29 - Video

[bodilesswarrior]

[Barbara is sitting on her couch, Jonesy curled up on her lap. Her communicator is carefully angled away from her control centre.

She starts off with a wry wave.] If you can see this, you've gotten pulled into a space prison's telecommunications network. As far as I can tell, it won't affect your systems any, so don't worry.

[Her smile deepens.] And if you're from Gotham, I know damn well this isn't the strangest thing that's happened to you this week.

((Fourth wall! GO TO TOWN.))

Comments

[surfaceshine]

Please, like I make a habit of fighting losing battles.

[He grins back at her, though his is merely shot through with genuine happiness, not cracking with it.]

Hey, darlin'.

[bodilesswarrior]

Hey yourself. [She doesn't want to look - brittle, or vulnerable. Not because she doesn't trust him to see it; she just doesn't want him to know why.

But she doesn't manage to hide it all, not entirely.]

How've you been doing?

[surfaceshine]

[The problem is he does see it, and he thinks he already knows why. It's an awkward thing for him to consider, though, because maybe he made progress but he still has a hard time admitting that he matters to people.

It's easy to answer that question honestly, though. He'd been fading when he made the decision to leave the Barge; with his people back, he's full of life again, sincerely the happiest he's ever been.]

We're great. Me'n Sam've been hunting - he actually wants to. Whodathunk? - and I... [He grins a little, more mischief sparking into the expression.] You're already talking to Felix.

We're good, Babs. Really, really good. [And, with a pointed eyebrow raise:] How's things up there?

[bodilesswarrior]

[Dammit.

Her smile turns wry, sheepish.] Not too bad, right now. Came through the worst, like we always do.

...Have you seen him, on the network?

[surfaceshine]

Knew you would. That's why I left you with the keys.

[This easy, an affectionate tease because he full well knows he didn't leave Babs with anything. She already had it as well in hand as anyone could, and he never doubted that.

But he shakes his head, not even hesitating; he knows what "he" Babs is referring to, he's 99% sure.]

No. I promised Felix I'd stay away from him, and I know myself enough to know that means all or nothing. You tangled with him already?

[bodilesswarrior]

[It strikes her, hard and fast, how much she misses him. She won't let it show - she doesn't want him to feel guilty for leaving, for moving on with his life, for going back to his family.

But she might clutch Jonesy a little bit tighter.]

A bit. Nothing violent. [More painful than that. Violence is easy.]

[surfaceshine]

[She hides it well enough that Dean doesn't notice; he wouldn't know what to do with it anyway if he did. He's more convinced now than ever that he made the right choice to leave, that his people here needed him.

But need has ever been his weak point. He knows even now that if his friends still on the Barge said they needed him there, he'd do his best to get back to them.]

Yeah? You okay?

[bodilesswarrior]

Of course. [It's a natural response, instinct, chased by a rueful smile.]

[Private to Dean]

[Now, well, she just looks sad.]

He reminds me of Bruce, when he first got here. He's given up, Dean.

[ Private ]

[surfaceshine]

[Of course, she says, like it's a foregone conclusion. Which normally it would have been, at least until she said it.

Now, the look he gives her is extremely sober, a little uncomfortably guilty, because after all. It's still him, isn't it?]

That's not anyone's fault but his. You know that, right?