Dick Grayson was alone. His mother and father were dead. They fell and left him, everyone had left him. A whimper and a sniffle filled the small room at the police station that the Commissioner had left him in.

Dick knew he was in an interrogation room, he saw one once on the television with his dad. It was where the bad people went when the police wanted to talk to them. Was he in trouble? Why would he be, though? It was his mommy and daddy who died. Or was it because of the man Mr. Haly was yelling at. He did see him leaving the tent when no one not in the circus should have been there.

Dick looked up at the door as it opened, showing the White and Red head of the Gotham City Police Commissioner. "Hello, Richard." The man greeted, a cup of something that smelt like cocoa in his hand. "I'm sorry you were left for so long." There was sadness in his voice and Dick wiped at his nose as the Commissioner slid the cup to him. It was cocoa and there was some real marshmallows in there, Dick almost smiled.

A hiccup escaped Dick's mouth before he could start to speak. "I-It's okay." Dick say silently before taking a sip of the warm chocolate, "Will I have to be here longer?"

The Commissioner cleared his throat and sat down by Dick. "Well, we should be able to let you go in the hour… But I'm afraid you can't go back to the circus right now?"

"What?! Why?!" Dick almost yelled, though it came out weak and screechy due to his earlier crying.

The Commissioner put his hand on Dick's shoulder, smiling sadly. "I'm sorry this happened to you, Richard; but someone wanted to hurt your family and it would be safer for you to be somewhere that they don't know…"

"So I'll have to live here?" Dick asked, not really liking that idea.

The Commissioner chuckled, "No, no, nothing like that. There's someone who has offered for you to stay at his home."

"Really? Who?" Dick asked, curiosity on who would offer something like that. Though he was young and raised in his circus, ten year old Dick Grayson knew that rarely people take in children out of the blue.

"I think it would be better if I let him introduce himself." The Commissioner made a signal to a camera and a few seconds later a slightly larger and dark man stepped into the room.

Though the man was obvious not a cop, Dick could see that he had some kind of powerful presence around him. Like how one of the animal trainers would carry their self around the big cats, dominating the area for superiority . "Hello, Richard, my name is Bruce Wayne."

"Hello Mr. Wayne." Dick said, recognizing the name as one of the names of the Guest of Honor's for what should have been that night's performance.

"Just call me Bruce, Richard." Bruce said with a smile, putting his hand out for Dick to shake when he approached the boy's chair.

"Only if you'll call me Dick" Dick said, a bit of a grin on his face as he took Bruce's hand. Not many adults outside the circus let Dick call them by their first name.

"That's a deal, Dick." Bruce said with a slight chuckle of amusement. "Has Commissioner Gordon told you about my offer to stay at home until they sort things out?"

Dick nodded, wondering if Bruce was genuinely being kind or hiding it. It greatly confused the boy that he could not tell; not that he was very good at reading people, but he was getting better than he used to be. "He mentioned it."

"Well, what do you say?" Bruce asked, "I live a little outside of Gotham, but there's plenty of room for you if you want."

Dick bit his bottom lip. If there was bad people who hurt his parents, he would want to be safe, right? And if the police trusted Bruce Wayne, maybe it would be best. "Just until I can go back to the circus, right?"

Bruce grinned and laughed a little as he replied, "Of course."

"Then I guess I should go." Dick said, remembering the crime show he had watched with his father, "Just until the cops get the bad guy."

The next morning Dick awoke to someone poking his shoulder. "Go away Ray… It's Tuesday I'm sleeping in."

A slightly deeper and unfamiliar voice laughed at him, startling Dick enough to open his eyes. It was not Ray who was poking his shoulder. It was an older boy with dark auburn hair, crouching on the balls of his feet to look directly at Dick. "Name's not Ray kid… Close though."

Dick rubbed his face on the pillow under his head, his voice muffled as he replied, "T-e -ell are -ou?"

"Don't let Alf hear you talk like that squirt." The stranger chuckled and then grimaced, "He'll wash your mouth out with soap… and then make a chocolate cake."

Dick looked at the boy, brow in thought as he studied him. "Why is chocolate cake bad?"

"Have you ever had your mouth washed out with soap?" Dick shook his head in response. "Then let me tell you, it tastes horrible. Not even cake can fix that, makes the cake taste like murky water."

"Eww." Dick said with a scrunched up face. He liked this stranger, though he wondered what he was doing in the room he was sleeping in. He was about to ask when he realized he was not in the room he fell asleep in. "Where am I?" He asked as he sat up, just then realizing he was on a couch.

"The library." The red haired boy responded, "I guess you couldn't sleep and migrated here in the night."

"Oh." Dick looked around. The library was huge, with a second floor and a spiral staircase. "I don't remember."

"Figured. You do remember you're at Wayne Manor though, right?"

"Of course I do." Dick huffed, sitting up on the couch.

"No need to be offended." The ginger grinned as he stood and stretched.

Dick watched the boy who now seemed to be almost a foot taller than him standing. "Who are you?"

"My name's Jason Todd." Said boy replied, a sideways grin on his face, "And you're Dick Grayson, right?"

"Yes…" Dick said, apprehensively. "Why are you here? Bruce didn't say was anyone else but him and Alfred here."

"Bruce is… Well, he's my foster parent." Jason said, looking at the ceiling. "I was on a trip with some friends, was not supposed to be home for a week or two but I got back early."

"Oh…" Dick said in reply. It would be nice to have someone else here, particularly if Bruce worked a lot. Not that Alfred was not fun… But he did not seem too talkative.

"Yep." Jason said, walking to the library doors, "Alf is making breakfast, don't wanna miss it while it's hot, do you Dickie-bird?"

Dick looked at the other boy, wondering why he called him 'Dickie-bird' of all things. No one had ever called him that before, but Dick decided right there he did not like it. He was about to make a comment on that when his stomach rumbled and Jason laughed. "Alfred doesn't like us to be late. Hurry before he packages it up for the gardeners." Jason then turned and ran down the hall. "Beat you there!" He called out, making Dick get up to race. He only realized when he took the wrong turn that he did not know where they were eating at.