Happy Mother's Day!
Title: Five Mother’s Days in the DCU
Fandom: DC comics
Pairing/Characters: gen; Dinah, Clark, Roy, Dick, Cassie, Tim, Anita, Cissie, and more
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: It all belongs to DC.
Author's Note: Okay, so I kinda cheated on the last one. I don’t care.
Word Count: 1288
1: Dinah and Dinah
Dinah Drake Lance stumbled into her room at the JSA headquarters, pulling her wig and mask off as she went. Wildcat would be fine, though he’d taken a nasty blow to the ribs, and they’d all been fighting and running for most of the day. Adventures involving alternate dimensions and time-travel always seemed to take far longer than they should.
Tossing the wig over its stand and the mask onto the dresser beneath it, she fell into bed still wearing the leather and fishnets.
Crunch.
Confused, Dinah slowly sat up and looked were she’d lain down. Slightly crushed after she sat on them were a bouquet of roses and two cards. Both said Happy Mother’s Day! on the front.
Her costume was ripped, she was bleeding in at least two places, and there was no way she could get home earlier than tomorrow. She tried to blink away tears, but her eyes watered anyway, and the only thing she could see on the inside of the cards was the most important thing:
I love you, Black Canary, Mrs. Dinah Drake Lance, mother of my daughter.
Love you, Mommy!
Dinah Drake Lance curled up in bed, determined to sleep so she could go home and hug her wonderful husband and daughter.
2: Surprises
Coming in from the barn, Martha smiled at the vase of flowers on the kitchen table. Jonathan was the sweetest man she knew, and even though they’d gone to church without Clark this morning, one of the many since he’d left for Metropolis, she was still happy.
The house was quiet, after eighteen years of noise, of the occasional crack of over-exertion of super-strength, the distinctive burning smell when his heat vision got out of control. The loft in the barn was dusty in a way it hadn’t been when Clark was in high school, and she hadn’t spoken to Pete’s mother in-how long had it been?
Oh, she knew he was doing important things out there, that he had finally found a life big enough for him, and she was proud of what he’d done, of the man he’d become. Knowing she was Superman’s mother was going to have to be her Mother’s Day gift, she supposed. Still, she missed him.
"Ma?"
Martha looked up, startled, and found her son standing in the kitchen doorway, big smile under thick glasses and his hands shoved in the pockets of his pants.
"Clark!" She stood and he reached out and hugged her. "What are you doing here?"
"What’s the point of superpowers if I can’t use them to come home once in a while?" He hugged her a little tighter. "Happy Mother’s Day."
3: Without
Dick had escaped to Titan’s Tower. Though he’d never understand why people thought Bruce was difficult to get along with, there were times when it was . . . easier not to be at the Manor. Mother’s Day was one of them.
"Dick?"
He spun around and smiled at Donna. "Hey, Wonder Babe. What brings you out here this weekend?"
She set down on floor in front of the door and shrugged. "Nothing . . . much, I suppose. Why aren’t you at the Manor with Bruce?"
Dick swallowed. "I-"
Before he could come up with an appropriate answer, Roy tromped down the stairs and stopped, staring, at his two teammates. "When did you guys get here?"
"Just now."
"About an hour ago."
The redhead glanced first at Donna, then, Dick, then he shook his head and grinned. "Well, then, c’mon, guys. Let’s find something fun to do!"
Dick bit his lip, but followed after Donna and Roy. Distraction was better than hiding in the Cave.
4: Disagreements
"I know you don’t like it, but they’re my team! My friends!" Cassie shouted, stamping her foot.
The wood floor beneath her feet made an ominous creaking sound. Her mother put her hands on her hips and glared. "Young lady, there are more important things than-than running around in a mask! Your grades have dropped, I never see your friends from school anymore-"
"I didn’t have friends from school anyway! I was a total geek! I like my life better this way, and you can’t stop me!" Cassie flew out the window, her short blond hair flapping in her eyes. She didn’t even bother with her goggles or wig; she didn’t plan to be Wonder Girl right now. She just needed somewhere out of the way to think.
Sitting on her roof, she curled into a ball and let her eyes roam. She hated all the fights with her Mom, especially over Young Justice. Sure, the guys were a little crazy, but what teen guys weren’t? And Impulse was sweet. Cissie was a great friend, even if her Mom was a total spaz. There was no way she’d give up being a hero, not for anything.
Putting her head down, she heard her mother start to cry inside the house, and felt tears in her own eyes.
Not even if she ruined Mother’s Day.
5: One Year Later
Forgiveness
Cassie flew home. Rang the doorbell. Waited, in a skirt and a blue t-shirt, with her hair tied back. Tried not to cry when she saw the shocked expression on her mother’s face.
"I’m sorry."
Sensei
Bouncing Lian on one leg, Roy juggled the phone in the other. A tired voice on the other end answered with, "Hello?"
Roy smiled. "Happy Mother’s Day, Dinah."
Inversion
Anita watched as the two toddlers she was raising ran helter-skelter over the playground. After getting them ice cream, cleaning up the ice cream, and pushing them on the swings, she was due half an hour on a bench.
Once they were more exhausted than happy, Anita collected them to go home. The little girl squeezed her hand extra-tight. "Thanks for bringing us here! It’s my favorite park!"
Anita smiled. "Happy Mother’s Day, Mom."
In-Law
"Martha!" Lois wrapped the shorted woman in a hug, her hair still windblown from the speedy Superman flight from Metropolis to Kansas.
Martha pulled her head down and kissed her once before letting her go. "How many times do I have to tell you, dear? Please, call me Ma."
Lois smiled. "All right. Ma."
Unexpected
She woke up to a home-made breakfast, and then they made plans for the day. Shopping, whatever trashy chick-flick was playing at the local theater, then more Chinese take-out than they could possibly eat and dishing over boys for dinner.
Of all possible mothers, no one ever expected Bonnie King-Jones to become one of the best.
Blood and Water
Three graves, four roses.
The first was lain with reverence in the Wayne family plot, in silence. The second was given with animation and laughter, stories new and old. The third was delivered with a wish to have known her better, though he loved her all the same.
Tim held the fourth rose, devoid of its thorns, in hands that shook slightly. Bruce laid a hand on his shoulder, and Dick hugged him, and he took a breath and went inside.
The air smelled of disinfectants, sharp and clean, that made his vision blur. He approached the woman at the desk and asked shyly to be allowed in.
She looked up his name, and gave him a sympathetic glance. He was on her list of people forbidden to visit. Tim took a deep breath, and handed the receptionist the fourth rose and a card.
A nurse gave Dana Drake the rose and card later that day.
"What’s this?"
"Your stepson came by earlier, asked the receptionist if we could give you this for him."
Startled, Dana sniffed the rose and opened the card.
Maybe next year she’d let him come in.