Things are changing.

"What?"

There were some things that Dick couldn't entirely comprehend. Ever since a few weeks ago, when the wrongness came and settled, there were a lot of things that Dick hadn't been able to understand.

But this, of all of them, had definitely been the most surprising.

"Oh, so you think only boys can be vigilantes, do you?"

"What? No!" Dick blushed. "I only just... I thought that she would be a guy. I felt it."

"Well, she's not." Barbara brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes. "Do you still want to meet this... Batgirl?"

"Batgirl?" A flash of black and gold. "Yes, I do. I think... I think she may know something. Or at least remember something, like us."

"Great, well, I'll call your parents-"

"No! Please- um, please don't."

She frowned at him. "Why not?"

"They'll try to stop me, you know; they don't understand us. We have to do this ourselves."

She shook her head. "You must've hit your head harder than I thought," she mumbled. "You can't seriously think of running away from your family and friends to chase shadows in the night?! And what about my dad?"

He would understand.

"You don't have to come with me, you know."

Barbara gave him a look. "Yes I do. If I didn't have to, I wouldn't do it."

"Then we have to do this ourselves," he gulped. "We can't let them stop us."

And he couldn't get Raya's angry expression out of his mind, and his mom's hurt one. Maybe it was for the best that he left them- until he figured it all out.

Then, and only then, could he come back home.

"So, what, are we just going to climb out the window? Sneak around like we're vigilantes ourselves?"

Dick grinned. "Doesn't sound like such a bad idea."

"You're an idiot, Boy Wonder," she teased.

"Boy Wonder?"

"What," she frowned, "does it sound wrong?"

"No. No, it sounds... it sounds right."

She smiled a little, but her full grin was interrupted by the presence of voices behind the door. Their heads shot up immediately.

"We have to get going," he whispered urgently. "Open the windows!"

Barbara unlatched the pane and opened it wide. The cool wind of night breezed through, the soft glow of stars spreading through the darkness.

"Dick? Barbara?" called voices from beyond the door.

"Wait," she said, pausing. "What if they think I kidnapped you or something?"

"Don't think about that."

"Right. Just don't think about it."

He held out a hand to her. "Are you ready?"

Slowly, she put her hand in his, their fingers intertwining. "No."

And they slipped into the night.

"...Robinson Avenue. Robbery in progress."

Batgirl turned to the direction of the crime. Slipping her radio into her belt, she leaped off the roof and landed on the fire escape.

Her black hair flew in the wind like wildfire. Brushing it behind her ear, she spread her cape out and glided across the shadowy streets of Gotham.

She had work to do.

"I spy with my little eye... something beginning with 'i'."

Barbara rolled her eyes. "Idiot?"

"Hey!"

They were walking along a dark alleyway. Although they had tried to find the vigilante of Gotham, for some reason, they kept failing to find crime. It was as disappointing as it was hilarious- of course, when you go looking for trouble, it doesn't find you.

They turned into Robinson Avenue, where the streetlights flickered in the growing night. Dick shivered a little.

"So, what is it?"

"What?"

"What does 'i' stand for?"

Sheepishly, Dick replied, "I don't remember."

Before Barbara could react, a giant cloud of fire bloomed from the Robinson Bank. Dick instinctively threw Barbara down, both lying on the floor as chunks of debris flew everywhere. The sky filled with ashes.

"What was that?" She asked, voice filled with panic.

He looked up warily and stood, stumbling slightly. A large chunk of rock had narrowly missed them by an inch.

"You- you stay here," he instructed. "I'll check it out."

She grabbed his arm. "If you're going," she warned, "no way in hell are you going alone."

They started running towards the site of the explosion. Robinson Bank's door lay blasted open on its hinges, the walls around it crumbling to dust. The roof, sloped upwards to the moon, now contained a gaping hole through which various screams could be heard.

A black shadow flittered and went through the hole.

"Was that her?"

Dick sucked in a breath. "I'm not sure. We have to get closer."

Making their way around the debris carefully, they arrived at the broken front doors of the bank.

Everything's broken.

A loud thud sounded, followed by a low moan of pain.

"Oh god, please don't, I didn't-"

One of the thieves was lying against a pillar. Her lip was busted, hair matted with blood.

"No lying."

Above her stood Batgirl. Her cape fluttered slightly.

"No, have mercy, it's just-"

A solid punch landed on her jaw, an effective silencer. Batgirl had only time to tie up the criminal before sounds of fighting broke out in the back of the bank.

"Should... should we help her?" Barbara whispered.

Suddenly, a pitiful cry filled the air. Dick ran towards the source of it.

"No," a woman was moaning. Her leg was caught underneath a support beam. "No, no, no!"

"Shh," Dick soothed, "it's okay, ma'am. We'll get you out of here."

"No, oh no, have to get back home, my boy-"

"It's alright." Barbara knelt down beside Dick. "I'm Barbara, and this is Dick. Will you tell us your name?."

"C-Catherine. My name's Catherine."

"Alright, Miss Catherine, I need you to stay calm and we'll lift this beam. Can you do that?"

She nodded her tear-streaked face and held back a sob. Dick shimmied his hands underneath the beam, making sure not to touch her blood-stained leg, and heaved it upwards. The strength seemed to come from a well deep within him, and, unbidden, a memory-but-not-a-memory flashed in his mind.

"It's too hard."

He sat down on the bench, arms wrapped around his knees. "I can't do it."

"Why can't you do it, chum?"

Dick looked up at the man who mattered the most to him in this very wide world. His face was blurry. "Because I'm not strong enough."

"You are always strong enough, Dick."

"Not this time."

The man knelt down to his height, and they were face to face. "Do you think I would ask you to do this if I thought you weren't strong enough?"

"No," Dick murmured.

"Then you are strong enough to do it. Because I believe you are."

"But what if... what if one day you're not there, to believe in me?"

The man put his arms around Dick. "I will always be right next to you, even if it seems like I'm not. And I will always believe in you. You will always be strong enough."

Dick startled himself out of the dream, moving the beam over Catherine's leg and dropping it immediately. His hands felt numb.

"Oh, thank you, thank you!" The woman cried.

"I need you to relax still, Catherine," Barbara explained. "You leg is bleeding heavily. We will have to bandage it up for you, okay?"

She nodded wordlessly, tears streaming out. Dick let out a breath and sat on the floor.

"You are just full of surprises," Barbara smiled.

He ripped off a part of his shirt. "Use this."

Slowly, the woman's crying died down. At a closer look, Dick noticed that Catherine was sickeningly thin, bones poking out at all angles.

And the smell... the smell of dried blood, and perfume, and something else.

I tried to make him forget that smell, but he couldn't. It was how she died...

"Thank you for saving me, but I have to go," Catherine mumbled.

Barbara shook her head. "You can't possibly go anywhere with your leg like that, I'm afraid."

"No! My boy, my baby, and my husband, what would he do-"

"Okay, okay, calm down." Dick sighed. "How about if we help you get back home?"

"You would? Really?"

Dick laughed. "Of course we would. Our business..." He looked towards the tied-up criminal. "...It can wait."

They slowly tried to stand her up.

"Babs, take her arm-"

"Slowly, easy now-"

Eventually, they managed to get her to cling to their arms, and made very very slow progress along Gotham. But progress nonetheless.

"So..." Dick searched for a conversation. "How long have you lived here in Gotham, Miss Catherine?"

"Just Catherine, please." She'd seemed to have cheered up a great deal. "I've lived here all my life. Oh, the things you see..."

"What do you know about Batgirl?" Barbara inquired.

Catherine's face scrunched up. "Oh, that nasty little girl that likes to play dress up? She's horrible, always bothering Willis at work."

"...Forgive my intrusion, but what exactly does Willis- um, your husband, right? Yeah, great- what does your husband do?"

"Well, he-" she gave a little squeal. "He's right there!"

A haggard man, lean cut and dirty, started walking towards them. He had big, powerful strides, like a soldier. He smelled of fresh blood and fire.

"Katie!" He boomed, like a stereo, "who are these children?"

"Hello, Willis-"

"Mr. Todd."

Dick shifted uncomfortably. "Mr. Todd, I'm Dick and this is Barbara. We saved your wife from an explosion in Robinson Bank, and she damaged her leg, so we walked her back home."

Mr. Todd did not seem that interested in him, but the way he eyed Barbara made him want to puke.

"Come right in, then," he graciously- venomously- greeted. He opened a rotting wooden door and lead them through.

The house was only a room, really, and not a very nice one. In a corner were three beds, stained with what Dick could only imagine was dirt and pee. There was one window that looked out into a dark and shady alleyway, hinges rusting. There was a battered and sad-looking sofa facing a crackling T.V. The only other place was a curtained off area, which he assumed was the toilet.

"Sit, sit!" Catherine jabbered happily, to which Dick and Barbara sat down promptly. Both felt embarrassed, as one often is when they don't realise they had taken things for granted.

"The brat's working," Mr. Todd grunted, taking a seat next to Barbara.

"Your son works?" For some reason Dick had pictured Catherine's son to be very young.

His youth was taken away from him.

"Yes," she hummed proudly. "He works with his daddy."

Barbara and Dick exchanged uneasy looks. The whole place reeked of crime without punishment, and worse- of punishment without crime.

Who could have raised a child here...?

A knock came on the door. It was loud and hurried, and Dick couldn't help but smile.

He remembered that knock, late at night, when he was in his apartment and not expecting a visitor. And he'd come in, wide eyed, maybe bad dreams or maybe something else. But just as he walked through the door he'd just relax and know that Dick would never let anyone hurt him.

And that was how he came in this time, as well.

"Jason!" Catherine cried happily.

Jason Todd brushed his red hair out of his eyes and grinned.

"I'm home."

We never really lose each other.

Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed this latest chapter of As Fate Would Have It, and if you did please leave a like/follow/review! Thanks so much to all your continuous support, and well, that's all I have to say for now.

I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it.

Thanks so much!