A Day Later:
M'gann
"Where do we begin?" M'gann exhaled in a sarcastically hopeless voice.
"Anywhere really," Black Canary replied, her voice tranquil and soft like the breeze, "but if I was to direct it somewhere I'd begin with one question. Out of all the chaos, the footage with Robin, and what I bet to be a large commotion of different opinions what were you thinking? Feeling?"
M'gann had her back as stiff as a board, her hands rested politely in her lap, and her jaw tightened so tight it looked uncomfortable just to talk. Before answering she analyzed the room lightly, there she and Black Canary sat in those two green sofa chairs facing each other, and the sound of the water gently trickling down the small waterfall like fountain. For a moment she just let herself absorb the serenity. Although she never thought she'd be back here, but as selfish as she thought it sounded she was thankful it wasn't her fault they were all sent back to some one on one time with Black Canary. Though she never really understood why Artemis and Connor had complained about it, it really wasn't that bad, nice actually.
"Well, at first there was a lot of bickering," she began, "nothing severe, not even fighting, just thoughts bouncing off thoughts – not in a sense of telepathic communication, but as in thoughts in the form of voice." She suddenly felt flustered.
"I understand,"
"And, well," she hesitated, although Black Canary's reassuring nod made her continue, "don't tell anyone. I'd die if they knew this, but as much as I want to say I was completely on Robin's side and didn't believe he did it I can't. Honestly I wasn't on either side . . . I was . . ."
She thought for a moment, and then continued with her face lighting up.
"Hello M'gann," she spoke up dryly, "I wasn't on either side because I was waiting to hear their sides. I just wanted to agree with whatever they had to say, God, am I that desperate for friendship?"
"But, M'gann, they are your friends, you know that right?"
"Yes, of course," she jerked her head back up, "I just at times need . . ."
"Their approval?" Black Canary intersected her trailing voice. "You know M'gann its okay to disagree, to have an opinion on things. Just because they believe in something doesn't mean you have to, that's what makes someone who they are."
She sighed, "I know."
Kaldur:
"M'gann and Connor were obviously confused on what they believe," Kaldur expressed his thoughts on the story, "and like always I took my position, and before we knew it we were walking down the street and I was explaining another plan."
"And this bothers you, am I right?"
"Yes," he admitted, "I mean, I completely believed Robin was innocent. Not for the same reason's Wally believed this. Wally believed this because he and Robin obviously have a close friendship."
"Instead of assessing your friends, let's assess you for a moment," Black Canary guided the conversation. "So why did you believe Robin was innocent?"
"I thought this for two reasons," Kaldur explained, "the logical side was that it was completely out of Robin's character to do such a thing, and second is because I didn't want it to be true. Not only is Robin a friend, but he is also the one. . ."
". . . To take your place as leader one day," she admitted for him.
"Yes," he nodded, "it's horrible I know, but without Robin I might – I'm sorry, it would be wrong of me to speak of Robin in such a selfish way."
"I understand," Black Canary nodded, "but understand this Kaldur, nothing here will leave this room and it's okay what you're feeling. We have to think of ourselves at times, it's not selfish to worry for one's self."
"Thank you."
Wally:
"Let's just get this whole talking thing over with, 'kay babe," Wally winked in an obviously cheesy way making Black Canary roll her eyes, "I've got some left over pizza in the microwave that's calling my name."
"Wally," she said strongly, "I know you act like everything is nonchalant, but I know from this and our last session that you must not be as held together as you act. I heard about how desperate you were when you found out about Robin, care to explain more?"
Wally could say he never expected to back here, although he didn't mind some one on one time with Black Canary. Although he considered the whole therapy, talk about your feelings a complete buzz kill, it just wasn't necessary. Not everything needs talking over, Wally thought.
"I wouldn't say desperate," Wally leaned back in the seat getting himself overly comfortable, "I was just worried, disagreeing really, Rob's a good friend of mine, I've known him the longest so I would know. I just hated to see someone as dedicated to stopping injustice as Rob being pegged as a villain. Artemis just couldn't see that!"
"You mention Artemis?" she asked lifting an eyebrow.
"Hey, she was the one was who was accusing Robin," Wally defended himself sitting up in less than a split second.
"You've become defensive?"
"I'm going to get my pizza,"
"Wally, wait-"
Although it was too late her hair was blowing back from the wind of him speeding out of the room.
Connor:
"I don't really know what I'm supposed to say,"
"Whatever you feel," Black Canary sat up resting one leg over the other.
"I don't feel much about the situation," Connor confessed, "it happened, and then it was solved. End."
"What about the in-between?"
Connor sighed at that part.
Artemis:
"I heard about your immediate reaction to believe the press," Black Canary told her quietly, "its okay, but Kaldur said you sounded pretty upset."
"I'm a pessimist, what can I say?"
"You can say why it bothered you so much," she pushed her slightly, although after not speaking Black Canary pushed more, "is it a possibility that this whole situation has some connection to what happened with you and Cheshire. . ."
"No!" Artemis quickly sat up suddenly frantic. "We're not talking about my sister, she doesn't have that kind of hold over me, I simply saw the proof before us, and, well, you know what they say: seeing is believing." She calmed down once more.
"You say she doesn't have a hold over you, and, yet," she continued, "you react quite severely to thought of talking about her."
"I do not!"
"Artemis I know it's hard to except, but," she began, "just because one person may have hurt you doesn't mean they all will. These are your friends, you can trust them, you can't judge everyone on the fear they might hurt you the way your sister did."
"I'm not afraid, but thanks anyways," she grumbled, but Black Canary could sense an honest appreciation in her voice which was enough for her.
Robin:
"With everything that happened I can't imagine what you're feeling right now," Black Canary confessed, "so how are you feeling about everything Robin?"
Robin smirked dryly, his eyes locked on the ground and his shoulders slumped, "So much. I'm just disappointed in myself, I feel guilty about putting Batman and the team and the Justice League through all this, I felt hopeless, and worst of all I was afraid for a long while there. I was actually afraid, not to say I didn't just push that feeling back as far as I could and continued with the mission. Just like Batman would have, I carried out with what I needed to do no matter what."
"If you were afraid why didn't you turn towards Batman or your friends?"
"I was too deep in," Robin admitted, "I had gone off the chart and sunk as low as I possibly could. I couldn't turn to anyone, I was on my own. God, I know I said I wasn't sure I wanted to be or even could be the next Batman, but now I'm positive I can be. How can I keep working with him when all I can think about it how I will never live up to the Dark Knight. I've never seen him so disappointed in me."
"Robin, you're not perfect, no one is," she began, "not just humans, even Martian's and Kryptonian's. We all make mistakes, and it's okay because we all have the ability to learn from them. Which you obviously have, and we all understand what happened to you was an accident. Even the Dark Knight makes mistakes, so there are no hard feelings left. We're just glad you're back." She gave him a sincere and familiar grin that did relax him quite a bit.
"Thanks Black Canary,"
After the session with Robin, Black Canary knew who she needed to talk to next. Even though they didn't have a scheduled appointment with each other she knew she needed to speak with Batman. Someone had to.
Later that Evening:
Robin settled himself back at Mount Justice, just soaking in all the hominess that he had missed so much. He chuckled thinking of M'gann and her burnt cooking as he gazed at the empty, little kitchen, and Connor making eyes with M'gann from the other side of the room, and he could picture Wally and Artemis fighting over the TV remote, and then Kaldur would walk in with some news of some sort. It was amazing to be back, it was being able to regain a long lost memory.
Although this was soon interrupted when he got an incoming transmission from his holographic computer, clicking it open Psimon's face appeared.
"It's time for your part of the deal,"
Sorry this chapter was mostly talking, I wanted to do the whole therapy session with Black Canary because I loved it so much on the show. Thanks to everyone who reviewed or reviews ;)
