Chapter 21
February 18th
1630 hrs
Alfred Pennyworth watched as Dick Grayson and JT Bennet walked into the guest room that Roy Harper was recovering in. Master Grayson was dressed in his police uniform, a ring of hickey's peaking over the top of his shirt collar. His hair was slicked back in an effort to keep his inappropriate haircut from being to easily noticed by his co-workers. He really needed to get it cut before they docked his pay for it.
JT was wearing haggard work jeans, mud crusted steel toes and a thick gray hoodie that had dried cement splattered all over it. His black and white hair looked oily and dirty. Definitely a productive day on the job site.
He brought in a tray of medicine for Roy as well as a sandwich and some juice. The boy needed to eat, but he'd been stubborn and Alfred couldn't help but worry that the boy would slip. He prayed for the man because there wasn't much else he could personally do for him. Not beyond what he'd already done.
"We gotta talk him into it." Tim frowned. "You heard him at dinner last night, he absolutely refuses to have it removed."
"What's going on?" JT asked as he and Dick settled into a couple of seats beside Tim and Barbara.
"Bruce just found out he has a tumor." Dick sighed sadly and Alfred watched as JT immediately pulled the smaller man into his arms and kissed his temple; it was a little awkward over the arms of their chairs, but Dick didn't seem to mind. The boy had always craved physical affection. "It's not life-threatening, not yet."
"And it wasn't just found." Tim glared pointedly at himself. "He and Alfred were keeping it a secret for who knows how long."
"Hey," Barbara shook her head. "Bruce made his decision, you can't put that on Alfred."
"So what's the big guy afraid of?" JT tilted his head and Alfred found himself paying very close attention to the young man as he set out the tray over Roy's lap. "I mean is the surgery dangerous? Is it terminal?"
Alfred didn't leave as he listened to Tim go over the specifics with JT. He knew he was being a bit obvious in his study of Mr. Bennet, but he didn't get a lot of opportunities to observe him. So he took full advantage as he watched something in his eyes change the more Tim spoke of the surgery. It started with concern, then it faded into something closer to fear, then irritation and finally something that looked like stubborn determination.
JT had called him 'Big Guy' and more and more he knew JT Bennet had to be The Red Hood. The mannerisms, the snark, the cursing was almost a perfect match. The body movements were slightly off, but it was only enough for him to believe he was faking it. True, all of this could be shrugged off, especially after Bruce had already had Ms. Gordon research him and his company. That's why he hadn't brought it up to anyone yet.
Mr. Bennet also didn't seem at all surprised by the news of the tumor and somehow The Red Hood had known. That was obvious by his demanding that Batman take care of himself when he sent him home in the batmobile. He hid the lack of shock by immediately offering comfort to Dick, but Alfred had noticed because he was looking.
"A fucking surgery. That's it?" JT glowered. "He needs one fucking surgery, a bit of rest and then he can go back to ruling the world as the billionaire philanthropist that he is? Why is he saying no?"
"Pride." Tim insisted.
"Vanity." Alfred objected.
"Same dif." Roy shrugged.
"Vanity and pride are different things though they are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us." JT lectured.
He nearly gasped aloud, but schooled his expression just in time. His heart raced as he thought of the possibilities of what he'd just discovered, but was it truly a discovery? Alfred had educated Jason at home. Public school had proven to be a terrible idea after only a month and half of attendance, not if they wanted to get him caught up and properly educated.
One of Jason's favorite books was Pride and Prejudice and once he'd read it, the boy had quoted it constantly. No one had ever seemed to noticed just as they hadn't moments ago. Roy rolled his eyes, unaware that it was a quote from the book rather than a lecture. Dick and Tim simply nodded their agreement and Barbara was too focused on Roy to have caught on.
It was such an obscure quote, one that passing readers would never have recognized, but Alfred remembered when Jason had read the passage. The boy had been struck by the notion and asked him if it were true. When he confirmed it, the young man had insisted that he would be a proud man, but never a vain one.
"Well I think Bruce definitely practices both." Dick leaned closer to JT and sighed. "We have to figure out how to get him to do the surgery."
"I'll talk to him." Everyone stared at JT the moment he spoke. Could this be the confirmation he needed that he was more than just The Red Hood? "I will. I think I can reason with him. Appeal to his vanity while striking at his pride in a way you're all too close to have the stomach to do."
"What can you possibly say that we haven't?" Tim doubted.
"Yeah, no offense, but it's not like you know Bruce." Barbara added. Alfred had caught early on that the young lady had not approved of JT. Did she perhaps recognize it to. Did she suspect, and if so, what exactly did she suspect?
"Look, I don't know Bruce Wayne personally and I haven't spent a lot of time with him but I can tell you this," JT said he stood from his seat. "I'm a damned good negotiator and I know how to get my way."
Dick looked up at him gratefully and even Roy seemed impressed but Alfred frowned as a memory came roaring to life. It happened when he looked from JT to the injured red head. It had been a year before Jason's death, when the boy had turned fourteen and was just kicked off the Titan's team by Roy and Dick.
"I hate him, Alfred!" Jason had snarled. "Why does Dick love him so much?"
"Love seems a bit strong of word, Master Jason." Alfred chuckled. "Roy Harper is one of his dearest friends but I hardly think your brother is in love with him."
"Dick is not my brother." Jason sneered disgustedly. "We are not blood and that's never, ever going to change."
Alfred stared in shock at the venom the boy had spat until he saw just how red the young man's face was. Jason couldn't possibly, but then, it did make some sense. The boy idolized Dick, even though they had next to nothing in common. He wanted to do everything he could and while Alfred had seen it as a form of sibling rivalry, he now wondered if this was something else.
"They kicked me out of the Titans!" Jason's teal eyes burned with unshed tears as he rested his chin on his folded arms over the counter. "Fucking Arsenal..." He hissed. "He called me an outsider and a wanna be! Said I didn't have it in me to be a hero, that I was just a..."
He frowned and walked over to the young teenager on the verge of tears and placed a steadying hand on his shoulder. "Master Todd,"
"Just a criminal!" Jason growled as three unchecked, angry tears fell down his cheeks. "And Dick backed him up! He took his side and didn't even try to defend me!"
"Jason look at me." Alfred rarely used first names with the boy, but he need to make sure he had the boy's attention and it worked. "You are not a criminal, do you understand? You may not have had the same opportunities that Dick did in the beginning, but Master Bruce never would have taken you in if he didn't trust in you."
Those sad teal eyes blinked and several more tears fell as his lower lip trembled. From rage or from sadness, even Alfred couldn't tell. Perhaps both. "He doesn't trust me, Alfred. None of them do. I..." He sniffled and ignored the tears that fell before he forced himself to look back at his eyes. "I over heard Bruce asking Barbara what she thought of me."
Alfred knew all about that conversation and he knew how badly it went. Ms. Gordon did not think that Jason should be crime-fighting, that he was only one bad decision away from being a criminal himself. Now that he was kicked off the Titans, it was only confirming Bruce's fears and it was feeding into Jason's lack of self-worth.
"Jason Todd, I don't care what the others think of you." Alfred spoke purposefully and with absolute sincerity. "You are a hero and you have it in you to be the greatest hero of them all. Do you know why?" The boy shook his head. "Because you've walked both paths. You've seen the worst of Gotham and you survived it! You weren't sheltered or protected and you weren't always aware of your place as a guardian to those on our city's streets. You had to fight to become a hero, you had to turn away from temptation.
"Your sheer will and desire to be better than all that you were raised to be is why Dick, Roy and even Master Bruce will never compare to you." Alfred squeezed his shoulder and wasn't at all surprised when the boy moved from the stool and into his arms, hugging him tightly. "You are hero, Master Todd, you are my hero."
Alfred barely shook off the memory as Dick happily led JT out of Roy's room and down the hall. Barbara rolled her eyes while Tim simply looked hopeful that the mysterious young man could do the impossible.
"I don't like him. He's way too familiar with everything." Barbara said softly as he she took Roy's hand. "Most people are not comfortable with us, any of us. I mean, not when we're together or in Wayne Manor. This just feels."
"Look I know I was the first to hate the guy, but you all need to pay more attention." Roy piped up as he squeezed Barbara's hand back.
"To what, Master Harper?" He asked, curious to know what he'd caught that no one else had.
"How happy Dick is." Roy shrugged self-consciously. "Look, I know that this kid is kind of young and damaged and he's an arrogant fucker, but doesn't he remind you of someone?"
"Bruce." Tim smiled softly. "He cusses to much, but yeah. He is a lot like Bruce."
"Dick always smiles, always. We know that, but the smile that's been plastered to his face since before I got hurt and after they made up?" Roy shrugged. "It's a new smile and it's more radiant and hopeful than anything I've personally witnessed."
"Only one other time in his life he smiled like that." Tim nodded. "If you look at all the photos of him with his mother and father, it's the same smile."
Barbara looked hurt by Tim and Roy's comments but she sighed. "I guess, I guess I could just be jealous." She admitted.
"Fuck that's exactly what my problem with him was." Roy laughed. "Don't get me wrong Barbie, but my first crush was Dick. Not like I wanted to bone him or anything, but he's been my best friend and I have always been jealous of anyone not me or Wally."
Alfred felt his heart clench as he listened to the conversation and he needed to leave the room. He excused himself politely and wandered to Jason's bedroom. What was he going to do? How would this effect all of them if he was right? Bad enough that JT Bennet was The Red Hood, but if he was also Jason Todd?
Dick would be hurt to find out he was the murderous vigilante, no doubt about it. It would break his heart to know that he loved someone so cold and so cruel. To have fallen in love with a man who could kill without remorse? It would make Dick wonder what was wrong with him. But that he would survive.
To know that he was also Jason Todd? That would be an entirely different matter.
The night he'd just remembered, he'd known why Jason hated being called Dick's brother. The teenager believed himself in love with Dick, so being called his brother was a mortifying and disgusting thought for him.
On the other hand, Dick had always seen Jason as a pesky little brother. One that he didn't like right away, one that he wasn't very kind or accepting of because he'd stolen his place at Bruce's side. However, Dick had eventually started training Jason and he'd been completely oblivious to the crush that must have been growing.
For Dick to find out that the man he loved was not only a serial killing vigilante, but also the little brother he'd regretted losing? It would destroy him. It would make him ill and it would most assuredly break him.
Then of course there were the others to think about. Barbara might not be surprised and Roy would hate the man for disabling him, but what would Tim think? He'd always seen Jason Todd as a kind of tragic hero?
And then there was Master Bruce!
Oh what would the boy he'd come to love like a son do to himself when he realized that Jason Todd was not only alive but had become the very kind of man that Bruce always feared he would without his influence? That he had become the man he hated most?
Most people would think it was the Joker that Batman hated the most and that was true. However, since the rise of The Red Hood, he'd seen the hatred and horror in Bruce's eyes when he returned home from patrols. Especially the ones where he'd run into the man.
This man was like The League of Assassins. He had stormed into Gotham and started doing the very things he'd probably always wanted to do himself but had stopped himself from doing. Bruce had always maintained a no kill rule. Alfred wholeheartedly approved, because there had to be a line that couldn't be crossed. If there wasn't? Well, then he'd be no different than them.
He sat on the old bed and shook his head as he stared at the book shelf. What was he going to do? How could he not tell them his suspicions? How could he tell them his suspicions? One way or another he was going to betray his family and if he did tell them what he suspected, he would hurt every single one of them and deep down, that thought was breaking him apart, too.
Jason walked into the bedroom of Bruce Wayne with Dick by his side. He couldn't recall ever being so angry or disgusted with his mentor. How this idiot could ignore a fucking brain tumor, a semi-harmless one that could be so easily dealt with was beyond him. The streets were safer thanks to him, Joker was still stuck in New Arkham, so why wasn't he getting this fixed?
"Dick?" Bruce frowned as he glared at the two of them. "What are you doing in here?"
"He's escorting me to your room, Bruce."
"And why is he doing that, JT?" Bruce glowered from his bed. It was somewhat impressive that he could appear intimidating even while lying down in a giant, comfy bed.
"Well he doesn't know it yet, but he brought me here so I could blackmail you into getting the fucking tumor cut out of your head before it becomes something that will put you six feet under." Jason snapped.
"JT!" Dick frowned.
"No I'm serious." Jason stepped toward the bed, his eyes focusing on the man who had taken him off the streets. The man who had tried to make him something other than another dead beat criminal who'd die young from drugs, AIDS, or a knife to the gut. "You have no idea what you are doing to the people who love you, the people who will have to bury you! Forget your family, imagine what your death will do to this city!"
For all the truth of his words, Bruce rolled his eyes. Actually rolled his fucking eyes at him. Jason nearly saw red, but thankfully clamped down his temper before walked over and decked the conceded prick.
"I didn't say I wouldn't have the tumor removed, Mr. Bennet, I said I couldn't have it removed right now. Not until the project I'm working on is completed." The older man explained. "Now I don't know what my boys have been telling you, but I am not a fool and I have no intention of ignoring the tumor."
He knew exactly what project he was referring to. He didn't want to be side-lined until he'd discovered who was under the red hood, but that wasn't going to happen. Not for a long time. Well, not if he had any say in it. And he did. So fuck that.
"Mr. Wayne, Bruce, whatever the fuck you want to be called by me at this point," Jason growled. "Let me make it clear to you. If you don't get the tumor removed immediately, I will not only pull out of the Burrows Reformation Project, but I'll personally leak to the entire city what my company is including on all those dark alleys. I will make sure they know what they are, what they look like and how they can be dismantled."
Bruce's jaw actually dropped as his eyes widened. "You wouldn't dare." He tried to recover quickly from the input overload, but it was obvious that he didn't know what else to say. The only thing he could do was challenge him. "You're company would lose millions if it didn't go under out right."
"Mr. Wayne, did anyone tell you how I inherited the company?" Jason asked ignoring the angry tugging from Dick as he tried to drag him out of the bedroom. That got both men's attention. "My Grandfather died and I inherited it, but I never said how he died."
"Let me guess, cancer?" Bruce didn't mean to sound so cold, it was evident by the immediate regret that showed in his face.
"Yes, of the skin." Jason smirked. "He kept putting it off, and putting it off because it was just a simple scrape, a biopsy. Who cared right? If it was cancerous they'd just cut it out. He had too much work to do, too many projects that he wanted to see taken care of before he took the time off. The melanoma metastasized into his brain and that was that.
"So go ahead, keep ignoring a tumor that's already in your fucking brain, but admit why you are doing it! Admit that you're a fucking coward who wants to put your entire family through nothing but pain because you're too selfish to take care of yourself properly!"
He knew he had Bruce where he wanted him when the man looked to Dick, his steely blue eyes appearing pained and guilty. Dick's fearful expression only helped to drive his point home and he knew, just knew that Bruce was going to give in. He just needed to push a little farther.
"I don't care what happens to my company, Mr. Wayne. I'd rather the whole fucking thing collapse and know that I did all I could to force the great and powerful Bruce Wayne to bend to the will of his sons than stand by and watch Dick and Timmy go through the pain I had to go through because no one forced my grandfather to take care of himself."
"You'd do that for me?" Dick asked in awe, his own pretty blue eyes watering.
"I'd do it for all of you." Jason admitted softly, and he couldn't help the pain that rippled through him at the thought of Bruce Wayne dying when he didn't have to. "Please, Bruce, please just get this taken care of. Trust the men and women who support you to take care of your domain."
Jason could feel Dick holding his breath, his eyes focused on their father hopefully. Neither spoke any further and neither blinked as they waited. Bruce stared down at his hands and Jason almost feared that his stubbornness would win out.
"I'll schedule the surgery and any other required treatments immediately." Bruce all but whispered.
Dick started to cry and ran forward to hug their father. Jason only watched, but at least all the tension and stress was released from his body. As the two men hugged, he forced himself to walk out of the room. He couldn't hold back his tears and he couldn't let them be seen or they'd know something was up. So under the pretense of giving them privacy he left the room and ran instinctively to the one place he'd never intended to go to again.
Jason slammed into his old room with such force the door banged off the wall and almost hit him. He turned and closed it before leaning against the door and dropping to the floor, tears falling heavily down his cheeks. He pulled his knees up to his constricting chest and rested his head against his folded arms.
It had been killing him inside. Watching Bruce stumble, seeing him nearly fall or being taken out by men who wouldn't think twice about proving just how mortal the bat was. He'd been playing it tough, focusing only on the pain that Bruce had caused him. The distrust that had grown from the moment that Filipe had died. He'd focused on the fact that Batman hadn't avenged him, hadn't done anything but put the fucking Clown Prince of Crime in a body cast rather than a coffin to match his own.
After seeing Dick hugging their father, his heart broke, because even if he did someday reveal himself to be alive, he could never have that with Bruce. Never did to begin with. All they had were arguments and lectures about his tunnel vision, his sporadic behavior or his violent temper. Jason Todd and Bruce Wayne didn't fucking hug it out, even when one of their lives were on the line.
"JT?" His heart stopped as his head shot up and saw Alfred sitting on his bed, tears running down the old man's cheeks. He knew his expression matched the one of shock and horror on the old man's face, because seriously? How the fuck had he not noticed him?
He didn't know what to say. He couldn't speak as he stared at the old butler and wondered how the Hell he was going to salvage any of this situation. This couldn't be it! He had Bruce on the ropes, Dick was finally in his bed, he had the Black Mask in his sights, Bullock had agreed to work with him and he was going after Killer Croc and The Joker over the next few weeks.
"What's happened Master Bennet?" Alfred asked calmly.
"Bruce is having the tumor removed." He didn't know if he should run, if he should stand. So he stayed perfectly still.
"No, I meant," He paused and then smiled. "Wait, you talked him into the surgery?"
"I blackmailed him." He nodded and he couldn't help but be embarrassed by the way his hands trembled because seriously, what was going on? Did the old man know? "And I guilted him with some bullshit story."
"Jason?" Alfred asked and he knew what the question was, now knew that he'd been caught by the fucking butler of all people. He wanted him to confirm what the old man must have suspected, but how? He'd been so damned careful, hadn't he?
"Please, Alfred..." Jason shook his head.
"Just tell me what happened to you. Please."
How could he deny him? How could he ignore his questions? How was he going to lie to him? This man who had loved him above all others? Maybe even more than Bruce. He knew Bruce cared him, but in the end, it was only Alfred who'd had his back.
"Tell me how you came to be this man, this Red Hood?"
He could count on both hands how many times he'd ever been so scared, so vulnerable. The times he'd been raped on the streets, the times he'd been beaten by his father, the evening Felipe died and he'd waited to be asked for his side of the story, the Joker breaking his body before blowing it to Hell, finding out Bruce Wayne had a damned brain tumor. Those had all been the worst moments of his life and now he could add Alfred fucking Pennyworth discovering he was a homicidal maniac and blowing his cover.
His instinct was to dive out the window, disappear and never return, but instead he felt overwhelming grief and pain fogging up his head. He was paralyzed from the neck down, completely unable to run away from the man staring at him in an odd mixture of reverence and disappointment.
"How are you alive, Jason?"
"The Lazarus Pit." The words slipped out before he could stop them.
"So you were trained by The League of Assassins?" He could only nod. "Why didn't you come home to us, Jason?"
He found himself on his feet as he shook his head, the agony that question caused forcing him to move. There were memories crashing all around him. "Not a fucking chance, Alfred. I'm not going back there." But he was, because he could taste the coppery blood in his mouth and he could smell the burning flesh and the dust. He squeezed his eyes shut, tried to ignore the phantom pains of the crow bar hitting his body again and again.
"Master Todd, you must tell me why you didn't come home."
Felipe's shocked brown eyes flashed through his head, followed by how frightened they were when he fell backward through the window. Jason stared at his hands and then ran them through his dirty, greasy hair. "How could I?" He laughed, on the verge of hysterics as he tried to figure out how he'd ended up in this room with the only man who still seemed to know him as if he'd never left. "After what I'd done?" He wiped at his tears angrily.
"What did you do Master Todd?" Alfred asked as he stood from the bed.
"It doesn't fucking matter." Jason shrugged and he took two deep breaths, all of his emotions pushed down. "What does matter is what you plan to do next."
Alfred looked betrayed as he looked him in the eyes. "You're threatening me?"
He gritted his teeth as he grabbed the side of his head, tugging at his hair. "No. No of course not. I couldn't threaten you. It would never work." He steeled his voice as he prepared to do what had to be done. "I'd never threaten you because you wouldn't care. Your family on the other hand..."
"Master Todd, don't do this." Alfred pleaded.
"What the fuck else am I supposed to do? Ask you to keep this from them? From your precious fucking family? From that fucking replacement and the stupid crippled bitch who never trusted me to begin with?" He demanded angrily. "Why would you protect me from them?"
"I never said I would." Alfred sighed. "But you haven't asked yet, either."
Jason's eyes widened as he stared at Alfred, more tears threatening to fall as he felt himself shiver again. He shook his head as he tried to get rid of the weakness eating at him. There was no way the butler wouldn't turn him in. He wasn't his family. He was their family.
There was so much he felt in that moment. Too much. His jealousy over Dick and Tim's relationship with Bruce, the fear of Bruce dying, the shock of being caught by the one man he didn't have the heart to threaten or kill, the pain of remembering things he avoided at all costs. He had to find a way to get control, but he was too angry, too scared and too hurt.
"Master Todd...
"It's Jason!" He growled, hating the formality, hating the distance it created. As if he was just some stranger and not a boy he'd helped to raise for...He dropped his hands and shook his head. For what, Jason? Three years? Three whole fucking years before they thought him dead? "My name is Jason, not Master Todd. Do not call me that again."
"Alright then, Jason. But, please,calm down. If you yell too much louder you will attract attention to yourself." Alfred warned kindly, patiently.
"Wouldn't that make it easier for you, though? No feelings of betrayal if I'm the one that fucks it up, right? If you'd even feel guilty turning me in." He was so angry at the flow of tears that continued to fall.
"Just answer a few of my questions, that's all I ask. Please?" And the old man's pleading definitely worked because Jason found himself agreeing to the request. At the very least it would give him time to think. "Do you plan to hurt anyone in this house?"
"No." He shook his head.
"Why did you hurt Roy?" Alfred asked.
"Lost my fucking temper." He grumbled. "I thought he deserved it at the time for being a complete ass-hat."
"And now?"
"I might feel a little shitty since he could get addicted to the pain killers and fall off the wagon." He shrugged, hoping and God, even praying that Alfred would keep these questions easy.
"But you don't feel bad about the damage you did?"
"Honestly?" He smirked. "Only a little bit."
"Why didn't you come home?" He tried again and Jason shook his head. "Please, Jason, I need to know."
Apparently he could deny him this question because as the images of Felipe falling to his death collided with the memories of the beating he took from the Joker, he shook his head again. "Not happening, Old Man. Not yet. Not yet."
"Fine, I will let it slide for now." Alfred sounded more and more in control which angered Jason because he knew he was losing any grip he'd started with. "Why did you come back now?"
"Bruce's tumor." He shrugged. "I've been angling to get back to Gotham for the past few years but I wanted to make sure I was ready.
"When we found out about the tumor, Ra's Al Ghul's advisers told him to take out Gotham once and for all. They wanted him to send everyone in. I informed him that he'd failed on a full assault every time prior and that this time would be no different. That even the scum of the Earth would come together along with everyone B knew to help stop them.
"So I came up with a plan and he liked it so much he sent me in. I worked with a couple others to set up my new identity and everything required to make it work. "
"Is there something you want to ask me, Jason?" Alfred crossed his arms expectantly.
Jason nodded. "What will it take for you to keep my secrets?"
"Ask me and find out."
"Alfred, will you keep my secrets?" Jason frowned. He hated, hated being in this position, so weak and incapable of protecting himself. He had no choice but to hope Alfred would comply because they both knew he wasn't going to hurt him.
"I am disappointed in you, Master Todd. I am hurt by the life you are choosing to live and I do not approve of what you are doing in the slightest. You were supposed to be a hero, Jason." Alfred informed him matter of factually. "But, I also do not know how I can possibly tell them about you when I know that it will hurt them so badly.
"So for the time being and under the condition that you never, ever lay a hand on anyone in this household, Master Bennet, you're secret is safe with me."
Alfred held Jason Peter Todd in his arms as they hugged, actually hugged. This boy he'd thought dead, this boy he'd believed he would never,ever see again. He trembled in his arms, still fighting off whatever emotions had chased him to this room to begin with, but Alfred didn't mind for the moment. Instead he was grateful for the opportunity to see him alive and well.
"I can't keep this from them forever, Jason." He whispered into the young man's ear. "You do know that don't you?"
"Way to a ruin a moment, Old Man." Jason rolled his eyes, but Alfred could hear the warmth and the humor in his voice as he pulled out of his embrace. His teal eyes dropped to the floor sadly before they flicked back up at him. "I know, OK? Fuck, just, just do it for Dick and Bruce's sake. Not until Bruce is better at least, Alfred. Please?"
"I already agreed to keep your secrets, I just want you to promise me you will think about this very carefully. What you are doing to Master Grayson in particular." Alfred sighed because he didn't want to see either of these boys hurt in such a way and yet he couldn't see it going any other way. "He may never forgive you for this, you know?"
"I know, I know." He was getting angry again as he stepped backward. "It's...I'll deal with it alright?" He glared at the floor if only to prevent himself from glaring at him. "Fuck." He cursed and stared down at his shoes. "I have to go. I can't let Dick see me like this."
Before Alfred could tell him to stay, the boy was already sliding out his window and taking off. He knew that Jason knew how to get in and out of the building when he was a teenager, but he was surprised that after six years he'd retained those memories. Then again, despite what Tim had been taught of the second Boy Wonder, Jason was a very adept at all things breaking and entering.
He heaved a heavy sigh as he sat back down on the bed, his mind still absorbing the shock of what had just happened. Jason Todd was alive. Truly alive! So who had they buried? What had happened to him? How did the League of Assassins even get his body to begin with? There were just so many unanswered questions and it frightened him that he couldn't help Jason or tell Master Bruce or the boys.
There was so much to think about. The betrayal they would all feel, the guilt that Bruce would most definitely feel that he hadn't know Jason was alive. Their anger that Alfred knew and hadn't told them. The countless lives that might be placed upon his own conscience! What was he going to do? How was he going to keep this from them?
And yet, Alfred knew that Jason was right. If he told Bruce, if he even hinted that JT Bennet was The Red Hood, he'd put off the treatments. He'd get so caught up in trying to lock Bennet away that he'd let his health deteriorate past the point of no return. Good Lord, if he told him it was Jason Todd back from the dead? All that time would be spent trying to put him away, but also trying to swim through a sea of guilt as he investigated every possible scenario that he'd missed that allowed him to return from the grave.
Tim and Dick were simply not capable of keeping secrets from Bruce and Barbara had never really trusted Jason to begin with. Obviously he was just going to have to carry this burden on his shoulders until either Jason finished his mission or until Bruce was able to wear the cowl again.
One thing that eased his mind and even his conscience was that Jason had no intention of harming anyone unless it couldn't be avoided. He'd saved Tim from the Joker and Harley Quinn, he'd prevented the Joker from killing Dick on the roof, he'd gotten Bruce safely home to them when he'd passed out. More than once now he'd proven that he was not actually their enemy.
While he didn't approve of The Hood's methods he couldn't deny that some of the most dangerous men in Gotham were no longer a threat to his family. Men who had severely hurt everyone of them in the past. Men like Two-Face who'd nearly killed Dick at the tender age of nine.
Yes. He had made the right decision. It wouldn't be easy and it wasn't something he was looking forward to, but it was necessary. He stood from the bed and nodded his head to himself as he walked out of Jason Todd's old room and headed downstairs.
"Hey, Alfred, have you seen JT anywhere?" Dick asked, his blue eyes alight with happiness and excitement. "I need to thank him, we all do."
"Why is that Master Grayson?"
"He did it, Alfred!" Dick pulled him into a crushing hug and laughed. "He talked Bruce into the surgery and the treatments."
"But how?" Alfred asked as he feigned shock and wonder.
"He blackmailed him! Can you believe it? So where is he?"
Alfred frowned as he looked at the young man, hating himself already as he was about to tell his first lie to protect Jason Todd. "I'm afraid he received a phone call while you and Bruce were speaking, Master Grayson. He left and asked that you call him tomorrow when your shift ends."
"Yeah, he probably has a lot of work to do." Dick nodded a little dejectedly but he smiled again. "Let's go tell the others!"
OK so there were a lot of reveals and then the obvious big one. From the beginning of this story I always knew that Alfred would be one of two people to almost immediately figure it out. The second one I am still working on. I know some people will be conflicted and feal that Alfred would never keep this kind of a secret, but when you consider that he believes Bruce's life would be endangered as well as Jason's, I think it's reasonable that he would. So yeah, please don't be upset or angry. Keep reading! Truly, I hope you all enjoy this chapter because it's been scaring me to post it, lol.