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It started off innocently enough.
Semi-innocently.
Partially innocently.
Okay, not that innocently.
“So, All-Seeing Oracle, you know everything,” Dinah said, adjusting her annoyingly high-tech binoculars. The Blauvanian smugglers she was scoping out were still either drinking or playing cards or both. Even working with a sentient supercomputer couldn’t get her out of the most boring part of being a vigilante: stakeouts.
“Dinah, I am not going to give you the winning Gotham Powerball number,” Oracle said.
“Guess I’ll have to find some other rich benefactor then. Do you know if Bruce Wayne is single?”
“Har, har. You don’t need a supercomputer to keep up with the checkout aisle tabloids.”
“He definitely is the most eligible bachelor in Gotham.” Dinah leaned back against the slanted roof. One of the Blauvanian smugglers down below had won his poker hand, and he wasted no time in gloating. “Who’s on Monitor Duty right now?”
“Hawkman.”
“What’s the President up to?”
Dinah could hear the faint sound of the keyboard clacking.
“Meeting with the UN Goodwill Ambassador. Dinah, I don't like where this is going…"
"Ooh! Who is the hottest person in the League?"
"Why do I get the feeling you made friends in school by marching up to them and asking them who their crush was?"
"Guilty," Dinah said, sounding anything but. "Quit dodging the question."
Oracle sighed. “You.”
Dinah shot up. “Me? What about Aquaman? Superman? Wonder Woman? If all of Themyscira looks like that then sign me up. John?”
“Which John? Stewart? J’onn?”
“Either!”
“You are the most attractive person in the Justice League.” Dinah could hear a faint trace of embarrassment in the synthetic voice. Could robots blush? “Everyone knows this, including you. Do you want me to stroke your ego some more or can we get back to business?”
The smugglers below had come to life, stashing their card games and booze as their meta-powered leader’s jeep raced into view.
“Oh believe me, honey,” Dinah said, scaling down the crumbling Cold War architecture. “This is not the last you’ll hear about this.”
“I can’t believe you sent me to the Cayman Islands and I don’t even get to wear a bikini,” Dinah said.
“You’ll be going in the front door for this one, Canary. The Cayman Islands is notorious for its offshore bank accounts. Island of the Sun Banking is even more notorious for being associated with various criminal organizations. However, the bank is almost back in the Stone Age. It’s all on-prem, and their setup is so patchy I can’t get anything useful from my end. That’s where you come in. Your cover is Dorean Gardiner, Internet and telecom technician for Dial Communications.”
“Technician, huh? Is this a thing for you, Oracle? Because cargo is not my color,” Dinah said, holding the offending pants in question in front of her, disgusted.
“No, Dinah. This is the way in with the lowest chance of you ending up in Her Majesty’s Prison.”
When Dinah entered the lobby of the bank's head office, briefcase in hand, the receptionist looked relieved to see her. “Thank God you finally showed up. Our telephones have been down for the past hour.”
“Saving the day is what I do,” Dinah said. “Lead on.”
“That would be me,” Oracle said, sounding smug. “I hacked into the power company.”’
“Obviously it was you,” Dinah said under her breath. “Would you like me to stroke your ego some more, because I can keep going. I’ve got good stamina.”
“Dinah,” Oracle said warningly.
“Garret, the Dial tech just arrived,” the receptionist said, handing Dinah off to the head of IT.
“Ah yes, finally. Garret Gordon,” the man said. He was British, on the wrong side of middle age with a clear habit of running his fingers through his hair, causing it to stick up. “You’re not our usual.”
“Dorean Gardiner, I’m new,” Dinah said, shaking his hand.
“Any idea what could’ve caused this?”
“Could be 21600 Syndrome. System overload. I’m going to need to see your router to know for sure,” Dinah said, parroting the words Oracle fed into her mic.
“We just got the latest lease line modem from you guys. G4800.”
“Yeah, it’s not my favorite,” Dinah said. “The boys have been complaining about it since I started.”
He led her into a glorified broom closet. It was dusty, cold, and smelled like mothballs.
“How many servers do you see, Dinah?”
“You just have the one server?” Dinah asked Garret.
“Yeah, and even that was a tough sell. The router’s right here.”
“Ah, yes. Definitely looks off,” Dinah said, pretending to inspect it. To her, it just looked like a box. She'd never understand how Oracle and her fellow geeks would want to spend their days holed up tinkering with these rocks when there were beautiful things like summer breezes and the sun and hot guys in speedos to enjoy in the world.
“Tell him you’re going to reset it.”
“I’m going to reset it,” Dinah announced.
“Unplug the cable and give it a minute. Now you need to insert the floppy disk that’s in your briefcase into the server. Discreetly.”
“So Garret, do you know where I could find some good nightlife around here? I just moved.”
The man looked taken aback. “Well, um, I’m a little old for that, but I’ve heard from the boys in Accounting that Dex’s is pretty popular on the weekend.”
Dinah leaned against the server, the hand behind her back searching for an access port.
“Ooh, where’s that?”
“You can take the party girl out of the fishnets, but you can’t make her—” Oracle teased.
“Well, it’s just five blocks down, near the beach.”
She found the port and inserted the floppy. “Do they have any good piña coladas? I couldn’t find too many good ones in Missouri.”
“They’re alright, but they usually put in too much cream. I mean, uh, that’s what I’ve heard.”
“Plug the router back in. I’ve turned the Internet back on.”
Dinah plugged it in. The modem made a series of loud dial-up beeps. Dinah covered her ears.
“You alright there?” Garret asked.
“Yeah, I’m still not used to that tone. Between you and me, I kinda hate it.”
“Sounds like Dorean is not long for this job.”
“Right. Well, guess you just get used to it,” Garret said as he checked the computer attached to the server. Dinah used the distraction to hit the eject button and palm the floppy disk. “We’re back online. Thanks again, Ms. Gardiner.”
“Anytime. Maybe I’ll see you around at Dex’s,” Dinah said, giving him a wink before walking away.
“You are dedicated to breaking hearts on every continent, Dinah.”
“I’d break yours too if you just asked nicely, Oracle.”
“The data’s coming up on my side,” Oracle said, blatantly ignoring her. “It’s not much, and what’s there is a mess. It’s like they used one single Excel column as an entire database. I’ll have to make my own parser to even comprehend any of this. But we’ll have root access as they build up their infrastructure, and they’ll never know.”
“So basically, you just got yourself a key to the supervillain's financial kingdom without me throwing a single punch?”
“Exactly.”
“Damn. You might just put us brute force vigilantes out of business, Oracle.”
“That’s the goal, Canary. That’s the goal.”
“Would you believe I hated ropes in gym class?” Dinah said conversationally as she repelled down into the room. Vaulted ceilings were an international vigilante's best friend. It was a good thing shady expat art dealers loved them too. "I'm surprised you didn't pull Catwoman's name out of your Rolodex for this one, O."
“Canary, stop!”
She froze, feeling the rope taught against her body as she hung in midair twenty feet up.
“I hacked into the cameras to loop them and I'm noticing a discrepancy between the blueprints and the network. There are motion sensors.”
Dinah adjusted her night-vision goggles. “I’m not seeing anything.”
“Not every sensor has lasers, Dinah. These are more sophisticated than I expected. And I can’t turn them off without tripping the backup alarm. Looks like Templeton knows how valuable this tablet is, but not how dangerous. Lucky for us, there are blind spots. Do exactly what I tell you when I tell you.”
“I’m ready, O.”
“You’ll need to climb down five more feet.”
Dinah climbed down, trying to muffle the sound of her boots hitting the concrete wall, tensed for an alarm to start blaring.
“Okay, turn around to face the room.”
It was awkward, but Dinah was able to twist herself around. “Done.”
“Start swinging in small arcs. Don’t let down any more rope.”
Dinah kicked off from the wall, fighting against the weighted rope. After a couple of swings she started gaining momentum. This would require precise timing and calculations to get right. Calculations she'd usually make herself, but this time she forced her mind to go blank.
“Keep swinging, and angle yourself thirty degrees towards the tablet. Take a breath.”
Dinah breathed, and closed her eyes briefly.
“Swing downwards in three, two, now!”
Dinah put as much force as she could into the swing, dive-bombing the private gallery.
“Grab it!”
Dinah reached out and grabbed the artifact as she began the upward swing of her pendulum.
Tucking the tablet under her arm, Dinah pulled herself up by one hand. She gently laid the tablet on the rooftop and collapsed down next to it.
“I’m out, Oracle.”
“You’re clear.”
They both sighed in relief.
“Nice work, Canary. We’ll be able to return this artifact to Doctor Fate and avoid an international incident in the process.”
Was it just the adrenaline or did Oracle’s voice sound an octave lower? Because it was hot. Dinah felt a blush crawl up her cheeks. “No sweat, O.”
The way they had worked together, nearly moving as one.
The way Oracle’s hard-earned praise flooded her veins with warmth.
Shit.
She was attracted to Oracle.
More than attracted, she realized with mounting horror.
Dinah Lance had a downright crush on her mysterious boss.
In her vast experience, crushes always came with two options: ignore and get over it, or give it a shot.
And, well.
Seducing the voice in your head could charitably be described as challenging, but hey, Dinah’s always been a go-getter.
“Lunch break’s over, boys,” Dinah said as she and Nightwing dropped from the air vent and landed on the table, sending trays and cans flying.
The Makorvian mooks stood up from the table in shock. Nightwing threw a batarang at the rifles carelessly pilled near the door on the far side of the room, and it exploded. Dinah used the distraction to punch one thug and then handspring off another to the closer door. “Hey O, there’s a keypad on the door.”
“Shit. I didn’t see this on the network. Give me a minute,” Oracle said. It was always strange to hear that slightly robotic voice swear.
“Take your time O,” Nightwing called out cheerfully, disarming the one Markovian smart enough to keep his pistol on break.
Perfect.
Dinah muted her necklace communicator. She eyed Nightwing, and then ducked a punch, using the grunt's outstretched arm to slam him into the wall.
People trusted Nightwing. A lot of people in the superhero community had watched him grow up in pixie shorts to become a well-respected leader and friend. And she knew that Oracle worked closely with the Bat Boys. So, if there’d be anyone who knew Oracle’s identity, it’d be him.
Dinah kneed another thug in the stomach and threw him into the taller goon Nightwing was fighting. Nightwing raised an eyebrow, but Dinah pointed to her necklace and made a horizontal cutting motion with her hand. He shook his head in confusion and then ducked one particular mook’s go-getter attack.
Dinah made the same motions again, with greater emphasis. “Mute,” she mouthed.
“Okay, muted,” Nightwing said, springboarding onto the mook and taking him down. “What’s up? Throwing a surprise party?”
Dinah delivered a roundhouse kick. "What do you know about O?"
“I mean, what do you know about Oracle? You work for her more.”
“Masterful deflection, Hunk Wonder. From what I gather, Oracle is a woman, Gothamite, likely around our age,” Dinah paused to smash in a nose with her elbow and followed it up with a knockout punch Wildcat would’ve cheered over. “She’s either a former spandex wearer or physically incapable of it. Bit of a shut-in.”
“How do you know Oracle’s a woman? Voice could be faked. Could be a robot. Or an alien,” Nightwing said, running up the wall.
“Well, she sure takes a lot of baths for a robot.”
Nightwing pushed off the wall and executed what could only be considered a textbook-perfect backflip.
Dinah grabbed a beer bottle and crashed it over a lanky Markovian. “Do you know if she’s seeing anyone?”
Nightwings perfect arc wobbled, and he collapsed onto the ground, rolling to break the momentum. "Wha—what?"
“Oracle? That voice in your ear?” Dinah said. She had never seen Nightwing stumble before. She didn’t think it was even possible.
“You can’t be serious.”
Dinah launched off a table and hit two of the remaining three flunkies with a split kick. “Oh, that’s rich coming from the man who has dated his fair share of superheroes.”
“None of them were my boss,” Nightwing said, punching the lights out of the last man standing.
“It’s not my fault you aren’t ambitious.”
“Canary,” Nightwing said, rubbing his forehead. “I can confirm that there’s, uh, a real soul behind that voice. With feelings. This isn’t someone you should mess around with for fun.”
“Holy shit, you have a thing for Oracle too! Do we need to cyber-joust for her hand? Can she whip us up some Tron lightsabers?”
“I’m serious, Canary,” Nightwing said, turning to face her. “You’re not the only one who's had a rough couple of years. The two of you in action,” Nightwing shook his head. “I’ve never seen anything like it before. Don’t throw that away for a cheap thrill.”
“Life’s risk,” Dinah said, crossing her arms as she met Nightwing’s gaze. He must have learned that disapproving scowl from Batman.
The whirring sound of the large metal door opening broke their staring match. More goons came pouring out.
“–Dinah, why’d you go radio silent?” Oracle’s voice came to staticky life in her ear. “The whole place is on alert now–”
“Oh thank god, machine guns,” Dinah said.
“Believe it or not, this is my first rodeo!” Dinah shouted over the screams of fleeing spectators. The bull underneath her bucked and careened, and it was taking most of her strength to stay on.
“Make sure to keep ASTERIUS away from the civilians, Canary,” Oracle said.
“I’m trying, O!” Dinah said, pulling on the Promethium-alloyed beast with the banner it had crashed into. “How fast can you shut this down?”
“I’m through most layers of LuthorCorp security, but the remote access to control ASTERIUS is a variation of a GOST encryption that’s taking longer to break than I expected. Hold on for just a little longer!”
“That’s easy for you to say!”
“I knew there was something shady about LuthorCorp sponsoring the annual Keystone Rodeo.”
“Yeah, I’ll be sure to tell Lois Lane!” Dinah shouted. She held on tight as ASTERIUS bulldozed through a hot dog cart. “This is taking mechanical bulls a little too far.”
“Got it!”
The bull came to a sudden stop, nearly throwing her off. Dinah gratefully slipped off the bull, legs aching. She dusted off her cowboy hat and put it back on. Remembering the stands had CCTV, Dinah tipped her hat and winked at one of the cameras. “I think I definitely placed with that one. Can you make me a medal, O?”
“Cowboy chic is a good look for you, Dinah. And I'll get on that just as soon as I call in a JLA favor so we can transport ASTER—oh no. Dinah. Run!”
Dinah sprinted and hit the deck as the bull exploded.
“Dinah! Are you alright? Did anyone get hurt?”
“I”m fine, O. It hit the stands but this place was already cleared out.” Dinah kicked a piece of the shrapnel that had landed near her. “It’s completely obliterated.”
“And now we can’t learn anything from it. Great.”
“People are safe because of us, Oracle,” Dinah said. “And that's what matters. Sometimes, you have to appreciate just winning the battle.”
“The two of us could win the war, Dinah. Better leave before the police show up. You have another flight to catch.”
Dinah dived behind a stack of crates. The Children of the Corn freaks walked past her.
Phew. That was close.
“I can’t believe there’s an alien-worshiping cult in Nebraska,” Dinah whispered into her necklace. “Nebraska!”
“I can’t make evil always be tropical beaches, Canary,” Oracle snapped.
“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the keyboard this morning,” Dinah said, crouching as she made her way to the main tent.
Dinah could hear Oracle sigh. “I just got my invitation to my dad's annual charity Christmas party.”
“And you hate Christmas? Do I work for the Grinch?”
“I don't like parties ever since… a couple of years ago. And this one’s big. I'm this close to asking my ex to go with me or to make a scene to get out of it."
“Well, if you need some arm candy to make your ex jealous instead or to cause a scene, you always know where to find me.”
“Dinah.”
“I dated Oliver Queen. I know how to ruin a holiday party. Just let me know if I should talk politics or vigilantes.”
“I wasn’t looking to be made fun of, Canary,” If synthetic voices could be cold, this one was trying to stake her with an icicle. “Oracle out.”
That’s when Dinah heard the hum of ray guns behind her.
Dinah put her hands up, grinning. “Do you take walk-ins?”
The two goons hesitated long enough for her to knock them out.
“Canary, are you there?”
Dinah was back in Gotham, slumped in front of a glass of wine at her kitchen table. She was so tired from dodging weird alien rays and dismantling a cult and seeing far too much corn only four hours beforehand she hadn't even bothered to change out of her uniform. She sat up. “I’m here, O.”
“I’m sorry for hanging up on you.”
“No, I knew you were in a bad mood. I shouldn’t have pushed you," Dinah said, toying with the wine charm on the stem of her glass. It'd been a gift from Ollie. Before Oracle, when she was flat broke with only two past due notices to rub together, she had sold it to a pawn shop and then immediately bought it back the next day.
“It’s just, I don’t think I’d be what you expect.”
Dinah shook her head. Did everyone think she was that shallow? “Look, I don’t even know what you look like, and I might not ever, but I know who you are. The smartest person I’ve ever met. Caring. Determined. My lifeline. That’s more than enough for me.”
“Dinah…”
“I mean it, O. Those comments I make? They aren’t jokes.”
The line was silent for a terrifying couple of seconds.
“Should I be offended? Your taste in men ranges from punchable to having tried to kill you.”
Dinah laughed, her chest tight. God, Oracle would've hated Ollie. It made her wish he was still alive just so Oracle could make fun of his ridiculous goatee instead of respectfully dancing around him. “I have much better taste in women, I’ll have you know. My college girlfriend worked on the latest NASA rocket launch.”
“Wow, you do have a type.”
“I get this is the way things have to be. I just wanted you to know.”
“Dinah.”
“Yeah?” Dinah could feel her heart pounding.
“My eyes are green.”
The line went dead.
Dinah smiled and raised the glass of wine to her lips.
“I still can’t understand how you can work with that cold-hearted bitch,” Power Girl said over the roar of the wind. For someone who could fly on whim, she sure had a stick lodged permanently up her ass.
“Y’mind if I ask you a personal question, PG?” Dinah asked, flying closer to her.
“We just saved New York City from being nuclear rubble three times over. Shoot.”
“Did you and O use to have a thing?”
“Seriously?” Power Girl shouted, and Dinah dropped a stomach-turning distance until Power Girl remembered her Atlantean magic was the only thing keeping Dinah hundreds of feet in the air. “No, we did not have a thing. She put me in a terrible position. Forced me to do something I still have nightmares about. Be careful with that one, Canary. Whether she believes it or not, she doesn’t know everything.”
Power Girl put Dianh down safely in the middle of Times Square and cocked her head. “I have to go. There’s a typhoon on the other side of the world and they need help with the search and rescue.”
“How am I supposed to make it to LaGuardia in an hour at the height of rush hour traffic?” Dinah shouted, throwing her arms out. Tourists and New Yorkers alike ignored her. “Actually, screw this. Oracle can pay my rebooking fees. I'm seeing Cats!"
Dinah was going 100 miles an hour, weaving between the Bludhaven-Gotham traffic. It still might not be enough.
“Dinah?” Her communicator crackled to life.
“Yeah?”
“I’m in a bad way here, Dinah. I cut this one too close.”
Dinah’s mouth went dry. “Give me your location.”
Oracle gave her the coordinates, and Dinah picked up even more speed. “Hang in there, O,” she said, mostly to herself.
She reached the Gotham wharf and flung herself from the car, running towards the edge of the dock. The first thing she ever saw of Oracle, of the woman who changed Dinah’s life, was a gloved hand, reaching out of the water.
Dinah knelt down, reached out her hand, and pulled the woman up. “Looks like I got here right on time, huh?”
“Oh god,” the woman said between gasps.
“You are Oracle, right?” Dinah said as she lifted her fully out of the water.
“Not Oracle…”
They collapsed onto the dock, bodies pressed together. The woman in her arms started coughing up water. If Dinah had been even a minute late...
Dinah’s eyes met her green ones. She looked younger than Dinah, which surprised her. But, despite what she had said, there was no doubt that this was Oracle. There was a calculating sharpness to her gaze, even with the adrenaline that must’ve been coursing through her.
“Barbara,” the woman murmured. Her voice was deeper than the voice synthesizer, with a noticeable Gotham accent. Dinah liked it. She pushed Or—Barbara’s hair out of her face. “Call me Barbara.”
Dinah closed her eyes. They’d done it. Oracle was real. And she had just saved her. They breathed together, Dinah’s body heat warming Barbara from the arctic chill of the Gotham harbor.
Then she remembered they weren't out of the woods just yet. “Can you walk?” Dinah asked, helping her up.
“Um…no.”
“Oh, you’re shot.” Dinah looked down at Barbara’s hastily bandaged leg. How had she not checked her over for injuries already? God, some rescuer she was.
“It’s okay,” Barbara said. She was probably still in shock. Dinah dragged them over to the nearest warehouse. Dinah removed one of her arms around Barbara to pick the lock. Barabara held onto her, able to help support herself. She was a lot stronger than Dinah had expected a computer geek to be. The lock clicked and Dinah pushed the warehouse door open enough for them to squeeze through.
“Not too bad. We’ll get you to—”
“You have to get away from here. It’s me they want,” Barbara said urgently.
Dinah rolled her eyes. “Don’t talk nonsense,” she said, gently lowering her behind a stack of crates.
“Oracle!” A voice shouted from outside. “There’s no escape.”
“No…” Barbara said, which meant they were fucked.
“You’ve made a valiant effort. But this can only end in one way. Come out now.”
Dinah might’ve hated math in school, but she could add a vigilante two plus two and get four. She stood up. “Well, it’s been nice knowing you. We’ll have to do this again sometime,” she said, grinning at Barbara. Then Dinah turned around and walked outside, leaving her head and her heart on the Gotham warehouse floor.
Dinah marched up to Blockbuster, ignoring the ten men armed with machine guns surrounding him. “I’m the one you want, Big Guy. I’m Oracle.”
"You know, it’s funny,” Dinah said quietly into her necklace as she made herself comfortable on the airplane bunk. “We finally get to meet face to face. I’ve got a million questions, and here I am.”
"Oh, I thought you'd figure them out on your own, what with all your sniffing around."
"Guilty," Dinah said, sounding anything but. "You're a hard woman to get any piece of intel on though."
"I'd be a terrible shadowy information broker if I wasn't." Oracle’s voice turned soft. “Get some sleep, Dinah. We both need it.”
“Night, Barbara.”
“Good night, Dinah.”
Trapped in a tin can thirty thousand feet on a suicide mission for a mobster’s heart transplant with two people who had tried to kill her, Dinah Lance fell asleep with a soft smile on her face.
“So, how’s the weather in Gotham?” Dinah said, pretending to use the SAT phone to throw off her rescuers. Hiring shady mercenaries to extract her from Gorilla City was the kind of pragmatism she’d come to expect from Oracle. Still, she couldn’t wait to get back, to see Barbara in person.
“Doesn’t matter. You’re headed west on a tropical vacation.”
“What!?” Dinah said loudly, then lowered her voice when the mercenaries gave her strange looks. “I need to come back. I still have all those questions.”
“We can talk when you get back. Take a break, Dinah. You deserve it. Oracle out.”
It was a beautiful five-star resort; all expenses paid, with tropical waters, sunny weather, and plenty of hot singles on the dance floor. A perfect vacation.
And Dinah was miserable.
She felt so embarrassed. All this time, Barbara had just been humoring her. Tactfully disarming her jokes and flirtations so as not to offend her. Did Barbara find her hot? Did she like Dinah’s attention? Maybe. But Dinah thought Superman was hot and it wasn't like she'd ever want to date the Man of Steel.
How could she have ignored the signs? Barbara just wasn't interested in her. So much so that after meeting her she shipped her off across the world. Dinah was such a chump.
She tried to forget the whole thing and just enjoy her vacation.
But all the poolside drinks and the tanning and the fresh oysters couldn’t hide the fact that sooner or later, Dinah had to go back to Gotham.
“You can do this, Canary,” Dinah muttered to herself, looking up at the clock tower in front of her. “You’ve been to Apokolips. Gorilla City. Batman’s surprise birthday party on the Watchtower.”
She plucked up her courage and rang the doorbell. The door buzzed a half-second later and Dinah tried not to think of Oracle watching her hover on the steps.
She ran into Nightwing in the hallway.
Dinah crossed her arms and glared. “A robot, huh?”
“I couldn’t tell you anything, obviously. It wasn’t my secret to tell. Besides, you’ve seen what happens when you cross her,” he said, grinning ruefully.
“I don't blame you, I just wish I had found out in a better way.”
“That's our line of work,” Nightwing said, surprisingly somber. “Thanks for saving her life. Babs means a lot to a lot of people.”
“Me included.”
“You haven’t given up yet, huh?”
“Easier said than done. I’m sure you know what I mean.”
“Babs and I…the timing was just never right,” he admitted. Paused. Then, as he was leaving, said, “Be careful, okay? She guards her heart most of all.” He was gone before Dinah had a chance to respond.
Barbara met her at the elevator. It still felt weird sometimes, to remember that she was a flesh and blood person. That she was real. That Dinah didn’t dream her up.
“Welcome to HQ,” Barbara said, smiling.
“A clock tower, huh? Fits you,” Dinah said.
“That’s stunning,” Barbara said.
Dinah looked down at the bouquet in her hand. She’d nearly forgotten.
“For you.”
“Thank you. Let me go find a vase for it.”
Now that the adrenaline faded, the awkwardness settled in. Barbara knew everything about her, but Dinah knew precious little about the woman sitting in the wheelchair before her.
She was beautiful in a way that Dinah hadn’t imagined, but the steel in her eyes made Dinah feel comfortable.
“We have to talk about the elephant in the room here,” Dinah said as Barbara led her to the kitchen.
“Oh?” Barbara said, an edge to her voice. She opened an under-the-counter cabinet and grabbed a vase.
“You really are a Gothamite, Barbara Gordon,” Dinah said in (mostly) mock horror. "Or should I say Batgirl?"
“So you figured that out at least," Barbara said, smirking.
"I'd be a terrible agent of a shadowy information broker if I didn't pick up a thing or two." Barbara probably would have been disappointed to learn the information came from connecting some dots after a blissfully low-tech visit to her local library. Turned out newspaper clippings could be useful.
"And hey, Gotham’s a great city! You live here.” Barbara filled the vase with water.
“A great city for getting stabbed! I only live here because of a mysterious, sexy librarian benefactor. It’s like New Jersey, Chicago, and New York had a baby and threw it to the wolves to fend for itself…”
Barbara snorted. “West Coast hippie,” she accused. Dinah was pleased to see Barbara cut the stems of the flowers before placing them into the vase. It was the little things.
“No, that was Ollie,” Dinah said.
Barbara conceded that point.
"I never got to thank you for saving my life," Barbara said, a touch remote as she placed the flowers on the table. "Thank you."
"I saved you and you saved me back. It's what we do." Dinah trailed her fingers across a counter. "Then you sent me off packing to another continent."
"It was a vacation, Dinah."
Dinah shrugged, pulling herself up to sit on the kitchen counter. "A girl can take a hint."
"You deserve the best. I was trying to remind you of that,” Barbara said, looking away. Her eyes settled on the flowers in the vase. “The flowers. They have meanings, don’t they?”
“Well, I did own a flower shop. I know a thing or two.”
“I had a Victorian romance novel phase when I was in high school,” Barbara mused.
“Cute,” Dinah said, grinning.
“I remember one was quite focused on flowers. Victorians used them as a secret language,” Barbara soldiered on, but she was blushing. She looked over the bouquet like it was a security system she was about to crack. “Irises—faith, trust. Violets—good fortune, humility. Clematis—mental beauty. What’s this one?”
“Blue Hyacinth.” Dinah could feel her face heating up. She didn’t think she would know this much about flowers. Would Babs always keep her off balance like this?
“Loyalty.”
“You sure have some memory.”
“It’s photographic.”
“Of course it is.”
“Red chrysanthemums—deep love and passion.” Barbara continued, and Dinah carefully schooled her features. "You know, while you were on vacation, I went out in the Bug with Ted."
On one of her early missions for the JLA, Dinah had gotten stuck in quicksand. It felt a lot like this. "Was it a date?"
"If it was, it was a lousy one,” Babs said, rolling towards her. “Because I couldn't stop thinking about you." Babs reached out and cupped Dinah’s face. Dinah leaned down into her touch. “They’re beautiful, thank you,” Babs whispered into the shell of Dinah’s ear. Dinah shivered. She felt Babs’ lips graze across her cheek.
Dinah turned her head and kissed her boss square on the lips.
Babs melted into the kiss, curling her hand on Dinah’s knee. Kissing Oracle felt like sneaking into the principal's office and stealing his name plate because he gave the bullied kid detention for defending himself. Thrilling, dangerous, and right.
And then Babs’ computer started beeping.
Babs propulsed herself backward. “This can’t happen,” she said, rubbing her face. “This didn’t happen.” She wheeled herself towards her command center.
“Babs—”
Oracle didn’t even turn her head.
Dinah sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “You sure don’t like ‘em easy, Lance…”
By the time Dinah had dragged herself into the other room, Babs’ eyes were firmly planted on the screens.
Babs’ setup was a geek's wet dream of tech that Dinah couldn’t begin to wrap her head around. Holograms and computers and laptops and keyboards took over every available square inch of desk. Rows of servers lined the walls, making the one she saw at Supervillain Banking R Us look downright pathetic.
“We got a hit on that data from the LuthorCorp bull. Someone just registered a similar patent for one of Luthor’s less gleaming shell companies. Let me hack into their network…huh. Just from a glance, the paper trail looks like a wild goose chase of shell companies, so it's not even worth looking into. It’d take a lot of energy and subzero temperatures year-round to manufacture something like that. I remember I got a JLA tip recently about unusual energy readings in the Arctic, I wonder…yup. SAT images confirm it. Better pack your warm suit Canary. We need to investigate this.”
All those connections, that fast.
"It's not the fancy screens or the supercomputers. It's you," Dinah said.
Oracle adjusted her glasses. “We’re both very good at what we do, Canary. Now let’s go save lives.”
"No."
That got Babs to wheel around. "Excuse me?"
"I'm not leaving until we clear the air here," Dinah said, arms crossed.
"There’s nothing to discuss."
"I can't go out there if you're going to ice me out. Just let me say this once, then I'll never say it again. You and me, we’re a dream together. I wouldn’t risk it if I wasn’t serious about how I feel about you. I think you’re incredible, Babs.” Dinah's face felt like it was on fire. God, this had been so much easier with Ollie. She smiled at Babs. “I love getting to know you, both as Oracle and Barbara. If you say it’s not worth it then I’ll stop. Stop with the comments and the jokes. We go back to saving the world together. And hopefully, one day, we can be friends again. But I’m worried you’ve spent so much time around those Bat Boys that you’ve forgotten you’re allowed to be happy. And I think we could be really happy together, if you gave us a shot.”
Dinah watched as the Oracle mask slipped away and Babs looked at her, wrecked. “How can I be happy if I’m sending you out there?”
“You protect me probably more than if you—”
“—”It’s hard enough to be objective with you now,” Babs said, cutting her off. “And to be Oracle, I have to be objective. I have to make hard calls when I’m in front of these monitors. I’ll put you in tough positions. The mission has to come first. I’m not perfect, Dinah. How much of you do you want to put in my hands?”
Dinah didn’t hesitate. “All of it.” She put her hand on Babs’ arm. “We’ve been in some tight spots together. I know the risk. I trust you to do what you think is right. Can you trust yourself?”
Babs took off her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose, considering it. Then she looked up at Dinah, her eyes set.
When Babs kissed her this time, it wasn’t on the cheek.
It was slower, less intense than their first kiss, but Dinah liked it better. She had kissed so many gorgeous-looking scumbags for fun that she had forgotten that kissing someone could feel safe. Could give her peace.
They broke apart. Dinah wrapped her arms around Babs, their foreheads resting together.
"You have a 3:55 flight out of Gotham International to catch," Babs said.
"I hope parkas really do it for you," Dinah teased, making Babs snort. "We can talk more when I get back." Dinah reluctantly pulled away.
"Who says we'll be doing any talking?" Babs said, grinning.
Dinah laughed. “I’m so glad you’re not a robot.”
“You and me both,” Babs said, pulling her down for another kiss.
Dinah barely made the 3:55 to Argentina final boarding call, but she and Babs agreed it was well worth it.