This chapter is dedicated to Yvonne Craig, the first live action Batgirl, who passed away yesterday

TheForce

-( - )-

Raven was seated at the kitchen table, poring over brochures and pamphlets. Some were for tropical beach destinations like Cancun or Fiji. Raven knew that those destinations never appealed to Garfield and to honest spending time at some beach resort overrun with topless European women wasn't exactly her idea of a good time either, and she dropped those pamphlets into a dustbin. The next group was for Florida based theme parks. Those too found their way into the trash. She had tried to book a river cruise on the Danube, but to her dismay they had been sold out months before. As she tossed the last of the brochures into the trash, Starfire entered the common room. The princess immediately noticed the overflowing dustbin.

"You are not having the luck?"

"You could say that."

Starfire looked around the room. "Where is Garfield?"

"He's taking a nap."

"Some things have not changed, have they?"

A small smile appeared on Raven's face. "Thank Azar for small favors; but I still don't know where to take him."

Starfire sat down at the table. "Have you done the considering of Robin's idea?"

Raven leaned back and an unhappy sigh escaped her gray lips.

"At first I didn't like the idea. But the more I think of it, the more it makes sense … unless it totally backfires."

"You are the worried?"

"That goes without saying. Of course I'm worried about Gar. For the past few nights he's been tossing and turning in his sleep. And he has no interest whatsoever in physical intimacy …"

"But that is not what is truly worrying you."

Raven winced before answering. "No, it's not."

"Tell me, friend. Share your burden with me."

"It's selfish."

"I do not understand. How can a burden be the selfish?"

"It's pathetic of me. I should be worried about his welfare, and I am. But I'm also very worried about something else."

The princess took Raven's hand and gently squeezed it. "You are afraid of losing him?"

Raven nodded as a tear dripped down her face. "Like I said, it's selfish."

Starfire shook her head. "No, it is not. He is your beloved and he is hurting. You feel powerless to help him and worry that he will never be himself again."

Raven stifled a sob. "He isn't himself. How could he be? He's been Beast Boy since he was a small child. He can barely remember not being able to morph and now he's lost that forever. I'm so scared, Starfire."

"You are afraid that there will not be a place for you in his life anymore?"

"Yes!" Her voice warbled. "Starfire, you have to understand, I'm not like you. I'm not lovable."

"You are wrong."

"I'm half demon, I'm right and you know it." She wiped her tears away with her sleeve. "I always thought that I would be alone and for good reason. I'm bitchy, arrogant and prone to anger. I have to constantly meditate just to hold everything together and not turn into a monster like my father."

"Raven, you are selling yourself short. You have many qualities."

"If you mean I'm physically attractive, yes, I know. But all the men I dated before we became a couple only wanted me to spread my legs for them. All they saw in me was a roll in the hay. And those were the brave ones who could get past my demonic nature. Most of them, once they learned what I am, just ran away. They decided I wasn't even good enough to f…"

Starfire covered Raven's mouth with her hand.

"Raven, do not say such things."

Raven removed the princess's hand. "Can't you see, Star? He's the only man who's ever loved me for who I am. Who would have thought back when we started the team that I would fall in love with him?"

Starfire smiled. "You are the 'good catch' and he is wise enough to know that. He is having the personal crisis, but you are there for him. He is not acknowledging that now, but when he is done mourning his loss he will remember that you are his beloved. He will not abandon you. He will marry you and you will be the mother of his bumgorphs."

Raven gasped. "Oh Azar, he is going to want cubs; I never even thought about that."

"Cubs?"

A small chuckle escaped Raven's lips. "That's what he calls children … cubs. But he isn't Beast Boy anymore, so I guess that I should stop using that word."

Starfire smiled. "You will have beautiful cubs. And I will be the mother of God to them."

Raven guffawed. "You mean Godmother, the Mother of God; that's someone else. Oh Azar, Gar is Catholic, he's going to want the kids baptized."

"I do not understand. What is this baptizing you speak of?"

"It's a Christian Sacrament. Starfire, our kids will be one quarter demon; I'm not sure if it will be even possible to baptize them."

"I still do not understand. If you and Garfield love each other and have bumgorphs, why would their heritage matter? Are you not a good person?"

Raven squeezed Starfire's hand. "Maybe you're right. And thanks, Starfire, thanks for being my friend."

Starfire smiled "You are sharing his crisis. You are suffering with him. It is proof that you are the heartmates."

Raven sighed. "I still don't know where to take him. Maybe Robin is right."

"So you will take him there?"

"I guess so. I can't think of any other place."

-( - )-

Three days later …

The jumbo jet, after flying for nearly five hours across the continent, banked to the left. As it leveled off a voice was heard over the PA system.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I've turned the fasten seat belts sign back on. We've begun our descent and should be touching down at Gotham International Airport in ten minutes. Your Jump City based crew would like to thank you for choosing Trans National Airlines and we hope to see you again soon on another flight."

A young couple was seated in the first class section. He was blond and of below average stature. His traveling companion was even shorter. She was a brunette with intense hazel colored eyes and in addition to the Chakra stone on her forehead she wore two bulky rings, one on each hand.

He looked out the window at Gotham's skyline. The place looked flat out depressing. But he wasn't there for sightseeing, he was there to meet two people, people that Robin and Raven hoped would help him see things in a different light. Raven had her doubts, but she had no other options. She became lost in thought, pondering all the potential outcomes to this visit when her concentration was interrupted by the bump of the jet landing and the whine of its engines thrusting in reverse as they, along with airplane's brakes, slowed the aluminum behemoth.

-( - )-

As they waited for their luggage at baggage claim, they were approached by a tall, thin man with a mustache.

"Miss Roth and Master Logan, I presume?"

"And you must be Alfred Pennyworth."

"At your service. As soon as we collect your luggage I will take you to Wayne Manor."

-( - )-

The black Rolls Royce pulled into the Manor garage where a teenager with dark hair was waiting for them. He opened the car door and extended his hand to the still disguised Raven, gallantly helping her out of the car.

"Raven, Garfield; welcome to Wayne Manor. Bruce is out of town, but you didn't come here to see him."

Raven gave him one of her tiny smiles. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Tim Drake."

"Come inside, and you can shed your disguise, Raven. Since Alfred picked you up, I already made us some lunch."

"A tragic turn of events, as Master Tim cannot boil water without burning it." Alfred deadpanned as he removed their luggage from the car. "I have prepared two guest rooms in the West Wing for you." Alfred announced as he disappeared into the house.

"Separate rooms?" Garfield asked.

Tim chuckled. "Alfie is as old fashioned as they come, don't worry though. He isn't unrealistic. The two rooms are connected via a door. And the walls are as thick and dense as Fort Knox; you can be as loud as you want, no one will hear you." He added with a wink. "So when are you two lovebirds getting married?"

Raven was about to reply that they weren't engaged, but Garfield answered first. "We haven't set a date yet." Raven suppressed any external manifestation of surprise.

"Cool! Don't forget to send me an invitation." He interjected as they entered the kitchen. He approached the stove and removed the lid from a large pot. The smell of Marinara sauce permeated the air.

"Ta da! Spaghetti and meatballs a la Drake!"

"We're both vegetarians." Raven deadpanned as she slammed her holorings together, revealing her gray and violet self.

"You're what?" Tim shrieked as he slammed the lid shut on the spaghetti pot. "Crap! I mean, sorry … Uh, how about I order some pizza?"

"I will prepare a proper vegetarian meal for our guests." Alfred, who appeared out of nowhere, interrupted. "And while I do that, you can show them the Batcave."

-( - )-

"Dude! The Batmobile is way cooler than the T-Car!" Garfield exclaimed as he sat behind the wheel. He turned to his girlfriend, who was standing outside the car with Tim. "Uh, Rave; don't tell Chrome Dome I said that."

As Garfield egressed from the famous car, Alfred showed up pushing a tea cart with their dinner on it, he quickly set a table with linens, fine china and silverware and served up the eggplant parmesan he had prepared and filled the goblets with sparkling Italian mineral water.

"Dinner is served … and now that Master Tim's tour has concluded, I believe that you have more serious matters to discuss."

Alfred left the Batcave as the three super heroes sat down to eat. Garfield inhaled deeply and a smile appeared on his face. "This has to be the best eggplant parmesan in the history of parmesan."

"It's more than obvious that Alfred is a superb chef." Raven remarked. "But he's right; it's time to discuss more serious matters."

"So, dude; how did Bats pick you to be the next Robin?"

"He didn't." Tim replied. "I did"

"Say what?"

"I figured out that Bruce Wayne was Batman and I approached him and demanded that he train me to be the next Robin."

Raven arched an eyebrow. "You demanded to be the next Robin?"

"OK, maybe it was more of a strong request. Bruce was impressed that I figured out that he's the Bat, but he had some reservations."

"Your relative lack of athletic ability?" Raven interjected.

"Yeah, that. Compared to Dick; your Robin, and to the late Jason Todd … well, they're out of my league. I'll never be as acrobatic or athletic as they are. I'm more of a bookworm than a jock. Sure, I played some Junior Varsity football at school, but I never made varsity."

"But Bruce gave you a chance." She added.

"Yeah, he did. He said that there's more to being Robin than kicking butt. Do you know what Ra's Al Ghul calls Bruce? He calls him "The Detective". Bruce says that I'm a much better detective than Dick or Jason ever were. So two years ago he began to train me.

"Dude, you've been training for two years, and you still aren't wearing the traffic light suit?"

Tim snickered. "That ugly thing is Dick's costume. Mine will be all red with black cape. I'll be putting it on next week and going out on my first patrol with Bruce."

"Congratulations, you have no doubt worked hard at this." Raven deadpanned.

"I have … Garfield … I know that you're at a crossroads in your life."

"You could say that."

"I'm not gonna patronize you and say losing your powers isn't a big deal. What I will say is that you are a super hero, you just need to find a new outlet."

"I know … I'm just … I feel overwhelmed."

"Gar, I've seen video footage of you in combat. I think you're a natural. Just don't compare yourself to Dick, I mean; no one is as good as he is. But you have gifts he doesn't have."

"I do?"

"Have you lost your animal instincts?"

Gar looked pensive. "Now that you mention it, I still have those."

"I wish I had them … Gar … that is a huge advantage for you."

"So you think I should train?"

"You bet I do. And if Dick gets too anal retentive with you, just call me and I'll come kick his ass."

"You just said he's a better fighter than you."

"I'll bring Alfie with me. He's always been able to glare Dick into submission."

Garfield laughed. "I'd love to see that. OK, I'm feeling better about this."

"Great! Now let's eat before it gets cold. And after dinner I have someone I'd like you to meet."

-( - )-

It was Garfield's first trip to Gotham. Tim was driving them through the lower downtown district, which was a mix of derelict and gentrified neighborhoods, both containing old, brownstone apartment buildings. Tim pulled up to a particularly tall one, about 15 floors tall, that was in a "no man's land" between the good and bad neighborhoods. The building looked dark and unoccupied, except for the penthouse at the top, whose shrouded windows allowed a minute amount of electrically generated light to escape.

Tim pulled a clicker out of the car's glove box and upon pressing its large button a corrugated steel door rolled up. He drove the car into the now open garage, which was large but only contained two other vehicles, both were full sized vans with wheelchair lifts built into them and handicapped license plates. He parked next to them.

"Follow me, and don't stray. This building is heavily booby trapped."

He pulled a card key from his pocket and used it to summon the elevator. Within a few moments its door opened and the trio boarded the car, which whisked them to the penthouse.

When the elevator's doors opened, they were greeted by the sight of what looked like a server farm. There were racks and racks of Linux servers, routers, storage systems and terminals. Tim led them past the data center and though a self opening door. They walked through it and both Raven and Garfield gasped in amazement.

There were at least one hundred flat screens, lined up in a curved wall. Some had a GUI interface on them, others had command line interfaces. There countless video feeds as well. In the center of it all was a large curved desk with multiple keyboards and data switches. And seated at the desk, in a wheelchair, wearing a telephone headset was a young red headed woman, who spun around on her wheel chair to greet her guests.

"Garfield, Raven it's nice to meet you. My name is Barbara Gordon."

"You're Batgirl!" Garfield shouted.

"I was Batgirl, Cassandra Cain is Batgirl now."

"No way! That psycho might be wearing your cowl, but she'll never be Batgirl, you're the only Batgirl."

Barbara beamed at the former changeling. "Thanks, that means a lot to me." She replied as she extended her hand, which both Raven and the Garfield shook.

"I heard about your loss. I'm sorry about that, Garfield"

Gar froze. This woman, who was paralyzed from the waist down because the Joker shot her, was consoling him? He blinked several times before replying. "Miss Gordon, I … I don't know what to say."

Barbara continued to smile at him. She was a stunning woman. He didn't tell her, but when he was a teen he had a poster of her as Batgirl on his wall, and he "fantasized" about the shapely superhero more than once in the privacy of his bed. And here she was, broken and paralyzed; and instead of giving up she was now Oracle, the Batclan's intelligence officer.

"I think what Gar is trying to say is that he feels humbled in your presence." Raven interjected.

"Yeah … what she said." He gurgled.

Babs continued to smile. "Tim, there are some refreshments and snacks I prepared earlier in the kitchen, would you mind bringing them here?"

"No problem, Babs."

"Uh … I'll give you a hand." Gar volunteered as he ran after Tim.

Once they were out of earshot, Babs turned to Raven. "He must be devastated, having lost his powers."

"He is … we are making some progress, but it has been slow. I'm sorry, Miss Gordon …"

"Just call me Babs"

"Babs … bringing Gar to meet you feels … uncalled for."

"Don't feel that way. If it helps for him to see me in my wheelchair, if it helps him understand that it could be worse, far worse; then I don't mind at all." Babs suddenly grinned "He is cute … you guys have been dating for what? A year now?"

"Yes, we have."

"Any long term plans?"

"I just told him the other day that I'm going to ask him to marry me."

"And he's still with you. That's a good sign."

"You really think so?"

"I do. Raven; don't let him get away. I procrastinated and … well things didn't turn out so well for me."

Raven sighed. "Babs, I've … how can I say this … I've been in Robin's mind. I know … about the two of you."

"So you know that we were once lovers."

"Yes, I do. I also know that Dick invited you to join the Titans and that you hesitated."

"Raven, most people think that my greatest loss was when I lost the use of my legs, but that wasn't it. My biggest loss was when I lost Dick. After I was shot I told him to forget about me."

Raven looked stunned. "Why did you do that?"

Babs sighed. "I have no feeling below my waist. I can't even control my bowel movements, I have to wear a diaper. But you know what that really means, right?"

Raven nodded solemnly. "No intercourse" She replied in a whisper.

Babs sniffled. "How could I ever be his mate if I can't make love with him?"

"That was very brave and selfless of you."

"Not really … to this day I can't bear to see him and Starfire together. If only I had accepted his offer to be a Titan right away …"

Raven sat down on a nearby chair.

"I blame myself for Gar's loss."

"You do? But why?"

"I got cocky with Dr. Light and he knocked me down. Had that not happened Gar would never have been sprayed with that gas and he would still have his powers."

"Don't blame yourself, Raven. These things just happen. If anyone should know, it's me."

-( - )-

Tim and Garfield were unwrapping some deli made sandwiches Babs had ordered earlier for them and were stacking them on a tray. Tim was grinning like an idiot.

"What?" Garfield asked.

"You gotta tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"How you scored such a smoking hot girlfriend, or should I say 'fiancé'?"

"We aren't really engaged."

"You're not? But you said you haven't set a day yet."

"I … I haven't officially asked her yet. We've talked about it, but I haven't done the whole drop to a knee thing yet. But she did propose to me, well kind of."

Tim laughed. "I think you guys should pick a date."

Garfield sat down, with a sad look on his face. "How can we ... I'm not a superhero anymore."

"So what?"

"Dude, how am I supposed to protect her if I don't have any powers?"

Tim sat down next to him. "From what I've seen of Raven in video footage, she doesn't need anyone to protect her. But … that said … I understand what you're saying, you're her man and you know it's your job to protect her, even if she doesn't need protecting … look … after Dick trains you, you will be able to protect her."

"Dude … that's gonna take so long."

"Yeah, it will … Gar … I can tell just by looking at you two, you don't want to lose her."

"But what if I'm not good enough for her? What if, you know, she finds someone better, someone with powers …"

"She'd never do that, and you know it. Listen to me, from one dude to another: If I had a girl as awesome as her, I'd be in seventh heaven. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and start training. You do want to be at her side when she's fighting bad guys, right?"

"More than anything."

"Then you know what you have to do." He shoved a tray into Garfield's hands. "Let's go, they're probably wondering why we're taking so long."