The small blonde glanced up when she heard the sound of the elevator whirling. She steeled her jaw, her nails biting savagely into the pads of her crutches.

"Calm Ms Dinah," Alfred urged, his hand reaching out to slightly squeeze the ubbling girls' left shoulder. For a young woman on crutches, she was practically hopping. He shared her wild urgency but knew that he needed to maintain some semblance of control.

"Barbara," Dinah called out, ignoring the elderly butler. She started to move towards the elevator as the doors parted, her crutches thumping heavily against the floor as she moved.

The exhausted redhead closed her eyes as she saw the younger woman approaching with so much hope and enthusiasm. "Dinah," she said, holding out a hand. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" the girl blinked. "What? Why?"

"Reese, put me down," Barbara said softly, glancing up at the tall handsome man who was holding her against his chest. Dinah blinked, realizing with a belated sense of awkwardness that her mentor had been carried into the room as opposed to entering it of her own free will. A glance towards Gibson confirmed her suspicions; he was holding the damaged and still smoking transponder in his hands. He placed it on the table and moved away from it, almost like it was diseased.

Reese grunted a bit but did as he was asked, settling Barbara down into a chair next to the Delphi system. She shifted slightly and touched his hand to show her gratitude. "You're bleeding, have Alfred clean you up."

"I'm fine," he stated plainly.

She snorted angrily, her temper suddenly flaring up. "You're an idiot."

He blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Look at yourself Reese. Just look."

He glanced down at his chest and saw that there was a large and growing spot of red in the middle of his chest. Dinah had yanked him out of his coma with a mental nudge but she had done nothing to repair the damage that the knife to the ribs had done to him. He was still hurt and badly. He touched his thumb to his shirt and involuntarily, almost as if finally realizing just how much pain he was actually in, he hissed.

"Master Reese," Alfred said gently, taking his arm and leading him to a chair. "Your shirt? Take it off."

The young detective did as he was told, stripping away the soiled shirt but still staring blankly back. His clarity of just a few minutes previous now seemed hopelessly forgotten as a fog settled over him. He nearly collapsed under the emotional and physical drain of it but somehow managed to keep himself upright.

"Barbara? Gibson?" Dinah asked, shaking her head. "I don't understand, what's going on?" She looked away from Reese who appeared to be in good hands, despite his wounds.

"There's no cure Dinah. It was all a hoax. One more game by Harley," Barbara said dully, glancing down at her hands. "All we have left is Helena."

"What...I..."

Gibson frowned, "What are you saying Barbara?"

"Madness probably," the redhead admitted. "I've been thinking about it since we left Harley at the police station. I kept trying to figure it out, figure a way around this. There isn't one though."

"Barbara..."

"We have to accept the hand we were given," the superhero known as Oracle grit out between tightly clenched teeth. "There is no cure. There is no white knight riding to the rescue with a last minute vaccine and there's no time to find one. There's only Helena."

"I still don't understand," Dinah insisted. "What can Helena do?"

Barbara smiled slightly, sadly. "She can fight. Her body is still strong, she has the most poignant healing factor that I've ever seen in a meta, she can beat this if she wants to. I believe that."

"But?" Gibson asked, dreading the answer. He glanced over his shoulder, towards the med lab.

"But that means she has to fight to live and I don't know if she believes she has the right to..."

"Barbara," Dinah started, her voice high and panicked.

Barbara held up a hand. "You know I agree with you, Dinah. You know I do. Ultimately though, it doesn't matter. None of it matters. She has so much guilt over Wade and everything in general. She's been living on fumes for weeks. You know it and I know it. This isn't even about us anymore. It's about her. It's about Helena forgiving herself. If she can do that, she'll make it. If she can't..."

--------------

She stopped, nearly gagging on her words. She rubbed at her eyes, brushing away just forming tears. "All we can do now is wait."

"This isn't where I expected you to be," he said dryly as he came up from behind her.

"Oh really?" she drawled. "What were you expecting?"

"Not sure," he admitted with a laugh. "Just not sun and surf."

She turned and faced him, wearing a slightly bemused smile. "Death really does warp you, there's no sun out here. And sure as hell no honey surfers."

He glanced out, his eyes taking in what appeared to be miles of sandy beaches surrounded by bright blue water and capped off with a brilliantly shining sun set high over the clear sky. "Strange."

"Yeah well so is meeting you in the middle of the night in the desert," Helena quipped, gazing at the dusty dry landscape spread out in front of her. It was hopelessly desolate. "But then again you're not really Wade now are you? I mean in a few seconds you'll get a sudden fingernail injection and suddenly become Harley."

"That sounds like more than a nail injection," Wade Brixton laughed, crossing his arms over his chest. He felt a soft breeze nip his cheek. A look towards her indicated that she wasn't feeling the same drift of cool air. "Frankly it sounds kind of frightening. I'd just assume stay a man if it's okay with you."

"Fine with me." Helena said, leaning back against a boulder. "So my father then?"

"Yeah, you have daddy issues. Barbara told me that."

"Great," Helena laughed. "Now even my mental demons are mocking my daddy issues."

Wade moved around to her side. "Well something tells me that if you don't deal with our issues, you won't really have to worry about daddy."

She looked up at him and blinked. "Excuse me?"

"We're in two different places Helena," Wade stated. He spread his arms. "From where I'm standing I see nothing but coastline. It's gorgeous."

"You're dead Wade," Helena replied shortly. "From where you are there's nothing but dirt and maggots. You don't have eye sockets anymore."

He made a face. "I really hope I haven't been mangled so badly so quickly. That's kinda gross."

"Great," Helena chuckled. "Dead guys with gallows humor."

"Would it really be gallows humor if I'm already dead?" Wade asked with a slight frown. "You know what? I don't know. I'll have to ask one of the smart guys up there."

"You mean the ones flying around with wings glued to their asses?" Helena shot back, eyes locked on a strange looking beast that was pawing at the ground a few feet from her. It looked up at her with bright yellow eyes and stared back hard at her. After a moment it returned to it's previous actions. Apparently even it wasn't all that interested in her.

"Not really glued to their asses," Wade responded. "But close enough."

"Okay, are we done with this? Are you done having fun? Because I have to admit, this is a new dance. I was expecting Slick or Cam again but not you and not some lame fairytale about beaches and angels."

"Not a fairytale," Wade corrected. "A different place maybe but no less real. As for angels...I'm not one. Just a friend."

"We were never friends."

"We could have been. Just didn't work out that way."

"Ya lost me," she said, blinking a few times. She yawned, exhaustion settling on her. She wondered idly if she could just close her eyes for a few minutes, get some sleep. Just a bit.

"Don't," he said, his voice raising a bit with urgency. "Don't close your eyes Helena."

"And why not?" she asked, glancing up at him.

"Because you won't wake up," he admitted, swallowing hard.

"What the hell are you talking about? This is just a dream Wade. We've done this dance a thousand times and now you're getting all dramatic on me?"

He shook this head. "This isn't a dance Helena, this is the last call. Lights are about to go off unless you put a new record on."

"So the shop will open up again tomorrow night," she said softly, blue eyes widening with just a bit of fear. Her voice trembled but she held her composure.

"Not this time," Wade replied. "This is it. This is the fork in the road Helena. Tonight you make your choice."

"My choice?"

He smiled slightly, not unkindly but without humor. "Yeah. You choose whether or not you want to keep fighting and return to your family or if you're ready to lay down your sword and rest. It's your choice."

"Beach or rocks," she mumbled to herself.

He nodded. "Now you're getting it."

---------------

"Miss Barbara?" Alfred said as he entered her bedroom. She was sitting on the bed, water dripping down her shoulders. The shower had refreshed her body but not her soul. She felt more tired than she had in a very long time.

"Alfred," she welcomed with a small smile. "Tea?"

"Of course," he replied, offering her a steaming mug. She took it from him and pressed her hands against the warm ceramic. "You don't look well."

"I don't feel well. We may have beat her down but Harley kicked my ass."

"Isn't this a kind of you should see the other guy then thing?" Alfred asked. "I presume Miss Harley is not in the best of shape?"

"True," she admitted. She patted the bed beside her. "Sit down with me for a moment. Don't be my butler, be my friend."

"I would hope that I have always been that," he answered.

"You have," Barbara confirmed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean..."

"Don't think of it," he reassured her. He settled next to her on the bed. "Are you doing okay?"

"No," Barbara admitted. "I shouldn't have done that."

"Done what?"

"Given Dinah hope." She shook her head and snorted derisively. "Given myself hope."

"You mean about Miss Helena."

"Of course. We have no proof that Helena even can fight her way through this. There are strong people out there who can't beat back cancer. Sometimes that's just how it is. I'm a fool."

"Having hope is not foolish," Alfred corrected her,

"No but there is no hope here. She has a disease that we know next to nothing about except that it kills metas with quick and devastating speed. What chance does Helena have? It always kills."

"You mentioned cancer before, yes?"

Barbara nodded.

"In some ways an undefeatable enemy."

"Not the same thing. There are treatments; there are weapons we can use. We don't have anything besides Helena's immune system, her healing factor and her mind. The first two work in our favor but the third one knocks us completely out of contention."

"I didn't realize you had so little faith in her," Alfred said with a slight frown.

"It's not about faith..."

"Isn't it?" he asked. "Most diseases that we can now fight started out as unbeatable. Sometimes it only takes one person surviving it to create a cure."

"Antibodies," Barbara murmured. "But that doesn't help us unless Hel is the one to survive it and how she is right now...I just..."

"You must believe," he insisted.

"Alfred, I'm a man of science." She frowned. "Well a woman anyway."

"And?"

"Faith doesn't mean much in my profession. I looked over the scans, I studied the blood screens. Helena is going to die and there is nothing any of us can do about it except wait for it."

"I don't believe that and I don't think you do either."

"You think you know me so well?"

"Don't I?" he asked with a small smile. "You never would have even suggested it as an option unless you believed that there was a possibility that Helena could fight her way through. Don't even bother trying to explain that away; as you yourself said, you're a woman of science. You based that conclusion on her metahuman abilities, correct?"

"Yes."

'Now I'm asking you to base her survival on your faith in her which I know you have." He placed a thumb under her chin and lifted up her head. "Preparing yourself for her death won't make it easier. Pulling back and closing yourself off won't help if she passes on. That's not how it works. You can't change how you feel about her. And you can't stop yourself from believing in her just to protect yourself."

"But I need to," Barbara mumbled weakly, looking down. "I can't...Alfred...I can't...."

"Have faith. Perhaps scientists and technical wizards don't have much use for it but superheroes certainly do."

She looked up at him and nodded slowly, not knowing what else to say. After a long moment she finally placed her head on his shoulder and leaned in towards him. He smiled and ran his fingers through her hair.

"It's all I have left," she finally whispered, tears streaking down her face.

He closed his eyes. "Then that will have to be enough."

---------------

"This is weird," Helena mumbled as she stood up and started to walk next to the former teacher. "You know that right?"

"I'm aware. It's called irony."

"Barbara's the English teacher," Helena commented dryly.

"Was that strange for you? Having your teacher become your mother?"

"She's not my mother," Helena replied, glancing towards the rocks. On the face of one of the large flat ones she could see her mothers' murder playing out as if it was being projected on to a movie screen.

Wade turned and frowned. "You keep living in the past."

"Sometimes the past is all we have," she answered.

"And sometimes it becomes a prison."

"Sometimes we don't deserve better. Do you know how many times I've wondered if maybe I belonged in prison? Locked away like one of those freaky fucks I'm always fighting?"

"Probably every day," he mused.

"Yeah," she said with a slight nod. "Every day. That's my world. Wake up and wonder if I'm one of the good guys or if Barbara and Dinah should actually be hunting me."

"And what do you think?"

"What is this? A therapy session?" Helena asked with annoyance. "Because really, I've just about had my fill of it."

He laughed. "Yeah no offense but I'm not the biggest fan in the world of your former shrink."

"No shit," Helena cracked. Then she shook her head. "Honestly Wade, I don't know. There are so many things I don't understand."

"I don't think you're meant to get everything," he said with a shrug. "That 's life. You're what? Twenty-three?"

"Hey, no fair knowing my age," she quipped, eyes not quite meeting his.

"One of the perks of the job," he laughed. "I even actually know Barbara's real one."

Helena made a noise that sounded almost choked. "Yeah, the line that just went through my head, not funny."

"You were about to say she'd kill me if she knew that?" he asked. He touched her arm. "You gotta let it go."

"Why? Are you about to tell me that you're in a better place?"

"Better? No. I don't know," he admitted.

"See? How am I supposed to let go when..."

"Don't use me as an excuse," he cut in. "Look, I'm not saying this is what I wanted. If I had my choice I'd be lying in Barbara's arms right about now." He stopped and frowned. "Hey, look at me. Look at me Helena." She looked up at him, their eyes locking. "Them are the breaks. We can't change that now but we can still make a difference for her. You and I."

"And just what are you proposing Mr. Brixton?"

"Well for one, we stop walking through the minefield that is your memories. You've got to stop using them as a crutch to explain your pain. Sometimes it's okay just to be angry and to be hurt. You don't need to keep explaining yourself to anyone. Not even Barbara."

"I don't understand..."

Wade turned to her. "Look around us. On every rock there's some slideshow playing. Your life I guess, only it's the edited down version. The nasty cuts."

Helena shrugged. "Don't tend to dwell on the romantic rendezvous too often."

"And why the hell not?"

"Because they always end up on my nasty cuts list too," she said quietly.

"Reese?"

"Reese."

"Damn you girl, you really do make everyone break the rules don't you?"

She snorted loudly. "Excuse me? You're joking right? From what Barbara told me about you, you never broke any rules."

"And I guess I'll wish for the rest of eternity that I had. And in the end I took one big risk after I found out the truth about Barbara."

"And look where it got you. Guess that didn't work out so well for ya, huh?"

"Not really," he laughed. "But I don't regret it."

"You're full of shit."

"I'd prefer not to be if it's just the same to you."

She chuckled. "Did you have this sense of humor when you were alive?"

"Nope," he said with a shake of his head. "Just magically appeared the moment I kicked the bucket."

"Cute. So tell me, why didn't they send Reese to see me? I mean...oh I get it, they figured seeing him would do me in..."

"Things aren't what you think with Reese and I'm really not allowed to say more."

"Right. Gotcha. Cryptic dead guy. My new favorite thing."

He chose to ignore her and move on. "So hey, what's that one over there?" he asked, pointing at one of the movie rocks.

She made a face. "A very bad night."

"You look young."

"I look old now?"

Wade laughed. "Vanity when trying to decide whether to live or die is kinda weird don't ya think?"

"Yeah probably and I was seventeen. That was about five months after my mom died."

"What happened?"

"I almost died that night," she whispered. "I just wanted to not feel anything. I wanted to hide. Everything hurt so damn much. It was suffocating. I went to a party and some guy there gave me something to numb it all out. Almost worked too well."

"What happened?"

"Gibson didn't listen to me," she laughed. "I told him not to follow me to the party. To back off and give me space. He didn't. I don't remember much of that night besides him keeping me walking around and making me shower to keep me awake until Barbara arrived. He saved my life. They both did."

"And now?"

"I don't understand the question."

"Is this really where you want to be after all of that? After all the things you've battled and beaten? Do you really want to give in?"

"Hey I got a question for you," she demanded. "You're like the angel on my shoulder so where's my devil dude?"

'Kind of redundant with you isn't it?"

She grimaced. "Yeah, probably true."

"So, you didn't answer the question. Is this what it's all going to come down to? I mean what happened after the overdose?"

"I wanted to stop dying," she said softly, looking back at the rock with her mother on it. "I wanted to live.. I wanted to find out who took my mother from me. I wanted him to pay."

"You wanted to fight," he said. It was a statement not a question.

"Yeah. I guess so," she confirmed. "Yeah, I wanted to fight back."

"And now?"

"That's the second time you've asked that."

"I'm still waiting for an answer."

Helena turned to one of the rocks. On the face of it was an image of Barbara folded up on her bed, cloaked in a beautiful black dress and clutching a stuffed animal to her chest. She was sobbing like a small child. From the back of the image she could see a vision of herself reaching out for her mentor and then turning and running. It was from the day of Wade's funeral.

"I don't want her to hurt. I don't want to keep letting her down."

"The only way you let her down is if you let down," Wade assured her. "She loves you."

"She saved me."

"And you saved her."

They continued to walk in silence for several moments, he watching her thoughtfully while she continued staring intently at the ground. Every now and again her eyes lifted and she took in one of the picture rocks. After a few minutes however, less of them began to appear until finally they were gone altogether.

Helena blinked and looked around. "Where are we?"

"Hm? Oh," he said with a slight smile. "The actual fork. Not so metaphorical anymore."

"I don't understand."

"Yes you do," he replied. He stepped back and made a sweeping gesture. What formed behind him was an insane mixture of water and rock. After a few moments it separated so that the liquid was clearly on one side and the solid was on the other.

"You're...walking on water?" Helena asked with an incredulous stare. She gazed over at the former teacher who was standing with one foot on each side. "That's just creepy."

"Not exactly," he grinned. "But it is kind of cool you have to admit."

"I'll stick with creepy, thanks. No wait, lemme guess...the water represents me living and the rock is me dying and wandering the spirit world through eternity?"

"Well that's kind of depressing. Look, there's no defeat either way. Look behind you."

She turned towards the desert and saw a strange swirling vortex. "What is that?"

"The notorious white light. You can walk in to it and you know what, eventually you'll even be happy. You'll learn to adjust and go with it. You might even let go." He shook his head. "The other way means going back to the fight and struggling, fighting with your inner demons."

"So what's the upside?"

"It means fighting and I believe that's what you are. A fighter."

"Am I weak if I let go?"

"No. Just tired."

"You're not allowed to push me towards a decision are you?"

"Only give you as much as guidance as I can."

"And who up there is fighting so hard for me that they sent someone to talk me into living?"

"Doesn't really matter now does it?" Wade said with a laugh. "But you do have someone who is willing to take on just about everyone to make sure she doesn't meet up with you up there anytime soon."

"Mom?"

"Hm? Did you say something?"

Helena made a face. "Cute. Did you learn that from your third graders?"

"I taught freshman thank you. Okay so yeah, third graders."

"Right. So choice time huh?"

"Yeah. One way or the other. I won't claim don there in the water will be easy but maybe being up here watching isn't easier." He took a deep breath and gazed up at the sky. "And I might get my ass kicked for saying this but what the hell..."

"What?"

"You've got someone upstairs fighting for you but you also have someone still living and breathing who would die for you."

"That's just it, I don't want her to die for me. I don't want anyone else to die for me."

"Not your choice to make."

Helena nodded slowly. "I don't know what to do."

"Yes you do."

"Fight?"

"It's who you are."

"You're really not so good at this not pressuring thing."

"Teacher never listen," Wade grinned. "It's our thing. We see potential where others don't."

Helena glanced over her shoulder towards the spinning portal. She looked at it thoughtfully for a long moment and then turned away from it and moved towards the water.

"Gonna be a hell of a swim up huh?"

"Yeah. Might even hurt a bit. You'll make it."

"You know I don't hug right?"

"That's bullshit but okay. Do me a favor though..."

"I promise," she stated firmly, locking eyes with him. "As much as I can."

"Yeah," he said almost sadly. "I love her."

"I know. She does too."

"Good."

She took a deep breath and then stepped into the water. She was about to dive into it when she stopped and turned back to him. "Hey do you get your wings for this?"

"Yep," he grinned. "I'm on my way up to the superglue factory so they can stick 'em right on my ass."

Helena laughed. "Right. Wish me luck then."

"You have it."

She leapt towards the water, took another breath and then stayed bobbing on the surface of the water for a few seconds. He watched her for a moment. He turned back towards the portal and started to walk towards it. "Can she do it?" he asked the air.

There was a soft chuckle and then a decidedly female voice replied, "Of course she can. It's who she is. She's a Kyle. She's a fighter."

"Time to let go," he said with a sigh. He glanced back at the water.

"It will get easier," she promised him. "It will."

"Really?"

"No," she finally admitted. "But you deal."

"Okay," he said. "Time to go home."

"Yep," she laughed deviously. "I called ahead to the glue factory. They're all ready for you."

He laughed as he stepped through the portal. The light swirled and consumed him. After a few moments the doorway closed.

Out in the middle of the water Helena steeled herself, her blue eyes setting with determination. "Coming home," she mumbled. And then with the grace of a dolphin she spun around and dove beneath the brilliant blue waves, starting her journey home.