I don't know how y'all are going to feel about this chapter, but I think it's important. When we finally get to the Legion's mission, it should make since why Kara and Brainy didn't want Brek to get involved with anyone from that time. anyway, hope you don't hate the chapter too much, and please review.
The next few days turned into a whirlwind of preparation for a training exercise for the team. By the time the young heroes got back from the exercise, three days had passed since Mallory and Brek's kiss. This was what was on her mind as she walked from the hangar to his room to let him know she was back. His door was closed, so she knocked and told him who it was. He took a long time answering the door, and when they finally did slide open, his expression was less than friendly.
"Hey, we just got back. You want to go grab a soda in town?" she asked, forcing the momentary doubt out of her head.
"Not really," he replied coldly.
Mallory couldn't control the confused expression that took over her face. "Ok, well, you want to go do something? There's a fair in Happy Harbor right now."
"No. If you're just here to get me out of the cave, then you can forget it."
He started to back away from the door, ready to let the panels slide shut between them. Memories of her and Isaiah's fights towards the end of their relationship flashed through her mind, and she stopped the doors with a hand.
"What's going on?" she asked, locking eyes with him. He tried to look away,but no matter where he looked she kept her piercing black eyes on his face. She wanted the truth.
"Why does anything have to be going on?" Brek asked, still not meeting her eyes.
"Well, we were fine before Batman sent my team on this training exercise, and now you won't even give me a straight answer. What happened?" she insisted.
"Nothing. There was nothing between us anyway, just drop it," he said, but his voice sounded hollow, like even he didn't believe the lie.
Mallory tilted her head to the side. "Maybe, but that still isn't a reason to push me away now," she pointed out.
Brek sighed and leaned against the doorframe, as if having a real talk with her was going to take more energy than he had. "I don't know, Mallory," he said, and that was it. Nothing came after it.
Mallory's face hardened. "You know what, fine. I don't need another problem in my life." With that, she spun on her heel and stalked to her room.
For the next two days, Mallory avoided all of the Legionnaires. On Friday, however, she had to leave her room for the team's designated movie night. Zatanna knocked on her door early to get her to help make snacks, and she dutifully followed the magician to the kitchen where Megan was mixing up a pan of brownies.
"What else are we making?" Mallory asked as she took her place at the island arranging toppings on chips for nachos.
"I have cookies in the oven, and we'll make the popcorn when everyone's here. That should be enough, if Wally wants more he can get it out of his cupboard," Megan replied.
Zatanna went to the speedsters cupboard and started rummaging through. She pulled out a family-sized bag of freeze dried chicken wheezies and tossed it to the couch, then went to the community snack stash and grabbed a bag of pretzels to pour in a bowl. "That should be enough, even for Wally," she said.
Mallory put the last tomato on the nachos and slid it towards the oven. Zatanna and Megan exchanged a glance. "What?" Mallory asked. "Are you ok? I mean,you've been spending most of your time in your room or in your training room for the past few days, and you always cook the nachos yourself," the magician replied.
Mallory sighed. She didn't have the energy to pretend like they were imagining things. "Not really," she admitted.
Megan searched Mallory's face, then turned back to the snacks, recognizing that she didn't want to talk about whatever it was. She pulled the cookies out of the oven and replaced it with the pan of brownies and the nachos. "There, once they get out, all we'll need to make is the popcorn."
Mallory nodded and went around to sit at the counter, absently snacking on some pretzels. "Is everyone coming?" she asked.
"Raquel said she might not, but other than that everyone should be here," Zatanna replied, moving the snacks that were ready to the coffee table. Before she could get back to the kitchen, the zeta tube whirred to life, announcing Kaldur's presence, and Conner and Wolf walked in from the training room.
"Hey, great, you two can start getting some movie options while we finish up in here," Megan said.
Mallory grabbed the pretzels and went to the couch with the boys. They wouldn't need her help just taking two things out of the oven. She settled in her spot and watched as Kaldur and Conner stared at the tv waiting for a suggestion to magically drop out of the air.
"You are quiet this evening," Kaldur noted, turning to her. Usually Mallory would have been spewing suggestions to the two, trying to make up for their disinterest in the movie choice.
She shrugged. "Just tired, I guess." She looked at Conner pointedly and added, "it's going around." The clone turned away from her gaze, fixing his eyes on the blank tv.
Zatanna joined them on the couch a moment later and looked between them. "Are you really going to ruin movie night?" she asked Mallory.
Mallory raised her eyebrows. "What? Why is it my fault? They aren't talking either!" she said, smiling for the first time all evening.
Zatanna grinned. "That's better. Ok, so what are we gonna watch?" she asked. Before Mallory could say anything, the zeta tube announced Wally and Artemis. The couple walked over and sat in their usual spots.
"What are we watching?" Wally asked, pulling one of the platters of cookies on his lap.
"Whatever you want," Mallory told him, taking a handful of pretzels from the bowl and leaning back into the couch cushions.
"Tell me you're not seriously going to let Wally pick the movie," Artemis said, looking around with a mixture of pleading and threatening on her face. When no one answered, she threw up her hands with a frustrated motion. "Great, well, we'll lose some brain cells for sure. Do you know what kinds of movies he likes?"
She looked to Mallory for backup, but the pyrokinetic couldn't find the strength in herself for one of the team's drawn out quarrels. "You can suggest something, you know," she told the archer.
Artemis raised her eyebrows in surprise, and she and Wally looked around at the rest of the team. Robin came in as they seemed to be having a psychic conversation, and Mallory rolled her eyes as he was immediately linked in.
"You guys know that I can tell when you've got a link going, right?" she asked, not looking at anyone in particular.
Megan looked over guiltily. "Sorry," she said quietly.
Zatanna raised an eyebrow at Mallory and glared a little, telling her to either say what was bothering her or suck it up.
Mallory sighed. She was right, it wasn't fair to make the team feel awkward because of her rotten mood. "No, I'm sorry. Well, I hope someone said a title in that link," she said, tilting her head to look around.
Robin's smile came back. "Nope, sorry," he said.
Mallory turned to Wally. "Then I guess it's still your choice."
Artemis watched in mock horror as an evil smile spread on her boyfriend's face. "Let me think," he said. Mallory couldn't help but grin, and she settled in for a long discussion on why Monty Python and the Holy Grail was and was not the best slapstick comedy ever made.
Instead, though, Wally said, "How about Ghostbusters? I haven't seen that in ages."
Artemis visibly relaxed in her seat, and Zatanna grabbed the remote agreeably. They could deal with that. They heard the zeta tube come on, and a moment later Raquel came jogging into the room.
"I hope I'm not late, y'all wouldn't believe the mess the cops made of that sting!"
"What happened?" Robin asked.
"They were all set to go in the building when the deal went down, and one of the jokers let his gun go off before the buyer got there! Took us the better part of an hour to round up the sellers, and we still didn't get the leader!" she said.
Robin shook his head. "Boy, no cop would dare let that happen in Gotham. After Gordon got through with them, Batman would be there to finish the job."
Artemis grinned. "Yeah, same in Star, only sometimes I think GA actually would kill an idiot stupid enough to spoil the perfect sting."
Mallory smiled and listened to her friends talk. Being from Metropolis, she couldn't really contribute. She still tried to stay out of the public eye, and Superman wouldn't intimidate any police officers, no matter the situation. By the time they finished talking about the sting, Wally had gone through one tray of cookies and was starting on his chicken wheezies.
"I guess we'd better start the movie before we run out of snacks," Megan commented with a smile at the speedster. Zatanna was about to press play when Brek and Sandy walked in from the rooms.
"Hey, what are you watching?" Sandy, the more outgoing of the two, asked.
"Ghostbusters," Megan, the nicer member of the team, replied.
Mallory could feel Brek's eyes on her, but she stared straight ahead at the blank screen. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of eye contact.
"Mind if we join?" Sandy asked eagerly.
Mallory could feel the team resist, but Megan smiled brightly and said, "Not at all."
Sandy grinned and sat on the floor with her back resting on the arm of the couch. The only spot left for Brek was on the floor by Mallory with his back against the arm on her side, which he took hesitantly. Mallory tried to move over a little, but with Robin, Zatanna, Artemis, Wally, and her on the sofa, there wasn't much room to spare. Wally gave her a look when she kept moving around, and she finally kicked her legs over the arm and leaned her back against his shoulder.
Zatanna started the movie, and at one point, Wally leaned his head over and whispered, "is Brek why you've been acting weird?"
Mallory sighed and turned her head a little more. "It's nothing, don't worry about it."
His face showed that he wasn't going to let it go, and when Brek looked up, he glared daggers at him. It did Mallory good to see. Wally didn't even know what the situation was, but he had already taken her side. Brek turned back to the tv awkwardly, and so did the speedster.
When the movie ended, Kaldur was the first to stand and stretch. "I believe I will be leaving. I will be taking a brief leave of absence, I am needed in Atlantis," the leader told them.
Mallory looked up at him, disappointed. "How long are you going to be gone?" she asked.
"I do not know. I will try to make my stay as brief as possible," he said, giving her a brotherly smile.
"Hey, stay as long as you want. The Boy Wonder could use some leadership practice, eh, Rob?" Wally said, grinning at his friend.
"Way to keep a secret, Kid Mouth," Robin said, but he was fighting a grin himself.
"What happened?" Zatanna asked, looking between them.
"We went to Gotham and he got me caught by Penguin," Wally reported gleefully.
"Hey, I got you out, didn't I?" Robin said.
"You two went to Gotham without me?" Mallory asked, only half kidding.
"We tried to get you, but Megan said you were being mopey and you wouldn't come out of your room," Wally said. He realized that he'd said too much too late, and she shot him a backwards glare, still leaning against him because she couldn't get up until Brek did, and the thermokinetic wasn't showing any signs of getting up.
"Well, next time ask me, ok? I wouldn't have let you fall into some birdhouse or whatever Penguin's hideout is," she said, trying to save the moment.
Wally smiled and Robin nodded. "Sure thing."
Sandy stood up and smiled. "Oh my hero, this was so schway! I wish the Legion did stuff like this!"
Conner rolled his eyes and pushed himself to his feet. "I'm out. I'm not going to training tomorrow, tell Canary I'm busy." With that the clone and Wolf went to his room.
"I should probably go, too. I didn't tell Icon that I was coming," Raquel said, and she and Kaldur went to the zeta tube together.
Robin turned to Zatanna. "You want to go?" he asked. She smiled and they stood up. She said a spell, and the next thing they knew they were in their costumes. "Gotham?" she asked excitedly. "Sure," Robin replied with a grin. They went to the zeta tube, and Megan and Sandy went to the kitchen to clean things up.
Artemis stood and turned to Wally. "I've got to go to Star tonight. What are you gonna do?"
Wally looked at Mallory. "Well, I'm either going to be Inferno's pillow, or I'm going to crash at Uncle Barry's. I'll let you know which one happened in the morning."
Artemis smiled and Mallory looked at them upside down, earning a laugh from Artemis and a grin from Wally.
"Did you think we would have a kid this early in the relationship?" Artemis asked, resting an arm on her boyfriend's shoulder.
"Nope, but they sure are a lot of work, aren't they?" Wally replied.
Mallory rolled her eyes. "I didn't ask for you to adopt me. You did the who co parent thing before you were even a couple, remember?"
Wally looked at Artemis. "I guess that's true. Wish she'd move out already."
Artemis grinned and gave Wally a quick kiss before heading to the zeta tube. Mallory looked down at Brek, who still hadn't gotten up.
"Oh, this is ridiculous," Wally said after a moment of silence. He got up, making Mallory fall back to the sofa, and stood over her. "I'll see you tomorrow," he said. Mallory nodded, and he zipped to the training room to zeta to Central.
Brek looked up at her, and she was finally forced to make eye contact with him. She realized that she must look ridiculous, lying on the seat of the sofa with her legs dangling over the arm, and she pushed herself over the arm to stand up. Brek stood, too, and glanced over at the kitchen to make sure that Megan and Sandy weren't there.
"Look, I'm sorry about the way I broke things off," he started.
Mallory crossed her arms. "The way you put it, there was nothing to break off," she said, keeping her voice indifferent.
Brek sighed. "Yeah, I know. Will you at least let me explain why I did it?"
Mallory tilted her head. "Why are you ready to tell me now?" she asked.
Brek raked a hand through his hair and shrugged. "I don't know, I guess I decided that I'd take my chances with the Legion."
She waited, interested now.
"Well, Kara and Brainy reminded me what would happen if we fail this mission. They think me getting involved with you will compromise it somehow, and they don't like the possibility of me staying in the past. I mean, in a way, they're right, but right now, I just don't care. I mean, for all we know, we'll spend a few days together and end up hating each other's guts, but I don't want to go back to the future and always wonder what might have been."
Mallory arched an eyebrow, waiting for him to finish his speech.
He sighed and gave her a pleading look. "Will you give me another chance?"
Mallory sucked her lips in and shook her head. "This is unbelievable. We were together for literally a day and you tried to push me away, and now two days after you break up with me, you want me to take you back? Why should I? I've been down this road before, only I was way more attached. Why would I open myself up to that again?"
Brek's eyes searched hers for a long moment. "You probably shouldn't. You're strong enough to walk away, I know that. But can you really tell me that you don't want to see where this could go?"
Mallory stared into his ice blue eyes, searching for any signs of dishonesty. All she saw was an intense sincerity that forced the feelings she had for him to the surface. She sighed, and Brek tested a smile.
"Are you sure that you won't decide to listen to the Legion in a few days and be done again?" she asked.
He nodded.
"Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to go on one date, see how things go," she said.
Brek's smile widened a little. "I promise, I won't push you away again," he told her. He closed the distance between them and wrapped her in a hug. She just stood there, not returning it, but not pushing him away, either. When he let go, she turned towards the door. "I'll see you tomorrow," she said, and went to her room.
please review!