Before The Truth

Ch 7

When Bruce returned to the Batcave Alfred was waiting for him with a steaming cup of hot chocolate. Bruce couldn't bring himself to drink it though. Hot chocolate had always been the drink that Dick prefered when they got back from patrol.

Bruce sat down heavily in the chair by the Batcomputer, then put his head in his hands.

"Master Bruce, are you alright?" Alfred asked, having noticed the tear stains on the man's face.

Bruce looked at Alfred with sorrow filled eyes. "What have I done Alfred?"

"Excuse me sir? I haven' the slightest idea of what you mean." Alfred replied with concern and confusion evident in his voice.

Bruce didn't reply to this, he simply played the audio recording he had gotten of Clayface's confession.
--

When the recording finished playing Alfred dropped heavily into a spare chair and rested his forehead on his hand. "If only we'd known..." Alfred said, looking up at Bruce afterwards.

"Dick's never going to be able to forgive me..." Bruce said with a hint of despair in his voice.

"Sir, if I may, Master Dick is a very loving and forgiving boy, I'm sure he'll forgive you. It may take some time for him to come to terms with what happened, but I'm sure that he'll eventually see that what happened was a misunderstanding." Alfred said, walking over to put a reassuring hand on Bruce's shoulder. "I know that it might take a while for him to fully forgive you, but the first step is to contact him and apologize."

"I guess you're right." Bruce said with a sigh before picking up his phone. He selected Dick's contact then pressed the call symbol. The phone rang a few times before going to the answering machine.

"Hey, It's Dick. You know what to do. BEEP."

"Dick, this is Bruce... I'm so sorry about everything. I have been a horrible father. Since you are probably confused about what is going on I'll explain it to you. Clayface disguised himself as you and came into our house... He... He broke Alfred's arm and kicked him to the ground. When you came home I was under the impression that it had been you that hurt Alfred. I was too hurt and confused to think, or even ask you about what had happened. I... I can't express how sorry I am to you." Bruce trailed off for a moment before adding, "You're welcome back at the manor if you ever want to come back, I understand if you don't though. I hope that you'll be able to forgive me someday. Bye." Bruce ended the message and looked up to Alfred.

"Nicely done sir. Perhaps Master Dick is out on patrol as Nightwing and will see your message later."

"Maybe..." Bruce said, before dialing another number on his cell phone. He was met with a similar result, except this number had an automated voice announcing the phone number before the beep.

"If I may ask sir, who was that?"

"It was the burner phone that Dick uses as Nightwing." Bruce said, looking slightly concerned. "I don't have a good feeling about this Alfred." Bruce said in a whisper.

"You could call Master Dick's apartment superintendent and ask them if they would be so kind as to deliver your message to him in person." Alfred offered.

"Ya, good idea." Bruce said distractedly.

"I shall dial the number for you sir." Alfred said before proceeding to search for the superintendent's number from the batcomputer. "I have it sir." Alfred said after a moment of silence. Grabbing the cell phone from Bruce's outstretched hand he dialed the number, then pressed the call button before handing the phone back to Bruce.

"Hello. How can I help you?" A cheery sounding woman greeted from the other end of the call.

"Hi, this is Bruce Wayne." Bruce replied. "I was wondering if you could take a message to my son Richard Grayson."