A/N: Part 9 of my 50 drabbles challenge, I've been dying to write Barbara with the girls! I'll probably try more in a few days, so stay tunned!
Gotham and its characters are not mine.
Hope you guys like it and I'll wait for your review :D
The slow pace of progress
Those girls would never be hers to claim, Barbara knew that. They were too wild, too carefree to be tamed and that was the real beauty in them. In fact, they kind of reminded her of herself – the cockiness, the smart mouth and the physical beauty they didn't know they had.
Those girls brought to life something primal in Barbara that she supposed was very close to mother instinct.
Not that she would ever adopt them (they would never agree to that), but there was some real instinct of protection and responsibility towards them that sobered her up, especially when Selina disappeared for four nights. Despite all the times Ivy assured that the other girl was fine, that she'd come back, she was worried. Jim had told her that once there were professional killers looking for Selina, so it took away her sleep.
She gave her bed up to Ivy and would stay up for most of the night, worried and sick waiting for her girl (no, not hers, she couldn't claim her) to come back home, only actually falling asleep when her body would give up to exhaustion.
On the fifth morning, the door was finally closed with a loud bang, waking Barbara from her light sleep on the sofa. A little uncertain, Selina walked into the living room, her hair wild, her cheeks pink with the cold; she was limping, there was a bruise in her chin, but she was hanging on.
"Where the hell have you been?" Barbara asked getting closer, her voice catching with worry. She reached out and for once Selina didn't flinch, so she touched the girl's cheek, cold as a stone, felt her tremble as her body adjusted to the room's temperature.
"Hiding." Selina replied, her voice small with the lack of use and Barbara knew it wasn't the time for more questions, so she nodded.
"Just…" she started, feeling useless and the girl shivered, her eyes a little lost. Giving up to what her gut was telling her, Barbara stepped forward and embraced Selina. "Don't you ever do that again." She said in the girl's hair and after a moment of hesitation Selina held her back.
Unable to hide the shock, Barbara looked ahead of her smiling and saw Ivy coming down the stairs.
Now, Ivy was this little sunshine from a sunset, warm and clever and so, so intelligent that it was almost hard to keep up with. Barbara had no trouble to bring her under her wing, because she was so eager to learn everything she could.
But Selina? Selina was tough love. She pushed and pressed and avoided and doubted every single step of the way. To let herself be in Barbara's arms was a huge step from the skittish cat she once was. And that was progress.
"Cat?" Ivy called out and Selina let go of Barbara just enough to look at her friend. "Are you alright?"
Before Selina could say anything, Barbara held her shoulders, starting to lead her to the stairs.
"I bet you are tired and hungry, huh?" she said warmly. "Come on, V, let's prepare a bath so you two can chat in private while I prepare breakfast, what do you think?"
The girls exchanged a look as they used to do when Barbara crossed some line, but this time they said nothing. Somehow, she managed to gain their trust and that was enough for all of them, it seemed.