Pop Tarts and Sunny Delight

By: Erin Griffin

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Rating: PG for some language and a couple of heated kisses

Disclaimer: I own a Beanie Baby named Erin like myself. Not something I should be admitting to the public, but if it proves my point that I do NOT own the WB, so be it. I have no money, and I do not own the WB, otherwise Birds of Prey wouldn't have gotten cancelled... So suing me would be a BIG waste of time.

Pairing: Helena/Dinah (Helena's POV)

Summary: Barbara pushes all of the Birds to write in journals to express hurt and anger they all have felt for awhile. One day Helena stumbles cross Dinah's journal to learn a secret that jumbles her feelings for her.

Author's Note: I forgot how I came up with this idea. I know that I wanted to make a slash story for a creative challenge. Anyway, I have seen every episode of BoP, except for the last 10 minutes of Nature of the Beast (I think that was the title of that episode) and I missed Gladiatrix, so information regarding those episodes may be wrong, or it could have already happened in those ones. Also, if female/female pairings make you uncomfortable, this may not be the story for you, but those who don't mind a little fluff, then be my guest.

Other Submissions: You email me and tell me the new addy for where the story is going and ask me nicely (pretty please with Huntress on top... Now that's a treat worth having...) most likely you will get it.

Spoilers: Every episode up to date except for the last two yet to air.

Part 1 - Pop Tarts

"You want me to write in a diary? What for?" I heard a little bit of anger in Dinah's voice. Barbara, calm as always, put a hand on hers.

"We will all be writing in journals. It is just a way to express our feelings. Maybe in writing you will find you were feeling differently than you might have thought." Dinah looked as if she was about to roll her eyes. "Just try it. No more than a page a day, that's it." Barbara coaxed softly.

"Yeah, there is no way in Hell I'm writing more than a page." I added in my two cents as usual.

"Well..." Dinah said.

"Don't think of it as a diary if you don't want to. Think of it as a thought book of... thoughts." I trailed off a little. Maybe I should keep my mouth shut, I thought.

"Very clever." Dinah said sarcastically. I shot her a venomous look, but she was smiling. "Alright, a page a day." She decided.

"That's all I ask." Barbara said, relieved.

*

Dear Journal,

I assigned Helena and Dinah their journals today. I figured if the journals had a unique design on it, the girls will make them their own and actually want to write in it. For Dinah, the design was of Mya Angelou's book cover of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Both Dinah and Mya Angelou seem like free spirits, and maybe Dinah will take some of the quotes inside the book to heart. I think I hurt her feelings when I told her that I didn't trust her. I couldn't lie to her. Well anyway, I wasn't sure what to get for Helena, but I heard a few students in class talking about a punk-rocker store called 'Hot Topics', so I went online and bought a journal that had three red cat scratches on a book of black leather. I think she likes it. It is very fitting for her. I have a book that has apes evolving to women in business suits. It said, 'The way apes truly evolved.' I just saw it in the store and thought it was funny. Ah, Alfred just made dinner (Dinah's favorite), but Dinah rarely comes out of her room long enough to be seen. I had to coax her out of her room just to give her the journal. I had to call it an assignment, otherwise neither of the girls will want to try it out. Well, I better go help Alfred set the table and serve dinner.

Barbara Gordon

Dear Journal,

Everyone is stepping on thin ice around here. I am worried about Dinah. Though I am glad she is not out there trying too hard to be the next big superhero, I am worried she is going to lock herself away from the world forever. She's not dangerous, just misguided I bet... True, she once got out of control, and true she cut me, but I am alright now. I have forgiven Dinah, she should too. She is locking herself up to... I guess, protect the world from herself. I think that is ridiculas. I don't know, she has potential for being the next biggest superhero... I love this journal! It rocks more than Bif Naked, and that is saying something, so I will thank Barbara later for getting it for me.

Helena Kyle

Dear Diary,

AL HAWK MUST DIE!!! I could go on like that for- what? Two thousand pages? I respect Barbara and Helena, so I will try this out. Even though they don't trust me. Nor do they want me near them. Not that I blame them, least of all Helena. She didn't like me to begin with. What a way to prove you've got their back in a kill-or-be-killed-combat. By stabbing them with your freakazoid powers! I can't stop thinking about it. I can't stop thinking about her. My first thought after I realized what I did was to kiss her, pet some of her hair back, and ask if she was alright... But I think at that time I was in more pain than Helena was in then. Then her cop boyfriend Reece was yelling at me, asking me what I was thinking- Calm down, Dinah... you just hurled a book at the door without touching it. Barbara just told me that it was time for dinner. She said that Alfred had made grilled chicken salad (my favorite). As tempting as it sounds, I lied and told her I wasn't hungry. I have too much on my mind. I don't trust myself, so how can I expect Barbara and Helena to? I didn't trust myself not only if the conversation turned sour and I lost it, but I do not think I would be able to keep my eyes off of Helena. I wish I knew why I was so interested in her right now. Maybe it is because she is the first metahuman I have met who was like me. I wish I could stop my mind from thinking. Is that possible without being dead? Dead... Okay, putting this down, NOW.

Dinah Redmond

*

"Dinah!" I knocked on her door using my feet. (Wouldn't that be kicking on her door?) She's refused to come to the table again, and here I was with a plate of home made hamburgers and fries, so she will eat tonight, I don't care how much she ate at lunch today in school (that is if she didn't skip again)! I knocked again, then heard a sigh. Then the door opened. She saw that my hands were full and she grabbed the plate from me. I watched as she put it on her desk table and then I went out to the kitchen area and got another one for myself. Then I went into her room again and sat down on the floor next to her bed where she was sitting. "I didn't poison it." I told her when I got back and found she hadn't touched the plate.

"I know." She said meekly. She gave me a puzzled look as if to ask why I was making myself at home in her room.

"No one's home and I don't wanna eat dinner alone." I explained. Dinah opened her mouth as if to protest, then closed it and nodded.

"Okay, but I am not good dinner company." she managed to say. Then she got up and took the plate off of the desk. I took one of the fries from my own plate and devoured it. "Hungry, I see." Dinah commented, then copied my motion. "Where did you get these? Don't look like McDonald's-"

"McDonald's ain't got nothin' on my mom's homemade cooking." I cut in, meaning to sound playful, but I think Dinah thought I was getting defensive. Dinah's eyebrows raised a little, then she looked down to the floor.

"Okay, sorry."

"Why?" I asked stupidly. I knew it had something to do with the mother/dead thing, but... Well, she's sensitive when it comes to talking about our mothers.

"Uh, never mind." She took one of the buns off of the burger to see that I only put mayonnaise and cheese on it, the way I remembered she liked them, then she closed it again and took a bite. She was deep in thought. She was like that a lot lately. Since she got the journal a few weeks ago, she'd be seen writing in it almost all the time, either adding a new thought or a doodle. I have noticed that Dinah doesn't look people in the eyes anymore as she talks, only as she listens, and she doesn't even talk much anymore to people. Only if she' spoken to. "These are good, thank you for making them." Her voice made me sort of jump. I wasn't expecting her to talk at all, to tell the truth, but I guess silence made her uncomfortable. I nodded in her direction, mouth full, and she went back to working on her burger. Then she stood up and stretched. "Need ketchup for my fries, you want anything?" she asked. I shook my head, then rocked out to a tune stuck in there. She watched me with a look that was wondering if I had gone insane, then she said, "Okay then." I watched her take a couple of steps, then I stood up and shouted after her.

"Hurry up, or you won't have any fries to put ketchup on!" Dinah spun around, perhaps to remark, then she gasped and hurried to get the condiment. I looked at the direction of where she had looked before she gasped. Her thought book was open to the next journal entry. Did she do that? Was she training herself to open her thought book instead of throw things with her angry emotions? I asked myself. I suddenly saw my name in capital letters, drawing me to read that entry.

Dear Diary,

Can you help me get these thoughts out of my head?! I don't want to think about kissing HELENA of all people. I respect her, I do not love her. Something is wrong with me. Seriously. Today, she was watching me write in this and in the corner of my eye, I saw her smile. It was a nice smile, and I wanted to hug her close to me. Then, yesterday, I walked past her right after she was dressed after a shower, and I had to resist the urge to touch her damp hair. UGH! I feel like those boys always trying to look into the girls' locker rooms. The sooner I stop thinking about her, the sooner I can work on my plan to get Barbara and Helena to trust me again. I feel a presence. Ah, her knock. Gotta go.

Dinah Redmond

I gasped. She what?! I thought shocked. She's been hiding away to avoid me. She's got a crush on me. I didn't really know then how I felt. I think shock is the only emotion I could identify. I heard her footsteps and sat down again quickly, pretending that I was there the whole time, and I hadn't moved. I ate my hamburger, but was so deep in my thoughts that I couldn't taste it properly.

"I'm back." Dinah announced, holding a plastic bottle half filled (or half empty to the pessimistic ones) with ketchup.

"It's about damned time." I muttered. I know she heard me.

"What's the matter?" she asked me, alarmed. The looked on her face clearly asked, 'What'd I do now?' I shook my head, saying without words, 'Nothing'.

"How's school going?" I asked her, trying to start a conversation. Dinah shrugged, not looking at me. I continued to look at her until she gave me some sort of answer other than the shrug.

Finally she said, "I- I think school's fine. I mean, I already studied for that MAJORLY hard science test, but Mr. Kemmel said we can use notes, so I feel pretty good about it. I take great notes." She was babbling, but I was sort of amused by it, as mean as that may sound. "So, how's- uh, work?" she asked in return, trying her hardest to keep the conversation going, as to avoid silence. I shrugged, then smiled.

"It's fun when I get to kick out the rowdy... MY way." Dinah laughed, and I could sense her feeling more comfortable now. We talked about the differences in school and what type of people we knew in high school. Dinah admits to me she only has two friends, but she has only been in New Gotham High for about 3 months. Then, during a silence, I saw a pillow pick up by itself and float to Dinah's lap, by now empty. Her plate, empty as well (since she gave me the rest of her fries), was on the desk. I looked over at her.

"Just seeing if I can do it." She said, looking at me.

"You look like you have been practicing." I murmured approvingly.

"I have." She said proudly. Dinah was thinking something over, then she said, "Hey, you have this CD... What is that band called...? Well, it seems New Age-y... There's chanting and pop blended together... I knew the name of it earlier... Ig- no...." I pondered what CD she was speaking of.

"Oh! Enigma." I said, feeling the light above my head burn out after that outburst of thought.

"That's it! I was wondering if I may borrow it." she asked.

"You can have it. I burned it a long time ago on the DELPHI monitor computer, then got sick of it, since Barbara made me listen to only that CD for a month as a punishment." Dinah chuckled.

"Sounds like a Barbara punishment." she murmured.

"Hold on, let me go get it." I walked out of my room and looked around my messy stack of CD's in my room next door to Dinah's. (Someone meta had found out where I lived. I had been followed, but I didn't know who it was, since I couldn't hear them. They broke into my house and robbed what little I had, so I am living in the Clocktower now. Whatever I have here was left there by me. Luckily, I brought my CD's here for the training room.) I found the little burned CD and put it in one of the old cases to a CD I couldn't find, and went back into Dinah's room where she was juggling. Well, three tennis balls were being juggled in front of her face, but she wasn't touching them. She didn't see/hear me come back in. She was concentrating. Then she laughed as the balls lost control and started to spin in a circle in front of her. She caught all three of them to stop the spinning. I clapped, scaring her. "BRAV-VAH! Now you're just showing off." I said, handing her the CD. She put the tennis balls under her bed and took the CD from me.

"Thank you. Pl- Please don't tell Barbara yet. I want to surprise her next week when we do the extra long training. She will be so thrilled to see it, I hope." She said, covering the bottom of her bed with the blanket.

"She will." I reassured her. She was relieved that I seemed to believe she was capable of pleasing Barbara with her control on her powers. "I won't tell." I promised.

*

Dear Journal,

Helena told me that she gave Dinah the CD she had burned off of the DELPHI monitor system a few years ago. From what I can tell, Dinah is in another world when she hears the CD. It is nice, since she lets herself come out of her room every once in a while, and is at the table every night now, though she seems eager to get back into her room. I haven't seen her smile so brightly before. I am glad she found something to soothe the soul. It is strange though, that Helena has also changed in moods. She has been sort of withdrawn, and doesn't seem to like this new, perkier Dinah. It is almost as if Helena has to be the opposite emotion from what Dinah is feeling. Helena doesn't seem to like Dinah now, almost as she didn't when Dinah was first living here (in her small pool of lies around her and a large amount of fear in her heart). Helena usually goes on her sweeps early, and sometimes doesn't join us for dinner. I will keep watch on them both, and see if I can report it.

Barbara Gordon

Dear Journal,

Dinah is really into that CD. Had I known it would do her a world of good, I would have given it to her a month ago. The changes in her are amazing. She does seem more alive, and she's talking and laughing and looking you in the eyes again. It is great. I, however am not as happy, and I am sort of jealous of Dinah because of that. Unlike Dinah, my happiness won't come from a CD. Ever since I read that entry in Dinah's thought book, I have been really guilty. Also, for some reason, I have been wondering if Dinah's a good kisser every time I think about her journal entry (which is sometimes often). I watched as she talked to Barbara and it just felt good to watch her. I watched her hands as they waved wildly around her in emphasis, then I watched her eyes as they glistened and shone when she was on a topic she really loved (being a meta-superhero), and then I watched her lips as they smiled after every few sentences. She hugged me today, but it wasn't a personal, 'I'm in love with you' sort of hug. She was really happy because she learned to stop things from getting thrown. (So now, if she throws something with her powers, she can stop it from hitting anything or anyone. Does this mean she'll be able to stop/dodge bullets? I could only hope that with time she could.) She's been on my mind a lot. Why is this so? I only have a few theories. Once a year, like any cat, I go in heat, as embarrassing as that is to admit. I do weird things then, so maybe this is that time of the year... but it is March... don't cats go into heat in late Spring? Summer maybe? Then again, I have always been... different. I just hope I don't say or do anything that would give Dinah the wrong impression.

Helena Kyle

*

Dear Diary,

Someone's read my diary today. I feel like a friend has told all of my innermost secrets that I entrusted in them. I don't know who did, I just know that they left it on my bed and not my desk where I left it. Whomever did it was very sneaky, and knows it, but that doesn't help me, since everyone in this household is (except for maybe me). It is a part of the superhero gig. I have a plan...

Dinah Redmond

"How were your sweeps?" I asked Dinah. It was the first one she's gone on by herself, and she was excited about it all week it seemed. It was Friday, not a school night, so Barbara allowed her to do them. She wasn't as fast as I am, since she doesn't have that power.

"Fine," she said, putting her coat over a chair. "Nothing bad happened except some guys were trying to harass me only to find I wasn't a good person to mess with." She turned to Barbara, who was looking at some sample of cloth under the microscope. It was taken from a crime scene unrelated to anything we were working on. Sometimes, Barbara does some detective work anonymously and tips off the police. "Yeah, I didn't even have to use my powers," That got my attention, and I looked up from my fish sticks and baked potato. "I just got in a fight with, I guess, their leader -and only because he attacked first- and after I gave him a bruise in a not-so-nice place, the others fled. Haha!" Dinah explained excitedly. I noticed that there was a small cut on her hand and a little bit of her shirt was ripped, but if I worked on it, I can turn it into a baby tee for her. That is, if she wanted me to. I remember wanting to keep my torn shirts the way they were to show how tough I was, but I think Dinah would be more upset that a good shirt was ruined. No one was worried about her wounds, they would heal in about a day or so, and it wasn't very deep. "Well," Dinah said, breaking my line of thought, "I'm beat. Ooh pun." she shuddered as I heard Barbara laugh. "See you two in the morning." We all said our "Good night 's", then Dinah went to her room.

Dear Journal,

I know I shouldn't have done it, but I read a few more entries from Dinah's journal while she was on her sweeps. By a few more, I mean all that she has written so far. I was curious. I wanted to see what else she was saying about me. I was seeing if she had confessed anything dirty, but she never did, just thoughts about how wrong liking me was. She is in denial, perhaps, and though she is confused about her feelings towards me, she doesn't write them down very much. One thing I could tell, though, from reading the journal was that she really did seem happier, and wasn't just faking it. I could tell because every other entry doesn't start with "Al hawk must die", or something of the like. Just a recap of the day, or a song she heard that she liked the lyrics to. Sometimes, there was a poem that she'd written, but it was normally about something in the meta lifestyle that intrigued or infuriated her. There was one entry where she wrote that she found a reason for her liking me. She said that a magazine she was reading said that teens get short term crushes on members of the same sex almost all the time. It was a part of the reproductive state in their lives... a phase. I'm glad Dinah's happy. Speaking of which- Shit, I'm busted.

Helena Kyle

"HA! Helena, did you read my journal?" Dinah asked, bursting into my room without knocking. I cursed at her, but she ignored me. "Well, have you?" She repeated, waving the book at me.

"No." I lied, furious now.

"Liar." She spat. "I have proof that you did."

"Oh?" I challenged, taken aback. I thought I was good at putting the book the way I found it this time. "What PROOF?!"

"Your fingerprints! I borrowed clear tape from the science room at school, and put some on the cover and on the backing of the book. Then I used Barbara's lab to test it!" I scowled at her, impressed, but trying not to show it. She was smarter than I gave her credit. (I guess it is all that blonde that makes me wrongfully judge her all the time.) If I was mad at her, she seemed much more pissed, but nothing shook, rattled, flew, or swung. Dinah is handling her emotions very well now. Thank you, Enigma.

"So what if I did?" I asked, not being able to keep up the lie if she had proof (or so she said). She had a flash of worry on her face before it was replaced with a fake smug-looking face.

"So..." she said, mocking me sort of, "the joke is on YOU. I didn't write my real thoughts in there. I was suspicious of Barbara's idea. I knew that it was going to get read somehow, so I wrote in an ordinary notebook, hidden in my locker at school and put into my backpack on the weekends."

"You are a bad liar, Dinah. You wouldn't put all of your real thoughts, as you put it, into a notebook and still keep up with a fake one, especially if you had to make up a whole bunch of things. You wouldn't be able to do it. I know that much about you." Besides that, in the corner of my eye, I'd see her writing in that book more than I could count. I was more discreet about watching her. I was paranoid that she was always watching me. Rarely ever was she watching me, as if she knew I was on lookout. Before Dinah could argue, there was a loud blaring from the DELPHI monitor system. Then Reece's ring was calling me.

"Dinah! Helena! Take the jeep and get to the New Gotham Bank!" I heard Barbara shout. I saw a look of horror cross Dinah's face. The New Gotham Bank was less than a half a block away from the warehouse where Black Canary, her mother, was killed. I walked past Dinah, patting her on the back with a silent reassurance on the way, and out of the room. I could hear her shuffling after me. Silently, we walked to the Jeep and got in. I put on some rock and rap mix station that I listened to in the training room when I didn't have any CD's I wanted to listen to at the moment. I looked over at Dinah to see she was looking out the window. Then suddenly she looked away and over at me.

"What did you read? All of it?" She asked, bracing herself for an answer she didn't like.

"Only the first 2 pages, the last 4 pages and everything between." I remarked sarcastically.

"Cute." Dinah muttered bitterly, then she turned away from me and looked out the window once more. She wiped at her face a little. Oh great, now she's started to cry. I understood why, but I hated to see people crying. Sometimes it made me cry as well, others it pissed me off, reasons unknown.

"Look, I'm sorry." I said to her, not very convincing. "I just saw my name in it when it opened that day I made dinner for us. I wanted to see if you were making fun of me." She didn't respond, neither by moving or speaking. She acted as if I wasn't even there anymore. "I am sorry, Dinah." I said to her. "I shouldn't have read the whole book. It was an invasion of privacy." She exhaled, growling some in frustration.

"It is just humiliating. I know now that you will hate me being near you for the very reason that you think I will try to hit on you or something. It is already that way. You were the last person in the whole damned world I wanted to know all that!" She was very angry and frustrated, but said no more. She leaned her head on the window, leaving an oily mark on it. After a minute or two, I pulled into New Gotham Bank's parking lot. I opened the door and saw Reece was looking at us with an odd expression on his face. To me, it was a question as if to ask why I wasn't roof jumping this time, and for Dinah, it was a small look of fear, but mostly curiosity.

"What've we got?" I asked him as we approached. He was standing over a man in his mid 20's, tall, long haired and skinny, but he still looked like he could take out a good amount of police if he felt like it. Reece shrugged.

"Homicide... or suicide..." I raised an eyebrow. Reece shot a quick look at Dinah and tried to explain. "This guy was trying to rob the bank when he got this huge headache and killed himself." He looked over at Dinah for a split second, and she cowered a little. I do not think he noticed this. "We have it videotaped. It is very interesting. Dinah, I think you might find it interesting. Let's go." He said. I looked at the two of them as they slowly entered the building ahead of me. The first thing I saw was about 5 cops and detectives already watching the tape. The man we saw outside was good at picking the locks without the alarms going off. He must have been tipped off by someone whom had worked there recently. He wasn't even meta, and he had amazing agility. He was just about to open the safe he worked so little at getting open when he held onto his head. Then he screamed.

"Get out of my head you- You FREAK!!" Dinah winced. I tried to put a hand on her shoulder for reassurances, but she backed away from me almost into another cop, who was leaving the TV to do more investigating. The guy screamed more profanities that even I didn't like saying, then he pulled out his gun. His hands started to shake, almost as if they were fighting themselves trying to decide weather they should put the gun on the floor or put the gun to his head and shoot. The man said something peculiar. "Die, Canary bitch!" Dinah seemed to growl in anger and frustration. Some papers whirled into a small tornado on a desk, then it calmed, and even the papers returned to where they were originally.

"Too late, jack ass." Dinah hissed. She closed her eyes and I could hear her muttering lyrics to one of her favorite songs.

"It's okay, Dinah." I said. The man on surveillance screamed in pain, causing me to look up at the monitor. What the Hell could make a man scream like that? I asked myself.

"D-D-D-D-" he stuttered. "DINAH!" he yelled suddenly as if to answer my mental question, then he put the gun to his head. There it lingered, unsure what to do. Then it went off. I looked immediately over at Dinah who was looking down. She had shook when the shot went off.

"I didn't kill him. He did that himself. I was trying to prevent him from doing it." I said nothing. "About a month ago, I started to hear other people's thoughts. Some were normal ones like what to wear to school the next day or who to ask to this or that dance, but some weren't normal, like a suicide thought, or a bomb threat... a bank robbery. I borrowed a CD from a friend in No Man's Land, and it helped me sort the thoughts while I listened to it. I found I could enter heads as easily as the thoughts entered mine." She played with some of her hair, and I found my eyes looking at her hands instead of her face. Seeing this, Dinah stopped and shoved her hands into her pockets, making me put my eyes back to her face. Not that it was an ugly face, I was just used to watching hands to make sure they were empty of weapons. "I was trying to get this guy to put the gun down and sit down until the cops came. I didn't kill him." she repeated. I nodded. She looked at Reece for a few seconds then started to walk away. Reece's gaze shifted from Dinah to me.

"Where's she going?" I watched her walk a little bit, and found she wasn't heading towards the Jeep, parked to the right. Instead she went left, down the street and out of sight. I shrugged at him, then I started to run after her to see if she was okay. Was she afraid she was going to jail, or something? I thought. I do not think Detective Jesse Reece would convict her if he knew it was an accident. If I felt like it, I could have caught up with her in a few seconds, but people were watching me, so I walked very quickly down the street towards the warehouse. I finally saw her figure in the darkness leaning against the charred walls, looking at the police taped area.

"I don't understand. I don't understand..." She muttered, and I wasn't sure if she was talking to me or not. "You are half metahuman, but you have your mother's powers. At least you have something of your mother's besides memories. I don't have her powers OR many memories. Nothing except..." She stopped. I watched in an eerie silence as she took in a deep breath. "If I am half meta, why do I have a different power from Black Canary? From my... mother? Does that mean my father is meta as well?" She asked.

"You do not know your father?" I asked her. She shook her head. I looked down at the ground. I felt bad for her, and the weird part is, I have never thought to ask her about her father when she was telling me about her mother. I doubt she knows who he is. At least I know that my father was (IS!!) Bruce Wayne. We were in a silence for a time, then my mind wandered to what she wrote in the diary. "Why do you love me, Dinah?" I blurted out. I didn't mean to word it that way, nor did I even want to ask her anything like that until it was brought up by her. Well, that got Dinah's attention. She walked away from the wall and into the small glint of light the moon was giving. I saw a look of confusion, then a light click on inside her head as if to understand what I was asking. She looked me in the eyes, and I wasn't expecting to hear the answer she gave me.

"Why do you love Reece?" She asked me, playing with her comlink. I watched her hands for a split second.

"That's different." I told her lamely.

"Is it?" she challenged. "Think about it. Why do you love Reece?" she pressed. I wrapped my arms around my waist and looked at her. Then I shrugged.

"I don't know." I surrendered exhaustedly.

"Exactly." She said no more for a while as I thought on it. Why did I love Reece? I just met him one day on an investigation and saved his life. He's still pissed that I wouldn't tell him my name (other than Huntress). Dinah sighed. "Maybe it isn't love. Maybe it is just the strong desire to be like you... To never let you down, that was misinterpreted by me, the crazy chick on a romantic high. It will pass, and I will go back to admiring the girl I saw in my dream... the one who saw her mother get-" she stopped. She was thinking this thought through, I could tell, but her face was hidden once again in darkness as she walked towards the warehouse some more. She whispered a short prayer or goodbye, then started to walk away from the warehouse. I caught up to her and grabbed her wrist.

"Who was the girl in your dream?" I asked her, probably knowing the answer.

"You know who it is... or maybe you don't anymore. You see her everyday, yet you do not communicate with her since she has different thoughts than you... very different thoughts than you have." She said to me almost in a trance.

"Barbara?" I asked.

"Yes, her too." She started to walk away from me towards the Jeep to realize I hadn't let go of her wrist. I wasn't planning to until I got answers from her. She jerked back towards me, and caught her balance so she didn't go falling into me. Who knows what I would have done if that happened...

"Me?" She only nodded. I thought about what she said about me, and... me... the past. Ugh, since when did Dinah become good with words?

"Yeah. I admire you, Helena. You have saved my life more times than I can count-"

"Twelve." Dinah gave me a look that said 'Cute.', then she continued talking.

"Even if one of us was a guy, my er- crush on you would be wrong. Even if I could like you, it would be... you aren't my type, really, and I mean that in the nicest possible way." My eyebrows rose, and Dinah looked away from me. I let go of her wrist, but she didn't move except for a step or two away from me so we weren't so close.

"How so?" I asked, watching Dinah squirm under my gaze. "I'm curious, Dinah. How so?" I repeated as she went still.

"Y-" she sighed, looking for the right words to say. Even in the dark, I could see her face go red. She tensed up some, wanting to run away from me right then, but she was braver than I thought, and she stood her ground. "You are not a touchy-feely person, Helena. Everyone who knows you knows that. I want to be hugged, kissed... held. You can't stand to touch people. Even when you were holding onto my wrist, it was tight and I could tell you wanted to let go, but something else was keeping you from letting go of it. A need for answers or something..." She tucked hair behind her ear, and I watched as it fell again to the side of her face. She did nothing to it. I watched it hang where it was, and I fought the unexpected urge to tuck it back again for her. I frowned slightly then released it, looking around me quickly. "Someone here?" she whispered to me, looking around as well. I shook my head.

"Well, to answer what you told me earlier..." I started to say, as a way to change the subject some. Dinah's body tensed up again, or more, I couldn't tell. "If I were you, I would cherish the few memories of your mother before you went to the Redmonds. They are better than nothing. Make sure you treasure them." I said with a little bit of softness in my voice. I was looking down.

"Yeah." She agreed. "And Helena?" I suddenly looked up at her as she said my name as an after thought. She continued when she found she had my attention. "Being meta is a blessing as well as a curse. Trust it, and trust in your heart. In times of trouble... they may be your only ally. Don't shut out all of man," She let an eyebrow raise to give a knowing smile "womankind. Nobody's perfect, and your metapowers are not an imperfection. Reece will come to learn that, and trust me, once he's found meta, he wont get nothin' betta." I laughed. She smiled in my direction. The clouds uncovered the moon some to give more light, and Dinah looked like she had just told me she was an angel or something 'Touched by an Angel'-like.

I took a few steps towards her, and thinking I was walking towards the Jeep perhaps, Dinah walked away. I grabbed her quickly and spun her into me. She gave me a shocked look in the eyes for a split second, but that was all I would give her before I felt my lips lower to hers. She did seem to fight me some, but Dinah has never been able to beat me in the training room, and she didn't get a chance to break away. She relaxed a couple of seconds later as I loosened my grip on her long enough to touch her hair. Then I could feel my heart pump as she kissed me back. Her arm wrapped around me, and her left hand was felt touching my left shoulder blade. I felt her lips roughen the kiss, arousing me some. I took a deep breath through my nose. Dinah knew that I loved as roughly as I fought most times, and when she tried to be rough, it drove me nuts. I wrapped both of my arms around Dinah's waist and pulled her closer to me, deepening the kiss some. NO! My mind suddenly screamed. This is Dinah!!  That thought made me break away immediately. Dinah looked down at her shoes embarrassed and almost ashamed as if she had kissed me first instead of the other way around. I took that opportunity to leap to the top of that building and jump away.

*

Dear Journal,

I can't believe I did that. What am I going to say to her? How am I going to act around her? My GOD that was a good kiss. I would have kissed her all night if I didn't have that one thought. Half of me wants to go back to her and resume what was going on. Make that 75% of me. And the words she said describing me... both parts of me. Huntress and Helena Kyle, past and present... it was like- She is right of course, damn her! But like Dinah said, it is wrong. She's a girl! In high school (not legal)! Dinah, the pest who steals my sweaters and wears this really sweet smelling lotion that stays on them for a few days. (It is fine for Dinah (damn, is it good on Dinah), but it is not a scent I would prefer for myself.) Dinah, the girl whom eats the last of the Pop Tarts and denies it with all Hell. Dinah... It's... Dinah!! I'm on the roof of a building across the street from the Clocktower. I am going to wait until I hear the Jeep and walk in with her to give Barbara the impression that we left as well as came back together. Plus, Dinah and I have to talk. She's here.

Helena Kyle

Dinah had a look of mostly confusion on her face as she opened the door to the Jeep and sat in her seat for a second, touching her lips softly. An ache to grab her and kiss her again was strong inside me, but I refused to move. She sighed and cautiously stepped out of the car. After she closed the door again, she paused. "I can hear you Helena... you think loudly." At that, I closed my mind. Luckily for me, I was thinking about making the impression on Barbara (not about kissing her again), so Dinah knew why I was there, and didn't ask me. In fact, as we walked up the stairs, into the building and on the elevator we were silent. I didn't know what to say. No, I knew what I wanted to say, I just didn't know how I wanted to say it. So, I said nothing as the elevator took us to the top.

"There you two are. I was beginning to worry. Find anything at the site?" I knew I shouldn't have said anything, but I was in a foul mood, not knowing why the kiss would make me angry. Perhaps all of my emotions eventually tie into anger.

"It was Professor Plum in the Library with the Rope." I told her dryly.

"Helena-" Barbara started. Dinah, whom seemed to be forgotten for a few seconds, cut her off.

"It was me, in my room, with freakazoid, uncontrolled powers." She said in the same tone, almost mimicking me. Barbara gave me a look that seemed to say 'You're teaching her Bitch-ology now?'. I said nothing, then Barbara had to turn her wheelchair to look at Dinah, whom only shrugged. "I didn't know he'd get psychotic and shoot himself." She said putting a hand up to swear honesty.

"Dinah, go on to bed. I will explain things to Barbara. Go on, you have school tomorrow." I knew this was a lie. Dinah had no school the next day since it was a grading period for the teachers and so the students had a day off. I gave her a look that told her hopefully that I wasn't going to mention anything that happened afterwards. She didn't argue with me, and she left in almost a hurry. Barbara turned to me and gave me an odd look.

"Good night Barbara, Helena." She said my name with an exhausted tone of afterthought. I felt weird. That is the only word I can describe the way I felt then.

"Well, talk." Barbara ordered. I obliged for once, then I went to bed.

Dear Diary,

If my lips and waist weren't tingling from where she touched me, I would say that what had happened was a pleasant dream. She kissed me. I feel cold now, and no amount of blankets would replace the empty spot where her arms held me close to her as we kissed. Something took over her body if only temporarily. I felt a change in her. She was still tough Huntress, but I think passionate Helena Kyle of the past was there as well. It will not last, to my dismay. That kiss means nothing to her, and I'm sure if any other person was there then, she'd have kissed them. I wish it didn't mean so much to me. I-I... I will have to write the rest some other time perhaps. (Sorry it wasn't a full page, Barbara.)

Dinah Redmond

*

It was 18 hours later. It is 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and Dinah was just coming into the kitchen. I had left to do a quick sweep of New Gotham before I came in and hung around the Clocktower. When I left, Dinah was still asleep in her room. When I had come back, I thought she was avoiding me, but I didn't get an answer when I knocked on the door to wake her up at noon. I heard some music in the training room, and left her alone. If I told her what I had to say in there, things could get thrown, and there were alot of weapons in there.

"Barbara back yet?" Dinah asked me as she came in. She didn't look in my direction. I wanted to nod, but she wouldn't see it, so I used my voice.

"Not yet." She was about to go into the refrigerator for a snack. "Dinah? Could you come here for a minute?" She stopped in her tracks and turned around slowly. Then she sat on a stool about 3 yards away. I felt like an ass. Especially now since I had some things to say to her that might hurt her. "Dinah, I do not know what I was thinking last night. Maybe I wanted to kiss a girl and be sober while doing it, or maybe my metapowers were acting screwy and I reacted to them. I do not know. I do know-"

"That the" she seemed to have a hard time saying it. "kiss meant nothing to you, and that you are sorry for what had happened. You are sorry for making me think otherwise." She finished.

"Yeah." I saw Dinah rub her head as one with a migraine would do, but she hasn't complained of one lately. Then she took some deep breaths.

"Okay. Am I excused?" She suddenly looked up at me in the eyes, and I was taken aback.

"Uh, yeah of course." Dinah shot out of the stool and headed for the kitchen and disappeared into her room a couple of minutes later with her backpack and a couple slices of toast. The back pack she had was a very small backpack that she had used for her supplies to train with. I sighed and walked into the den.

*

Dear Journal,

Dinah has been leaving for school and she gets there before Barbara, but she's been coming back later, like 6:30 or 7 O'clock. She'd smell of smoke every once and a while. Not on her breath, but on her clothes, so wherever she's going, it is not to smoke with friends. I talked to Barbara about it, but she says she sees nothing wrong with it since Dinah is always on time for her classes, is home for dinner at 7:30, then does her homework from then until 10. Something tells me that Barbara thinks Dinah is going to the library, though I disagree. I am sort of worried. I miss her, really. I wanted to pick on her for her eagerness to be a superhero. I wanted to talk to her about Black Canary. I... I wanted to kiss her again. I think about her a lot, wondering where she goes. She would come on the sweeps with me, but only if it was on Friday or Saturday night when there was no school. Even when it was a holiday, she would refuse to go. I've also noticed that Dinah has toughened up some, both in and out of the training room. She's gone back to being the shy, but rough type. She speaks when spoken to, but when she does, it is short and gruffly, as if she didn't want to talk to you. (She's even like that towards Barbara and Alfred.) I felt even worse. I know she wants to be like me, but I don't want her to be tough for my sake. It did no good for me, and it will not do any good for her. Well, it is Saturday today, and Dinah is at where ever it is she's been going to the last 3 weeks. I am going to have to watch her and see where she goes.

Helena Kyle

*

"What are you doing here?" I asked Dinah. I had gone for fresh air and had decided that I needed to see some friendly faces. I stopped by No Man's Land to get a drink and hadn't expected to see Dinah wiping down counters and refilling sodas. From 3 to 6 is usually when the teenagers hung out the most, so that is probably why Dinah was there, but why would she be wiping the counters down? Dinah didn't look up from her work, but I know that she had heard what I asked her.

"I work here, Helena." She answered, as if she were to add in 'Duh!', but she said no such thing. "Can I get you anything? I can get Dan Freeman or Gibson to get you something from the bar. It is his cigarette break, but I can pull him away from it." she said. "Dan, not Gibson..." she added. I shook my head, but she wasn't looking at me. Instead she was looking at a group of girls that were playing pool who had asked for another round of Diet Pepsi's. There was a rowdy call of excited guys watching football on TV a little while later. "Doug, be quieter. There is a business on the other side of the wall, and you will give away this position." Dinah said, smiling. Then she filled up the cups of soda.

"I didn't know you've been working." I said to her when she came back and put her rag in the sink. She washed it off and shrugged, finally looking up at me.

"I walked in, volunteered my services, and have been working here since. I get 20 dollars a day, so it is like a job."

"How long are you here?"

"3 hours."

"It works. Ooooh, bad pun, sorry." Dinah said nothing. "Please Dinah. Talk to me. Are you here everyday because you are avoiding me?"

"This is not the time nor place to talk about that." She said crisply.

"Alright, then. Uh, I guess I will get a glass of Pepsi please." I told her, trying not to get angry with her behavior. I knew I deserved it, but I missed the Dinah that was so peppy it made me sick. I just wanted to punch this Dinah, the Dinah that seemed to hate me.

"Coming up." She got a cup from below the counter and filled it with a can. When the cup was filled, she put the glass on a coaster and the can next to it. "That will be 5O cents." I nodded, and pulled out a dollar.

"Keep the change." Dinah ignored me and put the other 50 cents on the counter next to the can of pop, then went through the door to my right and disappeared. I looked around. No one was watching me, so I jumped over the counter and walked through the door behind Dinah. She was leaning over the sink filling with water. I saw a tear fall from her face into the water, then she added soap. Then suddenly she stood, and almost jumped when she saw me there. "What do you need, Helena?" She asked me, wiping furiously at her face, getting rid of all tears.

"Look, I'm sorry I hurt your feelings with the k-"

"No, I can't... talk to you about this, okay?" She turned away from me and hid her face so I wouldn't see her crying. Then she pulled her hair back for a couple of seconds and let it fall over her neck again. She turned around to face me again. "True, I had a crush on you and I hated it. I hated having a crush on you because I couldn't just admire you anymore. Things in my life got that much more complicated. I didn't want to like you that way." She looked down as if to think over what next to say. She scoffed, then looked up at me. "I was so happy when I read that it could just be a phase and that it would be over soon and then I could only admire you." She looked me in the eyes for a split second before saying, "But then you kissed me." The haunting look she gave me went elsewhere, but the hurt and sadness in her voice sent shivers down my spine as it lingered in my mind. "For a few minutes I thought that maybe... you'd give us a shot. I knew otherwise, but I still had some sort of hope. I can't get you," She furiously tucked hair behind her right ear. "or that kiss out of my head. And what am I to say to you now? There is nothing between us but awkward silences and a few fights in the training room, forced by Barbara. I took this job to keep myself busy. To keep my emotions from controlling my mind... my power." She closed her eyes and held her head a little. Then she mumbled a couple of lyrics and then a couple of curse words. "I-If you want to talk further on this, fine, but not here." she said suddenly, standing tall. She searched through her pockets and came out with a bottle of aspirin.

"Fine, meet me in the Clocktower after you get off of work." I said to her, watching as she filled up a cup and swallowed down the pills.

After she wiped her mouth and put the bottle away, she said, "I'll see you in 90 minutes, then."

"Fine." I repeated, getting in the last word before I left.

Dear Diary,

I can not stop crying. I was let go early today since some girl saw me crying and told her friend, who works at No Man's Land in the business area. I was supposed to do 4 hours today, but he said I was fine, and that if I wanted to, I could go in on Monday and do the 4th hour if it meant that much to me. Gibson was teasing me again, of course. So, here I am in a park... sitting on a swing... writing in my diary. I am trying to get my mind off of Helena. Why does she get to me so much? She's not my type! She's not!! She doesn't trust people except for a VERY select few. My heart ripped today when I told Helena what I have been feeling for the last 3 weeks. I don't know what to do. I have to meet up with her in 45 minutes. Make that 40 minutes. I feel cold. I want to be held like that girl over there. She seems to be able to feel

Dinah Redmond

"Hey." I said to Dinah, who was sitting on a swing alternating between writing in her thought book and looking at a couple making doughy eyes at each other. She looked up quickly, snapping her thought book shut. (No doubt there's stuff in there about me.) Then she quickly wiped her face. I already knew she was crying. I had sat on the roof of No Man's Land and waited as she was being told by her boss or whatever (maybe Gibson, but he could have put some one else in charge and I couldn't hear whom the voice belonged to) that she could go home. Then I followed her to the park.

"Helena-" She started to say, surprised.

"Come on, kid. Let's go to the Clocktower. We can talk there." I said cutting her short.

"Ye- Yeah, sure." I held out a hand to help her up off of the swing, and then we walked in silence for a while. Out of nowhere, I guess to fill the silence some, she said, "You're early."

"Yeah." Was all I said in a lame reply. We walked the rest of the way to the Clocktower in silence. I could see a look of dread. She wasn't looking forward to this at all, but she said she'd talk to me about it if I needed to, and she's not one to go back on her word. As soon as we were on the roof, I turned to look at her, but she wasn't looking at me. She was looking at the sunset.

"Pretty sunset." She murmured, mostly to herself.

"How do you do it?" I blurted out. I need to let my mind think before I let my mouth speak.

"Well, I don't really. Mother Nature does it, but I love to watch her do her dirty work." I shot her a dirty look.

"No, I mean..." I stopped. Then I sighed.

"What do you mean?" She asked me.

"How can you watch the one you- uh- love walk away from you after they broke your heart?"

"I didn't. I excused myself and I walked away from them. "She said unexpectedly. Of course, it was true.

"Okay, smart ass." I said. Dinah was silent.

"Did Detective Reece hurt you?" Dinah asked crisply after a small silence. Her tone both scared as well as comforted me. I shook my head. "Well, I do not know how I did it." She was lying, but I didn't press it any further.

"Have you ever heard the expression 'If you love them, let them go'?"

"There is a similar quote in my Mya Angelou book." She said.

"Is that what you are trying to do?"

"I guess so. Like I have a choice." She said. She looked at the gargoyles on the roof, now getting a bit of a shadow on them.

"Well, the truth is, Dinah, I can not stop thinking about the kiss either. I keep thinking about how much I wanted to be hugged, kissed... held. In response, my mind always said the same thing: 'So does Dinah'." I watched for a resonance from Dinah. Other than the fact that her eyes shifted from the gargoyles to me, there was none. I walked closer to Dinah, and she moved away as a natural response, one I had towards touchy-feely people including Dinah. I had gotten a hold of her shoulders. "Please don't let me go yet." She looked at me for a moment, searching her mind for something to say, something to do. She kissed me this time, rough at first, but softening a little later, turning into one of the best kisses I have ever experienced (the best being the first kiss 3 weeks prior). She wrapped her arms around me and held me comfortably. I could feel her heart pick up pace as I placed a hand softly on her cheek. This made me shiver in excitement. A few seconds later, a blanket was wrapped around me by unseen hands. I smiled through the kiss.

"Aheh-HEM!" coughed a voice behind us. I am not sure who broke away first, Dinah or myself, but both of us spun around to look at Barbara, whom no doubt followed the floating blanket.

Dear Diary,

SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! Barbara at first was shocked and kept opening her mouth to say something, then close it again as if to forget what it was she was going to say. Then she said "Well, when I tell you two to kiss and make up, I had always thought you knew I wasn't being literal." Very funny, Barbara. THEN she starts muttering things like, "I don't know why I'm so surprised..." She had just gone to bed. Helena took my hand and squeezed it before going to her bedroom. I stayed in the empty kitchen and wrote in here, to you. I'm not even going to hide the huge grin on my face. I am happy. For the first time in a long time, I fell happy being Dinah Redmond... Black Canary's daughter. It's about 11:45. I better go to bed.

Dinah Redmond

*

"You better not have eaten the rest of them Pop Tarts." I said to Dinah groggily about a week after Barbara had caught us kissing. I was approached by her (Barbara) the next day while I was training alone. She's worried that things might not work out, and that it will severely affect Dinah and her powers. Anyway, I searched through the cupboard for our nightly midnight raid of the fridge to find there was only one packet left. I looked over at Dinah who was eating a banana.

"Bah-bra's your PobTar thef, nnnot me." Dinah said. Her mouth was full, but I knew she said that Barbara was my Pop Tart thief, not her. She chewed some, swallowed, then smiled. "I'm more into those sweaters and LOVE-ly shoes you always ruin trying to fight in heels." She said. I laughed some, taking the packet from the box and opening it. Then I sat down, offering one to Dinah. She shook her head. I raised my eyebrows.

"You're crazy." I said. It became quiet as Dinah finished eating her banana, and I worked on finishing my last morsel of Pop Tart.

"You know, I have never had anyone sing 'Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah. Someone in the kitchen I know ohohoh. Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah, stummin' on the ole' banjo.' She sang, her voice scratchy from not talking much in 2 or 3 hours. "Never." she insisted. "You'd think that would be the first thing people would make fun of me for. Instead, I'm ZZZipper- girl."

"So this is what you think about when you are bored and left alone." I said. She laughed and I joined in. Then, I watched as Dinah searched through the refrigerator for something. I was playing with the wrapper, tearing it to shreds when Dinah settled for a small fun sized bottle of Sunny Delight. Sunny Delight... sounds like something I'd call Dinah. I thought to myself. As soon as Dinah had put down the opened bottle, I snatched it up and took a drink.

"Hey!" She protested. I shifted my eyebrows up and down once, then smiled, giving her the bottle after I drained half of it. "Aw you-" I didn't let her finish as I was kissing her. "That doesn't excuse you from taking my drink, but it's a good start." She told me.

"Oh?"

"Yep, you're still getting whooped in the training room."

"Careful, I might enjoy that." I could tell Dinah wasn't expecting that remark, but she rolled her eyes as if that was the expected remark. She took the rest of the drink and drank it up. Then she yawned.

"I'm beat. I'll see you in the morning." I nodded as she patted my shoulder on her way out of the kitchen.

Dear Journal,

Just writing in here out of sheer boredom. It is midnight. Dinah is probably awake... barely, listening to her music to help her fall asleep. I am not tired, and will most likely be up all night. Tomorrow is my day off from the bar. Dinah will most likely go to No Man's Land. It'll be 4 hours, but I think I will tag along and hang out there. Play pool, watch TV, or maybe even help Dinah out. Who knows, I might get 20 bucks too! Ha ha ha. Maybe we will go to the movies or go out to eat. I have 14 dollars in my purse, and about 82 in my bank account under a different name. I know I shouldn't have, but I bought another leather jacket. The other one I had was ripped in a fight. That is why my account is so low, but I get paid in a few days, so I will survive.

Helena Kyle

I did sleep, though after about 3 hours. When I got up again, Dinah was in the training room with Barbara for an early morning thing. Then we had breakfast, and I did a short sweep of New Gotham. When I got back, Dinah had already left for No Man's Land. I hung around the Clocktower as Barbara made lunch for herself. Then at about 2, I left. Dinah was doing dishes, and I helped her out a little (if 'helping out' means 'sitting on the counter opposite to her and talking to her while SHE worked'... then I'm a master).

Finally, about a half an hour later, we were walking down the street looking for something to do. We didn't want to go to a movie right then, since the matinee of the movie we wanted to see was full, or very crowded. Neither of us are a big fan of crowds. Instead, we took the subway to the mall. On the way there, I asked how she'd feel if I called her Sunny Delight. She shrugged and said that it seemed to suit her. Then she said that if she was going to be called that, I have to have a nick name as well, so now she calls me Pop Tarts. Anyway, at the mall, we mostly window shopped, since I didn't feel like going to an ATM and spending all of my money. Dinah bought a CD of ocean waves and sea sounds for her to meditate to, and with some of the $14 I had, I bought skull shaped stud ear rings. Then we stopped by McDonald's and we got a Big Mac each and fries to share. We were exhausted by the time we got home.

"What an awesome day." I said, flopping down on the couch in the den. I sighed deeply as Dinah joined me.

"Yeah." She turned the TV on, but the movie that was on was boring. I don't know what it was about since we were like a half an hour late into it, but it was an old movie with Judy Garland I it, and I only knew that because Sunny Delight had said, "Oh, I didn't know Judy Garland was in this movie." I looked at Dinah a few minutes later to see she wasn't watching the movie but the floor in deep thought. I dug into my pocket where I had change from my purchases and dug out a quarter. Then, I put it in her face, snapping her out of her trance. "What's this for?"

"Your thoughts." I said.

"The prices went up, huh?"

"No, I just do not have a coin worth a billion dollars, which is what your thoughts are really worth. Now, spill." She played with the coin in her hand and inspected it. "It is not counterfeit-" I said to her. She smiled and pocketed the coin.

"I was thinking about my mother and... your mother." I looked at her face as she went on. "I was wondering if there is an afterlife and if there is, does your mother and my mother still fight even there? You know, continue the whole, 'cat/bird thing'." She said looking up at me. I frowned slightly in thought. Dinah sighed and shook her head. I took my arm off of her shoulder long enough to invite her to get closer to me. She came in closer, and I wrapped my arm around her.

"I think, that our mothers have realized that their decisions either good or bad are being thought over where ever they may or may not be. I think they are watching us, the living, so much that they do not have the time to fight each other." Dinah nodded.

"Maybe by seeing how much I love you, my mother can forget what was, and your mother can forgive her for attacking her daughter." she said softly, sleepily.

"And by seeing how much I love you, both of our mothers will see that we are happy together and that their past doesn't mater anymore, only our future." I told her.

Dear Journal,

Man, that movie was sort of boring, but it was either that or info-mercials. I hate those things. Makes me want to throw the TV out the window. Dinah and I had a pillow fight after it was over, but Dinah cheated and used her powers, so I used mine and started and finished a wrestling match. I 'accidentally' knocked over her mostly full can of Sprite and it got all over her. I was quick and got out of the way, but it soaked Dinah. She is now changing her clothes. That was the most fun I can remember having (well, for the past 7 years I have been wrestling drunken bastards and metacreeps). Dinah makes everything fun, I guess because we do them together. She is a special girl. I'm glad to have her. I mean, just the way she loves me is incredible. I can feel it, and she would never have to tell me that she loves me, because I know, but I feel a thousand times more loved when she tells me. The night Barbara found us on the roof, she expressed her concerns. I understand why. I guess our pasts make us scared and we both run away or hide from our problems and hope it goes away. Barbara thinks that if something were to happen between us, Dinah's emotions would control her powers and Dinah wouldn't have the will to fight it. I don't ever want to hurt her. Did you read that, Sunny Delight? I will never hurt you intentionally. I read your diary, which was wrong, so you get to read this. It is only fair. So let me tell you this: I love you. I love you. I love you.

Helena Kyle