Older, Smarter, Prettier

“Hey, got a minute?” Dick asked as he slid beside her on the couch, not waiting for his old friend to tell him if she had time for him or not. Titans Tower was oddly quiet but he figured it was because it was just after training and everyone was taking a well deserved break. Giving Donna a small smile, he continued talking. “I was wondering if you could take over again.” He asked, “I think I uh… I’m over-working myself a little.” It wasn’t something that he’d admitted easily. It was hard to admit any sort of defeat when you were trained under someone like Batman but he could see himself starting to make easy mistakes. Slipping under the lack of sleep. Little mistakes like that could lead to poor decision making and then the team wouldn’t be as strong as they could be. As strong as they would be underneath Donna’s leadership. 

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        “For you? Always.” Donna replied to Dick’s voice, turning the tablet in her hands off and setting it aside so that she could give him all of her attention. The tapes could wait until later. She blinked at him, surprised by the request. “Why? Leadership not all its cracked up to be?” Over-working was common for Dick, really, any of the Batkids. It was something they all seemed to pick up from Bruce. Usually they didn’t see it until they ran themselves into the ground though. “This is new.” She teased playfully. “How long do you think you need?” Donna asked, wondering how long this shift in power would be for. She didn’t mind taking the reigns for her best friend until he was ready to take them back, but it kept her tied to the Tower and the Titans until he took back leadership. 

Diana smiled softly as the other woman spoke, glad that Donna felt the same way. “We must try to make more time for each other if we can,” she said. “We are lucky to have each other. I think sometimes it may be easy to forget this.” She smiled softly. “I hope he is well,” she said. “I would visit him myself, but I wouldn’t want to intrude.” She gave a little smile. “I am sure he will be glad to see you.”

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        Donna nodded in agreement. “I’m not doing anything on Saturday if you’re free then.” She said, attempting to make plans with her older sister. Again, Donna found herself agreeing with Diana. That was commonplace though. There wasn’t much the pair disagreed on. It was easy to get swept up in the day to day of life and begin to take the things and people around you for granted. “I think he’s doing better than he was.” She explained. Doing better than before was good when it came to anyone, but especially when it came to Roy. “I don’t think he would mind if you visited him sometime.” Donna let out a hopeful sigh. “It’s been a long time, but I hope he isn’t upset to see me.”

     “Down? No. But there was a kitchen incident that I’d rather not get into…” Wally chuckled, giving her his best innocent grin as he looked over at Donna. He took the opportunity of the lack of distance between them to let his eyes run over every last detail of her face as if for the first time. Wally could never forget how beautiful Donna was, of course, but he had missed her terribly. Perhaps it was silly but he took a great deal of comfort from seeing that nothing had changed. “Dick’s” the redhead couldn’t help but smirk. Of course she knew. “Whaddaya say to Thai food?”

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     “A kitchen incident?” Donna asked, voice raising towards the end of the question, an indication of her curiosity. Something told her that there was a lot more to that story and that was why he didn’t want to get into it with her. Donna had a tendency to act like Diana when it came to the original Titans. Her right side of her mouth kicked up in a smile when Wally admitted that he would be eating on Dick’s dime. It was the risk of being the rich friend, and being friends with Wally. “Thai food sounds good. Should we order something for Birdboy too?” 

“i don’t know if you’ll like me very much if i told you about me.” she shrugged. perhaps it was because she wasn’t used to opening up, rather she liked to keep things surfaced and easy. but when it came to things like her past. well she avoided it any chance she got. noire attempted to smile at the other, “i rather you tell me about yourself, hon.”

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       “Why do you think that?” Donna asked, wondering what could sway her to dislike the stranger so readily. It sounded more like an excuse to stay closed-off to her, but who was Donna to judge a woman she barely knew? “If I tell you a fact about myself will you tell me one about you? I can start off with my love of photography.” She offered, hoping that it would help the woman open up to her more.

“Ouch Luv, that one hurt I suppose you are right, it’s not like I’d know the difference given my happy homelife consisted of being called killer and punched” He mused looking at the other nodding his head “then I’d love your assistance on this, we’ve got a level 15 demon which is a nasty piece of work, and some hostages in the building.

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      Donna had only been joking, but the response she received wasn't one she had been expecting. She knew nothing of his familiar life. A lack of one would explain a lot of what she did know about him though. "How does the leveling for demons work?" She asked curiously. "I'll get the hostages out if you can keep the demon distracted.

Despite his many claims to not be, Roy was an overly emotional person. Between what Lian had told him, the situation now, and fighting the never-ending ache that lurked in the deepest parts of his brain, the need for release was bubbling to the surface. Impulse control was something he had learned to curb in rehab.  And normally all that emotion was redirected into something more constructive. But then Donna looked at him. And when he saw that hope and longing flash in her eyes, every non-selfish thought flew out the window. He took the moment, pulling her closer to him.

He backed her against the wall, his hand stopping her head from the slam. The other supported his weight as looked down at her. The hold she had on him was stronger than any bullshit prophecy. He wanted to prove that to her. Lifting her chin so that she looked up at him he brought his face down closer to her. All she had to do was lean up and they’d be connected “always. Until the day I die…and even then. Even if this all ends in blood and ash, it would be worth it. All the pain in the world is worth a moment of your affection. I’d die a happy man and I’d wait for you for the rest of eternity.” he whispered to her. “He moved his hand , running it softly down the side of her face. His thumb ran across the bottom of her lip. “ I know I’ve fucked up. And I know you deserve better than me. So say you hate me. Say you don’t want this. Want me. Say it and mean it and I will never bring it up again.”

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         Roy was rough, yet caring — having put enough forethought into his action to protect her head from striking the wall her back was now pressed firmly against. He was calculated, something she had never really thought about him as. There had to be some deliberation between those eyes though. If not, how did he make perfectly times shots at moving targets. It just hadn’t been a thought to cross her mind as she watched his perfectly sculpted muscles move with the agility of a leopard. Her eyes met his as he guided her chin towards him. There was no fight left in her. The truth of it was that Donna Troy  — no matter how hard she tried to deny it  — had always belonged to Roy Harper in some capacity. She was his just as much as he was hers, and that was what every great love was about. But just like every great love, they were destined to end in tragedy. There was no fighting it. Donna knew that. She could face that and wear it on her shoulders like Atlas holding the world upon his if it meant that she got to have him for the rest of his life. Roy was all she had ever wanted. He was worth living a life for. He was worth grieving over. He was worth all the heartache she had been through and would go through. 

       Her face remained there, inches from his as she focused on her breathing. Her lungs expanded rapidly against her chest almost as quickly her heart beat against it, thumping so hastily she thought it might explode there. Then he spoke, shattering the growing tension, returning air to her lungs. Donna’s chest swelled with love and hope as she listened to his confession. Her eyes never once left his, connecting with him there in the space between them as she leaned her cheek against his palm. “No,” she whispered in response. “That would be a lie.” Donna knew that Roy was true to his word; that if she said she didn’t want him now then he would be gone. He would slip through her fingers like water, gone before she could figure out a way to contain him. She couldn’t risk that. Not after having lost him so many times before. “I deserve you. All of you. The good and the bad. The parts no one wants to see and the parts you’re too scared to show anyone. I could never hate you. I love you too much.” She finally admitted, eyes lost somewhere in a field of forest green where she searched for his thoughts.               

“I understand, Donna,” Diana told her, a soft smile touching her lips. “I am sure you are very busy. I’m glad we decided to get coffee together.” She had first experienced coffee after the war, when it was no longer rationed, and while caffeine didn’t have a particularly intense effect on her, she did like the taste. And she also enjoyed the social aspect. “I hope I haven’t been keeping you from anything important,” she said, a faint frown tugging her eyebrows together in concern. “You do not have to worry about offending me. I appreciate the time we spent together this afternoon.”

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      “I am too.” She told Diana honestly. As the years passed it seemed to her as if they were spending less time together. She chalked it up to their individual responsibilities. “You haven't kept me from anything at all. I was planning to visit Roy after this. Supposedly he came to the city.” Donna explained to the woman she considered an older sister. 

Why was it when ever the two of them got a moment alone, this is what happened?  Roy had come to see Donna, hoping to be able to talk to her about Lian. However, he over estimated his ability to be alone with her. There wasn’t a substance on this earth more addicting than Donna Troy’s lips. And he knew that which is why he tried to keep their meet ups public. But he couldn’t exactly tell her about his daughter from the future while sitting at a Denny’s. 

Needless to say, things between them got a little…heated between them. Had she pulled back and claimed she didn’t want him, his reaction may have been different.  If she even blamed his sobriety, though he’d been clean for a year now. But he knew that wasn’t the case. It was that damn prophecy she’d gotten. And that was what brought them here. Having the same argument they always did.  “I don’t CARE about the gods Donna! FUCK the gods, the oracles, the fucking loch ness monster and anyone else who thinks my fate is anything but my own. The gods do not control me. my decisions. or my fate. and i am sick and tired of you using them as an excuse. Because you’re scared. You’re scared that what I feel for you is fleeting. But it’s not. Look at me Donna.” his voice was desperate as he looked at her. Pleading with her. “From this moment until the last moment, I am yours.  I always have been.”

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        There wasn’t much that Donna had faith in more than the Gods. Unlike most others, she had direct connections to them. The only reason that any of her sisters and adoptive mother were who they were was thanks to Aphrodite. “The Gods don’t control you. You control you, but you fate is set out in front of you waiting for you to follow it. There’s nothing you can do to stop it or change it.” Donna said, despite having tried over and over to change the fate of the people around her. She didn’t know how Diana did it: lived while knowing that everyone around her was bound to die. It weighed on Donna, just another reminder that everything changed and nothing was forever. 

       His words cut into her like the edge of a newly sharpened blade, deep and accurate. She was scared. Scared that she would lose him because she was selfish. Because she wanted nothing more than to feel his arms around her, washing away all the reasons that she shouldn’t want them there. She wanted to feel his lips against hers, to drown out any reasoning she could come up with to deny them happiness. Her mind had been too quick though, not allowing the want to overtake her before she was able to pull from his grasp. Their eyes met and Donna wasn’t sure how she was able to stay so strong. Her façade quickly started to crack, coming apart at the edges where her features softened. “Always?” The word was a question, one she hadn’t meant to speak aloud. It hadn’t felt like he was always hers or she his. 

“Yeah I suppose I talk about many women who actually care about me outside of her huh?” The con man replied before smiling after all it was interesting to see Donna around something like this but he’d take the powerhouse help. “Oh I have no doubt you could take down this demon with me thrown over your shoulder, I just thought you might be a little busy doing other tasks.”

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        "I wasn't aware that women besides Zatanna cared about you." She only meant in a romantic sense. Donna was sure that his mother cared about him, and honestly, she did too. Just not in a romantic way. "I just got back. I don't have other tasks."

he nodded, hating that she looked so upset in the first place. “what’s your plans now that you’re back?” he asked, moving to get comfortable beside her. “miss donna of troy?”

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       “I was thinking I could start with keeping an eye on you and Wally.” She joked. In actuality she had come to keep an eye on Cassie. Diana asked her to come in her stead. “What are your plans? A little birdie told me you just got here too.”

     He focused on breathing, on her, and it worked. It was one of the things that Wally had always appreciated about Donna; she always knew how to make him feel better, and better yet? She could always read him somehow. She knew when he needed to talk about something and when it was better to just let something pass. “Nothing worth worrying about?” he grinned playfully, amending his previous statement to something that he was sure she would find far easier to believe. Wally could be…a bit of a disaster, but he always had the best intentions at heart. “You missed the parademon attack, though. That was pretty wild” the redhead shook his head. A gun in his hand had just felt…wrong. But it had been necessary, that was all that mattered. “Of course you did” he teased, grinning wider. “I was thinking about ordering in, actually..”

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        “So you didn’t burn anything down?” That sounded more believable to her. There was no way that nothing new happened while she was away, but she didn’t need to know every detail -- only the important stuff. “I heard whispers. Does anyone know what happened? How they got here?” The Amazon asked curiously, wondering if Dick had spilled any of details to Wally. She was almost sure that her best friend had likely looked into it. He was a detective by nature just like the rest of the bats. Making a mental note to ask Dick about it later, she smiled up at the speedster. “You’re ordering in? With who’s credit card?” She joked. 

“You as well. You have been quite missed.” kori smiled floating over and hovering over Donna’s bed cross-legged. “Tell me all about your trip. Leave no detail untold!” she encouraged with a bright smile. 

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      “As have you.” She told Kori fondly. Being away from everyone was always sad, but reuniting again almost made it worth it. “What do you want to hear about?” She asked, making her way to the bed. Sitting down, she leaned against the headboard of her bed, looking up at the woman hovering in front of her. 

John had missed Donna; she was always fun to hang out with and something flirted with depending on how serious their meetings ended up being. “Aww I knew you did care Luv, you know breaking bad habits are next to impossible. Hell I am a bad habit to some, and they just can’t quit me” He teased before taking in the scene “I have no qualms about asking for help luv, I just need to make sure those who offer it can handle just what it is we are facing.”

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        “You mean Zatanna?” She asked point blank. The magician had told her a lot about her relationship, or rather relations with John. What they had wasn’t what Donna would call a committed relationship, but what did she know. Hers never lasted. ”You don’t think I can handle it?”

he smiled, moving to pull the smaller girl into a hug. he gave a long squeeze, letting out a breath, before letting her go. fuck, had he missed her. she was one of his closest friends. someone he trained with. hell, he fell for her more than a few times over the years. she had to have been his best friend. “she’s with her mother, jade moved in to co-parent with me,” and to watch him but he wasn’t going to say that. “i’m glad your back.”

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        Donna hugged Roy back, her arms wrapping around his larger frame. It felt good to have him in her arms again. All this time and the love she had for him had never faded. Seeing him again only brought those feelings back to the forefront. Wallowing them down, she pushed the thought from her head. “Is that going well?” She asked, hoping that it was going better than the first time. “Did you miss me?” Donna teased, poking him in the chest.

he understood feeling helpless - he also understood feeling helpless when you don’t normally do. it must be even harder when you’re one of the strongest people in the universe. “of course,” he smiled softly, leaning against her slightly as he rubbed her back. “always here and we will do what we can, okay?” it was all he could really promise.

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      “I know.” She said with a deep breath, leaning back up to look at him. “Can we talk about something else? Anything else.” Donna asked, hoping that Dick would have something to distract me. 

     There was a time in his life that doing the same might have depressed Wallace, might have made him feel like he was falling behind while all of his friends were moving on with their lives but now? Now he would take the same over how terribly he could be doing in comparison. The same meant at the very least that he was alive and safe and as memories of the speedforce flooded his mind, the redhead tried to ground himself, squeezing Donna tighter to him as he drew in a deep inhale, holding it before he eventually let it go. “Roy looks great” he nodded quickly. He didn’t want to be the one to tell her that Roy had fallen off of the wagon again, it just didn’t feel like his place. “Nothing new, just missed you”

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       Feeling Wally’s arms tighten around her, Donna reached her hand up, letting her fingers run through the hair at the nape of her neck. It was an action she had used to relax him in the past. “Nothing?” She asked in disbelief. There was no way that with both Dick and Wally in the same city, nothing had happened. “I missed you too.” The brunette said, pressing a kiss to his cheek and pulling away from the embrace. “What’s for dinner?” She joked. 

John looked up from the ground, demons could be right bastards when they wanted something and this guy was no different. He muttered some spell as he lit his cigarette, letting the fire take control of his hands as he drew a symbol to send the thing back. “Man, you know that week with Zee was heavenly but damn if that woman didn’t toss out all my cigarettes” He mused to Donna smirking “Also Told you I could handle this little issue for you Luv” ​

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      The thought of Zatanna and John was not one that Donna wanted to have burned into her memory. Quickly she pushed the thought out, eyes moving to the cigarette in his hand. “Maybe you should quit and then you wouldn’t have to worry about it.” She offered a solution, although she was sure that John wouldn’t take it. “It’s okay to accept help.”