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CHAPTER TWO
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Stewart sat down on the sofa next to Wally who had his feet propped up on the coffee table and nervously fingered the remote control for the TV. "All I'm saying," Wally said, "is that who she dates is not our business. We don't get to approve her friends."
John couldn't remember how the conversation had drifted to Shayera's dating of Hall, but it had. All he knew was that the subject depressed him and Batman's comments earlier in the night didn't do much to make him feel better.
Stewart shook his head. "I'm not talking about approving anybody. I don't care who she dates."
Wally looked up and smirked. "Dang, dude. You just spoke two sentences and I know at least one of them was an out and out lie."
Stewart was silent.
"Look GL," Wally said. "None of us want to see her get hurt. But maybe it's time for her to step out and mingle…you know, build a life for herself ...you know...without your presence." Stewart threw Wally a sharp glare which Wally ignored. It was then that John wondered if Wally also knew about his conversation with Shayera after the defeat of the Shadow Thief.
"I mean," Wally continued, "she can't stay locked up in the Watchtower or the Metrotower all the time. And we can't, nor should we be her only friends. I mean all of us, except her, you know, socialize outside of work. She doesn't and even I know that's just not healthy."
Stewart took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Maybe I ought to pay him a visit at his museum."
Wally coughed. "Who? Hall?"
Stewart said nothing and Wally shook his head, "Man, I can't begin to tell you how bad an idea that is. What are you going to tell him? Keep his hands to himself and have her home by ten?"
"No!" Stewart pursed his lips together into a tight line as he folded his arms across his chest. "Hell, I don't know." His frown deepened.
Wally smirked. "See, that's the problem. Tell you what, why don't you have Vixen tell him or did you forget about her?"
"I didn't forget about Mari," Stewart snapped back, perhaps too quickly he thought in hindsight. He lowered his head and sighed. "It's just that," he paused recalling the sad memory, "on the day Shayera killed Grundy, there were a lot of people in the crowd who were still angry and cursing at her for the invasion. You weren't there, but I was. She is still the invasion to a lot of people."
"She'll always be the invasion, GL, just like people will never forget that Superman went rogue once despite all the good he's done since or that our counterparts killed the President of the United States in another dimension." Wally stood and walked over to the shelf next to the DVD player. He carefully examined the pile of DVDs there. He turned back to John and said, "Remember what you said after we defeated the Secret Society?"
As Stewart struggled to recall his words, he wondered if in fact he wasn't being too concerned about Shayera's boyfriend, even if she didn't call him that. Damn Batman for putting that thought in his head. After all, he'd told Shayera he was staying with Mari because she needed to know, didn't she? They were just friends now, right? He had no hold on her and no right to interfere. He didn't tell her about Warhawk to keep her from dating Hall or to pay her back for hurting him during the invasion and yet...
It all boiled down to Warhawk. The very existence of Warhawk was the problem, wasn't it?
"Sixty-five is the new thirty."
Those words had bothered Stewart since he first heard Static say them during his trip fifty years into future. Yes, sixty-five could be the new thirty and maybe that meant fifty was the new twenty.
The man who'd introduced himself as Warhawk and Rex Stewart looked to be in his early thirties, late twenties. Was it possible that he was older than that and just looked younger. Maybe he was forty.
Then Stewart froze. Maybe Warhawk was even fifty when John met him. After all, because of his encounter with the Shadow Thief he knew that Shayera was older than she looked. Maybe Rex Stewart had her genes for youthful appearance.
What if Warhawk was fifty? That meant he was conceived….
He didn't complete the thought as he shook his head at Wally indicating he didn't remember what he'd said after the defeat of the Secret Society.
If Wally saw confusion in Stewart's face, he didn't show it as he continued, "You said, 'All we can do is say we're sorry and move on.' That all she can do, John. That's all any of us can do. We acknowledge our errors and hope we don't repeat them. We make peace with ourselves and live our lives trying to grab all the happiness we can."
Stewart's jaw dropped and Wally grinned. "Don't look at me like I have three eyes. You said it, not me." He selected a disc from the stack on the shelf. "Hey, I see we got some new DVD's up here. Want to see this one?"
"What is it?" Stewart asked.
"Vanilla Sky."
Stewart stood up. "No. I'm sure it's a good movie and all, but…" He headed for the door without finishing his thought. He had to call Mari.
John didn't see Shayera walk in and he literally bumped into her, almost knocking her over as he was approaching the door. She growled for a moment, then surprisingly smiled. "Hey," she said softly.
"Hi," he answered. He rubbed the back of neck with his ring hand and stopped as he became aware of the nervous gesture.
"I have watch later tonight," she said. "Thought I'd come in here and watch some TV before I went on. What are you guys doing?"
"About to watch the 2001 movie, Vanilla Sky," Flash volunteered.
A wisp of a smile across her face. "Oh, that's the movie Carter gave me. I thought it was pretty good." She paused and turned to John, "Were you leaving? I mean you weren't leaving, were you?"
Stewart shrugged a small smile. "Actually I was. Why? Did you have something?"
She seemed a little taken back by his question. She cleared her throat and scratched her left ear. "No. I liked the movie and thought...well, maybe...we'd...I'd watch it with you...with you both."
Wally glanced at Stewart, then back to Shayera. "With us? You never socialize with us! At least, not recently." He zipped up to her. "Who are you and what have you done with the real Shayera?"
She suddenly looked uncomfortable and her tone changed sharply. "Look, I just thought I would spend some time with my friends, but if this is a bad idea or you two want some more male bonding time just say so." She turned and headed for the door.
Wally raced to the door blocking her exit. He grinned. "Just kidding. It's a great idea. It'll be like old times, well, almost like old times. I'll get the popcorn. How long is the movie?"
"About an hour and a half," she answered. She looked at Stewart. "What about you, John? Are you going to watch the movie?"
Stewart tried to smile, but failed miserably as he moved back into the room and sat down at the far end of the sofa. "Sure. It will be like old times, like Wally said." Wally raised an eyebrow at Stewart and said, "Great! I'll be right back." He then quickly grinned at Shayera and then zipped down to the kitchen to get the popcorn.
Shayera turned around and stared at Stewart before sitting down at the other end of the sofa. They were both silent, staring straight ahead, purposefully not looking at each other, like two twelve year olds at their first coed dance. No, Wally was wrong, Stewart reflected. It wasn't like old times, it was worse.
In the old days John and Shayera always found something to talk about. But, after her return to the League, it was a struggle to have a conversation with her that didn't degrade into her reminding him he was involved with Vixen. It seemed to him that she was using Mari to ensure he kept his distance.
John sighed as he reflected that Batman must have been out of his mind. He hadn't hurt Shayera by saying he was staying with Mari. After all, she'd showed no signs of being still interested in him after she returned. Besides, he reminded himself, all he'd done was just tell her why he had been so distance around her lately. But if that was all there was to it, why was he still trying to convince himself he'd done the right thing?
Finally, Stewart said absently, "Wonder what's taking Wally so long with the popcorn?"
She smirked, "Well it does take two or three minutes to pop, you know." John flashed a faint smile and then frowned. She shrugged and looked straight ahead again. John sighed loudly and said, "Let me ask you something. You've seen this movie before, right?"
She nodded.
"Why," he continued, "do we sit through a movie when we know how it's going to end? I mean suppose you were one of the characters in a movie and you thought you knew how the movie would end. Would you continue to say your lines, continue acting as if you were unaware of what the future held for you? I mean knowing that things may not turn out the way you want them to...knowing that you may not get what you want."
Her eyes narrowed. He wished at that moment that she still wore her mask. It was better not seeing the hint of anger so plain in her face. "This isn't about Vanilla Sky, is it?" she said. "What are you trying to say?"
Dammit! He knew what he wanted to say; what he was trying to say, but he realized he'd totally screwed it up.
Wally zipped back into the room carrying a large bowl of freshly popped popcorn. He smiled as he set the bowl down on the table. "Here we go, hot popcorn. I'll set this down and start the ..." He rapidly scanned the room, apparently noting the silence and Shayera's and Stewart's dour faces. He sighed loudly. "Man, you two are worse than two year olds. I swear I can't leave you two alone for two point five minutes. What did I miss?"
Stewart shook his head as he stood up. "You didn't miss anything, hotshot. I think you're right on time." He looked at Shayera. "I guess I'm saying I'm tired. Look, enjoy the movie. I think I'm going to go home. Tell Hall I said thanks for the movie. I'll make a point of seeing it again the next time I have duty."
Stewart headed for the exit, but stopped when he heard her call out, "Go ahead." He turned around and saw her standing with a finger pressed to her ear. She was silent as she listened.
"Got it," she said. "I'm on my way." Then looking at Wally she said, "Got to go. Duty calls."
Stewart stood next to the door and before allowing her to pass said softly, "Be careful out there, okay?"
She looked puzzled as she answered, "Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself."
"I know you can take of yourself," he said softly as he stepped aside to allow her to pass. And then for reasons he wasn't sure he understood, he added after she was out of earshot, "But it doesn't mean you shouldn't be careful."
xxxx
Shayera worked hard to suppress a smile that wanted to break into an outright laugh. For the last hour or two, Rex Mason, also known as Metamorpho, had regaled her with stories about his days with John while they both were in the Marine Corps. He'd also told her about John's friendship with his recently deceased former company officer, Captain Robinson.
She'd always enjoyed Rex's stories. They'd worked together a couple of times since she'd rejoined the league, but this was the first time they'd gone on a deep space mission together.
Now, forty-eight hours later, as they returned from completing their assignment, she enjoyed hearing tales of this side of John, a side he didn't show often enough to the rest of the world. She leaned back and listened to Rex spin his yarn.
"Yeah," Rex said. "Old Captain Robinson was really fond of John and John took everything the old man said to heart. One time the Captain asked John if he knew the difference between loving someone and being in love with someone."
"What did John say?"
"He said, 'Not sure, sir.' Well the old Captain threw his hands in the air like he was trying to pull God down from the heavens to ask him what was wrong with the man. The Captain then frowned at John and said, 'Lad, I love my dog, but if she ever bites me I will shoot her in a heartbeat. But I'm in love with my wife. If she bites me I'm pretty sure I won't shoot her.' Then he smiles and says, 'At least, not without thinking about it for five or ten minutes.'"
Shayera eyes widened and she smiled slightly. "Well, I guess that explains everything about John I need to know, doesn't it?"
Rex grinned and gently shook his head. "I don't expect you to fully get the joke. It's just a little Marine humor. All I'm saying is that John's complicated, but at least you know where part of it came from." He looked back at her from the pilot's chair and asked, "Hey, you want to fly for a while?"
Shayera shook her head. "No, you need the flight hours."
Rex continued to look forward, adjusting the flight control knobs. "Well, I know you prefer to be up front in the pilot's chair with your phobia and all. I was just asking."
Shayera bristled. "What do you mean my phobia and all? I don't have any phobias."
"Hey, I'm sorry," Rex offered. "Maybe my intel was faulty. I was told to make sure you always had a view out of a window because of your claustrophobia."
"And who told you that?"
"The guy I've been talking about for the last two hours. He told me last week, if I ever work with you to make sure you either piloted or had a window, preferably on the left."
"John said that last week? Why?"
Rex shrugged his shoulders. "Don't know. You know how them ring jockeys are sometimes --real control freaks. You know, makes me wonder what would happen if they suddenly went renegade like Superman did."
Shayera nodded silently, not admitting that she'd wondered the same thing more than once over the last couple of years.
"Anyway, I don't think his comment was specific to this assignment, but the man does seem to know a lot about you. I wonder if he – " Rex stopped. So did the Javelin as it violently shook and dropped to sub-light speed, then stopped.
His jaw dropped as his eyes were fixed on the starboard side of the ship. Within the space of a heartbeat, Shayera screamed, "Open fire and get us out of here."
Rex exclaimed, "Great Mother of God! Do you see how big they are?"
As Shayera leaped to the front of the ship and punched the buttons initiating the automatic defensive systems she yelled again, "I said open fire! Now!"
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"What happened?" John bellowed as he pushed past the Watchtower teleporter attendant to get to Mister Terrific. He stood near the transporter pads frowning, but meeting John's angry glare.
"Lantern, calm down," he answered. "I don't have the full debrief yet, but apparently twenty-two hours ago they stopped and boarded the Javelin and took her. Then they destroyed the long-range communications array and damaged the hyperdrive on the ship so that Metamorpho couldn't call for help. He did a commendable job getting the ship back to our solar system where we could pick up his distress call."
"Calm down?" John roared. He pointed his finger in Terrific's face. "How in the hell am I supposed to calm down. This is your fault. How could you let this happen? Why the hell would anybody send Shayera on a deep space mission in the first place, knowing the danger she could be in? You're the damn smart one! Don't tell me you didn't know there was still trouble out there for her? She trusted you – I trusted you, dammit!"
Mister Terrific looked down at the finger and then slowly into John's eyes. "She saw nothing wrong with going and I didn't see a reason not to send her. It was a routine mission. She had the lead and Metamorpho was support. There was no risk of any Thanagarians being out there."
Just as John was about to call Terrific a liar, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to stare into the sad face of the Martian. What was he doing here?
As if in answer to John's unspoken question, J'onn said, "Mister Terrific called me, Lantern. The mission appeared safe, I assure you."
John didn't attempt to disguise the rage in his voice as he turned back to Terrific. "Well it wasn't safe, was it? The Thanagarians are scattered everywhere, now that Thanagar has fallen and she has a price on her head. Damn you, man!! What were you thinking? You didn't think the Thanagarians would be lurking out there to kill her for her betrayal."
J'onn shook his head. "Lantern, it wasn't the Thanagarians that took her. It was the Gordanians."
John's jaw dropped.
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To Be Continued...
