A/N: One of my favorite things about Beast Boy is his relationship with the Doom Patrol, specifically with Mento (aka Steve Dalton). I don't know if this was ever stated in the cartoon but in the comics, Mento and Elasti-Girl (aka Rita Farr) are married and did adopt Beast Boy. I assume it was the same in the show so I'm including those details here.
Disclaimer: I still don't own Teen Titans. But maybe someday...nah, I'm never going to own them.
028. Children
"The kid's done well for himself, hasn't he?" Robotman said with obvious pride.
Robotman and Mento of the Doom Patrol were watching Garfield as the young man introduced one of his female teammates—Raven, Mento remembered after a moment—to Elasti-Girl. The Doom Patrol leader thought that there might be something significant about introducing the girl to his adopted mother and from the way Rita was subtly attempting to size up an even more subtly blushing Raven, he supposed he was right.
The scene should have made him smile but Mento found he couldn't. He was still grappling with the thought that his son was now interested in girls. When had that happened? It seemed like only last week that the boy had been convinced that all members of the opposite sex—with the exception Elasti-Girl, of course—were covered with cooties.
"And not just in the dating department," Robotman continued cheerfully. "Our lil' green-bean's really grown up, hasn't he, Steve?"
"Hmm," Mento answered absently. He wasn't really paying attention to the conversation. How could he, when he had just realized that Garfield was rapidly approaching adulthood?
He had always heard that little boys grow up too quickly but he had never believed it until he saw Garfield. The boy was a few weeks shy of his fifteenth birthday—but what had happened to his fourteenth? His thirteenth? Mento hadn't been there for those special days.
As a member of the Doom Patrol, you were not supposed to establish strong emotional attachments to teammates but even Mento knew that was impossible. You can't face life and death situations with the same people day-in and day-out and not consider them to be something more than associates. He had even fallen in love, married Rita, and then adopted Garfield as his own child.
Yet he had spent most of Gar's childhood driving the boy away from him. It hurt to admit it but Mento now realized that he hadn't been the most loving of father figures. He had almost always been cool toward Gar and could count on one hand the number of times he had told the youth how proud he was of him. He had spent so long telling the boy that he had to be faster, stronger, smarter, and more obedient if he wanted to make it on the Doom Patrol that Mento was hardly surprised when one day Gar had packed a bag and set off on his own.
Now, almost two years later, Mento deeply regretted his decision to let Gar go. Certainly, everything had ended up for the best as Gar had joined the Teen Titans and become the incredible hero that Mento had always known he would be.
But that didn't change the fact that Mento had missed so much. He had missed too much. While part of him was pleased at seeing the green young man before him, another part desperately wished to turn back time so he could see the green child he remembered. He would have given anything to have a second chance to be the father Gar deserved. Not that he wasn't going to start being a good parent now because he was. He planned to be the supportive, loving father he should have been all along.
But he wanted those years back. He wanted them back so, so badly.
Mento suddenly felt like laughing and crying. How was it possible to be so fiercely proud and so utterly devastated in the same moment regarding the same person? How could anyone be filled with such joy and such pain simultaneously? His son was growing up into an amazing young man...
…and he had missed most of it.
"Steve?"
"Hmm?" Robotman's words finally penetrated Mento's thoughts and he realized his friend was still talking to him. "I'm sorry, Cliff, what did you say?"
"Just that Gar's really come into his own now." Robotman peered at him and a look of deep understanding suddenly came to his face. "Steve, are you alright?" he asked gently, putting a hand on Mento's shoulder.
The leader of the Doom Patrol had to swallow against the sudden knot in his throat and tried to convince himself that the sting in his eyes had nothing to do with the realization that his only son was growing up far too fast for his liking.
"Yes," Mento answered finally. He was surprised that his voice was so steady. "Yes, Gar has done well."
I just wish I had been there for it, Mento added silently.
