I'm not entirely thrilled over the amount of time between when I last updated and now.
Expect a few new chapters over the next couple weeks; five more chapters left of Part 1 RED after this one.

Star City...

"Where is she?" Oliver closed the front door behind Helena.

"Bedroom," he replied as she handed him her coat. Though it was spring and two weeks into April, the cold northern air still clung to Star City.

"Thanks." She was ready to head upstairs when she took a deliberate pause and locked eyes with Oliver. "How are you doing with all of this?"

Oliver took a deep breath and dug his fingers into Helena's coat. "Trying to support the woman I love." Her hand caressed his scruffy face then left him in the foyer to visit her best-friend.

Helena rounded the corner of the hall to see the open door of the master bedroom. Dinah sat in the middle of a king sized mattress covered with throw pillows and forest green comforter. There she was with a book in her hand…and four and a half months pregnant. "When Ollie told me over the phone, I didn't believe it."

Dinah glanced up from her book with deep frown on her face before she gave a cheerful smile "Helena."

"Hi, Dinah. So you're pregnant?"

She frowned again, this time while rubbing her abdomen. "Yeah."

"Ah." Helena rolled onto the balls of her feet then back to her heels. Dinah raised an eyebrow at the movement.

"Whatever you want to ask, ask it?"

"Is it Ollie's?" Dinah flinched at the question rushed out at her. She closed the book and ran her fingers over the title, Robin Hood.

"No."

"Oh."

Dinah raised both eyebrows at her friend. "Oh? I assumed Barbara told you everything. I mean, you were in the city not long after it happened. You never visited."

"I mean, I was. Yes, I was, and I visited but you were unconscious."

"Hel, you're babbling."

"I know. I mean…" Helena let out a huff and sat at the foot of the bed. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why keep it?"

Dinah's wrapped her arms around the novel and brought it to her chest. "It's not an 'it', Helena. She's a person."

"Conceived by rape."

"You think I don't know that!?" Dinah closed her eyes after the outburst and pulled the book even closer to herself, if possible. "That I don't understand how this hap-happened?" Helena reached out for her friend when Dinah's voice cracked but when she did, the often at ease blonde flinched away. Helena noticed how Dinah's left hand had slid underneath the pillow next to her.

"I'm sorry-sorry," said Helena with raised hands.

Dinah released her grip on the hidden weapon. "It's not your fault, Hel. It's okay."

"Is it?" Dinah disappeared deeper into the pile of pillows.

"Ollie's been sleeping on the couch for the past month. I had a panic attack and almost killed him," she waved her hand in the air.

"Is that the only reason?"

"Not entirely, no. It also has to do with this-"

"Situation?"

Dinah sighed. "For lack of a better term." Helena fidgeted as she waited for Dinah to say whatever she was chewing her lip over. "I miss my fiancé, Helena. I want my life back."

"You'll get there."

"Will I?" Helena gave her best impression of Linda, a half-smile with a shrug.

"I did, in a way. You're ten times stronger than I ever was or will be. So yeah, you will." Dinah gave her a genuine smile.

"Thank you."

"What are friends for?" Helena smiled when a thought occurred to her. "So, it's a 'her' then?"

Dinah's smile grew a smidgen wider. "Maybe. Barbara's fairly certain it'll be a boy but I have my doubts."

"How come?"

"Mother's intuition?"

"Are you tell me or asking me?" Dinah shrugged. "Okay. I get it." A silence washed over them as Helena studied her hands, searching for something else to say. "You know second trimester abortion is legal in this state."

"I'm not aborting her."

"Dinah. It's not-"

"I know."

"But-"

"I know!" Dinah smoothed her sheets out with her hands while she took in a breath with her nose and let it out through her mouth. "I know," was the whispered reply. "But I have my reasons."

Helena fingers curled against comforter. "How does Ollie feel about this?"

"He's…struggling. For good reasons."

Helena's phone buzzed with a message but she ignored it. "I'm sorry."

"People keep saying that. It doesn't change what happened."

"My, doesn't that sound familiar?" Dinah frowned at Helena's smirk laced comment. "I said the same thing after Vic died." Her phone buzzed again.

Dinah made a slight humming noise. "I remember. Lots of whiskey followed if memory serves." Helena smiled then growled when her phone buzzed for the third time. "That's probably important." She sighed and saw it was a text from Oracle; several, in fact.

"It's Oracle. She needs me in Gotham. She booked a train for me. Leaves in an hour."

"Go."

"You sure?"

Dinah nodded. "Ollie's here."

"Okay." Helena shuffled to entrance of the bedroom before Dinah called out to her.

"Helena? Come back to visit when you can." Helena smiled then stepped forward to kiss Dinah on the top of her head; only doing so after Dinah gave her verbal permission.

"Don't worry, I will." She left the bedroom and met Oliver's questioning gaze downstairs when he shifted it from his laptop.

"I have to go. Oracle's calling."

Ollie smiled tightly, which was when Helena noticed the circles under Oliver's eyes. "Go. Let me tend to Dinah."

"Okay." Oliver handed Helena her coat then opened the door. "I don't know what I can say at this time," she said gazing back at him. "Except you love Dinah and she loves you. Whatever happens next, let it strengthen your relationship, Ollie. Don't let it destroy it."

He gave her a thin-lipped smile. "Thanks, Hel. I'll keep that in mind."

Birds of Prey Clock Tower, Gotham City…

"With the Clock Tower finally refurbished and fully retrofitted, the Birds can make their base of operations here instead of the Batcave." Artemis (Artemis Crock) took Speedy (Mia Dearden) and the new Dove (Dawn Granger) for a tour of the shiny clock tower. Hawk (Hank Hall) kept to the kitchen with a stoic facade and a far off look in his eyes.

"Penny for your thoughts." Hank flicked his gaze to Helena who stood in the doorway with a wry smile.

"Don't think they're worth that much."

"Considering today's current penny is worth less than one cent, it might be." This put a half smile on Hank's face.

"I miss him, s'all." When the battle at Themyscira ended, the initial death toll was just Supergirl, The Flash, and Blue Beetle. The news of other deaths trickled in; one of them included the original Dove, Don Hall.

"I'd be concerned if you didn't." Helena pushed off the wall and sauntered over to Hank. "How's the rookie?"

"Close to getting her wings clipped. But she's got brass and heart. I've done what I can. It's not much. I'm hopin' you can help her. A woman's touch and all that."

Helena patted Hank's shoulder. "Got it." She noticed Oracle lean over her keyboard, probably scowling, closer to one of fifteen monitors set up in the middle of the main room. "Talk to you later, Hank." When Helena was close enough, she could see the screen that had enraptured Oracle. The Red Hood jumped from rooftop to rooftop through the rougher parts of Washington, D.C.

"He's worrying me." Barbara slid her glasses off and rubbed her eyes. "Ever since Kara died, the old him has gradually resurfaced. I don't like it."

"I can see why." Helena cringed when the footage showed Red Hood breaking a guy's arm. "I remember when I used to be like that. Enjoying every bit of pain, I caused." She glanced down at Barbara. "You really think this has something to do with Supergirl's death?"

Barbara tilted her head to the right and angled her chin up at Helena. "Trust me, Hel. It's about her."

"If you say so." Helena scanned the other monitors and noticed one turned off. "You wanna tell me what's behind door number three?"

Barbara sighed. "Not yet. In time, maybe."

"Okay." Helena ignored the nagging at the back of her mind.

"I'm telling you Starling, that's not the proper handling of a gun."

"And I'm telling you, Lady Blackhawk, that I know guns and only cheap suckers like what you have jam." Starling (Evelyn Crawford) stepped into the main operations room with Lady Blackhawk (Zinda Blake) right on her heels.

"They're arguing about guns again, aren't they?" Barbara snickered at Helena's exacerbated expression.

"You're the moron, limp-wristing it." Evelyn stopped suddenly, which made Zinda trip over her feet to avoid running into the brunette's back.

"Just because I tilt the gun to the side," Evelyn said as she moseyed into Zinda's personal space, "doesn't mean I don't keep a good grip."

Zinda let out a short breath through her nose. "Hank, help me out here." When she turned to face Hank, she moved fast enough for her ponytail to swing at Evelyn who was not fast enough to avoid getting hit by it. "Tell this idiot," Zinda pointed her thumb at Starling, "that angling your gun on the side increases the chances of it jamming." Hank raised his hands and scuttled out of the kitchen.

"I know my guns, Zee."

Zinda's nose scrunched and she let out another short burst of air. "Only Barda gets to call me that. And I don't care what you know." The two bickered over their knowledge of handguns devolved into a 'who shoots better than who' argument. Artemis, Mia, and Dawn gravitated towards them but hovered a presumably safe distance away from the shout fest.

"You have a good team here, Oracle." Helena winced when Starling took a jab at Zinda's flying, the only thing the blonde did better than shoot. "Canary would be proud."

Barbara laughed to herself. "I hope so."

***F***

Supergirl kicked at the building beneath her, red dust puffed from the bricks whenever her heals smacked it. She took a few licks of her vanilla and chocolate swirl ice cream then said, "You could do it. I could see you doing it."

"What? Start a girl band?" The two had been chatting for a few hours about girl power and the Justice League and everything remotely connected to either. That was until Supergirl got distracted by an ice cream truck. Batgirl felt her arm threaten to pop from its socket the minute the Kryptonian tugged on it.

Supergirl giggled. "Not exactly. More like a crime fighting group composed only of girls. Girl power, like you said."

"Yeah, maybe. Your English has improved if no one's told you lately."

"Thanks. Not recently." Supergirl's head snapped left as she picked up a disturbance with her super hearing.

"What is it? What is it, Supergirl?" Batgirl said while patting her thighs.

Supergirl threw her a side-eye glare. "Car-jacking. Two assailants. One family."

Batgirl flipped onto her feet with a flourish. "Let's go."

"Mkay." Supergirl shoved the last of the cone in her mouth then hooked her hands under Batgirl's arms. "Hold on."

"Shouldn't you say, 'up, up, and away'?"

"Say that again and I'll drop you."

"You wouldn't dare?"

"Try me." Batgirl peeked down at the sixty foot drop beneath her.

"I think I'll pass."

"That's what I thought."