barbara gordon

“A month’s supply just means I can ignore those until I’ve got more time,” he nodded toward the boxes they’d just stepped over. Not that he was ever going to have more time. Even as he said it, he knew that was a lie. If there was ever a point where he wasn’t busy and didn’t have a hundred things that needed to be done, that was when he’d start worrying.

“I won’t lie, I’m really considering it. It’d be a headache and it’d set things back, but maybe not as far back as letting a bunch of crooked cops and outside interests bog down the whole operation.” And starting over would really give him a bird’s eye view of what was going on. As things stood, he was really struggling to reach a point where he could see the big picture when there were so many things wrong right in front of him.

“Unless you have less time in a month and not more,” Barbara pointed out. Even though she was smiling, the suggestion felt heavy and a little too... possible. She sighed and slid her phone back in her pocket. “I’ll come over again tomorrow. I can bring my laptop and work from home.” That was something she was doing more and more often - although lately, home had been District X. 

@batgirlx liked for a starter!!

Rusty was stuck on file duty ever since he had fucked things up and gotten those complaints against him. He still lived through the monotony, making sure everything was in order both in paper and online, sitting outside of Jim’s office as if he was a kid outside the principal’s office. When he saw the shock of red hair, he recognized Barbara from the picture on Jim’s desk, but he hadn’t seen her since she was a little kid and he was a beat cop about to be promoted to Major Crimes back in Gotham. “Your dad’s not here,” he said. “Think he’s got a meetin’ down at the mayor’s office.”

Barbara remembered Rusty. She didn’t forget things and she especially didn’t forget people. Nodding, she checked her watch. “I thought he would be back by now. Something must have come up.” The bench outside her father’s office was long enough to seat several people and she sat next to him, folding her coat in her lap. “I just need to see him for a second,” she said quickly, not wanting him to think that she would make his wait even longer.

“I am proud. He’s come a long way.” It was a great leap for Gabe to be involved in District X and the school. It was more commitment and stability than he’d managed before, and Scott wasn’t unaware of that. “He’s a stubborn ass, but I’m not exactly someone who can complain about that. Pot, kettle, so on.”

Scott considered the idea for a moment, but really there was no reason to say no. One more person from Wayne Enterprises on the project hardly made any difference. He just had to hope none of them ever gave him a reason to regret the high level of trust he was putting into their whole group. “He does. I’m incredibly lucky we crossed paths.”

Barbara hadn’t known Gabe nearly as long as Scott had, but she had definitely seen a marked change in him with the emergence of District X. At first, he had only been interested in her projects - now he was doing something on his own, something for mutants, and she encouraged it any chance she could. “Well, you’re in good company,” she teased, shaking her head. It was difficult for her to think of anyone she knew who wasn’t a stubborn ass. 

“I think they’ve been watching me. Following me. They want me to inform on what’s happening in District X.” Gabe tore a paper towel off the roll on the table, hoisting himself to his feet just to collapse heavily into a chair and press the towel against his bleeding lip. “I know, but first we need to get a message to Scott. He needs to know about this. Can you tell him to come here?” 

“Better ask if they can spare a couple of cups, too.” Again, the glasses were packed up somewhere. He’d get to them eventually. If Babs hadn’t shown up, it was entirely likely that Jim would’ve just kept living out of boxes for who knew how long.

He shook his head and sat down on the couch. At least they had that out and able to use. “Chaotic is the word. If I could, I’d scrub everything and start over, but this is no time to have nothing but rookies.”

“You’re going to end up with a whole set of plastic or styrofoam dish-ware for the next month.” Barbara sighed and tried to look annoyed by this, but it was difficult. She was too happy to see him. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed her father until she’d picked him up at the airport and ridden to the apartment with him.

“I can’t say I blame him. Feelings…complicate things.” Scott hadn’t been close to anyone until he’d ended up at Xavier’s first school and met Jean and the others. He had assumed that he was simply too broken for anyone to want to be around him, and it had been much easier just to not try. Gabe’s situation wasn’t exactly the same, but he still did it to protect himself. If anything, it was survival instinct.

He ran his hand along his chin. Scott wasn’t inept when it came to that sort of thing, but he’d never had time to really focus on it, either. It was doubtful that he had anything to offer that she hadn’t already thought of on her own. “The girl with the blue hair. Laura brought her here.” Not that Scott had actually met her. “I thought running a school meant I had a penchant for rounding up stray children, but Bruce Wayne might have it beat.”

Barbara shrugged. “You’re right. But life is complicated.” Even if things didn’t work out with Gabe, she had learned so much being with him that she could never regret taking that chance. But something told her she would never be in that position. “He is a good man. You should be very proud, I know he looks up to you.” Scott might not be Scott’s father, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t looked to him when it came to important decisions. It was obvious to her that Gabe greatly respected Scott and wanted his approval. 

“Just let me in,” he said, practically falling into her apartment and feeling his knee buckle slightly under him before he straightened. The area surrounding his left eye was darkly bruised, his eye swollen nearly shut. He certainly looked worse for wear. “NOVA picked me up.” He didn’t know where else to go with the story from there, whether to mention the obvious beating or to talk about how they had found him before all of this or to just skip to the punchline. He sat down heavily. “Do you still have the encrypted line to the Institute open?”

“You were busy. All this junk was on the other side of the country. I didn’t expect you to drop everything just to come help me throw it in boxes.” Which was essentially what he’d done, as if that wasn’t obvious.

Jim sighed and looked out the very bare window nearby. He had curtains somewhere, he was pretty sure. It was strange to see a skyline that didn’t belong to Gotham. “All the more reason for me to be here, sweetheart. Some of this mess is mine. Don’t worry about me.” That was probably as useless as it would’ve been for her to say the same words to him.

Barbara couldn’t help but wince. The thought that she had been too busy to even take the day off and help her father felt inexcusable - especially now that she saw the dozens of unmarked boxes. “Well... I would have brought a magic marker,” she teased, reaching up to fix where his collar had flipped.

“I could say the same about you. Not that he’s exactly the type to parade his feelings around.” The fact that he’d kept Barbara in his life for so long was proof enough, regardless. That was saying a lot for Gabe, who typically just wanted to run from any and everything before it got too real or too dangerous.

He gestured in front of her. “What’re you working on? I’ve got a feeling you’re juggling more than the project from me.” It sounded like they were stumped with Cerebro, which wasn’t surprising but certainly disappointing.

Barbara laughed. “True. It took him a long time to even acknowledge he had feelings... you know, like a normal person.” Even though she was more logical than most people, she was much more in tune with her emotions than Gabe was - but that wasn’t surprising. She’d had a good upbringing, people who loved her, and she never felt as if she weren’t allowed to express her feelings. 

The mention of Cerebro made her face fall. It was certainly one of her biggest frustrations, especially because the technology wasn’t like anything she’d ever worked with. “The drones. I’m installing software... actually, it’s more like malware, or a virus. Basically it’ll let us hack into NOVA’s drones and duplicate all their files, then open up ports so I can look in on their surveillance systems.” What she wanted to do was shut it all down, but that would clearly attract their attention - and they would know to evolve their technology, which meant starting from square one from what she knew about their operations. Everything she did had to go undetected. 

@batgirlx <33333

Gabe stumbled up the steps of the rickety fire escape before he made it to Barbara’s window, sitting on the steps and leaning against it with a dull thump of his head hitting glass. He lifted one hand sluggishly to rap his knuckles sharply against the glass, wincing at the sound. His head was pounding. “Barbara,” he called out before swallowing once. “Babs. Open the window.” He knew she would and he didn’t have to keep saying it, but talking kept his mind off how sore and achey he felt, how utterly humiliated and defeated. He didn’t know what to do now. He didn’t know how to deal with this. 

“Should have, should have. To both of those things.” Because they were definitely staring at a host of unlabeled boxes, except for one or two that Jim had scribbled “office” on. Priorities. Apparently, his had not included being able to find anything to eat with.

He waded through all of his belongings and stuck out his hand to help Barbara do the same. Eventually they managed to get to the living room, which at least had somewhere to sit. “We’ll worry about the plates later. Feels like forever since I got to see you.” He hadn’t been great about visiting, as he’d never been the type to take much time off.

“I knew I should have helped you pack.” Barbara had every intention of going to Gotham a few days before he was due to move, but things had gotten hectic with District X and she hadn’t been able to get away. Amused, she put her hands on her hips, hooking her thumbs in the loops of her jeans as she considered where to start. 

It was a very belated meeting. He had known about Barbara for several months, even before he’d met Bruce, but they’d never managed to cross paths. It was a fluke. Both of them were busy, ironically working on some of the very same things.

He stepped over close enough to shake her hand. “It’s good to finally meet you. I apologize for not managing to do it sooner. There’s been,” he motioned around at the classroom, “a lot going on.” Not that she didn’t know that already.

Barbara knew she would meet Scott at some point, but she’d always imagined that Gabe would be with her. This wasn’t the moment (or the circumstances) that she’d envisioned. She definitely didn’t feel like her best self in sweats and messy hair. 

“I do feel a little bit like I’m about to get detention,” he replied, a crooked smirk already forming at the corner of his lips. His eyebrows raised. “Well, if neuroscientists are telling me to do it, then I guess I have to,” he replied with a huff of laughter. Gabe looked back at the computer almost longingly, a frown tugging at his lips for just a moment before he hit save and turned the screen off, instead focusing his attention on Barbara. He reached a hand out to take hers, gently pulling her closer as he stood up. “I know I’ve been working a lot,” he said, wrapping his arms around her waist. “We just…I don’t know, I feel like I can’t afford to stop.”

Barbara gave him a stern look, but she couldn’t keep it up. “That was my best impression of my fourth grade teacher. She had an evil eye. That’s what we thought it was, but... looking back, they might have just been crossed.” She wrapped her arms around his neck loosely and sighed. “I know. Trust me, I know. I feel the same way. Whenever I lay down to sleep, I feel like I’m just... wasting time. But we have to let ourselves rest. We need it. And we need this.” She kissed his cheek and smiled faintly. “This. Something normal. Even if it’s just for a little while.”

@batgirlx

If Harvey hadn’t called him in for the Police Commissioner position, Jim likely would’ve never moved to Star City on his own. When Babs had relocated he’d resigned himself to give her space. But as much as she didn’t need her father to protect her, it’s not like that drive had ever gone away. He was glad to be close to her again. But more than that, he’d just plain missed her. Gotham hadn’t been the same without her around.

Being able to see her was the bright spot in a week that was already shaping up to be hell. He was still trying to unpack and get settled, while also taking absolutely no time to actually do either of those things. He’d promised her dinner and suggested watching the game that was supposed to be on that night. Just some…time.

By the time she got there he was standing in the middle of a sea of boxes in the kitchen with his hands on his hips. “Hey there, sweetheart,” he said with a smile just visible below his mustache. “Swear I packed plates up somewhere.”

Barbara couldn’t decide how to feel. On one hand, she was ecstatic to see her dad again. They’d always been close, especially because Barbara was in such limited contact with her mother, and she made a point to call him every day even when life got hectic. She wanted him here - that was undeniable - but she also wanted him safe. 

Sure, he’d handled Gotham better than any other officer could. He was capable. She never doubted that. But this wasn’t Gotham. The stakes here felt higher, more dangerous, and she didn’t like the idea of him navigating NOVA.  Her father had never had much tolerance for bullshit. She’d inherited that from him.