Chapter Text
Ever since the day he arrived on the Wayne manor doorstep, Percy Jackson had been a mystery. He always seemed to bring more questions than answers which led to a lot of assumption. His very appearance had triggered the first. Dick had been holding a handstand, and Alfred had been elbow deep in a bowl of dough for fresh bread. So, when there was someone ringing the doorbell, Jason had unfolded from the couch, setting his book aside. He’d only just joined the family, and was still figuring out his place.
Which is where the assumption came in and mucked up their first interaction.
“Yeah?” Jason said to whoever was at the door. Manners were still a new thing for him.
“I’m looking for Bruce Wayne.” The voice was feminine, soft and sure, but still a bit timid.
Jason snorted. “Do you have any idea how many tramps have tried to pull this stunt, lady? And I mean just in the six months I’ve been here. He’s going to do a DNA test and when it proves you’re lying, he’ll kick you to the curb like all the rest.”
He wasn’t wrong. Since Bruce adopted a second kid, women had been trying to pass off their kids as his, to try to get a share of the Wayne fortune, as if he would take in any stray off the street. Dick knew Bruce had a reason for taking in Jason, just like he’d had for Dick himself. Not that he shared those reasons.
“I’m not… It’s not like that.” She sounded so insistent. “He said if I ever needed to I could come here. Please.”
“Jason, who’s at the door?” Bruce sounded like he was coming out of his room and descending the stairs.
“Another tramp.”
“Don’t be rude. You have no way of knowing if she’s telling the truth unless you invite her in.”
Dick let his legs fall and joined them in the front hall. His gaze fell on the mother and child still on the porch, blocked from Bruce’s view by Jason and the door. The boy was terrified, eyes wide, arm wrapped around his mother’s thigh, her body angling so she was between him and the sharp voices.
“Bruce?” Her voice cut through the argument, and Bruce froze, eyes wide.
He moved toward the door, only to have Jason try to stop him.
“Jason,” Bruce said softly, “enough.” He pulled the door open further, and his gaze swept over the pair, analyzing, taking stock of all the details. “Sal.” He crouched down in front of the boy. “Hello, Percy, I don’t think you’ll remember me. You were much smaller when we met.”
“It’s okay,” the woman, Sal, told the boy, Percy. “He’s family.”
Dick heard Jason grumble, watching the interaction with a scowl and crossed arms.
“I’m sorry if Jason and I scared you. He’s new to the family, so we’re still working things out. Do you want to come inside?”
Sal picked Percy up with an almost-masked wince. A short while later, Percy was sitting on the counter in the kitchen, helping Alfred make cookies, insisting they had to be blue to taste good.
Dick and Jason ghosted after Bruce and Sal as he led her to his office. He had Sal sit on the couch and knelt in front of her. He reached for the front of her cardigan. “Let me see.”
Jason slid Dick a sideways glance of triumph, like he was proven right that this woman was trying to get into their dad’s pants.
“Bruce, I—“
“I know the signs, Sally. Percy was terrified of Jason and my yelling. I saw you wince. The only reason you left Percy is because you know Alfred won’t let anything happen to him. Let me see.”
Sally steeled herself and nodded.
They watched as he tugged the scarf from under her cardigan and slowly unwound it from her neck. And Dick froze. There were bruises in the shape of a hand on her neck and collarbone. And Bruce’s face was Batman-blank. He slowly edged her cardigan down her arms to reveal more bruises.
“Fuck, Sal,” Bruce hissed, “why are you with him?”
“I have to protect Percy.”
“And this abusive asshole is the way to do it? He’s putting his hands on you! You think that’s protecting your son?”
Your son, not our son. So, Bruce knew the kid wasn’t his. So, why did he care?
“It’s complicated.”
“What are you mixed up in?”
“It’s not like that.”
“Is it money? Protection? Political sway? What can I do to get you away from him?”
“Bruce, I love you, but you can’t help me with this.”
“Please, Sal, I fucked up when you needed me. I wasn’t here, and you were alone dealing with too much. If I had gotten my head out of my ass sooner, you wouldn’t be married to this asshole, and you might not be raising some deadbeat’s kid.”
“Bruce Wayne, you take that back. Perseus is the best thing to happen to me. I do not regret having him or my relationship with his father, no matter how it ended. Would you take back anything that led to you taking in your boys?”
Bruce sighed. “Take it back, no. Do I wish I had never needed to take in Dick, yes. I wish I could go back in time and do something more than take him in. I wish I could change what happened. But do I regret when happened after, never. And Jason, as mouthy as he is and how much he pushes my buttons… they make me better, Sal.”
“I would do anything for my son. And right now, it’s putting up with Gabe.” How had Dick missed the steel in her tone?
Bruce deflated. “I know you won’t go to the hospital or report this, even though I think you should do both. So, will you let me take pictures?”
“Bruce.”
“I want documentation, so if…” if something happens was the rest of the sentence, Dick knew, but Bruce wouldn’t put even the words out into the universe. “When you decide to leave him, we have proof.”
“Okay.”
“And I want you to come here any chance you have to get away. Weekends, holidays.”
“I take Percy to Montauk over long weekends, when I can get away from work. I don’t know how often—“
“I’ll cover whatever work you’re missing. I’ll put whatever you need into your account.”
“You can’t!” Sally said, sharply. “If Gabe finds out—“ She cut herself off.
“Your paycheck goes straight into his account?”
“Yeah.”
“Where do you work?”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to buy it. Then you’ll never be without a job. I can keep someone I trust close to you in case you need help. And you can still get paid even when you’re visiting us.”
Sally wrapped her arms around him.
“And the second you’re done with that asshole, I’ll have you out of that place within the hour.” He kissed her temple. “Talking about changing things, outside the obvious, I’d make your uncle refuse to raise you.”
“I wouldn’t have had anyone.”
Bruce pulled away with a laugh. “Like Alfred would have let that happen. In another world where only one of us lost our parents, you know our mothers would have taken us in. We would have been raised as siblings, and you would have been the belle of every ball.”
“Or you would have been a damn terror and gotten kicked out of every school.”
“I did that anyways.” His humor faded, and he took her hands. “You always felt more like a sister than a cousin, even if we didn’t see each other as often as I wish we could have. So, let me take care of you.”
“I’ll let you take your picture, and it’s not like I can stop you from buying my job. But let me protect Percy the way I see fit.”
Bruce frowned, but nodded. “I don’t like it.”
Sally kissed his cheek. “You don’t have to, but I need you to trust me.”