Okay, I know it's been forever since I wrote a fanfic around here. I just haven't been all that inspired lately. Then, one day, I was rewatching my BOP episodes for a Turn Back the Clock review I was planning to write. Suddenly, I was inspired. An idea hit me and I thought - I don't think anyone's written this idea before. But I wondered if I could pull it off...I mean, it has been a long time since I've written a fic. Oh well, I guess I'll never know until I try, right? Well, here goes:
A scream pierced the night and curious spectators gathered around the woman lying on the ground, her teenage daughter kneeling beside her, desperately trying to staunch the flow of blood that poured from the woman's abdomen. The young girl pleaded for someone to stop her mother's attacker who ran unmolested into the crowd and seemed to vanish within. Seeing that her cries to the crowd would go unheeded, the girl turned to pleading with her mother to stay alive…not to leave her…but those cries went unanswered as well, as the woman was already dead.
Helena bolted straight up in bed, sweat plastering her hair to her brow and streaming in rivulets down her face. Sweat mingled with tears. Tears for the woman in her dream. For this was no ordinary nightmare. This was a revisitation of the night on which Helena watched in helpless agony as her mother's blood pooled on the cold, wet sidewalk while her killer ran away into the night. A night which took place eight years ago to this date.
"Hey," mumbled her bed partner as he roused from a deep slumber. "You alright?"
Helena placed her face in her hands, sighed and swiped away all evidence of tears. Then she slid out from under the twisted covers and headed toward the bathroom.
"Fine," she threw over her shoulder, glancing at the clock on the nightstand as she passed. "It's 8am. You up for a shower?"
Jesse stared as Helena's lithe form crossed the room and stopped suggestively at the bathroom door. Tired as he was, he simply found Helena's offer irresistible and, growling, made a show of jumping out of the bed and chasing after her as she entered the bathroom. He knew she was dodging his earlier question - that something was bothering her - but Jesse also knew that pushing the issue with Helena would only make her back away from him. Right now, she wished to avoid the issue, but eventually, Helena would tell him. Jesse had learned from experience that patience was more than a virtue when it came to Helena Kyle…it was a necessity.
Barbara sat on the balcony of the clocktower, watching the sun rise over New Gotham, signaling the dawning of a new day. One look at her eyes and anyone could see that the beauty of the sunrise was barely registering – her mind was otherwise occupied. The early morning rays touching her skin lent no warmth. The fiery shimmer they lent her red hair was ignored. Barbara Gordon's mind was elsewhere – focused on another time and place…remembering an event that would rock her world and change her life forever.
"Good morning, Miss Barbara."
The voice, normally so welcome and soothing, coming unexpected as it was, jarred Barbara out of her thoughts, eliciting a gasp as she realized that someone had walked up behind her unnoticed. Spinning her wheelchair around, Barbara turned to face the speaker. Alfred Pennyworth, servant, confidant, friend, and family member, stood just before the balcony doors, a knowing look playing upon his grandfatherly features.
"Oh, Alfred," Barbara blurted, once she could find her voice. "I didn't hear you come in."
"I should say you didn't. I certainly didn't mean to startle you," Alfred replied in a tone that told Barbara he knew exactly why she hadn't noticed his presence.
"Sorry. I was just lost in thought…"
"Thinking about a particular anniversary, were you?"
Again, that knowing glint in Alfred's eye. It alternately amused and infuriated Barbara to realize that Alfred knew her so well.
"Yes…I know it's been eight years, but…I just…it's hard Alfred. I mean, how, on the date of its anniversary, do you not think about the event that completely changed your life. I mean, one minute I was swinging across rooftops, fighting side-by-side with Batman and vanquishing crime from New Gotham. The next, I'm flat on my back, laying in a pool of blood…that…green-haired ghoul staring down at me, the smoking gun still in his hand as he cackles away at his own joke. And the next, I'm being told that I will forever be confined to a wheelchair, never to experience soaring above rooftops with the wind blowing in my hair…never to fight by my mentor's side…never to experience the life I once knew…" Her words trailed off as the coldness of the memory once again took hold.
Pausing to allow Barbara a moment to recover from her thoughts, Alfred offered his advice. "Perhaps the best way to deal with the horrors that this day represents is to realize the beauty it also represents. Other things occurred on this date…good things…such as a young woman coming to you on this very night one year ago, searching for answers and finding hope."
Alfred raised a questioning eyebrow, urging Barbara to recognize her folly.
"God, Dinah!" Barbara slammed her hand down on the arm of the wheelchair as what Alfred was saying sank in. "How could I forget that?"
"Exactly," Alfred admonished. "Now that we've roused you from your brooding, may I brew you some tea?"
Barbara glared. "I was not brooding."
"Of course you weren't." Alfred turned on his heel and walked toward the kitchen, Barbara following close behind.
"I was not!"
"Oh, perish the thought…Good morning, Miss Dinah! How would you like your eggs this morning?"
The blonde teenager had just entered the room and was amused at the sight of Barbara following Alfred, denying some unknown atrocity she had committed. Giggling, Dinah replied, "Alfred, you ask me the same question every day and I always give the same answer."
"Ah yes," Alfred cried, pointing at the ceiling for emphasis. "Scrambled."
Dinah laughed as she watched Alfred rush into the kitchen to begin the early morning ritual of preparing breakfast for the clocktower denizens. As she witnessed the banter between Dinah and Alfred, Barbara couldn't help but smile. Since Dinah had arrived, she had been like a breath of fresh air to them all. The teenager had been through quite a bit, yet still managed to avoid becoming jaded. Her energy and optimism had become infectious and there was no denying the positive effect she'd had on their little dysfunctional family since she'd joined them.
"Where's Helena?" Dinah asked. Barbara spotted the mischievous twinkle in her eye as she added, "She must be getting old. One long night of sweeps and she's too tired to raid the kitchen in the morning for Pop-Tarts?"
Barbara displayed what she liked to call her Teacher's Grin. She didn't want to betray her thoughts to her young protégé, but Barbara was actually worried that Helena hadn't yet arrived. This time of year was painful for both of them, but Helena took it especially hard. She had been very close to her mother and was devastated when Selina Kyle was murdered. Since the day she witnessed her mother's murder, Helena had undergone a profound change. Gone was the innocent teenager, replaced with a hardened, jaded woman who had been forced to grow up too quickly.
Barbara had taken Helena in at a time when she herself had been struggling to understand the new course her life had been forced to take. The both of them were so incredibly immersed in their own pain that they barely had time to acknowledge each other. Barbara's face blanched as she thought back to a date when her absorption in her own self-pity had almost cost her dearly. Barbara turned away from Dinah in an effort to hide her worry from the girl, but Dinah was too quick for her. Brow furrowed in concern, Dinah again inquired about Helena. Sighing, Barbara decided to answer truthfully…somewhat.
"Oh, she probably wants to be alone for a while. She can get like that this time of year. She'll probably show up later, though I don't know what kind of mood she'll be in. But I'm sure she'll be just as surly as ever." Barbara winked at Dinah before moving off toward the kitchen. But as she passed, Dinah thought she noticed real fear in Barbara's eyes.