FIC: "I Love You, You Hate You"
This ficlet is for dreiser, who asked for Helena/Barbara from the live-action Birds of Prey WB TV series. This may not be exactly what she had in mind.
"You should hate her," Dinah muttered. "She took your life away. She took OUR lives away."
"It's not her fault," Barbara sighed. She'd said it - what, ten times? Twelve? "It was Quinzelle who - "
"Knew who we were. Where we lived. We had lives," Dinah reminded her. "Lives that weren't spent entirely in the shadows. But Helena had to open her big mouth and tell Quinzelle everything."
"Harleen Quinzelle is a trained psychologist who also happened to be a psychopath. She used and manipulated Helena. Huntress is more of a victim than we are," Barbara pointed out.
"_I_ hate her."
__________________________
"You should hate me," Helena said that night as she sat huddled in their sheets. "I destroy everything I touch."
Barbara considered saying that she got this enough from Dinah, but Helena didn't need to hear that. The Birds of Prey didn't need this kind of infighting, but there it was. It would be worse if she knew that Dinah had buried months of resentment beneath a professional exterior that, one year ago, would have been beyond her.
"You trusted her," Barbara reminded her. "If things had been different, that would have been a good thing. You were able to open up to your therapist, share things with her. If she'd been a normal doctor instead of a - "
"Psychotic bitch?"
"Very disturbed woman, she would have been able to help you better."
"Instead of helping herself to our secrets."
__________________________
"You don't hate her," Barbara said. "And neither do I."
"Well, THAT part I figured out," Dinah said bitterly. "People don't fuck the ones they hate."
"That kind of language is unacceptable from you, young lady," Barbara told her with mock severity.
"We've been chased underground. I'm living in something that used to be a sewer. I'd say THAT's pretty unacceptable for a young lady like me. I had a life during the day, you know."
If Dinah couldn't convince Barbara that she really needed to be hating Helena now, Barbara sure as hell couldn't convince Dinah that she shouldn't hate Helena for what SHE'D given up. "We all did."
"You had a boyfriend, I seem to remember. Do you even remember his name still?"
Barbara closed her eyes and winced. Wade, her lips moved.
"Helena got him killed, and now she's sleeping with him. Maybe she wasn't used by Quinzelle. Maybe she knew what she was doing."
"Say that again," Barbara said coldly, "and I'll make sure Helena knows it."
"I don't even know the two of you any more."
_____________________________
"Best part is," Helena said, "I even fucked up when I tried to do something right. NONE of this would have mattered if I'd let you kill her like you should have."
"You saved us all, Helena. Even if Dinah doesn't get that sometimes. We would have become as dangerous to others as Harleen was."
"Dangerous to the criminals, that is," Helena spat. "The criminals who, by the way, destroyed the Clocktower and drove us into hiding. I say that would have been an improvement."
"Your father wouldn't have agreed."
Helena looked away, but Barbara took her by the chin. "If you wanted me to hate you so much, then you should have let me kill her," she added. "I might have come to hate you then. But you saved me from myself, and myself is something I have no defense against. You'll understand that sooner or later. So will Dinah."
"I hate me," Helena said.
"I love you," Barbara told her.
______________________________
"I should hate her," Harleen Quinzell said as she touched her throat where six months before, the bat-bitch Barbara Gordon had held her in one hand. "She beat me. She almost killed me. I should have won that night."
"But your arrest brought us together. I broke you out of the Slab when I read the news reports. I knew you were - special. And I was right. And where's Gordon now? Where are we? Who won in the long run?"
"We did," Harleen said spitefully.
"For that, love Barbara Gordon," Pamela Isley told her.
"I'm still going to kill her."
"You have to. We always kill the ones we love."
The End.
Author's Note - This story is inspired by my (perhaps less than perfect) memory of the bizarre closing of the series. Harley Quinn had learned the secret identities of Oracle and Huntress, and their hiding place, the Clocktower. And yet the BoP didn't seem to be worried about it. Because Harley went to jail, and goodness knows, who could she tell in JAIL?
In this story, Harley's attempt to drive all of New Gotham insane evidently caught Poison Ivy's eye (for all we know, Pammy could have been the "big bad" of Season 2, had there been one), and she broke Quinn out. Together they used Harley's information against the Birds.
Sincerely, Allaine
"You should hate her," Dinah muttered. "She took your life away. She took OUR lives away."
"It's not her fault," Barbara sighed. She'd said it - what, ten times? Twelve? "It was Quinzelle who - "
"Knew who we were. Where we lived. We had lives," Dinah reminded her. "Lives that weren't spent entirely in the shadows. But Helena had to open her big mouth and tell Quinzelle everything."
"Harleen Quinzelle is a trained psychologist who also happened to be a psychopath. She used and manipulated Helena. Huntress is more of a victim than we are," Barbara pointed out.
"_I_ hate her."
__________________________
"You should hate me," Helena said that night as she sat huddled in their sheets. "I destroy everything I touch."
Barbara considered saying that she got this enough from Dinah, but Helena didn't need to hear that. The Birds of Prey didn't need this kind of infighting, but there it was. It would be worse if she knew that Dinah had buried months of resentment beneath a professional exterior that, one year ago, would have been beyond her.
"You trusted her," Barbara reminded her. "If things had been different, that would have been a good thing. You were able to open up to your therapist, share things with her. If she'd been a normal doctor instead of a - "
"Psychotic bitch?"
"Very disturbed woman, she would have been able to help you better."
"Instead of helping herself to our secrets."
__________________________
"You don't hate her," Barbara said. "And neither do I."
"Well, THAT part I figured out," Dinah said bitterly. "People don't fuck the ones they hate."
"That kind of language is unacceptable from you, young lady," Barbara told her with mock severity.
"We've been chased underground. I'm living in something that used to be a sewer. I'd say THAT's pretty unacceptable for a young lady like me. I had a life during the day, you know."
If Dinah couldn't convince Barbara that she really needed to be hating Helena now, Barbara sure as hell couldn't convince Dinah that she shouldn't hate Helena for what SHE'D given up. "We all did."
"You had a boyfriend, I seem to remember. Do you even remember his name still?"
Barbara closed her eyes and winced. Wade, her lips moved.
"Helena got him killed, and now she's sleeping with him. Maybe she wasn't used by Quinzelle. Maybe she knew what she was doing."
"Say that again," Barbara said coldly, "and I'll make sure Helena knows it."
"I don't even know the two of you any more."
_____________________________
"Best part is," Helena said, "I even fucked up when I tried to do something right. NONE of this would have mattered if I'd let you kill her like you should have."
"You saved us all, Helena. Even if Dinah doesn't get that sometimes. We would have become as dangerous to others as Harleen was."
"Dangerous to the criminals, that is," Helena spat. "The criminals who, by the way, destroyed the Clocktower and drove us into hiding. I say that would have been an improvement."
"Your father wouldn't have agreed."
Helena looked away, but Barbara took her by the chin. "If you wanted me to hate you so much, then you should have let me kill her," she added. "I might have come to hate you then. But you saved me from myself, and myself is something I have no defense against. You'll understand that sooner or later. So will Dinah."
"I hate me," Helena said.
"I love you," Barbara told her.
______________________________
"I should hate her," Harleen Quinzell said as she touched her throat where six months before, the bat-bitch Barbara Gordon had held her in one hand. "She beat me. She almost killed me. I should have won that night."
"But your arrest brought us together. I broke you out of the Slab when I read the news reports. I knew you were - special. And I was right. And where's Gordon now? Where are we? Who won in the long run?"
"We did," Harleen said spitefully.
"For that, love Barbara Gordon," Pamela Isley told her.
"I'm still going to kill her."
"You have to. We always kill the ones we love."
The End.
Author's Note - This story is inspired by my (perhaps less than perfect) memory of the bizarre closing of the series. Harley Quinn had learned the secret identities of Oracle and Huntress, and their hiding place, the Clocktower. And yet the BoP didn't seem to be worried about it. Because Harley went to jail, and goodness knows, who could she tell in JAIL?
In this story, Harley's attempt to drive all of New Gotham insane evidently caught Poison Ivy's eye (for all we know, Pammy could have been the "big bad" of Season 2, had there been one), and she broke Quinn out. Together they used Harley's information against the Birds.
Sincerely, Allaine