More company, both in the photos and in reality

Click. Suddenly Mia yelped. She was sure that one had just been a weird dream! But no, there it was, in full color and with billions of pixels, displayed to her, Laurel, Dinah, and anyone else who had any kind of internet connection or just happened to buy a magazine in the last couple of years.

It was her, yes, naked, yes. Bizarrely that was almost becoming rote, so maybe this was working. She was sitting, facing the camera, legs together and stretching out in front of her, not entirely straight (that was becoming something of a theme, it seemed), but natural enough. Her arms rested on her legs, out in front of her body as well, crossing over one another so her left hand was on her right knee, and right hand on her left knee. Her upper arms passed in front of her breasts, almost teasingly, and she was smiling, leaning forwards just slight and leaning to the left of the image.

Which made it easy for Felicity to peer over her right side, bare shoulders coming into view over the just as naked Mia, a slightly more put-on grin to echo Mia's own, her mother's arms embracing her, hands resting on Mia's wrists, the two posing close together. Her legs were parted, visible either side of her daughter.

Both Laurel and Dinah turned to Mia.

"Okay, that one was her idea!" Mia squeaked. She hesitated. "Er, kind of."

Dinah's eyebrows rose.

"It was for a mother's day issue," Mia said quickly, bright red. "That one was, er, a couple of months after my... interview was published, and all the photoshoots involved with that. It was popular, they were doing a feature on a lot of people for mother's day, so they sent an invite to me and, er, her, and... I wasn't going to say yes, I didn't think she'd go for it, but I think a new computer part had just come out or something, she wanted the money, so... oh god that one was real."

Mia swallowed. She reached to hastily click ahead when Laurel grabbed her wrist.

"Hey, don't rush it," Laurel said.

Mia whimpered.

"Wouldn't have thought Felicity would go for that," Dinah said eventually.

"She, er, had condition," Mia said. "I had to always be in front, that sort of thing. She never had to worry about everyone seeing..."

God, sorting through her two sets of memories really was confusing, she couldn't believe any version of her would ever have done that, let alone done it with such a grin on her face. Then again, she could remember a life when their relationship had been more... strained. In a way it was nice to know they'd been closer in this world. Still, she'd much rather that photo didn't exist.

Dinah glanced sideways. Mia was still naked on Laurel's lap, legs pressed together, with Laurel's left hand on her thigh, and Laurel's right hand still holding Mia's right, to stop her clicking ahead. Dinah snorted.

"What is it?" Laurel said.

"You almost look like that," Dinah said, gesturing to the pose on screen.

Laurel shifted a little. They did, with her peering over Mia's shoulder. The biggest difference was Mia on her lap rather than between her legs, thanks to fitting on the chair.

"Don't get any ideas," Laurel said.

Mia squeaked.

"Actually," Dinah said. "It might be a good idea."

"Really?" Laurel said.

"Getting her back to her pre-reminder mindset," Dinah said. "Maybe recreating the poses would help. What do you think?"

"I think we should look at the next ones!" Mia whimpered quickly, but Laurel's eyes had already lit up.

She slowly stood, giving Mia enough time to slip onto the floor, getting her balance again. She clicked briefly on the photo to zoom in, cutting out more of the blank pale blue background so the naked mother and daughter filled the screen. Then Laurel went to the bed, sitting down, parting her legs and smirking at Mia.

"Come on then, dear daughter," Laurel said playfully.

"Don't," Mia said firmly.

Laurel was still smirking, and even Dinah watched expectantly. Mia hesitated, standing on the spot for a moment, one arm over her breasts while her other hand just fidgeted, wringing on the empty air. Then, tentatively, she moved up onto the bed. She crawled up to Laurel, and turned around, feeling the heat rise in her cheeks again as she wriggled to press back against the older woman.

Laurel's arms wrapped around her, guiding her arms to mimic the pose in the picture. Mia's heart pounded, reddening all the more as it did indeed succeed in triggering the far too vivid memory of when she'd done this in her mother's arms. She could remember it all too clearly, the press of those breasts against her back, almost too much for even the more shameless person she'd been back then.

It felt different with the clothed Laurel behind it, the zipper of a leather jacket replacing softness, but it still made her whimper.

"That's it," Laurel whispered. "You're doing well."

Dinah cleared her throat after a second, distracted.

"That's- Is it helping you remember, Mia?" Dinah said.

"Not in a good way," Mia squeaked.

"Maybe try the next photo?" Dinah said.

"Not immediately!" Laurel said hastily.

Dinah rolled her eyes, more amused than annoyed. Mia swallowed, trying to focus on something other than the embarrassing situation she was in.

Then there was the sound of a door opening. Mia looked up sharply, even with Laurel gently yet firmly holding her in place. Even Laurel frowned. Dinah's eyes widened.

"What..." Laurel said.

"Oh!" Dinah said. She coughed. "I meant to say, before you... distracted me. It was why I came over, I, er, we talked about restarting the Canaries, I figured..."

"Get rid of her!" Mia whispered frantically.

To no avail, as it turned out, when the door swung open and suddenly Zoe was standing there.

"I heard- oh my god!"

Mia didn't know if it was physically possible to get much redder. Laurel waved. After a couple of shocked seconds, Mia rolled sideways, preferring to fall off the bed and crouch there than to continue sitting in view.

"When you invited me over, I thought you said it was some kind of training, not..." Zoe stammered.

"It is!" Dinah said quickly. "Those two are just..."

"Hey, less of the us two, you were helping!" Laurel said defensively.

Zoe took a step back. Then glanced at the screen, upon which the photo of Felicity and Mia was still prominently displayed. Her jaw dropped.

"Okay, I'll just..."

"No, wait!" Dinah said. She stood up, then hesitated. "Laurel, where are the things?"

"Um, what things?" Zoe said nervously. "It's okay, any 'things' that involve... you know what, I'll just pretend I never saw anything."

"Laurel!" Dinah snapped.

"Second drawer," Laurel said.

Dinah nodded, and reached into the second drawer. Zoe took a step back, though hesitated for a moment when, unlike what she'd expected, Dinah pulled out what looked more like a couple of tiny red pearls. Zoe stared despite herself, baffled.

From her hiding spot curled up on the floor, Mia recognised them. They were the things that had given her back her memory. All in all, it probably was a good idea to help restore the old Zoe. She watched as Dinah moved around the bed, and poked her head over the top as Dinah reached her.

A second later, and it was done. Zoe shook her head, slowly sorting through things in her head.

"Remember?" Dinah said.

"Yeah," Zoe said slowly. "Yeah, I... what was that?"

"Short version," Laurel said. "Multiverse ended, got rebooted, this is the new world, that's how things used to be, we're recruiting."

"Um, hi?" Mia said awkwardly.

Zoe took a few seconds to re-evaluate. Then she looked down hesitantly, Mia's blushing face still peering over the top of the bed.

"That... doesn't answer why she was... what is happening?" Zoe eventually said.

"Did you pose nude in this life?" Laurel said.

"What?!"

"She did," Laurel said, gesturing at Mia. "She's a bit shy about it now. But everything she used to be is still there, so we're helping her."

"Helping her by... snuggling?" Zoe said slowly.

"Recreating the pose," Dinah said. "Thought we'd try it. It should trigger her old memories."

Mia reddened. After a few seconds she stood up awkwardly, willing herself to stop crouching, keeping an arm crossed over her body. She bit her lip, but waved somewhat invitingly.

"Um, hey," Mia said.

"So you're looking through those... pictures?" Zoe said.

"Yep," Laurel said. "Seen them before?"

Zoe shrugged. "Never read Catco."

"You missed out," Laurel said.

Mia wasn't sure how she felt about that. Still, it didn't feel like her blush was going away any time soon. Particularly with that photo still displayed.

"Can we please go on to a different image?!" Mia yelped.

All eyes turned back to the screen. Dinah returned to her seat. "I suppose it probably is time to go back to going through. Laurel?"

Laurel nodded. She took her seat as well, though gestured for Mia to stay back. If she was to keep mimicking the poses, there was no need for her to sit down. She could stand, or take the bed.

"Ooh, if you're going through them, can I stay?" Zoe said.

"No!" Mia squeaked.

"Why? Nothing I haven't seen before," Zoe said.

"Huh?" Laurel said. "I thought you hadn't seen the photos?"

Mia coughed, and hastily changed the subject by reaching over Laurel's shoulder and clicking, deciding she'd rather go through that embarrassment than stay on the current topic for much longer.