It was the day after Thanksgiving and I promised Alfred I would come by to grab some leftovers. He told me he wasn't sure why he always made such a big turkey and it seemed to always go to waste. I was happy to come and get leftovers. I didn't have the best Thanksgiving meal. Dad and me forgot to even go buy a turkey this year so we went to a diner and had a turkey dinner. Needless to say, it was pretty crappy.

I had the day off and decided to spend it with Tim. Bruce was out late last night, so he was still asleep when I arrived.

"So since you're here right now and we have free time, are you going to teach me how to count cards?" Tim asked once I stepped into the front door. Alfred looked at us both disapprovingly. Smiling awkwardly, I nudged Tim in the ribs with my elbow.

"Ow!"

"I never said I was going to teach you that."

Tim's face looked like I had done him some terrible injustice, "Alfred will get over it. I'm on the straight and arrow now. Remember? I only use my powers for good."

Alfred rolled his eyes as if he had heard that speech before. "I have to go to the attic and get the Christmas decorations out. Whatever you two do is your own business," Alfred said dryly while taking my coat to the closet.

"That's British for: I'm going to look the other way."

After hearing Tim's blunt translation I sighed heavily. "Fine."

Tim's face lit up.

"Go get two decks and bring them to the kitchen table."

"You smelled the cookies all the way from here?" Alfred asked.

"You spoil us," I replied walking past him.

After an hour and a dozen chocolate chip cookies later, Tim was starting to get the hang of it.

"So? What cards do I have?"

He was deep in concentration. "A seven and a queen."

He was right. Great, what have I done?

"Correct."

The kitchen door swung open and in came Bruce. Dressed in black slacks and a blue cashmere sweater that brought out his eyes. And what am I doing? Teaching the kid how to count cards. He was just going to have to deal with it, no going back now. I looked at Tim and gave him a look that said, "Just follow my lead."

I scooped up the cards and dealt a new hand. "Barbara, what are you doing here so early?"

"Sshhh. You're going to break his concentration. Hit or stay?"

Tim concentrated once more and idly moved his lips as he was thinking.

"Are you playing black jack?" Bruce asked a little amused as he poured himself some coffee. We completely ignored his question. My top card was an ace and Tim had two sevens.

"No you got diddly squat. You're bottom card is a two and if you hit you'll get a ten and bust," Tim replied triumphantly.

"You sure about that?" I said taunting him.

Bruce was taking a sip of his coffee and started to choke on it for a second. He must have finally realized what was going on. They say he's the greatest detective alive, people would doubt that if they witnessed what was going on right now. "YOU'RE TEACHING HIM HOW TO COUNT CARDS?!"

We both kept on ignoring him. "Alright Tim, lets test your theory." The cards went exactly the way he predicted.

"AW MAN! I am SO good at this!" Tim laughed mischievously.

I heard a heavy sigh from Bruce. He was irritated that no one paid him any mind. He soon left the kitchen in defeat.

"I'm in trouble aren't I?" Tim asked a bit concerned.

"If you are, I am more than you," I winked as I dealt out a new hand.

"Did you ever teach Dick this?"

"No, but he wouldn't play cards with me once he figured out I could do this. It took a couple of games of his ass getting handed to him before he figured it out."

"Ha! What an idiot. Wish I had this information yesterday when I was talking to him. He was a real Debbie Downer."

"Really? Why?"

"Didn't say, but I think his self-inflicted solitary confinement is starting to get to him."

"That's too bad," I said a little bitter.

"His birthday is Tuesday. I would go, but I have school. I hope someone cheers him up." Tim knew what he was doing.

"You're laying it on pretty thick Tim. I thought you would be nicer to me since I'm here on my day off teaching you how to count cards."

"Who's guilt tripping who now?"

I corrected him. "Who's guilt tripping whom?"

Tim shook his head. "Whatever."

Maybe I should have called before I came all the way to Blüdhaven, but I wanted to surprise him. Little did I know that I'd be surprised too that morning. I'm not sure what I expected when his apartment door opened; but it certainly was not an orange alien woman with green eyes and even more firery red hair than mine, especially one wearing one of Dick's old GCU shirts. In fact, that was pretty much all she was wearing.

"Hello. Can I help you?" She asked pleasantly. I could hear the shower running in the apartment.

"Uh…" is all I could manage out.

"Is that the door Kori?" Dick's voice asked as I heard the shower turn off. He soon appeared with just a towel on.

"You shouldn't answer the door like that. You're going to freak out my," he saw me and then finished his sentence a bit surprised, "neighbors."

I could feel my cheeks getting warm. I wanted to run or say something, but I was completely paralyzed. Dick has moved on and I'm a complete fool.

"Babs!? What are you doing here?" Now he looked completely embarrassed.

"I'm thinking the same thing right now. I should have called," I passed him the birthday cake I got him and started to leave. I didn't want him to see the disappointment on my face, but I think it was too late.

"Wait Babs!"

I walked quick down the hall and called back to him, "Happy Birthday Dick. I'll talk to you later when you aren't busy."

My car keys dropped on the concrete outside as I pulled them out of my purse.

"Damn it!" I cursed aloud.

"Babs come on," Dick caught up to me. He was at least wearing clothes now, still had to be freezing though. He was just in a t-shirt, jeans, and shoes that were untied. I just kept walking until he grabbed my arm and spun me around.

"Dick," I pleaded with him to let me go.

"Hey you don't want to disappoint the birthday boy. Just at least give me a minute to explain."

"You don't owe me an explanation. I was the one that crashed your morning."

"Her name is Kori and she's from a planet called Tamaran. We've been seeing each other for a couple of months now," he spilled out all this information rapidly.

"How'd you meet?"

"Long story, but we've worked together on a few cases.

My eyes wandered looking for anything to stare at except for Dick, but my eyes kept going back to him.

"Barbara, why'd you come here? I thought you were mad at me?"

I rolled my eyes. I was mad, still mad. Why did I come?

"Tim said that you seemed a bit down so I thought I'd come and cheer you up."

"Tim's such a bonehead," Dick said while rubbing his arms so he could get warm. I just laughed. Had to release some emotion, because tears weren't an option. He just laughed a little in return.

"Ya, he really is. I think he just misses you and is trying to get you to come back to Gotham."

"Well he's just going to have to get used to it," Dick said. He sounded a bit sympathetic.

"I know. I've been spending a little extra time with him. I think he just feels like a bit of an outsider at school and he can't exactly talk to other kids about his night job."

It was awkwardly silent for a few moments. We were both searching for something to say.

"I'm going to get going birthday boy."

"Please stay. You came all the way out here. I'll make breakfast."

"As amusing as that would be to watch, I really shouldn't. You're moving on and so should I."

"Babs, just make sure you do what you want to do. You can't be there for everyone. You are always trying to make everyone happy and when you do that, the only person that isn't happy is you."

Great. I was getting psycho analyzed by my ex. "I didn't make you happy? That's why you left."

"That isn't true. You were never the reason why I left."

"Well then, I guess I wasn't a big enough reason for you to stay either."

"Babs."

"No Grayson, it's the truth."

He just sighed frustrated. It looked like there was an internal battle going on in his head and something won over. He then just place a friendly hand on my shoulder, "You deserve better."

"Something we can both agree on," I replied scathingly.

"Thank you for coming to my rescue," Dick said giving my shoulder a squeeze as he let go.

"You're welcome."

I started to turn around and walk away. He didn't stop me this time.

The only thing I was grateful for was that I had a long drive home, which gave me plenty of time to be alone and cry.