Batgirl and the butterflies in her stomach that awakened with her watched
Robin babble the lyrics to old children's cereal commercials in his sleep.
As she slowly lifted herself away from their unusually tight bond the
blurry digital clock in the bumpy boat became clear.
"Robin!" she said shoving him.
"Chocolately, Marshmellowly delight with those little elves"
"Robin get up! It's 7:30 in the morning!"
His eyes opened. "Wha?"
"I thought you were trained to wake up within an hour!?" she panicked.
"Okay. Well I guess I forgot it since I've never used it. Give me a good five more minutes and we'll be out," He said as he turned his head away from her and rolled his arm around her even more.
"Robin! Your little crime fighting gig is to keep people out of trouble and if I don't get to Gotham soon I'm doomed."
"Ok," he said, obviously not comprehending what she was saying.
"This thing is voice activated right?" she said rubbing his arms.
"Ok."
"Robin just tell me what you need to say to this thing to get us back in Gotham." She said scratching her gloved hand through his morning hair.
"Ughmm. Computerrr.set a coarse to Gotham. Full Speed."
"Thankyou," but before she could say the words the boat was already cruising through the water. "He definitely turns the 'early bird' phrase into an irony."
She laid back down beside him, but keeping her head and eyes away from him. The new crime fighter needed to concentrate on what needed to be done when she got back because she couldn't look at him for the simple fact that she needed to have a grudge against him for creating their newest situation.
"Remind me to crash this thing so we can get one of the new ones that comes with a coffee maker." He surprised her with the fact that he was up.
"Well I guess I could get you a glass of water from out there. Bet you that it'd wake you up more than any kind of coffee." Batgirl said as she pointed out the water they were riding on to her now awakened associate.
"Yeah well Batman has been cracking down on me to drink more of it. Says it'll give me my daily required dose of contamination and toxic waste."
"It's really too bad there isn't a drive through around here. I could use some breakfast."
"I'd invite you over to the cave but it's just looking like a mess right now. With Batman gone there's no one to clean or cook."
"Awww. Pawr Rawbin. Maybe if you're good I'll cook dinner for you, someday."
"Yeah, what kind of food do you think I like?"
"Hmmm. My guess is that you're probably the person who'll eat anything that can be cooked in a microwave for over 2 minutes thus you'd love my cooking."
"Wow you got that one right. IS there anything you can't do?"
"Can't cross my eyes."
Robin got close to Batgirls face, and then his eyes went crazy flickering in all different directions. Batgirl smiled and giggled. "Eww. Gross."
"You should have seen the trouble I got in when I put on his suit in the cave and did that."
"Why did you get in trouble? Is he that strict?"
"Well I just happened to take pictures of me doing that and sent them to the entire Justice League for their Christmas cards."
Batgirl rolled over laughing, imagining their individual reactions when they opened up their mail.
"Robin you're probably the most interesting person I've met."
"After all of the mentally insane mastermind criminals we've taken down together, I'm not sure if I should take that as a compliment or not."
"Well you should."
"Well, thanks."
"You think that we'll ever find some moment in time where we could just hang out?"
"You mean us, minus the masks?"
"Yeah, but if you dare think I mean minus anything more - Well you know how hard I can throw a sucker punch."
"Well I guess I could use a free meal."
"Free? I said that I would cook you dinner sometime but I don't remember that it would be free."
"Good point. Your cooking would probably be as bad as the person it is fixed by so you should probably pay me to eat it."
Batgirl stuck out her tongue as she gave him her famous Cheshire grin. Gently Robin slapped it, but for a quick second his gloved hand massaged her face.
The computers voice began "Entering Gotham City."
"Uh.where do you need to be dropped off?"
"Umm." she looked at the clock and then the position of the boat in contrast to Gotham City on the small computer screen.
"Well you could just tell me where you live, you know?" he raised an eyebrow.
"No. I don't want to do it that way." she said coarsely.
She looked at him and then there was an awkward silence. Batgirl took a deep breath and began to take off her thin mask in front of him.
"No. No. Seriously, you don't have to" he said reaching an arm out to try and stop her before she lifted the hair away from her face. When the hair was removed a look of disbelief and stupidity arose on Robin's face. The mask he had given her for night vision purposes was still stuck on her face.
"Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. I wanted to get you on that before the night ended." She laughed.
"Well it's funny because I was going to ask for that back right now."
"Haha, I don't think so. I just wanted to see how smart you have to be to get a super hero degree. Obviously not that smart."
"Huh?" Robin said with a jaw to the side, open mouth pause.
"Well right now you just broke a rule."
"And what exactly would that be?" he interrogated.
"Never become that gullible." She smiled as she put her mask back on.
"Okay well I guess I'll be dropping you off here then. Aqua Girl definitely has a nice ring to it." He said, trying to hide his agitation and embarrassment with humor.
"Think Batman is okay, Robin?" she said.
"Um. yeah.he's the greatest human born - non mutant that ever touched foot in the country. Of coarse he is okay." He said trying to cheer her up.
"I'm not so sure about that."
"Well if only I didn't have that ability to read the minds of armadillos then I would be a shoe in for that title."
"I just can't help but think that we're not working hard enough to find him."
"We once saved two twin girls from the Mad Hatter. They let their eyes and not the media make out who their hero was because of their young age. Well they got Commissioner Gordon to get me to talk to them before they went back home to their family. It was the first time I was asked to be thanked by one of the people."
"So you don't get the girl at the end of the day, you get the girls" Batgirl had to rub in.
"Well yeah but all they did was ask me about how exciting this job is but in all honestly it's boring for about 99% of the time. We have to wait patiently for the leads to come because usually there aren't any to follow. There's always those moments where you feel hopeless and completely unable to help the people you're meant to protect and the worst part of it all is that you're in complete silence. So I guess best thing you can do is find someone to talk to about it. We'll find him, I promise."
"I just don't know if I could handle being kidnapped for that long," her costume felt heavier than it usually did.
"You won't get kidnapped. I'll assure you that."
"Really?"
"Yeah. You might not be a pro but if we're together I don't think that anyone could get you without getting me first."
"The night he was err taken. You went to the bank and he went to the museum. Did it feel weird at all?"
"When?"
"Well you two always seem to be working together. Is it different when you go solo? Is that what you would have done?"
"I don't make the rules. I've tried not listening to that but he knows the game better than I do. When you break them you end up in the Cave's hospital bed watching cartoons and eating JELLO."
"Hey, I like cartoons and JELLO. Maybe it isn't as bad down there as you make it out to be."
"Thing is, that even when you go by the rules it doesn't mean that you'll be safe and dandy. He's been kidnapped three or four times but never for this long. Every night I keep on having this feeling that we'll just find him and that everything will be okay. That's how he told me I should be. If you haven't found out by now, I'm usually the damsel in distress. Remember Talia."
"Ghul's daughter."
"Yeah, well he kidnapped me for a week. He found out my secret identity and took care of me when I was leading my ordinary life. It wasn't the greatest experience, on the fourth night I gave up hope. I just hope he never has to go through that. I just hope you never have to go through that."
"I can't believe how well you've taken this. So. So well."
"Well I just sorta found things that took my mind off of it."
"Take me to the dock closest to Gotham train station. That's probably the best place for me to go."
Robin tried hiding an untouched emotion with his face, but couldn't hide it from her.
"What?" she said curiously.
"Nothing. It's just I didn't figure that you lived in that area. Always saw you living in some outside suburb."
"Err.heh. I don't live there, not that I'm going to give you clues as to who I am. Since I don't want anyone to know about that, I keep bags of old clothes in garbage bags on the top of roofs."
"How do you know that someone won't get a free show?" he winked at her, even though most of him was concerned.
"There's an abandoned pigeon shack with a trap door around that area." She said, partially biting her lip and worrying if she revealed too much.
"Good call," Robin said trying to forget that information. "But since it's so early, Batman and I both keep an extra change of clothes in the back of here for moments like these. They're just sweatpants and they'd be little baggy on you but."
"Yeah, I just leave sweats up on the roof tops. I figure that if someone finds them they won't bother to take them."
The boat began to stop by the dock and the canopy opened. Batgirl began to start humming, "Here comes the sun, dum dum dum dum."
"It's weird cause you should be at the batcave and I should be at the bird house but oh well."
"Heh, you know I might give you a ring on the communicater. I usually..err..work during the week but this is a little more serious than a bank robbery,"
"Tell me about it. I might have to give up a few modeling shoots to get this case solved."
"Oh yeah? The ones for Children's Clothes. I hear there's good money in that." She smiled and then frowned.
"If you can't come you don't have to. I know how to work alone."
"I might do that." Sarcasm was filled in the air as she got out of the boat and began to walk down the dock she looked back at the semi-greasy haired vigilante.
" Hey Batgirl you ever wander."
"Yeah?"
"If you and I have been on these streets and passed each other?"
"Yeah I think about it all the time. I wander what you look like with out the mask. If you er or him saw me on the streets. Would we know? Would we be the type that would hang out with each other or would we just not get along cause we were clueless." She said.
"Yeah ever since I met you I guess I got this weird deja vue feeling about you. I think you.well we both hide a lot about ourselves from each other. But what ever we're hiding it just seems like it's familiar ground."
"Robin, Now I'm going to do something that I'm not sure if I want to do. My heart says one thing and the rest of me is just, confused. I just feel like I have to even though the outcome might not come out that well."
"I don't want to hold you from anything."
"Well I guess there's no other way to say this so here it goes. I have to call Aqua man and break it to him that I'm not longer interested in being his partner. I guess he pays well but you just have the better good insurance policy."
"Well I haven't officially given you the job. I plan on looking at other applicants in the future. What do you have that Supergirl can't offer?" Robin grinned.
"I can keep a secret, unlike Supergirl."
"What's that supposed to mean?" he said trying to act naïve hoping that she didn't know about the slumber party of confessions he shared with Supergirl a few months ago.
"You know. Later Robi.Partner."
Rushing down the corridors of the McHenry building Dick Grayson tried to walk slyly into the lecture hall when he got in he saw his Professor as well as the class snicker at him.
"Ah Mr. Grayson, what a coincidence. I was just beginning to give your research partner a lecture about her tardiness." Professor Angler said lightly.
Barbara looked at Dick with uneasy eyes. She wasn't known to be late to class and neither was he. For all he knew this was the first time either of them have been chewed out by a professor.
"However the purpose of solving a crime, students, is to get the job taken care of and resolving the problems later. So I will need to see the two of you after class."
Barbara and Dick took their assigned seats together. They both were wearing sweatpants and sweatshirts for the Gotham Knights, neither bothered to comb their hair.
"I uh, forgot my books and everything. Had a busy night."
"Yeah? Guess you and your date just talked forever." Dick said as he opened his backpack to take out his laptop.
"Not exactly." She mumbled and then realized that he could have taken it out of context. "I mean we talked and that's about it."
The middle aged true crime novelist who taught their class bent over to whisper to his students.
"So what are your excuses for being twenty minutes late."
"Traffic." They said in unison. The old professor began to laugh.
"I didn't get to grade your papers that you turned in last Tuesday this weekend so as a reward today is just a free day for you two to work on your project."
"Thank god," Barbara smiled.
"If you don't mind me asking, how is your project going?"
"Not bad so far. We have good notes on everything but without the case being solved it's a lot harder to find out the true motives."
"I can't believe that's stopping you from creating your own assessments. I gave this assignment to you because I believe I've failed to challenge either of you all year. I think that each of you has what it takes to be a good detective," he said.
"Well the police have been hiding something from this case so we're not allowed to receive the usual access that we can get." Dick said tapping his fingers on the folder when Barbara wasn't paying attention.
"The only thing I wanted to see you guys after class for is your punishment. I need two of my students to go to a dinner banquet for Raymond Rayhan. He's in Gotham to get his next book published and he'll be speaking at the banquet to make money for the school. Maybe you could talk to him about your problem and maybe he could give advice."
"Um, I don't know if I can go, Mr. Angler." Dick said hoarsely
"Me, neither." Barbara concurred.
"You wouldn't have to be there for more than twenty minutes if you're fast. Anyways, my date is someone who might be nice enough to help you. Gotham's City Police Department's Finest. Renne Montoya."
"Wouldn't everyone see it as rude if we just came in and left?" she said, trying to give him a reason to let them go.
"Half of the people there will be former cops. They're used to people leaving for un-expected reasons." Their teacher pleaded.
" Guess I'll get out the suit." Dick said half smiling which left Barbara unable to resist while the teacher left to answer a few questions to students across the room.
"You better not forget to get me a corsage, Grayson. You do remember the first dance we went to when you were in high school?" she smiled.
"Yeah, yeah. I was nervous. You were taller than me and everyone was looking at me like I was a freak."
"Ha. Girls I didn't know were taking me to the bathroom asking if we were just friends because they thought you were 'the cutest guy in the whole school.' " she rolled her eyes to the nostalgia.
"Well it wasn't easy being your date either. My friends were asking me how much Bruce paid you to go out with me."
"Heh, dad really didn't want me wearing that dress. I can't even believe that I bought it but everyone showed me pictures of your last date and," she stopped in midsentence.
"And?" Dick said.
"And getting to go to the dance with you made me feel popular. I wanted to get noticed, I didn't want everyone to always think of me as the girl in the library. To be honest I didn't think you'd ask me since I never even really talked to you about it." She winced.
"I wanted to take you, Babs. You're the only girl who I get to be as much as myself as possible with. Guess it's just because I've known you for so long or something."
"Robin!" she said shoving him.
"Chocolately, Marshmellowly delight with those little elves"
"Robin get up! It's 7:30 in the morning!"
His eyes opened. "Wha?"
"I thought you were trained to wake up within an hour!?" she panicked.
"Okay. Well I guess I forgot it since I've never used it. Give me a good five more minutes and we'll be out," He said as he turned his head away from her and rolled his arm around her even more.
"Robin! Your little crime fighting gig is to keep people out of trouble and if I don't get to Gotham soon I'm doomed."
"Ok," he said, obviously not comprehending what she was saying.
"This thing is voice activated right?" she said rubbing his arms.
"Ok."
"Robin just tell me what you need to say to this thing to get us back in Gotham." She said scratching her gloved hand through his morning hair.
"Ughmm. Computerrr.set a coarse to Gotham. Full Speed."
"Thankyou," but before she could say the words the boat was already cruising through the water. "He definitely turns the 'early bird' phrase into an irony."
She laid back down beside him, but keeping her head and eyes away from him. The new crime fighter needed to concentrate on what needed to be done when she got back because she couldn't look at him for the simple fact that she needed to have a grudge against him for creating their newest situation.
"Remind me to crash this thing so we can get one of the new ones that comes with a coffee maker." He surprised her with the fact that he was up.
"Well I guess I could get you a glass of water from out there. Bet you that it'd wake you up more than any kind of coffee." Batgirl said as she pointed out the water they were riding on to her now awakened associate.
"Yeah well Batman has been cracking down on me to drink more of it. Says it'll give me my daily required dose of contamination and toxic waste."
"It's really too bad there isn't a drive through around here. I could use some breakfast."
"I'd invite you over to the cave but it's just looking like a mess right now. With Batman gone there's no one to clean or cook."
"Awww. Pawr Rawbin. Maybe if you're good I'll cook dinner for you, someday."
"Yeah, what kind of food do you think I like?"
"Hmmm. My guess is that you're probably the person who'll eat anything that can be cooked in a microwave for over 2 minutes thus you'd love my cooking."
"Wow you got that one right. IS there anything you can't do?"
"Can't cross my eyes."
Robin got close to Batgirls face, and then his eyes went crazy flickering in all different directions. Batgirl smiled and giggled. "Eww. Gross."
"You should have seen the trouble I got in when I put on his suit in the cave and did that."
"Why did you get in trouble? Is he that strict?"
"Well I just happened to take pictures of me doing that and sent them to the entire Justice League for their Christmas cards."
Batgirl rolled over laughing, imagining their individual reactions when they opened up their mail.
"Robin you're probably the most interesting person I've met."
"After all of the mentally insane mastermind criminals we've taken down together, I'm not sure if I should take that as a compliment or not."
"Well you should."
"Well, thanks."
"You think that we'll ever find some moment in time where we could just hang out?"
"You mean us, minus the masks?"
"Yeah, but if you dare think I mean minus anything more - Well you know how hard I can throw a sucker punch."
"Well I guess I could use a free meal."
"Free? I said that I would cook you dinner sometime but I don't remember that it would be free."
"Good point. Your cooking would probably be as bad as the person it is fixed by so you should probably pay me to eat it."
Batgirl stuck out her tongue as she gave him her famous Cheshire grin. Gently Robin slapped it, but for a quick second his gloved hand massaged her face.
The computers voice began "Entering Gotham City."
"Uh.where do you need to be dropped off?"
"Umm." she looked at the clock and then the position of the boat in contrast to Gotham City on the small computer screen.
"Well you could just tell me where you live, you know?" he raised an eyebrow.
"No. I don't want to do it that way." she said coarsely.
She looked at him and then there was an awkward silence. Batgirl took a deep breath and began to take off her thin mask in front of him.
"No. No. Seriously, you don't have to" he said reaching an arm out to try and stop her before she lifted the hair away from her face. When the hair was removed a look of disbelief and stupidity arose on Robin's face. The mask he had given her for night vision purposes was still stuck on her face.
"Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. I wanted to get you on that before the night ended." She laughed.
"Well it's funny because I was going to ask for that back right now."
"Haha, I don't think so. I just wanted to see how smart you have to be to get a super hero degree. Obviously not that smart."
"Huh?" Robin said with a jaw to the side, open mouth pause.
"Well right now you just broke a rule."
"And what exactly would that be?" he interrogated.
"Never become that gullible." She smiled as she put her mask back on.
"Okay well I guess I'll be dropping you off here then. Aqua Girl definitely has a nice ring to it." He said, trying to hide his agitation and embarrassment with humor.
"Think Batman is okay, Robin?" she said.
"Um. yeah.he's the greatest human born - non mutant that ever touched foot in the country. Of coarse he is okay." He said trying to cheer her up.
"I'm not so sure about that."
"Well if only I didn't have that ability to read the minds of armadillos then I would be a shoe in for that title."
"I just can't help but think that we're not working hard enough to find him."
"We once saved two twin girls from the Mad Hatter. They let their eyes and not the media make out who their hero was because of their young age. Well they got Commissioner Gordon to get me to talk to them before they went back home to their family. It was the first time I was asked to be thanked by one of the people."
"So you don't get the girl at the end of the day, you get the girls" Batgirl had to rub in.
"Well yeah but all they did was ask me about how exciting this job is but in all honestly it's boring for about 99% of the time. We have to wait patiently for the leads to come because usually there aren't any to follow. There's always those moments where you feel hopeless and completely unable to help the people you're meant to protect and the worst part of it all is that you're in complete silence. So I guess best thing you can do is find someone to talk to about it. We'll find him, I promise."
"I just don't know if I could handle being kidnapped for that long," her costume felt heavier than it usually did.
"You won't get kidnapped. I'll assure you that."
"Really?"
"Yeah. You might not be a pro but if we're together I don't think that anyone could get you without getting me first."
"The night he was err taken. You went to the bank and he went to the museum. Did it feel weird at all?"
"When?"
"Well you two always seem to be working together. Is it different when you go solo? Is that what you would have done?"
"I don't make the rules. I've tried not listening to that but he knows the game better than I do. When you break them you end up in the Cave's hospital bed watching cartoons and eating JELLO."
"Hey, I like cartoons and JELLO. Maybe it isn't as bad down there as you make it out to be."
"Thing is, that even when you go by the rules it doesn't mean that you'll be safe and dandy. He's been kidnapped three or four times but never for this long. Every night I keep on having this feeling that we'll just find him and that everything will be okay. That's how he told me I should be. If you haven't found out by now, I'm usually the damsel in distress. Remember Talia."
"Ghul's daughter."
"Yeah, well he kidnapped me for a week. He found out my secret identity and took care of me when I was leading my ordinary life. It wasn't the greatest experience, on the fourth night I gave up hope. I just hope he never has to go through that. I just hope you never have to go through that."
"I can't believe how well you've taken this. So. So well."
"Well I just sorta found things that took my mind off of it."
"Take me to the dock closest to Gotham train station. That's probably the best place for me to go."
Robin tried hiding an untouched emotion with his face, but couldn't hide it from her.
"What?" she said curiously.
"Nothing. It's just I didn't figure that you lived in that area. Always saw you living in some outside suburb."
"Err.heh. I don't live there, not that I'm going to give you clues as to who I am. Since I don't want anyone to know about that, I keep bags of old clothes in garbage bags on the top of roofs."
"How do you know that someone won't get a free show?" he winked at her, even though most of him was concerned.
"There's an abandoned pigeon shack with a trap door around that area." She said, partially biting her lip and worrying if she revealed too much.
"Good call," Robin said trying to forget that information. "But since it's so early, Batman and I both keep an extra change of clothes in the back of here for moments like these. They're just sweatpants and they'd be little baggy on you but."
"Yeah, I just leave sweats up on the roof tops. I figure that if someone finds them they won't bother to take them."
The boat began to stop by the dock and the canopy opened. Batgirl began to start humming, "Here comes the sun, dum dum dum dum."
"It's weird cause you should be at the batcave and I should be at the bird house but oh well."
"Heh, you know I might give you a ring on the communicater. I usually..err..work during the week but this is a little more serious than a bank robbery,"
"Tell me about it. I might have to give up a few modeling shoots to get this case solved."
"Oh yeah? The ones for Children's Clothes. I hear there's good money in that." She smiled and then frowned.
"If you can't come you don't have to. I know how to work alone."
"I might do that." Sarcasm was filled in the air as she got out of the boat and began to walk down the dock she looked back at the semi-greasy haired vigilante.
" Hey Batgirl you ever wander."
"Yeah?"
"If you and I have been on these streets and passed each other?"
"Yeah I think about it all the time. I wander what you look like with out the mask. If you er or him saw me on the streets. Would we know? Would we be the type that would hang out with each other or would we just not get along cause we were clueless." She said.
"Yeah ever since I met you I guess I got this weird deja vue feeling about you. I think you.well we both hide a lot about ourselves from each other. But what ever we're hiding it just seems like it's familiar ground."
"Robin, Now I'm going to do something that I'm not sure if I want to do. My heart says one thing and the rest of me is just, confused. I just feel like I have to even though the outcome might not come out that well."
"I don't want to hold you from anything."
"Well I guess there's no other way to say this so here it goes. I have to call Aqua man and break it to him that I'm not longer interested in being his partner. I guess he pays well but you just have the better good insurance policy."
"Well I haven't officially given you the job. I plan on looking at other applicants in the future. What do you have that Supergirl can't offer?" Robin grinned.
"I can keep a secret, unlike Supergirl."
"What's that supposed to mean?" he said trying to act naïve hoping that she didn't know about the slumber party of confessions he shared with Supergirl a few months ago.
"You know. Later Robi.Partner."
Rushing down the corridors of the McHenry building Dick Grayson tried to walk slyly into the lecture hall when he got in he saw his Professor as well as the class snicker at him.
"Ah Mr. Grayson, what a coincidence. I was just beginning to give your research partner a lecture about her tardiness." Professor Angler said lightly.
Barbara looked at Dick with uneasy eyes. She wasn't known to be late to class and neither was he. For all he knew this was the first time either of them have been chewed out by a professor.
"However the purpose of solving a crime, students, is to get the job taken care of and resolving the problems later. So I will need to see the two of you after class."
Barbara and Dick took their assigned seats together. They both were wearing sweatpants and sweatshirts for the Gotham Knights, neither bothered to comb their hair.
"I uh, forgot my books and everything. Had a busy night."
"Yeah? Guess you and your date just talked forever." Dick said as he opened his backpack to take out his laptop.
"Not exactly." She mumbled and then realized that he could have taken it out of context. "I mean we talked and that's about it."
The middle aged true crime novelist who taught their class bent over to whisper to his students.
"So what are your excuses for being twenty minutes late."
"Traffic." They said in unison. The old professor began to laugh.
"I didn't get to grade your papers that you turned in last Tuesday this weekend so as a reward today is just a free day for you two to work on your project."
"Thank god," Barbara smiled.
"If you don't mind me asking, how is your project going?"
"Not bad so far. We have good notes on everything but without the case being solved it's a lot harder to find out the true motives."
"I can't believe that's stopping you from creating your own assessments. I gave this assignment to you because I believe I've failed to challenge either of you all year. I think that each of you has what it takes to be a good detective," he said.
"Well the police have been hiding something from this case so we're not allowed to receive the usual access that we can get." Dick said tapping his fingers on the folder when Barbara wasn't paying attention.
"The only thing I wanted to see you guys after class for is your punishment. I need two of my students to go to a dinner banquet for Raymond Rayhan. He's in Gotham to get his next book published and he'll be speaking at the banquet to make money for the school. Maybe you could talk to him about your problem and maybe he could give advice."
"Um, I don't know if I can go, Mr. Angler." Dick said hoarsely
"Me, neither." Barbara concurred.
"You wouldn't have to be there for more than twenty minutes if you're fast. Anyways, my date is someone who might be nice enough to help you. Gotham's City Police Department's Finest. Renne Montoya."
"Wouldn't everyone see it as rude if we just came in and left?" she said, trying to give him a reason to let them go.
"Half of the people there will be former cops. They're used to people leaving for un-expected reasons." Their teacher pleaded.
" Guess I'll get out the suit." Dick said half smiling which left Barbara unable to resist while the teacher left to answer a few questions to students across the room.
"You better not forget to get me a corsage, Grayson. You do remember the first dance we went to when you were in high school?" she smiled.
"Yeah, yeah. I was nervous. You were taller than me and everyone was looking at me like I was a freak."
"Ha. Girls I didn't know were taking me to the bathroom asking if we were just friends because they thought you were 'the cutest guy in the whole school.' " she rolled her eyes to the nostalgia.
"Well it wasn't easy being your date either. My friends were asking me how much Bruce paid you to go out with me."
"Heh, dad really didn't want me wearing that dress. I can't even believe that I bought it but everyone showed me pictures of your last date and," she stopped in midsentence.
"And?" Dick said.
"And getting to go to the dance with you made me feel popular. I wanted to get noticed, I didn't want everyone to always think of me as the girl in the library. To be honest I didn't think you'd ask me since I never even really talked to you about it." She winced.
"I wanted to take you, Babs. You're the only girl who I get to be as much as myself as possible with. Guess it's just because I've known you for so long or something."