Sitting next to Barbara on her couch, Dick ran his fingers through her hair, stroking her scalp until he came to her neck. Frowning slightly at the tension he felt there, he turned her away from him so that he could massage her neck and shoulders.

"So what's bothering you?"

"Hmm?" Maintaining coherent thought was so difficult when he did that.

"You've been acting funny all evening, and your neck's as stiff as a board." He paused, trying to think of the best way to word his next sentence. Barbara could be very prickly toward offers of help. "Is there anything I can do?"

Her momentary feeling of contentment vanished. "Don't go to Chicago."

"What do you need me to do instead?" he asked, surprised.

"Nothing. I just...don't want you involved in this case."

"Babs!?!" Dick spun her around to look at her face.

"I'm sorry, but I worry that you are doing this for all the wrong reasons, and she's just going to hurt you again, and ..." She didn't get a chance to finish her sentence as a firm kiss silenced her objections.

"Sweetheart, I keep telling you, what Jen Hill did was not that big a deal to me." He sighed in exasperation at her mulish look of disbelief. "Look, when I think of my sixteenth birthday, you know what I remember? I remember this," he motioned to the Greek cross necklace he had decided to wear with the tank top, "and this," he kissed her gently, exploringly, much as he had when they first kissed. Her mouth opened against his, and she pulled herself closer to him, even as his arms tightened around her. Finally, Dick remembered that he had been in the middle of a sentence and drew back slightly. "... and you told me you loved me. Compared to all that, Jennifer Hill was just a minor annoyance."

Dick felt the tension leave her body as she finally believed him. Grinning at her, he suddenly shifted his hands and started tickling her. Giggling, she began tickling him back in retaliation. Dick obviously possessed the advantage in physical strength, but Barbara was sneakier and had fewer scruples. Eventually, they ended up, as they always did after a tickling match, in a lump of tangled limbs on her living room floor, still snickering from time to time as they tried to catch their breaths. And, as always, once they caught their breaths, the intimacy of their position made them forget about breathing again.

Dick brushed a lock of hair away from Barbara's face and looked deep into her eyes. "It's kinda funny. I think back on that night and how much I loved you then. I knew I could never love anyone as much as I loved you. But when I think about how much I love you now, it doesn't even compare." He bent down and kissed her, a kiss that began tenderly but soon heated up. Dick rolled over, got to his feet, and scooped Babs up into his arms. Still kissing, he carried her into her bedroom where her big bed awaited them.


****

"So how are you going to handle being off work?" Babs asked, her head resting on Dick's shoulder while his arms were wrapped securely around her. She was so relaxed, she just wanted to drift off to sleep, but she still had a couple of questions.

"Amy needs to be out of town today and tomorrow for a wedding." He smiled slightly as Babs tensed up a bit at the mention of his partner's name. She had reacted this way ever since she found out he'd been partnered with a female officer -- an attractive female officer. "She didn't want her 'rookie wandering around the station like a lost lamb,' so I was instructed to take the extra day off as well. The timing worked out great."

"Oh."

"I keep telling you sweetheart, her hair's the wrong color," he gently teased her.

"But what if she dyed her hair?" Babs asked, not entirely in jest.

"Then her eyes would still be the wrong color. I'm only interested in gorgeous redheads with emerald-green eyes. Which are getting greener every minute, I must confess." He continued on before she could ask again. "I'm also only attracted to strong women who refuse to give up under adversity; who still think the good fight is worth fighting; who can make computers sit up and beg; and who can bake a mean batch of bread." He kissed her forehead and then her nose, before continuing, "You're the only one I know who fits that description." He cupped her face in his hand as he leaned in to kiss her mouth. "You're the only one who ever will," he whispered as their lips met.

When the kiss ended, Babs snuggled back into Dick's shoulder. She became so quiet, he thought she had drifted off to sleep until he heard her ask in a small voice, "Have you ever forgiven me for breaking things off between us back then?"

"There's nothing to forgive, Babs," he replied softly.

"But I hurt you Dick!" she exclaimed. "I remember how much I hurt," she continued in a calmer tone.

"I know that, honey, but I also know why you did it -- Bruce made you," he said matter-of-factly.

"You know?!? But how? I didn't want you to find out -- things were already so strained between the two of you; I didn't want to make matters worse."

"I didn't know -- at first, anyway. At first, I was so miserable, I couldn't think straight. Finally, I decided to try to figure out what could've gone wrong, what happened to make you turn away from me."

"But I told you ..."

"I'm sorry Babs, but you always were a bad liar -- around me, anyway. Once I started thinking about it, I realized you were lying. That's when I figured out something must have happened, and the logical conclusion was that Bruce had found out and put pressure on you to end it."

"Logical?"

"Sure. If your dad had found out, you would've told me. In fact, if anyone else had found out, you would've told me. Who else would have the leverage to make you stop seeing me, but whom you wouldn't want me to get upset at? It had to be Bruce. And then, I realized it was my own fault -- that I had given us away."

"You did? He never told me; I just chalked it up to 'Batman knows everything.'"

"Well, in this case, Batman didn't know squat until we went up against that biker gang when you were home on break. Remember, when you got stabbed?"

"Yeah. You weren't too happy with me, as I recall."

"I was so proud of myself for not panicking when I saw you go down. I even managed to wait until Batman gave the okay before I ran over to you. But when I saw that stab wound, all I could think about was seeing how bad it was and getting it bandaged as quickly as possible, so I undid your top to check it out." He smiled ruefully.

"So what?"

"Sweetheart, I didn't think to realize how...odd it would appear to Bruce that I knew just where the invisible zippers were on your costume and that I could get your top off so quickly." His smile grew wider at her look of comprehension. "Not only that, but I was essentially unflustered by stripping a woman half-naked and bending over her chest to investigate a stab wound. A woman I'd had a 'crush' on for years. Not your typical teenaged male behavior, even for a student of the Bat."

"So that made him suspicious. And once he became suspicious ..."

"Right. But once I realized that, I also realized that I wouldn't have done anything differently even if I had known. Because I also remember Dr. Leslie telling me how close you came to dying -- that if I hadn't gotten that pressure bandage on you immediately, you could have bled to death. All-in-all, I figured it was a pretty good trade."

"So you forgive me?" she asked again, this time with a smile.

"If you'll forgive me for giving us away?" He smiled back at her.

"Convince me," she whispered, as she ran her hands over his chest.