Ch.1 The Dream

I squinted my eyes as the wind lashed against my face, tangling my hair as I glided across the Gotham skyline. There was honestly nothing like being stories above ground and looking down at the city from above, an anonymous protector observing the night for any disturbances. Normally I would be chatting with Oracle during patrol, but since she had already given me the coordinates to my destination she left me alone to get my head in the game. Oracle intercepted a radio request for assistance from the Gotham police. Those units were en route, transporting Lynx to be deported when someone helped spring her. Being the closest on scene I ran to make sure the cops' efforts weren't for nothing! As soon as I landed on a roof I pull out my binoculars to get a better view of the scene. While I scanned the surrounding buildings I saw them. Two shadows. One was a man wearing a cape and the other was a woman, entwined in an intimate embrace. Their lips inching closer and closer to each other, until the space separating the two specters disappeared. My eyes widened in recognition as I whispered his name, "Tim?"

Beep. Beep. Beep. I woke up as the noise of my alarm flooded my bedroom. Why the hell did I even set my alarm, it's nine in the morning on a SATURDAY! I didn't have class and Oracle didn't need me until later that evening. I sleepily felt around my bed feeling for my phone and shut the alarm off, hesitating to throw it across my room, remembering that I still needed my crappy cell phone to work. Geez, when was Bruce going to hook me up with a fancy smart phone like everyone else huh? I put the phone down on my eggplant sheets as I rolled over and pulled the covers over my head.

Why do I keep thinking about it? It's been a couple of days since that patrol night and I still couldn't get it out of my head. I was certain that it was Tim I saw with the girl who was the new Lynx. Even in a prisoner's uniform, I could see that she was beautiful. Her ebony hair that framed her delicate features danced in the wind as she thanked her rescuer. I didn't need my binoculars notice how Tim looked at her. I couldn't help but feel a tang of jealousy in my chest as I witnessed their kiss. The tears just started to flow and there was nothing I could do to stop them. I ran, I ran off the rooftops and grappled to the adjoining building. I couldn't take it, I commed Oracle, telling her that I couldn't find Lynx or whoever helped her escape and that I was returning.

For the past couple days, I couldn't get that image out of my head. I'm sure that Tim's had relationships with other girls since we broke up, but I was never aware of it. He only recently reappeared in my life, a changed man, no longer the boy I once knew. Bruce's death really affected him, and he was on a mission to prove that his mentor and adoptive father was alive. I helped him put a stop on Ra's Al Ghul's attack on Bruce's legacy. That night, we had a moment where he looked at me and told me that he was proud of me. During that moment we weren't Red Robin or Batgirl, but Tim Drake and Stephanie Brown. During that moment I felt the old connection we had. You couldn't imagine how much I wanted those old sparks back, but the timing wasn't right.

"Stephanie! Breakfast!" my mom shouted, breaking my chain of thought and bringing me back down to reality. I got out of bed and put on a gray Gotham U sweater that came down to my mid-thigh and pulled my blond hair back into a messy ponytail, too lazy to search my battlefield of a room for a brush. I skipped to the bathroom and quickly washed my face and brushed my teeth to get the morning breath taste out of my mouth.

I came down the stairs and turned a corner to reach the kitchen, where my mom had already set the table. Fresh waffles, crispy bacon and two tall glasses of fresh orange juice were waiting for me when entered. I gave my mom a quick good morning kiss and sat down, putting one of my legs under me to sit on. I waited for her to join me before I grabbed my first waffle and piece of bacon. As I began to mercilessly pour syrup onto the waffle, I began to think about my dream and the memory that triggered it.

"Stephanie!" my mom yelled as I looked down and realized that my entire plate was filled with syrup. I must have dozed off, so I quickly stopped pouring and I gave my mom some of the syrup that threatened to overflow off of my plate. Breakfast proceeded rather quietly as I was lost in my thoughts.

My mother broke the silence after she took a sip of orange juice, "Sweetie is everything alright? You're awfully quiet this morning."

"Oh, everything's fine mom, just some stuff on my mind," I couldn't bring this up, not that I really wanted to have the conversation about me witnessing my vigilante ex-boyfriend kissing a beautiful gang leader.

"You sure? Is it a boy?" my mom inquired. She was always on the nose about these things.

"Kinda, it's complicated…" was all I could fess up.

"Well honey, if you like him, just be honest with him, he'd be a fool not to like you back," mom replied. Geez, why did she have to say the one thing that almost broke down the wall I worked so hard to build?

"Like I said mom, it's a little more complicated than that," I stated as I picked up my empty plate and glass, depositing them in the sink and leaving to return to my room. As soon as I closed my door, I plopped facedown onto my bed. After loafing around for a couple of minutes, I retrieved my phone and I dialed Barbara's number, realizing that I did need to talk about what happened before I drove myself insane. I listened to the ring inattentively until I heard her voice on the other end.

During my call to Barbara, I told her that I needed to talk and if we could meet a little earlier today. She quickly obliged and said to be at her place in an hour. I quickly got dressed and made my way to Barbara's apartment. I must have been anxious to talk about my little problem because I ran all the way up the stairs. I tried to catch my breath while I was knocking on the door.

Barbara opened the door and gave me a welcoming smile as she greeted me, "Good afternoon Steph, come on in."

"Thanks," I responded as I entered the apartment. Barbara wheeled herself towards the couch, signaling for me to take a seat. There was a tray of cookies and other sweets on a plate with two cups of coffee set aside on the glass table in the middle of her living room area. I grabbed a cookie and nibbled on it before I sat down and my eyes scanned the place. Barbara's apartment was always so neat, the complete opposite of my room. From the couch, I could see her kitchen with her black coffee maker on the counter, and the hall that led to the bathroom and her bedroom. Everything was neat and organized, not a pillow out of place. I guess that's why we work so well together as Oracle and Batgirl. She's the order to my bubbly brand of chaos.

"So, what's on your mind?" Barbara asked, straight to the point like always. She looked at me, picking up her cup of coffee, waiting for me to speak up. I sat up, biting the corner of my lip as I tried to sort out my feelings and how I wanted to explain myself to Barbara. After a few minutes, I took a deep breath and just decided to go for it.

"Okay, so remember a couple nights ago when you sent me to go find who helped Lynx escape from her police escorts?" Barbara nodded so I continued. "Well I kinda lied when I said that I didn't find them. I actually found both of them as soon as I got to the scene. The thing is, I recognized who helped her escape."

I paused for a minute, and I noticed Barbara staring at me, her eyes urging me to continue. I sighed again as I revealed the name of Lynx's knight in black and red leather. "Tim was the one who helped Lynx escape from Gotham's finest."

It took a minute for my answer to sink in, before Barbara shook her head and replied, "Tim? Tim Drake? Red Robin? He sprang Lynx loose? But he was the one who apprehended her in the first place."

"That's what I thought too!" I shouted. "But that isn't the worst part, the moment I noticed them the two of them were in each other's arms and they kissed." At that moment Barbara coughed up some of her coffee and stifled a laugh.

"Wow, how Batman of him," Barbara chuckled, but quickly composed herself after she saw how my face fell. "So, then if you saw what happened and who helped Lynx escape, why did you report that you couldn't find them and return home?"

That's when it all came out, "Babs, I just broke down… seeing Tim kiss another girl just overwhelmed me ya know? I thought I was okay with it all. I thought that I really needed time to really find who I was and why I wanted to live this life. The last time Tim and I talked, it seemed like he wanted to pick up where things left off. I told him that I needed some space, but I just thought he would wait…"

Before I knew it the tears started to flow and I was sobbing. Barbara laid her hand on mine and looked at me in a comforting way, her eyes betraying the fact that she knew what I was going through all too well.

"Steph, as much as you may not want to right now, you're going to have to talk to Tim about this. You guys have to talk it out and figure out where you two really stand on your relationship. You don't have to do it right away, but soon enough so you can stop tormenting yourself about what you saw," Babs advised. Babs didn't need to say anything else; we just sat there for the moment as I looked through the window's fogged glass.