If I live to be a thousand I will never understand the valorization of Slade, but I will admit in her defense that judging a potential pairing by the Wedding Special is like judging an existing female character by her portrayal in a Winick title.
Wait, Barbara's a teetotaler?
Absolutely. She's told both Dick and Dinah that it's because alcohol has adverse reactions with her medication, and they leave her alone about it (particularly since Dinah suspects it's also a control thing, and that's a part of Babs she's very careful to be aware of). What only Helena knows is that Babs hasn't touched a drop of alcohol since the day she got whacked across the room for pouring her father's down the sink. (Even Jim doesn't know the whole story, though he certainly had the sense not to drink around the house once he adopted her.)
Also, e-mailed you the novel, did you get it?
Yeah, gonna take a crack at it this weekend (I hope, because if I do it means I finished my project today, which is not looking promising at this point -_-).