the last couple hours have been hell. it wasn’t enough that the joker had to escape ( he always does, eventually ), but the added reality that he’s practically vanished from gotham has had all of the cities capes operating on hyper drive. she’s been shifting through different comms, hacking cameras all over the city, following dead end after dead end after dead end – like all of them, barbara is exhausted. the joker is a menace to gotham and she has long past being frightened of him, but it doesn’t mean that any dealing they have with him and his sick games doesn’t bring up memories: palm trees and camera flashes, a twisted grin and shattered glasses of hot coco. it’s a terrible, terrible thing – and when her phone begins to blare for the millionth time that night, barbara takes a moment to prepare herself for the next round of bad news.
and then she sees the name – sees DINAH flashing across her monitor screen – and for a moment barbara wants to cry. she answers immediately, hears the edge of panic in dinah’s words, and, despite it all, barbara can’t help her small smile. “ dinah – it’s okay. i’m okay. i’m here. ” it’s astonishing the way dinah’s voice can make the chaos of the last few hours feel like nothing more than a bump in the road, can clear babs’ mind at the drop of a hat and give her time to breathe. “ if there’s any sort of chance he could find this place, i’ve tripled check security, but – that’s not his goal anyway. i don’t know what it is. believe me, we could use the extra hands. i could really use you here. ”
there’s a weight lifted off her shoulders the second she hears babs’ voice say her name. her entire body stills because of it, and she closes her eyes. she’s okay. she’s okay. “ you’re here, ” she repeats back, more for herself than anything. and if her voice cracks slightly as she does, no one else needs to know. at moments like these, she wishes she could teleport herself right to her. she wants to hold her more than anything at that moment and never let go. she’d brush away the strands of hair that’d probably gotten loose from her ponytail by now, and bring her face close enough that their noses would bump together. they’d stay like that until everything else is forgotten. it’s not fair that they don’t have that luxury right then.
babs telling her that she’s not the joker’s goal is more calming than dinah trying to tell herself that. it’s probably because half the time, the logical voice in her head is babs. she doesn’t miss the emphasis she puts on her needing dinah there. that’s what restarts her body again, pulling the last leg of her tights up. “ we’re gonna find out, together, yeah ? i can’t remember the last case we didn’t solve. well, except the one of who ate the last of the thai leftovers, which i still think was you, ” she tries to tease. she wants to distract her from the mess they’re currently in, if only for a moment. some part of her needs to hear her laugh for her own sake, too. she’s searching for her jacket, finding it on the kitchen chair. before she puts it on, she switches the phone to her other ear. “ i’m gonna be there with you, i promise, babs, ” she murmurs into the receiver. “ i’ll stay on the line until i get there. just so you don’t miss my voice. ” and so i can hear yours to keep me calm.
