June

New Gotham was at it's most stunning at night, but as Barbara sat on the Clocktower's balcony with her coffee in hand, she figured the mornings weren't so bad either. Especially after the night they'd just had. As she sipped at the slightly sweetened by flavored cream drink nestled between her hands, her mind zipped over the last few months. Tracking a theft ring that was targeting children's objects, discovering the thieves were children, discovering one of those children was her own biological daughter, watching the girl struggle and fight just to find out that Harley Quinn had, among other things, messed with her mind. Weeks of trying to bond with her daughter, a bright, intelligent little girl with hair as red as her own, eyes just as green, and a wild spirit all her own, had all boiled down to what felt like an eternity in the rain. Barbara had been in almost the exact spot she was in now as she'd tried to keep her daughter from jumping into the New Gotham night. A termination protocol, Leslie had called it, buried deep in her little girl's mind. If Barbara ever saw Harley Quinn again, she'd show the sociopath the real meaning of termination protocol.

"Did you get any sleep?" Helena asked as she stepped out into the early morning sunlight.

Barbara turned her head towards the younger woman, watching for a few moments as Helena ran her hand through her bed rumpled hair. Her young protégé, the young woman she'd taken in as an angry teenager and who'd come to be a younger sister to Barbara, had unknowingly helped Quinn. Again. Helena had taken her daughter, behind Barbara's back, to see Quinn while Barbara was speaking to her at Arkham. It had given Quinn the chance she needed to trigger the subliminal command that nearly drove Barbara's little girl over the edge, literally. But Helena had only been trying to help. She understood the kind of confusion and anger her daughter was dealing with in a way that Barbara couldn't. "A couple of hours maybe."

Helena nodded her understanding as she came over to sit on the stone ledge at Barbara's feet. "Spent the rest of the night watching over your little mini you?"

"Yeah," Barbara nodded with a tired sigh. "I was half afraid that if I closed my eyes for even a second she'd be back out here trying to…" She just couldn't finish the thought. It hurt too much. The image of her daughter standing on the gargoyle's head in her nightgown and bare feet ready to plummet to her death would be a painful memory for the rest of Barbara's life.

"That John guy made sure that wouldn't happen again." Helena cut in as she placed a reassuring hand on Barbara's thigh.

"I know." Barbara replied. She couldn't feel Helena's hand, it's warmth or it's weight on her thigh, but the sight of it was comforting nonetheless. "It's going to be awhile before I shake this feeling though."

Helena nodded in understanding. She wasn't sure she'd ever shake hers either. She hadn't felt that scared in years, or this guilty. A somewhat comfortable silence fell between them, both knowing that they needed to talk about what happened, neither sure where to start. Finally Helena began, "Barbara, I'm really sorry. I never meant to hurt you or Selina." There were tears welling in her eyes. It meant so much to her that Barbara had renamed her daughter after her mother. "I should have talked to you, but I knew you'd say no way in hell, and I just had this deep down instinct that I couldn't explain."

Barbara was quiet. She looked at Helena for a moment and then down into the depths of her coffee mug. She trusted Helena's instincts, but could she do it when it came to her daughter? Barbara was use to making decisions for other people, she'd done it for both Helena and Dinah, but they'd both been teens when she got them. They could think and do for themselves more then Selina could, the girl was only ten. Barbara would be making a lot of choices for her, even more then normal until the child was settled. Her mind flashed back to a conversation she'd had with Dinah's mother. "You can't do what we do and be a mother." Carolyn had said. Her reply had been to point out that maybe Dinah needed more of a mentor then a mother, but according to Dinah at some point Barbara had become both to her. Selina was going to need that, she was going to need a mother and a mentor, and although she could cover both, there were things Helena would have to show her since the girl had been genetically laced with Helena's powers. That meant that Barbara would have to trust the younger woman with Selina, and why shouldn't she? She trusted Helena with her own life as well as Dinah's.

"Things are going to be different, Helena." Barbara finally said. "Until now all the choices we've made have only affected us. I trust you," She paused to reach out and brush at Helena's unruly hair, "I always have. We're a family and I want you and Dinah to be huge parts of Selina's life. I couldn't imagine raising her without you. But I need you to come to me before you just react, even if I don't listen, if I don't see the point you're trying to make, you have to keep me in the loop. I'm her mother."

Helena suddenly felt like she was seventeen again and getting chewed out for staying out late. Barbara had this way of yelling at you without actually raising her voice. "I was just trying to help, Barbara."

"I know, and you did." Barbara replied. "And yes, I would have said no, but maybe just at first. If you had come to me, talked to me, gone to Leslie and double teamed me." She sighed as she ran her fingers through her long red hair. "I don't know. Maybe even than I'd have said no. I most likely would have." She paused for a moment to order her thoughts and emotions. "We're going to have to be in this as a team, Helena. She's going to take us on a roller coaster ride, and we need to be on it as a team. She's going to try to divide and concur at some point, and we need to be able to stand together. She's going to need a routine, a lot of normality, and a lot of patience, and love, and understanding."

"You've been reading parenting books again." Helena teased to lighten the mood.

Barbara smiled. "A few, and some Internet sites, but mostly I'm remembering what it was like for you when you first came to live with me."

"You think this is gonna be the same?" Helena asked. "Lots of anger and lashing out?"

"Yes," Barbara answered honestly. " And no. Selina's younger, and I think that will be a factor in things. The circumstances are similar in other ways though. For all intents and purposes she lost the only mother she's ever known until now, so some of the traumas are nearly the same. The loss of one family, the adjustment to a new one, dealing with the truth about your life; but there's also neglect and emotional and physiological abuse, maybe physical we just don't know yet. That changes the game. The stuff Quinn did, it's unimaginable, and yet here we are faced with its aftermath."

Helena nodded her head as if she were following Barbara's train of thought, which she was. They'd been together so long they knew how the other worked. "You can do this, Barbara. You helped me when my mom was killed; you helped Dinah after that mess with the Redmonds and Black Canary. You have some pretty unique experiences to draw from."

Barbara nodded her head, her gaze drifting out over the city once again. "I suppose you have a point."

"I've been known to have a serious thought from time to time." Helena replied with a playful smirk.

Barbara smiled softly at her former ward turned chosen sister. The two of them sat in silence, each lost in their own thoughts, but grateful to have the other so close. The silence was broken when Helena moaned as she stood, causing Barbara to laugh. "Getting old, Hel?"

"Hell yeah." The dark haired woman smirked as she stretched out. "You coming in soon?" She asked as she headed towards the door.

Barbara nodded. "In a bit."

"Okay, if I'm not here, I've gone shopping so if you need me just call." Helena said as she paused just inside the door.

"New coat to replace the one that barf guy ruined?" Barbara laughed. Even after all these years Dinah still had a knack for naming bad guys, and in the moment she was grateful for the chance to lighten her mood a bit.

Helena growled. "Now that you bring it up I do need a new coat, but no, if we're gonna be prepared then we're gonna need every single season of the Super Nanny I can find on DVD."

That made Barbara really laugh. "Better get the English seasons too."

"Oh you can count on it." Helena laughed. "There won't be a thing we don't know about naughty steps."

Her head felt really weird and it made Selina edgy as she awoke to the singing birds outside the window. Is this how adults felt when they were hung-over? If it was, the girl was pretty sure she was never going to drink. Slowly peeling one eye open she looked around, feeling disorientated until it slowly began to dawn on her where she was, Barbara's room.

Barbara's room was big and airy, with lots of light, too much light for this early in the morning. Groaning she pulled the blankets over her head to block out the world. For a moment she felt safe as she snuggled into the pillows and blankets that smelled of Barbara, her soaps and shampoo, and that smell that is just uniquely that person. She took a deep breath and relaxed, but then slowly the night before, the day before came trickling back to her. As it all played out in her mind, Selina began to shake. She remembered the trip to Arkham and hearing Harley tell Barbara the truth. That she'd been born just so Harley Quinn could destroy Barbara Gordon because Barbara had once been Batgirl, and Batgirl had once helped Batman destroy the Joker.

For ten years, her whole life, Selina had thought Harley was her mother, and for the past five she'd trained to do whatever 'Mother' had wanted her to do. She'd thought that that was to fight Barbara and the others, to destroy them, kill them even, but it turned out Harley had planned on killing her in front of Barbara after using her as nothing more then a foot solider. Why would someone do that?

Everything Selina knew was a lie, a taunt, a way to hurt Barbara and the others. Her name, Little Harley, had been just another way to stick it to them in some way. Her sister Duela who really was Quinn's daughter wasn't really her sister. Barbara, Helena, and Dinah weren't the evil people she'd been told they were, Quinn was the evil one, Quinn who had used her as if she were a toy rather then a real live kid. Quinn had never loved her, but Selina had loved Quinn, and despite everything a part of her still did. After all, Quinn had been the only mother Selina had ever known until now. She felt lost and alone, and as the shock of it all washed over her she shook more, pulling the blankets tightly around her Selina silently sobbed into Barbara's pillow.

The first thing to catch Barbara's attention as she came into her bedroom was the sound of crying. Wheeling over to the bed she noticed the vibration of the lump under her comforter. Carefully pulling the covers away her heart broke at the sight of Selina curled up and shaking. "Oh, baby." She said softly as she easily transferred herself from her chair to the bed. She quickly gathered the girl up in her arms and held her tightly. "It's alright, Selina. It's going to be all right. I promise."

Selina was too lost in her thoughts and emotions to do anything but allow Barbara to hold her. She wanted to scream, to yell, to push her away and tell her to leave her the hell alone, but she couldn't. She wanted to cuddle back, she wanted to tell her what she was feeling, she wanted to feel safe in this woman's arms, but she couldn't. Nothing made sense anymore. She was drowning and the best she could do was cling to this woman enough to keep from sinking any further under the tide.

"Good morning, Alfred." Dinah yawned as she walked into the penthouse's kitchen. Blinking away sleep, she looked around before plopping into a chair at the table. "No one else up yet?"

Alfred quickly prepared a cup of coffee for Dinah exactly the way she liked it and then placed it in front of her. "Good morning Miss. Dinah." He returned her greeting before answering her question. "Ms. Barbara has been up for hours, she just went in to check on Miss. Selina. Miss. Helena's in the shower."

"Really?" Dinah looked surprised. "How'd I miss the off key singing when I walked past?"

The old Englishman smirked. "Perhaps you weren't yet awake."

"Hmmm." Dinah mused. "You're right, need coffee." After taking several sips from her mug, Dinah sighed and then smiled. "So, everything ok this morning?"

"If you mean is everything ok with Miss. Selina, I don't know." Alfred admitted as he gathered ingredients to make omelets. "She hasn't gotten up yet."

"Everything was pretty quiet last night after we all went to bed." Dinah said softly. "I don't think any of us got much sleep. I kept getting up to listen, in case she like had nightmares, or decided to take another balcony walk, or if she like… you know… tried to…"

"Hurt Barbara?" Selina said giving voice to the fear Dinah couldn't bring herself to say.

Dinah jumped, spinning around in her chair to see Selina standing in the doorway. "I, well, um..."

"Don't worry, I'd have come for you first." Selina replied as she made her way towards the table. "Always take out the telepaths and telekinetics first. You'd have been screwed either way."

"Selina." Barbara scolded as she followed her daughter into the kitchen. She'd held Selina until the girl was calm enough to say she was hungry. It seemed to have helped; Selina was a lot calmer now then she was when Barbara first went into the bedroom.

The girl didn't reply she just slid into her seat at the table, plopping her elbows on the table so she could rub her temples. She had a raging headache and that always made her extra grumpy.

"Good morning Miss. Selina." Alfred greeted cheerily but softly. He highly approved of the girl's name change, and it made him smile even more when she looked up at him and gave him a small smile in return.

"Mornin' Alfred." Selina replied as she switched to rubbing her forehead, and then her eyes with the heels of her hands.

Alfred frowned. "Are you not felling well?"

She shook her head. "I feel like someone stuck my head in a jar of cotton balls and then hit the jar with something."

"That's from the sedative Leslie gave you last night." Barbara told her as she wheeled into her own place at the head of the table. "Your head will clear soon and the headache will go away, I promise"

"Then you'll just feel like shit all day." Helena added to the conversation as she joined everyone. "I hate that stuff. It's made to work with our meta healing but it leaves you feeling like crap when you wake up as a nasty little side effect."

Selina looked up and blinked. "You drugged me? Again!"

Barbara could see the anger flash in Selina's eyes and held out a hand to stop the rising outburst. "Leslie gave you something to help you sleep, that's all."

The girl crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. "She didn't ask."

"You're ten," Helena replied before Barbara could. "She didn't have to. Besides, you were really out of it last night."

Selina stared daggers at Helena. It scared her to know that she could do something she didn't really want to do because of something in her head. It made her feel powerless and she hated that. "Don't do it again." Selina hissed as her hands balled into fists.

"No promises." Helena replied. "It was for your own good and there was no real harm done. You might have ended up hurting yourself last night if we hadn't."

"Drug me again and I could end up hurting you." Selina warned. She felt so out of control of herself that she didn't know what do. A tiny new part of her was telling her to trust, but the larger part of her was telling her to fight.

Barbara just watched in amazement. Five minutes ago Selina had been a shaking, fragile, scared little girl. Now she was suddenly an angry child with claws. Sighing inwardly she steeled herself for what she knew was going to be some difficult times. "Alright you two knock it off."

"She started it." Selina growled. "But I'll finish it."

"Did not." Helena replied. "And I'd like to see you try."

"Ok, so now we have two snarky grumps to deal with in the mornings." Dinah added, trying to break the tension.

"But out!" Both Selina and Helena said together. The two looked at each other for a long moment and then suddenly started to laugh. Barbara and Dinah both looked shock at the sudden change while Alfred just smiled.

As breakfast went on, the tension that had entered the room with Selina began to diminish. The uncomfortable silence that had followed Helena and Selina's laughing fit, soon gave way to easy morning banter, but Selina could still feel everyone walking on egg shells. She wondered if it was always going to be like this. Were they all going to walk around waiting for her to explode and go psycho like Quinn? What would happen to her if she did loose her mind and end up like Quinn? Would they put her in a glass box in that Arkham place too?

"Selina," Barbara called out, "Earth to Selina."

The girl's head snapped up. "What?" She'd been caught off guard because she'd been lost in thought so she quickly tried to cover her lack of focus. "Sorry, forgot that's me now."

Barbara smiled softly. "It's alright, sweetie." She paused a moment to think about what it must be like to suddenly have a different name before adding, "If you want us to go back to…"

"NO!" Selina cut in. "No," She repeated in a much softer voice. "I don't ever want to be called that again."

"Alright." Barbara replied with a soft reassuring smile. "Leslie will be here in an hour, sweetheart. If you're finished why don't you go ahead and shower and change, ok?"

Selina slipped out of her chair as she shrugged. "Yeah, sure whatever."

Leslie sat in the chair across from Selina who was curled into the end of the couch. The girl hadn't said much, opting to sit and listen as Leslie spoke with Barbara. After asking for some privacy with Selina, Leslie made a mental note to speak with Barbara as well. She could already see the uneasiness in regards to having Selina out of her sight. They'd need to work on that if any of them were going to have normal ties. Leaning forward she smiled softly, "How are you feeling this morning, Selina?"

Selina shrugged. "You drugged me, now I feel like crap."

"Did the drug help you sleep?" Leslie asked, ignoring the hiss in the child's voice.

"I guess so." Selina replied. "Had a weird dream about a green man and a black box, but no nightmares or nothing."

"That's good." Leslie replied. "You needed your rest." She paused a moment and then said, "Selina; that's a pretty name. Do you like it?"

There was just the faintest hint of a smile on the girl's face but she quickly tried to hide it and then shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so. Barbara says it's my name now." There was a bit of a pause and then Selina added, "It's a good name I guess." The soft barely there smile was back for a flicker of a moment. "I have a middle name too, and a last name. Before I was just Little Harley."

"What's your middle name?" Leslie asked.

"Carolyn." The girl replied. "Barbara said that Selina was Helena's mom's name and Carolyn was Dinah's mom's name, and that they were good people, and now they're like angels or something."

"I knew them both." Leslie said easily. "They were both good women even though they sometimes did bad things."

Selina was still and silent for a moment and then said, "If they really are like guardian angels maybe they can help me be good too."

Leslie titled her head a little. "You're afraid you won't be good?"

Selina chewed on her lip for a moment. Then she said, "I wasn't made to be. I was made to be bad, like Harley, I was made to hurt people, to hurt Barbara."

"Do you still want to hurt people?" Leslie asked carefully. "Do you still want to hurt Barbara?"

Selina was quiet for a moment before looking over Leslie's shoulder and out the window. "No." She said softly and then added, "But I don't know how to be a normal kid. I'll end up hurting them anyway."

"What do you think normal kids do?" Leslie asked as she watched Selina and the way her body moved as she listened to her questions and answered them.

"I don't know." Selina replied honestly. "Mother…" She flinched. She couldn't call Quinn that anymore. It no longer felt right, now it kind of hurt to say it. "Quinn," She said instead since that's what Barbara called her, "always said why be normal when you could be special. But I wasn't special either."

Leslie pretended not to see the girl wipe a tear away. They talked for another half hour or so until Leslie noticed Selina was getting angry and when her eyes shifted to feline Leslie decided to end the session. They had enough to deal with without introducing Selina's meta abilities into the mix. Leslie left Selina in the living room to talk to Barbara in the kitchen. When Helena walked in Selina was pacing the room like a caged cat. She watched the girl for a moment and then said, "Come on kid lets go."

"Where?" Selina snapped at her as she spun to look at the dark haired woman.

"Upstairs." Helena replied as she went to the hidden elevator that led to the Clocktower.

Selina hesitated but then followed Helena upstairs and into the training room. She hadn't been allowed in there at all until now and as she looked around she had to admit she was impressed.

"I don't think Barbara wants you doing anything like combat." Helena said as she began to set up some of the gymnastic equipment. "But I think this will be ok. You ever do gymnastics?"

"I don't know." Selina replied. "I did agility stuff." She looked at the stuff Helena was setting up and said, "I've used those before." She pointed to the uneven bars. "And that beam thing." She pointed to the high beam.

Helena smiled. "That's a good start. I was just a little younger then you when I started gymnastics." She explained as she took off her hoodie and tossed it aside. "I was a huge ball of energy and my Mom and Barbara figured it would be a good way for me to use some of it up while at the same time learning about my powers."

"You had powers as a kid?" Selina asked. "You knew Barbara back then?"

"I had the early signs of powers." Helena replied. "I was a little stronger then most kids my age, more agile and wiry, and didn't seem to get hurt as easily. And yes, I've known Barbara all my life. She and my mom were friends and she knew my dad too."

Selina blinked at that. She'd never had a dad. Quinn had told her that the Joker was her dad, but he wasn't. She knew how babies were made so she obviously had a father and for a moment she wondered who he might be, but only for a moment. She already had way too much on her mind to even consider another new person in her life. These three were going to be enough to deal with for a while.

Helena saw the play of emotion and quickly cut in. "Lets see what you got. I'm not as good a couch as Barbara but I can mange."

"Barbara did gymnastics?" Selina asked as she slipped off her shoes and walked over to the uneven bars.

"She hasn't always been in that chair." Helena replied. "She won medals for gymnastics and marshal arts when she was a kid. She was hell on a bike too." She chuckled at that. Barbara had been a bit of a wild cat back in her youth. "My mom use to tell me stories about Barbara as a teenager. Some where pretty hard to believe given how straight laced she is now."

"She was Batgirl." Selina said simply as she jumped up and grabbed the highest bar.

Helena nodded. "Yeah, she was." Before Selina could say anything else she added, "Ok, lets see what you know."

Barbara watched from the doorway as Helena and Selina worked out. Part of her mind was watching Selina's form and technique and was impressed by it. She was a little rough in actual technique but she had the underlying ability. She had no doubt that Selina would excel at all kinds of athletics, which would be good outlets for her. A bigger part of her however was a mother watching her child and wondering how she was going to help Selina through this. The girl had so much ahead of her but at least she wouldn't have to go through it alone. Barbara would be there for her no matter what, and she knew that Helena and Dinah, and Alfred would be too. It wasn't going to be easy but Barbara knew it would be well worth it.