After making sure Ivy and all of her henchmen were securely tied up, I called Commissioner Gordon to come arrest them. It wasn’t long before Poison Ivy was back on her way to Arkham Asylum, where she belonged.

I then called Batman to see if he needed help with the Riddler. After making it evident that he didn’t need help, to my dismay, he told me to hit the showers. I decided that I could patrol the city for a little while before going home.

I walked up and down all the slums of Gotham before realizing that Annie would be done with her shift shortly. “I better go trail her to make sure she doesn’t go through that alley way and get into trouble again” I thought to myself, secretly I just wanted to see her.

I jumped from rooftop to rooftop until I eventually reached the neighborhood of the diner, then I went into stealth mode. I hid in the shadows across the street from the diner, waiting to see if Annie came out; eventually she did.

She looked much different then how she did when she went in. Instead of her jean shorts, black converse and colorful tie dye t shirt, she was wearing a frilly pink skirt and collared pink button down shirt. She looked like she belonged as an extra for the movie Grease. Her beautiful long brown hair was now concealed in a pony tail and she looked like she was having a rough night.

 She started walking down the opposite way as the alleyway and I let out a sigh of relief. My curiosity got the best of me and I decided I should follow her home, just to make sure she didn’t run into any trouble. I stayed back at least twenty feet so if she turned around quickly she wouldn’t catch me. She looked anxious and kept looking over her shoulder. I began to think she knew I was following her but I tried to stay concealed in the shadows of Gotham’s streets.

All of a sudden my phone started beeping and Annie whirled around. Luckily, I was able to hide before she noticed me. I looked down at my phone to see a message from Batman, asking where I was. I started to send my reply when I heard noises that gave me goose bumps.

I could hear a deep male voice shouting “YOU! YOU’RE THE GIRL THAT GOT MY WHOLE GANG BUSTED BY THE BAT!” Then I heard the sounds of a struggle. I quickly ran out of the concealments of the shadows to protect Annie.

The streetlights enlightened me on what was happening. The man threw his fist at Annie and I cringed knowing that I could not reach her in time. Annie surprisingly blocked the punch with her forearm and went to throw her own punch but it was blocked. I continued racing toward Annie.

She landed a hard blow to the man’s stomach and it looked like she could win the fight easily. But then the gang member unexpectedly pulled out a pocket knife. Annie didn’t see it and when she went to block a punch, she got cut in the forearm.

Finally, I reached the pair and started furiously beating up the man who had hurt Annie. The criminal was a bloodied, bruised pulp when Annie pulled me off of him.

“Are you okay?” I asked as I delicately reached for her forearm. The gash was deep and it looked like it might need stitches.

“I’m fine” She replied earnestly. “Thank you” she said “for saving me again”, I blushed.

“Come on” I said, eager to change the subject, “I’ll take you home.” I figured that we should stay on the ground instead of propelling through the sky.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Annie said abruptly “It must be fun fighting crime...”

I looked at her in awe, and then replied “fun? Well the bad guys want to kill you at every possible moment but other than that.” She then chuckled.

 I realized how amazing her laugh was, it was the perfect ratio of dorky and beautiful.

“But seriously I mean you get to fight the criminals of Gotham, everyone loves you and I bet you get all the girls-” She started saying.

I interjected “I do NOT get all the girls, I don’t even think Batman gets the girls!” This made Annie fall into a fit of giggles.

I noticed how heavily her cut was bleeding. “You need to keep pressure on that” I said as I gestured to her arm.

 “It’s fine” she said “doesn’t even hurt” she muttered under her breath, she could be so stubborn!

She then asked me various questions about what it was like to be Robin that I struggled to answer and we reached the door to her apartment. When we reached the door, Annie pulled out her key. “Isn’t your family home?” I asked, not wanting to leave her alone, even in her apartment.

“Uhh” She stuttered “well it’s just me and my brother and he doesn’t come home until really really late sometimes. He’s a police officer.”

I nodded to show my understanding and then I insecurely asked “Can I come in to fix your cut?” I was worried Annie would think I was a complete creep but to my surprise she actually said yes.

She gathered some medical supplies and sat down on the sofa. I held out my hand and beckoned for her arm. Using the medical training Batman had given me, I was able to stitch up the gash so she was as good as new.

As I was stitching her up, I dropped a roll of bandages on the floor. I bent down to pick them up and was overcome by pain, I had forgotten about being kicked in the stomach repeatedly by Ivy’s henchmen. Annie seemed to notice my  random antics because she asked if I was okay.

“It’s nothing” I replied back, “the bad guys don’t like to take it easy” I then added. Eager to change the subject, I then said “You know you almost took out that mobster completely by yourself. If he didn’t play dirty with that knife, you could have taken him down without a doubt. Where did you learn to fight like that?” Annie then made a face like she was trying to make a decision and then she told me.

 “Well, I don’t normally tell people this but I feel like I can trust you so I will…” I blushed at the thought of being trusted, “when I was little my dad was a famous boxer. They said he was going to go on to be the best. He taught my brother and I how to box too. We were each champions at one point or another. Then one night he won the highest title you can receive in American Boxing and I guess someone didn’t like that because they shot him…” she explained.

I felt so horrible for her and then I remembered my parent’s similar fate. The Flying Graysons were the best acrobats around until my dad refused to pay a mob boss. He then messed with their equipment and my mother and father  fell to their deaths.

“I’m sorry” I said empathetically “I know what it is like” I placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. I then  became aware of my actions and decided it was time to go before I did something stupid.

“Well you should be all set” I said as I made my way out the door. “I’ll walk you up to the roof!” Annie said enthusiastically. We walked up the fire escape to the roof. The stars seemed to shine ten times brighter than they would on any other night.

“Well, you’re safe now” I said as I got ready to make my departure from the rooftop, “And if you’re ever in any trouble again, I’ll be there to save you.”

I went to turn and leap of the rooftop when suddenly I got a shot of confidence and adrenaline.  I took a step closer towards her, we were almost touching. I felt different with my mask on, like I had more confidence and I could do anything I wanted.

“You know something?” I started to say. She tilted her head to the side in curiosity.

“You’re a hell of a lot prettier than Poison Ivy.” I exclaimed and with a massive burst of confidence, I kissed her.

I slipped one of my hands around her hip and the other around the back of her neck. I then leant her backwards so her back formed a perfectly beautiful arch. My lips touched hers and it ignited a fire, she tasted like wintermint and felt like sunshine. I didn’t want the kiss to end but I knew it had to as I pulled myself off of her with dismay.

She then whispered to me “Will I ever see you again?”

I smiled “If you’re ever in trouble, I’ll find you. And besides, I feel like we’ll be seeing each other around.” I let out a hardy laugh and flew off into the night.

Little did I know that a few rooftops away two of the most insane criminals on the planet were watching Annie and I. Their meeting must have gone something like this:

Through a pair of binoculars, Harleen Quinzel, or Harley Quinn, watched me and Annie.

Then she cackled to her insane lover “Wowzahs Mr. J! It looks like the Bird’s got himself a girlfriend!”

The Clown Prince of Crime himself, the Joker, then replied to his beloved harlequin “Right you are, Harley. And it looks like we can use her to get to the little robin, and then all we have to do is pluck Robin’s feathers until Papa Bat comes running.”

The Joker laughed hysterically. Then he made his way to the edge of the rooftop, Harley Quinn following him.

“Come on, Harley dear. We’ve got scheming to do” He began to laugh manically.