DISCLAIMER: The characters herein are used without permission. No infringement intended.
CHALLENGE: Submitted for the first International Day of Femslash.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
Helena's Promise
By Erin Griffin
Helena looked at the Clocktower's clock face before entering the large building used as headquarters. Her body was sore from the two hundred seventy-five pound mammoth she had been in a fight with, but a grin crossed her face as the doughy man's face was replaced in her mind by a picture of a redhead beauty waiting patiently (okay, impatiently) in bed for her (alright, alright, at the Delphi) with hardly anything on (but a stern look for turning her comms off yet again). The thought of Barbara's piercing green eyes occupied her mind and dominated her thoughts until the elevator doors opened and she got to see the real effect she always had on her. Even as a lustful teen, Helena knew that Barbara's emerald orbs would always capture her, making her feel like she was falling without the cat- like powers that her mother had given her. The agile brunette didn't know when their partnership had become more than just fulfilling a destiny, or when they had become each other's everything, but Helena couldn't imagine ever going back to spending lonely dawn mornings up at the dark apartment above the Dark Horse Bar. Since that first kiss two years ago almost to the day, Helena felt completely content in her life, even with the 'norm' of meta-creeps invading her beauty rest. She always thought of what she did- as she had once fibbed to a psychotic therapist- as a 'dangerous hobby', and she was good at it. As Barbara Gordon's eyes searched her body for any injuries, the love she felt for the older woman hit almost unexpectedly, like she'd just discovered it, yet she'd known it all along. "Where's Blondie?" Helena looked around for the barely legal woman she had grown reluctantly attached to in the last 3 or so years.
"Bed," Barbara said in almost a grunt. Helena knew Barbara wanted to say something, to rant or lecture, but at the same time, the redhead remained silent as she went over some data on the computers. She didn't want to lecture Helena because they were equals. She couldn't just tell her over and over again that turning her comms off was dangerous, hell, the feral woman knew that more than anyone anymore, but that didn't mean she didn't worry. Helena sat across the arms of Barbara's wheelchair and draped her upper body over her lover. "You scare me each and every time you do that, Hel." Barbara said in a low tone. She said nothing else, and as Helena couldn't seem to find anything to say that would improve the silence that came after Barbara's confession, she didn't answer her. Slowly, she massaged circles in Barbara's hair, and the tension that had momentarily lingered in their silence slowly faded away.
"Let's go to bed," Helena suggested after many minutes. She slowly left the warmth of Barbara's body and missed it immediately, and almost shivered. She waited as Barbara sat watching her. Then she moved to put the Delphi on standby before the two women went to the room they shared. They undressed in silence, and as Helena turned out the lights, she thought about Barbara's voice when she said she was scared for her. Helena always went off comms; sometimes it was a way to rebel, sometimes it was a way to put a thrill into the slow nights in New Gotham. It was almost a game the two played. Barbara would say don't go off comms and Helena would anyway. Helena would get a lecture, and Helena would charm her way back into Barbara's good graces once again, and so the dance begins again the next week, or even the next night. The almost hurt voice Helena had heard earlier made Helena realize that it wasn't just a danger to her to go off comms, but a small way of shutting Barbara out, and she didn't want the redhead to think that she didn't need her in her ear every night. If it wasn't for Oracle's commands in her ear, she wouldn't enjoy her calling half as much as she does, not that she thinks it's a hoot, a holler and a half. The brunette cuddled closer to her lover and held her as close to her as she could.
"I promise to keep them comms on. I'll never shut you out," she vowed in Barbara's ear. She knew as they both drifted off to sleep that she'd keep her promise.
The End