Chapter Two
FYI, I still don't own anything but my computer. Thanks to those who reviewed! I promise I'll update as soon as I can, but it may end up being only once a week from now on.
"Ugh…"
Waking up, I hazily registered this lovely sound as coming from my own mouth. After snapping it shut, I still have no clue where I am. But, even with my eyes closed I can tell that it's cool in here, and there's a really light sheet over me, which is an improvement from—
Slade. What did he do? What did he do to me? Shooting up in the bed, I'm left staring at a blank white wall. In fact, the entire room seems to be white. Where am I? A hospital? My hair's probably a ratty mess, darn it. But I can't fix it with my left arm. There seems to be a needle in my arm, held in place with gauze or something. I don't know what it is. All I know is that there's a tube attached to my arm and a bag of clear…something is being pumped into it. Great. At least it doesn't hurt.
For some reason I find my thoughts wandering to those stories. You know the ones, where the girl passes out only to 'awaken' in a nice bed, with clean clothes on, happy that the guy rescued her? Well, this isn't one of those stories. My clothes have been tossed casually in a corner, and the longer I stare at them the redder my face seems to be getting. Along with that, I'm not the hottest person to look at after she's been asleep.
And what about…but I don't even wan to think about him. Coming in here, hooking up that machine thing, and taking off my—
"Awake, Terra?" Jumping half out of the bed, I jerk around to find Slade standing about five feet from me. Gah. I'm the least observant person in the world. Or maybe he's the quietest. Right. "Y-y-yes. Where am I? Why did you bring me here?" I ask, pulling the sheet around me and hoping he didn't see my bra and underwear. Slade sighs. "Terra, try not to stutter when you talk. It's terribly unbecoming."
At this my face heats up again. He's staring at me like I'm a bug under a microscope. A very small bug. "Sorry. I'll try not to let it happen again." He nods. "Good. You're here because you passed out; right after you simply begged me to help you. Remember?" Unfortunately, yes. "Yes," I mutter, looking away from him. "Since you were emaciated and dehydrated, I had to run an intravenous solution through your veins before the problem got any worse."
I nod and squeeze the cotton sheet a little tighter. "Oh. Thank you," I reply, having no clue what he said. Great. Slade's horribly smart. I never was. I hate smart people. "I expect you'll want to fix your problem sometime in the near future, correct?" At this my eyes are glued to his. "Yes. I don't want to be a freak anymore. I just want to be normal. Well, as normal as I can be, you know?"
I'm getting excited again. There's hope for me now. Maybe he'll help me. He said he would. "But Terra," Slade says, sitting down next to me and laying a hand over mine. There are definitely butterflies in my stomach now. He squeezes my hand, as if we're having a normal conversation. His hands are warm. Mine are cold.
"I could help you be better than normal." I'm confused now and I tell him as much. "You don't want to just be normal, do you? We can do so much better than that. I've told you before—I could teach you to shine." By now I'm staring down at our hands. "But…are you just going to run back to the Titans when we're done?"
At this I can feel myself getting mad. My power wants to come up, but I force it down just in time. "No. Beast Boy told them, Slade. He told them that I was a…freak who couldn't control her own powers. They wouldn't want me anymore anyway."
"Of course. And wouldn't you…like to get back at them, just a little, for what they did? But you know you couldn't tell anyone that I'm helping you. Of course, there's no one to tell." That odd feeling grows stronger as Slade laces our fingers together. Live here? Live with a man twice my age and twice as smart as me? "Yes," I hear myself reply from a far-off place, "I'd like that."
(Author's note: Don't forget to review! Even flames are accepted.))