I Forgot to Mention

Felt Necessary

Alfred did not appreciate having to reheat his lasagna. Luckily, Bruce and his grandsons were all smart enough not to mention any drop in the quality of tonight's meal. (Still, he silently mourned over the perfection that the dish originally was. Now, it was just glorified leftovers.)

After everyone had politely choked down their food and then dispersed around the manor to rest up before that night's patrol, Alfred watched as Bruce finally let his mask slip.  For all his talk of proper manners, even Alfred couldn't bring himself to scold Bruce as he propped his elbows on the table and sank his face into his hands.  Alfred set a juice box in front of the man, causing Bruce to raise an eyebrow above his fingers.

"So sorry, Master Bruce.  No stiff drinks tonight, I'm afraid."

There would be no instances of drinking and driving the Batmobile where his family was concerned.  Not if Alfred had anything to do with it.  Bruce let out a sigh, before he reluctantly opened the attached bendy straw and poked it into the carton. 

"I take it the introductions did not go as well as you had originally hoped?"

Bruce took one last swig of his juice, before practically slamming the empty carton onto the table.

"It was a fricking nightmare, Alfred."

Alfred listened closely as Bruce went into detail.  He tried not to show his disappointment when hearing about Dick and Jason's fight, or Tim and Damian's fight...or Damian and Jason's fight.

"Oh, Master Jason."  Alfred shook his head.  "Such a mouth on that boy."

"I know," Bruce agreed.  "I still can't believe he called Talia that in front of everyone!"

Alfred could.  Jason has made his feelings on Talia al Ghul very clear multiple times over, and someone insinuating that they were possibly related would definitely trigger an intense reaction.  Though, Alfred couldn't abide by his repeated use of the phrase "crazy psycho bitch".  No wonder Damian felt the need to defend his mother's honor.  At least the display was enough to convince the Justice League that, outside of Damian and Bruce, the other three had no familial ties to Batman in any way.  Biologically speaking, that is.  It's not their fault if the heroes forgot to ask about adoption. 

"I didn't want to tell them anything about Robin, but I knew where it would eventually lead.  I needed to head off any questions. I needed to—"

"Step in front of your son and take the hit."

Bruce looked like he wanted to say something, but instead pushed aside his empty juice box. Alfred understood. No matter how little information that he actually revealed to the Justice League, the fact was that Bruce was still forced to say something. He was forced to dredge up the memories, and any subsequent feelings attached to said memories, even if it was only for a moment. Damian's origins were a sore subject that Alfred knew Bruce hated to revisit.  Not that he ever once blamed Damian for the actions of his mother, nor saw him as anything less than his son.  Bruce just obviously hated being reminded of how exactly the boy came about. 

***
The few times Alfred had the displeasure of serving Talia al Ghul whenever she came to Gotham, he found himself forced to bite his tongue whenever in her presence.  He could tell right away, even before learning of her father's true identity, that woman was nothing but trouble.  Trouble any reasonable parent would want to keep far away from their child.  Unfortunately, Bruce was a young man in love, and Alfred knew that meant that there was nothing he could do to stop him.

Things fizzled out and reignited between the two of them several times throughout the years.  It was nearly impossible to predict what would send Talia packing, or what hoops Bruce would have to jump through in order to successfully bring her back into his arms, only for the cycle to repeat itself again.  Alfred couldn't help but wonder what the final result might possibly be.  He knew deep down that Bruce craved the family dynamic that he had been robbed of as a child.  To one day have a father, a mother, and children to all reside in the manor, just like it had always been for the generations of Waynes before him.  While Talia never seemed to share the same sentiment, Alfred did notice when she started to tighten her hold over Bruce.  She still came and went at she pleased, but her toying of Bruce's love remained.