As History Repeats

by Erin Griffin

Chapter 2

*I am just experimenting with these story, as it is AU, and I am not sure if I will ever finish it. I had a couple of people who thought it was a series that I had started. Plus, I just got an idea for continuing on with it, but who knows.*

Gabby didn't talk to her right away when Barbara walked into the Batcave and took off her cowl. This was to be expected. The redhead waited for the teen to explode at her, and was surprised when she left her spot at the Delphi and went to the manor's entrance. She put in the code and went into the elevator, waiting for Barbara to join her before she entered the floor for the manor. "Gabby, I know you're angry at-"

"Don't go there, Barbara," Gabby said, cutting her off. "You're an adult... the mentor here, not me. But let me tell you something. I am too new at this to know what to do in case of emergency. If something happens to you, and I don't know where you are because you turned off the comms, there is nothing I can do to help you. I could probably call Nightwing, but he is too far away, and even after traveling the two hours to get here, he'd have to scour the city looking for you, and by the time he even knows where you are, it'd probably be too late," she rambled. "So... I'm getting cheesecake because Alfred wouldn't serve any until you got back, and then I'm going home. My mother thinks I am babysitting for the Fern family again." Gabby said this last part of her rant a little softly, and Barbara nodded, feeling chastized.

"I am sorry."

"Sure," Gabby responded, making no attempts to hide her disbelief of the apology. The two entered the kitchesn where Alfred was cleaning the last of the baking pans used for his treats.

"Nice hunt tonight, Miss Barbara?" Alfred asked as he set his sponge down and rinced off his hands. He then went to the refridgerator and got out a bottled water and the dish which held the cheesecake.

"As nice as interacting with Catwoman's daughter can be. She wasn't even on a heist. She was just playing a game with me," Barbara replied, slightly frustrated. She refused to let herself think of the kiss between them.

"I find it surprising the lengths at which some people might go to get one's attention," Alfred said absently. He sliced two peices of cheesecake, one slightly bigger than the other, and gave the bigger peice to Gabby. The teen smirked at him.

"Thanks," Gabby said, digging into it even before it was completely set on the table. She knew that she wouldn't finish the peice of cheesecake he gave her, and that Alfred was trying to calm the tension she felt, the anger at her mentor that was there. For the most part, it helped. She knew Barbara was looking at her, watching her reactions.

"You gonna be mad at me all night?"

"Meh-be," Gabby said stubbornly around her cheesecake, looking at the fork as it went back into the white filling.

"I see."

"Mm-hmm," Gabby hummed. She finished her bite, and then she considered her mentor for a moment, still there in her cape and dark eye makeup to help hide her eyes. "It'll become a dance with us, I suspect, as that is how its been the last few days since you've seen Kitten Britches about this city." Gabby pointed her fork at Barbara. "See, I get here, play all seeing Oracle for a few minutes, then Huntress shows up, and suddenly it all goes silent. You two do a little dance, have yet to make a little love and get down tonight... Then, once she's gone, you come back frustrated because you didn't get either the touch or information you wanted from her-"

"It's not like that-"

"Barbara, please," Gabby scoffed, "you turn off the comms, but there are other means of servailence. You taught me that." When Barbara did nothing else but to play with her fork in her cheesecake, the teen went on. "You come home here, I'm pissed, you apologize, Alfred makes something tasty, and then I go home. By the time school rolls around, all is forgiven. Why wouldn't it be? Its just going to happen again the next night, so why waste the energy?" Gabby stood up and walked to the cabenets where she searched for Seran Wrap, jumping when a couple of hands holding a small sheet of the transparent plastic appear to the side of her face. She gave him a 'Look', but said, "Thank you, Alfred. That was wonderful, as usual." She held the plate at her front as she went to the door to get her backpack. She was surprised to see Barbara standing there next to the door. Like Alfred a moment before, she hadn't even her her move from her spot at the table. "You've got to teach me how you guys do that," she said as she forced her heart rate to slow down.

"I've got to have some of my secrets," Barbara said.

"Yeah, I guess so."

Barbara did feel bad that Gabby was so mad at her. She didn't like that the teen didn't even believe her whenever she said that she was sorry. "What would you say if I told you that I promise to keep my comms on?"

"I would say that I'd believe you if you hadn't already promised me that last night. and the night before that, and the night-"

"Okay, I got the point," Barbara said slowly. "I mean it this time."

"Words. We'll see tomorrow night when Kitten Britches starts flirting," Gabby said, using her free hand to open the door. "It was nice dancing with you. Same bat time, same bat location?" Barbara nodded, putting a hand on the door as blonde hair whipped around. She listened for the soft padded footsteps of the teen as she went around the side of the house and out the back passage way that would eventually lead her to the main lit road toward the subway station. When she heard the small creak of the gated door to the passageway swinging shut, Barbara slowly closed the door.

"She herself said that all will be forgiven in the morning," Alfred said from behind her. She had long ago stopped jumping whenever he heard his voice behind her or at her side. She found she could feel the butler's presence a fraction of a second before he ever said a word, but she figured that was just him waiting an extra moment before he spoke. For her benefit, of course.

"If all was forgiven, she wouldn't be as angry with me as she was tonight," Barbara said. She did feel badly that Gabby was so mad at her. She decided she needed to make it up to the teen somehow. Perhaps she would teach her how to step lightly, or even to 'hear' someone else when they did. She could teach her some basic self defence moves for those emergencies that Gabby feared occuring. Or maybe she could stop by No Man's Land to see her former student Gibson Kafka to see if there might be anyone interested in helping her out. Maybe if there was another person to help her out while she was on sweeps, it would ease the teen's fears. Gabby herself wasn't a fighter. It was always clear to Barbara, which was why she trained her on the Delphi instead of anything else, but maybe if she knew a few ways to defend herself for emergency missions on her own, Gabby might feel better about Batgirl's comms going off. 'Or,' she thought to herself, 'an easier solution would be to just keep the damn things on'. She shook her head and walked back to the table. She ate the rest of her cheesecake as to not offend Alfred, and really, it was tasty, as Gabby had described it. Then the superhero dragged her tired feet to her room with an absent goodnight to the butler. Too tired and still worried about her teen protoge', Barbara wasn't in the mood to shower just then, figuring she will wake up a little earlier to shower and work on grading the last essay before the Christmas holiday. Instead, she changed out of the Batgirl suit, and put it far into her closet. She press the button which would send it down to Alfred, where he would get around to cleaning and mending the suit if needed. She had about 3 other back up to use for the following nights, so she didn't need to worry. The redhead changed into a pair of long plaid pajama bottoms and a white T-shirt, and with a sigh, Barbara fell onto her bed and fell asleep.