"You want to tell me what the heck that was all about?" Barbara asked Dick.
"I thought it was all pretty self-explanatory," he responded defensively.
"Dick, this woman is bad news!! No matter what sob story she spun you back there, you can't imagine she's going to stop being a conniving, egotistical bitch! And you gave her your phone number?!? Bruce will freak!!"
"It was my old Gotham phone number, Babs," Dick replied wearily. "You know, the one that goes through umpteen different routes, and that even you had trouble tracing where it ended up."
"Oh. But what if she calls you?"
"I honestly think she'll be too embarrassed to call me up, but if she calls, I'll help her if I can," he replied simply. "You didn't see her, Babs...and no, she wasn't scamming me," he correctly interpreted her snort of disbelief. "She looked so lost when she was describing her mother and the cold. Anyway, what does it matter if she holds a grudge? Or rather, based on her reaction to finding out who I am, continues to hold a grudge? She'll just have to get into line behind all the others," he said, with a smile of real amusement.
"All right, but what about ..."
Dick interjected before she could go any farther, "Look, Babs, could we wait to cover this until I get back to the hotel? Trying to navigate an unfamiliar city at night is hard enough without trying to conduct a serious conversation with you at the same time. I'll call you when I'm in my room," Dick finished cutting the connection.
Once he had returned to the hotel, Dick traded his suit for some comfortable sweats. He grabbed a soda from the well-stocked bar and flopped down on the king-size bed with his laptop to continue his "discussion" with Barbara. He crossed his fingers that he had delayed long enough and activated the video link. "Babs?"
"Yeah?" She hadn't activated her camera, and her voice sounded rather husky ...
"Sweetheart? Are you okay?" Her face appeared on his screen, and he saw that his suspicions were correct -- she'd been crying. "Babs, I'm sorry ..."
"No," she interrupted, "it's okay. I shouldn't have fussed at you. It's just ..." her voice drifted off.
"Did you replay the conversation?"
"Yeah." The corner of her mouth twitched up. "And you knew I would, you rat! Once I got past your telling Jennifer Hill about our sex life, I finally heard what you said after that." Her voice got softer as she continued, "And you meant all of that, didn't you, Boy Wonder? The part about your dream, and the little old man and woman. You really meant what you said?"
"Always, sweetheart. Let me tell you about some neighbors of mine: J.D. and Thelma Brown. They're in their seventies I think; I would usually see them on my way to Hogan's. They would be out for their 'constitutional' -- a walk around the block. They would always be holding hands, with J.D. walking on the street side like a gentleman. A few months ago, I decided to check up on them because I hadn't seen them in a while -- turns out J.D.'s got emphysema and can't go walking anymore. Anyway, I did a few household chores for them -- heavy lifting stuff that he couldn't do -- and Thelma fed me sugar cookies even better than Alfred's. So I check on them once a week or so.
"J.D. tries to be strong for Thelma so she won't worry, and Thelma stays awake at night keeping an ear out for any changes in J.D.'s breathing. He told me he is able to sleep more soundly just knowing that she is looking out for him, but then he feels guilty about that and tries to get her to nap during the day. Through everything that's happened, though, you can still see the love between the two of them. That's who I want to be like; that's the real thing."
Barbara sniffled a bit as he finished his story. "That's...really, really special, Dick. I can see why you'd want that. Maybe ..." she stopped to swallow hard, "maybe, we can share that kind of life...someday ...?"
"I'd like that," he agreed gently.
"So, um, what did you have planned for the rest of the evening?" Barbara asked after a moment of intense silence.
Dick smiled at her, going along with her efforts to re-establish their teasing banter. "I was really tempted to go 'out' tonight -- I practically heard the Sears Tower calling my name today! But I better not. It's not worth the risk of having Nightwing show up in Chicago. So I think I may just call it a night and get an early start in the morning. How about you?"
"Oh, Dinah's going to be needing my help in a little bit. After that, it's just the usual." She sighed, but then brightened as an idea occurred to her. "Tell you what -- why don't you call me when you get ready for bed?" She smiled wickedly.
"Oh? And why would I want to do that?" he asked with a wicked smile of his own.
"Well, even though I can't tuck you in, I just might be persuaded to tell you a bedtime story."
"Once a babysitter, always a babysitter?"
"Something like that," she replied huskily, "although my story material may be slightly different this time around."
"Well, maybe I can persuade you then," he said suggestively. "When do you need to contact Dinah?"
"In about twenty minutes. It shouldn't take more than forty-five minutes to get her in the clear."
"All right. It's 10:30 now; why don't I call you back around midnight?"
"That would be fine. Talk to you later." She winked at him as she disappeared from his screen.
Dick smiled to himself, stretched his arms over his head, and tried to figure out what he was going to do for the next ninety minutes. He took advantage of the rare night in to watch ESPN's SportCenter -- he really preferred the late-night hosts, but he rarely had a chance to catch their show. Once that was over, he brushed his teeth, took his shower, and dried his hair.
He checked the time -- 11:40. He wrote up a summary of his day's activities for Babs to include in her report to Bruce if she felt like it. He checked the clock again (he was starting to feel some sympathy for Wally) -- 11:55. Dick walked around the room, picking up his discarded clothes, turning off lights, and doing everything but twiddling his thumbs. Midnight. Finally.
Leaving a single light on across the room, Dick got into bed and contacted Babs on the laptop. "Hey, gorgeous!"
Her smiling face popped up on his computer screen, "Hi!"
"Dinah get away all right?"
"Yeah. She's in the air and on her way back home." Barbara's smile turned sultry, "You ready for your bedtime story, Boy Wonder?"
"I brushed my teeth and even washed behind my ears. I think I deserve something as a reward."
"Well first, I want you to move the computer over so that it's on the pillow next to you, and then I want you to lie down." She grinned at him. "I can't very well tell you a bedtime story if you're sitting up in bed can I?"
"I guess not," Dick replied, and did as she asked.
Once Dick and the computer were settled, Babs began her story.
"Once upon a time, a handsome young knight journeyed to a far-off land on a quest, leaving his lady behind. She missed her knight very much, even though she could still talk to him by means of a wonderful magic spell. One evening, the loneliness grew so great, she tried to find a magic spell that would allow her to join her knight in his quest, but she was unable to. Finally, she found a spell that would enhance her existing magic spell that allowed her to speak to her knight, so that by using his body, it would be as if she were there."
An amused smile of understanding and anticipation lit Dick's face. Barbara smiled in return as she continued her story. "She invoked her spell and gazed upon her handsome knight as he lay sleeping on his bed. She raised his right arm ..." Babs waited. When Dick didn't move, she raised her eyebrow at him and repeated in a slightly louder voice, "She raised his right arm ..." and saw Dick lift his right arm. She nodded at him in approval.
"She used his right hand to caress his mouth as if she were able to," and he complied, rubbing his fingers lightly over his smiling mouth. "Then, she took both hands and rubbed them over his chest, rolling his nipples around with his fingers." Babs smiled as she heard his breath catch at what she was having Dick do. Her own breathing was uneven as well, but she managed to continue telling her "story." "Then she threw off the covers, and moved his hands along his stomach and down to his thighs."
She was unable now to disguise the raggedness of her breathing, and she saw Dick grinning at her efforts to control the huskiness of her voice. "Although she was surprised to find him naked under the covers, she was not displeased. She loved the feel of his thighs -- the movement of the muscles beneath his hands, the fine hairs that slightly tickled. She knew what he wanted though, and so she moved one of his hands to grasp the 'sword' that her knight always carried with him," she said with a snicker as Dick suited words to action once again.
Dick was completely caught up in the spell Babs was weaving. At times he was almost able to convince himself it was Babs who was caressing him. His breathing grew harsher as the pleasure he was giving himself grew more and more intense. He waited, somewhat anxiously, for the next part of the story.
"Taking his other hand, the lady...oh, crap!" Barbara interjected in a more normal tone. "I'm sorry, but Batman is paging me. Hold my place!" she said with a grin as she disappeared from the screen, and the Oracle icon appeared.
Dick muttered to himself, trying to think of suitable forms of revenge on Bruce (thinking about revenge on Batman was not a safe line of thought). He was debating between telling Alfred about Bruce's secret stash of "Butterfingers" and telling Lucius Fox that Bruce had confessed a secret desire to have a more "hands-on" role in Wayne Enterprises activities, when Barbara came back onscreen. From the expression on her face, he knew their "bedtime story" was over.
"I'm so sorry, honey! The Boss needs me to coordinate him, Az, and Batgirl on a crackhouse hit. I'm probably going to be tied up for an hour or so. Forgive me?"
"It's okay, Babs. I understand. I'll call you sometime tomorrow, okay?"
"Sure. I love you, Dick."
"I love you too, my fair lady." It was difficult to execute a bow from a lying position, but Dick gave it a good try. He succeeded in his main effort which was to make Babs smile as she disappeared again from the screen. Shaking his head in resignation, Dick put on his pajama bottoms and settled himself to go to sleep. He knew he could have continued their "story" by himself, but it just didn't seem...right without Babs being there.
Since he hadn't had much sleep the night before, and his day had begun unusually early, he didn't have much trouble falling asleep. Not surprisingly, his dreams that night were filled with knights, red-haired ladies, dragons, and an old man and woman walking down the street holdiing hands.