Young Justice: Generations

Chapter Two

     On the outskirts of Gotham city in a small subdivision of houses was a special baby blue house; located at the very end of the street, a near-ancient willow tree in the front yard, and one of the most secretive families in the entirety of Gotham. This was Mar'i Grayson's family and she loved them with all of her heart and soul. Her family was grand and she had a plethora of siblings to greet when she stepped inside of the front foyer. There were six people living in this house, she needed to learn a long time ago that nothing was exactly yours.

     From the front foyer, she heard music coming from the kitchen, television from the living room, and yelling from upstairs. No one knew she was here, she came to surprise them after all. Slowly she crept through the hallway and peered into the kitchen, her mother was whistling to the music playing on the radio while she sliced some vegetables on the cutting board in front of her. Mar'i knew her father was undoubtedly in the backyard playing with her youngest brother Jaxx.

     The music covered up the sound of her footsteps as she crept up behind her mother and covered her eyes with her hands. Her mother put down the knife and let out a long and tired sigh. "Dick, I already told you - we are not cancelling the dinner party tonight." her mother exclaimed. Mar'i stayed silent and instead removed her hands from around her mother's eyes. The older woman turned around and shrieked. "What's wrong?" Dick asked running in from the backyard.

"Surprise?" Mar'i announced.

     A flurry of kids rushed into the kitchen to see what all of the commotion was only for them to all scream as soon as they saw her. The two girls were the first to hug her. Sindella and Charlie had grown quite a bit since the last time she saw the two of them in person. "Wait, you're not moving back in are you?" Sindella asked, separating herself from her eldest sibling. Mar'i laughed and shook her head; the last thing she was going to do was move back in. She loved her family to death but she was glad she didn't live in this house anymore.

     After her sister's detached themselves from her torso, her father pulled her in for a hug. "Welcome home sunshine." he whispered giving her a pat on the back. They could hear laughter from outside in the back garden. "Sorry mom," John stepped into the kitchen, "- we got a little messy on the way in." he apologized, nervously scratching the back of his head. Jaxx, the youngest being six, was covered head to toe in dirt. "John Richard Grayson you better not get any mud on my freshly mopped floor!" Zatanna yelled.

     Mar'i and her sister's cracked a smile, her mother was exactly as how she left her. "So what is this I hear about a dinner party?" Mar'i asked, tapping her fingers on the counter. Her mother let out a long sigh and dragged a hand down the front of her face. "Well I thought it would be a good idea to invite everyone over to dinner, I mean with what happened with Wally and Kaldur," she paused, "- it messed everyone up and I just wanted everyone to get together and be happy. Is that too much to ask?" her mother explained.

"Okay well, I'm going to get Mr. Jaxx cleaned up so he doesn't look like a little piggy when everyone gets here." Dick said, picking up the filthy child.

"Well, I just left Arrow hanging upstairs on a call so I'm going to finish that." Sindella said slowly creeping out of the kitchen.

     The rest disappeared, getting distracted by other things around the household. "You really think this dinner party of yours is going to run smoothly without a fight?" Mar'i worried. The last time everyone was together under a single roof the police were called. Her mother dismissed her daughter's worries and went back to the vegetables she had been previously cutting up. "How's thing's with Leo?" Zatanna asked, deriving from the subject.

     Mar'i rolled her eyes and let out a long sigh. "Don't get me started, he backed out last minute saying he had 'business' to attend to in Germany." she scoffed. Lately, he had been backing out on a lot of things that she wanted to do with him. "As much as I love you, sweetie, I don't think he's right for you." Zatanna admitted. Her parent's had always been on the fence with Leonardo and his family. She was used to brushing off her family's accusations and rants. It was always 'he isn't right for you' or 'that man and his family is bad news'.