AN: Enjoy!

"I'm not very comfortable with this." Miss Martian said. "Delving into your mind, it is an intrusion."

Nightwing, Blade, Superboy, Robin, Lagoon Boy, Miss Martian, Blue Beetle, Impulse, Arsenal and I all stood in a circle around Green Beetle. It was just past midnight and I was exhausted. I rubbed the back of my neck and tried to stay awake. I just wanted to go back to the warehouse and sleep.

"You have my permission." Green assured her. "We must be able to trust each other." He gave Miss M a horrific smile that would make even the Joker jealous. Miss M jumped and I doubted anyone could blame her. "Does my smile displease? Is this not how humans convey friendship and put each other at ease?"

"There has to be another way." Superboy said.

"Look, I'm not sure what the Martian etiquette is here but Green Beetle is right. We need to trust each other, which means we need to be sure he is who he says he is." Nightwing told him. "Miss M is our only real option."

Lagoon Boy walked up to Miss M and put a comforting hand on her arm. "Go for it, Angelfish." He said. "Reading this guy will be a piece of crab cake."

"Please, proceed with the mind link." Green encouraged her.

She sighed, then they linked up. They just stood there for a moment, well technically Green was sitting down. I couldn't help but wonder what was happening in their heads. They were probably talking about Green's alliances and loyalties. Finally Miss M turned back to us and said, "Green Beetle is on our side."

"Become a citizen of the Milky Way, by holding out your ha-and. Grab the taste that'll make your day. One sip and you'll understand. Our friends have come from far beyond, to help us and to teach. Quench your thirst while we all bond. Don't wait, reach for a Reach! Yeah, in strawberry-mango or in peach. Reach for a Reach!"

"From LexCorp and the Reach!"

"Bleh!" I said as Nightwing cut off the commercial. It was deplorable! Just a devilishly catchy song coupled with propaganda. "Well I guess they've resorted to psychological warfare."

"This consumable contains the Reach's additive which combine microscopic quantities of two chemicals." Green held up one of each of the Reach drinks. "One is a dopamine polymerase, the other, an adrenaline inhibitor. Taken over generations, they will slowly addict the entire population to the Reach and make the people of Earth placid. Literally incapable of revolt."

"That matches up exactly with Flash and Atom's analysis of the additive sample acquired from LexCorp." Blade confirmed.

"Ah, I see. Still I am tested." Green sounded a bit disappointed.

"Look, we're sorry, but-" Nightwing was interrupted.

"No, it is wise." Green agreed. "As they say on your world, 'all cards must be off the table'."

"On the table." Blue corrected. "I mean, never mind. Ignore me."

"We already do." I said with a smile.

"'On the table'." Green thought. "Yes that does make more sense. So here is my final card on the table: My Scarab informs me that the additive also contains a mitochondrial marker which works as a Meta-Gene tracer, allowing the Reach to identify and isolate potential super-powered individuals."

"Making it easier to harvest and weaponize the Meta-Gene." Night wing pointed out. "Our analysis didn't reveal that. Thank you."

"Can't we go public with this?" Blue asked.

"I'll pass it on to Captain Atom, but the League's credibility is at a record low right now. We'll probably have to bide our time. Good work everyone. Meeting adjourned." Nightwing announced.

"Finally!" I shouted throwing up my arms.

Bart ran over and put an arm around Jaime and smiled at me. "Hermanoes, the night is young!"

"You're kidding right?" I asked him.

"The night is over, ese." Jaime told him. "And all I wanna do is go home and catch some Z's."

"Here, here." I say nearly passing out.

"How about we meet up first thing in the morning? You know, like noonish." Jaime suggested.

"Sound's crash. See you guys then." Bart said and punched me. He ran off to who knows where and I turned to Jaime.

"Where do those speedsters get all that energy anyway?" I ask.

He chuckled, "Yeah, they could start their own power company."

"Just power it by running on those giant hamster wheels." I smiled at the thought and we walked to the Zeta-tube. We were about to go through but Jaime stopped.

"You go on, I wanna ask Green Beetle something." He said looking back.

"Alright." I said too tired to think straight. And I went through.

I couldn't sleep. After all that, I couldn't sleep. I looked at the clock by my bed. Seven-thirty five. I laid in my bed thinking about the question over and over again.

"So.. are you and Cassie a thing or what?"

Were we? I mean we hadn't really done anything that would institute a relationship. Well... there was at Artemis's funeral. And after the attack on the Reach ship. But... what were those moments? Were they just my imagination? I was kind of delusional at the time.

I put my hand on my lips. I could still feel her breath from the closeness and couldn't help but feel a deep longing in my soul. Did she feel this longing too? Was she thinking about me? Did she know I was thinking about her? Was I seriously thinking about her thinking about me thinking about her?

"Huh." I sighed loudly.

"Shut up!" Gar yelled.

"Go to sleep Tommy!" Mal complained.

I didn't even hear them. What was there between me and Cassie? At the funeral and after the Reach ship. What were we feeling then? I don't know about her, but I felt horrible. I was grieving for Artemis and then after the ship, I was just confused. Grief and confusion. Not two emotions to build a relationship on. Those emotions were moments of weakness. At Artemis's funeral she was so distraught. And in Mom's apartment was the day after I almost died in her hands. Was that all I was to her? A moment of weakness? Well there is one thing I was sure of. And that is this: What she was to me. Which is that she gave me the will to go on. I wasn't sure what that meant, but it meant something. It had to.

"Huh!" I rolled over.

"Dude!" Gar called.

"Sleep!" Mal yelled and threw a pillow at me.

"Sorry." I said a little to loud and Gar threw his pillow at me too. "Now I'm keeping them."

"Shut up!"

I awoke to solemn news. Ma'gann had been captured by Aqualad's ninja slave Tigress and La'gaan was hospitalized.

'Aqualad.' He was never satisfied. Just the thought of him sent rage coursing through my body. I got up to do something, anything. I just needed to get out the energy.

It was past noon so Bart and Jaime had probably left to do whatever without me. So my schedule was open. What was I going to do? I had too much energy to just sit around. I threw on a t-shirt and a hoodie. I ran into the kitchen, which was really just a mini-fridge and a small pantry, and grabbed a granola bar as I flew out the door, literally.

I had no idea where I would go. I guess I could see what Robin's up to. Or maybe Mom? No... not Mom. She'd be all goo goo with Ollie right now. Arsenal was a bit of a creep and Superboy and Nightwing were with La'gaan. Mal was probably with Karen. Gar would be with his tutor at Star Labs.

"Huuuuuh." I sighed as the wind rippled through my shirt. I had opted to leave my suit off and just fly casually. But I needed friends. Well, available friends. Ones who weren't super-powered or insane. But was I one to talk about that last part?

Finally I decided on hanging out at the mall. Teenagers did that right? But defiantly not in Bludhaven. Gotham and New York were closest. Gotham was almost as bad as Bludhaven but New York had way too many people. So I guess it's Gotham City baby!

I landed in an alleyway across the road from a smaller mall. I could've gone for a bigger one but I didn't want to see to many people. This one was nice, clean and had the most essential thing on my list: a book store.

I had about sixty dollars in my wallet, my headphones and my phone. I walked in to find just what I had expected. Almost no one, even though it was a Saturday. I walked around the place for a while and nobody seemed to question it. I made my way to the food court and got a couple tacos. I sat down to eat and just as I was about to take a bite I heard giggling.

I looked up but saw nothing so I took a few bites and heard it again. I looked all around and saw where it was coming from. Three girls who looked to be about sixteen sat a few tables from me. It looked as if the one in the middle was being bothered by the other two, but she also didn't seem to mind too much. The one to her right had dark coffee colored skin and was wearing a dark jacket. She had half of her head shaved. The other had light skin and bright pink hair with matching glasses and a blue jacket. I guess the one being made fun of could be considered cute. She had cream colored skin and green eyes. Her auburn hair was cropped close to her head but was still long enough as to show her gender.

She looked at me and we locked eyes for a moment. She instantly looked away giggling. What was with them? Did I have something on my face? I pulled out my phone and checked my reflection. I didn't look that bad. I mean, I was a mess but it didn't show that well. Did it?

I looked at my face a little baffled. How long had it been since I really looked at myself? I don't know but whenever that was must've been long ago, because a stranger was staring at me through the screen of my phone. He had a very long and wide nose with sharp cheek bones and a very strong looking jaw. His golden hair hung in his face down to his eyebrows. His eyes were a steely blue. Cold. Calculation. Revealing no emotion. He wasn't handsome, but defiantly noticeable. I scowled and almost jumped. I didn't want to be noticeable. And when I scowled I looked a little scary. My thick pink lips curled away revealing off-white teeth that almost had the appearance of fangs and my nose crinkling at the bridge. I had also lost all of my baby fat in my cheeks, making me look older.

I put my phone away and started collecting my garbage.

"Uh, hi." A soft voice said from across the table. I looked up in alarm at the girl from the middle of the other two sitting across from me. When had she gotten here? I looked back at the table from which she had came and saw the two remaining girls staring our way, but they seemed to get very interested in their food once they realized I saw them.

"I'm Claire." The girl said. I looked back to her. She was small, a little mousy, but still she was taller than Cassie. Yet she didn't have the air of confidence that Cassie carried with her. Why had I automatically thought of Cassie?

"Uh..." I fumbled thinking of someway out of this. "I'm Tom-" I hesitated. Should I tell her?

"Tom? That's a nice name." She said.

"Um... Look, you're pretty and all but I actually... you see there's this girl-" It wasn't a total lie. Girls do exist.

"Oh." She sounded a little deflated. "I get it. You have a girl friend."

"No!" Why did I say that?! Because I didn't. Did I? "I mean, well not exactly..."

"If you like her then tell her." She said with a small smile. "And tell her she's lucky."

I smiled at her. I didn't know this girl but she had still felt that any girl who would be with me is lucky. It may be a little presumptuous but it was a nice sentiment.

She walked back over to her friends and told them what happened. The one with half of her head shaved glared at me. Claire smiled at me and shrugged.

I got to the book store at about two. It was kind of small but cozy. The only other person in it was a small old man behind the desk. I walked around the store and looked at the books. There weren't as many as would be in say a Barns and Nobel but there was enough stories to fill a lifetime. I grabbed a book that looked good and opened it up. It seemed to be some rehash of the King Arthur stories. I loved knights and dragons and such. I had gotten so entranced by the book that I didn't notice the person behind me until they had put a hand on my shoulder. I grabbed the hand and turned, nearly punching Cassie in the face.

She caught my hand and said, "Well if that's how you really feel I'll just go."

"Cassie!" I nearly shouted.

"Shh!" She hushed me, "You wouldn't want to disturb the other readers." She gave me a smile and hugged me close. Real close. Like, so close I could smell her, close. She smelled nice. Like some fruit that I couldn't place. My heart did circles and my head got fuzzy. When I finally came to my senses I pulled away from her and held her at arm's length, not daring to break apart any more.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

She smiled at me, "I could ask the same of you! Hanging out in a mall. Why if I didn't know any better I might think you were actually normal!" She said the last word like an insult, but with a smile.

I smiled back, "The very idea!"

"So why are you here?" She asked.

"You haven't answered me yet." I said. We started walking through the isles.

"Well, I asked you first." She pointed out.

"No you didn't." I said.

"Haven't you ever heard of 'ladies first'?" She raised her eyebrows.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. You are very right. So you should answer first."

She huffed, "Fine. I was hanging out with Blade a little bit ago and saw you in here. OK your turn." It all came out at once.

"Uh, OK. Well, I had nothing to do today and a lot of nervous energy so..." I made a flourishing motion with my hands, "Ta-da!"

"Nervous energy?" She sounded bemused.

"Don't think too much into it. I always have nervous energy flowing through me. Especially around you." The last part just slipped out.

"Oh really?" She showed me her perfect teeth and leaned in close to me. "Why is that?"

I could feel her hips pressing against mine and I felt the heat of her small figure seep into my already burning body. Our faces were inches away from each other, and I silently willed the space between us to shrink. Her breath smelt of a mixture of tooth paste and coffee. My hands gravitated to her hips and behind her before clasping together in the small of her back. It wasn't until this moment that I had realized that I still held the King Arthur book. I let it drop to the floor and pulled her closer. I lost myself in her eyes much like I had been lost in the pages that now laid at our feet. Inches away. I looked at her lips spread into a smile. Just... inches...

"Oi!" The man at the front desk called, "Don't you kids do that in my store!"

I sighed. "You wanna go somewhere?" I asked.

She smiled, "Sure."

I paid for the book and we just started walking around.

"So what did you want to do?" I asked.

"Well," She started, " we could just walk around."

"Walk... around. And do what?" I asked.

"Just walk and talk." She suggested.

"That sounds kind of stupid." I said.

She glared at me, "Well it's what normal people do!"

"OK, sorry. It just sounds weird to me. Remember I haven't done this before." And I hadn't. From the time I was nine to now I had never really hung out with friends or been on a date. I wasn't quite sure which one this was.

"Never?" Her eyes were filled with sadness. I hate when people pity me.

"Well I was a little busy."

"How about this, we just start walking and see where we end up. We can talk along the way."

"Um, OK. What do you wanna talk about?"

"You! I mean, tell me about yourself. What was your childhood like?" She asked.

"Ha ha, you sound like an interrogator." I laughed.

"Ha, ha. I'm serious. I wanna know what happened to you. How did you get the ring?"

I looked at it on my finger remembering that dreaded night. "I don't really know. I guess it just showed up." I shrugged. We walked out of the mall and were now headed who knows where. I seriously didn't get this.

"Well what about your dad? I mean, I know he..." Her breath caught.

"Died." I said. "He died. I accepted it a long time ago."

"Yeah. Um, so what was he like?"

I hadn't thought of him in a long time. Mostly on purpose. "He was... kind. and caring. He always put me first." I smiled remembering, but my smile soon faded. "And when he died, well it was hard on me."

"What did you do after he died?"

I stopped dead in my tracks. The question filled me with the worst thing ever. Memories. Memories of the Fort. Of the gang, of Tara and Bucky and Jacob and Marie and... Jack. Of all of the crimes we stopped and of the one we would commit to survive.

I forced a smile and looked into Cassie's eyes. What would she think of me when she heard what I had done? What would the Team think? What would Mom and Ollie think? I couldn't tell them.

"Hey," I looked at the theater next to us, "wanna see a movie?"

She looked at the theater confused. "Uh, OK..."

That was weird. Why wouldn't he answer the question? I thought it was harmless. But as soon as it had came out he went rigid, well more rigid which I didn't think was possible. He always walked with his back straight. But he seemed to get nervous almost.

We walked into the movie theater and he asked me, "So what do you want to see?"

"Oh, uh um." I was so busy thinking about his reaction to the question that I hadn't thought of what movie we were going to see. What was even playing? I looked at the roster: another remake of Romeo and Juliet, some weird horror movie, some racing movie, a movie about an assassin, the Spiderman four movie, the new Star Wars and a baseball movie. I guess the horror sounded the least stupid.

"Uh let's see 'The Triangle'." I said.

"Heh," He chuckled, "Why are all scary movies have titles like 'The House', or 'The Chess Set', or 'The Doll', or 'The Cheese Knife'?"

"'The Cheese Knife'?" I asked. "Really?"

"Yeah. Like 'In a world where cheese has come to life and have developed a taste for human flesh,'" He said like a voice over, "'one girl must save the entire world with only her possessed silverware. Cassie Sansmark stars in, The Cheese Knife! Coming to a laptop near you a year before two years after last year! In 2D!'"

"Aren't those voice overs usually for action movies?" I asked.

"What he can't have a hobby?" He asked back.

I burst out laughing. "OK so not 'The Triangle'."

"Why not?" He asked.

"Well it sounded like you didn't want to."

"I never said that. I was just making a joke! It's something I do on occasion."

"Just once or twice." I agreed.

"So yes to 'The Triangle'?"

"Oh god no!"

"What? OK then what?"

"Oh I don't care."

"You're...! You...! You're just...! Uh!" I just walked up to the cashier and said, "Two for... Spiderman three."

"Uhhh I hate superhero movies!" He said.

I looked at him. "Really?! Just really?"

He just shrugged. "It's not my thing."

"OK, how about 'Star Wars'?"

"Yeah, police men from space, that's relatable."

"I... I can't even..." He was a Green Lantern for crying out loud! How wasn't it relatable? "Alright... 'Run'?"

"Sports? Ew."

"'Drift Legends'?"

"Oh please, it should be called 'A Bunch of Guys Overcompensating'."

"Love in Little Italy?"

"Mushy mushy, goo goo? I don't think so."

"'Jack Kang'?"

"I heard that's in Japanese."

"Those are the only movies playing here."

"So which one do you wanna see?"

Think anyone could blame me if I killed him at this point? I mean, I probably could. I've kicked his ass before. I turned back to the ticket guy who looked very scared of getting into this conversation. "Well-"

"Hey, what would you recommend?" Tommy asked the poor man.

"Uh... I just sell the tickets." He mumbled.

"Oh come on you must have at least heard people talking about them as they leave."

"People do seem to really like the Spiderman movie." He offered.

"Yeah, but people are stupid. What does your years of movie-theater-working expertise tell you?" Why was he doing this to the poor man?

"I haven't seen the new one yet, but I liked the old Star Wars..."

"Spiderman." I blurted out. I couldn't help it, the guy was on the verge of panicking. I turned back to Tommy and gave him a look that told him not to argue. "You asked me what I wanted, and I say Spiderman."

"OK then." He smiled at the clerk, "Two for Spiderman my good fellow."

The man let out an audible sigh and gave us the tickets. Tommy paid and we walked towards the snack bar. Halfway there I turned on him. "What was that?" I asked fuming. "Why did you involve the poor guy?"

"Hey I was just making fun." He said throwing his hands up.

"'Making fun'? He was terrified! I mean, really Tommy? Do realize how imposing you are? To normal people you're more than intimidating. You're kind of scary. And to continually hound him with questions-"

He stopped me by putting his hands on my arms. My heart fluttered and I cursed my cheeks for the heat I felt in them.

"I'm sorry." He said in a voice so calm and smooth it could make even Catwoman clip her own claws, "I didn't mean to scare him. Or anger you. I get carried away sometimes. And I'm sorry."

"Uh..." My tong wasn't responding. "I forgleve- forgive you. Now, let's get some popcorn." I turned back to the snack bar for a moment before looking at him again and saying, "You are such a dummy."

The movie was a little boring, and ridiculous. Who ever heard of getting super powers from "radioactive bugs"? Now being the daughter of Zeus was much more realistic. I lost interest maybe half way through. But I wasn't really paying much attention to the movie. I kept sneaking glances at Tommy but he seemed to be actually interested in it. Huh. He wasn't paying any attention to me. This date was terrible. Wait was this a date? We hadn't planned it. But it was just the two of us. But this was random. But he could've said no...

After the movie we walked out and I turned to face her. The sun was setting somewhere off to my right, and it turned her hair into a beautiful assortment of gold and red and orange. Her eyes sparkled a deep blue against the pink sky. She was beautiful in every way. I just wish I could tell her. Why couldn't I? It was just a few words. It's not as if we couldn't be together was it? But something was holing me back. I couldn't place it but there was something nagging in the back of my head, telling me that I would hurt her.

"I, uh, I had fun." I smiled at her.

She smiled back, which only made her look even more beautiful, "Me too." She reached out and took my right hand in her left. It felt like she had tazed me. She stepped in close and leaned her arm on mine as we strolled down the sidewalk. My head buzzed and my heart fluttered.

"So I was thinking-" Cassie started.

"Uh oh." I said and she hit me playfully.

"I was thinking," she continued, "was this a date?"

Oh lord. Was it? "I don't know. You tell me."A little bit of a dick move but it was all I could think of.

She giggled adorably, "Oh you suck!" She hit me again.

"Ow," I grabbed my arm where she hit me. "Oh god, it hurts so much! I think we're going to have to amputate it! Oh the pain." I dropped to my knees for effect. "Somebody put me out of my misery!"

She just grabbed me by the back of my shirt and held me up. Sometimes I forget she has super strength. But even though she held me as high as she could my feet still touched the ground. "Would you stop it?" She asked.

I smiled. "Do you really want me to?"

She smiled and let me go, but her arms stayed around my neck. We got really close. My hands gravitated to her hips. "Not really." She said so quiet that only I could hear. Once again we were so close that I could smell her. She smelled the same, of some delightful fruit that I couldn't recognize. Peaches? Or maybe pomegranate. But now it was mixed with the buttery smell of popcorn. I closed my eyes and leaned my forehead on hers, breathing in my scent. I opened my eyes to see her blushing uncontrollably. I smiled.

"Excuse me, Ms Tomato do you know where Cassie went?" I asked.

"Shut up!" She smiled. I felt her breath on my lips and ached with longing. I couldn't hold back any more. I brought one hand up and cupped her right cheek. I leaned in.

BZZZZT BZZZZT! My cell phone buzzed. "Huh," I sighed. I checked it. It was Gar. "We need 2 talk. Now. major important."

"I... got to go..." I said pulling away from her. She tried to keep me in place but I broke away from her.

"Oh, OK." She said. "I should get home too. Before my mom worried." She turned to leave but then just ran back and quickly kissed me on the cheek, and then she was gone. It was small. Just a peck. But it was enough. I stared at where she was a moment before. My phone buzzed again. I realized I hadn't breathed since she kissed me. I took a deep breath and flew off back towards Bludhaven.

I couldn't believe it. I just couldn't.

"Wha-What?" I asked.

"As I said." Nightwing explained to us. "Aqualad is not a traitor, he has been in a deep cover mission ever since he left the Team."

"But... Artemis..." Gar said.

"Aqualad didn't kill Artemis. She joined him on the mission as Tigress." Conner told us. "Nightwing, Blade and Aqualad faked her death to secure Kaldur's position with Manta and the Light."

"Do the girls know?" Mal asked.

"Blade is explaining to them now." Nightwing said. "We decided it was time you all knew."

I was in disbelief. All of the anger, all of the rage I felt for Aqualad, it was all for nothing.

"And when did you find out?" Mal asked Conner.

"Just today." He replied.

"But, if Kaldur isn't a traitor and Tigress is Artemis then why did she kidnap Ma'gann?" Gar sounded really confused.

"Back on the Reach ship, Miss M found Aqualad and thought he had killed Artemis, so she-" I interrupted Nightwing.

"She brain blasted him." I finished.

"Yeah." He continued. "And we assume that she was taken in order to 'fix' Kaldur's mind, without breaking cover."

"Huh." I sighed. I couldn't take this right now. It was to much to take in. "I'm going to bed." I said. "This is just overwhelming."

I walked down stairs and kicked off my shoes. I laid down in my bed and tried to sleep, but I couldn't. I just laid there until long after I heard the others snoring around me. I laid there thinking about the day. I reached up tentatively and touched the spot on my cheek where she kissed me. And for a moment all I could think about was that smell of fruit.

AN: I had a bit of trouble writing this one but I'm glad how it came out. Hope you liked it as much as I did. And as always, thank you for reading!