First Heartbreak

Jade had wished this moment never came. Lian was now 15. She had joined the Team much her mother's dismay. She had taken her mother's old alias, Cheshire and instead of learning the bow like she thought Lian would, she took up the Sai once she learned of her mother's old life.

It was after a serious mission. Lian and the newest Robin, Damien had been dating for a long while. He was 17, she was 15. Not far apart in age. Damien was cold and calculating but deep down cared for her daughter and that was all that mattered. However Damien was dead, killed by an older clone of himself called Heretic while protecting Lian on a mission.

Roy didn't know what to do and Cheshire told him many times that"he's missing his target" when it came to consoling their daughter. Lian had lied on her bed, sobbing into her pillow. Jade's heart ached to see her daughter so broken. She hadn't eaten nor slept. She just wept for her lost love. Jade knocked softly as she stepped through the door.

"May I?" Jade smiled as she entered.

Lian looked up at her mother. Eyes red and baggy from days without sleep

"Let's talk." Jade sat next to her daughter.

"I don't want to..." Lian looked away. She had become tough like her mother and inherited her father's stubborn personality. This was going to be tough.

"You know you're my little Cọp cai (Tigress)" She said in Vietnamese.

The old Jade would have never been so gentle and sweet. The old Jade would have told her that death happens and to move on with strength. But Jade was older and wiser. She knew she would need a softer approach and her daughter was her whole world, she had to approach this gently.

"Mom...I miss him..." She cried.

"I know..." Jade had held her daughter close.

"You know...I almost lost your father once..." Jade went into the details of Roy being a clone. His effortless search to find the real Roy Harper. How it almost destroyed his body. She left out Roy's drug addiction. She didn't want her daughter to think any less of her father.

"When I had you, it made me realize that...i needed him. Sure he was stubborn and I wasn't willing to settle but all of that changed when I saw him hold you for the first time. I couldn't lose him. Without your father I wouldn't have made the life I have now...I owe him more than he knows."

Lian listened with interest. She enjoyed listening to her mother speak of her father so fondly even if she denied it in front of him.

"Damien loved you. But he died doing what he loved and he loved protecting you. He felt we wouldn't forgive him if he let something happen to you. Damien is always with you...never forget that. Use his sacrifice to honor him. Be the best Cheshire you can be and be the best Lian...for him."

Lian sobbed as Jade held her. It would take some time but Lian would heal and become stronger than before.

"Mom?" Lian looked at her mother fondly.

"Yes dear?"

"You didn't close the door. I think dad was listening."

Lian's door shut quickly and Roy was heard walking down the hallway. Jade cursed herself for allowing Roy to hear such sentiment from her.

"I love you, Mom..." Lian said as she finally fell asleep on her mother's lap.

"I love you too, little Cọp cai."

Later that night...

Jade had entered her bedroom, exhausted from consoling her daughter.

"How'd it go?" Roy looked up from reading a book.

"Oh, I know you were listening." Jade replied.

"So that's how you feel about me?" Roy smiled.

Jade blushed slightly and looked away, pretending not to care.

"Don't get ahead of yourself...dear." She smiled playfully.

"I think you've hit the mark when it comes to Lian. Never thought I'd see you so...sweet." Roy replied coyly.

"I'll show you how bad sweet can be!" Jade jumped on top of her husband and they both celebrated Jade's success with Lian. Jade knew there would be many more trials ahead but she always knew she would find strength when Lian called her "Mom."

A/N I was going to do a section of Lian getting married but I wasn't sure of who I could pair her with and I felt this was getting pretty long. I used Damien since he wasn't yet established and I could use those ages since at the end of Invasion, Tim was a little younger. I had used Damien's death from the reboot as a down point in Lian's life to show how Jade would deal with that kind of situation. Hope you enjoyed it. R&R xD