A note: this little trifle is in affectionate response to a review I received when I first posted "Variations." Wind said, "I feel very mixed up. First, it was a very good story. The thing is, I don't like many things in BBeyond universe and one is Babs marrying someone else but Dick(Beyond is only one possible future, there are other posibilities... That's what I keep telling myself, at least)." Much belated in posting, this is for her.


A Batman Beyond Series Finale for Disaffected Finnish Girls and Others
(with apologies to Bob Newhart)



The screen fades to black on What Dini Hath Wrought. And then...

The last scene:

The screen is black, we hear a *click* and the lights come up to reveal Barbara Gordon - a young, Batman/Superman era Barbara Gordon - sitting up in bed, her arm on the nightstand lamp.

"I just had the strangest dream."

The lump next to her stirs, rolls over, and Dick sits up. "What about?"

"Well," she begins, turning toward him, "It was like fifty years in the future. I was old, and I was the police commissioner."

"Huh." He turns to go back to sleep.

"And Bruce was really old, and he was... well, he was really old. And some high school kid was Batman."

"Huh," he mumbles sleepily. "Weird."

"And I was married to the district attorney."

Dick sits up again, paying attention. "I was the district attorney?"

"No," she says, not adding 'you idiot.' "His name was Sam." Her voice is sort of wistful. "He was a really nice guy."

"Sam," he repeats, filing the name away.

"Yeah. And-"

"Where was I? I was dead, right? I died heroically, yet you bravely went on with your life and managed to find some comfort in your golden years with some lawyer named Sam."

"No, you weren't dead."

"Then where was I?"

She shrugs. "I don't know. Nobody mentioned you much."

"Oh." Pause. "So Bruce let some high school kid be Batman? That's weird. It's 'cause he was senile, right? He must have been senile."

She shakes her head. "Nope. He was an okay kid."

"Huh."

Barbara laughs. "Oh, and get this, this is really weird. I think at one point I even told the kid that at some point way back me and Bruce..." She laughs.

He's frowning. "You and Bruce what?"

Seeing the expression on his face, she quickly replies, "Nothing." She fakes a yawn. "Wow, it's late, isn't it? 'Night!" She smiles, gives him a quick kiss, reaches over to turn out the light (*click*, screen goes dark) and lies down, pulling the covers up under her chin.

*click* Light goes on.

Dick is sitting up, looking at her pretending to be asleep. "You and Bruce what?"

"Hm? Oh, I don't really remember. It's all fuzzy and mixed up like dreams are, you know. Wacky."

"Right. Well, I'm sure wherever I was I had a very fulfilling life."

"I'm sure you did," she replies, both humoring and teasing him.

"Not as good as this one, of course." He grins at her.

"Of course," she says with a happy smirk.

"Not by a long shot." He leans toward her.

"Got that right, buster," she whispers.

*CLICK*

Fade out