The Park over by the Belthazor Commemorative Ditch [Saturday, September 5, 2015, dawn]

[makemyownway]

Like so many weekends before it, the calm of a September Saturday morning was interrupted by the unscheduled opening of a portal in the park. This one sprang to life in a blaze of blue and gold and a burst of glitter before settling into something more stable

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[oatmanspatient]

Marty was in his suit. Anyone knowing Marty would not find this surprising. Why he was here? Well that was anyone’s guess. It certainly wasn't because he wanted to visit a certain pine tree. Although right now that's what he was doing. (How the hell did it get so tall?)

It had been years since Marty graduated. He was the father of two now, had a normal job and had lost contact with many of his friends since leaving Fandom. When he and Angela had received the invite to return to celebration, Marty had accepted with a good deal of twitchiness. It had been ten years since he had first stepped on the island. The things that happened to him here were mostly for the good but there were other things and memories that weren’t so welcome.

It hadn’t helped that Angela couldn’t have joined him. Between the start of the school year, her job and the kids, she couldn’t manage it.

So what was Marty doing here? Besides looking at a pine tree?

“I should have brought a gun,” he muttered almost inaudibly.

He was being twitchy.

[marsheadtilt]

"Hope you're not planning to shoot anyone this weekend, Blank," Veronica said, coming up behind Marty.

She wasn't entirely sure what possessed her to return to Fandom this weekend. Ever since her disaster of a drunken Vegas wedding to Dick and their inevitable divorce, she mostly avoided her old friends.

Maybe part of her just wanted to show off that she kind of had her life together now.

[oatmanspatient]

"Well I don't carry guns anymore but the day isn't over yet," he said smiling and turning to the familiar voice. "Mars. Don't tell me you came all this way just to snark at little old me?"

[marsheadtilt]

Veronica grinned. "It's certainly a bonus," she admitted. "Besides, I'm based in New York these days so Fandom isn't that far."

[oatmanspatient]

"I am too. Just a different decade than this place," he said with a grin. "Angela is a school teacher and I do some security consulting for various companies. Our oldest girl, Abby, is seven and Graham just turned four."

[marsheadtilt]

"Wow, you're like a real grown up now."

She glanced around. "Angela and the kids aren't with you?"

[oatmanspatient]

"Angela starts teaching classes next Tuesday and needed time to get ready," Marty explained as he pulled out his phone to show off pictures of the kids. "And the kids have enough issues with me as a dad. Bringing them to Fandom is just one short hop to lots of therapy."

[marsheadtilt]

Veronica grinned as she looked at the pictures.

"Man, it's hard to believe it's been ten years since we started our senior year, isn't it?"

[oatmanspatient]

"You're memory is slipping, Mars. I was a junior that first year here," Marty reminded her. "It's okay. I'm sure you've picked up a few other skills. Hopefully your mediocre lockpicking skills have gotten better."

[marsheadtilt]

"Oh, shit, that's right," Veronica said. "You didn't graduate with us that first year."

God, it was so long ago. "Hey, I'm on the other side of the law these days," she said. "I'm in law school at Columbia."

[oatmanspatient]

"What?"

Marty laughed at that.

"Sorry, I've always pictured you with a taser in one hand and a warrant for someone's arrest in the other."

[marsheadtilt]

"Well, you know, we all have to grow up sometime," Veronica said. "It may have taken me a little longer than it did you, but I figured it was about time."

Leaving the west coast had been necessary, really. Too many bad memories wrapped up in her life in California, both in Neptune and LA. It was nice living in New York and cutting most of her ties to her past.

[oatmanspatient]

"Oh, God. Did you just call me a grown-up?" Marty scoffed and then twitched. "This is so weird. I know I have kids and everything but this place..."

He twitched again a little. "I planted a pine tree before I left this place. Thing was about a foot tall. Look at it now."

He pointed in the direction of a seven foot tall pine tree. "I feel fucking old, Mars."

[marsheadtilt]

Veronica followed where he was pointing, eyes wide at the large tree.

"I think that's because we are fucking old, Marty," she said. "Even if being back here makes me feel like I'm eighteen and reckless again."

It startled her to think about some of the poor decisions she made as a teenager. Honestly, it was something of a miracle that she was still alive.

[oatmanspatient]

"In another eleven years, my daughter is going to be eighteen and reckless," Marty commented. "Holy shit. How did I end up here?"

[marsheadtilt]

Veronica chuckled. "Well, send her to visit Auntie V. I'll buy her a taser and teach her how to use it."