Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.

Chapter 9

"We become what we repeatedly do." ~ Sean Covey

As promised, she called him later on that week. They decided that they would start the deal the next weekend. The week leading up to it, Raven had difficulty deciding what she wanted to do for her first day. When they had started it before, coming up with activities was easy. They barely knew each other. But now the deal was about relearning and to do that was tougher than she thought.

What was different about her from before? What else could he possibly learn about her? She didn't have the slightest clue. Eventually, the day came and she had to make a decision.

So there she was, waiting for him to show. She looked down at her cell phone, anxiously, to check the time. They were supposed to meet at 1:30 – it was only 1:33. She sighed for what seemed like the umpteenth time as she scanned the faces of passerby's.

"Sorry," she heard a familiar voice said behind her. She turned in the bench she was sitting to see Logan smiling down at her, "I tried to get here as fast as I could but Amora's babysitter was running late."

Standing up, she shook her head, "No, it's fine. I haven't been waiting long."

Perking an eyebrow at her, he simply remarked, "Raven, you're always at least 10 to 15 minutes early for everything. You've been waiting here for a while. Let's not kid ourselves."

"Yes, but you have a child and I'm sure –."

"Just accept my apology," he sighed with a knowing look on his face. He knew she hated it when people were late and he didn't want to be patronized.

Pressing her lips together, she nodded. "Alright, fine. I accept your apology."

"Thank you. So," he said with a smile and a clap of his hands, "what are we up to today?"

With a nod of her head, she turned and started to walk, "We're walking."

"To where?" he chimed, as he sped over to her side.

"Somewhere," she replied back with a knowing look in her eyes.

All of a sudden, it hit him, "I see you're still more secretive than I am."

"You remember having this conversation with me before?"

"Our second day of the deal, when it was your first day?"

"Precisely."

"And I suppose you're not going to tell me where we're going?"

"Yup."

"And I'm supposing that there will be a bit of silence along the way?"

She shrugged, "A bit. You okay with that?"

"Rae," he started, "I got nothing but silence from you for half a decade. I think I can manage."

She nodded her head and said nothing. What was she supposed to say to that? She didn't know. But she shrugged it off and kept moving forward. Eventually, they walked up to an outdoor market.

"So this is what you chose for our first day?" he asked with a furrowed brow but an amused smile.

"Yes. It's my day, isn't it?" she retorted as she looked at the various tables and stands around them.

He nodded and continued looking around them. "So it is."

"Is there a certain time you need to be home by?" Raven asked, nonchalantly, as she hesitated at a table with intricate jewelry.

Looking down at the table, he shrugged, "Not really. I'd like to be home around dinner time though."

"You have plans?"

"I like cooking dinner for Amora than getting her something from take out. It's healthier that way, you know?'

"That is true. Interesting though."

"What is?"

"I remember getting pizza at least twice a week at the Tower," she recalled, "Normally, at your request."

He chuckled, "Yeah, well, that was before I became a dad."

"I see," she smiled, softly to herself, "I'm glad to see you take your job seriously."

Logan shrugged, "I take my job very seriously. I have to. Otherwise, who will?"

Looking up at him, she replied, "That is very profound of you to say."

"Thank you," he nodded proudly. He always liked hearing that he was a good father even though he already knew that he was. "But enough about me, we're here to learn about you."

She shrugged, "What do you want to know?"

"You know that's not how this works, Rae," he shook his head, looking at the table she was lingering at.

"Logan," she called as she looked at a stand of necklaces, "It's been five years since then. Can't we change it up a little from when we first did this?"

"That's not the point, Rae," he sang, "I have to learn something new about you through what we do. Not always what you say."

""Not always," is the key phrase, though," she pointed out, "Why not for today?"

"Because that's just an easy cop out," he laughed as he took a tan straw fedora off its hanger. He placed it on his head, "How does it look?"

Turning to look at him, she scrunched up her nose, "Not your best look."

Logan smiled at her and looked in the small mirror the stand provided, "You're right. I look like a tool."

Raven felt a laugh rise quickly up her throat and stopped it before it left her mouth. She swallowed it back, "Couldn't have said it better myself."

He laughed again as he removed the hat off his head and placed it on hers, "Here – let's see how you look with it on."

Allowing it, she looked up at him, "Well?"

He nodded at her, "It looks good on you."

She shook her head, "No, it doesn't."

"Go ahead. Check it out for yourself," he moved aside to let her look in the small circular mirror. She rolled her eyes at him as she walked passed.

Looking into the mirror, she adjusted the hat, "Hmm, not bad."

"Told ya," Logan boosted.

Rolling her eyes once again, she turned to face him, "Yeah, yeah…" She took the hat off and began to put it back on the rack.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Logan said quickly, "You're not getting that?"

She gave him a blank stare, "Does it look like I am?"

"Come on," he pushed, "It's a great hat. It looks good on you. Didn't we just confirm that?"

"I'm not getting a hat I'm never going to wear," she replied, simply as she put the hat back on its hook.

Picking the hat back up, he replied, "No, no, no. I am not going to let you pass up this great hat. Only a few people actually look good in these things and you are one of them and it would be a crying shame if you did not at least own one. I'm buying you this"

"What? No -."

"Mind's already made up," he called back to her, as he faced the woman who was selling this, "How much?"

Coming up to the side of him, Raven said to the woman, "You really don't -."

"Fifteen dollars," the woman said, back to Logan with a smile.

"This is all really unnecessary –."

Handing her the money, he said, "Here's twenty."

"Logan!"

"Five dollars is your change," the woman said back handing him the money, "Have a nice day!"

"Thanks! You have the same," he said, turning around to face Raven. He placed the hat on her head, "You are now, officially, a member of the Fedora club."

She glared at him but he just puffed out his chest and walked further down through the market with a little bounce in his step.

Rolling her eyes at him, she went after him and continued on walking alongside him. Along the way they stopped at a few more tables, picking up a few trinkets here and there. Raven bought a few statues and various pieces of art while Logan picked up a few gifts for his daughter. "Gotta start stocking up for Christmas now," he muttered as he bought Amora another toy.

Eventually, they came to a book stand where both decided to linger around.

"I'm glad you still read," she commented as she looked through the titles.

Smiling, he said, "Of course. I couldn't stop. I had to read for college and then, Amora came along and I didn't want her to be a mindless drone to TV like I was so I had to read more books."

Raven nodded, "So you don't let her watch TV?"

"Of course, I do," he laughed, "I just make sure that that's not the only entertainment she has."

"Well, that's very good of you."

"I have you to thank for that."

"Oh?" she said as she raised her eyes up to his.

"Yes," he confirmed, running his fingers over the old, worn out spines, "If it wasn't for you I wouldn't have introduced to her books. I probably wouldn't have learned to stay up all night reading. And I especially, wouldn't have studied my ass off in college. So thank you, Raven, for introducing me and indirectly, my daughter to the joys of reading."

Hiding a smile, she looked down at the books. "You're welcome, I guess."

The whole time Logan was watching her, knowing that even though she was trying so desperately to hide it, she was in fact, very flattered.

'Now just push you're hair behind your ear…'

She pushed a strand of hair behind her right ear.

'Bingo!'

"So," he started, trying to hide his pride, "What have you been reading lately?"

She shrugged, "Anything I get my hands on, really. I've read all the best sellers and so now I just read whatever interests me. And if I'm really bored, the ones that don't."

"So basically, everything," he laughed.

"Basically," she nodded, "And you read my books?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Anything else?"

Logan shrugged, "Yes and no. I, mainly, read whatever Amora wants to read or something related to work. I don't have a lot of personal time to read freelance."

"Well, that's a shame."

"Eh," he shrugged again, "I'm still reading, so it can't be all that bad."

"Hmm," hummed Raven as she looked through more titles. Her eyes landed on a navy blue book with faded out gold letters on it. Picking it up, she skimmed through the pages, "How do you feel about mystery novels?"

"I like them. As long as they're not the ones that you have to make a decision and then jump the pages to continue on the story."

"Good," she said, pointedly with the shut of the book, "I'm going to buy you this book."

Perking his eyes up at her, he said, "What book?"

"Doesn't matter. You're going to read it," she replied as she walked up to the register. She placed the book down on the counter, "I would like to buy this."

"What's the book? What is it even about?" Logan asked, trying to get a good look at the book.

"Just trust me."

"That'll be five dollars, Miss."

"Here you go," she replied handing him the money.

Finally catching a glimpse of the title, he sighed, "Sherlock?"

"Yes, you need to read a classic. And as far as I can tell you haven't. Who knows? Maybe you can read it to Amora someday."

"Raven," he sighed.

"Call it pay back," she turned to him and thudded the book against his chest. With a perked brow, she smiled slyly, "For buying me this hat without my permission."

And with that she continued on walking, leaving him the navy blue book still lying in his hands. Looking down novel, he smiled. 'That's the Raven I know.'


Looking down at his watch once again, Logan sighed as they walked through the streets. After buying a few more purchases, they finished walking through the market and began just milling about – spouting random conversation here and there. Raven could sense his anxiousness which made her antsy too. She looked down at her watch – it was getting near dinner time.

With a quick nod of her head, "So what did you learn?"

Blinking, he said, "What?"

"Isn't that what we do? At the end of the day, we ask what did the other learn?"

"Oh, uh, yeah. But… has it gotten to that part already?"

"Well, you said you wanted to be home around dinner time and it's around dinner time, so I suppose so. Yes," she responded. Why was he acting like he didn't want to go all of a sudden?

"Oh," he replied, his hand reaching up for the back of his neck, "Um… well…"

She waited there for a moment, "Well what?"

Shrugging his shoulders again, "You have a lot of old habits still. When you get nervous or embarrass, you still push your hair behind your ear. You try to take as much attention off of you."

"How do you mean?"

"I mean, majority of our conversation was about me and/or my daughter. I kept trying to direct it to you but you just seemed more interested in learning about me."

"Maybe that's because I'm not all that fascinating," she said, nonchalantly.

Grabbing her arm, he turned her to face him. Giving her a stern look, he said, "Stop that. Stop belittling yourself."

"I'm not –."

"Yes, you are. That's what you do, Raven. You try not to make yourself into this big deal when really you are. You try to make yourself seem like you're not this super cool awesome person but you are, Rae. You are…" his voice softened as he spoke. Raven felt the hairs stand up on her arms as he looked into her eyes – his deep emerald green eyes barreling through all the way down to her soul. "So stop making yourself to be less than what you are. I made this deal with you again to learn about you. Not to learn about me. I know me. I've lived with me all my life. It's you who I've missed for the past five years."

With that, he let go of her arm. "When it's your day again, you better act like you're the shit. Okay?" he asked, a smile creeping on his face, "Alright? I want you to act like you are the bomb-diggity!"

Raven stifled a laugh as she nodded her head to the floor.

He walked up to her and grabbed her face, forcing her to meet his eyes, "I want to see you. Alright? The new you. Not the Raven who doesn't think she's interesting. You wrote one of the bestselling series the world has ever seen, for Christ sakes! You're hella fascinating! You can pull of a fedora!"

"Alright," she responded, taking her face away from his hands, "I'll try to be more fascinating next time."

"Good," smiled Logan, before he looked down at his watch. "Well I got to get out of here but I'll call you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sounds good to me," she waved as she watched his form retreat from hers.

He nodded at her with a bright smile before turning completely away and walking towards his car, leaving Raven standing at the bench they started at.

Day One Complete...


A/N: Hey guys! I know it has been FOREVER since I've last updated but like I said, I haven't forgotten about this. I've been stuck on this chapter for a long while now. It's taken me several tries to sit down at this computer to write this chapter. I just never had inspiration, nor drive, nor an idea that helped guide me through this and everything I wrote for this chapter, prior to this, just never felt right to me until now. I know this might seem a little stumbly-bumbly but it's been a bit since I've written anything creative so I'm a little rusty. Hope you can forgive me. At least, I wrote something though! So hopefully, you like this chapter. Hopefully, I'll update sometime this year as opposed to two years from now but we'll see what happens. Well, that's all for now… Peace!

Bleeding Writer