Location: Mount Justice

Date: Nov 6th

Time: 13:45

Wally grunted and continued his movement up the salmon ladder. The gym was empty save for the puffs of his breath and the occasional groan of exertion. He'd already run a few hundred miles on the treadmill, so he'd shifted to the ladder to get rid of the remainder of his energy. The last seventeen hours had been nothing short of chaotic. They had seven trucks of children to relocate, Emmy's arrogant and felonious, ex-boyfriend in custody, a last-minute plan to take down Sparks to throw together, and Wally had only gotten four hours of sleep. He focused on the burn in his arms, ignoring the way his jaw twitched at the thought of Akio. He did could not stand the guy.

He just sat there, strapped to a chair, and acted like he was faultless when he was driving a truck full of kidnapped children. And then, just to irritate the team further, Akio made sure everyone knew that he and Emmy had a physical relationship at one point. Wally was choosing to believe that his aversion to that fun, little factoid was due to the guy's criminal status and the shock factor and nothing else. Park was exactly like the guys at Keystone who just slept with a girl so they could brag about it afterwards. Also, if their arguments in the interrogation room were any indicator, there was an intense history between his teammate and the human trafficker and that did nothing to help Wally's unease. Wally hadn't seen the lantern look like she was going to strangle someone since they fought Joker and the injustice League, and the references to drugged babysitting and constant fighting had left the speedster with a myriad of questions he only partially wanted answered.

Even though Akio was an untrustworthy criminal, Wally couldn't help but think about the story of how Emmy got her reputation for liking redheads. It wasn't exactly flattering to think that she only kissed him as a distraction, but the timings were difficult to refute. In Bialya, he had been questioning her about Sparks, and at the laser tag arena her team had been thirty seconds away from losing. Wally frowned with uncertainty and reset the bar for his next round of explosive pull-ups. She pulled away a second before the bell ending the game rang, and then she didn't reply to his flirty text. But then they'd seen each other the next day and she accepted the sushi invite only to get pissed when the hostess flirted with him. Wally's stomach grumbled again as his body let him know that the loaf of bread he ate on his way to the gym had been rendered inefficient. Emmy was a walking contradiction, and he didn't have enough glucose in his system to think about it any longer. Besides, it's not like they would mean anything if they weren't distractions. Not that they meant anything now. Not that they didn't. Not that they do-forget it. I need food. And sleep.

Wally dropped from the bar and headed to the kitchen, yanking his loose Star Labs t-shirt off his overheated body to wipe at his face. Hunger winning out over his desire to attempt sleep as his stomach growled again. The team had given the criminals to Canary for appropriate transport and flown back to the mountain to crash at 5:30 in the morning. Wally kept waking up, he hadn't seen a kidnapping of such severity before; his dreams of Kent returned for the first time since that day on the beach. He abandoned hope of sleep at 11 when the team debriefed Batman on the interrogation so he could evaluate the situation and finalize a plan for the gala tomorrow by their briefing this afternoon.

A whiff of orange spice and something else tickled his nose and he sighed. Why did he always run into Emmy in the mountain? It was gigantic yet they always found themselves walking past one another or heading to the same area. She was wearing dark jeans, beat up combat boots, and a long sleeve purple shirt, but her hair was drenched, and she was scrunching at it with a neon pink towel. He tilted his head slightly. She was joining him from a side hallway that was the opposite direction of the communal showers. He identified the familiar smell as salt water. They made eye contact and quickly turned to look down the hall. They walked in silence for fifty heartbeats.

Wally's initial reaction was to ignore her presence entirely or snap one of the quips dancing on his tongue, but then he thought about the fallout of Bialya. He had been unnecessarily antagonistic and almost destroyed what little amicability he had with Emmy. Things were different now. They had officially been friends for a couple months, and he genuinely liked being around the lantern. She was both fun and challenging, and as a guy who spent most of his life praying for the nanoseconds to move faster, it was a relief to be around someone who could keep him on his toes.

She didn't want to get into the full backstory with the creepy, criminal dude she very obviously (hopefully) did not still have feelings for, and that was her prerogative. Wally hadn't told her about Stacy, so regardless of whatever confusing and unwelcome feelings he was having about Akio's presence, he needed to take the high road and just be a good teammate and whatever else he was.

"Hey, so I know you're mad at me-" Wally started uneasily.

Emmy's eyebrows went up a little as she turned to look at him, "Wait, I'm not mad at you. You're mad at me."

"What?" Wally furrowed his brow, "No I'm not."

"Oh. Well. I'm not mad at you either," Emmy assured, pulling her towel away from her damp hair.

"Oh." They blinked at each other awkwardly, mildly relieved but unsure how to continue.

"Well," Wally threw his t-shirt over his right shoulder and hummed, "this is new territory for us."

Emmy snorted and elbowed him lightly.

"Anyway, before I was interrupted by you, yet again," he grinned at her exaggerated eyeroll. "I know I was a bit of a jerk earlier. I just don't like it when criminals get to do dramatic reveals about things I- uh, the team, should have already known."

"I said that it wasn't serious, and it wasn't," Emmy raised an eyebrow. Just because she dated Akio for a couple years doesn't mean she was going to marry him. "And I know it's not the same thing, but you didn't mention that you dated Stacy at all when Zara and I were dealing with the nudes, so I would think you'd understand not-"

"No, no, that's fair. I get it," Wally held up his hands. "I understand not wanting to bring up a toxic relationship that's dead and in the past."

He was hoping Emmy would adamantly agree but all she offered was a single nod of the head.

"Especially one with that asshole," Wally scoffed only partially jesting. Emmy snorted so he continued, "respect is a virtue, and he doesn't have it."

Emmy smirked knowingly, "Unlike Stacy who was very respectful of your privacy when she cornered me to brag about 'being the first girl you ever fingered'."

Wally choked on his own saliva and turned red, "When did…I...she…?" He was once proud of his endeavor into the far end of second base, but then Stacy stomped on his heart and tainted, pun intended, his two memories of fingering a girl. Hearing Emmy mention it so casually was throwing off his Wall-man groove.

"My second week at Keystone," Emmy's smirk grew. "I was just trying to get to Chemistry, not be forced to hear about your fingers' Chemistry with the female form."

"I mean…I guess…uh…I used to play piano so…" Wally's face felt hotter than it had during his 800th mile on the treadmill, and he couldn't control the words falling out of his mouth.

"So, good with your fingers?" Emmy raised an eyebrow, enthused by his faltering.

"I'd be happy to give you a private demonstration sometime," he winked, regaining some lost ground despite his flushed cheeks. It was Emmy's turn to release a strangled laugh, and she toweled the bottom of her hair again.

"Raincheck for after the mission?" she wiggled her eyebrows at him jovially.

"Speaking of rain," he tugged on one of the wet, green strands around her face, "you go for a swim?"

"Uh, yeah," she tousled the hair after he dropped it. "A quick one. Just to clear my head and calm down a bit."

He tilted his head with a grin, "It's been a while since things were bad enough to send you to your happy place, huh?"

Emmy rolled her eyes and flicked his shoulder as they rounded a corner, "The fluorite cave is not my happy place. I'm not a child."

"Legally you are."

"Says the boy with a bike to the woman with a car."

Wally rolled his eyes and shoved her gently. His stomach grumbled again loudly.

"You going to eat some whipped cream off your own stomach?" She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "I assume that's why you're walking around shirtless."

"I'm not flexible enough for that, unfortunately. Can I use yours instead?" He leaned toward her, "walking around shirtless is just how I convince you to let me do it."

"You know," Emmy grinned at him appreciatively, "Robin can say what he wants, but you are pretty quick with your mouth."

She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose before he could choose one of the ripostes her last sentence afforded him. "That would certainly be a hell of a lot more preferable than what I have planned."

The end of the interrogation came to mind. Wally wiped his forehead with his t-shirt again to hide the way his shoulders threatened to slump, "Right. I forgot. You have a hot date."

"Oh, yeah," Emmy dragged out sardonically. "If you mean hot like hell."

"I would offer to cool you down afterwards," Wally winced sympathetically, "but we both know I'd just make you feel hotter."

"I hate you," Emmy struggled to keep her face neutral.

"Whatever you need to tell yourself, Sweetheart."

Megan floated to the pair as they entered a room near the kitchen that housed a few back-up Zeta Tubes.

"Hi, Emmy," the green girl grinned. "Artemis and I need to go over a few things with you and Kaldur before Robin and Connor get here with Akio Park."

Emmy nodded at her friend and followed the Martian into the separate room. Wally became a sandwich-making blur in the kitchen. He made three sandwiches, joining the others after he ate the first two. He didn't necessarily need to know how Artemis and Megan were going to survey Emmy, but it'd make him feel better if he had a general idea.

"-if the bug is found and destroyed," Kaldur continued whatever he'd been saying before the speedster joined them, "Megan will switch to listening via telepathic link. They will observe and be prepared to report any additional information he might release that is relevant to the mission, but they will not intervene unless you require help."

"I won't need help," Emmy assured them. "It's only half an hour and then he's back in the holding cell until it's time for Mexico."

The Zeta Tube announced Robin's and Superboy's arrival. The youngest members of the team appeared with the offending dirtbag in cuffs. Akio had been given fresh clothes, a black t-shirt and dark jeans under his leather jacket, and a mechanical blindfold was locked around his eyes.

Robin flipped over to Emmy with a grin, Connor dragging Akio by the right elbow. "Hey, GL, this controls the blindfold. Hit white to release it and black to reactivate it."

The gymnast handed Emmy a watch and small key fob.

"What does the watch do?" Emmy raised an eyebrow while hooking it on her right wrist.

"Uh, tells time?" Robin asked cheekily.

Emmy sighed and rolled her eyes, "Thank you, World's Second Greatest Detective. That was inciteful."

"Hey, I thought you'd like to know when your thirty minutes is up," Robin grinned casually and shrugged.

Emmy was about to bring up the fact that her commlink bracelet and phone both tell time when a voice interrupted.

"That's a good idea," Akio smugly pursed his lips in Emmy's general direction. "Emmy has a history of losing track of time when I'm around, don't you, Nabi?"

Wally replied before she could, "Your thirty minutes starts the second you talk to her, so I'd think before you start blabbering, Jackass."

Akio whistled lowly, turning his blindfolded face toward the new voice, "That must be the guard dog. I've been meaning to ask: is it true what they say about redheads having no soul?"

"Is it true what they say about Asians having small dicks?" Wally deadpanned back.

Robin's guffaw covered the reactions of the rest of the team including Emmy's startled sputter.

"Why don't you ask Emery?" Akio shrugged.

"Akio, shut up." Emmy commanded before turning to Wally and lowly saying, "Let's not use stereotypes, KF."

"He started it," Wally crossed his arms.

Emmy sent him a 'yours was racist and you know it's not the same thing' look.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Wally grumbled.

Connor released the cuffs around Akio's arms and the drug runner brought his hands in front of his body to rub his wrists, "You don't need to do that, Pal. Emery likes me bound."

Emmy smacked the back of Akio's head before grabbing his elbow and pushing him toward the Zeta, "Let's just get this over with."

"Now it's really like the-" Akio's quip was cut off by the beam as he and Emmy transported to the isolated park the team had chosen in Kansas.

The rest of the team went to their respective duties before the debriefing. After Megan and Artemis went to Kansas through the Zeta, Wally turned to Robin.

"What was the deal with the watch?"

The gymnast cackled, "it's got a recording device incase Miss M and 'Mis miss something."

"You don't think she'll eventually notice she's got a Listening Tom on her arm?" Wally quirked an unimpressed eyebrow.

"I slipped her a note before she left, sheesh," Rob put his hands on his hips. "What kind of 'mirable guy do you think I am?"

Rob looked at the speedster patiently, waiting for the inevitable if not begrudged question.

Wally sighed and placated the bird, "What does mirable-"

"It's the opposite of admirable!"

Location: Kansas

Date: Nov 6th

Time: 14:15

Emmy shifted on the dilapidated, wooden bench. Akio evidently took Wally's 'your time starts when you speak' comment to heart because the two of them had been sitting on the bench silently observing the pond for five minutes. The winter air was crisp and fresh, invading her lungs and heightening her senses. This made her painfully aware of the way Akio's thumb twirled the silver ring on his left pointer finger. It was his father's wedding ring, and he only spun it when he was nervous.

Artemis and Megan were out of eyesight, surveying from the opposite side of the pond, but there was a bug on the back of the bench that Akio had not noticed and a recording device in her new watch.

"Give me your wrist," the low voice broke the silence.

Emmy raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

"So, I can take out the bug Bird Boy put in it," Akio monotoned.

The lantern repressed her sigh and removed the watch from her wrist. Akio looked it over before ultimately crushing it with a rock. Emmy looked at him unimpressed.

"Hey, don't let your scrawny little cerebral friends trick you into thinkin' there's anythin' wrong with usin' brawn every now and then," he defended himself.

Emmy snorted before she could stop herself. Akio smiled at her, readjusting the neon green beanie she'd thrown at him when they reached the frigid park. His tattooed hands returning to the pockets of his jacket.

"I was worried I couldn't make you laugh anymore after earlier," he admitted.

"Oh, you mean when you were being questioned about kidnapped children and used that time to shit talk me in front of my team?" Emmy deadpanned. "Yeah, that was a real riot."

"Hey, it was hella disconcertin' to see you alive and well after thinkin' you were dead since February," Akio snarled at her. "Sorry I didn't fuckin' handle it how you fuckin' wanted me to."

"I just wanted you to answer my fuckin' questions," Emmy shot out before pursing her lips in displeasure. She did not consider herself to have an accent, but when she argued with Akio, she would occasionally find herself matching his New Jersey tone.

"You never answered mine!" He barked. "Like why'd you leave? Why was takin' the kids to a fuckin' parade in Gotham such a big deal? Why'd you let me think you were fish food?"

"It doesn't matter that it was a parade, it matters that I told you to watch them in Bludhaven and fucking keep them there," Emmy growled. "You kept asking me to trust you with them more, and I finally do and leave them with you for 24 hours and you ignore everything I told you and did whatever you wanted."

"They wanted to see the parade, Nabi."

"That wasn't your call to make, Nabi," she mocked.

"You are such a bitch sometimes," he frowned, throwing an arm around her on the bench.

"You are such a bitch always," she leaned toward him.

They glared at each other for a moment.

"Are you as turned on as I am right now?" Akiko murmured.

"No!" Emmy scoffed, scandalized, and shoved him away. "Unbelievable. What, you call me a bitch and suddenly I'll fuck you on a bench?"

Akio looked unfazed and grinned sloppily, "Wouldn't be the first time."

If he hadn't already seen her use her powers, he would have thought she summoned the frosty breeze that sliced at his face with her icy glare.

Emmy's gaze turned vaguely contemplative, and she tilted her head while she looked at him, "What's the point of this?"

"What?" Akio had expected her to continue snapping in anger.

"Why the 'catch-up time'?" She leaned back into the bench and crossed her legs. "Why the aggressive quasi-flirting in front of my team? You think being an ass will suddenly make me miss your presence in my life?"

Akio blinked at her dumbly, "I…I just missed you. I guess. It was bad for me after you left. One of those 'you don't know what you have until it's gone' deals."

He grumbled something else.

"What was that?" Emmy asked.

"And I didn't like the way Flash Fuck was lookin' at you," Akio glared at her. "You didn't exactly take your time movin' on, did you, darlin'?"

Emmy bristled, "You expect me to believe you've been celibate since we broke up?"

"I didn't say that," Akio shifted uncomfortably.

"That's what I thought," Emmy rolled her eyes. "And his name is Kid Flash."

Akio looked at her jealously, "You haven't slept with him…but you want to."

Emmy bristled, painfully aware of Artemis' and Megan's presence, "It is none of your business who I do or do not want to fuck, Asshole."

"At least I didn't sleep with your cousin!" Akio poked his finger in her face.

Emmy batted it away, "I did not sleep with your cousin. Jack was just a guy from the bakery."

"I was talkin' about Suki!" He blanched. "You slept with Jack too? Dammit, Emery, he's the only guy who knows how to make ciabatta the way I like it."

"I didn't know she was your cousin! You should've told me, Dumbass." Emmy bit the inside of her left cheek to stop from laughing.

"Would that have stopped you from havin' your revenge sex?" Akio asked with a grudging grin.

"It wasn't revenge sex," Emmy rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "I just didn't want you to be the last person who touched me."

Akio winced. They looked at the pond in silence again.

"I've been fuckin' Amy off-and-on for five months," Akio groaned, rubbing the back of his neck with both hands.

Emmy cackled.

"It's not funny," Akio shoved her.

"You hate her," Emmy's chuckles continued. "You said you'd rather eat glass than be in the same room with her and now you're screwing her? How the hell did that happen?"

"It's called rock bottom, Bitch. You left. And then I fell off the wagon and she was there and willin'," Akio lamented.

Emmy quirked an eyebrow, "Fell off the wagon?"

Akio's dark cheeks flushed but not from the wind. He fished around in his pocket and placed an object in Emmy's hand. It was a small, bronze coin. Both sides said, 'To thine own self be true', above a large triangle housing the number two and a large 'NA'.

"It's a Narcotics Anonymous two-month chip," Akio muttered quietly.

Emmy's mouth fell open slightly. He'd used whatever drugs he could get his hands on at least twice a week the whole time she knew him. When he'd wanted to get more involved with the kids, she'd told him he had to get clean, and he'd made it one month. Then he got high, took the kids to Gotham, and she walked out on him without looking back.

"You're sober?"

Akio laughed somberly, "No. That's from May."

"Why do you still have it then?" Emmy handed it back to him.

"I don't know," he rolled it between his fingers. "I guess…it's a reminder that I did it once, so maybe I can do it again. Later. If I wanted to."

"What happened?" Emmy raised unfolded her arms.

"You were…dead. And I thought that you probably wouldn't be if I'd sobered up. Thought it probably wouldn't hurt to be sober for more than a day," Akio sighed. "But then, two months in, Lucy died, and I just-"

"Lucy died?" Emmy blanched. Lucy had been Akio's unofficial older sister since she saw him stealing an orange from a vendor when he was a kid. Emmy had met the girl a few times. She was kind enough and somewhat funny but lived dangerously and was dating a high-ranking member of a gang Bobby occasionally worked with.

"Oh, yeah," Akio rubbed a hand down his face, "problem with the birth. She didn't make it and neither did the baby."

"Shit," Emmy blinked away a tear. Her hand moved to his arm, "I'm so sorry."

He wiped a tear away before it could fall and intertwined their fingers. Emmy frowned a little but let him squeeze her hand. Support was not the same as affection. Why was Wally's face popping into her head and making her feel weird right now?

"Thanks," he sounded genuine for once.

His gaze was a little too intense for Emmy's liking. Her phone ringing was a welcome distraction. Emmy frowned; the noise was Sage's special ringtone that cut through her phone's mute feature. Sage and Hunter were with the Todd's, and Sage usually only called when it was time for Emmy to come pick them up. They were supposed to stay with them until Tuesday since it was a mission weekend. Her stomach automatically dropped as worse case scenarios popped through her mind.

"Hey is everything okay?" Emmy answered, failing to angle the screen away before Akio could see the caller ID.

"No!" Sage wailed from the other end. The single word showcased that her voice was raw from crying. "I need your help."

"Okay. What's going on?" Emmy stood up from the bench.

"I was studying with-" Sage hiccupped, "with the girls at Beth's house, and then-and then-we went to-and I bled all over Johnny's bed!"

"Bled? Are you hurt?" Emmy debated activating her ring and leaving Akio here to be dealt with by Artemis and Megan. It would piss him off since he demanded that they speak alone, which would make his cooperation come less easily, but Sage was her priority over stopping Bobby.

"No!" Another hiccup, "I just started bleeding."

Emmy understood all at once and relaxed instantaneously, "Oh. You mean you got your period."

"Don't' say it out loud!" Her younger sister shrieked. "None of the other girls have started yet, and there were boys there, and I'm wearing a yellow dress, and I look like I got stabbed in the crotch, and please come help me!"

"Sage," Emmy started warmly, "take two deep breaths for me, okay? In. Out. In. Out. Good job. Of course, I will come help you. Where are you right now?"

"I'm at that little park by the school that you like," Sage sniffled. "I ran away from Johnny's house. If Delilah calls you do not let her come get me. She is too damn perky, and I will punch her in the face." Sage sniffled again, "I want you."

Emmy's heart clenched, "I'll be there soon. Stay where you are."

Akio stood up as Emmy hung up the phone, "Is Sage alright?"

"Uh, yeah, she will be," Emmy bit her lip, "I just need to bring her a few things." She needed to leave. Like, right now, but revealing that her teammates were watching would make tomorrow much harder than it needed to be. The team needed Akio to be as willing a participant as he could be.

"Well, what are you standin' there for?" Akio made a gesture. "Let's go."

"Let's?" Emmy raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"I still have fifteen minutes to cash in," Akio put his hands on his hips. "We'll stop by a store to grab what Sage needs, we bring it to her, then you and I finish up before you take me back to my cage."

Emmy shifted on her feet. "Is this just a ploy to talk to Sage and/or try to escape?"

"No, Emery," Akio took a step forward. "Now do you want to keep arguin', or go help Sage? Because we both know that you can count the number of times she's asked for help on one hand."

A war waged within Emmy for a few seconds before she cursed and threw the blindfold at him, "Put this on."

Akio did so with a grin. She activated it and quickly signed that they were going to Keystone, and she had things under control. The two girls had heard the whole conversation, and Megan would see the message. Emmy yanked Akio back in the direction of the Zeta Tube.

Location: Keystone

Date: Nov 6th

Time: 14: 43

It took longer than Emmy would have liked to get to Sage. There was a small argument when Akio insisted that she had to take his blindfold off and let him come into the Keystone General Store instead of leaving him outside where he would bring attention. She eventually acquiesced and, while she wouldn't admit it, it did save time having him help her grab a pack of pads, a milk chocolate toffee bar, and a new dress and underwear in Sage's size.

The two teens jogged to the park by the school, and Emmy sighed in relief when she saw Sage safely sitting alone on a bench. She was huddling her bare arms around her legs and shivering. She must have left her coat at her friend's house. Emmy had already texted the Todd's what was going on when she was shoving Akio toward the store.

Sage looked up and ran to Emmy, her crying returning as she wrapped her arms around her sister.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," Emmy kissed the top of her head. "You didn't do anything wrong. You have nothing to be ashamed of. To be honest, you're probably just crying right now because your hormones are going haywire."

Sage pulled away slightly, "No, I'm crying because I bled all over a boy's comforter in front of my entire friend group and-" Her jaw dropped as she noticed the figure over Emmy's shoulder awkwardly holding two paper grocery bags.

"Akio!?" Sage gaped at the boy.

"Hey, Sagey," he grinned widely. "Sorry you had to enter womanhood this way."

"How?" Sage whirled her head to look at Emmy. "Is he-? When did-? Are you two dating again?"

Emmy's firm 'No' was out a fraction of a second before Akio's jovial 'soon'.

The lantern glared at the boy and yanked the bags out of his hand, "I got you a new dress, underwear, and a couple other things. Let's get you cleaned up and back to your friend's house."

Sage's bottom lip started to quiver, "I can never see any of them every again. We have to move. I'll come back to the cave and never leave."

"Cave?" Akio asked.

Emmy sent him a look and turned to her sister.

"It's not a big deal, Sage," Akio took a step forward and brushed a strand of hair that was matted to her face with tears. "It's just some blood. You wouldn't freak out if you got a cut and bled on your friend's stuff, right?"

"I guess not," Sage admitted after a minute. Akio slid his jacket off and placed it around Sage's shoulders while Emmy glared at his warily. The smaller girl gave him a bear hug. Emmy's frown deepened. She didn't want him around the kids for a reason.

"Then don't freak out over this," he gently pulled away and stood up to his full height. "Some guys are into blood anyway. I can't tell you how many times your sister has insisted that I still-"

"Okay! That's enough," Emmy admonished. "You always have to ruin everything."

"Well," Akio grinned. "I'll let you two talk."

He started to walk away when Emmy jumped in front of him.

"And where do you think you're going?"

"There's an ice cream place up the corner that we passed on our way here," he nodded south. Emmy knew the store he was referring to. "I thought I'd let you two talk a minute and I'll bring back some frozen goods. It's not as cold here as it was the last place we were."

"You don't have any money," Emmy deadpanned.

He pulled a wallet out of his jeans with a grin, "Nah, but Douglas Green was kind enough to spot me a twenty."

"Seriously?" The lantern scowled. When the hell had he pick pocketed someone? She'd been next to him the entire time.

"Seriously," Akio lightly kissed her forehead before she registered that he was moving. "Go help your sister. I'll be back in a minute. Then you drag me back to the hell-hole."

"What happened to getting the rest of your time?" Emmy raised an eyebrow.

Akio glanced at Sage, who was watching their interaction with rapt attention and trying to scoot into earshot, "She needs those minutes more than I do."

Emmy lowly murmured a threat of what would happen if he tried to escape instead of coming back to the park and returned to Sage's bench.

"Do you want to go to the restroom hut they have over there and get changed?" Emmy asked.

The small red stain between Sage's legs was rapidly turning brown.

"Yes, please," Sage sighed.

Once Sage was in the stall, Emmy passed one of the bags into her sister.

"You can put what you're wearing now in the bag when it's empty and we'll get the stains out later. Do you know how to place a pad? It's pretty intuitive but I can walk you through it if you want me to."

"No, no, the instructions on the box make sense," the bathroom was quiet except for Sage's shuffles as she changed clothes.

"So," Emmy groaned quietly at her sister's tone of voice, "You're hanging around with Akio again somehow?"

"He's helping the team with a mission tomorrow and then he's gone," Emmy folded her arms and leaned against the wall.

Sage opened the stall door and exited with paper bag in tow, "Gone where?"

Emmy glanced at her sister and decided to do something odd: be completely honest, "Prison."

Sage winced, "What did he do?"

"Human trafficking of minors. He's working with us to get a lighter sentence," Emmy answered measuredly.

"Of minors?" Sage's eyes widened.

"He was taking trucks of kids to Texas to be used to make Kobra Venom."

Sage gasped, "Like...like what happened to me and Hunter?"

"Yes," Emmy nodded. She watched the childhood crush die in Sage's eyes as her affinity for Akio shattered like a dropped vase.

"Oh," Sage frowned. "I regret hugging him now."

"Imagine how I feel," Emmy quipped.

Sage giggled. Emmy smiled at the improvement in her sister's constitution.

They returned to sit on the bench. Akio had three more minutes before Emmy flew to track his ass and had him praying that Bobby had killed him when she first went missing.

"I'm glad you're not dating him again," Sage admitted as she tightened Akio's jacket around her shoulders.

"Why? You gunna shoot your shot?" Emmy smirked.

Sage rolled her eyes, "No. He's just not a certain teammate."

"Connor's in love with Megs," Emmy scoffed, "so that's definitely not happening."

"Okay, Miss Nile, that is not the teammate I was talking about, and you know it," Sage elbowed Emmy. Her older sister frowned.

"Shut up, Robin's too young, and Kaldur is in love with some girl back home, and I'm not into blondes so Artemis is out, and that addresses any and all possible matches on the team," Emmy shrugged. And we're related to her.

Sage sighed deeply, "You know, you don't have to run away from happiness, Emmy. Not everyone is a human trafficker."

"I never run," the lantern deflected. "It's the worst form of exercise."

Sage snorted in agreement before groaning and shoving her face into her hands, "I can't believe I ran here from Johnny's. I can't believe that's how I started my period."

"It's not any worse than the way I started," Emmy patted Sage's back.

"Oh, really?" Sage huffed. "Did you bleed all over a cute guy's comforter in front of all your friends?"

"Nope," Emmy threw her arms over the back of the bench, "but I did start in the middle of a match and thought my opponent somehow secretly stabbed me because my lower stomach was killing me too."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah," Emmy smirked. "It was a total mess. It was a fixed match, and Sparks was convinced that the guy was trying to kill me to cheat him out of his money. By the time I realized what was had actually happened, the guy already had two broken arms, and I was too embarrassed to say anything."

Sage snorted, "I guess that is pretty bad."

Akio's form popped up in the distance, and Emmy was shocked to see him return without resistance. She had fully expected to have to hunt him down using the tracker she slipped on him earlier.

"I guess you started without anyone to help you, huh," Sage looked at Emmy wistfully. "I always like it in movies when the mom is there to help."

Emmy blinked at her sister. It had never occurred to her that her mother should have helped her with period stuff. Then again, she never helped me with anything.

Akio appeared with three small cups of ice cream in his hand, "You still like triple chocolate, Sagey?"

Sage greedily snatched the cup away. Akio handed Emmy a vanilla bean scoop and started eating his mint chocolate chip.

"You still like the borin' flavor best?" Akio asked lightly.

"You still like frozen toothpaste best?" Emmy raised an unimpressed eyebrow and set the cup next to her on the bench.

"Hey, it's high risk, high reward when it comes to being good," Akio smiled. He saw Sage's wary eyes, "I'll be over at that table. Holler if you need me."

Emmy squinted at him as he left. What game was he playing here?

"Actually," Emmy remembered something and fished out her wallet, "you can have a bit of a mother with you today."

She pulled out the small chain from a zipper pocket and placed it in Sage's hand.

"What is this?" Sage asked. It was a small, golden locket with a rose engraved on the front. She opened it and saw a picture of a woman with black hair and grey eyes on the left, and the same woman holding a baby on the right.

"It was our mother's. Our father got it for her on her first Mother's Day," Emmy put her arms on the back of the bench again, trying to keep her voice neutral. "I figured you would want it someday, but I wasn't sure when."

She had saved two things from the fire: the locket, and a thin golden ring with a square sapphire in the center. She'd snatched them off their mother's unconscious body when she realized that she couldn't drag her out and get the kids in time. Emmy had had the morbid urge to grab some reminder of their mother, in between her hyperventilating gags and sobs, and the jewelry she wore everyday was the easiest option. Emmy shoved down the bile and guilt rising in her throat and focused on Sage.

"Is that baby you?"

"Uh," Emmy looked at the photo. She had never opened the locket. She hadn't wanted to see her mother before the drugs took away the light in her eyes. "Yeah. That's me."

"She was so beautiful," Sage ghosted her thumb over the solo picture of their mother. "What was her name?"

"Kallista," Emmy muttered after an uncomfortable moment where she struggled to find their mother's name in the depths of her memories.

Sage looked at the locket intently. She finally mumbled, "Are you sure you don't want to save this for Hunter?"

"Nah, he can have the ring," Emmy shrugged. "Why?"

"Well," Sage shrugged a single shoulder without looking up from the photos, "I mean. He's your favorite."

"Woah," Emmy sat up straighter, "Sage-"

"It's okay, I get it," Sage interjected quickly. "He's your baby. You literally raised him from the beginning, and I'm just…I don't know. You two have such defined rolls. He's the youngest with a hearing problem to overcome, and you're the badass oldest who provides for us while silently shouldering PTSD and heroic stuff, and I'm just... I don't know. I'm just the bratty, middle child that makes life harder for everyone."

Emmy blinked at her sister in horror. She had never seen this insecure side of Sage before. She clocked that Akio was still at the table and leaned toward Sage, "Okay. Well, first of all, you are not, have never been, and will never be just anything, Sage. Let's get that out of your mind right now, because I know insecurities are always ridiculous, but that is just a horribly inaccurate one."

Has she always felt like this? Sage just shrugged half-heartedly again.

"Sage, you're the kid who took a blow to the head that could have killed you and came back stronger. Yeah, you don't have a memory from the first six years of your life. So what?" Emmy forced Sage to look at her. "You are more than your beginnings. I know you feel like a part of you is missing because you didn't know our parents, but do you think that of Hunter? Or someone adopted? That they're not complete until they have a full picture of their parents?"

"Of course not!" Sage frowned.

"Then why would you think that of yourself?" Emmy asked.

The younger girl bit her lip.

"Look, you're partially right about Hunter," Emmy admitted. "He has a special place in my heart because he made a mom. But Sage, you're the one who made me a sister."

Grey eyes looked up.

"I know you don't remember it, so it might not mean much to you, but Hunter was only born 11 months before the fire." Emmy put her hand on Sage's shoulder, "He was a stranger. There were five years where it was just you and me."

"I never thought about it that way," Sage blinked in surprise.

"You saved my life, Sage." Emmy cleared her throat as memories came rushing to her. "I was alone for a while, and I was scared all the time. And I didn't have anyone to love or care about. And then suddenly you showed up," Emmy smiled softly. "And I had this tiny beautiful human in my world who giggled when I made silly faces at her and needed my help. Everything I've done, I did because of you. I learned to cook so you wouldn't starve. I learned to fight so you wouldn't get hurt. I learned to read so I could teach you. I learned jokes to make you laugh. We're all alive right now because of you."

"You would have all learned that even if I hadn't been born," Sage scoffed.

"No." Emmy shook her head. "I had to meet you just to care about myself."

Sage wiped a tear away quickly, "Yeah?"

"Yeah," Emmy wiped away a second tear of Sage's. "You're smart, and you're feisty, and you're funny, and you look exactly like our mom so you can be a model too when you grow up."

Sage beamed.

"You're like me without all the PTSD," Emmy nudged her with a smirk.

Sage blushed, "Sorry about that."

Emmy shrugged, "It wasn't totally inaccurate." Still not a fan of things that remind me of our parents…like my own fucking eyes.

"You could tell me about why you have PTSD sometime, you know," Sage prodded gently. "I wouldn't judge you or anything."

"When you're older." Emmy patted her knee. "Just let yourself be a kid for a while."

"What?" Sage laughed. "Aren't you going to tell me I'm a woman now?"

"Hell, no!" Emmy frowned. "You're eleven. You become a woman at eighteen."

"So, you're still just a girl?" Sage raised an eyebrow.

Emmy squinted, "For this argument's sake, we'll say yes."

Sage giggled and hooked the locket around her neck, "Well, if I'm not a woman yet then give me your ice cream to compensate."

"Deal," Emmy passed her the cup of vanilla. She looked at Akio while Sage at. He was sitting silently, staring at them casually while he finished his own ice cream. She glanced at her watch. Their thirty minutes had come and gone. She needed to get him back to the cave before the team got suspicious and she missed the mission briefing.

"I'll text Delilah to come get you?" Emmy asked.

Sage nodded, "Yeah. I need to go talk to my friends too."

"Just make a joke about it and own it," Emmy patted Sage's head. "It'll blow over quickly. Maybe offer to buy Johnny a new comforter though."

Sage blushed but nodded again.

Akio stood up as Emmy approached him, "She gunna to be okay?"

"Yeah," Emmy smiled a little. "She'll be alright. Uhm, thank you for that. And the ice cream. That seemed to be the big turning point in her mood."

"Yeah, of course," he folded his arms and smirked. "It worked on you, so I figured it'd work on her too."

Emmy snorted, "I don't even like ice cream."

"Once a month you do," Akio winked.

Emmy rolled her eyes, "Fine. Yeah, you got me."

Something in Akio's gaze shifted abruptly, "Say you missed me."

"What?" She cocked her head to the side.

"Say it. I know you did, so admit it," he rolled his ring around his pointer finger again.

Emmy frowned slightly. He was acting strange. He had something to tell her. Something he wasn't comfortable saying unless she acted like she missed him. Time to be an actress. She took a deep breath and shakily exhaled, "Of course, I missed you, Kiki."

His eyebrows went up.

"You were my person for almost three years," Emmy blinked quickly, pretending to fight off tears before they formed and cleared her throat. "How could I not?"

Akio relaxed, "I fuckin' knew it." He hugged her tightly.

Emmy frowned into his chest but reciprocated the hug. This better be worth it.

Akio pulled away and tugged her down to sit with him on the bench.

"What's going on?" Emmy raised an eyebrow, checking that Sage was still safe in her peripheral.

"Will you come visit me in prison?" Akio asked.

"Do you want me to?"

"Yes," he nodded. "Every year. Once on our anniversary and once at Christmas."

"You don't even celebrate Christmas," Emmy pursed her lips slightly. His dad died an atheist, and his mother had been a female Buddhist monk in South Korea before she immigrated to the States.

"Neither do you," Akio shrugged. "We'll start."

Two days a year wasn't an unreasonable ask, especially since she had no intention of following through with the agreement.

"Okay," Emmy nodded. "If you're helpful with the mission, then sure."

Akio bit his lip, "And you have to be a character witness for me. In your lantern get-up."

"Alright," Emmy tried to keep her face neutral and supportive.

"Okay," Akio cracked his knuckles under the table. "Kiss me."

"What?" Emmy glared at him.

"This might be our last shot for a while," Akio leaned toward her.

She stopped him with a finger to the chest, "I may have missed you, but I'm not ready to be physical again yet." Just spit out your secret, you asshole.

He growled and squeezed her inner thigh until she winced and let a pained huff out through her nose. That was a smart way to hurt her without Sage being able to see.

"Fine," he gave one last brutal squeeze and crossed his arms. "I know something. Something else."

"About Sparks?" Emmy raised an eyebrow, ignoring her throbbing thigh. That was going to bruise.

"Yeah," Akio ran a hand down his face. "I tell you this, and...and I get immunity or community service or something after the gala."

"Of course," Emmy nodded. She wasn't putting that in writing, and she wouldn't give him immunity even if she could. "As long as it's useful information."

He nodded a few times, jumpily. "There are more kids."

Emmy's stomach clenched, "Where?"

"Those trucks were taking the second shipment of kids to Texas," Akio bit his tongue lightly. "One already went through. They'll be in the basement below the mansion in Tijuana. That way Bobby can oversee it when their stem cells are used to make the missing Kobra Venom while still partying."

The lantern's jaw dropped marginally. That was way more information than he had given in the interrogation. She sucked in a breath.

"You knew the whole time," she breathed out.

"Knew what?" Akio stopped fidgeting and turned to her.

"You fucking knew that you were kidnapping children!" Emmy roared and stood up abruptly. "You fucking liar."

Her poorly acted affection was replaced by a blinding rage. Akio's eyes widened and he stood up too.

"Hey, baby. Nabi. Come on," he tried to grab her elbow. "It's me. Your Kiki. You know I was just bein' a good soldier."

"You're not in the military you worthless jackass," Emmy hissed.

He slapped her face. Emmy laughed darkly and cracked her neck.

"You're going to regret that."

"You should be thankin' me for even tellin' you, you fuckin' slut," Akio growled. "I didn't have to."

Emmy cracked her knuckles, "I will end you. Right here, right now."

"You wanna go, Nabi?" Akio rolled his shoulders. "Let's go. We both know it'll just make you horny."

She snarled and moved to tackle him when a hand landed on her shoulder. Artemis pulled her back.

"You just call my teammate a slut, Pretty Boy?" The archer glanced over Akio, smirking sardonically. "Didn't anyone ever tell you that's not a good way to win a girl back?"

"Have you been followin' us?" Akio growled. Megan appeared behind him, clicking handcuffs, a gag, earplugs, and the blindfold into place.

"Nope!" Megan smiled. "Sage texted us to come to this park to get Park." The Martian giggled once, "It was a funny human pun. She just left with her foster mother, by the way."

Emmy glared at Akio as he struggled against his bonds, "We have a situation. Let's get back to the cave. Now."

They headed to the nearest Zeta Tube.

"Oh, and thanks for stopping me from committing murder."

Akio's a huge douche, huh? Thanks for reading,

-TheDarkAbyss

XarcadiaX- Glad you loved it! Agreed about the 'confession' convo.

Ukitakeitalialover041757-Wally's a little more mature now than he was after Bialya, thankfully ;)

KirikaAndo-Lol a little jealousy can be hot...especially on Wally ;P I'm glad Artemis is growing on you. Yeah, good catch. Akio's mom was Korean. Yep, Emmy is definitely a private person. It'll be interesting to see how she reacts when Akio and the team are in the same area for an extended period of time at the gala, hint hint.

Cozy Owl- I'm glad he's not coming off as ooc! Thank you so much for your comment about the plot integration. I appreciate it :)

Carly Carnations- Man, I am always so flattered when someone says they binged the story, so thank you. I hope you enjoy the rest of the story too.

CherryGuy- Thanks!

Power ranger is life- Haha my bad. Wasn't trying to trigger you with fast food worker memories.