Take A Dive [AquagirlxAqualad]

~6~

It was almost a week after Manta's attack before Aquaman came back. Lorena had plenty of time to catch up on sleep, but not really with her friends. 

Tula and Garth had revealed their relationship to the rest of their friend group, and then immediately used it as an excuse to spend more time alone together. Not that the others had time to hang out, anyway. Lori and La'gaan had passed their examinations with flying colors, and were immediately loaded with more course responsibilities. Topo was constantly worried about what Aquaman would think of his story of Kaldur's rise to become Aqualad to be any fun to hang out with, Sha'ark wasn't really someone you wanted to spend one-on-one time with, and Ronal was too busy with his cool "new" friends. 

Lorena thought this meant she'd get to hang out with Kaldur at least, but he seemed to be avoiding her. She spent hours searching the palace for him, only to have Mera inform her that Kaldur had returned to Shayeris to spend the remainder of his break with his parents. 

Lorena was more than a little hurt that he hadn't invited her along, much less told her that he was leaving. It would have been nice to see Sha'lain'a and Calvin again.

She was too depressed about feeling alone to return home, and she still needed to speak with Orin and learn more about the covert team. It wasn't like she was missing school anyway, her mother homeschooled her whenever she could, and she was sixteen and one-quarter, she wasn't legally obligated to be in school anymore anyway. Even so, she wouldn't live on the surface after she'd grown up, Atlantis was much cooler, and Lorena was determined to become Orin's protege, just as Kaldur was. 

Even after Orin had returned from the League issue in Tokyo Bay, which was probably some over-glorified distraction to lure Aquaman from Atlantis so that Manta, or whoever he was working for, could swoop in and nab the starfish,  there was still a to-do about the entire capital city. Lorena was left entirely on her own

"When do you think you'll come home?" Her mother asked, rippling in the water-mirror as Lorena's little brother and sister all tried to get a good look at their super-cool big sister.

"I want to wait until I can talk to Orin. I've got a few questions for him, and then I can get a formal dismissal and all that."

"Anything I can help with?" Her mother asked eagerly. Lorena felt guilty at the hopeful look glinting in Rachel Marquez's glasses as they slipped down her face while she tried to rock baby Sarah to sleep. Ever since discovering Atlantis and becoming a part of the culture, she had to admit she was a bit dismissive of her mother and her family. The mundane just didn't cut it anymore.  

"Sorry, mama, Superhero stuff this time."

"You're a hero?" little Miguel's hold slipped and he fell back on his bum.

"Yes, I am, chico," Lorena poked the surface, sending forth another ripple that made Miguel and Maya squeal with delight. Baby Sarah responded with a scream of equal magnitude, and Mama sighed at the same time Lorena got a knock on the door to her suite.

"Sorry, I gotta go, Mama."

"No worries, it's naptime anyway."

"Naptime!?" Maya and Miguel scattered out of view from the magical lens.

Rachel gave an even bigger sigh. "Call me, sweetheart."

"I be home in a couple days, I promise," Lorena crossed her fingers behind her back. She learned the hard way how politics liked even the simplest of things to drag on for forever.

Rachel knew it too. "Love you."

"Love you too, Mama!" Lorena waved her hand at the mirror as she spun about to answer the door, ending the call.