This takes place during The Authority: Revolution #12, after the fight with Bendix but before the "one week later" scene with the Jennys.


After they've cleaned up the Carrier - after Midnighter washes off Bendix's blood and viscera - they meet up on the bridge. Midnighter refuses to let himself feel uncomfortable there. He messed up. He knows that. This whole mess was Bendix's fault, but he used Midnighter to do his dirty work. That puts at least some of the blame at his feet. But no one here is blameless, not really, so if the others aren't showing any signs of awkwardness, like hell is Midnighter going to.

He doesn't look over at Apollo, though. He doesn't think he can do that, not right now.

"I've been working with the Carrier," Angie says, and Midnighter makes himself focus on her words. "It's not quite the same as our old one, but it's close enough that we can communicate in the same way. It's glad that we got rid of Bendix."

"Aren't we all?" Jack mutters.

"I should have things all set up in a few hours," Angie continues. "Assuming that we... Well..."

"That we want to be a team again?" Jenny asks.

"Well... Yeah."

"That's a big if," Jack says. "Especially if everybody here is going to be a part of it."

The words are obviously directed at Midnighter. He refuses to show any sign of their blow landing. If Jack wants to point fingers, Midnighter can point right back.

"I don't think now is a good time to discuss this," Shen says. "We should get some rest first and have some time to think."

"No, what we need to do is talk," Jack argues. "We need to-"

But he never gets the chance to finish saying what they need to do, because before he can, Apollo quietly crumples to the ground.

"Apollo!" Jenny cries, rushing to his side. Midnighter jerks forward as well, pulled along by an instinct he thought was lost to time. It's been three years, and yet he doesn't seem to be any more capable than he used to be of focusing on anything else when Apollo is hurt.

"Is he alright?" Angie asks, kneeling next to Jenny as she cradles Apollo's head in her lap.

"I think so," Jenny says uncertainly, and for a moment, she sounds like the eight year old child she really is. "I think he's just... drained."

"We brought him to the surface of the sun," Jack says, and even the slight bit of irritation in his voice is too much for Midnighter.

"Yeah," he butts in, "after I hit him with a blast of weaponized cold. He'd need to go to the surface of the sun just to get back to a normal baseline after that, and we tossed him into a fight instead."

It's clear that no one was quite expecting Midnighter to speak, because the silence afterwards stretches for a few moments too long. "Then what do we need to do?" Angie finally asks. "Bring him back to the sun?"

"I think regular old sunlight will work," Jenny says. "I can bring him back to our apartment." She looks at Angie, a bit uncertainly. "Is it daytime in San Francisco?"

"It's just about sunrise, actually," Angie says. "Do you need help carrying him?"

Midnighter almost offers. Once, he wouldn't have even had to offer; it would have just been assumed - and rightly so - that he would be the one carrying his husband. Now...

"I can do it," Jenny says, and Apollo lifts gently off the floor, surrounded by a blue haze. "Door."

A Door appears, and Apollo floats through it. Jenny shoots them all one last look, her gaze lingering on Midnighter, then steps through after him. The Door shuts.

"Jesus," Jack groans, scrubbing his face with his hand. "This whole thing has been such a massive shitshow."

"So this is... not how things normally go?" the new Doctor asks.

"Not quite," Angie says. "Bendix did a number on all of us."

"Yeah, and he wasn't the only one," Jack says with a dirty look in Midnighter's direction.

"Of all the things Bendix made me do, beating your ass was the only one I enjoyed," Midnighter spits.

"In front of the newbies, really?" Angie groans. She's summarily ignored.

"You wanna give it another go?" Jack demands, stepping forward. "I went easy on you before, but-"

Midnighter laughs. "You tell yourself that so you can still feel like the strongest kiddie on the playground? Went easy on me, my ass. You were trying your hardest, and I still took you down without breaking a sweat."

"Doctor, Rose, come with me. I'll show you where you can stay," Shen says, ushering the newest team members away. Midnighter hardly notices, except in how the fight projections from his computer start shifting to account for the changed number of people in the room.

"No one actually wants you back, Midnighter," Jack snaps. "You think we actually need you? We'd be better off without you."

"You think? Cause the team fell apart pretty quickly after I left last time."

"The team was happier without you," Jack spits. "Why do you think Apollo and Jenny haven't asked you to join them playing house in San Francisco? Even they know you'd only ruin it."

"Jack!" Angie cries.

"Do you know the real reason the team fell apart, Jack?" Midnighter snarls. "Because all of us wanted to get the hell away from you. Your stint as leader started out as a shit imitation of Jenny Sparks, and it only got worse from there. You lost sight of what was important so fast, I'm not sure you ever had sight of it in the first place. We all wanted a better world, and I think we all knew you were the last person who could make one."

"Midnighter!"

Jack growls and swings, but his rage makes him sloppy. Midnighter grabs his arm and flips him easily. He hits the ground hard, and Midnighter turns and leaves.

"Midnighter!" Angie calls again, hurrying after him. "Midnighter, wait-"

"Piss off, Angie."

"Look, tensions are high right now, but we all just need to take a minute to relax, and then we can-"

"Door," Midnighter snaps, and he steps through it before Angie can say another word.

The Door spits him out in San Francisco, which he only half meant for it to do. He'd been thinking about it, yes, but he hadn't yet decided if it was a good idea. Unfortunately, it was the destination he was thinking of the most when he left the Carrier, so it's where he's ended up.

And, as long as he's here...

Years ago, back when Apollo still thought there was a chance they could get back together, he told Midnighter where he and Jenny lived. The location of their house was a secret, a necessary one for Jenny's safety, but Apollo entrusted it to Midnighter and begged him to come home.

It's been almost three years. Midnighter wonders if this is a "better late than never" scenario or if the invitation is long since expired. There's only one way to know for sure.

He's going to need to find a map.


Back when they were on the run from Bendix together, back so long ago it feels like another life, it took Midnighter the better part of a year to get his computer to stop viewing Apollo as a threat. The computer had hated him at first, spitting out scenario after scenario of how to kill him. The real thing the computer had hated was that there were so many other scenarios where Apollo came out on top. Midnighter knows full well the only reason he beat him so easily under Bendix's control was because Apollo didn't want to hurt him. Krigstein's inventions helped, but if Apollo had actually been trying to kill him, Midnighter's not sure even the weaponized cold would have been enough to take him down. Back when they first started out, when they were allies of convenience more than anything else, neither of them had the same compunctions about hurting each other that they have now. If Apollo had wanted to kill him, he probably could have, and that had driven the computer crazy.

But they'd gotten closer, and they'd grown to trust each other, and Midnighter had begun trying to coax the computer into seeing Apollo as an ally instead. He could never entirely shut it up, but he was able to quiet it down. By the time they'd joined the Authority, about five years later, the computer almost never thought Apollo was going to hurt him. By the time they got married, Midnighter had almost silenced it.

But now, he's looking through the window at Apollo asleep on his bed, and his computer is listing off all the ways he could kill him while he's weak.

It's not fair, Midnighter thinks childishly, and he almost wishes he'd left Bendix alive so he could kill him again. They were together. They were happy. Sure, they'd had their arguments, but they'd loved each other. They'd trusted each other.

And now, Apollo is sleeping on one side of the window while Midnighter is trying not to plan his death on the other.

"You could go in," a voice says behind him, and Midnighter turns around to see Jenny on the roof behind him. He didn't see her leave her building or climb up to the roof of his, but he supposes she probably didn't have to. Given the scope of power she's shown so far, teleportation seems like it would be well within her wheelhouse.

"You could, you know," she repeats, stepping up next to him. "Dad would be happy to see you."

"Once he wakes up from the coma I put him in," Midnighter replies bitterly.

"That's Bendix's fault, not yours," Jenny says. "And he's going to be fine."

"Yeah, and that's the least of the issues between us," Midnighter says. "Sorry, kiddo. I don't know if we can put Humpty Dumpty back together again this time."

"So you're not even going to try?" Jenny retorts. "You're just going to, what, watch him through the window like a creep and then disappear again? Last time, it was Bendix messing with your head, but this time, it would be your own choice."

"You two built something good here," Midnighter says. "You were happy."

"Okay, first, don't try to pull the self-sacrificing thing, it's annoying. And second, you have no idea how we were feeling."

"Jenny-"

"Dad would cry himself to sleep every year on your anniversary," Jenny says harshly. "He would do it other times too, but that one was like clockwork. And he'd go out to try and find you sometimes too. At first, he would ask Jack and Angie to help, and then, once they gave up on you, he would just do it himself. After a while, he pretended like he gave up on you too, but I know he didn't. I know he was still hoping you'd come back."

"Jenny-"

"Oh, what, you don't want to hear this? Well, I didn't want to hear my dad crying over his asshole husband who left him without warning, so tough luck. We missed you. We wanted you to come back. Even though you gave us no reason to think you ever would, we hoped you'd get your head out of your ass and do something smart for the first time in your stupid life."

"Jenny-"

"Stop trying to interrupt me! I don't care if you want to hear this or not, you need to. You can't just disappear on people like that. It messes you up! I wasn't joking when I said I was a child of a broken home, asshat. When you left, you broke us. And Dad-"

"Jenny."

Jenny turns around so quickly she almost falls over. Midnighter reaches out to balance her on instinct. She doesn't pull away, but that might also be because her focus is on Apollo, who's standing behind them on the roof.

"Dad! You're awake!"

"That's what I was trying to tell you," Midnighter grumbles. His computer picked up on it the second Apollo twitched.

Apollo smiles wearily at Jenny. "I hope I didn't scare you when I passed out."

"Dad, I'm a teenager now," Jenny whines. "I don't get scared that easily."

"Of course," Apollo agrees. He seems to be going along with this "teenager" thing fairly easily, while it's definitely thrown Midnighter for a loop. "I should have known better."

"I am glad you're okay, though," Jenny says, stepping into a hug. Apollo kisses the top of her head gently before pulling away.

"Jenny, do you think you could give me and Midnighter a few minutes alone?"

Jenny looks between them, narrowing her eyes a little at Midnighter. "Fine," she finally says. "But if either of you disappear on me, I'm going to track you down."

The threat is clearly aimed at Midnighter. "Understood," he says. "And... it is good to see you again, kiddo. I missed you."

Jenny softens, just a little. "Missed you too, Dad," she says, and then she levitates in a blue haze and floats over to the roof of her apartment. She shoots Midnighter and Apollo one last look, then she heads inside.

"She's a good kid," Midnighter says. "You did good with her."

"I did my best," Apollo replies. His face is unreadable. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?" Midnighter asks, although he's pretty sure he knows what Apollo is talking about.

"You know damn well what," Apollo says sharply, then he sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. With his eyes closed and his voice measured, he says, "With what Bendix did to you, I can understand why you believed you had to break up the team. But I don't understand why you had to break us up too. I would have left the team with you. I would have stayed with you. You had to know I'd choose you over the Authority any day."

Midnighter does know that. He did back then too. But he can also remember the way the future Apollo - the fake future Apollo, apparently, but he didn't know that back then - spoke about his Midnighter. There was a mixture of fear and grief and sorrow in his voice, and he sounded so tired. He'd mourned the man Midnighter had once been, and he'd been afraid of the man Midnighter had become. He'd known that Midnighter was going to kill him, and he'd accepted it. He'd kissed Midnighter like a man who hadn't been loved in years.

The thought of doing that to Apollo had been perhaps the most terrifying part of the entire nightmare future he'd seen, and he'd thought that separating himself from Apollo was the best way to protect him.

Midnighter's not quite sure if he can explain all that, though, so he just says, somewhat helplessly, "I thought I had to."

Apollo takes a deep slow breath, then opens his eyes. "I missed you."

"I missed you too."

"We still have more things to talk through."

"We do," Midnighter says, trying not to feel too hopeful.

"Both with just the two of us, and with us and Jenny," Apollo adds.

"I know."

"But right now," Apollo says, "I'm exhausted, and I'm really sick of sleeping in an empty bed."

Midnighter swallows hard. "Me too."

Apollo steps forward, and for a moment, Midnighter thinks he's going to kiss him. Instead, he kisses Midnighter's forehead, which is both better and worse. It makes his heart hurt, and it almost brings tears to his eyes. Him, the great Midnighter, brought to his knees by a simple brush of lips against his forehead.

"I never stopped loving you," Midnighter whispers.

This close, he can see the way Apollo's chest rises and falls as he takes a breath. "I never stopped loving you either."

"I missed you," Midnighter says, his voice quiet and broken.

Apollo takes his hands and gives them a gentle squeeze. "Then come home, my love."

They still have more to talk about. There'll be fighting, Midnighter is sure, and it'll be hard, and sometimes it'll hurt. But it won't hurt more than staying away did, and if Midnighter could survive that for three years, he knows he can survive this.

Apollo holds out his arms. "Can I fly you over to our roof?"

Midnighter could probably make the jump between the two buildings, if he tried. He steps into Apollo's embrace instead.

"Always."

The computer squawks as Apollo wraps his arms around Midnighter, but he ignores it. This is the safest place in any reality, and he thought he'd lost the right to it. If Apollo is willing to take him back, Midnighter will do anything to keep him.

They lift off and float over to the other rooftop, then Apollo gently lowers them down. He opens the roof door and gestures at the staircase. "After you."

Apollo invited Midnighter to his house so many times. Midnighter always refused. He knew he didn't deserve it, and so he never let himself have it.

But things have changed, and the future is theirs to make, so Midnighter steps inside.