EVEN STEVEN

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Birds Of Prey. They belong to their respective creators at DC Comics. No copyright infringement is intended.

As I look over the side of the building I can see him standing there. He's alone, standing by a parking meter and writing something down in his little, black notebook.

I jump off the side of the building and glide down to the ground, landing behind him. The rush of air from my decent blows past him and causes him to quickly turn around. "Why do you do that?"

"Habit, I guess." I smile at him, loving the fact that he's annoyed. "Whatcha up to?" I try to sneak a peek at his notebook but he's onto me and closes it, tucking it into his jacket pocket.

"None of your business. Don't you have anything else to do besides bug me all the time?"

"Bug you?" What a complete bastard, I think to myself. First the guy asks me what I am and now he's implying that I'm a thorn in his side. "Funny how you keep forgetting about how I saved your life and insist on treating me like utter crap."

"You can't keep holding that over my head."

I fight the urge to punch his lights out and just let out a sarcastic chuckle, "Nice. Real nice. No wonder you're single."

Reese shakes his head and throws his hands up in the air as he turns around. Just as he's about to speak I use this opportunity to climb up the wall of the building behind me and disappear into the night.

When I get to the roof top I drop to the ground near the air conditioning unit and lean my back against it. Dr. Quinzel wonders why I have a hard time letting people in? Tonight is yet another pure example.

"Huntress?" Barbara's voice comes through my ear.

"Yeah?" I answer as I wipe a tear from my eye.

"How's the sweep coming?"

"It's quiet tonight. I'm on my way back."

"Okay. I'll see you in a few then."

"Yeah."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. I'll see you in a little while." I turn my communication device off and sigh as I look up at the night sky. Then I hear a noise towards my right. Getting up, I see Reese walking towards me. "Lemme guess, you've come to apologize and say that you didn't think before you opened your mouth and stuck your foot in it?" He doesn't answer me, just gets closer and closer, looking me right in the eye. Before I can say another word his mouth covers mine and he begins to kiss me, deeply.

After a few moments he pulls away and smiles at me. I swallow hard and can feel my heart beating a thousand miles an hour. "What was that for?" I asked him.

"I just wanted to taste you before I kill you."

The words weren't registering to my brain because they didn't make any sense. "What?" I asked, completely confused by his statement.

Reese took a step back and his eyes narrowed. He lifted up his right hand and it instantly turned into a knife. He lunged at me and I quickly dodged his move. I turned back around and kicked out, landing a strike to his kidneys. It didn't seem to have any effect on him because he didn't even flinch, it just made him madder. His left hand now became a knife as well and I could feel my odds of escaping death slipping away.

He slashed one of the blades toward my stomach and I managed to duck away but he swung his elbow around and caught me on the side of the head. I stumbled backwards and he came at me again. He tackled me, pinning me to the ground, holding the blade of the knife under my chin. I could feel the tip digging into my skin and warm blood trickling down my neck. "What did you do with Reese?"

"I am Reese."

"No you're not. Reese isn't a cold-blooded killer." It was hard not to believe that he wasn't Reese because visually it was him. Before he could answer, I got my leg up between his legs and shoved him off of me, sending him flying, crashing into a heap, unmoving.

I got to my feet, putting my hands on my knees. I felt like I'd just run a marathon thanks to a mixture of adrenaline and fear. I bowed my head for a moment to catch my breath and when I looked up he was gone. Straightening up, I looked all around for him but saw nothing, nothing but a blur that is. He came at me like a hurricane, crashing into me and sending both of us right through the wooden door to the stairwell. We tumbled down a flight of cement steps and all I felt was pain. Stabs of pain with each tumble.

We crashed onto the cement landing and I was thankful that we'd finally stopped falling. Thanks to a blow to the head I struggled to stay focused. I looked up and saw Reese, or whoever he was, running away. My head rolled and I saw one of the knives on the ground near my foot. It looked like it had broken off his arm. Then I noticed the blood on it. And as soon as I thought of the word blood my body decided to give me a wake up call by turning up the pain.

As I lay there on the cement, clenching my teeth against the intense pain, I peered down at my body to take stock of my injuries. I definitely broke some ribs on my right side. When I went to touch the sore area of my ribcage I screamed out as a burning pain flared up in my right shoulder. And as I brought up my left hand to squeeze my sore shoulder I screamed out again as another surging burn of pain flared up, but this time in my left shoulder. I had a stab wound in each shoulder and each were bleeding pretty bad. Great. I was a bloody mess.

I crossed my arms over my stomach, trying not to move. I squeezed my eyes shut and sobbed a bit, frustrated that I was now helpless. The smell of my own blood turned my stomach but I put it out of my mind.

As I closed my eyes for only a second, I tried to think about what to do. I faded off for a moment but then quickly opened my eyes when I heard a familiar voice. "Hey! What happened? You okay?"

Reese knelt over me and panic instantly coursed through me. I cried out in pain as I tried to get up and get away from him. "Get away from me!" I screamed at him, inching away.

"Whoa! Hold up, don't move around." He placed his hands gently on me and tried to ease me back down.

I panted from the struggle and the pain. "Show me your hands," I said through clenched teeth. He looked at me with a confused look. "Show me!" He held up his hands and I looked them over. I suppose they were indeed the real Reese's hands since I'd probably be gutted like a fish by now if they weren't.

I felt my body relax and felt Reese's strong hands on me as he held me in his lap. "We need to get you to the hospital."

"No!" I protested. "I can't go..."

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry. Listen, I have another way." Reese scooped me up into his arms, holding me close to him, doing his best to be gentle. I could smell the musky aroma of his cologne which soothed me. Then I passed out.

- - -

When I woke up, I instinctively tried to get up but the pain sent me right back down. "Damn it!" I swore out loud. I looked down and saw that the wounds in my shoulders had been cleaned and bandaged. Both arms were bound against my chest, which wasn't doing much for my ribs but I didn't have much choice in the matter. I had on a white wife-beater undershirt that obviously wasn't mine because it was a little big.

Checking out my surroundings, I saw that I was in a bedroom but not my own. Before I could try and figure out where I was, Reese stepped into the room. "Morning," he said with a smile. "You okay?"

"Oh my God, am I at your apartment?"

"Yeah. I..."

"I can't be here." I tried to get up but the pain was too much.

"You're not going anywhere." He sat down next to me on the bed and held up a little blue capsule. "Here, take this."

"What is it?"

"It's pain medication."

"I'm fine, I don't need it." Part of me wanted take it because the pain was killing me but the other part of me still didn't trust the whole situation.

"You really should take it."

"I'm fine, really."

Reese shrugged, "Suit yourself," he said as he placed the pill on the nightstand. "You hungry?"

"Honest, I don't mean to be a rude house guest but I really have to go. Where are my clothes?" As soon as I said the word clothes I looked down at my necklace but it wasn't there. "Where's my necklace? Shit! Where's my necklace?"

"Take it easy, it's with your clothes."

"Can I have my things please?"

"And how do you expect that you're going to get yourself dressed when you've got a hole in each shoulder and two broken ribs?" Reese folded his arms over his chest, acting cocky about being right.

I leaned my head back and cursed to myself. "This is so messed up." Silence hung in the air for a few moments. "You didn't take me to the hospital did you?"

"No. I have a doctor friend that came over to help you."

"What did you tell him?"

"Nothing. He's used to doing 'don't ask questions' work on people who have bullet wounds, stab wounds and stuff." Reese looked at me and it was hard to get a read on what he was feeling. "So, you mind telling me what happened last night? I went to find you to apologize and when I do find you you're bleeding all over the damn place."

It took me a moment to shake the cobwebs from my mind. "After I left you on the street I went up to the roof. I was only up there a few minutes when you showed up."

"Huh?"

"Well, it was someone that looked like you, exactly like you. He kissed me and then attacked me. His hands..." I stopped for a moment, unsure about telling him about what I saw.

"His hands? His hands what?"

"If I tell you, you have to believe me."

"Okay."

"His hands were knives. They were normal one minute and knives the next."

"I found a knife at the scene. They're running it for prints."

"You didn't!" I could feel my anger bubbling inside me.

"Didn't what?"

"Oh shit! That knife has my blood on it. My DNA! My meta-DNA! I don't need the police..."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it. I'm sorry. I didn't even think..."

I didn't even let him finish. "You have to get that knife before they do testing on it. Please." I just wanted to bust out crying I was so pissed.

Reese got up from the bed, "I owe you one. I'll take care of it."

His words made me fill a little bit better. At least he was finally admitting that he owed me one. "Thank you."

Reese turned to leave and was greeted by Dinah and Barbara. "What the? How'd you get in here? Who are you?"

I was shocked to see them standing there just as much as they were to see me in my saddened state. "Reese, it's okay. They're my friends."

"What kind of friends break into people's houses? Girl, you run with a weird crowd."

Barbara wheeled into the room, Dinah followed close behind, "I'm sorry for barging in unannounced, please forgive us. But we were worried." Barbara turned to me, "Are you okay? What happened?"

"Long story," was all I could say.

"Um, I'm gonna go take care of something," Reese said, a little uncomfortable with the situation.

"Reese. Thanks for taking care of her," Barbara said.

"You're welcome?"

Barbara saw that he wanted to know her name and she kindly smiled at him. "I'm sorry, I wish I could give you a name but I can't."

Reese rubbed the back of his head, "I know, I know." He smiled and left the room.

"What the hell happened?" Barbara asked me in a pissed off tone. "You tell me you're coming back to the tower and then you never show up. I track your comm device and here you are. But I honestly never expected to find you in this condition." She peeked behind my bandages, frowning at the sight. "Stab wounds?" I nodded, feeling like a child who was about to be grounded. "Dinah, get her clothes. We're taking you home before you get in even more trouble."

Dinah grabbed my clothes and grimaced at the sight of my shirt, stained with blood. "I think this needs to be chucked."

"Grab one of Reese's button-up shirts, I'm sure he won't mind," Barbara said.

They got me dressed, which was a chore and a half. Then they got me to my feet. My head swam and I thought for sure I was gonna toss my cookies, but it soon passed. "Go slow, okay?" Dinah did her best to steady me and guide me along. I didn't realize it was going to hurt like hell just to walk.

We got back to the tower and Dinah got me into bed. Barbara went into mother mode as soon as I was settled. "I'm gonna give you something for the pain after you eat something. Have you eaten?"

"No." She felt around my ribcage and I gasped as she hit the sore spots. "Ow!"

"How many?"

"Two."

Barbara shook her head. "You're lucky you're not dead."

"Tell me about it."

"How about you tell me about it. What happened out there?"

"After I talked to you I was about to head back when this guy who could be Reese's twin showed up on the roof top I was on. He came over to me and kissed me. Then he said he was gonna kill me. His hands turned into knives. We fought and he tackled me down a flight of stairs. That's when I got stabbed. I must have fallen on the blades as we went down the stairs."

Barbara rubbed her forehead, "Where did he go?"

"I dunno. He took off." I didn't dare tell her about the knife that fell off, the one with my blood all over it.

"I'll run the info through the database and see what I can come up with. In the meantime you need to stay put."

Dinah entered the room with a bowl of cereal and juice. "Here ya go!"

"Undo my bandaging so I can eat."

Barbara shook her head, "No can do. You can't be moving around. Your wounds won't heal."

"Oh come on!"

Dinah smiled and sat next to me, holding the bowl in her hand and taking a spoonful of the cereal. "Open up."

"This is so degrading and you two are loving every minute of it. I hate you!" I had no choice but to eat it or else I wasn't getting that pain medication.

Barbara started to wheel away but then turned back, "You know, when I tracked you at Reese's apartment for a minute there I thought you two...well, you know."

"I wish," I said with a devilish smile on my face.

"Stop it!" Dinah said, shoving another spoonful of cereal in my mouth.

Barbara just laughed and left the room.

- - -

A few days passed and I was able to get myself in and out of bed, but not without a little struggle.

I snuck out and went to find Reese. It didn't take long. I found him leaning against his car, sipping on a cup of coffee. "Hey."

"Hey, yourself. How you feeling?"

"Better. Still not one hundred percent ready to kick ass, but I will be soon enough."

Reese laughed and all I could do was stare at his smile. That smile could melt the world. "I took care of it, you know. The knife kinda disappeared somehow." I looked down and saw him put a plastic bag into my jacket pocket. He leaned in close to me and whispered, "I took care of the blood sample they took at the scene as well as all the blood at the scene. It's too bad the landlord washed away the evidence before they could go back for another sample."

I felt my heart thumping faster as I listened to what he had to say. "Thank you," I said softly.

"Now we're even," he said, taking another sip of his coffee.

"Helena."

"What?"

"My name is Helena."

There was that smile again. "Helena, huh."

I nodded and turned to walk away, feeling so much better that I was able to give him something he'd earned.

THE END

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I thought I'd end it here for now but who knows...there may be a sequel, if the writing bug strikes me. In the meantime, if another writer out there would like to pick up where I've left off, let me know!