Veronica Grey's pov

Wayne Tech

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

My test results with the Lab rats are promising. So far, I'm curing nine out of ten rats with my cancer burning nanotech. This means that in week or two, I can begin a clinical trial with larger animals. There are plenty of animals in captivity that are dying of cancer and their owners are desperate for a cure. If that goes well, I can begin with humans, but for now, I'm monitoring the rats to see their states long term.

"This is impressive Ms. Grey. I hope to see more promising things from you." Mr. Fox says as he walks through the lines of rat cages with the recovering animals.

"Thank you. I'm glad that you're pleased with my work." I thank him, making sure to be extremely respectful since he is the reason I'm in this program.

"I'll be checking back in on you when you begin the next set of trials. Keep up the good work." He says before exiting my lab. I revert to the menial labor by beginning to care for the rats, changing the newspaper in the bottom of their cages, feeding them, even putting some of the same gender together to be social since that is their natural state. After a while, someone else enters the lab. I assume it's one of the other candidates.

"Marcus, if you're here to get that microscope I borrowed, I already put it back in your lab." I say to the person as I set down the rat I was holding.

"Well I think this stuff you're doing is amazing." Someone says, he isn't Marcus. I turn around to see who it is before peeling off my gloves and approaching them with haste.

"Roy! What are you doing in Gotham?" I ask with a happy tone, usually it's been me visiting him in Star City. We hang out quite a bit now.

"I decided to see what you were up to in the Lab." He looks around at my charts and calculations on the boards around the room. "So this is what curing cancer is like?" He asks with a big grin on his face.

"Yeah, the rats are pretty happy that I'm letting them hang around. Actually gave them cheese today." I begin to laugh and he goes to pet a rat and I bites him. I get the antiseptic handwashes and help him clean his hand since rats are major carriers of disease. I imagine just looking up to see him staring at me the way he did that night in the hotel room. He was the first face I saw when I woke up in that precinct in Star City. He was the one that brought me home, and I'm drawn to him. But he may not see me that way, so I don't want to ruin this relationship that we have gained.

"You know, it's almost four. We could go to a restaurant and get something to eat." He offers. I get moment of hope before it is dashed.

"I have training with the team. Black Canary said training is mandatory." I tell him as I look at the floor. I don't want to say it but I do have priorities.

"It's the day before Thanksgiving and Black Canary and I are friends. It'll be fine if you miss just one day." Roy convinces me, a smile growing on my face.

"Alright then, let me finish up and we can go." I tell him, thinking to myself about how happy I am that I wore a nice outfit. Grey knit sweater dress, black tights and black ankle boots. I put all the rats in their individual containment units modified to monitor their vitals, then proceed to save all my data recorded today. "I'm gonna clean up a bit to make sure I don't bring anything home with me. I know I can't sick but others can." I tell him.

"Just don't take too long." He smiles as walk into the private bathroom and take a quick breather. My makeup is simple and hasn't been messed up today. I scrub up to my elbows before pulling my sleeves back down. I make sure my bun is perfect before exiting the little bathroom to put on my coat and grab my bag. "Shall we?" He asks, offering his arm to me. I feel something ignite inside myself.

"Let's go." I smile at him with a new confidence as I take his arm and we walk out of the lab and out of the building. He hails a cab and we get in. I have absolutely no idea where we are going, but I don't care. When the cab stops and we get out, it's a little hole in the wall greek restaurant in an interesting part of town. The two of us go inside and a hostess brings us to a booth.

"Olly took me here one time when he brought me with him on a business trip. It's pretty good." He has a little smirk as he looks at me past his menu. I try not to look at him, so I'm staring down at my menu, only realizing after the fact that I was biting my lip.

"Well then, Katniss, what do you think you're gonna order?" I try to be funny to relieve the stress of this. I don't know if this is a date or not but it's making me nervous.

"I don't know, sparky, I'm thinking the Lamb Chops. What about you?" He slips in a little retaliating, getting me to laugh slightly.

"I'm thinking the Pork Chops." The words just roll out of my mouth, gaining a strange look from Roy.

"Chops… great minds think alike." He grins, continuing through the menu. Probably for an appetizer or something. After a bit of jokes and things, a waiter takes our order and we are just sitting, and talking.

"So I really think we should really make this a regular thing." I say mindlessly as I tear a piece of bread in half and butter it.

"What? Making dates a regular thing? I thought that implied." He says and I freeze. He said it. This is a date! I can't help but laugh. "What's so funny?" He seems confused, he obviously should be because I'm definitely acting weird.

"Sorry, I wasn't sure if this was actually a date or not. You just said it was so I'm actually kinda relieved that I won't mistake this for something that its not, and I was really nervous about screwing this up and you have no Idea how nervous I actually was and..." He gives me this look like I know I'm doing something stupid but he's amused by it. "Sorry, talking to fast. It's a bit much." I look down and take a sip of my drink, trying to let myself relax so I can enjoy this official date.

"I don't mind." He smiles and I just feel really good in this moment. I feel even better when our food shows up. It's just us, on a date, eating chops, laughing and making fun of eachother.

"So, I have to ask, did you at any point, realize that you and your mentor are christmas colors?" I put out there randomly, Roy just snorts a little and covers his mouth with a fist, silently laughing.

"Yes, that came up a few time. But do you even know what you're gonna call yourself? You can't exactly go prancing around as Sparky or Tech Nerd. Could be kinda funny if you called yourself WATT-son." He jokes. I actually think about what I would be called for a second. I've barely thought about a superhero name.

"I actually don't know what I could be called." I confess as make a face. Roy goes into a near "Thinker" pose, squinting his eyes at me like he's concentrating.

"You could be Supercharge, or Shockwave… you could go simple and just be the Spark." He genuinely suggests names and I get ideas myself.

"Or Cybershock, Electromag, maybe Tesla." I really think about that last one. Roy gets kind of confused.

"Like Nikola Tesla?" He asks, probably thinking I want to be named after some science guy, but that's not it.

"No, like the SI unit of magnetic flux and density." I say as I move the metal fork in his hand with a thought. He gives me an impressed look.

"Well, no matter what you choose, everyone will like you. Everyone gets excited whenever there is a new female hero." He tell me, meaning will but that last part gets to me a little.

"Why, skimpy and risqué costumes?" I ask with an eyebrow raised, he is taken aback by my remark. I guess I didn't get why he said that.

"No, the equalists for gender equality." He smiles as I begin to understand. "Note I didn't say feminists. Like the misogynists, they want more of their gender than the other. Equalists want balance, and I agree." He states as He begins to eat his meal again. I'm just sitting across from him, amazed. He has the ideology that in my personal opinion is amazing to hear coming from a guy, he's perfect in and of himself, and the only impressive thing I've done on this date was identify a friggin SI unit.

"You are one hell of a guy." I say under my breath, a smile growing on my face. Roy looks up at me after he swallows his last bit of food.

"What did you say?" He asks, I just look up with him with doe eyes, and look back down at my near empty plate with a smile.

"Nothing." I say quietly. He lets it go and after a bit, the waiter comes and Roy orders us Baklava. The sweet little pastries pull us into an even better mood than before. We eat, we laugh, we talk, we finish, the bill comes. I offer to pick up the tab but Roy won't let me. As much as I try to take the bill anyway, he snatches it away faster than I can grab it. All I can do, is stick my tongue out at him in protest, channeling my inner five year-old. I get this odd satisfaction when it makes him laugh. As soon as he gets his card back, we put our coats on and head out. As we walk outside, we end up in this little park, the night sky clear enough to see the moon. There may not be any visible stars, but the lights of downtown shine just as bright.

"I think next time we should go dancing." Roy says as he grabs my wrist and twirls me around, causing an involuntary giggle.

"What, you actually think I can dance?" I laugh at him, the tips of his red hair lit up in the moonlight, his blue eyes gleaming with content.

"I don't care if you can dance or not, it'll be fun." He gives me a half smile as he slips his large hands into mine. When his warm hands meet my cold, I feel like my insides are warming up, not just my hands. I shake my head and he gives me a look.

"Well then, we can go dancing." I give in to him. He smiles in accomplishment and twirls me around once more, but this time he twirls me back into him. This is where the two of us get quiet. The our radiant smiles fade from view as I stare at his fathomless eyes staring back at mine. I become more aware of him, his hands on my waist, the slow rising and falling of his chest beneath my palms. I feel him slowly pull me in closer, closing what little gap we had left between us. I'm forced to look straight up at him, this would be a lot easier if I was taller, but unfortunately, he's still slightly over a foot taller than me. Roy removes one of his hands from my waist to my upper back. My arms wrap around his neck the best they can. I go on my tip toes and he slowly brings his face down to mine.