Thanks to SamIAm for all the editing and stuff. I still don't own any of the characters.


Dinah rode the elevator of the clocktower in inner turmoil, her thoughts whirling around her head at a rapid pace. Was Christina right? Would talking about it help? Or would it just prove her weakness and her inability to carry her own weight? Her fists tightened in frustration and anger at her confusion. Completely of its own volition, an image of the small squirrel pelting Christina with acorns popped into her mind.

As the elevator door opened, the lull in her thoughts ceased and she once again found herself contemplating her situation. What if not talking to Barbara and Helena made things worse? Maybe saying something would let them put a name to her discomfort and show that she wasn't just having random mood swings.

A strange noise coming from the Delphi startled Dinah from her thoughts. Her own problems were quickly forgotten as she remembered the horrible person stealing children from loving parents, and she sprinted as quickly as she could manage to the computers.

"Barbara?" she called as she ran.

"In here!"

As Dinah entered the room, she was relieved to see Barbara and Helena already seated at the computers, her guardian already typing steadily. The sound immediately calmed her raging emotions; everything turned out okay when Barbara got going. Still, she found herself stopping in confusion. "Is there a boat coming out of the Delphi?" she wondered.

Helena guffawed loudly. "I told you it sounds like a foghorn!" she said to Barbara.

Barbara rolled her eyes and typed something on the keyboard to make the alarm stop sounding. "It's the new sound the Delphi will blare when Detective Reese triggers the bat-ring," she explained to Dinah.

"What's he want now?" Helena complained, hardly looking annoyed. "I just talked to him earlier. He miss me already?"

The blonde raised an eyebrow and then shrugged. "He must have something new to tell us about the murders."

"It's broad daylight!" Helena complained, this time in genuine. "I can't go roof hopping when everyone can see me."

"Well, let's see where's he's signaling from before we decide anything," Barbara said. "It wouldn't set a good precedent if you don't show up the second time he uses the ring. You're still building trust with him."

Barbara typed in a few commands on her keyboard and a map of the city appeared with a blinking blue dot in the center. She deflated a little and sighed heavily, turning her chair around to face her charges. "He's in his office."

"Great," Helena said sarcastically. "Not only in broad daylight, but in the middle of a police station!"

"Why don't you just call him?" Dinah asked.

Barbara and Helena both looked at her for a few moments, stunned.

Dinah began to blush in embarrassment but carefully kept her tone light and sarcastic. "What?" she asked, shrugging. "Vigilantes don't use the phone?"

"Well, for one, he'd trace the call," Helena pointed out.

Barbara's back shot straight up, and she was obviously insulted. "Now, wait just one minute-"

"And, two," Helena said, ignoring the redhead. "We don't have the phone number."

"What do you mean, we don't have the phone number?" Barbara demanded indignantly. "I have everyone's phone number. His extension is listed on the police department's website, for heaven's sake!"

"And, most importantly," Helena continued, "it would ruin the mystique."

"But... wouldn't it be even more mysterious?" Dinah asked. "You know, show that you can get to him even when he thinks he's safe in the middle of the police station?"

Helena raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, if I was STALKING him!"

"Your 'mystique' is going to have to take a back seat this time," Barbara said firmly. "You can't just ignore what could be a call for help, and, like you said earlier, I don't want you walking into the police station in broad daylight without a reason to be there. The last thing we need is my father wondering why Detective Reese knows you as the Huntress."

"Oh, come on, Barbara," Helena whined, "this isn't the way we do things. We surprise police people on street corners or on a roof top. We don't just call them up and ask how they're doing. What's next? A special red phone that he can call whenever he wants?"

"I said that we should call him, not turn into the Powerpuff Girls," Dinah said, crinkling her nose.

"I'm just saying," Helena insisted, shrugging.

"Helena, I think there's little chance that Detective Reese is going to start suddenly mistaking you for Bubbles," Barbara said exasperatedly.

Helena's jaw dropped open.

"That's who you remind me of!" Dinah said gleefully.

Helena's mouth worked several times, but nothing came out.

"I don't know why I didn't see it before!" Dinah continued. "The joy and the laughter... it's like they wrote the character from you!"

"Okay! First off, I'm not a Powerpuff Girl!" Helena said, glaring daggers at both of them. "... and if I was, I'd be Buttercup. And second, how do you know the Powerpuff Girls?" she demanded of her mentor.

"I'm the Oracle," Barbara said simply. "Now, make the call."

Helena heaved an enormous sigh that reminded Dinah of Rusty. "Fine. You guys win. I'll call Reese on the phone."

"Thank you," Barbara said, beginning to type something on the computer.

"Why couldn't it be in Morse code or something," Helena muttered softly, scooting her chair closer to the phone. "We could have given him a receiver of his own... Or a system of those little tubes that people used to contact the Shadow... Two tin cans and a string would be more dignified than this."

Barbara ignored her but Dinah couldn't help laughing.

"Okay, the filters are up," Barbara said, turning on the speaker phone. "I've already dialed the number and programmed the network to lead any traces to a dummy line in Nebraska."

"Nebraska?" Dinah asked.

Barbara shrugged. "Are you ready, Helena?"

Still scowling, the brunette nodded.

Barbara turned on the speaker phone, and they all heard the phone ringing.

"Reese."

"You needed to speak with me, Detective?"

There was a moment's pause and then a surprised, "Huntress?"

Helena sighed. "No, it's Buttercup. Is there a super villain kidnapping the mayor?"

"Uh, no, I just found something that I thought you would like to know," Reese said, beginning to recover from his initial surprise. "You know that case we were talking about earlier with the abducted kids? Turns out, they all played soccer."

Helena looked at Barbara, who looked back at her intrigued.

"Same team?" Helena asked.

"No," Reese said, "that's why we didn't put it together at first. None of the parents knew one another, and no one thought of mentioning that their son played soccer when we first talked to them."

Barbara frantically grabbed a pen and a piece of paper and wrote something to show Helena.

"Did they play in the same league?" she asked.

"No," Reese said. "Some of the kids played in a league set up by a community center, and some played in a pick-up league that a few of the parents organized."

Barbara deflated a little.

Helena waited a few seconds to see if Barbara had anything else to ask or if Reese had anything else to add. When the silence lengthened, she said, "Thanks, Reese. I'll look into it."

She hung up, leaving Reese listening to a dial tone. 'Even on the phone she gets the last word,' he thought in frustration.

As he tried to trace the call, he wondered who Buttercup was.

Back in the clocktower, Barbara was furiously typing on the keyboard.

Dinah looked to Helena who shrugged ignorance.

"Barbara?" Dinah asked cautiously. "What does it mean?"

"I'm not sure, yet," Barbara said to the screen in front of her, the pace of her typing not even slowing. "If the boys were all in the same league, it would point to one of the organizers... but since they're not, it means someone either has access to both leagues' schedules, or is randomly watching soccer games. It's too much of a coincidence to mean nothing."

"So what do we do?" Helena asked.

"Go home and change into more comfortable clothes," Barbara answered, still not turning.

Helena looked down at her leather pants and uber stylish, revealing, black sweater. "What do you mean? These are my comfortable clothes."

Barbara sighed, finally turning her chair to face her two protégés. "You need to fit in with the parents. That means office attire or comfortable jeans and shirt. You're going to watch for anyone who doesn't seem to know the other parents or doesn't go home with a child at the end of the game. Go home. I'll call you with details as soon as I've hacked into the community center's database."

Helena stared down at her clothes mournfully. "The things I do to be a superhero," she said, slowly making her way to the elevator.

Dinah stood awkwardly in place for several seconds before she finally worked up the courage to ask timidly, "What about me?"

Barbara looked at her gently for several seconds before asking, "How much homework do you have?"

"I already did most of it," Dinah said eagerly. "Just another hour at the most."

"Okay," Barbara said smiling. "Get something to eat and go work on it until I finish this. If there's more than one game tonight, you can go, too."

Dinah, unable to keep the broad smile off of her face, hugged her mentor impulsively and rushed off to comply with her request.

"Oh, and Dinah?"

The teen stopped and turned around.

"Not a word to Helena that we watched Cartoon Network together when you were sick."

Dinah's smile broadened.


:: Oracle, I've got to stop him!:: Helena insisted over the comms.

:: Huntress, wait! Are you absolutely certain?:: an exasperated Barbara asked.

Dinah tried not to laugh as she surveyed the scene around her. She and Helena were both at separate, 'seven and under', soccer games. Dinah was seated on the grass twenty feet away from anyone else, pretending to read a book. Barbara had told her to pretend she was a bored older sibling, so every time someone cheered or laughed especially loudly, she rolled her eyes in frustration and sighed as loudly as she could manage.

:: Yes, I'm sure! Would I be ready to chase this guy down if I wasn't 'absolutely' sure?::

:: Let's go over the list, shall we?:: Barbara asked rhetorically. :: So far, you have been 'absolutely sure' about two fathers, one mother, an uncle, a coach, and the ice cream man.::

:: You said that driving an ice cream truck could be perfect cover!:: Helena indignantly reminded her.

:: And you interpreted that to mean that you should chase the truck two blocks, jump onto the back of it, and pull the poor man out through the window?:: Barbara asked.

Dinah turned off the microphone as she laughed.

:: You're exaggerating... and I was hungry and he wouldn't stop.::

Dinah turned the mic back on and cleared her throat. "I'm not seeing anything here, either, Oracle. Are these all of the games going on tonight?"

Dinah clearly heard her mentor sigh over comms. :: I don't know. I was able to hack into the online database of the community center to find the dates and times of the soccer games, but it looks like the organizers of the other league have yet to move into the information age.::

:: This is boring, Oracle,:: Helena said. :: Look, if the kidnapper was here, he's probably seen me by now and left.::

:: You're probably right,:: Barbara admitted. :: Why don't you both come back in and we'll try again tomorrow.::

:: And you'll look into that ice cream man?:: Helena asked.

:: Absolutely.::

Dinah had the sneaking suspicion that it was only to make Helena feel better.


Once again, Dinah made her way through the crowded cafeteria, keeping her head up and eyes wide open so she wouldn't run into anyone else and start another fight. Unfortunately, the vigilance made her see how differently everyone was suddenly treating her. Some of the freshmen stared at her wide-eyed as she passed. The football players either gave her a wide berth or walked right up to her and whispered rude comments as they went by. Nearly everyone talked about her when her back was turned and several people actually pointed her out to their friends.

Blushing, Dinah wilted under the scrutiny and, as she had on her first day at New Gotham High, she ditched her tray on an empty table and walked right out. At the doorway, Christina tried to make eye contact with her and started to follow her, but retreated when Dinah looked away.

She was too afraid to upset Barbara to go to No Man's Land, so she planned on waiting out the lunch break in front of the school by herself. But as she made her way through the front doors, she saw Gabby sitting right where she had been heading. She stopped in her tracks right in the middle of the doorway, and silently watched her friend sitting underneath a tree as she decided what to do.

In relief, she remembered that Barbara had told her that Gabby would accept her apology in a couple of days. 'Barbara's always right,' she thought to herself.

But then she remembered that her guardian had been wrong about the way she herself was feeling.

As she paused once again, Gabby suddenly turned her head and looked right at her.

Quickly realizing that walking away would only cause more problems, Dinah took a deep breath and willed herself forward.

Gabby stared at her in surprise for several moments, apparently having thought that she would avoid her friend in front of the school. Dinah's stomach flip flopped as Gabby started to get up, and then sank back against the tree trunk in resignation.

"Gabby, I am so sorry," Dinah started.

"What's up with you?" Gabby demanded, cutting her off. "For the last few weeks you hardly talk at all, and then when you finally do, it's to pick a fight!"

"I know," Dinah said, a lump beginning to grow in her throat. "I'm sorry. There's been a lot going on-"

"Well, duh!" Gabby said, a look of disgust on her face. She stood up and her voice suddenly lost its accusatory tone. "Look, I know you didn't mean to hit me. That's not why I'm mad at you."

Dinah just stared at her in open confusion.

"I guess I'm just hurt that you didn't think you could talk to me about it," Gabby said softly. "And... that you didn't think I would notice that something happened."

Dinah's shoulders, squared to receive the worst that she knew she deserved, suddenly sank as she felt herself deflate at the concern in her friend's voice.

"I mean, come on, even Patrick knew something was up."

Dinah laughed a little. Patrick was a friend of theirs who had always reminded her a little of what Gibson must have been like in High School. Gabby was right, it was stupid not to tell her. But... it was so hard. She'd been burned so many times by people who had seemed nice.

By people who were supposed to be.

She wanted to talk. She honestly did. But the words just wouldn't come. It was as if they had lodged somewhere in her chest, and her mind just couldn't find them. The effort to pull them out brought so much pain that tears sprang to her eyes unbidden.

Tears for what? Dinah wasn't entirely sure. Maybe for pain so raw that it burned from her throat to her chest. Maybe for fear... terror that showing herself to someone would only hurt her worse. Maybe for the need for security, the hole deep in her very being that had just begun to fill before her mother had shown up. Maybe for the memory of the piece of herself that had been ripped from her when her mother had left her with the Redmonds. Maybe for the shadow of what might have been.

But the reason didn't seem to matter as much as the tears. Her heart wanted them gone.

"Come on, Dinah," Gabby said softly. "What happened?"

Dinah opened her mouth and her heart, long buried but never forgotten, broke.

Straight from her heart came the tale of her mother's abandonment and all of the fear and confusion and loneliness. Straight from her heart came her sufferings at the hands of the Redmonds, and the desperation that drove her to come to the city to find something better... and the hope that had followed finding Barbara, Helena, and Alfred.

Her heart told Gabby about her happiness and the acceptance that had so long been denied her, only to be shattered by her mother's arrival. Her heart wailed at the terrible things she had said and the missed opportunity. Her heart told of terrible guilt, and then of fear so great that it was paralyzing.

Her home had been taken by her mother's arrival, and had not been returned by her departure.

Her mind worked independently, carefully skirting the parts of the story that exposed the fact that she was meta and Barbara and Helena were superheroes. She left out completely the part of the story where Canary had told her she was proud of her before she died. It wouldn't have made sense when compared with the official story of the accident, and it didn't matter, anyway. She knew that it would someday... but at that moment, it just didn't.

Still, the emotions were real and the story was the truth.

Gabby quietly took in every word and sat stunned for several seconds after the story was completed. Before she could think of something to say, the bell rang.

"We'd better get to class," Dinah said, wiping her tears away.

"I think this is more important-" Gabby started to say, laying a reassuring hand on her friend's shoulder.

"No, are you crazy?" Dinah said, much more harshly than she meant. Her emotions were still running on overhaul, but she could deal with that later. "What if Barbara gets mad at me again?"

"I don't think-" Gabby started, but Dinah was already standing up and making her way to her locker.

"We'll talk about it later, okay?" Dinah asked, moving away quickly.

"Yeah," Gabby said, standing still underneath the tree. "I'll see you after school before your detention."

Dinah waved acknowledgement, and went through the doors.

Gabby shook her head. Oh, they would definitely talk about it later. Dinah could count on it.