Thanks to Night Staker for her cooments and her editing Job!!!
A big storm fell on Gotham City. Selina secured all the windows of her apartment and went to the kitchen to prepare some tea. She took the tea and walked slowly to her room. The storm was turning violent.
She walked in the corridor and opened Helena's door. She was sleeping deeply; she closed the door and went toward her bedroom. She moved to her bed and opened a book to read. She read her book in peace; she liked her house, she liked her life; it was much better than she ever could imagine.
After a few minutes, she began to feel tired. She turned off the night light and put her book on the night table. Lightening flashed, lighting up the room, and was followed by a loud thunder. Yes, that was going to be one of the biggest storms of the year. She rested her head on her pillow and closed her eyes. Another loud crash of thunder was heard.
She felt suddenly a hard push on her back. She sighed. Her girl could walk silently as a cat, but was rude as a bear. "Hel, why can't you be sweet and tender like other girls?"
"I'm scared." She heard the tiny voice of her kid.
Selina smiled and turned; under the blankets she saw a small shape like a ball. She raised the blankets and looked underneath. The girl was curled up against her; she raised her face to her mother; her little cat eyes shone in the darkness.
"Come here." Selina said, gently.
The child crawled on the bed and hugged her.
"Hel, you don't have to be afraid of thunder. It can't hurt you." Selina wrapped her arms around her.
"I don't like it."
Selina felt something on her stomach, she moved her hand down and took the stuffed cat. She moved it up. "Hey, Jaçques. Why didn't you take care of Helena?"
"He is scared too," the child mumbled.
A loud noise was heard. Helena hugged her mother tightly.
"Ouch..." Selina laughed lightly, "Be careful, you are a strong little girl."
The kid remained unmoving looking through the window. Another flash of lightening lit the room. She hid her face and asked her mother in quiet voice. "Why don't you close the curtains, Mom?"
"I like to see the rain fall." She smiled. "Give me a second." She stood up and walked toward the window. She closed it and moved back again to her bed.
Thunder rocked the dark room. Selina brushed Helena's hair. "Hel, don't be scared, you always hear thunder after the flash of lightning and with good reason. Thunder is made up of a series of sound vibrations caused by lightning strikes. It's the noise lightening makes as the heated air particles expand and compresses rapidly. "
"I don't like it."
"It's far from us, look, come on, look at me. To figure out the distance of a lighting strike from where you are, you merely have to count the seconds between when you see the flash and when you hear the thunder."
Helena saw another bolt of lightening and increased her grip on Selina.
"Okay, one, two, three, four, five, six..." The thunder was heard "Well, now, we divide the number of seconds by five because a one mile is equal to approximately five seconds. So that lightening and thunder was a mile from us. You are safe."
Helena raised her eyes, scared. Selina kissed her forehead when another bolt lit the room; The kid hugged her strongly. "I'm scare...."
"Count with me, One..." the blonde woman said to her.
The kid began to follow her in a low voice, when she was on number six the loud thunder was heard. Selina felt the girl burying her face in her neck. "Helena, the storm is moving farther away," she said. "See?"
"I want it to go..." she mumbled.
"It's moving. Nature is pretty, Hel, you would love it."
"I don't like it."
"You will, you will." She rubbed her back, smiling.
"I hate storms."
Selina pressed her against her. "Don't be afraid. I'm with you."
Batgirl examined the body. It was cold. How many hours? She didn't know. She looked around for any clue, but it was hard with the rain. It looked as if the sky was falling in pieces. She knew he was an important business man in Gotham. Why had he jumped off the building? She looked up. Hard to say. He had a nice family and was a very respectable person.
The raining was falling with more intensity. Drops of it ran over her mask. She cleaned her eyes.
"Find anything?" a deep voice asked at her back.
"No... I don't understand." She stood up, looking up at the building. He had fallen almost five floors.
"He is the third."
"I know, all financial men. Not a coincidence." She faced the Dark Knight. He was much taller than she. In the beginning, he had thought that she just wanted to play hero, but now she had his respect. She was really smart and often a much better detective than he. She could easily find clues where no one else could.
"All studied Psychology at Gotham State University," Batgirl said. "I need to do research in the University files. I'm not sure these are suicides."
"Maybe this will help." He raised his hand and gave her a piece of cloth in a plastic bag.
She took it with her hand and examined it. "What is this Batman?"
"One of the victims had it in his hand."
"Do you think he...??"
"I think, as you, that these are not suicides," he said.
"Ideas?"
"Revenge."
Loud thunder was heard.
"Beautiful night," Batman raised his head and looked at the black sky.
"Revenge is a good reason." Batgirl put the plastic bag on her belt. "Let me check it and I'll call you."
"Right."
Three days later, Barbara was lunching with Selina in a fast food restaurant. Barbara was enjoying a big hamburger and Selina a salad. Both laughed, talking about different topics. Selina was a funny person; her wit that she knew from Catwoman was part of her personality and that made the conversations most entertaining. Selina was older than she, but it didn't stop them from understanding each other well. Maybe it was because of their uncommon night time careers.
"That was funny." Barbara laughed.
"Not so much, if you were part of that scene." The blonde woman took a drink of water. "I couldn't laugh so much at that moment."
"True."
"How is Helena?" Barbara cleaned her mouth with a napkin.
"That girl." Selina shook her head. "I'm having trouble with her."
"Trouble?"
"At school. She is smart, but she doesn't like so much the school thing. She gets distracted so easily. The teacher talks and she is in the classroom, but her mind is flying I dunno where. She has problems now with English. I have been looking for a tutor, but I can't find one; Helena doesn't like them or ,well, they say they can't keep her mind on the subject. Believe me, she is a pain in the ass when she doesn't like someone."
"I believe you."
"Did she give you many problems when you took care of her months ago?"
"Oh no, but her logic sometimes killed me."
"I have talked with her," Selina explained, "and I think she makes her best effort to study, but her imagination is incredibly big."
"Mom!" Helena interrupted the conversation, she was sweating and her blouse was out of her jeans. "May I go to the maze now?"
Selina took a napkin and cleaned her sweaty face. "You are a disaster. You said you wanted a hamburger and you have been playing games in the garden the entire time."
"Last time, please???" Helena begged.
Selina arranged her blouse inside her pants. "I'm going to ask for your hamburger now. I want you back in ten minutes."
"Yes!" she said, running toward the garden game again.
"I think she just needs patience," Barbara said thinking of her own experience with her.
"Professors need it." Selina explained, standing up. "Let me order her hamburger."
Barbara smiled and turned her head watching Helena climbing a plastic stairway. She laughed playing with the other kids. In a few seconds, her blouse was again out of her jeans. She smiled, she had a lot of energy, and was agile like her mother. She smiled thinking, "Mom's kitten."
"The principal called me." Selina sat down, interrupting her thoughts. "Helena needs to improve her grades or she will be in trouble at the end of the year."
"That sounds bad." The redhead put a french fry in her mouth.
"Yes, she now has now two English exams with low marks." Selina wacthed the redhead a few seconds in silence.
"What?" Barbara asked, seeing Selina watching her.
"Could you help me with her?"
"Helena? Me? How?"
"You like her, she likes you; you are good in English."
"Wait a second, wait a second..." Barbara almost laughed "Do you want me to give her an English tutorial?"
"Just one class. The past tense is her principal headache," Selina told her. "Her teacher has sent me notes about it. I have been trying to explain it to her, but I'm not good with all her questions."
"I'm good at English, but I never..."
"It's just one class. She always pays attention when you talk to her. I don't know why, but she does."
Barbara leaned over her chair and, smiling, looked at the blonde woman. "You are joking, right?"
"Please, she is not good in English. She just need to understand the use of past tense better so she can improve on her next exam. Later, I'll spend more time looking for an English tutor." The woman pleaded, "Come on, Barbara. It's just one class."
"All right, all right." The red head nodded. "Saturday four pm."
"Thanks so much." Selina smiled.
"You pay for lunch."
"Of course!" Selina said happily.
"I'm back." Helena said, sitting in a chair next to her mother.
"Good, now go to the bathroom and wash your face while I go get your hamburger," Selina instructed.
"All right." She ran toward the bathroom."And don't run!! God!" Selina growled; she shook her head. "I would like her to be more feminine, but she..."
"She is just a kid."
"I know, but I would like to see her wearing a dress or... her manners, sometimes she has the manners of a five year old."
"Let her grow a bit." Barbara smiled. "When boys begin to catch her attention, she will change."
"I hope so, I really hope so." Selina sighed, standing up. "I'll go get her hamburger."
"All right." Barbara smiled.
Helena arrived, almost stumbling, a few seconds later and sat down looking around. "Where is my hamburger?"
"Your mom went for it." Barbara looked at her, she was all soaked. She took a napkin and waved her hand. "Come here, did you swim in the sink?"
Helena stood up next to Barbara and arranged her shirt inside her pants, while the redhead cleaned her wet face and her shirt.
"I'm hungry."
"Didn't seem like it, you were playing a long time."
"Here is your hamburguer," Selina said, putting the plate on the table. She looked at her kid. "Helena, what on earth happened to you? Did you fight against the water?"
"Hamburger, hamburger hamburger." Helena said, sitting in front of her food and taking the catsup.
"Be careful with that," Selina said, watching how she put it over the food."I'm the cookie monster!!" Helena almost shouted, and took a gigantic bite from her hamburger.
"No, Helena!" Selina scolded her; she hated when she did that. But it was too late. "How many times have I told you not to do that?"
"Cookie monster doesn't eat cookies?" Barbara asked playfully.
"In this version, no." Selina rolled her eyes. She looked at her child with her mouth full of food, "It's not nice or polite, Helena, I've told you," she said to the child, cleaning her mouth that was covered in catsup and mustard. "Take small bites of your food and don't talk with your mouth full."
"I'm the cookie monster!!!." Helena chewed and, taking four french fries, she put them in her mouth.
"No, Helena no! You have your mouth full!" Selina grumbled.
Helena moved her head back "No one can stop the cookie monster!!!"
Selina looked at Barbara and sighed. "See what I mean?"
"I understand." Barbara smiled and nodded.
Helena again took a big bite of her hamburger.
"No! No! Stop that!!" Selina scolded her and took the burger from her hands.
"Mom!"
"Cookie monster needs to learn to eat like a normal person or no more burger!"
Helena started to giggle and Selina couldn't avoid giggling with her. She hit her on her head, affectionately and gave her the hamburger again. "Eat properly, now," She said.
Barbara laughed too. Mother and daughter had a nice interaction. Selina was elegant, she looked like a model and she acted like a woman of high class, refined and elegant; but she could transform herself easily and join in the games of her daughter as any mother, roll in the grass or get her hands dirty playing with her. That was lovely.