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Star City, January 9, 2011

Dinah smiled as her phone started playing the Magnum, P.I. theme. She dug it out of her coat pocket and swiped her thumb across the screen. Bruce had given her a pair of gloves that Wayne Industries was developing that were compatible with smartphones. She suspected that they were actually a Lucius Fox Project. Either way, she was grateful. The last thing she wanted was to take off her gloves in early January. “Good afternoon, Mr. Wayne.”

She smiled when she heard the fondness in his voice. “Good afternoon, Dinah.” He sobered quickly. “I need a favour.”

“Of course. What do you need?” She asked. It wasn’t often the Batman asked for help. Not even from her.

“Remember when I told you I’d take another orphan into my home in a heartbeat?”

He didn’t. “Bruce,” she sighed. “Adoption isn’t something one does on a whim.”

“I didn’t adopt him.” Bruce countered.

He did. “I can come by in a couple hours.” She mentally did the math. It’d be around 8:30 by the time she actually got to Wayne Manor. The boy would still be awake.

“Thank you.” Bruce’s gratitude was always heartfelt when he managed to express it. It was like he assumed that nobody could be bothered to assist him when he needed it. “Do you need to be picked up?”

Dinah thought about it. The zeta-tube she used was open in Star City but enclosed in a broken photo booth in Gotham. Unless she used the one that opened in an alley. “Is the zeta-tube near Gotham Mercy still operational?” Bruce hummed quietly in her ear. “I’ll take my bike. I have a meeting in Gotham tomorrow anyway.”

Bruce chuckled. “Alfred says that we’re having shepherd’s pie this evening if you would like to attend.”

“Real shepherd’s pie?”

“With lamb.” Bruce affirmed.

That changed things a little. She’d have to pack a few things quickly. She had clothes at Bruce’s but nothing suitable for a business meeting. “I’ll be there within the hour.” She quickly turned around and booked it to her apartment. In five minutes, she’d grabbed her new duffle bag from under her bed.

It had been a Christmas gift from Superboy but he told her that Bruce had helped. The bag was black leather with a yellow Batman insignia on one side and a yellow Black Canary insignia on the other. On either end of the bag were the insignias of the teen heroes in her care. Robin, Aqualad, Superboy, Kid Flash, Miss Martian, Artemis, and even Red Arrow were represented. She’d loved it immediately.

She packed quickly. A stylish marine blue business suit and ruffled white blouse were packed in a garment bag atop her “business meeting shoes” they were timeless black pumps but with a thicker heel than average so they were actually wearable. The skirt may be considered a little short to some but it passed the fingertip test and she was young enough to get away with it. She grabbed her makeup bag, a clean bra and panties, and a pair of pantyhose. Anything else she needed would already be at the manor.

Gotham City, January 9, 2011

Alfred was quick to answer the door when she knocked. Without hesitating she removed her gloves and jacket, handing them off to an expectant butler before bending to undo her boots. “Thank you, Alfred. Bruce didn’t warn me that it was snowing in New Jersey.”

“How lovely to see you, Miss Lance. Can I take your bag?”

“It’s alright, it’s just my overnight bag. I’ll just run it upstairs and I’ll be back down.”

Without a word, she darted up the stairs before the Englishman could argue as he always did. As she passed by Bruce’s office, she poked her head inside to let him know she’d arrived safely. The man worried. It was sweet. “Hi, Bruce.”

Three pairs of startled eyes – all blue – blinked at her.

“BC?” Dick asked.

“Who are you?” The unknown blue-eyed-black-haired boy asked.

“Hello Dinah.” Bruce bat-smiled.

She rolled her eyes. “I’m going to put my bag in my room. I‘ll be back in a second.”

Typical Bruce. She huffed as she unpacked her bag before heading back to the office. God forbid he explains anything. She waltzed right in and took the third seat in front of the desk, beside the new kid.

“BC?” Dick asked again. He turned to Bruce. “Is this a thing, B? Since when has this been a thing? I didn’t even know that she knew who you are – who weare! And she’s allowed in Gotham? In our house? She has a room?!”

The younger boy seemed equally confused. He too looked at Bruce. “Who is she?”

Bruce simply smiled. “How was your trip?”

“Short and cold. Somebody didn’t warn me it was snowing.” She looked at him pointedly. She ignored the boys – one curious and one bewildered.

“My apologies. How can I make it up to you?” The man flirted. Right in front of the boys.

However, she saw the glint in his eyes. She played along. “I’m sure you’ll find a way.” She purred. The same tone she’d used to goad Wally into volunteering to spar with her during the Team’s first training session. “A hot bath, a nice massage…” She gave him her rarely used but often practiced bedroom eyes.

“Oh, ew!”

They both laughed at Dick.

“What’s going on?” Asked the other boy.

“Dick,” the boy’s splutter went ignored as Dinah said his name. “We’re just kidding.” Bruce raised an eyebrow at her. “Sort of.”

“Remember the team I told you about, Jason?” So that was the boy’s name. “This is Dinah. She is a fellow mentor and oversees the training of the Team as well as conducting mental health checks after missions or listening to concerns anyone may have.”

“I’m the den mother.” She clarified.

“Aw, BC, you’re more than that!” Dick asked Jason, “You know Black Canary?” When the kid nodded, Dick tilted his head in her direction. The kid’s eyes widened. “She’s badass, right?”

“Boys, language.” Bruce frowned.

Dick and Jason rolled their eyes. Dinah graciously did not.

“Anyway,” she interrupted. Dick, she knew would keep going if nobody stopped him. “You called in a favor, Bruce.”

“I did.” The man nodded.

The silence dragged on. “Are you going to tell me what it is?”

The billionaire buried his face in his hands. “I don’t know what the favor is.”

Oh. She turned to the boys. Both of them looked shocked. Dick, she was certain, had never seen Bruce unsure of himself. And Jason was new to the manor at least. The boy probably didn’t know Bruce or Dick well. “Boys,” she spoke quietly to give the illusion of privacy. “Can you give us a moment?”

She waited until the boys closed the door behind them to face Bruce again. “You’re worrying me, Bruce. You probably just worried Dick as well. Talk to me.” She requested. She couldn’t just order him. He’d shut her out. Talking to Bruce was an exercise in patience. She wasn’t stupid. She knew he let her get away with things nobody else could. He showed her a side of himself that not even Dick was familiar with. But getting information out of the Dark Knight was like… She didn’t know what it was like. She’d never had to do anything like it before. But it was hard.

“I don’t know what to do. I took Jason in and now I don’t know what to do.”

She hummed a sound that her mother had always used when Dinah hadn’t “opened up enough”. It had always infuriated her. She used it when speaking with the Team, also. It infuriated Artemis much like it infuriated Dinah. Artemis had grown up fending for herself. The girl’s parents hadn’t been around and she was indignant – and rightly so – when Paula Nguyen Crock had tried to pull the mother card. Dinah hadn’t tried it again. The girl was strong, and preferred to deal with things on her own. If she needed help then she would ask even if she was more likely to go to Kaldur or Dick. She was a lot like Roy that way. Wally and M’gann had been confused. Wally just said whatever was on his mind; his mother had likely had more trouble getting him tostoptalking. M’gann simply hadn’t had anyone care for her as a mother would. She had grown used to putting up a façade and wasn’t quite sure how to deal with passive-aggressive maternal prying. Kaldur was slightly unsettled by it. He, also, had grown up without a mother but Dinah knew that Queen Mera treated him as family. Dinah knew because Kaldur always straightened and spoke slightly more formally when she hummed at him. Superboy delighted in it. He loved being treated like any other person, which both she and Batman took care to do. Robin, her prying amused.

Apparently it also amused his mentor.

“My mother used to do that, you know.” He huffed out a short laugh.

“Most do.” She conceded. “Why don’t you tell me about Jason?”

Bruce finally lifted his head from his face. “I took him in yesterday. Today. Early this morning.”

After midnight and there hadn’t been any parties. So in the midst of his nightlife. “So he knows you’re Batman.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yes.” Bruce answered anyway. “I parked the batmobile in an alley and when Robin and I got back to it, Jason was there. He’d managed to take two of the tires off of it. He admitted the car had shocked him at first but he’d stabbed a knife through the wiring. Apparently he’s been stealing tires to make ends meet for a while. He’s an orphan. So I took him in.”

Dinah hummed again just to see the twitch at the corner of Bruce’s mouth. “Do you regret it?”

“No. Of course I don’t. Dinah, he’s eleven. He has no one and there are people after him because of his parents.”

“None of that explains why you need me.”

There was obvious hesitation in Bruce’s voice. “I just need you for a little while. With me.”

It was a small thing for most people but she knew those might have been some of the hardest words for Bruce to say. “Alright. I can spare two weeks.” She didn’t wait for him to express his gratitude. She knew he was grateful.

She walked out of the study and saw Dick teaching Jason the “proper” way to swing from the chandelier in the manor’s entrance hall. She peeked her head back inside the office. “Do you usually let Dick swing from the chandelier?” She shrugged when Bruce nodded with his face in his hands again. They’d only drop one story if they fell. Robin could definitely handle that. Jason… What had Bruce said?

Right. Bats don’t do baby steps.

“Boys,” she called. “Alfred said that supper will be ready soon. Finish up, please.”

By the time everyone had washed up and gathered in the dining room, supper was ready.

“Here you are, Miss Lance.”

 Dinah beamed at the man. Alfred’s food was heaven on Earth. “Thank you, Alfred, it looks delicious.” The man bat-smiled at her before continuing on.

Over supper, Bruce asked Dick about school and that day’s English test and gymnastics. Dinah noticed Jason was quiet and watchful, wary even. He wasn’t sure of his place in this house, with this family. He didn’t know what was expected of him, what wasn’t allowed. So he watched.

Until the English test was brought up. He lit up and Dinah could tell that he wanted to join the conversation so badly. All while he all but inhaled two portions of Alfred’s shepherd’s pie.

Dinah ignored the bats for now and focused on Jason. “Do you go to school, Jason?” Pre-teen orphan with his late mother’s debt crushing him? School probably wasn’t high on his list of priorities.

The boy shook his head, shamefaced.

“Can you read?” She pushed further.

The kid huffed and drew his shoulders up like a punk but his eyes were proud and defiant. He could read and he knew that she’d noticed his interest in the mentioned books. He waited to see what she’d do with the information.

He’d just have to keep waiting. “Alfred’s cooking is delicious, isn’t it?”

Jason didn’t come off the defensive but Dick chimed in and Jason relaxed a little when he wasn’t the focus of conversation anymore. “BC, can I ask you a question?”

“Shoot.”

“Are you and Bruce together?” He asked bluntly.

She paused. She wondered if he saw the papers proclaiming her as Bruce’s girlfriend or the the papers with the two of them making front page news as they entered the Christmas party. She contemplated the possibility that Bruce had kept the boy busy or distracted while that news was current. “We are. Does that bother you?”

Dick shrugged. “No. I had a feeling. When you came to Christmas dinner you were acting-“ He waved his fork around supposedly to infer intimacy. “And you have a room?” His eyes flicked between the two adults, glinting with mischief. “Is Bruce in the doghouse?” He leaned in and spoke in a hushed voice, “Is Bruce the side hoe?”

Bruce himself groaned. “Never say that again.”

Dinah rolled her eyes at the man. “No, Dick. The relationship is still new is all.” She smiled at the man she loved before redirecting her focus to the boys. “Now-“

Bruce just watched her talk to the boys with a warm look for the rest of supper.

After supper, Dinah sipped a mug of hazelnut coffee while Bruce finished up some paperwork. She watched the boys from her seat on the sofa as Dick introduced Jason to video games with the game she’d gotten him. While Dick did his homework after that, she spotted Jason glancing longingly at one of the bookshelves in the corner but he didn’t feel comfortable exposing that part of himself to strangers yet.

She ended up going to bed with a lot on her mind.

Gotham City, January 10, 2011

When she came downstairs the next morning she absently noticed that the works of Tennyson that Alfred had left out the night before were missing but thought nothing of it as she rushed out the door for her meeting.

Somehow, she hadn’t expected to see Jason in the manor when she returned from her meeting. She just wanted something sweet to celebrate the meeting going well. There were going to be follow-up meetings, of course, but the negotiations had gone fairly well. So she’d bought a small pecan tart and a cinnamon bun from her favourite bakery. She’d intended to be greedy and eat all the food herself but then she spotted Jason in the receiving room with a book. Alfred’s Tennyson book.

“Jason,” she called. He jumped and dropped the book like it was on fire. “Are you hungry?” She raised the bakery box. He didn’t say anything but he didn’t have to. When Oliver had first taken in Roy, he’d eat anything you put in front of him like he didn’t know when he’d eat again. Which a lot of kids didn’t when they had to fend for themselves. She smiled at the boy. “Come on.”

In the kitchen, they found Alfred. “Good afternoon, Alfred. Would you like to join Jason and I for a little snack?”

She saw the boy’s eyes widen but didn’t comment on it.

“If it would not be an imposition, I would be delighted to join you and young Mister Todd.” The man smiled warmly. She’d gotten along with Alfred from the first time they met. Which was fortunate for her because Alfred ran Wayne Manor.

While she set out plates and divided the treats into three equal shares, Alfred and Jason watched her fondly.

As the three of them sat down to eat, Dinah started up a conversation about literature. “Alfred, have you made any progress on the Tennyson volume you recently bought?”

The twinkle in the butler’s eye betrayed his amusement. She knew she wasn’t subtle. “Regretfully, I have not, Miss Dinah. Master Bruce has kept me quite busy lately. It’s quite unfortunate I must say.”

She wasn’t the biggest fan of Tennyson. She didn’t mind Frost but poetry wasn’t a passion of hers. “Do you have a favourite author, Jason?”

The three of them chatted about literature until Alfred had to leave to pick up Dick from school. At the mention of school, Dinah saw Jason’s wistful look and suggested they both join Alfred for a drive.

She noticed his appreciation for Bruce’s car collection as well as his awe when they arrived at Gotham Academy. When Alfred got out of the car to wait for Dick, Dinah turned to look at the young boy beside her. “Would you like to attend school here, Jason?”

She could tell by the look on his face that he didn’t think that was a possibility for him and that he doubted her sincerity but that didn’t stop him from answering her.

The word fell from his lips like a prayer. “Yes.”