DickKory Week Day 6 - Vacation
Just a normal day at the Grayson Household.
Mari’s on the floor painting her toenails. Jake’s spread out Legos everywhere, trying to build another whole city. Dick and Kory are both cuddling in the couch watching the news.
Then Dick remembers something he and Kory talked about awhile ago. "Hey buddies! you guys wanna go on vacation?"
"Yes!" Jake drops a lego then runs towards his mom and dad.
"Of course, Papa!" Mar’i grins flashing her missing front teeth..
Dick scoops Jake up into his lap. Kory pats her own. "Come here, Mar’i."
Mar’i puts her nail polish down and climbs up. "So," Kory says, "your dad and I decided to do something different this time."
"You two get to pick where we go this year."
"That’s so cool!" Jake shouts.
Dick’s smiling. "So… you got any place in mind?"
Jake and Mar’i look at each other at the same time. That close sibling thing. Then they both light up.
"Yes! We’ve talked about it before. We wanna go to Mama’s birth planet Tamaran!"
Kory and Dick both freeze. Everyone could hear the fridge humming.
Kory clears her throat. “I’m sorry, my darlings… but we can’t go there.” She glances at Dick. "Dick…"
"Why can’t we?" Mar’i’s voice goes small.
"Yeah, what’s wrong with it, Mama? You always tell us wonderful stories about your planet! The talking horses and the flying dolphins and the ten moons and a hundred suns! I wanna see it!" Jake’s eyes are huge.
Mar’i nods fast. "Yeah! and We’re the heirs of Tamaran! We should see our kingdom!"
Kory gives them a little laugh, before it dies quick. "There was a war," she says. Her voice trying to be steady.
Both Jake and Mar'i go still.
"A long time ago before you were born… before I came to Earth… Tamaran was destroyed."
"Destroyed… like gone or just a messy place now?” Jake asks. He sounds confused and like he’s trying to make the first not true.
Mar’i’s frickles started glowing "Just like what happened to Uncle Clark’s planet?"
Dick looks at them sadly
Kory’s eyes soften. "Yes… just like Krypton."
Mar’i slides off Kory’s lap real slow, like she doesn’t know where she’s supposed to be.
"I’m sorry, Mama…" Jake’s voice cracks and looks down. "We didn’t mean to make you remember it."
Mar’i’s eyes get shiny, tears starting to show up. “We didn’t know…”
And then they’re both crying. Not loud kid crying. The quiet kind that hurts worse, because they’re sad that they made her sad.
Kory grabs them both, pulls them in tight. "Oh no, my sweet ones… no, no. You didn’t do anything wrong," she’s whispering into their hair.
Dick’s right there too, one hand on Jake’s back, the other on Mar’i’s shoulder. "Hey, hey… it’s okay. It’s not Mama’s fault. It’s not your fault either, you hear me? It's The bad guys, okay?"
Kory’s stroking their hair. "Oh, bumgorfs… don’t be sad. You know, sometimes bad things happen… but good things can still come from what’s left."
"Really, Mama?" Mar’i whispers.
"Yes," Kory says. “Even though I lost my home… I found a new one on Earth. I met its most handsome human and married him." She looks at Dick and winks.
Kory looks back at the kids, real soft. "And then we had you." She tickles Mar’i’s side, then Jake’s, and they squirm and let out these little wet giggles through the tears.
"You’re my family," she tells them, holding them close. "My home isn’t a place anymore… it’s right here."
Dick and Kory both wipe at their own eyes and just hold the kids tighter.
"Thank you, Mama… you’re right," Jake mumbles.
"So even though we can’t go to Tamaran," Kory says gently, “it still lives in our hearts… in the stories I tell you but we can’t stay sad about it forever. So where do you want to go instead?"
Both Jake and Mar'i stared at each other again before speaking up again.
Dick blinks. Didn’t expect that.
Jake nods. "Yeah! It’s Papa’s childhood place."
Mar’i looks up at him. "Papa, take us there. If we can’t go to Mama’s planet, maybe we can go to where you grew up as a baby!."
Dick smiled, remembering all the bedtime stories he’d told them about his childhood in Bludhaven, the monkeys, his favorite Elephant Zitka, the trapeze, the games, the way every part of that place smelled popcorn and fireworks. How had he not thought of taking his kids there?
"Of course," he said, and his voice was warm. "I should’ve thought of it sooner. You two are gonna love it there."
"Yes!!!" Jake and Mar'i both yell, and just like that the room feels lighter again.
Then Jake pipes up. "Papa after that, we wanna visit our grandparents' graves."
Like, really quiet. The air in the room feels like it changed again.
Kory’s hand is on his arm immediately. "Dick…"
"Papa?" Jake’s face falls. "Did I say something that made you sad too?"
Dick blinks hard and forces a smile. "No, no,” he says, shaking his head. "You didn’t say anything sad, buddy."
He runs a hand through Jake’s hair and squeezes Mar'i"s shoulder. "I think… that’s a very good thing to want,” he says. "I’d be happy to take you to see Mom and Dad."
It just hits him then how their kids don’t just want to go places. They want to know where they came from. Want to step into those memories.
He looks at Kory over their heads, and they don’t have to say anything. It’s all there. Pride. Love. That quiet, heavy gratitude that Mar’i and Jake are theirs.