LAST CHAPTER! And quite possibly the longest so far. But you never know. Me being me, may decide that it needs like six more chapters. So even though I say "THE END" look out for more. Any way, here you go!

But it didn't come.

Instead of the deep plunge of a knife wound, he felt nothing. As he watched Barbara, he could tell she was close to a break through. Her set jaw trembled. Her steady hands shook. The knife in her hands clambered to the ground, but she still held her stance.

"Help" she squeaked out in the most quiet, pitiful, unbarbraish voice he had ever heard.

Carefully, Dick got up from the ground in front of her and raised his hands to show her he meant no harm. As he inched closer to her, he slowly reached out to touch her face. It was painfully hot to touch and sweat fell off in beads. He pulled off her cowl to reveal her messy red hair and her brown eyes that lacked their usual life and familiarity.

"Hey Babs" he said softly as her eyes flickered over to his face, holding slight recognition "you`re still the most beautiful girl I`ve ever seen, even as a mindless zombie slave." Barbara cracked a small smile, barley noticeable if you weren't looking exactly for it.

"Dick" she whispered back, though it was only as loud as a breath. Dick smiled, nodding enthusiastically.

"That's it Babs, you can do it" he said, still keeping his voice down because Ivy hadn't yet noticed that he wasn't dying and Barbara wasn't killing him "just listen to me, can you hear me?"

"Mm-hmm" she hummed faintly, as she nodded her head slightly.

"Good" he said, moving his hand onto her back and rubbing circles gently into her costumes fabric "and can you feel this?"

"Yes" she said, a little more surely, as she nodded her head more vigorously.

"How about this?" Dick asked and, with little hesitation, he leaned in and kissed her. When he finally pulled away, he could tell something had clicked inside Barbara.

Her eyes were more alert, as they darted all around her, trying to gather information. She bit the lower left corner of her lips, showing she was deep in thought. When her busy eyes fell onto Dick, she smiled brightly and threw her arms around him.

"I love you too" she said, blinking back tears "and thank you."

"Red, honey?" a curious voice called, reminding the two sidekicks that they still had a threat to deal with, and causing the two to cease to hug and look at Ivy "are you done with the boy yet?"

"That's enough games, Pam" Barbara called back. Pamela sat up and looked from Dick to Barbara, muttering something that sounded a lot like swearing under her breath.

"It seems that your little friend is more intelligent than I thought" she sighed, hanging her arms over the ledge of her plant-chair and swinging them "it's a shame you won't join me Barbara, we could be great. But if not, then I`ll be on my way-"

"You`re not going anywhere" Dick shouted, taking Barbara`s hand in the process "you`re going back to Arkham right now!"

"And why small sir would I do that?" she asked, propping her elbows up and resting her face in her hands. At first Dick faltered, not sure what he was going to say, but, tipped off by a squeeze from Barbara, he smirked.

"Turn around" he said, simply. She did and froze, her green skin going pale. In front of her towered Batman.

"Hey there" she smiled nervously, before she received a punch to the head and was out cold.

"You two better head back to the Batcave" he said, picking up Ivy`s limp body and heading to the doors of Arkham.

"Ok" Barbara smiled, looking over at Dick. There was a lot you could do in the Batcave and never have anyone know. Except maybe Alfred, but he knew everything.

THE END!

Or at least... for now.