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Hearts And Smiles	By : Amarin Category: DC Verse Comics > Teen Titans Views: 1606 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Hearts And Smiles
- 1
Hearts And Smiles

When Tim saw the Graysons fall, he felt as if his heart had stopped. It didn’t start again until a few days later, when he read in the paper that Bruce Wayne was taking in Dick as his ward. Wayne had even more money than his parents, and he didn’t leave town as often.
Tim felt that he’d grown up okay, even with his parents’ lack of attention. Maybe Dick would get more hugs than he did, but if he didn’t, at least he’d be taken care of. That was the important thing.
Even with the awfulness of seeing Dick’s parents die, though, Tim still thought it would be fun to fly.
When Tim started first grade at his prestigious private school, they offered students a choice of an elective course: photography, art, or gymnastics. Tim was considering photography – the only way he really knew who his parents were was through photographs – but then he remembered how happy Dick had looked flying in the air.
He wanted to be that happy.
Tim took pretty well to the balance beam, and he tumbled okay, but anything in the air gave him vertigo. Then he accidentally fell from the top of the climbing rope during gym class, and aside from having the wind knocked out of him, and gaining a few spectacular bruises on his ass, he was fine.
The ceiling wasn’t even two stories high; he’d be okay.
That first week, his gymnastics teacher had looked at him, as if taking his measure – and she probably was; weren’t the best gymnasts short? – and said that he had potential. Tim begged his parents for after school lessons, and his best pleading look got his mother to smile wryly and agree. She had always wanted a girl; Tim wondered if he’d have had better equilibrium on the balance beam if he’d taken those ballet lessons when he was six.
It didn’t matter; Tim loved gymnastics. Flying through the air, even without the greatest of ease, was so thrilling, so…freeing. It made his heart soar.
And best of all, most of the time, whenever he had a meet, his parents would come. They started staying in town more, and both of them bragged to their friends and associates about how many medals he’d won, even when he’d only gotten an honorable mention. They were so proud of him.
And Tim was happy.
He was too young for the regional championship that year, but he practiced furiously for the next. He didn’t really have any ambition concerning his acrobatics, but he’d shoot for the Olympic gold if it would make his parents happy.
When Tim was thirteen, Superman died. The world was shocked and so was he; he could still remember seeing the superhero’s smiling face on many a ‘Be Cool, Stay In School’ poster. Superman was supposed to be impossible to kill, never mind Kryptonite; it hadn’t been the cause of his death.
A few months later, he heard on the news about a new superhero. Someone had decided that the world needed a Superman, and so a group in Hawaii named CADMUS had done their best to clone him.
The clone’s name was Supergirl. Tim took note of her gender more because the other, previous Supergirls had all been blonde; she looked like a teenage, female version of Superman with her short, dark hair and full-length body suit, sans skirt.
Then again, she was sort of his…daughter…and the other Supergirls had been his cousins. At least, that was what the public knew.
Then Superman was back; apparently he hadn’t died, or maybe he had, and had just come back. That seemed to happen a lot, with superheroes. The uproar over Supergirl died down, and the things went back to the way they used to be. Though to hear his grandmother tell it, nothing was like the good old days.
By the time Tim entered junior high, he was mildly famous around Gotham City. His parents were starting to make noises about him entering a national tournament, and so he stopped going to the smaller state meets so as to have time to practice. He joined the school gymnastics team, took up mild weight training, and ran a few miles each day.
His father had his annual check-up, his doctor told him to get more exercise, and he started jogging with Tim in the mornings.
Tim had never been happier. He knew his parents now, and not just through photographs.
Junior high also brought about the advent of dating. He and his friend Arianna paired up mostly because they kept getting thrown together in social situations. She didn’t understand his love of gymnastics, but neither did she belittle him for it. She also tolerated him spending hours on end playing Dungeons & Dragons with Ives and what few other male friends he had, so Tim, in his youth, thought she was pretty much perfect.
Pretty much. She had a nice smile, but sometimes Tim thought that her heart wasn’t really in it.
They saw each other for a year before breaking up. ‘Irreconcilable differences’ adults would have called it. Not really having anything in common was more accurate, especially since they were barely teenagers.
When Tim was barely fifteen, he was walking home from a study session for his pre-calculus class, and took a shortcut through the wrong alleyway. Three guys wearing gang colors and identical cruel smirks waved knives at him and demanded that he give up his money or his life.
His parents were rich, but his father had done his best to teach him the value of a dollar. He only had seven dollars and some change in his pocket. And he had the sinking feeling that it wasn’t really so much of an either/or proposition on their parts as which one would happen first.
Tim wasn’t sure if he could outrun them, but he knew he had to try.
Then, out of nowhere, came a swirl of red and green and gold-lined cape. Robin was kicking the thugs’ asses, and Tim cold only stand there, stunned. Robin had rarely ever been caught on film, and the new one, the one all the guys at school talked about, was a girl.
A gorgeous girl, blonde, busty, and looking like she was enjoying every minute of the fight with those goons. And Tim was enough of a stereotypical guy to want to impress her, instead of standing there like a complete dope. He didn’t know how to fight, but he was flexible, and throwing in some moves he’d seen Jackie Chan use with his regular gymnastics, he was able to take care of one of the bad guys.
Robin knocked out the final guy and tied them up with some sort of silvery tape. She turned to look at him, and he smiled bashfully and told her thanks for saving him.
She smiled at him, said any time, and thanked him for his help with a kiss. The kiss was nice, but the smile was blindingly brilliant in that dark alley.
Tim didn’t think he’d ever seen a nicer one.
When Tim entered high school, he wanted to join the gymnastics team there, as well, but there wasn’t one. His new friend Bernard – who Tim kept calling ‘Bernie’ solely to irk him – jokingly suggested that he join the cheerleading squad. After some careful consideration, and observation of the team in action, Tim decided it would be a pretty good fit. Of course, he’d have to try out, but presumably his skills would be on par with the rest of the team’s.
Thankfully the coach didn’t have much of a gender bias – at least, once she’d ascertained that Tim didn’t want to be the Gotham Heights mascot, Sir Dancelot. So Tim became the newest member of the Gotham Heights Lights (to match the football team, the Gotham Heights Knights).
By the next year, he’d proven so proficient at cheerleading that he’d all but given up other forms of gymnastics. He still had a dream of trying out for the Olympics when he was old enough, but the thrill of performing in front of the crowds at basketball games was better than regular gymnastics meets. And both his parents came to games whenever they could. His father wasn’t entirely pleased with him altering the focus of his after school activities, but his mother was so happy that he’d made friends that he didn’t complain too much.
He knew his mother had wanted a girl. She seemed rather pleased with him, though.
In his sophomore year of high school, he was elected team captain. It brought about new responsibilities, and less free time, but being able to coordinate their cheers was great. He could direct the girls to where their own abilities were best suited. The Lights were so good that the school board agreed to let them raise money to enter the U.S. cheerleading championships.
Four months, three gymnastics demonstrations, two bake sales, and a car wash later, they were on their way to Hawaii, where the cheerleading championships were held, with their routine ‘Space Jamboree.’
When they arrived, Tim wasn’t entirely surprised to learn that Supergirl was a judge. He felt sure that while she was a more than competent superhero, she had next to no knowledge about cheerleading, and had probably only been asked to help out as a marketing ploy.
Tim didn’t mind; he’d always wanted to see her in person. When he and the rest of the Gotham Heights Lights won first place, after they got their medals, Tim, goaded by his good friend and fellow cheerleader Darla, went up to ask for Supergirl’s autograph. He even remembered to thank her for stopping Metallo that time he rampaged through downtown Gotham – his father had been two blocks away from the carnage – and she grinned at him, shyly, her hidden heart shining in her eyes.
He’d never gotten a chance to thank Robin for the same thing. She’d been and gone before he could even think beyond it being kind of cool to meet a superhero. But…Robin’s smile paled in comparison to Supergirl’s. And now Tim knew, with a visceral certainty, that Arianna had never let so much of her heart show to him.
Once back in Gotham, Tim walked around in a daze for the next week or so. Bernard teased him about having a crush on some girl, and how could Tim tell him that he – like fifty percent of the guys at school – had a crush on Supergirl? Even if she wasn’t out of his league, it wasn’t like he’d ever see her again. She lived in Hawaii, after all.
Just because he’d felt his heart clench in his chest when she smiled at him, didn’t mean she felt anything similar.
Then one cloudy Thursday, he left school and headed down the sidewalk towards his house, just like he did everyday after school. Everyday that he didn’t have any plans other than heading home to work on his homework.
He saw Supergirl there, standing on the corner near the bus stop. She was glancing around, eyes darting to and fro, and chewing nervously on her lower lip. She wasn’t in her costume, rather dressed in faded jeans and a plain blue T-shirt, but he felt sure that he would have recognized her in the dark.
He was a stereotypical male in some ways, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t also an incurable romantic.
Tim walked up to her and said hi. She jumped, feet actually leaving the ground a good foot behind before she settled back down to Earth. She turned to face him, and blushed, giving him a shy hello.
He smiled softly and said it was nice to see her again. He then gathered his courage – because why would she be at his school if she wasn’t there to see him? – and asked if she’d like to get some coffee.
She said sure, but then flushed darker and admitted that she didn’t really like coffee.
He told her neither did he, and she smiled. It was like the sun coming out from behind a cloud; Tim had never felt warmer.
From then on they had weekly ‘not coffee’ dates. Weekly dates became twice weekly, became thrice weekly, became everyday-after-school-and-the-weekends-too dates, became the two of them ‘going steady.’ Tim was the first person she told when Superman gave her the name Kon-El. She told him that her friends in Young Justice were calling her Kon for short.
He saw her little nose twitch, and correctly guessed that she thought her new name didn’t fit quite right. Tim had to agree; Kon-El was a man’s name, after all. She was Supergirl. And while she wasn’t stereotypically feminine, most female superheroes weren’t, to his knowledge.
So Tim asked if she’d mind if he called her Kel. She smiled at him, and said she’d like that.
Soon after Kel’s naming, Tim declared her birthday to be the day she popped out of her test tube, and gave her a pair of earrings. Little gold S-shields, because they’d only been dating five months, and he was pretty sure that it was a bit too soon to give her a bracelet inscribed with his name. No matter how much he cared about her.
The smile she gave him was worth four weeks’ allowance. The hug, and accompanying kisses, were priceless.
The date of the Homecoming Dance approached, and Tim asked Kel to go. She blushed and told him she didn’t really have anything to wear. She lived at CADMUS, and unlike him, she didn’t get an allowance, so unless she wanted to show up in her costume…
He wouldn’t have minded if she’d worn everyday clothes, but while he could have explained away his date being a Supergirl look-alike, he couldn’t really explain away his date being Supergirl. He asked if she’d like to go out for coffee instead, and she smiled.
Their not-dance date ended up being preempted by the majority of the members of the superhero community being age-swapped. Kel ended up losing her powers for a while; she spent the four days without them hiding out in Gotham with him. Tim thanked every one of his lucky stars individually and by name that his parents had gone out of town.
Kel was a wreck, and Tim couldn’t say he didn’t understand. Tim worried about Kel every time she went out to fight some bad guy, but he knew that she’d literally been born to be a hero, like Wendy the Werewolf Stalker. Gymnastics was a big part of his life, but not as much as Kel’s powers were of hers.
She’d literally lost her ability to fly. And Tim could try to teach her how to fly his way, but…
It would never be the same.
Thankfully, something else happened in the superhero community, and things were the same once more. At least in regards to Kel’s powers.
The first time Kel saw him after getting her powers back, she offered to take him flying. She wanted to show him her favorite place in the world, a small jungle-type setting near the apex of the Kilauea volcano. Tim was initially hesitant – he hadn’t liked heights since he was a child – but Kel’s tactile telekinesis should keep him safe.
Tim couldn’t help the grin that crossed his face at the feeling of flying through the air, wind whipping his hair in his face, Kel’s arms around wrapped around him.
He’d never felt safer than in her embrace.
With Kel in his life, Tim finally found the confidence to try out for the American Olympics gymnastics team. He made it, and both his parents and Kel said they’d known he would, but Kel was the only one who was truly sincere.
Supergirl thought that he could do anything. If that wasn’t enough to give him the confidence to compete, Tim knew that nothing would.
When he arrived in Sydney, Tim was gratified to see that he wasn’t the youngest person there. A blonde named Cissie King-Jones was entered in the archery competition. Consensus among the other participants seemed to be that she was the early favorite. Turned out Tim was, too.
Kel was there in the stands, cheering him on, and after Tim’s first match, he went to find her. He saw her talking to Cissie, along with two other blonde girls. One of them looked familiar, but Tim couldn’t tell why since she was wearing sunglasses. There were also two boys with them, one with moon pale skin and night-black hair, and the other with a brownish-red mop on his head and more energy than a roomful of toddlers.
Tim didn’t know who they were, but considering that Kel knew them, and he knew she didn’t have that many friends outside of her team… He would have gone over to introduce himself, but he figured there had to be a reason that Kel had never introduced him to the other members of Young Justice. He waved to Kel, saw her smile at him and surreptitiously wiggled her fingers back, and went to find his parents before the next round.
When Cissie won gold for archery, and Tim won gold for gymnastics, though, Kel had to decide who to celebrate with. She decided not to decide, and just invited him out for pizza with her friends. Tim’s parents were ecstatic for his win, and seemed pleased that he’d made new friends, and told him that they’d be waiting for him back at the hotel to take him out to dinner, so he shouldn’t stay out too late.
Occasionally Tim wished for parents who were really hands-on, but it did come in handy that his mom and dad never thought to question how come his girlfriend was able to come to Australia to see him compete.
Lunch with half a dozen superheroes was quite a different affair from ‘not coffee’ with Kel. But it was fun. Tim almost wished he could join Young Justice; it would be nice to have friends he was as close to as Kel seemed to be close to them. He could do without seeing Slobo and Impulse get into a competition over who could eat the most chili cheese fries, however. That was more than slightly disgusting. Robin didn’t seem to recognize him, and Tim wasn’t quite sure whether to be grateful about that or not.
Then Kel smiled at him, and Tim decided that it didn’t matter.
Months went by, and Tim’s more than mild fame at winning the Olympic gold slowly faded away until he wasn’t being asked for autographs in the halls at school anymore. Young Justice disbanded, and later Kel joined a new team – the newest version of the Teen Titans – and got a new costume. It was just a pair of jeans and a black T-shirt with a red S symbol on it. Tim thought she look great. He’d asked her, once, if her new costume was supposed to mimic Wonder Girl’s. She’d told him that no, she just wanted a less complicated and more comfortable costume.
Tim would admit, if only to himself – because anything else would be crass – that Kel’s new costume certainly made it easier to go from second to third base.
Then Kel received some information. Information that had her angry and upset and even sad sometimes.
One of her genetic donors was Superman. The other…was Lex Luthor.
Tim had no idea what to say. The fact that one of her ‘fathers’ was the world’s greatest hero wasn’t really a surprise, but the fact that the other was the world’s worst supervillain? That most definitely was.
He told Kel that he loved her anyway, and though it was a while before she smiled again, she seemed much happier.
Spring came, and Tim asked Kel to his Junior Prom. She wanted to go, but because of problems at CADMUS, she’d had to move out on her own. Being a building superintendent didn’t leave her much free time. But what time it did leave her, she spent with Tim. Soon after that, though, Kel moved in with Superman’s parents; all she could tell Tim was that they lived in Kansas. Tim had figured on something like that; Superman’s ‘home city’ as it were, was Metropolis, after all. Kel also said that she had a new civilian identity, keeping her face secret with a pair of gold-rimmed glasses. Tim didn’t think that was much of a disguise; he knew he would have recognized her, but then, as Kel pointed out, Tim knew her.
Originally her name was going to be Constance. She had asked to be Kelly, instead.
Tim smiled as his heart swelled in his chest.
Months passed, and Kel settled slowly, but surely, into her new life as a ‘normal’ teenager. She had team meetings on the weekends, the Teen Titans this time, so she and Tim had to restrict their dates to weeknights, which curtailed how much time they spent together.
Neither of them minded as long as they could be together. Being teens, there was a limit on what they could do for fun, but they enjoyed life to the fullest. They ate far more ice cream than was good for them; Tim thought it was rather nice that they both preferred strawberry. They went swimming on secluded Hawaiian beaches, and Tim even let Kel teach him how to surf. They had picnics under the blue Kansas sky during the day, took walks in Robinson Park in the afternoon, and saw movies in Metropolis at night.
Tim had an entire photo album filled with pictures of him and Kel together. Laughing, smiling…captured Kodak moments of happiness that made him smile whenever he saw them.
Summer came and went, and with it the chance to spend more of their time together. It was three weeks into the school year for both of them when Kel showed up unexpectedly one idle Tuesday afternoon, an excited smile on her face. Apparently she’d tried out for her school’s football team, and made running back.
Tim couldn’t help but smile back. He’d been dating Supergirl for a while, and Kon-El for as long as she’d held the name, but… Now he was a cheerleader, and he was dating a football player.
Tim found it ironic how…normal…his life could be, at times.
It brought a smile to his face.
Football season ended, winter slogged by, and it was Spring once more. Tim asked Kel to his Senior Prom, and she said yes. There was nothing standing in their way this time, no supervillains, jobs, or conflicting schedules. Kel finally had an allowance to buy a dress with – though her aunt insisted on making her one. It was the same dark blue as her first costume, with silver accents that sparkled in the light. It draped and flowed around her body like a Roman toga, and hugged her curves like a lover.
Tim was so stunned by her gorgeousness, he felt as if his heart had stopped. Could that lovely creature really be smiling at him, plain old Timothy Drake? When he told her that she looked beautiful in blue, Kel blushed and smiled.
They stayed at the dance for barely two hours – even on the dance floor, they weren’t able to keep their hands off each other – before they went back to Tim’s house. He hadn’t expected it exactly, but he figured – hoped, more accurately – that eventually it would happen, so he was prepared.
They made love for the first time that night. Neither of them had much experience except with each other, and they didn’t really know what they were doing, but while it wasn’t flawless, it felt perfect to them. And if something went wrong, they could laugh about it and try again, and again, and again.
Tim’s parents were away for the weekend, and with a few phone calls Kel had her ‘parents’ convinced that she’d gone straight from the prom to Titans Tower, and the Titans convinced that she was at home because of too many detentions. He and Kel made good use of those two days. Their parting wasn’t quite sweet sorrow, but they would see each other the next weekend.
Or Tuesday, as it turned out. Kel flew in for an early visit; she said she couldn’t wait any longer.
They were young, and in love, and nothing could bring them down. And then the Crisis in Infinite Universes happened.
Supergirl Prime, whoever she was, took a distinct disliking to Kel. Such a dislike that she was prepared to kill their entire universe just to get Kel. The Titans managed to capture Supergirl Prime, but the universe was still in trouble.
Kel was the only one who could save them.
The night before she left, Kel told him who she was, and took her home with him to introduce him to the Kents. They seemed like such nice people; Tim only wished he could have met Kel’s ‘parents’ under different circumstances.
The world could end that night. And with it, all of them would cease to exist.
Tim didn’t know what he’d do without Kel. But the next morning, he kissed her goodbye and wished her luck.
He prayed for her safe return, and kept praying for the next few weeks, as he waited anxiously for any word from Kel.
It was not to be.
The first call from the Titans was a poignant communiqué from Cyborg, letting him know that Supergirl had saved the world from the ‘Infinite Crisis’…
…at the cost of her own life. She’d fought Supergirl Prime, and triumphed, but the resulting explosion had obliterated any trace of what happened next. No one knew what had happened to her body. She’d just…disappeared.
The second call from the Titans was from a somber Changeling, letting him know that the wake would be held that Saturday. He showed up, and spent an unbearable hour fielding questions about Kel from her friends, who hadn’t even known he’d existed until then.
Tim’s heart still beat, but he knew that a part of it had died with Kel. It was a good thing he’d quit the cheerleading squad the previous year, because he wasn’t feeling very cheerful. And while Bernard kept pestering him to talk to him, how could he tell him that his girlfriend, the love of his life, had died saving the universe?
The third call from the Titans came many months later, and was from a carefully controlled, yet still excited Robin, letting him know that ‘Kon’ had come back. How and why they didn’t know, but she was alive.
Tim felt his heart start beating double-time, but didn’t dare let himself smile yet. He was on the next plane out to San Francisco; Kid Flash picked him up from the airport. He sat by Kel’s bedside in the Titans Tower infirmary for three days, and when her shockingly blue eyes finally opened, he smiled for the first time in four months. His heart was whole again.
As soon as he could stop kissing her, he asked her to marry him.
When she said yes, they both smiled so wide their cheeks ached.
He said that he hoped she’d never have to do that again. She snorted and said that the world needed a lot of help, but someone else could save the universe next time.
He agreed.
His parents were initially startled and more than a little shocked that he had been dating Supergirl under their noses all those years, but they couldn’t really complain about him marrying below his station. His mother adored Kel, probably because Kel went shopping with her every time she visited. His father also adored her, because he could relive his glorious high school football days with her. Tim was just so glad to have her back in his life, he didn’t care if he had to listen to his mother talk for hours on end about fashion, or his father ramble on for just as long telling stories he’d already heard a dozen times.
They’d graduated from high school – Kel had to test out of her classes because she’d missed so many while she was ‘dead’ – and started planning the wedding. Neither of them wanted anything big, and definitely not in a church. They ended up getting married in the backyard of the Kent family farm. It was supposed to be a small ceremony, but quite a few more people than they were expecting showed up for the wedding. Practically every superhero on planet at the time showed up for the reception, all to thank Kel for what she’d done.
Everyone was smiling that day, even Batman.
They honeymooned in Hawaii, in a small bungalow that Kel said she used to live in. They saw a lot of that house, and not much of anything else until their second week. When they finally flew back home (courtesy of Kel, of course), they still hadn’t been farther than the nearby beach. But they counted the time well-spent.
Then it was time to think about the future.
Tim had been accepted to Cal Tech. He’d applied over a year earlier, and had thought that he’d study engineering. Gymnastics was great, and photography was a fun hobby, but he’d wanted something a bit more stable for his future. Now, however, after seeing just how unstable the universe itself could be, he wanted something a bit more…enjoyable. He’d been through the daily grind through the final few weeks of his senior year when Kel had been…gone…and now he wanted to celebrate life.
He applied to UCLA Film School for late admission, and made it in. If he ever got enough clout in the movie making industry, he might try and convince Kel to let him write a screenplay of her life story.
He’d be the only one to get the whole scoop.
Kel wanted to be an artist. Tim had seen some of her crayon drawings, and while they weren’t bad, they did look like she’d drawn them when she wasn’t even two. He’d also seen some of her pencil sketches, and those were amazing. They had such detail he almost thought the image would hop off the page. Plus, the pictures she could take with just a disposable camera were simply awe-inspiring. She’d only had a chance to fill out an application for one school before the Crisis had hit, but UCLA had accepted her, as well.
Things were going great. They were on top of the world. And the world, for once, was willing to let them be happy.
They got a small one bedroom apartment near school; neither of them wanted to deal with married housing. Kel cut back her hours with the team on the weekends, and did a twice weekly patrol on the weekdays. Saving the entire universe apparently made her a senior member of the Titans (no longer Teen), and as a senior member she got a small paycheck that was enough to cover the rent and tuition, with a bit leftover to save. Tim took a part time job developing film at a studio nearby; his paycheck was enough to cover the utilities and tuition, with a little leftover for savings. Their parents chipped in quite a bit every month, but they were determined to make their own way in the world, if at all possible.
It took a while to get used to living together, but neither of them minded. Even if Tim occasionally left the cap off the toothpaste and Kel sometimes forgot to set the alarm, and they both never remembered to do laundry until the last minute. Having each other there all the time was a gift, not a curse, and they enjoyed every minute of their time together.
Both knew how short life could be.
Almost two years of living in domestic bliss later, Kel got sick. She occasionally felt dizzy when she flew, she threw up more than once, she had absolutely no appetite and was completely miserable. Neither of them knew what was wrong, and none of the Titans’ medical instruments could figure it out. Tim poked, prodded, and nagged until finally she agreed to fly them to the Fortress of Solitude and have the A.I. check her out.
It turned out that Kon-El was pregnant. The revelation that they were going to be parents was met with shock and awe. Apparently Kel’s human half was human enough for her to bear Tim’s children.
Kel’s smile was so wide Tim wondered how her face could contain it. He figured his own wasn’t much smaller.
Six months later, after several agonizing hours of labor, Kel laid two eggs. She was just as sore as if she’d given live birth, but without the mitigating happiness that holding her children would have given her. Kel and Tim spent the next six months waiting impatiently for their kids to hatch, and taking weekend trips out to the Arctic to visit them. They’d left the precious orbs at the Fortress for protection, with the A.I. watching over their development, and Tim wasn’t at all embarrassed to admit that Kon-El wasn’t the only one experiencing separation anxiety.
When the Fortress finally alerted them about the hatching, Kel flew them both to Antarctica faster than she’d ever flown before. They waited and watched with bated breath as the two babies pushed themselves out of their eggshell wombs and immediately began crying for their parents, who were quick to scoop them up into their arms.
They were perfect, absolutely perfect. They had dark hair and blue eyes, and ten fingers and toes each. A boy and a girl.
They named their children after their parents: Jackson Kent and Martha Jane Drake, Jake and Margie for short.
Tim and Kel finally had the family they’d always dreamed of. Two little bundles of smiling joy, the best part of each of their hearts.
Written For Seven And A Half Reasons

#1: Tim fixated on Dick Grayson. But what if his fixation was focus more on Dick’s acrobatic abilities? And it somehow got tied into pleasing his parents?
#2: At the end of the first trimester is when fetuses start taking on a physical gender. If the baby is going to be a boy, there are a significant amount of things that can go wrong in comparison to if the baby is a girl. It occurred to me that there were (at least) 12 failed attempts to create Superboy before Kon. What if the scientists decided to take a different tack when their first few efforts failed? There was a reason that Dolly the sheep, the first cloned creature, was female.
#2B: In the Crisis of Infinite Superboys (or whatever that miniseries was called) there was a female Superboy. She was blonde (like all the Supergirls, save for Cir-El), and had a Jedi padawan braid, but other than that, was pretty much a female Kon, right down to the shades, leather jacket, and straps on her thighs.
#3: Humans are descended from simians. Tamaranians are descended from some sort of feline. Thanagarians pretty much have to be descended from avians. I have no idea what Kryptonians are descended from, but they really like the sun, like reptiles, so I’m going with lizards. Thus, eggs.
#4: Kon is half-human. So, presumably, with a human partner, he could theoretically have children the old-fashioned way. If Dick Grayson and Koriand’r could have Mari Grayson in Kingdom Come, and John Stewart and Shayera Hol could have Rex Stewart in the animated continuity, it’s more than possible, in comics.
#5: A cracktastic plot bunny that would not leave me alone: an AU scenario involving a male cheerleader in a romantic relationship with a female football player. The movie Bring It On introduced the concept of a gymnast joining a cheerleading squad because the school didn’t have a gymnastics team. Tim has never struck me as a person to let gender stereotypes get in his way. And Kon? Who hasn’t thought that Kon would make an awesome football player?
#6: Tim is always the one gender-bent. Presumably because he would definitely make a prettier girl than Kon, but still. Kon deserved his turn, too.
#7: Written in a dialogue-less format because that way I could get out of having to write a really long, drawn-out fic, while still telling this story. If I tried to write this as the epic it probably (to my mind) deserves, I know I’d never finish it. This way I got to hit the high points, and hopefully include very little of the uninteresting stuff.
Reasons Why The Timeline Is Different
Tim never figured out who Batman and Robin were. Why? Because he originally saw Robin perform Dick Grayson’s quadruple summersault on television, and he missed that show because of his own involvement in gymnastics.
Tim’s mother never died. Why? Because she and Jack Drake didn’t go out of town as much, and they both missed that trip.
Steph became the third Robin. Why? Because after Jason Todd died, Tim Drake never showed up at Wayne Manor. Spoiler, however, still fought crime, and like Barbara back when she was Batgirl, Steph eventually got adopted into the Batclan. That’s the way it happened in the World Without Young Justice mini.
Tana Moon never died. Why? Because Kel never met Tana. Kon originally met Tana when he went to the Daily Planet to visit Lois Lane, and swooped down on her after noticing how hot she was. Kel never went to visit Lois – Kon’s reasons include convincing Lois that he was Superman – and thus, never noticed Tana.
Superboy Prime never killed Kel. Why? Because Superboy Prime never showed up. He went all emo over Kon claiming to also be Superboy. With Kel as Supergirl, that point is pretty much moot.
Supergirl Prime is my own invention. In case you’re wondering who she is, I’m saying that she’s a younger version of Superwoman from the CSA Elseworlds. In the Crime Syndicate of America series, Clark Kent was Ultraman and Lois Lane was Superwoman.
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