All for the Best

Standard Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice. But you should already know that…

I stared at my mentor as if she had three heads. I sincerely didn't think that she was being serious about this. It was apparent that she was because of where we were and who we were in company with.

My mind didn't, wouldn't, comprehend that I was in front of one of the people I honored most. I could only focus on the dark haired woman next to me, and her blank-faced partner. Both of who weren't even paying any mind to me or what my opinion may be in this, they were talking to the pretty blonde woman as if I wasn't even there. Well... More accurately my mentor was talking; her boyfriend's mind was probably elsewhere.

"You all, I'm sorry, are insane. I'm going home." I said while shoving my gloved hands into the pockets of my small jacket and heading toward my bike. A hand on my shoulder stopped me before I reached it.

"Will you at least think about it?" said the smooth voice of Black Canary. She rounded me and then placed her other hand on my other shoulder. "At least give it a shot, to test the waters. If you find it unsuited for you, then you can return back to Huntress."

I watched her expression for a minute to try and find anything that told me her words were insincere. When I couldn't find anything, I looked back at Huntress to do the same thing. I found nothing from her either so I looked back at Black Canary. (I didn't see a point in trying to read Question, see as he didn't have a face.) I rolled my eyes and sighed, "I'll give it a week."

"Good enough." Canary said as she removed her hands from my shoulders. She moved past me, "Let's go introduce you to your new team."

I waited to follow her as Huntress and Question headed toward his car. She leaned out the window and smiled at me, "Try and enjoy yourself. It may be fun, and you may learn something." I bowed my head toward her they drove off. I then turned and followed after Canary.

I followed her down into Mt. Justice. The only sound between us was the clicks our boots made against the metal flooring. I couldn't help but look at myself in the reflective surfaces of the walls as we walked, criticizing my appearance:

My, usually smooth, gray hair had frizzed out thanks to the fight I was in earlier that day. My black and white mask still covered most of my face –only allowing my dark green eyes to show- but the royal blue feathers that stuck out over my left eye were now bent and broken. The white top I wore reached the bottom of my ribs, though now a bit shorter on one side because of a rip. My royal blue jacket only reached my waist but it helped over the rip in my shirt; the tails of the jacket reached the back of my knees. My tights, utility belt and flat ankle boots were plain and black.

I couldn't keep myself from rolling my eyes at how bad I looked. Huntress could have picked a better time to bring me here. I pulled my hands from my pockets and tried to straighten myself out.

"You look fine for being thrown through a wall." Canary said, a smirk played on her lips. She stopped before a metal door and looked back at me. "Trying to impress someone?" he tone held notes of playfulness and teasing.

I felt myself blush reactively, "No." I said curtly. "I just care about how I look, is all." I added more calmly while pulling on the bottom of my jacket.

"Sure." She turned back toward the door as it slid open and walked through.

As I passed through the threshold I never felt smaller and unimportant in my life.

Standing around a large holograph was Batman, Green Arrow, Flash and Red Tornado along with the three protégés and three others I couldn't name. All of them turned to look as us as we approached. I felt my face heat up more so I dropped my gaze to the ground.

"Everyone," Canary started when we were close to the group, "This is Tree Swallow. She is joining the group as of today."

I looked up at her and opened my mouth.

"Temporarily-"

I closed my mouth again.

"She is Huntress's protégé. I expect you to welcome her in as part of the team. But be careful, her screech can give my Canary Cry a run for its money." She patted my shoulder.

I looked toward the group, as they stared back at me, and gave a polite smile. "It's an honor to meet you all."

Batman looked at me then at the younger people before him. "That is all for now. You can go."

Kid Flash was the first to approach me, "Welcome aboard, Beautiful. In case you didn't know I'm Kid Flash, but you can call me Wally." He used his thumb to point at himself.

"I'm Robin." Boy Wonder came up behind Kid Flash.

After them came the other four. Aqualad gave me a soft smile and placed a hand to his chest. "Aqualad, but you may call me Kaldur. It is a pleasure to have you as part of the team."

"Hello!" The green young woman said when my eyes landed on her. "I'm Miss Martian, but please call me Megan." She gave me a warm smile while pointing at the last two. "These are Artemis and Super Boy, or Conner."

"It's a pleasure to meet you all. It is an honor to be part of the team."

"Would you like a private tour of the cave?" Kid shoved his way ahead of the others and closer to me. Artemis elbowed him in the ribs.

Kaldur interrupted the two, "We all can go. Team bilding."

Megan lead the way through the halls, Conner stayed behind us all. About halfway through the tour was when the questions started.

"So, how come you're Huntress's protégé?" Robin asked. "I mean, being named after a bird and being able to cry like Canary can… I would have guessed you were hers."

"Huntress broke up a fight between me and a few other girls from my school. She asked if I had any training, I said no. A few days later, we ran into each other again under the same circumstances, at that time she wanted to go a few rounds with me. After kicking my butt into the ground, she offered for me to be her sidekick. It was kind of odd, really."

"And the screeching?"

"Fluke. Had a gun pulled on me for the first time. It was a surprise to both Huntress and I."

"And the name?" Kid peeled a banana and took a large bite. Where he got it? No clue.

"Newspaper. It stuck. I added the feathers to match the name."

"What did Canary mean by temporarily?" Artemis spoke up.

"Just that. I may or may not be a permanent part of the team. It depends."

"Depends on what?" Robin and Kid asked simultaneously.

"Just… Depends."

"And this is the kitchen." Megan said as we walked into said room. It smelt of cookies and other baked goods.

I smiled at the scent. It reminded me of home. "It smells great in here. You baking something?"

"Yeah. I made cookies earlier. I'm also making a batch of brownies because I found a recipe I wanted to try out. You want to try one?"

Kid pushed his way past Artemis, and accidently pushing me into Robin, and took several cookies from the plate that Megan was holding out. I hopped away from Robin automatically, feeling my cheeks heat up a few degrees, and mumbled out a sorry. We all managed to snag at least one cookie from the plate before Wally ate them.

I nibbled on mine as I looked around the kitchen. A cook book on the counter got my attention. I slid closer to get a better look. "You want to learn to make bread?" The pages were open to a Banana Bread recipe.

"Uhm, yeah." Megan said as she stood next to me. "I've tried a couple of times. Either the dough wouldn't work out or I burnt it."

"I can teach you, if you want." I offered while eating the last piece of my cookie.

Her face lit up like Christmas, "Would you, really?"

I nodded, "My family owns a Bakery. Bread it pretty easy. Time consuming, but easy. We'll make a day of it."

She hugged me, "Thank you so much Swallow!"

I couldn't help but smile, "It's Rose."

"What is?" Robin leaned over the counter to see what we were looking at.

"It's my name. Rose."

"A pretty name for a pretty girl~ Ow!" Kid, I guessed, got elbowed in the ribs again by Artemis.

"Rose, that's a nice name." Megan's cloths bled from White top and blue cape and skirt into a Pink and white outfit. "If you have time, could you show me how to make this?" A few pages in the book turned by themselves and landed on a crepes recipe.

I raised an eyebrow at both phenomenon but decided against saying anything and to look at the book. "Sure, that's easy." I pulled my gloves off and placed them in the far corner of the counter so not to get dirty. I peeled my mask off after that –if they could trust me with their names and faces, then I should be able to too- and placed that on top of my gloves. I took my jacket off last and laid it out of the way so my arms were completely bare. "We'll need Eggs, milk, butter, sugar, salt, flour and vanilla. Plus some mixing bowls and a pan." I shut the book while listing the ingredients from memory.

Megan turned to the fridge and opened it while the ingredients we needed floated out and set themselves onto the counter. "Alright, here's what you do~"

"Can you make any type of filling for them?" Megan asked. She and I have been in the kitchen for a few hours trying to teach her to make crepes. She managed to get the hang of it around the 3rd-4th batch. Wally ate the ones that didn't turn out so good, amazingly, while Robin started to eat the ones that were better.

"Yeah, there can be breakfast ones, savory ones for lunches and dinners. Mostly they are dessert ones though." I explained while pulling my jacket and gloves back on. "Just play around until you find something you like."

"Leaving so soon?" Robin was now dressed in civilian clothing: Black jacket and jeans, green hoodie and sunglasses.

I fiddled with the feathers on my mask before placing it back on. "It's already 10:30 and I have homework still to do. Unfortunately."

"I'll walk you out; I'm headed that way anyways."

"Thanks." I turned to Megan, "Keep practicing. I'll come by tomorrow so think of something else you want to learn." I waved at Aqualad and Conner before following Robin out.

Artemis and Wally were arguing over something. I didn't want to bother them.

When we were alone Robin broke the silence, "So, What being with Huntress like? Heard she was expelled from the League."

I shrugged, "Strict but caring. She pushes me when need be and loosens up when I need her too. Her boyfriend is creepy though. Being without a face and all."

"The Question? Isn't he some conspiracy theorist?"

"m-hm."

"And how is that?"

"He thinks that the Girl Scouts are responsible for crop circles."

"That's weird."

"You're telling me. How's the bat?"

"Batman? Well, he's Batman."

"I see." I took a deep breath then we made it outside. "I'll see you tomorrow, I guess." I approached my bike, pulled my hair from my face and put my helmet on. I glanced over my shoulder and gave a final wave to Robin as he mounted his bike and sped off. I copied his actions and headed home.

It took only a half hour before I arrived at the bakery my family lived on top of. I got off the bike, took off my helmet and started to push it into the alleyway behind the building.

"How was your first day?" Huntress was leaning against the wall next to the garage I hid my bike in.

"Nothing happened." I pushed my bike in and locked the door behind me with a key I had as a necklace.

"Didn't expect anything to happen." She pushed away from the wall and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Make friends?"

"The Martian is nice, taught her how to make crepes. I only talked to her, and only a little with Robin."

She looked at me with a sly grin, "Boy Wonder? He's kinda cute, don't you think?"

I couldn't help but turn a little pink in the face –I was lucky that it was dark and she couldn't see it- and rolled my eyes. "He's too young."

"Three years isn't much of a difference."

"It is when you're teenagers. I'm 16, I need to date guys my age or older."

"The bat, then possibly? What about~"

I raised a hand to silence her whilst letting out an audible sigh "Too old. Let me find my own boyfriends, Helena." I snapped as I walked past her and inside.

"No need to get snippy." I could tell that she still held the smirk from the tone of her voice.

I sighed and rolled my eyes again while closing the door behind me. "Good night Helena." I locked it behind me then headed up to my room. "History homework; here I come." I muttered under my breath.

Well, what do you think?

I put more planning into this one than I did my last one. Hence why I deleted it (plus, I didn't like much)

Well, if you have any questions, leave them and I'll do my best to answer.