Covert Ops

Barbara's day began with a bang-literally there was a robbery at the café she got coffee from every morning-and came to an end with a frustratingly slow, torturous fizzle. That left her begging for Mercy. When the day was finally over it took Barbara every ounce of her highly trained will power not to bang her head against the desk.

"Gordon," Damian's voice cut through the monotony. "You look like shit." Barbara leveled her best unimpressed glare at him.

"Thank you, Damian. Your commentary, as always, is a joy to you and appreciated by no one." He tossed a shit eating grin her way.

"That was a good one."

"Thank you." She smiled sweetly at him. "So, what brings you down to Wayne Enterprises IT department?" the light blush that dusted his darker complexion was not lost on her.

"I'm working on a case by myself." He told her. She didn't believe him for a second. First of all he would have sounded a lot more proud of himself and secondly Bruce would have warned her to keep an eye out for him on patrol.

"Really? What case?" she asked. She wasn't necessarily trying to poke holes in what seemed to be a thinly held composure, she just found all of this far too amusing.

"The what isn't really important." He answered a bit too quickly. He smoothed out his tine. "I'm tailing a potential informant at the moment and last night he seemed to be casing a few places." He pulled out a piece of paper. The hand written list on the front in his methodical, organized print had restaurants listed as well at the pond in the park where you could rent row boats day or night. "What do you think?"

"I think," she began biting back a smile. "It looks like your perp is scoping out locations for a date." To the young Wayne's credit he did a decent job of looking put out by the revelation. He sighed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I guess maybe that could come in handy." He spoke more to himself. "In case I lose him though, which restaurant do you think he'll go to?" it should probably scare her how good he was at lying. He certainly takes after his father in more ways than one.

"I guess that depends on what kind of date it is."

"What do you mean?" his façade slipped ever so slightly.

"This first place, Antonia's, has a very romantic atmosphere. Unless he plans on sweeping her off her feet on the first date, it's usually better for an anniversary. This third on here, I would stay away from, you know, if I were him."

"Why?"

"Between you and me? One of my contacts it the city building tells me they're going to get a surprise inspection for the health inspector."

"Oh, bummer." Damian replied. A minutes or so passed in silence before he spoke again. "What about the second one?"

"It's a nice place, laid back, casual. Good for a first date." Barbara explained. Damian looked thoughtful.

"Hmmp, interesting." He finally said. He took the list back, looking it over. "What about this park thing?"

"What about it?" Barbara knew exactly what he was asking, but she couldn't help wanting to tease him, whether he realized that's what she was doing or not.

"Do you think he should go there?" and there's the slip. Should or would? Funny how one word can make the difference.

"For her sake I hope not." It said a lot about her, the pleasure she took teasing a sixteen year old boy. He paled a bit at her statement.

"What's wrong with the pond?" he asked. She wondered if he realized how defensive he sounded.

"It's a bit cliché. If it were me, I'd want to do something different. Something out there." He seemed confused so she took pity on him. "For example, Dick once took me to Haly's circus after hours. We went up to the trapeze and he showed off some of the stunts his parents had taught him." She paused and when she was sure, he wouldn't say anything she continued, packing up a few things as she spoke.

"Of course Dick and I have a lot in common so he really didn't need to think about it too much to know I'd enjoy his plan." She stood from her desk with her bag and ushered him out the door. "It might not hurt to learn a little about this girl. Figure out what she might enjoy and then plan accordingly." They took the elevator down to the lobby together and parted ways out front as Alfred opened the back door for Damian.

"Good luck tonight." She told him as he climbed in. "Call if you need back up."

Barbara perched herself on the rooftop across from Sebastian's, choice number two on Damian's list. As she expected nothing Damian had asked her had anything to do with a case. Lucky for her, Alfred had his own suspicions and was more than happy to tip her off when he left the mansion in one of Bruce's cars. Using the GPS in the car, Barbara tailed him to a neighborhood in the Gotham suburbs. White picket fences and one and a half cars in each driveway.

Damian pulled up to a classy white house with a basketball hoop in the driveway and a two car garage. He parked in the driveway and got out; fixing his tie and making sure the bouquet of pink roses he brought were still intact. It was cute watching him act like the perfect gentlemen. He greeted the girl's father with a firm handshake and passed the flowers off to the young girl, who in Barbara's opinion was adorable. She was a few inches shorter than him with long brown hair and big blue eyes. She smiled at him when he opened her door for her and his face went beat red in less than a second.

After that he'd driven straight to the restaurant, leaving Barbara to suit up and make home on the roof across the street with her laptop, running facial on Damian's date.

"Is that the mystery date?" Nightwing's voice sounded over her shoulder. She jumped whipping around to find him smirking at her. "What did he ask you about?" Barbara squinted at him before replying.

"Location. You?"

"Clothes." He picked up her laptop, looking over what she found. "What about you Jay?"

Jason appeared over the side of the building with take out in hand. "Flowers, he wanted to know what kind to get her." he stopped behind Dick looking over his shoulder at the screen. "Dana O'Neil, she's cute."

"What do you know about flowers?" Barbara asked incredulously. Jason took a seat near the edge and set the take out bags and drink carrier in front of them. They both sat on either side of him.

"I garden." He explained passing her a burrito and a drink.

"Really?" he nodded, removing his helmet.

"It's relaxing." Barbara hummed an understanding remark, taking a big bite of her burrito. "So, what do you have on her?"

"Sixteen, 4.0 GPA, partial academic scholarship." Dick sipped from his drink. "She's on the lacrosse team, works in the school library and she's got a couple of awards from writing competitions."

"Kids got good taste." Jason garbled around a mouthful of food.

The team sat together, joking and laughing as they waited for Damian and his date to come back out. It was Dick who noticed their latest guest. They looked to the shadows as Batman stepped out. His best bat glare pointed directly at them. He approached slowly, looming over their makeshift camp.

Jason was the first to break the silence. "Burrito?" he asked, holding the foil cylinder out for him. It was a tense few moments before Bruce took the Burrito and sat with them closing the circle.

"How's he doing?"