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Sorry Minna-san for the delay. RL decided to
poke it's nose in. FF.net was being a brat among other annoying things ::rolls
eyes:: Anyway here ya go!
Helena fought the urge to throw
something else only this time at the door.
Looking down at the broken
glass and picture frame, she barely held back a sob. Usually when Helena was
pissed off enough to throw things, she kept things that held value to her out of
her reach.
The picture of her and her mother counted as something that
held value. Silently Helena dropped to her knees and picked up the picture
frame. The picture frame had landed face down with the glass hitting the floor
and shattering upon impact.
Absentmindedly she placed the picture frame
back onto the low table from where she had picked it up and flung it at Bruce.
Carefully she picked up the shards of glass and placed them into a neat
pile to be vacuumed up later. One particularly jagged piece cut her finger. With
a hiss that was more of agitation and sadness than pain she placed the cut
finger into her mouth. Helena held it there until the bleeding ceased. She
finished piling up the glass pieces and gingerly picked up the picture from
where it lay on the floor.
Tears filled her eyes and she could no longer
hold then back. "Mom." Helena choked out. Her voice was ragged and pained
sounding. "Why did you never let me protect you? You were always protecting me -
making sure I was safe; but you never let me protect you!" She cradled the
picture against her chest crying. "He should have made sure you were safe. He
should have *known* what the Joker would do!" There was no question about the
"He" Helena was referring to.
"You died and Bab's got crippled. There
was nothing I could have done for Babs. There was nothing I could have done for
you - I wasn't strong enough then. But there was plenty he could have done to
save you - to save you *and* Barbara. But he didn't. He got the Joker locked up
and fled the city like a coward!" Her voice had stopped being accusing and was
now only sad. Helena's tears fell onto the photograph and slid off of it,
falling onto the floor soundlessly.
She wiped a rough hand over her eyes
to dash away the not yet fallen tears and got to her feet. Helena then turned
around and made a move to go into the kitchen for the vacuum when the doorbell
rang.
Helena paused midstep and threw a furious glance at the door.
"What is this? 'Visit Helena night'?" She looked down at the photo held in her
hand and realized she was clenching her fist so tight that the photograph was
wrinkling. She loosened her grip and tried to smooth out the creases.
With a soft sight she went over to the door and opened it.
Who
she saw standing in front of her was probably the last person she would have
expected to see.
"Dick."
Dick Grayson grinned back at her. "Hey
Lena. Can I come in?"
"I don't care." Helena replied with an indifferent
shrug but she moved away from the door.
"I'll take that as a 'yes'
then." Dick murmured. "Excuse me for saying so but you look like Hell warmed
over."
"Yeah kinda goes along with how I feel right now." Helena
answered shortly. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror that she had
hung on the wall and grimaced at the sight of herself.
Her short spiky
black hair was a mess. As she ran a hand through it her fingers snagged on a
knot. Helena's ice blue eyes were red rimmed and puffy, her eyes themselves
looked clouded and dull.
Helena's face was pale except for two bright
spots of color on her cheeks and her red nose. "I look like Rudolph the red
nosed reindeer." She complained sourly.
"Go take a shower."
"Don't tell me what to do!" She snapped back.
"I wasn't telling
you what to do." Dick replied calmly unruffled by her outburst.
"Sorry
for biting your head off. I didn't mean to." Helena said quietly.
"It's
okay." Dick shrugged it off.
"I'll take a shower. Make yourself at home.
There's food in the fridge if you're hungry and I just got some coffee from the
store so go-ahead and make some coffee if you want some."
Dick nodded
wordlessly. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed a pile of glass on the
ground but chose not to comment on it.
Helena disappeared to go take a
shower and returned around a half an hour later. Her short black hair was pushed
back a headband and she wore a black tank top and gray sweatpants. Her feet were
bare.
She looked much better already her eyes had lost their glassy look
and color had returned to her face. She looked calm and composed. A small black
cat followed her into the room and regarded Dick solemnly with bright green
eyes.
"New cat?" He inquired.
Helena glanced down at the cat.
"Yeah his name's Neko."
Dick nodded, "do you want anything to drink? I'm
just about to make some coffee.
Helena shook her head declining Dick's
invitation politely. Together they walked into her kitchen Neko trailing in
their wake. Dick turned on the coffee machine; he had been at Helena's apartment
enough to know his way around.
Helena took a glass out of her cupboard
as well as a bottle of vodka. She poured the vodka into the glass and added ice
before sitting down at the table.
Dick sat down opposite to her a mug of
freshly made coffee in his hands. He watched as she gulped down the vodka.
"Trying to make yourself drunk?" He asked lightly.
"Whatever works. Why
are you here?"
"Heard he was back."
"News travels fast; did
Barbara tell you?"
"I've got my own ways of finding out information that
don't involve Barbara. So how do you feel about him being back?"
"Don't
try to psychoanalyze me. I've got a shrink already trying to do that - and you
really want to know how I feel? I feel like he should go jump off a bridge for
all I care."
"Not happy then eh?"
"What gives it away?" She
titled her glass slightly searching for any remaining vodka that she might have
not drank. Finding none she set the glass down with a sight.
"I regard
you as my father more than him." She said truthfully.
It was true. When
Barbara had taken Helena in after her mother's murder and her father's departure
from New Gotham Dick had come to the city from time to time to give advice and
to help train Helena when Barbara's physical limitations became a problem and
did not permit her to train Helena in a certain area.
Dick had even
given her the crimefighting name 'Huntress' after going out with her on her
first night of fighting crime. As he watched her fighting a would-be mugger he
had remarked that she was like a huntress stalking her prey and the name had
stuck and had become Huntress.
Dick smiled grimly. "Due to the
circumstances I don't blame you."
"Yeah but I blame him."
"Helena you didn't see him after your mother's murder and Barbara's
crippling. I came to New Gotham as soon as I had heard what had happened. The
Joker had been put away by that time and I found your father in the Manor..." He
closed his eyes. "Bruce looked mad and acted mad. It took me hours to calm him
down and I have the bruises to prove it." Helena's mouth quirked slightly.
"Don't think he's a heartless coward Lena. He went through hell. So did
you - but unlike you - you whom something when something happens you beat up
everyone within twenty feet and then you cling to someone even tighter than
before. Bruce is different. He withdraws and shuts out everyone in his grief.
That's why he left Helena. Not because he was a coward but because he was so
wrapped up in grief that he needed to getaway."
"Helena didn't say
anything, her gaze was locked on the glass she held in her hand. "You know him
well huh?"
"He was the closest thing I ever had to a father. I love and
respect and admire him, but I admit I don't think anyone really knows him. He
keeps himself too locked up for anyone to truly know him."
Dick sipped
his coffee watching Helena intently. She looked so young. Her eyes though said
differently. "You'll get through this Lena."
When Helena looked up to
respond Dick was gone.