If You Could Turn Back Time

Ch 9

August 16

Alfred's return to the manor just happened to be late on the evening of Jason's birthday. As soon as the man stepped out of the taxi and onto the doorstep of the manor he was mobbed with hugs.

To say Bruce was relieved to have the butler home again would be an understatement. Now he could finally relax and breathe a sigh of relief.

Jason, on the other hand, was filled with energy. All he wanted to do was tell Alfred everything about everything that had happened while the butler had been in England.

"Alfred, guess what? I started training with Bruce, and Dickie and I got to go spend the day with the young justice, and we all got sick, and—

"Woah Jay, don't overwhelm the poor man." Bruce interrupted, seeing as Jason probably had enough, 'and then we did' statements to last a good hour or more.

"Well that sure sounds exciting." Alfred said. "Let's go inside and see what sort of mess awaits me."

Bruce's eyes widened. 'The sass of this man...'

The family made their way back inside.

Bruce and Jason had spent the entirety of the previous day cleaning up all the messes that they had managed to make over the span of a week. Everything looked spotless to them, but it probably wouldn't get the Alfred seal of approval until the butler went through and recleaned everything himself.

The four set down together in the dining room a few minutes later for tea, or in Dick's case, a bottle.

"How was England Alfred?" Jason asked eagerly, once they were all sipping on their provided beverages.

"It was much the same as I last left it. Oh how I do enjoy visiting the old country." Alfred said with a sigh. "Perhaps some time we shall all go together." He mused.

There was a moment of silence before Alfred spoke again. "How were things in Gotham? Oh, and might I add, happy birthday master Jason."

"The kids and I all got sick for a few days, but Dinah and the young justice stepped in to help us out." Bruce said, deliberately avoiding the fact that both Jason and Dick had puked on the carpet in the family room, and he wasn't 100% sure whether he'd managed to actually get it all cleaned up.

"Ya!" Jason exclaimed. "I got to go train with Dinah in mount justice... I told the team that I would be the new Robin, and Kid Flash didn't seem too excited about that." Jason said, "It's ok though, because I'll be working mostly with Bruce not them, so it doesn't really matter what he thinks."

"It sounds like you have all had a very eventful week." Alfred said, taking another long sip of tea.

"You could say that." Bruce said, noticing that Dick had fallen asleep in his lap. He grabbed Dick's bottle and set it on the table. " I think I'll go put Dickie in his crib. He's been pretty tired this entire week." Bruce said, scooping Dick up in his arms and heading to the nursery to put him to bed.

When Bruce came back downstairs Jason's head was drooping, falling down towards his chest slightly, before he'd jerk it back up and blink back awake.

"Jay, do you need to go to bed? You look pretty tired." Bruce said, sliding back into his seat.

"I am kinda tired." Jason trailed off.

"Well, I hope you aren't too tired for gifts." Alfred said, pulling a thin package out of his suit coat pocket and handing it over to Jason.

Jason thanked Alfred and gave him a large hug before opening the package. Inside the package there was a short note, as well as a book of assorted poetry.

A smile spread across Jason's face when he saw the book, and his eyes widened with joy. "Thank you so much Alfred!" Jason said again, giving the man another hug.

"Are you ready for my present now Jay?" Bruce asked, smiling as he watched Jason flip through the pages of his new book.

"Oh." Jason said, closing the book. "Yes."

Bruce stood up and led Jason down to the batcave, Alfred having excused himself to go to bed.

When they were finally down there, Bruce handed Jason a plain brown box.

Jason looked at the box, wondering what could possibly be inside. He held it for a moment before taking off the lid and gasping in wonder. His eyes went wide as he took in the sight of a red uniform with a black cape. He traced a finger over the bright yellow R on the chest of the uniform.

Bruce smiled, loving watching Jason's reaction to the new Robin suit. "Well, go try it on." He encouraged.

Jason rushed off to get changed, returning almost as quickly, this time fully decked out in his Robin outfit.

"Does it fit?" Bruce asked.

"It fits perfectly!" Jason said, doing a few cartwheels around to show how well the fabric stretched and moved with him.

"Good. Now, Robin, I think it's time for you to go to bed." Bruce said with a smile.

Jason let out a tired yawn. "Ya. Alright." He quickly changed back into his regular clothes before heading towards the stairs up to the manor. Before he got all the way there, he turned and rushed back, wrapping Bruce in a hug. "Thank you." He breathed.

Hello everyone, I have decided to publish my one shots, simply because I already wrote them, and there might be someone who enjoys them. So if you feel like checking that out it's just called Dick Grayson One Shots.

Also, this next chapter is gonna be a bit of a rollercoaster... so prepare yourselves.