"Good morning sunshine," a perky voice said. I had just walked into my dark workshop with my mocha latte clutched in my hands. I was not a morning person, but a certain speedster in red spandex was.

"Somebody has had coffee this morning," I grumbled as I was put my pack on my desk. I reached over to the power strip and turned it on. "Flash why are you sitting in the dark?"

As the lights came on, I found out why he was alone in the dark. Wearing his normal spandex suit, Flash was wearing a red ski mask over his face instead of his traditional red mask with the yellow lightning bolts. I blinked thinking that the lights were playing tricks on me. But they were not.

"Before you start…" he said, but I was not going to let him have a word in edgewise.

"What happened?"

"I got mobbed by a bunch of football cheerleaders who ripped my mask off."

I was not amused. My eyes narrowed and I cocked my eyebrow up. My lips tightened as I shifted my weight onto on hip. "Flash."

"Okay. I washed my costume last night," I opened my mouth to ask if he cleaned it the proper way, but he held up his hand, "and yes, I did hand wash it. I sat in front of the TV watching a zombie movie with my hands in soapy water washing it. I hung it out to dry over night and when I woke up this morning, my mask was still pretty damp. So I put it in the microwave for thirty seconds to dry it out and…"

"Let me guess. The microwave exploded along with your mask."

"In a word, yes. Can you help me out Amelia? I need to pull one of the spares."

The Justice League had a ready supply of costumes up in the Watchtower in case they needed new ones; even Batman had a few batsuits hanging about. I had access to the supply room they were kept in. One of the things I did was to try and create costumes that withstood all the wear and tear that the League threw at them.

"Does the boy scout know?" I asked.

"No. I got here early so that I wouldn't see Superman before he sees me."

"Smart move," I said putting my coffee down. "Let me see what kind of magic I can conjure up."

Sitting in my spinny, rolly chair, I turned on the computer that was at my disposal. It was an old piece of technological crap. In a state of the art facility like the Watchtower, why was this Stone Age doorstop even given permission to be in it? But as technology evolved, I suppose somebody had to inherit the old technology and that somebody just happened to be me.

While we were waiting for my computer to boot up, Flash had discovered my collection of CD's next to my stereo. "You think I'm irresponsible, don't you?" he asked.

"Putting a flammable fabric with titanium filaments in the microwave to dry? Well it doesn't exactly do you any credit when it comes to responsible measures. It must be a guy thing. I pity your girlfriend."

"I don't have one. No time."

"The fastest man alive has no time? How does that work out?"

"Well let's start for the fact the I work two jobs. This one and being a full time dad."

"You're a dad?"

"Sure am."

"And you're making microwaves explode? Was your kid there when you did that?" I asked in alarm.

"Relax. He was asleep. He's finally sleeping through the night."

"You have a son. How old?"

"Charlie's almost nine months old."

"And his mother?"

Flash got silent. Something I said maybe? "My wife Linda died a month after Charlie was born."

I got out of my chair and went over to the superhero. Placing my hand on his shoulder, I gave it a squeeze. "I'm sorry. I had no idea."

"It's okay."

"It must have been difficult to raise him on your own."

"You raised twins on your own."

"Yeah, but I'm not a crime fighting superhero on the side. For you when you go on a mission, you probably wonder if you'll come back to Charlie in one piece."

"Sometimes I do. Hey your computer's awake."

So it was. Sitting back in my chair, I opened the security program for costume supply room. Typing in my password, I took the keycard and got up again. "Come on," I said to Flash. "Let's get you a mask before the others show up."


It would be just our luck that the supply room we wanted was at the other end of the Watchtower. As we walked, I felt like a spy behind enemy lines. At any moment, we could meet up with another member of the League and get the third degree.

"Amelia," Flash said. "Can I ask you something?"

"I don't know. Can you?"

"Should have seen that coming. May I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Charlie has starting teething and nothing I do has been helping. Did you figure out something when the twins were teething?"

"Well the twins teethed differently. Heather was very fussy and Timmy was pretty mellow. But for both of them I froze their rubber feeding spoons or pacifiers in the freezer and letting them suck on those. It seemed reduce the inflammation."

"I'll try that. I might be coming to you a lot for advice. Those baby care manuals can only go so far."

"I'll help whenever I can. I'll watch him for you in the evening if you like."

Flash smiled. "Thanks, but I've got a babysitter on call all day and all night."

"Well the offer will always stand. I know how hard it is to find a babysitter."

"Maybe we should set up a play date for our kids?"

"I don't know. I don't think that Heather or Timmy will want to play with a nine month old. They are four years old."

"I didn't think of that. So how's the apartment search going?"

"Not so good. I don't know if I should go back to Central City or to go somewhere else. What do you think?"

Flash's eye, which I noticed were green, creased in thought. "Bat's got Gotham, Superman is in Metropolis, GL and Wonder Woman are in New York. Central City is my home city. I've been to all of the cities that the League lives in and I think that Central City, despite the cost of living, is one of the better. But then I'm biased."

"No I agree with you. I was born in Central City when the circus my parents were in passed through there. I think that I'll go back to Central City."

"I'll keep my eye out for apartments for you. Any requirements you're looking for?"

"At least two bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and in a building without a slumlord. It should be near good schools for my kids and maybe close to a park or a playground."

"You certainly know what you want."

"I just want the best for my kids. My wants are secondary."

"A lot changes when you become a parent. When Linda gave birth to Charlie it was the happiest day of my life. I felt like I was proudest dad on Earth. When Linda died, things changed so fast. One minute I had a partner to help me care for Charlie, but the next I was all alone with a month old baby and not a clue. What about you?"

"Well I had my cousin Dick to help me. But for the most part I tried to do it all myself, cause I knew that I would have to do it without Dick's help. But I will forever be grateful to Dick for getting me through the pregnancy, labor, and the first few months. I'm sure Linda was grateful to you for all the help you gave her when she was pregnant."

"I remember she had a craving for egg rolls. She'd make me get up a two in the morning to go down to this twenty-four hour Chinese restaurant near our apartment to go and get her egg rolls."

"For me it was pistachio ice cream."

Flash crinkled his eyes with disgust. "Pistachio ice cream?"

"Don't ask me why. I was pregnant and I got cravings."

Flash was about to say something, but the sound of footsteps silenced him. He ducked into a dark corner while I stayed in the light to see who it was. We were so close, please do not let it me Superman. My breath got caught in my throat as the large figure of Superman rounded the corner. Damn.

"Good morning Amelia," he said cheerfully. He obviously had coffee this morning too. "You're up early."

"I wanted to get started early," I said casually. "I was worried about a possible short in one of the computer terminals on The Deck." This was partly true. I was worried about a short in The Deck, but it was not a serious worry. The worst was probably a fried wire that needed to be replaced.

Superman apparently did not sense that I was lying. My lie had just enough truth in it to be believable. He smiled and nodded his head. "I've noticed that the Watchtower has been running more efficiently since you came along. Keep up the good work."

I gave him a salute and Superman carried on. I waited until he was out of sight before beckoning to Flash. He came out of the shadows and gave me a wink.

"That was close," he said. "I can't believe that he believed you."

"If you're going to tell a lie, add a little truth to it. It makes it believable. Here we are," I said as we rounded the corner. "Let's get you a new mask and get out of here."

I swiped the passkey and the door opened. Flash ran in, put on a new mask, and quickly back out. The whole process to a matter of a second. Locking the door we turned to leave, but we were caught by a voice.

"You are so busted," it said.

Turning around, we found Shayera Hol, formerly Hawkgirl, leaning against the wall. She was in a perfect view to witness our little stunt. Up till now I had only seen Shayera from a distance. From the scuttlebutt I had heard around, I learned about Shayera's betrayal of the Justice League during the Thanagarian occupation a while back. Wonder Woman had warned me to avoid her, but I was not inclined to make judgments based solely on the word of others, not matter who they were.

Shayera Hol was a few inches taller than me with red hair and green eyes. Her wings were folded behind her and her arms were folded across her chest. Nothing about her gave me the vibe that she was as bad as I was told. Besides she was a fellow red head, she could not be so terrible.

"Shayera, how long have you been standing there?" Flash asked nervously.

"Long enough to see you get yourself out of a jam by the skin of your nose."

"I had a little help," Flash said nudging me.

"Oh no you don't," I said. "I have complete deniability. All I have to do is say you threatened me to do it."

"Who would believe you?" he asked.

"Let's see. The fastest man alive versus a poor powerless single mother. I think I could make the case."

"Me too," Shayera said. "Face it Flash, you couldn't run circles around the jury."

Flash threw his hands up in defeat, just as his pager went off. "Gotta go ladies," he said before dashing off.

"Men," Shayera and I said at the same time.

"We haven't been introduced," Shayera said with a smile. "Shayera Hol."

"Amelia Jones."

"Oh so you're the fantastic Amelia Jones. I've heard a lot about you."

"None of it true, I'll bet."

"Ace mechanic, inventor, gymnast, escape artist, illusionist, mother of two. You give Batman a run for his money went it comes to skill diversity."

"I try. I'm finally glad to meet you Shayera Hol. I've heard about you as well."

Her face grew grim. "Do you think I'm a traitor too?"

"No," I said flatly. "I think that you were a person caught between a rock and hard place. We all make mistakes. I know that I've made quite a few in my life. The point of mistakes is that we learn from them. Did you learn from it?"

"Yes."

"Then you've atoned for your mistakes in my book."

"Really?"

"Really, really. Come on. I don't want to hang around the scene of a crime."

Shayera giggled. "Right. Where to?"

"To the Batcave Shayera."

Shayera burst out laughing as we walked away from the storeroom and head back to my workshop.


"Like the oldies much?" Shayera asked looking through my CD collection as I made her a cup of coffee.

"The oldies are the goodies," I said walking back to my desk with a mug in each hand. "I like country, rock, and show tunes too. But when you're fixing up Javelin, you've gotta listen to the oldies. It's like a rule. When fixing up large vehicles one must listen to The Beach Boys or The Eagles."

Shayera smiled. "You've got a great attitude about life."

"It's kept me alive. Life handed me so many lemons over the years and after having puckered lips for a while, I finally sat down and started making lemonade out of them."

"I wish I could make lemonade out of some of my lemons," Shayera said taking a grim sip of coffee.

"Wanna talk about it?" I asked.

"No."

"Well when you're ready, I've got two perfectly good ears and no waiting."

"Thanks. It'll be nice to have someone else to talk to besides Dr. Fate and Inza. They've been really kind to me, but they have no idea what kind of decisions I had to make."

"You are preaching to the choir here. I had to make a choice once."

"What was that?"

"I had to choose between my husband and my children."

"And you chose your children."

"That's right. Men come and go, but your children are yours forever. So in a way I had to make a similar choice that you made. Your people or people that became family."

"Did I make the right choice?"

"Only you can know that Shayera Hol, but if you hadn't made the choices you did, we would be sitting here talking about them over a cup of coffee. My advice to you is to get out there and start making lemonade."

Shayera nodded and put down her mug of coffee. "You're right. I shouldn't live in the past. Thank Amelia." Shayera spread her wings and flew out of my workshop.

Watching her fly away, a thought occurred to me. I could have made a fortune in the self help racket. "Oh well," I said aloud putting in some classic rock and getting to work.