serenitysea
11-16-2002, 07:00 PM
Here it is. The sequel to "You've Earned It."
"It's All About Trust"
Serenity Sea
(Two nights later.)
Helena flew in from a side window and landed next to Oracle, noting, with a small grin, that her friend had flinched at her arrival.
“So what’s on the agenda for tonight?”
The skilled redhead continued to track the data on the screen before her, blatantly ignoring her protégé.
“Barbara?”
After a few more minutes of this, to the point where Helena was about to just give up and go home, Barbara turned her chair around and faced her.
“You told Reese what your real name was.”
For a second, Helena vaguely resembled a fish – the gaping mouth, and all, as she tried to formulate a response. Shock, fear – for some reason – hurt, and anger bubbled to the surface. As always, however, it was the anger that cleared her mouth.
“And you would know this how?”
She had the grace to look slightly chastened. “I planted an bug on you after you left us on the roof. It was just to make sure you weren’t going to try anything stupid. I was worried for you, and I honestly planned to turn off the transmitting frequency after I knew you’d gone back to the park.”
The brunette’s sapphire eyes were colder than Mr. Freeze’s ice gun. “How much did you hear?”
“I was going to turn it off, but after you gave him your name, I wanted to make sure…”
“How much. Did. You. Hear?”
Barbara closed her green eyes and put a hand to her head. “All of it.”
Helena stared at her with disgust. “Son of a…” She turned around sharply and headed for the Clocktower’s observatory deck, ignoring Barbara’s pained cries after her.
Dinah, coming inside from doing her astrometry homework, narrowly missed being flattened and got the front-row seat to watching Helena throw herself off the Clocktower’s ledge – easily the highest perch in New Gotham.
“Barbara!” She screamed, running into the lair.
“What? What’s wrong?”
Dinah swiped a tear away that had escaped her eyes, “Helena just jumped.”
Her shoulders slumped, but she kept a blank face. “She made it.”
“How do you know?”
“Because with her, she’d jump and survive it just to prove that she could.”
***
Helena might have survived the jump, but she was still hurting inside, and that caused her landing to be off. Well, that and the fact she hadn’t tried jumping off 80-story buildings before. She preferred to keep it under 50.
But now she had a dilemma. She didn’t know where to go. If she went home, she had no doubt Barbara would be there or Dinah would be there, because Barbara had sent her over.
And if she went somewhere like “No Man’s Land,” the word would get out and she’d know where to find her. Besides, it wasn’t like she could sleep there. It was a bar; a hangout for metas, and even though she had just flown 80 stories, she wasn’t feeling particularly meta right now. In fact, she was fairly certain that the ache inside her wasn’t something metas normally felt.
Which left her with exactly one option.
Reese.
Even if Barbara did manage to track her down and found out she was hanging around him, she wouldn’t dare come near her. He was strictly off-limits, and she knew it.
Except she didn’t know where to find him.
***
Being a police officer in New Gotham, with the metas – except for the good guys, like Helena and her blonde friend he’d seen once or twice – the crime lords, and the myths and legends that made this city the crime ‘hot-spot’ that it was, was a bitch.
You couldn’t leave your car unlocked, your windows open, or, he smirked as he rounded the corner to his office (which they’d given him after his new partners had, oh yeah, died) your door open. Someone had left the light on in there, and he was sure he’d turned them off when he left at six earlier.
Sighing, he pushed the door open wider and stopped in his tracks.
Helena was sitting in his desk chair, fast asleep. He stepped closer and saw the dried tear tracks on her cheeks.
“Damn.” He murmured, unable to keep his hand from touching her cheek.
Instantly, her eyes popped open, revealing a brilliant dark blue. “Hey,” she unfolded herself gingerly. “I didn’t know where to find you and I wasn’t quite up to combing the streets, so…”
“You figured I’d show up here,” he finished for her. “Do you think I live here?”
She smirked. “I was right, wasn’t I?”
Reese shook his head and smiled. “So what’s up?”
Helena sighed heavily. “I had a pretty massive fight… with one of my friends and… I didn’t know where else to go.”
His eyebrows rose. “You couldn’t go home?”
“No.” She shook her head, looking away. “She would know I was there.”
“So you don’t want her to find you?”
She stood up, smiling bitterly. “Not at all.”
Reese seemed to understand what she wasn’t saying. He grabbed the folders sitting on his desk. “Well then. Let’s go.”
Helena fell into step behind him and they walked out of the GCPD together into the dark night.
***
He turned the key in the lock and stepped aside to let her walk in first. She looked around as he relocked the door and hung his coat up. He reached for hers and she reluctantly handed it over. It was leather. She was attached to her leather. Plus, it still smelled faintly of the last meal Alfred cooked at the Clocktower.
His mistook her hesitation for a lack of enthusiasm at his place. “It’s not great, but it keeps me dry and fed when I need to be so—”
She put her hand on his shoulder and looked up into his eyes, sincerity pouring through. “Reese. This is fine. Thank you.”
Actually, it was in one of the nicer sections of town and even though he was a bachelor, it lacked the bad-smelling, playboy-poster-strewn, three-day-old-laundry look. And, a plus – it was relatively clean. That was more than she could say about her place.
Helena turned back to mention something along those lines, but he was gone. “Well,” her eyebrow quirked, “that’s the first time he’s disappeared on me.”
A door creaked and she automatically tensed, then Reese came out and she fell back onto the couch behind her with a sigh. “I’m being paranoid.”
“Talkin’ to the voices in your head again?” He asked, dropping a wifebeater and pair of boxers in her lap.
“Actually,” she reached up and unclasped the mesh-chain around her neck and pulling a small earring out of her ear, “no.” She cupped the technology disguised as jewelry in her right hand and looked up at him. “Got any tinfoil?”
“You are weird.” He stared at her, gauging her reaction. Something must have satisfied him, because he left the room and returned a few minutes later with a sheet of tinfoil as long as her arm.
Her eyebrows reached maximum skeptical height. “That’s one way to handle it.” She poured the mesh into the aluminum and rolled it carefully in a ball. Then she got up and placed it into her jacket pocket.
She picked up the clothes on the sofa cushions and stood uncertainly in the living room.
“Second door on your right.” Reese said, still watching her actions.
“Gotcha.”
Several minutes later, she emerged wearing his shirt and boxers and from the looks of it, they fit her pretty well.
“You’re lucky I’m so skinny,” he joked.
Helena grinned. “Or that I’m so perfect.” She settled into the couch and curled up under the covers he’d put out when she had changed.
Reese smiled at her warmly and gave her a slightly challenging look. “How did you know I was coming back to the precinct?”
“I didn’t.”
“So what would you have done if I hadn’t come back?”
She looked at the ceiling and then at him. “Probably resorted to that thing you guys call a phone book.”
Reese shook his head and laughed. “Night.” He gave her an offhanded wave over his shoulder and closed the door to his bedroom.
“Night.” She whispered and closed her eyes.
***
The rest had to be posted in a separate post.
"It's All About Trust"
Serenity Sea
(Two nights later.)
Helena flew in from a side window and landed next to Oracle, noting, with a small grin, that her friend had flinched at her arrival.
“So what’s on the agenda for tonight?”
The skilled redhead continued to track the data on the screen before her, blatantly ignoring her protégé.
“Barbara?”
After a few more minutes of this, to the point where Helena was about to just give up and go home, Barbara turned her chair around and faced her.
“You told Reese what your real name was.”
For a second, Helena vaguely resembled a fish – the gaping mouth, and all, as she tried to formulate a response. Shock, fear – for some reason – hurt, and anger bubbled to the surface. As always, however, it was the anger that cleared her mouth.
“And you would know this how?”
She had the grace to look slightly chastened. “I planted an bug on you after you left us on the roof. It was just to make sure you weren’t going to try anything stupid. I was worried for you, and I honestly planned to turn off the transmitting frequency after I knew you’d gone back to the park.”
The brunette’s sapphire eyes were colder than Mr. Freeze’s ice gun. “How much did you hear?”
“I was going to turn it off, but after you gave him your name, I wanted to make sure…”
“How much. Did. You. Hear?”
Barbara closed her green eyes and put a hand to her head. “All of it.”
Helena stared at her with disgust. “Son of a…” She turned around sharply and headed for the Clocktower’s observatory deck, ignoring Barbara’s pained cries after her.
Dinah, coming inside from doing her astrometry homework, narrowly missed being flattened and got the front-row seat to watching Helena throw herself off the Clocktower’s ledge – easily the highest perch in New Gotham.
“Barbara!” She screamed, running into the lair.
“What? What’s wrong?”
Dinah swiped a tear away that had escaped her eyes, “Helena just jumped.”
Her shoulders slumped, but she kept a blank face. “She made it.”
“How do you know?”
“Because with her, she’d jump and survive it just to prove that she could.”
***
Helena might have survived the jump, but she was still hurting inside, and that caused her landing to be off. Well, that and the fact she hadn’t tried jumping off 80-story buildings before. She preferred to keep it under 50.
But now she had a dilemma. She didn’t know where to go. If she went home, she had no doubt Barbara would be there or Dinah would be there, because Barbara had sent her over.
And if she went somewhere like “No Man’s Land,” the word would get out and she’d know where to find her. Besides, it wasn’t like she could sleep there. It was a bar; a hangout for metas, and even though she had just flown 80 stories, she wasn’t feeling particularly meta right now. In fact, she was fairly certain that the ache inside her wasn’t something metas normally felt.
Which left her with exactly one option.
Reese.
Even if Barbara did manage to track her down and found out she was hanging around him, she wouldn’t dare come near her. He was strictly off-limits, and she knew it.
Except she didn’t know where to find him.
***
Being a police officer in New Gotham, with the metas – except for the good guys, like Helena and her blonde friend he’d seen once or twice – the crime lords, and the myths and legends that made this city the crime ‘hot-spot’ that it was, was a bitch.
You couldn’t leave your car unlocked, your windows open, or, he smirked as he rounded the corner to his office (which they’d given him after his new partners had, oh yeah, died) your door open. Someone had left the light on in there, and he was sure he’d turned them off when he left at six earlier.
Sighing, he pushed the door open wider and stopped in his tracks.
Helena was sitting in his desk chair, fast asleep. He stepped closer and saw the dried tear tracks on her cheeks.
“Damn.” He murmured, unable to keep his hand from touching her cheek.
Instantly, her eyes popped open, revealing a brilliant dark blue. “Hey,” she unfolded herself gingerly. “I didn’t know where to find you and I wasn’t quite up to combing the streets, so…”
“You figured I’d show up here,” he finished for her. “Do you think I live here?”
She smirked. “I was right, wasn’t I?”
Reese shook his head and smiled. “So what’s up?”
Helena sighed heavily. “I had a pretty massive fight… with one of my friends and… I didn’t know where else to go.”
His eyebrows rose. “You couldn’t go home?”
“No.” She shook her head, looking away. “She would know I was there.”
“So you don’t want her to find you?”
She stood up, smiling bitterly. “Not at all.”
Reese seemed to understand what she wasn’t saying. He grabbed the folders sitting on his desk. “Well then. Let’s go.”
Helena fell into step behind him and they walked out of the GCPD together into the dark night.
***
He turned the key in the lock and stepped aside to let her walk in first. She looked around as he relocked the door and hung his coat up. He reached for hers and she reluctantly handed it over. It was leather. She was attached to her leather. Plus, it still smelled faintly of the last meal Alfred cooked at the Clocktower.
His mistook her hesitation for a lack of enthusiasm at his place. “It’s not great, but it keeps me dry and fed when I need to be so—”
She put her hand on his shoulder and looked up into his eyes, sincerity pouring through. “Reese. This is fine. Thank you.”
Actually, it was in one of the nicer sections of town and even though he was a bachelor, it lacked the bad-smelling, playboy-poster-strewn, three-day-old-laundry look. And, a plus – it was relatively clean. That was more than she could say about her place.
Helena turned back to mention something along those lines, but he was gone. “Well,” her eyebrow quirked, “that’s the first time he’s disappeared on me.”
A door creaked and she automatically tensed, then Reese came out and she fell back onto the couch behind her with a sigh. “I’m being paranoid.”
“Talkin’ to the voices in your head again?” He asked, dropping a wifebeater and pair of boxers in her lap.
“Actually,” she reached up and unclasped the mesh-chain around her neck and pulling a small earring out of her ear, “no.” She cupped the technology disguised as jewelry in her right hand and looked up at him. “Got any tinfoil?”
“You are weird.” He stared at her, gauging her reaction. Something must have satisfied him, because he left the room and returned a few minutes later with a sheet of tinfoil as long as her arm.
Her eyebrows reached maximum skeptical height. “That’s one way to handle it.” She poured the mesh into the aluminum and rolled it carefully in a ball. Then she got up and placed it into her jacket pocket.
She picked up the clothes on the sofa cushions and stood uncertainly in the living room.
“Second door on your right.” Reese said, still watching her actions.
“Gotcha.”
Several minutes later, she emerged wearing his shirt and boxers and from the looks of it, they fit her pretty well.
“You’re lucky I’m so skinny,” he joked.
Helena grinned. “Or that I’m so perfect.” She settled into the couch and curled up under the covers he’d put out when she had changed.
Reese smiled at her warmly and gave her a slightly challenging look. “How did you know I was coming back to the precinct?”
“I didn’t.”
“So what would you have done if I hadn’t come back?”
She looked at the ceiling and then at him. “Probably resorted to that thing you guys call a phone book.”
Reese shook his head and laughed. “Night.” He gave her an offhanded wave over his shoulder and closed the door to his bedroom.
“Night.” She whispered and closed her eyes.
***
The rest had to be posted in a separate post.