When everyone reassembled back at the headquarters so we could leave, we all felt so excited. Going to the beach was never my favourite thing, for some reason I remembered that, but now that I was with Robin and Wally, I didn't feel nearly as resistant to the thought of going.

"Are you excited?" M'gann asked me, levitating next to me. I blinked repeatedly until it hurt my eyes, trying to get used to the sight of it.

"Uh… Kind of. I've never really been fond of the beach, plus I have nothing to wear and my other outfit it torn to shreds… I feel so badly about that, I swear…" I responded, nervously playing with my fingers.

"Well, I'm sure you'll want to impress the guys, so we'll find you something!" M'gann said a little too loudly and a little too enthusiastically. All of the boys that were standing near us looked over and started smirking. I swear, I could have made Mars look blue!

As we walked back to my room, M'gann opened a drawer that I didn't even realise was there and pulled out a bikini and boardie shorts. It was still black, silver, green and red, with a 'T' on it. The top half was mainly back, with silver outlining the edge, just like the shirt, except there were no sleeves. The bottom half of the bikini was also black with a silver outline, but it had a 'T' on the side in red and green. The boardies were basically the same. I was starting to get the feeling that there was someone who only wanted me wearing one thing in particular.

"I'll let you get changed. Come out when you're done!" M'gann said to me happily, floating out of the room. Soon enough, I was starting to get used to it. Only starting, though.

Again, I found myself throwing off what was left of my outfit and pulling on another. Bikini's always made me feel so self-conscious and all I could think of was if Robin and Wally liked my outfit.

"I'm back!" I shouted, laughing at how stupid I felt. M'gann smiled at me and I saw Conner looking at her and smiling himself. They were adorable, but it didn't seem like anybody knew, so I just left it that way. I knew that he was already taken, but I couldn't help but take notice of how hot he was without his shirt. M'gann had done well.

"So, shall we?" Wally asked, standing next to me, shirtless, a towel over his neck and sunscreen across his nose. I found it difficult not to stare; this was a definition of sexy! Then I heard Robin clear his throat from the other side of me, so I turned to see what he was talking about and again, my eyes could not control themselves. This was the alternative definition of sexy!

"She's whelmed," Robin joked, winking at me. I shook away the thoughts in my head and continued walking up the ramp that led outside. It was still slightly dark, but the sky was getting lighter, meaning that we could still see where we were going and what we were doing.

Soon after, we arrived at the beach. I had laid down my towel so that I could lie on it. Swimming at a beach had never really done anything for me, so I just watched everyone else splash around in the waves. Apparently, Cade had the same idea as me, pulling out his towel and placing it on the sand underneath him.

"Temp, come on, you have to come for a swim!" Robin insisted, but I refused. There was no way that I was going to go swimming. It was against my nature to go swimming at beaches. I saw Robin, Artemis, Wally and M'gann all whispering to each other, and then bringing Kaldur and Conner into their conversation, but I just ignored it and continued to try and get what I could of a tan. I heard a few of them walk over, to me, but I refused to open my eyes to see who it was.

"I told you, I'm not going for a swim," I exclaimed, covering my eyes. I was in trouble now. I felt four sets of hands on me, each grabbing one limb. Now, I was forced to open my eyes. Wally and Robin had a hold of my arms and M'gann and Artemis had my legs.

"Put me down! I swear, put me down!" No matter how much I tried, they would not listen to me. I looked over to my left to see the same thing happening to Cade by Conner and Kaldur. As my group continued walking, I could feel the ocean water touching my back.

"Guys, let me go!" Not the best choice of words. With two swings, I found myself being flung into the water. Not particularly impressed. After spitting out a mouthful of water, I thanked them sarcastically, starting to walk back to my towel.

"But you just got in. You have to stay for a little while," Wally insisted, grabbing my hand and pulling my drenched self up close to his own. I felt my heart skip a beat as I looked into his eyes. I had to push away, but as soon as my hands touched his chest, I felt my knees go weak and found myself falling back into the water, embarrassed as hell.

"The Wall-Man charm. Gets them every time," he announced triumphantly.

"Oh, shut up, you," I told him jokingly, grabbing his hand to help me stand up again. I was still feeling weak, but a little better now. "What now?"

"Just have fun!" M'gann exclaimed, bouncing through the waves while Artemis tried splashing her. Soon, M'gann was right next to Conner and smiling at him while Cade gave Kaldur a 'Why did you do that?' look.

"How am I supposed to do that in water?" I asked, looking up at the moon. Suddenly, I felt myself being pulled into Wally's embrace again, but this time, I was drawn closer to his face. I couldn't stand properly, but now, I was sure it wasn't just because I was blushing. Our faces only about two centimeters apart, I felt myself lose most control of my legs. It was a sickening feeling, one that made me feel disgusting right to my gut. I flung my arms around the back of Wally's neck, to his surprise, but pulled my chin onto his shoulder to support me.

"Are you alright?" he whispered into my ear, trying to hold me up. I couldn't speak; it felt as though I would lose my dinner if I did. My eyes started tearing up and my tears dripped down his collarbone. "You're not alright, are you?"

I shook my head and held my stomach. As I started to walk out of the water, Wally picked me up and gently put me onto my towel. I started to apologise, but he told me to stop talking because it would only make it worse.

"Maybe that's why she doesn't like the beach," Robin stated, thinking. Wally sat on one of the fold-out chairs we had brought right next to me, making sure that I was okay. My heart was aflutter with happiness; I still couldn't believe the kindness of the team.

~~~.~~~

After a little while of lying down, I started to feel a little bit better, and some of the others were starting to cook the sausages and pour drinks. I sat up and smiled at Wally, who returned the smile and stood up. I managed to bring myself over to everyone else, before sitting down in front of Wally.

"Hey, you okay now?" Artemis asked me, biting down on a sausage, as was everyone.

"Yeah, I think so… I have no idea what happened though…" I replied, giving Wally an evil look as he smirked at me. M'gann handed me a sausage and a drink, which I thanked her for, but when I noticed that Cade was sitting by himself near the cave, I stood up and brought the food to him.

"Please, don't bite my head off…" I pleaded, handing him everything. Without a word, Cade took them off of me and started eating. At least he wasn't screaming at me to leave him alone.

"Well, enjoy…" I mumbled as I walked back to the group.

Everyone looked at me and M'gann asked if I wanted one. I nodded and sat down between Robin and Wally again.

~~~.~~~

When we had all finished eating, we just sat around talking for a little bit, waiting to dry off. We each had our own little conversations; Kaldur, Conner and M'gann were all talking, Artemis, Robin and Wally were all conversing and wanting me to join the discussion, but I wanted to make sure that Cade was alright. I felt like one of the only ones that really cared about him, despite his attempts of killing me and all that jazz.

"Hey, you alright?" I asked, sitting next to him, although a relatively fair distance away. Still, no words were spoken by him, but I decided to talk to him anyway.

"You know you can join us? And I'm sorry about what happened during the mission. I realise you were only trying to help… Plus, it wouldn't have helped with me turning into a frog and a worm. You wouldn't have known…" I tried apologising, but Cade continued to say nothing. I looked at him for a second, him staring at the ground. But then, when he brought his eyes to me, I could see specks of light in them. That's when I was utterly surprised.

Cade was crying.

I stared at him sadly, trying to make him smile, but nothing worked. And then, I became shocked even more as Cade did the unthinkable – he hugged me. I could feel his tears run down my back as I stroked his back in an attempt to cheer him up.

"I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry…" he apologised between gobs of sobs, clinging on tighter to me. I looked over at the rest of the group, but no one seemed to notice.

"Cade, why are you sorry?"

"I… Everything! Everything that I've done to you! I didn't mean to do it! I didn't… I didn't know… I love you, Shanelle… You've meant everything to me…"

Shanelle? What was he talking about?

"Uh, Cade, are you feeling alright? I'm Tempest. Maybe go inside for a little bit. You seem a bit confused," I insisted, rubbing his shoulder. It was at that moment that Cade snapped back to himself, the Cade I knew and didn't love at all. He just started giving me an evil look to remove my hand before standing up and heading off. It seemed like in that split second, he changed completely.

I started walking back to everyone, confused about what had just happened. Did I just imagine that? Was Cade seriously just crying and did he call me 'Shanelle'? I decided it was another thought that was just messing with my brain, so I shook it away and kept walking.

"She's back," Conner stated absently-mindedly as he saw me returning.

"What took you so long? We're about to leave," Robin asked, standing up and gathering his stuff.

"Uh… I'm not sure…" I responded. Maybe I wasn't imagining things?

"You ready to leave?" Wally asked me, throwing his towel over his shoulder. I nodded and linked arms with him as we started to head back. Seeing as we were the last two, I stopped Wally and pulled him back.

"What are you-?"

"I'm sorry. I wanted to make it up to you," I told him, grabbing his hand and dragging him toward the water.

"Tempest, don't worry about it! You don't have to-," Again, I had found myself interrupting Wally's sentences.

"Wally, I want to. Besides, 'Wall-Man', I did take away valuable time for you at the beach, did I not?" By now, I had led him straight into the water, the moon just above us. The weak tide covered a quarter of my stomach, while it covered just less on Wally, seeing as he was slightly taller than me. As a joke, I pushed him straight into the water, but it slightly backfired when he pulled me in too, causing me to land on top of him. I immediately knew to move since we were both completely underwater, but when we surfaced, I found myself smiling like an idiot and giggling like a little girl. I was completely soaked, once again, but this time, I didn't care.

"Now this is why I knew I shouldn't have argued with you," Wally stated, smiling at me. We both stood up, absolutely drenched now, so I just rested my head on his chest, able to hear his heartbeat and Wally bringing his arms around to my back. I brought my own hands around his back as well and pulled him closer to me. Removing my head from his chest, I gazed into his eyes and brought my arms up to the back of his neck.

"So, do you have any idea what I'm thinking?" I asked, running one hand along the back of his hair.

"You want to tell me?" I merely smirked at him and brought my face closer. And with a whisper, only one more thing was spoken.

"I'll show you." With that, I brought myself to the tips of my toes and placed my lips against him, closing my eyes to enjoy the moment. For the first time, it seemed like something really sparked. Both our lips moving simultaneously, I felt something strange. Something amazing. Something that made me feel too great for words.

Could it be?

A long time passed before the both of us decided that stopping would probably be the best idea.

"You're forgiven," Wally joked. We decided to stay out a little bit longer, both of us lying on one towel: his. I was on Wally's right with my head on his arm and my hand on his stomach. I could feel his lips touch my forehead and immediately fell asleep. I could now die a positively happy girl.

~~~.~~~

Waking up, I found myself in my bedroom, wearing a massive T-shirt that was like a nightgown for me. It was dark and came just onto my thighs, so it was a little bit short. To my right was Wally, asleep but waking up because I must have woken him, unfortunately. I had my head on his chest, on hand under his back and the other on his thigh.

"Hey, beautiful, how did you sleep?" he asked sleepily, his arm around me. He started shaking it like he had lost feeling in it, so I sat up and stared at him.

"Uh, fine. I guess. What am I wearing, exactly?" I responded, looking down at the shirt.

"Oh, that? That's Batman's. I figured he didn't need it," Wally told me coolly. Really? Was I really wearing Batman's shirt? And could I express just how awkward that made me feel?! "Don't worry, I'm kidding. It's mine. I didn't want you to get sick or anything."

Hearing that, I leant over and pressed my lips against his in thanks.

"You'd better come up with another joke, because the dinosaurs will roam the Earth again before that's funny," I teased, before realising the scientific point of it and shooting him a 'Don't even say it' look. I felt myself being pulled back into his embrace as his lips once again found their way onto my own. My hands roamed his sides and back for a little while before I was forced to pull away.

"Where's Robin?" I asked confusedly. Wally seemed even more confused and a little scared.

"Uh, I'm… not sure. Why exactly do you want to know where he is…" Wally replied with another question, studying our current 'situation', "…now?"

"Well, whenever anything like this happens, it seems that someone interrupts it, and so far, no one. I thought Robin would have been here by now…"

"Tempest, you're just paranoid…" Wally reassured me, bringing me in for nothing more than a tight hug.

"I guess…" I pulled away and gave Wally the best puppy-dog eyes that I could, "but can you just humour me? This once?"

With a sigh, and myself jumping quietly in excitement, Wally agreed, grabbing my hand and helping me off of the bed.

"Kid Flash to Robin. I repeat, Kid Flash to Robin." No answer. Even I tried, but nothing worked. Even the idea of running around like a retarded monkey to embarrass the victim didn't seem to hold much value.

"Where do you suggest we look first?" he asked. I hadn't even thought about that, but the main headquarters seemed a pretty obvious place to look.

"Knowing my luck, he probably is hiding somewhere around here. I just don't know where…" I whispered to myself, going through each room but coming up short. Eventually, Wally and I met again at where we had left each other.

"Did you find him?" I asked, walking up to Wally. I just hoped that Robin was around somewhere.

"No. You?" I shook my head and started pacing. "Well, we saw him last at the beach with everyone else. Maybe he's still there?" It was worth a shot. I didn't want Robin to be stuck outside all night with crazy psychopaths!

At least it wouldn't be all night.

Wally and I eventually arrived at the beach, combing the sand for any clues. The sound of Wally's voice after minutes of silence startled me. Walking over to him, I noticed that Wally was holding up an ear piece. Robin's comm..

"We're on the right track…" Wally stated. I felt the need for sarcasm, but decided it wasn't the best time to use it and that decision hurt. We continued along in silence, making our way onto the grass.

"Oh my God… Please tell me that's not… Are they his boardies?!" I basically squealed. As much as I wanted to find Robin, I'd rather have found him wearing something than being completely naked*!

"Right, well I've had enough action for one day. Can we just call it a day?" Wally asked, starting to turn away. Grabbing his ear, I pulled him on. "Ow. Ow. Ow. Okay, I take it as a no."

"Let's just find him and then we can go, okay?" With a nod, Wally continued to walk with my, intertwining his hands in my own. And very shortly, we found his glasses and towel outside of a small apartment.

"Well, the guy seems to have his priorities right. When we relax, call on the chicks," Wally joked, pushing open the door. Oddly enough, it was open. "Well, that certainly helps."

We slowly made out way up the stairs, the occasional breeze making me self-conscious because it kept blowing the bottom of the shirt up. Wally would just smirk at me and I would punch him lightly in the arm. Eventually, we came to the door at the very top of the apartment – the only door in the shabby, old apartment. It looked like it could give a haunted house a run for its money. The door was old and wooden, with small areas being chipped on it.

Again, Wally nudged open the door, this time quite slowly, and the site that I saw chilled me right down to the bone.

Robin was tied up with only boxers and his mask on, an intriguing metal holding him down to a dark chair that I had never seen before. A girl was circling him, caressing him as she moved. If it wasn't for the fact she had one of my best friends tied to a chair with just his underwear on, I would've let them be.

"Hey, we could do-," Wally started. Frankly it was something that I didn't want to hear, so I gave him an evil look. "Never mind…"

"We have to figure out how to save him… He's got no belt!" I stated, trying to think. Suddenly, I felt myself being pushed forward by something, but nothing was there.

"Guys!" Robin cried, realising we were there.

"Oh, look, we have company," the girl said, standing at the back of the nearly naked Robin, her hands on his shoulders.

"Dude, I'd rather rescue you when you're wearing clothes!" Wally shouted, a little disturbed that his best friend was wearing nothing but his boxers.

"So, Robin, hey? Why did you choose Robin? Why didn't you take 'Mr Amazing' over here? He could use an attitude adjustment," I started talking, hoping that the girl wouldn't notice Wally trying to free Robin and looking hurt at my comment.

"Just ignore me. I'm distracting her," I somehow said to Wally telepathically, who once again, seemed extremely confused.

"Dick is amazing. The best you'll ever see. And I am the only one who seems to see him that way," the girl spoke poetically, standing right in front of me. I was a little shocked at what she said, but after a little while I started realising it. Dick Grayson was Robin!

"And you are?"

"Hina, and if you don't mind, I'd rather not have your boyfriend taking away my man." It was obvious that she had noticed Wally, so I told him to come back over to me.

"Well, 'Hina', I'm sorry, but we need him, so we're going to have to take him," I told her sternly, walking over to Robin to continue untying him. Strangely, I had a feeling when she was behind me and my immediate instinct was to change…

Into Robin.

Because of my transformation, the perpetrator calling herself Hina ended up falling onto Wally, giving me just enough time to finish untying Robin and swap spots with him so Hina would be none the wiser. Before I tied myself up completely, I shouted at her, saying that Wally was mine and she could have Robin; the two actual boys seemed even more confused than they had been previously. Tying myself up loosely, I motioned for Wally and Robin to leave, who did reluctantly. It was obvious they didn't want to leave 'Robin' again, but they weren't able to help.

"I have you all to myself," Hina threatened, before narrowing her eyes at me, sensing something was wrong, "but you're not yourself, are you?"

"Of course I am!" I defended, trying to change my voice to as similar as Robin as possible.

"Well, answer my question then. How was 'Superboy' created?" Her smile was as evil as she was being at that moment, pulling a knife from the belt that she was wearing and pointing it at me.

"Uh… Superman got Lois pregnant?" I asked, knowing immediately how stupid I truly was.

"I thought so." With a swing, Mara ended up slashing through the ropes, her knife burrowing deep into my thigh. The pain was severe but my will to get out of the situation overtook it. I was able to free myself from the ropes, the wound in my thigh so painful, it seemed like all hell had come loose. Changing back to my original self, the girl seemed even more determined to make sure I wouldn't come between her and Dick again.

I backed up, my back pressed against a wall. Luckily for me, Robin's utility belt was an arm's reach away, but unluckily, Hina's knife connected with my arm first. Thrusting forward to pick up the belt, I immediately threw a shuriken at the crazy girl, knocking her out temporarily. I was definitely aching now, but better me than someone I cared about. I continued out the door, greeted by the boys.

"Are you okay?" Robin asked, grabbing onto his belt. I nodded and leaned against the door behind me.

"Just… sign a shuriken… Now…" I ordered him, struggling to catch my breath.

"What? Why?"

"Just do it!" I was starting to get really irritated; I had just risked my life for a friend, I didn't exactly want to be bombarded by questions. Without another word, Robin pulled out a pen and signed a shuriken. Checking it, I read, "Hope you had fun – Robin".

"Hope you had fun?" I asked, raising an eyebrow to him. Because 'hope you had fun' is something everyone says to someone who could have killed them!

"Yeah, I hope she had fun, because I am not doing that again! I'm definitely not traught. Wait, why did you want me to do that, anyway?"

"I know how it feels to want someone without them feeling the same way…To want to do anything for them, but they don't even give you a sideways glance… To fall in love with someone who you can never have…" I whispered, throwing the shuriken back to an unconscious Eli and lowering my head, tears filling my eyes and spilling down my face.

Dick and Wally both exchanged confused looks. I didn't know why, but I knew I had been through that same situation. That same feeling.

I knew exactly how she felt.