Look around, leaves are brown...

[connor-hawke.livejournal.com]

Connor is washing dishes at the Arrow house. Mia's at school and Dad's at the Youth center. His shift at the Watchtower isn't for a few hours, and patrol's after that. The dishwasher, Connor swears, is still under some kind of curse Stanley Dover left.

He's REALLY got to stop procrastinating and pick up the phone to Tara. The last thing he wants to be is intrusive - or, worse, that JLA member that saunters into the business of other teams when he's not needed or wanted.

Simon and Garfunkel's harmony comes through on the old radio station. Connor sings along in his off-key tenor.


Look around,
Leaves are brown,
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter.

Hear the Salvation Army band.
Down by the riverside's
Bound to be a better ride
Than what you've got planned.

Carry your cup in your hand...



He's not noticing the sphere that's made its appearance in the kitchen. Not yet.

Comments

[jla-futures.livejournal.com]

Connor looks over his shoulder and sees it. This wasn't here before. It looks like some kind of alien artifact. He checks to make sure the tracer in his communicator is on. When one considers a Green Lantern as your close friend, one learns very quickly the protocol on these things is here for a reason.

He's about to open up a channel and report what he's seeing when one of the facets catches his eye.



The only other two people in the waiting room are a skinny man with a stocking cap slung over long, stringy blond hair. The blond NEVER seems to shut up. His heavyset, bearded friend seems to make up for it, answering everything with shrugs and casual eyerolls. He hasn't said a single word since Connor got here.

"SERIOUSLY, Lunchbox. We don't even count as family. I could use a smoke. You got any smoke?"

Heavyset man shoves his hands in his battered blue coat and answers his chatty friend with a shake of his head.

"Dude, I thought YOU brought the blunt!" The loudmouth looks over at Connor. "Hey, man. Got any smoke?"

"No." Connor folds his arms.

Mercifully, a nurse in scrubs comes in. In his arms, he's holding a small bundle. "Mr. Hawke?"

Connor stands up, glad not to have to get into further conversation. "How'd it go? Everything?"

"Smooth as glass," the nurse assures him. "Your stepmother's resting, and I think it took a lot out of your dad, too." The blanket in the nurse's arms shift a little, revealing a small face that's trying to sleep after all the excitement.

"Can I...?"

"Well, you're a good deal older than most big brothers, so I think it'll be quite safe." The nurse beams. "Here she is. Olivia Barbara Queen - all eight pounds and three ounces of her."

Connor accepts the baby. He wonders if that 3AM feeding's going to end up breaking windows. After all, there's a reason Clan Arrow invests in earplugs, and while his stepmom's Canary Cry didn't manifest until she had grown up some...

Well, that can wait. Introductions first.

"Hi, Olivia. Good to meet you. I'm Connor, your big brother."

The heavyset fellow is dragging his loquacious friend out of the waiting room, but stops to put a hand on Connor's shoulder and smile, signaling his congratulations with an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_black_canary_/]

Later on, in her hospital bed, Dinah has managed to sit in a reclining position. "Is she okay? Is she hungry? God. Am I ready for this? The stinky end is where the diaper goes, right?"

[connor-hawke.livejournal.com]

Connor laughs. "She's fine. You're fine. We're all fine. DAD may be a little freaked out. He's on the phone to Roy right now, probably asking how he managed Lian!"

He checks out his sister again. "She's a miracle."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_black_canary_/]

"A miracle baby would've spared me 10 hours of labor." The quip is undercut by the loving way she cradles the newborn. "Look at that grip." Olivia's fist is wrapped tightly around her mother's finger. "Whaddya think, Connor? Too soon to start judo lessons?"

[connor-hawke.livejournal.com]

"A bit young for the footwork, maybe."

"I meant she's a miracle in the same way getting away from crazy supervillian of the week is a miracle."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_black_canary_/]

"Nuh uh." She works her finger free of Olivia's grip and strokes her soft cheek. "She's better than that."

[abluntobject.livejournal.com]

"She sure is." comes a deep voice from the doorway, someone apparently having managed to be let in to see the new mother.
"She has to be... after all, she got lucky enough not to get her father's eyes... or his nose... she's not even whining and crying yet, so she didn't get that from him either." he says, though he can't help but grin as he does so.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_black_canary_/]

"Carter!" She shifts the sleeping infant in her arms, the better to display her. "C'mere and meet your niece Olivia."

[abluntobject.livejournal.com]

He heads over, clearly quite happy for the new parents. "She looks just like you did." he says with a smile, looking at the child with an adoration extremely unusual to see on the face of Hawkman.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_black_canary_/]

"Red face and squishy baby feet?"

[abluntobject.livejournal.com]

He nods without missing a beat. "And yet the cutest thing in the room. She's going to be a handful, I'm sure of it."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_black_canary_/]

"She's already been a handful." The grin takes away any sting in her words. "Would you like to hold her?"

[abluntobject.livejournal.com]

He nods, reaching out to take the child carefully, as if he might break her accidentally. "I'd love to, thank you. And I'm sure she'll be keeping you plenty busy for years to come."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_black_canary_/]

"You, too, I hope." She stretches out an incipient cramp in her arm, shifting against the pillows. A more serious look comes over her face. "I was hoping you'd agree to be one of her godparents."

[abluntobject.livejournal.com]

A pause, a raised eyebrow, then a nod. "You don't even need to ask. I'd be honored. And she'll need more good influences in her life." he adds, the first bit dead serious, of course, the last back to gently teasing.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_black_canary_/]

"Not to mention someone who'll be around and able to take care of her if anything happens to me'n Ollie." She nods seriously at the small bundle squirming against her chest. "Just promise me one thing."

[abluntobject.livejournal.com]

Back to being serious. His face straightens, though he continues to be almost overcareful with the baby. "Name it."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_black_canary_/]

Face and voice are solemn as she says, "Don't make her be a Young Republican."

[abluntobject.livejournal.com]

He smirks. "I'm a conservative, not a Republican... these days there's a big difference. But I'm not going to make her be anything. I'll just trust that she'll end up with more sense than her father and better taste in men than her mother." he replies, trying to keep a straight face.

[straight-arrow.livejournal.com]

Ahem.

Ollie steps up behind Carter.

Maybe you'd better stick to goofy faces, if that's the kind of humour you're going to expose my daughter to.

He turns to Dinah.

Sorry about that. Roy called, and now he thinks he's the expert. Took this long to...

The 'snappy patter dies as his eyes lock on the squirming bundle in Dinah's arms.

There she is.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_black_canary_/]

"Hey, there, Daddy." Dinah's wink is just as arch, and her smile is just as fond. "What do you think? Can we keep her?"

[straight-arrow.livejournal.com]

There is a photo in Ollie's pocket, much creased and folded, of a moment just like this. After it was taken, he didn't see the bald bundle of joy for fifteen years.

There are tears in his eyes.

Damn right we can.

He peers in at his little girl.

Hey, there, baby bird...

[http://users.livejournal.com/_black_canary_/]

"Baby Bird? I like it."

The dark-haired bundle squirms and one tiny fist reaches out to lightly strike her father's beard.

[straight-arrow.livejournal.com]

He grins at his daughter.

Ladies love the beard.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_black_canary_/]

"I wanna hear you say that when she learns how to yank it," she murmurs back, chucking Olivia under her chin. "How's Roy doing, by the way? He say when he can visit and meet his little sister?"

[straight-arrow.livejournal.com]

League business. He's getting away as soon as he can. Apparently Lian showed up, and is twisting his arm to go see her new auntie.

Ollie shakes his head.

Boy gets bullied by his women worse'n I do.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_black_canary_/]

"Yeah, but you both love it," ripostes Dinah. "Just how tightly are you wrapped around this finger, hmmm?" She grasps Olivia's small fist and waves it gently. "Tight as a bowstring? About like that?"

[straight-arrow.livejournal.com]

Ollie just nods, tears in his eyes. He looks over at Connor as he touches Olivia's hand with a finger.

Can I say I'm sorry again?

[connor-hawke.livejournal.com]

He's been quiet, letting everyone have their moment.

But he can see Dad fiddling with the paper scrap in his pocket.

"Things work out as they're meant to."

[connor-hawke.livejournal.com]

Another facet, another life...


His hands are gnarled by arthritis, spotted with age with veins showing beneath wrinkled, thin skin. Maybe he can still fire a bow, but it's been years since he tried.

His hair would be white if he had any. In deferrence to tradition, his scalp is shaved. He adjusts the orange robe hanging off his bony shoulders as he looks up to the moon. The Watchtower hasn't been used for years, and it was never visible to the naked eye from Earth. Still, on nights like this, he swears that he can see it.

New generations of heroes have risen to replace the fallen and the aged.

It's been a good life, a worthy life.

[connor-hawke.livejournal.com]

Just as suddenly as it appeared, the artifact vanishes, leaving a rather confused Arrow in the kitchen. He's about to signal to the Watchtower about the artifact, when the alert comes in (http://community.livejournal.com/jla_watchtower/1204926.html)

Report's going to have to wait. Connor's hauling tail to the basement and his "work gear" as he can.