Daydream || Rick Tyler [DC's Stargirl]

• Chapter 31

After Pat drove Rick out to his home in West Farms so he could wash up and retrieve some clean clothes, he drove him and Molly to the Pit Stop. Beth and Dr. McNider were super close to cracking Eclipso's location, meaning it was time for Rick to see if he could fix the hourglass.

When they walked inside, they were immediately met with Mike, one of his friends, and Pat's friend, Zeke, repairing S.T.R.I.P.E. When Mike saw them, he came running over to them, his friend right on his tail.

"Rick! You're alive!" Mike cheered happily.

Rick seemed slight confused as Molly sent Mike a look, "He was never dead."

"It's just a figure of speech," Mike shrugged in response.

Molly smiled lightly at him before looking over at his friend, who she noticed was holding the pink pen, "So I'm guessing you found the lightning?"

Mike nodded his head motioning his head and introducing, "This is Jakeem. He's the owner of the pen now."

"So... where's the Thunderbolt?" Rick asked.

Mike and Jakeem looked at each other nervously. Then, Jakeem turned back towards Molly and Rick and responded, "We're waiting for him to come back."

Molly just nodded her head slowly while Rick looked up at the ceiling as his way of not saying anything. Then, Molly told the two boys, "Well, we're going to go upstairs to fix the hourglass. Let us know if you need anything."

Both of them nodded their heads as Molly and Rick passed them. As the boys walked back over to sit at the counter, Molly and Rick walked up the stairs. Rick walked over to the opposite side of the room to grab a toolbox as Molly set her bag down on the couch. She opened her bag and pulled out the small towel she had wrapped the hourglass in. Rick and Molly met at the table with their things and sat down next to each other.

"How did you get all of the pieces?" He asked her as she unwrapped the towel.

"My powers," She replied while finishing. She slid the towel across the table towards him. Then, he pulled out his father's journal and began to flip through to find anything that could help them. Molly reached up and began to toy with her mother's pendant as she watched him nervously.

"Rick, are you sure you're okay?" She asked him.

Rick stopped flipping through the notebook and turned towards Molly. He nodded his head assuringly before responding, "Yeah. I'm just happy to be out of there."

"Was it bad in there?" Molly asked him.

He hesitated before answering, "It was just... lonely, I guess. When you're just sitting in a cell and laying in a cot all day, time goes by a lot slower. Your thoughts start to get to you."

Molly tried not to look like her heart broke for him. However, she knew she wasn't doing a good job. She couldn't help, but ask, "What did you think about?"

"I thought a lot about what I did to my uncle. How... how I really didn't know if I was going to get out of this," He said before quickly turning to look down at his father's journal. Then, he paused before confessing, "I thought about you."

Her heart leapt up in her chest as she repeated, "About me?"

He nodded his head without looking back up at her, "I just thought about if I would ever see you again. I... I didn't know if I would."

Molly reached over and placed her hand on his forearm. She squeezed it lightly while assuring him, "I tried to visit. Every day. I promise you I did. They wouldn't let me in though because I wasn't considered a 'direct relative.' Which is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."