Hey guys! Sorry, I haven't had internet lately, so extra long chapter for you guys! Thank you for all the new followers, it means so much to me. I hope you like the chapter. OH. OHHH. And all of you, I try to look at all your stories, and some of you need to update. My inbox is EMPTY. EMPTY. That is not okay. Enjoy reading!
The team came out of the bioship looking like they had fought a steamroller and lost.
"What happened?" Black Canary asked, concerned.
"We were down a team mate," Superboy growled, restraining himself from punching a wall. Black Canary watched the teens stalk to the debriefing room. "That's what."
"Oh."
Batman was there waiting for them. Robin was the first to ask. "Where's Jerra?"
"Currently in Gotham City, being monitored by myself." The cowl tilted down to look at him. "Was the mission a success?"
"It would've been better if we had our seventh member," Wally put in helpfully, pulling off his dirty goggles.
"Can you perhaps make contact with her, and ask her to come back to the team?" Kaldur suggested politely.
"One of you already has." Batman informed them, stepping out of the room. "I will call for your next assignment."
They all turned to the Gothamite. "Robin?" Megan asked gently. "You talked to her?"
"It wasn't much of a conversation," he muttered.
"Is she…okay?" Artemis crossed her arms.
"If by 'okay' you mean, hasn't got herself killed just yet?" Robin sighed. "Yeah, she's okay."
The team stood in a worried, awkward silence for a moment before hyperactive KF started to say, "Rob—"
"She's so out of it, Wallman, she's going to get herself murdered," Robin stomped the floor, pulling off his cape. "Ugh, I'll be cha—I'm going to Gotham." He quickly re-strapped his cape to his uniform and raced toward the zeta beam transporter.
"Robin, B-0-1."
Jason's head popped up expectantly. He threw down the batarangs he was tinkering (meddling) with and raced to the glowing platform. "How was the mission? Did Jerra join you? Did you win? Well, I guess you're still alive. Hey, if you ever die, can I get all the tech in your room? Or just your room in general? Hey!" Jason scowled as Dick brushed past him.
"Where was Jerra last spotted?" The older boy demanded.
"What? Oh, I checked a minute ago, she's been near Wayne Tower a lot-" Jason trailed off, watching his role model-slash-brother stuff some tools in his tool belt and storm back out the beam. With a flash, Richard was gone.
"Robin."
"Tempus."
"Dick."
"Jerra."
"So, Boy Wonder, ten guesses what brings you here." She smirked a little; a good sign, alone time was actually what she needed. Huh.
"You."
"Always," Jerra grinned, flicking her hair out of her face. It was just getting to the late evening—the sun was still up. Apparently, Jerra's crimefighting didn't sleep.
"The team needs you." He told her earnestly. "We practically got our butts kicked today. We need our time-warper."
She smiled lightly. "Really? You guys were great before I joined."
"Once you're on the team, you're never off," Dick placed a hand on her shoulder. "And..and I miss you. A lot. I thought…we, well, we had something." He felt stupid, trying to express his feelings, but he tried nonetheless. "Oh, and Jason's been stalking you on the Batcomputer. He misses you, too."
Jerra perked up. "Oh, heh, I almost forgot about the little guy."
Robin snorted. "He'd be happy to hear that." He took her hand, and she only halfheartedly pulled away. "Also, Alfred's been cleaning your room every waking second, and he's been inconspicuously bringing your belongings from your old house to the manor. It's rather funny, actually."
Jerra stayed silent, looking at the gravelly roof. Then, "I guess I forgot about the new civilian life I got by being a hero."
"Does that mean you're coming home?" Robin asked, hopefully not too hopefully.
"I'll go to the manor, yes," she stepped back and pulled her hands to her chest. "Home, not yet."
It was more than Robin had hoped for.
"Robin, B-0-1."
Jason didn't even look up, he just scooted so the tampered weapon was out of Alfred's view and the zeta beam's view. Then, the unexpected happened.
"Tempus, B-0-8."
"Jerra!" Jay yelled, throwing the explosive across the room as he sprinted towards the glowing transporter. He cringed when the batarang exploded and glanced back innocently at Alfred, who merely rolled his eyes. "You came back!"
"Hey, kid." She smirked, allowing him to hug her. "Miss me?"
"Yeah!" Jason cleared his throat. "Well, you're cooler than the Boy Lame-o, anyway."
"Thanks," Jerra snickered as Dick gave an indignant scoff. "Lemme change, then wanna watch a movie or something?"
"I'll pick one out!" Jason ran up the stairs with new, un-violent purpose.
"Would you care for snacks, Miss Jerra?"
Jerra smiled wearily at the old man. "We'd love some, thanks." Alfred followed Jason to the mansion. Jerra turned her attention to getting out of uniform and made a face as she ripped off her mask, then rubbed the red areas. "Gosh, that's the last time I steal Batman's glue for masks. Ow."
Dick appeared from the locker room and snickered. "Yeah, I think you used too much. You've got a mask-shaped red mark across your face. Hahaha!" He cackled, then straightened up. "Looks like you're not leaving the house anytime soon! You're lucky it's summer break, you have a mask mark!" He nearly fell to the floor in hysterics. The rest of Jerralin's face turned red.
"I'm getting changed," she grumbled, grabbing her bag of stuff she always left in the cave. "Shut up."
"You know you love me!" Richard yelled, slowly fading out of his laughter. He realized what he had just said and bit his lip. Good thing Jerra was ignoring that last comment. He really didn't need to scare her off five seconds after he got her back. Dick decided to go join Jason upstairs. Because really, he couldn't beat Jason when it came to making a fool of himself.
Alfred smiled when he came across three figures passed out in the living room. Jason lay sprawled on the floor near Jerra, who was lightly snoozing on the armrest. Dick had a hold of her right wrist, and Jerra's left hand laid on Jason's shoulder. Needless to say, it was all very adorable.
Dick stirred and blearily opened his eyes. Looking around, he shook Jerra, who irratibly smacked his hand while rubbing her eyes. He pressed his forefinger to his lips, and she nodded. They shared a smirk and fell to the floor next to their little brother, who was snoring and drooling a little. Jerra grabbed him around the thighs, and Dick got him under the arms. They yanked him up and carried him off to his room. They past Bruce as he entered the doorway, and both teenagers giggled and quickened pace as the Batman watched curiously.
"It's good to have things back to normal," Alfred smiled.
"This is our definition of normal?" Bruce smirked.
"You should get some sleep, Jers."
She glanced back from the windowsill and sighed. "Security breach."
Dick grinned and did a series of one-handed cartwheels until he reached her across the room. "Well, if you're gonna join the team tomorrow, you need to be in tip top condition."
"I don't know if I will," Jerra sighed, looking down. Dick noticed the notebook and pencil in her hand, and the markers strewn around the room.
"Whatcha working on?" He pestered, poking her.
"A symbol."
"Huh?" Dick attempted to steal the notebook. "What do you mean?"
"Well, Robin has the 'R,' Superboy's got the 'S,' Artemis has an arrow, Aqualad has an 'A,' Batman has a bat, et cetera. My outfit's pretty bland."
"Technically, Black Canary doesn't have a logo on her outfit." Dick smirked.
"Yeah, well, I want one." Jerra plucked a blue marker from beside her. She gave him an evil grin in warning before tackling him, scribbling all across his arms and face.
"Jerra!" He used his training to twist them so Jerra was pinned, but she still had the weapon. "What type of logo are we talking about? A 'T' for Tempus?"
"About that," she used her feet to propel the boy over her head. He landed with an ungraceful thud behind her. "I was thinking of changing the name, too."
"Pulling a Red Arrow?" Dick smirked, rolling to take refuge under her bed.
"Well, similar to Speedy, Tempus just…doesn't really fit. It's not one of those things you immediately associate with being a hero."
"I see," Dick mused, laying on his stomach and holding his head up with his fists. "And what would this name change be?"
"Would it be over-obvious if I chose Nightingale?" She blushed. Richard pretended to think about it for a moment. "Dick!"
"I think it'd be great." He cackled, dodging the marker she threw at him in her impatience. "What's the logo?"
"Well, I was thinking a bird," she began. "I'm keeping the black bodysuit because, really, it works. And I figured it'd be easiest if we just sew on a logo to my existing suits."
"What color bird?" He asked. Jerra reached around her for the notebook.
"I dunno, I'm thinking some shade of blue. It just seems to me all the heroes use red, yellow, or green."
Dick nodded. "Agreed. In my defense, I made my costume way before any of the other guys showed up."
Jerra scoffed. "Sure, boy wonder. Anyway, I can't seem to make a decent looking bird design, and there's no way I'm stealing something off the internet, so grab a marker and get to designing."
"Roger," he smiled, reaching around her and grabbing a royal blue Crayola. When he pulled back, he realized just how close they were. "Oh, uh, Jerralin?"
"Hm, Richard?"
"Are we still...together?" He blushed, turning to his paper.
Jerra had to blink and think for a moment before grinning at his back. She leaned forward and lightly kissed his ear before sitting criss-cross, leaning against him back-to-back. "I'll work on it."
"We'll work on it," he corrected, smiling despite himself. "It's good to have you back."
Sorry it took so long. I had to make it just right, so I wrote it like fifty times. You all know how hard it is to balance the fluff so it's not just thrown at you. Sigh. I have the ending written. Sadly, I have a chapter in between of which is no where near complete. I'll post it later. Thanks for reading!
-Auri the Awesome