Chapter 39: Relationship Issues

Disclaimer: All things Supergirl/Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman belong to DC. No infringement is intended.

"Those look like some pretty heavy thoughts, goddess!"

Kara looked up from where she had simply lain down on the soft grass or Paradise Island and smiled as the familiar shape of Philippus stood over her. The dark-skinned Amazon sat down beside her, her fingers beginning to gently comb through Kara's golden tresses. She closed her eyes, just enjoying the feeling.

"Just wondering in how many ways my life can get even stranger than it already is, general!"

"Oh, what happened?"

Kara sighed, rolling onto her side and resting her head on her elbow so she could look at Philippus.

"Oh, where to start? Well, for one thing I have met the Flash again."

"The time traveler who brought you into the past to help stop Steppenwolf?" Philippus smiled. "So, did you... how did you put it? Punt him into orbit, was that it?"

Kara smiled, but shook her head. "Nah, the thing is, he's just a 15 year old boy right now. Just got his powers, doesn't know he can travel through time yet. Just an overeager teenager who just about managed not to look at my chest when I spoke to him. Would be kind of unfair to punt him into orbit for something he won't be doing for at least another few years, I'd estimate. Plus, Clark and he really seem to click. They are already making plans for some kind of teenage superhero team, I overheard."

Philippus laughed. "That sounds like a recipe for trouble, I agree."

Kara nodded. "I'm glad Clark has found another friend. He and Lana have been best friends forever, but she doesn't understand what it's like to have super powers and the responsibility that goes with it. It's good to have someone one can talk to about that."

"What else is occupying your thoughts?" Philippus asked.

"We now have two Green Lanterns on Earth... well, in this sector of space anyway. One of them is a jerk, while the other is an arrogant near-zealot whom the Guardians fear might go bad one day. And somehow they are both sort of, kind of my responsibility now, too."

Philippus nodded in understanding. "Troublesome, I understand, but I believe that is not the main think troubling you, is it? What is?"

She sighed, wondering how it was the other woman could read her so well despite the 3,000 year break in their relationship. "The burden of a thousand years, probably. It was one thing to know that I will somehow be involved in creating a kind of utopian future, but hearing the Guardians of the Universe say similar things in the present somehow made the whole thing more real."

"Are you not glad that your work is being successful?" Philippus asked. "That is what you are working towards, isn't it? What you have been working on even before you learned of the likely outcome."

Kara sighed, turning around and unceremoniously putting her head on Philippus' lap.

"That's all true, but still... the first time I visited the future, when I was but a teenager, I asked a telepath to block my memories of the journey, so I wouldn't be crushed under the weight of expectations. The second time around I kept the memories. Now I am wondering whether I really did myself a favor."

Philippus smiled down at her, her fingers once again at work on Kara's scalp. "You are so strong, goddess, and so full of love and compassion. It's a miracle, considering all that you have been through and endured. It's no wonder others are drawn to you, inspired by you."

She leaned down to press her lips to Kara's. "In love with you," she concluded.

Kara closed her eyes, just enjoying the kiss. She was so very happy that things with Philippus had worked out as they did. When she had returned to her own time, 3,000 years having passed for the other woman, she had feared what would happen. Would Philippus shun her? Or just as scary, would she want to continue where they left off? Would she expect Kara to stay on Themyscira with her? Would she ask to be introduced to Kara's parents?

Thankfully none of that had come to pass. For all that Philippus appeared as a young woman still, she was actually an immortal who had seen thousands of years go by and had the experience to go with it. She had told Kara that there had been others during those 3,000 years. It was actually the norm among the eternally young Amazons of Paradise Island. Relationships seldom lasted among those who lived forever. People drifted towards each other, stayed together as long as it made them both happy, and then drifted apart again. The Amazons had long ago accepted this and seldom had hard feelings about it.

"What did I do to deserve you?" Kara asked as they took a break.

Kara had believed that she would be forced to either break it off with Philippus completely (which she hadn't wanted to do) or fully commit into a relationship (which she simply wasn't capable of at this point in her life). Thankfully the other woman had been patient and wise enough to see the issue.

Without Kara ever having said anything, Philippus knew exactly what she needed. Someone to be there for her when she just wanted to get away from the world for a while. Someone who loved her without any expectations or strings attached. Someone who knew that there were other things in her life that had to come first and was not offended by it, did not feel used or neglected because of it. In many ways, Philippus had become exactly like Paradise Island for her. A retreat, a safe haven, a resting place. A place to just be Kara until she had to go and be Superwoman, mom, or CEO again.

"You are you," Philippus replied, smiling. "That's more than enough."

"I just love you to pieces sometimes, you know?"

"I know."

"Would you like to... I mean... it would be my privilege to... no, stupid! I would really be honored… darn it!"

Clark Kent paced back and forth in front of his mirror, having spent the last half hour or so unsuccessfully trying to come up with the words he needed. He was going to do it, he had resolved. He would! He was Superboy, soon to be Superman! He was powerful, invulnerable, he could fly! He had fought against an alien space ship, for God's sake! Surely this little thing could not possibly be so difficult.

Just fly over to Gotham City, find Batgirl, and ask her out on a date. Easy as pie. No problem at all. Least difficult thing in the world, really. So why was it that he couldn't find the words?

He had briefly considered asking Lana for help, but then decided against it. Lana was his best friend, practically his sister. He was well aware that she was a girl, though, and one that was becoming prettier with every day that went by. It felt... wrong asking her advice on how to ask out another girl. Not that he wanted some kind of date with Lana, no way, but still… it felt wrong to ask her.

He didn't have that many other friends he could ask. Sure, he was buddies with a few boys in school, but none of them knew about the Superboy thing, so explaining to them that he was planning to ask out a girl he had met while she trained with the Batman... yeah, that would be difficult. And while he had become fast friends (ha!) with the Flash (and knew his real name to be Wally West because X-Ray vision and all), he wasn't yet at a point where he felt comfortable asking the other boy such personal things... assuming that Wally even had any experience to share on the matter.

Batgirl was older than him, that much he knew. Not much older, he figured, but a few years. It shouldn't matter, especially as Clark had really shot up during his latest growth spurt and looked older than he actually was (or so he figured at least). Still, she probably wasn't a school girl anymore, so asking her out like he had heard some of the boys at Smallville High do probably wasn't going to work. He needed to be smoother, more adult, without being pretentious.

Man, this was a lot harder than he had thought it would be.

Barbara Gordon, slowly becoming known in Gotham City as Batgirl, knew that she was being stupid. She was a very smart young woman, smart enough to recognize when she was being stupid, but recognition somehow didn't seem to be enough to actually stop being stupid.

Okay, she was an analytical person who liked to break things down into facts. So she sat down and did just that. There was a blank piece of paper in front of her, she took out a pen, and began to write down the facts.

She had a huge crush on the Batman.

Okay, that was a pretty short list of facts. Really a bit of a waste to use an entire piece of paper just for that. She crumpled it up in frustration and threw it into the nearest corner. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Very stupid, actually. A stupid schoolgirl crush, really, for which she was far too old. What did she even know of the man? She had never seen his face, didn't even know his real name, nothing. It would have been more logical to have a crush on Superwoman, even, at least she had seen her face instead of just the chin and lips.

And what a great chin, like chiseled granite! And those lips... oh, stop it!

Clearly this was a bad, bad idea. The Batman didn't even like her. From what she had seen of him so far, he had only agreed to train her because Superwoman had asked him to. He was rude, he was distant, and she figured he was at least seven or eight years older than her, probably more. There was no way this was ever going to be a thing. She would just have to get over this stupid crush! How hard could it be?

Deciding that she needed to work off some stress, she threw on her Batgirl costume and swung away into the night. Batman was not in Gotham tonight, she knew. He had informed her (gruffly) that he would be busy with other things, something to do with Superwoman's team. So she headed out on her own tonight, which was just fine with her. And yes, she had checked to see whether anyone was watching her first, thank you very much, Mr. Paranoia.

Three would-be purse-snatchers, one attempted assault, and a foiled break-in later, she was feeling a bit more relaxed. So she had a crush on the Batman, what about it? Crushes faded, she knew. Sooner or later she would get over her feelings for him. Not like there was any chance he would ever return them and take her into those big, strong arms and... stop it!

A scream echoed through the night, wrenching her out of her thoughts. She started sprinting across the rooftops towards the source of the scream, her eyes scanning the streets below. There! A young couple was the source of the screams, their backs to the wall of a small side alley. And facing them was... a thing. A huge, green thing.

Killer Croc, her inner Batman voice supplied. Waylon Jones, a criminal with some form of rare medical condition that mutated him into something resembling a crocodile walking upright. Easily seven feet tall, strong as hell, and with skin as tough as tank armor.

Also, a penchant for eating people.

Barbara didn't hesitate. Killer Croc was certainly far above her weight class, but she couldn't just stand by and watch him eat people. Since she couldn't hope to match him physically, her only hope was to distract him long enough for the civilians to flee. Plan made, she jumped down into the alley.

He still had no idea what to actually say, but figured that the words would hopefully come once he was actually face to face with Batgirl. It was certainly a better plan than staying at home until he lost his nerve. So here he was, flying over Gotham City, keeping an eye out for Batgirl. He had checked to make sure that Batman wasn't in town first. The last thing he needed was for Batman to call in his mom. Which he would do, Clark was certain. Batman was a jerk. Not a Guy Gardner level jerk, but still a jerk.

Finally, after what felt like hours, he spotted a shape sprinting across the rooftops below. Was that… yes, it certainly was. How could one forget that figure? He was about to swoop down and land beside her, when Batgirl suddenly jumped and dropped down into an alley. Refocusing his vision powers, he easily spotted the hulking shape in the alley below. Some kind of crocodile mutant? Cool! Gotham seemed to have all the weirdest villains.

He immediately became worried, though. From the look of things, this guy would easily outmatch Batgirl strength-wise. He was tempted to just jump in there and take him out, but hesitated. Would Batgirl be happy he helped or be offended, thinking that he was thinking she couldn't handle things by herself? Man, why was this so complicated?

Resolving to watch for the moment and only intervene when necessary, he looked on as Batgirl got the guy's attention (Killer Croc? Man, what a cool name!) by hitting him with a flying kick that might well have crippled a normal person. Croc looked like he barely noticed. The attack did have the intended effect, though, of distracting him from the two civilians. Thankfully they were smart enough to take the hint and immediately started running away.

Clark refocused on Batgirl and saw her evade a haymaker that took a chunk out of the brick wall behind her. Instead of going for another physical assault, though, she slipped something out of her belt, some kind of capsule, and threw it into Croc's face. The capsule exploded into smoke and Croc inhaled it. Almost immediately, he began to sway a bit. Some kind of knock-out gas? Very cool!

Batgirl didn't wait to see whether the gas would suffice. She took out a grappling gun and shot a line that quickly wrapped itself around Croc's legs, tying them together. The green giant, his balance already shot, tumbled over to one side and crashed to the ground.

It was then that Batgirl made a mistake and Clark saw it happening in slow motion as all his senses were dialed up to maximum. Thinking that she had the advantage, she got close to Croc, probably planning to tie up his arms in some way as well. Croc was not as out of it as she had figured, though, and one of his claw-like hands closed around her ankle.

Batgirl went flying through the air and her back hit the concrete hard, knocking the air out of her. Croc tore through the line tying his legs together and got back to his feet. A moment later he was looming over Batgirl, clawed hand raised for a strike that would slice her to ribbons.

Without any further hesitation Clark moved.

Barbara quickly shook off the cobwebs and her body tensed in preparation for an evasion move that would hopefully keep her from being eviscerated. Stupid, stupid, she had gotten too close too soon. She couldn't afford another mistake. She had to...

Her mind came to a halt as a red and blue blur suddenly appeared right next to Croc and caught his wrist in a deceptively small hand. A boy was right next to the crocodile mutant, a good two feet shorter than him, but making up for that by simply hovering in mid-air. Barbara could see the muscles in Croc's arm strain, but it was to no avail. The boy held him in place like it was the easiest thing in the world.

"That's quite enough," Superboy – for who else could it possibly be? – said to Croc. "Come along peacefully and no one needs to get hurt."

Croc just roared in defiance and drove his other fist into Superboy's face with enough force to dent a steel plate. The boy didn't even blink. A moment later Croc roared again, just in pain this time. From the crunching sound of the impact, Barbara figured that most of the bones in his hand were now quite thoroughly broken.

"Well, so much for no one getting hurt," Superboy said, sighing dramatically. A moment later Croc was the one who went flying, hitting the alley wall and going right through it. There was a loud clonk and then everything was still.

"I fear Croc's head hit something harder than it in there," Superboy said, shrugging. "I think he'll be sleeping for quite some time."

Barbara was back on her feet, brushing some dirt and grime off her costume, and studied her teenage savior. He really was just a boy, she saw. No older than 16, she figured, probably younger. The fact that he had taken out Killer Croc as if it was nothing didn't really make him look any older.

"Thank you for your help," she said. "I think I could have managed by myself, but I certainly don't mind the extra muscle. You sure took him down a lot faster than I could have."

"Glad to help," he said, grinning broadly.

"Good thing you were in the neighborhood," she continued on, shining a light through the hole in the wall and seeing that Croc was indeed well and truly unconscious. His head was embedded in a solid brick wall.

"Actually," Superboy began, only to trail off.

"Yes?" she asked, turning around to look at him. The powerful Teen of Steel, who had just taken out a huge crocodile man without even blinking, now looked uncertain, almost skittish. What was going on here?

"I... well, there is actually a reason I am in Gotham. And... the reason is... well, you are the reason. I am in Gotham because I wanted to talk to you."

Now Barbara was confused. "To me? Talk about what?"

"I... I wanted to... I mean…," he paused, took a deep breath. "I wanted to ask you whether you wanted to go out on a date. With me! You and me. Together. A date. That's what I wanted to ask."

Barbara blinked, looking into that youthful face before her, and had a moment of sudden clarity. Superboy had a crush on her. He had a crush on an older superhero he knew nothing about, had only ever seen in a mask. It was like looking in a mirror with her own crush reflected back at her. She was looking at herself from Batman's point of view.

The only difference was that, unlike her, Superboy had found the courage to act on his crush, no matter how silly it was. Which actually made her feel even more stupid than she had felt earlier. Here she was, 18 years old, smart, skilled, and a teenage boy had more guts than her.

"I... I don't think that would be a good idea, Superboy," she finally said, smiling at him in a way she hoped lessened the impact of her words.

His face fell. "Is... is it the age thing?" he asked. "Because I'm..."

"It's not that," she interrupted him. "Well, not just JUST that. It's also... well, you don't know a thing about me. Why do you want a date with me?"

He opened his mouth to say something, then seemed to think better of it. Barbara was fairly certain it was something along the lines of "you look great in your skintight costume" or something. Which, to be fair, was not that different from what she thought when she called Batman to mind. And Superboy didn't look bad in his suit, either, she had to admit.

"I know we barely met," he finally said, not meeting her eyes. "But... well, there is the obvious reason, of course, but it's not just that." He looked up. "You don't have super powers like me, yet you don't hesitate to throw yourself into a fight with someone ten times as strong as you to help save people. That tells me you're a great person. And... and you are really pretty, too."

She couldn't help but smile at his words. It might not have been the smoothest compliment she had ever received, but quite possibly the most sincere.

"Thank you," she said. "You look pretty handsome yourself, too, by the way. Still... there is, well, there is someone else." She briefly considered saying more, something along the lines of "maybe in a few years", but decided against it. And God knew she would not add "can we just be friends". She had enough experience to know how boys reacted to those words.

"Oh," Superboy just said, awkwardly running his hand through his dark hair. "Well, should have expected that. Pretty girl like you..."

She took a step closer to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you for helping me, Superboy. And thank you for the compliment, too. I really appreciate both." She leant down and pressed a short kiss to his cheek.

"Uh... well, you're welcome," he stuttered, cheeks aflame.

And just like that, it was over. Superbody quickly wrapped up Croc with some metal poles he bent around him and then took off, promising to drop the crocodile man at the nearest police station. Barbara looked after him for a long moment.

The idea had been tempting, if but for a second. The Teen of Steel certainly looked scrumptious, if still a bit on the young side. Legal issues aside, though (she was an adult, after all, if only just), she had to clear up her own feelings first. And if Superboy had enough guts to confront his crush and put his heart out there, then maybe she could do the same.

End Chapter 39

Author's Note: I entertained several different notions when it came to Kara and Philippus, including a clean break and a permanent relationship with Philippus visiting Kansas to be introduced to the Kents. Neither really worked for me, though. Kara, as I am writing her, is someone who is driven by her mission and whoever is her partner will have to accept that they will come second. Philippus can do that for now, as all things are transient for an immortal.

And it's been a while since I was a teenage boy (and I have obviously never been a teenage girl), so I hope I did the parts with Batgirl and Superboy justice.