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“What is it this time?”
Tam goes through her tablet, looking at their schedule. “You were supposed to have a meeting with the representative of the new company from Central City, but it seems that they were never able to leave their city, multiple attacks from the Flash’s Rogues making it impossible for them to leave, they asked for a reschedule, so for now you have a free hour until your next meeting, which is actually the last one for today”
He opens his mouth, closes it again and finally he asks. “Do I? Really? Are you sure?” He sounds hopeful and a little desperate too, something he would never allow, but this kind of thing (miracle) never happens to him, Tam always manages to find something new for him to do, to sign, to read, anything.
She sighs and smiles at him. “Yup, you are free for the next hour and 20 minutes it takes for your next meeting to arrive”
He drops his head on his desk, Tam doesn’t wince at the sound it makes anymore, too used to his antics. “I’m ready to sleep and never wake up”
“Me too, Tim” she pats his head as she gets up to leave his office, “Me too”
She turns off the lights of his office and leaves, locking the door so no one interrupts him.
He finally sleeps.
“Please? Pretty please?” Dick asks her for what it feels the tenth time.
“As I already said the last two times, no, Mr. Drake is busy with a meeting,” Tam explains, not bothering to stop her tapping on the computer, “now, if you wish I can schedule a meeting for you… March 2nd at 5:30 pm, how does that work for you?”
He stutters. “March? But it’s January?”
She glances from her monitor and chuckles. “Of course, Mr. Drake has a very busy schedule”
“Tam, please, Tim has glass walls, I can see from here that he is sleeping” he points at Tim’s desk.
She finally stops her tapping to look at him. “And what, Mr. Grayson, makes you believe that this is not part of his schedule?” He blinks at her, “I am in charge of it after all, and right now, at 6:36pm his schedule says he has a meeting working towards his debt of sleep, now, will you schedule a meeting or will I have to call security?” she smiles sweetly at him.
Dick stares at her, remembers when she was younger, he can’t say she used to look up to him like Tim did, he could never rival Tiffany Fox in her eyes, but he does remember her being a sweet kid, a little quiet, sure, but still a sweet, cute kid, just like Tim.
Just like Tim.
“I’ll take that meeting” he resigns himself to wait.
She smiles and hands him a business card. “Please expect an email a week before the meeting to confirm your assistance, and if you need to reschedule don’t doubt to call this number or send an email”
“Thanks” Dick smiles at her and turns back to leave, he’ll try again tomorrow, perhaps he’ll stop by at Tim’s apartment, he doesn’t work on Saturdays, right?
There’s a little ping that interrupts Tam’s thoughts, she thought she had convinced Dick that Tim was not accepting any interruptions, she frowns, perhaps she could convince him that Tim is really busy signing some contracts and try to ask him to sign some too? That’s a really quick way to get rid of any of the Wayne’s.
When she looks up she finally notices who came out of the private elevator.
The boy talks as he gets closer to her office. “This is Tamara Fox” they nod at each other, Tam wants to believe this means they have come a long way since the kid was 11 years old, finally creating a relationship of respect between each other, “she will be my Executive Assistant when I become the CEO, we have talked about it, of course, if you decide you want to obtain her position I can ask her to train you, she surely would love to retire early, I’m sure those years under Timothy would make anyone want to leave, it’s a miracle she hasn’t”
Tam decides to ignore everything he said. “Welcome Mr. Wayne, I see you brought an acquaintance” acquaintance, not friend, she won’t make the same mistake she did when he brought Jon Kent.
“Yes, this is Colin Wilkes, he knows of my family night scandals and still stays” the other boy’s eyes widened at Damian’s words.
“I see, well, anyone who knows of the Waynes night’s out and doesn’t care has my respects” she smiles at the boy, her eyes looking for anything incriminating, she can’t let Jon Kent happen again, the kid wears glasses and believes that he is in disguise, that no one will notice that Superboy is sitting next to Damian Wayne, of all people, but as she looks at Colin she can’t find anything, she doesn’t remember any young vigilante or hero with pale skin and red hair, is he in training? Or perhaps he’s a poor stray who found his way with Damian Wayne and couldn’t find a way to leave, everyone knows it has happened before, the kid has a soft spot for strays.
She really hopes he is not a civilian, she doesn’t wish the pain she goes through everyday to someone else, she’s sure her father thinks the same when he looks at her.
“Don’t worry Fox, he likes to go out too”
Oh well, it seems like the kid may be new after all.
The kid smiles shyly at her. “Nice to meet you Ms. Fox”
She doesn’t coo at the kids' manner, too used to them since she started going to galas at 3 years old, but she is still surprised at how Damian manages to find himself surrounded by people that are completely different from him.
“Likewise Mr. Wilkes” she turns to look at Damian, “is there anything I can help you with Mr. Wayne? Do you wish for me to call someone to come get you? Or for me to order something?”
“I’m giving Colin a tour through my company, there’s only my future office left, if you excuse us”
She interrupts him. “I’ll have to apologize, but Mr. Drake is currently busy with a meeting, I’m sure I can look for a day where he takes his meetings out and schedule a few hours for you to come back and have the office for yourselves” she is suddenly glad with her decision on closing the curtains after Dick’s comment of the glass wall, if not, Damian would have notice that no meeting is taking place in that office.
Damian starts. “Nonsense, we will—”
“Oh, it’s okay, we can come back any other day—” Colin interrupts him, and Tam does want to coo this time, the kid is already trying to correct Damian, it reminds her of herself when Tim has run on days with only 20 minutes power naps and coffee and is ready to snap at the obnoxious CEO’s or representatives of other companies and she has to go and try to make them believe that a 19 year old didn’t actually insult them to their faces.
She starts wondering if the kid actually wants her position for when Damian comes along, she would gladly train him.
“No, we are already here, I don’t see a reason of why we can not enter, we know how to behave ourselves”
“Damian, perhaps we could go to the movies? You said we couldn’t because you had to warm up for uh, the night, but if we go now I’m sure we could make it”
Damian opens his mouth only to close it again, Tam can clearly see his debate, she decides to solve it for him.
“I can buy the tickets online and have someone come for you and take you to the movies, is that okay Mr. Wayne?” she asks as she grabs her phone.
Damian tsks. “It’s an adequate alternative Fox, please do so as Colin and I look through the movies options”
“Of course Mr. Wayne” she smiles at the boy and goes back to making a call.
“Tam?” His voice sounds confused.
“Dick” she says.
“Uh, is everything okay? I thought you said Tim was busy”
“Yes, I am calling for another matter, where are you?”
“Oh, I’m in the parking lot of the company, why?”
“Your brother Damian is in my office with his friend Colin Wilkes and I need you to take them to the movies”
She can hear his smile over the phone. “Sure! Order another ticket for me too, I’ll be there in a few minutes”
“Great, I’ll email the tickets to you, thanks”
She hangs up and looks at Damian.
“Now, what movie will it be?”
She hears his steps, light, almost silent, she is sure he knows that she can hear them, after the last time when she almost tased him he has learned not to be quiet around her.
He doesn’t get to say a word, and she doesn’t even glance at him.
“Not today Mr. Wayne”
If she were to look up she would see that his mouth was open, that she interrupted him, but she doesn’t, he quickly closes his mouth.
He nods. “Okay”
He leaves, he is smart, not like the others.
Jason stumbles through the window, fucking Bruce and Tim for all those traps, he fell asleep during their presentation on how to access Wayne Enterprises as a vigilante and now he has two new gashes, he got electrocuted by some cables and his helmet is dripping water, he wonders what he will have to do to make sure Babs doesn’t share this video.
And he is doing all of this because Timbo didn’t send him the files he was supposed to yesterday, so now he has to come to get them, he even made sure to check if the office was occupied (it’s not, the lights are off and Tim is supposed to be at a meeting). He takes off his helmet and proceeds to dodge the ninja, he is here for the files that are on the desk.
Wait.
Back the fuck off, the ninja?
He takes off his gun and points it to one of the two ninjas, who are…shushing him?
“The Master is sleeping!” one finally says.
Jason blinks, the ninja talked?
Suddenly he hears a soft snore behind him.
He glances and finds only a mop of black hair on the desk. “Babybird snores?”
One of the ninja scoffs. “He only snores when he hasn’t slept in a long time”
Jason tries not to ponder on how they know that.
“What are you two doing here?” he hisses instead.
“We are here on behalf of Ra’s Al Ghul, to take care of Master Drake”
Jason blinks again, god he hates this family. “Take care? How are you supposed to do that while he is sleeping?”
“We brought him some beverages and snacks” one says while the other nods. “We have to give Ms. Fox some beverages too since we are thankful that she is contributing on our mission of preserving Master Drake’s health”
Jason stares at them and they stare back.
“TIM—”
The ninjas and Jason turn to look at the newcomers.
Batgirl and Black Bat.
Cass has her hand around Steph’s mouth, probably silencing her after noticing that the kid’s sleeping on the desk. She lets her hand drop after Steph notices what’s going on.
Batgirls whispers. “We brought donuts and milkshakes”
The ninja closer to her whisper backs. “We brought fruits, cookies, rotisserie chicken, ice cream, Master’s favorite pizza, and three six packs of zesti cola”
Cass nods slowly while Steph blinks at the ninjas. “Oh, you brought a little more than us”
Jason whispers at the ninjas. “That’s not a fucking beverage and snacks”
A groan has all of them still and silent.
Jason has his back on Tim, a mistake.
“Is he awake?” He mouths.
One of the ninjas is about to walk closer to check but a second groan stops them.
Cass is suddenly next to Jason. “He is sleeping” she whispers and Jason relaxes, not even noticing how tense he was.
“Anyone want a milkshake? We brought a lot” Cass asks them.
“I do, gimme” Jason says leaning on the desk for now.
“Which flavors do you have?” The ninja next to Batgirl asks.
Bruce takes a deep breath.
He can do this, he only has to stand his ground, this is no different as how he acts as Batman, he can do this.
He approaches Tamara’s office, barely opens his mouth when she holds her index finger up.
“Yes, Mr. Kord, could you tell me which day suits you better?” she asks with a smile, even though the other man, Ted Kord, can’t see it, “don’t worry about that, Mr. Drake’s schedule is never full enough for you,” she stops and blinks, “I assure you, it’s not a problem, now, you say that next Friday is a good day?” she hums, “I’m sure Mr. Drake would love to have you that day, what do you say about extending that meeting enough for brunch? You’ll like that? Good, we’ll be waiting for you at Wayne Enterprises with open arms” she hangs up and turns to glare at him.
He doesn’t flinch, even though her glare rivals Lucius.
“Mr. Wayne, what a surprise, I wasn’t expecting to see you again” she says with a flat voice.
“I was actually here for Timothy” he tries to keep his Brucie voice, but like with Lucius, he is unable to, he wonders, not for the first time, if the Fox have the meta gene.
She raises an eyebrow. “I believe I told you not today, didn’t I? If you really wish to see him you can schedule a meeting, like everyone” she doesn’t wait for his answer, “does March 2nd work for you?”
He blinks. “It’s January”
She glowers at him and proceeds to ignore him. “ I said, does March 2nd work for you? We have two spaces free, and surprise, they are before and after Mr. Drake’s meeting with Mr. Grayson”
One of his eyebrows went up, of course Dick scheduled a meeting. “Please have it after”
She smiles warmly at him and hands him a business card. “Please expect an email a week before the meeting to confirm your assistance, and if you need to reschedule don’t doubt to call this number or send an email”
He blinks at the card. “This is one of my cards” his finger traces where someone clearly taped Tamara’s name on top of his.
She ignores him again. “Now, if there’s nothing I can help you with I’m going to ask you to leave” she opens her mouth, closes it and opens it again to say, “and we in WE pride ourselves on recycling everything we own” she types down on her notebook something.
“Actually, there’s something you can help me with”
She sighs. “Mr. Wayne, as much as I’m loyal to Wayne Enterprises, just like I told Mr. Drake, I’m not going to participate in your acting contests, I don’t care how much it helps you at keeping your straight faces, I’m happy with just taking Mr. Pennyworth classes, thank you very much for the invitation though, please feel free to share what I told you to your other kids”
He stares at her. “You are taking Alfred’s classes?”
She blinks at him. “You didn’t know?”
“You are Alfred’s 6 to 9 am weekends?” Everything suddenly comes clear to him, how his kids were excited about their Acting Contest, of course, there’s new blood, and how he lately found Alfred at the library and sometimes receiving new packages, he probably bought new wigs and costumes.
“Yes? I thought you knew? I drive and we take my car sometimes, surely you noticed that Alfred leaves and his car is still there?”
He didn’t.
“Oh, you didn’t” she hums and nods slowly, “okaaay, this was a good talk, I still have to ask you to leave, you scare the interns” he ignores the last statement and doesn’t say anything about the fact that the only people that are always in this floor are Tim and Tam.
“Wait” she raises an eyebrow, “I came here because I wanted Tim to take the rest of the day off”
She narrows her eyes. “Mr. Drake has a meeting in 20 minutes, he can’t take the rest of the day off”
“I’ll take his meeting, he can leave”
Tam’s eyes widen a little, Alfred is teaching her good, she coughs. “Are you sure what you are saying sir?”
He finally nods and smiles at her. “Yes, and you can leave too, I’m sure I can handle a single meeting”
She mutters some words that he can’t hear from where he is standing, but at the end she leans on her chair and exhales. “Well, that would be great Mr. Wayne, let me accompany you to Tim’s office” he doesn’t say anything about her slip.
“Oh no, don’t worry Tam, I know how to get to my ex office”
She shakes her head. “Please, let me” she has a hand on his back, almost pushing him, when they arrive at Tim’s office he notices the door is locked, she opens it and glances inside. “Oh, okay, oh, hi Mike! Are those mangoes?” she looks back at him and bites her lip, “Good luck, you’ll need it”, she pushes him inside where the lights are off and Tim is sleeping on his desk.
Around him Red Hood is munching on a cookie, Batgirl is eating a donut, Black Bat is sipping on her milkshake and…there are two ninjas eating donuts too?
Jason is the first one to notice him. “Scram!” He hisses.
One of the ninjas hesitates. “Ms. Fox beverages…!”
“I’ll give them to her, leave Mike” Jason tells him.
“Hey B!” Batgirl whispers from where she is jumping out of the window, Black Bat nods at him before following her.
The two ninjas are gone.
“Hey old man, what brings you here?” Jason whispers.
Bruce looks at him, at Tim, then back at him. “Did you knock him down?”
Jason stares at him. “So what if I did? The kid hasn’t slept in a while”
Bruce doesn’t sigh but he really wants to. “At least did you hit him somewhere not visible? You know Tim bruises very easily”
His son scoffs as Bruce gets closer to inspect Tim.
“I didn’t actually hit him, when I got here he was like this already, the ninjas said he was sleeping before they even arrived”
“The ninjas?”
Jason waves his hand. “Nothing to be worried about, they are cool, Batgirl made us a group chat, we are going to play Among Us”
Bruce nods, he ignores what Jason says and files away that he needs to look up why there were ninjas in Tim's office and what’s Among Us.
“Tim, son, wake up” he rubs Tim’s back.
“No” his boy groans, lifting his head only to glare at Bruce.
“Yes Tim, you have to get up, the next meeting is about to arrive in 15 minutes”
“Please kill me” he grabs Bruce’s coat.
Jason snorts. “You are doing great on your own Replacement”
Tim leans on Bruce’s chest. “ Dad, Jason is being mean to me” he whines.
“Jason, stop bothering your brother” Bruce warns him.
“That’s not fair! He knows you’ll listen to him if you call him Dad, the manipulative little—”
“Jason”
“Fuck you, and fuck you too, I’ll take a pack of zesti only for that Timbo”
Tim blinks, backing away from Bruce’s chest. “Zesti?”
“Jason, are you going on patrol today?” Bruce asks, turning around to find Jason sipping on a milkshake and actually carrying a pack of zesti.
“Why?” He asks.
“Could you take Tim to the Manor? I’m staying here to receive his next meeting, but I don’t want him to wait for me, Dick is with Damian, and Alfred is at the Manor, I can call him if you can’t—”
Jason rolls his eyes. “Don’t bother him, I’ll take babybird, I’ve been wanting to drive his car for a while anyway”
“Thanks Jay” he smiles at his son.
Jason scowls. “Yeah, whatever, come here Timbo, time for a nap”
“Another one?” Tim sounds surprised.
“Yep, you lucky weirdo, let’s go” he grabs Tim from Bruce’s arms, “oh, but if you are staying you should give this milkshake to Tam, the rotisserie chicken and the fruits too”
Bruce nods looking at the food laying on Tim’s desk.
“Good luck” Jason leaves with Tim in his arms.
Bruce smiles at them.
He is sitting on the finally clean desk, it has been a few minutes after he gave the food to Tamara and Jason came for the rest.
“Mr. Wayne, your meeting for 7:30 pm is here” she calls him.
“Thanks Tam, please let them in”
“Of course Mr. Wayne”
Bruce goes through the papers Tim had for this meeting, still trying to find who is he having a meeting with, Tim’s handwriting is…unintelligible. He hopes he can get what Tim was trying to accomplish with this meeting or at least convince them to reschedule to another day.
“Hello Timmy—”
Bruce turns around to stare at the other man.
“You’ve got to be kidding me” the man whispers. “I thought your son was the CEO now”
“I thought you were out on a mission” Bruce says.
“I arrived yesterday” Oliver admits.
They stare at each other.
“I’m going to reschedule the meeting” he says, not even bothering to listen for an answer as he leaves.
Bruce sighs, that went well.
His phone vibrates.
Family 🦇
Dick: !!! Look at them
There’s a picture of Damian’s and Colin’s back, the picture is a little blurry and he’s sure it was taken with flash.
Damian: Could you at least try to be quiet Richard? We are at the movies, everyone can hear you giggling like a hyena
Damian: and turn off the flash you imbecile
Cass: Ninjas 🥷 are cool
Steph: They are teaching us different ways to curse in Arabic!!
Cass sent a selfie of Batgirl biting a donut, what appears to be two ninjas and her doing the peace sign.
Jason: look what i made, i’m an architect
There’s a picture of Tim sleeping on the back seats and all the food that Jason had taken is piled on Tim’s back.
He saves the three pictures.
Barbara: guess who I found
There’s a video that lasts 5 minutes, Bruce decides to watch it after he arrives at the Manor.
Bruce: Take care all of you, see you at home
Bruce: 🖤
He turns off his phone which started vibrating non-stop after he did.
For now he is going home.