A/N I don't own these characters, wish I did though...

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Bellas' eyes darted back and forth between her parents.

Something was up. She didn't know what it was, but something was going on. She bet it was pretty important, too.

If only she knew what it was.

Bella was not deaf. She was not blind. And she certainly wasn't dumb. She could tell something was up, but she had no clue what it was.

It was annoying as hell.

She could see Mama and Daddy look at each other a little to long and stand a little too close. Bella saw them share a smile between the two of them like there was this great big secret and apparently she didn't get to know about it.

Meanies.

"What's wrong, babygirl?" Helen asked noticing her daughter being oddly quiet.

"Nothing." Bella lied staring at them intently as if all the sudden the answer would come to her. "At least, nothing I know about."

"Okaaaay." Helena said trying not to over think the note of accusation in her voice. "Are you sure?"

"Nope."

"Uh..." Helen shot a look at Vic who seemed just as perplexed as she was.

"Huh, I gotta go." Bella announced gesturing to her school. "See ya' later!"

"Love you!" Helen called.

"Okay!" Her daughter shouted back.

Huntress rolled her eyes and turned to Q, a hand on her hip. "Did you see that?"

"Yes. Those boys are wearing shoes that haven't been de-agletized." He responded.

"Remind me again what I see in you."

"I have no idea." He admitted.

She laughed and pulled his face in with her hands for a quick kiss. "Mm, I think she's on to us, babe."

"How do you think she figured it out?"

"Well she didn't get it from me, if that's what you're implying." Helen said politely.

Vic chuckled, taking her hand in his and holding it tightly. "How long do you think until we're busted?"

"Too soon." Helen laughed beginning to walk with him down the street.

"I don't understand." Vic said after a minute. "Why don't you teach at the school she goes too?"

"I did, a few years back." Helen explained. "But then I got fired for 'excessive tardiness'. Ugh, I swear I have to have the one job where you save people and then get in trouble for it."

"Why don't you just quit if you hate it so much?"

"I don't hate it, I love it. Both of my jobs I love, even though they're so different it's a little sickening."

"Hurm. Why?" Vic asked as they sat down at the small table.

"Why what?"

"Why do you like both of your jobs if they're so different?"

"I think it's because they're so different." Helen said slowly. "I need one because I have the other. I need to be the Huntress because it's...me. I am violent and deadly. I like hurting the bastards who hurt innocent people. An eye for an eye, you know? But it's different teaching kids, it's like a reminder that there's still some good and innocence left in the world. Even if it goes away the second puberty kicks in." She added.

Vic digested her words slowly. "So you're one because of the other?"

"Yeah, as confusing as that sounds." She bit her lip in thought. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"What about your hair? What do you think, dummy? Why are you The Question?"

"Oh." He paused to think about it. "It lets me get away with the things I can't do as, well, me. I can do it anonymously"

"And the whole reporter-thing as your career...?"

Vic shrugged. "It was a job offer and I was broke with no place to say. Besides, when I'm on television people actually give a damn about what I say." He added a bit bitterly.

"Huh."

For a few minutes there was silence as the two thought about the paths they'd chosen. Vic watched a family of four with two small children crying out of the corner of his eye.

Helena noticed what he was staring at. "Just be glad you missed the terrible two's."

"The what?"

"The terrible two's, AKA the toddler years." She sighed. "It's almost worse than having a teenager."

"What do you mean?"

"It's when kids realize they have a mouth and start throwing fits at every minute of the day." She explained. "But then it gets a little better, then worse, then bad again, and after that you have the teen years which are a HUGE pain in the ass, and then you're done."

"Oh." Said Q. "Is that all?"

"Well, the very beginning is great. They can't talk or complain, but there's a lot of crying so it's kind if a win-loose situation."

"Ah. What-What was it like when she was younger?" Vic asked suddenly.

"You mean, like, when she was a baby?"

"Yes."

"She was small." Helen said softly. "And very, very cute, but also...scary. I mean, I'd never had a kid before and all the sudden I had this tiny little girl that couldn't do anything at all and was completely dependent on me. It was scary, I mean she couldn't feed herself or take care of herself or walk or...anything. Well, she could cry, but that didn't do a lot except haul me out of bed at 3 AM. Babies are so...fragile. If you drop them, you're both done, and I didn't have anyone to help me."

"Oh." He said quietly.

She noticed the guilt-ridden look on his face. "Well, that's not completely true. I mean, I had Dinah and Ollie who helped out, and Oracle and even Shayera never minded having to babysit, thank God, but..."

"It wasn't the same." Vic finished.

"No." She said softly. "It wasn't."

"I'm sorry I wasn't there." Vic apologized sadly.

"Well, just be happy you weren't there when I was in labor." Helen grinned. "I was swearing my mouth off and damning you to Hell. If you were there, I'd have broken your dick in half and sliced off your balls for putting me through that shit. Labor's a bitch."

Q flinched at the phantom sensation. "...Maybe it worked out for the best."

"Probably." Helena agreed. "I'm very glad I didn't break your dick in half, sex would have been very unpleasant."

"Uh, yeah." Vic agreed giving her an uneasy grin. He was beginning to fear for his genitals.

"It's a very nice dick." She offered noticing his bewildered expression. "It's one of the things I loved most about you."

"...Thank you." I think.

She snorted. "Hey, you were going gaga over my boobs the other day. It's only fair I get to fantasize about you naked, too."

"I don't fantasize about you naked." He said quickly.

"So, what, I'm dressed as a Catholic school girl?" She asked innocently.

"No, unfortunately that looses all sex appeal when you have a daughter who's actually in Catholic school." He frowned.

"All sex appeal?" Helena probed.

"Well, mostly." He admitted.

Helena smiled. "Good, keep thinking dirty things about me and if you're good you get to do them after a few dates. But don't act so guilty; Bella's going to figure out you're easy to guilt into things and I'm going to come home in a few days with a freaking puppy in my apartment."

His lips twitched into a smile. "That's crazy, do you know what they put in dog collars?"

"A kitten, then."

"Do you have any clue what's in kitty litter?"

"You know for a guy called The Question, you have a lot of answers."

"I try." Vic smiled tipping his hat to her.

"No, but seriously, don't act so guilty and say that I'm perfect." Helen frowned. "Because, I hate to break it to you, but I'm not."

"No, you don't understand." Vic said shaking his head. "I mean you're perfect to me. I'm not blind or stupid, I know you have faults. You swear like a drunken sailor when you get hurt, you tend to maim people when you fight them, you hog the sheets, and you can be very moody."

"And we went from saying how great I was to how much help I need, how?"

"Let me finish." Vic continued. "But you're also intelligent, beautiful, funny, the greatest sparring partner I've ever had, sweet when you want to be, you have a heart of gold when it comes to children, you gave me a child, you're the sexiest living thing I've ever seen-"

"I like this list better." Helen cut in. I will not blush!

"you don't give a damn about what others think, you sing in the shower, you deny it every time you blush around me, you're not afraid to stand up for what you believe in, and you don't take anybody's crap. And, well, you loved me. I'm a crackpot who's broke and a laughing stock to his colleagues, but you still gave me a chance. How could I not think you're perfect?"

"Oh." Helena murmured looking away and brushing a stray strand of hair from her face. "If you keep sweet-talking me like that I'm going to end up jumping you on this table."

"Uh..." He was speechless.

"Close your mouth, Hon. Flies will get in." She smiled using her hand to lift his jaw back up.

"And I think you're pretty great too."

"So, did ya' get the goods?"

"Oh, I got them."

"Fools! I call you here after ten years of rotting in prison and you say nothing!" Mandragora spat.

"Sorry." Whimpered Cecil.

"Do you know why I called you here?" He continued.

"Because-"

"That was rhetorical. I called you here because I plan on finishing my assassination of the Bertinelli family! For ten years I rotted in that cell because of the Huntress and her face-less fool, plotting my revenge on the three of them. But do you what a simple search revealed?"

Mandragora grinned. "The Huntress is Helena Bertinelli herself, and that idiot detective is her no-name boyfriend, why I do not know. So my three least favorite people are now two. And you know what else?"

"No."

"As it so happens they were lovers in and out of costume. And do you know what lovers do?"

"Ah, love?"

"Imbecile! Do you have the photo I asked you for?"

"Ya' right here boss." Tony said sliding him the photo.

Mandragora turned it over, examining the girl in it. She was sitting down, hands folded on her lap, her school dress unwrinkled, raven hair tumbling to her waist with big blue eyes alert and a smile on her face.

"Hey boss, Edgar looks great!" Tony enthused, "But I ain't sure he's a he."

"Moron, that is not my Edgar! Lovers have children, this is their CHILD!" He roared. "And I shall take her away from them like Edgar was taken from me!"

And with that statement he took a butcher knife and stabbed the photo into the table. "Permanently!" With a merciless laugh, he walked away.

"Hey, Tony?"

"Yeah, Cecil?"

"How we supposed to get that photo outta the table?"

A/N Review please!