The Watchtower
June 21, 10:00 EDT
"So Jaime," Black Canary said in a soothing voice. "You're here to help talk about your recent capture and mind control by the Reach." Canary had a notebook in front of her and a camera to her right, recording their conversation.
"Yeah," Jaime answered, scratching the back of his neck. He was a ball of nerves, but he knew he needed to talk about this in order to get everything out in the open.
"This is a safe place Jaime," Canary reassured him. "We can talk as much or as little as you like."
"Is this going to affect my place on the Team?" Jaime asked, feeling his voice quake with emotion.
"No," Canary assured him. "You've proven yourself to everyone and once the League can get the Green Lantern Corp here, the Reach will be escorted away. I just want to make sure you are in the right headspace. Being a teenager is hard enough, but adding in the responsibility of being a superhero, that's a whole other level of pressure."
"Bart is going to talk to you after me, isn't he?" Jaime asked. He could feel some of the tension in his shoulders dissipate, but he didn't know what Bart would talk about with Black Canary.
"Yes, Bart is my next appointment," Canary explained. "But you also know that I can't tell you anything he and I talk about."
"I know," Jaime sighed. "Sorry, I've been a ball of anxiety for a while."
"That's precisely why we're here," Canary said with a smile. "But speaking of Bart," she turned a page in her notebook and glanced down, "it appears that the two of you have been spending a lot of time together. So much so, that when you were controlled by the Reach that is was brought up to several other members of the Team."
"Sorry about that," Jaime apologized. "I promised Bart that he could text or call me every day to make sure I wasn't taken over by the Reach. When they did take over, they worked on pushing him away from me."
"I see," Canary made a note in her book. "And what made you promise such a thing?"
"We were hanging out after visiting a hot spring," Jaime explained, feeling himself get more relaxed as he talked. "He was freaking out about failing at his mission and I wanted to make sure he knew that he didn't fail. Right after that was our battle with Whisper."
"I do see something about that here as well," Canary added. "You had help from a Gavin Cethin and Bria Reynolds. The League has a database record for Bria, not so much on Gavin, besides what Doctor Fate could glean from his magic. So, after your abduction by the Reach the first time, Bart opened up to you about his true mission. The two of you relied on each other to make sure your missions didn't fail. Was there a point where you thought about bringing your concerns to the Team or League?"
"I did bring it up to the League and the Team," Jaime corrected. "Back when I asked to have the Scarab removed."
"True," Canary thoughtfully said. "But that was considerably after you had discovered about your potential future. Why not bring the information to us before?"
"I," Jaime started, but felt ashamed that he didn't trust everyone on the League or Team not to overreact.
Your fears of overreaction are well-founded, the Scarab said. The humans of Earth, especially those with metahuman abilities, are a suspicious lot.
"I was still trying to process everything myself," Jaime admitted. "I wasn't sure who I could trust or how much of the information Bart was telling me was true." Jaime scratched the back of his neck and fidgeted in his seat. "Besides Bart, I'm the newest member of the Team, so I didn't really find my niche yet or have a mentor."
"Understandable," Canary said and made a note. "And as far as not having a mentor, I can relate. I'm the only one with sonic abilities on the League, and my powers came into my life in the first grade, so I get not knowing what is going on or how to handle it. If you would like, I can see about finding a mentor on the League. Perhaps Guy Gardner, Hardware, or Red Tornado would be willing and able to help?"
"You rattled those names off pretty fast," Jaime chuckled as he gave Canary a side-eye.
"Guy Gardner helped find you and bring you to the Team, and as a member of the Green Lantern Corp. he has a lot of information in regard to the Reach," Canary explained. "Hardware is an engineering genius who built his own suit of highly advanced armor, as well as a lab to work in. Red Tornado is a robot with his own artificial intelligence and is currently working on making his own body to walk about people and learn from them. They each have their own unique skill set that would apply differently to your situation, but they would all be invaluable resources in helping you control your Scarab."
These "mentors" are not required, the Scarab berated. We have proven to work as a unified force and have unlocked our full potential.
"I think I'm good on the mentor thing now," Jaime answered back. "But can I ask them questions should it come up?"
"Sure thing Jaime," Canary smiled back. "Is there anything else on your mind?"
"Yeah," Jaime said and kept his eyes from meeting Canary's. "What exactly is the policy on dating a teammate?"
"Pretty loose," Canary chuckled. "Believe it or not, there is not a whole lot of inter-team dating, besides me and Green Arrow. But I figured this question has been floating around the Team for quite some time. The only rule that I know of is to make the relationship known to your leader, as some missions are more sensitive than others, so they will want to make sure there aren't any conflict of interests."
"That's actually surprising that there aren't more couples in the League," Jaime replied dumbfounded.
"I'm sure there have been flings in the past," Canary shrugged. "When your whole life is spent running around and saving the world, you don't really want your 'off time' talking about that as well." Canary used air quotes as she spoke. "Just make sure that Bart also feels the same way toward you too." She began to gather up her notes and put things into a folder.
"What?!" Jaime choked out. "I didn't…I mean…how did you know?"
"Relax Jaime," Canary said with a smile. "The League and Team are open to everyone, regardless of who they love. Besides, with how you two have been acting, anyone with even basic detective skills could figure it out. Just take a deep breath and find the right time to ask."
"Is that it?" Jaime asked, his head still reeling at the information that was just stated out in the open.
"Unless there is anything else you'd like to talk about?" Canary asked and raised an eyebrow.
"I just figured we'd be here for hours trying to dissect what happened," Jaime said and shrugged his shoulders. "I wasn't expecting such a quick session."
"Well," Canary said and looked down at her notes, "teenagers are surprisingly resilient. You have a healthy group of friends, some of which seem aware of the struggles of being under someone else's control, and you have a close friend whose sole mission was to make sure you didn't fall into the Reach's hands. All that, along with my open-door policy, means therapy sessions are a lot less intensive than a traditional therapist. Please come back here if you need to talk about anything else, my door is always open and M'gann is also available to talk to if needed."
"¡Gracias!" Jaime exclaimed and stood up to leave the room.
"If it's alright with you," Canary said, stopping Jaime in his tracks. He turned to see what she wanted. "I'd like to schedule another session next week. It will give you time to process everything."
"Sounds good!" Jaime said with a smile. "Oh, and something else."
"Yes?" Canary said with a smirk.
"Don't tell anyone about me liking Bart," Jaime said sheepishly. "My family doesn't know that I'm bi yet."
"Not a problem Jaime," Canary answered warmly. "Feel free to come out whenever you're ready."
Jaime made his way out of Canary's office and into the Watchtower's hallway.
"Hey Blue!" Bart exclaimed and rushed forward at superspeed to wrap Jaime in a tight hug. Thankfully, Bart had learned that even giving Jaime a split-second notice meant he could raise his arms enough so he could hug Bart back. "Get the all clear from BC?"
"Didn't really need an 'all clear' but yeah," Jaime chuckled. "I just need to come back in a week to see if I need any help processing the trauma."
"Sounds crash!" Bart said and hugged Jaime tighter.
Black Canary cleared her throat, causing both the teen heroes to jump. "Am I able to speak with Bart now?" Canary teased slightly while keeping her professional composure.
"I'll wait for you here," Jaime said and began walking to the gardens. "We can head back together."
"See you in a flash!" Bart delivered his cheesy joke with gusto, earning a groan from Jaime.
"Ok Bart," Canary said while getting herself in her seat behind her desk. "I wanted to touch base with you about your trip to your past, our present, and the various aspects of that journey. Feel free to be as open as you'd like."
"No problemo!" Bart beamed at Canary. "What about my mission do you want to know?"
"Let's start with why you were chosen to come back?" Canary asked and made sure she had a pen in her hand.
"Easy," Bart said, keeping his cool demeanor. "There was no risk of me bumping into my past self and I was one of the only heroes available to make the trip."
"So bumping into your past self is a problem?" Canary made quick notes as she talked with Bart.
"You'll totally be feeling the mode if you do!" Bart explained with enthusiasm. "Apparently some people go insane by meeting their past self, but I think that depends on the person." Bart trailed off as he spoke. His eyes wondered around the room and fell on the waterfall behind Canary. "Did you guys actually transport water up here?"
"Yes and no," Canary chuckled as her eyes followed Bart's eyes. "Before Zatara joined the League, we had to make regular trips to resupply up here. After he joined, he used some of his spells to make the Watchtower its own little planet, so to speak." She repositioned herself to look back at Bart. "I get the feeling that you're a lot like Barry, your mind moves quickly from subject to subject."
"Oops, sorry!" Bart bashfully apologized.
"Not a problem Bart," Canary smiled warmly. "All of our abilities work differently, so we all have our own way of doing things. But swinging back to our conversation." Canary focused back on her notes. "You said you were 'one of the only heroes available.' What exactly did you mean by that?"
"Oh," Bart's smile broke and revealed a frown, for the briefest of moments, but enough that Canary noticed. "I was simply the closest one to the machine and I gained the trust of the person who built it."
Canary finished her note and sat her pen down. "I understand that trusting people can be difficult," she explained with sympathy, "especially when we come from a place of trauma. I don't expect you to trust me right now or in any sort of timeframe. Just know that you are free to simply tell me you don't want to talk about something, and I'll move on to a different topic."
"It's not entirely a lie," Bart said while looking concerned at Canary. "I did gain the trust of the person who helped me build the time machine. I just don't like talking about the other heroes of the future." Bart brought his knees up to his chest and hugged them close with his arms.
"It's fine Bart," Canary smiled, but she knew trauma as well as any hero. "But it does look like you are getting a good group of friends in the Team," Canary perked up her tone to help ease Bart. "I see lots of positive comments from Robin, Nightwing, Garfield, Cassie, and Conner. It seems like you've made a good first impression."
"Anything from Jaime?" Bart asked sheepishly, putting his head in his knees to keep his raging blush concealed.
"I don't need a note in your file to know that Jaime loves having you on the Team," Canary chuckled. "Besides, he just came back from Reach control, so his mind has been a little occupied to be filing paperwork with the League. Speaking of Jaime, mind telling me about your mission?"
"Sure," Bart relaxed and brought his legs down to sit cross-legged on the couch. "It was my mission to come back to the past to prevent Blue Beetle from turning into the biggest big bad the world had seen. My smaller missions were to keep Neutron from killing Gramps and to give Neutron the pill his future self gave me to remove his powers. I honestly thought it was going to all be pretty easy, since Gramps and Neutron were done in the same day." Bart shrugged his shoulders as he spoke. "But the 'keeping Blue away from the Reach' mission was a lot harder."
"Missions have different degrees of difficulty," Canary added as she took notes. "When you have foes actively working against you, especially those with powers, it tends to make things a lot harder."
"Totally!" Bart exclaimed in his usually chipper self. "So, is that enough?"
"Enough?" Canary clarified, although she pretty much knew what he meant.
"Enough of the psycho-babble for today?" Bart waved his hands in the air as he talked. "As crash as this all is, I don't like people poking around in my head."
"Sure thing Bart," Canary compromised. "But I'll have another session with you next week. Also, make sure you find someone that you trust and can open up to. Keeping everything to yourself is never healthy."
"Will do BC!" Bart stood up and moved for the door.
"One more thing Bart," Canary stopped him in his tracks. "Remember that you're human too. You are allowed to feel other emotions besides a facade of joy all the time."
Bart simply waved goodbye and moved at superspeed down the hall towards the Garden on the Watchtower. He appeared in a flash right next to Jaime, who was sitting on a bench, enjoying the artificial atmosphere. "Ready to head back to Earth?" Bart asked as he flung an arm around Jaime's shoulders.
"Ready when you are," Jaime chuckled and the two of them made their way to the Zeta tubes.
El Paso
June 21, 09:00 MDT
"These time zones are going to kill me!" Jaime complained as he stepped out of the Zeta tubes in El Paso alongside Bart. "The East coast gets a whole 2 extra hours to be awake before I even think about it and the Watchtower is on East coast time!"
"Truth be told," Bart shrugged as he smiled at Jaime's ranting, "I don't entirely get time zones. They make no sense to me. I'm guessing the future didn't have them since the Reach was in charge of everything."
"Hey Bart," Jaime scratched the back of his neck as he spoke. "Mind if we go to the desert?"
"No problemo Blue!" Bart exclaimed as they walked towards the great expanse of tan sand. "Hopefully we don't get ambushed by any goons again!" Bart chuckled at his own joke as he kept walking.
"I hope not!" Jaime added and chuckled.
"Any particular reason for the desert?" Bart asked, hoping to know why Jaime wanted to avoid going home right away.
"I just wanted to talk about something," Jaime sighed. "Without Milagro barging in or my parents asking a ton of questions."
"Sounds crash!" Bart beamed as they came upon a rocky outcropping in the sea of sand.
They sat down next to each other on a large flat boulder. The awkward silence between them was palpable as Bart worried about what the conversation was going to be about, and Jaime struggled to find the words to express himself.
These emotions are pointless! The Scarab scolded. This host knows that the Bart Allen has romantic feelings for him. Simply admit your feelings!
"Bart?" Jaime asked, his voice barely a whisper.
"Yeah Blue?" Bart asked, he kept a smile on his face, even is muted compared to earlier.
"Remember when we talked about our futures?" Jaime asked, avoiding eye contact and scratching the back of his neck, his own annoying nervous habit.
"Yeah?" Bart answered. He had no idea where this conversation was going, but he was worried it wasn't heading in a positive direction.
"I know the Reach isn't entirely off-world yet," Jaime started and turned to look at Bart, "but I think I'm ready to talk about the future."
"Ok?" Bart's voice wavered slightly. He glanced up and saw Jaime looking into his eyes. What Bart thought was going to be a disappointing conversation was melted away in Jaime's brown eyes. The way that Jaime looked at him was warm and inviting, not cold and distant.
"What do you think about maybe going on a real date sometime?" Jaime asked, his cheeks beginning to flush.
"Like boyfriends?!" Bart could barely contain his excitement as he asked. His cheeks also quickly turned red and he was practically shaking in anticipation.
"Yeah," Jaime chuckled. "Like boyfriends."
"That's…" Bart made sure to take in a big breath, "TOTALLY CRASH!" He jumped up from the boulder and threw his arms in the air triumphantly. "When? Who can we tell? Should we tell anyone? I don't know anything about dating!" With each question, Bart moved in a burst of superspeed, disappearing and reappearing at random points around Jaime. His mind and body were moving faster than ever.
"Hey Bart!" Jaime called out to him, causing the speedster to stop dead in his tracks. "I just wanted to bring it up now, to see how you felt," he chuckled and stood up. "I'm glad you still feel the same!"
"No doy!" Bart exclaimed as he burst over to Jaime and wrapped him in a tight hug. "No amount of alien meddling is going to stop me from loving you!"
"Gracias," Jaime whispered as he hugged Bart back tightly. "I wanted to get that out in the open while I still had the nerve to do so. I think I have the perfect first date idea, but you're going to have to wait until after the Reach leave the Earth."
"Aww!" Bart groaned into Jaime's chest. "Why can't we go now?"
"We're still on duty," Jaime chuckled and laid his head down on Bart's soft hair. "Besides, everything will be good once the Reach is gone for good."
"I'll hold you too that!" Bart chuckled and repositioned himself to look up at Jaime. "Anything else you wanted to talk about?"
"Not really," Jaime chuckled. "I just wanted privacy in case your feelings had changed, plus it would have avoided any awkwardness with the family."
Bart's phone buzzed in his pocket. He broke off his hug with Jaime and pulled out his phone.
Grandma: Family dinner tonight Bart. Don't be late!
"I guess your day is called for," Jaime chuckled as he read the message along with Bart. "Also, I think Iris may just kill you if she knows you have her labeled as 'Grandma.'"
"Which is why she'll never know," Bart chuckled and slipped his phone back in his pocket. "I gotta go home now." He leaned up to kiss Jaime, but Jaime put his hand over Bart's lips.
"You'll get your first kiss on our date," Jaime teased.
"That was not part of any plans!" Bart protested.
"All part of my master plan to keep you coming back," Jaime chuckled. He leaned in quickly and gave a quick kiss to Bart's forehead. "See you later." He quickly suited up, extended his wings and took to the sky.
"No fair!" Bart laughed up at him before taking off to his house at superspeed.
Chappaqua, New York
July 4, 22:00 EDT
A large boom echoed through the night sky, a burst of red soon followed, lighting up the ground below. In quick succession, another firework bolted toward the stars, only to explode before reaching them, this time showering the sky with vivid blues.
"Totally crash!" Bart shouted as his eyes reflected the bursts of colors he was seeing.
Jaime was watching Bart's face and eyes more than he was watching the fireworks. That is, until he felt someone his is right arm.
"You guys make me sick," Brenda sassed as she leaned back into Paco. She smirked at him to let him know that she was happy for him, but she was still going to give him a hard time about it.
"I think it's cute," Cassie said with a smile. "Love is so amazing!" She leaned in and gave Tim a kiss on the cheek.
"I can't believe my mansion has become a teenage make out spot," Bria sighed as she stood in the doorway connected her backyard to her house.
"You know you love it!" Gavin teased as he sipped on his champagne. "You really do buy the best of everything."
"I'll never let you forget it," Bria smirked. "Why aren't you with your little friends over there?" Bria gestured to the large picnic blanket spread out on her lawn, food trays, cans of soda, and various Independence Day decorations were strewn about. Tim and Cassie cuddled up next to each other, to their right was Jaime and Bart, Bart's right hand linked with Jaime's left hand, and on the other side of Jaime was Brenda and Paco.
"None of them drink," Gavin sassed. "Besides, I'd be seventh wheeling."
"Then get a girlfriend," Bria chuckled. "Or a boyfriend, I don't care. Get one or more of each if it suits your fancy."
"It's not that easy," Gavin smirked. "But I'll join them if you're so disturbed by my presence. Maybe I'll drag Sierra along, so it isn't as awkward."
"Don't you dare Cethin!" Bria warned, while Gavin had already gestured for Sierra to meet him over with the group.
"Bring Hodgekins if you're so concerned!" Gavin called back as he settled down on the other side of Paco.
"Trouble with the missus?" Paco teased as Gavin joined them.
"I always do," Gavin let out an exaggerated sigh. "She's constantly critiquing me about something."
The group chuckled and went back to watching the fireworks show above them.
"So why the big group date?" Bart whispered in Jaime's ear. "Not that I mind, it's totally crash and all, just curios."
"I wanted to include some people you've met since coming back to the past," Jaime shrugged. "Without any awkwardness of family lurking around. I also wanted to show you that I'm not scared to let people know about us."
"I'm also pretty sure," Tim added, since whispering around fireworks is not really a thing. "This is the only place where you're going to see some of these fireworks." He looked down at the several boxes lining the ground a few yards in front of them. "Most of these are illegal and a few I've never even heard of."
"You don't need to be a detective full time," Cassie chuckled and playfully elbowed him in the ribs.
"Ow," Tim let out quickly. "Ok, ok, I get the hint." They chuckled and quickly snuggled back together.
"By the way," Bart also playfully elbowed Jaime in the ribs. "I also think you owe me a kiss for our first date."
"I think I do," Jaime smirked. "Happy Independence Day Bart." He leaned in and they shared their first kiss. In the grand scheme of their many kisses to come, it wasn't anything special, but it marked a special occasion. It was the opening gesture of their life without the Reach, their life being supported by friends and later family, their life with their dark pasts left in the past (or the future in Bart's case), and their first steps to hopefully attaining a happy ending.