We took the elevator that led to the secret entrance that led from the cave to a room within the mansion. I was thankful that Bruce was tall so as his dress shirt fell all the way to my knees like a dress;wouldn't want an awkward moment if Alfred happened to be within sight. We both casually walked into the kitchen, only to see a young, redheaded woman in a wheel chair, idly thumbing through a magazine at a nearby table. My body ran into the back of Bruce's as he halted and I let out a grunt. The redhead looked up from her magazine, raising an eyebrow at Bruce's half nakedness.
"Well, hey Bruce. Long time no see," she said and I remained behind Bruce's back for a moment, trying to make myself smaller as if his body really would conceal me. Bruce cleared his throat as he raised a hand to rub at the back of his neck.
"Hey, Babs…had no idea you were stopping by," he said casually as my eyes widened at the name Babs; had to have been Barbara Gordon I thought as my head slowly peered around Bruce's body, giving Barbara a little wave. Barbara's eyes grew as wide as saucers as she began to wheel her chair over to us.
"Kara?! I haven't seen you in, what, ten years?" she exclaimed and I took a deep breath. Might as well get this over with I thought as I fully stood from behind the shield that had been Bruce, uncomfortably combing a strand of hair over my ear, unable to make eye contact for a few moments. I cleared my throat, deciding that we were all adults here and she hadn't regretted her sexcapades with Bruce in the least. She moved over to the coffee pot that had still been kept warm from Alfred making earlier and opened each cabinet door until she found a mug.
"Yeah it has been awhile, actually; Barb, it is nice to see you!" I said over my shoulder as I began to pour coffee into a mug. Bruce stepped forward and hugged Barbara despite the fact of him being shirtless, though I am sure during her time fighting crime with him as Batgirl, she'd seen that plenty. Barbara looked around casually, tapping her finger on the armrest of her wheelchair.
"Soooo…anything you want to tell me?" Barbara said as she raised her eyebrows to Bruce. My face remained staring at the coffee pot, waiting to hear how Bruce would respond. He cleared his throat as he, too, moved over to grab a cup of coffee beside me.
"Well, it sort of just…happened." Bruce started and Barbara laughed a little, looking back and forth between the two of us, obviously taking note of our dress attire.
"Well…clearly, but are you two…a thing, now?" I looked up at Bruce as he looked down to me, both of us trying to read the other's expressions. Clearly, we hadn't gotten into this conversation and truth be told, I wasn't really sure what this was.
"I wouldn't give it a label just yet. Like he said this just kind of happened," I said, burying my face into my coffee mug with a loud slurp. Barbara looked between the two of us again before speaking.
"You see that's the funniest thing, because I just got off the phone with Dick yesterday and he said that he and Kara were doing great…or, rather, amazing I believe was the word he chose to use," Barbara said as my mug suddenly shattered into a dozen pieces, to send coffee spilling everywhere from my hand clenching into a fist. Barbara's eyes widened and Bruce immediately grabbed my hand, I think forgetting for a moment that I wouldn't bleed.
"Look, I've seen enough soap operas to know not to get in the middle of some love triangle, especially this one, so mum's the word from me, but you owe it to Dick to tell him Bruce," she said, looking over to Bruce with concern. Bruce furrowed his eyebrows as I quickly grabbed a dishtowel so I could drop to the floor and began to clean up the coffee. It was also an excuse to hide.
"You think I don't know that, Barbara? I'm not that cold," he spat as Barbara smirked a little, leaning back in her wheel chair.
"Pff, could've fooled me," she muttered as Alfred came running around the corner in alarm.
"Oh my word, I heard a shatter, what happened?!" He bellowed as he immediately bent down to shoo me away from the broken glass and coffee spill.
"I'm sorry Alfred, I didn't mean to break it. Let me help you, I can't get cut from the glass," I said as he already had half the mess completely picked up before he grabbed a dustpan from a nearby cabinet.
"It is quite alright, Miss Kara. I will have it taken care of in a jiffy," Alfred said as I wrapped my arms around myself, backing away from the mess. I looked over to Barbara, clearing my throat in an attempt to change the subject as I eyed her wheel chair. I hadn't seen her since she was Batgirl and I had heard through Kal about the unfortunate events leading to her being paralyzed. A run-in with the Joker and a bullet to her spine, I remembered. The thought sent a chill through my body and made me all the more appreciative of my bulletproof form.
"So, Barbara, are you still moonlighting as Oracle?" I asked as Bruce looked a bit relieved at the change in pace of the conversation as he idly helped Alfred discard the broken glass bits, regardless of Alfred's insistence that he had it under control.
"With Dinah finally taking the plunge with Oliver and Selina off to who knows where, that pretty much just left me and Helena. It's not an everyday occurrence, but I still serve as her eye in the sky when she needs me to," Barbara said with a smile, looking up at me, studying me, analyzing me. I felt like a petri dish on display in a microscope. My eyebrows rose to the particular comment she made about Dinah and Oliver.
"Dinah and Oliver got married finally?" I asked with a huge grin, having not heard that one piping through the grape vine.
"Yup, the Hood finally nabbed his Canary," she said with a little bit of a laughbefore turning to look at Bruce.
"Bruce, I don't want to keep you, I know it is getting late, but I actually stopped by to speak with you about something," she said as Bruce dusted off his hands, looking towards her.
"Alright, sure, what did you need to talk about?" he asked as Barbara side glanced at me with a nervous grin.
"Um, in…private," she said as I all then more caught the hint and cleared my throat.
"I'll, uh, I'll be upstairs Bruce, just come find me when you're done," I said as he nodded in my direction. I scurried for the stairs, actually enjoying the excuse to remove myself from the embarrassing situation I put myself in. I contemplated using my super hearing to listen in on their conversation, but thought twice about it. Thing had already been awkward as it was between the redhead and I without eavesdropping on a knowingly wanted conversation. I dove into one of the nearby guest rooms, curling myself up on one of the beds, feeling absolutely exhausted. I smiled deeply to myself as I started to drift into dreamland. Though the conversation had been awkward with Barbara, the events that transpired between me and Bruce mere moments prior were enough to make any woman smile like an idiot.
I woke up to a rumbling whisper in my ear and a hand lightly caressing my hair.
"Kara." Bruce said as I flittered my eyes open to peer up at him.
"Did you want to sleep here by yourself or in my room?" he asked and I was surprised that he actually gave me the choice as I sat up.
"Well, I, uh-,I'm not really sure how this sort of thing works…," I said sheepishly as he canted his head at me.
"How what works?" he asked quizzically and I drew my knees into my chest as I wrapped my arms around my knees.
"I mean should I go home or…I mean…," I said, not having any idea how to even ask what I was trying to ask. I was so incredibly confused.
"Did you…think this was a one night stand?" he asked, raising his eyebrows as I could tell he was trying to hide a smile.
"Well, given your track record…," I said flippantly and he smirked, placing a hand on one of my knees.
"That's what Bruce Wayne leads them to believe, but I kind of hoped we could do what we did again…and again…and, well, maybe a million more times if we try hard enough," he said with a sly grin and my eyes widened.
"A million, huh? Well, in that case, I'll move to your room," I said with a grin as we both stood from the bed and he interlaced his fingers with my own, guiding me to the master bedroom down the hall. We crawled into bed together as my form clung to his side and I placed my head at the crook of his neck, idly tracing my fingers over the scars on his chest.
"I wanted to warn you that I contacted Dick and asked him to come over for lunch tomorrow. Just mentally prepare yourself for it," he said and I pursed my lips with a light sigh.
"I don't regret anything but I do feel horrible," I said in all seriousness. Bruce sighed lightly as he raised a hand to rub his face.
"He already hates me, so this won't change much," he said as I sighed a bit again and drifted off to sleep, reminding myself mentally to ask about his and Barbara's mysterious conversation.
The next morning, I stopped by my apartment for a change of clothes, considering the dress shirt Bruce let me borrow wasn't the best dress attire for lunch. I made my way back to Wayne Manor and to say I was nervous was the understatement of the century. Bruce and I sat in the living room, completely silent before Bruce reached over and took my hand in his.
"It'll be alright, Kara," he said simply and I nodded in agreement as the doorbell ring, my nerves suddenly swarming over me all over again. Bruce rose to answer the door and shook Dick's hand as he welcomed him in. I stood from the couch, smoothing the backs of my jeans with my hands as Dick approached me. I immediately went in for a hug as to avoid Dick attempting to kiss me. Bruce put his hands in his pockets and stepped up next to Dick with a clearing of his throat.
"Dick, I'm going to just cut to the chase," he said as Dick turned to look at him with a furrow of the eyebrows. Bruce looked him dead in the eye and didn't even flinch as he spoke…the man really could be an absolute gargoyle.
"Kara and I spent the night together last night," he said, trying to tame the carnal events that happened in the Bat-Cave and on the Bat-Mobile. Suddenly, Dick's fist collided fast and hard into the side of Bruce's face. Bruce raised a hand to idly adjust the side of his jaw that just received that harsh blow and I raised my hands to my mouth. Bruce let Dick punch him and made no move to retaliate.
"I deserved that," Bruce said simply as Dick's chest heaved.
"You're damn right you did," Dick said before looking over his shoulder at me and I stood straight, dropping my hands from my face.
"Dick, I'm so sorry it just happened-,"I started to say before he raised a hand as a sign for me to stop and interrupted me. I shut my mouth as he sighed.
"Honestly, I had a feeling you were into Bruce since the day I walked in the gym. I guess I just kind of hoped after going on a date with me, you'd choose me over him. I was wrong," he said as I frowned slightly, feeling horrible and relieved all at the same time. It was a strange, strange feeling.
"I'm going to just grab lunch on my way back to Bludhaven, but, uh, thanks for at least telling me," Dick said before turning to face Bruce, an imposing finger raising to his face.
"I'm not the type of man to stand in the way when you're interested in someone, but the next time you want to tap something I'm interested in, man up and fucking say something to me," Dick said as Bruce stood silent and squared off his jaw. I could tell he was fighting every bone in his body to not make a retort to this comment. Dick slid his sunglasses back onto his face and grabbed the motorcycle helmet he had brought in with him. He glanced over his shoulder at me.
"Good luck," was all Dick said before walking out the door. I let out a breath as I walked up to Bruce, looking up at his face where a bruise already started to form from the punch he received. I grimaced as I caught his gaze.
"That hurt?" I asked rhetorically.
"Kind of proud of that punch actually, given the fact that I trained him. That was some force," Bruce said with a smirk. My eyes fell to the floor for a moment as I felt his fingers lightly touch my chin and raise it to his gaze.
"What's going on in that head of yours?" he asked as he surveyed my expression.
"I was just thinking that this was nothing compared to telling Clark about this," I said as his whole face squared off.
"Let's keep this between us for a while, let the dust settle from the last uproar," he said as I nodded slowly in agreement.