He did the same for her now when she needed him most. He got a job he absolutely hated, work that drained his soul, but he was able to smile genuinely when he came home seeing his soon-to-be wife waiting for him.
Of course, dealing with her parents was an absolute pain, a constant source of stress. Even after they cut Elena off completely, severing ties and financial support, something that just crushed her emotionally and left her feeling abandoned, David did his best to support her.
He put himself through absolute hell, working long hours at jobs he despised, to ensure she would never regret being with him or choosing him over her family's approval… and before long, after saving what little they could, they got married.
It was a small marriage ceremony, nothing grand or expensive, but David did the absolute best he could do with their limited resources to make the day special and memorable for her and their close friends who had gathered to celebrate with them… and she loved it, loved every imperfect moment of it.
A month later, David was blessed with the most beautiful thing in the entire world, and that was Sarah, whom he deliberately named after his mother to honor her. He treasured Sarah with all his heart from the very first moment he held her… although the following few weeks after her birth were a pain in a different way, with how Elena wouldn't stop constantly joking about how he had fainted in the delivery room, something which made Sarah laugh loudly while watching the memory play out on screen…
"I remember this one!" Sarah suddenly jumped in her seat with excitement, seeing a memory that she could actually recall playing out before them.
The memory in question started with Sarah at about 5 years old, sliding confidently across the floor while wearing oversized sunglasses that kept slipping down her nose. She stopped directly before Elena, who was sitting and watching in pure excitement at the show they were about to put on, as today was Mother's Day and they had prepared something special.
"The Smell of Your Perfume," Sarah sang into her toy microphone with all the seriousness a five-year-old could muster, then paused dramatically as David came sliding in right after her on his socks.
"I thought I was immune," David sang while holding up a Mother's Day meal he had carefully prepared just for her, playing his part perfectly. Watching all of this play out on the screen, Sarah couldn't help but sing along to the memory, loving the song and remembering how happy that day had been.
"Looking around this room
Can't help but see the traces of you
This moment is surreal
I can't put into words how I feel
Twin
Where have you been?
Nobody knows me like you do (nobody)
Nobody gon' love me quite like you (nobody, yeah)
Can't even deny it, every time I try it
One look in my eyes, you know I'm lying, lying."
As the memory played out on screen, the outside world watching through Doctor Fate's magic saw the scene of the memory playing, which then shifted to show David's current reaction in the theater.
He had his eyes closed tightly, holding back tears that desperately wanted to fall and stream down his face, all while his hand pressed frantically on the remote, trying desperately to skip all of this, not wanting to relive the happiest moments of his life when he knew what was coming.
Luckily for him and his emotional state, after more heartwarming moments of them singing together, having fun with his family, and even the scene when Elena's parents finally apologized years later, rebuilding their broken connections with their daughter, and such moments of reconciliation… life had been perfect for a time.
"Can you stop being a hero?" Sarah asked softly, her voice gentle but serious, to which David's eyebrow raised in surprise as he turned to look at her directly for the first time since entering the theater.
"Both you and I both know that humans, although they genuinely want peace, don't have the means or discipline needed to hold on to it once they have it." Sarah said softly, her words carrying weight.
"People would abuse the peace you give them, they would push it to its absolute limit, testing boundaries. They'd birth ideals that are harmful to humanity, start movements and causes, and such, which would most likely start off with good intentions… but in the end be harmful and destructive. The suppressed would become the bullies, switching roles. Humanity would enter an era of extreme sensitivity to everything… and if you try to do anything about it, you would be painted as the bad guy. If you do nothing and let it continue, you're still the bad guy." Sarah said softly, looking at David with a deeply worried look on her face.
"Many humans are driven primarily by desires rather than reason. These humans actively ignore reality and instead believe what they think is true, what they want to be true. They try so hard to warp reality around them, completely unwilling to accept what goes against their desires. They would ignore logic and common sense entirely, and live by the principle of 'I think,' making feelings more important than facts… these are the people who believe the saying that one is perfect just the way they are, people that deeply fear the concept that they are not perfect and need to work on themselves to improve." Sarah said lightly, her tone matter-of-fact.
"Instead of working on themselves and fixing their own flaws, they go up and above and beyond to work on changing the rest of the world to fit their ideal world, their personal vision… and sadly, these would inevitably be your enemies. Because the peace you bring will birth more of such people, enabling that mindset. Even without the Lord of Chaos actively spreading discord, humans have a unique talent to seek out chaos even in perfect order." She said, to which David just looked away from her, unable to meet her eyes.
"I already know that. I already know that the idiots amongst humanity would end up being my biggest enemy in the end… but even so, I can't ignore the suffering going around the world, not when I could sense so much of it happening every second…" David said calmly as he turned his attention back towards the movie playing out on screen as someone called out to his past self.
"David… when was the last time you went to the doctor for a checkup?" Elena asked, looking over at David, who was drinking a beer while watching TV, with Sarah fast asleep and peaceful on his lap.
"What year did Iron Man come out?" David asked instead of answering, causing Elena to pause as she looked at him with a completely blank look of disbelief.
"David, you're telling me it's been over 5 years since you've seen a doctor?" Elena asked in pure disbelief, her voice rising.
"What's the big deal?" David asked, genuinely not understanding her concern, making Elena angry at his carelessness. But Elena's rage disappeared for a second as she suddenly recalled something troubling.
"When you broke your finger a while back, did you go to the doctor to get it checked?" she asked, to which David awkwardly looked away, confirming her suspicion.
"It healed on its own eventually, so I saw no reason to waste money on a doctor," David said softly, trying to justify it.
"You saw no reason? Were you not complaining just last week that you had limited movement in that finger? How can you be so careless and reckless with your health?" she asked angrily, walking over and grabbing his injured finger deliberately, causing David to flinch in pain, which he quickly tried to hide from her.
Glaring at him with frustration and worry, she walked away and immediately went on to schedule a doctor appointment for him, taking matters into her own hands. While she was at it, she had to schedule a whole lot of other appointments, such as a dentist visit, and other such things to ensure he was actually okay and healthy, which David thought was completely pointless and unnecessary… that was until he found out much later that she was secretly getting ready to die, and didn't know how to break the devastating news to him or to Sarah.
The only reason he knew about her condition at all was that she had fainted unexpectedly one day and had been rushed to the hospital by neighbors, and he had been called urgently and had gone to see her.