Title: Gods and Monsters

Author: Wizard Inc.

Pairing: None

Rating: PG-13

Summery: Thoughts of  A troubled sleeper.

Disclaimer: By a cruel twist of fate i own none of these charecters,so please dont get mad and sue.

Author's note: I had a bad weekend,computer problems, everyhting went wrong, didnt get much sleep, nightmares and such, and this little piece was written off of that, sorry if its a little dark amd depressing. You are forewarned.

            Another night, another nightmare. I dont know why I even bother sleeping at night anymore. Sure sometimes I can go awhile with just a few bad dreams a week and a few hours sleep here and there, but now its nights like these, haunted by terrible, painful dreams that are driven by the tortured memories of my fragile existence. So hear I find myself, staring out at the night soaked city that is my undoing and my salvation. I'm supposed to be strong, I'm a hero now, my friends that I love so much believe in me, but i feel so lost. I'm strong now, I can fight to protect the innnocent, but why couldnt I have been strong then, to protect myself. It makes me angry, to once have been so weak and helpless. I was raped and abused, to young to know how wrong it was, unable to truly express the pain and confusion, praying to god that it would all go away, to scared to tell the one person who I knew loved me and would protect me. Now I can fight back, defend the defensless, but I still keep the pain locked inside. Even now I am afraid, wanting so desperatly to set free the years of horror that should have never existed. It makes my heart sick, it eats away at my being. When do we stop praying to Gods and start chasing the Monsters we try so desperatly to keep from becoming? But hey thats the hero gig, kinda sucks. God I feel so old, but I'm still young. I want so desperatly to live up to the ideals I know are so important to Barbara, to be the hero she knows I can be. Guess I'm not a kid anymore, must be the burden of the calling. I sometimes hate it, curse it, but what choice could be justified, that would forsake my soul and destroy my family, my friends, my mentors. It's for them I really fight, they ease the pain, even just alittle.  Listen to me, waxing philosophic, being all broody, guess I'm good at it too. Funny really. Uh oh, not alone anymore, must be thinking too loud again.

"Hey"

I turn to see a sleepy Dinah rubbing her eyes, looking all kinds of cute in one of my oversized T-shirts.

"Nightmare, Huh" she says simply. I nod my head yes and she smiles alittle. She says nothing further and steps in to embrace me, sliding her arms around my waist, pulling me in close so she can rest her head on my shoulder. I sigh and nuzzle her hair.

"You know this is becoming quite a tradition"

I look up to see Barbara wheeling up to us, looking just as haggard as us, with a small smirk on her face.

"Yeah, me and the kid were thinking of starting a club" I reply. Barbara snickered and wheeled in closer, raising her chair to embrace us both in a tight hug, as best she could.

"We will always have each other Helena" ,she says in a slightly misty voice, "You, me, and Dinah, we are family".

My heart lifted alittle, Yeah we will. Always.