Tales From the Cave-Beauty & the Superbeast

Heart to Heart

M'gann strolled around the mountain, lost in thought.  Ever since she and Conner had saved one another in the forest, she could feel a drastic change in their relationship.  No longer was there any anger or sadness from the past between them, only gratitude and appreciation from the present.

As she walked, her sensitive nose picked up the faintest smell of roses.  Her feet began to guide her faster as the scent grew stronger and stronger.  At last, she reached the place where it was the strongest.  She turned the corner to see a bed of beautiful red roses resting on the mountainside.  She recognized the bed right away.  Walking towards it, she got down on her knees and stared at it in amazement.  "It can't be..."

"It is."  She turned around to see Conner's hulking form standing behind her.  "Its your roses."  M'gann looked back, examining every petal, every stem, every leaf on it.  "I planted them my first day here.  You used to help me water and tend to them.  It was our favorite thing to do together."  She took it every detail of the flowers.  "They look just as fresh and vibrant as I remember them."

Conner knelt down beside her.  "I know.  I water them with Zatanna every other day, and I feed them a special kind of plant food that Wally invented."  She looked back at him with wide eyes.  "You...You've been taking care of them all this time?"  He bit his crooked lip with his jagged teeth.  "At first, I didn't want anything to do with them.  But then I realized...they were all I had left to remind of you."  He shrugged his hunched shoulders.  "I guess that's why I got so mad when your dad picked one without my permission."

They overheard Wally's whoops of excitement and Robin's annoying laughter from not too far away.  "Even when they're turned into furniture,", M'gann giggled.  "They still know how to have a good time."  "Yeah.", Conner murmured.  "Until I walk into the room.  Than the party's over."  M'gann fiddled with the ends of her skirt.  "Me, too."  He looked over at her, his thick, furry eyebrows raised in surprise.

She looked down at her legs as she explained.  "In the town where I live...I'm not very popular.  I'm different from all the other girls.  They're all dressing up and flirting with boys, while I spend all my time reading and daydreaming.  Whenever I walk down the street, people stare and whisper about me behind my back.  They think I don't hear, but I do.  They call me all sorts of things.  Oddball, weirdo, or, my personal favorite, 'that strange girl'."

Conner's twisted nose wrinkled in tension.  "The people from your town sound awful.  So, why do you stay?"  "I stay for my father and brother.", she replied.  "I love them so much.  They took me in when I had nowhere else to go.  They gave me a home, a purpose again.  They're my family."  Conner glanced downwards.  "Something I've always wanted but never got."  She placed a hand on his shoulder.  "You already got one.  Wally, Kaldur, Robin, Artemis...the whole gang is your family."

She smiled at him, her mind thinking a lot of things.  "Conner?"  He looked up at her.  "Yes?"  "Can I have something from you?"  "W-What do you want?", he asked.  "A second chance."  His eyes widened as she took a breath of courage.  "I think we got off on the wrong foot before.  I remember that your birthday's coming up.  Would you...would you like to have dinner with me?"  The spell becomes permanent that night., she thought.  If Conner's going to be a beast forever, at least I can give him some happy memories of that day.

He was struck dumb for a moment.  "D-Dinner?  With me?  Do...do you really mean it?"  She nodded.  His face broke out into a smile.  A ugly smile, but a smile nonetheless.  "Of course!", he exclaimed, bobbing his head up and down.  "I'd love to!"  "Great!", she chirped happily.  "I'll see you then!"  She pecked him on the cheek and headed back into the mountain.  Conner's fingers grazed his cheek as he smiled goofily.
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The Team managed to act nonchalant as M'gann walked passed them into the Cave.  Once she was gone, however, they let loose all the excitement they had been containing inside themselves.  "Did you guys hear that?!", Zatanna squealed.  "They're going to have a romantic dinner together!"  "Whoa, whoa, whoa!", Kaldur exclaimed.  "They didn't say romantic!"

"We'll make it romantic!", Wally proclaimed, waving his candles around, nearly setting his friends on fire.  "We'll create an atmoshere!  Music, candlelight, romantic lighting!  We're gonna pull out all the stops to make sure they're totally in love by the time the last petal falls!"