21. Hellfire

John and Mary were walking hand in hand through a vast meadow, green grass all around them. They were smiling and laughing. They were happy, they were content. They were at rest. All their life they had toiled and worked for a living. Now all they did was rest, and talk to the people they knew.

John smiled, laughing, he hugged her. Life sure was different now. No more sadness, only peace and joy . Who knew that it would be this way. He smile and wrapped his arms around her waist.

He leaned down to kiss her. She stopped him.

"We can't do that here, you know," Mary laughed.

"Why not? We're married," he frowned.

"No, we're not married, people aren't married up here, you know. It doesn't work that way in Heaven."

"I know, but sometimes, I remember...and...I miss being your husband."

"John, I know how you feel but—" she stopped, sensing someone behind her.

"John. Mary. He calls for you," a ghostly, deep voice said behind them.

"Oh, uh really, what does He want?" John asked, turning around to face the Spectre. The Angel of Vengeance didn't usually make social visits. He was usually on the Earth, punishing evildoers.

"He did not give me details. Only that He wants to speak to both of you," the Spectre said. He showed them where to go.

John and Mary made their way toward the Throne of God, wondering what He wanted to speak to them about.

They looked up at God, his face shining brighter than the sun. He stared at them intently.

"John. Mary. Something is happening down on Earth and you are being sent back," God said.

"Sent back?" John asked. "What do you mean, "Sent back"? What's going on? You don't sound surprised."

"Of course I'm not surprised. I've known about this since before time. Nothing surprises me. I can't give you the details. I can only say that life and death have been tampered with and you must leave," God said. "The world of the living beckons you both."

"God, I know I asked You if I could see Dick again but I didn't think You'd actually resurrect us," Mary said. She didn't understand what was going on. All this talk of life and death confused her. She remembered her life on Earth and didn't understand how she could possibly get back there.

"I am not the one resurrecting you," God told her solemnly.

"If this isn't You then who is it?" John asked, he felt an emotion he hadn't felt in years. Fear. He was afraid, not of living but of not knowing why this was happening to both of them.

"I can't tell you," God said, He turned away

"You can't just turn Your back on us!" Mary pleaded.

"I must. Now go. The living aren't permitted to see My face... You must leave Me. Both of you."

"NO!" John felt something tearing through him. He felt himself being pulled down. He was holding his wife's hand until something forced him to let go. His soul was spinning, falling, down, down into a very dark and horrible place.

Mary was experiencing the same emotions and feelings and their souls descended toward Earth. She felt a horrible burning sensation, like fire. She could only compare it to being soaked in gasoline and set ablaze by a lighter. Her body was burning, searing Hellfire itself was devouring her soul and it felt as if she was being torn apart, when in truth, she was being put back together.

Memories came flooding in. Jumbled, disorienting, muddled images. Like a movie that someone played on an old, dirty VCR, or a badly scratched DVD.

She shot up out of the flames, emitting involuntary, madness filled screams. Her mind wasn't her own anymore. There was only the Hellfire and the horrific smell of death everywhere.

She landed on something hard. Mary stared around, trying to see where she was. She could hear voices but it was nearly impossible to tell what they were saying.

"Restrain...I...them...alive...son."

Mary felt the world spinning out of control as something hit her in the back of her head. She hit the ground, relieved as she slipped back into oblivion. Images of fire and Hell plagued her darkest nightmares. She just wanted to rest. That was the one thing she would miss about Heaven. She wouldn't have any rest on Earth.

Only one thought embedded itself in her consciousness as her mind began to conceive coherent thought again.

Where's Dick? Where's my son?

Mary Elizabeth Loyd Grayson opened her eyes again for the first time in seven years. She had come back to the world of the living.

22. Clown

Mary Elizabeth Loyd was frustrated. The dental office had been swarming with people all day and the stress was getting to her. She wasn't having a good day. In fact, it had been a very rotten day so far.

"Mr. Jack O'Kurr, is it?" Mary Loyd asked her patient as he lay back on the chair.

"Yes, Ms...Loyd," he looked at her name tag.

She began examining his teeth. He kept his teeth clean and he was better than most men his age. She'd seen a lot worse, and she was getting tired of the same old, same old routine.

She left the room and came back with his file.

"Is something wrong, you seem...distracted," she said to him.

"I've just been having...one rotten day," he told her. She had no idea why he was telling her this.

"Oh," she felt sympathetic. "I'm sorry."

"Y'know, my life's like that joke, the one where there were these two guys in a lunatic asylum…and one night…one night they decide they don't like living in an asylum any more. They decide they're going to escape! So like they get up on to the roof, and there, just across the narrow gap, they see the rooftops of the town, stretching away in moon light…stretching away to freedom."

"Now the first guy he jumps right across with no problem. But his friend, his friend daren't make the leap. Y'see he's afraid of falling… So then the first guy has an idea. He says "Hey! I have my flash light with me. I will shine it across the gap between the buildings. You can walk across the beam and join me." B—But the second guy just shakes his head. He says…he says "What do you think I am, crazy? You would turn it off when I was half way across."

Mary snickered. The joke he told wasn't half bad.

"I quit my job as a chemical engineer and decided to do stand-up comedy," Jack explained. "But no matter how hard I try, nobody laughs. It's just nobody understands my sense of humor...I just wanna make 'em laugh."

"Why not use that one?" she asked.

"Well, everybody knows that one." He stared at her. "I wanna support my wife, and she understands...but it's just not working out," he sighed.

"Maybe you should go to the circus, you could be a clown," she suggested. He seemed like the type of man who'd enjoy that kind of thing.

"I love the circus," he sighed. "As much as I like the idea of being a clown and making people laugh, I couldn't just uproot my poor wife from Gotham City. She likes it here."

"Oh, I see. What's that in your hand?"

He held it up. It was a Joker card.

"For good luck," he said. "It's my lucky card."

The head dentist examined Mr. O'Kurr and he left.

"Mr. O'Kurr," Mary called after him.

"Yes, Ms. Loyd?" he asked.

"I hope you have a good day. I'm sure it won't be so bad tomorrow. How long do you think you'll try comedy?"

Mr. O'Kurr smiled at her. For a second, his smile seemed positively eerie. Like a demon or a madman. She pushed it out of her mind. He didn't seem crazy to her.

"Until I get it right. Thanks, 'cause it's been a really rotten day."

Mary Loyd looked down at her list of patients. The next one on the list: John Frederick Grayson. She sighed, another long day of work. Well, maybe today would be better after all.

23. Trapeze

People outside the circus would often talk about how dangerous the trapeze was. For the Flying Graysons, the trapeze was perfectly safe. What wasn't safe however, was the lack of a safety net below them. That was why John and Mary were extra careful with their son. They made it safe for him to perform without a net. For them, the trapeze was their greatest asset, it was the one thing they could always hold on to.

24. Baby

Mary smiled, looking down at six month old Dick Grayson.

"Goo-chi, goo-chi goo, little Robin, you need something sweetheart?" she asked her baby boy, cuddling him.

All she got was baby gurgle and cooing.

"You need me to burp you?" Mary began burping her baby boy, gently patting him on the back. Dick let out a a baby-sounding, but very loud belch.

"I'll take that as a "yes"," Mary held him and looked up as John walked into the room.

"Could you hold him for a second? I have to go refill his bottle," Mary handed John his son and left the room to go get Dick another bottle.

"Hey, Dickie, how are you? Hmm?" John asked, holding his infant son. Dick just made baby noises in response.

"Don't worry son, your mother will be back with a bottle for you," he reassured him.

Suddenly, John felt something warm and wet trickling onto his pants. This was so not good.

His wife re-entered the room, bottle in hand. "Uh, honey, something's not right here. My leg feels kind of wet..."

"Okay, let me get another diaper, I'll have to change it," she sighed.

John was horrified. "Mary—he did not just—"

"Pee on you. Sorry, John, I'll get him cleaned up," she took her son from her husband as he stared down mortified at his pants.

"It's easy for you to say "sorry" when he didn't pee on your pants," John retorted as Mary carried Dick out of the room.

"Consider yourself lucky, I had to change my shirt after he threw up on me."

25. Watching

Mary loved to watch her son sleep. He was so peaceful and looked so happy when he was at rest. After a long day of schoolwork, chores, practice and performing they were all very tired. But sometimes when she couldn't sleep, Mary would go into her son's room to watch him sleep. The sight of him would ease her mind.

Many years later, when Robin couldn't sleep, when nightmares of the past would haunt his dreams, he'd slip into Starfire's room and watch her sleep. He would watch her and remember what it was like when he used to be able to sleep like that. When he was happy and content. He would remember the happier times of his life. That was why he liked to watch her sleep, he could see himself as he used to be every time he looked at her.

26. Awkward

"Mary," John said, sitting beside his friend of six months. What had convinced her to quit her job and join him as a part of Haly Bros. Circus was beyond him. "How would you say our friendship is?"

"What kind of question is that? You're my best friend," she laughed.

"That's saying a lot, considering the fact that we've only known each other for six months. Are you doing all right?"

"Of course I am. Something on your mind?" Mary asked.

"I'm curious, what convinced you to up and quit your high paying job and join Haly's Circus?" John asked.

"I grew up in a circus. It was fun for awhile. Then I decided I wanted to go to high school and college. I left and took up a career in dental hygiene. But when you told me that you worked at Haly's Circus and that you were a real, full-blooded Gypsy, it made me miss my old life."

"You like that abut me," John laughed.

"What?" Mary asked, confused, she wasn't sure what he was talking about.

"You like that I'm a full-blooded Gypsy," he smiled. He unconsciously moved closer to her, leaning into her face a little. if she noticed, she didn't act like it.

"What else do you like about me?" John asked. He was enchanted by her. She was so...beautiful. How this gorgeous girl wasn't married was beyond him.

He felt nervous and his stomach was doing quadruple somersaults as he leaned in a little closer. He reached out and took her hand in his.

Mary had to admit, she was quite taken with John Grayson. He was sweet and endearing to her. She'd never met anyone quite like him.

"I think you're really sweet and—"

His lips made contact with hers before he could stop it. She was intoxicating and just being with her made his heart soar. He gently took her in his arms and pulled her to him.

Mary was astonished, but not angry. The last person she had kissed had been her ex-boyfriend, who had tried to take her clothes off. Refusing, she kicked him below the belt and told him that if he didn't stop she'd kick him so hard that his reproductive systems wouldn't function anymore. He called her a slut and, keeping her promise, she kicked him (again) and stomped out of his house.

Mary felt her emotions spinning as she reached out and wrapped her arms around John's neck, using him to steady herself before she forgot to hold onto something. She wished she could just stay like this forever; in his arms, she felt complete.

John forced himself to pull away, even though he didn't want to.

"Mary, I—I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to go that far. I—I..." he sighed, "This is awkward."

"Don't be sorry, John," Mary whispered, looking up at him. "I like the way you kiss me." She pulled him in for another kiss.

Many years later...

A handsome young boy and a beautiful young lady sat atop Tokyo Tower, overlooking the sprawling Japanese metropolis of Tokyo in the Shinjuku District.

"Uh, Robin, about that boy and the...lip contact?" Starfire asked hesitantly.

"Is that why you kissed me when we first met—to learn English?" Robin inquired. She didn't answer him.

"On Tamaran, this signifies merely the transfer of knowledge. But on your world it means...more...or so I have heard. " Starfire said. Robin felt even more uncomfortable.

He definitely knew it meant more. He was nervous and desperately searched for an explanation that didn't sound stupid.

"Oh. More...heh, right. I mean, yes. Lip contact is...I—I've heard that too." Robin kicked himself in the head mentally, rubbing the back of his head. Of course it meant more, he'd seen it with his parents when they'd kiss each other in front of him. But he couldn't exactly tell her that.

Starfire moved closer to him, at first he didn't notice, but when he did, he laughed nervously and quickly scooted away from her.

He sprayed some breath spray into his mouth, hoping it would help his breath smell better. He used his tongue to polish his teeth. His mother would have been proud of him for keeping his teeth so clean, after all she had been a dental hygienist before marrying his father.

"Hi," he said nervously.

His stomach was doing quadruple somersaults.

"Greetings," she said, just as nervous as he was.

"Starfire?" he asked.

"Yes, Robin?" she replied.

"You know you're my...best friend, right?" he asked, she began to move closer to him.

"And you are mine," she told him, her fingers moving slowly twoards his.

"I never want anything to get in the way of that," he assured her.

"Nothing ever could." She looked into his masked eyes and was perfectly sincere.

"I know," his face moved closer to hers.

"Then...we have nothing to fear," Starfire said softly. At once, he felt it. Fear, he was afraid of these feelings inside him. They scared him more than any villain.

As much as he wanted to kiss her, he couldn't bring himself to do it. He was just too nervous and he felt too awkward.

27. Cravings

"John, do you have it?" Mary asked.

"Exactly what you wanted," John replied.

"Good, I've been craving this for a long time," Mary said, taking it from him.

"There is no way that can taste good," John told her, staring at it in disgust.

"What's wrong with it?"

"Well, separately, all those things are fine, but together it's—ertch!" John retched.

"Hey it's not that bad," Mary said, taking a bite of it.

"Now I know you've lost it, baby. You're eating tofu, sushi, sardines and ice cream with chocolate syrup, ALL AT ONCE!"

28. Mystery

John Grayson held his sleeping wife in his arms and smiled. He wondered how it was possible to love one person and stay with them for the rest of your life. He ran his fingers through her blond tresses. She was sleeping soundly, resting her head on his chest. He chuckled and softly kissed her hair. Life and love were wonderful mysteries. He'd enjoy spending the rest of his life figuring her out.

29. Habit

John Frederick Grayson had a bad habit of kissing his wife in public. His son was so embarrassed that eventually, he said so. John just laughed at him and said that when he was married he'd understand. Unfortunately, the bad habit of kissing in public was hereditary and it wasn't long before Dick was kissing Kory in public, much to little Mar'i's embarrassment.

30. Snoring

Sometimes, if John Grayson was stressed before he went to sleep, he'd snore. Long and loud, neither wife nor son could get to sleep. So, Mary came up with a clever solution: Every time she knew John had been having a stressful day, she'd give Dick some earplugs and wear them too. Unfortunately, more often than not, they were late for practice because of it.