Ch. 7 The Gala

"So, you and Tim have been inseparable for the past week. It looks like things are getting serious," Kara chirped.

"Yeah, it's been great. We're taking things slow this time, kinda getting used to each other again," I replied as I stared through my binoculars. Tonight was my first night back on patrol and I just got a lead on the goons who have been supplying weapons to the local gangs. This city doesn't need any more idiots with guns. Plus, Kara wanted to hang out, so she decided to come along. We were following our perps as they were about meet with their supplier.

At that moment, I noticed that the arms dealers entered their van and pulled out of the warehouse they set up as their base. I launched my grappling hook to propel myself onto the adjacent rooftop. God it feels good to have the wind in my hair. I've been taking it easy for too long, I can't believe I let Alfred and Tim talk me into my vacation.

After a few blocks, the van led us to an abandoned factory that used to manufacture car parts. It was closed down due to an accident that killed three employees. Now, it's a perfect place for illegal arms deals and other criminal activity. I landed on the factory's rooftop to get a better view of the scene. There were two vans and about a dozen men total. They must be new in town because they thought they'd be safe dealing outside. I signaled to Kara that I was going to jump in.

When I landed on the hood of the van I could have sworn some of the goons screamed. It took them a minute but they regained their composure and reached for their guns. I instantly threw three batarangs to knock the weapons out of their hands.

"C'mon boys, can't you be a little more gentlemanly? I am a lady y'know," I quipped.

"Grab the bitch!" the boss yelled. Well that did it.

I jumped off the van and quickly took my fighting stance as the gang members ran towards me. This one stringy guy threw the first punch; he probably had something to prove. I blocked it easily and threw the goon to the side. I extended my boomstick and goaded my opponents to attack me. Unfortunately for them they took the bait. I danced my way through the throng of men, dodging and counterattacking, until only the leader was left. I quickly grabbed him by the collar, bringing him up to his feet. That's when I noticed Kara floating behind me.

"You could have helped you know," I teased.

"I would have, but you looked like you had it covered." Kara landed, and walked towards me.

I turned my attention back to the matter at hand. "Why are you in Gotham?"

"I ain't telling you nothing," the goon spat. I nodded over to Kara and she swept him up and quickly flew up into the air.

"Man you're heavy, I might need to let you go." I heard Kara threaten over our comm link.

"Oh God, I'll talk! I'll TALK!" the goon pleaded. Too easy.

Kara slowly brought him down and dropped him onto the pavement. I loomed over the fear-stricken man and gave him a glare. As he was about to speak, his mouth began to foam. I ran to see if he was okay, but I was too late, he was dead. What made matters worse was that there was a dart that protruded from the back of his neck. Someone didn't want him to talk. I grabbed the dart to examine it. I heard police sirens approaching so I radioed Proxy telling her that Kara and I would be returning to Firewall for the night.

"So this is what caused the guy to start foaming and die?" Wendy questioned as she took the dart from me.

"Yup, I didn't even see who shot it," I answered. Wendy put the dart into the computer analyzer to see if it could read anything that could help us pinpoint who wanted that man dead.

"I didn't even hear anyone nearby," Kara added. The situation was getting more and more peculiar. It seems like those gangsters had friends in high places. Friends who didn't want them to spill their secrets.

Ding. The computer analysis finished and showed the results. The dart had been coated with a neurotoxin that kills in a matter of seconds. To make matters worse, the computer indicated that the poison used in the dart was most likely from a member of the League of Assassins

Crap, this might get ugly.

I decided to take the dart over to the Batcave, Bruce would most likely have more knowledge about the League than I did. Normally I would have asked Babs about the dart, unfortunately she had business with the Birds tonight. I told Kara to wait with Wendy while I left for my visit.

The cave was quiet when I arrived. I walked towards the computer when the chair began to turn.

"Why are you here, Brown?" Damian instigated. Ugh looks like he's back to his old self.

"I was looking for Bruce, I might need help in my investigation," I answered. Damian smirked and stood up.

"I can handle whatever is troubling you." I simply shrugged and handed the dart over to Damian, and explained to him the situation. During my explanation, the big man himself appeared out of nowhere.

"You won't be handling anything, Damian," Bruce grumbled. Damian was less than pleased.

"But Father! Leviathan is probably behind this, we need to strike." This was a very touchy subject for Damian. He was stuck in the middle of this over-exaggerated lover's spat.

"Just be patient. We don't know if Leviathan is truly behind this." Bruce was much sterner with Damian than he seemed with Dick and Tim. Was it because of his upbringing? Or his mother?

Bruce then turned to me and spoke, "Thank you, Batgirl. I'll take this investigation off your hands."

"No problem boss, it's all yours," I relinquished. The arms dealers must have been the smaller cogs in the larger machine. I was about to turn around to return to Firewall when I felt Bruce's hand on my shoulder.

"I'm glad that you're okay, Stephanie." Bruce has been acting differently since he returned from the dead. He isn't so distant. I smiled in response and left the cave to head back to Firewall.

When I arrived, Kara was asleep and Wendy was in the back arranging the cartridges for my batarangs. I quickly changed out of my Batsuit and woke Kara up so she could change too. Lastly, I yelled at Wendy to let her know that I was going home. Since it was late, Kara decided to stay the night so we could catch up on other things not cape related. When we got home, Mom was at work. She did, however, leave a note on the fridge.

Steph, there's leftovers in the fridge, and you have a letter. –Mom

The letter was left on the kitchen table. The envelope looked elegant and had embossed lettering. Fancy. I opened the envelope and saw an invitation.

Miss Stephanie Brown

It is my pleasure to request your attendance at the annual Wayne Foundation Charity Gala.

This Saturday at 8 pm at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

A car will be sent to pick you up at 7 pm.

Not giving me much choice there huh? I was surprised to say the least. I didn't even know that The Wayne Foundation had an annual gala! I saw that the envelope also had another note attached.

I can't wait to see your dress. – Tim

I sighed, "Well looks like I'm going to need to go dress shopping."

"Yay! I can't wait!" Kara squealed.

"You look gorgeous Steph!" Kara's voiced echoed throughout the entire store.

"Thanks!" I did a twirl to show her again. I fell in love with a purple strapless evening gown. It came down to my feet and hugged my body perfectly. There was a slit on the left side that showed some leg and the beaded chiffon fabric made it look like silver rain drops made their way down the dress.

"tt. You look acceptable, Brown," Damian huffed.

"Damian, why are you even here if you're not going to compliment me?" I teased.

"That was a compliment wench. And I am here to make sure you won't make a fool of yourself at my father's gala."

"Oh really? It's not because Kara's here is it?" I whispered.

Damian instantly started blushing and turned to leave. While he walked away from the dressing rooms, we noticed that Damian seemed a little flustered. I must have guessed right? Kara and I laughed in response. It surprised me when I woke up to Damian knocking at my door this morning. Sure, he says that he didn't want me to make a fool out of myself, but I think that he just wanted to hang out with me. Plus, I was certain that he had a crush on Kara.

After purchasing the dress, we decided to go to the mall's food court to have some lunch. Since it was Thursday, the mall was pretty empty. I got lucky because my calc professor decided to cancel classes for the day, perfect timing to go shopping.

"What is that monstrosity you're eating?" Damian complained as he munched on his salad.

"It's a burger, duh?" I couldn't understand why he had to comment on everything I did.

"It looks like a heart attack. Geez woman are you sure you're going to fit in your dress after ingesting that filth?"

Kara slapped Damian in the back of his head, "What have I told you about calling people fat?"

"Blasted alien," Damian grumbled. His upcoming onslaught of verbal abuse was put on hold thanks to an unexpected visitor.

"Bruce!" a little girl yelled. Damian turned to face her, his body rigid.

"Erm, hi Nell, how are you?" Damian stuttered. He was talking to Nell Little, a girl Damian befriended when he went undercover. It also seemed like she was a fan of mine.

"I'm great! I came to the mall with my mom but I saw you and wanted to say hi," Nell replied. "Are these your sisters?"

"Them? No no no, they're my… um … friends," Damian choked out. I tried my best to hold back my grin.

"Oh that's nice! Well I gotta go now, my mom's calling me. See you later, Bruce!" Nell yelled as she ran off, her dark curls bouncing with each step. Damian kept waving as he turned around, however he stopped when he noticed the grins painted on our faces

"Stop smiling or I'll stab you both."

The next couple of days felt like a blur. In reality, I was really looking forward to the gala. If anything, it was just a blown up version of a school dance. Tim and I would dress up and dance the night away. It almost seemed perfect and normal, or as normal it ever got between us. The past month has been so crazy, especially with Jason in the picture. Come to think of it, I haven't seen Jason since the night Mr. Freeze and Firefly attacked the city. That whole night was full of surprises.

I woke up at around noon on Saturday so I could get ready for the gala. However, my productivity was quickly put to a halt due to the fact that I could smell the aroma of fresh waffles make its way to my room. I instantly perked up and made my way downstairs for my delicious brunch.

"Morning Stephanie, are you ready for tonight?" Mom smiled. I could tell she was pretty excited for me.

I took a seat at the table and chirped my response, "Almost, I have my dress and shoes. I just need to do my hair, nails and make up."

"That sounds great sweetheart. You're definitely going to need breakfast." Mom laid the waffles and syrup on the table along with different fruits for toppings. Today was definitely special.

After brunch I got started on everything I needed to do to get ready. It was a pretty quick process, painting my nails purple and doing my make up. I tried for a simple look, not putting too much make up on, just some blush, eyeliner, mascara and lip-gloss. But the hardest part was figuring how I wanted my hair. There were only so many styles I knew I could pull off, so I spent a half an hour online trying to find a way to do my hair. I finally decided on a waterfall braid that would lead into curls.

Before I knew it, my entire day flew by and I had a little under an hour before seven. I shimmied into my dress and slipped on my silver heels. I checked myself out in the mirror one more time before I was satisfied. I then grabbed my clutch and made my way down the stairs.

"Oh, Stephanie, you look beautiful!" My mom looked like she was about to tear up. She took a quick picture while I was still on the stairs. I rolled my eyes and laughed it off.

I looked out the window and noticed headlights and a limo parked in front of the house. I opened the door before Tim had a chance to knock. A smile crept onto his face when our eyes connected.

"Wow, Steph, you look gorgeous," Tim complimented as he kissed my cheek.

"Well you don't look too bad yourself, but your tie is a little crooked," I blushed as I fixed his tie and then wiped the nonexistent lint off of his lapel. Tim looked amazing. He was wearing a black tuxedo with a purple vest and tie and it looked like he got a haircut.

"Here I have something for you." Tim then revealed a velvet jewelry box. The box contained a necklace with a diamond, heart shaped locket.

"Oh my God, Tim, it's beautiful. I can't possibly accept it," I muttered, almost speechless.

"Yes you can, it's a gift Steph." Tim took the necklace from the box and motioned for me to turn around so he could put it on. I acquiesced and brought my hair over my shoulder so Tim could put the necklace on me.

"Why are you so good to me?" I asked as I turned and cradled Tim's cheek with my palm.

"It's because I love you and you deserve it," Tim said as he held his arm out for me. However, before we could leave, Mom insisted that we posed for some pictures.

"Okay, okay Mom! We gotta go!" I goaded as I led Tim towards the limo. Before I closed the door I heard her wish us a good time.

We made our way to the limo where Alfred met us with a smile. The ride across the city was a comfortable quiet. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the stars were shining bright. It seemed someone out there was working hard to make this evening perfect. I felt Tim's hand make its' way to mine almost nervously. I missed this.

When we made it to the hotel there was a hoard of reporters snapping pictures of Gotham's elite. Saying I was nervous was an understatement. Something about the paparazzi made a chill run down my spine. Tim noticed my rigidity and gently squeezed my hand.

"Don't worry about them. Remember, tonight's about us," Tim whispered in my ear. His reassurance calmed my nerves a little and I was able to muster the courage to follow him into the hotel. The ballroom was huge, with several tables throughout the area. There was also a band playing some jazz music onstage, in front of the dance floor.

Dick was the first one to greet us, bringing his brother into a bear hug. He then gave me a similar embrace and complimented on how beautiful I looked. I could see Babs talking with a woman in a scarlet dress a few feet away from us. She gave me a wink and I flashed a smile. Dick must have asked her to be his date. I wonder if she knew about the gala? That must be why she was smiling so much the other day.

After greeting a few more people, Tim and I finally ended up speaking with Bruce.

"You look beautiful Stephanie, I'm glad that you could make it," Bruce welcomed. I smiled in response and gave Bruce a kiss on the cheek. Much better than a slap if I do say so myself.

The three of us then made our way to the table we shared with Dick, Babs, Damian, and the woman wearing the scarlet dress. I recognized her from her posters.

"Zatanna, I'd like you to meet Stephanie Brown. Stephanie, this is Zatanna Zatara, my date," Bruce introduced. Zatanna then stood up and offered her hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Stephanie," Zatanna smiled.

"The pleasure's mine, and please call me Steph," I answered as we both sat down. I flashed Tim a look and he shrugged in response.

By the time all of the guests had arrived, the waiters began to walk around with assorted hors d'oeuvres and wines on their platters. The Wayne boys then made their way to the different potential donors, playing friendly to ease some of the money from their pockets. I stayed behind and chatted with Barbara and got better acquainted with Zatanna. Apparently Zatanna received an invitation in the mail out of the blue. She's actually still confused why Bruce didn't ask Selina to accompany him. I guess that's this evening's big mystery.

The band started to play some slower songs and I noticed that a few couples made their way to the dance floor. My eyes shifted in Tim's direction, but he was still chatting away with one of the social elite. Who knew when he would be free? At that moment, I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Dance with me, Brown," Damian insisted with a serious look painted across his face as he held his hand out to me.

"That's no way to ask a lady to dance y'know," I quipped, taking his hand. Damian huffed as he led me to the dance floor, slipping his other hand onto my waist.

For being –how old is he again? Ten? – Damian could dance. Maybe Alfred insisted that he learned how, but in any case I was glad that he wasn't stepping on my freshly painted toes. We danced in silence for a few minutes before he spoke again.

"I need your help, Brown," Damian confessed.

"With what?" Damian didn't ask for help often, so when he did it was something big.

"Putting all the pieces together. Over the past month there have been unexplainable crimes throughout the city. Remember the night the city was covered with fire and ice?" Damian indicated. I nodded, waiting for him to continue. "Well it wasn't Mr. Freeze or Firefly. Both of them were locked up at the time. Someone must have impersonated them to get our attention. The problem is that we weren't able to find whoever instigated the attacks."

"That seems like a pretty out of the way method to get our attention," I admitted. Damian was right though, there have been random unsolved murders that even Bruce has been having trouble figuring out.

"I think the dart you found might play a bigger role in this than my father originally thought. Someone seems to be attempting to attack Gotham," Damian concluded. Before he could continue our conversation, a hand fell onto Damian's shoulder.

"Mind if I cut in?" Tim asked, surprised with my choice of dance partner.

Damian simply grunted as he handed me over to Tim, nodding to me as he walked away.

"That was weird," Tim chuckled. "Why were you dancing with Damian?"

"Because he asked me. Unlike someone I know," I teased. Tim began to blush as he rested a hand on my hip and took my hand in the other.

"Sorry, I had to talk with a few people, and you know how much they like to hear themselves talk," Tim apologized. We started to sway with the music, keeping in time with the rhythm.

"S'okay, as long as you're here now." I rested my head on his chest as we moved. There was that comfortable silence that surrounded us again. It took us to another world, away from our everyday problems.

Tim broke the silence, which caused me to bring my head up. "Steph, I'm so glad you came tonight."

"Well the invitation didn't give me much choice, boy wonder." I stifled a laugh, I could tell Tim was trying to be serious and I didn't want to ruin the moment.

"I mean it," Tim started. "I know things have been a little rocky between us lately, but you getting hurt put things in perspective. It helped me realize how important you are to… hmph!"

I cut Tim off by crashing my lips to his. He was definitely stunned at first, but he quickly shook it off. My hand rose from his shoulder to cup his cheek as he brought me closer to his body. We had stopped dancing and simply stood there, basking in the moment.

I pulled away from our kiss and looked into his dazed eyes. "You talk too much."

I looked around and noticed that everyone's eyes were on us. I heard wolf whistles and cheers coming from several other dancers. Well it seems that society approves of me.

However, it was at this moment where the evening took a turn for the worst.

Crash!

I heard shattering glass and screams as the doors of the ballroom were kicked opened. There were about a half dozen armed and masked goons that entered the room.

"Okay people, ya'll know what we want. Just put your valuables in the bags and no one needs to get hurt," the leader yelled. He snapped and his five comrades opened duffle bags and began pointing their guns toward the different guests.

This is bad. I could tell that this was the worst time for robbers to hit. We were all exposed, in a crowded room. We definitely couldn't sneak out and get changed into our costumes. I eyed Tim and he shook his head telling me to wait. I saw that Zatanna was about to mutter a spell, but she suddenly fainted, along with about half of the other guests. This caused everyone else to panic. Someone must have drugged the wine! Some serious thought was put into this.

Most of the guests complied out of fear and threw their wallets and jewelry into their bags. However, there was one woman who wouldn't part with her ring.

"No, you can't have it! It's a family heirloom!" the woman cried.

"Stupid bitch!" the thug cocked his arm, looking like he was about to pistol whip the woman. Well that's enough of that.

"Hey, leave that poor woman alone!" I yelled as I stepped forward.

The thug was surprised by my outburst and walked toward me. "Well what do we have here? You're a pretty little thing aren't you?" He raised his gun used the muzzle to outline the curve of my cheek.

Tim was about to lunge at the guy when we heard laughing coming from the doors.

"Is that any way to treat a woman?"

"Who the hell are you?" the thug asked, pointing his gun towards the door.

"I'm the Red Hood, nice to meet you," Jason cracked as he shot the guy in the leg.

The thug fell to the floor, writhing in pain as he grabbed at his wound. At that moment five other guns were pointed at Jason. However, Jason pulled a trigger looking device from his jacket pocket and wiggled it in front of the perps.

Disregarding the trigger, the other would-be robbers tried to shoot their weapons. Unfortunately their weapons wouldn't fire. Without their guns, the perps decided to try to overpower Jason. Jason easily blocked all of the punches thrown at him and knocked the thugs onto the ground. At that moment, the other guests banned together to hold down beaten robbers.

When he heard the police sirens getting closer, Jason turned towards the exit. "Well, I guess my job's done here."

Jason ran through the door just as the police and ambulance reached the hotel. I looked around and most of the guests who were knocked out started to regain consciousness. Tim ran towards me and brought me to a tight embrace.

"Don't ever do that again," Tim whispered worriedly into my ear.

"Hey, I'm okay. Don't worry, I knew it was gunna work out," I reassured. At that moment, Dick walked over to see if we were okay.

"What's Hood doing here? I thought he left Gotham with that Scarlet chick," Tim asked his older brother.

"I'm not sure, but someone should go catch him before he gets too far," Dick suggested.

"I'll do it," I answered without skipping a beat.

"Steph, you don't know anything about this guy. You could get hurt," Tim pleaded.

"Hey, no one would notice me slip outta here. Besides, you guys need to be here to make sure everyone's okay and so that they don't get too suspicious," I explain as I make my way to the side exit of the ballroom.

I called Wendy and told her to program the Compact to meet me outside of the hotel. It's waiting for me in a darkened alley when I emerge through a back exit of the hotel. My Batsuit was in the back as I climbed in and stripped off my gown. I quickly threw on my Batsuit and left the Compact to grapple onto the nearest rooftop.

I'm not surprised when I see Jason waiting on the rooftop, sitting down and looking over his gun nonchalantly. His leather jacket danced in the wind as he stood up to greet me.

"I was hoping that it would be you who'd come after me," Jason breathed. He walked towards me, holstering his weapon.

"Why were you at the gala?" I spat, there was no time for pleasantries tonight, not if I wanted to get this figured out before the rest of the family suits up and looks for him.

"I saved the day of course," Jason quipped. I heard the hiss that accompanied him removing his helmet, revealing the red domino mask underneath.

"Why? Saving socialites normally isn't your thing." His face falls when I ask him.

"You think I care about those trust fund rejects? No, I stopped the robbery to save you." His eyes were locked onto mine as he stepped closer.

"You could have been shot! I don't see any bullet proof padding underneath that jacket! God Jason, why were you so reckless!" I reprimanded. He had no reason to try and save me, he didn't owe me anything.

"Psh, you think those guys would have shot me?" Jason asked as he pulled out the trigger looking device he held earlier. "It's a disruptor, I used it to jam their guns before I went in."

"Oh, well if that's the case, you didn't need to shoot that guy!"

"He's lucky I shot his leg! The way he was touching you, I should have killed him," Jason declared. "But since good old Bats was present this evening, I thought it would be a bad idea to blow the guy's head off."

I slumped my shoulders as I exhaled deeply. I stepped closer to him, the atmosphere electrifying. I caught a glimpse of his eyes underneath his mask, those soft ocean blue eyes that held the intensity of a thousand suns.

"Why are you doing this Jason?" I shrug. He smiled in response.

"Because, I don't give up that easily." Before I could answer, Jason pulls me into a kiss that was a literal shock to my system.

His lips attack mine as if he was drowning and I was his only lifeline. My initial urge to push him away was obscured by the ecstasy of his scent, a mixture of cologne and leather. I closed my eyes as I allowed my senses to appreciate the onslaught of pent up passion from Jason's kiss.

However, a pang of guilt rang through my chest, which caused me to bring my hands to Jason's chest to push him away. I regret the lack of contact the instant I pull away.

"Jason, I can't. I'm in a really good place with Tim right now, I don't want to mess it up," I confess. I see the rejection in his eyes as he processes what I just told him.

"You say that now, but don't worry, you'll come around." Jason winked as he put his helmet back on. He then walked towards the edge of the rooftop and jumped off, disappearing into the ever-concealing darkness.

What the hell have I gotten myself into?