Disclaimer – Own nothing.

To CrazyMulan52 – Thanks for your review! No, he packed a bag lol. He might like to be prepared, but he's not that prepared lol. I hope you like this chapter!

To Guest – 1. Yeah, I wished we got to see Alfred, and other people seemed to want Alfred alive as well. I was also sad that he died in-between seasons. 2. Not going to answer because I don't want to spoil anything. 3. No, Talia and Ra's won't have anything to do with Jason's resurrection in this story. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

To vi – Thanks for your review! I'm so glad you liked the chapter! I am hoping to put more Dick and Kory scenes as well as more scenes of the Titans being a family than what we got in the show. I hope you like this chapter!

AN – Hello everyone. Sorry this chapter is a little late. I meant to post last Monday, but have been very busy with school. Because of my busy schedule, I don't have any set time for when I will be updating. Sorry. But I hope you all like the story and this chapter!

Enjoy!

When Dick approached Wayne Manor, he didn't need to use his security code to open the gates. They opened in front of him as soon as he drove into the security camera's line of sight. As he drove up to the main entrance, he saw why. Standing just outside the door, was Alfred Pennyworth. Dick quickly grabbed his bag and got out of the vehicle.

"Hey Alfred."

"Welcome home, Master Dick," Alfred greeted with a sad smile. Though Dick knew the British man wasn't big on any kind of public displays of affection, he couldn't help but hug him anyways. To his surprise, Alfred quickly returned the embrace and whispered, "It's good to see you, my boy."

"It's good to see you too, though, I wish the reason was different," Dick told him as he ended the hug.

"Me too, me too," Alfred quietly responded, looking down at the ground. After taking a few seconds to make sure he remained composed, he lifted his head and said, "Come in."

"Thanks. How's Bruce doing?" Dick asked as he and Alfred made their way into the house.

"To be honest, I'm quite concerned about him," the elderly man admitted. "He has hardly spoken and doesn't seem to be fully aware of what is going on around him."

That was bad. Throughout the entire Dick had known Bruce, he was always aware of his surroundings. Some believed it all started when he became Batman, but Dick knew it actually started back in that alley when he was a child. The night his parents died. In his mind, if he and his parents had been more aware of his surroundings, then they might still be alive. Bruce never wanted to be in that situation ever again, and made sure that Dick never was either. 'All it takes is a few seconds of distraction and you're dead', he'd say. And that had stuck with Dick ever since.

"Where is he now?" Dick wondered, not seeing any sign of Bruce around, not that he really expected to. Whenever Bruce was upset, he'd always isolate himself further and distract himself with work.

"In the Batcave," Alfred answered. An answer that didn't surprise Dick. He nodded and headed straight for the library and Cave entrance. Alfred didn't follow or try to stop him.

The Batcave was silent aside from the quiet echoes of bats chittering above. Near the cases where they kept their suits, was where Bruce was, sitting at a table with Jason's Robin uniform lying in front of him. As he came closer, Dick saw the cleaning agents made specifically for their suits and several bloodied rags. Knowing that was Jason's blood made Dick want to puke.

"Bruce?"

The older man twitched, but didn't turn around as he said, "When did you get here?"

"Just now," Dick replied, walking over to the table. "I came as soon as Alfred called me."

"I'd figured that he'd call you," Bruce murmured, then continued his cleaning.

At this point, Dick was standing beside his adoptive father, but he wasn't sure exactly what to say. Asking how he was doing was a stupid question right now, so instead, Dick asked, "When's the funeral?"

"I already buried him," Bruce revealed, "in the Wayne cemetery."

"You couldn't have waited?" Dick questioned with an incredulous tone.

"He had no family."

"He had us!" Dick loudly protested, causing Bruce to flinch. "You, Alfred, me, Gar, and the other Titans. Friends here in Gotham."

For a split second, Dick doubted his own words. It was a given that Bruce and Alfred were Jason's family. Dick considered the younger hero as part of his family too, and he knew that Gar considered Jason a close friend. And while not overly close, he also knew that the other Titans, including Hank and Dawn, would've wanted to come to the funeral, but did Jason have any other friends? Dick couldn't remember Jason ever mentioning anyone, but he had to have some, right? The thought of Jason only having Bruce and Alfred during the last few months was depressing.

Bruce sighed, and seemed to sink into himself as he put down the metal, 'R' shaped shuriken that he had been cleaning. Regret started weighing on Dick's chest. Snapping at Bruce while he was grieving probably wasn't the smartest move, but would it have killed Bruce to think about others and their feelings? He may like to shove all the pain and grief he felt into anger as Batman while pretending it didn't exist as Bruce Wayne, but that didn't mean everyone else did.

"We can, have some kind of service or something later, if you want," Bruce hesitantly suggested. He then turned to look at Dick and completely changed the subject. "Are you hungry?"

"What?" Dick was beyond confused at this point.

"If you've been on the road since last night, then you didn't have breakfast and it's almost lunch," Bruce said as he stood up.

Clapping Dick on the shoulder, Bruce walked past him and towards the stairs as he added, "Come. Alfred probably cooked up a feast for you. You know how he worries about your eating habits."

That confirmed it for Dick. Alfred had every reason to be worried. Something was wrong with Bruce. Jason's death was majorly messing with him, but Dick wasn't sure what to do to help.

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Alfred definitely did cook up a feast for lunch, and for supper as well, but both meals were awkward. Bruce actually was open to talking, as long as it wasn't about Jason or the Joker. As much as it annoyed him, Dick understood. After all, Bruce hears the word 'emotion' and he runs in the other direction. Getting him to address any emotion he was feeling was risky. Bruce tended to do one of two things when confronted, severe avoidance or severe anger. Usually, it was anger and Dick was inwardly riled up enough that if Bruce reacted in anger, it would end in an explosive fight between the two that he did not want to deal with.

So, he didn't say anything about it. He went along with whatever topic Bruce brought up until after supper, when he headed into his study to get some work done. As soon as he left the dining room, Dick placed his head in his hand and said, "I don't know what to do Alfred."

There was a quiet scraping noise as Alfred sat down in the chair beside the police detective, as he continued, "I mean, he can't just go on like nothing happened, but I know that if I say anything, it will start a fight."

"Normally, I would say to give it time. That people grieve in their own time and ways, and that no amount of pressure to 'get out over', will working. However…"

"Bruce isn't normal and has terrible coping mechanisms," Dick finished for him.

Alfred nodded, then added, "It doesn't help that Master Bruce wasn't here when it happened. He had been gone often in the last several weeks."

"Doing what?" Ever since he got the call about Jason's death, Dick had been wondering where Bruce had been and why he wasn't there, but he hadn't gotten a chance to ask.

"Wayne Enterprises is working on a project with another company in Scotland. He has been going back and forth for the last 10 weeks," Alfred explained.

"And he left Jason here with you?" Dick inquired, and Alfred nodded. That gave the younger man more questions though.

"So, he was going out as Robin alone the whole time Bruce was gone?"

"No. Actually, Master Bruce decided that it would be best if Master Jason ceased being Robin."

"I'm sorry what?" There was no way Dick could've heard that correctly, right? "When? How? Why?"

"Master Jason hadn't been doing well after he returned from San Francisco," Alfred revealed, causing Dick to flinch. He knew that whatever issues Jason had from that time was his fault, and he hadn't been able to fix it. Now he never would. No matter what, he'd always feel guilty over what happened to Jason and Jericho, even though Jericho and Rose were currently with Jericho's mother and were doing fairly well given the circumstances.

"He had been acting out and having horrible nightmares. It was getting to the point where he barely slept. And when he went out at night with Master Bruce, it was... concerning to say the least. Master Bruce was worried that he'd get hurt."

"Did Bruce explain all that? He's not the best at explaining his reasons, or communicating in general," Dick pointed out. Jason would've taken losing Robin hard under the best of circumstances. The original Robin would've hoped that Bruce would've learned from the time he tried to fire Dick from being a vigilante.

"He tried. I know that he did, and he even managed to get Jason to see Dr. Thompkins. However, like you said, Master Bruce isn't the best with words and with him being gone so often the last several weeks…" Alfred let the sentence hang there. Dick didn't need him to finish anyways. Bruce didn't always realize how people around him couldn't interpret his actions, even if it was unintentional.

"So what has Jason been doing then? Hanging out with friends?"

"Sometimes he would go spend time with a friend named Molly, but other than that, he was working on some kind of project. I don't know what it was, but he was becoming obsessed with it."

That was strange. Though Dick hadn't known his younger for very long, he hadn't ever seen the younger man obsessed about anything before. Except for maybe video games. And Alfred, though not confrontational or pushy, typically knew everything that went on in this house and with his charges. If Jason was getting obsessed with something and managed to keep it secret from Alfred, it meant it was something big. Big enough that Dick wanted to know what it was, even though Jason was dead and it probably didn't matter anymore. Maybe it might shed some light onto what Jason was thinking at least.

"I think I'm going to head to bed. I'm pretty tired." That part was true, since Dick hadn't slept at all last night.

"Of course Master Dick," Alfred replied as he stood up and began clearing up the table. Dick then got to his feet and made a beeline to Jason's room.

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*Dick finds Jason's chemistry book, key and warehouse room and takes a drug sample scene*

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"Okay Jason, what were you doing?" Dick mumbled to himself as he put the drug sample he took from the spot that Jason had secretly been renting into the computer.

As the computer scanned it, Dick waited with baited breath and confusion. He didn't understand what Jason was doing with these drugs. Jason had made it quite clear that he detested drugs, most likely because his mother was drug addict and died from an overdose. Plus, being on the streets had showed him the worst of the damage that could be caused by drugs. If Jason was really experimenting with drugs, something was definitely wrong.

When the computer was done running its scan, there was a small beep. Dick leaned forward to check the results, then frowned. There wasn't a match. Whatever this was, it wasn't an official drug or poison, which was extremely confusing and concerning. Bruce's records of chemicals was one of the largest in the world due to hacking other resources for information. Whatever this was, it was something new.

Dick then went to look further at the results. Maybe if he could figure out the individual chemicals, he could figure out what this drug was supposed to do. As he went to change the settings on the scanner though, he noticed a file on the corner of the screen. The letters under it appeared to be gibberish, but Dick knew that Bruce used a type of code when labeling files and records to confuse anyone who tried to hack the computers. Dick knew how to crack those codes to find whatever he was looking for, but he hadn't seen this particular one before. Curiousity getting the best of him, he opened it.

Immediately, pictures started sliding across the screen. Pictures of kids, both boys and girls, their names and ages. What was Bruce doing with these pictures? For a moment, Dick wondered if this was a giant missing persons' case. They had deal with human traffickers in Gotham before. However, there were no case notes that implied that. There were no notes at all.

"What are you doing?" Bruce's voice came from Dick's right. When he turned his head, he had to bite back a scoff. Bruce was wearing his Batman suit, because of course he had gone out on patrol despite his son dying the night before.

"Who are these kids Bruce?" Dick asked, ignoring the older man's question. To his surprise, Bruce actually looked a bit nervous, but still he answered.

"Potential recruitments."

"For what?"

"For Robin."

"Are you f*****g kidding me?" Dick yelled as he got up off the chair. "Jason hasn't even been dead for 24 hours and you're already looking for a replacement! Or did you start looking right after you fired him?"

Bruce actually took a step back from Dick. He looked so nervous, almost scared. Dick had never seen Bruce look like that before. It was unnerving and made Dick back off, just a little. Fighting would not accomplish anything. Especially if Bruce decided to fight back, which he would. The billionaire was incapable of people criticizing him, even if he knew they were right. To be honest, Dick was surprised that he hadn't started yelling back already.

Taking a deep breath, Dick pointed at the screen that still showed the test results. "Do you know what this is?"

Bruce stepped forward to see, then shook his head. "No, I've never seen it. Where did you find it?"

"In a loft, in a warehouse, one that Jason had apparently been renting. The place looked like he had been cooking up something but this was all I could find," Dick revealed, then watched as a bewildered expression covered Bruce's face.

"I, I didn't know," Bruce stammered. Bruce never stammered before but his words filled Dick with rage. Too much rage to notice.

"You didn't know because you didn't care!" Dick shouted.

"Don't you dare tell me that I don't care," Bruce warned him with a threatening tone though his eyes still had a lost look to them.

"And how is anybody supposed to know if you actually do? You're basically a breathing robot who pretends to have no emotions whatsoever as you demand nothing short of absolute perfection from anyone. Did you really fire Jason because you wanted to help him, or were you just disappointed because he wasn't perfect?

"You know what, don't even answer that. If you did actually care, you wouldn't be looking for a new Robin. You would've learned after me, after Jason, that all of this is a mistake. The fact that you want to try again is crazy. As crazy as the f*****g Joker."

Too far in his anger to notice the hurt on his adoptive father figure's face, Dick stormed off, leaving Bruce alone in the Cave.

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*Kory sleepwalks out of the Tower and onto the street scene*

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An hand roughly shook Dick into alertness. After yelling at Bruce, he had gone up to Jason's room to look for any more clues that might be hidden. When he found nothing, he used the computer to hack the police files. If Jason took this drug when he went to kill the Joker, then maybe there would've been something left at the crime scene, or maybe person doing the autopsy would've found something in his system. To his disappointment, there was nothing found by the police, and, thanks to Commissioner Barbara Gordon, no extensive autopsy or testing had been done. Most likely to protect Jason's identity as he was Robin at the time. It must've been around then that he fell asleep, apparently more tired than he had realized.

"Master Dick, wake up," Alfred urged the younger man, who slowly turned to face him.

"What's going on?" Dick asked worriedly. His pseudo-grandfather looked panicked, something that Dick had never seen before.

"You'd better come quickly," Alfred told him.

Now beginning to panic himself, Dick immediately got up and follow Alfred out of the room and down to the Batcave. When they reached it, Dick froze.

Sitting on the floor in the middle of the Cave was Bruce. He wasn't in the Batsuit anymore. Instead, he was wearing a gray sweater and black sweats. What made Dick freeze though were the blue medical gloves on his hands that were covered in blood. There was also blood on his face and on the crowbar in his right hand.

"Bruce," Dick quietly called out, "What did you do?"

The billionaire raised his head to look at his first son with an empty expression and said, "I ended it."