A/N: So sorry I have not updated in such a long time. I'm working on more chapters and will be posting them soon. Hope you enjoy this one!

I guess it was only a matter of time, one of these days I was actually going to get mugged. I've used that excuse a couple of times with my dad while trying to explain why I have a cut here or a bruise there. When I realized that it was actually happening I sighed, so loudly in fact that the greasy haired junkie commented, "Baby, you shouldn't be annoyed by me. You should be scared of me." One hand flashed a knife at me and the other went to grab me. Let's just say that arm is now broken…in three places and he let go of that knife as a result.

Before I could leave without anyone noticing a uniformed cop just happened to walk by. Took me by surprised too when she showed up in that alley with a gun and badge pointed at my assailant and me. "GCPD! Both of you put your hands up."

Damnit! Now dad was going to know about this. I held my hands up and my mugger was still crouched over in pain.

"Officer I was just attacked by this man. See the knife over there. I did it out of self defense."

"Did what in self defense?" The officer stepped more into the light. I saw that she had blond hair. She was very pretty too. I actually have never met her before. She must be new.

"Shh-shheee broke my fucking arm," the mugger stuttered out.

"You mess with the bull, you get the horns," I said glaring at him. The look on his face was priceless. My hands were still up in the air but I was still able to make a bullhorn symbol with my hands. He saw that and looked at me like I was crazy.

The blond cop seemed somewhat amused. "This is Essen. Came across a 211 while off duty. Location is between 5th and 6th on Hill…send a bus too. Perp definitely has a broken arm…thanks. I'll be standing by."

"Can I put my arms down now? They are starting to hurt." I asked.

She smirked at me knowing full well how much of a smart ass I was being, "Alright Miss, but please stand over there while I wait for the squad car to arrive."

"You are SUCH a fucking BITCH. Your arms HURT!? What about MINE," my attacker seethed at me. I just shrugged my shoulders with no sympathy.

"Miss, please do not engage any further with the suspect."

Seconds later a patrol car came and guess who was first out of the car?

Foley.

Great there is no way of sliding past this now. Dad was for sure going to find out.

"Barbara?" he asked getting out of the car.

"You know this woman officer?" Essen asked.

"What is this? Your first day here Detective Essen? That's the Commish's daughter."

Detective Essen looked at me a little surprised and the mugger, still clutching his arm in pain, said what anyone in his situation would say: "Shit."

My dad was still at the station when we arrived. He saw me sitting at Detective Essen's desk, "Barbara? Hon? I thought it was your day off?"

"Hi un-Dad. I um-." I said uncomfortably, but before my dumbfounded syllables could form words Foley spoke up from across the room.

"Your daughter's self defense classes really paid off, she broke that scum bag's arms in three places."

I'm sure my face turned completely red. This doesn't do any wonders for my cover. The less people had to compare me with Batgirl, the better.

"Are you ok? What happened?" he asked sternly.

"I took a short cut down an alley and some junkie decided he wanted my money…"

"Barbara, you could have been seriously hurt or killed."

"I know dad but I can-"

"No amount of money is worth your life. I thought we talked about this honey. You just give him what he wants and you cancel your credit cards later. Your safety is priceless."

"I know what we talked about but-"

"Where is the perp?" he asked looking at Detective Essen.

"Gotham General," she replied.

"Well when he arrives for processing let me know. I have a few matters to attend to and then I'll be back to walk you home Barbara."

"It isn't necessary dad," I replied slightly annoyed.

"Just humor your old man," he said tapping me with the folder in his hand as he walked away to take care of whatever business he needed to tend to.

I didn't even bother calling after him. I just sat, closed my eyes, and breathed deeply.

"Maybe he wants you along for his own protection," Essen said after a moment.

"Unlikely," I said replying back. I knew she was trying to lighten the mood but I just didn't feel like playing along.

"So I take it that your father is very protective over you?" she asked.

"It gets frustrating sometimes, but I can't blame him. I'm all he's got."

"Your parents split up?"

"No. My mother died when I was a child."

She blushed, "I'm so sorry to hear that."

I just smiled a sad smile. I still don't know how to react when someone says they are sorry about my mother's death. There was nothing anyone could do, it just happened.

"So Essen, you got a first name or is it just Detective?" I asked.

"It's Sarah," she said continuing to fill out her report. I continued to look her over. Call me nosy I guess, but I just want to know the people around me. I saw a ring on her left finger.

"Did you keep your maiden name or is Essen your husband's name?"

She smirked a bit as her eyes looked up to me from her paper. "Nothing gets past you, does it?"

"I kept my maiden name," she continued talking as she wen back to her paper work, "So you work here too?"

"I'm a systems and data analyst." She scoffed a little bit.

"Just shows, no matter what a person's specialty is, if blue runs in their blood, they will find a way into law enforcement," Sarah commented.

"I suppose you're right." She has no idea how right she is.

Later that night I was down in the cave doing maintenance on the computer systems, while Bruce was working on the jet glider that he seemed to always break every time he took it out.

"You were late today." He didn't say it as a question, but as a fact.

I just ignored him. "You're still trying to get that contraption to work? It wasn't much use the last two times you used it."

"You dodged my question," he said still working with the soldering iron.

"That was a question? You need to work on your inflections."

"Barb," he said frustrated.

"I was mugged today ok."

He looked up from his work. "Are you ok?"

I gave him a 'you gotta be kidding me look'. "Of course I'm fine…him not so much."

He gave me a pointed look. Then the phone rang. Saved by the computerized ring tone.

"Bruce Wayne," he said in his fake playboy billionaire voice. He still had his cowl on, which made it quite the scene to watch.

"No Lucius, it's alright I was still awake."

He paused.

"Thanks for contacting me. Get the papers ready for me to sign in the morning and then go home and get some rest."

Another pause.

"Right. See you in morning Lucius."

"It is really creepy when you do that," I said a bit disturbed.

He just grinned at that. A true grin, not a Bruce Wayne playboy grin. Whenever I get him to do that I feel a bit accomplished. Knowing that I'm one of the only people who can get him to smile just for a moment made me feel special for some reason.

"So you need a cover for your cover. Is that what the problem is?"

"Yes that's the problem. Every time I defend myself I get asked twenty questions about how I did it and I think breaking a muggers arm in three places is more advanced than just your average self defense classes."

"Barbara!" He exclaimed. He was shocked at what I said.

"I know it was stupid, but I just get frustrated sometimes. You don't know what its like."

"What do you mean?" He seemed a bit dumbfounded. I just sighed. I didn't really feel like explaining myself right now.

"You don't know what its like to be a woman: the random sexual harassment, the catcalling, and the men in your life who act like your some helpless being. If you did what I did, they would just chalk it up to the fact that you're a big, strong man and never give it a second thought. Hell that guy wouldn't even have tried to mug you. But if I defend myself successfully, I must be some kind of a crazy bitch because I'm supposed to be helpless."

He was silent and just stared back at me. I hated when he did that.

"Well? Aren't you going to say anything?"

"You're just assertive."

I couldn't help but laugh, "Today is the day you decide to get a sense of humor."

"I'm serious and you're right about all of it."

"Thank you," I said calming down, "any suggestions on what I should do? I thought about joining a dojo, but I think I'd be in the same boat and would have to hold back there too."

"A dojo. That isn't a bad idea actually. I know of one that will be up to your speed. The owner's name is Dinah Lance. She owes me a favor. Tell her what's going on and she'll help you out and don't worry, you can be honest with her about who you are. I trust her."

Aw another "friend" who is a woman and would have no qualms about the fact that I'm Batgirl. "I'm guessing this Dinah knows who you are?"

He was quiet and just began working again. I really didn't want to know why his identity wasn't a secret from her. I've learned that a number of ex-girlfriends/flings know his identity. To be fair, they all had something to hide too, guess that's why no one has ever ousted him as the Batman.

"Honestly Bruce, sometimes I wonder how secret your secret identity is," I said shaking my head.

He just glanced up to give me another pointed look. I rolled my eyes and began working again. The work was busy work and second nature so my mind started to wander and go in a million different directions.

Since the party at the mansion my stance on whether or not Bruce was interested in me in a romantic sense has swayed to probably not. I think I was over reacting. Just because someone does nice things for you doesn't mean they want to get into your pants. Have I really started to become so jaded that I think when someone does something nice its just because they want something in return? Or maybe I do have a crush on him and I am desperately trying to find conformation that he likes me the same way? No that's crazy. I'm going with the jaded theory. I mean I just got out of a very unhealthy 'friends with benefits' relationship with Dick and seeing him being capable of having an actual relationship with someone else wasn't doing wonders for my self esteem. Plus what kind of a person would I be if I had a crush on Dick's mentor. Hell he's my mentor in a sense too.

I looked into the reflection of a monitor beside me to look at Bruce. He wasn't looking at his work though. He was staring at me. He didn't notice that I was looking at him in the reflection. He probably thought I was just reading something. Why is he staring at me?

I quickly dodged a kick over my head, then a fist that was flying to my face, then a leg trying to sweep me off of my feet. I was able to grab her arm and push her to the wall. She wasn't going to be moving anytime soon.

"You almost got me with that leg sweep," I said a little out of breath.

"Well you're going to be mad then," she replied as the back of her head came crashing into my face.

"Dinah?! What the hell was that?! I had you beat fair and square." I was furious.

"Since when does anyone ever play fair," Dinah asked.

I quickly dropped down and did a leg sweep that caused Dinah to fall to the ground and on her back. She then quickly grabbed my ankle and pulled my foot from under me. I landed on my back next to her on the ground.

"Okay! Okay! Truce!" I mustered out after the wind was knocked out of me.

Dinah just laughed breathless. She got up and offered me a helping hand and helped me launch back to my feet.

"You are always on the defense, trying to not get hit."

"Yeah Dinah, its part of fighting. Trying to not get hit."

"Hitting is part of it too and the only way you'll win. You are too cautious. Its okay to allow a hit once in awhile if it gets you to the position that you want to be in."

"That's not how I've been trained," I replied reaching for my towel.

Dinah raised an eyebrow, "I've seen him fight. He is more offensive than defensive, so why did he teach you to be different?"

"He has his reasons."

"Well whatever those reasons are, they are holding you back. If you just let it rip just a little bit you'd win more fights. Hell you almost beat me with that over cautious bullshit."

"Sometimes I think you insist on pissing me off," I said throwing a towel at her. It was friendly enough, but fueled with frustration.

"Like that next time but with your fists," she said catching it.

I just rolled my eyes as I sat down on the bench next to her. "Thanks for being my cover. I at least have a better excuse now than 'I fell and hit my eye on a door knob'. It's going to make my life a lot easier."

"No problem. Having you here has been beneficial. It's nice to have a good sparing partner to keep me on my toes. Oh and the tech support was worth its wait in gold," she replied.

"Just keep backing up your data. It'll save us both a lot of trouble."

We pause and we both took a drink of our water.

"So how did you come to owing the Batman a favor?" I asked. I've been coming to the dojo for a few weeks now; I hope she didn't mind me asking.

"He hasn't told you," she asked a bit surprised.

"He probably felt that it wasn't his place to tell," I replied.

"I needed to start over, he made that happen."

"Sorry to hear that you had to do that."

"I bet he didn't tell you the other part then did he?" She flashed a huge smile.

"No he didn't," I said confused, but intrigued.

"Come on," Dinah grabbed my arm and led me out the back door. She pulled and turned me so I was looking down the empty alley.

"Stay behind me and maybe cover your ears," she said.

"Okay?"

Dinah went into a fighting stance and took a deep breath. What I saw, or more accurately heard, was something I'd never heard before. The scream was definitely on a sonic level. Every piece of glass in the empty alley was broken, if someone were standing in front of her, his or her ears would definitely be ringing. I stood there speechless as the scream dissipated.

"Are you freaked out," Dinah asked looking at me. Her face look worried.

"I have a friend who flies and shoots laser beams out of her eyes. I'm not freaked out…I'm just impressed," I replied still a little in awe.

Dinah stood with her hands on her hips. "Barbara, I think this is going to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."