Chapter 10- Roof Top Confessions

9:47pm

The cool wind whipped Raven' burning cheeks as she looked at the glowing city.

Everything was so beautiful from where she stood, it felt like there could be no evil in the world.

But of course there always was.

"It's really somethin', huh?" Garfield said from her side as he too stared at the dancing lights of the city.

Raven nodded, "how long have you lived here?" She asked.

Garfield's ears pricked up, "Ha, if I knew all it would take to get a good conversation out of you was some beer I would'a thrown a party a long time ago!" He joked.

Raven swayed drunkenly and planked her bottom down on the ledge, not responding to Garfield's comment.

"Uh..." Garfield pondered as he tried to the math in his cloudy head, "I moved here when I was about fourteen, so yeah, I've been here for a while. How about you, how did you end up here" Garfield seized his chance to find out more about this girl who had been impossible for him to work out.

Raven tucked tried to smooth back the stray hairs that were blowing into her face from the delicate breeze, "I was made to come here. It wasn't really my choice."

"What happened? Did you punch somebody? 'Cause when I first met you I thought you'd put me through a wall eventually" Garfield laughed, Raven's face remained straight.

"My father's a monster. He's a demon." She said quietly.

His laughter halted and Garfield leaned over to look at Raven's face. Her usual expressionless face was now pained.

"What do you mean?"

Raven inhaled deeply. If she were sober she would not even consider sharing what she was about to share with anyone that she didn't have to.

But she needed to tell someone, and Garfield seemed to be the most trustworthy person in the world to her drunken mind.

"My mom was a good woman, she fell pregnant when she was young, before my dad started going off the rails. She ran away when he did, he didn't know she was pregnant. So she raised me in a quiet little town. Everything was great, I went to a good school, had nice friends… And then my world sort of came crashing down. It was almost as if everything was perfect one day, and the next I'm in the back of a van, bound and blindfolded." Raven paused, the memory still so vivid, she avoided looking at Garfield, "I feared the worst. When the van eventually stopped I was dragged out and taken into a warehouse, that's the first time I met him, my father. He had become a drug lord and had quite the reputation, when he found out about me he couldn't wait to recruit me into his little drug ring. Of course at the time I was a teenager, and I had no idea where I was or what would happen to me if I refused. My father was delighted, told me what he wanted me to do and sent me back home like he hadn't just kidnapped me. I'd started off the day as Raven Roth, obedient child, and came home as Trigon's daughter."

"What did he make you do?" Garfield asked, feeling that he had possibly been quiet for too long.

"It started off with selling some drugs to high school kids, but the clients got older and older… And some wanted more than just the stuff. The first guy that tried something with me was enough, I went straight to the police and became their mole. I helped them put away almost all of my father's accomplices, the ones that I knew anyway. He was furious with me, broke into my house in the middle of the night and called me a blood traitor, swore his vengeance and promised I would be the cause of ending my world as I know it. I joined the police force, for my own protection and my mother's. Unfortunately, back at my old precinct Trigon resurfaced and I was too much of a risk to keep around. I would have been able to stay if it wasn't for… I've said too much already"

Garfield could have listened to her talk all night, but he respected her privacy. He prayed that he would remember all of this in the morning, "That's horrible, I'm so sorry"

Raven put her arm around Garfield's bicep and leaned her head against his shoulder, "Don't be" she said.

He automatically tensed up, her head was warm and her skin was soft. She felt perfect.

"Why?"

"Because I got to come here. This city is possibly the best thing that has ever happened to me, I'm just too stubborn to admit it. It let me meet some of the nicest people" Raven said, comfortable on Garfield's shoulder.

"Present company included?" He joined, trying to break the strange atmosphere.

She looks directly into his eyes from her position, "I'm far too drunk to talk about that right now" she said and moved herself up into a sitting position once more.

Raven reached out her hand and rubbed some of the green paint off of Garfield's face, "I like you in green" She said, distracted by the smoothness of his skin. She let her fingers linger on his face, "Terra didn't deserve you"

Garfield's eye widened, "you didn't even know her" he pointed out, not wanting to defend her but he automatically did, after everything she had put him through he still believed there was good in her.

Raven shrugged, "I didn't have to. In the short time I've known you, I've witnessed all the hurt and the pain that Terra had inflicted on you. I see even in your laughter, the tiny part of you that's screaming out for her. You want her to explain, you need her to tell you that it was all an act to trick them, that she actually loved you, and she only did what she did to protect you. That she had perhaps started out with bad intentions but grew to love you and would out you first no matter what. You thought you had a future with him, that he was the first person who really meant something to you. You thought you had finally found the one…"

Garfield frowned, "Him?" He asked, making sure he had heard the last part correctly.

Raven closed her eyes, "I know how it feels Garfield. I thought I was in love"

"Me too" Garfield said softly, "Do you think the pain will ever go away?"

"No" Raven said candidly, "But that doesn't mean you can't enjoy yourself. From my personal experience those who have been hurt the most have the warmest hearts. Those who cry more often smile brighter. Maybe it's because we treasure every second of happiness or perhaps we are just trying to push away all the bad thoughts by focussing so much on the good times. Either way, I like you the way you are Garfield, bruises and all"

Placing his hand over her wrist Garfield made a swift decision.

Quickly he pulled Raven in towards him, their lips brushing softly at first but growing hungrier by the second. Raven ran her hands through Garfield's hair as he wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her closer into him.

When they stopped to breathe, Garfield saw that Raven was smiling- really smiling.

"You too" He whispered huskily, sending shivers all over Raven.

She moved up to his ear and whispered into it.

Garfield's eyes lit up, "Sure thing Raven. I gotta get my jacket first though" he replied, hopping off of the ledge and taking her by the hand.

In his state he couldn't process what he had done, or what he was going to do, but boy was he going to regret it in the morning.

(Authors Note) 10 Chapters already?! I had some technical difficulty this week, aka my word account deleted these two chapters and I couldn't recover them so I had to do the party chapters from scratch again. But anyway it is done and I hope you are all enjoying my story so far, thanks to all who have read and reviewed this story, you guys are great. Anyway the next chapter will be coming very soon, happy reading!