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That Friday night, Mallory was in front of the mirror putting on makeup while Jen talked to Brandon on the phone. "Yeah, I can come over, I'm just gonna wait for Mallory to leave, and obviously Alex is going to need to be out of the room. Yeah, she's getting ready now," Mallory heard her friend say. She turned around suspiciously, and Jen grinned at her and held the phone away from her ear to whisper, "Brandon said Alex is almost ready, so you might want to hurry up."
Mallory rolled her eyes and finished applying mascara. "I'm ready. You mind finding out where he wants to meet?" she asked, standing and smoothing the jean skirt she was wearing. She'd paired it with an oversized sweater and combat boots, and she had her black hair pulled into a thick braid.
Jen talked for a moment, then said, "He'll meet you down in the lobby. Have fun!"
Mallory grabbed her phone and wallet and smiled at her friend. "You, too," she said.
Jen grinned and threw a pillow at Mallory, who just managed to shut the door before she heard the soft thud of the impact. She chuckled and started towards the elevator.
Alex met her at the lobby five minutes later and they walked off campus, going towards her favorite restaurant. As they walked, they talked about their lives before college. Mallory was painfully aware that there wasn't very much for her to tell. The only friends she'd had outside of the team were Jen and Lola's group of friends, and while she'd been to her fair share of parties and gatherings with them, it wasn't much to tell.
Alex didn't seem to notice, and he filled the remainder of the walk with stories of his friends and him being the town menaces growing up. By the time they got to the restaurant, Mallory wished she could have been there to see half of the pranks they'd pulled on various townspeople.
They got their table, and Alex said, "You didn't say anything about your major. Why are you going into social services?"
Mallory tilted her head, playing with her straw as she decided if she should be honest or give him a blowoff answer. His eyes stayed on her face, sincere interest in them, which surprised her, considering they'd only met a few times. "My mom dies in childbirth, and I spent some time at an orphanage before my parents adopted me. I don't remember much of the system, but I've known kids who weren't as lucky as me, they never found a family. I want to help kids find a home that will give them a good life, and if not that, I want to help them make one of their own."
Alex smiled. "Well, you're a regular hero," he said.
An alarm shot through her, but she pushed it down. It was a coincidence, she told herself, stop being so paranoid. "No more than you, doctor," she replied. "What exactly are you going to do?"
He shrugged. "I don't know, if I make it that far, I'll probably be a general practitioner, at least until I'm ready for something more exciting."
"Like the Justice League's personal physician?" she asked, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.
He chuckled and shrugged. "Hey, why not? I'm planning on taking an extra coarse on alien and metahuman physiology."
"Why are you so interested in that stuff, anyway?" Mallory asked as their food arrived.
He didn't answer for a moment as they got settled, but Mallory didn't let it go when he tried to change the subject. He sighed and smiled. "You know, you're eyes really bring out the truth in a person," he said.
Mallory smiled. "So I've been told. Well?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. Growing up in a small town was hard, especially with everything that we would see on the news. I would watch the heroes fighting, falling sometimes, and I wanted to be one of them."
"Really?" Mallory said, saying the word slowly, almost sarcastically, a smile of amusement twitching at her lips.
Alex rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on. Don't tell me you've never thought about what it would be like to be a superhero. To fly, or run, or even just get the thrill of the fight. Every kid wants to be a superhero at some point."
Mallory forked a bite of lasagna into her mouth in an attempt to cover her smile, but Alex caught it an grinned. "What superpower did you want?" he asked.
Mallory shrugged, her eyes sparkling with amusement, but of course Alex couldn't know the real reason she found this conversation so very satisfying. "If I could have one superpower, I'd want to be able to fly," she said. "What about you?"
"I think I'd want either superspeed like the Flash or super intellect like Batman," he said.
"Batman doesn't have superpowers," Mallory pointed out.
"Oh, come on, don't tell me you buy into that myth," Alex said, grinning. "No ordinary human could survive this long fighting aliens and superhumans without some kind of an edge. I'm betting that his body may be human, but his mind has been enhanced somehow."
"What are you betting?" Mallory asked, fighting the laugh that was bubbling to the surface.
Alex shrugged. "Five bucks, if we ever find out," he replied.
Mallory extended her hand, and Alex shook it. "You're on," she said.
They talked for the rest of the evening. It moved from the League to family to more detailed future plans. The more Mallory found out about the boy sitting across from her, the more she liked and respected him. He wanted to help people, he wanted a family of his own, and he really seemed to be interested in her and what she wanted out of life. By the time they were walking back to campus, Mallory had already made up her mind about what she wanted to do.
The next day, Mallory zetaed to the cave early, hoping to get there before the others. Megan, Zatanna, and Raquel were on the sofa, however, and they called her over before she could slip by them.
"Well? How was the date?" Zatanna asked.
Mallory smiled and sank into her seat. "It was great. The best first date I've been on in a while."
"What other ones have you been on?" Raquel asked, grinning.
Mallory laughed and shook her head. "I've been on one or two since Smallville, thank you very much," she said.
"Ok, well tell us about it," Zatanna broke in, stopping the good natured argument before it began.
"We went to a restaurant, walked around the city a little, mostly just talked," Mallory said.
"Do you like him?" Megan asked.
Mallory smiled. "I really do. He's sweet. I think even Conner would approve of him," she said.
Zatanna grinned and Megan squealed. "So, when are you going out again?" the magician asked, leaning forward a little.
"I'm not," Mallory said simply.
"What?" Raquel said, and Megan asked, "Why not?"
Mallory sighed and shrugged. "He's got a good life ahead of him. He's going to have a good job, he wants to have a family, and he's a good guy. I don't want to chance taking that away from him. I like him too much to do that to him."
"Mallory, you're not a bad luck charm. You don't have to take any of that away from him," Zatanna said.
"Oh, no? Look at my track record, Z. My relationships haven't been the greatest." Zatanna opened her mouth to argue the point, but Mallory shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it. It's not like I'm gonna cut him out of my life, we still have a class together and we're still connected with Jen and Brandon. We're just going to stay friends, though. He's safer that way."
The girls exchanged glances, and Megan put a hand on Mallory's arm, forcing the pyrokinetic to look at her. "Mallory, you don't have to punish yourself for choosing to be a hero," she said. "You deserve to be happy. We all do."
Mallory smiled. "I know, Megan. I just don't want to ruin someone's life by dragging them into something that they can't get out of. Besides, I have plenty of time to find someone. Right now I should be focusing on getting on track with my degree, anyway. It's not easy to balance patrolling, training, missions, school, and maintaining a social life."
Raquel nodded. "You got that right. I don't miss doing it by myself."
Mallory smiled and turned to her friend. "How's the new place?" she asked.
Raquel shrugged. "It's small, but we're not planning on staying very long, just long enough to get on our feet. Dad's been helping us look for another apartment, but there isn't much available right now."
"Well, why haven't we been invited over? Is it too small for some old friends to see it?" Megan asked with a smile.
Raquel laughed. "Honestly? I didn't think you guys needed an invitation. I've been waiting for you to show up at the door at the worst possible time and invade the place."
"Well, if you insist on doing it that way, I'll coordinate it with Dick and Wally," Mallory said.
The girls chuckled, and Conner and Wolf walked in, Gar not far behind. The sight of the younger teammate reminded Mallory that she still had to go talk to Peter and tell him that he could make his own decision about the hero thing. The memory of her fight with Clark resurfaced, and her chest tightened, mixed feelings about it rising. She pushed them to the side and stood, going to the training room to wait for Black Canary and the rest of the team to show up for training.