Gotham's Darkest Corners

[Rick Grayson]

Rick blinked in surprise as Barbara leaned into him, and just found himself smiling stupidly at the wink. "Least I could do, ma'am," he said in a put-on southern drawl.

He chuckled and added in a more serious tone, "Let's try not to make a habit of it, though kay? Batman can't be everywhere, and I'm not applying to be Robin any time soon just to keep you out of trouble."

He gave her shoulder a squeeze and walked on, doing his best to keep his eyes straight ahead. Endorphins were funny things that make people have all kinds of funny thoughts.

She's the daughter of the second most powerful man in the city, Grayson. And he hates you. Take it down a notch.

"Hey, you want to grab a cup of coffee or something? I had a whole different picture in my head of how meeting you again was supposed to go, and this ain't it." He flashed her a smirk as they got to his car and headed for the driver's side door.

"Where's good around campus? You transferred to Gotham University now I guess right?"

[Barbara Nolan]

"Oh, I'm taking a year off school," she said breezily. He'd pictured meeting her again? A bit of the school girl crush she'd fostered for him seemed to swell at the thought. Barbara looked around at the street they were on, seeing a few people walking away from them, but they had their heads down and looked like they wanted to get home in a hurry.

"But there's a great place by the Gotham Public Library. That's where I'm working again - full time now." She separated easily from him as he clicked the doors to his car unlocked, and scurried around the hood, hopping inside and closing the door firmly. "Its open all night - some hipsters hang out there during the day, but its pretty chill at this time of night." She smiled at Rick as he got into the car, wanting to pursue the 'you pictured meeting me?' angle, but also knowing that now wasn't the time.

[Rick Grayson]

"Pretty chill, huh?" Rick said with a chuckle. "Those hipsters are rubbing off on you."

They drove for a couple blocks with just the radio softly rolling out modern and 90's rock into the relative silence. Rather than head directly for a main strip to turn towards downtown, Rick guided the car through a circuitous route, keeping careful eye on sidewalks and the rear view mirrors, though doing his professional best to stay casual.

"Hey I need you to do me a favor. Don't mention me or your trip to the Narrows tonight in your blog, okay? Let's just keep this little adventure between us."

[Barbara Nolan]

"Oh, right. Of course not." She glanced sideways at him, wondering why he was taking back roads instead of more obvious route. "Its strictly anonymous anyway, I write under a pen name."

Barbara laughed, a touch of the hysterical in her tone, "I doubt anyone reads it anyway!" She sighed, resting her head in her hand with her elbow on the car door. Risking her neck for a hobby was stupid, which he was probably about to point out, but really, she had one dad and that was enough. Well, technically she had two dads, one bio one adopted. But that was certainly more than enough for one woman.

[Rick Grayson]

The car turned onto the bridge leading into the far more welcoming streets of New Gotham, heading downtown.

"Well you've got one more reader," Rick said. "You've got me curious about this now. Sounds like you're on your way to being Gotham's Lois Lane."

[Barbara Nolan]

"Ha! I doubt it. But if anyone reads it at all then that's something." Barbara sat up a little straighter. "Almost there. There's usually parking in the lot across the street..." She pointed, helpfully, and Rick left the road and pulled into a parking spot.

A cold wind had kicked up in downtown, and they hurried across the street into the coffee shop, Rick holding the door for Barbara like he always did. It was blessedly warm inside, and there was a jazz quartet in the back on the tiny stage, filling the shop with quiet music.

After they got their drinks (Barbara ordered a hot chocolate) they found a cozy place to sit beside the floor to ceiling bookshelves. "So," she smiled, "What are you doing back in Gotham?"

[Rick Grayson]

Rick found a table far from the window to obscure being seen from the street. He sat facing the door, with a good view of the fire exit.

"So," Barbara smiled, "What are you doing back in Gotham?"

"I'm with a private security firm now. We doing some work for Queen Industries," he gestured toward downtown with a thumb over his shoulder.

Rick took a drink and idly scanned the room. "We analyze for data mining, irregular logins, inappropriate emails." He chuckled. "Corporate crap. It's a lot more boring than the title makes it sound."

[Barbara Nolan]

"Mmm," Barbara nodded, sipping her hot chocolate. "Well, it sounds pretty boring, so I can't even imagine. You poor thing."

She looked around the room, and settled deeper into the mismatched wing back armchair. "I can't really see you spending all your time behind a desk. But then," she added mischievously, "you were in the Narrows tonight as well. Rogue emailers living nearby?"

[Rick Grayson]

"Actually," Rick replied, "Yeah. We traced some scam emails and a denial of service attempt to an IP that originated at an address there. Wanted to be sure it wasn't just another router before sicking the Feds on the place.

"He turned out to be pretty much what you'd expect, some fat ass schmuck with a bunch of cats, living off stolen welfare checks. One less idiot hacker out of the client's hair."

He chuckled and shrugged. "Like I said, boring."

They spent the better part of an hour talking, mostly about nothing, and laughing over stories from when they both last lived in Gotham.

Saying goodnight was unpredictably awkward. The exchanging of numbers and emails went well enough, then detoured into this odd sort of first date territory as they hesitantly hugged each other and parted ways with a nervous chuckle.