Visitation Rights

[Barbara Gordon]

As Barbara wheeled her way through Gotham PD's office, she noted a lot of pitying looks. There was some genuine smiles, some nods with tight smiles, but she could see the pity bubbling beneath the surface. It annoyed her, not that she would say that. Five years she'd been in a wheelchair -- five years! -- and yet people still couldn't seem to get used it.

Then again, perhaps it was the nature of which she ended up in the chair. Barbara shook her head, refusing to let her thoughts stray into that dark corner of her mind. Instead, she opened the desired door, rolled in, shut it behind her, and smiled at the older man behind the desk.

"Hi, Dad." Sure, Jim Gordon was actually her uncle but the man adopted and raised her on his own, after the divorce which cost him her aunt and cousin. In that book, that made him her father and she'd been calling him such for years. Besides, he was a lot better than her real father. He wasn't an alcoholic. "You're not too busy, are you?"

[gordon]

Jim Gordon had been pouring over case files for the last twenty minutes, looking through the criminal records of some of Gotham's most feared individuals. He didn't know what he had hoped to find, but he wanted to study them nonetheless, with all the maniacs from Arkham running loose and the crime families warring for control of what was left of Gotham, he thought it would be good to have as much knowledge of them as possible.

He looked up from his desk, the first time in a while that he had taken his eyes off of his desk, and saw Barbara rolling herself into the room.
"Babs!" Jim exclaimed, surprised to see his niece in his office.

He quickly shut the manilla folder he had opened in front him. Inside the folder was a five inch thick stack of case files, witness reports and photographic evidence. On the top of the folder was a label that simply read: [The Joker]. He quickly dropped the folder into a drawer and shut it. He didn't like reminding Barbara of The Joker, not after what The Joker had done to them both. Although he was sure that being reduced to a wheelchair must be a constant reminder to her. Jim always tried to remain in good spirits around her, even in hopeless times like these.
"No, no, I'm not busy at all. You know I always have time for you," Jim said as he stood up to welcome her into his office, "What brings you down here anyway?"

[Barbara Gordon]

"What, I need an excuse to come visit now?" she asked amusedly. It hadn't escaped her that he tried to be discreet with whatever file he was thumbing through. After working with Bruce for so many years, she could tell when someone was hiding something from her. It was odd for her uncle/father, but she was certain he had his reasons and she wouldn't invade his privacy. If he decided to tell her, he would. "I just wanted to see you, that's all. It gets lonely in the apartment sometimes," she explained. "Besides, I needed an excuse to stretch my legs," she joked.

[gordon]

Jim furrowed his eyebrows and forced a halfhearted smile at Barbara's joke. He saw what happened to her as a sick tragedy and not a laughing matter at all, but he was pleased that she hadn't lost her sense of humour.

"Oh, yeah... I'm sorry Babs, I haven't been around much lately," Jim sighed as he sat back down in his chair. "Things have been pretty full on lately. Since the Earthquake hit, everyone's gone nuts. I don't have enough manpower to police this city, and it seems like Batman's lost his interest in Gotham, so I've been putting in as many hours as I can down here."

Jim felt uncomfortable discussing work with his niece. Even though she was a grown woman, he still felt like it was an inappropriate topic of conversation. Besides, he didn't think she would be interested in hearing things like that. He quickly changed the subject to smalltalk.

"Anyway, let's not get into that. It's been a while since we've had a chance to talk properly... How have you been? Been keeping busy?"

[Barbara Gordon]

"Things have been pretty full on lately. Since the Earthquake hit, everyone's gone nuts," he told her.

"Yeah, I've been keeping track with the paper," she replied and sighed, rubbing her forehead frustratedly. "All that hard work to get the bad guys in Arkham and we don't have enough people to keep 'em in there." It was hard on Barbara especially, not being able to go out and get people like Joker, Harley Quinn, Riddler, Two-Face -- all of them -- and put them back in Arkham herself.

"I don't have enough manpower to police this city, and it seems like Batman's lost his interest in Gotham, so I've been putting in as many hours as I can down here."

When he mentioned that Batman had "lost interest in Gotham", she wanted so badly to correct him. Batman hadn't lost interest, not at all. Gotham was his city, but the world needed help and Bruce had to answer the call. Shaking her head, she decided to not think about Bruce. The two hadn't exactly parted on good terms.

"Anyway, let's not get into that. It's been a while since we've had a chance to talk properly," he told her, quickly changing the subject. Barbara decided to ignore it and let the conversation flow onto happier things. "How have you been? Been keeping busy?"

"Yeah, you know know me. Busy, busy, busy," she laughed. "I've been thinking about going back to work at the library. I don't know if they'd take me back given my...condition, but it's worth a shot, right? I mean, I can't just sit around all day; I'll go nuts doing nothing," she explained softly. The two sat quietly for a moment and Barbara could've kicked herself for another uncomfortable moment. "Um, so," she began, trying to sound upbeat, "how's Aunt Barb and Jimmy?"

[gordon]

Jim hesitated at the question - "How's Aunt Barb and Jimmy?" He hesitated both because it wasn't a topic that he liked thinking about, and also because he hadn't spoken to them in some time, which he resented himself for.

"Good, I called them yesterday," Jim lied, "I'm just glad that they're not in the city any more. I'm barely able to get any sleep at night as it is, let alone if James was still living here with the way things are."

Jim always liked talking to his son, but with the increased hours he had to put in, he just didn't have the time. On top of that, he didn't know what to say to him. He didn't want to lie and say that everything was fine when he knew that reports on the news and in the papers would only report the horrible truth that most of Gotham was in ruins and the streets were overrun by psychopaths and gangsters.
He also didn't enjoy his conversations with Barbara. He still felt guilty everytime he thought of her and the way their marriage ended.
But he was glad that he still had Babs in Gotham, and he was glad that she decided to pop in, it reminded him that he still had family out there.

"But the library huh?" Jim referred to earlier in their conversation, "Of course they'd have you back there. Plus I think it'd be really good for you. That's just if it's really what you want to do, you don't need to rush out into anything that you don't think you're ready for."

[Barbara Gordon]

Barbara noticed his hesitation and immediately felt bad about asking him. She should have known better. After all, it was her fault that Aunt Barb and Jimmy left. She may not know the details, but she knew on some level that the divorce was all her fault. He told he'd called them yesterday and she believed him, despite his slightly hesitant tone.

"I'm just glad that they're not in the city any more. I'm barely able to get any sleep at night as it is, let alone if James was still living here with the way things are."

"That's good. I'm glad they're okay. I just don't even want to think about Jimmy being here right now," she replied, shaking her head. Just the thought of her cousin being in Gotham right now scared her so much. There was so much that could happen to him, even accidently. Add the fact that his father's a cop and a bullseye was practically painted on him. It was hard thing to swallow, considering she wore the same bullseye, but it was a fact of life.

"But the library huh?" It was a quick change of subject, one she was grateful for. She senseed he was as well. "Of course they'd have you back there. Plus, I think it'd be really good for you. That's just if it's really what you want to do, you don't need to rush out into anything that you don't think you're ready for."

"It's not that I'm not ready," she assured him. "Trust me, readiness is not an issue. I've adjusted to this," she added, tapping one of her wheels. "It's just that...before this happened, I had a direction. I wanted to join the GCPD, be like you." Police Detective by day, Batgirl by night -- that had been the dream. "But that's no longer an option and now, I just," Barbara sighed, feeling a little frustrated, "I need to do something. I have to."