Disclaimer: Nightwing, Oracle, and Superman (whom I mention) belong to 
DC, not me. So don't sue, okay? The story and kitten however, are mine, 
and I will find out where you live and then force you to watch Barney 
until your brain implodes if you steal them. Preetha beta-read this for 
me. Thanks Preetha. Marcie also helped a bit by checking over the bit I 
sent her to make sure that something was possible. Thanks Marcie. 
Feedback taken, flames will be saved up to light fires in either the 
fireplace or grill.

***

A Christmas Visitor
by Firebird (LVShirer@aol.com)

***

Barbara sighed and stared at the clock forlornly. It had been two hours 
since Dick called her to let her know that he might not be able to make 
it due to an abrupt increase in the crime rate because of the holidays. 
It had been an hour since he was supposed to have arrived and she was 
feeling depressed.

"I suppose I should have expected this,' she mentally sighed as she 
stared blankly at the computer screen.

She then half-heartedly restarted her search for some information that 
Superman had requested that she look for earlier in the day even though 
her thoughts were elsewhere.

After a half-hour, she cocked her head, frowning. "Did I hear something 
meow?'

After listening for a few more minutes, she decided that she was 
imagining things due to being over worked, took off her glasses, rubbed 
her eyes, and concentrated on her task once more.

Her work was interrupted (again) when a hand clad in a familiar black 
and blue glove clapped itself over her eyes.

"Guess who," a familiar voice said in a teasing tone.

"Dick!" she exclaimed, twisting around, her work forgotten. "I thought 
you weren't coming!"

"Oh ye of little faith," Dick said, shaking his head in mock sadness.

"Here's some of the reason I was late," he continued, holding out a 
kitten with the hand he had hidden behind his back. "The poor thing was 
half-starved and abandoned before I caught it, gave it some milk, and 
brought it here."

Enchanted, Barbara took the kitten and settled it on her lap where it 
immediately curled up to sleep.

"This explains why I thought I heard something meow earlier..."

After a moment of thought, Barbara wheeled away.

"Babs, where are you going?"

"I'm looking for something for the kitten to sleep in."

After finding a decent sized box that she had Dick get for her, she took 
it and some clean rags to the bathroom. She then selected a spot where 
the box would be out of the way, put in the rags, then put down the box 
on it's side, making sure she didn"t lean over too far. Barbara then put 
down the kitten next to the box. The kitten took the hint and walked in, 
tail in the air.

"I think it's safe to call it a girl," Dick commented as they exited the 
bathroom, closing the door behind them.

"Yep. I'll go give her some food and water later. It's too bad about her 
being a girl. If she was a boy, I could have named her Damn Fine," 
Barbara said with a straight face.

Dick blushed, remembering the recent incident in which a group of 
assorted women named his behind Damn Fine. He made the mistake of 
telling Barbara about it which resulted in her needling him about it 
every now and then. His ruminations were interrupted by Barbara 
muttering to herself.

"Maybe I'll name her Kat. Of course there's always Amanda, Charlene, 
Marcie, Preetha, Noel, Sarah, Kerrie, Chicago, Rose, A.j., or 
Melodie..." she mused.

"How about Stripes?" Dick offered. His suggestion was met with a 
withering look.

"I'm not about to inflict that on the cat."

"Why? What's wrong with it?" Dick asked, looking affronted. He also 
remembered to take off his mask right about then.

Barbara took a moment to shake her head at the display of male 
denseness.

"That name is hardly dignified," she informed him.

"Oh yeah?"

            *           *           *

After some (okay, a lot) of good-natured bickering about Dick's taste in 
names for cats, and a trip to leave food and water for said pet, Barbara 
and Dick parked themselves on the couch to watch a Christmas movie that 
was on. After an hour, the program was interrupted by a news flash.

"Citizens of the greater Gotham area are advised to stay home tonight 
due to a blizzard headed this way from the west. I repeat, everyone 
should stay home tonight. We'll now return you to your regularly 
scheduled program."

Dick looked at Barbara. "Looks like it's a good thing I brought an extra 
set of clothes."

"Mmm," Barbara agreed, snuggling closer to Dick's chest.

"Looks like Oracle is staying offline tonight," she thought contently.

            Finis