Chapter 24

"You two are getting along well." Barbara said as she arrived in the batcave and caught Terry with Rose laughing together.

"C-commissioner!" Terry stood up startled.

Rose also stood up even though she didn't have to.

Barbara furrowed her brows at this curious scene.

"Anyway...Terry." Barbara called Terry's attention. "You may already know that Derek Powers finally revealed his hideout."

"Yeah. I figured that was the case when you called."

"That's not all." Barbara took out a device from her pocket and threw it at him.

Terry caught it. "What is this?" He said as he examined it.

"It came with this letter addressed to the Batman." Barbara threw the letter like a throwing star and Terry caught it.

Terry opened the letter that was already opened and widened his eyes.

"It's from her father, Slade Wilson." Barbara said.

Rose Wilson widened her eyes at the mention of her father's name. Her and Terry looked at each other for a moment.

"The device you have there allows you to communicate with him. He said he'll tell you his location when he's ready and to bring his daughter safe."

Barbara made a condescending laugh. "He really thinks we're villains like him." she scoffed. "As if we'd touch his daughter."

"Y-yeah. As if." Terry said and blushed.

Rose Wilson with a reddened face looked away and put her hand in her pocket.

Seeing this, Barbara widened her eyes then narrowed them as she looked at Terry.

"Tell me something, McGinnis," Barbara drew closer to Terry to take a good look at his face. "What time did you get here?"

"Huh?" Terry voiced his confusion to Barbara and looked away from her eyes. "A-about seven in the morning?"

"Liar. You always come here at exactly eight every Sunday." Barbara said.

"I-I was bored and so I came here early." Terry said.

"Really? Then you don't mind if I check the security cameras then?" Barbara said as she walked towards the batcomputer. The Wayne manor was littered in security cameras.

"N-no!" Terry blocked Barbara from getting to the computer with his whole body.

Barbara looked Terry dead in the eye and asked away. "You slept together, didn't you?"

Terry looked away from Barbara's gaze.

Barbara turned around and looked at Rose who was also blushing looking away.

"You did, didn't you?"

They couldn't answer.

Barbara sighed. Their silence was enough of an answer.

Barbara walked down to the couch and plopped down on it. She heaved out a sigh as she pushed back her hair.

"We didn't want to hide it from you," Terry started speaking. "We planned on telling you eventually. You just beat us to it."

"You know, Bruce always advised not to have romantic relationships within the team." She uttered as she stared into space. "It could lead to problems."

"What about Dick and Kori? Beast boy and raven." Rose feeling irritated about her statement, used her Titans family as an example.

"Their parents didn't exactly kill the other, right?" Barbara said as she was sitting on the couch next to Rose.

Rose looked away again.

"Haaah," Barbara heaved out a sigh. "Look. I'm not saying this to forbid you. I understand how you feel. I'm just saying this to make sure you know the complications of what you're doing. Especially with both of your circumstances." Barbara combed her hair and looked up at Rose who was standing next to her. "Do whatever you want."

Rose was visibly delighted and immediately hugged Barbara.

Barbara was surprised by the sudden attack but she just sighed and smiled as she received it. She countered by rubbing Rose's back.

"Ehem" Barbara cleared her throat before looking at Terry in front. "It's not going to be easy, and it sure as hell not going to be pretty. But I wish you two the best." Barbara said as Rose continued to embrace her.

Terry smiled happily in reply.

He slowly turned around towards the computer, still smiling, and proceeded to erase security footage from last night. Because how could he have forgotten such an important detail.

Barbara saw this and her eyebrows twitched while still smiling.

It was a good thing that the owner of the house, Alfred, didn't notice them sneaking in the night.

----

"Okay," Barbara once again started the meeting after the whole Terry and Rose issue. "This is the plan." Barbara touched her smartwatch and an audio clip started playing on the batcomputer.

-This nerve gas can deteriorate a human being's body until...

The audio clip contains Powers selling weapons illegally to overseas clients.

"This audio clip serves as evidence to grant a search warrant but we need to raid the place with Powers being there physically so it could really stick. That's when you call deathstroke to separate them."

"While we handle deathstroke, you handle Derek Powers."

"That's right."

"Sounds simple enough." Terry said.

"It won't be simple on your side."

"I know." Terry said as he took a glance at Rose who was carefully listening.

"Good morning, everyone." Alfred came in the batcave and greeted them.

""""Good morning"""" All three of them greeted him back.

"You all seem to be deep in thought." said Alfred.

"We're proofing our plan. We don't want a mishap to happen."

"Can I help?" Alfred said.

"Sure."

Barbara proceeded to explain what they had planned so far.

"Hmmm." Alfred "The plan is simple enough. Barbara and the police handle Derek Powers while Terry and Rose take care of deathstroke. There seems to be no holes unless they produce something unexpected."

"Exactly. We can't help them and they can't help us and so we need to do our best to hold our end." Barbara said.

"You are basically fighting on two fronts without any backup."

"!!" Terry jolted.

"What is it, Terry?" Rose asked.

"We do have backup!" Terry said to them.

All eyes fell on Terry.

----

"I'm home~"

"Terry. You didn't come home again last nigh- Oh! It's you again." Mary McGinnis found a pleasant surprise behind his son Terry.

"Hello." It was Rose Wilson being held by the hand by her son.

"Oh my." Mary said bashfully.

Terry awkwardly smiled as he combed his hair back.

"Terry?" Matt came down from the stairs as he rubbed his eyes. His hair was disheveled and he was in his pajamas. He widened his eyes as he found the girl his big brother was with yesterday. "You're with your girlfriend again?"

"Why are you just getting up?" Terry replied with another question.

Matt got stiff and eked his head towards his mother.

"Matt." She was angry. "I told you not to stay up so late playing those games, didn't I?

"Y-yes."

"You can't go out today with stacy."

"W-what?"

"You're staying here. I'll call her parents. Now, go eat your food."

Matt looked at Terry with furrowed eyebrows as he walked towards the dining table.

"Don't look at your brother like that. It's your own fault." Mary McGinnis strictly said.

Matt continued walking dejectedly.

Terry and Rose just laughed.

Mary just smiled and invited the couple in.

All of them sat down on the living room.

Terry and Rose sat down while still holding hands.

Mary McGinnis noticed it and smiled. "You're both bold today." She teased "You didn't even want to show it yesterday."

"We wanted to make it official first before telling you." Terry said casually when in fact, they were no more than acquaintances yesterday.

"Well, I'm happy for you both."

Terry and Rose smiled. Mary smiled as she watched her son finally find happiness.

"Rose?" Mary called Rose's attention.

"Yes?" Rose replied.

"Would you like to see Terry's baby pictures?" She asked her with a smile.

Rose's eyes flashed.

Terry's world slowed down.

He saw everything that happened next in detail after his mother said those words.

Rose immediately letting go of his and saying "Yes" as she moved to edge of her seat in excitement.

Mary McGinnis quickly taking out a photo album under the coffee table in the middle of the living room. It was all hard copies and not digital which made it much worse.

His face slowly changed from a bright smile to something distorted.

Sweating bullets, his hand reached out towards the photo album in his mother's hands but Rose beat him to it.

It was too late. The impending doom has come. Rose opened the cursed baby photo album.

Because why do mothers think that showing their children's embarrassing baby photos to their significant others should be an event that must absolutely happen?

Rose Wilson and Mary McGinnis laughed as they flipped through the pages of the album and Mary consequently telling Rose the embarrassing stories behind it.

Terry was letting himself be swallowed by the abyss at the other end of the couch as his mother and his girlfriend bonded.

"Hey, Terry. I got the new denizen evil game. Do you want to come with."

Terry didn't even need to think about it. He wanted a reason to escape from the hell that he is in. He grabbed his brother like a doll under his arms and ran towards his room.