Bookends

Bookends by BillA1

Disclaimer: The characters Batman, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Superman & Flash and their respective secret identities are all owned by DC Comics. Static is owned by Milestone. This story is intended for my own pleasure and is not for profit. It has been posted to this site for others to read. Places and characters not own by DC or Milestone Comics are my own creation. This story is based on characters from the animated Justice League series episode: Epilogue written Bruce Timm and Dwayne McDuffie and The Once and Future Thing: Time, Warped by Dwayne McDuffie. Note: Spoilers up through "Epilogue," with some (okay lots of) speculation on the current JLU arc. Set in the Batman Beyond time period. Not a direct sequel to any previous work, but references material that appeared in "Living with Shadows" and "A Tapestry of Crayons." Draws heavily upon the world created by Merlin Missy in "The Signs of Air and Water," Nancy Brown in "Not Quite Wax," and Terry Winder and Nancy Brown in "Solving For R." A huge shout out of thanks to Merlin Missy for her beta on this story.

Bookends

Rating: (PG-13)

Synopsis: Between birth and death, there is life or something like it. - A John /Shayera /Rex futurefic.

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CHAPTER ONE

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"Why is life at this point in the twentieth century so focused upon the very beginning of life and the very end of life? What about the 80 years we have to live between those two inexorable bookends?" - Paul (Six Degrees of Separation - 1993)

(The Metro Tower, ten years after Epilogue)

He'd watched his dad punch in the access code to the sub-space communicator a thousand times. Well, maybe not that many, but he knew it was a lot. Arthur Seaborn was seven years old and he was very smart. He knew he was because his teachers had told him so. He'd only have to watch someone do something once or twice and then as his granddad would say, he got it.

He'd been watching for as long as he could remember as his dad or sometimes his mom would push the code buttons --- nine-one-nine-three-nine--- and then scroll until they found his granddad's picture. Then they'd push four-two-seven-three-six-three-seven and "enter" and Poppa or Nana would answer the phone in a few minutes.

Arthur knew both Mom and Dad would be angry if they found out that he was using the special phone in the big radio room right now to call Nana. Not because they didn't want him to talk to his grandparents, who lived in outer space very far away, but because the special phone took a lot of power and was very expensive to use. And Dad would be very angry when Superman gave him the bill for Arthur's calls.

Arthur loved his Dad. His Mom called Dad, Rex. His Mom was sometimes called Aquagirl, but Dad always called her Merina. He wasn't allowed to tell anyone what Mom and Dad did, but Poppa said they made the world a much safer place just for him.

Today was a special day at school and Arthur wanted to tell Nana how good it was. He always liked talking to Nana and she always liked talking to him. He liked talking to Poppa too, but Nana would make funny chirping sounds that made Arthur laugh. She made him happy because she was always happy.

He'd would use the voice only phone this time and give Dad some of the money from his piggy bank to pay for this call.

(The second moon of Galtos, in the Omega quadrant)

The phone rang. By the second ring, John Stewart realized that he wasn't dreaming and that he should investigate the noise.

"I got it," he called out.

Well, actually he didn't have it, but he was going to get it. He slowly lifted himself out of his recliner, listening to the music of his knees as they popped while he moved. Since he'd retired from the Green Lantern Corps years ago, he was no longer protected from the effects of aging by his power ring. And old age and all of its friends were catching up with a vengeance, painfully so.

He silently cursed to himself for not taking the portable phone with him when he sat down half an hour ago. It was just the two of them now, living quietly on this remote moon. Most of their neighbors would've never guessed that this unassuming couple, an Earthling and a Thanagarian, had decades ago been among the most powerful and respected crime fighters in another quadrant of the galaxy.

These aliens living among aliens just wanted to be left alone and this moon was the perfect place for that. No one asked questions here and no one cared about the answers if given.

She called out from another part of the small cottage they lived in: "John, are you sure you're going to get to that?"

"I got it. Just didn't take the phone with me when I sat down."

They didn't get many calls, so he knew that whoever it was wouldn't hang up until one of them answered. Got it. He looked at the Caller ID and smiled.

"Hello?" He moved back to his chair and grunted as he sat down again. Getting old sucked, but it beat the alternative.

"Hi, Poppa. Is Nana there?"

"Hi, Arthur. How are you doing, son?"

"Fine," the seven year old answered. There was silence again and John smiled as this ritual exchange played out. Finally, Arthur spoke again with a little more assertiveness in his voice. "Is Nana there?"

"She's here, but don't you want to talk to me?"

There was silence again before the boy said, "Okay. How are you, Poppa?"

"I'm okay. How is school?"

"Okay. Is Nana there?"

John chuckled. Game, set and match. "Sure, Arthur. Just a minute and I'll get her."

He called out without covering the mouthpiece of the phone. "Shayera! It's for you. It's Arthur."

"Okay."

He listened as she picked up the phone in the other room.

"Why, hello Arthur," she said in a voice that still sometimes surprised John by its gentleness. "How are you?"

"Hi, Nana," Arthur said excitedly. "Guess what? I got a star at school today for being good and..."

John hung up the phone. He searched for the right word to describe this feeling he had at this moment. He settled back into his chair and closed his eyes.

Contentment.

(The Metro Tower - Forty-Two years ago)

John learned early in his adult life that women often unintentionally threw grenades at him. Sometimes, it was on purpose, but most of the time it wasn't. Probably. She wouldn't think it was explosive when she tossed it at him because she didn't pull the pin on the device. But they'd both know if she waited long enough, he'd pull the pin because that's what men did and then he'd stand there stupidly when it went off.

"How do I look?" Shayera asked as she stood in front of the mirror. John sat on the edge of her bed and contemplated what to do with this grenade she'd just tossed him. He'd not been in her new quarters before and he looked around the room, stalling for time, deciding what answer would keep this grenade from going off.

John and Shayera had been thrown forward in time more than thirty years during a battle with the Legion of Doom. Misplaced by time and space, people and friends they'd known yesterday were suddenly gone, dead or retired. They'd unexpectedly found themselves to be strangers in a strange land.

John had the easier task of adapting to this new time. The Guardians didn't immediately reassign him, but instead assigned the current Green Lantern of sector 2814, Galtre-Re, to "retrain" John. He readily accepted the retraining with the stipulation that he would have three years, the standard training time, to complete the task. It was soon apparent to Galtre-Re that John Stewart required nothing from him. Soon Galtre-Re, at John's urging, found that his time was better spent in other parts of the sector since John was adamant that he wasn't leaving Earth anytime soon.

He'd started wearing a mask again. This was something he'd done earlier in his Green Lantern career when he had a secret identity to protect. Once it became known publicly that he was a Lantern, he'd stopped. He resumed wearing his mask because it helped maintain the illusion that John Stewart was still missing, still lost. More importantly, it prevented embarrassing questions about Shayera's whereabouts if Stewart was still alive. There were no questions about the new masked Green Lantern.

The transition for Shayera had been more difficult. There'd been no news from any source on the fate of Thanagar for the past thirty years. She knew the Gordanians had won, but had they crushed any possible rebellion as well? John knew her heart ached at the loss of Thanagarian life because she'd decided to thwart the plans to build the bypass. He also knew she'd sealed her fate when she saved the Earth. For years afterward, until she and John were lost in time, she'd lived with the knowledge and the fear that Thanagarian assassins or their agents might be looking for her. Though he'd never told her, John feared that as well. And now with Justice League records showing that she and John had been listed as missing and presumed dead for more than thirty years, she'd hoped that perhaps the assassins, if there were any left, had stopped looking.

She'd not left the Tower on any missions since they'd returned, instead choosing to focus her attention on the collected Thanagarian artifacts from the Watchtower storage section. She'd found that her clothing and the items she'd taken from Paran Dul's locker and ship were also stored there as part of a display. She knew that she couldn't wear her yellow and black costume anymore and she certainly couldn't go unmasked; either would be a fatal mistake. If someone was looking for Shayera Hol, she wasn't going to make it easy for them to find her. She decided that she was going change her clothing into something less Thanagarian.

John smiled because without telling her of his adventure with Chronos, she'd made the perfect costume.

She stood in front him, dressed from her neck to her feet in a black body suit. No skin was exposed anywhere on her body except her head. Covering the body suit, she wore the Thanagarian armor and helmet she'd found in Paran's locker years earlier. With Static's help, Shayera had discovered that a thin silver-plating over the gold-hued Thanagarian armor changed the appearance without affecting its protective qualities.

She posed, holding the silvery mask at her hip. She'd cut her hair so short in the back that it barely extended beyond the nape of her neck. When John was younger, they'd called that haircut a pixie cut or a boy cut. He didn't know what they called it now and it didn't matter. Her long red hair was gone and she looked different and that had been her goal.

John nodded his head slowly. "I like it. The silver armor against the black works. How'd it test in the simulations?"

She nodded. "Static and I ran it through a few stress tests. It'll stop a Class C laser at two meters."

Make a note to say something to Virgil about appreciating his help.

John leaned back on the bed, then got up and stood next to her. This was where Rex got the idea for his costume. Amazing. He pretended to be studying her carefully as he looked her up and down. She smiled in amusement. He cleared his throat and stroked his now beardless chin as if he was going to make some great pronouncement.

He suddenly frowned and her smile faded.

"Don't you think that Thanagarian crest on your chest looks like a big inviting black bull's-eye?" he asked.

She took a deep breath and pointed to the crest on her chest. "John," she said softly. "Believe it or not, I'm still proud to be a Thanagarian. That's why the crest. Shayera and Hawkgirl have been dead for thirty years, or at least the world thinks they are. Now I have a chance to start over with a clean slate. With the helmet, I am a Thanagarian again."

She sat on the bed. There was sadness in her eyes and John sat next to her. She handed him the helmet, then lowered her head. "Sometimes, I'm ashamed to be Shayera Hol, but this helmet makes it different. If I reappeared as Shayera, I'd do so on borrowed time. Sooner or later, the word would get back to Thanagar and the hunt would start." She took the helmet from him and stood in front of the mirror.

"I don't want to be hunted," she said as she put the helmet on. "I am the hunter, not the prey."

John stood and joined her in front of the mirror. He placed two fingers under her chin and gently lifted her head so that she looked up into his eyes. "I'm not ashamed of Shayera Hol and I never will be." He smiled as he removed his hand from her face. "She's done a lot of good things with and without a helmet."

She smiled weakly at him. I need to tell her that more often.

"I do miss the hair," he added, "but I like the new name."

She unclipped the mace dangling from her side and held it in her hand as she studied herself in the mirror.

"I like the name too," she said. "Didn't at first when J'onn suggested it years ago, but it does grow on you, doesn't it?"

John grinned and stood behind her, so that she could see him in the mirror. "It sure does, Warhawk."

(The Metro Tower - Two weeks later)

Stewart lay in bed looking up at the ceiling. The room was dark save the faint light from the digital clock on the night table on his side of the bed and the dim glow of the ring on his finger. He turned his head toward the clock to read the time.

2:37 AM

He looked at the ceiling again. In the darkness, he took comfort in listening to the steady sound of breathing coming from the woman lying next to him, a rhythm broken only by the occasional rustling of her wings. Sometimes she would emit a groan or a moan when her wings moved. John wasn't sure exactly which word described the noise she made, but he knew it wasn't right.

She'd gone out on her first mission as Warhawk.

And she was a success.

She'd watched old footage of Hawkgirl and Shayera in action from years before and carefully analyzed her previous fighting style. Then she went into the training room and practiced changing that style as much as she could.

She knew that everyone, regardless of who they were, had a distinctive combat technique and that it was as unique as a fingerprint. She wanted to make sure that Warhawk and Hawkgirl did not fight exactly the same way. Only when she was satisfied that there was sufficient variation in her combat manner did she go out on this first mission. John was relieved that she was successful and that her change in fighting technique didn't get her injured or killed.

As he would often do, he gently propped himself up and watched her sleep. She didn't seem to have the nightmares as often as she once did, but she still had them. And apparently she'd had them since she'd left Fate's tower. She never said anything to anyone, but instead chose to suffer in silence.

John thought it unlikely she'd taken advantage of any counseling from the Martian thirty years ago. It was clear to him now, in hindsight, she'd been afraid of J'onn and the possibility that he might do to her what he'd done to that other Thanagarian during the invasion.

Groundless. Absolutely groundless.

He remembered that it was the second night they'd slept together, in this new time, that she'd had the first nightmare he'd witnessed. She sat up in the middle of the night swinging her fists wildly in the air as if she was trying to fight someone off and crying out, over and over, that she was sorry. He'd gently roused her and tried to comfort her, telling her it was just a dream, that it wasn't real. She'd answered that first night the way she would respond to every episode afterwards: "Sooner or later, it will be real and I'm going to be punished for what I did. Paran Dul was simply the first of many messengers to come."

John looked at the clock again.

3:02 AM.

He slid down under the bed covers and looked up at the ceiling. Shayera groaned and turned so that she lay on her stomach. Suddenly, both of her wings spread out fully as if she were gliding. One wing hit John in the face before returning to its rest position. She moaned again and John turned over so that his back was toward her and he tried to go back to sleep.

(Watchtower Medlab (Two years later))

In a delivery room, all a father-to-be can do is observe, be supportive and stay out of the way. The Watchtower medical team clearly preferred the 'stay out of the way' option, but John was having no part of that. He was not leaving because he'd told her he wouldn't. The medical staff had converted a small surgical bay into a secure delivery room for this first of its kind event: a Thanagarian giving birth in this solar system. And while there'd been many technological advances over the last thirty odd years, when it got down to basics, it was still a woman struggling to bring forth new life. No technology could change that.

There were small cameras mounted in the ceiling and a monitor over Shayera's head. There would be no video recording of this event because John said so. The cameras were intended to show Shayera what was going on, if the doctors determined they needed information from her on the Thanagarian birthing process. She'd already told them all she knew regarding the subject; John secretly hoped that she'd told them enough.

John was true to his word and never left her side. He never sat down, instead standing near the head of the table the entire time. She didn't wear her helmet, but did wear a mask similar to John's that covered most, but not all, of her face. They still needed to protect their identities from the civilians on the delivery team.

When she panted, he panted with her.

When she cursed, he cursed with her.

He held her hand. She crushed it in her pain or at least he was sure she did.

Finally, when it was time, when she was more than ready, with a scream and a push, she gave him an egg... a six-pound egg. Static was right.

John could see from the monitor that it was actually a sac. Inside the pliable, transparent membrane they could see the newborn infant moving. This was expected. What was not expected was the umbilical cord going through the membrane. The other end of the cord was still attached to Shayera and this was a complication.

The doctor at the foot of the delivery table gently turned the infant over so that the child was on his stomach and made an incision down the middle of sac. Shayera groaned loudly when the doctor made the cut and John didn't know what to think. Should she have felt that?

John took a deep breath and smiled at Shayera as he said, "You're going to be fine." He shivered as he took another deep breath and focused his attention on her. The doctor lifted the infant out of the birth pouch and set the sac aside. "It's a boy," he announced.

There was a short period of silence in the room that seemed like years before Shayera asked breathlessly, "Is he breathing?" And almost as if answering his mother, the newborn screamed to the world that he existed and she smiled. It was a smile that John would remember to his dying day. He kissed her gently on the forehead. It seemed like such a meager gesture in return for this great gift she'd given him.

The doctor clamped and cut the cord and told an attendant to get two units of blood ready. He looked up at John. "Frankly I don't know what we have here," he said. "According to her, there shouldn't be an umbilical cord and we didn't see it in the ultrasound images. But we now have the possibility of hemorrhaging. We're fortunate that she stored blood throughout the pregnancy, otherwise we'd have a real problem here." He shook his head, pausing for a moment before continuing. "We'll wait and see if she expels the placenta naturally. Otherwise, I'm going to ask you to leave while we get ready for surgery."

John nodded, but he hurt in the pit of his stomach. He'd felt helpless many times before when it involved Shayera over the course of the years, but this, by far, was the worst. He suddenly realized that he didn't see her in the glimpse of the future that Chronos provided and he wondered if he was going to lose her now in this room...now that he had a family.

He felt lost.

He had this powerful weapon... this ring and he couldn't a damn thing to save her if ...if things went sour.

An attendant had taken the child away from the doctor, wrapped the infant in a blanket, then gently placed the child on Shayera's chest.

"He's beautiful," she said. John wanted so desperately wanted to burn this moment in his memory forever as he leaned over to say 'hello' to his son. He gazed in awe at the exchange of first looks between his son and Shayera. Then John shifted his attention to her and realized that she was looking at him with a little apprehension in her eyes. He lightly touched the head of the baby as he bent over her.

He wiped her brow and moved her wet hair off her face. Then he kissed her forehead gently and whispered, "I don't care what they say, I'm not leaving you and you're not leaving us. Understand?"

She smiled weakly, but before she could answer, she inhaled sharply and suddenly groaned again. She squeezed his hand hard and it was all he could do to keep from yanking his hand out of her vice-like grip. The attendant removed the child from her chest and stood off to the side.

"Excellent. Here we go," the doctor said. John looked up into the monitor for a few moments, then turned his head and concentrated his attention on Shayera. He heard the doctor say: "Looks to be complete and unremarkable. Prepare it for further examination." John turned in time to watch the doctor hand a tray to another attendant and then ask Shayera: "You hanging in there?"

John got the feeling that the doctor was being polite, but wasn't really concerned with her answer because he'd finally seen something that was familiar to him.

"Yeah," Shayera mumbled breathlessly. The attendant placed the child back on Shayera's chest, turned to John and said, "He's a beautiful boy, dad." John wondered for a moment if the attendant would ever tell anyone who delivered a child in the Watchtower that their baby was ugly. He nodded in acknowledgement.

The attendant turned to Shayera and smiled, "And he has wings like you, mom."

Shayera suddenly frowned. "Show me."

The attendant gently turned the baby over and held him so Shayera could see his back. Small tears formed in her eyes and ran down her cheeks. She pushed her head back into her pillow and sniffled as she said softly, "He's never going to fly."

John cleared his throat. He would grant that she would most certainly know what Thanagarian wings should look like...wings capable of flight. The Rex he'd met in the future did not have feathers or fly with natural wings, but John was not going to allow her to get depressed over this. Not now.

"I'm sure he will. He'll be fine," he offered as the attendant took the baby away for his weighing and first bath.

She glared at him, sniffled again, but didn't say anything else.

He kissed her on her forehead again. "You did good. You did damn good." He paused and whispered, "I love you."

"I love you, too."

One of the Watchtower regular staff medical attendants stood next to John and whispered, "And what's the baby's name? We'll need to register the birth."

"Rex Stewart," Shayera answered softly. They'd agreed to name the baby after Rex Mason, who'd saved their lives at the cost of his own during the battle with the Legion of Doom that propelled them into the future.

"Rex Hol Stewart," John amended. He held her hand and patted it. "Remember? We talked."

She frowned. "I know," she said quietly. "But I don't think I did enough..." She broke off and looked at the attendant. "Rex Hol Stewart."

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CHAPTER TWO

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Never been lied to,

Never had to scuffle in fear,

Nothing denied to.

Born at the instant the church bells chime
And the whole world whispering

Born at the right time. (Born at the Right Time - Paul Simon)

The doctors, attendants and medical staff were gone. All were satisfied that Shayera had suffered no complication from this first of its kind birth and that baby Rex was in good condition. It was just the three of them now alone in a surgical recovery room.

Shayera lay sleeping in the bed. Every now and then she would groan or grunt in her sleep and John would walk over and make sure she was okay. Rex lay sleeping in his bassinet next to Shayera.

John would often lean over the bassinet and gently stroke Rex's cheek. The infant would turn his head towards John's finger. Thank you, God. Thank you for both of them.

He heard Shayera stirring and he sat down in the chair next to her bed. As he did, she opened her eyes. She smiled and he decided he would remember this smile as well on his death bed.

"Hi, sunshine. How are you doing?"

She nodded and sat up gingerly. "How long have you been here?"

"Never left. You were asleep. Didn't want to wake you or him up."

"We've got things to talk about."

Uh oh. "It can wait." I don't want to talk if it's what I think it's about.

"Not any more and you know it. We can't stay here without knowing. We have to find out for certain."

It was what he didn't want to talk about. He stood and leaned over her bed. "We can stay here. Nothing will happen to you or Rex."

She growled and shook her head. "John, that is the second dumbest thing you've said to me today. You can't protect me and you can't protect our son. We've been here for more than two years and we still don't know the real status of Thanagar." She lowered her head. "We have the means to find out."

She paused and looked him in the eyes. "John, I ...this is important to me."

He pursed his lips together and shook his head. "I know, but if you go snooping around the galaxy, the only thing you'll do is draw attention to yourself. Everyone thinks Shayera Hol is dead. You've worn a mask since we returned and now a lot of people even think you're the daughter of the first 'Hawkgirl.' No one knows what you look like. I think you're safe."

She rolled her eyes at him, but her voice was firm and her jaw clenched. "I take it back. That ranks as the second dumbest thing you've said today. I am not safe and neither is Rex. Not once have I assumed that someone isn't still looking for me and you shouldn't either. Even the daughter of Hawkgirl and her grandson are just as much of a target as Shayera Hol would be. That's Thanagarian law. A traitor's family line is not permitted to live. Period!"

Did that mean her family on Thanagar paid for her betrayal, too? I never thought about that before. That tears it. She's not going anywhere.

Rex was in the world less than four hours and his parents were already fighting in front of him. John exhaled sharply, folded his arms across his chest and shook his head. "No. You're not doing this."

"What makes you think you can tell me 'no?'" she snapped. Then she glanced at Rex who was starting to stir.

John whispered in a strong voice, "Because you are my wife and I don't want you going there and getting your butt killed."

She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. There was anger in her eyes matching his. "I can't even believe we're having this conversation. I am NOT your wife! And for the record, my butt and the rest of me was killed a couple of hours ago for you. Thank you very much."

John sat down in the chair. He was silent for a moment and then suppressed a smirk. She had a strange look on her face. Amusement?

He nodded, then lowered his head. "Now, why do I think I'm going to hear that last part a lot for the rest of my life?"

She flashed a brief smile, "Maybe." Then she frowned.

"Look John," she said softly, "I can be assassinated right here. I don't have to leave the planet for that to happen. But I don't want to live the rest of my life worried that it might happen to me and Rex in front of you. That's not fair to you."

He winced at the word "assassinated." She's right. We do need to know for certain, but dammit, I don't want her running off by herself trying to find out. He stood. "Okay. But you have to trust me on this."

Her eyes widened. "Look in that crib and tell me I don't trust you. I just ask that you trust me on this." She lowered her head. "You know what my biggest fear is? I'm not afraid for myself. Don't get me wrong. I don't want to die, but that's not my worry.

"I'm afraid of what you will do if something happens to me or Rex. I'm afraid the man I love will cease to exist and be replaced by some vengeance-driven animal. I don't want that on my conscience when I die, John. It's already full of guilt. There's no room for adding you turning into a Bruce Wayne because of me. That's why I have to know what happened to Thanagar. That's why we both need to know."

He nodded at her slowly. "Bruce Wayne, huh?" He paused and glanced at the child in the crib. "As soon as you're able," he continued. "We'll travel. But, we won't go until you can defend yourself and our son. And we won't go directly to Thanagar. We'll go to Galtos first and get some intel on the situation and then travel to Thanagar if it's safe. And only it's safe. Okay?"

She nodded. She motioned for him to hand her the sleeping child. He gently cradled the small infant in his hands before giving Rex to Shayera.

"John, I know you're only thinking of me...thinking of us. But I'm thinking of you. I have to do this. I have to know."

He sat on the edge of the bed and looked at his family and nodded ever so slightly.

We have to know.

(Three months later)

Diana stood behind the transparent observation shield; at her feet; in an infant carrier was Shayera's child, Rex.

Diana sighed loudly. Cute kid.

The child had a small rattle in the carrier and every so often he would grab the toy, shake it and drop it to his side.

Looks just like her mace.

Diana had not intended to babysit Rex when she came into the training room, but a training simulation scenario was already running. She knew that standing behind the observation shield was clearly the safest place to be in that room and that's where she found Shayera's gym bag and the baby.

Most of the other Leaguers had complained to Diana that Warhawk had reserved the training room for six hours a day for the last five days and that she was scheduled for another 10 days in the facility. They also complained that by the time she left, all of the practice robots had been destroyed and it took the maintenance staff three to four hours to repair the room when she finished. Diana promised she'd look into it.

When she entered the room, she was surprised to see Rex, strapped in the carrier, on the floor behind the shield. She decided she would wait for Shayera to finish her session, then she'd speak to her.

She watched as Shayera swooped and maneuvered out of the way of laser fire, smashing any androids in her way. When Shayera got hit from laser fire, which didn't happen often but it did happen, she'd seemed to make a point of trying hard to land or fall on her stomach. Occasionally, if she landed on her back or got hit in the back, she cursed and smashed beyond repair the android that hit her.

Diana couldn't recall seeing Shayera being more aggressive than she was during this exercise. She also couldn't recall being more impressed with Shayera's battle tactics. It was then that she noticed that the simulation was set to maximum and that the clock indicated it had been running for twenty minutes.

Diana shut the simulation down.

"Turn that damn thing back on," Shayera screamed, flying toward the observation shield at high speed.

"Thought you might want to check on Rex," Diana said calmly. She could see that Shayera was still agitated, taking deep breaths, shaking with each exhalation. Sweat dripped from her costume. When Shayera knelt down over Rex, the infant smiled and rapidly waved both of his arms at her. Shayera picked up her son and held him close to the exposed portion of her skin under her helmet and whispered something that Diana couldn't make out. Thanagarian? Then Shayera checked his diaper. "He's fine," she said.

Who would have guessed she could be so caring?

"Impressive," Diana said as Shayera put the child back in the carrier. Shayera glared at her. "I meant the androids. You're destroying them faster than we can get them rebuilt."

Shayera was silent as she strapped Rex back into the carrier. She stood and said, "Your point?"

"You don't have to destroy them, you know. You can disable them and then others can use them after you're finished."

Shayera shook her head, "I'm not interested in disabling them. Never attack what you don't intend to kill."

"That's not what I meant," Diana said. She folded her arms across her chest. "Look, others are starting to com...." She stopped and then suddenly pointed to Shayera's back. "What's that? A sandbag? You have two sandbags strapped to your back. What's that about?"

Shayera bent down and picked up a towel from the bag. "It's Rex," she answered as she patted her face and neck with the cloth.

Diana smirked and pointed at the smiling child, who was fixated on his mother. "Then who is that?"

Shayera frowned and then looked down at Rex, smiled and made a kissing sound at the baby. The child waved his arms and kicked his legs at her. She turned toward Diana. "I mean that's where I'm going to carry him. I need to practice with him on me." She bent down and reached into her bag and took out a bottle of water. She gulped down a quarter of the bottle's contents in one swallow.

"Please tell me you don't plan to take him on missions with you," Diana asked. "You don't plan to fight with him on your back, do you?"

Shayera knelt down next to Rex and held up two fingers so the infant could see them. She kissed the two fingers and then placed the fingers on the child's lips. Rex reached for her fingers and Shayera swirled them in front of the child before permitting Rex to grab them. She allowed him to hold her fingers for a moment before placing her finger back on his lips. She stood, dropping her towel in the bag, then looked at Diana. "I plan to protect my son by any means necessary."

Diana smiled at the infant. "I don't doubt that at all." She then took a deep breath and looked back at Shayera. "And I'm sure you will."

Shayera turned the simulation back on, leaped in the air and hovered in front of Diana.

"You're damn right I will!" she exclaimed as she flew out to attack one of the 'droids.

(Galtos - Four months later)

The planet had changed a lot since the last time either of them visited. Most of the friends they knew in this quadrant had died years ago. When they were last here, this planet had been an urban wonder in comparison to the other civilizations on its nearby moons. The planet now served as a way-station and a gateway for the millions of travelers and refugees heading to and from the Delta quadrant.

They'd landed the Javelin just outside of town and made their way to a small hostel on foot. Shayera, wearing her Warhawk guise, had Rex strapped to her back. The League used boom tubes for intergalactic travel, but these two misplaced time travelers didn't trust the technology and managed to get a Javelin out of mothballs and retrofitted to suit their needs.

Besides providing a more comfortable trip for the three of them than a ring-generated bubble would have, the Javelin gave them an additional layer of safety. If something happened to John, Shayera could still escape with Rex in the ship. Right after Rex was born, they'd laid out their division of responsibilities regarding the child. Shayera would be the one directly responsible for protecting Rex, and John would be responsible for protecting them all.

Shayera carried a small travel bag in one hand and her mace in the other. John, still wearing a mask, was dressed as an old Earth cowboy from the movie, Legend of the Lone Ranger, complete with the white hat. He had a laser pistol strapped to his side and carried a laser rifle in one hand and a travel bag in the other.

The rifle and pistol were for show. If they got into trouble, he wouldn't hesitate to use the ring. But he was determined to avoid using his ring if possible. People might remember a Thanagarian and a Green Lantern traveling together, but most wouldn't think much of a Thanagarian, an Earthling and baby staying at hostel for a day or so.

Shayera had found his choice in costuming endlessly amusing during the trip and didn't hesitate to let him know that she was laughing at him.

"You just don't look good in white," she said.

She'd promised she would stop laughing when they landed, but John suspected that any halt in the laughter would only be temporary, at best. He'd occasionally shake his head. She just doesn't get it. I'll have to explain it to her later.

They checked into the hostel as John Reid and family and, requested a room with two large beds and a crib. They'd hoped to get enough information of the status of Thanagar quickly, so they could make a decision whether or not to continue the trip.

The clerk, who looked liked a large snail with dog feet, looked at John and said, "I have a large room I can give you if you want it. It was designed to accommodate a Zangorian." He smiled at Shayera and then looked back at John. "It's been cleaned several times."

"We don't want it," Shayera said pointedly. She energized her mace and pointed it at the clerk. "Do we look stupid to you? Do we look like we just left home yesterday? What are you trying to pull?"

John put his hand on her wrist and said in firm voice, "Warhawk!" She looked up at him and growled, turned off the weapon, but kept it pointed at the frightened clerk. The attendant apologized profusely and gave them keys to a room designed to accommodate humanoids.

As the couple walked to the room, John said, "Spill it. What's the deal with Zangorians?"

"Don't you Lanterns know anything?" she smirked. "On Earth you have dung beetles. Well, Zangorians smell worse than the feet of dung beetles. Believe me; we wouldn't have lasted two minutes in that room regardless of how many times they cleaned it. If we'd taken the room, the clerk would have charged us again to get another room. He figured us for fools...or novices. Either way, he was trying to take advantage of us."

"You know, of course, I'm afraid to ask you how you know so much about Zangorians, right?"

She shrugged. "Used to do intel work, remember?"

They opened the door of the room and were met with a blast of stale air. They put the bags down and looked around. The room was small and nondescript. John had brought his battery with him and stored it in a pocket dimension he formed in the room. Shayera opened the window, which viewed onto an alley below, to let some fresh air in. The smell from the alley was better than the air in the room. She'd set Rex in the crib on her way to open the window, but John picked him up and placed him face down on a towel on the bed.

He gently ran his fingers in a small area of the child's back, where Shayera had shown him, between Rex's little wings. As a reflex Rex spread his wings and started flapping them. John continued to massage this area trying to stimulate the tiny wing muscles.

Shayera looked on, then took her helmet off and sat down in one of the chairs.

"Okay. You win," she asked. "I give up. Why John Reid? I understand why you didn't use John Stewart, but I thought you would have used John Wayne given your fascination with his movies."

He cocked his head toward her and grinned. "Don't you Thanagarians know anything?" He motioned with his hand in her direction. "With a hearty Hi-Ho-Silver?" He paused and threw a hand in the air, "Away?" He turned Rex over and hugged the child, glancing at Shayera.

Her expression remained flat. Damn, woman. How could you be a spy on Earth for five years and not know this stuff?

He kissed Rex on the forehead and the infant reached for his ear. He grasped Rex's tiny hands and moved the child's arms as Rex giggled. He looked at Shayera and pursed his lips. "The mask, the white hat, the Lone Ranger?"

Her expression didn't change. He handed her Rex and sighed heavily. "The real name of the Lone Ranger was John Reid," he said disappointedly.

Shayera shrugged her shoulder. "Okay. John Reid it is."

Damn! No appreciation for a sense of irony. None! Should have signed her in as Tonto.

Rex suddenly notified them loudly that he needed feeding. While Shayera took care of that, John returned to the check-in counter to talk to the clerk.

The clerk glanced at John, setting aside whatever it was he was reading. "Something wrong with that room?"

"Nothing wrong with the room," John answered. "Wondering where I could get something to eat. Think my mate is pregnant again. Has a yen for some Thanagarian food. Know of any places around here that serve it?" Must remember to tell Shayera what I told him in case he starts giving her strange looks. Of course, if he gives her another strange look, she might kill him before I can stop her.

The clerk's expression brightened as he said, "Congratulations."

John smiled and nodded.

"There's a place," the clerk said, "about three blocks away that serves food a Thanagarian might eat. The place is called Snarguely." He pointed out the front door. "Take a left and you can't miss it."

"Thanks," John replied.

"You know," the clerk continued. "You don't see many Thanagarians around here any more. Your mate is the second one I've seen in two days. But before then? Not one in three years."

"Why is that?" John asked.

"I dunno. Thanagar is still a protectorate of the Gordanian Homeworld, but you already knew that." John nodded as if this was old news to him.

"You just don't see that many Thanagarians anymore," the clerk continued. "Don't bother me none, but a lot of old timers were glad to see the Thanagarians get what was coming to them. I mean no offense to you and your... mate, but they tell me the universe is a lot quieter now than it was when the Thanagarians were loose."

"Yeah," John answered. "I imagine it would be."

The clerk leaned forward on the counter. "Look, I don't mean to be too nosy, but let me ask you a question. What are you? I mean, what species. I've never seen anyone like you before and Thanagarians don't normally associate with anyone outside their own kind."

"You're right, they don't," John answered. "Thanks for the tip on the restaurant." He turned and walked away, headed back to the room.

"But wait! You didn't answer. What are you?"

"Relieved," John answered as he continued walking.

He shared with Shayera what he knew: the Gordanians apparently were still in charge of Thanagar and Thanagarians seemed to be under some sort of travel restrictions. They'd have to be careful. She might be asked for papers or travel documents by some official. She lowered her head and pursed her lips as he told her that the rest of the universe was happy that the Gordanians were still in charge of Thanagar.

"This is my fault," she said. "I knew Thanagarians weren't loved, but we used to be respected."

John raised an eyebrow. "I don't know about respected, but it sounds like you were certainly feared." He immediately regretted saying 'you.'

She was quiet for a moment, then said. "We need to find that other Thanagarian and see what he knows."

John shook his head. "Shayera, I think we know what we came here to find out. The Gordanians aren't going to send someone after you and the chances that a Thanagarian would hunt for you for thirty years are small, don't you think?"

She frowned. "On Thanagar, there was an old proverb that said, 'trust but verify.' Let's go eat. Maybe that other Thanagarian is nearby. Maybe he can verify what the clerk said."

"Okay, we'll eat there, but that saying came from Damon Runyon. He also said, 'The race may not always be to the swift or the victory to the strong, but that's how you bet.' I bet we're wasting our time."

xxxxxx

CHAPTER THREE

xxxxxx

And so you see I have come to doubt,

All that I once held as true,

I stand alone without beliefs.

The only truth I know is you. (Kathy's Song -Paul Simon)

The diversity in the universe never failed to amaze John. As he, Shayera and Rex walked to the restaurant the clerk had suggested, he marveled at all of the life forms they saw on the street.

Yes, he was a Green Lantern and had seen sentient life in many forms.

Yes, the mother of his child was a bird-like being.

Yes, the people he worked for were blue-skinned dwarfs.

But the variations of life he saw in this spaceport still caused him to stare in awe.

It was twilight. The restaurant had a sign on its door in multiple languages and symbols that said it catered to bipeds only. It was dirty and dark, but business was good. That is, the place was busy, noisy, but not too loud.

When they walked in the restaurant, they were greeted by a hostess, who looked at Shayera and then looked around Shayera back to get a peek at Rex. The woman nodded and then shook her head at John. She gave John a booster seat that looked more like a large ice cream cone to him and signaled that they should follow her.

They were shown to a booth in a corner where they sat down. To John's amazement, Shayera turned the "ice cream cone" booster seat upside down and strapped Rex in the device. It fit him and his tiny wings perfectly.

Shayera placed Rex next to the wall and placed her mace between Rex and her. John sat across from them. His laser rifle was next to the wall beside him. The booth was uncomfortable, but apparently only for John.

The back of his seat had a large "mound" that poked between his shoulders and there was a gap of almost one foot between the seat and the booth back. As he glanced at Shayera, he realized that the seat was designed for winged beings. Her wings fit neatly in the contours of the booth, just as Rex's had in his booster. John leaned back and tried to position himself so that he didn't slip in the foot gap between the seat and the seatback. At that moment, he considered the possibility that for years, she might have been uncomfortable on regular human chairs.

Shayera placed the order for food. John didn't care what she ordered. He was going to eat it because he was hungry and he enjoyed listening to her squeal like an excited child when she saw something on the menu she hadn't had in a long time. Secretly, he was pleased that they got to spend a little time off-world and in a place where she didn't have to eat food that he knew didn't make her happy.

He looked around the restaurant and saw that most of the patrons seemed to be ignoring them. This was a good thing, John thought, because it meant that they had not attracted any undue attention to themselves. Of course, he found it hard not to stare at the different colored bipeds of the universe gathered at this restaurant. Then he realized that he looked as strange to them as they did to him.

The waiter, a Jennian, set down two tankards of flurb in front of Shayera and something green in a cup. She took one of the flurbs and passed it to John. Then she poured the green stuff into a bottle for Rex. The baby drank for a minute or two and then dropped off to sleep.

"Tell me you didn't just kill my kid?" John asked as he took a small sip of the flurb. It tasted as bad as he remembered and he decided that maybe he wasn't as thirsty as he originally thought. He took another small sip being careful to strain out the small worms with his teeth. But I guess I could get used to it.

Shayera grinned. "Just something to put him to sleep in case things should get ugly. It's no stronger than warm milk...well maybe a little stronger, but not much."

"We've not starting a fight in this place. We're going to eat and if that other Thanagarian doesn't show, we're leaving. But we're minding our own business. Got it?"

"Oh, I got it," she said. Then she nodded her head toward a winged man approaching them. "But you might want to tell him."

As he turned to look, the Thanagarian stopped, not three feet away. John stood and placed the rifle on the table. Shayera, who remained seated, took a swig of her drink and belched. The man said something in Thanagarian to her. She didn't move, but answered him in a calm voice and then pointed at John. The man looked at John with a flat expression on his face.

"What did he say?" John asked. He understood Basic, which was the universal language spoken throughout the cosmos, but he couldn't understand Thanagarian without engaging the ring's auto-translator. He hesitated to do that for fear the ring would cause him to glow with green energy and identify him as a Lantern.

"He calls himself Nurda Pal," Shayera answered. "And he wants to know if I'm mated to you. I told him to ask you. He asks because I'm not wearing earrings, so he's not sure how to address me or you." She took another sip of her drink and frowned.

"Okay. So how do I tell him you and I are life partners?"

"I'm sure you'll figure it out because in another minute, he's going to call your child a bastard and me a whore."

What?

Shayera nodded at John as she took another sip of her drink. Then she took Rex out of the booster seat and placed the sleeping infant in her lap. She picked up her mace and set it on the table in front of her with a loud clunk.

Nurda Pal looked away from John toward Shayera and the noise. She smiled at the man and pointed back at John. The winged man never got to turn to face John completely before John slugged him with the butt end of the laser rifle. The man hit the floor hard and crashed into a nearby table. The restaurant suddenly became quiet. A waiter started to come over and intervene, but thought better of it when John drew his laser pistol and aimed it at the man on the floor.

Nurda Pal brought his hand up to his lip, looked at his hand and saw blood. He started to reach for the laser axe at his side, but saw John's pistol trained on him. He said something else to Shayera in Thanagarian. She stood and put the sleeping Rex on her back. Then she looked at John before sitting back down. She leaned back in the booth so that the sides of the seat back and her body completely protected the sleeping child. She energized her mace and held it where Pal could see it.

"He apologizes for the misunderstanding," she said. "He says no insult was intended. He hadn't seen a female Thanagarian in years so he followed us in here. He was hoping I was available for..." She paused and sighed before continuing, "An adult party, if you get my drift."

"Loud and clear. Tell him to get up so I can hit him again."

She shook her head. "No, don't hit him again. Remember, we need information from him," she said softly. She said something else to the Thanagarian who rubbed his chin.

"Do you speak Basic?" John bellowed at the Thanagarian. He nodded.

"Good," John said. "Stand up." Nurda Pal didn't move. There was anger in his eyes as he looked at John and brushed more blood from his lip.

"Then, stay there," John said. He pointed to Shayera, but didn't take his eyes off of Pal. "This is my mate, you understand? That's my son."

Nurda Pal nodded. John tossed him a napkin from the table. Pal caught it in mid-air and pressed it against his lip. John handed him his tankard of flurb and motioned for him to drink. Pal held the drink in his hand for a long moment as if contemplating throwing it back at John.

Shayera loudly cleared her throat and leaned forward toward Pal. "Don't make this your last great act of defiance. Drink up," she said to him in Basic. Pal nodded again and took a big drink of the brew and gave the mug back to John. John nodded at him slightly as he set the tankard on the table.

John spoke to Shayera as he kept his eye on Pal. "Tell him I accept his apology," John said. "Tell him he is welcome to stay and eat with us provided he keeps his hands on the table where I can see them. Tell him you're always looking for information about home and you're glad to see another Thanagarian."

Shayera translated for John. The man slowly got up and pulled up a chair and sat down at the edge of the table. He put his hands in the air and slowly placed them palms down in front of him. He's hungry. Good. Hungry men talk. John glanced at Shayera again, then back to Pal. "Tell him I consider this misunderstanding finished. However, if he doesn't, he should tell me now so I can kill him and be done with him."

Her eyes widened. "What?"

"Just tell him what I said," John snapped keeping his pistol pointed at the man. Shayera cleared her throat and said what John told her to say. The anger in the man's eyes dissipated and was replaced with fear as Shayera spoke. He raised his hands in the air again. "We are finished," Pal said in Basic, waving his open hands. "I am sorry and didn't mean to offend you or your family."

John holstered his pistol and motioned for Pal to put his hands on the table again. He wasn't concerned about Pal as a threat. If this Thanagarian got stupid, he'd dispatch him with his ring in a heartbeat and wouldn't give it a nanosecond of thought. What was important was that this man might know enough about Thanagar to answer some of Shayera's questions.

The waiter who'd witnessed this incident looked relieved that there wasn't going to be more fighting and asked if he could bring out the food. John nodded. The server set down plates in front of Shayera and John. Shayera turned off her mace, but kept it at the ready.

John pushed his plate in front of Pal and watched as the man hungrily shoved food in his face. Shayera had started to eat, but stopped when she saw that John wasn't going to. He motioned with his hand for her to eat. She shook her head and positioned herself back in the corner of the booth protecting Rex.

"Been on Galtos long?" John asked. This guy is young. Hungry and young.

Pal looked up and pointed toward John's tankard of flurb. Stewart pushed the mug toward the man and signaled the waiter to bring another round of drinks to the table.

Pal gulped down the drink and said, "About two weeks now. I'm between jobs."

"What do you do?" Shayera asked.

"Whatever job needs to be done. Whatever I can get paid for."

Shayera was quiet, but John knew she was thinking what he was thinking. A paid assassin.

"When was the last time you were on Thanagar?" John asked.

Pal looked at him curiously. John pointed to Shayera. "You know...off-world." He held his hands apart by about eighteen inches and motioned toward Shayera.

Pal frowned then suddenly smiled at her. "Oh I see. You were born off-world."

"It's been a really long time since she was back there," John answered.

Shayera said nothing, but looked hard at the man.

"About five years ago was the last time I was there," Pal said. "Right after the occupation ended."

"The occupation ended?" Shayera repeated. John was surprised that she managed to keep her voice under control.

Pal was silent. "Yeah, guess you didn't know that, did you?"

"But I heard Thanagar was still a protectorate," John said. He watched Shayera for her reaction, hoping she wouldn't give too much away with her body language.

Pal shoved more food in his mouth. "Sorry, but I haven't been able to afford more than Travelian lizard soup for the last couple of days."

Shayera grimaced as shoved her plate toward Pal. "Here, help yourself," she said. Good girl.

"Yeah, Thanagar is a colony of the Gordanians now. They provide protection for the planet and defend it against attack. There's a small self-defense force, but no military is permitted to leave the planet without Gordanian approval."

"Oh," Shayera whispered.

John cleared his throat and looked at Pal. "She's surprised because she remembers hearing about how great the Thanagarian military was."

Pal laughed and looked at Shayera. "Someone fed you load of gharnot droppings. That military was stupid."

"How so?" Shayera asked now clearly sounding defensive.

Pal drank some more flurb. "Oh. That's right. You weren't educated on Thanagar, were you? During the War of Liberation, the Thanagarian military built all these hyperspace bypasses to get to the Gordanian Homeworld, but the Gordanians simply used the bypasses to attack Thanagar. If that dumb military hadn't built the bypasses, who knows how the war would have turned out?"

"But I heard the reason they lost was because they didn't get the last bypass built in time," Shayera said softly. John noticed how she cringed when Pal said 'War of Liberation.'

Pal laughed again. "Nah, the reason they lost is because they built the bypasses in the first place and gave the Gordanians a direct route to Thanagar. Rather than make allies in the fight, the Thanagarian military destroyed worlds. We had no friends to help us defend our planet."

"So it didn't matter that the last bypass didn't get built," John said looking directly at Shayera. "Thanagar was going to lose the war anyway."

Pal nodded and took another swig of the brew. "Yeah." He paused and then added. "In fact, in school they taught us that some of the military troops building the last bypass rebelled and decided not to finish the job because they knew it was hopeless and didn't want to kill any more people. When those troops returned back to Thanagar, the Government had them all killed for not obeying orders. We were taught that those nameless soldiers were the real heroes of the war."

Shayera's jaw dropped. "You know," Pal continued. "It was a good thing we lost. I know how that sounds, but Thanagar is a beautiful place now and I don't think it would be if we were still fighting." He smiled. "I plan to go back there as soon as I can get enough money."

"I'd like to visit there some day myself," John said. "Want my son to see his other home planet."

Shayera pulled her tankard of flurb closer to her, but didn't drink. Instead she stared into the liquid.

"He'll like it there," Pal said as he continued eating.

Shayera was silent for the remainder of the meal. Finally, she looked at John again. "I've lost my appetite. Completely. Can we go?"

"Sure." John motioned to the waiter. He asked that the waiter retrieve another two servings of what they'd originally ordered, this time to go.

In a few minutes, the server came back with food in a bag. John stood and wished Nurda Pal a long and peaceful life. Shayera said something to Pal in Thanagarian as they prepared to leave. John didn't know what it was, but Pal nodded and said something back. John collected the check, paid for the meals and escorted Shayera out the door.

John had lost his appetite, too.

The trip back to the hostel was a quiet one. Shayera said nothing and John wasn't sure what he could say. He suspected it wasn't what the Thanagarian said that was really bothering her. Although that was bad enough. He didn't know what it could be, but he knew there was something else.

It was a known fact that the victor in war wrote the history of the conquered. Nurda Pal had been educated by the Gordanians during the occupation. The Thanagar that Shayera had taken a military oath to defend was gone and maybe the Thanagarians of today, like Pal, thought it best that history turned out the way it did. John realized that she'd come to the realization that all that she'd believed in and her entire way of life were gone and apparently not missed by anyone.

"What did you say to him?" John asked.

"What you said, a long life and peace. He wished me the same. I don't know if I'll ever have it." She said nothing else until they were in bed.

"Do you want to talk about what's bothering you?" he said as he turned toward her in the darkness.

"No."

"Will you answer a question for me then?"

"What?"

"Why aren't you wearing earrings?"

"Go to sleep, John. It's late and I don't want to talk about it now."

"We're going back to Earth tomorrow. You know that, right?"

"Good night, John."

"Good night."

Neither one slept well that night. Rex was cranky and Shayera got up with him several times during the night. John woke up each time she got out of bed. Finally, they looked at each other and decided to get up for the day.

They'd dressed silently, saying nothing to each other beyond a perfunctory, "Good morning." He was about to pick up Rex when she said, "Leave him there for a moment." She paused and added softly, "Please."

She sat on the bed, placing her helmet beside her. He sat next to her. She took a deep breath.

"For years," she said. "I thought about nothing else other than going back to Thanagar. I was going to lead the resistance, fight the Gordanians, restore the old order and try to atone for all the damage I've done. And now...now I find out that I was on the wrong side all the time."

John shook his head. "No, you weren't. You were on the right side all the time. Didn't you hear what Nurda Pal said? Those that didn't build the bypass were the ones they considered heroes. That's you."

She was silent for a moment. "We both know that's what the Gordanians have taught them for thirty years and we both know it's not true." She paused and then sniffled. "In my nightmares, I am executed because I betrayed my people." She sighed. "I tell them I am sorry and beg them, John... beg them to please give me another chance."

John said nothing. She needed to get this off her chest. He held her hand.

"Don't you see," she said. "In my dreams, I beg them to let me live. In my dreams I tell them that I can deny you and Rex...I can deny that I love you...I can deny that I would do it all over again if I had the chance."

A small tear ran down her cheek. "John, I haven't been fair to you. Last night, that man was right. I am a whore and Rex is a bastard...in Thanagarian eyes because I'm not wearing earrings."

John's eyes narrowed. "You are my mate. You are no whore and Rex is no - "

"Stop," she interrupted. "You don't understand what I'm saying. I thought about this all last night. I love you, but I haven't sealed my love to you the way I'm supposed to...the way a Thanagarian should. Do you understand? When I was promised to Hro, I wore earrings that said that. I wear nothing that says I am your mate. Nothing."

She shook her head. "Not wearing anything from you made it easier for me to look at you and say, 'You mean nothing to me.' It made it easier for me to deny how I feel about you. And I don't want to do that anymore."

She sighed. "Maybe I was afraid that one day, I'd be captured and if I wore earrings, I couldn't deny I loved you...that I threw away all I grew up with because I loved you...that I sacrificed my world because I didn't want to lose you."

She shook her head, then looked him through teary eyes. "When we get back, I want to get earrings. I want to wear earrings that say I am your mate and the mother of your child."

Her smile was shallow as she patted his hand. "I'm not worried about Thanagar anymore. But I do worry about you not knowing how I feel about you."

John removed his hand from hers and smiled weakly as he stood up. Using his ring he opened the pocket dimension where he'd stored his battery and took out a small box. "Now seems to be as good a time as any. Will these do until we get back?" he asked as he handed her the box.

He watched her expression as she opened the small package. Inside were two opal earrings. Each opal lay on a large oval white-gold backing. She gasped and then she hugged him.

"These are perfect," she whispered in his ear. "I love you, John." Then she suddenly sat back. "Wait a minute. When did you get these?"

He took an earring out of the box and gently clipped it to her ear. "I bought them years ago. A long time ago, Batman and I had an adventure I'll tell you about on the way back to Earth. I didn't know when or even if I was ever supposed to give you these, but I hope they'll do until we get back to Earth...until we can get the kind you want." He reached around and attached the remaining earring to her other ear.

She threw her arms around him again and just before she kissed him whispered, "These will do for a lifetime."

(Now on the second moon of Galtos)

He felt a hand stroke his cheek and he opened his eyes. Shayera was sitting on the armrest of the recliner. There was a gentle smile on her face. "Hey," he said.

"Hey yourself," she answered. "You know you shouldn't sleep in the chair."

It was his turn to smile. "How's Arthur?"

"He's fine. He got a star in school and - wait didn't he talk to you?"

John shook his head. "Nope. My job is to pass the phone to Nana."

She laughed and slid off the armrest and into his lap. "And you do a fine job of phone passing."

"I strive to please."

She kissed him on the cheek. "You'll do. Did you take your cholesterol medicine?"

He pursed his lips together in a fake pout. "Yes."

"What about your blood pressure medicine?"

He cleared his throat. "Now you sound like a wife."

She smirked. "And that sounds like a 'no.'"

She got up and returned a few moments later with a pill and a glass of water. He took the pill and drank the water, returning the empty glass back to her.

She turned to walk away. He called out after her, "Puqni'lodj." He didn't know many Thanagarian words that weren't profanity. But early on, he made a point of having her teach him that phrase.

She stopped and looked back at him. Touching the earrings he'd given her years earlier, she smiled and said softly, "Puqni'lodj. Dinner is in fifteen minutes."

John nodded. "You know sometimes I wonder if we did okay."

She flashed a quick smile at him and said as she walked away, "We're not finished doing, you know. Not by a long shot."

He closed his eyes again. "I know," he said softly.

I know.

END