The Universe's Mixer

Dinah was spending more time than she liked away from Wayne Manor. She was getting better at compartmentalizing her emotions, at keeping the pain and the guilt over not getting to Jake in time at bay. Better at shoving aside the hurt over losing Harry when she was at home. She could do all of that, but only for so long. It was easier to take some time out to get her mind off things every so often. Usually it was just an hour or two a day, but a part of her still felt like that was too much. Even if there were days when Jake didn't seem to be aware of anyone who was there, she still felt like she shouldn't miss any of it.

She hadn't done anything as Black Canary since she'd been bitten by that hyena. Nights were the hardest, and she wanted to be there. There were too many nightmares for Jake, and she needed to be there for when he woke up in a panic.

She didn't sleep much herself. It was hard to just go straight to bed after Jake did, so she'd spent most nights reading through the books Harry had given her. There were parts that left her in tears, and she'd almost stopped reading after the ending to the first book. If Roland hadn't been dead already in the City, she might have found him and caused a world of pain. But she kept reading. She might not have always been able to understand the family dynamics of the Ka-tet, but the important thing was that he had had a sense of family there. He had been loved.

It was at least a month after she'd started reading before she came to the decision. Jake needed a reminder that there had been something before the Joker's torture and brainwashing. That there had been love, and life. That he hadn't always been the boy that Joker had tried to make him into. That he still wasn't truly that boy.

She couldn't shield him from the pain that was in those books alongside the love and the sense of purpose that he'd had during his time with Roland, Eddie and Susannah. But perhaps she shouldn't be trying to shield him. It was a life well lived, and he needed that reminder.

Dinah waited for a day when Jake had been more calm to try to read to him. It would hopefully be best to do so as she was tucking him in at night. Perhaps it might get through to him, and perhaps it might give him something to fill his dreams other than nightmares.

( Once upon a time... )

Murphy understood why the city had sent her to Harry's, in the beginning. She had been so focused on fixated on her belief that he was still alive somewhere that she hadn't really cared about finding her own place. All she'd been able to think about was the fact that he was right there, beside her, and she'd been so relieved.

Now, she was afraid that if they didn't put some objective distance between them, they were going to ruin what was left of their friendship.

So there she was, sitting at a little outdoor cafe, newspaper spread across her table, and a coffee in hand, enjoying the lingering warmth of a swiftly fading summer while she searched the classifieds. She needed a job, even if she ended up just working as a mall cop, it would be better than nothing. And it might give her a little more freedom to up anchor and go on holy rescue missions, if and when she figured out how that whole 'go where I'm called' thing worked.

She wanted her own house back, but any affordable apartment would do.