22 April 2016

"Jane Stewart?" Jane tensed looking up from the book she was reading under the street light. The man standing a couple of feet in front of her, just outside of the light, was tall and a bit on the skinny side. He looked to be wearing what looked like a skin tight material on the lower half of his body she could see and on his shoulders rested a simple blue jacket. A plucked brow arched when she noticed that he wasn't wearing any shoes.

"You're rather well dressed for a homeless person." She replied without a second thought and lifted her right lip up.

"Barry Allen, a friend."

"Well, Mr. Allen. If you knew anything about me you would know-"

"You don't have many friends?" She bit the bottom of her inside lip when he interrupted and verbatim said what she was going to say. "Trust me, I know." He added rubbing the back of his head.

"Trust requires proof-" She started again and once more she was interrupted before she was finished speaking.

"Or an Intelligent Judgement." Her half smirk deepened and she uncrossed her legs as she set her book down, if he was trying to gain her attention he had successfully accomplished that mission.

"All right Mr. Allen, you have piqued my interest." He seemed to deflate when she said that she kept a brow perched and gently placed her hands on her book. "It's been twenty years since someone has called me by that name." He seemed to tense at that, "I am rather willing to bet my life that the only person who knows me by that name believes me long since dead."

"I am not here to interfere or blackmail you if that is what you are thinking." She paused after his admission, choosing her following words carefully.

"I understand how one would feel that way in my current predicament, but I assure you, Mr. Allen, I do not feel threatened in the least. Just curious." The two of them kept their attention on one another for the following minute of silence before she spoke once more. "Curious as to why exactly the Flash. A recently emerged hero would go out of his way to hunt me down, of course." She uncrossed her legs, "Central City has been mighty eventful lately." Surprisingly he chuckled.

"You don't even know the half of it." He said as he rubbed the back of his head, "Actually I should be there, doing whatever it is that happens to be plaguing the city."

"Interesting." Her mind began going processing just what he was, and wasn't, telling her but instead implying. He was speaking her language, he was speaking in between the lines and she was more than skilled in the art herself.

"I am just here to tell you that your life is in danger." He shifted his weight from one side to another, apparently either tired of standing, embarrassed or feeling a bit awkward standing there in front of her just outside of the lighting. She was grateful that he hadn't assumed that he could simply come up and sit next to her after their awkward introduction. Unfortunately, this little bit of information was making her current theory even more liable and given her prior experience on the subject she didn't know exactly just how she felt about it.

"And you are just here to warn me that I may be targeted?" Jane crossed her arms. The theory she had conjured up in her head was improbable, not impossible but that didn't make her feel any the better about it. When he didn't make to talk she frowned, uncrossed her arms and ruffled the top of her hair. "Alright, nothing new there. People want me dead. Comes in the job description." She brought her hands down, "What exactly made you come back to twenty-sixteen and seek me out." She was just going to have to be blunt, this whole talking around the subject as fine and dandy as it was would only draw out the conversation and frankly, she would rather like to go back to her literature as soon as possible. Curiously interesting or not, the implications of the Flash going back in time to speak with her personally gave Jane a bad taste in her mouth. You don't fuck with time, just like you don't fuck with nature. Those two were powerhouses of energy that could fuck your life up.

While it may have been her immediate reaction to not trust the brunette standing before her, something made her do just the opposite and made her want to give him as hard of a time as possible for good fun. All of this for a man she had met maybe ten minutes ago.

He didn't seem too surprised by her inquiry and honestly, it looked as if he had been expecting it based on what she saw in the relaxing of his body language. These were the questions he was prepared for, she would just have to think that over later.

"I am well aware of your childhood if that is what you are asking." The red suited man she wanted to refuse was a future Flash looked at her. "Believe it or not you and I become good friends and you get your family back." She bit the inside of her lip and glared at the Speedster. "I came here on your own request." He added, "It took much longer than I intended, but here I am."

"The fastest man alive not making it on time." She chuckled as she offered him the seat on the bench next to her. As he sat down she went back to anything she may have known about time-travel. It was extremely limited if she wasn't pulling from her source...which she tried her damnest not to do to give the Guardians a reason to pull her into their schemes.

"You said I was in twenty-sixteen?" Thankfully, it was Barry who continued the conversation driving it in the direction he needed it to go.

"Yep."

"Day?"

"April twenty-second." When he tensed she narrowed her sights at him, "I take it this is going to be an eventful year?" He nodded, looking as if he was going to say something more she raised her hand to silence him and continued speaking. "Great. And here I was hoping that perhaps Aliens in New York, Undertakings, sentient AI's, not one...but two multi-billionaire Playboy return to the States, Devils in the kitchen, particle accelerator explosions, and the slew of other crazy of this millennia filled our status quo already."

"I am afraid not." Barry laughed rubbing the back of his head. "And just so you know , I am sorry-"

"Ah-ah," She rose her hand up and cut him off, "I am sure whatever is going to happen was outside of your control." She offered as she placed said hand on his shoulder. "You're a kid here Barry,"

"You know me?."

"Well, I hadn't made it my business to know who the Flash was in Central City… but with you being here." She made a motion with her hands over his whole being before pointing at him and circling around his emblem. He looked down and Jane had the inkling that perhaps he had flushed a bit before bringing his hand up to the back of his head and smirking.

"Kinda gives it away, huh?"

"Just a smidgen." She admitted joining him in laughter. "No worries, I have no idea of when we meet...but I will not make any attempt on my end. I have enough on my plate."

"Oh, believe me. I know." The two of them stared each other down for an awkward two minutes before he spoke up. " Which actually makes me wonder."

"What's up?"

"What exactly made you believe me?" She arched a brow and he brought his hands up defensively. "Hear me out. I mean if I went up to any other person talking about being from the future they would have chalked me up to being crazy. They have." She nodded, "As stated before I am aware of where or rather when you were raised, but you made no attempt of having me prove what I knew." Jane paused for a moment, reflecting back on what conversation they had shared with one another.

"You didn't exactly come up talking about being from the future...I kinda just inferred that what with you asking the date and specifically year and all." She shrugged crossing her legs before returning to the matter at hand. "Did future me tell you I would?"

"She didn't outright say anything, you have a habit of doing that... even now I see." Jane smiled and nodded leaning back on the bench. "She made no attempt of denying it either when I asked, that in itself made me remember as much as I could about what you had shared with me and everyone." Jane nodded again and looked up to the stars. "So what made you trust me."

"IF there is anyone who has the ability to jump through time, I feel like it would be a speedster." The two of them sat in silence for a couple of minutes before he spoke up.

"That's it?" She could tell by looking at him that he hadn't thought of this possibility while scheming up ways to work with her. Younger her? The brunette internally groaned and decided to leave that specific tense usage in the past.

"Yep." He laughed and she shrugged as she flung her hands behind her head. "I am no genius, I wasn't born with superpowers or whatever. Technically had I not found myself in the right place and the right time, I wouldn't even be a Lantern." She admitted, "I am as normal as the next guy walking down the street, in comparison to Gods like Thor, scientific miracles like Captain and stubborn multi-billionaires like Tony. All I have is my gut and my gut is telling me that I can trust you." Barry laughed as he zipped up the jacket he had over his Suit hiding the emblem from curious eyes.

"How are you?" Barry finally asked after a couple of minutes of silence shared between the two of them, "And I don't want some flippant answer. Honestly Jane, how are you?"

"What do you see?"

"A woman who can't pick up the pieces of herself at the rate of which they are falling." She smiled looking him in the eye for a moment before turning to the stars allowing another silence to sit between them before speaking.

"And what do you see in future me." Barry didn't answer right away and like she had earlier allowed a silence to fall between them. When he did finally answer had she not been straining to hear it she would have missed it.

"Something worse."

"Ah, acceptance." She didn't move an inch when he snapped his body to face her, obviously not expecting her to have answered how she had or hear him for that matter. "I think we are both aware of how dangerous something like that is to somebody like me can be. It's alright if we are kicking and screaming, bitching, groaning. It means we still have some fight in us, we still see something worth fighting for. Worth living for." She slowly turned and met his piercing blue eyes, "When someone like me has that look of acceptance it can be a number of things. But based on what you told me followed by your reaction to my answer, I know that I am once again going to be pushed to that precipice." She chuckled a bit, "Ah, Comedian would be happy to know that over half a century later I am still fighting."

"How can you be alright with that?" It bothered him, she could tell and she hoped he was aware that he wore his heart on his sleeve. She didn't exactly have to look very far or rather deep to figure out what he thought about the current topic at hand. His brows were knit together and his forehead wrinkled, there was a resting frown on his features. What gave him away, what gave almost everyone away, was his eyes. Those pools of blue, she could lose herself in them.

"It's all I know." She answered honestly right away, bringing a deeper frown from the older speedster, "I am not saying I am alright with it, far from it. I think it's full of shit, but frankly, the universe doesn't wait for anyone. The only thing I can do is pick up what I can and train someone to take my spot and do a helluva lot better job than I have ever been able to do." She crossed her legs, "You don't have to tell me any details-" There was one subject that she had been trying to beat back ever since she assumed he was from the future.

She didn't want to cause him any more trouble, didn't want to risk changing things...especially since she had personal experience with Time Traveling, albeit not of her own free will.

"Blue is alright." She couldn't help herself, the smile that spread across her features was instant and Barry, future Barry, joined her and smiled brightly himself. "He would be so mad to know that I am sitting here talking with you, young you." Jane swatted the air jokingly as she spoke next.

"Bah, he gets to see my pretty face almost every day. He'll get over it." The two of them shared a laugh and looked up to the starlight with a sigh. This time the silence that settled was comfortable and Jane couldn't help herself but look forward to finally meeting the Speedster. She hadn't felt this at peace with someone in years, technically decades if you were going by the overall time flow and not her own personal one.

This calm, comfortable silence was the only thing she would compare Barry and Blake with.

"I am going to let you in on a secret." Jane arched a brow and turned to her newly acquainted friend. "You are important to all of us." She first knit her brows together before attempting to speak, only to be cut off by said friend when he slapped a hand over her mouth. In retaliation, she glared and toyed with the idea of licking him, before remembering that he was wearing a suit. A gloved suit. "Not just to your fans, but also to all of us." He placed the hand that was on her mouth onto her shoulder, "Up to this point and you may still fell this way from my time, but Jane whether you like it or not you're not invincible." She arched a brow and smirked, he having known her for so long didn't allow her to speak. "Yes, you are stubborn." He laughed, "No one is going to argue against the fact with you or any other Green Lantern for that matter. I am convinced you to have a will of adamantium, but at the same time, you too are very much human. And we humans are social creatures. You can talk to us-"

"How well did this fly with older me?" She interrupted with an arched brow, much to her surprise he didn't seem caught off-guard by the interruption.

"She heard me out, to the end at least." He grumbled to himself.

"Noted." He frowned, "Alright then, how about I make you a promise?"

"I'm listening."

"You, whether you are aware of it or not at the time will be the only person I will always be completely honest with." The speedster paled and Jane couldn't hold back the Cheshire grin that spread across her lips. "Oooh, I think I like older me more and more. Did I just break your brain?" She turned from the sky and back to Barry only to find him looking at her as if he was looking at something or someone for the first time. "I don't think I need to tell you to think about everything I have ever done or said around you." Her grin was back with a force when a twinge of red colored his cheeks. "Aww, man younger you is going to be so dreadfully albeit adorably ignorant and oblivious to all of this. Maa~ I can't wait!"

"Deal!"

"You married?" The question had come out much too suddenly for the speedster, Jane didn't give him the chance to answer before stealing a kiss from him, pulling back only when he smirked.

"Yes." Barry answered, "She explained to me this little quirk of yours." He added ruffling the top of Jane's hair, knowing better than to ask who he was married to Jane bit her tongue, but that didn't mean this little bit of information was going to be forgotten.

"Oooh. I rather look forward to this." She leaned back on the bench, "You're wife told me this...man, my future is looking like it is going to be loads of fun." She was practically shaking with anticipation.

"Earth two."

"Excuse me?"

"That's where we first meet."

"Oi, Spoiler much." Jane had to admit, Barry's powers intrigued her and she was going to question the ever-living-shit out of him when they finally met and he told her who he was. She had every intention of getting to know Barry Allen before she met the Flash because she knew damn well just how different those two could be.

"Is it really?"

"I mean I suppose not." Jane pouted, "But still that is no fun. That's a whole different me who gets to meet you first." Jane paused, "Was she good looking?"

"Just another Lantern."

"Boo~ring."

"And old." She hit him. "Hey, it confused us for quite some time. Wondering how someone could be in their sixties in one Universe then less than half that in this one." She attempted to hide how important that bit of information was to her, but she could already see him regretting what he said and quickly cut him off before he could ruin the mood further.

"I never did like playing by the rules." Jane joked abruptly standing up, "Something it seems that you don't like doing either." Barry shrugged, "The Guardians or rather Ganthet warned us about both time and dimension travel and yet here you are apparently doing both whenever you so well please."

"I wouldn't put it that way-"

"Be careful" She interrupted, "You don't have to tell me everything that has happened for me to realize just how bad things must have gotten." Barry bit his lower lip, "I mean I learned more than enough given what presumably little information you gave me, intentionally or not." She spun around on her heel enjoying herself as she continued speaking. "I don't know when we will meet Barry, but I do look forward to it." She stopped her spin facing him directly, "I very much do look forward to meeting you...again."

"So which one of us would you say is River?" Jane paused and cocked her head to the side, "You are most definitely the Doctor and to think you were the one who got me into that." He sighed, but that quickly shifted to a smile and Jane couldn't help but further furrow her brows, she hadn't the vaguest idea what Barry was now talking about. "Ooh, apparently not." Though she had to admit, he had one hell of a smile. "I should get going before the wraith catches drift of me."

"Oh, well that's no fun." She pouted placing her hands on her hips, "That thing will continue to chase you and only you correct?" Barry paused and Jane sighed and tapped her chest and she allowed the alterations made when she became a Lantern to be visible. "I am directly connected to the Book of Oa and our Source."

"You are an Alpha…" She shook her head and willed her appearance back, "Why?" She was surprised that he didn't know that, being from the future and all. Well, at least now she knew how long she had kept that little bit of information a secret for. Even if it was an event and not time-based.

"We are needed." When his expression flattened at her answer she knew the two of them were going to be great friends. People seemed to eat her bullshit up all the time, to have someone willing to not only notice it but call her on it would be fun.

"Seriously."

"Something is up." She admitted, "Something is up and this is the easiest way for me to ensure I know as much about what is going on." She crossed her arms and shot her head away from Barry when he frowned. "Oi, I am an adult. I know what I am doing, sorta."

"I'll be careful if you be careful."

"Self-preservation is important to me believe it or not."

"It's just second to the wellbeing of everyone else." He replied with a laugh, "Which is always a problem all of the time. I know Jane. I know more about you than you do." Her eyes narrowed and Barry slapped his hand over his mouth, "Shit."

"Oh, do you now?" She purred, "That my going-to-be dear friend, sounds like a challenge."

"Jane, that is not what I-"

"When was I born."

"April 16, 1986."

"Favorite Flower?"

"Lilies, you hate roses."

"Who was my first friend in the Avengers?"

"Trick question, Pepper Potts."

"Grrr. Favorite Season."

"You don't have one, so long as the sun's rays have heat to them you are happy. Though you definitely despise winter and temperatures below 70 degrees.."

"Hero?"

"Running out of prompts?" Barry boasted, "Captain America, no questions. You cou-can't talk to him without the mask." Jane's eyes narrowed but she let it slide.

"My Sex life."

"That falls under spoilers, but I can tell you that you don't care for it and use it as a means to get what you need...typically information wise, out of a person. Much to everyone's displeasure."

"Favorite memory of all time?"

"When Baby Tony called the police on you after you returned unannounced from a mission early Christmas Morning." The memory brought a smile to her features, she had just finished showing the twep how to use the net gun he had asked her for...so he could take it apart and figure out how it worked and how to make it better. Not only had he pieced it back together, but the little fucker managed to make improvements to it as well, the kid was smart no one could deny that. When he realized just who she was, after waking the whole house up, which was just his father and Peggy who was surely working something for SHIELD, the little punk didn't even bother looking embarrassed. Instead, he asked her what she learned from all of this, to which she said never to trust baby-geniuses, then he proceeded to question her about her alter-ego and how the ring worked. After the cops left, thankfully.