June, her favourite month out of the whole entire year. Mostly because that meant her semester would finish by the end of the month. However that also meant that she had to begin cramming for all of her exams. Vietnamese lit was probably her easiest, mostly because she was fluent in the language. Her boyfriend on the other hand looked like he was about to slam his head against the kitchen counter. "Why did you make me take this stupid class?" he groaned.

She rolled her eyes and continued cutting the vegetables for their dinner. "I don't even know what this stuff means." he whined. Artemis was so frustrated she was surprised the veins in her head weren't popping. "Wallace West if you continue pestering me I will stab you." she growled, turning and glaring at him with knife in hand.

"You wouldn't wo -" he smiled nervously.

"Stab you." she concluded.

With a loud sigh he dragged himself out of the kitchen and fell back onto the sofa. In the background she could hear him trying to pronounce, more like butchering, the language. "Hey Arty?" he called half an hour later. She stopped stirring the pot for a moment and sighed. "Yes, West?" she asked, trying to hide the annoyance in her voice.

"I love you." he yelled.

"Me too, on most days." she muttered.

Dinner was satisfying, she thought it was amazing considering she hardly ever cooked. Usually Wally was in charge of cooking, he was good at that. "This is really good Arty and I mean really good." he complimented whilst shoving food into his mouth. Artemis was just glad that she didn't screw the recipe up, hearing that he liked it made her relieved. He had this twinkle in his eyes when he looked at her across the table. It made her stomach flutter and all of the heat rise to her face, he still made her giddy like a teenager.

Wally wanted nothing more than to marry her and get a big house where all of their children could run around. He wanted lot's of kids, lot's. God, he was so in love with Artemis. "I love you so much Arty." he whispered like it was the most sacred declaration in the entire universe. Her face flushed a brighter shade of red. "Love you too."

This might've been one of the biggest mistakes in his entire life, more so than the time when he went through with a dare that Bart gave him, juggling knives was not one of his brightest ideas. Her phone was buzzing on her bedside table, he could see the white glow of the screen illuminate the wall and ceiling. It took his split second decision to grab it and slip out into the hallway. If she found out that he stole her phone, let alone answered it, she probably would've cut his head off. 

His eyes narrowed at the sight of the contact name and picture displayed on the screen; Dick Grayson. At that moment he wanted to punch a hole in the wall. He shouldn't have answered it but he did, Wally was a very nosy human being. "Please don't tell me you were calling her for the job without telling me." he whispered, hoping that his best friend did not just go behind his back. Dick knew how he would feel if he asked Artemis instead of himself to do this, he knew and he did it anyways. 

The line was silent for a moment, clearly Dick wasn't expecting it to be him to answer the call. "Look Wally, she said she wanted to do this - "

"That is not what she said to me, you know what she's been through yet you call her anyways?" he would've been screaming if Artemis wasn't in the next room.

"What if I were to ask Zatanna to be bait to catch her kidnapper, what would you say to that?" he continued. 

"Do not bring her into this Wally!" Dick snapped back. 

Wally knew he stepped over the line with that but the anger inside of him couldn't see right and wrong at the moment. "Now you call whoever you're working for on the side and tell them that I'm the one that will be going, not her. I would die before I'd let her get thrown back into that shit again." he said truthfully. Wally West would protect that goddess lying in his bed with his life because he loved her, mentally, physically, and emotionally. 

Without another word, or at least before Dick could say anything else, he hung up. Thankfully Artemis was still asleep when he stepped back inside of their shared room. He was glad that she had gotten into the habit of sleeping heavily, once she was asleep she wouldn't wake up to anything - for the most part. If there was something wrong a sinking feeling in her gut would be the thing to wake her. 

She subconsciously rolled over and wrapped her limbs around him as soon as he got into bed. A sigh escaped his lips, he wasn't as worried as he was before. If Artemis were to find out he did this, if she ever did, hopefully it would be once he's away with Kaldur. "Don't worry Arty, I'll always protect you." he murmured whilst pressing a kiss to the top of her head. This was a promise and a vow, something he wouldn't ever break no matter what. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This was the finger he's broken in the span of three weeks, the school nurse was not too happy about seeing him in her office again. "Your visits are becoming too often Mr. Wayne, please try to keep out of trouble." she said after taping his fingers together. The boy didn't say anything, instead he hopped off of the bed and headed out of the office. He was a troubled kid, every grown up in the area could see that. It was almost as if it radiated off of him, a lot of kid's steered clear of him. 

Even the older kids avoided him, mostly because they knew he wasn't afraid of a fight, also because he would probably kick all of their asses. By lunch time he was sitting in the library reading, a curious blonde seated on the sofa next to him. "Do you think Mar'i will have a fancy accent when she gets back?" she asked while taking a bite out of her sandwich - his sandwich. Damian was quite picky with what he ate, none of this food was like the food his mother used to give him. 

Just at the mention of Mar'i he closed his book and stood up. This was a topic he most definitely didn't want to talk about. The girl stuck by him like a parasite, she never seemed to leave. Damian already tried scaring her away but she only responded to his threats with a smile. Out of the corner of his eye he could see her staring up at him with bright green eyes as he placed the book back onto the bookshelf. "You should apologize to her Damian, I'm pretty sure she misses you as much as you miss her." Melody smiled. 

"I don't miss her!" he snapped before brushing past her and exiting the library. 

Melody only continued to bother him about it for the rest of the day. If it wasn't her speaking about Mar'i she was throwing notes at him during class, her aim was quite off for most of her throws. "I really hope she'll have pictures when she comes back y'know. I've always wondered what jolly old England looks like." she snorted at her own funny accent, Damian however wasn't amused in the slightest. 

All of the joy seemed to be sucked out of him when she left. Melody could see just how bad he was hurting and she didn't like seeing people getting hurt, physically or emotionally. After all she used to see her mother get hurt like that all the time and it was painful to watch. Damian didn't see her after school, she wasn't lingering by the door like usual. It was raining, Gotham's storms never seemed to cease, he found her quivering outside in the cold. There were a couple of boys picking on her and pulling at her pigtails like the bullies they were. 

She annoyed him to hell and back but he was the one friend who hadn't left him yet so he walked over and grabbed one of the bullies, punching them in the jaw. The other's seemed alarmed and didn't know whether to run or fight back, they looked like deer caught in the headlights. "What the hell is wrong with you?" the boy on the ground yelled up at him. Damian grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and glared hard at him, no one messed with his friends - friend.

A few choice words were said before the bullies ran off. Melody immediately latched onto him, arms wrapped around him as she began to cry. Everyone always picked on her for the scars on her face. Damian was naturally sarcastic and rude but he never made fun of her for those, he knew all too well about scars himself. His hands burned, mostly because his fingers were still trying to heal still and he just punched another person. His father wasn't going to be too pleased about hearing that, neither was Alfred. 

Then again he wasn't trying to impress any of them. His father wasn't around much anyways so why did he care? "Pennyworth is here, I'm sure he can drive you home." he assured her as she nodded and wiped her tears away. As they were walking to the car he looked her up and down to make sure they didn't hit her in any way. Lucky for them they didn't do anything but call her names and pull at her hair. "Can you just try to call her, please?" Melody pleaded one last time before getting out of the car and running up to her doorway. 

He spent the night contemplating whether he should call Mar'i or not, it's not like he wanted to, most definitely not. Damian was only calling her because Melody told him to not because he missed her. By morning he was dialing her phone number. There was something about hearing the line ring that made his heart beat faster than it normally should. He brushed that off as just a natural anxiety when it came to apologizing, that was something he never did.

She never answered the phone, it went to voicemail. That hurt him more than her leaving him behind. He didn't bother leaving a voicemail, clearly she didn't care about him enough anyways.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kori called and wanted to hang out, so like the kind person was Zatanna said yes. They were outside on the balcony of Kori's condo lounging on some chairs in the sun. It was relaxing, she needed to relax with everything that's been going on. Her mind felt like it was going to explode, just walking here had her nervous. Zatanna knew she shouldn't be nervous walking down the street but she couldn't help it.

John could be anywhere watching and waiting. What if he wanted to kidnap her again? Perhaps he would actually succeed at murdering her this time. One thing she feared most besides him was dying. "How is Richard?" Kori asked snapping her from her dark thoughts. The silence was getting too scary anyways. "Dick's good, he's good, we're good." she stumbled over her words as she spoke.

The redhead could sense her nervousness ever since she stepped inside of the condo. "I sense you are stressed friend, would you like to talk about it?" Kori asked, this was a safe zone after all. If Zatanna wanted to spill her guts to her she would be perfectly fine with that. "No I'm fine, I'm just stressed about my finals coming up and all." she lied. The conversation quickly changed to something much lighter.

Kori could talk about her modelling all day long if Zatanna let her. When her phone rang Dick managed to save her when he said he was here to pick her up. "It was nice seeing you Zatanna! We should hang out again." Kori exclaimed while wrapping her in a bone crushing hug. The young woman was stronger than she looked. For a minute Zatanna thought all of her ribs had broken from the sheer force of the hug. "We definitely should." she breathed out once Kori released her from the hug.

The officer was waiting outside in his car when she exited the building complex. The window was rolled down and music was spilling out from the vehicles radio. "How was your girls day?" he asked when she stepped inside of the car. Zatanna didn't know where to start when it came to her day. The model knew how to keep her busy, especially with the speed she talked at. "Fine. She talked a lot." she sighed.

"Anything about me?" he asked curiously.

"Sorry but what happens in Kori's condo stays in Kori's condo." she laughed.

Dick had quite the ego and she didn't want to enlarge it anymore than it already was. He rolled his eyes and took her hand in his, bringing it to his lips and pressing a kiss to the back of her hand. "So I was thinking we could go catch a movie and get some dinner, how about that?" he smirked seeing her blush. They hadn't been on a date in forever. This was refreshing, being somewhere other than school and their apartment.

She felt a little more at ease when he was with her. Dick made sure she was close to him at all times, a careful eye scanning the people around them. He was waiting for John, one day he would come back and when he did Dick would be the last thing he'd see. Just last month he got to lock his brother's killer away, again. He didn't know why the guy hadn't been given the death penalty yet, he was a psychopath.

Dinner was a bust, they'd have to go after the movie. This time he let her pick the film they were to watch. "Zee you're taking forever." he whined, she had been staring at the list of movies playing for two minutes now. There wasn't a lot of selection but she ended up choosing a comedy. The entire time he was laughing himself silly, he was the loudest in the theatre. Everyone gave him nasty looks on the way out but he shrugged it off.

They couldn't do anything, not when he was in uniform anyways. Only an insane person would attack a police officer. "Thanks Dick, tonight was nice." she smiled up at him. On impulse he would've leaned down and kissed her right away but he stopped just above her mouth. "Can I kiss you?" he asked. She nodded and finally he pressed his lips against hers. For him it was the best reward he could've received from this successful date.

Just seeing her smile alone was enough of a reward. He cherished her too much that he wouldn't dare do anything she wasn't uncomfortable with. It was magical, they felt like two teenagers sharing a kiss for the first time. Sparks were flying, literally, fireworks were going off behind the two of them. Zatanna yelped and jumped on him to hear the loud noise. Both of their hearts seemed to jump out of their chests at that moment.

He would have gone to investigate but the punks would probably be gone by the time he got there. "How's that for magical?" he laughed as she shook her head and grinned.

"Definitely out of the ordinary that's for sure."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Everything was set and in place now. His father trusted him, more than he should, and asked Kaldur to work with him. For his wife this was equal parts terrifying and worrying. She was angry at the world for letting this happen, he shouldn't have to leave her. This was dangerous, he would most likely die if he was caught. "Kal baby can you reconsider?" she asked pressing a kiss to his shoulder blade. The two of them were sitting in bed getting ready to turn in for the night.

Roquette had finals in less than two weeks now, studying however was the last thing on her mind. The young woman was brilliant, she would pass at the bare minimum if she didn't study at all. "This is for the greater good my love, I have a chance to make the world better, be a hero." he said softly. She sighed and narrowed her eyes to glare at the back of his head. "I'm the greatest good you're ever going to get." she muttered, folding her arms and pouting.

The day for him to leave was not set in stone but they knew it would be between the end of June and middle of July. Roquette just wanted to spend as much time with him as possible. He laughed and turned to press a kiss to her forehead. "Yes, yes you are." he laughed before reaching over and turning the bedside lamp off. She laid in bed for half an hour mulling many things over in her mind. She was four months pregnant now, the baby would be due in Novemeber, what if he wasn't here?

That spiked her stress levels ever so slightly, she couldn't deliver the baby by herself. Roquette needed him by her side, she was scared. What if he died and never got to see their child grow up? Their child would never know who their father was. It was almost like he could sense her fear when he smoothed a hand down her back. She crumbled at the soothing touch, her body shaking as she tried to hold in her tears.

Crying wasn't something she did a lot, quite rare for her to do so. Lately she found herself unable to control her emotions. The doctors chalked it up to her hormones spiraling out of control because of the baby. She was going to miss him and his formalities so much. Kaldur was a gentleman and he most certainly knew how to treat her like his queen. He held her above all us because he was the Earth and she was the sun - bright, beautiful, and one of the reasons why the Earth functions as properly as it did.

If anything he was going to miss her even more. Maybe his father would let him see her from time to time? No, that was selfish to think that. He shouldn't be dragging her into this mess and risk having her injured. The less involved she was in this whole secret undercover mission the better. He didn't want to miss the birth of his child, he wanted nothing more than to be with her and their child. By morning everything was sort of back to normal. Routine was everything in this household. She was seated on the couch going through some of her notes and making corrections or adding onto them.

Already she was getting into the habit of resting things on her belly. It was one of the upsides of being pregnant. "Hey Kal?" she called.

"Yes Roquette?" he yelled from the kitchen.

At the moment he was making breakfast for four, Dick was coming over and bringing Kaldur's partner for the mission. "Can you melt some cheese on my bacon? And put some ketchup on the side!" she hollered before going back to work. This was another one of her cravings. She could imagine the disgusted look on his face at the moment, it only made her smirk. Nonetheless he brought her dish out exactly how she asked him to.

The doorbell rang not two minutes after she began to eat. An irritated groan left her as she put her plate to the side and stood up. "Grayson and, West?" she said confused as she invited the two strapping men inside. She wasn't expecting Wally to be the one going with Kaldur, she thought it would be some covert specialty trained agent. Her husband must've had the same thought as he too looked surprised to see the redhead.

They awkwardly went to give her a hug, didn't work out too well. Instead they gave her a side hug. "That's so cool that you have another human inside of you." Wally smiled and looked down at her protruding stomach.

"Yes, I believe that is how pregnancy works." she said with a roll of her eyes.

"Please come in my friends, I made breakfast." Kaldur led them into the living room.

She took her seat once again and balanced the plate on her stomach while glancing over her notes. Wally couldn't stop staring at her, she felt like an attraction at a circus with his curious eyes watching her every move. "What, should I start dancing?" she teased. His face flushed red from embarrassment, he couldn't help but stare. Roquette knew her friend was a curious human being so she couldn't blame him.

The air was tense and she could practically feel the anger radiating off of the redhead sitting across from her. Most of said anger was directed towards Dick Grayson, yet another thing she couldn't blame him for. A part of her was angry at the officer as well. He was the one putting Kaldur, her husband in this situation. "What's the plan?" Kaldur asked. There was a pause and the air seemed to lighten ever so slightly.

"Okay so Kaldur your dad trusts you enough to work alongside him, now of course the two of you will be sent for training and then you'll be deployed. We want any and all information no matter how little or unimportant the detail may be." Dick explained.

Roquette sat there and scribbled down some notes, they didn't need to know about those. The more information she had written down about this little mission the better.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The letter was sent two days ago, she hoped her parents would get it in time. She spent her days outside now, she even tried out for the girls soccer team. "You think I made it?" she asked, her and Colette were walking down the corridor towards the sports center. There was a whole entire building dedicated to sports, this school had everything. The only thing it needed now was her old friends and it would be perfect.

She nearly screamed when she looked at the list posted for the soccer team. "I made it, I made it!" she yelled, a couple of kids turned and looked back at her. She could feel the heat rising to her face, that was embarrassing. "Sorry." she said loud enough for the surrounding people to hear. Mar'i didn't mean to disturb them with her happiness. "We should go tell Toni, maybe that would cheer her up." Colette proposed to idea which Mar'i automatically agreed to.

Ever since Toni's parents told her they were leaving she had been acting glum. Mar'i hated to see her friends upset. "Guess who made the soccer team." she exclaimed raising her eyebrows at the brunette sitting on the bench. They searched everywhere for her and after thirty minutes they found her sitting in the flower garden. The place was absolutely breathtaking and the flowers all smelled so sweet. "Oh let me guess, you." Toni said bitterly.

The two girls sighed, she was sad and bitter. One of the worst emotional combos in Mar'i's opinion. Instead of retorting something just as bitter back she took a seat next to her and pulled her in for a side hug. "Not having your parents here sucks, take it from an expert." Mar'i let out a short laugh. She longed for summer break, mostly because she got to see her parents again. It would also be nice to see Melody and perhaps Damian again. She missed Gotham most of all. The city was hauntingly beautiful which always interested her.

If she was ever given a history project on a city she would definitely choose Gotham. "I'm sorry for being so nasty to both of you, I just miss them." Toni frowned and rested her head on her friends shoulder.

"Can't you call them?" Mar'i asked.

"No, I'm not allowed while they're on business." Toni's frown only deepened.

A loud and slow ring made the three of them jump. It was time for lunch, after that she had English. The school offered much more classes than her old school. Her favourite class so far was between biology, English, and gym. "Come on, I think we're having sandwiches and lemonade." Mar'i smiled as she stood up and grabbed Toni's hand to pull her up off of the bench.

She was right it was sandwiches, chips and lemonade today, the perfect summer lunch. The dining hall was filled with chatter and laughter from all sorts of different people. This school went all the way up to high school graduation so there were a lot of people inside. "You never told us why your parents sent you here, was it for disciplinary reasons, maybe you killed someone?" Colette asked, Toni snickered at that.

"I didn't kill anyone, my parents just thought I would be better off and safer here." she sipped on her lemonade right after.

Yelling caught their attention, three pairs of eyes flickering in the direction of the high school level students arguing. "It's just Leo, my brother is always picking fights with people who he knows can't win against him." Toni sighed and continued eating. The three of them bumped into Toni's older brother a lot. He seemed to have a vendetta against Mar'i, probably because of that comment she made on how she could roast marshmallows on his fire hazard hair.

Leonardo, she laughed at his name, reminded her of the ninja turtle. He was rude, arrogant, not to mention he called her the most hideous names. She was convinced that if compared to a demon the demon would be nicer than him. "Why couldn't my parent's take him with them?" Toni asked aloud.

"They probably left him here to bother you." Mar'i snorted.

A shadow loomed over their table a couple minutes later. Toni's brother, the devil, was here for his daily teasing regiment. "Move peasant." Leo told Colette making the girl scoot over. "Hello crybaby, missing mum and dad enough yet to cry?" he teased, reaching over and taking one of the brunettes chips. Toni frowned and crossed her arms, her brother was so cruel. Mar'i would never be this cruel to her, hopefully, future siblings. "I'm not a crybaby." Toni muttered.

He laughed at that, the sheer volume of it caught a few student's attention. "I can't blame mum and dad for leaving as often as they do, you know dad doesn't stand for liars in this family." Leo smirked, he was getting exactly what he wanted. Damian was kinder than him, even on his bad days. The three girls sat there silently, Toni's lip was trembling and her eyes were getting watery. "Come on now crybaby do what you're good at, cry!" he demanded, bringing his fist down onto the table.

"I'm not hungry anymore." Toni whispered, standing up from the table.

Colette and Mar'i followed in suit, he had made all of the disgusted, Mar'i more than the other two. She couldn't stand people like him. Leo stood up and stepped into the aisle behind him, she could feel him smirking. "I present to you the crybaby, peasant, and alien everyone!" he announced. Mar'i at that point should've left, every fibre of her being was screaming for her to ignore him, but she couldn't.

Of course he was too busy basking in his own glory to notice her walking up to him. Everyone in the dining hall was laughing at them. Her fingers curled into tight fists as she stared up at him. Leonardo was two years older than her but she wasn't scared of him. The man she was scared of was named John Constantine, he wasn't here so she had nothing more to fear. "Hey ninja turtle!" she yelled to catch his attention. The boy turned around, smirk still on his face, when she punched him.

The boy fell to the ground and stared up at her shocked. Her hand hurt like hell but all she could do was smile down at him. "Having fun yet?" she asked before turning around and exiting the dining hall with her friends. Mar'i knew she would be called down to the Head Master's office in a matter of time, violence was intolerable. "Who taught you how to do that?" Colette asked.

"Damian Wayne." Mar'i smiled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Everyday was different, especially when working in a diner. There were so many different faces, happy or sad, that she got to see. Not to mention the list of orders she received from tables to take to the kitchen. "What can I get'cha?" she asked boredly while looking down at her notepad. It was worn and covered in all sorts of different orders. "I like this colour on you." the woman complimented. Harley perked up immediately when she recognized the voice.

Pamela should've been at home still resting, why was she here? Her shift ended in half an hour, she'd be home in another. Where she worked was far from where Pamela lived. Taking the bus there and back was at least an hour. "I'll take a coffee and a slice of spice cake." Pamela smiled and handed her the menu.

"Coming right up Red!" she chimed, pressing a kiss to the redheads cheek before skipping to the kitchen.

Whenever her girlfriend was around she became ten times happier. This job wasn't fun but it got her the money that she needed. She used to be a teacher, then a psychiatrist at Arkham, a lot of things happened after that which led her to working as a waitress. Harley wasn't proud of her past but she was trying to make up for all of the bad she did. Not everything she did was horrible, she did save a kid.

Her ex-boyfriend, known psycho, kidnapped Bruce Wayne's Ward. There was something about the man deemed as the World's Greatest Detective that had him obsessed. Not even she could catch his attention the way the detective did. The jealousy arose when the well-known detective started to expand his family. Harley saw the way it changed him, it drove him to head all the way to Happy Harbor just to stay close.

Those thoughts were hard to escape, that was when he was at his worst. Her and Melody meant nothing, she should've left sooner but she didn't and she's regretted it ever since. "Can I get one slice of spice cake?" she called to the chef. He nodded and the knife in his hand caught her eye, the shine of the blade made her skin crawl.

That little wedding shop in the middle of town was more like a little shop of horrors than magic. Upstairs was normal, her boyfriend needed to use the shop as a cover, below was where the real horrors were. One day she was out and by the evening she came home to the store to hear screaming. There were three floors to the place, the apartment upstairs, the store, and the secret basement.

Not a lot of people knew it existed but her boyfriend did extensive research. Melody was upstairs in her bedroom quivering in the corner. The screams from the basement were echoing through the vents into the apartment above the store. "Sweetie what is that?" she asked picking the eight year old up. The girl was quiet, too stunned and scared to speak. "Daddy brought a boy home, he's hurting him." she whispered, voice shaking with every word.

Harley had seen a lot these past years, the relationship was toxic but it was impossible to escape. She was like the unsuspecting fly in the spiders web. "Stay here, mommy's gonna check it out." she said and placed her daughter on her feet. The pained screams only got louder the closer to the basement she got. "Mistah J what are you doing?" she yelled once she saw the bloodied teenager tied to the chair. There was a dim light hanging overhead, the kids head hung low, blood dripping from his mouth.

The first word for what she felt would be horrified but even that was an understatement. "Lighten up Harley, he's a punk anyways, isn't that right Jason Todd?" he laughed and slammed the crowbar into the teens leg. She winced when she heard the strangled scream escape the kids lips. It went on for day's, she started seeing missing posters pop up all across Happy Harbor but she didn't say anything. She was scared.

One night the screaming stopped, he was making her and Melody watch. Her daughter was terrified, tears dried to her puffy pale cheeks. "Check if the little birds alive, we can't have him dying on us now can we?" Joker, she only knew him by that name, laughed. Slowly she approached the kid and kneeled down next to him. She was in medical school for years, she knew just how much pain the human body could take, she was surprised the kid was still breathing - barely. "If you can hear me don't make a sound." she whispered.

Harley stood up and placed her hands on her hips before shaking her head. Her boyfriend growled and stormed over, pushing her to the floor and shaking the teenager violently. "Get rid of him and clean this place up! We don't live in a butcher's shop Harley!" he yelled, turning and storming towards the staircase. On the way up he grabbed their daughter and dragged her up into the shop above. As soon as the door closed she stood up and raced over to the kid.

If this was her daughter she would want someone to help her. "Jason is it, how about we get you out of here?" she whispered, untying him and helping him up. The kid could barely walk, she made sure he leaned most of his weight against her. "Why, you're helpin' me." he slurred out.

"Because I'm a mother, and that's what mother's do." she said helping him down a nearby alleyway.

"Stay here, I'll leave an anonymous tip to the police and have them send an ambulance to come get you." she informed, gently helping him down to lean against the brick wall.

The woman kept her promise but when she got back she wasn't prepared to hear her daughter crying and screaming for her upstairs. Harley had never run so fast, her feet couldn't move quick enough. "I told you to smile!" Joker hollered from the living room. Her heart stopped when she saw the scene. Joker and their daughter pinned on her back on the floor, looming over her with a knife in hand. "Get off of her!" she shouted running over to tackle him.

He whipped around just in time to hit her in the face with the hand of the knife. She blacked out.

The chef called her snapping her from her daze. After that she remembered waking up to find her daughter with her mouth poorly sewn closed. A smile permanently engraved into that pretty little face of hers. She regrets not getting home fast enough, she'll regret it for the rest of her life. "You good Quinzel?" the chef asked. She nodded and grabbed the plate of spice cake, heading back out into the diner.

On the way to Pamela's table she poured a fresh cup of coffee and made it exactly to how her girlfriend liked it. "Okay, one slice of spice cake and a coffee. Is that all?" she asked, she smiled fondly down at her. She may have been smiling but regret and fear radiated off of her. Pamela reached out and grabbed her hand, she was shaking. "Come on, smile" Pamela said trying to cheer her up.

"That's the last word I want to hear." Harley frowned.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Apparently Megan was deemed a hot-guy-magnet. She tried to defend herself to Peggy but every point her friend brought up was true. The worst part was that she kept friend zoning all of them. Not that she minded, she just felt bad for them if they wanted to try and date her. Megan just wasn't in the dating mood, she was busy studying and helping Conner out. He still refused to go see a therapist even though he was still so distraught.

They were out for coffee, her and Conner, he was different today. He looked brighter and maybe just a tad bit happier. "So are you ready for finals?" she asked, tapping her nails against the table. The sound was calming and repetitive, also addictive to do as well. He nodded, his classes weren't as difficult as hers. Megan had to take a lot of health, nutrition, baking and cooking classes. She was just waiting for summer break now, she needed to get more hours at the diner.

Student loans weren't going to disappear themselves. "Thank you Megan." he smiled at her. Conner was truly grateful to have her for company. He was beginning to feel horrible for judging her in the first place. The redhead really did clean-up her act when he broke up with her. She definitely didn't deserve him now with the way he was. Her eyes flickered over to the clock hanging on the wall, eyes going wide when she realized how late it was. "I'm late, Peggy is going to kill me." she groaned whilst sinking lower into the booth.

They were having such a nice conversation, she lost track of time. "I can drive you if you want." he offered, he had nothing better to do so why not?

"Really? Thank you so much!" she exclaimed.

He had to jog to keep up with her in order to get to the car. As soon as it was unlocked Megan slid into the back seat and opened up the backpack she brought with her. The drive down the street was silent until he got to the lights and looked back at her in the rearview mirror. She was in the middle of changing into her work uniform. "You act like you haven't seen me like this before." she pointed out when she caught his gaze. Conner quickly looked back at the road, cheeks flushed a bright shade of red.

The diner came up into view a couple minutes later and he pulled up to the curb for her. She climbed out of the car and went around to his window. "Thank you Conner you're a life saver." she said kissing his cheek before heading off into the diner. Even after she went inside he sat there in his car for a few moments longer than he should've. Megan Morse had him completely dumbfounded.

A/N: This is one of the last chapters of this book, the end is nigh everyone.

Skycrystal23 ;)