Don't Fear the Reaper

17) The Lore of the Batgirls

A/N: please read the A/N at the bottom of the chapter! 

Steph was laying face down in the middle of the biggest rug in the library when she heard a throat being cleared. She turned her head to look at who was there, preparing herself for the looks of judgment/confusion that she usually got from Damian and Tim, but just smiled when she saw Nico.

"Sup Reaper," she said casually.

The kid looked at her, confusion plain in his eyes. "Are you okay?"

Steph flipped over so she was laying on her back and gave a nod. "Yep, I was just walking around and decided I needed some floor time."

"What?"

Steph shrugged. "It's something Dr. Thompkins had me do when we lived in Africa after I semi-died. It's used as a grounding technique and can help de-stress and improve productivity. I do it at least once a day. Wanna join?"

Nico watched her for long moment. Steph just assumed he though she was stupid for doing it, but then he let out a breath and sat down.

Steph smiled. "Welcome to floor time."

Nico just nodded awkwardly.

The blonde considered trying to make conversation, but chose to pushed that thought aside. He was probably already at least a little bit uncomfortable with the situation and chatting probably wouldn't help.

While she laid on her back, just breathing deeply with her eyes closed, Nico remained as still as a statue in his sitting upright position. 

"You know, you're supposed to lay back," she idly said at one point, honestly just bored of the silence.

"It's harder to defend yourself when lying down," he said simply.

Steph opened one of her eyes to peek at him with a raised eyebrow. "You expecting an attack?"

"I am here because there is a possible assassination plot against the Waynes, so yes."

Steph hummed. "Oh yeah. I kinda forgot about that."

It was silent again for a while before it was once again broken, but this time it was Nico who spoke.

"May I ask you a question?"

"Shoot."

Nico seemed to hesitate, but after a moment he finally seemed to land on the conclusion that it was worth asking.

"It's about Barbra," he said, his tone sounding as if he hated that he was asking it. "What is the extent of her injury?"

Steph opened her eyes and looked at him in surprise. "Oh... uh, she was shot by the Joker through the spine which resulted in complete spinal cord injury at the L1 vertebrae. The doctors at Gotham Gen tried to repair it and Bruce brought in just about every top neurosurgeon from around the world and they all said there was nothing they could do. She's paraplegic now— complete loss of ability to move or feel anything from basically the waist down. It... it was an adjustment for everyone but, I don't know. I guess acceptance fully sets in after a while and now it just seems normal," Steph said, trying to seem causal about it, though she suspected that her uncharacteristically detailed explanation of Babs' injury gave away her true feelings. 

Barbra was supposed to be her mentor— and she was— but it was different than what Jason, Tim, and Damian had. Barbra was always there for them, but they never got to fight by her side. The ginger was diligent with teaching Cass and Steph everything she could when they were in training and she always had their backs are Oracle, but there was always a small part of Steph that envied the boys. They got to fight side by side with their mentor and predecessors. Steph and Cass never got that chance.