. "Jason...get off of there you're going to fal—"
—Jason giggles, climbing onto the Alpha's back and hanging off of it like a baby monkey, and Sybil—now suddenly missing when her pups were small enough to carry—understands perfectly the contented smile on Mr Wayne's face. Damian sticks his little button nose into the crook of his Father's neck, the man chuckles tenderly at the tickling sensation of little sniffs at his scent glad. "Let's get back to my office, then."
The sound of laughter echoes down the hallway, getting slowly fainter.
The scent of Father-Love-Protection-Mine stays in the room long after Mr Wayne leaves. Sybil gets up to open a window, her colleagues smile at her for it.
....Maybe she could call into her childrens' favourite Chinese place on her way home from work, get some takeout and watch a movie with her pups and her wife in the evening.
Yeah, that sounded good.