Her fingers twitched, which they only did when she was nervous. Raven didn't like being nervous. It was one of those few emotions that managed to undermine her control no matter how much she had meditated. Nervous usually meant lightbulbs shattering and overturned furniture. Nervous was not a good thing to be in public.
Yet here she was, her nervous fingers gripping a paper cup filled with tea. It was Thursday the 13th, and she had no idea when Terra had actually asked her to meet. The very secretive letter that she had sent included no time; just a date and place. Raven had debated with herself all week if she should go. It was hard enough to not tell the others about the initial meeting with Terra, now she felt as if she were actually conspiring against them. Raven's fingers twitched again.
The coffee shop only opened an hour or so ago, so it was still very early in the day. It still didn't stop Raven from looking up every time the door opened. The eleventh time she looked up without any success she started to curse herself and her nerves. Raven was starting to worry that she would be sitting there all day.
"Hi, waiting long?"
Raven glared at Terra as she slid into the seat in front of her "You should really tell someone when you're going to meet them."
"I did, I said 8:30." Terra looked confused.
Raven pulled out the letter and handed it to her.
"Oh." Terra muttered as she scanned it. "I'm so sorry. I could have sworn I wrote down 8:30, see I've got a class at 12 and I figured this gave us time and…I'm sorry."
"Stop apologizing." Raven told her before taking a sip of tea. "Just be glad I'm an early riser."
"Yeah, I remembered that much." Terra grinned and handed the letter back.
"So, why did you want to meet?"
"Always straight to the point." Terra noted, pushing back a strand of hair, "I had some questions."
Raven crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, "If it's anything about Beast Boy or the others…"
"No, no!" Terra practically lunged across the table and lowered her voice to a whisper, "It's about me. It's about how I…came back to life. I still don't know how that happened."
Raven blinked, "That's it?"
"That's it." Terra nodded settling back into her chair. "Now that I know I was brought back, I need to know if someone did it on purpose. I don't want to be a pawn again."
"I don't know." Raven told her honestly, staring at her tea.
Terra's face fell, "You don't?"
"No, when Beast Boy recognized you, we investigated your cave; your statue was gone, but it wasn't anything we did. Nothing Cyborg or I tried ever worked." She admitted.
Raven felt a cool hand cover hers, looking up she saw Terra biting her lip. She didn't try to take her hand back, sensing the mixture of sad gratitude slipping from Terra's fingers into hers.
"You tried to bring me back?" Terra asked.
"You were our friend," Raven replied, "Of course we tried."
Terra's hand squeezed hers before retracting it all together. Raven noticed she was biting her lip again and decided it was time to put the subject to rest.
"I doubt someone brought you back for something insidious; if they were going to use you they would have done it already." She reassured.
"You're probably right." Terra nodded.
The conversation died between them. Raven had no more information to give her and Terra didn't have much to offer either. Raven began to wonder why she remained seated instead of leaving when their business concluded. When Raven glanced away from her tea again Terra was staring at the bakery display.
"The food here tastes like cardboard." Raven warned.
Terra let out a small groan and rested her head on her hand and continued to stare at the confections, "Yeah, but right now it's more a matter of convenience."
Raven was amused, "Still have a gargantuan appetite?"
Terra nodded with enthusiasm; still staring at the counter, "Especially when I've been awake for 4 hours already."
Raven frowned a little, "Why?"
"I was nervous." Terra glanced back, "I kept thinking how you might not come, and if you did, it would be to yell at me for contacting you about something other than my powers."
Raven smiled a little at that. At least she hadn't been the only one to be nervous. She noticed the relief relaying between them as the conversation resurrected itself into something more pleasant.
"There's a place a block over that makes great waffles, if you're hungry." Raven offered.
She had Terra's full attention then. Terra stood up, snatched up her purse, and grabbed Raven by the wrist.
"Let's go. Please."
Raven felt herself pulled from her seat, her tea forgotten on the table as Terra led them out onto the street. Walking over to the breakfast place the conversation changed to Terra's school. Raven learned that she was getting a degree in exercise science with a minor in psychology. The only reason she was taking geology now was to replace a science credit she had flunked in her freshman year.
"I need it in order to finally graduate." Terra said as they were seated, "Being a super-senior sucks."
"And when you do graduate?" Raven asked, surprised to learn that she was actually interested in Terra's new life. Current Terra seemed…different from old Terra, and Raven's curiosity was getting the better of her. "What's your plan then?"
"Well, I was planning on trying my luck somewhere else, but with getting my memories back and all; I kinda feel like I have unfinished business here, you know? Like I've got to put what I've learned to good use before I can move on."
Raven nodded, "I can understand that."
They ordered and talked more about Terra's life. Raven remained guarded about anything to do with the Tower or those who lived there. That subject remained too raw, but slowly they began to talk about Raven too.
"Mmk, if I had to guess: your favorite color is still blue, you still use lavender everything, and still secretly love iced tea." Terra guessed.
"1 out of 3 isn't bad." Raven smirked.
Terra pouted, "Well which one is it? You couldn't have changed that much."
"You don't have much room to talk." Raven looked at her pointedly.
Terra shrugged and their food arrived, with a can of whip cream that Terra promptly emptied onto her strawberry-banana deluxe pancakes.
"I see the sweet-tooth hasn't gone away." Raven noticed.
Terra swallowed, "I like what I like."
They grew quiet as they ate. Raven enjoyed the silence and found comfort in the fact that Terra didn't try to break it. Terra had really changed, when they were younger Terra couldn't stand to be quiet; maybe it was all that time alone with her own thoughts that made her crave the near-constant chaos that was Titans Tower. Raven realized that even though this wasn't the same Terra from before; it was certainly one she liked better.
As they were leaving, Raven asked, "Do you want to do this next Thursday?"
Terra's head tilted to the side, "Wait, really?"
"I don't ask twice, Terra." Raven warned.
"Okay!" Terra beamed with pleasant surprise, "Same time same place?"
"Sure." Raven nodded.
