the robin & the canary; young justice

o12: Homefront

Again, Reese had begun to ramble, and again, Dinah was the one to cut her off as a cool September breeze blew through the nearby oak tree whose leaves were just starting to change color, only this time, her words weren't spoken with disapproval, but with pride.

"You just said 'Dad'," Dinah said, and Reese glanced up.

"Huh?" she asked, and after a moment, Dinah continued.

"Oliver," she said simply. "You referred to him as Dad. You've never done that before,"

"I haven't?" Reese echoed, before shrugging. "Hmm, well I guess now would be as good a time as any to start, considering my biological father was a scientist who thought it'd be a good idea to mess around with something in my DNA that gave me superpowers,"

Again, Dinah looked a bit shaken, but Reese brushed it off.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter," she told Dinah quickly. "I mean, it's not like my parents would be able to tell me exactly why they thought messing with my genes would be a good idea unless you have an ouija board lying around somewhere that I don't know about,"

"Reese," Dinah began again, her eyes turning softer, and a bit more understanding. "I can't say that I know exactly what you're going through, because I don't, but I want you to know that I'm here for you. We all are. Me, Oliver, Dick, if you need anyone to talk to about this--"

"Dick already knows," Reese interrupted, and Dinah gave a small smile.

"I assume he was the first person you told?" the older woman asked, and Reese gave a tiny nod, before she glanced down, where her golden arrowhead hung on a chain.

Gently, Reese pulled the long necklace over her head, setting the arrowhead on the table before the end popped open, revealing a new note that she actually hadn't read yet.

As much as she enjoyed "passing notes" with Dick when they weren't able to see each other, Reese had to admit that using the paper had begun to get a little bit cumbersome.

Yeah, these two artifacts were thousands of years old and had been used for centuries before Kent Nelson gave them to Reese at the Tower of Fate, but now, they were in the twenty-first century, and as such, not many people sent letters anymore.

Whatcha doin'? The note read, and Reese glanced upward, only to see that Dinah had walked away from where the two of them were sitting, instead opting to move over to a nearby soft pretzel cart, where she began to speak to the vendor.

Nothing much, Reese wrote quickly, taking out the small ballpoint pen that she had begun to carry around and beginning to scratch out a message. Aren't you in school right now?

Lunch break, Dick answered. Hey, did you know Artemis was going to Gotham Academy now?

At this, Reese couldn't help but roll her eyes. She wanted to like Artemis, truly she did, and for a while, the blonde had begun to prove herself within the team.

But...she was in no way sure of what it was, but Reese had a bad feeling. She couldn't help but think that Artemis was somehow going to mess up their rhythm, so to speak.

For years, it had been her, Roy, Wally, Kaldur, and Dick. Reese had to admit, she didn't spend as much time with Kid Flash or Aqualad outside of the Team as she probably should, but he and Dick hung out regularly, so that was something.

And maybe it was because it seemed like Green Arrow had replaced Speedy with Artemis almost immediately after Roy went solo, but at the moment, Reese really wished she was in Gotham. Dick could obviously take care of himself, I mean, hello, he was the protege of the Batman for crying out loud, but still...