It's Not Over
She stood to the side, watching him with a sad frown upon her beautiful face. His back to her, his shoulders set, and a hand running through his dark red hair as he watched his adoptive father slurring and leaning on a table, talking to a plant.
Donna sighed silently. She couldn't tell him after this major embarrassment. Whenever things like this happened…her heart went out to Roy and Mia. Whenever Ollie was down, they would always have to go through this. Try to calm Ollie down and get him to follow them to the car, and if that didn't work, Roy would be forced to literally lifting Ollie over his shoulder and carrying him to the car.
The man's drinking problem was really becoming too much for the family to handle, as the latter was happening much more often recently.
Her sister had explained everything to her. How Dinah's death had really torn Ollie apart, how he acts now whether he is at home, at work, or even at these parties. He was drunk and incoherent; his mood could range from calm to pure rage in an instant.
Just as the brunette turned to walk away, she found herself face-to-face with Mia Dearden, Roy's adopted sister. The young blonde smiled at her sadly before glancing over Donna's shoulder to see Roy trying to calm Ollie down in a whisper.
Donna glanced down at the floor for a moment, before squaring her shoulders and calmly asking, "So, how's school been?"
The question grabbed Mia's attention, and brought her dark blue eyes up to lock directly with Donnas' own. "Interesting. I've been taking a few English and journalism classes. My boyfriend, Bart, is trying to have me take some psych class next semester, but whenever I ask him to tell me what it's supposed to be about and why he wants me in it, he always just says 'Trust me, it's the coolest class.'"
Donna laughed. "I didn't hear about you having a boyfriend…"
"That's cause you're the only one who knows at the moment," Mia continued in a whisper, glancing over at Roy and Ollie for a moment. "I dated a senior when I was a sophomore in high school, and Roy and Ollie flipped. I'm not sure how Ollie will act now, but you and I both know Roy."
Donna paused a bit before honestly admitting, "I'm not so sure anymore. It has been four years and he seems to have changed so much."
"Did you talk to him?"
The older woman shook her head. "No. I was going to, but Ollie was able to gain his attention before I could. I would ask how Ollie's been doing, but I believe it's obvious."
"Yeah. Roy and Hal are thinking about sending him to a rehab center. He's only been getting worse," the younger woman's voice was full of sorrow and dejection.
Donna put a comforting hand on Mia's shoulder, before whispering, "Do you want a ride home?"
The college freshman nodded and they both started walking out of the new art museum.
Donna drove down the streets of Jump City in silence and, just as she was about to turn down the familiar road to Queen Manor, Mia spoke up, "Roy's place is another five miles down the road." When the brunette glanced over at her in slight confusion, Mia continued, "I've been living there ever since Ollie started drinking. Well, drinking this heavily, anyway."
"Okay," was all Donna could say before she continued driving straight down the road. Things had obviously changed and they had too, especially for the eighteen-year-old sitting beside her. She had lost the woman that had been like a second-mother to her and since Ollie had obviously been extremely affected by Dinah Lance's death, it could only mean the same for both Mia and Roy.
Twenty minutes later, Mia pointed out the street for Donna to turn, and she stopped in front of a large apartment building and shut off the engine.
"If you ever want to talk, don't hesitate to call or…" Donna offered, trailing off as Mia nodded. "I'm staying at the Welker Hotel."
"Okay. Thanks, Donna," Mia replied before leaving the car. She went to the door and pulled out her key to open it. Once she opened the front door, she turned and gave a small wave to Donna, who returned it, then started toward the elevator.
Once she passed through the metal doors, she pressed the fifth floor button and leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes. It'd been a long night and Mia just wasn't sure if she could take watching that anymore. Ollie was a grown man, and yet he now had to be babysat by her older brother for almost two years now.
She wondered if Roy knew Donna was back, and then sighed. She should have told him that she was. Went to Hal and told him to go take care of Ollie so Roy could at least see his ex again.
He missed her. He wouldn't admit it, but she knew it. The only person that knew her brother more than her and Dinah was Donna, and he liked that she knew him so well. He could talk to Donna and let everything out, while around her he was big brother, always trying to e tough and not show when something bothered him, but she knew.
Finally entering the apartment, she turned on the lights, dropped her purse and jacket immediately after she closed the door, and pulled off her heels. After that she walked directly into her room, closing and locking the door for a few minutes to get changed, coming out in a pair of loose sweatpants and her JCU sweatshirt on, while her long blond hair was piled up into a loose bun.
She grabbed her English book and picked up the TV changer, turning it on before settling in to work on her paper. An hour and a half later, the door of the apartment opened and Roy Harper stepped in to find his sister asleep on the couch. He lightly chuckled as he carefully set down his keys and closed the doors, before walking to the couch.
Taking the blanket from across the back of the couch, he pulled it over her, and then turned off the TV before heading to his room for bed.
The next morning Mia woke up to the smell of frying bacon and eggs. After rubbing the sleep from her eyes she glanced down at the cable box on the shelf underneath the TV. For a few seconds, the glowing green numbers remained a blur before she squinted, trying to put them into focus.
7:34.
Slowly she stood and started to stretch before leaving the living and entering the kitchen, rubbing the back of her neck.
"Morning!" Roy greeted, not looking back. When she groaned in response, he turned and grinned before teasing her. "Had a good night's sleep?"
She gave him a small glare before asking, "Why didn't you wake me up? My neck is killing me!"
"Cause the last time I woke you up, you blew up at me," Roy calmly stated as he moved three strips of sizzling bacon onto a glass plate. "Want an omelet or scrambled eggs?"
"Scrambled eggs," she answered, opening the fridge and taking out the milk and orange juice. "You know I was in a bad mood cause one of my professors was pissing me off that week. That man can never be satisfied with a paper. Whatever notes he gives me to improve my papers, which I use, he goes back and tells me to do something different."
"Maybe it's because the subjects are different?" her brother offered.
"No, I've rewritten at least three papers, with the help of his notes, at least five times to try and get a better grade. My grades only end up worse and worse." She paused and set the bottles on the table in the small dinette. "I'm going to have to drop out."
"Is it a class you need?"
"Yeah, I need the credits. Looks like I'll just have to find another class to earn the credits," she sighed as he set a plate of still sizzling bacon and scrambled eggs.
After a few minutes he took the seat across from her and began digging in to his breakfast. "So, how'd you get home?" he asked while pouring himself a glass of milk.
"I got a ride," Mia lamely replied, causing her brother to smirk.
"No, really?" he sarcastically chanted. "Who'd you get a ride from?"
Mia took a bite of her breakfast before casually answering, "An old friend."
"That's good. Who?"
"Why are you so persistent and trying to find out who I got a ride with?"
The redhead sat up straight in his seat and jerked a thumb at his chest. "Big brother, remember?"
"Big pain," she revised, smirking.
"Funny. So, who brought you home?"
"Donna."
His shoulders sank and his bright blue eyes widened. She watched with caution as his mouth slowly began to open, as if to say something, before closing and repeating the action. Finally he sighed before standing up and leaving the room. She stood to watch him go and heard his door shut.
Slowly she walked into the hall and over to his bedroom before putting an ear to the door. There wasn't a sound coming from inside the room. Moving away from the door, she walked into her own room to get changed for school.
After she showered and changed, she grabbed her things before knocking on his door and saying, "Hey Roy, I'm leaving now. I'll see you tonight." She stopped halfway to the door, however, and turned back to her brother's room. "When I saw her, she was waiting to talk to you. If you want to go see her later, she's staying at the Welker."
Inside his room, Roy sat at the edge of his bed staring at a picture of himself and Donna only four years ago. There was a small smile on his face and he was lost in the memories he still cherished to this day. After a few minutes, his smile became a frown as he remembered when he let her go. She'd gotten offered an internship in England as a photographer. The thing that set that job above the rest was the fact that she'd automatically be one of their top photographers and sent out, not only across the country, but across the world.
He couldn't let that slip by her. He had been planning to propose, however, and obviously the job had gotten in the way of that. When she had first told him she wouldn't take it, he had told her she should. It didn't take long before an argument began and, just as quickly, they had made up. In the end he had obviously convinced her to go, knowing it could be a long time before he'd be able to see her face-to-face again.
Before he'd begun dating Donna, if a girl left, he wouldn't hesitate to move on and find another. That was just how he was; a casual dater, new girlfriend every week, basically he was every cliché in the book when it came to being a player. He was one. He never hesitated to admit it, before and after he dated Donna.
The major difference between those times was the fact that he had only dated two other women after he dated Donna. One a year after she left, and that woman only lasted two weeks. That was more of him trying to get used to dating again, since it had been, especially for him, a very long time since he had dated. The other had lasted for six months, but they split amicably because they could just never see eye-to-eye on things.
Of course, the fact that he was still in love with his college sweetheart was also a factor.
Finally glancing up from the photo, his eyes landed on his chest of drawers. Buried deep inside the top drawer, behind his shirts, was a velvet box that had remained untouched since he had moved here. There had been few times he had risen to pull the box out and stare at it, imagining what could have been.
Just as he stood to move to the drawers, the phone began to ring causing him to sigh.
Walking around his bed, he checked the number on his caller I.D. and stared quizzically at it. Finally her reached out and picked up the phone asking, "Who is this?"
"Bart. Is Mia there?" came an obviously male voice from the other line. It was deep, but also quick, causing Roy to take an extra few moments to decipher what the man had said.
"I'm sorry who?"
"Mia."
"No, who are you?"
"I'm Bart. Who are you?"
"I'm Roy, Mia's brother."
"Oh cool, man. It's nice to meet you."
"Yeah, you to-wait-a-minute! How the hell do you know my sister?"
"I go to school with her." This guy was really starting to get on Roy's nerves. He spoke as if he was always stating the obvious.
"And she never told me because…"
"Cause I'm also her boyfriend and, according to her, the last time you met one of her boyfriends, you tried to scare him so much that he almost shit his pants."
"That's exactly what I plan on doing to you once I meet you."
"Why would you want me to shit my pants? That's disgusting."
"I don't want you to actually shit your pants! I just want you to be scared of me!"
"Why?"
Roy groaned. "So you know that if you ever hurt my little sister, I'll hurt you!"
"Oooh. Okay, so is Mia there?"
Taking a deep breath, the businessman calmly told him, "No. She left like…" he paused a moment to glance back at the clock. "She left fifteen minutes ago."
"Okay thanks! Hey, hope to meet you soon!" With that there was a click and Roy turned off his own phone and set it down.
"Why the hell would she date him?" he silently demanded, running a hand through his hair before glancing at his watch.
The next afternoon, Donna found herself sitting across from her best friend Kory Anders, and Kory's husband Dick.
"So you saw him, took Mia home, and never even tried to call him yesterday," Kory summarized the events.
"No, I did try to call the next morning but the phone was busy," Donna amended.
"And you didn't try calling back?"
"Well I have been kind of busy between trying to cover my new job, finding a place to live, and travelling to Sacramento to see my mother and make sure she's doing okay."
"How is she doing?" Dick interrupted, changing the subject.
"Alright. She'll be going into surgery this weekend," Donna sadly replied, shaking her head. "It was bad enough the first time around, but this time it's only gotten to be worse."
Dick grunted and nodded as their lunches were set in front of them. Once the waiter walked away, he finally replied, "She'll be fine."
"I know. My mother is a very strong person, Dick," Donna reminded him smiling. Kory began giggling as she also remembered the first time Dick had not only met her own parents, but Donnas' mother and sister as well.
Dick just began eating his lunch, ignoring their teasing smiles.
After the trio finished lunch, they parted ways, each with a different destination in mind.
Dick took a cab to the Queen Corporation. Once he paid the driver, he stepped out, buttoned his blazer and walked inside the large, tidy building. Passing by the buzzing business men and women, he stepped into the packed elevator and waited until it was empty before pressing the button that would bring him to the top floor. Once he stepped out of the elevator, he walked over to the desk that sat in front of a set of large doors.
"I'm Dick Grayson, here to see Roy Harper," he told the secretary behind the desk, who politely nodded before turning on her headset.
"Mr. Harper, a Dick Grayson here to see you," she murmured as she continued typing. There was a pause as she glanced up at Dick before signaling with one hand and saying, "He'll see you now."
"Thank you," Dick politely replied before walking up to the set of doors and opening one.
Roy stood up and grinned as he greeted his friend. "Hey Dick, how's it going?"
"Pretty good," Dick replied with a smile while he shook the redheads' hand. "Just got back from lunch with Kory and Donna."
As Roy took his seat he couldn't keep the look of interest from his eyes. "Donna? Really? How is she?"
"She's doing as well as she can at the moment," Dick played along, already knowing his friend probably knew his ex-flame was in town.
A deep concern immediately filled Roy. His voice became very serious as he asked the obvious question, "What's wrong?"
"Recently she found out that her mother is suffering from breast cancer again," Dick solemnly replied. "Actually, she's known about the tumor that was growing for over a year, but only recently told Donna and Diana. She'll be undergoing surgery again soon."
Roys' eyes slowly drifted down to the papers on his desk, a faraway look in them.
"She misses you, Roy," Dick muttered, not entirely sure if his friend was listening, but needing to say it anyway. "You should see her."
"I can't…"
"Why? Too busy taking care of Ollie?"
Roy's blue eyes snapped up, evident anger in them.
"He knows how he's handling things is wrong, Roy," Dick calmly continued, not in the least bit scared of his friend. He knew him to well. "I know you want to be there for him and Mia, but you've got to be happy to. Everyone's got to move on sooner or later, but just because you do doesn't mean that what's wrong is over. That you can't do anything to help. You can, just not as much because you don't have control over it.
"At least go see her, Roy. Do something for yourself now. Everyone knows you deserve it with the huge spike of maturity you've shown in the last five years. Mia probably wants you to, and, if you asked Ollie while he was sober, he'd probably want you to as well."
The other man just sighed and lightly rubbed his temples before putting on a smile and asking, "So, how are things going between you and the wife?"
Knowing, at least internally, that his friend was thinking about what he had said, he decided to humor him. "Kory and I are doing great! In fact," he began to grin, "a few nights ago she told me she was pregnant!"
The redhead grinned as well. "That's great! Congratulations man."
"Thanks."
The knocking was frantic and, once the urgency registered in Donna's sleep-induced mind, she quickly threw on her robe and rushed to the door. Glancing through the peep hole she saw none other than Roy Harper standing on the other side, running a hand through his hair.
When he heard the loud click of the deadbolt that held the door closed, he looked up to find, in his opinion, the most beautiful woman in the world standing in front of him, a curious look on her face. Their eyes immediately locked and they just stood there, staring at each other for what seemed like hours before he finally broke the ice.
"Can I come in?" he asked, his voice low. She could only nod as she opened the door wider for him to step through.
Walking inside, his eyes never left her own until she turned to lock the door. She was just as gorgeous as the last time he had seen her so many years ago. Once she looked up at him again, he had finally turned and walked toward the couch, again running a hand through his hair.
He was obviously nervous and anxious, and just from watching him shift around, she could tell something had happened before he had arrived.
"Everyone that's seen you in the past few days has told me to come and see you," he started explaining, his back still to her. She just slowly approached the couch and sat down, letting him continue. "Obviously, I chose not to until…three in the morning today, but that's because…"
He trailed off, his shoulders sinking. Donna reached out and grasped his hand, causing him to turn and finally look down at her. Once their eyes connected, he immediately understood what she was silently saying and spoke again. "I thought I'd lost you."
He let out a sigh of relief and finally sat down beside her.
"What?" Donna could only ask, obviously confused.
"Donna, ever since we started going out, knowing that I was in a serious relationship with someone…it scared me," he admitted. "I wasn't used it. Being so attracted to someone and interested in them on an emotional level, not just a physical one. You were, because obviously that's always been something you cared about in a relationship and I just…I wasn't sure if I could really give you that. Be the caring, understanding boyfriend who could stay up at night and talk to you about…politics, books, or just nothing at all.
"You're smart, gorgeous, funny, caring, successful, and you always know what you want to do. I never did. I just lucked in to being adopted by some rich guy who owned a major company and felt sorry for me-"
"Ollie's never felt sorry for you," she immediately cut in.
"It doesn't matter. Ollie has nothing to do with this right now. My point is, if it wasn't for that, I'd probably just be a bum on the streets right now. I've never really known what I wanted to do with my life, what I wanted to be or do, and I never cared until I met you. That's when I actually started thinking about it all and realized that even after going to college for four years and hanging out with some of the richest men and women in the world, it didn't automatically mean that I would have ended up with all of them in ten years.
"I lied when I told you that you should go because I thought it was a good job. It wasn't my only reason. I was afraid that, in a few years, you'd be as successful as you are now with jobs lined up all over the world, and I would be living off you, still not knowing what to do with my life. Of course, that also led to me thinking about you finally leaving me because you realized that I'm…I'm just not good enough for you. I never was."
"That's not true, Roy," the young woman beside him argued. "Yes, when I first met you, I thought you were a player and extremely full of yourself and selfish. But I was wrong. You proved it to me." She gave him her usual contagious smile, which he couldn't help but return. "You never hesitated to help anyone in need of it. I can't tell you how shocked I was when I learned you actually worked in a soup kitchen during the holidays.
"When my mother was first diagnosed with breast cancer, you never left my side. You even called in the doctors to help treat her. You comforted me when things got tough, and I wish I could say I did the same for you. When you needed me the most, I wasn't there."
"You didn't know about Dinah until after the funeral," Roy admonished, his gaze falling to the floor. "There was nothing you could have done."
"I could have come home." She lifted his chin so he was looking at her again. "I could have helped you with Ollie and Mia. I could have done a lot of things, but I didn't and I'm sorry."
Roy smiled sadly and shook his head. Finally, he closed the short gap that was between them, putting all of his feelings and love toward her into the kiss. She wound her arms around his neck trying to deepen it.
As much as they wanted to continue, unfortunately the need to breath became essential and they parted.
"I love you, Roy." Her bright ocean blue eyes openly conveyed her true love for him as she stared into his sky blue eyes.
"I love you too, Donna, and I'm not going to let you get away again."
She giggled. "Who said I ever wanted to get away?"
They laughed before pulling into another kiss that would lead to many more between them; not only throughout the night, but also the rest of their lives.
A/N: Not really sure about the title, but the story just kind of came to me over the week. I couldn't get it out of my head so I decided to type it up and share it. Romance really isn't my strong suit, in my opinion, and I hope I didn't end up messing up too bad.
Please review and let me know what you thought of it.