I cringe when I hear another smash behind me.

"You know that's the third vase you'll have to replace, right?"

"Shut-up, Kate!" I don't take it personally when she yells at me. Ever since she got home, Maggie has been pitching a fit. Bullock and Gordon chewed her out about the almost loss of their "witness." I'm actually mad too. If I hadn't messed up with Night Shadow, the bullet wouldn't have just missed the "witness" and hit the other detective who—I found out—was from Metropolis. After Linda and Shadow disappeared, I wasted no time checking on Maggie. She was fine, but the other detective was sent to the hospital with a wound to his left shoulder. While helping with the aftermath, I (Batwoman) explained to Maggie what happened. I left out Linda's involvement.

Maggie put two and two together and realized it was Batwoman's fault the detective was hit. That alone let lose the monster inside of her and she yelled at me. The car crashing didn't bring out any cops in the department, but Maggie's yelling sure did. As soon as I got out of there, I took off for my apartment. At least I got to stop a mugging along the way. When I got home, my phone had three missed calls: one from Barbara, one from Maggie, and one surprisingly from Linda Lee-Danvers. Barbara wanted to know what happened at the precinct, Maggie wanted to vent, and Linda wanted to get together tomorrow to talk about a story she was doing. She called me just after I left for patrol.

I changed quickly and jumped in my car. I called Maggie and told her I was on my way. After I hung up, I called Linda and left a voice message (surprise, surprise), and then I called Barbara. She didn't pick up either but I didn't bother to leave a message. And now here I am, sitting on Maggie's couch and flipping through the latest issue of People magazine while she throws a fit.

"I swear if I ever see Batwoman again, I'll tear her eyes out." I picture Maggie ripping out my eyes, and then unmasking me. It's a little disturbing and slightly satisfying, the look on her face that is. "What's with the smile?" I look at Maggie who is standing in front of me with her arms crossed.

"Just picturing you attacking Batwoman. That'd be an interesting sight." Maggie rolls her eyes then continues venting the rest of the night. She finishes around one in the morning and falls asleep on the couch. I grab the pillows and comforter from her bedroom and tuck her in. I turn back to look at the sleeping Maggie as I leave then lock and shut her door behind me.

XXX

It's been four days since the incident at the police department. Maggie has yet to talk to me since then, except for an occasional text or phone call. She's been too busy with protecting the witness. Stephanie and Damian finally caught the Mad Hatter along with the rest of the Wonderland gang, and Bruce, Richard, and Tim are still on their respective missions. With Stephanie and Damian free to help with patrol, I felt no need for Supergirl to be around to help me. But I did want to thank her. She had shown up yesterday and the day before to help with the patrol. It was actually because of her that Stephanie and Damian caught the Mad Hatter.

When she was patrolling with me her super-hearing picked up an attempted robbery at an antique store that happened to hold a mint-condition, original copy of Alice in Wonderland. I informed Batgirl and Robin of it and they made the arrest.

Though Supergirl had been around a few days, I had grown accustomed to her presence. It was nice having someone with her level of power around. In fact, and I didn't realize this until after she came back, I found myself looking for news of her on television and in the newspaper. The only news I found was in the Gotham Gazette. The morning edition had a small article on the peace talks with Kazakhstan and the return of Wonder Woman from her League mission. There was no mention of Supergirl. I was surprised to see the article had been written by Linda. I wondered why she hadn't gotten back to me yet.

Barbara got back to me the day after the incident and she was disappointed with my performance. I met up with her the following night at the Bat Cave to explain what happened, not as an excuse but so she would know what took place. She had heard of Night Shadow but was surprised when I mentioned Linda.

"And you, an experienced crime fighter, a former West Point student, decided to trust her and do what she said?" I was ashamed because all I could do to answer her was nod. "Perhaps Linda had more of an effect on you than you think." Barbara had a point. Linda had seared herself into my mind and was beginning to run rampant through my thoughts.

This morning, I head to my store to get work done. It took me three days to get it to the condition it is now. The last checkmark need on to-do list is to finalize my contracts. Right now, the store is only half-filled with books. I'm in the back of the store fixing a desk for the study section desk when I hear the front door open. I didn't realize I left it unlocked.

"We're closed!" I sigh when I don't hear the down open again. "Be with you in a minute!" I yell from under the desk. I'm trying to remove a rusted nut from its bolt when my hand slips and slams into the desk. "Dammit!"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Is that anyway for a lady to talk?" I slide out from under the desk and find Linda standing over me and smiling.

"It is when she slams her hand into a metal desk." I slide back under and start working again.

"I see." Linda sets her bag on a chair and squats. "You have your work cut out for you, mind if I help?" Before I can say anything, she gets on her back and joins me under the desk and then takes the wrench out of my hand. I watch as she loosens the nut easily by using her left hand to turn the wrench. It's a little—no, extremely—awkward because the bolt is in front of my face and Linda is leaning heavily on me.

"How do you do that so quickly?" Linda uses her fingers at a certain point to get the nut off. When it's finally off, she places it on my stomach. I flinch as soon as does.

"Sorry, I had nowhere else to put it." She moves on to the next nut and bolt. "When I lived in Kansas, I would visit my cousin's farm as much as possible. While there, his father would have me do odd jobs. One of them was to take apart an old tractor that needed to be fixed. I guess doing them built up my hand strength."

"Don't you live in Metropolis now?"

"I do, but I still visit Smallville from time to time."

"Smallville?

Linda smiles. "Hah, that's the name of the town my cousin lived in. I actually lived in Kansas City." Linda shifts to work on the third nut and bolt set, which puts her head next to my stomach.

"Who's your cousin?" I take deep breaths to keep calm.

"Clark Kent." I jump. With Linda being so close, I hadn't notice my shirt ride up. And when she turned her head to speak her breath floated across my skin. "Kate, are you okay. That's the second time you've jumped."

"Sorry, I had a spasm in my back." A spasm in my back? Seriously?

"It must be from being under here for so long. How 'bout we get up and stretch?" Within seconds, I push out from under the desk and stand. Linda does the same and starts to get up. I reach down and yank her arm to help her, but Linda's weight yanks back and pulls me down on top of her. From there, everything runs in slow motion, right up to my head hitting Linda's and everything going black.

It was either this chapter or the next one where I realize this fix was gonna be more than 10 chapters.