When Wally woke he had an oddly nervous weight in his gut. He groaned lowly when he heard his mother yelling for him to get up and buried his head into the pillow, fighting for the last vestiges of sleep. He didn't move when he heard the door open, praying that he would be allowed at least a few more minutes of sleep. He relaxed slightly when he heard his dad's chuckle from the doorway and allowed his eyes to open just enough to look blearily at his father leaning against the doorframe.

"Morning, kiddo." he greeted and Wally just grunted in response. "Isn't today 'the day'? He asked, the emphasis and quotations obvious in his voice.

"What?" Wally muttered, trying to wake up enough to understand what on earth was happening. "No, Dad, 'the day' was like, six years ago or something."

"I was under the impression that you were going to ask a girl on a date." his father said in a slightly sing-song voice and he laughed as Wally sat bolt upright in bed, eyes wide and suddenly wide awake.

"Fuck." he hissed, scrambling out of bed and zooming around the room, trying to simultaneously put on his clothes and gather up his books. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK!"

"Wallace West, that better not be coming from you!" his mother called from the kitchen and Wally froze, ignoring his father who was now chortling as he watched his son who was practically a blur, leaving papers and curtains rustling as he blew by.

"Of course not, mum!" he called back.

His father snorted. "Your shirt's inside out." he commented helpfully and Wally cursed under his breath as he looked down. "Come on, Wally." He said, moving toward his son and laying a hand on his shoulder. "It's not that hard to ask a girl on a date. I mean look at me." his father gestured to himself with a grin. "I don't know where you get your smarts kid but it's definitely not from me. but I still managed to get your mum, didn't I?"

Wally nodded, leaning into the hand slightly. "Thanks Dad."

"Just be yourself."

"What, a vigilante who started at age thirteen and can break the speed barrier without breaking a sweat?"

"Maybe not that much." Rudolf allowed. "You'll be fine, kid." he pulled his son into a brief but firm hug and shoved him lightly away. "Now go down to breakfast before your mother goes hoarse. I swear I had moved out by the time I was your age." the last bit was muttered but by the playful smile on the other's face, Wally knew he was meant to have heard it.

"Free board." Wally said with a shrug and ran out of the room appearing in the kitchen to kiss his mother on the cheek in the same second.

While he chewed on his toast, Wally considered the events of the previous night. Meeting Oceania had been...weird. He had heard of her and he knew that the Bats were probably doing an extensive background check on her but for some reason she seemed familiar. Her voice had rung a bell in his head that he just couldn't quite work out. The invitation to come to the mountain had, he realised, been planted by Nightwing and when his friend had suggested it to the other hero Wally had been

surprised but he had taken it in his stride, remembering his uncle's and friend's stories about starting out as a vigilante alone.

Her friendship with Kaldur had been another surprise along with the truth -or most of it- about her heritage and history. He wondered what her motivation was. She had powers, yes, but even so almost all heroes had a catalyst for dressing up and fighting thugs on the street. Batman's and Nightwing's parents were murdered right before their eyes, his uncle's father had been framed for the murder of his mother and Artemis's father had not only ruined her family but was also an international supervillain.

Oceania had been exiled as she told them but he had to wonder; what drew her to fight crime in what he assumed must be the armour she had worn before her exile. Her armour was obviously of Greek style and if anyone from her old world saw her then they would no doubt recognise her. As disguises go it wasn't very practical so the only conclusion he could draw was that there was something else, some other driving force leading her into 'The Life'.

oOo

Wally eventually tracked Persie to a small corner of the grounds at lunch time. She had the same book with her as she had had at their last meeting and was fiddling absently with a half-eaten bag of hot chips. She was frowning at the page and a finger on her other hand was running lowly along the page, pausing every now and then to jab and glare at the words.

"Hiya Persephone!" he called as he strode over to drop onto the grass beside her.

She didn't look up at him, still scowling at the page. "Persie." she corrected absently. Wally sat silently beside her, sneaking a chip every so often while he waited for her to acknowledge him. He knew from his friendship with Dick that it was a bad move to interrupt someone whilst they were reading. "Hello." she added, closing the book and looking up at him with her large and oddly hypnotic eyes. "What's up?"

"You have pretty eyes." he blurted in response. "They change colour, like the sea." he added as his face flushed to a rather dark red.

"Yes." Persie said slowly. "I've been told." she grinned at his embarrassment. "I've got my father's eyes."

"Yeah?" Wally asked curiously, flush beginning to fade. "So what's Mr Jackson like? Does he shoot his daughter's boyfriends?"

Persie shrugged. "Don't really know. He left before I was born and I've only met him a few times." "Oh." Wally said softly. "Sorry."

"Its ok." Persie shrugged. "You don't miss what you never had right? Besides, my stepfather is brilliant. He's a great father, better than my real one." she glanced over at Wally with a smile. "What about you? Do you know your father?"

Wally nodded, flopping onto his stomach and looking up at her to speak. "Yeah. When I was little he was a bit distant and my Uncle became like a mix of father and big brother. Now I think that my dad was a bit scared. My parents hadn't been able to have kids before me and they were quite worried, I was a sickly kid. When I got older my dad made more of an effort to bond with me though."

"And your uncle?"

"Still like a brother. He and my aunt have just had twins and me and my other...cousin, Bart, we look after them sometimes."

"That's nice." she sighed. "Do you have a big family?"

Wally shrugged. "Not really, not huge. "It's me, my parents, my father's sister, her husband and their twins. My grandparents died when I was a baby and Bart's parents died when he was young. He was raised by family friends who are pretty much our grandparents. You?"

"Hardly any." Persie replied, fishing a few chips out of the grease stained bag. "It was just me and my mum for a while then when I was about six, she married my first stepfather." she scowled. "He was a disgusting man. He...left when I was about twelve and then mum met Paul a few years later. I've got one cousin though. He visits every now and then. He loved my mum." she looked down at Wally and smirked at his guilty face as he chewed on a few of her chips. "My mum, she was an amazing woman. If I become half the woman she was I will see that as my greatest accomplishment."

"Was?" Wally prompted gently.

"She was killed in a car crash about four years ago."

"Oh." Wally whispered. "How're you doing?"

She looked up at him with her incredible eyes, brows drawn together slightly. "That's not what people usually say." she commented.

Wally smiled, a little sadly. "I know. My best friend's parents were killed when he was young and I grew up watching him blow up at every 'I'm sorry'."

"Thank you." she said with a smile. "I'm doing better." she answered honestly. "It was a while ago now and Paul has helped. We both had a bit of therapy."

Wally nodded. "Anyway, what I wanted to ask you. Do you want to go out with me?"

Persie gazed steadily at him making him fidget slightly. "I come with baggage, Wally." she said softly. "I might not be the girl you think I am."

Wally shrugged. "I'm good at reading people." he replied. "Give me a chance?" Persie nodded slightly. "Alright. I'd like that."

Wally sat up and clapped his hands together. "Excellent. You free tonight?" She shrugged. "Yeah. It's a Friday, nothing planned."

"You wanna see a movie?" she nodded again and Wally fairly beamed. "Thank you. I'll pick you up at seven? We can grab dinner too?"

"Yeah, sounds like fun." she agreed and rattled off her address as he wrote it into his phone. "See you later then?" Persie asked, picking up her book and preparing to stand.

Wally nodded, looking mildly shocked that she had agreed. Apparently it was a delayed reaction. "Yeah. Yes of course." she kissed him on the cheek and stood walking back across the grounds and looking happily up at the clouds which promised snow. Not even her uncle and his infamous temper could dampen her spirits now.

Back on the grass, Wally held a hand to his strangely warm cheek and absently ate the remainder of the chips that Persie had left behind, on purpose he suspected. Snapping himself out of it he picked up his phone and punched in a number he knew by heart.

"Yeah?" came Dick's voice from the other end of the line. "Dude." Wally breathed. "I've got a date. What do I do?"

Wally decided it was probably a bad sign that Dick erupted into howls of laughter in between attempting to command his friend to come to his house, pronto. Hanging up on his obviously crazy friend Wally looked down at the phone in his hands and sighed. "I'm doomed." he murmured to the lump of plastic.

oOo

When Wally arrived at the Manor the doors were opened by Alfred who looked both exasperated, bemused and resigned. "Ah, Wallace." the elderly butler greeted. "I assume you are here to visit Master Richard?"

"Yes, Alfie. I think he might be giving me advice." Wally replied dubiously. Alfred gave him a look. "You may wish to take that 'advice' with a grain of salt."

Wally was saved answering by the arrival of his friend who darted down the stairs and seized Wally by the wrist and began dragging him back up the stairs to his room where he shoved him down to sit on the bed. "Now." he announced. "You did say 'date' didn't you? I didn't hear wrong?"

"No, you heard right. I asked this girl out. Her name is Persephone Jackson and she is the most beautiful girl I have ever seen."

"Wow, you've got it bad." Dick whistled. "When did you meet her?"

"Last week."

Dick grinned. "Where?"

"At school. She's studying to be a marine something or rather. Not really sure. I do know that she wants to work with animals in the zoo. Give them a more comfortable experience."

Dick nodded, filing the information away before he began pacing before Wally, a dramatic look on his face. "Right, young grasshopper. Let me teach you everything I know."

"You spied on your dad, didn't you."

"Everything I know." Dick continued, raising his voice. "About the mysterious beings that are the female population and the social event of dating."

"I am so screwed." Wally moaned, flopping to lie on his back, arm thrown over his eyes. "I should've gone to Roy."