Hey everybody! My small hiatus is over, and I am now going about and updating everything I can in the shortest amount of time possible!

Chapter 5

He had offered to carry her, but she had cleverly argued that the acceleration would only make her sicker.

And so Kid Flash was forced to employ Jump City's wonderful public transportation system. It was a good thing he and Jinx were going together, because he had no idea how the darn thing worked. He thought it was bogus that he had to spend a dollar on a snail's pace wreck of the day, and Jinx had a good, cynical laugh over that.

"Doesn't the government give you some kind of monthly stipend? What are you whining for?"

"It's a waste," He grumbled cheerfully. "I don't like wasting things."

Jinx rolled her eyes. "That's what half of life is."

There were a million things he wanted to ask her, but she was not feeling well, so he gave her the courtesy of silence.

For about two minutes. Which for him was kind of a big deal.

"So, even thought my pancakes got tossed, they still tasted pretty good, right?"

She flicked a little glance his way. "Yeah, sure."

"Better going down than up?"

Her cheek twitched. Kid Flash hoped that, if anything, she was resisting a smile.

"So, did you--"

"Kid, if you ask me one more question I'm going to heave again."

"You'll have nothing to heave," He pointed out. "You haven't eaten anything since you heaved last time."

She pressed her forehead against the dirty glass and sighed. "Just stop. Okay? You don't have to force yourself to be interested in me. It's so obvious you're bored."

And then it slipped out before he could take it back, "Maybe I wouldn't be bored if you'd stop being so boring."

Her eyes snapped open, eyelashes brushing the glass. She didn't look at him, just stared out the window. Kid Flash wondered if she was counting to ten.

Then, she said, "You think I'm boring."

He took a deep breath. "Well, when I first met you, you were zapping me, chasing me all over town, kicking rubber butt. I was totally on edge the whole time. It was really cool. So, when I…when we met up again, I figured you'd be like that again, but, no offense, you're kind of a downer. I mean, I guess this is different, since you're sick and all, but this is such a low after all that. It's really depressing."

She opened her mouth as if she was going to say something, but after a moment changed her mind and chuckled softly. "Holy shit," She said, "If I didn't feel like I was going to puke up a lung, I'd round-house your ass into next week."

"Sorry." Then, shooting in the dark, he added, "Maybe we can try this again when you're feeling better."

She closed her eyes and nodded. "Maybe." Then, almost casually, she added, "It must suck being on a completely different train schedule then the rest of the world. Don't you ever get pissed off? Everybody is such a snail compared to you."

He thought about it for a moment. "It was really hard at first…I mean, I wasn't born with this, you know. It was a huge change, and…well, it was really hard not to get an ego about it, you know? But I mean, it's not like I mind dealing with people."

"Dealing with people? What are people, cards?" Jinx said scathingly. "I'm supposed to be the cold one here."

Kid Flash stared at her.

"And as for your ego, maybe you should try watching yourself on TV a little more often. You have ego up the wazoo. I don't know how you haven't noticed."

"I didn't say that I don't have an ego," Kid Flash said quietly. "Just that I try to control it."

"I shudder to think what your ego is like when you're not keeping tabs on it."

Kid Flash thought about this for a second. "Okay, then."

"You totally suck at this!" Jinx suddenly snapped, and Kid Flash nearly jumped out of his seat. "I am totally walking all over your honor and you're just letting me! We are in a debate here, Kid! I picked a fight so I could debate with you. That means you need to retaliate. Didn't they have a speech and debate club back in your home town or something, or did you think that was really boring too? Jesus!"

Kid Flash laughed nervously. "But you might have a point."

"I might have a point? Slade might have had a point! Brother Blood might have had a point! Anybody could have a point, are you just going to let them--"

"I'll let them speak their piece, sure," Kid Flash said. "It's their beliefs, I respect that. This is America, for crying out loud. But just because I'm not going to stomp them down immediately doesn't mean I'm not going to do something about it. There are better ways."

The fight seemed to leave her during his little speech. She slumped against the window again. "If I didn't feel like I was going to--"

"Puke up a lung, you'd roundhouse me into next week. And I probably deserve it." A thought occurred to Kid Flash, and he said, "I don't know everything about all the…stuff with Brother Blood. I only heard the rough sketch, but…do you think he had a point?"

Jinx shook her head. "I don't even know what he was trying to do."

The rest of the ride passed in silence.

The office in which Kid Flash's doctors operated was one of those tall, imperious buildings cleverly hiding with all the other tall, imperious buildings, so together they formed a mass of tall imperiousness, no matter what their true vocation.

"I actually have two doctors," Kid Flash explained as he led Jinx into the office. "Dr. Moon is really nice. The other guy is new, and he's…um…well, he's qualified, and professionally I can't say anything bad about--"

"He's a douchebag. No problem. I know how to handle doctors," Jinx assured him.

The smiling receptionist pointed to a door on the far left, and they went in there to wait. The room seemed as if it had been cut in half at one point; there was practically a line running through the center of it where calming blue wall paper was cut off by plain white walls. Kid Flash knew that the blue side of the room was Dr. Moon's territory. On the white side of the room, designated for the other doctor, was a small sign: the word "whining" with a big 'x' cutting through it.

Jinx frowned at the sign. "Talk about déjà vu," She muttered, and Kid Flash was tempted to ask, but then the receptionist came in to tell them that Dr. Moon was not available, and that Dr. Anderson would be in with them shortly.

Jinx nearly jumped out of her seat. "Anderson?" She demanded.

"Yeah. Anthony Anderson. Do you…know him?"

Before Jinx could answer, the door slammed open, revealing a young man with curling hair and cold eyes. Kid Flash swallowed and tried to repress all personal opinions of the doctor.

This was not quite the route that Jinx chose. She pointed an accusing finger at Dr. Anderson and intoned, "You slut."

Dr. Anderson blinked. "Oh, it's you. Still alive, are we, Ms. Sandavas? How nice for you."

"You little bitch," She hissed. "You're sleeping with both sides."

"I am not," said Dr. Anderson. "I am sleeping with only one side at a time. Hello, Mr. West," He added to Kid Flash. "I would appreciate it if this conversation were kept discrete."

"I'm sure you would," Kid Flash agreed, crossing his arms. "What are you two talking about?"

"Well," Dr. Anderson drew himself up and smirked. "The truth of the matter is that I am Ms. Sandavas' school psychiatrist--"

"In his sick dreams," Jinx cut in. "We fucking put you out of work! What are you doing in practice?"

Dr. Anderson put a hand across his heart as if she had hurt him. "You see how she rejects my advances? It's purely sadistic, Jaya."

Kid Flash practically felt his ears twitch. Jaya?

"So," Dr. Anderson continued with glee. "Have you discovered the meaning of life yet? I'll have you know, out of all the sessions I sat through at HIVE Academy, your series on the meaning of life was by far the most entertaining. A full hour of Chekhov quotations!" He exclaimed to Kid Flash. "It was quite impressive, for a little thing her age."

"A little thing my age?" Jinx snapped.

"You were a bit younger when I was at your school…" Dr. Anderson looked her up and down critically. "Well, this won't do. You've hardly grown at all. How do you expect to keep him interested," And here he jerked a thumb in Kid Flash's direction, "If you don't give him anything fun to grab?"

Jinx's jaw literally dropped. It was Kid Flash who had to explain that, no, they weren't in that kind of relationship. He endured Dr. Anderson's stony look of disbelief, followed by his trademark, "If that's how you want to do things…"

"I just brought her here for a physical," Kid Flash continued. "She's been sick."

"I'm going to go out on a limb here and prescribe aspirin," Dr. Anderson said drily. "Or an abortion."

"It's more than that. She threw up this morning--"

"She had something in her stomach to throw up?" Dr. Anderson whistled and glanced at Jinx, who refused to look at either of them. "I see we're making progress from your skinny days."

"Not really. She hasn't been eating, and she's been really tired."

"That's called staying out late. Or drugs. Started shooting up anything interesting, Jaya?" Dr. Anderson called to Jinx. "I know your friends were all on something, it was only a matter of time before you hopped the bandwagon."

She shook her head numbly, still glaring at the floor.

"Huh," said Dr. Anderson. He turned back to Kid Flash. "Well, there's not much I can do when she gets in this kind of mood. So let's chat. How long have you two been together?"

"We're not together," Kid Flash said clearly. "She is just staying over for a while."

"Yeah. Right. Okay, mum's the word, I understand. Keep your secrets. Is she pregnant?"

Kid Flash blushed. "I don't think…I mean, how would I know?" He remembered suddenly about the friend she had been staying with, and tried not to suspect anything. "It's not any of my business to ask her. I respect her privacy." He raised his voice a little bit as he said this, hoping Jinx would chime in with some kind of input.

"Yeah. Right. Okay, do you suspect she's faking it? She's a wonder for faking illnesses. That pale skin of hers really--"

Something soft hit Kid Flash in the head. He reached up and pulled it off his head, and realized that it was Jinx's t-shirt.

"Mr. West," Jinx said icily, and Kid Flash got a good look at her half-nude body before turning away, "This is a physical. And I can fucking talk for myself. I know how much nudity bothers you, so maybe you should leave the room. Anderson, for the love of god, if you try to touch anything I will scream blue murder."

As Kid Flash left them alone, he couldn't help but think that Jinx throwing her shirt at him had been a little more in the realm of exciting that he had been hoping for this whole time.

Dr. Anderson was a doctor, and therefore not prone to flinch at the sight of anything. He merely glared at her waist-line and said, "Reminds me of my internship in Africa."

"Did they send you there to eat the starving babies?" Jinx hissed.

"Jaya, surely we can put aside our differences--"

"No, I don't think we can. Just tell me what kind of sick I am so I can get out of here and get on with life." She caught his eye. "You've got to understand, I've been expecting this for a while. I've spent my whole life having people tell me that there's something wrong with me, and now there really is. Self-fulfilling prophecy."

He blinked. "That's bullshit. That's not scientific at all."

"No, it isn't scientific. It's just how it works."

Dr. Anderson rolled his eyes. "Look, you don't need to undress anymore for me to tell you what's wrong. You're starving yourself to death. Your stomach doesn't remember what food is, and so it's rejecting it. 

You're tired because you're not consuming any form of energy. This is as basic and scientific as it gets, little girl. People need to eat to live."

"I am not a people," Jinx pronounced grandly.

"Well, you certainly don't weigh as much as a person. I prescribe a healthy diet of the food triangle, with aspirin on the side if you ever get sore, and I predict a full recovery. All you have to do now is pull yourself from the pit of self-pitying teenage angst, and you'll be set for your boring, American life…such as you can live it," He added snidely with a nod to her hair and eyes. "If cosmetic surgery was within my scope of knowledge I might offer assistance with those other assets."

"You're a bitch."

"I'm a doctor. Have you ever considered the profession? I mean, what do you intend to do with yourself now?"

Jinx wilted a little. "I don't know."

"You were trained in a multitude of useless things at that school," said Dr. Anderson. "All that pointless education can probably be focused in on some subject or other." She didn't respond, and he sighed. "Of course, I'm sure you were hoping to live a life in wealthy obscurity, never working a single day--"

"No!" She snapped. "I want to work, okay? I'm going crazy because I have nothing to do!" She slumped back in her chair. "If my skin wasn't so freakish, I could be, like, a dancer or something. But that would take a bunch of cosmetics, and I don't want to bother with that. It'd be lying."

"And you have a problem with that?" Dr. Anderson asked drily.

"Lies on the side are fine," said Jinx. "I won't make my whole life a lie."

"How terribly noble."

"Shut you face."

He chuckled. "You've lost a little of your bite. You used to snap at me so much more effectively."

"You knew."

"Knew what?"

She glared at him half-heartedly. "What Brother Blood was doing."

He froze for a few seconds. Then he nodded. "I didn't understand the full scope of it at the time."

She shook her head, disgusted.

"He wanted me to give him insight on his student body's personal thoughts and aspirations," He continued slowly. "I wasn't much interested in that. I was only there for money in the first place. I just 

made up some random junk about feelings and insecurities and shit. It's not as if you or your little friends were giving me much to work with anyway," He added accusingly. "The stories you kids made up."

"And the Titans are letting you work in this little hole-in-the-wall, knowing all that?"

"I've come quite clean about the whole thing. It's not as if there was much to tell, I was barely involved in the first place. I hardly spent an hour in jail."

"It must be nice, being able to sell yourself out to the highest bidder."

Dr. Anderson studied her for a moment, and then shrugged. "I am a doctor, not a judge."

"Well, lucky you."

He glanced down at his clipboard. "I think we're done here. Get dressed. Do you want the details, or should I hand them over to your little caretaker outside?"

"I don't need your fucking details, Anthony," Jinx said tightly. "Just get the fuck out of my sight."

Dr. Anderson barely hesitated for a moment before escaping out the door, and, as much as Jinx hated him, she couldn't blame him at all.

Her ears were ringing.