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WHO: Barbara Gordon and Cassandra Cain
WHERE: De Chima
WHEN: Earlier today
WHAT: FAMILY REUNION
WARNINGS: None

It's not a long ride. (She figured out the shortest and fastest routes before the car arrived, in case it went too long. They land somewhere in the middle; the driver is both efficient and courteous.)

It felt longer, of course, as her mind raced and her muscles tensed. She hasn't felt so completely out of her element in a long time. The escrima sticks beneath her seat and the computer in her lap only reassured her so much.

Now she's staring at - well, Cassandra called it a manor, and it certainly is. She takes stock of her surroundings one more time before wheeling up the ramp and ringing the doorbell.

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There's not much of a wait before the door opens. And sure enough, there Cassandra--Shiva--is. Eyes heavily circled with blue, and her forehead marked with the same color. She stands a bit awkwardly for a moment after opening the door, darkened halls of the house behind her.

There's so much she wants to say, and so much she should say that isn't even coming to mind right now; the words for all of it jumble together in her head, and she doesn't know where to start. Finally she steps out onto the porch, bending down a bit as she moves to hug Barbara.

There's a joke on her lips, gentle teasing about makeup decisions, but she can't push it past the lump in her throat. Every inch of her screams desperate, aching relief.

Then Cass is hugging her, and Barbara embraces her more fiercely than she ever has. She has an absurd impulse to never, ever let go again.

(This could still be a trap, a part of her scolds. Shut the fuck up, the rest of her says.)

Shiva can see that coming off of Barbara in waves, heart aching in response. She curses herself for doing this to her in the first place. The guilt paralyzes her, even as she holds on tightly.

"Sorry," she finally chokes out, head pressed against the hollow of Barbara's shoulder. "I didn't--I couldn't..."

"No, no - " It's an insistent murmur, as she strokes Cass's hair. "Whatever happened out there, I - " She takes a shuddering breath. "I should have found you."

"Didn't want to be found." She says it softly, shaking her head. Tears are in her eyes now, and part of her finds the idea of having this extended moment on the porch a little ridiculous. She finally moves to extricate herself, wiping at her eyes. None of whatever is on her face comes away with it.

She had told herself that she had left ways for her family to track her if it came to that. That she wasn't just going to let them think she was dead, or leave them in the dark--she just couldn't bear to face them after everything, after what she had done.

She hadn't accounted for Bruce and Barbara being so estranged that it wouldn't matter.

"I, um--there's coffee. Come in? Please."

Barbara squeezes her one more time before forcing herself to let go. Her own eyes are blurry, but she notices that Cass's makeup doesn't smudge; in the moment, she figures it's one of this world's advancements.

"Of course." Her voice is steadier, now, and she musters a smile. As she follows Cass, though, her expression turns concerned. "Do you live here alone?"

The house is a bit of a mess. Takeout containers, cereal boxes, clothes. Protein bar wrappers and empty protein powder jars, especially in the kitchen. All the clear signs of Cass's presence, with nothing to suggest other people have lived there in a while. Shiva feels a little self-conscious as she steps into the kitchen, picking up scattered bits of trash and throwing them out. Enough to clear the table and counters anyway.

"Um... yeah. Bruce was here, but... it's been over a month. Ported out, he's gone." She sighs, hand sweeping back through her hair. Her voice still isn't even as she speaks. Finally she takes the coffee pot, pouring and prepping two cups. She sits across from where Babs has wheeled up, handing one over.

Barbara is smiling again when she enter the kitchen, lovingly exasperated.

Then Cass says Bruce's name, and she tenses instantly. A second later she forces herself to relax, but a second is all Cass needs.

By the time she brings the coffee, Barbara can push aside all of the tangled bitterness and anger and disappointment, focus on simple concern. "I read that people can just be...pulled back." For no apparent reason.

Yet.

She sees that, of course, just with a glance while she had been picking up.

Once Shiva sits down and Barbara asks the question, she nods. "Happened to me, a few times. Don't... really remember how long I've been... it's--complicated. More than a year, uh, all together." She presses her lips together, before she talks again, voice shaking. "And--Steph was here. When I was gone. Tim, too."

Her mouth goes dry and her eyes go bright. "...Steph? Our Steph?" Pulled from an earlier time, before - ?

She was here, and they both missed her.

"I'm so sorry, Cass."

"She's not dead." Shiva says it quickly, looking down at first. "Everyone... let me think she was--Alfred, Superboy--but..." Okay. Deep breath. "After I came back. Bruce told me. And the news, the network, it all..." A shaky little nod, as she looks up towards her.

"She didn't die. Don't know how. Don't know why. And she got Batgirl."

Barbara just stares at her, for a second; a rare moment of being stunned speechless. Of course she'll look over the network herself and anything else she can find, but she trusts Cass implicitly.

She can't quite process the profound relief; it doesn't feel real, not yet.

Anger, though, that's something else.

"He knew?"

Cass shakes her head, quickly. No, absolutely not. "Happened for him, already."

Relief over Steph being alive never quite hit for her the way she thought it would. She wasn't home, she still hadn't seen Stephanie in nearly two years. Knowing this didn't provide any kind of closure or ability to move forward. It made nothing easier, especially with what she understood now.

She nods as the anger fades and guilt takes its place. She only assumed the worst because she's still angry at him over so much else. Over Stephanie, come to that, but...

Barbara shakes her head. "It's not that I don't believe you. I just..." It's so hard to comprehend. "She was - god, I saw her on that roof, I saw the autopsy report - "

Her voice is starting to crack. She takes a gulp of coffee.

"Sorry." She's never talked to Cass about any of that.

For her part she just nods, quick and curt, taking a long sip of her own coffee. "I don't, um... there's a lot?" Another crack. Shiva places an elbow on the table, head tilted down briefly, palm over her mouth, before she moves her head to look at her again. "Besides that. I don't know where to..."

Barbara has to laugh, soft and brittle. "I'm sure." She sets the mug down to wipe at her eyes, take another breath. She knows how to ask the important questions. She can guide them through this.

"So. Stephanie was - is - will be Batgirl." Her eyes narrow. "Except there's already a Batgirl."

So what the hell happens there, Cass.

Oh. That's one of the unspoken questions she was sort of dreading.

"I give it up. At some point. I... kind of did? Before I came here. But that wasn't what... I just... couldn't..." Shiva gestures, before taking a breath.

"I don't know why. Something after... Steph comes back to Gotham. And, um, here..."

She doesn't know how Barbara might take this. So. "Had to take the cowl. Five months now." Not that she's been particularly focused on her evening job for the past few days.

She never expected Cass to be Batgirl forever; she gave it up before being shot, after all. But there's a difference between choosing to let something go and thinking you can't keep it. Passionate protectiveness flickers in her eyes; she wants to say that Batgirl is hers, no matter what, for however long she wants it.

But the next revelation knocks the wind out of her.

"The - you're Batman?" Well. Bruce isn't here, is he?

Slowly, she smiles. There's desperate worry in it, and bitter regret, but the pride outshines them. "That's my girl."

She smiles back, but it's a fragile, bittersweet thing. Everything Barbara isn't saying matters as much as her words. She reaches out across the table, squeezing her hand. It was always hard to talk to Bruce about things. Even if she struggled before to talk to Babs about serious subjects, she always knew where she stood with her. And as close as she was to her father, most of the time she wasn't sure about that at all. Shiva wipes at her eyes again, voice cracking when she finally talks.

"It's been hard," she says, eyes on Barbara. "I wasn't ready. Still not. And right now, I don't..." With everything going on, she's all but cast aside the symbol of the Bat. She just hasn't worked out the next steps there.

"Of course you're not." Her voice is gentle as she squeezes Cass's hand. "You might be the best fighter in the world, but you're still a teenager." Well, more or less. She'll work out the timeline math later.

"Bruce was years older, he'd studied a million things, and he had Alfred to support him." God, she misses Alfred. "Do you have anyone like that, here?"

"I'm twenty." She murmurs it in response, since it's not really the point. Regardless, she shakes her head. "Some others in the family. From other worlds. And... WayneTech connections. But no support." Nothing like what Barbara meant, anyway.

Well, someone's getting a belated birthday gift, but that's not the point either.

"You have it now." She says it softly and fiercely, and suddenly she's right back in her element again, with the kind of fervour she was too exhausted to feel before.

It doesn't matter what she doesn't have, or doesn't know. All that matters is that Cassandra needs her.

She doesn't want to break down crying. That's not useful for the moment, and especially not for a god. Damn it all, though, she's definitely close to it. Shiva nods, squeezing her hand.

"There's something else," she starts. "Red Hood."

She's about to very firmly say that Batman can cry, and then...

"Red Hood." She's heard the reports. The rumours. But it's all been so desperately, violently chaotic, and if she did investigate, and it was just some sick joke, it would just be a waste of time that wrecked her more. (And if it was true, that would probably make them enemies, and that would break her heart, too.)

"...Are you going to tell me it's really him?" Her voice is tense with anxious hope.

Batman can definitely cry, this just isn't the time.

She finally just nods, eyes going down as she wipes at them again. "He's here. Not ours, a little older, but--it's him. Same at home too, I think." Shiva swallows, looking up and placing her other hand on Barbara's along with the first. "It's Jason."