Okay so Conner's now a little over a year old. Their relationship is still strong even though it's long distance and they barely see each other. Rachael has had some time to grow up and as you'll see in this chapter she's not the bubbly fourteen year old girl Conner left behind anymore. I'm really not sure how this turned out so please review and tell me what should happen next (because other than Eli's escape I have no idea what to do with this!.)Big thank you to all of you that are sticking with this story even though the first addition to it seemed to not even have a clear plot. Enjoy!
July 24th 2012 6:34
My muscles ached and throbbed as I walked towards the wrap around sofa.
"Dude! My arms are killing me!" Beast Boy whines and drops onto the couch at the same time I do.
"No kidding." Cyborg groans and plops down.
"Friends! We must not let this exhaustion defeat us! Let us watch movies and pop some corn together!" Balze says happily.
"Not now Blaze." Raven mumbles as she walks out of the room.
"Beast boy? Would you like to help me?" the green skinned fourteen year old stands happily and walks over.
The smell of burnt popcorn sends a sharp pain through my chest and I find my eyes filling with warm tears.
"I'm going to bed." I say and stand up slowly, despite my body's protests.
"Dude it's only six!" Beast Boy watches as I limp away and sighs when I walk out.
As soon as my door slides shut I collapse onto my bed with a groan. My sides were bruised badly, my hands had some pretty bad cuts, and my palms were badly scrapped. All in all I looked horrible and felt just as bad. The scent of badly cooked food drifted into the room and I buried my face in my pillows in an attempt to keep the memories at bay.
The attempt however doesn't help. My mind floods with memories of a flirting Wally as he eats dozens of Megan's burnt cookies. While Conner sits back and watches with a raised eyebrow and Kaldur stares in amusement. Artemis and I would roll our eyes and chuckle or hit him.
"Robin? Blaze wants you to try some cookies. He says he's got a new recipe." Beast Boy's voice flows softly into the room and I groan before standing and heading towards the door.
"fine." I sigh and the thirteen year old smiles widely before pulling me towards the kitchen.
"Ah! Friend Robin please try?" Blaze holds out a tray of dark brown cookies and beast boy stares at them in shock.
"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea Blaze." He murmurs and rubs his neck.
I pick one of the charred cookies and tap it on the tray lightly. Sure enough they're hard as a board. I've got to admit though, Blaze is far better at this than Megan was the first time she tried. So I pull the cookie up to my mouth and take a bite. The center of the cookie is surprisingly soft and I chew it easily.
"Robby…you just ate a burnt cookie." Cyborg stares wide eyed and then raises an eyebrow.
"Thanks Blaze." I take another cookie and walk out of the living room.
Again, I collapse on my bed and this time I snuggle into my blankets before pulling out my photo album from under my bed.
I flip open to my favorite page and I'm met with some of the newer photos.
Artemis and Roy Kaldur stand on the left side of a small Christmas tree, Wally and Megan stand on the other side, and Roy along with Conner stand awkwardly between the two couples.
The next picture shows Conner holding up a 'Flash' T-shirt with a smirk. Wally stands next to him with a big smile and a thumbs up.
The third picture shows Megan holding up a cookie pan with a decent looking batch of ginger bread men. The cookies are decorated to match our mentors and she's mid-giggle.
The sight of my friends brings a horrible pang to my chest that has nothing to do with my bruises and I finally let my tears out.
Over the past eleven months I had tried my hardest to train this team and I've succeeded but no matter what I do I miss the Young Justice Team. Sometimes I lay in bed at night thinking why I ever agreed to this and then I remember the fact that I'm a leader. Sure Beast Boy, Raven, Cyborg, and Blaze are great people but…I can't get close to them. We don't have that special bond I have with the others.
"God Conner I could really use a hug right about now." I whisper to one of the pictures Conner had sent me where he's the only one in the photo. "Why haven't I heard from you in over six months?" I ask and watch a tear land beside his face.
The last time I heard from Conner or any of the YJL team it was New years Eve. I know they're around because they're on the news more and more now but I haven't been able to contact them no matter how hard I try.
"Robin? We're going for Pizza, you coming with?" again Beast boy's voice rings through my room and I sigh.
"No thanks BB." I call over and hear him sigh.
"Alright well…I'll bring you back a slice." He mumbles and shuffles away.
Soon I find myself sitting on the big Sofa, flipping through the channels.
Who lives in a pineapple…best of both worlds…When this boy meets world…phantom, he was just fourteen…I kill you…Young Justice Team…Cinderelli cinderelli…
I freeze and flip back. I watch an anchor mumble on about high gass prices before he sighs and turns serious.
"As we all know, our new young team of heroes Young Justice has not appeared for the past few weeks. In their place a newly formed team by the name of Teen Titans has taken over. We've wondered about why the sudden change; and although we still don't have an answer we do have their last known appearance on tape. Take a look."
The screen shown shows the team fluently fighting off some sort of robot. Wally's running circles around the metal thing and Megan is working with Artemis on something. Roy and Kaldur are attacking it while Superboy stands aside with a frown, a wolf by his side.
The video only shows them fighting for a few more seconds before the robot collapses and they all stop what they're doing. The video ends and the anchor is back on the screen.
"We wonder is these Teen Titans are truly worth the respect they seem to demand. For now it seems that they are our only hope of keeping the safe world we're coming to know. The Young Justice Team has not made an appearance in exactly six months, two weeks, and four days. If they're listening out there please…we're begging; come back." The woman sighs and starts talking about some other topic but I tune her out in attempt of wrapping my head around the fact that I'm not the only one who's noticed they're gone.
I rush over to my room and turn on my computer. For the next two hour, I search through my old conversations with them in hopes that I'd find something suspicious. But I found absolutely nothing. No weird conversations or hints that they'd be taking a break. Everything was totally normal and then they just disappeared.
At around eight thirty the others get back from the pizza place and I quickly log off before walking to the living room.
"Robin! Good to see you're still alive." Cyborg smiles widely and sits at the couch.
"here you go! Saved you a slice just like I said!" Beast Boy places the slice of cheese Pizza in front of me with a wide smile.
"Thanks BB." I smile slightly and sit down as I start eating.
October 24th 2012 11:57p.m
My dreams of Mt. Justice and the beach suddenly disappear when the loud wail of the Tower Alarm go off.
On instinct, I grab my utility belt and cape before running out of my room.
"Who attacks on a Sunday? Seriously!" Beast Boy whines and stumbles after me and the rest of the team.
"when we get outside the tower I immediately see the large figure stumbling out of the water.
"Titans! Go!" I wait a few seconds and watch them move quickly and effectively. Beast boy rams himself into the intruder and raven builds a rock cocoon to keep it still. That's when I hear it. A low rumble and gruff sigh before a familiar murmur that's supposedly a manly whine.
"Stop!" I find myself screaming but the other four keep at it. "That's enough!" I jump in front of the rock formation and watch them stare at me in shock.
"Blaze I need some light." I say and watch the alien step forward before pointing his hand to the person and shinning a green light.
"I didn't know it was illegal to visit your girlfriend in Jump." He murmurs tiredly and shakes his head slowly before squinting and flinching away from the light.
"Conner? Conner!" I feel my body suddenly fill with warmth and speed over to wrap my arms around his neck.
"I'd hug you back but I'm STUCK IN a ROCK!" he emphasizes the last few words and turns his head to look at my team. "Anyone?" he mumbles and Raven sighs before letting the rocks fall away.
"Thank you." He says and smiles slightly before hugging me tightly. "I've missed you." He whispers.
"Wait! Hold on; back up big boy." Cyborg suddenly appears by my side and pries me off easily.
"What do you mean Girlfriend?" Beast Boy appears on my other side with a frowns.
"I do not understand either." Blaze comments.
"They don't know?" Conner asks and looks at me with a small smile.
"No. Conner this is Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, and Blaze. Guys this is my boyfriend Conner." I say and step closer to said boyfriend.
"Hey." Conner smiles kindly, waves, and nods.
"And again I say Boyfriend?" Beast Boy screams in shock.
"Yes Beast Boy. Even I, as hard as it seems to be for you to understand, can have a spouse." I say and watch him frowns deeply before smiling and shifting into a blood hound. He circles Conner a few times before shifting back.
"Why does he smell like perfume? And it's not yours!" he says and crosses his arms.
"I live with two girls." Conner says and smirks slightly.
"See? He's a player." Beast Boy points accusingly.
"Um no…the two girls he lives with already have boyfriends, I know them, and their like sisters to me." I say and gently lower his ginger with my hand.
"How come you never told us?" Cyborg suddenly asks.
"It never came up." I mumble and feel my cheeks redden.
"That and Batman wants her life to be as mysterious as possible." Conner grumbles and sighs. "I did miss you though." He smiles slightly and leans in slowly.
"Oh no you don't." I press two fingers to his soft lips and glare lightly. "Not until you explain why I haven't heard from you in over six months!" I pull away and cross my arms.
"I forgot, you're almost fifteen…the age where you start to demand things." He smiles slightly and pecks my fingers before sighing. "Soon…I'll explain soon I promise. But I haven't seen you in over six months and right now if I don't get a kiss I'll explode." He mumbles and I roll my eyes before pulling away my fingers and letting him press his lips to mine.
"Oh Gross!" Beast boy and Cyborg Groan with Raven makes a soft sound that sort of sounds like a chuckle, Blaze doesn't make any sound.
"Come on, let's get you dried up." I say and gently pull at the front of his soaked shirt teasingly.
"okay." He smiles goofily and suddenly looks up at the others. "um…you know…I'm not trying to steal her. although technically she's part of our team." he mumbles and I elbow him before giving his a warning glance.
"What is he talking about Friend Robin?" Blaze steps forwards and shines his light brighter.
"nothing." I say and take a step towards the Tower.
"You didn't tell them?" Conner asks in shock.
"Tell us what?" Raven speaks up.
"Yeah…" Beast Boy mumbles as if he knew there would be something else.
"Before I was part of the Titans…I was the hacker on the Young Justice Team." I say and watch them all take a step back in shock.
"I thought you said this was the first team you'd ever been on." Cyborg says and crosses his arms.
"I said this was the first team I'd lead." I correct and feel myself suddenly wanting to shrink into Conner's chest.
"How many lies have you told us?" Cyborg step forward angrily and I can tell he's glaring.
"Leave her alone." Conner steps forward as well and gently pushes me behind his body.
"Step aside Pretty Boy." Cyborg growls out.
"Friend Cyborg, please stop." Blaze walks over and places a hand on Cyborg's metal chest.
"A team leader doesn't keep secrets from their team. Or is that was your leader did to you?" with that Cyborg walks away with Blaze rushing after him, mumbling words of reassurance.
"…didn't mean to. Robin is a good friend and a good leader." I can hear Blaze muttering soothingly.
"He's just a little upset Robin. He'll get over it. But why didn't you tell us?" Beast Boy's eyes widen innocently and I sigh before walking over and taking the shorter male into my arms in a hug. Over the past few months I'd found that the best way to clam Beast Boy is to hug him and wait for the un-need or un-wanted emotions to go away.
"I thought it'd be best for you guys to look at me as a person who was barely starting off, the same as you guys. But I guess I blew up in my face." His arms wrap around me and suddenly I feel him shift form until I'm hugging a small kitten with the most adorable eyes.
I let out a small chuckle and hug the small fur ball to my chest. He purr and rubs his head against my shoulder.
"I'll be inside." Raven mumbles and floats away.
"Alright Beast Boy. Get some sleep." I place the kitten on the floor and he easily runs back tot eh tower.
"Okay, they're gone. Explain." I say and turn around to face Superboy.
"Can I at least get some dry clothes?" he asks and moves uncomfortably.
"Sure. Come on." I take his hand and watch him smile slightly.
"Wait. Wolf! Cade!" he whistles and looks towards the water. I wait a few seconds before I smile and see a round ball barreling towards us with a white wolf chasing after it.
"You named him Cade?" I chuckle and pet the metal ball.
"Yeah. Meet Wolf, he's the newest member of our team." Conner grins and scratches the wolf's head lovingly.
"You love to pick up strays huh?" I chuckle and watch the ball circle around our legs before it pushes me forward and I slam into Conner's chest.
"I love it when he does that." Conner smiles and leans down to press his lips to mine.
This kiss isn't like the last, it's long, passionate, and breathe taking. Something I've wanted for so long now.
It feels so nice that…the fact that my team is upset with me disappears for just a few moments.
You guys…am I the only one who cried from the moment Bats died to the very second that ship exploded? I'll admit I did get a bit of happiness form watching J'ohn hurt Megan but other than that I was gushing tears because I thought it was all real! Then boom! It's just an exercise. I've got to admit though that was the best 'it was just a dream' episode in the history of forever! Anyway, please review! I'll have the next chapter out as soon as I can : )