capeandcowllogs | need a change from this burnout scene

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need a change from this burnout scene

WHO: Dick and Charlie
WHERE: Oracle’s place
WHEN: Yesterday
SUMMARY: Dick made a promise to look after Barbara’s girls in her absence. Too bad he forgot to let Charlie in on the secret.
WARNINGS: possibly batangst
FORMAT: words

[ It’s not like he doesn’t know, deep down, that Charlie’s fine. Without Cass to be the bodyguard, without Steph to be the mom, without Babs here to be Babs. She’s fine. And more than old enough to last a week by herself in an apartment guarded by the most heavily automated security system in the world. With Oracle’s computers at her beck and call and probably a year’s supply of food and toilet paper.

Yet somehow he needs to know. Needs to be sure. Before one week towards into two, before two weeks turns into six months. If not for Charlie, then for Babs.

So before breakfast he’s scaling the outside of the building with an extra coffee in hand and a bag full of muffins. He’ll head for... well, the least obtrusive window he can find. If she’s asleep he’ll leave her a note and the breakfast and hope for the best. ]

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[Charlie was dealing. She is pretty sure she's dealing, at least, if 'dealing' consisted of mostly ignoring the ball of sadness in the pit of her stomach and trying to pretend something wasn't wrong.]

[That counted, right?]

[So she is just going about her life. She'd straightened up Cass's room for if when she came back and closed the door and left it, much the same way she had for Steph's room when the other Batgirl had disappeared months earlier. She would've done the same for Barbara's room if it hadn't slowly turned into overflow storage for three teenage girls in the months since her departure.]

[At the moment though, she's 'supposed' to be getting ready for school, but she's curled up in her pajamas on the couch with a bowl of lucky charms, the only light coming from two open windows letting in the morning sun, and the glow of some morning cartoons that weren't great, but they were distracting.]

[ Breaking in used to be a game, back a whole lifetime ago. One of those fun, engaging little tug-of-wars he'd thought he'd have forever, way back even before this place changed everything. For once he doesn't actually think he's tripped anything by the time he cracks the kitchen window and makes the hop down to the floor. The cartoons in the other room are probably the first indicator that he's miscalculated a little. ]

...Hey, Charlie? [ Wow could this be more awkward. ]

[After a couple seconds a mass of red hair pokes through the door into the kitchen, cereal spoon in her moth.]

Mmchk? [She lets the spoon drop into her bowl as she steps into the room, raising an eyebrow.] Dick? What's up? Is something wrong?

[ He sets the coffee and the bag down on the nearest clean section of counter and tries to look as unassuming as possible. What, breaking in unannounced at 7am with food is totally a thing, right Charlie. ]

...Hey. Just thought I'd... [ what ]

Just wanted to make sure you were holding up okay. I mean, I know it's been a few days...

[Charlie knew she'd been lumped into the bat family for too long when someone coming in through a window at seven am with what smelled like muffins wasn't all that weird. After a couple seconds of staring at him she shrugged and moved to set her bowl down on the sink. There were a bunch of dishes in it already, but she'd put them in the dishwasher eventually. Probably.]

Uh. Thanks? I'm okay.

[She hoped it sounded better out loud than in her head.]

You sure? [ He'd sort of been planning on running through those before he left, but since she seems to be making the motions herself it's probably better not to presume. He takes a seat up on the counter and offers a halfway helpless shrug. ]

I'm not here to impose. Just making the rounds. [ nevermind that this is probably the first time they've taken him all the way to Batgirl house since Christmas. ]

[Charlie makes a bit of a show of doing the dishes, in that she does them and rinses them off and then sticks them all in a probably overfull dishwasher. Dishwashers were still sort of a novelty for her. They hadn't been able to afford one growing up, so she'd forget to actually use it a lot.]

Uh huh. [She gave him her best 'I don't believe you' amused expression.] You never come by here.

[ now that gets a bit of eyebrow. ] I didn't know I was invited.

[ just for that he decides to relieve her of one the muffins, unpeeling the wrapper and taking a bite in silence while he watches her load the dishwasher. ]

...Okay, fine. Full disclosure time. The truth is I know Babs, Charlie. I know she built this place to respond a hundred precent to one person, and one person only. I know she had fail-safes in place to help you and the girls get by if the worst happened, but she never would have wanted it to be a permanent arrangement. And I wouldn't be doing my job as her friend or your friend if I just walked out that door now and forgot about you.

[Charlie frowns.] Of course you're invited? Unless Cass like, uninvited you or something which seems pretty crazy for her. [A little shrug and she focuses on the dishes again.]

[When he mentions Babs, and the other girls, she tenses up, pausing halfway through coming back up from stuffing a plate in a rapidly overfilled dishwasher. So he was...keeping an eye on her? Like a babysitter? She almost snapped that but caught herself because she knew it wasn't true, and she was on edge lately. For obvious reasons.]

Even if Babs didn't want it to be this way...[She turns, waving a hand at the empty apartment.] It kinda is. Everyone else is gone, Dick.

Yeah, they are. Which is why she would have wanted us to look at this for what it is now, not how we wish it still was. [ sigh. he runs a down across his face and then breathes out. ]

I don't know that this is the safest place for anybody when she's not here to run the system, Charlie.

[Charlie hesitates again, turning to face him completely, holding a pair of cups in her hands.]

...Why wouldn't it be safe? I've never had a problem before.

Because if I'm not a hundred percent sure how to hold this place together when she's not here then I know you can't be. You know she's smarter than all the rest of us put together. [ And there's a pause. ]

...And that's why I don't think you staying here by yourself is necessarily the best idea.

[Charlie would have argued the smart thing, except she kinda agreed with it. The rest of what he said made her huff, putting her hands on her hips.]

I can handle this place fine! I've been running Babs' computers for months! And where else would I even live?

I'm not saying you need to move... [ but wow what is he saying. ]

I'm just asking you to think about it. We don't know when they're coming back, so... just for the meantime. You're family too. We're not gonna leave you here stranded.

[She frowns for a moment, trying to stay angry, and then sighs.]

I'm not leaving. I've lived here for two years. And Cass might still come back, she was gone for almost a month last time!

[The family comment might make her smile though. A little. It's a nice thing to hear. But still...]

You don't have to worry about me.

She might be back. And she might not be. [ sigh. Where is Babs when he needs her? ]

You're telling me this is really what you want?

[Charlie just glares at him for a second at that, frowning. Cass could come back, damn it! And then she sighs.]

Yes! Duh. I said it was. Why would I want to leave?

[ He just. Kind of stares at her there, for a few long seconds. ]

Cause it's a big empty tomb without Babs here? I don't know, Charlie, why don't you tell me.

It's my home. It's been the only home I've stayed at for more than a few months since my mom died.

It doesn't...it doesn't matter if everybody's gone.

[ Of course it matters is what he wants to say. What he would have said six months ago, without a second thought.

But it's Charlie that's living here. And maybe he's the one who's been projecting, all this time. Maybe he's still the only one who can't walk into this apartment; can't wash the dishes, touch the computer, can't take a breath of the filtered air without feeling the weight of that absence.

He shakes his head once, then reaches into his pocket for a notepad. Writing at least gives him an excuse to look away. ]

I know you didn't lose my number, but I'm leaving it anyway. If I can't do anything to change your mind, I want you to promise you'll call if anything happens.

[It mattered to her too, but pretending everything was fine was possibly one of her superpowers. She was silent as he scribbled down his number, though she did know it. She had a list of specific numbers memorized, just in case.]

I will. [She took the paper when it was offered, folding it between her fingers and her palm. She almost looked...embarrassed.]

Thanks Dick, really. But...I'll be okay. I mean, Babs set up all the bills and stuff to just pay themselves. As long as I'm careful the apartment'll be fine!

[She doesn't think he's only worried about the oracle computer, of course, but she assumes that's at least one concern of his.]

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need a change from this burnout scene

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