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CHAPTER TWO
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Never been lied to,
Never had to scuffle in fear,
Nothing denied to.
Born at the instant the church bells chime
And the whole world whispering
Born at the right time. (Born at the Right Time – Paul Simon)

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The doctors, attendants and medical staff were gone. All were satisfied that Shayera had suffered no complication from this first of its kind birth and that baby Rex was in good condition. It was just the three of them now alone in a surgical recovery room.

Shayera lay sleeping in the bed. Every now and then she would groan or grunt in her sleep and John would walk over and make sure she was okay. Rex lay sleeping in his bassinet next to Shayera.

John would often lean over the bassinet and gently stroke Rex's cheek. The infant would turn his head towards John's finger. Thank you, God. Thank you for both of them.

He heard Shayera stirring and he sat down in the chair next to her bed. As he did, she opened her eyes. She smiled and he decided he would remember this smile as well on his death bed.

"Hi, sunshine. How are you doing?"

She nodded and sat up gingerly. "How long have you been here?"

"Never left. You were asleep. Didn't want to wake you or him up."

"We've got things to talk about."

Uh oh. "It can wait." I don't want to talk if it's what I think it's about.

"Not any more and you know it. We can't stay here without knowing. We have to find out for certain."

It was what he didn't want to talk about. He stood and leaned over her bed. "We can stay here. Nothing will happen to you or Rex."

She growled and shook her head. "John, that is the second dumbest thing you've said to me today. You can't protect me and you can't protect our son. We've been here for more than two years and we still don't know the real status of Thanagar." She lowered her head. "We have the means to find out."

She paused and looked him in the eyes. "John, I …this is important to me."

He pursed his lips together and shook his head. "I know, but if you go snooping around the galaxy, the only thing you'll do is draw attention to yourself. Everyone thinks Shayera Hol is dead. You've worn a mask since we returned and now a lot of people even think you're the daughter of the first 'Hawkgirl.' No one knows what you look like. I think you're safe."

She rolled her eyes at him, but her voice was firm and her jaw clenched. "I take it back. That ranks as the second dumbest thing you've said today. I am not safe and neither is Rex. Not once have I assumed that someone isn't still looking for me and you shouldn't either. Even the daughter of Hawkgirl and her grandson are just as much of a target as Shayera Hol would be. That's Thanagarian law. A traitor's family line is not permitted to live. Period!"

Did that mean her family on Thanagar paid for her betrayal, too? I never thought about that before. That tears it. She's not going anywhere.

Rex was in the world less than four hours and his parents were already fighting in front of him. John exhaled sharply, folded his arms across his chest and shook his head. "No. You're not doing this."

"What makes you think you can tell me 'no?'" she snapped. Then she glanced at Rex who was starting to stir.

John whispered in a strong voice, "Because you are my wife and I don't want you going there and getting your butt killed."

She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. There was anger in her eyes matching his. "I can't even believe we're having this conversation. I am NOT your wife! And for the record, my butt and the rest of me was killed a couple of hours ago for you. Thank you very much."

John sat down in the chair. He was silent for a moment and then suppressed a smirk. She had a strange look on her face. Amusement?

He nodded, then lowered his head. "Now, why do I think I'm going to hear that last part a lot for the rest of my life?"

She flashed a brief smile, "Maybe." Then she frowned.

"Look John," she said softly, "I can be assassinated right here. I don't have to leave the planet for that to happen. But I don't want to live the rest of my life worried that it might happen to me and Rex in front of you. That's not fair to you."

He winced at the word "assassinated." She's right. We do need to know for certain, but dammit, I don't want her running off by herself trying to find out. He stood. "Okay. But you have to trust me on this."

Her eyes widened. "Look in that crib and tell me I don't trust you. I just ask that you trust me on this." She lowered her head. "You know what my biggest fear is? I'm not afraid for myself. Don't get me wrong. I don't want to die, but that's not my worry.

"I'm afraid of what you will do if something happens to me or Rex. I'm afraid the man I love will cease to exist and be replaced by some vengeance-driven animal. I don't want that on my conscience when I die, John. It's already full of guilt. There's no room for adding you turning into a Bruce Wayne because of me. That's why I have to know what happened to Thanagar. That's why we both need to know."

He nodded at her slowly. "Bruce Wayne, huh?" He paused and glanced at the child in the crib. "As soon as you're able," he continued. "We'll travel. But, we won't go until you can defend yourself and our son. And we won't go directly to Thanagar. We'll go to Galtos first and get some intel on the situation and then travel to Thanagar if it's safe. And only it's safe. Okay?"

She nodded. She motioned for him to hand her the sleeping child. He gently cradled the small infant in his hands before giving Rex to Shayera.

"John, I know you're only thinking of me…thinking of us. But I'm thinking of you. I have to do this. I have to know."

He sat on the edge of the bed and looked at his family and nodded ever so slightly.

We have to know.

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(Three months later)

Diana stood behind the transparent observation shield; at her feet; in an infant carrier was Shayera's child, Rex.

Diana sighed loudly. Cute kid.

The child had a small rattle in the carrier and every so often he would grab the toy, shake it and drop it to his side.

Looks just like her mace.

Diana had not intended to babysit Rex when she came into the training room, but a training simulation scenario was already running. She knew that standing behind the observation shield was clearly the safest place to be in that room and that's where she found Shayera's gym bag and the baby.

Most of the other Leaguers had complained to Diana that Warhawk had reserved the training room for six hours a day for the last five days and that she was scheduled for another 10 days in the facility. They also complained that by the time she left, all of the practice robots had been destroyed and it took the maintenance staff three to four hours to repair the room when she finished. Diana promised she'd look into it.

When she entered the room, she was surprised to see Rex, strapped in the carrier, on the floor behind the shield. She decided she would wait for Shayera to finish her session, then she'd speak to her.

She watched as Shayera swooped and maneuvered out of the way of laser fire, smashing any androids in her way. When Shayera got hit from laser fire, which didn't happen often but it did happen, she'd seemed to make a point of trying hard to land or fall on her stomach. Occasionally, if she landed on her back or got hit in the back, she cursed and smashed beyond repair the android that hit her.

Diana couldn't recall seeing Shayera being more aggressive than she was during this exercise. She also couldn't recall being more impressed with Shayera's battle tactics. It was then that she noticed that the simulation was set to maximum and that the clock indicated it had been running for twenty minutes.

Diana shut the simulation down.

"Turn that damn thing back on," Shayera screamed, flying toward the observation shield at high speed.

"Thought you might want to check on Rex," Diana said calmly. She could see that Shayera was still agitated, taking deep breaths, shaking with each exhalation. Sweat dripped from her costume. When Shayera knelt down over Rex, the infant smiled and rapidly waved both of his arms at her. Shayera picked up her son and held him close to the exposed portion of her skin under her helmet and whispered something that Diana couldn't make out. Thanagarian? Then Shayera checked his diaper. "He's fine," she said.

Who would have guessed she could be so caring?

"Impressive," Diana said as Shayera put the child back in the carrier. Shayera glared at her. "I meant the androids. You're destroying them faster than we can get them rebuilt."

Shayera was silent as she strapped Rex back into the carrier. She stood and said, "Your point?"

"You don't have to destroy them, you know. You can disable them and then others can use them after you're finished."

Shayera shook her head, "I'm not interested in disabling them. Never attack what you don't intend to kill."

"That's not what I meant," Diana said. She folded her arms across her chest. "Look, others are starting to com.…" She stopped and then suddenly pointed to Shayera's back. "What's that? A sandbag? You have two sandbags strapped to your back. What's that about?"

Shayera bent down and picked up a towel from the bag. "It's Rex," she answered as she patted her face and neck with the cloth.

Diana smirked and pointed at the smiling child, who was fixated on his mother. "Then who is that?"

Shayera frowned and then looked down at Rex, smiled and made a kissing sound at the baby. The child waved his arms and kicked his legs at her. She turned toward Diana. "I mean that's where I'm going to carry him. I need to practice with him on me." She bent down and reached into her bag and took out a bottle of water. She gulped down a quarter of the bottle's contents in one swallow.

"Please tell me you don't plan to take him on missions with you," Diana asked. "You don't plan to fight with him on your back, do you?"

Shayera knelt down next to Rex and held up two fingers so the infant could see them. She kissed the two fingers and then placed the fingers on the child's lips. Rex reached for her fingers and Shayera swirled them in front of the child before permitting Rex to grab them. She allowed him to hold her fingers for a moment before placing her finger back on his lips. She stood, dropping her towel in the bag, then looked at Diana. "I plan to protect my son by any means necessary."

Diana smiled at the infant. "I don't doubt that at all." She then took a deep breath and looked back at Shayera. "And I'm sure you will."

Shayera turned the simulation back on, leaped in the air and hovered in front of Diana.

"You're damn right I will!" she exclaimed as she flew out to attack one of the 'droids.

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(Galtos – Four months later)

The planet had changed a lot since the last time either of them visited. Most of the friends they knew in this quadrant had died years ago. When they were last here, this planet had been an urban wonder in comparison to the other civilizations on its nearby moons. The planet now served as a way-station and a gateway for the millions of travelers and refugees heading to and from the Delta quadrant.

They'd landed the Javelin just outside of town and made their way to a small hostel on foot. Shayera, wearing her Warhawk guise, had Rex strapped to her back. The League used boom tubes for intergalactic travel, but these two misplaced time travelers didn't trust the technology and managed to get a Javelin out of mothballs and retrofitted to suit their needs.

Besides providing a more comfortable trip for the three of them than a ring-generated bubble would have, the Javelin gave them an additional layer of safety. If something happened to John, Shayera could still escape with Rex in the ship. Right after Rex was born, they'd laid out their division of responsibilities regarding the child. Shayera would be the one directly responsible for protecting Rex, and John would be responsible for protecting them all.

Shayera carried a small travel bag in one hand and her mace in the other. John, still wearing a mask, was dressed as an old Earth cowboy from the movie, Legend of the Lone Ranger, complete with the white hat. He had a laser pistol strapped to his side and carried a laser rifle in one hand and a travel bag in the other.

The rifle and pistol were for show. If they got into trouble, he wouldn't hesitate to use the ring. But he was determined to avoid using his ring if possible. People might remember a Thanagarian and a Green Lantern traveling together, but most wouldn't think much of a Thanagarian, an Earthling and baby staying at hostel for a day or so.

Shayera had found his choice in costuming endlessly amusing during the trip and didn't hesitate to let him know that she was laughing at him.

"You just don't look good in white," she said.

She'd promised she would stop laughing when they landed, but John suspected that any halt in the laughter would only be temporary, at best. He'd occasionally shake his head. She just doesn't get it. I'll have to explain it to her later.

They checked into the hostel as John Reid and family and, requested a room with two large beds and a crib. They'd hoped to get enough information of the status of Thanagar quickly, so they could make a decision whether or not to continue the trip.

The clerk, who looked liked a large snail with dog feet, looked at John and said, "I have a large room I can give you if you want it. It was designed to accommodate a Zangorian." He smiled at Shayera and then looked back at John. "It's been cleaned several times."

"We don't want it," Shayera said pointedly. She energized her mace and pointed it at the clerk. "Do we look stupid to you? Do we look like we just left home yesterday? What are you trying to pull?"

John put his hand on her wrist and said in firm voice, "Warhawk!" She looked up at him and growled, turned off the weapon, but kept it pointed at the frightened clerk. The attendant apologized profusely and gave them keys to a room designed to accommodate humanoids.

As the couple walked to the room, John said, "Spill it. What's the deal with Zangorians?"

"Don't you Lanterns know anything?" she smirked. "On Earth you have dung beetles. Well, Zangorians smell worse than the feet of dung beetles. Believe me; we wouldn't have lasted two minutes in that room regardless of how many times they cleaned it. If we'd taken the room, the clerk would have charged us again to get another room. He figured us for fools…or novices. Either way, he was trying to take advantage of us."

"You know, of course, I'm afraid to ask you how you know so much about Zangorians, right?"

She shrugged. "Used to do intel work, remember?"

They opened the door of the room and were met with a blast of stale air. They put the bags down and looked around. The room was small and nondescript. John had brought his battery with him and stored it in a pocket dimension he formed in the room. Shayera opened the window, which viewed onto an alley below, to let some fresh air in. The smell from the alley was better than the air in the room. She'd set Rex in the crib on her way to open the window, but John picked him up and placed him face down on a towel on the bed.

He gently ran his fingers in a small area of the child's back, where Shayera had shown him, between Rex's little wings. As a reflex Rex spread his wings and started flapping them. John continued to massage this area trying to stimulate the tiny wing muscles.

Shayera looked on, then took her helmet off and sat down in one of the chairs.

"Okay. You win," she asked. "I give up. Why John Reid? I understand why you didn't use John Stewart, but I thought you would have used John Wayne given your fascination with his movies."

He cocked his head toward her and grinned. "Don't you Thanagarians know anything?" He motioned with his hand in her direction. "With a hearty Hi-Ho-Silver?" He paused and threw a hand in the air, "Away?" He turned Rex over and hugged the child, glancing at Shayera.

Her expression remained flat. Damn, woman. How could you be a spy on Earth for five years and not know this stuff?

He kissed Rex on the forehead and the infant reached for his ear. He grasped Rex's tiny hands and moved the child's arms as Rex giggled. He looked at Shayera and pursed his lips. "The mask, the white hat, the Lone Ranger?"

Her expression didn't change. He handed her Rex and sighed heavily. "The real name of the Lone Ranger was John Reid," he said disappointedly.

Shayera shrugged her shoulder. "Okay. John Reid it is."

Damn! No appreciation for a sense of irony. None! Should have signed her in as Tonto.

Rex suddenly notified them loudly that he needed feeding. While Shayera took care of that, John returned to the check-in counter to talk to the clerk.

The clerk glanced at John, setting aside whatever it was he was reading. "Something wrong with that room?"

"Nothing wrong with the room," John answered. "Wondering where I could get something to eat. Think my mate is pregnant again. Has a yen for some Thanagarian food. Know of any places around here that serve it?" Must remember to tell Shayera what I told him in case he starts giving her strange looks. Of course, if he gives her another strange look, she might kill him before I can stop her.

The clerk's expression brightened as he said, "Congratulations."

John smiled and nodded.

"There's a place," the clerk said, "about three blocks away that serves food a Thanagarian might eat. The place is called Snarguely." He pointed out the front door. "Take a left and you can't miss it."

"Thanks," John replied.

"You know," the clerk continued. "You don't see many Thanagarians around here any more. Your mate is the second one I've seen in two days. But before then? Not one in three years."

"Why is that?" John asked.

"I dunno. Thanagar is still a protectorate of the Gordanian Homeworld, but you already knew that." John nodded as if this was old news to him.

"You just don't see that many Thanagarians anymore," the clerk continued. "Don't bother me none, but a lot of old timers were glad to see the Thanagarians get what was coming to them. I mean no offense to you and your… mate, but they tell me the universe is a lot quieter now than it was when the Thanagarians were loose."

"Yeah," John answered. "I imagine it would be."

The clerk leaned forward on the counter. "Look, I don't mean to be too nosy, but let me ask you a question. What are you? I mean, what species. I've never seen anyone like you before and Thanagarians don't normally associate with anyone outside their own kind."

"You're right, they don't," John answered. "Thanks for the tip on the restaurant." He turned and walked away, headed back to the room.

"But wait! You didn't answer. What are you?"

"Relieved," John answered as he continued walking.

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He shared with Shayera what he knew: the Gordanians apparently were still in charge of Thanagar and Thanagarians seemed to be under some sort of travel restrictions. They'd have to be careful. She might be asked for papers or travel documents by some official. She lowered her head and pursed her lips as he told her that the rest of the universe was happy that the Gordanians were still in charge of Thanagar.

"This is my fault," she said. "I knew Thanagarians weren't loved, but we used to be respected."

John raised an eyebrow. "I don't know about respected, but it sounds like you were certainly feared." He immediately regretted saying 'you.'

She was quiet for a moment, then said. "We need to find that other Thanagarian and see what he knows."

John shook his head. "Shayera, I think we know what we came here to find out. The Gordanians aren't going to send someone after you and the chances that a Thanagarian would hunt for you for thirty years are small, don't you think?"

She frowned. "On Thanagar, there was an old proverb that said, 'trust but verify.' Let's go eat. Maybe that other Thanagarian is nearby. Maybe he can verify what the clerk said."

"Okay, we'll eat there, but that saying came from Damon Runyon. He also said, 'The race may not always be to the swift or the victory to the strong, but that's how you bet.' I bet we're wasting our time."

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