Author's Note: This is another '"what-if" story that I had in my mind.I've had this one done for a while, but I have never been quite sure of it. It didn't come out
as smoothly as I wanted but, eh, I'll learn and grow better . . .
Disclaimer: Sadly no, no, no, but if you want to get me a present . . . .
Never Said Goodbye
Chapter 1
Dick Grayson had just gotten off of the plane from Chicago, when he stopped to check his phone again. He and Wally were in the middle of playing a game and
as much as he hated to admit it, Wally was beating him badly.
Getting tired of losing, Dick shoved the phone in to his pocket and headed off to get his suitcase. The airport was pretty crowded with everyone coming and
going, but Dick managed to find the carousel that had all the suitcases from the plane that he was just on.
He moved his neck from side to side. His sleep on the plane had not been perfect, but it had been nice to sleep without interruption.
But he was home now, and Gotham was going to need his full attention as usual. He had actually missed doing patrol those few night he had to spend in the
windy city. Business trips for Bruce were a pain.
He watched as the bags started their slow rotation around on the belt. Various people came up and stood watching the long procession of bags.
Catching sight of his, Dick grabbed his small bag off the conveyer belt and swung it over his shoulder.
If he could weave his way through these people, he might be able to make it home for breakfast. Mmm. Alfred's pancakes.
He walked past the other carousels and set his sights on the exit.
"Hey could someone grab the red bag please?" A desperate voice called out.
Dick paused and turned his head to try and figure out where it came from. He looked around as no one else seemed to be moving a muscle.
Typical.
Spying a large red bag, Dick leaned over and grabbed it off the belt. It weighted a ton. How did anyone even manage to get this onto the plane?
Setting the duffel on the floor before he dropped it, he looked around for its owner. A charm hanging off the loop of the luggage tag caught his eye. It was a
small bat.
He froze.
Not even considering the fact that it was nosy, Dick picked up the luggage tag and look at the name.
He found that he couldn't breathe.
"Thank you so much." A feminine voice said next to him. "I just was looking around and there it went right past me."
"You always were such an airhead." He said softly, as if he couldn't even believe what was happening.
"I'm sorry?"
Dick turned to face her.
Red haired spilled over her shoulders and her blue eyes flashed.
"I said you were always such an airhead . . . Babs." He tried not to smile, but he couldn't help it.
Recognition crossed her face as she looked thunderstruck.
"Di . . .Dick." She said shortly, almost chocking on her words as she threw her arms around him.
He stood there frozen trying to register everything.
Barbara Gordon was back in Gotham.
She really wasn't an air-head. In fact, she was actually quite a brain but anytime that she forgot something or even gave the impression that she forgot
something, he would take the opportunity to call her an airhead.
Refocusing on her, she had pulled back and was staring at his face.
"Dick, I didn't even . . . I mean . . ." She put a hand to his face. "You are so . . . grown up."
Dick reached up and took her hand in his. He stared at their entwined hands as if he still couldn't believe that the warmth from her hands was real.
"Have you looked in the mirror lately?" He asked her.
"Is my hair bad?" Barbara asked, looking concerned.
He smiled as he realized that she was joking.
"It's beautiful Babs." He said nudging her chin with his hand.
Barbara looked pleased and brushed some hair behind her shoulder.
"I think it was the suit. I told you that you would get used to wearing one."
Dick looked displeased.
"No I'm not." He said firmly.
"Yes you are." Barbara insisted as she smoothed out his tie.
"I can't believe that you're here Dick." She said. "Are you coming or going?" She sounded worried.
"Coming, back from Chicago." He said trying to focus.
"I'm so glad." She said with her eyes alight.
"Your dad didn't breathe a word!" Dick exclaimed.
Barbara bit her lip.
"He doesn't know. It's supposed to be a surprise—but if you ever talk to my mom, the whole thing was planned out okay?" She rushed to say. "I know it was
kind of rebellious of me but I had to come back. I just had to."
Dick started laughing and Barbara had to join him.
Neither of them cared that hundreds of people were staring at them. All that mattered that they were both in the same place—together.
"So who is coming to pick you up?" He asked her.
Barbara shrugged.
"I was just going to take a taxi."
Dick's eyebrows shot up.
"No way. Not while I'm here." Dick insisted. "I'll take you."
"Oh, Dick, you don't have to."
"Are you kidding me?"
They both stood there grinning at each other.
"Let's go." Dick said as he picked up her bag.
"Babs . . ." He said while looking at her. "Don't tell me that this is full of books." He said knowingly.
"Just a few." She said with a grin. "I had to bring some."
"Some? Babs, there is a whole library in here."
"I'm sorry I'll help carry it." She said as she reached for it. Dick blocked her.
"No, I'll carry it." He insisted trying hard to pick it up with ease. He watched her start to smile.
"Are you sure you have time to take me?" She asked. "Don't you need to get back home and . . . report or something?"
Dick made a face.
"Nothing could stop me." He promised. "Come on." He said trying to walk towards the exit.
Barbara followed him with amusement.
It took them a little while, but they finally got to the lot where Dick had parked.
Setting down her bag, Dick stared at the outside of his car.
"This is going to be interesting." He said turning to her.
"I don't think that they build sport cars with the intentions of traveling women." Barbara told him standing beside him.
"You know?" He said. "I think that you are right. We should talk to them about that."
He walked around the car.
"I might be able to fit it in the passenger seat. Do you want to sit on the roof?"
Barbara hid a smile.
"Sure."
"Good. Wait." He said suddenly. "I don't have any rope."
"Oh, well." Barbara sighed hopelessly.
They both stood there silently before bursting out laughing.
Barbara wiped a tear from her eye.
Everything was perfect. Only Dick would offer to let her ride on the roof.
"Babs?" Dick said while looking concerned.
"I'm fine." She said hurriedly wiping another tear away. "I'm just happy."
"Then let's get you home."
"Oh, actually if you could drop me off at the police station. He should be there." She said with delight.
"Okay, to the station we go." Dick announced as he finished shoving her suitcase into the car.
"You need to stare at the road Dick. I promise that I won't disappear." Barbara said with a fond smile.
"Sorry." He said staring back at the road. "I just can't believe that you are here."
"Me neither. The city looks different." She said gazing out the window.
Feeling her eyes on him, he turned to face her.
"If I can't stare at you, you can't stare at me."
Barbara smiled and looked out the window again.
He had grown up so much, she knew he would, but her Dick was still in there. His perfect blue eyes and brilliant smile kept staring back at her.
"So tell me everything!" She demanded to know.
"Everything?" Dick said with a laugh. "That could take a while."
"I guess." Barbara said softly. "How long has it been?"
Dick stared at the steering wheel.
"We were twelve right?" He asked her.
She nodded slowly feeling a lump grow in her throat.
They both could do the math. It had been six years. Six long years.
*Flashback*
"Are you coming Babs?" Dick called out to her from across the school yard. She walked slowly as if she was still tired, but her face held a different expression.
Not waiting for her to reach him, he ran over to meet her.
"What's wrong?" He asked her.
Her mouth opened slightly, but then she shut it and replaced it with a smile.
"Nothing. Come on, let's have a good day." She said tugging his arm.
Dick smiled and his concern melted away.
At lunch, Dick pulled out his worn notebook that contained their list of things that they wanted to do this coming summer.
"Not many days left now." He told her with a smile.
Barbara nodded and stuffed a fork-full of food into her mouth.
"We have like, fifty things so far." He said quickly adding them up. "So we should never run out of things to do. This was a really great idea you had Babs."
A grin lit up his face. She lukewarmly returned it. He didn't notice.
As they walked out of school that day, everything in the world seemed perfect.
"Hey, do you want to stop and get ice cream?" He asked her. "To day is a perfect day for it." He said while staring up in to the sky.
"Sure, I guess."
Dick started.
"You guess? What kind of answer is that? Summer better come quickly, you are forgetting how to have fun." He joked.
Barbara stopped walking and for the first time Dick noticed that she was crying.
Barbara, crying?
"Babs, what's wrong?" He had never seen her cry before. The sight was terrible.
"Tell me." He insisted rubbing her arm.
She put her hands to her face trying to hold back the tears.
"I'm sorry." She chocked. "I was going to tell you earlier, but I didn't have the heart."
Dick felt like an idiot for not realizing it.
"Well, don't worry." He murmured. "Whatever it is, we can handle it." He said positively.
Barbara shook her head as the tears kept flowing.
Dick felt helpless. What was he supposed to do?
"It's . . . it's . . ." Barbara's voice trailed off as she took a deep breath and wiped the tears from her eyes. Her face was now as red as her hair. "It's my parents
they're . . . they're . . ."
Dick winced and looked at the ground. He knew that the Gordons were having some problems. Mrs. Gordon was getting tired of putting up with the everyday
stress that Gotham brought, but Commissioner Gordon was not willing to give up the fight. Dick had tried not to pay attention, but it was kind of hard not to.
Barbara had been stuck in the crosshairs and occasionally she would vent about it to him.
"I'm . . . sorry." Dick offered lamely since had no idea what else to say.
"It gets worse."
Dick looked back up at her with concern. Worse? What was could be worse than your parents getting divorced?
"She's moving to San Francisco."
Dick blinked. That was far away.
"I'm going with her."
Dick felt as if he had been slapped.
Barbara felt a fresh set of tears coming at the sight of his face.
"Wh . . .wh . . . whe . . .why?" Dick sputtered out. A look of utter misery was on his face.
Barbara rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand.
"She thinks that I will be . . . better off there. My dad told me that he would be more at ease if he knew I wasn't here." She said, trying to sound calm.
Dick couldn't think. His head was a mess. They couldn't just sent her away. They couldn't just take her . . . they just couldn't!
"I'm so sorry." Barbara said as she engulfed him in a hug.
He didn't even feel it. He was numb.
Turning his head more towards hers, he felt hot tears running down her face onto his.
"When do you leave?" He managed to ask without his voice cracking.
"After school is out." She said into his shoulder.
Two weeks? He had two weeks left with her?
His mind wandered to the list in his backpack.
It was never going to get done now. Never.
*End Flashback*
Barbara let out a deep breath and chased the lump in her throat away. She wasn't that little girl anymore, she was eighteen now and she was not going to
start crying.
"So what kind of everything do you want to know about?" He asked her.
She smiled in appreciation of his trying to lighten the mood.
"Well, I really want to find out what happened to my Robin."
Dick's head snapped up.
"Aw, Babs you aren't still obsessed with that are you?" Looking over at her, he immediately knew the answer.
She had always been fascinated by the Dynamic Duo, Robin in particular after he had saved her life.
"Well, duh!" She said with a smile. "Okay, so there are tons of internet rumors about it and I just want to make sure that he is still alive. Because as far as
everyone can tell the Robin at the moment is not the same one as when I was a kid."
Dick fought a smile. She had been keeping up.
"So if he is not the current Robin, where is he? Most everyone is in agreement that he is Nightwing now, but I don't know if I buy that." She said stopping to
rub her nose. "I just have to know."
"And how are you going to manage that? And who is 'everyone'?" Dick asked curiously.
"The website I follow." She explained. "I'm not quite sure, but I just have this feeling that if I can see him I'll just know."
Dick blinked. He would love to know how she was going to manage that one.
He heard Barbara give a squeal.
"I just can't wait!" She said with a huge smile as she looked out at the old familiar city.
"Calm down Babs, you are acting like a tourist." Dick rolling his eyes.
Barbara slapped his shoulder.
"Does Gotham even have tourists?" She asked.
"Um, maybe." Dick said with a shrug. "I mean, I guess. Some maybe."
"A brochure from Gotham. I wonder what that looks like." Barbara said running a hand through her hair.
"I bet it touts our lovely parks and excellent transportation system." Dick said trying to sound poetic.
"More psychopaths per acre than anywhere else in the world." Barbara said cracking a grin.
"I'm sure that will be relegated to some page near the end." Dick said while stopping at a light.
"This is a weird crazy city, but I love it."
Dick smiled and hit the gas as the light turned green.
"My dad sent me a picture of the new police headquarters when it was completed last year. I can't wait to see it."
She said, happily leaning back in the seat.
"Well, it will be coming up on your right." Dick said teasingly.
Barbara inched closer to the window and rolled it down so that she could stick her head out.
She grinned with excitement as they drove past all the familiar buildings that she had grown up around.
Then there it was—Gotham Police Headquarters.
Dick pulled right in front.
"It's . . ." Barbara began to say as she stared at the outside.
"Defaced?" Dick guessed.
Barbara nodded. The bullet holes across the front were kind of hard to miss.
"How long did that take?"
"Eh, hour, hour and a half."
"Barbara rolled her eyes. Nothing new lasted long in Gotham.
"Well, go on in. I'll bring in your bag." Dick told her.
"Really? Thanks!"
Dick watched as she sped happily up the steps. Putting the car into gear, he hoped that there was going to be a close parking space.
He had finally lugged her suitcase to the bottom of the stairs when Barbara popped back out.
"So?" He said with a grin.
"He isn't here!" Barbara exclaimed looking depressed. "He's at some all-day police conference!"
Dick smacked the side of his head.
"I totally knew that. I completely forgot! When your dad came over to play chess with Bruce, he mentioned something about it."
"Now who is the airhead?" She said giving him a smile followed by a sigh. She paced along the sidewalk.
"Wait, my dad still comes over to play chess with Bruce?" She asked.
Dick smiled. That is how the both of them started playing together.
"Well, I'm not playing it with him."
Barbara had to smile. Dick was never good at chess. "I guess I will just go home and wait for him."
"Not when you can spend the day with me." Dick said slyly.
"Are you sure you really don't have to get home?" She asked him.
Dick shrugged.
"I wasn't supposed to be home this early anyway, but I was able to finish up and catch an earlier flight. So . . . I am all yours."
Barbara bit her lip and suddenly felt shy.
"Well, if you want to . . ." She said giving a grin.
"Great. Where do you want to go? Do you want to get something to eat? Do you want to go to the park, or just drive around, or . . .?"
"Let's just focus on getting my suitcase back into your car." She said laughing.
"So where to?" Dick said as he started the engine of the car.
"Everywhere?" Barbara asked. "No, um, the park. The one with the big swings?"
"Sure thing." Dick said.
In minutes, they were both on the largest swings on any playground in Gotham. The park was quiet since it was still fairly early. No one took notice of the two
young adults racing to see who could go higher.
Without warning, Dick flipped off the swing and somersaulted to the ground with a perfect landing.
Barbara screeched her swing to a halt. Dirt spewed up from the ground as she used her feet to stop.
"Dick, that scared me to death! Why do you do that? It practically causes my heart to stop!" She lectured him.
He gave her a ruefully smile.
"Come on Babs, I've got to stay in practice." He said giving her the sad look that she could never say no to.
"All right, just don't kill yourself." She said seriously as she dusted her pants off. Looking over at Dick, he was dirty too. She had to laugh.
Without his suit jacket, tie, and now with his hair messed up, he was starting to look more like her Dick than ever.
"What?" He asked her and he brushed some dust off his rolled up sleeves.
"Everything. Just everything." She told him happily.
"Good. Let's go eat." He said running a hand through his coal black hair.
Barbara stared out at the view over the river. Turning her head around, she watched as Dick cut into his waffles.
"You going to eat?' He asked her.
"Yeah, just trying to wrap my head around everything." She said as she picked up her fork.
"So you just decided to come back this year?"
"Well, it's not that simple. My mom wouldn't let me go by myself and she was always so busy with her work at the ad agency that she never had the time. So
two years ago I made her promise that once I graduated that I could come here—with or without her. So here I am." She ended proudly. "So the time rolled
around and I started planning. She decided that she couldn't make it so, I planned for it to be a surprise."
"Is she happy there?" Dick asked softly not quite sure if it was a polite question to ask.
Barbara's eyes dimmed.
"I'm not really sure. She seems happy sometimes, but others . . ."
"Are you happy there?"
Barbara paused not quite knowing how to answer his question.
"I manage." She said honestly. "I help out at the library in the children's section so there is always something to do in the summer and then I had school, so I
guess so."
She really didn't want to talk about her home there, she was here now. Her real home and Dick was here, so there was no need to even think about her life
there.
"So what about you? I mean how are you doing?"
Dick seemed to be taken off guard as he pushed his food around on his plate.
"Me? Ah, I've been doing stuff for Bruce whenever he makes me . . . I've been . . ." Dick stopped.
What had he been doing that he could tell her?
"Oh, my word!" Barbara started while staring out the window towards the street.
"What is it?" Dick asked with concern.
He looked at the street looking for any sign of danger. But there were just people walking about.
Her eyes seemed to be glued to a family with a young boy.
"I totally forgot that you have a brother!"
Dick smiled at her outburst.
"Yeah, Tim. You'll like him." Dick said proudly. "He's a good kid. Doesn't try to walk down stairs on his hands or slide down the banister, so Alfred is happy."
Barbara smiled at the memory of the numerous times that she had witnessed Dick to just that.
"I was so happy when I heard." Barbara said giving a smile.
She couldn't believe it when she read that Bruce Wayne had taken in another child. She was happy though; she was hoping that Dick would once again have a
real friend. Not to say that he didn't have any, but maybe one that could understand his home life better—the way that she never could.
"You'll have to meet him." Dick said insisting. "We should . . . wait! Since everyone is forgetting everything today, I forgot that the Manor is hosting a party this
Saturday. You have to come Babs."
"I don't k . . ."
"Your dad is coming! You have to come. Say you will." Dick asked with a look she knew well on his face.
"Well, um, I guess." Barbara said not wanting to intrude, but enjoying the thought of being back there.
His face lit up.
"I can't wait now!" Dick said sounding excited. "Which is a weird feeling." He added.
Barbara had to laugh as she finished up her breakfast.
"Where to now, my lady?" Dick said with flourish.
Barbara found it hard to just pick one.
So they tried to go everywhere—with little success.
They walked around the city for a bit, then they ran through another park, then to their old school yard, and finally found themselves sitting on the steps of the
Gotham Public Library.
Barbara looked over at Dick and noticed a sleepy look cross his face.
"You should be getting home Dick. I should be too."
Dick's face immediately changed.
"You're tired. You probably have the same jetlag that I do." She pointed out.
"Oh, come on. I can . . ."
Barbara shook her head.
"Nu uh, Grayson. Come on." She said standing up and offering him her hand.
He reluctantly took it.
"All right, but I'm not happy about it." He said.
They slowly headed back in the direction where Dick had parked his car.
He took a slightly longer route to get back to her father's apartment. He knew that she noticed, but she didn't say anything about it.
"Well, here we are." He said sounding unhappy as he pulled up.
He listened as Barbara gave a gasp of glee as she got out of the car.
She stared up at the brick building as if it were a long lost relative.
Dick started to pull her duffel out.
"Dick!" She called out. "Don't hurt my books!" Turning around, she walked back to help him.
"I'm . . . trying . . ." He grunted as he pulled. "You are going to be lucky if this complex doesn't collapse once we get this thing inside."
Barbara rolled her eyes.
"Come on." She said while picking up a corner of the bag.
Dick was secretly thankful.
They managed to get it inside the building and outside of the right door.
Barbara fiddled with a ring of keys and placed one in the lock.
"Let's hope that he hasn't changed them." Barbara said with a grin.
The door opened.
Barbara tried hard to hold back any tears.
Her she was again—home. Her own room and everything. Quickly blinking away any tears, she turned back to Dick.
"Thank you so much." She told him before giving him another hug. She leaned her head against his shoulder. After a minute, she pulled back—well tried to pull
back.
"Uh, Dick? You have to let me go." Barbara said teasingly. She felt him shake his head.
"Dick come on." She insisted trying to escape his arms, but he held her tight. When had he gotten so strong?
"Richard Grayson." She said firmly knowing that it would do the trick.
"Fine." He said dejectedly like he was a little kid again.
She shook her head at him.
"I'll see you later." She said happily. How wonderful it was to say those words.
"You better." Dick said eyeing her.
Giving him a nod, she shut the door.
A second later a knock came.
Checking the peephole, Barbara opened it a backup.
"Yes?" She asked him questioningly.
"Just making sure that I wasn't dreaming." He said looking serious.
"You're not." She said with a smile. Too prove it, she took a step out and kissed him on the cheek. "You're such a dork." She said before closing the door.
He was tempted to live out in the hall.
"Master Richard? Is that you?"
Dick paused a moment by the door as Alfred's voice filtered down towards him.
"Yea, Alfred. It's me!" He called out as he shut the door. Hanging his bag over the handrail of the stairs, he walked down a few rooms and found Alfred in the
living room.
"Good to have you back. Are you hungry? How was your flight?" Alfred asked interestedly.
"Not hungry. Flight was fine." Dick reported.
"Not hungry? How is that possible? It's almost dinner time."
Dick pivoted on his heels to face his younger brother.
"Hey Tim. How was everything?"
Tim gave a shrug.
"The usual. Someone escaped, we put them back. Bank robbers, carjackers . . ."
"The usual." Dick said in agreement. "Good ole Gotham."
"It was weird not having you out there." Tim added.
Dick smiled. It was nice to be missed.
"Well it will be good to be back out there." He said genuinely.
"Maybe you should just rest I'm sure it has been a long day and the flight just added to it." Alfred said looking concerned.
Dick grinned.
"Well, actually I have been back in Gotham since this morning."
"What?" Tim asked in confusion.
Alfred cocked an eyebrow.
"What on earth have you been doing then?" He said after a moment.
"I ran into someone in the airport and hung out with them. I bet you would never guess who."
He watched as Tim's eyes narrowed in thought.
"We are quite put out. Who did you run into?" Alfred asked.
"You didn't even try!" Dick objected.
"Hey, I haven't guessed yet." Tim said.
"You wouldn't know anyway." Dick said, trying to break it to him gently.
"Someone whom Master Tim would not know?" Alfred said now trying to think hard.
"That's no fair." Tim said crossing his arms.
Dick started to grow impatient, but he tried to hold it in as Alfred thought.
Alfred shrewdly picked up on it.
"Just go ahead and tell us." Alfred said invitingly.
Dick found that he could not spit the words out fast enough.
"Barbara Gordon."
If it was possible to stun Alfred, Dick just did.
"Miss . . . Gordon? Here? In Gotham?" Alfred said in a mix of excitement and confusion.
"Wait, who?" Tim asked although no one was listening to him.
"I just bumped into her. It was like the best coincidence in the world!" Dick said now grinning like never before.
"So why in heaven's name didn't you bring her over here?" Alfred said sounding hurt.
Dick paused.
Why hadn't he? The thought didn't even occur to him.
"Who are we talking about!" Tim interjected since no one was paying attention to him.
"Barbara Gordon." Both Dick and Alfred said at once.
"And that is . . ?" He said looking at both of them.
"She's Commissioner's Gordon's daughter . . ." Alfred started.
"She lived here when she was younger . . ." Dick said.
"She was a charming little girl."
"She wa . . . is my best friend." Dick ended on.
Tim still looked confused.
"Then why have I never heard about her?"
Dick froze.
"What do you mean that you've never heard about her?" He asked severely.
Tim took a step back.
"Hey don't blame me." He said.
Dick walked over to the fireplace mantle and looked across the few photographs that had been placed there.
There was one of him and Barbara that had always sat there since they had met. Alfred had left them alone in the kitchen for one minute and they had
managed to get cake batter all over themselves.
He had sent them outside to spray off with the hose and once they were thoroughly drenched, he had stopped to snap a picture.
Dick bit his lip.
Where on earth was that picture anyway?
"You mean the redhead girl?" Tim broke in as he tried to remember. "I thought I saw a picture of her once, but you never seemed to want to talk about it."
Dick began to argue, but found that he couldn't deny it.
He had stopped talking about her. Not intentionally, but just because there was no one who understood what he was feeling. Not even Alfred.
"Dick? Are you in there?"
Dick zoned back in as Tim's hand waved in front of his face.
"Yeah, sorry." Dick said looking over his brother's head to stare out the window. "I guess I was more tired than I thought. I'm gonna head upstairs."
He walked slowly back towards the hall.
"Master Dick?" Alfred's soft voice broke through the silence as Dick sat on his bed. He looked concernedly at the young man as he sat on his bed.
"I didn't forget about her, did I Alfred?"
Alfred gave a soft smile at the honesty of the young man.
"Of course not." He said assuring. "You never have. You just learned to live . . ."
"Without her?" Dick said now horrified. "That sounds terrible."
"Not without her just . . ." Alfred fell silent as he tried to put it into words. "You just learned to live with the situation. You never talked with me about it except
on occasion. I could tell the days when that was making you sad. When someone did something or said something that made you think of her, you would go off
into a trance." He sighed. "You were young, and her absence hit you deeply. You just closed up. It took a while for you to come back out."
Dick pondered this as he laced his fingers together.
"The fact that you didn't talk about her was always the surest sign that you missed her."
Dick fingered the edge of his pillowcase.
"I feel badly saying this Alfred, but I think that I didn't bring her here, because I didn't want to share her." He said sheepishly.
"I forgive you completely." Alfred said fondly. "But we really should have her over."
"I invited her to the party Saturday." Dick explained.
Alfred's eyes lit up.
"That is excellent! I can't wait to see her. Has she changed much?'
The question caused a smile to cross Dick's lips.
"Well, it's hard to say. She still has red hair, still reads books, and still is obsessed with Batman and Robin."
Alfred gave a smile at that last one.
"She's uh . . ."
Dick tried to capture everything in a few words and was failing.
How could he even put it into words? His Babs had changed, but she hadn't. For that he was thankful.
Alfred, sensing that he wasn't going to get a complete answer at the moment excused himself from the room with a smile.
"Hello? Is someone in here?"
Barbara held her breath as she heard her father shut the door to the apartment carefully. She was trying to surprise him, not scare him so after a moment she
called out.
"Dad?"
"Barbara?" Her father said tentatively as he walked into the kitchen. He stood stock still at the sight of her.
"Welcome home Dad!" She said happily as she rushed over to great him with a hug.
Her father stood there frozen before returning the hug.
"I was wondering whose shoes were by the door. What are you doing here? Does your . . ."
"Yes, yes, it was all planned out." She assured him. "Well, mostly planned out. She doesn't know that I never actually called you. I wanted it to be a surprise
see?"
If her father was displeased at all about her secrecy he didn't show it.
"It's wonderful to have you back, Barb." He said giving her another hug. "Look how much you've grown since I last saw you." He added pulling her back so that
he could look at her.
"You saw me last spring, Dad. I haven't grown that much." She pointed out.
"I know, but every time I see you I can't believe how much time has passed." He said this with a sad sigh and a faraway look crossed his face.
"When did you get in?" He asked her. A smile was now on his face.
"This morning actually. I went to the police station, but you were gone . . . I guess that is what I get for planning a surprise." She said with a shrug.
"I'm sorry. That is not how you probably wanted to start your first day back." He said apologetically.
She waved him off.
"It actually worked out fine." She said grinning.
"Oh?" Her father said with interest. "How is that?"
"I ran into Dick at the airport." She said shuffling her feet.
"Did you? That was a lucky break." He said smiling at her.
"I know!" She said with a grin. "I couldn't believe it. I almost didn't recognize him."
"He's grown up just like you have." He said nudging her chin.
Barbara nodded.
Six years could make a lot of difference especially at the ages that they were at. It was so odd to be back now. Everything seemed the same, but it really
wasn't.
"Did you two do much?" Her father asked knowingly.
"A bit. He probably should have gone back home, but he pushed it aside in usual Dick fashion."
"He always would for you." He commented. "But I hoped that you two saved something for us to do."
"Oh, plenty Dad." Her eyes lit up. "There is so much to see and to re-see and . . . everything. But I really just want to sit down right now and have dinner with
you. Just like we used to."
Gordon stared at his daughter quietly realizing just how much she had grown up. As proud as he was, he was just a little sad, but that is the way it should be
he guessed.
"All right, Barb. You start and then I'll tell you about my day."
She heartily agreed.
"So your best friend was a girl?"
Nightwing's head turned around to glance at Robin.
"Huh?"
"Your best friend growing up was a girl." He repeated.
"I don't think I like the way you are saying that." Nighwing pointed out.
Robin shrugged.
"It's just a little odd. Maybe it's just because no one really ever told me. It's just hard to picture."
"And why is that?"
"I don't know. So what was she like?"
Robin's question gave him pause.
"She was the smartest person in school. Probably, one of the smartest people anywhere. She just had this amazing way of . . ."
'So how did you two meet?" Robin asked, getting bored of the answer.
"The Commissioner came over once to play chess with Bruce and he brought his daughter along. We just hit it off."
"Just like that?"
"Just like that." Nightwing confirmed. "We basically did everything together if we could."
"So she left when her mother did?"
Nightwing set his jaw.
"Yes."
The answer was given a bit colder than he might have intended. Robin, sensing that he had touched a sore spot, went silent.
Random End Notes: I hope what I've done isn't too hard to follow. This story won't really focus on the superhero side of things. (Just so you know). Hopefully
you won't find it too angsty of a story, but that is kind of the nature of the beast. (Did I mention this is a 6 chapter story?) As normal with my stories that are a
bit . . . different, I am always nervous to know what you think.
{Dick/Babs because, HELLO! They are perfect for each other!}
All right you know the drill. Advice, and (gentle) [be nice please! :}] criticism, would be appreciated. Or a haiku if you feel like one.