A/N: I own nothing you recognize.

So, this chapter is longer than I was originally planning because a great Guest reader reminded me that: oh, right! Naomi is in a relationship with Kaldur! So I added a scene of that at the end of this chapter.

Thank you for all the views, reads, and reviews! They really do make my day :)

Anyway, hope you enjoy

Austin
Sunday, December 12, 2010
2134 CST

Lilith watched as Alex took down a robber with his power ring. Once she was sure he was done, she dropped from her perch on the fire escape to land behind him.

"So, should I be calling you 'Green Lantern' now?" she asked, placing her right hand on her hip and standing with her feet shoulder width apart.

Well, I do have the ring," Alex said, holding up his hand as if to prove what the green glow and green uniform already confirmed.

"Considering how many Green Lanterns are on Earth, I think I'll just call you Junior."

Alex gasped dramatically and clutched his chest. "You wound me," he said. "Hey, wanna grab a bite?"

"Are you serious?" Lilith asked incredulously. "In full uniform? Bit nervy, don't you think?"

"At least no one's gonna mess with us," he pointed out with a thousand-watt smile. When Lilith only raised an eyebrow in response, he said quickly, "Or we can find more bad guys."

"That sounds better," Lilith said in a tone that told Alex she would have gone off vigilante-ing no matter what he had decided to do.

"Well, since it's my city, maybe you should..." Alex trailed off when he saw Lilith was already zipping away on her grapple. He chuckled and flew after her.

"I must say, I'm impressed," Alex said graciously as he watched Lilith take down the last robber.

Lilith scoffed even as she winced and briefly touched her shoulder; she might have accidentally pulled a stitch. "I'm one of Batman's brood. What did you expect?" She finally turned to face Alex and her breath caught in her throat when she saw how close he was.

"You know, I've wanted to kiss you since I met you as Ana," he whispered.

"Whoa, whoa," she said quickly, putting her hand on his chest and pushing him away while taking a step back herself. "You're new to this, Junior, but I'm kinda in a relationship."

Alex raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing her. "Kinda?" he asked. "Are you exclusive?"

"Ugh!" Lilith exclaimed, wrinkling her nose in distaste. "You know, I never met Gardner, but Batman tells me he's quite the player. Something tells me you take after him."

Alexjust laughed it off. "When you can tell me definitively you're off the market, I'll stop bugging you."

"Just when I thought we were getting along," Lilith muttered.

"You know, you seemed to like Alex," he observed.

"That's not your name?" Lilith asked tiredly.

"I'll tell you mine when you tell me yours," he countered cheekily.

"Then stay Junior to me," she snapped, suddenly feeling exhausted. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to get home."

"Hey, wait," Alex called back. "I really was hoping to get to know you better."

"Maybe some other time," Lilith sighed, already walking away. She was glad when he didn't chase after her, though he did call out, "Until next time, beautiful!"

With a tired sigh, Lilith zipped back to her motorcycle before driving it to a zeta she knew was calibrated for objects larger than humans. She appeared in the Batcave.

"Naomi," Bruce said in surprise once she had parked and taken off her helmet. "You went out!" he exclaimed accusingly, going as far as pointing at her shoulder.

She rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the concern, Brucie," she said sarcastically.

"I'm sorry, you're right," Bruce amended. "Are you okay."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Naomi said. "Just need Alfred to look at my stiches."

"That doesn't sound 'fine' to me," Bruce said, raising an eyebrow. Naomi leveled him with her own look and he chuckled. "I'll call him," he said. Naomi nodded and walked over to he operation table, unzipping her uniform as she went.

"My, my," Alfred said when he arrived. "You certainly know how to convince Master Bruce to give you longer bedrest."

"Sorry," Naomi sighed. She sat up straight to let Alfred look at the wound. "I wanted to see Junior in action, so I went down to Austin."

"Junior?" Alfred asked.

"Alex Masen, or whatever his real name is," Naomi answered. "He's Guy Gardner's protégé, which means he's a Green Lantern. I'm just going to call him Junior since there are so many Lanterns already."

Alfred chuckled. "Very good, Miss Naomi." He cleaned the blood from her shoulder and back before re-stitching both sides. "You got very luck," he said as he straightened. "It was only a minor pull."

"Thanks," Naomi smiled. She left her uniform hanging off her hips and pulled on a shirt Alfred had brought down with him. "I'll see you soon," she said before walking toward the zeta.

She appeared in her shed and she changed from her uniform into something more Naomi-ish.

When she got inside, she found Lisa on the couch in the living room reading a book. "Where's James?" she asked after she kissed Lisa's cheek.

"Still on his date," Lisa responded. Naomi pursed her lips but nodded. "Oh, honey," Lisa said, reaching up to touch Naomi's arm. "I'm sure it's nothing."

"But you know that's not true," Naomi said, raising her eyebrow slightly. "I've never seen him so hung up on anyone."

"I'm home!"

"I'm going to bed," she whispered to Lisa. She kissed her cheek again before sprinting up the stairs.

When she reached her room, her phone began to ring. "Bruce?" she asked.

He groaned. "Gardner called. Again. His protégé is really smitten with you."

"Fine, fine!" Naomi said with an exasperated chuckle. "Give him my number and tell him the contact name is 'Lily.'"

"Thank you," Bruce sighed and Naomi couldn't help but laugh again.

"I guess I should hand up and wait for the conversation that is inevitably going to start," Naomi joked. "Bye."

"Bye, kiddo," Bruce said before hanging up.

Sure enough, just a minute or so later, Naomi's phone lit up, notifying her of a text message from an unknown number. Naomi rolled her eyes and unlocked her phone.

I see you finally caved ;) -Junior

Oh my god, you ARE Gardner! -Lily

C'mon, babe, you know you like me

In your dreams
Now, I want to get this over with: just ask me all the questions you want

What's your ACTUAL story?

Naomi groaned and typed out her response. That's REALLY your FIRST question?

Of course, babe

I AM IN A RELATIONSHIP

Really though?

I'm gonna go now

WAIT! All right, next question: what is your name?

Lily

False

What's YOUR name?

Uh, uh, uhh! I asked you first

Lily suits me just fine

Then so does Alex

Nope. You're Junior in my phone now

Damn...

I'm going to sleep now

Good night, beautiful!

Naomi sighed and shook her head. She locked her phone and set it at her bedside table before climbing into bed and closing her eyes.

Mount Justice
Tuesday, December, 2010
1634 EST

Lily and Robin stepped out of the zeta-tube, one after the other. Black Canary stood in front of the rest of the Team, and the two junior Bats joined them.

"What happened to you?" Zatanna asked, eyeing Lily's left arm, which Batman had insisted be kept in a sling to keep extraneous movement at the minimal. Kaldur was by her side in a second, and she gave him a reassuring smile.

"While Artemis, Wally, and Kaldur were having fun down in the Orleans Parish," Lily said with a Louisiana drawl, "Robin and I were having some fun of our own."

Artemis rolled her eyes. "Great story, but what actually happened?"

"She got shot!" Robin supplied, almost gleefully.

Lily raised an eyebrow in his direction. "Does that please you, for some unknown reason?" she questioned.

"Are you okay?" M'gann gasped as Kaldur's hand fluttered around Lily's left shoulder.

"All stitched up and in the process of healing," Lily said with a half shrug, glancing up at Kaldur and grasping his hand and giving it a slight squeeze. "Batman's forbidden me from combat practice and missions."

"Bue you are otherwise all right?" Kaldur finally asked.

"Yes," Lily assured with an embarrassed smile and a blush. "I'm perfectly healthy in every other regard."

"So..." Everyone turned to see Wally raising his hand and glancing between Black Canary and Lily. "Just to be clear, I don't have to fight her today?"

Black Canary chuckled while everyone else laughed. "You won't be fighting Lily today," she confirmed.

"But don't think that means I can't still kick your butt," Lily said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"I don't doubt it for a second," Wally grinned.

"Just as long as you don't forget it."

"All right," Black Canary called, clapping her hands once to get everyone's attention. "Let's get back to business."

The Team gathered on the edge of the circle, which lit up under Black Canary's feet as she went to the center.

"Since Lily has to sit this one out, one of you will have to fight me," she said as Lily sat about a foot away from the edge. "And since it was Wally's turn to fight Lily–-"

"You didn't get out of that, did ya?" Lily called.

"Aw, man!" Everyone laughed at that.

Black Canary shook her head though she had a smile on her face. "Before we split up into pairs, let's review what we covered these last two weeks."

Lily watched as Black Canary walked through the newest three moves, using Kaldur to demonstrate.

"Everyone got it?" she asked as Kaldur rejoined the Team. They nodded. "Good. Today, it'll be Robin and M'gann, Kaldur and Zatanna, Conner and Artemis. Wally, you're with me."

Wally groaned again as everyone else split off. Lily grinned at Kaldur as he moved to one side with Zatanna.

As the fighting commenced, Lily slowly moved her gaze over the Team, unconsciously analyzing their movements, committing every form to memory. When the last person went down (Artemis, after a solid seven minutes and twenty-seven seconds), Lily finally stood and joined Kaldur with Robin, Wally, M'gann, and Zatanna.

"So how was it watching for a change?" Artemis asked as she joined them.

"Educational," Lily said simply, the corner of her lip curling upward in a knowing smirk.

"Anyone wanna get some food?" Wally asked once Conner was beside M'gann. "I'm starving!"

"You're always starving," Artemis pointed out, rolling her eyes.

Wally just shrugged. "Let's go!" He didn't wait for the others to answer, instead speeding ahead to the kitchen. Everyone hurried after him, though Kaldur caught Lily's good arm.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked once they were alone.

Lily laughed and rolled her eyes. "I'm fine," she assured. "It's gonna take more than a bullet to slow me down."

Kaldur smiled down at her. "I don't doubt that for a second," he said.

After a pause, Lily said softly, "You know, it's nice to have someone care for me."

"What do you mean?" Kaldur asked, tilting his head in confusion. "Your family, Batman, and Robin care greatly about you."

"No," Lily said with a little laugh, shaking her head. "I mean, it's nice to have someone who doesn't have to care about me, care about me." She paused. "Does that make sense?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yes," Kaldur said softly. He leaned down and gently kissed her. Lily grinned and took a step closer to him, leaving her left arm the only barrier between them.

"Whoa!"

Lily jumped in surprise and peered around Kaldur to find Robin at the entrance way, covering his eyes with his hands.

"Is it safe to look?"

She rolled her eyes. "Shut up, Bird Boy!" she exclaimed before taking off after him. Robin squealed and sprinted down the hall, Lily hot on his heels. Kaldur laughed before jogging after his friend and...girlfriend? He made a mental note to double check with her later.

A/N: What did ya think? Yay, nay? Let me know if I can improve in any way!

I hope you enjoyed, and until next time.