[Wow, this one takes explaining. ...too long. 
Let me sum up. 

The intitial premise: a world in which Dick 
Grayson had been raised by Oliver Queen and Roy 
Harper had been raised by Bruce Wayne. "RJ 
Grayson, aka Green Arrow" and "Roy Harper, aka 
Dragonfly" were entirely different people due 
to their different influences.

The Titans in this AU were likewise altered 
along with those two very different 
personalities. Way, way too many changes to go 
into here, but for the purposes of these 
snippets, it should be clear that RJ 
(indiscriminate slutboy) had a thing with the 
Aqualad of his world, before Aqualad died in 
the AU's Crisis on Infinite Earths. (Aquagirl-- 
Tula--survived and went on to become a member 
of the AU Titans, as below.)

In this random bit of scene, the AU versions of 
RJ and Roy somehow ended up in the "real" (or 
more familiar, at any rate) DCU and were 
interacting with the Titans we know.

And because I have a certain, hm, 
obsession....]



"Can I come in?"

Garth glanced up, heart hammering, to see RJ 
leaning against the door of his room. "...yes."

"I'm sorry about before, I didn't mean to scare 
you, I just...." RJ raked his long hair off his 
forehead and looked a bit lost. It was, Garth 
thought, an expression that didn't seem at all 
familiar to his face. 

That *face.* Dick, but not Dick. More open. 
Less thoughtful. Smile lines more prominent and 
he was *beautiful,* he really was.

With an effort Garth dragged his gaze away. 
"That's all right. I remember...when I saw Tula 
again, after she'd died, it was...." he trailed 
off, realizing the enormity of what RJ had 
said. That they--this mirror-Dick-Grayson and 
his own counterpart--had been together. For 
years. "You and he...how did that begin?"

RJ flopped into a chair, his whole body as 
relaxed as if he was completely familiar with 
this place, this situation. Boneless as a cat. 
But his voice echoed with something more. "To 
make a long story short, I seduced him. He was 
so lonely. It was really intense."

"But did you--" Garth bit his lip. He hadn't 
meant to ask; he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

RJ's blue eyes (*not* Dick's, but so very like) 
caught Garth's. "Love him? Oh, yeah. Only the 
thing is..." His voice held regret; again, 
Garth thought, something of an unfamiliar tone. 
"Not enough. I mean, not like I should have."

Oh, Pallais. "I'm sure...he knew, if you showed 
him at all, he knew."

"Right, sure, but...see, there was also Kory, 
and he had Tula too, so we kinda drifted apart, 
and then it'd been a couple of *months* since 
I'd seen him and then there was the Crisis, and 
he *died!* I didn't...I never...."

"Never said goodbye." It was a whisper. 

"Uh-huh." RJ was *looking* at him intently. 
"You-- I still can't believe you're what he 
would have been. So strong, and the others tell 
me you have all these magic powers, and you're-
-man, you have to know how amazing you look."

Helpless, Garth could only stand trembling as 
RJ peeled himself out of the chair and moved 
toward him. "God. Those eyes. I can't tell you 
how much I miss-- I used to just stare at his 
eyes, and he'd blush and try to look away, and 
I wouldn't let him. So incredibly beautiful." 
RJ brought his hand up slowly, giving Garth 
every opportunity to move away, protest, 
something; but he couldn't. The other man's 
hand touched his face, tracing his cheekbone, 
drawing across against his lips....

Close. So close. The sensations were rushing 
through him like a tide, and this. Wasn't. 
Dick. "RJ."

He didn't get any further than the name. 
"Don't...don't say no, I need-- I want to, let 
me show you how much I loved him. And you--I 
*know* how you feel about Dick, you're still 
you, and if he never did anything about it he's 
a damned fool."

"No. I never told him." So many reasons why. 

RJ's words like an echo of what he'd wanted to 
hear for so long. "Tell *me.* Show me." 
Seducing him. "You know you want to."

Powers save him. "*Yes.*" 

The kiss was hard and desperate, and there was 
nothing he wanted more than to melt into it, 
like RJ was melting into him, that long lean 
body molding against him. Wanting him. Oh, he 
wanted this.

He pulled his mouth away. Carefully dragged his 
hands out of RJ's hair where they'd tangled. 
Deliberately took one step away, then another. 
His breathing was ragged and torn. 

So was RJ's voice. "You *want* to!"

One step. Another. "More than you can ever 
imagine." Final step, the threshold, and no 
turning back. "I'm sorry."

And out.

***

RJ stood frozen, staring toward the door after 
Garth had gone, and those weren't tears in his 
eyes. They weren't. 

If he stood here long enough, he might even 
believe it.

 #flashback#

return from Tamaran. Kory had stayed to marry 
Karras and restore her planet to peace. He was 
missing her already.

Got to Titans' Tower.

"RJ...oh, Rhea. Garth..." He saw her swallow 
hard. "Garth is dead."

Somehow he was sitting on the floor. "Wh-- 
What--"

"The Crisis. All the super-villains...it's not 
important. He...oh, gods, I'm so sorry."

Her arms were around him but he couldn't feel 
her. "N-no-- "

Something like a blur and they were at the 
funeral, he was wearing his good suit and 
didn't remember how he'd gotten there. Probably 
Donna. This couldn't be--

"Richard."

He turned to see her. "Tula, I..." Nothing to 
say, not to anyone, not even to her about the 
lover they'd shared between them. 

Then another blur and she was in his bed, above 
him, moving on him. Whispering. "Share my body, 
Richard, share my grief...as you loved him, as 
I loved him, this is the comfort we can find in 
each other. For his memory."

Even as he arched upward into her, his body on 
autopilot, the tears from her blue eyes 
splattering onto his chest and his own finally 
dripping down--even then, it wasn't real.

But waking in the middle of that night, feeling 
her pressed against his side and shaking in 
silent sorrow, it was then that he saw it.

An image of purple eyes, closing.

And he knew it was true.

 #now#

RJ stood frozen, staring toward the door after 
Garth had gone, and those weren't tears in his 
eyes. They weren't because he'd cried for Garth 
once, often, all those years ago. Not again.


***

[Like I said: obsession. After RJ and AU-Roy have gone:]



Of course it would be Dick who came to find 
him, here on Montauk Point. "They're gone."

Garth nodded, not taking his eyes off the 
water. "I apologize for leaving. I couldn't 
stay."

Behind him he heard Dick shuffle his feet. 
Nervous? How odd. "That was...very strange."

"Yes."

"I mean. Um. What he said. About him and the 
other Garth. I hope you're okay with--I don't 
want that to make things between us weird." All 
what he'd expected, a friend's concern.

"No, of course not." Garth glanced back and 
managed a smile. "He wasn't you, after all."

"Right." A pause. "He seemed pretty upset after 
you left."

He could stay silent. It had always been easy. 
But seeing RJ, knowing that other place and 
other possibilities existed, made something so 
easy utterly impossible. "He came to my room. 
We talked. He wanted more." A breath. Say it. 
"So did I."

Garth was so focused on hearing whatever Dick 
might say in response that he didn't hear the 
footsteps, only noticed when Dick appeared in 
his peripheral vision, standing with him at the 
edge of the cliff. After an agonizingly long 
minute Dick finally said, "But you didn't, uh--"

"No." He was such a coward. He should just say--

"Why?"

Garth closed his eyes. It would change 
everything. But there was no hiding any more. 
He opened his eyes and turned to see Dick 
looking at him, face full of concern. And blue 
eyes, the right eyes, meeting his. "He wasn't 
you."

A slow flush went across Dick's features, but 
he didn't look away. "I. Uh. I didn't know."

"No, of course not. My decision, Dick; there's 
no reason you would have." 

"Except for RJ." Dick frowned, eyes still 
searching Garth's face. "So...you never would 
have said anything? Ever? *Why?*"

It would have made him laugh, if the situation 
had been different. "I thought that would be 
evident...."

"I thought we all promised to be honest with 
each other."

"A sin of omission isn't exactly--yes, I know." 
Garth shrugged and broke Dick's gaze and looked 
away for both their sakes. No reason to make 
this *more* difficult. "But honestly. What 
would it have done, save made you uncomfortable 
and me seem--well. Rather sad. My teenage 
crush, never fading. As if the Titans needed 
more of *that* kind of thing."

"C'mon, I'm being serious."

"Yes, so am I. There was no *point* to it...and 
I don't want things to change. I don't want you 
to look at me differently. Unless you--" he 
choked the words down. Pointless, indeed. "I 
don't want this to be awkward. I would say 
'forget it' except you won't, but you needn't 
imagine I've been crying myself to sleep over 
you for a decade, either. Nothing so dire as 
that."

"Yeah, but--" there was a pause, and then a 
change of tone. Hesitant. "I've never--I mean, 
I don't--" He cleared his throat. "Even if I-- 
well, Babs and I...."

And right there in Dick's half-voiced 
explanation was the other reason Garth had 
never said anything. But at the very least that 
last gave him a gracious out. He smiled, and it 
was even mostly genuine. "Really? After all 
this time." 

"Well...yeah. We're working on it. But you-- 
don't seem upset."

"Dick, please." It wasn't hard to be 
convincing, since it was the truth. "We all 
know how you and Barbara feel about each other-
-probably better than either of you. If you're 
finally going to do something about it, I'm 
glad. Truly."

"Oh. T-thanks." 

"" [[bit more here, Garth doesn't let it drag 
out and goes off to think... ending with: ]]

 For the first time he allowed himself to 
wonder about the *other* thing RJ had said. 
That Tula was still alive, in his reality. And 
if those two had come *here*....

It was almost too terrifying to contemplate. 





[[Some time passes. Couple months, probably, 
enough time for the AU Titans to recruit Jess 
and Toni..... At some point Garth decides, 
takes a leave of absence from the Titans, and 
goes searching... isn't easy to universe-jump, 
maybe he finds something -- old spell-scroll in 
the Idylists' library?? one time thing—and 
crosses over. Arrives in the AU. More setup.... ]]

[Beware the fearsome purple prose. *wince*]


RJ approached, grinning. "You came to see me?!"

"Well...no." Garth shook his head, looked 
around. "You said--Tula. Where...?"

The other man looked a little crestfallen, but 
Garth was too on edge to care. "Oh. She's with 
Titans West, in California."

Garth blinked. Titans' *West*? "You've 
actually...is that *active?!*" Their own West 
Coast team had been...well, a bit of a joke, 
actually. 

"Oh, sure. Vic is leading that team. Tula's 
over there, and Lilith and Bette and 
Leonid...."

Amazing. "I need to get there, now."

"There's the teleporter in the lab, if you--"

But Garth was already moving through the 
building, exactly like the old Titans' Tower 
(*this one was never destroyed by the 
Wildebeests*) so he knew the way, heading for 
the old lab.

And ran into Troia. "Excuse me, Donna--"

"Garth?!" Her shocked expression reminded him 
abruptly that this wasn't *his* Donna. "What--"

RJ came up behind. "Oh, whoops. Troia, this is 
Tempest, you know, the Garth I told you about 
from the other universe...."

"Yes, I--oh, Rhea, it's good to see you!" He 
was drawn into a crushing hug, and returned it 
in kind. After a moment she pulled away and 
smiled. "Er. Hello. I'm so glad to meet you!"

He smiled, but he was sure his impatience was 
showing through. "You, too. I...want to talk to 
you, all of you, but *Tula*--"

Her eyes widened. "Of course, RJ said that your 
Tula--oh, Hera, *go* to her, we'll all be 
here." She pushed him in the direction of the 
lab. "RJ, go with him, hurry!"

It took far too long to reach the transport 
tubes, for RJ to set the coordinates, for the 
mechanism to warm up. "Scotty, beam us up," he 
heard RJ say as the world dissolved, and would 
have laughed except that they were now standing 
in another lab, an unfamiliar one, and she was 
*here,* somewhere. 

"C'mon, I bet she's in the pool. This way."

It actually was a real headquarters, wonders 
never cease, so perhaps Titans West wasn't a 
joke at all, here. They passed Flamebird in the 
hall, her mouth dropping open as they went 
past, and Garth was too preoccupied to do more 
than nod to her. 

"Tell you later, babe," RJ called over his 
shoulder, and caught up, laughing. "Worth it 
just to see the look on her face. Okay, just 
through here--"

The smell of water and a shape under the 
surface, her head coming up to see who'd 
entered the room and--

"Oh, dear gods!" The water rose up and rushed 
her toward him on a cresting wave and she was 
in his arms, crying and laughing and pulling 
his face down to kiss desperately, again and 
again. "Garth, oh, please, I don't care how, I 
don't care why, Pallais, let this be real!"

He could only whisper her name, over and over. 
"Tula. Tula."

"Yes... oh...." She pulled away just an inch, 
eyes shining. "RJ told me but I didn't dare let 
myself think- -and you came anyway, you're even 
more beautiful than he said--"

"And you. I--" He abruptly realized RJ still 
standing there, grinning at them. 

"Wow, you guys are even sweeter than Joey and 
Gar." RJ shook his head. "Who woulda thunk."

"Leave, RJ, I want to be with my husband." Tula 
looked up into his eyes, and the other man was 
immediately forgotten. "You do accept, don't 
you? You won't--leave me again." 


He'd thought there might be some consideration, 
a real decision to be made. But with her here 
warm in his arms, there simply wasn't any. 
"Never. And oh, yes. My heart."

"My love."

Behind them, a small shuffling noise. "Look, 
guys--"  

 In unison, barely breaking apart, they 
answered him. "GO AWAY, RJ." They laughed, 
looking into each other's eyes; and what was 
very near the surface, needing to be expressed--

"The sea?"

"Too long. Right here. NOW."

"Pallais. Yes!"  

 Then the tearing of cloth and a turn and 
simultaneous dive into the pool, barely deep 
enough but it would have to do, and they were 
in each other's arms holding fast. And then the 
link--

*!!!*

*A gift of Naiad, for my service. Spirits, look 
at you--*

*You shine. I never dreamed--no, I dreamed, but 
never thought to hold you like this, not again. 
Tula. I love you. I love you!*

*And I love you, and, and-- "Wherever the tides 
take us--"*

*Yes. "My spirit and yours, I pledge--"*

*"All of my life and my heart. Yours, always."*

*"In this world and the next, eternal." My-my 
love.*

*I'm--I'm not crying. I'm NOT.*

*But even your tears taste sweet.*

*Ohhhh. Garth. Love me.*

He leaned in to taste her lips again, still 
barely believing-- and suddenly, horribly, 
remembered the last time he'd held "Tula" this 
way. The animated corpse of his dead love he'd 
fought and had to destroy with his own hands. 
He froze, staring intently into her face. 

*Garth?! What--*

*I--* He gripped her shoulders desperately. 
*You came back to me once, it was a lie, and I 
couldn't bear if this wasn't real, not again!*

*What-- tell me, what happened?!*

So he did, the whole terrible story about his 
mad uncle Slizzath, and the theft of his 
powers, and how Tula had come back to him as a 
result of Slizzath's sorcery, and turned out to 
be--

*A dead thing. Filled with--* he swallowed 
hard, remembering. *I had to--*

*Slizzath. That--abomination.* Tula stared at 
him, eyes full. *Oh, my love, I can't even 
imagine what you must have gone through...and 
now--* She took his hand and pulled him to the 
surface. *But I can show you.*

She got out of the pool and went over to her 
discarded costume, reaching for one of the 
sharp seashells that adorned her belt. Turning 
to face him, she drew it lightly down her arm, 
and his eyes tracked the thin trail of blood 
that followed. "Is this enough?"

"Tula--you didn't have to--" 

She stood tall and proud and fiercely 
beautiful. "This is hard enough for me--and I 
never had to see you die again. I don't want 
any doubts."

"None. Not one. Please, come back."

She dove and the link returned. *Never parting, 
not again.*

*Never.* He caught her arm and traced the line 
of the small wound, whispering as Atlan had 
taught him. With his words the magic surged and 
the skin closed over, perfect as before. 

*Such power...* she whispered into his mind. 
*Atlan wept over your loss, though never more 
than me....*

*Shhhh.* Garth pulled her close. *I'm here.*

*Oh, love. Now. Please.*

*Now. Always.*

It was passion, and love, and healing; and as 
their bodies joined and minds entwined, it was 
a promise as well.

 **

 [[Back in the "canon" 'verse. Garth's been 
missing about a week.]] 

"...and that's it for Titans' business this--"

Nightwing was interrupted by a sudden violet 
glow, growing and brightly blinding to the side 
of the meeting table. Immediately all the 
Titans went on full alert. Nightwing ready to 
analyze the threat and devise strategy, Troia 
and Starfire leaping up to form the front line 
defense, the Flash simply prepared to *move* on 
a nanosecond's notice and Jesse Quick mirroring 
that readiness. Cyborg's fluid form rippling, 
Arsenal grabbing for his bow, and Damage and 
Argent, both pairs of hands already starting to 
glow with power, just waiting for a word from 
the team leader--

But not the word they were expecting. "Stop! 
Wait, I recognize that signature, it's--"

Tempest appeared in the center of the violet 
light, shimmering with magic. He glanced out at 
the assembled Titans only briefly and then 
turned back, speaking behind him. "Here, 
quickly, the gate is fading already--" and then 
he was stepping out of the light, the figure 
behind him following as well, and the violet 
radiance vanished with a final flare.

The room erupted in a babble of voices.  
 "Garth!" "You're all right, we were so 
worried--" "Where have you *been,* man?" -- and 
Garth smiled and simply said, "My friends...I'd 
like you to meet my wife."

Tula stepped out from behind him, smiling. 
"Hello." Her gaze found Nightwing and Arsenal, 
and her eyes widened. "Oh, my. You'd said how 
different they were, but seeing them is 
something else entirely...."

The next few minutes were full of splendid 
confusion as Garth was greeted, kissed, and 
yelled at for simply disappearing from his 
friends' lives; Tula was greeted with joy and 
not a bit of awe from those who'd known her 
counterpart, and wept at her funeral; and the 
relative newcomers Jesse, Toni, and Grant just 
stood back and blinked at it all. "Did he say 
'wife'?! Wow, he moves fast...."

They ended up in the rec room, Garth and Tula 
sitting together on one of the couches with 
everyone else huddled around, his arm around 
her and her hand resting possessively on his 
thigh. "...but yes, it was as simple as that; 
we saw each other, and knew." Garth paused to 
kiss her temple. "The universe *does* grant 
second chances, thank Pallais."

It was Nightwing who had to ask the difficult 
question. "But...Garth, what are you going to 
do? Can Tula stay here? Or..."

Tula looked at him soberly. "I can't, Ri-- 
Nightwing. After our Garth...died, I made a 
pact with Earth's water-spirit, Naiad. In 
exchange for certain powers, I have a 
responsibility to my world, duties to carry 
out; even this 'trip' is a special exception. I 
go on no space missions, nor dimensional ones." 
She hesitated, then glanced at Garth. "But I 
can't lose him again, either."

"You won't." He looked around at his friends, 
his family. "I hope you'll all understand. I 
have to be with her. Tula can't leave her 
world, so I--"

Roy frowned. "Man, you can't just *leave.* You 
mean, permanently?!"

Garth smiled. "Thank you, Roy. I appreciate 
that. But this is a choice I'm making to be 
with my love; I hope you all can understand 
that."

Their faces reflected all the emotions *he'd* 
gone through, in reaching this decision. 

Dick looked overwhelmed, still thinking it 
though. Donna seemed on the edge of tears, but 
understanding why he had to do this. Roy was 
still shaking his head. Wally-- surprisingly, 
Wally looked like he knew exactly, and Garth 
remembered that Wally had pulled himself back 
home through time and space on the strength of 
his love for Linda, and hers for him. 

Kory, too, had returned from her home planet of 
Tamaran for love of Dick, and even though that 
hadn't worked out in the end she understood 
that sometimes love came before duty. Victor 
just nodded, accepting it as Garth's choice. 
And the other three didn't know him as well, so 
while they looked appropriately sad or confused 
it didn't affect them as deeply. Though Toni 
looked like she appreciated the romance of it.

Donna finally said, a little desperately, "But 
the way you came back, you can do that again, 
right? It isn't like we'd never see you again!"

Garth squeezed Tula's hand, got up, and pulled 
Donna into an embrace. She could feel her 
starting to shake and held her tightly. "I love 
you, Donna, love all of you--you can't think 
I'd just leave and forget you." He kissed her 
forehead and looked at the others, still 
staring at him, waiting for an answer. "The 
spell is--difficult. It depends on a number of 
factors, I don't have the *power* to cast it, 
even Atlan can't do it. We had to ask for help 
this time, and we'll owe favors for it." 
Zatanna had grinned and winked, saying only 
half- jokingly that she'd take her favor out in 
trade; and Constantine--well, they'd deal with 
him another time. 

"But--" Donna's voice broke, and he raised her 
face to wipe away her tears.

"But I'll find a way. I promise."

"You'd *better.*" She pulled herself away and 
went over to Tula. "You'll take care of him? 
For us?"

Tula rose and hugged her. "Donna, I swear I 
will."

"All right." Donna let Tula go and smiled at 
the both of them shakily. "Married. Wow. Do you 
have time-- how long can you stay?"

"Twenty-four hours, starting from when we 
arrived. Naiad wasn't pleased at even that 
much, but I insisted." Tula grinned. "For an 
anthropomorphic manifestation of an elemental 
concept, she has a nasty temper. But I wanted 
to meet you all, and I know there are others 
Garth should tell-- " she glanced at him. 
"Arthur and Mera?"

"And Atlan, and even--Berra, I suppose." He 
frowned. "To be honest, I don't want to take 
the time to swim to Poseidonis. I'd rather stay 
here."

Wally nodded. "That shouldn't be any problem, 
we can have Oracle link through the Watchtower 
communications array and reach Aquaman that 
way. There are the JLA teleporters too, if you 
want to use them."

"And they can come here, if they wish. That's 
perfect, Wally, thank you. Can you arrange 
that?"

"'Course." Wally came over and shook Garth's 
hand. "You seem really happy. I'm so glad." He 
turned, hesitated, and kissed Tula's cheek. 
"This'll sound weird, but I remember how happy 
you always made him--the other you, I mean. 
Gah, I hate multi-dimension stuff." He grinned. 
"Done too much of that kind of thing myself. 
Confusing. Anyway. Be back in a--flash." A 
breath and he was gone.

Tula blinked. "He seems more at ease. Probably 
because he doesn't have an RJ here to torment 
him." She looked curiously at Nightwing. "But 
you seem more like Roy, only not so--
harsh...and I understand you were raised by the 
Batman too."

"Uh-huh. We talked about that, when he was 
here. Some different circumstances--" Dick 
broke off and shook his head. "This is all so 
sudden. But--I'm really happy for you both, if 
this is what you want." He paused a moment. 
"Garth, can we talk a second?"

"Of course." Garth smiled at his wife. "Assure 
them I'll be fine, would you?" He followed Dick 
out of the rec room. Tula watched them go, 
understanding too much. But if "Dick" had been 
too foolish to take what had been offered him; 
well, she was only too glad that he hadn't.

Outside and away from the Tower a bit Nightwing 
finally stopped walking. "I-- You worried me 
when you disappeared, I wasn't sure...."

"This is what I want, Dick. And it's not--" he 
searched for the right words, "'sour grapes,' 
either, if that's your concern." 


Dick laughed a little. "I guess maybe I was 
afraid...that's pretty arrogant, I suppose." 

"You're my friend, and you've always been my 
friend, and even while I might have wished for 
more I never would have risked that for the 
world. That's a lot more important to me than a 
might-have-been." Garth smiled. "But even more 
importantly: Barbara. You *are* seeing her, 
aren't you?"

"Uh...well, sort of."

"Dick." Garth caught his eye. "If you don't 
swear that you won't let her go, I *will* talk 
to her before I leave. That's not a threat, but 
a promise."

"No, I--" Dick shook his head. "I've made a 
commitment to see this through, I promise."

"Good. It's important to me. I want to know 
you're happy." 

"I just--you sound so sure. About leaving, I 
mean. I don't remember seeing you 
so...confident, before."

Garth laughed. "She's my strength. She always 
was."

Back inside Tula was still astonished by the 
differences between the Roy she knew, and 
"Arsenal." "But I understand you have a 
daughter? I'd like to meet her...."

"Oh, sure, Lian's downstairs with her 
babysitter Chanda but I can go get her." He 
stopped on his way out. "Hey, uh, Tula, I hope 
you didn't take it the wrong way, I mean, what 
I said before. About Garth leaving."

She smiled. "No, of course not. We expected 
this to be a shock; I would be more upset if 
you all simply waved good-bye without an 
objection."

He grinned lopsidedly. "Nah, we like Gillhead 
too much," and slipped out the door.

"He cares. It's sweet." Tula quirked an eyebrow 
at Donna. "But--'Gillhead'?!"

Donna shrugged. "You mentioned RJ tormenting 
Wally...here it was Roy tormenting Garth. A 
lot, when they were younger."

Toni approached, looking diffident. "Hi, um, 
I'm Argent but you can call me Toni...so you 
really *married* Garth? But he was only gone 
for, like, a week....."

"Hello, Toni. Well...it's a bit more 
complicated than that. But yes, we are married-
-as far as we're concerned, anyway." She smiled 
at Toni's uncomprehending look. "We didn't 
exactly have time to go to Atlantis for a 
formal ceremony. But we said the vows...and I 
intend to spend the rest of my life with him, 
and he with me."

Toni sighed happily. "That's so romantic."

"I loved him from the moment we met, Toni. I 
lost...I lost my Garth before I truly knew how 
much, and he his Tula. I can't believe it's an 
accident we found each other again." She was 
quiet for a moment. "An act of Fate. Sometimes 
it can be very kind, indeed." Tula took a long 
breath and wiped at her eyes. "There, now, 
don't make me cry again." She glanced around. 
"May I see the rest of your Tower? It's so 
different than ours."