Chapter Twenty

Ellie was in serious pain. She could barely keep her eyes open. She knew she had to stay awake. But she was failing at it. She could feel herself pulling away. Her eyes were rolling back into her head. She thought she heard someone calling her to come back. But she was gone.

It'd been nearly a week since the showdown at the zoo. Dick still felt the aftereffects. He could feel it in his head, his ribs, and in his heart. He felt it there the most. He didn't think that it would ever go away.

He'd let his daughter get hurt.

He watched the girl sleep on the cot. She'd been in and out of consciousness for the past week and never staying awake for more than the amount of time it took to drink a little of something and use the bathroom. He'd been keeping a vigil at her bedside barely leaving.

Barbara had sat by him for the first few days. But she had to go and explain some things to her father. She couldn't keep secrets from him anymore. So she kissed Dick goodbye and went to explain some things.

Dick rubbed his head in his hands. He never should have left the two of them go into the tiger exhibit alone. This was all his fault and no matter what anyone else said or told him, it would remain his fault.

"It's not your fault," someone croaked. It was Ellie.

Dick didn't even realize that she was awake.

"What?"

"You're blaming yourself for what happened to me. I can see it on your face. It's not an altogether unfamiliar look to me. I seem to get it a lot at home. But it's not your fault. It's not. How were you supposed to know that he was going to escape and find us so quickly? You couldn't have known." The effort to talk was hurting her head, but she didn't let it stop her. "You have to stop blaming yourself. If you are too worried about what could happen then you will never actually live. You can't look down, you just have to jump."

Something clicked within Dick. He looked at his daughter with her head tightly wrapped. Her black hair hung down, but curled and went haphazardly every which way, like his own. Despite her own injury her eyes were bright. He looked, really looked, and saw that she had Barbara's eyes.

"What-?"

Dick cut her off. He could see the effort to speak was causing her pain, but she was just as stubborn as her mother to get her point across.

"I know where you get that look from," Barbara remarked walking into the room. She walked over and rested a hand on Dick's shoulder. "You should get some sleep. You've gotten hardly any sleep while you've sat here. You're gonna crash and we will have to be taking care of you as well."

Dick knew she was right, but tried to change the subject.

"How'd your Dad take the news?"

"I didn't tell him, well partially. I didn't tell him about my pregnancy. I told him something else," there was a small amount of sadness in her voice.

"What did you tell him Babs?" As much as he was worried about what she told her dad, he trusted her. He trusted her with his life.

"I told him that I was Batgirl."

"Oh… wait was?" Dick looked up at his girlfriend.

She rolled her eyes like the answer could be obvious. She kissed his forehead upside down.

"I can't continue to be Batgirl if I'm gonna have that little girl over there. Think logically for a moment Wing-nut."

Right.

"Ellie!" Screamed Jamie as he ran into the room. He took a flying leap onto the bed and jostled his sister. Her head bumped the wall behind her and she winced, but she didn't want to damper her brother's enthusiasm towards seeing her. She hadn't seen him since that trip to the zoo. He smiled widely as he looked at her bandage on her head.

"What? Do I have something on my head?" She asked. She knew perfectly well that she had something on her head.

Very slyly he pulled out a mirror from behind his back. She looked at her reflection. Eww. She looked really beat up. Her skin was yellowing from the lack of sunlight. And she had a bandage wrapped around her entire head, save her face. She didn't understand what she was supposed to be looking at. She already knew that she was beat up. Then she saw it.

Right in the middle of the bandage on her forehead was a smiley face. It was smiling widely at the mirror, all while sticking out its tongue.

Ellie smiled. She didn't dare laugh. That would be a poor decision on her part.

"That's very funny Jamie. Did you come up with that yourself?"

"I do believe that he came up with that on his own, Miss."

Alfred stood at the door with Batman by his side. Batman walked in and looked at all of Ellie's vital stats. The grim line that was his mouth was tight as he began to read it, but as he got farther and farther down on the paper it became less urgent. Finally he looked up at the rest of his family.

"Everything seems to be in order. The stats are good. I believe that you are well enough to go back home now."

Ellie's heart leaped in her throat. She and her brother could go back home. They were going back home. Now that she thought about it, she realized just how much she missed home. It wasn't that Dick and Barbara weren't her parent's, they are, but they weren't her Momma and Dad. Not yet anyways. They would need time to grow into that. And with her being there, that might cause some issues. They needed to figure it out for themselves.

"Really? But what about-?"

"He was knocked unconscious from the fall. He wasn't about to go anywhere, but while we were getting you to medical attention, he came around and escaped. But I'm not sure he'll dare mess with these two anymore. And you've been away from home too long."

That much she could agree with.

"But-"

"Enough, I've already arranged for you to go home. Dr. Fate and Zatanna are already on their way to help."

"Isn't Zatanna al- OW!"

Jamie pinched his older sister. Now it was his turn to keep the secret. He smirked deviously at his older sister. She scowled down at him.

"Kids, behave. You realize that we could still punish you," Barbara warned.

Both hands were dropped to their respective laps and eyes were cast downward.

"Well, let's get you up and ready for when the magician's arrive."

Barbara helped the girl out of her bed and shooed out the rest of the men. She looked at her daughter and smiled widely.

Nearly a half an hour later everyone was gathered in the main hall. Ellie was standing on her own with the aid of crutches. Barbara had insisted upon it.

"Are you ready to go?" Dr. Fate asked in his strange overlapping voices.

Both kids nodded. Jamie gripped his sister's hand. He'd had enough of the silence. And he knew that home he would be able to hear again.

"Goodbye, see you in about three minutes," Ellie said.

"It'll be a bit longer for us, smart-aleck."

Barbara wiped her eyes. Trying to be discreet. It didn't escape Dick. "I blame hormones," she muttered.

He smiled and pulled her closer to him, resting a hand on her stomach.

"Nruter eseht nerdlihc ot rieht reporp emit doirep," Zatanna and Dr. Fate said together.

A bright blue light began to emanate from around the two kids. The familiar sensation tingled in Ellie's bloodstream. Jamie gripped her hand tighter. Ellie looked around and the light grew even brighter. She saw Tim in the corner with his arms crossed. She knew he was thinking.

"Remember what I said Uncle Tim!" She shouted before the light became too bright and everyone closed their eyes.

When everyone opened their eyes again the room was void of the two children.

He was lost. He didn't know where he was. He didn't know how he got there. He didn't know why he was running.

He paused and rested against the wall. He wasn't breathing heavy by any means, but his head hurt. Majorly. He looked at a passing bus. Gotham City.

That brought his total of things he knew up to three. One: he was in Gotham City, two: he was an assassin by contract, and three: His name was Slade Wilson.

With that, he walked into the darkness ready to set his path in life.

A/N: Ta-Da! The last chapter before the epilogue. I would like to thank everyone who has favorite/followed/commented it really means a lot to me. ;D But that doesn't give you permission to stop commenting.

Seriously.