Chapter Nineteen:

Finals were done and over. And, as of four o'clock that afternoon, so was Barbara's last shift at the library that semester. She had her classes and work schedule all lined up for January and was surprised to find Jason waiting for her outside when she left. She glanced at her phone, both to check the time and to see if she had any calls.

No calls. She had never received a reply from Batman, Robin, or whoever it was that was supposed to own that number. She blinked at her friend, who had a questioning brow arched high.

"Disappointed to see me?" he asked.

Barbara smiled. "Never. I just didn't know you were coming to walk me all the way to my car."

Jason shrugged. "To tell you the truth, I have an ulterior motive."

"Oh?"

"I wanted to compare classes, see if we happened to share the same English Comp II."

Barbara chuckled. "Nine in the morning, with Ms. Walter?"

Jason lit up, his grin stretching wide. "Yeah! Oh, thank God. I was really worried that I was going to flunk it if you weren't there to tutor me."

"Jason, there are other tutors available at this school."

Jason playfully nudged her with his elbow. "Yeah, but none of them get my style like you do."

"You mean your whole, leave-it-to-the-last-minute thing?"

"Yeah!"

Barbara shook her head, and she found herself immensely grateful for the surprise company. To be honest, she would have otherwise spent this short walk to her car tense and worried that the Batman would jump out at her at any moment. Or, worse, that Joker had somehow found out about her maybe-meeting with the Dark Knight. But as they approached her car, parked in one of the front lots of the campus, Jason was laughing and shaking his head. It was nice to be normal for once.

"Hey, wanna hang for a bit? I know you've not got homework, so don't even think about using that excuse. A cup of coffee, my treat," Jason offered.

Barbara glanced about the parking lot. It was all but deserted, which was something only seen at around this time of day. Only a few student cars and several teacher cars remained in the two lots—which were separated by a circular drive. She almost accepted Jason's offer. It had been a difficult week, caring for Sarah and spending time with Joker when she was so suspicious of his actions. It felt awful. She had been so desperate to make sure that Joker didn't think anything was amiss that she did everything as normal.

She loved him. It made everything about this harder. They had yet to say these words to one another. He had called her "love" as a pet name, but not actually said that that was how he felt about her. She wasn't sure if he felt the same way. But they had been together now for about four months, and she could no longer deny the depth of her feelings.

"Babs?" Jason asked, waving a hand in front of her face. "Everything okay?"

She gave her head a tiny shake. "Yeah. Yeah, it's… well, as to be expected."

Jason's mouth pulled downward, and he nodded knowingly. "Yeah, I… I heard. How is she, your stepmom?"

"Healing. Sad. Again, as expected. I think… I think it hurts us all more knowing that it was an outside force instead of just… nature, you know what I mean?"

Which, in a way, was why she had contacted Batman. She had to know. She had to know the extent of Joker's involvement. Or, maybe—dare she even think, hopefully—Sarah had been targeted by Falcone because of whatever it was Joker had written of him in his book. But she had to have certainty.

Jason nodded. "I can imagine. Sure you don't want that coffee?"

Barbara glanced over her shoulder at her car, which was when she saw it. Tucked into one of her windshield wipers was a tiny slip of paper, folded so that whatever note it contained was hidden to the world. She turned back to her friend, offering him a small smile.

"Sorry. Can't. I, uh, have to finish some Christmas shopping. But we can meet tomorrow, if that's all right?"

Jason grinned, and maybe it was just the mindset Barbara was in, but he looked a touch sad. His voice, however, held nothing of that.

"Cool. Text me. See you 'round, Babs."

She gave a small wave, turned, and discreetly swiped the paper from the windshield. She heard Jason rev his cycle and zoom off just as she got inside her car. Once inside her car—started with the heater turned all the way up—she opened it. Within the note, done in scratchy but neat handwriting, was a single line of instruction.

Top of parking deck. ASAP.

It was rather ingenious when she thought about it. Past four, the top of the deck was empty. People hated parking up there, so many avoided it, but for those who had had to use it as a last resort were always those gone as soon as possible from campus. Barbara had learned of that fact one day when she was looking for a good place to do some walking and one of her co-workers had mentioned it.

She pulled out of the parking lot and made her way to the deck, driving round and around until she reached the top. Being as it was now winter, the sun was already making its slow trek down, casting long shadows upon the painted concrete ground. She parked, hesitating just a moment, before a roaring engine cause her to jump.

She looked out of her window to see the Batmobile pull into an empty spot three spaces down from her. Her hand moved to the door handle, gripping it without pulling. Then, the hood of the sleek, black vehicle slid back, and Batman and Robin themselves exited. Barbara swallowed hard. No going back now. She exited her car.

"Miss Gordon… you said you wanted to talk," Batman said.

His voice was deep, like the sound Barbara imagined his car must make while idling. Robin—whom she had met briefly before—leaned against the passenger side of the car, looking horribly unimpressed with the current situation. She swallowed one more time and nodded.

"I don't have any hard evidence… just a suspicion. But… I think… I think Joker may have had Falcone put his thugs up to hurting my stepmother… to cause her miscarriage."

At this, Robin leaned up. "What makes you think that he would do that?"

A lump formed in Barbara's throat as the words she had been trying to deny even thinking rose up. "I-I… I think he… I think he did it for me."

At this, Batman crossed his arms, and Barbara was trying hard not to feel like a child who was getting a scolding.

"Explain," the Dark Knight ordered.

"I didn't handle the news well, that Sarah was pregnant. I think… Oh, I don't know what he thought, but I think, in some way, he thought her losing the baby would make me feel better."

"Joker cares for nothing and no one but himself," Batman said.

At this, Barbara scowled. "That's not true. He loves me. He does. He loves me."

"And yet, here you are, on this deck, asking us for help in… what? Spying on him? Proving his involvement in causing Essen's miscarriage? What kind of love is that?"

Barbara had to fight hard not to scream at him. After all, he had a point. She had asked them here. But… if memory served her right…

"You asked me for help first," she snapped. She gestured to Robin, adding, "At the nightclub, several months ago. That's how I got your card. So yeah… maybe I'm not being the best girlfriend right now. Maybe I'm wrong. God in heaven, I hope I'm wrong. But I want to know for sure. I can't… I can't go on thinking things like the ones I'm thinking. I just want conclusive evidence."

A light breeze blew up and over the walls of the deck, causing Barbara to pull her coat tighter about herself. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Robin glanced over at Batman and shrugged. Barbara had no idea what that move could possibly mean for the two partners, but it ended with Batman turning back to her.

"You're right. You see, we still believe your boyfriend is running his criminal empire. Just more carefully than before. So let's make a deal. We'll investigate whether or not Joker had a hand in hurting your stepmother… and you find out whether or not he's still the criminal we think he is."

"H-How do you want me to find evidence?" she asked.

"We'll put a recording device on your phone. Just keep it with you at all times, maybe even forget it at his penthouse now and again. It'll become evident in time whether we're right or not. As for your stepmother… we'll work our usual angles for that."

"Deal?" Robin put in.

Barbara fished in her purse, withdrawing her phone. "Deal."

She passed it to Batman, muttering, "I'm a horrible person."

"You're cautious," Batman said, taking the phone and opening the back. "There's nothing wrong with that."

"I just keep telling myself, if I can just get the answer to this one thing, then it'll be all right. We can move on, and it'll be like nothing ever happened."

Batman reached down to his utility belt, coming back up with something that was too small for Barbara to see. He pressed the tip of his gloved index finger to the innards of her phone, replaced the back, and handed it to her.

"Be safe, Miss Gordon. We'll be in touch."

With that, the Dark Knight and the Boy (more like Young Man) Wonder were back in the Batmobile. It roared to life, and the tires squealed and left burnt rubber as they pealed out of the parking deck. Barbara glanced down at her phone, suddenly feeling like it weighed as heavy as a boulder.

What kind of person was she, that she would do this to her own boyfriend? She shook her head, shoving the phone back into her purse as she got into her car. She would stick with Batman's assessment of her. She was a cautious person. That was all. Just… cautious.