Author's Note: I was not going to write a story for Valentine's Day, but my mind overruled me.

Disclaimer: To say that I owned any of the Batman characters would be like saying that Pluto is still a planet.

So Close, Yet . . .

Robin stared at the inside of the black tent and thought of a question that he had often wondered before.

How did they know?

How did the villains of Gotham know that you had plans and that the worst thing that they could possible do would be to cause trouble that exact day at that

exact time? It's like a special bulletin went out that said, "Hey, Robin has plans for the evening. Let's mess them up."

It was seriously the only option at this point. Everything had been going so smoothly the entire day and then . . . it happened.

And now here he was, miles and miles from where he was supposed to be, definitely not having dinner with Barbara.

He heaved a sigh. She was going to kill him and after he had put so much work into asking her. He had rehearsed for weeks. He had actually planned on asking

her out sometime after the New Year, but that had fallen through. So he had set his sights on Valentine's Day.

He almost lost his courage then too. He was going to ask her before school, and then during lunch, but by the time the final bell rung. He still had not asked

her.

Suddenly finding his courage, he rushed over to her seconds after she went out the school's front doors a few feet ahead of him.

Looking back at it now, it wasn't the smoothest of deliveries. But the point of it was that she had said yes. He still couldn't believe it now. Too bad it was all for

nothing.

And here he was trapped somewhere in the woods outside of Gotham. Stuck inside the emergency bat-tent.

He wasn't alone of course, Batgirl was stuck too.

Batgirl gave a small sigh.

She couldn't believe that this had happened. The day was going so well and she was certain that the evening was going to be incident free. But she had

spoken too soon.

Literally five minutes after she got out of the shower, her alert went off. She could not believe it.

And now here she was, miles and miles from where she was supposed to be, definitely not having dinner with Dick.

She couldn't believe that this had happened.

Nobody at school better hear about this. They would never let her forget that she had stood up Dick Grayson.

She hoped that he would understand somehow. Giving it more thought, she knew he would.

It still made her smile thinking about that day that he asked her out.

Dick had been acting kind of weird all day. He would start talking and then rapidly change the subject. They would be in the middle of something and then he

would suddenly look nervous with no apparent reason.

For a little while, she was worried that something was wrong, but after more hours went by, she realized that it must be something else.

And then suddenly, it happened.

As she was walking out of school, Dick caught up to her and grabbed her hand.

She could still smile remembering his garbled words.

"Hey Babs, I was . . . I mean I was trying." He gave a frustrated noise and set his shoulders.

"I was trying to . . . well I was . . ."

"Spit it out Grayson." She told him as she realized that he was trying to tell her something.

He managed a grin at this, but still gave a gulp.

She watched him as his fingers wiggled nervously at his sides.

"Listen Babs, I was wondering . . . well, hoping that you might want to . . . possibly . . . go out with me sometime.

Barbara felt herself freeze dead.

He was joking. Teasing her. This was a joke. Someone put him up to this.

Looking around the school yard she saw nothing suspicious.

Turning back to Dick, he looked as frozen in place as she was. His blue eyes were huge.

Now she knew it wasn't a joke.

"Uh, um . . ." She managed to spit out. Dick's face now held a look of pure fear.

"Uh . . . sure." She said with a stutter. She hated the fact that she knew that her face was now bright red.

Dick's face changed so quickly from depressed to delighted that she almost had to laugh.

But there was nothing to laugh at now.

Both she and Robin were now trapped out in the woods after both of them and their bikes had been slammed off the road by the same villain that they were

pursuing. They both had been roughed up and had lost all means of communication.

Both were stuck.

Robin shifted slightly as he tried to get more comfortable.

He had knocked out his computer watch during the crash and hadn't been able to fix it. Now, he and Batgirl were waiting for Batman to find them.

He hated to think of Barbara waiting there for him all alone.

He had so been looking forward to this night. Just Barbara and him all by themselves without the whole usual hubbub of a party at Wayne Manor.

He wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he was really looking forward to seeing her. Every time she and her father would show up at a party, he had always

wanted to tell her how lovely she looked but he could never get the words out.

He was hoping that all that would change tonight.

Now he was going to be lucky if she was even going to talk to him tomorrow.

Batgirl sat up and rubbed the lower part of her leg trying to drive some of the pain away. She had landed pretty hard on it and was certain that a good sized

bruise would manifest itself by tomorrow. Glancing over at Robin, she wondered how his shoulder was doing.

She laid back down and gave a sigh.

She hated to think of Dick waiting for her all alone.

She so had been looking forward this night.

It had taken her forever to find a dress that she liked.

She couldn't wait for Dick to see her in it. For some reason, he never ever told her she looked pretty when she came to a party at the manor.

This had always bugged her. She started to think that maybe he didn't like her that much.

But that had all changed when he asked her out.

Tonight was supposed to be wonderful . . .

She gave another sigh.

"Bummer, huh?" Robin said to her after hearing her sigh.

"You have no idea." Batgirl told him softly.

Robin gave a sigh of his own.

She had no idea.

The next day.

Dick and Barbara's eyes met at the exact same time across the school yard.

Both paused not willing to go a step farther. Then Barbara took a step forward and he decided to meet her half way.

"Babs . . ."

"Dick." Barbara said hurriedly. "I am so sorry. Please tell me that you didn't wait that long for me to show up."

Dick shut his mouth and switched gears.

"Well, uh, no. Not that long. I mean, not awkwardly long. I just figured . . ."

"I was trying . . . I mean I would have . . ." Barbara said trying to hastily explain.

"It's okay." He said quieting her. "It wasn't a problem."

He could not believe it. She had had something come up too and didn't make it. He could not believe his luck.

"I just feel awful." She said quietly.

Dick gave a small smile that reached his eyes.

"Don't worry about it. We'll just have to . . . try it again sometime."

"Really?" Barbara said in a voice that was both surprised and relieved.

She could not believe it. He was fine with everything and not mad in the least. She could not believe her luck.

"Of course." Dick said with a shrug. "Whenever you want."

"Well I guess, since we've blown the whole 'Valentines' thing, the day really doesn't matter." She said pushing back some of her hair.

"The day doesn't matter to me. Just as long as we do it." He told her.

"So like, this Saturday?" She asked before biting her lip.

"Perfect." He told her sincerely.

Both stood there shyly smiling at each other before looking at the ground.

"Oh, I ah, got you something." Dick said softly looking up at her.

Barbara's mouth fell open some.

"Oh, Dick I didn't even think to . . ."

"It's not exciting or anything, really." He assured her. "So don't feel badly. It's in my locker."

She gave a small nod and looked back at her feet and then over at him.

"What?" He asked her self-consciously.

Gently leaning over, she brushed her lips against his.

"There." She said after pulling back. "Are we even?"

If Dick's red face was any indicator, they were more than even.

"Um, come on." He said clearing his throat. "Let's get going."

Barbara put her hand into his as he pulled her towards the school. As they walked in the front doors, both had the same thought.

"No matter what happens this Saturday, Batman better be ready to handle it without me."

Random End Notes: Mind: Please let me finish my other stories before you start giving me too many new ideas. I'm pretty crammed at the moment here.

{Dick/Babs because, HELLO! They are perfect for each other!}

Alright you know the drill. Advice, and (gentle) [be nice please! :}] criticism, would be appreciated. Or a haiku if you feel like one.