Author's Note: This chapter has been a long time in coming, and I'm still not satisfied with it. The original version of this chapter disappeared forever when some scum stole my computer. (In case you are wondering, scum is the appropriate term for all thieves who steel for fun or thrills or just plain greed and not desperate necessity.) Yes, I had backups for part of the chapter, but not for the second half, which I finished the night before the theft. Each time I tried to rewrite it, I couldn't conjure up the right words or tone. It just wasn't the same. Anyway, I've finally decided just to do my best to finish this for all the wonderful people who've been reading and commenting on this story. Let me be clear that this isn't the vision I had for this chapter. The dialogue, especially in the last half, isn't right, and probably never will be. I'm hoping you can forgive that this isn't my best work.

Special Request: If anyone is still reading this, I would love for someone to draw a cover image with Batgirl and Robin for me. Pretty please.

An Unexpected Gift
Chapter 9
by Mako-clb

Dec. 31

"Invitation, please."

Barbara handed over her invitation and held her breath. If she was lucky, maybe the blond girl wouldn't check the invitation too carefully.

"Ah, a guest of Sister Cindy. That means you sing," the blond said. "And, I really want to hear you belt it out. Just the chorus will do."

Oh well, so much for that hope, Barbara thought. She let out the breath she was holding and took another before launching into Prince's 1999. There were a few brief and far-too-kind applause from the people waiting behind her, and then she was waved into Gotham University's Delta Phi Sigma sorority house. She vaguely heard someone singing I'm a Little Teapot before the sounds of the party completely drowned it out. At least she hadn't been forced to sing that, Barbara thought as she looked around for familiar faces.

Spotting Jackson Clark, Barbara made her way over, taking a quick detour to grab something from the buffet table.

"Barbara, glad to see you," Jackson said just as she finished eating a cream puff. "What did you have to sing?"

"Prince's 1999. And, you?"

"Nothing. I belong to Kappa Nu Sigma, co-sponsor of this little New Year's Eve bash."

"Lucky you."

"No, lucky you," the guy next to Jackson said. "He made me sing I Love Being a Girl."

As Barbara pictured the six-foot-tall, well-muscled man in front of her singing the song from the Flower Drum Song musical, she couldn't help but let out a little laugh. Immediately embarrassed at making fun of the guy, Barbara said, "Sorry, that was rude."

"No, it was fun-ny," Jackson said, putting real emphasis on the last word and earning a mock-angry glare from the other man.

"Now that you're done having fun at my expense, any chance you could introduce us?"

"Sorry, my bad. Alex, this is Barbara Gordon. And, Barbara, this is my roommate, Alex Chang."

"Wait, you're the Barbara Gordon? Jackson's lab partner?"

"Maybe," Barbara answered as she glanced questioningly at Jackson. "It depends on what you've heard."

"Oh, just that you humiliated a chemistry professor so bad last year, he never returned."

"It wasn't anything like that," Barbara replied.

"Oh, it was even better than that," Jackson said, obviously enjoying the idea of retelling this particular story. "The professor spent the first five minutes of class going on and on about how disappointed he was that only one person had passed the pop quiz he'd given last class and how he was going to have to waste another day going over moles and balancing equations again. I mean, pop quiz, did he think it was high school? Anyway, he puts a sample problem on the board and starts explaining it. Barbara, here, stops him because she's confused," Jackson says, adding air quotes to the last word, "because the textbook explained things differently. Then, she proceeds to explain how she thought the equation should be solved, and you can just see the professor turning red. When she was done, he had to admit he'd been teaching it wrong the entire time, and he tossed the quiz from our grades."

"Oh, that is too good. I would have paid money to see that." Placing a hand on Barbara's shoulder, Alex added, "You are my kinda girl."

"It really wasn't that big a deal," Barbara said, both slightly embarrassed and a bit flattered at the same time.

"Are you kidding? It was huge," Jackson said. "Why do you think I practically begged you to be my lab partner this semester?"

"And here I thought it was the way I looked in a lab coat."

Alex looked as if he were about to say something, but Barbara cut him off. "Sorry guys, but I see someone I've gotta say hi to, so I'll see you later."

-BR-BR-BR-BR-

"Master Dick."

"What's up, Alfred?" Dick replied into his comm link as he scanned the street below.

"Might I inquire as to why you are out on…business tonight?"

"Um, Bruce is busy at that party with what's-her-name."

"Indeed. Master Bruce has asked that I retrieve him from the festivities early so he can attend to other business."

"So, this is a friendly warning to be back before Bruce so he doesn't find out I'm out as Robin?"

"Not at all," Alfred replied politely, choosing to ignore Dick's slightly annoyed tone. "I simply thought to inform you that if you had some plans of a more personal or festive nature to attend to, you could–"

"Hold that thought," Robin interrupted as he shot a line across to the neighboring roof, swung down to the street and knocked the knife-wielding teenager flat on his face. Before the young woman who had just been spared from having her purse snatched could thank him, Robin had cuffed the criminal and was swinging away as quickly as he had arrived.

After a quick call to Gotham Police dispatch to report the criminal's location, Robin switched back to the Batcave frequency.

"Sorry, Alfred. What were you saying?"

"I was suggesting that since the Batman will be patrolling Gotham's streets later tonight, you will be free to participate in other activities more in keeping with the day."

"Like what?" Robin asked, although he was getting the feeling he knew where this conversation was headed.

"Oh, perhaps the New Year's Eve celebration at the university? I do believe you were invited."

"Great, so it's not enough for Bruce to run my life like I'm still twelve, but you're snooping through my stuff," Robin nearly shouted into the comm link as he leapt to the next rooftop over and broke out into a run.

"I do not snoop, Master Dick."

Robin gave himself the mental equivalent of a smack on the head when he heard the hurt tone in Alfred's voice. Just because he was angry at Bruce and frustrated about so much else in his life was no reason to take it out on Alfred.

"Sorry," Dick mumbled.

"Yes, well, back to other matters," Alfred replied in that tone Dick knew meant they would discuss the snooping comment later. "What is the required attire for this evening? Dressy casual or cocktail attire, perhaps? I suppose it would be pointless to hope it might be a formal affair."

-BR-BR-BR-BR-

"Cindy, hey!"

Cindy made a slow one-eighty before she spotted Barbara heading her way. "Glad you could make it," Cindy said when Barbara got close enough that they could talk without shouting. "I was afraid you'd be too busy with that fundraiser thing you're organizing."

"Nah," Barbara said, shaking her head. "With the holidays, it was nearly impossible to get in touch with corporate donors, the judges I've lined up, or anybody else. I figure I have a few months, so I can take some time off for a little fun."

"Good! All work and no play makes Babs a dull girl or something like that. And, speaking of chasing away the dulls, have you thought about my offer? Even though rush is over, I'm sure I could get you into Delta Phi Sigma. That's one of the perks of being a big sister."

"Sorry, but I don't have time. Between classes, this fundraiser, looking after Dad, and other stuff, I wouldn't be able to meet the commitments."

"C'mon. You ace most of your classes, unlike me. The fundraiser won't last forever, and your dad is the police commissioner, so I'm sure he can take care of himself. So, join!"

"I'm really sorry, but I can't. I really don't have the time." Absolutely no time, Barbara thought. Being Batgirl was taking up more and more of her free time, and she never knew just how long those extra-curricular activities would take. She'd nearly missed two mid-terms this semester, and she was running out of good excuses for her father when he asked where she'd been all night. Well, at least moving into the dorms had helped a bit with that last problem.

"Fine, I give, for now. But, don't think I'm not going to try again next semester."

"Um, look, there's something else I need to talk to you about?" Barbara asked, trying to steer the subject to what was really on her mind.

"Sure. What's up?" Cindy asked, leading Barbara through the crowd and toward the food.

"It's about Dick Grayson."

There was one other reason she had turned Cindy down. If things worked out with Dick, Barbara hoped she would be spending what little free time she did have with him. For that to happen, two other things had to happen first. Item number one on her to-do list might as well start now.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," Cindy answered as she grabbed some chips and dip.

"I sort of went out on a date with Dick Grayson."

"Sort of?"

"Well, I'm not really sure it was a date. That's the problem. And, if it was a date, are you okay with that?"

Dismissing Barbara's concerns with a wave of her hand, she said, "First, Dick and I were never really serious, so it's no big deal if you did date him or are dating or whatever. Besides, I've got my eye on Jackson Clark."

"If you can help with my date or no date problem, I can help with Jackson. He's my lab partner for chem."

"Deal. Let's head upstairs where we can talk instead of shout at each other. Oh, and skip the lemonade."

"Is it spiked?"

"Babs, it's a New Year's Eve party at a sorority house. Everything is spiked. But, I saw one of the guys poor cheap tequila in there. The really cheap stuff. At least they used decent wine in the fruit punch."

-BR-BR-BR-BR-

As usual, Alfred had worked his magic. By the time Dick got home, all he had to do was pop in the already running shower, rinse off, and throw on the outfit Alfred had picked out.

The black jeans and blue turtleneck were casual, yet classy. Dick had to admit they really were his colors, and he looked pretty good. He was glad Alfred had talked him into going to the party. Although, Dick couldn't remember most of what Alfred said except that Barbara was going to be there. How Alfred knew that, Dick had no idea.

The bad news was he was going to be so late to the party, Dick wasn't even sure he would be able to find Barbara before it ended. The good news was, he was going to be so late to the party, the welcome wagon was probably gone, so he wouldn't have to sing. His invitation had been very clear that he was expected to sing Your Woman by White Town. It was a small part of the reason he hadn't wanted to attend the party. When he told Alfred he couldn't go because he didn't know the song, Alfred had simply hit play on the stereo and suggested that Dick memorize one of the versus as he dressed.

It was a lame excuse. With the resources at home, not including the Bat Cave, Dick could have found the song himself. The real reasons he hadn't wanted to go were that he was angry, at a lot of things, and he felt more like holding on to that anger than having fun, and the other reason was Cindy. The party was being held at her sorority house, so she was sure to be there. It wasn't that the breakup had been bad, it was just that Dick tended to feel a bit awkward around his ex-girlfriends after things ended.

-BR-BR-BR-BR-

"Sounds like a date to me," Cindy said.

"But, what about the way he took off?"

"Doesn't matter," Cindy said. She paused to take a bite of a hot wing and a sip of spiked punch before continuing. "He asked you to dinner. He paid. And, he actually listened to what you had to say. THAT is a date."

"Okay, it was a date. But, what do I do now?" Barbara asked, taking a tiny sip of her own spiked lemonade and wishing she hadn't. True, she wasn't 21 yet, so it was illegal for her to drink alcohol, but that wasn't why she regretted it. It was because Cindy had been right, the combination of lemonade and cheep tequila was not a good one.

"Well, what do you want to do?"

"I don't know. I really like Dick," Barbara said. She took another sip of her nasty tequila lemonade, mostly just to give herself a few seconds to think. "I want to see if we could work, you know? I felt like we really clicked. But, I'm not a real good judge of character, at least not when it comes to guys I'm dating."

Cindy knew about Gil, not the Batgirl parts, but enough to know how badly Barbara had misjudged him. Cindy also knew Barbara hadn't dated anyone since then.

"Look, I think Dick's a pretty good guy. And, I'm saying that as his ex," Cindy said. "I know you've been gun-shy about dating, and I don't blame you. But, I think it's time to give it another go."

"I just don't know if I'm ready," Barbara said.

"I think you do or you wouldn't be asking," Cindy said. "But, enough of this seriousness. You've got time to think, and that's what you can do starting tomorrow. Right now, we have a party to get back to, and you have a lab partner to introduce me to."

With that, Cindy headed back to the party, and Barbara followed.

-BR-BR-BR-BR-

When Dick arrived at the sorority house about 45 minutes before midnight, he was eager to get inside and find Barbara and disappointed to find that there was still someone manning the welcome desk. At least there wasn't anybody else there, so nobody but the poor girl sitting at the desk heard him singing. He quickly checked the keys for his motorcycle and headed inside.

The first thing Dick did was look around for Barbara, but it was nearly impossible to spot her among the crowd of people. While he looked for her distinctive red hair, Dick still wasn't sure what he wanted to say to Barbara. He liked her. He wanted to go out with her, not just a date, but dating. He knew that much. Beyond that, he wasn't sure. She was different from the other girls he had dated: intelligent, confident, beautiful, athletic, caring, and funny. Oh, he could think of a few ex-girlfriends who fit several of those categories, but none that covered them all. Add to that Barbara's interest in law enforcement and how easy she was to get along with, and Dick admitted he was more than just interested.

The question was what to do about it. The obvious answer was ask Barbara out. The problems started after that. First, would she even agree to go out with him. Dick wasn't stupid. She enjoyed his company, but Dick also knew that wasn't the only factor when it came to asking out girls. As good as he was at reading people when it came to fighting crime, figuring out what girls were thinking was something different, something even Bruce wasn't always that good at. The second problem came with who Barbara was—the police commissioner's daughter, the daughter of one of Batman's best friends. If things didn't go well, he might alienate Barbara, Bruce, and Commissioner Gordon.

On the other hand, despite the fact that his one sort-of date with Barbara had already caused a rift with Bruce, Alfred seemed to be subtly encouraging Dick to start something with Barbara.

Why did things have to be so complicated?

-BR-BR-BR-BR-

"Wait, wait." Jackson held up the hand that wasn't holding a cup of spiked lemonade. "The police commissioner is your dad? When did that happen?"

"I'm pretty sure that happened when she was born," Alex said, rolling his eyes.

"I meant, when did her dad become commissioner? How dumb do you think I am?"

Barbara and Cindy both laughed, and if it was a little louder and longer than the situation warranted, Barbara chocked it up to the fact that she was just the tiniest bit tipsy.

"My dad's been the commissioner for years," Barbara said.

"Years? How did I not know this?" Jackson said.

"Because the only thing you ever ask me about is chem?"

"Uh, yeah, maybe sorta…" Jackson admitted.

"We have a bigger problem," Alex said. "Do we need to worry about your dad coming to shut us down?"

Barbara laughed, shaking her head. "Worry more about the university police showing up. Unless there's an emergency, my dad probably fell asleep in his chair while trying to stay up for the ball drop."

"Yeah, Barbara's dad is a good guy. That's how we met," Cindy said, gesturing between her and Barbara, though she didn't elaborate.

Barbara wasn't surprised that Cindy kept that particular bit of information vague. It had been pretty traumatic for her. So, Barbara decided it was time to change the subject and start living up to her role as Cindy's wingman. "You think my dad's job is interesting, you should hear about Cindy's mom. She does set designs for a bunch of the big theaters."

"Yeah. I get tickets to opening night for all the new productions, plus the theaters give my mom tickets for other shows sometimes," Cindy said, clearly speaking directly to Jackson. "In fact, there's a comedy show coming up in a few weeks. If you've got the time, why don't you come with me?"

"Sounds like fun," Jackson said, moving in a little closer to Cindy.

Barbara took a sip of her drink as she watched Cindy work her magic. Cindy was always amazed at how Barbara breezed through most of her classes, but Barbara was a bit jealous of how easily Cindy could flirt, and flirt subtlety or blatantly, but almost always successfully.

"So, should we leave those two to themselves or stay and watch…which sounds much creepier than I intended now that I'm saying it out loud."

Barbara laughed, turning her attention to Alex.

"So, how about I try something less creepy and offer to get you a new drink," Alex said. "And, I just realized that by saying it's not creepy, that makes it sound creepy."

"I'm good for now," Barbara said, holding up her cup. "Although, you might want a new drink. The fruit punch tastes much better than that tequila lemonade."

"You might be right. Join me at the buffet table to make sure I don't make another mistake," Alex said, holding up his cup.

-BR-BR-BR-BR-

"Hey, Dick, over here!"

Turning to the direction the shouting had come from, Dick was happy to see the first familiar faces of the night. They exchanged some small talk about how the holidays were going and final grades, and Dick had to admit he was glad Alfred had encouraged him to go to the party. Strangely enough, while he missed being Robin when he was at college, he had missed the normalcy of college since he had been back under the mask. Eventually, Dick had asked after Barbara, but no one in that group had seen her, so Dick excused himself to find her.

After a few moments of fruitless searching, Dick heard someone else calling his name. He turned around to see his roommate, Ty, and some of Ty's friends from the football team.

"Didn't think you were going to make it," Ty said as Dick got within talking range. "Didn't you have some plans or something?"

"That didn't really work out," Dick said.

"Hey, whatever. Just glad you're here now. Though you better hurry up," Ty said, slurring his words just slightly as he pulled a dark-haired girl Dick didn't recognize closer to him. "It'll be midnight soon, and what's a New Year's Eve party without a kiss from a hot-looking girl at midnight?"

Dick shook his head. That was Ty. The most important things in his life were football, girls, drinking, and studying sports medicine, in that order.

"Actually, I'm looking for Barbara Gordon. Have you seen her around?"

Ty shook his head, and one of Ty's friends said, "Don't think I know her. What's she look like?"

"Red hair down to about here. This tall," Dick said, holding up his hand to indicate her height. His description was met with head shaking and shrugged shoulders.

"Head on over to the food. Everybody ends up there eventually. And, be sure to get some of the lemonade. It's got a real kick."

Dick decided that was good advice, since he could at least grab a quick snack and mingle a bit more while he looked for Barbara. He promised Ty he would try to find him again before he left, then headed off in the direction one of the guys pointed.

-BR-BR-BR-BR-

"The pot stickers are delicious."

"Yeah, they are pretty good."

"I'm surprised the food is so good. Somehow I expected the food to match the drinks," Barbara said. "Non-poisonous, but otherwise average at best."

Alex started to laugh and ended up choking on a pot sticker instead. When he finally recovered, he said, "Jackson told me one of their new member's family runs a catering business."

"Lucky us."

"So, how else can we get lucky tonight?" Alex groaned. "I did not just say that, did I? Please tell me I did not just say something that lame."

"Well, I could tell you that, but it wouldn't be true."

"Can we just keep this between us?"

"Your secret is safe with me," Barbara promised, crossing her heart. "So, should we take some stuff back to Cindy and Jackson, or do you think we should stay away for awhile longer?"

"I don't–"

"Hey, Babs."

Barbara turned around and was surprised to find Dick Grayson standing there.

"I didn't know you were coming."

"Last-minute change of plans."

"That's great."

"Yeah."

There was an uncomfortable pause, and before Dick or Barbara could do anything about it, Alex spoke up.

"Hey, I'm Alex. And, you are?"

"Oh, sorry," Dick said, bumping into someone as he took a small step back. "I didn't realize you were with someone."

"Huh?" It took Barbara a moment to process that comment. Maybe it was the alcohol, but once she caught on, she shook her head. "No, we're not here together. I mean, we're here together, but not together. We just decided to give Cindy and Jackson a little privacy." The ridiculousness of that statement hit Barbara when she realized there was very little in the way of privacy anywhere with all the people at the party.

"Oh, okay."

"Wait." Turning a bit so she was facing Alex instead of Dick, Barbara said, "Um, it was nice to meet you. Maybe I'll catch you later."

Alex shrugged, said, "Yeah, sure," and then just sort of stood there.

She didn't want to be rude, but Barbara had some important things to say while she had enough courage left to do it. So, turning back to Dick, she said, "Come on."

Barbara headed upstairs, remembering from earlier that it was slightly more conducive to conversations than it was downstairs. She was pretty sure Dick was following her, but she didn't turn around to check until she found a relatively private spot to talk. She opened her mouth a couple of times to speak, but wasn't sure what to say. She wished that she had refilled her wine punch. Maybe a little liquid courage would have helped. Why she needed that to talk to Dick and not to jump between rooftops in the middle of the night she wasn't sure and decided now was not the time to contemplate that.

"So, you wanted to talk to me," Dick said.

"Yeah, um." Barbara paused, took a moment to gather her courage and said, "We have fun, right? I mean we had fun on our date and before that. Right?"

When Barbara waited, Dick realized it wasn't a rhetorical question. "Yeah, we did. I did."

"Okay, so we had fun, and then you drop off the face of the planet practically. You did that last time, too. We had a nice time and then nothing."

It wasn't a question, but Dick felt like he should answer. "I've been dealing with some stuff, most of which has nothing to do with you."

"Most. So, not all. Did I do something?" Barbara had a moment where she realized this conversation sounded like one they might have if they had a relationship, not just if she was trying to ask him out on a real, official date.

"No, nothing. I just…I've been dealing, like I said. I actually came here tonight because I knew you would be here."

"Really?"

"Yeah. We've known each other for awhile. We have fun together. We have a lot in common." Barbara nodded to encourage him to continue. "So, I've been thinking, maybe we could hang out more often."

"That sounds good."

Suddenly, the music cut out and a voice announced. "It's almost midnight. Grab somebody special or whoever is close by and willing. No judgements now. And, ring in the new year with a kiss. Ten…nine…eight…seven…six…"

"Are you willing?" Barbara asked.

"Definitely willing," Dick said, leaning in closer to Barbara.

"Three…two…one!"

Dick leaned in and kissed Barbara. It wasn't a kiss to end all kisses. It wasn't the most romantic or passionate kiss either of them had ever had. But, it was nice, it was fun, and it held just a little promise for the future.

"Happy New Year," Dick said when he pulled away.

"Happy New Year," Barbara echoed.

-BR-BR-BR-BR-

to be continued