AN: Not a lot to say here. Just remember, if you haven't read Separation Part One, do so now. And again, this and part one are NON-CANON to the rest of the stories here. With all that said, enjoy!
Defusing bombs was no easy task. This was something Batgirl learned from that one time Harley Quinn was trying to blow up a LexBucks back at Metropolis. Defusing bombs on a bridge was even harder. But you had to do what you had to do to help out your city.
Right now, Batgirl was in the process of disarming the final bomb, pushing back any bad thoughts of what would happen if they went off: namely huge explosions of fire that would burn the bridge down. She had to admit, for a fire-obsessed loon, Firefly did know how to set up a tricky bomb. There were all sorts of wires: red ones, blue ones, black ones… To an ordinary girl, it would be fear-inducing.
But she wasn't just an ordinary girl. She was Batgirl.
"Right," she whispered to herself as she grabbed her wire-cutters. "Just gotta snip the red wire and the bridge won't have a massive chunk of it missing." Had to do this carefully, and not snip the other wires dangerously close to said red wire. She carefully moved the cutters so that the wire was right between them…
Fwoosh! She felt herself being grabbed by something moving at breakneck speeds, carrying her upwards. Before she could really process what had grabbed her, she felt herself get dropped onto the ground. Looking up, she spotted the armoured man hovering above her, flamethrower in hand. Firefly.
Batgirl coughed, slowly getting to her feet. "Well, I'll give you this…" She shook her head to further get her bearings together. "You know how to surprise someone."
Firefly, from behind his mask, scoffed. "Well, ya make it easy, I'll tell ya what!" He lowered himself down to only being a few feet above her. "Did you really think you could stop me?"
Batgirl did her best 'dramatic point'. "Of course! I disarmed most of your bombs, after all!"
Firefly chuckled as he rose up into the air. "Heh. Only problem is…" He pulled out a detonator. "Ya missed one!"
Batgirl's eyes burst open. "Oh, crap! Don't!" Such a request only made Firefly laugh as he pressed the button. Batgirl cringed and closed her eyes…
Only to hear nothing. No explosion. No roaring flames. She opened one eye. The bridge was intact. She must have disarmed the last bomb in time!
"Yeah!" She announced, jumping up in joy. "Suck it, Firefly!"
Up in the air, Firefly groaned. "You little brat! I'm gonna smoke you out!" He aimed his flamethrower at Batgirl, who just prepped herself. She already had a plan: wait for him to shoot out his flames, dodge just in the nick of time, and Bat-grapple his jetpack and drag him down. And, just as predicted, Firefly shot out the flames, and Batgirl was about to roll out of the way…
When the flames stopped. No, not stopped. Froze. The flames that were once streaming towards had just fallen to the ground as ice, as a blue mist surrounded them. She was stunned to say the least, if not suddenly very cold. Firefly seemed to be more the former than the latter.
"What the… How the heck did that ha-"
A red and blue streak suddenly rushed into him, carrying him upwards. Batgirl shakily straightened up, staring at a figure flying away from her. They were holding a squirming and screaming Firefly by the neck. She focused her gaze on the shape. Weird. Something about the figure's costume was familiar. The red cape, the blue spandex, the long boots… And the not-quite-as-short-but-still-familiar short bob cut hairstyle… but it couldn't be…
Before she could ponder further, the figure held Firefly against one of the arches of the bridge, before doing… something to freeze him to it. The figure chuckled, loud enough for Batgirl to hear. That laugh… There was only one way to know for sure.
So, just as the figure seemed ready to take off, Batgirl fell to the ground, clutching her knee.
"Oh, woe and stuff!" She cried. "I scraped my knee or something! I only wish that a hero could help me!" She opened one eye to look at the figure. Even from a distance, she saw the figure stiffen up. Slowly, the figure turned around and floated over to her, touching down just a few centimetres away from her. Batgirl got a good look at her face. But before she could say her name, she was beaten to it.
"Babs?"
It was her. And she remembered her. And could tell who she was. Maybe that much would have been obvious no matter what, but Babs didn't care.
"…Yeah."
"So, you're like a major superhero here?"
Babs just nodded as she lay on her bed. She kept her eyes on Kara, who was looking at several of the gadgets left on her desk. She couldn't help but notice the difference three years had made. Kara had gotten quite a bit taller, and her hair was slightly longer. She also had a scar on her left cheek, apparently left by Metallo, one that she thought helped her look 'cool'. She could relate, she supposed. The bite mark from Killer Croc she had gotten on her leg did show that she was tough, even if no one could see it through her suit. Kara's wardrobe, she noted, also had been updated: a red hoodie, with a leather jacket covering it, ripped blue jeans, and even some metal bracelets with lightning bolts on them.
"Yeah," Babs said, sitting up. "In fact, there was this one time I worked with Batman, and he told me I did a great job when I found out where Mr. Freeze was hiding!" She felt giddy just remembering it. "Plus, I've seen some kids cosplaying as me."
Kara smirked. "Nice." She walked over and sat on the bed with her. "Nice new Batgirl outfit, by the way."
Babs shrugged. "The other girls really did a good job on it." Then a thought crossed her mind. "Hey, Kara?"
Kara looked at her. "Hmm?"
Babs stood up. "Why are you in Gotham?"
Kara blinked. "Well, it's kind of interesting." She placed her hands behind her head and lay down on the bed. "You see, that Kord guy who's my dad's boss retired to be Blue Beetle more and my dad became the boss of the company. Then he got a bunch of business projects set up here, and he thought that it'd be a good idea to move here. Something about 'making a difference' because 'everyone could'."
Babs just nodded her head as Kara told her story. "Cool." Then she started to look at her as she stretched across the bed. And, to be frank, she couldn't help but continue to look at her. She noticed how cool her clothes looked, and how they really complimented her and her personality. She noticed how her face looked just as pretty and cool-looking as it was in Metropolis (even the scar, like Kara had said, made her look badass). She even noticed how her slightly longer hair gave her a bit more of an attractive edge.
Wait. Attractive? Babs felt her cheeks flush red.
"You okay?" Kara asked.
Babs blinked. "Yeah! Yeah, of course… So, how are the rest of the girls?" She did still talk with them over text, but not as much as she used to.
"Oh, they're good." Kara smiled. "Still doing what they do best."
"Good." Babs smiled back. God, Kara's smile was still so pretty…
Okay. Yeah, she definitely still had feelings for Kara.
"I mean, there have been a few changes." Kara sat up. "Karen's got a part-time gig at Wayne Enterprises, Zee and her dad are getting some kind of biopic, Diana's gotten a career in fencing and Jess is getting married."
Babs's mouth dropped open. "Hold up… Jess is getting married?!" She stood up. "T-To who?"
Kara shrugged. "Some girl named Susan. They met during the final year of school and… well, they hit it off." She started picking at her nails. "Wedding's next month."
Babs could barely believe it. A lot had changed since she had left Metropolis, it seemed. "Huh…" She muttered, looking up at the ceiling. "Do you think I could be invited to the wedding?"
She heard Kara chuckle. "Sure thing. Hell, I think Jess even mentioned inviting you."
Babs smiled. "Cool!" She could already tell it was going to be nice to see all her friends again.
"Hey, Babs?"
Babs looked back at Kara, who stared back at her. "Yeah?"
Kara fiddled with the hangnail she had ripped off. "Are you… seeing anyone?"
Babs blushed. "Well… no. Not really. Haven't really been dating anyone in a while. Too busy with being Batgirl and everything else!"
Kara blinked. "Huh." She folded her arms. "Well, around a year after you left, I tried getting back into the dating scene… It didn't go too well."
Babs raised an eyebrow. "Any specifics?"
Kara frowned. "I went out with Hal Jordan at one point. Spoilers: didn't go well!"
Babs couldn't help but giggle. Funny. In spite of the passage of three years, Kara still managed to make her laugh just by talking about random stuff. And she still managed to make her head feel light and her legs wobbly like jelly.
"Babs?"
"Yeah?"
Kara opened her mouth, then closed it. "Never mind."
"What is it?"
Kara looked up at the ceiling, then back at Babs. "Do you… did you ever think of me?"
How to answer that? The simple answer was yes, of course, because Babs thought about Kara every day, especially during the first year. When she moved to the new school and heard her classmates talking about their crushes and relationships, she said nothing, not knowing how to mention how her chest still ached every time she thought about the girl she'd left behind. As time went on, things got easier, but every so often she'd stumble across an old picture or text message and there'd be a hint of that ache again. She put it down to nostalgia, which made sense… only why had the butterflies in her stomach come back, as strong as they'd been when she first realised she liked Kara?
"I… yeah! Of course." Babs smiled.
Kara smiled back, but then it faded. "Do you… do you still have any feelings?"
Babs opened her mouth, but only stammering nonsense came out. Blood rushed to her cheeks and she knew that her face had to be as bright as her hair. "I… um… no! I mean, not no, but… it's been such a long time" (but I still really, really want to kiss you) "and I…" She stopped. "A little." Her voice was tiny.
Kara said nothing for a second and Babs felt her face get even hotter. If it was possible to die from embarrassment, she was about to figure it out firsthand. Why couldn't she ever lie convincingly? Kara probably hadn't had feelings for her in years and now she'd just humiliated herself, potentially ruining any chance of friendship renewal. Great going, Babs, she thought.
Finally, Kara spoke. "That's okay." She looked down. When she spoke again, her voice was also very soft.
"I guess I kinda do too."
Wait. What?
Babs looked at her properly. "R-really?"
Kara nodded. "I mean, I missed you a lot when you moved, and I thought it would get easier. And it did, kind of, but none of my other relationships were working out, like I said. But talking to you now…" She rubbed the back of her head. "I almost forgot what it was like. How quickly time passes when I'm with you, and how I could spend hours talking to you, or even sitting in silence with you."
Babs's eyes widened. "Yeah. Yeah, I feel the same." She paused. "So… what now?"
Kara touched Babs's hand. The butterflies were really going crazy now. "Maybe… maybe we could try and pick up where we left off?"
It was like she'd been waiting years to hear it… which, in a way, she had. "Yes! Yes, I'd love that!"
Kara smiled, laughing a little. "That's good, because -"
"I've missed Metropolis so much!" Babs was talking fast again. "What's it like? Did much change while I was gone? What villains showed up? There've been so many in Gotham - hey, maybe we can go to Jess's wedding together! And when they throw the bouquet -"
Kara laughed, then interrupted her by kissing her on the forehead. Babs stopped short, staring at her while the butterflies went into overdrive.
"Well, one thing's stayed the same," said Kara. "You talk a lot."
Before Babs could answer, Kara kissed her on the lips, pulling her closer. And at that point, the butterflies exploded across her whole body.
Babs wrapped her arms around Kara, trying to take in every little piece of her like it was the first time. The way her hair tickled Babs's ears, her smooth, strong skin, the curves of her body. She thought she'd remembered it all pretty well, but nothing compared to actually being with her, here and now. As Kara stroked her hair, Babs squeezed tighter, thinking about the last time they'd touched and about how, this time, she didn't need to be afraid to let go.