Missed call: Alfred Pennyworth

"That's the third one this hour," he thought, "must be important."

Before he had time to dial the number back, another incoming call came through. This one from a number he was unfamiliar with.

He answered.

"Dick Grayson,"

"Dick? Is that you?"

The voice was unfamiliar.

"Who is this?"

"It's Barbara,"

Barbara? It couldn't be. Barbara was supposed to be off living life on her terms. At least, that's what she told Dick she would do. She promised him that she was done with Bruce. That was the only thing that made leaving his life behind alright; the reassurance that she wasn't far behind.

Clearly, that was a lie. One of the many that were coming back to him.

"I thought you were done with this, Barbara," he said.

"I am," she said, "or, I was. It's Bruce, Dick."

"Yeah, I kinda figured. Isn't it always?"

Bruce seemed to be having one crisis after another the best of the last several years. Routine calls from Alfred around the beginning of the winter months were becoming more and more common.

"No, Dick, it's not like that. It's worse."

"What's it like then? Because some of us are trying to live our lives out from under the Wayne thumb."

"I understand you're upset, Dick. Trust me, I wasn't so pleased myself, but this is serious. Bruce, he, he has plans to kill the Joker."

The line was silent on both ends. As if the idea of saying it out loud made the realization much worse.

"Alfred found them on the computer while Bruce was out last night. He called me right after. I'm calling everyone in. We're going to need all the help we can get if we're going to stop him."

Dick looked around at the empty apartment he'd called home for the last 3 months. He knew if he left, if he listened to Barbara, he'd lose everything he spent all this time building. He'd be sucked back in.

"It doesn't matter," Dick said. "If he's already planning, there's nothing we can do. We can't stop him. He's made up his mind."

"Please, Dick. Damian, Tim, and I are here. We need you, too. You're the only one he'll really listen to."

"I can't, Babs. I'm sorry."

He hung up.

Dick wasn't willing to give this life up yet. He fought all those years for Bruce, and he just gave up. Dick couldn't pull him back. In his mind, no one could.

"He hung up," Barbara said, turning back to face Alfred. He was preoccupied dusting Bruce's study. Not that he'd spent any time up here in the last 48 hours.

"I presumed he would," he replied, not looking up from his work. "Master Dick will be a hard one to convince, I'm afraid. He and Master Bruce didn't leave on the best of terms."

"None of us did, Alfred," Barbara shot back. "What makes Dick any different from the rest of us?"

Barbara knew in her heart what separated them, but still, the thought of Dick leaving his family behind in an effort to prove some sort of lesson to Bruce was burning a hole in her chest every second it went on.

"I'm afraid the circumstances behind Master Dick and Master Bruce's coming together were much more traumatic than any of the rest of you. You are the daughter of the police commissioner. Master Damian is his blood son. Master Tim was just a lucky lad. Master Dick suffered the same childhood tragedy as Master Bruce himself. There's a connection there that even I cannot get between, and when that bond was broken, I imagine that it will take a miracle to bring those two back together."

"But they were so good together," Barbara said. "How can something so good turn into something so bad?"

"Oh, believe me, my dear, when Master Bruce and Master Dick were together, they were magic. The relationship the two of them had was incredible. I've never seen Master Bruce that happy. I've also never seen him that torn."

Barbara fiddled with the picture frame sitting on Bruce's desk. It was one of only three in the entire mansion.

It was of Dick and him. No matter how severed a relationship, Bruce never forgot about him, and clearly, Dick never forgot about him either.

"The last time Master Bruce and Master Dick were together, words were said. Words that I'm sure Master Dick would like the chance to take back, but I fear their relationship is too far gone. Master Bruce used to speak about him all the time, used to keep an eye on where he was and what he was doing. I haven't heard him mention Master Dick since that day."

"It's not too late," Barbara said. "It can't be."

She turned from the study and retreated back down to the cave. Alfred watched her go. It was where they all went to find comfort.

"God help them," Alfred thought, "and God help you, Master Bruce. Wherever you are."