Author's Note: A little out of rounds, but some news came up yesterday which more than deserves the attention. Character ownership goes to DC Comics.
"I always knew this day would come. I always dreaded it, but I knew it would come."
I close the manor's front door as I pass through, begin to walk slowly down the darkened halls. Before too long, I find myself in the sitting room, standing below the portrait of my parents. Inevitably, my thoughts go back to happier, simpler times when we were all together. From there the movie reel in my mind advances, first through my adolescence, then through the adulthood that led to this unavoidable moment.
I had all the time in the world and yet nothing could have ever prepared me.
With a pained sigh, I turn, leaving the room as dark as when I entered. I walk hall after hall, ambling without a real destination in mind until I find myself at his door. Even with the raw truth weighing down my heart, I still knock before entering.
His door swings open without a sound. My eyes sweep the room as I take first one and then another step further inside. The bed is immaculately made, done just as carefully, as lovingly as he would have himself. It's the only thing in the room not as he left it.
Assaulted by sorrow, I close my eyes and turn once more. I step back into the hall, knowing that for the rest of my life, no matter how many times I return here in search of strength and guidance, I will never disturb the memories he left behind.
He may not have lived the life of a king, but these last few years, we made every effort to treat him as one. Of course he fought us every step of the way. The thought brings a smile to my lips for the first time in hours, probably even days.
My next stop is the kitchen. True culinary marvels were once born here on a daily basis. Yet they were the least of the wonders witnessed by this room.
I think back to the breakfasts spent here at the little table set off to the side and of all the moments we shared as family. I remember the countless hours we spent together, his endless patience as he taught me what he could, passing along his knowledge in the best way he knew how.
A pair of hands on my shoulders come as a surprise, but I know whose they are before she presses herself to my back and wraps her arms affectionately, supportively around my chest. I lift a hand, take one of hers in mine where it comes to rest against my black suit jacket. At the same time, she presses her lips to the back of my neck, on the bare skin just below my freshly cut hairline.
"The kids?" I ask, delaying for as long as I can having to address my own emotions.
"Together with Leslie. They're helping each other through. I'd be with them, but...no matter what you say you want, I know you don't want to be alone."
Another smile. "You know, he always said you were the best decision I ever made."
I receive a chuckle in reply. "I might agree, though I might also argue it was listening to him and heeding his advice, but I might be a little biased." She falls silent for a moment, pulling me closer, hugging me tight to her chest. "He was proud of you, Bruce. You know that, don't you?" she practically whispers.
"He was proud of you, too, Diana. He was proud of all of us."
My beloved wife shifts her arms, turns me to face her. I take the sight of her in once more. It's all at once breathtaking and humbling, driving home the gravity marking today's ceremony.
I never thought that I'd one day see Princess Diana of Themyscira—let alone Diana Wayne—in a long black dress, her hair styled into a respectful chignon. It's a depressing sight that harkens back to the end of my childhood. It's something I hoped never to see on Diana with my own eyes.
For a moment, I wish that I'd never brought her into my private life—that she'd never have to suffer this painful loss because of me—but I know Diana too well to think I could ever have spared her this moment of sorrow by keeping us forever at arms' length. If not for me, she still would have come to honor and remember him.
'And why not?' I ask myself, knowing there could be no dispute. He commanded enormous respect, even amongst my circle of colleagues and allies. He deserved every credit he got.
He was polite and proper. He was well-learned and well-traveled, with skills for nearly every situation I could ever throw at him. He was perceptive and intuitive almost to the point of surrealism. His guidance helped me to grow in ways I thought I had closed myself to. His advice was always true.
Over the years I learned that his understanding, compassion, and patience truly knew no bounds. 'How better to measure his greatness than to look upon my life and see what he accomplished, how he salvaged me when I thought there would be nothing more to my life than the cowl and my mission…'
Therein lies the silver lining, if ever there were one. He has known nothing but peace these last few years, freed of his duties not as an invalid, but as a sharp-minded man who we'd finally convinced to put his feet up and relax. I will be forever grateful that he was not taken by the war that I embarked upon alone, the war that has come to involve every member of my family from my parents to my children.
After a long silence, I refocus myself on the blue of Diana's eyes—saddened, certainly, but as bright as always, ready to look forward and determined to forge ahead in honor of the one we've lost. I can find strength for myself in those vibrant orbs. Despite all the loss in my life, from my parents to the events of the last few days, it's a thought that reminds me of all that I've gained on account of my eternal friend, Alfred Pennyworth.
Advisor. Butler. Confidant. Father.
Author's Note: Reviews are welcome and appreciated, but certainly not required. Thank you for reading.
This small story is dedicated in honor of Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., who passed May 2, 2014, and who some of you may have known as Inspector Lewis Erskine on The F.B.I. but who will be best remembered here as the voice of none other than Alfred Pennyworth in Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, The New Batman Adventures, Justice League, Static Shock, and the movies Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero, and Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman.