What If The Storm Ends..?

A couple of days had passed since Chelsea had been sick. She went to the doctors and got an antibiotic to the kill the infection that was looming inside her. It took some time, but before she knew it she was feeling better. She would have immediately returned to The Watch Tower if her college schedule hadn't interfered.

She was making her way down a quiet hallway in the visual arts building trying to straighten out in her head what projects were due and when, when she bumped into someone. When their shoulders hit one another she spun around to see the interruption of her thoughts. There stood a boy about her age. She recognized this boy, "Hey Chelsea," he greeted.

It was her high school ex-boyfriend. It had been a while since they had seen each other. Her jaw locked momentarily, "Hey," she didn't want to talk, but even after their history, she wished to keep things pleasant, "how have you been?"

He half shrugged, "You know college life… busy, busy." He watched her move some stray hair away from her face, "What about you?"

She bobbed her head, "About the same. Between college, my friends, and any commissions that come through, I've got a lot on my plate."

He tilted his head as he leisurely pressed his back to a wall of lockers, "Seeing anyone these days?"

She couldn't believe those words came out of his mouth after what he had done to her in the past. She wished she could lie and tell him something to make him instantly cower like, "I'm dating Bruce Wayne. What's it to ya chum?", or "Batman is my boyfriend. I upgraded.", or even, "My boyfriend can run circles around you.", but instead she went with the truth, "No, not really."

He inclined his head, "Me either." She could predict his next words. It was just like him. He hadn't changed in the least, "Maybe we should fix both of our problems." He reached out to tuck that stubborn lock behind her ear when she caught his hand and squeezed his wrist firmly.

"Unlike you Will," she started to say, "I've changed. My standards are higher than you will ever be." She cast his hand aside sharply, "If you think I'd actually give you another chance, then you're a bigger fool than I took you for." She turned and started for her classroom, "Have a nice day."

He watched her walk away. A small smile spread across his sinister face, "Oh… I plan to."

It was late afternoon. Her classes had ended. She was starting her long walk off of campus and back to her apartment to put her backpack away before finally returning to The Watch Tower. As soon as her foot touched the pavement that divided campus from the rest of Gotham, she heard shrill screams coming from behind her. Turning back abruptly her eyes widened to see a figure suspended in air with debris of shrubbery and the like spinning around him rapidly.

She was staring back at Will. Her eyebrows creased, "Well," he held up his arms, "what do you think? Are you impressed yet?" he called to her, "I know you go for the freaks so me and my friends made a deal so we could play with you." A couple of other boys emerged. One caught himself on fire and started flying through campus, setting everything ablaze. The other stomped his foot, causing the earth to crack beneath them.

"A deal?" Chelsea questioned.

Will grinned, "Dr. XYZ sends his love."

That triggered something in her. Her mind raced as she hurled herself toward the boy suspended in air. She was stopped just before reaching him. Some sort of invisible force was holding her back. He slowly held out his palm to her and abruptly pushed outward. She was sent flying back and smashed into a brick wall.

Chelsea swallowed as she forced herself to her feet. He was already on top of her using a force punch to spiral her into another building. This was doing immense damage to the college campus.

Back at The Watch Tower a blip came up on J'onn's monitor, "What is it?" Clark asked.

J'onn panned in to find the location, "Gotham University has been set ablaze." J'onn informed the group.

Batman grabbed his ear piece, "Chelsea are you still at school?" He heard her grunt, but nothing was audible. His jaw locked as he started for the landing bay. The others were close behind, "Flash! Where are you?"
Wally had been in Central City having his third lunch for the day, "I'm already on my way there." He replied, speeding to get to Gotham. He was going as fast as his quick feet could carry him. Whenever he went full speed the memory of that bullet crashing into his knee always came to a head. The memory still stung. He arrived at Gotham University a couple minutes later. He watched as Chelsea came flying out of a broken window and rolled a few times to his feet, "Chels!" He knelt down beside her.

"Wally…" she groaned, as he helped her sit up. Her forehead had a cut from the broken glass. When she stood, the world seemed to be flying. She was so dizzy. Will was powerful. His telekinetic power was incredibly strong.

"So your backup has arrived." Will stated, snapping his fingers. His earthquaking friend came charging toward them, crumbling the ground they stood on. Chelsea put her arms under Wally's armpits to lift him up off of the ground so he wouldn't fall in.

"If he keeps this up it's going to start demolishing the city." Chelsea yelled over the sound of the loud clamor of buildings falling.

She looked up to see air support had arrived. Batman was in his very own plane. His presence distracted Will momentarily, which allowed an opening for Superman to body slam the boy into one of the buildings still semi-standing. Hawkgirl and Green Lantern were going toe to toe with the human bonfire, while Diana and J'onn rallied against the crazy quaker making a mess of the ground. That's when Chelsea saw it. Will paid Superman no mind as he thrashed him about. Instead he focused his energy to try and bring Batman's plane down. He was pulling on in telekinetically. It wasn't long before it started to spiral into one of the college's main buildings, "No!" Chelsea let out a blood curdling scream. Batman ejected himself from the vessel before it collided with the building. As he floated to the ground the earthquake kid opened the ground to swallow him up. In that instant Chelsea flew by and caught Bruce's hand with hers, all the while still grasping onto Wally's waist with her other arm. Chelsea found a piece of ground that had remained untouched and landed.

"Did these guys just show up at your school and start destroying the place for no reason?" wondered Wally.

Chelsea shook her head, "Dr. XYZ created more soldiers. This time a personal one. Their leader. The one that can move things just by the thought of it… he's my ex."

Wally's eyes widened, "Ex? As in ex-boyfriend?" some debris crashed down beside them.

"Have you seen the doctor?" Batman questioned.

"No," Chelsea told him, "I don't think he's here."

It appeared the Justice League started to gain control of the situation. It didn't take long before special forces arrived to take these troublemakers away. Each had a special pair of handcuffs put on them that forbid the use of super powers. Will flashed Chelsea a dirty look before being thrown into the back of a van. Chelsea gave a slight shake of her head and turned her attention back to the devastation that was once her college campus. The place had been destroyed. Like a hurricane, forest fire, and tornado got together and had a child and this was what was left. She outwardly sighed and covered her face. How far would this set back her education? And not just hers, but the rest of the students who went here longing for a brighter future?

"Are you going to be alright?" asked Batman, standing beside her now. She looked up at him with clouded eyes. His heart strung from the inner turmoil inside her, "I'll fix it." he reassured her. She nodded silently. She was crestfallen. Bruce was right before: the storm would soon be upon them. If this was just a taste of the destruction to come, what other things could she expect?

Once they all returned to The Watch Tower, Superman pulled Chelsea aside to get the play by play of the attack on the university. Afterwhich she returned to her room quietly without any interaction. Now she was officially worried about this again. Wally knocked at her door. He was quite skittish to come barging in again after the last time. Chelsea came to the door and opened it, allowing him in.

"You okay?" he asked.

"I guess so," she replied with an outward sigh.

"Don't worry about the college. Bats will get it fixed." he assured.

"I know he will… but it shouldn't be his responsibility to clean up my messes." she rubbed her forehead stressfully.

"So," Wally was about to address something that hadn't left his mind, "that guy was your ex-boyfriend?"

Chelsea rolled her eyes, "Are you still stuck on that?"

He shrugged, trying to play it off like it wasn't a big deal, "I just wondered why you two broke up…" he tried to sound casual about it.

"Why does it matter Wal?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"It doesn't-" he stammered, "I just-"

Chelsea could see he wasn't going to let it go, "He cheated on me," she told him, "with many different girls." she shook her head, "It was high school. When you get to be my age you realize things that happened back then don't really matter or define you now." She rubbed her eyes with her right index finger and thumb, "Girls just want somebody to love them you know? To sweep them off their feet and show them they're important."

Wally stared at her thoughtfully for a moment. His eyes darted to the bed behind her. In one quick motion he grabbed her by her legs and pulled forward so she'd fall back on the bed softly. Leaning over top of her, he looked her over, "I'm not much of a sweeper… but you should know by now how important you are to me."

Her face lit up against the redness of his suit, "Wally.. what're you-?" she wondered, before he silenced her with a kiss. She wasn't sure what surprised her more: the kiss, or the fact that she was welcoming it. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled his body down against hers. Their kiss grew more intense. Her back arched as she pushed her lips more forcibly against his.

That's when her cell phone decided to interrupt the rendezvous. She would have ignored it, had she not recognized the ringtone. She pulled back, realizing it was probably for the better anyway, "I'm sorry… I really have to take that." he peeled himself off of her and sat down beside her. She reached for her phone, trying to gather herself, "Hello… yes this is her… yes…" there was a long pause.

Chelsea's mouth fell open. Her mouth was trying to move, but it wasn't making words. Finally she said, "I'll be right there…" almost inaudibly. Ending the call she turned to Wally momentarily. Looking him over she quickly stood to her feet.

"Where're you going?" he asked with concern.

"There's someone I have to see." she told him. She paused to reflect on their moment before and looked into his eyes once more, "I'm sorry. I'll explain later…" with that she was out the door.

It decided to pour down rain in Gotham City. How fitting for such news. It was so hard for her to fly in this weather. With the rain beating down on her body and her lack of vision it was damn near impossible. The wind whipped throwing her off balance and trying to cast her away from her destination. With some trouble she arrived. She looked like she had been quite literally chewed up and spat out.

She entered the hospital and made it to the familiar desk she had been to so many times before. The clerk recognized her and stood up. The next few moments occurred like a slow motion scene in a film. The nurse started to speak to her, but she could not hear her. Chelsea covered her mouth and started to breakdown. Just from the look on her face, Chelsea knew what she was saying without hearing a word. She made her way to the familiar patient's room and walked up to the bed. All machinery had been stripped from the woman who lay lifeless in the bed. Chelsea's mouth opened and mouthed the word, "Mom…" before sliding down to her knees and pressing her face to the mattress. Her body shook uncontrollably as she wept by her bedside.

Her mother was dead.

After some time of crying she managed to stop long enough to exit the room. She was stopped frozen when she came out into the hallway. There he stood in a crisp black suit, as if he was already mourning. Bruce was looking back at her. She instantly started to cry again the moment their eyes met. Her eyes burned as she clung to him and sobbed. He let her cry. Of all people, he could sympathize for the pain she was feeling. He would hold her. Just hold her until the rain stopped falling. No matter how long that took.

A casket lowered into the ground. Her friends surrounded her cloaked in the mourning shade of darkness. Rain continued to fall that day. It never stopped. They never stopped falling.

She was handed an envelope. It was all that was left.

All eight Justice League members gathered together in the dining hall of The Watch Tower to eat together on behalf of Chelsea's mother. It was a strange atmosphere. Chelsea hated making everyone feel so down. She took a bite out of the burger she was eating. They had stopped and grabbed something on the way back to The Watch Tower. Truthfully the food was quite terrible. Chelsea examined everyone else's expressions and knew they were drawing the same conclusion. Tears came to her eyes as she finally cracked a smile, "This stuff is awful." Everyone looked at her surprised by her sudden act of joy. She just wanted everyone to stop being so tense. They all started smirking at each other.

"Glad I'm not the only one who thinks so…" admitted Clark, sipping on his soda for a good long while to get the taste out of his mouth.

"I don't think it's too bad." Wally said, being the glass half full kind of guy he was.

"Of course not. Your stomach is a bottomless pit." laughed Shayera.

Everyone started to chuckle at each other over the family banter. It felt good. For a moment it was as if it was a casual evening around the table together. Bruce hadn't touched his food. He knew better of it. He sat quietly and debated on getting the place shut down for serving something not even remotely close to being edible. He felt a pair of eyes on him. Wally stared at him closely. This was strange.

Wally stood up while everyone was distracted and moved passed Bruce, "Can I talk to you for a sec?"

Bruce raised a suspicious eyebrow and silently excused himself from the table to follow Wally out. Once they were in a quiet corridor adjacent to the dining hall the two men stood across from each other. Bruce stood up straight, his fists clenched at his sides. Wally was slumped back against the wall with his arms crossed, "What is it?" Bruce broke the silence.

"You knew about Chelsea's parents… didn't you?" Wally asked.

Bruce's eyes narrowed, "You didn't?" he retorted.

Wally was glaring at him now, "Of course not…" he murmured.

Bruce was surprised. Of all people he would assume she would have told Wally in one conversation or another. He was her rock after all. At least to his understanding.

"Do you think she trusts you more?" Wally asked painfully.

Bruce analyzed his question. He didn't hold back. His words as they always did, were laced with brutal honesty, "Maybe you're not serious enough."

"Hey," Wally interjected, "I'm plenty serious."

"You wanted my opinion. I gave it to you." Bruce grimaced, "You lack a great sense of maturity Wally."

"Shut up." barked Wally. He rarely lost his temper, but it was almost like Bruce was trying to pick a fight with him.

Bruce grew silent. He recalled the day he heard it from Chelsea. The dark past that loomed over her, "The Joker had set bombs in Gotham. I told her to stay out of it. She didn't as one might expect. Joker laid into Harley Quinn. Something inside her snapped. A part of me still wonders if I hadn't pulled her off of him, if she would have kept punching until he no longer had a heartbeat. It was the bitter hatred she had for her father that took control of her that day, and the immense guilt she felt for her mother that made her tell me the truth. She did not tell Bruce Wayne, Wally… she told Batman. She told me before she knew we were one and the same."

Wally stared at him thoughtfully. What was his point?

Bruce could see he had to spell it out for him. Sighing he grabbed Wally's shoulder, "Maybe you should ask her yourself why she didn't tell you. Give her the benefit of the doubt there was good reason behind it." he let go of his shoulder and started to head back into the dining hall.

Late that same night Chelsea laid in her bed staring at the envelope she had yet to open. She wasn't sure what or how her mother could have written anything to her. Maybe she did it a long time ago. For some reason, she was reluctant to open it.

There was a knock at her door.

"Come in Wally…" she already knew it was him.

He came in and closed the door behind him. Sitting beside her on the edge of the bed she stared at him. He was still dressed in a white button up shirt, black blazer, black pants, and black Converse tennis shoes. His tie was loosened and hanging freely. A couple of his buttons undone at the collar of his shirt. His ginger hair was messy. He looked tired, with a lot on his mind. Chelsea scooted over and patted beside her. He snickered inwardly toward this and laid down beside her. Their faces were close as they observed one another. Their eye color was nearly matching. That unusual green that curled around their pupils seemed to churn around each other. He sighed.

"What's up?" she asked, pressing her forehead to his.

"Do you think I'm immature?" he asked.

Her eyebrows furrowed, "Do I think you're more laid back than everyone else here? Definitely yes."

"Chels," he closed his eyes, like he was afraid to see her reaction, "do you trust me?"

"Wal… where is this coming from?" she wondered.

"Bats already knew about your parents before any of the rest of us did…" his eyes reopened, "Why couldn't you tell me?"

She reached up and ran her fingertips through his soft hair, "Oh Wal… is that what this is about?" she saw the pain in his stare and felt a tinge of guilt wash over her, "You're always so upbeat about everything. So happy and carefree. I love that about you. You put me in such a good mood. We have so much fun together and have so much in common." she squeezed his arm reassuringly, "You're my best friend. You really think I don't trust you? You saw me naked and I barely faltered." His cheeks turned rosy at recalling the scene, "I don't ever…" her voice cracked like she was about to start crying.

A single tear slid out of her eye and down to her pillow before it disappeared into the fabric, "want to be the reason for your sadness." She closed her eyes tightly and tried to smile, "You mean so much to me. If I was ever the reason for bringing you down it could kill me. You're always so happy and that's such a gift. Everyone around here… they don't show it but in some form or another they're broken… but you do so well at keeping it all together… at smiling and being happy and positive… for all of us. I didn't want…" she grasped at his chest, "to be the reason you stopped… not even for an instant."

He was touched. So moved by her words. Watching her start to crumble before him, he pulled her into his arms and rested his chin on top of her head. She shook and cried in his arms, "I made a joking comment to make everyone at ease today… so they would stop worrying about me so damn much… I wouldn't have known how to do that had I not met you." she told him.

He smiled and closed his eyes again. He planted a kiss on her forehead, "You don't have to worry about hurting me Chels…" he wanted to tell her so badly that he loved her, but the timing just wasn't right. It never was. He wasn't sure it ever would be. Maybe that was what fate inevitably had in store for him, "You're the reason I keep smiling."

She wrapped her arms around him tightly. He returned her embrace. After a while of holding each other, he pulled himself away with great hesitation, "You should get some rest. You've had a very hard couple of days…"

She sat up and nodded. As he opened the door, they locked eyes for a moment, before he showed himself out.

Chelsea stared at that letter for another hour before finally bringing herself to open it. She set the envelope down and started to unfold the thin packet of paper. Her heart came to a screeching halt when she saw the words, "Be seeing you…" etched across the page in messy handwriting. Paperclipped to the page was a photograph of Dr. XYZ standing over her mother's bed. A sound escaped her lips that didn't sound human. She had to stifle it with her hands. Flipping through the rest of the pages like a mad woman were documents of Chelsea's medical files, her mother's medical files, her father's court papers, and old love letters she wrote in high school. He had been following her for so long.

Her mother had not died.

She was murdered.

Instinctively she grabbed for her phone, but threw it on the bed and ran like the devil was at her heels. She came up to Wally's door and started pounding on it rhythmically. He jumped out of bed and shouted, "Hold your horses I'm coming!" When he saw it was Chelsea, she flung herself into his arms and shook with unspeakable terror, "Woah, woah! Calm down… what's wrong?" He grabbed her shoulders, "Chels! Breathe. Talk to me." She got really dizzy and suddenly it was lights out.

Author's Notes: Man, things are heating up. For those who prefer her with Bruce, do not fret. I know they haven't really had a moment lately, but that's bound to change. First there's a pesky doctor to take care of. For anyone out there that is really into music like I am I wanted to suggest a few tracks to relate this chapter to. Firstly the title is taken from a song called "What If The Storm Ends?" by Snow Patrol. During the scene between Wally and Chelsea on the bed I was listening to "Inevitable" by Anberlin. Check out those songs should you feel like it and hit me up with a review. I love hearing from you all. Thank you readers. :)