August 17, 1400h Stocks were up. Investments were making solid returns. Four new clients contracted this week. And Nightwing was dying. Jesse Chambers leaned her head into her hands. Her father had gone so fast. Even for a Speedster. One minute he'd been there, larger than life itself. The next, he was part of the Speedforce. Nightwing had no such luxury. After all, he was 'only human'. Jesse reached for the phone again but stopped herself. She'd called for an update only a few minutes before. It felt like forever. She knew from experience the best medicine for waiting was work and the stack of files on her desk and the rapid rise in QuickStart's value attested to that. And still she sat, thinking of things both relevant and not, until Tally knocked on her door. "Miss Chambers? Wally West is here to see you. He doesn't have an appointment but I thought maybe you'd like to see him anyway." Jesse managed a weak smile. "Thanks. Show him in." Wally shuffled into her office wearing jeans, boots and a t-shirt. He looked exactly like he came off his family's farm. That alone was reason for concern. She felt a little defensive, remembering how he'd all but snubbed the Titans the night before last, talking mostly to Vic while she organized the entire blood collection campaign. She hadn't minded then. She'd needed the work. She'd needed to know that she was doing something. The two Speedsters stared at each other. "You wanna sit down?" Jesse asked. "Yeah." Wally crunched heavily into one of her client chairs, not even taking his hands out of his pockets. "What is it?" "I screwed up the other night. Everything I did was wrong." "You saved his life." "But I screwed up." "Apparently not too badly." "I got rattled. Went too fast on the compressions. Forgot to grab Barbara's chair-forgot Barbara even needed the chair." "She'd probably love to hear you say that." "And then I couldn't do anything." They sat there in silence for a moment. "There were a lot of people who couldn't do anything," Jesse finally said. "And we were some help. We got some blood." "We don't know he can take Speedster blood." "We don't know that he can't." "Do you think he'll be ok?" "Of course he will." "Do you really think that?" "I don't know." "Me either." Jesse slouched in her chair and started playing with a pencil. "It doesn't seem possible that he wouldn't be all right." "You know about the contingency plans, right?" "Of course I do." "Are you-" Wally didn't want to finish, but she knew what he was going to ask. "Yeah. Unless Roy fights me for it." "Would you let him have it?" "I might. He was better the other night than I was." "We've been around the whole Bat thing longer than you. It's hard to get used to." "I don't have the time." "To hang around the Bat family? Who does?" "I mean to lead the Titans. Full time." "Neither did he." "We shouldn't be moping around here," Jesse sighed. "Yeah," Wally agreed. "You wanna go for a run?" Jesse thought about it for a minute and was surprised by her answer. "No," she said. I guess I don't. But you should go. It'll make you feel better." "You think so?" Jesse nodded. "I have a lot of work to do." "Well, ok. If you think so." Wally released his uniform from the special ring he wore and zipped out of her office in, well, in a flash. In the resulting wind, Jesse almost thought she could hear a man's voice say, "Wanna learn a new kick?" She shook her head and dismissed the voice, reaching for one of the files on her desk. There was work to be done, and lots of it.