Roy Harper, a.k.a. Arsenal, walked into the kitchen area of the Titans base, when he saw Donna Troy, a.k.a. Wonder Girl, a.k.a. Troia, sitting at the counter. She was hunched over a red mug of tea, yet she really didn't have that much interest in it. Her eyes were staring down, a sad hint of melancholy about them.
"Hey, Donna, how's it hanging?" Roy asked in his usual, happy-go-luckyish tone, unaware of her mood.
"Fine." She answered half-heartedly.
Roy's smile faded when he heard her answer.
"Donna?" Roy bent over to get a better look at Donna. "Donna? Hellooooo, anybody home?" He waved his hand in front of her face. "Earth to the Amazon."
"…" Was her only reply.
Roy attempted to think of something to get her attention.
"So, I'm just gonna go into your room, and, y'know, rummage around in your underwear drawer like I usually do." He told her, smiling a perverse smile.
"Okay." She answered.
"Maybe try some of them on, take a few pics. I know Wally likes the ones you've got with the black silk, we could pose together."
"Uh-huh."
"Oh by the way, have you seen Dick? I wanna give him back the nude pictures of Wonder Woman he downloaded off the internet." He asked her.
"No, I haven't." She answered.
Roy fumed a bit.
"…Prometheus broke into the base and vaporized my right arm." He answered in a deadpan tone.
"That's nice." She replied.
Donna got up from the counter and sulked off past Roy. He watched as she walked down the hall, shoulders low. He turned his head back to her mug on the counter. Donna hadn't even bothered to drink it, and it was ice cold. It looked as if she just poured it simply for the motion of doing so.
…
Roy decided to take the matter to his other teammates. Dick Grayson, a.k.a. Robin, a.k.a. Nightwing. And Wally West, a.k.a. Kid Flash, a.k.a. Flash.
"Okay guys, there is something seriously wrong with Donna. She's been hanging around here all day like somebody died." He looked around when he suddenly realized someone was missing. "Oh crap where's Garth?!"
"He's fine. He had something to deal with in Atlantis, another one of those Old Gods trying to break in, or something." Wally told him to calm down the red archer.
"But yeah, you're right. She's been like this for three days." Dick explained. "The other day we were fighting Red Panzer, and she spent the entire fight looking she sucked a rotten lemon."
"I actually heard her crying in the bathroom this morning, and when I asked what was wrong she threw me through the wall." Wally felt a twinge in his shoulder at the memory.
"Okay, so we've established there is something wrong with the Princess." Roy said.
"Now the question is what's on her mind." Wally spoke.
"Well…" Roy trailed off as he blushed as his thought.
"What Roy?" Dick asked,
"You think it just be… y'know, her time of the month?" He finally blurted out.
"If this were that, there's a good chance she'd have killed us by now." Wally smirked as he said it.
"Oh come on, Donna's got more self control than that and you both know it." Dick defended the Amazonian heroine.
"So, if it's not that, then…" Wally trailed off, trying to think of a reason that didn't involve menstruation.
"Well, Christmas is coming up. Maybe she's just worrying about what she's gonna get us."
"It would explain why she's been quiet, but I don't think that would constitute the crying." Wally shot that theory down.
"You know, we could just ask her." Dick pointed out.
"She threw me through a wall, Dick. I'm pretty sure she's not in a talkative mood." Wally shot down yet another theory.
"Hey, Donna's our friend. We have to at least find out what's bothering her." Roy spoke, having once been in a relationship with Miss Troy.
"We should at least wait until she's in a better state of mind. Give her some space, I mean. She might think we're babying her." Wally said, worrying that their friend would think they were bothering her.
"No, I think we should talk to her now." Dick said adamantly.
"Daddy?"
The other three turned to little Lian Harper, Roy's daughter by the international assassin Cheshire. She looked up to her father and her surrogate uncles.
"Aunt Donna wanted me to tell you and Uncle Dick and Uncle Wally that she's going out for a couple of hours." She told him.
"Lian, hon, did she say where?" Roy said as he picked his daughter up.
"Just to the park." Lian said. Suddenly, she looked down. "Aunt Donna's sad because she's thinking about her baby." The kind of sadness in her voice was the same as the kind in Donna's eyes.
"What?"
"She said that with Christmas coming around she was thinking about her son and that's been making her sad."
"Oh God, she's been thinking about Robert and Terry." Wally said as he rubbed his eyes. The three suddenly felt like idiots.
"You're the detective, shouldn't you have figured that out?" Wally asked Dick.
"Is Aunt Donna be okay, daddy?" Lian asked her dad.
"Yes, princess, she'll be fine." Roy said with a small smile.
"Lian how'd you find that out?" Dick questioned the girl.
"I asked."
…
Donna was sitting on a park bench, dressed for the cold December weather. The sky was gray and bleak, the middle of the afternoon. She was just staring at the empty trees with their bare branches. She sighed.
"Donna?"
She turned her gaze over to the guys, out of costume and each dressed for the same weather.
"Oh, hey guys." She said with absolutely no interest.
"So, the park, talk about a wild time." Roy joked.
"I'm not in the mood, Roy." Donna said. The other two gave him dirty looks.
"You can't blame a guy for trying." He said with his hands up in defense.
"What do you want?" She asked, annoyed as they sat down next to her.
"Lian told us." Wally said.
"It's hard to keep anything from her." Donna confessed.
"Yes, yes it is." Roy agreed.
"Donna why didn't you tell us you were thinking about Robby?" Dick asked.
"I didn't want to bother you guys." She admitted,
"Told you." Wall y said.
"Shut up, West." Roy muttered.
"Donna, we all think about loved ones during the season. But that didn't mean you had to think about alone. We're your friends." Dick told her.
"I know, I just… you guys have never lost children. You don't know what it's like." Donna sighed, nearly crying.
"Don-"
"Just, leave me alone guys. Please." Donna told them as her head sunk into her hands.
The three exchanged worried glances, and did indeed get up. They huddled behind her to discuss a battle plan.
"Guys, seriously, we need to do something and fast." Dick said.
"Like what?" Wally asked.
"Well, we could…" Roy trailed off. He didn't want Donna hear the idea, so they had to get closer enough for him to whisper it.
"Oh come on, Roy." Dick said, waving it off.
"Why not? She'll get a laugh of it." Wally said, smirking a bit.
"I say we vote. All in favor?" Roy asked.
"Aye." Roy said.
"Aye." Wally said. Only Dick was against it.
"Two against one. You lose." Wally told Dick.
"Alright. Alright." Dick sulked. He then laughed a little. "God I hope no one's got cameras."
The three sat back down with Donna. Wally on her right, Dick on her left. Roy stood behind her. She now looked peeved.
"I said…"
"Donna, this is for your own good." Dick cut her off.
"We're your friends and we care about you." Wally explained.
"So we're gonna have to ask you politely to shut up and just accept this." Roy flat out state.
Their grins were starting to unnerve her.
"Accept what?" She asked.
"This."
"Now!"
Before she could react, the guys had managed to lock her in a group hug.
"Guys? Guys, what are you-" She stammered.
"It's called a group hug, princess. Deal with it." Roy joked.
"We know how you feel about Robert, Terry, and Jennifer and we're sorry." Dick said.
"But we hate seeing you like this." Wally said.
"So we ain't letting go until we get a smile out of our wonder girl." Roy gave that ultimatum.
Donna was unsure of what to say, until she finally decided to go along with it.
That's well done! Lots of little details and a nice spot for Lian. Cute picture, too. Posted by Sarcasm Kid on :
I'll be sure to tell the artist you said so.
Posted by cleome on :
Both story and picture are pretty sweet.
(I really miss the days when Donna was, by her own admission, kind of "The Mary Tyler Moore of the superhero set.")
Posted by Sarcasm Kid on :
Posted it on ff.net as well.
Posted by MLLASH on :
I love that your inspiration for the story came from the picture. Reminds me of the days when DC would create a cover image and then have the writer come up with the story based on that cover.
And yeah, the story is pretty dang sweet too.
Posted by Sarcasm Kid on :
Well, you should really thank the girl who drew it then, for the inspiration.
Now I want to do more of those four (five) and Lian.
![[Hug]](graemlins/hug.gif)