A/N: Okay. I screwed up. Garth is coming back SEPTEMBER 7th. lolz I'm sorry. Its SEPTEMBER 7th when Garth comes back. And we get to see some awesome Flinx in this chapter.
Review Responses
TheDreamChaser:You'll have to read and seeeeee. :)
Mewgirl223:lolz! Thanks. I love when you try to guess. Its very exciting. lolz. But I've said it before. I'm kinda crazy so you never know. It could go from funny to dramatic to musical. (jk about the last part.) I hope you like this chapter.
Quoththeraven1103: I tried to make Starfire's reaction as sweet as possible. But I still tried to give her a little bit of a jealous streak.
New york Mike: I don't know about that. But she brings it up in this chapter again sooooo.
RxRFannnnn: Yeah but, I couldn't help put something in there for Terra and BB. And about Jason, no promises...
boby137:You'll Seeeeeeee. lolz hope you enjoy!
Later That Same Night
"Garth's coming back on September 7th. Six days." Toni said.
"That's great." Rachel said not looking up from what was in front of her.
"I'm thinking of starting the nursery."
"That's great." she said once more.
"I also want to go to my first sonogram during my sixth month."
"That's great."
"I don't want to know what the gender is until the baby is handed to me."
"That's great."
"I've also thought about taking up drinking, smoking, and wrestling. Maybe boxing or cage fighting." she said nonchalantly.
"That's great."
"You're not even listening." she smacked her hand on the desk.
"I'm sorry. I'm just worried about some things."
"Like what?"
"You know, like how am I going to give birth? How do I even know if it's going to be planned? What if the baby comes early or late? What if Dick can't get here in time?"
"He'll get here on time. You know he will."
"I guess." she smiled a little bit. "So six months in huh?"
"Yep." she said happily. "What about you?"
"Maybe the seventh?" she admitted. "I'll have sonograms before that, but I don't want to be sure about what gender it is until then."
"Why not?"
"Keep it a mystery." Toni nodded in understanding. "So Garth will be back September 7th. How are you holding up? Have you seen or heard from Jason?"
"Lately. No. It's like he actually did what I wanted him to do for once." she chuckled dryly.
"You'll be fine. Isn't there some sappy, cheesy saying that love conquers all?" she asked going back to work.
"You are a hopeless romantic Rachel. Has anyone ever told you that?" her voice dripped with sarcasm.
"That's great."
"Say that again and I will pray you're having twins."
"That's-"
"Rachel!" her head snapped up.
"Maybe I should stop working. Do you want to go for a snack or something?"
"Something light?"
"Sure." she nodded.
15 Minutes Later
"So chicken burritos and a peppermint bark milkshake are what you'd call light?" Rachel eyed Toni's meal.
"The doctor said less beef more sugar this month." she took a bite. "What about you?"
"My cravings are weird. But I'm trying to fight them with a salad." she pointed to her order.
"That's a taco salad."
"Its got lettuce and tomatoes. It's a salad." she reasoned. "It just has character."
"Right." Toni took a bite of food.
Roy's Outfit
"Roy?" Kori asked softly.
"Yes?" he asked back innocently.
"Who is that?" she said through a fake smile.
"Who's who?" he played dumb.
"You know."
"Nooooo who?"
"The precious little girl, who has your eyes and apparently a summertime Barbie doll. The same one who called you daddy."
"Oh. Her. She's my daughter." he chuckled. She joined in nervously. He stood up and took the girl's hand.
"I didn't know you had one." it felt odd as she said the words.
"Neither did I." he said quietly. He brought the girl to the door and Kori stood there still in awe. "Lian why don't you go see if Uncle Vic can bring you downstairs to the vending machine for a snack. You've been playing all day. You need to eat."
"Okay daddy!" she skipped off. Kori slightly cringed at hearing the 'd' word again.
"I can explain."
"Those are the first words you have chosen to start this conversation with?" she asked.
"I know it looks bad but its not what you think Kori."
"Oh really? Because I think, while we were in high school you and Cheshire were getting it on resulting in a love child that you never told me about."
"Did you really just say 'getting it on'?" she rolled her eyes before he continued. "Okay. So that's pretty close to what you think." he scratched his head awkwardly. She started to leave. "But you did get a couple of things wrong."
"What? Are there more kids out there?" she asked.
Roy stayed silent and tried to search his memories. Kori scoffed and turned around to leave again. "I'm just kidding!" he stopped her and brought her back to his desk.
"I am not really in the mood for jokes Roy."
"I'm sorry Kori." he took a breath before continuing. "We had sex in college once. It was our senior year. We were stupid. We didn't use protection. And when she left, she never contacted me again. I swear I had no clue that she was pregnant. She didn't want me to know."
"Until now?" she bit back. He looked downcast. "Wait? If she never contacted you again then how did…?" she tried to remember the child's name.
"Lian." he finished.
"Lian." she said the name and smiled. "How did Lian end up here?"
"Her mother had someone drop her off. It was written in her will."
"You mean?" he nodded. "Jade." she whispered sadly. "How did it happen?"
"She was going to resign from one of her 'jobs' and they shot her. They gunned her down." he said sadly. "I had to go investigate. Its out in Steel City. The boss assigned it to me when he found out I had a connection with her. I found a note for me in her pocket. It gave me directions to follow when I had to search the house. I ended up finding birth papers and more proof that Lian was my daughter." he explained.
"She knew she was going to die if she quit the League." Kori stated more than asked.
"But she didn't want that life for her and her daughter anymore." he finished.
"Roy." she said quietly not knowing what to do. "How old is she? She is very beautiful." she tried to lighten the mood.
"She's turning five in a few months." he answered with a bit of a smile. Kori in turn smiled back. Then something caught his attention. "Wait. Kori, why were you here again?" he asked slyly reaching for her jacket's ties.
"I'm here to change and take Lian out for ice cream. Then put her to bed." she removed his hands and settled for a short kiss.
"Thank you." he whispered once they pulled apart slightly. She was about to kiss him when she heard skipping down the hallway again.
"Lian." she said. "Come with me. I am going to get you all set up with ice cream. Then we can go home."
"Can I really daddy?" she asked.
"Sure." he nodded before sitting down and continuing his work. Lian took Kori's hand and they left the office.
"Lian. I'm going to change my outfit before we go for ice cream. Is that okay?"
"Can I pick your outfit?" she asked hopefully.
"Sure."
The Next Day(September 3rd)
"Garfield!"
"Don't call me that. I'm not a lasagna loving cat."
"Sorry. I'm just so excited!" she dumped climbing gear on the sofa next to him. " I got someone to cover at the restaurant. We can go to the canyon right now. For two days."
"Jason-"
"-hasn't shown up or bothered Toni since that one time." she pointed out giving him no roo to wiggle ou of it. "Plus she's staying at Rachel's and he doesn't even know."
"Really? Why would you tell me that? You know I can't keep secrets!" he freaked out.
"You'll be fine. Just avoid all contact with him."
"Right uh. About that..."
"Gar...?"
"You remember that monthly ritual the guys and I have."
"Poker games at Wally's?" she asked. He confirmed with a short nod. "What about them?"
"Well."
"You invited him?"
"It wasn't exactly my idea! I just implied, it's been different without Jason. And I kind of let it slip that he was back and Wally suggested that he come for at least one last hurrah." Terra rubbed the bridge of her nose.
"You're going to play poker with him?"
"He's still the same Jason. The only difference is now he's not with Toni."
"Don't say anything about the pregnancies."
"Another secret." he said grabbing the equipment. "You sure you want to do this?"
"I'm sure."
"Lets call everyone and let them know we're leaving." Terra tossed him his cell phone and she pulled out hers.
Wally and Jinx
"Oh God."
"Wally?" Jenn stirred next to him. "What's-"
"Shhh. Sleep a little bit more." he whispered and pushed her hair out of her face. "I'll be back." she nodded as he kissed her forehead and left the room. She tried to go back to sleep but she got a text message from Donna.
Kori's place in ten minutes. EMERGENCY!
Jenn turned to look at the clock. '10:30.' she sighed. Only a couple more days before they had to start teaching again. They couldn't wake up like they have been on weekdays. And most weekends they'd be out with friends, or grading, or running extra practices for track. Jenn shook it off and got ready.
"Wally. I'm heading to Kori's." she got no answer. "Wally?" she looked out on the balcony where he was looking out into the city.
"I've got some news. You might not like it."
"I don't like half the things you do." she joked.
"You remember your old friend-?" a cell phone cut him off.
"I'm sorry. One sec." she answered the phone.
"It's 10:45. Where the hell are you?" Donna screamed.
"I'm on my way! Quit bitching out." she kissed Wally and mouthed 'Later. Love you.' before running to the car.
"You're old best friend died last week." he said quietly to no one.
Kori's Apartment
"What's so damn important you had to interrupt my-?" Jenn ranted as she walked into the house. She saw Kori laying down trying not to fall asleep.
"Guess what?" Donna asked
"You don't know how to let people finish ranting?" she smirked.
"I met a guy!" she breathed happily.
"You met a guy?"
"He's a Police Officer. He has a bullet wound. And he's just a rookie. So they're not going to send him out in the field for another year."
"Wow." Jenn said in awe.
"He's six foot 3! He works out. He has brown hair and and an Irish accent." Jenn still looked blank.
"I'm sorry. I'm still stuck on 'I met a guy.'" Donna pushed her on the couch. She landed next to Kori who was passed out. "Whats with her?" she asked. In turn Donna shrugged.
Terra and Gar In The Canyon
"Keep up Gar!" Terra shouted as she climbed.
"You slow down!" he criticized. "We don't want a repeat of last time!" he called still behind her.
"We won't!" she yelled back to him. "We won't." she said quietly and full of determination. She took one more step up and lost her grip for a moment. She let out a short but shrill scream.
"Terra!" Gar screamed out worried.
She clutched the rope and took a deep breath. "I'm fine. Lets keep going."
"No. We can still turn back."
"We only have another mile to go." she said. She could be stubborn.
"At least wait for me to get closer." she did so and they continued up without anything else going wrong. Gar was up first and he reached out a hand to help Terra up. They stood there before Terra walked to the spot where it happened. She took a seat in that same spot 'it' happened. She settled in before opening her eyes and letting a tear fall. She brushed it away as Gar came up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. He saw that the sun was about to set.
"I'll set up camp for tonight."
Kori's Apartment.
Kori woke up with a start. She wondered how long she was sleeping. The last thing she remembered was Jenn coming in and babbling about something. She couldn't remember. That was around 11:00. She looked at the clock and saw it was 7:30.
"Eight and a half hours." she sighed. "I've gained what I lost." she said happily. She grabbed a pizza slice from the fridge and started to heat it up. As she did she remembered what happened the night before.
'I lost Lian. Fuck. Me.' was all Kori could think at the time. They'd agreed to play Hide and Seek. But she didn't count on not being the hider. She looked just about everywhere. The hamper. Her bedroom. Her bathroom. Everywhere a four year old kid could hide. And she couldn't find her anywhere. She was just about to give up when she collapsed on the ground near a bed. She turned her head and saw Lian looking at her and giggling. Her eyes lit up and so did Kori's as she crawled out from underneath. Kori placed her in the bed and stayed with her until she slept.
When she finally fell asleep, Kori got up and left the room. She decided to crash on the couch and kill Roy tomorrow. She knew where the extra sheets were anyways. She was about to close her eyes when she heard a scream. She ran to Lian's room where she shook and cried, terrified.
"What happened Lian?" Kori asked.
"I had a bad dream." Kori thouoght for a moment.
"Would you like to talk about it? It helped me when I was your age." she wiped the child's eyes as she nodded.
"I was walking in this place and I saw my mommy." she went on to tell the tale. And Kori listened. Lian still wasn't able to sleep. So Kori stayed up with her until she fell asleep. They drew pictures and tried not to focus on anything. Kori was too tired to remember what was drawn and Roy could tell. He had come in really late. When she woke up that morning, she was in Roy's bed and he was on the couch.
Kori was shaken from her memories when the timer went off. She decided to shake it off. She called Toni at Rachel's place. "How are things going?" she asked.
"Fine. Where were you today? Rach and I were going to check out your new merchandise for the motherhood section. But the place wasn't open."
"It is a long story. We can leave it at that."
A/N:Awwww. I love Cheshire parts so much and it was kind of hard to write a character death. I don't really like it. No matter how much drama it adds. Reviews are appreciated.
Much Love and Respect
~Poppie~
