The rush of being up here... Is thrilling. Barbara, wearing her Batgirl uniform once again, smiled and sighed to herself. She smiled at the thought of patrolling Gotham again with Batman, Batgirl, Black Bat, Robin, Red Robin, even Red Hood. But what she was most excited for was patrolling Bludhaven with Nightwing.

What are you doing? Why didn't you tell him? Batgirl's conscious screamed at her, He's going to kill you by the time he finds out.

"He won't find out." Batgirl told herself, "at least not before I tell him myself."

You're such an idiot, you know that? You're not even in a condition ready to fight. And if Nightwing doesn't even know, then there's no one here to save you now.

"Hmph." Batgirl set her binoculars down onto the concrete ledge as she stood up from where she was sitting on the ledge. She quickly grabbed onto the ledge before she could fall over from loss of balance, "whoa... I may be more out of shape than I thought..."

Suddenly, something hard hit the back of her head, making her fall onto her hands and knees.

"Ow, what the heck?!" Batgirl rubbed the back of her aching head as she turned to see who it was.

"Well, this isn't Batman... But you'll make a nice substitute for the bat." the white-masked man chuckled evilly as he slowly walked up to her, his red yarn-like hair waving in the wind.

"No..." Batgirl felt her face turn pale, Goshdangit! Why out of all the days to do this, you idiot... "Ragdoll."

She threw a hard punch at his face, which he easily dodged.He threw forward his long, sinuous arm and knocked her off balance. She hobbled weakly on her legs as she trudged slowly towards the ledge of the building.

"Please..." Batgirl whispered.

"Let me take you out." Ragdoll grabbed her and jumped over the edge with her.

"Oh no you don't!" Batgirl shouted, "I may not be able to use my legs, but I can still use my arms!"

She used all the strength in her arms to pry him away from her, shoving him off of her. As they continued to free-fall, Batgirl saw Ragdoll grab a pole and catch himself before falling onto the street below. She grabbed her grappling hook and shot it at a building, swinging to the wall and saving herself as well.

She quickly climbed up onto the steep ledge and felt her heart racing at the closeness between herself and death. She swallowed hard as she shifted carefully, trying to shift down the ledge.

"No, no, not now..." Her legs were starting to shake and go numb. She held tight to the wall. She continued to tell herself that she wasn't going to die right then and there.

"Goodbye."

She looked up to see Ragdoll from the other building, holding a gun. Her blood boiled with hatred for him as he pulled the trigger.

She squeezed her eyes shut, ready for the pain, but the bullet hadn't hit her. Instead, it hit the ledge below her. The ledge broke and she was falling.

I'd rather he would've killed me instantly! Not let me fall and suffer a long death like this... Batgirl squeezed her eyes shut, What have I done.

She looked down at the concrete so close to her now.She sighed and waited for her death.However, to her shock, it never came.

"There. Batgirl's death should lure out Batman himself." Ragdoll snickered as he jumped down closer to the street. But he stopped abruptly at the fact that there was nothing on the street. No blood, no bones, not even Batgirl's body.

"Hey, Tomato-Head!"

Ragdoll looked up at another ledge, then gritted his teeth in anger, "you!"

"Yeah, I was about to say the same thing to you." The raven-haired acrobat smirked, "so, what do you think you're doing to my girlfriend?"

"She got in the way. Big mistake." Ragdoll smirked.

"Yeah, well." Nightwing looked down at Batgirl's astonished face as he held her, after catching her right before she hit the concrete, "you mess with her, you mess with me."

"Take your best shot." Ragdoll challenged.

"Hm. Suit yourself." Nightwing shrugged as he set Batgirl down carefully, then did a front flip to where Ragdoll awaited, ready to fight.

"Nightwing..." Batgirl muttered.

>> We'll talk later... << She heard his voice in her head, >> You've got a lot of explaining to do... <<

>> How are you doing that? <<

>> Barbara, we're here. <<

She heard another familiar voice in her head. She looked up and saw the Bioship in stealth mode hovering just above her head. She saw it open and Miss Martian flew out.

"Thanks, M'gann!" Batgirl smiled as Miss Martian used her mind to pick her up and bring her into the ship.

"Are you okay?" Miss Martian asked once they settled in the ship.

"Yeah. I'm fine, thanks." Batgirl smiled.

"What were you thinking?"

"I didn't want Dick to find out... At least not right away."

"He heard everything already." Miss Martian crossed her arms, "after this whole fiasco, Jason had already explained what happened."

"Oh..." Batgirl rubbed her elbow.

"Why wouldn't you want him to find out?"

"I wanted to go out and patrol the city... After being left in a wheelchair for a year, I guess I got overconfident..." She sighed and tried to get up, but her legs gave way under her.

"Careful, just sit and relax." Miss Martian caught her and set her back in her chair.

>> Guys. I've contained Ragdoll. Authorities are on the Scene. We should be good to go. I'll meet you two back at the cave. <<

>> Right. Thanks, Nightwing. << Miss Martian nodded, then looked at Batgirl, who was only looking down at the floor.

"You'll go talk to him," she smiled at her, "right?"

Batgirl sighed, "I guess I'll have to..."

____________________________

Barbara sat on her couch, staring out the window at the dark night of Gotham. When she and Miss Martian went to the cave, Nightwing wasn't there. She had that feeling of guilt, and she wanted to believe he was avoiding her. She sighed as she dropped her stuff onto the couch in the living room of her apartment, "I guess I do kinda deserve it..."

There was knocking at the door.

She got up and slowly hobbled to the door, making sure to check the peephole this time. She wasn't ready to go back into a wheelchair again. But still, the man standing at the door made her want to ignore it.

"Babs... I know you're there."

Barbara gathered her courage and opened the door, "Hey."

"Hey. Can we talk?"

"Yeah." She stepped aside to let her guest in, "look, Dick, about earlier..."

"When were you planning on telling me?"

Barbara pursed her lips, "when I was done patrolling... You were going to be the first person I told."

"But why didn't you tell me right away?" Dick put his hands on her shoulders, "as much as I hate saying this, if it weren't for Jason, you'd be dead right now."

"I know..."

They stood in silence, and Barbara saw a mix of emotions in Dick's eyes. Anger, sadness, confusion, love, it was hard to read him.

"Why? You weren't avoiding me because you wanted to go patrolling."

"Yes I wa--"

"Barbara. Stop lying. I know." Soon all his emotions were out the window and replaced with amusement, "you didn't want to admit you lost. Remember?"

Barbara felt her cheeks blush, "wh-what?! I would never--"

"You wanted to be the leader of the team." Dick smirked.

"No, no!" Barbara quickly reassured him.

"You know what that means?" Dick wrapped his arms around her and pressed his forehead against hers.

"I'm... Dumb to think I could win against you?" Barbara chuckled nervously.

Dick only chuckled and shook his head, "right. But we made an agreement."

Barbara swallowed hard, "an agreement?" Her voice was a lot more exasperated than she intended it to be.

"You said you'd marry me if I won."

Barbara's heart was beating so fast.

"The reason I wasn't at the cave..." Dick reached into his pocket, "I had to go buy this." When he held his hand out to her, in the palm of his hand was a black velvet box.

"Dick... But I..." Barbara swallowed hard, wiping away tears, "how can you do this if I never told you about my--"

"That doesn't matter." Dick cut her off, "I love you, Barbara Gordon. I love you and trust you enough to take you to be my wife. That is, if you'll take me to be your husband?" With that, he knelt on one knee and opened the box, "Babs, will you marry me?"

She didn't even know what to say. Now she was a mix of emotions. Surprise, excitement, fear, but above all, happiness, "yes! Of course, yes!" Barbara wrapped her arms tightly around him before he slid the ring onto her ring finger.

"Wally helped me with this." Dick chuckled, "You like it?"

"I love it!" Barbara admired the ring on her finger as it glittered in the light, "do you have a mission?"

"I aborted it to come save you."

"Oh... I'm sorry. You should head back to--"

"No."

"What?"

"I'm staying here with you. Making sure you don't do anything reckless again."

Barbara checked her watch, "Dick, it's midnight. You should go home and get some rest."

"Then I'll just rest here." Dick said nonchalantly as he headed to the couch.

Barbara sighed, "okay, okay..." She smiled, "whatever you say."

____________________________________________________________________________________________

- Next time on Young Justice Season 5 - The Fifth Generation : Water, Earth, and Lightning -

"Put your hands over your head, Punk!"

"Whoa, whoa, what's going on?!" Jaime looked around at the gang of people surrounding him and his sister.

"Jaime!!"

"It'll be okay, Mil..." Jaime hugged Milagro close to him.

>> Jaime Reyes. Use your Plasma Cannon. Its  range and power will be most effective against these men. << Jaime's scarab instructed him.

>> No. Not with this many bystanders... << Jaime saw all the San Diego residents watching, as they were on the busiest side of the city, >> And especially not in front of Milagro. <<

"Jaime, do something!" Milagro held onto Jaime's sleeve tightly as one of the gang members cocked his gun.

"Now hand over your money! All of it!"

>> Scarab!! What do I-- <<

>> Plasma Cannon. <<

>> No! <<

>> Then I can't help you. <<

>> Screw you, Scarab... << Jaime held Milagro tighter.

"Fine." The gang member chuckled, "see ya on the other side."

"Jaime!!" Milagro screamed.

Oh well... Jaime thought, is this really the end?

The last thing they heard was the burst of a gun and screams all around them.