A/N: sorry to have kept you all waiting for so long. A full month or so! Well, the wait is over, the official chapters 18 & 19 are uploaded for your viewing pleasure. This is chapter20 and the story is finally getting underway! Enjoy and please review. Much love! (also, please ignore the spelling mishap with Cailan's name; my computer auto corrected and I didn't catch it until now!)

Wednesday the 22nd of March

12:34pm

"Are you going to audition with Requiem?" Kaldur asked over the phone line.

"No. I still haven't figured that one out yet… Ms. Golrinohas been having me dance to Swan Lake instead…" Calie answered him.

"You do not sound very pleased," Kaldur smiled over the phone line, crossing his arms as he rested against the school-hall phone booth.

"…well…just about anyone going through the Troupe is going to be able to dance that, and dance it well. Not many dancers can choreograph something though…"

"You will do fine. So what if another can dance the same steps—you are a good dancer because you make the dance look as if it belongs to only you. There will be plenty of opportunities for your own designs Cailan."

Cailan curled up in a chair, drawing her knees close to her body and tucking the phone carefully to her. She was tired and had just eaten; Ms. Golrino gave her an hour at lunch to rest and eat before her work started again.

"Cailan?"

"How can you have this much confidence in me?" she asked, suddenly feeling self-conscious and scrutinized.

"…because…" he paused, unsure if he wanted to confess he'd watched her that day at the gym, just before she'd disappeared. "It is not as if I have never seen you dance before, is it? Cailan," he checked around him and dropped his voice, turning into the wall. "I was born a warrior of Atlantis; my whole life has been about defending my kingdom, since I was born Cailan. You were born a dancer. You will do fine."

"Hey…Kaldur?" her voice became quiet.

"Yes Cailan?"

"…c-could…could you…have Dick do you a favor? I mean, only if you want to but I was wondering…I mean, they're supposed to be closed but if you were interested maybe…you could come to the audition later today?"

Kaldur chuckled; he couldn't understand why she rambled when he spoke to her, why she became so flustered. "If nothing at the clubhouse comes up Cailan, it would be an honor to go."

"Are you mocking me?" her voice became flirty as she smiled over the phone.

"Only if it makes you speak like that more," he teased her back, his rich voice husking a laugh into the phone.

"Kaldur…?"

He arched at her voice; it was different, somehow. He found himself holding his breath, his pulse start to increase.

"…do you l—" the school bell rang out dismissing from lunch; students crashed through the doors, their number creating a ruckus through the halls.

"Wait, Cailan, what was that?" Kaldur asked, pressing a hand over his ear and crouching deep into the booth.

"…need…to class…" he heard her voice quietly over the commotion in the halls. Then there was just the beeping of the dial tone.

…

1:57pm

"Robin," Kaldur hissed in the library, strolling to the bookcase behind the young boy.

"Hm," Dick made no other movement than to give a hushed reply to Kaldur.

"I have…an engagement to get to, can you help me out of class?"

Dick paused in his reading, trying to stifle the grin that had started spreading over his face. "Is this a…covert engagement?" he questioned subtly, making it seem as if he were reading the lines from the book.

Kaldur sighed. "Something like that," he muttered.

"Hm…I need to know the details," The raven-headed boy put down his book and stretched, rolling his head back to look at Kaldur.

"Tch, why?" Kaldur jumped and stared at him defensively.

"Heheh, to know what to type into the system for why you're ditching," the other said innocently.

"There…is a private performance today." Kaldur carefully chewed out, trying to guess where Dick would take that before he spoke.

"Hey no fair!" the younger boy immediately pouted, jumping to his feet and darting around the corner of the bookcase. "she didn't invite me, or anyone else."

"…it is supposed to be closed auditions. With the entire group…" he paused and looked at Dick, arching his brow. "we would more than likely attract attention and get kicked out."

"…Hm. True I guess."

"Can you do it?"

"Tch, it's already done, don't be stupid. You're out in fifteen minutes."

…

3:15pm

"Ah, next we have Ms. Leal, Ms. Leal, you're on in five,"

Kaldur looked up to the ceiling, searching for the speakers. He'd caught about the half of the last dancer. Knowing little to nothing about dancing, he had no idea if she had done well or not, but her performance had been enjoyable at any rate. He settled into his seat, keeping low in the shadows least he be seen. He wanted to watch Cailan's audition; ergo he needn't get kicked out before she came on stage.

He folded his arms over the back of the seat in front of him, looking towards the judges. They had a table set up in front of the auditorium seats, with clipboard and papers; he didn't understand how they could be comfortable in the metal folding chairs, the wooden seat would be especially comfortable. They'd been there for a while, he assumed, if the sign was right and auditions had started at ten that morning. Kaldur sighed contentedly; hopefully the next eight minutes were crime-free.

…

Cailan heard her name called over the speaker. She looked around at the other girls; it was the 'ladies' changing room and no two girls looked the same. She felt rather underdressed in comparison to the other girls and she had to scold herself. She knew she was psyching herself out, as if she didn't want to be there. She wanted a distraction from the scenario, that was all; she wanted to be there, she just didn't want to know or think about being there. She didn't want the memories.

Forcing herself to stand she began stretching. She needed something to do; five minutes was a long time to kill. If she stretched she could focus on the evenness of her breath. She didn't want her heart pounding like it was. Her chest hurt and it wasn't helping to calm her nerves. She'd never technically auditioned for anything before. In high school, well, those auditions had been a joke. She'd known she was better than most of those girls so she wasn't afraid to be rejected.

Geez, conceited much? Her mind growled as she reached down and touched the floor with her palms, then lifted to her toes. She let out an exhale with the tension in her hams and counted fifteen Mississippis. Stretching felt good.

"Ms. Leal, you're on. Ms. Leal to the stage," the speakers cracked. Her heart leapt into her throat.

Suddenly her palms were sweaty and she couldn't catch her breath. She straightened and walked towards the stage, still taking deep breaths. The CD she'd given the judges had the song she was dancing to, the one she'd rehearsed with Ms. Golrion. It also had other tracks that she'd had Dick mesh together for her for practice, in case something happened to the track from Swan Lake. She had her dancing shoes on, she was in fitted sweats over a leotard; the checklist went on, her hair pulled tightly back into a pony-tail, no jewelry (save for the anklet that was hidden safely under her pants), water back stage, her things put into her own cubby. She was ready for this. All the things on the checklist were checked off. She was ready for this.

She walked across the stage and took the required, polite curtsy to the judges for giving her the opportunity, just like Ms. Golrino had told her to do. But as Cailan was walking back to her starting point, when she looked up and saw the lights blinding her vision, she froze up.

…

3:20pm

Kaldur straightened and glued his eyes to the stage. Cailan was up, walking across the stage. He felt strangely proud that she wasn't dressed or dolled up like the other dancers he'd seen walking around and peering out from behind the curtains. She was dressed like he always saw her practicing. Somehow she looked far less pretentious than the other dancers who'd been flitting around the auditorium hall. There was humbleness in the modest curtsy she gave to the judges; he hoped that was what they were whispering to each other as she stepped back into position.

The music started playing and Cailan looked out into the audience; he knew she couldn't see him but he smiled at her anyways. However, fifteen seconds into the music and Cailan still hadn't started dancing. Kaldur straightened and looked at her hard. Her eyes were unblinking, and she wasn't moving. She'd frozen up.

Twenty seconds in and Kaldur knew the judges' whispers were about to lead to her dismissal. What is she thinking? It is not the time for a dramatic pause…why is she so frightened?

Not knowing what else to do and wanting to be there for her, Kaldur's tattoos started glowing, illuminating him as he sat off to the side in the dark. It only took a few seconds before Cailan blinked and looked over towards him.

…

The light, the sun's light screaming off to her left through the window. She was telling her dad they needed to hurry. They were going to be late. His eyes, his eyes met hers in the rearview mirror; then she was blinded. The light was so bright, so bright she couldn't see anything. It was a white out.

They crashed. They'd crashed on their way to an audition, her audition. She'd wanted them to go faster, she'd yelled at them. She'd made them crash the car.

Something blue interrupted the blinding white that pervaded her senses. There was a blue glow to her right—where the cliff walls should have been…

Cailan looked and saw that it was Kaldur, sitting in the dark auditorium. She was on a brightly lit stage…not that crash.

"I'm sorry." Cailan lowered herself to flat-foot on the stage and shook her head. The judges looked up at her, their faces blank.

"It's the wrong track,"

"Whoever signed you in wrote track one on the front Ms. Leal," was the cold reply.

"Yes, I'm sorry, the CD's been miss-marked. It's track three."

A man turned off the CD player and the three talked in whispers together, shooting her looks and debating among themselves. Cailan looked in Kaldur's direction (he'd stopped glowing) and gave a small smile.

"Ms. Leal you've got one more chance. Don't make us regret it." The man's cold voice spoke again.

She nodded and stepped back into position—different from before.

The music that started playing from the speakers was different was well; while along the lines of Swan Lake, it was subtly different—it was a recent song, a modern composition. Cailan started with spins and jumps, her limbs like willow branches in the wind, loose and delicate. She would leap into the air and she seemed to hover there, like she had wings. She had the grace to make it look as if she were hardly skimming the earth as she danced.

As the music crescendo-ed her 'audience' got another surprise. Reaching the climax point of the composition, Cailan fell to the ground. Kaldur stood, worried she was hurt. However, when the judges made no move to shut off the music and he took a second glance, he realized that it had been an intentional move. This all took hardly the blink of an eye when the music's climax bled over into a modern song that Kaldur recognized quiet well.

The beat built up and Cailan pulled her body up from the floor; her movements were still graceful, but there was a new passion—a new life in the way she moved to this music. Kaldur watched as a fire built inside of her; she was still dancing classical ballet—the juxtaposition of ballet and rock was enough to send the judges into a frenzy—but her movements were border-line careless, almost frantic. Yet the choreography sent chills down his spine, because it wasn't careless or frantic. Her face was the paradigm of control and focus, her eyes glittering with determination. Her three minutes was winding down, as well as her music and as the 'finishing move' she did a Jete grand, but her body was almost leaning to the side and it became more of an aerial spin and as she landed she continued the spin on her foot. The music began to ebb out into classical again, matching Cailan's dying movements. As the last notes sounded, Cailan was on the ground, her legs curled around her, her back to the judges. She was arched, her hands posed as if she were opening a door to the sky. The music died completely down and she paused for a moment before pulling her body around like a piece of cloth in the wind and righted herself, again curtsying. They talked amongst themselves for a while. "Thank you, Ms. Leal. That will be all." Kaldur watched her give another little curtsy and then walk calmly off stage. … 3:45pm "Cailan, you are trembling," Kaldur placed his arms around her, guiding her to a bench just outside the exit or the girl's changing room. "I totally blew it," she murmured, shaking her head. "…you are too hard on yourself. You did wonderfully." He sat down next to her

She bit her lip and shook her head again. "I totally choked. What's worse, I told them they were wrong."

"…why did you freeze?" he questioned, looking sidelong at her on the bench.

He watched her squirm under his gaze. She scuffed the toes of her shoes along the ground and chewed on her lip. "I just…got distracted by a memory…"

"Cailan, why can you not talk to me?" his voice was a little colder; he couldn't help his frustration.

He watched her draw into herself a little more and only felt more egged on. "You close yourself off; why? Do you not know that I care for you, have I not made it obvious?"

She swallowed hard and he recognized the smile that came to her face; she was gone now. "Sorry, I'm just being a spaz. You're right, I probably just psyched myself out."

He sighed heavily.

"What did you ask me on the phone?" he asked, his voice soft now.

Her head jerked up and her eyes were wide as she looked at him, her face a rosy red. He couldn't help but chuckle as she blushed and nervously laughed at herself. "Oh…uhm…"

She rubbed her hands nervously on her pants and looked at just about everything except him. He laughed at her and placed his large, warm hand over hers. "What did you say?"

"I…I just asked a stupid question."

His eyes probed her on. "I…just needed to feel good about myself and I…I asked…I asked if you loved me."

He froze, his eyes open in shock. "But it doesn't matter, I was only asking because I wanted to hear that I was…well, I dunno Important I guess." She quickly continued, looking hastily away from him.

Kaldur looked at her long and hard. He hadn't realized that Cailan was so…self conscious. It was a flaw he'd not counted on in Cailan—Ms. Queen-bee Cailan, school-idol Cailan. He reached over and gently drew her face to his.

…

"Ms. Leal, the car is re—" Alfred stopped and turned his back on the two teens. "Ahem, when you're ready," he muttered as he walked away.

Kaldur distantly heard the remark and attempted to pull away, but Cailan—having only known 'normal' teenage guys—didn't even notice Alfred and leaned further into the kiss, becoming the aggressor. Her mind and her gut weren't telling her to just wait for him to make his move; instead she was relying on her past mistakes to navigate her way now, which was something that Kaldur in fact, wasn't quite ready for.

"C-Cailan," Kaldur placed his hands on her shoulders and gently pushed her back from him. "…"

Her brow furrowed slightly, not totally understanding. Her eyes searched his face, looking for what he was playing at. She straightened, turning away from him a little, feeling a sting of dejection.

"I am sorry…but this is not how I do things" Kaldur said softly, trying to console her sudden change of heart.

"Right. Alfred said the car's ready,"

"Do not do that," Kaldur caught her arm and drew her back around.

"…what?" she questioned that smile.

"That. You put up walls when someone gets too close. I hate that smile."

She stood, blinking at him. He regretted his outburst for the stunned look on her face. "You want me to stop smiling?"

She attempted to joke but he could sense she was licking her wounds and covering, buying time for herself.

"Do not be coy with me Cailan."

"We should go," she easily twisted from his grasp and walked towards the car, turning back to look at him as if to say 'well, aren't you coming?'

…

Friday the 24th of March

12:45am

"We are trying a new plan of attack this time," Kaldur said as they boarded Megan's ship, looking to Dick who smiled back at him. "We are going to lose."

The team stopped and stared at him, thinking they'd misunderstood or that he was joking with them.

"We're going to lose?" Artemis demanded. "Doesn't that go against what we're actually supposed to do?"

"No. We're going to reuse an old ploy." Dick jumped in, grinning broadly. "Megan, your uncle said that your mind is the strongest he's known. We're going to use it."

Megan faltered a step, and looked around at the group. "I-I don't think that's a good idea…"

"We're counting on you to make this work Megan," Robin said, his face sobering.

"I—I'm not sure I can even control it yet…something could go wrong, just like before. I think this is a bad idea."

"M'gann," Kaldur's rich voice soothed. "You have the ability and your friends are here for you. You will be able to do this,"

"She doesn't want to." Conner growled, crossing his arms protectively.

Kaldur sighed. "This is our plan. The team goes in, covertly just as we always do. We will fight, just as we always do. However, we will not win. We will convincingly stage a retreat, and withdraw from the fight."

"How does that accomplish our mission?" Wally asked, cocking his head at Kaldur. "I mean, we're supposed to take out Ivy, right?"

"Remember the operation with the Terror Twins?" Robin cut into the question. "Megan and Superboy switched places with the real twins."

"M'gann will do the same thing with one of Ivy's 'children'. While she is undercover she will garner information from Ivy and her 'children', and pass the information to us via telepathy."

"That still isn't stopping Ivy with her plan," Artemis said, her hands on her hips.

"That's when the second wave hits," Robin interjected. "When Megan gives the go, we'll come back and attack again."

"I get it; Ivy won't think twice about attacking us again—she'll assume we'll be beaten just like last time." Wally's eyes glowed, his face brightening. "We're hustling her,"

"I can only use my telepathy within a certain distance." Megan said, thinking she'd found a way out of the situation.

"We won't leave you alone." Superboy said, his voice of a tone that didn't leave much room for argument.

"No, we will not." Kaldur confirmed, motioning everyone towards their seats in the ship. "Wally will find a place to hide near Ivy's base. He will receive the information and then run it to the rest of us. We'll be waiting just outside of range."

"How long will this take?" Superboy asked, his blue eyes glancing askance to Megan.

"…well…that's the one catch…" Robin looked to Kaldur, then to the rest of the team.

"It will take as long as it takes." Kaldur said, again taking control of the conversation again. "Wally will be there to get Megan out should something go wrong. His speed will get him in, to Megan and out again while the rest of us can get there. It is dangerous, but we are heroes. We live with this danger every time we go on a mission."

"Alright, I'll do my best," Megan nodded, her eyes determined as she looked up.

…

2:54am

"I thought the wonder-brats were stronger than this!" Ivy hissed, spreading her arms wide as vines assaulted the team.

Megan let herself be hit and knocked into the bushes that coated the floor of the greenhouse-layer. Staying down she camouflaged herself, and slipped back to the edge of the battle, offering no assistance just like she was ordered.

"M'gann!" Superboy screamed, jumping into the bushes soon after her.

"Ah-ah-ah," Ivy gloated, using a tree's branch to catch him in the stomach and send him crashing into the grips of another tree's gargantuan trunk.

"What happened to the strength you possessed when you fought the League of Shadows?" the red-headed woman demanded, her eyes narrowing to slits.

"Now!" Kaldur yelled, catching her off guard.

The woman spun around in time to see Robin flying towards her; thinking she'd acted quickly enough she attacked him with a barrage of razor-leaves, causing him to divert his attack to the cover of the thickly barked trees that she'd grown in the layer. While she was distracted with Robin, Kid Flash launched himself at her and used her own vine-attack to wrap her briefly up in a vine-cocoon.

Superboy was up and roaring, shredding Ivy's precious 'babies' left and right. Megan crouched deeply in the corner, hoping that her absence wasn't noticed by the woman.

Robin and Artemis found that their particular skills were only useful in blowing up or cutting down Ivy's plants—usually on defense. Kid Flash was having a rather easy time of things just dodging Ivy's arsenal; Superboy's strength was a great asset, but was merely working 'idle hands'. Kaldur would have been probing Ivy for questions, if he had been able to get close to her to parry. The young team was finding that its strategy of retreat might not be as hard to fake as they'd originally supposed.

…

"Hm, my, you are a handsome Atlantian." Ivy purred, wiggling her fingers, ordering her vines to lunge and gouge out at him.

Kaldur dodged and swayed, avoiding her plants and making attempts with his own malleable weapons. "What are you up to Ivy? You cannot have gotten out on your own," he murmured softly at her, his feet sliding him into position ever so subtly.

"Oh no, no, no," the woman giggled, using her vines to lock his arms and hold him in place. "None of that my handsome Prince,"

She blew a kiss at him, her spores taking immediate effect, his once crystalline eyes clouding a murky green.

"Uh, guys," Robin said, jumping away from Kaldur's now electrifying swings. "We've got a slight problem,"

"What?" Kid Flash asked, jolting to a stop.

"Move!" Robin pushed him out of the way, escaping with a flesh wound and static shock.

"What the heck, Aqualad!" Artemis growled, shooting an arrow at his feet that issued forth a smoke screen.

"He's infected with Poison Ivy's spores!" Robin said, knowing all too well the power that Ivy had over men—Batman was not easy to evade.

"What do we do to un-infect him?" Superboy asked, his eyes briefly wandering around in search of Megan.

"Water."

"But he controls water," Artemis protested. "If he's under Ivy's control then there's no way she'll let us use it to free him."

"Just shut up and fight!" Superboy leapt into the air and landed just shy of smashing Kaldur.

"Ivy's plants can't survive without water!" Robin called, skirting out of the way and shedding bombs on the major tree-roots near them.

"Tch, duh," Kid Flash rolled his eyes and created a small whirlwind to pull up the smaller plants. "We pull up the plants and get to the water!"

"Rrraaaaaahhhh!" Superboy yelled as he grabbed the trunk of Ivy's main tree and strained, lifting with all his strength.

"My baby! Stop them!" Ivy screamed, motioning Kaldur forward. "Don't let them hurt my baby!"

Kaldur nodded and lunged, kicking Artemis hard in the chest and sending her flying.

"Artemis!" Kid Flash yelled, switching directions and charging forward to catch her.

"Arg, really W—Kid Flash? Get off me," The blond fought a blush and pushed KF away, standing again. She doubled over, her hand over her chest, gasping.

Kaldur was going for Superboy now, their hands interwoven together, their muscles straining against one another. Superboy was the stronger, but Kaldur put his mind behind his strength and kept maneuvering Superboy so that he was at the disadvantage, thus evening the odds of his brute strength against Kaldur.

…

4:02am

"I am sorry my friends," Kaldur said, pressing a cloth to his forehead as they took their seats in Megan's ship.

"It isn't your fault," Kid Flash said, taking a snack from his emergency-compartment and munching on it.

"We're all normal now. There's nothing we can do at the moment." Robin said, typing away furiously on his computer. "KF you need to get ready, Ms. Martian will be expecting you."

"At least we know the retreat went well. Ivy didn't know anything." Superboy said confidently.

"Yes…but we may not be able to use this tactic again…" Aqualad mused, steepling his fingers together. "It worked tonight…but Ivy is sure to tell her success story to other villains. Not to mention how dangerous it was. I got too close to the fire, so to speak."

"True, but we didn't get burned this time. Besides, it gives us a chance to look back on what went wrong for next time." Artemis said, resting her chin on her folded arms.

"Kid Flash, you'd better get going," Aqua-lad said, smiling at Artemis.

…

Wednesday the 29th of March,

8:01pm

"That was good work on the Ivy case." Black Canary was saying. "You're using your training well."

"Thanks, it means a lot to hear someone say that," Conner said, his eyes darting around to make sure the others weren't listening.

The woman smiled at him and departed through the portal.

"So how's Cailan doing?" he asked as he walked back into the living room, flopping on the couch.

Kaldur paused from his private sorcery practice, his eyes glossing to the living room.

"She got a call-back from the Troupe," Dick shrugged, casually flipping through a magazine.

"So what does that mean?" Megan asked, putting down the nail polish, deciding she didn't like it much after all.

"She's been practicing like a Nazi again." he answered. "I think the plan is for her to go back on Saturday, and they'll make their decision."

"Dude, it's like she abandoned us," Wally pouted, winking at Megan and sitting next to her. "Nice shade for you babe,"

"Stop being such a baby Casanova," Artemis said, rolling her eyes at him.

"Let us not worry about Cailan," Kaldur said, keeping his breathing even and letting the water flow almost wickedly through his hands. "Enjoy the peace while we have it. We do not know when we will next be called."

…

Saturday the 1st of April

1:20pm

"Thank you for coming to see us Cailan," the man from before, his voice still cold, addressed her as she walked on stage.

She nodded and swallowed hard.

"On your last audition…" he looked at his notes and then scoffed and looked up. "I realized I don't need my notes to remember your performance."

A shiver ran up her spine; he had quite a sardonic tone to his voice and laced his fingers together. "You had the wrong music and froze, didn't you?"

His question was rhetorical, and she waited for the rest. "You're eventual performance was not of the traditional order; you were unrestricted, wild, and you completely ignored more traditional routs."

She hardly let herself blink; her head was held high and she prayed that her face was stoic. She wouldn't cry in front of them.

"However," she felt her breath catch; his eyes flicked up to her and glowed brightly. "I could see a story behind your dance and felt the passion. You're very talented, I'll give you that. Your teacher, Ms. Golrino speaks highly of you."

There was a long pause in which Cailan held her breath; she felt light headed, and the glare of the stage-lights wasn't helping any.

"Ms. Leal, if you join this troupe, it is like selling your body and soul. You belong to this troupe, you will breathe this troupe, you will live this troupe. Are you ready to make that commitment, Ms. Leal?"

She didn't even hesitate. "Yes."

…

2:34pm

"I start with the troupe on Monday." Cailan said, slowly slipping onto a bench behind where Kaldur was practicing sorcery.

Kaldur paused, letting the water he was working with fall back neatly into the large basin at his feet. He turned slowly, his face blank. "I told you you had nothing to worry about,"

"I know,"

"I would have thought you would be more excited, this is what you wanted, is it not?" he asked, his voice like rich velvet.

"…eh, the victory's a little tainted…" she shrugged, giving him a small smile.

It was so fragile; he wanted to move closer, to do something to keep it from breaking. "Why do you say that?"

"Because we're fighting."

He couldn't help but laugh at her frankness. Maybe she'd never stop surprising him. "We are not fighting."

He saw her relax as he sat down next to her, his hands leisurely gripping the edge of the bench. They were silent for a moment; his mind was itching to question her again about the story of the boy, about why she'd frozen up at her audition. Instead he asked her how she'd gotten back to the hideout.

"Robin brought me. I told him I wanted to talk to you."

"And he did not tease you about it?" Kaldur asked, his surprise overriding his attempts to be stern.

She laughed. "He's like a little brother to me of course he did. I just asked him about a girl from school that he knows and he shut up. Kaldur, am I your girlfriend?"

With a nervous laugh he questioned back "Is it not obvious?"

"Does…it bother you if your friends know?"

He was quiet a moment, sitting there and thinking. Was he in fact bothered if the others knew? He felt oddly confronted with her question and decided he needed a long moment to puzzle out his answer.

"I suppose you and I are quite alike; I keep my personal matters to myself, if I can. It would not bother me if they find out, but I am still inclined to keep it between us,"

He looked over and saw a smile gleaming from her eyes, felt her fingers trace over the back of his hand. "I'm going to be really busy…being part of a professional dance troupe is a bit like giving up your life Kaldur. I won't have much time for anything else…anyone else. I'll understand if you don't want to keep things the way they are; you deserve someone who'll have time for you."

Kaldur laughed, drawing brief attention from Artemis and Conner in the other room. "Do not be foolish. It is not as if being a hero has offered me much opportunity either."

"You've done alright," he watched her face darken. "So…how will we make it work?"

"Hm…" he turned his hand over and grasped hers, his thumb rubbing gently over her skin. "I suppose I will have to give up my life of heroism. It is a life of thievery for us,"

She giggled tossed her hair nervously. "Hm, sounds riveting and dangerous…but why thieves?"

"Well…I am not one to give up easily, even if our careers take dedication. If we are going to make this work, we will have to steal moments like this."

"Kaldur…that was either the cheesiest line I've ever heard, or the cutest," she giggled, lacing their fingers together.

"Maybe this will help you decide?" he leaned over and gave her a quick kiss, before standing and resuming his studies. "Congratulations, Cailan,"

…

Saturday the 15th of April,

1:09pm

"Again." Demetri ordered, his cold voice echoing through the dance studio.

Cailan was thankful that it wasn't her. She was good—Demetri had told her that much upfront when he'd told her she'd gotten into the troupe, but there had been no way in hell they were going to give her a big part in the upcoming production. After seeing the way he worked, she was thankful she wasn't given a large part in the next performance. She was content to be one of the 'dancer's chorus'. Especially as she was watching Demetri humiliate one of the leading girls.

Apparently, most everyone was used to his behavior, which included the girl under his intense direction. While her face was bright red with embarrassment, her eyes didn't tear up or look wildly around for help. Instead she weathered his cold, ordering voice, attempting to obey as he instructed her through her main part in the dance. He was brutal.

"Again!"

Cailan found herself flinching as he yelled at the other girl—Vanessa, she thought. The young woman took a deep breath and lifted to the tips of her toes, letting her arms and pull outward, starting with her elbows and flowing through to her wrist and fingers. Carefully she lifted one leg in front of her, still hesitant but trying to focus her movements. Her leg trembled with her weight and her nerves; her arms lifted over her head and she leaned back. She didn't make it far before she started falling and brought her leg down to steady herself again.

"Wrong. Again Vanessa." He barked coldly, pacing around the young woman, never looking at her, speaking at her, not to her.

"Demetri," she sighed, her shoulders slumping in defeat. "I'm tired. You're not he—"

"If you can't do it now, how can you do it for our performance. Shall I find someone else here who can, Vanessa?" he cut her off, crossing his arms and examining the rest of the dancers he'd grouped around the stage.

She huffed a stray strand of hair from her face. "If you think you can," she muttered tersely.

He smirked and walked slowly around the stage, examining the girls. Some raised their heads in haughty determination to be chosen to outshine a lead dance. Others shrank into the shadows, terrified to be humiliated in front of the entire troupe. Cailan was with these, stepping back away from Demetri's gaze.

"Jenifer," He said, stopping and turning to the assistant choreographer. "Who's that new girl we just signed on? Get her up here."

Cailan winced.

…

Her hands balled into fists Cailan stepped forward, not realizing she held her breath.

"Do you think you can do a better job of this than Vanessa, or is my whole troupe a failure."

"I—I….I wouldn't know the moves D-Demetri." She said, not looking up.

To her surprise he laughed, eliciting a few chuckles from the surrounding people. "My dear girl, I'm not asking you to tell us of your novice skills. Do you, think, you can do a better job, than Vanessa?"

She closed her eyes and let her breath out slowly. "No."

The twittering among the crowd stopped and even Demetri paused for a moment to look at her. "But you're going to ask me to anyways, so it doesn't really matter, does it?" she turned her head to look at him and swallowed.

He cracked a smile and arched a brow. "My, my, clever girl. You catch on quick,"

…

Sunday, 16th of April

7:56pm

"He said we can't!" Raggity-Anne said, grabbing Baal's arm.

He glared at her and jerked is arm away, narrowly missing her face with his elbow. "We can take her now."

"Joker said to wait,"

"What the hell for! She's there now, the stupid little bitch. I'll giver what's coming to her and then Uncle Joker can do what he likes with her."

"Baal if you ruin his plans he'll kill you. If you just listen to him you'll get your revenge too. Not yet," she soothed, cooing to him in his ear, drawing her fingers up over his arm gently.

"Fine. Get off." He gave her a rough shove into the building's roof-edge. "Keep an eye on her carefully. Follow her everywhere. Don't take your eyes off of her for a second."

Cailan walked out of the rehearsal room, running her hands through her hair and taking a deep breath of the April air. Demetri had bumped her up a ranking in the troupe; it was a step up from a chorus dancer and it wasn't the responsibility of a lead role. She could handle that. Or she thought she could when she accepted the new part. She'd just needed a breather.

A shiver ran down her spine and she looked around the alley way, out to the street. She felt like she was being watched.

…

Wednesday, 19th of April

6:00am

"Why are you wasting my time?" Demetri paced the floor. "Why, why do you do this to me? How many successful performances have we put on? How many times has our audience given a standing ovation to my dancers? So why people, why do this to me, why worry my reputation?"

"From the top?" Jenifer asked him as he walked by, her hands on her hips, sweat dripping down her neck.

"No. Give them a break. Take if from the second half," he gave a flourish of his hand and walked off stage, back to his own room.

Cailan grimaced. They were only half an hour in and Demetri had already worked the main cast to utter fatigue. Like she knew would happen Jenifer called out her own group to start rehearsing; while not as aggressive as Demetri in her correction methods, Jenifer wouldn't hesitate to call one out on a short coming.

…

10:37pm

"Cailan," the girl froze and looked up from packing her gym-bag, glancing around at the other girls.

"Yes?"

"I'd like to talk with you; come with me," Demetri said, opening his hand in gesture for her to follow him.

Gripping her bag over her shoulder Cailan again glanced at the other girls before walking towards the door to follow her dance instructor. Her heart was like rapid gunfire in her constricting chest; she was either getting bumped from the troupe or he was going to make some weird advance towards her that she wasn't looking for, and either was enough to make her feel sick.

"Cailan, you're a very gifted dancer," Demetri began, following her into his own private office, crossing his arms over his chest and looking contemplatively at the ground.

She held her breath, waiting for the impending drop.

"And I've put a lot of consideration into what I've decided about where your dancing career will go," his snarky eyes leaped up from the floor and glared into her own; she felt her head go light and her vision start swimming in front of her. "How would you like to have a go at our modern ballet sub-troupe?"

Cailan blinked at him, unsure of what she'd just heard. His laughing snapped her back to herself and her face burned with humiliation at ogling like a goldfish. "What…do you mean?"

"You've dedicated a lot of time and effort to our main troupe here; it'll be an added commitment, but I believe you would benefit from working with Marci at our up-town studio. It's modern dancing, and a small troupe of around fifteen people. Occasionally, I'll send her dancers for one of her performances, or they'll come and help with mine. However, I'd like you to go and perform for her upcoming show on the twenty-eighth."

"…That's…that's not a lot of time Demetri…" she stuttered, not sure what else she should say; modern ballet? All she'd ever known was classical.

"No. It isn't. I suggest you meet with her first thing tomorrow."

…

"And…? What else do you clowns have to report to me?" Joker questioned, his face pulled tight over his grinning teeth.

"Calm down Mista. J," Harley giggled, throwing her arms over his shoulders.

He threw her off of him and rounded on the younger punks. "You morons! I should—"

"Baal's back," a masked clown said through the door of Joker's office.

Joker's grin spread in malicious anticipation. "Send him in,"