Re: NM: Cat & Leena
Cat knew her own situation wasn't like Helena's. No one's was the same, and everyone's traumas were personal, just as everyone's success stories were personal. But all she could do was listen and share, and so she nodded when Helena thanked her. "I know it's not your story, but it's all I have to give. The fact that I believe you can come back from it. That you're strong. And that there can be something at the end of all the bad things, which I know is hard to trust in when you're in them." And, well, that was aged wisdom at 40-plus, and it felt strange to Cat on her tongue. Calm was not her usual Modus Operandi, and yet she felt calm with the words coming from her lips.
"I did make a friendship, but it's been years. Stephanie's going to have to be patient. And, for what it's worth, I told him every single time that he was pushing too hard or too far, and he did it often. I've yelled, I've stormed out, and I've stopped talking to him for days on end. It's your right to tell her what you need, and she needs to learn to do what you need her to do." It was a different approach than the one she'd taken when discussing this with Damian, but it was the same thing, wasn't it? Jack and Stephanie, and perhaps it made more sense to her now, sitting there and looking at her daughter. "Jason." She scoffed. "Kitten, Jason interrogates so no one will dig under his skin and find out where he hurts. It's a defense mechanism. Interrogate back. Jason's lost. He has been since he moved out here. The problem is no one's looking for him."
She watched her daughter chew on her bottom lip, and then she joined the girl on the couch. The gesture was childlike in a way that reminded Cat of her first few years with Helena, back when the woman sitting before her was a little girl, back before Bruce took her to live with him, back before everything changed. It made Cat smile a bittersweet smile. "My claws are always at the ready for your disposal, kitten, no matter how old I am or how I look at the time."
Cat glanced at the fireplace as she shifted comfortably on the couch, and she nodded. "I'd like that. We don't have to talk the whole time. We can just sit. I don't think I do just sitting very often," she admitted, and she listened when Helena talked about using her name. "I called you Lena as a child sometimes. You know, with babies you always try things out and see what feels like it belongs to them. I always spelled it with one e in my head, but I guess you can say the name's yours, no matter who gave it to you now. You had it already." She reached over and, if Helena allowed it, she squeezed her daughter's hand.