She hit the door harder. She had been banging on it for the last five minutes, but she was sure she was inside. After a few more seconds, she hit the heavy door again.
"I'm coming! I'm coming!" she finally heard sleepy voice call from inside.
The door opened and Helena appeared, wearing a long shirt as pajamas. Her hair was all over her face and her eyes were half closed from the bright light of the day.
"What's the matter with you?" the brunette growled, annoyed. She blinked in surprise when she recognized her visitor. "Dinah? What the hell are you doing here?"
"Rough night?"
"No. Not a rough night." Helena turned and walked back inside her apartment "I worked until five and at the end I had to handle some drunk people."
"Your specialty." The blonde closed the door behind her and followed her friend.
"Not when you are drunk too. What time is it?" The young crime fighter let herself fall on the coach.
"Eleven. I was out of school early and I wanted to visit you."
"Eleven in the morning? You're insane!" Helena curled up, covering her face with a pillow.
To Dinah's surprise, the apartment was clean and in order. Very different from its usual 'look.' "If you weren't here, I'd say I was in the wrong place."
"Grmmmfff."
"Well, whatever. I brought breakfast." She lifted a bag and walked toward the dining room. "Muffins, croissants and donuts."
A dark head lifted, appearing over the back of the couch. "Chocolate donuts?"
"Yep." Dinah sat down and took out a carton of milk and some donuts. "Hot donuts from Dunkin Donuts."
With a fast, agile jump, Helena was at the table.
"The croissant is mine," the blonde said.
After breakfast, they moved back to the living room. Dinah noticed that the answering machine was flashing. "You have a message. Who's it from?"
"I don't know." Helena pressed the 'start' button.
Beep… Helena, this is Josie. I've been looking for you, please call me….Beep…
"A new friend that I met," Helena explained.
"Oh…"
Beep… We want to give you a free credit card, just call 555-6789 City Bank… Beep
"I think they dialed the wrong number," Dinah giggled.
"Yeah, right."
Beep… Helena, this is Josie. I need to talk to you, please call me… Beep
"Your friend again," the blonde noted
The brunette sighed. "Yeah."
Beep… What's wrong, Helena? I really enjoyed that wonderful night. Didn't you? Please call me… Beep.
Dinah's brows raised. Helena reached to turned off the machine.
"Enough," she said.
Her movement stopped when she heard the next message.
Beep… Hel? This is Barbara… I just want to know how you're doing… -silence- I' appreciate it if you'd call me or… if you want come to dinner, you're welcome, you're always welcome, you don't need to announce that you're coming. –there was a pause and a soft sigh- See you…. Beep
Helena pressed the off button and remained still, staring at the machine.
"She misses you." Dinah explained, her legs over the side of the couch. "You can't abandon us just because of him."
"I have to let her go. Isn't that what love is all about?" the brunette asked in a whisper. "If you love someone, you want what's best for them. Dick is someone who can love both Oracle and Batgirl in one. She'll be happy with him. I want her to be happy."
"Everything is okay, but I can't accept you leaving our team because he is threatening you. You can't let him blackmail you!! Huntress never would accept that. What's wrong with you?"
"Dinah, we've discussed this before. I'm not going to hurt her anymore." The brunette turned and sat on the couch again.
"You're doing it now!"
Shit. The kid always knew how to hit her sore spot.
Helena let her head fall on the back of the couch. "I'll hurt her more if she knows. Could we move on, please?"
"Barbara isn't stupid. When she finds out the truth, she is going to be really pissed at him and at you," Dinah pointed out.
"Don't worry, she'll never know." Dark lashes lowered toward the floor.
"Why did you want to come here?" Dick asked curiously. "I didn't know you liked this kind of bar."
"It's not a bar," the redhead said. "It's the opening of the most exclusive late night club lounge in New Gotham."
"Whatever. You don't like these places."
"Dinah convinced me."
"The Wayne Foundation has its advantages." Dinah winked, walking inside. "They sent the tickets. It would be a shame to miss it and, besides, she needs to relax a bit, she works all day."
"Agreed," Dick said.
Barbara had accepted more because the teen had insisted and, in some way, it was good for her. She needed to distract herself a bit.
Once inside, they were in a cathedral-like temple set under high vaulted ceilings with skylights, worth seeing just on its own. Bare-brick walls and rosewood floors were lined with classy light-brown colored booths, colorful cocktails were Haitian inspired. The dance floor was on the lower floor, backed by high windows, where the city lights could be seen.
They were ushered toward the V.I.P. section on the upper floor and could see the people dancing below. A handsome guy invited Dinah to dance and the teen accepted with enthusiasm. The music was nice and the place excellent; she was having a great time.
Barbara took a sip of her non-alcoholic beer. On the dance floor, bodies were dancing in the artificial smoke. Green eyes were mesmerized by a familiar silhouette moving with the music.
Helena.
She looked incredibly sexy, wearing a black outfit. Her dance partner was a stunning woman, really beautiful… who really, in Barbara's opinion, needed to cover her body with some clothes, she was almost nude. The skirt was the shortest thing she ever had seen and her blouse was… well, there were no words to describe it, but it appeared to be just two small pieces of cloth barely covering the essential.
So Helena really liked women? They had joked and talked about it, but she'd never actually seen it. The woman was deliberately moving into the brunette's personal space. Suddenly, Helena closed the distance and kissed her.
Barbara didn't like that one bit.
That was a fact.
She took Dick's glass of scotch and swallowed it in one gulp.
"Hey, what's that for?" he asked, surprised.
"I'll be right back." The redhead excused herself and wheeled through the room full of people.
Helena was enjoying the night. She'd been avoiding Josie the last few days, she didn't want a long relationship right now. But the woman had been looking for her insistently and finally she had invited her to the opening and it definitely had been an excellent decision. The place was cool and the music excellent.
Until…
Barbara was there, with Dick.
Her heart sunk. What was she doing there?
Whatever, it was the perfect moment.
The tall blonde closed the distance between them. Helena smirked, their faces inches apart; then she leaned in and kissed Josie softly. After a few seconds, she moved back and looked upstairs.
Barbara was gone.
She sighed with relief.
"You had been avoiding me." Josie took her chin in her fingers.
"I had problems."
"May I help?"
"You already did." The dark woman smiled.
"Glad to help." Josie kept dancing.
Helena followed her and, after a few movements, she saw her.
Blue eyes pinned by intense green.
Barbara.
She was staring at her and she was not happy. She had definitely seen the kiss. Dick was behind her with an unfriendly look on his face.
"What's wrong, Helena?" Josie asked, noticing the expression on her partner's face.
"I… I'll be right back." The brunette moved off the dance floor and walked toward the redhead with confident grace. She took the glass of wine from her table and stood in front of her mentor.
"Hi Barbara, nice to see you." She smiled.
The older woman stared at her. Her face was expressionless.
"You look great." The brunette looked at her leg, still in a cast, "How's your leg?"
"Fine. The doctor is going remove the cast next week," Barbara answered coldly, glaring toward Josie. "You seem to be having a lot of fun."
"Well…" the brunette took a sip of her wine. "A friend invited me… What are you doing here? Want to sit at my table?"
The redhead's look still was icy. "You never called me back. I left you messages."
"Oh, well, I've been busy."
"I see… very busy." Barbara nodded, biting her lower lip. "What's going on, Helena?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Nothing." The brunette shrugged her shoulders, trying to keep still. Her mentor looked hurt, really hurt, and it broke her heart.
"All right, I've been trying to stay close and you've been running away from us, from me. If you don't want to talk," Barbara said, her voice biter, "if you don't want to tell me what's wrong, okay, it's your choice. I understand now, you were right. You don't need us anymore. I don't know why you want us to continue being a family, if you're just going to push us away."
The redhead wheeled around, turning her back to the younger woman.
Helena looked at Dick, who was still glaring angrily at her.
"Let's go, Dick," Barbara said.
He stepped toward Helena and stood a few inches from her.
"I warned you," he growled, "Keep away from my woman or…"
"I disappointed her, ok?" Helena said, clenching her teeth and balling her fists. She was fighting the temptation of hitting his stupid face. "Don't worry, I disappointed her already. She'll never want to see me again."
"I hope not." He turned and followed the redhead.
Well.
It was done.
Now she just needed a heart transplant. Hers was crushed. Long arms wrapped around her shoulders.
"What happened, Helena?"
"Nothing." She lifted her eyes and looked at the blonde, "Can we go?"
"Are you angry?"
"No, I just want to go somewhere else… with you."
"Private?" Josie bit her earlobe softly.
"Very."
Green eyes were focused on the brunette when she exited the place in the company of the blonde woman.
Hands moved over her. She wanted to forget, she wanted to stop thinking. To just be lost in the moment. Slowly, a hand brushed against her waist. Josie had her against the big bed, and when the blonde's mouth found her own, she kissed her desperately, with hard, demanding strokes.
The hands on her slid up her abdomen and skillfully cupped her breast, kneading her. When had she taken off her clothes? She was nude; she never felt her blouse removed. Wow, Josie was good at this. Her hands moved to caress the skin of the other woman, it was firm and delicate.
The pressure of Josie's fingers against her soft flesh was delicious. She moaned. That soft mouth moved to her neck, biting her pulse point. The brunette took Josie's head and moved it down, toward her breast. She growled when a warm tongue circled her nipple.
Helena buried her nose in the soft hair below her. She had just one weakness and she'd just discovered it a few months ago; but her weakness had always been there, it was her green-eyed beauty, her lovely Barbara.
She took a deep breath, wishing the woman in her arms was the redhead. But it was an impossible dream. She could only wonder when it had happened. When had she fallen in love with her? Maybe if she'd seen it coming, she could have stopped it in time.
But now it was too late.
Helena parted her lips to speak and Josie hushed her with addictive kisses, a finger delicately moved down and caressed her most sensitive part. The brunette growled again and moved her hand down toward the other's woman center, but her wrist was caught in a strong grip.
"No," Josie whispered, kissing her again "tonight you are my dessert." Her fingers pushed deep into her aching insides.
Helena gasped, her hands moved against the slope of Josie's back, trying to follow the rhythm.
Her eyes fell shut and a shudder ran through her as Josie pushed faster into her.
Helena found the rhythm and closed her eyes. Her imagination and her deep desires filled all her senses and suddenly she was there, with her. The blond hair was no longer blonde, it was red. She was there, moving with her.
She took the head and raised it toward her. The perfect mouth was there; green eyes regarding her. She trapped the lips, but not roughly. The touch was soft, delicate, exploring. Soft kisses ghosted the older woman's jaw, lobe, neck. Yes, she was there.
The movement of fingers inside her increased, carrying her to another world. She buried her face the woman's neck and held her thigh against her, trapped on the whirlwind of lust and love that consumed her.
Everything spun around.
She climaxed.
Her cry was not of pleasure; it was more about pain and release. It was mostly about loneliness and frustration, for the woman that could never be hers…
She tried to recover her breath, her nose still buried in a long, firm neck while Josie stroked the fine, damp hair on her head.
"Helena?" Josie whispered.
"Yeah?"
"You are different, no?"
"Different?" The brunette lifted her head, still breathless, and peered at her through shaggy bangs.
"You are like them, aren't you?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I saw your eyes… They were like a cat's…"
Helena laughed lightly. "You're joking."
"No, I saw you when I was touching you… you're a meta human. Your eyes were…"
The thin woman closed her eyes and rolled to the other side, climbing off of Josie. She stared at the ceiling.
"I don't care." The blonde turned to look at her, resting on her elbow. "I like you. I think we can still have a lot of fun together."
"What do you know about metas?"
"That they are like humans, but they have special abilities. I have some friends like you, but… I never had a lover." Josie moved and, in a second, was on top of the brunette, "And it's fantastic." She kissed her.
"Well…"
"Don't think." Josie moved her lips toward Helena's neck, ghosting kisses. "I prefer you when you are not thinking."
"Yeah?" Helena panted, feeling her eyes change again.
"Yeah."