Please enjoy! :)

sorry for the shortness.

L.L.A.P

~Laces

Conner knew that Superman shouldn't have tried to train her. He blamed himself mostly for not explaining that Athena had some problems if she was talked to in certain ways.

Conner knew that Athena only acted certain ways due to her child abuse, which left her with more than just physical scars. She seemed to have some PTSD of some sort.

Since she lived with them, Batman and Dick understood this as well. Both men had also had to comfort her when she had vivid nightmares, and when she'd start getting scared.

Athena was getting better, but it was hard to simply erase the memories of her first seven years of life and abuse.

Conner walked into the training room right after his mission to see Athena curled up in a ball, sobbing, as Superman knelt awkwardly next to her trying to comfort her.

Clark looked up at Conner, his eyes pleading for help, and Conner was quickly at Athena's side.

"Shhh, Athena." Conner said in a soothing voice, slowly rubbing her back in circles. "Athena, are you hurt?" he questioned in a whisper.

Conner knew that she wasn't, but he needed her to realize that on her own.

Athena slowly lifted her hand, and it was shaking. But she observed her arm, then her other arm.

"Are you hurt, Athena?" Conner repeated patiently.

"N-no." she whispered. "I… it got loud… and I got scared… and I thought…" she broke off her sentence and shook her head.

"You thought what?" questioned Conner in an even tone.

"I thought I was going to get hurt." Athena informed in a small voice.

"But you're not hurt, right?" Conner questioned, and Athena nodded slowly. Her tears had dried and she wasn't shaking as much.

"No. I'm not hurt." She said with a small smile.

"That's great to hear." Conner nodded, smiling back at her. "How about you put on your headphones and relax a bit, okay?"

"Okay." Athena nodded, and ran to her headphones to listen to some music.

"What happened?" Conner inquired.

"I was just trying to push her to do better." Clark informed, and Conner nodded with a sigh.

"Everything you say to her during training has to be encouraging. Trying to push a regular person during training is fine, but Athena needs to be motivated in different ways. The moment you raise her voice, she gets stressed and thinks back to when she was at Cadmus." Conner explained.

"I understand." Clark nodded. "Does she break down often?"

"She was actually doing pretty well, but I think because she's not as close to you as some others, she had a larger reaction." Conner informed.

"Aren't you worried how that will affect her out in the field?" Clark questioned.

"No. Because she is going to be out in the field when she is ready. And if she doesn't get this under control, she isn't ready." Conner explained.

"But don't you want her out in the field soon?" Clark inquired, and Conner shook his head.

"No. I don't want her out there, especially if she isn't ready. We can take our time with her training." Conner stated.

Conner knew that Athena wanted to become a hero, but Conner wanted her out only when she was ready. When she had her fear under control.

If it took years to achieve that, then that was okay by Conner. It kept her safer longer in his view.