Chapter Two: Twist Of Fate

Cafe:

Richard stood, his mind racing as he lingered in a short line to purchase two warm coffee's. Unable to draw his attention from Kori, who sat in the corner of the café in complete silence, the mere sight of her was breathtaking. His sight trailed up and down her fragile, distraught figure with an immediate interest for her which was far more intense than he would have liked. Her drenched dark clothing from head to toe clung to her pale skin and mirrored that of an angel of death. The beauty of her features as she removed her dark hat brought to life a strong emotion in him. She had vibrant, rich crimson hair tucked tightly in a bun, a few strands falling to frame her woebegone features. The radiant hue of her large, jade eyes stood out ever more at the curtain of bangs highlighted them in contrasting sharpness; a sight Richard suddenly felt immobilized by.

After retrieving two coffee's he slowly made his way with uneven steps toward her. Somehow the short path to return to her had become somewhat drawn out in his mind.

"Here." He said softly, passing one of the coffee's to her and joining the table in the seat across from her. To imagine what she could be thinking, or even what he himself was truly thinking was inexplicably lost to explanation. Watching her with a keen eye, the thought of how odd this entire situation must be for her, let alone for him, seemed to result in a pause between them. It was a strange occurrence the moment his eyes met hers, instantly stopping the obnoxious amount of thoughts and hesitation that once consumed his mind. The reality, he knew this was something he never did and even if it was, the constant vibration of his phone within his right pocket confirmed that he shouldn't be doing this. Again, it was those helpless eyes that stared back at him that made logic fade.

"Shit..." she muttered, a hand pressed against her lips with a slight giggle. She looked up at Richard with an embarrassed glance. "Its much hotter than I anticipated."

He smiled. "Feeling better?"

She lowered the cup of coffee down on the table giving herself a moment to consider his question. Her thoughts seemed suddenly calmed, not fully but she felt somewhat free of her own crazed life, if only for a moment and she knew it was only as a result of his presence. These past few weeks had been met with a disturbing silence at the arrival of her sisters passing and why she was able to be comfortable in this moment, a stranger met in the middle of the night, it seemed odd to her; not that she was questioning it. "Yea... I think so. Thanks."

There was a prolonged hesitation between them, their eyes focused on one another's in an exchange of intense observation; each making an attempt to remember this very moment and the emotions that came along with it. Kori found herself basking in the cool pools of ocean water that stared back at her, him doing the same, feeling completely in tune with the agony she was enduring with the passing of a loved one. He had been there, knew exactly how she felt, precisely what concerns and pain she was dealing with and he wanted nothing more than to comfort her; draw her into his arms and make her believe that she was not alone in all of this.

It was only as a Kori's gaze faltered, receding nervously to the table before her, her hand tracing the brim of her coffee cup with a slight blush of her cheeks that snapped him out of his daze. Clearing his throat he leaned back in his chair, trying to return to his usual confident composure. "So... did you want to talk about her? Or..."

"No." She responded quickly. "I just... thank you but, I'd rather just enjoy this distraction. Believe me, my mind will have plenty of time to grieve over my sister. Right now..." she gave him a pleading smile. "... I'd just like to enjoy a little break from my life."

"Its hard, I understand." A thought crossed his mind and he was unable to stop himself before drawing attention to it. "Did you mean what you said back at the cemetery? Is that really how you feel about yourself?"

Thinking back to their brief conversation Kori quickly became uneasy. "No... I mean, maybe, sometimes I suppose; like tonight. But... I'm not suicidal if that's what you're thinking. I'm just feeling a little hopeless right now." Her eyes narrowed over his in judgement. "Is that why you felt obligated to bring me here? You think I was going to try to kill myself?"

He shrugged. "I don't know what I thought but I felt no obligation what so ever. I only wanted to make sure you were alright. I've been where you are, which I know your probably tired of people saying so but ... I do." As her eyes remained in judgement, he shook his head. "Look, I'm not judging you. When I saw you sitting out there in the snow it reminded me of when I lost my parents and how vulnerable I felt, and how demented and cruel the world suddenly seemed. I just wanted to show you that you weren't alone in all of this."

"And did someone, those eleven years ago, help you the way you did me tonight?"

He chuckled. "No... which is why I wasn't entirely sure you would allow me the chance to be here for you." A smirk tugged at his lips and he could feel a heat rise in his cheeks at the presence of her endearing smile which caused him to look away nervously. "How long were you planning on staying out there anyway?"

A heavy sigh slipped passed her lips and she leaned an arm on the table, her chin fixed down on her palm. "I don't know. I hadn't really thought that far ahead... and look, the entire night is proving to be very eventful." With another laugh from him, Kori came to the realization that she was becoming far too drawn to his charming presence, the toll this truth took on her resulted in a loss of clear thoughts. She couldn't explain it nor did she understand it. He just... captivated her in a way she had not thought possible especially not so suddenly. "Uh..." Straightening her posture, her hands fell whim to incessant fidgeting within her lap. "So... what do you... do?"

"Well, that was... unexpected." He chuckled.

"You don't have to answer I just... well, I didn't really... I mean... I didn't know what to say next or..."

Her stammering was present with a slight slur which only made Richard find more humor in this scene; her adorable fidgeting and nervousness becoming contagious to him. "No, its fine. We're strangers, conversation should be a little... forced I guess. Well... what do I do... lets see." The mere reference of any situation from his normal life greeted his mind with unbearable stress. In reality, this night was just as much a distraction from his life as it was clearly for her. He forced a hand through his matted ebony spiked hair and sighed, searching for the proper words in order to avoid the bombshell that he was none other than Dick Grayson, famous playboy and millionaire, himself. A fact he was hoping to avoid. It was far too obvious she had no idea who he was and this brought comfort to him; for once he didn't have to be anyone other than himself, without judgement and he was enjoying it. "I actually work at Wayne Enterprises."

Her eyes widened. "Wow, that's... unexpected. What do you do there?"

"I'm... uh... the CEO." He answered in a mumble.

"How... you look like you're in your early twenties, how did you manage to snag that job?"

His brow arched. "I'm twenty-five and I assure you I am perfectly qualified for such a job, if that's what your concern is."

She laughed lifting her hands out at her sides innocently. "I'm not questioning your qualification for such an job. I just... it seems... I'm impressed."

"Well thank you. It's not all it's cracked up to be but... enough about me. What do you do?"

"Nothing right now... just grieving I suppose."

"That's a very vague response and otherwise an instant attempt to avoid the actual question."

She bit at her lip in obvious nervousness. "I just..."

"What?"

Her shoulders perked in a display of embarrassment. "It's not going to sound as exciting as CEO of Wayne Enterprises."

He rolled his eyes. "Come on... I'm curious to what your normal life entails. You know... when you're not getting drunk in the middle of a cemetery."

She sighed, their eyes narrowing on each others in a challenging dominance over the conversation. "Fine..." She inhaled deeply. "I... paint."

"Paint?"

"See, I told you it wasn't going to sound as..."

He waved a hand at her, leaning forward in his chair with sudden interest. "No, no... it seems like something you would do."

She couldn't help but feel somewhat thrown off by his statement. Crossing one leg over the other she lowered her voice to a playful whisper. "And how would you be able to assume such a thing? You've only just met me."

"True, but you have that innocent spark of wonderment and creativity in your eyes that all people who express themselves through any form of art do."

Yet another moment of silence occurred, drawing Kori back into her thoughts once more. She couldn't explain the emotion that overcame her as of now, and the way he looked back at her, the way his smile seemed to pierce right through her composure, it all made it worse. Brushing a strand of hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear she said, "You can answer it you know; your phone. I don't mind."

Richard froze. He was confident his attempts to conceal the fact his phone had not stopped vibrating the entire time had gone unnoticed; apparently not. Knowing who it was he wanted nothing more than to ignore it, in the end he didn't want to interrupt his time with Kori in fear that she would take that opportunity to call it a night and he would have to return to his real life.

"Nah its alright." He rolled his eyes the phone vibrated again. Pulling it from his pocket now he stared down at it, silencing it. "It's just Babs."

"Babs? Whats that?" Kori asked with a laugh.

He looked to her confused, unaware that he had unconsciously revealed the one part of his life he wished to avoid Kori discovering. Clearing his throat he rubbed a hand at the back of his neck, hating that he was feeling nervous about responding. "Babs... I meant Barbara... my... girlfriend."

The intense amount of disappointment that struck him as he realized Kori did not even flinch at this discover surprised him. In truth he hadn't really expected Kori was even interested in him and yet it bothered him that she seemed entirely unaffected but this truth.

"And does Babs know you're wandering cemeteries in the middle of the night making friends with strangers?"

"She knew where I was but I think I'll leave the details to a minimum."

Kori rolled her eyes. "Right, thank you for sweeping my existence into secrecy. I've never felt more worthy of someones company."

His eyes widened. "No.. I didn't mean it that way just..."

"Relax," she giggled. "I'm only kidding." An indescribable tension in his chest arose as she slowly stood. "I should probably get home anyway." Great,... just what he was trying to avoid.

They stood before Kori's car now, awkward glances from her being passed to him. "Well... thank you... again."

Fidgeting with the car keys in his hands Richard lingered before her, regretting to have to say goodbye. "I'm gonna go out on a limb here and assume you don't actually live in Gotham?"

Her eyes narrowed. How would he know that? What would make him even assume that? Well, the truth, the mere fact that she had not recognized him as Dick Grayson was a dead giveaway; not that he'd tell her that.

"No. I live in California and that's like..."

"Across the country." He said with disappointment.

She looked to her feet nervously. "Yea."

Richard sighed heavily trying to think of anything to make her stay, if only a moment longer. Clearing his throat he casually looked out to the street in order to avoid looking her in the eye and the nerves that would consume him if he had. "So how long are you in Gotham for? Maybe we could get coffee again sometime."

She swallowed hard against the lump which had surfaced in her throat. "Umm... well, my flight is tomorrow so.."

"What time?" He asked quickly, not caring that he sounded somewhat desperate.

She smiled, a blush invading her cheeks again; a reaction she knew was wrong especially since Richard had a girlfriend, but she could not make it stop. Clearing her throat she took one step back from him, earning a set of narrowed eyes from him in response. "Look, Richard you're a really wonderful guy and I appreciate everything you did for me tonight. Truth is, under any other circumstance I would give you my number and ask that you call me sometime but... recently, I've become an emotional wreck and..." She swallowed hard, not really wanting him to believe the words she was about to speak but she knew it was for the best. "... you'd be lucky if you never saw me again. Trust me." Before he could react she leaned into him sending a simple, innocent kiss to his cheek. "Thank you again."

He remained utterly frozen to movement admiring her adorable strut as she entered her car and drove away and out of his life. In the end, he knew their brief meeting would be something not so easily forgotten.

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THREE MONTHS LATER...

Richard remained in the passenger seat of his cousin Rachel's car as they sat in a the always wonderful Gotham bumper to bumper traffic. A day had not gone by that Kori had not crossed his mind at least once and he hated that he was incapable of just letting the image of her go. The inexplicable intensity of emotion that developed over him any time she crossed his thoughts had become nothing more then a burden on his life especially since there was nothing he could do to change it. Even as Rachel's car came to a pause before the café Richard had taken Kori that night, his mind wandered back to her. With tired eyes his vision wandered to the table where they had sat and...

"Oww!" He snapped at the sharp presence of Rachel sending a flat hand against the back of his head.

Rachel shook her head with a satisfied smirk. "You're not even listening to me." She paused, noticing his attention return to the coffee shop. Leaning toward him she sighed. "She's not there. Geeze, why can't you just let that girl go? How long has it been?"

Richard sighed, knowing it was a lost cause but he couldn't shake the feeling that he had seen her walking through Gotham streets a few days ago. "I'm trying."

"She told you herself, she lives all the way in California so let it go. Besides, you have Babs remember?" Rachel said the last part with much distaste, openly displaying her dislike of Richard's girlfriend. "If you ask me I've never seen you more pathetic."

"Thanks, that helps Rae... really." he looked to her with a glare to which she immediately felt triumph from.

"Let me ask you something. Did you even tell Babs about your late night acquaintance? To be honest the way you describe her I doubt she's even real." She laughed, knowing her teasing of him was beginning to frustrate him further. She and Richard were close and yet their childish games and taunting between one another never came to an actual halt since they were kids.

"No Rachel, I didn't tell Babs. Why cause drama over someone I'll never see again?"

Rachel shook her head with a curt exhale. "The mere fact you withheld something from your girlfriend you 'love' so much when this random girl is constantly on your mind even after all this time only proves you are wasting your time with Babs."

He rolled his eyes, then passing one last glance to the cafe his mind jolted alert. There she was... he was certain of it.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Rachel said in confusion as he forced his seatbelt off and ran into the traffic, crossing the street.

Ignoring Rachel was far easier than it ever had been since his mind was focused on one thing and one thing only. He stumbled passed the halted cars around him, his gaze never leaving Kori as she walked into the café. He was certain it was her, this time it really would be. The radiance of her long wave of scarlet hair that traveled down her back coming to a stop just before her lower back was far too familiar to him to not be recognized. It may have been a few months since he had last seen her but the memory of her remained perfectly intact within the confines of his mind.

"Kori!" He called, pushing through the cafe door breathlessly. The anxiety that rushed his veins as the redhead turned, became far too much for him to handle.

There they were... those emerald eyes that had vexed him so, that hesitant smile which had haunted his dreams, it was all here.

She tilted her head to the side, eyes narrowed in disbelief. "Richard?"

The smile spread across his face matched hers in the amount of enthusiasm they shared at each others presence. "Yea." He laughed as she stepped to him, tossing her arms around him in a sweet embrace.

"I can't believe I'm standing in front of you." She said, her voice drenched in excitement.

"Me? I thought you lived in California?"

She sighed, a hand lifted to her forehead in thought now. "Yea well... I decided to move here to be closer to my family." She paused taking in his appearance. Her thoughts cursed to herself at how attractive she found him. He was in a black suit, hair spiked in the same fashion as when she had first met him. Those dashing blue eyes dominating her sense of control over herself. "I ..." she giggled, shaking her head nervously now. "I'm really glad to see you. I mean, I knew it was a possibility I would see you again but I wasn't sure you'd even remember me."

He laughed to himself. Of course he remembered her, and while we know he did more than just remember her, Kori was to remain in the dark about this fact in hopes of keeping composure before her. Afterall he was Dick Grayson, and Dick was never nervous with girls.

"Are you... do you have somewhere to be?" She turned to her right grabbing her coffee from the table and sipping it. "Wayne Enterprise maybe?" He looked down at himself, oh, that's right... work. "I don't want to keep you."

As she tried to step passed him, he repositioned himself in front of her, a hand on her arm. "Technically, yes, I have somewhere to be but... you denied me last time..." he paused as her eyes narrowed in confusion. "... I'm not leaving until you give me your number."

Kori rolled her eyes in a playful demeanor, taking his phone from his possession and programming her number into it. "To be accurate, no, I didn't 'deny' you, I merely didn't see a point in dragging you into my depression." She laughed returning him his phone, admiring the smile that overcame him as he stared down at her name in his contacts. "Besides, you didn't exactly ask. You just stood there... looking more helpless than I was at the time."

Following her as she exited the cafe and continued down the sidewalk, she said, "So... how's Barb?"

"Babs."

"Oh, right, Babs." She laughed.

It brought him a small amount of comfort that she had already tried to take an interest in his relationship status. "Uh... well she's fine."

Walking backward in front of him she said, "That's good to hear. Actually you found me just in time, can you tell me where..." she pulled a piece of paper from her purse to her vision, Richard more concerned with making sure she didn't run into anyone or anything with her careless walking. "... where Wayne Manor is?"

His mind flashed wide alert now. "What?"

Scrunching her face over the words again, her footing came to a stop. "Wayne Manor."

"What do you need to do there?"

"I have a meeting with a man by the name of Bruce ... Bruce Wayne."

"For what?"

"I'm a painter remember? Apparently Mr. Wayne funds the gallery I start working for next week and..."

He waved a hand to silence her. "I'll take you there."

"No your going to be late, just..." She stepped to the curb waving down a taxi.

Placing a hand against the center of her back he lead her to the taxi, holding the door open for her then looked to the driver. "Wayne Manor." Pausing with a deep inhale his eyes found hers once more. "Have dinner with me."

"Is that a request or demand?" She laughed.

"Which ever makes you agree."

She smiled. "No... I can't." That pain in his chest suddenly returned with severe sharpness. "I'm trying to get moved in and..." she placed a hand on his. "You and I both know Babs wouldn't appreciate that." She turned to the driver. "Wayne Manor plea-"

"Hold on." Richard shouted to the driver, bringing him to a halt once more. He looked back to Kori, eyes narrowing over her. The amount of frustration he felt at her hesitancy with him was slowly destroying him. "Have one drink with me."

"No."

He lowered his head to rest on the door with a sigh. "Why give me your number if you have no intentions of agreeing to see me?"

She thought for a moment then clearing her throat to return his disappointed attention to her, she said, "Fine..."

His excitement suddenly returned. "Dinner?"

"No."

"Then what?"

Looking at the time she became anxious. "Just... text me, I really have to go."

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"Just let her go." Rachel growled. She stood beside Richard on the porch of one of their close friends Victor Stone waiting for him to answer the door. The entire ride here and even now, he continued to complain about Kori. "It's clear she was blatantly trying to tell you she wasn't interested in knowing you. Her giving you a number that doesn't even work is a red flag."

Richard rolled his eyes, he had tried to text and call Kori but not once did the number work. The relief and excitement he once felt at seeing her again had vanished,... quickly. He knocked at the door loudly once more. "I just don't understand it."

"What's there to understand? She obviously has standards enough to realize Dick Grayson doesn't keep female friends he isn't sleeping with."

"You're the worst you know that? Isn't family suppose to make you feel better about situations like this."

She laughed. "First off, yea I'm your cousin but I didn't ask for that, and second... uhh, lets see... oh, okay, this girl would be crazy to not be interested in you?" She paused, their eyes narrowed over one another. "Sorry I tried."

"No that was... well, it would have been helpful if you actually meant it." He laughed.

"Ugh, where is this guy?" Rachel growled, banging on the door now. "He knew we were coming."

There was a loud shuffling behind the large french doors before one slowly flew open. Both Richard and Rachel's eyes widened in disbelief at the sight before them.

"Kori?" The two said in shocked unison.