(A/N)- From an AU prompt meme I did on Tumblr—the prompt was "Single Parent/Teacher AU". Just a bit of fun really. :)

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own DC comics.

Meet The Teacher

He had barely even put the van in park before his exuberant ten-year-old was out of her seat, yanking open his driver's side door and tugging insistently at his hand.

"Daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy! Come ooooon, we're already late!" she cried, pulling with all her strength. Which, for a ten-year-old, was considerable.

"Hold on, Mari! Let me turn off the car first," Dick chided her sternly, turning the keys and sliding them out of the ignition.

He scrambled about for a moment for his coffee mug, lost somewhere in the junk on the van floor, then once he'd grabbed it shoved himself out of the car and nudged the door shut behind him with his foot.

"What's got you so excited, anyway?" he asked as Mari dragged him along, pulling him towards the homely tan-bricked building that was the Jump City Spring Creek Elementary school. "This isn't our first parent-teacher conference."

Meetings like these had been a staple of their lives ever since Mari had hit grade school. It was always the same concern with her teachers: Mari was excitable and unruly and had trouble focusing in class. She never misbehaved per se, she was just so full of energy they never knew what to do with her. He always apologized and gave the same excuses—she liked people, she was a big outdoor girl, she was emotionally sensitive—and begged them to just have a little more patience with her. More than one teacher had strained their nerves trying to keep up with her.

So Dick had been pleasantly surprised when almost a full four months of the new school year had passed without incident, and even more disappointed when Mari had finally come home with a note asking for a meeting the next Saturday morning.

And doubly baffled by her apparent nonchalance about this one.

"I know but this time it's with Miss Kory!" she was gushing. She was practically bouncing on her feet as she led the way up the stairs to the glass doors. "She's super nice and I reaaaaaaally like her," she said, giving a hard tug on Dick's arm.

Dick moved ahead, coffee mug clutched in hand, and pushed open the door, his daughter still babbling on as they walked.

"She's really pretty, Daddy," Mari told him. "And she likes to cook, and she's smart, and patient—" She paused to take a breath. "—and she'd make such a good mommy!"

He frowned at that last bit. "Mari, no," he said sternly, bringing them to a stop so he could lean down and put his hands on her shoulders. "We've talked about this. Daddy's not ready for another serious relationship right now," he scolded.

At the girl's slightly crestfallen look, he felt a sliver of guilt, and so cracked a smile and tried to lighten things back up.

"Besides, don't I have to like her too before you decide something like that?"

Her shoulders slouched, and she scuffed the floor with her sneaker. "I guess," she said with a shrug.

Dick's smile widened and he straightened back up, gently ushering his daughter forward. "C'mon. After this we'll get some ice cream, okay?"

Her face brightened.

"Okay!"

-DC-

They stopped briefly in the office for directions, then turned down a left hall until they came to the third door, which Mari opened excitedly.

And Dick nearly dropped his coffee mug.

The redhead at the desk looked up from the papers she was grading, vibrant green eyes lighting up upon seeing them. "Oh! Mr. Grayson!" she exclaimed, rushing to stand up and meet them at the door. "Thank you for coming," she said, smiling.

Dick swallowed. Was it him, or was his collar hot all of a sudden? His heart seemed to be having a malfunction inside his chest, too. Mari was right, she was pretty. Long red hair, tanned skin, those bright, jewel-like eyes…

With some effort, he found his voice. "Miss… uh… Anders," he greeted, putting his sweaty hand in hers and shaking it. He cleared his throat with a cough. "You know my daughter Mari, of course."

"Of course," she nodded. She gestured to a pair of chairs in front of her desk. "Please, sit down."

They seated themselves, Mari squashing her hands under her legs and swinging her feet idly.

"How are things today?" asked Miss Kory Anders, taking her own seat behind the desk.

"Fine, fine," Dick replied, trying to keep the squeak out of his voice. "Um, Miss Anders? Is… Mari in any sort of trouble?"

"What?" The redhead had a look on her face as though she hadn't expected the question. "Oh no, no, not at all," she rushed to assure him. "Mari is a wonderful student, always interested in her subjects, paying attention in class, asking questions. She is really quite a delight."

"Really?" Dick cast an aside glance at the fidgeting ten-year-old, who seemed to have tuned out the conversation entirely, watching the class hamster in his cage.

"Why do you ask?"

Dick scooched forward on his seat. "Usually when teachers call me in to talk about her they want to complain about how she's a handful," he admitted.

Kory's smile turned wry. "Well, she is having a little bit of difficulty in math." Pulling out a folder from her desk, she opened it up and pointed at a column with her pen. "See? Her homework grades have been averaging from the low Bs to high Cs, but her aptitude test was a solid C minus."

Dick nodded sagely, cradling his coffee mug in both hands. "Yeah… math has never been Mari's best subject."

Mari's face soured at that, indicating she wasn't quite as oblivious to conversation as she seemed.

"Well, with your permission, I would like to take a little extra time after class to tutor her," said Kory, putting her papers away. "I can put her though a remedial course. It is a short curriculum, mostly quick exercises and worksheets, but it should bring her average up to an A minus, if she works at it." She dipped her head modestly. "If that is all right with you."

Dick scratched his chin, considering it. Miss Anders was remarkably helpful and dedicated to her job. He was impressed. "What do you think, Mari? You'd have to stay after school a little longer each day."

She pulled her eyes from the hamster cage at once, becoming present to the conversation with a beam. "I don't mind!" she told him. "You can come get me after work and I can help feed Silkie!"

Kory laughed. "Then it is settled?" she asked.

Dick reached over and mussed his daughter's hair. "Yeah. I mean… sounds good to me," he said.

-DC-

For the next two weeks, Dick would drive over to the school after work, knock on the door to Kory's classroom, and retrieve his daughter, who was always eager to show him the work she'd done that day, shoving papers in his hands the minute he walked through the door. He'd linger, make small talk with Kory, get updated on Mari's progress, then take her hand and leave.

He lingered a little longer each time.

Kory was fascinating. She came from a small island micronation in the Mediterranean called Tamaran ("Not to be confused with the tropical primate," she had joked.) and had a lot of interesting stories to tell. Dick found her easy to talk to. He enjoyed her passion for things. He liked her gentle free spirit.

So one evening he bit the bullet and called her up on her cell.

Riiiiiing…. Riiiiing… Click!

"Hello?"

Dick gulped down his nervous energy, pacing the tile floor of the kitchen with the phone pressed to his ear. "Hello, Kory? It's Dick. Dick Grayson, Mari's dad," he added as an afterthought.

He could hear her voice grow perkier and more cheerful.

"Oh! Hello Mr. Grayson! It's so nice to hear from you."

I'll bet it is. For all his faults Dick was nothing if not observant, and he could not fail to notice how Kory had seemed to be just as interested in him as he was in her.

He hoped her interest was of the same quality.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" she asked.

"Yes, actually." His pulse thrummed excitedly, and he pushed down on the butterflies in his stomach. "I was hoping… that is… I kind of wanted to…" He stopped stammering mid-sentence, and took a deep breath. "I know Mari's tutoring will be over soon and… I wanted to ask if… if you would like to meet. To discuss her future." He steadied the sudden spike in his heart rate and willed the words to come out. "Over coffee?" he suggested.

There was silence on the line for a moment.

"Are… are you asking me out on a date, Mr. Grayson?"

"I, um…" Dick stammered, tugging at his tie nervously. "Yes? I guess so?"

He almost smacked himself for the stupid answer. Way to romance her, Dick. That'll sweep her off her feet. "I GUESS I want to ask you out." Stupid.

Kory's voice was hesitant. "That could look… very improper," she pointed out.

"If… if you'd feel more comfortable waiting until her tutoring is done…" He trailed off, letting the offer linger in the air.

For a moment he was worried he'd pushed too far and scared her off. But then—

"Is the upcoming Saturday evening a good time?"

Dick grinned, tension cooling out of him. "Works for me. See you then, Kory. Five-o'-clock. Café on the corner next to the school?"

"Indeed. It is a date, Mr. Grayson!" she enthused.

"Great. Bye, Kory,"

He hung up, turning around to find a pajama-clad Mari listening in from the sidelines with a knowing grin.

"I knew it," she whispered. "You like her, Daddy!"

"You need to be in bed, little monkey," Dick warned playfully, running up with tickle fingers extending and chasing the giggling little girl all the way up the stairs.