"Take a breath, just take a seat
you're falling apart and tearing at the seams"

Gotham City
December 24 06:30 EST

Then....

Barbara felt herself stir awake slightly. A rather large weight sat upon her waist. Her blurred vision followed. She muttered something under her breath, turning over to see her boyfriend, still asleep. His ink black hair covering his sun-kissed face. Well, she couldn't see his features so she assumed it was Richard.

He needs a haircut. She thought as she glanced at the clock behind him, noting that the time was 6:30 AM.

Her green eyes darted around the room to see where she was. Am I in my apartment?

Everything came flooding back. The party that Wally said was only going to be a few people, had turned into a full out block party.

She groaned. Her father was away on business at Metropolis, that should give her some time to clean up, if there's no vomit.

She then glanced down at the sleeping boy. Rolling her eyes, she stood up, dimly noting the fact that she was wearing Richard's blue button up. And her shorts thankfully, only the shirt covered them. She walked out of her room and into the living room, noting that Megan and Conner were on the couch together.

Wally and Artemis were probably in the guest room. Beast Boy was hanging from the ceiling with his tail. Barbara smiled slightly at him. Drool was evident on the corner of his mouth. Barbara began making coffee, that was until she noticed a oddly familiar voice talking in their sleep on the couch. She slowly walked over and noticed that Conner wasn't Conner.

She stood there shocked for a brief moment. Conner turned over, features that Barbara knew better then her own hand were staring back at her.

She quickly ran to the guest room shutting the door before yelling.
She screamed, "WHAT THE HELL!? WALLY!?!"

Her screams woke up Wally and Artemis. Wally and Artemis stumbled out of the bed, Artemis noted Barbara's attire and raised an eyebrow, while Wally looked at the redhead, confused. She then pointed to the living room and made the teen go and see what the fuss was about. He noted that Megan and Richard were spooning.

Conner walked out of Barbara's room wondering what was going on and then noticed that his girlfriend was with his best friend and his best friend's girlfriend was standing above Wally, her face livid.

"Wake them up Wally!" She screamed, "Or so help me you won't be spooning with Artemis."

Artemis smiled at Wally's expression. A child being told that he would no longer get candy or any type of sweets.

"But that's not..." Wally trailed off as Artemis shook her head, knowing that Barbara, was of course not lying.

"I'm soooo dead, do you know how Richard is when we try to wake him up?" Wally asked. Everyone shrugged except for Barbara.

She cringed slightly, "Use a stick, it's farther."

Wally stared at her, "You really have no soul do you?"

Barbara flipped her hair over her shoulder, "You don't say?" She retorted sarcastically, causing Artemis to stifle a laugh.

Wally rolled his eyes, grabbing a Rokushakubō from Barbara's old karate bag. He held the staff wrong, of course, but Barbara was too busy watching him poke the bear named Richard.

Wally held the staff from the end before he proceeded to poke Richard. A rather loud growl echoed into the ears of the teens. Wally, getting frightened from the sound, jumped into the arms of his girlfriend. Richard turned to see his girlfriend glaring down at him, he then also noticed a slender arm around him.

"Who is hugging me? And why isn't it you?" He asked Barbara as his eyes widened with each word. Her green eyes studied him for a few short moments.

Barbara then turned to Wally, "Gee, I'm not sure, I'll ask the idiot who decided to have a block party."

Richard quickly jumped up, grabbing Wally by his shirt, "You spiked our drinks, didn't you?"

Wally smiled sheepishly, "What can I say, BB was creative."

Barbara rolled her eyes at the red-headed boy. His foolish games and pranks were going to end soon enough, Artemis didn't like him acting childish. But oddly enough his way of making everyone laugh was endearing for Barbara, she silently wished she could do that, make everyone happy in less then a second. But she couldn't, she could only make one person happy, but that was usually enough for her.

"Conner does that mean you went to bed with Barbara?" Richard asked.

Conner and Barbara shared a look, then stepped farther away from each other. Barbara then felt something grab her wrist, pulling her. Richard stared down at her, his eyes wondering over her face, trying to find something, an indication of some sort.

"What the hell are you doing?" Barbara asked, her perfectly arched eyebrow raised slightly. Richard sighed.

"I wanted to make sure of something okay?" His blue eyes stared into Barbara's green ones. He reached up and brushed a stray red hair away from Barbara's line of sight.

A faint sound of a squeal was heard coming from Artemis' mouth. Wally rushed to Artemis' side, believing that she was hurt or injured.

"Babe, are you okay?" Wally asked, his face showing his weak side toward his girlfriend.

"You idiot you ruined the moment! They looked so cute!" Artemis said, scolding Wally.

Wally looked offended, but retorted with, "But you were the one who squealed."

Barbara smiled at Artemis as a faint dust of pink appeared on Artemis' cheeks.

"Arty, you and Megan both ship us." Barbara said stepping away from Richard, rolling her eyes, placing her hands on her hips.

Richard, then noticed that Barbara was wearing a blue button up.

"That's my shirt isn't it?" He said, yet it seemed more like he asked.

"And if it is?" She taunted. Richard rolled his blue eyes.

"I was just going to say something, but nevermind." He said.

Barbara shrugged, "Okay."

A phone rang, it took a moment for Barbara to realized it was hers. She ran to her room. She found it under a few piles of pillows on her desk.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Barbara, get the team together, we have a mission for you." Bruce said, before hanging up.

Barbara ran a hand through her hair. Leave it to Bruce to ignore the fact that the teens were have a party. Sure thing, we don't need to get a day off. She thought.

"Boy Wonder, get your bird costume on, we are needed." Barbara said as Richard came to see if things were okay.

Richard nodded, "Okay Babs."

~Linebreak~

The Team was split into groups of three, Robin, Batgirl, and Superboy were Alpha; Miss Martin, Aqualad, and Kid Flash were Beta; then Artemis, and Roy were Delta. But their squad didn't know that they expected them, and that alone made all the difference.

Alpha team infiltrated the compound. Batgirl quickly hacked into their security systems setting up an image for the guards to see in order to slip pass.

Robin smirked, "You are too smart for your own good, B."

Batgirl felt the need to roll her eyes, "Enough of the compliments, Batman sent us here for a reason, let's get going."

Conner smiled, "Finally you got him to shut up."

Robin's face dropped into a frown. "Thanks Superboy...feeling the love."

Batgirl turned the corner expecting an encounter. Nothing. Something was up, there should of been guards here.

Her instant reaction was that the enemy knew they were coming, and placed a bomb to get rid of the them.

"Shit! Get down!" Batgirl yelled. She pushed both boys down, just as the bomb she had predicted went off. A wall near them exploded. Dust and debris landed on their bodies, but most were small pieces that would only leave a scratch.

The ringing in their ears made them lightheaded. Their equilibrium was off.

Batgirl coughed a bit of debris. "Are you guys okay?" Her throat felt dry.

Superboy held up a thumbs up, "Yup."

"Robin?" She asked through the settling dust.

"I would be if Superboy wasn't on top of me.." He wheezed out.

"Oh. Sorry man." Superboy got up, and pulled Robin to his feet.

Batgirl nodded, she pressed her communicator in her ear on. "Batman you have some explaining to do."

~Linebreak~

"Bruce! You have some explaining to do!" Barbara yelled. The Team had returned from the failed mission, only a few minor cuts and bruises, but nonetheless they were still injured.

Barbara pulled Bruce away from the team, some of them giving her odd looks, but Richard was confounded out of all of them.

Bruce turned, "I don't have an explanation." His blue eyes stared down at his protege. Her stance ready and pose, in case of something happening.

"You sent us in there, the least you could've done was make sure we actually had enemies to go against or I donno that we are able to make it back alive?" Barbara says. Her green eyes alive and vivid with anger.

Bruce clenched his jaw, "You are my student and you should respect me and my choices."

"So you expect us to agree with you even though you sent us on a suicide mission that could've killed us if I didn't act quick enough! You could've checked Bruce, you may be my teacher but you need to make sure we make it out of there alive! We all have families waiting for us back home!" She yelled.

"The information was several weeks old, how could I've known?" Bruce asked.

Barbara rolled her eyes, "If it was a few weeks old, don't you think, if you even use that head of yours, that things could've changed during the time that the Leaguers had gotten that information?"

Bruce sighed, "It was a human mistake, Barbara, stop acting as if you don't make them either."

Barbara scoffed, "I do but not when it comes to a matter of life and death Bruce. We are all young teens, risking our lives to help you, yes we chose this, but you chose us too. You've been off your game lately. These missions you send us on are dead ends. The least you could do is tell me why you're doing this."

Bruce sighed, "The League has been led to believe that The Team is no longer qualified for missions. No that you are no longer qualified."

"What...?" Barbara was taken back. The team took down and infiltrated into Belle Reeve and collected more information then the League could do in a week.

Bruce stared at Barbara guiltily. "I'm sorry, but your relationship with Richard is distracting him. He can't focus with you on this team."

"Wait you're saying that it's my fault?" She placed a hand on her chest. "I'm not the one training them, Bruce. I've have my own training."

Bruce stared down at her, "You will get off the team, and leave, say it's your choice." He says.

Barbara stared at Bruce in disbelief, "You....you asshole! You expect everything to go your way?!"

Bruce swallowed slightly, Barbara had her own training, with members of the League, she had once taken down Black Canary, the team's training instructor, who was one of the best. The fury redhead had so much talent and that scared him.

"I'd prefer if you left, so that Richard can focus, not have to worry over you!" He says. His hand went up to his nose pinching the bridge.

She rolls her eyes, "No I know you Bruce, you don't want collateral damage, right? You don't want the guilt that plagues you when you see me, right?"

Bruce grabbed her arm, "Damnit Barbara, you swore you wouldn't bring that up.." He hissed in a low voice.

"I will bring it up, because you were the one who put my brother in jail." She said.

"Barbara, how could I've known that Joker would have taken interest in him!"

"HE TAKES INTEREST IN MY FAMILY BRUCE!" She yelled. At this point she didn't care if the team heard her. She had enough of Bruce's ways of trying to keep everything in line.

"I know that he wasn't perfect, but he was my little brother...Bruce. I was supposed to protect him from the monsters in his closet...I wasn't supposed to protect myself from him..." She whispered.

Bruce blinked, "Barbara...I-"

She held her hand up, "No, you want me to leave, I'll leave. Besides that's what you wish right, Master Bruce. " She spat out, the venom in her words stung Bruce.

His hubris rose up again, not wanting to apologize to the teen.

Barbara walked rapidly to the entrance of Mount Justice. She glanced back to the team's kitchen, where everyone was residing at the moment. She spotted her friend Zatanna, who smiled her way, before she noticed the grim look on her face.

"Barbara?" She yelled, seeing her friend step into the Zata tube. "Wait!" She ran too late. Her friend was gone.

The team noticed, and Z turned to the team, "Barbara just left looking pissed as hell."

Richard stood up, "I'll find her." He placed his plate down, and went toward the Zata tube.

An arm stopped him, "She quit." Bruce said.

"She quit?" Richard asked. His mind was a maelstrom. Barbara left.

"I guess she didn't like this." Bruce said.

The team was left confounded over this, their team co-leader and leading strategist was gone.

Richard clenched his fist. "Babs..." He whispered silently.

Gotham City
December 25 08:35 EST

Now...

Barbara hated showing weakness. Even if it was to let out everything held in, she hated it.

She was often mistaken for being weak so many times, from her karate teacher, her father, Bruce, and so many of her opponents.

She disliked it because in the end, she would feel exactly what they'd say to her. Though there were those few that knew better. Those that knew just how strong she was capable of becoming.

For those who believed she was weak, they were often in for a surprising turn of events.

Richard knew her, the exact way she'd think during any situation, yet, as he held her tightly that Christmas morning, he didn't care.

He merely wanted to hold her, relish in this moment, where Barbara was both strong and weak.

In her sleep, she mumbled something incoherent. Richard's eyebrows furrowed slightly. Yesterday wasn't much of a Christmas Eve. She had so much piled on top of her.

She didn't deserve that, nor did she deserve Bruce's shit that obviously tore her inside out.

As Barbara awoke with the sun's rays hitting her eyes, she was aware of the fact that Richard was awake and tracing the two faint lines on her shoulder, the same place Stefan had touched her.

She sucked in a breath and tensed up. Richard stopped his actions, "Hey."

"H-Hey." Barbara felt so stupid for crying in front of Richard. For falling apart in front of his eyes. She turned her body to face his. His blue eyes studied her features, usually she would be doing that, but it felt odd when she wasn't.

"Why?" She asked, their eyes locked.

"I don't know." Richard answered truthfully.

"We can't keep falling back to each other, Bruce would..." She trailed off, realizing that Richard didn't know the whole story.

"Bruce would what?" He asked.

"Nothing, forget it, listen mind doing me a favor, can you please leave?" She asked.

"Not without an explanation, Babs." Richard says.

She sighed, "You won't get one from me Richard." She crawled out of the warm duvets, her skin cold. She shivered as the cold December morning chill  grazed her skin.

Richard sighs, "Okay..I understand." He gets up from the bed. His gaze follows Barbara's movements. She stops just in front of the window, staring out into the white streets of Gotham.

Richard ran a hand through his hair. It's best to leave her alone, she needs space. He thinks, just as he reaches for the door handle of the room, he freezes. Aww screw it.

In a flash he turns and goes to Barbara, grabbing her wrist and spinning her to face him, before he kisses her lips.

Barbara's eyes widen to the size of dinner plates. She stays motionless, as she feels Richard's lips against hers. Richard pulled away, his gaze settled in her flushed, wide eyed features.

"I..-um.." She stutters out. He leans forward his lips next to her ear.

"Speechless Babs?" He asks. She shivers slightly, her ear tingling from his lips brushing against it. Her face blushing brightly. "Screw Bruce's opinions, we can do what we want." He says.

His words tempt her, a lot, if not slightly. He makes it seem that they can face Bruce together.

But her mind recalls the way Richard stood as she argued with Bruce in front of the manor.

She backs away doubt filling her mind. "I can't." She says, memories are a curse.

"Why can't you?" Richard pleads.

"I think it's best you go, Richard." She says, her flushed face turning back to its original color.

"Okay." He says, nothing else, he grabs his jacket and walks out. Barbara imagined that's how he left the first time. She swallowed hard, she shouldn't be thinking about this.

With a loud sigh, she went to grab her keys and her equipment. She needed some sort of release. Grabbing her phone, she slipped on a jacket before she headed out.

The drive there wasn't exciting as she believed it would be. She turned the corner before she realized that it was Christmas, everyone was at home, spending time with their families. The parking lot was empty. Her heart clenched tightly.

Her head leaned against the wheel. "Damnit! Damnit Richard!" She cursed. That boy caused her so much turmoil. "I'm having a fucking breakdown because of him!" She yelled.

"But is that such a bad thing Barb?" A voice said from outside.

Her body jumped, turning to the window outside. A person she never expected to see again.

"Jason?" She breathed. "I- Bruce told me..that you.."

Jason smiled, "Bruce lies about a lot of things. Now will you let me inside the car, it's fucking freezing out here."

She unlocked the car. "I can't believe it. How are yo-? You know what I don't want to know."

"I know a cool little shop just outside the outskirts of Gotham, you want some hot chocolate?" Jason asks.

"Yeah, I think some chocolate could do me some good." She says, putting the car in reverse.

The drive was filled with Jason changing the radio station to one he preferred. He grinned when he heard his favorite song. "Breaking Benjamin's my shit." He says, his grin was contagious, Barbara felt herself grin back.

"You seem different Jay, what happened?" She asked, putting the car in park.

"I let go of my anger toward Bruce." He says. That answer made Barbara perk up slightly.

"How?" She asked.

He shrugged, "I know he's not the best dad, but he has his heart in the right place."

Barbara sighed, "I didn't think that douche had a heart."

Jason cracked a smile, "You're not the goody-two-shoes I knew."

"She abandoned this world a long time ago" She says.

Jason nodded, "Okay. Understandable."

They sat down and ordered hot chocolate, the waitress smiled at them and left.

"Barb, Richard's back in town." He said.

"I know."

He blinked, "You do? Since when?"

Barbara sighed, "I bumped into him a few days back."

Jason's hair fell toward his eyes, "Oh."

Barbara reached out and pushed his hair back in place, she smiled, "There, now I can see you again."

Jason smiled, "Thanks mom."

Barbara and Jason laughed, their jokes were old, but they still made them laugh. Afterward Barbara and Jason walked in the snow.

"Thanks for all of this Jay." She said.

He rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah, it's no problem, besides I was worried about you."

"Well, don't be." She said, her ears were freezing now. She really wished she had her beanie.

Jason noticed her flushed face and red ears, he reached into his jacket pocket, taking his own beanie and put it on her.

Barbara froze, did he smash a snowball on me? She reached for snow and smushed it into a lumpy ball.

She turned, "Did you smash a snowball on me, Todd?"

Jason smirked, "Nope, I put my beanie on you."

She paused and glanced up, seeing a bit of black. She dropped the snowball and reached up, feeling her head for the soft, warm hat. She smiled, "And to think I was about to stuff your face with ice."

Jason looked offended, "I am a gentleman, for your information."

"Then why are you so rude to me?" She asked, jokingly.

"You're not a girl." He said flatly while shrugging.

Barbara tackled him, turning him facedown so that he would get a face full of snow. "You take that back!"

"Never!" He mumbled.

They chased each other around like siblings, sliding on the iced roads, Jason, much to his chagrin, slipped and fell, Barbara laughed loudly. Jason smiled, it was rather dorky, but Barbara loved it.

She was happy that Jason was playful, it reminded her of the times that James would make a snowman with her all those years ago.

She held out her hand for him to grab, he took it and rose up to his feet.

"Remind me not to chase you on an icy street."

"Noted." She said with a wide smile. Jason raised an eyebrow.

"Ya know, this was fun, I've never been so happy like this." He said, once they made it to her car.

"Mhhm." She hummed, agreeing with Jason. To her, Jason always acted like an annoying younger brother, it helped her act like an older sibling at times, helped her mature.

On the car ride home, they sang along to random rock songs, rather horridly to make each other laugh.

If only things could stay like this. She thought. Jason was staring out the window calmly, watching the snowflakes fall.

Barbara turned to her apartment, "Home sweet home." She said.

"Hey Barb?" Jason turned to her.

"Yeah?" She responded.

"Richard loves you, ya know?" She froze at those words.

She swallowed, "Did he ask you to find me?" Her gaze stayed on the walls of apartment.

"No." He said flatly, "You know me Barb, I don't take orders from anyone."

She nodded, "Okay, well, I used to think he did love me. Now, I'm not so sure." She climbed out of the car, heading to the door.

Jason nodded, "He really needs to get his shit together." He says as he climbed out of the car behind.

"Yeah." She says, opening the door.

"Barb, just promise me something well ya?" Jason asked, sitting down in front of the TV.

"Sure Jay what is it?" She asked.

"Try to forgive him. It was hard for him too." He says, switching on the TV.

She sighed. That's the thing, Jay. I don't know if I can.

Challenge 2) Who did the Joker kill/harm first out of the Bat-family?

And also I dedicate this chapter to two very devoted readers/writers batgirl613 and oracle01. They voted and also commented on this story which I believe isn't much, but they seem to like it. So a special thanks to them, and to all of you who are enjoying this story.