Eight

Emma squeezed J'onn's hand as they entered the infirmary of the Watchtower. Her mother was sitting up in the bed closest to the door. When she saw her daughter, she smiled, which Emma thought was a bit odd, considering everything that happened over the past day or so.

She and J'onn walked up to the bed, remaining hand-in-hand. Emma looked down at the floor, and there was a long, awkward silence. Finally, she asked quietly, "Aren't you angry at me, Mom?"

Her mother laughed softly. "Why would I be angry at you?"

"If it weren't for me, you wouldn't be in a hospital bed right now."

Alice laughed again. "Honestly, I'm not sure what to think. But I'm definitely not angry."

There was another long silence, though it was less awkward this time.

And then Alice said, "And who is this?"

Emma looked up at her. "Don't you know?"

"Of course I know, but that doesn't mean you can get away with not introducing us properly."

Emma sighed. "Mom, this is J'onn J'onzz. He's a Martian, which you can probably tell because of his… well, you know. He's green."

In a completely monotone voice, J'onn said, "You forgot tall and handsome."

Emma giggled.

J'onn let go of her hand and faced Alice. "It's nice to finally meet you properly, Ms. Whitaker."

Emma's mother smiled and shook her head, saying, "Just Alice is fine."

Again, there was another silence.

And then Alice laughed. "Does this mean you lied when you said he was twenty, Emma?"

"Oh… Yeah. Sorry."

Alice looked at J'onn. "So, how old are you really?"

"I'm not sure you want to know the answer to that question, Ma'am. It might make you inclined to push your daughter away from a relationship with me."

Alice laughed. "You're not worried about me knowing that you're a Martian, but you are worried about me knowing how old you are?"

"Age seems to play a major role in romantic relationships between humans. However, if you really want to know, I'll still tell you."

She eyed him for a moment, seeming to make up her mind about it, and then smiled and shook her head. "You don't have to tell me. I think you're right. I probably don't want to know. Just… take care of Emma, okay?"

"I will."

At that moment, Batman barged into the room, followed soon thereafter by the rest of the Justice League. He said, "All right, that's enough time alone. We need to discuss what will happen now."

"I'm sorry, you three," Diana said. "We tried to get him to leave you alone for a little longer, but – well, you know how he is."

"The second we know for sure that Emma's mother is okay, they both are leaving."

Immediately, Emma stepped up to Batman, lifted her chin, and said, "No."

He glared down at her, and there was a palpable silence in the air for many moments. Eventually, he said slowly, "What did you say?"

"I said no. I'm not leaving. And if I do, then you have to swear to keep the portal open, or find some other way for J'onn and I to visit each other freely. Those are my only conditions and they are not negotiable."

In her mind, she heard J'onn's voice. I think you may have gone too far, Emma.

I don't care.

Batman's grit his teeth and looked about ready to explode. To be honest, Emma was scared to death of what he might do to her in his anger, but then he seemed to calm down a little, and turned so that his side was facing her, and crossed his arms. He said, "I give up trying to protect all of you. If you want to leave that damned portal open and put all of us in danger, then go ahead. But if anything bad happens, then don't come crying to me!" With that, he turned all the way around and stormed out of the room.

Emma took a deep breath, one that she had been holding for way too long.

"Wow," Hawkgirl said, staring at the empty doorway that Batman had just gone through. "I can't believe you just stood up to him like that."

"It was really scary," Emma said quietly. "But not as scary as the thought of losing J'onn forever."

She felt him come up behind her, and saw his arms wrap around her from behind.

"I didn't go too far, did I?" she asked.

He chuckled. "You are worried about that now? I warned you already that you may have offended him, but you kept going. You shouldn't worry now. What happened has happened, and what matters now is where we go from here."

"But… is this really okay? Me staying here? That seems… impossible."

"Remember what I told you," Diana said, stepping up to her. "We all are okay with this relationship. Well, everyone but Batman. But I get the feeling that he'll come around once he realizes that you're not going anywhere."

Emma sighed and turned to face her mother. "But what about you? I'm sure you don't want to spend forever here. We have a home back in our own dimension. I go to college there."

Alice sat quietly in thought for a moment, and then she said, "Batman said he'd keep the portal open, right? Why don't I go home once I'm rested, and you can travel between. You can still go to college and whatnot, but when you have spare time, you can come here and visit."

"That still seems impossible to me," Emma murmured, but then she looked up and sighed. "Well, it doesn't matter right now, anyways. What I need right now is a shower and some new clothes."

"I don't know what to do about the clothes, unless someone goes and buys some for you," Hawkgirl said. "I don't think either Diana's or my clothes will fit."

"Why not just throw them in the laundry?" Diana said.

"Hey," Flash broke in, "if we're done talking about the interesting stuff, I'm gonna go now."

"Me too," Green Lantern agreed.

Emma laughed. And slowly, the group began going their separate ways, to different parts of the Watchtower.

A little while later, Emma rested her head against the side of a massive indoor Jacuzzi-bathtub. She had laughed when she'd seen it. At first, she had thought that it looked completely out of place, but then she remembered how huge the Watchtower really was, and it seemed to fit right in. The tub was filled with bubbles that churned in the water jets. It was a silly situation. Emma had not had a bubble bath since she was eight.

But, as she sat in the Jacuzzi, she looked around at how big it was, and felt suddenly lonely. And then she had an idea. A crazy idea. An idea that made her face flush and caused a warm feeling to spread inside her abdomen.

J'onn? she thought quietly.

Yes, Emma?

Just his voice in her mind made her blush again. It was deeper than usual, and had a husky quality to it.

His voice made it impossible to ask, so she said instead, Don't you know already? Don't you know what I'm going to ask?

Yes, I do. I'll be right there.

Okay.

About thirty seconds later, Emma saw a transparent, blob-like shape come through the door of the bathroom. When it was all the way inside the room, it became tangible again, and turned into J'onn. He was in his natural form.

Emma smiled and laughed. "That was the weirdest thing I've ever seen. Why didn't you just become intangible in your regular body shape?"

"It's faster if I do it the way I did. I can move faster if I let my body go loose."

Emma stared at him for a moment, and then shook her head and laughed again.

J'onn went farther into the bathroom, and then stepped up and into the bath, never taking his off of Emma. His eyes were intense, and they glowed.

Emma looked down, blushing. When you look at me like that, I…

Slowly, he made his way over to her. When he was close enough, he put his hand under her chin and lifted it. You what?

Her heart skipped a beat, and then she leaned forward and kissed him. And the pinpricks of light flashed across her thoughts and behind her eyelids. Random images of places and people and animals came and went through her mind. Eventually, Emma broke away and asked, What is all that? When we kiss? All those bursts of colors and images?

He smiled, and then rested his forehead against hers and breathed. It is a breaking down of the barriers in our minds. It is a sharing of random streams of conscious and subconscious thought. Normally, our brains, which are interlinked, are able to process and either block or allow this flow of thought, but when we are extremely emotional and sidetracked, our brains lose this ability to some degree.

I understand.

They spent what seemed like hours in there, talking and caressing, and kissing. They spoke of simple things and deep things – of good memories with family, or what their favorite color was, or what the future might hold for themselves and others. It was mostly an innocent thing, their time spent together. Emma felt almost as if she were a little girl again, laughing with a playmate. To some degree, she knew that was a little weird, considering she was sitting naked in a bath with a man, (well, a Martian, really) but she didn't care. It was the most fun she'd had in ages with another person, just talking and being herself.

When the time came to get out, she really didn't want to, and told J'onn so. He only chuckled softly and told her not to worry because it wasn't over yet.

"What do you mean?" she asked, looking up into his face and suddenly feeling nervous excitement. She wondered what had changed in the last five seconds to make her feel this, as she had stopped feeling nervous a long time ago.

What he said was, "Hmm. Perhaps – never mind. Forget I said anything."

And then she knew what he was thinking and immediately felt two conflicting emotions. She desperately wanted to make love to J'onn, yet she knew that on some level, she definitely wasn't ready. Oh… she said quietly, reverting back to telepathy. Well, I… I'm not opposed to it.

Yet you cannot even say it.

You didn't say it, either.

Because I felt your emotions and knew you were not ready.

Emma suddenly felt like she had just been kicked in the stomach. But, I… And to her embarrassment, she began to cry. I –

Emma. J'onn wrapped both arms around her and gently rocked her as they sat there. This is what I mean. If you are crying over this, then you are not ready for sex.

She dug her fingernails into his back. But I want –

Listen to me. He pulled away slightly and looked into her eyes. Gently, he said, I am not going anywhere. I will always be with you. I will always be here. There is plenty of time. I promise you, I'm not going to disappear, even after you go back to your own dimension. Okay? Nothing is going to stop me from being with you. Not even if Batman does close the portal. You do not need to rush. I know that this is what you are worried about, but don't be. Don't worry.

Emma choked on a sob and buried her face against his chest. Thank you, J'onn.

Author's Note: Hey, guys. Honestly, I'm not sure if I should end the story here - which seems a little abrupt to me - or to tack on a few more chapters. I don't quite know where to go from here if I do write more, so for now, this is the end of the story. Though, you may want to check back every now and then, in case I add more. Or I might just start another book entirely, filled with little random encounters between Emma and the Justice League. Honestly, I don't do so well with linear chapter books. I much prefer writing random snippets, as my attention span is the size of a flea's. Anyways, thanks for reading! - Fira