She barely slept at all.

It was a miracle she didn't miss the bus.

That and a lot of coffee.

It was more for her own sake than anyone else's.

It's not like they would hesitate for a second or even notice if she went missing.

They'd already proved that.

"Hey, move it wannabee!"

She took big sip of her to go mug.

There wasn't enough caffeine in the world to deal with this.

"Welcome to Gotham City Police Department or GCPD."

Lila and her posse was once again chatting in french without any regard to the person they were supposed to be listening to.

"Of course! I'm the one that designed W.E's last charity programme. There's so many poor kids out there and I just really want to make a difference even if it's only something small."

"That's so nice of you, Lila. You have such a big heart."

"Your help must mean so much. Your making more than a small difference."

"I agree. My calculations of the programme's numbers are sure of it."

"Girl! If you work for W.E do you know the Waynes?"

"No, no. I've met them a few times. I even brought them coffee once, but I don't really know them that well. They're busy people."

"That's still so cool!"

Everyone in the general vicinity was getting agitated.

At least she wasn't stupid enough to lie about knowing the Waynes.

Something told her their lawyers wouldn't like that.

Real pity if that happened.

A while later the woman that was telling them about the station finally had enough.

"It's obvious you have no idea how things work here in Gotham, so let me tell you something you better remember," she began. "In this very police station there's been bombs, lunatics, mob wars, shootings, hostage situations, criminals with flamethrowers... If you keep pissing everyone off like this then no one will think twice about leaving you to whatever situation might happen or even throwing you under the bus. Capische?"

They mostly stayed quiet after that.

It was the smoothest tour they'd ever done.

They were finished by lunch and were free to eat wherever they wanted, but in two hours the bus would leave for the museum.

She was going to meet up with Damian in a few minutes.

As she headed for the exit she barely stopped herself from walking into a woman in a wheelchair.

The woman's huge mountain high pile of files went flying though.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to mess up all your work." She didn't think twice about going down on the floor to pick them up.

"It wasn't your fault," the woman said. "I should know better than to take that many at once."

"Can I help you take these somewhere?"

The redhead might not be mad, but she still felt bad.

She might have knocked over something important.

It also looked very hard to maneuver with a stack covering most of her view.

"My workroom is just down the corridor. Could you help me get them there?"

She nodded resolutely and rectified her grip. "No problem."

The workroom was apparently a lab with a lot of different things neatly tidied away.

"You work here?"

"Yeah. Forensics. All the cool science things." She wheeled in to the room and parked herself further away. "I'm Barbara by the way, but I don't think I've seen you around before."

"I'm Marinette. My class is here on a field trip so it's no wonder you haven't seen me."

"Huh, could have fooled me you were a new recruit. You move like a cop."

People sometimes thought she was a few years older than she was.

It happened.

But the cop part was new.

"I do?"

"It's in the way you walk. You walk like you're going through a war zone."

"And that's how cops move?"

Were all police men cynics?

She refused to think about what that said about her.

"Probably just in Gotham."

Ah, that made more sense.

"You actually thought I could be a cop?"

Barbara shrugged. "At least until you told me your name. Dick told me about you yesterday. Tim's favourite designer and Damian's girlfriend."

Wow, new travelled fast.

Wait a moment. "You know them?"

"Yep." Barbara stood up and walked over to her files. She opened one of them. "I went to school with Dick and I've been over to their place more than a couple of times."

Sure.

Did that family know everyone she met in the city.

Should she ask them if Lee was their secret uncle or something?

It took her longer than she'd like to admit to notice, but then she couldn't get it out of her head.

She waved her hand towards the wheelchair. "I didn't think you could walk."

Okay, that was very blunt.

It sounded a lot better in her head.

But fortunately the redhead didn't take it the wrong way. "I couldn't for a long time. It's only recently I've started walking again, but I get tired easily. Doctors say it will take some years until I'm back to where I once was."

So it was most likely an accident or an attack.

Made sense that it would take time.

They waved each other goodbye and she left.

The fact that Barbara had moved around with far less trouble than she should have never left her mind.

"Sorry, I got held up." She slipped her hand into Damian's.

They started walking to find somewhere to eat.

"You got held up in a police station. Should I be worried?"

It was easy to tell he wasn't actually worried about that.

He was just teasing.

"Nah, I found a friend."

"You didn't steal anyone's phone then?"

"I regret telling you about that." She didn't.

But it was definitely teasing.