How Could I?

Chapter 8

Bruce walked into the manor exhausted. He and Gordon had been searching the city for the past two hours and they finally decided to give up for the night. Bruce felt absolutely terrible. The last thing Dick said really got to him.

He walked into the kitchen and saw Alfred washing dishes. He went over to the fridge, pulled out a soda, and then leaned up against the counter. "Ruff night?" Alfred asked not looking away from his dishes.

"We got Dick away from Steve."

"We as in you and Master Wallace, correct?"

"Yeah, and he brought Dick down to the police station so we could get Dick away from Steve for good." Alfred just nodded, still not looking away from his dishes. "Well, the more we talked, the more we learned that Dick may never be able to live with us again."

"And?" Alfred asked, knowing there was more.

"And Dick wasn't too happy about that. He stood up, yelled at me, then ran out of the office. Me and Gordon searched hours for him."

"You looked everywhere?"

"Pretty much. The only places we didn't look was the orphanage, the schools..."

"Or here," Alfred interrupted finally turning around. He had just finished with the dishes and was drying his hands.

Bruce's eyes went wide. "He's here?"

"Yes, upstairs in his old room," Alfred said then walked out of the room.

Bruce sat the soda down on the counter and ran upstairs. Alfred was already up there, heading for his room, but stopped in front of Dick's room when he saw Bruce coming. Bruce stopped in front of Alfred and tried to open the door, but Alfred just moved closer to the knob. "Alfred, move."

"I'm sorry, Sir, but no."

"Alfred, he thinks I don't care about him, that I never did. Please, I need to talk to him."

"Master Bruce, you betrayed his trust. I'll be surprised if he ever trusts you again. After his parents died, he felt alone. You took him in and told him that you would always be there for him, no matter what. It's no wonder he thinks you never cared."

Bruce stood there shocked. "You know that's not true. I've cared about him ever since..."

"Ever since you saw his parents fall to their deaths?" Bruce looked away. "He thinks that the only reason you ever took him in is because you felt sorry for him."

"I did feel sorry for him." Alfred narrowed his eyes. "His parents died like mine, unexpectedly, but that's not why I took him in."

"Then why?"

"I took him in because I knew how he was feeling and I thought I could help, and the more time I spent with him, the more I felt like he was my son all along."

"So why would you get rid of that?"

"I made a mistake, I know that, and nobody's letting me forget it, but what Dick yelled at me tonight... I didn't think about what would happen." Bruce sighed and walked away.

"Where are you going?"

"To call Commissioner Gordon and tell him Dick's here. He's not going to like it, but I've still got to tell him." With that he disappeared down the stairs. Alfred just sighed sadly and walked to his room.

Dick slowly opened the door and peeked out. Once he saw no one was in the hall, he slipped out and quietly went down stairs. He wanted to know what Bruce was really going to say to Gordon.

Once he got down the stairs, he walked as quietly as he could to where Bruce was talking on the phone and hid around the corner.

"Jim, he's already asleep. Please, just wait until morning to come pick him up... No, I didn't know he was here until I got home and Alfred told me... Yes, I promise."