Jessie took the moment everyone was distracted to slip out of the main room. She made her way out of the mountain to the beach and walked a short ways across the sand. The wind felt good on her hot skin and the waves crashed almost playfully calling to her. She quickly shook off her cloak, boots, and belt with her weapons hanging from it. Taking a tentative step into the water as it rushed up the shore. The water was cool, but refreshingly so. After a moment of thought she reflected that some people; Nightwing, would notice her absence soon and probably come looking for her. Jessie smiled mischievously at the though and decided she should have fun while she was able to. Carefully she made her way back to her things, making extra sure to put them out of the reach of the water then she pulled off her blouse and riding pants, adding them to the pile. Once she stood in just her breast binding and under shorts that were skin tight she waded out into the surf and waited.

Nightwing followed the signal of the tracker he had slipped on Bard's cloak. Thankfully it was still working even after she had transformed. Oddly enough it showed her down at the beach, but as he walked out across the sand he saw no sign of her by the moon light. Funny how time passes when you're inside the mountain having fun. Suddenly the signal showed he was standing right next to her, looking around he found a pile of clothes folded neatly over her swords. He instantly scanned the water's surface, but didn't see her. She wouldn't have gone too far without her clothes. Then he eyed her clothes and thought, maybe I should head back.

Laughter echoed at first distantly in his mind. "Maybe," was her very amused remark. Something about her voice felt strange. Like there was a pressure pushing at her that was fast growing into an ache.

"Are you okay?" Whatever he was feeling from her was whisked away when she realized what she felt was spilling over into him.

"Don't change the subject. For all you know I'm naked and you're out looking for me, what kind of a man are you?" Her voice feigned disbelief and horror.

He snorted. "Are you?"

"Naked or okay?" Amusement swirled around him so she was probably okay and he didn't see underwear in the pile so she couldn't be entirely naked. He suddenly caught a glimpse of himself through her eyes. She was underwater and to his right. Glancing in that direction he caught only a brief glimpse of white. A foot? Her laughter curled around him.

"Jessie?"

"Richard."

"Please come out, the water is probably freezing."

She sighed like he had taken all the fun away, then her head appeared above the water. Pouting she swam to shore and slowly walked out of the water. Nightwing's mouth went dry and Bard looked smug.

Hands on her hips she asked, "Better?"

Nightwing rubbed his eyes trying to fake annoyance he really didn't feel, all the while blush crept across his cheeks and down his neck. "Why did you leave?" He did his best not to stare at her, but the glint in her eyes made him wonder how much teasing he was in for. Instead she answered him quiet plainly.

"When you called I woke up and came running. I just needed a minute to remember how it felt to be alive and just feel." She was suddenly thoughtful then asked, "Will you do me a favor?"

"Depends."

"On?"

"What the favor is and if you'll answer my questions." He added quickly, "No half truths."

Jessie nodded clearly expecting as much.

"Sounds fair; fight me."

Nightwing blinked. He was pretty sure he had misheard her.

"What?"

She didn't look amused this time. "You heard me. Fight me, like we used to."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean you did just wake up after several years in a coma."

Jessie rolled her eyes and nodded.

"I need to feel in control again. To remember how it feels to fight in my own body, to test myself like I used to."

There was something about what she said that he sympathized with, but there was also no way he would be able to turn down the pleading look in her eyes. A small part of him in the back of his mind whispered that it could be due to the fact that she's wearing minimal clothing. He shoved that thought away quickly.

"Alright."

The change was subtle, but instantaneous, like a switch being thrown in the back of her mind. A sly smile spread across her face and her muscles flexed making him wonder if this was a bad idea. Jessie leaned forward then closed the distance between them in less than a breath of time. A fist was aimed at his gut. He caught her fist, but not only did it push him back, but nearly knocked him over for his trouble. Jessie blinked in surprise, either she was stronger than even she thought or one of her characters was starting to bleed through.

"Going easy on you is officially out of the question."

"I'd hope so. But what's your first question. Or would you rather I started wailing on you a bit more first?"

Nightwing actually truly laughed.

"Cheeky thing, aren't you?"

Muscles coiled in her left leg and foot before she pivoted around on that foot and aimed a kick at his exposed ribs with her right foot. He caught her foot around the ankle and quickly jerked her forward into him.

"Were you avoiding me in the cave earlier?"

Her face flushed red and used the force of him dragging her forward to help spin her body and lash out with her left foot. This time she aimed for his face with same almost vicious force. But it was not battle rage or even aggression in her eyes. There was only pure joy of someone reveling in life. He let go of her foot and took a quick step back so her foot passed by him harmlessly. Jessie landed in a crouch just in front of him, quickly rising.

"Yes."

Nightwing was thrown not only by the bluntness of the answer, but the honesty that was accompanied with a deep blush. He almost didn't see the knee that come up for a kidney shot that would have left him in a whole lot of pain if it had found its mark.

"Why?"

Jessie's blush not only deepened but spread down her neck. Definitely not from being out of breath he thought to himself.

"I wasn't brave enough to face you with others around. I knew you had questions and I didn't want an audience for the answer-," she let the sentence cut off as he kicked at her side. She caught his foot and tried to flip him on his back, Nightwing simply turned it into a back flip that nearly clipped her chin with his boot. He stepped back into range and started throwing punches. Both of them were moving in an easy rhythm.

"So you couldn't talk to me with everyone listening in, but you could lure me out here and fight me half naked?"

She looked away as her blush deepened, but she still managed to block his punches or dance out of the way of them.

"When you put it that way it does sound a little bit odd." Now she laughed freely even as they kicked, punched, and grappled for control over the other person. "But yes, that about sums it up."

He chuckled and they exchanged more blows. Some hits were scored by both, but most of them blocked or altogether missed. It took a bit for Nightwing to remember his initial question he had wanted to ask. He had actually wanted to ask her this since the second time she had visited him in his dreams.

"You said once that you wouldn't just hand me answers, that you learned the hard way not to do that. Why are you just giving me the answers now? Does that mean what held you back before no longer applies? Is the world truly saved?"

Jessie laughed breathlessly at him, which was odd she shouldn't even be tired yet, he certainly wasn't. Jessie being Jessie, answered his last question first.

"The world will always be in danger that will require heroes like you and me to save it." She took a deep shuddering breath, but kept her hands up in a defensive position, this gave Nightwing pause. She couldn't still be sick, could she? They circled each other and Jessie looked away from him to just past his shoulder. It was an old trick that had won her many matches before.

"Whatcha see Jessie? Can't be the answers to my other two question-," His foot hit a hollow in the sand that was much too deep to be natural. Damn, how did she do that was he could think as he fell backwards. A smug smile spread across Jessie's face. She pounced, launching herself on top of him as he crashed to the sand. He'd been played, again. Her weight came down and pinned him in the next moment. He was almost shocked when he tried pushing her off. Her skin was much too hot to be normal, and what he had mistaken for water leftover from her getting out of the ocean was actually sweat. The two of them rolled around, each trying to keep the other pinned. Jessie ended up on top and pressed her knee to his groin. He stopped knowing she wouldn't hurt him unless he tried to overpower her.

"Not going to get up," She asked with a smug smile, but her breath was ragged and her while body seemed to tremble with effort.

"Are you dodging the question?"

Jessie bit her lip and looked away from him.

"Jessie?"

Now he was starting to get concerned. She moved and sat down next to being careful not to accidentally hurt him when she got up.

"Do you have all your memories back?"

Nightwing blinked. Not the response he had expected. He turned her question over in his head. He did have them, he was sure, wasn't he? It took a moment going back through his mind before he found what he suspected Jessie was talking about. The last thing he would remember was Jessie would curl up suddenly in pain then nothing.

"Jessie why am I still missing some of my memories? Why are the missing memories all revolve around you?"

She ran a hand through her hair and took a shaky breath.

"My power. It can be incredibly volatile. I'm not sure why mine is and Alexandra's isn't, but that's the way it is. At first I didn't realize it was doing harm to you. The change was slow and subtle at first. But after I had more and more attacks I noticed." She bit her lip and seemed to think about how she needed to explain things. Finally she started again, "If I used one of my characters too often or used too much power, my body and mind cycle through all of my characters." She paused again. "It hurts," her voice was just barely audible over the waves. "You, being you, went into my mind and tried to help tried to comfort me there. But it was battering your mind and you were slowly changing into someone very different."

"How is that possible?" Fear choked him as he thought about all his friends who now had a permanent connection to Bard, would they suffer too. "Not through visiting your mind?"

"No! Thankfully no. But when it started to affect you in ways I couldn't even begin to imagine. You were more prone to violence and you angry easily. So I took the memories of you helping me and soon you were back to normal."

It took Nightwing seconds to make the connection.

"Jessie? You said your power will overwhelm you when you use your characters too much; like you did today?" Now it seemed obvious, she was sweating even more regardless of the fact that a cool breeze was blowing gently off the ocean. Her breath was coming out in shallow pants. "Jessie?" He sat up and went to comfort once he realized she had been slowly stepping away from him. She threw herself away from him.

"Stay back, I don't know how far the power will reach," she warned desperately. Then she looked him in the eyes and he saw hers were rapidly changing color and shape. Some of them were the same color others it was like two different people stared at him. A spasm rippled through her dragging her to the ground. She whispered, "Please stop." Tears streaming down her eyes. The hair on the back of Nightwing's neck rose up. Her voice was filled with agony as she stared off into the distance no longer even seeing him.

Then before he could do anything power rippled out from her about a foot from her before dissipating. Next came fire, ice, water, plants grew up, then died in the next wave, electricity pulsed outward, then several different bands of color each more powerful and eerie than the last. Then Jessie's body began to change first her hair, then her height, her skin. Different tattoos chased each other across her skin each burning with life before fading back into her skin. Next she became entirely different creatures which included two wolves, a dragon, a burning bird, and several other monstrous creatures that he couldn't even begin to describe. Finally she seemed to return to normal but she still shook and stared blankly at the sky. Nightwing took a deep breath before he surged into her mind. He didn't care if he changed, she wouldn't be alone for this.

In her mind clips played over all the doors. The first showed Jessie dressed as Bard washing up on the shore a few years into the future. He couldn't be sure how far in the future, but then he gasped when he noticed in the clip Jessie's belly was swollen. She was pregnant and pretty far along. The clipped sputtered to a stop and changed. Now it depicted a picture of Nightwing standing in front of a grave with Alexandra and her family beside. It was Jessie's grave and dated two months from today. Again the clip sputtered and then panned out to show the broken burnt out ruins of what was, at one time, a city. Images started to crowd the screen and then disappear before Nightwing could get a clear view of most of them. Finally the screen went blank and Jessie's mind went back to normal.

Jessie laid curled up in the rug rocking back and forth. Nightwing sat down beside and just waited for her to stop. When she did he said, "You know, you're more trouble than you look."

She made an odd sound that might have been a sob.

"No worries. I like trouble."

She snorted and looked up at him.

"You're a good man."

"I know." Then he smirked. "I'd say same to you, but I'm pretty sure you're not a man."

This time she did actually laugh, but she winced in pain and touched her side afterwards.

"I take it back, your an ass."

He laughed at her and she punched him weakly.

"So what was that?"

"Those little movies you saw were possible futures. What could be, what might be, what won't be, what will be."

"You were pregnant in one."

She snorted.

"Yes, I saw."

"Any ideas who the father is or might be?"

Now she laughed and asked, "Why, you offering?"

Nightwing blushed.

"No, I was curious."

After a moment of silence she answered, "I can only think of three possible choices at the moment. That future wasn't too far off. A few years, give or take."

Robin waited patiently. Something about her statement irritated him.

"The first is you."

He wasn't sure how to take that. "And the others?"

The silence that fell was very telling. He knew she was trying to think of the best way to phrase her sentence.

"Before I was taken I found the letters the 'angel' left for my ancestor and Gabriel showed me his family's. Towards the end it mentions that the two friends lines would cross."

Nightwing clenched and unclenched his fist, he did not like where this was going.

"Gabriel is one possibility."

"And the other?"

"The letters also speaking of the "angel" coming back."

Not a whole lot better.

"What do you think of all of this?"

She was quiet for a long time seemingly lost in thought.

"I see the future or possible outcomes all the time. I know the danger of running from a possible future. I also know that it may never happen. I think whoever the father is, it will be my own choosing to have sex with them. Whether it is for reasons of the heart or not I have no way of knowing, but I will make my own future regardless."

Nightwing smiled.

"I also saw a woman there. Starfire?"

"Nope, no more. Out. I think I need a nap."

"Oh no you don't. If you fall asleep someone is likely to come out side and find us. Then I'm the bad guy taking advantage of you."

Jessie chuckled darkly. Just the kind of thing she would find funny.

"Fine," she sighed dramatically before sending him back to his own mind.