Title: Promises,
Promises, Chapter 3: Never Again
Disclaimer: I don't own
the characters, I'm just borrowing and I will put them back when I'm done.
Barbara Gordon stood in
the light of the bat signal facing her fiancé, Dick Grayson. She stepped toward
him. "I think we need to have a long talk."
The muscles in his face
tensed. "Barbara…"
"No." she said sharply.
"I will not talk to you while you're wearing that thing."
Dick swallowed and
reached around his head, removing the mask that he hid behind. "Barbara… Let me
explain…"
"Explain what?" she
lashed out. "Explain how we had an agreement and you broke it. And how
not only did you break that agreement, you lied about it. Explain that."
He shook his head and
took a step toward her. "It was the only way, Barbara. It was the only way I
could get Bruce to take a break from being the Bat. I had to do it." He
reached out for her, but she turned away.
"And did you have to lie
about it, too?" She asked, facing away. He made another move toward her, but
she flung his hand off of her shoulder. "Don't touch me," she said through
clenched teeth. "I trusted you this time. You promised me that it would
be different, but you lied. You broke your promise, Dick, and I don't even want
to look at you right now."
Dick stepped back,
wounded. He was truly stunned at her hostile words. They stood there for a
moment, two hurt people, before he backed up more. "I'm not the only one who
had secrets, Babs," he said softly as he released the grappling hook and swung
off the building.
Barbara turned around to
see his cloaked figure flying away and let out a sob as she sank to the ground.
When Barbara returned to
her apartment hours later, after sitting in her office, crying, she walked in
to find an unnatural, empty feeling in the rooms. After entering her own room,
the room they both shared, she found that Dick's clothes were missing and his
pictures were gone from the nightstand. She looked frantically over the
apartment for a not of some kind, or something to let her know where he had
gone to, but found nothing.
For the second time that
night, she got in her car and drove to Wayne Manor.
"Where is he, Bruce?"
Barbara asked before even making the turn around the corner down the stairs
into the actual cave. She continued walking to him. "Where is he?"
Bruce shook his head. "I
don't know." He pointed to the Bat mobile, parked in its usual place. "The car
came back on auto pilot with the costume in it. Go look for yourself." She
walked over to the car slowly as Bruce continued talking. "He left a note for
you on the suit. He must have figured that you'd come back here."
She walked up to the car
and took the note off of the suit. Reading it, she forced back tears.
Barbara,
I'm sorry I hurt you. I should have known better.
We were always wrong from the start. We just tried
to kid
Ourselves into thinking that maybe this time it
would work.
We weren't kidding anyone.
I know my place is not here. And not with you. Not
ever.
So don't expect to see me again. I won't bother
you.
Consider me dead. That should make it easier on
you.
I really didn't mean for it to end like this,
Barbara, I promise.
My love is always with you,
Dick
Barbara wiped away a tear
as Bruce came up to her and put his arm around her shoulder. "I'm sorry,
Barbara."
She sniffled and looked
up at him. "You should be." Shocked, Bruce let go of her shoulder and took a
step back. "I blame this you. You emotionally blackmailed him into staying. You
just can't let me be happy, can you? You always have to ruin it." She clenched
the note in her hand tightly and began walking toward the stair, leaving Bruce
speechless. When she reached the stairs, she stopped and turned around. "Never
again… I never want to see or speak to you ever again. Rot in hell,
Bruce Wayne," she spat out lastly as she made her way up the stairs into the
house.
Barbara sat at her desk,
engrossing herself in paper work. She was trying to avoid thinking about the
events of that past weekend, however futile. Suddenly there was a knock on her
door and she looked up. "Come in."
Sam Young, a lawyer from
the public defender's office walked in. Barbara had worked with him on a few
cases, and they had since become good friends. "Good Morning, Barbara."
She forced a smile. "Hi,
Sam."
He walked in and sat down
across from her with a wide smile. "So… I heard the great news.
Congratulations. That Grayson is a lucky guy."
Barbara's smile faded as
she looked away. "Actually, um… we just broke up last night."
Sam's smile faded as well
and he sighed. "Oh, god… I'm sorry, Barbara. I… I didn't know."
She shook her head. "No…
it's okay. We just realized that we're too different. That there were too many…
obstacles in the way. Better now than after the wedding, right?" she said
forcing a laugh.
Sam smiled kindly again
and stood up. "Well, if you need anything, I'm here for you, ok?"
She nodded and smiled
genuinely for the first time. "Yeah… thanks Sam."
Sam nodded and stepped
out of the office as Barbara sat back down. She looked at the picture that sat
on her desk and slowly, carefully picked it up, opened her drawer and placed it
in there. Dead to me, she thought. Dead.
THE END.