Author's note: Okay, I'll make this one quick.

I know it's been so long! And I'm happy no one came asking if I forgot about you, because these +19k words can't like: I 100% didn't forget about you. This is the longest chapter yet, and the longest you'll ever get. I've already started writing chapter 9, and school is out, so I'm hopping I'll have it up until the end of this month. There are so many reasons I didn't post earlier... I travelled, I got into a new university (third time!), work, crazy schedule, got sick a couple of times... but the main reason was that this chapter is really important, and I wasn't liking how it was turning up, so I basically wrote it twice. I hope I got it right on the second time.

I hope you survive this long ass chapter and review at the end. Thank you for staying with me. This fic is ending, but not my love for yall.

And thank you Teo (TheAeacusProject) for beta-reading this chapter for me, you rule! Go read his fic, guys, it rocks!


8 - A CHAPTER OF PROGRESS

When it was a good day, or a bad day, or a lazy day good for letting the brain rest, Ivy would go to Gotham City's Garden. It was the only place in the whole city that remained pretty, alive. It thrived more than any Gothamite, and better as well, like plants do.

Now, locked up somewhere she didn't know where, she could only go to a herbarium that had a few plants she didn't know (though that status was changing, every new encounter felt like a personal meeting, she always felt better and wiser after), only, and exclusively only when her kidnappers opened the door.

That day, the door was open. She couldn't tell if it was morning or afternoon, because she'd been knocked out for only God knew how long. At that point, Ivy didn't even want to know what they were doing to her, she was even glad to be unconscious, as long as she waked up after and as long as the plants didn't stay off limits.

She wasn't alone among the plants, this time. Across the room, she identified the dark hair of Jonathan Crane, and his blue eyes looked right at her when she stepped in; he smiled, waving a hello, and she felt something ease in her chest. Jonathan was a friend. They had seen each other more lately, and even though they didn't share words as much as they shared smiles and gestures, it was nice to be with him. He understood. And it was clear for her now how he chose so naturally to psychology in school.

They were in front of the other in a matter of seconds, meeting halfway the larger room of her captivity. The herbarium was filled with small sprouts getting ready for winter, their leaves changing color were the only indicative she had that fall would soon be upon them, the smell of dirt and green were all around the cool space.

"Is that the flower you mentioned?" Ivy asked, pointing to the plant he was standing in front of before meeting her.

"There're no flowers anymore, but yes," he answered, looking in her eyes and her eyes only. She'd forgotten to put a jacket on, so eager she was to change airs, and her skin was starting to bristle, her white cotton tank top and shorts were not enough cover.

They had stripped her to anything that could be turned into a weapon, so even bras were banned (not that she cared about using bras, she wanted to be rid of them a long time ago). Even though she had lost some weight, she knew she still was the Ivylicious Barbara liked to joke about. Besides, men were men, and they hardly kept focus if a good looking girl was around, so she made sure to cover herself with her long hair. She liked the Jonathan who looked in her eyes and she intended on keeping that version of him alive.

"I think I saw their blossom," she wondered, walking to the session where a bunch of blue and white flowers stood just a couple of weeks before in full blow, and touched the yellowing leaves. "Small little bullies, they are."

She didn't know why the words spilled from her mouth like that, everything about that sentence sounded weird, but Ivy knew that they were all true.

"How could you describe a flower like that?"

Ivy raised an eyebrow.

"I assume you know what they can do," she replied instead and he tilted his head a bit.

"Well, yes. But how do you?" he pressed and she shrugged.

"I just do," and since he didn't seem very convinced, she smiled. "I guess they told me."

It was true, the plants did tell her what they were about and how she could help them, but she had no idea how to explain that to anyone without making a joke. As much as it was real, it was also crazy, which was a pretty good summary of her time there as a hostage.

Though she was much more a lab rat than a hostage.

But who was counting?

"Weirdo," he joked, pushing her lightly and making her giggle a bit.

The only explanation Ivy had was that she had become connected to nature and seeds and dirt. She didn't know how, but she guessed Woodrue would have a good explanation for her. However, she'd much rather see Woodrue's face smashed on the asphalt by Helzinger (the way he did for Selina once) than to have to talk to him ever again.

Jonathan reached for a strand of her hair, rolling it around his finger, the gesture brought her thoughts back to him. She still had a strong urge to snatch his hands from her, but it was more an instinct coming from years of Gotham street life than a will to keep him away. She liked him. And again he was caressing her and she was holding his wrist, the grab just strong enough to feel his pulse quicken as he twisted the strand and let it fall in a curl, as he reached up to push her hair from her forehead, brushing her skin with his fingertips.

Letting out a slow breath, Ivy let go of his wrist and stepped closer, her hand sliding down his arm; she let herself fit in his embrace and felt his arms unsure around her. He wasn't much taller than her, just about half a head, but it worked – to be in his arms, his hand in her hair, the comfort of his smell. Before they could be stopped, before they knew who began what, they were kissing. It happened so fast and naturally, and it felt so right, it could be strange.

"Ivy," Jonathan breathed, trying to push back, but his arm still was around her waist, just in case, and their noses were practically touching. "I-uh, you've a girlfriend. Harleen is my friend."

"I know," she replied, her eyes in his as if something took her over and that, right there, was everything she wanted. And she knew he wanted it too. "But will I ever see her again?" he couldn't answer that question. "You're the only friend I have here Jonny, and you care about me. I care about you."

He opened his mouth, probably to protest, but the words died halfway through.

"Jonny," Ivy continued. "It's alright," she nuzzled him, ready for another kiss.

"You don't have to-" he tried one more time, but his walls were clearly down already. Ivy's blue eyes in his were sharp like a frozen ocean, but Jonathan's were a different shade of blue, clearer, meant to pass along trust.

"I don't have to, indeed," the redhead answered with sincerity pouring out of her. "But I want to. Don't you?"

Jonathan drew in a breath, unable to control how much he wanted her as well. It was so wrong. So very, fucking wrong. He felt her hands slide from his shoulders down his chest and lower and even though it was a bit terrifying, he didn't flinch as she smiled.

"You do," she whispered, and before he could thing one more time, his lips pressed hers urgent, making her smile wider in their kiss.

His hands pressed her skin under the cotton tank top she was wearing, over the short shorts of the same soft fabric. If she was that healthy under his touch, it was because he bought her case, he fought for her to have better food and a shower every couple of days. He was the one to talk some sense into Woodrue and his people, and even though it wasn't enough to have them release her, it was enough to have her treated differently from the people they picked on streets.

Ivy was special. And she knew all that about him because she watched him, knew the kind of person he became, even if she was from a fair distance. Ever since he left that hospital, thanks to her (make it the long way), all he turned out to be was a kind hearted boy, unable to do evil, a person who thought about others first. He had so much ahead of him, she knew it would be beautiful.

She didn't know that there was another layer to Jonathan Crane capable of turning on all the right points of her body. A Jonny that held her tight, kissed her skin, made her shiver with anticipation. Everything had been building up to this, from the moment he first showed up by her bed, and she was damn well enjoying it.

"You look like a dream and feel like the ocean," Jonathan said under his breath, his eyes locked in hers overwhelmed with lust. "I think I might drown."

"Do you care?" Ivy asked, her hands gripping the skin of his back, her breath quick, and he shook his head.

"No," he replied, and as soon as the word was out, he let himself drown, the poetry of his words not going unnoticed by her.

Ivy doubted it was intentional, but it also was hard to believe that she could inspire so many people that way, as if she was art. Well, a couple of people so far, that she was aware off, but to have one person talking about her like that already felt surreal, let alone two.

Poetry had never been her thing. Ivy was a science person in its most basic matter: she liked things straight (even though she herself wasn't very straight – she could see the irony). She liked facts, causes and consequences, discoveries. Her curiosity came in different shapes and she always heard that one maxima: she was too smart for her own good. Poetry wasn't about that, it was the opposite, really. It had way too many twists and turns, its abstraction used to be beyond her reach, like most art was. Barbara and Selina were trying to get into her, get her to appreciate more than fashion, but someone got her first.

Koryak Curry looked like everybody's dream. He sounded like most people's dreams as well. Not only his face was amazing, but his mind was out of this world. He cared about the environment with such passion that was captivating. When Ivy went to Sam Bradley's home that afternoon, after Selina blindly set them up, he did everything the opposite of what she thought he would, made sure she was comfortable, worked to know her and let her get to know him, which was the best of the surprises.

"How old are you again?" he asked that day. They were in his room – the guest room -, with the door open, and so far no one had touched the other.

"Fourteen," she answered, and Kory looked down shaking his head. "What?"

"You look older," he told her and she nodded.

"So I heard."

"You know..." he got closer to a board filled with paper and photos, articles about marine biology and some mythology. "If you want, we can do a lot of nothings," he suggested, making her laugh.

"Why so?" she asked and he shrugged, avoiding eye contact. She wondered if he was playing her or if she really was that intimidating. When he talked again, was only when he met her eyes.

"I don't know, you seem to have an innocence that I don't want to be responsible for taking."

Ivy got closer. She was nervous about it all, hopping in a guy's car without knowing if it was really safe, even if Jim had told them that the Bradley were a nice family. It was Gotham after all, and both Selina and Ivy had met plenty of "nice" families, that statement brought no sense of security. But she also knew that their street smarts would help them in any situation and they could be rid of those guys if they wanted to. Somehow.

However, from the moment Selina called shotgun and Ivy had to share the backseat with Kory, he proved to be good hearted and open minded, with a beautiful and easy smile, and with that face. He was quickly becoming the first man she felt she could trust.

"It was my idea, you know?" she confessed getting closer to the board. Up close, she could see not only the colorful scientific articles and photos, but ripped book pages, handwritten stuff. Her eyes fell on one particular napkin stained with Coke, where she could read 'The jewels were her eyes like sapphires the world was too unworthy to have. That's why I treasure her' in a fine letter. "To find ourselves dates. So I wouldn't say I'm that innocent."

Turned out that Kory had written those words as well as most of the poems on his wall. He showed to her that there could be poetry in science and that it was more blatant than the art in galleries, more inspiring than the modern bullshit people praised. What they did, as caretakers of life, was look through a different angle, purer, sweeter, rawer. No one could ever explain it to her better than he did.

When he went back to Gotham the following summer to meet his father, he had promised her a lot more words, and Ivy was looking forward to them, eager to find out more about this new universe she was discovering.

"I'm gonna be so late!" Ivy screamed, hurrying down the stairs of the loft. It was so crazy to think that everything had happened only a little over a year before. Her whole life had changed.

"Late for what?" she heard Jim ask from the kitchen.

"Don't you know?" Selina replied just as the redhead was entering the kitchen. "Kory Curry is coming to town. His name is so dumb, but his face…"

"And his everything else, I gotta say," Barbara added, making the older teen agree with a smile. "I mean, I know he's a teen, but I got to congratulate, God was generous with that one."

"Who?" the annoyed tone in Jim's question was almost palpable and Selina and Babs responded at the same time.

"Kory!"

"Her summer love," Cat added with a smug smile to the younger girl.

"Who said anything about love?" she demanded, and Selina raised an eyebrow that the other girl chose to ignore. "Can I borrow your car?"

"Hey, White Rabbit!" Jim cut them before Selina could toss her car keys through the room. "You can't drive."

For a few seconds, they were all silent, because Ivy was a hundred percent sure she knew how to drive since she was nine, but then she remembered that she was fifteen and didn't have a license yet. Damn cops.

"Oh… true. But I'll be so late!" she turned puppy eyes to Jim and he didn't last a couple of seconds before reaching for his wallet. His parenting skills were really bad.

"Get a cab," he offered her fifty bucks and Ivy took it smiling, even though she had saved money.

"Thanks, dad!" she exclaimed, and then took her bag from the floor by the front door. "Don't wait up!"

At the time, she didn't know how her encounter with Kory would be after a whole year apart. Ever since that summer of fourteen, Ivy had been with guys and girls from school and never attached with anyone, basically following her instincts to decide with whom to have sex. They talked during that time, she and Kory, but that was about it. In the meantime, she probably hooked up with more people than Selina did, although the older girl was the one who pulled the whorest move a couple of months before.

The moment Kory crossed the gate, however, all of Ivy's worries were thrown out the window and all she could see was him. Apparently, the same applied to him, for his embrace and his kisses said it all.

He had rented a hotel room where they spent the day – him telling her about the meeting he'd have to have with his dad and how part of the reason he had gone to Gotham was to "rebound with the old man", her telling him about her success at the SATs and how she was accepted in Gotham U, her plans of being the greatest botanist of the country.

And then he showed her this small notebook with pages filled with words and papers and leaves, the undercover read 'Songs about Ivy' in red uppercase letters.

"Because I know you love Maroon 5 so damn much," Kory joked and she side-eyed him, laying on the bed on her belly, the notebook in her hands.

"You bitch," Ivy replied, because in fact she despised Adam Levine and his stupid The Voice trophies, and Kory knew that.

"I don't know, it sounded like a good title," continued Kory, his hand sliding up and down her spine.

"Shhh," she shushed him, her eyes scanning the pages. He kissed her shoulder, gently brushing her long red hair to her other shoulder before sneaking a peek at the page she was reading.

"she held my hand as we walked down a road only she knew," he declared from heart. "a path she probably created to lure her men in./I could never guess what was at the end, for I was one of her men/– maybe the first, maybe the last –/and I could never measure the stairs of my ruins./she took me in and had me moving/but she never told me when to rest. – she pushed me off an abyss and didn't even use her hands"

Ivy smiled, rereading the words a couple times more.

"Did I, really?" she asked kindly, not looking at him. She flipped a few pages and they were all messy scrambled lines of thoughts, like the mural he once had in his room, equally amazing.

"I think you did," he answered her, never ceasing to touch and caress her, and she looked at him. "I think we're soul mates, am I wrong? Did I misread everything?"

"No," Ivy said with finality, her eyes locked in his. "I think you're right."

At the time, there was no denial that there was a connection between them, the way they prioritized the same principles, believed in the same things. Their synchronism was enviable – they laughed at the same jokes, ate the same food, seemed like two halves of a whole. And Ivy was dangerously close to being what she denied the whole year: in love with him.

She kissed him and he kissed her and that went on for a while until Ivy interrupted it, a genuine question needing answer.

"What's the abyss, though?"

Back to the present, a lot had happened ever since. After Harleen, Ivy wasn't so sure about who was her soulmate anymore, and Jonathan Crane had just made things a lot more complicated. It escalated quickly, she knew, and it tore her heart. She didn't know where to go from there.

They were so focused on each other that they barely noticed the change in the ambient. It was only when Ivy opened her eyes, after calming down her breathing, after easing the edge of her emotions, that she looked around in amazement.

"Oh, my God," she gasped, trying to grasp the wonder that just had happened and Jonathan followed her gaze just as flabbergasted.

The whole herbarium, previously naked of its color, was shining bright in a kaleidoscope of smells and flowers and fruits, everything that was green and blue and orange, everything that was impossible, simply beyond nature's control. How it came to be, Ivy couldn't tell. Neither could Jonny.

"Holy shit," the boy cussed, putting his pants back on and then walking a few steps amazed. "How did it happen so fast? It's bedding season."

"It's incredible," the redhead sighed, taking a small, pinkish fruit from its sprout. She smelled the fruit, catching a scent of sweetness, some sass and a sniff of illusion. "Magical."

Ivy looked up at Jonathan and he was standing in front of his blue flower; he looked worried, lost. If only she could read people as well as she read plants… she stood by his side, her hand holding his.

"They locked me up, too," he confessed to her. "It's been five days."

"Do you know how long I've been here?" she dared to ask and he nodded.

"Six months," he told her and looked at her as she nodded impressed, but unsurprised. "I know it's no comparison to what you've been through, but I think we're fucked, Ivy. I think they are nervous."

In a reflex, she held his hand tighter. What a long way they had come. She looked around, at all those beautiful plants, and incredibly enough, she felt fine.

"I think we'll be alright," she told him softly, and smelled the fruit she had picked again. "We'll be fine."

She didn't promise, though. Promises had never been part of her vocabulary.

To work at S.T.A.R. Labs was an everyday adventure, Selina found out pretty soon. It was true that the security had improved especially when Harrison Wells 2.0 came to this earth, they didn't lie about that, but that didn't stop metahumans from trying to come and go. If only they hadn't announced that they were the Flash's partners.

On her very first week, there was this Fiddler, and that Sapphire something, and then a third rogue appeared at their door at the beginning of her second week, the creepy Rag Doll, leading the girl to decide to keep her whip under the front desk 24/7.

Selina shared the front desk with two other receptionists, all working in different shifts. Three days after the Rag Doll incident, she got a text from Caitlin asking her to arrive early, for they had found something.

She greeted the girl at the reception, Jesse, left her purse on the desk and hurried to the toilet. Every day, Connor seemed to be heavier against her bladder, like some sort of punishment for keeping him a secret for so long to so many people; he grew exponentially, painfully pushing and kicking, and her back ached all the time. Cait said it was because he was turning and that it be worst if she wasn't exercising, but she also said that Selina wouldn't feel comfortable until he was born, which was the worst part.

The teen's line of thought was cut when she exited the toilet and saw the receptionist trying to stop a guy that wanted to storm in the labs.

"What's going on?" she exclaimed at the same time the guy called "Where the hell is the Flash?"

He was wearing some sort of uniform and they couldn't tell just by looking at him if he had powers, but he seemed pretty average. Taller than both girls, of course, probably stronger, but obviously not smarter.

"Sir, I told you that's not how it works," Jesse tried to explain, standing between him and the automatic doors that led to the elevator. Besides receptionist, she also was an intern in the labs. "The Flash doesn't stay here, we're just associates."

"Bring me the Flash!" he demanded very theatrically. It reminded Selina of Zaardon.

"Why exactly would we do that?" Selina asked, one hand on her round belly, the other ready to reach for a weapon in the first opportunity. She was near the desk and saw that the silent alarm had been hit, so all they had to do was distract the guy for long enough.

"So I can crush him!" the metahuman replied and the two girls exchanged a glance. Depending on what kind of power that guy had, he could destroy the whole building, and some places could only go through too many reforms. So Selina acted.

"See, a lot of people has tried to do that, and just a couple were more or less successful," she blabbed, distracting the guy as she reached for her whip. "And your plan sucks."

Offended, the metahuman turned to the carbonite doors again.

"FLASH!" he shouted, and with a quick wrist movement, the girl's whip snapped, rolling tight around his neck. Jesse screamed, taken by surprise.

"I know I should be used to impatient people," Selina said, holding the grip near the point he'd pass out, a trick she had learned with the best. He didn't seem like the super-apnea kind of guy, and if his power was significant, he'd already had used it, so she felt pretty confident. "But that's a character flaw I like to save just to myself."

With a small, but precise movement, the metahuman blacked out and fell on the floor, and Jesse looked at her wide-eyed.

"You're crazy," she said, getting closer. "But also pretty badass. Where did you learn that?"

"I've my good street influences," replied Cat.

"Hey, Simba!" Cisco called coming from the elevator with Caitlin and Barry. "Since when did we allow whips in the building?"

"Where's the Flash?" Selina asked instead, looking straight at Barry. He didn't flinch. "And you're welcome for taming a rogue so easily even though it's not my job."

"That's Weather Wizard," Barry said impressed. Okay, maybe he wasn't the dumb kind of rogue, Selina heard that the whole building had been 'anti-Weather-Wizarded' because he had escaped from the pipeline. "What did he want?" the boss asked, making sure to check if Jesse was alright.

"Same old: the Flash. Didn't you hear the shouting?"

Cisco crisped his eyes at Selina.

"We need to work on your ego, young lady."

"You won't have time for that," she turned to Cait. "What did you want to tell me?"

For a second or two, Caitlin worried about the guys dealing with the passed out metahuman, and if Ivy was there, she for sure would say something like 'I know it's hard to trust men to do anything right, but they got it, girl, let's do business', but Ivy wasn't there, not yet, and Selina was stuck with the hope that those S.T.A.R. Labs people would be able to help them. Focusing on the pregnant girl, the doctor nodded and smiled.

"Come on."

Selina followed her down the hall to the same control room they used to show the Catwoman footage Felicity had recovered. It was rather amusing that she was actually being called Catwoman, even though that fragmented video was the only evidence people had about her existence and only a handful of acquaintances knew who was behind the mask. Looking down her round belly, it was easy to tell that Catwoman wouldn't be active for quite a while.

There were a lot of S.T.A.R. Labs facts that the teen didn't know about, or had access to; it was a place full of secrets, but Selina knew how to read people and had made her assumptions. Besides, she was trying to stay on her best behavior, because she needed those people, so it didn't matter that Barry's smile was dangerously similar to the Flash's at that huge photo they had at the entrance, she couldn't push him.

"Did you get any sleep?" asked Cait, heading to one of the computers.

"Not nearly enough, but, well," Selina shrugged, heading to her usual chair. "I don't know how to get him to calm down."

"I can try and look it up for you, if you want," offered the doctor and Selina eyed her.

"If you're going to Google it, I pass."

Caitlin laughed lightly and clicked on something that made a map of the US show up on the screen. There was a list of chemicals organized by colors right next to it. Caitlin started to talk.

"When we had Dorrance here, we tried as much as we could to make his life better by figuring out the components of the drug in his system; we tried to recreate it and reverse it, make some sort of antidote. We had just begun to map the components when Lex Corp assumed the case. A lot has happened ever since, and we hardly had time to look at it anymore, that until you came up. I confess I needed some perspective in this case."

She hit enter and the map started to light up. From Smallville, where Dorrance was found, and Seattle, where he was last seen, to different parts of the country, all popping with different colors.

"There were more cases, you were right," continued the doctor. "People who disappeared for months and suddenly reappeared, dead or alive, in different stages of drug addiction," more names were listed under Dorrance's on the screen, most of them scattered around the cold states of the east coast. "There was a burst in the past four years. The dose of toxins in their system was almost always different, but always composed by the same chemicals, as if they were looking for the perfect balance. Those who lived displayed many levels of the reactions we observed on Dorrance – the violence, the paranoia, the vital organs' malfunction – and everyone's drug seemed to come from the same base: the Viper. You know what it means?"

An awful lot of points were concentrated in the three states' area, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio and Kansas, some of them in the exact places Selina had been at the past months. The girl nodded soberly.

"Lab rats," she answered and Caitlin bit her lower lip, assenting.

"Probably. I'm trying to get a hold on their detailed files, but it's not been easy. We've been so focused on the metahumans lately, that it kind of clouded all the rest. But look how many cases there is in the Great Lakes' region, they were all treated as kidnappings and running aways."

"Not really a work for the Flash," concluded the girl, her eyes fixed on the map. "Do you think Palmer Tech could have anything to do with it?" she asked frowning at the colored points around Star City. Her hands went to her bump, for Connor had gone quiet, as if sensing how serious that conversation was.

"Definitely no," Barry said from the door, catching their attention. Seemed like he and Cisco had dealt with Weather Wizard just fine. "Palmer Tech is about technology, not botany. And we know Felicity and Ray, they wouldn't condone with such a thing."

"How well do you know them?" pressed Selina, and they all looked at her very offended. Before anyone could protest, she continued. "Look, someone told me that Palmer Tech was involved somehow, that's why I went to SC. I couldn't figure out how they were involved, but all my trails had been good, the info was hot. They have something to do with it, I'm telling you."

"Why didn't you tell Felicity about it?" asked Cisco.

"Seemed rude," she shrugged and got three pointed looks. "Okay, I didn't know how to address it! I was a waitress, what should I do? Hey, here's your coffee! By the way, do you happen to be involved in kidnappings?"

"It's a good point," replied Caitlin. "But you just did it, telling us. What do you think went wrong in your scooping?"

"There?" wondered Selina. "I don't know, I think my perspective was on the wrong angle. I pulled all my resources, the ones I use to pull, made some calls, and nothing stood up. So I skipped and followed the next clue, that led here."

They were silent for a while, the program Cait started still rolling on the screen, names and colors popping everywhere.

"I'll talk to Felicity, see if she can take a look from inside," Barry told them, his arms crossed. He clearly wasn't a big fan of this. "Meanwhile, you guys continue on working on the drug," he started at Caitlin. "You think we could do what you mentioned?"

Selina looked from one to the other, trying to understand what they were talking about. Did they keep something from her when she specifically told them that she wanted to know everything they discovered? Sure, she was a teen, and pregnant, and a (former) criminal. Sure she hardly trusted people and sure she dropped at their door with a massive bomb to deal, but that was her case.

"Start talking," she demanded, but that only worked on Jim, the three adults were having one of those silent conversations that only came with a lot of intimacy.

"Yeah, I guess we could," finally concluded Caitlin, and Cisco smiled, heading to annexed lab.

"What the fuck are you guys talking about?" Selina asked again, and they all looked at her. Caitlin was the one to talk, getting up and walking closer to her.

"When Lex Corp took over Dorrance's case, we were obliged to hand them over every single sample of the case we had and all he had with him."

"Your articles?..." the teen wondered, and the doctor looked slightly guilty.

"We've autonomy over our resources, so we were allowed to keep any analysis we had previous to the transfer of the case," the doc told her. "But we also kept this."

Selina waited for something to show up on the screen, even though no one was at any computer, but instead, Caitlin pointed at Cisco, who was holding a vial the size of a small water bottle filled with a silver-ish green liquid.

"What the hell?" she exclaimed, reaching for the vial. With no hesitation, Cisco let her take it. On its side, there was a name. "Venom," she read, and looked at the others puzzled. "You had a name for it?"

"The name was on the machinery thing attached to Dorrance, pumping the drug in," Cisco explained. "We took some, dissected it, but there are components we can't understand the origins or effects, and we want to test it, but we don't know the balance of the dosage."

"Test?" she echoed. "In which rats?" They were silent for a while, and Selina got it. "In the rogues," she attested, feeling the paradox twist inside her.

Had she been in Gotham, she'd know what to do in a heartbeat. She'd do it herself with no hesitation. But that was Central City, and those were the people who always figured out a way, the Flash's people.

"That doesn't sound like a good idea," the girl commented, leaning back.

"We know," Barry told her softly, clearly trying not to alarm her.

"And how does that helps V?" she continued. "This Venom thing looks so unpredictable, if it came from the Viper… guys, I lived in the streets when the Viper viralized, it was insane. And maybe it has nothing to do with Ivy. Wouldn't we be pressing our luck? We already know that most of this stuff comes from here," she pointed the map and looked right at Barry. "This is your city, and you're the Flash!...'s pals," she corrected so fast they barely noticed. "And he ran through every single inch of the city, how could you not know where to look?"

Selina didn't know in which moment she stood up and paced around, but after talking so much she felt exhausted, so she sat down again, her hand on her belly, and Connor kicked her lightly. On her other hand, she still was holding the Venom vial. She didn't know if it was the pregnancy that was making her go soft, or if it was just a whole lot of instincts telling her that that wasn't the way. Time was running out, and she didn't know what to expect when she found Ivy. Maybe her sister would be another dead body, or maybe she would be severely broken, but not knowing was such a worst option.

"There's got to be another way," she mumbled, and she didn't think anyone would hear her.

"I think so, too," Barry spoke up, and she looked at him. He came closer and kneeled in front of her and Cat suddenly felt like the child that she was. "This is a team work, and you asked for our help, we'll go by your rules. We'll do what you think is right, you seem to be very good at it so far."

The teen smiled.

"I am pretty fucking good at it, it's true," she said and Barry smiled.

"What about… we talk to Felicity, see what she can find, if it will be helpful… and in the meantime, you keep this," he put his hand over hers and the Venom vial. Selina looked at Caitlin.

"Your research."

Caitlin shook her head.

"When you think it's time to do whatever you think we can do with the Venom, just bring it back to us," the doctor said with her usual calm. "We'll keep an eye on these police files to make sense of this map."

"And you go to the front desk, because we need Jesse here," completed Barry, standing up and offering his hand to her. Selina accepted it and stood up as well. "I walk you."

She went back to the reception with Barry, him talking about how well she handled the Weather Wizard, how her methods were unorthodox, but efficient; and when she was well sat on her chair, she looked at the vial as if it could review itself as something useful.

After a few minutes, she put the vial in her purse, like one of those gifts she got from Fish all those years. Selina felt that she couldn't stare at it for too long without going a bit crazy, and she had way too many things to handle by then. Let the vial be for a couple of days or so. And then, she'd have a good answer of what to do.

There was a bug in the system, Felicity found out in those couple of days, easing the tension that was going on in S.T.A.R. Labs when she called for a meeting. She didn't know who had put it there, but it was discreet, hardly a glitch, and it wasn't part of Palmer Tech, which meant it was something hired, a job to someone. The hacker was trying to figure out for whom the work was done and how she could decode that thing, and there was a small chance that maybe, just maybe, that was exactly what Selina had to be looking for the previous month.

"I'm pulling the archives of every single job we did the past ten years or so to see if anything matches this code," the blonde told them through video conference that Saturday morning, furiously typing and apparently trying to look at many screens at the same time. "Give me a couple of hours more."

"You were the one who called us," Selina mumbled, unable to keep still in her seat. It was nerve-wracking to not know if the trail was good. What if she got it wrong and they were wasting time? "What can you show us?"

"This is the bug," one of the screens of the lab started to show a messy sequence of codes that made no sense to Selina as Cisco spoke. He found himself a computer and sat down relaxed. Selina had no idea how he could be so chill. "Or where we think it's settled."

"Could you be more vague?" asked Jesse, crossing her arms, and the teen looked at her grateful. That was exactly what she was thinking.

"It's filtering, soon we'll know where it came from," Felicity assured. "And what it's made for."

If it really was something in the code system of Palmer Technologies, then no wonder Selina had never found anything on them, she wasn't an IT person, she never thought of turning to the codes. Her approach was different. And if the Pond knew that she had to look for computer codification, then why didn't they just said so? She could have Ivy back weeks ago already.

"Wait, what's that?" the teen's line of thought was cut when something in the code caught her attention. "Go back."

"Back where?" several people asked confused.

"The stupid numbers on the screen, what else do you think?" she snapped, standing up. "Didn't you see? There's an image there, I've seen it before. Slow down and roll back."

They did as she said, slower, looking for anything that resembled an image, but all they could see for almost a whole minute was numbers in a secretive shade of green. Seven people, and none able to find a damn pattern in the code. Until-

"There!" Selina shouted, and Felicity paused the rolling. Stepping ahead, the girl pointed the edges of a circle, and then the sequel of ones and zeroes that formed an image: a twig with four leaves popping out of the circle. "See? This is not new, I'm sure I've seen it before."

"I've got this," Felicity announced, now focused on one section of the code, it'd be easier to track anything, Selina supposed. The blonde, on her side of the screen, was typing and talking non-stop. "Hold on… crap, that's good, but not today, Satan, not today. This is massive, guys, real good stuff."

Selina turned to Jesse and Wally, her arched eyebrows wondering if Felicity ever stopped talking, and they both replied with small shrugs.

"Am I the only person who recognizes this thing?" she asked, looking around. In her mind, she was trying to bring to the surface where exactly she had seen it, but was having very little success. It was one of those fogged memories that you'd only remember when you'd be nearly asleep, it seemed.

"I'm having a hard time to see the image in it, to be honest," Iris confessed, her voice as low as Selina's not to disrupt Felicity's concentration.

"GOT IT!" the hacker shouted, and they heard someone cuss on the other side. Felicity wasn't alone, and the person who was with her probably was startled. Damn, Selina suspected that even Connor was startled with her volume. "Holy mother of the snicker bitches, that's so not a good sign."

"Come on, Penelope, go straight to the point," begged Selina. "I'm pregnant, I can't stress too much."

Felicity stared at her for a couple of seconds, as if saying "Oh, child…" and then nodded. She cracked her joints and went quickly back to business.

"It's a Gotham job," was the first thing she told them. "We collaborated with WellZyn to create a system about seven years ago… the IT that worked on it was hired by Wayne Enterprises after that…" at this point, the hacker wasn't even looking at them anymore, her eyes locked on all her screens, trying to absolve as many info as she could to tell them. "The system is used in Gotham U's internship programs… but it was upgraded a couple of years ago, specifically to the botanic program."

Faced with that specific piece of information, Selina's heart sunk.

"Ivy was on the botanic program," she told them, suddenly needing to sit down again. "But it could be only a coincidence, right?"

"Hold on…" Felicity mumbled, frowning. "There's something behind it. The botanic program was sponsored by Wayne Enterprises' WellZyn, and they were trying to cover something… look."

The screen where the codes were now started to be lit up with files filled with calculus and chemical formulas that were appearing way too fast for Selina to figure out, but Barry was dead concentrated in everything that was being shown.

"Cait," he called, and she let go of the tablet she was checking to find herself one of the computers.

"I'm on it," she replied; Iris went behind her to take a look at what she was doing as well.

"That looks terribly illegal," Felicity commented, still sending them archives.

A bit numb with the information, Selina looked down the table and saw Caitlin's discarded tablet. She was receiving everything that was on the lab's screen, so the teen picked it up to look closer. Her hands were oddly firm, bursting with a determination that she didn't know could be inside her at this point.

"Are you alright?" asked Jesse, worried, and Selina looked up at her.

"I don't know why y'all look so surprised, that's like, Gotham's standard procedure. Kidnapping people to do whatever the hell they want with them. It happened a thousand times before, it keeps happening."

No wonder the Pond was so interested in Ivy's case and sort of knew what it could be. They were survivors; they lived to uncover that kind of thing.

The files stopped popping up and now Selina could look at it closer at the one at the top. At the top right, there was a symbol, and now she could see that it wasn't a simple twig, but a flower – a blue flower with four petals inside a black circle, Woodrue's name under it.

And it clicked in her mind.

She reached for her purse, that was on the floor by her chair, and dig its contents looking for an envelope in particular, one she had gotten not so long ago. It was inside her journal, a few pages after the one where Bruce's letter was tucked in and she opened it, taking the blue flower out with delicacy. Slowly, Selina looked up at Barry and Cisco.

"Is that it on the symbol?" asked the girl, her voice suddenly small.

"Where did you get that?" Iris asked, the worry palpable in her voice. Selina shook her head.

"Someone left it to me when I was in Star City. I don't know who, it was just there."

"Okay," Cisco looked at Barry and Iris nervously. "So that's in the symbol of the new Woodrue grow house, right?"

"The same of the files?" asked Jesse, now holding the tablet that was with Selina. She had zoomed the logo.

"The same of the bug," attested Wally, pointing at the screen, even though the codes weren't there anymore.

For a second, no one did a thing, as if waiting for the first person to dare to act. It was Barry, who turned to Caitlin once more, looking for her confirmation on whatever it was he wanted her to confirm. After some stretched seconds, she breathed in, wide eyes to her boss.

"It's the Venom," she announced. "These components and formulas, it's the same of our version of Venom."

"Really?" Felicity asked and they all turned to the screen. Selina almost forgot the hacker was still there. "Ray has been looking for a reason to bust Woodrue for ages!"

"Why?" Selina asked, confused. "Woodrue is Ivy's mentor, she adores him. There's something wrong there, guys."

"He also has a long list of crimes he got away with," Iris told them, making sure to sound very careful. "My dad has a file about him on his desk, but not even with the new grow house we could find a way to catch him."

Selina tried to look back and see if there was something suspicious about Ivy's mentor, but she had nothing. She had never even seen him, all she knew about him came from her sister. And Ivy adored him. She was so excited to attend the biennial convention, hoping that she'd be part of it eventually. And if Woodrue was one of the people heading the Smallville convention that handed out stickers like the one on the car that took Ivy, what guarantee did they have that he wasn't the mastermind behind her sister's kidnapping?

But why would he take V?

More important: why hadn't Selina figured it out sooner?

She stood up with a jump, ready to go get her sister – if the redhead even was at the grow house – and she got distracted by Felicity on the phone.

"What are you doing?" asked the teen. She had tuned out the discussion between the adults, but it seemed that she shouldn't have.

"Calling Ray," Felicity answered. "He'll want to know about it."

The hacker stood up and walked away, leaving only a dark, circular room for them to see and Selina turned to the others.

"Okay, where's this grow house?" she asked.

"Same place the old grow house was," replied Cisco.

"That doesn't explain shit to me," Selina retorted, pointing that she wasn't a Central City citizen. She hung her purse on her shoulder and fished the vial of Venom from its insides. "If Ivy is there, I'm gonna make that motherfucker drink this dumbass chemical of his."

"Wow, wow, hold on, we need a plan," Barry interrupted her. "And you shouldn't go with us."

"Why would that be an option?" demanded Selina very offended. A few pair of eyes lowered to her bump, and she held it. "I've never been so close to finding Ivy, there's no way you'll keep me out of the action. I'm a pro. If you use this against me, I'll scream," she ignored their wide eyes. "Now tell me, where the hell is that grow house?"

"Uh-" Barry stuttered. "We need to contact the Flash first."

Selina looked at him flabbergasted for just a second, the feeling quickly turning into an unexpected fierceness, and stepped closer. She could be half his size, but that didn't make her less terrifying.

"Do you take me as an idiot, Barry Allen?" asked the teen and she heard someone behind her hold a laugh, probably Wally. "It's been six months since Ivy was taken from us, since she's been a lab rat in the hands of some vile people, and this can be our only chance to get closer to find her, closer than we've ever been, before they realize that we got their trail. I don't care about plans right now. What I care is going there, finding V and possibly smashing the responsible person's face on the asphalt for a few kilometers, so suit the fuck up and chop chop!"

She fiercely strutted out of the lab under shocked and amazed eyes, but stopped by the door, suddenly remembering.

"I still need someone to drive me there or point the way," said Cat, turning to the S.T.A.R. Lab people, and only them they seemed to be able to move, all talking at the same time, getting car keys and taking guns from carbonite safes, calling the police. On the video call Felicity had left open, Thea, Laurel and Sarah were watching with smiles as they moved out.

"God, I miss this kid," confessed the lawyer and the other two agreed.

The long version of the story about how Selina ended up owning every single piece of respect and love to Ivy started in her troubled 15th year, after she began to work for Barbara at the art gallery.

That summer had been good and all, with Sam Bradley and learning a lot about the business. But the more Sam gave her some sort of feeling of lull, the more one thing bothered her: the gallery's books. She was drowning in one of those when Bruce knocked at her door in a work day.

"Too busy?" he asked, and she sighed.

"Something is wrong," the girl whined, leaning her forehead against the table, and Bruce came in, sat in front of her.

"What is it? How can I help?"

Tired and annoyed, Selina looked up at him and slid the book in his direction. Bruce took it and flipped it back to page one.

"Long story short, I think someone is stealing from Babs, but I can't find where exactly, nor who."

Bruce looked at her, slowly going through the pages without checking them.

"I think I let something slip, but I can't look at those anymore, my brain is dying," she kept complaining and he smiled.

"I can try and take a look, if you want," offered the boy. And that was how they ended up spending the whole afternoon together, even though Bruce had a girlfriend who hated Selina, and Selina was sort of dating one of his best friends.

It wasn't as if they did anything but talk, but whenever they got together, it felt a little like they were breaking some rules.

"Did you get word about my cousin Kate's birthday party this weekend?" Bruce asked in the middle of the afternoon.

"The last party before summer is over?" Selina replied, and he nodded making a face. "Hell yeah."

"Are you going?"

Selina nodded.

"Barbara was invited. She knows a lot of rich people here and upstate. Perks of growing up eating milk and pear, I guess," she eyed him, observing his reaction to her words. Once, there was a time when she'd bother him. Now, he was getting used to it. "What about you?"

"I know some people, but I don't particularly like them all," he smart-mouthed, and Selina waited, one eyebrow up. "I'm going to the party. 18th is supposed to be a big deal."

"So I heard, but Kate Kane is a big deal already. Like… the new Paris Hilton or something," she explained and Bruce laughed.

"If only you knew how much she hates that title," he commented. "Tell no one, but Kate is my favorite cousin. I was pretty sad when they moved to the west coast, and I'm glad she's back."

"Well, then I'll definitely have to go meet this cool cousin, now, ain't I?" the girl joked.

Except it wasn't a joke; by the time Saturday came, Selina was filled with expectations about the socialite Kate Kane, owner of the world before the age of eighteen, and lesbian goddess (according to Ivy). It was the coolest party of the block, and also a family thing. Everybody went – from Babs, with Ivy, Selina, Kory and Sam, to Tommy Elliot and his white boys, and Silver, arm hooked on Bruce's, and Alfred, with none less than Leslie Thompkins.

And, for once, Selina was having fun without the weight of the constant feeling that her small chance of having a family that cared about her was ephemeral, or wondering if they'd throw her back to the streets, reveal her as an impostor. Despite everything, there, at Kate Kane's birthday party, with her girls and her boyfriend, Selina Kyle finally felt like she belonged.

The realization was so overwhelming, that at some point she had to go out of the Kane mansion to breathe and try to put her thoughts in order. Selina excused herself to Sam and headed to the first set of doors that seemed to lead outside, finding a beautiful, colorful garden on the other side, the mixed smell of summer turning into fall in the air.

She walked around the garden in amazement, her eyes scanning the ambient. It was prettier than the gardens of Wayne Manor combined, feminine, if she dared to say, and just so delicate. Letting her feet lead the way, Selina found herself standing in a bright gazeebo, facing an artificial lake with candles floating inside flowers. The music was a fainting call from the mansion behind her.

"We're here early, you know?" someone behind her said, and the girl turned around startled. It was Bruce, he was sitting on a bench by the gazeebo. "Kate said the fireworks would only be released at exact 10:21, that is the time of her birth."

"That's kind of stupid," replied Selina, and he looked at her, his half smile indicating that he agreed. "But it also makes sense."

"She's a bit flamboyant," Bruce joked, getting up and walking to her.

"I heard that's something that comes with being very gay," she joked back, watching him get closer. "Where's your girlfriend?"

For a second, she almost thought that he'd respond "who?", because he seemed genuinely confused, but then he shook his head.

"I just needed some fresh air."

"To enjoy the last bits of summer," commented Selina, turning to the artificial lake. "That are so damn rare in Gotham. Yeah."

Bruce didn't reply, and for a while Selina didn't even process it, but when she noticed that he was quiet, she looked at him, caught him blatantly staring with a smile.

"What?"

He shook his head, never unlocking his eyes from hers.

"I almost forgot," he said, and she raised an eyebrow.

"Forgot what?"

"How beautiful you are," he told her as if it was a fact and Selina shook her head, her blondish curls bouncing around her face. "No matter how long I know it, it's like I always let something slip."

"Bruce," warned the girl, feeling the danger approach, that one kind of danger that only came when she was with him.

"Have you ever read Peter Pan?" the boy asked instead. She shook her head again, even though it was her mother's favorite book and she knew it by heart since she was four. "I never really got the whole Wendy's kiss thing, you know? Until now. It just clicked."

"Meaning?" Selina pushed, knowing that she shouldn't do so, the red alarms blasting in her brain.

"Oh, you know what I mean," Bruce answered. "You've always did, didn't you? From the very first time I saw you," he reached up and cupped her cheek, his thumb touching the left corner of her lips. "The hidden kiss is right here."

Selina smiled and when she spoke, her voice barely a whisper.

"Busted."

There was no way to tell how they collapsed, it was like there was the moment they were apart, and right after, they were connected, no in-between. They were kissing – again, after so long. The first time she cheated on Sam, but not the last; not the first time he cheated on Silver, but the one that mattered. Then, they stepped with both feet in their danger zone, and at that moment the only thing that separated them was an energetic Kate.

"It's 9:43. Little cousin, the party is about to be transferred and you're on my spot-that's not the girl you came with," she shot everything at once, her eyes curiously analyzing Selina, who stood straighter.

"Kate, meet Selina Kyle, Barbara Kean's daughter, and my best friend," Bruce introduced them, and his cousin smiled mischievously.

"Best friend, huh?" she echoed, crossing her arms. She was almost as tall as Bruce, which made Selina feel uncomfortably small between them.

"Babs is not really my mom, she just lets me crash," the girl explained, out of all the explainings she could do.

"I heard," Kate replied, easing her posture. "Welcome to the family, miss Kyle. Now seriously, this is my spot. Go be "best friends" somewhere else," she made sure to mark the quotations with her fingers.

The danger zone felt like a nice place to stay for about two months. It was enough time for Silver to dump Bruce, done with his "playboy bullshit", and for Selina and Sam to agree that they were better off not together. The fairytale aspect of year fifteen seemed to follow a modern arc: the princess was a successful business girl who was going to save their gallery (as soon as she figured out what exactly was wrong, which she was very close to), headed to her first Wayne Charity Ball as the official face of the Kean Art Gallery. Second year in a row with Bruce as her date. Two months, the danger zone had kept going on, still magically edging every single emotion inside her.

They were there, cracking jokes and dancing to songs they legitimately hated, and Selina felt very, very happy.

That day was their expiration date.

"…but what about his date?" Selina heard two girls chat from her stall in the toilet, the voices echoing inside the acoustic room.

"He said she's only a childhood friend," said another voice. "But who cares? If Bruce Wayne is willing to kiss you, you just go for it."

The first person laughed, but the mention of Bruce's name caught Selina's attention. His playboy act was something they always discussed. In fact, she was the one who told him that if he wanted to achieve something big in Gotham, he could never do so gently the way his heart was. How many times had she said that in Gotham people had to be ruthless, that their moral compass should be calibrated in gray areas? So Bruce figured out that his gray area was to be the guy everyone expected him to be, with the money he had. That was why he had blonde beauty Silver St. Cloud by his side for so long, invested in that meaningless relationship over and over. That's why he was always charming other girls around, even if someone else was his date.

The difference was that Silver cared, while Selina didn't. She liked to joke about how confident he was getting, how funny it was to compare. She liked when he knew what he was doing.

Until.

"I don't know what's wrong with you," the first girl said. "He's not even that cute."

"Yeah, but you didn't hear him," the second girl came in his defense. "The things he said…" she sounded dreamy. Selina pulled her phone from her purse, ready to text Bruce about what was happening so they could joke about it later. "He actually compared me to Wendy, you know? From Peter Pan?"

Everything stopped then, and the moment seemed to stretch. Selina looked up from her phone, stared at the fancy door of the toilet. She didn't even want to pee, she only went there to sit a bit, overwhelmed with the amount of responsibility she had shown already, all the cordial, fancy talking she had to put her brain to produce. And she knew she should breathe, but she seemed unable to. The girl kept talking over the sound of water out of the tap.

"Said I had a kiss hidden from him and all."

"That's creative, I admit."

"I mean," the water was turned off. "It's suave as fuck, I know, but who wouldn't fall for that, it was some great mouth."

"And the kissing?"

The door opened and the voices started to trail away.

"He's good…"

As soon as they were out of sight, Selina got out of her stall, feeling weird, like her chest had been crashed or something, and it was hard to breathe, and her eyes burned. She looked in the mirror and saw a scared girl staring back, heartbroken even, and that was so. pathetic. She couldn't be heartbroken, not because of Bruce. She had only felt heartbreak twice in her life: when her mom left, and when Bridgit died; never because of a boy, and that couldn't change that night. No way.

So she put on her best poker face and headed back to the party, but not to stay.

"Selly," Bruce called her, intercepting her half-way to the exit. "Where were you?"

"Around," she replied cold-toned, and the boy frowned.

"I was looking for you," sure, with his tongue in someone else's mouth, but she didn't voice that. "I'm about to ask the band to play some Ed Sheeran."

That was low. They loved to hate Ed Sheeran together. Selina wouldn't have it now, though.

"Sure, you do that. I'm leaving."

"Leaving?" he echoed confused. "Why?"

Selina sighed, avoided eye contact as she answered, her goal was the exit door.

"I'd business to do, and now it's done, so I'm out of this rich people's thingy."

"But it's hardly eight, you can't leave now!" he insisted, and it didn't matter if it was her exclusive version of Bruce there, asking innocently; her exclusive version of Bruce had betrayed her and she looked at him annoyed.

"Can't I? Watch me."

She strutted past him, but the boy was persistent, she had to give him that. He tried to block her way again by holding her arm, but Selina didn't have time for that dance, not then.

So she slapped him, right in the face, startling him as he looked at her, his cheek immediately going red with the mark of her fingers.

"Quit trying to make me stay with you, I don't want to."

Bruce stepped back, still stunned, and Selina walked out. She was thinking about taking the bus back to Babs' place, but as she passed by all those fancy parked cars, someone spoke to her.

"Oi? Leaving already?" asked Alfred from the window of the car. "I thought Master Bruce said 9 p.m."

Selina shook her head.

"I'm going home," she told Alfred, making sure to hide that lump in her throat. "Bruce is still there, having fun."

"Weren't you having fun as well, miss?" the butler wondered; she was sure he realized something was off, but Alfred was good with appearances. The teen shrugged.

"For a while-" her voice cracked against her will, and she took a deep breath, aware of his stare.

"Are you alright?"

She smiled.

"As if you really care."

Alfred put down something that he was holding, and relaxed a bit – just a bit – under his professional posture.

"You're right, I don't. But you're a fine young lady who's far from home, so I think you'd like to have a ride."

She looked at the ballroom where the event was being held and thought for a second or two before stepping toward the door.

"Fine. But we won't do small talk," Selina got in, closing the door with maybe too much strength.

"Sounds great to me. Just do me a favor, will you?" they exchanged a look through the rearview mirror, and the girl raised an eyebrow. "Pass this level for me, I've been stuck in it for a couple of weeks already."

Alfred handed her a tablet and she took it, a paused phase of Candy Crush waiting to be finished.

"No 007 skills in facebook games, huh? You're so old."

"Well, do you want the ride or not?"

To pass two Candy Crush levels for Alfred and not have to cross the city in fancy clothes riding the bus did not take the bug from her mind, though. Somehow, Ivy's voice kept coming back, informing her that Bruce Wayne could break her heart. She tried to clap back to those thoughts, assure herself that it didn't matter that she once had a nice boyfriend she ghosted because Bruce noticed her – no, that wasn't it. What she actually clapped back was that she didn't have a heart to be broken, not by a guy. That stuff only happened when she lost someone really important, and Bruce definitely wasn't really important. To her.

The elevator's doors opened with a DING and Selina stepped in the hall, automatically going to her home's door. Selina didn't announce her arrival, but she heard the rushed steps from the living room, and Ivy was there, cellphone in hand.

"Cat is back!" she called, letting the house know and straight up skipped to the older girl smiling. "That was some move you pulled, Sel, I can tell this Vine will go viral-why are you crying?"

"I'm not," Selina huskily replied and she touched her face, feeling the wetness she didn't realize before. That explained why everything looked so blurry.

Sensing the approach of a big breakdown coming up from her lungs, the teen turned right to the stairs that led to the bedrooms without a word.

"Selina?" Ivy called again, going after her. "What's wrong? You never cry, that's scary. Selly," she tried to make her stop, but Cat only went up faster, almost knocking the phone from Ivy's hand. The redhead looked at it, the infinite loop of her friend slapping Billionaire Boy rolling, and it just clicked. "What did he do?" she asked running up behind Selina.

Ivy got upstairs just in time to see their bedroom door bang, and rushed after it.

"I hope you're satisfied," Selina's muffled voice said, her back to the door. It took Ivy a few moments to understand what she meant.

"He broke your heart," said the younger girl from the door, and the other didn't reply. "What did he do?"

"It's stupid," answered Selina, still not looking at Ivy, and the redhead went to her, sat on her own bed right in front of her friend.

"I'm sure it's not," she assured. "For you to look like that, he must've fucked up pretty bad," she chuckled and Selina even followed her a bit. "What was it?"

So Selina told her, all about it. From Kate's party and the Peter Pan reference, how it felt so exclusive for her and what they were, that weird connection she believed they had; and Sam and Silver being disposable, because she had Bruce, to that evening and the two girls talking about how one of them was convinced to do some smocking with him. It sounded as dumb as she felt.

"I knew that brat wasn't worth of you," Ivy said shaking her head. She didn't sound satisfied at all, though, despise the many times she warned. "But I'm not happy you're hurt, Sel, not one little bit."

That night, Babs got Jim going out to bring them some Häagen Dazs and she put the girls in her bed; the three of them watched girl power movies until Selina stopped crying and fell asleep. Gordon, resumed to the couch, only got word of what happened later.

"She's asleep," Barbara told him; she had gone down to keep him company while Ivy kept company to Selina.

"What the hell happened, she made it in the news," the cop pointed the TV, even though he was watching a rerun of Seinfeld.

"TMZ is not really journalism," Barbara pointed. "But he deserved it, the little punk."

Which was good, to let Jim know, because he added value to the Protect Selina From Bruce Squad, helping cover for her whenever the boy showed up or called.

Besides, the extra time not thinking about stupid boys gave the girl the last bit of focus she needed to figure out once and for all who was stealing from the gallery. After three days immersed in the books from the past five years and observing behaviors, she finally got it.

"It's Brennan," Selina announced at lunch, dropping a pile of evidence between the potato salad and the broccoli sausage balls loud and dramatically. "Over the past three and a half years he stole $173.069,00 from us in many process from purchase to sale, most of it when he was running the gallery by himself last year, because Babs was sick."

Frowning, Barbara forgot her fork for a while and took the folder from the top of the pile.

"Brennan? Are you sure?"

"Dead sure," assured Selina. It took her a long time to get it straight, there was no room for misunderstandings now.

"He's been with me since the opening, practically," continued the blonde stunned. "We went to college together."

"Is that guarantee of anything?" asked Ivy, analyzing her ball of soy protein and broccoli.

"I guess not," replied Babs. "I'll have to fire him."

"And have to pay him his rights?" cut Selina, making the other two look up at her. "Give him more of our money without even deserving it? No fucking way."

"Isn't Jim friends with the DA?" suggested V. "Maybe we can have some leverage."

"Maybe, but I much rather call Dent on a favor when it's something completely out of our reach," from the tone of the teen's voice, it was easy to guess that she had a plan. "No, it's better to do it our way."

"And what is our way? Have any suggestions?" provoked Barbara and Selina smiled.

"You do nothing," said the girl, the mischief evident in her lips. "Let him think it's all right, and when he least expect, we get our money back."

"You have a plan," mused Ivy, and Selina confirmed with a nod.

"Damn right I do."

Though the plan was simple, it was also risky, so Selina kept the details all to herself as she pulled the strings to make it happen. At the end of that November, after Gotham's first snowstorm of the season, she had the date set to put everything to work. The teenage girl put her best I'm-here-to-make-your-life-hell outfit, made a couple of calls, filled a bag with a few couple thousand dollars and left home under V's cover right after dinner.

She crossed the town to the surroundings of Arkham City in a stolen Kawasaki, the line between the Asylum complex and the Hill almost unclear in the dead of night, if not for the river; she parked across the street from the Deck of Cards. There, the snow had already melted, but the cold still crept up her practically bare legs. Selina definitely wasn't dressed for a motorcycle ride, but it was too late to think about it. Inside, it certainly would be warm. Her date, a massive man filled with fight, didn't take long to arrive in the passenger seat of a black gangster car.

"Hi Aaron," Selina greeted without looking up at him. She looked like a small child by his side. "Did Butch give you a ride?"

"Tabs," he replied, eyes glued on the Deck's neon door, where its owner excitedly greeted the night's players. "I don't like him, why are we here?"

Selina looked up at him then, surprised. When she first met Aaron Helzinger, back when Barbara was in a tug war between her heaviness and her craziness, he hardly bothered to talk, but since he got out of Arkham, "sane", he was practically normal.

"No one likes him. But we're not here for Jerome," she told him, the exact moment when Brennan's bright Camaro turned the corner. "We are here for that little bitch," explained the girl, making a big show at pointing the orange car.

"He the one who got Babs?" the man asked, and the girl nodded. Aaron stepped forward. "Let's beat the money out of that sh-"

"Not now, Big Guy," interrupted Selina, being quicker than him to cross the street. "He ain't got the money on him yet. I'll handle the money part, you do the beating when I tell you."

"Selina Kyle!" Jerome shouted from the door, a wicked grin on his face even when she turned to him and offered him her business signature look. "Nice ride!"

She looked back at the Kawasaki she came in and shrugged.

"Yeah, I stole it," she said, as if it was no big deal. "Colgate Heights greatest. So? All set for the night?"

"I confess I didn't think you'd really come," he said filled with expectations, and she passed by him, entered the eerie warmth of the Deck.

"I don't fuck around, Jerome. Now, point me the way?" she turned around and saw the redhead guy awkwardly greeting Aaron before doing what she said. She did not want to know what had gone down with those two.

Selina checked the clock, counted four seconds until Jerome turned his attention back to her. He made sure to check her out before stepping ahead.

"Of course," he said, all professional all of a sudden, though he got way too close for her taste without her even realizing the moment it happened. "It's time for a game. My lady?"

He pointed the way to the colorful door of his own personal poker room, but Selina didn't move, not until he walked first. As soon as she stepped in the room, the air changed. She was the only woman – a teenager – and all those men, five of them, didn't understand very well what she was doing there, hungry eyes upon her. That until Aaron came right behind her.

"Selina?" mouthed Brennan confused, and she shot him one of her top #3 innocent smiles.

"Gentlemen," announced Jerome with his usual entertainment voice. "Table is full for the night, have you met the incredible Selina Kyle? One of Gotham's finest? I'm not even kidding. She'll be playing tonight. I can only expect you to behave," he hushed the last part, leaning forward as if he was telling them a secret, and he pointed his thumb to Aaron. "Or else…"

He talked and talked about rules and what a fun night it'd be, and while he talked, Selina removed her jackets, revealing a short black dress that left no room for people to think that she was cheating. Because she wouldn't be. She waited to see where Brennan would sit to sit by his side.

"That's my seat," a Japanese guy intercepted, but Selina stepped forward, marking her space.

"You mean 'was'," she corrected. The guy was hardly taller than her, but he had some balls.

"I mean 'is'."

"You don't mean shit," interrupted Aaron, standing between Selina and the guy. He flinched, while she stood tall, and without any word more, stepped back, letting Aaron pull the chair for the girl. Jerome was watching the whole thing like it was the best night of his life.

"No, there's no need to brawl, this is only for a night, ain't it, Sel?" commented the redhead, and she looked right at him.

"You don't get to call me by nicknames," informed the teen.

"Selina, what are you doing here?" Brennan asked, looking nervous. He had this uncle vibe whenever she was around at work, trying to crack crappy jokes and rustle her hair, which she absolutely hated, but had to tolerate. She always disliked him, but now she had good reasons to get back at him. "Do Babs or Jim know where you are?"

"I reckon this is none of your business," she diverged as they all took their seats. Aaron stood a few feet behind her like a bodyguard, and she knew he was glaring at Brennan.

The first set of cards was distributed and the first round of bets were called, money in the middle of the table instead of poker chips, and so it began. Her first hand was alright. Could've been better, but would do just fine. She just had to have a good start to plain the field, and then she'd go for it, even if it'd take the whole night.

Jordan Brennan was an addict. Every single penny he had, he'd put on the table, and what he didn't have, he'd stolen from the gallery to put on the table and pay bets.

Now, before Selina's mom disappeared, she had worked at Black Jack and poker tables, and she taught her daughter everything she knew about card games. Every night she had off – and if she didn't have the night off, they'd do it after Selina came from school -, they'd sit together and play a little. After, when the days were bad for stealing and Selina hadn't eaten in a long time, she'd take it to the cards. Jerome wasn't wrong, she was one of the greatest, making do with whatever hand she had. It was rather brilliant, actually.

She observed as Brennan won the first round, $1.037,00, looked around the table, and waited. Still $172.029,00 to go. For round two, she doubled the bet.

The secret to make a win believable was to let the money circulate. They all knew that, and they all won and lost in different games during the night. It only mattered to keep track of Brennan's money for Selina, so she made sure he'd get at least close to what he owned to Babs. Every now and then, he'd ask her if she shouldn't go home, and she basically ignored him. Until the money was good, and his hand was just as good.

"How much is it now, Brennan?" asked Jerome, always firing the game. There were cars' and apartment's keys on the table, along with "$209.073,00? Two Mercedes? Someone's got a lucky night."

Smiling and obviously happy with his Four of a Kind, Brennan threw his arms to the money in the middle of the table, but right in time, Selina stopped him. It was 4:40 already, and it was time to go home. He looked at her confused, and a little bit angry at her interruption.

"Three and a half years ago," started Selina, letting show a calmness that was very, very fake in her stomach. "My mom made you the book keeper of her very successful art gallery. That before she got sick, right?" it was rhetorical, but his eyes started to change, as if he finally sensed that there was a reason why she was there. "You were in charge of the finances, balanced the sales, everything that involved money passed in your hands."

She smiled, her hand still holding his wrist, and Brennan swallowed.

"I bet you didn't think she'd put a fifteen years old adopted street kid to learn about the dynamics of an art gallery, and when she did, you probably didn't think said kid would figure out your whole scheme, did you?"

He didn't say anything, frozen in place, his fingers still touching the pile of money, the keys, including his own Camaro's, just at arm's reach.

"I bet you didn't know that art and money are my jams, did you?" Selina smiled, almost chuckled, but her eyes hardened the following second. "A hundred seventy-three sixty-nine thousand dollars in three and a half years. That's how much you stole from us."

Selina laid her cards on the table, finally, revealing a perfect spades Royal Flush, and Jerome loudly gasped.

"You don't mind if I get some interests, do you?" she pushed his hand aside and pulled the money to herself. Jerome clapped his hands.

"Well, a Royal Flush! I guess there's no going higher than that, gents, the game is over!" he punctuated his words in the right moments, making everything seem like a big performance, which it kind of was. "What a great night! I told you."

"What?" protested Brennan, now desperate. "No, I want to win my money back. No!" he shouted when he saw Selina throw the keys back to their owners, who were accepting the loss and getting up from their seats. "That's not fair!"

"Oh, you want to talk about fair?" wondered the girl, pausing from putting the money in her bag, and Aaron stepped closer. "You think it's fair that my mom was practically broke when she left the hospital, covered with bills and debts, especially after she also decided to help two street kids? And what about the fairness of her thinking that the business was struggling because of her condition when it had nothing to do with it and everything to do with the betrayal of a close friend?"

She was partially aware of Jerome rushing the other players out of the room, but there was no way she'd let Brennan get away from the weight of the damage of what he did, even less without a few broken bones. Her fingers looked for her switchblade inside the bag and closed around something better. With her left hand, she reached for the other knife, the one strapped to her thigh, and the right hand let go of the bag, but Brennan reached for his car keys and Selina snapped.

With her knife, she nailed his hand on the table, kicking his chair from under him in the same movement, causing him to lose balance and torn the hole in his hand a bit further. He howled with pain, and Selina occupied herself with putting on an English punch in her right hand, her best one.

"This was a gift from uncle Harvey," she said calmly. "He told me it's good for when you want to solve things your own way."

"Selina, please," begged Brennan, his face red, blood soaking the poker table, touching the edge of the money. She removed the knife from his hand and he fell on his knees. "Please, I'm sorry."

She paused, observing her fingers close around the punch, and then shrugged.

"Sorry won't do it, hon," she explained just before she hit his face. Say what you want about Jim and Harvey's methods of raising girls, but they knew how to teach one to hit.

Brennan fell face down on the floor and cough blood.

"Hey, who's gonna clean this mess later, Cat?" interrupted Jerome, making Selina look at him. She even had forgotten he was there and he still wasn't allowed to call her by nicknames. "Take it outside."

Only then she realized that they were the only people on the room – Jerome, Aaron, Brennan and she -, and the door was ajar. The teen took the Camaro's keys from the table.

"How do you like his car, Aaron?"

She remembered how excited Brennan had been when he bought that Camaro. Now that she came to think about it, maybe he hadn't even buy it, maybe he won it on a table like that one they were standing around.

"Enough to making him fuck it," answered the gorilla, and she offered him the keys, calmly looking into Brennan's eyes.

"You think twice when you come to a place full of lunatics who are also close family friends."

Aaron easily pulled Brennan from the floor, pushed him to the door with little to no mercy, and Selina recovered her bag from the floor.

"I expect your resignation by Wednesday morning," shouted the girl to the distancing couple. "Have fun, guys!"

Selina, then, resumed putting the rest of the cash in her bag without bothering to keep track of them. All she wanted at the moment was to go back home, now that it was over, and have some sleep, and she was so focused she didn't look up, not even when she heard the door close.

"Wow," Jerome said with an amazement that caught her attention. "You really are Barbara's daughter."

"No," replied Selina, watching him slowly make his way close to her with a wicked smile on his face. "But yes, I see your point."

"You know, Babs and I had a good bond," continued the host as the girl put the last bit of the money in her black bag and zipped it shut. "We were buddies. It's kinda sad not to have her to chat anymore, she had such pure fire in her skin!" he sighed. Jerome had a way of occupying other people's space that was rather claustrophobic. "Everyone from that brief and marvelous time found themselves new landlords."

"Barbara has no landlord, she's just back to her normal self," attested Selina, getting slightly uncomfortable with where that conversation was heading.

"Yeah, how boring!" exclaimed the younger of the Maniax. "But it's okay, I still love her."

"Ew," Selina mumbled making a face as she looked down. What she saw got her head spinning with possibilities, and she made some quick math in her head as Jerome got closer.

"Besides, there's no need to be mad at her, her legacy is right here, just as beautiful," he continued, pressing his body against Selina's, the girl trapped between him and the table.

She looked up at him, at the blatant trace of madness in his eyes, the shiver of eroticism that made his lips tremble, felt his boner against her hips and wondered if she could roll with it. He was bigger than her, stronger. If she protested, he could go violent, or not let her leave with the money, and there was no way Aaron could hear her from the outside. Maybe, if she focused on how Jerome was actually kind of hot, she could reboot her brain and get out of it unscathed.

"I was watching you play, Selina," he bit his lower lip as one of his hand held her left hip and the other traced the contour of her dress' cleavage. He bended his knees a bit to stay at eye level with her, and when he spoke, his voice was raspy. "It was really hot."

Without any further warning, nor leaving space for her to retort with something smart, Jerome kissed her. His kisses were rough and his hands were needy, so Selina tried her best to shut her brain down, get it over with, and leave. It seemed to work, for he got more excited quickly. He easily sat her on the poker table, one hand under her dress roughly ripping her tights and putting aside her panties, eagerly feeling her entrance – a hundred percent dry, for the record.

"You know you're wasting your potential out there, don't you?" he kept talking. Selina forced herself to look innocent, to look into his eyes as he unbuckled his pants. "Just like Babs did. Look at you," Jerome held her jaw, forced her to look at him – a waste of energy, in her opinion. There was no way she would look down at his member. He licked his lips and then spat on his other hand. "So beautiful," he whispered. He said 'beautiful' as if it wasn't really a society burden, but her best asset. His nose was touching her cheek and for a moment she considered closing her eyes, but that wouldn't be a clever move.

Instead, Selina looked at the colorful wall behind him and focused on evening her breath. It had to end fast, it needed to. And for that, she had to relax. She felt one not-wet-enough finger slide inside her and her body protested, but she didn't want to get hurt, that was the last thing in her list of possibilities of the night, so that reboot had to happen, her body had to collaborate now.

Jerome's lips were close to hers again, an evil grin on his face as he looked into her eyes. His were of a greyish green, like Bruce's, and he smelled just like a cute guy she met at the country club once, so maybe it would work, if she focused on bits and pieces of this crazy dude and not him as who he was.

"Come on, Selina," commanded Jerome in her ear. "Make room for me," and then, as if it was super funny, he straight up giggled.

At that point, the teen already had reached a level of mental numbness that put the "matter" bar very low, so all she remembered were flashes: he removed his finger from inside her, added some more saliva on his hand – a lot more saliva -; she heard the familiar sound of skin-on-skin from when you're masturbating, and then his hand was back, two fingers now, and he laughed, mentioned something about her ex-boyfriend using the n-word. He fingered her for just a few seconds before he replaced it with his member, taking his time for the first stroke.

Any pain she was feeling was not revealed in her expression. She watched his pupils dilate and his grin grow, one of her hands behind her, keeping her balance on the table, the other holding on to his shoulder. Any comment he made was suffocated by her thoughts, and all she thought was-

getioverwithgetitoverwithgetitoverwith

After the first, long, tempting stroke, Jerome started to pull and push inside her faster and faster, like a crappy porn movie, not for a second stopping to ask if it was alright for her, if she was liking it, if she wanted to continue. It was so, so different from the experience she had with Sam and the other guys she had been with. Her numbers weren't big, she still struggled to trust men, and she could use only one hand to count them all (Ivy was having better luck at sex than her, to be real), but it was a bad kind of different, what she was living right there and then.

Selina felt Jerome tremble and it snapped her back to where she was. He was about to come and she would not have his semen inside her, so against her principles, she reached down, stopping the frantic hump of his hips with her knees, and held the base of his penis, pulled him out of her. Swallowing down her repulse, Selina looked up at him, his eyes wild as she jerked him off, and she even smiled a bit.

"Now, let's not get too excited, right?" she pondered, sounding more factual than sexy, and Jerome gasped as his load was shot on the floor, where she was pointing him.

She patiently waited for him to finish, and once he was done and soft, his head down on her shoulder, hands on each side of her on the table, the teen cleaned her hands on his purple plaid shirt. She pushed him to give her space so she could get down, and Jerome looked up, tried to kiss her again, but it was over, all the spell, so she turned her head to the other side, her hands firm on his chest.

"You had your share, didn't you?" argued the girl, because that was what it really was about, right? He let her walk away with all the money, because she already had paid him with something else. It didn't matter that it wasn't what they had agreed on the phone, she had to expect that there would be a twist in the end.

Jerome tilted his head amused.

"Yeah, I did," he replied, and she waited. It still took him a couple more seconds to realize. "Oh, of course," he stepped aside, letting Selina get down. She adjusted her clothes, only processing through her panoramic vision that Jerome was putting his pants back on, got her bag, and headed for the door. "Nice dealing with you, Sel. Your parents will be so proud."

Selina took a deep breath, her hand on the door knob, and turned to him one last time.

"You don't get to call me by pet names, Jerome," warned her again, and then, at last, she left.

Outside, Brennan was getting the crap beaten out of him and he looked miserable.

"Let's not kill the guy, Aaron, we don't want it. Just a little broken," Selina said as she passed by them to head to the Kawasaki. Brennan's Camaro was all smashed, she suspected its owner was thrown at it a few times.

"But we've been out for less than five minutes," protested Aaron holding Brennan by his shirt, the other fist ready for a punch. Selina frowned.

"No way."

"Yes way," one of the Deck's crooks replied, some mock in his tone. There was a bit of a crowd watching the show. Selina looked at him and he pointed something above and beyond her. She turned around just in time to hear the Arkham clock strike 5 a.m.

She looked back at Aaron, the massive man still in position to punch the shit out of Jordan Brennan, and shrugged, more to try to ease the weight from her shoulders than to seem dismissive.

"Just let him good enough to be walking by Wednesday, he still needs to carry all the stuff he left on his table in the gallery," she said, taking the motorcycle key, and Aaron resumed punching the guy. It was that almost-morning time of the day, when November was at it coldest, and now her clothes were even less right for a motorcycle ride, but she'd made do, like she always did. Before she started the vehicle, Selina said one more thing. "Hey, Aaron?" the gorilla looked up at her. He had a way of looking at Barbara and her girls very sweetly, even under all the muscles and violence. "Thanks."

He nodded, throwing Brennan against the wall with one hand.

"Anytime. Tell Babs I said hi."

Babs, who had spent the night worried and sick about Selina, trembling hands around warm coffee mugs, Jim by her side trying to pull some strings to have someone after their older kid before the mandatory twenty-four hours, Ivy trying to get them to sleep, because Selina was perfectly fine, she always was.

"Nine lives, remember?" the older teen heard the redhead's voice when she opened the door. The sound had the three of them running to the front door. "See?"

"Oh, my God, baby," Barbara went to her, crushing the girl in an embrace at the same time Jim told someone on the phone. "She's here, she just got home," and once the call was over and the hugging was enough, they said at the same time- "What the hell were you doing?"

Selina raised an eyebrow and headed to the dinner room.

"Saving the family business, for a change," she told them putting the heavy bag on the table.

"You're freezing cold!" exclaimed Barbara worried. "What happened to your tights?"

"Yeah, have you been outside?" commented Selina. "That's some crazy global warming shit going on. Anyway."

She opened the bag, aware that she hadn't answered all the questions, and let them stand around it with shocked expressions. Jim looked worried, Barbara's jaw had dropped and Ivy took a wad of cash in her pale hands.

"I got Brennan to pay our money back," explained the girl.

Jim peaked inside the bag and raised a note smeared in red.

"Why there is blood in some of these?" he asked worriedly.

"It wasn't very easy to get him to hand it over," she said, making very little case of it, but putting her switchblade on the table, the blood in it partially dry. She sighed when she saw their faces. "He's fine, relax! It's just his hand that's a bit… holed."

"How did you get him to pay?" asked Barbara, and then she looked at Ivy. "Did you know about this?"

The younger girl shook her head.

"No details."

"I just pulled some favors," Selina admitted, despite the fact that she was the one owing favors after that night. She still kept the details to herself. "I knew Brennan was betting the money he stole on poker tables, so I gave a couple of calls and set a seat to myself. People love you," she assured that last part to Barbara with a hand on the blonde's shoulder. "It was easy because of you. Now I need a bath, I'm freezing and filthy."

She was halfway up the stairs when she remembered.

"Oh, Babs?" she called. "Helzinger said hi."

That morning – it was morning already -, all Selina wanted was to take off her clothes, possibly burn them, and slip into a warm bath to remove every single spot Jerome had touched. She really felt filthy, but in a different way from when she'd slept on the streets for too many days without a shower.

She had had sex with Jerome Valeska, and it kept coming back, dirty flashbacks from the previous hour. Was there anything worse in this life?

"Selina?" she heard Barbara call and then knock, already turning the knob and opening the door. "I'm getting in."

"I can't seem to be able to stop you," replied the girl playfully. The woman shot her a look and then closed the door behind her.

"I just called Aaron, he said you went to the Deck of Cards?" it wasn't really a question, but Selina nodded anyway. "Selly, that place is dangerous! You know who's there?"

"Jerome," the girl simply answered. She could only expect to hear his name a lot in the next few days, couldn't she?

"Exactly! And he's crazy!" big news. "Awfully charming, but crazy!"

"Weren't you sort of BFFs?" asked Selina, and Barbara looked at her almost deadly, the way she'd look at people during that time not so long ago. "It's the only reason why he let me do this and walk away with all the money practically unscathed, because he thinks you're "good friends"."

Barbara opened her mouth to protest or explain, but then, her shoulders tensed and a frown deepened on her brow.

"Practically unscathed?" she echoed. "Selina, what did he do?"

"Nothing," the Cat answered way too quickly for it to be believable.

"Selina," Barbara stepped closer, and Selina closed her legs, brought her knees to her chest as if this way they could keep it a secret, but Barbara was a smart woman who had been abused in many ways, she knew that expression on her daughter's face way too well. "Selina, what was the deal?"

"Have a seat at Brennan's table, be handed good cards, take all of his money, let Aaron have a new punching bag."

"No sexual deal?"

"Why would I make a sexual deal with Jerome?"

"He is awfully charming," argued Babs, and Selina made a face.

"Ew," she mumbled, second time in the past couple of hours. "Wait, did you have sex with him?" Barbara didn't say anything. She didn't need to. "Oh, my God, he was underage!"

"And now you're underage for him," replied the adult smartly. "Selina, did he force you to anything?"

Depends, the girl thought, is 'being taller and stronger and trapping you in a corner, then push and pull his dick inside of you' a synonymous of 'force'? Instead, she answered-

"I let him."

"Why?"

"How did you put it? Oh, yeah, he's so awfully charming," ironized the teen.

Barbara crossed her arms not buying it.

"Selina," she warned. That was exactly how she sounded: like a warning.

"I let him."

"Did you want it?" pressed the woman, and Selina looked at the scar on her knee from when she was learning to mirror cat's movements back in the day. For her surprise, the whole air inside the bathroom changed along with Barbara's tone. "Oh, baby…"

"It's not a big deal."

"Do you really think so?"

No. But she could handle it. See? No tears, and she had been an emotional wreck ever since the Bruce situation. Selina looked up at Babs.

"Mom, it's okay. I got our money back, we won't have to sell the gallery anymore," she was talking, but Barbara had covered her mouth, her eyes were getting teary. "What? Why are you crying? Look, I'm fine, I'm perfectly fine, it's okay-"

Barbara sat on the bathtub edge and held Selina's hand, her other hand above her own heart.

"It's the first time you call me 'mom' without the usual sarcasm or mockery."

Selina sighed, but before she could make some sarcastic or mocking comment, Barbara spoke again.

"Okay, I will call my doctor and set an appointment for you, and maybe Ivy if I can convince her to go, it's about time."

"What? No!" protested Selina, but Barbara was adamant in this.

"Yes. You were raped," Selina flinched at the word. She didn't like to think of it that way, because it made things worse than they were. "And I know you two have been having quite the sex life. You need to see a doctor. And you're going to. Today."

"We don't do doctors!" continued protesting the girl, but Barbara had already stood up and was going through her contacts.

"Yes, when you were on the streets. But it happens that you're not anymore; you're with me, you've a home and people who care about you both. This is not a discussion," she put her phone on her ear waiting for the call to be picked. "Who knows what that kid could pass to you. Besides, you'll like my doctor, she's nice."

Which was true, she really was. Not nice like Lee Thompkins, who could deliver a punch and handle some hostage situation, but nice enough. And she didn't make Selina's life hell with the whole situation. From the looks of it, it really seemed that Selina would be fine – she even believed it herself, as she went to work that week still under the effects of the after pill, the triumph as Jordan Brennan got his things - all purple and limping -, careful with his words; and she even went to a party with Ivy the following weekend, ready to dance off the uncomfortableness in her guts.

But it was cold, even with the heat on, and even when she was wearing her favorite PJs, and that guy from the country club with Jerome's smell tried to kiss her at said party as they danced and ended up being punched in the face; and everything kind of looked funny, felt numb. Within a couple of weeks, Selina hardly left the house, not even when she was supposed to go to work with Babs.

It wasn't as if she didn't see the worry in her family's eyes, but she mostly didn't care. All she wanted was to build a shell where she'd be safe and in control, and that wouldn't be achieved outside. Not even when Ivy and Babs' most violent attempts got her out of the house they had much success.

"I'm at the supermarket and I got a green light to buy anything that would make you feel better," said Ivy one afternoon through the phone. "Name it, and I'll make it for dinner. Even if it's meat, ew."

"Interesting…" replied Selina, thinking as she zapped the TV channels. "Some mignon would be nice. Red meat, not any other bullshit. With cheese. I heard Brie goes well with everything."

"That's not true," the redhead cut, but the other teen didn't give her enough space.

"What about some black rice too? And some colorful leaves for salad. Definitely would make up to that time you guys tried to get me to talk to a shrink."

"Oh, is that why you're asking for a bunch of expensive stuff? Because you're mad at us for trying to help you?"

"No!" Selina laughed, but with not enough humor for it to actually seem funny, because by 'no', she meant 'YES'. "I'm just asking for expensive stuff because I made us rich again, just last month, remember that?"

She could practically see Ivy stopping in her tracks in the middle of some corridor with soy products, gathering all her patience not to snap. It sure as hell wouldn't last long.

"Yeah, we know," responded the younger girl. "You took an unnecessary bullet for it, how could we ever forget?"

On her side of the line, Selina shrugged.

"You guys make it seem like such a big deal," she said, sounding bored. "I've forgotten it already, even."

"You haven't left the house," retorted Ivy.

"I like it here, it's cozy."

"Who do you think you're fooling?"

Selina felt her stomach tighten, already knowing where that conversation was heading.

"Don't," she warned. That's how she sounded: like a warning.

"You haven't forgotten shit, you just keep reliving it in your head. Refusing our help, staying up all night, hardly eating, Selly, that's not healthy."

"Stop."

"I won't! Not until you're back!" Ivy practically shouted, still managing to contain her temper. "The real you, alive and joyful giving everyone a hard time for kicks! Even Jim misses that, did you know? Yeah, you saved the day, but at what cost?" The Kraken was being released, there was no coming back now. "Why would you do that to yourself? You used to be the most badass person I've ever met, and it only took what? Ten minutes to break you down with no repair? I don't accept that."

"More like four minutes," the older teen commented boldly, and she straight up heard Ivy's sharp, judgmental breath on the other side. "Look, I saw it coming, V, there's noth-"

"IT'S RAPE, SELLY! HE PUT HIS DICK INSIDE YOU WITHOUT YOU WANTING IT, AND JUST BECAUSE YOU KNEW IT COULD HAPPEN, IT DOESN'T MAKE IT OKAY!"

That was it, Normal Ivy was back.

There was a long pause, then. Ivy had used that argument way too many times with different words, but Selina had always found a way to block it. Not this time.

"Everyone is staring at you judgmentally now, aren't they?" asked Selina, and she knew exactly what Ivy was doing – staring those people right back, daring them to fight her on that.

"Damn right there are."

On TV, Fury Road was rerunning, one of the movies that V had made Selina watch that time when she was heartbroken. She let it there. With a small sigh, Selina spoke again.

"Just the mignon, it's what I want to eat. Surprise me."

And Ivy did, cooking the best food that house had had in a long time – meat, and grains, and homemade green pasta, and a pesto sausage fresh and amazing to go with the stuffed mignon – that finally warmed Selina's soul a little.

That night, three weeks after Selina came back home with a bag full of money, the week before Christmas, she and Ivy shared the bed again. They already had talked too much, so this time they didn't do that. The younger girl was trying to be supportive, and that was evident.

There were a lot of reasons that led Selina to strike that deal at the Deck, and they were glad she had the balls to go through with it by herself, even if she didn't need to. The worst part, for V, was the self-destructiveness of her acts.

Selina once told her that she was a heavy person, and it always bothered Ivy, because she couldn't see how that was true, or how that could stop her from being happy for more than a short amount of time. By doing the things she did, it was like Selina was letting that weight she insisted on carrying upon her shoulders drown her, and it was one thing to want to carry it, just… don't let it destroy you.

The two girls spent a long time just staring at each other, the lights that came through the windows casted beautiful shadows on them.

"Selly?" Ivy whispered.

The other girl hummed to indicate that she was listening.

"Jim and Babs are married now," she said.

"I know," Selina replied, her tone clearly showing that she didn't get the point.

"He decided to stay, heaviness and all, and she let him," explained the youngest, and Selina's eyes cleared under her thick hair, the connections being made. Ivy reached out and moved one of the curls from her eyes before delivering the next words, not like a fact, but like the smallest, more innocent of the suggestions. "Don't let your heaviness be a burden."

It happened differently than the last time, when Selina built the crying from her lungs and up. It was rawer, Ivy witnessed, as Selina's eyes filled and she straight up broke down. There was something rather beautiful about the sound of the shattering of a heart breaking when it happened for the right reasons, she thought. It was scary and powerful and the most important part was that she haven't given up on her best friend, her sister, and now they were one step closer to getting Selina back.

And they got there, together. What came after was history.

Now, if you didn't have the time to listen to all of that, or if Selina couldn't afford to waste saliva, or if she was on a racing police car heading to a rescue and someone asked-

"Why is it so important for you to find her?"

-the way Joe West asked, as the GPS informed the quickest path to the Flash's location, she'd just say-

"She brought me back when I was dead inside more than once," as she looked through the window, her whip secured in her hands. "Never gave up on me. This is the least I can do for her."

The police car stopped right in front of the main door of a brand new grow house throwing dirt and pebbles into a line of about twenty people in white lab coats, the blue flower logo above their chests. They were kept in place by none less than the Atom himself, a super tall guy with thunder voice.

"Where's Woodrue?!" he inquired, and when he saw them arriving- "Oh, hey Joe!" so cordially that it was almost comic.

The doors were all open, and Selina snooped inside the large building, that looked like a mix of hospital and church.

"Let's wait for the Flash's signal," Joe told her, his gun firm in his hands, and Selina nodded, her whip was rolled and ready in her right hand.

There was a lot of information lying around for her to put together, a lot of things just waiting to be figured out, she knew that – by looking at the Atom as he laid questions about Woodrue's whereabouts, or by how Barry wasn't in the S.T.A.R. Labs van that brought Cisco, Cait, Jesse and Iris, confirming her suspicions.

Slowly – at least that was how it felt -, she walked towards the side of the building. There was noise coming from inside – screams and the undeniable sound of a speedster trying to do his job. The Woodrue grow house was by the lake and the soil felt soft under her feet. Up above, wings flapped and the teen looked up, spotting the Hawkgirl. She looked pretty awesome.

"Selina?" someone called, catching her attention, and she looked to her right, saw the Flash standing between Joe and the Atom. "She's in there."

Immediately, Selina strutted inside, followed by the Flash. From the door in, it was easy to know that all that screaming came from one of the rooms, and she silently prayed that it wasn't Ivy. When she passed by the screamer's room, she saw that Caitlin was inside it, but as for herself, the Flash led her to the room at the end of the main corridor.

"Are you sure it's her?" Selina asked, a hint of fear in her voice, and the Flash turned to her. She was small by his side, it was a fact, but at that moment she felt small in herself. "It's been six months, what if I failed her again?"

She was aware that the six-months-argument was the one that she used to force everyone to burst inside that building with no elaborate plan, but a lot of time had passed and she had come across so many dead ends that it was impossible not to feel absolutely terrified at that point.

The Flash looked inside the room, something that Selina hadn't dared to do yet, and he rested a hand on her shoulder.

"You haven't," he assured. Only then she realized that he wasn't using his trembled Flash voice, so she looked up at him, at the undeniable Allen smile. "Go on."

The room they were standing in front of was quiet aside from the sound of legs against sheets, as if the person inside was fighting a nightmare. Finally, Selina looked inside the clear, white room, with a white bed and a non-private toilet and shower on the corner. The important part, however, was the bright red hair of the girl on the bed.

Forgetting everything else, Selina dropped her whip and rushed to the girl – Ivy – wondering why they hadn't released her wrists yet. It really was Ivy, with the freckles and the long, tangled hair. She was wearing white cotton clothes – a tank top and shorts – and seemed to be drifting in and out of conscious, mumbling things that didn't make sense at the moment, but would later.

"Jonny, no," whispered the redhead teen, pushing and pulling the restrainers. "Please, don't hurt Jonny, please…"

"Ivy?" called Selina, holding her sister's head, trying to wake her up. "Ivy, come on."

Selina reached for the restrainers, freeing Ivy's hands, and then held her face again. With her whole body able to move, the younger girl struggled a bit, like her instincts were telling her that she still needed to fight for her life.

"Don't, please, let him go…" she continued mumbling and Selina held her shoulders down.

"Ivy!" this time, the older girl's voice came out stronger, and Ivy's blue eyes snapped open, desperate and unfocused. "Ivy, Ivy! It's me, Selina."

"No, not the drugs again," cried the redhead, starting to curl in a ball, but Selina held her tighter, trying to keep her from closing her eyes. "Please…"

"V, look at me, look at me. Ivy?"

Unsure, Ivy looked at the source of the voice. She looked so fragile, so afraid, but when she actually saw Selina, her eyes filled with tears. Her hand reached for her sister's face with uncommon uncertainty, and Selina realized that her cheeks were wet as well.

"Selina?"

"I'm here, I'm finally here," replied the Cat, pushing the hair from Ivy's face. "I've got you."

As if that was all she needed to breathe, Ivy's body relaxed on the bed and she let out a sharp sob, covered her mouth with a hand while the other never, never stopped touching Selina, just to make sure she wouldn't evaporate, the way all the hallucinations did. To the Flash, the older girl mouthed 'thank you, Barry', and he nodded. Her attention was to another person that day, though, and she was fast to direct her eyes to the sobbing girl again.

"I found you."