A/N GUYSGUYSGUYSGUYSGUYS DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THEY'RE MAKING A TV SHOW LIKE AGENTS OF SHIELD BUT FOR THE SEVEN YEARS OF GOTHAM BEFORE BATMAN AND ITS STARRING GORDON AND Askdsdhjksdfdjkla I'M SO EXCITED
"Good afternoon, Daddy." Barbara said brightly, not looking away from the television screen as her dad sloped into the lunge, hair messed up and glasses off.
"Huh?"
"You had a day off today, and I figured I'd let you sleep, considering you didn't get home 'til, like, one in the morning or something."
"Thanks, baby. What time is it now?"
"Three in the afternoon. I left you some of the pancakes I had for breakfast, if you wanna stick them in the microwave. Can you microwave pancakes?"
"Babs, this day off was meant to be for us to go and see Mom and Jimmy." Dad sighed, wandering into the kitchen.
"I called to say we couldn't make it, 'cos you were working overtime. Jimmy knows the real reason, I skyped him half an hour ago."
"Oh, okay, then." Gordon seemed too tired to pursue the matter further. The lack of work in MCU since the Dent Act had cleared organised crime was more than made up for by the amount of paperwork he had as Police Commissioner. "This kitchen's a mess."
"I cook, you clean," Babs yelled. "Oh, and according to my teachers, I should be able to get into uni at sixteen."
Dad stuck his head around the doorway. "Babs, that's great!"
"Yeah, as long as we can find the money."
"Let me worry about that. Do your homework, or whatever it is geniuses do." Barbara laughed, but she wished she hadn't told her father about the possibility of getting into Gotham university early. He was giving Mom and Jimmy well over half of what he earned, and Barbara's karate and parkour lessons were a drain, too, but Dad wouldn't let her quit them so they would have more money. She hated seeing her dad struggle to make ends meet.
"I've done all my homework."
"I know when you're lying, Babs."
"UGH. Fine. I'll go do it now." Barbara sloped off to her bedroom, but instead of reaching into her schoolbag, she opened her laptop and unlocked it (she'd designed the software herself; the FBI wouldn't be able to get into it),and opened the file marked "bat". The screen flashed black for an instant, then reopened to show lines of text and binary whizzing past. Fingers flying across the keys, Babs opened up the list of "possibles" and started cross-referencing their face and body structure with access to advanced weaponry and equipment. It was taking her forever, but she was determined to find him.