"Here we stand
Worlds apart
Hearts broken in two, two, two
Sleepless nights
Losing ground
I'm reaching for you, you, you "

Batman unbuckled his belt from across his chest and jumped out of the car. He adjusted his cowl, it felt a bit tight tonight.

As he headed toward the bank, keeping to the dark shadows that the broken street lamps created, he saw a dark figure jump down from a ledge above him.

"I can't even see your face and I still know somethings bothering you, "a brusque voice observed.

"Are you here to analyze me or help me to catch the thieves, Nightwing?"

"I'm here to be a friend and to help with whatever you need. We have known each other a long time. I can tell when something is weighing on your mind."

"I'm fine."

"And there it is," Nightwing paused. "The famous lie," He said with a snark.

Batman shook his head. "The bad guys are getting away."

"Alfred, wait in the car. I won't be long." Bruce nodded at the older man and then closed the door to the car. He glanced up at the apartment building while rubbing his palm across his lower face. He let out a long, heavy breath and walked up the stoop until he reached the intercom. He scanned the list of tenants until he saw the name he was looking for, West. He pushed the buzzer.

"Yes?"

"Wally, it's Bruce."

"Bruce? What are you doing here…oh never mind. Come on up."

Bruce heard the light buzz that released the door lock. He pushed open the door and steadily walked up the three flights of stairs to the apartment. When he arrived on the third floor Wally was standing in the hall waiting for him.

"What took you so long?" He joked, awkwardly trying to cut the obvious tension.

"Wally, I need to talk to you about Aero." He paused sadly. "I mean Preston."

When he heard her name, Wally stiffened, and a dark scowl appeared on his face. He held out his arm and motioned toward the inside of his apartment. He followed Bruce inside. They both stood looking at each other until Bruce spoke up. "You should sit down."

"It's my house you can't tell me what to do here." Wally snapped at him. "I don't feel like sitting."

"Suit yourself." Bruce took a deep breath and a seat on Wally's couch. "I honestly don't know where to start, except to say don't blame Preston."

Wally looked at him expressionless.

"I know you were mad that she left. Especially because she didn't say goodbye."

"How do you know that?" Wally asked sharply. He glared at Bruce, his eyes almost boring through him.

"Because I am the one who wouldn't let her say goodbye to anyone, especially you."

Wally sat down quickly, almost as if he was given a swift kick in the gut and he couldn't hold himself up anymore. He glared at Bruce, furious. "Why was that your decision to make?"

"Because I planned the op."

Wally looked confused.

"She was gone on a secret operation that J'onn and I had been planning for months. We sent her when we did because we had no other choice, or so we thought at the time. She went undercover on the op." Bruce stood up. He didn't want to feel comfortable right now, he didn't deserve to. "Damnit I never expected it to last as long as it did. And I never expected her to go through what she did," his voice got lower and brittle. "And it's all my fault. That's why you can't blame her. She stuck with it because I asked her to." Bruce was pacing now. When he got back to standing in front of Wally he stopped and crouched down to look at him. He started talking again quietly and slower. "You know her, Wally, she tries to make everyone happy, especially me and I knew that and took advantage of it. But Wally, what she went through…I will never forgive myself," he whispered.

Wally's attention was solely on Bruce now as he asked, voice thick with concern. "What do you mean?"

Bruce grasped to get his voice back. "You need to talk to her. I know when you saw her a few days ago, you just left and didn't. Wally you need to. She needs you right now. She went through things I couldn't even imagine. It changed her."
He stood up and placed his hand on Wally's shoulder. "Please go to her."

Wally was shaking his head in disbelief. "I don't understand."

Bruce looked down at him. "Go to her."

Wally paced back and forth quickly in his apartment. What did Bruce mean? What happened while Preston was gone? Was she hurt? At the thought of that, Wally felt sick to his stomach and memories of his recent nightmares came to the front of his mind. The terrifying screams, the anguish of Preston being so close and in pain, but he could never get to her and his constant reminders for her not to let go.

He had to know. He needed answers. Answers to things he had tried hard to forget. Preston his best friend and the woman who he thought, "No, " he reminded himself out loud. "You know your in love with her. She is everything to you, no one else makes you feel the same way she does. And I need to know, " his voice softened. "I need to know what's happened to her."

Wally ran to the Queen Mansion. He got there faster than he thought he would. Looking up at the house he realized he had no idea what he was going to say or do once he saw Preston. He slowly paced back and forth in front of the gates, trying to think of the right things to say.

"Mr. West, would you like to come in?"

Wally turned towards the intercom, startled. "Oh yeah."

The gates opened, and Wally walked up to the front door. The butler opened the door and welcomed Wally into the foyer.

"Welcome back Mr. West. I will get Mr. Queen, please wait a moment."

Wally continued his pacing in the foyer as he waited for Oliver. Being the fastest man alive made it very hard for Wally to be patient. After only seconds of pacing he decided to go look for Oliver. Wally ran up the stairs as quickly as possible and went through the entire second floor just a fast. On finding no one, he made his way back to the main floor only to see Oliver, in his full Green Arrow suit, making his way into the kitchen. Wally rushed to block his path.

"Wally, wow you just snuck up on me, didn't you? Well I'm famished. Crime fighting sure does build up an appetite. Am I right?"

Wally couldn't tell what mood Oliver was in. He normally got sarcastic when he was not in a good one, but Wally didn't care he needed some answers. "Oliver I just came to, to get some answers, talk to Preston. I don't know. Bruce came over and told me about a secret mission and Preston being hurt and…"

Wally was talking a mile a minute making it very hard for Oliver to understand him. Thankfully he had a lot of practice with his forerunner, Barry. "Calm down Wally. Come on, let's have a little chat."

"I'm sorry Wally I don't have more information to give you. She hasn't told us anything about the mission or what happened. To be honest, I don't think I want to know. " Oliver stroked his beard absentmindedly. "I can tell she's in intense pain every day. I see it in her eyes. Her eyes use to beam with joy and just incapsulate who she was, but there isn't even a glint of that left." He sat up a little straighter and Wally could see a fire burning in Oliver's eyes. "And I don't know what the hell Strange put her through, but my little girl isn't the same anymore. If they didn't already find and capture him, that bastard would be a dead man right now."

Wally patted Oliver on the back, hoping to calm him and to reassure himself. Oliver looked at him and gave him a half-hearted smile. "I don't want to press her Wally. I'm content just having her back." He patted his friend on the leg. "I know she lost something out there. But it's not my place to tell you about it."

"Where is she Oliver?"

"Mr. West What can I do for you?" Alfred held the door ajar a moment before opening it completely after realizing who had knocked.

"Alfred, hi. Is Preston here?" Wally was desperate now, he needed to see her. He tapped his foot impatiently, moving it faster with each passing second.

"Oh Mr. West," Alfred sounded disappointed, but not by the man who stood in front of him. Rather he had a lot of respect for Wally. He couldn't even imagine what he was going through. But he had another reason to be distressed. "I'm sorry son but they left a few moments ago."

"What? Where?" Wally was now a bit frantic. His mind was racing back to over a year ago when he initially lost Preston. He spent days running around the globe looking for her and when he came up empty it was a blow he didn't expect. This new dead end gave him a similar feeling. He reached up and with an exhale of exhaustion grabbed onto Alfred's coat collar. "Alfred I am not someone who is known for their patience and this is already the second place I have been tonight."

"I'm sorry Mr. West." Alfred leaned his head back to slowly try to get out of Wally's grip.

"I'm at the end of my rope Alfred. I know how much you care about her, she's like a daughter to you. So, I know you know where she is right now and what's happened to her. I'm begging you. I need to see her. I need to know she's alright. I need to see her face, hear her voice…" he trailed off and suddenly felt very weak. He slowly let go of Alfred's collar and dropped over the threshold of the mansion.

"Alfred I'm not the fastest man alive, I'm the dumbest. Why can't I take a moment to think before I react to things? Why do I automatically operate on speed dial? She's been gone for so long and then all of a sudden, BAM she's standing in front of me and what do I do? I run away, I run away from the woman I love. I run, Alfred!" He stopped talking for a minute. Alfred wasn't sure if he was finished or not, so he opened his mouth to say something when he heard Wally take a deep breath in and say, "Like I said, dumbest man alive." Wally turned and sat on the step in front of the threshold. Anchoring his elbows on his knees, he buried his face in his hands.

In a very uncharacteristic move, Alfred sat down on the step beside Wally and put his arm around his shoulders. "Mr. West, Wally, She's on the Watchtower with Bruce, J'on and Ray Palmer. May I suggest you use the teleporter here in the mansion?"

Skidding to a stop behind the dense wall that separated the hallway from the infirmary, the Flash took a moment to catch his breath. After he got off the teleporter pad he ran the fastest he could up to this level of the Watchtower. As he stood behind the wall he heard several voices softly discussing something. He was anxious to hear what was going on so, without making any sound, he moved closer to the edge of the wall, making sure not to be seen.

"Bruce thank you for letting us know. She hasn't told us much of anything since she has been home. When she isn't sleeping, which is most of the day, she is stuck to Oliver's side. But she rarely says more then a few words at a time." Flash could detect profound worry in Black Canary's voice.

"Dinah just give her time." Even though Bruce was trying his best to console Dinah, Flash could hear the obvious apprehension behind his words. It was the same tone he used when he came over a few nights ago to talk with him about Preston. "I need to go check on something. I will return soon. Com me if anything changes."

Flash was so engrossed in the conversation he didn't hear the heavy footfalls headed his direction until Bruce, donning his Batman suit came around the corner and stood inches away from him.

"Whoa." Flash stumbled backwards a few steps before catching his balance.

"Wally."

Taken aback by Bruce's informal demeanor, Flash's heart started to pound nervously. While on the Watchtower and in uniform, Bruce was the epitome of standing on ceremony, it was something you could always count on. After all he made the rule, while in uniform address each other accordingly. But this, Flash wasn't sure how to act, he had never seen Bruce this unpredictable. And seeing Bruce's expression made him even more unsure.

"Wally how much did you overhear?"

Flash winced, "What? Oh, not much. What's going on?"

Bruce looked at the younger man with sympathy, "You didn't get a chance to see her, did you?" Flash's head hung low and that action told Bruce all the he needed to know. "Wally I'm going to tell you what I can because I think you need to know."

All Flash could do was nod dumbfounded.

"I'm sure you have found out that she was imprisoned in a facility where her wings were forcibly removed from her. The facility was run by Doctor Strange who somehow discovered how to remove super powers. This all came to our attention because several heroes had gone missing and no one had any information about them. That's when we, J'onn and I, decided to send someone in to find out what was going on. About a year into the mission Preston was kidnapped and sent to this underground facility where lord knows what was done to her. The only thing we know is she was forced into a surgery and her wings where sawed off. Wally, without them she can't live." He took a deep, sorrowful breath. "Before we can figure out how to proceed, the remaining part of the wings need to be…"

Flash shook his head, he felt dizzy and all he could hear was Bruce's voice echoing in his head. He strained to understand what Bruce was saying but it just felt like his voice was moving farther and farther away. The echo changed into a dull hum as the dizziness subsided. Finally able to concentrate and pull his head up, Flash looked around only to find himself strapped to a cold metal table in a dark room. The septic smell that penetrated his nostrils made him sick to his stomach. The only other time he had smelled something similar was in a morgue. He couldn't see anything in the room beyond the table he was on. His heartbeat was rising quickly, so much so that it was the only thing he could hear. Then from the darkness that surrounded him he could pick out two voices that started talking in hushed whispers. "Wally. Wally." One voice would speak first then the other would repeat what the first said. "Wally. Wally." The pitches in the two voices varied only slightly, almost as if they came from the same person. A girl.

They started to get louder. "Wally."

"Wally."

"I'm sorry."

"So sorry."

"Wally."

"Didn't mean to hurt you."

"I didn't mean it."

"Wally."

With the last call of his name, he found himself now standing a few feet away from the table. Instead of being strapped to the metal table, he was now looking down at it and someone else was strapped to it. Aero. Her body lay listless and Wally couldn't tell if she was breathing or not. Her wings were fully emerged and seemed to hang limply off the sides of the table.

Just then a scream broke the silence in the room. It came from Aero. It was bloodcurdling. Wally could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He started to channel the energy of the speed force, only to feel like he hit a wall. As her scream got louder Wally tried to call to her but to no avail. He took a deep breath closed his eyes and being again to channel the speed force, but this time he did it with every last bit of energy he had. Before taking his first step, he opened his eyes then ran to her.

"J'onn, take a look at this." Ray Palmer stopped the scalpel an inch short of its target, then drew it back and placed in on the tray table. "Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Aero have two full tattoos here?" As he talked he pointed to each shoulder blade. "Did she get them partially removed? They look like they were never finished."

J'onn leaned in to take a closer look. He did recall that she had her wings tattooed on the upper thoracic area of her back. He didn't know what to say about this discovery. Were the two things linked? Preston had been under the care of Bruce for weeks now and he wasn't sure how he missed this. The knowing look he gave Ray told him that he would make a mental note of this and investigate it later. Ray nodded his head in acknowledgement and secured the paper mask on over his mouth as he went to pick up the scalpel again.

"J'onn as soon as I make the cut I will need you to go in and ascertain how much bone we must remove. After we asses that, I will know if I need to put on the Atom suit. It all depends on how complex the bone structure is and how much damage the previous removal left." With these words, the two men began one of the most perplexing and complicated surgeries either had ever done.

A few moments after Ray made the delicate cut to give J'onn access into Preston's back, he stepped aside to give J'onn the room he needed. J'onn transformed his finger into the shape of forceps before using it to enter the open incision. Feeling around as delicately as he could, J'onn sensed the damage was more then they initially thought. What was the term Alfred used? Hatchet job? J'onn felt this was worse then even that. The bone that was left was so jagged, it cut his Martian skin, which said a lot because his skin was almost impenetrable.

After a minute he had made the best assessment he could, given the circumstances. He removed his hand from Preston's back and turned toward Ray. "I think if we send you in with the Atom suit, it will be very treacherous. None of the bone has a clean cut. It may end up being more dangerous for you."

Taking a deep breath in, then releasing it slowly, Ray walked to the other side of the room. "I think its worth the risk. I don't know Aero, I mean Preston very well, but I know she sacrificed everything to keep us all safe. She deserves the same from me."

If emotion could be read on J'onn's face, Ray would have seen a gleam of pride. J'onn's mouth curled up at one end for just a second before he moved to help Ray into his suit.

As he tightened on the legs of the Atom suit, J'onn said a silent prayer for not only Ray, but Preston as well. Neither he nor Ray had ever performed a procedure like this. The experience they had in the past, working in the Watchtower infirmary fixing up various kinds of wounds, was not going to help them this time. They both were feeling uncertain and anxious. But neither would admit it to each other, even though it could be felt in the room.

Ray tightened the last piece of his suit. He felt as ready as he possibly could, given the circumstances. "All right, as soon as I shrink down and enter the incision, direct me to the damaged area as quick as possible. I recently made a few improvements to the laser scalpel on my suit. Should make this go pretty quick. I'm just worried about what impact this will have on her, not only afterwards, but while I'm in there."

"Don't worry I will be monitoring her vitals closely, as well as yours. If I see any cause for concern, I will pull you out of there."

"Hopefully you won't have to." Ray put his index and middle finger up to his temple in a salute. "Wish me luck."

"You won't need it, H'ronmeer isn't ready for her yet." With those words, J'onn bowed his head and said another quick prayer.

Ray noticed this gesture and tightly shut his eyes to say his own. After a minute he raised his head up high, touched a button on the chest of his suit and shrank down to the size of an ant.

As he set his foot on the skin at the opening of the incision he heard a loud crash behind him. The sound was almost deafening at his current height. "J'onn, J'onn what was that?"

From a few feet away, Ray could make out that the surgical tray was now laying on the ground, the instruments that were once laying on top were scattered all around. "J'onn do I proceed?"

With a grunt J'onn answered, "Proceed, quickly."

"J'onn can't you hear her? She's screaming in pain. Stop! She doesn't want to go through this!" Flash struggled against J'onn who was holding him at arm's length. As he tried to push J'onn away he felt hands clamp down on his shoulders. He glanced behind his shoulder to see Green Arrow grappling to get a hold of him.

"Flash, stop. She has to have this done." Green Arrow tried to hide the doubt in his voice. The fact that Preston had already been through so much and now had to go through one more thing, was more then he was prepared for. But he had faith in J'onn and Ray, that they knew how to best help his little girl.

"Oliver she's screaming in pain can't you hear her?" Flash relented and sunk to the ground in the infirmary. He felt like he was suffocating under his mask, so he removed it and slumped over as Green Arrow and J'onn kneeled down to keep ahold of him. "She's hurting. You need to stop."

"Wally what are you talking about? She's asleep. Ray put her under anesthesia before they started."

In disbelief Flash looked up at the woman who lay on the bed. Oliver was right. She was still and quiet. He shuttered. "I could have sworn I heard her screaming in pain. She was in so much pain Oliver."

J'onn raised his eyebrow, intrigued but also a little concerned. Apparently, he was not the only person touched by Preston's telepathy. This new power she acquired seemed to have no rhyme or reason to it. After reaching into Preston's mind, J'onn had decided to do a little more research. He tested every vial of blood they had taken from her while she was at the mansion. What he found in all of them was the same, absolutely nothing. Whatever telepathic power had been integrated into her DNA was well hidden.

By all standards she was not telepathic, at least not by any test he had done. But that wasn't the truth. She was. But to what extent, J'onn didn't know. And Preston certainly didn't know. She didn't even know how to use the power and she absolutely didn't have control over when she used it. These dreams she had shared with J'onn, he sensed that many were shared with Wally as well. The ones that Wally and Preston shared were most likely more intense and more real than anything he would ever experience with her, because love served to amplify any telepathic ability one had.

But now was not the time to be preoccupied by this. He and Ray needed to finish this surgery quickly. Preston's future depended on it. J'onn decided to go into Flash's mind and place calming thoughts inside.

"Wally don't worry I won't let anything happen to her. Trust me." J'onn debated telling him how serious this surgery was. Knowing it would not help the situation, he decided against it. If Preston made it through this, she could choose whether to tell him or not.

What J'onn did next was an act of pure desperation. His emotions were spent. Not only had he been trying to hold back his own but he was constantly dealing with the emotions of those around him. It was so very tiring feeling what everyone else was. But that was even more true now that everyone had been affected so much by Preston and the current situation they all found themselves in. Wally's emotions were louder in J'onn's mind than anyone else. He was such a passionate young man who wore his heart on his sleeve. If J'onn could just silence one person's emotions he would be able to get through this. With deep regret in his heart for what he was about to do, he reached back into Wally's mind.

"The cuts are as clean as I can make them. How are her vitals looking?" Ray Palmer switched the laser on his suit to the off position as he walked around the area to examine his work and make sure there was nothing that he missed.

"Vitals are stable, for now. I had to raise the immunotoxin 6.5ml within the last five minutes. I fear she will have to be on the highest dose until we can find another solution."

Ray frowned, a little disappointed. "I don't know what I was expecting, I knew this wouldn't fix her dependence on it, but I was hoping for better news. But," he sighed deeply. "There has never been a problem I couldn't figure out, J'onn. Don't worry she will be ok." That was said as more of a reassurance to himself than to J'onn, but he felt like they both needed it now.

He hadn't expected the surgery to take as long as it did. After five hours he was exhausted. But he felt like he had accomplished at least a little bit of good. The remaining bone from her wings was now completely detached from her spinal column and J'onn had reached in and pulled it all out. They both had checked the area to make sure no small shard or piece of bone had been left behind. Then came the more difficult part, the part that took the longest. Since Preston's wings were an essential component of her spine, Ray had to build something to replace them. He knew whatever he built would only be a temporary stop gap measure until they could come up with something better, and they would come up with something. He was sure of that. The construction was lengthy. If he had been able to do it full size it would have gone much faster. But it had to be done inside her back. As he looked back up at his creation he allowed himself a small semblance of pride. But he immediately pushed the feeling aside, feeling ashamed he allowed himself to feel anything good while those around him were suffering so much.

"Ray, you should feel proud. It will keep her alive long enough for us to find a more permanent solution." J'onn felt a small wave of relief pass over him. They should both feel proud of the work they did. Unlike other surgeries the two had worked on together, this one was painfully tedious and required them to have 100% concentration and be more careful then either of them had ever been before. That's why, while he felt regret for sending Wally into a dream filled sleep, he deemed it necessary for both he and Ray to be able to concentrate on the problem at hand. "Let's close her up and move her into a recovery room. We need to get her to breath on her own before the night is over."

Ray jumped out of Preston's body and flew down to the infirmary floor before once again hitting the button on his chest to become his normal height of six foot. By the time he had finished growing to his normal size, J'onn had closed the incision. Ray walked back over to Preston to examine the scar they had made. Glancing down, a black mark caught his eye. "J'onn come here, quick."

J'onn closed the small gap between them to look at what Ray was concerned with. Both men could not believe what they saw in front of them. The parts of tattoo that had remained on her back before the surgery were now disappearing, almost as if they were being blown away from Preston's body. Within seconds any evidence that she had tattoos had disappeared. Ray and J'onn looked at each other, perplexed. "What does it mean?" Ray was more confused than ever.

" I do not know."

"Oliver, you may see her now. She isn't awake yet, but her vitals are good." J'onn tiredly walked up to the man who had been waiting outside the infirmary during the whole surgery.

He and Dinah had stopped pacing a few hours ago and decided to wait the rest of the surgery out by sitting on the floor in the hallway. They didn't want to be a nuisance to either J'onn or Ray by asking how Preston was doing while the surgery was going on. So, both remained silent outside of the room. When J'onn walked up to Oliver, he glanced down at his wife, who had laid her head down on his shoulder and fell asleep. They had both had a trying few days. While they were beyond happy to have Preston home, they worried about her every moment of every day. Neither of them talked about it, but they could just look at each other and know what the other was thinking.

Oliver nodded to the man who lay a few feet away from him. "I really think Wally should go in first. He needs it." It hurt his heart to not be the first person to check up Preston, but he owed it to Wally. Oliver knew while he and Dinah suffered, Wally went through worse. He couldn't believe he was even thinking that, but Oliver knew if Dinah had disappeared it would have broken him. She was his world, the reason he woke up every morning. And Oliver knew that Preston was Wally's.

J'onn nodded in agreement and walked over to Wally who was sprawled out on the ground. J'onn went into his mind for a moment and what he saw made him smile. Wally was dreaming about the first time he saw Preston. Feeling like he was invading something very personal, J'onn quickly made his way out of Wally's mind. The regret he felt for implanting an idea in his head was replaced with contentment. The implanted thought gave Wally's mind a few hours of rest from the turmoil it had been under.

Oliver moved Dinah over, so she was leaning against the wall. There was no need to disturb her just yet. The rest she was getting was well deserved and very needed. After making sure Dinah was as comfortable as she could be, he walked over to J'onn. "Should we wake him?"

"Yes." Oliver could hear the weariness in J'onn's voice. He looked up at Jon and swore he looked pale, whatever that meant when you were green. Placing his hand on the Martian's shoulder he said, "Go home. I will make sure he gets to see her." J'onn couldn't do anything but nod. He thanked Oliver then phased through the floor.

Oliver shook his head. The amount of time and care that J'onn and Ray had given Preston was unbelievable. The thought of all they did brought a tear to his eye. He had no idea how he and Dinah would ever repay them. Sighing heavily his thoughts strayed to Bruce and the last time they had seen each other. It wasn't a good visit. Things were said that Oliver deeply regretted. And he hated to admit it, but he knew that he would have made the same choices had he been in Bruce's position. They were more alike than he cared to admit.

The worst thing he did was punch Bruce in the face. He didn't know where that came from, but it was done. Thankfully, Bruce didn't punch him back. He didn't know what he would have done if that happened. But he knew whatever it was it would have completely ruined their friendship.

While he was still mad at the man who sent his daughter off on a mission she had no right going on, he knew that Bruce had spent a lot of time and money and had given so much of himself to help her when she returned. He saved her life.

Sometime in the next few days he knew he would have to swallow his pride and go and talk to Bruce. But more importantly he would go and thank Bruce for bringing his Preston back to him.

Focusing his thoughts once again on the present issue, he knelt beside Wally, who looked a sight with his mask off, sprawled out on the floor and drooling on the tile that lay below him. Seeing him brought a light chuckle to Oliver's lips. "Oh Wally. I can't believe she loves you of all people." His words were lighthearted. Wally was one of the best men that Oliver had ever known, and that was saying a lot since he spent most of his nights with superheroes. "Wally, wake up."

"So, what does that mean then?" Wally placed his hands on the glass window in front of him. He felt if he did that he could almost touch her.

"I don't know Wally. I think we just have to wait and see. Go on, go be with her," with those words Oliver pushed Wally into the silent room.

Wally staggered toward the chair that was left next to the bed. On the bed lay Preston, sleeping softly. He knew she looked different but the other night when he saw her he couldn't see just how much. She had lost a significant amount of weight. Her skin was very pale, and Wally could see unhealed injuries covering her body. A wave of emotion flooded over him. All he could do was grab onto her hand. As he held it between both of his, he leaned his head down on the bed, as close to her body as possible. He needed to feel her breathing.

"Preston." All he could muster was a low whisper. "I missed you. I didn't have anyone to horse around with. My best friend had gone all heroic and left me here to fend for myself. You know I should never be left alone. You're the one who told me that." He rubbed her hand between his, trying to calm himself down. "You know you missed a lot while you were gone…"

J'onn was just about to leave, but he needed to do something first. He made his way back up to the floor where Preston was recovering. As he walked up to her room, there was a figure already standing outside the glass doors, looking in. As J'onn approached, the man didn't even look up.

"Will she be ok?"

"We hope. So far nothing indicates anything to the contrary." J'onn paused for a moment, unsure if he should press on. He pushed his apprehension aside. "Dove, I need to ask about what happened to you both in Africa."

Dove looked up at the Martian, obviously nervous. "Yes of course you do. I suppose I have put off talking about it for long enough. I will do my best to tell you what you need to know."

Jon nodded in approval. "What did Strange inject Preston with?"