A/N: Shout outs to everyone who commented on my previous chapters. I love seeing your reviews.

You guys really had some good suggestions and maybe I'll use them in the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice (unfortunately)

Chapter 5

"Zen, get down here! You don't wanna be late."

Zaina stuffs her books into her bag and runs downstairs as she hears her father call again. Checking her watch to find out that she was just a few minutes late, she slings the bag over her shoulder. Mondays were always a problem for her. After a nice weekend, going back to school was somewhat the last thing she wanted to do. But, her father had an effective system to wake her.

"Oh good, you're ready." She sees her father placing a bowl of cereal on the table. "Better eat up. Jason's gonna be here in fifteen minutes."

"Sure, Dad." She sighs, slipping into the chair and eating a spoonful of cereal. He seats himself opposite her with his own bowl.

"Sorry about the weak breakfast. I really need to go grocery shopping." He smiles.

"It's okay." She replies.

They chat for about fifteen minutes till she finishes her cereal. As she puts her bowl in the sink, the doorbell rings. Her father answers the door and sees Jason standing there, ready for school.

"Morning, Mr. Grayson." He greets.

"Jason, how many times have I told you to call me Dick?" her father grins. He was always fond of the blond boy. She figures it has something to do with Jason's dad. Or it could just be the fact that he was his daughter's best friend.

She waves bye to her father as she walks past him. Jason greets her enthusiastically and walks beside her to school.

"So, how was your weekend at your Grandfather's?" Jason asks.

"It was actually pretty nice." She says. "Ace's really growing now. He's up to my waist now."

"To think he was just up to your thigh when you saw him last month." Jason grins.

She simply nods, recalling how the Great Dane had jumped on her the second he saw her. Her grandfather had a hard time holding him back, but he didn't need to. That dog loved her like anything. Then Damian had given her a huge tackle-hug, which was unusual for him. Then even Alfred had hugged her. They all gave her the same love they gave to all the kids, but she feels that they'll always treat her slightly more special. Maybe it was because she was the first ever child to be born into the family, even though she was an accident.

"I know, right?" she says, feeling her throat choke up.

The issue that she was accident was always a hard one for her. No one ever told that to her face, but she had heard her grandfather mention it. Then, the "Queen Bees" would always look for their chance to throw it to her face. Sure, Jason always stood up for her, but the hurt would always be there.

"…So, did we all understand this?"

All the kids suddenly jerked. Zaina, for one, had fallen asleep halfway through the class. Lucky she hadn't been caught, or her father wouldn't take it lightly to be called once again. She looks over to the bench beside her to see what Jason was doing. He was staring blankly at the blackboard, headphone wires coming out of his ears. He looks over to and smiles, pointing to his watch, signaling that the period was almost over. She heaves a sigh of relief and holds up a thumbs-up. He quickly removes his headphones and stuffs them into his pocket as the teacher's voice brings their attention to the teacher.

"Okay, as you all know, the Science Fair is next week. So, I'll be pairing you all up with partners for your project. Remember, I expect good work from everybody." The last word seemed to be mostly directed towards Jason due to his last project which turned out to be just a stick with a paper cup dangling from it.

As the teacher began reading out names, Jason leans to his side, obviously dying of boredom.

"Zaina Grayson will be partnered up with Jason West." Both of them jump upon hearing their names.

They give each other surprised looks as they were never once paired up for a project, even in middle school or elementary school. Zaina tries to ignore the fact that the other girls were giving her death-glares. Jason himself has his mouth open as he tries to get what happened.

The two of them were pretty close, but when it came to working together, it always ended up with her wanting to strangle him. She has a feeling that he feels the same way. God, this project was so gonna put a damper on her plans to audition for the school band.

"I can't believe you're complaining about being partnered with Jason." Kim tells her. "At least you didn't get a complete loser like Michael."

"Michael's not that bad." Zaina replies. "And you don't know us. We can't work together."

"Why not?"

"Well, usually after we work for about five minutes, we try to kill each other."

Kim's eyes widen. "Wow!"

Zaina nods, humming. "So, that's why I'm really expecting a F."

"What do you think we should do for the Science Fair?" Jason asks sheepishly.

Zaina turns to him and glares at him. "You just had to bring it up now." She growls. "My day already sucks without thinking about working with you."

"I'm not happy about it either." He sighs. "But since we're stuck with each other, shouldn't we try to make the most of it?"

"I guess, if we don't end up at each other's throats within the first five minutes." She says, clearly in a bad mood.

"Well, you started it." He says.

"You were the one who brought in copper instead of zinc." She counters.

He opens his mouth to argue then closes it, thinking. "I guess I did." He says. "But that still doesn't explain why you yelled at me."

"The reaction that the wrong metal had nearly blew up the room." She growls.

"Fine, be that way." He says, in a sheepish voice that tells her that he knows that he was to blame.

Luckily, they were reaching their houses. Zaina sighs with relief as all she needs now is to relax to let out all the stress she had been put through at school. She holds her forehead for a second as she felt the familiar headache coming on. She suddenly stiffens as she realizes that she only gets headaches before something bad happens. The last time such a huge headache came was when she was young and there was an earthquake in Palo Alto.

Before she knows what's happening, the ground beneath them starts spiraling and shaking. Not another quake, she thinks. The force of the spinning send her colliding into Jason and then into the ground.

The only thing she can think of is that her head feels like exploding. Letting out a huge groan, she sits up, holding her head.

"Oww, Jason, you okay?" she asks. A few inches away from her, she can see Jason lying on the ground. He shifts and sits up, running a hand through his blond hair.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You?" he says.

"I'm fine, too. Apart from a splitting headache." She rubs her temples.

Jason puts his hands on the ground and used it as a support to stand up. He turns around and offers his hand to her. She's still pretty fumed at him for their earlier fight, but they just felt the ground shake. She's ready to put her anger aside as long as they're all okay. She takes his hand and he helps her to her feet. She looks around and sees that they're still pretty much alive and everything is just as they remember except that it's dark. She figures that they must have been knocked out.

She's about to say something to Jason when they hear footsteps behind them. They both turn around and see two people approaching. She strains her eyes to see if she knows these people, but it's too dark to decide. She wonders if these people are friendly, but there's only one way to make sure. She grabs Jason's hoodie and pulls him into the nearest bush, ignoring his protests. She's surprised as she remembers this bush. It provides a lot of cover, even for a fifteen-year-old.

"What's the big idea?" Jason protests.

"Shhh. We don't wanna be spotted." She shushes him, hissing quickly.

"But wha…" He starts and stops, looking around. "Hey, this is my lawn." He sees the house behind him. "And that's my house."

Zaina forms a question in her head, but it dies on her tongue as she spots the people who had come up to the house. A guy and a girl, young, but old enough to live on their own. She thinks they might be in their early twenties. She quickly observes the guy. He's a tall redhead with freckles and bright green eyes.

Where have I seen those eyes before? She wonders. She then observes the girl. She seems extremely familiar. Almost as if they had met before…

She gives a start as she recognizes the girl. Blond hair? Startling grey eyes? Hair in a ponytail?

"Isn't that your Mom?" the question slips out before she even has a chance to think.

"That is my Mom." Jason sounds even more surprised than she is. "She looks so young. So different."

With a start she realizes where she had seen the guy's green eyes. Her best friend has those same yes, and now she thinks of it, he does resemble that guy in more ways than one.

"Who is that guy?" she wonders.

Her friend's reaction gets her even more confused than she already is.

"Dad?"

A/N: Ooooo cliffhanger!

Hope you liked this chapter guys. I'm really getting into it now. I'm also basing the fate of my characters on your reviews. Depending on how you like each of them, they'll either die by the end of the story, or live. So, remember, Jason and Zaina's lives are in your hands.

So please review. I'd love to hear any more ideas you have.