Batgirl

Prologue

Note: This is the sequel to Batgirl Begins, if you have not read it, I highly suggest you do before continuing. That being said, I do not own the rights to the characters, but the story around and the interpretation of the major events are my own. Thanks for reading, and enjoy.

Prologue

One year later...

I can't believe it. BANG! The gunshot still echoes through my brain, his laughter sulks in the darkest corners of my mind. I look across the hospital bed to see Dick, slumped in the seat between me and the window. His eyes puffed up, probably because of seeing me like this... unconscious, beaten, and now leggedly challenged. I stare down at my feet, hoping this is a dream, praying I'll wake up. Unfortunately, due to the constant repeat in my head of that night, I know it all happened.

I my gaze turns to the ring on my left hand. How can I marry a man who can't even protect me? A man I hoped I would learn to love half as much I love Dick Grayson... I anxiously pull it off my finger, placing it on the small bedside table, feeling a weight lifted from my shoulders. Tears stream down my face as I lay back on the pillows, placing one hand over my face.

How can someone be so sick? How could this be real? How can I live knowing I won't be able to walk or jump off a building or feel the sand in my toes or... my back heaves as the tears become more like a raging river, my stomach now starting to ache from all the surgeries. I sneak a look at Dick, still passed out in the chair. How can he ever want to be with me when I'm like this? I'm broken mentally, physically... and I don't know where to begin to pick up the pieces.

As I look up at the shadows on the ceiling through my fingers, my mind flashes through memories of the past few years since becoming Batgirl, and well... giving up the cowl. The memories seem more appealing now than the present, and I am overtaken in a wave of flashbacks.