The phone screen flickered on and off as a variety of texts flowed into Stephanie's phone, her many friends in Gotham being now made aware of her return.
With a few subsequent rings indicating a phone call, Stephanie Brown finally awoke.
The screen read Babs, her heart read fear.
She attempted to hang it up again, accidentally pushing the wrong button.
She flailed the phone out of her lap with a shriek.
It fell to the floor and filled the air with the booming voice of Barbara Gordon.
Stephanie Brown shrieked again and fell to the floor.
The door of the apartment began to be banged as Barbara's words blurred in the distance.
Something something door
Stephanie's leg suddenly began to cramp
she knew she couldn't answer the door.
Barbara's voice was beginning to inform her to open the door.
"Nice to see you're still alive." Was Barbara Gordon's harsh reply when Stephanie brown finally managed to open the door.
The younger women raised her hands in front of her face defensively, the older woman scanning her from her wheelchair.
A messed-up bun, Starbucks pajama shorts, and a t-shirt that said 'I guess you could say I'm kind of a BAT guy.'
Unsurprising really.
"Nice to see you haven't changed after five years." The red head snarked, wheeling into the apartment before the blonde could retort.
Babs set herself beside the pristine white couch provide kindly by the renter. Stephanie found herself nervously following the woman as she settled herself.
Babs had been sufficiently satisfied with her placement and appeared ready for the confrontation that was obviously meant to occur.
"Listen Babs—" Stephanie began.
"Now you're going to talk to me? Five years after you disappear into thin air?"
Stephanie deflated even further, Barbara couldn't help but notice a small muffin top.
"After all the trouble you caused to be a hero, after all the trouble you caused me to be Batgirl, this is how you repay us all? You ran off without a word."
"To be fair, a building did fall on— "
Stephanie realized that this was one of the worst people to mention an injury to and was quickly assured of that fact.
"I was shot and I'm still here." Barbara's voice was raised.
"My mother looked at my crumpled—" Stephanie tried to argue.
"My father looked at his little girl shot in the spine and knew she would never walk again."
"My mother- "
"You think my father wasn't upset? You think he wanted this for me?"
She couldn't even let her get a word in edgewise, typical Barbara. Time to change tactics.
"I was a little girl on the rooftop trying to be a hero, remember?" Stephanie countered. "I'm the one you all told not to. The one who wouldn't be good enough, wouldn't be skilled enough."
"I never-."
Barbara had taken her argument and tried to lie that she had not done so. Stephanie, however, felt a wave of emotion with this argument.
"You did!" She didn't even realize she was yelling. "You did over and over again! You told me to go back home and get a normal life while I still had the chance! You and Tim told me every day! I had to put up with you! I had to put up with Bruce! Every robin telling me I wasn't enough."
"Everyone has to— "
"Barbara, I was just a kid whose dad did some bad things." Stephanie finalized her argument. "I just wanted to believe that I could do some good."
"You did good! Congrats! And then you left us all!"
"I wanted to move on! For the sake of everyone around me! I grew up and felt that I had proved I wasn't like him!"
"Congratulations then! You did such a great job! What a great unannounced retirement to leave the rest of us scrambling for someone to fill your place!" Barbara's voice was high, almost taunting.
"I told Tim."
"And Tim didn't believe you." A great point by Barbara Gordon.
"He told me it was good."
"The idea was good, he didn't believe you would do it." The redhead was beginning to ease into a more conversational tone once more.
Stephanie tried to imitate her, failing to sound less emotional than she really was. "Tim knew that it was the end."
"How would he know that?" Stephanie had finally toppled onto the couch beside Barbara and the older woman used the ability to view the younger woman's eyes to her advantage. "Every other time you say you're done you come back."
"That is not true about other aspects of my life, Stephanie Brown is a very committed individual— "
"I can name numerous occasions when that statement is incorrect." Did she sound amused? Oh, wow that-
That probably was a good thing.
"Name one." Stephanie's tone became more conversational.
"Mashed potatoes." Oh yes, that was a lot of amusement. "You said you were never going to eat another bowl of mashed potatoes after your drunken night out—You then had Alfred make you a large bowl while engaging in a casual visit with Bruce the next day."
The natural chemistry Between Barbara Gordon and Stephanie had played out over the course of three hours as they fell back into a sort of tentative friendship once more. The five-year question still looming in the air, but the two getting along far better.
Stephanie had convinced Barbara to stray from her meal of takeout and eat with her.
She now stood in the plain brick wall kitchen as Barbara remained by the couch keeping casual conversation with her.
"So, on a scale of one to ten, how much of an idea do you have of how to prepare quinoa?" Stephanie jokingly questioned from across the counter.
"Another food obviously not purchased by Stephanie Brown." Barbara countered.
"Tim forced me into bad grocery shopping."
"He's very health conscious now that he is about to marry Tam. I've almost been convinced that he believes in that superfood nonsense."
"Yeah, it's not really Tim-ish, but to be honest I don't really know Tim anymore." Stephanie shrugged, pouring the whole bag of quinoa into boiling water.
She's pretty sure it's a bean.
Or sad rice.
"I honestly thought he would hold out until you came back," Barbara admitted.
"Nah, she fits him in a way. I thought about it last night." Stephanie admitted. "They're both really into rules and being smart, being good. The name our tabloid came up with for them is Timtam, which is also a good cookie, they sell them at Target. It's meant to be if they make a chocolate covered biscuit with their names."
"I had hopes for you, however." Barbara laughed. Stephanie peaked quickly over the counter to see her smiling.
"Well, what can I say? They call me Stephanie hopeless Brown." She turned her back to Babs and went to grab something to add to this quinoa monstrosity from the freezer.
Peas, peas are okay.
"I mean, I thought for a moment that maybe there was something for you."
"A happy ending?"
"There are no happy endings, Stephanie Brown." Barbara rolled her eyes. "Not for us."
"Then what?"
"Some sort of finality."
Stephanie scoffed at the idea of Tim Drake being her finality. At the thought of a smelly layered object that made her cry too often, Stephanie remembered an onion that she had been cutting earlier.
"You know, someone's got to get it right, even if Dick and I never did— "
"How is Dickybird?" Stephanie interrupted.
"He's with Kori."
Shit, fuck cutting up the onions. Just toss it in.
"She's good," Stephanie replied. "She's got a great ass-…sortment of traits." Babs had given her a warning look.
"She's good, better than I was." Barbara decided. "Do you need help cooking?
"How so? And yeah—I could use a little help."
Barbara rolled herself to the counter, which rested at an awkward height. Stephanie pushed her a cutting board with several carrots to be chopped atop it.
She was relieved, to say the least when Barbara's knife skills were just as bad as her own.
So much for superheroes being super great at everything.
"I mean, she can walk for one."
"Yeah, but who really gives a shit about stuff like that? You can talk! And aren't orange!"
"He can dance with her, Dick loves to dance— "
"He can dance with you."
"He needs someone to walk along the beach with, he doesn't need someone to push across the sand."
"Who's to say he has to push you? The Barbara I know would never let anyone push her."
"It's just better for him, she's happier." The knife was getting dangerous close to Barbara's fingers, Stephanie grabbed it before anything could happen. Barbara stared at her for a second before nodding in acknowledgment of the fact she had let herself lose focus and almost hurt herself. "Sorry."
"You're real, though."
The air filled with silence.
"I hope you like crappy food," Stephanie admitted to Barbara, changing the subject.
Barbara finally left many hours later, the two of them giving in and ordering takeout from the Greek place down the street after the quinoa mess was deemed an absolute and utter failure.
While no all sins were absolved, Stephanie felt herself feeling a little better on the terms she was on with Barbara, along with looking forward to the promise of Cass's visit in the upcoming days.
She was now getting ready for bed once more, changing out of the pajamas she wore the duration of Barbara's visit and into a new set.
A simple set of pajama pants and a grease-stained t-shirt was deemed enough. She went to the bathroom and began to run the faucet when the all too familiar sound hit the air.
Police sirens.
Against her better judgment, she found herself walking into the living room with toothbrush still in mouth, opening the large full-length window's curtain to view the world just outside her window.
A d-list criminal had snatched a purse, easily taken care of by Gotham's finest.
Normal.
He resisted too much but otherwise normal.
She found herself watching and lazily running the brush along her teeth as she did so, perched on the couch with her knees pulled to her chin.
For second in between laughing at the crooks many attempts to trick the police into releasing him, she saw a flash of red on a rooftop.
She held her breath for a minute, another flash of red on a neighboring rooftop, she got the distinct feeling she was being watched…