a/n: Sorry chapter 3 was rather sketchy. I needed to kick-start myself to start writing again before the whole weekend was wasted. Didio's removing Wally and his history with the DCU just really sent me into a stage of denial/rage/depression. I've been mentally screaming at DC ever since. Still am.

Does anyone know the names of other DCU Martian gods besides Hronmeer?

Chapter 4: PTSD

The Martian was inclined to smile when he reached the cafeteria. Since he'd first contacted Flash, Wallace had been jokingly threatening to eat the precious chocolate cookies every five minutes if J'onn didn't show up to stop him. It wasn't totally funny, of course. Wallace was being comedic in an effort to to stay in the here and now and up until nearly a minute ago they'd been mentally conversing back and forth. J'onn regretted that he'd had to stop their connection at that point in order to concentrate on bypassing Watchtower security correctly lest the intricate security system go -as Shayera put it- "into a right tizzy"; however, Wallace had seemed in good spirits so J'onn was fairly sure he'd find the normally ebullient human stuffing his face with a few of J'onn's cookies...just enough to make it look like the imp had eaten all of them. J'onn would act first shocked then mock angry as he vowed to hide Wallace's comic books in some nook or cranny where the speedster would not find them until Christmas Day...the next year following. Wallace would laugh and show him his bag of chocos still nearly intact and then...

Then he'd find the human staring blankly at the metallic sheen of his reflection from the stainless steel cabinetry.

"Wallace?" J'onn asked uncertainly; a sense of dread creeping over him.

"It's tearing...it's tearing me...J'onn...please..." the speedster plaintively gasped out, never veering his gaze towards J'onn. He whimpered before his jaw clenched unnaturally tight, rendered silent by a muscle spasm. Green eyes stared unseeing at his muted image frozen in silent horror of what he thought he was seeing.

By Hronmeer!

Springing belatedly into action, J'onn pulled Flash away from the silvery cutlery drawers, cursing fluently in Martian as the human made no protest at being so manhandled. A quick check confirmed that Wallace had not made use of any of the drawer contents...and J'onn thanked his gods for that even if Flash had never exhibited signs of turning suicidal: with an accelerated heart rate, a panicked meta human could quickly bleed out faster than he could replenish his blood level. It wouldn't matter then if the stab wound was accidental or planned...Flash...Wallace...would be dead.

It was his fault.

Wallace Rudolph West had of late been consigned to the Tower -a plethora of steel walls- where all he could do was brood and wait for his 'keepers' to release him for active duty. The League had foolishly thought that keeping Flash enclosed in a floating metal environment would make him safe. What they hadn't understood was that safe in body did not always equate with safe in mind.

They had left him alone -locked in the cafeteria- after telling him the probe had returned.

A few moments for the speedster were like whole minutes for anyone else and he had only recently recovered from the last 'recall' episode. J'onn would address the others on these points later. His first concerns were treating the human for shock and the state of Wallace's mind, not whacking superheroes all on the head -and himself, yes, himself most of all- because he of all should have known better because...

For Hronmeer's sake, the Brainiac probe had been comprised of shiny metal!

Shiny metal like a a dozen elongated thin mirrors reflecting back in horrific detail to the victim how they were ripping a human apart.

Placing his hands on either side of sweaty red hair and clammy skin J'onn commanded Flash's attention.

"Wallace, it is not real. Listen to me...it is not real!"

The dilated eyes didn't even flicker; heart and lungs continued to labor past all necessity. To Wallace, J'onn was not where he was; he was alone with a killing machine.

J'onn hurriedly changed form even as he sought a deeper contact with Flash's consciousness.

"Oh my..." The Green Lantern hastily backed away from the scene. Unconsciously, he used the power of his ring in this regard and it hurtled him backwards several yards before his back crashed into the wall of an intersecting passageway. He tilted his head back until it met the smooth, cool, surface and closed his eyes.

Stupid. He was tired from a long day and now his eyes were playing tricks on him; but instead of responding rationally, he'd reacted like some easily shocked new recruit. After taking a moment to calm down, John cautiously walked back to the entryway and peeked into the cafeteria.

Only problem was he hadn't imagined it: J'onn J'onzz in his dragon form was curled on the floor, his serpentine body cradling Flash while the pale speedster clung to him. That in itself would not have been bad because it would imply that Flash was hurt and the Martian was checking on his condition.

(Well, it would have been bad, yes, because John never liked to see Flash hurt, but at least it would be normal because Flash was too impulsive for his own good and got hurt more than he should.)

Correction: would be normal -if- the dragon hadn't sprouted several fin-like membranes that were busy caressing the mewling speedster and that included places where even a doctor should keep a policy of 'hands off' unless medically necessary.

Freaking hell?

"Get the hell away from him!" John's ring flared in a brilliant emerald glow, a visual backup to his demand. Green Lantern was ready to attack with all the power of Oa if that was what it took to stop J'onzz from...from...

He couldn't even think the word.

Flash jerked and moaned in pain.

Okay, that was it! John started to imagine, piece by piece the biggest gun this side of Arcturus.

A spiked tail whipped around to capture John's wrist, but not firmly enough to cause injury. Orange eyes glowed at him with displeasure. For the oddest moment, John felt like he was the transgressor here...that it was not J'onzz, but John who was the one whose action would be unwelcome and unwarranted.

-Do not shout. If you wake him now you will cause great damage to his mind-

"Then-!" the pressure around his wrist tightened before he could finish.

-Quietly. Think back to me and I will answer you, but only if you keep the volume low.-

John bared his teeth, but closed his mouth, switching to just thinking really hard at the Martian. -Then explain. Now. Or so help me, J'onn...-

-Wallace is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Body contact of this kind soothes him. So does the lack of loud noises- J'onn emphasized the last with another quick squeeze of his tail tip.

John forced himself to think calmly if with no less rancor. Getting into a brawl with J'onn when the Martian was so completely coiled around his buddy was not the wisest course. -Yeah, because he looks so peaceful right now with you molesting him.-

Again the orange eyes sparked with barely submerged ire.

-I assure you that his mental state at this time is vastly improved over what it was a few minutes ago when he was reliving being killed. Also, I am hardly molesting him. Pleasant physical stimulation negates the nightmares he has been having-

-Pleasant...fucking hell, this isn't the first time? You've been doing this ever since...?- For a second, John was at a loss for words...at least those that weren't comprised solely of swear ones. It was unbelievable. How could J'onn do that to Flash? Then the truth dawned on him like the light of a pulsar...first 'oh!' then 'no way' and back again. -You're the one he's having a relationship with?-

-You would find that offensive?- J'onn asked, sounding both miffed and hurt.

-Well yeah! I mean no." John felt a headache coming on. -I mean I don't know. I just...never really saw Flash as having that sort of...he's always ogling after beautiful women...he...- He stopped himself because, really, it was pretty common knowledge amongst the group that Flash was the touchy-feely type. Heck, though he was loathe to admit it, John was a bit physical with Flash as well...only his version was to slap the kid in the back of the head a mite. Knock some sense into him.

The pressure on his wrist went away. John thought at first it was purely voluntary on J'onzz part...until the hairs on the nape of his neck rose and he turned around.

Batman stood there; the Dark Knight was silent, quiet, menacingly considering what he saw and passing private judgement as sole magistrate, jury, and executioner. Without so much as glancing at J'onn and Flash, he indicated with a tilt of his head that John and he should depart the cafeteria and leave the other two alone. John considered rebelling against the unspoken order; yet curiosity got the best of him, so he marched outside with Batman following behind. Once past the door, the Dark Knight closed and locked the entryway.

"You knew." John acidly accused him. "You knew all along that...that...J'onn and Flash were..." he still couldn't say it.

"It was none of our business." Batman cut him off without agreeing or denying it. "It still isn't."

Green irises glowed brighter. "That sentiment would make more of an impact if it wasn't coming from the one who regularly puts tracking devices on his teammates." He sighed as Batman didn't seem in the least affected by his words no matter how true. "So we let Flash get used?"

Batman's eyes narrowed at Green Lantern's choice of vocabulary. "No; because J'onn will not hurt him."

"He's a Martian..." John began then scoffed at the Dark Knight's scowl. "Don't give me that look, Batman. I'm a Lantern of a whole sector or space, dammit, my bosses are little blue gnomes and my trainer was the equivalent of a space hippo; I'm not xenophobic. But anyway you slice it Wally is an immature human and J'onn is..." Stewart tried and failed to find a comparison..."nothing like him. They just aren't compatible."

"Flash enjoys his company."

"Flash has a crush on you." John pointed out. "Kid's not exactly an expert in socializing and picking a good match for himself." That was why he and Shayera felt empowered to watch over the kid, because Wally was lousy at judging character. He needed supervision.

Batman was not a mind reader, but he was observant.

"Whether you feel Flash is competent enough to make his own choices or not, J'onn is one of the wisest beings I know. Reign in your misplaced protective instinct long enough and you'll realize that. Until you do, I suggest you steer clear of both of them."

Wally felt a line of kisses being placed down his neck and sighed. He was lying in that pool of warm water again...the one that made music. That meant he was safe from his enemies because the pool must be located in the Batcave. This made sense because whenever he found himself here Batman would show up.

Languidly, he opened his eyes and saw a blurred colorscape of light skin and dark fabric.

Yep. Batman was leaning over him, cape and all, caressing his body, stroking his hair. Batman was protecting him from...

The Dark Knight stopped kissing his throat as the speedster he was making love to started to squirm and struggle from under him.

"Don't think...just relax...you are recovering from...a stressful mission. All is well...relax."

"No... I...no." Two red-clad hands pushed against smooth Kevlar. "J'onn?" He whined, "where's J'onn?"

Cocking his head, The Batman frowned. "Are you not content with me? You should relax and let Batman protect..."

Wally pushed harder. "I said...no, Bats! Stop...stop being...weird." The speedster fought his way to his feet, swaying like he was intoxicated. He blindly glanced around, trying to blink his way to clearer vision, something that didn't seem to be happening for him but he was nothing if not stubborn. Just ask anybody; he was one stubborn cuss when he wanted to be.

Stubborn and without a clue as to where this was other than it was a safe place in the Batcave...somewhere things-not-nice didn't come to because Batman was there. He was standing in a shallow pool of water though; that much was obvious; he already knew that. There were green lights floating under the water and overhead like Japanese lanterns...if Japan was inhabited by alien pod people. Possibly a cave-warming gift from Supes. Supes kept weird stuff in his Fortress and he liked Batman so that made sense. It was rather pretty, actually (the green stuff was), if a bit surreal. Of course he was seeing it all from the view of myopia. "Where's...J'onn?"

"You want...J'onn?" a confused Batman asked. He sounded rather out of sorts by the inquiry.

Rolling his eyes, Wally grunted in exasperation. "Yes, Bats, J'onn. Have the Bat ears gone deaf?"

"Why?"

"Because..." Wally ran a hand through his mysteriously dry hair as he tried to think straight, "because I like J'onn more," he decided. "No hard feelings, but J'onn's just nicer and...I like him...okay?" He turned around...rather awkwardly, yet managed to not fall onto his bum. He called out, "J'onn?"

"I'm here."

Wally turned around and saw saw that a light green blur had replaced the beige and black one. "There you are, J'onn!" He grinned. "I'd say you were a sight for sore eyes, but I can't seem to see very well. Hope I don't need glasses," he mused. "That would be awful for publicity...a four-eyed Flash. Maybe contacts..." He reached out. "Would you mind?"

J'onn reached out and held him. "Better?"

Wally sighed with relief. "Much."

"Wallace, how do you feel...other than nearsighted?"

"Good." He smiled. "Well, pretty good. I mean, you're here...with me and the alien pod lantern things. All wet. It's like Singing In The Rain with The Fastest Man Alive as an unsteady Gene Kelley and you as the policeman guy..." His face settled into a thoughtful expression. "Well, no...'cause he was kind of angry at Gene for jumping in the puddles and stuff." He looked up at J'onn. "Would you be mad at me if I jumped in the puddle here? Because it makes music and everything so I think I might be able to get it to do the theme music...maybe?" He experimentally tapped a foot into the water. It made a chiming noise. "I can sing, you know. Not so sure about the dancing part, but..."

"Perhaps it would be best not to..."

To J'onzz utter bemusement Flash separated from the Martian's hold and started splashing and skipping in his Pool of Serene Meditation sending the sacred element cascading high up to fall down in scattered droplets...which resulted in music that was not even close to that of Singing In The Rain; still, the speedster didn't seem to care.

"I'm singing in the rain, just singing, in the rain! What a glorious feeling, I'm happy again!"

Despite himself...J'onn smiled.

Perhaps serenity was overrated anyway.

a/n: honestly, people, reviewing doesn't cause cancer. I don't care if it's just a :) or a :( . I know you're out there...globally so at that.