Disclaimer:  Again, I own no characters in this story, all are owned by
DC.  I make no money off this work, it's just something to feed my
screaming sense of "PLEASE TELL ME MORE!"

Author's Note:  This follow-up is because someone begged me for it...I
hope that I can do the rest of these characters justice :)  As with the
first story, "A New Year to Remember," Jody Revenson's "Nightwing and
Oracle" is presumed to be in the past of my own timeline. 

Again, my timeline is a divergence from Jody's, she has her own plans for
the characters. Several people mentioned in response to my last story that
they didn't think Babs and Dick had a relationship when she was 22 and he
was 16, but I *am* presuming that it happened ;)  The reactions in the
following scenes are from the rest of the Bat crew - Dick and Barbara both
make appearances, but the focus of the story is the reactions of others to
their news.  It's broken up into three chapters.   Feedback is always
welcome!!  gabi@gies.com

<< >> -- denotes a scene from memory
* * -- denotes a thought (there aren't may, but I used them in a couple
                places)

        ******************************************************

Family Reactions - Chapter 1
Terri Hayes

        "Dad, I've got some news for you..."  Barbara's voice was laced with
amusement as her eyes searched out Dick's.  She was sitting on the couch with
him, the speakerphone on so that they could both hear her father's reaction
to the news. "Dick and I are getting married."
        Jim Gordon's chuckle reverberated through the speaker,
"Congratulations, sweetheart.  That's absolutely wonderful news."  He
couldn't really summon up surprise at the announcement, after he walked into
their little "love nest" by accident several months ago, but he was thrilled
at his daughter's happiness.  "I expect to see you both for dinner tonight,
Sarah and I won't take 'no' for an answer."
        Laughing, both Dick and Barbara agreed to meet her father and his
wife at 7:00, and hung up the phone.  Leaning back in her chair, Barbara
couldn't help looking a little bit piqued, though humor remained foremost.
"He could have at least pretended to be surprised."
        Shrugging casually, Dick replied, "Why?  It's not like it should have
been unexpected, Babs."  Soft laughter threaded through his tone, he lightly
trailed off, "And after that nice little lecture when he caught us in here
that first morning after we got together..."
        Boy, that had been an experience.  Talk about your protective
fathers.  Dick had walked Jim to the front door after breakfast that morning,
and Jim made a point of stopping to check his weapon's clip as he was
leaving.  "I don't have to tell you what daughters mean to their fathers, do
I, son?"  Dick had been quite nervous as he promised to not hurt Barbara.
Following that episode, it was understood between the men that if Dick was
toying with her emotions, Jim would have choice words for him.
        'But I'd never hurt her,' Dick thought to himself as his eyes took in 
her features, 'It took me too long to finally find her again.'
        Barbara simply laughed at the reminder.

                ****************************************

        As he hung up his office phone, James Gordon shook his head.  His
beautiful Barbara was getting married.  It seemed like only yesterday she'd
come to him, all pigtails and glasses, so serious and somber.  She was so
terribly smart, and so terribly alone all the time.  He had worried about
her in high school, she always seemed so certain that no one wanted her...

        <<Sitting at the dinner table during her senior year in high
school, Barbara looked glum.
        "What's wrong, honey?"  Jim had been watching her all week, and
her mood had only gotten worse.
        "Nothing, Dad."  She paused and admitted softly, "The senior prom
is next week.  Nobody's asked me yet, and everyone is going except me."
        *Oh boy...*  Jim had experienced a lot of things in the years
since Barbara had come to live with him, but this one was a little out of
his league.
        Barbara toyed with her potatoes, pushing her glasses up her nose
with an absentminded motion.  "It's sort of stupid, but I don't really
want to go alone."
        Jim considered his response carefully, "What about that young man,
... what was his name, Brian?  I thought you were seeing each other last
weekend."
        Barbara nodded, "Yeah... we were, I thought.  Turned out, he
wanted my help on his math homework, not my company for a movie."  She
looked dejected.
        "What about... Andy?  Just up the street?"
        Barbara looked at him with the disgusted expression that only a
teenager can pull off.  A look that eloquently said, 'I'd rather be dead.'
"Dad, he's a complete jerk!  He acts like God's gift to women."
        Jim hmm'd quietly.  "I see.  And Christopher Miller?"
        "He's got no brains, he's just a dumb jock."
        "What about Billy Teasedale," he asked.
        Barbara rolled her eyes expressively, "Oh, yeah.  He can't talk
without yelling, and all that interests him is his college applications.
Which, yeah, are thrilling but... he doesn't care if anyone else has
anything to say."
        Jim quirked a brow, wondering if she would find something wrong
with every boy in her school.  It wouldn't be the first time, she rarely
dated anyone.  It worried him.  "What about John Humphries?"
        Barbara grimaced again, "He's seeing Linda.  Look, Dad... it's
okay, honest.  I just won't go, that's all.  No one will miss me anyway."
        Jim scowled at that, "Now you're just wallowing, young lady.  I'm
certainly not convinced that your friends won't miss you at that dance.
Are you sure there isn't one person out there who wouldn't like to go with
you, and isn't perhaps too shy to ask?  Even if it's just as a friend."
        Barbara shrugged, but he could see the wheels in her mind turning.
"I suppose... that I could ask Sean Riley.  He's not TOO much of a creep,
just quiet."
        Jim left her to ponder that, and was thankful on Sunday when she
asked him to take her shopping for a dress.  She was going to the prom.
        "But just as friends, that's all," she hastened to be certain she
informed him.  Jim was just glad she was going.>>

        ... That hadn't been the only time she vetoed every suggestion of
a date with someone they knew.  Jim wondered through her school years
whether anyone would even meet her exacting standards.  In part, he knew,
it hadn't been just her standards.  His daughter was a genius with a
photographic memory.  A lot of the boys were intimidated by her.  And
those that weren't intimidated by her brains and beauty all in one
package... well, let's just say they didn't get much further than their
buddies.
         With a faint smile, he recalled the three or four that had been
so intimidated by him, they hadn't called back.  He did feel a little
guilty about that, but as far as he was concerned, anyone who couldn't
stand up for himself against Jim Gordon's vague, fatherly threats wasn't
worthy of Barbara.  She needed a real man, someone who would stand up for
his beliefs and against Barbara herself, when she got into one of her
fiery fits or depressions.  Someone like young Dick, Jim acknowledged.
        Her last year of college, Barbara was more secretive than usual
about her personal life.  He recalled thinking that it had to be a young
man and that she must be serious to be playing her cards so close to the
chest with this one.  She had this glow about her, and the father in him
mourned a little for the loss of his innocent little girl.  If Barbara
thought he didn't know she was experimenting with sex... well, he wasn't
THAT old. But this time was different, what he'd seen in her expression
was much deeper than that.  And then came the day that she looked so
devastated. She never spoke of whoever the young man had been, but whoever
that scoundrel was, Jim would have liked to get his hands on him.
Barbara hadn't been the same after that, she'd closed her emotions away
for a long time.  She'd looked so hurt....

        <<Barbara came home from college that weekend, looking like her best
friend died.  Dejected, depressed and seemingly wanting only to hide in the
refuge of her room.  Jim left her alone the first night.  He managed to
contain his questions until the second night, but no longer... she still
hadn't spoken to him all the second day.  So at 10:00pm, he knocked gently
on her bedroom door.
        "Barbara?  Sweetheart?  Would you like to talk about it?"
        "No, Dad.  I don't want to talk," was the soft response.  Jim almost
preferred seeing her angry and throwing things.  This silent misery
was breaking his heart.  He leaned against her doorframe, his eyes on his
daughter.
        "Honey?  C'mon, talk to me.  You'll feel better if you get it off
your chest.  Even if I can't help, I'm a good listener."
        Barbara's soft sigh was torture to Jim's heart.  "Daddy... do you
think it's possible for two people to love each other too much?"
        *Ah,* he thought to himself.  *So it is that young man.* Jim moved
from the doorframe to sit on the side of Barbara's bed, where she sprawled
out watching him.
        "I don't know, honey.  Without knowing the specifics of a situation,
it's hard to say.  And each situation is different."  Jim's voice stopped for
a moment, and he finally said, "I think I'd have to say no, I don't think you
can love too much, unless the love is dangerous to one of you. Like... loving
a man who beats you and ignoring that part, all in the name of love."
        Barbara's smile was pained.  She knew she couldn't hide from her
father that she was in love with someone, but she was thankful he hadn't
pushed.  She responded, "That wasn't an issue, Daddy.  You know I wouldn't
ever put up with that.  But....  circumstances seem to be conspiring against
us.  His age is a bit of a factor."
        Jim's brows creased into a faint frown.  Barbara was always so far
ahead of her age group, somehow it didn't surprise him that she'd fall for
an older man.  It worried him, though, because for all her brains, his
daughter was not as emotionally mature as she was mentally.  And part of
him had to agree that if age was an obvious problem, then she shouldn't be
seeing the man.  That part of him silently thanked the unknown man for
sensing that Barbara wasn't ready... but the other part of him was furious
that his daughter was hurt.
        "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I know that it's hard for you to find
young men on your intellectual level who are also your age.  Perhaps in a
couple of years, it won't be an issue anymore."  He paused, "I do believe
that if it's truly love, age doesn't matter as much as mental state... but
I would hate to see you not have enough time to grow into your own person
before getting involved with a man who has had the time to do exactly that
kind of self-exploration."
        Barbara's soft laughter confused him just a little, but she promised
quietly, "I'll think about that, Dad.  Thanks."  She'd leaned up to hug him
and kiss his cheek.  He couldn't shake the feeling as he left that night that
he'd missed something important.  One of the things that bothered him most
was that he'd never really seen her cry or mourn for the relationship.
 She just closed herself off from everyone, even him, and her face never
held that kind of happiness again.>>

        ...*RING!!* Jim's attention was brought back to the present by a
phone call from the DA.  They spoke about the Scorelli case, coming to
trial next week, and when he hung up the phone, Jim leaned back in his
chair to toy with a pen and look out his office window while his mind
replayed scenes from Barbara's youth as a movie camera might.  Her pain
when she first came to him, her tears of happiness when she finally
accepted that she was going to be allowed to stay with him.  Her report
cards, her prom, high school graduation and then college graduation.  He
was so proud of her accomplishments, both scholastic and personal, that
the precinct teased him for putting her on a pedestal.
        Jim's thoughts took a bittersweet turn.  He didn't put his daughter
on a pedestal, he knew all too well her failings.  She had a formidable
temper and ever since the shooting, she was prone to deep bouts of
depression.  She had always been emotionally insecure and although he'd done
his best, there was a part of her that he could never touch, a part of her
even as a child that wouldn't be convinced that she was worthy of being
loved.  He was glad to see that at least one person knew how to reach her.
He'd known Dick Grayson since the boy's parents were killed, and Bruce Wayne
had done a fine job raising Dick.  He was aware of the friction between Bruce
and his ward, but figured he understood that children sometimes needed to
push their parents away.  He loved the whole bunch of them like they were
family.
        Idly, Jim wondered if there would ever come a day when he'd tell
them that he'd known their secret for years.  Cleaning out Barbara's
apartment for the renovations necessary following her shooting, he'd found
the secret closet with her uniforms and gadgetry.  It had just been
confirmation, though.  He'd been so worried after he'd figured it out...

        <<"Did you read the news this morning, Barbara?"
        If Jim Gordon's tone was casual, his daughter's was more so as she
sipped from her coffee cup with that bleary-eyed, tired look.
        "News?  What news, Dad?"
        "Batman and Robin helped capture the Penguin last night."  He
watched Barbara closely.  She was good.  Damn good.  Her poker face would 
fool most people.
        "Oh?"
        Jim deliberately left out Batgirl's contribution, "He was running
another one of his scams down off Hayden Street.  It actually was pretty
run of the mill.  He was using a pawn shop as a front for one of his
fencing rackets."
        Barbara paused, "Well, that doesn't sound to me like you would
have needed Batman's help for that."
        Jim shrugged, "We didn't.  But we did need his help when several
of Penguin's customers decided to get ugly and start shooting."
        Barbara's expression turned to one of concern, "No one was hit
were they?"
        Jim shook his head negatively, both in answer to her question and
in amazement.  Just the right amount of concern and worry, as if she
really didn't know what was happening.  Truth be told, he wouldn't have
realized that Batgirl and Barbara were one and the same if she hadn't
given it away last night.
        "No, no one was shot.  Batgirl's rather timely arrival is probably
the only reason, though.  Two of the bodyguards of one of Penguin's
customers snuck around and flanked three of us.  While Batman and Robin
took care of the shooters inside the club, she took care of them."
        Barbara was visibly relieved, but he knew her better than almost
anyone.  He caught the slight tilt of her chin that indicated her pride.
        "She swung down from somewhere behind me and Driscoll, and by the
time I turned around, she was in the middle of a fist fight with the two
bodyguards.  Don't know who taught that young woman how to fight, but
Driscoll and I owe her our lives.  We wouldn't have seen them coming."
        It had actually been after she flattened both men that Jim's wits
kicked in.  Her moves were just different enough to keep him from
recognizing her in the shadows and from a distance, which was the only way
he'd ever really seen Batgirl. But he was her father.  He was the one who
taught her the first self-defense moves she'd ever learned.
        If she had been further than a bare 15 feet away from him and
stuck to the shadows like she usually did when they encountered one
another, he might never have figured it out.  But the fight took place in
front of one of the squad cars, in the pool where the headlights fell.
        "Well," Barbara responded carefully, "I'm very thankful for her
interruption of their plans.  I don't know what I'd do without you, Dad."
        Jim nodded slowly, "I know, sweetheart.  I don't know what might
have happened if she hadn't jumped in like that and saved my skin.  That's
the first time I've really gotten a good look at her, you know."
        Barbara's gaze sharpened on his face, but her expression still
gave away nothing but concern for him and interest.  "Really?  I thought
you were sort of "in" with that whole group.  What was she like?"
        Jim smiled faintly.  Oh yes, his daughter was VERY good at
dissembling.  "She was quite a good fighter.  Batman's style shows in her
actions, but she's got her own twist on moves."
        Barbara simply nodded, and Jim got up from his chair at the
breakfast table to kiss her lightly on the forehead.  "I'm sure that
whoever she is, her parents would be very proud of her.  Batman's never
said much about her, but it's been evident that he thinks highly of her. 
I should get to the office, sweetheart.  Have a good day."
        Jim left the kitchen to go to the Gotham Police Department with a
lot on his mind.  With what she didn't say, Barbara had confirmed his
worst fears.  Now, in addition to worrying about young Robin and Batman,
he would have to hope that he didn't come on a crime scene where his own
daughter was a victim.>>

        ... He never let on that he knew.  Technically, he would have been
forced to arrest them all if he knew their identities.  Vigilantism was
not an accepted form of law enforcement.  But he felt too strongly that
their activities were what kept Gotham from sliding too far down the slope
into complete anarchy.  Perhaps someday when he wasn't the Police
Commissioner anymore, he'd tell.  Meanwhile, it wasn't hard to pretend
that he didn't see things, and it kept everyone's peace of mind intact.
        Shaking his head, Jim chuckled softly when he thought about how
he'd let himself into Barbara's apartment several months ago and stumbled
into their little tryst.  How long it was going on before that, he wasn't
certain.  The look on Dick's face had been priceless as Jim walked in the
front door, but he presumed the look on his own was equally flabbergasted
and embarrassed. When he'd gone to wash his hands before joining them for
breakfast, a move designed to allow all three of them to regain some
composure, the puddle of material in Barbara's hamper gave away why
Grayson's car wasn't outside.  As usual, Jim pretended there was nothing
out of the ordinary.  Spot Nightwing's costume on the floor of the
bathroom?  Never!
        Jim had taken a couple of days to think about the situation, after
seeing how happy the young man made his daughter.  He couldn't help but
worry how Barbara would react if Nightwing was ever badly injured in the
line of his vigilante work.  The memory of her retreat into isolation and
the contrast to her happiness now was drastic... how much more so would it
be a second time?  But Dick was a careful man. He had to be.  And if he
could work with the brooding Dark Knight for so long, he was strong enough
to handle Barbara's moods.  It was obvious to him that Barbara had given
something very precious to Dick Grayson - her complete trust and love.
It made him happy to know she wouldn't be alone anymore.  Jim's smile
blossomed into a full-face grin as he slid out of his chair to announce
with satisfaction to the precinct and his wife that his daughter was
getting married!


Chapter 2


        After basking a little in the pleasure at being able to tell
someone about their great news, Barbara looked up at Dick.  Quietly, she
said, "We have a couple of other calls to make.... would you rather wait?"
        Dick's expression took on a vague tension, but he responded with a
negative shake of his head. "Let's do it now."
        Barbara put her hand over his, replying softly, "We don't have to,
Dick.  I know that you and Bruce are still having some difficulties."
        Dick shook his head adamantly and smiled for her.  "Whatever
difficulties Bruce and I have, he'll be happy for us.  And Alfred and Tim
will want to know, too.  It's okay, Babs."  He leaned over to kiss her
softly.
        Barbara returned the kiss, putting all of her love into it.  Then
she reached over to type the commands that would allow her computer to
link up with the ones in the BatCave, waiting several minutes for the
BatComputer to notify the inhabitants of the mansion by ringing a special
phone line that there was a video call coming into the cave.  Bruce's face
filled the screen finally, and Barbara smiled.
        "Afternoon, Bruce... are Alfred and Tim both with you?"
        Bruce Wayne raised his eyebrows, the only indication of his
surprise.  "Alfred's here, and Tim should be here momentarily.  Is
everything all right, Barbara?"
        Dick leaned slightly forward then from where he'd been out of
sight of the monitor.  Bruce simply nodded as he spotted his past
partner, betraying curiosity.  Barbara looked up to Dick, a faint smile
telling him that he would have to be the one to announce this one.
        Making a small face at her, Dick looked at the screen and said
quietly, "We have an announcement for you both.  We're getting married."
Dick's hand slipped into Barbara's, even as smiles cracked through the
normally serious expressions on both of the men in the BatCave.
        Alfred looked as ecstatic as a properly dignified butler could
get, "Master Dick!  Congratulations, sir! And to you, Miss Barbara!"
        Bruce, like Jim Gordon, simply wasn't surprised by the
announcement.  His words echoed Alfred's with feeling, "I couldn't be
happier for you both.  If you'd like, we'll tell Tim when he gets in."
        Barbara nodded, but Dick shook his head negatively.  "No, don't
tell him. I'll catch him on patrol this evening and tell him myself, if
you don't mind."  His voice was only a little bit cool, and Bruce noted
it.
        "Dick... "  Bruce paused a moment.  "I'll send him over on the
West Side this evening, you should be able to find him from there."  He
smiled some and said quietly, "Congratulations to you both."
        Alfred, in the background, couldn't contain his chuckles, "We
shall have to give a formal announcement, Master Dick, so do let me know
when you wish to hold a party and what I can do to assist."
        Dick laughed softly, "All right, Alfred, we will.  Thanks... to
both of you."  His eyes lingered on his mentor's face and then he smiled.
"Take care, and we'll talk to you both later."
        Barbara closed the window and looked up at her fiance, murmuring,
"I'm very proud of you, you know.  You mean a lot to both of them."  When
he leaned over to kiss her heatedly, Barbara lost her train of thought.

             *******************************************

        Bruce Wayne closed his end of the link to Oracle's machine, and
was silent as he looked at the screen.  Alfred simply said, "I'll be
upstairs, Master Bruce."  Then he slipped out in his usual silent way.
        Left in the silence of the Cave, Bruce leaned back in his chair
and steepled his fingers together.  He was genuinely happy for them.
Though he didn't know how to show it so well, he was truly sorry for the
distance that remained between himself and Dick.  He was well aware of his
failings when it came to Dick.  He was also aware of how dismally he'd
failed Barbara.  She was shot on his watch. He should have been able to
stop both it and the torture of Jim Gordon.  They were both amazingly
strong people.  Neither had ever held him accountable.  He was the one who
was castigating Batman for not doing enough.
        Not doing enough.  He was forever not doing enough to protect the
ones closest to him.  He couldn't keep his parents from being shot, he
couldn't keep Dick or Barbara from being shot, he couldn't save Jim Gordon
from being injured by the Joker, he couldn't save Jason from being
killed... and now there was Tim to look out for as well.  Bruce was forced
to ask himself how all these people had gotten so close to him.  It was so
easy for people to be taken away, and yet they had all breached his
defenses when he really wasn't looking.
        Rocking his chair slightly back and forth, Bruce tried to work out
his thoughts.  Both Barbara and Dick deserved their happiness. Oh, he'd
known years before about their intimacy.  Dick was 16 at the time, and 
Bruce debated long and hard before approaching Barbara.  Dick had seen
too much of the gritty side of life to be considered a child and Barbara
had managed to retain the naivete and innocence that prevented her from
becoming a hardcase.  He thought, even now, that mentally they'd been
close in ages but he had brought his formidable logic to bear when arguing
that their relationship would go nowhere to the young, idealistic woman.
It had been a difficult confrontation...

        <<Crouched on a rooftop overlooking the warehouse district, Batman
awaited the arrival of his protege.  With barely a swish of wind as she
descended the grappling line to the rooftop, Batgirl's slim form joined
him in the shadows.
        "What's going down?"
        Her voice was low, though musical in quality.  His eyes raked over
her with a mixture of parental disapproval and disappointment. "Nothing
here.  I told you to meet me so that we could talk."
        Barbara was surprised, though the mask of Batgirl hid most of it.
Warily, she responded, "Talk?  What about?"  The slight tension in her
betrayed that she knew it wouldn't be a good talk.
        "Your... relationship.  With Dick."
        Barbara closed her eyes, her breath escaping her silently.  She
had obviously been expecting this for some time.  She didn't reply,
though.
        "Have you nothing to say for yourself?"  Batman's voice contained
the hard edge that denoted he was controlling himself tightly.
        Batgirl's response came in slow, thoughtful words.  "What would
you like me to say?  That I'm a fool?  I probably am.  That I won't see
him anymore?  I.... can't." She paused, her next words painful to hear and
obviously to say, as well.
        "Don't you think that I've already said all the things to myself
that you want to say to me?  That he's too young for me.  That I should
know better.  How dare I take advantage of a 16 year old..."  Her voice
broke slightly, but she regained her control quickly.
        Batman remained silent, studying her intently as her voice
continued.
        "God, Bruce... I've even thought myself a pedophile or some kind
of sicko at times."  She pulled her mask and cowl off to face the wrath of
Batman as Barbara, exposing her face to his view.  "But I can't stop
feeling the way I feel about him.  Maybe that sounds insane, coming from
me.  I'm well aware that he's still in high school and I just graduated
from college. It's sick, right?"  Her voice became soft.
        "I've dated around the college, Bruce.  And I've *never* met
someone who is ... so close to me.  We bounce ideas off one another like
two halves of the same brain.  We talk about so much... I think we're
closer to each other than to anyone else.  He tells me so many things, and
I tell him too."
        Was she pleading, or simply trying to justify?  In his anger,
Batman couldn't be sure and remained silent.  He didn't want to hurt
Barbara... she was someone he respected, someone whose input in a
situation could be invaluable.  He watched expressionlessly as she
struggled for words, looking up at him.
        "I can't be ashamed of my feelings for him, Bruce.  I love him, no
matter how crazy that sounds.  Maybe it's this job and the intensity that
surrounds us while we do it... maybe it's just that we're foils for each
other... I don't know.  It doesn't excuse my actions."  She paused and
swallowed hard.  "I'll understand if you are going to take up legal
proceedings.  It's well within your rights as his guardian."
        It was then that Bruce Wayne made his decision.  When he'd
realized how far their relationship had progressed, he'd been furious.
Now, though... Barbara was no older, emotionally, than Dick was.
Regardless of their physical ages, their mental and emotional ages were
very close.  She was obviously having trouble with the situation anyway,
he rationalized. So he would correct it.
        "You claim to love him.  But you're already well aware that he's
just a child.  He hasn't grown up sheltered in any way, no.  But a child
he is.  The legalities of this situation are untenable, Barbara.  You will
have to make a choice.  If you choose to continue this relationship
without giving him the opportunities that you yourself have already
explored, how can you be certain there won't come a time that he resents
you?  He's 16 years old. Do you intend to let him go to college without
being able to learn all that it has to teach, both social and scholastic?"
        Batman's voice was impassive, though there was an undercurrent of
steel to the words.  "Just how fair is that to him?  Or to you?  I will
not follow up on the legal issues of this unless I feel that you have
disregarded this warning.  I want for Dick all the things that he
deserves.  And I want that for you, as well.  Do you think that this
relationship will go anywhere at your ages?  He can't bring you to parties
as his date.  You can't take him out to dinner as your date.  Your
relationship, by necessity, would have to be hidden from everyone.  Do you
truly believe that it would work that way?  One or the other of you would
be bound to slip at some point.  You're also jeopardizing your working
relationship.  You can't believe that if it goes sour, which it inevitably
does, you'll be able to work together.  Think on it."
        Leaving it at that, the Dark Knight left Barbara stifling sobs
atop the warehouse roof.  He hoped he wouldn't have to step into the
situation and confront Dick about what was happening.  He hoped that
Barbara would see reason.>>

        ... He hadn't threatened Barbara, though initially he'd considered
doing so, in his rage.  It had been very shortly thereafter that Dick's
face had taken on that closed, confused, hurt expression.  As if life had
kicked him in the teeth and he wasn't sure why.  Barbara's eyes gained a
haunted kind of pain, and she'd withdrawn from all but absolutely
necessary contact with the Dynamic Duo.  Bruce had expected it to be hard,
but he hadn't expected the depth of the injury that was inflicted on both
of them that night.
        Through the breakup and for a while following it, the two of them
wouldn't even work together.  He'd wanted to throttle them both for a
while.  Each had taken far more risks over those weeks than should have
been required and he'd had his hands full keeping an eye on them when they
were never in the same area at the same time....

        <<Swinging through Gotham on a grappling line, Batman tailed
Robin.  He was making an effort to be silent and unseen as his partner
rode through the city on his motorcycle, though he could have been wearing
a cow bell for all the attention Dick was paying to the possibility of
being tailed.  Dick was just looking for trouble.  Inevitably, he'd find
it, or it would find him.
        Two ruffians in an alley beating up on a homeless man must have
seemed like a godsend to Dick, Bruce realized.  A way to get his
aggression out on people who deserved it.  Bruce stood silently in the
darkness above the scene, making certain his protege had himself in hand.
        Robin gunned the engine on his motorcycle, sending the bike flying
into the alleyway. The Boy Wonder launched himself from the seat to
tackle the blond hoodlum on the left. The motorcycle went several yards
further before tipping on it's side with its engine idling.  Caught
unawares, the blond took the full force of the hit, tumbling backward with
Robin into a pile of trash cans.  The dark-haired one looked stunned.
"Snake??!"
        Climbing back to his feet, Robin growled, "Pick on someone who can
fight back this time, creep!"
        The dark-haired ruffian abandoned his initial target when Snake
didn't immediately climb to his feet, "You bastard!  Ya killed Snake!" A
knife appeared in his hand, apparently from nowhere.  Batman tensed,
holding his Batarang to the ready.
        Maybe he shouldn't have bothered.  Robin's pent-up fury exploded
into a blur of fists and feet as he hammered the two troublemakers.
 He fought completely without regard to the knife, though it earned him
several deep nicks in his arms and legs.  Robin checked both hoodlums once
they were down and then went to help the homeless man totter to his feet.
        He couldn't take the old man on his motorcycle; he could only make
certain that he would be all right, then leave.  Batman watched in
silence, letting Dick get a half an hour or so head start to get back
to the BatCave.  Alfred would patch him up and since he wasn't badly
injured, there was no point in lecturing him about this incident.  For
now.>>

                *************************************

        <<Bruce spent three weeks trailing Robin's and Batgirl's actions.
Most of the time he didn't interfere.  They were well trained enough to
handle themselves.  The night that Robin scoped out a drug deal on the
docks and got spotted, though, Batman did intervene.
        Robin's enthusiasm for the bust caused him to misjudge the
situation, and he'd swung in and landed on the ground just in time for the
second group of thugs to arrive.  Apparently running late for the meeting,
they were already nervous and immediately leveled their weapons on the
young vigilante.  Surrounded on all sides by men toting machine guns as
Robin was, it was up to Batman to incapacitate them and draw their fire.
        Scrambling over the rooftop, Batman called, "Robin, heads up!"
        Three gas pellets dropped into the midst of the group while Robin
fired off his grappling hook and flew skyward on the attached line.  The
staccato sounds of machine gun fire echoed across the water.  The two
masked vigilantes raced away from the scene even as police sirens wailed
to life several blocks over.
        When they'd gotten away from the scene, Batman stopped Robin atop
the roof of another warehouse with a hand on the boy's shoulder. In a
rough, grating voice, he asked, "What were you thinking??"
        Robin shook off his hand, furious.  "I had it covered, I didn't
need your help."
        "Robin, you almost got yourself shot!  You know better than that!"
        A scowl settled on the young man's features, "You think I always
need to be rescued by you?  Think again, Batman.  I had it under control."
        Batman's voice was cold as he said, "You didn't have anything
under control.  Next time, do as you're taught and at least count the
number you're facing.  Or do a little research and figure out if two
groups is all that's showing."
        Robin turned and faced off against Batman, pushing a finger into
his chest.  "*You* stay the hell out of my way, Batman.  I don't need a
babysitter, and I *don't* need you to fight my battles for me."  He turned
away and fired his grappling line off again.  "Go find your own damn busts
to make."
        Batman sighed and let him go.  When he'd seen the machine guns,
he'd been .... afraid.  It was a new feeling for him, compounded by
the guilt he felt at being the cause of his protege's reckless
activities.>>

                *************************************

        <<Batman watched from the shadows as Batgirl fought three bank
robbers.  Common street thugs they might be, but they were carrying knives
and were NOT happy their heist had gone so wrong.  She was holding her own
when there were two of them.  But adding number three to the mix turned
the tide of the fight against her.
        "Little girl, yer in big trouble.... the big bad Bat ain't here to
pull your fat outta the fire, either."  The first guy launched himself at
Batgirl, intending to tackle her to the ground, but she was too well
trained to be taken by such a move.
        Kicking her foot out, she caught him right in the jaw.  "If you
think I need the big bad Bat, you're seriously mistaken.  Never
underestimate the power of a woman, boys."
        Unfortunately, Goons #2 and #3 were a little smarter and worked
together.  Surrounding her, one on either side, the skinny Goon (#2) tried
to punch her and while her attention was engaged there, the heavier goon
(#3) threw his coat over her head and grabbed her.
        Taunting in a mumbled voice as Batgirl squirmed and tried to
fight back, Goon #1 climbed to his feet, "Looks like woman power just got
overwhelmed by manpower."  He was cradling his jaw painfully.
        Batman chose to bide his time for another minute to see if Batgirl
would get loose.  Her muffled shouts, though, indicated that she was truly
caught.  The heavy guy, Goon #3, said to Goon #1, "Hey boss... whadda we
do with the little Bat chick now that we got her?"
        The first man responded, "Keep her from gettin' away, Frankie.
We'll use her as a hostage if the Batman shows up and tries to stop us
from leavin'. The cops are already on their way here, y'know... we gotta
get outta here!"
        "Alright, Rob..."
        A Batarang whizzed past Rob's head to smack the second goon, whose
name hadn't yet been used.  Whatever his name was didn't matter, since he
simply crumpled to the ground without uttering more than a soft moan of
pain.
        Frankie's head jerked around to look at the fallen man, "Joey?"
Then he looked upward and screamed, "Aw, god, Rob!  's HIM!!"  Frankie
shoved the jacket-covered Batgirl away from himself and took off running.
        Rob started to say something, but it was every man for himself
when it came to the Batman.  He stammered, "We... we wasn't gonna hurt
her, I swear!"  He backpedaled several steps, and then turned around to
run as well.
        Batgirl shoved the jacket off her head, furious.  She climbed to
her feet as Batman landed beside her.  He asked in that stern, cold tone,
"Are you all right?"
        "I had them where I wanted them, I didn't need your help!"
        Again, his tone still calm and authoritative, "It appeared more
like they had you where they wanted you.  If you're trying to get yourself
injured or worse, do it somewhere else.  I don't have any desire to
explain to your father what you're out here doing in that costume."
        Batgirl turned her back to him and cuffed the last ruffian, the
one called 'Joey'.  "I'll call it in.  Get lost."
        Batman watched her a moment and sighed, "Barbara..."
        Batgirl whirled to face him, "Don't.  Just get the hell out of
here, I don't want to see you.  I don't need you following me.  I don't
need you pulling me out of trouble. And I *don't* need you telling me that
it was for my own good!  I did what you wanted.  Now stay away from me."
Her voice broke slightly, "Keep him out of trouble."
        She launched a grappling rope, "Never mind.  YOU call it in."  And
then she was gone.
        Bruce sighed to himself.  Keeping up with her and Robin, jumping
into these situations was a full time job in and of itself.>>

        ... He still wished there had been another way.  They were both so
hurt by the breakup of the relationship, they no longer had a care for
their own health.  Though a keen observer of human nature and behavior,
Bruce was too emotionally scarred to do more than remain the aloof,
distant protector.  They had to learn for themselves what pain could be
inflicted by caring too much.  And so he'd done what he could to protect
both of them during their reckless attempts to forget each other.  His
'son' and the girl who'd won her own place in Bruce's guarded heart.
        The intervening years brought maturity to both of them.
Rediscovering that illusive something between them, they reclaimed the
closeness they shared before the aborted relationship and had slowly built
on it in the intervening years.  Somehow, it didn't surprise him that they
would gravitate back toward one another. The intensity of their feelings
and their pain made both exceedingly cautious with giving their hearts,
afraid to be hurt.  In part, he felt responsible for that.
        He watched their friendship blossom again over the years and known
their feelings were still there.  The relationship growing into deeper
love over time made sense to him, considering their past emotions. The boy
who came to him so many years ago had never lost the capacity to love,
though he learned quickly not to let too many people close. Especially
following the breakup with Barbara.  When he finally trusted someone
enough to let her in, with Koriand'r, he had again had his fragile trust
stomped upon.
        Regret passed over Bruce's face.  He hadn't been certain that his
surrogate son would bounce back from that second injury to his heart, and
he occasionally wondered if maybe he was wrong to have split Dick and
Barbara up back then. He just didn't want either of them hurt.  Not then,
and not now.  He didn't want Dick, the only son he would likely ever have,
to be as alone as Bruce himself was.
        Now they were engaged.  He *was* happy for them, damn it!  Wasn't
he?  They deserved happiness.... Bruce shook his head, resting his chin on
his steepled fingers.
        The practicalities.  Would Dick continue with his work as
Nightwing now?  What about children?  Bruce fell deeper into his brooding
over the situation.  Was this *really* the best thing for them both?  All
kinds of complications could come of their relationship, as they had
before.  And if they had kids, Dick's attention would constantly be split
between the job and his family.  That could so easily get him killed.
And what would happen to Barbara then?  What would happen if Nightwing's
identity became known somehow?  The nocturnal activities of vigilante
fighters for justice certainly drew more than bad press - it drew enemies.
And Barbara was already made a target too many times. Images of the night
she was paralyzed haunted him...

        <<The clues sent by the Joker to the police station had given away
his hideout.  He _wanted_ Batman to come.  Although Batman already knew
that Barbara was found naked on the floor of her father's home, he did not
initially see the macabre photographs of Barbara used to torment Jim
Gordon while the Joker held him hostage.  His view of those pictures did
not come until after Jim was rescued and the Joker incarcerated.

        Barbara, spread-eagled on the floor of her father's living room.
        Naked.
        Bleeding from a gut wound that her hands tried desperately to put
pressure on to stop the bleeding.
        Being posed like a marionette whose string were cut.
        Biting her lip in agony.
        Tears on her face.
        Curled in a fetal position so blood from both stomach and back
pooled around her hips.
        Lying on her stomach so that the gaping exit wound in her lower
back was clearly visible in all its bloody glory.
        Her spine shattered by the bullet.>>

        ... *NO!  Never again!* Sternly quelling the horrific pictures,
Bruce mentally catalogued the various criminals in Gotham and leaned his
head back against the chair to sigh.  Had they considered the dangers
inherent to this line of work?  How could they be thinking about marriage
and kids, when both of them had seen the kind of repercussions, both
physical and emotional, that could come from their night "jobs."  That
thought stopped him for a long moment in his pacing. Here he was, asking
'how dare they?' when the real question was 'how dare I?' How dare he get
upset that they were pulling together like this?  Had he learned nothing
from his interference the first time?
        Bitterly, he realized he would always stand outside such
relationships like a poverty-stricken child looking in the window of the
candy store and wishing for what was inside.  Like that bereft child, when
Bruce _did_ attempt to partake of the sweetness, he inevitably tried to
have too much and ruined the heavenly treat.
        All right, then, he would admit it.  He was envious of what Dick
and Barbara found together, even though he couldn't take the same chance
with his own heart.  His fears of losing the ones he cared about were too
deep-rooted to be ousted now.  But the one thing he could do was to make
sure that Dick and Barbara were as safe as possible.  He could work with
Barbara on an extra-good security system, and if they were moving out of
her apartment, he could help them set up their household with extra
measures of safety protocols.
        He had watched them both grow from the very young, immature
children they were when they started their vigilante careers to the
strong, capable, intelligent leaders they were today.  Perhaps their
transformation was in part due to his teaching.  He just hoped they hadn't
forgotten what he taught them. Security *should* be as natural to them as
breathing.  Without being vain, he'd at least taught them how to stay
alive.  In return, they taught him how to work as a team when necessary.
        Bruce stood from his chair to pace the Batcave in agitation.  He
had done very poorly as a parent, he acknowledged.  Perhaps he was _too_
concerned about the safety issues, but he didn't know any other way to be.
Alfred had warned him so many times over the years that if he didn't find
a way to stop operating under the superstitious assumption that anyone he
cared about was certain to die, Dick would be forced to leave in order to
not be stifled. Had that been what he wanted?  Bruce considered that for a
long while as he walked.
        Dick's arrival at the mansion was hard on Bruce emotionally.
Taking in a small boy whose parents just died had been an impulse move, a
very rare thing for him.  What on Earth would he do with a child??  It was
just that he saw so much of himself in Dick.  And maybe... just maybe...
he could help the boy deal with the pain inside.  He couldn't allow the
boy's rage to kill his spirit, or his desire for revenge to warp him into
something even worse than what Batman became. Without even trying, Dick
created a place for himself in Bruce's heart and life.  It had been so
easy and yet so hard for Bruce...

        <<Bruce stood outside the bedroom given to 9 year old Dick Grayson
and listened to the soft sobs.  God, how that sound tore him apart.  His
grief at his parents' death had been no less traumatic, and he wished he
could find the words to comfort the boy.  But the platitudes just wouldn't
do it.  He paused, and then hesitantly entered the room.
        Bruce didn't know what he was going to say to the young boy,
didn't think he was capable of being emotional support... but he had to do
SOMETHING to stop the tears.  He moved to the side of the bed and softly
said, "Dick?"
        The boy jerked upright, wiping his face and trying to look brave.
"I'm sorry, Mister Bruce.  I just..."  He stopped, tears welling in his
bright blue eyes again.  "I just couldn't help it."
        Bruce looked surprised, asking as gently as he could, "You don't
think I'm angry at you for crying, do you?"
        Dick hesitated and then said, "No... I just thought maybe I woke
you up or something."
        Bruce smiled faintly, "No, son... I was already awake.  I've
been... trying to find a way to help you, and I have to admit to being a
little out of my league."  He stopped and then continued in a voice softer
still, "I remember when my parents were killed, too.  I wish that I could
take that pain away from you."
        Dick scrubbed his face and scooted closer to Bruce, leaning his
head trustingly against the large man's arm.  "I miss 'em.  This place...
it's so different from the circus.  And I don't know what to do and what
not to do, or what I'll get in trouble for," he confided in a tiny voice.
"If I mess up, are you gonna kick me out?"
        Bruce was startled enough to wrap his arm around the small boy,
"No, Dick, I'm not.  I don't have any experience at this, so I might do it
badly... but I won't kick you out when you mess up.  Messing up is a part
of learning the right way to do things."
        Dick's small shoulders sagged with relief, and he hugged Bruce
tightly.  The slight tension in Bruce's frame communicated itself, though.
As Dick started to draw away, Bruce stopped him by hugging him a little
tighter.
        "Don't be afraid of anything in this house, Dick.  There's
*nothing* you can do that would make me kick you out.  I want to help you,
and I can't do that by kicking you out."  Bruce sighed.  "I'm sorry that I
haven't been available much since you got here.  I'll try and rectify that
as soon as I can."
        Dick shrugged and snuggled his small body against Bruce's.
Sleepily, he muttered, "Y'don't have to spend lots of time with me.  My
parents did, but that's cuz we were a team.  We always had to rehearse and
stuff."
        Bruce was surprised to realize that Dick felt safe enough with him
to cuddle up like that and start to fall asleep.  Exhaustion had to be a
constant companion to the boy's sorrow.  He helped Dick climb back under
the covers on the bed and murmured quietly, "We're a team, too, pal.
You'll see... we just have to learn how.  Both of us."
        Bruce watched the young boy fall asleep with his hand trustingly
in the large man's.  This feeling in his chest... what was that?  Without
even trying, the boy had touched him in ways he'd always feared.  His
expression inscrutable, Bruce studied the child who had already wormed his
way past the stout emotional barriers that Bruce had defended for so
many years.  He wondered what the hell to do now.
        Bruce whispered softly, pushing dark hair off the sleeping boy's
brow, "Nothing's going to hurt you again, Dick. And we're going to make
that bastard pay for what he did to your parents."  Didn't want the boy?
Maybe Dick Grayson was exactly what he'd been searching for in his life...
someone who would understand.>>

        ... But it hadn't worked out.  He had driven Dick away in the end,
too emotionally attached to face the fear of losing him too. He hadn't
*wanted* Dick to leave, but seeing him get shot by the Joker had almost
stopped Bruce's heart with fear.  So he had reacted instinctively to
protect himself, and tried to forbid Dick the mantle of Robin.  That
knee-jerk reaction destroyed their relationship completely.  It had lost
him Dick, just in a different way.  But Bruce could live with that, if
Dick was still alive.
        Even now, years later, they were still not very close.  He did
keep tabs on Dick through mutual friends.  Barbara and Alfred were his
main sources of information about how he was doing.  He'd been lonely
after Dick was gone, and it was only then that he understood the depth of
his own love.  He had come to depend on both Dick and Robin.  His halting
admission of that to Dick met with derision, and their relationship
remained on the footing of an armed truce.
        Bruce finally nodded to himself.  He interfered between them when
they were younger, but he sure as hell didn't have the right now. And he
didn't want to, really.  He wanted them to be happy in their love, he was
just concerned about what might happen later.  As always. All he could do
was the same thing he always did, and that was to watch out for them.
They were going to make it, those two, if anyone could. They were too
stubborn and their lives too intertwined already for it not to work.  And
maybe they'd teach him something about how to get past the past... but he
doubted it. He reminded himself to send Tim over to the West Side tonight,
and then stood to go take care of some Wayne Enterprises business before
nightfall.  Tonight, he'd swing by Barbara's apartment and see just how
well she'd applied what he taught her about security, just in case.


Family Reactions - Chapter 3
Terri Hayes

        Alfred returned to the kitchen after the announcement, keeping his
feelings under his best butler's face.  He was ecstatic, though.  Master
Dick and Miss Barbara were perfect together, in his not so humble opinion.
He clearly remembered the first time he came across them in the library
supposedly studying biology...

        <<Standing outside the library door, Alfred stopped with the tray
he was carrying, listening to the voices within.
        "No, really, Babs... I'm just not getting it.  I'm not trying to
be difficult.  Why is mitochondria important?"
        Alfred smothered his grin as Miss Barbara's sympathetic voice began
to explain, patiently, what mitochondria was and why it was important.
He was amazed at the young woman's ability to re-explain things to young
Master Dick 5 different ways.... but it also amazed him just how many
questions Dick could ask about a topic without repeating one.  Obviously
that young man knew what he was doing.
        A quick peek around the doorframe told Alfred all he needed to
know.  With their heads bent close together in concentration, he could see
clearly why Miss Barbara continued.  The methods of flirtation hadn't
changed so terribly much from the times when Alfred himself was young.
        With a slight grin, quickly smothered, the butler entered the
library with hot chocolate and cookies.  "Hot chocolate.  I thought you
might need an interlude to relax some, Master Dick."
        Alfred's British intonation sent the two young people scooting
away from each other, flushing with embarrassment.
        Dick stammered out his thanks, while Barbara cleared her throat
and managed to sound almost calm.  "That was very thoughtful of you,
Alfred, we could use a break."
        Leaving the tray on the coffee table, Alfred allowed his
affectionate gaze to take in the blushing faces and then he left the
library.  Stopping just outside the doors, he allowed himself to crack the
grin that threatened as he listened.
        Dick's soft groan was of mortal humiliation, and Alfred could hear
Miss Barbara getting up to pour hot chocolate.  She sounded a little
confused, but was attempting to keep things on a 'normal' footing.
"What's the matter, squirt?  I think it was sweet of Alfred."
        Taking her cue, Dick's adolescent pride reasserted itself, "Don't
call me squirt, four-eyes.  And I just didn't want Alfred to actually
*see* how badly I'm doing in Biology."
        Alfred just shook his head and left them to their friendly
bickering, amused at the love/hate kind of flirtation.>>

        ... Their flirtation had continued on and off for months.  They
called each other names, but yet they worked together as a cohesive team
when they were 'out and about,' as Alfred called their night work.  It had
been a joy to watch the two shy young people find out that another person
would indeed look past what they viewed as terminal faults.  Miss Barbara
used her intelligence as a shield to keep young men from getting close
enough to see the fragile young woman beneath the strong exterior, while
Master Dick used his sense of humor as his shield.  Their verbal fencing
had kept him amused for months.
        Alfred remembered when Dick Grayson first came to the Manor.
Angry, hurt, confused and wanting revenge in the worst way, the young
Master had been quite a handful.  The young man confided things to Alfred
that he wasn't even sure Dick remembered.  Just as fearful of losing loved
ones again as Master Bruce was, young Dick had still been willing to try
and get close to people...

        <<Peeking into the kitchen where the butler was working on dinner,
Dick sidled through the swinging door.  Hesitantly, he asked, "Alfred?  Ya
busy?"
        Alfred turned from the counter, a knife for chopping celery and
onions in his hands.  "Not terribly so, young man.  Do you need assistance?"
        Dick relaxed a little and pulled a stool from the breakfast bar
over to the counter, perching himself atop it to watch while the butler
resumed chopping vegetables.
        "Not... well, sort of."  He helped himself to a stalk of celery to
munch on while they talked.  "How come Bruce is... like that?"
        Alfred stopped chopping to look closely at Dick.  'Like that'
could mean many things.  "Like what, young man?"
        Dick shrugged and said, "Like... he has a broomstick up his butt.
I dunno."  He took a healthy bite of the celery stalk and continued around
the mouthful, "He acts like he doesn't really want me here.  He's always
glarin' at me and stuff."
        Alfred sighed softly to himself.  Dick sounded miserable, though
he was trying to hide it.  He chose his words carefully as he resumed
dinner preparations.
        "Master Bruce is... a quiet man, Master Dick.  It isn't that he
doesn't want you here, I promise you that.  You remind him very much of
himself at your age, I think.  And although he couldn't spare you the pain
of your parents' death, that doesn't mean he didn't want to."
        Alfred's tone sounds thoughtful, "I think, perhaps, your pain
brings back his own.  That could be why he always seems to be glaring.
Not at you, but at the pain that you're going through.  He is not one to
appreciate feeling helpless, and he knows that's what you feel right now
as well."
        Dick pondered that carefully and asked with a child's logic, "If
he's not mad at me, he shouldn't look like that at me all the time.  He's
scary when he looks like that."
        Alfred chuckled softly, "I will endeavor to mention that he seems
to be scowling quite a lot around you, and suggest that he try not to so
much, young man."
        Dick grimaced, "No, you better not.  He'll just get mad that I
told you."  He eats more of the celery before saying softly, "My mom used
to make chicken soup the same way... lots of celery, onions and carrots."
        Alfred glanced at the young boy, "I'm sure she was a very good
cook, Master Dick."  Though not openly demonstrative with his affection,
he tried to make him feel secure.  "Tell me a little about your parents,
young man?"
        Dick smiled some and began to relate small things.  "My mom always
smelled like violets.  She had this perfume that she always wore on show
nights, it was my Dad's favorite.  Lots of nights, we ate at the
cafeteria, but sometimes my mom would get in the mood to cook something,
and it was real good."
        Dick paused, "She was the best, Alfred."  His voice sounded
choked, "I miss them... so much, all the time."
        Alfred's hand reached out to touch the curly dark hair of the
youngest of his foundlings.  His voice was quiet but bracing, "I know you
do, young man.  But they are always with you.  Every time you remember
them in this way, they are near."
        Alfred wasn't a man given to fanciful notions, but those words
seemed to help Dick's threatening tears.  He smiled at the butler, wiping
his eyes.  "I'm gonna make them proud of me, Alfred.  So that whenever
they look in on me, they'll smile."
        Alfred's smile was small but affectionate on the young boy.  "I
know they're already proud of you, young man.  Now... take your celery
with you and go fetch Master Bruce, all right?  By the time you both get
washed up, dinner will be ready on the table."
        As the young boy raced off to do as asked, Alfred made a mental
note to speak to Master Bruce regarding Dick's needs.  The boy missed his
parents, he needed someone with whom to share that.  Someone who could
understand firsthand.  Alfred wasn't certain that Bruce would be up to
such a task, but it couldn't hurt to nudge his elder 'son' to help the
younger.>>

        ... Master Bruce had tried, but young Master Dick's emotions were
so out in the open, so easy to read, that it was uncomfortable.  Young
Master Dick shook Master Bruce's self-imposed emotional exile by being so
able to express his feelings.  The bond that grew between them wasn't
based on Bruce sharing his feelings in quite those ways.  He just couldn't
talk about the death of his parents with the younger boy.
        Though he never mentioned it to Master Bruce, young Master Dick
had come to him when Miss Barbara refused to see him anymore.  It worried
him that they seemed so intense together, and he regretted that it ended
so badly although it had not been an unexpected development in Alfred's
view.  He was privy to the young man's tears and anguish, more than a
little surprised at just how far the boy confessed the relationship had
gone.  As he thought about it, though, it made more sense.  While Barbara
physically had been a little old for Dick, they had been on each other's
intellectual and emotional level.  They had also been each other's source
of support and partners.  Inevitably, that would take its toll.
Especially when it ended...

        <<As the kitchen door swung open to admit the high school senior
to the kitchen, Alfred turned from stacking the last of the dishes in the
cabinet to see young Master Dick's strained expression.  Assuming that it
had likely been an argument with Master Bruce, the butler finished what
he was doing quickly.
        "Milk and cookies, young man?"
        The tradition had been established between Alfred and Dick when
the child first came to the mansion, and though he was much older now, it
remained a part of their lives.  Perhaps because those talks over milk and
cookies, or various other snacks, had forged a deep bond of trust between
the two men. Nothing that was said ever went past Alfred, and that was
important to the young Master.
        A faint smile crossed Dick's face, though it was painfully obvious
to Alfred what effort that smile truly was.  Although he didn't answer,
Dick took a seat on one of the stools by the breakfast bar.  Taking that
as his cue, Alfred moved about the kitchen to gather the required elements
for a long talk.  Joining Dick at the breakfast bar with a large plate of
cookies and two glasses full of milk, the butler studied the young man's
face.  What could have occured between the two this time, to put that look
of anguish in the boy's eyes?
        The answer to that wouldn't be long in coming, though.  Dick's
voice had been strained as he played with his milk glass and said quietly,
"She won't see me anymore.  I don't understand what I did wrong."
        Alfred nodded, enlightenment dawning.  Compassionately, he asked,
"I see.  Did she say why?"  He thought perhaps it was a girl at school
that young Master Dick had begun 'dating' recently.
        Dick's face twisted into a scowl, his pain hidden inside the
anger.  "She *said* that it just wasn't working out.  That we were too far
apart in age, that we didn't have anything in common, that I needed to
find someone my own age.  Where does she get off??"
        The tirade stopped as the pain took over, "How could she, after
all that we've been to each other, Alfred?  What did I do wrong?  I... I
love her."
        Alfred's gaze rested on Dick's face, "I can't explain her actions,
young man.  I can only listen and be here for you."
        Dick took the unique opportunity afforded him by Alfred's
compassion and affection, sobbing as he hadn't since the day he'd grieved
for his parents' death in the same way... in the same place.
        Genuinely surprised at the confessions that came from young Master
Dick that night, the butler learned things he wasn't certain he wanted to
know.  It was Miss Barbara that the young man was so intimately attached
to.  Their relationship had been much more than a years-old crush.
        When Dick finally calmed some, they talked long into the
afternoon.  The young man was subdued throughout the discussion, and that
worried Alfred.
        "I just don't get it, Alfred.  How can she be so casual about
something that was so ... profound?  It wasn't just sex."  Dick had
blushed as he said it, but stood by the words.  "It was like... the
connecting of two souls.  I can't be the only one who felt it.  How can
she just walk away from something so powerful, and so right?"
        Sighing softly, Alfred tried to respond in the best way he could.
Surrogate fatherhood was much more difficult with Dick than it had been
with Bruce, in some ways.  The young Master was so much more emotional
than Master Bruce.  That was a good thing... and sometimes a bad thing.
        "Perhaps, young man, what you felt was something that she couldn't
understand... or was afraid of.  You are both in a very intense line of
night work, and to be so close to someone else can sometimes be a danger.
I cannot answer for her, only she can tell you why.  If she chooses not
to, then you may have to move on with your life.  If it was meant to be,
it will work itself out in the end.">>

        ... It had been cold comfort to the boy though, Alfred remembered.
 When young Robin had begun taking such radical chances on the nocturnal
adventures in Gotham, Alfred fretted in his silent, private way that the
boy would be badly injured in his exploits.  Master Bruce hadn't asked him
if he knew what was happening, and Alfred felt that young Master Dick's
privacy was more important than any details of his relationship.  It was
enough that Master Bruce knew there was a problem.  He was quite
observant, and Alfred believed that Master Bruce must have had some
indication of what was going on between his young charges.  Young Master
Dick's anger had caused him to push constantly...

        <<Four days after Dick's confession, Batman and Robin had returned
to the BatCave in foul moods.  Not that it was anything new, since the
breakup.  This time, however, they were arguing with one another.
Batman's cold control to Robin's fiery rage.
        "If you ever pull a stunt like that again, Robin, you will no
longer do this job."
        "Don't threaten me, Bruce.  I might take you up on it, and then
you'll have no one to blame but yourself!"
        "This discussion is far from over.  You endangered not only
yourself tonight, but the police and the hostages as well.  Smashing
through that window was reckless at best, suicide at worst.  Are you
*trying* to get yourself killed?"
        Dick's response was to strip off his cape and stalk toward the
small anteroom where the uniforms were kept.  When he came back out, his
voice was cold.  "It was a chance that had to be taken, and you weren't
going to do it.  So I did.  Deal with it."
        Bruce's sigh as Dick stomped up the stairs was tired.  He stripped
off the cowl and cape, looking toward Alfred, who had remained silent
through the whole 'discussion.' "He put himself in front of two machine
gun-toting maniacs tonight.  He just doesn't care if they blow him away,
and it's making him a danger to himself, and a danger to others. And I
can't get through to him."
        Alfred looked upward after Dick was gone and then back to his
'elder son.' "His heart is breaking, Master Bruce.  I'm concerned that he
is trying to prove something, but the young lady doesn't appear to be
interested."
        Bruce's smile was grim, "Oh, she was interested, Alfred.  But she
should have known better than to get involved with someone so young.
Dick hasn't even had a chance to know what else is out there.  And if it
comforts him at all," he nodded toward where Dick vanished. "She's out
there doing equally stupid things.  Chasing them down separately to save
them from themselves is keeping me from catching some of the crooks... but
I can't let them get themselves killed over a crush gone sour."
        Bruce turned to leave, saying regretfully, "Keep an eye on him,
Alfred.  I can't get through to him.">>

        ... Alfred had gotten the distinct impression that Bruce knew a
LOT more than he was saying.  It disturbed him to think that Master Bruce
might have had something to do with that intolerable situation.  He
watched as Bruce ran himself ragged trying to keep the two younger
crime-fighters from getting themselves or someone else killed.
        Alfred shook his head, remembering the next weeks of craziness.
Every time he turned around, Robin had been doing SOMETHING insane.  He
had ached for the boy's heart, and with long talks, eventually things had
calmed.  But Dick hadn't been the same... he'd closed off his heart,
burying the pain deep.
        Of course, he didn't think Master Dick had been old enough for
True Love, as it were... but then again, who can truly say that love is
age specific?  It had certainly left a raw wound on the young man's soul
that didn't heal until just recently.  Whatever part Master Bruce might
have played in that breakup, Alfred hoped that he would be all right with
it now.  Young Master Dick and Miss Barbara had been through so much, both
together and apart, that they deserved some happiness.
        As his hands prepared hot coffee and sandwiches for Bruce Wayne's
dinner, Alfred's thoughts turned to comparing the two young men that he
considered himself to have raised.  Admittedly, with no experience at all
with children, he probably had not done a very good job with Master Bruce.
By the time Young Master Dick had come, Alfred understood what mistakes
he'd made... but each young man was so different, that helped his ability
to parent them as well...

        <<Ten-year-old Bruce Wayne stood at his parents' graveside with
dry eyes.  Alfred's arm was around his shoulders, and the butler said
quietly, "Come, young man.  We should go back to the house."
        As the two walked back toward Wayne Manor, Bruce asked in a solemn
voice, "Will I be allowed to stay here, Alfred?  Or will someone come and
take me away?"
        Alfred's voice was soothing, "Your parents, young man, asked me
many years ago when you were born if I would act as guardian for you if
something should ever happen to them.  Provisions have been made, and
you'll remain here at home."
        Bruce simply nodded.  He had come through the funeral and burial
in a kind of shock.  Though he was at least speaking now, Alfred was
concerned that the young boy would never again be the carefree child who
laughed with his parents.>>

        .. His fears had been justified.  Master Bruce had been so
traumatized, so overwhelmed by his grief, that Alfred hadn't known what to
do except simply be there for the boy. Perhaps if he had found some way
through the intense isolation Bruce felt, he wouldn't be such a driven
man.  Perhaps, though, it still would have happened.
        With Dick, the child had been used to being able to be open about
his feelings... and when he found Alfred to be a willing listener, he'd
taken advantage of that in a way that Bruce simply hadn't as a child.
Even Dick was a driven individual, though, and Alfred believed their
intense need to see justice done would have manifested in other ways even
had the Batman not come into existence.
        Alfred placed the sandwiches on a tray along with the carafe of
coffee, shaking his head.  He was a surrogate father to Master Bruce and
he loved that boy like his very own.  He had done the best he could with
little experience at raising children.  His only regret was that Master
Bruce could not seem to find it within himself to allow someone close
enough to help assuage the pain. Even with the bumps in the road, the
closeness of Master Dick and Miss Barbara's relationship healed many of
the breaches in young Dick's soul, and Alfred wished as he walked back
toward the secret stairwell to the BatCave that Master Bruce could have
let some young woman be the same thing to his heart.
        As the aging butler stepped back into the Cave, his eyes rested on
the elder of his two 'sons.'  Dressed in all but the cape and cowl of the
Batman, Bruce Wayne was an imposing sight.  Alfred placed the tray on the
console of one of the large computers and said in his imperturbable
fashion, "Dinner, Master Bruce.  Do eat before you go out there, young
man.  We cannot have your stomach growling when you are attempting to be
silent."  Alfred's gaze seemed calm, cool and collected but visible to
those who knew him well, as Bruce did, Alfred affection was plain.  The
faint smile that followed the butler's order contained the same reserved
showing of affection back as Bruce responded to the command.

        *************************************************

        Tim Drake, AKA the new Robin, swung exultantly across the space
between two buildings with an almost silent whoosh of air.  This was the
life, as far as he was concerned.  He was an important member of the team
known as the Dynamic Duo.  He was a man of honor, defending the innocent
from crime and injury.  He grinned beneath his mask as his feet landed
atop the building just across the road from Barbara Gordon's apartment.
He knew better than to land ON her building.  Barbara, known in
crime-fighting circles nowadays as Oracle, had the whole place wired.
        Robin pulled a small communications unit from his belt, signalling
the Barbara apartment.  Oracle's amused voice responded immediately with,
"He's on his way, Robin."
        "He's already arrived."
        Robin whirled about at the sound of the low, familiar voice of
Nightwing.  Both older brother and mentor, the elder (ex)Robin viewed the
younger with a grin.  "You should be more careful," Nightwing stated.  "I
could have been anyone."
        Tim scoffed, "Anyone?  Not likely, with me standing here just
across the road from her place."  He closed the com unit, sliding it
casually back into his belt.  "So what's up, Nightwing?"
        Nightwing's amusement grew.  It wasn't so long ago that he'd
chatted with the new Boy Wonder about Barbara.  The kid hadn't believed a
word he said when he denied any emotional attachment to her.  It was no
wonder.  Did *everyone* see what he hid from even himself?  First the
Huntress mentioned it, then Tim... well, anyway.
        "What's up is that I thought you ought to be one of the first to
hear my news, and I wanted to tell you myself."  Nightwing smirked, "You
deserve the chance to crow about it, since it won't happen often."
        "What news?"  Robin's eyes peered closely at Nightwing's face.
Good news, bad news?  Obviously good, the man was grinning like a loon.
        "I'm getting married."
        Tim was speechless.  Dick was *what*??  Getting married, but....
"But.. but..."  Sputtering incoherently, the Boy Wonder just stared.
        Nightwing laughed softly, watching Tim stammer.  He simply waited
quietly for either a barrage of questions or for enlightenment to spread
over the kid's features.
        "But.. but... who...!?"  At that, Tim stopped, knowledge dawning.
"Ohmygod, you're marryin' Babs!  Oh my GOD!"  He started laughing.  His
next words were definitely made in a tone of 'I told you so,' "And here
you denied every bit of what I said."
        Nightwing rolled his eyes, grinning.  "What can I say, short
stuff?  You saw something that I didn't want to see."  He shrugged
nonchalantly, "It won't happen often, so enjoy it."
        Robin chuckled, "That's great!  You guys have fun."  His grin
eased to a smile of true happiness, "I think you're perfect for each
other... don't let anything stop you from being happy."  Perhaps too
serious for him, more serious and adult an attitude than Dick had ever
seen from the kid.
        'Something's changed with him,' Dick thought to himself.  Aloud,
he simply said, "Thanks."
        Robin glanced over his shoulder, toward the sky.  A bright
BatSignal lit up the sky.  He turned his eyes back to Nightwing and
smiled, "That's my cue.... you gonna join?"
        Nightwing paused briefly, and then nodded, "Yeah.  Yeah, I will."
He pulled a communicator unit from his own belt and contacted Oracle.
        A rueful smile graced his love's face as soon as she saw him,
"Yeah, yeah, I know... I saw the signal.  Get going.  Tell Robin I said
hi, and call if you need me."
        Nightwing grinned, "I'll be back later, babe.  I love you."
        Shaking his head at the exchange, Robin waited until the com unit
was secured safely and launched his grappling hook.  "You two are gonna be
enough to make a guy get cavities."
        The laughter that floated on the night air was soft, as the two
flew across town to the source of the call.


The beginning...