"'Cause you give me something
That makes me scared, alright
This could be nothing
But I'm willing to give it a try
Please give me something
'Cause someday I might know my heart"
– You Give Me Something, James Morrison
Music thrummed through the dimly lit club as scantily clad, half way to beautiful women tantalised all the men in attendance; two bouncers stood either side of the stage, their mouths forming a grim line as they watched the watchers. Shayera Hol sipped casually on her drink; of all Earth's customs this was undoubtedly one of its strangest. Women on display like cuts of meat hung up in a butchers shop - just for men to stuff dollar bills into their pants. Cocking her head to one side Shayera scrutinised the closest dancer as she wondered whether she could get her leg up like that. She bet Diana could, the Thangarian thought resentfully, she wasn't called Wonder Woman for nothing.
"All the vodka on this planet couldn't make me get onto that stage," she commented mildly to the three men surrounding her. "Anyway, Linda know you're here Wally? She was nice you know."
"Linda?" Both Dick and Roy blurted out simultaneously.
"Uh... she's a girl," the speedster offered up hesitantly.
"That you've slept with?" Roy asked boisterously, a congratulatory smirk gracing his features.
"Uh..."
Dick smiled knowingly, his blue eyes glinting with good humour, "How long have you been seeing her for?"
"Erm a month or so," Wally looked intently at his drink.
"So have you had the talk yet? Girls tend to put a lot on that kind of stuff." Roy offered as if he were confessing the secret to eternal youth.
"You mean..." Wally mimed running with two fingers.
"What? No! I mean the: are we dating, seeing each other, 'together' conversation "
Dick snorted, "So you're saying you've had this conversation with Helena... Grace... Donna... and uh, Cheshire? Plus a dozen or so nameless ladies"
Shayera looked over to Roy, a half smile playing across her mouth as her eyebrow arched delicately.
"Well – that's different," Roy took a slurp of his beer. "Besides who's asking you short pants..."
"Short pants? Man, at least I don't look like a colour blind Robin Hood rip-off."
"Pixie boots." Roy shot back with relish, ending the argument.
Dick took a swig of beer, why did they always have to bring that up? Oh right, because apparently it was hilarious.
Wally chose to ignore the bantering, "So I need to clear this up with her?"
Roy shrugged his shoulders, "Up to you man, just saying. Sooner or later you're gonna have to."
Several cries of 'Officer Blue Eyes come arrest me!' later and the superheroes out of costume were ready to leave. Shayera stumbled slightly into the broad shoulders of Roy, smiling apologetically she squeezed his arm gently, a somewhat lustful glint in her eyes.
"Come on Pretty Bird." Roy grinned, before throwing his arm around Shayera's much smaller frame.
A few yards behind the red headed couple came a slightly wobbly Dick and a stone cold sober Wally; beer really didn't pack much of a punch, the speedster thought somewhat sourly.
"You sure you're ok with that," Dick gestured over to Roy and Shayera who both looked like they were in the process of mentally undressing each other. "She is your, sister, after all."
"She knows what she's doing. Besides, I'm not going to make her decisions for her," Wally shrugged. "Why, you think I should threaten Roy? If you hurt her, I'll scramble your brains type talk? Maybe you could, you're better at looking intimidating. I've always wondered, does Bruce charge you for copying 'the glare'?"
"What? No, besides, I'm not copying 'the glare'. I am totally my own man." Dick coughed, trying to add a measure of gravitas to the situation. But the fact they had just spilled out of a strip club counteracted any of his attempts. "If Shayera knows what she's doing then maybe there's no point. And Roy knows she means a lot to you, he's not that much of an idiot."
Dick shrugged his shoulders, before taking a run towards a parking metre in an attempt to jump it. Only a smidge less graceful than when dressed as the vigilante known as Nightwing, the former Boy Wonder cleared the metre.
"Show off..." Wally mumbled, shoving into his friend lightly.
"Some of us don't cause sonic boom's when running down the street, gotta make it up somehow." Dick grinned, "So you and this Linda uh? You must like her."
"What makes you say that?" Wally replied, casting his friend a furtive glance.
"I know you, and if she were just another lay you would have been regaling us with stories. Linda's special, you're hiding her."
"I am not!" Wally exclaimed.
"The lady doth protest too much, methinks," Dick quipped.
"Oh funny, see that, I'm laughing so hard," Wally deadpanned.
"Sorry man," Dick clapped Wally on the back. "Look, if she's going to be a part of your life then you're going to have talk to her about more than the, are-we-boyfriend-and-girlfriend-now stuff. You know, the..." Dick mimicked what Wally had done earlier with his index and middle fingers.
The speedster merely nodded, was he even ready to tell Linda about his alter ego? She was a reporter by trade, they weren't known for sitting on a story. But then it was Linda - pure, sweet, caring Linda. Shaking his head Wally decided to change the subject; a confession prompted by a visit to a strip joint and a booze-fuelled friend was not the way forward.
"Still ok to crash at your place? I think Shay might have found other, er... arrangements." Wally fought back a grimace and Dick smirked knowingly. Roy Harper was putting on the moves.
Having left the city of Bludhaven far behind, Wally still couldn't brush his friends' words aside; luckily for him the opportunity to broach a certain subject with Linda presented itself the following week. So it was with a certain amount of trepidation that a pair of red converse stepped beside Linda's smaller sandals. Gravel crunching under foot, Linda looked over at Wally as she inched closer, moving further still she skimmed her hand past his. Just as she was about to lose all contact and hope, Wally gently nudged her back before taking her hand in his, their fingers loosely interweaving. Linda couldn't help but smile as they meandered through the park, their destination a hill that provided a view of the city's skyline; they were amongst the few stragglers remaining as dusk fast approached. Pulling Linda up after him Wally took his first steps up the hill, a good few minutes later and the couple made it to the summit. The various buildings that housed office workers by day would soon be lone beacons of light as darkness descended. Sitting down on a free bench Linda waited for Wally to join her before she leaned into him, arguably the most romantic spot in the city the reporter wondered why the red head and chosen it for their post dinner walk. She stiffened in her seat, was this it? And by it, she meant confession not potential proposal; it was still a little early for that kind of talk.
Wally whistled as he leant back into the worn wood of the bench, "Pretty good view huh?"
"Yeah..." Linda agreed, "I never really get to see the city like this."
Wally nodded, it was now right? This was when he broached the subject. She was relaxed, an amazingly romantic spot to avoid all possible confusion.
"Uh Linda... we need to talk," Wally suddenly blurted out. So not the best of openers, wasn't this the one they used when they wanted to break up with you?
Linda shifted in her seat, forcing her face to remain calm with a hint of interest; she turned to look at Wally. "About?"
"Its kind of... delicate?" Wally hoped that was the right way of saying it. Why hadn't the guys been more obvious with their coaching tips?
Linda's eyes widened, this was it! With barely concealed excitement a stream of words spewed forth. "You can trust me Wally... I mean I even had a background check done for Channel 4 before I started work there, you could totally look at that if you wanted to. I understand that you might be worried, you know, with me blabbing and all." Linda giggled nervously.
"You're allowed to tell people about us Linda," Wally started hesitantly, slightly confused with her sudden urge to display her trustworthiness. "If you want there to be an us and for people to know, that is."
"Right," Linda nodded. "Wait, what are we talking about?"
"What do you think we're talking about?" Wally said just as Linda finished her sentence.
"Um..." Linda blushed. "I must have misunderstood you."
"Oh," Wally paused; he hadn't expected it to be this difficult. "I was just trying to um, establish where we were."
"As in, what we are?" Linda questioned, her hand gesturing between the two of them.
"Right!" Wally exclaimed, finally on track.
"Oh..." Linda nodded, a faint twinge of disappointment about her features.
Wally jumped back, "Well, you know we don't have to be anything. We could just, leave it?" The speedster wanted to kick Roy; he was so not taking his advice again.
"No!" Linda moved forward, virtually pouncing on Wally. "No, I very much want us to be something. I just thought it was something else you wanted to talk about..."
'What, marriage?" Wally squeaked.
"No!" Linda cried, "Not that I'm not open to it. It was something else... it doesn't matter."
The reporter looked away, as her cheeks flushed a soft pink. Reaching out with a finger Wally turned the Asian woman to face him, "What is it Linda? You can tell me, I promise I wont laugh."
Linda's brown doe eyes slowly rose to meet his cerulean orbs. " I just want you to know that you can trust me." Linda hesitated once more, "Trust's important if a relationship's going to work. I trust you... probably with my life and it doesn't matter that you're not the Flash, I know you'd always try and save me. Kind of guy that you are."
Wally nodded before he pulled Linda towards him, " I do trust you Linda...but I still think we've got a lot to learn about each other."
Linda nodded, burying he face further in his chest. "Ok, we understand each other then."
Sitting back down on the bench, Wally pulled Linda towards him as he wrapped his arms around her. He did trust her, so what was stopping him from confessing all right then and there? Batman's obsession for secrecy and subterfuge for one thing but it wasn't just that. If he told her, she'd be the first one outside of the community, aside from Aunt Iris, he'd let in and with that there came a whole host of problems. What if the 'bad guys' found out about him? Telling Linda equated to painting a massive bull's-eye on her chest. He didn't know if he could live with himself if something happened to her because of him. But could he actually build a relationship with her if he omitted some truths? Dick seemed to think he had to tell her if he wanted Linda to be there, in his life. But then Dick never had this problem with Barbara and especially not Kory. Wally stifled a sigh, he hoped these weren't just flimsy excuses; no they were perfectly legitimate reasons. It wasn't a matter of trust. It was a matter of safety. And Linda could trust him with her life, he was the Flash after all, he smiled at the irony. She really had no idea. You'd think that she would have caught on to something by now, but then again Lois Lane apparently never figured out that Clark Kent was in fact Superman, according to Diana at least. Not that Lois was better than Linda or anything. Wally pulled his very own reporter closer to him and placed a chaste kiss on her head. Besides, surely Linda would have said something by now if she knew. Right?
A/N: Just for clarification: Roy Harper = Speedy, GA's ex partner. Dick Grayson = Robin I/Nightwing (Well I think that's how he was left in the DCAU). Barbara = Batgirl and Kory = Starfire. Also, 'Pretty Bird' is GA's nickname for Black Canary. However! In the JLA comics Roy and Kendra Saunders AKA Hawkgirl have a short, ill-fated relationship; 'Pretty Bird' is Roy's first response upon seeing Hawkgirl. It's kind of a nod to that. Also, Flash/Linda interaction has been missing the past couple of chaps so they will meet again next time. Anyway, I'm sorry it's a little short but I hope you guys liked it and let me know!