Chapter Seventeen

Ellie cupped the necklace in her hands. She scolded herself. She shouldn't have brought it with her. She could've lost it.

"You gave it to me."

"Why?"

Did she really have to tell this story? It was embarrassing to have to just live through it, but to explain it, to her own parents, took the embarrassment level up a few hundred notches.

"When I – I first g-got my… uh…"

"I understand," Barbara said sparing her. "It's a promise, isn't it?"

Ellie nodded.

Bruce and Dick gave Barbara a look. She raised an eyebrow before rolling her eyes.

"I'll explain it to you two later."

There was silence between everyone. No one knew where to go from here. Where do you take it from that? Not only that, but there was an awkwardness in the air that no one understood. Ellie had all of the evidence to conclude that she was who she said she was. They knew that there was a child growing inside of Barbara. But something didn't feel right. Nothing about this felt right.

Barbara walked over to Ellie and wrapped an arm around. Her motherly instincts were beginning to kick in. Or maybe that was just the hormones.

"I'm in the mood for ice cream. Anyone else?" She said.

Barbara began leading Ellie away from the men in the room. Now was not the time to be worrying about if Ellie was telling the truth. Barbara could feel that she was telling the truth. She could feel it inside. They should be celebrating. They got Jamie back.

She scooped out a large dish of chocolate and vanilla followed. She reached into a cabinet and pulled out the caramel and chocolate sauce. She helped herself generously. Then she withdrew two spoons and tossed one to Ellie.

"Well, help yourself."

Ellie let a slow smile spread across her face. Some things will never change. Both dug into the ice cream, eating sloppily. There was peace as they ate. A mother daughter bonding moment.

"So I was thinking, before you and Jamie go back home, why don't we do something domestic together? You, me, Jamie and Dick. What do you think? The Gotham Zoo is actually a nice place to go."

Ellie smiled even wider. "That would be great. Jamie's never actually been to a zoo before. Dad was going to take him, but we had to go on the run before we could."

"Perfect."

"What's perfect?" Dick asked walking in.

"We're going to the zoo, all four of us."

"I don't get any choice in the matter, do I?" Dick ran his hand through his hair.

"Nope." Barbara popped the 'p'.

"Well shall we get Jamie then?" Ellie asked.

"There's no need. Hey there buddy," Barbara said looking behind Dick.

Dick turned and sure enough there was his son. His red hair was cleaned up a bit. It was still as messy as, his own really, but it shone again with the radiance of Barbara's. Jamie had bags under his eyes yet, but the sparkle had returned. His wrist was in a cast and it was colored bright green. He leaned against the door for support but he was standing on his own. Regardless, that was a good sign.

"What about his hearing aid?"

"Jamie can read lips, mostly. Some of the larger words he doesn't know, but he can communicate efficiently in sign language."

Barbara nodded; glad she'd learned sign language that one summer when she was bored.

Would you like to go to the zoo with us Jamie? She signed.

It didn't take a detective to see he was very excited about it. He took a few steps forwards but stumbled over his feet. Without his implant his balance was impaired. Dick caught him with ease and lifted him up.

"Are you sure that we should go today? We only got him back two days ago," Dick asked looking at the boy he recently learned was his.

"Dick, if he's our son, then he won't want to stay still. Look at him." Barbara pointed.

Jamie was reaching as far as he could and was playing with Dick's sweatshirt hood. He almost had a bored expression on his face. Dick and Jamie connected eyes. Dick was shocked. It was like looking in a mirror.

"Alright, we can go. But Jamie is going to be in a wheelchair the entire time. Do you understand me?"

The little boy nodded and wiggled in Dick's arms. He reached for the ground. Gingerly he set Jamie on the ground. Dick leaned against the doorframe and watched as the little boy run to the counter by Barbara and Ellie and stuck his fingers in the ice cream bowl.

"Jamie!" Ellie shrieked.

"Jamie is short for something right? Wait, don't tell me, I have an idea. James, is it?"

Ellie nodded and scraped the bottom of the bowl with her spoon.

"I always wanted a son named after my father," Barbara muttered, mainly to herself.

She sat silently, happily. She probably would've sat there all day but Dick cleared his throat.

"Um, Babs? If we want to get to the zoo before it closes, we should be headed out."

"Oh, yeah, right. My bad."

Dick smiled to himself and walked out of the room towards the zeta-tubes. He heard three footfalls fall into place behind him. One of the footfalls ran faster than the other two and it stopped as the feet left the ground. It didn't entirely surprise him when another body landed on his back. He turned his head, expecting Babs, but he saw a dark head of long hair.

"Ellie? What are you doing?" He asked.

"I wanted to give you a hug. I wanted to thank you. Thank you Daddy," she whispered in his ear.

A shiver ran down Dick's spine. She called him Daddy. It felt natural. He smiled, and his smile grew wider when he saw Barbara come up next to him with Jamie on her back.

"Wanna race, Boy Blunder?"

"Bring it."

"Three… Two… GO!" She shouted and took off running before Dick even realized what was going on.

"Hey wait!" he called.

"It's a race!" She yelled back. "There's no waiting in a race for your opponent!"

He grit his teeth and held Ellie closer to his body. He sped towards the tubes on the other side of the hall. Ellie was heavier than he thought. Didn't matter. He could still beat Barbara at a race. His legs were longer and he'd been conditioned longer for this.

When Barbara ran into the zeta-tubes first he knew that there would be no end to this.

A/N: So this was a bit of a filler chapter, but yet not in the same way.

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