"Perish the thought," Alfred said with a smirk.
- - -
Alfred managed to relax in his chair, smiling at the boy as he started to mumble to himself. The nurse from before, still clad in her duckling-covered scrubs, knocked before opening the door.
"How's it going in here?" she asked, glancing at Billy. "You're awake! Good. How are you feeling, sweetheart?" she asked, coming over and picking up the clipboard pinned to the end of the bed.
"Fine..." Billy said, receding into himself slightly.
"How's your side?" she asked, writing something down. "Any pain besides a dull thrum?" Billy shook his head.
"Good. What's your name, sweety?" she asked, meeting the boy's eyes. He glanced down, swallowing thickly and glancing at Alfred before looking at the nurse again.
"B-Billy."
"And your last name?"
"Batson..."
Alfred closed his eyes- Tim and Jason would have a field day with the irony in that name. He shook the thought from his head, opening his eyes and keeping them trained on the other two's conversation.
"And how old are you?" she asked, continuing to write things on her clipboard.
"Ten...and a half."
The nurse and Alfred both smiled as she wrote that down. "Alrighty, and do you have anybody we can call to come get you?" she asked, tilting her head slightly as her smile faltered.
She already knew the answer, but Billy must have had to confirm it. The raven glanced at Alfred before looking back at her.
"Actually, miss, I was planning on letting Billy here stay with me. Would that be alright?" Alfred asked, standing up and smoothing out his rumpled shirt.
The nurse blinked at him, a small smile appearing on her face. She glanced down at Billy, who was carefully avoiding her gaze with a small smile, before looking back into Alfred's eyes.
"We'll need to do a background check first and make sure everything checks out, but if it does, you can take him home in the morning," she told him, holding the clipboard close to her chest with a grateful look towards him.
"If I could just have your license, I can go run that and bring it right back."
Alfred dug out his old leather wallet and handed the woman his license. She smiled and thanked him before leaving the pair alone again. Billy glanced at him with slight confusion.
"You're sure about this?" he asked slowly. The elder man smiled, nodding and putting his wallet away.
"Absolutely. We have a deal, Willaim. I know it can be hard to trust people, but I mean it when I say I only want what's best for you."
Billy smiled to himself. "Okay. Two weeks and...and if I don't like it, you'll bring me back to Fawcett?" he asked, looking him in the eyes.
"I swear on the Queen."
That got a giggle out of the boy--and Alfred resolved himself right then and there that it was a sound that he would hear again. The boy's entire face lit up when he laughed, his shoulders bunching together as a glow seemed to almost appear around him.
Yes, he would definitely be trying his damndest to get this boy to smile more often.
Billy relaxed back in the hospital bed, the tension in his body relaxing slightly as a small, content smile appeared on his youthful face. They stayed quiet, neither wanting to speak and break up the easygoing air of the room.
The raven glanced up when the nurse came back, Alfred standing to get his license back. "Everything seems to check out, Mr. Pennyworth," she said with a smile.
"Please, give your boss my thanks," she said, glancing at the boy in the bed. "It's not often someone looks out for us foster kids," she said with a wink before leaving the room.
Billy furrowed his brow, looking up at the elder man. "Who's your boss?" he asked, sitting up more despite the pain. Alfred glanced back at him with an easy smile.
"You'll see soon enough. Why don't you get some rest? I have some things I need to take care of," Alfred said, pulling out his phone in example. Billy gave him an inquisitive look before nodding and laying back down.
"Mr. Alfred?" he said suddenly, his head pillowed as he looked at the butler. "Thanks..."
The silver-haired man smiled, nodding before leaving the room quietly.
Billy wasn't going to be able to leave until morning, which hopefully gave Alfred enough time to break the news to Bruce and the rest of the Wayne clan.
He pressed Bruce's contact number and put the device to his ear, waiting for the second ring. Bruce hardly ever picked up on the first, even if it was a call from him.
"Alfred?" came his employer's gruff voice, automatically telling the man that he was still currently clad in cape and cowl. Bruce had the habit of keeping the gruff voice on even in the presence of his family if under the cowl-- it was something he hadn't ever been able to keep from doing.
"Hello, sir. If you wouldn't mind taking off your headgear, I'd like to speak with the man I helped to raise," he said, glancing at a framed poster on the wall. There was shuffling over the line, likely Bruce tugging off the cowl before he spoke again.
"Better?" he asked, his voice sounding much less gruff and warmer. Alfred smiled.
"Much, sir."
"Why aren't you back yet? Did things go over well at the hospital?"
"Well...that's what I mean to talk to you about," Alfred said, beginning to pace outside Billy's room. "There were some...complications."
"What kind of complications?"
Alfred felt a small smile grace his lips. "Complications of the black-haired, blue-eyed kind." Bruce was quiet for a moment before a sigh could be heard from the line.
"...What's their name?"
"William...Batson."
Bruce groaned, making the butler smile wider. He paused in front of the boy's door, glancing at it. "He's a good child, Master Bruce. A tad rough around the edges, but he has a good heart," he was trying not to mention that the boy was homeless, as that would make Bruce's mind up in an instant and not give Billy any sort of way out.
"He's about Master Damien's age. Ten years."
Alfred could practically feel Bruce leaning back in his chair and rubbing a hand over his face in thought. "Is he a meta?" he asked after a moment.
Alfred glanced at the door. He wouldn't have assumed the boy was, what with how he acted. He definitely didn't have enhanced healing, so he was most likely just a headstrong boy with a protective spirit.
"I don't believe so."
"He would have to be strictly upstairs then."
"Sir-"
"No, Alfred I can't- I won't put any more kids in danger. If William comes here, there will be no bat-anything."
The aging butler sighed. That might be difficult, what with how much one life bled into the other-- Jason, in particular, had a habit of walking around partially in costume while in the manor when sleep-deprived or drunk.
"As you wish, sir."
"I'll get Dick to prepare a room."
"Yes sir- We'll see you all in the morning."
"Goodnight, Alfred."
"Goodnight, Sir."
The next morning saw sunlight streaming in through the thin white curtains of the hospital room, waking the aging butler with a start from his sleep. He sat up in the chair he'd ended up crashing in, using a hand to rub his eyes before looking around the room.
Billy was still asleep judging by the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest, He smiled at the sight- there was no telling the last time the boy slept in an actual bed. Alfred stood, popping his back and noting that he would regret choosing to sleep in a cramped chair later.
There was a knock at the door before the nurse from yesterday, this time clad in flower-covered scrubs, opened the door and came into the room quietly. She glanced at Billy before walking over to Alfred and handing him a clipboard.
"Looks like I caught you at a good time. Here are Billy's release papers-- just fill them out and you can take him home with you."
Alfred glanced down at the papers, getting a pen from the nurse and sitting back down to start filling it out.
She left him to his work and shortly afterBily shifted in bed. He yawned, opening his eyes slowly and blinking up at the ceiling.
He stretched, wincing at his side before looking around from where he lay. He spotted Alfred and his eyes widened in shock, almost like he hadn't expected the old man to be there when he woke up.
Alfred filed that information away for later before letting the clipboard rest in his lap. "Good morning, William," he said with a small smile.
"I'm not gonna lie, I thought last night might've been a dream..." the ten-year-old said, sitting up against his pillows. "Hey, my side doesn't hurt as bad today," he said, lifting his shirt- one that was still stained with blood, mind you, and glancing down at the stitches in his abdomen.
"I'm glad, but try not to stretch too much. You could pull them loose," Alfred said, turning his attention back down towards the paperwork in front of him.
He finished it after a moment, the boy staying quiet as he slowly woke up. The only sounds in the room were the rustling of paper and Billy's occasional yawn before the boy suddenly spoke up.
"We can go get my stuff before you take me to...wait, where are you taking me anyway?" he asked, tilting his head slightly in question.
Alfred glanced up and met the boy's eyes. "Gotham."
Billy paled-- not the reaction he had participated. "I- I can't go to Gotham-" Billy said, fear sparking in his eyes. This only served to confuse the man more-- why would he fear being in Gotham?
"You'll be safe, William, you don't have to worry about that," he said. Nowhere safer than the house of Batman himself.
"It's...it's not that..." Billy said, glancing away.
Alfred could tell that the boy wasn't going to give up his reason easily, so he tried to make the best of the situation. "Trust me, you'll like Gotham. You know that's where Batman lives, correct? Maybe you'll see him."
He furrowed his brows at the soft, barely registerable "I hope not..." from the child.
Alfred glanced down at his clipboard, signing his name at the bottom of the page. "Trust me, William. It'll be okay," he said, standing up.
"Why don't we go get your things, hm?" he asked, walking to the door with the clipboard in hand and holding out his hand for Billy to take.
The boy slid off the edge of the bed, slipping on the worn tennis shoes that Alfred would definitely be replacing as soon as they got to the manor, before walking over to him and hesitantly slipping his hand into Alfred's.
"Off we go, then."
- - -