Author's Note: Alrighty, chapter 11! It's going by sooo fast. I honestly can't believe I've stuck with the story this long lol. You guys that keep on reading and reviewing really make me want to keep writing. So thanks so much to all of you! This chapter is a bit interesting, we learn about Remy's mother and we start to see how Remy balances being a hero and a normal teenager. I'll give you a hint: she doesn't multitask well. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice.

Chapter Eleven: Accepting Help

Life was hectic.

She was currently out on patrol with Black Canary—one of the stipulations of her having to join the team—and they were both currently perched on the Applied Medical building in Star City. The night air was cool around them and the city was strangely quiet tonight. Usually the sounds of loud partiers in the high rise apartment buildings could be heard, their loud machinations all fusing together into a cacophony of sorts.

Tonight was quiet, however. Remy and Dinah had been patrolling the city for over three hours, travelling from rooftop to rooftop, but still nothing came up. Not even a simple mugging.

Remy allowed herself a deep breath and a moment of inner peace. Ever since she'd returned from that first mission with the team, things had been crazy. In a very short amount of time, her life had transformed into something she hardly recognized. She was busier than she'd ever been when she'd simply been working for the League of Shadows.

Remy almost laughed. Nothing was ever simple when you worked with the League of Shadows. She had the emotional scarring to prove that.

"You doing okay kid?" Black Canary sent a sideways glance her way.

"Yeah," Remy shrugged, sliding her feet out from underneath her and sitting down on the roof ledge. She so didn't want to get into this with her "mentor."

"How's that leg?" Dinah asked, gesturing to her stitched thigh.

"Better," Remy commented, ending all conversation on that subject.

"You look tired," the blonde observed, taking a seat beside her.

Remy raised her eyebrows. "So what? Now you're studying me, sis."

Black Canary rolled her eyes. "I'm naturally observant. Comes with the job."

"You don't have to pretend to like me," Remy said flatly. "I'm just here for appearances sake."

"You don't have to be so stand-offish you know," Dinah said, staring out at the building across from them.

"It's nothing personal," Remy assured her. "I'm just not into the whole buddy-buddy thing."

"Right," Black Canary scoffed. "You've got the whole self-sufficient thing going on for you. The 'I don't need anyone but myself' gig. It's not a weakness to accept someone's help, you know."

Remy raised her eyebrows at the older woman. Is she trying to piss me off? Remy growled internally.

Dinah considered Remy for a moment. "You know if you actually listened to something other than the sound of your own voice, you might learn something for once. I've helped Superboy with—"

"Look I get that you want to help me," Remy said irritably. "You've got a hero complex. But I don't need your help. I've been on my own for a while now, and I've been doing just fine."

"You call falling in with the League of Shadows fine?" Canary raised her eyebrows. Remy remained silent and stared down at the street below them. Talking about the shadows with a League member made her uncomfortable. Her supposed teammates didn't know but Canary and Batman did. It was so typical of them not to tell their sidekicks the whole story. "Didn't think so."

"So what's your point?" Remy sneered. "Are you trying to piss me off?"

"Of course not." Dinah laughed and put her hands into her jacket pockets. "You remind me of myself. I was the exact same way when I was younger. Thought I was invincible, better than everyone else—"

"I don't think that," Remy protested, knowing that Dinah saw right through her.

"—and you wanna know what happened to me?" she asked with a grin. "I found a mentor, Wildcat, who kicked my ass and made me better than I could've ever dreamed."

"Gee I wonder where this is going," Remy muttered. Dinah ignored her and continued to talk.

"He was tough on me, tougher than anyone else ever had been. Put me in my place and didn't let me get away with anything. He's the one who introduced me to Batman, helped me get into the League," Black Canary informed her. "And even though I wanted no part in being a team player, he practically had to force me to join. If it hadn't been for him I'd probably still be on the streets stopping muggings. I might have even ended up in a place like the one you're in, with the Shadows."

"Can you get to the point?" Remy asked impatiently.

"The point," Dinah said with a glare, "is that somebody gave a shit about me and that made all the difference."

"So what you're saying is that you give a shit?" Remy snarled. "Well congratulations! That's great for you."

"I'm saying," Dinah said sharply after a moment of awkward silence, "that you're not in this alone."

"Fine," Remy snapped, "you made your point."

The two sat together on the roof for what seemed like a very long time to Remy. Black Canary seemed content to waste away the night, listening to her police scanner while Remy fumed silently beside her.

Dinah stood up and glanced at her watch. "It's getting late and I know you've got school in the morning."

"Yeah." Remy stood up and dusted her pants off, stifling a yawn. She couldn't even remember the last time she'd had a good night's sleep. "I'll see you tomorrow." Remy started towards the stairwell, but was stopped by Dinah.

"Remy," she said firmly, placing her hand on Remy's shoulder, "remember what I said."

Remy was going to be late for school. Again. Ever since she'd been roped into attending Franklin Prep—where the students had more money than God—she'd been late four out of every five days. It wasn't Remy's fault, really, it was the Justice League's fault.

Today, it just so happened to be her alarm clock's fault.

Her alarm hadn't gone off until nearly seven thirty. School started at eight which gave her roughly fifteen minutes to shower, eat, get dressed and look presentable. On the best of days, it took Remy fifteen minutes to get to school, but that was when there was no traffic.

One thing that Remy had learned about living in the city, was that no matter what time of day, there was always traffic.

Perfect. Remy groaned as she hopped out of her bed and headed into her bathroom. She stripped as she turned the shower up to full blast and stepped into the cold water.

At least she didn't have to worry about picking out something to wear. The school had very specific rules about how their oh-so-preppie uniforms should be worn.

Remy quickly washed her hair and hopped out of the shower, throwing her hair into a towel wrap as she yanked her school uniform on. She left her tie untied and her shoes unlaced, but she didn't have time to worry about what she looked like. She grabbed her backpack from off the floor and rushed into the kitchen, pouring herself a cup of tea and stuffing a bagel into her mouth.

The clock read 7:40 as Remy glanced back at it one last time, taking the towel off her head, before heading out the door. Of course, the elevator ride down to the garage seemed to take forever, with what seemed like every single business man and woman that lived in the building getting on.

She rushed over to her beat up 1989 Camry and threw her bag in the passenger seat along with her breakfast. She pushed the key in and turned it, lifting the emergency brake so she could back out.

Only nothing happened.

Remy turned the key again, listening to her car idle, waiting for it to start. But it didn't.

"You've got to be kidding me," Remy muttered, getting out of the car and lifting up the hood. To be honest, she had no idea how to fix a car but, she had to try. It was going to be a week's worth of detention if she was late again.

Remy leaned over the greasy engine and looked for anything out of the ordinary. Like a pipe bomb or something, she reasoned, more likely a wrench. Remy untwisted the cap on the oil filter—the one thing she knew how to do—but there was nothing wrong as far as she could tell.

She checked the gas tank, despite the fact that she had gotten gas just last night, before she went out on patrol with Black Canary.

"Goddammit," she cursed, closing the hood and leaning over on her forearms. She took out her cell phone to call Dinah. If she was lucky, Dinah would come pick her up and give her a ride despite the fact that Remy had been exceptionally rude the night before.

It was her only chance, really.

As she dialed, a whistle sounded behind her. Remy whirled around to find her neighbor Roy staring at her, an appraising look on his face. He was wearing jeans and a black leather jacket, holding his motorcycle helmet under one of his arms, a bag in the other. Remy had to acknowledge that he looked strangely hot standing there like that.

Ugh gag, Remy snapped herself out of it and straightened up, putting on her most terrifying expression.

"I don't have time for this today, Roy," Remy growled. "My car won't start and I need to get to—"

He raised his eyebrows, the guile disappearing from his face. "You need a ride?"

"No," Remy lied. "I was just going to call—"

"Whoever you're planning on calling, won't get here soon enough." Roy walked over to his motorcycle and straddled it, keeping his eyes on Remy. "Grab your bag and get on."

Remy opened her mouth to reply with a scathing retort, but thought better of it. Black Canary's words from last night echoed in her mind:

"It's not a weakness to accept someone's help."

Before she could convince herself that riding on the back of her annoying, chauvinistic neighbor's motorcycle was an awful idea, Remy had grabbed her backpack and locked her car. Remy knew she was going to regret this later, but she needed to get to school. Desperately. If only to get a reprieve from her busy, not to mention her highly irregular lifestyle.

"Knew you couldn't resist," he smirked, tossing her a black motorcycle helmet.

Remy caught it and put it over her head, sliding the shield up so she could see. She climbed on the back of the motorcycle, slinging her backpack over her shoulder, wrapping her arms around Roy's waist.

"I'm just a sucker for black-clad saviors," Remy allowed, running her hand along the sleek, black bike. She ignored the fact that Roy was also technically her black-clad savior.

Roy smiled smugly, clearly pleased with himself until he saw Remy staring fondly at the motorcycle. "Never mind then. Where to?"

"Franklin Prep. I need to get there by eight," Remy told him. "Can you handle that?"

"Eight minutes to be there by eight?" he asked, glancing at his watch. "Easy as pie."

Roy turned back around and started the motorcycle, startling Remy with the sudden onslaught of loud noise. She could feel his laughter reverberate through his chest as he kicked up the bike's stand and sped off.

Remy had to admit she liked riding on the back of Roy's motorcycle. Not because of Roy of course, but the ride was quite exhilarating. She would definitely have to save up for one. Or at least ask the League to provide her with one if her car crapped out. Her Camry may have been reliable in the past, but it starting to break down more often than it started.

Of course with Roy driving at high speeds, weaving in and out of the stagnant traffic easily, Remy got to Franklin in record time. He pulled up onto the curb, garnering the attention of the straggling student body that still waited outside. With two minutes to spare Remy hopped off the bike, yanking the helmet off, shouting a thank you as she started for the main school building.

"Remy! Hold up!" Roy called after her.

She stopped in her tracks, glancing down at the helmet in her hands. "Sorry. Here you go." She tossed the helmet back to him, turning to go as he caught it.

"Keep it," he thrust the helmet back at here, waggling his eyebrows, "and I'll pick you up later. We can grab late lunch at the new sushi restaurant that opened up down the block."

Remy laughed, tossing it back to Roy. "Sorry, but no." She turned to go, calling her thanks one more time before she ran into the school building. The curious eyes of her classmates followed her the whole way.

It might've had something to do with the fact that her tie was still untied and her shoes were still unlaced.

The school day had gone by fast, surprising, considering it was a Friday and Remy hated school. She had called Dinah at school asking for a pick up so that they could head over to Mount Justice together. She had obliged and they had teleported to Mount Justice and started training with the team as soon as everyone was gathered.

For once, Remy had wished that training had run longer, as she got off the bus in Gotham City. The Jasmine Springs Wellness Hospital—the loony bin, as it was referred to by the general population—loomed in front of her, challenging her to just walk away, to come back another time. Remy had come here many times after training over the past few weeks, only to stop and make a complete one-eighty back to Mount Justice. It practically taunted her as Remy thought of the straight-jacketed inhabitants, the padded cells…

She almost turned around again. Almost.

Instead of giving into these thoughts, she pushed through the doors of the hospital, marched straight up to the front desk and asked to see Elise Vanderbilt.

Her mother.

Remy was led to her mother's room by a perky blonde nurse who babbled on and on about how Mrs. Vanderbilt never got visitors and how nice it was that her daughter was finally coming to see her.

Remy swallowed the lump in her throat as the nurse opened the door to her mother's room and called out. Her mother was seated in a chair by the window, staring out, completely still except for the rise and fall of her chest.

"Mrs. Vanderbilt," she called softly, "Remy's here to see you. You're daughter." She turned to Remy and whispered quietly. "She doesn't respond well so don't get discouraged."

Remy nodded and closed the door behind her as she walked into her mother's room. She had put this visit off for far too long already. It had been almost two years since her father had died and almost two years since her mother had gone insane. It was high time that Remy come to make peace with her mother's condition.

She pulled out the chair from the room's desk and slid it so that she could sit facing her mom. Even as the chair made screeching noises as Remy pulled it across the floor, her mother still didn't look up from the windowsill.

"Mom?" Remy's voice was hesitant. "It's me."

Remy's mother didn't even shoot a glance towards her daughter, instead she started muttering to herself so quickly that Remy could only catch a few words here and there. Remy watched as her eyes glazed over and she started to wring her hands together. "Just… chicken… in the bloody… Cheshire cat—"

Remy reached out and grabbed her mother's hand, floored by the last words she'd caught. "Wait a second. What was that? Mom?"

Finally, her mother turned her head, looking at Remy as if she were seeing her for the first time. Her mother's warm brown eyes focused on her face and she smiled. "Hello Rachel."

Remy stiffened, pulling her hand out of her mother's cool grasp. "It's Remy, mom, my name is Remy. What was that about a Cheshire cat?"

Her mother smiled at her and nodded, as if she were just too cute, and then resumed staring out the window.

"Ma," Remy pleaded, tapping her mother on the shoulder. "What did you say about a Cheshire cat?"

She kept poking and prodding her mother's shoulder, but to no avail. Her mother didn't flinch, even as Remy waved her hand in front of her mother's face. She could've been catatonic for all Remy knew.

"She does that." The voice of the blonde nurse came in from the doorway. "Don't take it personally."

Remy nodded stiffly, putting the desk chair back in place and getting up. She looked back one last time, wondering how on earth her mother—who had been so vibrant and outgoing—had ended up like this.

Remy knew that she probably wouldn't come back for a long time. It was no use depressing herself over something that could never be fixed. Her mother could live out the rest of her days comfortably in the asylum and Remy wouldn't have to worry about her.

Don't take it personally, the nurse had said.

Yeah right, Remy scoffed, she's my mother and she can't even remember my name. Of course I'm going to take it personally.

But her mom couldn't help it, and neither could Remy.

When Remy got home later that night, all she wanted to do was collapse into bed. The team had been given the day off from any training the next day, which meant Remy just had to meet up with Ares and do homework.

She could probably sleep in a little bit if she was lucky.

Thoroughly exhausted, Remy was about ready to pass out, but something stopped her in her tracks. On the kitchen counter there was a big white box with a red bow sitting next to the fruit bowl.

Suspicious immediately, Remy approached the box slowly, looking around for anyone who shouldn't have been in her apartment. She picked the box up and held it up to her ear, checking for any ticking. She shook it twice for good measure.

Seems harmless. Remy relented and pulled off the ribbon, opening the box.

Remy furrowed her brow as she pulled out a strapless burgundy leotard, black lace dancing around the edges of it. There was a pair of black fishnet tights and a black velour jacket accompanying the leotard, as well as a black bowtie and a pair of black stilettos.

Completely at a loss for words, Remy pulled all of these items out of the box, finding a note at the bottom.

Remy, thought you could use some new digs. Hope you don't mind the subtle resemblance to my own. Love, Dinah.

Remy put the card down and slowly packed up the box, heading into her bedroom to finally get some sleep.