Chapter 13; I've Made My Decision

'Ready?' Morgan looked once more through the camera, pushed the button and ran back to the group. She quickly posed between Conner and Dick, smiled and click, the photo was made. Morgan wanted to go picnicking again and it was Conner who suggested to go picnicking with Dick, Kaldur and Wally. Morgan loved the idea and quickly texted them. It was a warm day at the beginning of September and they were having so much fun, Morgan almost forgot to make a picture. She had made plenty, but she wanted one with the whole group. At first she just wanted to make on of the boys, but they said that she had to be on it two. Morgan took the camera and looked at the picture. She could only smile. She looked so small between all the long guys! She stood in the middle, Conner's arm around her waist, Dick's arm on her shoulder. Kaldur stood next to Dick and smiled friendly, like he always did. Photo's were not really his thing. Wally stood beside Conner, winking and making the peace sign.
'I love it,' she said and showed it to the others.
'Feeling the 'aster'?' Dick laughed, poking Wally.
'All I want is peace love and ice-cream,' Wally said serious.
'But most of them ice-cream,' Kaldur said. They laughed. It was true, Wally never stopped eating. Most of the time ice-cream.
'Hey, stop that!' Wally said when Conner strangled him under his arm.
'Nah,' Conner said and pushed him on the ground. Wally looked a bit dazzled. His look was so funny, Morgan could not stop laughing.

A few hours later they parted. Conner and Morgan going north, while Dick, Kaldur and Wally went west. They had permission from Batman to go to the picnic, but had to return that same day to the HQ. Morgan sat with her knees pulled up on the passengers seat, singing with the radio. She looked at Conner and he was just smiling. Morgan tried to sing a duet, with herself. She always tried, because she was sure that one day she would pull the trick! But now she failed, big time. Still, who cared! Morgan gently ran her hand through his hair and smiled. He looked at her stroke her leg with his hand. Usually Morgan would freak out right now, Conner not watching the road. But right now, she just stared into his fierce blue eyes. She had the idea that time stood still, and only they mattered, nothing else. Slowly Conner turned back and Morgan saw his muscles yoke as he cursed. Morgan looked and saw another car coming their way. Both Conner and the other driver tried to break, but both of them were riding too fast. Morgan felt her body cramp up and braced herself. It all happened so fast. Their car, actually Clark's red Chevy, turned to its right side. Conner tried to break and pushed through the floor of the car, stopping it with his feet. The other driver could not stop and crashed against their car. The crash was so hard Morgan hit her head to the dashboard. A fierce pain spread through her head. By the speed of the car, the other car flew over theirs and landed on its roof besides Morgan.
'Are you alright?' Conner asked. Morgan did not answer. She just looked at the car, lying on up side down. The people inside it did not move. Conner touched her arm.
'Morgan,' he said. Now she turned around. Blood was seeping from her forehead. Morgan nodded, she was fine. Conner quickly got out the car and helped Morgan getting out too. She was going into shock. He told her to stand aside as he would check on the other vehicle. But with one look through the smashed windows Conner knew enough. Dead. Morgan saw him standing up again and he looked at her. Her breathing was still fastening and she felt like she was having a panic attack. Her head felt dizzy and Conner ran to her. Before she could fall on the ground, Conner took her in his arms. He gently sat down on the ground and stroke her arm to calm her down. Morgan was trying real hard not hyperventilate, but it was not really working so far. She just looked up to the sky and tried to inhale deep and slow.
'Calm down,' Conner hushed again. With shaking hands Morgan reached for her phone and handed it too him.
'Police,' she simply said and tried to breath through her nose. She looked at Conner while he called the police and the ambulance. Her nose was pretty small in compared with the rest of her face. Most of the time she breathed through her mouth, leaving it open just a little bit, but now she really had to breath through her nose.
'You ok?' Conner asked, when Morgan was breathing calmly again.
'Yes,' she said and stroke his hand. She still laid in his arms, and to be honest did not want to get up. Conner smiled and looked at her forehead.
'How does your head feel?' he asked.
'Like hell,' she admitted. He smiled at her and carefully stroke through her hair.

'Do you know what date it is today?' the tall dark paramedic asked Morgan. When the ambulance arrived, he had gone straight to Morgan and took care of her. Cleaning and stitching the wound.
'The ninth of September,' Morgan said as a new bag of ice was pressed against her head, it ached, 'Fucking hell, that hurts.'
'Do you feel any nausea? Or a bit dizzy?' he asked with a smile.
'No,' she said honest, 'It just hurts. That's all.'
'You're very lucky,' he said and felt her pulse once more. Morgan looked over to Conner who was talking to the cops.
'I know,' she said and smiled at the paramedic. It was a nice man.
'Alright,' he said and backed off a bit, 'Your boyfriend will have to wake you tonight every hour to ask you a couple of questions, just to be sure. Try to take it easy the couple next days, and if you don't trust it just go to a hospital.'
'Thank you,' Morgan said and shook the hand of the paramedic. Conner walked up to her.
'You can keep that,' the paramedic smiled when Morgan reached the ice bag to him.
'Geez, thanks,' Morgan smiled. Conner kissed her and looked at her, his eyes were worried.
'Are you alright?' he asked, again.
'Just fine,' she smiled, 'you have to wake me tonight every hour, isn't that great!'
'For sure,' Conner smiled. Morgan saw he was looking at the cops.
'What did you tell them?'
'The truth,' he said and looked at Morgan, 'I have to go back to JL, Morgan, I have to.'
'I understand,' Morgan smiled, she had already expected that.
'I could have saved these people,' he said and sat down next to her. Morgan turned his chin to her face.
'Conner, you cannot safe everyone,' she said, pronouncing every word sharp and clear, 'You cannot, alright? You will loose other people in the future too, alright? This is not your fault.'
'I know, its just-'
'No,' Morgan interrupted him, 'What happened today, happened. It was an accident, no one could have prevented it. It just happened.'
'Alright,' Conner said and nodded. He would have to except this. But she was right. Sometimes people died. Some people just could not be saved. Not by him, not by Batman, not my Superman. Sometimes, fate had decided that it should just be like that. And no one could change that.
'Will there be any trial?' Morgan asked. Conner shook his head.
'No, they were the ones who rode to fast and on the wrong side of the way,' he looked at the wreck.
'See, an accident,' Morgan said again. Conner smiled, laid his arm around her and kissed her head.

'You wanted to see me?' Bruce said as he sat down by the kitchen table. Morgan sat next to Conner and held his hand. Conner cleared his throat.
'I have my powers back,' he said, 'And I want to come back to the JL.'
'That's great,' Bruce said in his Batman coolness, 'You're more than welcome, Superboy.'
'Yeah, about that name,' Conner said, 'D'you think we can ever change that? With Bradley and, you know, I'm almost twenty-one.'
'Someday, perhaps,' Bruce smirked and sipped his coffee.
'Alright,' Conner said and smiled. He was back.

'O my God, it's Superboy!' Morgan could hear several people gasp on the television. She smiled. People were so happy to see him in action again. Superboy was flying around some big robot. Trying to distract it. Morgan looked down and made strange faces to Bradley. He laughed and swung his arms around. Lois had not really given up writing. Most of the time she sat behind her laptop on her room, writing some article. But at least she was home. Morgan lifted Bradley up and swung him around, running through the room.
'O, do be careful!' Martha said with a worried look. Bradley was crying out from laughter.
'Nah,' Morgan sat and dropped herself on the couch, next to Jonathan, 'really not so much fun as being reckless, right!'
'I'll get it,' Martha sighed when the doorbell rang and walked to the door. Morgan heard a few voices, than Martha came back into the room. She looked worried. Two police officers followed her. Morgan sat up straight. Jonathan laid his newspaper down.
'Have seat, gentlemen,' Martha said.
'Thank you,' the tallest with black hair said. They sat down in the other couch and looked at Morgan. Morgan got a bit nervous. She had never liked cops and probably never would.
'Would you like some coffee?' Martha offered.
'No, thank you ma'am,' the blond one said. They were both build like quarterbacks. Short hair, strong eyes.
'Morgan O'Sullivan?' the black haired asked.
'Yes,' Morgan thought that it sounded strange that her last name was still 'O'Sullivan'. She had been with the Kent's for so long.
'We have sad news for you, miss,' the tallest one continued, 'You're mother has passed away, last week. We had some trouble finding you.'
'Impossible,' Morgan said with a small smile, 'My mother died eleven years ago, when I was seven.'
'Abigaël Tremblay-O'Sullivan?' the blond asked and handed Morgan a photo. The woman in the picture looked just like her mother. Freckled face, short brown hair, scar on her left cheek, tattoo in her neck. It was her mother.
'Yes, but…' Morgan returned the photo, 'This is not possible.'
'Are you sure your mother passed away when you were seven?' the blond asked.
'Of course I'm sure!' what a stupid question, Morgan thought.
'I'm sorry, miss, but here it says that you were in a foster family, the Moore family, when you were seven,' the black said, reading a list.
'True,' Morgan said, 'but then I still got to visit my mom every now and then.'
'Were you there when she died?' the blond asked.
'I was,' she said and swallowed. The worst seven hours of her live.
'Could you please tell us what happened?' the blond asked. Morgan hated the fact that she had to remember the one thing she had tried to forget. But she nodded.
'I went to visit my mom, somewhere in March. And, uhm, when I got of the bus and walked to her small house…Abigaël, I mean, my mom, was having a fight with some man, probably her new boyfriend, I don't know. They were screaming something about drugs and so. I didn't really care, and just went to my room,' she stopped for a moment.
'Take your time,' the blond encouraged her. Morgan felt her hands shake and her voice shiver, while she inhaled and exhaled.
'My mother was telling the guy it was his fault and there was nothing she could do. While the guy told her it was her fault and that she had to fix it.'
'Did your mother use drugs?' the blond asked. Morgan rolled her eyes and laughed sarcastic.
'Isn't that in your file? My mom was a junky and a whore,' it was true, Abigaël had been to drugs since she was fifteen. To pay all the bills she began to sell her body. When she married Morgan's father, she did not need the drugs or the sex with other men. But Morgan's father had been gone a lot, and Abigaël was still an addict.
'Continue,' the blond said, a bit amazed by Morgan.
'Right,' she cleared her throat and went back in her memory, 'While, I mean, because they were yelling on and on, I wanted to close my window and just read, you know. But when I took the window, I saw the guy pointing his gun at my mother. I yelled, but she could not hear me. So I ran downstairs. My mother tried to run away from him when I got in the garden, but he shot her. Three times.'
'Do you know with which gun?' the blond asked.
'Uhm,' Morgan thought, there had been a time when she knew the entire report by heart, 'I believe it was a Mamba Pistol. 9X19 mm.'
'Continue,' the black said again.
'I yelled at the guy and he just left. I was afraid he would shoot my mom in the head, but he didn't. he just left her there,' Morgan took several breaths, 'Our old neighbor called the ambulance and we went to the hospital. They tried for several hours to, you know, fix her. But they lost her.'
'Which hospital?' the blond asked.
'The Main Gotham Hospital,' Morgan said, seeing flashed of that day passing her by, 'The one that was first blown up by Joker.'
'Strange,' the black said and scratched his hair, 'The story you just told us, is the same here. Only without you.'
'I don't get it,' Morgan said while a tear fell down her cheek, 'I was there, several doctors were there. Our neighbor can tell you the story, I told the police. Everyone.'
'We'll get to the bottom of this,' the blond assured her and stood up. Morgan shook the hands of the cops and walked them to the door. Then, without saying a word, she ran upstairs.

'I'm home!' Conner yelled. Wolf immediately jumped up against him. Martha welcomed him with a kiss and he sat down at the table. He looked around after they had prayed. Where was Morgan? He looked at Martha and asked. Martha sighed and told him about the cops and their story. They had not seen Morgan since then. Conner quickly finished his dinner and ran upstairs.