A/N: For those that read the chapter within the first night after I uploaded it, I removed the last part.
Chapter 8: Lyrics
The large orange and red glow was growing closer as she stepped across the field. A single silhouette of a man stood, immobile. She knew who it was of course, he had asked her to come here but for some reason the sight that was in front of her made her grow nervous. She had heard what happened to Garth the night before, he stopped a robbery. He did a good thing, so why was she upset by it?
A gust of wind battered her, forcing her to take a step back and a shiver to be sent down her body, it was definitely getting colder which just makes patrolling Gotham even more difficult. The silhouette was growing larger with each step and her nervousness began to empty from her stomach and spread throughout her body. She could hear the crackle of the bonfire clearly now, she could see the embers of the fire dance into the blackness of the night.
"Garth?" Barbara called out. The man in front of the fire was dresssed in his quilted jacket with a red scarf around his neck and a blue rucksack slung around his shoulders. The light from the fire lit up the details of his face as he turned around, his small beard was now shaven down to stubble and his hair was now cut short. It was like he was a different man but his smile remained the same. She was glad that didn't change.
"Hey," He answered, His head tilted a little and a small smirk appeared on his lips. Barbara was no longer as nervous as she was. Garth had that effect on her, he was able to make her feel at ease.
Seeing that smirk on his face made her bashfully look away to hide her blushing, she then took those last steps to reach Garth's side.
"Nice haircut," She teased, nudging his arm with her elbow. Garth turned his head a little and looked at her with an eyebrow raised, "Thanks," he said. He then nudged her arm with his elbow in retaliation, "You look cute when you blush, D'you know that?" he complimented, subtly slipping into his light cockney accent.
The redhead didn't look away this time, she instead turned her body sideways towards Garth, "Did you just Flirt with me?" she said quizzically. Garth didn't now where to look, he bounced his eyes from the fire to the dark field beside him and then towards the fiery redhead that was standing with her arms crossed intrigued by what he said.
"Uhhh the correct answer." He answered.
Barbara rolled her eyes, "Always an answer for everything." she smirked
The redhead then began again, "Why are we out here? I don't really understand." she spoke.
Garth turned his body to her now, they were facing each other. Barbara's eyes moved towards the scar on his cheek, the beard used to hide some of it but now it was on full display. It wasn't a large and ugly scar but it had a story behind it, it wasn't one she wanted to hear though. She removed the glove from her hand and raised it towards the scar but Garth stopped her hand before it could reach it's destination, he delicately wrapped his covered palm and fingers around her wrists and slowly pulled it away from his face.
"I have a lot to say..." He softly spoke, "...But I'm not sure where to start."
His face sunk and the happiness in his face disappeared for a moment, that was until the redhead interlocked her fingers with his. She looked deeply into his eyes and when he tried to look away her head followed, "Start from wherever you want. You know I'm here for you, I wouldn't be out in a dark field otherwise. Would I?" she consoled. Garth exhaled through his nose and a smile formed on his lips. "You're right," he laughed, and Barbara giggled along with him.
Then the air grew serious again. Garth grew serious.
"Last night, when I stopped that robbery..." he bit his lip, "I was drunk and I was buying more booze." he admitted. He looked towards his hands, seeing them interlocked with Barbara's made him feel some semblance of hope for the future.
"I was drunk because-" his lips quivered,"- I went to see my dad a few days before." he admitted.
"Wha...How? What?" Barbara marveled but then she grew silent, "You remembered on the ledge didn't you..." she then confirmed to herself.
"Yeah." He croaked. "I don't remember how he died, I'm not sure I want to..." he said.
Barbara removed her hands from Garth's, "Do you want to?" she asked cautiously.
Garth's hands remained unmoved as if they still were still combined with Barbara's. "...No." he sighed. "I need to remember it myself. I owe him that much." He then answered.
The redhead slowly gripped onto Garth and pulled him into a tight embrace, she wasn't tall enough for her head to lie into Garth's shoulders so his chest had to do. Barbara knew that when he remembered what happened to his father he was going to need somebody to help him process it all. She was going to be that person. That was her promise to him in this moment.
"I shouldn't have been drinking for fuck sake..." Garth suddenly spoke, "I mean, not to the extent where I was at." he finished. Barbara didn't have anything to say about that, she just held him tighter.
"God knows I never do anything right." he mumbled. Garth's arms wrapped around the shoulders of the redhead, then pulling her in tightly.
"You do plenty right." Barbara spoke from Garth's chest, her voice slightly muffled. Her head moved away from his torso and looked up towards his face. "If you didn't how many people would be dead right now?" she continued.
Garth broke off from her arms and turned his body away from her, "Even if that's true, people have still died because of me." he mumbled.
Barbara rolled her eyes again and tilted her head into the air and groaned audibly, "Jesus Christ, I get it Garth. I do. But people die, we try our hardest to stop it from happening but sometimes it just happens-" Barbara began to step forward, "-And when it happens we mourn and we move on. We strap on our boots and take one step forward because that is what the one's we lost would want us to do. Then we take one more step forward," she grabbed Garth's wrist and span him around to face her, "And then another and another, not once looking back. If we did then what do you think we would see?" she asked Garth, forcing him to look her in her eyes.
Garth closed his eyes and reopened them moments later without an answer to her question, "What do we see if we look back?" he questioned.
"Regret." She answered.
Barbara's eyes slowly moved away from Garth, her grip around his wrist fell away and she looked into the fire that was now to the right of her. She knew about regret, they both did. She could hear the sound of Garth's rucksack drop from his shoulders, the sound of him unzipping the bag briefly echoed into the night. "You still haven't explained the need of the bonfire, is it beca-" Her question was cut off as a bundle of papers flew onto the large fire, setting alight as they landed onto the burning wood. Barbara caught a brief look at the pages before they began to burn to a crisp. She saw a small square image of Garth in the left corner of the page, it looked like a police file except only it had the Justice League logo on it instead.
"You're right. I need to stop looking behind me." He spoke without regret.
Barbara slowly turned to face Garth once more, "What the hell? What was all that?" she loudly questioned.
Garth looked into the fire, "Dick gave them to me. Files on me and probably everything The Justice League knows about me, and what they don't want to share. He said they were the key to me finding out even more about back from before I was five or six. From what I can put together with these shitty fragmented memories of my time in London. It's not something I want to dig up." he answered.
Barbara saw the expression on his face, it was one she had never seen before. He looked content, he looked free and he looked like a new man who was now able to begin making his own choices.
"Are you sure?" She softly asked.
Garth released a short laugh, "I have to be now. I've set that shit on fire."
He then reached out an open hand in Barbara's direction, "I have something else I need to tell you as well. Two things actually."
The redhead took his hand and another blush began to creep on her face, "The first?" she asked.
Garth turned to the beautiful redhead and showed her that signature smile, "The first?" he questioned to himself, "The first is that I love you." he admitted.
Barbara was pretty sure her heart had just jumped out of her chest in that moment. She felt unable to draw breath, how was it three simple words could do that to her? She knew her heart was still with her when it began to work overtime. Barbara had never felt like this, She never felt for someone like this more than she did right now. She, without missing a beat, let go of Garth's hand and reached both of her hands towards the back of Garth's head and neck. She pulled his head down and her lips met his.
Their lips crashed together and in shock Garth's breath escaped his nostrils, tickling Barbara's cheeks, forcing her to release a giggle inbetween the next kiss. The hard and passionate kisses soon became soft and tender, each repeat of their lips grew slower and more precise. Barbara's silk lips matched with Garth's as if they were made to fit together. Barbara was the one to retract first, not that she wanted to, she could do this all night. It was that Garth still had something to tell her. Their face did not part much though , The redhead carefully pressed her forehead against Garth's and looked into his eyes, she felt as if she was looking into his soul.
"The second thing,-" She begun, catching her breath. "-What is the second thing?" she asked.
A large and happy smile appeared on his face, a true smile. His first in a long time.
"I remember our baby an-" he spoke but those four words was all he could get out before Barbara kissed him again. She believed he wouldn't remember it, sure she held out hope for it but she wasn't going to tell him and risk him running off or doing something stupid. She didn't want to put that kind of weight on his shoulders, it was the reason she had been wearing coats when she was with him. To cover the small bump that she had.
"I love you. I love you. I love you so much." She uttered.
Garth released a chuckled and pressed their foreheads together again, "And I love you Barbara Gordon." he softly spoke. He then moved his forehead away from her but he lifted her chin with one of his fingers keeping her face close to his. He then pressed another kiss onto her lips.
"Are you going to let me finish this time?" he teased. Barbara smiled and nodded.
"I remember our baby and I want to be there for you two. I want him to be proud of me, I want you to be proud of me." He said, "I'm going to be there when you both need me and I'm going to be there when you don't. You ain't gettin' rid of me Babs." He promised.
The redhead's eyes began to glisten, "I'm already proud of you Garth. You're finally looking forward instead of back and this little bump..." She grabbed one of Garth's hands and placed it onto her stomach with her hand on top of his, "...This little bump is going to be proud to call you his father." She smiled, a happy tear ran down her cheek.
Garth had never felt this happy. It was euphoric. All he wanted to do was shout about how happy and excited he was but then he remembered those lyrics he was singing aloud when he first met Barbara. The lyrics she remembered and recalled in the her hospital room.
"If this is what love is, there is no wonder we chase it."
The End.
A/N: So that's it for Garth Daniels (for now?). I hope you have enjoyed this little journey. I have enjoyed writing this and I know it isn't the best and that there are a fair share of plot-holes, things I missed out or didn't address but that's my own fault. But in the end I have had fun and told a story I didn't think I'd write so I'll just have to try harder next time and write an even better story for you Young Justice fans (Season 3 hurry up please!).
I'd love to hear any feedback you have on what you think I could improve on or what you enjoyed about what I've written. This is because I have another idea for a story and I want it to be as well written as possible!
Anyway, Thank you so much for reading to the end. It really does mean a lot that people were entertained enough to reach this point (Or skipped to this point because of whatever reason, you do you dude!). I hope you all have a happy life and get to do what you want to do. ~FarmingPirate
