Chapter 3- Wrong Turn

Gotham City, 2007
The Next Morning

The next morning, Barbara was released from the hospital.

They kept her long enough she told herself.

I'm finally getting out of this horrible place, she thought to herself, wondering who would be at the entrance to pick her up.

As the nurse wheeled her down to the waiting room, Dick was waiting for her; the second he saw her, his heart felt relieved; not because she would never walk again, just because of the fact he would be able to see her again.

Besides he was the only one waiting for her, so he figured that put him back in her good graces after all that happened.

"Hey, ready to go?" Dick asked, hoping for an answer.

"Yeah, Could we stop at Gotham Park first, I haven't been there since…," Barbara said.

"I just want to see the trees and bushes, they always made me happy whenever I was feeling down or just sad."

"Sure, anything for you, next stop Gotham Park" Dick said, hoping to cheer her up.

The park was about two blocks away from the hospital. They put it there to cheer the patients up Dick thought. It probably made more sense than his other theory about poison ivy and her plants. That's just stupid, Dick thought, looking down at Barbara.

They continued down the street. "How you doing, I heard Tim came by last night?" Dick said.

"He did, why do you care?" Barbara asked, hoping to find out why.

"No reason, he cares about you, you know that right?"

"I figured that out when he asked me about Bart?"

"What about Bart?"

"Bart has a crush on him, like you used to have on me all those years ago. I think it's cute."

"Since when?" Dick asked.

"Since he arrived here, he said he likes Bart back, are you okay with it?"

"I'll talk to Tim about it later today; I'll have to see about it."

"Take it easy on him, okay; for me."

"Ok."

They arrived through the south entrance only because it was the closest from the hospital. The thing about Tim bothered Dick, only because that was his brother in an adoptive sense and he cared for him. Anyway, they walked near the trees that she liked.

Tears flooded her eyes, covering her face so that Dick would not see her like this. He never saw her like this except once but that was a long time ago with Jason. Something neither of them wanted to relive again.

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, I… I'm just angry about everything; the chair, me never walking again." Barbara explained.

Dick put his hand on her shoulder, looking her directly in those wonderful eyes of hers.

"I don't care about any of that. You are the one person who matters the most to me, from the first moment I saw you all those years ago. Chair or no chair, you are still the same person I fell in love with and nothing will ever change that."

They just sat there, admiring all of the scenery. It reminded her of the walks they used to take back in the day. It made her happy, just enough.

They continued on the way back to the cave from the park, not an easy feat for someone in a wheel chair, but they pressed onward.

"This whole place looks new." Barbara said as they continued down the street, moving quickly to make sure the whole team was there when they got back to the cave.

"That's because it is. They built it a while back. It was finished while you were in the hospital." Dick explained, "What's the name of it, I can't see it." Barbara asked.

"Wayne Enterprises, Bruce built the new building after the old building seemed to be falling apart, a good business decision on his part." Dick said.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I have no idea why he did it, probably some mid-life crisis thing."

Barbara laughed, wondering why it was funny but she didn't care, Dick always made jokes like that but somehow they always made her laugh.

Dick and Barbara continued down the almost empty street, no one was in sight for miles, something was wrong Dick sensed; something was not good in the slightest way possible.

Before they knew it, two men appeared in front of them, brandishing two semi-automatic 9mm pistols. One pointed his gun at Barbara and the other at Dick.

"Give us all your money!" the one man demanded.

"Calm down, here's my wallet. Do you feel better that you're robbing a paralyzed woman and her boyfriend?" Dick stated, hoping to make them angry so they would mess up.

The one robber's face became red with anger; he struck Dick with the butt of the gun causing Dick to fall hard to the ground.

Dick looked up at Barbara, somehow she knew he had a plan, besides she now carried a stun gun whenever she went since she can't fight them directly anymore.

She and Dick had a plan for this, if it would happen, they would use it along the with staff that Dick kept hidden under his shirt.

What a genius place to hide that, she thought to herself.

Dick looked at Barbara, winking his right eye so she would know what to do.

"So, what was the plan; rob us, kill us then dump the bodies?" Dick said sarcastically.

"That was the plan; make some easy money, a robber's best dream job."

"Well, I have one slight problem with that." Dick said removing the staff from under his shirt. He spun the staff around hitting both of the men in the face, metal staffs to the face always hurt no matter who you were. The one man remained on his feet but Barbara would take care of him, while the other fell, cringing in pain.

Barbara took the man who was closest to her, hitting the one man in front of her in both of his knee caps, he fell straight to the ground on his face just like she knew he would; just because she was in a wheelchair does not mean she could work out her arms like she used to.

They just sat there laughing at them both, the fact was that they were taken down by a wheelchair bound woman and her boyfriend amused both of them.

They tied both men to the nearest lamp post and left before the Gotham police arrived; members of the Batman Family usually avoided the police. After all, they would usually leave before they arrived; it was something that Bruce taught them before.

"That was just like the good old days." Barbara said a hint of excitement in her voice.

"It was, now let's get going before anyone shows up." Dick said.

He pushed her in the chair as fast as he could but he realized that they had at least twenty minutes before they had to leave. They took their time on the way back to the cave, they decided on stopping off at Barbara's apartment to grab a couple of things before heading to the cave to see everyone else.

Dick and Barbara arrived at her Gotham City Apartment about two hours later, probably because they sat in Gotham Park for hours previously, just talking and walking; nothing more.

"So, you have any plans for tonight?" Dick said.

"Not really, I was just going to sit here and get some team assignments done."

Not even a day out of the hospital and she was back to her old ways. That was the Barbara he knew, she did not care about anything, except him and work. Maybe it took her mind of the wheelchair and everything else that had happened.

"Team assignments really? I thought you would be out on the town tonight, celebrating you getting out the hospital."

"No, I'm just going to stay here for a couple hours and get some work done. It takes my mind off of everything that's happened." Barbara said, hoping Dick would understand what she was saying to him.

Dick lowered himself down to Barbara's level, wondering if he could even change her mind.

She was stubborn but that's what he loved about her the most.

"I did have something planned, special for you no one else. Would you like to know what it was?" Dick asked.

"Sure."

"If I'm going to tell you, you have to come outside with me."

"Ok, why not."

"It's a surprise!" Dick said, a slight smile escaping from his face.

Dick wheeled Barbara out to the terrace, overlooking the Gotham skyline.

"Are you ready?"

In an instant, he picked her out of the chair, holding her in those strong wonderful acrobat arms of his, holding her close to his chest with one arm; it was something out of romantic movie she thought.

"What… are you planning?"

"Nothing, just hold on."

"I'm not sure about this."

"Neither was I, but here we are."

Dick jumped off the terrace, Barbara in hand. She was scared half to death, she could not save herself if they fell, but the worrying soon turned into excitement.

Besides Dick always a plan for every single little thing he did, no matter what.

He took out a grappling gun, one that he took from her apartment; shooting it at the nearest building that was closest to them. It attached, swinging them across the city like she used to before everything, she was tightly gripped in Dick's arms, so she would not fall, but she still enjoyed it.

Barbara was happy for the first time since well… everything, she was swinging around Gotham like she used to do, with Dick; the one person who she cared about the most excluding her father and uncle.

Dick always knew how to make her happy.

They swung around for hours; Barbara was surprised that Dick could hold her for that long. He was an acrobat before the life, but she figured he was used to holding people of the trapeze lines in Hadley's Circus, when he was a kid.

They finally landed back at the apartment, both still full of adrenaline. She had not done anything like that since that night because she could not, but Dick did not care about any of that; only that she was happy.

"Well, how was it?" Dick asked.

"Fantastic, it was nice to get out and do something."

"That's great, glad you enjoyed it."

"I'm tired, let's go to bed." Barbara said winking an eye like she used to do.

They went inside and fell onto the bed, arms wrapped around one another like in the old days.

"Goodnight, Dick; thanks for everything."

"No problem, glad you enjoyed it."

Barbara put her on Dick's shoulder, it was the one spot she was comfortable on his body. Her head just seemed to fit on his broad shoulders. She always loved his shoulders, she had no idea why she was attracted to him but they were together.

"Dick…" Barbara whispered quietly

"Yes…" Dick answered back; his head was buried in her hair.

"Where do you think we'll be in ten years?" Barbara asked.

Dick was caught off guard. He never thought that far about them or about anything. It was always the heat of moment with him, never about the future.

"Ummmm, well; we'll be in a big house down by the beach, we'll have little Dick and Barbara's running around in the back yard and we just sit there watching them." Dick said.

"What about being a member of the Justice League or the Bat Family?" Barbara said.

"We'll retire from crime fighting, it would be best for the kids to not know about our pasts." Dick said.

Dick put his hand around her waist, pulling her closer in. This was the first time in months that either of them had been together alone, just the two of them; he wanted to make sure that he and her remembered all the good parts of the night.

"We can have that life right now, you know." Dick said.

"I know but we can't leave just yet; we have much more to do." Barbara said.

They kissed goodnight and fell straight to sleep. Besides they were exhausted from their activity and just needed to sleep before heading to the cave in the morning.