The Flight of the Blue Beetle 18
The view from the balcony was incredible. He could see the city and beyond the sea. In the sea, he could see the T-shaped tower. The sun was setting and turning everything red and orange shades, warming his body as a stereo played a song he had never heard before but that he knew he loved. Traci was cooking dinner in the kitchen and the scent of one of his favorites filled the apartment. She knew him, and she probably loved him even though he couldn't remember meeting her before that day. Her beauty seemed familiar but as if he had seen it in a dream a long time ago. He remembered that morning, the sight of her half naked body and chided himself. He barely knew her.
Since returning to the apartment, she had done all she could to make him feel comfortable. She told him where to find his stuff, gave him a list of phone numbers of friends and family. Even told him where the park was if he wanted to go for a walk like when he needed fresh air to think. It scared him that this woman knew him so well and yet he knew nothing about her, but that he had given her that golden ring. Still, it was not frightening when he glanced her way and saw her concentrated expression. Sometimes their eyes would meet when she glanced his way. They would stare at each other for no more than three seconds and then look away. At those times, it felt as if his head was going to float off his neck and never come back.
When they sat to dine, they did so quietly. It felt odd as if they were meant to say so many things, but he wasn't sure what.
"This is delicious," he told her taking another bite of his Sloppy Jose with Chorizo, "it tastes just like-."
"Is your mom's recipe," Traci said with a smile, "she taught it to me last time we went to visit."
He felt the food get stuck in his throat and was fast to take a sip of his water. His friends had told him he had presented Traci to his family as his fiancé not long ago. He couldn't imagine his mother giving up her recipe otherwise.
"I have to go to class and the lab tomorrow, so you are going to be here on your own," she told him after a long silence.
"Is there anything you would like me to do?"
"Just relax and cook dinner, won't you? Do you remember how to make Chicken Chimichangas?"
"Since I was ten," he loved to cook. It relaxed him and he enjoyed the look on people's faces when they liked his cooking.
"And what about French Vanilla Cream Puffs?" she asked.
"Not that one," he said, did he really know how to cook something with 'Puffs' on it?
"Good, I wanted to show you this," she said going to the kitchen and quickly returning with what he thought at first was a scrapbook. When she opened it, he saw it was a recipe book. All the recipes were in his handwriting and the pictures were taken with a Polaroid. Each picture had a date written on them, days he couldn't remember. "Let's see, where those little puffs are," she said before biting her lower lip until she found the page she was looking for, "here. You get to make those too, and I don't mean just a few." The picture of the little desert had happy face stickers attached to it.
"They are your favorites?" he asked her before her face turned red. He had the urge to take her flushed face between his hands and kiss it.
"Am I that easy to read?" she asked looking away from him. Her long dark hair created a curtain between them. He wanted to pull her hair back and see how far her blush reached.
"Traci, how did we meet?" he asked her.
She snapped to look back at him with wide eyes. She opened her mouth to say something but ended up biting her lip again.
Don't allow your urges to blind you, Jaime Reyes.
"I promise to make your favorite dessert every night if you tell me," he had to start with this. How did he end up with this beautiful woman? He! Of all people who always ended up in a mess when it came to relationships.
"Give me five minutes," she said as she started picking up the plates. He helped her and washed them as she prepared something else in the kitchen. "C'mon Jaime," she said taking his hand. Though still wet from washing the dishes and pulled him to the living room where they sat with two large cups of ice-cream covered with chocolate syrup and nuts. He could tell it was different flavors.
She started eating without another word and he did just the same.
When he was about done, and believed she would not say anything, she said, "we met at the 100 Greatest Flavors, an ice cream shop. You can order up to five flavors in one cup, and we always ended up ordering the same ones. Every time we always noticed. At first you just gave me a thumb up. It was so lame, but I returned it. It was a while later that you always paid for mine, and then it took off from there. We found out we were both interns at Star Labs, different departments, but we had our breaks at the same time."
He leaned back on the couch and finished his ice cream. He hadn't realized until then that she had placed all the flavors he would have wanted in the cup.
"Lame, right?" she asked nervously.
"Not at all," he said before she gave him a skeptical look, "okay, it is, but delicious." He showed her the empty cup.
"We always have enough of those," she said with a short laugh, "even before we moved in together, you would always make sure both had en-"
It was a chaste kiss. He didn't know why he did it, maybe it was because she was about to bite her lip again, or maybe because she was truly just that beautiful. He took her cup of ice cream from her tense fingers and placed it on the small table next to his. She tasted like all those flavors as she spread her lips open. He took the invitation and invaded with ferocity. There was something about this woman that was driving him crazy. Their finger intertwined and he pushed her back to lie on the couch.
"Jaime," her lips trembled as they broke off for a moment. She wrapped her arms around his head and pulled him again for another kiss. A haze covered his mind. He knew that this was paradise as he pulled back and took off his shirt and then started to unbutton her blouse. She kept breathing out his name as he caressed her body. It was as if he knew her body, yet he didn't. He knew where to touch her to make her arch against him. She knew where to trace her delicate fingers to make him lose his breath.
"Are… are you okay with this?" he asked her stopping her hands on the edge of his jeans.
She looked up at him with hazy eyes. Her frantic breath started to slow down before she removed her hands from him, "I am sorry."
"It's fine," he said getting off her, "I am going to take a shower." He needed to get away from her and start hating himself for making her stop. He would have hated it himself and she would probably hated him too if they had kept going. Still, he wanted it so bad.
The cold water hit his back and he took a shaky breath. He would get his memories back, and he would remember all those silly love stories they passed together. He would love her again and he would marry her. Why else would he have given her that ring? Or brought her home to meet his parents? He was willing to stop helping his friends to be with her. She had to mean that much to him. Then, it wasn't wrong that he wanted her, right? Maybe his body was wired to want her.
He leaned his hot head on the cold tile and hissed. That wasn't right. He would remember first and then they would be together if it were meant to be.
"Jaime, are you okay?" Traci knocked on the door.
"As fine as I can be!" he called out with a hiss, "I will be out in five."
What he would give for her to join him right then.
"I left you some blankets on the couch," she said, "good night."
When he got out, she was already laying on the bed with the covers up to her head. He left the bedroom and went to the living room where as she said, he found blankets and a pillow. He set the bed for himself and lied down. He buried his face in the pillow and drowned his scream. He wanted Khaji-Da back, but he also wanted her. It was as if something in his head was buzzing and trying to tell him to go get her and forget about everything else. It wasn't an annoying little voice like Khaji-Da, just a buzz that kept turning on his reptilian brain.
Eventually, he fell asleep. When he woke up, it was late and he was alone in the apartment. She had left him a light breakfast prepared and a note.
Be good.
He ate, cleaned up the apartment, and watched TV with a bucket of pistachio ice cream. When someone knocked on the door, he stayed still for a moment wondering if he should answer.
"C'mon Blue, I can smell the ice-cream from here," he heard Bart call from the other side.
He opened the door and found Bart with a jumbo sized bag of Chicken Wheezes.
"Hermano! Is the dragon in?" Bart asked picking inside.
"Don't call her that," he said flicking his forehead "is there something wrong?"
"Is there ever when Chicken Wheezes are involved? Of course not, I knew Traci wouldn't miss two days in a row and decided to give you some company. I also brought this," he showed him some gory horror movies, "your favorites."
"I doubt it," he said taking them from him and letting him in, "don't make a mess."
"As long as you share the ice cream we won't have a problem hermano," Bart said rushing inside and getting all the ice cream from the fridge. He got the movie on the entertainment system as his old friend got comfortable on the couch.
"Please, don't tell me you are going to mix that with the Chicken Wheezes," he asked as he sat next to his friend.
"Not a bad idea!" Bart said before he got a bowl from the kitchen and was back in less than a second.
"If you do that, I am kicking you out," he told his friend who emptied the Chicken Wheezes on the bowl.
"We have done worst things than that, but fine," Bart laughed as he pressed play on the movie, "Vegas for example."
"What happe-" he had to know.
"You know what they say hermano, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, especially when it involves club hopping and being chased around by the police to get our IDs."
"That sounds more exciting than any movie," he said stopping the movie, "what happened?"
"Okay, but you have to promise we get to do it all over again. Once I turn twenty-one, of course, the part of being chased for our IDs was not crash at all."
"Let's leave it on a maybe," he told his friend.
"Okay, so when you came back from Earth we took decided to take you on a well-deserved vacation. And I really mean we. Conner and Tim were there too. Yeah, crazy right; so we were going to hit all the underage clubs and have some fun. You can guess those two were not really that…"
He didn't know when they finished all the ice cream and Chicken Wheezes, but Bart didn't waste anytime in getting more. He listened to the most ridiculous tale which involved hoping between literally all of the underage clubs in Las Vegas. They also snuck into a few they weren't supposed to be in which ended up in a bit of car chase (more like Bart ran, and Tim and Conner flew and carried him). It seemed this caused the League to make an official release of which heroes were actually over twenty-one. Afterward, they broke into the Shark Reef of the Mandalay Bay Hotel and swam with them (which scared a few tourists when they saw a bunch of kids swimming with sharks). That got them chased by security and banned from the hotel.
"At that point Tim called it the night," Bart said as he watched him cook dinner.
"Only then?" Jaime asked slapping his hand away from the ingredients.
"He is much more relaxed than you think, believe me," Bart laughed before munching on more Chicken Wheezes. "I don't think I ever remember seeing Conner laugh so much," he said before getting his hand slapped again, "so, I guess I am not getting dinner from here."
"You bet your ass you are not," he said before tossing him one of the French Vanilla Cream Puffs, "so cram third wheel."
"You like her already?" Bart asked with wide eyes.
"What is there not to like?" she was beautiful, smart, and she clearly cared for him.
"I could name quite a few things, but you would never let me back in here if I said them… if we stay friends after you get married," Bart said rolling his eyes at him.
"Bart, I will always be your friend," Jaime said, "Nothing will ever change that."
"Tell me that after you tell her and she doesn't kick you out," Bart said leaning on the counter, "oh, and after you get your memories back."
"You know that isn't fair. I don't have all the details," Jaime slammed his hands on the counter. He really wished for his stable gun right now to staple his mouth shut.
"Then let me tell you," Bart said appearing in front of him. With each point he poked his chest, "she doesn't like us. She wants us out of your life. She knows you love her and will do anything for her no matter how much it hurts you, and she takes no prisoners. And, I am editing out all the words that would make you try to hit me so just you know."
He is correct Jaime Reyes. She is pushing you away from your real purpose.
"Leave now," he told his friend, "leave before I say something I will regret."
"You already have, you just don't remember," Bart said before disappearing in a blur.
He cursed out loud and hoped Bart wasn't that far to hear him. He finished the dinner, but questions kept coming up in his mind.
"That looks even more fabulous than usual," she said when she entered the kitchen and then placed a peck on his cheek. At his confused look she said, "I thought we would start lightly."
He nodded before placing peck on her cheek, "if you are fine keeping your paws off me, then fine."
"My paws?" she asked with a smirk, "at least you didn't forget your sense of humor."
"You probably love my jokes," he said.
"If you mean that dry sound that you make when you think the obvious needs to be stated," she gave him a smirk, "then yes."
"Stop that, or you are going to make me blush," he said as he started to carry the dishes to the table.
"Can't have that," she said following closely to him with the rest of the plates. Then, she saw the state of the living room and almost dropped them, "Bart was here?"
"Yeah, he dropped by to watch some movies and eat all our ice cream. Don't worry, I made him replace it before kicking him out," he said taking seat and motioning for her to do the same. "Now sit down, I didn't slave over a hot stove to let you forget about desert over a little mess. I made over a dozen of those Puff thingies."
"What did he say?" she asked as she sat down; a worried frown on her face.
"What does it matter?" he asked her feeling a tight knot in his stomach, "I am here with you, aren't I?"
"Yes, but what about tomorrow, or the day after?" she asked as tears gathered in her eyes, "you remember them, but not me."
"I am not making choices until I know the whole story," he told her, "now, let's eat. I don't want to fight."
"You never do," she muttered.
"Isn't that what you want?" he asked her, "for me to no longer be part of that life?"
"I… do you resent me for that?" she asked with wide, frightened eyes.
"I don't know," he admitted, "I don't know enough."
"You don't feel it?" she asked him, "What you feel for me?"
"I don't know!" he slammed his hands on the table, "stop asking me things that won't matter after I get my memories back and just eat what you asked for!"
"I don't want anything from you!" she threw the plate at him. He had been too surprised to evade it and it shattered when it hit his brow. He closed his eyes as the gash on his forehead allowed blood to slip down the side of his face, "Jaime… I am sorry." She was by his side the next moment and putting a rag on his wound, "I am so sorry."
He slapped her hand away and stood up. His heart was throbbing as if wounded. He rushed to the bathroom and cleaned the wound. Thankfully it was not deep. He changed his stained shirt and grabbed a jacket. He took his keys from the counter and ignored Traci's questions.
"Where are you going? Jaime? Are you okay?" she followed him all the way down the stairs, "please don't go."
"I need time to think," he told her as he got on his car. He didn't hear the rest of her words as he drove down the dark street.
"Dammit!" he screamed, he hated not knowing what to do.
You know where to go, Jaime Reyes.
He drove to the dock which faced the tower. He stood at the edge and as if waiting for him, he was transported to the tower almost immediately.
"Your forehead?" he was taken away the second he got into the infirmary. "What happened?" Superboy asked as he checked the wound, "were you attacked?"
"By a china plate," he said hoping he wasn't going to say he was going to need stitches, "fight with Traci. This was an accident. Do those happen often?"
Superboy placed a gauze on the wound but didn't say more. Jaime waited until he was done to ask again.
"Is better if you wait until you get your memories back," Superboy said, "So besides the medical treatment, do you need anything else?"
"A place to crash?" he asked hoping he wasn't going too far.
"Your old room is still available, and it always will be," he told Jaime as they left the medical wing.
"Any chance for dinner?" he asked remembering he didn't even get a bite of what he cooked. The puff thingies actually looked delicious.
"We have a fridge full of comfort food," Superboy chuckled as they walked towards the dining hall. At his questioning look he added, "we help many kids who have gone through a lot, and sometimes food does the stuff believe it or not."
They reached an immense kitchen where many were eating. He recognized a few faces, and they recognized him. He waved at them when they waved at him as young kids surrounded Superboy to ask for advice.
"Jaime!" he was almost tackled by a lite body. He looked down and saw a familiar (very familiar) looking girl staring up at him.
"Milagro?" he asked as her large brown eyes twinkled at him.
"Don't tell me you forgot me too?" she asked punching him in the gut, "that's so mean."
"You look older," he said in awe and also a little hurt. She had a good hook.
"Time does that," she said giving him a smug smile. She was no longer ten years old, but thirteen. Gone were the pigtails and the overly high pitched voice.
"Let him have a bite Mirage, he had a rough night," Superboy said ruffling her hair.
"Fine, but I get him all to myself afterward," she poked Superboy in the chest before running off with other young ones.
"Mirage?" he asked Superboy. His parents couldn't be fine with this.
"She wanted Ms. Miracle, but we thought Mr. Miracle and his wife wouldn't like it much," Superboy said as they finally reached the largest fridge he had ever seen.
Superboy opened the fridge with his TK, "go right ahead."
There was everything sweet one could think of; cakes, ice cream, pies, tarts, and so much more. He swore he would get diabetes just looking at it.
"Don't mind if I do," he said taking a little bit of everything. Superboy helped him carry everything to a table and then sat to eat. He was ravenous, and he just realized it.
"Okay, this is awkward," Bart said sitting across from him with a pile of food of his own, "I didn't expect to see you so soon."
"Neither did I," he said in between bites, "bet you love this."
"The comfort food fridge, yes; seeing you here like a kicked puppy, that not so much. I won't ask what happened, but I can already guess," he said before he started to eat, "so, are you staying?"
"He is," Superboy said, "let him be now Bart. He needs to rest."
"Fine, fine, but my room is down the hall from yours," he said before speeding off and taking all his food with him.
He finished eating and allowed Superboy to guide him through a few places in the base. They had a game room, a gym, a library, and unlike his first visit, the place was full of kids, teens, and young adults. The older teens and young adults looked after the younger ones and kept them away from causing havoc.
"In the weekend this place is a whole different place," Superboy said. "We make sure they are all at school on the weekdays, and not causing trouble on the weekend when here; plus counseling, training, and missions."
He looked at him with wide eyes.
"Some thoughts are louder than others," Superboy said with an apologetic smile, "your sister has been training here for a few years but is just starting in missions."
"And my parents are fine with that?" he asked.
"They have to," Superboy said, "otherwise she would go on her own and that could only spell trouble. She is not that different from you."
He was finally led to what Superboy called his old bedroom. Milagro was waiting for him at the door with a familiar box.
"Mom's Cookies," she always put them on that box.
"Could you say it any louder? I don't think Bart heard you," Milagro whispered at him before dragging him into the room, "Thanks, Supey."
"Just save me some," Superboy said before leaving them.
The room was all him. It had a collection of his favorite books and records. The walls were covered with posters of his favorite bands and singers. There were pictures of his family and friends. There was also a table full of unfinished inventions, of things he had only seen in his dreams. There was an amazing computer in the corner which his fingers just twitched to get hold of. There were also pictures of his family and friends, of moments he couldn't recall but really wanted to. There was a picture of him with his friends in Vegas. There was also one of him and Traci together in what seemed to be an amusement park.
"So, what do you want to know?" Milagro asked him as she sat on the bed and opened the box. The familiar scent of his mother's homemade cookies spread out through the room. Suddenly, this felt like home.
"I want to know how you are doing," she was so young and she already had a name. He wanted to ask about her uniform as he had yet to see it. Superboy said she already went on missions; he wanted to know how he got along with them if they were to be trusted.
"Leave it to you to worry about me, instead of yourself," Milagro laughed, "I am very happy, and I am really digging the whole mission thing and working with others. Is hard sometimes to get people to call me by my own name instead of Blue's sister, but besides that everything is cool."
"And mom and dad are okay with it?" that still worried him.
"They like to act like they aren't, but you bet they are. Well, as long as I keep up with my school work and chores," she told him, "magic is very handy with that one."
She told him of what she had been doing the past three years. She had started training in the tower shortly after it was completed. It had started so that she knew some self-defense besides the use of her magic. Then, from that point it became a routine for her to be there on the weekends and learn more. Eventually, she told her parents she wanted to help people and since then she had gone on a handful of missions. She gave him names he had never heard of and others he wondered if he had heard right.
"You are not about to get all overprotective, are you?" she asked after he asked about a particular name.
"I am not," he laughed scratching his cheek, "I mean, you don't see him that way, right? You are still a – OUCH! Were you always this violent!" he rubbed his arm where she had just punched him.
"It's none of your business if I like someone. Is not like you asked me when you moved in with Traci," she said before biting angrily into another cookie.
"You don't like her?" he hadn't really thought of what was Milagro's view on the whole thing. She wanted to be a hero while he was choosing Traci over it.
"What? Of course I like her. She makes you very happy, and that's always good, right?" she said whipping the crumbs from her mouth and giving him a forced smile.
"Is that you or mom saying it?" he asked her before her smile faded. She closed the cookie box and sat in silence, "I would never choose something that made you sad."
"That's what dad said," she said after taking a deep breath, "because you always choose others over yourself. You don't really want to leave us; I could tell the moment you announced you were going to marry her. She has never had made it a secret that she didn't like this part of your life, of our lives. Maybe this is for the best," she said looking up at him, "since you are not able to remember her, you don't love her anymore, right?"
"Is not that simple," he told her, "I do feel something for her."
"Just because you gave her that ring it doesn't mean you do," she said pulling her knees up and hugging them. She felt that way, but he wasn't intended to hear it. It was easy for him to tell she regretted saying those words by the way she pressed her lips into a thin line. "She is very nice," she admitted after a moment of silence, "she makes you laugh a lot."
"There is more to a relationship than that," he told her sitting next to her. He ran a hand through his hair, "when you are in a relationship you also have to stand through the difficult times together. We are not doing so well in that regard and I think is my fault. I should go back." He bet Traci was worried sick about where he was. He didn't know that city at all but the way to the docks.
"Please stay here for tonight," she said hugging him, "it might juggle some of your memories."
"Alright," he tried not to sigh.
Milagro fell asleep on his bed and attached to his torso. The last time he remembered her doing this was actually when she was a little younger, right after they defeated the Reach. She had been worried sick that he wasn't coming back home, and for a while there he was too. No matter how much more she grew, he would always make sure she was happy. But what she said was also true. He would choose his family's happiness over his own. Or was he choosing Traci's over his own? He wasn't sure anymore.
Only when he was sure she wouldn't wake up he covered Milagro with the blankets and left the room. He followed the arrows in the halls to the large living room where a movie was being played on the window turned screen. Most of the teens who were there were asleep. They slept on the couches and the carpeted floor with countless cushions and bowls of popcorn. That was with the exception of Tim. He sat on a single couch watching the movie with a large bowl of popcorn.
"Hey Blue, couldn't sleep?" Tim asked, "or do you want to go back to your place?"
"I don't know what I want," he said sitting on the floor and leaning against the armrest of one of the large couches, "have you found anything?"
"This fantastic movie from the eighties," Tim said looking at the screen, "but besides that, nothing."
"Are you even taking this seriously?" Jaime muttered.
"Very," Tim said not taking offense, "I placed Khaji-Da under constant surveillance; it's Superboy's turn. And all of our available operatives are looking for clues around Star Labs and your block. Bart already searched your apartment when he went to visit you, but still we haven't found anything."
"He searched our apartment?" he wanted to be outraged but was too exhausted to sound sincere.
"We haven't left any rock unturned. Have you had any more communication with Khaji-Da?" Tim asked offering him the bowl of popcorn.
"A few things, it doesn't like Traci," he accepted the bowl though he wasn't one bit hungry.
"Big surprise," Tim said with a smirk, "there is a reason why you choose not to tell her Khaji-Da was healing."
"But that just seems so wrong. Aren't relationships supposed to be about trust? How can I marry a woman I can't trust with something so important to me?" he missed his wings as much as he missed seeing her face. He bet memories or not, this was tearing him apart.
"It was your choice, Jaime. We are your friends, but even we know when not to cross certain boundaries. You made that very clear when Traci came into your life," Tim said leaning back and closing his eyes, "powers or not, we still respect your choices."
"Such a good friend," he rolled his eyes before Tim threw him a cushion.
"I already called Traci and told her you were staying here. She said she would be coming by in the morning so you should get some sleep," Tim said curling on the couch.
"You should too," he said standing up.
"I have to catch who is sneaking out at night, but I will get to it right (yawn) right after I do," Tim rubbed his eyes and said no more.
Jaime would have been sure he was asleep if he weren't Tim. He placed the bowl of popcorn on a near table before walking back to his room. But, he didn't stop there. He went on to a door down the hall. He knocked only once before Bart opened the door and gave him a curious look.
"If you are looking for a place to hide before the dragon comes, then you picked the worst of places," he said rubbing the sleep off his eyes. "This is the first place she will search."
"What did I say?" he had to know or he wouldn't even get a minute of sleep.