A/N: Usual disclaimer applies. Not mine.

And thanks to the hit counter I know how many people are reading BUT NOT REVIEWING! glares Sorry it's not as long as the first chapter, but the first chapter was kind going on for ever. Be patient w/ me!

Neka woke to a hand shaking her shoulder lightly, then more forcefully. She blinked and looked up into the face of Alfred, the gentlemanly butler and father figure to Bruce Wayne.

"Alfred… It's good to see you again. I just wish it wasn't under such dire circumstances…" Neka remarked and stretched hugely.

"You as well, Mrs. Phoebes," the elderly man said gravely. He looked at Bruce on the bed, and his expression softened pitifully. "How is he?"

"I won't lie to you and say he's peachy. We're not sure he'll live out the week, honestly."

Alfred pursed his lips, and Neka could tell he was trying very hard not to cry. "Thank you, Mrs. Phoebes."

"Come now, Alfred," Neka said gently, steering the butler into another chair. She took his suitcase from his hand, handing it off to a small server robot. "It'll be alright… He's young and in his prime… he'll pull through…" Neka wished she could take back her words to the elderly butler. She should have known better than to say it so bluntly. She swore silently to herself, hugging the butler to try and make him feel better. "God I'm so stupid… I'm sorry Alfred. I really am."

"I know… Mrs. Phoebes. You're doing all we could possibly ask for."

"I wish it was more." Neka plopped onto the floor. She rubbed her temples for a few moments, trying to sort out her thoughts, then she looked back up at Alfred. "Did you see Dianna when you came in?"

"No, I didn't, I'm afraid."

"Hmm. Why don't you get some sleep, huh? Ya'll look too tired to do much of anything," Neka asked gently.

"Thank you, Mrs. Phoebes. I think I will."

"There's some rooms made up down the hall that should suit your needs fine. Let me know if you need anything. I need to go find Dianna. She's going to be in a right state after this…" Neka stood and hurried out, leaving Alfred with his adopted son. She ran down the hallways, needing to stretch her long legs after such a long time in a chair. She skidded to a halt in front of J'onn's room: the Martian was fast asleep. The same was true for most everyone else. Dianna's room was the only empty one.

Neka peered into every conceivable nook and cranny that Wonder Woman could have crawled into to nurse her sorrow, but to no avail.

"Hmm. If I were Dianna and severely depressed… where would I go?" Then a thought came to her. "The roof! Naturally…" Neka hurried up a spiral staircase towards the old part of the house where she and Thatius lived. Once past the sinister looking entry room, the house turned out to be immaculately restored to it's original, turn of the century glory. Another staircase led to the roof of the house where a balcony had a view of the entire French Quarter. And there ,under the screened awning, was Dianna.

She was sitting on the Cyprus floors, curled into a ball. Gone was her Wonder Woman garb, in favor of a pair of baggy, black Pajama pants and a blue tank top. She looked… vulnerable and normal and nothing like a super hero.

"Dianna?"

Dianna barely nodded her head to acknowledge Neka's presence. Tears continued to leak down her face.

Neka sat down on the floor as well, but a reasonable distance from Dianna. "I know you don't really like me all that much Dianna, but I wish you wouldn't do this to yourself. It hurts everyone to see you like this."

"I want Bruce to be alright… I always knew this day would come. I just wish it would have been later in life." Dianna looked over at the older-appearing woman. "I need him. I depend on him… I don't think I can loose him and still go on."

Neka sighed and leaned against the railing of the balcony. "That's what I thought when William died. I thought I'd never be able to smile again, and that I couldn't keep running the hospital we'd built together at the time. I thought 'God, why'd you leave me alive? I have nothing to live for. My children are grown or close to it and now you've taken my husband. Why am I still here?' But then I saw all those other poor souls lying on the ground and realized that I was still needed. No matter how much I was hurting, these people had to be in much more pain. I picked myself up and got to work. It wasn't until later I realized that William was cheating on me and planning divorce anyway." Neka looked over at Dianna and gave her a sad smile. "Sometimes the events that seem to be horrible and painful are really the ones you need most to keep you going. Bruce will pull through. Don't you worry. And when he does you'll both be stronger for it."

"How do you do it Neka? Work around the sick and dying every waking day; it would drive me insane." Dianna looked up at the stars.

"I do it because no one else will or can. If I can save just one life a day then my entire existence gains meaning. It means that I've given someone else a chance to do things right. Someone else gets a chance to raise a family, find happiness, do good in the world."

Dianna looked over at Neka for the first time and gave the other woman a watery smile. "I hope I'm as happy as you. I hope we can have children someday, too."

"You will Dianna. And when you do I'll be right there with the baby blankets and parenting tips." Neka patted Dianna's shoulder and stood up, groaning. "Come on now. It's time for bed and I'm sure that you're tired after all that mess today."

Dianna nodded and stood, following Neka downstairs and into the hospital. Neka made sure the heroine was safely asleep before she hurried upstairs and into her own room and her own bed. She snuggled up against Thatius, who grunted.

"What took ya so long?" he murmured.

"Reassuring the restless."

"Oh. Good night then."

"Night Tat."

J'onn sat up abruptly, shaking slightly from fright. He kept hearing screams in his head. They were coming from someone far off, but somehow, despite their distance, they rang crystal clear.

To his surprise, the woman's scream continued in his head even after he'd shaken the sleep from his stress-addled brain. "What on Earth--?" he muttered. "Where are you coming from?"

The screams were becoming faint at last, but it sounded that, rather than getting farther away, the woman was simply loosing her will. J'onn stood up and pulled on his cape and boots. He hurried out into the hallway, trying to figure out which direction the screams were coming from. He ran quickly into the old house and then to the street beyond, still looking around almost frantically. To his surprise, the screams seemed to be coming from the town homes across the street from the hospital. If he recalled correctly, they were the same ones that Neka's youngest daughter, Venus, lived in.

J'onn carefully climbed the stairs to the front porch where the screams were coming from. He knocked softly, then louder, until he was pounding on the door as hard as he could.

Finally he gave up on courtesy and slammed through the door. There was blood everywhere around the pleasant sitting room. At first he thought there was no one in the room, but as he came farther in, he found a small figure huddled in the corner, blood dripping and pooling around it. It was most deffinently female.

"Excuse me? Madame?" J'onn approached cautiously.

The figure just shuddered and curled, if possible, into a smaller ball.

"Madame I really must insist you come with me to stop the bleeding…"

"No…" it whispered angrily.

"Madame, you're hurt… be reasonable…"

"I don't want help J'onn…" It looked up. And it was Venus. "I WANT TO DIE!" She screamed at him, her mother's ferocity pouring from her with her blood.

"Venus… Why?" J'onn knelt by the distraught young woman.

"Too many expectations… Don't want it anymore… No more pressure…" She was muttering so quietly J'onn almost didn't pick it up. She began to sway back and forth and finally fell over in a dead faint.

He pulled the shaking, bleeding, young woman to him and picked her up. He ran outside, across the street, and back into the hospital. He looked up the stairs. "NEKA! THATIUS!" His voice resonated through the house.

The sound of pounding feet coming down creaking stairs echoed through the house as the two doctors in question appeared. Neka had managed to pull on a thin robe, and Thatius was in just a pair of baggy black PJ pants.

"What is it J'onn?" Neka asked, blinking the sleep from her eyes.

J'onn only motioned to the figure he had cradled to his chest. Neka looked down curiously and cried out "OH LORD NO! VENUS!"

Thatius went sheet white as he took his only daughter from J'onn's arms. "Venus… Darling what have you done?" He sprinted into the elevator, followed closely by Neka and J'onn.

Those League members who'd come in with Batman and Wonder Woman came out of their rooms, wondering at the disturbance. J'onn took Venus into the operation room and called for assistance. Neka stayed outside, unable to look at her precious younger daughter.

Wonder Woman came up cautiously, worried to see the strong young woman so frantic. "Neka? What happened?"

Neka couldn't control the tears leaking down her face. "My baby… my darling Venus… Tried to commit suicide!" she collapsed against the wall, curling up into a ball and crying. "Why! Why not take me! Leave my babies out of this…"

"Oh Neka…" Dianna knelt down next to the older woman, their roles of earlier that night reversed.

Virgil and Richie came out of their rooms, looking confused at the crying and screaming.

The sound of Venus crying out for death would haunt him for the rest of his life, he had no doubt.

Arvin and Darius arrived to help their step-father, while Elena took her mother away to comfort her. Neka was frantic and close to hyperventilating, all of her careful self-control gone in an instant.

Dianna slipped away from the group, going back to sit next to Bruce. She grasped his hands in her own. "Bruce… What am I supposed to do now? Poor Neka…. I'll admit I really don't like her much. She's too bossy… but she doesn't deserve this. No one does, really." Tears began to well up in Dianna's eyes again when she got no response. "I'm so lost right now…." She whispered, closing her own eyes and laying her head on the bed across her arms.

A/N: Many thanks to Gotham's Princess and Tracebo for their kind words.