InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "The Gin? You're drinking Gin?"

fliesbynight (fliesbynight) wrote in newalliance,
@ 2016-08-18 16:14:00

Entry tags:

nightwing, oracle

Who: Babs and Dick
Where: Clocktower, Gotham
When: 8/18/16
What: Dick is bringing Babs food after his shift and tries to tempt her from the computers for a while before patrol (at least he plans to go on patrol).
Rating: low

As was becoming habit, Dick let himself into the clocktower, punching in the codes for the security and dinging the tower occupant. He then scuffled into the room, balancing take out bags, drinks, and a backpack.

"I got a special delivery here? Steak tips, pasta, salad, fancy bread with cheese toasted on it that is missing a piece or two?" He looked around the front area, unburdened himself by setting it all on the coffee table, then ventured toward the work area. "I heard a really smart woman needed dinner but didn't know what she wanted, because 'food' was all I got, so I guessed. I brought the food. Now I need the smarty to eat it? Have you seen her anywhere around here?" He leaned on the wall just within her area on his shoulder, arms folded as he listened to the furious patter of fingers flying over the keyboard. "She's got red hair, sits about so tall, has a mean left hook, and a killer brain? Is she in all that work somewhere? Can you get her for me?"

He was smiling the whole time though, watching with admiration as the screens flickered rapidly. "I even brought cheesecake."

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oracle_bat
2016-08-21 10:47 pm UTC (link)

"No, Helena, it's not alright to beat him with a pint glass," Babs lectured over the comm-link fixed into her ear. "No matter how much he may deserve it," she added in a grumble. "I don't care what he said about your legs, just get the information, and-"

She almost swore when Dick announced his arrival. Babs had forgotten he was coming, and he'd arrived at a key moment in the operation. "Didn't Alfred ever tell you not to eat too much bread before dinner?" She called back, a little distracted as the sound of someone in pain came to her ear. "I said-" She broke off as Helena told her what the man had said. "Oh. Well. Hit him once for me." A yelp told her she had. "Now, can we please...?"

Typing as fast as her fingers could move, Babs recorded what Helena got out of the weasel and began cross-referencing it with the rest of the data in their files. Her brow furrowed in concentration, and it took her a minute to realize that Dick was behind her. And talking.

"In a minute." It was an instinctive response, given with little thought. A smile threatened to distract her from her work though, as he continued his patter, teasing her, and she knew he wouldn't stop until he'd captured her attention.

It was just a matter of finding the right bait. Her fingers froze. "Cheesecake?" she asked.

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fliesbynight
2016-08-21 11:04 pm UTC (link)

"Delicious cheesecake," he assured, smile widening when he realized that had dinged. Then he gave a long suffering sigh. "Althoooooough, I can eat it if you're too busy to. I don't mind that hardship. I would take that sacrifice for you."

He then moved over to the workstation, folding his hands on a corner, crouching so his chin was resting on top of them. "I can bring it in here if you need it." They did get busy, and it was hard to pull any of them off a case. But by the dart of his eyes on her frame, he was obviously trying to assess by how she was sitting and the way her shoulders were held how long she'd been at it. "The cheesecake just might not make it that far, though. Just fair warning." More teasing, and a little bartering. If she told him to bring the damned cheesecake to her, he would, but he'd probably make grumpy airs about it.

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oracle_bat
2016-08-24 05:09 pm UTC (link)

Okay, she had a sweet tooth; and he knew it. Babs narrowed her eyes at him and turned back to her workstation, fingers flying to process the information she'd missed while distracted and incorporate it into her files. This was an important mission, and it wasn't like she could tap Dinah to help out while she took the night off. "What kind of cheese cake?" she asked after returning to Helena with data, trying to sound casual, but only partially succeeding.

Her eyes slid toward his. Dick was pretty. Intelligent, talented, often far too enthusiastic, considering the company he kept, and also just as handsome as the rest. But this one...

Babs slid her fingers through his hair, brushing it off his forehead. "Alright, Man Wonder." Her mouth turned up in a smirk a little too reminiscent of her mentor. "Give me five minutes to finish up. I'm sure Helena can handle things by herself."

She hoped.

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fliesbynight
2016-08-24 08:25 pm UTC (link)

"Well, I don't know, do you prefer strawberry or chocolate?" He was letting her have her pick. He was a gentleman like that. (And nothing said love like not eating the slices on the way over.)

Dick was enthusiastic. He could be calm when he needed to be, and quiet when he caught on that Babs needed it. But sometimes she was gone, disappearing into the work, into the mission, and he felt like an outsider, waiting for her to surface. Bruce at least had given him practice on waiting for someone to come back to normality, though. At least to their 'normal'. Usually when it happened with Barb, he would just plant himself on the couch and would be asleep in seconds (he blamed the couch--it had special coma-inducing cushions).

Now, though, the grin was downright hyper as she asked for five minutes. Oh, if he were a puppy, there would be no containing him, but instead of jumping and tail wagging he was up, sweeping a kiss on her cheek (so as to not make a smacking sound in any of her communications). "See you in five!" he whispered happily, then left her alone so she could indeed wrap up.

And if it took her a bit more than five minutes, he didn't fuss, just played on his phone and kept away from the couch-of-slumbery-doom. Never mind that he was now shoeless, upside down, keeping balance on one hand, then switching to the other, phone soon in his left and the tip of his tongue out as he squint at the screen and checked social media, gravity pulling on the cuff of his pants and shirt.

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oracle_bat
2016-08-26 04:05 am UTC (link)

What sort of a question was that? Babs gave him a look. Then she picked one of them. "Chocolate." If she had to choose, and nothing said love like choosing, it would always be chocolate.

She had known Dick for a long time. So long, it felt like forever, and if he hadn't loved her that long, Babs did count herself lucky that he did now, and even more that he always seemed to know what she needed. She suspected it was due to their mutual mentor, but he put up with her the way few really could, and Babs appreciated that quality. They had a lot in common, given their backgrounds, but their temperaments were quite different.

As was evident now, when she began frisking about like a puppy when she promised to spend time with him. It made her feel guilty enough that she promised herself, again, that she'd do more of that and work less. "Five," she promised.

Of course, it was more like ten, but she had a very good reason, in that Helena couldn't be trusted on her own and required supervision through certain more delicate parts of an assignment. Or maybe that was just an excuse, but eventually, Babs got everything settled, and tried not to feel anxious leaving her work when there was a very handsome man in her living room, willing to spend time with his negligent girlfriend.

And feed her cheesecake.

Babs tilted her head to one side when she saw him, examining his posture as she brought her chair to a stop. "Do we need plates?" she asked casually.

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fliesbynight
2016-08-26 10:35 pm UTC (link)

If she ever asked how long he'd crushed on her, she might be surprised how soon that had started. But like everything, there had been complications, something always in the way of their ever really hitting it off. So by the time it was a consideration, Dick was unavailable. Then she had been. The story of their youth.

He'd never stopped loving Babs during that. It was a big reason he broke off his previous relationship. He knew what a strong, painfully irreplaceable love felt like and there was only ever one person who evoked that from him. Dick 'bubbled' a lot outwardly. He was high energy. He liked to entertain. His mind didn't stop. Inwardly Gotham had colored him gray, though. Babs made all sorts of color bleed through anyway, so even if she were to ever turn him away forever, he'd still be striped with all those bright reminders of a person who got under his skin in an intense way no one else did.

Said person was asking about plates.

"Oh, plates! Right!" He flipped to his feet, a little loud in his hurry before sweeping off into the kitchen. Shoot. This meant there would be dishes to wash. He supposed he could do those, if he didn't conveniently forget. "Guess I shoulda done that while waiting, huh?" Then he was back, a fist full of cutlery as well being set on the table. All manic energy of his hands flying into bags and extracting the meal from its insulating containers.

"So, the newly weds seem to be doing well..." Blatant fishing for her take on that was blatant.

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oracle_bat
2016-08-30 05:06 am UTC (link)

He had crept up on her, the boy with the pixie boots. By the time she'd realized she loved him, it was too late. It had always been too late, really. Dick had been dating a girl about a hundred times prettier than the bookish Barbara Gordon, who'd enjoyed a flirtation, but never seriously hoped to compare with the girl with golden skin and fiery red hair.

She'd tried to hate him, too. After one moment when she'd thought things just might be different, and he just might be hers after all. She had been wrong though, deceived, but the anger she'd tried to nurture had been unsustainable, especially after his other relationship ended, and the unspoken reason turned into subtext.

Babs knew she was like Bruce. Once, they had been a trio - Batman, Robin, and occasionally, Batgirl. She had not been the dark, brooding figure her mentor was, but she was fierce, intelligent, and determined. Robin, Dick, had balanced them, and he still did, both of them individually. After she'd been shot, Babs had sunk down into deeper and darker places she'd needed to drag her way out of. She'd done it through sheer determination and hard work that continued unrelentingly. It was Dick who pulled her away and helped her live. With him, she had a life outside the one she'd built from the ashes of the girl who'd once flown above the streets of Gotham with him - and never would again.

With him, the salvation was worth it.

"I can do it, you know," she grumbled half-heartedly, betrayed by a soft chuckle. She started to follow him into the kitchen but didn't make it before he was back. Helping him unpack the bags, opening containers to look inside, Babs hummed noncommittally.

"You'd know better than I. I only saw Dinah at the bachelorette party, and she seemed fine then." But that wasn't really what he was asking, and she shot him a look, thinking about it. "Alright, so I'm worried," she admitted. "I know that they love each other, and I don't believe either of them would have taken this step if they weren't completely serious about it and believe it would work; especially Dinah. She's smart, she knows what she's getting into." Babs scooped something onto her plate without looking to see what it was, lost in thought. "It's just that - Bruce doesn't have the greatest track record, does he? Granted, they either don't know about him, or aren't capable of dealing with that knowledge, but others he has a tendency to just... push away... I just really don't want her getting hurt because he gets his head up his ass again."

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fliesbynight
2016-08-30 06:14 pm UTC (link)

"Hey now," he teased when she said she could do it. "What am I? Chopped liver?"

After all this time, though, it took effort to not flinch or apologize for stepping on her toes or for ever hinting that she was incapable of anything. Like most things, he had taken to jesting with her on matters of The Chair and finding ways to never point it out blatantly while fully addressing that yes, she could do just about anything--but she didn't need to do everything to prove it. The sting was that, yes, some very simple things such as getting plates he could do faster, and he could just be so focused on doing anything she hinted at that he would forget that she didn't want that at all.

He'd gotten the plates without a thought, and found himself checking himself if he should have, then decided that yes, he would have grabbed the plates even if the chair did not exist and the feeling disappeared quickly on whether he was accidentally clipping at Barbara's pride.

Because damn, was she a proud woman. Fierce, dedicated, focused, an over-achiever, just like any of them. She made sure no one stepped on that pride either, and while well-meaning strangers were one thing, it was understandably not acceptable from him, Bruce, or her friends. She would be the first to call them out on their tender footing, their BS, when they were trying to fool themselves. She was one of the few people who could run circles around Dick with wit, and could keep him on his toes or ground him with a word.

No, there wasn't any comparing Koriand'r to Barbara Gordon when it came to what the former Batgirl could do to him inwardly. Babs pushed and could pull him along and challenge him. Kori had always held back. In Gotham you didn't pull your punches. So maybe it was a fault of Batman and Gotham that made it so Dick couldn't admire anything less than someone who wasn't afraid to bare their teeth and go full throttle. It wasn't about legs and skin when it came to a beauty and bravery like that. (Also he had never thought she didn't physically compare. All those times of trying to act casual when they had to change in and out of civvies when younger... He deserved an award for then!)

He wasn't thinking about any of this at all though as he made a point of pushing the prettily packaged cheesecake with chocolate flakes arranged on top and a crust black with cocoa toward her while he took the one with strawberry slices and sauce. Then he went about dishing himself up pasta, still steaming in the middle, and hogging some of the halved little tomatoes on his plate.

"Yeah, no, he doesn't." A heavy sigh, because that had always been something Dick had watched growing up around Bruce. The self-ostracizing and the habit of pushing his loved ones away because they got in the way of his focus had always been a problem. "And those two with their stubbornness... Did I tell you when she first started dating him that I did the whole questioning thing to see how serious she was about it? Oh man, talk about a lack of amusement on her part. She cut me off pretty quickly and assured me she was a big girl. And she is. If anyone can yank his chain and rattle his cage, it's gonna be that lady. She's going to make things be on her terms, too, so it's good he's got someone who is going to force him to negotiate where needed."

He ate a steak tip, leaning on his elbow and eyeing the colorful salad on his plate. "New kid is going to make things interesting, too. It's something they want, but I don't know that they know what to do. Heck, I wouldn't know what to do either. No, let me change that. I don't know what I'm going to do with just a baby sibling even, let alone the best way to help. I'm going to be old enough to be this kid's dad, when you look at it, so going to miss a lot."

A pause. "By the way, anything you can throw to Jason mission wise will help. I've roped him in a bit, so he won't kill on anything we give him. He gets that it's going to leave a gap in operations with them having a newborn. Or at least it should." Another glum, occupied look as he picked at the salad.

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oracle_bat
2016-09-07 04:15 am UTC (link)

Babs snorted. "Hardly." They both knew that wasn't the issue, however. She didn't like being treated as though she were incapable, and that definitely wasn't Dick's intention, she knew that, but Babs didn't like the feeling that she was being served, either. It had taken her a long time to adjust to her new life, and to learn how to do the things that had once been done without thought. She was capable. She could do things on her own just as well as before - or almost. It was pride that got her more than anything else, and she huffed out a breath.

And let it go. Not something easy for her, but she knew Dick, and even if he worried for her, he believed in her more. There were few people who knew her inside and out, and he was one of them. If he didn't, she suspected, he wouldn't love her. And she couldn't love him. Maybe it was their history, the years they'd spent growing up together, being trained together, but they had a bond few did in relationships. Even when they weren't together, they had been close. Dick might be more outgoing than she was, but both of them had trust issues. To have what they did was something special. Definitely not worth the small stuff.

Especially when there was cheesecake and pasta, although stealing all of the tomatoes was grounds for an argument. Babs gave him the eye and made sure to get some before he took them all, knowing she'd only get one chance.

"You questioned Dinah?" Babs jaw dropped a little. "Yeah, I bet that didn't go over well." Dinah was more than stubborn, she fiercely independent. Not in a way that she wouldn't let others in, but she'd always demanded being treated as her own person. She and Ollie had been a team, but Dinah had never been reliant on him, and she'd turned down more than one offer of marriage on the grounds that she didn't see that it was necessary. After her first, disastrous marriage, who could blame her? That made this marriage to Bruce all the more interesting. "If she agreed to marry him, she's serious. She would never have done it if she wasn't, I can guarantee that, even with the baby. She's strong. Not only that, she doesn't need to be tended to. If he's going to be out all night, she's not going to feel neglected. Dinah gets it."

The baby still amazed her. She knew very well what a miracle it was, and how much it meant to Dinah. As for Bruce... Babs chewed thoughtfully. "Let's be honest - Bruce's method of parenting is unconventional, at best. You were the youngest of the kids, thus far, and he put you in spangled shorts and pixie boots. A baby is a whole other animal. Dinah's at least had experience with Lian." Who was a baby when Roy brought her home. She'd changed diapers and taken her turn rocking her to sleep. "But it's different when it's yours 24-hours a day."

As far as what to do, that part seemed obvious. "You're going to help, of course. You, Alfred, Tim - we're all going to help. You and Tim can patrol for a while. If they can learn how to change diapers and - whatever else you do with babies - so can we." Her eyebrow raised, and she smirked at him. Then, suddenly, she sobered. "Bruce is 43," she said. "When the baby is 21, he'll be 64." She left out the obvious - if he lived that long. "Who knows where - " She bit her lip, eyes shifting down. She didn't want to think about where Alfred might be in 21 years. "He
might not need another father, but he is going to need someone to be there."

"Hmh," She grunted, and eyed the cheesecake longingly. "It won't. Not for long." Leaning over, Babs kissed his cheek. "Even you would be back out there sooner rather than later. And I would be back at the computer while nursing. It's who we are." If giving work to Jason kept him reigned in for awhile, she could find something for him to do. "I'll contact him tomorrow. I've got plenty to do."

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fliesbynight
2016-09-07 05:03 am UTC (link)

"And kept my skin," he said with a bit of pride to having done the whole "intentions" talk and managed to not get pinned on the ground crying Uncle.

Because, well, if Dinah wanted to, she could. Dick was a perfectionist, demanding often too much of himself, but it came with more self-deprecation than pride by a long shot. So he knew out of the two of them Black Canary would wallop him in a straight on fight.

"He does have unconventional kids," Dick pointed out concerning Bruce's parenting methods. "One that just happens to like very bright colors." Blame the circus. "But yeah, a baby means probably more conventional parenting methods, so new adaptation for him." His brain churned a bit over Bruce being older. Then he shrugged. "Bruce is fit. He'll probably still be able to outrun a 21 year old at that age and put him in his place if needed." Because Dick didn't like to prod at the sneaky thought of Bruce being gone. Instead he brightened. "Hey, that means I'm going to be pretty up there then, too. You'll still like me when I'm gray and stuff right? Or am I going to have to watch out for young roosters?"

Dick smiled, leaning after her a bit when she pulled back from the kiss. Then a playful sigh. "Yeah, I would. And they will be, too, just... want them to balance. This lifestyle can have something like that, right? By the way, I'm not ignoring what you said about that, but if I ponder on that mental picture, I'm not responsible for stupid things gushing out of my mouth. Try the beef tips. They pretty much fall apart in your mouth. Or is that cheesecake going to meet an early demise?"

Hope sprang eternal, and little fantasies were usually always kept carefully tucked elsewhere when it came to Barbara. There was, after all, one woman worse than Dinah when it came to being pushed or talked into anything she saw no reason to do. As he'd well learned. But damn, he'd bit his tongue all through his dad and Dinah's wedding, had kept himself active and in super-jest mode so his tired, over-caffeinated mind didn't decide to blurt anything to her at the event. So he was distracting himself with chomping up salad followed by a noisy slurp of drink. It was a feat, because they both knew Dick was not eating the salad because he preferred it to the other items. He'd take carbs, sauce, meat, and sweets over it every time.

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oracle_bat
2016-09-09 07:39 am UTC (link)

'Unconventional,' was one way to describe Bruce's children, both adopted and not. Babs gave a little laugh. "I think you two manage as well as you do because you're both 'unconventional'," she charged. It would have taken a very special kind of kid to keep up with Bruce at such an early age, and for so long. "I don't know that he even can be conventional, but he will have to start with the basics. The kids going to grow up in a family of vigilante superheroes, but he'll still need his diapers changed." She was taking it for granted that it would be a boy, but the odds seemed to favor it.

The thought of Bruce not being there, even no longer being able to be Batman, wasn't something she was comfortable with either, but it was a reality, one way or another. Babs had a tendency to lean, maybe not toward pessimism, but toward realism, which was often just as depressing. Maybe she did believe that Bruce could live that long, but she also knew the risks he took. "He puts a lot of stress on his body," she mused quietly. It was a miracle he was in as good shape as he was now. In 21 years? Babs shook her head. A smiled formed, quickly masking itself with a smirk. They were wading into waters they'd largely tiptoed around. "Hell no, fly boy. One sign of gray and I'm moving on." Nevermind that she'd only had one other lover in her life.

She took his suggestion about the beef tips and found them just as tender as promised. "I'm just anticipating," she defended her longing glance toward the desert. "They're going to have to learn how to, but it's not going to change who they are. Now they just have something more worth fighting for, right? Really though, whatever they do, the baby is just going to think it's normal."

Watching him eat, she thought about those waters, and thought about broaching the subject, but didn't. Things were good with them, and they'd hadn't always been. Part of her was nervous about rocking the boat. But then she thought about what might've been, and what could be, and she wondered if he thought about it, too. She understood why Dinah hadn't wanted to marry, but she'd also understood, to some extent, why she had.

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fliesbynight
2016-09-15 12:13 am UTC (link)

"Well, thankfully there is Alfred." Alfred himself wasn't conventional, but he knew how to tend to young ones.

She did have a point, but he didn't want to agree with it outright that Bruce could ever become slow and feeble, so instead he said, "Not like he'll need to run after a kid. He will just need to send the look over video feed."

He grinned, that familiar, narrow flash of teeth that said he was happy she was jesting back with him. "Darn it. I need to invest in hair dye and a stick then, to beat the younguns off. Might have to get me some wrinkle cream, too. Can't be too careful." He made a show of rubbing at his cheek and chin in inspection.

Dammit. Silence. Had he gone too far? Made her uncomfortable? Made her ready to tell him not to even, ever... But she didn't look mad. He'd learned to read her pretty well, but he couldn't quite read the look he saw in his peripheral, so he didn't try to push for the conversation that had been nagging at him. He had what she was willing to give, and that wish to not rock the boat was reflected. Still, something felt raw now, a small spot that felt heavy in his chest, and he wanted a little assurance that this was enough for the both of them.

"Do you have a lot of work to do after you eat?" Are you okay with me hanging around?

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oracle_bat
2016-09-16 02:25 am UTC (link)

"The baby will be younger than any he's had to deal with," Babs said of Alfred, but she nodded. "Even Bruce. But I don't doubt he'll be up to the challenge. He's so excited, he's likely to take the parenting classes with Bruce and Dinah."

Babs laughed, and knew, could see in Dick's face, that he was afraid of the idea that Bruce wouldn't be... Bruce, forever. They would be lucky to have him around long enough to be old, let alone not end up with some sort of physical or even mental damage, given the amount of stress he put on his body and head. "He has enough experience with that, at least," she agreed, giving him the space he needed from the future and whatever it may bring.

Again, she was reminded of how beautiful he was. That quick flash of pleasure that made her happy to see, and feel proud to have inspired. It was hard to deny him, not just the physical, how he looked and how he made her feel, but also his brilliance, and joy for a life that had not been easy. "Well," she drawled then, considering. "You'd be rather debonair with hair dye and a cane of some sort. Maybe a little white around the temples." She ran her fingers through his hair, just above his left ear, her smile soft. "I guess that's worth holding onto for a few years."

His silence betrayed his discomfort, and now she really didn't know what to say. Babs looked at him over her food, wondering what he was thinking, what he wanted, and what he needed. She took the last bite of her dinner and pushed her plate forward. "It can wait," she said, deciding to take advantage of their time while she had him. She was a lot like Bruce, but she had never wanted to be him. "I've got something here that's much more important right now." Her hand curled into his, fingers twining. "That cheesecake." A twinkle playfully lit her eyes.

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fliesbynight
2016-09-19 11:11 pm UTC (link)

An even bigger smile at the touch. "Little stripe for maturity? I think I can pull off the dignified look. For," a playful grimace of inner debate, "About three minutes?" He was going to get old, and he was going to gray, and he was still going to bounce around in a way Bruce didn't.

Dick leaned in closer as their fingers twined, coming almost nose to nose with her. Then his mouth dropped open with feigned shock. "Gasp! It's not the boys I have to worry about. I'm going to have to beat the cheesecake with a stick!" He glared over at the prettily packaged slice. "I should never have introduced you two." His eyes strayed over to his slice of cheesecake. "But then, there are many sweets in the sea. Perhaps we should see other desserts." He leaned in close again. "Ah, who am I kidding. You know I'd run right back."

The tone was still teasing, but the last also had a core of seriousness that the mirth couldn't completely cover.

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