Note: This chapter has taken longer than I hoped it would to get out. Still... I hope it was worth the wait!

Brief Warning: One swear word. One. I swear it! ;)

"Can I go to the water?"

Bruce studied the thirteen year old standing in front of him.

Jason had already changed to his swim trunks in the tent. His backpack was slung over one shoulder.

Bruce chose to ignore the question for the time being and settled for one of his own. "Why do you need your backpack for that?"

If it were for his towel, the kid would have just wrapped it around his waist. Or flung it over his shoulder.

"It's… um, it's for my towel?"

A raised eyebrow followed that statement. "You want to try that again, kiddo?"

Jason straightened his shoulders. "I might find something interesting."

Bruce eyed him critically. "Which you would put in your backpack…" he said doubtfully.

Beside him, Jim Gordon laughed. "Let the kid enjoy himself, Bruce. He's not going far."

Bruce bristled at first.

Not going far was still far enough if it was out of his sight.

But then… Dick and Barbara were currently on a boat.

Out of his sight as well.

Jason knew how to swim. He could yell if something went wrong.

He deserved a little bit of that trust as well.

Bruce allowed himself to relax, taking a deep breath.

"Fine," he said, though he couldn't be blamed if the word came out grudgingly. "But the instant something goes wrong- and I don't care what it is- anything- you are to come back here."

Jason gave him a sloppy salute and a crooked grin. "Aye- aye, Sir!"

And maybe- just maybe- the delighted smile plastered all over his youngest's face made this little bit of leniency worth it.

Dick dipped the paddle in the water.

They had rented a canoe, with the intent of traveling a ways up the river to a small island.

The canoe rocked slightly.

"I don't know if you can tell," Dick commented, "but I've never been in a boat that doesn't have a motor."

He'd been in Bruce's boat, the Bat one. That summed it up.

"No, I couldn't tell…" Barbara started. The boat dipped a little lower in the water, tipping left.

Barbara's paddle dropped to the floor of the canoe as she grabbed both sides to steady herself. "Dick! You're dipping your paddle too deep!"

"What? No, I'm not!"

The boat rocked a little more.

"Dick!" Barbara cried, her voice an octave higher. Her paddle was back in her hands now.

"You jump off buildings nightly and somehow my rowing is what scares you?" Dick demanded, incredulously.

"Just… watch where you're going," Barbara said, lowering her own paddle into the water. "Okay?"

"We're in a boat, not a car," Dick said, but a grin stole the indignation out of his remark. "And if you're so worried, why don't we switch places?" He waggled his eyebrows at her and grinned wider.

For good measure, he winked.

"Come on. Switch it up a little? It'll be fun."

Barbara set her paddle down on her knees and tossed her hair back. Her eyes flashed defiantly, but she smirked, lighting up at the challenge.

"Well, then… challenge accepted, Boy Wonder."

Meticulously, she started rising to her feet, arms outstretched for balance.

The boat rocked.

Barbara's eyes went wide and she wobbled a little. "Whoa…!"

"Let me help!" Dick was already on his feet, hand extended with the intent to steady her.

His movement upset the boat even more, however, and Barbara found herself falling forward.

"Dick!"

She fell against his chest, instinctively grabbing his arms.

Dick tried to grab her, to steady her, but at this point, their fate was inevitable.

The splash! that accompanied their plunge, drowning out Barbara's small shriek, was tremendous to say the least.

And then they were submerged and, in the shock, it was all Barbara could do to remember not to breathe.

She was still wrapped around Dick, the two of them hopelessly entangled.

Then Dick pulled himself away from her and she was free to go to the surface.

Barbara broke the surface with a gasp, sucking in air and trying to brush her sopping wet hair away from her eyes.

Dick's fingers brushed her forehead, peeling away the last of her hair and tucking it behind her ear.

He was smiling at her, one arm holding onto the upturned canoe.

The sight of him there, sopping wet, hair clinging to his head, yet sticking up in inconvenient places… Barbara's heart melted just a little.

Dick extended his hand to her.

She was already treading water, but she took it anyways, allowed him to help her towards the canoe.

Barbara latched onto it, pulling herself partially out of the water.

The two of them locked eyes.

Barbara's lips twitched upwards, returning his smile. "I… we…" She tried to think of the right thing to say.

It was okay.

Dick seemed to understand where she was going- even if she really didn't understand that herself.

"We probably looked pretty ridiculous, huh?" he said.

"Flailing around in the boat like that," Barbara agreed. She picked a piece of lake weed out of her hair. "Good things nobody was watching. They'd have us pegged as newbies right away!"

"Well… they wouldn't be wrong," Dick said. Then, he lit up as a new thought struck him. "Oh man! Good thing Bruce didn't see that!"

Barbara clapped a hand over her mouth, eyes going wide, unable to block out the mental image of Bruce racing towards them as fast as he could in a paddle boat.

"Don't worry!" he'd shout. "I'm coming! Hang tight!"

"Oh man, no!" she groaned, resting her forehead against the wooden bottom of the canoe. "I didn't need that, Dick, please!"
"He'd be more likely to kill us," Dick admitted. "We're not wearing life jackets."

"Dick…" Barbara's lips twitched again. "We don't wear life jackets when we're on patrol, do we?"
"It honestly wouldn't surprise me if he inserted them in our suits somewhere. Kind of like an airbag. In case of an accident."
"How would he deploy them?"
Dick made a clicking motion with one hand. "Remote," he said. "Alfred's probably got one in the cave. Somewhere."

Barbara laughed, giving him a light shove. "Enough with your conspiracy theories!"
"Hey! It's not a conspiracy theory because there's a… remote chance of it being true."

He grinned, sincerely proud of his terrible pun.

"Dick, no, that was terrible!"

His face fell and, bringing one hand to clasp over his chest in mock hurt, he bemoaned, "She doesn't like it! Whatever shall I do!"

Barbara giggled. "Cut it out, Grayson. You're gonna help me right this boat, that's what you're gonna do."

She… didn't know how to do so. She was pretty sure Dick didn't know how to either.

But damn it all if she'd let that stop her from trying.

To his credit, Dick didn't comment on the doubtful nature of this undertaking.

He placed both palms underneath the boat.

Barbara took up the same position.

"On the count of three," Dick said. "One, two… three!"

Someone had never told Barbara how hard it was to rightside a boat in the water when your feet weren't even touching the ground.

That someone, whoever it was, deserved to be shot.

Okay. Okay, Barbara conceded mentally.

That was… definitely a little extreme.

At the very least they deserved to be thrown into this very same situation.

Barbara squeezed her eyes shut as they hefted again.

This was what she had come to.

Making threats against an unknown person, a someone who didn't even exist.

Maybe she was going just a little crazy.

But she dared anyone in this situation not to feel as she did.

"Again," Dick said.

This time, it worked. The boat flipped rightside up.

"Yes!" Dick cheered.

They'd done it!

Now they just needed to get back inside.

"You first," Dick told her. "I'll hold it steady. Pull me in when you're in."

"Okay." Barbara bit her lip, positioned her hands on the side of the boat and tried to haul herself up.

It didn't work.

With a small gasp, Barbara toppled back into the water, the boat following her example and flipping over with her.

"Crap!" Dick exclaimed. He hurried to assist Barbara in flipping the canoe back over.

"Sorry, Babs," Dick finally said. He gave her an apologetic glance. "I think we're just going to have to swim this back."

Barbara let out a breath. "At least…" Suddenly, she was clutching at his shoulders, eyes wide as something that was behind him- and therefore out of his sight. "Dick!"

"What?"

Something in her voice made his heart freeze up.

He could count on one hand the number of times he'd ever heard Barbara sound like… that.

And it was with good reason too as Dick soon saw.

There was something in the water with them.

Something only three feet away from him.

Something that shouldn't even be here.

Although… people did release their exotic pets.

And he was positive an alligator would count as exotic.

Did that happen in New Jersey?

It was getting closer.

"Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh!"

Barbara's fingers were digging tightly into his shoulders.

"Gah!"

Dick reached out with both his hands and shoved.

The reptile's head flipped back, skidding across the water away from them.

It did a spin- something no living animal should be capable of- and then began drifting towards them again.

"Whoa… shit!"

Dick backpedaled, eyes wide. He was between Barbara and the animal.

That much he could be grateful for.

What he wouldn't do for them both to be safely in the boat right now!

But there was… there was… something was off about it.

"Is that…?" Barbara sounded incredulous. "It's not real?" And now she sounded full on pissed. "Who the hell?"

Dick shared her sentiments. His heart was still beating rapidly and he found himself clutching the edge of the canoe in a white-knuckled grip.

Barbara was grasping his shoulder still and, in a temper, she kicked out, hitting the alligator head on the snout and sending it flying back.

"It's just a head!?" she gasped, comically shocked..

Dick couldn't blame her.

He was just as surprised as she was.

Who'd be floating a damned alligator head around the lake now? And near them?

So what if the stupid thing was plastic?

It had nearly given them a heart attack!
But… okay, if he took the time to stop and look at it from a distance.

Yes. It was pretty funny.

"Babs…" he said. And the dam broke.

He chuckled. And then he full out laughed. Really, really laughed.

"Dick?" Barbara was watching him. She hadn't been expecting that reaction.

Somehow, it made the whole thing funnier.

"Come on. You don't find this at least… a little funny?"
"Someone scared us with a remote controlled alligator head, Dick! Who does that?"

"I know." Dick shook his head and grinned at her. He tried to feel a little angry. For her sake. It wasn't hard. After all, it had scared him too. "But I mean… it was funny." He brought his thumb and forefinger together. "Just a little?"

To his satisfaction, he could see that she was fighting her own grin, despite all her quite obvious efforts to the contrary.

She gave up, rolling her eyes to cover it, and hid her face against the canoe.

Dick felt a small surge of regret at that. She was always beautiful when she smiled.

But he could still see a tiny portion of her grin.

"Come on then." Barbara raised her head. She sounded determined now. And a little resigned too. Their canoe ride had, after all, been quite literally swamped. "We're obviously not going to manage to get back in this thing out here. Let's get this back."

Dick cleared his throat, readjusting his hold on the canoe. With one strong arm, he began to propel himself towards shore.

"Bruce never taught me this," Dick complained. "It's starting to look like a serious lack of foresight in my education."

"Dick, when on earth are any of us going to be canoeing in Gotham?"

"You should just climb on," hetold her. "I'll tow you back!"

To his delight, Barbara answered back with a laugh of her own.

"And make you look good?" she teased back. "You should know by now. I'm not that nice. Besides, we're in this together."

Dick couldn't resist suggesting, with a mischievous little wink.

"Perhaps you mean… out of it?"

Note: Well... you all finally got to see what Jason's been planning. I'll confess I got the idea from youtube. I thought the prank was hilarious.

I was going to tack on more, but... I'd kept you waiting long enough.