"Back To You" (Aqualad x OC)

Part Two

Tim and Mara sat on her bed, watching as Emma flitted from one thing to another.

"You sure you don't want any help?" Mara asked, pointing at the pile spilling out of the one industrial-grade duffel bag she was advised to take.

"I'm fine!" Emma said nervously as she shuffled through the walk-in closet she shared with Mara, trying to decide between two different blue shirts.

Tim sighed, sinking down into the thick down comforters as he rested his laptop on his chest.

"You aren't trying to see which color Kaldur would like best, are you?" He asked.

"I am not!" Emma insisted. She discarded both shirts and snatched up a pink turtleneck instead.

"Why are you so mad at him?" Mara asked, tossing aside a peach lollipop for a watermelon lollipop on her bag of dum-dums.

Emma didn't know why the question made her want to laugh.

"Because, Mara, you'll learn when you're in a relationship, that there is a certain amount of trust to be expected between partners. And when that trust is broken, you have to question whether that relationship is what you thought it was."

"Didn't Rick say he wanted to trust you though?" Tim pointed out.

"Yes, but that's not the point!" Emma threw a few more pointless items on the pile.

Mara bit into her lollipop, "Then what is?"

"I don't know!" Emma threw her arms up in the air, sending her pile flying. She fell face-first into her bed with a groan. "Why did I say I'd do this?"

"Because you like Kaldur!" Mara exclaimed, waving her dum-dum like a fairy wand.

"Not anymore, Mara," Emma muttered into the quilt. Seizing the opportunity, her beloved cat, Justice, leaped onto Emma's back and curled up, ready to sleep close to his favorite human.

Tim sat up and patted Emma's head, "But you do still care about him."

"Well yeah, even if his plan was stupid, he still did a lot to save the world," Justice hissed irritably as Emma propped herself up on her arms, staring out the window at the gardens of Wayne Manor, green slowly fading to brown already. However cold the New England summers got, Canada was going to be even colder.

"So you do still like him?" Mara waved a cherry lollipop in Emma's face tauntingly.

Emma snatched it up with a grin for her little sister, "If you say that one more time, I'll kick you out of my room," She tickled Mara's ribs as they both burst into laughter.

"Save me, Tim! Save me!" Mara begged with dramatic flair.

"Okay," Tim turned his laptop for both of them to see. "By doing research on various areas of Canada, specifically the ones JSA-ers are known to protect, I have put together a list of various things you may need to be able to enjoy yourself while tolerating Kaldur and surviving in the Canadian wilderness."

Emma stopped tickling Mara and examined the list.

"Tim, have I ever told you how much I love you?"

"You can prove it by letting me turn your room into a private study while you're gone," Tim sat up tall and folded his arms proudly.

"As if!" Emma shoved the laptop back at him as Mara beaned her brother with a pillow.

"There's like fifty studies already in the manor! You don't need another one!"

"Yeah, but they're too far from my room," Tim almost whined.