Part 2
Dick hesitated calling Marilee, not sure if he had the time to see her
this week since he knew he was committed to working with the Titans. They’d
agreed to help some kids renovate a park and ball field as a PR thing; after the
amount of damage caused by their last go-around with Brother Blood they had some
serious fence-mending to do if they wanted to get back in the public’s good
graces.
But, with any luck, Friday for a quick and easy dinner followed by a movie
should be doable. He’d be home by midnight at the latest and could plead
whatever he wanted to cover himself Saturday and Sunday. Besides, he needed some
time to himself, even if Bruce didn’t see any point in it. In fact he doubted
that this thing with Marilee would really go anywhere; he was too busy, they’d
both be leaving for college in a few months and there were too many things he
couldn’t talk about with her. Unless she had a secret life as Wonder Girl’s
cousin or was yet another survivor from Krypton, they probably didn’t have
nearly as much in common as she seemed to think they did. Somehow the size of
Bruce’s bank account wasn’t going to be enough to make a match from heaven. It
was an old story as far as he was concerned and one that would probably be
repeated over and over again.
All right, maybe she wasn’t just after his—or Bruce’s money, but then what was
the real story? She heard his name somewhere, not too hard to do since he lives
in the area and it wasn’t like Bruce lived under a social rock, and decided to
arrange a hook-up.
The whole thing was a little too pat and his radar was pinging pretty loudly.
This did not, however, mean that he was against having some fun with the girl.
Dick was, after all, human.
“Make sure that you’re home before one; that’s when we’re giving backup for the
GCPD at that drug bust.”
“I’ll be there, don’t worry about it, Bruce.”
“Make sure that you are.”
“Of course, Master Dick. You know that you have permission to use one of the
cars but may I ask you where you’ll be taking it or when I might expect you and
it’s return? If the master needs your assistance by one, you’ll require time to
prepare yourself.”
“I’m picking up Marilee in Ridgefield at six-thirty. We’re having dinner
somewhere then seeing a movie; I should be back by eleven or eleven-thirty.”
“And whom, may I ask, is this ‘Marilee’?”
“I told you about her; she’s the Richard’s daughter. ‘Remember I asked you about
them the other day?”
“The Richards who are occasional guests of the Master? The ones you asked me
about the other day?”
“That’s them. Is there something you’re not telling me? C’mon, Alf—‘fess up
here.”
Alfred regarded his charge. Well, he was a normal young man and had every right
to be attracted to a young lady. No harm done—at least not yet. “Not at all, if
fact since they tend to move in the same circles as the Master, you might find
that you’ve finally found someone in the milieu with whom you have something in
common after all.”
“Yeah, well—you never know. Do you mind if I take the Boxter?”
“Not so long as you use adequate cautions whilst doing so.”
“Uh, Bruce, you okay with this?”
He looked up from the Wall Street Journal. “Yes, fine, Richards, you said? Bob
and Marykate; he’s CFO of a medium to good sized investment firm the crowd over
at Brixton Country Club are so high on. He seems benign.”
“He ever try to get you to invest with him?”
“No more than in passing. I told him that I’m happy with the people I’m using
and he let it drop.”
“What about his wife? What’s she like?”
“Marykate? She didn’t make much impression; smart enough, average pretty, it
looked to me like her dress was a knock-off of a Dior. They both struck me as
basically harmless in a standard social climbing sort of way.” The paper rustled
as he turned a page. “’Just watch yourself, be careful.”
“You mean ‘be careful’ as in don’t let them write down any bank accounts or ‘be
careful’ as in don’t knock up their daughter’?”
“Master Richard! There’s no need for vulgarities.”
“Sorry, Alf. Don’t worry, nothing’s going to happen. It’s just dinner and a
movie.”
* * *
The door was answered by a father looking man when Dick showed up to get his
date, “Hello, I’m Dick Grayson; Marilee is expecting me.”
“Bob Richards, pleased to meet you, come on in for a minute; Mari should be down
in a minute.” They shook hands, conventional social niceties in place as they
walked into the living room. The house was what could only be described as a
McMansion, reasonably tastefully decorated (with a blessed lack of gold gilt or
cherubs) and with a comfortable, homey feel to it. The standard overdone pool
and fake waterfall were visible through the windows and he could see the edge of
a tennis court close-by. Unlike Bruce’s five hundred and seventy-eight acres,
this seemed to be squashed onto a single acre, at most. So, not much lawn to
mow.
They went into a family room connected to the kitchen. The local news was on the
TV and the chicken smelled like it was about done. “May I get you a soda or
something, Dick?”
He leaned against the counter. “No, thanks, I’m good.” He saw a throw pillow on
the couch with ‘Yale Law’ on it. “You’re a lawyer? Marilee said you were CFO.”
“No, I majored in economics. Marykate’s the lawyer in the family—Marilee’s
mother. ‘You interested in the law, Dick?”
“Sort of, not enough to get a degree, but sure. I guess it’s hard to avoid,
right?—the legal system, I mean.”
“’Seems like it sometimes.” ‘Probably because of his parent’s murders and that
big trial then the whole guardianship situation’, thought Bob. “So where are you
two kids planning on going tonight?”
“Dinner somewhere and then catch a movie—Marilee was going to choose.”
Marykate walked into the room with Marilee who was casually, but nicely dressed.
“Dick, it’s nice to meet you again; we’ve been over to Bruce’s for any number of
dinners and things but you’ve usually managed to make yourself scarce for those
things. I enjoyed talking with you at the last one—that cancer fundraiser a
month or so ago.”
“Bruce was happy you could make it.” Dick gave a wan smile, trying to maintain
polite without letting on that he had no memory of them or their conversation at
all and not missing Marilee’s parents exchanging a look. A clock on the mantle
chimed a quarter to seven, thank God. “We’d better get going if we’re going to
eat and make the film.” Bruce was right; they seemed harmless enough, in an
ambitious sort of way.
A couple of minutes later after more of the usual admonitions to drive carefully
and not be too late, the kids were finally in the car. Marilee looked out the
windshield as they pulled onto the main road. “I’m sorry about that but you know
how parents are; always on your case and over-protective.” Dick nodded non-committedly.
“Is Bruce, I mean Mr. Wayne, the same way?”
“In his way, I guess so. He’s pretty much okay, though. Where would you like to
eat?” He really didn’t want to get into the whole ‘what kind of parent is Bruce’
conversation he had a feeling was coming. It always made hi uncomfortable.
“Anywhere is fine with me; you decide. I like just about everything.”
“Japanese?” Dammit—he didn’t care and she said she’d come up with something. He
hoped she wasn’t going to play the helpless, subservient female card again; it
was annoying and clearly not the reality. Besides, she knew this area better
than he did; he almost never had a reason to eat in Ridgefield.
“I love Japanese, perfect—have you tried that new place over by the bakery?”
No, he hadn’t, but it didn’t matter. Fifteen minutes later they were seated in a
booth, orders given and waiting for their food as the waitress put their soda’s
in front of them with Dick wondering if she even liked Japanese food; it was
hard to tell.
“So, how much of a set up was us meeting at the game?”
She gave him an innocent look. “What do you mean?” She sipped her diet soda,
while looking at him, clearly worried. “God, you make it sound like I stalked
you or something. Honestly, I just wanted to meet you. Are you mad?”
He smiled and shook his head; he was sort of flattered. Suspicious, but
semi-flattered. The waitress showed up, taking their orders for shrimp tempura
and chicken teriyaki then left, leaving them alone again. “So what did you find
out?”
“Excuse me?”
“When you googled me—what else did you learn? I assume you were on the computer
again after we met, right?” He didn’t tell her that he’d done the same thing to
her after he’d gotten home, had run a search on her and found out that she was
on her school’s honor roll, played varsity tennis in season in addition to being
a cheerleader. No reason to completely tip his hand quite yet and it wasn’t like
he was about to walk into this cold. His Robin training would make that a long
shot, even for a casual date and that realization sort of made him feel bad.
This wasn’t any big deal, just an evening out and here he was figuring the
angles and wondering what Marilee’s real agenda was. Lighten up, Grayson.
“Oh.” She stopped again, seeming unsure about what to say and embarrassed.
He thought he knew what that was about, “Okay, I’ll start. You found out that I
used to be a trapeze flyer with my parents, they were killed in a fall that was
arranged by organized crime in a shakedown attempt against the circus we worked
for. You probably read about the trial, found out that was when Bruce took me in
and that I’ve been with him since then—you also probably read the bullshit
rumors about us; that about sum it up?”
Marilee nodded with a shy smile and filled in a few blanks. “I also found out
that you’re an honor student because the list is published in the local paper
every marking period and that Mr. Wayne has issued a complete news blackout on
you—even though things still get out. He refuses to let you be interviewed or
photographed by the press if he can help it and the general assumption is that
you’ll end up running his company eventually.” She looked to see if he was mad
or anything. “But that picture of you coming out of the water in Tahiti last
winter was pretty hot.” She blushed at his expression and thought it was cute
that he seemed embarrassed. “That about it?”
Dick gave her an enigmatic smile. “That’s it; me in a nutshell.” The waitress
brought their food, causing another brief pause in the conversation. They both
picked up their chopsticks; the food looked and smelled good. “And I had nothing
to do with that picture. Some other tourist took it and then sold it when some
pap offered money for it. Bruce was really pissed when he found out.”
“No more trips to Tahiti?”
“Not to that hotel, anyway.”
They got through the meal without any major embarrassments or faux pas then
headed out to the movie—the conversation easy and relaxed; the only thing he
really wondered about was whether she had designs on him because of Bruce’s
money (always a good bet), because she liked his looks. Maybe she liked the car.
Perhaps her parents were orchestrating this for whatever reason of society
connections or possible jobs. There was a chance that she actually liked him and
wanted to really get to know him though he considered this a long shot at best.
Well, whatever. She was pretty, seemed to have a decent enough brain and was
good company. So far the evening was painless and it wasn’t like he was about to
fall for anything. ‘Might as well take it as it came and not sweat the small
stuff.
The movie, Kate Hudson’s latest romantic comedy, was forgettable but they held
hands through most of it and all the way out to the parking lot. It was still
only ten and so, rather than driving her straight home, Dick turned right at the
intersection and drove over to Gotham Conservatory. To Marilee’s surprise, the
lights were on inside, making the Victorian building glow like a diamond against
the black of the harbour, large palm trees visible inside arching up close to
the ceiling.
“Dick?”
“They’re setting up the flower show, it’s set to open tomorrow. I thought you
might like a private tour—unless you’d rather go home?”
“But—how did you…?”
He shrugged, unwilling to come out and tell her that Bruce was the major patron
of the place in memory of his mother. Evidently Martha Wayne loved gardening,
flowers and brought him here a lot when he was a little kid.
They went in, a few of the workers greeting Dick as they strolled the
greenhouses, surrounded by countless orchids, roses, arrangements, topiaries and
garden displays. The kids stayed out of the worker’s way and found an out of the
way bench by a finished small waterfall and koi pond set-up. Finding a discarded
stargazer lily on the ground, he presented it to Marilee with a small flourish,
making her blush.
“So, are you busy next weekend?”
“I have to be at the game on Saturday to cheer—would you like to come?”
“If you’d like to do something after, sure.”
“Dick? How come you don’t have a girlfriend?” He gave her a look like ‘why would
he have a girlfriend?’
“Excuse me?”
“I mean, you’re really good looking—don’t look like that, you know you are.
You’re a really sweet guy and you’re rich—or Bruce is, anyway. You should have
girls falling all over you.”
He shrugged. “I have friends who are girls, good friends but I guess nothing
ever really clicked or they already were going with someone. It’s not that big a
deal. Besides, I don’t want to see someone just because I don’t have anything
better to do. I’d like to be with someone I actually want to spend time with.”
She nodded, their fingers laced together and the lush smell of the loam and
heavy scents of the flowers around them. It was a quiet moment, broken when she
quietly laughed. “Sure, but don’t you ever get, you know…don’t you ever get
horny?”
“Well, we haven’t had dessert and I’m easy…”
“That’s not what I hear.”
He glanced at his watch and made motions to move. “It’s after eleven.”
“’You have a curfew?” Bruce Wayne, the playboy of the Western world, held
him to a curfew? No wonder Dick didn’t have a girlfriend if he was on this short
a leash.
“’Not really, but I have a lot of stuff to do tomorrow, and if I’m going to get
to your game then I have to get some sleep.” And if Robin were late for backing
up Batman, then Dick wouldn’t be going on any dates in the foreseeable future.
Back at the Richard’s house, Dick walked Marilee to the door after a few minutes
of a healthy goodnight kissing session then walked her to the door, Alfred’s
manners firmly in place.
“I’ll see you at the game.”
Inside, the Boxter’s motor fading down the street, Marilee’s mother looked in
her daughter’s room to check how the evening went. “Well? ‘Good time?”
“Um-hmm. He’s nice, I like him.”
“Do you think you’ll see him again?”
“He’s coming to the game tomorrow then we’re going to do something after.”
“Then you need some sleep, sweetie. ‘Night.”
“’G’night, mom.”
In the master bedroom Marykate looked at her husband, smiled and raised one
eyebrow. So far, so good.