Conner flew back from the space and towards the Grayson Home. He was already prepared for the worst but when he got there, he was still surprised by what happened.
Conner flew into the backyard in order to not be seen by the neighbors in his suit. He walked into the backdoor but as soon as he did, he heard a whoosh sound as an object flew through the air toward him. Although he could have dodged it, he chose not to.
The object hit him in his face before the sound of glass breaking could be heard. The glass shards all fell to the ground but Conner could see what the object had been. A whiskey bottle.
"Get out!" Conner could hear his mother say from the sofa
He looked over and saw that the woman looked furious and intoxicated. Standing to her was Art as she tried to calm the woman down.
"Debbie. That's your son," Art tried to say but Debbie was not hearing it
"I have never had a son like that! Like him!" Debbie shouted at Art before turning her attention to Conner, "You fucking murderer! You kill my husband! You killed my son! You took them both away from me!"
"Mom..." Conner tried to plead
"Get out of my house! Get out and don't ever come back! Better yet, just kill yourself! Kill yourself!"
Conner felt his eyes starting to moisten. He excused himself and walked outside. Conner stood on the porch for a few minutes until Art came out with an apologetic look on his face.
"Sorry, Conner. I brought over a bottle to mourn the loss of two good men on that day and ever since," Art didn't finish but Conner knew
In the comics, Debbie also went through such a phase after finding out Omni-Man was a traitor. Back then, she only had one son and Mark was able to barely keep her together. But in that timeline, Nolan lived as well as Mark. Neither killed the other. But Conner...
"It's fine, Art. I was prepared for this. I plan on having a cleaning crew come to keep the place tidy as well as a cook to make her a couple of days' worth of meals at a time," Conner said before he sighed. "I need to ask a favor of you though."
"Don't worry, kid. Debbie has always been a friend of mine, even before I met your dad. I'll be sure to keep an eye on her. But what she really needs is family."
"All of her family is dead. You're the only one she has left," Conner said before taking to the sky
He couldn't stay there any longer without losing his cool. Conner swiftly through back to his apartment but was surprised to see Caitlin was there in her fluffy pjs. It was rare for her to be home so early.
Caitlin saw that Conner's eyes were reddened and knew what had happened. He already told her that he was visiting his mom. From the eyes that held so much pain and sadness in them, she could tell what had happened.
Caitlin walked over and gave Conner a big hug. Conner did not resist but rested his head on her neck. This was his safe space where he did not need to be Sentry, Red King, or Conner. Where he could just be vulnerable.
After staying in that position for 5 minutes, Conner finally let go as he flashed Caitlin a smile.
"Thanks for that," he said sincerely
Caitlin flicked him on the heard playfully
"I'm your girlfriend and best friend. No need to say thanks when I give you something as simple as a hug," she explained before flashing him a very bright smile
Conner looked at that smile for a few minutes before he quietly walked back into their room. Caitlin shrugged her shoulders thinking that Conner was embarrassed and running away. She went back to the kitchen to continue making Conner's favorite: meat-lovers pizza. They were celebrating his release from the hospital/medical pod.
Not long after Conner went towards the room, he came out changed into comfy pajamas. He then went into the kitchen and began to help Caitlin cook. Once the pizza was in the oven, Caitlin made some popcorn before the pair went to the sofa and put on a movie.
20 minutes into it, the oven went off and alerted them that the pizza was done. Conner went over and pulled it out before cutting the pizza up and bringing them each 2 slices back. The pair continued to enjoy their movie with popcorn and pizza.
Halfway through the movie, Conner suddenly paused it. When Caitlin looked over, she saw that he was looking at her.
"Why'd you pause it?"
"To ask you something. Will you marry me?" Conner asked sincerely
"Are you holding my movie hostage?"
"Yep."
"Are you seriously asking me or just goofing around? Think carefully about how you answer this."
"Of course I'm serious. I'm not saying we get married tomorrow but I do want to start planning for it and get engaged," Conner explained
"Do you have a ring?"
Conner pulled out a ring from his pocket. Although it did not have any large diamonds, the craftsmanship alone would let people know that it was expensive.
Caitlin grabbed the ring and looked it over carefully before putting it on her finger but she did not give Conner an answer.
"So? What's your answer?" Conner asked feeling more anxious than he did before he fought his father
"Sure. Let's get married. Now put the movie back on," Caitlin said with a smile as she turned her face away from Conner
She could see out of the corner of her eyes that he was beaming and staring at her. She could not help but feel a little embarrassed so she wanted to take his attention off of her.
Conner could barely hold himself back from rushing over and giving her the largest hug and deepest kiss he had ever given. After resisting the temptation, Conner started humming as he pressed play on the movie to continue their peaceful night.
----- End of Arc 1 -----