Another day and nothing. Bruce hadn't woken up and there were still no answers. Barbara was sure that she and Tim were having an unspoken competition at this point about who could stay up longer. And yet for all their efforts, they'd turned up a whole lot of nothing; the nothingness itself was sinister.
Maybe it was time to sleep. Plus it didn't help that Alfred was metaphorically breathing down their necks to get some rest, the butler had more posh than to literally do it, but the effect of his sarcasm and dry speaking was worse.
"Calling it a night, everyone." Barbara spoke. It had been Tim's second night going over the butcher's quarters and pier with a fine-tooth comb. "Especially you, RR. Get home and to bed, before Agent A drugs your coffee."
"Not the drugged coffee…that always gives me a headache." Tim whined back under his breath. Barbara could only snicker, watching her screens as everyone got back to their respective nests- Tim, Damien, and Dick at the manor, Cassandra and Stephanie at Steph's apartment, and Jason in the top floor of an abandoned warehouse. She made sure everyone was settled, before she put her computers on their secondary programming- it kept tabs on the city and only sent out an alarm if something major went down.
She wheeled herself to her bedroom, sinking into the plush bed with a grateful sigh. This was the most comfortable bed that she'd ever had the pleasure of sleeping in and she had slept in the beds at Wayne manor. Of course, Bruce had bought the bed, carried it up with Dick's help, put it together, and had Alfred layer the sheets and blankets on it. Bruce was weird that way. Getting a 'thank you' out of the man was like getting blood from a stone, but he had actively searched for the most comfortable bed for two weeks, (she had seen the web-browsing history) just because he knew she needed a new bed and he wanted her to have the very best. When Alfred said Bruce was a man-of-action, he wasn't kidding.
She fell asleep easily in the comfy mess of blankets and pillows. And was dreaming within moments. Or maybe it'd be better to say she was merely remembering.
Some part of her still marveled over the man that was Batman as she had when she was younger. Little Barbara Gordon dogging her father's steps when he came home, firing questions about how Batman had helped that night, fishing for clues about who might be under the mask, pestering relentlessly. She had wanted to know everything.
Still wanted to know everything, Bruce was a mystery. How did a billionaire that had every privilege in the world give a damn about, well, anyone else? And how was someone able to put the fear of god in every criminal that'd ever crossed him (and Superman, none of them were fooled by big blue) and still be considered 'dumb but pretty' by most of Gotham?
It was funny too, how when she had first donned the mask and cape as Batgirl, Batman tried really hard to ward her off, he grumped and growled all over, and yet, he was the first to try to shield her and teach her and protect her. He was definitely the epitome of hard crunchy outside and the soft sweet inside. It was like having a second father, someone else who'd always be on her side and face down any and all enemies.
I hope she's comfortable… Bruce thought, relieved when Barbara finally went to bed.
"That's your first thought?" The voice that had guided him to Alfred and Dick asked playfully.
Well, I want her comfortable, she's…Bruce sighed, she's my kid. He had never really told anyone that before, but it was true. Even if he'd never even tried to take her father's place because Detective Gordon was a good father, she was still Batman's kid on some level too. Batgirl was all Batman's progeny or so Bruce liked to think- stubborn and tenacious, she could be just like him in some ways. Definitely not like his golden boy, she charged in where Dick would give Batman half-a-breath to give instructions.
A chuckle came to him when he thought of Dick and Barbara dating and Gordon looking at the kids- positive that Dick was the troublesome one. Bruce had almost wanted to assure him, that if anything happened with Barbara between her and any boy, it was because she allowed it. That girl had a lot of control, and even more so now, she was in control- heck, she had strings over the Batman!
And that was one of the most amazing things about Barbara, how she had gotten back up after losing her legs and had become that much smarter and that much stronger. Her resilience became everyone else's, and especially Bruce's, safety net.
Yeah, if Alfred were the roof and pillars, and Dick the lights, then Barbara was the security system.