Imagine: The List
Fic posted by members of Vo's Imaginings YahooGroup


Alfred pulls into a parking spot close to the door of the administration building but not in a handicapped parking spot, shutting off the engine and opening the back door as people stop what they're doing to turn and stare. Between semesters it's not too crowded, but there are still students around.

 

Xander puts his hands on the car to pull himself out after Alfred takes out and opens the wheelchair. "Young Master Alexander, I will get you out in a minute, no need to try to hurt yourself." he says in that no-nonsense tone of voice that even brings the mighty batman to heel. Once the wheelchair is open and brakes locked, Alfred moves over to the car, ducking inside and emerging with Xander in his arms.

 

Xander blinks as he's lifted from the car and placed in the wheelchair, Giles old uncle is pretty spry for an old guy.

 

"What is our first stop, young master Alexander?"

 

"There's an atm in the student center, but it's a couple of buildings over that way, along with the bookstore."

 

"Is that the only atm?"

 

"The closest one, yeah." Xander sighs. Alfred calmly walks over and locks up the car before walking back to the wheelchair and releasing the brake on the wheels. "Well, the best thing to do would be to go to the student center and check your account balances at the atm, then come back to register for your classes, then pick up your books and whatever supplies you will need, and head to your apartment."

 

"Does this mean I'm going to be allowed to stay at my apartment?" Xander looks over his shoulder at Alfred.

 

"Not hardly, young master Alexander." Alfred chuckles. "Where is the student center located?"

 

"Down in the basement, there's not an elevator but there's an outside entrance with a ramp."

 

They go around the side of the building to the ramp and head inside, a student worker holding the door open for them when she sees them coming.

 

"Ohmigod Xander, what happened?" she recognizes him from classes.

 

"I got hurt last week in a supervillain attack." Xander says, rolling his eyes. "I was unconscious for a couple of days."

 

"Is this permanent?" she waves at the wheelchair.

 

"I hope not, I can't do construction from a wheelchair."

 

"You have only been awake for a little over a day, young master," Alfred says with a sigh. "Give yourself some time to rest and heal." /And I thought Master Bruce was stubborn./

 

Xander shakily stands up when they get to the atm, checking the balances on his cards before settling back into the chair with a sigh. "Willow put the money in, we can go register for classes." he turns his head to look at Alfred who turns them around and heads back to the outside entrance. She rushes over and opens the door for them again, shaking his head when they are out of sight.

 

The door to the administration building is held open by a exiting student and they head down the hall to the office, Xander grabbing a form and being pushed over to the table to fill it out by Alfred who calmly reaches into his pocket for an ink pen when Xander looking for a pen.

 

One of the students working there behind the counter comes out and takes the form from him, registering him for his classes and running the card when he puts it on the counter. Taking the receipt, he puts it in his pocket and allows Alfred to wheel him out of the building, he'd tried wheeling himself when Alfred wasn't looking and had been given a look like he a little boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar before dinner..

 

They head back to the student center building, the same worker holding the door open with a grin. "Get yourself all registered?"

 

"Yup," Xander says.

 

"Here, give me your receipt and I'll get your books." she takes the receipt and heads to the walls of books, leaving Xander and Alfred to look through the clothing, supplies, software, and other items on the floor. Sighing and wincing at the hit to his balance, Xander has her get him a laptop and computer software when she returns with the basket full of books. Smiling, she rings him up and helps Alfred arrange the bags on the handles of the wheelchair before holding the door open again and waving as they head back out of sight.

 

"A laptop, young master Alexander?" Alfred asks as he gets him settled into the back seat.

 

"Willow gave me her old one, it's just not powerful enough for everything I'm going to need for classes." Xander sighs. "I'd been looking at them online for the last couple of weeks, the one they had here had everything I needed and I got a twenty percent discount for being a student. Even with the software, it was still cheaper than it would have been to have one special made by somebody."

 

Alfred makes a tsking sound in his throat when they pull up in front of Xander's building, wincing slightly when he sees the debris from the old owners still sitting around on the bottom floor before Xander pulls the gates on the freight elevator. "Please tell me you do not live surrounded by this. . . clutter?"

 

"No, I just didn't have time to start clearing this stuff out, I got hired two days after I arrived in Gotham and it took a couple of days to get new appliances for the apartment." They arrive on the top floor and Xander fumbles with the lock, Alfred taking the keys from his hands and opening the door. He looks around the apartment and sighs, it's not as bad as he had been expecting. There's not the normal detritus one would expect from a bachelor working ten to twelve hour days, Alexander must have been making some effort to keep abreast on the household chores.

 

"Young Master Alexander, why don't you rest on the couch while I . . ." /snoop around./

 

Xander blinks, he is a little worn out from the events of the day. Damn it, he's only been awake a couple of hours, he shouldn't be this tired, should he?

 

Alfred chuckles quietly as he gets Xander settled on the couch, the afghan tossed over the back tucked over him. His breathing soon settles into the rhythm of sleep as Alfred takes off his jacket and opens the refrigerator door.

 

It wasn't as bad as he'd been expecting, mostly because Xander didn't have that much in the way of food in the refrigerator aside from half full bottles of condiments. The cupboards aren't much better and from the grocery list on the counter and receipts in an envelope on the table, he must only shop every other week or so and stocks up on almost everything when he does go shopping.

 

His next stop is the small washer and dryer he sees in the corner of the apartment, tsking when he opens the dryer and finds that indeed everything is wrinkled from being there for a week. Shaking some of the clothes out, he realizes that it's a lost cause and piles everything back into the washer and washes them again while prowling around the apartment much like Master Bruce would case a scene.

 

He shakes his head at Xander's clothes, but he is a construction worker so he wouldn't need much in the way of finery. He is busy folding the now wrinkle free clothes and putting them away when Xander snorts, waking from his nap.

 

Alfred gets a still sleepy Xander back into the wheelchair and back to the manor, finding Master Bruce waiting for him. Xander is carried back to his room while Alfred gathers his school supplies and brings them up to his bedroom.

 

"Do I need to check you over for injuries after your battle with the evil refrigerator?" Bruce asks with a slight smile.

 

"Really Master Bruce, young master Alexander would have had something in his refrigerator to begin with for it to have gone bad and attacked me." Alfred says with a sniff.

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