A/N: This chapter is from Batman's POV. For those of you who don't know, Billy Bates is Captain Marvel and The Team refers to the group from the Young Justice T.V. series.


My child was dying and I felt completely powerless. Everything I had done to protect her, to keep her alive, was coming undone before my very eyes and I could do nothing. Nothing. The word echoed in my mind as it drifted to the night I lost my parents, one of the few times I had felt this helpless. Suddenly I was that eight year old boy all over again, feeling the same gut wrenching fear as I watched one of the only things in this world that was truly mine be torn from my grasp yet again. It did not matter that I had failed her at every chance, barely knew the woman my daughter had become, had subjected her to an unending hell because of my own selfish fears. Only one thing mattered above all others: She was my daughter, my flesh and blood, and I would not lose her again.

Instantly my mind was racing with facts, what little I knew about her and all that I knew about Poison Ivy, replaying every encounter trying to pick up on all of the details, hoping for anything that might clue me in on what to do. I narrowed my thinking to Ivy and how she behaved when in active battle, what she did when she was gravely injured, how she survived being injected with Venom. I knew the answer had something to do with plants, it always did with Ivy, and if Aubrey inherited as much of her power as I think she had I knew that the solution would be the same. Ivy drew her strength from being in contact with her plants, and they relied on her for nurturing whenever they were compromised, maybe they took care of her the same way when she was injured? Was it possible that Aubrey would be able to be healed by plants like her mother? Probably, though it meant what I had always feared was true. I pushed that thought from my mind, focusing instead on trying to find a way to get her to a large population of plants. Taking her to Earth was out of the question, her condition was too precarious and she might not survive the trip, and right now it was far too dangerous for almost everyone anyhow. I would have to find a solution here on the Watchtower, then it hit me: the hydroponic forest.

It was a long shot for sure, I had not seen Ivy do particularly well in water and for all I knew Aubrey might have the same limitations, but it was all I could think of save for finding a potted plant and sticking her hand in the soil. On second thought, that would be Plan B, in case this one did nothing. I looked to Diana, she was trying her best to keep calm but I saw the distress in her eyes, she never liked to see innocents suffering. She was wiping away the blood and froth from Aubrey's mouth while trying to reach J'onn on her commlink. We did not have time for that.

"Diana," I said roughly, trying to get her attention, "she can't wait for J'onn, we have to do something now!"

Diana moved her hand from her ear and looked at me with her jaw set, her blue eyes shining with fierce determination. "You have a plan."

It was not a question.

"Yes, and you play a vital role in it," I said sternly, my gaze going from her to Aubrey. "I need you to get her to the hydroponic forest as quickly as possible. I'll try to meet you there but you'll probably arrive first. When you do, I need you to remove as many of the bandages as possible and put her on the roots of some of the trees, make sure her skin is touching them."

She opened her mouth to question what I was telling her but I held up a hand to stop her.

"Please, Diana, this may be the only way to save her life," I said as calmly as I could manage, the situation becoming more desperate by the second. "Don't question my instructions, Princess, just follow them."

Diana nodded, she was used to how I conduct myself even if it was not always the nicest way of conducting oneself, sometimes I wish I could speak to her like I wanted to but that was out of the question. Keeping her at arm's reach was the only way I knew she was safe from my world and from me, two things I did not want to subject her to though Hera knows I was tempted. I stopped myself before I let my imagination get the better of me, now was not the time to be wishing my life had turned out differently. We had to get Aubrey to the hydroponic forest as quickly as Meta humanly possible.

"I don't want to hurt her," said Diana looking at how badly damaged Aubrey really was. "Maybe I could wrap her in something?"

I glanced around the room and saw my cape draped over a chair and I grabbed it. "We can use this, it should keep her well protected."

"Like you have," she said kindly. I knew she meant well, but it stung, since I knew the truth about the situation.

Quickly we removed the various wires that connected her to the different machines in the room, together we were able to wrap her in my cape, and I helped to put her in Diana's arms. She held her as if she were the most precious commodity that ever existed, which did not surprise me in the slightest, that was just who Diana was.

"I'll look after her, Bruce, until you join us," said Diana solemnly like she was promising to return my soul from Tartarus. I nodded and she flew out of the room.

I was about to join her when I saw a rucksack sitting in the chair my cape had been placed on, it was old and worn but still held together by skillfully done stitches, it was certainly heavy probably full of all of Aubrey's earthly possessions. Another stab of guilt. I put the bag back where I found it and headed out the door, trying to banish the thoughts that clouded my mind, I had to keep a clear head in this situation.

I walked quickly through the tunnels, words of prayer in the original Greek flowed like water from my lips as I moved from tunnel to tunnel. My destination, the large open chambers of the hydroponics forest, not much further. I stepped into the open space and was amazed anew at the abundance of life that was home here in the desolate landscape of the lunar surface. Pushing such unnecessary thoughts from my mind, I sought out and found Diana watching Aubrey as she rested atop a large clump of roots. As she lay there unconscious, I noted with increasing alarm that the roots were responding to her presence. I rushed forward to stop the intrusion, but Diana stepped in my way and shook her head.

"Look, the trees are supporting her," she said breathlessly.

She was right as usual, the roots had begun encircling her body supporting her weight and stabilizing her. Within a few minutes of waiting I noticed a small greenish glow along the length of one of the thicker roots, no doubt the taproot of the tree right above her. The glow began to spread from the main root to the other smaller roots under the tree. As it spread, I noticed that a similar glow was emanating from Aubrey as well, it seemed a weaker light source at first but with each passing moment it became stronger. As the glow around my daughter grew brighter, her skin became noticeably more healthy. Unblemished skin took the place of the scorched and cracked skin that had covered the majority of the body only a handful of minutes previously. Her hair, too, was growing back at an accelerated rate. It was working, by all the gods on Mt. Olympus it was working. The other trees close to Aubrey had also begun sharing their power to bring my daughter back to me as well.

"It's working Diana. Can you see it?" I asked unable to keep the joy out of my voice. I did not need to see Diana's face to know that there was a smile on it, though at this moment I only had eyes for Aubrey.

"Yes, Bruce," Diana said with a smile, "I can see." She slipped a hand in mine and squeezed it for a long moment then let it go. That simple gesture spoke volumes. I turned to spare a glance at the beautiful Amazon woman standing at my side. I did not know how much of myself I could give to her, but maybe it would not be so bad finding out.

"I think the worst is past, Bruce. I can stay watch over her, so that you might deal with those responsible for this tragedy as you see fit," Diana said with a nod and continued her self-appointed vigil over Aubrey. I in turn only nod and walk with a new purpose back the way I came. Those who did this would pay dearly for their mistake.


I made my way back from the forest keeping my eyes trained ahead of me, not giving the other Leaguers a glance as I moved past them. This was nothing new from me, most if not all of the League members had grown accustomed to my cold attitude towards them, knowing it was better to let me be than to engage in pointless conversation. My goal now was to either get to the transportation room or if that was too busy, the Javelin docks to use one of the ships to get back to Earth, more specifically Gotham. Barbara might have told me about other cities being attacked but none of those cities housed a large prison full of psychotic criminals that were likely running amok. Besides that, I was desperate to find out what damage had been done to my city, the explosions had come from all over the damn place and if I could inspect each one I might be able to gain some insight into why this happened. That was the plan, anyway.

"Batman," said Clark, stepping out in front of me. "Emergency Founders' meeting now, you're needed."

"Can't," I said tersely, as I stepped around him, "I need to get back to Gotham."

He moved back in front of me. "We're going to be discussing tonight's events, Bruce, and we could really use that brilliant mind of yours trying to figure this out."

I raised an eyebrow, though he could not see it under the cowl. "Is that all you want me there for?"

Clark's shoulders relaxed and I knew he was about to tell me something he did not want to really talk about. "That's partly why," he said quietly, checking around to see who might be listening, "there's also the issue of our "guest" in the infirmary. We need to discuss what to do with her, she's seen too much, and I think Hal's hiding something about her."

"That's hardly something the Founders need to discuss," I argue, wanting to protect my daughter from the prying eyes of my colleagues. "She's my responsibility and none of your business."

"The moment Hal brought her here, she became League business," said Clark sternly. "The others are starting to ask questions, Bruce, questions that only can answer. The League needs to know if she's a danger to us, after all, Hal told us where he found her."

"She's not some foundling, Clark," I snarled, clenching my fists, "he didn't just find her and pick her up at random, he sought her out. He shirked off monitor duty to find her, and I'm sure this isn't the first time he's gone after her either."

Clark closed his eyes and released a sigh. "We aren't discussing Hal, we're discussing you, and the fact is you are needed here. You're staying here, Bruce, and if I have to carry you to the room to make sure you're at the meeting I will."

'Hera give me strength,' I thought, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Fine, I'll go."

He smiled and patted my shoulder. "I know this isn't easy for you, Bruce, so I appreciate you staying."

I scowled as we started walking to the board room, I suppose that's what it was, we never had given it a proper name. "If this turns out to be a waste of my time, I'm leaving," I said with conviction. "I have better things to do with my time than sit here while hell breaks loose in my city."

"Understood," said Clark as he put in his access code. "After you." He gestured for me to head in before him and I walked in, keeping my head down low as I entered the vast room. No matter how often I was in this room I could not get used to how tall the room was or the gigantic window that opened out to the empty void of space. This space was almost completely useless, why we picked such a vulnerable spot for holding our meetings I would never understand but we were stuck with it. In the middle of the room sat a round table with seven chairs placed around it but only a few were occupied, most of the Founders were standing around and a few of the senior members of the League were in here as well. This did not normally happen unless a huge catastrophic event occurred and we had eyes in several areas that could give us the bigger picture. I guess tonight qualified.

"Finally," said Barry, shaking his head as he leaned against the table. "I thought Bats skipped out on us again."

"He was just about to," said Clark as he took his seat at the table and I took mine. "I managed to intercept him before he left the Watchtower."

"Where's Di?" asked John, crossing his arms.

"Busy," I replied, my tone telling him that the matter was closed.

"Yes, yes, we're all happy Batman's here," said Shayera tersely as she sat down in Diana's chair, "can we please get on with this? From what reports I've heard, they really need our help down there."

"Peace, Shayera," said Arthur as he sat beside J'onn. "We'll be down there as soon as we're able, the Team and the Titans have already been sent down. They're working on evacuation and crowd control. We can go down later and round up any criminals that were freed."

Shayera grumbled but she did not protest. "Fine, but as soon as this meeting's done, I'm taking a team of my own down there."

"No one's arguing with you, Shayera," said Clark calmly. "We all want to be down there, believe me. First we have a few things we need to discuss." His eyes fell on me and I immediately tensed. He then activated the virtual map on the table and different regions popped up, I immediately recognized where they were, there were also orange dots in specific areas which I determined showed where the bombs went off. "Our initial reports have told us that Gotham City was hit the hardest," he said pointing at the map of Gotham, "Metropolis only had a couple of bombs go off as did Central City, Star City had nearly three go off, and several other cities with about the same number. We've been trying to pinpoint exactly where the bombs went off to try and get a clearer picture of what the target was, we figure it was Gotham City."

I looked down at the map and stared, frowning. "You're right, and most of these bombs went off around Arkham City, the largest being at the Ace Chemical Building. This one caused the most damage to area, I should know, I was caught in it as were Dinah and Oliver."

"It was pretty bad," said Oliver, clinging to Dinah. "Thank God we found some cover far enough away not to be too badly damaged by some of the debris we saw flying around."

"Which begs the question of where you were during the last explosion," said John stepping forward, resting a hand on Shayera's shoulder. "We weren't able to track you after you got to Arkham, though we are sure that you made it there."

Oliver cleared his throat nervously. "We were following a lead that Bruce's kid gave us, turns out he was right but we were a little late to the party."

"Figuratively or literally?" quipped Barry with a wry smile, remembering the time when Damian tricked them into crashing a kid's birthday party on a tip about a home invasion.

"Figuratively, this time anyway," said Oliver with a smirk, "we ended up at the confiscated goods vault to find Two-Face and his lackeys had broken in and were attempting to get through the back door. We interrupted their little breakout but shortly after, the chemical plant exploded and we had to run for cover. We lost track of Two-Face and his men in the aftermath."

To say I was pissed was an understatement, I could not believe that they had let Two-Face get away so easily.

"That's alright, what's important is that you're all safe," said Clark, giving me a look that told me to hold my tongue. "We'll probably be able to find him soon enough, he doesn't exactly like to keep a low profile. Anyway, while we'll be helping the other areas devastated by this attack, the Trinity with another team will be focusing their efforts in Gotham City—"

"Absolutely not!" I snap, gaining the attention of everyone in the room. "It's my city and I can take care of it myself with my own team."

Clark kept his face calm but his eyes sparked dangerously, it was not unusual that we disagreed about a mission but it was unusual whenever one of us openly defied an order given by one of the Trinity. "I'm sorry, Bruce, but containment is our priority right now," said Clark flatly. "You might have put those villains away by yourself before but we aren't sure how many are loose and if they are in Gotham, many innocent lives are in danger. We aren't sure which criminals got out or if any did, for all we know, they might have died in the explosions."

Hal made a noise but said nothing on the subject. My eyes narrowed, he knew something and he was keeping it from us, but not for long.

"Fine," I growled, reluctantly yielding to Clark's orders. "But we do it on my terms."

"That's fair," said Clark in his annoying polite way. "You can lead the team, we'll follow your example when dealing with your criminals."

I could not tell for sure if he was being condescending or sincere, I was leaning more towards sincere since it would be out of character for Clark to be condescending. Whichever it was, he had given a direct order and who was I to question him? At least I was in charge of this little operation, I was not about to follow anyone else when my city was the concern.

"Now that that's been settled," said Clark, folding his hands in front of himself, "we have one more topic of discussion before we adjourn. For those of you who don't know, Hal brought up a guest from Arkham City, and from what I've been told she's Bruce's daughter."

Silence followed his words as all eyes rested on me once again. I remained silent, not about to confess to anything that was not necessary for the rest of them to know.

"You have a daughter?" whispered Arthur, he sounded dumbstruck and I could not blame him for being so, it was strange to me too. "Are you sure that she is your's, Bruce? It could just be a ruse she is using to gain favor."

"Believe me, Arthur, she's mine," I said flatly, not meeting his eyes but staring directly at Clark.

Shayera made a slightly disgusted noise. "How many of your kids are we going to keep finding? First Damian now this young woman who was found by chance in Arkham City, are there any more kids you aren't telling us about?"

"She and Damian are my only biological children," I said sternly. "I have investigated this thoroughly and have turned up no further results. If anyone else claims to be my child, that claim will be false."

She recoiled slightly. "I don't even want to know how you were able to do that, Bruce."

"Agreed," said Barry.

"I kind of do," said Oliver, and everyone stared at him. "Well, he says he's looked into this but if he was able to then why didn't he know about Damian until he showed up on his doorstep?" I glared at him and I saw him squirm with nervousness. "Then again, that kid was not exactly created with your . . . knowledge or permission and I'm going to shut up now."

"That would be wise," I said through clenched teeth.

"Technical aspects aside," said Clark impatiently, "we do want to know more about her. For instance, who's her mother?"

"You don't want to know that," said Hal, speaking for the first time since the meeting started.

Clark looked at him harshly. "How would you know, Hal? You told me you found the girl by chance."

"Yeah, well I lied, okay?" he snapped. "I didn't want to tell you something you didn't need to know from me. Yes, I've met her before now, I knew she was Bruce's before you did, I know who her mother was."

That last sentence caught my attention. "Was?" I repeated. "What do you mean was?"

Hal gave me a sad look, like a dog left out in the rain. "She's dead, Bruce."

"What do you mean she's dead?!" I practically yelled. I had no romantic feelings towards Ivy whatsoever but she was the mother of my child and if she was in a situation that resulted in her death, I was worried that Aubrey might have barely escaped herself. This just added to my guilt about leaving my daughter with an unfit parent. Hell, maybe we both were unfit.

"The building she was in basically tore in half, and she fell into the ocean," said Hal sadly. "Aubrey wasn't hurt, but I couldn't save her mother."

"Why not?" asked John, giving his fellow Green Lantern a critical look. "Surely your ring was working, you could have prevented her death."

"I tried," insisted Hal. "I really did try, but I was hit in the head and lost my concentration long enough that the ring stopped working and she fell."

"Okay, now we really need to know who her mother was," said Clark turning back to me. "If she's dead, it would only be right for us to hold some sort of service for her, show . . . Aubrey, was it? . . . that we care about what happened to her mother."

I silently groaned, they were not going to let up until I told them. "I'm not sure how well it would look for the League to hold a memorial service for Poison Ivy."

If they were surprised to learn I had a daughter, that was nothing compared to hearing her mother was Poison Ivy. Needless to say, they were not happy.

"Oh my God, Bruce," sighed Clark, covering his face with his hands.

"Oh man," groaned John.

"Yuck," said Barry with a shudder.

"That's disgusting," said Shayera with a nasty glare.

"You betrayed your own ethics and for what?!" demanded Arthur, jumping from his chair. "A child? Some kind of sick agreement?! I thought you would have never stooped so low."

"What the hell were you thinking?!" asked Oliver and Dinah just glared at me like she was going to kill me.

J'onn remained silent though I knew he was trying to pick my brains for answers, I was mentally blocking him, he had no right to that information.

"As much as you might hate me," I said cooly, "what's done is done and I can't change it. Aubrey's here."

Clark was the first to recover from shock. "Yes, she is, and from my understanding, she's also dying. Is there anything we can do to save her?"

I was about to open my mouth and tell him there was no need but Diana burst through the door with a huge smile on her face.

"Bruce, she's awake!" she said happily then she noticed the looks on the faces of her fellow Leaguers. "What's happened?"

Shayera gave a slightly evil smile. "We just learned the identity of the girl's mother, Diana. I'd be more than happy to enlighten you."

"She's Poison Ivy's daughter, I know," said Diana, completely unperturbed. "I figured it out for myself, Shayera."

"How?" asked Shayera, completely stunned by the news.

"Aubrey was healed using the energy of plants," explained Diana with a shrug. "In our line of work, we've rarely come across any heros with plant-based powers and there's only one person I know of who does, and it's Ivy."

"It does not bother you that Bruce has sired a child with a murderer?" asked Arthur, his grey eyes showing the same danger as the ocean on a stormy night.

To my surprise and relief, Diana shook her head. "No, it doesn't," replied Diana cooly. "For as long as I've known Bruce, he has never done something without great need, never intentionally risked himself or the lives of others. Whatever brought about Aubrey must have been done for the greater good of all, and from what I can tell, evil does not reside within her. No matter what our personal feelings are, we have no reason to think any less of Bruce or question his actions. Besides, how many of us can say we haven't sacrificed something to achieve the goal of peace?" Her eyes rested on Arthur's hooked hand which he was trying to hide.

If I could have, I would have kissed her but I fought my impulse, now was not the time. I looked around at the rest of the Founders and other Leaguers, they seemed to be considering Diana's words carefully, and Clark was the first to speak.

"Diana's right," he said with a small smile. "We can't judge Bruce's actions without having to take a hard look at our own decisions." He then turned to the others. "I think we should offer her a position here."

"Are you crazy?" asked Barry. "She hasn't even been trained!"

"She can learn," replied Clark, looking at me. "Besides, she might not even accept it, she might just want to get off this station and get on with her life. If that's the case then J'onn wipes her memory of what she's seen here and we let her be on her way."

Hal cleared his throat nervously. "Umm J'onn might have to do a little more than wipe her memory of just the Watchtower."

Arthur's eyes narrowed. "What did you do?"

"You'll have to be more specific, Arthur," said Oliver, the white slits in his mask narrowing as he looked at Hal. "The better question might be what didn't he do?"

All eyes were now on Hal, mine included, I was very interested in hearing what he had to say.

"I . . . uh . . . well . . ." he stammered, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "I might have ditched out on monitor duty tonight to go see Aubrey. And a couple of other times, to go find her and make sure she was okay. I also followed her home after I first met her, and spoke with her, that's how I learned so much about her before you all did. Tonight, while I was visiting her, I might have shown her my true identity and told her my real name . . . and kissed her."

No one spoke.

Hal had betrayed the League by thoughtlessly risking himself and the exposure of us all. I have to admit, I was just as surprised as the rest, of all the people that could have slipped up I expected it to be Billy Bates or Wally West since neither of them knew how to keep their mouth shut. Hal had always been a very responsible and careful individual when it came to his secret identity, now to learn that he had been reckless and told someone with criminal connections his real name and shown his true face was astounding. I was also upset with him on a more personal level as he sought out my daughter without letting me know. Getting somewhat romantically involved with Aubrey I could forgive if he had not done so without informing me that he knew about her and had not endangered the League in the process.

"How could you, Hal?" asked Diana looking extremely upset with her friend. "You lied to us, you put yourself above the League, and risked the rest of us."

Arthur refused to look in Hal's direction and John was holding Shayera in her seat so she would not jump up and attack him. J'onn remained silent as usual, but his face was drawn in a look I could only guess was the Martian equivalent to disappointment.

"Some Green Lantern you are," scoffed Oliver.

"I should kick your ass from here to Oa!" yelled Dinah, her face turning red from anger.

Clark had yet to speak but I could feel the anger radiating from him in waves.

"I didn't see you all getting this angry when Bruce admitted he had a kid with Poison Ivy!" argued Hal. He was wrong of course, but then again, he was not exactly in a safe position right now so arguing was a natural response.

"What Bruce did did not endanger an entire organization!" shouted Clark, staring down Hal from his seat. "You're very lucky that we need you to go down to Earth, and can't dispense your punishment just yet. But, the moment everything is under control again, the rest of us will decide what action to take against you for what you have done."

"Fine," said Hal defiantly. "So who's going to babysit me?"

"I am," said John. "You and I have a great deal to discuss before we contact Oa."

Hal looked like he wanted to protest but kept his mouth shut, which was probably the best idea he has had in a long time.

"Alright," said Clark, turning back to the rest of us. "We have cities to look after. Mr. Terrific and Cyborg have more than likely already divided up the remaining Leaguers into teams ready for dispatch and each of you save for Diana, Bruce, and myself will be deployed with them as team leaders. Now, if there are no more questions, we should go."

I growled inwardly, I did not want to go to Gotham City with them, I wanted to go with my team and then see my daughter. Though I could see why this arrangement was a benefit, it would give the three of us a chance to discuss Hal's punishment and possibly talk about Aubrey more. Not that I would ever admit that Clark coming to my city was a good idea.


When we arrived back at the Watchtower it was nearly morning and still we had teams working on cleanup and evacuation, the damage done in the cities was immeasurable not to mention the trauma sustained by the citizens. In all my years with the League I had not seen such panic, and for as long as I live I hope to never again. The more frustrating part was when we arrived in Gotham there were hardly any criminals loose aside from some minor thugs that had been put in Arkham City mostly because of over population in the asylum. It was relatively easy to round them up and we apprehended some looters whom were taking advantage of the chaos to rob jewelry stores and the like. During our thorough patrol of the city we discussed what should be done with Hal, while none of us were happy with him, we could hardly get rid of him since he was a founding member of the League. We decided on a lighter punishment though whatever we came up with was probably nothing compared to what the Guardians would do when they found out he was unable to prevent a death and put personal desires above his duty.

"Has Hal arrived yet, J'onn?" Clark asked into his commlink. While I could not hear J'onn on the other line, I could tell by Clark's expression that he was not. "Thanks, J'onn, send him into the conference room as soon as he's on the station."

"This feels wrong," said Diana quietly.

I looked at her slightly worried, she never usually voiced doubt. "What does, Princess?"

She looked at me and frowned just slightly. "This. This whole mess with Hal, with the bombs that went off in our cities. Nothing feels as it should, it all feels shrouded in shadows."

"That's why Bruce's in charge of investigating this situation," said Clark with his usual easy going smile, "shadows are his area of expertise."

I remained stoic but he was right, I knew best how to work angles that seemed unrelated and impossible. "I'll get started right away, focusing on all areas but mainly Arkham and Gotham city," I said firmly, "I am concerned by the lack of psychopaths that were supposedly running around after breaking out."

Clark nodded. "As am I. Let me know if you need any help."

"I won't," I replied flatly and Clark shook his head.

"What are you going to do about Aubrey?" asked Diana, looking directly at me as she spoke.

"Take her home, to Wayne Manor," I said with a slight lilt in my voice. "If she wants to, of course, she's nearly twenty and can do as she pleases. If she comes with me, she'll more than certainly be trained as my next partner."

"She'll replace Damian?" asked Clark, surprised.

I nodded. "To a certain extent, it depends on how well she does in her training. Though from what I've seen, she'll more than likely do extremely well."

"That I have no doubt about," said Diana, giving me the smile she always seemed to reserve specifically for me. "She seems like she has the potential to be a formidable warrior."

"Time will tell," I said dryly but I felt my heart swell with pride at her words.

"Speaking of time," said Clark, his hand moving from his ear, "Hal's on his way."

I squared my shoulders, this was not going to be pleasant. We waited only a few minutes before Hal burst through the doors, his face screwed so tightly into a scowl I thought it might stick that way. He stopped a few feet away from us, squaring his own shoulders so he looked braver than he probably felt. I could not help but pity him just a little though not much.

"I'm assuming you've come up with some kind of punishment for me," he said in a monotone voice, his eyes directed above Clark's head, instinct after years of military service.

"We have," replied Clark and he stepped forward. "You have been taken off the active duty roster and will be on monitor duty for the next month."

Hal remained impassive, not showing how he really felt about his punishment.

"Also," continued Clark, "you are forbidden from having any contact with Aubrey unless Bruce permits it, you have shown that she compromises you and we cannot have you in that state if you are to stay with the League."

"How do you know she won't come looking for me?" asked Hal and his lips quirked just enough that I knew he was trying not to smile.

"Because J'onn's erased her memory of your . . . incident," said Clark, his eyes darting to me briefly.

Hal's resolve broke for just a moment but he quickly recovered. "So, is my memory to be erased as well?"

"No," I said sternly, "you will live with your guilt and weakness. Let it be a reminder of why you've fallen so far from your usual standards. And don't go asking J'onn or M'gann to erase your memories, they're under strict orders not to."

"This is bullshit," seethed Hal, his balling his fists. "I saved her life!"

"Which is exactly why your punishment is not worse," said Clark as he narrowed his eyes. "Consider it a gift. You're free to go."

Hal was silent for a few moments then he did an about face and left the room.

"Hera," whispered Diana, "he took it better than I expected."

"At least he didn't argue too much," said Clark, wiping invisible sweat from his brow. "I think I'm going to go down to Metropolis, hold onto Lois and not let go until morning."

"That's very romantic, Clark," said Diana sweetly and I felt my heart race. "I think I shall also retire, it has been a long and trying day. Are you going to see Aubrey in the infirmary, Bruce?"

I was surprised by her question but did not let it show. "I think I might, I owe her that much at least."

Diana and Clark both smiled at me, they obviously liked how I was treating this situation.

"When she's better, we'll speak to her about a place with the League," said Clark, resting a hand on my shoulder. "We'll discuss it further tomorrow. Good night, Bruce."

"Clark," I said tersely and then when he moved away, Diana embraced me. Tentatively I put my hands on her waist though I did not dare to hold her any tighter.

"Let me know how it goes," she whispered and her lips brushed across my cheek. Blood instantly traveled south and I pulled away, not wanting her to feel what she did to me.

"I will," I said harshly and I left the room, hoping that I was not too obvious to her.

I walked quickly to the infirmary, ignoring everyone in my path until I reached her door. I took a deep breath, knowing that the moment I went in there my life would change forever, though I was not sure then how much. With a trembling hand I opened the door and stepped inside. The room was dark when I entered but that did not bother me, I was used to moving around without light, quickly I went over to her bedside and sat down in the chair J'onn had probably placed there. I removed my cowl, knowing this was the right thing to do and I reached for her hand, squeezing it gently when it was in mine. I felt her squeeze back and my heart jumped to my throat. I heard her breathing change and knew she was conscious.

"Where am I?" asked Aubrey in a hoarse voice.

"You're safe," I said gently, "you're with the Justice League in their Watchtower."

"Who're you?" she asked and I heard her head turn so I knew she was facing me.

"I'm your father," I said, unable to keep myself from smiling, grateful for the dark. "You should rest now, we have a great deal to talk about."

She squeezed my hand and I could feel her body relaxing. "Please don't leave me."

My smile grew wider as I covered her hand with both of mine. "Never again."