I'm now a high school graduate! So this chapter moves pretty fast, and so will the next few. The real story hasn't hit yet, but it will soon!
Katherine was sitting outside the coffee shop in a pair of grey jeans and a lavender shirt waiting on him. When her blue eyes found him, she smiled broadly, standing to greet him. "See, isn't this better than not seeing each other for three years?" She said in delight.
Roy couldn't restrain a smile, "Defiantly." Katherine in the daytime was completely different from a Katherine running for her life or a Katherine in a ball gown. Her hair was down, only a small portion clipped back from her face. She seemed effortless, and in the sunlight, her eyes sparkled. They sat down, both taking the other in.
"So this is the real Red?" She said, giving an appreciative nod to his jeans and red t-shirt. "I like it." The waiter came and took their order, eyeing Katherine for a little longer than Roy was comfortable with. She looked away, her black hair falling over her shoulders as she addressed Roy. "Would you like to join me?"
"I thought that was the plan?" Roy said, confused yet again by her.
She smiled indulgently, "I meant in the move. You talk about wanting to be more than just a sidekick, but can you really do that while you're in the same city as Green Arrow?"
After several moments of thought, Red Arrow looked at the girl who seemingly knew him better than he knew himself. "You're right."
She seemed surprised, "I am?"
He nodded, "Yeah, you are. While I'm here, I'm living in Oliver's shadow. To be honest, I'd never really thought about it."
Katherine shrugged, "I have. I remembered the first time we met. Being a sidekick seemed to bother you."
"It did." He said, clenching his jaw. "I'm not a kid anymore, but they still treat me like I am. I deserve to be treated like an adult."
Katherine put a hand on top of his, "Then come to Metropolis with me. Get your own place, or stay with Damian and I. Doesn't matter. I'd feel better knowing that you have someplace to call home."
"Why?" Roy asked, "Why would you want to do this for me?"
She laughed, "Because, Red, you're the only friend I have."
"Friend? We hardly know each other." He rebuffed.
Slightly crestfallen, Katherine frowned, sipping on her coffee, "I know that, Red, but I think we both need each other. Don't deny that you feel it too. I don't think it's a simple coincidence that we saw each other again at a point where we needed someone to lean on. I need you to be my friend right now."
"Why do you need me?" Roy asked skeptically.
Her blue eyes seared into him, "Because, Red, you're the only person I trust with my life."
Roy laughed in denial, "What the hell have I done for you to trust me so quickly?"
"You didn't turn me into the League." She said simply, but besides that, she didn't really know. There was just something in her that recognized him as a kindred spirit.
After several minutes of deliberation, Roy sighed, "Okay. Let's do this. When do we leave?"
Katherine grinned in victory, "Can you be ready to leave tomorrow? My mom's gone until Friday, and I want to leave before then. My apprenticeship at the Planet doesn't start for a month, but if we are going to get"
"I can be ready to go now." Roy said, looking at his red car that was parked in the lot next to the restaurant, "I've been living out of my car since I broke up with Oliver. I didn't feel right living in the apartment he'd rented me."
"Come home with me." Katherine said immediately, putting money down on the table and standing. "Damian should meet you again anyway."
Two days later, and Roy was driving his car through Colorado with Katherine asleep in the front seat and Damian sprawled out across the back. The siblings had very little they wanted to bring, a few clothes and Damian's computer hard-drives were all that littered the trunk of his car. They would buy what they needed there, Katherine had explained.
A semi-unwelcome addition to his car was the cat that insisted on riding in his lap. Katherine had said that it's name was Shade, but was bemused by the fact that the feline wouldn't leave Roy alone. Even when they had stopped the day before to sleep in a hotel, the cat had shared his bed with him while Katherine and Damian were on the other one.
Despite the clingy cat, the last days had been wonderful. He couldn't remember the last time someone made him laugh like Katherine did. He felt lighter than he had in years, and irrationally wanted nothing more than to expand on the fast friendship he had fallen upon with the young woman. She wasn't asking anything of him, and was only giving him the push he needed to make himself better.
A week later, and they were settling their few belongings into a small house in a suburb just fifteen minutes from Metropolis.
It had three bedrooms, and was furnished with kitchen appliances only. There was nothing particularly fantastic about the house, but to Roy it felt different than any house he had ever been in. He could easily live here with the Kyle siblings and help out the team in Happy Harbor.
Katherine disappeared for a few hours, and came back sans the metal case she had insisted on keeping on the floorboard. Instead, she had a wad of cash and a key for a safety deposit box. A short group excursion that night, resulted in them returning to the house with no less than four computers for Damian, a new recliner with the matching sofa on order, cat supplies, three sleeping bags, three pillows, an alarm clock radio, bath supplies, kitchen towels, a few pots and pans, and two boxes of pizza, all of the items distributed between Roy's car and the car Katherine had purchased with cash.
After they had their pizza, Katherine and Damian used the empty space of the living room to wrestle. Needless to say, their camaraderie made Roy laugh. Once Damian had finally beaten her, Katherine ushered him into the bedroom that he'd chosen with a sleeping bag and pillow.
Collapsing onto the floor next to the chair Roy was sitting in, Katherine grinned up at him, "Enjoy watching me make a fool of myself?"
"You guys were playing." Roy said, shrugging, "Aren't you supposed to let the kid win?"
Katherine was suddenly somber, looking at the door to the boy's room, "That's just it, I didn't let him win." She groaned and pinched her eyes closed, "My mother would never teach me how to fight. I don't know why, but she always refused, even after the incident with Red Claw. I can sneak around and run though. Damian, on the other hand, has been going to martial arts lessons for years." She smiled proudly, "He's really good, all the other kids in his class are teenagers."
Roy frowned, and edged out of the chair and onto the floor next to her. "Kids can sometimes get carried away when they have skills like that but lack the maturity to use discretion. Did he hurt you?" The guilty look on Katherine's face told him all he needed to know, "Show me."
"It's not that bad. Besides, we fight like that all the time." She insisted, trying to sit up.
He moved towards her, "Katherine, you could be really injured. Let me take a look at it."
They stared at each other until Katherine relented, laying flat on her back and pulling her shirt up slowly from the hem to reveal her toned stomach, and as she pulled it up farther, an angry red bruise rested along the bottom of her ribcage. "It doesn't hurt."
Out of spite, Roy probed it gently, eliciting a catlike hiss from the girl, "Right, it doesn't hurt. You're lucky though, I don't think he broke anything. Let me get some ice."
Katherine moaned, "Fantastic, now there's proof I got beat up by an eight year old."
"Hey," Roy yelled from the kitchen, "In your defense, you held up pretty well."
When he returned and pressed a hand towel filled with ice onto the bruise, she was grinning at him wildly, "So there's hope for me?"
The laugh came easily, "Definitely. I can teach you a little if you want."
She smiled, pulling her shirt over the makeshift icepack to hold it in place, "I'd love that."
Roy stood and held out his hand to help her up. "Let's get started."
"Now?" Katherine said, "I thought I was injured!"
Roy shrugged cockily, "The pain will give you focus." He went out to his car and came back with a staff gripped in one hand, "This is a Bo staff. I figure this is a good place to start." He stood behind her, and she was innately aware of the small space between their bodies. "Put your hands just inside of mine." She did so, but he laughed, edging closer, "Not quite, flip your left hand over. There you go."
While he taught her the motions, he was careful not to upset her previous injury, asking her frequently if she was okay. He made her feel safe. She realized finally what made her crave his nearness. In all her life, she had never felt protected until he came.
They went through a few drills, Roy guiding her body with his, coming closer and closer to her until Katherine couldn't stand it anymore. "Fuck it!" She growled, releasing the staff, turning in his arms, and pressing her lips to his. His response was instant, the Bo staff slamming into her lower back, pressing her against him, his lips working against hers feverishly.
Once they were both breathless, Roy pulled away and looked into Katherine's blue eyes, "What happened to just friends?"
Katherine smirked, "I just can't do that. Are you out?"
Roy cupped her cheek, whispering, "Not a chance" before returning to the delightful task of kissing her senseless.
"Is it the face of a child
Is it the thrill of danger
Is it the kindness we see in the eyes of a stranger
Is is more than faith
Is is more than hope
Is is waiting for us at the end of our rope
I say, it's love
I say, it's love"
Love
By: Sugarland
Please review if you like it! I want to know what you guys think of the abbreviated timeline.
-Jenn