a Justice League Unlimited story
by Merlin Missy
Copyright 2006
PG
DC and Warner Bros. You know the drill.
Because at various points in the history of the Earth (two at least that I know of) this turns out to have been a very good day to be born an HG/GL 'shipper, that's why. Part of the R 'Verse, taking place shortly after billa1's "Bookends." Spoilers up through "Destroyer." With thanks to my beta, who wishes to remain nameless.
Daisy was late getting home from work, but not late enough. As soon as she walked through the door, she set her keys down, took a long look at Virgil, and then said, "Where do you think you're going?"
Virgil put on his best "please the wife" smile. "Out for just a little while. Dinner's in the oven, should be done," he paused, waiting for the ding, but none came. "Anyway, it'll be ready in a minute or so. I'll reheat mine when I get back."
"From where?" The oven dinged, and Virgil tried to give her a quick peck on the cheek and slip out while she was distracted by the noise.
No luck. "Hawkins," she said in a low voice that he knew very well was about to hit critical.
"It's a League thing, honey."
"I've met the League."
"Secret identity stuff." That tended to work, since Daisy was even better than Virgil was at protecting his secret identity.
She wasn't budging. "Whose?"
"If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret."
One look at her face told him that wasn't going to work, either. He had one last card to play short of outright telling her he was going with or without her okay. Which he could, and if he hadn't been running off almost every night for the past three weeks, he even might have tried already.
"I need to do something for the Green Lantern. I won't be gone long."
She didn't look happy. Virgil wanted to tell her, but there were so many secrets he kept, and this one meant the lives of at least two people. "Tell you what, tomorrow we'll go out somewhere nice and I'll leave my comm at home and it'll just be the two of us."
"I've heard that one before." She frowned more deeply but he knew she wasn't going to argue anymore. He reached in for a better kiss this time, and then the oven dinged its reminder.
"Better go get that," he told her, and he was out the door before she could shout at him.
"Do I look okay?" Linda turned around in her dress: a simple sheath, wine red and short-sleeved.
Wally grinned. "You look great, but I think you're overdressed. Let me help you with that." A second later, his hands were on her back as he tried to undo the buttons.
Linda laughed and kissed him and pushed him away. "You're going to ruin my hair. And we'll be late."
"Have I ever been late for anything in my life?"
"Besides our wedding?"
"You're never gonna let me forget that, are you? Giant killer robot? Rampaging through Metropolis? This ringing a bell?"
She smiled at him. "You always use that excuse."
Wally pressed his lips against her neck and reached for her buttons again. "It's handy."
"You'll send them my best, won't you?"
Clark bent over Lois and kissed her on the top of her head. "Of course. Get some rest. Do you need anything else before I go?
The room was darkened but for one lamp, but Lois had a stack of books beside the bed, each marked in different places. Her computer was within easy reach, though she'd been too tired to use it today. The home-care worker they'd employed these last seven months had already gone home for the evening, and Clark didn't normally go out after that anymore, except when the world was in danger.
"I'll be fine," Lois said. "Take your phone."
"I won't be long. Warhawk says these things only take about ten minutes."
"She'd know," Lois said, and her voice was wry but she smiled faintly, and the worry that never quite went away preyed on Clark's mind again as he brought her another glass of water, kissed her and left.
Bruce ate his supper in front of the television. When the screen flashed the date and time, he guessed the others would be gathering soon. J'onn had been the one to call him. He'd been unsurprised, just as he'd been unsurprised when John had come to the Manor one day all of a sudden two years ago, looking no older than the day they thought he'd died.
That he wasn't surprised nibbled at his mind, like a phrase of music from a song he couldn't remember.
Bruce had thought about going tonight. Instead, he'd sent a gift, special delivered to the Metro Tower. He was willing to bet a great deal of money that Mari and her husband had sent a gift as well, assuming anyone had told them.
The news turned to business, and he turned off the television. Without its chatter, the Manor was dark and quiet but for the ghosts in Bruce's head.
J'onn met her at the transporter. Diana had put on a nice dress, pale blue, not fancy. J'onn transformed himself to his current human disguise as they waited for the transporter tech to log off so they could plug in their private transport codes. No one who wasn't invited would know where they were going, and invitations had been strictly word-of-mouth.
"You look lovely," J'onn said as they stepped onto the transport pads.
"Thanks," Diana said, touching her hair. She was growing it out again, and while she'd never been self-conscious about her appearance, she was having trouble getting her tresses to stay in place in this in-between stage. Frankly, it was embarrassing to have to stop in the middle of a battle, even for a few seconds, to brush her hair out of her eyes.
J'onn grinned at her, and his new face was handsome when he smiled.
"Thank you," he said.
"I thought you said you didn't listen in anymore," she chided, as the beam shimmered around them. When she looked around, they stood atop one of several rock outcroppings surrounding a narrow valley far below.
"I don't always," said J'onn, and he took her arm. John waved them over from where he and Shayera waited a bit further back from the edge. The Nelsons had already arrived.
"Glad you could make it," John said, jiggling little Rex up and down. The baby giggled and squirmed. Diana made faces at him, which made him giggle even more.
"I like the dress," said Shayera. She still wore her mask, Diana noticed, even though John wasn't wearing one and the tiny mask Rex sometimes wore wasn't anywhere in sight.
"I thought you'd be in one, too."
Shayera cracked a smile. "Not for this."
Over the horizon, she spied two forms flying towards them, which quickly resolved into Clark and Virgil. Clark hadn't brought Lois, which didn't surprise Diana, but did sadden her a little. When the end came, she'd be there for him. She would.
John grinned at their guests, and gladly let Clark take Rex from him to play for a few minutes. "Arthur just called to say he's not coming. Anybody see Wally and Linda?"
The rest shook their heads; Wally had mostly retired at this point and didn't come by the Towers much. Diana didn't want to ask about Bruce.
"Have you heard from Bruce?" J'onn asked. Diana thought as loudly as she could: Stop it!
Sorry.
"He sent a set of dinner dishes," Shayera said. "I'm not sure why, since he knows we live at the Tower."
"You know Bruce," Clark said. He handed the baby back to his father, chucking him under the chin one last time. Clark would have made a good father.
The wind whooshed around them, and then Wally set his wife gently onto her feet. "Are we late?"
"A little," said John.
"There was ... " Wally started.
Linda finished for him: "Giant robot. Huge. You should've seen it."
Wally didn't understand most of what was said. He'd expected at least parts to be in English, but it wasn't until J'onn started translating in their heads that he had any idea what was being said. When he could understand, Wally realized the words didn't matter anyway, just the meaning.
Promises. To each other. To the world, because if there was one thing they'd learned about Thanagarians, it's that they held Views about loyalty. To Rex, too, and that was cute.
John stuttered his way through the first part, trying to wrap his mouth around words in a language he hadn't learned yet, but as he got to what Wally vaguely remembered from his own wedding as "the love, honor, and promise to do what you tell me to do, sweetie," lines, the words flowed more smoothly, and Wally guessed John'd been practicing.
Wally rolled the words around in his head: Puqni'lodj. Idh-yaa. Pretty words, when he knew what they meant. He'd flunked highschool Spanish though, and he supposed there wasn't much hope of learning Thanagarian in his retirement.
A transporter beam shimmered, and they broke into battle formation by instinct.
The white light coalesced into Bruce, alone and scowling. "Sorry I'm late," he said.
Wally glanced at Clark, who just shrugged and relaxed as Bruce took a place between Wally and Diana.
"Glad you could make it," John said. He turned back to Shayera and repeated the last thing he'd said: "Xoth zoth na, yaa thoth na."
John had handed him something as they'd started. Wally glanced in his hand: a pair of earrings, opals flashing green and pale pink. When John turned to him, Wally handed them over, silent and confused.
"Thanks," John said. Weird, to be looking at him here, seeing him as young as anything. Wally was retired, living on his pension, expecting his first grandchild in a month, and John wasn't even forty. It was funny, how the world moved and went on and on.
"No problem," Wally said, watching as John carefully affixed the earrings to Shayera's ears. She flinched as he did the first one, not for the second. Then she smiled at John and Wally had this feeling he and the others ought to leave them alone now.
Instead, Shayera handed the baby to Virgil. "Hold on tight," she told him in English. "He's crawling everywhere." Virgil juggled the kid to a better position, then held on tighter as Rex tried to squirm out of his arms. That kid was going to be a handful as soon as he learned to walk or fly, whichever came first.
And speaking of ...
Shayera grabbed John's hand and they stepped off the cliff. A heart-dropping moment later, they reappeared, soaring up over the cliffs on the far side of the canyon, Shayera's wings spread wide to the wind and the familiar emerald glow surrounding John.
They circled the canyon twice. Wally wondered if they should do something, but J'onn indicated nothing, simply stood and watched with the rest. So Wally took Linda's hand and squeezed, and she smiled up at him, and he thought that he was a very lucky man.
At last, John and Shayera set down on the cliff beside them, she beaming in a rare glad mood, he with a peaceful expression that was just as uncommon and welcome.
"Thank you all for coming," she said.
John asked, "Anyone up for dinner somewhere?"
Wally stared. "That's it?"
John said, "Told you it wouldn't take long."
"I need to get home," Clark said. "Lois."
Shayera took his hands and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She was in a good mood. But then, Wally figured she was about thirty-seven years overdue for her wedding, so hey. Leeway.
"Give her our love," Shayera said.
"I will," said Clark, and after a quick handshake for John, he was off. Virgil bowed out right afterwards, handing Rex to John and collecting a hug from Shayera. The wedding party, as small as it'd been, was getting smaller by the minute.
Linda said to Shayera, "So would you mind if we watched him tonight?"
Wally's head spun like it was on a hinge. "Say what?"
"Think of it as practice for the times we'll be watching the grandkids."
"Right."
"I'm not sure ... " Shayera started.
John interrupted, "The diaper bag is right here. He's got formula for the night and enough diapers to last him until noon."
"John."
Wally almost wished he'd set up the betting pool for how long it would take them to have their first marital spat. Of course, he'd have lost.
"It's our wedding night, dear. He'll be fine." The staring match lasted about ten seconds.
"All right. But we'll be over early," she said to Wally, partially in challenge. He wouldn't have had her any other way.
"You two go," Diana said, and she gave Shayera an unexpected hug. "We'll all get together for dinner next week." The words were to Shayera, but she was looking at Bruce, who gave the briefest of nods.
Dinner would never happen. Lois would take a turn for the worse in the morning, and while she'd recover this time, she wouldn't the time after. Iris would have her little girl two weeks early, and then Wally and Linda would spend all their spare time with her, and things would get pushed off again and again, until no one remembered the plan anyway. It wasn't the last time he saw any of them, but when he thought back later, he realized the wedding was the last time the seven of them were ever together as a group.
Tonight, he didn't know any of that. Tonight, there were a few more handshakes, a few more hugs, a quick check of Rex's bottom for surprises (none), and then Wally was watching the two of them glide away into the fading twilight, a wiggly winged baby in his wife's arms beside him, until J'onn touched his ear to call for a transport beam to take them all home.
He begged, for gudesake, I wad be his wife,
Or else I wad kill him wi' sorrow;
Sae, e'en to preserve the poor body in life,
I think I maun wed him to-morrow, to-morrow,
I think I maun wed him to-morrow. - Robert Burns