Sylvia Wayne "Wildcat"

Central City

December 25th, 2013

"Wow, that looked like it really hurt." I made a fake gesture of guilt before breaking back into a smile. I was battling Captain Cold and Heatwave with Kid and the Flash. Flash was just hanging back, watching the two of us work. More like a supervisor than anything. I had just punched Heat Wave right in the chest.

"I'll kill you!" He began to threaten me, aiming his heat gun at me, ready to fire flames. But my adrenaline had already kicked in. It felt like everything slowed down, I watched as his finger moved in slow motion to press down on the trigger. I just took a hasty side step and grabbed his gun out of his hands, pointing it back at him.

"Ha! Cat-like reflexes!" I started laughing punching him in the chest once again. This just felt like dancing, I was toying with him, and everyone knew it. I kept getting these looks from KF.

"Very funny, kitten." Heatwave smiled before punching me in the stomach, catching me off guard while I was laughing at him. So I gave him a swift backhand to the jaw. He spat some blood, and I started laughing even harder.

"Whoa, now hang on. That looked like it hurt a lot more, so let's try to clear this up, okay, pumpkin? What hurts more? A?" I punched him in the chest and he wheezed. "Or B?" I gave him another backhanded slap to the jaw. "Forehand?" I clawed his face. "Or Backhand?" I swung my elbow up and impacted his jaw, causing him to fall to the ground. I walked over to him and kicked him over so he was laying on his stomach, groaning. For a moment, I realized what I was doing, and my head felt hot and my chest felt empty like avoid had been put inside. But I shook it off. I wasn't him, and I'll never be him. This was the moment that I started to feel extremely nauseous.

"Wildcat, just cuff him so we can be done here," Kid ordered, and I just laughed.

"Fine, whatever you say, cutie," I smiled at him before kneeling down and pinning Heat Wave with my right leg as I grabbed the handcuffs out of my utility belt. I tossed a pair to Kid as he pinned Captain Cold. Kid Flash had this look on his face, like something was bothering him. I think it's that time of the year where we're all bothered by what happened around this time last year. But I decided not to think about it. I was just getting back into my groove after what happened, and so was everyone else. So, Kid and I were back to fighting crime, and the Justice Leaguers seemed to be testing us in different cities and bringing us along on some low key League missions and public relations events. Dick thinks since it's because everything I've been through. He believes that the League has the idea that because of my experiences and Wally's insatiable need to help people, that we would make great additions to the League. So, we believe that they're grooming us for induction in a couple cycles of voting. My father even keeps dropping little lines like, Being a member of the League and When you join the League. He expects us all to later join the League, but he's specifically dropping them to Wally and I. So, after we made sure the cops picked up Captain Cold and Heatwave, Kid and I went with Flash back to S.T.A.R. Labs to get out of our hero costumes.

In a bathroom at S.T.A.R. Labs, I got changed quickly. My makeup was still done from this morning, so I knew I would look fine for the Christmas Dinner I was attending at the West-Allen's. I was wearing an oversized red, black, white, and green Christmas sweater with reindeer worked into the patterns. Since the sweater was long enough to be a dress, I had on leggings with it and black timberlands. My raven hair was pin straight as it flowed down my torso. But my hair wasn't perfect for long. I dropped to my knees and vomited straight into the toilet. Everything came up untill I was dry heaving. When I was done, I pulled out my travel toothbrush and toothpaste and brushed my teeth until I felt like no one would be able to tell. Once I felt I looked fine, I took my Wildcat suit and put it in my bag before I walked out of the restroom.

"It's an honor to meet you," someone said to me as I walked out into the main room of the meta division of the Labs. He reached forward and started shaking my hand like it was the best part of his day. "You're work in Gotham as Wildcat is very impressive and the two Flashes have said very great things about you, a lot of cool stories." He kept shaking my hand and I just chuckled slightly before making him let go.

"Nice to meet you too, and you are?" I asked him, pushing my sunglasses up my nose so he doesn't see my eyes. I started shifting my face to be more feline, trying to hide my identity even further with the sharpened canines and expanded green irises with slit pupils. I never did that often, as I was always wearing a mask.

"Cisco. Cisco Ramon. I must say, that," he gestured to my face, pulling off my sunglasses, "is so cool."

"Leave her alone, Cisco," A girl with honey brown curls came over and extended a hand. "Hi, I'm Caitlin Snow," she introduced as I shook her hand. I didn't bother saying my hero name, she knew who I was. I looked over to Wally.

"I've known you since we were maybe twelve, I've been your girlfriend since we were fifteen, and I haven't met these two even once," I told him as Cisco and Caitlin started laughing. Wally just shrugged.

"I've tried to bring you here, you just never liked being in labs, so I respected that," He reminded me, coming over and putting his arm around me as Barry entered the room.

"You guys ready to go?" Barry asked.

"Yeah," Wally answered, the four of us following Barry out of the room down to the lab's garage. Wally and I rode with Barry as the other two followed in their respective vehicles. Before long, we were driving through light snow to get out into the suburbs of central city, finding our way to the West-Allen residence. When we arrived, Mrs. West gave me a big hug as Mr. West didn't even look at us, he just stared at the floor as he took a sip of his whiskey.

"Sylvia, as I live and breathe," Mrs. Garrick approached me and gave me a very tight hug. Then, she proceeded to swat Wally with the back of her hand. "It's about time Wallace brought you around to a dinner." The old woman just smiled and moved on to Cisco and Caitlin, talking to them about what Barry has been up to lately.

I let the group be, and moved to the kitchen to get a drink. I just felt like going through the motions, but I grabbed a glass and poured the egg nog. But there was a moment where I caught something in the corner of my eye. I took my glass to the window and looked out. In that moment, the glass nearly slipped out of my hand, but I was careful. I stared out into the snowy night and saw something. For a moment, it seemed like an animal crouching in the bushes. But when I moved closer to the glass, really focusing, the figure stood up like a human, the size of a young, teenage male. They stepped forward, and moved closer and closer to the house, ever so slowly. I put my free hand against the window, my eyes burning as the tears pooled in my wide eyes. He approached, wearing black hoodie beneath his leather jacket. He walked towards me in his black jeans and combat boots. He got close enough and touched his hand to mine through the glass. I could see his warm breath fogging the glass.

"Jason," I whispered, a tear escaping my eyes and streaking down my cheek as I studied his face as quickly as I could. I knew every inch of it, and was desperately hoping it wasn't him, or that I was going crazy. This was impossible.

"You alright?" I heard someone ask from the doorway. I wiped the tear and turned to see who it was. I saw Iris standing in the doorway to the kitchen, watching me intently.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just watching the snow," I forced a smile before looking back to the window. He was gone. Maybe I was going crazy, but I noticed that the fog on the window was still there. I wiped at it, thinking maybe it was my breath that I was seeing, but it was his. I looked around and couldn't find him, so I went back to the Christmas party. It wasn't long before we got to dinner and found ourselves stuffing our faces. Well, everyone else was gorging as I stared at a barely filled place. I couldn't being myself to eat after seeing what I just saw. When dessert rolled around, I whispered to Wally that I would be right back. He nodded, and I got up, sneaking out the back door and walking out into the yard. I didn't even bother putting on my coat, I just walked out there. I couldn't even feel the cold. I walked around the house until I was where no one could spot me from the window. I just stood there and waited until I saw him.

"Jason," I said aloud, staring into his blue eyes. He was taller than me now. It made no sense.

"Sylvia," he said back before pulling me into a tight hug. This was when the dam burst, and I crumbled into a mess of tears.

"Is this real?" I whispered into his chest. I took a deep breath, smelling him. He smelled just like he used to, like waffles and the outdoors, like a forest of evergreens.

"What do you think?" he asked gently, stroking my hair as he hugged me tightly.

"You're supposed to be dead. There's no coming back from that," I told him, beginning to shake. I was going crazy, I had to be.

"I've been watching you for a while, watching you grieve. But there was something different about you. You were more broken than everyone else, and you're supposed to be the strongest of them all," he tried to tell me. I wanted to tell him what happened, but I couldn't get it out of my mouth.

"Why didn't you come sooner?" I asked him. He shook his head.

"I'm not ready to join the land of the living. There are things I need to do before I come back," He told me, but he pulled my face to look at him. "Sylvia, what happened after he took you?" He asked me, trying to be calm as he asked.

"I… He… The Joker… um… It… He… I was… He…" I started to hyperventilate. I never talked about this. I refused to talk about it then, and it was near impossible to talk about it now.

"You're okay, you're safe," He promised me, continuing to hold me.

"Wa-Wally said they w-were fo-following the trail o-of my clothes. He said when they realized all the blood everywhere was mine, they called in Superman to find me before I lost too much. Wally said when he brought me to them, I was all wrapped up in Superman's cape. Wally told me that when he asked Superman how I was when he found me, Superman told him that the Joker had already escaped the property, and he found me just bloody and… bloody and naked, just sitting up against a rusted car in a nearby junkyard. The Joker… He…" I broke down, holding him tighter.

"It's okay, you don't need to say anything else. I just needed to know. I'm so sorry," He whispered to me as I tried to get myself to stop crying, the quiet cried becoming near silent sobs. After I got a hold of myself, I looked up to him.

"Come inside with me," I told him, grabbing him hand, trying to lead him back to the house, but he wouldn't budge. Okay, but first, I need you to close your eyes.

"Why?"

"Just do it," he told me. I closed my eyes. I waited, but nothing happened, not a world from him. When I opened my eyes, he was gone, and I felt like I had hallucinated the whole thing.

"I love you, Jason. If you're real, please come home," I whispered into the night before wiping the tears from my face. I went back to the house and joined the rest of the guests for dessert.