A/N: Hey, I'm back! Thanks to everyone who read Past, Present, and Future, and special thanks to Ultimate Mask and AmaraRae for telling me to continue, because it convinced me to actually post this idea I was working on. Hope you enjoy, -Vanessa
"Uff." Dick Grayson hit the ground on his back. "Cheater," he accused. He heard a laugh, then a smiling face appeared in his vision. He accepted the hand and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet.
"Not half bad," Barbara commented. Dick frowned.
"Can I go back to the punching bag?" he whined.
"Come on, you're going to have to get back to actual fighting eventually," Barbara replied, taking a step back. "Would you rather spar with Bruce?" Dick rolled his eyes, also taking a step backwards.
"Is that even a question?" he asked, assuming a ready stance. Barbara mirrored his movement. "Ladies first." Barbara smiled.
"Reconsidering your attack plan?" she joked. Dick didn't get to respond as she swung at his head. He ducked, retaliating with a shot to her side. She blocked it, grabbing his arm and starting to twist it behind him. He used his elbow to hit her hand so she released him, then caught her arm, knocking her leg out from under her so she fell over backwards. They landed, but she rolled them over so she was on top of him. She caught his other hand so they both had a hold on one of the other's hands. Dick rolled them both back over, managing to pin Barbara's hands to the ground next to her head.
"I win," he panted. Barbara frowned.
"You know I'm going easy on you," she informed him.
"Yeah, sure," he said, smirking victoriously. Then his smirk faltered for a second. Barbara noticed his hesitation, and smiled slightly.
"So what're you going to do now Grayson?" she asked softly, smiling misceviously up at him. He smiled as well before leaning down and bringing his lips to hers.
They heard a soft noise, and Dick pulled back, rolling off of her and shoving himself to his feet before offering her a hand up. Batman walked in just as Barbara returned to her feet. He scowled at his two teenaged sidekicks.
"Hey Bruce," Dick said. Batman removed his crowl so that the face of Bruce Wayne was revealed, regarding his ward suspiciously.
"What are you two doing?" he asked.
"Sparing," Dick replied simply.
"Dicks doing better," Barbara offered. Bruce raised an eyebrow, but let it go.
"I'll be upstairs," he informed them, fixing them with a final glare before walking towards the elevator out of the main room. "Oh, and you two should come get ready soon." They both groaned.
"Come on, do we really have to go?" he asked.
"You do," Bruce replied. "You've missed the last two years of business parties, during the few weeks I actually have you here, you're going to the company party," he explained perfectly calmly. "Barbara, you don't have to come." Then he left. Dick glanced at Barbara.
"Don't even think about it," he said, catching her arm. "You're coming." She laughed.
"And what makes you so sure Boy Wonder?" she teased. He pulled her in closer to him, smirking.
"Because you'll come with me," he replied. Barbara laughed.
"Someone's getting cocky," she replied, leaning up and kissing him quickly. "But fine, I'll come."
"Good," he said, releasing her. "Now let's get out of here before Bruce comes back."
"And yells at us?" Barbara finished for him as they started out of the cave.
~0~
Dick stood in the grand ball room, adjusting his bowtie in annoyance. He really, really, really hated wearing a tuxedo, maybe even more than Bruce did. The only upside was that no one had managed to notice him yet. That's when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He spun around, catching his breath quickly. Barbara stood behind him in a light blue strapless dress, the skirt of which fell all the way to the ground. Her hair was tied in a knot at the base of her neck.
"You okay Grayson?" she asked, watching him slightly apprehensively. "Too much?" Dick snapped out of it, and shook his head decisively.
"No…no, you look great," he offered equally nervously.
"Thanks." The two stared at each other for a second, unsure of how to proceed. They hadn't really taken their relationship out into the open yet past going to a movie a couple weeks ago. Dick resorted to tugging at his bowtie again. Barbara smirked.
"Not used to the monkey suit anymore?" she teased. Dick frowned at her.
"Well you seem more comfortable in a dress than I remember," he commented.
"Dad drags me to all these parties," she explained.
"Sounds like a lot of fun," Dick replied. Barbara rolled her eyes at him just as an older man walked over to both of them.
"Hi honey," Commissioner Gordon greeted Barbara by pulling her into a hug. "You look very elegant."
"Thanks Dad." The commissioner now turned his gaze slightly critically onto Dick.
"Hello Commissioner," Dick said, holding out his hand.
"Mr. Grayson," he acknowledged, accepting the hand and shaking it. "Would you mind if I talked to you for a minute?" Dick nodded and followed him out of Barbara's earshot, leaving her glaring after both of them.
"So how's your school been?" Dick was caught slightly off-guard by the question.
"Oh, well, it's been good," he said quickly.
"Where is it again?"
"Oh, it's in England," Dick elaborated, settling back into his usual cover story. "Just outside Lanchester." The commissioner nodded, then dropped his small-talk smile.
"Now, what exactly are your intentions regarding my daughter?" While Dick may have been expecting that question, it didn't make it any easier to answer.
"Well, sir, I…I intend to stay with her as long as she'll have me," Dick settled on finally. Commissioner Gordon nodded, and smiled slightly, clapping him on the back.
"Good," he said. "Now you remember that, because I like you Dick, and it'd be a shame to have to hunt you down for hurting my daughter." With that, he disappeared back into the crowd. Dick turned around the other way, walking back to where he last saw Barbara, soon catching sight of her red hair.
"Hello," he said, walking up behind her. She turned to face him, smiling.
"Long time no see," she joked.
"Who is this lovely young man?" the older woman standing behind her asked. Barbara sent Dick a quick "sorry about this" look before turning back around.
"Oh, Mrs. Kingston, this is Dick Grayson," she said, falsely sweet. Immediately the woman's eyes lit up.
"Dick Grayson?" she repeated excitedly. "My, look how you've grown! I remember you at these parties back when you were half my height." Dick smiled, nodding. "You're at a boarding school now, aren't you? Where was it again?"
"England," Dick elaborated. She nodded.
"Of course," Mrs. Kingston agreed. "So what brings you back to Gotham?"
"Just visiting," he said casually.
"Oh, of course," Mrs. Kingston said. "Look, it's the Hearns, have you seen them yet?" Dick didn't get a chance to respond before she had started over towards the couple.
"I hate high society," Dick whispered into Barbara's ear, putting one hand on her waist and guiding her along next to him. She shot him a sympathetic look before they were dragged in front of the Hearns.
"Hello Connie," Mrs. Hearn was greeting Mrs. Kingston, "It's lovely to see you. Oh, and Barbara, is your dad here?"
"He's around here somewhere," Barbara replied.
"Now who is this young man?" Mr. Hearn asked. Mrs. Kingston laughed shrilly.
"Don't you recognize Dick Grayson?" she asked. Both of the Hearnses eyes lit up, and Dick smiled falsely, mentally preparing himself for what was coming. Then something buzzed in his pocket. He and Barbara exchanged a glance.
"I'm terribly sorry, but I'm rather thirsty," he improvised wildly. "Barbara, can I get you some punch?" She nodded, so he smiled at their three companions, and rushed into the crowd. As soon as he was out of the party and into a deserted hallway, he pulled out the buzzing yellow communicator and activated the audio.
"What?" he asked quickly.
"Hey Robin, how's your recovery coming?" Cyborg's voice asked.
"No different than it was when I talked to you yesterday," he replied, the slightest bit annoyed.
"Oh yeah, course, um…" Dick's annoyance vanished replaced by worry.
"Cy, what's wrong?"
"Nothing, just wanted to say hi," Cyborg blew him off. "I'll see you at the end of the week then."
"Cyborg…" Dick's further interrogation was cut off by Cyborg hanging up on him.
~0~
Dick walked back over to Barbara, two glasses of punch in hand. He tapped her back with one of the glasses, and she spun around, smiling gratefully.
"We were beginning to wonder if you were coming back," Mrs. Kingston teased lightly. Barbara grimaced slightly at Dick, taking a long gulp of punch.
"It's nice to see you here again," Mr. Hearn told Dick. "Have you two kept in touch?" They glanced at each other.
"Vaguely," Barbara offered. Dick nodded.
"Only vaguely?" Mrs. Hearn asked. "That's a shame; you two were always so adorable at parties. Well, it's been great seeing you again, Dick." With a final wave, she and her husband drifted back into the crowd.
"How long will you be in town?" Mrs. Kingston asked.
"Not long," Dick replied, smiling. Mrs. Kingston opened her mouth to continue questioning him, but thankfully music began playing. Dick offered a hand to Barbara. "Would you care to dance?"
"Of course," she replied, accepting his hand. They bade Mrs. Kingston goodbye quickly and walked out onto the dance floor. After a few minutes of dancing, the music slowed. Dick pulled Barbara into him, enabling them to whisper to each other.
"What's wrong?" Barbara demanded immediately.
"I don't know," Dick replied, keeping his expression light. "Cy just asked how my recovery was going, then stonewalled me." Barbara nodded.
"Want to go check it out?"
"You haven't developed mind reading abilities, have you?" She rolled her eyes at him, then he leaned down and kissed her. After a few seconds, they broke apart, Dick grabbed Barbara's hand and led her from the dance floor, both smiling, and Barbara giggling slightly. As soon as they reached the dark study on the second floor, they closed the door and dropped the goofy smiles.
"On the upside, I highly doubt anyone will wonder where we went," Dick offered as he opened the door to the Batcave. Barbara laughed.
"On the downside, my dad might kill you." Dick's face flashed with alarm for a second, then it composed again when he remembered why they were sneaking off in the first place.
"We'll worry about that later," he declared, and they descended into the cave.
~0~
Cyborg, Beastboy, Starfire and Raven flashed onto the screen of the Batcomputer.
"Hey Robin, what's up?" Beastboy asked in his overly cheerful "I'm hiding something" voice.
"I was wondering the same thing," Robin announced innocently. "How have things been in Jump?"
"Nothing much has been going on," Cyborg replied. "Like you said yesterday, people are scared to mess with us after we took down the brotherhood."
"That's why Speedy's hiding?" Batgirl quipped. The archer walked onscreen, mumbling under his breath.
"I'm just hanging out," he said also falsely cheery. He put his hand on the back of his head sheepishly. "Because, you know, things have been quiet."
"Speedy and Starfire, sitting in a tree…" Beastboy started to chant halfheartedly, only to be cut off by a smack to the side of the head by Raven.
"Guys, what's wrong?" Robin requested again. "I'm trying to be nice and ask, but if you won't tell me I can figure it out for myself." The Titans frowned, glancing at each other.
"We've been having a string of robberies," Raven admitted. The other four glared at her for a second, but she rolled her eyes. "They looked random, but we're starting to see a pattern." She reached forward and pushed a button on their computer consul, and a map of Jump appeared on the screen next to the Titans. Red dots began appearing on the map, first very random, but finally forming the vague shape of an "S". Robin tensed slightly.
"You weren't going to tell me about this?" he demanded.
"Friend Robin, we thought it best to tell you once you returned," Starfire replied.
"Yeah man, we don't want you cutting your recovery short," Cyborg continued. "We've got it handled, you just get here when you're better. It's just half a week, right?"
"Cy, we fought the Brotherhood of Evil in a week," Robin retorted exasperatedly. "I'll see you guys soon." He cut off the coming protests by closing the video feed. He felt Batgirl's stare on the back of his head, so he turned around, anticipating a tirade.
"You're leaving now?" she asked calmly. Robin sighed.
"I need to Babs," he replied. "If I'm not there and something happens…"
"Okay," she said. Robin started, his eyes widening.
"Okay?" he repeated. Batgirl nodded.
"Yep," she agreed. "I know nothing I say or do is going to convince you not to go, so I'm just going to spare us a fight right before you leave." Robin sighed again.
"Babs, I…" he tried to continue, but gave up and turned to walk to the motorcycle bay. Batgirl caught his arm halfway.
"You don't think you're leaving without saying goodbye again, do you?" she demanded when he spun to face her. He smiled, pulling her into a tight hug. After a few minutes, they released each other.
"Be careful," she requested, kissing him quickly. "Call us if you have a problem. Or, well, just call…"
"I will," he promised, giving her hand a squeeze. "You too, okay?"
"When aren't I careful?" she joked, releasing his hand and taking a step back. He nodded, taking a step back too.
"See you later Babs," he offered.
"Later Boy Wonder," she agreed, and he turned and disappeared into the Batcave's dark hallways.