Early chapter again because I'm too excited to wait! Enjoy!

~/~/~/~

Hollywood

January 22, 02:25 PST

Dick wasn't getting any better. In fact, it seemed like his condition was just getting worse. And Jenna couldn't feel anything but guilt knowing that she had a hand in his suffering. Sure, it was his idea. But Jenna knew she should have vetoed it. After all, she was reluctant to go to Gretchen Goode's home in the first place.

Who am I kidding? How were we supposed to know it would go so wrong so fast? And the proof of that mistake was laying in the medbay, crying out in delirious agony.

Everyone who was able to had already arrived. Dick's family was taking up residence at the foot of his bed while most of his friends were hovering near the doorway. Jeff was there too.

Jenna winced at the sound of Dick's cries when she returned to the group. Before arriving, M'gann had swung by her apartment to grab her a change of clothes since the darkwear was the last thing Jenna wanted on her body. So she snatched the bundle out of her friend's hands before rushing to find somewhere to change. A bit easier than expected since the permanent residents of the Premiere Building had stepped out to give Dick's close friends and family some privacy.

When Jenna rejoined the others, she found herself subconsciously gravitating to Kaldur's side. She still kept her distance since there still hadn't been any free time to speak with him alone, but...his presence was always comforting to her. And she needed it now more than ever.

"I don't understand," Jeff sighed, glancing into the room before turning back to the original team members. "Jenna, you said Granny's X-Pit was pure torture, but you recovered. Why is Dick in such a bad way?"

Jenna shrugged helplessly. "I'm not sure," she said. And I hate that there's nothing we can do.

Bruce appeared in the doorway. "His brain is swelling. Doctor Jace says we need ice to bring down his temperature." The urgency in his tone and posture was clear enough.

Jenna's fingernails dug into her bicep as she hugged herself tighter. Fuck.

"We're on it," Jeff said, hurrying to complete the task with Conner.

As Bruce returned to the medbay, that just left the last three.

M'gann looked at her blonde friend. "How are you feeling?" she asked gently.

Jenna sighed. "Exhausted. I don't expect less from being tortured for over twenty-four hours and then barely getting any rest before everyone else arrived," she said. "But I'm okay physically and mentally. At least it seems that way."

M'gann's eyes flashed green for a split second. "I don't sense any residual brainwashing. It seems like the effect the trigger phrase had is gone too. Violet's aura did the trick."

Jenna's shoulders sagged. "I just wish it had been able to restore Dick," she said weakly.

She must have looked worse for wear than she thought because M'gann's brow furrowed before she reached out to tug the other woman into her embrace. Jenna accepted it, bringing her arms around M'gann's waist in a tight squeeze.

From where she had leaned her head against the Martian's, she looked up at Kaldur who was watching her with a protective type of concern. Thank god he was there. If he hadn't been...

Jenna pulled away when she heard Conner's footsteps approaching. "We got the ice. Hopefully, it'll help," he said.

Jenna's lips thinned. It was going to be enough to bring down his fever and decrease the swelling. But that still left the initial root of the problem. How could it have affected him so much? She tried to think it through. Easier said than done when she felt so tired. But for Dick's sake, she had to.

She had gone off into her own little world as her friends spoke around her. She barely acknowledged Doctor Jace coming out of the medbay to be greeted by Jeff and a cup of coffee. Until, over Kaldur's shoulder, she could see a small group leaving the medbay, then her heart skipped a beat in worry.

Doctor Jace asked the question that was on her mind. "I- Is everything-"

"There's no change," Barbara interrupted. "Alfred's with him."

Jenna relaxed, at least for a moment, until Bruce looked over at them.

"Kaldur, Jenna, M'gann...a word?"

Jenna looked between Bruce, Barbara, and Tim, her slight frown deepening as she began to suspect what this was for. Yet she trailed after Kaldur, following the others into the small room nearby. The door slid shut behind her, encasing them in silence.

She didn't like the way Bruce looked at her. "Did the two of you learn anything on your mission?" he instantly questioned.

Jenna stared at him through her eyelashes, crossing her arms defensively. "Dick is in the other room suffering and you're concerned about this now?" she all but snapped.

"It's because Dick is suffering that I want to know everything either of you might have learned so we can figure out how to fix this," Bruce said calmly.

Jenna's jaw tightened as she held his gaze, refusing to move or speak. Then in the corner of her eye, she saw a bit of orange as someone moved closer to her even while keeping some space between them. But it was enough for her shoulders to relax slightly.

"Fine," Jenna ground out. "We didn't have time to get a good look through the house. We were barely ten feet past the door before we were dropped straight into that X-Pit."

She closed her eyes in recollection. "All I really remember is being in a lot of pain. It felt like every nerve in my body was on fire, and I'm not putting that lightly," she said. "Not to mention a chanting in my head. It's a wonder I didn't go insane."

She then shook her head, her gaze flickering back up to the group. "I don't know why it affected Dick more than me. My best guess is it has something to do with the meta-gene since that's the only thing differentiating my physiology from his. But that's all I've got."

"It's a start. Certainly something we might want to look into later," Bruce mused. "For now, we just need to focus on Dick's well-being."

"Great," Jenna said dryly, jabbing her thumb over her shoulder. "So if we're done here?"

She turned to step out into the main room, followed by the rest, only to halt when Jeff stormed up to them.

"You were all working together!" he snapped.

Jenna's eyes widened. Shit.

He glowered at all of them, starting with her. "Mister and Miss 'We Don't Join Teams' Grayson and Lance go on a rogue mission to Granny's house, where they're rescued by the co-chair of the Justice League and a Bat-Family drone?!"

"That's on me-"

"I can explain-"

"Oh, I'm sure it is, and I'm sure you can," Jeff snapped at Barbara and Kaldur. "But it doesn't stop there."

Jenna could practically see the gears in his head turning as he began to piece it all together. "Or start there, for that matter. That joint-op busting meta-traffickers around the world? Dick explained it all so logically," he realized. "It was intel M'gann provided to us, to the team, and to the League. But, of course, it was really the seven of you coordinating!"

He scanned each of their faces, trying to find answers. "Just how long have you been coordinating?"

He looked at Bruce. "When I quit the Justice League and wouldn't join Batman Inc.?"

Then at Jenna. "Did Dick recruit me for Markovia just to keep me in the fold?"

His eyes widened as he rounded on Kaldur. "Holy- When the League split, Batman didn't blindside Aquaman; you both planned it in advance!" he cried out. "Created that dog and pony show to lie to every one of your fellow Leaguers! And why?"

He got up in Kaldur's face, glaring. "So you could break the law with impunity? While dragging me into it?!"

Kaldur flinched. "It is not as bad as- as you make it sound," he tried to argue.

"Oh, no, I'm guessing it's worse," Jeff growled. "Everything's a lie! Badass Kaldur getting his bad ass kicked in Brooklyn, Maine? That was just to make the Outsiders look good, wasn't it?"

The kids, who had all since returned to the building, had been hanging on to every word. When their team was brought up, Garfield and Brion jumped forward.

"No!"

"That's not what happened!"

Jeff gestured to them. "Not bad enough you manipulate me, you had to manipulate these idealistic kids!"

Jenna stepped forward, slotting herself between Kaldur and Jeff. "Maybe you should move where it's more private to talk," she suggested, her tone stern. "So we don't 'manipulate these idealistic kids' anymore? Now."

Jeff glanced back at the teenagers watching with varying degrees of shock and anger. Wordlessly, he stalked forward, forcing Jenna to stumble back into Kaldur so she wouldn't get run into. They all watched in silence as he cut between all of them to step into the room, quickly followed by Bruce.

Jenna put some space between her and Kaldur, letting his hand fall off her shoulder. "Go," she urged. "I'm staying out here to keep an eye on Dick. Besides, I don't think I have the energy for a yelling match."

She grimaced, shooting a sympathetic glance up at him. Without another word, she stepped away to return to the medbay.

As the door slid shut behind her, she was encased in much-needed silence. She let out a long sigh, giving herself a couple of seconds to gather her thoughts.

She suspected things were getting too dangerously close to being revealed for a while. She knew that the more they added to their plates, the harder it was going to be to keep it all under wraps.

Yet part of her had wished that they would have been able to find a way to end things without anyone ever knowing. Is this how Dick and Kaldur felt? Jenna squeezed her eyes shut.

"Jen?"

Jenna's head jerked up towards the occupied bed. She drew in a sharp breath when she saw the patient lying there, awake. "Hi," she said with a disbelieving laugh.

Dick struggled to sit up so Jenna rushed to his side to help him sit up. "Hey. I take it things aren't going great out there?"

Jenna grimaced, both in response and as a reaction to the coughing spell that took over the former Boy Wonder.

"You could say that," she answered. "Jeff found out. About everything."

Dick glanced over at the door, frowning. "Maybe I should-"

Jenna grabbed his shoulder before he could try to stand. "Slow down, Wonder Boy. You just woke up," she pointed out. "You better not stand, much less deal with any arguments right now."

She settled on the edge of the bed, bringing up one leg to face the footboard like he did. They fell into silence for a few beats, both probably trying to think of something to say. There were no more sounds of raised voices in the other room, but that didn't guarantee that there weren't heated conversations going on. And there was a conversation that Jenna wanted to have herself, much calmer but certainly one that was a long time coming.

Jenna took a deep breath. Just rip the bandaid off.

"I'm sorry."

She and Dick blinked at each other, both going quiet after speaking over one another.

Jenna's brow furrowed. "What're you apologizing for?" she asked incredulously.

Dick huffed out a weak laugh. "What am I not apologizing for? For getting us trapped at Granny's, for dragging you into the Markovia mission-" He brought his fist to his mouth as he let out a cough. "...For not telling you about our double-agent plan three years ago."

Jenna reflexively recoiled, dropping her hand from his shoulder. "First, you couldn't have known going to Granny's would fuck us over like that," she pointed out. "Second, I can make my own decisions which means I could have said no to that mission and theMarkovia mission if I had wanted to. Deep down, I knew I wanted to be back in all of this again even if I didn't act like it at first."

Taking another breath, she looked down at her lap. Their thighs brushed against each other but neither of them pulled away. Neither of them wanted to.

"And third," Jenna said slowly, looking over to meet his eye. "You were just trying to do the right thing. Keeping the rest of the team safe, keeping us from worrying about Kaldur's safety...you couldn't have known then how much of it was going to go wrong."

She frowned, thinking about how Kaldur's mind was nearly destroyed for good. She couldn't imagine what it would have been like if she never got to hear him speak to her again...never got the chance to tell him that she still loved him. But she nearly did if it hadn't been for M'gann.

"I'm not going to act like I was never hurt by some of your choices," Jenna admitted, picking at her cuticles. "I'm not going to act like some days I remember what all went down and get so angry."

She closed her eyes wearily. "I'm trying to work past that, and I'm getting there," she added. "But what snapped me out of it? Was thinking that you were going to die right here"—she jabbed her finger into the solid bed underneath her—"and I was never going to get to speak to you ever again...just like with Wally."

Tears welled up but they didn't fall yet. She looked back to Dick whose eyes never left her. He wasn't nearly as close to crying as she was, but she could see how vulnerable he was.

"I wish every day that I could have one more minute with him. To tell him I'm sorry. But I can't," Jenna said shakily.

A warm–albeit sweaty–hand rested over hers so she turned her hand over to lace their fingers together. She clung tightly and, even though it was clear that he was weak, he was doing the same.

Jenna sniffled a bit as she stared down at their hands. "But I do have that minute with you, and more, which I didn't realize I was taking for granted until now," she continued. "So I'm sorry. Truly sorry for cutting you out these last couple of years. I hope you can forgive me eventually."

"Of course, I do."

Jenna couldn't help her snort, lifting her head to meet his gaze. "Jumping the gun there, aren't you?"

Dick was serious though. "No. I'm not. You had every reason to be angry and I regret being the cause of those reasons," he said firmly, yet breathless from his energy being zapped. "And I've probably given you more this year alone, but if you're able to forgive me, that's enough."

His following words made Jenna choke up. "Wally would feel the same too."

Jenna's lip began to tremble. She wasn't sure who moved first, but they were soon twisted at the waist, hugging tightly with faces buried into shoulders. She didn't worry about the tears that were streaming down onto Dick's skin because he didn't seem to mind.

For the first time in a long time, Jenna felt like a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. The breath she let out made her sag against her friend's warm chest which rumbled with a weak laugh.

"You're not even sorry!"

Jenna's head whipped around to look at the closed door. Great timing.

While wiping away her tears, she glanced back at Dick when he began to move. At that point, Alfred had stepped in to help support him and try to keep him in bed. Dick was insistent, so Jenna had no choice but to support his weight while they walked into the next room.

"We are sorry we have made you feel this way," she could hear Kaldur say as Alfred pulled open the medbay doors.

"That's not an apology!" Jeff snapped.

Bruce's expression darkened. "I am not going to apologize for putting the mission first," he said coldly.

"What good is the mission if we lose ourselves trying to fulfill it?!"

As Jenna helped Dick step further into the room, the latter called out to make his presence known. "Jeff."

Everyone finally seemed to realize they were there as all eyes in the room turned to the pair.

"I think the person you're really angry with...is me," Dick said.

As he spoke, Jenna watched Jeff's expressions. He had all but closed himself off to them. His expression was hard and unflinching.

"I was the one who pulled you into this from the start," Dick admitted. "If I hadn't, you wouldn't have had to be involved."

Jenna's brow furrowed when the man he was addressing remained silent.

"Jeff." Dick paused to clear his throat again. "Please-"

That time Jeff did cut him off, probably tired of seeing him push himself in his weakened state. "Stop. You're not sorry either," he said tightly. "I'm so gone."

He glanced around the room. "Where's Helga?"

It was then that Jenna realized the doctor had disappeared.

"Uh, she left a while ago with Violet and the Markovs," Garfield piped up.

Jenna felt her skin crawl for seemingly no reason.

"Yeah, I don't blame her," Jeff sighed. "Probably didn't want them to see all this."

At that exact moment, the elevator opened. Inside were two people, Brion and Tara, both looking dejected.

The uncomfortable feeling in Jenna increased.

"Where's Violet?" Jeff wondered before noticing something else. "Where's Helga?"

The looks on the Markovs' faces weren't a good sign.

"She's gone," Tara finally said. "Both of them are."

Jeff's eyes narrowed. "Gone? Gone where?"

After letting Tim take over in supporting Dick's weight, Jenna took a tentative step forward. "Start from the beginning," she said gently.

Tara glanced over at her. "Doctor Jace chipped us and took us to her car one by one where we waited until she came back out with Violet," she began. "Then she drove us to her lab under the assumption that she was going to help heal Violet from whatever illness was killing her."

"Violet's dying?" Jenna questioned out loud, eyes wide in fear.

"No. But Doctor Jace led her to believe that she was since last month," Brion picked up the story. "That's why she had been so distant from all of us! Because she wanted Violet to keep her illness a secret until they found a 'solution.'"

"Then what happened?" Jeff asked the siblings.

"Gretchen Goode showed up." Jenna's body tensed at Tara's revelation. "With a talking gorilla called Ultra-Humanite? They put this...leash on Violet, preventing her from fighting back just like a control chip would."

"Then they took us down into the X-Pit," Brion added. "Shoved Violet out into it where she struggled until her violet aura activated on instinct. Then Granny shoved Doctor Jace into the Pit as well."

The room was silent, almost as if everyone else was afraid to interrupt. Chills went up Jenna's arms and her hands reflexively curled into fists.

"Violet was somehow able to project her aura out to protect Doctor Jace. That's when Gretchen started to interrogate her," Tara said.

"She revealed everything. How she forcefully activated Tara's meta-gene, but when our uncle took her away, Doctor Jace convinced me to activate my own while making me feel like it was my decision," Brion continued. "Because of our meta-genes being activated, she truly believed that, because she 'created' us, we were her children now.

"When Gabrielle Daou was brought to her lab and tested, the result was negative, so Doctor Jace put her to sleep. Of course, you know the rest...she was being buried until Jenna and Artemis found her and rescued her. But Doctor Jace–like the rest of us–thought she had a meta-gene that revived her. So she believed that Violet was her daughter too. And in order to get closer to us, in her own words, she...decided to seduce Jeff."

There was an awkward pause until Tara stepped back in.

"She believed that Violet was her creation until you all found out she was a living Motherbox," she said. "Jace tried to separate her from Brion, so she came up with the story that Violet was dying, when in actuality, she was waiting for a chance to hand over Violet to someone else so, in turn, she could be provided a safe place for her and her children. Us."

Jenna was reeling with the onslaught of information. It was then that she realized her instinct was right all along. She always felt like something was off about Helga Jace but just couldn't figure out what the problem was, mostly chalking it off as being too paranoid. Besides the occasional odd protectiveness that the woman had toward the kids, nothing was concrete.

But Jenna's gut was right all along. And it was so much worse than she could have expected.

Jeff had become silent, having sunk down on the couch with his head in his hands. He had just found out the woman he was growing very attached to was a pathological liar and had some pretty twisted ideals. The shock was understandable.

"My control chip had malfunctioned after coming back from the X-Pit," Tara explained. "I was in turn able to free Brion so we could fight back. Except it was in vain as Gretchen left with Violet and Ultra-Humanite left with Doctor Jace."

"But that means Gretchen has Violet under her control," Brion said with more urgency. "We have to rescue her!"

"But we don't know where she is," Tara pointed out.

Jeff hadn't looked up once. "This can't be true."

"I am sorry, but it is. If my control chip hadn't malfunctioned, Brion and I would never have escaped."

Clearly, Jeff was having a harder time accepting the fact. "Helga-"

Tara interrupted him though. "Jace betrayed you. Betrayed us all," she said.

It wasn't like Jenna wanted her instinct to be correct. They had all put so much trust in the scientist for months. But it seemed that before they had even met her, she had been plotting.

"I gotta get outta here," Jeff whispered, finally rising to his feet.

He had gotten past the group and halfway to the elevators when Kaldur tried one last feeble attempt to reach out to him, even as Jenna had instinctively reached out to stop him. "Jefferson..."

Jeff just whirled around, jabbing a finger in their direction. "Don't follow me!"

After the elevator doors slid shut, Jenna stared at them sadly, squeezing Kaldur's arm as the room went quiet once more.

~/~/~/~

The sounds of Hollywood city life were comforting. That coupled with the soft breeze made Jenna feel like she could clearly think for the first time in weeks.

'What good is the mission if we lose ourselves trying to fulfill it?' What if Jeff was right?

She had been in his place before. She had secrets kept from her by two of the most important men in her life. And yet, there they were, doing the same thing. But she was brought into the fold instead and suddenly she was okay with giving others that very same treatment.

Jenna dropped her head with a sigh as her palms dug into the metal railing. She didn't know what to think anymore. Honestly, with Dick suffering and with Kaldur risking his life to save both of them, she couldn't bring herself to hold onto the anger that she had been harboring for two years. And anyway, she hadn't for a while if she was being honest.

I could have lost them both. Or it could have been me. And I would have never gotten to say goodbye. Just like with Wally.

She closed her eyes.

Which she then opened again when the doors behind her slid open. She didn't have to turn around to know who it was. Four years together, three years apart, and she still knew him better than anyone.

Kaldur leaned against the railing beside her, keeping a close but respectable distance between the two of them, but Jenna's heart was stubborn in wishing that he would put his arms around her again.

You did this, remember?

Shut up.

"Are you sure you're alright? The X-Pit didn't hurt you?" she asked out loud, breaking the silence that surprisingly didn't feel all that awkward.

"Yes. It was Wyynde who discovered that our magic could help fight the pain so we were able to get the two of you out."

Jenna sighed. "Good. I don't know what I would have done if we...if you had been laying in that room like that too."

She finally looked up, sparing him a glance to find he was already watching her with a soft expression that made her heart ache. His movements were hesitant, but she didn't reject his hand reaching across to rest on hers.

"You are not going to lose me," he said softly.

I don't want to lose you. Jenna stared up at him sadly, remembering the words spoken seven years before, the ones that started it all.

"And yet you kept me in the dark, knowing how I'd feel." Even now, her tone was full of hurt.

Kaldur's gaze lowered to their hands, guilt written all over his face. "I know that anything that I try to say will not change how much we hurt you. How much I hurt you," he admitted, meeting her eyes again. "The last thing I wanted was for you to get caught in the crossfire. And in my attempts to do so, I broke your trust. Which I will spend the rest of my life apologizing for. If I could go back and change everything, I would do so in an instant."

Jenna frowned. "But that's the thing. You can't," she said, barely holding back the tremble in her voice. "What's done is done and there's nothing you or anyone can do to change that, Kaldur."

Kaldur dropped his gaze, beginning to pull his hand away.

Don't go! Before she could really stop herself, Jenna flipped her palm over and gripped his hand tightly. He paused, waiting for her to say something like she clearly wanted to.

"But," she started slowly, "you're not the only one who has things to apologize for."

Her eyes flickered down for a moment as she swallowed tightly, trying to find the words to say. "This whole secret coordination thing has made me learn where you were coming from that year you went undercover," she continued. "It's made me realize how stupid I've been too."

Kaldur's eyebrows went up. "Jenna, you had every right to-"

Jenna cut him off. "I know. I don't regret feeling the way I did. But I do regret waiting so long to make amends with you and Dick when I already forgave Artemis."

She sighed heavily. "Because even if I didn't want to admit it for the past two years, I haven't stopped loving you."

She threaded their fingers together, relishing in the feeling she had missed for so long. It fell silent as she watched his thumb brush her empty ring finger. A bittersweet feeling nearly overwhelmed her to the point of tears. Get whelmed, Jen, geez.

Part of her was worried when Kaldur didn't speak so she shyly glanced up.

And nearly lost her breath because he was watching her with something so raw and unwavering in his eyes. "I haven't stopped loving you either, Jenna."

The last bit of anger she had been holding on to started to fizzle out.

Jenna's heart thumped as she stared into the eyes she loved so much. The wrinkle in her brow disappeared when she lifted her hand slowly to cup Kaldur's face.

And her eyes slid shut as she leaned up to press a kiss on his lips.

The sheer relief she felt when she did almost made her cry. Three years was far too long. She missed this. Missed the warmth that would spread through her. Missed the feeling of his arms around her waist and-

Jenna made a noise when a pair of hands grasped her hips and pulled her in closer.

-missed that his presence alone made her feel so safe and secure.

She wound her arms around Kaldur's neck to bring him closer, deepening the slow kiss.

The pair was lost in their own world for a while. There were still things to attend to. Jeff was angry with all of them. Dick was awake but still not one hundred percent. Not to mention Violet was now missing. And Jenna didn't even want to think about having to deal with whatever 'Granny Goodness' had going on...

A shiver shot down her spine as teeth nipped at her bottom lip.

Right. Still, she was going to enjoy one of the very few moments of peace she got. With everything that she's had to deal with since two kids from Markovia were tossed out with nowhere to go, she hadn't had much of a chance to breathe.

Jenna pulled away, resting her forehead against Kaldur's as they both caught their breath. She didn't want to move much more than that, almost afraid that if they stopped touching, she would wake up from a dream.

"I missed you," she whispered, also afraid to shatter the silence that hung over them.

Kaldur reached up, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear and refusing to look away from her either.

"I missed you too, my love."

Despite being happy that she was in Kaldur's arms again, Jenna couldn't stop herself from looking over at the elevator doors, subconsciously frowning. Then a hand gently grabbed her chin, drawing her attention back to the man in front of her.

"We will figure it all out," Kaldur promised. "Whatever may happen, we will handle it together."

Jenna's heart swelled. "Yeah. Together," she whispered.

And she knew they both meant it.

~/~/~/~

If you hear something strange that's me screaming in excitement. XD I'm super happy to finally have Kenna get back together again. I've missed them so much! :')

We're down to three more chapters! I can't believe we're almost there. Feels like just yesterday I was wrapping up ASC. It's wild how fast last year flew by.

Anyway, because of that, I will start talking about my plans for the future of TSS soon. In the meantime, make sure you are following me so you can stay up to date on any upcoming fics!

See you next week!