Run Away
Author's note: Sorry it's taken me a while to update. To be honest, I do not like this fic all that much, but since I still have readers, I'm going to do the right thing and finish it. Please read and review! Thanks! Remember, reviews are to authors as tips are to servers!
"Slade?" He heard the door open and he barely even looked up from his desk. He heard footsteps coming from the far side of the room, and pretty soon, somebody stood at his side. A woman.
"Greta," he said, still not looking at her. "How nice to see you."
"I want him back," the woman said, crossing her arms. She didn't wait for a response before she continued, "My conscious can't take it anymore. I don't have it all now, but I'll pay you the money back."
"Greta, my dear," Slade finally stood up, placing his gloved hand on her shoulder. "It doesn't really work that way." Greta pushed his hand away, staring into his masked face. She opened her purse that hung on her shoulder and hurriedly dug out various papers. "I can write you a check, I can give you everything from my bank account…" she removed a ring from her finger. "You can have my jewelry, my house! Whatever you want, okay?"
"I'm not interested," Slade replied casually, walking past her. "Besides, he's not in my possession at the moment."
"Where is he?" The color drained from her face.
"Greta," Slade circled around her, his hands behind his back. "When you came to me, you were a young girl. Scared, broke…" he paused to look at her. "I asked you repeatedly, 'Are you sure you won't regret this later?' Remember?"
"Things change," Greta said quietly. "That was over two years ago." She let her handbag slide off of her shoulder and buried her face in her hands. "Slade, I can't sleep at night. I keep picturing that little baby on my deflated stomach, and not knowing where he is or what you're doing to him…it tears me apart!"
"He is not a human," Slade oozed into her ear. "He is a tool. I told you when you agreed to our arrangement that I would not consider him a son. I would not love him. I would not do anything but train him to fight." He pulled back. "And you said you needed the money. You said you didn't care what became of him."
"I was stupid!" Greta screamed, uncovering her face. "I was heartless! I was wrong!" She began to cry. "But I'm married now, Slade! I have a child! I have a family! And God help me, I want that baby back! He's mine!"
"No, he's mine." Slade walked away from her. "I bought him from you."
The woman knelt down and picked up her purse again. She took out her wallet and retrieved several photographs out of their slips. She threw them at Slade's boots. "That's my husband and daughter," she said. "I have a son too, and Slade, I will do anything if you give him back to me."
"Do you think I'm concerned with money?" Slade chuckled. "Do you honestly think I care about what you can give me?" He stared at her. "The child is dead."
"What?" Greta whispered. "He's…" she began to cry again. "Did you…?"
"The Teen Titans did," he said. "They killed him, after I told them my plan. They took him from his protective bunker, and slaughtered him. 'In the name of justice', they told me."
Greta stood there, covering her mouth as tears streamed down her face. She closed her eyes and wept quietly. Slade walked back over to her and placed a heavy hand on her shoulder. "We will both carry the guilt of his existence, I'm sure."
Without a word, the woman rushed back out the door, followed by a robot guard who would make sure she left. Slade stared at the doorway for a moment, and then knelt down to pick up one of the photographs. It was a man and an infant girl. They were standing in front of a tree, both smiling, one toothless and bundled in pink. Slade grinned, and tore the picture in half.
---
"And be careful," Mrs. Oaks told Raven, helping her load Bo's things into the car. "For the love of God, Raven. Be careful."
Raven nodded, staring down at the sleeping toddler in Mr. Oaks' arms. She could tell that they were sad to lose the little toddler, and she felt a twinge of guilt that she did not feel all that bad about it. She took him from the man, and said, "Thank you so much."
Mrs. Oaks kissed the sleeping child's forehead. "No, thank you." She stroked some of his hair. "He is very precious to you, we know."
Raven placed Bo into his car seat and climbed into the driver's seat. She glanced at the couple waving in the rear-view mirror, and she had to look away. Bo stirred slightly, starting to snore, and Raven smiled. How she'd missed those noises.
The drive was long, and by the time she got out of Jump City, Bo had woken up, and seemed very excited to see Raven. "Waven!" He exclaimed, his voice still a bit croaky from sleep. He looked around the car and smiled again. "Where are we going?"
"We're leaving, Bo," Raven told him. "We're going to a new house in a new place."
"Are our fwiends there? Is Wobin there? Is Cyborg there? Is Stahfire there? Is Beastboy there? Is 'Tiki there?" He continued to list off names as he stared out the window.
"No, baby," Raven sighed. "It's just going to be you and me for a while."
---
"So that's it then?" Cyborg sighed as they all stared at the note Raven had left on the kitchen table, as if it were a dead body. "She's gone?"
"But why would she not tell us?" Starfire asked, sounding terribly sad. "Raven knows that we are a team…"
Robin only stared at the note, and Beastboy left the room, unnoticed. He went outside to the rocks, and stared out across the fresh morning sea. His feelings were hurt, but he couldn't say he didn't blame Raven for not telling anyone, including him. She loved that baby to death, after all. The note had stated that she could not tell her friends where she was going, but she would eventually return. She just didn't know when. Her communicator was holding the letter down like a paper weight-an obvious indication that she did not want to be found.
---
"Bo, use your napkin," Raven groaned, wiping the toddler's face as they ate in a fast food restaurant. She didn't eat, just had a cup of coffee. Abandoning your team didn't really work up an appetite, but Bo ate enough for the both of them.
"Vroom! Vroom!" Bo wheeled his kiddie meal toy across the table top, using his other hand to nibble on apple slices. "VROOM!" The car skidded off the table and rolled across the lobby floor. "Uh oh!" He climbed down and toddled over to the car, kneeling down to pick it up.
"Did you drop this?" A lady waiting on her order bent down and picked it up. She smiled at him and handed the toy to him. "Here you go, Baby."
"It's a red car!" Bo grinned up at her. "See?"
"It's very red," The woman agreed. "You should probably go back to your table, though. Your parents might get worried about you."
"Kay," Bo nodded and skipped back to the table, sliding in the booth beside Raven.
"Where'd you go?" Raven frowned at him as he wrapped his tiny arms around her waist.
"I dropped my car and the lady picked it up for me!" Bo pointed to the woman getting her order. He frowned again. "Waven! I didn't get my car back! I left it on the floor again!"
The woman walked over and set the toy on the table. "You left it behind again," she scolded playfully. "Don't leave such a nice red car on the floor. Somebody will get it and you'll never see it again."
"I know all about that," Raven scoffed, sipping her coffee. "Not cars, but somebody snatching something and you never seeing it again."
"I do too," The woman nodded, tucking some short blonde hair behind her ear. She smiled at Bo. "Be a good boy for your mommy, okay?"
"Kay." Bo was already back to playing with his truck. Raven watched the woman walk out the door and then ruffled Bo's hair. "You're a mess," she said.
---
"Oh my God, Greta!" James Conner met his wife at the front door. "Where have you been? I was worried sick! I read your note, and you said you couldn't tell me where you going, but…" he was stopped when his wife touched his arm. "It's okay, Clark," she said. "I'm home."
They walked into the house and Greta looked around at the various baby toys on the floor. "Where's Evelyn?"
"Upstairs in her room asleep," Clark replied. "Greta, please, where were you?"
Greta averted her gaze for a moment, pretending to be interested in the curtain's Clark's mother had sewn for them as a wedding gift. "Clark, remember when we got married and I told you there were things about me I didn't like?"
"Everyone feels that way sometime," her husband replied, rubbing her shoulders.
"Clark…" Greta turned around and stared at him, her eyes brimming with tears. "No, that's not what I mean." She began to cry. "I used to wander the streets…I came from a broken home…I was scared all the time…I didn't respect myself…" she wiped tears away from her face. "Those things didn't compare to something I did two years ago, though."
"I know what you did," Clark said, understanding. "And I told you, Greta. I don't care. None of that matters now. We're a wonderful family, we have a beautiful daughter-"
"And a son," Greta interrupted him, sniffling. "We had a son, Clark. I had a son."
"You… you had a son?" Clark's brows furrowed in confusion.
"One of the men that frequently…required my services," she faltered. "He offered me a large sum of money if I would carry his child. It was faster and less expensive than a surrogate or in-vitro, so I said yes." She let out a long, shuddery sigh. "I carried the baby to full-term, and he provided me with an apartment during those nine months. I was able to attend school afterward, and meet you, and have Evelyn, but after giving him that baby…"
"Where is the baby now?" Clark asked.
"He's dead," Greta sobbed. "That's where I went this morning, to see about the baby, but he told me had died."
Clark held her as she cried, trying to let all of this sink in. The bags of fast food sat on the kitchen table, cold and untouched.
---
"Is this our new house?" Bo asked as he held Raven's hand in the elevator.
"No, this is a hotel," Raven explained. "Our new house is very far away, and it'll take us a few days to get there." She held his hand all the way to the hotel room and locked the door using her powers. Bo flopped onto the bed, and then stood up, beginning to jump. "Five wittle monkeys jumping on the bed!" He sang. Raven used her powers to remove him from the bed and ordered, "Behave."
The toddler fell asleep about thirty minutes after their arrival, and after Raven covered him up, she stared out the window, wishing she had brought her communicator after all. She missed her friends, but she missed her boyfriend so much more. Nobody would understand the situation better than Beastboy. She changed into her pajamas and climbed into bed beside Bo, kissing his cheek. She felt herself drifting in and out of sleep when the toddler woke her up.
"Waven?" He whispered in the dark.
She stirred. "Yah? What's up?"
"Are our fwiends coming?"
"Not tonight," Raven whispered back.
"Kay."
To Be Continued…
