A/N: I started writing this a loooong time ago and just found this in my laptop. It takes place during the time between BTAS and Batman Beyond. I am one of the few who do actually ship Bruce/Babs (only within TAS canon) so there are shippy elements to this fic, though it isn't the only focus. As with all of my fics, there is a nice dose of whump. Don't worry, the first part is only the beginning. As always, I don't own anything.
He was such a stubborn ass sometimes.
Well, not sometimes. All of the time.
But especially right then. Barbara wanted to scream at Bruce and tell him what an ass he was, but it wouldn't really be in their best interest for her to stop in the middle of gunfire to give the Dark Knight a piece of her mind. Instead, she chose to take out her agitation on the thugs who stood between them and their target: Mr. Freeze.
It was actually this encounter that had started the argument between them. Batman had started going on about not wanting her to go out on this mission because Freeze was dangerous. Because the ice man was super strong and he wasn't sure just what Victor was planning on doing. Unfortunately for the Batman, he had trained Batgirl a little too well and she was able to track him easily to the hideout. Bruce only had time to give her a glare that froze most thugs in place before the gun fire erupted and they were forced to dive for cover – separated from each other.
Her blue eyes drifted over to the Batman in between the gun rapports, waiting for him to cue for them to move. Seriously? You're not even going to acknowledge me!? Fine! Annoyed by his bull headedness, Babs leaped out from behind cover and threw three gas pellets simultaneously. She rolled safely away from the fire as the pellets provided her enough cover to navigate her way through the crowd of men to strategically take each one down. The smoke cleared as Babs placed a foot on top of the last one to fall, wiping her hands victoriously as she waited for Batman to glare at her.
But he was already gone.
Bastard.
From her bright yellow utility belt, Barbara retrieved two more batarangs to have at the ready as she moved through the abandoned arctic explorer in which Fries had taken up residence. The red head could tell she was getting closer to her target because with each step the temperature seemed to drop a degree and her breath became visible in front of her. He better hope I don't find Freeze first.
"UHH!" The Batman grunted as he doubled over from the impact of the armored fist that drove into his gut. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth as he rolled back, dodging the swift kick Freeze aimed for his head. This was exactly why he hadn't wanted Barbara there. It was too dangerous. He hadn't allowed Robin or Nightwing to tag along and they both listened. Why was it that she was always so damn stubborn?
Retrieving two batarangs from his utility belt, Bruce moved swiftly through the room, throwing them off into the distance to distract his foe. "Give it up, Fries. All of your men are incapacitated. There's nowhere for you to go." Kevlar boots moved lightly across the tile floor as the Dark Knight breathed as shallowly as he could in order to prevent the villain from hearing him.
"Perhaps, Batman. But if I go down…" A pale hand reached out, grabbing the Batman by his throat and throwing him into a support beam about twenty yards behind him, "you're going down with me." Cold eyes narrowed on the nearly unconscious vigilante as the barrel of his signature freeze gun was leveled with the Batman's cowl. "Any last words, Dark Knight?"
"Yeah, I'd like to make it a question. When will you guys ever learn to stop monologuing and giving the sidekicks a chance to catch up?" Three batarangs were thrown from the hands of the female vigilante; one embedding in Freeze's right hand and the other two in the gun, causing it to spark and shock Freeze. She smiled happily as the weapon clattered to the ground and the towering man looked at her with new found hatred. "I have no qualms with you taking his place, Batgirl." Heavy boots thudded against the ground as he moved towards Barbara, leaving the still stunned Bruce slumped against the support beam.
Blue eyes only flashed to the fallen vigilante for a brief moment before Babs returned her focus back to Mr. Freeze. She put all of her focus into her anger and frustration with Bruce; ignoring the fact that he still hadn't gotten up; hadn't done more than start groaning. "You're welcome to try, Fries." She back flipped just out of his reach, using her dexterity and lithe form to her advantage. The last of her batarangs slid into her hand as she took aim and threw it with all her strength at his insulated helmet – only resulting in a crack that wouldn't be debilitating to the frozen villain.
Freeze took that moment to seize her wrist during the follow through of her throw, pulling her towards him tightly until she was looking directly up at him, his hands squeezing both of her arms tightly. "That was pointless." He continued to squeeze tighter, waiting to hear her cry out; to see the pain explode across her face.
Instead, Barbara planted her feet against his chest and pushed as hard as she could, breaking his grip as she flipped off of him. "Seriously. Stop with the yapping already." A determined kick made its way to its target, shattering Freeze's helmet and robbing him of the necessary freezing. While it was cold on the ship, it wasn't quite cold enough to keep him maintained forever.
He needed absolute zero to survive.
Rage ripped through him as he snatched Batgirl up by her ankle, squeezing tightly and quickly jerking it the opposite direction until he heard the satisfying snapping of bones and squeal of pain he had intended to wrench from her. "I have had enough of your interference." Freeze hastily dropped her to the ground before picking her back up by the throat and pinning her roughly against the wall behind her. "Enjoy the cold grip of death." Batgirl's fingers pried at the vice grip around her neck, desperate for air; desperate to escape.
"I don't think so." The gravelly voice was like music to her ears as Freeze turned around just in time for the Batman to land a direct blow to the frozen man's exposed face and knock him out, well, cold.
Outside, approaching sirens could be heard, signaling that it was time for the two to depart. "Can you walk?" Batgirl didn't even look up at him, still trying to catch the breath that had been stolen from her, before he scooped her up into his strong arms and carried her off the ship and into the submersible anchored next to the villain's mobile lair.
He didn't say another word to her.
Babs remained silent through the ride back to the cave as well and instead chose to mentally prepare herself for the thorough lecture she was sure she would be getting as soon as they were back. Nightwing was off with the Teen Titans and Tim was him, hoping to learn a few new tricks from the Titans.
That meant that other than Alfred, there would be no one to referee the ensuing fight. Not that she needed a ref. More like Bruce needed one.
Barbara was one hell of a feisty young woman.
Bruce was the first to get out of the submersible and moved to lift Barbara out when she shrugged him off. "I can get out on my own." Her words were sharp as she haphazardly climbed out of the vehicle one of the Robins had stupidly called the 'Bat-boat'. Babs' ankle was throbbing and she could feel it swelling inside her boot, but she refused to be so weak. She would make it to the table – no matter how agonizing it was.
"My word! Miss Gordon!" Alfred rushed to her side and she couldn't bring herself to dismiss the Englishman like she had done to the arrogant ass who was peeling his cowl back – which revealed some nasty bruises and cuts – only to go sit back at that damned computer screen and ignore the medical attention he needed. "I'm fine, Alfred. I've had worse." She gave him a soft smile as he helped her onto the medical bed, allowing him to carefully remove her boot and roll up the leg of her suit.
"It's a bad break, Alfred. She'll need a hard cast as well as crutches. She also needs to have her neck checked out to make sure there was no serious damage caused by Freeze choking her." Bruce spoke mechanically without ever turning away from the computer. It infuriated Barbara that he spoke about her like she wasn't even there, but she wouldn't pick this fight with Alfred standing right there.
No. She'd pick a different fight.
"And Master Bruce needs to have his head checked for contusions as well as be put on concussion watch for the next twenty-four hours as he lost consciousness for several minutes." "I'm fine." "Pfft. Hardly. You were practically drooling on yourself." Babs allowed herself a small smile as she saw Bruce bristle in response to her words. "I believe Miss Gordon is right, Master Bruce. If you'd be so kind as to come here and allow me to tend to your wounds…" Alfred's words trailed off as Bruce sighed and moved into the changing room, removing his cowl, cape, utility belt, and Kevlar armor so that he remained in only the Kevlar plated pants and boots.
"Fine. But we get her ankle set, first." Babs narrowed her eyes at him but he seemed unfazed by her misplaced ire. Fine. Play it that way. Slender fingers gripped the sides of the medical table as Bruce placed pressure on her calf while Alfred moved her ankle around. She could feel her bones shifting as the butler moved her injured leg so it could heal, but she only allowed herself a grimace.
She could barely feel Bruce's hands holding her ankle in place through the white hot pain burning through her leg. In fact, she was just now noticing that Alfred – or was it Bruce? – had slipped an IV into the crook of her arm which was undoubtedly providing her morphine as well as necessary fluids and antibiotics.
There was something tight around her ankle – pressure that actually felt good – that drew her gaze back down to her injury. Instead, she saw a stark white cast wrapped tightly around her very purple and swollen foot. "There, Miss Gordon. Simple. Now, if you'd just let me inspect the bruises on your—" "They're fine, Alfred. Thank you. Bruce needs your attention now." Her face was void of any discerning expression as she watched Bruce take a seat in the vacant chair next to her. "He has three cracked ribs that will need to be taped as well as bruising to his back and shoulder. There's also a cut at his hairline. It will need stitches." Her voice mocked the tone Bruce had used to inform Alfred of her injuries and she continued to stare him down, waiting for him to scold her.
Instead, nothing but silence enveloped them as Alfred set to taping Bruce's broken ribs and bandaging the split skin on his face. Alfred followed them in suit, not wanting to add to the tension that was building between the two stubborn vigilantes who were in equal amounts of need of medical care. "Master Bruce, I would worry about putting you on concussion watch but something tells me you weren't going to be sleeping tonight, anyway." His comment was met with a cold glare from his charge which only brought a small smile to the butler's face. "I will trust you two to behave while I fix some supper." When he received no response, Alfred simply retreated up to the mansion with a soft sigh. He was certain that his 'children' would never grow up.
A deafening silence spread through the cave as Bruce stayed put in the chair next to Barbara who was tracing the purple handprints on her biceps courtesy of Victor Fries. "You went skiing this weekend with Dick. My treat." Babs looked up at Bruce with a confused expression on her face, her hand now placed over the handprint in an attempt to cover it with her own hand. "Huh?" "Your cover for the ankle." He looked at her for a moment before standing and moving towards the towering computer across from the medical bay. "Alfred will prepare a guest room for you to stay here for the duration of your 'trip'." That time, Bruce didn't even bother looking back at Barbara who was glaring at him for just presuming what she was going to do.
"I was just thinking of telling him that I was out fighting crime, trying to help my partner, but he was too busy being over protective and wouldn't let me help which resulted in us both being badly injured." She gave him a pointed glare which he didn't even respond to. Instead, Bruce remained fixated on the over-sized computer screen in front of him, squinting slightly more than usual to straighten out his fuzzy eye sight in response to the concussion. The only movement he made was when his ears perked up in response to Barbara snagging a pair of crutches before peeling herself from the medical table.
Stubborn girl is going to be the death of me.
Barbara grimaced – more in frustration than anything – as she hobbled across the uneven terrain towards the hulking vigilante, a slight huff in her breath as she sized him up. "Ignoring me isn't going to make me go away, Bruce. If you honestly haven't realized that by now, then I think that 'World's Greatest Detective' moniker is really over selling your abilities." The slight tensing of his body would have gone unnoticed by someone who didn't work with him night in and night out, but Barbara was acutely aware of what he was doing – enough to prepare herself for him to rip away from his computer and stand towering over her.
"This isn't a game, Barbara." His voice was closer to the growl he used when talking to insolent punks that weren't worth a beating. She took offense to that. "You could have been killed out there; all because you're too stubborn to stay put when you're told. Your incessant need to prove you can keep up with the big boys is going to get you and whoever's out on patrol with you killed." Bruce's eyes were like ice as they bored into her, unwavering.
She didn't falter.
"I'm not the only one, Bruce." Babs' tone was equally fierce and her eyes danced with the same unbridled spunk they always had. "You think you're being so noble, so chivalrous, when really you're just being a coward! What the hell is it with you when it comes to me!? You're fine with allowing Dick or Tim to run about in bright red and yellow underoos, but I can't join you on a routine pick-up of Freeze!? What are you so scared of!? That I'll break a nail and emba-"
"I'm afraid I'll lose you!" His voice bellowed out unexpectedly, reverberating through the cave and sending the slumbering bats flying away to escape the noise.
Finally, somehow, Barbara was left speechless. She suddenly felt incredibly small under his towering presence, afraid to move in fear she would further anger him and he would turn his back on her for good.
He just fixed her with a hard stare, instead, before growling out some kind of cover. "I'm afraid that I'll have to respond to the signal one day and find your father asking me to find your murderer. To find out who killed you. And I won't be able to give him the answers he needs and deserves." Bruce's ice-blue eyes locked on Barbara's, holding an intensity between them that stole her breath. "Jim Gordon is a good man who doesn't deserve that."
And just like that, the intensity was gone and the emptiness returned between them – the same emptiness Barbara refused to allow to fester and instead replaced with indignation and spite.
"And you think I – we – aren't afraid of losing you?" She narrowed her eyes as her heart fluttered; a mixed effect from the pain in her ankle, the exhaustion from the evening, and the emotions of the encounter. "I know you're bull headed, but you aren't stupid. And neither am I. You don't coddle Dick. You don't coddle Tim." You sure as hell didn't coddle Jason. Barbara took a breath to steel her nerves. "You don't get to coddle me." The insolence dripped from her voice.
Something snapped inside of Bruce and before he could stop himself, he was gripping Barbara's shoulders tightly, lifting her off the ground as his eyes bored into hers. In his strong, scarred hands, he could feel her trembling just slightly, putting small fractures in the brave front she continued to put up.
"I'm not going to hurt you."
"I'm not scared of you." The tremble made its way to her voice. "You're just squeezing my bruises courtesy of Mr. Freeze."
Feeling sheepish, Bruce pulled her carefully into his arms before carrying her back to the medical bay and placing her on the bed, inconspicuously looking at the marks on her arms he had just worsened. "I know. You've made that very clear from the first time Dick and I met Batgirl." His voice was even as he fiddled with something on the counter next to her, avoiding eye contact.
Babs only made a soft, reaffirming sound that signaled what she thought was her victory. "So can I go? Or are you going to tell me I have to stay down here until you construct a Bat-bubble to keep me safe from my mundane life as a librarian?"
"You and I both know you haven't worked at the library in six months and I certainly wouldn't call being a file clerk for the GCPD a mundane job." Bruce turned around to face her with antiseptic, gauze, and tape in his hands. "And no, you can't. Not until I clean up the frostbitten skin on your arms that is bleeding now."
Barbara didn't even bother looking at the handprints on her arms, instead staring deeply at Bruce as he moved more gently than she thought he was capable of doing. It seemed like his fists were always used to break and hurt those who dare cause pain and suffering to those in Gotham, while Alfred worked as the one to fix and repair those who joined Batman's crusade. She had forgotten that he, too, had a soft side somewhere under the stone façade.
Goosebumps chased his fingertips as he ran them across her skin, electricity buzzing between them as he did so. "I just want to make sure there's no nerve damage." His voice was also softer; the edge dulled from the scraping growl reserved for almost everyone these days.
"I'm fine. I can feel everything." Her voice became quieter as she progressed through her statement, her eyes locking back with his momentarily as his fingers lingered on the side of her bicep for a moment too long.
The touch of Bruce's hand was quickly replaced with the stinging burn of antiseptic as it cleaned the damaged skin before the gauze was applied. Barbara took in a sharp breath at the slight sting, but otherwise remained unfazed. "You should have let Alfred take care of these wounds." Again, he didn't look at her, disposing of the materials he had used and cleaning up the supplies left over on the counter.
"Like I just said, I'm fine." Barbara stretched out to grasp Dick's zip-up jacket that was still discarded on the chair behind her, pulling it up over her arms almost self-consciously as she pivoted on the bed to try to get back on her feet. She didn't need to look up to know Bruce was frowning in disapproval at her continued stubbornness.
"Why do you insist on fighting?" "Because you're not the only one who cares about Gotham, Bruce." "I'm not talking about Gotham." There was a pause and Barbara stopped in her effort to get off of the medical table, looking back at the man standing behind her.
And that was exactly what she saw; a man.
The exhaustion, the bruises, the frustration, the sadness. All of it was clear in his body language as he kept his back to her and leaned over the counter in the infirmary. Her eyes traced the taught muscles across his back, strained from a mix of tension, exhaustion, and injury. "I'm talking about with me. Why do you insist on refusing to allow me to help you?" Bruce's hands were now clenched into fists on the cool counter, his back still to the woman on the table behind him.
"I…" Again, Barbara was left without a response. She had been fighting along Bruce's side since she was sixteen years old and over the past nine years Babs had only seemed to try to distance herself further and further from him. It was a defensive mechanism to keep her from getting too attached; she had done it with Dick in high school and college when feelings began to get serious and now… now she was doing it with Bruce.
Her voice was quiet, but carried easily through the cave. "Because I'm afraid that if you get too close you'll see the cracks." Barbara forced herself off the medical table carefully, now standing mere inches from Bruce who was still keeping his back to her. "Isn't that why you never let anyone help you with these? Why you never even mention them?" The slender fingers of her left hand danced over the scarred flesh on his back, barely brushing them. Bruce's shoulders tensed slightly before he turned around and faced her, standing chest to chest with her now.
"I'm not someone you want to become." Bruce took her left hand in his right one, taken back by just how small hers were in his. Silence sat between them as his eyes locked with hers before allowing them to fall down the line of her jaw before finally stopping at the deep bruises forming a ring around her neck. A surge of anger burned through him as he reached up to feel the damaged skin with his own hands. It was as if he had caused the bruises himself; he might as well have. "You're better than me, Barbara."
Bruce stepped away, retrieving the crutches that had been left behind for her own use. "You need some rest so you can call your father before he starts to worry." And just like that, he was back to his old, cold self. Before she could protest, she found herself in his arms again, being carried up into Wayne manor and into one of the guest bedrooms on the first floor. He didn't say a word as he set her down on the bed and rested the crutches against the night stand. "I'll have Alfred bring you dinner and a change of clothes." Bruce left her room without another word, pulling the door behind him.
Blue eyes bored into the oak door as a myriad of thoughts and emotions swirled in her head. Quietly, Barbara's only response to the now absent man was "You're wrong, Bruce."
A/N: Please R&R and let me know if you'd like to continue. Depending on feedback, I may upload more. Thanks!