Jason sighed deeply as he slowly twisted the door handle. He hoped that he wasn't making a mistake and scaring the kid, especially by bringing a random person into the apartment. But the kid would have had to see someone else sooner than later anyway because of the collar.

Jason stuck his head into the apartment while Alfred stood behind him patiently. Jason was holding one of the bags of food while Alfred was holding the other, the old man refused to not help in some way, and just let Jason do all the work.

He could see the kid from the door, eyes glued on where Jason had poked his head in.

"Hey kid, I have…" Jason didn't really think 'friend' would help, "-my grandfather here with me," He settled on. "He just brought over some food. Can he come in?" He saw the kid's hesitant look. "I'll be here the whole time, I promise."

The kid continued to stare at him, but his hands fidgeted in his lap. The kid looked down before nodding. Jason felt bad. The kid probably didn't feel like he had much of a choice. Jason sighed and pushed the door open the rest of the way.

"Okay, coming in."

Jason held the door open for Alfred to let the man in after him. Alfred smiled lightly at the kid on the couch before turning into the open-plan kitchen and placing the bag of food and supplies he was holding on the counter. Jason placed his own down next to it soon after.

The kid just stared at Alfred as he went about the kitchen and started to put things away. He looked like an animal backed into a corner, ready to bolt at any moment, and Jason didn't know what to do about it. Instead, he ran his hand through his hair. Alfred glanced over at him. "How about you go read more of your book, Jason? I will finish up here in the kitchen."

Jason's eyes flicked over to the table in the living room where he left this book. Luckily, he still remembered his page number from before. Jason hesitated but decided that Alfred would know best. He always knows best. He nodded in response before heading back towards the living area.

He sat down in his chair and started pretending to read his book, not that he could actually focus on it. He kept looking at the kid out the corner of his eye. He secretly wished he could help Alfred put stuff away or somehow find a way to reassure the kid more. Jason just felt so useless at this moment.

Then the kid slowly gets up and starts to move over to the side of the room that Jason is on, keeping his eyes glued to Alfred the whole time with the puzzle box gripped tightly in his hand. Alfred expertly didn't even bat an eye at the movement, he just continued to put stuff away and let the kid think that he had the upper hand and wasn't being noticed.

The kid, once over to Jason's side of the room, sat down in the other smaller chair about five feet away from Jason, with a small table dividing the two. When the kid sat down, he pulled his knees up and curled into himself. He had effectively put Jason in between him and Alfred. He was going to Jason for protection, in a roundabout way.

Alfred had finished putting away the groceries and had somehow pulled out a book of his own from nowhere and opened it to a page near the end. He was now on the other side of the kitchen standing in the living area and leaning against the counter from the opposite side. The kid stared at him the whole way around but tried to hide it by covering his face with his knees. He slowly leaned in a little closer to Jason.

After a good couple of minutes of Jason pretending to read his book and Alfred supposedly reading his, the kid started to calm down a bit. Enough to not be as tense and start fidgeting with his sleeves as his eyes start to move around the room, locking on a random object every once in a while. He was likely to try and avoid the awkward silence of this situation.

And one of the things he keyed onto was Alfred's book, or at least the cover of it. There was a good long minute of Jason pretending to read and glancing back and forth between the two as the kid stared.

Alfred looked up and slowly closed the book before holding it out in the kid's direction. "Do you want to take a look at it?"

The kid blushed slightly, likely at the realization he had been spotted, before turning his head away. "It's alright, it's one of my favorites. You should take a look at it." The kid stared at the man, almost as if trying to see if it was a trick or not. "May I come over?" He asked.

After another second of thinking, the kid nodded. His curiosity won him over. Alfred held out the book but stayed an arm's length away from him. The kid reached out and carefully grabbed the book, pulling it towards himself slowly, like he was scared he was going to break it. He ran his finger down the matte black cover and over the silver words scrawled across the front reading: A Study In Scarlet.

Alfred kneeled in front of the kid so that he was at eye level. "It's a book about a clever detective who solves crimes. I quite enjoyed it myself, though I wouldn't recommend using him as a role model." The kid slowly looked over to Jason as if to silently ask if accepting the book from Alfred was okay. Jason smiled slightly back at him, and the kid turned the book over to read the description on the back.

Once the kid had read the back of the book, a little quicker than Jason had expected after what had happened to him, he turned it over and opened it to the first page, opening it so delicately that it would've been almost impossible to break it. Once down the first page, the kid's eyes flicked over to the second one, and he nodded to himself, only momentarily looking up at Alfred or Jason before looking back down at the book.

Alfred takes the moment of the kid's calmness to speak up, "I heard you like puzzles."

The kid's eyes snapped back up to him. Alfred smiled softly as he tilted his head towards the puzzle box sitting on the armrest next to him, only halfway solved. "I enjoy a few puzzles myself. However, I do prefer the traditional jigsaw ones more. I like to do them on Sunday afternoons, with a cup of tea. Do you like tea?"

The kid looked off to the side and shrugged, it was less of an "I don't know what tea is" kind of shrug, and more of an "It's okay, I guess" shrug. Alfred just smiled and nodded.

"Well I would also like to meet you officially, what is your name, young man?" The kid hesitated, fingers running up and down the edge of the book's case, he looked down at it before trying to open his mouth. A low creaky sound came out of his throat and he flinched back slightly and grimaced at the sound. It sounded painful but also like someone who had swallowed broken glass and was trying not to cough.

"Oh, you poor thing-" Alfred started. The kid flinched slightly at the word 'thing', which made Jason all the more pissed off at whoever did this to him, green lingering brighter in the back of his vision. Alfred must have noticed it too, but chose not to bring attention to it. "Don't worry dear, you don't have to talk. You can write, yes?" The kid nodded.

Alfred glanced up at Jason, who immediately walked over to the drawer in the kitchen to grab a post-it note and pen. Jason can't believe he didn't think of this before! Of course, the kid could just write his name. He quickly handed it back over to Alfred who passed it to the kid.

The kid put the paper on his knee and held the pen a millimeter away from the note. He was probably thinking about whether or not this would be a good idea to tell them his name, which was probably understandable given what the kid might've gone through. He looked up between both of them and sighed before writing his name with a practiced ease.

Alfred slowly picked up the notepad off of the kid's knee, who didn't even flinch when Alfred touched him. The old man gave the boy a warm smile.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Danny." Alfred bowed his head, and the kid grinned.

Jason smiled to himself, glad to know the name of his kid.

Jason was leaning on the door frame of his apartment as Alfred walked out holding his, now empty, reusable bags that were neatly folded and placed over his arm. Alfred stopped just outside the door to look up at Jason.

"I suggest that you get that thing off of him as soon as possible. The poor boy won't feel safe with it on," Jason could immediately tell that Alfred was talking about the collar.

"Yeah, it's also blocking some sort of healing factor, he'll feel much better without it." Jason glanced back into the room where the boy was curled up on the couch with his lent book.

Alfred nodded, "You believe he has healing abilities?"

"Yeah, that and probably another shit load-…" Jason slowed at Alfred's disapproving look. "- a whole bunch of other abilities. Not sure yet. But Alfred, he feels, like me… I don't know how to explain it. But I can sense his emotions and he trusts me. It's like we're the same." Jason leaned his head back against the door frame. "I just wish I knew what to do."

"Master Jason," Alfred placed his hand on Jason's shoulder, causing his grandson to look him in the eye, "I am so proud of you for trying to take care of him, and you care deeply for this boy, I can see it. I'm sure you will be able to figure things out, and if you need any help, I'm only one phone call away. I'll be here as soon as I can, day or night. You are good for that boy. And he is lucky to have found you."

Jason smiled at his adopted grandfather. "Thanks, Alfred. For everything."

"I also think you know who you should ask about that collar," Alfred raised an eyebrow.

Jason gave a dry laugh. Yeah, he probably did, not that he was very happy about it. Alfred smiled and started walking away.

"And Alfie," Jason called out. "Please don't tell Bruce."

Alfred smirked back. "Wouldn't dream of it, Master Jason."

Authors notes

Beta Read by: Arvensia and BloodyBecauseYes

Hey guys! Lol sorry if this chapter is a little shorter than the other ones from this fic. I got really stuck on it and wanted to make sure to get Alfred's character good enough and have this interaction make sense. So I got a little writer's block. But we're good now! And the next chapter should be soon, love you all and hope you enjoyed this chapter :D

Please tell me what you thought. Your constant comments help keep me going! And who do you think Alfred's gonna ask for help? :3