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Bruce frowned as he listened to the police scanner, his forearms rested on his knees. There was a hostage situation in Bludhaven. He had seen it on the news in the middle of his work day at Wayne Enterprises. Not long after, Tim had come running in, pale faced and nervous. It seemed that Dick had been a part of the situation and was trying to get the suspects out of the bank.
The two were now hyperfocused on the scanners as the others sent check in messages every so often asking if they had heard anything from Dick yet. So far, they were planning on sending in a group of officers to invade the bank and take down the suspects. The main problem was that they weren’t sure how many suspects nor were they sure what all they had on them or the amount of victims inside of the bank.
Tim was gnawing at the bit to go and intervene. All of Bruce’s children were. The patriarch had to remind them, though, that Bludhaven was Dick’s territory and unless he asked for backup or some kind of assistance then they let him be. And so far, none of them had heard a peep from Dick. So they would each continue to monitor the situation and hope that their family member would be alright.
“Officers Grayson, Sanchez, Roarke, Blankers, and Miyap are in position,” a voice crackled out and Bruce squeezed his hands together tight, heart pounding. Why was Dick doing this? They didn’t know enough about the suspects to know that they would be able to apprehend them without casualties.
“Go,” a different voice ordered through the scanner and Bruce watched the news screen as Dick and other officers forced their way into the bank, guns raised and prepared to shoot if necessary. Bruce watched as flashes of light from gunfire flashed through the building and screams sounded on the screen, Tim turned up the police scanner.
“Shots fired, I repeat shots fired.”
“Suspects apprehended.”
“Shit! Grayson!” A voice shouted and Bruce’s blood ran cold. “We’ve got an officer down! I repeat, an officer down!”
“Get a car arranged,” Bruce said faintly to Tim. “We need to get to Bludhaven as soon as possible,” he said, eyes never leaving the screen as five suspects were brought out one by one. A gurney was quickly wheeled into the bank and moments later the paramedics wheeled out Dick out of the building. To the side Tim was calling Alfred to come and pick them up and make the drive to Bludhaven.
Soon he’d be getting the call from either the hospital or the chief of police to give an update on Dick’s condition or to tell them what happened. He was Dick’s emergency contact, after all. If anyone was going to be alerted it would be him.
The call never came.
Bruce, Tim and Alfred made their way to Bludhaven General Hospital and Bruce was already contemplating the words he would be having with whomever was in charge about how he had not been alerted of Dick’s current status. He couldn’t believe that the Bludhaven PD and hospital were so ill equipped that they couldn’t even call an emergency contact and make them aware of what had happened to his son, his precious boy, his eldest sweetheart whose smile was brighter than the sun.
Yes, he would be having words alright.
The three rushed into the hospital and Bruce stormed towards the front desk and rested his hands on the plastic desk carefully. “I’m here for Richard Grayson, he was a part of the altercation at the Bludhaven Bank,” he said, trying his best to keep his tone even. “I should be his emergency contact, Bruce Wayne,” he said, adding his name just for good measure. Just in case they didn’t know. However doubtful that may be.
They lady typed along the keyboard for a moment before she looked up. “I’m sorry Mister Wayne, but Detective Grayson does not have you listed as his emergency contact nor as someone who can obtain his information. I’m unfortunately unable to share anything with you.”
Now Bruce was going to see red. This had to be a mistake. He was Dick’s father. He had been his son’s emergency contact for as long as he had Dick in his custody. How dare this woman say that he wasn’t, that he wasn’t privy to Dick’s information! His sweet littile boy!
Bruce let out a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying to maintain an aura of calmness. “I need you to call his doctor then, and obtain permission. I am Richard Grayson’s father, I should be listed on his emergency contacts list.”
“I’m sorry sir, but the only name we have associated with Officer Grayson is a Daniel Nightingale and he is already in the room with Mr. Grayson. I can call and let them know that you’re here but I can’t do much more than that, I’m afraid,” the woman said, looking beyond flustered as she grabbed the phone.
“Please do,” Alfred said, shooting the eldest vigilante a pointed look as he ushered Bruce and a shocked Tim away from the information desk.
“Who the hell is Daniel Nightingale?” Tim said, looking beyond stumped. “And why would he be Dick’s contact?”
“I have no idea,” Bruce said, his jaw set as he thought of ways to get around the information desk and find his son without anyone suspecting a thing. He could do it, he really could! He was the Batman!
“All I can find on him is that he’s a reporter for the Bludhaven Gazette and has written several high fantasy novels about ghosts,” Tim said with a frown. Bruce looked down at Tim’s phone to find a scrawny looking man with dark black hair, white streaks scattered throughout, crystal blue eyes and a wide smile. If he weren’t obviously a grown adult, Bruce would think that he was a Bruce Wayne Adoption Bait candidate. Otherwise, though, he was unfamiliar, Bruce had never seen the man before in his life.
“How does he know Master Dick?” Alfred asked with a frown as he glanced over at Tim’s phone.
“I’m not sure,” Tim said with a huff. The three looked up, though, as footsteps echoed in the near empty waiting room and a gangly man stepped through the doorway and gave the three men a sheepish look.
Bruce looked between the picture and the man standing before them and scowled. It was the same person.
“Hi, uh, Dick is still unconcious,” he said, walking towards the three vigilantes. “I didn’t realize he took you off his contact list for emergencies,” Nightingale said, looking clearly distraught.
“Who are you?” Bruce demanded, eyes narrowed.
Nightingale sighed. “He’s fine, by the way, in case you were wondering. Two shots, one in the hip thankfully didn’t hit anything. One in the thigh right above the major artery. Other than that, his kevlar vest took the brunt of it, he’s just very bruised. They knocked him out, though to give him stitches and get some rest but he’s going to be fine.”
“Who are you?” Bruce repeated, despite feeling calmer knowing that his precious boy was going to be fine. He was going to be benched for a few weeks but they would get someone else to patrol Bludhaven in his stead. Bruce would probably be able to get Red Robin or Orphan to take over the area while Dick was out of commission.
Nightingale blushed, rubbing the back of his neck. “This wasn’t how Dick wanted to introduce me,” he mumbled, looking embarrassed. “He’s going to kill me. But I’m Danny Nightingale, his husband.”
“Dick isn’t in a relationship,” Tim blurted out as Bruce stiffened beside him. “He would have told us.”
Danny gave him a weak smile. “No, no he wouldn’t,” he said awkwardly. “Not if he hadn’t been ready, at least.”
“How do we know you’re telling the truth?” Bruce said, his heart aching. How could Dick keep this from him? An entire husband? Bruce’s entire world was falling down around him as they spoke. He couldn’t believe this, how the hell was his son married? How had he not been invited to the wedding? How had Alfred not been invited to the wedding?
Danny blushed even brighter at that as he pulled out his phone and handed it over to Bruce. Bruce clicked the button to unlock it to find Danny and Dick, drunk off their heads with a marriage certificate held up between them and a wedding chapel behind them. “It happened like four months ago? We had been dating for like five months beforehand and well it just happened. We decided to go ahead with it and stick to it. We’ve been married ever since. Dick didn’t want to tell you because he wants a redo, especially since I stole his thunder and apparently proposed to him with a ring pop.”
“Take me to him,” Bruce deadpanned.
“Woah, Big Bat,” Danny said, holding his hands up placatingly. “I can’t do that. He’s only allowed one visitor at a time and it’s me. You’ll just have to wait until he wakes up and they move him out of ICU.”
“I thought you said he was fine,” Tim said with a frown as he inspected the picture before searching on his phone to find the marriage license. Danny pulled his phone back and tucked it into his pocket.
“He is, it’s just as a precaution until he wakes up,” Danny said. “And when he does, I’ll come and let you all know how he’s doing and what his room number is. In the meantime, I have his phone on me and you’re welcome to call me any time you have questions.”
And with that, Danny fled from the room as quickly as possible.
“He called me Big Bat,” Bruce murmured. “Dick wouldn’t have told a man he barely knew all of our secrets, not without telling us first!”
“The marriage license is legit,” Tim said with a sigh. “Can’t believe he got married and never told us.”
“Hn,” Bruce muttered out grumpily.
…
Danny was going to die, he could feel it in his core. Either Dick was going to murder him for spilling the beans to his dad, or Bruce was going to murder him for telling him he couldn’t back to see Dick.
It seemed that his husband wasn’t exaggerating when he said that Bruce was insanely overprotective of Dick and would always see him as his baby boy. It was almost endearing if it hadn’t been so utterly terrifying to be glared down by Batman himself.
He shook his head roughly as he marched down the hall and back to his husband’s hospital room. Enough with that Nightingale, he said to himself. He was the star reporter for the Bludhaven Gazette, hell he had turned down that stupid news place in Metropolis when they offered a position. He was good, he was great and he was not going to let Bruce Waynce scare him!
He had dealt with much scarier than his father in law out in the field and he needed to remind himself of that fact.
He made it to Dick’s room and took a seat at his bedside, holding his husband’s hand in his. “I can’t believe you did this to me, Dick, you scared the half life right out of me,” he murmured, running his thumb along the back of Dick’s hand softly. “And now we’re going to have to deal with your father and it’s all your fault because you still haven’t quit the police force, you big dummy.”
He let out a huff and looked away from his husband. Dick had been talking about quitting since Danny had met him nearly a year before. He had realized that the police life just wasn’t for him and that he’d never be able to get rid of the corruption but he had been struggling to quit, to figure out what he would want to do instead. And Danny had been there to support him all the while but it was starting to worry the halfa. He knew that Dick was Nightwing, had figured out the identities of all the bats almost immediately upon moving to Gotham. It hadn’t been too hard for him to figure out. But then again, he was a journalist, he always knew how to sniff out the truth and the Wayne’s big secret was no different.
Of course, there was also the fact that he had also been a hero once upon a time and he didn’t care what anyone else said, you could always spot another hero a mile away if you knew what you were looking for.
He sighed and felt Dick’s phone vibrate. Already he was getting floods of texts from the Wayne Family.
This was going to be a long day.
…
“I want a divorce,” Danny seethed as soon as Dick opened his eyes. The cop gave his husband a tired smile and squeezed his hand lightly.
“Hello to you too, Dove,” he murmured.
“Your family will not leave me alone. Why didn’t you tell me you took Bruce off of your emergency contact information? He’s driving me up the wall,” Danny whisper shouted, trying to be mindful of his husband’s current state.
“I didn’t think about it,” Dick muttered. “How mad was he when you told him we’re married.”
Danny snorted and ran his fingers through Dick’s hair. “He bluescreened,” he admitted softly. “Definitely wasn’t happy about it, Alfred looked hurt and Tim looked like he thought I brainwashed you.”
Dick chuckled softly and shook his head. “Well they should move me to a general room soon so they can all calm down. Until then, I need you to take care of your poor, injured husband.”
The halfa laughed and pressed a kiss to his husband’s forehead. “Never scare me like this again, Dick Grayson, or else you’re joining me on the ghostly side, understand?”
“Understood,” Dick mumbled, his eyes fluttering closed once more. Danny just sighed and fell back into his seat. Thank god he was Dick’s emergency contact, or else he’d have to have used his ghost powers to sneak in here to get his husband. Unlike Bruce Wayne who seemed to be following the rules and waiting in the waiting room, Danny was not a patient person and he would have absolutely refused to wait and not see his poor husband.