Bruce Wainright has (onerule) wrote in doorslogs, @ 2012-05-07 14:12:00 |
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Entry tags: | batman |
Who: Luke
What: Narrative.
Where: Various places in Vegas.
When: Today-ish, with mentions of the past few days.
Warnings/Rating: None.
The police came hours after Wren's arrest. Two uniformed officers, two whom he assumed were detectives, and none of it was a surprise.
Luke acted as though it was one, however. He played his part perfectly, the confused citizen opening his door to a pack of law enforcement, grim-faced and somber, and reacting to their news of arrests and paternity with the appropriate amount of bewildered staring. It must have fooled them, because the detectives exchanged glances, and one of the uniformed officers even seemed to soften towards his predicament. He was, to the world at large, a young man with no idea he had a son, or that the mother of his child had been arrested for kidnapping him, and perhaps there was something there that these men sympathized with.
Regardless, the first day was an endless cycle of questioning, and not all of the officers who visited him were sympathetic. Luke simply sat and refused to speak without legal counsel, and so he was released after an agonizing stretch of hours, though he knew this was only the beginning.
The lawyer arrived the next day, and the expression on the officers' faces was priceless; they never would have expected that a security guard could afford such expensive advice. When another lawyer appeared, and the questioning continued, whispers began to spread within the ranks, and by the end of the day word that this man, this Luke Henry, was Thomas Brandon's adopted son had reached nearly every ear in the precinct where he'd been brought. Luke, however, did his best to ignore all of this, and with legal counsel at his side began to answer questions, sticking to the story which had previously been established. No, he'd had no knowledge of Gus' existence. No, he'd played no part in the kidnapping. As much as it killed him to do so, his laywers had advised him against acknowledging ties between himself and Wren, and with no other choice he agreed.
Then came the DNA tests, meant to establish paternity, and more questions. He knew investigations were being conducted into his background, into his current life here, and that was where Thomas' influence would play the largest part. In the midst of it all, Luke remained unwavering, drawing strength from Bruce's influence to remain steady. Like Thomas, Bruce was steel and ice, unflinching, which was exactly what Luke needed to be.
Cycle after cycle passed in this manner, seemingly never-ending, mixed in with sporadic visits to Gotham in order to allow Bruce to do what he did best, until his lawyers finally had good news. They told him that, while no concrete decisions had yet been made, it looked as though the courts would rule in his favor. He had no record, the lawyers said, and he was clean, and paternity almost always trumped all else. The Johnsons were being investigated, with Gus being kept in protective custody in the meantime. When Luke asked if he could see the boy, he'd expected to be denied; he hadn't expected it to actually be made possible.
The visit was monitored, of course, and held in a false-cheery room likely meant to lull children into a false sense of ease while the world fell apart around them. Gus was curled up in a corner, hair mussed and thumb inserted firmly into his mouth; he was scared, they told him, and hadn't stopped crying himself to sleep since Wren had turned herself in. When Luke entered, the boy looked up, eyes rimmed in red, and let out a whimper of recognition, but did not move. They sat like that for a while, in silence, until he forced himself to speak.
"Hey, Gus." Luke kept his voice light and cheery, approaching slowly and opting to leave a healthy amount of distance between them. "You remember me, right?"
The boy nodded, and removed his thumb after a moment of hesitation. "Luke." The amount of hope in his gray-blue eyes, so much like Wren, made his chest ache. "Where's Finch? I want Wren." His lisp made the words come out sounding scared and young, both of which he was, impossibly so.
He sighed, dropping into a crouch after moving just a little bit closer. "Finch is at home, Gus, but he misses you. And Wren... you'll see them soon, okay? I promise. Just not right now." The little boy's eyes welled with tears, and Luke rushed forward, not wanting to give them a chance to begin falling. "Hey, how would you like to come live with me and Finch?" There was a knock at the door, likely a warning, but Luke ignored it.
Gus eyed him warily, almost afraid to allow himself to believe the offer. "You and Finch?" He echoed the words with a childish innocence, and Luke nodded. "Soon. These nice people are going to keep looking after you for a little while longer, but then you can come home with me, if you want."
No one burst into the room and disturbed the two, so while what he was saying might have annoyed those who were watching through the two-sided glass, it wasn't enough for them to interrupt and put a stop to the meeting. Thomas' influence, once again. There was a long silence as Gus seemed to consider this new possibility, during which Luke scarcely dared to breath.
"Okay," he said finally, almost shyly, eyes wide. "Wren will be there too? And you and Finch and the animals?"
It would have been so much easier if Gus hadn't mentioned Wren, but Luke couldn't bear to tell him the truth. "Yeah. All of us," he told him, and Gus inched closer as he spoke, bit by bit, until there was just an inch of space between them. This close, Luke could see that the tears had returned, even though the little boy was making a valiant attempt to hold them back. He wanted to hug him, but he was certain that would be crossing a line, so he was forced to remain still and do nothing.
Gus gave a loud sniff, and lowered his voice to a whisper. "I'm scared," he told him, as though confiding a great and terrible secret, and a few tears finally broke free and rolled down his cheeks.
Oh, god. Luke swallowed heavily and offered a watery smile. "It's okay to be scared. Can I tell you a secret, Gus?" The little boy nodded, and he continued on, lowering his volume to an identical whisper. "You know who Batman is, right?" Gus looked at him before nodding again, swiping at his tears with little fists. "Uh-huh. Like Superman," he said, and Luke laughed. "Yeah, like Superman. They're friends, actually, and you know what... I'm friends with Batman too, and even he gets scared sometimes."
Gus' eyes went even wider. "Does he cry too, like me?"
Luke nodded. "Yeah, he does. See, Gus, even superheroes get scared, and that's okay. You can be as scared as you want, and cry, and miss Wren. You're still a very brave little boy."
He hadn't been expecting his words to do much good, but suddenly Gus lunged forward and wrapped his small arms around Luke's shoulders in a hug, and he was hugging the little boy back, ignoring the shouts and the sound of the door opening and footsteps fast approaching. Then hands were prying them apart, and Gus was wailing, and Luke struggled valiantly against the suited men who pulled him back before forcing himself to give up the fight and backing away willingly. "It's okay, Gus," he called as they led him out, though there was something almost fearful in the way they did; this little boy wasn't just some random child. He was Thomas Brandon's grandson, and like hell would he let them forget it. "Be brave, like I said. I'll see you again soon."
The door was nearly shut between them when Gus' little voice spoke up. "Brave like Batman?"
Luke laughed, even as the door was closed, and he was led out of the building. "Yeah," he said, to no one, because there was no one there. "Brave like Batman."
His laughter lasted until he reached the sidewalk, and then the tears came.