Helena sprawled on the couch in her room watching television; there was a Flintstones marathon; it was good that it was Friday. She finished eating a piece of donut and raised her head; her mother had been so quiet all afternoon. She stood up and went toward her bedroom. She opened the door slowly and looked inside; she was inside her closet picking out dresses; that was not normal. She just used do it when she... was going out on a date.

Date.

Again? Why did she need to date men?

The phone rang. Helena ducked and saw her mother walking out of her closet to pick it up.

"Selina... hi... Bruce! Hi!... Yes, I haven't forgotten our date tonight..."

Blue eyes narrowed. She was dating him again? They had dated five times in the last few months. She never dated men so often. She observed her mom. She was laughing, and seemed to be really happy to talk with him. That meant she liked him.

She liked him.

That was not good. Her mind went back a few weeks ago.

She sat in the garden of the school with a friend, Jenny, who was angry, pacing in front of her; they were at lunch time. Jenny had been in bad mood the last few weeks and this day she had taken Helena to the farthest corner of the school garden to talk. She was angry with her mother and with her husband. Helena didn't understand why.

"He is bad!" the child shouted.

"He is your dad." Helena cocked her head.

"He is not my dad! He married my mom a few years ago!"

Helena blinked. She always had thought that her blonde friend's father was her real father. The girl had big rounded eyeglasses and short hair.

"Why is he bad?" the brunette asked.

"When mom is at home, he always keeps my mom's attention, he always is taking her on trips and leaving me here with my brother. I hate him." The blonde sat next to Helena and said sadly, crying, "Before, she had all her time for me, now I'm in second place. Now I can't sleep in her bed anymore when he is there... "

"Your mom loves you."

"It's not the same, Helena! You are lucky, your mom is alone. She has all her time for you; but when a man appears, they always want our moms only for themselves. When they marry, you are just a nuisance for them!"

"I don't think so."

"Yes, you are just a nuisance! The day your mom marries again…"Jenny said with tears in her eyes.

"My mother never is going to marry again!" Helena moved her head back, defensively.

"Yes! She will do it!" Jenny spit out. "And that day, you are going to be like an old shoe!"

"That's not true!" Helena stood up and pushed her back.

"Mom's are always thinking about marrying again!" Jenny pushed her back to. "If not, why do they date men? Your mom dates men, no?"

The little brunette bit her lip thinking of all the men that her mom dated. She was right, but Jenny couldn't be telling the truth, she lowered her head. "My mom usually goes out, but just for fun. She would never leave me alone."

"It always starts with fun. But later they began to date one often and POW! They end up married!" Jenny growled, "Never let your mom date the same man often."

The child sobbed and sat down, covering her face with her hands. Helena moved her arm to her back and rested her head next to her, trying to comfort her, and, inside, thinking of her friend's words.

"Helena...?" Selina noticed her child was crouched next to the door, something was wrong, her eyes were in yellow cat form; the kid hadn't heard her come, as she was lost in her thoughts.

"What's wrong?" the blonde asked.

The kid came back to the reality. She growled, looking at her with anger and ran toward her room. Selina was disconcerted, she had never seen that look in her, she let the dress that she had on her hand drop onto the mattress and followed her. The loud slam of Helena's door made her sure that something had happened to her. She opened the door and looked for her, but the room seemed to be empty.

"Helena... Helena, where are you?" she looked behind her couch. Where the hell had she gone?

Inside her closet, Helena crouched, hugging her legs, behind all her clothes, feeling anger, anger like she had never felt and fear; she was really frightened; her mind was locked on that day with her friend.

"My mother never is going to marry again!"

"Yes! She will do it!" Jenny spit out. "And that day, you are going to be like an old shoe!"

"I'm not..." Helena muttered to herself. Her mom would never trade her for any men... but why she was dating that Bruce so often? She always talked about him. She had heard his name many times in many phone conversations with him or her friends. She liked him. She liked him, and that was not good. She couldn't be thinking about him seriously; she was her mom, that was her house, and no one could steal her home. "She can't..." she grumbled.

Selina heard the soft growl of her daughter inside the closet. She opened it slowly and looked inside. Only Helena's feet were visible. Something was definitely wrong with her. She crouched and turned her head down to look her. She moved some clothes that were hanging with her hand. Helena still had her feral gaze, staring at nothing.

"Sweetheart, what's happening?" the older woman tried to talk softly. She didn't like that gaze.

The little brunette realized her mother was there. She growled back. How could she be thinking of him? She was not going to push her back. She needed to stop her from dating him.

"Hel, you are scaring me... please..." Helena had never looked at her that way; she had never heard about meta-children having those kind of changes. It was the first time she had seen Helena acting weird. She knew she had many of her abilities and many feline primal instincts; and no meta-human had the exact same powers as another. She had never stopped to think how meta-skills could develop in her, according with her natural changes. "Do you feel sick honey? It's me, Helena, it's mom... What happened to you? Does your stomach still hurt?" she asked her softly.

Helena's senses were on; she kept her eyes fixed on her mom's; she was just her mommy, just for her. Why did he want her?

Selina felt an ache in her heart: she needed to know what was happening, carefully she moved inside the closet and extended her arm, "Honey, please... come here... I love you..."

The kid suddenly jumped in her arms and hid her face in her neck. The blonde hugged her strongly. "Hel, what's wrong? Do you feel okay?" She touched her forehead, she wasn't hot. She stood up with the brunette in her arms and walked toward her bed, humming. The child began to purr. She tried to put her on the bed, but Helena hugged her strongly, refusing to let her go.

"Hey, careful." Selina said, surprised to feel her hard grip, she moved her hand a bit to release the pressure on her neck, "you are strong, you know?" she kept humming and rubbing her back softly while she paced in the room.

After a few minutes, she sat on the mattress resting her back on the headboard; she kissed her child's temple and rested her cheek on her head.

"What happened, Hel?"

The brunette didn't answer, she just moved and rubbed her head on her chest. Selina thought it would be best to cancel her date. She tried to move but Helena growled and didn't release her; it was if she was scared. But scared of what? Selina tried to make her talk unsuccessfully. Helena refused to talk to her all night and just kept hugging her, growling, purring, and rubbing her head against her.

It wasn't until she fell asleep that she could call Bruce to cancel their date and then she called Leslie, asking her to come in the morning. Helena's behavior was strange and she was afraid something serious was happening to her.


Selina paced in the living room, biting her nails nervously; strangely, in the morning, Helena had awoken, happy as always; but she had refused to talk; everytime she asked the girl something, she just hugged her in silence. Leslie had arrived early, before she had to be at the hospital, to check her. After half an hour, Leslie walked out of Helena's rooms.

The blonde went to Leslie as soon as she saw her appear in the living room. "Leslie, what's happening to her?" she asked.

"She is healthier than you and I together." The old doctor smiled, sitting on the couch.

"And? What happened to her? Why did she act that way? She scared me, is it something with her meta...?"

"It's something called jealousy," Leslie interrupted her.

"What?"

"She is just jealous."

"Jealous? Please!"

"She is."

"How do you know?" Selina couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Because I was asking her things to try to figure out if something was hurting her and she just kept responding with monosyllabic answers; "yes" and "no", while she was playing with her toys on the floor. I mentioned something about your date and she growled. It made me suspicious. I began to ask and..."

"She answered you?"

"No, but she growled, enough for me." Leslie smiled.

"Leslie please, you are hallucinating..." Surely her friend was joking.

"Well, she almost barked when I said Bruce's name..."

The blonde narrowed her eyes, "It was just a tantrum?"

"Not a tantrum, she is jealous."

Selina ws annoyed and shook her head. "I can't believe it! She has never done this before! Now, every time I want go out, she is going to put on that show?"

"I don't know, ask her." Leslie crossed her arms.

"Ah no, she is not going to blackmail me…. no, no way!"

"You need to sit and talk with her."

Selina was really angry, she had never expected this of Helena. She began to pace around the living room, "I have her so spoiled, it's time to end this, I'm going to teach her a lesson."

"And you're just now noticing that you've spoiled her?" Leslie laughed, "Please!"

"That kid, she will pay for this, yesterday I had an important dinner with Bruce and the Governor. I'm going to go out tonight."

"Do you have a date?"

"No, but I'm going to show her that I'm the one that gives the orders." Selina said with a firm voice, "I do whatever she wants and I give her whatever she wants. That is one thing. It's quite another to let her try to control my life with her tantrums."

"Do you think Alfred could take care of her? He agreed last night but..."

"I know who can help me."

"Talk with her," Lelsie stood up, looking at her watch, "I have to go, it's late. Can we have lunch?"

"Sure, I'd love to." The tall woman took her to the entrance. As soon as the door closed, she took a deep breath and walked toward Helena's room.

The brunette was playing with her toys on the floor. Selina sat on the bed and crossed her legs.

"Now, do you want to talk Helena?" The child kept playing, distractedly. Selina raised her brow. "Leslie told me you are okay. That you are not sick."

"Could you please give me that, mom?" Helena turned and pointed to a plastic car on the bed.

"I'm talking to you." Selina leaned over her. Helena was on her knees stood to take the car, but Selina grabbed her wrist. "I said I'm talking to you."

"Mom!" Helena complained.

"Look at me and answer me, what happened last night?"

"Nothing."

"Why were you growling and acting weird?"

"I wanna play!" Helena pulled her hand back, freeing herself from the grip of her mother's hand. She turned her back and kept playing in silence.

Selina moved and sat in front of her trying to find her eyes. Helena seemed be absorbed in her game. "Sweetheart, I'm trying to understand what's going on, I was worried about you last night."

The child kept moving her toys.

Selina began to feel angry; Helena was doing it on purpose. "I know you can hear me. I want to know what happened, and you are not being cooperative. We always talk, so please..." she took her hand and forced her to drop a Lady Hawk figure, that she put to one side "you can do this later. Now I want your attention."

Helena tried to grab the doll, but Selina trapped her hand. "Helena, stop this! I said I want to talk with you!"

The child growled.

"No growls! I hate when you growl at me!"

"Give me my toy!"

"No! I'm not going to give you anything!"

The little brunette tried to take the toy that her mother had in her hand, but Selina stopped her. "Helena, what is going on with you? You are acting childish!"

Helena, annoyed, stood up and went to the other side of her room to turn on the television. Selina followed her and took the remote control from her, turning off the screen.

"Mom!" Helena tied to grab the control again.

"You are acting like a spoiled girl! I'm not going to let you do that!" She went behind the television and disconnected it, "In my home we talk, if you don't want to talk, it's your problem, not mine, but you are not going to ignore me anytime you want, do you understand?"

"Give me it!" Helena stood up and followed her, trying to grab the remote control.

Now the blonde was really angry, she glared at her, "Don't try to do it! You will have a very bad moment! Now tell me, what is wrong with you? Why are you acting like a child?"

Helena grumbled in low voice and lowered her head, putting her hands in the pockets of her pants.

Selina balled her fists. "Growl at me once more and..."

Helena turned her back to her mother and went to her toys again. That was the last straw. "Fine!" she said in a loud voice. "Do you want to act like you're five? Then I'll treat you like you're five! No TV and no toys for a week!"

Helena growled again and this time Selina didn't say a word, she just took her by her waist and dragged her to the bed.