This chapter was more for me than anything, I just didn't have a good feel for Mallory's relationship with Alex, and I feel like all I've done since I brought him back is push him off, so I just decided to sit down and figure them out as a couple. I'm also not that good at writing romance, so it's good practice. Anyway, I hope you like it, and I'm going to get back into missions in the next few chapters.

Peter left the next day, not wanting to be in the way in the small apartment. When he found out that his sister had let Mal and Karen use her apartment, he decided to go spend a few days with their parents, where he could have his own bed instead of sleeping on the couch. With him gone, it gave Mallory an opportunity to finally make good on her promise and spend the day with Alex, free of interruptions. When he came out of the bedroom a few minutes later, he tilted his head, checking the time on his phone.

"You're gonna be late," he informed her.

She shrugged. "I took off. I owe you a day. What do you say, start things off with a jog?"

He smiled. "I don't know. By jogging, you mean…"

"Flying, of course."

She shut her eyes, taking a deep breath as the wind blew back her hair, shifting her body to keep Alex balanced on her back. She could feel his breath on her ear, his arms around her neck, secure but loose.

"It's been too long since we did this," he said, his words mixing the wind.

She hummed in agreement, savoring the solitude. With Clark in space and Conner in Happy Harbor, the sky was hers, and there weren't any supers to hear what they said. "I know. I'm sorry."

He chuckled. "Don't be, you give the best apology presents."

She shook her head, looking over her shoulder at him. "No, I'm serious. I'm sorry I haven't been around much. It's just, with the League on their mission, and getting so close to the Light's partner, I just haven't had my priorities straight the last few months. I'll do better."

It was his turn to shake his head. "You don't have anything to apologize for, you're not the only one that's busy. I take more shifts than any of the other doctors at the clinic."

"I'm just glad I'm not the only one out of the apartment 23 hours out of the day. I couldn't live with someone with an ordinary 9 to 5, I'd feel so guilty all the time, I wouldn't be able to focus on anything else."

"Somehow, I doubt that," he replied. "Besides, I knew what I was getting into. You're Inferno, I'm not going to get mad because you're out saving people's lives. Honestly, it makes me feel like the luckiest guy on the planet that you give me some of your rare spare time."

She smiled. "And that's why I love you."

"Because I'm a pushover?" he asked teasingly.

She laughed. "Well, yeah, and because you make it so easy for me to be who I am, and to do what I do. You don't know how important that is." She let a beat go by, turning away from the city and back out to sea so the people in the skyscrapers couldn't get a good look at her. "We are making it work, aren't we?" she asked suddenly, a genuine smile in her voice.

"Yeah, of course we are. I don't think either of us would have stuck around for six months if we weren't."

She let out a breath. "Six months," she murmured, shaking her head in disbelief. It didn't feel like that long. The time had flown by, and yet it also felt like this was how things had always been. She hadn't been this content with her life in a long time. She loved feeling settled again, loved having the built in comfort of another person to share her daily life with, to listen to what had happened in his day. And she loved the complete honesty, not holding anything back. Her chest twinged at that thought, reminding her that it wasn't quite true, but it was such a beautiful morning, and they were having such a good time, she pushed the thought away. There would be plenty of time for that.

"So, after breakfast you want to go walk through a few shops?" Alex asked, moving his arms away from her neck and skimming his hands along her arms, holding on just above her wrists. The touch sent a pleasant shiver through her and her flames danced at the motion.

"Sounds good," she replied.

"We can get that table you've been wanting for the bedroom."

"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot," she admitted, swooping down gracefully to fly along the surface of the water.

"Well, maybe if you came in there a little more, you wouldn't have," he said, trailing his fingers along the surface of the ocean as they went.

She shook her head, looking at him out of the corner of her eye, the smile never leaving her face. "It hasn't been that long."

"Well…"

She huffed a sound somewhere in between a sigh and a laugh. "Ok, ok. I already apologized, what more do you want?"

He shrugged. "Breakfast would be a start."

She nodded. "Done. What do you want?"

"Waffles sound good, don't they?"

Her face lit up at the suggestion. "Oh, let's go to Bibbo's. I haven't been in ages, and he has the best cinnamon pancakes in the city."

She turned them back towards the buildings, keeping to the less populated areas until they came to the neighborhood they wanted and she landed in the alley next to the dinner. She was already in civies, so they went straight in and got a booth across the room, sliding into seats across from each other. The owner came to the table right behind them with menus in hand.

"Well, what's your excuse? You gettin' too good to eat here these days?" the man asked, his weathered face bent in an eternal scowl.

She just grinned, though, and pushed her menu away. "Of course not, we've all been busy. But you know I can't last long without your famous pancakes."

The man's eyes softened and he took the unopened menu back from her. "One order of spice cakes comin' up. You want coffee with that?"

"No, orange juice is fine."

He nodded, then turned his scowl on Alex. "You goin' to keep me here all day? What do you want, already?" The doctor didn't even react to the pressure, just closed his menu and ordered pecan waffles and coffee. When Bibbo took his menu, he glanced back at Mallory. "Well, at least the riff raff you's draggin' in these days ain't scarin' off business."

She chuckled, taking that as his seal of approval, but Alex titled his head in question. "I brought Cameron here once, before we started dating," she explained. "We were both in costume, and we cleared the place out."

"Ohh. No wonder he's so grouchy with us."

She shook her head. "That's got nothing to do with it. He's always like that, but he's really a sweetheart, when you get to know him."

The bell over the door jingled, and less than a second later they heard, "Mallory?" They looked towards the voice and broke into grins when they recognized who it was. "Kyle, Donna, hey!" Mallory said, sliding over to make room. Kyle slid in next to her and Donna sat in the booth with Alex.

"What are you doing in the city? Aren't there policies to block today?" Alex asked.

Donna laughed. "No, not today. I have three marvelous days off, so Kyle agreed to come to some museums with me."

Mallory arched an eyebrow, looking at the Green Lantern. "Really? I never thought of you as a culture buff."

He shrugged. "Actually, I got Perry to turn it into an assignment, so technically Donna's going with me. I'm getting in free with my press badge." Kyle had somehow managed to keep his job as an artist for the Daily Planet in spite of his ring.

"That's always good," Alex said, nodding.

"What about you two? What are you doing out so early?" Donna asked.

The doctor shrugged. "We haven't had a date night in a while, Mallory took off so we could have some time together after everything that's been going on lately."

Bibbo came over to get the new couple's orders and bring the first one their drinks, and when he left Mallory looked at Kyle expectantly. "So, have you heard anything from the League, or Guy?"

He shook his head. "No, not yet." Her face fell a little and he added, "but we weren't expecting to, either. It's only been a few days, give them some time."

She sighed. "I know, it's just–"

"Hard to be left behind?" he finished. "I know. I wish I could have gone, too, but they didn't think they needed more than one GL. And they made it pretty clear that even if they had, it would have been John or Hal, not me."

She chuckled. "Aww, you're still the Baby Lantern?"

Donna rolled her eyes at the name. "Very much so, though 'Poozer' is what they call it," she said, annoyed for her boyfriend.

Mallory grinned at the word. "How is old Kilowog these days?" she asked.

Kyle shrugged. "Never better. Right now he's halfway across the galaxy training the new wave of recruits."

With the thought of Kilowog, it was on the tip of her tongue to ask about Razor, but Kyle didn't know the Blue Lantern, so she was left to wonder about her friend in silence while Alex asked, "how's Hal doing?"

Kyle shrugged. "Getting real tired of the rookie jokes, but other than that, he's good. John says he's almost back to full strength."

Mallory smiled at the update. She'd already known that he was doing good, but it was still good to hear after all those months of visiting that husk of his old self. She looked at Donna. "What about you? Anything new at the UN?"

The Amazon shook her head just as their food came. "No, not really. Luthor's investigation is wrapping up."

"Did they find anything?"

She shook her head. "Nothing useful. There were a few infractions that he will have to pay fines for, but nothing backing yours and Conner's claims of him being connected to Cadmus or the Light. I am sorry, Mallory."

The pyrokinetic muffled a grunt of frustration. "We had him," she muttered.

"Not as much as we thought we did," Donna said regretfully.

"But it'll be fine. Once the League gets back, he'll have to face justice, one worse than those investigations would have warranted," Kyle promised.

"Why is that?" Alex asked.

"Because once the League proves that he and the Light were working with this partner to smuggle kids off world, they'll have to face Oan justice for intergalactic interference. And trust me, the Guardians aren't known for leniency, or empathy."

"Or anything else, for that matter," Mallory muttered, feeling a little better.

"I believe that is enough shop talk," Donna said, earning a smile from her friends at the saying that she was trying out.

"Ok," Mallory agreed, "so tell us what's going on with you two. You making any plans?"

Kyle shook his head. "Nothing big. I'm not ready to leave Metropolis, and D has to be near work."

"We also both travel so much, living together would not be practical right now," Donna took over. She smiled a little and added, "Not to mention how upset the Amazons would be if they found out I had shackled myself to a man."

Mallory chuckled, rolling her eyes. "And I thought the team was bad."

"How are you two liking it?" Kyle asked, leaning back in the booth, his empty plate pushed back.

Mallory looked at her boyfriend, their smiles matching as they nodded slowly. "We were just talking about that this morning," Alex told him. "It's working. We're both busy, and it was an adjustment for her to be coming and going all night, but now that we're settled, it's good."

Mallory nodded in agreement. "We could both be better at finding time to spend together, but as long as we manage to set aside days like this, I think we'll be ok."

The other couple seemed to like their answer. They stayed just a little longer, then left to go to the museum, and Mallory paid their bill not long after, then she and Alex headed out, walking to the art district to look through the shops.

Dusk was just starting to fall when they made it back to their apartment, toting a small circular table and some brick a brack they'd picked up throughout the day. Alex took the smaller items and situated them on the bookshelves in the living room while Mallory brought the table to the bedroom, setting it across from the bed and putting a lamp she'd brought from her place on it. She stepped back, eying the room critically, then felt Alex's arms wrap around her from behind and leaned back against his chest.

"What do you think?" she asked.

He rested his chin on her shoulder, nodding. "Looks good." She felt the smile come to his face as he added, "maybe you'll start sleeping in here, now that there's more than just me to look at."

She laughed softly, rolling her eyes as she untangled herself from his embrace. "It hasn't been that long," she argued, but she was already kicking off her shoes, her arms going to rest on his shoulders, his hands finding her waist automatically. "Today was fun," she said thoughtfully. He murmured in agreement. "We really should start putting more time aside. It's been forever since we've really been alone outside of this apartment."

"Yeah, well, like you said, we're still working on it."

She nodded. "I think I have the solution."

"Well, that was fast. What is it? You going to set hours on Inferno or quit your day job?"

She chuckled. "Neither. You're going to quit your job."

He huffed, shaking his head. "What?"

"Well, you used to want to be the League's physician."

"Actually, I think you were the first one who said that."

She ignored his interruption and continued, "they would pay you a lot of money to be a resident at the Watchtower, and then we could hang out up there while we're both on duty."

He titled his head thoughtfully. "It is a good idea," he admitted.

"I know."

He nodded slowly, his fingers drumming idly on her sides as he thought. "It would be hard to leave the clinic short handed. I don't know. I'll think about it."

"Really?!" She hadn't actually expected him to take the suggestion seriously.

He shrugged. "I mean, sure, I'll think about it and see if it's something I want to do."

She grinned, arching her neck up to press her lips against his. "You're kind of great, you know?"

He wrapped his arms tighter around her middle, holding her against him. "Yeah, I think I've heard that around before."

Hope you like it, please review! Do you like Alex? How does he compare to her past relationships? I want to know what y'all think, so please review!