Chapter Text
It’s been a week since the battle between Batgirl and Manbat. The injuries she took were serious, and she was unable to get out of bed for a few days. New scars on her body were added.
That’s what to be expected when scratched by a beast and thrown through a two-story building. This didn’t stop Cassandra from making her pancakes in the morning and her workout routine.
There have been times when she’s been caught trying to sneak out for a night shift, which is why her suit was taken away, and she was supervised often. Everyone took turns to look after her and make sure she didn’t do anything stupid. It was obvious that not protecting Gotham and taking a break was taking a toll on Cassandra, becoming gloomy.
A dark cloud followed her everywhere, and the light in her eyes dimmed to the lowest. Something had to be done; her recovery had a month left, and Cassandra was already struggling after a week. No one enjoyed watching her rapidly fall into a depressive state, even if it was technically for her own good.
Luckily, Duke and Stephanie had a brilliant idea to fix this problem. The hard part was having Bruce and Barbara agree to it. Barbara was probably their best bet to try first. Cassandra couldn’t know anything before they both agreed. Getting her hopes up only for them to disappoint her would make this issue worse.
Duke was getting ready for his morning shift, and a text message rang from his phone.
Steph💜🤪: I’m heading to the kitchen, distracting Cass incoming soon!
He smiled at the text, tucking his phone away and taking in a deep breath, preparing to convince Barbara. The elevator door to the Batcave opens, and he walks to Barbara’s workstation, seeing her from afar typing on her computer.
“Good morning, Duke, I got your routes ready for today.” She says without taking her eyes off the screen.
“Morning, Babs, much appreciated. Before I leave, I wanted to talk to you about something…” He says his last sentence in almost a whisper.
Barbara turns her wheelchair around, facing him with her attention, “Yeah? What’s up, Duke?”
He takes a moment to gather his thoughts, “Well, everyone knows how Cassandra’s been doing and we’re all concerned for her. Stephanie and I had an idea for how we could help her.”
The redhead frowns, “She hasn’t been herself lately. I’ve tried all of her interests, but they seemed to only work for a moment before she gets back to being depressed…What do you two have in mind?”
“We all know why she’s been down and that we can’t give her what she wants, but what if we do it differently?”
Barbara raised a brow and lifted her glasses, unsure about what was being asked, “Duke, what do you mean?”
He sighs, trying his best to make this sound like a good idea, “Maybe taking her out on day shifts would help? Look, I know it sounds crazy, but trust Steph and me on this. We’ll make sure she doesn’t get hurt.”
Barbara crosses her arms, lips turning thin, thinking through the idea, “I know you guys want to help her feel better; I do too, but her injuries can become fatal if anything happens to her again.”
Duke noticed her answer wasn’t entirely dismissive, “That’s true and we considered that, which is why we need your help. We can make her a suit that’ll protect her, kinda like mine.”
“Duke, even with a suit like yours, it’s still dangerous. This isn’t something we can just do overnight. Though…I’ll think about it.” Seeing the bright smile on the boy made Barbara almost smile too.
“That’s all we wanted and we’ll make sure Cassandra doesn’t know anything about this.”
Barbara nods, “Now go, before I change my mind.”
Duke chuckles before leaving the Batcave on his motorcycle.
Meanwhile…
“After I kicked his ass, I told him he’s lucky Batgirl has a bigger threat to handle, or else you would’ve been in worse shape.” Stephanie rolled the clip on her phone that she recorded with her lenses.
Cassandra softly giggled, watching Stephanie wrap him around a pole with a wire and putting a sticky note on his forehead saying loser. “You did one of the moves I taught you.”
Stephanie smiled proudly, “Yeah! It took me a while to land, but I finally got it.”
Cassandra smiles softly at her, “It was perfect form, too.”
A rush of blush scattered across her cheeks, “T-Thanks, I’ve been practicing them and—“ Stephanie’s phone started to ring and she checked it to see it was Duke.
Cassandra raises her eyebrows, “Who is it?”
“Oh, uh, my mom, I’ll be back.” She runs out of the kitchen and makes it far enough for Cassandra not to hear before answering the call, putting the phone to her ear.
“Hey, Steph, you hear me?”
“Yup, what did Barbra say?” She turned her head, making sure no one was around to hear.
“She said she would think about it, but I think we got a chance here.” Duke's throwing punches were audible through the call.
“Dang, I guess it’s better than a straight-up no, keep me updated.”
“Sure thing, talk to you later.”
The call ends and Stephanie puts her phone back into her pocket. She makes her way back to the kitchen to see Cassandra eating her pancakes. They were small bites, not the usual pace she would eat. Cassandra wasn’t excited to be eating them, and it looked like they weren’t even her favorite breakfast anymore.
Stephanie frowned a little, watching from the doorway and feeling her heart ache for her close friend. She closes the gap between them, placing a hand on Cassandra’s shoulder, “Hey, no chocolate chips in your pancakes?”
Cassandra picked up a piece with her fork, eating it, “Didn’t have any.”
“That’s a shame. I’ll make sure to bring you some tomorrow.” Stephanie took the nearest seat to Cassandra.
“It’s fine, Alfred has already left to get groceries.” She mumbled while chewing on her food.
The tension between them was different, and Stephanie could tell something was up. “When you’re done eating, you want to play that favorite video game of yours?”
Cassandra doesn’t make eye contact. “Sorry, Steph, I’m not really in the mood today.”
Stephanie felt a heavy pang in her chest, “Yeah, o-of course, I should let you rest.”
Cassandra’s eyes look up when she hears a chair being moved back, seeing Stephanie getting ready to leave. “Stephanie…”
Stephanie locks eyes with her, and what Cassandra saw was a hint of worry and hurt. “See you later?” She says with a subtle tone of vulnerability.
Stephanie bites the inside of her cheek, holding back her emotions, “Mhm, see you later.” She turns away and walks off, her heart beating too fast.
Cassandra knew she shouldn’t have looked when she walked off and ears dropped to the phone call. She’s been acting on feelings more than usual recently and it’s difficult to control it. Her body being weak played a part of this, but also the feeling of being useless. Insecurities that Cassandra didn’t know she had shown up and she had no idea how to handle it.
She picks at the pile of cold pancakes she would've eaten already and drops her fork, making her way to her bedroom.
Stephanie rushes out of Wayne Manor, completely confused on how to feel. Yes, she was upset that Cassandra followed her and heard everything, but at the same time she was lying to her. Which is for Cassandra’s own good, but it is still lying. She starts typing a text to Duke.
Stephanie💜🤪: Cass knows something is up.
Her phone is tucked away in her pocket, not expecting a response anytime soon. She gets inside her car and stares straight for a moment before hitting her head on the steering wheel.