For Appearance's Sake

By Teala373

Chapter 13

In our last chapter: Our heroes manage to stop the criminals, but not before Joker crashes the party and endangers Batgirl. Nightwing saves her from a plummet off the roof while Batman seeks vengeance in pummeling the Joker.

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"Bruce," Harvey Dent groaned as he noticed his old friend, "why do you bother?"

"You're my best friend, Harv. You're going to beat this."

"You're never going to give up on me?"

"No. Never."

Closing his eyes, Harvey turned his head away. "I almost killed Batman this time. I had a perfect shot, but Batgirl took me down."

"Oh, yeah?" Bruce swallowed a large lump in his throat. "I hear she's really something."

"Good fighter. Lots of spunk. I think Bats has a thing for her. I heard he almost broke his 'no kill' rule with the Joker for knocking her off the roof."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," Harvey continued. "Heard Superman had to pull him off. Joker's pretty messed up. Lost several teeth."

"That so?"

"Joker was pretty miffed we didn't include him, but can you blame us?"

Letting out a small laugh, Bruce unclenched his white-knuckled fists. "No… I guess I can't."

"Well, enough about that. What about you? I read you've been all over town with the commissioner's daughter."

Turning his head away, Bruce squeezed his eyes shut. "Yeah… about that…"

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"Morning, gorgeous."

Her eyelids weakly fluttering open, Barbara found herself staring directly into Dick Grayson's happy and relieved eyes. He looked like he hadn't slept much and had the beginnings of a five o'clock shadow.

"…Dick…"

Getting up from his chair, he sat down on the edge of her bed and took her hand in his. "The Joker got you pretty good."

"Oh…"

"Don't worry," he began stroking her hand. "Everything's fine now. All the hostages are safe and the bad guys are behind bars. They got Penguin and Blockbuster, too."

Trying to ignore the tingling in her spine that his touch elicited, she shifted slightly. "My father…"

"He's fine. He had to go finish his statement. I promised I would keep my watch over you."

She smiled. "Thanks."

"Blue Beetle and I took you to Leslie. She patched you up and got you in your civies, so we could move you to the hospital."

Barbara nodded. She was on the verge of saying something, but Dick continued babbling.

"Alfred came back early. He took Bruce over to Bellvue to see Harvey."

Barbara nodded.

"You know," Dick continued, "he almost killed the Joker when he saw he had hurt you." Both his voice and eyes dropped at this admission.

Barbara nodded again. The drugs she had been administered were making it hard for her to react quickly enough to his statements. She remained silent, internally fighting to break the hold they had on her. When Dick ventured to look at back up at her, she had turned to stare vacantly out the window.

"Babs?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm not going back to Bludhaven."

She didn't say anything, or even turn her head back, still trying to formulate what she needed to say to him. Her mind still clearing, she laced her fingers through his in acknowledgment of his statement.

"I'm… I'm still in love with you," he blurted. "I know I made mistakes and that I have competition, but…"

"Do you think Alfred can make me some oatmeal raisin cookies?" She finally managed to say, he eyes still turned towards the window.

His face fell, though he gripped her hand tighter. "Sure, Babs… I'm sure he will…"

"Good," she finally turned back towards him, having fought through the haze clouding her mind. "I thought I could pack them with a picnic lunch and we could go to that park near Robinsville."

He looked at her as though she had grown two heads.

Smiling, she continued. "Bruce came in earlier… before dawn. You had fallen asleep. He congratulated me on passing his test. We were only dating for appearance's sake so we could more easily work on the case. He was using the opportunity to… test me as his new partner… Since the case is closed, we don't have to pretend anymore…"

They both stared at each other for a long time, a thousand unspoken words passing between them. Finally, Dick leaned forward and kissed Barbara as he had imagined doing a hundred times since his return to Gotham.

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Alfred walked down the steps into the batcave with a fresh pot of coffee. Knowing that Dick and Barbara were at the grand re-opening of the Iceberg Lounge (under new management), he wasn't surprised to find Bruce wistfully staring at Batgirl's costume where it hung in the case.

"You did a very selfless thing, Master Bruce."

The younger man sighed before affixing his usual stoic face. "She wasn't really my type. Besides, someone has to take Veronica to Pierce's latest charity event."

Before Alfred could respond, a set of beeps sounded from the console. Swiftly donning his cape and cowl, Bruce walked over and turned on the video interface. He soon found himself answering a call from Superman.

"We're putting together something of a league," Superman stated. "I already have a couple of recruits, but we could really use your expertise."

"Team work isn't my style," Batman stated, eliciting a raised eyebrow from the man of steel.

"Oh, come on," Superman chided. "I thought Wonder Woman was going to be the hardest sell, and it only took me 30 seconds to convince her."

"Wonder Woman?"

As if on cue, the Amazon princess walked onto the screen. "Kal-El said I have much to learn from you. I am good in combat, but need more work in investigation skills."

His face hidden from the princess as he stood in front of her, Superman sent Batman a saucy look.

Clearing his throat, Batman pressed a button that began preparing the batplane. "Where is your current location?"

"Star Labs in Metropolis until we can find a better base of operations."

A corner of the detective's mouth rose. "I think I might be able to help you with that. I'll be there in an hour."

Cutting the connection, he began heading towards the batplane. Alfred met him, handing him the fresh coffee now packed in a thermos. "It appears Superman is a better matchmaker than one would give him credit for."

Ignoring him, Batman took the thermos and climbed into the cockpit.

Alfred smiled to himself as he headed back to the main living quarters of the house. He was confident the Amazon princess was just what his master needed to get his mind off Barbara Gordon.

fin

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AN: Thank you for sticking it through to the end. I hope you enjoyed the story! I wrote this in response to not liking how the stupid B:TAS Batwoman movie portrayed Bruce and Barbara's 'relationship' and that Nightwing was just out of the picture.