Title: Alfred - posted 2004
Series:  Beginnings (Shadows and Stone)
Author: Lacey McBain
Rating:  G.  Alfred, Bruce.
Summary:  Alfred gets ready to send a reluctant nine year old Bruce off to school at Excelsior Prep.
Disclaimer:  Everyone belongs to someone else.
***

Beginnings:  Alfred

Alfred stood at the top of the staircase and listened to the silence.  It never ceased to amaze him how quickly and quietly a nine year-old boy could disappear.

"Master Bruce?" he called, not really expecting an answer.  Alfred turned down the upper hallway, glancing into the open doorways as he made his way down the hall.  He noticed the drapes drawn around the window seat, and slowed his pace.

"Master Bruce?" he called again.  The boy was getting much better at stealth.  Alfred expected it was only a matter of time before Bruce would learn to move completely silently throughout the manor.  Alfred laid a hand lightly on the heavy drapery and pulled it aside.  Dark-haired, dark-eyed and completely unapologetic, Bruce scowled up at him.

"Here you are," Alfred said kindly, ignoring the petulant look of his young charge. He tucked the curtains back and let the gray light from the window spill into the hallway.  Alfred settled down on the other end of the window seat.  "Are you all packed?"

Bruce nodded, and went back to looking out the window.  Grey rain dripped down the glass, following the beaded lines of lead.  Bruce traced a finger against the window pane.

"Master Bruce, it's an excellent school.  You'll have a chance to meet other young men your age instead of being trapped in this draughty house with me.  You'll make friends."

"No, I won't," Bruce said bitterly.  Alfred held back a sigh.  Being a butler in a household was a far cry from raising a child, and he hadn't anticipated on becoming Bruce's legal guardian.  He had never thought that Thomas and Martha Wayne would not be there to raise their only son.

"Why would you say that?" Alfred asked, already knowing the answer.

"Because it's true.  I don't get along well with children."

"You're still a child yourself."  Alfred knew better than to smile.  Bruce was entirely serious, as only a nine year old could be, and Alfred couldn't dispute that there was some truth in Bruce's words.  Other children he'd known were never this smart, this headstrong.  Some days he was at a complete loss as to what to do for him.

"It doesn't feel like it.  Not since ..."  Alfred watched Bruce struggle with the words.  It hadn't been that long since he'd seen his parents murdered in front of him.  Alfred knew the facts of the crime, knew the events as they had been reported by the newspapers, the police.  He suspected the content of Bruce's dreams, had been awakened more than once by muffled screams in the night, but the boy refused to discuss the events with anyone.

Alfred secretly hoped that he would find someone at school--a friend, a confidante, someone who could share some of the despair that Bruce carried inside--even though it was a terrible burden to wish on another child.  Alfred hoped he would meet someone of equal strength and character, someone who might sustain him down the dark and lonely paths that he had to tread.

Alfred stretched out a comforting hand and laid it on Bruce's arm.  Alfred was never certain if Bruce was going to allow the touches or not.  He had been so withdrawn and isolated since his parents' deaths.  Alfred worried about what kind of man he would grow into with only an aging butler and a household staff to guide him, and so he had decided to send Bruce away to school.

"You'll be able to continue your studies in the martial arts," Alfred said, knowing it sounded more like a bribe than anything else.  "And you'll have the opportunity to study Mandarin as well."

Bruce continued to stare out the window, but Alfred knew he had gotten the boy's attention.  Since his parents had taken him on an Asian tour when he was three, the boy had been crazy about all things from the Far East.  Bruce's parents had indulged that interest and Alfred continued to provide opportunities for Bruce to expand his knowledge in those areas.  Sometimes Alfred forgot that Bruce was only nine when he watched him calmly moving through the Tai Chi forms.  Alfred could see how easily Bruce could also forget that, to the rest of the world, he was only a child.

Alfred looked at Bruce carefully.  "It will be good for you to be among young people again."

"Boys with mothers and fathers and families," Bruce said bitterly.

"One rarely finds comfort in self-pity," Alfred said, and Bruce's head snapped around.  "You are not the only child who has lost someone, and maybe it's time that you remember that, Master Bruce.  You must give people a chance.  Give yourself a chance."

Alfred stood up.  "Now, the car is here and ready to take you to school.  Cook has packed a lunch for you, and the staff are waiting to say good-bye."

Alfred softened his tone.  "We will miss you, Master Bruce.  The house will seem empty without you, but you may call anytime and I will come to see you on visiting weekends.  Before you know it, you'll be settled in and not missing us at all."

Bruce shook his head, but stood to follow Alfred.

"What if it's terrible, Alfred?" Bruce said, in a voice that sounded younger than usual, more like the nine year old boy that he was.

Alfred dropped an arm around Bruce's shoulders, pleased when the boy stepped into his arm, allowing the closeness.

"If it is terrible, then you will come home, and we will explore other options.  But give it a chance, Master Bruce.  You might be surprised."

Bruce looked up at him and nodded.  He didn't pull away even as they headed down the sweeping staircase.

The END

Feedback to Lacey
Return to Beginnings Page
Return to Shadows and Stone Page
Return to Lacey's Smallville Page