A/N: This thought sprung to mind after watching "True Colors." Because I want to know where all the YJ ladies went... Wonderbeetle. Song is "Best of You" by Foo Fighters.

For bluepianos. You make me cry happy tears.

Disclaimer: Were you born to resist? Or be abused by YJ feels...

Best of You

It's real, the pain you feel,

The life, the love you'd die to heal.

The hope that starts the broken hearts,

You trust, you must

Confess.

Everyone aboard the bioship laughed as Batgirl concluded the funny story involving Nightwing.

"Oh Barbara," Miss Martian tisked without any really anger. She fought to hide her smile as Beast Boy egged on the bat brat to tell another tale.

Cassie smiled on as she listened, happy for a humorous respite. The last few days had been so somber and draining that it was nice to laugh a little, even if it was at the expense of their leader.

Batgirl looked like she might start another story, but her communicator went off. "Hold on a second," she smiled, flipping open the device and reading the message. "It looks like they're starting the procedure on Blue Beetle." She bit her lip, typing back a response.

Cassie's heart froze mid-beat. "What procedure?" She demanded, standing up from her chair.

"Didn't you hear? Bart told Jaime that he came back into the past to stop Blue Beetle from turning evil and bringing about a Reach invasion," Batgirl replied distractedly, tucking her communicator back into her belt before turning to face Wonder Girl. "Jaime didn't want to risk that, so Atom and Bumblebee are going to try to remove the scarab from his spine."

"WHAT?" Cassie yelled, fury coursing through her veins, though from the fact that no one had kept her in the loop or the thought that Jaime might never go on another mission with her she didn't know. Probably both.

"Calm down, Cassie," M'gann cautioned.

"It's probably for the best," Batgirl concurred. "We need you focused on the mission at hand."

"No." The other three passengers turned toward her, toward the girl that was always smiles and laughter and eagerness. But her enraged gaze was completely focused on M'gann; a mental communication was exchanged.

The martian nodded once, almost imperceptibly, and a hole opened in the ceiling of the bioship.

Wonder Girl's gaze softened momentarily before she flew out the opening, Batgirl and Beast Boy shouting after her about the mission.

Barbara swiveled her chair to face Miss Martian. "Why did you let her go? What were you thinking?" She exclaimed, annoyance pronounced in every syllable.

"I was thinking of another girl, five years ago, who did the same thing," the martian retorted, focusing her attention back to the controls.

Batgirl grumbled a bit as she pulled out her communicator to find a replacement, turning away and completely missing the small smile on Miss Martian's face.

Wonder Girl flew through the sky with a speed that reflected her anxious mind. Why hadn't anyone told her? Why hadn't he told her? And there lied the root of her distress.

Blue hadn't told her. He apparently hadn't trusted her enough, and for some unfathomable reason, this caused her chest to tighten and her throat to choke up. She must have passed through a cloud, because moisture clung to the corners of her eyes, threatening to spill loose.

He hadn't told her.

She flew faster to the nearest zeta port, fueled by anger, sadness, and a desire to punch something really, really hard.

Jaime pushed himself up to a sitting position, Bart's hand helping to steady him. Atom's words were ringing through his head. The scarab wasn't coming off. Ever.

The realization was still sinking in as Atom and Bumblebee left the room to clean up. Bart was talking, but the words weren't registering on any of Jaime's cognitive functions. Even the scarab's voice had been drowned out by the weight of that statement.

The door burst open at this point, cracking the wall behind it. Bart and the doctor were about to chew out the intruder for not knocking, but Bart's voice died behind his teeth when he saw Cassie in the doorway, completely out of breath and looking like a true Amazonian on the warpath.

Jaime slid off the table, standing to meet her as she made a beeline for him.

SLAP!

The sound of her hand making contact with Jaime's cheek echoed throughout the austere hospital room. The doctor opened his mouth to protest, but Bart shoved him out the door before he had the chance, closing it behind them with a resounding click.

Jaime brought a hand to his face, gently covering the red mark. It had certainly snapped him out of his stupor, but now he was acutely aware of her presence, of her overwhelming personality that was currently infused with wrath befitting the demigoddess she was. Her eyes stood out starkly, two blue spheres of ice full of hurt and the remnant of tears. They demanded punishment for a crime he wasn't aware he committed.

"Cassie, wha-"

"How. Dare. You." She seethed, hands clenching and unclenching into fists at her sides. Jaime ignored the scarab's demands to armor up in case she attempted to assault them again. "I—I thought—we—and then you—"

She wasn't making any sense. Jaime was about to ask her what was going on, but she surprised him a second time, stepping closer and throwing her arms around his torso. Her hands clutched the back of the hospital gown, gripping him tighter than she would normally, but she was distraught and he wasn't about to complain about her super strength. He wasn't going to complain about anything with her so close and vulnerable and upset.

Tentatively, he brought his arms around her, holding her with a touch more gentleness. "Cassie?" he prompted, pulling back slightly to look down at her face which was still hidden in the crook of his neck. He could feel the thin green fabric dampening beneath her cheek.

"How dare you," she repeated, though with less venom than before. "How could you just go and decide to remove the one thing keeping you on the team and then not tell anyone?" She demanded, finally meeting his gaze. "Why didn't you tell us about Bart's future? We could have figured something out!" Her voice was rising hysterically, hands slipping to the front of his gown, gathering fistfuls of fabric.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Her voice dropped to almost a whisper at the last question.

For once, the scarab remained silent as Jaime grasped for reasons, for excuses, for anything that would make her stop looking at him with those bright eyes that were so full of pain. There was nothing he could say that would be enough to amend his actions toward her. So he offered her the only thing he could: an apology.

"I'm sorry, Cassie," he whispered, pulling his arms more tightly around her frame. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I just—" he swallowed thickly. "I just…I couldn't risk…I didn't want you to look at me like all those people we put away in places like Belle Reve. I couldn't…stand it. Not if you, of all people, looked at me like someone who might be responsible for the destruction of Earth. Cassie, do you understand?"

He pulled away, hands grasping her shoulders. "I couldn't live with that—if you only saw me as a time bomb, ready to go off at any moment. I'd rather risk losing my superpowers in order to protect the people I care about than be viewed as some sort of—"

"Monster?" Cassie supplied, her voice an octave lower than his. Her face morphed from wounded to understanding. "Jaime, I'd never think of you like that."

"You might if it came true," he argued, his fingers relaxing as his hands slid down her shoulders to her arms.

"No," she disagreed. "Because that wouldn't be you. The monster would be something vile created by the Reach. You would still be Blue, my recruit, my teammate, and my friend. And nothing's going to change that." She offered him a small smile, one hand reaching up to push aside a disheveled lock of hair back from his sweaty forehead.

He returned the smile. "Good to know, because it doesn't look like the scarab's going to come off any time soon," he informed her. Somehow the news seemed more bearable when her eyes widened in surprise.

"You mean—"

"It's still there," Jaime confirmed, nodding his head over his shoulder.

Cassie looked at him disbelievingly for a moment before wrapping her arms around him and tracing her hands up his spine. She brushed her fingers over the smooth blue metal, a look of wonder crossing her face. Jaime shivered under her touch.

"So…you're here to stay?" Her eyes met his, brilliant and sparkling from the droplets fading from her eyelashes.

Rather than speaking, Jaime pulled her close, tucking her head beneath his chin and deeply inhaling into her golden hair. She smelled like rain and sunshine and the promise of spring. Her breathe blew across his clavicle in the most deliciously provocative way possible.

"I'm here to stay."

My head is giving me life or death,

But I can't choose.

I swear I'll never give in.

I refuse