Part Four

Dinah

It's a dream but it's not. It's a dream about a memory, I'm sure.

The tall white door in front of me is stylish and obviously expensive. 'Dr. H .Quinzel' is engraved in gold lettering in the middle. I wish I knew what I was doing here. Or what I had been doing here.

"Only one way to find out," I mutter to myself as I turn the knob on the door and walk into a large room with twin couches, low tables and a large oak desk.

"Hello there," the smooth voice of Harley Quinn comes from behind the oak desk. She's so…small and well groomed nothing you'd ever expect a criminal to be. "How can I help you today?"

"Oh hi," I hear myself saying. "I'm Dinah Redmond. I actually have an appointment. You're secretary said to come on in…so I did." Wow, that sounded lame even to my own ears.

"Of course Ms Redmond. I believe you're Helena Kyle's friend yes?"

I nod.

"Well I must say it's always nice to have someone recommend me to family and friends."

"Oh she didn't…what I mean is that she talks about you a lot but she didn't think I should…I just wanted to talk to someone is all."

She smiles at me and I wonder how a woman as beautiful as her could possibly be as ugly as I would soon find out.

"Have a seat Ms Redmond."

"Just call me Dinah, that's fine."

"Then I guess you should call me Dr. Quinzel." She smiles again and I can't help smiling back.

She comes out from behind her desk and I can feel her watching me as I sit down in one of the caramel coloured chairs. She sits across from me, crossing her legs, leaning forwards and intently staring at me. "Dinah," she says softly.

I stare at her wide eyed.

"Dinah, look into my eyes…"

How could I not.

"Tell me Dinah…tell me all your secrets."

Well, since you asked so nicely…

"Hey Sunshine, nice night tonight."

"Yeah, it's pretty…the full moon I mean," I grin at my friend and take her hand.

"Oh trust me Dinah, the moon is nothing compared to the company."

We walk quietly along the streets, listening to the far off sounds of the cars going home and the shops closing up. Suddenly she stops.

"What's going on?" I ask as I spin around in a circle and smirk at her. She's wearing a formal dress, long and slinky and blue. I think I should be wearing one as well but I'm not sure why.

I'm just wearing a cotton gown, its fluttering open in the back and I know I'm cold but I don't really feel it.

"You're ignoring the obvious here Di and that's not what to do, you know that," she says softly, taking my hand.

"I can't help it Gabby, I don't know what to do. I don't know what I've done," I say softly as her soft hands work their way up my sides and wrap me in a tight hug.

"You're hiding, it's never good to do that," she whispers into my ear.

"Sometimes it's survival to do that," I snap and push her away.

"Survival from what D? You're running away from something you can't even remember," she laughs at me. I walk away from her, I have no idea where I'm going but it seems like the right thing to do.

"Dinah Redmond, I've known you for a whole year now and I know you well enough to know that you would never walk away from something as important as this," she yells.

I spin around to scream back at her but she's gone. I don't know where to go now. I've never been to this part of Gotham before. It's dark and cold. Not like the cemetery, at least Helena's at the cemetery.

How could Gabby do this to me?

Helena

A sharp high pitched scream wakes me up. Very quickly.

As I rush out of the bedroom into the hall and head for Dinah's room I can't help but thank god it was just one scream and not the continuos piercing screams that I had grown accustomed to hearing out of Dinah's mouth.

Barbara's grabbing Dinah's arm when I smash through the door. The young girl is sprawled on her bed, her eyes wide and skin so white it's almost translucent.

"I think I remembered something," she gasps.

"What?" I ask sharply. I should be more caring and take more time but what ever she's remembered it's eating her up inside already and there's so much she could have remembered. Horrible, bad things.

"I went to see Harley Quinn," she says softly, "As a patient…I think? Is that right?"

Barbara looks at me before she turns to the girl and nods slowly, "Yes it's true. We found files with your medical records…and notes. We aren't exactly sure why you went though."

"I was…sad, lonely…and I wanted someone to talk to and Helena was always going on about how great her shrink was… I just thought…oh god, she hypnotised me didn't she?"

"It was a little while before she…attacked. You might have missed Helena leaving by no more than five minutes…but the hypnotism didn't kick in for weeks afterwards. You had a…um, control word of sorts." Barbara explains softly. She did it so much better than I could have.

"What kind of control word?"

"It was more of a sentence," I say as I shuffle my feet together and stare at them.

"I don't love you."

"What?" I ask as she whispers. Barbara's head even snaps up quickly. "What did you say?" I try again but she's closing off, rolling onto her side and trying to stand up.

"Nothing Hel," she says gladly, "Obviously I'm getting some of it back that's a good thing right? Now…Barb, I think yesterday you said you'd take me out to the hairdressers…I'm starting to look like my foster cousins Barbie dolls after a trip to her 'beauty salon'."

As Dinah heads out of the room and into the bathroom I turn to Barbara. "Do you think she knows?" I ask.

"She knows something that's for sure…wether she remembers the control words or what happened after they were activated, well I'm not so sure Helena. We'll have to keep an eye on her. Make sure she doesn't start acting funny."

"Babs, she's been doing the Exorcist gig for four months…her acting funny? That jokes not even funny anymore," I giggle.

Barbara rolls her eyes at me.

"Oh bite me Babs," I say stupidly as she rolls out of the room.

"I did last night, check your back."

Well that did it. I spin around in a tight circle to see what she was talking about. Seconds later I'm in a small heap on the floor blushing hard.

Barbara

"Well hush my mouth if it isn't little Barbara Gordon! Come back for another 'trim'."

Oh jeez, did he have to use his finger to make the quotation marks. Why am I here again? Why this hairdresser? Oh of course because Helena says he's the best.

"Not me this time Tim, just my friend here," I wave a hand at Dinah and blush slightly.

"Oh no," Tim exaggerates, "You didn't set her head on fire as well did you? Honestly, if I have to cut one more head of singed hair…well let's just say, I might be handing you over to the intern."

Dinah looks at Helena who just shrugs.

"It is looking better now though. Such a waste, such a waste. All that hair just because you're a fire bug in the kitchen!"

"Ok Tim, thanks for the torment. Will you cut her hair now," I crack. His head snaps back and he looks a little bit offended. Well so be it. What an ass.

"Hey D, we'll just be outside when you're done," Helena says quickly and drags me from the shop. Outside she turns on me and snaps, "What do we tell her now?"

"Nothing."

"But Barbara she's going to want to know…"

"Yes," I agree swiftly, "she is but we'll tell her the same as every other time…she'll remember when she's ready."

"Well," Helena says as she brushes her hair from her eyes, "When she remembers this one she's gonna blow a gasket or something!"