With that question came a flood of memories, some contradicting what I would have said ten minutes before she asked.

At that point, I would have said that my grandmother, Romy Vander Sloot had died when I was ten or eleven. She had lung cancer from a lifetime of smoking. Despite that, she’d been healthy until the last year or two of her life.

After she’d died, Grandpa had lived alone in the house they’d shared for almost another decade, spending most of it teaching me his technology and creating tools for other heroes.

My new memories told a different story.

Grandma gave up smoking in the 1960s. When asked why, she’d said, “Because I wanted to live to see my grandchildren,” and ruffled Rachel’s hair.

Grandpa never had to live without her. She was there throughout middle school and high school, giving her several more years to teach Rachel about her abilities as well as birthdays and holidays to spend with all of us.

In the middle of all of those small changes, I also remembered one that cast a big shadow. After fighting the Abominators, the League visited the Reclamation Alliance, encountering the Cosmic Ghosts on the way.

They’d recognized themselves in her. She didn’t have enough of their abilities to join them, but had trained with them for a time. She’d always wanted to go back, but between supervillains, children, and grandchildren, she’d never had time. 

When Grandpa died, she did and she wasn’t alone. 

She left Earth with our great aunt Selda, her younger sister. She’d said they’d come back, but we’d heard nothing from her since they’d left.

As that wave of information passed through my mind, I paused, taking it all in, and finally came back to reality.

“Wow,” I told Rachel. “I hadn’t thought about Grandma yet. This would be a crazy coincidence, but is she back?”

“Good guess,” Rachel replied. “And it’s not as much of a coincidence as you’d think. The Ghosts have been watching for the GCD to show up and everyone knew that I’d left for home.”

Other possibilities popped up in my head—messy possibilities. “Did you see her when you were with the Ghosts? At least in the new version of history?”

“No,” she said, her voice carrying all of the disorientation I felt. “And it would have been a lot of work, but I think I know why. You do too.”

The original League worried about the same thing we had when we were in the GCD. No one wanted to destroy our history.

“How’s she doing?”

Rachel laughed. “Great. She’s talking with Mom, Dad, and Uncle Steve. I think she’s home for good now. Do you know how crazy this is? We couldn’t have had this conversation when she left, but now the block’s gone, and we aren’t keeping secrets from family anymore.

“Come home right now. You can talk to Grandma and help Dad with the door. You know he’ll need it. What are you doing anyway?”

If I was honest with myself, nothing that I couldn’t do later. It wasn’t everyday that a chance remark from your sister brought your grandmother back from the dead. It may not be a big event from the vantage of the GCD’s time analysis systems, but it was to our family.

I logged out of the computer, shed almost all of my suit, leaving only enough material for my stealth suit plus a “backpack” made of extra stuff, and walked out of the lab.

Amy, and Tara sat at one of the plastic and metal tables in the break area. Cassie stood next to it, glancing over at the elevator as if she were just about to go.

Everyone wore normal clothing, jeans and t-shirts (more or less). Amy wore a modern blouse with enough lace and ruffles to hint at the Victorian or Edwardian sensibilities of her home. 

Cassie wore a hoodie. Tara’s t-shirt showed a red and white checkered ball, advertising AmigaOS 25. I suspected it had to be old clothes from Infinity City. It definitely wasn’t from our universe.

As I walked toward the elevator, I heard Cassie say, “I want to go, but I think you’re right. It should be Tara.”

Amy pursed her lips. “I don’t think anyone should have to come along. I don’t want to inconvenience the team. You have your own lives. If we learned anything today, it’s that League needs everyone they can get sometimes.”

“But not all the time,” Tara said. “They can spare me for a few months.”

Cassie met my eyes for a moment, but continued the conversation, telling Amy, “You know as well as anyone that Lee constantly tells us to buddy up. You don’t know when you’re going to go down and need someone else to get you out, provide first aid, or call for help.”

Amy’s lips curled, “I know, but I’m okay with dying to save my family. I’m not okay with you dying.”

Tara reached out and gave her hand a squeeze. “Dying to save someone’s family would be worth it.”

Amy’s opened her mouth, stopped, but then said, “You don’t owe me that, but if you want to help I’ll take it. The previous Bloodmaidens agree with you.”

“Good,” Cassie said, turning to me and holding out the shattered pieces of her sword, “Do you think you can fix it?”

I took them, careful not to touch the monofilament edge of the blade. “It doesn’t look that bad. It’s broken, but still doable. The worst case scenario is that I have to build out the edge all over again and reforge the blade, but I think we might even have a spare. Grandpa used to repair one while the other was working to prepare for the inevitable destruction. Your dad was hard on technology.”

Cassie nodded, “I know.”