Disclaimer; Nope, still don't own 'em. Both Young Justice and any character seen within this work of fiction belong to DC Comics and Warner Bros.
Mount Justice
March 26, 13:23 EST
"Recognised: Aqualad B0-2, Robin B0-1, Artemis B0-8, Miss Martian B0-6, Rocket B1-0, Tempest B1-1, Aquagirl B1-2."
Being suspended from the League was far more dull than Kara had expected it to be. Following the... Disagreement with Superboy, and yes, she refused to call him by his name, the Kryptonian woman had put all of her focus into spending time with Lana, Siobhan, and trying to make Streaky stop being such a princess, the last of which was a feat even the Rao couldn't achieve.
But, that routine of her life which managed to keep the alien occupied for a full week had lost it's usefulness when; Streaky got sick, so Lana took her down to the veterinary, and Kara couldn't go because, honestly, dogs hated her. It was a mystery that would never be solved, but dogs went absolutely nuts at the sight of her.
So Kara decided that maybe her Irish best friend would be available for the day, and had been shot down just as fast after learning Siobhan had a big gig that night, and wanted to put her whole day into preparing.
So, left without any other option, Kara visited the Cave. She was fortunate enough to go on a day that Connor was inexplicably missing, which meant the cave was occupied with Garfield only.
So, for the past two hours or so, she had been spending time with the boy, who Kara noticed was beginning to look a little unhealthy, but he had shrugged off her concern, and turned her attention to various T.V shows that the Kryptonian had never seen before, and was strangely interested in.
Of course, at the two hour mark, Kara decided they needed to get up and stretch their legs, and was just moving to go for a walk around Happy Harbour when the zeta-tubes came to life, and announced the return of the teammate who had been busy on a mission.
They were soaked through, and all looked some kind of upset. Jn front of the rest, Kaldur held an uncharacteristically angry expression, followed closely behind by Robin, who kept shifting his gaze from the Atlantean in front of him, to the Atlantean at the rear of the group, Garth, who looked equally as angry.
Tula was an even distance between them, and look sad, or embarrassed, with M'gann's arm wrapped around her, the Martian sharing her frown.
Finally, Rocket and Artemis, who were seemingly the most detached from whatever drama was the issue, looked absolutely livid.
It was these last two that Kara stopped while the rest split up. M'gann led Tula, followed by Garfield, towards the kitchen/lounge. Garth went straight towards the exit to the beach behind Mount Justice, and Aqualad was followed by Robin in going to the bedroom hallways.
"Uh, what happened?" Kara asked the girls in front of her.
"We lost, that's what" Artemis spat venomously, though not directed at Kara.
The taller blonde raised an eyebrow, and looked to the darker skinned girl for clarification. Raquel sighed, "well, our mission was going fine, and then Fish-boy number two went and pulled some white knight tricks."
Kara's expression was still blank "white... knight?"
"Uh, basically, Tula was having some trouble on her own, so the 'world's best boyfriend' decided to drop what he was doing, and 'save' her" Artemis explained.
"The problem is that what he was doing, was holding off a big guy from crushing us with Aqualad" Rocket continued.
"So, Aqualad can't hold it off on his own, and Robin almost gets killed" Artemis finished.
"Wow... I saw things were getting tense, but that" Kara frowned.
"Oh, that's not all," said Rocket "after the fight, Aqulad got mad. Turned on Fish-boy and gave him a talkin' to."
"Kaldur called Tempest irresponsible for almost letting Robin get hurt, but Garth got mad, and right back up in Kaldur's face" continued Artemis.
"He was going on about how Aquagirl needed his help" Rocket supplied.
"Yeah, but then Tula gets involved and says she didn't need help, and that Garth had been treating her like a kid" Artemis finished.
"So, basically, the Fish-boys are mad at each other, Fish-girl's mad at her boyfriend, and we have to deal with it" Rocket summarised.
Kara was silent for a moment "no you don't" she turned and started in the direction of Tula.
"You think you can fix this?" Artemis asked after her.
"I just watched about an hour of some show called Judge Judy, it seems appropriate" Kara explained, oblivious of the surprised and laughing girls behind her.
She entered the lounge and finding Tula sitting at the kitchen counter, staring at nothing, M'gann making some kind of food, and Garfield watch T.V again.
"Gar, M'gann, can I speak to Tula?" Kara asked the room. With one look at her face, they nodded, and left the two alone. Kara took up a seat beside the Atlantean girl, and remained silent.
"Why are they fighting?" Tula finally said, frowning.
"From what I've gathered over my few years on Earth, boys are like that, Human or Atlantean" Kara replied, "on Krypton, we'd have likely stuck them in a hole and waited until one, the other, or both came back out, probably missing a limb... two limbs."
Tula looked up at her, horrified "really?!"
Kara snickered "no, of course not, but now you're distracted, right?"
Tula sighed, and looked away, but a smile was still gracing her features, "it's just... frustrating... they never acted like this when we were younger" the smile turned into a frown.
"Well, love changes people, no matter what species" Kara shrugged "when I was a kid, this boy, Lor-Zod, was the biggest bully to everyone else. Now, me being me, I was his direct competition, being the biggest, toughest girl. We used to have the worst fights, and my mother would always get mad, and tell me 'either beat him into submission, or don't beat him at all'-" that part made Tula smile again "-Then suddenly, when we're about thirteen, he changes. Whenever I enter a room, he starts helping out smaller kids, he protects some from other bullies, and I found out through my best friend, Thara, that he totally had a thing for me."
Tula chuckled a bit "and what did you do to him?"
"I did what any self-respecting thirteen-year-old Kryptonian girl would do, I used his crush on me as a means to rule over the other kids."
They laughed and went silent, "I know Kaldur'ahm... loves me, but, I love Garth" she whispered, helplessly.
"I know, and to be honest, Kaldur is alway going to love you in some way, that isn't the issue here though. The issue is that Garth thinks you can't stand up for yourself, and thinks Kaldur is... threatening his... dominance."
"You make it sound so animalistic."
"Well, boys seem to act like animals, it's just observation."
"...What do I do?"
"Talk to them, figure this out, and make sure Garth knows he can't play the... what was it, white knight?"
"White knight?" Tula frowned in confusion.
"I don't know, some human thing, but still."
"I... I guess."
"That's all you can do. Now, I'm going to go deal with some angry fish, you just think about what you want to say." Kara stood up, and left the room. Next, she was going to deal with Kaldur, and she headed for the bedrooms.
Walking through the hallways, she found him and Robin deep into the mountain, leaning on the walls.
"Rob, can I speak with Kaldur?"
Robin nodded, and left them alone while Kara took up his place leaning on the wall opposite Kaldur.
"So, girl troubles?" She smiled.
The Atlantean sighed, and looked down "I fear it is more than that" he admitted.
"Let me take a guess. You still care about Tula, and all this 'white knight' stuff that Garth is doing is making it harder to just, let go. Plus, it's also jeopardising missions, and endangering teammates, am I right?"
"You know about-?"
Kara interrupted him by holding her hand up for him to stop "I could be considered one of the world's leading minds in thermonuclear science, girl trouble is elementary, not like understanding boys" she shrugged.
"Then yes, that is quite accurate" Kaldur sighed.
"There isn't much I can say to you" Kara shrugged "but, just know that you're always going to love Tula in some way, so what you can do, is use that love as a way to feel happy that she's happy."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, Tula's happy with Garth, that's not going to change, so what you need to do is know that she's happy, and use that to fill whatever Tula shaped hole is inside you, okay?"
"Maybe, I guess" he went silent again "but what about Garth jeopardising missions?"
"Leave it to me" Kara smiled, and walked away from him, missing the quick smile that had only been shot toward one other girl in the world, before just as quickly disappearing.
Kara found the lat Atlantean outside the cave, standing on the beach, and looking out over the ocean. She stepped over to him, and stood silently beside him.
"Y'know, you're really making things difficult for the team" she told him. He remained silent, scowling at the vast blue before them, "I can appreciate that you want to do what's right by your girlfriend, and by all means, it's an admirable way to act."
"But?"
"But, no matter how admirable it is, you can't just treat Tula like a damsel who need saving on every mission. She's an Atlantean, she can probably take a hit better than Kid."
"I was not doing it on every mission" he grumbled defiantly.
"From I've seen or heard, you have, and that's not even the worst of it. You know that Kaldur, your best friend, has feelings for her, and they aren't going away any time soon."
"So what would you suggest?"
"Well, maybe stop being the ultimate boyfriend, and start being the ultimate teammate. Clearly, seeing you and Tula hurts him in some way, so maybe be her boyfriend in your time, but as soon as you go on a mission, consider yourself broken up."
He remained silent, but his scowl had turned into a pensive expression "look, I'm just making suggestions. If you really want to sort this out, you need to talk to Tula, and then Kaldur, and they need to talk to each other, and then you all need to talk together, like a big talk party. Just think about it."
She turned away from him, and walked back into the mountain, where she found Tula just emerging from the kitchen/lounge with a determined look. Kara passed her with a nod, and smile, and entered the room she had just left.
Inside, Robin, Raquel, and Garfield were back on the couch, watching the T.V, and Artemis was at counter speaking to M'gann as she moved around, baking something.
"So, how'd it go?" The archer asked at the sight of the other blonde.
"Assuming we haven't picked up three Atlantean Connors-" M'gann winced just out of Kara's vision, "-it should be all fine now."
Judging by how all three Atlanteans followed into the room a while later, once Artemis, Robin, and Raquel had all left, and seemed to be at the very least civil with each other, things had gone just fine.
A/N Yup, a short one, a very short one, with almost nothing but dialogue, but hey, I just finished a villain backstory, so we have that, and I think another chapter will go up in a couple of days too, rather than a week from now.