Disclaimer: All characters are owned by someone else (i.e not me, unfortunately). Hopefully, no copyrights were breached in my making of this fic (I didn't mean to!) and I made no money doing this whatsoever. This is purely for my entertainment, instead of studying





"Eww," Helena drawled, shrugging off her blood-stained jacket and dumping it on the floor beside the Clocktower elevator. She made a face at the blood covering her clothes, glad it wasn't hers, but grossed out nonetheless.



"Helena, what happened?" Barbara asked, her draw dropping at the amount of dried blood covering her lover. She was a little more than annoyed when Helena had switched off comms. while tracing a known murderer, and was even more worried that something had happened.



"Let's just say, things got a little sticky," Helena said, grimacing at the scratch of her clothes against her as the blood dried. Before Barbara could say anything, she remembered that she had switched off her comms. and probably worried Barbara needlessly. She had to admit, Barbara's presence was always calming, but not when she was babbling in her ear. Helena had needed silence while she stalked her prey.



"I'm sorry about going off comms," she said, trying to cut Barbara off in order to avoid hearing the inevitable lecture. "I just needed to concentrate."



"I know, Helena, but I worry about you. Especially when you're going after someone as dangerous as Jack Ghun." As she talked, she wheeled over to the kitchen table, where a first-aid kit was waiting in the dim light. Helena followed obediently and sat in front of Barbara. "Look, I know you can take care of yourself," she said, interrupting the reply that was about to come from Helena. "It just makes me happy to know you're okay."



Helena didn't say anything, just absorbed what Barbara was saying as Barbara cleaned up the scratches on her face, as well as her bruised knuckles. The intimacy and care in these simple actions left Helena feeling guilty about putting Barbara in the dark. After all, she only cared about her....



When she was done, Barbara raised Helena's bruised hand to her face and kissed her knuckles.



"Very chivalrous," Helena smirked, before she started to tell Barbara about what had happened, munching on Pop-Tarts as she did so. Barbara, for her part, listened intently, Helena's hand still in hers. She gripped it when Helena recalled some of the harrowing events of the chase and ensuing fight, but was even more glad to know that Helena was home safe and sound. The fact that a serial murderer was dead was merely the icing on the cake.



"How's Dinah doing?" Helena asked, knowing that she had split from her when Barbara had found Ghun.



"Not bad at all, really," Barbara said, feeling a familiar swell of pride in the young blonde girl. Helena noticed this, and couldn't help but smile at the smile on Barbara's face. They sat like that for a while, in comfortable silence, Barbara linking her fingers with Helena's. The only sounds that could be heard were coming from the air conditioning, and occasionally, the regular blip from the Delphi.



*So domestic* Helena mused, finding it ironic that the one thing she had tried to stay away from most of her life was a situation she found herself most comfortable in, due in no small part to Barbara. Of their own accord, her lips started finding their way to Barbara's, their path unconscious and easy. Barbara's eyes started to close, and at that opportune moment, Dinah decided to return.



"Hey, Ba-"



She broke of suddenly as she witnessed the scene before her, and the two adults jumped apart suddenly, as if electrocuted. Dinah started to go all shades of pink imaginable, and soon beat a hasty retreat, muttering something about homework.



"You know, I think that's gotta be the first time I've heard the kid say she wants to do her homework," Helena said, eyebrow quirking with barely restrained laughter.



Barbara had gone a few shades less pink than Dinah, but couldn't help but find the situation a little humorous. Nevertheless, she did feel sorry for the young girl.



"Helena, it isn't that funny," she said, still slightly embarassed at having been caught by her charge under quite a revealing set of circumstances. She and Helena hadn't quite told Dinah of the true nature of their relationship, but Barbara suspected that Dinah had known for some time what had been going on. She was a sharp girl, and no matter how discreet she and Helena had been, Barbara was sure that Dinah would soon find out by herself, anyway.

"I'm going to have to talk to her, now," she said. "Do you want to come with me?"



Helena felt a little guilty at leaving the kid so embarrassed, and didn't want to leave Barbara by herself. "Sure," she said, a little more sober now that her laughter had subsided.





______________________________________________________________________





Dinah had few problems with Helena and Barbara's relationship, and this was probably helped by her prior knowledge of it. She loved both women dearly, though her affection was more clearly shown towards Barbara than Helena, who was a little more guarded with her emotions. She didn't expect an emotional Helena hugging her tightly as she told them she loved them and didn't mind about their relationship. She tried to lighten up the situation by telling Helena to get off her.



"Eww! You're all covered in blood!" she squealed, not really as bothered by it as she let on: more surprised than disgusted. Helena took this as a cue that things were the same between them, and they bantered a little, before Barbara practically dragged Helena out of the room, but not before wishing Dinah good night and sweet dreams.



"Come on," she said, leading Helena into her ground level bedroom. "Let's get you cleaned up."



"Yes, ma'am," Helena said, jumping to attention before leisurely stripping of her stiffened clothes and jumping in the shower to rinse off the blood. Barbara ran a bath, and soon afterwards, Helena joined her, Barbara between her legs, her head against her chest.



The close proximity of their soapy, naked bodies ensured heated, yet tender, lovemaking in the comfort of bubbles and warm water, and when both women finally went to bed, they fell asleep, sated, in one another's arms. They didn't know what the following day would hold, but at that moment, nothing else mattered.