Chapter Three

"You did WHAT???" Dinah winced as Gabby's voice shattered the otherwise quiet of the diner.

"Could you keep it down please?" she grumbled, slouching down in her seat. Her friend gave her a wide eyed look of annoyance, but nodded and leaned closer over the table.

"Okay, sorry, but you can't drop something like this on me and not expect me to get a little excited." Gabby whispered.

"Excited?" Dinah asked, a little louder then intended. She sat up and looked around before continuing. "I tell you about my most horrifying experience to date, and you are excited?!?"

"Yeah. So, was it good?" the other blonde asked, totally ignoring the death glare sent her way.

"Well… yeah." It was said with a guilty reluctance, and Gabby had to keep herself from rolling her eyes.

They sat back as a waitress came and asked for their orders. "I'll have a stack of pancakes, bacon, and some coffee. Definitely coffee. And she'll have…"

Two sets of eyes looked at Dinah expectantly. "A bowl of Frosted Flakes please." she said absently, baby blue eyes staring at the tabletop, but not really seeing it. The waitress grunted an affirmative and set off to place the orders.

"Frosted Flakes? What are you, ten?" Gabby teased as her friend's eye refocused.

"What?" Dinah asked, blushing. "Barbara fixes me a bowl of Frosted Flakes every morning." She got an arched eyebrow, and her blushed deepened. "Right, not helping my case." She sighed, covering her face with her hands. Today was not going to be her day.

She had woken up at around 4am, shaking from some vaguely disturbing dreams that she had forgotten as soon as she had opened her eyes. Glancing at the clock, she had decided that she couldn't face Barbara in three hours. So, after a quick and stealthy shower, she thrown on some clothes and called Gabby, knowing that the other girl would be up, plagued by the demons that were otherwise known as mid-term papers. She had done her own as soon as she had gotten the assignments, but, her friend wasn't fortunate enough to have a super-genius at home to pick her brain, or kick her into action.

After some sweet talking, she was able to convince her friend to call it quits and come out to an early breakfast with her. All she had had to promise was to pay, and to tell her friend what had so obviously been bothering her. She was rethinking her wisdom in that choice now. And, that wasn't even because Barbara would totally freak if she knew her charge was out at 5am, at some no name diner in the not so great part of town. 'Oh God, Barbara.'

Nausea rolled through Dinah's stomach, making her groan and clench her teeth, praying to every god she could think of to have mercy on her. She had been avoiding actually thinking about what she had done until this point, taking a third person point of view, even when telling her friend about it. But now, finally, the reality that she would have to deal with this set upon her.

She had kissed Barbara. Not just a innocent kiss or a friendly kiss, but real, full on, mouth to mouth and tongue to tongue kiss. It had been wet and hot, and she squirmed even now at it's intensity. But, the real kicker had been that, Barbara had kissed her back.

For what seemed like an eternity, she had SHARED a kiss with the older woman, getting just as good as she was giving. In those moments, both of their shields had gone down, and they came very close to becoming one. She had felt every single emotion the other woman had. Surprise, excitement, joy, horror--all of it. That was why she knew that, though Barbara harbored feelings towards her, deeply steeped in self-hatred and self-disgust as they were, she would never let it happen.

The hopelessness of everything sent her running to the dingy bathroom, leaving behind a very confused Gabby.

When Barbara had finally made her way out into the main part of the apartment, it was to discover that Dinah was gone. For a moment, the thought that the girl had run away swirled around her already panicky mind, causing her chest to clench painfully, and her throat to squeeze closed. But, some semblance of rational thought quickly asserted itself, and she realized that the teenager didn't really have anywhere else to go.

She spent the rest of the day in a gray haze, being brought back to reality by confused students on at least three separate occasions. After the first half of her frustrating day, she was looking forward to a relaxing lunch with… Dinah. She almost slapped herself for that one. She spent the rest of the day alternately reminding herself that things were going to be different now, and wishing that she had never suggested a night in.

'Maybe,' she thought irrationally, as she drove home after waiting unsuccessfully for her charge for almost an hour, "I'm making a big deal about nothing. It was probably hormones, and she's already forgotten about it.' Her inner voice didn't even grace that with an answer.

When she finally got home, she was greeted by an empty Clock tower. For long moments, she sat in the middle of the space, fighting back tears of sadness and overwhelming stress.

She didn't know what to do to make this better. All she wanted was for everything to go back to normal, so she could have her family together, and maybe, in moments of great weakness, admire her young ward from afar. She couldn't stop the whimpers from coming. That's how Helena found her, hunched in her chair, hands trying to block the sobs that wouldn't seem to stop coming from her mouth.

Fearing that her friend might be hurt, Helena all but flew to the other woman's side, pulling at her forearms and searching her eyes. "What happened, what's wrong?" she asked, voice high and a bit frightened. She had never known Barbara to cry so openly, even when she thought she was alone, and she had certainly never heard the deeply wounded qualities in the other woman's voice.

"Are you hurt?" Barbara shook her head, trying to calm herself, but only succeeded in hyperventilating. "Barbara, breathe, okay? Just, take it easy." The redhead managed a glare, as if to say 'duh', and Helena relaxed. If she could get the other woman to glare, then it couldn't be as dire as she first feared.

"Okay, now lets try this again. What happened?" Barbara didn't answer at first, instead wiping her eyes with the back of one hand, fighting the hiccups that racked her slender frame.

"I don't know what to do." she sniffled, looking at Helena with wide, almost pleading eyes. That statement and look scared the brunette more then the crying.

"About what?" she asked, though she had a pretty good idea what this was about suddenly. It gave her a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"Dinah." the redhead admitted, after a short pause. "I just don't know what to do."

Helena thought for a minute. "Where is Dinah, anyway? Shouldn't she be home by now?" Indeed, it was well past six. Barbara grimaced at her question.

"I don't know. I think I saw her talking with Gabby earlier today, but I… couldn't face her," she admitted, ashamed.

"Oh, hey! I don't blame you, this is definitely a weird situation." Helena mentally rolled her eyes. 'Understatement of the year!' She bent down, putting one hand on her friend's knee, and the other on her cheek, drawing jade eyes to her own azure ones. "This will all work out, I promise. Okay?" She got no answer. Tightening the hold on the other woman's face, she forced the unsure eyes to focus. "I said, okay?"

Finally, Barbara nodded, and Helena relaxed her grip. "Good. That being said, I think that Oracle should take the night off."

"But-"

"Ah, ah, ah! Just do this, for me? I'll go find the kid, make sure she's okay, then do a general sweep or two." The other woman looked doubtful. "Just this once, okay? I'll send Dinah home, and we'll talk, okay?"

"Okay." Barbara replied weakly, gazing at her hands.

For a moment, Helena rather enjoyed having such a submissive Barbara. She was usually so damn stubborn, it made Helena want to bang her head against a wall; of course, the same could be said about herself. The feeling quickly passed however, as the reality of why her friend was so meek stabbed her in the brain, and she stifled a groan. Things could never, ever be simple and easy, could they? 'No, they can't...damnit.'

TBC