"Now the sky could be blue
I don't mind
Without you it's a waste of time"

- Strawberry Swing, Coldplay

The smell of coffee and pastries permeated the cutting room; Linda Park reclined in a chair as her shoeless feet rested on the table in front of her. Glancing up at the large screen on the opposite wall, she flinched; the sight of her face frozen in a rather unattractive gurn of approval was currently there for all to see. Frowning, she took another swig of her coffee, the report was an exposé on a restaurant chain and Linda hoped it might help her make the transition to national news. Pulling the morning papers and various other magazines towards her Linda began leafing through the glossy pages, stopping at an article entitled: 'Heartbreak on the Watchtower'. Taking a bite of a Danish pastry Linda skimmed the story; Claire Lafayette made a case for a rather dramatic love triangle.

Shayera Hol, the winged heroine formally known as Hawkgirl, has had her fair share of misfortune; although, some would call it karma. Not only did she betray all of humanity by her apparent complacency during the Thanagarian invasion, but due to a dramatic turn of events, she also lost her people's love. A Mata Hari for modern day times; it would seem Hol has no true allies, constantly putting herself and her best interests first. As originally reported in this very column, during her first sojourn on Earth, Hol struck up a relationship with fellow Justice League member, Green Lantern. After the invasion and when her deception was revealed the two cut all ties and the superhero moved on with his life. Moving on it seems, involves a potential relationship with another Leaguer - Vixen. Various pieces of photographic evidence have come to light suggesting an intimacy between the pair and body language experts have been called in to analyse reams of news footage. Their conclusions: the two care deeply for each other. Where does this leave Hol? We're not sure but speculation has been rife amongst those in the blogosphere, such names as Hawkman (appropriate no?), the Flash and even Wonder Woman being put forward.

Linda lurched forward as she spat a large chunk of un-chewed pastry onto the paper in front of her as her mind skipped along frantically, pulling various strands of thoughts together to form a large, jumbled picture. Slamming her cup of coffee down on the desk, Linda yanked her open laptop towards her; typing furiously she pulled up several pictures of Vixen, Green Lantern and Shayera Hol. She had been right, Sharon was the spitting image of the alien. That in itself didn't mean anything, but clicking onto a high resolution image of Green Lantern, Linda fought back a shriek. She had sat opposite that man during one of the most awkward dinners she had ever attended, only a few nights ago. Looking past the glowing green eyes and energy field there was no mistaking it. John Stewart was Green Lantern. Linda nervously opened up another search, this time Mari McCabe was the chosen name, within seconds hundreds of pictures popped up in front of her, from Milan to New York - Mari walked several fashion shows. Her short cropped hair, violet eyes and stunning figure marked her out as a real beauty. With a certain amount of trepidation Linda flicked back onto an action shot of Vixen; the same cropped hair, the same figure and the same eyes. John was dating Mari but had been with Sharon; Lantern was apparently intimate with Vixen but had been Hawkgirl's lover.

Linda shut her eyes; her imagination had quite easily jumped to these conclusions but was it just a product of an overworked mind? Where did this leave Wally, with a highly unusual and eclectic mix of friends and family? If Sharon really was Shayera Hol then where were her wings? Linda allowed herself a brief moment to relax, chalking it up to her overwrought mind working overtime. But a small voice would not let up, the Justice League was in possession of cutting edge technology, would it really be too much of a stretch to assume Hol had a way of cloaking her appearance? Linda went back to the computer, more pictures were pulled up, this time featuring the Flash and Green Lantern - several websites had speculated that the two shared more than a working relationship. Wally and John were friends, she was also fairly certain Stewart had mentioned from being out of town. Linda bit her lip, if Sharon really were Shayera Hol it implied Wally knew about her time moonlighting as a superheroine. She didn't have to assume Wally was somehow involved in the cape toting community? But for this to be the case, during Wally's run of the mill, everyday life, he must have come into contact with Shayera. Under what circumstances would Wally West, Lab Tech, meet Thanagarian, mace wielder Shayera Hol and strike up a friendship? Unless there was something Wally wasn't telling her, unless Wally wasn't just harbouring Shayera's secret. Unless Wally was sitting on a secret all of his own. Linda absentmindedly reached for her coffee; taking a small sip she couldn't bring herself to acknowledge the fact that Wally might be leading a double life. If Sharon really were Shayera and John was in fact an intergalactic police officer with model Mari McCabe as his superbabe crime-fighting girlfriend then... Then that left one very obvious alias for Wally - The Flash.

Far above Linda, far above Earth even, the Watchtower slowly revolved on its axis; housing several of Earth's greatest heroes it really was a flying fortress. Taking a step out of his sparsely decorated quarters Wally sauntered down the corridor, whistling quietly to himself. Things were going well with Linda and he was taking Shayera to Bludhaven for Dick's graduation from the Academy.

"Morning Dave, you just coming off shift?" the Flash grinned at one of the many long-suffering technicians that kept the place going.

"Yeah, just going to catch some R&R planet side. See you around Flash..." Dave just managed to smile before a large yawn consumed him. Nodding briefly Wally zoomed off, eager to grab some food before he swung by Shayera's room. Taking a sharp right the Scarlett Speedster joined the ever-growing queue for food. A perfectly formed, spandex clad bottom virtually bounced in front of him as its owner took exaggerated steps towards the vast array of food on display. Wally looked down at the floor in an attempt to pre-empt the bottom's owner turning round, making eye contact and then striking up a conversation. The bottom came to a halt as the queue once more stopped moving forward, the Flash flinched as he just managed to stop himself from walking into a stylized American flag. Craning his neck forward he tried to discern what the hold up was, Booster Gold was apparently telling anyone who would listen that menus were a thing of the past, as on 25th Century Earth machines were able to 'read' your mind and produce what you were really craving.

"You know, I can feel your breath on my neck..."

Wally gulped, "Uh, sorry Diana, didn't mean to."

"It's fine," Wonder Woman smiled graciously as the two finally reached the food. With accelerated speed Wally began placing several burgers on his plate, as well as grabbing a couple of iced donuts and a chocolate milkshake to wash it all down with. Looking over at Wonder Woman she had simply opted for a pasta salad, smiling politely she just about managed to hide her disdain for Wally's choice of meal.
"I'm just going to go and..." Flash began, frantically searching for a friendly face amongst the sea of lunching superheroes.

"I'm having lunch with Br-Batman," Diana quickly corrected. "Would you like to come and join us?"

Wally squeaked, "Join you guys?"

Diana nodded encouragingly, "I haven't spent as much time with you as I'd like, Shayera always seems to steal you away from me." The Amazon was quite clearly joking but there was still a strange hint of jealously about her eyes.

"She's not stealing, we just figured you wouldn't like to go drinking with us or anything."

"I am not unfamiliar with discotheques, Princess Audrey took me out for a night once."

"Um... we kind of call them clubs now." Wally muttered half-heartedly as Wonder Woman steered him towards a table. "You know I'm pretty sure Bats didn't have me in mind when he asked you to lunch Di."

"Nonsense, Batman greatly respects you."

Wally swallowed nervously; he could finally see two pointy ears and one, large, patented scowl. This was going to be one hell of a lunch; he had a sudden urge to apologise to Linda all over again.

Ever the good ambassador Diana had done her best to drive the conversation forward despite facing increasing resistance from Batman as he reverted to answers of one syllable only. Wally for his part tried to remain as easy going and relaxed as possible but whenever he glanced at the Caped Crusader he was overcome by a twitch, two pairs of white eyes had narrowed to virtual slits and were boring a hole right into his brain. It was with great relief that Flash bid his farewells - finally the speedster was free. Wandering towards the sleeping quarters and down the well-lit corridors, Wally reached his desired port of call, rocking on the balls of his feet he tapped on the door that was facing directly opposite him. A few moments later Shayera Hol appeared, fresh faced and smiling.

"Are we going down then?"

"Yup," Wally grinned, "Just need to stop off at my place in Central City and then I can run us to Bludhaven."

"Run us to Bludhaven?" Shayera repeated, a stray eyebrow arching delicately.

"I mean we could try and pull some strings to get a teleport out of there but I can imagine the lecture now, I mean normally I'm all for wasting valuable League resources but..." Wally flinched; the image of a glaring Batman was all too fresh.

"Well maybe I could meet you in Bludhaven?"

"I'm not going to drop you if that's what you're worried about," Wally reassured.

"The thought had never crossed my mind," Shayera replied dryly. "Just easier for you right?"

"Ok, drop me a text when you port down, I'll come get you."

"Sure you're not going to get lost?"

"Memorised maps of every major city," Wally smiled. "Later Shay."

Quivering hands scrabbled on a computer's track pad as Linda feverishly trawled through websites; each and every one of them was dedicated to those modern day gods closeted away on their very own Mount Olympus. Each fan-site had their own views and routinely speculated which pair of supers were getting it off. Linda pushed herself away from the desk wincing as her chair's wheels screeched against the laminate floor. There was no point rehashing the same facts, the only way she'd find out if Wally was in fact the Flash was to outright ask or somehow manage to unmask him. And as Linda really wasn't in the business of routinely exposing superheroes' secret identities, the former would most probably be the safer option. But there was no guarantee that Wally would confess all, his first reaction would be to deny. She liked to think that Wally would tell her, to be completely open and honest about things but then there was every probability he would not. The none reporter, very human part of her, didn't want to ask him; in confronting Wally with what she knew, his true feelings would undoubtedly be exposed and she wasn't quite ready for that. Linda stared hard at a picture of the Flash helping an old lady cross the street, the prospect that the superhero she had so openly lusted after was, in fact, the man she was dating was completely surreal. Not only did he routinely put himself out there to help people, but there was a strong chance in doing so he could quite easily hurt himself. Die even. The Flash was not Superman; he was not infallible, he was very much flesh and blood – a reality Linda was acutely aware of. Linda's thoughts were becoming increasingly disjointed as various other ideas began to fight for supremacy. With her head pounding Linda rose to her feet, she would have to make her various excuses but there was only one person she wanted to see now.

For his part Wally was spending an entirely care free day, having quickly showered he was now in the process of scouring his apartment for the shirt he had purposefully set aside (but had somehow lost again) for the night's festivities. Shayera would once more be going under the guise of Sharon, the majority of Dick's buddies didn't know about his penchant for tights and domino masks. Undoubtedly, with the presence of several drinks and self-proclaimed ladies man Roy Harper, 'Sharon' would be hard pressed to dwell on her lamentable situation. Whilst the words strip and club had been bandied about Wally was unsure of whether Bludhaven's friendliest girls would be able to get their claws into the latest officers to pass out of the Academy. A sharp rap to his door caused Wally to frown, hitching up his towel he shuffled towards the entrance, he hoped it wasn't Mrs Macready, for such an old lady she sure had wandering eyes. Without so much as a cursory glance through the peephole Wally flung open the door. Linda Park was revealed looking somewhat agitated, upon seeing the red head she was struck dumb as her hand fell limply down to her side. Wally's naked, slightly damp and glistening form was a little distracting. Linda had hoofed it all the way to his apartment and she'd hoped that upon seeing Wally she would be struck be divine inspiration. But apparently the big guy was letting her down, that seemed to happen a lot.

"Uh, hey Linda..." Wally gave her a wide grin.

Linda could have smacked herself on the forehead. That smile - the perfectly formed, dazzling smile was so familiar to her on the face of Wally West that she almost forgot its stark similarity to the one so often borne by the Scarlet Speedster.

"Linda?" Wally tried again; the Asian woman in front of him appeared to have fallen into some form of trance.

Rousing herself Linda made eye contact, "Sorry."

Without further words she stepped over the threshold and with new found confidence her hands reached for Wally's face, pulling him down towards her she laid a hot, sweet kiss on his mouth. Linda then proceeded to negotiate a route into the living room as she pushed herself against him, not caring that his wet torso was making her shirt damp as her nails raked across his back.

Pulling back she smiled sheepishly, "I just wanted to see you..."

An indescribable mix of feelings bubbled away in her chest as her head began to work overtime, trying to decide what she really wanted to do.

"You can come and see me any time you want," Wally replied slightly breathless with his arms securely fastened around her waist.

"Good to know," Linda nodded. Theorising was one thing but confronted with Wally her trepidation increased ten fold, did she really need to know?

"So anything happen in work today?" Wally asked casually as he disengaged the two, having spotted his shirt lying in the corner of the room.

"I..." Linda paused. The Flash wore a mask for a reason, his secret identity wasn't something he would give away lightly; it was a matter of trust and Linda Park wanted to earn it. "No, not much. Just in the editing process of that expose I told you about, kind of dull really."

Wally nodded as he gestured for Linda to follow him to his room - he needed pants.

A/N: Ok! So first off, I figure if we had a bunch of superheroes flying around the gossip columns would talk about them. I hope it didn't seem too much of a reach for Linda to figure out Wally = The Flash the way she did. And, I hope that you guys aren't too disappointed with her reaction. Obviously the issue of Wally's alter ego will be revisited. Also, Dick = Dick Grayson AKA Robin I/Nightwing/Batman. Anyway, let me know what you guys think and I hope you liked it!