Chapter 2: Introductions

A knock came to the door and with Garth's permission it opened to a small group of people. He saw Dick leading three other people, One orange haired girl with a pink cardigan on, A tall and muscular young man wearing a black and red superman shirt and finally a ginger haired boy with a red jacket.

"Good Afternoon Garth." Dick said with a smile.

"Alright mate?" He responded with a nervous nod, Dick was the only person who had really visited him other than Dinah Lance. He assumed that the doctors didn't want Garth to have a meltdown with a large variety of people telling him about his old life. So seeing these three strangers which were most likely his old friends made him pretty nervous.

"This is Megan, Connor and Wally. They have been pretty close friends of yours for the last two years." Dick informed with an extended arm to point out who he was naming.

Garth let out a nervous laugh, "I don't really know what to say or how to begin."

Megan spoke up with care, "Just ask us anything Garthy and we'll answer as best we can". Wally agreed with the idea and Connor silently nodded, Dick gestured for the three to take a seat and left the room when the three had settled down.

"So how do we know each other? That sounds like a good question to start with since I've never seen you three around Gotham Academy." He inquired. The three young adults cautiously looked at one another and passed along subtle nods. Finally Wally spoke up, "We actually met during a house party being thrown by some mutual friends."

"Really? I didn't embarrass myself did I?" Garth laughed with a reply from Megan in the form of a giggle and Connor a chuckle.

"Don't get me wrong you start off strong but your dancing gets worse and worse the more you drink." Wally laughed.

"Yeah that sounds about right." Garth replied. He then thought for a moment to come up with another question to ask and then smiled, "I don't suppose you could each share a memory which involves us individually? Could you?" he questioned with curiousity.

Megan looked across Garths bed and smiled at Connor, "Do you want to start sweetie?" she asked.

"Sure." he answered. He then paused for a moment with a curve appearing on his lips, "There was this one time where you and I were the only one's awake in the cave.. uh house and you suggested on going to the karaoke night down in the town. You kept bugging me to get on stage and sing after you had done it a few times yourself..." Connor now let out snort and a chuckle "... Of course you eventually got me on stage but I would only do it if we did it together. Turns out I'm not a great singer but we had a lot of fun anyway." he smiled.

Wally let out a baffled laugh, "You? Singing? What song was it?" He asked.

"Don't stop me now? Garth chose it, I don't really know any songs." Connor answered but in a way where he was asking if it's the correct song name. Garth laughed, "You can't have people sing out loud and not have that one come out. Aw man I can imagine how we looked now." he smirked.

"Like idiots most likely... Good times" Conner nodded. Megan happily clapped her hands in quick succession and gave Connor a teasing look. "What about you Wally?" she smiled. Wally leaned onto the frame at the end of the bed and answered the questioned, "You challenged me to a pancake eating contest on 'Pancake Day' which you said was a UK holiday thing. You had no chance of beating me at all but you tried I'll give you that, although you did need a bucket when you gave up..." Wally smirked.

"I actually lost at that? Damn..." Garth sighed, he had that challenge multiple times with his dad and Garth never lost. "We'll have to have a rematch sometime" he joked. Wally looked over to the girl sat beside Garth, "You can count on it as long as Megan makes them again." he winked. Megan smiled, "Of course! We can do it when you get discharged!"

"The story that comes to mind for me is when you asked me to show you how to make my signature cookies. You tried so hard and made the kitchen such a mess but in the end I don't think we could class them as a food!" She giggled. Garth smiled at the cute girl, "I've never been a good cook at all." he chuckled.

"We'd have to ask Artemis for her opinion on that matter!" she laughed. Wally and Connor gave her the stare that she was used to getting after she spoke out of turn or when she said something she shouldn't have. Garth's eyebrows furrowed, "Why would we need to ask Artemis?" he questioned.

Megan's eyes widened, "No reason! No reason at all!" she quickly stammered. As if Dick had sensed that Megan and gotten herself in trouble he appeared at the doorway.

"Garth I just got some news from your doctor." He informed. "They say you could be out of here by tomorrow."

Garth looked shocked, "Really? I was struck by lightning you know. That's not really something you walk off."

"The Flash was struck by lightning, So was Kid Flash. They ran it off." Wally smirked.

"Wow, that was actually somewhat cool. What's happned to Wally West?" Megan laughed and Wally shrugged.

"Anyway, The Doctors say it's due to your fairly quick healing and powers. Some scars will be left on your body however." Dick announced. Garth's face looked shocked, they knew about his powers? How?

"You know?!" Garth exclaimed.

"We know. You trusted us enough to tell us about your powers." The Black Haired Teen shared. A sense of shock appeared inside Garth, not once had he shared the secret of him having powers before but to do it to a group of people? He must have trusted these people with his life.

Garth had about a million questions to ask but before he could do so the Nurse who was assigned to care for him told his visitors that their time was up and had to leave. The next few hours passed for Garth fairly quickly as he tried his hardest to remember anything invovling the people who visited him but all he got was short blurry snippets. It was infuriating. The Nurse took notice of his frustration and tried to take his mind off whatever he was thinking about, or attempting to think about.

"I can remove your bandages if you like. Doctor Smith said you could either have it done tonight or before you leave tomorrow, it's up to you." She informed.

The dark-haired man's mind snapped out of his deep thoughts and he nodded to the Nurse caring for him and asked for her to remove them. She obliged to his request and had another Nurse enter the room to help remove the bandages. They slowly unraveled the partially bloody bandages from his scarred arms, He felt the odd hint of pain as some of the material stuck to some of his burns and cuts. When his first arm was no longer covered his face grimaced. His arm was covered in cuts, some deep and some light. But what was worse was the healed burns that showed where the lightning ran down his arms and exited his finger tips, which were in turn purple and bruised with deep scarring at the end of them. He noticed a tattoo on his arm which now looked shattered and in pieces with the lightning scars breaking it apart. He didn't know what it meant but he felt a sadness about it.


The Next Day...

"Your friends left some clean clothes here for you last night Mr Daniels." The Nurse informed as she placed a sports bag onto the bed. "A Mr West and Mr Grayson will be here soon to take you out of here" she added.

Garth reached over into the bag and unzipped it pulling out a clean long sleeve black shirt and a pair of sweatpants, he looked over to the woman who had been caring for him for the last few days, "Thanks for everything you've done for me love." he smiled. The Nurse returned the smile and left the room for Garth to have some privacy to get changed. It took half an hour for him to get fully clothed, he was offered help but he refused it, he didn't want to depend on others to help him now that he is leaving this hospital.

He looked at the clock to see what the time was, he still had twenty odd minutes until Wally and Dick take him out of this place. Garth remembered being told that Barbara Gordon was nearby in another room recovering as well, he thought it would be nice of him to visit her so he slowly and painfully sat up from his fluffy hospital bed and reached for the crutches beside him. He left the room and looked down the hallway, his room was placed at the far end from the entrance of the hall. He hobbled down the metallic hallway and looked into each room to see if his 'Friend' was there, after the fourth of fifth room he noticed the room was filled with flowers and there was somebody asleep in it. She had read hair and looked fairly rough with a bruise on her cheek and some cuts across her face, on her eyebrow, her lower lip and on her chin. Garth slowly stepped into the room as quietly as he could but the slap of the crutches on the floor woke up the redhead from her slumber. The dark haired man gave an awkward smile and lifted his right hand and gave a weak wave.

"Garth?" she asked groggily.

"Yeah it's me, You're Barbara Gordon right?" he questioned sincerely. Barbara closed her eyes again and released a sad sigh, "So it's true you've lost some memories?". Garth saw the pain on her face when she asked that question, a lump appeared in his throat when he replied, "... I'm afraid so."

"And you don't remember me at all? Not in the slightest?" she mumbled. Garth shook his head. Barbara gave a weak laugh "Figures.", she looked at Garth and then looked over to the arm chair that was placed beside her bed, much like how it was set out in Garth's room, "You can sit down you know." she told him. The dark haired man shuffled over to the seat and collapsed into it. "Ow." he grumbled.

"Are you okay?" Barbara worried. Garth gave a smirk to the girl sat in front of him, "I feel and look like shit."

"I can't really say much, If I knew you were coming to see me I would have attempted to make an effort. I probably look like death." She laughed. "You do look pretty rough." He replied teasingly.

Barbara rolled her eyes, "At least you're still a charmer Garth." she smirked. Barbara paused for a moment, "To you this is your first time meeting me isn't it?"

Garth furrowed his brow, "Yeah... How did we meet in the first place anyway?" he asked. The redhead released a smile as if she was reliving a happy memory, Garth wished he could do the same thing right now, "You were walking up the road towards Gotham Academy and you had your headphones in, quietly singing along to the song playing in your ears. It was pretty damn endearing..." she blushed. Garth raised his eyebrows as he saw her cheeks turn a shade of pink, "...and at that point I had been crushing on you for a couple of days so I thought I'd bite the bullet and introduce myself!" she beamed. Garth himself blushed this time at the smile she gave him and the fact that Barbara Gordon had a crush on him. THE Barbara Gordon had a crush on HIM.

"What song was I singing?" Garth questioned. Barbara paused for a moment she could remember some of the lyrics "If this is what love is, there is no wonder we chase it." she answered with another blush. Garth was hoping that the song would at least jog his memory a little bit but it had no impact. "Are you not going to sing it Babs?" he teased. Barbara looked at him with a happy smile, ingnoring his question she spoke up "Babs? Glad to see you haven't changed that much."

Garth gripped his right hand tightly around one of his crutches sat inbetween his legs, soaking up the pain around his hand, "Yeah well, I'd like to figure that out myself." he mumbled. Barbara noticed she had somewhat angered him, she apologised and he seemed to accept it. "Garth listen to me. I know what you're going through is difficult for you, it would be difficult for anyone. Just know that you have caring friends that are hear for you every step of the way... I'm here for you every step of the way." she comforted as she reached out her closest hand towards him. Garth paused for a moment, she hadn't made a comment about his scarred hands. Maybe she didn't notice them and when she did she would retract her hand in disgust or maybe she did notice them but didn't care. Despite the possibility of the first option being true he felt like he could trust her no matter what, so he placed his left scarred and bruised hand into the small, soft and pale palm she had opened towards him. She grasped his hand tightly and gave a pained smile, she rubbed her thumb across the back of his hand. Across the scars he hated. In that moment he knew how much she cared for him. The two young adults eyes locked for a few moments but were ultimately interrupted by a voice coming from the doorway.

"Ready to go Garth?" Wally interrupted.

The two quickly retracted their hands with Garth trying to hide his pain in doing so. "Yeah man, I'm ready." He winced. He attempted to climb out of the deep arm chair but had trouble doing so. Despite his objections Wally and Dick eventually helped him stand, Barbara watched this ordeal with pity and a worried expression.

"Wally can you take him to the Zetatube? I'll meet you two out there in a few minutes." Dick spoke. Wally shrugged his shoulders and lead his friend towards the exit of the Watchtower, he was looking forward to seeing what his reaction to teleportation would be.

Dick turned to face the beautiful redhead, "What was he doing in here?" he inquired. Barbara looked away from her friend, "He was getting to know me." she stated.

Dick sighed and ran his hands through his hair, "I saw you two holding hands. Do you want to make this situation with Artemis worse?" he pestered.

Barbara turned to face her friend standing beside her with a pissed off expression, "What do you expect from me Dick? I have a child on the way. I have HIS child on the way. Artemis made it clear to me how angry she was at me and at Garth, she was going to dump him as soon as she saw him." she spat.

"You don't know that!" Dick retaliated.

"I damn well fucking do. I saw the sense of betrayal in her eyes when she found out what happened." she growled. Dick began to rub his forehead, he had no idea whose side he should be on, "And how do you think she is going to feel when she finds out you're pursuing him now that he has lost his memory?" he calmly asked.

Barbara stopped in her tracks and tears began to roll down her cheeks, she realised that she is the villain in this situation. She loved Artemis like the sister she never had, she supported Artemis as much as she could with Garth despite it hurting her each time she saw them together. But the only thing she cared about now was her baby, Garth's baby. She didn't want her child growing up without it's father there for it. She was done bottling up her feelings, she was going to make sure that Garth knew about how she felt towards him. About how she loved him. If Artemis wanted to hate her for it then fine, she can.

Dick didn't react to her tears, "Please tell me you haven't told him about the baby." he begged. Barbara wiped her eyes and made sure to avoid looking at her friend, "No... I haven't" she sniffled.

"Let him get his memories back first." he replied as he walked out of the room. He didn't know what to think about this whole situation. In fact he had no idea why he involved himself with it in the first place, maybe it was because he wanted his team to be happy or maybe he just hated their drama and wanted it to end. Now he has himself wrapped up with babysitting Garth, someone who he had very little respect for. Dick was Garth's friend however, he did like the man but when it came to the choices his friend had made it just made him angry and disappointed. But what can he do in this situation? Everyone has become involved, not just him.

Dick eventually caught up with his two friends who were stood by the Zetatube, "You guys ready?" he asked. Wally smiled and nodded whereas Garth looked confused.

"What is the point in making a hallway with blinding white light?" he asked.

Dick chuckled to himself. Instead of Wally explaining teleportation with the Zetetube he just came up with the idea of it being a very well lit hallway. Good job Wally.

"It stops intruders from entering the Hall of Justice" Dick lied. Garth thought for a moment and shrugged his shoulders, it seemed to make sense.

"I'll lead the way." Wally smirked, ignoring his friends question. He entered the the white light and disappeared, the other two were closely behind.