A/N: So I went back and added a bit more to the ending if you've followed this story over from Tumblr. Shout out to my home fry venomade for keeping the Wonderbeetle tag alive.

Disclaimer: But if you close your eyes, does it almost feel like CN's been here before and if you close your eyes, does it almost feel like we weren't canceled at all?


Pompeii

And the walls kept tumbling down

In the city that we love.

Great clouds roll over the hills

Bringing darkness from above.

The blast short-circuited their ship along with his armor, which was currently plugged into the guidance system. The metal retracted back into its form firmly grafted to his spine.

"Now's not the best time to power-down, Blue," Cassie informed him through gritted teeth, randomly pushing buttons on the control panel in hopes of starting the alien escape pod up again.

'Inform the Wonder Girl that I will return to functionality in approximately 53 seconds,' the scarab retorted in what Jaime had come to associate as his annoyed voice.

"That electric blast from the mothership disarmed the scarab and this ship. It'll take about a minute before I can armor up," Jaime relayed, joining Cassie in her search of finding the restart button.

'You must reroute the power source, Jaime. Flip the lever to your left.'

"Then what?" Jaime mumbled.

"If I knew that, I wouldn't be pushing every single button on this dam—oh. You were talking to the scarab," Cassie's voice died behind her lips, fingers poised on a rather odd-shaped knob that she was in the process of turning. She watched her teammate move several switches by the window then twist a large gear several clicks to the left, occasionally murmuring to himself. Cassie turned toward the window just as another blast rocked their ship.

Wonder Girl crashed into the back panel while Jaime fell to the floor.

"Hey, Jaime? Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't we set that bomb to go off about now?" Cassie queried, pushing herself off the wall and stumbling toward her teammate.

'The Wonder Girl is correct. Detonation is imminent. I calculate this ship will not withstand the blast,' the scarab reported.

"Uh, Blue?"

"Not withstand? Are you saying we're gonna—"

'Our armor should prevent us from being destroyed in the explosion.'

"Blue?"

"And Cassie?" Jaime demanded, turning his gaze to the blonde who had been trying to get his attention.

"JAIME!"

Her eyes were wide, and she was looking over his shoulder out the window.

'Chances of the Wonder Girl's survival are approximately 0.032%.'

Jaime glanced back at the window only to see the mothership explode in a bright flash of light, the aftermath rapidly heading toward their spaceship.

'Preparing to armor up.'

The third Blue Beetle didn't stop to think. In one swift motion he leapt from his position and nearly tackled Cassie back to the wall.

"Her too, Scarab. NOW!"

The teens were almost instantaneously surrounded by dark blue and black metal plating, the scorch of alien technology briefly filtering through their nostrils before everything around them was blotted out by Jaime's armor.

His arms were wrapped around her shoulders just a little too tightly, and he felt her rapid breathing graze across the front of his throat where her face pressed into him.

Their dome was warming up, and Cassie began to shudder violently.

"It's gonna be okay, Cas," Jaime attempted to reassure her despite the trembling he couldn't stop in his own limbs. The armor surrounding them flickered a brilliant blue, humming for a few seconds before going completely silent.

"Scarab?" Jaime questioned, but no answer was forthcoming. The only sounds filling the void were the teens' heavy breathing and pounding hearts.

Then, just as suddenly as before, the armor hummed to life again, flashing a blue color before retracting completely. Jaime and Cassie found themselves hurtling through the earth's atmosphere though they had been light years away from their planetary system moments ago.

"Scarab's not responding!" Jaime shouted over the roaring wind as they plummeted through clouds. "I can't fly!"

This snapped Cassie to attention, and she turned her focus inward in attempt to slow them down.

And it worked for all of two seconds. "Sorry Blue, I don't have enough energy to fly us up!"

"Can you try to slow us down every few thousand feet?"

They paused briefly midair again. "Yeah, I think I can!"

His grip tightened around her middle. Her chin leaned precariously on his shoulder as she looked at the looming night landscape below. Cassie was thankful for the fact that her teammate was holding on for dear life as every bone in her body seemed to have turned to mush.

The blonde's breathing became shallow, droplets of sweat formed at her temples and were swept away just as quickly. The duo plummeted through a layer of clouds, the moisture clinging briefly to Jaime's exposed skin and the fabric of Wonder Girl's uniform before falling away.

They were ten thousand feet from the ground, a barren desert landscape for miles and miles. Jaime tried to will the jet boosters to form, for the wings to form, for anything really. He would have taken a snarky comment from the scarab at this point. But the metallic bug remained silently attached to his spine.

"Blue?" Cassie's faint voice brushed by the shell of his ear over the rush of air surrounding them. "Blue, I don't…know…how long…I can keep…us up…"She was panting a bit, sounding for all the world like she was in the last leg of a marathon.

"Save your strength until we're about thirty feet from the ground, then give it everything!" Jaime encouraged, gripping her even tighter in his arms. She nodded an affirmative against his shoulder, nails digging into his back as she struggled to summon the last of her power.

Seven thousand feet.

Four thousand feet.

Fifteen hundred feet.

Five hundred feet.

One hundred feet. Jaime felt a warm buzzing from the Scarab.

Fifty feet. Cassie took a deep breath.

Thirty feet. "NOW CASSIE!"

At twenty five feet they were jerked to a complete standstill before slowly descending.

At seven feet Wonder Girl's strength gave out completely and the two teens dropped to the ground. Jaime shifted to bear most of the brunt of their fall when the scarab expanded to protect his back from scraping along the rugged terrain.

"OOMF."

"Now you decide to work," Jaime muttered grumpily to the alien tech, pulling his teammate up in his arms and checking her for injuries.

"Wonder Girl? You okay, amiga?" He queried. Her head tilted slightly, eyes blearily opening as her pupils dilated to take in the dark scenery.

"Mmm…tired," she sighed, turning her head to observe their surroundings. "Where are we?"

"No idea—"

'Receiving coordinates. This is in the eastern region of the Sahara desert—

"THE SAHARA? ARE YOU KIDDING ESE?"

'As I was saying-'

"Can he send our location to the Watchtower? I'll bet they can pick us up here. I don't know about you, but I don't think I'm up for a walk across the Sahara then a swim across the Atlantic—"

'Inform the Wonder Girl that I have already sent a homing signal to the Watchtower, Jaime Reyes. But there is something more important you must know-'

"More important than getting out of here?" Jaime deadpanned, rubbing his temple.

'According to Watchtower data, we have been missing for the past thirteen months.'

"….What?"


The Justice League arrived in record time to take them home, but neither teen felt very excited at the prospect. They remained silent as Batman, one of the rescue party members, discussed what had happened in their absence. After the bomb exploded the giant Reach mothership, the duo had seemingly got caught in the blast and were presumed dead.

The scarab interjected to inform Jaime that he had briefly transported the two heroes into a pocket dimension—a feature that had been only recently upgraded to his armor during their time under Reach control. Jaime relayed all of this in a monotone, still shell shocked at the fact that he and Cassie could have missed so much time when they had only been sequestered in the other dimension for less than a minute.

Batman continued on as though it was a perfectly normal occurrence for two superpowered teens to manifest out of unknown realities. Both their families had been notified and were waiting for them. The team had also been informed of their return, but the Justice League agreed to a leave of absence for both Jaime and Cassie until their physical and emotional status had been cleared. Blue Beetle and Wonder Girl made eye contact at that last statement for the first time since boarding the aircraft; they knew it inevitably meant more therapy sessions with Black Canary.

Rather than zeta both kids back to their respective homes, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Martian Manhunter elected to drop them off directly. Jaime sat down in the back of the invisible jet atop one of the side benches, his chest curiously hollow. He should have been ecstatic; they survived! They weren't dead! They were going to see their families and friends again!

So why did he only feel dread?

Wonder Girl staggered to the back after conversing with her mentor and made her way to the same bench as Jaime. She unceremoniously dug a blanket from a locker overhead then practically collapsed on the seat next to his.

"I'm bushed," she mumbled, head drooping onto his shoulder as she pulled the blanket over both them. "Wake me when we get there."

Jaime was certain his face was ten shades darker than his abuela's homemade red chile when he chanced a glance up, completely expecting Wonder Woman to kill him on site with a glare. Instead he met Batman's gaze, which was as unreadable as ever.

"Get some sleep, Jaime," the dark knight commanded gruffly. Jaime was only too happy to oblige, feeling as though the world and entire cosmos weighed down on his shoulders, sinking him downward into an uneasy dreamland.


Adjusting to Daylight Savings was one thing. Leaping forward an entire year was another matter. Their bodies had aged a whopping minute, but their friends and family…well…

Adjusting to the realization that everyone had moved on with their lives but them was a totally different problem. Their families were nearly as shell-shocked as Jaime and Cassie, but the shock quickly wore away to tearful gratitude that both children had been returned. Milagro even graciously offered Jaime his room back.

Both young heroes were surprised how easily their schools accepted whatever crock story Batman fed them about their absence and were willing to work with both teens to get caught up. The fact that summer vacation had already begun provided ample opportunity for both to enroll in summer school, much to their dismay.

"A whole summer ruined," Cassie grumbled to him as they waited for Black Canary to commence their therapy sessions.

"At least you don't have to worry about college applications on top of everything else," Jaime shot back, leafing through several brochures he brought to peruse while they waited.

"Oh…right…" Cassie remarked quietly, noting how her usually polite teammate seemed more irritable than usual. She felt bad for him, really. Senior year was supposed to be the best and here he was, fretting over not being able to get into a decent college to pursue his dream of becoming a dentist because he was missing a year of grades.

He sighed deeply, leaning his head back against the wall. "Sorry Cassie. I didn't mean to be a jerk to you. I'm just…stressed."

That was the understatement of the year.

She laid a comforting hand on his forearm, causing him to move his head to the side and face her properly. "I know. But you're really smart, Jaime. You'll figure out how to make it work. You always do." Her smile was tired, and empathy flickered through his brown irises.

Her fingers slipped down his arm to his hand, and he gripped them tight. "We'll figure it out, Cas."

She knew he wasn't just referring to school. Interactions with their team had been…awkward to say the least. Their older teammates seemed to take the entire situation in stride, but their usual comrades weren't exactly making things easy.

Barbara had traded her batgirl mantle for Oracle, passing her former title to a new blonde bombshell that was currently dating Cassie's ex. Her ex of one month, you know, give or take thirteen. Bart and Gar were both rapidly catching up to Wonder Girl's height, having seemingly grown overnight. L'gaan was seeing someone from Atlantis. Aqualad was assisting Aquaman in training new army recruits for a few months, tossing the reigns of leadership over to Oracle who was helped more often than not by Nightwing. Tigress was on leave with the Flash, the two having discovered something called the "Speedforce" and researching the possibility of it being another dimension. Supergirl had recently joined the team—a lively blonde named Kara that Cassie got along with infamously. M'gaan and Superboy were dating again. Karen and Mal were engaged. The only seemingly consistent people were Tye and Asami, who could still be seen holding hands down hallways, ever mature about their relationship.

Cassie brought up the subject of Traci 13 one day, glancing up from her textbook and recalling that the magician and Jaime had a…thing…briefly…on a mission in Japan where they had originally met.

He glanced up from his literature essay. "She's seeing someone," he informed Cassie with a note of finality, indicating the topic was off limits.

"Hmmmm," Cassie replied, looking at the boy across from her who was determinedly rereading the same line and not making eye contact. She decided not to pursue the matter.

The two were still deemed not fit for missions by Black Canary, and with nothing to distract her except training with her mentor and schoolwork, Cassie found herself spending more and more time with the third Blue Beetle.

He never pushed her away or told her to leave him alone, for which Cassie was grateful. She wasn't sure she'd ever completely adjust to this monkey wrench tossed into her path, and having someone going through the same thing as her made life infinitely more bearable.

Jaime seemed to take everything in stride, compartmentalizing his brain to keep everything organized for future analysis.

It came as a complete surprise to her then when he had a meltdown in the middle of sparring with Superboy. Jaime had been doing fairly well considering he was keeping his usage of the scarab to a minimum. Superboy had managed to get Jaime in a headlock from behind, and for whatever reason Jaime snapped, yelling as he flung the older boy over his shoulder. He gripped his head, still yelling as the armor morphed over him only to retract back into the scarab then cover him again completely.

Cassie, who had been practicing nearby on a punching bag, turned immediately to her distressed teammate, rushing over to the ring.

"Cassie, no!" Superboy cautioned, slowly approaching Jaime from the side. Cassie didn't listen, rushing instead over to the boy who was still yelling in anguish.

"Jaime? Jaime!" She shouted, her hands resting on his jaw, forcing him to face her.

The blue metal retracted from his face, his voice becoming hoarse.

"JAIME!"

The yelling faded in the back of his throat, his eyes opening, hands still gripping the sides of his head.

"It's gonna be okay." Her voice was barely more than a whisper.

The sixteen year old completely collapsed into her, his body shuddering violently.

"Cassie, are you—" Superboy paused behind her, finally understanding. Jaime was completely wracked with sobs, tears soaking the front of Cassie's hoodie. Her hands slid to the back of his head as he gripped her shoulders, holding on as though she were his last lifeline to sanity.

"And 'm gonna ha-ha-have to repeat-t-t junior ye-year. T-too m-m-much material-l. No puedo…" His voice was muffled again. A single tear trickled down Cassie's cheek. She held Blue tighter as he continued to voice his insecurities in both languages.

By now several others had entered the room and were taking in the scene with a mix of curiosity and worry. Superboy, noticing the crowd that gathered, began to herd every one outside. "Nothing to see here. Let's move people. Get out before I make you." L'gaan shot a glare at his teammate but turned around and left all the same.

Jaime's sobs had begun to fade by the time Conner followed the rest of the team and left the two teens alone.

"Lo ciento— 'm sorry, Cas," he whispered into her sweatshirt. She allowed him to pull his head back, her hands still cupping his cheeks. She wiped his tear tracks with her thumbs; he moved a hand to her face, returning the favor.

Wonder Girl couldn't help it; she laughed. A moment later she was rewarded with a dry chuckle.

"Some pair we are," she smiled as a giggle escaped her lips. Her fingers twitched and she brought her forehead to his.

"Thank you for that. I guess I just needed to get some things off my chest." A tentative smile tugged the corner of his mouth upward.

"I'll say," she snorted. "Try not to keep it bottled up for so long. Any more time and you would've turned into Superboy when he's being attacked by monkeys."

They both managed a real laugh at that. Jaime pulled away first, sprawling on his back in the center of the ring. Cassie followed suit, head next Jaime's though her feet were directly opposite. She glanced at her teammate, head upside down and facing the ceiling. His eyes were closed, but the muscles along his face were relaxed. If she didn't know any better, she'd say he was asleep. Her head tilted back as her eyes drifted further down…

"Jaime?"

"Mmmm?"

"Are you gonna put on a shirt or what?"

His eyes opened, and he turned his gaze towards hers, brown irises sparkling with mischief.

"Am I distracting you?"

Her eyebrows shot up in denial, but her mouth betrayed her. "Maybe."


It was another agonizing forty-two days before Black Canary inked the final documents stating that Cassie was fit to return to missions.

"And it's just like I told Jaime, even though you're no longer required to have these sessions, I don't want you to feel like you can't come and talk to me, for any reason," Dinah placed a warm hand on the blonde's shoulder.

"That goes without saying," Cassie smiled back. "I'm just glad Blue's cleared for assignment too." She paused, lowering her voice to a whisper as both women caught sight of Jaime sitting at the same Watchtower table Cassie would find him after each of her sessions.

"Cassie, I cleared Blue Beetle for assignment two weeks ago," the older woman replied, her light eyes flitting between the duo for several moments before allowing a smirk to tug the edges of her crimson lips.

"WHAT?" Wonder Girl exclaimed before slapping a hand over her mouth. But the damage was done, and Jaime's head perked up at the sound of his teammate's voice.

"He didn't tell you? Well, that might explain why he's declined several of Aqualad's recent assignments." Amusement laced Black Canary's voice, and Cassie, finally over her initial shock, picked up on it.

"What's so funny?" Cassie demanded, still speaking in hushed tones, arms crossed in clear annoyance.

"Don't be mad, Cassie," she chided, tongue clicking against the roof of her mouth. "Go talk to him about it." And with a gentle push, Cassie found herself stomping over to Jaime.

He was erasing and re-writing the date on the top corner margin when Cassie slammed both palms on the table, causing him to jump and scribble over everything.

"Cassie! What-"

"Why didn't you tell me you've been cleared for missions?" the blonde thundered, and Jaime was convinced there was actual lightening flashing through her dilated pupils. "You could've been helping the team—"

"Cassie," his tone was sharp enough to cut through her sentence midstream. "I didn't tell you because you would've tried convincing me that I needed to go on missions without you. You would have tried telling me it was okay and not to wait for you." Jaime's voice became soft. "But how would you really have felt? Because I know if it was swapped and you were cleared first how I would feel."

Cassie inhaled sharply; one glance into his eyes and she knew exactly how that would have felt. She and Jaime were still dealing with the fact that everyone's lives had moved on without them, and if he went ahead without her, it would feel like she was the only one not moving forward, the only one still stuck in the past.

Jaime Reyes was without a doubt the sweetest, kindest, most infuriating guy she knew. She grabbed the front of his hoodie with both fists and brought his lips crashing into hers.

Droplets of her tears were still smudged into his cheeks when they broke apart, but he didn't seem to care as emerged in the same breathless state as her.

"I've got a mission for you now if you think you're up for it," she breathed against lips, meeting his smoldering stare with one of her own.

"Lead the way, bonita." He nearly closed the gap, but with a laugh and a tug of his hand, Cassie moved her head and pulled him toward the zeta tubes.

"Well, that was adorable," Red Arrow deadpanned next to Black Canary as the two observed the whole exchange.

"You were that adorable at one time too, Roy," Dinah laughed, ruffling his hair and walking over to collect Jaime's papers.

Oh where do we begin?


A/N: In the first run of Jaime Reyes as Blue Beetle, there was a time skip where the scarab had transported him to an alternate dimension. Obviously this was a great source of temptation for my muse.