Who: Dick and Barbara What: Married and wanting kids? When: Back during the relationship confusion plot [Backdated!] Where: Their house (Dick’s house) Rating: low
Dick got home and it had been a long day. Still, he perked up when he walked through the door because he saw that Barbara was home too. Barbara always had the ability to perk him up. “Hey” He called out softly as he walked further into the house. He put the take out they had agreed on for dinner on the kitchen counter. He started to take the food out and then when he went to put the bags into the garbage, he noticed an open box in the garbage of a birth control test. This didn’t worry him - they’d been trying - but now he wanted to know what the result was. Still, he decided to wait until Barbara told him rather than ask outright.
–
Barbara had been sitting at the table with her computer, working on her little side project. With her free time, she was working on building a computer system, which wasn’t that hard. The tricky part was all the tinkering she kept doing out of boredom along with taking her mind off of things, and wanting to see what it could do. After the results from the pregnancy test, she had needed to take her mind off things for a bit, and that led to her working on some new coding for the system. Dick had his way to deal with things, and this was hers. When hearing him, a small smile showed up on her lips probably the first one all day since seeing the negative on the pregnancy test. Her husband always made her smile just like he was one of the few people who knew how to cheer her up when she was feeling down. “How was work?” She asked before he had gone to the trash. Knowing full well what he probably saw, she shook her head. “It was a negative,” she knew it took time, and she definitely had no problem sleeping with her very sexy husband, but it hurt cause she wanted a family with him. There was no one else she could imagine doing that with other than Dick Grayson. —
When she delivered the news - the fact she said it outright not entirely surprising - his shoulders dipped just a little. Dick was disappointed, sure, but he was more concerned with Barbara and so he wasn’t about to let his opinions or emotions weigh on her. “I’m sorry.” And he was. But he was also hopeful. It wasn’t like they’d been trying for years. He felt like they’d get there eventually. He leaned in and kissed her lightly on the lips before pulling away. “Work was alright. The shelter’s always a little busier in the summer.” With no school to distract some of them, the kids sometimes got into more trouble. “What about yours?” – Had it been anyone else then Barbara would’ve not been as outright with it, but this was Dick. He knew her better than anyone, and he was far from stupid. There was no way she could hide the disappointment or from the results, knowing he would pick up on it. So she felt it was better just to say it, and she could see that he was disappointed. It sucked, and while she knew it wasn’t the end of the world, it was a let down. Not that it would stop them from trying again considering they had only recently decided to start. Some people it took a while, and she loved Dick more than anyone. Barbara knew he would be an amazing father, and if anything, they could always adopt. But she was still holding on to the hope of having kids of their own. “You have nothing to be sorry about. It happens, and it sucks, but we can keep trying. You okay though?” She asked, tilting her head to study him and see for herself. The light kiss from him did cheer her up a bit from how she had been feeling after the disappointing news. Turning in the wheelchair to follow him as he moved around. “Not surprised, but I know you and the rest of your coworkers will handle it. Or will end up tied up by the kids and I’ll never see you again,” she teased with a very small smile. “Work was fine, and I decided to spend some extra time coding that security system that I have been working on during my free time.” It kept her from getting into her own form of trouble and kept her sharp with her knowledge. –
“I definitely don’t mind the trying part.” He smiled warmly and gave her a playfully suggestive look. This was a side of him the others didn’t really see very much. Dick was still occasionally surprised at how people trusted him with kids. He felt the need to help them and, yes, had a soft spot for the orphans and the troubled kids, but he often found himself making what he thought were bad decisions. Like when he’d taken Jason down with one hand and humiliated him in front of everyone. It was thankfully a little easier here with kids who weren’t trying to save the world, but he was still worried. “Speaking of -” He meant talking about being tied up by kids. “I think Conner still feels guilty about last month.” When he’d very easily taken Dick out.
– Barbara smiled, shaking her head at him. “Based on that look, I’d say you have no problem with the trying part. Then again, I’m no better when I have a handsome husband whom I love…most of the time,” she paused before the last bit to give him a hard time. She counted herself very lucky to see this side, knowing others really didn’t. Anyone who knew Dick knew he wasn’t the best at showing what he was feeling for most emotions or that he wasn’t the type to joke around. But she did see those sides, and knew the signs to look for, which the fact she knew all that only made her love him more cause he didn’t try to hide that from her.
Unlike him, she knew why people trusted him with kids. He was a great man, and while he did make mistakes it was because he was human. She had seen the Titans group and not only how much they respected him, but how he cared about them. Also, she blamed Bruce for some of the issues since Dick only knew what he learned from Bruce. Still, she couldn’t imagine having kids with anyone else.
As Dick started to speak, she turned her head slightly to look at him, frowning when he said what he did about Connor. She wasn’t at all surprised to hear that, knowing that had to have been difficult. The fear gas had played havoc and even on people who knew what it was capable of. She had decided to leave out that she had been hit by it or about seeing the Joker, feeling after what happened to Dick it was better to keep it to herself. “Can you blame him? You’re someone he looks up to, and him having to do that probably wasn’t an easy choice. Might even be worried that you won’t forgive him,” she doubts it, but that could be a possibility. “Maybe try talking to him? You can always invite him over or go do something with him and see where his head is at after that.” She offered, knowing they both probably could use a chance to talk, and she would be happy to vanish if they wanted to do it here.
— He sighed a little. “I know. I just wish he wasn’t so hard on himself. Of course I’d forgive him.” He did a palms up gesture. “I mean, the only other way that would have gone down is I’d have hurt myself attacking him. I didn’t know it was Conner that I was fighting.” He paused, mulling the scenario over. “Which is a good thing. If I knew it was him, I could have done worse.” He had some tricks up his sleeve when dealing with supers, but it wasn’t just that. Dick knew how to hurt Conner emotionally and had he felt the need to protect and attack, he might have said things he couldn’t come back from. No, this was the best possible scenario.
“Have I told you lately you’re the best?” He said so after her idea to offer him to come over. .”How about we do dinner? Maybe we can time it so you give us twenty and then come home just in case things aren’t going well.” Barbara could be their buffer.
– Barbara turned her chair to where she was facing him, watching the emotions play on him even if they weren’t obvious, she knew the man she loved better than anyone. “I know you do, Dick. But look at us, we beat ourselves up when things go wrong and even sometimes when things go right because we debate if there was a better way of handling it,” she told him. “Come here,” she said, motioning for him to come closer. “Connor sees you as family, and while we both know that was the best case scenario of what happened, he was not raised or even dealt with this stuff as long as we have. Under normal circumstances and without a very damn good reason, you would never do anything to hurt him, and I think you two need to sit your asses down in those seats,” she motioned to their table, “and talk about the whole situation. Let him share how he’s feeling since it will be the only way he can work through it.” Barbara told him, focusing her eyes on him so she knew he heard her even though he always did. Right now she wanted to make sure considering the conversation.
“Yes, but I will always welcome hearing it more from you,” she smiled, pulling him down slightly by his shirt since he was over by her to kiss him deeply. Letting him go then as she listened to his idea. “I can do the whole ‘oops I forgot my card and must come back to get it’ so you guys can have some time. How does that sound?” She offered before getting a playful look on her face. “Though, I hope you know even though I’m the best, you’re still going to owe me for doing this,” she teased. Barbara knew Dick would either know she was messing with him or go for some alone time with him as what he can do for her doing this. –
Talking about feelings wasn’t exactly his strong point. Talking about his feelings with other people was even worse. Still, he was going to try because he knew it was important and Barbara wanted him to, so he would. “I like the sound of that.” Barabra being there to buffer was the best possible call. Even just knowing he had ‘back up’ helped him. “I love you.” He leaned in to kiss her, smiling softly. He appreciated that she accepted him for who he was, flaws and all. “Dinner?” – Barbara knew that feelings were definitely not his thing. Dick had a lot of strengths but anyone who knew him knew feelings was not one of them. Still, she knew he was better at it than he thought. Well, okay, that was a bit of a lie, but she knew both men probably needed it, especially Connor after what had happened. “I’ll be around if you need it, but I think you can handle this, Dick,” she told him with a smile.
She also figured after the time the two had spent together that Connor knew how Dick could be. Also, he could reach out to her if there was anything he was worried about. But she believed it would be fine with just those two talking. “You better,” she teased, “considering the hell I put up with from you.” Kissing him back with a small laugh. Dick knew she wouldn’t have it any other way and it wasn’t like she didn’t bring her own fair share of trouble…or cause it depending on the day. “I think dinner sounds amazing!”