"Tim?"

The rays of the coming dawn were just pressing their fingertips in through the window curtains of Tim Drake's bedroom when a black and yellow shadow slid inside. With practiced ease, it dropped into a crouch on the luxurious champagne colored carpet and then stood, all without making a single sound, exhibiting the stealth and grace of the most skilled of cat burglars.

But this was no burglar, despite all appearances to the contrary.

"Tim..." A small strangled cry escaped the throat of the intruder as the light filtered in on the young and deathly pale boy tucked into bed. The shadow approached the side of his bed, hesitant, and timidly reached for the child nestled securely beneath the plush burgundy comforter.

Stepping out of the darkness to touch his forehead with the utmost care, Batgirl had to force down the lump in her throat as she stared at his limp little body, now just a shell. The lively sidekick had been reduced to nothing more than a shadow of his former self.

He flinched away from her hand as the leather of her glove came in contact with his skin and let out a shrill shriek. It tore at Batgirl's heart, pulling at the edges of a wound that still hadn't healed--a gaping hole made by the guilt eating away at her because she hadn't been able to keep this terrible thing from happening.

"You shouldn't have come."

Batgirl spun on her heel to face Batman, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. She forced them down, refusing to confront him showing any signs of weakness. Not that it mattered, he was the world's greatest detective and he knew her better than almost anyone--surely he could see the distress written on her face plain as day.

Batman's cowl was pulled back to reveal the face of Bruce Wayne, making him appear both vulnerable and unapproachable all at once. Usually, Batgirl could deal with the opposing sides of him exposed so clearly like this--usually, seeing Bruce's face and not just his granite chin and scowling lips put her at ease, but this time, it did the opposite.

The Bruce Wayne that awaited her beneath the mask was not the billionaire playboy; this was the haunted Bruce Wayne...the glimpse of the man truly behind the Bat. She was coming face to face with the boy she'd seen in photographs from old newspapers--snapshots of a child mere days after his parents had been murdered in front of his very eyes.

"You shouldn't have come, Barbara," he repeated, eyes like cold steel as he met her gaze.

"I...I had to." Batgirl glanced at Tim warily before bringing up a hand to pull off her own cowl. She had to put them on equal footing--had to try and make him understand that this wasn't just affecting him. "You had no right to take him away and not let me see him."

"It's better this way," Bruce said forcefully.

Red hair slipping free of the confines of her costume's cowl, she seamlessly slipped out of her role as Batgirl. Barbara Gordon, the rebellious young woman who took up cape and cowl of her own volition, emerged from beneath the mask and turned to level her eyes at the pillar of gray and black. "Better for who?"

"Everyone involved." Bruce took a step towards her. It should have been intimidating--if she had been anyone else, it would have.

Rather than being unsettled, Barbara merely became more defiant and closed the distance between them until they were inches apart. "That's your opinion, Bruce. Tim and I--"

"Should never have become involved in my crusade."

"It's not just your crusade anymore, Bruce." Barbara reached for his arm, wanting to convey things he would never have allowed her to say out loud.

You don't have to do this alone...

He flinched away from her just as Tim had.

"No. Robin almost lost his life but Tim may never recover from the mental blow that the Joker dealt him." He turned away from her, shoulders squared and determination in his posture. "I will not allow you to keep putting yourself in danger, just as I won't allow Tim to become Robin ever again...if he's ever well enough to want that once more."

He faced her a second time, but the haunted look was gone. In its place was the grim strength of will that made Batman such a force to be reckoned with.

"After today," Bruce grasped Barbara's shoulders in grip so tight it bordered on painful, emphasizing the gravity of his statement, "you're Barbara Gordon, college student and carefree young woman."

Barbara shrank back in disbelief. "Are you telling me you're forbidding me from taking to the rooftops beside you? You can't do that!"

"I can and I am. Batgirl is no more."

"No you can't, Bruce," Barbara replied, her voice coming out precise and absolutely furious. "If there's one thing this mess should have taught you, it's that you don't control everything."

"Barbara--"

"You can tell me that you don't want me in danger, you can tell me that you care and are worried, but you're not allowed to order me around. You're not my father--and even if you were, I'm not a child."

"You're acting like one."

Barbara's eyes flashed angrily. "And you're not? Bruce, things happen, you can't plan for every eventuality. You can't put me in a safe little bubble and protect me from what's out there. I'm in just as much danger as Barbara Gordon: Police Commissioner's Daughter as I am as Batgirl. I'm not going to let this…this thing scare me into giving up on doing what's right."

"Barbara, I won't let you--"

"You don't have any say in the matter! I will not be ordered around by Bruce Wayne or by Batman." She reached up and pulled her cowl back over her face. "With or without your approval I'm going to continue my patrols...and nothing you can do will stop me."

His hand clamped down around her arm and he pulled her to him. She tensed reflexively as he held her tight against his chest, as though he was afraid she'd slip away if he let her go.

"Bruce, what're you--"

The look in his eyes was unsettling, like he was seeing her for the first time, seeing something just beneath the surface that he'd never glimpsed before. A million emotions flickered across his face in the space of a second. He was afraid, sad, angry, disappointed and yet…so proud.

It only lasted the length of a heartbeat and his expression became shuttered just as abruptly as it had been opened. He let her go and she felt the loss of his arms acutely.

In a flurry of black fabric, Batman--Bruce was gone, leaving a very confused Batgirl behind him.

"Bruce?"