One on One [Alfred]

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

Ok, ok. He could have been doing his work over at the bunker. But it felt a bit crowded there. More noise than people. He couldn't concentrate. And before he would open his mouth and say something he might regret, Dick left the team to their own works for the early more shift.

Dick had the weekend off from his police patrols. So, picking up extra work with the Outsiders were in order. And...this left him staying up all night of course.

Not uncommon for his line of work. But he had taken the time to patrol his city first until later that night. Came to Gotham and did a quick sweep and catch up with the new files the team had gathered that week.

And now he was left updating some of the info he hadn't gotten to himself that week.

He didn't want to hear it from Bruce over the lack of details and reports. Not like everything was in writing. But the important information that would come in handy for any case ties.

And with Jason being a part of this now, he wanted as much distance as he could get that morning.

Then day Roy and Kory sprung this on him had been the evening after their rooftop reunion. And it had started with knocking Jason off the roof.

Dick sat at the computer, his eye mask removed and his gloves off to the side of the computer as he worked. He'd had to travel back to Kory's at some point. He promised her he'd help her clean up the apartment and take her out to lunch that day.

And here he was....at 5am in the morning, still on the computer. Bruce was probably already getting on to start his day with meetings. And Tim was probably still in bed trying to get what little sleep he could. Wait it was the weekend, the kid was probably going to try and sleep in today.

Meanwhile, here sat Dick at the mainframe of the bat computer. Typing away at all that he could remember from that weeks work. Roy could go over it later if he missed anything.

Dick had been up for two days now. There had been a major showdown in Bludhaven between a few gangs. And he had stopped every fight he could from in breaking out into a war. Leaving them with the message that he was watching and would stop them. Seemed to go over after about five hours of going through out the town to end the scheduled fights that seemed to be taking place.

Sitting back into the large chair for a minute, Dick rubbed his eye with one hand as he tried to keep his head clear. He couldn't sleep yet. He had work to do. And people to meet later.

[Deleted]

Alfred found he couldn't sleep that night. He tried in vain but as the hours crept towards 3 A.M he decided that he was wasting time tossing to and fro in bed and decided just to get ready that day.

At 64, he thought to himself, he was entitled to a midday nap if that's what had to happen later that day though he sincerely doubted that it would. He preformed morning tasks, seeing Master Bruce only briefly dodge out of the suggestion of breakfast yet again. Sometime around the later end of four A.M he prepared breakfast anyway, just encase. Sometimes Master Bruce would stop in to check the scanners between meetings, Alfred imagined it was hard on Bruce to act stupid for several hours a day. Anyone would need a break from that.

He made his way down into the batcave, stepping gently and cautiously down the steps. There was really no need for these dastardly steps to be so dimly lit. Bruce would have made a good stage artists in another life. Alfred briefly thought he might have dropped the ball on that. He could have nudged the young boy who had the foundations of his life torn away towards the theatre. Ah, but...looking at the past that way was wearing rose tinted glasses. Alfred would have only been an obstacle to Bruce then; another hardship. Assisting young Master Bruce,even towards such a grim life, was the only thing he could have done...Alfred told himself that. He told himself and he believed himself,if only for the benefit of his own conscious.

He was not surprised to see the pale yet harsh light of the computer on but he was (mildly) surprised to see Dick in front of it.

"Ah, Young Master, it looks like today is your lucky day," He quipped, once he done walking down the steps. He brought the silver platter down on the flat table like surface of the super computer. There really shouldn't be food near such equipment but he's the one who would be dusting and removing the crumbs anyway.

Just some wheat toast cut in diagonally so that they resembled triangle (scientifically proven to make bread more delicious), with jam from a farmer's market outside of Gotham where there were farms not near a nuclear waste dump or a sewage deposit. And a glass of orange juice that was filled almost to a top that Alfred did not slash a drop of, "Breakfast in bed."

Alfred's tone, while lighthearted, suggested a mixture of concern and disapproval.

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

"My luck has yet to start. There's a while's work left to report updates for the Outsiders," Dick replied. Which wasn't any sort of code. He just meant it might be another hour.

Dick leaned back forward to the computer. Starting to type away again as Alfred made way towards him. He wasn't just updating his case. There were a few more team files open. There were assignment he had checked over that were training exercise.

"More like breakfast on the go unless I'm here for another hour," he said. "Thanks Alfred."

He took note of the plater that had been set near by. There really wasn't a time he wouldn't take the chance to thank Alfred. That man has done far beyond the call of duty as a butler.

As he typed away, another file popped up on his searches through the Outsiders database. Dick tried to keep himself from groaning over the find that someone had not filled a bit more work.

"Early start for you as well," Dick asked.

[Deleted]

"Not any more so than usual," Alfred brushed the question off breezily. He didn't need to worry the boy about the sleeping problems of an old man, especially since Dick looked like he was having some sleeping problems of his own.

He grinned despite himself, clasping his hands behind his back and taking a few steps back as to not hover over Dick as he worked.  Even though breakfast rarely got eaten in the Batcave, he knew Bruce and Dick both appreciated the gesture. It was more for moral support than it was for nutritional support.

"Do try and get some food into you sometime today. Some real food," He added, sounding like he assumed Dick survived on stale police donuts and left over pizza.

Alfred glanced over what the younger man was working on. This scene was all too familiar to the butler who frequently watched Master Bruce pour over similar looking files in what little free time he had. Alfred had, early on in Bruce's crime fighting career, offered many times to do it for him but Bruce would always decline the offer. Because of this, Alfred assumed this sort of thing was therapeutic to Bruce,

Was it the same for Dick? Knowing the boy the way he did, Alfred doubted it.

"Master Richard, if I may, what's the point in having a team if you can't delegate that more time consuming tasks towards them? The world will be just fine if Nightwing," He paused, "If Richard Grayson had himself a decent amount of sleep, three square meals and a hobby that didn't involve sulking about in an underground cave at ungodly hours of the morning. Not that I'm not delighted to see you, young sir," He added with slight exasperated smile.

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

"I do get coffee through the day. I thought that counted as nutrition as well," Dick joking replied.

Sure he could get coffee through work at the police station. Though he kind of figured what Alfred was referring to. The days of raising like likes of Dick had consisted of wanting to get pizza quite a bit. Especially during his returning breaks when he had been leading the Titans.

Sitting there going through files was like the paper work the higher up officers like to pass down to the rookies on the force. But he would grin and bear it.

He may not be the leader of the Outsiders, but he had to carry his weight since he often ran off on his own missions as well. Dick knew Roy would do the sea as well. AS muchas he knew Roy rather be performing and practicing.

"Oh, trust me. We have our ways of us all doing the work," Dick replied. "Who said I didn't enjoy brooding in caves?" A slight smirk came to his face knowing that's what everyone said Batman was like. Brooding all the time. Well a lot of people did that knew him.

"Like they say, old habits die hard," Dick replied. Making mention to the fact that he had been doing this a lot since he had first came into the care of Bruce and Alfred.