Big Damn Table Fics #51-100

Merfilly

FANDOM: Birds of Prey Comic

PAIRING: Black Canary/Oracle

RATINGS: G to NC-17

DISCLAIMER: All characters, places, etc copyrighted by DC Comics, and used here strictly for non-commercial entertainment.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm fiddling around with some different dynamics.

FICATHON: Written for FanFic100's Big Damn Table at http://community.livejournal.com/fanfic100/profile.

CONTINUED FROM: Big Damn Table Fics #1-50.

ARCHIVING: at Big Damn Table and tag - fanfic100.

E-MAIL: stephvickers@hotmail.com or feedback at merfilly's LJ @ http://merfilly.livejournal.com/.

---

"I know you hate to let people do things for you," Dinah said, as Barbara rubbed the back of her neck for the billionth time that night. "But why don't you let me take a turn at the monitoring part? With the voder, no one would notice unless they need geek speak. And with tonight's fare seeming to be of the stomp the bad guy butt variety, I doubt they will need me to be technical."

"I can't, Dinah," Barbara told her, looking up at her wearily. "Batman would know, and so would the rest of the bat clan."

"Yeah, but they know I work directly for you." The blonde looked very concerned. "You have a miserable cold. You need some hot steam, a fluffy towel, and then some sleep. The normal kind, in a bed, not the kind that leaves keyboard impressions in your forehead." Dinah put on her best and most earnest expression. "I can't go out with these breaks anyway. Let me be useful."

"You're right." Barbara pushed back from the console after setting the system to recognize Dinah's commands. "One hot bath and a bed coming up. I normally set things to sleep mode around seven in the morning."

"Yes ma'am, oh wise Oracle," Dinah quipped. The redhead swatted at her, rolling on by to go try and clear her head of the horrid sinus cold she had managed to come down with. Maneuvering into the warm shower seemed harder than usual, but she sat on her bench, letting the water beat down and using the steam to her advantage.

When Dinah realized the water was still running after half an hour, she clipped the mobile mic on, and went to go check on her friend. Neither a soft knock nor a call of her name elicited a reply, so the other woman pushed the door open. From the silhouette, it appeared the steam had more than done its job on the exhausted Oracle, putting Barbara straight to sleep. Dinah smiled softly, to see her tough as nails friend and partner so vulnerable, but she fished down a towel, and reached inside to cut the water off. Barbara stirred, but was not truly coherent as Dinah maneuvered the towel around her wet form.

"Come on, sweetie," the blonde vigilante said in her softest, kindest voice, the one that had gotten Roy through some of his hardest days. It had the effect she had hoped for, making the semi-conscious Barbara cooperate in bringing her from the bench to Dinah's lap. When Barbara, barely covered in her towel, actually snuggled close, Dinah's heart hammered, but she swore internally to think nothing of it. The petite crimefighter was extra careful controlling her chair out of the bathroom, taking Barbara to bed.

Again, it was a difficult task to get Barbara transferred to the bed, since Dinah was not supposed to be standing on her own two feet. When she had, and the redhead was covered, Dinah paused long enough to puah the wet hair back.

"Sleep well," she murmured, leaning in to press a tender kiss to the other's forehead.

In her sleep, Barbara smiled, and Dinah felt her heart break just a bit more, before she left to attend to Oracle's duties.

---

In a perfect world, it would have been winter, they would have been in a cabin with a roaring fire, and only have each other to think about.

As it was, the world was far from perfect, and neither one of the women knew how to truly make themselves take time for just being women, at least not anymore. Despite sharing Barbara's bed, Dinah had not found the right moment to find out if Barbara was willing to go fully into this relationship. Yes, Barbara had enjoyed the light caresses that Dinah had offered, but the blonde was ready to do so much more.

So she conspired against her partner. She had been pleasantly surprised that Tim would still answer her calls, after Batman's frosty reception of her return. Robin, though, had assured her that he would do all he could to make sure Gotham did not weigh heavy on Barbara's plate this coming day. She had no idea how he was going to, but the boy was a sly, secretive creature who would one day surpass Batman for maneuvering people.

A call to Mr. Terrific handled the rest of the superhero community at large. He would insert a loop into the system they had set up with Oracle, directing calls to himself. He never asked why, either, just sounding vaguely pleased to know she was home safe and sound. Of course, she had already heard rumors that he was involved in the new Checkmate program, which somewhat bothered her.

With her bases covered as far as the calls for Oracle were concerned, she then turned to Shiva and Huntress for clearing the team away. Neither Zinda nor Gypsy had noted the relationship yet, so Shiva took the young woman for 'training', while Huntress offered to bar crawl with Zinda. Dinah could count on having Barbara all to herself for the night and day.

The blonde had ordered in, and made sure it was all ready for Oracle as the woman shut her board down. The redhead rolled toward the smell of fresh Thai, only to get distracted as the door buzzed, announcing a visitor. Dinah heard her partner's voice, and then clearly heard the words, 'Come on in, Dick,' from the redhead. With a sigh, Dinah placed a third plate out, wishing for that cabin and its fire, so that they would have truly been alone for once.

---

Oracle has seen Dinah run the full spectrum of emotions, she thinks. From trolling for men in a pure lust for life and fun, to the deepest dregs of depression when she first secured the services of Black Canary, Dinah has displayed the full range of humanity in the space of their association. Still, she thinks her favorite display is the comforting Dinah, the all-embracing earth mother. She watches now, as Connor Hawke sits on the sofa in Dinah's apartment, his head resting on the woman's chest, having come without true purpose. Dinah had seen through the zen and flimsy excuse, and coaxed the young man into confiding his problems. Oracle had not eavesdropped, but the young man had given himself to tears in the woman's arms, before falling into the sleep of a person who knows himself to be safe.

Dinah's eye catches the camera, and she smiles just slightly, to let Oracle know all is well, then her attention returns to her former lover's son. For as long as Connor is there, Oracle will not call Canary to the active duty list, so that he can keep healing from whatever his cares were.

---

She gasped for air when the first electric sensation began. Her sleeping mind slowly coalesced around the idea that the pleasant tingle running through her is a reaction to her love's mouth on her nipple. She remembered falling into bed that morning around five, a long night's work done, and the feeling of being wrapped up in the tender arms of her truest partner. She knew it could not have been more than a few hours since then, but she cannot find it in herself to protest as that mouth and tongue move to her other nipple. Sharp teeth grazed the sensitive node, eliciting another electric response in the redhead. She brought her hands up to tangle in the mass of blonde hair, earning a moan that she understands on a primal level. She took a firmer grip in the mane, and was rewarded with a gasp.

The blonde crawled back up from her worship of the redhead's breasts, no sleepiness showing in her lustful blue eyes. It was all the redhead could do not to purr as Dinah showed her intention of pushing things to the next level. When they kissed, the repressed sexual tension exploded into it, causing them both to hungrily taste each other's mouths even as they pressed tighter together. Barbara moaned into the kiss when Dinah slipped a thigh between hers, pressing against her sex with firm resolve. The redhead could have almost cried for joy, that her slight recovery let her feel so much more now, especially right at that moment.

The blonde broke the kiss at last, and finished what she had begun in Barbara's sleep. The remainder of the redhead's clothes mingled with the blonde's on the floor, so that their bodies touched skin to skin. As Dinah slid down the redhead's body, Barbara found herself gasping for air again, as her lover proved to know just where to kiss, where to bite, on the path down to her thighs.

The first kisses there made Barbara writhe at their lightness. Dinah took her time, tracing both hipbones and down to the back of the knee, finding just the right amount of pressure to use to be sure her lover could feel it. Barbara's pleading moans and cries finally drew the blonde up to settle between the thighs that parted gracefully. Blue eyes met green, with the only invitation to stop Dinah was willing to give. In answer, Barbara mewed in wanting need. That was all Dinah needed as the tip of her tongue began a new exploration. The redhead clawed at the sheets, as teeth and tongue found her sensitive node with exquisite skill. Dinah took her time again, enjoying the art of making love to a woman, to this woman in particular. She kept one hand on her lover's stomach, caressing idly, as Barbara cried out for more. Her vocal range impressed the blonde, as the gentle oral sex grew firmer, and was joined by fingers inside the redhead. Dinah seemed to know just when to touch, when to add a finger, and when to draw back to let it all build a bit more. By the time Dinah let her lover come fully, Barbara was nearly bucking against Dinah's hand and mouth, unconsciously moving more than she realized she could as her inhibitions were shattered.

Again, thee seemed to be a lack of air around Barbara as her body rose to the peak and crashed through the orgasm Dinah led her too. She was vaguely aware of her lover lying up next to her, kissing her mouth. She remembered lapping at the taste of herself in Dinah's mouth, and the feel of being held close, skin-to-skin. She did not remember falling asleep again, her skin and body still alight with the fires Dinah had built.

---

The idea for a team of troubleshooters relying on her information had come to her back when she has still been under Amanda Waller's influence. It had taken her sometime, and the use of Bruce's money, as well as patience with her first choice of an operative. The Birds of Prey were a two-woman show, with occasional walk-ons from people like Power Girl and Huntress, even Catwoman. Barbara had not intended to get close. She only wanted her partner to trust her directions, and move without hesitation. Then Blockbuster had forced her hand. With her safety net cut, Barbara had been forced to call on her difficult partner for assistance.

When Dinah had arrived, pulling her up out of the water, no questions asked, Barbara had seen the error of her choices to that point. She had been content to be a faceless entity, knowing all about her agent but not revealing herself. She had slighted the spirit of the hero she had hired by her withholding; Black Canary's heart was selflessly involved in what they had put together. There was so much that Barbara wanted to say, as her head rested on Dinah's shoulder, the blonde's hand pulling her wet hair back from her face.

The bad guys chose to interrupt, and all those things got swept under the carpet, as Dinah's heroic spirit over came the situation once more. She walked out to Blockbuster's goons, declaring herself as Oracle. Barbara would never truly find the words or actions to express the fear that ran through her soul in that moment, as she realized the other woman had chosen to take her fate from her.

---

"I'm hungry," Dinah announced, her eyes still sleep heavy as she stretched in the bed. Barbara gave her an amused look.

"This is different from when?" the redhead teased, toweling her hair dry. "You have an appetite to put ...Tim to shame." Unfortunately her hesitation and quick change of name did not escape the blonde's attention. Barbara steeled herself; they still had not discussed the unresolved issues of either the engagement or the relationship in general. Her green eyes glanced quickly to Dinah, trying to read her beyond the slight pout on her lips.

"Probably true," Dinah said aloud, pulling her own mask of cheerfulness to her to hide her wounded feelings. "Showering, then I'll grab something before heading out to help Huntress and Gypsy."

Barbara flinched; it was such an evasive tactic on Dinah's part, throwing herself into work. The redhead started to press the issue, then opted for silence.

"I'll make sure Zinda did not make the coffee," she said instead, wheeling herself out of the cabin they shared.

"Please. If she did, I'll make a CelestialDollars run instead," Dinah called out as she went to the shower. She kept her tone just right, she thought, for early morning banter. Until the slip of names, Dinah had maintained the intention of breakfast with Barbara and Sin. Now, slipping into the hot water of a fierce shower, she just wanted to be gone as quickly as possible. It was not that she expected Dick to disappear from Barbara's life; in fact, it was Barbara's need to switch names that bothered her. Barbara just did not understand that Dinah accepted her completely as she was, including past relationships.

She just hoped that relationship was one in the past, and that Barbara was not letting Dinah fill time between the on phases of her years' long romance with the former Boy Wonder.

---

Dick Grayson was still one of the most handsome men in the circles Dinah ran in. She could grant Babs a great taste in men. Jason Bard had been easy on the eyes too. She sighed, approaching the man at the table on the sidewalk, glad he had picked a bistro she knew for their date. He had been surprised as hell when she called him, asking him to meet her. First he had stuttered through who had given her his number; she had merely sighed, and he eventually grinned sheepishly; she could hear it in his voice. It paid to be an ex-Arrow at times.

His next questions had been directed at trying to learn why she was contacting him, but Dinah had been Bat long enough to play her cards close to her chest. If she flat out said it was Barbara she wanted to discuss, it would wind up back in Barbara's ears. Instead, she had let him believe it concerned the same person who had given her his cell number.

He stood as she approached the table; they had never really made a friendship, even once she did know all their identities in the BatClan. She smiled and removed her sunglasses, sitting nicely in the chair he pulled out for her. She was dressed non-threateningly, her sundress in bright colors and only a small canary charm at her throat.

"It's not on, by the way," she said when his eyes flicked to it. "Thank you for meeting me, Dick." She felt odd calling him by his name, but in civilians, it's what you did.

"I don't have one anymore," he said sheepishly, not without regret, either, she noted. "So, what's up with this? Has Roy gotten in over his head?" They paused long enough for the waiter to get their orders.

"I'm not here about Roy," she said, cutting straight to the chase. His shoulders slumped almost immediately.

"Barbara." The heavy sigh, the pain on his face spoke volumes. "I asked her to marry me. She said yes, you know? And then, everything falling down around us, and we both realized things weren't right, it was the wrong time." Dinah looked around the edges of his eyes, his mouth, at the stress there. They again paused as their drinks were brought.

"Dick, I have to know if you are going to keep playing the yo-yo game with her like you have with Roy all these years." The look on Dick's face was one of stunned surprise, but Dinah held her hand up and indicated for him to be patient. "I'm not judging, and I'm not prodding you to do something you're not ready for. What I want, is to know if I can try to make Barbara happy."

"You?" Dick's look of utter disbelief made Dinah smile sadly. "Dinah, if this is a joke, it's not funny," he added.

"Me, Dick." Dinah caught his eyes, and then went so far as to pick his hand up off the table while he was fidgeting. "I love her, Dick. Don't ask me how or why it happened, but I've been biting my tongue for too long now, and I won't anymore. Give me my chance, now, and let her decide if it's what she wants."

"You asked me to lunch to ask me to steer clear of my ex-fiancée, so you can put the moves on her?" Dick's temper was slowly rising, though a tiny corner of his soul told him it was more of a green monster than true anger. He jerked his hand back, radiating hostility on all frequencies.

"What a crass, pig-headed thing to say," Dinah muttered. "No, I'm asking you to give her some space, to decide. I know you were there first, that you and she have a deep history, Dick. I just don't want to watch her go through the misery of you calling on the bad days, and forgetting she exists on the good ones!" Almost immediately, she covered her mouth, knowing she had said too much, too harshly. Dick, however, hung his head in shame.

"Guess you've seen that from two different sides, huh? Out of me, I mean." Dick reached out and took her hand back. "Look, I can't swear I won't come leaning on her when the chips get down...but I'd like to think maybe, just a little, I could lean on you a bit too," Dick said. "If you can make her happy, Dinah, please do. She deserves it." He stood up to go, pausing to speak over her should. "If half of what Roy said over the years is true, you do to, Dinah."

"Don't sell your own self short, Dick," she whispered once he was gone. "I wouldn't stand a chance if you snapped your fingers her way." She brought her head down to her hand, propping her forehead in her hand. "And that's why I did this, to have a fighting chance." She could admit her motives to herself, but that did not make her feel less underhanded in this.

---

Barbara flinched as Helena landed a harsh blow on Dinah's forearm, but almost cheered to see Dinah twist under the blow and take the other woman down with a well timed foot sweep. She had not gotten to watch her 'girls' train in a long time, and even she was amazed by just how near perfect Canary had become. Her body did not move, so much as merely sway from place to place, an image of transitional beauty.

Helena was panting hard from the fall, having been completely off guard for it, so Dinah knelt next to her, showing intense concern. Even from across the room, nominally monitoring the boards for trouble, Barbara could see the concern of her partner that she had erred.

"Dinah, you did fine," she called, her voice firm and strong. As much as she had hated the trip away from her, the madness of training as Shiva had, Barbara knew that Dinah had it under control. Like Batman, the Black Canary had the full range of tools, but also the willpower not to use them.

"Yeah, I just need to get faster, blondie," Helena teased, accepting her help to sit up. "I think Zinda and Cindy and I could all learn from you."

"None of you really need what I have," Dinah said, sitting down on the floor. "But, I should pass the knowledge on." As one, they all glanced over at Sin playing a game with Lian. The two girls were still trying to gauge if they would be friends, but it had been Dinah's weekend to keep Roy's little girl.

"You'll do fine," Helena said. "You have Babs to help you after all." She gently poked Dinah in the ribs, getting a ticklish response and breaking her growing dark mood. "And that would be Josh with the pizza," she laughed as the door went off, letting her escape any retaliatory tickles. Dinah drew herself up and walked over to Barbara's work area, before turning her attention back to the two girls. They had made up their own rules for Risk, and it sounded like the country of Harper was close to overwhelming the nation of Siu Jerk Jai.

"Do you regret it?" Barbara asked Dinah softly. She and the blonde had discussed the addition to their family the night Dinah had returned with Sin, and the redhead had reconciled herself to being a foster mother to a foreign child. She had been so completely taken by surprise that her initial reaction had been rather rough.

"I will never regret saving her from Shiva's fate," Dinah murmured. "I'm just woman enough to admit that I have no idea how to take care of her, to raise her with the right ideas, the right amount of attention."

"And that is what we learn together, Dinah." Barbara rested her hand on her partner's. "Besides, Roy thinks highly of you concerning Lian."

"Yeah, but her I can give back," Dinah laughed, and Barbara's laughter joined hers. The girls glanced over at them as Helena was returning with the pizzas, and then exchanged a look with one another.

"Crazy," both girls said at once, in complete agreement about the pair of women.

---

Dinah wonders how many times since she met Barbara Gordon they have found some new restaurant or item at the grocer and tried it together. Dinah could sit here all day, just watching as the first taste turns to a savoring, before Barbara swallows and moans. Then again, that moan makes Dinah wonder about watching her redheaded obsession in a more private location than an Italian eatery.

"Next time you pick," Dinah says, her voice silky with some hidden emotion. Barbara merely nods, unaware of seducing Dinah by the simple task of eating. She takes another bite, and Dinah enjoys.

---

Barbara is fascinated by the woman standing before her, rapidly draining a Fiji water. Dinah had gone through a twenty-minute session against Spoiler and Robin, then taken on Batgirl without a break. Barbara had winced, but Batgirl seemed to be taking a lesson this time, rather than giving one. And Dinah had shone, with all her radiant beauty, through the whole session. Barbara knows without a doubt she had never been like that, but for her it was the solving. Dinah lives and breathes the fight.

Right now, Barbara could not be happier, watching the fit result of that dedication.

---

Barbara looked out at the pristine snow, wondering how Dinah knew every single secluded spot in North America that could be so rustic, so charming, and so isolated from the Internet.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Dinah asked, all traces of the city girl lost in this woman who had embraced nature's peace at the side of a man more than a decade her senior. It is perfectly evident half her joy is sharing this with her new lover and partner in life. Every complaint Babs wants to make about isolation, lack of conveniences dies on her lips.

"Yes, Dinah, it is."

---

Dinah sighed in exasperation. The redhead she worked for was being defeatist in ways she and Helena had no idea how to cope with.

"Look at it this way," Dinah began, watching her friend sit under the glow of the clock face. "That thing keeping time...that's the system. We, the cops and vigilantes...we're all the cogs that keep it running. The crooks are the dust and the sand trying to wind it down." She cupped Barbara's chin in her fingers, moving closer. "You're the spring that keeps us all wound up."

Barbara nodded, and Dinah saw the dedication there again.

---

Barbara gasped softly, the aftershocks rippling through her as Dinah caressed her breast. She closed her eyes, letting the warm smell of the flowers float over her, pressing closer to Dinah's strong body. The blonde shifted them to their sides, lying spooned against the redhead.

"Always summer in here," Barbara said sleepily, boneless from the intense pleasures Dinah had given her. She felt Dinah's hand roam over her stomach lightly.

"Best part of growing up in a flower shop," Dinah purred. "Snow on the streets, and we'd come in the cooler, take a few flowers out, and instantly feel warmer."

---

It's all she ever does now, every time she closes her eyes. It's been this way since she opened that door. She falls every night, whether it is into the coffee table, or from the line that is not there over the city streets. She's never been grounded like this, so her mind torments her; the air is where she belongs, but where she can never be again.

She's falling again, only to be caught by the woman with golden hair, who swears not to let her fall.

And then true sleep begins, safe in the hold of her Canary.

---

She looks down at the street, and sees just what she expected. The beautiful assassin was just in sight, looking up at the window, as if she had known when to make her appearance. The blonde stands at the window for a long minute, even though it is too far to truly make eye contact. She knows she should go hash this out once and for all.

Then she sees Sin, asleep in the seat of Barbara's spare chair. They were off to a slow start, but a good one.

And she knows this goodbye is strictly one in passing.

---

Barbara watched through the oppressive rain as Black Canary kissed Green Arrow, a sad kiss of friends that had been more, before the blonde crossed the tarmac to the Aerie One. She made sure to clear that screen, even though she knew Dinah would suspect that she had been watched. Landing here in Star City to help the man had not been high on Oracle's priorities, but she had been unable to ignore Dinah's wishes, or let her go alone. Huntress, Gypsy, and Zinda had returned almost an hour before, so Barbara had gotten antsy and tried to listen in.

Only to find that her number one operative and lover had switched the communication gear off.

Dinah also had an annoying tendency to make Barbara wait, while she checked on Sin, even though the girl was safely at Roy Harper's home, having a sleep over with Lian. It was obvious as Dinah walked past the monitor station where Oracle was keeping an ear on a hostage situation for the JSA that it would be a long time before Dinah was hers again. The blonde was so lost in her talking to Harper that she did not even look in; apparently Oliver Queen had successfully distracted the woman again.

Barbara tried hard not to think on that, tried very earnestly to not remind herself that Dinah and Ollie had been considered an almost mythical pair of lovers during their rather long affair. She remembered people talking about Robin and Batgirl, but nothing with the reverence attached to the Green Arrow and his Pretty Bird.

The redhead fought every instinct to listen in as the plane began to taxi for a rainy take off. She could no longer hear the rain hitting the plane, but almost wished she could, as her hand hovered over the switches that would let her know what Dinah and Roy were talking about. She thought it would be so much better to know, to just get it over with that the blonde was going to leave her, leave the business to go back to the philandering archer.

She pushed the switch, opening the hidden receivers in Dinah's room, unable to bear the tension of not knowing exactly how Dinah would break up with her.

"...told him about her too, Roy. He seemed happy for me, but I just want you to check up on him." A long pause. "Yes, I know it's a weird situation, and yes...I did talk to Dick. I asked him to give me space with her."

Barbara felt tears well up as relief replaced the fear of losing her lover, mingled with sheer astonishment to find out Dinah had stood up to Dick for her. She hastily turned off the receivers, ashamed that she had ever doubted the blonde who had promised her forever. Now, as Zinda flew them toward Metropolis, she could see the rain as washing away the old, and bringing them a clean start.

---

Oracle finished her business with her computers for the evening and brought herself up out of mission mode to the cool draft of a breeze from her balcony. She looked over to see her partner had slipped outside, into the still snowy air of late December. Considering Oracle was fairly sure from the sounds earlier that Canary had bruised ribs, she was doubtful of the sanity of her partner for being out there.

"Dinah?" She wheeled herself over to the doors, slipping out onto the balcony carefully. The blonde turned toward her, her face pensive and drawn.

"Do we even matter in the grand scheme of things?" the blonde asked, hugging herself tight and looking, for all the world, like a child playing dress up in mommy's clothes. She looked back out over the city, her mood so dark that Barbara could almost imagine the world turning black right where she was. "I stopped one rape, two muggings, and a gang initiation tonight. When the papers hit, that won't mean a thing, because there will have been five rapes, eight muggings, and at least one murder to show what I failed to do."

Barbara had to cock her head to one side, to see if this was the same woman that had fought for her day in and day out, sometimes against seemingly insurmountable odds. "We do make a difference. Every day, you and I do something that impacts more than just the life of whomever we save. It affects every person that person touches, and so on."

"It just feels hopeless," Dinah murmured, as the snowflakes cascaded around her. Barbara had the impulse to take her inside, pick any one person they had helped and show her, statistically, how many people that one person had impacted. The impulse died away, as she peered under the skin of Dinah's oddly timed soul-searching.

"Dinah, you came through Christmas with flying colors; why get so down on New Year's Eve?" Barbara asked her. "You are the one who grew up with the sole goal of being a hero. I've heard your speeches to other people, especially Green Arrow..." As soon as those two words slipped free of Barbara's mouth, Dinah's whole body tensed, and the redhead suddenly knew. "Hey, Dinah...it's my job to be the one doing the melancholy for ex-boyfriends bit, remember?"

"Not melancholy for him," Dinah said, her tone of voice petulant. "Just.... so tired of being alone. They always said he and I were forever, and I believed it, so long." She was staring out over the city, lost in her reverie. It was easy for the redhead to wheel closer to her friend without being truly noticed, until she could take Dinah's wrist. A gentle tug, and the short blond looked down to her friend.

"Hey, I'll tell you a forever you can take to the bank," Barbara said, her eyes meeting Dinah's and holding them. "You and I, no matter how many hearts we break or pints of ice cream we eat for the boys that break ours." Green eyes could not fail to miss the surge of warmth in blue ones, but Dinah's smile remained wistful.

"We'll just have to try not break each other's," the blonde murmured, and Barbara laughed, thinking her friend was teasing.

---

He's still not happy with her refusal to come back to Gotham, and he feels a need to shake her out of the Metropolis mindset. Metropolis is for bright, light people who like to be noticed, not the ones who actually get the work done.

He lands at the small balcony and has to hope he's landed with customary silence, as he sees what is inside.

Dinah Lance, kneeling to Barbara, in the beginning stage of seducing the redhead. Barbara has never looked so happy in memory.

Suddenly, Metropolis seems just right for Barbara...who's getting all the notice she deserves.

---

She's glad they're alive. She's sure that whatever happened can be worked through. And not just because Metamorpho is on the team. Not even for Nightwing, her partner's ex that still holds a chunk of said partner's heart.

She knows it because they are heroes, with the possible exception of the son of Harkness. If he's on a team with Rex, with Dick, then maybe he's not lost either.

Later, she'd admit to Babs it was for the glance Thunder had given to Grace. Dinah had known, and the romantic in her can't bear to see them in separate cells.

---

Barbara tried not to look at her watch, tried hard not to be aware of the fact Dinah was now twenty minutes late for their planned night out. It was not often Barbara could break from her Oracular duties, and Dinah knew that better than anyone.

So where was she?

The redhead looked up at the sky, from beneath the awning, and saw the threatening storm with displeasure. No mere weather could have dissuaded her lover from joining her. With a small sigh of displeasure, she tried the cell phone, and was dismayed to get a 'not in service area' message. She went back up stairs then, resigned to the fact she had been stood up.

Once she was at her monitor station, she tried activating Canary's jewelry, to hear the sound of serious butt kicking happening. A smile lit Barbara's face. Of course no storm had kept Dinah away; it was only a small bit of crime fighting.

---

Barbara had not meant to snoop in Dinah's room. She had only wanted to surprise the woman by being there when she go through patrolling. Seeing a proof copy with Dinah's name on it had been too much to resist, though, and she began flipping through it...her flipping slowing down as she read the passages she found there.

Especially when the book began to speak of Dinah just before their partnership. Barbara had known the woman had been low; she had targeted her for that very vulnerability, using it to manipulate Dinah into being a willing agent for her.

Barbara had not suspected how broken the woman was by half. As she read further, and the talk spoke of a 'friend' lifting her up, Barbara felt shame, remembering just how merciless she had pushed, how mercenary a deal it had all seemed when it began.

That had lasted until about the first shared pint of ice cream, still an unknown face to Dinah, but a voice of support, as the book described. And every bit of professional willpower in Barbara's reserve had vanished the minute Dinah had boldly given herself up to Blockbuster's team, taking on the weight of the Oracle mantle.

In her book, Dinah treated it as a small point of little significance. Her faith in her 'friend' had kept her strong, and that faith had borne out in a daring rescue. It was a pattern they would keep over the years together, and the book showed Barbara the depths of their evolution, with such concise flavor, and so few details, that the redhead found herself wiping at tears. Dinah had shown her off to the world, and yet never once revealed her.

"I was going to dedicate the first copy to you," Dinah said, her voice low as she stood in the doorway. Barbara had no idea how long she had watched, as she looked up to the blonde. "It was supposed to be about following in Mom's footsteps." The vigilante crossed the floor, settling on the bed beside her, smelling faintly of the streets, of her leather and her bike. "I think there's more of us in there than any other relationship I ever had."

"How long did you know?" Barbara asked, setting the copy to one side, before running her hand up into the blonde's hair.

"I'm not sure, Babs...you snuck in when I hated love...and never let me go."

"I won't either...we belong to each other..." The redhead pulled Dinah in, kissing her as a seal to her vow.

---

Barbara is slowly filtering the information into the horrifying truth. She sees Dinah growing more withdrawn with every little piece that comes out. The blonde is almost morose, a painful thing to see. It takes the final pieces being brought out, showing just how broken the League is to make Barbara realize why Dinah is so lost. The information broker sees Dinah overcoming her past to do the right thing, to try and contain the League's growing dissolution.

Only in private does Barbara admit this is one thing that just can't be fixed...and she worries that Dinah won't be either.

---

It took a long time, even once the rumors started concerning Dr. Light. Dinah just did not want to talk about it. She was busy, handling every mission Barbara could find, every emergency tagged to the JLA.

Barbara watched her burning bright, like a candle lit at both ends, and knew it could not last. Her heart ached for her friend, even as she dreaded the truth of the events in question.

It was after Dinah backed down from an almost-fight with Helena that Barbara knew she had to. As harsh as it would be, she needed to know, and Dinah needed to tell her.

After, Barbara was shocked to her core by the grim details. She could not be a judge and jury in the matter as Dinah had hoped, seeking condemnation, as Barbara had done unethical things in other fields of work. She could never truly conscience the effect this all had had in the long run but Barbara could give Dinah one thing. As the blonde slowly held herself still, as the tears of self-loathing came to a stand still, Barbara spoke softly.

"You have to atone...and the only way you can, is to keep fighting for right. Then, maybe one day, you'll see that you have been on the side of the angels, even when your will faltered."

Dinah nodded, and that chin came up just a fraction, remembering just what it meant to be a true hero.

---

The cabin is barely lit, a small glow from emergency lighting, as Barbara rolls into it. She sees the bed is occupied, which heartens her somewhat. She can only hope...yes, Dinah is alone, which means her adopted daughter is asleep in Gypsy's quarters probably. The redhead locks her chair into the docking clamps Zinda installed, then slides onto the bed's edge to undress. Dinah barely stirs; the blonde must be exhausted. By the time Barbara is mostly nude, she can feel the weight of having worked almost thirty hours straight as well, and slides under the covers, reveling in the sensation of soft cotton against her legs. Even that tiny bit of healing, giving her back the sensation of feeling, is a miracle she is thankful for everyday. The sensation makes her almost giddy in her sleepiness, when Dinah moves closer, slipping one leg over one of hers as they spoon with the ease of knowing one another at the most unconscious level. Barbara slips one hand back, resting it on the satin of Dinah's negligee, and lets the dark overcome her, to be with her lover in sleep.

---

The sight of the blonde kneeling in the shade is a touching one. The redhead had never known about this spot. She realized on the way here that she knows less about Dinah's past than she ought to. It hurts to know that all the pain of her own life has been laid bare in talks, but that Dinah has just let what 'everyone' knows speak for her past. She intends to fix that, a vow made more solid when she hears the woman kneeling in the dark cast by two gravestones.

"Mom, Dad...I want you to meet my lover..."

---

Her first thought on seeing the orchid was of Ollie. She had talked to him, and they had made peace, of a sort. She wondered if the archer thought that peace immediately meant them dating again. That was not what she wanted; she had other options in her life, and a friend who needed her more than ever.

So she called him.

"Thanks for the flower," she began.

"Flower?" The genuine puzzlement was unfeigned, and Dinah apologized for making assumptions before hanging up.

"If not him, then who?" she wondered aloud.

Somewhere in cyberspace, a green avatar mask was smiling.

---

"I don't think I heard you right." The redhead was incredulous as she looked at the blonde who had been sharing her bed for half a year now, the woman who had committed to her life as an equal partner.

"I said, I think we're getting boring to one another," the blonde said just as easily as if she were commenting on the weather.

"This from the woman who can't seem to get enough time in bed."

"I did not mean that." As if to prove it, the blonde moved lower in the bed, her lips tracing secret messages on skin that evoked so many thoughts of abandoning the mission for just one night.

"Then what...oh, Dinah...did you mean by...god, woman, not so ...oooh...that statement...ahhh, yessss..."

Some time later, Barbara prodded her dozing lover.

"What?"

"What was this about boring?"

"Just wanted to get your feathers ruffled," Dinah admitted, closing her eyes sleepily. "Hmm, we'll have to see about feathers..."

---

The blonde moved in close to take a kiss, but the red head evaded her lover's lips.

"Not here," she whispered, smiling coyly. Her eyes were lit by a desire to play.

"Here?" A suckling, teasing kiss descended on the exposed collarbone.

"Mmm, good, but no." The red head ran her fingers through blonde tresses.

"Here, then," the blonde purred, kissing a tightly erect nipple.

"No." The kisser moved lower at the negative.

"Where?" she asked, her breath blowing over soft red curls.

"There," the red head moaned.

Maybe Brainiac was evil, but he had given her a sweet blessing.

---

It was not the sex by a long shot. It was the arguing. The sharing food from every restaurant they can find was another thing. Or the sheer knowledge that Dinah had known, just when and how to talk to get her to open up might have been the thing she missed most.

It was entirely too close to the holidays to be dwelling on the loss. She had Huntress, Gypsy, even Zinda, who actually lived with her.

It just wasn't the same.

Dinah was gone, all over a child far too similar to Cass...and look how that had ended.

---

She would never be able to fully share why she agreed. She could never tell anyone what it was about the call that finally made her leave her wreck of a life there and come back to where it had begun.

Was it the difficulty of keeping going, day after day? The unpleasant memories of all that had gone wrong? Or, worse, the reminders of what had been right, at least at the time?

No, those might have added to it, but they were not the reasons.

The reason was the voice: a voice as lonely as her own was.

---

Black Canary threw her punch, then immediately spun to one side, her foot coming up to kick the assailant behind her. Huntress fired two bolts in rapid succession, pinning the third gang member to a wall. The pair was more than a shade concerned at this new gang moving into Gotham's docks. They called themselves the Jokerz, and Oracle could find very little on them so far. The ones they had left for the police the previous night had been fine, upstanding kids who had gone missing just a few weeks before. It was a new priority for them to find what they could on the gang, as they were all fighting with inhuman strength and speed, while mimicking the colors and style of The Joker.

Having subdued the few gang members they had encountered, Huntress began the interrogation, which Black Canary listened to with an ear out for sirens. Once the police were en route, according to Oracle, they made sure to secure the group, then made their escape on Huntress's bike. The brunette was not surprised to feel her friend rest her head against Huntress's shoulder. Since coming back, the blonde had been going non-stop, patrolling every night that she was not away on mission. Huntress wondered how much was her trying to prove she could rein in her new abilities, and how much was trying to prove to Oracle she could be an operative and a mother to little Sin.

Arriving back at Aerie One, parked on the tarmac and prepped to fly again, the pair made their way to their leader. Oracle noted the fatigue Black Canary was trying hard to hide, and jerked her head to the cabins, in the middle of coordinating a relief effort in South America. Sin was playing with Gypsy, Huntress noted. The young girl had taken a shine to their stealthy teammate, and Zinda was going to spoil the child rotten. Huntress went and sat beside the coordinator extraordinaire, watching the displays from other trouble spots. All of them were learning to help her, and the new voice scrambler allowed all of them to sound exactly like Oracle, in case she was too busy.

"Okay, what gives?" Oracle finally asked the brunette. "She says she is fine, but I'll be damned if I believe her."

"She's pushing harder than normal, Babs," Helena told her. "When we land again, I think you need to hold her in reserve."

"I'll try." Helena gave her a pointed look. "What do you suggest; I tie her up and keep her captive?"

Helena's smile was wicked. "The first part of this one is strictly recon," she began, a gleam in her eye. "And I would not be surprised if Dinah doesn't enjoy being tied up," she teased, laughing at the blush that spread over her friend's face. "Sin will be asleep by the time we land, and Zinda can run intel from here, while Cindy and I hit the streets."

"I...that would be dirty pool." However, Barbara could not help thinking it was a good plan.

"She needs rest, but she also needs to be reassured about you, and what you feel." Helena was not going to let either of them fail the other; she had grown too attached to both her friends. "Give her a reason to rest, and let your team handle the mission."

"I'll consider it." She then focused back on her work. "By the way, we get to go hunt Harlequin. One of the ones you busted last night had therapy with a Doctor Quinzel, according to the police reports."

Helena merely shook her head, always amazed at how Oracle managed to multitask and switch between topics.

"Fine. Then you definitely need to put Dinah into a very restful sleep; Harlequin is a pain to take down." She rose to go get some rest before landing.

---

She watches as Sin inspects the tree, watches Ollie explaining some of the symbols in their pagan and Christian references. She's happy, or at least content. She's got a family; she's being a mom, showing Sin just what a little girl should have in her life. Ollie's been good to her, and she had pegged him so right. He's finally grown up, in ways he never had shown her before this move.

She just can't help but wonder if it's the biggest mistake of her life, when she touches the hand made ornament of a bat and canary roosting together.

---

She had had to pass a gauntlet of protection, from Helena and Zinda both. She had made it inside the apartment, and she was now standing in the living room, debating.

She was a chatty woman, always had been.

And her words completely failed her.

Of course, she also led by example, and followed them. She lived by touch, casual and intimate both.

So, when she let her coat fall in the living room, and walked into Oracle's operations center, she fell back on the visual to say what she wanted.

The red head turned, intending to deliver a scathing reply to her former partner's presence...and stopped with her mouth hanging open.

Dinah Lance in nothing more than a big red sash and bow, with a huge card that read 'I'm sorry' was not something to turn away.

It seemed the Birds were going to be Oracle and Canary once more.

---

Oracle had seen her surveillance cam activate for Dinah's apartment, but continued gathering information for Ted on the latest threats to his tech business. They exchanged a few teasing jokes, before both decided it was late and they should pursue other interests. Oracle glanced at the cam in Dinah's apartment, to see how the blonde had fared on her trip, and stopped dead as the image seared in her mind.

Dinah was still in her living room, in the chair that sat almost perfectly across from the camera. Between her thighs was a blonde man, and from the telltale green, Oracle knew just which blonde it was. The look on Dinah's face was exquisite, entrancing Oracle. The way the blonde curled her manicured nails in Ollie's hair, the way her mouth fell open with silent cries. Oracle resisted the urge to boost the gain, to hear if they truly were silent, especially as Dinah's nails scraped across Ollie's scalp in a reaction to his skill.

The redhead wanted to look away, wanted to cut the cam off to give the blonde privacy. She wanted to get away from the odd feelings in her stomach, to stop fixating on Dinah's face as she came. She very much wanted to stop feeling the dark emotion welling in her as Dinah smiled at her lover, a prelude to him rising from the floor to take things further.

Still, Oracle did not turn it off.

---

Ollie looked at Dinah in his lap, having a problem pressing at the back of his mind. He had watched her, studied the way she reacted all night. She had been gentle to Sin, but he had picked up on the 'sister' vibe she was continuing to foster. He saw the shadows on her eyes, even now, when she was purring in his arms and making him have trouble holding on to what he needed to say.

"Dinah...this isn't working."

"What?" The blonde drew back, confused when normally he would be more than happy to meet her on this level.

"You're not really happy," Ollie said softly, stroking her hair, locking away his disappointment. "You're missing someone, someone who came to mean what I once did."

Dinah slowly shook her head, but he caught her chin, between his thumb and forefinger.

"I'm still going to be here for Sin. For you, even, Pretty Bird...but I won't stay in your bed when your heart is reaching out for someone else. We tried that once...and you left me with good damn reason for me doing that to you."

"Ollie, I..."

He placed a finger over her lips, managing to be the stern, lder man for just a minute, knowing how well she responded to it.

"I think you need to make a call, worse than you need to try and convince us both otherwise." His words were gentle, but tears gathered at the corners of her eyes.

"As if she'd take my call now, with what I did."

Despite every ounce of self-control he had, Ollie could not help his next word.

"She?"

---

It had been a tedious process, trying to get the infuriating woman to take her up on the deal of a lifetime. The brain behind the operation almost gave up, but of the remaining women near this particular one's league...too many had slept with Dick Grayson or Bruce Wayne, and she just did not need those headaches. Choosing a woman out of the 'rival' clan of heroes was perfect for her end goals, even if it meant patience in the recruiting phase.

Once more, Oracle slipped the voice filter in place, ready to coax the woman once again into considering the job being offered. The phone rang three times before being picked up.

"If you want money, you need to get in line," the feisty vigilante said as a greeting. "If you're selling something, refer to the first line of this conversation. All others, this better be good; it's time for Wendy the Werewolf Stalker."

"Dinah Lance," Oracle said, knowing that all the woman could hear was a slightly metallic, husky baritone.

"Look, I told you once before, I'm retired from the global scene," the woman sighed. "I've got enough to clean up in my own backyard."

Oracle paused, considering that. She then flipped a few switches to rekey the voder, bringing it up into an alto. "So you let the wishes of a man you left dictate your remaining years of kicking ass and taking names?"

Dinah shivered at the eerie switch of the voice to female. "Stop fucking with my head, whoever you are," she growled, almost wishing she had her Cry still to cause dissonance on the connection. The brunette did not hang up though; she was too caught up in trying to solve the mystery of this persistent suitor for her skills.

"I could fuck with your head quite a bit, Miss Lance. I know quite a bit about you; but that is not why I am here." Oracle took a deep breath. "Think about it, Dinah. I could use you out there, giving you the information to really put the hurt where it is needed." Unconsciously, her passion for what she did came through the metallic voice, making Dinah bite her lip. It was one thing that had attracted her to Ollie so strongly, his sense of justice and making it count.

"I don't have the resources, the connections, Oracle." Dinah kept her breathing normal, though her pulse was elevated...to work with someone again who knew the right motivations had stirred her blood.

"Through me, you would. I have the League at my fingertips, Dinah; you would never be so far out there that I could not get to you with someone," the mysterious person promised, using a careful, urging tone. Dinah carried the phone to the bed, taking a long time to answer at first.

"No. Sorry, Oracle," she murmured, just before hanging up.

Oracle leaned back from the console in surprise. First she thought she had the woman, after hearing her actually use her name at last. And now this complete rejection...except...

She replayed the last bit of the conversation, and analyzed Dinah's voice. The more she listened, the more convinced she had a way to make the woman see her side. There was no doubt in her mind that the regret and emotion she heard in the final words were wrapped up in loneliness.

Dinah did not realize at first what the ringing was, or where she was, having nodded off while flipping the channels. She pulled the offensive noisy thing to her ear, barely conscious, and pushed the on button.

"Ollie, If this is you again, I'm still not talking to you," she said, her eyes closed, and her voice pure sex with the sleep-induced huskiness. Oracle had to pause a long moment, taken by surprise at that sensual sound, and the way it fueled her plan.

"It's not. Not a man at all, but someone who understands what it is to be defined by a man so strongly that you can't let it go." The low alto was warm, sensual, and full of its own appeal, despite the metallic overtones. "You're wrapped up in what was, and I can offer you a new now. Just accept me, let me take you in, and you can be your own woman again, never confined by what the world saw you as at his side," Oracle pressed.

Dinah shivered all over, hearing the passion come through, and the keen interest in her for her own merits. "Why me, Oracle? I'm a has been."

"No. You're still in the game. I've watched you take on the gangs, the drug runners, the pimps," Oracle purred. "Dinah, we could be so good together." She let her tongue curl around the syllables, making her case with as much fervor as she dared, having picked the vulnerable timing in hopes of getting Dinah to think from the heart. She was caught off guard at Dinah's low moan, abruptly cut off in a way Oracle knew; the vigilante was biting her own hand. "Dinah, listen to me. I know you feel alone, abandoned, lost...but I can give you the direction again. You'll be back out there, making your name all over again, but never alone." Oracle wished she had a view of her quarry to see if she was getting through yet.

"Never alone?" Dinah asked, her voice even sexier now with the raw ache to be back with someone that could share her passion, her pride in justice.

"No, Dinah. I'd be with you whenever you needed me, just a whisper away," Oracle murmured. "Tell me you want to be alone, and I'll never call again," she said, the voder letting her voice's huskiness come through, setting off another shiver in Dinah's body. Without an effort of will, her hand snaked over her stomach, slowly caressing through the material of her negligee.

"I, oh...no, I don't want...to be alone." Dinah could no more help the slight lack of coherence than she could stop touching herself.

"Neither do I," Oracle said after a moment, real emotion coming through so strongly that Dinah's breath caught.

"I'd be there for you, and you for me?" Dinah purred, teasing at the trim of her negligee, half flirting now that her mind and body were fusing in a need for release. Now it was Oracle whose breathing hitched momentarily, and she was glad her filters kept that out of Dinah's hearing.

"Is that what it takes to hire the Black Canary? A little Tee Ell Cee?" Oracle said softly, letting her mind slip back to other late nights on the comms, keeping a certain Boy Wonder awake with naughty words.

"Mmmm, you know your voice is really sexy now that you went girl with it," Dinah said, slipping her hand under the silk to roam up over her skin, until she was caressing one nipple to a crisp hardness. "Do you seduce all the women you try to coax into your world of truth and justice?"

"You seduced yourself, Dinah. You want what I want in the long run."

"Hmm, are you sure, mystery lady? I can get very charged thinking of the fight." The hand roamed to the other breast, cupping and squeezing just so until Dinah moaned softly.

"I knew that thrill once," Oracle told her, the words soft. "What it felt like to come back in from a good night of busting heads and hit the shower," she continued, her eyes closed. The phantom feelings were there; her mind was giving her the stimulus she needed. "To run my hands over every part of my body, touching bruises and sore muscles alike, then trailing my hands to my ass, my hips, down over my thighs again," Oracle said.

"Yes," Dinah moaned, letting her hand go down, beneath the panty she wore to lightly stroke her curls, further, to feel her strong arousal.

"Sometimes, there was someone to share it with, the need to touch, to fuck, as the adrenaline was still flowing," Oracle told her, tingling with the pleasing memories. "He'd would pin me to the wall, all mouth and hands at first, licking and biting my neck, my shoulders...down to my breast, over my stomach..."

"Mmm, the feel of putting my leg up over his hip after we had busted heads together," Dinah moaned, her finger caressing her clit slowly, using firm, small circles.

"Oh yes, how hard he would be, and the chances we took...god, he was so strong, able to lift me up against the wall, so I locked my feet behind him as he would thrust into me. There was a bar in the shower, and I'd cling to it as he fucked me," Oracle shared, remembering it vividly.

Dinah's voice rose a little as she moaned loudly, slipping her finger further down, slowly inserting first it then another to fill the aching emptiness. "Ollie...oh god, he was always so primal after a good fight. He wouldn't hold back, giving me all that raw power as I told him exactly how he made me feel," Dinah said, her body on fire with need. Her thumb provided some friction on her clit, as her fingers worked in and out.

"Mmm, nothing like that good, fucked til you're raw feeling to go to sleep on after a good patrol," Oracle told her with a breathless quality even the voder could not hide. "You enjoyed it, every time he would forget his strength and just slam into you, didn't you?" Dinah's whimpering cry brought a sexy laugh over the phone. "That's it, Dinah...remind your body how good it felt to get out there, to fight, and then to fuck after the police showed." Oracle listened to the cries get louder, further from the phone as it apparently was dropped in favor of a two handed approach.

"Oh yes, yes...Oracle, yes!" Dinah shuddered through a massive release, body and soul, as she accepted all the mystery voice offered her.

"That's a good girl, Dinah," Oracle murmured. "Go to sleep, and know I'm going to take care of you from here on out."

---

There was pain, and coldness. She remembered both of those. She vaguely recalled Beetle lifting her up, carrying her to the pit, even as she vividly recalled pleading with Barbara to use it for herself. She could have managed dying; it seemed a waste to leave that brave and bold woman in her chair.

She even, dimly, recalled her actions after the pit. And hated herself for them.

That lasted only until Barbara tightly hugged her. Somehow, that hug made her see that her life mattered to Barbara greatly.

Dinah would live her life for Barbara, as best she could.

---

Helena tapped Sin's notebook to get her to focus, but the girl frowned.

"Why move there, now back? Why move in to Towers?" Sin stared at Helena. "Why does Sister not make up her mind right first time?"

The teacher paused, trying to find the words.

"Sometimes people do what they think is right for others, at their own expense. Someone made Dinah see the error of that way of thinking this time." Surprisingly, Ollie could reason his way out of a bag. "You'll like it in the Towers."

"Maybe. If Sister is sure this time."

"She is, Sin...she is."

---

There are some things a girl really, really should not walk in on. One of these is definitely the boss getting laid. Especially by your partner. I really, really wish they had been more careful with the lock, or hung a sign up, or something. I'll be traumatized for years at the sight of ... no, I refuse to dwell on the details.

The worst thing had been the look Barbara cut me for interrupting them. Or maybe, the one from Dinah, the look that implied the bed was big enough for three.

All I know is I am NEVER opening a door they might be behind without loudly knocking again.

---

Living with Ollie in her life again had been complex. So much history, so many things to shy away from. Both of them had been trying to make it work, despite a disconnect that left them at the friendship level.

This...this was the simpler way, the right way. Dinah's eyes close as she feels the hands in her hair, knowing that this lover has been there, growing with her, for the last few years. It had been wrong to walk away from that.

So terribly wrong to walk away from the home she had made with Barbara in their hearts.

---

Dinah lays back, her skin shining under the glow of passion. Her lover smiles, reliving old times in the bliss of her arms, and she can almost think her decisions have been correct. The tickle of a beard nuzzling her thigh makes her smile, but there is a sadness lingering, one she cannot shake.

When his mouth makes her squeal and moan, the voice in the back of her mind wishes for softer lips, smoother skin. When his gruff voice whispers 'happy birthday' to her, she closes her eyes against tears. She'll just have to get used to missing Barbara.

---

Grinch. Dinah had called her a Grinch. There was absolutely no point in calling her names, just because a mission came up on Christmas Eve.

She supposed it was better than a Scrooge...as much money as Dinah spent, she needed to be more like Scrooge.

As it stood, Barbara did feel bad that Sin's first Christmas would not have Dinah there.

A shopping trip later, and the apartment they shared was littered with gifts.

When Sin woke, Barbara would convince the girl that she was only like the Grinch at the end of the story. Maybe Dinah would believe it.

---

She watches the blonde sleep, curled on one side, one hand tucked under her cheek, the other tucked up over her stomach. She's done this before, woke before the other woman and merely watched her sleep.

Today is different.

Today is the first day after Dinah had come home to her, after a separation that still makes no sense on one hand, and too much on the other. As Dinah shifts, slowly waking, Barbara can only feel an intense gratitude that life had finally thrown her a good break.

She had not truly wanted to face life without her Canary.

---

Dinah would love to carry her to bed. She would do anything to pick her up and set her down inside the tub and pamper her. Every time Barbara leans back from the console, Dinah has that urge to help her ease into a relaxing place. It was how Ollie made her feel so special, kept her wrapped up in a love as thick as a down comforter. She wants to be the one that makes Barbara feel that safe and loved.

So she does it the way Barbara most needs. Dinah stands still, and lets Barbara have her independence.

---

"Canary...it's nearly time."

"I know." She struggled to hold herself steady, a pair of wire clippers in her hand as she dangled in a swiss seat, staring at a countdown blinking perilously close to zeroes. "Remind me to kill the idiot genius psychopath who rigged this to coincide with Times Square. The least he could have done was put it on local time."

"It would have exploded seven hours ago."

"Nit picky." She snipped the last wire, breathing deeply when it stopped on thirteen seconds.

"Canary?" There was worry in her voice as the seconds to detonation had crept by agonizingly slow.

"Happy New Year, Oracle. Maybe next year I'll actually be there."

"Still have a few hours to beat the last midnight somewhere..." Oracle needed to say nothing more and Canary was repelling down to get back to Aerie One.

---

Sin had never grown accustomed to funerals. She had never learned to grieve properly.

Now she wished she had learned, over the years. She wanted the open tears of her sister, Dinah. Or the quiet, sobriety of her mentor, Barbara.

To be honest with herself, she just wanted them.

The two caskets were being lowered simultaneously, the graves side by side.

Just as they had lived life, they had faced death, neither willing to survive without the other.

And now Sin was alone to carry the legacy of two strong women.

A single tear flowed, as she prayed for strength.

---

She uses the headboard to hold herself up, legs still not fully able to support her for long, especially with Dinah's tongue making lazy circles around her clit just that way. Her legs shake slightly, felt by her lover in those strong hands holding onto her hips, and the blonde merely smiles, before probing deep within her lover for a long taste. The redhead can hardly stop the aching cry that results, not when she has been teased by tongue and touch for so long now.

Manicured nails scrape at the wood of the headboard, fists trying to clench even as her thighs tremble on either side of Dinah's head as that cunning tongue snakes in and out, in an ever increasing rhythm, punctuated by the intense way Dinah's mouth grinds up against Barbara's folds. The redhead shifts to use one arm for support, hand reaching down to tangle in Dinah's blonde hair, message clearly being read as 'stop teasing and fuck me' by her lover.

Dinah's own sharp nails leave tiny crescent marks on the soft skin of Barbara's hips and curved backside as she grips her tighter, mouth moving back to the clit and sucking hard. Her tongue flicks over that node, pressing and stimulating until Barbara comes with a cry loud enough to be heard over the entire floor of the Towers.

The blonde eases her lover back down as the all-over body shakes prove to be more than her limited motor skills can endure, wrapping her legs around the redheads, holding her tight to ease the spasms. Her blue eyes are unrepentant, as she claims a kiss though; Barbara had needed that loss of control.

And the redhead agrees, as her eyes close, secure in the love of a woman she cannot do without.

---

Dinah rocked her lover gently. It seemed they did this more and more, as they grew older and their loved ones moved on.

"It hurts, Dinah. Knowing he's not there." Barbara clung to the blonde's shoulders.

"I know." She kissed the red hair, idly playing with a growing streak of white there. "But...he's at peace now, with the ones who went before."

"You really believe that," Barbara whispered, amazed.

"There has to be something after...it keeps spitting a few back, remember?"

That got a weak laugh, as Barbara's thumb traced her father's badge again. "Let Dad stay; he earned it."

---

Dinah moved a pawn on the board, then looked across at her opponent's empty chair with a smile.

"Not up to playing? Alright." She stood, using the cane at her side. She made her way outside, onto the patio to stare up at the night sky. "Our time, Babs. Always ours." She made her way slowly to the bench there, her bones creaking as she lowered herself.

"Pretty night too...patrol would be easy like this." Her white hair fluttered into her face, and she bent her head. "Now, just a little sleep would do." She closed her eyes, resting there.

It was Lian who found her, later, who had to make the call.

The Bird had returned to her Oracle at last.

---

"NO!" Oracle cannot stop the shriek, just before the gunshot obliterates her senses for an instant. She clutches hard at the desk, blood draining from her face as she realizes...

"This would be Oracle."

His voice, cold and calm all in one.

"Deathstroke, I will hunt you until the day you cease to exist," she snaps back just as coldly.

"The little bird ruined my shot...I won't get another very soon." There was a note of admiration in his voice, sick as it is.

"I'll make sure you never get one." Tears flow down her cheeks; she knows the rest of Dinah's team are trying to get to her, but she knows...knows it is too late.

"Pleasant hunting, Oracle." There is a long pause. "For what it's worth, I actually will miss her...she was fun to match." And then the communication link is dead.

Just like her heart and soul.

END

---