Frost crunched underfoot like dropped chips as Raven and Richard walked up the white slabbed path to the front door of the house. It was a fairly large house set in its own garden in what was regarded to be a fairly affluent part of town but all images of a party consisting of canapés and lounging around discussing current events were dispelled as soon as she had got out of the taxi. The whole neighbourhood resonated to a heartbeat bass thump that was clearly coming from the house they were headed for. 'Oh my,' thought Raven 'what have I gotten into?'. As they approached the door it opened and a tall muscular looking man, sort of built along the same lines as Richard but with red hair, opened the door. He was dressed in a maroon shirt and black pants and had a glass of something in his hand and a wide grin on his face. "Dick," he shouted "so glad you finally showed up, got you out of your cave for once" he turned to the throng of people behind him "Everybody! Dick's here"

"Hey, Dick!" was the general shout of reply. Richard rolled his eyes and half glared at the guy "Roy," he growled "would you quit calling me Dick, I've asked you before about this"

"No sweat Rich," Roy grinned again "Hello," he said appearing to notice Raven for the first time "and who do we have here, Rich where are you finding them these days you have to tell me" Raven stood there with an expression of frozen good naturedness while she tries to decipher what was going on and wondered when they would be allowed in out of the cold. This Roy seemed pleasant enough so far.

"Roy, This is Rae Roth" Richard urged Raven forward with his hand on her back "she's a friend of mine"

"Well, come on in Rae," said Roy "keg's in the yard, Xbox in the den, and fun where ever you can find it" Richard ushered her in and she was immediately hit with the sweatbox atmosphere prompting here to take of her coat and hat and proceed into the party.

Behind her, unbeknownst to her Roy raised a questioning eyebrow at Richard "I thought it was you and the princess that had the thing going, what's Paleface doin' here?" Richard grinned and put his hand on Roy's shoulder "It's Christmas" he said and went to follow Rae. Roy stood in the hallway being jostled by people as he watched Richard vanish into the kitchen "What's that supposed to mean? Dude!?"

Raven meanwhile was standing in the kitchen when Richard arrived seemingly being interrogated by two older girls. One was dressed in a black Cocktail dress with red shoulder length hair and the other wore blue jeans and a blue t-shirt over a red long sleeve and her blonde hair in a bony tail. The redhead looked at Richard as he came in "Hey Dick," she said in a perky voice that sounded too young to be coming from her "who's your friend?"

"Yeah," said the blonde "spill it, Dick". Raven could see that being called Dick really annoyed him. "This is my friend Rae," said Richard "Rae, this is Barbara and Kara" he gestured to the redhead and the blonde respectively. "Hi" the both spoke in unison. Raven almost immediately fought the instinct to not like them. "So what were you girls talking about then?"

"Oh nothing much" said Kara

"Nothing at all" said Barbara

"Just stuff" said Kara. They looked at each other for a second before turning back to Richard "You, actually" they both spoke in unison again and inside Raven gritted her teeth- that could become annoying. For a second Richard got this bug eyed nervous look, "Really?"

"Sure," said Barbara "we've never had our little Dickey bring a friend to a party before" she teased. "Especially a girl friend" added Kara. Richard was looking even paler and Raven was staring blankly at the two girls. "I'll go get us a drink" was Richard's exit line for the time being and that left Raven with Barbara and Kara in the kitchen. Kara poured a third glass of wine for Raven "It is just so much fun winding him up like that, don't you agree Barb?" Barbara took a gulp from her glass and nodded,

"Yeah, he gets more and more like the old man every day, no sense of humour" she offered Raven the fresh glass of wine which she accepted "So have you know our little Dickey long, he really doesn't mention his friends". Raven shook her head "No, I met him tonight, bout two hours ago" she said. Kara raised an eyebrow

"And you just agreed to go to a party in the hills with someone you barely know?" she said "we could be, like, a cult or something". Barbara rolled her eyes,

"What kind of cult, or any group would let Roy in? I mean he's a friend but seriously, the guys an ass. I swear he has to be on something half the time" Raven mentally rewound the conversation 'Old man?' she thought "Do you know Richards' parents?" she asked Barbara. "His parents? no. I work for his Foster Dad" the girl replied as Kara almost imperceptibly grinned "Yeah, she works nights" Barbara shot the Blonde a glance.

"I forgot his parents were dead" said Raven weakly as she sipped her wine. Barbara goggled at her "He talked about his parents, to you, and he just met you. It took us years to get him to even mention them, we all thought he was orphaned at birth. How did you do it?"

"We had a cup of coffee and we just talked. All he told me was that they were murdered when he was very young" said Raven. Kara looked at her gravely,

"Did he tell you he saw it happen?" and for a second Raven was stunned. No he hadn't mentioned it at all but then why would he, he hardly knew her.

A/N: yes it's been a long time since I updated and this chapter is kinda lame but it's a necessary bridge to the next parts of our little story. Again for those who do like this story I'm sorry I took so long.