Authors Notes: Somebody actually asked for this !!!! Wow :o)

Disclaimer: I've changed my mind they are all mine, it isn't a dream and the 
men in white coats  can't make me change my mind ;)

Dedications: For every one who read the last one, hope you like it. - Nuke

***

Traditions Continued
by Lee Hughes (lph112@hotmail.com)

***

	Tim and Cass sat opposite Police headquarters watching the new 
Commissioner 
brief Batman. Hesitantly Tim reached out and held Cassandra’s hand. Fighting 
her natural reaction to instinctively pull her hand away Cass enjoyed the 
feeling of intimacy the slight contact brought.

Turning to face where the Bat would land Cass watched him sail through the 
air and land where she had predicted he would.

Looking at the two young heroes in front of him Batman wondered once again 
what right he had to drag these young people into his crusade, to help with 
his Sojourn.

“Robin, Tim, I have some bad news its Stephanie, she’s …dead.”

The shock at Batman’s words caused Tim to lose control of his legs. Batgirl 
quickly grabbed him and lowered him to the floor.

“What …How…When…How?”

Robin’s voice broke as his grief overwhelmed him turning the last word into 
more of a sob.

“She was found just over an hour ago on the roof of the Gotham Museum, it 
seems that she met someone there who she trusted and they killed her with a 
single strike.”

Batman’s voice took on the cold of the grave as he prepared himself for what 
was to follow. He knew that Tim wouldn’t like it but he couldn’t risk his 
life.

“It was the Leopard Blow…”

A startled gasp escaped from under Batgirls cowl, Only one person used that 
technique, “SHIVA!”

Unable to tell them that it was all her fault Batgirl looked at the two 
heroes to find them staring at her. Realising that she had said the last 
word out loud, she murmured a barely audible,

“My Fault!” And made her escape into the night.

Not knowing how to respond to the fleeing female, the dynamic duo did the 
only thing that they could and quickly gave chase.

After performing a full tour of the city the two puzzled heroes stopped to 
plan out their next course of action. Robin called Oracle to help.

“Oracle has Batgirl been in contact?”

“No why? Does this have anything to do with the death of Spoiler?”

“I don’t have time to explain but if she gets in touch for help then send 
her on a wild goose chase.”

Leaving Batman to explain Robin left to find a quiet place to deal with his 
grief.

Retreating to the cathedral roof Robin let vent his grief.

“It’s all my fault, if only I could have told her what I felt, that I loved 
her as a sister more than anything else then maybe she would be alive. How 
can I afford to let Cass love me as everyone I have ever loved is killed or 
gets hurt, my Mum, my Dad, Stephanie. From now on nobody gets close, I’ll 
become like the Bat and keep everyone at arms length, that way I’ll never be 
hurt again!”

Exhausted and drained Robin sank to the floor his emotions no longer 
powering his body. Silently sitting in contemplation he heard a faint sob 
from the other side of the roof. Wearily dragging himself up he walked over 
to investigate. Curled up into a ball on a ledge below the roofline lay 
Batgirl crying quietly.

Watching her in pain Tim acted instinctively and jumped down to hold her, 
forgetting his declaration of just a moment before. Picking her up he placed 
her on his lap and wrapped his arms around her waiting for her tears to 
subside, offering silent comfort.

“My Fault!”

“What do you mean your Fault?”

“I kill Steph!”

“What…How…Why?”

“Shiva here to fight me, Steph get in way so she kill.”

“What do you mean that Shiva is here to fight you?”

Looking into the boy wonders eyes for a minute Batgirl finally explained 
what had happened when her brain had been ‘messed up’ by the magic man and 
she had lost her skills and how Shiva had helped her regain them in exchange 
for a duel to the death in a years time.

Listening to her tale Robin sat with a stunned look on his face,

“NO!”

“No?”

“NO, I have just lost Steph I couldn’t bare to lose you as well, you can’t 
fight her! I won’t let you!”

“Have to.”

“Have to?”

Closing her fist and placing it first over her heart and then his she looked 
into his eyes and whispered.

“Honour.”

Leaning in towards his body she softly kissed his lips, enjoying the 
sensation while she still could.

“Let me help, please I need to, for Stephanie, for you,” his voice dropped 
to a whisper as she looked at him, “For myself.”

Over the next few weeks Batgirl and Robin where inseparable, every minute 
was spent training or on patrol. Nightwing and Oracle thought that it was 
cute, and made comments about young love.

The reality was far different, having worked with the same people they 
easily became an efficient team, but they wanted, needed to be more. Robin 
showed Batgirl the techniques that Shiva had taught him while she showed him 
improvements in his technique. Their constant working together and the 
pressure that they faced forged even stronger bonds between them in and out 
of the mask.

Tim found that even though he could not read people like Cass could, he 
could read her, talking was no longer necessary between them.

With the constant hard work over the last few weeks Nightwing decided to 
have a little talk with his brother. Catching him on the practise mat of the 
cave going over some Kata, Nightwing leapt to the attack hoping to catch his 
brother in a headlock  before he turned and saw him. Sailing through the air 
he opened his arms ready to pounce on his unsuspecting target. At the last 
possible moment Robin ducked and watched his brother fly past. Watching him 
land he quickly stepped forward and..

“Oww, what d’you do that for?”

Smiling as Dick tried to recover from the wedgie he had just received, Tim 
struggled to keep a straight face, “Can I help you with something?”

“Yeah, Babs and I where wondering if you and Cass fancied going to watch a 
movie or something tonight, I mean all you’ve done for the past two weeks is 
work!”

“I’m not sure I think Cass has plans for us tonight, I’ll…”

Stepping from the shadows where she had watched the exchange unobserved Cass 
replied , “We go!”

Watching the goofy smiles on their faces Dick decided to make a quick exit.

“Cool, see you at the tower at eight.”

Back at the clock tower Dick contacted Roy, “Ok Bowhead pay up, you saw the feed 
from the cave, it proves that they have been doing more than playing Tonsil 
Hockey!”

“Yeah, the little bird has some new moves guess you where right, see you 
later batboy!”

With that the screen went blank.

Closing her link to Black Canary, Oracle turned to face the former boy 
wonder.

“Tonsil Hockey?”

“Sure, look its easy to play I’ll show you.” And with that he leaned over 
and kissed her.

Coming up a few minutes later to breathe Oracle asked the question that had 
been plaguing Dick since he left the cave.

“So why all the extra training?”

***

Half way through the film Dick and Tim got up to get more pop corn as their 
first bucket had been used as projectiles against each other.

“Tim, mind if I ask you a question?”  Looking at his friends serious face Tim 
stopped.

“Sure,”

“Is everything OK between you and Cass, I mean you have hardly spoken all 
night and you never even asked her if she wanted anything.”

“What do you mean, we’ve been talking all night, She asked why we where 
watching this soppy film and I said cos you and Babs liked it, well Babs did 
and you watched it ‘cos it made her happy. And I did ask her what she wanted 
she said she wanted someone to hit, anything so she could stop pretending to 
watch the movie!”

“Err, hate to break it to you Bro but you must have been dreaming because 
you and Cass haven’t spoken a word to each other all night.”

“But…” The protest died in his throat as he realised that their conversation 
had not been verbal they had been reading each others body language, they no 
longer needed words so long as they had each other.

Embarrassed at the soppy thoughts running through his head Tim paid for his 
popcorn and hurried back to the film.

Catching his eye as he entered the row of seats Cass tilted her head to one 
side and smiled at him, the gesture screamed to him I love you, blushing and 
looking at the floor he looked up into her eyes and smiled back, I love you 
too.

Tonight was the night, It had been one year to the day since Shiva had 
helped her regain her skills and tonight she would die. Getting up early she 
quickly dressed in her Batgirl garb and left the cave alone. She knew what 
would happen if Tim came with her, when she lost he would attack Shiva. Her 
own death she could face but not his. Taking one last look over the cave 
that she had called home Cassandra left to go on one last patrol of their 
city, their home.

Robin to had gotten up early and gone on a solitary patrol, today was the 
day that they had been training for, today was the day in which he would 
make the ultimate sacrifice, today was the day he died.

Before he had left Tim had sent a message to a certain mailing used by a 
certain assassin, the message had been simple,

*6pm Gotham cathedral, Bg.*

As sunset approached Robin stood looking over the city he had protected, 
feeling a presence behind him he made his offer.

“I know that I’m not who you are expecting, but I cannot let you fight her 
so I offer you an alternative, a duel to the death, me and you.

He turned to see her face, “The apprentice’s challenge to the master as it 
where, well do you accept?”

“So my little bird has found something that he will kill for, No! You will 
be a slaughter not a fight, where is she?”

Shiva punctuated her sentence with a round house kick that Robin flipped 
backwards to avoid with ease.

“Perhaps it will not be such a slaughter after all, come Little Bird let me 
see what you have learnt from my daughter.”

***

Across town Batgirl stood taking one last look over her home, Shiva was 
late for their duel. Shiva would never be late something must of 
happened…Robin!

Launching herself into the failing light Batgirl flew across the city to her 
love,

“If Tim live, Me KILL!”

As she reached the roof of the cathedral Batgirl was just in time to watch 
Shiva deliver a dim mak or death touch to a badly injured Robin. Landing at 
his side she cradled his head as his eyes shut and his pulse stopped. 
Lowering his head she turned to face Shiva her body quivering with rage.

“You Die!”

“No, little one I think not, I may be many things but I keep my promises and 
I will not fight you today. Take your rage and hatred for me and use it to 
forge your will. When you are ready I will be waiting for you.”

Batgirl watched as she vaulted over the roof and disappeared, torn between 
her need for vengeance and her need to morn Cassandra knelt by the body of 
her love and started to wail.

>From the sky Kon El landed next to the grieving Batgirl and prodded the body 
of the former boy wonder with his toe. Unthinking Cass swept his legs and 
pounced on him her anger barley in check.

“Hey Rob, will you get your girlfriend off of me before she messes the 
hair!”

Hearing a weak cough from behind her Batgirl spun to find Robin propping 
himself up on one arm. Cass don’t do it, he’ll moan about it for weeks!”

Further words where smothered as her arms wrapped themselves around him.

As she embraced him he felt a little bulkier than usual, then a smoke 
started to escape from the collar of his uniform. As more smoke escaped it 
turned into Secret.

Robin looking at Cass saw that she wanted to know why this female was so 
close to him under his clothes.

Quickly explaining that Secret had been there to cushion the impact of the 
Dim Mak and to hide his life signs Robin looked over to see how Batgirl had 
taken the news.

“You Trick!”

“I had to I couldn’t beat Shiva and she wouldn’t leave till I was dead so..”

“NO! Trick me, lie to ME!”

Glancing at his two friends he motioned for them to give them some privacy.

“Cass, I’m sorry but I couldn’t let you die, I’d rather lose you than let 
you die, please understand, please.”

Ignoring his words Cassandra concentrated on his body language, it shouted 
his fear, his need for forgiveness his love.

Unable to ignore him, Cass removed her cowl and frowned at Tim and prodded 
him in the chest.

“How come Secret see under clothes before me? Me hurt!”

Looking at Robin’s shocked expression Cass pushed him onto his back and 
kissed him.

From their vantage point across the way Kon and Secret flew back to 
headquarters, from her surveillance cameras Oracle and Nightwing smiled to 
each other,

“I could come to love this tradition,”

“Same here Red, same here.”

-fin-