A/N: Painfully short, for that, my apologies. This whole chapter was just an excuse for Alfred's closing line. As usual, I do not own Batman/Superman or anything of that ilk and this is all for fun. Peace out

Clark didn't see Bruce for two more weeks, two very busy weeks. Gotham was under heavy fire from its criminal underbelly, one of its more regular attempts to bring down the bat, and as usual, Bruce would not accept any help in dealing with the problem. It did not mean however, he wouldn't check up on him.

He'd kill him, he'd literally kill him. After he recovered from the broken ribs and concussion. Batman had been on the trail of a double homicide for three weeks, all the markers pointed to the same tactic's as an early Joker killing, however both bodies had broken spines, something that did not sit with him very well. It was a message, it would be pointless and time consuming to kill by breaking the backs of both victims, that much was obvious but after a brief examination he found that they had been broken post mortem, worrying indeed.

When the strings finally wove together he came face to face with Bane and Joker, apparently the two had 'ditched the other idiots' from around Gotham and decided to mix Bane's physical prowess with Joker's madness for an ultimate coup on the Batman's reign of terror. It may have worked on any other Hero, but not on Batman.

He had the Joker tied to a bridge support strut with a expertly thrown bolo and was currently making his way through the wreckage of a burnt out car to sneak up on Bane when he'd been distracted by the fact Joker was grinning right at him, which was impossible being that he was hidden perfectly, as usual. Bane had turned and with one front kick, pummelled the car and the Bat against the wall. The fight ended there.

Superman's speed was impossible for any normal criminal, insane or not, to keep up. Bane, on venom, had the enhanced sense that allowed him, humiliatingly, to watch in slow motion as a large red and blue blur completed an expertly trained roundhouse to send him careering off into a wall. If Bane wasn't an egotist, he would've noticed that his was outdone by a Batman trained roundhouse, but he was, and put it down to luck just before losing consciousness.

"Batman?!" Hands groped at the steel frame of the derelict car like it was tissue paper, a grunting Bruce underneath it. "I didn't need that." Clark wasn't going to argue, Bruce would accept later that he had gotten lucky tonight, with Superman's assistance he had survived, end of story. "Joker..Bane.." Clark nodded, tapping his Justice League commlink and informing J'onn of his location, Black Canary beaming down to take care of it. With that, He placed a arm around Batman and lifted him into the air, bee-lining for the mansion.

The next couple of minutes were a blur, Alfred had Clark help him remove the Kevlar armour, then the cowl. He treated his master and then used the emergency lift to take Bruce up to his bedroom. Clark awaiting Alfred in one of the many lounge rooms. The sound of creaking wood leading him to turn. "He'll be fine." Alfred always seemed to know the question before it was asked, leaving the great Superman with a lopsided smile, breaking into a yawn and being interrupted by Alfred.

"Master Kent, I must insist that you stay the night in one of the spare bedrooms, we can't have earth's heroes being exhausted now can we?" Alfred, as loathe as Clark was to admit it, was right. He hadn't slept in a fortnight (which with adequate sunshine, was his limit.) and it was catching up with him.

"I doubt that Bruce would enthralled to wake up with me still here Alfred." Most people would have assumed that Bruce would be out for maybe a day or two, but both men knew better, Bruce would be mooching around the house well before either man awoke. Either way, Alfred gave Clark the 'look' he'd seen used on Bruce so many times and it very well nearly hit him like Kryptonite, with a sigh and a stammer he retracted his previous statement. "If-If you insist then Alfred." With that, the hulking mass of red and blue was led up to one of the spare rooms and within the minute, was fast asleep, leaving the old butler alone in the house.

"I daresay that this would be your first ever sleepover with a best friend Master Bruce, if not a little overdue." Alfred smirked, adjusted his bowtie and then made his way to his own room, a noticeable bounce in the older mans step.