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Author's Note
This follow-up is because someone begged me for it...I hope that
I can do the rest of these characters justice :) As with the first story, "A
New Year to Remember," Jody Revenson's "Nightwing and Oracle" is presumed
to be in the past of my own timeline. (Both of these stories can be found at http://home.att.net/~lubakmetyk -- Thanks
Luba!!) Again, my timeline is a divergence from Jody's, she has her own plans for the
characters. Several people mentioned in response to my last story that they didn't think
Babs and Dick had a relationship when she was 22 and he was 16, but I *am* presuming that
it happened ;) The reactions in the following scenes are from the rest of the Bat
crew - Dick and Barbara both make appearances, but the focus of the story is the reactions
of others to their news. It's broken up into three chapters. Feedback is
always welcome!! gabi@gies.com
<< >> -- denotes a scene from memory
* * -- denotes a thought (there aren't may, but I used them in a couple places)
Family Reactions
By Terri Hayes
"Dad, I've got some news for you..." Barbara's voice
was laced with amusement as her eyes searched out Dick's. She was sitting on the
couch with him, the speakerphone on so that they could both hear her father's reaction to
the news. "Dick and I are getting married."
Jim Gordon's chuckle reverberated through the speaker, Congratulations, sweetheart.
That's absolutely wonderful news."
He couldn't really summon up surprise at the announcement, after he walked into their
little "love nest" by accident several months ago, but he was thrilled at his
daughter's happiness. "I expect to see you both for dinner tonight, Sarah and I
won't take 'no' for an answer."
Laughing, both Dick and Barbara agreed to meet her father and his wife at 7:00, and hung
up the phone. Leaning back in her chair, Barbara couldn't help looking a little bit
piqued, though humor remained foremost.
"He could have at least pretended to be surprised."
Shrugging casually, Dick replied, "Why? It's not like it should have been
unexpected, Babs." Soft laughter threaded through his tone, he lightly trailed
off, "And after that nice little lecture when he caught us in here that first morning
after we got together..."
Boy, that had been an experience. Talk about your protective fathers. Dick had
walked Jim to the front door after breakfast that morning, and Jim made a point of
stopping to check his weapon's clip as he was leaving. "I don't have to tell
you what daughters mean to their fathers, do I, son?" Dick had been quite
nervous as he promised to not hurt Barbara. Following that episode, it was understood
between the men that if Dick was toying with her emotions, Jim would have choice words for
him.
'But I'd never hurt her,' Dick thought to himself as his eyes took in her features, 'It
took me too long to finally find her again.'
Barbara simply laughed at the reminder.
****************************************
As he hung up his office phone, James Gordon shook his head.
His beautiful Barbara was getting married. It seemed like only yesterday she'd come
to him, all pigtails and glasses, so serious and somber. She was so terribly smart,
and so terribly alone all the time. He had worried about her in high school, she
always seemed so certain that no one wanted her...
<<Sitting at the dinner table during her senior year in high
school, Barbara looked glum.
"What's wrong, honey?" Jim had been watching her all week, and her mood
had only gotten worse.
"Nothing, Dad." She paused and admitted softly, "The senior prom is
next week. Nobody's asked me yet, and everyone is going except me."
*Oh boy...* Jim had experienced a lot of things in the years since Barbara had come
to live with him, but this one was a little out of his league.
Barbara toyed with her potatoes, pushing her glasses up her nose with an absentminded
motion. "It's sort of stupid, but I don't really want to go alone."
Jim considered his response carefully, "What about that young man, ... what was his
name, Brian? I thought you were seeing each other last weekend."
Barbara nodded, "Yeah... we were, I thought. Turned out, he wanted my help on
his math homework, not my company for a movie." She looked dejected.
"What about... Andy? Just up the street?"
Barbara looked at him with the disgusted expression that only a teenager can pull
off. A look that eloquently said, 'I'd rather be dead.'
"Dad, he's a complete jerk! He acts like God's gift to women."
Jim hmm'd quietly. "I see. And Christopher Miller?"
"He's got no brains, he's just a dumb jock."
"What about Billy Teasedale," he asked.
Barbara rolled her eyes expressively, "Oh, yeah. He can't talk without yelling,
and all that interests him is his college applications. Which, yeah, are thrilling but...
he doesn't care if anyone else has anything to say."
Jim quirked a brow, wondering if she would find something wrong with every boy in her
school. It wouldn't be the first time, she rarely dated anyone. It worried
him. "What about John Humphries?"
Barbara grimaced again, "He's seeing Linda. Look, Dad... it's okay,
honest. I just won't go, that's all. No one will miss me anyway."
Jim scowled at that, "Now you're just wallowing, young lady. I'm certainly not
convinced that your friends won't miss you at that dance. Are you sure there isn't one
person out there who wouldn't like to go with you, and isn't perhaps too shy to ask?
Even if it's just as a friend."
Barbara shrugged, but he could see the wheels in her mind turning.
"I suppose... that I could ask Sean Riley. He's not TOO much of a creep, just
quiet."
Jim left her to ponder that, and was thankful on Sunday when she asked him to take her
shopping for a dress. She was going to the prom.
"But just as friends, that's all," she hastened to be certain she informed
him. Jim was just glad she was going.>>
... That hadn't been the only time she vetoed every suggestion of a
date with someone they knew. Jim wondered through her school years whether anyone
would even meet her exacting standards. In part, he knew, it hadn't been just her
standards. His daughter was a genius with a photographic memory. A lot of the
boys were intimidated by her. And those that weren't intimidated by her brains and
beauty all in one package... well, let's just say they didn't get much further than their
buddies.
With a faint smile, he recalled the three or four that had been so intimidated by him,
they hadn't called back. He did feel a little
guilty about that, but as far as he was concerned, anyone who couldn't stand up for
himself against Jim Gordon's vague, fatherly threats wasn't worthy of Barbara. She
needed a real man, someone who would stand up for his beliefs and against Barbara herself,
when she got into one of her fiery fits or depressions. Someone like young Dick, Jim
acknowledged.
Her last year of college, Barbara was more secretive than usual about her personal
life. He recalled thinking that it had to be a young man and that she must be
serious to be playing her cards so close to the chest with this one. She had this
glow about her, and the father in him mourned a little for the loss of his innocent little
girl. If Barbara thought he didn't know she was experimenting with sex... well, he
wasn't THAT old. But this time was different, what he'd seen in her expression was much
deeper than that. And then came the day that she looked so devastated. She never
spoke of whoever the young man had been, but whoever that scoundrel was, Jim would have
liked to get his hands on him. Barbara hadn't been the same after that, she'd closed
her emotions away for a long time. She'd looked so hurt....
<<Barbara came home from college that weekend, looking like
her best friend died. Dejected, depressed and seemingly wanting only to hide in the
refuge of her room. Jim left her alone the first night. He managed to contain
his questions until the second night, but no longer... she still hadn't spoken to him all
the second day. So at 10:00pm, he knocked gently on her bedroom door.
"Barbara? Sweetheart? Would you like to talk about it?"
"No, Dad. I don't want to talk," was the soft response. Jim almost
preferred seeing her angry and throwing things. This silent misery was breaking his
heart. He leaned against her doorframe, his eyes on his daughter.
"Honey? C'mon, talk to me. You'll feel better if you get it off your
chest. Even if I can't help, I'm a good listener."
Barbara's soft sigh was torture to Jim's heart. "Daddy... do you think it's
possible for two people to love each other too much?"
*Ah,* he thought to himself. *So it is that young man.* Jim moved from the doorframe
to sit on the side of Barbara's bed, where she sprawled out watching him.
"I don't know, honey. Without knowing the specifics of a situation, it's hard
to say. And each situation is different." Jim's voice stopped for a
moment, and he finally said, "I think I'd have to say no, I don't think you can love
too much, unless the love is dangerous to one of you. Like... loving a man who beats you
and ignoring that part, all in the name of love."
Barbara's smile was pained. She knew she couldn't hide from her father that she was
in love with someone, but she was thankful he hadn't pushed. She responded,
"That wasn't an issue, Daddy. You know I wouldn't ever put up with that.
But.... circumstances seem to be conspiring against us. His age is a bit of a
factor."
Jim's brows creased into a faint frown. Barbara was always so far ahead of her age
group, somehow it didn't surprise him that she'd fall for an older man. It worried
him, though, because for all her brains, his daughter was not as emotionally mature as she
was mentally. And part of him had to agree that if age was an obvious problem, then
she shouldn't be seeing the man. That part of him silently thanked the unknown man
for sensing that Barbara wasn't ready... but the other part of him was furious that his
daughter was hurt.
"I'm sorry, sweetheart. I know that it's hard for you to find young men on your
intellectual level who are also your age. Perhaps in a couple of years, it won't be
an issue anymore." He paused, "I do believe that if it's truly love, age
doesn't matter as much as mental state... but I would hate to see you not have enough time
to grow into your own person before getting involved with a man who has had the time to do
exactly that kind of self-exploration."
Barbara's soft laughter confused him just a little, but she promised quietly, "I'll
think about that, Dad. Thanks." She'd leaned up to hug him and kiss his
cheek. He couldn't shake the feeling as he left that night that he'd missed
something important. One of the things that bothered him most was that he'd never
really seen her cry or mourn for the relationship. She just closed herself off from
everyone, even him, and her face never held that kind of happiness again.>>
...*RING!!* Jim's attention was brought back to the present by a
phone call from the DA. They spoke about the Scorelli case, coming to trial next
week, and when he hung up the phone, Jim leaned back in his chair to toy with a pen and
look out his office window while his mind replayed scenes from Barbara's youth as a movie
camera might. Her pain when she first came to him, her tears of happiness when she
finally accepted that she was going to be allowed to stay with him. Her report
cards, her prom, high school graduation and then college graduation. He was so proud
of her accomplishments, both scholastic and personal, that the precinct teased him for
putting her on a pedestal.
Jim's thoughts took a bittersweet turn. He didn't put his daughter on a pedestal, he
knew all too well her failings. She had a formidable temper and ever since the
shooting, she was prone to deep bouts of depression. She had always been emotionally
insecure and although he'd done his best, there was a part of her that he could never
touch, a part of her even as a child that wouldn't be convinced that she was worthy of
being loved. He was glad to see that at least one person knew how to reach her. He'd
known Dick Grayson since the boy's parents were killed, and Bruce Wayne had done a fine
job raising Dick. He was aware of the friction between Bruce and his ward, but
figured he understood that children sometimes needed to push their parents away. He
loved the whole bunch of them like they were family.
Idly, Jim wondered if there would ever come a day when he'd tell them that he'd known
their secret for years. Cleaning out Barbara's apartment for the renovations
necessary following her shooting, he'd found the secret closet with her uniforms and
gadgetry. It had just been confirmation, though. He'd been so worried after
he'd figured it out...
<<"Did you read the news this morning, Barbara?"
If Jim Gordon's tone was casual, his daughter's was more so as she sipped from her coffee
cup with that bleary-eyed, tired look.
"News? What news, Dad?"
"Batman and Robin helped capture the Penguin last night." He watched
Barbara closely. She was good. Damn good. Her poker face would fool most
people.
"Oh?"
Jim deliberately left out Batgirl's contribution, "He was running another one of his
scams down off Hayden Street. It actually was pretty run of the mill. He was
using a pawn shop as a front for one of his fencing rackets."
Barbara paused, "Well, that doesn't sound to me like you would have needed Batman's
help for that."
Jim shrugged, "We didn't. But we did need his help when several of Penguin's
customers decided to get ugly and start shooting."
Barbara's expression turned to one of concern, "No one was hit were they?"
Jim shook his head negatively, both in answer to her question and in amazement. Just
the right amount of concern and worry, as if she really didn't know what was
happening. Truth be told, he wouldn't have realized that Batgirl and Barbara were
one and the same if she hadn't given it away last night.
"No, no one was shot. Batgirl's rather timely arrival is probably the only
reason, though. Two of the bodyguards of one of Penguin's customers snuck around and
flanked three of us. While Batman and Robin took care of the shooters inside the
club, she took care of them."
Barbara was visibly relieved, but he knew her better than almost anyone. He caught
the slight tilt of her chin that indicated her pride.
"She swung down from somewhere behind me and Driscoll, and by the time I turned
around, she was in the middle of a fist fight with the two bodyguards. Don't know
who taught that young woman how to fight, but Driscoll and I owe her our lives. We
wouldn't have seen them coming."
It had actually been after she flattened both men that Jim's wits kicked in. Her
moves were just different enough to keep him from recognizing her in the shadows and from
a distance, which was the only way he'd ever really seen Batgirl. But he was her
father. He was the one who taught her the first self-defense moves she'd ever
learned. If she had been further than a bare 15 feet away from him and stuck to the
shadows like she usually did when they encountered one another, he might never have
figured it out. But the fight took place in front of one of the squad cars, in the
pool where the headlights fell.
"Well," Barbara responded carefully, "I'm very thankful for her
interruption of their plans. I don't know what I'd do without you, Dad."
Jim nodded slowly, "I know, sweetheart. I don't know what might have happened
if she hadn't jumped in like that and saved my skin. That's the first time I've
really gotten a good look at her, you know."
Barbara's gaze sharpened on his face, but her expression still gave away nothing but
concern for him and interest. "Really? I thought you were sort of
"in" with that whole group. What was she like?"
Jim smiled faintly. Oh yes, his daughter was VERY good at dissembling.
"She was quite a good fighter. Batman's style shows in her actions, but she's
got her own twist on moves."
Barbara simply nodded, and Jim got up from his chair at the breakfast table to kiss her
lightly on the forehead. "I'm sure that
whoever she is, her parents would be very proud of her. Batman's never said much
about her, but it's been evident that he thinks highly of her. I should get to the office,
sweetheart. Have a good day."
Jim left the kitchen to go to the Gotham Police Department with a lot on his mind.
With what she didn't say, Barbara had confirmed his worst fears. Now, in addition to
worrying about young Robin and Batman, he would have to hope that he didn't come on a
crime scene where his own daughter was a victim.>>
... He never let on that he knew. Technically, he would have
been forced to arrest them all if he knew their identities. Vigilantism was not an
accepted form of law enforcement. But he felt too strongly that their activities
were what kept Gotham from sliding too far down the slope into complete anarchy.
Perhaps someday when he wasn't the Police Commissioner anymore, he'd tell.
Meanwhile, it wasn't hard to pretend that he didn't see things, and it kept everyone's
peace of mind intact. Shaking his head, Jim chuckled softly when he thought about how he'd
let himself into Barbara's apartment several months ago and stumbled into their little
tryst. How long it was going on before that, he wasn't certain. The look on
Dick's face had been priceless as Jim walked in the front door, but he presumed the look
on his own was equally flabbergasted and embarrassed. When he'd gone to wash his hands
before joining them for breakfast, a move designed to allow all three of them to regain
some composure, the puddle of material in Barbara's hamper gave away why Grayson's car
wasn't outside. As usual, Jim pretended there was nothing out of the ordinary.
Spot Nightwing's costume on the floor of the
bathroom? Never!
Jim had taken a couple of days to think about the situation, after seeing how happy the
young man made his daughter. He couldn't help but worry how Barbara would react if
Nightwing was ever badly injured in the line of his vigilante work. The memory of
her retreat into isolation and the contrast to her happiness now was drastic... how much
more so would it be a second time? But Dick was a careful man. He had to be.
And if he could work with the brooding Dark Knight for so long, he was strong enough to
handle Barbara's moods. It was obvious to him that Barbara had given something very
precious to Dick Grayson - her complete trust and love. It made him happy to know
she wouldn't be alone anymore. Jim's smile blossomed into a full-face grin as he
slid out of his chair to announce with satisfaction to the precinct and his wife that his
daughter was getting married!
Chapter Two
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