Several nights previously JJ had called @madrox out of the blue. Of course he pretty much HAD to call her out of the blue. He had plans and would've given her more notice but that's nearly impossible. Mainly because she'd likely forget because years could pass in between to her. Plus he knew she had a way to extend time as much as needed to get ready. Sitting in his penthouse apartment one day he called her up while Barby was off playing. He'd expected a voice mail but was pleased to see she actually answered.

"Hey Ray."

"Yeah I was wondering if you're busy three nights from now."

He knew saying Saturday was pointless, or at least assumed it was.

"No, no babysitting, thanks. Got a huge party and I need a date. And Ke$ha isn't returning my calls anymore. Which is fine, she was terrifying, fun but terrifying. Plus the party has an age limit so my usual date of Barby won't be able to go. She's already kind of angry about it but that's another matter."

"Awesome, awesome. I'll send a dress over. Don't worry, it's not TOO revealing. I mean you can only see like....half of your areola."

He said jokingly with a laugh. They usually seemed to make what most deemed odd and strangely sexual jokes. As for reasons why they did it that was up for debate.

"Yes the dress will fit. I'm very familiar with your curves."

'Ewww! Get a room!'

Came Barby's voice from around the corner. She'd nearly snuck up on him,, impressive. Of course he'd been distracted but still, his senses should've caught her. Barby giggled as JJ chased her around the apartment.

"Alright, I'll see you then."

Then with that he hung up on her and spent some time with his daughter. He also had a blue and black dress sent to Rayne's place once it was ready.

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The night of the gala a limo pulled up to where Rayne said she'd be. The driver went up to the door and knocked for Rayne. JJ meanwhile was still sitting in the limo, waiting patiently. He was just trying to relax, holding a glass of scotch and a freshly rolled joint sitting in the ash tray. While he of course didn't condone recreational use, his was medicinal. It helped ensure his enhanced senses didn't get overloaded, plus it helped better ease his pain from all his crime fighting injuries. Tonight was no different, he had one broken rib and a massive black eye that was more accurately a partially bruised face. He'd gone after Nightshade and her hippie minions last night. While he'd managed to capture one minion a suddenly sentient tree proceeded to beat him for every one that had been chopped down by a logger. He survived and took it out but Nightshade managed to escape and he was left hurting. Of course the official story was simply a stunt gone awry.

He was wearing a custome made tux. Tonight was huge and if he couldn't have Barby by his side then he wanted the only non family member who was likely his best friend. That person was Rayne and only Rayne. He mostly kept to himself out of costume and only let a few close. Sure she didn't know about his secret life, and that was fine with him. She wasn't that close to him to give everything, but maybe one day, hopefully. He sipped his scotch as the door opened. He let out a whistle and shook his head.

"You look beautiful Ray."

Rayne had been having a lazy day at her Gotham apartment. She had places in all sorts of cities, found it necessary. But she was in Gotham now only by chance, though wasn't that all life was? A series of chances? And she currently looked like a monster but that was how all beauty products seemed to make her look. With a green 'mask' on her face and cucumbers over her eyes. Her hair had bits of aluminium wrapped around it here and there where she was letting the blue dye set in the mess of black and there was a plastic bag covering it. Lazy beauty days were never pretty. But as she heard her phone go off, she started reaching blindly for the coffee table. She could hear skippy barking at her as she picked it up. "Helloooo?"

The voice she heard on the other end made her jolt upright, both of the cucumbers falling from her eyes. "Oh, uh, hey JJ, been a while, huh?" She asked, trying to sound as unphased as possible. She had been meaning to call him herself but this was a bit of a shock to her. She hadn't really expected to hear from him. Then again, she literally couldn't expect anything from anyone with how hectic her life was.

When he asked whether she was busy, she rolled her eyes amd laughed. "I've got nothing in my calender, not that i actually have one of those. Why? Needing me to babysit the littlest princess?" she asked. It was a decent question. After all, Rayne did seem like the usual choice of babysitter. Not that she really minded that much.

But no, this was... an invitation? Huh, she hadn't been expecting that. She probably should have but, again, she tended to not expect things. It was something she should learn to do: expect the unexpected. But where was the fun in that? It left for no surprises! "Oh, well sure! I would loooove to go. You know i can't say no to a good party, especially not with you!"

She laughed at what he said, shaking her head again. "Well clearly the dress'll need to be doctored up. I mean, only half of one? My reputation would be in jeopardy if it didn't show at least half of both!" she teased back. "I have no doubts that it'll fit perfectly!"

"Yeah, see ya then! Bye JJ, tell the princess-" it was then that she realized he had hung up. With a sigh, she put her phone back on the table. "You know, Skippy, men are the worst." She muttered to the german shepherd as she patted the couch. The dog jumped up and let his head rest in her lap. "But gods do I love 'em."

________________

Rayne had actually spent the next few days being, well, seemingly normal as she started figuring out just how to get ready. She had gone out, bought make up, hair products, every little thing she thought that she might need for that night. Three days seemed to drag on forever for her. Probably because she was so used to skipping the wait period. But, you know, after beinf stabbed and nearly burned for being a 'witch', she was a bit more than happy to pretend that she didn't have her time powers just this once.

When she had gotten the dress, though, she knew that, later, she was going to go back and make it a big deal. Just looking at it, she could see it was beautiful and, well, she would love to see something like this on some form of headlines, whether in be in her own time or a few decades in the past. She took her time getting ready for the 'not actually a date' date, doing up her eyes with blue shimmers and black eyeliner and mascara. Some pink lipstick seemed good to her, having to force herself to put the blue ones back several times. She had a pair of black heels she had bought after recieving the dress that were black with a blue bow on the outside of each. And, to finish it off, a blue shawl that reminded her more of a really small jacket was put on with it. She had her hair down and curled, the vibrant blue curls bouncing amongst a sea of black, another simply chance thing that came out of all this.

Rayne heard the knock at her door and, quick like a bunny, she did her last minute touches and said bye to her precious pooch before heading to the door. She offered a small smile to the driver before escorting herself to the limo. That small smile turned into a grin as she opened the limo door and heard JJ's compliment. "Oh JJ, I always look beautiful," she teased, sliding into the seat beside him. "But you're looking pretty good yourself. Where did you get that suit?"

If JJ were to say he wasn't nervous, he'd be lying. Sure he'd hung out with Rayne hundreds of times (Maybe more, maybe less depending on what state she was in). However he always thought that there should've been more. He had hoped for more when they started seeing each other. Yes he was in a bad state, but they seemed to get along. Sure they had fun partying but then after a week or so she'd cut it short. He always sort of wondered if she went to see them in the future and didn't like it. While he'd understand that, he felt it was a bit of a cop out. As the door opened he smiled and held his hand out to help her into the limo.

"Well personally I think beautiful doesn't really begin to cut it, but to each their own."

He said with a laugh as the door closed and the limo pulled away from the curb. He knew they had awhile before they got there. Namely because he'd told the driver to take the long way around. He wanted to catch up with Rayne and he needed to calm down. He looked down at the tux as she mentioned it and laughed lightly. He put the joint in his lips, lighting it quickly. He took a deep breath and held the smoke for a second before answering.

"Italy. I had it specially made for tonight. Tonight is a huge night for me. Drink?"

He said with a smile. He assumed she'd want a drink but could never predict what she wanted. Sometimes it was beer, other times it was high end whiskey. It always confused him and he'd given up trying to predict or even guess. He also offered the joint to her, knowing sometimes she liked to dabble.

"That dress came out better than I expected. I was hoping for more revealing but beggars can't be choosers."

He said with a laugh.

Rayne had taken his hand as he helped her into the car. And while she still felt those sparks, those same flutterbys from when they dated, the same ones she always seemed to feel, she knew better than to let them decide how she was around him. She didn't need to be a mind reader to know what was likely on his mind and she was sure he knew it was complicated. She had never given him a straight answer whenever he had tried to ask previously what had gone wrong. The fact of the matter was: nothing had gone wrong. They were perfect, maybe even too perfect and the idea of something serious had and always would terrify her. She would never admit to that, though. And there was so much more to it. It was all so complicated. Too complicated to let filter through her thoughts right now, at that. So with a mental flip of the switch, she turned those emotions off and grinned.

"Beautiful, sexy, goddess marerial, they all work. We both know I'm the hottest damn thing around since the sun! And maaaaaybe you but we won't push it," she said with a laugh. Yeah, she was a bit full of herself. It was something that both her and her brother seemed to suffer from: a cockiness that seemed to rival no others but each others. And it was something she believed she had a right to be like. After all, she pretty much was a goddess. A Time Goddess. Oooh, now she wished that had been her name rather than Tempus. Or well, she could deal.

"Oooh, Italy! I love Italy. The culture, the food, the architecture, the booze. Best place in history! I haven't been to a single universe that had a bad Italy, you know that? They are an amazing constant," she said, practically purring the words. Granted, she had also burned a good bit of Rome to the ground to save Olivier, that was besides the point. All in all, an amazing country. He had asked if she wanted a drink though, something that had only registered as an after thought once she realized he said more than Italy. "Ya know, I'm feeling somewhat fancy, do you have any wine? It can be cheap, it doesn't matter."

Rayne shook her head at the joint as it was offered. She occasionally dabbled, true, but today just wasn't one of those days she was feeling it. Maybe if she was a bit more stressed, that would be one thing. But nawww, she was relaxed as relaxed could be. "I thought the same thing when i saw it, actually. Almost considered 'modifying' it, too. But when k tried it on, it was just too gorgeous for me to even want to take off! You like it, though, right? Ha, what am i saying, of course you do, I'm wearing it! Anything on me looks absolutely amazing!" She looked down at the dress, smoothing her hand down over it to make sure it was all okay. "So what's this big occasion anyway?" Or is it a secret i can't know about?"

He couldn't help but laugh lightly at her mildly egotistical comment. Of course to him it was only mildly since she was incredibly beautiful. Of course he was naturally biased given his feelings towards her. Of course his daughter was just as egotistical, as was he. He didn't really mind it though. His daughter was perfect, because she was his. He did have solid genetics and the mother, whoever she was did just as well. Sure he had theories and even a sealed envelope with her name, he just chose not to read it. If she didn't want any part of Barby's life than JJ wasn't going to let her in anyways.

"Please, you, me and the readers of People all know and agree I'm damn good looking."

Of course he knew for a week or so he'd be seeing articles with people trying to figure out who Rayne is. He always laughed reading those. It was hilarious as they debated and argued about the existence and identity of an actual spy. As she made a comment about Italy he laughed lightly, taking a hit of the joint.

"Yes, Italy is always beautiful. Just ignore Venice in the summer and that whole Nazi Ally Black shirt thing in the 40's. But yeah, otherwise beautiful. It's on Barby's short list for summer vacation."

He said with a smile. As usual most topics came back to his daughter, they always did. She was always fresh in his mind and would always be his main priority. He knew Rayne and Barby got along which was huge for him. If Barby didn't like her JJ likely would've ended any sort of friendship with her. Barby had killed a handful of relationships in the past. Well that and JJ's tendency to be flaky as he has to run and fight crime. Rayne never seemed to mind though, so that was a plus. As she asked for wine he nodded his head and poured her a glass of Riesling. Riesling was usually a good go to wine when just relaxing. He handed her a glass and smiled, sipping his own scotch. He was glad she liked the dress he picked out. He went for something that matched him, was good looking and was fancy enough for the party. That brought them to the next topic, the reason for the party.

"Oh it's quite a surprise. But it should also be a huge party."

He just hoped nothing interrupted the night. Of course this was Gotham so that was entirely possible. He just hoped there were enough other heroes on patrol to ensure they didn't need him.

"All I can tell you about is that it's something to do with an upcoming movie."

He said pulling out his cellphone, just to make sure there weren't any messages from Barby or the rest of the family before placing it back in his pocket.

"Never said you weren't, baby cakes," she laughed. "But everyone knows me, May, and maybe that Thomas Wayne fella make up some of the hottest people out there!" She was only teasing, of course. In reality, JJ was probably one if the finest looking men in this universe. Maybe next to T'Shan but that godly man wasn't really of this world, now was he? Still, these were things she wouldn't dare say out loud.

"Hey, Venice is gorgeous no matter the time of year!" she countered. The lived that watery city almost as much, if not more than she loved Rome. "Oh, if you two go there, i suggest you take her to the Coloseum. The history of that place. It's amazing. You know, my brother was a gladiator there once! You probably know that story though. Ah, good times. Very good times." she sighed happily as she was handed a glass of Reisling and took a sip. Her eyes were a bit hazy for a moment, distant, recalling the memories of those days. Such amazing times.

He brought her out of her thoughts with his words, though. Sweet! A surprise! She loved surprises. They let her creative side show through and gave her the chance to actually try and figure it out on her own. She really was quite a child at times. But it was expected. She was what? Nine? Ten years old? Despite her appearance or even mental age, in reality, she wasn't as old as she seemed to be. That was one of those things she kept under wraps, though. Not everyone really needed to know that. "I can't wait until we get there then!" she chirped.

"Ooh, what movie is the sexy action hero in now?" she asked, leaning in a little. The smoke from the joint floated around her. She didn't need to smoke it with it filling the back of the limo. And boy did it seem to smell great. She noticed him take out his phone and chuckled. "The little princess is gonna be fine, JJ, you don't need to worry. I promise! Speaking of, you hung up so fast the other day, i never got the chance to talk to her. How is she?"

"Pssh. Thomas..."

He said with a dismissive wave of the hand. Yes he knew what people thought of Thomas but he didn't really care. He didn't see Thomas as a threat anyways. He didn't know much about May, they'd never really met. Sure Rayne mentioned May a handful of times but didn't have much to go on. Sure he had the resources to find her, but didn't really feel a need to. He laughed lightly as she mentioned her brother being a gladiator and all that. She often went on about her Roman stuff, it was something that he'd just gotten used to.

"Yes I've heard the story Ray. He pissed off a general, fought in the Colosseum, you burned down the city. Still a good story though."

He laughed lightly at her excitement as she wanted to know about the movie. He wouldn't be telling her anything just yet. Mainly because he'd said it was a surprise and as part of being a surprise he had to tell her later. But he did like just how excited she got at something as simple as a surprise.

"Oh it's sure to be a major hit. Primarily because all I have to do is take my shirt off in the trailer and boom, number one in the box office."

He said with a laugh before taking a hit off his joint. With a sigh he glanced over at her. He smiled a bit when she asked about Barby. He loved how well they got together and that was truly all he cared about. If Barby didn't like her then the relationship was over. But luckily the two got along perfectly, enough so that he trusted Rayne to watch her.

"Oh she's great, of course. Growing like a weed though. But she's really doing great. She just started doing gymnastics and is a natural."

He said as the limo came to a stop. He put the joint out and finished his scotch. The door opened and JJ slid out before holding his hand out to help Rayne. He smiled a bit as he noticed the flash bulbs going off.

"Remember Ray, look sexy. Good job."

He said with a light laugh as the two began to walk in.

"Don't lie, you know you think it too, Gorgeous," she teased. She knew, without a doubt, that that probably wasn't true though. But that didn't mean that she couldn't tease him for it. Then again, she also knew that the Grayson's were practically related to the Wayne's, so maybe he didn't like to admit to attractions to someone who is practically an uncle or cousin to them. Yeah, that had to be it. Totally not just the fact that JJ didn't quite care for him. Mystery solved! Awww yissss!

Sh beamed at him. "Well of course it's a good story, I'm in it, after all. I'd say it's probably the bestest story of all time. Though that could be said about pretty much any story that i'm in, couldn't it?" For looked up at the roof of the limo, looking thoughtful just for a moment as she took another sip of her wine. Yeah, she was just that amazing, she was sure of that. Anything with her in it was instantly made one bajillion times better!

Her thoughts were interrupted by the talk of him talking off his shirt. "Huh? What? You're gonna take your shirt off? Is that what I heard?" Okay, so maybe she only heard that one small fragment of what he had said. But shhhhh, those were such minor details! Why did the rest of what he said matter! Unless, dammit... Had he just told her something important about this movie and she miss it? How sad. "Well, I mean, I'm not going to stop you if you want to talk your shirt off but we'll be there any moment now. You wouldn't want the press to catch ya like that with some 'mysterious woman'," she chuckled.

Now talk about Barby was something she focused on completely. Awwww, that was so adorable! "Oh, you've got to let me see the little princess soon, Johnny!" she chirped. She really would love that, to see the darling, the dear, how she missed her. "I bet she's super tall now, though. And cute as a button. After all, she has your genes coursing through her!" It was weird, she had never really thought of herself as someone who was really too keen on children, however little Barbara Grayson was the sole exception.

As the limo came to a stop, she downed the rest of her drink and placed the glass down, licking her lips as she did so. She hoped her lip stick wasn't already starting to get ruined before of that, though. She had almost completely forgotten about it, really. She took JJ's hand with a smile and got out of the vehicle. The lights flashed in her eyes, dazing her for a moment but it was nothing she couldn't handle. She threw a wink at some of the camera men as she walked with her 'date' to the entrance. "Oh, as if I could ever not look sexy!"

"You do know Thomas is my uncle right? Plus we were raised together so he's like a cousin, if not a brother to me. Plus, you could do better than him."

Ok so maybe that wasn't exceptionally subtle. Then again he'd been trying subtle for sometime now so it clearly wasn't really working. But he also knew if he went full out she'd likely resist and then he'd lose her for good. Plus Barby seemed to love her so she didn't want to risk Barby losing her. He sat there calmly as she went on about herself, as usual. Sure she was arrogant and sometimes it annoyed him, but he'd likely never admit it. Plus she wasn't completely wrong. Any story with her in it was interesting, to him. Although all the times she'd jumped through time was fascinating. He did feel somewhat vindicated when she mentioned wanting him to take his shirt off. So that meant there was some semblance of feelings there, at least physical. He could always turn physical to emotional if he had to, which he might.

"Please, all the times we've been photographed together it would only add some more steam to the constant rumors. But, if the night goes your way I might just end up shirtless."

He helped her out and took her arm in his. He smiled and waved to the people as they walked into Batman Inc. The building had been commandeered for the party. It was mostly his doing, but still. When they walked in the party was already in full swing. There were Hollywood producers and what not there, but also actors and actresses and singers there. Servers were going around with glasses of champagne and JJ grabbed one for himself and one for Rayne, handing it off to her.

"Here, drink up. My plan is to get you so drunk you make bad decisions, like me."

He said with a wink and a laugh. He sipped his champagne and smiled at everyone, just doing quick greetings as they moved through the crowd.

"Don't be surprised if some of the women and even men, try to murder you tonight. Jealousy can be an ugly thing."

If you get the chance you better keep her

"He's not your blood uncle, though, now is he? Besiiides, people can appreciate how hot their family is without it being creepy!" She had to pause for a moment, though, as she thought that over. "It's not that creepy is it?" It was probably almost sad that she actually had to ask but to her, it really wasn't. She supposed that was kind of what happened when she's spent so much time, well, time jumping between times in which incest was pretty much religion (though, personally, even that was too far for her and even disgusted her) and times like today. Things could confuse her at times. The littlest of things. But they were things none the less. She gave him a look with a bit of a smirk. "Better like you, Mister Grayson?" she asked before giggling. Funny how when her brother implied it, she took the moment to lash out at him but when John did it, it seemed quite alright. Maybe it was because of the annoyance of her brother's insistence that made it something she hated, though.

She batted a hand at the air and laughed, turning her head away from him to look out the window. "Oh stop it, you. Keep talking like that, and I might have to make it a goal to get that shirt off of ya!" She was happy as she was helped out, though, to be in the fresh air again. She stayed close to him, smiling at the cameras that were flashed as they headed into the building. And boy was it a party. She hadn't expected to see it being so busy already. All of the people that were there, most famous, some not, made her almost start to feel uncomfortable. Almost. But not quite. No, she wasn't sure anything could ever really make her uncomfortable. She had her back to him a moment as she tried playing 'spot the movie star' with herself. She didn't get too far into her game as she was handed a champagne flute and had her attention brought back to her 'not-date'. "You know, you and May reeeeally seem to have a thing for trying to use alcohol to get what ya want out of me, you know that?" she asked with a snicker, taking a sip from her glass. "Sometimes I think the two of you forget just how much alcohol it's going to take to get there."

Rayne waved politely as she greeted people before turning away slightly to drain her glass. Okay, she wasn't feeling quite like herself at the second. It seems like it might have been quite some time since she's actually had to be in this kind of situation. Not that she didn't like it but maybe getting just a little buzzed would help. Just a little. "Oh, if people start trying to murder me, i'd be completely flattered! I always love a bit of a challenge! Bring 'em on!" she joked. Well, it was at least partially a joke. "But you know, it goes both ways. One of these strappin' guys or girls just might try to steal me away from ya. It happens when ya have the looks of a queen, yeah? So don't be surprised."

542	TNG Staff
>__> This probably could've been better...

She's sweet as pie but she'll turn cold as a freezer

✿

As she called him on his statement he laughed lightly. She had a point. Yes, he did think she could do better, like him. Of course he'd partially given up on actually trying to persuade her. Or at least being so avert about it. He decided to opt for subtlety. Not the usual tactic for him, but it could work. His usual methods seemed to have failed. Sure it worked to get her in the beginning when they were young, or at least he was. She might've actually been older for all he knew. Her timeline had a tendency to confuse him and usually leave him with far more question than when he started, or more than he would've imagined he'd actually have dealing with her.

"Hey, your words not mine Rayne. Hard to argue with such incredible logic however."

He said with a light laugh. He was trying to play it off as a slight joke. However at the same time it wasn't even close to a joke. He did feel he was the best option for her. No one got him like she did and he felt he got her better than most did. But of course he could be way off. Either way she was fun to be around and Barby loved her, which was all JJ really looked for. Anything over that was frosting. Of course she certainly had a lot of frosting so to speak. But his opinions on her were usually best kept to himself.

"Well it's important to have a goal. But you and I both know it's not that hard to get me to take my shirt off. If anything I should probably work on that."

He said with a shrug. Ok, so he had a tendency to go shirtless more often than he should. In each movie there was at least one shirtless scene and he usually worked out shirtless. However he also knew it usually worked to get women's attention. It was completely shallow and even pathetic, and he agreed. But given his track record with it working it was hard to argue it. As they moved around the party he smiled, making small talk. He glanced over at Rayne and noticed her glancing at the crowd. If he had to guess she was trying to figure out who she recognized. He'd noticed her doing the same thing on several occasions and was used to it. Why she'd still played this game was beyond him. She'd met some of them through him and numerous historic figures. But it's possible with her time jumping she'd forgotten or had simply not actually met them yet.

"I am nothing like May. I mean sure my butt is just as nice, but still. Far less tattoos and my chest is nice in a different sort of way. I would dye my hair but there are issues in my contract."

He said jokingly. He'd never really spent much time with May. Rayne had introduced them a few times, trying to set them up on a date. After a fun dinner, brief make out session and some conversation they'd parted ways. Well ok, maybe it wasn't JUST making out, but still, nothing really. May realized how JJ felt about Rayne and moved on.

"Oh don't worry about someone trying to take you from me. I'm very well prepared for it. I shall defeat all challengers and establish dominance as the Alpha Male. Then of course beat my chest and scare the rest away."

Of course it wasn't likely anyone would believe he could beat EVERYONE in the room. But what they didn't know was that he was the highly trained Blue Bat and he would make short work of them. Of course him doing that likely wouldn't have that great of an impression on her. Unless he was extremely wrong about her.

"They should be making an announcement anytime now."

He said as he looked over at her. He noticed her empty glass and signaled for a server to come by with more. He enjoyed standing there with her, it just felt natural to him. He'd never say it out loud, to anyone. But at the same time he liked the feeling he had with her.