Title: Certain Aspects

Certain Aspects
by Prodigette

Terry walked up to the grandfather clock and took a deep breath. "Hey Bruce, can I have some time off? 'No.' Come on! 'McGinnis, Batman can't get time off. Yadda, yadda, yadda.' " Terry mimicked as some sort of a rehearsal.

He opened the glass and moved the pendelum, laughing to himself. The clock shifted to the right side to show the cave's entrance. Terry walked in and walked down the stairs with high hopes of getting time off. "Ah, who am I kidding? He's just gonna say no..." He mumbled to himself.

Terry could see Bruce sitting in the black chair, looking down at the floor. His hair was all-white again and some of the wrinkles were back. The older man was quiet as usual, but was more pensive. Terry frowned and walked up closer to him. He kneeled down infront of him, hoping that
Bruce would at least look at him.

"Bruce? You ok?" Terry asked, putting a hand on his mentor's left knee. The other reached up to stroke Bruce's hair, the parts where it was dark only days ago.

Bruce sat up straight and looked down at the younger man with an expression that Terry never seen him give before. "I'll be fine, McGinnis. There's no sense in worrying about me."

Terry gave him a quick look of pity. He stood up, brushed off his knees and walked towards the stairs to leave Bruce alone for a while. Maybe this was the right time to go on patrol. It didn't matter if it was day or not.

"Use it well."

Terry turned around and blinked in confusion.

"Huh?"

Bruce interlaced his fingers and set his hands on his lap. "Your youth. Use it well. You may never have it again."

Terry put his hands into his jean pockets and walked forward. "Do you wish that you would have gone through with the whole thing? You know, the pit?"

Bruce nodded slowly. "Somewhat. But lets not forget that if I did, it wouldn't be me in this body."

Terry furrowed his eyebrows at the memory of what happened last week. "Oh yeah. I almost forgot about that. But if Ra's wouldn't have taken over..."

"You wouldn't be Batman anymore." Bruce finished. Bruce showed a hint of a smile because of the mispronounciation of Ra's name. Terry bit his lip in thought and shrugged.

"Well, yeah. But it'd be worth seeing you flip around again. It was pretty shway." Terry said with a smirk. Bruce turned the chair around to face the large computer.

"I can't do that anymore."

Terry shook his head and walked up closer to the chair. Bruce really had no idea on what all he was capable of.

"Wayne, don't be that way. You're still pretty good. With or without the suit. I've *seen* you fight. I know I crack on you about your age sometimes..." Terry could just *feel* Bruce's eyebrow raise. "OK, all the time, but it's true. "

Bruce turned the chair around, and Terry stepped back a few feet. "You're saying that to get time off."

Terry shook his head again and suppressed himself from asking how Bruce would know these things. "Nah, I'm just saying it because I mean it. The time off doesn't sound bad, though. You're not old, and you're not useless. I mean, I wouldn't exactly kick you out of bed or anything."

Bruce turned his head around slightly to give his protege a penetrating look with icy blue eyes. Terry started blushing. He looked down at the cave ground and started shuffling his feet, avoiding the other man's gaze.. "I-I just meant that you're not too old to... you... I mean.. me... we... Is there anyway I can say this without sounding like a total idiot?"

"Not really." Bruce said with a hints of curiousity and amusement in his voice.

Terry looked up, pushing his dark hair out of his eyes. He grinned. "Was that a joke?"

"Perhaps."

Terry snorted, and walked upstairs to go rest in one of the manor's rooms. "You should do it more often, Wayne. Maybe the devil will have his own ice hockey team down there."

Bruce's eyes followed the young man as he walked away. "Very funny, McGinnis."

"McGinnis?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't even think about it."

Terry looked back at his mentor and gave a rueful smile. "You are something else, old man." The young man said. He continued running up the stairs, but not before muttering a couple of four-letter words along the way.

"Hmmm. Maybe I still got it." Bruce said to himself with a hint of a smile on his face as he turned around and typed away on the computer.

END