Disclaimer: I don't own Justice League Unlimited.

(A/N: Set between 'Shadow of the Hawk' and 'Chaos at the Earth's Core'. 'Flash and Substance' rocks.)

Rest and Relaxation

Chapter One: Mindful Colleagues

The stars really were beautiful. Even after all of his training from the Green Lantern Corp, John Stewart was still amazed by the simplistic beauty of them. He had travelled to exotic nebulas where the colours danced and swirled around each other with a beauty almost unmatched by anything he had ever seen before. And yet, the small twinkling lights on the black velvet sky still filled him with a sense of awe and excitement in his quieter moments. Quieter moments… that were becoming few and far between these days.

Perhaps it was because of his workload. Or maybe it was because he didn't get much sleep last night – the Justice League beds were notoriously lumpy and difficult to even lie on, let alone doze off. Or maybe, just maybe, it was because of a certain red haired Thanagarian woman who was supposed to be the future mother of his child. A red haired Thanagarian who was being stalked by a man who thought that they were reincarnated lovers.

The Green Lantern let out a frustrated sigh and closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath in an effort to calm himself. Needless to say, it didn't work very well.

That was all the information he had been able to wheedle from Batman, who was being unsurprisingly cagey and abrasive on the subject. The Dark Knight spouted things like 'It's not my place to tell you' and 'Shayera should be the one to tell you.' Not only that, but he, the man who had the most notorious and downright horrific record when it came to romance, was giving him advice on who he should be with.

John chuckled at the thought.

Batman. Giving me advice on relationships. Who does he think he's kidding? It's ridiculous.

But then John's mind drifted back to what he and the Dark Knight had discussed after Shayera left. How John met his son, Warhawk, who was the result of a union between himself and Shayera.

"We're supposed to be together. It's our destiny."

Batman stood and left the room, only giving him a passing glance as he left. "If you truly believe that, then why are you still with Vixen?"

But the fact that Batman had managed to avert that future only raised more confusion in John's mind. If he had prevented that future from occurring, then were John and Shayera meant to be together? Were they meant to have a son together? Was he denying that man existence by not going with Shayera? Bruce had later told him of an incident where Virgil had been pulled into the future, where he allegedly met a new, younger Batman, much like the one John had met… along with an older version of Virgil. But he wasn't sure if that meant that the future they had seen was sure thing or…

John grimaced and rubbed his eyes. He hated time travel. General Green Lantern Corp policy was that time travel was BAD. Simply… BAD. You don't do it, you avoid it as much as possible, and you hate it as much as your brain will allow, preventing you from falling into some kind of time paradox. It was a horrible thing, really. Was it him not doing anything that resulted in him and Shayera coming together and having a child? Or should he go downstairs now and take her in his arms?

He cocked an eyebrow at the second suggestion. That one didn't sound too bad, except for the one minor detail of Vixen. John truly cared for the supermodel superheroine; they certainly worked well together, both in an out of costume, and they just seemed to… click. But, as soon as Shayera came back, it threw the whole relationship into question. John began to wonder just what it was that he felt for Vixen.

Had he gotten together with Vixen simply to get over Shayera?

John scowled at the thought. He didn't want to be that guy. The guy who gets into a relationship with one woman to forget another. He hated people like that, and he had vowed never to do the same thing himself. And yet, here he was, setting himself up for a fall by continuing with Mari.

Or was he?

He truly didn't know.

A frustrated, guttural growl emerged from his throat, and he quickly turned on his heel to leave the rooftop of the Metro Tower. He needed some supernatural threat or disaster to divert his attention. Just… something to get his mind off the mess that was his personal life.

As he stepped into the elevator and pushed the button for the command center, John began to wonder when things began to get so complicated in his life. Of course, he already knew the answer to that. It just helped him to remind himself sometimes, to force himself to deal with the pain of the Thanagarian invasion. As soon as he had seen Shayera on that bridge, he had known.

He hadn't really dealt with it. He was still hurting, and he had no idea how to make it stop. Hell, he wasn't sure if he should or would be able to get rid of the feelings. Maybe he was just supposed to deal with them and move on. But for a reason that he was all too aware of, something stopped him from forgetting about Shayera.

The doors to the elevator opened with a hiss, drowning out the noise of John's heavy sigh. As the noise of the command center washed over him, he instantly felt a little better. The people in this room were counting on him for guidance. They looked to him as an example. He didn't have time to wallow in self pity at his own problems, and that was just the way he liked it.

He walked from the elevator to the command console, where Red Tornado was working the controls. Although he was usually assigned to the orbiting Watchtower (the more human oriented heroes being used in the Metro Tower), they were a little short handed at the moment, and so the crimson android had been teleported down to assist John in his duties as attending Leaguer. As he approached, the Green Lantern noticed something unusual:

His left foot was sticking slightly to the floor as he walked.

With a grumble, John stopped and lifted his leg to find a piece of gum attached to the bottom of his usually shining green boot. He tried to fight the urge to grind his teeth as he used his ring to remove the substance from his boot. Keeping the pink piece of gum in a small green bubble, he made his way over to Red Tornado.

"Tornado?"

The android did not look up from his avid button pressing. "Yes, Lantern?"

"What is this?" John asked in a faux nonchalant voice, mentally commanding the bubble upwards. The android stopped his work and looked over, his head moving forward slightly to more closely examine the substance.

"It appears to be gum."

Lantern cocked a raven eyebrow. "Is that right? Now, if I recall, there is a strict 'no eating' policy in the command center, isn't there?"

Tornado paused again. "I believe so."

"Then why was this piece of gum on my boot?"

"Perhaps it is yours. Or perhaps it is a substance that appears similar to gum. Or perhaps-"

John raised his left hand to halt the list before it got any further. "Tornado, trust me. This is chewing gum. And someone was eating it in the command center."

Red Tornado stood and blinked for a few seconds. "I… see. But what has that-?"

However, the Green Lantern of Sector 2814 was already away on his hunt for whoever had been chewing gum in the command center under his watch Using year's worth of honed training and tracking skills, his luminescent eyes scanned the room slowly and thoroughly, taking in each and every detail as they saw it. The something caught his eye. A brief flash of yellow. He stepped forward cautiously, and saw that there was something behind one of the console chairs. Leaning to the right slightly, John quickly spotted the culprit.

John's lips twisted into a grimace, and he raised his head up high. "BOOSTER!" he bellowed, with enough volume that even Red Tornado jumped slightly. With a certain measure of satisfaction, John made out a messy shock of blond hair popping up and down from behind the chair. He slowly and silently made his way to the chair, stalking ever more forward and forward until…

Booster leapt from behind the chair, his hands up in surrender. "All right, all right! I was chewing gum! I'm sorry!"

His eyes thinning, John leaned forward threateningly. "You bet your ass you'll be sorry; next training session I'm going to-"

The Green Lantern's communicator beeped in his ear. He glared threateningly at the panicking blonde before him before turning slightly and pressing two fingers to the earpiece.

"Yeah?"

Batman's voice came in over the quietly crackling frequency. "I need to see you."

"I'm bus-"

"Now."

Letting out a low growl that travelled from his chest to his throat, John turned to find Batman stood across the room, staring right at him. He whirled on his heel to look at Booster. The young hero was currently finding something particularly fascinating about his boots, waggling his feet back and forth like a troublesome schoolboy. Lantern snapped his fingers in front of his face to get his attention. Using his ring and years of experience playing basketball, he tossed the piece of gum into a trash dispenser on the other side of the room.

"I see you eating in here again… and there'll be trouble." Remaining silent for a moment, he stared at Booster for a few seconds.

"Understood?"

"Yes sir Green Lantern sir. Absolutely, sir."

With one last nod and a cautioning glance over his shoulder, John headed over to Batman. The other Leaguers and staff members in the room dared to hazard glances in his direction, which only irked his mood more.

What the hell are they staring at?

His irritated gaze came up to meet Batman's, whose expression, as usual, was completely unreadable. John didn't know anyone who could tell Batman's mood just from looking at him, or even talking to him. It took him a few years to realise that his left eye twitched slightly when he was embarrassed, and that was only thanks to Diana's tutelage. Although, right now, the Green Lantern didn't particularly care what the Dark Knight's mood was. He only knew that he was pissed off and Batman was being his usual 'I'm in charge' self.

After what seemed an eternity of stomping over to him, John came to a quick halt in front of Batman, the floor echoing slightly under the heavy ministrations of his boot.

"What?" he said quickly, wanting this lecture over with so he could get back to his day or not thinking about his problems. Hell, he could feel his mind wandering over to Hawk related areas already. He hoped that Batman had something interesting to say, or his mind was going into territories that he really didn't want it to.

"I think we need to go for a walk."

John didn't budge. "I'm on duty."

Bruce didn't budge. "Red Tornado will handle it."

"I wouldn't want to leave him to handle things by himself."

"He seems to be doing fine by himself."

"He's not used to it."

"He'll get used to it."

"I'm not going."

"You're going."

The Green Lantern and the Batman stood opposite one another, each not willing to give the other an inch. John didn't care how stubborn Batman was; he was not going to win this. He knew what Batman wanted to talk about. He knew that Batman would want to talk about Shayera and Carter Hall, and about Vixen, and about Warhawk, his son…

John faltered slightly.

My son… my son.

He sighed and his shoulders sagged slightly. "Fine."

Although his only response was a terse nod before he turned away, John knew that the Dark Knight was going to smirk. He had only seen Batman smile on very rare occasions, usually in moments of great relief or victory. But smirking? That was different. He had seen Batman smirk many, many times. But there was only one instance that stuck out in his mind.

"I'm with Vixen."

Batman remained silent. John smiled.

"I'm very happy."

The Dark Knight picked up his drink and smirked. "Uh huh."

Batman took a sip of his drink, and John wanted to punch his lights out.

Instead, he had simply brought up Diana, who he had seen approaching. John still found that funny. Any opportunity to see the great and mysterious Batman acting like a human being beneath that cowl was a worthwhile one as far as he was concerned. He looked over at the Dark Knight walking beside him.

"So? What are going to talk about?"

Batman stopped at a door and punched in a code. Following the Cadmus incident, each door was assigned a separate security code, with help from the members of the dissolved government group. Although it was a required security caution, it still irked some of the League members who couldn't remember fifty different codes. It irritated some of them to the point that they stopped frequenting both the Metro Tower and the Watchtower as much. But John didn't mind the space – at least at first. Then he realised that it gave him room to think, and, well, thinking was a bad thing for John Stewart.

The Dark Knight gestured for John to enter, and as he did, the Green Lantern looked around the room, taking in his surroundings as quickly as possible. It wasn't that he mistrusted Batman's intentions; if there was one thing he could count on from the Dark Knight, it was loyalty. It was simply instinct, both from his time with the military and the Lantern Corp, it was natural for him to take in as much detail as possible about ones surroundings.

Just in case.

They were in the stairwell of the Metro Tower. What with the elevators being as fast as they were, nobody really used the stairwell for transportation around the Tower, only emergency evacuation. Batman followed him in and shut the door behind him without looking back. John wondered with some amusement as to whether Batman's cape had ever become trapped in a door from doing that. He gave a small smile.

"What happened to our walk?" he said ironically. The comment prompted no response from the Dark Knight. Not that John expected it would. He simply stared at him from behind the white ovals he had for eyes.

John sighed in frustration, crossing his arms. "Is there a problem?"

"Do you think there's a problem?"

John shrugged. "No. I think everything's perfectly fine."

"Do you? Is that why you exploded at Booster Gold for no reason?"

"It wasn't for no reason," John said, his arms uncrossing as he defended himself. An eyebrow cocked beneath the Dark Knight's cowl.

"Is that right?"

John nodded.

"Run me through them."

John's eyebrow rose. "What?"

"Your reasons. I'd like to hear them."

The Green Lantern sighed, his shoulders drooping slightly. "All right," he sighed, his voice going slightly higher as did so. "I found some gum on the floor-"

Batman raised a hand and cocked an eyebrow. "Gum?"

"Yes, gum." His eyes thinned suspiciously. "Why?"

The Dark Knight seemed about to say something, but then thought better of it. He shook his head in a 'never mind' gesture.

"Go on."

John let out a frustrated breath through his nose before going on with his story. "I found out that Booster was the one that was chewing the gum, and-"

"I saw the rest."

"Then why are we here!" John exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air. The Dark Knight didn't even flinch at the explosion of emotion, simply cocking an eyebrow beneath his cowl and remaining silent.

After a few moments, he decided to respond. "Why do you think we're here?"

"I don't know! Maybe you think I'm too stressed out about Shayera and her stalker boyfriend! Maybe you think that I'm not doing my job as well as I should! Maybe you think I over-reacted with Booster because of all the things going on in my head-"

John stopped himself as his eyes widened in astonishment. He couldn't even say anything as Batman turned and left the empty stairwell, not once turning back. John stared at the closed door, his eyes slowly thinning as he imagined Batman's face.

The Dark Knight was most definitely smirking right now.

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John was a steak kind of guy. He loved steak, regardless of how it was cooked, and could eat an almost unlimited amount of it. And Mari cooked a good steak. Well, she didn't, but John told her she did, and dutifully ate her steaks with gusto whenever they were put in front of him. However, now was not one of those times, and John couldn't help but be relieved. After the stress powerhouse of a day he had just had, he couldn't face eating a steak so tough it could fight Superman and win.

They were in a particularly classy restaurant on the far side of Coast City, John's old stomping grounds. Although admittedly, he had seen little of this kind of lifestyle when growing up; these kinds of places were only rumours to him and his friends. John sipped at his wine and cut off another piece of the slab of meat in front of him. When they had first started dating, Mari had objected to him buying such a mundane meal in such a classy restaurant, but eventually decided to let him have his small victory.

And John knew it was a small one. He had won little of their other battles – he now dressed as she wanted, talked with the people she wanted, and lived with the décor she wanted. He sighed inwardly as he gulped down his piece of steak.

Mari, having ordered some kind of exotic fish, looked up to see his furrowed brow. He had just finished telling her about the 'Booster Gold/chewing gum/Batman' incident, and she hadn't yet responded.

"So… You're going to take some time off?"

John frowned. "What? I didn't say that."

"But Batman told you to take a break," she replied nonchalantly, reaching down slowly and taking a sip of her wine.

"That doesn't mean I'm going to do it," John quietly replied, viciously skewering the meat on his plate. He had found a particularly tough spot, and he was damned well not going to let some piece of dead animal stop him now.

Feeling Mari's gaze on his head, he stopped his frustrated slicing for the moment and sighed, bringing his head up to meet her luscious brown eyes.

"And besides, he didn't tell me to take a break."

"Then what did he tell you?"

Mumbling something unintelligible, John resumed cutting away at his steak.

"John."

"Mmm," he hummed neutrally, trying his best to ignore her. Finally, the piece of steak was severed from the rest. With some measure of satisfaction, he brought the steak up…

And then saw the look on Mari's face. He sighed, letting his head hang down as he put his fork back on the plate.

"Fine… he didn't tell me in so many words."

"Then what did he do?"

"He just asked me questions."

Mari smiled, quite amused by this little admission. "You mean like a shrink?"

Lantern smiled ironically. "Pretty much." He cast his suspicious gaze up at his girlfriend. "Why?"

Sitting back in her chair, she couldn't help but let out a small smile as she raised her hand defensively. "Nothing. I just think that it's a good idea."

"Think what's a good idea?" he said grumpily, shoving the piece of steak into his mouth roughly, chewing it with far more effort than was needed.

"You taking a break. You do seem more stressed out, especially after the whole 'Shayera thing'."

John's eyes bulged in surprise, the piece of steak becoming lodged in his throat. After pounding his chest with his fist and a swig of wine, he managed to get it down.

"What-" he coughed before continuing, "-what 'Shayera thing'?"

Vixen rolled her eyes, that smile still on her face.

Why is everyone smirking at me today?

"You know, Shayera meeting this new gorgeous archaeologist and becoming quite close and friendly with him…" she said simply, before looking him directly in the eyes. "…you know…that 'Shayera thing'."

The Green Lantern shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "Oh… that 'Shayera thing'." He eyed her cautiously. "Wait. Did you say 'gorgeous archaeologist'?"

A smirk rolled across her lips, her eyes intent on teasing him. "Oh yeah. Just because I'm in a relationship doesn't mean I'm blind. He was like a mix of Sean Connery and Harrison Ford." She winked at him as she released her foot from her shoe and slid it up his leg enticingly.

Refusing to be pulled into jealousy, John just smiled, cocking an eyebrow. "Sean Connery and Harrison Ford, huh?" He leaned closer forward, resting on his arms. "So what does that make me?"

Mari leaned closer, her voice becoming quieter as she did so. "I'd say you were… Samuel L Jackson and Wesley Snipes."

John considered this for a moment. "Well, one of them has played Shaft, so I guess I should be grateful."

"You're damn right."

John laughed, and there was a comfortable silence between the two as they simply sat, gazing into each others eyes.

"So… are you going to take the time off?"

John frowned and leaned back, crossing his arms in front of him. "I don't need it."

"Oh, right. So Batman pulls you aside for over-reacting every day, huh?"

"I wasn't over-reacting."

She cocked an eyebrow at him. Just… cocked an eyebrow and stared at him. All of his previous training with the Marines and the Lantern Corp simply went out the window, and his head sagged as he relented.

"All right, fine. What do you want to do?"

She smiled and shrugged. "Sorry, boo. I'm away next week on a shoot, remember?" Her features changed, and she leaned forward. "Besides, you wouldn't want to be one of those couples who do everything together, would you?"

John cut off a piece of steak and thrust it into his mouth, grateful that it hadn't gone cold during the discussion. After he swallowed, he took a sip of his wine and considered the woman sitting opposite him.

"So what would you suggest I do?"

The supermodel heroine threw her gaze upwards, exasperated. "God, John, I don't know. Don't you have a life outside of me and the League?"

Slowly looking back at his steak, John fiddled absentmindedly with his plate. "Well, I…uh…"

"Come on. Don't you have any guy friends you hang out with? Or used to?"

John thought back. Back to before the League expanded. "Well… there was one guy…"

Vixen cocked a jet black eyebrow. "What did you use to do?"

"I don't know…" Lantern replied, shrugging. "We drank beers, ate pizza, watched movies…"

"Not 'Old Yeller'…" Mari muttered, putting her hand over her eyes.

John scowled at his name being mentioned in such a negative light. "No, not 'Old Yeller'."

"Wait, wait, wait… And this guy got you to relax?"

He cast his gaze upwards, thinking back. All he could offer in response was a shrug. "Sort of. He could always get my mind of my troubles, anyway."

Vixen's smile vanished, replaced with a blank stare. She blinked a few times. "Wow."

"What?"

"Well, you're not exactly the most relaxed person in the world. The only way I can get you to relax…" her eyes took on a more predatory look. "…well, I doubt he got you to relax that way."

He laughed lightly as he cut another piece of his steak away. "Ah… no, he didn't."

"So why don't you spend some time off with him?"

John paused in mid slice, his eyes glazing over slightly as he thought about the possibility. "Well… I suppose…"

Vixen sat back in her chair, crossing her legs and arms in a relaxed pose. "Well, whoever he is, I'd sure like to meet him. Anyone who can get you to relax must be some sort of genius."

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"Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting!"

Wally West leapt from his bedroom landing with a thud in the main living room of his small apartment. He shot his fist out in time with the music.

"Huh!" he grunted, a huge grin spread across his face.

"Those kicks were fast as lightning!" he sang, twisting on his heel to deliver a karate kick to the sofa behind him.

"Hah!"

The grin still plastered on his face, Wally moon-walked across the room.

"In fact it was a little bit fri-"

A knock at the door interrupted his impromptu dance session. It was most likely one of the neighbours complaining about the noise. He had many complaints from the tenants, but somehow he always managed to avoid them. Wally figured it was just because of his charming smile and personality. Or maybe it was because he cleaned his landlords' car faster than anyone else. He could still manage a chuckle at the memory of the look on his face when he had shown his landlord his freshly cleaned car.

The landlord in question, Mr Philips, had driven his car in some particularly thick mud, and with a smirk and a cocky laugh, displayed the car to Wally in all her glory. He had just volunteered to wash his car for him, and he instantly had a good feeling about the arrangement. Needless to say, Mr Philips returned in about half an hour to find his car clean and sparkling with a double coating of wax.

Ever since, Wally had been safe. Of course, that wasn't to say that he could do whatever he wanted, oh no. There were simply too many nagging tenants for the landlord to ignore his antics completely. But what would have before been a nasty threat simply became a stern warning.

And Wally knew how to deal with stern warnings, be they from irate landlords or scowling Batmen. Thinking about the Dark Knight brought a smile to Wally's face, as it just occurred to him that he was on leave at the moment, and he loved the feeling. It allowed him to sleep late into the afternoon and have a pyjama dance to such great hits as 'Kung Fu Fighting'.

Wally sighed and zipped over to the stereo to turn it off, then over to the door. Opening it with a steady grin on his face, he was surprised by who was stood there.

"John?"

The Green Lantern stood in the doorway, dressed quite snazzily in clothes that Mari had bought him (or at least told him to buy) with a small smile on his face. "Hey."

"Uh…" Wally's face was still slightly wide with astonishment, his grin long since gone. With a quick shake of his head, the grin was back, and he was stepping aside, gesturing to his apartment. "Come in, come in."

John made his way in, hefting a medium sized sports bag with him. Swinging it mightily on to the sofa, it sent a small cloud of dust from the miniature seating arrangement, prompting a cocked eyebrow from John.

"When was the last time you cleaned this place?"

"Yesterday."

Lantern gave him 'the look'.

Wally brought his hands up defensively. "I did, I swear!"

After lingering on the speedster with 'the look' for a few more seconds, he turned away. "Right."

Slowly making his way around the room, John tried to remember what the room was like the last time he was here. The TV had been moved, as had the sofa, but everything else seemed pretty much the same. John frowned as he remembered the last time he was here. It was just after the Thanagarian invasion, and the two had shared a quiet drink. It was probably the last time they hung out together before the new League was put into action and business got in the way.

"So, uh… you're pretty early. I wasn't expecting you until two in the afternoon."

John looked over at his red headed friend, once again giving him 'the look'.

"Wally, I'm about an hour late. Last minute League business held me up. I called you, but you didn't pick up." His eyes thinned. "What time did you wake up?"

Looking quite sheepish, the speedster looked down. "About… five minutes ago…" he mumbled. Suddenly, his pale blue eyes widened, and he brought them up.

"Wait… did you say an hour late?"

John nodded. "Yeah. Why?"

"Uh oh. I was going to tell you when you got here, but-"

Another knock came at the door, and this time, Wally knew who it was. John looked first at the door, then Wally.

"Who's that?"

A pained look crossed Wally's face. "Well… I mighta… sorta made plans before I knew you were coming here."

The sigh that escaped John's lips made his head sink. "What kind of plans…?"

The Flash made his way over to the door. "Well…"

Opening the door, he revealed a young boy stood in the doorway, with a thick shock of messy brown hair and what seemed to be a permanent 'I've got an attitude problem' face. John closed his eyes, half to hide his green eyes, and half in exasperation.

How did I know something like this was going to happen?

"Uh, John… this is my cousin, Bart. He's gonna be staying here for a few days."

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(A/N: OK. Here's the deal. I looked over my 'Legacies' story, and thought that it wasn't a good way to introduce Kid Flash. So, here's another version that I like much better. How is this version different? Well, you'll just have to wait and see.

But don't worry, you GL fans; this will mostly remain about John, with bits and pieces of Wally and Bart thrown in.

And to any 'Scrubs' fans out there, that 'Kung Fu Fighting' moment was totally ripped from the second season episode 'His Story'.

Anyhow, reviews are good.)