Hope

12

On his way out for movie night, Mon-El walks into the DEO's science lab and finds Shaylee hard at work. Shaylee has been at this for hours, trying her best to figure out the solution to finally cure the lead allergy. So far, she's had no luck. Knocking, Mon-el makes his way in and props himself right next to the teenager.

"Thank you." He starts.

"For what?"

"For taking care of Naomi and for trying to replicate your mother's lead cure for her." Mon-el smiles. "Naomi asked if you could join us for movie night and I'd really love it if you came."

Shaylee goes silent as she looks down at her materials and continues on with her work. Sighing, Mon-El grabs the test tubes out of her hands and sets them aside.

"Hey." Shaylee whines.

"Shay talk to me."

"I need to focus."

"Shaylee... honey look at me." Mon-El instructs, lifting her head up. He looks in her dull green eyes and can see the tears starting to form. Quickly, Shaylee blinks away her frustrated tears and snatches back her materials.

"I just want to be alone right now. I need to figure this out."

"Shay come on don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Shut me out again."

"You don't get to tell me what to do. You're not really my dad, you don't even care about me. You only took me in because you felt guilty about my Mom." Shay states, with a quiet yet powerful tone. Mon-el looks at her speechless and she nods, knowing that what she said was the truth. "Just go back to your precious wife and real daughter and let me do my job. The faster this gets done, the faster you get to be with your family and I get to be with mine. This mission is going to be completed with or without your help."

"What mission are you talking about?" Mon-el asks.

Shaylee internally scolds herself and quickly brushes it off, hoping he wouldn't think too much into it.

"Can you just go please?!"

Mon-El accepts defeat and decides its best to let the girl cool down before talking to her again. She is too naive, finishing this mission isn't going to bring back her mother. It's just going to leave her heartbroken all over again and he is not ready to relive that time.

The girl was miserable. It was awful to see her go through it all like she was alone. She carried herself with such maturity that at first glance you wouldn't even notice she was hurting. But deep down, the girl was weeping her sorrows. Her mother was the only one who ever deeply loved her and she was taken from her within minutes of them finally getting their happy ending.

Mon-el watched her go through it once and he promised himself that he never let her go through the same amount of suffering ever again. He leaves the room and Shaylee continues on her research. Suddenly, tears were streaming uncontrollably down her cheeks and she didn't even know why. Soon enough, the girl was in full hysterics and curls up on the floor, praying no one can see her.

Waking up from her nap, she hears music blasting and gets out of bed, wondering what is going on. She walks into the ship's main room and finds her mother dancing around to Bon Jovi.

"Shay Shay! Come on dance with Mum!" Imra smiles, taking her daughter's hand. Together, the both of them laugh as they dance around the ship. Shaylee has never seen her mother this genuinely happy ever in a long time. It's nice seeing her smile and actually mean it.