Raven stuffed another toy into the diaper bag. "Are you sure you can handle everything?"
"Yes!" Bumble Bee laughed. "I got this. You go hang out with your dad. I can take care of everyone while you're gone."
Raven blew out a breath before zipping up the bag and swinging it onto her shoulder. She went to the crib and picked up Sebastian and put him on her hip. "I'll only be gone two hours. If you need me for anything, I'll come right back."
"I know. We won't need you." Bumble Bee waved a hand.
They walked out of the baby's room and to the elevator. They rode it down to the garage, where Raven was taking Changeling's car to go see her father, J'onn J'onzz for lunch.
Normally she went alone or took both of her children but Charlotte (and literally everyone else but the currently engaged at the moment trio) was sick.
It'd started how it always did; with Changeling and his weak immune system. He infected Starfire first and in turn, she infected Christopher and Nightwing. Cyborg was the next to fall as he was taking care of them then Jinx caught it taking care of him and Kid Flash, who caught it from the original source.
Terra, Charlotte and Calvin caught it from Kid Flash, Changeling and Cyborg respectively. Even the animals were sick. Silky threw up more than ever, Dean had to stay outside because he sneezed too much and over everything, Hershey was just as bad sneezing, Nolan stayed in one spot (the sunniest spot in the whole tower) because he was so cold and Claude (the turtle) stayed inside his shell.
Everyone had been sick since a day or two since Bumble Bee's baby shower when Changeling "took a dip" e.g. Raven threw him out a window. He'd stayed in the water for the rest of the afternoon and one could probably guess how that transfigured into illness.
Raven had felt bad and begged (read: asked dryly) for forgiveness and promised to stop throwing him out of windows. She didn't want to abuse him, even if he got on her nerves sometimes. He promised to try to get on her nerves a little less.
Then he promptly sneezed on her.
She immediately sprayed herself with Lysol and stayed far away from him. Until the others fell prey to his virus. Bumble Bee had an amazing constitution and was taking care of everyone but logically needed help. There were a lot of people and a lot of mess and it wasn't fair for Bumble Bee to do it on her own.
So Raven took care of the lighter sickly patients like Kid Flash, Terra, Charlotte, Calvin and Cyborg.
Bumble Bee tackled the harder cases like the ever ill Changeling, the susceptible Starfire, the stubbornly sick Christopher and the getting worse before she gets better Jinx.
Nightwing (thankfully) only required rest. He didn't want to be bothered and only was disturbed to eat, take medicine and refill his water-bottle.
"Don't forget to call me." Raven said as she buckled Sebastian in.
"I'm not going to call you." Bumble Bee promised.
Raven got in the front and put her seatbelt on. "Don't feel you have to do this alone. If you feel tired or lightheaded, call me. You probably shouldn't be around sick people while you're pregnant. I should stay home."
"Raven! Go!" Bumble Bee pointed to the open garage door.
Raven frowned before starting the car. "Fine. But call me."
"I promise if something comes up that I can't handle, I'll call you."
Raven nodded. "Okay. I'll see you in two hours."
"Bye." Bumble Bee waved as she pulled off, nowhere near as fast as her husband.
Bumble Bee waited for Raven to become a dot in the distance before closing the garage door and going upstairs. She went to the kitchen to make Tomato Saffron soup. She made a large vat of it and started making trays for everyone.
She'd pour them a bowlful of soup and make a grilled cheese sandwich before mixing up a mug of tea (for Starfire, Jinx, Changeling and Charlotte), water with cucumber and lemon (for Nightwing, Kid Flash, Terra, Christopher and Calvin) or a hot toddy (for Cyborg). They each got fruit and Halls (candy canes for Changeling) and she (Bumble Bee) took them one at a time down to their rooms by order of who was awake.
When she was done, she came up to the common room and got a glass of cucumber/lemon water to settle in to watch Rules of Engagement on Netflix with her own meal.
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Raven unbuckled Sebastian from his car-seat and went inside the diner. She got a few looks as she wasn't cloaked (literally and figuratively) and Sebastian was his normal grey/green skinned self.
She ignored the whispers as she spotted someone else green. She headed for the booth and sat across from him. "Hello."
J'onn (Martian Manhunter) looked up from the menu. "Hello."
"I'm sorry for being late. Everyone is still sick." Raven held Sebastian on her lap.
"Are you sure you should be away if they need you?"
"Bumble Bee assures me she can handle things for the duration of our visit."
He nodded. "Would you like to order?"
"Yes." She looked around for a waiter and upon spotting one, flagged him down. When he arrived, she looked him in the eye. "I need a high-chair."
"Right away, ma'am." The server retrieved a wooden high-chair and brought it back. "My name's Tyler. What would you like?"
Raven set Sebastian in the high-chair and took his length of rope from him. "I'd like a cup of the pea soup for him and a Greek salad with a raspberry vinaigrette and an unsweetened iced tea for myself."
Tyler wrote it down. "And you, sir?"
J'onn looked at the menu. "I would like to try the chicken strawberry pecan salad with the raspberry vinaigrette as well. I'd like the sweetened tea. Mango."
"Sure." Tyler scribbled it down. "I'll be right back with your drinks. Would you like something for the child to drink?"
"Could you bring me a glass of water for him?" Raven asked.
"Sure can. I'll be right back." Tyler took the menus and left.
"How has your life been going besides your teammates being sick?" J'onn asked.
"We've been on bit of a vacation." Raven shrugged. "Every alert has been something the police can handle so they have. We can't afford the manpower. Technically Karen's on maternity leave."
"If a threat arises that the police cannot handle, the League will be there to step in."
"Thank you."
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Bumble Bee came back from using the bathroom and was just about to restart her episode when she was messaged on her communicator. "Bumble Bee. What is it?"
"More tea please." Changeling croaked.
"I just brought you more tea."
"I drank it all." He whined.
"You just want somebody to pay attention to you."
"Charlie figured out how to lock me out."
"She needs to sleep, C. Stop waking her up. I'll bring you more tea but you have to-" An incoming feed was being transmitted. She switched. "Hello?"
"I ran out of tissues, Bee." Terra moaned.
"Hold on. I'll get you more." She switched back over. "Let me get Terra some tissues than I'll get started on making you more tea, Changeling. Okay?"
Changeling nodded. "Okay."
"Bumble Bee out." She hung up and put on a kettle to boil before going to the supply closet for another box of tissues. She made sure the eye was on low so as to not burn down the tower then went to the rooms to give Terra the box.
The doorbell rang.
Bumble Bee sighed and rode the elevator all the way down to the first floor. She went to the door and looked out at the security feed. She could barely see a little girl she didn't recognize.
She opened the door. "Hello."
"Hi." The girl smiled. "I'm doing a report for school and it's about heroes. I wanted to do mine about you."
"Me?" Bumble Bee was shocked.
"Yeah!"
Bumble Bee was touched. "What's your name?"
"Brooke."
Bumble Bee smiled. She loved the name Brooke. "Well come on in. Where's your parents?"
"They dropped me off."
Bumble Bee nodded and closed the door behind them to lead the girl to the elevator. "How old are you, Brooke?"
"Nine." Brooke chirped. "Almost ten."
"Good age." Bumble Bee hit the button for the top floor. "What school do you go to?"
"Langston Hughes Elementary."
"I don't think I've heard of that one. Is it good?"
"I like it. I'm the new kid. That's why I waited so late to get started on this paper. It's for the summer along with a book report. I did the report but I had trouble coming up with a favorite hero. Then I remembered how awesome you were."
Bumble Bee grinned. "Really? I think I like you."
Brooke smiled.
They made it to the top floor and Bumble Bee led her to the common room. "Would you like anything to eat or drink?"
Brooke looked all around. "Do you have any tea?"
"Oh you have no idea." Bumble Bee smirked. "We have black tea, white tea, green tea, oolong, other. What do you like?"
"Do you have passion fruit black?"
"Actually that's my newest craving. I can't stop drinking it."
"It's so good!" Brooke's eyes lit up.
"It has a nice round flavor and so fruity." Bumble Bee got down two bags of passion fruit tea and poured two mugs full of water. Then it hit her. "Oh shoot!"
"What's wrong?" Brooke asked.
"I have to do something. Here. You fix your tea the way you like and I'll be right back." Bumble Bee gave her the sugars, milk and honey before fixing Changeling's tea and running it down to him.
By the time she came back, Brooke was looking over the video game systems. "Like what you see?"
Brooke turned. "Yeah. I love video games. My parents bought me a lot."
"I love video games but my favorites are fantasy. I like fantasy everything. Video games, movies, books, songs."
"I'm only nine so I don't know much about stuff that's not new but I like older songs. Even older than the ones my parents listen to."
"Girl, if you want to talk about music-!" Bumble Bee teased.
Brooke laughed. "I love music. I love books, too. I read at a tenth grade level."
"No way. I was reading like that at your age. I devoured anything I could pick up. By the time I got to high school, I never had to read the assigned books because I'd already read them and could use my free time to read other books."
"What's your favorite book?"
"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou."
"I've heard of her but I haven't read anything by her."
"She's amazing. I really hate that she died. But my friends got to meet her a couple years ago."
"Really?"
"Yeah. They went to one of her last readings. Are you hungry?"
Brooke blinked at the change in topic. "Kinda."
"I made soup for lunch. Would you like that and grilled cheese?"
"Is it Campbell's? It's the only brand I know."
"Honey, I made this soup by scratch."
"What does that mean?"
"It means I made it from home. It's homemade."
"Oh. What kind of soup?"
"Tomato Saffron."
"What's saffron?"
"It's an herb. It tastes good."
"Okay. I'll trust you."
Bumble Bee laughed. "Okay. What fruit do you like?"
"Apples."
"Me too. It's my favorite fruit."
"It's my favorite fruit!" Brooke sat on the couch and sipped her tea.
Bumble Bee went into the kitchen to make another sandwich. "I love it with peanut butter. Sometimes I make a peanut butter sandwich and stuff it with apples slices and chocolate syrup. It's a mess and kinda sweet but oh so good."
Brooke giggled. "I'll have to ask my mom to make me one."
"I'll make you one by the time you leave. When are your parents coming to pick you up?"
"They said for me to call them when I was ready to come home."
"Okay, we'll probably have time." Bumble Bee cut the sandwich in half then added an apple to the plate before grabbing a bowl to put soup in.
"What kind of movies do you like? Besides fantasy?"
Bumble Bee thought about it. "I don't know. I like adventure stories but also old movies. I love black and white movies and the classics. They don't even have to be in English or have sound. I really like the French Beauty and the Beast from the 40s."
"French Beauty and the Beast?"
"It's the Beauty and the Beast but in French."
"I've never seen Beauty and the Beast."
Bumble Bee gasped as she came into the common room with the food and set it before Brooke. "You haven't seen such a classic film?! How criminal!"
Brooke giggled. "I haven't seen many movies. I'm just now getting into them."
"You have a long ways to go. But I can give you a list of movies to start you off. But ask your parents if you can see them because they're not all appropriate for young children. Older movies are different from today's movies."
"Okay."
"What about art? You don't know much about music, literature or film but what about art?"
"I love art. I've been to a ton of museums and love Claude Monet."
"So do I! His watercolors are amazing!"
"As much as I love paintings, I really love photography." Brooke picked up her sandwich. "I just got a camera and I take pictures of everything. Wanna see?"
"Sure."
Brooke grabbed her camera from her bookbag and showed Bumble Bee. "I got a lot."
"They're beautiful. I used to take pictures."
"You did?"
"My father was a photographer and I wanted to be just like him. He gave me my first camera when I was two and I took pictures of everything I saw."
"Do you have any pictures of your father?"
"I do."
"Can I see them?"
"I don't have them on me."
"I can wait while you get them."
Bumble Bee giggled. "I meant they're not in the tower. I haven't seen those pictures in years."
"You still have them though. Right?"
"I do." Bumble Bee frowned a little. "What's your paper about exactly?"
"What paper?" Brooke asked as she scooped soup into her mouth. "Wow this is good!"
"The reason that you're here." Bumble Bee raised a brow.
"Oh. Uh- famous black women."
"Really? Cuz you said because I was your hero."
"Oh." Brooke blinked before smiling and scooping more soup into her mouth. "This is really good. That saffron stuff is amazing."
"Brooke, why are you here?"
"To-"
"And don't lie to me."
Brooke slumped. "My name's not Brooke."
Bumble Bee's eyebrows climbed. "Really?"
Brooke- the little girl shook her head. "That's my mom's name. Brooke Beecher."
Bumble Bee frowned. What? "Huh?"
"My mom's name is Brooke Beecher and my dad's name is Calvin Beecher."
Those were Bumble Bee's parents' names. The reason she'd named her son Calvin and why she loved the name Brooke. "That's impossible."
"I was born December 18 nearly ten years ago."
Bumble Bee was reeling. "No. That can't be."
"My father died in an accident and my mother died in a fire from a bombing."
Bumble Bee was still.
"My name is Lauren Rachel Beecher."
"That is impossible! Lauren died in that fire!" Old memories assaulted Bumble Bee.
"No. A fireman saved me. I almost didn't make it. I stayed in the hospital for weeks."
"Where are you getting this from? Who told you all this?"
"It's the truth." Brooke- Lauren pleaded. "I brought my file from Social Services."
"Social Services?"
"I was in foster care for years. I didn't get adopted until last year."
"Let me see that."
Lauren handed the file over.
Bumble Bee flipped through it but it seemed to back up Lauren's story. "Why? Why didn't I know about you? Why didn't anybody tell me?"
"I don't know why they didn't at the beginning but you disappeared. I didn't even know you were alive until I was up for adoption. My background was a mess and they couldn't find where I belonged until some overworked social worker remembered the fire.
They realized who I was and it was confirmed that I was an orphan and only had one surviving relative. You."
"Why didn't you come find me?" Bumble Bee lowered the file.
"No one knew where you'd gone. I liked the people who were going to adopt me but I wanted you. So I begged and pleaded for someone to tell me anything.
It took so long, I was adopted. But after enough pull from my adopted father, someone ran across an adoption with your name on it. I knew it wasn't much to go on but at least I knew where you were.
We tried to find more but couldn't. Until we noticed that a little boy was showing up in tabloids with the same name as the little boy you adopted and our father's. It didn't seem like a coincidence so we looked for everything on him and it turned out he was adopted by superheroes.
You're the right age and aren't most superheroes orphans? I knew it had to be you. So we flew out here to see."
"Flew out here? Where do you live?"
"New Orleans. The couple that adopted me thought that I'd benefit from being down south and around great black influences. They're white."
Bumble Bee was having trouble wrapping her head around this. "You were out there all this time and no one thought we'd be better off together?"
"I don't know what they thought." Lauren shrugged.
"Let me see your wings." Bumble Bee didn't want to believe this.
Lauren took off her zippered hoodie. Her wings fluttered restlessly.
Bumble Bee's heart nearly stopped.
"I'm sorry I just dumped all this on you. You have a life and kids and I'd probably be in your way." Lauren stood up and picked up her bag.
Bumble Bee stood and reached out to stop her. "No, wait. You're not in my way. All I'd ever wanted was my family back. I just gave up wishing."
"I missed everyone so much." A tear slipped down Lauren's cheek.
"Me too." Bumble Bee pulled her into her arms and cried.
Lauren wrapped her arms around Bumble Bee's middle and cried just as much.
pagebreak
"How is his development going?" J'onn asked.
Raven looked at Sebastian, who was picking up Cheerios and eating them. "He's bright as far as we can tell. Charlotte's used your powers to communicate with him and we get insight that way but it's a little hard to know exactly what he's thinking when she's not around."
"Is he talking yet?"
"Oh no. He rarely makes any noise. It's kind of hard to engage him sometimes. It's hard to capture and keep his attention."
J'onn stared at the baby. "He's thinking about birds."
"Birds?" Raven was seriously confused.
J'onn pointed out the window. There were two birds building a nest on a nearby tree.
"So he is aware of what's going on around him."
J'onn inclined his head. "He likes their feathers."
"Maybe I should go to a bookstore and get a book on animals? Gar used to read from thick animal tomes when I was pregnant but hasn't since Sebastian has been born."
"You don't presume that he'd like animals?"
"I never thought about it. He hasn't shifted so we're more worried about his magic."
"Do you think he's going to shift any time soon?"
"I have no idea. Changeling said his powers didn't manifest for a few weeks after he was cured. I didn't receive my powers until I was an older toddler. He's gotten his magic at four months. There's no telling when he'll shift."
"You should prepare for when he does. It's an… exasperating experience in the beginning."
"How do we prepare?"
"He's very young and my people receive their powers young. We teach them what will happen. We show them what it looks like and the aftermath. It's how I learned and when I first shifted form, I wasn't afraid."
Raven nodded. "I'll talk to Gar. *After* he gets better."
J'onn smirked.
pagebreak
"What were they like?" Lauren asked.
Bumble Bee stared at the photo in her hands. It was inside a locket that she wore everyday since her mother gave it to her until the day she became a superhero. "Which one?"
"All of them. But our parents. What were they like?"
Bumble Bee licked her lips. "Daddy was a serious man. He took everything very seriously. He was so smart and seemed to know everything. He stayed in school his entire life. He said the day you stopped learning was the day you died."
"Really?"
Bumble Bee nodded. "But he was different at home. Everyone saw him as a serious, studious man but he was completely silly with us at home. He played games and sang songs. He had a good voice even though he said he sounded like a dying cat in a garbage disposal. I thought he had the best voice."
"What'd he sound like?"
"Have you heard of Barry White?"
Lauren shook her head.
Bumble Bee grinned. "That's alright. He died before you were born. But he had this really distinct deep voice. Daddy sounded just like him. I used to love hearing stories from him and whenever it thunders, I think of him."
Lauren wiped away a few tears. "You said he was a photographer. What'd he shoot?"
"Everything. I honestly can't say if I liked his portraits more or his nature shots. I have this picture he took on one of our nature walks. He used to take us on picnics and nature walks all the time and he'd take his camera and take pictures of us.
One time he took a picture of the sun setting. It was so beautiful. I kept it on my nightstand until we had to move. There was this picture he took of Momma while she was dancing with one of our siblings. There wasn't any music on but she was swaying anyway.
Her face was open and her eyes were closed. She was singing under her breath. He just really captured all of her."
"What was she like?" Lauren's eyes shined.
"Kinda like him. She was serious and studious. She was in school all her life, too. She had a degree in botany (and other things) and was a serious scientist. But she had this completely soft side. She also wrote poetry and sung love songs at the drop of a hat.
She sung jazz and blues and 90s RandB and a little bit of country. She loved Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton."
"I don't know who either of those people are." Lauren admitted.
Bumble Bee laughed. "That's okay. You can look them up later."
"So they had masks for when they were out in the world but at home they were happy?"
Bumble Bee nodded. "Home was full of love. Momma always said that no matter what; she was on our side. Daddy said he didn't care what we were going through; he was always there for us."
"I wish I could have known him."
"You would have loved him." She was sure. "Everyone did. He was the backbone of our community. There was a close knit group of men in our old neighborhood. It was the dads of the families and they did things like look out for each others families and get together to hang out and stuff.
The moms did, too. All of us kids played together. We could ride our bikes around blocks because we knew all the mothers in the neighborhood would check on us.
When Daddy died, there were so many people at his funeral. So many people visited us afterwards and checked in on us."
"We were in a bad neighborhood when the fire started. How did we get there?"
"After Daddy died, Momma was a wreck. She was pregnant and without her true love. She stayed home with us all the time. She just took care of us and made sure we had what we needed.
She owned her own shop mixing herbs and home potions and she let it slip while she grieved. Her assistant couldn't handle all the orders so they lost customers.
That's when money became tight. There was a dispute over Daddy's pictures. He was supposed to do a show before he died and the gallery owner tried to sue Momma for not turning in his last works.
Momma won the case but court fees wiped out her savings plus the expenses from the funeral. The bank took our house right after you were born.
It was really hard. Momma couldn't catch a break. So we moved states, leaving behind our peaceful community and everything we knew."
"We didn't have anybody who could help us?"
"Daddy's family disowned him for being a photographer. He was supposed to be a doctor but he followed his dream in college. Where he met Momma. They blamed her and ignored us all. They didn't even come to his funeral."
Lauren's heart broke. "How could they do that?"
Bumble Bee shook her head. "I don't know. Momma's parents died when she was young. They were activists and intellectuals who named her after the famous Gwendolyn Brooks. Her grandmother raised her but she died when I was young."
"So there was no one."
Bumble Bee shook her head. "No. No one."
Lauren licked her lips. "I read that we had five brothers and sisters."
"Yeah, Calvin Jr., Duane, Gary, Merry and Nancy."
"What were they like?"
"CJ was just like Daddy. He was so serious but he was silly around us. Merry was like Momma. She was great at writing poetry, even as a young girl. Duane was smart as a whip. He was interested in math and football. Nancy was an artist. She drew all the time and we put her pictures on the fridge all the time. Gary was into music and random trivia. He was just learning how to read and read all kinds of fact books to spit them out."
Lauren smiled. "Did you hate having to be the oldest?"
"No. I was always in charge. We mostly got along but sometimes I couldn't stand their bickering. Gary was a know-it-all. Nancy was bossy, Duane was always trying to get out of something, Merry had a sharp tongue and CJ was moody."
Lauren laughed. "That's so weird! I always wondered about them and I never knew how they were. I didn't know anything about them. I was always told I was alone in the world. But I used to have dreams about people. I just thought I was dreaming about imaginary friends or something."
"I think you always knew you had a family."
Lauren was quiet for a minute. "Why was our house on fire? They said a bomb but I don't understand what that means."
"I don't think you should hear this. You're too young."
"I'm not too young!" Lauren protested. "Please just tell me!"
Bumble Bee shook her head and picked up her mug of tea to take a sip.
"Please, Karen?"
Bumble Bee set the mug aside. "That neighborhood was bad. It was filled with disreputable people doing disreputable things. There were street gangs and there was this "turf war". Someone killed a member of a rival gang and they responded by bombing houses on the north side."
Lauren started crying.
"I knew you were too young for this." Bumble Bee hugged her.
"No. No." Lauren shook her head. "What else? How did it happen? How did you survive?"
Bumble Bee sat back. "What does it matter? We're here now-"
"I have to know. I have to know what happened. Why were we separated? Where were you?"
"Okay. Okay." Bumble Bee clasped her fingers together. "It was night and Momma was making Mac and cheese but needed milk. I was the oldest and had to help her so I went. When I came back, the house was on fire. I ran inside but I couldn't find anybody. I passed out from smoke inhalation.
When I woke up, I was in the hospital. The police said that everyone was gone. They explained about the bomb and said how sorry they were. They said that Child Protective Services were on their way." Bumble Bee stopped.
"What?" Lauren covered her hand with hers. "What is it? What aren't you telling me?"
Bumble Bee cleared her throat. "I was sent upstate. I didn't even get to go to their funerals. I don't even know where they're buried."
Lauren wrapped her arms around her. "I'm so sorry."
Bumble Bee cried it out before wiping away the majority of her tears. "Where were you? How did you survive? You said a fireman saved you?"
"Yeah. In my file, it said that a firefighter found me in a room upstairs. I was brought to a hospital and Child Protective Services kept me until I was sent to a group home on the other side of the state.
I was passed through foster homes until last year. I never stayed in any place for more than a year. But at least I was never mistreated. Just lonely and with nightmares. Every family always had a bunch of kids so I never got any attention."
"I hate that you went through that. You shouldn't have been alone."
Lauren chewed on her bottom lip. "You were alone, too. At least until you became a Teen Titan."
"I was."
"Do you like it here? With these people?"
"I should be asking you that. How are your adoptive parents treating you?"
"They're really nice. The nicest people I've ever met. Besides you."
"Shameless pandering?" Bumble Bee raised a brow.
"What's that?"
"Flattery will get you everywhere."
Lauren was so confused but smiled anyway. "You didn't answer my question. Are you happy here?"
Bumble Bee was going to answer yes but took the time to really think about her answer. "I enjoy what I do. I like making a difference. My team has become my family. They understand me in a way not many people do. But I'd be lying if I said I was completely content. I think about the past way too much.
I stuff it down and pretend because I don't want to pass that along to the kids but I miss our family and the life we used to have."
"Maybe you should tell someone how you feel?"
Bumble Bee shook her head. "I don't want to burden anyone-"
"I thought they were your friends?"
Bumble Bee stopped. While she was thinking things over, her communicator crackled for the first time in over an hour. "Nightwing to Bumble Bee. Come in, Bumble Bee."
Bumble Bee snatched up her commucator. "What?!"
"I can't find the lozenges."
"What?!"
"I can't find the lozenges. And Changeling left his room."
"Mother of-! Hold on, I'll be right there!" Bumble Bee rolled her eyes. "Bumble Bee out!"
"Who was that?" Lauren asked.
"My leader."
"And he can't find something?"
"Lozenges." When Lauren just looked at her, she further explained. "Cough drops."
Lauren nodded. "I can leave. You have to pay attention to your friends-"
"No! Don't go!" Bumble Bee put up her hands and thought quickly. "Just wait. Let me deal with them and I'll be right back."
Lauren nodded.
Bumble Bee ran out as fast as her stomach would allow and rode down to the barracks. She came across Nightwing pacing outside his room like an uneasy panther. "Why are you out of bed?"
He frowned. "I'm hot and my throat hurts."
"Drink your water."
"I'm not thirsty."
She stared hard at him before going to a supply closet and finding the medicinal candy. "Here."
"Thanks."
"Where's C?"
He pointed towards Charlotte's room before going to his own.
Bumble Bee stomped to the little girl's room and found Changeling in there, talking the poor almost four year old to death. "Garfield!"
Changeling winced. "You sound like my mom."
"Why are you in here, disturbing this baby's rest?!" She set her hands on her hips and tapped a toe.
He sulked. "I'm bored in there by myself! Come sit with me."
"Please?" Charlotte croaked.
Bumble Bee cracked a smile at her plea and relaxed. "I can't, honey. I have company."
"Company?" Changeling grew nosy. "Who's here?"
"None of your business. Go back to your own room. I'll come and visit with you later."
"When is Rae coming home?" Changeling dragged his body away from his daughter and slunk off to his room.
Bumble Bee checked Charlotte's tea level before following him. "She has at least half an hour and she wouldn't see you even if she were here. You're still contagious and she can't afford to get Bas sick the way you infected your own daughter."
He sulked. "Who's here that you're being so mean to me?"
She covered him with his sheets. "I am not being mean to you."
"Uh huh." He didn't believe her. "Cy wanted me to tell you that he wants you to check on him and Cal."
"I'm going to check on everyone."
"That's rude to whoever you're ignoring right now to lie to me."
"So many things are wrong with that statement…"
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Raven looked around. "This is new."
"You've never been here?" J'onn asked.
"I have but not with you."
"Clark insists we watch movies from his childhood and plenty have fathers taking their children to these sort of places."
"I haven't been to a fair in a long time." Raven adjusted Sebastian in her arms.
"I'm sure we'll have a pleasant enough time."
Raven nodded. "Do you even know how to do any of these games?"
J'onn shook his head. "No."
"Changeling's the best gamer I know. Don't tell Cyborg."
"I won't."
"What do you want to play first?"
"I know nothing of these rituals. What do you recommend?"
Raven looked around. "Knocking down milk bottles. It's easy enough."
J'onn nodded and hurried her over to the booth. "What do we do?"
Raven picked up a baseball. "You throw this at the pyramid of milk bottles and try to knock all of them down."
J'onn took the ball and examined it thoroughly. "It seems deceptively easy."
"It's a bit harder than you think but I think you can do it."
J'onn smiled. "I thank you for your confidence." He inspected the milk bottles as best he could from where he stood and threw the ball.
The bottles exploded.
The kid working the booth was clearly surprised by his raised brows. "Whoa! What an arm!"
J'onn looked down at Raven. "What happens next?"
"You get a prize." He gestured behind himself. "What would you like?"
"You choose, Raven."
Raven couldn't care less what to get but she saw Sebastian was enthralled by a stuffed lamb. She pointed to it. "Sebastian seems to like that one."
"The lamb." J'onn inclined his head.
The worker took it down and handed it to J'onn. "Here you go. Come again."
J'onn gave the prize to Raven as they walked away. "He can have it."
"Thank you." Raven smiled. "We can play another game that I think you'll be good at. There's no prize but you will see someone take a dip."
"A dip?" J'onn was confused.
Raven smiled mysteriously.
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"I really enjoyed talking about the past but we're here now." Lauren said. "I want to talk about things going on with us today."
"Okay." Bumble Bee took a sip of her fruity water. It was her third glass after two mugs of tea. "You said you were recently adopted and you're starting a new school."
"Yeah. I'm kinda scared."
"Why?"
"I hate being the new kid. Nobody wants to play with me and everyone always stares at me."
"It's the wings, isn't it?"
Lauren nodded. "It feels weird to keep them covered up but when I cut holes in my clothes for them, people stare."
"I know how that feels. It's really uncomfortable and people talk."
"Yes!" Lauren was glad someone understood. "It makes me feel bad."
"I know but you have to keep your head up and believe in yourself. It doesn't matter what people say or think about you. It's all in here. And like Momma used to say; people talked about Jesus."
Lauren nodded. "I haven't been to church a lot. Nobody in my foster homes bothered going but my new parents go. They said I can go when I feel ready."
"What would make you feel ready?"
"I don't know. I wish you could come with me."
"I wish I could, too. You live so far away."
"Now that I know where you are, I want to keep seeing you."
"You can always come back. And I can come see you."
"Will your friends let you?" Lauren looked down.
"No one will separate us again." Bumble Bee lifted her chin.
Lauren smiled softly. "You're having a baby."
"I am." Bumble Bee smirked.
"You already have a baby."
"He's not so much a baby anymore." Bumble Bee grinned. "He's getting to be such a big boy."
"Can I see him?"
"He's sick right now."
"I don't mind."
"Laurie-"
"Laurie?" Lauren cocked her head and frowned. "No one's ever called me that before."
"I always called you Laurie."
Lauren smiled. "I like it. I've never had a nickname before. At least not a nice one."
"You'll always be my Laurie."
Lauren hugged her. "I still wanna meet your baby. And your boyfriend."
"I don't think so. I can't give you back to your parents sick."
"I'll take some medicine when I get back to the hotel." Lauren promised.
"No. You'll see him on a different visit. He's not going anywhere."
"You don't know that. People always leave me."
"Hey. I'm not going anywhere. I promise I will do everything in my power to see you again."
"You will?" Lauren's eyes were wide with frightened hope.
"I promise on everything."
Lauren relaxed. "Okay. Tell me about your boyfriend. Is he cute?"
Bumble Bee laughed. "He's very cute. He'll tell you, too."
Lauren giggled.
"Do you like boys yet?"
Lauren wrinkled her nose. "I like older guys. Boys my age are stupid."
"Sparky's older than me. But I get what you're saying. I was always attracted to older men, too. I like maturity."
"Boys my age are sticking veggies up their noses and acting like walruses." Lauren sneered.
Bumble Bee laughed. "I don't miss that!"
Lauren rolled her eyes. "I'm going to find a sixth grader to date!"
"Ooh!"
Lauren grinned, liking to make Bumble Bee laugh. "He'll be so smart and know his timetables up to one hundred."
Bumble Bee giggled. "You need to find someone you have a connection with. Someone you can talk to."
"Can you talk to your boyfriend?"
"Yes, I can. He likes to pretend he doesn't listen but I know he does."
"Why? Why does he pretend he doesn't listen?"
"It's a man thing. They're told from a young age to not care about what a woman cares about but Sparky's more evolved than that. He actually listens to your problems and cares about what you're going through."
Lauren's eyes softened. "Does he have a brother?!"
"No. He's an only child."
Lauren pouted. "Poo!"
Bumble Bee laughed. "We'll find you somebody."
A ringing sounded. Lauren looked through her backpack for the cell phone her adoptive parents gave her. She answered it. "Hello? Okay. I'll get my stuff together and be right out. Bye."
"Your parents are here?" Bumble Bee guessed.
"Yeah." Lauren put away the phone.
The common room doors opened and Raven came in. She stopped short when she saw Lauren. "Hello."
"Hi." Lauren waved.
"Hey, Rae." Bumble Bee stood up. "This is Lauren. Laurie, this is Raven Logan."
Raven's eyes narrowed as she saw the similarities between the two girls. "It's nice to meet you."
"You too." Lauren shouldered her backpack.
"Have you checked on Changeling and Charlie?" Bumble Bee asked.
"Yes. Both are sleeping." Raven said.
"I'll clean this up when I get back. I'm going to walk her down." Bumble Bee ushered Lauren downstairs.
"So that's one of your friends?" Lauren asked.
"Yeah."
"She seems nice."
"She is."
The two walked over to the lone car in the drive. Two people were sitting inside and exited when they saw the girls walking over.
The woman reached out a hand. "Hello. I'm Patricia Henson. And this is my husband, Chester."
"Karen." Bumble Bee shook her hand.
Chester shook her hand next. "It's good to meet you."
"You too. I'm glad Laurie has such nice people to love her."
"And we do." Patricia nodded. "Very much."
"Good."
"We only wish we would have found her when she was younger. And found you, too." Chester stuck his hands in his pockets. "It couldn't have been easy to grow up alone."
Bumble Bee lifted a shoulder. "I survived so I'm grateful."
"I like your outlook."
"Thanks."
"We'll try to visit as much as we can." Patricia spoke up. "We don't want you separated again."
"I'll try to visit you as well."
"Will that be possible? You're a world famous superhero and a mom. You must be extremely busy."
"I am. Especially with one on the way. But I'll make the time."
"Congratulations on that by the way. We read that you're having a boy."
"Marco!" Lauren piped up excitedly. "His middle name's Ezra and Karen told me she picked it because it's from the Bible and all of our middle names are from the Bible."
"Really?" Patricia's eyebrows rose.
"Yeah. I didn't really like the name Rachel but she explained who she was and why she was important and stuff. She said our mother picked it out special for me."
Patricia smiled warmly. "I'm glad."
"We should go." Chester hated to pull them apart but they had to go and pack for the trip home. "We'll be in contact. Did Lauren give you all of our information?"
"Yes." Bumble Bee nodded. "I gave her mine. Have a safe trip back to New Orleans."
Chester shut his wife and adopted daughter in their car. "Thank you. We'll probably call you tomorrow to let you know we're leaving. And when we land. I think our long distance bill is going to go up."
Bumble Bee smiled. "I'm sorry."
"No problem." He stopped from getting in the car. "We're really glad we found you."
"I'm really glad you found me, too."
He smiled and nodded before getting in. He buckled up and started the car before beeping the horn. They all waved as he drove off.
Bumble Bee waved after them until they were going down the bridge. She turned and went inside and up to the common room.
Raven was sitting on a chair, sipping tea.
Bumble Bee went about cleaning up. She'd kept to her promise to make Lauren a sandwich so they had plenty of dishes for her to wash.
Raven waited for her to finish and come sit down with a cup of tea. "I'm not trying to overstep but she looked remarkably like you."
Bumble Bee sipped her tea. "She really does."
Raven waited but she didn't say anything further. "Who was she?"
Bumble Bee swallowed. "My sister."
"Your sister?" Raven's eyes widened and pebbles showed up in a small pile on the console.
Bumble Bee nodded.
Raven was completely surprised. "How?"
Bumble Bee told her what Lauren had told her about surviving the fire. "She's been alone all this time."
"You didn't know." Raven could see it in her eyes.
"I should have known."
"How could you have?"
"I should have felt it. I should have asked questions. I should have made sure of the facts before I just ran off."
Raven set her mug aside and went to sit next to Bumble Bee. "There is no way you could have known. You did what was best for you and you've made a difference doing it. You're back in her life now. She found you. You'll never lose her again."
Bumble Bee wiped away tears. "I don't even know what to do. I know I want to see her but how much is too much? She's a different person than when she was two. Will we even get along? She lives so far away."
"It'll all work out." Raven cut in. "Gar taught me that if you want something, you have to make things work. You'll get to know her. You can overcome the distance. From the small interaction I saw, you get along fine."
Bumble Bee realized she was working herself up into a tizzy. "Okay. Thank you."
"Don't you think there's something you should do?"
"What?" Bumble Bee was concentrating on keeping her heart rate down.
"Telling Cyborg about this…?"
"What'll he say?" Bumble Bee's eyes widened.
"Whatever it is, I'm sure it'll be supportive."
Bumble Bee nodded and got up. "Thanks, Rae. I know you think you suck at comforting people but I think you rock."
Raven smiled. "Thank you."
Bumble Bee left and went downstairs to the room she shared with Cyborg now. She poked her head inside before going over to the slanted steel bed. "Sparky? Are you asleep?"
Cyborg snored loudly. He always did when sick.
She pushed his shoulder as she climbed in beside him. "Sparky. Wake up."
He snorted and opened his grey eye as the red one lit up. "Bee?"
"Yeah."
"What's going on?"
"I've got something to tell you."