Title: The Writings on the Wall
Author: meremortal2k3@yahoo.co.uk
Rating: Pg
Pairing: Helena/Dinah
Disclaimer: I don't own them, I'm just playing
Author's notes: This piece came to me after a frustrating afternoon with my little sister. I just had to put my other stuff on hold and write this. Seeing as you asked nicely, Lena (beta reader), I'll write some more to this.
....................................
"What can I get you?" Helena didn't even look up as she moved on to her next customer of the very long evening. She would be glad to finish up so that she could head over to the Clock Tower and release a little tension with a sweep of her city.
"I need to talk to you."
The brunette lifted cobalt eyes and frowned at the familiar looking blonde standing in front of her.
"I'm Gabby." She could still tell that the other woman didn't know who she was. "Dinah's friend."
"You shouldn't be in here kid." Helena had only seen the blonde maybe three times and that was when she went to see Barbara or Dinah while they were at school.
Gabby shook her head at the brush off. "It's really important. It's about Dinah."
"What about Dinah?" Her hand stilled from wiping down the bar with a damp cloth.
"She's in real bad trouble and I don't know what to do." Gabby spoke quickly, she knew that she was betraying a friend's trust by coming here but it was important. Talking to Ms Gordon was impossible because Dinah and she were always together at school. "She needs help."
Helena leapt over the bar with unnatural ease. "I'm finished for the night." She called back at her supervisor and left, dragging the blonde with her.
........
"Talk." Helena handed the young woman a bottle of water.
Gabby looked around the sparsely furnished apartment. She had heard quite a lot about the gorgeous brunette from her best friend and guessed that she was still spending most of her time with Ms Gordon and Dinah in their home. She took a large gulp of water.
"Dinah's been seeing this guy."
"No way." Helena crossed her arms across her chest as she stood in front of the blonde. "I would've heard."
Gabby shook her head, feeling ringlets hit her face at the ferocity. "She doesn't want you to know." She sat on the sofa and watched the other woman do the same. "His name is Todd. He goes to school with us."
Helena shrugged her shoulders. "So the kid's got a little secret boyfriend. Why pull me away from work for this?"
"I think he hits her." Gabby frowned. She was sure that the spray of water as Helena spluttered was from shock or anger but instead she was laughing - hard. "I'm being serious. I've seen all sorts of bruises."
Helena continued to laugh. "D, can take care of herself." She had taught the teenager herself. "There is no way she would put up with that shit."
"Come on. Dinah's so . passive." She was really getting pissed off by the way the brunette kept on laughing. "And . I've seen him hit her."
Helena stopped laughing, her face falling into a scowl. "Tell me you're lying." It was almost a growl.
Gabby shook her head again. She had the other woman's attention now. "She begged me not to say anything, but . she just took it. He's done it before, I know it."
"What exactly did you see?"
....................................
"Where's Dinah?"
Helena stormed into the Clock Tower like a cat out of hell. She needed to talk to the teenager immediately.
Barbara lifted her gaze from the Delphi monitors and looked towards the pacing brunette.
"Is she in her room?" Helena was about to head up the stairs towards the bedrooms.
"She's at Gabby's." The redhead interrupted her before she even got to the first step. "She called and said that they had a lot of homework to do. She'll be back later."
"For sweeps?" The brunette took a few deep breaths. It would do no good to scream at the idiotic blonde when she saw her.
Barbara shook her head as the other woman came nearer. She puzzled at what had got Helena so mad and guessed that Dinah had probably borrowed something she shouldn't have. "She'll be late. So no sweep for her tonight." Barbara didn't mind, school work was also important.
"So . she said she was at Gabby's." Helena could feel her teeth grinding together at the obvious lie. She had just spent the last hour with Gabby.
Barbara gave a puzzled nod.
"Can you trace her comm. for me?" The Huntress peered over the other woman's shoulder and pointed at the Delphi. "I need to speak to her, it's important."
"Anything I can help you with?" The older woman was curious at what had got her friend so rattled.
Helena turned an apologetic look at Barbara. "Sorry Red, not this time. Now . comms."
Barbara shook her head. "Dinah's not wearing her comm. necklace. She went straight to Gabby's after school . she hasn't been home to fetch it."
Helena ran her hands through messy hair and let out an exasperated sigh. "I'm gonna go and see if I can find her." She headed towards the balcony.
"She's at Gabby's." She quickly wrote down the address on a piece of paper and handed it to Helena.
The brunette knew that the address was useless but she didn't want to worry Barbara. She took the paper before diving off of the balcony.
......
Helena let what Gabby had told her play over and over in her mind as she raced from roof top to roof top. Her cat like eyes scanned the streets below. Her ears listened to the air rushing around her. She sniffed the breeze for familiar scents. Huntress was searching for her young friend.
Gabby had told her that she had seen Todd hit Dinah that afternoon when she wouldn't get in his car and cut the rest of school. Gabby had seen the boy backhand Dinah across the face and then watched as Dinah climbed into the car beside him. She knew that if the strawberry blonde had been closer she would have stopped Dinah from getting in the car and driving away.
Helena roared.
.......
Dinah didn't flick on her light as she entered her bedroom. She had managed to get past her guardian with a quick 'I'm tired, goodnight'. Barbara hadn't been quick enough to see her face as she hurried away. If she had seen the purpling bruise marring her cheekbone, Dinah knew that she would be sitting out there trying to explain it away.
The blonde dropped her backpack to the floor and dragged her heavy feet towards her bed. She sat on the edge and flicked on a lamp. Dinah picked up a mirror and stared at herself. Azure eyes gazed deep into azure. She touched at it gently feeling the sting of damaged flesh. Dinah didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Does it still hurt?" A soft voice swept into the silence.
Dinah gave a startled gasp. Her eyes searching the shadowed corners of her room before settling on the emerging figure.
Helena eased her long ebony duster from her frame and placed it on the end of the bed. She knelt in front of the stunned blonde and held a half melted icepack over the vivid bruise.
"How long have you been in here?" Dinah managed to choke out. She looked down into her lap, avoiding the other woman's eyes.
Helena shrugged her shoulders. The anger had left her body leaving her to feel something that she couldn't explain. "About thirty minutes." She moved the bag of ice and gave it a gentle shake letting them hear the sloshing sound. She thumbed the blonde's chin and lifted her head so that their eyes met. "Why did you let him do this?"
Dinah tried to turn but was held fast so she shut her eyes instead. "Gabby told you." It was a statement not a question.
Helena returned the pack to the teenagers face. "She was worried about you. She saw him do this." She traced the blurry edges of the darkening mark with light fingertips.
Dinah's cerulean eyes flew open. "She saw?"
The brunette nodded.
The blonde hung her head.
"Why, Dinah?" Helena sighed. "You could've bet the living shit out of him before he even came close to hitting you."
"He loves me." Her voice was barely audible.
Helena could feel the anger churn inside of her. She took a deep breath hoping to calm herself down before she said anything stupid. "He wouldn't hit you if he loved you."
"He said he was sorry."
Finger joints popped as the older woman clenched her free hand into a fist. "And how many times as he said he's sorry?"
Dinah raised her eyes. "Does it matter?"
"Yes it matters." Helena tried to keep her voice low so as not to alert Barbara. She wanted to shout and make the blonde see sense but she had a feeling that it would be like yelling at a brick wall.
"He loves me."
"God damn it, D. Stop saying that." Helena grabbed for Dinah's hand. She paused when the blonde flinched. Rubbing her thumb lightly over her hand she gave her the ice pack. "I only wanted you to hold this yourself." Helena stood and backed away.
Dinah's lower lip trembled as she returned the ice to her throbbing cheekbone.
"I would never hurt you." The brunette stopped when her back hit the wall. She slid down and pulled her knees into her chest. She watched the blonde for a long moment.
"But you don't love me." Dinah spoke eventually. A salty tear slid from her eye and mingled with the dampness from the icepack.
"What makes you think that?" Helena puzzled at the logic. "Because I don't hit you, I don't love you?"
"My father hit me."
"And he told you he loved you afterwards." She had heard about the blonde's step-father and it made her blood boil. "I love you Dinah."
Dinah shook her head and sighed as more tears erupted from her pale blue eyes. "But not the way I want you to love me."
Helena stopped breathing. Her mind a blur of activity as she processed the information. "If you love me . then why are you going out with . this . prick?"
"I'm lonely." Dinah sniffed at the snot running from her nose. "I'm seventeen and everything I do is a secret. Being with Todd is the only way I can be close to anyone. He's the only one who wants to be with me . he never asks questions I have to lie to."
"Are you totally whacked?" Helena couldn't believe the other woman's words. "He doesn't ask questions because all he wants is to get into your pants. Oh God, Dinah, please tell me that you haven't slept with this guy."
Dinah's eyes fell to her lap. She didn't need to answer the question, her silence was answer enough.
Helena buried her face in her hands. She knew that she should get Barbara but she couldn't do it to the confused blonde. She pulled herself on to hands and knees and crawled across the room to Dinah. Helena laid her head in the teenagers lap. "You're seriously messed up, you know?"
Dinah chuckled bitterly. She reached down and ran her fingers through silky dark hair. "He loves me." She breathed.
"You don't have to put up with him hitting you." Helena wanted to cry. She remembered how crazy she had been as a teenager. All normal logic flew out of the window when confronted with hormones and emotional highs and lows.
"He said that he won't do it again."
"I'll kill him if he does."
Dinah nodded. She knew that Helena wasn't lying.
"Leave him, D." The brunette scratched at the denim encasing Dinah's kneecap with her thumb nail. "Please."
Dinah was silent as she continued to run her fingers through mussed hair. She chewed on her lower lip and threw the thawed out icepack onto the bedside table so that her right hand could join the soothing. "He loves me."
"I love you." Helena lifted her head. She wanted to let Dinah know that she wasn't alone. "I want to help you."
Dinah ran fingertips along strands of hair and across a firm jaw. She dipped forward and placed her lips on to the other woman's.
Neither woman moved.
The blonde took her lips away and then quickly pecked the brunette again. "Stay with me tonight." She whispered against the soft lips. "I just want you to hold me."
Helena closed her steel blue eyes and took a couple of slow deep breaths. "Okay." She murmured. "Get ready for bed and I'll be back in a minute."
Dinah's eyes were wide with panic as she gripped tightly on to Helena's tank top. "Where are you going? Please don't tell Barbara. Please, Hel. Promise me you won't tell Barbara."
"Sshusshh." Helena tried to calm her young friend down. "I'm just going to get me something to wear."
The blonde shuddered; she was on the verge of tears. "Please don't leave."
The older woman began to stroke long blonde hair. "Okay, I won't." She pulled the bed covers back and eased Dinah down. Helena pulled off Dinah's sneakers and then her own boots before clambering over the blonde and pulling the covers over them. She reached over and flicked off the lamp.
Dinah tugged at Helena's arm so that she was held tightly.
"I won't tell Barbara, D." Helena whispered into the teenager's ear. "But you're gonna have to do something for me."
"Anything." Dinah could feel her eyelids droop as exhaustion flooded her body.
"Dump him."
Cerulean blue eyes flew open. "I can't."
"Then I'm telling Barbara." She pulled Dinah into her body.
Quiet hung in the air for a long time as they each waited for the other to speak first.
Helena squeezed Dinah to let her know that she wasn't asleep. "I'll be there for you. I just don't want to see you hurting. Please Babybird." She left a gentle kiss on the blonde's exposed neck. Her heavy eyes closed and her breathing slowed. "He doesn't love you like I do." Helena whispered as sleep took over.
.................................... Tbc - ?
Author: meremortal2k3@yahoo.co.uk
Rating: Pg
Pairing: Helena/Dinah
Disclaimer: I don't own them, I'm just playing
Author's notes: This piece came to me after a frustrating afternoon with my little sister. I just had to put my other stuff on hold and write this. Seeing as you asked nicely, Lena (beta reader), I'll write some more to this.
....................................
"What can I get you?" Helena didn't even look up as she moved on to her next customer of the very long evening. She would be glad to finish up so that she could head over to the Clock Tower and release a little tension with a sweep of her city.
"I need to talk to you."
The brunette lifted cobalt eyes and frowned at the familiar looking blonde standing in front of her.
"I'm Gabby." She could still tell that the other woman didn't know who she was. "Dinah's friend."
"You shouldn't be in here kid." Helena had only seen the blonde maybe three times and that was when she went to see Barbara or Dinah while they were at school.
Gabby shook her head at the brush off. "It's really important. It's about Dinah."
"What about Dinah?" Her hand stilled from wiping down the bar with a damp cloth.
"She's in real bad trouble and I don't know what to do." Gabby spoke quickly, she knew that she was betraying a friend's trust by coming here but it was important. Talking to Ms Gordon was impossible because Dinah and she were always together at school. "She needs help."
Helena leapt over the bar with unnatural ease. "I'm finished for the night." She called back at her supervisor and left, dragging the blonde with her.
........
"Talk." Helena handed the young woman a bottle of water.
Gabby looked around the sparsely furnished apartment. She had heard quite a lot about the gorgeous brunette from her best friend and guessed that she was still spending most of her time with Ms Gordon and Dinah in their home. She took a large gulp of water.
"Dinah's been seeing this guy."
"No way." Helena crossed her arms across her chest as she stood in front of the blonde. "I would've heard."
Gabby shook her head, feeling ringlets hit her face at the ferocity. "She doesn't want you to know." She sat on the sofa and watched the other woman do the same. "His name is Todd. He goes to school with us."
Helena shrugged her shoulders. "So the kid's got a little secret boyfriend. Why pull me away from work for this?"
"I think he hits her." Gabby frowned. She was sure that the spray of water as Helena spluttered was from shock or anger but instead she was laughing - hard. "I'm being serious. I've seen all sorts of bruises."
Helena continued to laugh. "D, can take care of herself." She had taught the teenager herself. "There is no way she would put up with that shit."
"Come on. Dinah's so . passive." She was really getting pissed off by the way the brunette kept on laughing. "And . I've seen him hit her."
Helena stopped laughing, her face falling into a scowl. "Tell me you're lying." It was almost a growl.
Gabby shook her head again. She had the other woman's attention now. "She begged me not to say anything, but . she just took it. He's done it before, I know it."
"What exactly did you see?"
....................................
"Where's Dinah?"
Helena stormed into the Clock Tower like a cat out of hell. She needed to talk to the teenager immediately.
Barbara lifted her gaze from the Delphi monitors and looked towards the pacing brunette.
"Is she in her room?" Helena was about to head up the stairs towards the bedrooms.
"She's at Gabby's." The redhead interrupted her before she even got to the first step. "She called and said that they had a lot of homework to do. She'll be back later."
"For sweeps?" The brunette took a few deep breaths. It would do no good to scream at the idiotic blonde when she saw her.
Barbara shook her head as the other woman came nearer. She puzzled at what had got Helena so mad and guessed that Dinah had probably borrowed something she shouldn't have. "She'll be late. So no sweep for her tonight." Barbara didn't mind, school work was also important.
"So . she said she was at Gabby's." Helena could feel her teeth grinding together at the obvious lie. She had just spent the last hour with Gabby.
Barbara gave a puzzled nod.
"Can you trace her comm. for me?" The Huntress peered over the other woman's shoulder and pointed at the Delphi. "I need to speak to her, it's important."
"Anything I can help you with?" The older woman was curious at what had got her friend so rattled.
Helena turned an apologetic look at Barbara. "Sorry Red, not this time. Now . comms."
Barbara shook her head. "Dinah's not wearing her comm. necklace. She went straight to Gabby's after school . she hasn't been home to fetch it."
Helena ran her hands through messy hair and let out an exasperated sigh. "I'm gonna go and see if I can find her." She headed towards the balcony.
"She's at Gabby's." She quickly wrote down the address on a piece of paper and handed it to Helena.
The brunette knew that the address was useless but she didn't want to worry Barbara. She took the paper before diving off of the balcony.
......
Helena let what Gabby had told her play over and over in her mind as she raced from roof top to roof top. Her cat like eyes scanned the streets below. Her ears listened to the air rushing around her. She sniffed the breeze for familiar scents. Huntress was searching for her young friend.
Gabby had told her that she had seen Todd hit Dinah that afternoon when she wouldn't get in his car and cut the rest of school. Gabby had seen the boy backhand Dinah across the face and then watched as Dinah climbed into the car beside him. She knew that if the strawberry blonde had been closer she would have stopped Dinah from getting in the car and driving away.
Helena roared.
.......
Dinah didn't flick on her light as she entered her bedroom. She had managed to get past her guardian with a quick 'I'm tired, goodnight'. Barbara hadn't been quick enough to see her face as she hurried away. If she had seen the purpling bruise marring her cheekbone, Dinah knew that she would be sitting out there trying to explain it away.
The blonde dropped her backpack to the floor and dragged her heavy feet towards her bed. She sat on the edge and flicked on a lamp. Dinah picked up a mirror and stared at herself. Azure eyes gazed deep into azure. She touched at it gently feeling the sting of damaged flesh. Dinah didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Does it still hurt?" A soft voice swept into the silence.
Dinah gave a startled gasp. Her eyes searching the shadowed corners of her room before settling on the emerging figure.
Helena eased her long ebony duster from her frame and placed it on the end of the bed. She knelt in front of the stunned blonde and held a half melted icepack over the vivid bruise.
"How long have you been in here?" Dinah managed to choke out. She looked down into her lap, avoiding the other woman's eyes.
Helena shrugged her shoulders. The anger had left her body leaving her to feel something that she couldn't explain. "About thirty minutes." She moved the bag of ice and gave it a gentle shake letting them hear the sloshing sound. She thumbed the blonde's chin and lifted her head so that their eyes met. "Why did you let him do this?"
Dinah tried to turn but was held fast so she shut her eyes instead. "Gabby told you." It was a statement not a question.
Helena returned the pack to the teenagers face. "She was worried about you. She saw him do this." She traced the blurry edges of the darkening mark with light fingertips.
Dinah's cerulean eyes flew open. "She saw?"
The brunette nodded.
The blonde hung her head.
"Why, Dinah?" Helena sighed. "You could've bet the living shit out of him before he even came close to hitting you."
"He loves me." Her voice was barely audible.
Helena could feel the anger churn inside of her. She took a deep breath hoping to calm herself down before she said anything stupid. "He wouldn't hit you if he loved you."
"He said he was sorry."
Finger joints popped as the older woman clenched her free hand into a fist. "And how many times as he said he's sorry?"
Dinah raised her eyes. "Does it matter?"
"Yes it matters." Helena tried to keep her voice low so as not to alert Barbara. She wanted to shout and make the blonde see sense but she had a feeling that it would be like yelling at a brick wall.
"He loves me."
"God damn it, D. Stop saying that." Helena grabbed for Dinah's hand. She paused when the blonde flinched. Rubbing her thumb lightly over her hand she gave her the ice pack. "I only wanted you to hold this yourself." Helena stood and backed away.
Dinah's lower lip trembled as she returned the ice to her throbbing cheekbone.
"I would never hurt you." The brunette stopped when her back hit the wall. She slid down and pulled her knees into her chest. She watched the blonde for a long moment.
"But you don't love me." Dinah spoke eventually. A salty tear slid from her eye and mingled with the dampness from the icepack.
"What makes you think that?" Helena puzzled at the logic. "Because I don't hit you, I don't love you?"
"My father hit me."
"And he told you he loved you afterwards." She had heard about the blonde's step-father and it made her blood boil. "I love you Dinah."
Dinah shook her head and sighed as more tears erupted from her pale blue eyes. "But not the way I want you to love me."
Helena stopped breathing. Her mind a blur of activity as she processed the information. "If you love me . then why are you going out with . this . prick?"
"I'm lonely." Dinah sniffed at the snot running from her nose. "I'm seventeen and everything I do is a secret. Being with Todd is the only way I can be close to anyone. He's the only one who wants to be with me . he never asks questions I have to lie to."
"Are you totally whacked?" Helena couldn't believe the other woman's words. "He doesn't ask questions because all he wants is to get into your pants. Oh God, Dinah, please tell me that you haven't slept with this guy."
Dinah's eyes fell to her lap. She didn't need to answer the question, her silence was answer enough.
Helena buried her face in her hands. She knew that she should get Barbara but she couldn't do it to the confused blonde. She pulled herself on to hands and knees and crawled across the room to Dinah. Helena laid her head in the teenagers lap. "You're seriously messed up, you know?"
Dinah chuckled bitterly. She reached down and ran her fingers through silky dark hair. "He loves me." She breathed.
"You don't have to put up with him hitting you." Helena wanted to cry. She remembered how crazy she had been as a teenager. All normal logic flew out of the window when confronted with hormones and emotional highs and lows.
"He said that he won't do it again."
"I'll kill him if he does."
Dinah nodded. She knew that Helena wasn't lying.
"Leave him, D." The brunette scratched at the denim encasing Dinah's kneecap with her thumb nail. "Please."
Dinah was silent as she continued to run her fingers through mussed hair. She chewed on her lower lip and threw the thawed out icepack onto the bedside table so that her right hand could join the soothing. "He loves me."
"I love you." Helena lifted her head. She wanted to let Dinah know that she wasn't alone. "I want to help you."
Dinah ran fingertips along strands of hair and across a firm jaw. She dipped forward and placed her lips on to the other woman's.
Neither woman moved.
The blonde took her lips away and then quickly pecked the brunette again. "Stay with me tonight." She whispered against the soft lips. "I just want you to hold me."
Helena closed her steel blue eyes and took a couple of slow deep breaths. "Okay." She murmured. "Get ready for bed and I'll be back in a minute."
Dinah's eyes were wide with panic as she gripped tightly on to Helena's tank top. "Where are you going? Please don't tell Barbara. Please, Hel. Promise me you won't tell Barbara."
"Sshusshh." Helena tried to calm her young friend down. "I'm just going to get me something to wear."
The blonde shuddered; she was on the verge of tears. "Please don't leave."
The older woman began to stroke long blonde hair. "Okay, I won't." She pulled the bed covers back and eased Dinah down. Helena pulled off Dinah's sneakers and then her own boots before clambering over the blonde and pulling the covers over them. She reached over and flicked off the lamp.
Dinah tugged at Helena's arm so that she was held tightly.
"I won't tell Barbara, D." Helena whispered into the teenager's ear. "But you're gonna have to do something for me."
"Anything." Dinah could feel her eyelids droop as exhaustion flooded her body.
"Dump him."
Cerulean blue eyes flew open. "I can't."
"Then I'm telling Barbara." She pulled Dinah into her body.
Quiet hung in the air for a long time as they each waited for the other to speak first.
Helena squeezed Dinah to let her know that she wasn't asleep. "I'll be there for you. I just don't want to see you hurting. Please Babybird." She left a gentle kiss on the blonde's exposed neck. Her heavy eyes closed and her breathing slowed. "He doesn't love you like I do." Helena whispered as sleep took over.
.................................... Tbc - ?