Mount Justice- September 12th- 1:34 PM-
When Jade walked through the door of the cave she found that the whole team had already gathered. Kid Flash and Miss Martian had decided that celebrating the team's victory over the Light was cause for celebration so they had planned to meet at 1 PM at the cave to enjoy each other's company. A few rules had been put in place, no secret identities, and no talking about missions, just getting to know each other and have fun, was what Miss Martian had said. Jade walked over to the kitchen to find M'gann had just put out a fresh batch of cookies and she was now talking with Wally and Artemis. The others were sitting in the living room with a game of Jenga where powers were allowed.
"Look who showed up late again," Raquel said just as Jade was sneaking over to the cookies. She managed to grab one before heading towards the Jenga game. "Oh no, you're so not playing," she said, grabbing her by the shoulders and pushing her towards the kitchen.
"Why not?" Garth asked.
"I'm not allowed to play board games, especially Jenga," Jade explained.
"Okay...Why?" Troia asked this time.
"Because she drops it every time," Babs answered. "I don't understand how you can have excellent motor control when fighting, but the moment you sit down to play you turn into a toddler?" Babs continued.
"All I heard was excellent motor control," Jade said only to be ignored, she shrugged it off and went over to talk with the other three.
"Is it that bad?" Karen asked.
"Yeah," Skye, Lance, Raquel, Zatanna, Dick, Conner, and Kaldur answered in unison.
"Never play with Jade, noted," Tula said out loud.
On the other side, Jade was into her second cookie while talking with them, she had placed a large cooler on the counter and was listening to their conversation. "Okay I tried to hold back, but what's in there?" Artemis turned to face Jade.
"Alcohol," she simply answered, pulling up another bag. "And speakers," she said, taking out some portable speakers. Wally opened the cooler, it had some bottles of wine, a bottle of whisky, a bottle of Gin, two more bottles of vodka and beer.
"Beach party!" Wally said and grabbed the cooler and took it to the beach right outside the cave. He came back for glasses, then once more for the speakers, and one last time to grab Artemis and go.
"Isn't it cold outside?" M'gann asked.
"It's fine, we can make a bonfire," Jade answered just as everyone was getting up from their seats. She watched them all leaving and as soon as the last one of them was out, she walked over to the Jenga tower they had left. She leaned over and slowly pulled out a piece and placed it on top of the tower. "I knew I could fucking do it, what a bunch of babies," she said and walked back to the kitchen to grab the cookie tray. When she turned around the back of her wool coat touched the tower causing it to topple over just after she had taken a couple of steps. "Shit…" she said.
"Hey, Jade can you help me bring some towels and chairs so people can sit," Lance asked as he walked back in. Once he saw the fallen tower he turned around and ran back the way he had come from yelling. "She dropped it again!" He yelled while going back to the others. Jade ran after him, but by the time she reached him and tackled him to the ground, the others had already heard what Lance had said.
"You dropped it? It took us so long to get it that high!" Garfield told her while staring at her on the ground on top of Lance.
"You'll get over it," she said moving away from Lance and sitting up on the sand next to him. Lance sat up as well and grabbed her hand as he got up from the ground. Jade got up with his help and the two of them walked over to the place they were prepping for the bonfire. "We forgot the chairs and towels," Jade told Lance just as they came up to the group; Dick stared at them when they walked over, Jade hadn't let go of his hand up until they stood in front of the pit.
"Can you help us with this before you go back for them?" Babs asked, pointing at the fire pit. Jade motioned them to back off and created a large fire that extended over their heads.
"There, be careful with it," she said and started walking away with Lance when Dick caught up with them.
"I'll go with Lance," he said and pushed Lance towards the cave, Jade shrugged and walked back towards the cooler to grab a beer and talk with the others.
Inside the cave, Dick and Lance were grabbing things to bring out to the beach. They both looked around the place in silence until Lance started talking. "So, what did you want to talk about?" Lance asked. Dick let out a long sigh, he ran a hand through his hair and slumped down on the couch.
"Too obvious?" He asked.
"Incredibly so," Lance answered. "So? Spit it out Blunder Boy," he told him sitting down on the ground in front of him.
"Jade rejected me," he said but there was no reaction from Lance, "of course you already knew. I just don't think I'm ready to see two together yet. I'll be okay, I just need some time to get over this," he said.
"Well that's not something you have to worry about, Jade rejected me too," Lance told him, pulling out a couple of beers from the inner pocket of his coat and placing one of them in front of him.
"What? But she told me that she was going to date you, and you were holding hands earlier," Dick said. "If you're lying to make me feel better then don't," Dick said as he opened his beer and took a long sip.
"Oh that, well we do that out of habit. We've been friends for a long time, much like you and that redhead...Barbara, I've seen you sticking close to her, bet you don't even realize it," he said pointing at him with the beer in his hand. Dick started thinking back to all the times he had gotten too close to Babs, they had even dated for a while, like Jade and Lance.
"I - I guess you're right, but why would Jade say that you were dating?" he asked.
"Look man, it isn't my place to say this, but Jade's going through some things right now. If you want to be with her then be her friend," he said, getting up from the ground and grabbing half of the chairs and towels that they had picked out.
"Are you saying that you're okay with being just friends now?" Dick asked him.
"I'm not, but that's what she needs, so that's what I'll be," he said before walking out of the cave. Dick watched him leave, he thought about a couple of things before finally getting up from the couch to grab the rest of the things and bring them outside.
Once he walked out, he found that groups had formed among the team, Babs, Jade, Troia, Conner, Raquel, and Garfield had settled around the fire while Wally, Kaldur, Artemis, M'gann, La'gaan, and Tim were standing next to the cooler and finally, Zatanna, Tula, Garth, Karen, and Skye were standing closer to the entrance to the cave. Lance had approached them first and started handing out some towels and chairs for them to sit on so Dick moved over to Wally and the others.
"Thanks, man," Wally said, grabbing one of the chairs and handing it to Artemis. They finished grabbing some chairs and towels and Wally walked with him to the remaining group. "So? How are you doing?" he asked.
"Fine, turns out she's not dating Lance either," Dick said, stopping to take another sip of his beer.
"She's not? Why would she tell you that she was?" Wally asked.
"I don't know. I'm going to ask her, I just need to find the right timing," he said just as they were about to reach the other group.
"Ladies and gents, the seats have arrived," Wally said as they started handing them out. Dick looked around, Lance had stayed with his sister so he thought he could place his seat next to Jade, but Conner and Raquel sat on either one of her sides. Slowly he sat down next to Babs and chugged down what was left of his beer.
"Wally, can you grab us six more drinks?" Babs asked.
"Can I get one?" Garfield asked.
"You're underage," Jade answered while she finished her beer.
"So are you!" he exclaimed. Jade gave him a glare that told him not to keep asking so after he shut up Wally nodded, ran back to the cooler, and brought them two bottles of wine, some glasses, and a juice for Garfield. "This sucks," Gar said while he opened his juice.
The rest of the evening went by with the groups changing some members, they would go back and forth with different groups, the only people that remained a constant in their groups were Kaldur, Conner, and Jade. As the night reached, Wally had been sent out to get more drinks and Dick was back in his spot next to Babs who was talking with Jade and Conner. Dick noticed that Babs had something stuck to her hair and reached out to take it out, she turned around to face him and the two of them started talking ignoring Conner and Jade.
"Are you okay?" Conner asked, noticing the empty gaze that Jade had.
"Yeah, why do you ask?" she said, taking a long sip of her drink. She zoned out of what Conner was saying when she noticed Kaldur walking away from everyone and heading towards the inner part of the beach, she watched him as he sat down against the walls of the mountain and threw his head back.
"Jade?" Dick's voice brought her back to the conversation.
"Yeah?" she asked and then she realized she wasn't paying attention, so she turned her head back towards them to see Babs had her legs on Dick's lap. "I'm gonna go see what's up with Kaldur," she said pointing towards him and grabbing one of the wine bottles Wally had dropped off and a couple of glasses before heading towards Kaldur.
"What was that?" Babs asked while Conner and Dick followed her with their gaze.
"You okay?" Jade asked sitting down on the sand beside him and handing him a glass of wine she had just poured.
"I would like people to stop asking me that," he said. His eyes followed her gaze towards Tula and Garth.
"Well that makes two of us," Jade answered. "Let me know when it gets uncomfortable and we can kick one of them out," she said.
"Ah. Well, I think it is a matter of getting accustomed to it. They are after all my closest friends. I want them to be happy," he told her.
"Yeah okay, I do not have that level of maturity," Jade told him, downing the remaining wine on her glass and her glance shifted towards Barbara and Dick. Kaldur noticed what she meant and followed her lead and finished his glass. "Want more?" She asked.
"Something stronger perhaps would be better," he told her and Jade got up to grab one of the unopened bottles of whisky. She sat back down next to Kaldur and the two of them started drinking while changing the subject. They had been talking for a couple of minutes when Conner walked up to the pair and placed a beach chair behind them.
"Room for one more?" Conner asked, extending an empty glass towards Jade.
"Well we've been sitting together all night, I don't see why not," Jade told him, wrapping her arm around his leg. "What's up?" Jade asked.
"It was getting a little crowded," he said looking over at M'gann who was talking with Skye, Artemis, and Zatanna close to the fire. Kaldur and Jade looked at each other before Jade grabbed his glass and filled it up. "Thanks," he said and chugged it down.
"Just let me know if we need to bring another bottle because I don't plan on getting up later," she told them, pouring three more glasses.
"I don't get drunk," Conner said, Kaldur silently nodded.
"Give it a couple of hours," Jade told them while downing her drink.
"Should we be worried about the trio over there?" Karen asked walking up to M'gann and the others. Raquel and Troia followed beside her. The group turned to see the three of them laughing before chugging another drink, three empty bottles lying on the ground next to Jade with a fourth one in Conner's hand.
"Worried in what way? Kaldur and Conner are virtually indestructible and even if something were to happen to Jade I'm sure she'll just walk it off," Raquel said.
"Right, I sometimes forget about that," Karen said. The group watched as Lance walked over to them and sat down to drink.
"Honestly it looks like a group of four guys to me," Skye said, popping up behind Artemis.
"Yeah, you're right," Zatanna answered as the other nodded.
"Okay, so let me see if I understand," Lance started. "Kaldur is moping around because the girl he likes and his best friend, who is dating, joined the team and now he has to see them together more often and Conner is upset because he feels M'gann is abusing her powers, which is one hundred percent true," he continued.
"It's also scary, don't forget the scary part," Jade reminded him, she leaned her head against Conner's thigh waiting to hear the rest of the conversation.
"Right, and you are in this sobfest because you're... avoiding the Boy Wonder?" he asked.
"No, I like Tim. He is nice," Jade said, laughing while holding her glass of Vodka.
"Fine, former Boy Wonder," Lance corrected himself.
"Jason? He's dead, you know that tho," she answered taking a big gulp of her drink.
"Jade," Kaldur said and she finally put her glass down.
"Yeah, okay. I am avoiding him, but I'm also here for the alcohol," she told him, pouring more vodka in before chugging it. The three of them stared at her in silence. "Look, I wasn't exactly nice to him and there some other stuff going on, so it's not like I don't like him anymore is just that I don't think I have any right to say anything about it," she said. Conner reached out to pour her another glass and they all let out a small laugh.
"And you are here because you want to complain about Jade rejecting you as well?" Kaldur asked, trying to change the awkward atmosphere.
"Exactly," Lance answered.
"And you're complaining about this….to Jade?" he added.
"Well I've always complained to Jade about Jade, so complaining about her dumping me is pretty much on brand," he said laying down, supporting his weight on his elbow while extending his feet. The group kept talking until La'gaan walked up to them.
"Hey guys, can I have a beer with you?" he asked, reaching down to grab one from the cooler until Jade pulled the cooler away.
"How old are you?" Jade asked.
"...15," La'gaan answered, taking his hand back.
"Rejected,"
"But you're also underage," he pointed out.
"Kaldur and Lance are 19, I'm 17 and Conner is technically 3 but physiologically he is 16 and that is my cutoff. You know, the whole thing about being able to drink in Germany," she explained while shooing him away with her hand.
"You have a cutoff?" Lance whispered.
"There is not enough alcohol for all of us," she whispered back and the group burst out laughing.
"What happened?" Wally asked when he saw La'gaan walking back to them.
"Jade has a cut off age for drinking," he explained.
"Ah, 16 right? You can legally drink at that age in Germany," Dick explained.
"Why does she care? It's not like it applies here," Babs asked.
"I guess she just looked for a country with the earliest drinking age and went with it," Wally shrugged it off. "Anyway, what were they talking about?" he asked La'gaan.
"I don't know, but they seem to be having a good time, I just wanted to talk to them," he said. The group looked over at them, Lance was laying on his side with his head propped up on his hand, Kaldur had his back against the rocky side of the mountain and Jade was had taken off her coat to sit on it and had her arm on Conner's leg and leaning her head over it while Conner sat on the beach chair. The group was about to go back to their conversation when they saw Conner taking off his jacket and placing it on Jade's shoulders.
"Haven't those two been extremely close all day?" Troia asked.
"They're friends, Conner and Jade often hang out on their own," M'gann mentioned as Raquel nodded.
"Are you okay with it?" Karen asked. "I mean you two are basically married," she continued.
"Actually, we broke up," M'gann said, she got different reactions from the group, it was mostly shocked looks and a hug from Karen but then they all started asking why, but she didn't know what to answer. "It just..it just happened," she answered and they understood that they shouldn't pry any further.
"Does Jade know?" Artemis asked.
"Probably," M'gann said, she said something else, but Dick didn't stick around to hear it, he grabbed a beach towel and took it over to them. He stood in front of Jade with the folded up towel and handed it to her.
"You're ruining your coat," he said, as soon as he did, the group went a little quiet and turned to look at the girl. Jade sighed and got up from the ground, she returned Conner's jacket and put her coat on after shaking off all the sand.
"I need to talk to you," he said looking directly at her now that she was up.
"I'm getting cold, should we go warm up by the fire?" Lance asked and the other two nodded, but before they could stand up to leave Jade fixed the collar of her coat and started walking away from them, leaving Dick and the others behind.
"Are you coming or not?" She asked so Dick followed her into the cave.
"I heard that you are not back together with Lance," Dick said once they were inside and the silence had settled. "What's going on?" He asked her.
Jade took her hands out of her pockets and shook them while her back was still turned towards him. "I'm going to be finding sand in this coat for weeks, won't I?" she asked, finally turning around to look at him and she saw him looking over at her, a hurt look across his face.
"What's going on?" Dick asked again. A small silence followed the statement, Jade put her hands back in her pockets and without looking away from him, she answered.
"I want to be alone right now, the timing doesn't feel right, I don't like you the way that you do, choose whichever makes you feel less shitty," she told him, as the silence spread between the two of them Jade let out a long sigh before continuing. "Fine. I like you, more than I would like to admit actually, but I have so much going on right now,"
"That also sounds like a cheap excuse," he told her. Jade let out a small chuckle, but her expression soon turned sad.
"Samuel died, he left me as the kid's legal guardian. Right now they are in an orphanage, but next week I'll be picking them up and taking them to my house...I have to prioritize, I can't take care of them if my time is being divided between you, the team, the missions, and them," she said gesturing around as she walked around the room. She hadn't noticed Dick had gotten closer to her until she felt his hand on top of hers.
"Sometimes I wish you would share these types of things," he said grabbing her hand and entwining his fingers between hers. "We all just want to be there for you, Lance, Skye, the others, and I, so how about we take it slow?" he told her, giving her a peck on the cheek. "Just give me a chance...give us a chance," he said, still kissing her face he reached her lips and gave her a light kiss.
"I - I have to think about it. I'll think about it, I really will so...give me some time," she said. Dick gave her one last kiss on her forehead and moved away from her without letting go of her hand.
"Come on, I'll take you home," he said, pulling her towards the zeta tubes. Her hand felt hot, actually, all of her body felt hot, and she was certainly blushing. Did she have to think about it? Could she be with him? Her mind went back to Sam and Nolan and everything was a mess once again.
Her thoughts were interrupted when the rest of the team walked into the cave. "Guys wait!" M'gann called after them. Dick and Jade turned around to see her flying up to them, she motioned for them to follow her towards the mission room. The two of them ran after M'gann and the others. Once they reached the mission room they saw Red Tornado standing next to the screen that showed Superman's face.
"Good, you're all here!" He said. "We have received a call from the Green Lanterns, they say they might have found a clue for what happened with the six missing leaguers in 2011 and most of us will be going off-world, Black Canary and Red Tornado will be staying behind, you'll be a little understaffed, but it will only be for a couple of days and we know you can handle it," he said. The team looked at each other, they had dealt with the Light and their plan so they weren't expecting any major issues...they had yet to know how much they will all come to regret that tranquility.