It's All About Trust
Chapter 2
PG-13
Serenity Sea
(Serenity_Sea@yahoo.com)
Author's notes: Back by popular demand, here is chapter 2 of the "Trust" series. This is in no way, shape, or form related to my other BoP fic, "Special Delivery." That is in a complete other universe, though you may want to at least check it out if you haven't already, because it is a fun read for the non-connected storyline.
* * * * *
By now two months have passed. Huntress and the Detective have moved easily into patterns of habit - something that takes couples years to accomplish - and are well used to each other's moods and likes and dislikes. They have reached a comfort level only known to few, but that is not the surprising part. After all this, most of the awkwardness between them has passed easily and is now a thing of the past. Whether out of necessity or sheer will, the attraction between them is hidden well.
It remains like a secret passage that has been hidden for several hundred years.
Just waiting to be acknowledged.
***
"Dinah, have you seen my black headband?"
A dark blur whizzed by Barbara Gordon's eyes and she instinctively flinched backward to avoid contact. It landed to the left of the keyboard she was working on and resolved to be the object in question.
"Thanks," she called and returned to her work.
A few minutes later, Dinah Lance came through the elevator doors. "Sorry. I was in the middle of training. Did it at least land near you?"
She favored her with a smile. "Right next to me, actually. You're getting better with the Batarangs, aren't you?"
Dinah tucked a stand of her hair back and smiled modestly. "I kind of picked it up the other night."
Since she had only been out on weekends - a rule Barbara had instituted when Dinah first showed promise of being who they really wore - it hadn't come as easily as it might have if circumstances were different. The fact that she had been out more frequently on a sweep route that belonged to their curiously absent third member was only too clear in their minds and a silence pervaded the too-quiet Clocktower.
Just then, the doors to the elevator swooshed open, and they looked and saw Helena Kyle striding into the room with a grin on her face, like she'd never left and hadn't been missing for the past month. She was clad in her usual black leather, though her necklace and earrings were conspicuously absent. "Surprised to see me?"
Barbara managed to recover first. "A little."
The brunette's eyebrows rose briefly and then she flicked her gaze at Dinah. "Gibson says you're getting to be quite the fighter these days."
Dinah, who was feeling unexplainably upset at her friend, replied bitingly, "Somebody had to do it, right?" She made a hasty retreat up the stairs and out of the room before Helena could say anything.
"She's feeling a bit. abandoned." Barbara offered, staring at her former ward. "And probably confused as to why you're here. Why are you here, anyway?"
"You two sure know how to make a girl feel welcome," Helena replied, staring at the spot where Dinah had left. With an effort Barbara wouldn't have caught if she hadn't known her well, she came back to herself and the strange look left her eyes. "I can't stay," Helena sighed, not sounding too upset, "I just came to ask for directions."
As if it were a perfectly normal request that she had entertained before.
Barbara stared for a minute and then shook herself. "Of-of course. Where?"
"The nearest McDonald's. Reese had a bad day and I know he's going to be craving a Big Mac."
Something in the familiar way she spoke, robbed Barbara's mind of a comprehendible thought even as her fingers flew over the keyboard for an answer. She almost wanted to go slower, to delay the woman who'd now become a stranger to her from leaving as she doubtless would as soon as she'd gotten her information - that was the way Huntress dealt with things, anyway - but her pride wouldn't let her, so she unemotionally answered, "There's one on 6th and Morran."
An uncomfortable silence stretched between them.
"Oh," Helena said quietly as Barbara asked, "Was that all you needed?"
She flashed her a smile that was probably meant to be reassuring but wound up looking forced. "Don't worry, Barbara. I'm out of your hair now." Then she headed towards the elevator doors again, and walked into them, leaning against the far wall as she used to, looking for all in the world that she still lived in her old apartment and was going out on her Friday night sweep. "Tell Dinah I said bye."
And then the doors closed and she was gone as soon as she'd arrived.
The walls were faintly mocking her, insisting that she'd done something wrong, or that she could have found some way to make her stay longer - the rational part of her mind certain that if she had only asked, Helena would have agreed to do a short sweep on her way home; that she would never turn her back on her city or her people. the way her father had.
Perhaps that was what got to her so much. That Helena was deserting the exact way her father had.
And maybe if she'd asked him to stay. he would have.
***
"Honey, I'm home!" Helena teasingly called to the apartment, her eyes alighting on Reese, though he didn't bother to look up from his desk.
"Hey, *honey*, maybe you can help me find my." he trailed off when he saw her taking off his black leather jacket and hanging it on the hooks by the door. "Never mind."
She smiled at him pertly. "And look. I brought nourishment. It's really your turn to get dinner, though."
Reese got up from his desk slowly and placed a kiss on her right temple. He sniffed the bag experimentally. "McDonald's. Dinner of champions."
Helena perched on the corner of his desk and watched him take the cheeseburger out with a tender smile. She could feel it curve her lips and had to cover it by coughing because it sure as hell wasn't going away.
He looked up. "You want some?"
Wrinkling her nose, she shook her head. "I'm gonna go take a shower and get this grime off me. I don't remember the petition to put all fast food joints in the dirty section of town, but apparently it passed, because the mud on my face isn't from the facial I had this morning." She slid off the desk and headed for the single bathroom.
"Hey! You clogged up the sink!" He called to the closing door.
A few seconds passed and he wasn't sure if she'd heard him, but then her head popped around the door with a mischievous grin. "Sue me."
Reese shook his head slowly, and waved her off dismissively. She gave him a small grin and then closed the door.
"What am I going to do with you?"
***
She heard the hollow footsteps as they descended the metal staircase but continued keying in the data for information on Arkham's newest arrivals. A few more moments passed and she saw Dinah's blonde head out of the corner of her eye.
"Is she gone?"
Now, she turned and faced her protégé. "She asked for you."
"I don't care."
"Yes, she's gone." Barbara said unnecessarily, and then took a deep breath as she prepared to try out the line of reasoning that had been running through her head for the past half hour. "Dinah, we just have to give her space. She'll come back."
Dinah folded her arms and stared at her mentor resolutely. "Who said I wanted her back?"
Barbara hid the sad smile that had broken out when she'd spoken in the harsh tone by placing a hand above her mouth. "You didn't have to. We *both* do," she revealed to her, leaving the keyboards and turning to face her completely.
Dinah held her gaze for a long, searching moment, and then broke the silence by clasping the mesh necklace and powering it on. Her hand automatically reached up to make sure that the earrings were in place and then she walked down the ramp and waited for the elevator.
"You going to be okay?" Barbara called after her, worried for some reason, though by now Dinah was more than qualified, having successfully completed more than several nights and no doubt by herself, due to Helena's prolonged absence.
The false wall slid back and she stepped into the elevator. "You're watching me, right? I'll be fine."
When she was gone, the redhead slumped back into her chair and saw that her pants were wet. She touched the twin spots on either leg and then confirmed her suspicions by touching her wet cheeks.
"When are you going to come back to us, Helena? We need you."
* * *
There were times Reese cursed himself. Like, when he forgot he had a really beautiful roommate living with him, who liked to take showers with the door unlocked.
Now, as he stared at the door that led to that same room and wondered if there was a sign above his head announcing that he was the world's biggest idiot.
After he'd finished his Big Mac, and rested for a few minutes, Reese headed for the bathroom to brush his teeth. He didn't mind the onions and the pickles, he just didn't like them on his breath. Without thinking, he opened the door and walked right into the bathroom, reaching for his toothbrush as he turned on the sink.
It wasn't until he heard Helena clear her throat and saw her wet head poking out of the shower when he realized that he'd walked in without knocking and that the shower curtain was see-through. Not *completely* see- through, but enough to leave little to the imagination. He flushed and closed his eyes, turning his back to the shower and winning the award for world's fastest tooth-brushing.
His hand was on the doorknob when she spoke. "You know, Reese, it's okay. It was bound to happen someday."
What happened next was a combination of a few things. The first of which, was the subway system's fault, and they had no control over that. The next was Reese's fault, and he honestly believed he had lost all control over that when he first saw her.
The subway roared beneath the apartment building and rattled things in the bathroom, as it was prone to do. This time, though, it jumped to the next level and rattled the rod that held the shower curtain up right off the wall.
Thankfully, Helena's back was also to the door, and the curtain stopped sliding down the wall to prop itself up haphazardly at about waist length. Reese automatically turned around and saw the sleek curve of her wet back and dripping hair as the water pounded on. Helena turned her head halfway and bit back the grin on her face.
"Reese." He slowly dragged his gaze up to her face. "You're staring."
He closed his eyes again and laughed nervously, backing out of the room with one hand held in front of him for guidance. When he made it to the door, she decided that she had never cleared a room so quickly.
"If being half-naked works this well, I should have skimped more on the outfit," she mused, reaching to fix the curtain. "Good thing it didn't fall any lower."
* * *
So that was how he'd come to be sitting out here, on the couch, waiting for her to exit the bathroom so they could decide if they were talking about what had just happened or not.
When he was about to go up and bang on the door in frustration, the bathroom door opened and steam poured out, fogging the mirror across the hall. Helena, hair damp and chaotic, was wrapped up in his black robe and as with most of the clothes she borrowed from him, it was huge on her slender frame.
"So," he began and sat back down.
She fought hard to keep the smirk from appearing and sat down next to him, as she was accustomed. Closeness wasn't something she craved or even wanted, but when it came to him, she found herself always wanting to be closer. "We're adults, Reese. Things happen. We're not going to let this get to us, right?"
His eyes slid over to hers. "Right."
"Good," she smiled, reaching for the TV remote. She'd surfed about five channels when he took it out of her hand and clicked it off.
"We can't just ignore this, Helena. I saw you practically naked."
"Actually," she corrected, "I was definitely completely naked behind that curtain." Her blue eyes sparkled wickedly and he let his head fall back on the headrest with a groan.
"You're going to make this difficult for me, aren't you?"
Helena considered, then leaned into him playfully. "Naah. Why would I do a thing like that?" He breathed a sigh of relief. "It's not like I haven't walked in on you before."
Reese shot up like an arrow. "*What*?"
She grinned. "Kidding, kidding. The worst habit I've yet uncovered about you is that you talk in your sleep."
His jaw dropped open.
It was quiet for the next few minutes while he recovered and she sobered up until blurting out, "I went to see Barbara today."
Knowing by now, who Barbara was and what, exactly the situation was between them, Reese stared at her silently, waiting for her to continue.
"I went to get directions. For dinner." She paused reflectively. "Dinah was there."
He knew who Dinah was, too. "*And*?"
Helena got up and looked out the window. "She wouldn't talk to me. Kid left the room, actually, and so I had one of the most awkward conversations in my life with Or-Barbara."
"More awkward than the one we're having now?" She glared at him and he put his hands up. "Sorry. I had to ask."
Reese got up from the couch and placed his hands on her shoulders. "You're going to have to trust that things will work out."
She turned and found she couldn't meet his eyes. Not when he was this close. "I hate waiting."
He laughed and went to take a shower of his own. "And don't think I won't lock this door," he called over his shoulder, closing it behind him.
"What makes him think that a door could keep me out?" Helena wondered aloud, finally moving away from the window and looking at what was rapidly becoming her apartment, too.
'Because it almost kept you out today at the Clocktower.'
* * *
A faint, tinny noise was coming from Reese's room. Helena sighed irritatedly, and tracked the sound to his nightstand drawer, which she opened without hesitation. Inside the drawer was the tinfoil ball she'd wrapped the earrings and her mesh necklace in and it rested in her palm for a few moments before she unwrapped it.
Reese came out of the shower through the door that connected to his room and saw his drawer open. "Hey!"
She put a hand up and mechanically put the earrings through. He realized what she was doing and moved to help her shaky hands clasp the necklace. A bit of the tension went out of her body and he was close enough to hear the voice that was echoing from the earpiece.
"Huntress. Huntress, please come in. It's Oracle and-"
Helena decisively turned the switch on the necklace and responded immediately. "Oracle, what's wrong?"
There was a pause on her end, probably because she hadn't expected her to answer. "Dinah's missing."
She flinched and pressed a hand to her head. "Dammit." As she went about Reese's room, looking for her duster, "Where was she last?"
"Gibson said he saw her leave No Man's Land with a guy he'd never seen before. Caucasian, about your height, blonde hair."
"I'm on it. Huntress out." She turned off the transceiver and turned to Reese, who was by now, fully clothed. "Dinah's missing. I have to go-"
He grabbed her by the arm and nodded. "I know. I'm coming with you." He strapped his shoulder holster and reached for his gun, making sure that it was loaded. Helena grabbed a crude-looking crossbow and headed out the door.
"Wait." Reese called after her, having ducked into the kitchen and grabbed something out of the fridge. He carefully handed her two vials of liquid, one kryptonite green, the other a deep blue. She fitted the blue one in a slot on the crossbow, tucked it on the outside of her right thigh, and strolled out the door.
They split up when they hit the street. He was about to go for his car when she grabbed his arm. "Be careful." Reese held her gaze a beat longer than necessary and nodded. His eyes tracked her as she scaled the wall and landed on the roof. Only when she was two buildings away and out of sight did he get in his car and start to drive away.
* * *
Huntress tapped her earpiece and waited for Oracle to respond. "This is all my fault," she muttered, flipping over a large pipe and landing on the next rooftop.
"No, it's not," Oracle finally answered.
There was comm silence for a few moments and then she went on with her request. "Can you tune my frequency to Reese's cell phone? He's following me the best he can to No Man's Land, and-"
"Hello, Detective," She heard Oracle cut her off and then wait for his reply.
"Hi," he sounded a bit uncertain. "You're Oracle? The voice?"
"I see Helena's told you quite a bit."
Huntress rolled her eyes. "I'm right here, you guys."
Reese chuckled softly and she softened. "Just makin' sure, Huntress."
Oracle, who was hearing all this from the Clocktower and tracking Huntress's vitals and location, watched as her former protégé's heartbeat slowed from the fast beat it had been previously. He'd calmed her down efficiently and didn't make her feel like a child while doing it. 'Useful skill,' she mused and wondered if there wasn't anything between them.
"Two words, Detective. Sleep. Talk. I can hear it from the living room." Or they could just be friends.
Reese quieted, embarrassed, and waited for his next instruction.
"All right," Huntress said in both of their ears, "I'm here. I'm gonna go in and ask a few questions and grab a few things that Gibson has for me. Be back in a few. Oh, and Oracle, give Reese directions to NML, will you? He lost me a five blocks back. Huntress out."
* * *
She walked out of the lift with the confidence that saturated her every move, though inside she was scared and shaking with the thought that Dinah could end up like her mother. With that thought in mind, she headed directly for the bar and scared the crap out of Gibson when she tapped him on the shoulder.
He knew immediately that it was her, but wasn't prepared for seeing her after a two-month hiatus. "Huntress!" She smiled at his discomfort and rested a hand on his arm to calm him down. Letting the meta-human community that she was back on the streets wasn't exactly the way she wanted to go about this.
"Gibson."
He recognized that tone and relaxed at once. "Haven't seen you in a while. Everything okay?"
She considered and shook her head. "Not exactly."
"Come on," he headed for the quiet room attached to the end of the bar. Usually it was filled with people trying to make out and those who simply sought after quiet. Tonight, there was one girl inside, reading a book.
Huntress rolled her eyes and narrowed them at her. "Beat it, bookworm." The girl's eyes widened and she dropped her book several times before she successfully exited the room.
Gibson gave her a reproving stare until she relented. "Sorry. But I don't have time for that."
"Those are customers, Helena. You can't just-" He stopped, knowing it was futile to try and make her understand. "Anyway. What can I do for you?"
"Oracle contacted you a while ago, asking about Dinah?" She waited for his nod. "I need a description of the guy she left with."
He gave it to her and she nodded as it matched up with Barbara's, though it was a bit more detailed, since he never forgot a face. "Anything else you can remember?"
"I think he was wearing a navy shirt. and he might have had blue eyes. I really didn't get a close look at him. Sorry."
Huntress shook her head impatiently. "No, it's okay. Now, do you have that thing I dropped off here earlier tonight?"
Gibson gave her a sly grin. "So that was you who dropped it off. When Frosty's replacement, Chilly, handed it to me, I wondered. Then Dinah dropped by and I thought you two had some underground trafficking service that you were using NML as a front for." He reached behind a painting in the small room and turned the dial on the wall-safe. A small, ordinary manila package rested in his hand and she grabbed it from him eagerly.
"Thanks, Gibson. I owe you one."
"Just make sure our favorite orphan meta gets back safe and we'll call it even." He knew by the swirl of the air moments earlier, that she had already left the room, but he had a feeling she would hear him anyway.
* * *
"Oracle, I'm leaving NML now. I talked to Gibson and he pretty much confirmed what you said." There was a pause. "Does he know you have surveillance cameras in there?"
Reese had been parked outside of an all-night convenience store when he saw Huntress exit No Man's Land a block away. She spotted him almost straight away and strolled over to his car.
He rolled the window down and she leaned down on the frame, dropping a light package on his lap.
"What's this?"
She smiled coyly. "Open it, Reese, before it blows up your car."
Reese shot her a look and she rolled her eyes. He tore of the end of easily enough and rolled a small black box into his waiting hand. When he opened it, a small earpiece rested in black foam, with a green light blinking faintly at the end. His eyes flicked up to hers expectantly.
Huntress sighed and leaned in closer to him, making sure no one on the street could hear. "It'll keep you in constant contact with me and Oracle. It's wireless, and undetectable in all buildings and security checks. Plus, your hand won't get tired from holding the cell phone all night." She left for the skyline, certain he would get the hang of it.
He inserted it gingerly and heard the click as it turned on. The next thing he heard was, "Can you hear me?" and it was so clear he though she was still standing next to him.
"Yeah. This thing is nice."
"Oracle designed it in her spare time."
"One of these days, I'm going to have to meet her, you know."
"Hey, if we make it out of this alive, I'll even take you to our base. Now hold on, I'm going to switch us over to her frequency." A resounding tweet signaled the switch and he turned the car back on and headed for the next left.
"Oracle, we're here whenever you're ready."
* * *
Barbara, who was still getting used to working with Helena again, leaned forward to scan her computer screen. "What do you mean, 'we'?"
She heard Huntress sigh. "I mean, I nicked one of the new earpieces off your desk when you gave me directions this morning." She snorted. "Did you honestly think I didn't know where the nearest McDonald's was?"
Oracle allowed herself a smile. "Sure. That's why you kept going to the one across town."
Reese chuckled softly. "This is okay with you then?"
"While I'd rather Helena discussed it with me beforehand, this *will* make our job a lot easier. And besides, now I can track you both."
"Track us?" He asked, confused. "What exactly does this thing do?"
"I assume Huntress has explained the basics; communication and bypassing security, but it also has a small tracking device that enables me to keep you in my sights as well as help direct you to the nearest exit, and the like."
"Oh."
She laughed, brushing back some of her hair. "Don't sound so wowed, Detective Reese. It's just your basic GPS chip and a private comm."
"Anyway," Huntress interrupted impatiently, and her voice seemed to echo inside the Clocktower. "Have you gotten anything on Dinah?"
And so it was back to business. "It's weird. I've been tracking her signal which has been coming in and out," she glanced at the screen and "- Detective, take that next right, there's been some street cleaning and you won't be able to get through-while it hasn't been steady, it's been coming through enough so that I've narrowed down her position to a few locations. It's just a matter of checking them out and seeing if she's there." Oracle gave the locations out and listened as the two partners split them up.
Huntress sighed at her half and muttered, "I swear to God if that girl left her necklace on some car and is over at Gabby's the whole time, I'm going to skin her alive."
"Who's Gabby?"
"Ah, a friend of Dinah's," Oracle replied, trying to steer to conversation back on track, "And Helena, I don't think she'd do something like this after the past few months she's had. She knows what she's doing, and this isn't like her."
"I know. Kid just worries me sometimes, that's all."
Oracle pursed her lips to keep from smiling and leaned back from the desk. She knew Helena was hear it over the comm. There was a noise from behind her and she saw Alfred place a mug of tea next to her. "Thank you, Alfred."
"My pleasure, Miss Barbara. Though may I say that it is good to hear Miss Helena's voice in the Clocktower again."
She smiled briefly and took a long sip of her tea. "I'd forgotten how much I missed this-" she gestured at the computers and to the woman who was tracking through the rooftops of New Gotham. "She's one of the best."
Alfred looked at her for a moment and began to tidy up the computer area. "A lot like her father, though. Doesn't take too well to invasions of her privacy."
Oracle flushed and put her tea down heavily. "I should have known better, Alfred, but. I was worried. I should have just trusted her."
"Yeah, you should have," Helena's voice interrupted them, and Oracle saw that she was talking on a private frequency. Apparently she didn't share everything with Reese. "But it's over now and the most important thing is finding Dinah."
"I forgot how exceptional your hearing was," Oracle remarked, feeling comfortable enough to lean back in her chair.
"That's a dangerous thing to underestimate, Oracle." Huntress chided.
"Don't I know," she spoke ruefully, thinking of past occasions when she had done the very same thing. Conversations to a butler about a certain redhead who like to help the superheroes fight crime in the towns where it was desperately needed. Conversations that had been overheard by a hurting 18-year-old who would have died for vengeance. Conversations that turned a teenager into a force to be reckoned with. It was a conversation that had turned her away. Funny that it should be a conversation that would bring her back.
An alert came over the computer, drawing her out of her reverie and she bent forward to look closer. "Huntress, Detective, another one of Dinah's locations just tapped in." She zeroed in on where the signal had come from. "She's at the dockyards," Oracle replied, when the signal had stayed on for a time, coming in stronger now. A familiar moan filled the Clocktower and her eyes widened. "And she needs help."
"On it," they replied, and both turned around for the water.
* * *
Well this thing just took a life of its own. I'm really supposed to be doing a mythology report right now, but I decided you all needed a good does of BoP, since we're counting down the days until February 19th. I can't wait.
Reviews make me write more and faster! So review!!
I also have to thank a very special reader (You know who you are) for giving me the idea about the shower thing. I wasn't sure how I was going to work that in, but it turned out just fine.
PG-13
Serenity Sea
(Serenity_Sea@yahoo.com)
Author's notes: Back by popular demand, here is chapter 2 of the "Trust" series. This is in no way, shape, or form related to my other BoP fic, "Special Delivery." That is in a complete other universe, though you may want to at least check it out if you haven't already, because it is a fun read for the non-connected storyline.
* * * * *
By now two months have passed. Huntress and the Detective have moved easily into patterns of habit - something that takes couples years to accomplish - and are well used to each other's moods and likes and dislikes. They have reached a comfort level only known to few, but that is not the surprising part. After all this, most of the awkwardness between them has passed easily and is now a thing of the past. Whether out of necessity or sheer will, the attraction between them is hidden well.
It remains like a secret passage that has been hidden for several hundred years.
Just waiting to be acknowledged.
***
"Dinah, have you seen my black headband?"
A dark blur whizzed by Barbara Gordon's eyes and she instinctively flinched backward to avoid contact. It landed to the left of the keyboard she was working on and resolved to be the object in question.
"Thanks," she called and returned to her work.
A few minutes later, Dinah Lance came through the elevator doors. "Sorry. I was in the middle of training. Did it at least land near you?"
She favored her with a smile. "Right next to me, actually. You're getting better with the Batarangs, aren't you?"
Dinah tucked a stand of her hair back and smiled modestly. "I kind of picked it up the other night."
Since she had only been out on weekends - a rule Barbara had instituted when Dinah first showed promise of being who they really wore - it hadn't come as easily as it might have if circumstances were different. The fact that she had been out more frequently on a sweep route that belonged to their curiously absent third member was only too clear in their minds and a silence pervaded the too-quiet Clocktower.
Just then, the doors to the elevator swooshed open, and they looked and saw Helena Kyle striding into the room with a grin on her face, like she'd never left and hadn't been missing for the past month. She was clad in her usual black leather, though her necklace and earrings were conspicuously absent. "Surprised to see me?"
Barbara managed to recover first. "A little."
The brunette's eyebrows rose briefly and then she flicked her gaze at Dinah. "Gibson says you're getting to be quite the fighter these days."
Dinah, who was feeling unexplainably upset at her friend, replied bitingly, "Somebody had to do it, right?" She made a hasty retreat up the stairs and out of the room before Helena could say anything.
"She's feeling a bit. abandoned." Barbara offered, staring at her former ward. "And probably confused as to why you're here. Why are you here, anyway?"
"You two sure know how to make a girl feel welcome," Helena replied, staring at the spot where Dinah had left. With an effort Barbara wouldn't have caught if she hadn't known her well, she came back to herself and the strange look left her eyes. "I can't stay," Helena sighed, not sounding too upset, "I just came to ask for directions."
As if it were a perfectly normal request that she had entertained before.
Barbara stared for a minute and then shook herself. "Of-of course. Where?"
"The nearest McDonald's. Reese had a bad day and I know he's going to be craving a Big Mac."
Something in the familiar way she spoke, robbed Barbara's mind of a comprehendible thought even as her fingers flew over the keyboard for an answer. She almost wanted to go slower, to delay the woman who'd now become a stranger to her from leaving as she doubtless would as soon as she'd gotten her information - that was the way Huntress dealt with things, anyway - but her pride wouldn't let her, so she unemotionally answered, "There's one on 6th and Morran."
An uncomfortable silence stretched between them.
"Oh," Helena said quietly as Barbara asked, "Was that all you needed?"
She flashed her a smile that was probably meant to be reassuring but wound up looking forced. "Don't worry, Barbara. I'm out of your hair now." Then she headed towards the elevator doors again, and walked into them, leaning against the far wall as she used to, looking for all in the world that she still lived in her old apartment and was going out on her Friday night sweep. "Tell Dinah I said bye."
And then the doors closed and she was gone as soon as she'd arrived.
The walls were faintly mocking her, insisting that she'd done something wrong, or that she could have found some way to make her stay longer - the rational part of her mind certain that if she had only asked, Helena would have agreed to do a short sweep on her way home; that she would never turn her back on her city or her people. the way her father had.
Perhaps that was what got to her so much. That Helena was deserting the exact way her father had.
And maybe if she'd asked him to stay. he would have.
***
"Honey, I'm home!" Helena teasingly called to the apartment, her eyes alighting on Reese, though he didn't bother to look up from his desk.
"Hey, *honey*, maybe you can help me find my." he trailed off when he saw her taking off his black leather jacket and hanging it on the hooks by the door. "Never mind."
She smiled at him pertly. "And look. I brought nourishment. It's really your turn to get dinner, though."
Reese got up from his desk slowly and placed a kiss on her right temple. He sniffed the bag experimentally. "McDonald's. Dinner of champions."
Helena perched on the corner of his desk and watched him take the cheeseburger out with a tender smile. She could feel it curve her lips and had to cover it by coughing because it sure as hell wasn't going away.
He looked up. "You want some?"
Wrinkling her nose, she shook her head. "I'm gonna go take a shower and get this grime off me. I don't remember the petition to put all fast food joints in the dirty section of town, but apparently it passed, because the mud on my face isn't from the facial I had this morning." She slid off the desk and headed for the single bathroom.
"Hey! You clogged up the sink!" He called to the closing door.
A few seconds passed and he wasn't sure if she'd heard him, but then her head popped around the door with a mischievous grin. "Sue me."
Reese shook his head slowly, and waved her off dismissively. She gave him a small grin and then closed the door.
"What am I going to do with you?"
***
She heard the hollow footsteps as they descended the metal staircase but continued keying in the data for information on Arkham's newest arrivals. A few more moments passed and she saw Dinah's blonde head out of the corner of her eye.
"Is she gone?"
Now, she turned and faced her protégé. "She asked for you."
"I don't care."
"Yes, she's gone." Barbara said unnecessarily, and then took a deep breath as she prepared to try out the line of reasoning that had been running through her head for the past half hour. "Dinah, we just have to give her space. She'll come back."
Dinah folded her arms and stared at her mentor resolutely. "Who said I wanted her back?"
Barbara hid the sad smile that had broken out when she'd spoken in the harsh tone by placing a hand above her mouth. "You didn't have to. We *both* do," she revealed to her, leaving the keyboards and turning to face her completely.
Dinah held her gaze for a long, searching moment, and then broke the silence by clasping the mesh necklace and powering it on. Her hand automatically reached up to make sure that the earrings were in place and then she walked down the ramp and waited for the elevator.
"You going to be okay?" Barbara called after her, worried for some reason, though by now Dinah was more than qualified, having successfully completed more than several nights and no doubt by herself, due to Helena's prolonged absence.
The false wall slid back and she stepped into the elevator. "You're watching me, right? I'll be fine."
When she was gone, the redhead slumped back into her chair and saw that her pants were wet. She touched the twin spots on either leg and then confirmed her suspicions by touching her wet cheeks.
"When are you going to come back to us, Helena? We need you."
* * *
There were times Reese cursed himself. Like, when he forgot he had a really beautiful roommate living with him, who liked to take showers with the door unlocked.
Now, as he stared at the door that led to that same room and wondered if there was a sign above his head announcing that he was the world's biggest idiot.
After he'd finished his Big Mac, and rested for a few minutes, Reese headed for the bathroom to brush his teeth. He didn't mind the onions and the pickles, he just didn't like them on his breath. Without thinking, he opened the door and walked right into the bathroom, reaching for his toothbrush as he turned on the sink.
It wasn't until he heard Helena clear her throat and saw her wet head poking out of the shower when he realized that he'd walked in without knocking and that the shower curtain was see-through. Not *completely* see- through, but enough to leave little to the imagination. He flushed and closed his eyes, turning his back to the shower and winning the award for world's fastest tooth-brushing.
His hand was on the doorknob when she spoke. "You know, Reese, it's okay. It was bound to happen someday."
What happened next was a combination of a few things. The first of which, was the subway system's fault, and they had no control over that. The next was Reese's fault, and he honestly believed he had lost all control over that when he first saw her.
The subway roared beneath the apartment building and rattled things in the bathroom, as it was prone to do. This time, though, it jumped to the next level and rattled the rod that held the shower curtain up right off the wall.
Thankfully, Helena's back was also to the door, and the curtain stopped sliding down the wall to prop itself up haphazardly at about waist length. Reese automatically turned around and saw the sleek curve of her wet back and dripping hair as the water pounded on. Helena turned her head halfway and bit back the grin on her face.
"Reese." He slowly dragged his gaze up to her face. "You're staring."
He closed his eyes again and laughed nervously, backing out of the room with one hand held in front of him for guidance. When he made it to the door, she decided that she had never cleared a room so quickly.
"If being half-naked works this well, I should have skimped more on the outfit," she mused, reaching to fix the curtain. "Good thing it didn't fall any lower."
* * *
So that was how he'd come to be sitting out here, on the couch, waiting for her to exit the bathroom so they could decide if they were talking about what had just happened or not.
When he was about to go up and bang on the door in frustration, the bathroom door opened and steam poured out, fogging the mirror across the hall. Helena, hair damp and chaotic, was wrapped up in his black robe and as with most of the clothes she borrowed from him, it was huge on her slender frame.
"So," he began and sat back down.
She fought hard to keep the smirk from appearing and sat down next to him, as she was accustomed. Closeness wasn't something she craved or even wanted, but when it came to him, she found herself always wanting to be closer. "We're adults, Reese. Things happen. We're not going to let this get to us, right?"
His eyes slid over to hers. "Right."
"Good," she smiled, reaching for the TV remote. She'd surfed about five channels when he took it out of her hand and clicked it off.
"We can't just ignore this, Helena. I saw you practically naked."
"Actually," she corrected, "I was definitely completely naked behind that curtain." Her blue eyes sparkled wickedly and he let his head fall back on the headrest with a groan.
"You're going to make this difficult for me, aren't you?"
Helena considered, then leaned into him playfully. "Naah. Why would I do a thing like that?" He breathed a sigh of relief. "It's not like I haven't walked in on you before."
Reese shot up like an arrow. "*What*?"
She grinned. "Kidding, kidding. The worst habit I've yet uncovered about you is that you talk in your sleep."
His jaw dropped open.
It was quiet for the next few minutes while he recovered and she sobered up until blurting out, "I went to see Barbara today."
Knowing by now, who Barbara was and what, exactly the situation was between them, Reese stared at her silently, waiting for her to continue.
"I went to get directions. For dinner." She paused reflectively. "Dinah was there."
He knew who Dinah was, too. "*And*?"
Helena got up and looked out the window. "She wouldn't talk to me. Kid left the room, actually, and so I had one of the most awkward conversations in my life with Or-Barbara."
"More awkward than the one we're having now?" She glared at him and he put his hands up. "Sorry. I had to ask."
Reese got up from the couch and placed his hands on her shoulders. "You're going to have to trust that things will work out."
She turned and found she couldn't meet his eyes. Not when he was this close. "I hate waiting."
He laughed and went to take a shower of his own. "And don't think I won't lock this door," he called over his shoulder, closing it behind him.
"What makes him think that a door could keep me out?" Helena wondered aloud, finally moving away from the window and looking at what was rapidly becoming her apartment, too.
'Because it almost kept you out today at the Clocktower.'
* * *
A faint, tinny noise was coming from Reese's room. Helena sighed irritatedly, and tracked the sound to his nightstand drawer, which she opened without hesitation. Inside the drawer was the tinfoil ball she'd wrapped the earrings and her mesh necklace in and it rested in her palm for a few moments before she unwrapped it.
Reese came out of the shower through the door that connected to his room and saw his drawer open. "Hey!"
She put a hand up and mechanically put the earrings through. He realized what she was doing and moved to help her shaky hands clasp the necklace. A bit of the tension went out of her body and he was close enough to hear the voice that was echoing from the earpiece.
"Huntress. Huntress, please come in. It's Oracle and-"
Helena decisively turned the switch on the necklace and responded immediately. "Oracle, what's wrong?"
There was a pause on her end, probably because she hadn't expected her to answer. "Dinah's missing."
She flinched and pressed a hand to her head. "Dammit." As she went about Reese's room, looking for her duster, "Where was she last?"
"Gibson said he saw her leave No Man's Land with a guy he'd never seen before. Caucasian, about your height, blonde hair."
"I'm on it. Huntress out." She turned off the transceiver and turned to Reese, who was by now, fully clothed. "Dinah's missing. I have to go-"
He grabbed her by the arm and nodded. "I know. I'm coming with you." He strapped his shoulder holster and reached for his gun, making sure that it was loaded. Helena grabbed a crude-looking crossbow and headed out the door.
"Wait." Reese called after her, having ducked into the kitchen and grabbed something out of the fridge. He carefully handed her two vials of liquid, one kryptonite green, the other a deep blue. She fitted the blue one in a slot on the crossbow, tucked it on the outside of her right thigh, and strolled out the door.
They split up when they hit the street. He was about to go for his car when she grabbed his arm. "Be careful." Reese held her gaze a beat longer than necessary and nodded. His eyes tracked her as she scaled the wall and landed on the roof. Only when she was two buildings away and out of sight did he get in his car and start to drive away.
* * *
Huntress tapped her earpiece and waited for Oracle to respond. "This is all my fault," she muttered, flipping over a large pipe and landing on the next rooftop.
"No, it's not," Oracle finally answered.
There was comm silence for a few moments and then she went on with her request. "Can you tune my frequency to Reese's cell phone? He's following me the best he can to No Man's Land, and-"
"Hello, Detective," She heard Oracle cut her off and then wait for his reply.
"Hi," he sounded a bit uncertain. "You're Oracle? The voice?"
"I see Helena's told you quite a bit."
Huntress rolled her eyes. "I'm right here, you guys."
Reese chuckled softly and she softened. "Just makin' sure, Huntress."
Oracle, who was hearing all this from the Clocktower and tracking Huntress's vitals and location, watched as her former protégé's heartbeat slowed from the fast beat it had been previously. He'd calmed her down efficiently and didn't make her feel like a child while doing it. 'Useful skill,' she mused and wondered if there wasn't anything between them.
"Two words, Detective. Sleep. Talk. I can hear it from the living room." Or they could just be friends.
Reese quieted, embarrassed, and waited for his next instruction.
"All right," Huntress said in both of their ears, "I'm here. I'm gonna go in and ask a few questions and grab a few things that Gibson has for me. Be back in a few. Oh, and Oracle, give Reese directions to NML, will you? He lost me a five blocks back. Huntress out."
* * *
She walked out of the lift with the confidence that saturated her every move, though inside she was scared and shaking with the thought that Dinah could end up like her mother. With that thought in mind, she headed directly for the bar and scared the crap out of Gibson when she tapped him on the shoulder.
He knew immediately that it was her, but wasn't prepared for seeing her after a two-month hiatus. "Huntress!" She smiled at his discomfort and rested a hand on his arm to calm him down. Letting the meta-human community that she was back on the streets wasn't exactly the way she wanted to go about this.
"Gibson."
He recognized that tone and relaxed at once. "Haven't seen you in a while. Everything okay?"
She considered and shook her head. "Not exactly."
"Come on," he headed for the quiet room attached to the end of the bar. Usually it was filled with people trying to make out and those who simply sought after quiet. Tonight, there was one girl inside, reading a book.
Huntress rolled her eyes and narrowed them at her. "Beat it, bookworm." The girl's eyes widened and she dropped her book several times before she successfully exited the room.
Gibson gave her a reproving stare until she relented. "Sorry. But I don't have time for that."
"Those are customers, Helena. You can't just-" He stopped, knowing it was futile to try and make her understand. "Anyway. What can I do for you?"
"Oracle contacted you a while ago, asking about Dinah?" She waited for his nod. "I need a description of the guy she left with."
He gave it to her and she nodded as it matched up with Barbara's, though it was a bit more detailed, since he never forgot a face. "Anything else you can remember?"
"I think he was wearing a navy shirt. and he might have had blue eyes. I really didn't get a close look at him. Sorry."
Huntress shook her head impatiently. "No, it's okay. Now, do you have that thing I dropped off here earlier tonight?"
Gibson gave her a sly grin. "So that was you who dropped it off. When Frosty's replacement, Chilly, handed it to me, I wondered. Then Dinah dropped by and I thought you two had some underground trafficking service that you were using NML as a front for." He reached behind a painting in the small room and turned the dial on the wall-safe. A small, ordinary manila package rested in his hand and she grabbed it from him eagerly.
"Thanks, Gibson. I owe you one."
"Just make sure our favorite orphan meta gets back safe and we'll call it even." He knew by the swirl of the air moments earlier, that she had already left the room, but he had a feeling she would hear him anyway.
* * *
"Oracle, I'm leaving NML now. I talked to Gibson and he pretty much confirmed what you said." There was a pause. "Does he know you have surveillance cameras in there?"
Reese had been parked outside of an all-night convenience store when he saw Huntress exit No Man's Land a block away. She spotted him almost straight away and strolled over to his car.
He rolled the window down and she leaned down on the frame, dropping a light package on his lap.
"What's this?"
She smiled coyly. "Open it, Reese, before it blows up your car."
Reese shot her a look and she rolled her eyes. He tore of the end of easily enough and rolled a small black box into his waiting hand. When he opened it, a small earpiece rested in black foam, with a green light blinking faintly at the end. His eyes flicked up to hers expectantly.
Huntress sighed and leaned in closer to him, making sure no one on the street could hear. "It'll keep you in constant contact with me and Oracle. It's wireless, and undetectable in all buildings and security checks. Plus, your hand won't get tired from holding the cell phone all night." She left for the skyline, certain he would get the hang of it.
He inserted it gingerly and heard the click as it turned on. The next thing he heard was, "Can you hear me?" and it was so clear he though she was still standing next to him.
"Yeah. This thing is nice."
"Oracle designed it in her spare time."
"One of these days, I'm going to have to meet her, you know."
"Hey, if we make it out of this alive, I'll even take you to our base. Now hold on, I'm going to switch us over to her frequency." A resounding tweet signaled the switch and he turned the car back on and headed for the next left.
"Oracle, we're here whenever you're ready."
* * *
Barbara, who was still getting used to working with Helena again, leaned forward to scan her computer screen. "What do you mean, 'we'?"
She heard Huntress sigh. "I mean, I nicked one of the new earpieces off your desk when you gave me directions this morning." She snorted. "Did you honestly think I didn't know where the nearest McDonald's was?"
Oracle allowed herself a smile. "Sure. That's why you kept going to the one across town."
Reese chuckled softly. "This is okay with you then?"
"While I'd rather Helena discussed it with me beforehand, this *will* make our job a lot easier. And besides, now I can track you both."
"Track us?" He asked, confused. "What exactly does this thing do?"
"I assume Huntress has explained the basics; communication and bypassing security, but it also has a small tracking device that enables me to keep you in my sights as well as help direct you to the nearest exit, and the like."
"Oh."
She laughed, brushing back some of her hair. "Don't sound so wowed, Detective Reese. It's just your basic GPS chip and a private comm."
"Anyway," Huntress interrupted impatiently, and her voice seemed to echo inside the Clocktower. "Have you gotten anything on Dinah?"
And so it was back to business. "It's weird. I've been tracking her signal which has been coming in and out," she glanced at the screen and "- Detective, take that next right, there's been some street cleaning and you won't be able to get through-while it hasn't been steady, it's been coming through enough so that I've narrowed down her position to a few locations. It's just a matter of checking them out and seeing if she's there." Oracle gave the locations out and listened as the two partners split them up.
Huntress sighed at her half and muttered, "I swear to God if that girl left her necklace on some car and is over at Gabby's the whole time, I'm going to skin her alive."
"Who's Gabby?"
"Ah, a friend of Dinah's," Oracle replied, trying to steer to conversation back on track, "And Helena, I don't think she'd do something like this after the past few months she's had. She knows what she's doing, and this isn't like her."
"I know. Kid just worries me sometimes, that's all."
Oracle pursed her lips to keep from smiling and leaned back from the desk. She knew Helena was hear it over the comm. There was a noise from behind her and she saw Alfred place a mug of tea next to her. "Thank you, Alfred."
"My pleasure, Miss Barbara. Though may I say that it is good to hear Miss Helena's voice in the Clocktower again."
She smiled briefly and took a long sip of her tea. "I'd forgotten how much I missed this-" she gestured at the computers and to the woman who was tracking through the rooftops of New Gotham. "She's one of the best."
Alfred looked at her for a moment and began to tidy up the computer area. "A lot like her father, though. Doesn't take too well to invasions of her privacy."
Oracle flushed and put her tea down heavily. "I should have known better, Alfred, but. I was worried. I should have just trusted her."
"Yeah, you should have," Helena's voice interrupted them, and Oracle saw that she was talking on a private frequency. Apparently she didn't share everything with Reese. "But it's over now and the most important thing is finding Dinah."
"I forgot how exceptional your hearing was," Oracle remarked, feeling comfortable enough to lean back in her chair.
"That's a dangerous thing to underestimate, Oracle." Huntress chided.
"Don't I know," she spoke ruefully, thinking of past occasions when she had done the very same thing. Conversations to a butler about a certain redhead who like to help the superheroes fight crime in the towns where it was desperately needed. Conversations that had been overheard by a hurting 18-year-old who would have died for vengeance. Conversations that turned a teenager into a force to be reckoned with. It was a conversation that had turned her away. Funny that it should be a conversation that would bring her back.
An alert came over the computer, drawing her out of her reverie and she bent forward to look closer. "Huntress, Detective, another one of Dinah's locations just tapped in." She zeroed in on where the signal had come from. "She's at the dockyards," Oracle replied, when the signal had stayed on for a time, coming in stronger now. A familiar moan filled the Clocktower and her eyes widened. "And she needs help."
"On it," they replied, and both turned around for the water.
* * *
Well this thing just took a life of its own. I'm really supposed to be doing a mythology report right now, but I decided you all needed a good does of BoP, since we're counting down the days until February 19th. I can't wait.
Reviews make me write more and faster! So review!!
I also have to thank a very special reader (You know who you are) for giving me the idea about the shower thing. I wasn't sure how I was going to work that in, but it turned out just fine.