The Animal Inside-Amaya Jiwe

Beebo The God Of War (part two)...

I wasn't necessarily expecting Amaya to be at my bedside when I woke up hours later, I presumed. My eyes flickered open, but my body stayed still, allowing me to look at Amaya without her knowing I was awake. Her head was buried into her hands which clutched onto one of mine tightly. "Gideon, you're sure it was just malnutrition?"

"Yes, Miss Jiwe. If you're talking about the fact that you slapped Miss Stein shortly before her collapse, the two incidents are completely unrelated."

"Yes, thank you, Gideon." Amaya's voice was sarcastic, filled with pain. And then the silent sobs.

"Are you all right, Miss Jiwe."

"I just- I can't believe I hit her. Nothing should ever make me that angry with her. I'm such an idiot." Slowly, I pulled my hand away from her, signaling that I was awake. "Hey you're up."

"And you're not an idiot." I muttered lowly.

She let out a small laugh. "How much of that did you hear?"

"Maybe a little too much." I shrugged, trying to swallow.

"Here." Amaya placed a glass of water on my lips. "Maria, when's the last time you ate something? Gideon said the reason you collapsed was because of malnutrition."

"Today's Friday?"

"Sunday." She corrected, running her hand over my hair slowly.

"Uh, then three days I guess."

"Maria!" She scolded me. "That's not healthy at all."

"I'm sorry." I paused for a second, debating whether or not to give in. But, the first thing my father ever taught me- marriage is about compromise. "About everything. I wasn't marrying you out of grief, but I can see how grief may have clouded my judgment. I mean, Diggle did marry us in a spur of the moment impulse in a park with Oliver and Barry."

"No, no, I'm sorry. I never should have pushed you. I know what it's like to lose my father, and all I wanted to do was talk and remember him, but I can understand if you don't."

"It's funny, I was just thinking about something he said to me."

"What's that?"

"Marriage is about compromise. It always will be."

"I would say that's wise, but from Martin, it's just expected." I let out a chuckle as she got up and kissed my forehead. "Come on, we're going to surprise Jax with a mini Christmas celebration."

She helped me up and held my hand as we walked towards the door. "Wait, why are we surprising him?"

"Yeah, I probably should have mentioned this before, but Jax has decided to leave the waverider. With losing Martin, it's just been too much for him."

"I swear to god if that bastard wasn't gonna say goodbye to me I would have kicked his ass into tomorrow."

XXX

As Jax walked into the lab, observing the discarded Firestorm cure, the lights flickered on as we all yelled at him.

"Surprise!"

"You didn't really think we were just gonna let you sneak out of here without saying goodbye." Sara asked him rhetorically, moving out of the way so Jax could see the feast the Gideon had prepared.

"Yeah, we can't celebrate the holidays without the whole family. Happy Yuletide!"

XXX

"Speech! Speech!" The entire team egged Jax on as he picked up his glass and stood up. "Uh, when Grey first dragged me onboard this ship, uh, I thought this was the last place that I wanted to be. I mean, you were all a bunch of screw ups, B-list superheroes, washed up bank robbers, no offense..."

"It's true. It's true." Sara agreed quietly.

"But, uh...the thing is, when you get a bunch of broken pieces, and you put 'em all together in the right way, they make something new, and suddenly, they don't feel so broken anymore...and I'm pretty sure that's what family is. So, uh...I don't know what happens next, but I know I'll always have a family with you guys."

"That's right."

"Damn right, little brother."

"Always."

We all grabbed our glasses and stood up. "Cheers."

XXX

I walked into Jax's room, ready to say goodbye to my little brother. "I swear to god, Jax, if you were planning to leave without saying goodbye, I would've found you and kicked your ass."

He pulled me in close to hug me. "Goodbyes are hard, as I've come to learn."

"This isn't goodbye, Jax."

An idea sprung to his head, clearly, as he moved away and looked me dead in the eyes. "What if you came with me?"

"Not now." He immediately corrected himself. "I know you still have Amaya, but maybe after she goes back to her time, we could start our post-waverider life together."

"I'll think about it. Goodbye for now, Jax."

"Goodbye for now, Maria."

XXX

Amaya had insisted on sitting with me in the galley as I ate a meal that Gideon had fabricated from me. It was a comfortable silence between us as I ate and as she read a book, very civil. And then a thought came to me- Jax should be the first to know that we were married. I got up, rather suddenly, shocking Amaya.

"You're not done eating."

"I have to tell Jax something before he leaves." I kissed her forehead. "I promise I'll be back." I assured her before booking it out of the galley and towards the cargo bay.

XXX

When I got to the cargo bay, Sara was just returning, no Jax by her side. "Is he still out there?"

"Yeah, I just dropped him off. I thought you already said goodbye to him."

"I have to tell him something." I responded quickly, now sprinting out of the cargo bay. "Jax!" He stopped when he heard my voice and started walking back towards me.

"Maria? What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"Me and Amaya got married."

"Holy shit."