Scene 48 - Co-operation

It took about two months before Brianna could finally work up the courage to go to a one-on-one training session with Aqualad. Whenever the Atlantean asked her about it, she conveniently "had something on" after her training sessions with the Team. Though Black Canary kept casually reminding everyone to practice together, the brunette had been avoiding Kaldur as she was reluctant to be so close to him once more. Ember could only avoid him for so long though, people were getting suspicious and she had to train with the others in various pairings too. Swallowing her pride and finally shouldering responsibility, she agreed to his request.

"How about we start off with a cover fire course? I'll run and you'll protect me from your vantage point." Kaldur suggested and the brunette gave the briefest of nods, pulling up a holographic screen to begin the sequence. She was raised up on a small platform and a series of walls rose up from the floor in front of the blonde Atlantean. He had to make his way through the course unscathed with holographic drones appearing at random intervals, shooting real rubber balls to subdue him. The countdown ended and Aqualad swiftly ran out from behind the wall, taking out two drones in his line of sight by slashing through the holographic projection and as they dissolved, he moved forward.

Brianna saw one appearing out of the floor behind him and immediately threw a knife through the simulation and it dissipated. "Thanks," Kaldur'ahm gave a thumbs up and Ember replied nonchalantly, "Keep your eyes in front."

The Atlantean nodded and moved forward quickly. As long as he wasn't looking at her, the pyro had no problems covering his back. Aqualad appeared to be dancing as he swiftly dodged a ball from his left, allowing it to sail through the air and hitting the drone on his right. His strategy varied between hitting the drones head on and confusing them. The brunette noticed that if there were one or two projections, he would deal with them personally but if a few surrounded him, he would basically duck and run behind one so it would be taken out quickly.

Of course, Ember helped him out when he was overwhelmed and soon, he cleared the course in good time. "Nice one. It's your turn now," The blonde gave a small smile and Brianna just flew down to take her position at the starting line.

She heard the whirring of gears as Aqualad was raised up a platform and a beep signalled that it was time for her to begin. There were no drones in front of her at the beginning so she cautiously pressed her back against the wall to make her way forward. The pyro heard some movement just off to her side and she was about to take aim to fire before it got hit by a stream of water. "I've got your back. Just keep moving," Kaldur said and the girl acknowledged his response.

She began to fly and as luck would have it, drones popped up around her like daisies. Ember spun around, shooting flames from her hands to get rid of any projections that came too close and knowing Aqualad would take care of the rest, she moved forward to the next part of the test. It appeared they were slowly getting the hang of things and there was one move which reminded her of the past… She actually jumped on a water board he made for her to casually sail over a line of bots, embedding knife after knife into the holographic screen's base. Then when Brianna encountered a horizontal line of enemies, she instinctively veered off to the left without speaking while Aqualad's water stream headed to the right, swiftly taking down the projections.

Maybe old habits die hard... The pyro was surprised how well they were actually working together. As she sent one more knife into the simulation, the brunette flew over the finish line, signalling the end of the trial.

"Good job, Brianna. I think we should move on to the maneuvers now," Kaldur said as he used a water slide to get down the platform.

"Sure…" Ember replied uncertainly as she pressed an icon on the control screen to remove all the obstacles.

"How about maneuver seven?" Kaldur asked softly and positioned his legs slightly apart for balance and stability. He cupped his hands in front of him and waited. Brianna inhaled and took a few steps back to prepare herself for a running start. She propelled herself forward and when she was near his hands, she pushed herself off the ground to fly instead of jumping into his palms so that he could throw her upwards.

The Atlantean raised his eyebrows, "Let's do it again."

The brunette turned her head to the side in shame and got into her running position once more. Like the previous attempt, she flew upwards instead of making contact with his hands.

"Is something wrong?" Kaldur'ahm looked up at the girl with confusion. Brianna sighed and lowered herself to the floor, "I can't…"

The blonde took a step forward to place a hand on her shoulder when she reflexively jerked away. Disgusted by her own reaction, Ember apologized, "I'm sorry… I just can't touch you… I can't trust you in catching me."

Aqualad took a step back and crossed his arms, "We did well for cover fire earlier. That means you do trust me to a certain extent."

Brianna exhaled loudly, "That's because we weren't in touching distance. Look, I'm just not ready to be physically close to you yet. It took me weeks to even agree to train with you but I think I made a mistake by making a decision so quickly…"

The Atlantean was hurt and he looked down with a pained expression on his face, "I see… Brianna, I know you need time to heal but trust me on this, I give you my word that I'll never do anything to harm you in any way ever again."

Ember shook her head, "Trust is built through actions, not words. Now that we're on different groups, I don't see that happening very soon. I just can't bring myself to be close to you again. I mean, while I do agree that we work well together in the field, I don't think we can be that familiar with each other anymore outside of our superhero aliases …"

Kaldur closed his eyes and inhaled, calming his train of thought, "That's… alright. I don't want to force you in doing things you're uncomfortable with. However, please don't give me the cold shoulder any more. I may never be your friend again but I'm not your enemy either. I'll be here to support you as a teammate. Everyone here should support each other. Don't forget that…"

Embarrassed, Brianna knew his words rang true and she hated acting like a little girl to avoid her problems, "I know that, Kaldur. Frankly, I don't like avoiding you either but I'll do my best to not turn away from you if we cross paths from now on." She gave him a little bow and flew out of the training room.

The Atlantean stood there with a serene smile on his face, a little overjoyed that she finally addressed him by the shortened form of his name. It was a good start to mending broken bonds.

He exhaled slowly, relieved that a big weight was off his shoulders. Finally, his heart would stop aching whenever she rejected him. Even if it was baby steps, Kaldur'ahm still hung on to that little sliver of hope that everything would be back to normal.

Author's Note: And they're back on speaking terms again. Better than nothing. ;)

Scene takes place in Aug 2016, 2 months after season 2 ends.

To Molly Grace 16: Yup. She knows she can't be selfish so she'll get the job done... grudgingly.

To murdercrowther: Nah, I don't think it's as brutal as the break up. Tension is still there but at least she won't feel like slapping him anymore. Hope you enjoyed this chapter where they talk to one another again.

To Eszra: Everyone wants YJ back. =D

To piggythelaw: Glad you liked it. =)