As History Repeats

by Erin Griffin

*What's this? A new chapter? After three or four weeks of barely writing anything? 'Tis true? Yes, but don't get too excited. This is obviously a filler chapter.

Chapter 6

Gabby's head bobbed to the music in her ear as she waited for the other students to get on the bus. She had already been on the bus now for almost ten minutes, and watched as a few of the other busses left the curb and off towards various parts of the neighborhood. There was a thump on the window next to her, and if Gabby hadn't been leaning on the window and felt it, she wouldn't have even acknowledged it. She turned toward the window and looked out. She saw Dinah there, waving her out. Gabby frowned at her as the bus's engine came to life and the driver looked as if she was ready to go. Dinah held up a set of car keys and then waved her out again. Gabby hesitated for just a moment and then hurried off the bus. "Hey," Gabby said, shifting the backpack further up her shoulder and looking at the other blonde.

"Hey."

"I hope you're really about to give me a ride, because there goes my bus," Gabby said.

"Of course I am. Besides, it is actually a pretty decent afternoon. You shouldn't spend it cramped in a bus crowded with those bozos," Dinah replied, flipping her thumb behind her at the thinning crowd of teenagers, who laughed and spoke loudly about homework and the opposite sex.

"So what do you suggest?"

"Spend the afternoon with me."

"I am sort of grounded," Gabby informed the other blonde, whose only response was a shrug.

"I promise to have you home before the clock strikes midnight, Princess."

"Or deal with the evil queen," Gabby playfully warned.

"Noted. Come on." Dinah turned and started walking towards the student parking lot, where Gabby was surprised to see a sleek black car waiting for them.

"Huh," Gabby muttered in slight amazement.

"What?" the new girl asked, her gaze flickering between her car and Gabby's face.

"I don't know why, but I thought you'd have a hog or something," Gabby admitted. She tried not to let her reddening face show when Dinah started laughing.

"I may be slightly punk, but I'm not a hard ass," Dinah said as the car beeped to life, "just don't tell anyone at school that."

"So why tell me?" Gabby asked as she opened the passenger side door. She waited for Dinah to open her car door and then she got inside. The car looked brand new, possibly a gift or even her parent's car.

"I dunno, thought it'd make you like me better," Dinah replied. Though her voice was teasing, there was something that Gabby picked up, something that she would only have noticed after her training to become Oracle. There was a slight hunch in her posture that told Gabby that Dinah's words were true. There was also something else about that posture that told Gabby that if she were to bring that part up, Dinah wouldn't know what to do. Since Dinah was giving her a ride home, she didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable, so she laughed along with the other blonde, whose posture slacked slightly.

"Yeah well, I think I would like you better if you had a hog," Gabby joked back. Dinah smiled at this and started the car.

"Too bad for you then," Dinah said, "and me, I guess."

"Yeah, too bad." Gabby added.

"Pick a station and crank it. I am not in a hurry to get home. Are you?"

"Like I said I am grounded, so all I have to look forward to is the sight of my walls and math homework," Gabby replied as she turned the radio on and chose the 90's pop/rock station. At the sight of Dinah's headbob, Gabby prided herself for finding the station that met Dinah's approval. She stared out the window as Dinah got the car out of the parking lot, and Gabby wriggled in her seat to the beat of Alanis Morrestte's Ironic. "This isn't even the direction of my house," Gabby told her after a while.

"I thought you weren't in a hurry to get home," Dinah said. She turned her head and flashed Gabby a charming smile, and Gabby shrugged.

Dinah must have driven for over an hour, taking the two of them out of the way, through some of the wooded areas, the man-made park, and some of the pretty houses, more for decoration than for residency. "I always loved the houses over here," Dinah said suddenly.

"How long have you lived in New Gotham?" Gabby asked, since Dinah's statement sounded as if she wasn't as new to the area as everyone had thought.

"A couple of years," Dinah said. She checked the rearview mirror, and then said, "I was homeschooled before going to the high school, but I wanted to see what it was like in a public school so I could- I don't know, be more normal. Now I sort of wish I could be homeschooled again."

"Besides, you're the one saying that you don't like being normal."

"Well, normal, yes. Sheep, no."

"What's the difference?" Gabby asked.

Dinah turned her head for a split second and grinned. "You know, I don't know," she said.

The two of them continued on in the nicer neighborhood that Gabby would never admitt to knowing her way around. Gabby felt a little uncomfortable as Dinah got them closer to Wayne Manor. They ended up going right past it, and niether one of them made a comment about it past reading out what the sign out in the middle of the road said. As Dinah drove them away from that neighborhood, she made a quick left, which forced Gabby to hold on. Gabby made a mental note of this, but said nothing. She knew that had they kept going on that road, they would have passed Arkham Asylum. Gabby noticed that Dinah had stopped talking, and only the radio sounded between them, but she spoke again when they got back on the road that they both knew lead them towards the highschool again. Gabby knew that their ride was coming to a close. As if to think that as well, Dinah looked over at Gabby and her eyebrows rose. "Are you hungry?" Dinah asked.

"Uh..." Gabby hadn't expected that. She had expected the silence to continue on for the rest of the ride. She stared at her riding companion and wondered if she wanted to keep spending time with her, or if she should get home. Her mother was expected home soon, and if she wasn't there, she wouldn't see the outside of her room again, and Barbara wouldn't like knowing that her Oracle couldn't help her out on account of being grounded. Again.

"Um... Blink once for yes, twice for no?" Dinah tried. Gabby turned her head so that she was back to looking at the road ahead of them like before.

"Yeah, I guess I could eat something, why?"

"Let's stop at Mickey D's before I drop you home," Dinah suggested.

"Sure, okay."

Dinah did just that, and the two of them walked into the fastfood restaurant. Gabby held the door open for Dinah, and the two of them got in line. Gabby was still unsure what to think about Dinah. She was pretty, and she seemed nice (at least to her), despite the rumors about her, and Gabby was almost definately sure that she was a metahuman. At least, that was how she acted. Gabby doubted that it would take long for her to figure out what her power was, but she wouldn't have done that, even if she could pretty much snap her fingers and get it. She hoped that maybe someday Dinah and her could be the kind of friends that spoke about those sorts of things- homosexuality and metahuman abilities- as if it was a talk on the weather.

When the two of then got their orders and sat down at a booth, Dinah stared at Gabby for a second and then said, "Alright, out with it, or ask. Just... say something. I know you wanna."

Gabby thought for another second as the arouma of her fries hit her nose. She watched as Dinah squirted ketchup from the packets onto the trayliner, and then looked at her again when Gabby didn't speak. "I know that Arkham is, like, the creepiest place ever, but... you looked like you couldn't get away fast enough."

"I know people in there," was all Dinah said.

"Family?"

"You could say that," Dinah replied, her voice a little colder than she had intended.

"I'm sorry," Gabby said softly.

"Why? You didn't put 'em there," Dinah said, and she shrugged as if to dismiss them both from the conversation. Gabby sat for another second and slowly ate her fries. What if she had been? There had been many nights with her as Oracle where Batgirl put a metahuman away in Arkham, as they were too mentally unstable. Too many metahumans thought they were the next step in evolution and therefor supiriour to the rest of the population, too many who thought their gifts were from God and they were instruments of war and destruction. What if Dinah was related to one of them? "Look, I am sorry."

"Why?" Gabby asked this time.

"I... You must think I am crazy, or emotional, or-"

"Human," Gabby finished. There was a silence, and Dinah looked at Gabby as if she'd just heard the nicest thing anyone had ever said to her, which only strengthened her belief that Dinah was a metahuman.

"Yeah, I guess."

"I don't think you're weird, or crazy," Gabby told her. "This place just does that to people."

"This place?"

"New Gotham. There is something about it, what with news reports of masked heroes on everynight, and every now and again, there's just... shadows." Gabby wasn't sure why she was saying these things, but she'd heard other students murmur these things all the time before she ever knew about Batgirl and the likes of the Joker. She supposed that she'd give herself away if she never mentioned it, but she knew that there were people out there who would prefer to remain oblivious. "Some say, it is just the aftermath of the earthquake that happened years ago, but there are rumors that there is more to that as well."

"Earthquake?"

"I was pretty young then, but there was an earthquake here, back when the city was known as Gotham City. Everything was destroyed pretty much. People moved to Bludhaven and surrounding cities for over three years, those who weren't helping to rebuild. They built right over the old city, what people now call Old Gotham. Many places do that. People say that the ghosts of people who died in the earthquake are to blame for the shadows everywhere, and I am still unsure if I want to believe that."

"Well, what do you want to believe?" Dinah asked. Her voice was softer than before, softer than anything Gabby ever heard from her.

"I don't know." Gabby admitted, and she wasn't acting this time. "With all the Law and Order shows on, I am starting to wonder if there really are good people anymore."

At this, Dinah looked down. "You want to believe in black and white. Good and bad."

"Straight and gay?" Gabby interjected. "But how can I when I know better?"

"That is why someone a long, long time ago invented faith," Dinah said after a moment of silence within them. "Sometimes that is all you have have. Faith that if the shadows are real, then there is light somewhere. Who can see a shadow if something isn't a sillouett in some form of light?"

"Boy, that was rather philosophical," Gabby said, "but you are absolutely right."

"Yoda, I am," Dinah said with a laugh, and Gabby let out a slight chuckle of her own, which seemed to release them of the atmosphere they had been in.

"I think I want to believe in a caped cruisader somewhere, watching over the city and keeping us safe."

"And the shadows?" Dinah asked with a slight tilt of her head.

"As you said, we can't have shadows without a light somewhere, which I am assuming is your way of saying there can't be darkness without light, light without a shadow being cast somwhere."

"Understand, you do, young padiwon."

Gabby laughed, and they finished their meal, their conversation now on lighter things, like the upcoming vacation and their favorite music. The sky looked like it was starting to get dark when Dinah got Gabby to her house, and both girls seemed to not want to end the afternoon. "Shit, my mother's home," Gabby said. "Thanks for driving me, but I'm afraid you won't see me ever again, for my mother is going to kill me."

"Well, see you tomorrow then?"

"Yeah, tomorrow." Gabby put her backpack on her shoulder and winced when she heard her name called from the house. She waved at Dinah as she left the curb, and turned towards the house with a guilty look on her face.

"Who was that?" Gabby's mother asked after the door closed again, looking tall even at her hieght of 5'2. She pointed out the window at the street where Dinah's black car once had been, and waited for an answer.

"Dinah, my new friend from school." When her mother looked as if she didn't believe her, Gabby insisted, "She's new to school. She was homeschooled before, and now going to the high school."

"She your girlfriend?" The question was unexpected, especially since Gabby hadn't thought of the other blonde that way, even though she could easily get where her mother might ask her that, what with her being out late everynight for over two months after she stopped babysitting the Morgans. As much as Gabby wanted to say that no, they weren't dating, Gabby needed something to tell her mother to explain the nightly disappearences. Gabby nodded. "If she was homeschooled, where did you meet?"

"She has another friend at my high school. Part of the reason she started going," Gabby lied. "I met her while she was waiting on her. We got to talking, I ended up missing the bus, and she gave me a ride home."

"Where do you go at night," Gabby's mother asked, her look burning Gabby's forehead, "and why couldn't you just tell me you were dating someone?"

"We go all over the place, places where no one from school or Dinah's mother's church would know us. Her mom's pretty strict- hence the homeschooling, and it took her until just now to convince her to give her some slack with curfews and letting her go to school, but she would never understand the gay thing. We mostly just go bowling or to New Gotham Park or... You know, places where we can hang without being seen."

"I don't like the thought of you being out at night like that. I understand being in the closet- a friend of mine had been for many years before it was just too much for him to handle- but I need to know where you are."

Gabby felt really guilty, and she felt like a hypocrite. Not two days ago, she was chewing out Barbara for going offline on the comms without Gabby being able to know where she was, and here she was doing the same sort of thing to her mother. With people going missing everyday, only to be found dead or not at all, Gabby felt bad that she had put her mother through this. "Other than school, there is no other way for us to be together, Mom," Gabby said. "Dinah's mother doesn't let her visit other people's houses, except for Cammie's, but that is only because Cammie lives down the block."

"Maybe if I speak with her mother, she will know that it is okay for Dinah to stay over here, and that you are a friend who can be trusted. My parents spoke to my friend's parents all the time."

Gabby realized that she couldn't really get out of this very well, and her scapegoat wasn't working. She stayed silent, but she nodded. "I'll let her know."

"Is she the only one you see?"

"Her, and sometimes Cammie, but Cammie's got a boyfriend now, so we see her hardly ever except to double date," Gabby said. Her mother stared at her.

"I don't want to be the one to tell you that you can't see her. I could care less that you're gay, you know that. That isn't what this is about."

"I know, Mom," Gabby said softly, and she really did. Her parents knew that Gabby was gay since she was five years old and told some woman on the subway that she was cute, and then continued to stare at her and get shy.

Gabby's mother was silent for a minute as if to think this over. "Damn you for turning 16," she said. "I'm going to have to break down and buy you a damn cellphone," she continued to say. Gabby wasn't sure what this meant. "If I do, you must promise to keep it on and to stay close. If you don't make me regret this, we'll see about extending your curfew, but don't quote me on that."

Gabby wasn't sure why her mother was suddenly letting her get away with this. Part of her was sure that her mother was letting her grow up, but another part of her wasn't sure that her mother wasn't about to get some tracking device put in the said cellphone. "Uh- Can I still go and see Dinah tonight, though?" Gabby asked.

"Where?"

"Chinatown," Gabby responded quickly.

"Yeah, but stay a while. I've got dinner, and though I'm sure you already ate, I haven't seen much more than the back of you the last few weeks."

'Way to lay on the guilt,' Gabby thought, but she tested the waters to see if this meant she was really in trouble or if her mother had just realized that Gabby was growing up."Okay. Um, I need to put my bag away and start homework."

"Dinner in fifteen," her mother said, turning and walking into the living room, where the news was on.

'That explains what just happened,' Gabby thought to herself. She hurried into her room and touched her earpiece. "Oracle to Babybat."

[Babybat.] Barbara's voice filled her ear a second later.

"Tonight's a go. I'm going to hell for the lies I just told, so I never want to hear you tell me that I'm not commited," Gabby said in a whisper.

[Not to encourage lying, but I'm glad. ETA?]

"I'd say about..." Gabby looked at the alarm clock next to her. "7:30."

[Why so long?]

"Lying comes with a price, and this time its dinner with my mother."

[Alright. I will see you at 7:30.]

"Give or take," Gabby cut in.

[Give or take.] Barbara repeated. [Babybat out.]

"Okay, later."