Disclaimer: WarnerBros and DC owns the characters. This is set at the end of the JSA "Princes of Darkness" arc, after the Thanksgiving issue, with Jakeem's reaction to Stars and Marvel getting "closer". I noticed some jealousy there…First-person, Jakeem's POV, which explains the slang in narration.

….

They Always Come Back

….

Dunno what she sees in him.

Damn creepy if you ask me. I mean, c'mon now, dude's gotta be, what, thirty? At the youngest.

Blondie could do waaaay better.

Like me?

Oh heeeeellll no, I am NOT doin' this today. Bad enough I got Johnny always on my case every time I let him out; I am NOT gonna start talkin' to myself.

Anyway, Blondie- I mean- Courtney and…Marvel? The Big Red Cheese?

Ewww. Just a little bit…illegal?

What really bugs you about them, though? Is it the age difference? Or is it just that you're afraid she'll forget all about you?

No. I ain't scared of anything Stars could do. Or Marvel. Just let him try. Please. Mr. All-Knowing-All-Powerful-I'm-So-Bad-But-I'm-Really-Just-A-Big-Red-Boy-Scout can't do nothin' against the Thunderbolt.

Power isn't everything. What good is the Thunderbolt when Marvel has the only thing that really means anything? What good is it when Courtney still forgets you're even there when he turns up?

Shut up. Just shut the hell up.

I gotta knock this off. People who have arguments with themselves end up like Dr. Fate, and he creeps the hell out of everyone. I'd call Johnny, but he'd only wanna goof off, and, funny as that might sound, I'm not in the mood. Guess that rules calling Bart out. Hell, Bart still thinks girls have cooties…

Rick. Rick'll wanna talk.

I'm walking down the hall, looking for him. There he is. And- wait. There she is too. Jesus, could the two of them get a damned room or something? Not that I don't like Jessie, but the two of them getting bumpy is not what I need right now. Makes me think about Stars and…

Okay, no. Do not even finish that thought, Jakeem.

So no help from Rick either.

Don't feel like goin' back to my room, so I go down to the Aerie to see if Hawkchick's around. She may not be able to help, but she seems to enjoy the general idea of bitching.

God, where the hell is everybody? S'not like they have lives or anything. I mean, I know Jay and Alan have wrinkly old wives to go home to, but the rest of them…Ain't seen Terrific either, but he's probably out improving the world or some shit like that.

Power Girl not here? Wouldn't think an amnesiac would have much in the way of a family to be with, but…she's got a cat. That could be it.

So I'm sitting out here in the empty Aerie, no sign of Kendra anywhere, and I just know some gigantic bird is gonna fall out of the sky and crap on my head. Just wait.

I hate being alone sometimes. Times like this, a dad would be nice, but hell, he's in Keystone with his real family. Probably doesn't even remember me.

I'd normally talk to Courtney about this, but since it's about Courtney, probably wouldn't go over to well. She'd hit me with that stick of hers.

I'm so over this. Going back in-

"Jakeem?"

I turn around. "Yo, doc," I say. Even to me I sound bummed out. "Why you down here?"

He smiles at me in that kinda way he has, like he's sad but smiling anyway. "I like the smell of the flowers. And, well, Charley needs to fly in the sky sometimes."

Charley? Oh right. The owl. Mid-nite had just released him and he was flyin' around higher and higher. "How do ya know he's gonna come back? I mean, what if he finds somebody new and forgets about you?"

He sits next to me on the bench. "Well, I suppose I just have to trust that Charley knows that I still need him."

He's lookin' at me know, kinda creepy-like. Funny how a blind guy can make ya feel like he can…see right through you. "Anything you want to talk about, Jakeem? I promise, I won't tell a soul. Doctor-patient privilege, you know."

Damn, he's good. No wonder everybody likes him so much. Before I know it, the words are just slippin' out, like a waterfall or something. I don't tell him names, though. Court would hate me if I ratted her out to the grownups, even to Mid-nite, who I'm fairly sure is on her Cool List.

"So, I got this…person. Girl," I specify. "And, we're friends. And maybe I kinda thought we could be…more sometime, you know?"

He nods. "But something's holding you back from that."

"Yeah. I mean, there's this…other person. Guy. And it's like, when he's around, I don't exist. Like, what we got goin' on, the thing I thought we mighta had, she doesn't see it like that. Like…"

"Like it didn't mean as much to her as it did to you," he says, lookin' at me. He ain't got that fake smile pasted on his face no more. "Believe it or not, Jakeem, I know exactly how you feel."

Now it's my turn to understand. "B.C.?"

He sighs. "It's Courtney for you, I assume?"

I jump. I thought I was being pretty sneaky. "How'd you-?"

He just raises an eyebrow behind the glasses. "I may be blind, Jakeem, but I'm hardly stupid. Don't worry, your secret is safe with me. I take it the other person is Superboy or Robin or some other young hero, seeing as you both know him."

I nod. "Yeah, somethin' like that." Feels bad to lie to him, but no way was I tellin'.

Mid-nite grins at me. "Quite a pair of lovesick fools we make, don't you think?"

"Chhh…losers, you mean."

"And damned proud of it," he says. I stare at him. Did he just cuss? "Doc…?"

"What? Contrary to what you may believe, I am a normal person."

"Yeah," I say. "A normal person who hangs out with an owl."

"I assure you, Charley is excellent company. He argues less than Michael does."

Michael? Ah. Terrific. Hard to see that guy having a real name, let alone a personality. I do another double-take. Did he just make a joke?

"So why aren't you and Rick hanging out or doing young-people things that I have been assured by Karen that I am not "cool" enough to participate in?"

"Jessie's here."

"Ah. So…"

We sit there for another few minutes, not saying anything. "Sooo…"

"So," he replies. "So so so…"

"What do we do now?" I ask, stupid me. Mid-nite assumes what Ted calls his "Thinker Pose", chin in his hand. I copy him. "I have some medical files to look through," he finally says. I give him what Ted calls my "Teenage Asshole Glare". "Please tell me you gonna be getting smashed while doin' so, or I might lose all respect for you."

He laughs at that, somethin' I've never heard him do. "That's my secret," he jokes. I grin. "Tell you what, you pay for the pizza and I'll teach you about good music. Bet you still listen to that ABBA crap or somethin'," I say, not believing I'm offering to hang out with my doctor, for Christ's sake. He looks offended.

"First off, ABBA happens to be very good music," he huffs, trying not to grin. "And secondly, since when was there pizza?"

"You prefer I go out and get smashed and/or high like a "regular" teenager?"

He sighs. "I suppose I'll have to endure this, if only to save your soul from corruption. Very well then, lead on."

I get up and help him up. Don't suppose he needs it, but it's nice to think somebody still needs me.

"Wait, doc," I say. "What about Charley?"

Mid-nite looks at me, well, I say look, but in any case he turns his head my way and grins. "Charley knows I'll still be here when he wants to come home. And he always does. They always do, Jakeem. And by the way, if we're hanging out, it's Pieter."

"Okay, then, Pete."

He waves his cane at me. "Oh, all right then, Pete it is. So then, I order one pizza with pepperoni for you, and the vegetarian special for me."

"Oh yeah, you don't do the whole meat thing, do you?" I ask. Pete shakes his head. "Nope."

We walk back to the main building. Feels kinda weird, but hey, I guess I need a dad once in a while. Just didn't expect it to be him.

"Wait, does that mean you even eat the olives? Hell, man, that's harsh."

…

A/N: Okay, I love Mid-nite, and I even like Jakeem. I think they'd jive. And he might get the good doctor to listen to U(r)sher or Nelly.