usually I don't have an excuse to why I take forever to update- but life has been weird lately and I kind of did. Just a lot of bad stuff in one month, so this new year isn't looking to great, but yeah. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. I really do.

"Ugh I hate hide and seek." I sigh into the communicator.

"Then quit playing." Robin snorts back evilly.

"Never!" I roar! "I will find you!"

Rocket is giving me a little stare next to her. "How can you say you don't like hide and seek when you were the one who suggested the game?" she asks through my newly planned team bonding exercise- if you could count hide and seek as an exercise.

"Well yeah, I love Hide and Seek when I get to Hide. I'm horrible at seeking." I grumbled.

"Guess I agree." she mumbled.

"...To which part?"

"Who and what now?"

"Which part do you agree too?" I asked suspiciously. "The part about not liking seeking or that I'm horrible at seeking?"

"...We're running out of time. Got 10 minutes left." Rocket was quick to change the subject.

"Need a hint?" Jason at long last spoke up, snickering into his communicator.

"No." it wasn't until I searched the entire kitchen when I sighed, "Okay yes, give me a hint."

"Okay I'll give you the biggest hint ever. I'm in the garage. Near the spot where I found Arinna two rounds before this." he snickered. "That would be my general location."

"Is that how confident you are?" Rocket gaped at her communicator

"I am so confident right now I am glowing. In fact, I doubt you will ever find me, so I will tell you anything you want to know." he says.

Turning towards the Garage I meet Rocket there.

"Are you hiding behind something big?" I ask.

"No."

I listened carefully for his voice within the garage but could hear nothing.

"Are you in a wall?' Rocket asked "Like the vents?"

"Nope."

Frowning Rocket glanced at her watch, "3 minutes."

"Ugh this is not fair! Using Bat Man skills should be cheating!" I declare.

"It is two against one, it is fair." he says calmly.

"I'll never find you unless I have backup." I insist. Turning the whole garage upside down in a panic, I yelled in frustration when the timer went off. "Where are you?!"

Suddenly, from below the ground, a tile moved. Gawking at it, I watched two hands move the tile up and to the side, before Robin slithered his way out from the hole beneath. "Tada~" only someone like him could fit into a space so compact.

"How?!" I drop to my knees.

"I'm just amazing." he brushed his knuckles against his shirt. "I win. Pay up."

I now owed him dinner for the next two weeks. "Ugh-" I sighed. After that we moved into the kitchen, my face showing only frustration.

"What is with you?" Conner asked.

I fold my arms, grumbling something.

"She is just mad cause I beat her at hide and seek every time." Robin grinned.

"Hiding in the ground should be considered cheating!" I say.

"You can teleport where ever you want- that is what I call cheating." he argues.

"Details." I wave him off.

Suddenly, Wally entered the room, "HEllO CAVE!" he yelled.

"Hello Wally~" I echoed back in a deep voice. Laughing he slid over to us.

"What's the haps?" he eyes glanced at Robin then looked away, as if he was pretending he wasn't even there. It kind of made me annoyed.

"We just finished an epic match of hide and seek." I tell him, "Robin won."

"Jason, won huh?" Wally says almost as if he was trying to correct the name I used for him.

"Yes, Robin did." I nod with a sweet tone.

"And Rocket feels that this conversation suddenly just got super awkward." Rocket steps between us and towards the kitchen, "I'm gonna go binge The Office now, excuse me."

I gasp, "I love that show!"

"I'm only on season one." she explains.

"AHH!' I clap, "Come watch it in my room with me! I'll get snacks!"

Smiling she nodded, "Sure."

Rushing to grab snacks and change into my pajamas, because that is how one should always binge, I sat down with Rocket for several hours watching The office.

"Have you seen Hello, Megan?" I inquired between episodes.

"...That's a show?" Rocket frowned.

"Yeah, there is only one season." I nod, "It is about a girl named Megan who is in high school and she has this crush name Conner and-"

"What?" she looked so confused.

"Oh." I pause to realize she probably didn't know about the whole M'gann thing. "M'gann use to watch it before she came to Earth. She really liked the show and based her earth form off of the main character."

"Seriously? I want to watch that show now!" Rocket says.

"Me too." Jason says.

"Yeah-AHHHHH!' I shriek when I realize Jason is sitting next to me. "When did you get there?!"

"A while…"

"You didn't notice?' Rocket snickered.

"No! No I didn't!"

"Well, tada. Magic~" he wiggles his fingers like jazz hands. I hold my breath.

Slowly lifting my own hands, I commence my signature jazz hands, "Magic~" I say in awe, feeling my bond with Jason growing with each passing second.

"Hey. Hey." I grin, "Wanna go somewhere fun?" I ask them.

"Fun?"

"There is a festival down at the docks." I bounce on the back of my heels.

Jason perked up a bit, "Ooh, love a good festival. Mask's included?"

"I think it is more like a harvest festival." I shrug, "Can't you wear normal clothes?"

"And reveal my identity?" he gasped.

"You already told us your identity." Rocket rolled her eyes. "You aren't even wearing your mask! You are sitting there in your pajamas!" Rocket motioned up and down.

Glancing at his silk red pajamas and matching panda slippers, Jason blinked at us, "Your point?"

"What are you even doing in here anyway?" Rocket and me were both mid way through an episode when Jason has just decided to enter and sat down without a word. Granted that was 3 hours ago, as Rocket says, and I didn't really mind him in here, but I hadn't noticed the pajama's till now.

"You said you were watching The Office… I like that show." he shrugged.

"It is good." I agree, "What is with the pajama's?"

"Do you two not normally just wear pajamas when you binge?"

Rocket slowly opened the blanket she was snuggled in to reveal her rather adorable and frilly pink pajamas. "Always."

"Once can not binge properly if they are not in pajamas." I agreed.

"So why are you complaining? At least I'm not naked… which I do when I binge sometimes." he shrugged.

"Wha- why? Wait- no. I don't want to know. Don't tell me. I'm serious." Rocket pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Well, you see-"

"I said don't tell me!" she threw a pillow at him.

"You are impossible." I nudged him, "Do you want to go or not?"

"Let me change, then sure." he grinned, "Can we get a pumpkin?"

"Why do you want a pumpkin?" I inquired curiously.

"For pumpkin things."

"... Why do I feel worried about what that could mean?" I sigh.

He simply grinned.

30 minutes later we were ready to go, and I was ready to put my plan into action. I had been trying to accomplish a goal for the past two weeks now.

I call it Operation: Get Wally and Jason to be friends because it is awkward when Wally and Jason both come over for dinner and I just want to enjoy my Thursdays in peace!

Or Operation: GWAJTBFBITAWWAJBCOFDAIJWTEMTIP

But that one might be hard to say.

"Alright!" I cheer.

"Arinna." Wally is grumbling next to me, "You didn't say Jason was coming."

"You don't own the Happy Harbor port Wally, I can go if I want," Jason grumbled at him.

"No more frowns now!" I ignore both of them, "Let's go catch us some smiles!"

"We teleporting down there?" Rocket asks.

"I thought we could walk." I tell her

"Down the entire mountain?" she sighs.

"Well I would say we should take the Arinna mobile but…" I sucked in a breath and turned my head, "You know." I said sadly, holding back a sob. Rocket pats my back.

"I know girl, I know. It is okay. Let it out."

I nod, and brush my eyes, "So walking it is!"

The walk was awkward to say the least. I tried my very best to start all the conversations I could, but Wally's sourpuss attitude was making it difficult.

"I wanna talk about Cheese." I say to Rocket in a desperate move to talk about anything.

"...I don't want to talk about cheese." she steps away from me, "But you can go ahead if that is what makes you happy, Arinna."

"Provolone is awesome."

"..." she nodded silently, giving me a wide and pitying look.

"Mozzarella is too. And Cheddar. Swiss is a good one too. Can't forget about Gouda." I start to list them, "Brie, American Cheese, Pecorino Romano, Cheddar-"

"You already said Cheddar." Jason mutters.

"Manchego, Smoked Gouda, Camembert, Asiago."

"Why are we talking about cheese?" Wally glances at me.

"Blue cheese. Baby Swiss- though I don't really know the difference between Swiss and Baby Swiss. I think the other one is smaller or something, but you could really turn Swiss into baby Swiss if you just cut it into tiny pieces, so maybe it is more about the taste or something? Maybe Baby Swiss just tastes more baby like or something."

"Arinna. Arinna stop." Wally looks like he is in pain, "I'm so hungry, stop talking about cheese."

"Okay…"

"How about we talk about something else?' Rocket suggests,

"Wanna talk about bread?"

"Are you hungry or something? Why are you talking about food?" she sighs.

I pat my stomach, "I could eat."

Making the rest of our way down the mountain, I was quick to approach the popcorn stand, "Four please."

Handing each of us popcorn, we walked through the harvest festival in silence. "...That is cool." I point to one of the stands.

'Yup." Wally agrees,

"Whoa look at that," I point to another.

"Cool." Jason says.

"...There is face painting." I frown and point at it.

"Awesome." Jason and Wally say together. I sigh heavily at them. Handing Rocket my bag of Popcorn I march my way over to the face painter and sit down. Watching me curiously, Rocket snickers when I return.

"Nice Unicorn." she points to my cheek.

Wally and Jason don't seem to notice my new mystical face paint and I grumble, "You guys want your faces painted too?"

"No."

Rocket rolls her eyes at them, "Well I am going. I'm gonna get me a big old taco, right on my forehead."

"Why a Taco?" I inquire.

"Cause I love tacooooooos!" she said as she ran off. When she returned, the mode was just as dreary as when she left. "Fun, right boys?"

"Not really." Wally snips.

"Would be- if it wasn't for a certain someone." Jason grumbles. Wally gives him a dark look.

Sighing, Rocket leaned towards me. "This seems to be a trend." she whispers to me.

"Oh, you mean the fact that whenever we get a new member there seems to be this horrible shift in the teams balance and we all start to hate each other for some reason?" I ask.

"...Yeah." she nods, "But you guys didn't hate each other when I showed up."

"No, we didn't hate you. We had a lot of trust issues then though, you were just lucky you showed up right when we agreed to come clean about everything. You should have seen it when Artemis got here." I sigh.

"Yeah?" shaking her head, we continued on. The day continued to grow worse in worse. I was half tempted to just call the whole thing off, but I didn't want to give up on this.

When we finally decided to sit down and have some dinner Wally and Jason continued to bicker about the smallest things, even about which food on the menu was better. And you knew that if Wally was arguing about food with someone, then it was serious.

"Come on guys." Rocket sighs.

"Then tell this guy to quit it!" Wally demands.

"If you have something to say then how about you say it?" Jason growled. Wally slammed his hands against the table.

"Maybe I will! You have been bugging me since day one!" he jabbed a finger in Jason's face.

"WHY!? What did I do to you! Oh, that's right, nothing!"

"You've done nothing?! Did you even see what happened on your first mission!"

"Oop, this is taking a bad turn. We gotta change the topic." Rocket suggests to me softly.

"I wanna talk about cheese!" I declare.

"Arinna no! Not the way to go!" Rocket yells.

"I'm panicking!" I whisper back.

"You know what, Arinna is almost right. Let's talk about cheese, because that conversation will make more sense than this one!" Jason yelled, "Because your little angry pity party thing is only just pathetic."

'Excuse me? Why you-"

"What did I do Wally- To you, in particular?! It would make sense if Rocket was mad at me! I got her shot! But you- you have no reason! I have tried to be nothing but nice to you!"

"Nice is hardly the word I would use for you!"

"Back at you!" Jason shoved him a little, and Wally shoved back twice as hard. "Do you hate me that much!? Huh?! You always aim to put down the new guy or something. Is that it?! Is some rite of passage or something to you?"

"No! I'm pissed that Bat Man choose some crazy kid to replace Robin when he had no right to do so!" Wally says

"So then you are pissed at Bat Man! Then why are you taking it out on me!"

"You are a little brat! You got people hurt! You tarnished the work Dick put into the title you swing around!"

"You think I don't hate that?! I came to this team to do some good in the world! To make a difference from the hell of a childhood I grew up with! I don't want to be Dick's replacement, but I'm here and you better suck it up or leave, because I'm not going anywhere!" he turned and started to walk away only to stop and walk back to say, "Except for right now. I'm leaving right now! T-To get a drink! I'm leaving to get a drink, not to leave the team! I'm staying there! I'm just leaving in this moment to get something because my throat it dry!" he turned again, tripping on a can as he left. "That didn't happen!" He screams over his shoulder, disappearing behind the building and back into the crowd.

The silence after Jason disappeared was crushing.

"...Well, that could have gone better." Rocket turned away to brush a hand through her hair. "Nice going Wally."

"What?!" he demanded, "Why is this my fault."

"Because you are taking your frustrations out on a little kid." I sigh.

Wally looked insulted and opened his mouth to scream at me. His words fell deaf to my ears. When I saw his mouth close, I take a breath and look at him. "I am angry with Bat Man too."

Wally lowers his shoulders, startled that I would say that as a rebuttal.

"I don't think Bat Man is a bad person, and I never will… but he makes weird choices sometimes. He almost never acts on his emotions and that tends to drive people away from him. He always means well though and I'm positive he never meant to make Dick feel cornered. But it happened either way because of things we couldn't control. Bat Man told us that Dick knew about Jason, and obviously he hasn't come running back to yell at Bat Man yet, so maybe he's accepted that Jason is taking up the mantle. Dick left to figure out what he wanted to be after Robin anyway, so it isn't like he was planning on returning to that."

"But-"

"Dick is your best friend, I get it. I'm not saying you are wrong for being angry Wally, but you can't take it out on Jason because you are upset with Batman."

"Wha- I'm not! I'm mad at him for how he is acting-"

"You did the exact same thing with Artemis." I point out before he can say another word. He freezes cold and slowly narrows his eyes.

"I did not."

"Ooh?" I fold my arms, smirking a little, "So, you didn't constantly point out Artemis' flaws when she first got here because you were mad at Green Arrow, insisting that he was just replacing Roy?"

Wally lifted a finger, opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

"Ooh, she's got you pinned." Rocket snickered. "Saw right through you."

"And of course when you got to know Artemis you realized she wasn't a replacement and was actually pretty great, right?"

Lowering his arms he looked at his feet. "...Yeah."

"You are a good friend, Wally." I chuckle, reaching out to place my hand on his shoulder, "A very loyal one. Everyone on the team knows this and that is why we haven't gotten mad at your before this- because we know you just don't want Dick to get hurt. But you are hurting Jason in the process, and that isn't okay."

Slowly lifting his gaze, his frown deepened.

"So be the hero I know you are and go tell Jason how you really feel. Try to get to know him. It was hard for me at first too, but I promise you, it'll be worth it. He is a great person."

"A little rough around the edges, mind you." Rocket snickered, "But yeah, that kid is great."

Scratching the back of his head a few times, Wally nodded. With that we went on a hunt for Jason. It took a while, but we eventually found him across the harbor, seated alone on a bench and staring at the sunset.

"Go." I point to the bench where Jason sat.

"I- Arinna I can't."

"Don't give me that." I slap his face a little, "You are a nice person Wally, I know you are. So you march over there right now and apologize."

"Yeah, show 'em who's boss, Arinna." Rocket pumped her fist.

"Jeez…" Wally rubbed his cheek, "When did you get so bossy?"

"Comes with the title of Gamma Leader." I grin, "You'll do fine." I pat his back, "You two have more in common than you think."

Glancing at the bench, Wally slowly nodded and trudged over.

"...We gonna go hide in the bushes and listen in on their conversation?" Rocket inquired.

"Duh." I grab her arm and snap my fingers to teleport there.

00000- Wally and Jason-00000

Jason didn't say anything when Wally approached him, only glanced at him dully.

"Hey…" Wally nodded. After a few seconds with no reply, Wally sat down. "We need to talk."

"You gonna yell at me again?"

"No."

"You sure?"

"Yes." Wally sighs, looking grumpy. Jason's expression matches him. "So be quiet and listen- I…. I'm so- rry."

"What was that?"

"I said I'm… sobby…"

"Sobby?"

"Sorry."

"I think you're sobby." Jason folded his arms and looked away. There was a long pause, "...If that is all you have to say you can go now."

"That isn't all I have to say, just give me a moment." Wally grumbled. "Look, I didn't mean to snap at you. I just- I was mad, okay?"

"Obviously."

"You aren't making this any easier." Wally pointed a warning finger at him.

"Neither are you."

"Well- I'm trying! Okay? Jeez…" Running a hand over his face, Wally cleared his throat and tried again, "I'm mad at Bat Man. Really mad. Not at you. Well, kind of at you, but I've just been making it worse."

Jason's eyebrow raised upward slightly, but he didn't say anything.

"Dick was my best friend. We've been through some crazy stuff together and he's put in a lot of work to be accepted as more than just a sidekick of Bat Man. When I see you walk around with his title, I just don't want all the work to be for nothing. I don't want people to forget Dick and everything he has done."

"I'm not doing this to ruin his image you know."

"I… realize that now. Sorry. I'm not good at this. I can't promise that I won't let my anger get the better of me later on, but I need you to know that I'll try from now on to treat you better. Okay?"

He nodded, "...Okay."

"Okay." Wally nodded back, "Good. Good."

The silence between the two continued.

Jason sighed and leaned forward, "I always watched you on Tv." he announced. "You saved people's lives with the Flash and I thought that was awesome."

"That was out of the blue."

"Shut up." Jason pointed at him, "I'm trying to come clean here too." he cleared his throat, "I looked up to you. I wanted to be like you. But where I came from would never allow me to do that and I hated that. But with this chance Bat Man gave me, I finally have my chance to change. To be something more. To be like you. I'm grateful for that."

Sitting in silence for a few moments, letting that sink in, the speed hero let out a sigh, "Hey." Wally held out his hand. Blinking at it a few times, Jason slowly extended his hand and shook it.

"Team mates." Wally smiles.

"T…. Team mates." Jason grins back.

"BRAVO!" Arinna shot out of the bushes a second later like a breaching whale.

"Arinna!" They snapped at her, "How long have you been there?"

"The whole time!" she spun, looking ready to cry, "That was beautiful!"

"Seriously, what is wrong with this team and waiting days before dealing with an issue?" Rocket sighed, stepping out with her hands on her hips. "It was so easy to deal with that, so what was the issue." no one could really answer, for none of them knew.

The issue was solved though and the day could be enjoyed. So they cheered, and ran back into the festival- getting their faces painted, dancing to music, going on rides, and just laughing their heads off. Arinna actually thought the two could be best friends if given enough time. It gave her a little hope.

-Arinna's POV-

"So, seriously, what was with the cheese thing?" Wally snorted as we walked up to the cave.

"I panicked. I couldn't think of anything else to talk about. You two were making it difficult."

"I get that." Jason tries to say, "But cheese?"

"Cheese is good."

"Not that good." Rocket snickers as the Cave's doors open and they step inside. The others shared a laugh at my expense, but I didn't mind.

When we entered the room, our mood died off at the dead silence of the cave. Not sure what was with everyone, I could see M'gann collapsed on the couch, slouched forward, her face buried into her hands. Conner was next to her, hugging her shaking form.

Something was wrong.

When Kaldur moved towards us, I felt dread at his darkened look, "Welcome back." he says softly.

"Kaldur, hey- what's- what's with the mood, huh?" When Kaldur didn't reply, Wally's grew panicked, "What happened?"

"There was- a tragedy." Kaldur sighs heavily, "Marie Logan- has passed away."

I stepped back in shock, dropping whatever was in my arms. Wally's hand reached up to steady me. "No." he whispered.

"W-Wait- who? I mean, I'm sorry, but who is Marie Logan?" Rocket's eyes were wide and searching.

"She was- a friend." I stammer to find the words, "H-How? What happened? Is Garfield okay?" My mind was flashing to the small family of the Logan Animal Sanctuary. We had sidetracked ourselves from our mission to stop Queen Bee from taking over Qurac when she brainwashed the country's leader.

So many things had happened there- but in the end M'gann had gained a blood brother through Garfield when he had required a blood transfusion after being severely injured. M'gann had often gone back to the Sanctuary to visit after that- finding a family with the Logan household.

"Her car was found at the bottom of a cliff…" Kaldur explains softly.

"No way…" Wally shook his head.

"H-How?" I demanded a little louder, "How did it happen?" I stammered. She has seemed perfectly healthy to me the last time I saw her! The idea of her just being gone just like that- it didn't make sense!

"We have no confirmation yet but… Queen Bee-" he cut himself off and grit his teeth. He didn't need to say anymore for me to get it. Queen Bee had sought revenge for us interfering with her plans.

Since she had no means of reaching us however, she set her sight on the one thing she could… The Logan family.

"God…" I covered my mouth, "G-Garfield? What about him?"

"He is unharmed. We got to him before Queen Bee could do any more damage." he says. "However- he is not the same."

"Of course he wouldn't be!" Wally says, "His mom-" he choked off.

"Not just that, my friend." Kaldur sighs, "He is coming here to the cave. He will be living with us from now after his- change."
"Change?" I ask.

"...You will have to see it to believe it for yourself." is all Kaldur can manage to say.