#oraclebabsday

She holds her hair up to let Sarah do the clasp properly, and she comments on the scones while dad busies himself with coffee. When they sit for breakfast dad says he wishes the weather was a little nicer for her day, at least, and Barbara only shakes her head and smiles because it’s not unusual in Gotham, and her fingers touch the locket at the base of her throat and she says it’s been a lovely morning so far. They don’t let her lend a hand with clean up, after, and so she relegates herself to finishing another cup of coffee and admiring the flowers after tucking the card away and deciding she’ll read the inscription in its entirety later after her vision blurred when she first tried. Dad starts brewing a third pot of coffee, to which Sarah shakes her head, before the three of them sit for a game of pinochle, and after a few rounds of smack talk dad insists she’s cheating.

Barbara doesn’t miss the way the two of them exchange a few glances, and from her bag her phone chimes with a message from Dick, asking if she’s doing anything for the day. Helena follows in short order to ask if grandma is up to do anything, or if she has a curfew, and she scoffs. Her phone buzzes again, but she doesn’t get a chance to check when Sarah clears her throat. She pauses when dad offers her a ride in the middle of gathering her things, and is about to tell him no, that’s fine, thank you, when she catches the look in his eye and frowns before saying that would be great, sure. The ride back to the Clock Tower is fairly quiet, all things considered, though the three carry on conversation while Sarah puts on a soft rock station in the background. Her phone buzzes again as they approach, but she gets distracted by her dad rounding the car to fetch her chair, and both she and Sarah struggle with the umbrella.

Sarah smiles and dad fidgets on the way up, and she has to fight the urge to tell them as much as she appreciates this morning, they don’t need to accompany her all the way to her front door. Dad walks too fast after the elevator door opens, and Sarah sighs as they make to follow, holding onto Barbara’s bouquet as she wheels herself after him.

“It probably feels nice to be home, doesn’t it?” he asks as she gives him a look and fishes out her keys with a slow nod. She goes to tell him sure, she thinks so, when he adds, just a touch louder: “Nothing beats a nice, quiet day, huh?”

“Dad, what are you -- ” she starts, and then all but shrieks as a few too many familiar faces greet her, camped out in her living room, and if she wasn’t so shocked she would ask them what they were all doing there, how they got in. But then she has an armful of Dinah, of Helena, of Zinda cheering and then Cass worming her way in. Stephanie bellows and Damian tells her to keep it down. She thinks Bruce might be grinning and she lets Dick kiss her on the forehead as he tells her happy birthday.

She makes sure to make a show of grumbling the entire time, because what are all of these people doing in her house, who invited them, but dad squeezes her shoulder and she smiles.

It’s a perfect day for staying in, Barbara thinks.