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He wasn’t expecting this.
It’s a call that comes from out of nowhere.
“Tommy asked for you,” the man on the phone says after he introduces himself as Tommy Tevis’s lawyer and Dick never even thinks of telling him no.
“What do I have to do?”
There’s this nervous tension under his skin when he stands in the little loading room at the prison. He taps the pen in his hand on the desk and the woman shoots him a sharp glance. He gives her a nervous, sheepish smile as he stops.
She gives him a bunch of forms to fill out, tells him to sign there and there. “Is he your father?” She asks when he hands her the packet back and he freezes.
There was a time where he wished Tommy was his father, a time where he sat at the table, as Tommy put a hand on his shoulder and Lynette laughed at someone’s joke. It’s right there next to a feeling of guilt that’s been rooted in his chest since he left his apartment this afternoon because he didn’t tell Bruce about this trip. When he opens his mouth to answer, he hears someone call his name.
“Dick!” Sophia calls as she walks up to him. She looks so much different from the sixteen-year-old girl he first met, and so much different from the grief-stricken woman he left trying to hold on to her family’s legacy. With her brown hair long now, she looks a lot like Lynette, and Dick’s breath gets caught in his throat.
She’s grown up. It’s been so long.
“You came,” she says, grasping his arms in her hands. It makes her feel bigger than she is, gives the feeling of a strong hug before it’s gone.
“Tommy wanted me too,”
“Of course he did,” she says with a laugh. “You were like the son he always wanted. I don’t think that ever changed.” A brief flash of guilt that he can’t chase away.
“I wasn’t able to protect him,” she shrugs as she pulls him toward the door.
“My father knew the world he lived in and the sacrifices that it would require. We all know that the law will come for us one day.” She gives him a small smile. “It’s about the people we love and the lives we live before that matter.”
“You’ve gotten wiser.” She tilts her head up to look at him, her eyes crinkling.
“I had a good figure to look up to. Had a lot of time to think.” The metal door opens before them. “C’mon let me introduce you to the family.”
The ‘family’ is a little boy who can’t be older than six, who clings to Sophia’s pant leg. There is no one else.
“His lawyer already got all the papers so it would be just us picking up Dad.” She rubs the boy’s head. “Tony say hi to Uncle Dickie,”
Dick’s heart is in his throat as the child waves at him. Sophia was a child when he first met her and now she had a child of her own. He almost can't believe it.
“Is he?”
“My son,” she looks proud. “He’ll be six in August,”
It’s been so long.
“Your dad must be so proud of you.” and she laughs.
“We stopped talking when I took over the business,” she says and Dick’s heart drops out of his chest. That’s his fault. “He was so furious.” Dick had been too, at the time, saddened. That wasn’t what Tommy had wanted for her. “But it had to be done.” she rubs her son’s hair again. “Only Anthony brought us back together,” she says. “I wanted him to know his grandson and Dad’s stubborn but not that stubborn.” She looks back up at him. She has Tommy’s eyes. “Like you,” A bell rings. “That’s grandpa,” she says to her son. “Come on, Dick.”
The three of them venture past the huge solid steel doors and Dick’s breath freezes in his throat because standing there facing them is Tommy.
Dick breathes a breath of relief at seeing the old man. Tommy’s changed out of the orange prison jumpsuit, wore an ill-fitting black suit. He holds a small bag in his hand that he lets drop to the ground when he sees them. It’s a huge smile, all teeth. It lights up his face.
“My family,” He says, and the words hit Dick like a wrecking ball. The man’s dark eyes snap from Sophia and Anthony to Dick, warm and welcoming, loving. “You came."
“It’s the least I could do,” Dick says, wants to say more, imagined his first words to Tommy, had even written down everything he wanted to say the man that he had never had the courage to say. Tommy just did so much for him. Dick can do this for him, can be there for him.
Tommy moves fast for his age. Hugs his daughter and his grandson, swings the little boy in his arms before he sets him down, and then he’s tugging Dick into his arms. Holds him close as he squeezes him tight. There’s no hesitation in him. He just moves from Sophia and Anthony right to Dick, nothing in his arms that says that he blames Dick for his being arrested, for Lynette, for them losing everything.
“Been a long time,” He says instead when he lets go. He does a once-over of Dick. His eyes just seem to drink in every aspect of him. Dick can’t help but wonder if can he tell there’s a new scar on his neck or if somehow from the hug, he can tell that Dick’s ribs are still sore from patrol. But mostly he just looks happy to see him, is smiling at him so hard that there are wrinkles around his eyes.
“Too long,” Dick says and means it. Tommy’s hand is still on his back as he turns to talk to Sophia, the warmth radiating through Dick. He missed Tommy so much.
“Dick can take you home, right?” Sophia asks, and they tear their attention from each other to look at her. “Me and Anthony gotta get back across the city and while we still have our dinner plans, I didn’t know Dick was coming,”
“I didn’t know you were coming,” Tommy says back to her, and she rolls her eyes, places a kiss on his cheek.
“You should have known I would be here,” she looks at Dick, something like regret in her eyes. “Can you get him home for me? If that works for the both of you,”
“I wouldn’t want to burden him, he’s probably very busy,”
“It’s not a burden,” Dick says so fast, there’s no smoothness in his voice, the words just tumbling out. “Doesn’t bother me at all.” Sophia smiles. “Anything for an old friend,” And Tommy just looks at him as if seeing him for the first time all over again.
“Thank you,” she says, and Dick feels like he should be thanking her for being able to spend time with Tommy again. He would never see that as a burden.
Tommy’s hand doesn’t leave his back, not even as they walk out of the prison together into the light. Sophia on one side of him, Dick on the other, Anthony close by his mother’s feet.
“Never thought I would see the day,” Tommy says, as the small smile on his face grows as the sun hits his skin. Dick can’t look away, doesn’t want to.
The happiness seems to fade as they drive towards Bludhaven, Tommy’s face grows grave as they pass changed streets with clean brick coffees houses, and dark walls and hard lines. It wasn’t the neighborhood that he ran all those years ago, and certainly not the place Dick tried to fight so hard for.
Dick can’t help but notice how small he looks in the seat, there’s a bend to his shoulders that wasn’t there before. He looks old, his wrinkles elevated by the shadows on his face.
“There’s still a few diners left,” He says with a smile, glancing off of the road to meet Tommy’s eyes. “There was a lot of rebuilding after,” and he trails off. Everyone knows about what happened to Bludhaven. “You hungry?”
And Tommy looks back at him, really looks at him as Dick sits at the red light, his eyes are dark and sad (and Dick can’t help but notice the deep bags underneath them), but he looks Dick up and down and licks his lips before he says, “I could eat.” The low tone sends a heat curling up into Dick’s gut.
“Sal’s?” He asks and hopes his voice doesn’t give him away.
Bludhaven could completely vanish overnight and Sal’s Diner would still be there the next day. The vinyl seats shift under him as he sits, and even though it’s not the same (and it will never be the same), Tommy still looks so at home as if it was yesterday. He leans back in his seat as he orders a coffee, looks at Dick, and says, “So I heard you’ve been busy.” Dick rolls his shoulders. That’s one way to put it.
“I’ve been here and there,” He says. Gotham, Bludhaven, New York, and back again. “Doing a little of everything,”
“Modeling?” Tommy asks, and Dick grimaces as he thinks of Cheyenne.
“You saw that?” He asks, surprise in his voice.
“I kept up with you,” Tommy says like it doesn’t hit Dick in his gut, imagined the man sitting in the common room, watching the news, getting newspapers, and searching for his name. “I even saw you and the new boy flipping around Gotham.” Darkness crosses his face. “worried for you. That city eats the best men alive.” They used to say the same about Bludhaven.
“I had a lot of experience,” Dick says with a small smile, thinks of Damian by his side. “And Bruce, well, he needed me,” He starts, thinking of the best way to explain it. He doesn’t have to hide anything from the man. Tommy saw him at his worse, limping around and depressed.
“You don’t have to explain anything to me,” Tommy says. “I know all about boys taking on the legacies of their fathers.” He looks away from Dick, puts his arm over the back of the seat. “Doesn’t mean I have to like it.” Sophia is probably clear in his mind. “I’m just glad you don’t have to do it anymore,” That made two of them. He took a sip of his coffee. “You look better in your colors, anyway.” Dick’s cheeks hurt from smiling.
It’s just so easy to talk to Tommy. He listens to Dick as Dick talks about his family, about Damian and his friends moving around the country. He doesn’t miss the way Tommy’s eyes stay glued to him even as he eats, chimes in when he wants to.
“Make sure you’re sleeping,” When Dick talks about how late his nights got, trying to gloss over the weight on his shoulders. “You make me wonder who’s taking care of you, kid.” Dick winces, hearing the seriousness in Tommy’s tone.
“I’m taking care of me,” He says, shakes his head at Tommy a little, tries to clear the tension from the table. “I balance everything I can.”
Tommy reaches his hand out to touch his on the table. It’s warm, wrinkled. Framed by their cups of coffee, the man graces him with a look as he says, “It never hurts to have a little support, a safety net.” He says and Dick knows, knows that he could ask for help, doesn’t have to bear it all the time. “Back then, when you showed up, all crippled and needing someone, my family would have done anything for you. Lynette cared about you way more than those other boys.” He says, so certain. “What did Sophia say that one time?” So long ago. “This is your home now, and you made that true.” He squeezes Dick’s hand. “Don’t think I didn’t see that statue of you. You sacrificed for us,”
“It wasn’t enough. I couldn’t stop them. I couldn’t protect you.” Dick’s voice is low and rushed and despondent.
“But look at you now,” Tommy says, pride so clear in his voice. “Protecting all those other people, you’re still good, Crutches. Always have been.” He smiles at Dick. “I’m proud to have known you kiddo.” Dick could cry from the feeling that inspires in him, wipes at his face when Tommy lets go to order a refill.
“Plus,” He says. “Now that I’m here, you’ll have someone else who can help.”
“Tommy,”
“Let’s not pretend,” he leans back in the vinyl seat. “I’m out of the game, the fact that they let me out is a miracle," It's a fluke, they typically let these old gangsters die in prison, Dick is thankful that Tommy is out. "I’m old," He says. "got grandkids.” shrugs his shoulders like ‘what can you do,’ “So we’ll have to take care of each other,” He says. “The way a real family should, that’s what my Lynette would want,” He smiles. “What do you say, Richard? You got space for an old man?”
“For you?” Dick says, as easy as breathing. “Always.”