Chapter 9

Kori groaned as the phone rang beside her. She unconsciously reached over and picked it up, not even noticing that it wasn't her ring tone or her phone. Nonetheless she answered anyway, albeit groggily. "Hello?"

"Erm. Hi? Who the hell is this?"

"Kori, who is this?"

"Babs! What the hell are you doing answering Dick's phone?"

"What?" Kori looked at the phone and noticed that it indeed it wasn't her phone. She looked around and finally her eyes landed on the bare chest of Dick who was just beginning to wake up beside her. Kori threw the phone in his direction. "FUCK!" She threw the covers off just to answer her own question by finding herself naked. Quickly she got her underwear on and scrambled to find her belongings. Dick picked the phone up and was trying to calm his girlfriend down, but she cut him off after telling him she was setting off to his house in the next five minutes and would be there soon. Kori found her shoes and went to the door.

"Where are you going?" Dick picked up his boxers and started putting them on. Kori glared at him.

"Don't you even start!" she bolted out of the room slamming the door behind her. Dick put a hand to his head, still feeling the effects of the alcohol from the night before. He ran a hand down his face before finding some joggers and a t-shirt and his trainers. He left the room without touching his hair, and went to find the guest room where Kori was staying. He found her fully dressed, packing her bag. She angrily ran a brush through her hair and tied it back.

"Can't we just talk about this?" Dick made no move to go through the door; Kori was scary when she was angry. She didn't answer him. Just carried on finding her things. "Come on Kor…" She pushed past him and made her way to the stairs. Dick just followed her trying his best to get her to talk to him but she refused to reply. "Kori, stop! Will you just wait a second? There's nothing wrong with…" She slapped him. Hard. By this point Jason, Alfred, Tim, and Bruce Wayne himself had gathered atop the stairs to see what the commotion was about. And if timing couldn't get much worse, Barbara Gordon marched through the front door to find Dick and Kori at a standoff in the foyer.

"What the hell was that for?!" Dick brought his hand to his face. The slap had caught him off guard and actually stung quite a bit.

"You just don't get it do you?"

"Get what? Look, last night was…"

"The biggest mistake I could ever have made! For god's sake Dick, you know as much as I do that it would never have happened if you hadn't have kissed me." From behind her Kori heard Barbara gasp.

"It takes two Kori! You know that!" Dick stepped towards her, but Kori turned to leave without answering him. She knew he was right, but didn't want to give him the satisfaction. Babs ran round her and clung onto Dick asking what was going on, but Dick pushed her off and stopped Kori before she got through the front door. "Why is this such an issue?!"

Kori dropped her bag and pushed Dick back, tears welling in her eyes. "Because you told me that I wasn't like all the other girls. That I was better than them and that I'd changed you! But you have a girlfriend and we slept together. You know what that means eh Dick? It means that I am just like all the rest! It means that I'm no better than Babs or Kitten or any of the other one night stands you've had! Which just goes to tell me that you haven't changed! You're just the same idiot playboy who I thought I could get through too. And now I'm just one of that idiot playboy's many girls that he sleeps with for the hell of it! I refuse to be that girl Dick! I told you that when we got together!"

"You're right." Dick dropped his head. It caught Kori off guard actually, that he looked so defeated.

"What?"

"You're right. Everything you said. Except that you aren't like all the rest. You're not just here for me to play with and then toss away. I hadn't planned on last night, it just happened, but when we woke up I didn't want you to leave… Kori…" Dick caught her eyes and swallowed nervously. "… I love you. I made a mistake getting back with Babs. You were always the one. In fact no. I don't love you… I'm."

"Don't you say it Dick. Don't you dare!" She turned to leave but Dick grabbed her shoulders and held her tight.

"You were right all along. The reason I told Roy about Jason was because I hated the idea that you and Roy could possibly get together. I hated Jason for coming back because I thought you might go back to him. I only stayed with Babs after that fling because you didn't come back. I'm in love with you! You know that!"

"Fuck you. Don't lie to me!" She pushed him off again with such force that he tripped and fell. Babs rushed to his side in an instant.

"Don't you treat him like that!" Babs looked to Dick who was staring at Kori, sadness written across his face.

"Really, after everything he's just said you're still going to be with him. That just goes to show the type of girl you really are. And you…" she pointed at Dick. "Stay away from me." Kori picked her bag up and left the house but Dick wasn't going to let her go that easily. He got up and went to go after her but his hand was pulled by Babs.

"Dick, what are you doing? Let her go!"

"No. I can't. You need to go. You need to leave. Go home. There is nothing between us. It's over." He pulled his arm away from her and bolted out of the door. But when he reached the street, he couldn't see Kori anywhere. He looked around him, his heart pounding in his chest. Running back into the house he searched for his bike keys, but couldn't find them. His gaze rounded on Tim, who had moved from the top of the stairs to the foyer. "Give me the keys Tim."

"No. You need to calm down!"

"Tim I swear to god!" Dick lunged for the small boy, but he was pulled back by Jason.

"Come on pretty boy. Bed time." Jason pulled on Dick's arm, and he sighed in defeat letting Jason drag him up the stairs to his room. "Alfred could you please attend to Babs and make sure she gets home okay?" The butler made his way down the stairs to the young girl who was crying against a table. Jason caught Bruce's eye, and nodded. He would take care of this. It wasn't really something Jason thought Dick would want Bruce being involved in. Jason sat Dick down on his bed and sighed. "Right, let's go from the start."

XXXXXX

Kori reached home twenty minutes later, still as furious as she was when she left. She walked through the front door and dropped everything she had in the hallway. Taking a minute to wipe away the mascara tears she had, Kori walked into their living room to find Karen and Rachel in mid conversation. They both looked at her in surprise, but Kori couldn't have been happier to see her two best friends here when she needed them the most. None of them said anything as Kori sat between them on the sofa. She felt an arm go round her shoulder and she leaned into it, letting all of the tears out. She laid down resting her head on Karen's leg and just cried. Rachel's comforting hand on her arm.

Later that day, Karen had sorted all of Kori's things out whilst she got a shower and Rachel had prepared food for the three of them. Kori sat on the sofa with a cup of tea in her hand, staring out the window at the rain. She rubbed a hand down her face and sighed for what was the thousandth time that day, wondering how much worse the day could make her feel. Unfortunately for Kori, she had no idea.

A knock on the door brought her out of her thoughts and since Karen and Rachel were busy in the kitchen, Kori put her cup down and went to answer it. When she answered the door she found Xavier Redd stood with his hands behind his back, a sorry little smile plastered on his face. "Um hi Kori."

"Hey, what's up?"

"Can I come in? I have something you need to see." Xavier moved through the door and waited for Kori to close it behind him before they went and sat on the sofa. Before either of them said anything Xavier handed her a magazine. In bold print on the front was; GRAYSON RED-HEAD SCANDAL. Below were two pictures of Dick and Kori in separate places and in small print it read; Dick Grayson cheats on his current girlfriend Barbara Gordon with old flame Kori Anders. See page 2 for more. Kori opened the magazine and scanned over the article. It had so much to say about how much of a bad person Kori was for stealing Dick away from Barbara, but nothing to say about him or Barbara. Kori threw the magazine down and let out a frustrated cry.

"You have got to be kidding me! He cheats on me with her and no one bats an eyelid, but he cheats on her and the world goes crazy! For crying out loud!"

"It's on the cover of practically every newspaper and magazine in the store down on Fifth. The news seller on the corner of Main Street had so many customers that he had to send them away due to running out of things to sell." Xavier gave her an apologetic look. He knew she didn't want to hear it, but she needed to know. Karen and Rachel came in to see what was going on. Rachel spotted the magazine on the floor and picked it up to show Karen. Karen's eyes narrowed. Kori put her head in her hands.

"It's been like five hours! How the hell did people find out so fast?" Kori looked up and Karen clicked her fingers.

"I bet it was Babs. You can always count on her to cause shit for people. And let's face it she's the commissioner's Daughter and she's willing to tell people about Dick Grayson who's heir to the Wayne Empire. Anyone would be willing to listen to what she has to say. Especially if it means scandal in the Wayne household." Karen sat next to Kori and hugged her. "She won't get away with this."

Kori looked at Xavier who was a little confused to say the least. "I did sleep with him but we were both drunk and I was staying at his house." She noticed the glint of suspicion in Xavier's eye as he raised an eyebrow. Kori sighed. "He kissed me first." Xavier snorted a laugh at the comment and Kori realised how childish she sounded. She actually laughed at herself. "I didn't do it out of bitterness. I didn't know what I was doing until I woke up to Babs ringing Dick's phone."

"So how did she find out?"

"I accidently answered the phone call." Kori chuckled at the thought, but her heart was still hammering her rib cage. How on earth was she supposed to get out of this one? Her thoughts were interrupted when her phone started to ring. She picked it up and saw that it was Jason who was calling. With a reluctant sigh she answered the phone. "Hello Jason, what's wrong?"

"Dick's been arrested."

Dun Dun Duuuuun!