A/N: Another one set post Alien Chapter 27. Set after Chapter 67 Sunrise and before Chapter 55 Cats vs Dogs.

Shayera looked at the iPod that Wally had just handed her with a confused look before glancing back up at the speedster. She was on her monitor duty shift and, like normal, Wally had come to keep her company for part of it. Before he had arrived she had been slightly annoyed as whoever was supposed to be on duty with her was running late. That irritation was quickly forgotten when Wally had gone to get them food and brought her back a chocolate milkshake on top of it.

"Wally I can't take your iPod," she held the device out to him.

Wally shook his head and pushed her hand down, "Nope you're always borrowing it anyways. Plus you said yourself that you needed something to help pass the time while on monitor duty."

"Yeah but that doesn't mean you have to give up your iPod for me."

"You pretty much added all of the songs you like on that thing anyways. I already deleted my playlists off of there and got myself another one. Besides I didn't want to listen to those gushy romance songs you added on there," Wally snickered.

Shayera frowned and narrowed her eyes, "I do not listen to just gushy romance music Wally. There's a few I like and that's it. It's not like you have great taste in music. There were plenty of the songs you had on there that were annoying."

"They were catchy though."

"I was going to strangle someone if I had to listen to that stupid llama song one more time," the Thanagarian gave him an unamused look.

"Peanut Butter Jelly Time is a classic though," Wally pointed out.

"That's even worse."

"Look just think of it as an early birthday gift," Wally held out a pair of wired earbuds. "I got you these too."

Shayera raised an eyebrow as she took them, "How do you know when my birthday is?"

Wally scratched the back of his head, "Um...well...uh...you see...there was this green birdy."

"A green birdy huh?" Shayera smirked. "John told you didn't he?"

Wally gave her a sheepish smile and shrugged, "I sorta might have been pestering him about it. It was either give it to you randomly or if you actually had a birthday coming up I could give it to you for that. I figured this would be easier to give you then finding a birthday present. No offense but you aren't exactly an easy person to find a present for Shayera."

Shayera chuckled, "So I've been told by John before. Honestly you don't need to give me anything Wally."

"Nonsense, plus if there's any songs you want to download on that thing just do it. It's all on me."

"Now I really don't want to accept this."

He waved her off, "Think of it as early installments for future birthday and Christmas presents."

Shayera gave him a small smile as she stood and hugged him, "Thank you Wally."

Wally grinned as he returned the hug, "It's no problem Shayera." Wally let go of her and remained silent for a moment before speaking, "So...how old are you going to be?"

She sighed in exasperation as she sat back down, "You don't need to know that."

"Come on at least a hint?" he gave her a goofy grin as he leaned against the monitor station.

"Don't you know you shouldn't ask a woman her age?" Shayera shook her head in amusement. "I'll let you guess."

He placed a hand on his chin as he thought, "Thirty-two?"

"Flattering but no."

Wally's eyes widened a bit, "Flattering? Are you old enough to be my mother?"

"Too young," Shayera lightly chuckled.

Wally swallowed before asking, "Grandmother?" She laughed and he blanched. "Please tell me you're kidding. I know I always said you were like an older sister but..."

"Wally if it makes you feel any better I'm young for being a Thanagarian. Comparing humans and Thanagarian when it comes to aging, I'm physically not even thirty-years-old yet."

He paused before pouting, "Wait then you're technically younger than me. That's not fair."

"Technically I am still older than you," Shayera pointed out. "Just physically I'm younger. Thanagarians stay in their prime for a very, very long time."

"So at like eighty you're still gonna look like you're in your twenties?"

"I looked the same at eighty as I do now," she offhandedly stated before she grimaced, having realized the can of worms she had just unintentionally opened.

"You're over eighty-years-old?" Wally looked at her in shock.

"Damn me and my big mouth," she muttered. "Alright fine, I'm going to be eighty-nine. Happy now?"

"That's older than grandmother that's great-grandmother territory," Wally began to laugh out loud causing Shayera to scowl.

"Wally shut up before I shove this iPod down your throat!"

John didn't understand why his wife had started to willingly work the overnight monitor duty shifts recently. He couldn't fully complain about the fact that she got home normally at the crack of dawn and they were able to watch the sunrises together before she would literally pass out asleep until the middle of the afternoon. What he could fully complain about was the fact that they were working complete opposite shifts at this point and he wasn't able to spend as much time with her as he wanted.

When Wildcat had needed to give us his overnight shift, that ran concurrently with Shayera's, John had immediately volunteered to take it. He hadn't told Shayera he had done this as he figured he would surprise her. Of course he ended up running late as he had gotten back from a League mission late and then went to get them both coffee. He knew this was most likely irritating Shayera as she hated it when whoever she was supposed to be working with would run late.

John was otherwise in a relatively good mood considering he was going to be working with Shayera for the entire shift and was going to spend all the time he wanted with her. When he had reached the control deck of the Watchtower he had expected to find Shayera by herself. He lightly smiled to himself when he saw Wally was with her keeping her company. John's smile just as quickly disappeared when he saw Wally was laughing at the top of his lungs while Shayera was scowling at him.

"Oh man, don't piss her off," John mumbled to himself. The last thing he wanted to deal with was an aggravated Shayera for the next seven hours. He then heard Shayera threaten the speedster with an iPod.

Wally obviously, and quite foolishly, wasn't taking her seriously for some idiotic reason and had continued to laugh. Shayera on the other hand was clearly becoming more irate with each passing second. She stood and pulled her right fist back.

"Shayera!" John called out to her before she had the chance to deck the speedster.

Shayera paused and looked at John with a confused expression as she dropped her fist back down, "John? What are you doing here this late?"

John smirked at her, "I'm here for monitor duty. You know the overnight shift?"

Shayera momentarily smiled before she feigned annoyance, "You were supposed to be here over an hour ago."

"I got stuck with Stargirl and S.T.R.I.P.E. on a pain in the ass mission in Borneo," John walked over and held a cup of coffee out to her. "I think this is also a valid excuse."

"The coffee alone is more than enough of an excuse to be late. I love you," she kissed his cheek and took the cup from him. She then looked over at Wally, "Alright you're off the hook since you gave me that iPod and I now have caffeine."

Wally lightly yawned and stretched, "Whelp considering GL's here now I better get going. Even little speedsters need their sleep."

"I'll see you later Wally. Thanks for the burger and milkshake and thanks again for the iPod."

"All in the line of duty Shayera," he gave her a mock salute as he then zipped over to the teleportation pads. "Beam me down Scotty."

"Don't do Star Trek references with me Wally," Shayera rolled her eyes as she sat at the control panel. She then smiled to herself as Wally was teleported down to Central City for the night.

"You know I am somewhat relieved that Wally does go out of his way to spend time with you during every single monitor duty shift you have. I know how bored you get," John mentioned to her.

"He means well. Sometimes he does get on my nerves but that's to be expected with him after all. At least he brings me food while I'm stuck up here. I wonder if I can get him to bring me Chinese food tomorrow night."

"You're not supposed to eat while on monitor duty," John said to her in an amused tone.

Shayera frowned, "You damn right well know I am going to eat what I want when I want and there's nothing you can do to stop me."

John held back a laugh, "We could just stop Wally from bringing food to you. He's apparently bringing you nothing but junk anyways."

"Where did you put my mace?" She asked as she slightly narrowed her eyes at him.

"You told me to hide it from you," he reminded her with an amused smirk.

He could remember as clear as day the exact moment it had happened roughly two weeks ago. Both Wally and Booster Gold had managed to infuriate her enough that she had tried to bludgeon them both and it had taken five other League members, including Superman, to hold her back. He recalled the fear inspiring scowl on her face as she had headed straight towards him in the hallway of the Watchtower, mace in hand. John, having heard of what had occurred, had been somewhat worried at first that she was about to whack him with it before she had thrusted it into his hands and instructed him to put it somewhere she couldn't find it.

"Well I want it back. I have the sudden urge to use it on a particular Green Lantern."

John lightly chuckled, "Oh no you're not getting that thing back until you're mood swing free."

"Ass," Shayera grumbled under her breath and she began to chug her coffee.

"You shouldn't drink your coffee like that."

Shayera rolled her eyes, "Can it John."

"It's not healthy," he pointed out.

"I am not in the mood for your fussing tonight," he then kissed her cheek, causing her to grin. "Stop trying to get me in a good mood."

He smirked at her as he kissed her, "It's working though apparently."

She lightly giggled as she kissed him back, "It is but this is why they don't like it when we're on monitor duty together. Terrific thinks we distract each other too much."

"Like we wouldn't distract each other when not together?"

"Point taken," she conceded as she plugged the earbuds into the iPod.

"You actually listen to that?"

"Of course I do," Shayera said as she put one of the earbuds in her ear. "What do you think I do up here for hours on end? The overnight shift is boring since there's very few people that are even awake up here to talk to."

"Why are you always taking this shift then?"

"Working distracts me if I start to feel nauseous. So far it's the only thing that's worked. I stay up overnight and for whatever reason my morning sickness isn't as bad," she explained. "I mean yeah sometimes I still get sick but it's not as bad as it was."

John shrugged, "If it's making you feel better than I have no complaints then."

The two worked together for the next three hours in relative bliss as they talked and joked around with each other.

Once John had actually gotten a call from the monitor station was when Shayera had taken her commlink out of her ear and replaced it with the other earbud. She then raised the volume to drown out any outside noise.

John sighed as he closed the communication line on the monitor station, "I don't know how Question doesn't get himself into worse situations. You know?" John looked over to her when she didn't reply. "Shayera?"

He could see her lips were slightly moving as she was tapping her fingers rhythmically against the console. This amused John immensely that Shayera was actually quietly singing along, under her breath, to whatever song was playing on the iPod. He then frowned when he saw her commlink sitting on the monitor station and that she had both earbuds in.

He leaned over and tapped her on the shoulder, causing her to slightly jump in surprise.

"What?" She looked over to him without removing either earbud. He pointed to his own ear to signal to her to remove one, causing her to roll her eyes as she did so. "What is it John?"

"You can't remove your commlink and blast music in your ears. You know that."

"You're here and you can listen to the monitor station for me. I'll do the other work," she placed the earbud back in her ear with a smirk.

John reached over and took out the earbud, "No you aren't."

Shayera rolled her eyes as she placed her commlink back in her ear. "Better?"

"Much better," he then grinned. "What song were you singing along to?"

Shayera lightly blushed in embarrassment as she looked away, "I was not singing."

"Sure you weren't. That's why your lips were moving," he continued to grin. "Come on I won't tell anyone, I promise."

"Lady Marmalade," she muttered. John began to laugh and Shayera glared at him, "Stop laughing John! It's catchy ok?"

"Just...that's not a song I would have thought you'd like," he continued to lightly laugh.

"Yeah real funny now shut up I really like the song that just came on," she said with a frown.

John looked over at her as curiosity won over. He moved his chair closer to Shayera so he could take the discarded earbud and place it in his ear. He raised an eyebrow when he heard My Heart Will Go On playing on the iPod.

"A sappy, romantic song? I thought you didn't like sappy."

Shayera let out a sarcastic laugh, "Really testing my abundant patience."

"What?" John asked, giving her a confused look.

"I was being sarcastic," she replied dryly. "Look it's a very nice song with meaningful lyrics. I like it and that movie it was in. Uh what was it again Triton?"

"Titanic," John corrected her.

"Yeah that movie. I liked that movie. A little melodramatic for being based on an actual historic event."

"It's a romantic drama, what else did you expect?"

Shayera shrugged, "I guess I shouldn't have expected anything else. I do want to watch that movie Wally told me about. He said I would like it. I think he said it was called Shawshank Redemption."

"You would like it. For once Wally actually recommended a really good movie."

"He recommends decent stuff half the time John, cut him some slack. He got me to watch those Godfather movies."

John raised an eyebrow and gave her a pointed look, "Shay he also got you into Spongebob of all things."

Shayera chuckled, "It's moronic but adorable John."

After another four hours the two were nearing the end of their shifts. John had to admit it was rather enjoyable as no one had bothered them the entire time and they had all of the time in the world together; he knew he would definitely be volunteering again to have an overnight shift with her. That and, despite actually working, Shayera seemed to be completely relaxed for once and was immensely enjoying her time. That was until they got their final call for the night.

"I'm telling you it was crazy. Atomic Skull hit the hull of the javelin just right and it blew right up," Atom Smasher complained. "At least none of us were on it but still we're stuck here now."

"That's the sixth one today," Shayera sighed. "Alright I'll get a javelin and come pick you guys up so just hang tight. Shayera out."

John frowned at her as she stood, "Excuse me? You're getting the javelin and going?"

Shayera rolled her eyes, "I am more than capable and able to fly a javelin still John. I'm not made of glass nor am I useless just because I'm pregnant."

"I didn't say that but I don't think it's a good idea you're the one flying the javelin to go get them after they just had one get blown up. I could just as easily use my ring to go get them or fly the javelin myself."

"Yes you could but I could just as easily fly a javelin there as well," she said as she walked towards the elevator to leave.

John frowned and immediately followed her, to hell with monitor duty, "I'm going with you then."

Shayera shook her head as they both stepped into the elevator, "We don't need two people, let alone two founders, doing a simple retrieval task. Plus someone has to stay on monitor duty until the next shift comes in."

"Yeah you can stay and I'll go."

"No you can stay and I'll go."

John narrowed his eyes at her and stepped in front of the door, "Shayera."

Shayera glared at him in return and placed her hands on her hips, "I'd like to see you try and stop me. Besides I need to stretch out a little after sitting there forever. My back is stiff."

Even with being pregnant and not having her mace any longer, John knew he would have his ass handed to him by the Thanagarian if he did try to stop her. John's frown deepened, "I'm still going with you. Just in case something happens. I'd feel a whole lot better."

Shayera groaned in frustration as she knew he wouldn't stop pestering her, "Fine you can come but I'm not taking responsibility for no one being on monitor duty. You're going to have to answer to J'onn and Terrific for that one."

John let out an involuntary yelp as the javelin did a third barrel roll in a row, causing Shayera to laugh, "You ok back there Lantern?"

"Dammit Shayera! Stop doing that!"

Shayera looked behind her in amusement, "Ok so you won't have any objections if I do this then?" She made the javelin do an aileron roll next.

John grimaced and was internally cursing the fact that Shayera was one of the most talented pilots they had for the javelins. It was only natural as she was a natural born flyer after all. Unfortunately it was not uncommon for her to showboat while she flew them. John also knew she was doing this on purpose to intentionally irritate him due to his persistence to come with her.

As soon as the javelin righted he saw her put the javelin into auto pilot and then place her hand over her mouth. He immediately knew what was wrong.

"Fly now," she quickly said to him as she beelined to the bathroom.

"That's called karma," he got up and took over the javelin. A minute later she had returned and quietly sat in the seat behind him. He put the javelin back onto auto pilot and turned around to look at her. "You ok Shay?"

She closed her eyes as she pinched the bridge of her nose and inhaled deeply, "Apparently I can't handle aerial maneuvers like that."

"That's why you should have stayed behind."

"I would have been fine if I hadn't done all of that stupid shit just now," she tilted her head back and slowly exhaled. "Remind me not to do that again anytime soon. My stomach is still doing cartwheels."

"I think it's more safe to say you aren't going to be flying javelins anymore."

"I hate to admit it but agreed."

"If it makes your bruised ego feel any better I'll get you an iced coffee when we get back to the Watchtower," John offered with a small smile. "And when they ask why two of us came to pick them up I'll tell them I came with you so you could teach me more complex maneuvers."

Shayera lightly smiled, "This is why I love you."

A/N: For those wondering about my headcanon for Shayera's age see Alien Chapter 10.

In the DC comics it was stated that at 100-years-old Thanagarians were physically 30-years-old in human years. Also in the JLU episode Ancient History it was subtly implied that Chay'Ara (and in turn Shayera) were a lot older than what they looked.