"I don't wanna go to sleep Daddy." Justin protested.

Jason sighed, after Kim had chewed him out, he had finally been able to slip away to tuck in his daughter, "Justy, it's bedtime."

"No!" She snapped.

"I know you're tired." He argued.

"No!No!No!" She said, speeding through the words, making it sound like one word.

"Yes, yes, yes." Jason said back, scooping his daughter up off her bedroom floor and setting the squirming toddler down in her bed. Jason mentally smacked himself, why does she have Red Robin bed sheets? "Honey, when did you get these sheets?"

"Mommy get them at Good Will!" Justin said, a grin spreading over her face. "Red Robin is cool."

"No he's not." Jason debated, "I could kick his butt any day."

"Really?" The girl asked, staring up at her father in childhood wonder. Could her father really be able to beat up Red Robin?

"Yes. Now go to sleep." He ordered, pulling back the Red Robin sheets and stuffing her under them.

"Don't wanna!" She screamed, kicking her way out of them.

"Fine." He said, standing up and walking over to the far wall, taking a book Kim had left there off the shelf, skimming over the title page hastily. "Than I guess we'll just sit here and read all night long."

"Read?" Justin asked.

Jason nodded, "You'll learn to do it one day."

He sat on the bed next to her, pushing the blankets back over her, glaring at her when she started to wiggle out form under them again. She sighed, settling down under the covers, curious as to the story.

"My last name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973." Jason red aloud, then paused, maybe this wasn't such a good book for him to read to his daughter.

Justine grunted, telling him to keep going.

"In newspaper photos of missing girls from the 70's, most looked like me: white girls with mousy brown hair. This was before kids of all races and genders started appearing on milk cartons or in the daily mail. It was back when people believed things like that didn't happen." Jason figured she couldn't understand, so what was the harm?

Justin was asleep before the girl in the story even met Mr. Harvey in the cornfield. Thank God.

He was really going to have to talk to Kim about the literature content of this household.

THE NEXT DAY:

"I don't wanna!" Justin protested as her mother practically dragged her down the street.

"We're going to their house and you're going to say you're sorry to that little girl." Kim snapped.

"She started it!" Justin protested.

"And I'm ending it." Kim said with finality. "Not you can either apologize to her now, or you can go without desert for two weeks, and no bread rolls."

Justin contemplated this. "Can I whack her after I say sorry?"

"No!"

"Oh fine." Justin grumbled.

Kim walked up the house sidewalk with Justin in tow, a small tin of cookies in her hand. She rang the doorbell with some difficulty, and a beautiful woman with brown hair and brown eyes opened the door. She smiled at Kim, "Can I help you with something?"

Kim smiled back, "Hi. I found out you were new to the neighborhood, and since my daughter met yours yesterday, under unfortunate circumstances, so I thought I should come over, if only to apologize."

The woman looked a little taken back, looking down to her right, "Kyler, do you know them?"

A little head of brown curls popped out from behind the woman's leg, and Justin's eyes narrowed.

The little girl, Kyler, grunted, "Yes! That's the girl that hurt me yesterday!"

Justin frowned, "You're the one that wouldn't shut up."

"Justin." Kim said, warning her.

Justin grunted, crossing her arms and glaring at her shoes.

"Justine Todd!" Kim snapped.

Justin looked up at Kyler, "I'm sorry." She said quickly, rushing the two words out.

As soon as the two words left her mouth, Justin saw Kyler's shirt. Dark yellow with a picture of a man in a green costume with a bow and arrow on the front. She pointed at Kyler's shirt, "Who's that?"

Kyler looked down at her shirt, then back up at Justin, "Green Arrow. He's the super hero of Star City."

Justin's face lit up, and she grabbed the edge of her shirt, puling it out so Kyler could see it better, "This is Nightwing! He's the super hero of Bludhaven!"

"You like super hero's too?" Kyler questioned, timid with this statement. Did she actually have something in common with this playground bully?

Justin nodded, "I've got a Nightwing doll at home! Wanna see it?"

Kyler smiled, "Sure! Wanna see my Red Arrow doll?"

"Who's he?" Justin asked.

Before Kyler's mom could intervene, Kyler blurted out of excitement, "My dad! He works with Green Arrow!"

Wow!" Justin exclaimed, while Kyler's mother looked at Kim with nervousness in her eyes, "Your Dad's a super hero? That's awesome!"

"I've got Speedy posters too-"

"Where?" Justin interrupted.

"In my room-"

"Let's go see!" Justin said, grabbing Kyler's hand and running into the house.

Kim smiled a the woman, "Hi, I'm Kimberly Todd, you can call me Kim."

The woman looked even more nervous, "My daughter didn't mean the whole Red Arrow thing."

"Don't worry, I know everything about it." Kim assured.

The woman looked shocked, "You do?"

Kim nodded, "My husband and yours share a certain career."

The woman smiled, "I'm Anna Harper, come on in."

Kim and Anna walked into Anna's living room, and were soon laughing, eating coffee and cookies, talking about their husbands.

"He had to practically crawl through the backdoor to get inside!" Anna exclaimed, finishing her story of how Roy had gotten two broken legs from a simple teenager gang.

Kim laughed, "Haha, in my cape days, I barely cared about the teenager gangs, I was always focused on the drug trade."

Anna looked surprised, "You were a hero?"

Kim nodded, "Blue Jay. Were you?"

"Nope." Anna said, "Just a civilian."

Kim smiled, "Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I hadn't become Blue Jay. I always think it would have been better if I had just left the work to Batman."

Anna nodded, "I mind my own business, try not to get hooked up in the hero life."

Justin and Kyler suddenly rushed out of Kyler's room, "Mom, can Kyler come over to our house for lunch?"

Kim smiled, turning to Anna, "If you say it's okay, you could come over too."

Anna smiled back, "Sounds delightful."

Justin practically dragged Kyler down the street by her wrist, and by this time Kyler had started to question her choice of friend.

IN JUSTIN'S ROOM:

"And this is my Nightwing doll." She said, showing Kyler her doll happily.

"How does he fight?" Kyler asked.

"Daddy says he uses stupid glorified chopsticks." Justin explained.

"I've never heard of that weapon." Kyler mused.

"You really like hero's, huh?" Justin asked.

Kyler nodded, "I wanna be Speedy when I grow up!"

"Who's Speedy?"

"That's who my dad used to be before he was Red Arrow." Kyler explained. "Do you wanna be one?"

Justin beamed, "Yeah!"

"Who do you wanna be?" Kyler asked. "Are you gonna make your own?"

Justin shrugged, "I don't know."

"Girl's!" Kim called, "Pizza for lunch!"

Justin and Kyler rushed to the table, chorusing, "Is it plain cheese?"

Both mothers answered, "Or course."

And so began both girl's first friendship.