The Family of Bats (DRABBLES)

The Police (Part 3)

When Richard came to work at the Bludhaven Police Department the next day, he was bombarded with questions again.

"So, picking up where we left off. How is Bruce Wayne your father?" the officer asked Dick.

"Well, he's technically my adopted father." Richard blushed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"How'd that happen?" the officer asked bluntly.

"Officer Shalt!" Amy yelled, glaring at the officer asking all the questions.

"It's...fine, Amy." Richard gave a grimace of a smile.

"No, it's not. You don't just ask someone why they're adopted!" Amy growled at Shalt.

"What's going on out here?" Chief Addad asked.

"Just as friendly talk." Shalt said.

"He's asking Richard why he was adopted." Amy frowned deeply.

"If he doesn't want to say, he doesn't have to." Addad said.

"My parents were murdered. In front of me. When I was 8." Richard said, bangs falling in front of his eyes.

Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing and watched the Rookie.

"We were in Gotham. We were in the circus. Trapeze artists. Acrobats. The man was caught eventually." Richard broke out of his memories.

He cleared his throat before picking up a couple of complete files that needed to be stored away.

"Bruce was there. We were preforming that night for Gotham. No one checked the ropes. We should have checked the ropes. He was there though. Bruce Wayne, the richest Gotham had to offer. Yet, the most traumatized himself. His parents were killed when he was around 8 too." Richard started talking, putting the files in the file cabinet.

"So, when they fell to their deaths and the blood splattered all over, their bodies laid broken on the ground, he knew. He knew what it was like. 'Cause he went through the same thing. His parents were shot in front of him, but it was the same feeling. Your whole world was destroyed in that moment. In that one moment you feel like you can do something but also feel like you are hopeless. You just watch 'cause you're 8 and there's nothing you can do. So, Bruce knew. He wanted to help, but the police there wouldn't let him take me without the proper procedures. So, instead, I got sent to an orphanage. At least, that was the plan." Richard closed the drawer to one of the file cabinets.

"Instead though, in Gotham, you have racist social workers that decide that us Gypsies are trash and deserve to be in the Juvenile Detention Center." Richard spit out the words angrily.

"So, you wanted to know how I was adopted? Months after my parents' deaths, I was adopted by Bruce. But not before being put in the JDC and being beat every day. And I haven't even mentioned the people who trialed me before Bruce. They were a hoot! Beaten, Whipped, Abandoned, nearly died several times. Three months of that. Three straight months of that. And I came from a circus. A fun, loving circus. I was sheltered most my life at that point. I was new to America. I didn't even speak English yet. So, I had no idea why I was being hurt. Or who anyone was. I thought that everyone loved each other." Richard gave a short, bitter laugh, "I was wrong."

"So when Bruce came into the JDC that one day and adopted me, I was scared. All the other people before him hurt me or wanted something. He took me, a little circus orphan, to a GIGANTIC Manor filled with breakable, valuable things. He had all sorts of vases and paintings and he had chandeliers and many expensive things. I had never seen anything so extravagant. And it freaked me out more. Here I was, a little boy, traumatized and hurt, in yet another home. I was afraid that Bruce would be like the others. That he'd beat me, starve me, and then throw me out, miles from any house, in a land so strange and new. But he didn't." Richard said, looking out the window.

"Instead, he told Alfred, his butler, to start a bath. He then got clothes he grew out of for me out. He was the first person to show kindness. And I still thought that he'd throw me out. That I wasn't good enough 'cause I didn't understand anything he was saying. At first, I didn't know why he'd take me in. He was rich and could have anything he wanted. So, why take in an orphaned circus boy?" Richard asked.

"It was because he understood. He knew what it was like to have your parents taken away in such a manner. How they were torn away in a moment's notice. And how that pain felt. He understood. And I guess he didn't want me to feel alone? I'm still not sure really. All I know is that he did take me in. And I've been with him ever since." Richard shrugged.

When he was done all the other officers either had tears running down their cheeks or in their eyes, or they had looks of understanding.

"So, that's the backstory of little circus orphan Richard." Dick said.

Shalt took a step forward.

Richard breathed deeply, closing his eyes, waiting for the accusations and the looks.

Instead, Shalt hugged him.

Richard opened his eyes wide, his body stiff.

What?

"I don't know how you smile, laugh, and hug all the damn time kid." Shalt said as he stepped back.

Richard grimaced, "Sometimes it's all you can do. Otherwise you break."

~~~~~~~~~~~

Amy and Richard were out in the patrol car.

Amy was in the driver's seat, but she didn't start the car.

She instead looked at Richard.

And the she reached across and hugged him.

"You don't have to hide from me. You don't have to hide behind the hugs and smiles. I know it hurts, Rookie. But I'm here. Anytime." Amy hugged him tighter before she let him go.

Richard looked at her in shock for a few minutes.

Then, he have a half-smile.

It was a broken, sad, half-smile.

"Thank you, Amy." Richard said.

"Anytime, Richard. I mean it." Amy said.

She then started the car.