The boy scowled.
"But it's not even grass!"
"Smoking tobacco is just as bad for you as smoking ...grass, if not more. I've told you this before, Jason..."
Bruce Wayne watched Jason scowl again, and nodd grudgingly.
"...You're gonna dock m'allowance again?"
"I'm afraid so. - If you have that hard a time quitting cold turkey, you really should try those nicotine patchs."
Jason sighed.
"That stuff makes me dizzy."
"Hmph. Then maybe those pipes which gradually decrease inhaled nicotine might be better?"
"...Alright, I'll try those."
Jason muttered under his breath.
"C'n I go now?"
"Very well. Don't forget what I told you, now!"
"Yeah, yeah..."
Bruce watched Jason wander off in the general direction of the garden, and sighed.
And he'd thought Dick was a handfull...
"It is a wonder that boy still has any allowance left to "dock", Master Bruce."
...And here was the other constant in his life, for better or for worse.
"Alfred, stop doing that."
"Doing what, Master Bruce?"
Bruce simply sighed to that.
"I'm letting him pay back his "docked" money in monthly installments, of course - he wouldn't have anything left, otherwise. He's still paying back for those silver utensils he pilfered, you know that."
They'd gotten then back, of course, but it was the principle of the thing.
And now it was Alfred's turn to sigh.
"...You really are too kind, Master Bruce."
Bruce groaned under his breath. Look, Alfred, it was your idea to take him in in the first place, remember?"
"...What if he was a relative of some kind, Alfred? We wouldn't even think of leaving him without any allowance at all then, right?"
Alfred didn't look very happy about that, either.
"On the other hand, his tutors are saying he can actually read the newspaper without much problem now..."
"...Improvement is always good, Master Bruce."
Alfred maintained stonily.
"Indeed it is, Alfred."
Though what he was actually going to do about the boy's education...
Dick had been undereducated, to say the least, but he hadn't seemed to have all those additional problems Jason had, at least.
"...Umh?"
Oops, his mobile was ringing...
"Yes, this is Bruce Wayne speaking, what can I... Oh. Oh really. That's...very good. Yes? And how...hmmmm..."
Good news at last!
"Hey Jason! Alfred, could you call Jason back..."
But the boy had already heard, and was heading back towards the living room.
"...Yes?"
"Good news, Jason, we've found your mother!"
Alfred chocked. Bruce wondered why.
"...What? ...But..."
And just why was Jason looking at Alfred like that, anyway?
"...She wasn't in very good shape, so they had to take her to a hospital, but she'll be all right. ...Ahhh, Alfred?"
"Ahhh."
Alfred coughed.
"Master Jason had asked me to look for his mother some time before, but I had been unable to find her, I'm afraid. You must have better sources then I do, Master Bruce."
...Oh.
"...Um."
Jason hesitated.
"Does she need, um, Rehab?"
"...Ahh...probably. The doctors seem to think it'll be better if you saw her, you know, afterwards..."
"What kinda doctors? All they did was put her on traqs before..."
Bruce sighed, again.
"...I'm having her transferred to one of WayneCorp's rehab centers, all right? She'll get taken cared of properly, then. And I'll find her a job afterwards too, so don't worry about that."
Something easy, that came with food and board would be better, probably.
"...Actually, I was thinking about finding her some work at the center itself, actually."
Which would make things much easier when - sadly, he didn't think it was "if" - the woman fell off the wagon again and had to be bundled back on.
"...Oh. Um."
Jason's face tried to work itself into a rather unfamiliar expression, then.
"...Thank you?"
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(Posted Fri, 28 Apr 2006 11:13)
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