His instinct was right as the heady six year old he sometimes considered his son (usually when he did something smart, the other times Morgana could handle the paternity), shot out like a rocket towards the voice that was slowly developing into one of his worst nightmares.

“Aunt Clara!” Dustil held his arms out and jumped at her.

The boisterous woman laughed loudly and flung him around the room. “Squirt!”

Carth lifted himself slowly off the couch, where Hoverball was soon forgotten. Morgana was in her office grading papers so it was– Five. Four. Three. Two. –

“Clara!” Morgana swept into the room, pulling her sister into a hug. “What did do to your hair?”

“Chill Big Sis,” Clara said with a laugh, brushing a hand through the brightly colored strands. “It’s temporary. Sort of.”

“Mom, can I get a mohawk?” Dustil stared up at his mother.

Morgana’s eyebrows raised and she glanced at Carth, quickly diverting the subject. “Look who’s here, flyboy.”

“I noticed,” Carth said carefully, as he approached the door. “How are you, Clara?”

The younger woman raised one eyebrow and nodded stiffy. “I’m fine, Lieutenant. All reportings are fine here, military man.” She ruffled Dustil’s hair. “You’re getting shorter, squirt. I swear you used to reach my hip.”

Dustil lifted himself up on his tiptoes. “Nu-uh. I’m like twice as big as the last time you were here. By tomorrow, I’ll probably be taller than you.”

Clara laughed and knuckled his head, squishing him against her stomach, while leisurely talking to Morgana. “So you mind if I crash here for a few days? It was on the way to Braul, so I figured I’d come and stay by, but my funds aren’t what they could be and I can’t really afford a hotel.”

Great, step one in the ask for money train wreck that was his wife’s sister.

Morgana made a scoffing noise. “You are always welcome here. Don’t you dare even think about a hotel!” She locked her elbow with Clara’s and ushered her into the door.

Dustil finally broke free, his face red and his hair mussed up.

Carth glanced at the bags just laying on the floor and sighed. The door was till wide open.

Morgana was taking her sister into the kitchen. “Come on let’s get you fed. You look too skinny.”

Clara laughed. “Don’t turn into mom, ‘gana.”

Carth winced as he inwardly agreed with Clara. If Morgana turned into her mother he might have to put a blaster to both their heads. He glanced at some noise that happened to be coming from his son who was trying to pull in one of the heavy bags. Carth snorted. “Let me get that, Dustil.”

“I can do it!” Dustil said pulling hard.

“Hey, squirt – The presents are in my hand bag. Come to the kitchen to get them.” Dustil left the bag unattended as he ran off towards his aunt in the kitchen. Carth sighed at the door. “Oh and Carth? You don’t mind grabbing my bags and putting them in the guest room, right?”

“What guest room?” Carth muttered pulling the bags out from the door. He stared out at the open Telosian landscape… all he’d have to do is jump the back wall and grab his speeder. He could come back in a week and it would all be over.

Laughter erupted from the kitchen and he was sure he heard his name in the midst of it. He grumbled and shut the door, dragging the luggage up the stairs.

“Nurse, he’s up.”

Billy glanced around the white room. Hospital. He thought. For one horribly amazing moment he thought maybe it had all been a dream. After the five minutes it took to get someone, Eli’s face told him all he needed to know.

It hadn’t been.

“What—” he swallowed, out of the inability to speak more and not being completely sure he wanted the answer.

“Tommy’s gone,” Eli said, staring at the blank white wall. “Just gone. Kate left for the other side for him. And Cassie…” His jaw tightened. “Her heart couldn’t take it.”

The “no,” Billy ground out, sounded pathetic, even in his ears.

Eli just stared at the wall. “You’ve been out for a few months.”

“Viz?” Billy managed, rubbing his throat and trying to swallow. His arm tugged on a few wires and some tubes.

“That’s… a longer story.” Eli sighed. “One I’ll tell you later. But you’re awake so I might as well tell you what you’re going to do.”

Billy nodded, slowly and painfully.

“There’s a councilor dealt specifically to deal with this kind of… thing. We’ve had to hire her, because of the desertions over the past few months. The Avengers are bigger than ever, but original players don’t seem to stick around.”

“And then?” Billy choked out, wishing he had something to drink.

“Then nothing. You’re coming back to the Avengers and aren’t going to do anything like this again.” Eli finally met his eyes, brown to brown. “That’s not debatable. We’re a team, what we have left. And you’re part of that.”

“Isn’t the same,” Billy mumbled. And from the look Eli gave him, he was sure that he knew what Billy was talking about.

“You’re right. It’s not the same,” Eli sighed. “I did my mistake on purpose. You might actually have a chance at absolution…” Eli raised his head. “But if you weren’t killing yourself over this… I wouldn’t let you back on the team.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Billy said, pinching his eyes shut. He let out a breath and opened his eyes again to the painful white of the room. That would be one death, one disappearance, and one desertion all on his head. The easy way out would be to just close his eyes and try and start over again, fixing the mistake. But looking at Eli, he knew the easy thing wasn’t the right thing. It never had been. “Tell me about Vision. The long story.”

Eli let out a breath that might have been a laugh and sat at the chair next to one of the machines hooked into Billy. “Vision is now… Nate. Sort of. Let’s just say it involved a Kang clone with memories of time travel and our original group and Iron-Lad and corruption of Vision’s original programming. He’s working the computer system now, but is still in the armor.”

Billy laughed a little, chocking on the noise before it turned into a muffled sob. “With all the time travel and clones you’d think our life would be easy.”

“Yeah… but it’s not.” Eli sighed, lifted himself up. “Sleep. Think. Do whatever, I have to get back to the tower. You’ll start counseling tomorrow. Don’t do anything stupid.”

None of that sounded like anything but an order.

He could have sworn he heard Eli say, “Avengers don’t quit.” And for once, he didn’t feel the need to tack ‘young’ on the front.

Growing up was one of many painful side effects.

For once it felt like he didn’t have a throbbing headache and the world wasn’t caving in around his shoulders.

Maybe Teddy had been so busy, because he had been putting things together for his triumphant return. It’d be just like in the comic books when the out of touch character came back when everything was falling apart.

And there had never been a time when things had been falling apart more.

Maybe Teddy just knew that Billy needed him and that’s why he was coming back.

Billy replayed the message again, squinting at the green letters like he could hear Teddy’s intention out of exactly where he placed the verb. What emphasis on each syllable meant. That the capital there meant that that letter, that word was much more important that the other ones. That the way the y’s serifed out just added to the swooping enthusiasm that the messenger was giving.

He was about to press replay again when he heard a loud yell from the other room. He blinked once, did replay the message and then lifted himself up to check out what was going on in the other room.

“Chill out, I was just saying—” Tommy and Eli were at each other’s throats… again.

Maybe now that the team would be back together. Longer than long should be, if Billy had anything to say about it. Maybe now there wouldn’t be so much fighting.

“I know what you were saying,” Eli hissed back. “We side with them; we empathize with them for even a second and we’re giving them the upper hand. And we can’t afford to give them the upper hand, Tommy. They’re interfering with our work – those orphans last week, that was their fault.”

“Yeah, but—” Tommy was glancing around the room, trying to match eyes of people that weren’t looking up.

“But nothing. I’m team leader; I’m not suggesting anything, Shepherd.” Eli leaned close enough so that Tommy could see the shadow of his eyes through his mask. “That’s an order.”

Tommy glared back and shoved him off. “Screw you. I never signed on to be in some fascist little super group that’s going to stop paying attention to the people.”

“Tommy,” Cassie looked up and bit her lip. “Those orphans…”

“Were bad. I agree, blondie.” Tommy shook his head. “But their point wasn’t. Those orphans were in a bad environment to begin with and no one was doing anything about it. We’re so busy looking out for Mysterio and the Blind Bandit, that no one pays attention to any of the actual problems going down. And I don’t think we should just ignore them because of an accident,” He met Eli’s eyes. “Sir.”

Eli gritted his teeth. “Three died and the rest of them are in the hospital. That’s not an accident. That’s murder.”

“Guys, let’s just calm down,” Kate looked tired. She had been looking tired for the past few days. “Arguing about this isn’t getting us anywhere. Eli, you can’t tell Tommy what to think or not to talk. And Tommy stop antagonizing him about the orphans, you know that wasn’t Eli’s fault.”

Eli gritted his teeth harder, shot a look Billy’s way and shouldered past Kate.

“Smooth move, girlfriend,” Tommy said, his grin turning into something else.

Kate glared at him and rubbed her temple. Cassie put a hand on her shoulder. “Late night, Kate?”

Kate blinked and shared a look with Tommy before pasting a smile on and shaking her head at Cassie. “No. Just—yeah, late night. You know all that extra time for night classes.”

Billy walked past both the girls, glancing at Tommy who carefully avoided his gaze. He shook his head and went in the direction Eli had gone. When he caught up with Patriot, his mask was dangling from his fingers, and he was leaning against the balcony, staring down at the city below.

“It wasn’t your fault, Eli,” Billy walked forward narrowing his vision at the ground, and then up towards the rest of the buildings around them. His eyes focused in on a clock. The time could not be going slower if it wanted to. He tried not to bounce on his toes.

“This new group,” Eli’s voice was low. He didn’t look up. “All they’re doing is distracting from real issues. I know health taxes and insurance is important, but so is a fifteen foot monster attacking the city. I don’t want to just ignore that, because the Hippie Brigade wants me to protest congress.” He held his mask in his hands, staring at it. “That’s not what this stands for. It’s not just about me. I’m helping people like my Grandfather would have wanted.”

Billy grabbed Eli’s shoulder. “You know he was proud of you. You’re just annoying and obnoxious enough to be the perfect leader.”

Eli snorted and shook his head. “Can I tell you something, Billy?” He glanced at him. “Just between us. I mean, I know you didn’t get long to prove it, but the last time you didn’t tell anyone my secret either.”

It seemed a lifetime ago when Billy had seen Eli shooting MGH into his arm, hunched over like a junkie just desperate for a chance to help people and prove himself. No matter the cost. “I’ll keep your secret.”

“Cap wants to retire in the next five years…” Eli pinched his eyes shut and took a deep breath. “And he wants me to take over for him.” His eyes opened. “You know as the next Captain America. He didn’t say it was leading the Avengers, but it’s still a big deal and I mean…” Eli rubbed his chin. “If I can’t save three kids, what good am I to the team?”

Billy blinked a few times. Trying to wrap his head around the information before he actually offered any comforting words. Vision had told him almost the same thing about Iron Man. It was like the next generation was being passed on and pretty soon no one would be a Young Avenger. They’d just all go to the big leagues. For some reason that change didn’t seem all too comforting.

Billy took a step forward, pressed his arm against the railing. “If you didn’t kill yourself about those three kids, I’d agree with you.” He tilted his head. “But you do and that’s why I think it’s a good choice.”

Eli gave him a light smile and then sighed, straightening up and shoving his mask in his pocket. “How’s your mom doing?”

Billy stared at the clock again. “Better,” he lied. Not that he was sure of that. Maybe she had been better in the month and a half it had been since he had checked on her. Moving out had been the best thing for everyone. Easiest for everyone.

“That’s good,” Eli patted him on the back. He eyed the ledge carefully. “Think if I pushed Tommy off, we could claim it was an accident?”

Billy snorted, but whatever he was going to say was cut short by very loud engines and a ship landing on top of Avengers Tower. The ship. And in a flash of blue, Billy was there to meet them, before he even gave it a thought.

***

Three flashes of blue light? Maybe four. Billy was sure the Skrullos council of whatever the hell Teddy’s messages tried to convey was probably wondering where the hell their Emperor went to. For now though, Billy didn’t feel like wasting a day on catching up and dealing with all the little things that they always put first on these little visits. The past few months had been hell and something was going to fix it. Make it better, whatever.

“Missed you,” Billy managed to mumble into Teddy’s neck as he tugged on his shirt and kicked the door closed.

Teddy’s eyes were as wide as they had been when he stepped off the ship’s plank, flanked by three Skrulls and a Kree.

“Billy!” The noise came out like a strangled laugh. “We need to talk that’s what—I wanted to—” Teddy cut off in a groan and it was barely a blink before his shirt was gone in a flash of blue. The blonde took a deep breath and surged up against the dark haired spell caster, tumbling towards the wall. His hands dug into Billy’s shirt and he let out a low breath, just ruffling the hair of the other boy. “Missed you too.”

Billy wanted to grab his shirt and pull him closer. If closer was even possible, but he had already gotten rid of it, so he settled for grappling angrily on broad shoulders and practically cornering himself. This was it. Teddy wasn’t allowed to leave again. Ever. Forget Skrulls and Kree and war and galactic alliances, Billy was shutting the door and never coming out of this room. “God, don’t leave again.”

Teddy brushed his hands through Billy’s hair and down his face, tracing every edge of his cheek bones until he rested at his neck. He tapped his fingers there once. “We have to talk.”

“Later…” Billy mumbled kissing him again, too sloppily, so he used his footing to even out their height and made the next kiss much better.

One of Teddy’s hands rested right under the curve of Billy’s skull as he kissed him back and let out the smallest little sigh. Then he stopped. “No. Later… is bad… we need to talk now.”

Billy let out an annoyed groan and bit the tip of Teddy’s ear. “Fine, we can catch up. Narrow it down to fifteen seconds though and then we’ll get back to this. My mom had a stroke. Granny Kaplan moved in. I moved out, Robbie lost another tooth and still believes in the tooth fairy so I have to conjure something up so that his dreams aren’t shattered. Tommy is thinking about joining this anti-Superhero apathy group that Eli thinks are a bunch of hippies and…” He took a breath, his mouth quirking. “You came back.”

“Your mom had a stroke?” Teddy ran his thumb down the side of Billy’s neck and took a step back till they were facing each other. “I- when did that happen?”

Billy took a breath. “After your last call. Not the one you just left telling me you were coming, which by the way was not really soon enough, but maybe too soon since I practically obsessed over it since—” He closed his eyes and rested his palm against Teddy’s cheek. “She’s…” staring up at Altman eyes it was becoming increasingly hard to lie. “Look she’s not okay, not better anyway, but I’ve been dealing. Much better in the last fifteen minutes until you decided we should start sharing our feelings. Is this what they do up on your homeworld, Emperor?”

The look that flashed over Teddy’s face should have been indicator enough. Or the step back. But Billy was really good at the whole denial thing, so he didn’t let it bother him.

“Yeah… I’m sorry; I mean if I’d known… God,” Teddy rubbed the bone above his flushed cheek. “This is not the best time for this.”

Billy smirked and without a shirt to grab, pulled Teddy back towards him by the hem of his pants. “Tell me about it.”

“Billy…” Teddy said weakly. “We really need to talk.”

“We just did,” Billy said, angling towards his mouth again. This time Teddy just let out a defeated sigh and kissed him back. Billy bounced on his toes a little at the victory. Yeah, he knew how to take down an Emperor. And he was planning on doing just that when someone banged on the door loudly.

Lately he hadn’t needed to concentrate to make any of his spells happen, but he figured that making the door weld to the walls might have taken a little more focus than he was currently committed to giving. Billy pulled Teddy’s head closer, running his hands down strong arms. “Go away.”

“Your majesty?”

Teddy let out an annoyed noise from the back of his throat that made Billy grin and want to kiss him again, so he did.

“Your majesty?” Another voice said, and this one Billy recognized as the Super Skrull.

“Three words and he’s in Bangladesh,” Billy threatened against Teddy’s lips.

“No that’s—” Teddy pulled himself back, with a reasonable amount of effort and grabbed up his shirt and the ugly jacket that he had been wearing. “Give me a minute, Kl’rt.”

“Ve’rt is waiting, your highness.”

Teddy winced and laced up his jacket. “Give me a minute.” He kicked the door for emphasis and swallowed before looking back at Billy. “We need to talk.”

Billy narrowed his vision and crossed his arms over his chest. “You could have asked for a half hour and then gone back out there. Didn’t need to put your shirt back on,” Billy muttered. He sighed. “What, you came to tell me you’re going to live on a different planet? Because you’ve already done that before.”

Teddy took a deep breath and a step forward and then another until they were close enough that he could brush back some hair from Billy’s face. “Not exactly. I just need to give you the fifteen second catch up too.” He sunk his teeth into his bottom lip and said more quietly, “And for you not to hate me.”

ShitShitShit Billy flashed an easy smile and took his own deep breath. “What? You’re going to visit less?”

Teddy stared at the floor. “Yes.”

Billy gritted his teeth and let out a breath, much more restrained than he meant it to be. “Fine. I’ll visit more. Spending all day in a palace sounds like more fun than it’s made out to be.”

Teddy sighed. “I don’t think that would work either… I wish it would work. I wish this could work, but I have to…” his teeth sunk into his lower lip again, it looked painful.

The headache that had been gone since Billy had read Teddy’s letter was slowly creeping around his temples. “You’re breaking up with me.”

Teddy opened his mouth and closed it. Then opened it again and closed it. He stared at the ceiling and rubbed his hands down his face. “Sort of?”

“You’re… sort of… breaking up with me?” Billy’s nostril’s flared and he evened out his footing. “Well at least I still register enough for you to do this in person.”

“Billy,” Teddy’s voice came out choked. “I don’t want to do this. I have to—I mean if I could make the long distance thing work, or we could—it’s just what’s best.”

“For who?” Billy snapped, black spots clouding his vision. Nothing could go right. “I can live with hard, Ted. I can live with hard just fine, but if it’s not—” He cleared his throat, “If I’m not worth your efforts than don’t go blaming the level of difficulty.”

“That’s not what I’m doing!” Teddy rubbed his forehead. “I looked for another way, but this is the—I mean it’s not like you’d be okay being in a harem or something and I’m not—”

“A what?” Billy’s voice went to a high decibel and he cleared his throat again. “Are you out of your fu—” The door opened and one of the female Skrull attendants, flanked by the Super Skrull swung the door open. “We’re busy!” Billy snapped.

Green eyelashes fluttered and the female Skrull gave Billy about half a look before turning towards Teddy. “Dorrek. You said you were going to introduce me to your friends before we went to discuss the treaty arrangements.”

Teddy’s mouth was too busy opening and closing for any actual response to come out of it.

Billy shook his head. “I was a pit stop for a treaty party. Nice, Ted. Real nice. Next time why don’t you just text me.” He found himself glaring at the woman and Kl’rt while he rubbed his temple. His head was throbbing and he didn’t feel like Teddy even deserved a glare at the moment.

“You weren’t a pit stop,” Teddy let out another noise. This one sounded hopeless.

“Betrothed, is everything all right?”

Billy’s head snapped in one direction so fast that for a moment his neck hurt worst than her head. “Is she talking to Fantastic Blunder over there?” Suddenly Teddy seemed very good to glare at.

Teddy made a face that told enough. “Ve’rt… can you uh give us just a minute.”

“You’re getting married?” Billy spun his head back with another sharp snap. “To a girl?”

“Skrulls can shape shift!” Teddy’s face was bright red, he didn’t seem to have any control over that either. “She’s not—I mean he’s not when I don’t want him to be—”

“Right,” Billy said, his voice going louder by the moment. “Because that worked so well for Xavin and Karolina.”

“This isn’t about—” Teddy gritted his teeth and shifted into something that looked exactly like a Kree/Skrull hybrid should look like. The only thing that remained the same was that blonde hair and those blue eyes that just looked incredibly scared and angry. “You don’t know what kind of pressure I’ve been under. And I can’t just throw away all that we’ve worked for, millions of lives just for – for—”

“Oh no, Dorrek,” Billy hissed, “I understand just perfectly…” he took one step forward. Then another, so that his face was close up to the face that wasn’t Teddy. “You always wanted to fit in with everybody else. Now you can.”

“Bi-” Was all he heard before blue light filled everything and he was in one of the back computer rooms. Why he was there was beyond him, but all Billy could do to keep standing was pitching himself against one of the panels. His stomach knocked against his spine and he lurched forward, feeling nausea and a migraine attacking him.

His head was swimming and it felt like the edges of everything around him were cracking, peeling. The universe was peeling around him.

“Billy? Shit… I uh thought you were with the others upstairs…” Tommy was shifting from one foot to the other, a duffel bag in his hands.

Billy glanced up at him blearily. “Why aren’t you?” He glanced at the table next to Tommy, files were spread out over it and a few were sticking out of his bag. Billy stood up enough to dig his nails into his palms. “What are you doing?”

Tommy glanced at the door and sped off, but in a flash of blue he was back where he was. He tried again and then in a flash of blue he was back at his spot. “Fuck, fine. I’m stealing information for the other side. It’s not like they’re super villains. Hell, Kate’s been doing espionage and she’s starting to agree with them too.”

“Are you kidding me?” Billy fists shook as his grip tightened and his fingers dug into his skin. “You have to be joking!”

“Uh, okay. I get the anger. Totally justified… sure,” Tommy squirmed, but his feet seemed stuck to the ground. His eyes widened a little. “Look just let me go; we’ll talk about it rationally. Without the impending doom over my head. I’ll put the files back, I just want—I want off the Avengers, away from here. It’s too much fake and I’m tired of it so I’m defecting. They’re not the bad guys, bro. They’re misunderstood, but with some training they could be better. And having competition in saving the world can only help you guys. Capitalism and all that.”

“You want to be gone?” Billy turned his head slightly, feeling the way his neck moved. All the muscles there wouldn’t have existed if it hadn’t been for one woman who desperately wanted children.

“Just let me go, man.” Tommy’s voice echoed off the sides of Billy’s head like a bird tapping on the window pane.

“Gone?” Billy stared at his fingers, pulled them away from his palms and stared at the imprints there. If the fingers didn’t exist there wouldn’t be the little bits of blood running down his palm. The palm wouldn’t even be there. For a moment it seemed like blood was dripping down air… then the blood was gone and his hand was back. Billy’s headache felt like so much more and he angled his vision towards Tommy. “Nothing you want matters. We’re not even really here.”

Tommy’s eyebrows rose. “Great, the psycho breakdown has to happen now. Look, the fact that I am three seconds from pissing my pants is a good indication that I’m here and the fact that I can’t move is a good indication that you are too.”

It was kind of like the Matrix. The first one, not the other two those were crap, but that concept of the spoon. Or the lack of one. The fact that you could control anything if you realized it wasn’t actually there. Teddy and he had discussed it last Thanksgiving, while breaking into half-empty trays of pumpkin pie. It had helped inexorably with his spell casting.

“Souls were the only real thing… and last I heard Mesphisto claimed them.” Billy moved his fingers back and forth. “Not having a soul would explain a lot.” The headache took over his head, pain in each temple, the front of his skull, the back, his neck, everywhere it could hurt it did.

So Billy just gave in. It was barely a few flutters of his eyes before the bag dropped to the floor and Tommy wasn’t there anymore.

A white, fast prayer to the universe.

To finally set things right. “One down,” Billy said before he slowly deconstructed everything around him. No soul to worry about. No real body. Never was there, all that was the leftover remnants of a mother who wasn’t really his. That power was hers and he was going to use it fix it. Fix everything.

Put it all back in place.

Space. Reality. Living Concepts without… within… with…

“Billy!” Somewhere someone was yelling at him. Sounded blonde. Cassie.

“Where’s Tommy? Billy! Stop—” Another voice. Kate. Reality blended into a nice tight circle where they were there and nothing else was. Time was irrelevant.

Another voice. This one Eli. “Come on, Kaplan. Put down the magic gun and take a breath, the tower is going to come down around us if you keep this up-”

Another voice. He could barely make out the words. He didn’t want to. “Bi— St— St—”

His headache was overwhelming, but somewhere past it were the vestiges of something else. Something clearer and more real. Real in the way that he wasn’t. It was so easy to see how the fabric of reality could come apart because of one loose thread. Too much pushed into a single space made everything seem uneven. Everything was so uneven.

Reality wasn’t reality when things that were there, weren’t really. He wasn’t really there – all that was, was this imprint of magic, power, warp that Wanda had left him. That his creator, his mother, his god, had left him. Part of her own reality broken off into bits and pieces of…

Sound… without the constraint of hearing. The voices around him circling into one cacophony of highs and lows. Girl voices, Boy voices, animal voices – just voices and noise and sound and…

Light the different shades of colors, blending into one perfect blue. Blue that was almost white. The blue was the actual. The real that was still there, just moving it. Getting rid of the real and then all that would be left was the perfect. The clean. The white.

The nothing.

A voice became louder. The color bigger and everything around Cassie was pushed into strain. “You have to stop! You’re—” Her voice cut off and a strangled groan escaped instead. It wasn’t hard to push. To stress. To fix.

Everything in reality is broken by choices that their parents, their creators, their gods, made. Fixing things and setting them to right was all Billy could see.

There was no more Billy Kaplan. There was just the lost soul, floating among the tower, trapped to a body that had no right to it.

And then… it felt no more.

***

Eli covered his eyes with his arm; the blinding light Billy was emitting was tearing the tower down. Cassie lay, normal sized, on the floor near him and he gritted his teeth.

Teddy hadn’t seemed to do anything, except land against the wall with a nice crunch, and the Super Skrull could be halfway to Malaysia by now for all they knew.

“Vision!” Eli barked, stepping just a little closer. “Do something!”

Vision was staring blankly at Cassie’s body. “[Do what?]”

“Compute something! Do—” Eli shut his eyes and let out a heavy grunt against the wind that wasn’t wind. “Do an impression.”

It wasn’t hard for Vision to figure out.

“William!” Wanda Maximoff’s pealed out of a holographic illusion Vision was projecting.

It was just enough to get Billy to stop, his eyes eerily blank with only the faintest shade of blue, before he passed out with a thud on the floor.

Eli slunk to the ground, exhausted.

“Dammit,” was all he said. And there really wasn’t anything else.

Ben and Robbie practically leapt at Billy as he entered the sterile, uninviting hospital waiting room. “You took forever!” Robbie made a little voice like he was attempting a whisper when it just came out louder than his normal voice. Billy patted him on his head and lifted up Ben with one hand, all the while searching the room for his father.

Jeff Kaplan met his eyes.

One look was all he needed. Dammit. Billy grabbed Robbie’s hand, while he chattered on about how boring hospitals were and how mom had been lighting the last candle when she fell. Robbie had apparently decided this was in very bad taste since they were about to get their last present.

Billy put Ben down in a chair and nudged Robbie next to him. “Sit still for a bit and I promise I’ll let you guys mess with my DS.”

Robbie’s eyes lit up and Ben just frowned staring at his hands.

Billy walked over towards his father. “What happened?”

“The doctor said she had a stroke…” His father ran a hand through his hair. Billy noticed grey that he was sure wasn’t there before. “Just don’t understand it. She’s not stressed out, she doesn’t eat bad… she’s not that old, I mean…”

“Dad,” Billy put a hand on his shoulder. “Go sit. I’ll find out more.”

His father nodded shakily and went over towards the boys. Billy tried to ignore the fact that he looked so shaken. Looked so weak. Billy wanted someone to lean against in this situation. To not have to be the strong one, but being an Avenger in training this was all part of the job description.

At least that’s what he was telling himself now, when his father and his little obnoxious brothers needed him to be okay. Later… later he could break it all down.

He walked over to the nurse’s station and after a few redirects was talking to a nurse that didn’t seem to look at him and just kept frantically typing at her computer while she talked. “Mrs. Kaplan is still in surgery; her doctor will let you know more when he comes out.”

“But–”

“Look, I’m sorry Mr. Kaplan, but this is a really busy season for us and I can’t disclose any more information than that.”

Billy glared at her, his fingers twitched against his thigh. It was a busy season for a lot of people. Petty crime and robberies had gone up forty percent in the last month and he had just finished tying someone up while his mother was being rushed in an ambulance.

He sighed and went back over to where his brothers were fidgeting next to their father. Robbie seemed to be less keen at ignoring what was going on the longer their father kept in a near catatonic state.

Billy rubbed his forehead with his palm and sat between them. “She’ll be fine.” He said with a state of finality and will that he knew would be true.

Although last time he’d tried to keep something from happening, something he wanted more than anything… nothing had happened. And it had all gone to hell.

“She’ll be fine,” he repeated anyway. His father gave him a grim nod. “Now…” he pulled out his DS glancing at Robbie and Ben, “You want to play MarioKart or Castlevania?”

Later Billy was leaned against the chair, his legs up on the corner of a side table, Ben on one side, snoring softly into his jacket, and Robbie sitting on his father’s lap tapping away at Billy’s Nintendo, when the doctor finally came out.

Billy lifted himself off the chair, walking over so his father didn’t have to. The doctor looked really young. Billy tried not to let a Doogie comment slip from his tongue, but just the inane idea that it could made him almost laugh.

“William Kaplan?” The doctor’s voice was calm and not at all reassuring.

“Billy,” he corrected automatically, and shook his head after it registered. Not that it mattered what the doctor called him. “How– How is she?” It took everything he had not to look back at his dad, crumbled on the waiting room bench, his obnoxious brothers’ quiet and squirming, their hands clinging to their father’s jacket.

“I’m sorry,” the doctor said and nothing after that mattered.

***

Scarlet Witch, Still Missing.

That should be a headline in Billy Kaplan’s life. It wouldn’t have made a difference really, whether or not he could find his real mother, his real real mother would still be, well nothing like the Rebecca Kaplan she was before. His father had practically crumbled to pieces and Billy’s grandmother had moved in to take care of the brats.

He felt like an extra part from an Ikea package, just something left lying around when you were done putting your chair together, not knowing why it was even in the box.

So he’d picked up the search again. The fact that he had dropped it in the first place was more to do with the fact that it was Teddy’s idea to start with… and picking it up again had just been a painful reminder that Teddy was still halfway across the galaxy, his last call being months ago and his last visit being even longer than that.

Of course going after the non existent trail of Wanda Maximoff was hard enough when he had the entire team of the Young Avengers helping him, but for some reason the last few weeks he had felt the need to catch her on his own.

He still wasn’t sure if he wanted his mother, if he wanted to know how to use his powers to bring back his mother, or if he just wanted to question his entire existence in the first place.

Even standing in Time Square on New Year’s Eve, surrounding by thousands of people waiting for the same thing to occur, Billy felt remarkably like a lost soul.

Maybe that was how it was always supposed to be. Lost on a never-ending wave of not being able to save, or keep the people he cared about. What was the point of having these powers if he couldn’t do the really good things with them? Saving the city from Electro for the fifteenth time really didn’t have the same meaning it used to.

Billy let out a sigh and watched the breath carry four inches before it was cut off by another person. “Hi, Tommy.” He said lightly.

“I wasn’t subtle? I’m working on subtle?” Tommy wasn’t dressed at all for the weather, except for a really ugly scarf twisted around his neck, and a leather jacket that looked more cool than warm.

Billy tugged his hat down over his ears. “Kate sent you?”

“Well, no one else could get here in time.” Tommy twitched a little, glancing at the extreme crowd of people around them. “Besides, she promised me some New Years jollities if I did.”

Billy eyed Tommy out of the corner of his vision. “Did you know Teddy had your ring tone as Super-Freak?”

Tommy raised his eyebrows and tilted his head back. “Well… it’s nice to know someone knows my prowess.”

“Sure…” Billy took another breath watching it float another few inches. “I haven’t found her yet.”

Tommy frowned at him. Every time the subject came up he became defensive, whether out of some abstract love of his foster parents in Jersey or just completely irritated with the idea of being so interconnected with some of the strongest super hero and super villain teams in history. “You should stop looking.”

“Kate tell you to say that?” Billy frowned and shoved his hands in his jacket.

“No, she said I should be nice,” Tommy arched a pale eyebrow. “Was I nice?”

Billy turned to face him, ignoring the increasingly loud conversations around them. “I’m just watching the ball drop. Kate doesn’t have to be that worried.”

Tommy snorted. “Yeah, you’re by yourself on New Year’s Eve, waiting for a count down where everyone pairs off and starts making time,” he laughed a little at his own joke, “I really don’t think you’re here to cheer yourself up.”

Billy eyed him levelly. “And how would you suggest I cheer up?”

The pale speedster shrugged an indifferent shoulder. “There are plenty of blonde guys around here, I’m sure would love to get under Wiccan’s coat. Knock yourself out.”

Billy glowered at him and Tommy held his hands up. “Or not… get drunk, what do I care? Just do it in the safety of Avenger’s Tower, where you can get drunk and start a Karaoke night with Iron Man and Captain America to War, What is it Good For,” Tommy tapped his chin with one finger. “What was the line… oh right, absolutely nothing…”

Billy just closed his eyes and turned back towards the massive ball waiting to drop. Maybe it would drop on all of them. Maybe Wanda would suddenly appear out in the distance and cheer him up like she did once before.

Maybe she would explain to him why he even existed. Why Tommy existed. Why anything in this stupid universe happened and he had the power to change it, except when it mattered.

He closed his eyes again, trying to ward off the incoming headache. When he opened them Tommy was staring at the Waterford crystal ball, gleaming above the crowd.

Tommy raised his hand very slowly a smile creeping across the lines of his face that gave Billy a familiar sick feeling. Billy grabbed his arm. “Don’t.”

Tommy smiled wider, his eyes brightening and his teeth flashing. “C’mon, it’d give ‘em a thrill.”

“Do it,” Billy cautioned, “and you’ll suddenly be overcome with the urge to bake Eli cookies.”

“You’re sick,” Tommy whispered, shoving his hands in his jacket.

Billy pulled his hat down further over his ears. “Yeah… I know.” He shifted a little and closed his eyes one last time. When he opened them he turned towards Tommy. “Fine. Let’s go.”

Tommy held out one arm and they both zipped through the crowds.

***

Billy dusted some snow off his shoes as they entered the main entertainment area of the Avenger’s Tower.

Kate walked out from one of the many rooms towards them, flashing Tommy a slow smile and meeting Billy’s eyes for a moment.

Tommy winked at her and stretched his arms out broadly, not at all observant of the change in temperature or the sickeningly fast run over here. He did, however stop when he reached where Spiderman was sitting, with his legs up on the couch and a copy of Popular Science in his hands. “Why is there a toddler stuck to the wall?” Tommy leaned sideways to take in the sleeping two year old, fisting a bit of webbing.

Spiderman shot his arm out, without moving and webcovered Tommy’s mouth. “This is the only position she’ll sleep in and if you wake her I’ll web places that only your doctor has seen.”

Kate stifled a giggle as Tommy tried to pull the webbing off his mouth and put a hand on Billy’s arm. “Come on, I made you some hot chocolate.”

Billy padded after her, taking off his jacket, gloves, and hat, as he went. When they reached the kitchen (passing Cassie and Vision playing a rousing game of Dance, Dance, Revolution in one of the other rooms), Kate handed him a warm mug.

“My mom…” Kate said softly, wrapping her fingers around her own mug, “used to make my sister and I this every time it got cold.”

“Oh…” Billy didn’t feel thirsty anymore. “Kate–”

“I know you said you didn’t want to talk about it,” Kate said firmly and frowned at him, “But you should. Even if it’s not to me. If you don’t talk about this stuff it can destroy you.” She stared at the swirling brown liquid in her mug and took a sip. “Although if you wanted to talk to me, that can work too.”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” Billy muttered irritably and put the mug down, raking a hand through his hair.

“Billy, your mom–”

“Is fine. Or she will be… eventually,” Billy rubbed his head again. The migraine felt like it was coming back twice as strong this time. Maybe if he kept telling himself the migraine would go away, that would work just as well as telling himself that Rebecca Kaplan would be back to lecturing him about missing class once again, in no time.

Kate sighed and leaned on one hip. “Okay, well what about the fact that you’ve been sleeping in the tower for the last week and a half?” She raised an eyebrow when Billy didn’t respond. “Or the fact that Teddy hasn’t called or made any communication in three months? Or your sudden renewed interest in finding the Scarlet Wit–”

“She’s not my mom!” Billy snapped, wishing he still had the mug in his hands so he could slam it down. It appeared in his hands in a flash of blue light and he did slam it down, cracking the sides. “You lost your mom, Kate and I’m sorry, but if I lose mine… I don’t know if she’s my mom or if the Scarlet Witch is… hell, Vision could be my father technically… or Wanda would be my father and mother– I mean who knows?” He jammed his palm against his eye, causing yellow spots on black to dance in front of his vision.

“I sure as hell don’t. And if she is my mother then what does that make me? An unclaimed soul?” Billy let out a sharp breath through his nostrils. “So if you have some light to shed on that, be my guest.”

Kate was silent for a long moment before glancing at her drink, taking a sip and staring evenly at Billy. “You didn’t mention Teddy…”

Billy matched her silence for a short moment and stared at the wall. “You can’t tell me anything I don’t already know about that issue.” Because that’s all it was now… an issue. An issue of the fact why a guy like Teddy ever let Billy believe in anything, even if he wasn’t a half-skrull/half-kree supposed savior of his peoples.

“Billy…” Kate put her cup on the counter. “You’ve been through a lot, but so have a lot of people. Maybe if you talk to Cassie or Viz or even Eli, any of us would be willing to–”

“Kate just cut it out, I can handle myself–”

An alarm dinged in the Tower. It was a normal response code, anyone could take it and no one was likely to. Somewhere in another room Spiderman was swearing as a toddler shrieked and swearing vengeance on Tony Stark for installing the alarm system.

Billy tugged on his jacket and after a moment his uniform appeared on him in a flash of blue light.

“Billy… the others can handle it,” Kate half-scolded.

Billy ignored her and started walking towards the door. Kate went after him, but didn’t have a chance to catch him as Tommy zipped into the room with a quick grin of “Happy New Year,” and proceeded to show her just how happy it was.

Billy left them in the kitchen and jumped out of an open window, free falling thirty flights to land too gracefully on the ground.

His head was killing him.

Billy glanced up at him. “You’re half skrull; you’re not allergic to anything.”

“Okay…” Teddy gave him a grin from his menu. “I don’t like shellfish.”

Billy shook his head and smirked. “Just pick something without it.”

“It’s Red Lobster.”

Billy laughed and put down his menu. “We can go somewhere else.”

The blonde boy’s face turned up in half a smile and he shook his head. “Nah. This is okay.”

Billy couldn’t help his gaze; it kept turning towards the window. A beautiful view, with the snow falling on the city, but that’s not why he was looking. “We should have gotten a booth away from the window.”

Teddy glanced out the window like it was holding answers. “Uh, why? I thought you liked snow?”

“Rule of fact, if we can see outside some guy in a cape calling himself the Anta Claws, who throws presents filled with bugs is going to come prancing around the city and since we’ll see we will have to go outside in the cold, fix it and by the time we come back the food will be gone,” he cleared his throat and gave Teddy a smile as he sipped some water.

“Sounds like fun to me,” Teddy shrugged and stared at the menu before putting it to the side. “Billy… look I have to–”

“What can I get you boys?” The waitress was wearing a Santa Hat with brightly colored bell earrings that jingled with any slight movement.

“Ted here will have anything that doesn’t have shellfish in it, and I’ll have a lobster bisque.”

The waitress smiled at them writing down their order. “Okay, chicken alfredo and a lobster bisque.”

Teddy nodded his assent and handed her the menu, before she turned around to go fill their order.

Billy glanced back at his boyfriend, after another quick peak out of the window, hoping he didn’t just will Anta Claws into existence by accident. “What were you saying?”

“Um…” Teddy shook his head. “It’s not important. Well, I mean it is, but I wanted to tell you after dinner.”

Billy raised his eyebrows. “Well if it’s important tell me now.”

Teddy opened his mouth to respond and then their cell phones went off in unison. Billy’s was on silent so it buzzed in his pocket, but the A-Team’s theme rang out on Teddy’s phone.

“Eli,” Teddy said without checking.

Billy flipped open his phone and glanced at the message. “Eli.” He agreed. They both stood up from the table, awkwardly glancing at the glasses and array of cheese biscuits barely touched. Billy threw down some money. “You do know, I’m telling Eli what his ring tone is.”

Teddy grinned at him as they walked out. “Just don’t tell Kate what hers is.”

***

Okay so it wasn’t Anta Claws and there were no evil elves prancing around and trying to steal toys from orphan children, but it was still a bad guy the day before Christmas.

“Don’t you guys take time off!” Cassie said, rubbing her arms for warmth. “I mean, really. Aren’t there evil vacation plans or something?”

“Where’s Speed and Hawkeye?” Teddy had ripped his Christmas sweater when he changed into Hulking, but Billy supposed that was probably for the best. A blonde hulk in a sweater with Rudolph on the front probably wasn’t going to be threatening, although Mom was going to throw a fit.

“No idea about Tommy, but Kate and Viz are off with Johnny Storm and Spiderman at the orphanage.”

Billy flew above them staring at the iced out expression of the man in front of them. “Snow Man? Really. In December? Don’t you think that’s overkill? I mean what are you going to do? Make it colder? It’s already freezing!”

“The Chill is on you!” Snow Man called out, making, of course, Snow Men rise up from the dirt trodden New York snow into a shade of snow Snow-Men should never be.

“Too easy!” Billy shouted down to them.

“Light them up, Wiccan. Might as well melt some snow so people can get back to work,” Eli shouted up, punching through a Snow Man with a look of disgust.

“Brrrrrrilliant idea!” Billy smiled warily at Eli’s glare and shrugged, sending a volley of lightning towards the snow men. “What? The Mr. Freeze knock off can pun, but I can’t? It’s Christmas, man.”

It didn’t take long for them to get to Snow Man, after melting all his ammunition. His icy armor went up in flames… literally and for a second Billy thought Johnny Storm had come to rescue them, but then he saw it and almost fell to the floor from shock. The Super Skrull was way too damn early.

“What’s he doing here?” Billy hovered so he was at least a foot above the Super Skrull. “I thought you weren’t coming back till next year to try and re-convince Ted to join up with your crazy brigade?”

“I came to offer my assistance.”

Billy balked. “For a Z-Lister? You came all the way from Skrullos or wherever you’ve been lately to help us melt a snow man?”

Billy’s gaze turned to Teddy who was looking anywhere but him. He landed on the slippery ground.

Cassie had shrunk to a normal size and was carefully hedging over towards them, she slipped and Eli caught her without looking.

“I thought you were going to tell him,” he said evenly, looking in Teddy’s direction.

“I was.” Teddy still wasn’t looking at him. He turned towards the Super Skrull. “Kr’lt, Patriot, Stature… can you uh give us a minute?”

Cassie was giving a look like she had no idea what was going on, that at least felt okay neither did Billy, but Eli looked like he knew. That pissed Billy off. Or he would have been pissed if there hadn’t been a coiling sickness tightening around his stomach. Kl’rt, the mother killer and kidnap king, just nodded and went off with them, dragging the naked villain with them.

Billy crossed his arms over his chest and brushed his boot against the slippery gravel. “What?”

“Billy…”

“Yes, that’s my name.” Billy raised one eyebrow and crinkled his nose as a snowflake fell on it. He rubbed his nose and then crossed his arms over his chest. Some how the one word told it all. “You’re not going.”

“Billy…”

“We’ve established that’s my name.” Billy glanced around the street. One more Billy and the tiny bit of wrapping paper that covered his identity would really be lost. He grabbed Teddy’s arm and flew them up onto a roof top. It was still cold; he pulled his cape around tightly. “What’s was the point of the brilliant plan to let the Kree and Skrull armadas let you give up your title if you’re just going–” He took a deep breath. “You’re not going.” Teddy opened his mouth but Billy held out his finger, “And I swear to god, Atlman if you say Billy one more time I’m pushing you off the roof.”

Teddy’s half smile was only on his face for a second. “It’s not just about the possibility of a Kree-Skrull war anymore. Kl’rt says–”

“Right, we’re going to believe what he says, because he’s always been so reliable.” Billy wrapped his cape tighter.

“Kl’rt saved my life, Billy. Three times.” Teddy still looked like Hulking, the green was making Billy a little sick.

He took off his impenetrable forehead cover and held it loosely at his side, sometimes he missed the wings. “Teddy…”

“Don’t you start too,” Teddy tried another smile, then sighed and stepped closer. “There are civil wars breaking out on both homeworlds. It’s my fault for not picking a side to begin with or trying to unify them. I mean if they reach earth–”

“The Avengers will kick their asses again,” Billy snapped. “You said you were staying. That was the whole point–” He closed his eyes. “Would you change back, I want to talk to Teddy not Hulking.”

When Billy opened his eyes Teddy Altman was looking at him with Teddy Altman’s eyes… and it wasn’t easier. It was worse.

“I can always visit. And I mean, when everything is set up I’m sure I can come back to earth. And I mean maybe you could visit– or–”

“Or what?” Billy frowned. “Come with you? Yeah, Ted I love you, but I’m not leaving my home for a bunch of crack pots who probably wouldn’t want me anyway.”

Teddy sighed. “Billy– I mean… Dammit,” He flopped his arms, uselessly at his sides. “I thought this would be easier. I was going to tell you after dinner, I mean I wanted… another night with just us, not–” He chewed on his bottom lip.

Billy hated how that affected him and tightened his grip on his metal headband. “How long have you known?”

Teddy Altman really knew how to look like a kicked puppy when he wanted to. “Two weeks.”

“Two weeks?” Billy hissed taking a step towards the blonde. “And you were going to tell me now?”

“I hadn’t decided for sure yet… I didn’t want–”

“What? Me, affecting your decision?” Billy felt his stomach twist into knots at the look Teddy gave him. Like he’d hit the nail right on the head. “You can’t go.” He’d been through too much. They had been through too much, in the past two years for it to end with brilliant, beautiful, Teddy Altman turning into Dorrek the freaking seventh or eighth or whatever.

“I have to.”

Billy shut his eyes and started to whisper under his breath. Repeating it. Again. He’d never wanted anything or felt the words more so it had to work.

“Billy, stop it,” Teddy’s hands were on his arms. It was the first time he’d touched him all night.

“You can’t leave,” Billy repeated, his hands shaking as Teddy pulled him into an embrace. The rest of his words were muffled into a meticulously recreated ugly red sweater that was an early Christmas present from his mother. “You’re not allowed to leave. You’re a Young Avenger you don’t leave unless you’re Kang and the time stream is going to collapse. And we thought about that too!”

“We’re not so young anymore,” Teddy said softly. “Billy…” he said into his hair.

This time it didn’t annoy Billy so much, he pulled Teddy’s head down and kissed him, the metal in his hands clunking onto the snowy rooftop. When he could breathe more words spilled out. Useless. “It’s Christmas Eve tomorrow… you can’t come to dinner with my parents if you’re leaving me.”

Billy didn’t know if he felt better or worse that Teddy was tearing up too. The blonde stared intently at the snow covered roof. “I couldn’t go anyway.”

Billy dropped his hands to his sides but didn’t step back. “You’re leaving tomorrow?” He choked out.

Teddy opened his mouth a few times, but apparently gave up on whatever words he was planning and just nodded numbly.

Mr. Roboto cut the tension loudly. Teddy awkwardly fumbled for his phone while Billy stared at the edge of the rooftop, he’d probably have to take the stairs, he thought inanely, there was no way he was flying after this.

“Vision, this isn’t the best–” Teddy was biting his lip again, trying not to look at Billy, yet seeming to do so anyway. “Oh… no, that’s okay. Sure, we can be there. See you then.” He closed his phone and shoved it into his pocket. “Viz wanted the rest of us to meet him at the orphanage to visit with the kids. Spiderman and Johnny Storm had to go to a shipping accident, something to do with um…” He gave an awkward smile. “Santa C-l-a-w-s, he’s throwing garden gnomes dressed like elves at the dock workers. Might have caused an oil leak.”

Billy let out a sharp laugh, it hurt his throat and he hadn’t been expecting it. He didn’t expect the other laugh that came out after it, that slowly, but surely, turned into something not at all like laughter. Billy slunk to the floor, the snow seeping onto the knee of his pants. He buried his face in his hands and gritted his teeth against the hot tears on a cold face.

Teddy wrapped his arms around him and buried his face in Billy’s neck.

Billy couldn’t think of anything else to do, but repeat what he had been whispering earlier. “I love you. Don’t leave me.”

But it was useless; Billy couldn’t change everything, no matter how much he wanted to.

Roy cracks his back with a brisk shake of the shoulders before sitting down.

The waitress is pretty damned attractive. Her eyebrow’s curve when her mouth does. “What can I get you, Arsenal?”

He smirks at that. Being in the JLA is nice. Getting recognized and not called Red Arrow is even better. He leans back in the stool a bit. “Just coffee.” He offers a long easy grin and she doesn’t blush, but smiles at him in a way that’s not just good service. He glances at her nametag. “Jennifer.”

“Jenny,” she says and smiles again. This time she does blush a little.

Roy cracks his knuckles.

Hour 2

“Um…” Jenny’s biting her lip and Roy’s trying not to make any loud noises. Lian is sleeping soundly down the hallway, but the room is not soundproof, although at the moment that sounds like a good idea.

Covering Jenny’s mouth makes her eyes flare in a good way, so Roy just goes with it.

Hour 3

Jenny snores.

Roy considers covering her mouth again, but just rolls over and puts the pillow over his head.

Hour 4

“It’s four a.m.,” Jenny says on a huff and a blinking yawn.

Roy nods placating at her and hands back her bra. “I told you I have a kid, I don’t want her waking up to someone she doesn’t know.”

“Maybe you should take the same advice,” she snaps and yanks the bra on. “Jeez, what kind of kid gets up near four fucking a.m.?”

Roy crosses his arms over his chest and gives her a steady glare. “The kind with a superhero for a father.”

Jenny finishes dressing and just glares back. “Some superhero, you should have kept the mask on.” She strolls out with at least the dignity to not wake Lian up.

Roy sinks back into bed and smiles widely. Lian won’t be up till eight, but he needs sleep.

Hour 5

The alarm that is still set from last week gets thrown out the window.

He hopes he hit someone.

Roy vaguely notes to himself that he has super villain thoughts when he’s groggy and rolls over and goes back to sleep.

Hour 6

He’s still sleeping when the phone rings, but eventually manages to pick it up without throwing it out the window. “Whazzuuoowannntah?”

“Roy.” It’s Mia.

“Kill you.”

“That’s great. Look, I’m out of the good arrow tips and Ollie’s out on some Mayoral thing.”

After realizing he can’t kill her from here Roy groans and rolls over. “Ask Connor.”

“He doesn’t use trick arrows.”

Roy smashes the phone against his face, hearing a few pings of the buttons being pressed. “Ask Bonnie then.”

Mia sounds muffled and more annoying than she ever has. “Who’s Bonnie?”

“Uhnn, fine. Come pick them up today.”

“Roy, I’m in San Francisco. That’s a long commute.”

Roy growls at the phone. “Send Wally for them then.”

“Wow you are asleep aren’t you?”

“What ever gave you that idea?” Roy is trying for sarcasm, but he’s not sure it’s coming across as well as he plans.

Mia clears her throat. “No speedsters with the Titans anymore, Roy.”

Roy rubs his face and as he starts to wake up just a little, clarity comes. “Wait? You’re in S.F.? Why the fuck are you calling me now? It’s even earlier for you!”

“Time travel?”

Roy’s pretty sure he mumbles something along the lines of things that Mia really shouldn’t be doing at her age, especially to a wooden pole and three porcupines, before he hangs up the phone and then rips it out of the socket.

Hour 7

Roy kicks at the sheets a little as his semi-state of rest finally turns back into sleep.

Hour 8

“Daddy?” There is a very small, quite adorable, and possibly annoying thing poking his cheek.

“Mmffmm.”

“Daddy!” Lian laughs and pokes his cheek again. “I’m hungry!”

Roy reaches out one arm and tugs her into the bed hugging her to his chest and earning a laugh. “Five more minutes, squirt.”

“But Daddy, I’ll miss cartoons!”

Roy groans and lifts himself out of bed.

Hour 9

Lian has now learned how to say ‘me llamo Lian’ from watching what feels like six hours of Dora the Explorer. He feels this will come back to haunt him later.

Roy is still waiting for the coffee to kick in.

Hour 10

“How do you say dog?” Lian pulls down on Roy’s knee hard enough to hang off of it. Her eyes are bright and inquisitive.

Roy’s glad the coffee has finally kicked in so he can find this as cute as it is. “Perro.”

Lian shrieks a giggle. “Do it again!”

Roy bobs his knee. “Do what again, princess?”

“The rrrrroow.”

“Oh you mean, Perro,” he over does the erre and Lian shrieks a high pitched giggle before pulling herself up on his knee and pitching herself at his neck.

“Are you going to save the world today?”

Roy smiles and shifts his daughter so she’s sitting on his hip. “Maybe later.”

“Can we watch The Little Mermaid?”

Hour 11

“Does Uncle Garth know any mermaids, Daddy?” Lian doesn’t tear her eyes off the screen for a second and is humming the song under her breath.

“Yeah,” Roy says idly rubbing her back. “I think he dated a couple. So did Superman from what I hear.”

“Wow.”

“But Garth prefers the fish part all over.”

Lian giggles. “He does not!”

“Yup,” Roy nods somberly. “Why do you think we had to keep him away from your goldfish? Didn’t want him asking her out on a date or something.”

Lian dissolves into giggles and shakes near him. “You’re silly.”

Hour 12

“Yeah, she called earlier. Way earlier.”

Ollie laughs on the line. “Sorry about that. I was out—”

“Doing Mayoral things, so I’ve heard.” Roy glances at the living room where he can see Lian dancing around with the crabs. “Should I be worried or flattered that Lian wants to get a red wig?”

“I don’t know, Roy. Probably a little of both.”

Roy frowns. “I think it’s just because of the mermaid, though I’d like to think I had something to do with it.”

“Ariel’s more of a dark red. You’re a ginger.”

Roy’s silent for a long moment before pinching the bridge of his nose. “Ollie, do me a favor and don’t tell me how you know that.”

Hour 13

Roy wonders when the exact moment occurred that he could make Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches without looking and they’d turn out perfectly.

Hour 14

Roy will be hearing Under the Sea in his nightmares.

Hour 15

Lian jumps up for the door as Omar arrives and Roy takes this opportunity to dive for the remote and shut down the DVD that probably has some kind of play burn.

“Can I worship you a little?” Roy says as Lian laughs and clamps onto the ex-marine’s leg.

Omar just grins and walks with her hanging on. “Always.” Lian giggles as she swings around on Omar’s leg.

Roy sighs and shakes his head. “Staying in, right?”

Omar nods.

Roy nods back, more to himself. “Okay, I should be back by six if all things go well.”

Hour 16

Things don’t go well.

Roy winces against his bruised shoulder and calls in whatever of the JLA he can get.

Hour 17

It’s hard not to be distracted when Kendra is helping him. Sometimes he wishes that the women in the business were less attractive so he could concentrate.

Then he remembers all the reasons it would suck if they were and knocks on wood.

Hour 18

“Guess we saved the world, again.” Kendra smiles at him and spreads her wings wide, which Roy has noticed happens when she’s happy.

“Eh, don’t worry it’ll need saving in another hour.” Roy stretches his arms out nice and wide. “So… Kendra…”

“Hawk Girl,” Kendra says. She smiles and flies up. “I’ll see you later, Roy. Thanks for the assist.”

Roy lets out a breath as she flies off. “That’s my line, flygirl.”

He pauses and frowns at himself. “Nope. That doesn’t work, now all I can think about is In Living Color and JLo’s original ass.”

Roy realizes he’s talking to himself and hops down off the roof onto the fire-escape.

Hour 19

Roy tries not to close his eyes on instinct as he pisses on the side of a building. It’s not good to let your guard down, while your jock is off, Ollie used to say.

Hour 20

He takes down three muggings, an attempted rape, and someone who was kicking an ATM machine. Although the last was purely by mistake, but it was kind of funny the way the kid ran off completely freaked out.

Roy grins.

Hour 21

“Hey, princess,” Roy says, swinging Lian up in the air after he takes his mask off.

“Daddy! We watched The Little Mermaid and Omar knows all the words!”

Omar gives him a pained look. “I have it burned into my retinas.”

Roy laughs. “I think it’s past your bedtime, kiddo.”

Lian protests get cut off by a yawn and so she pouts.

Roy raspberries her cheek until she laughs and then sends Omar off and puts her to bed.

Hour 22

Roy knows biologically speaking he should be getting some sleep, but he thinks he has the day off tomorrow, so he uses that as an excuse to check on Lian every five minutes.

She sleeps soundly except for kicking at her covers.

Roy smiles, tucks her back in, and goes to the living room to hide The Little Mermaid on the highest shelf.

Hour 23

After a long hot shower, Roy sinks into bed ready to finally get some well-earned sleep.

Hour 24

“Gzzfuckingphone,” Roy growls as he grabs for it. He was sure he unplugged it.

“Roy? You weren’t sleeping were you?”

Roy growls something he’s pretty sure is a curse in Navajo. “Connor, what?”

“You just aren’t usually asleep now and—”

“Connor. What?”

“I have a date tomorrow and I was wondering what… um I mean…”

Roy jerks to a sitting position, taking half the phone cord with him. “I’m up!”

“I need serious advice on this. Not… you know, you.”

Roy nods and then realizes Connor can’t see him. “Tell Uncle Roy all about it.”

“Just… um… you know what, never mind. I’ll call you tomorrow.” The phone clicks dead.

Roy throws his hands (and the phone) into the air. He hadn’t even gotten to find out who it was.

“Great,” Roy grumbled. “Now I’m up.”

Joey makes a few gestures with his hands and Rose bites her lip. “Slow down…” she makes the sign for it. It’s been like studying for school, which to be honest she can barely remember, but is totally worth it, so she practices whenever she can.

Joey signs again.

“Oh.” Rose grins, because she can’t help it and pulls out the long skillet in one easy movement, hopping to her feet and putting it on the stove. “Now, Joey, how exactly are these pancakes going to be better than any other pancakes I’ve tasted?”

Joey just smiles at her and moves past her to go to the refrigerator. He gets out a whole load of ingredients, but blocks her view of them—so obviously that Rose knows it’s on purpose.

“Hey!” Rose laughs, because she can’t help that either. “I’m family; I don’t get the secret recipe?”

Joey doesn’t turn but spells out Surprise with his fingers and Rose tries not to sulk. She kind of wants to reach for him and give him a hug, if only for the effect of getting to see what he’s doing. Joey’s given her seventeen hugs since he’s been back. They’re thinking about getting a place outside of Titans Tower to stay when everyone isn’t here.

Rose thinks it’s mainly because Joey gets just as annoyed with the twin geeks as she does. But it doesn’t matter, because they’re a they, a family and Rose can finally have somewhere to go when bothering Wonder Girl gets boring. Besides… she’s at least half sure Joey’s not going to wake her up with a pie in the face.

Rose jumps up onto the counter and kicks her heels against it, trying not to fidget and just watch Joey’s back move as he puts things together. She know he took out more than he was putting in, because they already made the pancake base and she’s pretty sure the jalapeños she can see if she leans back aren’t an ingredient. She hopes not.

“You should just tell me, in case someone attacks the Tower and we have to rush out. I mean it wouldn’t be fair waiting all that time,” Rose leans to the side, but Joey shifts so she can’t see and she snaps her fingers and laughs. “Come on!”

Joey turns, holding out the mixing bowl and hands it to her. When his hands are free he makes a few signs, she only catches a few of them. “You’re making me make my own pancakes? That’s slave labor!”

Joey just smiles at her and shakes his head, redoing the signs.

“Turn around?” Rose frowns, but Joey beams at her for getting it and she can’t help but lose the frown and smile back. She lets out a breath and hops down, handing him back the bowl. “Oh fine.”

It’s a little frustrating and makes her want a cigarette while she fidgets facing the nearest wall and swear jar. Somewhere in the Tower Robin’s taking a shower, Wonder Bitch is sleeping in and Eddie is watching TV. She can hear Cyborg moving around the Tower near them, but he’s stayed away from the kitchen. It’s like everyone is purposefully trying to be nice because of Joey.

Rose gets that because Joey is so nice and even if he wasn’t her brother she’d want to be around him all the time too. She used to think that people could see the holes in her and that’s why they acted the way they did and now that Rose feels so filled and everyone is being so nice to her—she’s pretty sure what she used to think was right.

The tap on the shoulder gets Rose to spin around on her heel to beam at Joey and she’s about to make another quick reply, but there’s a plate of pancakes shaped in front of her that look perfectly swirled together like a rose. Joey even used yellow food coloring.

Some things are better with one eye, because she can just give it a quick swipe and smile broadly at Joey. “You’re such a sap!”

Joey puts the pancakes aside and gives Rose her eighteenth hug.

It’s a great team. They work together. There are fewer fights now.

And he feels nothing for them.

Grace can take care of herself and even if she can’t there’s that healing factor that keeps coming into play, and every time he gets even remotely fond of her she says something that makes him want to land her on her ass. It’s kind of perfect.

Thunder keeps herself at as much of a distance as Dick does. He doesn’t know her even after working for over a year. He knows how she works, what she does, and how to get her to commit seamlessly to a routine. But he doesn’t know her.

Katana annoys him half of the time. She can definitely take care of her own with that sword of her. Sometimes the way she holds back reminds him of Kory. But mostly she doesn’t even stack up to the Tamaranian and it doesn’t even occur to him.

Owen is the easiest. Dick can never get over his attachment to Tim, and if Boomerang ever becomes a liability firing him from the team or otherwise would be incredibly easy if Dick just overrides his connection to Tim and remembers Owen’s parentage.

It doesn’t even bother him anymore that Boomerang looks a little like Roy.

After all he took care of that too.

Arsenal’s doing much better in the JLA than he ever was in the Outsiders. And because of that so is Dick.

Rex and Shift were a problem. But now that they’re one he can look at a middle ground between them and not find himself getting attached or caring. Combined they work better than they did apart. It makes him realize how inhuman both of them are. It makes him forget ever even letting himself get attached to Indigo.

That was definitely not the plan.

Kara has tried to join and be involved with the team. If she wasn’t a liability and a distraction, Dick would count her among them easily. Because she’s not really Kara. The problem with that is that it reminds him that Donna isn’t really Donna.

Which is almost a relief; because if he has to go through it again, it won’t be his fault and it won’t really be Donna.

It’s all calculations for their weakness and strengths and how they work as a team. And sometimes they accomplish enough that he doesn’t think about all the incarnations of the Titans. Of families. Of Teams that got too close.

Dick knows he’s thinking like Bruce now. He doesn’t care. He’s not doing it for the same reason. Bruce deludes himself into thinking pushing people away makes it better for them.

Dick knows he’s being selfish.

Dick raises an eyebrow and continues the careful process of putting the whole artichokes into a heavy steam pot. “Who says I’m not?”

“It’s still morning, Dick.” Donna has this look on her face, amused with a dash of knowing too much for her own good.

Dick picks up the pot with large claw shaped pot-holders that Garth had gotten him. “Artichoke hearts take forever to prepare the right way, and for this they need to cool off.” He puts the pot to the side, covering it and crosses his arms over his chest, claws sticking out through his arms. “Don’t say I look domestic.”

Donna smiles brighter at him. “You seem…” she waves her hand. “Grown-up.” She pauses. “Dick Grayson seems grown up.”

“It’s the pants.” Dick says jumping up on the counter in a fluid movement. “All about the pants.”

Donna gives him a fond eye roll and floats onto the counter next to him. “I mean it. Sometimes I worried that too much of your life was in the costume.”

“Mine doesn’t have sparkles,” Dick says and waggles his eyebrows.

Donna snorts and shoves him a little. “Oh you’re ruining my speech.”

He grins. “Should I get you podium, dear?”

Donna laughs and gives him another fond eye roll. “I just wanted to say it’s nice, seeing you come back to earth sometimes. Putting your feet on the ground.” She puts a hand on his cheek and gives a warming smile. “Can’t be in the air all the time, without someone to catch you.”

Dick ignores the pang that gives him and ignores everyone and everything he thinks of. Instead, Dick wraps a quick arm around her shoulder and pulls her close so he can kiss her temple. He leaves his mouth there. “As long as you’re here, Donna. I’ll be on solid ground.”

“Hey.”

She yawned and sat up, pulling on her night gown. “Kon?”

“Yeah. Uh. Have you heard from Cassie?”

Cissie yawned again and blearily realized her new roommate was glaring at her. “No. Not lately, why?”

There was a long silence on the phone. “Donna died. Cass broke up Young Justice.”

“What?” Cissie’s voice was too sharp. The pang that shot through her wasn’t immediately about Cassie it was about the YJ. She pulled her legs to her chest. “Is Cassie okay?”

“I don’t know. She…” Another pause. “I gotta go, Ciss. If you see her will you…” Another pause.

“Sure, Kon.”

“Thanks.”

Cissie frowned and put the phone back on its jack.

*

“Greta, I’m sure they’re fine.” Cissie knew she had said that sentence at least seven times, but Greta had probably heard her maybe once.

“But it’s Deathstroke!” Greta turned up the volume on the TV and Cissie sighed.

“We—They’ve been up against worst. Besides this was an earlier taping, if anything serious had happened it would have said.” There was the most infinitesimal pause before she said, “And they would have called. Somebody would have called.”

Greta nodded and frowned, holding the remote. “Cissie?”

Cissie sighed and folded her legs under her. “Yeah, Greta?”

“Um…” Greta put the remote down. “Do you think I’d look smarter with brown hair?”

Cissie blinked and tried not to brush her fingers through her own hair on reflex. “If that’s what you want. But I like your hair the way it is.”

Greta sighed and flopped back onto the floor. “I just think I’d look more… normal with brown hair.”

Cissie laughed, half of her in it. She was still waiting on that call. “Are you saying blondes can’t be normal?”

“None I’ve met are,” Greta said seriously and looked away shyly, holding a pillow to her chest. “I just—think I’d remind myself of it less if I didn’t look like…”

Cissie bit her lip and sunk to the floor, wrapping a long arm around Greta. “How about we go grab Traya and some hair dye and have a girls’ night?”

*

“Anita…” Cissie sighed, hoisting what she was desperately trying not to think of Agent Fite in her arms. “I’m sure they’d love to have you in the Teen Titans.”

Anita shook her head. “I wouldn’t want to be on their stupid team anyway, mon. I’m the only one without a fancy sponsor dragging me in.”

“It’s not Young Justice anyway,” Cissie said. Which was why they hadn’t asked her either. Not that she cared, since she had quit the game. This was totally Cassie, Kon, Bart and Robin’s thing now. Completely.

“I hear that,” Anita frowned and cradled the baby that was supposed to be her mother in her arms.

Cissie crinkled her nose and glanced up stairs. “I swear if my mom and Ish are making out again, I’m going to barf.”

Anita nodded in agreement and gave her a smile. “I hear that too.”

*

“Wait, wait!” Greta bounced on Cassie’s bed. “Batman and Robin fought?”

Cissie laughed. “Forget that part; tell me the part where Wonder Woman threw Kon halfway across the sky again!”

Cassie’s face darkened, but it was only momentarily before she was grinning again. “It was… well it was good. Of course Bart is going by Kid Flash now.”

Cissie chewed her lip. “He’s okay though right?”

“Yeah took out Deathstroke by himself. And read the entire San Francisco Public Library.”

“With no pictures?” Greta’s eyes widened almost comically.

Cassie nodded and smiled. “Yeah. Guess he’s really growing up.”

Cissie smiled and pushed some hair behind her ear. “I guess we all are.”

“Yeah well… so far the weekend thing is doing okay.” Cassie seemed genuinely relieved. “Other than that thing with Rose Wilson disappearing. She seemed nice enough and Bart liked her, I hope she’s okay.” She closed her mouth. “I’ve just talked all about the Titans for an hour haven’t I?”

“It’s fine,” Cissie held her up hand. “Anything to distract me from my History Exam.”

Greta bounced on the bed again. “So did Robin win?”

Cassie and Cissie shared a look and then laughed.

*

“I just don’t know what to do about Conner,” Cassie chewed on her pencil. The fifth pencil that she had stolen from Cissie and was currently putting molar marks into.

“Who?”

Cassie blinked. “Oh. Um. Kon, it’s his secret identity.”

Cissie couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up. “The kid has a secret identity?”

Cassie frowned. “Yeah. Sometimes it’s nice.” She put the pencil down. “Sometimes I almost miss the wig.”

“Hey,” Cissie pushed her. “I liked the goggles.”

Cassie just crinkled her nose and chewed on the pencil again with a sigh.

*

“Hey, Cissie,” Bart said zipping towards her so fast her hair flipped around her shoulders.

Cissie smiled. “Bart.”

He bounced on big feet and zipped to one side of her. “Man, oh man so let me tell you Kon and Tim are at it right now, they decided that it would be funny to replace all of Starfire’s clothes with like those big dresses grandmothers wear.”

“Tim thought that would be funny?” Cissie put her book down in her lap.

“Well. No.” Bart paused and zipped to her other side, grinning. “But Kon is going to say Tim did.”

“Ah.”

“So!” Bart zipped behind her and Cissie leaned her head back to see him grinning above her. “Tim said it wouldn’t really make a difference since Starfire would probably just walk around naked anyway.”

“Uh oh.”

“Yeah!” Bart zipped in front of her and Cissie just tilted her head to see him. “So Kon thought that was even better and now is just getting rid of all the clothes in the Tower.”

Cissie smiled. “All of them?”

“Yeah, he’s gonna find a good place to hide all of them while I keep up a perimeter and watch for when the girls get back.”

Cissie just stared at him. “Uh huh. Bart?”

“Yeah?” Bart said with a grin.

“Shouldn’t you be doing that then?”

Bart straightened up with a jolt and zipped off again.

He came back after a second. “Bye, Cissie!” He gave her a grin and zipped off again.

Cissie straightened up her papers and laughed. “Bye, Bart.”

*

“Hey, handsome,” Cissie curled her fingers around the phone. “How’s the civilian life treating you?”

“A girl’s wearing my tights.” Robin – well Tim said over the phone.

Cissie laughed. “See I like that idea. I could completely go for a Mr. Arrowette.” She paused. “Mr. Arrow? Hrm.”

Tim gave the smallest laugh over the phone. “Green Arrow, Arsenal, Connor Hawke…”

Cissie laughed again. “Okay, okay. I get your point. It’s a big boys club.”

“Hm.”

Cissie let the silence drag out like some unknown third person that just kept on butting into the conversation.

Tim broke in. “Cissie… do you ever, I mean do you ever regret—”

Cissie closed her eyes. Tim needed a certain kind of answer.

“Never,” she lied.

“Hm,” was all Tim said.

*

Cassie was flipping out.

It was kind of cute.

Cissie just leaned back on her hands on the bed and turned her head, watching it happen.

Cassie made flailing gestures and tore through her closet. “I have a date with Superboy and I have NO idea what to wear.” She breathed; a short two steps away from hyperventilating. “A real date. With like a restaurant and people and…” Cassie let out a breath that sounded like fourteen breaths strung together and Cissie tried not to smile.

“You’ll be fine,” she said in a reassuring tone, because Cassie wasn’t listening to her anyway, but if the tone was calming maybe the younger girl would chill.

“I mean because I have to wear like a skirt right?” Cassie flipped her hands up in the air. “I don’t own a skirt!”

Cissie laughed and Cassie gave her a dirty look.

“I have skirts.”

“You do!” Cassie agreed pointing at her. “Ohhh, but what shirt? What am I going to do?”

Cissie pushed herself off Cassie’s bed and slung and arm around her friend. “We’re going to go to my room, grab some fabulous outfits and you’ll knock the kid senseless.”

Cassie smiled up at her. “Really?”

“Really.”

*

“Oh. Hm.” Greta was really getting on Cissie’s nerves.

Cissie sighed. “What?”

“Nothing, just… uh I got an email from Im—Bart.” Greta licked her lips. For the past month she had completely shut out anything dealing with Super Heroes and wouldn’t tell Cissie why, but it had left an easy rift that had made it completely clear they had nothing in common.

And Cissie never really knew Greta like she knew Secret, and that said something. “And?” Cissie tried not to think about how Bart’s short visits had stopped lately too and focus on her Trig homework.

“They have a new member. Her name’s Speedy.”

“What Speedy like—” Cissie swallowed and stared at her paper, erasing out a mismark a little harder than she needed to. “Good for them. You always need an Archer.”

Greta looked at her with something akin to pity and Cissie just tried to focus on her Trigonometry.

*

“My dad is Zeus!” Cassie threw her hands up in the air. “How would you like to wake up and find out all of your talent came from your dad and you had no idea?”

Cissie stepped forward. “Look, let’s just take a breather and walk back, I mean we can…”

“No. I have to get to the Tower.” Cassie paused and looked at her. “Do you… I mean can you come with me? You don’t have to go in, just I want to stop off quickly and we could—”

Cissie smiled and held out her hand. “Sure, Cassie.”

*

Cissie saw the fighting erupting from her perch where she’d been watching the Tower for a few hours. She couldn’t really see anything, but it didn’t matter anyway. It’s not like she could swim across the bay and go help.

She didn’t have her arrows with her. And no costume.

Plus they already had an archer. With trick arrows.

Cissie bit down the bitterness of only a few hours when Cassie had practically lifted her away from the fight.

She sighed and sunk to the grass again, ignoring the growling of the tied up Supervillians Cassie had forgotten to call in. They were pretty stuck and Cissie had called an hour ago to the S.F.P.D. someone should have been coming.

And if they broke out, well she could handle herself.

Cissie clenched her hand into a fist and watched each muscle and tendon stretch.

She didn’t have a costume. She burnt both the Arrowette costumes with her mother so she wouldn’t have to be worried again. Although she’d kept the skirt of the first one. It was cute.

Cissie didn’t want to be Arrowette anymore, but she knew after that feeling of being the helpless civilian she didn’t like that either.

Cissie watched the battle raging at the Tower and stood up, brushing the grass off her pants.

She couldn’t watch anymore.

*

“Hey, Wonder Girl how’s it going?” Somewhere behind Cissie someone was either mocking or cheering Cassie.

Judging by Cassie’s face it was the former. The blonde folded her arms and sunk against the tree trunk. “Where’s Greta?” she asked softly.

Cissie pulled back her arm and let the arrow fly free right into the target. So far that was six hundred and eighty in a row. “She left. Two weeks ago.”

Cassie sighed and chewed on her lip. “Really?”

Cissie took out another arrow, letting her fingers grace the shaft and feeling the wood in her hands before letting it fly through the air. “I think she really wanted to separate herself from that time in her non-life. Greta’s too scared that stuff Darkside said will come true and she’ll start to regret it.” Cissie examined her target and tried to pick a harder one. “Being normal, I mean.”

Cassie was still staring at the ground. “Hm.”

“So she got a boob job and moved to Vegas,” Cissie said letting another arrow loose and hitting the target again. Six hundred and eighty-two.

“Oh…”

Cissie let an arrow land one centimeter above Cassie’s ear and the younger girl shrieked and stood up. “Cissie! What was that for?”

“Six hundred and eight-three.” Cissie said and turned back to her targets.

*

“Cassie, what is your damage?” Cissie crossed her arms under her chest. “You totally flipped out. They’re going to expel you if you don’t come back.”

”Expel me then!” Cassie snapped.

Cissie pinched her nose. “You have to calm down.”

“He can’t talk about Wonder Woman like that, everyone is—” Cassie choked back a sob. “I don’t know what to do, Cissie. She’s—Diana can’t have done that!”

“Why not?” Cissie stepped forward. “It’s totally possible for someone in place of power to slip up like that. Why do you think I quit?”

The look Cassie gave her was too much and Cissie glared. “Why do you think I’m so mad at you for overreacting, Cassie?”

“That guy was a jerk!”

“Lots of guys are jerks!” Cissie threw her hands up in the air. “That doesn’t mean you should fly off the handle. You have a responsibility to rein it in.”

“I’m not going to do anything like that, I’m not you!” Cassie slapped her hand over her mouth the second it was out, but Cissie just took a deep breath against the gnawing feeling in her gut.

“No, you’re not.” Cissie said carefully. “You could kill someone a lot easier than I could.”

“Cissie—”

“No, you know what?” Cissie turned towards her. “Go off with the Titans. Be this new Wonder Girl that can’t handle the fact that she’s—” Cissie bit her lip. “Just go.”

Cassie’s lip quivered a little, but she put up her chin and flew off.

*

Cassie crossed her arms over her chest and stared at the wall. “I’m sorry.”

Cissie sighed. “Stop being a guy and give me a hug.”

“I’m not being—” Cassie started to protest, but hugged Cissie anyway. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Cissie hugged her back tightly, knowing her arms weren’t going to hurt Wonder Girl. “We can always see each other on Weeken—” She sighed. “Whenever. We can see each other whenever. Friends make time.”

Except for Bart, Anita, Greta, Tim, and Conner. Cissie frowned and hugged Cassie even tighter.

*

“Mom!” Cissie tried to grab the clothes Bonnie King was throwing in her suitcase. “I’m not leaving school!”

“You’re not staying here. The world is about to end, you’re coming home.”

Cissie pinched her nose. “The world’s always about to end, Mom.”

“This time’s different.” She continued to haphazardly pile in Cissie’s clothes.

“How do you know?” Cissie said rolling her eyes.

“I just do. Trust your mother.”

Cissie frowned and slapped her mother hand away. “At least let me do that, geez. You’re wrinkling everything!”

*

“It’s just creepy. He says he wants to be my brother. It’s all he’s ever wanted.” Cassie had a bad habit of chewing on her thumb when she was nervous. She practically gnawed through it, so Cissie has to grab her hand away from her.

“Um.”

Cassie frowned. “What’s that look for?”

“You’ve… I mean, there’s a lot of—” Cissie took a deep breath. There was no possible way to say this without it coming out awkwardly. “Cass. Um. It doesn’t sound like he wants to be your brother. You know what I mean?”

Cassie furrowed her blonde eyebrows. “No…”

“Like, you know how Zeu—” Cissie swallowed, because that was so not the subject of choice. She smiled. “In Greek Mythology and stuff, there wasn’t such strict boundaries between brothers and sisters… in… that way.”

Cassie’s eyes widened. “Ew!”

Cissie sighed. “Just… if he asks you to tie him up or something. Just say no.”

“Cissie!” Cassie practically shrieked, but it’s on half a gag and half a laugh and for a moment her mind isn’t on the impending doom.

*

“Cissie,” Bonnie King threw the door open, a pretzel stick hanging from her lips. “Those rats at Wendy finally got back to us about more episodes.”

Cissie jumped off her bed. “Really? They want me to do another episode?”

“Babe, they want you for a whole season of cameos,” Her mother grinned and put the cell phone back to her ear. “Yeah, listen I want more than she got last time. I saw the ratings for her episode.”

Cissie squealed and jumped on the bed a little, her hand automatically reaching for the phone to call Cassie. It dropped and she shook her head, because she had to call someone else first.

Cissie bit her lip as it hit her.

She promised Kon that she’d take him if they ever called her back.

She covered her face and cried.

“Hey, save that for the salary negotiation!” Bonnie snapped.

Cissie threw a pillow at her.

*

“When were you planning on telling me?” Cissie’s hand shook. The paper was only one sheet but it felt like it weighed a ton. “Mom?”

Bonnie frowned. “Would it have mattered?”

“Yes!” Cissie screamed throwing the paper in the air and angrier still that it only floated carefully down, not ricocheting across the room. “It makes a huge freaking difference when I know my father is the Green Arrow!”

Bonnie took a drag of her cigarette calmly. “I tried telling him once.”

“He doesn’t know?”

She raised her eyebrow. “You needed to come up under your own steam, sweetie—”

“No!” Cissie threw her finger out. “You don’t get to defend yourself. I spent my entire life living in the shadow that you thrust me in without ever knowing this.” She slapped her hands against her chest and breathed out. “Oh my god. My name is Cissie Queen.” She glared. “What kind of horrible monster are you?”

Bonnie rubbed her temple. “Cissie, you’re better than him. You have a natural talent. You won the Summer Games for crying out loud. None of that was going to happen if you were—”

“What? The next Speedy?” Cissie threw her hands up in the air. “Because last I heard, that Arrow Girl didn’t try to kill anyone.”

“Cissie…” Bonnie stepped forward.

“Stay away from me!” Cissie shrieked. “All you ever do is lie!” She grabbed her quiver and bow and went for the door. “I’m so tired of it. I hope I never see you again.”

*

“Mom?” Cissie stood in the doorway, feeling incredibly small.

Her mother smiled at her and chewed on a straw. “Hey, kid. Coming in?”

Cissie took a few tentative steps before sitting down on the edge of the bed and staring at her lap. She bit her lip and did not cry. “What did the doctor say?”

“Lung Cancer.”

“Damn it.”

Bonnie King laughed. “Aren’t I just an after school special?”

“Mom…” Cissie sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Bonnie grabbed one of Cissie’s hands. “I’m going to do the treatment. My prognosis is a crap shot either way. Now shut up and tell me about your new apartment.”

*

“Hi, it’s Cassie Sandsmark! Leave a message at the beep! Or buzz! Whatever the stupid phone company decided to pick! Oh Hera, how do you stop this thing so that it ends the mes—BEEP.”

Cissie sighed and pinched her nose. “Cassie. I need to talk to you, can you call me back.”

A couple of directory calls and Cissie could hear the phone ringing again. “Gar’s house of Ribs, we put them in a great package and all you have to do is unwrap. This is Gar speaking.”

Cissie blinked. “Um. Is this Titan Tower?”

“Yes!” There was a laugh. “Is there some kind of emergency?”

“No, but—”

“Bette!” Gar snapped loudly onto the line and Cissie had to jerk the phone away. “Keep those kids together, they’re going to—erm… burn… something down.” Gar sighed. “Sorry, look if it’s not an emergency would you mind calling back?”

“Yeah, but I just—” The line went dead and Cissie sighed, “wanted to talk to Wonder Girl…”

She threw her phone at a tree with alarming accuracy.

Then it rang.

Cissie laughed before she cried.

*

“I’m sorry I’ve been gone,” Cassie stared at her hands. “It’s just been…”

Cissie sighed and sat next to her, letting the grass tickle her bare legs. “I get it, with Kon—”

“Conner.”

“Conner,” Cissie resisted rolling her eyes. “I get that with Superboy gone. It was hard for you, but… I kind of needed a friend, Cass.”

Cassie looked away, her hair, much longer than the last time Cissie saw her, curls around her shoulders. “That’s the thing.” She bit her lip and looked up at Cissie, looking for once so incredibly young. “If I can get Conner back, I can be there for you. For everyone.” She curled and uncurled her fingers. “Without him, I don’t feel like myself. I just—”

Cissie closed her eyes. “Kon—ner isn’t coming back, Cassie.” Just like her mother wasn’t going to come back if this last treatment didn’t work. Cissie bit her lip. “I know it’s hard, but I’m here for you.”

“You don’t understand,” Cassie smiled at her. “We can get him back. We can get Superboy back.” Cassie pulled out a large book that looked like some kind of glyphs and dropped it on Cissie’s lap.

Cissie glanced at the cover. “Kryptonian Religion.” She blinked. “Superman’s going to try to really go the J.C. route?”

“Not exactly, but he is helping in a way,” Cassie flipped open the book.

On the first page was an S-Shield. Upside down. Cissie swore. “Cassie, no. You’re not in that resurrection cult I heard about on the radio, are you?”

Cassie frowned at her. “It’s not a cult, Cissie. This is the symbol for resurrection. That’s Kon-El’s symbol. That’s—” Cassie took the book from her and held to her chest. “I have to get him back, Cissie.”

“You’re. In. A. Cult.” There was a vein on Cissie’s head. It was throbbing.

“It’s not a cult,” Cassie said calmly. “Look I get that you’ve been out of the game for a while and maybe there are things you don’t understand, but—”

“Cassie!” Cissie snapped and lifted herself up to her feet. “My mom is in the hospital. I just found out that my dad isn’t really my dad and my best friend thinks she can bring her dead boyfriend back with voodoo and Superman’s chest, if anyone is out out of it it’s you!”

“I thought you’d understand,” Cassie frowned. “You knew Conner. He was—”

“I know what Kon was, Cassie.” Cissie shook her head. “And I miss him too. The whole freaking world misses Superboy, but you have to grieve. You can’t join some ridiculous cult trying to bring him back just so you don’t have to face the fact that he’s—”

Cissie hadn’t realized how quick her reflexes still were until she had to dodge a carefully placed wonder fist coming at her face. “You don’t understand,” Cassie said calmly, her hands now by her side.

Cissie kept her balance on one hand. “Nice moves, Ciss.” She said out loud in an imitation of Cassie’s voice and then responded with her own a little lower than normal. “Well thanks, Cass. Good of you to test them out. I mean I’m no Nightwing, but can he do this in a skirt?”

“Cissie… please,” Cassie picked up the book that had fallen carefully. “I need you to believe me. I need you.”

Cissie brought herself up to her feet and straightened out her clothes and hair. “Yeah. Well I’m sorry, Cassie. But you know what I needed you too. And my mom, she’s still alive, for now. So I’m going to go deal with that instead of trying to bring back someone who should just rest in peace, because damn if he doesn’t deserve it.” She shook her head. “Maybe you should start caring about people with real problems instead of living in that little Wonder Girl fantasy world.”

“Cissie—”

“Not this time, Cass.” Cissie said walking past her. “I outgrew you.”

*

“You’re… um…” Cissie shifted on her feet.

“Taller? More handsome than ever? Debonair?” Bart, or at least he was calling himself Bart grinned at her.

“I was going to say older.” She paused and gave him a critical eye. “You know what debonair means? Okay that’s it. You’re not Bart.”

Bart smiled, but didn’t grin. It gave Cissie the creeps. “Just wanted to say hi, since I saw you as I was—”

“Running through?” Cissie offered, resting her hand on her hip.

“Yeah something like that.”

Cissie gave him a small smile. “You used to stop by a lot.”

Bart gave her the saddest, non-Bart look she’d ever seen. “I used to do a lot of things, Ciss.”

Cissie had been really good at being mature and by herself these past few months, but in an instant she flung her arms around Bart’s neck. “Well stop it!” She clung to him. “You’re freaking me out.”

He laughed and they both vibrated a little as Bart hugged her tight. “Growing up sucks, huh?”

“Oh yeah,” Cissie laughed bitterly and hugged him tighter. “You uh… visit all the old YJers?” Real smooth, Ciss.

“Saw Tim once, he’s—” Bart breathed in her hair. “It’s too hard, Cissie. I don’t think I’ll see you again.”

Cissie banged on his shoulder, but he zipped out of her grip before she could get any real damage. “See you then. Flash.”

Bart gave her another sad smile. “You too, Arrowette.”

Cissie knew mature women who lived on their own did not sob shamelessly as one of their best friends ran away at superspeed.

She did anyway.

*

“You don’t want to be Arrowette anymore?” Bonnie coughed and looked more annoyed with the treatments than anything else.

“That hasn’t changed,” Cissie said, holding her hand.

“Then be Cissie,” Bonnie smiled. “She’s pretty terrific.”

Cissie smiled at her and kissed her on the forehead. “Don’t die on me. You promised.”

“I’m working on it.”

*

Cissie shielded her eyes from the bright sun and just enjoyed the balmy breeze tickling her skin. “Are you sure that’s all of them?”

“Yeah. All Ollie could ever do, even a few Connor can’t do. Though he could probably kick ‘em,” Speedy said with a snort. She tilted her head. “Um. Why did you want to do this again?”

Cissie adjusted her bow in her hands. “I got a few reviews for the Summer Games, said I was almost as good as Green Arrow. Wanted to prove it wrong.”

Speedy’s expression was a little unclear through the bright red mask. “What?”

Cissie held the bow steady and narrowed her eyes at the target. “I’m better.”

*

“So you’re… uh meditating?” Cissie tried desperately not to think about how she once thought he was cute, because so much ew.

Connor wasn’t wearing a shirt, but still had his mask on. Like that helped. He nodded. “It helps me find my center.”

“Fun.”

Connor opened both his eyes and Cissie tried not to spot the things that were the same. “If you’d like to try it?”

Cissie shrugged and tried to cross her legs without flashing him. “So I just breathe in and out.”

Connor smiled. It was warm and felt familiar for no logical reason. “When you shoot, you find your focus. Your center. It’s like that, but without the aid of a bow.”

It took Cissie a few tries, a couple of goofs on meditation candles and an almost fire, but she came around. Meditation wasn’t so bad. When she found her center she finally figured it out.

And everything else that she had been dragging with her the past few years fell away.

*

Cissie carefully scrolled through the paperwork for the fifth millionth time.

“Are you finding it acceptable?” The woman across from her lifted her eyebrow a fraction.

Cissie laughed nervously. “Yeah…” She gave a small smile. “You’re sure there’s no black leather involved?”

The woman laughed. “I’m sure. Although some find black suitable attire.”

Cissie took a deep breath and signed the last paper. “I’m sure I’ll grow into it.”

“Cissie King-Jones,” Sasha Bordeaux put out her hand. “Welcome to Checkmate.”