The man holding the restrain loop increased the pressure on Huntress' neck. Her vision blurred, but she managed to hit the man next to her with her elbow, a hard blow on her head let her seeing stars. She gasped trying to take air to her lungs.
Suddenly the men over her were gone.
She heard grunts and yells of pain. She turned, Dinah was there pushing back two thugs with her TK.
::Huntress, are you all right?:: Finally, the redhead's voice was clear in her ears.
"Cough…" The brunette lowered her head, trying to recover her breath.
::Huntress.::
Dinah kneeled next to her partner, who was still coughing and removed the cord from around her neck. She'd descended the building using the emergency stairs when she heard the fight over the comm. She saw eight men over her partner. Her friend was on the ground and couldn't fight against all of them. Oracle knew it and had turned on the automatic alarms of a jewelry store on the corner knowing it would get the attention of the police and interrupt the thugs. Dinah, then, used her TK powers to throw several objects at them.
"She's okay, Oracle." She patted her partner's back. "Who were those men, Huntress?""I…cough… don't know…"
"Seems as if they were looking for you."
"I'm… cough, becoming popular."
::Police are near.:: Oracle said::Move girls.::
"Yeah, I hear them. Come on, Huntress, we need to go." Dinah helped her to stand up.
-----------------------------------
"They were waiting for you," Oracle said, turning her chair toward the brunette.
"Please..." the young woman growled, rubbing her neck.
"Don't 'please' me." She lifted the restraining loop that Dinah picked up "This is not a coincidence. And you told me that someone tried to trap you with a net the other day."
The brunette sighed.
"What kind of friends do you have?" Dinah mocked, crossing her arms.
"Ha, ha, ha…"
"The attack was near the Dark Horse, too." The redhead turned and pressed a button, a big map popped up over the current window. Two red points were blinking. "One was two blocks away and the other one, four. Maybe someone is following you. The false alarm was just a trick to trap you."
"No one follows me," Helena said defensively.
"You said the same thing when Dinah came here for the first time," Barbara smirked.
"All right, all right," the brunette waved her hands, "suppose someone is following me, why?"
"That's what we need to find out, and I'm worried because we don't know if they know that you work there, but I suspect they do."
"You mean… the Dark Horse?"
"Again with the secret identity issue?" Alfred asked, walking onto the platform with a tray of tea and cookies.
"Don't start," the brunette said.
"If someone is following you, he will try to catch you again."
"I'll be ready."
Green eyes locked on her. She didn't like this. "I'll keep an eye on all the emergencies, I don't want anyone surprising us again."
"Maybe this would be useful, Miss Helena." Alfred handed her an "El Gato" WWF mask.
"This is not funny."
The butler, amused, smiled. Dinah took it in her hands and examined it.
"I think it's great."
"You have a big mouth, little bird."
"All right," Barbara said, "I'll do some research and try to figure out what we need to look for."
"Well, gotta go." Helena gave the mask to Dinah. "It's all yours."
"Where are you going?" the redhead asked.
"I have things to do." She walked toward the elevator.
"Maybe she wants to look for another mask." Dinah grinned.
"You aren't going anywhere. Come back here," Barbara said.
"Uh… sorry… I can't, really." Helena smiled lightly. "See you."
Barbara stared at her. She was still avoiding her. It hurt her. She wondered if telling her she knew her feelings had been a good idea. Whatever, too late now. She couldn't change the past.
"Helena, come back here, that bruise around your neck is pretty bad." She wheeled toward the infirmary.
"But…"
"Ten minutes..." she glared at her.
The brunette sighed and followed her, removing her coat.
The feeling of soft fingers touching her bare skin was heavenly. The brunette, her eyes closed, was lost in the moment. Barbara's touch was gentle and soft.
The older woman cleaned bruised neck of the younger woman with alcohol. She wondered how the hell Helena could be purring with that on her bare flesh.
"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked, concerned.
"Marvelous…" the young woman mumbled, smiling. She wanted stay there forever, with the sensation of the redhead on her, her fingers gently brushing her hair back, her long fingers caressing her skin.
"You are weird sometimes." The redhead put antiseptic on the wound. Surely it hurt like hell, but Helena didn't move and kept purring.
"I'll put a bandage just for today, you can remove it tomorrow." Taking a bandage, she put it over her neck.
"Uh uh…"
"All done," Barbara said, moving back.
"Mmm?" Helena growled in disappointment.
"It's done. See? It didn't hurt."
Dazed, Helena lifted her head and touched her neck. Shame she hadn't broken her arm. The time it'd take Barbara to care for her would be longer. She stood up and took her coat.
"Helena, I want to talk to you."
Uh. That sounded bad, really bad.
"Uh… Sure," she said, not convinced. "What's up?"
Maybe Barbara changed her mind and wanted to kick her ass; or maybe she realized Helena couldn't avoid watching her all the time or... maybe she realized that she was really sexy; well, indeed she was, she had a great body and…
"What's going on, Helena" The redhead's question brought her thoughts to a halt.
"Huh?" Blue eyes were pinned by intense green.
"I'm said what's going on?"
"Going on?"
"Helena…" Barbara pinched the bridge of her nose "We talked about this the other day. I told you I'm happy, I'm really happy that you are with us… and you… you've been acting weird…"
"Me? Please!" the brunette laughed nervously.
"You know what I'm talking about," Barbara said, gently touching her arm.
The combination of that damn touch and the look melted her. Why did Barbara have to be so sweet with her? It disabled all her defenses. Helena stared at her in silence. Now what? Tell her she just was trying to avoid feeling what she was feeling for her? That she was dying to kiss her from head to toe and to bury her nose in that perfect neck?
"Helena, I'd like for everything to be as it was before," Barbara explained softly.
No shit.
"We almost never talk."
The brunette moved her hand back. The withdrawal hurt Barbara. She looked at the young woman, who was avoiding her eyes.
"Please, what's going on? It hurts me more to see you avoiding me all the time," she said, lacing her hand with Helena's again. "I don't want you to feel bad. I want us to be friends."
"Barbara, I'm sorry." Finally, the brunette found the courage to find Barbara's eyes. The full moon made the redhead look like a vision. An angelic vision; she was so beautiful; raising her hand she cupped her cheek.
"We are friends, we will be, forever," Barbara said softly. In some way, her own words hurt like hell "You are a wonderful person and I have a lot of things to be grateful for. You rescued me. I'm who I am thanks of you."
"Why did you break up with Dick?" Helena asked abruptly. She needed to know.
After exactly thirty seconds of silence, enough time to consider her answer, Barbara spoke.
"Because he wanted another Barbara, the one that was, the one that died when Joker shot me years ago. He wanted a woman that lived alone, that didn't have more responsibility than his own. He couldn't understood that now I have Dinah, and I have you."
She smiled at her protégée and squeezed her hand. Helena was drowning in a sea of green.
"We survived many things," the redhead continued "our pain, us… he couldn't accept it. No one can make things between us change. No one."
"He's your happiness."
"No, he isn't. Sometimes things looks that way, but it was just an illusion. Not everything you see is real."
"And sometimes," the brunette added "things that you can't see are real. Thoughts, feelings..."
Barbara frowned.
"You will find some one that loves you, Barbara, and accepts you as you are."
She leaned down and kissed her check. Moving back, she found again those marvelous green irises that made her crazy.
Her thumb moved slowly, tracing the older woman's chin. Her index finger moved too and followed the contour of the redhead's lips. They were so soft, she wondered how it would feel to be caressed by them. She wondered how they would taste..
She closed her eyes and leaned in, kissing the lips softly. Her tongue darted out shyly and tasted the soft skin in front of her. The older woman moaned and opened her mouth slightly. The brunette asked for entrance with soft, slow strokes. Barbara's tongue welcome her with a light touch. She was in heaven. It gave her the courage to explore her. She deepened the caress.
"Hel?" Barbara's voice echoed in her ears.
The brunette's eyes opened slowly.
Barbara was staring at her. She was dreaming. She hadn't kissed her, all of it had been her imagination.
She looked at her hand, her fingers were still on the redhead's lips.
Shit.
She moved her hand back and turned, knowing her eyes were no longer blue.
"I'm sorry."
Barbara had seen her eyes, she knew she was aroused. "Helena, wait."
Barbara tried to stop her, but the brunette disappeared behind the elevator doors.
"Please, Helena!"
The older woman felt her heart pounding in her chest, Helena's touch had been electric, a shiver ran through her skin when she saw blue eyes morphed to glowing cat eyes caressing her; she was caught by those marvelous feral eyes.
She'd been certain that Helena would kiss her…And she would kiss her back.
But the spell had broken suddenly.
Kiss her back?
She shook her head. Christ in heaven, the hormones of her young meta ward were affecting her.
-----------------------------------
Helena resting her back on the small balcony of her apartment looking at the stars above her. She was drunk, hard to do, but she was drunk again. Second time in a month, a record. She poured herself another shot and swallowed it all at once
Barbara was still a burning pain in her heart. She was trying, quite unsuccessfully, to get the redhead out of her thoughts and heart. She brushed her hair back. She just wanted to stop thinking, stop feeling.
Josie had been calling her almost everyday, she'd been ducking her calls all week. She was not in the mood for her; luckily, she didn't know where she lived. Being in love with Barbara was like dying a slow death everyday, like being thirsty in a desert, staring an oasis that was merely a mirage. She poured another glass and lifted it to the sky.
"For you."
She swallowed it and closed her eyes.
"What are you doing?" a voice said.
Drowsy, the brunette narrowed her eyes and turned her head. She sighed and poured another glass.
"What are you doing here?" she asked Dinah, who was standing behind her.
The blonde showed her a special instrument to unlock doors. "I'm smart. Why haven't you answered our calls the last three days? Barbara is worried about you."
"She sent you here?"
"Yes."
"I was not in the mood for work."
The blonde sat next to her. She knew what her friend was feeling.
"It'sBarbara?"
Helena stared at her glass. "Yeah…"
"She doesn't hate you. She knows, and she said she wants you with us."
"I know… But it's hard to be with her every day and… well… you know. Hide my feelings from her. Restrain myself from touching her, not tell her how much I love her… Shit." She poured more liquor.
"That is not going to help you to solve things." Dinah pointed at the bottle. "And I'm sure it's not going to make you feel much better."
"Well… at least I can sleep like a log after the tenth bottle." The brunette laughed.
"Come on, Helena, stop this." The teen took the glass from her hand.
"I love her, I'm in fucking love with her…"
"You need to move on, Helena… she will never… love you back. I mean, she loves you, but not like you love her."
"I know." The young woman rubbed her eyes. She didn't want Dinah to see her crying.
"Let's get you in your bed," she patted her shoulder and stood up. "You need to start patrolling tomorrow. I have your "El Gato" mask ready.
"That is not funny."
"It is to me. Come on, up you go."