Thank you to cartoonfire, tennisgal456, RavenSis, milkshakelvr, Nightstar Grayson, RobinxStarfireLuvr, jcyz, Black Raven 13, BerryDrops, SuPeR HyPeR chick 101, shattered-hearts-602 and XxNightfirexX for reviewing the last chapter, even though it was so short, lol. This one's nice and long, hopefully with enough explanations :)
Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans, and apparently I don't own any spelling skills either...or I'm just not typing well today.
"'Bye, Kory. It was nice knowing you. Because, you know, I'm going to die of boredom over there..." Dick grumbled as Kory handed him his suitcase. Kory rolled her eyes.
"You say that every morning, Dick. And yet, you not only manage to make it home alive and well, but you always stay for hours extra," she argued, her hands on her hips. Dick shrugged, grinning, and opened the front door. His smile quickly flipped.
"I forgot, Kory, I'll be out the entire day. Bruce is leaving tomorrow, you know, for that huge problem we were having with the shipping from Argentina with Wayne Foods. So before he leaves, he's got this big..." Dick waved his free arm around to indicate just how big. "Party thing. Some hall down south, he didn't want to have it in the Manor. I'll have to be there."
Kory nodded in understanding and helped him into his coat, despite his protests. "Of course. Have fun," she teased. Dick rolled his eyes and trudged out the door, looking back once to see his beautiful best friend waving good-bye. "I will wait."
"Don't. You've got a big day ahead of you tomorrow."
She frowned. "Truly? I--"
"You don't mind coming with me to Wayne Enterprises, do you? There's a lot of work that Bruce left behind, mostly letters to write and send out. You know, formal-sounding, stuff I always end up putting a 'gonna' or something in."
Kory's eyes brightened. "Of course I shall! I did not think I would--"
"Kory, don't you dare say you didn't think you weren't up for it. Do you honestly think I'd trust anyone else with this?"
"Alfred?"
"Kory..."
"I know, I know. Now go, you will be late." She embraced him lightly and let go. "Do not forget to be polite!" Kory called after him as he stumbled out dazedly.
One thing Dick dreaded over anything else for this big get-togethers of Bruce's were dates. Bruce never forced him into one, of course, but most people thought it strange that with Bruce being such a playboy, that Dick avoided girls as much as he could. Well, not all women. The only one he'd ever thought about in a romantic way was completely off limits to him.
Kory wasn't exactly a servant, but definitely not one of the family. She was an orphan that Bruce had found quite a few years before, lost and confused in the huge city that was Gotham, trying to slip through the gates of Wayne Manor and babbling about palaces and kings and queens. She had been but five, then, and was far too miserable to give him any account of who she was, or what had happened to her. She even spoke a different language, which Bruce later learned was related to French.
To adopt her then would have caused quite a scene with the media. It had been a rather dark time for Wayne Enterpises, and Bruce was just beginning to go through his womanizer persona. A five-year-old girl...well, the media could say very disgusting things. And Bruce had not wanted to go there. He'd taken her back to Wayne Manor and had a servant there, May Eyre, take Kory under her wing. Kory explored every nook and cranny of the huge mansion, and slowly learned how to keep everything shining, how to care for her Master Bruce, when to help the adults and stay out of the way. She was home-schooled, with one of the finest tutors Bruce could find. Kory zipped through her studies, her English becoming more precise than most adults's, but never gave the impression of wanting to do anything greater than care for Wayne Manor and everyone in it. May oftened noted that it was a shame such a talent had gone to waste.
When Bruce Wayne adopted Dick, he'd met Kory and the two had connected instantly. They became inseperable since they were nine, always looking out for the other and sharing everything. Even as they grew older, about the time where a guy spending time with a girl who they weren't dating was unheard of, they were almost joined at the hip. Kory was one of the biggest reasons why Dick moved on, if not smoothly, but more easily than most would have expected after his parents's murders.
As they grew, though, Bruce seemed to harbor a certain dislike for Kory, something Dick could never place. The hints of this were vague and took deep thinking to realize, like how, when Bruce visited the servants to see how they were doing, he never even bothered to look in Kory's direction or ask for her opinion, though the girl knew more about the Manor than most. Dick had assumed it was because she was young, her opinion didn't count yet. And the way that she almost never had time anymore to sit and talk to him for more than five or ten minutes, with all that Bruce asked for her to do in a day. But those weren't the only thing. He never knew if Kory noticed it or not, but he had begun to do so at around his early teenage years.
But now...Dick sighed. Now they were older, and not only that, but everything was more complicated. He was a celebrity. Social order, papparazzi, fans and critics, and more. They all came into play. And he hadn't even begun to consider Kory's own feelings. The closest thing she'd ever said to 'I love you' was the hugs she gave him, most of them out of happiness and sometimes back-breaking in nature, or grabbing his hand when he cried, earlier on in his adoption, and saying, "Don't cry. It's okay, Robin." And that had been the pet name his mother had given him. If any at all, the love on her side was entirely sisterly.
It bugged him. A lot.
Kory's smile faded into a much more dreamy one as she watched Dick back out of the driveway. He looked thoughtful, too. This was proved by the fact that he rear-ended the tree at the end of the lot...yet again. It was amazing the thing stood up. Kory giggled, knowing he would be cursing right about then.
When the car finally exited the driveway without steamrolling the trees the gardener had spent so much time tending, Kory waltzed back inside the Manor, ready to help her surrogate mother with the dishes. She was stopped by a voice. "Hey, girl. You remembered to take Mr. Wayne's tux back from--"
"Of course, Karen," Kory assured her chocolate-skinned friend. Karen hadn't been here long, only about a year, but was already tired of the work that never bothered Kory. Karen was very much a girly-girl, and the only reason she stayed was because Bruce Wayne paid quite a lot, enough to cover Karen's extravagant shopping sprees. "Is Vic coming by today?"
Karen shrugged. "You know Sparky, he'll never call me. Why are you so happy? You've been smiling at me since I said hi."
Kory stared down and fiddled with her shirt. "I'm always happy, Karen."
"Lemme guess. Loverboy again?"
"Kory?" May came hobbling out of the door to the kitchen. The woman was rather fat and ugly, but baked amazing pies for Kory when the girl did something right. Kory was sure she would always remember that one thing about May. Her pies were enough to send anyone groveling to their feet for one. "I was wondering where you'd wandered off to, dearie."
"Kory, you didn't answer my question," Karen smirked. Kory opened her mouth to say something, but May interrupted her. Between the two of them, Kory would very possibly never geta chance to speak.
"This isn't about Mr. Grayson again, is it?" May sighed, shaking her head. "Kory, Kory...it is best to give up, dearie. You know your place, and he knows his. And he's about at that age where he wants for a woman like him, someone who doesn't clean houses every day, someone high and mighty and rich. Of course, you very possibly could have amounted to something, Kory, but...wasted talent..." May closed her eyes, that recollection obviously still painful for her. "I'm only looking out for you, you know." Kory bit her lip and nodded, and Karen wisely said nothing else to dampen Kory's spirit.
Kory wasn't sure when her feelings for Dick had escalated far past that of friendship and into love, but she was certain that was what she felt now, even though she shouldn't. It didn't matter though, because Dick was here, and he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. And for now, Kory was content with that. Mostly.
She grabbed a few dishes and began to scrub, taking her mind off of him. The back door slammed, and someone reprimanded the person who let it slam. Seconds later, the careless man came into the kitchen. "Hey, Bee, Kory, how's it goin'?"
"Vic!" Kory cried happily, dropping a plate into the water to go and hug him. Vic, the resident mechanic, was like a brother to her, and also Karen's boyfriend. Kory backed away so the two could reunite for a few minutes before starting a conversation. "How are you? We have not seen you for almost a week! What happened? Did Mr. Wayne's car crash? Is he alright? Was Dick with him? Are they hurt? What is going--mmph!" Karen slapped a hand over Kory's mouth and grinned.
"Go ahead and explain, Vic."
"Right. So, Apparently, Mr. Wayne's going to Argentina, so he asked me to come last minute and fix up the bumper on the car Dick keeps scratchin' up, but apparently the little guy took it to work. I'll be inspecting the other ones, see if anything's wrong with 'em, 'cause Mr. Wayne is having a friend look after the house and wants to impress," Vic explained.
Kory had gone back to her dishes, but sighed in relief when she was convinced that there had been no car crashes except Dick's earlier that morning with the tree. She chuckled at the nickname Vic had given Dick, a name Dick truly resented. He was't that short, but Vic was virtually made for basketball, over six and a half feet tall. Kory herself was rather tall and willowy, a few inches over six feet. Karen was more petite, but she and Dick almost never met unless Vic or Kory was there, and Dick was mostly concentrating on the negative. Kory had always felt sorry for him, but Vic teased him in every manner possible. And even she had to admit (though not to Dick's face), it was pretty funny.
"Any of y'all seeing Gar today? Little man owes me ten bucks, he lost that bet on whether or not I could do three hundred push-ups in a row. That midget walked out before I was done!" Karen rolled her eyes.
"You're gonna bankrupt that guy, Vic. Hold back on the bets now, will you?" she scolded. Vic shrugged indifferently, and Kory knew he was just calculating the interest Gar owed him, not listening to his girlfriend at all.
"I've gotta go, before someone else decides to come and yell at me. See you later," Vic said, kissing Karen and giving Kory a one-armed hug before walking away, muttering about 'idiotic screen doors.'
"We'd better get back to work," Karen acknowledged finally.
"I wonder..." Kory murmured thoughtfully. "Dick had said nothing about a man coming to Wayne Manor."
"Maybe he didn't know," Karen offered. Dick always told Kory everything, there was no other explanation.
Kory shook her head, snapping out of her trance. "Maybe..." But she knew something was off.
"Your Majesty, we are now arriving in Gotham," Galfore's flight attendant told him. Galfore nodded.
"Very well. I assume there is a place at the king's palace for us?"
The attendant shifted uncomfortably. "I'm afraid not, Your Majesty. There are no kings here. There is, however, a very fine 'hotel' that will supply you with meals every morning and two large rooms." Galfore frowned, wondering what kind of place had no king, but nodded. This stay was going to be interesting.
"You may leave." She hurried off, and Galfore turned to his advisor. "How will we find Koriand'r? She should have been at the king's palace, but there is none, so where? Karras assured me he would deposit her in a safe place..."
His advisor had no answer.
Yay I got another update in! This was just an introduction, but drama starts next chapter: as Bruce leaves, someone else drops in, and he's not friendly...
