"I was not dreaming. She was here," Helena said to her. "You don't believe me?"
Barbara raised her brow. "Well... It's not common that guardian angels appear. No one has seen one before. That couldn't be. Give me one card."
"She was." Helena gave her a card.
"Supposing it was...." She put down her cards. "I win."
Helena put hers on the table. "No, I win."
"Shit.." the red head closed her eyes. That couldn't be. She shook her head and, after a few seconds, she asked her again. "Okay, as I said, supposing it was true, answer me, if I left you here at bed last night. Why did she bring you here? Where were you?"
"... I was leaving..." the kid said in low voice, avoiding her look.
"Leaving? To go where?" Barbara faked surprise.
Helena didn't want to answer. It had been a wonderful day and maybe Barbara would be angry if she knew what had happened.
"Come here." Barbara almost read her mind. She smiled gently and pulled Helena into her lap, wrapping her arms around her. "Don't be afraid, tell me what happened."
"You'll be angry... " .
"I promise not to be angry, but I would like us to trust each other. Now tell me, where were you going?"
"Home," the small brunette answered, almost inaudibly.
"You were leaving to go home last night, when I went out?"
"Yes." Helena hugged the redhead. "I'm sorry."
Barbara took her chin and asked softly, "Why?"
"Because I thought you didn't like me... that I was in your way."
"That's not true, Hel."
"I felt that... I was sad..."
Barbara hugged her tightly. "Oh, I'm sorry, it was all my fault. I didn't mean to make you feel bad."
"I wanted to go home and she appeared in the street."
"Who appeared?." She brushed her hair.
Helena raised her head and looked at Barbara. "My angel..."
"Your angel..."
"Yes, she told me I had to come back... she said I was sick and she brought me here." The eyes of the child shone. "She has a bike."
"An angel with a bike?" Barbara chuckled. "Wait a minute, wait a minute. Angels don't use bikes."
"This one did. She was nice. She brought me back here and gave me medicine."
"Helena, this is crazy."
"She will come back today and you will see her."
"She will come back today?"
"She promised it. She said she'd comeback to see if I'm okay."
"Ohhh.." Now she was in big trouble "Well...I want to see her. And if that is true, I must scold you," Barbara put her middle finger on her forehead and chuclked as the brunette's eyes crossed, following her hand. "I don't want you to let strangers inside the house when you are alone."
"But she is my angel," the kid said.
"Angel or not, you must be careful. Right?"
"But..."
"Right?"
"Right..." Helena looked at her, worriedly. "Are you mad?"
"I'll be mad if you try to go out again, alone at night. It's dangerous for a little kid. Promise me you won't do it again."
"Okay."
Barbara smiled and gave her a kiss on her cheek. "Okay, now I quit!"
"Well... so.." Helena moved back and began to count her pile of chips "You owe me almost ten dollars and you have to check my homework."
"Count your chips well, don't cheat." Barbara glared at her.
"I don't cheat. There's ten dollars, pay it."
The red head counted the chips; she was right. "Whatever," she growled, standing up. She took her bag and gave the child a bill. "Tomorrow will be my revenge. I'll take a bath and when I'm done we can have dinner if you want. Take your medicine."
"My homework?"
"When I finish my bath."
"Right... can we have lasagna?"
"No, chicken soup, it's at the top of the fridge. I'll be back." She walked toward the bathroom.
"I don't like chicken soup," Helena said in loud voice.
"Want to throw up again?"
"No."
"Chicken soup."
"Ice cream?" Helena shouted.
"Not until next week, doctor said that." Barbara stepped back.
"Just a bit?"
"I know your 'bits'." Barbara said, remembering the half gallon of ice cream that she had eaten a few days ago. Chicken soup."
"All right." Helena picked up the cards and the chips and put them in a box. After she finished, she took her pills and took the chicken soup from the fridge and put it inside the microwave. She pushed three minutes and looked for glasses and the dishes. When she finished, she ran toward the window.
She looked down. The street was empty; she was not there. She waited a few minutes, but she didn't appear. She sighed. Maybe she wasn't going to come back. She was fine now but... she had promised it. The ding of the microwave made her turn to the kitchen; she ran to take out the chicken soup and serve it at the table.
"Good night."
Helena turned her head. She knew that voice. It was her! She smiled and ran toward her.
She was there, sitting in the window with her black costume and her arms wrapped over her knees.
"Hi!" Helena couldn't avoid a big smile and went to her.
"Hi..." Batgirl smiled back. "How do you feel?"
"Fine, but Barbara said I can't eat too much yet."
"Let me feel you." She removed one of her gloves and Helena stood up in front of her. She put the back of her hand on her forehead. "Yes, you are much better."
"I heal fast and Barbara took care of me all day, we watched movies, we talked a lot and later we played cards, now we are going to have dinner. Want to stay?" the girl asked hopefully.
"Sorry, I can't, I have work to do." She put her glove on again. "I just came to see how you are. I see you talked with her."
"Yes; I told her everything; she said she didn't mean to hurt me."
"I told you."
"Yes, she is nice, it was a really fun day. I won ten bucks playing cards. She is bad at playing." She lowered her voice and moved near Batgirl's ear. She leaned down. "And she is a terrible cook, but don't tell her, I said that..."
"Oh..." Batgirl nodded. She was not that bad at cooking, she thought to herself.
"How did you climb to the window? It's high!"
Batgirl looked down. "Not much... How is Jaçques?"
"He is still sick; now he's sleeping. But he will be better tomorrow."
"That is good, say hi to him. I'm glad that you are okay, see? I told you, never avoid your problems, face them. You can't run away every time you have a problem."
"Yes, you were right. I don't think Barbara believes you are my guardian angel."
Batgirl laughed lightly. "I'm not an angel."
"You are."
Batgirl moved her legs down and patted a side of the window. Helena understood the message and sat there. The red head put her arm around the child. "I'm a crime fighter. I'm human, as you."
"I'm half human, I'm meta too."
"Well, I'm one hundred percent human, I eat, I have friends, I sleep, I do the regular things that people do. But, I like help people and, at night, I go outside to help people. I trained for that. It's not an easy job. I face bad guys every night, thugs, thieves, killers, bad people that like to do bad thing to other people or steal things. I'm a regular person."
"Yes, but you helped me, you are my angel."
"Well, if you want see it that way..."
"Can I call Barbara? She doesn't believe that you helped me. And she said that if it was true it was not good that you were inside her house."
The woman sighed. "She is right, you shouldn't let strangers in your house. I don't usually do it... but yesterday I couldn't leave you alone or in the street. You were sick. I shouldn't have done it... but I didn't have any other choice. And, on the other hand, this ust be our secret, I don't like people to know about me, remember?"
"But Barbara thinks I'm lying," Helena said with sadness. "She thinks it was my imagination."
"Keep this as our secret. Adults can't see things that kids like you can."
"I'm not lying."
"I know but, if she knew about me, she would have a lot of questions; and... let her think it's your imagination. This would be a secret between you and me."
"And Jaçques."
"Okay, and Jaçques but no one else." Batgirl smiled at her. "Deal?"
"Deal." Helena smiled too.
"Well, now I need go."
"Will I see you again sometime?"
"Maybe you won't see me, but I'll keep an eye on you."
"Really?"
"Yes, it's a promise."
"You didn't ask my name."
"Right, what's your name?"
"Helena."
"Hey, nice name, it's beautiful. It's a pleasure to meet you, Helena." Batgirl said, shaking her hand.
Helena felt happy for her new friend.
"Well, I need to go. Now close your eyes."
"My eyes?."
"Yes, do it." Batgirl took her hands and put them over her eyes. "And count to twenty."
Helena kept her hands on her eyes and began to count. When she finished she had gone. She looked out the window up and down. She had disappeared. Wow, or maybe she had flown. Well, surely not because she had a bike, a cool bike. She would have one when she was old enough. She ran toward the bedroom calling Barbara.
Barbara needed to move quickly, climbing to the rooftop, using a rope, and later moving down to the bathroom window. She had removed her cowl when she heard the kid knocking on the door.
"What's wrong, Helena?" She removed her costume as fast as she could.
The kid wanted to tell her she had been there but she had to keep her promise. But she needed to tell her something, she was so excited.
"Give me a second, I'm almost finish." The red head opened a cabinet and threw her costume in there.
A few minutes later, she walked outside in her bathrobe, drying her hair with a towel. Helena was sitting on the bed.
"What happened?" Barbara asked.
"Do you think I'm lying when I talk about my angel?"
"Well, not exactly, I just said people can't see them, and they don't dress in black."
"But I'm not lying. I don't want you to think I'm lying."
"Well..." Barbara thought for a second, "you say she helped you, she took care of you; you said you saw your guardian angel."
"Yes." The kid nodded.
"I believe you."
"Really?"
"I believe you because if you say it, it must be true. Friends must trust each other. I trust you."
Helena smiled and jumped into Barbara's arms wrapping her legs around her. The red head grunted and moved back. She was heavy and that unexpected and unusually high jump took her by surprise.
"Thanks," the kid said.
"Sure." She laughed and said, "Now let's go eat dinner." She walked with Helena in her arms toward the kitchen. "Hel, am I a bad cook?"
