Bruce was in a tight spot. He had to go to Hong Kong for a meeting, and would be gone for a week. While he knew the butler could handle it, he didn't want Alfred to be the sole caretaker of an eight-year-old Richard. So, against his better judgement, he hired a babysitter.

Naturally, he looked into the candidate (a nice young lady by the name of Jessica) extensively. He asked for references from multiple sources, and personally called the parents of those she had looked after in the past. He wanted to know that she would do a good job, and that she wasn't about to hold his son for ransom or something crazy like that (who knew what could happen?). One of the things that led him to her was her training in martial arts. She wasn't amazing, but in case of emergency (people do stupid things to millionaires), he wanted her to be able to look after herself.

So, with much reluctance and an emotional farewell, Bruce Wayne left his ward under the care of Jessica Barnes.

"Are you gonna be here all week?" an excited Dick asked.

"Just during the daytime. I leave after you go to bed," she explained.

"Oh. Can you be my friend?"

Having been faced with this question countless times, she easily answered, "Of course!"

She had no idea what she was getting herself into.

"Yay! I have a FRIEND! Alfie! Did you meet my friend? She's really nice!"

"Yes, I did, master Dick. Indeed she is," he responded from the kitchen, where he was preparing lunch.

"Hey, um, whatsyourname?"

"Jessica. But you can call me Jess, if you--"

"Miss Jessie, do you wanna play a game?"

"What game?"

"HIDE AND SEEK! I'm really good at it! Last time, it took forever for them to find me!"

Jessica assumed, correctly, that this was an exaggeration. However, her assumption that they purposefully didn't find him was off by a long shot. "All right, let's play that!"

She counted to ten. Normally, when she babysat, she would count to twenty or thirty. However, the subject of her job insisted she count to JUST TEN, saying it was more of a challenge. She didn't know if he even knew what that meant. Just to be safe, she counted slowly.

She turned around and started to look. Not under the couch, not under the table. So he was smarter than some of the kids she'd looked after before.

She went to the kitchen, checking in the usual spots-- behind plants and curtains, under different objects of obscene value-- as she went.

"Does he have a spot where he usually hides?" she asked Alfred.

"I do believe you are cheating, miss Jessica," he told her with a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"All right. Just call us when lunch is ready."

Half an hour later, lunch was ready. And Dick was nowhere to be found.

"I still haven't found him!" She sat down at the table wearily. "Where could he be?"

Alfred set a bowl of soup in front of her. "He does have his ways of hiding, doesn't he." It wasn't a question.

She started to take a bite of soup, but decided against it. "I'm going to go look and see if telling him lunch is ready will work. Usually it does." Her previously confident tone had disappeared.

Alfred set another place at the table and started to clean up after himself as she left the kitchen.

Another five minutes passed before she came back, defeated. "I just don't get how a kid can be this quiet for so long." She noticed the boy's bowl was missing. "Why did you clear his place? He didn't eat yet."

Alfred chuckled. "I do believe that he's gotten his lunch to go."

"Did you see him?" she asked desperately.

"No, I'm afraid not. But if you hurry, you may be able to hear him eating it."

xXx

Dick was having a blast. The fun new babysitter was his friend, and she didn't know where to look.

The vents.

They worked like a charm.

When he'd heard her calling for lunchtime, he had almost gotten out and shown himself.

But then he realized how much fun it would be to eat in the vents. As he did, chuckling quietly at his genius, he felt like a rebel and a runaway, two things he didn't get to experience often. And sneaking into the kitchen had been a cinch.

So he sat in the vents, finishing his lunch (Alfred made the best soup) and reveling in his cleverness.

xXx

Seven and a half hours.

That was how long he had been missing.

Jessica was running out of patience.

And she was starting to get worried.

"How can a kid stay hiding this long?" she wondered aloud. It was now eight o'clock, and it was almost his bedtime.

What would happen if she couldn't find him? Would she be up all night looking for him? She didn't want to have to do that.

She called him for what felt like the thousandth time. "Dick! It's time to get ready for bed!"

To her surprise, she actually heard something. She knelt down next to a vent as the noise repeated itself.

A giggle.

She removed the cover and found herself face-to-face with the young ward, holding an empty soup bowl.

He crawled out. "Yay, you found me! Your turn, miss Jessie! Don't go easy on me, I'm good at seeking, too!"

"No, it's time to get ready for bed. Sorry, maybe tomorrow." She had absolutely no intention of playing it tomorrow, or ever again. Not with him. "Why don't you show me your room?"