Archive of Our Own ^beta

Guy has been missing for five hours.

For a certain value of missing - they know he's in a different dimension with the Justice League and Simon and Jess. But still - he's been gone for five hours, and John has a feeling about it. Not bad, necessarily, just - a feeling. Like Guy did something again. He has a sixth sense for it. 

"Corpsleader Stewart", Salaak says, sticking his head into John's office. "Lantern Gardner is here to... report." 

I was right, John thinks. 

"Well, send him in then", he says, raising an eyebrow. Salaak shakes his head, and then a giant green hand scoops him up and pushes him away to make room for Guy to stroll in, completely ignoring his protests. 

Guy looks - suspiciously unharmed, for just returning from a combat mission, and his expression is almost the exact same it was when he asked John to marry him. Hopeful, excited, but tense. 

It's probably about the small child he's carrying. 

I was so right, John thinks. At least the kid seems to like Guy already. It is good timing, overall - he's not going on missions much anymore, too busy with his administration duty, but he could delegate more to the Templar Guardians to make time for the kid.

Guy's also stationed on Mogo - it'd be easy to take him off his duties as a honor guard and have him focus more on training and organization.  They've had surprisingly few crisis' the last few months. 

"Johnny!" Guy says brightly, "Look what I found!" 

"Oh?" John says, raising an eyebrow at Guy. "Whatever could that be?" 

The kid, head turned into Guy's shoulder, giggles. 

"The kid, Johnny!" Guy says, mock offended. 

"The only kid I see is you", John says, deadpan. 

The kid giggles again, and Guy grins.  "Do you hear that, Jordana?" He says, still pretending to be offended. "Johnny can't see you! You must be invisible!" 

"Noo, Daddy", the kid giggles, "He's makin' fun of you!" 

"Making fun of me!" Guy repeats, "No way! You must be invisible!" 

"Nooo", Jordana drawls, shifting to grin at John. "I'm not invisible, no waaaaaay!" 

"Yes, way!" 

"No way!" 

"Yes way!" 

"No way!" 

"Yes way!" 

"No way!" 

"Yes way, right, Johnny?" 

"No way! Tell him, Uncle Johnny!" 

"Oh, so now I'm the tie breaker?" John says, smiling. "Well, I'm sorry, Jordana, but I think Guy might be right. You're invisible!" 

"But you see me!" Jordana says, grinning triumphantly, wiggling in Guy's arms. "So I win!" 

"She's got us there", Guy says, setting her down, expression going pained for a second as his eyes meet John's.  Jordana traipses over to him, oblivious to their silent communication, and John picks her up when she grins up at him. 

"I missed you, Uncle Johnny", she tells him earnestly. 

"Yeah?" John says, giving Guy a paniced look, who shrugs. 

"I know you're not really the same Uncle Johnny", Jordana says, crossly. "But I still missed you." 

"Okay", John says, smiling down at her. "I'm sure I'll enjoy getting to know you, then, so you won't have to miss your Uncle Johnny that much anymore." 

Jordana nods, serious for a moment, before her face lights up again, and she giggles. 

"I should call you Papa now", she tells him, very pompously, "Because Daddy's married to you here, and not to my old Dada, but he's still around, so I can't call you Dada."

"Who -" 

Hal, Guy mouths, at him and John blinks as he tres to imagine that. 

"Well, I'm honored by anything you want to call me", he tells Jordana, getting a sweet smile in return.  Hal, he mouths back at Guy, who raises his hands to show his innocence.   

"Sorry for springing this on you", Guy says later, once they've put Jordana to sleep. "She's been pretty anxious about getting seperated from me." 

"It's fine", John says, hugging Guy closer to him. "I could tell something was up. What happened to her real parents?" 

"Dead", Guy says sadly. "It's pretty apocalyptic over there - You and Kyle are dead too, Simon and Jess never got their rings, if they exist at all. Jordan went on a mission in space, over a year ago, and just never came back. Didn't get confirmation he really bit the dust 'till we got there. My alternate stayed on Earth with the kid and made it 'till a week ago, when the whole planet got blown to pieces." 

"Grim." 

"Yeah." 

"So you brought her here to be safe?" 

"And to heal, yeah." 

"We can absolutely help her with that", John says. 

"Yeah", Guy says, relaxing in John's arms. "I was worried you'd freak." 

"I've seen weirder things", John says, "We're in a good position to be parents, and I've always wanted kids. You were the one unsure about it. The one who's really gonna freak is Hal." 

"Oh shit", Guy says, starting to laugh. "He is, isn't he? Can't believe my alternate hooked up with him when you were right there." 

"Thanks", John says dryly. "I love you too."