Part 10
Kiss me once, then kiss me twice
Then kiss me once again
It's been a long, long time
-- Sammy Cahn, 1945
Dick's internal clock was still skewed from having been on a different schedule in space, so for once, he was the early riser on Thursday morning. After getting dressed and starting breakfast, he allowed himself one brief moment of satisfaction -- or more correctly, revenge -- when he opened the blinds wide, pulled the covers off Barbara, and told her she had ninety minutes to get packed before their flight left.
"I told you, Dick! I can't possibly take off for a whole weekend again!" she grumbled, trying to grab the sheet back.
"Look, you'll have your laptop if anything really bad develops, and Tim volunteered to cover the regular stuff." Dick sighed in exasperation and decided if reasonable wasn't going to work, he would have to bring out the big guns. "Don't you want to spend a weekend with me before I go off to Houston?" he asked plaintively, trying to look as pitiful as he could. He must not have been too successful because Babs just started giggling. He was about to try stomping out of the room when she took advantage of his inattention to pull on the sheet he was still holding. The jolt knocked him off balance, and he fell on top of her.
For the next few moments, Barbara managed to make him forget all about plane flights and vacations. Finally though, he pulled away to look down into her green eyes.
"Y'know, sweetheart, unless you want Tim to see what you don't wear to bed, you really need to get moving."
"I thought you said we had ninety minutes," she replied huskily.
"That's until our flight leaves. Tim's going to be here in around," Dick brought his arm from underneath her back to look at his watch, "thirteen minutes. We figured you'd want some time to bring him up to speed on your current projects."
Barbara let out a small "eep" of dismay and then pushed Dick aside while she maneuvered into her chair. She raced to the bathroom muttering things under her breath that he figured he was better off not hearing. While she was taking her shower, he found her suitcase and began rummaging around in her dresser looking for appropriate clothing, whistling contentedly to himself.
Barbara was blowdrying her hair when Tim got there, but at least she had clothes on. It took about twenty minutes to bring Tim up to speed on the two missions that were about to go active and the five others that were pending. While they were talking, Dick brought in eggs, toast, and coffee, in between trips back and forth to load their luggage in the car. When he took away her coffee cup, Barbara knew it was time to leave. The traffic signal gods must have been smiling on them, because they made their flight to Corpus Christi, Texas with whole minutes to spare.
~~~~~~~~~~
"Aren't we going the wrong way?" Babs asked in confusion as Dick drove north from the airport in their rental car, while all the signs for Padre Island pointed in the opposite direction.
"Actually, we're going to Port Aransas on Mustang Island. I went there once with some guys when I was at flight school in Houston. The guy who suggested it said it was a lot nicer than Padre Island and not as built up."
"So where are we staying?"
"At a hotel right on the beach. I called them up on Tuesday, and they were able to fit us in this weekend since the summer crowd hasn't really started yet."
"Dick ..." Barbara said hesitantly.
He glanced over at her. She had a tense, uncomfortable expression on her face. "Yes, Babs?"
"I'm ... just not sure about this whole beach thing. I mean ... I'm not going to be able to get around and ..."
Dick interrupted her. "Don't worry about it, sweetheart. I think I've got everything figured out. Trust me?" He glanced over at her again long enough to catch her gaze. Her face relaxed a bit, and she flashed him a brief smile. He looked back at the highway and decided to risk teasing her. "Besides, it's all your fault we're here, anyway! I mean, if you hadn't sent me that picture of you on a beach in such a skimpy swimsuit ..." He stopped when she whapped him on the arm.
He turned to try to make puppy-dog eyes at her, but his attempt quickly became a concerned frown as he saw the sunlight streaming in the window upon her arms. "Babs, if you'll reach into your carryon bag, that's where I packed the suntan lotion. I think you should put some on."
Startled, Barbara looked down at her exposed skin and then back up at Dick. "We're not even on the beach yet, Former Boy Wonder."
"Trust me -- that sun's a lot more intense than what you're used to. We've still got a bit of a drive ahead of us, and I don't know how much of a wait there'll be at the ferry." At her continued skepticism, he continued insistently. "Look, one of the guys I was with got sunburned his first thirty minutes here! And he wasn't a redhead! Please, Babs?"
"All right, all right! I just hate the sticky feeling." Babs brought out the suntan lotion and liberally applied it to her arms, neck, and nose.
"Thank you, sweetheart."
For the next several miles, their conversation consisted mainly of pointing out the various sights to each other. Finally, they started seeing the "Port Aransas Ferry" signs. A mile or so later, they saw the ferries themselves.
Dick smiled. "Looks like we're early for the weekend crowd. When I was here before, we had to wait almost an hour for the ferry." He laughed. "Actually, 'ferry' sure seems like a grandiose term for it. I mean, it does 'ferry' cars back and forth, but still ..."
As the ferryboat crewman waved him forward, Dick steered the rental car onto the ferry. He put the car in park and cut off the engine. In just a few minutes, the boat was full, and it began to pull away from the pier.
"Where are we being ferried to?" asked Babs.
"See that dock over there?" Dick pointed ahead of them about two hundred feet.
"That's it?! You could practically jump that far!"
"Yep."
"You're right -- 'ferry' does seem a little too grand! Sheesh!"
~~~~~~~~~~
Dick made one wrong turn trying to find their hotel, but in a town as small as Port Aransas, he quickly discovered his error. After several miles of coastline interrupted by hotels and condominiums, he found their destination, Casa del Cortes. He asked Barbara to wait outside while he checked with the manager to see if his surprise was ready. It was! The manager told Dick to park by the large RV garage near the swimming pool. The manager met him there and opened up the garage. Dick got out of the car and helped Barbara into her wheelchair.
Dick could see the confusion on Barbara's face as the manager rolled out the surprise. "It's basically a miniature dune buggy with hand controls," Dick explained. He then thanked the manager for his help, and the manager gave him a guest key to the garage.
Barbara rolled over to small vehicle, as the confused expression was gradually replaced by astonishment. "How ... when ..." she stuttered.
"As I said, this was all your fault for sending me that picture," he said grinning. "A couple of months ago, I asked Tim to ask Harold if he could dream up some way for you to maneuver on a beach. We did some brainstorming by email, and this is what we came up with. After I saw the finished product, I was almost tempted to have Harold make one up for me."
It really was a cool-looking vehicle, Dick thought (if he did say so himself). Harold had taken the basic dune buggy design, reduced it in scale for a single driver, and then added the hand controls and other gizmos.
"When I made our reservations, I asked if I could ship this down ahead of time, and they agreed. Do you like it?" he asked, suddenly nervous.
"No, I love it! And look," she exclaimed as she rolled up to examine it more closely, "I can use the roll bar to move from my chair to the driver's seat! This is so cool!"
"Why don't we go change into our swimsuits, and you can take it for a spin?"
Barbara agreed enthusiastically, so Dick parked their rental car and grabbed their bags while she locked the dune buggy back in the garage just to be on the safe side. They found their room and quickly changed. Barbara did not give Dick any time to examine their room more closely.
"Come on, Grayson! We're burning daylight here, and I want to try out my new wheels!"
Mustang Island had a beautiful, quiet beach. The sand was a light gold color that was very soft underfoot, and the ocean was deep blue with whitecaps for accents. The sound of the ocean made a soothing backdrop, interspersed with the cries of the seagulls and the occasional crane. Every once in a while, a car or pickup would drive by, but overall their section of beach seemed almost deserted.
The dune buggy was everything Dick had hoped it would be. It ran on batteries that were replenished by discreetly placed solar panels, so it was very quiet. The little buggy had no trouble at all climbing over the dunes from the hotel down to the beach. The fat tires tossed up some loose sand, but not enough to bother him as he walked or jogged next to her. The really fun part came when they finally picked a nice spot for some serious sunbathing.
"Okay, sweetheart, after you turn off the engine, push the button that says, 'Braces.'" She did, and slim bracing poles protruded from the four corners of the buggy into the sand. Barbara raised her eyebrows at him. He smirked back. "Now, unbuckle your seatbelt and press the button that says, 'Ground.'"
Barbara couldn't help being startled when her seat started moving. It rose about twelve inches in the air and then began extending out the open driver's side. Once her seat was outside the buggy, it began lowering her until it was resting on the ground. She tentatively pushed herself off the seat and onto the waiting beach towel. She stared at Dick again who was currently involved trying to raise the large umbrella to give them some shade.
"Okay, now reach inside the rear wheel well -- man, that's hard to say quickly! -- and press the button you find there." When she did, the seat once more retracted itself into the dune buggy, as did the supports.
"I take it I just press the button again to have it fetch me?" she asked.
"Yep. That was all Harold's idea," he said, wanting to give credit where it was due. "My ideas kept overturning the buggy. He thought of the support beams."
"Well, I'm just going to have to figure out something especially nice to do for him when we ... I get back," she replied, her expression suddenly turning melancholy.
Dick's smile dimmed as well, thinking of the separation to come. He reached over to hug her, pulling her close. He tried to kiss her, but he forgot they were both wearing caps as protection from the sun. The brim of his cap collided with her forehead, startling both of them. Barbara started giggling. Dick tried glaring at her, but he couldn't keep a straight face either and began laughing himself. Finally, their laughter quieted, and Dick held her close again. Slowly and deliberately, Dick removed the cap from his head and then from Barbara's. Tipping her face back with a finger underneath her chin, he gave her a hard, very thorough, very intense kiss.
"That will teach you to laugh at your husband, Mrs. Grayson!"
Dick then lay down and held out his arm so that Barbara could lie down and rest her head on his shoulder. For a time, they just lay there, listening to the waves and enjoying the steady, cooling breeze coming off the ocean. Dick was so relaxed, he almost didn't hear Barbara's question.
"Did you have another nightmare last night?"
"Umm, yeah, I did. Sorry - I didn't think I woke you."
She shrugged and placed a soft kiss on his chest. "I've become a pretty light sleeper since I started this whole Oracle gig. It's okay. Was it the same as the one you told me about before?"
"Actually, it was a new one. Let's just chalk it up to nerves over being an instructor," he replied, trying to close the discussion.
"You're worried about your students going off and getting killed," she said, in such matter-of-fact tones that he just stared down at her.
"Umm, yeah. How … ?"
She raised her head to look at him. "I know you, Grayson," she said simply. "You're approaching teaching these pilots in the same way you lead a team: you hold yourself ultimately responsible for anything that goes wrong."
"Yeah, I guess so."
Barbara snuggled a little closer to him. "I thought of an analogy that I think might help you. It isn't perfect, but I think it fits. Tim came to you pretty early on for some special training, didn't he?"
"Uh huh. Bruce sent him to me when I was living in New York. Wanted me to teach Tim how to be his partner."9
"Okay, so did you angst like this over teaching him?"
"Not really. My main concern was to make sure he learned some of the things that Jason never did."
"So why didn't you worry about it?"
"'Cause I knew he was going back to Bruce, who would take care of him." He paused, starting to understand what Babs was getting at. "So you're saying, I'm not the only one responsible for these pilots - they've got their flight leaders, their wingmen, their CAGs, etc."
"Exactly. Sure, you're going to do your best to teach them what they need to know to stay alive and do the job, but that's where your responsibility ends."
Dick mulled over what she said. "I think that makes sense. I need to stop thinking of them as team members and remember that they're students." He bent his head down and kissed her. "Thank you for the pep talk, Babs! I knew there was a reason I kept hanging around with you."
Barbara laughed and settled back against his shoulder. Together they watched as the sky above them slowly darkened as the sun set behind them.
~~~~~~~~~~
No matter how much they might have wished otherwise, Sunday morning came at last. Solemnly, they packed their things, and Dick made arrangements for the manager to ship the dune buggy back to Gotham City. They had talked about driving to Houston together, and Barbara's flying from there back to Gotham. When they realized it was over a three-hour drive, they finally decided to fly out from Corpus -- Babs to Gotham and Dick to Houston.
Just before the initial boarding call was made for Barbara's flight, Dick managed to charm the (female) ticket agent into letting him accompany Babs down the ramp to the plane. Once there, he persuaded the (female) attendant to allow him to make sure Babs was settled comfortably.
"I'm certainly glad you use your powers for good and not for evil!" Babs said, trying to keep the conversation light.
"Hey! They just saw how much I'm in love with you and were suckers for romance," he replied, trying (and failing) to wear his usual devil-may-care grin. He gently lifted her from her wheelchair and held her in his arms. Realizing that their time was growing short, he kissed her passionately and tenderly, trying to convey just how much he loved her, and how much he was going to miss her. Finally though, he heard the sounds of other people entering the plane. He kissed her gently on her forehead and then on the end of her nose, which made her smile. He carefully placed her in her first-class seat.
"I love you sweetheart! I'll call you tonight, okay?"
"I love you, too."
He folded up her chair and gave it to the waiting attendant, and then hurried up the ramp and back into the terminal. Twenty-five minutes later, he watched as her plane took off, taking her away from him. He sighed and went to look for his own flight.
~~~~~~~~~~
About seven weeks later, Barbara sat staring in disbelief. She had felt silly enough just buying the darn thing. She had run through every logical explanation for what was happening and had finally resorted to the (in her mind) illogical ones. Just to be on the safe side, since she didn't want to risk anyone's recognizing her, she had driven to the very outskirts of Gotham City to buy what she needed. She closed her eyes tightly, waited a few seconds, and then opened them again. Nope, it was still there. Sighing in resignation, she picked up the phone and dialed a familiar number.
"Hello, Dr. Leslie? Could I come see you right away? I think I'm pregnant."
** End Part 10 **
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9 The New Titans #65 (1990)