Chapter 22

Saturn Girl's condition improved steadily over the next several days. Within a week, she was completely out of danger, to the relief and delight of all the Legionnaires. Now it was just a matter of time before she finally woke up.

As fate had it, Lightning Lad was the only one in the room when it happened. He visited her that morning, and was talking to her about how everyone was just waiting for her to get up.

"We all miss you", he said to her, taking her hand. "But you take your time, okay? So you'll be completely better. At least you're out of danger now. Brainy says you'll probably make a full recovery." He paused and sighed. If she'd been awake, he was sure her telepathic powers would have picked up his thoughts about how much he wanted her to wake up, even though he'd said she could take her time. Beneath his hand, her fingers moved and he smiled.

"Yeah, I know you can hear me. Don't worry. You don't have to tell me that."

Then he noticed her whole body stirring, and her eyelids began to flutter. Lightning Lad felt his heartbeat race as he kept his eyes on Saturn Girl's face. Was she finally going to wake up?

Saturn Girl's eyelids slowly flickered open, revealing her deep pink irises. She blinked a few times before she finally focused on Lightning Lad.

"Garth." She said it softly, and there was no hint of surprise in it – only contentment and gladness.

"Hey", he said, as he smiled even wider than before.

Saturn Girl, with Lightning Lad's assistance, slowly propped herself up to a sitting position, leaning against the wall that the head of her bed was against. She turned her head as she took in her surroundings. "What happened?"

Lightning Lad was only too happy to answer – he could finally have a conversation with her. "You beat Brainiac", he told her.

"I did?" She sounded surprised.

Lightning Lad stiffened slightly – was she forgetting again? "You don't remember?"

"After I released that force field, everything went black", Saturn Girl said. "The next thing I remember is Brainy asking me if I could hear him."

"Oh." Lightning Lad relaxed. "Well, your force field basically disintegrated Brainiac. You really did defeat him. I told you you would."

Saturn Girl smiled. "Yes, you did."

They said nothing for a while, each enjoying the other's company – and each wondering how to broach the same subject. Eventually, Saturn Girl was the one who spoke.

"So…before the battle…" she began.

"Ah." Lightning Lad scratched at his neck with his free hand. "Um…"

Saturn Girl smiled again. "I feel the same way, you know."

"Really?" said Lightning Lad in relief and delight. Then he frowned as he realized what she'd said. "Wait, how'd you know how I felt? You didn't read my mind, did you?" He covered his mouth. "Or did it accidentally slip out while I was talking?"

"Kell-el told me", Saturn Girl admitted.

"Kell-el did what?" exclaimed Lightning Lad, aghast.

"He was in here the other day, and he 'accidentally' let it slip."

"I'm going to kill him."

Saturn Girl couldn't help a laugh – and then she winced as her hand went to her side.

"You okay?" Lightning Lad asked in concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine. My ribs haven't completely healed yet." She returned her gaze to him. "But like you said, I'll make a full recovery."

"Actually, Brainy said that."

"Makes no difference." She leaned toward him and he leaned forward, and they both met halfway as they kissed.

"Caught red-handed!" cried a gleeful voice from the entrance. Startled, they broke apart.

"Cham!" Lightning Lad exclaimed. His gaze shifted to the other Legionnaires who had come in with Chameleon Boy. "Uh…"

"I knew it!" Phantom Girl said jubilantly, pointing her finger at the couple. "You two are in loooove."

Shrinking Violet snorted as she giggled, Dream Girl grinned, Kell-el and Timber Wolf looked smug, and even Brainy was smiling.

Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl looked sheepish, but then they, as well as the others, burst out laughing.

"Ow", said Saturn Girl, her hand at her ribs.

Brainy made his way over to her and examined her with several devices. "Vitals look good, most of your injuries are healed, and your ribs will be fine in a few more days. But", he added, "you should not jump right back into active duty. It will probably take a few more weeks for you to completely regain your strength. I'm sure Cosmic Boy will insist on putting you off-duty for at least several days."

"It's a deal", Saturn Girl agreed.

"Speaking of Cosmic Boy, someone really should tell him what's been going on", said Timber Wolf. He glanced suggestively at Kell-el, one eyebrow raised.

"Oh, no", said Kell-el firmly, holding his hands up. "No way. Have someone else do it. I'm not missing out on this reunion just because I'm from the 41st century."

"Come on, Kell, it's the least you can do after you spilled the beans about Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl", prodded Dream Girl.

"You what?" exclaimed Lightning Lad. "You didn't."

"He did", Timber Wolf affirmed. "The whole nine yards."

"Kell!"

"It seems I've got something to do", said Kell-el with a grin, backing out the door. "I'm going to contact Cosmic Boy."

"When exactly did he tell you?" inquired Lightning Lad, glancing after Kell-el as the latter left.

"Just about twenty minutes ago", said Phantom Girl. "He saw Saturn Girl was awake with his X-ray vision, and he told us. We all wanted to come here, of course, but he convinced us to wait a bit – while you two got re-acquainted."

"He saw the whole thing?" Lightning Lad exclaimed, bolting upright.

"Just the beginning", Brainy assured him. "He respected the rest of your privacy and instead told us all about your confession." Brainy was positively smirking.

"Well", said Saturn Girl, "I guess we owe him the extra time. We might never have gotten around to it if you guys had just come barging in."

"Man, it's really good to have you back", said Cham fervently as he pulled up a chair beside her bed. "Lightning Lad was a total bore without you, even after you came out of your coma."

"I was not", declared Lightning Lad indignantly.

"Were so."

"So were you!"

"So was everyone", said Dream Girl. "Although things did lighten up considerably after you responded to Brainy", she added to Saturn Girl.

Kell-el returned just then. "Get ready, guys", he warned. "In about" – he checked his watch – "twenty-four hours, we're going to be swamped with the rest of the entire Legion, and the Subs'll probably be arriving any minute now."

"Yikes", said Shrinking Violet.

"Yikes", Chameleon Boy agreed.

Kell-el's prediction proved accurate. Several minutes later, there was a knock on the door, and Chameleon Boy opened it to admit the entire Legion of Substitute Heroes. Over the course of the next twenty hours, the rest of the Legion landed in Legion HQ in their respective teams, so that six to eight Legionnaires would arrive at one time. And of course, all wanted to see Saturn Girl at once, but Dream Girl firmly allowed only a slow trickle of visitors, spacing intervals between the visits for Saturn Girl to rest.

By the end of another week, Saturn Girl was completely healed and was out of sick bay, but she was still off-duty, due to Cosmic Boy's vociferous and insistent protests against it. He and Saturn Girl had finally agreed on a compromise – she would be returned to active duty after the annual Legion election, which was only three days away.

Three days passed quickly, and the morning of the election arrived. This election was especially unique as well as a rare occasion because all the Legion members were present in Legion HQ for it, and even the Subs had been invited.

"All right, all right, settle down", ordered Cosmic Boy as the Legionnaires filed into the main room. When they had all quieted down, he cleared his throat. "Right, we've got some business to take care of before we cast the votes. Firstly, we're pleased to welcome back Saturn Girl to active Legion duty."

Everyone clapped as Saturn Girl smiled.

"Secondly, we'd like to thank Superman and Kell-el, who came here from their different time periods to help us, as well as the Legion of Substitute Heroes, whose assistance was welcome and needed", said Cosmic Boy.

Another round of applause.

"Third", continued Cosmic Boy, who was really getting rolling, "we'd like to officially welcome Brainiac 5 back into our ranks."

Cheers and more claps erupted.

"And finally, we can now celebrate the fact that Brainiac 1.0 is now finally gone forever, thanks to Saturn Girl."

The applause and cheering was the loudest so far.

Cosmic Boy looked around, satisfied. "Now that that's settled, will everyone please come up to the computer one by one to cast your votes."

"What about us?" inquired Porcupine Pete.

"Er…" Cosmic Boy sounded uncertain. "Well…just this once, I supposed, since you helped out so much with Brainiac 1.0…"

The Subs cheered.

"Yes, well…" Cosmic Boy cleared his throat. "One by one now, please."

The Subs and Legionnaires lined up in front of the computer, each standing an appropriate distance away from the one who was voting – it was a closed vote, after all.

When everyone was done voting, Brainy pushed them all away from the computer and sat in front of it to wait for the votes to be tabulated. He tapped his fingers near the keyboard as he waited.

After a few minutes, the computer bleeped. "The votes have been counted", Brainy announced, looking at his teammates. "Our new leader is…Saturn Girl!"

The Legionnaires burst into several rounds of applause and cheers while Saturn Girl looked around in surprise.

Brainy crossed his arms over his chest and smiled smugly. "You defeated Brainiac 1.0 and didn't expect to be elected leader because of it?" he said once the noise had died down.

Saturn Girl shook her head and Brainy grinned.

"Well, that's exactly why we picked you", he said. "You won by a landslide. Every single Legionnaire except yourself voted for you. Even the Subs cast you as their candidate."

"Congratulations", Lightning Lad said. By now the whole Legion and the Subs knew of his and Saturn Girl's romance.

"Thanks…wow", said Saturn Girl. "I don't know what to say."

"How about, you'll be a good leader?" teased Invisible Kid.

Saturn Girl smiled. "You can count on it."

"What are you doing here again, Tinya?" inquired Winema Wazzo two days later as she came into the Official Library of the United Planets, where Phantom Girl was once again browsing through the prophecies.

"Just a hunch, Mom", Phantom Girl replied. "I thought it might be a good idea to see if anything extra might be revealed now that Brainiac's gone."

"I see." Winema looked as if she was about to say something, but instead she sighed and left, leaving her daughter with a particular scroll in her hand.

Phantom Girl unrolled the scroll and her eyes were immediately drawn to a specific sentence.

"Oh, no."

"Okay, let me get this straight", said Chameleon Boy. "You found this passage in the prophecy which says there's an even bigger threat coming along?" He, Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, Phantom Girl, Chemical King, and Matter-Eater Lad were the only ones left in Legion HQ, as the Subs had returned to their own headquarters, and Saturn Girl had assigned the other Legionnaires to space patrol based on her new system of assignments.

"Unfortunately, yes", said Phantom Girl.

"What's going to happen now?" asked Chemical King.

"The same thing that always happens", said Saturn Girl. "We'll prepare for this and face the villain head on. From what I gather, it'll be a while before anything happens, so we'll use the time to do as much as we can to get ourselves ready. When this villain finally makes an appearance, we'll be ready."

A/N: And...the end. Of this installment of the story, not of the entire tale. No, this is not over yet, so take courage in the fact. Yii, that sounds like something out of an adventure/war movie. But yes, there is more to the story than this alone. For those of you who haven't read it, my previous story, The Threat of the Ruby, is actually the sequel to this. You can find it under the crossover section of Teen Titans and Legion of Superheroes. And I am currently working on the final installment of this series, which will be the sequel to The Threat of the Ruby. Thank you to Devilbunny, TheEclipse, DangerZone, Mirror's Mirage, The Violet Rose, and Krazyreviewer for reviewing, thank you to everyone who reviews on this chapter, and thank you to any who might review this story from now on. I apologize if I am not able to thank you personally in a chapter because you reviewed too late, but know that I am always grateful, and I shall try to reply to your review. To all my reviewers, loyal or not, if possible, I will send you a sneak preview of the sequel about a week before I post it. Thank you once again. Adios.

Disclaimer: For the final time on this particular story, no, I do not own anything.