Selina arrived at her apartment an hour later. Barbara followed her. Her apartment was marvelous. It was in one of the most elegant buildings of the city and she had half the floor. She liked her decorating style, elegant and modern. Her living room was big and had one of the biggest television screens that she had seen. But the best part was the balcony. It had a marvelous view of Gotham bay. Her library was marvelous, it had an interesting collection of books, but the most spectacular part was her private collection of paintings and sculptures. She loved art. Great art.

Selina walked inside the kitchen, followed by the redhead. A hamburger pack was opened and spots and finger prints of mustard and catsup were all over the place.

"Want coffee?" Selina asked picking up a napkin.

"Yes, I can prepare it."

"Okay, meanwhile, I'll go to talk with Helena." She walked toward her room "Helena, I'm here!" She went toward the kid's room.

It was empty and the balcony door was open, she walked out and saw the kid crouched on the border with a leg up, where she rested her arm, while she was looking the stars. Selina stood in silence looking at her.

She had the same expression as he did; often she had seen him in that same position feeling the night, enjoying it. It was like look a photograph. She was his daughter and maybe she didn't need to interact with him to learn his attitudes; she had it in her blood.

"Helena?"

The kid turned and smiled. "Mom! Where have you been?" She moved down.

"Busy. I saw you prepared your dinner."

"I was hungry."

"Okay, just next time clean up your mess." Selina took her chin between her fingers. "Listen, Barbara is here."

"I don't want to see her!" Helena said angry.

"She is going to stay here tonight in the guest room." She removed her coat. "I don't want you to bother her with your things or "make faces," understand?"

"You can't make me!" the kid spat out.

"I can." Selina glared at her; she hated when Helena challenged her. That put her in a really bad mood. "I don't want arguments, all right? If you don't want to see her, then just stay in your room."

"Why did you bring her here? Why did you...?"

"Helena, please, it's been a hard night."

"No!"

"Honey, listen..."

"I don't want her here!" Helena yelled.

That was it. Selina exploded "Don't shout at me! I'm not going to give explanations to you. She is my guest and I ask that you respect all my guests, whether you like them or not, that is my last word." Selina was really annoyed. "Now, stay here and don't make one of your scenes or I will give you a good spanking. I'm not in the mood to argue with you tonight."

"But...?" Helena asked.

"You are grounded. You know I hate it when you are capricious. Stay here and don't go out. It's an order!"

Selina put her coat on her arm and walked out of the room, fuming. Helena watched her go and tried not to say another word; when her mother was in that mood, she gave her really hard spankings, and it was better keep quiet. She kicked Charlotte, her hippo that was on the floor.

"Problems?" Barbara asked, seated in the dinning room. She had heard the yells of the child.

"Nothing serious." Selina took some donuts from a paper bag and put them on the table. "Helena sometimes tries to challenge me and I hate that; I love her, but I'm not going to let her use that to try to control me or tell me what to do with her tantrums."

"I never imagined that." The red head took a donut.

"She has a strong personality," Selina took a sip of her coffee "Oh man, you don't want see her annoyed. She is sweet, but a demon when she's mad. She has as strong a personality as her..." The blonde closed her mouth and realized her mistake. "You know how kids are..." She played with her donut, nervously.

"I understand." Barbara respected her privacy and Selina was grateful for her discretion.

"I have the guest room ready," the blond said. "It's next to my room so, if you need something, you can call me."

"Thanks Selina."

The blonde smiled.

After getting Barbara situated in the guest room, Selina went to change and put on night shirt; she removed the bedspread from her bed. She was intrigued about Barbara and what was happening to her. She sat on a chair and began to brush her hair.

The red head was a pro, but she wondered how she had survived to so many villains, if she never accepted that she needed help. The blonde woman felt a presence at the doorframe, but ignored her. Helena. She was in a bad mood, she hated her tantrums more than anything else and Helena knew it.

The child watched her, nervously shifted her feet without knowing what to say. She didn't like to see her mother mad. The last time she had been mad she hadn't talked to her for two days and she had felt terribly alone. She didn't want it to happen again.

"I'm sorry, Mom," Helena mumbled.

Selina, looking at her image in the mirror, tied her hair back.

"Mom, I'm sorry," Helena mumbled again.

"I told you stay in your room," the blonde said with a cold voice.

"I promise to never shout at you again. I'm sorry." The child walked toward her.

"You are grounded. Go to your room, I'm not going to tell you again."

"I don't want you to be mad with me." The kid hugged her waist and rested her head on her back. "I'm sorry."

Selina sighed, it was hard to be firm with her sometimes. She turned and hugged her. "I hate it when you yell at me; you know that."

"I'm sorry." The child buried her head in her neck and wrapped her arms around her. "I love you, Mom." She took a deep breath; she liked her smell, it made felt her protected.

"Why are you so capricious? You need to learn to listen." Selina rubbed her back.

"I'm sorry."

"Do you know why Barbara didn't go to your school? She is sick."

"Sick?" Helena moved her head back.

"Yes, she is sick and Leslie said she needs care." Selina sat Helena on the bench and brushed her long hair. "For that reason she is here, she needs rest and sleep. I don't want you to bother her, understand?"

"I didn't know."

"Yes, because you yell, shout, and throw tantrums, rather than listening. Can you imagine? She's feeling sick and, suddenly, you appear and yell at her that you don't want to see her again. That would be unfair."

"I'm sorry."

Selina pulled her daughter's hair into a ponytail. "That's the last time that you yell at me. Next time you will be punished all the week."

"All right. May I give her Jaçques?"

"No, not now, let her sleep." Selina finished brushing her hair. "Now go to sleep, it's late."

Helena put her arms around her mother's neck. "Do you forgive me?"

Selina smiled and kissed her cheek. "Yes, go to sleep."

Helena smiled too and gave her two kisses before walking to her room. Selina turned off the light and moved toward the bed.

She woke up trembling. The loud noise had been thunder. She sat trembling on the bed; she looked around. Where was she? Oh, yes... Selina's house, she remembered. She needed to control herself, her joints ached and her muscles felt like strings of spaghetti. Her head was throbbing. She felt as if someone had beaten her roughly.

"Steady, Barbara," she mumbled to herself, taking her head between her hands.

A second clap of thunder made her tremble again; she tried to focus her mind. "Shit..." she growled to herself, "What is happening to me?" She was always a controlled person; she needed to calm down and breathe, breathe deeply.

Calm down.

And breathe.

More thunder.

Her heart was beating faster. She took a glass of water on her night table. She drank it and looked at the empty glass when she finished the liquid. Her hands were trembling. Dammit, she had never hated thunders as she did at that moment.

She needed to focus.

She could do it.

Suddenly, she felt a gaze on her, pupils narrowed into vertical slits, glowing at the door. She froze and felt the sweat falling on her face, damn another hallucination, another damn hallucination.

"Are you all right?" She suddenly heard the sweet voice of Helena. The kid walked to her slowly; she could see her silhouette when she walked near the window. She had Jaçques with her.

"Helena?" Barbara gasped with relief.

"What happened to you?" The lights were off, but Helena could see something strange in her look. She frowned and cocked her head. Lightening flashed into the room and Helena couldn't avoid jumping in her place and looked, scared, out the window.

Barbara felt the fear invading her entire body. "Dammit," she growled, closing her eyes.

"Are you sick?" The child swallowed and went to her.

More thunder made Helena run toward Barbara's bed and jump in her arms. Barbara hugged her, trying to control herself, she was scared too.

"What's wrong, Hel? Are you scared of thunder?"

"No..." the kid lied.

"Why are you here?

"I wanted to bring Jaçques to you." Helena moved back and gave her the stuffed cat. "Mom says you are sick."

Barbara took it and looked at her. She was frightened by thunder and, fighting her fear, she had come to her room to gave her the stuffed cat. "Thanks so much." She touched her cheek.

Lightened flashed again, lighting the room. A few seconds later, thunder crashed. Helena hugged Barbara again.

"Are you scared too?" Helena asked, looking at the red head.

"Yes," Barbara answered, trying to control her own fear. "Come here." She patted the bed. Helena climbed over her and moved next to Barbara, who covered her with the blankets and the bedspread.

Helena hugged her. "I didn't know old people were scared of storms."

"I'm not so old."

"Looks like it."

Barbara laughed lightly; the kid was open and didn't hide anything.

"Why are you sick?" Helena raised her eyes to her.

"Because I work so much. It's not good."

More thunder. The little brunette hugged the redhead tightly.

"Mom told me not to be afraid of it. She loves storms; she says they are beautiful," the kid mumbled.

"She loves storms?" Barbara frowned, the other person that she knew that loved storms was Bruce.

"She taught me a trick to not feel afraid...But it's hard..."

"What trick?"

"Counting..."

"Counting?"

Selina heard the thunder, she looked back. It was strange that Helena hadn't run to her side after the second one; she was like clockwork. She sat on the bed and put on her slippers. She should check her and Barbara. She walked, yawning, first toward her child's room. The door was open.

She walked inside. The bed was empty. She turned on the light and walked toward the bathroom. "Helena?"

She moved toward Barbara's bedroom. She heard voices from the corridor. The door of Barbara's room was half open. She stood up in front of it and moved her head to listen.

"Six, seven, eight, nine..." That was Barbara's voice counting until thunder was heard.

"So that means..." Helena's voice was heard. "...How many miles?"

"Well... almost two miles."

"I'm bad in math." The kid sighed.

"We need to start a tutorial in math," the red head said.

"No way."

"True, you cheat."

"I don't cheat."

Selina looked inside, hoping that they didn't see her. Both were lying on the bed covered with the blankets, looking the ceiling. Thunder was heard again.

"Your turn," Barbara said.

"One, two, three..."

Selina smiled and closed the door carefully.