Can I?

Chapter 3

Alfred stared at the back of Bruce's head. "Sir, you can't!"

Bruce turned to look at the man surprised. Alfred never raised his voice, ever, not even when he got mad. "Alfred, it's for the best."

"How so?" Alfred asked mad, giving Bruce his own version of the batglare.

"If he wasn't living with me, he wouldn't have to worry about being kidnapped or if he was gonna die by the hands of a mad man wanting money. He would also have parents that could be with him all the time and spend time with him. He could have brothers or sisters. Live a life of not worrying about anything but when he's going to hang out with friends and stuff for school." Bruce looked down and his voice got quieter. "A life I can't give him."

Alfred just glared at him. "You know perfectly well that if you did that, everyone would be very angry at you and you would never forgive yourself for betraying him like that."

Bruce looked up at him with wide eyes. "I'm not betraying him. I..."

"You most certainly are!" Alfred interrupted, voice rising again. "You told him that you would always be there for him, and when he was younger and he was afraid you were going to send him back to the orphanage because he did something wrong, you told him that that would never happen!"

"But I wouldn't do it because he did something wrong, I'd do it to give him a better life."

"A better life?" Alfred was so mad, he had to use every ounce of discipline not to get up and smack some sense into Bruce. "You think taking him away from the only people that he's ever known that love him after his parents died is a better life!"

Bruce was actually getting scared. He held up his hands in front of him and backed away. "Now calm down, Alfred."

"I will not calm down!" Alfred's heart monitor was going crazy.

A nurse ran into the room. "Mr. Pennyworth, please, calm down."

Alfred turned to the young lady. "Miss, will you please escort Master Bruce out?"

"Of course," she said nodding then turned toward Bruce. "Sir?"

Bruce just stared at Alfred still shocked then felt the young lady tug on his arm. 'He's kicking me out?' He just allowed the lady to drag him out of the room.

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After their hard work out, the team was just standing around talking, the girls on one side of the room and the boys on the other, that is, until the computer announced the arrival of Batman.

Everybody looked over to the Dark Knight, and Robin ran straight over there. "Is he..." He tried to ask, but couldn't get the rest of the sentence out.

"No, he's alive," Robin sighed, "but he won't be home for another few day."

"At least he will be." Batman just put a hand on Robin's shoulder.

The others soon gathered around the two. "How is Agent A?" Kaldur asked.

"He'll be fine. Robin," Batman replied then looked down at Robin, "we have work to do in Gotham."

Robin just nodded then turned to his friends as Batman walked to the zeta tubes. "See ya, guys." He then ran after Batman, the computer recognizing both of them as they left.

Once they got through the tube, Bruce pulled down his cowl and turned to Dick. "Dick..." He flinched when he saw Dick, with no glasses on, standing there with his arms crossed and a glare on his face. "Dick..."

"Why couldn't I go with you?" Dick asked mad.

Bruce sighed. "I knew it would be a long wait a..."

"So! Who cares if it was a long wait!" Dick yelled, his arms now down at his side with his fists clenched. "He got shot trying to protect me!" A tear rolled down his cheek. "It would've been my fault if he died," he said sadder.

"No, it wouldn't have been!" Bruce said louder than he intended. Dick just looked away and crossed his arms again. Bruce sighed, knelt down, and placed both his hands on Dick's shoulders. "Dick, I'm sorry. I was scared." Dick looked at him, still mad, but also a little confused. "Alfred was dying and you could've gotten shot and killed if I had made the wrong move."

"So you send me off so I can't be near either one of you?" Dick continued smacking away Bruce's arms.

Bruce sighed again. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking."

Dick slowly went from anger to sad. He then barreled in to Bruce's chest, surprising Bruce and causing him to fall on his butt. Dick didn't hold back his tears any longer, and Bruce just wrapped his arms around him, closing his eyes and leaning his own head on Dick's. "I thought I was going to lose someone else I loved," Dick said, words muffled because his face was buried against Bruce's chest.

Bruce opened his eyes, but didn't move. 'How could I be so stupid? How can I send him back? Maybe Alfred is right.' He was seriously going to have to think about sending him back to the orphanage some more thought.

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Bruce sat in the chair just watching as Dick worked on his homework. He couldn't stop arguing with himself over whether or not he should send Dick back or not. He finally sighed, got up, and walked toward the study.

Dick looked up from his homework when he heard Bruce sigh, and just watched as he walked to the study and shut the door.

Bruce sat down at his desk, sat there for a few seconds starring at a picture of him and Dick, and then pulled out a piece of paper.

He split the paper down the middle then labeled one side Reasons to: and the other side Reasons not to:. He started with the reasons to.

Better home environment.
Parents that can spend more time with him.
Don't have to worry about being kidnapped,
hurt, held hostage, or threatened for
money.
Could focus more on school and friends.
Could live a life without constantly being
watched.
Would have a mom and a dad.
Could have brothers and sister to play with.
Wouldn't be alone in a giant house for long
periods of time.
Wouldn't have to worry about never seeing
his dad if he went out at night.
Would have a normal childhood.
Wouldn't have to worry about getting hurt
by criminals while out.

After looking over the list once, he then moved on to the reasons not to.

Would miss him too much.
Everyone would be mad.
He's happy here.

At that, Bruce stopped. He looked away. There were so many reasons to send him away and he was having a hard time thinking up reasons not to send him.

Just as he was about to read over the list again, he heard a knock on the door. "Bruce?"

Bruce hid the piece of paper so Dick wouldn't see it. "Just a sec." he then stood up, walked over to the door, and opened it to find a concerned Dick outside.

"Are you ok?" Dick asked concerned.

Bruce smiled down at him. "Of course. Did you need help?"

Dick looked a little skeptical, but answered anyway. "Yeah, I'm having trouble with some of my history questions."

Bruce nodded and stepped forward causing Dick to take a couple steps back. "Alright, let's see what we can find." He then glanced back at his desk before closing the door and following Dick back to the couch.

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Chapter 3 done. Hope you like it. Leave a comment and as always...

Thanks for reading :D