HappyVerse Fic: Wind Ever at Your Back
Dec. 13th, 2006 06:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sylph_ficsTitle: Wind Ever At Your Back
Cowriter:
Characters: Most of the combined clans, references to most others, and a guest star or three.
Rating: R, profanity
Word Count: 3,373
Continuity: The HappyVerse. All fic gathered here.
Disclaimer: DC Comics makes the money, people
Notes: It's official... HappyVerse is our refuge from the meaner things in comics--and our one-stop fix-it shop.
Summary: And the rest of the day. Read Road Rise Up To Meet You first.
Steph was glad Anita had left one little detail out of what she could do. If she concentrated hard enough, she had learned she could catch impressions from minds. And Kon had Tim strongly enough in the front of his mind that she had figured out where her ex was. She did not have to travel by conventional flight, and distance had different meanings on the plane she was stuck in. She ignored Delirium's little pets and pushed back into the mortal realm where Tim was. "Hey," she said shyly, floating nearby.
Tim jumped half a mile, heart slamming into his throat as he stared at the speaking hallucination not five feet from him, giving one hard shake of his head to try to clear it.
"You okay? You look like you saw a ghost," she said, trying hard to be teasing.
"No shit, Steph. You..." //She looks like Secret used to. Kon said she was tied to Rose, but that he couldn't see her. He hasn't had time to get there and back. ...I'm confused.//
"I'm as better as I can get," Steph told him with a sigh. "It's better than before. At least now I can talk to everyone. Not just the insane and people with mystic abilities."
He shoved his hands into his pockets to keep them from shaking (from reaching out to her), and just stared. "You... how?" Gotham's ghosts were in her silences and corners, in the weight of shadows too thick for the sunlight to banish... they didn't speak, or smile.
"You know how magic...shifted?" At his nod she pointed to herself. "Unwitting victim, one more time, but it's cool. Before the Lords of Chaos pulled back, they pushed a bit of that on me, and made me an anchor for chaos in the new scheme of things. That's why new of the incarnations of Death could budge me one way or the other. Anita just helped me find all that, and now...I'm like your friend Greta was."
"Chaos..." //How appropriate.// She always had made his life a little crazy. "Steph, I..." //I'm sorry, I should have been there, I'm sorry I got angry at you I missed you I love you what the hell do I do...//
"Timothy Drake! DO NOT go worrying over me being like this," she fussed. "Let my life...and my death be on my own head, not yours." She floated close. "I never wanted to hurt you, Tim...and if you tell me it hurts too much for me to hang around...poof I'm gone."
He let himself swallow hard, pulling one hand out of a pocket to reach up towards her. Greta'd been able to touch a little... "I..." //I don't know, Steph. I just don't... I...// His phone started to ring and he ignored it, unable to take his eyes off her. Losing her and Kon had nearly driven him insane, especially the way she'd died, and... he couldn't decide if he was glad to be able to talk to her or not... Not when she wasn't really there...
She smiled softly at him, and willed herself to be as solid as possible, letting him touch her. "Tim, you've been the best friend a crazy daughter of a two bit villain could hope for...and I still messed up. Big time. Wasn't your fault. Now I get to see about doing what I should have...helping within my limits...instead of trying to prove myself to anyone."
Tim glared at her. "You're not crazy." //What is it with the men of my family and villain's daughters?// flickered through his mind at her phrasing. He couldn't argue with that she'd screwed up, she had. "You were... I missed you, Steph. I could've killed Bruce for not letting me be with you," the words spilled out hot.
She made a moue at him, before crossing her legs and sitting indian style... midair. "Ya know, Tim, this could be the beginning of a great renewed friendship. I can be invisible and sneak around and spy on things and people and pass information to you..." she said, trying to push it away from the personal. "And then there's the whole body borrowing trick I'm dying to try but it's got to be a willing thing."
Tim couldn't help the wicked smile at that thought, //oh, Steph, you ought to know better... but that could be so useful...// then his eyes went wide. "...body... borrowing trick? Like Deadman?"
"Yeah...he taught me, but because I'm different, I have to get permission." She bounced to her feet, and had to concentrate on putting her feet on the floor, not in it. "Kinda neat."
"Kinda creepy," Tim retorted, watching her.
She batted her eyelashes at him. "Maybe that too...must have hung out with the Bat too much, got my own brand of creepy."
"Mm." Robin at his most inscrutable.
She answered that with a grin. "Tim...be happy. I am, honestly."
"..okay, Steph. Okay. Kon said something about you haunting Rose... why Rose? And are you going to quit now?"
"Can't." Steph did look a tiny bit apologetic about that. "Accidentally hooked into her as an anchor when I realized she could see me...because I knew she knew you."
//That's going to go well...// the thought was reflected in his eyes. "Please don't make her crazy again?" was about the best he could do.
Steph looked at him with a full blown pout. "She really doesn't like me."
"She doesn't like much of anybody," Tim replied. "Dick. Me sometimes. Kon sometimes... a few of the Titans, from what Kon and Mia say."
"Yeah, like Empress," Steph giggled.
"She likes anyone she can fight with. And she's got some pretty big issues she's still working out. You hovering probably isn't helping."
"I'm not hovering now," Steph pointed out in flawless Spoiler logic.
"True," Tim agreed.
Steph sighed softly. "Going to have to work on this tired thing...Have to go back to Rose, but I'm going to try hard to make it where she doesn't have to see me, Tim...think that will help?"
The rapid shake of his head came before his words. "That would make it worse. She'd rather know where you are."
"Kay." She moved and hugged him, feeling like a press of cool air on his skin. "So, can I visit more?"
Tim looked at her, Robin giving Spoiler hell silently for being an idiot. "Of course you can." //I... don't know how to deal with this, but you want me to be happy, so... I'm trying. I'm trying.//
She smiled before fading from his view, allowing herself to be drawn back to her anchor.
*****
Mia looked at the site of the injection, and listened to Dr. Midnite.
"You can't do the heroing thing until this all stabilizes, Mia. We can't take the risk of injury at this point," he warned her. "Weekly checkups are going to be needed."
"How long--before I can go back to heroing, I mean. Do you have any idea?"
He shook his head. "As soon as I can measure the stability of the retrovirus's progress, I can give you a timeframe."
"Okay. So we might know something by next week. I keep my usual routine up, right? My drugs and the tests? Or not? I don't want to screw anything up..."
Dr. Midnite nodded. "Keep up the cocktail. It will further weaken the virus while the new one overwrites it. And counts are a good idea."
"Okay. I can do that. I... I said thank you, right? For trying?"
He smiled at her. "You did. Now, go; I can feel Dinah shooting worried looks through the door."
She giggled softly, more from stress than because it was funny, and nodded. "She's good at that," she said as she hopped down and headed out. She wasn't going to do anything to risk herself. Not right now.
Dinah was, as Pieter had guessed, waiting in the hallway. "All set?" She opened the nook at her side, inviting Mia to walk close under her arm.
Mia tucked herself against Dinah's side, nodding. "Yeah. I can't hero, and I have to be back every week for him to check up on me, but... we're started."
Dinah turned it into a sideways hug, and nodded. "I'll talk to Alan about that. I'm sure he or Jay would be glad to bring you out until we get the teleporters working."
"...Okay." More than anything, she wanted somewhere quiet to breathe until she could get the awful combination of emotions running rampant inside her, making her queasy and nervous and... too many things to count... under control. She was not going to be sick from nerves, when no case yet had made her throw up. Dinah grew quiet, leading her downstairs and out. It was a bit of a drive, even with Dinah handling the bike, to get to her place in Metropolis.
Mia just tucked herself tight against Dinah's body, holding on hard, getting herself under control during the drive. //It's done. You're either better, or dead, and if you don't keep hoping for the first you're going to get the second. Now get it under control. Kon can't see that there's anything wrong. He can't. You can't let him. Or Rose, either. No way. Get it together. Get it together, Mia Dearden-Queen!//
She and Dinah had discussed it, and Dinah was willing to respect Mia's wishes not to let it be known. She had even agreed to be the reason Mia was unavailable for weekend jaunts, if it came to that.
By the time Dinah parked the bike and Mia slid off, she had herself under control, even had her usual smile on. They were her friends, and living on opposite coasts was a pain. Dinah let them in after securing her bike. Rose was in the kitchen as requested, and Kon...was pacing with too many nerves bundled up.
"Whoa, there, Kon. What's up?" Mia asked almost as soon as she came in the door, seeing the lines of worry in a heartbeat.
Kon spun around, "Hey, Mia!" and went to pull her into a hug. Anything was better than stressing about Tim.
Mia pressed into the hug and hoped Kon kept his strength in check without being reminded.
"He's upset because you three have a new complication in your little...circle." Rose came into the living room, nodding to Dinah.
"Fill me in too, kids, so I know what to expect." The blonde put her jacket on the hook by the door.
"That would be me," Spoiler said as she filtered into view.
The blood drained from Dinah's face for just a moment, before she shook her head. "My head hurts," she complained.
Kon had reacted to that sudden pallor, if the solid nothing around Dinah's shoulders and the tight expression on his face was any clue. She was almost outside his range... and he had, indeed, been careful with the hug. "Damnit Steph don't do shit like that!" he snapped at her.
"Sorry." Spoiler did not look that repentant. "Canary, I kinda flubbed up the afterlife thing, and then a Lord of Chaos intervened, and I'm kinda stuck to Rose, but now I can be seen and heard," Spoiler told her former teacher.
"Mmm-hmm. Alright. At least you're not actually a mouth to feed," Dinah said with a darker humor than usual, and Stephanie laughed for the joke. Mia shook her head, understanding immediately why Kon was tense. Rose merely sighed in disgust and went back to cooking, unsurprised when Mia joined her to help out.
Kon made sure Dinah was okay, then immediately shut himself in his room. His low voice could vaguely be heard after a few moments, but not what was being said.
After a few minutes alone with Spoiler, laying down the laws of the house, Dinah came into the kitchen and shooed the girls off. They went to Rose's room and Mia started using the computer to catch up on class work. Steph left them alone, finding she could shift to the other realm to stay out of sight, rest, and hopefully not annoy anyone else.
It took a bit, but eventually a more relaxed super-teen came out of his room, looked around, and went to find Dinah. She was in the kitchen, looking very seriously at what she was doing. "Kon, go see if there's a nice arrangement left down in the shop suitable for a dinner table," she said, not even looking up as he came in. "Then come back and we need to talk."
Kon blinked, slowly, then nodded and headed down to see what was there. He came back up with something low enough they wouldn't be craning their heads over or around it to talk, set it on the table, and went in to lean against the counter, wondering what trouble he'd gotten himself into now, and fighting to keep his mouth shut.
"We're having Clark and Lois over for dinner," Dinah began. "I know you've been typically teen with Clark, but can you loosen up a little?"
"What d'ya mean, Dinah?"
She gave him a fond look. "I hate being pumped for information by Clark Kent." She shook her head. "He didn't know you were on the team, didn't know what you were planning concerning your schooling..."
"Oh." He sighed. "Sorry, Dinah. He just... it's hard to talk to him. Especially about hero stuff. I hear it in his voice, Di, he misses it... And I'm still not sure what I'm doing, except arguing with him about college that I don't want to go to..."
"I took care of that," she promised him. "Did you think about encouraging him?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "He's getting it back, Kon, and it's both exciting and nervous making, as you know. You've been there...lend him a shoulder."
"Thank you." Kon meant it, too. Ace reporter Clark might be, but he didn't want anything to do with that. Or more classes, period end of story. "Me? Lend Clark a shoulder?" the thought boggled his mind.
"Yeah, you'd be surprised just how important it is to us old folks, to have you guys give us a cheer up once in a while, or a little support. Shows us how well you are growing up."
"You're not old," instant denial. "Okay. I'll see what I can do." //Me? Help Clark? How screwed up is that?//
"Thanks." Dinah put on an impish smile. "Did you explain about you and Tim to him?"
"...No. No, I didn't. Well, I tried, but... he just wasn't listening. I think I'd have to cuss to get through to him, and... you just don't do that..." He could and did swear, but... not at Superman. Even if he was being Clark.
"He'll either wake up and smell the coffee, or Bruce will introduce him to the facts at the perfect opportunity to make him choke." Dinah shook her head. "Set the table for me?"
"Can do," Kon nodded. //Thank god, she's not mad at me.// Yes, the little blonde did scare him and he didn't care who knew it. She was the cook.
While Kon was setting the table, the doorbell rang. Per standing orders, Dinah answered it, checking the security feed first. She would never risk the kids opening the door if she was home. When she was not, it fell to Kon. Who generally kept an eye and ear on things anyway, but was kind of busy with the silverware at the moment.
Dinah opened the door and smiled brightly at Lois and Clark. "A bit early, but dinner's almost ready...come on in."
Clark smiled back at her, and offered the bottle of wine they'd picked up. He had better sense than to buy flowers for a florist. "Thanks, Dinah."
Dinah took the wine, and handed it off to Mia who had appeared from Rose's room. "Hi, Mister Kent; Mrs. Kent." The girl archer was bound and determined to make a good impression for Kon's sake.
"That's Mia, Lois, Ollie's and my girl," Dinah said with a sly smile.
"I had not heard you two were official," Lois managed, flabbergasted at the casual admittance to a family from the most independent woman outside of Diana she knew.
Kon finished with the table just in time to hear that and had to swallow his smile. "Hey, Clark. Lois." He still remembered flirting with her--and hoped to god she'd forgiven him.
"Kon!" Lois smiled at him, held her hand out to squeeze his, then stood back as Clark engulfed him in a back thumping hug.
"Have you grown some more?" Clark asked, amazed at just how healthy his son looked.
Kon hugged him back, tight, and blinked. "Um... I dunno. Clothes still fit okay, but, maybe... Tim's the one putting height on, though. You been okay?"
"Doing good," Clark said, noticing Lois follow Dinah to the kitchen, Mia in tow. "So you've been keeping up with Tim on his world safari?" He gave a teasing grin for that.
"Yeah. Finding him gets interesting sometimes, but I manage." Kon tilted his head. "Di said something about you getting your powers back?"
Clark nodded, flushing. "Not much yet, but, it's there. Traces of kryptonite still in my system seemed to be inhibiting it."
Kon shuddered at the thought. "Ow. Yuck. All that. Table's set, dinner's almost done... guess we might as well go ahead and sit down."
Clark nodded, then stopped mid-step as the Ravager came out of the hallway to join them for dinner. He felt the flush of adrenaline, then confusion, and finally a touch of anger that Dinah was harboring someone so unstable under the same roof as his son.
"Mister Kent, isn't it?" she asked in a neutral voice. "Rose Wilson, in case my name slipped your mind."
In the kitchen, Dinah cursed softly, picking up that exchange, and Mia nodded. "On it, Di," the girl promised, going to make sure things remained civil.
"Ro~ose," Kon complained. //Damnit, play nice..//
"Kon," Rose said evenly.
"Rose is Dinah's unofficial sidekick," Mia teased. Rose laughed at that.
"Don't let her hear you say that. She doesn't do sidekicks." The girl took her place at the table, not letting the history between her and Superman get in her way of enjoying a night with her family. Figuring out who Kent was had been a fairly simple process.
Kon relaxed, watching Rose settle. "And yet she's got you and Mia?" he asked her, teasing while Dinah was saying something to Lois in the other room. "And is trying to knock sense into me? How's that work?"
"Don't ask me. She started this not-sidekick mess when she taught the original Speedy how to fight." Rose watched as the reporter settled into a wait-and-see approach.
"Yeah, it was so funny when both Roy and Ollie corrected Hal on who taught Roy," Mia said with a grin.
"Oh, man, I'd'a paid money to see that," Kon chimed in, finding his spot between the girls. "But Roy was Ollie's, so, guess that makes sense... and besides, what would you call a sidekick of hers?"
Rose looked at them both. "Black Bird, of course," she said with a firm intent.
"Huh. Guess that'd work..." //Thinking about a name change, Rose?//
Mia must have thought the same thing, but she did not do anything to show it. Dinah and Lois came out and sat down, with Dinah introducing Rose as her 'ward' to Lois. That was a new one to Kon, but he wasn't going to say a word about it. Rose looked askance at Mia, who let out a light shrug that only they really picked up on; if Dinah was categorizing Rose as hers, they just had to go with it as dinner progressed.
Dinah kept up the conversation between them all, even handling Lois's questions about the Hong Kong date with ease. That made for an interesting look or two across the table, Kon not having picked up the Bat poker face, but he was trying...
Mia finally found herself relaxing for real, as the night turned to an amused dance of words over who was what to whom, in several gossip circles.
Cowriter:
Characters: Most of the combined clans, references to most others, and a guest star or three.
Rating: R, profanity
Word Count: 3,373
Continuity: The HappyVerse. All fic gathered here.
Disclaimer: DC Comics makes the money, people
Notes: It's official... HappyVerse is our refuge from the meaner things in comics--and our one-stop fix-it shop.
Summary: And the rest of the day. Read Road Rise Up To Meet You first.
Steph was glad Anita had left one little detail out of what she could do. If she concentrated hard enough, she had learned she could catch impressions from minds. And Kon had Tim strongly enough in the front of his mind that she had figured out where her ex was. She did not have to travel by conventional flight, and distance had different meanings on the plane she was stuck in. She ignored Delirium's little pets and pushed back into the mortal realm where Tim was. "Hey," she said shyly, floating nearby.
Tim jumped half a mile, heart slamming into his throat as he stared at the speaking hallucination not five feet from him, giving one hard shake of his head to try to clear it.
"You okay? You look like you saw a ghost," she said, trying hard to be teasing.
"No shit, Steph. You..." //She looks like Secret used to. Kon said she was tied to Rose, but that he couldn't see her. He hasn't had time to get there and back. ...I'm confused.//
"I'm as better as I can get," Steph told him with a sigh. "It's better than before. At least now I can talk to everyone. Not just the insane and people with mystic abilities."
He shoved his hands into his pockets to keep them from shaking (from reaching out to her), and just stared. "You... how?" Gotham's ghosts were in her silences and corners, in the weight of shadows too thick for the sunlight to banish... they didn't speak, or smile.
"You know how magic...shifted?" At his nod she pointed to herself. "Unwitting victim, one more time, but it's cool. Before the Lords of Chaos pulled back, they pushed a bit of that on me, and made me an anchor for chaos in the new scheme of things. That's why new of the incarnations of Death could budge me one way or the other. Anita just helped me find all that, and now...I'm like your friend Greta was."
"Chaos..." //How appropriate.// She always had made his life a little crazy. "Steph, I..." //I'm sorry, I should have been there, I'm sorry I got angry at you I missed you I love you what the hell do I do...//
"Timothy Drake! DO NOT go worrying over me being like this," she fussed. "Let my life...and my death be on my own head, not yours." She floated close. "I never wanted to hurt you, Tim...and if you tell me it hurts too much for me to hang around...poof I'm gone."
He let himself swallow hard, pulling one hand out of a pocket to reach up towards her. Greta'd been able to touch a little... "I..." //I don't know, Steph. I just don't... I...// His phone started to ring and he ignored it, unable to take his eyes off her. Losing her and Kon had nearly driven him insane, especially the way she'd died, and... he couldn't decide if he was glad to be able to talk to her or not... Not when she wasn't really there...
She smiled softly at him, and willed herself to be as solid as possible, letting him touch her. "Tim, you've been the best friend a crazy daughter of a two bit villain could hope for...and I still messed up. Big time. Wasn't your fault. Now I get to see about doing what I should have...helping within my limits...instead of trying to prove myself to anyone."
Tim glared at her. "You're not crazy." //What is it with the men of my family and villain's daughters?// flickered through his mind at her phrasing. He couldn't argue with that she'd screwed up, she had. "You were... I missed you, Steph. I could've killed Bruce for not letting me be with you," the words spilled out hot.
She made a moue at him, before crossing her legs and sitting indian style... midair. "Ya know, Tim, this could be the beginning of a great renewed friendship. I can be invisible and sneak around and spy on things and people and pass information to you..." she said, trying to push it away from the personal. "And then there's the whole body borrowing trick I'm dying to try but it's got to be a willing thing."
Tim couldn't help the wicked smile at that thought, //oh, Steph, you ought to know better... but that could be so useful...// then his eyes went wide. "...body... borrowing trick? Like Deadman?"
"Yeah...he taught me, but because I'm different, I have to get permission." She bounced to her feet, and had to concentrate on putting her feet on the floor, not in it. "Kinda neat."
"Kinda creepy," Tim retorted, watching her.
She batted her eyelashes at him. "Maybe that too...must have hung out with the Bat too much, got my own brand of creepy."
"Mm." Robin at his most inscrutable.
She answered that with a grin. "Tim...be happy. I am, honestly."
"..okay, Steph. Okay. Kon said something about you haunting Rose... why Rose? And are you going to quit now?"
"Can't." Steph did look a tiny bit apologetic about that. "Accidentally hooked into her as an anchor when I realized she could see me...because I knew she knew you."
//That's going to go well...// the thought was reflected in his eyes. "Please don't make her crazy again?" was about the best he could do.
Steph looked at him with a full blown pout. "She really doesn't like me."
"She doesn't like much of anybody," Tim replied. "Dick. Me sometimes. Kon sometimes... a few of the Titans, from what Kon and Mia say."
"Yeah, like Empress," Steph giggled.
"She likes anyone she can fight with. And she's got some pretty big issues she's still working out. You hovering probably isn't helping."
"I'm not hovering now," Steph pointed out in flawless Spoiler logic.
"True," Tim agreed.
Steph sighed softly. "Going to have to work on this tired thing...Have to go back to Rose, but I'm going to try hard to make it where she doesn't have to see me, Tim...think that will help?"
The rapid shake of his head came before his words. "That would make it worse. She'd rather know where you are."
"Kay." She moved and hugged him, feeling like a press of cool air on his skin. "So, can I visit more?"
Tim looked at her, Robin giving Spoiler hell silently for being an idiot. "Of course you can." //I... don't know how to deal with this, but you want me to be happy, so... I'm trying. I'm trying.//
She smiled before fading from his view, allowing herself to be drawn back to her anchor.
*****
Mia looked at the site of the injection, and listened to Dr. Midnite.
"You can't do the heroing thing until this all stabilizes, Mia. We can't take the risk of injury at this point," he warned her. "Weekly checkups are going to be needed."
"How long--before I can go back to heroing, I mean. Do you have any idea?"
He shook his head. "As soon as I can measure the stability of the retrovirus's progress, I can give you a timeframe."
"Okay. So we might know something by next week. I keep my usual routine up, right? My drugs and the tests? Or not? I don't want to screw anything up..."
Dr. Midnite nodded. "Keep up the cocktail. It will further weaken the virus while the new one overwrites it. And counts are a good idea."
"Okay. I can do that. I... I said thank you, right? For trying?"
He smiled at her. "You did. Now, go; I can feel Dinah shooting worried looks through the door."
She giggled softly, more from stress than because it was funny, and nodded. "She's good at that," she said as she hopped down and headed out. She wasn't going to do anything to risk herself. Not right now.
Dinah was, as Pieter had guessed, waiting in the hallway. "All set?" She opened the nook at her side, inviting Mia to walk close under her arm.
Mia tucked herself against Dinah's side, nodding. "Yeah. I can't hero, and I have to be back every week for him to check up on me, but... we're started."
Dinah turned it into a sideways hug, and nodded. "I'll talk to Alan about that. I'm sure he or Jay would be glad to bring you out until we get the teleporters working."
"...Okay." More than anything, she wanted somewhere quiet to breathe until she could get the awful combination of emotions running rampant inside her, making her queasy and nervous and... too many things to count... under control. She was not going to be sick from nerves, when no case yet had made her throw up. Dinah grew quiet, leading her downstairs and out. It was a bit of a drive, even with Dinah handling the bike, to get to her place in Metropolis.
Mia just tucked herself tight against Dinah's body, holding on hard, getting herself under control during the drive. //It's done. You're either better, or dead, and if you don't keep hoping for the first you're going to get the second. Now get it under control. Kon can't see that there's anything wrong. He can't. You can't let him. Or Rose, either. No way. Get it together. Get it together, Mia Dearden-Queen!//
She and Dinah had discussed it, and Dinah was willing to respect Mia's wishes not to let it be known. She had even agreed to be the reason Mia was unavailable for weekend jaunts, if it came to that.
By the time Dinah parked the bike and Mia slid off, she had herself under control, even had her usual smile on. They were her friends, and living on opposite coasts was a pain. Dinah let them in after securing her bike. Rose was in the kitchen as requested, and Kon...was pacing with too many nerves bundled up.
"Whoa, there, Kon. What's up?" Mia asked almost as soon as she came in the door, seeing the lines of worry in a heartbeat.
Kon spun around, "Hey, Mia!" and went to pull her into a hug. Anything was better than stressing about Tim.
Mia pressed into the hug and hoped Kon kept his strength in check without being reminded.
"He's upset because you three have a new complication in your little...circle." Rose came into the living room, nodding to Dinah.
"Fill me in too, kids, so I know what to expect." The blonde put her jacket on the hook by the door.
"That would be me," Spoiler said as she filtered into view.
The blood drained from Dinah's face for just a moment, before she shook her head. "My head hurts," she complained.
Kon had reacted to that sudden pallor, if the solid nothing around Dinah's shoulders and the tight expression on his face was any clue. She was almost outside his range... and he had, indeed, been careful with the hug. "Damnit Steph don't do shit like that!" he snapped at her.
"Sorry." Spoiler did not look that repentant. "Canary, I kinda flubbed up the afterlife thing, and then a Lord of Chaos intervened, and I'm kinda stuck to Rose, but now I can be seen and heard," Spoiler told her former teacher.
"Mmm-hmm. Alright. At least you're not actually a mouth to feed," Dinah said with a darker humor than usual, and Stephanie laughed for the joke. Mia shook her head, understanding immediately why Kon was tense. Rose merely sighed in disgust and went back to cooking, unsurprised when Mia joined her to help out.
Kon made sure Dinah was okay, then immediately shut himself in his room. His low voice could vaguely be heard after a few moments, but not what was being said.
After a few minutes alone with Spoiler, laying down the laws of the house, Dinah came into the kitchen and shooed the girls off. They went to Rose's room and Mia started using the computer to catch up on class work. Steph left them alone, finding she could shift to the other realm to stay out of sight, rest, and hopefully not annoy anyone else.
It took a bit, but eventually a more relaxed super-teen came out of his room, looked around, and went to find Dinah. She was in the kitchen, looking very seriously at what she was doing. "Kon, go see if there's a nice arrangement left down in the shop suitable for a dinner table," she said, not even looking up as he came in. "Then come back and we need to talk."
Kon blinked, slowly, then nodded and headed down to see what was there. He came back up with something low enough they wouldn't be craning their heads over or around it to talk, set it on the table, and went in to lean against the counter, wondering what trouble he'd gotten himself into now, and fighting to keep his mouth shut.
"We're having Clark and Lois over for dinner," Dinah began. "I know you've been typically teen with Clark, but can you loosen up a little?"
"What d'ya mean, Dinah?"
She gave him a fond look. "I hate being pumped for information by Clark Kent." She shook her head. "He didn't know you were on the team, didn't know what you were planning concerning your schooling..."
"Oh." He sighed. "Sorry, Dinah. He just... it's hard to talk to him. Especially about hero stuff. I hear it in his voice, Di, he misses it... And I'm still not sure what I'm doing, except arguing with him about college that I don't want to go to..."
"I took care of that," she promised him. "Did you think about encouraging him?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "He's getting it back, Kon, and it's both exciting and nervous making, as you know. You've been there...lend him a shoulder."
"Thank you." Kon meant it, too. Ace reporter Clark might be, but he didn't want anything to do with that. Or more classes, period end of story. "Me? Lend Clark a shoulder?" the thought boggled his mind.
"Yeah, you'd be surprised just how important it is to us old folks, to have you guys give us a cheer up once in a while, or a little support. Shows us how well you are growing up."
"You're not old," instant denial. "Okay. I'll see what I can do." //Me? Help Clark? How screwed up is that?//
"Thanks." Dinah put on an impish smile. "Did you explain about you and Tim to him?"
"...No. No, I didn't. Well, I tried, but... he just wasn't listening. I think I'd have to cuss to get through to him, and... you just don't do that..." He could and did swear, but... not at Superman. Even if he was being Clark.
"He'll either wake up and smell the coffee, or Bruce will introduce him to the facts at the perfect opportunity to make him choke." Dinah shook her head. "Set the table for me?"
"Can do," Kon nodded. //Thank god, she's not mad at me.// Yes, the little blonde did scare him and he didn't care who knew it. She was the cook.
While Kon was setting the table, the doorbell rang. Per standing orders, Dinah answered it, checking the security feed first. She would never risk the kids opening the door if she was home. When she was not, it fell to Kon. Who generally kept an eye and ear on things anyway, but was kind of busy with the silverware at the moment.
Dinah opened the door and smiled brightly at Lois and Clark. "A bit early, but dinner's almost ready...come on in."
Clark smiled back at her, and offered the bottle of wine they'd picked up. He had better sense than to buy flowers for a florist. "Thanks, Dinah."
Dinah took the wine, and handed it off to Mia who had appeared from Rose's room. "Hi, Mister Kent; Mrs. Kent." The girl archer was bound and determined to make a good impression for Kon's sake.
"That's Mia, Lois, Ollie's and my girl," Dinah said with a sly smile.
"I had not heard you two were official," Lois managed, flabbergasted at the casual admittance to a family from the most independent woman outside of Diana she knew.
Kon finished with the table just in time to hear that and had to swallow his smile. "Hey, Clark. Lois." He still remembered flirting with her--and hoped to god she'd forgiven him.
"Kon!" Lois smiled at him, held her hand out to squeeze his, then stood back as Clark engulfed him in a back thumping hug.
"Have you grown some more?" Clark asked, amazed at just how healthy his son looked.
Kon hugged him back, tight, and blinked. "Um... I dunno. Clothes still fit okay, but, maybe... Tim's the one putting height on, though. You been okay?"
"Doing good," Clark said, noticing Lois follow Dinah to the kitchen, Mia in tow. "So you've been keeping up with Tim on his world safari?" He gave a teasing grin for that.
"Yeah. Finding him gets interesting sometimes, but I manage." Kon tilted his head. "Di said something about you getting your powers back?"
Clark nodded, flushing. "Not much yet, but, it's there. Traces of kryptonite still in my system seemed to be inhibiting it."
Kon shuddered at the thought. "Ow. Yuck. All that. Table's set, dinner's almost done... guess we might as well go ahead and sit down."
Clark nodded, then stopped mid-step as the Ravager came out of the hallway to join them for dinner. He felt the flush of adrenaline, then confusion, and finally a touch of anger that Dinah was harboring someone so unstable under the same roof as his son.
"Mister Kent, isn't it?" she asked in a neutral voice. "Rose Wilson, in case my name slipped your mind."
In the kitchen, Dinah cursed softly, picking up that exchange, and Mia nodded. "On it, Di," the girl promised, going to make sure things remained civil.
"Ro~ose," Kon complained. //Damnit, play nice..//
"Kon," Rose said evenly.
"Rose is Dinah's unofficial sidekick," Mia teased. Rose laughed at that.
"Don't let her hear you say that. She doesn't do sidekicks." The girl took her place at the table, not letting the history between her and Superman get in her way of enjoying a night with her family. Figuring out who Kent was had been a fairly simple process.
Kon relaxed, watching Rose settle. "And yet she's got you and Mia?" he asked her, teasing while Dinah was saying something to Lois in the other room. "And is trying to knock sense into me? How's that work?"
"Don't ask me. She started this not-sidekick mess when she taught the original Speedy how to fight." Rose watched as the reporter settled into a wait-and-see approach.
"Yeah, it was so funny when both Roy and Ollie corrected Hal on who taught Roy," Mia said with a grin.
"Oh, man, I'd'a paid money to see that," Kon chimed in, finding his spot between the girls. "But Roy was Ollie's, so, guess that makes sense... and besides, what would you call a sidekick of hers?"
Rose looked at them both. "Black Bird, of course," she said with a firm intent.
"Huh. Guess that'd work..." //Thinking about a name change, Rose?//
Mia must have thought the same thing, but she did not do anything to show it. Dinah and Lois came out and sat down, with Dinah introducing Rose as her 'ward' to Lois. That was a new one to Kon, but he wasn't going to say a word about it. Rose looked askance at Mia, who let out a light shrug that only they really picked up on; if Dinah was categorizing Rose as hers, they just had to go with it as dinner progressed.
Dinah kept up the conversation between them all, even handling Lois's questions about the Hong Kong date with ease. That made for an interesting look or two across the table, Kon not having picked up the Bat poker face, but he was trying...
Mia finally found herself relaxing for real, as the night turned to an amused dance of words over who was what to whom, in several gossip circles.
