Catch Me If I Fall || R.Grayson ||

Her White Knight:

Like most girls her age, Barbara Gordon loved dancing.

By the time she was six, her entire heart and soul had gone into ballet. What made her even more devoted was the way her parents seemed so pleased with how well she performed. It made her want to keep it up, because nothing felt better than pleasing her parents, and the reason for that was quite simple; they were both very busy people, and rarely had extra time.

Her mother was an artist, and spent the majority of her time in her studio down town. And even when she was home, she was on a phone call, or too busy tending to household chores and looking after her baby brother to do much with her daughter.

Her father was a cop. The cop, to be put lightly. He was the police commissioner, and she was very proud of that, but the job also kept him at the precinct horribly late every other night, and by the time he got home, all he wanted to do was sleep.

"Yes, I've got the hall booked for the exhibit —" her mother was saying into the phone one evening. Barbara was listening from the living room as she practiced pieces of her dance routine, humming the music since her mother was on the phone. James, her little brother, decided that the moment was perfect to start a screaming fit, and proceeded with just that. Mrs.Gordon ignored him, and talked louder. Barbara hummed louder to hear herself over the commotion. The home phone rang in the kitchen.

"Look, can I just call you back?" Mrs.Gordon asked, growing rather agitated. "Yes, thank you; goodbye." She hung up her cell, and came around the corner to retrieve the baby. "Babs, honey, shut up!" She shouted, going for the other phone next.

"No!" Barbara yelled back, but did indeed stop humming. She sulked to where her mother was in the kitchen, and slid onto a high stool. Baby James was still screaming, and Mrs.Gordon was bouncing him hastily on her hip as she tried to maintain conversation.

"Yes, it is, what happened?" Her face fell so drastically, Barbara knew exactly what this had to be about. Nothing made her mother that scared, unless ...

"Well, is he alright?! What happened? Where is he?!"

Barbara jumped off her stool and took James from her mother's arms. He quieted a bit when he saw her. Mrs.Gordon slammed the phone back into the receiver, and sank to the floor, back to the wall and hand over her face.

Questions choked Babs as she tiptoed to where she sat, fighting obvious tears.

"Mom?"

Mrs.Gordon looked up at her daughter with dull eyes. "It's alright," she said, almost as if she were trying to convince herself. "Dad just had a little accident at work today, and they took him to the hospital,"

There were only a certain handful of emotions that a six year old should ever have to experience. Realization followed by blind fear was not one of the combinations. Barbara's dad was The cop. The police commissioner. So when the precinct called in to say he had an 'accident', she was smart enough to know that they meant the bad guys had gotten him.

And that he probably wasn't going to be okay.

"Oh," was all that she could think to say. It was hard for her to grasp the full reality of her dad being 'gotten' by the bad guys. He had always been so big and strong. Surely there was a misunderstanding. Her dad was better than the bad guys.

Right?

Mrs.Gordon pulled out her cell phone again, and started dialling. "You and James are gonna go to Coleen's place across the street," she said. "I'm going to run to the hospital."

"To see Dad," Babs said, just to make sure.

Mrs.Gordon nodded. "To see Dad,"

"I want to come,"