My whole life waiting for the right time
To tell you how I feel
Know I try to tell you that I need you.
Here I am without you
Bruce slipped the cowl over his head. 3 a.m.
Normally he'd already been out on patrol by now, but something was holding him back. Something was keeping him here. For the first time in a long time, Bruce felt a sense of danger, and what better to come with danger than a sense of obligation as Bruce thought of the three boys asleep in the rooms above him. There used to be four.
Jason died two months ago tonight, and for the first time since, Bruce has a lead in the case. Every fiber in Batman's being was pulling him out into the streets, but something was keeping Bruce here. He just couldn't figure what that was.
I feel so lost but what can I do?
'Cause I know this love seems real
But I don't know how to feel.
Bruce heard the cave door open. Within seconds, Dick was down in the cave with him.
"What are you doing, Bruce?" he asked sleepily.
"I think the better question is 'what are you doing awake?'" he returned, walking towards the car, trying to muster the courage to get inside and leave.
Dick smiled sheepishly. "I couldn't sleep. I never heard you come upstairs."
Dick focused his eyes to see Bruce in his suit. "Do you plan on coming upstairs sometime tonight?"
Bruce didn't answer. He instead programmed an address into the Batmobile while he waited and hoped that Dick would give up and go back to bed. He really didn't want to talk about it.
"Where are you going, anyway? Isn't it a little late to be going out on nightly patrol?"
Damn it.
We say goodbye in the pouring rain
And I break down as you walk away.
Stay, stay.
'Cause all my life I felt this way
But I could never find the words to say
Stay, stay.
"I'm just looking into something, Dick."
Please let this be the end of it.
"What?" Dick asked, trapping Bruce between the Batmobile and himself.
Shit.
"It's just a lead I got in a case that's been dead a while."
Nice choice of words there, Bruce.
Dick pondered for a moment. "Oh, is it that case from a few nights ago with the factory explosion? We never did find that guy."
"No," Bruce said sharply.
"Well, what is it then? And why the hell can't you tell me?"
Dick moved closer. So close that Bruce could feel his hot breath on his face.
"It's Jason's case, Dick. I have a lead in Jason's case."
Dick's face fell.
"Well, I'm coming with you," Dick attempted.
"No, you're not," Bruce sternly said.
"Why not?"
"Because, Dick," he started but got cut off.
"Because why?" Dick shouted.
"Because I can't lose you too!" Bruce shouted back. The cave went quiet.
Dick took a few steps back.
Alright, everything is alright
Since you came along
And before you
I had nowhere to run to
Nothing to hold on to
I came so close to giving it up.
And I wonder if you know
How it feels to let you go?
"Now you know how I feel every time leave this cave," Dick admitted.
As far as Bruce knew, he and Dick were the only two awake in the house. Even Alfred had given up on Bruce by this time of night.
"Take your cowl off a minute," Dick said. "I want to see your eyes."
Bruce gave a puzzled glare that Dick couldn't see.
"Please," he said.
Bruce did.
You say goodbye in the pouring rain
And I break down as you walk away.
Stay, stay.
'Cause all my life I felt this way
But I could never find the words to say
Stay, stay.
"I love you, old man, and I don't know what I would do if you didn't come home one night," he said.
"Dick, what are you-"
Cut off again.
"Please let me finish."
Bruce nodded.
"You are my father, the only father I've remembered. Every time you leave this cave without me, I stay up waiting to hear your feet in the hallway. I can't sleep when you're not here."
Bruce listened to a storm start to rage outside of the cave walls. He meant to beat this storm before it hit.
"You're so obsessed with Jason's case right now," Dick said quietly. "I feel like you care so much about him that you're willing to get yourself killed."
Bruce put his head down. He knew the truth.
So you change your mind
And say you're mine.
Don't leave tonight
Stay.
"You have a family here, a living one. You have sons that need you. Alfred needs you. I need you," Dick said. "I know you miss him. I do, too. But we can't change what has happened. Be honest with me, Bruce. You don't have a lead in his case. You're going out searching for one."
Bruce sat down at his computer.
"You're right, Dick," Bruce admitted, "I've been so lost in Jason's death lately that I've completely lost sight of what's right in front of me."
Bruce wiped a tear from his eye. It was the first time that Dick had ever seen Bruce cry.
"I thought I'd lost everything when I lost Jason, but the truth is, I still have you boys."
Dick put his hand on Bruce's shoulder.
"You'll always have me," Dick said.
"I pushed you boys away when you needed me most. You were grieving too, but I was too caught up in my own to even see it."
Say goodbye in the pouring rain
And I break down as you walk away.
Stay, stay.
'Cause all my life I felt this way
But I could never find the words to say
Stay, stay.
"It's okay, Bruce," Dick said, "we all have each other. We just worry about you, and we've been worried. We just don't want to lose you."
Bruce smiled at the young boy. Dick was unsure where Bruce stood for the night.
"Please don't go out tonight. Sleep on it. Maybe we could all go out tomorrow."
"No, Dick. I'm not going out tonight," Bruce said as he turned off the computer, closed the Batmobile, and proceeded to walk behind Dick out of the cave.
"I'm needed here."
Stay with me, stay with me,
Stay with me, stay with me,
Stay, stay, stay, stay with me.