STAR CITY

December 20, 09:24 PST

Conner awoke later than usual the next morning. Light filtered into the room through the window blinds. He stood up from the sofa-bed and stretched his arms, letting his muscles relax. For the first time, he wasn't due for training or a mission briefing. It was almost refreshing.

Then he spotted a note lying beside his pillow. Dinah must have left it for him. It read:

Went to work. Call if you need anything – my number's on the fridge. Make yourself at home. I'll be home by 6.

Conner frowned with disappointment. He had been looking forward to spending more time with her.

Suddenly feeling bored and isolated, he wished he were off fighting villains alongside his teammates.

Once he finished breakfast, he turned on the TV to see if anything good was on. He flipped through the channels in rapid succession. Cartoon Network was showing some program called Young Justice, but that didn't seem particularly interesting. Keeping Up with the Kardashians was on – he only recognized it because M'gann and Zatanna were fans of the series – but it didn't make any sense to him. With a sigh of resignation, he turned the TV off.

Yesterday, Dinah had given him a key to the apartment in case he wanted to go outside. But he didn't feel like doing that either.

His thoughts drifted to Superman. What was he doing right now? Did he ever think about Conner? Would he someday accept—

No! Conner shook his head violently, willing himself to drive away all thoughts of Superman. He needed something to do, something that would distract him from the pain.

That's when it hit him.

Why not set up the Christmas tree? Dinah hadn't told him where she kept it, but he had an inkling that it was in the closet. Where else would it be? He went to open the closet door. Lo and behold, there it was in a plastic storage box. Energized by a renewed sense of purpose, he quickly got to work.

Setting up the tree and lights wasn't too much of a challenge for a skilled engineer like himself. The ultimate test was the ornaments. They were so fragile; even the slightest pressure caused them to break.

With each shattered glass ornament, Conner grew increasingly frustrated and went so far as to curse his super strength. Yet, he vowed not to give up, even if it ended up taking all day.

Dinah was in the process of closing up shop for the night when somebody tapped her on the shoulder.

"Sorry, we're closed," she said, her back still turned to the customer. "We open tomorrow morning at nine."

"What, you're not even going to say hi to an old friend?"

At the sound of the familiar voice, Dinah whirled around. "Helena!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around her. "I've missed you so much!"

"Oh, don't get all sentimental on me," Helena complained.

Dinah laughed. "Can you blame me?" She looked her former colleague up and down, having rarely seen Helena out of her Huntress gear. Then again, she rarely saw her, period. Helena had been forced to resign from the Justice League nearly a year ago after attempting to murder crime boss Steven Mandragora. Nowadays, she just worked independently. "How are you?"

"Same old, same old. What about you?"

"I'm good. What brings you to Star City?"

She waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, I was just following up on a lead. Thought I'd stop by to see you. Neat place, by the way."

Dinah beamed. "Thanks." She took great pride in her shop.

"So, how are you and Arrow doing? Still got him on a leash?"

The smile dropped from her face. "Actually, no," she said quietly. "We broke up."

"Oh, Dinah, I'm so sorry." Helena shook her head. "It's all my fault for bringing it up."

"No, no, it isn't your fault at all."

"Do you want to…talk about it or anything?"

"There's nothing to talk about," Dinah said bitterly. "I caught him sleeping with his secretary, and that was that. It probably wasn't even the first time," she muttered.

Helena sighed. "Boys suck. If vibrators could mow the lawn, we wouldn't even need men in our lives."

Dinah gave her a strange look.

"What? I was just quoting someone!" Helena said defensively. "Anyway, I've got an idea. Since I'm not going back to Gotham until tomorrow, why don't we get drunk for old times' sake? What do you say, Di?"

She managed a weak smile at Helena's enthusiasm. "That doesn't sound too bad, actually. But I have a guest over, so I should get back home."

Helena arched an eyebrow suggestively. "Oh, I'll bet you're eager to get back home. Who is he?"

Dinah groaned. "It's not like that! You know how Cadmus created a clone of Superman?"

"You mean Superboy? Yeah, I've heard about that. What does that have to do with…? Whoa, hold on a sec, Superboy's your guest?"

"Yep."

Helena was taken aback. "Why isn't Superman taking care of him? I mean, he's the father, basically."

Dinah sighed. "Clark just isn't ready to have a relationship with Conner yet – that's Superboy's name, by the way. I guess I can sort of understand what Clark's going through, seeing as how Conner was created to replace him…. Well, anyway, that's why he's staying at my place for these two weeks."

"That's some deep shit," Helena opined absentmindedly.

"Hey, why don't you join us for dinner tonight?" Dinah suggested, changing the subject. "I was just going to pick up some Chinese takeout on the way home."

"All right, sure." She grinned. "How hot is he, on a scale of one to ten?"

"Helena!"

She held up her hands innocently. "Can you blame me for asking? He is Superman's clone, after all."

Dinah glared at her. "If you make one pass at him, I'm gonna—"

"Drop-kick me to the next county. I know, I know." Helena rolled her eyes.

"Good. Now that we're clear, let's get going."

Metropolis

December 20, 20:39 EST

"What's wrong, Smallville?"

Clark Kent glanced at his wife. "Why would you think something's wrong?"

"You're all fidgety," Lois observed, not bothering to look up from her magazine. "And I know it's not because you have a fear of flying."

"It's Conner," he admitted.

Only then did she look at him. "Clark, what happened?"

He blew out a breath. "I feel really bad about something I did. Well, technically, it's something I refused to do…."

"Okay, now you're just confusing me. What the hell are you talking about?"

"The other day," Clark began, "I was asked to let Conner stay with me for the break."

"And you said no," she finished for him.

"God, I'm such a jerk, aren't I?"

Lois put her hand over his. "Look, I know this must be hard for you. It's going to take a long time for you to feel comfortable with having him in your life. But I'll be there for you every step of the way," she promised.

"Thanks, Lois." He gave her a small smile.

"Now boarding flight number 217 to Hawaii," the intercom announced.

"Finally," Lois grumbled, standing up from the seat. "It took them long enough."

Clark shook his head in amusement. There was the Lois Lane he knew and loved. He followed behind her, dragging his suitcase along. Surely, being in a tropical paradise would cheer him up.

A/N: I'm using the Justice League Unlimited version of Huntress.