katleept

Title: "Lest The World Find Us"
Author: Pirate Turner
Rating: PG
Summary: Alfred finds his young master shortly after his parents' cruel murders, comforts him, and wonders.
Warnings: None
Word Count: 680
Date Written: 26 January, 2011
Disclaimer: Bruce "Batman" Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, and all other characters mentioned within are © & TM DC comics, not the author; are used without permission; and may not be used without permission. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.

He slipped into the room as quietly as a thief in the night. It took but a second for his caring, blue eyes to sweep around his surroundings and locate the subject of his thoughts. He smiled with a sad fondness at the light he saw shining in the big, lonely bed. His steps fell quietly across the hard, wood floor as he approached, and with each step he remembered a time, a happier time, a time filled with love.

It seemed impossible to the butler that the lord and his lady should be gone, their lives having ended so quickly. He was well aware that Master Wayne had risked his life every night, but his wife's cold-hearted murder caused by a chance passing in the alley was something neither of them had seen coming. They should have been safe, he thought, and yet instead they were gone, leaving behind their child to the hands of a man who was ill prepared to step up to be a father.

His old hands seized the edge of the blanket, and he paused as he wondered what he would find beneath. Was little Bruce still crying his heart out? How did you comfort a child who had lost his own world and had his innocence stripped from him at such a tender age? How did you find a silver lining to present for reassurance when your own world was completely black?

Alfred was still hesitating when a small, tousled head stuck out from just underneath the side of the blanket. "Sh," Bruce whispered, pressing a finger to his lips. "Hurry up and come underneath here before they find you."

"Before who finds me, Master Bruce?" Alfred queried, caught between believing the child was hiding from the news reporters that had done their best to hound every second of their day since his parents' murders had been revealed or keeping hidden from the ruthless murderer who was still loose on the streets and would remain so without Bruce's father alive to put him back behind bars where he belonged.

Actually, Alfred thought, with a strange coldness slithering icily through his previously kind and altruistic heart, where the killer belonged was six feet under. He'd not allow him any lesser a sentence, if he had any say in the matter, after he had slaughtered his best friend and one of the kindest, gentlest ladies he'd ever known.

Bruce blinked, and Alfred was startled from his thoughts and stricken by how large and watery the child's eyes seemed in the dark without shedding a tear. They peered up at him, huge and unsuspecting, like two crystal, blue lakes shimmering in a dark sea of foreboding and death. "Before the world finds us again," he whispered. "My cave is safe. They can't find us here." He slid over underneath the blankets, gesturing for Alfred to join him.

His cave? Alfred wondered if the small boy could even begin to grasp the importance of that turn of phrase. Could he possibly have guessed that his father was the Batman and that his Batcave was his secret lair and headquarters, from whence he protected their whole world? He gazed into the boy's huge, baby blues in search of the answer and found only scared innocence.

With a sigh, Alfred slipped underneath the blankets and took little Bruce into his arms. Bruce turned off his flashlight and snuggled into him, enjoying the smell of his Old English cologne though he only knew it as Alfred's scent and nothing more at that innocent time. "Good," he whispered. "We can stay together, and the world won't find either one of us now."

Alfred stroked his back. "That is indeed quite correct, young Master Wayne," he whispered. "We are safe together." As he spoke the words, for the first time since losing his best friend, Alfred began to believe that just perhaps there might be a silver lining to this darkest of days after all. {I shall not let you down, Master Wayne,} he thought silently and held to the child all night long.

The End