Chapter 9

Dick's POV
"Babs?" I croak, opening my eyes. Argh, it's bright.
"I'm here." She squeezes my hand.
"How long was I out?"
"About two days." I try to sit up, but she strokes my forehead and makes me lie back down. "What do you remember?"
"Just flashes. I remember some of the torture. I remember being gassed, and then attacking you..." It was the worst feeling. I wasn't in control of my own body. "I remember you kissing me."
"Shut up." Babs blushes. "I was giving you mouth to mouth." She lies.
"Well, I think I need to practice my CPR skills." I reply.
"Seriously, Grayson. You come back to the land of the living, and within the first five minutes you're back to your old ways." Babs smirks, and I attempt to elbow her, but my wrist twitches uncontrollably for about two seconds. "Relax. It's just a muscle spasm. It means your nerves are healing."
"I don't see how you're so calm." I say.
"What?"
"I tried to kill you. And you're acting like it never happened."
"I knew you wouldn't. No amount of Joker Toxin could make you do something like that. Like you say, 'you can laugh at the darkness or you can let it in."
"So when do you think I'll be back on my feet?" I ask.
"Your wrist is going to take another two weeks to heal, if you do absolutely nothing in that time. Everything else should be fine until then." I sigh after her words.
"What am I supposed to do for two weeks?" I huff.
"You can still help us on missions. From the batcomputer. You know, hacking and stuff." Babs hands me a green syringe. "You can start by analysing that toxin. It's stronger to everything else Joker's used in the past. It took triple the usual antidote to get you off the stuff."
"But I thought I stopped when you kissed me."
"You only gained control of your body. You still had toxin in your bloodstream, and it was poisoning you." I look down.
"Oh."   


"Batgirl, Penguin's been sighted at the docks. He's smuggling in something." I say, typing at the batcomputer. With one hand, since I don't want my torn one to take any longer to heal.
"When the Joker said they had a deal, this is what they meant. Penguin's probably bringing in the toxin, but what's Joker giving him?" Babs says, zooming her cowl lenses closer to the shipment.
"Can you see what's in the crates?" I smirk.
"Is Wally constantly hungry?" I laugh. But when I see the crates, my face instantly falls. "It's not toxin." I stare at the image. "Batgirl, they're smuggling kids."
"Are they alive?" Babs asks, starting to move closer.
"Yes. But I'm reading high traces of the toxin in their bloodstreams. Do not engage." I warn.
"I'm not going to leave them, Robin. I'm coming back to the cave, but only to get the antidote. You have got one, haven't you?" Babs, why do you always have to be too heroic? I swear, it's not going to end well for us.
"Yeah, I got something." I sigh.

"The antidote releases in these grenades in a gas form. It'll knock the kids out for a couple minutes, though." I hand her the capsules, and she starts walking back to her batcycle, since Bruce took back the Batmobile. I grab her arm. "Babs, please just wait for Bruce. What if something happened to you?"
"Wouldn't be the first time." She shrugs.
"I don't know what I'll do if I lose you." I whisper. Babs wraps her arms around me tightly.
"Don't worry, boy wonder. I'll be fine." I balance her chin on my fingers, and she relaxes. I press my lips to hers. For a few seconds, she doesn't realise what I'm doing. I pull off her cowl, and squeeze her pressure point, and she collapses into my arms. 
"I'm sorry." I whisper.

Barbara's POV
"Nice move, Grayson." I say, waking up on a couch.
"I don't want you out there without Bruce, okay? You'd be outnumbered, and not even you could've taken them." Dick keeps typing at the computer.
"You didn't have to knock me out." I sigh. "But hey, now I know how to shut you up next time you start annoying me."

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