Disclaimer: Batman and all characters are owned by DC Comics and Warner Brothers. Although I immensely enjoy the comics & cartoons, I don’t own any part of them.
Summary: New changes are about to come to out favorite heroes.
Floating on a marshmallow. That had to be what it was like. Or maybe a meringue ~ light and airy. That was the only way to describe it. Either way, she didn’t want to get up.
Suppressing a groan, she willed herself to open one eye. She was awake anyway so she might as well figure out what time it was.
Or where she was for that matter – this definitely wasn’t any room she had seen before.
She raised her head and blinked repeatedly (she always had dry eyes after a late night). The room was fairly dark with only a sliver of light coming in from between a set of heavy drapes hanging over a very large window to the foot of the bed.
The room she was in was very big as well. It just wasn’t very well decorated for its size as far as she could tell. There was a nightstand next to the bed with a small lamp and the faint outlines of a few paintings on the walls. There were also three doors; two on the far side of the room in front of her and one opposite the large window. One had to lead out of the room and another was probably a closet. As for the third, she guessed it was to a master bath of some sort, whether private or just attached to the bedroom.
She signed and laid her head back on the pillow. It would be a lot easier to figure out where she was if the bed wasn’t so comfortable. Or warm.
She pulled the thick comforter over her bare shoulder and took a peek beneath it. Her naked body was sinking slightly into the surface of the bed and her left hip was hidden completely. She froze when a strong arm wrapped around her waist and another bare body pressed against her back.
Did she dare turn around to find out who this person was? Or just how bare they were for that matter? Obviously something had happened between them, but as hard as she tried, she just couldn’t remember how she got into this situation.
She had gone to a high profile charity event the night before. Half the police force was there, whether on guard duty or, as in Bulloch’s case, raiding the selection of elegant appetizers and delicate pastries. Business tycoons chatted among various charity workers, and even Bruce Wayne had stood up to say a few impromptu words. It was a rare night which the protection of Gotham was left to Robin.
*Come on, Babs, what happened?* She pressed her eyes tightly closed.
A few police officers had thought it hilarious to be buying the commissioner’s daughter a drink. One had even dared her to have a double shot of Ice 101 which she quickly learned was stronger than any peppermint she’d had before. She also vaguely remembered someone buying her a very sweet reddish colored drink which came in a shot glass but didn’t taste of alcohol. It wasn’t until a short while later that she realized it must have been fairly strong because she started to get a warm, fuzzy, happy feeling. In fact, the last thing she really remembered was sitting next to Bruce laughing about something she couldn’t remember and sharing a bottle of either champagne or wine.
The figure behind her stirred, took a deep breath, and nuzzled his face into her upper back. She had to admit that the scrape of his stubble against her bare back was almost erotic. She was snapped momentarily back from her reverie when he pulled her closer and started running his fingertips lazily over her stomach.
Part of her wanted to just sink into his arms – whoever he was. It had been a long time since she’d been held like that. But there was still the issue of who it was. Up to this point she didn’t think she had ever mad a truly horrible choice, not even when she had been drinking.
*Oh, God, this is so embarrassing.* She closed her eyes and pursed her lips. *He must know what happened last night. He probably doesn’t black out when he drinks…. Crap… How much did I drink?*
She shifted her left leg which in turn shifted her hips against his. His arm once again wrapped around her waist and pulled her as close as he could. He placed a few soft kisses at the base of her neck, and she couldn’t hold back the sigh. She tilted her head back to make her neck more accessible to him. While kissing her neck and shoulders, he ran his right had from her upper thigh to just under her breast, grazing it slightly before he pulled away.
His absence took her by surprise. She turned onto her back to look at him. He was sitting on the other edge of the bed with his broad shoulders hunched over and his head down.
“What...” she started.
“Just a minute,” he whispered.
She laid her head back on the pillow and closed her eyes. She was apprehensive and yet at the same time very excited. The last time was… well, she was dating Dick at the time. It was during the last time they were serious in their on again, off again relationship. That relationship should have gotten more exciting when they each discovered the other’s nighttime personality. But instead it got more mundane. They got into a pattern; nothing new and romance slowly went out the door the more he distanced himself from his origins as Robin. He never said it out loud, but she was sure part of him resented her for staying beside Bruce. Eventually she got tired of it. Their relationship ended long before she stopped going to his loft; it was just the finite move for her. She knew it wasn’t going anywhere, and she had to stop fooling herself.
And yet here she was in a strange man’s bedroom about to have sex with him. And the only reason she could come up with to continue was that it was something she hadn’t done in a long time.
She barely felt the bed move before he was back at her side and his breath was on her neck. He laid his hand on her waist and pulled her close.
*This -is- a good bed,* she thought as she turned toward him.
She lifted her left arm and placed her hand at the nape of his neck as he continued to lightly kiss her throat and collar bone. He now had both of his arms around her waist which allowed him to pull her even closer. It was then she realized what he had been doing.
*A condom.* She smiled through the corner of her mouth. *At least one of us was thinking.*
She’d had a couple bad scares with Dick. Her father always liked him and probably expected them to eventually get married, but even so a premarital pregnancy would have tested him. She suspected her father still thought her to be more innocent than she actually was.
His kisses traveled up her neck, along her jawline, and before she knew it, she shared a very deep kiss with him. He ran his right hand down her back, over her butt and pulled her left leg over his hip. He was right there; ready to enter at any moment. She sifted her hips against his which caused the tip of his erection to rub against her folds. He brought one of his hands down her back to meet at their juncture. She was ready, there was no denying that. He just wasn’t done playing with her.
He slipped one finger inside her, and she didn’t even try to stop the moan that escaped her lips. He took it as an invitation and slowly slipped inside her. He turned her onto her back so he was on top of her and once again nuzzled his face into her neck as he stared a slow rhythm. She ran the tips of her fingers over his upper back and across his shoulders. She couldn’t believe how good this felt.
*Well, whoever he is, he sure knows what he’s doing.* “Oh, my...”
“Like that?” he whispered in her ear as he moved his hips in a circular motion again.
“Oh, yeah,” she tilted her head back into the pillow as far as she could.
He began to quicken his pace, shifting his hips every few strokes just enough to drive her senses wild. It wasn’t long before his motions got more sporadic, and she was feeling it, too.
“I’m close,” he breathed out.
She couldn’t even form a coherent thought, let alone bring one to voice.
He held her tight and gave a few more deep thrusts before he buried his face in her neck and the pillow beside her.
She lay there for a moment, taking in his smell and the feel of his body on top of hers. She barely had time to catch her breath before he started running his hands up and down her body and kissing her neck again. He seemed to especially like the spot where her jaw met her neck.
“Again?” she couldn’t hide the smile in her voice.
He laughed. “Well, if you want to, you’re going to have to give me a little time. I was thinking more along the lines of breakfast.”
“Mmmm... what’s on the menu?”
“Anything you want.” He kissed her cheek and leaned over to the nightstand to turn on the lamp.
When he turned back, Barbara found herself face to face with Bruce Wayne.
- - - - - - - - - -
It wasn’t very often he woke up this way. Most of the gossip columnists had a different take on things, but it was very rare that he woke to anything other than Alfred letting the morning light in.
So to wake up with a naked woman in bed beside him had automatically put him on the thought it was going to be a good day. And had more than likely been a good night, although he couldn’t remember much of it. One of the last things he remembered was leading Barbara to the car after the party had ended. They had been joking around about something, possibly even flirting. After that, a blank.
Apparently it showed on his face.
“You don’t remember either, do you?”
“I hope you don’t take it too badly if I say I don’t.” He gave her a small smile and laid his head on the pillow beside her.
“Oh. My. God.” She pulled the covers up under her chin. “What are we going to do?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never been in a situation like this before with one of my partners.”
Barbara laughed. “Well, I’d hope not. Your other partners are guys.”
“Point taken.”
Bruce glanced around the room. “Maybe we should go eat like I said before. Come on. Get up. Let’s go.” He tugged on the covers.
“Hey, come on. I’m naked here.”
He laughed. “So I noticed. Or in case you’ve forgotten, we just had sex.” He jokingly poked a finger into her side which made her squirm. “Aha! Ticklish...”
She started to fidget even more as he tried to get access to both of her sides. She laughed as she rocked back and forth trying to get away from him while still staying under the covers at the same time. Before she knew it, she was on top of him, nose to nose. He stopped tickling her but kept his hands on her hips.
She pursed her lips. “Umm… maybe we should go get something to eat...”
His lips brushed against hers. “Whenever you’re ready.”
She closed her eyes and felt his breath against her chin. She moved her hips against his as he ran his hands up the bare skin of her back.
“We shouldn’t.” She spoke against his lips.
“I know.”
“But we already have.”
“That, too.”
He wasn’t sure if he kissed her or if she had brought her head down to kiss him, but he didn’t want to stop. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer. He pulled the covers from between them and rolled them onto their sides.
Her skin was so soft, he couldn’t stop touching it. He ran his hand firmly down her right side and pulled her leg over his hip. He kissed her quickly along her jawline, but lingered on her neck. She sighed deeply and wrapped her arms around his neck.
“No going back now,” she whispered against his ear.
“Who said I wanted to?”
- - - - - - - - - -
It had been almost 2 months since their surprise hook up, but it was rarely out of her mind, especially since the opportunity for a repeat hadn’t come up. Tim’s kidnapping and Joker’s death didn’t help matters. The stress was getting to everyone, and it was all too easy for her to look at that moment to forget about the horrible things that had recently happened.
Today was no different. She had just begun to space out when a coworker dropped a box on her desk.
“They found these in the raid downtown.” The girl gave her a half-smile. “Bulloch was griping about something. I think they want to know what’s on them right away.”
Barbara glanced inside the box to find it full of computer disks.
“Hey, you okay?”
She looked up. “Yeah, why?”
“I don’t know.” She crossed her arms and leaned against the doorframe. “You look kinda tired. You know the flu is going around again.”
Barbara rested her chin in her hand. “Well, then I guess I’ll find out soon. I didn’t get a flu shot this year. Didn’t think I needed one. I did get stuck in that rainstorm last week though.”
The girl smiled. “Drink some orange juice. It’ll help.”
She smiled back half-heartedly. “Sure.”
Then, as fast as she had appeared, the girl was gone, and Barbara was left alone. She closed her eyes and once again let her mind wander. She could almost feel Bruce’s lips on her neck when she was once again snapped from her reverie.
“Hey, Babs.”
She opened her eyes to find Dick at her doorway.
“Do you have plans for lunch?”
She sighed. “Not really.”
“You want to go grab a sandwich?”
“Shouldn’t you be keeping Bruce company?”
He shrugged. “You try getting to him. He locked himself up. Only comes out for food. Won’t let anyone else down there. Not even Alfred.”
He cocked his head and looked her over. “Are you okay?”
She almost laughed. “Yeah, apparently the flu is going around again. And being out in that rain with Harley couldn’t have helped anything.”
Dick breathed heavily and forced a smile. “Come on then. Food will do you good.”
- - - - - - - - - -
“Remember this?”
Barbara jumped as she realized she had been day dreaming again. “What?”
“We used to come here all the time when we were in college.”
She half-smiled. “Oh, yeah. It’s been a while.” She glanced around the deli. It wasn’t too busy today, but there was still a line.
“That’s all you have to say?” Dick smirked. “Our first date, not to mention that I asked you out right over… hey, Babs. Babs? Are you okay?” He grabbed her as she started to sway back and forth.
“Yeah.” She shook her head. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little dizzy.”
“Uh huh. Let’s go.”
“What? Where?”
“Doctor. We’re taking care of this flu thing right now.”
- - - - - - - - - -
“Lemon, miss?”
“No, Alfred,” Barbara smiled. “The tea’s fine the way it is.”
Dick had taken her to see Dr. Thompkins who drew some blood and told her to take it easy for the rest of the day. Which left her having tea with Alfred in Wayne Manor’s kitchen.
She didn’t usually have a problem finding something to talk about with him, but everything seemed more stressful lately. No one in the house was really talking to one another, and when they did, it almost always ended in either awkward silence or one just giving up on the conversation and walking away.
The awkward silken was just starting to set in when the phone rang. Alfred stood up to answer it, but Dick yelled a quick “I got it” from the other side of the kitchen door.
Barbara sighed. “Things are going to get better, right?”
He gave her a small smile. “Where we are now, that is the only way it can go.”
The door swung open and Dick walked through with a puzzled look on his face. “That was Leslie.”
“Let me guess: flu?” Barbara smirked.
“Um, no, actually,” he sat down next to her. “She just congratulated me because it seems you’re pregnant.”
The smile faded from her face. “I’m what?”
“If you’ll excuse me…” Alfred chose this time to vacate the kitchen.
Dick waited until he had left before he turned to look at Barbara. “Look, I didn’t know how to tell her it couldn’t be me. Mainly because I haven’t been in town for about 6 months. And I know I’ve been in Bludhaven for a while, and I didn’t exactly expect you not to find someone else, but it would have been nice if you had at least told me you had a new boyfriend so I might have avoided making a complete fool of myself earlier today.”
“Dick…” She stared at her teacup. “There is a really long story to all of this, and you know everything is more complicated now.” She exhaled heavily. “I think it’s better I talk to the father before I explain everything to you.”
“Well who is he and why didn’t you tell me about him?”
“Dick,” she frowned at him as she stood up. “Just let me handle this first.”
- - - - - - - - - -
She had honestly expected Dick to follow her. Instead, he had hunched his shoulders and walked out the front door, still brooding.
It took her all of five minutes to break through Bruce’s new security codes. She hadn’t been in the Batcave since the night they found Tim, and she hadn’t been so apprehensive while descending the stairs since the night Bruce revealed that he was Batman.
“If you’re trying to sneak up on me, you’re not doing a very good job.” Bruce hadn’t even turned from the BatComputer. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“You think I couldn’t get past your little ‘lockdown’?” she crossed her arms. “In case you forgot, I work with computers. I crack codes as part of my job. I’m basically a glorified computer hacker.”
“You’re not going back out there.”
“You know what?” She leaned on the console beside him. “For now I have no choice but to agree. Which brings me to why I came to talk to you.”
“If you agree that you’re finished being Batgirl, then there’s nothing to talk about.”
“First off, I never said I was done being Batgirl. I just said I was taking a break. And the reason for that is why we need to talk.”
She leaned her head down further. “Are you going to at least look at me?”
Slowly he moved his eyes from the screen to look at her. His eyes were bloodshot and it was obvious he hadn’t shaved in a while. “Tell me what you have to say and then get out of here.”
A couple different retorts ran through her mind, but she bit her tongue and held them back. “Two months ago. That charity we went to. We both had too much to drink and forgot how the night ended. Then there was the morning after…”
He ran his hand over the stubble on his chin. “That part is hard to forget.”
Barbara smiled. “To be honest, I’ve been using that memory as an escape lately.”
“And why are you bringing that up now?”
“Because…” she stood up and crossed her arms as she walked a few steps away from him. “Apparently we weren’t as careful as we thought.”
“You’re...?"
She nodded. “Dick took me to lunch today, and I got dizzy. He took me to see Leslie, and she just called back with the results. Dick answered the phone, and he’s not too happy right now. He thinks I’ve been ‘hiding a boyfriend’ from him.”
She turned around to find him back at whatever he had been doing on the computer.
“Listen,” she placed her hand on his shoulder. “I don’t really expect anything, but I felt you should know.”
“I need time to think.”
----------
“It takes more bravery to do what is right over what is easy.” Alfred poured two more cups of tea.
“It wouldn’t have been fair to not tell him. Besides,” she halfway grinned. “What would people think if I just up and disappeared only to come back years later with a kid who has his chin or nose or something?”
“A miniature version of Master Bruce? Now that is scary.”
She gave him a big smile and sipped her tea. She was about to continue their conversation when the doorbell chimed.
“If you’ll excuse me, miss.” Alfred stood up to answer the door.
*What a mess,* she thought. *Bruce may have raised two boys, but this isn’t exactly a good time for him to become a parent. Everything is just so screwed up.*
The door opened again and Alfred led in the two guests. “If the tea is not to your liking, I could put on a pot of coffee.”
“No thanks, Alfred. The tea will be just fine,” Lois Lane smiled. “Right, Clark?”
“Uh, right,” Clark glanced around the kitchen.
“But I would like to know why Bruce sent his private jet to pick us up with no warning.”
“Here,” Bruce surprised them all when he suddenly appeared and threw his checkbook at Lois. “There are five signed checks in there. Take her dress shopping. Clark, you better get fitted for a tux. Lois, you’re a bridesmaid.” Then, as soon as he had appeared, he was gone.
“What just happened?” Lois held up the checkbook. “And why am I going dress shopping?”
“I think I might know,” Barbara smiled. “The only reason he would have asked you both to come here right now is because you both know about his other job.”
“’Both’?” Lois looked at Clark.
Clark just grinned as he pushed up his glasses. “You didn’t think you were the only one to know that he’s Batman, did you?”
“No,” Lois crossed her arms. “I just didn’t think you knew, too.”
“Bruce is pretty careful about who he lets in on our little secret.” Barbara rested her chin on her hand. “And they don’t get more trustworthy than Clark.”
“’Our’?” Lois raised an eyebrow.
“How many redheads do you think hang around both Wayne Manor and the Batcave?”
“You’re Batgirl,” Lois concluded.
“Guilty,” Barbara finished off her cup of tea. “Although I’m kinda on a break right now.”
“And why is that?” Clark asked.
“Well,” Barbara stared at the countertop. “I’m sure you know what happened to Tim. That in itself makes Bruce adverse to any of us continuing to work with him. He’s pretty much banned everyone from the Batcave right now. Even Alfred. But the reason why I’m accepting this hiatus actually began the night Tim disappeared. He was out on patrol by himself because Bruce and I were at a charity event hosted by the GCPD. I wasn’t buying drinks that night, and Bruce hadn’t taken a night off in a long time so he wasn’t exactly sober either. What I remember is that by the end of the night we were sitting together. He said he remembered us leaving together. After that, a blank for both of us until we woke up the following morning. And whatever may have happened… well, I found out this afternoon that I’m pregnant so Batgirl’s out of commission for a while.”
Lois glanced at Clark who raised his eyebrow.
“So… we’re actually going wedding dress shopping for you?”
“I guess so, but it’s a surprise to me, too. He didn’t really say anything after I told him except that he wanted time to think. He’s not going to want to have a big to-do, though. I just don’t know how we’re going to manage that.”
“I have an idea,” Clark said. “Let me just make a quick phone call. “He darted out the door.
“So you and Bruce, huh?” Lois forced a smile. “How long has that been going on?”
“It hasn’t,” Barbara gestured toward the chair opposite her. “I may have had a crush on Batman before Batgirl became an official member of the team, but nothing like this ever happened before that night. Or since. So I’m in a really interesting situation here.”
“Okay,” Clark popped back in, straightening his tie. “She’s on her way.”
“Who?” Lois asked.
“Lana.” He shrugged. “She said she was talking to Superman so he’s going to drop her off in a few minutes.”
“What?” she stood up.
Barbara couldn’t help but laugh. “Did she say what they were talking about?”
“She wants to do a superhero-themed line, and of course, wants the costumes to be as accurate as possible.”
“She doesn’t know that Bruce is Batman, though.” Barbara crossed her arms.
“No, but she can get you a wedding dress and bridesmaid dresses with the most discretion.”
----------
Lana Lang stood outside the front door of Wayne Manor counting off the minutes. Clark had told her to wait five minutes before ringing the doorbell so that Lois didn’t start asking questions.
*How the hell doesn’t she know by now?* She blew a stray strand of hair out of her eyes. *She sees him everyday. She can’t still be buying all the ‘oops, I forgot my dry cleaning’ excuses.*
Finally she got tired of waiting and pushed the button. After a minute someone who could only be a butler answered the door and escorted her inside to, of all things, the kitchen.
Clark, standing against the counter in front of her, gave her a smile, and Lois, standing beside him, just shook her head as though she was disgusted with something. She could just about imagine how the story of how she got there had been elaborated upon. No doubt it had purposely been twisted just enough to get her jealous of Lana.
“So...” Lana clasped her hands together. “Who do I measure first?”
----------
Tired of sulking around Gotham City, Dick finally returned to Wayne Manor. Hopefully he had given Barbara enough time to contact this new beau of hers and break the news. Maybe now she was ready to tell him who this other guy was.
The house was still very quiet, and Barbara wasn’t where he had left her in the kitchen (not that he expected she would be). He did, however, find Clark Kent drinking a cup of coffee with the morning newspaper spread out on the countertop in front of him.
Clark...? No way... Could he?
“Where’s Barbara...?” Dick asked cautiously.
“She’s upstairs with Lois and Lana,” Clark smiled as he lifted his eyes from the newspaper. “I think they’ve finally made it to the design choices, but I’m not sure how much of the actual dresses are made.” He turned back to the article he was reading. “I still think we got it easy. Since Lana’s so pressed for time I don’t think she’s going to insist on making our tuxes so we can just rent them instead.”
“Dresses?” he furrowed his brow in confusion. “Tuxes?"
“Well we can’t very well be in costume, can we? A superhero wedding would bring up way too many questions.”
“This is just too weird...” Dick shook his head and sulked out the door. There was no way this could be happening. Barbara and Clark?
Once upstairs, it didn’t take too long to figure out where Barbara and this “Lana” person were. Murmurs and giggles were clearly coming from the bedroom Barbara usually used when she visited the manor.
He took a deep breath before opening the door.
A woman sat in front of a portable sewing machine, placing stick pins in some fabric with multiple bolts of material strewn around the room.
“Okay, how does that fit now?” she didn’t look up from her work.
“I don’t know...” Barbara came into the room from the attached bathroom in something that looked far from that of a wedding dress. “Are you sure I can’t have something with at least straps to it?”
“Trust me, with your bone structure, this kind of dress will be perfect.” She bit her lip as she looked at Barbara’s disappointment in the mirror. “Well... maybe I can come up with something off the shoulders... But still, support is the main thing. Does it fit comfortably? Hold everything up where you want it? If we get everything about where it should be now, it’s going to be less work for me later.”
“How about concealing?” Barbara ran her hands over her stomach. “I don’t want to walk out in front of everyone with a big bump on my stomach. God... if at all possible I don’t want people thinking this happened until after the wedding...”
The seamstress laughed. “Well, as fast as everything is moving, I don’t think you’re going to have to worry about that. From what Lois told me, this guy has a major reputation to uphold. So I’m guessing your going to be walking down the aisle pretty much as soon as I get all the dresses put together.”
“Ahem,” Dick cleared his throat. Both girls turned their heads toward him.
“Dick?” Barbara crossed her arms in front of her chest. “What are you doing here?”
“I figured you might be ready to tell me what was going on by now,” he shrugged. “I have to say I wasn’t expecting this, though.”
“Believe me, I wasn’t either,” she smiled coyly. “But you know Bruce... When he makes a decision...”
“Bruce?” His jaw dropped open. “You mean Bruce is the..? How the hell did that happen?”
The smile faded from her lips. “Who did you think it was, Dick?”
“Well, I came back, and Kent was sitting in the kitchen...”
“Smallville?” another woman wearing something similar to what was on Barbara came out of the bathroom. At least he knew this one was Lois Lane. “That’s funny. The only time he ever gets away from Metropolis is to visit his parents. Unless we’re on assignment or something. But believe me, since I’m his partner and all, I’d know if he was getting action. Trust me, he’s not. He’s way to uptight to be.”
The woman at the sowing machine covered her mouth to stop from laughing. “Maybe you should help him with that, Lois.”
Lois shot her a glare. “What the hell is that supposed to mean? Clark and I are not like that and never will be.”
The other woman just continued to smile. “Oh, don’t knock it before you’ve tried it. Clark’s pretty talented. Too bad for me he only sees me as a friend anymore… Those were some good times...”
“Lana...“ Lois dropped her jaw. “I am not hearing you talk about having sex with Clark...”
Lana laughed. “Okay, if you don’t want to hear, I won’t tell you. I’m just saying... you don’t know what you’re missing... When it comes to certain things, he’s a real Superman.”
Barbara had to cover her mouth to stop from laughing.
“What?” Lois was pointedly confused.
“Nothing... just you know.” she shrugged. “Come on, even I know you’ve got it bad for Superman. I’m friends with Clark’s cousin, Kara, after all.” She walked towards Dick, but paused by Lana on the way to mouth a quick “you’re bad” before smiling up at her former boyfriend. He wasn’t smiling.
“So you gonna tell me? How the hell did you end up with Bruce of all people? I mean, I figured there was a reason you stayed behind, but I didn’t think it was that. Just how long has this been going on?”
“Dick...” Barbara turned back to the other girls. “Excuse us for a minute.” She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out in the hallway.
“Well?” he crossed his arms as she closed the door behind her.
“Okay, I don’t really know those women, but it was still pretty embarrassing to have you come in and start demanding an explanation of my actions like some…” she shook her head.
“Like some what? Jealous boyfriend?” He leaned down so his face was inches from hers. “In case you forgot, before you climbed into bed with Bruce, I was your boyfriend. I was about ready to ask you to marry me that night everything hit the fan, but even before Bruce pulled you into all that, I kept telling myself to wait and get everything planned out better.”
“Well that obviously didn’t turn out the way anyone had planned, now did it?” she scowled back at him. “And for the record, you’re not my boyfriend anymore. You’re the one that chose to leave. I chose to stay partly because there was still more Bruce could teach me, but mainly because my dad would have been worried to death about me being in Bludhaven. I tried telling him once what my nighttime job was, but he wouldn’t hear it. He said he trusted me at whatever I did, but I know every time he sees me come in to work with my arm in a sling or bruises all over my face, he’s worried. He’s my dad. It comes with the job. And I don’t want him to worry. That’s why I didn’t go with you to Bludhaven.”
“And what about you and Bruce?”
She bit her lip. “That’s more complicated. And it’s not what it looks like either. We haven’t been having some secretive affair. When it comes down to it, we had a drunken one night stand. The night Tim disappeared.”
“So who seduced who?”
“Neither... both... I don’t know. We weren’t exactly in control of our faculties. It just kinda happened.”
“And let me guess, you loved his bed so much you couldn’t leave.” He looked as if he were about to say more, but just bunched up his fist, shook his head and turned to leave.
“Hey,” she grabbed his arm. “I told you it wasn’t like that. One night stand means just that, one night.”
“Then explain why the hell you’re getting fitted for a wedding dress!”
“Because obviously Bruce feels he has a responsibility. It wasn’t my idea, you know. I told him less than four hours ago that I was pregnant. As fast as everything happened afterward, I figure he must have sent for Lois and Clark as soon as I left the cave. I don’t know his reasons, Dick. But I do see the advantages to it considering both he and my dad are public figures. People have kids out of wedlock all the time. Just not Bruce Wayne’s kid.”
“This is fucked up.” he pointed a finger at her. “It’s been fucked up since the beginning. What kind of life is that kid going to have? ‘Cause you know mine and Tim’s turned out just *so* great.”
“I didn’t raise you.” she sighed. “I didn’t really raise Tim either, though I suppose I was the closest thing to a mother he really had.”
“Oh, so you’re going to make all the difference?”
“Well, it couldn’t hurt. Bruce wasn’t really your dad. Same with Tim. You really think things wouldn’t have been different if your parents hadn’t died? Even if they did something like what we do...”
“Oh, yeah, I forgot. Bruce made all his mistakes on the orphans he took in so he’s not going to make any mistakes about his own kid. That makes all the difference.” He turned to leave again and shook off her hand when she tried to stop him again. “I made a promise, and I’ll keep it. But as soon as everything with Tim is settled, I’m gone.” He didn’t look back once.
Barbara was on the verge of tears when Lois opened the bedroom door to bring her inside. “Hey, he didn’t mean it.”
Barbara forced a smile. “Yeah, he did. He and Bruce have been at odds since I became an official member of the team. This didn’t help anything.”
“Okay then, it’s not your fault. I’m guessing he still loves you and is just concerned about your well-being. Why else would he have reacted like that?”
“That’s the problem,” she fell back on the bed. “The way everything ended with him… I think he still expects me to feel the same way I used to about him. I just don’t… I mean, I still love him, but as a friend.” She sat up and gave a small smile. “You know, he tried taking me out on what I’m sure he thought was a date this morning. He took me to the café we used to go to when we were dating.”
“Oh, speaking of food…” Lana stood up and stretched her back. “Please tell me there’s something good to eat around here. I skipped lunch.”
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“Are you sure you still want to do this?” Barbara straightened her veil.
Bruce smiled over at her. “It’s the right thing to do.” It even surprised her how quickly he was able to return to his old self. Or at least appear that way.
“That doesn’t mean you have to do it.” she started to fidget with her bouquet.
Lois and Clark both rolled their eyes in front of them before walking out into Wayne Manor’s living room.
“Too late now,” Bruce whispered in her ear as The Wedding March started to play. “Besides, everyone’s here.”
As they walked out together toward the makeshift alter, she glanced around the room. A few close friends had been gathered (mostly Justice League out of costume) in addition to Lucius Fox, the Kents, Leslie, and her dad. She felt really bad that they didn’t have time to include him in the wedding itself. She knew he would have wanted to lead her down the aisle. Instead, all the warning he got was a quick “hey dad, grab some dress clothes and get over to Wayne Manor.”
Lana had been right; the final stitching had been done early that morning. But the dresses lacked nothing when it came to quality. Barbara had been able to convince her not to include all the elaborate additives, but there was still a definite look of elegance. Lois’s wine colored dress perfectly complimented her eyes with the lavender edging. And Clark looked absolutely dashing in a black tux compared to his normal blue suit.
Barbara smiled as she walked beside Bruce, but couldn’t help but notice a few in the crowd whispering to one another. She had to remind herself this wasn’t normal. People were going to talk. And that’s going to just get worse once it hits the tabloids. Thank God Lois and Clark were the only reporters in attendance. At least they’d put together an unbiased article. The pregnancy was to be announced a month later (feigning that they had “just found out”), and might cause some speculation of the truth, but overall the worst it could do would be to make people think they were only getting married because she was pregnant. Which was the truth, so she couldn’t figure out why she was so worried about it.
Bruce squeezed her hand as they stopped in front of the priest. “Ready?” he whispered.
“No,” she whispered back. “But we’re here.”
He smiled, but she could see the fatigue in his eyes. “You’re beautiful.”
“Flatterer.” She smiled as they turned to the priest.
The priest nodded and began. “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today...”
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