paradisalogs | Eyes wide shut, unopened

Oh, right. Steph continues to play with Cass' hair, smoothing it down.

"Tim was trying to protect you, too. His heart was in the right place. You know he loves you, right?"

So much for this. Cass sits up now, unwilling to listen to Stephanie justify what Tim did.

"Don't." She intends for that to be all, but then the rest bubbles up to the surface. "Don't need protection, from him. Not from anyone."

There goes that. Steph sighs, pushing her hands through her hair.

"We care about each other. That means we try to protect each other. Don't take it the wrong way, Cass."

"Going to bed." She gets up now because she really, really doesn't want to do this. Watching Stephanie defend Tim for this is more than she can take.

How could either of them expect her to react well to finding out they hid this from her. The one thing she had always wanted, always craved, was a family. Someone to love her for her, and apparently she had had it, but couldn't remember. And Tim's choice was to not tell her?

It's not okay, it won't be okay for a long time.

Sometimes her arguments with Cass felt worse than her arguments with Tim.

"Then I'm going, too," she says, and by that she means that she's following Cass into her bed. There was a lot to talk about--surely Cass had questions about Barbara.

"We messed up, Cass. But we didn't do it to hurt you."

She really had intended to not sleep at all, but to change into her batsuit and prowl around the city for awhile. Steph following her puts a damper on her escape, so she stops in the hallway and turns to face her.

"Well, you did. Do you even... realize what it changes? What it means?"

"I do." And she does. "Please, let's just talk, okay?"

Cass crosses her arms over her chest and waits, right there in the hall, for Steph to talk. She doesn't want to talk, doesn't like talking, so if Steph wants to do it she better just do it.

Well...

"Barbara was Batgirl before me, before you. She's the commissioner's daughter."

That was a start.

She can't help it, something softens in her when she hears the name. Barbara. It's unfair that Steph can use this against her, but here they are. She reaches out and grabs Stephanie's hand, giving a tug before heading to her room after all. If they're going to do this, they might as well sit.

Steph follows along obediently, sitting on Cass' bed.

"She's a redhead."

As hard as she tries to remember, she can't recall if Gordon had had red hair. It had been white, he was old. Brenda's hair was red, though. So, Brenda's hair. She can work with that.

Cass sits as well, though she's still frowning.

"Going to... tell slow as possible?"

"If that's what you want. Honestly, Tim could probably tell you more, but I'll do what I can, Cass."

"You started talking. If you're done, I'm sleeping."

And just to prove her point she gets up again, sweeping her shirt off and letting it drop on the floor so she can go find a tank top to wear to bed.

She has the urge to say something about being a brat, but bites her tongue.

"Cass."

She almost rips her shirt when she pulls it down over her head, which would have sucked. She's only got a few more, the last one got destroyed by dinosaurs.

"Stop it. You're acting like... this is a joke. Some- game, where you tell me... little things, tell me slow. It's like torture. Stop it."

"You make it sound like this is easy for me to do," Steph replies, just barely keeping her tone even. How is she supposed to try and fill in the holes when she doesn't know the whole story? "It's not. Barbara worked with us as Oracle, and she took care of you. You were close, very close. If you want me to rush and give you the bare bones, then fine, but do not say this is a joke to me."

Oh, she doesn't like that.

"Did- is she hurt?" Is that why they didn't tell her? Is it too hard to tell her because this woman, Barbara, has died?

"No," Steph says, softer this time. "But you're not in Gotham anymore, last I knew, anyway. Hence the me being Batgirl thing. Babs became my mentor."

For a while, anyway. Then things got busy and Team Batgirl turned into her and Wendy more or less, but Barbara wasn't ever too far away.

"No, sent to Bludhaven, after you..."

After the funeral, but Steph hadn't liked talking about that. Cass takes a step back to the bed and then hesitates, unsure if she really wants to be closer or not. But she knows Stephanie is upset and no matter the circumstances, Cass hates that.

So she takes the last few steps to her friend and reaches out to touch her hair.

"We should stop. Not... do this, now."

No, that's not it, but time is wonky and Steph's mood is not conductive to sorting it out right now. She sighs.

"I am sorry. I can't say it enough. If you want to know, Tim and I will be happy to tell you everything we can about Barbara."

"Go change. We're both... not good, right now. Sleep will help."

"Right." She eyes the window in the room, then gets up to head to hers and change into her PJs.

It would be a lie to say Cass wasn't tempted to just go, spend the night out and then deal with birthday plans in the morning without any further contact with Stephanie. It would be easy, to just slip out the window now.

When Stephanie returns to Cass' room, she'll find her sitting on the bed. Despite what she told Ezio about sleeping in pants from here on out, she's in shorts to wear to bed because it's just too warm to wear too much to bed, especially since she plans on sleeping close to Steph.

Pulling the covers back, she pats the side of the bed Steph likes best, beckoning her over.

She's surprised to see Cass still there when she gets back, in her own shorts and tank top. She glad Cass stuck around.

Slipping into the bed, she wraps her arms around Cass and tugs her down so they're both on the pillows.

It seems like ages she used to sleep alone, drama safely floors away.

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