This is a rather short chapter, sorry for that, but the cut I made was the only possibility that made sense... Next one will be longer, promise!
But I think, there's a scene in this one, which some of you were waiting for. Hope you're happy with my version of it!

Over the next few days, Alfred found it rather difficult, not to let his emotions show but to keep the façade of the perfect butler up. He had said his part and was determined not to speak up again. After all, Master Bruce was the boy's guardian so his safety was his concern.

It was Wednesday evening, half a week after the incident in the cave, that his employer came to him, in an attempt to talk. The butler was standing in the kitchen, preparing a soup for dinner, when suddenly a voice came from the doorway.

„Alfred." He turned to face the other man

„Sir?"

Master Bruce sighed. „You're not at all happy with me, are you?"

„I'd prefer not to answer that question." The butler's voice was rather sharp, considering his usually unchanged air of calmness.

The other man took a few steps into the room and sat down on one of the chairs surrounding the table. He looked tense and wary.

"I know you don't approve, Alfred. And I understand your reasons. In fact, I do think so myself, but as I said, I don't see I have much of a choice." He fixed his eyes on the wooden surface in front of him.

"I find it difficult to believe that a child can overpower you in your decisions, Master Bruce", the butler replied coldly.

The younger man lifted his eyes again and looked at his opponent. "You should have seen him out there, when I found him on the streets looking for his parent's murderer. He was so determined, it was almost scary, considering he's only eight years old. I'm convinced, he will run away again, no matter what we do to prevent it. After all, he is a trapeze artist, which makes ways possible to him that others can't even dream of. He will always find a way out of here and if he does, I won't be able to look after him. He will run around and encounter unspeakable dangers. I just think it is wiser to give him the opportunity to come. That way, he's better prepared, I can have an eye on him and he won't do anything more risky than necessary."

The butler nearly snorted. "More risky than necessary? Master Bruce, he's only a boy, a child really. There are very few things riskier than taking him out on the hunt for a criminal. That is no work for someone his age."

"I know, Alfred, I know. But I don't see what else I could do. And he seems so much better since we made the agreement."

That, the butler couldn't argue with. The morning after Master Bruce had brought his ward home in the middle of the night, both men had been in the kitchen, in silence waiting for the boy to turn up. They hadn't wanted to wake him since he had only gone to bed around three in the morning. All of a sudden, there had been the sound of a door banging and running footsteps coming towards them. Both had looked up in surprise. Until then, his screams due to nightmares had been the only loud noise, Master Richard had made around them.

After a few seconds, the boy had barged through the kitchen door, stopped dead and looked at his guardian, eyes wide.

"You're the Batman! I didn't dream it, did I?"

Master Bruce had grimaced while Alfred turned away, trying to keep himself out of this.

"Yes, I am", he had heard the cautious voice of his employer followed by a jubilant "Great!" from the boy.

From then on, Master Richard's will to communicate had improved steadily. At first, he had answered questions in whole sentences, then started asking some himself and finally, hesitantly, begun to talk on his own, making comments and once or twice even mentioning his old life and family.

Both the butler and his employer had silently agreed on how pleased they were to see the boy slowly recover from the trauma, although Alfred nevertheless thought the reason behind the improvement to be a big mistake.

It hadn't taken so much as a day before Master Richard started asking when his lessons would start. It had been during dinner, so Alfred had had no choice but to listen, when his employer first tried again to talk the boy out of it and, when he realized there was no point, reluctantly started to make plans.

The evening after that, Master Bruce had been home even earlier than the weeks before, something the butler wouldn't have thought possible, and gone with the boy down to the batcave. Alfred could only assume, he had been showing his ward everything, including the gym. He hadn't asked.

From then on, the two had spent every evening down there, only surfacing for dinner under Alfred's disapproving glances. But as much as he disliked it, the butler had had to admit that the boy seemed better by the hour. Not only was he talking, but some colour returned into his former pale complexion and he started acting his age. No corner of the house was safe from his curious rummaging any more and he started doing acrobatics wherever he went. It took the old butler quite a while to get used to it. He tried to tell the boy to stop swinging from chandeliers and sliding down banisters, but it showed little to no effect so he gave up eventually. In the end, he reasoned with himself, it was better if the boy did what he liked so much and was happy, than he behaved properly but felt restrained in his welfare. Plus, he grudgingly admitted to himself, it was some kind of natural training. And since he couldn't do anything to stop the insane plan the two younger occupants of the house had drawn up, he at least wanted the boy to be prepared as good as possible.

One evening, when Master Bruce and Master Richard had come up for dinner, the boy glowing from the training session they had just had, the butler couldn't help but marvel at how much the perspective of doing something about his parent's death had helped the boy recover.

But none of the positive aspects could make Alfred change his fundamental belief that letting the boy come out there to fight a villain was more than just a bad idea but a huge mistake. So he kept being stoic.

"Master Bruce", he said to the man sitting at the table, "you know my opinion on the topic and since neither of us is willing to change their mind, I deem it best if we end this conversation before it starts." The other man looked at him sadly but didn't press on the matter.

Another three days later, Master Richard seemed unusual silent again during dinner. Halfway through the meal, Alfred looked at him in concern.

"Is something the matter, young sir?" The boy lifted his eyes from his plate and slowly shook his head.

"No, I was just ... I was thinking, that's all."

"Something important?", asked Master Bruce.

He earned a shrug. "No, not really."

The men shared a glance but neither said anything. They had long before learned that Master Richard would speak up on his own or not at all. Trying to force him didn't work, he was too stubborn for that.

The meal went on more silent than the nights before, with the boy not talking and the butler missed the chatter he had gotten used to so quickly. When they were nearly finished, Master Richard looked up again.

"Dick", he said suddenly.

He earned shocked glances for that.

"Excuse me?" Alfred said, while Master Bruce kept silent, slightly taken aback.

"It's my nickname", the boy explained. "It's what my parents called me and everyone at the circus. I thought, maybe you could call me that, too. I don't really like Richard, it's so... So long and so formal."

The younger man reacted first. "Of course we will, if you want us to."

Master Richard ... Master Dick nodded. "Please." Alfred was sure, it would take him a moment to get used to the new name, but he was determined not to slip even once, since it seemed to be important to the boy. It felt like this was his final step of opening up to his new home.

Although he was still angry at his employer, Alfred couldn't help but start to worry about him. He knew, Master Bruce was used to living on less sleep than was healthy, but it had gotten so extreme, the strain was obviously taking it's toll on the man. He got up at six o'clock every morning, ate breakfast, left for work, came home around four pm, spent the afternoon and evening with his ward in the batcave, then left for patrol and when he came home in the middle of the night, he wouldn't go straight to bed but try to solve the case of Master Dick's parent's murder. Which left him with about two or three hours of sleep at most.

The butler was worried at the sight of dark shadows under his employer's eyes and the amount of coffee he drank. But at the same time, the man seemed to be happier than in years. Obviously, the presence of the boy in the house and their shared activities lifted his spirits immensely, so Alfred didn't try to talk the man out of it. He knew, Master Bruce wanted to help the boy which included both the training and the research, so there was nothing he could do to stop him anyway.

Hope you liked it (as I usually do^^)! Please tell me, if so or if not.