*peeks out from behind a wall* H-hi guys. im back and i brought a peace offering. here's the next story in my trilogy. if you're new here then you might want to read Can I before you read this or you're going to be soooo confused. As for all you that were probably sharpening your pitchforks and getting the mob together, i hope this will change your minds.

So again i don't own young justice... and you probably wouldn't want me too... but anyway there's that.

so enjoy the new story and im gonna attempt to do like i did on the last story and try to get a chap up each day til its finished, but i didnt get this one wrote a head of time like the last one, but i promise, cross my heart and hope to die, that i will get the chaps up quickly. well enough of my talking u want to see wat happens.

How Could I?

Bruce sat at his desk in the mansion just staring at the picture of him and Dick. It had been a month since he left Dick at the orphanage, and ever since, he was regretting every minute of it. He didn't want to give Dick up, but he was so convinced that it would be for the better if Dick lived with a different family.

Alfred walked in carrying a cup of coffee. He and Bruce hadn't been talking that much since Dick left, so when he got to Bruce's desk, he just glared at him. "Here's your coffee, Master Bruce."

"Thank you, Alfred," he tried to say, but Alfred was already back out the door. Bruce sighed then got up and went down to the Batcave. He hoped that he could find something to get his mind off of the whole situation.


Alfred walked back into the living room and saw some things that needed dusting, so he grabbed a duster and got to work. Just before he finished dusting the first item, the phone went off. He sat the duster down and walked calmly to the phone. "Wayne residence."


"Master Dick," Alfred smiled, "so good to hear from you again."

"Yeah, it's good to hear your voice again, too. Is Bruce around?" Dick asked. He sounded like he was scared or in a hurry, Alfred couldn't really tell which.

"I'll have to see. Hold on a moment."


Alfred sat the phone down on the table then headed for the study. When he walked in, he saw that Bruce was gone, so he walked over to the clock and tried the Batcave. As he walked off the elevator, he saw that the computer was on, but saw no Bruce. He walked over to the computer and called Bruce.

"What do you want?" Bruce asked none too nicely.

"Sir, you have a call."

"Tell them I'll call them back."

"But, Sir, it's…"

"Alfred, I'm busy," Bruce said before he cut off the call.

Alfred slammed his fist down on the keyboard. "Blast!" He then glared at the screen like everything was its fault. "Master Bruce, just because you made the mistake of getting rid of your son, it does not give you the right to go ignoring everyone you come in contact with!" He then sighed and walked back to the elevator so he could get back to Dick's phone call.

He slowly put the phone back to his ear. "Master Dick?"

"I'm still here. Where's Bruce?"

"I'm afraid Master Bruce is busy at the moment. He'll have to call you back. Could I…"

"Kid, what did I tell you about making unexpected calls?" Another male voice range out over the line.

"Who on earth was that?" Alfred asked both confused and a bit worried.

"Sorry, Alfred, I got to go."

"Master Dick?" Alfred tried, but the line was already dead. He walked over to the tall windows, looked out at the night sky, and sighed. "Master Dick, what's going on?"


Bruce walked into the dining room the next morning, sat down and picked up the paper to read it like always, and waited for his breakfast.

He'd gotten through the current news articles and was half way through the sports section before he realized that Alfred still hadn't brought either his coffee or his breakfast. "Alfred?"

Bruce called out. When he got no response, he stood up and walked toward the kitchen. "Alfred, where's my breakfast? I have to be at work in forty-five minutes."

Again he got no response. As he looked around the kitchen, his eyes fell on a small piece of paper on the counter. He went over, picked it up, and read:

Master Bruce,

Went to see Master Dick. Something's not right. He
called last night wanting to speak with you, but you
were too busy being angry with yourself to care. He
sounded scared, Sir. I really wish you would talk to
him. He's been trying to get a hold of you for the
past three weeks.

There's bread on the counter and butter in the fridge,
so you can make toast if you want to eat before work.


Bruce clenched his fist, with the note still in his hand, and closed his eyes. He felt horrible. He then slowly unclenched his fist and finally went over to the counter to put some bread in the toaster.

He read through the note again as he ate his toast. 'What does he mean something's not right?' He put the note in his pants pocket, put the bread and butter away, grabbed his stuff, and went to work. He'd have to ask Alfred about it later.


Bruce sat at the table in one of the conference rooms in the Wayne Tech. building for their weekly, afternoon, meeting, but he was very distracted.

"Mr. Wayne, what do you think?" Bruce just continued to stare at the table top, his chin resting on his fist. "Mr. Wayne?" Tom, the one talking, placed a hand on Bruce's shoulder. "Mr. Wayne?"

Bruce jumped at the contact and stared up at Tom. "Wha… Oh, sorry," he said then looked around at the others in the room. They all looked back at him concerned.

"Are you ok, Mr. Wayne?" a woman, who was sitting next to him, asked concerned.

"I don't know, Cindy," Bruce confessed. He got up and went over to the window to look out. "My butler left me a note this morning saying that Dick has been trying to get a hold of me for the past three weeks. He also said something about something being wrong, like Dick was in trouble." He turned around to see everyone looking at him concerned and sad. "I haven't talked to Alfred since last night, and even then I wasn't the nicest. He was trying to tell me that Dick was on the phone, but I was too mad at myself to listen and I…" Bruce couldn't continue and looked away from them.

Cindy walked over and placed a hand on Bruce's shoulder. "It's going to be ok, Bruce. I'm sure he's fine."

"Yeah," Tom agreed. "And if you feel that bad about it, why don't you just go and see if you can get him back?"

This made everyone, including Bruce, look up at him. "I can't," Bruce said quietly and looked away once again. "If I went back now, I'll just be placing him in the same situation as before. He's not safe with me." Everyone remained quiet. "I'm sorry, everyone," he said looking up at them, "but I just can't do this right now."

"It's ok," Cindy replied. "We'll reschedule the meeting for another day."

Bruce gave her a small smile and saw everyone else nod in agreement. "Thank you." And with that, he walked out of the room and back to his office.

When he walked in, he saw a man standing there waiting for him. He glared at the man as he walked past him and sat down at his desk. "What do you want, Kent?" he asked none to friendly.

"Bruce, we're all concerned about you," Clark said referring to him and the rest of the original members of the League.

"I'm fine," Bruce said in his usual, stubborn voice.

"No, you're not," Clark responded, getting mad. He then lowered his voice and leaned on Bruce's desk to get closer. "We've been watching you. For the past three weeks, you've been getting more aggressive to the point that the criminals here in Gotham don't want to show their faces anymore. Plus, you haven't been to the mountain to give the kids any missions. Bruce, you have to get over yourself. You're the one that got rid of Dick. He didn't die, run away, or anything of his free will. You did it so you have to live with what you did."

Bruce was glaring at the Kryptonian. "Get out of my office," he said, voice low.

"No, not until you do something to get over this."

"Kent, what I did, I did for him."

"Oh really. So he wanted to leave his friends, his family to go live with some strangers that he's probably never met before?" Clark was starting to raise his voice again. He pushed away from the desk and just stared at Bruce waiting for his answer.

Bruce lost the glare and just stared at his desk. "Clark, he's not safe with me."

Clark punched Bruce right in the chin, not hard, but hard enough to get his point across. Bruce went flying into the wall behind him then stared up at a very mad Kryptonian. "What the heck was that for?!"

"Not safe! Bruce, you're the gosh dang Batman! How is he not safe with you! You're probably the toughest one out of all of the League!"

Bruce just looked away, still rubbing his chin. He was so glad that the walls of his office were sound proof, or he'd have a really bad situation on his hands. The room was silent for a few minutes, and Bruce was glad for that. Clark just stared at Bruce. "Alright, I see your point," he said as he got up off the ground, "but that doesn't change the fact that he gets hurt, kidnapped…"

"Stop it!" Clark yelled, interrupting him. "We've, no, I've had enough of your sorry excuses for something that never should've happened. If you didn't want Dick, you shouldn't have took him in in the first place. And now, after four years you decide to just give him up? Why take him back to the orphanage? You had all of us in the League who would've gladly taken him in. Why didn't you talk to us about it first? That way he would still be with his friends and family, and he'd still get to see the traitor that he called father."

Bruce stared at him surprised. He had never thought about letting Dick stay with any other Leaguer. He was so sure that his only way to help Dick would be to send him back to the orphanage so that he could get away from all the dangers of his life.

Clark could see the realization etched on Bruce's face as he thought about what he just said. "Bruce, go back down to that orphanage and bring Dick home."

"If you were so worried about him, why didn't you go and adopt him, or one of the other Leaguers?" Bruce said with a bit of a bite.

"Because, we knew that if we did that, you'd threaten us and still found a way to get Dick back in that orphanage," Clark said with a low voice that sounded almost as dark as Batman's voice.

Bruce walked away from the Kryptonian and over to the window. He stared out over the city in thought. He then turned back around to Clark. "Clark, you're right. I'm falling apart without him in my life. I've made myself miserable as well as Dick, I'm sure." Clark smiled. "I'm going down to that orphanage and bringing my son home." Bruce grabbed his jacket from the desk and ran out the door. "Thanks, Clark."

Clark just watched him leave, a satisfied smile on his face. He knew that he had finally won a battle with the dark knight, and this was one fight that he was determined to win. "Anytime."

Well there you go. are you happier at me now? o i hope you are. i felt bad about doing that to u guys, but hey, thats business write :) well review and tell me what you think about this chapter. Thankx :)