Celebrations

- - - December 25th - - -

"And that specific surface custom dictates to share presents this morning, either placing them in a large sock-shaped bag hung from a wall, or under a tree."

"You mean, in the forest, outside of the house?", Kaldur's mother inquired.

"No, they bring individual trees into their houses for this holiday, and decorate them very prettily, with colourful ornaments and strings of lights. And there is a lot of food involved in the festivities, mainly candy and sweet baked goods", Kaldur explained.

"Did you like their Christmas cookies?", his father asked with a grin. He was much better informed about surface customs than Kaldur's mother, yet both loved to hear his tales.

"I did! Sprinkled with sea salt, they actually taste quite good. But I brought you something even better."

With a proud grin, he produced one of the small containers from his pouch that contained Mary's Christmas gift to him. "Try it, mother! This is called salty liquorish…"

- - - December 25th - - -

"Are you a martial arts expert as well, then?" The Amazon princess regarded him curiously.

"Not for a long time, my lady." Alfred placed a plate of home-made eclairs on the table for their afternoon tea, while Mary filled the cups. "Nowadays, I rarely beat anything but eggs and cream."

His young protégée had gifted him with a book of baking recipes from the most famous patisserie in Paris. She had helped him try out the first of them this morning, almond-vanilla eclairs filled with a dark chocolate ganage. Robin immediately reached for one of the sugary treats.

"Don't be too humble, Alfred", Bruce cut in. "As I said, princess, he taught me most of what I know. He raised me, trained me, and helped me run the Wayne Tech company. Neither Batman nor Bruce Wayne would have had a chance to get this far without him."

Alfred smiled wistfully at the man he had raised to be strong, and hard, and self-reliant. Together, his cheerful ward Richard and the ever-patient Diana had succeeded where this old butler had failed him – to also make him happy. It filled his heart with joy to see that Bruce had finally allowed himself to find a family again.

The Amazon ambassador looked up at Alfred with a devious twinkle in her eyes. "Did you also teach him how to sing, Mr Pennyworth?"

Robin almost spat out his tea, choking audibly. "You sing?", he gasped.

"I do not sing", Bruce Wayne protested harshly, but his frown softened at the sound of his princess' laughter.

Alfred caught Mary's eyes across the table. One of her eyebrows was raised in a silent question.

He nodded ever so softly. The others were bound to head out for their Christmas patrol soon – making sure that Gotham was safe to celebrate this peaceful holiday. It was the first time that the Dynamic Due allowed Wonder Woman to join them on their watch, a far-reaching concession.

Alfred and Mary would, of course, remain behind at Wayne Manor.

She would love to hear the tale of Circe, the Pig, and Batman's song. It felt good to finally have someone to share all those old stories with…

"So, you've decided to stay at Mount Justice?"

Dinah heaped another slice of roast meat onto Roy's dinner plate. The boy still looked too skinny, especially next to his broad-shouldered clone.

"Yeah. I'll join the team."

"And Happy Harbour High School", the older red-head smirked. Will, he was called Will now.

Roy rolled his eyes. "That name is so corny."

"Will you be in the same grade as Megan and Conner?", Ollie asked carefully.

He'd been so cautious all night, still worried that one wrong word might scare his two boys off again. She hated to see him so wary.

"I will, but I don't think we'll share many classes. I'll try for a natural science track, advanced chemistry, experimental physics, that kind of stuff."

Ollie shot the older boy a glance.

Will just shrugged, leaning back in his chair with a cocky smile. "Hey, I was ordered to get through school with as little effort as possible. Wasn't my choice, right?"

"Of course not..."

Dinah was about to call that bluff, when a loud clatter interrupted her. Roy had dropped his fork, spilling vegetables all over the table.

"Sorry about that. Doctor Lockhart warned me this would happen for a few days…"

Dinah brushed a few errant peas from her lap. "No, you're doing great! This is your first real meal with both hands, right?"

"Yeah, and you have no idea how good that feels. Holding a knife and a fork, wearing a shirt with two sleeves, getting dressed without help… I'm so glad the tank is finally off. I've been wearing velcro shoes like a little kid for a whole month because I couldn't even tie my own shoe laces!"

They all regarded his right hand and arm in admiration – still thinner and far weaker than his left, but fully regrown, a flawless human limb.

"Talking about tying bows and ribbons…" Roy produced a quiver-shaped package from behind his seat. "Merry Christmas, Ollie. This is from both of us."

The blond archer accepted the gift with a reverent expression, carefully pealing off the green wrapping paper.

The dark arrows it contained were fletched in brown and black, like a bird of prey's plumage.

Ollie examined the blunt tip expertly. "A tracer?"

Roy nodded proudly. "People keep finding and discarding them, right? So we made some obvious improvements. The arrow is darker, less notable, and breaks off immediately once the tracker is planted. The device itself is smaller and doesn't blink any more – why did we ever put an LED on it in the first place? - and it's coated with this cool new stealth paint. Watch!"

He stabbed one of the gift arrows onto Ollie's oaken dinner table. The tip broke off easily, gleaming in the soft lamp light just for a moment, then changed colour to mimic the dull brown tone of the old wood beneath it.

"That is awesome!", Green Arrow beamed, completely unfazed by the damage to his furniture. He poked the near-invisible tracer with his steak knife, digging it back out and scratching the poor table's surface further. "You improved the attachment, too?"

"Sure, and we increased the range of the signal", Roy continued. "With the right atmospheric conditions, you could track this baby from the other side of the globe."

"He says 'we', but Arsenal here did most of the work himself", Will admitted.

"I had time… And Robin helped with the electronics."

"Arsenal?", Dinah cut in. "Is that a new code name?"

"Yeah. I like building weapons and stuff. Not just arrows, although they're fun to work with."

"Arsenal. Good choice." Ollie glanced at his young ward hopefully. "If you ever need someone to test your new creations with…"

"Artemis has that covered", Roy replied quickly, and Dinah's heart sank.

Noting her and Ollie's downcast expressions, the boy gestured vaguely at his shaky right hand. "I'm not back yet. I mean, it will take me at least a few months until I'm on track with my own archery again. Back to, you know, before."

Only now did he finally meet Ollie's eyes. "After that… Artemis said she wouldn't mind if you'd, you know, train both of us. Together?"

Ollie nodded, slowly at first, then more confidently. "That sounds like a plan. I like that plan."

They shared a shaky smile.

"And that's my cue." Will pushed back his chair. "I've got a plane to catch. Merry Christmas, everybody, and thanks for dinner!" He clasped both Roy's and Ollie's shoulders affectionately. "Don't kill each other while I'm gone, okay? I wouldn't want to miss that show."

"You're leaving already?" Dinah rose from the table with him.

"Yeah, I've got to go. There's a girl in Tibet who promised me a rematch. But if you need me..."

He snatched the tiny tracer from the tip of Ollie's knife, flipping it up into the air, than catching it with one fluid motion. "You'll know where to find me."

And with one last flash of his daredevil smile, he was out of the door.

Roy looked after him with the smug expression of a teenage boy who knew with perfect certainty that in just few short years, he would be that cool.

To Dinah's great amazement, Ollie burst into laughter.

"Kid, you know he learned half that shit from me, right?"

Still grinning brightly at Roy's doubtful expression, Ollie punched the boy's healthy left shoulder playfully.

"Let's make all the same mistakes again, shall we?"

- - - December 26th - - -

With a silent groan, Artemis let herself fall back onto her bed in the West's guest room.

Wally's mom had made pancakes for breakfast, with butter and maple syrup. And freshly squeezed orange juice. Outside, grey sleet was covering the streets, but the house was warm and cosy, filled with Christmas lights. Wally's father had started reading the morning papers at the table, letting his wife steal the page with the crossword puzzle, while a rerun of some ancient Christmas cartoon played softly on TV.

It was unbearably wholesome.

There had been folded napkins, at the breakfast table. To dab up the syrup.

Artemis had wolfed down her portion even faster than Wally, and fled back up the stairs.

Folded napkins!

Yesterday had been different. With three speedsters in the house, there had been no room for normality. Within ten minutes after Artemis' and her mother's arrival, old Jay Garrick had managed to coax the retired Huntress into shooting her crossbow at him, just to prove he could still catch a bolt. Christmas dinner had been a crazy affair, full of food-induced chaos, happy banter and laughter.

Now, the morning after, Artemis was left alone with Wally and his parents, and it truly hit her what a wonderful life he led. So healthy, and normal, and nice.

She didn't deserve nice things.

Artemis burrowed her head into her pillow, trying to block out the echoes of her father's voice.

You know where you belong.

Gutter rat. Shadow crawler.

Child of Gotham.

She'd made so much progress, in the past few weeks. She had finally started to get a hold of the imposter syndrome that had haunted her for months, to fight down that crippling rush of anxiety that still befell her every morning when she entered her fancy white-washed school, or arrived at Mount Justice. Her grades were excellent, she'd performed well with her team, Jade had come back, their mother had begun looking up divorce procedures… Things were going well. She'd allowed herself to be happy with Wally.

This past month had been the best month of her life.

But this was too soon. She wasn't ready for pancakes and folded napkins.

She might never be ready for folded napkins.

Artemis took a deep breath, slowly pushing herself off the mattress. No, she couldn't hide form this.

She'd promised Wally to try.

Try to be normal.

Try to work this out.

Try to be the girl he deserved.

He'd gotten her a DVD set of the latest Doctor Who episodes for Christmas, and they'd planned to rewatch a few of them today. Just a nice, normal morning.

She could do this.

When she pulled the guest room door open, Wally was standing right in front of her, hand poised to knock.

He was wearing his speedster costume, his yellow mask covering the hop half of his face, an unfamiliar red bow tie fastened around his neck.

"Oh, good! I was looking for you. Does the bow tie work? Guardian just called and asked me to join a video conference on the computer right now, with Queen Perdita from Vlatava. Something about vouching for the genomorphs for some business negotiations, I think? It's just, last time I saw the queen, she was lying in a hospital bed, so I have now idea if she usually stands on protocol – what is the dress code for video conferences with ten-year-old royalty anyway? And do you have any idea what time it is in Vlatava right now?"

"Early afternoon, I think", she replied automatically, feeling her mouth twist into a grin.

"I'm sorry, Arts, I know this is not what…"

"Shut up." She pulled him closer, running her fingers softly over the exposed skin below his mask. "Bow ties are cool", she whispered against his lips, before claiming them.

He kissed her with a passion that sent her pulse racing. When she opened her eyes again, she almost drowned in his. Would she ever get used to that incredible expression, that awe in his emerald eyes? He looked at her as if she meant everything to him, when clearly, it was the other way around.

Wally stole another scorching kiss from her before dashing off towards his room and the waiting computer.

Artemis made sure to calm her breath before she descended the stairs, rejoining his parents.

"A mission?", his father wanted to know.

"No, just a video call with the young Queen from Vlatava. He saved her life this November."

His mother folded up her crossword puzzle with a deep sigh. "I'm sorry, Artemis. We were really, really hoping for a normal day today, just one…"

Artemis couldn't help it, she started to laugh.

- - - December 27th - - -

"And you are sure you don't want to stay with all of us until New Year's?", Martha Kent asked once more.

"We can't", Conner declined.

"We had a great time here, Mrs Kent", Megan jumped in, smoothing over her boyfriend's brusque response. "Thank you so much for having us. This was the first Christmas on Earth for both of us, and it couldn't have been any more perfect."

At first, she'd been shy about taking part in the Kents' many family traditions. Jonathan Kent had brushed all her worries aside with a simple statement: Family is what you make it. Nobody here cares about blood relations.

Clark and Conner had been a lot more relaxed around each other after that.

"What are your plans for the next days?" Lois asked, as inquisitive as always. "Conner, you mentioned a potluck party with your cloned brothers – does that mean you'll be spending New Year's in Washington, DC?"

Conner shook his head. "Change of location. They're all migrating to the Carribean island of Santa Prisca as soon as they've overthrown the drug lord who's been ruling it. The genomorphs are planning to carry out the coup tomorrow, together with the local rebel movement that Dubbilex has been negotiating with. We're planning to help with the logistics."

Everyone gaped at them. Megan sighed silently. She loved his honesty, but sometimes he could be a little too direct...

Lois Lane's eyes had lit up with an eagerness that almost looked like hunger. "I want that story. How soon can you get me an exclusive interview with that Dubbilex person?"

- - - December 31st - - -

They'd lit torches all along the beach.

Digging her bare toes into the sand, Mary gazed up towards the palm trees and the countless stars glittering between them. It was a nearly moonless night, the last day of December, the middle of winter, yet the air was heavy with a tropical heat.

"Magnificent, isn't it?", a voice like velvet remarked. A long-horned genomorph was sitting on a large rock by the sea shore. This had to be Dubbilex, the brother Conner had mentioned most often. "I've never seen the sea by night before", he mused. "It is even more beautiful than I imagined."

"It's marvellous", Mary agreed. "Have you arrived just today?"

She approached the solitary figure, joining Dubbilex at the edge of the jungle. It felt good to take a short break from the buzz of the party. The old lady who now led the island council of the Free Republic of Santa Prisca had coaxed three of her sons-in-law into bringing out their instruments, and the sound of drums and guitars filled the night. From their rocky outlook, Mary could still see Wally and Artemis whirl breathlessly across the sand. Megan, Tanna and Aqualad were trying to learn the actual steps of the dance from a gaggle of local girls. On the other side of the crowd, Roy and Robin were leading a bunch of G-elves and G-dwarfs into an improvised conga line. Behind them, Mary spotted Conner and Doctor Fate talking with Guardian, a G-troll and some human council elders. A group of G-gnomes was busy raiding the mostly-green buffet.

"Yes, I was part of the last group to cross over", Dubbilex replied to her question. "Most of the G-trolls and G-elves went first through the portal, making sure we'd arrive here with an overwhelming force. Of course there was barely any resistance, since the locals had united against that drug lord Bane and sabotaged his defences… After the coup, we've moved all our equipment into his former factory buildings. I stayed behind at Cadmus with the final deconstruction crew, making sure nobody was left behind."

"Then Doctor Fate kept the portal open for several days?"

"Three and a half. Lord Nabu said it didn't require much magic to maintain it, and the young enchantress Zatanna and her father stopped by a few times to recharge his powers. We enjoyed the chance to talk to our brother Colin while we sealed off the basements behind us."

"What happens to the former Cadmus institute now?"

"We filled up most sublevels with a reprogrammed strain of biogenic plaster. Only the top three basement levels remain free – that's where the legal operations of the institute were officially conducted. I suppose that some of the human employees who chose to stay behind might want to continue their work there."

"I cannot understand why anyone would stay", a familiar deep voice remarked from behind them. Jim Lockhart stepped forth between the trees, his metal feet churning heavily against the sand of the beach. "Which professional medic or scientist could turn down this chance? We will produce custom-grown organs here, and revolutionize transplantation medicine worldwide!"

Mary returned the android doctor's smile. "Is it true that the Vlatavan government has already signed a national contract for your organ deliveries?"

Dubbilex answered with a nod. "Others will follow in time. We've decided to start our enterprise with just a few pilot countries, to give the rest of the world some time to get used to our existence while we expand our logistical capacities."

"Conner told me how cheaply you'll provide those organs and your services", Mary noted. "I'm sure that will go a long way in winning you popular approval – you definitely have mine! I can't even begin to express how grateful I am to all of you for offering this. If this truly works out, the whole world is in your debt."

The G-goblin accepted her thanks with a bow of his horned head. "We can afford being generous. There are enough non-medical product lines that will cover our expenses – hair growth and hair removal, skin colour changes, nucleic cosmetics…"

"Does our business have a name yet?" Doctor Lockhart cut in. "We non-cloned employees don't always keep up with all the results of your mind link democracy."

"Oh, I apologize! Yes, we've reached a nearly unanimous agreement on sister Aldelle's latest proposal this afternoon." He cleared his throat. "You are standing amidst the Genomorph Institute of Applied Nucleic Technology and Services. The free future we build here will always honour our past."

Before Mary had time to parse the acronym, Robin's call scattered her thoughts.

"Quick, Mary, come join us! It's almost midnight!"

His grin was contagious, and she knew his eyes would be sparkling brightly behind his mask.

As Mary rose to her feet, another wave of gratitude flooded through her.

This boy, her new little big brother, would never die from a mere kidney failure.

The future was a glorious place.

Mary followed Robin into a torch-lit circle, joining the rest of the team just in time. The music had stopped, only the excited buzz of the G-sprites still hummed on. Genomorphs and locals alike were watching the glowing digits of a magic countdown that Tanna had conjured high above their heads.

"Fifteen – fourteen – thirteen…"

Everyone was calling out the seconds together. Mary's first year in the 21st century was coming to an end.

"Twelve – eleven – ten…"

She watched Megan snuggle closer to Conner, prying his attention away from his countless brothers.

"Nine – eight – seven…"

Wally and Artemis couldn't keep their hands off each other, again.

"Six – five – four…"

Roy and Robin both closed in on Zatanna. A look passed between the two boys, half a challenge, half amiable concord. With a grin that said 'for now', Roy retreated towards a flock of local girls instead.

"Three – two – one…"

A pair of silvery eyes met Mary's.

"Zero!"

Beneath the first flashes of the magic firework, Kaldur approached her cautiously, one eyebrow raised in a silent question.

Smiling softly, she gently shook her head. The Atlantean's posture relaxed, as he gathered her into a New Year's hug instead.

Above them, the sky exploded into colours. Drawing apart, Mary and Kaldur could not help but laugh at their distracted team mates, none of which seemed to notice the magic light show.

Still chuckling softly, they turned to watch the firework together. Mary leaned back against the Altantean's chest, his arm on her hip, her head resting softly on his dark-skinned shoulder. There was no claim in their touch, no assumptions, just comfortable warmth.

"Happy New Year, Mary", he whispered into her ear.

Who knew what the next year would hold?

Author's note:

This is it, the end of "Stong as Stone". I hope you enjoyed it!

No, Mary and Kaldur did not share a New Year's kiss. Before you complain, please note that there is no "romance" tag on this story.

Don't get me wrong, Kaldur is one of my all-time favourite characters in the series, he's caring, kind and definitely attractive! But I'm not gonna pair him off with Mary just because they're both available. Kaldur is looking for someone physically strong who could fight by his side, and he would regret dating someone he could never take home to meet his family, due to the extreme deep-ocean pressures. Mary, in turn, isn't entirely sure if she is looking for anyone at all, right now. (Although I do have some ideas for a potential sequel... No promises, though!) Let them be happy as really close friends, for now.

That being said, "Have you ever tried salty liquorish?" would have been the question Mary wanted to ask him at the end of "Welcome to Happy Harbour", back in Chapter 12. They do get along very well.

About Wally and Artemis: They will keep figuring things out together. Gotta love a girl who quotes Doctor Who, right? She's his spitfire, and he's the rock she can always depend on, the one who'll never break.

The next time the team splits up for paintball or a more competitive game of 'Capture the Spoon', Robin and Roy are both going to ask Tanna to be on their side. She might allow both of them to join her own team, instead. Things will definitely never get boring.

Conner and Megan are going to keep sharing each others' minds. He might stop watching all of her cheerleading practices, though, now that he has so many brothers to talk to. She doesn't mind. Santa Prisca is only a short bioplane-flight away, they'll often visit the GIANTS facility together.

Red Tornado will join their trips sometimes, or fly by himself, whenever Jim Lockhart claims that he's gotten sand into his knee joints again. (His brother's body is completely sand-proof, but of course he knows better than to point that out.) At the cave, you'll usually find him in his workshop, busy with his tools. The next version of John Smith will be able to taste food, and Mary has already promised to give him more baking and cooking lessons when he's done.

Speaking of cooking: Sorry for making Black Canary sound so domesticated in this last chapter, that's not usually her style. She didn't cook that Christmas dinner, Ollie did. He also makes a mean chili.

In a few weeks, the Free Nation of Santa Prisca will hold its first independent elections. Aldelle and Clawdius plan to run for seats on the island's council. When they talked to Sofia Guía Martinez about it during the New Year's party, the old woman just laughed, raised her glass for a toast and announced loudly that she's looking forward to rebuilding their nation with them. There won't be any local opposition to the genomorphs' candidacies.

Sofia asked Dubbilex if he wanted to enter politics as well, yet the G-goblin has politely declined. He'd prefer to dedicate his time to raising the first generation of free-born genomorphs instead. He won't remain the only G-goblin much longer.

And if you want to know the story of the Diana, Circe, and Batman's song, check out the Justice League cartoon episode "This Little Piggy". Alfred has many such stories to share with Mary, his faithful apprentice, in the upcoming years.

Please review and tell me your feedback! Every single comment is treasured!