Part Seven

Barbara

"Dinah's gone."

"What?" Helena mumbles from her position on the couch, stifling a huge yawn with her hand.

"I can't find her!" I scream at Helena as she rushes towards the balcony and looks over. With a relieved sigh she comes back to my side at the Delphi. "She's not Dinah splat on the sidewalk."

"Helena!"

"What? It's a probable thing, I had to check!"

"Ok…ok," I say softly.

"We have to think where she might have gone…" I try to control the panic welling up inside me.

"How about you check the security cameras?"

I look up at Helena as if she's a creature from some other planet. "What?" she asks as she eyes me, "What did I say?"

"Why didn't I think of that," I mutter to myself. I log into the computer and drag the security system on to the monitor.

"Comms!" I say to myself happily.

"As if! Dinah wouldn't wear her comms to run away," Helena scoffs.

Deep breathing suddenly fills the Clocktower. I grin. "She's always been my favourite."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll run some rooftops to find her," Helena says as she grabs her jacket and pulls her arms into the sleeves.

I watch her closely as she limps towards her boots. I make sure she watches me as I look her up and down and settle my eyes on the long scar on her bare foot. "Helena, you're still recovering from an injury."

She just snorts at me as she puts on her boot. "A partially severed achillis tendon didn't stop me from getting to you and her when she did it to me. What makes you think it will stop me now…when my foot isn't half hanging off."

I can't help but wince. The thought of all the blood, the slice of leather that was Helena's boot ripped open, revealing flesh and bone. It was one of the most disgusting wounds I had ever seen. When I realised that Dinah had accidentally done it while restraining Helena against the wall outside the Clocktower I felt sick.

My own burns and bruises were nothing compared to the damage my young ward had done to Helena's leg and back.

"Ok. Stay on comms. I'll patch you her coordinates when I get them."

Dinah

"Hey Kid, what you doing out here so late. Looks like it might rain."

Helena.

The sun is sinking slowly over the city. I can see Wayne Tower backlit by sprays of gold, yellow and red.

"Having a rough night D?" Helena asks from behind me.

Rough night Kid?

I sigh. This is real. I'm sure of it.

"How you feeling? Do you remember?"

You feelin' alright?

"Talk to me Dinah, Barbara's worried."

"Why is she worried?" I ask bitterly, "I thought after I tried to kill her…oh and burn all her hair off she might not mind if I disappeared."

Helena sighs again and I turn my head just enough to see her sitting on an air conditioning unit and rubbing her ankle. "And you," I remind her, "I did that to you."

"Honestly kid, I thought you were supposed to be the smart one out of the two of us. Do you really think Barbara and I would have you at home if we really thought you'd hurt us?"

I turn back to the quickly setting sun and cross my arms. "You're a superhero Helena. You'll always help the weak people."

Another sigh, this one is more exasperated. "Maybe that's true Kid but if you haven't noticed you aren't exactly weak."

I throw my arms into the air and spin around. "I burnt off Barbara's hair."

"It'll grow back."

"I hurt you," I remind her and point to her ankle.

"I'll heal."

"What about Gabby?" slips out of my mouth.

Gabby

"What about Gabby?" I ask as I take the final two steps up to the top of the movie theatre.

"Gabby!" Helena exclaims and suddenly she's in motion grabbing my arms and helping me to stand. "I'm fine Helena," I tell her as I gently shoo her away with my hands.

"Gabby's fine, see D. Everyone's here and we're all fine," Helena says quietly to my blonde friend.

"She's right D. Everything is going to be fine."

"How can you say that!" she exclaims, "I tried to kill you all. I hurt you. I'm no better than the people I swore to stop."

"Do you think there haven't been times when the Huntress or even Batgirl or Oracle have hurt someone who doesn't deserve it," I say to her softly, "Accidents happen. People lose control sometimes. You have to learn from those mistakes and keep moving on D."

"How do you…"

"Gabby's meta D, like us. She's got this whole dream walking deal going for her." Helena explains for me.

"You were in my dreams," Dinah whispers as she turns away from us again and stares at the dark city.

"Some of them," I admit.

Dinah takes a step towards the edge of the building and looks over it. For a second I think she'll jump. Then I realise, that's why she's here.

With a little leap Dinah is standing on the ledge, glaring over the edge.

"Dinah, wait," I say quickly and take a step forward. Helena is tensed by my side.

"What do you remember about after you left the Clocktower…that night? When you saved Barbara's life and ran away."

She's very quiet, just staring out at the city concentrating on Wayne Tower for some reason. She doesn't reply so I decide to keep going. I have to save her.

"I found you up here bleeding and sweating and fighting off some sort of mental session. You were sitting on the floor rocking back and forth, crying. I took you in my arms and I told you everything would be alright."

A fat drop of rain hits my head. Momentarily I look up at the sky. It begins to rain heavily as I try to put what I was feeling, what I felt, into words.

"I hugged you and I said, 'don't you see Dinah? I'm right here in front of you. Dinah Redmond, Zipper Girl. I've been standing here waving my arms in the air, screaming. I've been screaming for you Dinah. Every time I opened my mouth Dinah, I wanted to scream 'Dinah Redmond, I'm in love with you…'"

"You whispered, 'but' and I said, 'you're in love with Helena.' And you turned your beautiful eyes to me and you whispered, 'you're in love with me.' Then I said, 'You're in love with Helena, you don't want me. But maybe if you're really in love with Helena you should let her go. She's happy with Barbara."

I glance at Helena and she looks at her feet. Obviously she is uncomfortable talking about this. She feels responsible, I know that much.

"You weren't listening to me though, Dinah but I kept trying and I said, 'Now I want you to be happy Di. I think that I can make you happy'…You screamed at me and jumped up onto the ledge. Just like you are now. You're exact words were, 'I don't deserve to be happy I almost killed Barbara.'"

I think tears are falling down her cheeks but I'm not sure the rain is washing them away. The ledge must be slippery. She needs to get down.

"I turned to you and I said, 'Get off the ledge D. You're worth keeping.'"

"Then what?"

"You got off the ledge."

I take another step towards her and Helena follows me.

"You know what happened then D?"

She shakes her head, her wet blonde hair slapping around like wild snakes.

"You kissed me D. You told me you loved me. You'd get help and you'd love me. I want you to love me D."

"I can't," she chokes out.

"Why not? You seemed to want to then. What changed?"

"I'm a terrible person, you deserve better."

I sigh, "I don't want better D. I want you. Just the way you are."

She's looking over the edge again and the question is clear on her face. To jump or not to jump.

"Please don't do this Dinah. You're a good person you can make a difference in this world. You have to let go of your past."

"It's a shadow now D," Helena says from beside me. "Can't you see it? Gabby it your sun, she'll chase those shadows away for you."

"I will," I promise her.

"I don't deserve friends like you guys," she mutters.

I laugh lightly, "Ok. So maybe we deserve a friend like you."

"Come on D. Hop off the ledge, we'll go to Joey's. We'll have pancakes," I suggest with a smile.

"With syrup?" she asks uncertainly.

I grin, "As much syrup as you can eat."

I can see the grin spread across her face and she turns. She holds her arm out to Helena for a hand down. Helena smiles and steps forwards.

A sharp crack echoes around us as the heel of Dinah's boot slips of a loose piece of tile. Helena screams and throws herself over the side of the building, trying to catch her.

Without realising it I run to the side and watch as Dinah's small body is smashed into the concrete of the side walk.

I scream.

Dinah

My head hurts a lot. It's cold and wet too.

"Barbara we need an ambulance. She fell off the building. NO! It was an accident, she slipped. Dinah, Dinah can you hear me?"

Helena.

"Hel?"

"Oh god D. Hang on. Barbara, there's blood. I think her leg is broken. I don't know! I DON'T KNOW! Please Barbara just do something…not again. No. Dinah goddamn it kid! Hold on."

She looks so sad. I don't feel…anything really. There's not much, just a little twinge here and there. There's a strange taste in my mouth.

"It's alright D. Everything will be alright." She leans down and wipes my mouth for me then her hand finds mine.

I stop trying to move and look straight up. Through all the rain I can see Gabby, still on top of the building. She's leaning over the edge staring down at me. I want to tell her to be careful. It's slippery.

The moon is shining down on her, casting her in an eerie light. She looks like she has a halo. My angel, I think. I giggle. She is very beautiful.

I feel Helena grasp my hand tightly again, her lips are moving but I hear nothing.

"I always wondered," I manage to choke out past the bad tastes and swelling of my mouth.

"Wondered what D?" I see her lips say.

"How it would end."

The End.