#dedicated to adeeba my fellow shivnite shipper

[canary-warrior]

Worth Staying For

I hope you all enjoy this Shivnite fic, which takes place in episode 12 of season 2!

While waiting for their search to complete, Beth decided to check on Jennie and found herself in the Whitmore-Dugan’s kitchen, waiting for the kettle to finish brewing so she could bring her another cup of tea. She also decided to fix a platter of snacks to leave at Jennie’s bedside in case she was still asleep, so she could have them when she woke up. Charles was in another room with Barbara, talking about the Shade and the shadowlands. Beth felt giddy, despite their current situation- she finally met her predecessor, and he approved of her taking over the Dr. Mid-Nite mantle. Nothing could ruin her mood.

“Hey, Mid-Nite junior,” none other than Cindy Burman waltzed into the kitchen. How she maintained perfect hair and smooth clothes after spending all this time in the shadowlands, Beth will never know. That being said, she refused to let the former head cheerleader damper her mood.

“What do you want, Cindy?” Beth asked, annoyed, grabbing a light blue plate from the cabinet. A quick glance at the charred wall reminded her that her priority right now was making sure Jennie was okay, not dealing with whatever Cindy Burman had up her sleeve. 

Cindy shrugged and leaned against the counter, watching as Beth put some crackers on the plate. “Can’t I say hi to my new teammate?”

Beth’s eyes shot up at the taller girl. “We are not teammates, Cindy.”

Cindy let out a chuckle. “We are working together to take down Eclipso, so I think that makes us teammates, to an extent.”

“And after that? You’ll, what, stab us in the back?” Beth turned away, not wanting to focus on the evil girl who tried to kill them a week ago. 

“I wouldn’t stab you in the back, Beth,” Cindy sounded almost bored, “you’re the smartest person on this team, you would see it coming anyway. Where’s the fun in that?”

Beth didn’t need any compliments from anyone, especially not from Cindy, but it did feel nice to be called the smartest member of the JSA. At this point, Beth didn’t even know what was happening with the JSA- Yolanda had quit, Rick was in jail, Jennie was on their side but she did leave to find her brother, Mike was off tracking down the Thunderbolt who was probably with a stranger… and here she was, conversing with Cindy in a broken kitchen, who complimented her intelligence. It was something Beth did not expect at all.

“What will you do,” Beth started, “when we beat Eclipso?”

“Leave this awful town and never look back,” Cindy answered automatically, but there was something in her voice. Something, wistful, almost. “You won’t have to worry about me coming after you.”

“I find that hard to believe. You could’ve disappeared after we defeated the ISA, but you came back to Blue Valley,” Beth pointed out. 

“Well, I wanted revenge against you and your loser friends. Now, I just want revenge against that purple demon,” her voice hardened at the mention of Eclipso. 

“And after you get your revenge on him?” Beth asked, her voice softer now.

Cindy’s eyes matched Beth’s tone. “I’ll leave, but there will always be something good in this wretched town that’s worth coming back for.”

Beth felt like Cindy was looking straight at her soul. Her goggles were working overtime, and showed how Cindy’s voice, breathing, and heart rate changed. Beth didn’t need to be a genius to do the math.

Was Cindy willing to stay in the town she hates for Beth?