DISCLAIMER: These characters and situations do not belong to me in any way shape or form. I have borrowed them as part of my sanity maintenance.
SEQUEL/SERIES: This story is a sequel to Here's the Rub.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
Surely, Tomorrow Will Be Better
By Debbie
Barbara Gordon was sitting, enjoying a night out with her girlfriend, the beautiful physical therapist she had started dating at Helena's suggestion.
Staring into blue eyes alight with a fire only for her, she remembered another set of blue eyes earnestly suggesting she should just do what she wanted, that she was all that mattered, and that, basically, she should just go for it.
And she had. She'd listened to Helena and agreed to date this woman who, despite the physical dissimilarities, reminded her so much of Helena, her only constant for the past seven years, the woman that had stood by her through the early rough times, side-by-side, through thick and thin. Chuckling to herself at the many clichés, Barbara started as a soft hand came to rest on top of her own and a gentle voice penetrated her thoughts.
"Hey, Babs, you in there?"
Another hand tapped her forehead, and Darcy smiled warmly at Barbara's shocked expression.
Barbara looked up, wondering when she'd gone so far inside her own head, and murmured, "Um, yeah, just thinking."
The blonde laughed, a little ruefully. "Yeah, you're good at that. About Helena, I guess?"
Startled, Barbara reacted immediately to Darcy's words. She knew her flaming cheeks belied her quick retort. "No! What makes you say that?"
"Oh, the dreamy look in your eyes, the same look that comes over you whenever she walks into the room. Sometimes, I feel…"
Barbara held her hand up. "Stop, now. I'm here with you. That's all that matters."
Darcy stood and walked around the table, sitting on Barbara's lap, gently and carefully, so that she could look the other woman in the eye. She reached up and caressed Barbara's cheek, chuckling quietly as she spoke.
"Ah, sweet Babs, if only that were all that mattered. I care too much to believe it's true. All that really matters in all this is that you are happy."
Barbara stilled at the similarity of Darcy and Helena's words, her happiness was all that mattered; she doubted she could ever be that lucky and started to voice her thoughts. But, before she could say a word, Darcy stole her retort with a kiss of an intensity they had never shared before.
Barbara didn't need to hear Darcy's added words to know it was a kiss of goodbye.
"And to be happy you need to be true to yourself. Barbara, you need to be true to her."
And with one last tender touch, the blonde stood and left Barbara with her thoughts.
Wheeling out of the restaurant, Barbara saw no sign of Darcy and knew she truly was on her own. As the tell-tale splat of heavy raindrops fell on her face, she sighed. Eyes sweeping to the heavens, she saw the large, heavy raindrops backlit by neon lighting. On any other night, she would have marveled at their beauty. Tonight, looking back across the highway, she could only give a rueful grin; wheelchairs and umbrellas simply did not cooperate.
Within moments, she was soaked to the skin, and feeling the cold seep into her body, she knew she couldn't take anymore. Surely, this day could get no worse.
As quickly as she could, she wheeled away, towards home, towards introspection, and maybe, towards her.
Helena wrapped her arms around her smaller companion and pulled the slender body against her own. Carding thick red hair through her fingers, she leaned in to smell sweet, sweet skin and knew that life could be bliss. Nuzzling playfully under a chin, she lifted her head to take her fill of already kiss-swollen lips, allowing herself to drown in the pleasure.
As memory after memory of warm sunny mornings shared with Barbara and of the love that had steadily changed over the years to something so much stronger surfaced readily with her passion, she lost herself in the lust and the pure joy of being with a loved one.
Sometime later, the feline in her took hold, mewing and hissing in passion, she completely forgot herself and slammed the red-head against a shop doorway to take what was rightfully hers.
Then, and only then, did reality bite.
Immediately, she pulled back, with an ashamed look on her face, hurt and disgusted at her actions. She grimaced at the young woman staring back at her, obviously in shock at Helena's sudden withdrawal. Dredging her memory for a name, she came up empty; the admittedly beautiful woman was ultimately a stranger.
She pushed the woman away, roughly. "I can't do this. I'm sorry."
The young woman reached for her and smiled in encouragement, pulling Helena's mouth back for a hungry kiss, she whispered, "But Hel, I want this, you want this. Why…?"
Helena's eyes flashed in anger, and she allowed an angry growl to surface. "That's just it, I don't want this. Just go."
As the woman started to protest again, the dark haired huntress took matters in hand as she turned on her heel and left. Once around the corner, she leapt high and swiftly, bounding across Gotham's rooftops, away from temptation, and towards her sacred place, towards her thoughts, and maybe, towards her.
From her perch high in the rooftops Helena stared out over Gotham City, the dull grey sky full of heavy rain clouds. Her mood broody, she cast her gaze upwards to watch as drop after drop of rain fell on her upturned face.
On the inside she marveled at the beauty of the raindrop; on the outside she sighed at her increasing discomfort. She looked down at her normally pristine leather outfit, soaked from head to toe, and remembered earlier that day. How she'd known blissful happiness and abject disappointment all in the blink of an eye and how, at that moment in time, she'd known exactly what she needed to do; go home.
And yet, here she was, moody, as always alone, and more than anything, afraid to enter the Clocktower lest Darcy was home with Barbara. Surely, today could get no worse.
The End