The Eye of Anubis - Chapter 02 (Part 02)
Main Pairing: Batman / Catwoman
Rating: PG-13 for now
Author's Notes: Jenni may no longer have the Legion, but she definitely has the next best thing - the Teen Titans!
Summary: Being the Hand of a Goddess isn't easy, especially when duty pits a girl against the Dark Knight, but the new Catwoman has a mission, and nothing is going to stand in the way of its completion. Not even Batman.
The Eye of Anubis
By Nightmare and Winged Dreamer
Chapter Two, Part Two
----- Home of Jay Garrick, the first Flash -----
Joan set the last plate of food on the kitchen table and headed for the fridge to being pouring drinks. "Bart, could you please go tell Jenni that dinner's ready?" she called into the living room.
"Sure." Setting his book down, Bart hopped up from the couch and dashed up the stairs to his room, where his cousin had holed herself up after they had sent Rokk back to the 31st century. The farewell had been tearful, resigned, and clearly painful to both Jenni and Rokk, and not even Bart had argued with Wally's suggestion to let Jenni cry herself out in private. He knocked on the door and called, "Jenni?" Getting no response, Bart poked his head into the room and spotted her curled up on his bed, right where he had left her a few hours ago. "Jenni? Dinner's ready. You hungry?"
"No. Thank you, Bart," came the mumbled answer. Hunched up and curled in on herself as much as she could be, Jenni stared at the wall she faced as if it would give her the answers to all of the questions of the universe.
"You sure? Joan made macaroni casserole," he sing-songed, sitting on the edge of the bed. "It's really good. And there's chocolate cake for dessert."
"Maybe… later." Closing her eyes, the young woman just lay still. Her heart hurt and it was obvious since Jenni almost always wore her heart on her sleeve. Fresh tears made new tracks down her already moist cheeks, and she bit her lower lip to keep it from trembling.
Bart scooted closer and leaned over her. "Chocolate cake with ice cream."
A minute shake of her head showed her lack of interest holding strong, but she did reach out and catch his hand, needing the contact of another person. The loneliness she was feeling wasn't totally uncalled for, but she wasn't truly alone. She did have Bart and the rest of the 21st century Flash family, but the Legion and Cosmic Boy… they had been her everything for a very long time. She didn't even have her dad here.
Wanting some reaction other than silence or a miserable mumble, Bart squeezed her hand as he bent over her ear and murmured, "So… did you two screw?"
The blow he received to cheek was a swat with the back of the hand she hadn't grabbed his with. "What do you think, Bart?!" she snapped and pulled away. "I'll probably never see him again!"
A snap was better than a mumble, even if his cheek did sting now. "You don't know that. Wally and I might be able to get you home tomorrow, and then you'll be with everyone again." Bart lay down behind her and hugged Jenni close. "Come on, Jen. Come down to dinner? Please? I know you're hungry."
A low whine escaping her throat, Jenni rolled over and buried her face in his neck, sobbing. She had no one to blame but herself for the loss of one life. Now she had to lead another. It was just hard to decide how when her heart felt so tight and her body so heavy with the sadness of losing her close friends and on top of that her lover. At least, she consoled herself yet again, she had Bart whom she had been missing on and off since his trip to the 31st century to deal with the Fatal Five-Hundred.
Strong, slender arms held Jenni tight and Bart patiently waited for her to stop while he held back tears of his own, wishing there was more he could do than simply be there for her. No matter how happy he was to see her again for the first time in years, it wasn't fair that she was forced to be separated from everything she knew. At least last time she'd ended up stuck here, they had known why she had shown up in the 21st century and had been able to send her home after they fixed the Cosmic Treadmill. This time, they might not even have that option.
As her current crying bout subsided, Jenni let out a shuddery sigh and burrowed closer to her baby cousin. He was bigger than she was now, but that was helping her feel better somehow, so she wasn't about to complain. "I'm sorry. I… just don't feel up to going downstairs."
"Okay. Do you want me to bring up a plate?"
"A piece of cake… maybe, and some milk." Jenni slowly lifted her head until she could look him in the eyes and asked, "I'm not putting you out, am I?"
"No," he said with a shake of his head. Putting on an encouraging smile for Jenni, Bart kissed her forehead and slowly let her go. "I'll go get you that cake. Want me to leave you alone or want me to eat up here with you?"
"If you wanted to." Sniffling, Jenni sat up and looked around for a box of tissues, hoping she would find one within her vicinity. She didn't much feel like moving.
The box she was looking for tapped her on the head.
Taking it with a small smirk, she pulled out a tissue and blew her nose first, then dabbed at her eyes with a clean edge of the soft white paper while murmuring, "Thank you." Bart was really very thoughtful and perceptive sometimes. It was a wonder… "Why don't you have a girlfriend yet?"
Crossing his arms, Bart lifted a brow. "Why are you assuming I don't have a girlfriend? You haven't seen me in what, four years? Well, four for me. How old are you now, anyway?" he asked curiously.
"Twenty-eight. And I'm just guessing because you don't act like you have one. Maybe it's just me, or maybe it's just that I've been overexposed to Ultra Boy, but guys act… different sometimes when they've got a girl." Blowing her nose again, Jenni balled up the yucky tissue in one hand and threw it into the trash can by the desk not far away. "Do you have a girlfriend?"
"Twenty-eight? Jeez, you're a geezer now." The tissue box sailed through the place where Bart's head had been a second ago and he darted out of the room with a laugh.
Bart had managed to dodge more than the box of tissues, but Jenni let it go. She really wasn't in the mood to pry either. Some chocolate cake and milk, maybe a few good nights of a sleep and maybe she'd be ready to start her new life, but right now, all she could bring herself to feel like doing was mourn for her old life. Lying down again, she curled up and closed her eyes with a sniffle.
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"She hasn't come down in two days, Wally. Bart's the only one she's been honestly talking to, and even that hasn't been very much." Sighing, Jay idly wiped some of the condensation off the glass of juice between his hands. The afternoon sunlight streamed bright and clear through the kitchen window, but not even the beautiful day outside could lift the mood inside the room. "Have you been able to figure out anything at all? Why she's stuck here? Why she's even here?"
"Nothing's even remotely amiss. I was hoping that maybe by now we'd know why she was here, but so far nothing's come up. It's even been quiet for the regular crooks and bad guys," the Flash grumbled and downed his second glass of orange juice. "I'm not sure what to think."
"Then I guess it's time I adjusted and moved on, isn't it?" The soft voice was quiet and a little resigned, but there was still humor there lying just beneath the surface. Feeling more like herself, XS stepped closer to the dining table. "Lunch smells good. What was it?"
"Grilled chicken sandwiches. Go ahead and make yourself one." Jay nodded towards the pan on the stove holding still-warm strips of seasoned chicken. "How are you feeling, Jenni?" he carefully asked, doubting he would get an actual answer.
"Don't worry, kiddo. Sit down. I'll take care of the sandwiches. How many?"
"You don't have to, Wally." Jenni paused, but Wally motioned her to a chair and Jenni caved. "Three to start, please. I'm… a little hungry, but otherwise I'm feeling a bit better. Thank you, Jay." The sandwiches appeared before her on a plate and she dug into the meal with a ravenous appetite after a mumbled thank you.
"A little hungry, huh?" Smirking softly, Jay got up and soon set a glass of juice in front of Jenni. "It's good to see you out of Bart's room."
"Thank you." Taking a sip of juice to wash down her first sandwich, Jenni tucked into her second, eating a little more slowly than she had with the first. "I'm sorry," she murmured between bites. "For burdening you."
"Burdening?! You're not a burden, Jenni!" Wally almost looked offended by the comment.
Jay opened his mouth to say the same, only to be cut off by the front door opening and slamming shut.
"I'm home! Anybody here?" An auburn head poked into the kitchen, immediately followed by the rest of Bart's body and a wide grin. "Jenni! Hey! Good to see you finally came out into the light. I was afraid you were going to turn into a vampire on me or something," he teased, giving her shoulders a squeeze in lieu of a hug. "Is that Joan's chicken?"
"Yeah. These are mine. Make your own," Jenni wrapped her arms around her plate and mock-glared at Bart, then stuck her tongue out at him. "Where were you?"
Wally flashed Jay a small grin. Their girl was looking and apparently feeling better for real. That was one less worry for the Flashes to endure.
"Pestering Tim and Conner when I wasn't telling them that you're here. They want to drop by and say hi later, if you don't mind." Bart snagged a small piece of chicken that was threatening to fall out of Jenni's sandwich and darted away towards the counter when Jenni swiped at him. Razzing her, he began to put together a sandwich of his own.
"Who are Tim and Conner?" Finishing off the last of her third sandwich, Jenni drank her juice. The two older Flashes were sitting quietly, just watching their "charges" with something that seemed to be a nostalgic form of pride. It made Jenni feel… a little more at home.
"You know. Conner. Kon-El. Superboy. Tim is, well, Tim. Robin. You know, the Boy Wonder. Well, he's not a boy, but at twenty he's not a teen either so Teen Wonder doesn't work anymore, and Man Wonder just sounds weird, so he went back to Boy Wonder." A monstrosity of bread, chicken, and almost every possible sandwich topping to be found in the fridge and pantry, the sandwich on Bart's plate wobbled as he sat down and set it on the table, only to vanish in the span of a heartbeat.
"Taste that did you?" Jenni teased and shook her head with the beginnings of one of her brighter smiles. "I didn't know Superboy had an Earth name, too. He never mentioned it while he was with us. Boy Wonder? …Grife! That's Robin's real name? It's so mundane! I would have never guessed! Mm. What time did they want to come over?"
Letting out a forlorn sigh, Jay headed for the living room. "I'll go hide all the couch pillows."
"Hey! We only busted the pillows once! And Conner started it!"
"Exactly."
Bart rolled his eyes and decided it wasn't worth it. "Whenever you want them to come over, unless something's come up with them between when I left and now."
"Alright," Jenni murmured and added a thoughtful hum. "You can give them a call after I talk to Wally and Jay. Jay? Can you come back in here for a minute please?"
Raising one red brow, Wally tipped his head slightly to the side and asked, "What's up, Jen?"
Jay came back and reclaimed his chair at the table. "Yes, Jenni?"
Looking between the two older men in the room, Jenni felt a little guilty. She was already a guest in Jay's home, already a burden, but in order to end her drain on their lives - the Flash families had never been rich - she had to ask them for one more thing. "I… know this is asking for a lot, and I'm grateful for everything you guys have already done for me. I can't thank you all enough, but… I… I don't think I can stay here. In Keystone. I think… I need a break, so I gave it some serious thought, and I was wondering if I could get a loan so that I could get an apartment in Metropolis."
Surprise showed clearly on the Flash's face. Wally hadn't been expecting this. Questions about how she might learn to live in the 21st century while she was stuck here were actually what he'd been anticipating. Not a request for money or the statement that she didn't want to be a hero for now or… a desire to move away. "Are you sure that's what you really want? I mean, this is all so sudden. I don't think you should make any rash decisions."
Understanding the guilt he could clearly see in the young Speedster's gold eyes, Jay reached across the table to clasp Jenni's hand. "Jenni, if you're afraid of being a burden, don't be. You're family, and we will take care of you, no matter what. But if it'll make you more comfortable with staying here, we can help you look for a job somewhere here in Keystone or even in Central City. I can talk to the other directors at the lab; maybe get you a position as a lab assistant."
"Linda might be able to get you a job working with her, too. We're in pretty good standing with the community, so you could probably get a job just about anywhere you like, but we'll have to get you some personal ID and stuff first." Wally's smile was warm. "And Jay's absolutely right. You're family. Hell, we even took Bart in didn't we?"
"Though that could be considered more an act of charity than familial ties," said Jay with a small chuckle.
The dark cloud that had developed over Bart's head at Jenni's request to leave immediately dissipated as he turned an annoyed stare on his caretaker. "Love you too, Jay." Returning his attention to his cousin, Bart grabbed her other hand. "Stay? Please, Jenni? You're not going to leave me alone with these two old geezers, are you? And you haven't even met Wally's spawn yet! Who's gonna help be baby-sit them?"
Carefully extracting her hand from Jay's, Jenni pulled Bart over into a hug, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding on tight. "What I'm trying to say is I'm going inactive. As of this moment, XS is retired. That can't last long if I stay here in Keystone. You all know it won't last longer than a year at best if I stay and if I'm lucky. If I'm going to be living here in this century, I'm going to have to adapt. I'm going to have to have a job and a place of my own. Jay, you and Joan are amazing for taking in my baby cousin. I won't ask you to take care of two of us. We'd eat you out of house and home. Besides, having three Speedsters under one roof could prove disastrous. I love you all, but I can't stay here. Please don't make this harder. I'll be around a lot; I promise. Metropolis isn't that far away."
Green eyes slid over to meet wizened blue. Jenni sounded pretty much decided, but he wasn't certain what the best course was for her. Jay had a lot of years on him. "I defer to you, old man. What do you think?"
Sighing softly, Jay shook his head once. "Jenni, are you absolutely sure about this? The Metropolis in this time is very different from the Metropolis you know."
"Yeah. Couldn't you at least stay here until you're used to the way things are here?" Bart asked hopefully.
"How about a compromise? Bart can come and live with me for a few weeks in Metropolis. He can help me find an apartment, a job and get settled while showing me the ropes." There had to be some way to convince them that she couldn't stay in Keystone. Staying in Keystone meant being a superhero and that's not what she needed to be doing right now.
Wally let out a soft sigh of his own. "I don't think we're going to change her mind, guys. Compromise?"
Bart shrugged and tightened his arms around Jenni. "It's better than letting her jump into living by herself in a time she's not familiar with."
"You're going to need identification and personal records, Jenni," said Jay. "Wally, can you take care of that?"
"Absolutely. I'll go get started on it right now, but my source is going to need information. An address, that sort of stuff."
"Then I guess we'd better get started. Bart, do you want to call Kon-El and Tim? I want Superman and Superboy's permission to live in their city even if I am going to be inactive." Jenni pulled out of the embrace and kissed Bart's forehead.
"Sure thing." Bart disappeared from the kitchen.
Jay leaned forward over the table and crossed his arms. "While he's doing that… Jenni, what do you know about living in an apartment?"
----- Metropolis, Five Days Later -----
"Why can't I just fly this up to Jenni's window again?"
Tim rolled his eyes and shifted his grip on his end of the couch he and his boyfriend were carrying up the stairs, carefully maneuvering it around a turn in the stairwell. Just two more flights and they would be on Jenni's floor. "For the last time, because we don't want people to know that Jenni is friends with Superboy, especially if she seriously does plan on going inactive."
"I suppose," Kon grumbled and took a little more of the couch's weight with his telekinesis. Just because they had to look like they were carrying the couch up the stairs together didn't mean Tim actually had to be carrying it. Satisfied that he was now carrying almost the entire weight of the couch, Kon lifted his gaze to meet the beautiful baby blues just above him. "I was almost hoping she'd join the Titans when I found out she was here. Jenni was always a lot of fun and the Tower could always use the extra pep. She's good at making other people feel better, y'know?" They were almost there. Just a few more steps and through the door and they'd be on Jenni's floor.
"I know. But right now, the most important thing is to get her settled in and adjusted. Honestly, I think she made a good choice by going inactive. It'll give her more time to figure out exactly how she's going to deal with being stuck a thousand years in her past for an indefinite amount of time. Joining the Titans would only distract her from adjusting, and in the end wouldn't help her very much." Reaching their desired floor, Tim reached behind him for the doorknob and pushed the stairwell door open with his back. "Kon, give me a little more of the weight. It'll be hard to explain if the couch looks like it's floating."
"Say when," sighed the meta and slowly let some of the couch's weight sink into Tim's hands. They were almost finished moving Jenni into her new apartment, and Kon was getting restless and hungry.
"Good." Muscles honed by years of intensive martial arts training easily took the added weight, and Tim walked backwards through the hall at a calculated pace to keep them from tripping or dropping the couch. "You're pouting," he told Kon with a smirk.
"Who's pouting?" Bart poked his head out of the open apartment door and spotted his best friends. "Why is Conner pouting?"
"I am not," Superboy grumbled and gave Bart a brief, glancing glare before returning his attention to Tim. "What makes you think I'm pouting?"
"What else am I supposed to call it when you get hungry and impatient?"
"I don't pout," Kon grumbled again, having no real answer to that question, and carefully followed Tim through the door. "Jen! Where do you want this thing?"
Turning around in the kitchen where she and Cassie were putting together Jenni's bookshelf and dresser, the former Legionnaire gestured over to the middle of what was to be the living room portion of the studio flat. "Somewhere over there is fine for now, thanks."
Tim led Kon into the middle of the living area and set his end of the couch down, then headed over to the kitchen. "You girls need any help?"
"No, thank you, Tim. I've got it. Bart got everything else together about two seconds ago, so there's just these two and then the furniture that needs to be assembled is taken care of," answered Cassie, the Titans' resident member of the Wonder Family.
"What's left downstairs?" Jenni asked with a nod confirming Cassie's statement. Her eyes tracked briefly past Tim's shoulder, and a smile bloomed on her face before she brought her eyes back to Tim's.
"Just a bunch of boxes full of Bart's junk-"
"It's not junk!"
"- and the boxes of your things. Kon, stop staring at my ass."
"I wasn't," the Super mildly protested, but there was a smirk playing about the corners of his mouth that said otherwise. The laughter from the others told him they didn't believe him, but they could all see that he didn't care much what they thought of it when he went right back to doing just that.
"Alright. Awesome. How about you and I head down and start bring up our stuff, Bart? Tim and Conner can help Cassie with the rest of the furniture. You and I can unpack after everything's in place." Catching Bart's wrist, Jenni began pulling him toward the door
Bart grinned. "Race you downstairs." Shaking free of Jenni's grip, he just remembered to take off at a human pace instead of superspeed.
Shaking his head in amusement, Tim sat down in the spot Jenni had vacated and grabbed a screwdriver to finish putting the tracks on the inside of the dresser.
Kon watched Jenni take off after her cousin and shook his head before rising and moving over to join his friends in the kitchenette. "Anything I can do?"
"These two pieces are the last ones, right?" asked Tim of Cassie, gesturing to the dresser and bookshelf.
"Yep," Cassie agreed, twisting a screw into place with a few easy twists of her wrist.
"Then you can either relax or go help the speed twins bring up their stuff, Kon. I've got this. There's only one more track left."
"How about I order a few pizzas?" His stomach growled in enthusiastic agreement. "I bet Bart and Jenni are getting hungry, too."
Cassie stood and righted the bookshelf, testing its balance with a few pushes to each corner as she walked around it. "Me, too. We've been at this for a while."
Tim nodded in agreement. "Pizza sounds good to me. I'll pay. Make sure to add two pizzas to the usual number for Jenni."
"I heard pizza," announced Bart as he walked in, holding a precarious tower of four moving boxes. "Are we ordering pizza? I'm hungry."
"Me, too," Jenni echoed and set her two boxes down out of the way in a corner by the door. "That's everything. We can start laying out the rugs and stuff, get the furniture organized, and by the time we're done with all of that the pizza should be here. Right?"
"You got it." Kon winked at the female Speedster as he picked up the Yellow Pages and pulled out his cell phone.
"Great. I'll make my bed then and, if you don't mind, Bart, could you go put the towels and other linens away in the linen closet in the bathroom?"
"Got it." A quick spin of his arm at superspeed closed the front door and Bart proceeded to zip around the apartment, putting things away. A Gamestation appeared under the TV, along with a slew of games and movies. The couch opened to reveal a bed, which was covered in sheets and folded back up in a couple heartbeats. Cabinets in the kitchen opened and closed as they were stocked with non-perishables. Sounds were heard from within the bathroom for a barely two seconds, and then Bart re-solidified from his blur to state, "Done."
"Thank you." On her way by, Jenni brushed an affectionate kiss to her cousin's cheek, then continued on her way over to the dresser that Tim had just finished, carrying a laundry basket of clothes on one hip. It wouldn't matter if she filled the dresser now or later, since she had Conner and Cassie to carry it to where it needed to go. "You could hang my clothes up in the closet, too, if you wanted."
Finished ordering eight large pizzas, a few two liter bottles of pop and three bags of breadsticks, Kon turned back to his friends and looked around. "What's gotta be moved?"
Smiling, Jenni straightened and turned. She'd be settled into her new home in no time.
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Drying his hands on his jeans and straightening his shirt as he came out of the bathroom, Tim spotted Jenni at the door saying good-bye to Cassie. The sight of Bart shifting impatiently in the hallway behind Wonder Girl made him smile. It didn't take a protégé of the World's Greatest Detective to figure out that Bart wanted some alone time with his not-so-secret crush.
Tim heard the sink in the bathroom turn off just as Jenni shut the front door and he approached the Speedster. "Hey, Jenni, could we talk to you for a second?"
Her face showed only open welcome as she gestured to her new couch. "Sure. Have a seat."
Kon emerged from the bathroom, running still damp fingers through his hair. He followed them to the couch and settled in one corner while Jenni took the other, forcing Tim into the middle. The second the Boy Wonder took his seat, a strong arm looped around his waist and pulled him against a solid as steel body. "How much does a place like this run?"
An understanding light clicked on in bright gold eyes and the Speedster smiled. "About eight-hundred a month. That doesn't include all utilities though. It also depends on the layout you choose."
In a mostly subconscious response to the arm holding him, Tim leaned against his boyfriend and lover. "When you spoke to the landlord, did they mention any other free apartments? I don't remember seeing this building in the classifieds."
"He walked Bart and I through two other floor plans and mentioned that there were two of one of them left and only one of the other."
"Awesome." Kon looked down at the back of Tim's head and wondered aloud, "Do you think we should set up an appointment?"
"It certainly couldn't hurt. We can go to the office on our way out."
Amused by the almost hidden enthusiasm in Conner's voice and expression, Jenni leaned back in the couch and smirked, "So, when's the wedding?"
Kon chuckled and glanced down again. "Yeah, Tim. When are you going to propose to me?" The fingers that had been resting peacefully against Tim's side drummed twice right over a ticklish spot.
"When your warped mind finally matures past sixteen." Tim grabbed the hand on his waist and narrowed his eyes at Kon in playful warning. "Anyway. Thanks, Jenni."
Giggling at Superboy's stricken expression, Jenni shook her head. "Any time, Tim. Let me know if there's anything else I can do to help."
"Tell Bart to stop dragging his feet and just ask Cassie out already. We've been trying to talk him into it and he keeps saying he will soon but it never happens."
Smiling fading a little, Jenni looked to the front door. "I don't understand why he's afraid to ask."
"I've been wondering about that myself. I think it might be because he's afraid of losing her friendship over it. That's the only reason I can think of." Conner followed Jenni's gaze to the door and shook his head.
"He didn't exactly get a lot of relationship advice from the VR world he lived in for the first eighteen relative years of his life. And then he was all out of whack with his physical age and mentality and everything. Maybe I should talk to him about it."
"Hopefully you'll have better luck than we have. Personally, I think he's afraid of Wonder Woman, especially after she threw a certain someone," Tim glanced at Kon, "off the Tower roof just for kissing Cassie."
Conner flashed Tim a sheepish grin and Jenni felt her good humor coming back. "Really, it could be any of those things. I'll talk to him tonight when he comes back and see if he'll tell me what's holding him up."
"Good. It's starting to drive me bonkers with the way he fawns over her when she's not looking. I don't even know if Cassie knows he likes her and I know better than to ask." Kon shook his head. "We should get going, Rob."
"Yeah." Unwrapping Kon's arm from his waist, Tim stood. "Congrats again on finding a good place so fast, Jenni. If you ever need help for anything, don't be afraid to give any of us a call, okay?"
"Thanks, Tim." Standing as well, Jenni hugged Tim first and then Conner as Superboy got to his feet. "Thanks for helping out today, too."
"Anytime. We'll see you soon, Jenni."
Part Three (Yeah, long chapter)
Rating: PG-13 for now
Author's Notes: Jenni may no longer have the Legion, but she definitely has the next best thing - the Teen Titans!
Summary: Being the Hand of a Goddess isn't easy, especially when duty pits a girl against the Dark Knight, but the new Catwoman has a mission, and nothing is going to stand in the way of its completion. Not even Batman.
The Eye of Anubis
By Nightmare and Winged Dreamer
Chapter Two, Part Two
----- Home of Jay Garrick, the first Flash -----
Joan set the last plate of food on the kitchen table and headed for the fridge to being pouring drinks. "Bart, could you please go tell Jenni that dinner's ready?" she called into the living room.
"Sure." Setting his book down, Bart hopped up from the couch and dashed up the stairs to his room, where his cousin had holed herself up after they had sent Rokk back to the 31st century. The farewell had been tearful, resigned, and clearly painful to both Jenni and Rokk, and not even Bart had argued with Wally's suggestion to let Jenni cry herself out in private. He knocked on the door and called, "Jenni?" Getting no response, Bart poked his head into the room and spotted her curled up on his bed, right where he had left her a few hours ago. "Jenni? Dinner's ready. You hungry?"
"No. Thank you, Bart," came the mumbled answer. Hunched up and curled in on herself as much as she could be, Jenni stared at the wall she faced as if it would give her the answers to all of the questions of the universe.
"You sure? Joan made macaroni casserole," he sing-songed, sitting on the edge of the bed. "It's really good. And there's chocolate cake for dessert."
"Maybe… later." Closing her eyes, the young woman just lay still. Her heart hurt and it was obvious since Jenni almost always wore her heart on her sleeve. Fresh tears made new tracks down her already moist cheeks, and she bit her lower lip to keep it from trembling.
Bart scooted closer and leaned over her. "Chocolate cake with ice cream."
A minute shake of her head showed her lack of interest holding strong, but she did reach out and catch his hand, needing the contact of another person. The loneliness she was feeling wasn't totally uncalled for, but she wasn't truly alone. She did have Bart and the rest of the 21st century Flash family, but the Legion and Cosmic Boy… they had been her everything for a very long time. She didn't even have her dad here.
Wanting some reaction other than silence or a miserable mumble, Bart squeezed her hand as he bent over her ear and murmured, "So… did you two screw?"
The blow he received to cheek was a swat with the back of the hand she hadn't grabbed his with. "What do you think, Bart?!" she snapped and pulled away. "I'll probably never see him again!"
A snap was better than a mumble, even if his cheek did sting now. "You don't know that. Wally and I might be able to get you home tomorrow, and then you'll be with everyone again." Bart lay down behind her and hugged Jenni close. "Come on, Jen. Come down to dinner? Please? I know you're hungry."
A low whine escaping her throat, Jenni rolled over and buried her face in his neck, sobbing. She had no one to blame but herself for the loss of one life. Now she had to lead another. It was just hard to decide how when her heart felt so tight and her body so heavy with the sadness of losing her close friends and on top of that her lover. At least, she consoled herself yet again, she had Bart whom she had been missing on and off since his trip to the 31st century to deal with the Fatal Five-Hundred.
Strong, slender arms held Jenni tight and Bart patiently waited for her to stop while he held back tears of his own, wishing there was more he could do than simply be there for her. No matter how happy he was to see her again for the first time in years, it wasn't fair that she was forced to be separated from everything she knew. At least last time she'd ended up stuck here, they had known why she had shown up in the 21st century and had been able to send her home after they fixed the Cosmic Treadmill. This time, they might not even have that option.
As her current crying bout subsided, Jenni let out a shuddery sigh and burrowed closer to her baby cousin. He was bigger than she was now, but that was helping her feel better somehow, so she wasn't about to complain. "I'm sorry. I… just don't feel up to going downstairs."
"Okay. Do you want me to bring up a plate?"
"A piece of cake… maybe, and some milk." Jenni slowly lifted her head until she could look him in the eyes and asked, "I'm not putting you out, am I?"
"No," he said with a shake of his head. Putting on an encouraging smile for Jenni, Bart kissed her forehead and slowly let her go. "I'll go get you that cake. Want me to leave you alone or want me to eat up here with you?"
"If you wanted to." Sniffling, Jenni sat up and looked around for a box of tissues, hoping she would find one within her vicinity. She didn't much feel like moving.
The box she was looking for tapped her on the head.
Taking it with a small smirk, she pulled out a tissue and blew her nose first, then dabbed at her eyes with a clean edge of the soft white paper while murmuring, "Thank you." Bart was really very thoughtful and perceptive sometimes. It was a wonder… "Why don't you have a girlfriend yet?"
Crossing his arms, Bart lifted a brow. "Why are you assuming I don't have a girlfriend? You haven't seen me in what, four years? Well, four for me. How old are you now, anyway?" he asked curiously.
"Twenty-eight. And I'm just guessing because you don't act like you have one. Maybe it's just me, or maybe it's just that I've been overexposed to Ultra Boy, but guys act… different sometimes when they've got a girl." Blowing her nose again, Jenni balled up the yucky tissue in one hand and threw it into the trash can by the desk not far away. "Do you have a girlfriend?"
"Twenty-eight? Jeez, you're a geezer now." The tissue box sailed through the place where Bart's head had been a second ago and he darted out of the room with a laugh.
Bart had managed to dodge more than the box of tissues, but Jenni let it go. She really wasn't in the mood to pry either. Some chocolate cake and milk, maybe a few good nights of a sleep and maybe she'd be ready to start her new life, but right now, all she could bring herself to feel like doing was mourn for her old life. Lying down again, she curled up and closed her eyes with a sniffle.
-----------
"She hasn't come down in two days, Wally. Bart's the only one she's been honestly talking to, and even that hasn't been very much." Sighing, Jay idly wiped some of the condensation off the glass of juice between his hands. The afternoon sunlight streamed bright and clear through the kitchen window, but not even the beautiful day outside could lift the mood inside the room. "Have you been able to figure out anything at all? Why she's stuck here? Why she's even here?"
"Nothing's even remotely amiss. I was hoping that maybe by now we'd know why she was here, but so far nothing's come up. It's even been quiet for the regular crooks and bad guys," the Flash grumbled and downed his second glass of orange juice. "I'm not sure what to think."
"Then I guess it's time I adjusted and moved on, isn't it?" The soft voice was quiet and a little resigned, but there was still humor there lying just beneath the surface. Feeling more like herself, XS stepped closer to the dining table. "Lunch smells good. What was it?"
"Grilled chicken sandwiches. Go ahead and make yourself one." Jay nodded towards the pan on the stove holding still-warm strips of seasoned chicken. "How are you feeling, Jenni?" he carefully asked, doubting he would get an actual answer.
"Don't worry, kiddo. Sit down. I'll take care of the sandwiches. How many?"
"You don't have to, Wally." Jenni paused, but Wally motioned her to a chair and Jenni caved. "Three to start, please. I'm… a little hungry, but otherwise I'm feeling a bit better. Thank you, Jay." The sandwiches appeared before her on a plate and she dug into the meal with a ravenous appetite after a mumbled thank you.
"A little hungry, huh?" Smirking softly, Jay got up and soon set a glass of juice in front of Jenni. "It's good to see you out of Bart's room."
"Thank you." Taking a sip of juice to wash down her first sandwich, Jenni tucked into her second, eating a little more slowly than she had with the first. "I'm sorry," she murmured between bites. "For burdening you."
"Burdening?! You're not a burden, Jenni!" Wally almost looked offended by the comment.
Jay opened his mouth to say the same, only to be cut off by the front door opening and slamming shut.
"I'm home! Anybody here?" An auburn head poked into the kitchen, immediately followed by the rest of Bart's body and a wide grin. "Jenni! Hey! Good to see you finally came out into the light. I was afraid you were going to turn into a vampire on me or something," he teased, giving her shoulders a squeeze in lieu of a hug. "Is that Joan's chicken?"
"Yeah. These are mine. Make your own," Jenni wrapped her arms around her plate and mock-glared at Bart, then stuck her tongue out at him. "Where were you?"
Wally flashed Jay a small grin. Their girl was looking and apparently feeling better for real. That was one less worry for the Flashes to endure.
"Pestering Tim and Conner when I wasn't telling them that you're here. They want to drop by and say hi later, if you don't mind." Bart snagged a small piece of chicken that was threatening to fall out of Jenni's sandwich and darted away towards the counter when Jenni swiped at him. Razzing her, he began to put together a sandwich of his own.
"Who are Tim and Conner?" Finishing off the last of her third sandwich, Jenni drank her juice. The two older Flashes were sitting quietly, just watching their "charges" with something that seemed to be a nostalgic form of pride. It made Jenni feel… a little more at home.
"You know. Conner. Kon-El. Superboy. Tim is, well, Tim. Robin. You know, the Boy Wonder. Well, he's not a boy, but at twenty he's not a teen either so Teen Wonder doesn't work anymore, and Man Wonder just sounds weird, so he went back to Boy Wonder." A monstrosity of bread, chicken, and almost every possible sandwich topping to be found in the fridge and pantry, the sandwich on Bart's plate wobbled as he sat down and set it on the table, only to vanish in the span of a heartbeat.
"Taste that did you?" Jenni teased and shook her head with the beginnings of one of her brighter smiles. "I didn't know Superboy had an Earth name, too. He never mentioned it while he was with us. Boy Wonder? …Grife! That's Robin's real name? It's so mundane! I would have never guessed! Mm. What time did they want to come over?"
Letting out a forlorn sigh, Jay headed for the living room. "I'll go hide all the couch pillows."
"Hey! We only busted the pillows once! And Conner started it!"
"Exactly."
Bart rolled his eyes and decided it wasn't worth it. "Whenever you want them to come over, unless something's come up with them between when I left and now."
"Alright," Jenni murmured and added a thoughtful hum. "You can give them a call after I talk to Wally and Jay. Jay? Can you come back in here for a minute please?"
Raising one red brow, Wally tipped his head slightly to the side and asked, "What's up, Jen?"
Jay came back and reclaimed his chair at the table. "Yes, Jenni?"
Looking between the two older men in the room, Jenni felt a little guilty. She was already a guest in Jay's home, already a burden, but in order to end her drain on their lives - the Flash families had never been rich - she had to ask them for one more thing. "I… know this is asking for a lot, and I'm grateful for everything you guys have already done for me. I can't thank you all enough, but… I… I don't think I can stay here. In Keystone. I think… I need a break, so I gave it some serious thought, and I was wondering if I could get a loan so that I could get an apartment in Metropolis."
Surprise showed clearly on the Flash's face. Wally hadn't been expecting this. Questions about how she might learn to live in the 21st century while she was stuck here were actually what he'd been anticipating. Not a request for money or the statement that she didn't want to be a hero for now or… a desire to move away. "Are you sure that's what you really want? I mean, this is all so sudden. I don't think you should make any rash decisions."
Understanding the guilt he could clearly see in the young Speedster's gold eyes, Jay reached across the table to clasp Jenni's hand. "Jenni, if you're afraid of being a burden, don't be. You're family, and we will take care of you, no matter what. But if it'll make you more comfortable with staying here, we can help you look for a job somewhere here in Keystone or even in Central City. I can talk to the other directors at the lab; maybe get you a position as a lab assistant."
"Linda might be able to get you a job working with her, too. We're in pretty good standing with the community, so you could probably get a job just about anywhere you like, but we'll have to get you some personal ID and stuff first." Wally's smile was warm. "And Jay's absolutely right. You're family. Hell, we even took Bart in didn't we?"
"Though that could be considered more an act of charity than familial ties," said Jay with a small chuckle.
The dark cloud that had developed over Bart's head at Jenni's request to leave immediately dissipated as he turned an annoyed stare on his caretaker. "Love you too, Jay." Returning his attention to his cousin, Bart grabbed her other hand. "Stay? Please, Jenni? You're not going to leave me alone with these two old geezers, are you? And you haven't even met Wally's spawn yet! Who's gonna help be baby-sit them?"
Carefully extracting her hand from Jay's, Jenni pulled Bart over into a hug, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding on tight. "What I'm trying to say is I'm going inactive. As of this moment, XS is retired. That can't last long if I stay here in Keystone. You all know it won't last longer than a year at best if I stay and if I'm lucky. If I'm going to be living here in this century, I'm going to have to adapt. I'm going to have to have a job and a place of my own. Jay, you and Joan are amazing for taking in my baby cousin. I won't ask you to take care of two of us. We'd eat you out of house and home. Besides, having three Speedsters under one roof could prove disastrous. I love you all, but I can't stay here. Please don't make this harder. I'll be around a lot; I promise. Metropolis isn't that far away."
Green eyes slid over to meet wizened blue. Jenni sounded pretty much decided, but he wasn't certain what the best course was for her. Jay had a lot of years on him. "I defer to you, old man. What do you think?"
Sighing softly, Jay shook his head once. "Jenni, are you absolutely sure about this? The Metropolis in this time is very different from the Metropolis you know."
"Yeah. Couldn't you at least stay here until you're used to the way things are here?" Bart asked hopefully.
"How about a compromise? Bart can come and live with me for a few weeks in Metropolis. He can help me find an apartment, a job and get settled while showing me the ropes." There had to be some way to convince them that she couldn't stay in Keystone. Staying in Keystone meant being a superhero and that's not what she needed to be doing right now.
Wally let out a soft sigh of his own. "I don't think we're going to change her mind, guys. Compromise?"
Bart shrugged and tightened his arms around Jenni. "It's better than letting her jump into living by herself in a time she's not familiar with."
"You're going to need identification and personal records, Jenni," said Jay. "Wally, can you take care of that?"
"Absolutely. I'll go get started on it right now, but my source is going to need information. An address, that sort of stuff."
"Then I guess we'd better get started. Bart, do you want to call Kon-El and Tim? I want Superman and Superboy's permission to live in their city even if I am going to be inactive." Jenni pulled out of the embrace and kissed Bart's forehead.
"Sure thing." Bart disappeared from the kitchen.
Jay leaned forward over the table and crossed his arms. "While he's doing that… Jenni, what do you know about living in an apartment?"
----- Metropolis, Five Days Later -----
"Why can't I just fly this up to Jenni's window again?"
Tim rolled his eyes and shifted his grip on his end of the couch he and his boyfriend were carrying up the stairs, carefully maneuvering it around a turn in the stairwell. Just two more flights and they would be on Jenni's floor. "For the last time, because we don't want people to know that Jenni is friends with Superboy, especially if she seriously does plan on going inactive."
"I suppose," Kon grumbled and took a little more of the couch's weight with his telekinesis. Just because they had to look like they were carrying the couch up the stairs together didn't mean Tim actually had to be carrying it. Satisfied that he was now carrying almost the entire weight of the couch, Kon lifted his gaze to meet the beautiful baby blues just above him. "I was almost hoping she'd join the Titans when I found out she was here. Jenni was always a lot of fun and the Tower could always use the extra pep. She's good at making other people feel better, y'know?" They were almost there. Just a few more steps and through the door and they'd be on Jenni's floor.
"I know. But right now, the most important thing is to get her settled in and adjusted. Honestly, I think she made a good choice by going inactive. It'll give her more time to figure out exactly how she's going to deal with being stuck a thousand years in her past for an indefinite amount of time. Joining the Titans would only distract her from adjusting, and in the end wouldn't help her very much." Reaching their desired floor, Tim reached behind him for the doorknob and pushed the stairwell door open with his back. "Kon, give me a little more of the weight. It'll be hard to explain if the couch looks like it's floating."
"Say when," sighed the meta and slowly let some of the couch's weight sink into Tim's hands. They were almost finished moving Jenni into her new apartment, and Kon was getting restless and hungry.
"Good." Muscles honed by years of intensive martial arts training easily took the added weight, and Tim walked backwards through the hall at a calculated pace to keep them from tripping or dropping the couch. "You're pouting," he told Kon with a smirk.
"Who's pouting?" Bart poked his head out of the open apartment door and spotted his best friends. "Why is Conner pouting?"
"I am not," Superboy grumbled and gave Bart a brief, glancing glare before returning his attention to Tim. "What makes you think I'm pouting?"
"What else am I supposed to call it when you get hungry and impatient?"
"I don't pout," Kon grumbled again, having no real answer to that question, and carefully followed Tim through the door. "Jen! Where do you want this thing?"
Turning around in the kitchen where she and Cassie were putting together Jenni's bookshelf and dresser, the former Legionnaire gestured over to the middle of what was to be the living room portion of the studio flat. "Somewhere over there is fine for now, thanks."
Tim led Kon into the middle of the living area and set his end of the couch down, then headed over to the kitchen. "You girls need any help?"
"No, thank you, Tim. I've got it. Bart got everything else together about two seconds ago, so there's just these two and then the furniture that needs to be assembled is taken care of," answered Cassie, the Titans' resident member of the Wonder Family.
"What's left downstairs?" Jenni asked with a nod confirming Cassie's statement. Her eyes tracked briefly past Tim's shoulder, and a smile bloomed on her face before she brought her eyes back to Tim's.
"Just a bunch of boxes full of Bart's junk-"
"It's not junk!"
"- and the boxes of your things. Kon, stop staring at my ass."
"I wasn't," the Super mildly protested, but there was a smirk playing about the corners of his mouth that said otherwise. The laughter from the others told him they didn't believe him, but they could all see that he didn't care much what they thought of it when he went right back to doing just that.
"Alright. Awesome. How about you and I head down and start bring up our stuff, Bart? Tim and Conner can help Cassie with the rest of the furniture. You and I can unpack after everything's in place." Catching Bart's wrist, Jenni began pulling him toward the door
Bart grinned. "Race you downstairs." Shaking free of Jenni's grip, he just remembered to take off at a human pace instead of superspeed.
Shaking his head in amusement, Tim sat down in the spot Jenni had vacated and grabbed a screwdriver to finish putting the tracks on the inside of the dresser.
Kon watched Jenni take off after her cousin and shook his head before rising and moving over to join his friends in the kitchenette. "Anything I can do?"
"These two pieces are the last ones, right?" asked Tim of Cassie, gesturing to the dresser and bookshelf.
"Yep," Cassie agreed, twisting a screw into place with a few easy twists of her wrist.
"Then you can either relax or go help the speed twins bring up their stuff, Kon. I've got this. There's only one more track left."
"How about I order a few pizzas?" His stomach growled in enthusiastic agreement. "I bet Bart and Jenni are getting hungry, too."
Cassie stood and righted the bookshelf, testing its balance with a few pushes to each corner as she walked around it. "Me, too. We've been at this for a while."
Tim nodded in agreement. "Pizza sounds good to me. I'll pay. Make sure to add two pizzas to the usual number for Jenni."
"I heard pizza," announced Bart as he walked in, holding a precarious tower of four moving boxes. "Are we ordering pizza? I'm hungry."
"Me, too," Jenni echoed and set her two boxes down out of the way in a corner by the door. "That's everything. We can start laying out the rugs and stuff, get the furniture organized, and by the time we're done with all of that the pizza should be here. Right?"
"You got it." Kon winked at the female Speedster as he picked up the Yellow Pages and pulled out his cell phone.
"Great. I'll make my bed then and, if you don't mind, Bart, could you go put the towels and other linens away in the linen closet in the bathroom?"
"Got it." A quick spin of his arm at superspeed closed the front door and Bart proceeded to zip around the apartment, putting things away. A Gamestation appeared under the TV, along with a slew of games and movies. The couch opened to reveal a bed, which was covered in sheets and folded back up in a couple heartbeats. Cabinets in the kitchen opened and closed as they were stocked with non-perishables. Sounds were heard from within the bathroom for a barely two seconds, and then Bart re-solidified from his blur to state, "Done."
"Thank you." On her way by, Jenni brushed an affectionate kiss to her cousin's cheek, then continued on her way over to the dresser that Tim had just finished, carrying a laundry basket of clothes on one hip. It wouldn't matter if she filled the dresser now or later, since she had Conner and Cassie to carry it to where it needed to go. "You could hang my clothes up in the closet, too, if you wanted."
Finished ordering eight large pizzas, a few two liter bottles of pop and three bags of breadsticks, Kon turned back to his friends and looked around. "What's gotta be moved?"
Smiling, Jenni straightened and turned. She'd be settled into her new home in no time.
----------
Drying his hands on his jeans and straightening his shirt as he came out of the bathroom, Tim spotted Jenni at the door saying good-bye to Cassie. The sight of Bart shifting impatiently in the hallway behind Wonder Girl made him smile. It didn't take a protégé of the World's Greatest Detective to figure out that Bart wanted some alone time with his not-so-secret crush.
Tim heard the sink in the bathroom turn off just as Jenni shut the front door and he approached the Speedster. "Hey, Jenni, could we talk to you for a second?"
Her face showed only open welcome as she gestured to her new couch. "Sure. Have a seat."
Kon emerged from the bathroom, running still damp fingers through his hair. He followed them to the couch and settled in one corner while Jenni took the other, forcing Tim into the middle. The second the Boy Wonder took his seat, a strong arm looped around his waist and pulled him against a solid as steel body. "How much does a place like this run?"
An understanding light clicked on in bright gold eyes and the Speedster smiled. "About eight-hundred a month. That doesn't include all utilities though. It also depends on the layout you choose."
In a mostly subconscious response to the arm holding him, Tim leaned against his boyfriend and lover. "When you spoke to the landlord, did they mention any other free apartments? I don't remember seeing this building in the classifieds."
"He walked Bart and I through two other floor plans and mentioned that there were two of one of them left and only one of the other."
"Awesome." Kon looked down at the back of Tim's head and wondered aloud, "Do you think we should set up an appointment?"
"It certainly couldn't hurt. We can go to the office on our way out."
Amused by the almost hidden enthusiasm in Conner's voice and expression, Jenni leaned back in the couch and smirked, "So, when's the wedding?"
Kon chuckled and glanced down again. "Yeah, Tim. When are you going to propose to me?" The fingers that had been resting peacefully against Tim's side drummed twice right over a ticklish spot.
"When your warped mind finally matures past sixteen." Tim grabbed the hand on his waist and narrowed his eyes at Kon in playful warning. "Anyway. Thanks, Jenni."
Giggling at Superboy's stricken expression, Jenni shook her head. "Any time, Tim. Let me know if there's anything else I can do to help."
"Tell Bart to stop dragging his feet and just ask Cassie out already. We've been trying to talk him into it and he keeps saying he will soon but it never happens."
Smiling fading a little, Jenni looked to the front door. "I don't understand why he's afraid to ask."
"I've been wondering about that myself. I think it might be because he's afraid of losing her friendship over it. That's the only reason I can think of." Conner followed Jenni's gaze to the door and shook his head.
"He didn't exactly get a lot of relationship advice from the VR world he lived in for the first eighteen relative years of his life. And then he was all out of whack with his physical age and mentality and everything. Maybe I should talk to him about it."
"Hopefully you'll have better luck than we have. Personally, I think he's afraid of Wonder Woman, especially after she threw a certain someone," Tim glanced at Kon, "off the Tower roof just for kissing Cassie."
Conner flashed Tim a sheepish grin and Jenni felt her good humor coming back. "Really, it could be any of those things. I'll talk to him tonight when he comes back and see if he'll tell me what's holding him up."
"Good. It's starting to drive me bonkers with the way he fawns over her when she's not looking. I don't even know if Cassie knows he likes her and I know better than to ask." Kon shook his head. "We should get going, Rob."
"Yeah." Unwrapping Kon's arm from his waist, Tim stood. "Congrats again on finding a good place so fast, Jenni. If you ever need help for anything, don't be afraid to give any of us a call, okay?"
"Thanks, Tim." Standing as well, Jenni hugged Tim first and then Conner as Superboy got to his feet. "Thanks for helping out today, too."
"Anytime. We'll see you soon, Jenni."
Part Three (Yeah, long chapter)