I know you all have been waiting for this chapter! And I must say, torturing you all was quite fun :)
I mean that in the nicest and most loving way possible.
Oh, and I've also decided that this will not have lemons. You see, Alessandra is my character, which practically makes her my virtual daughter. Would you like to think of your daughter having sex? No, you would not.
And now the moment I know you all have wanted to see:
Robin/Nightwing and Starfire reunion.
Richard stared at Alessandra, wide-eyed.
"W-What do you mean, you're mother's coming?" Alessandra sighed and leaned back against the couch. She knew he would react this way. Honestly, she would have been surprised if he didn't; he definitely showed that he still somewhat cared for her, even though he would never admit it. She almost pitied him. Almost.
"My father is bringing her back up so she can see me." She said matter-of-factly. He just continued to stare at her, unconsciously fidgeting.
"Can't you just go down there or something?" Alessandra groaned quietly. This was one of Richard's faults; no matter how much he agreed with the concept of not letting emotions override logic, he couldn't seem to take his own advice.
"Does it look like I'm in any condition to go down there? Suck it up. It's not like they're staying over or anything." His eyes widened again.
"They better as hell not!" Alessandra attempted to lay down, sick of listening to Richard.
"Seriously, man up." She heard him growl slightly, and she looked up at him. He was leaning back against the couch, a pained expression on his face. He really was a mess. Alessandra sighed and sat back up, feeling obligated to give him at least some comfort. She tentively patted his back.
"It probably won't be as bad as you think..maybe she'll like, throw herself in your arms and want to catch up. You were her friend and all.." He just stared at her, a frown on his face. She rolled her eyes and sat up a little more.
"Look, I'm trying to be comforting. This isn't in my nature - you know I'm more like my father - so live it up while you can, because I can guarantee that it will never happen again." Richard grunted in reply.
"Yeah, I've realized. You know, you'd be a lot more pleasant if you took after your mother." Alessandra sighed and rolled her eyes. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately.
"Let me guess, to you my mother is flawless." He shook his head.
"If she was flawless, she wouldn't have left us for Slade." Alessandra snickered.
"I think you mean, left you. I doubt you were worrying about your team as much as your heartache." He bit the side of his lip, refusing to look at her.
"You just don't understand." Alessandra brought her legs up, to sit cross-legged. She turned to look at him.
"Then let me understand. I'm curious to know how the whole ordeal played out." Richard stared at her for a long time, then started to speak.
"The whole team had just gotten back from our trip to Tokyo, a couple months after. That was when your mother and I began to date." She nodded. "Things were going great, and I'm pretty sure she felt the same. We had always kind of jumped around our feelings, and that's why it took so long for us to get together. We had liked each other a long time before Tokyo. Your mother had tried to take the initiative beforehand, but I was too young and stupid to go for it. I thought that relationships were a nuisance, no matter how much I liked her. Eventually, I figured out that instead of my feelings going away from ignoring them, they grew stronger. I honestly think that if Slade hadn't come in the picture, I would have married her."
Alessandra sighed, trying to think of what it would be like if that would have been true. Would she even be here? Perhaps, as the daughter of Richard and Kori, instead of Slade and Kori. She shook her head and looked up at him, noticing how much it pained him to go back to these memories. He actually did love her mother, and that made her uneasy.
"We were both in a happy relationship, and our friends were happy for us, knowing how long we had liked each other. Although I was still uneasy with showing public affection, I gave her endless bounds of it when we were alone. I never knew that it could feel so nice, being loved. Being trained under the Batman, I was taught to never have relationships, especially with teammates. Pretty hypocritical, if you look at his record." He rolled his eyes. "But that all flew out the door. Sorry, I'm rambling on too much.." He turned to her and she shrugged, then motioned for him to continue.
"Anyway, back on topic. We were dating happily for a couple of months, but then Slade came back. He had kidnapped her to try and get to me, no doubt. I was beyond focused on getting her back, and my friends knew it. I searched everywhere for her, and didn't get any sleep until I actually found her." He closed his eyes and sighed, leaning into the couch.
"So you found her, but I'm guessing that's not when this all happened..?" He opened one eye and glanced over at her, shaking his head. He closed his eyes again, and continued.
"We found her in one of Slade's old hideouts, tied to the cold ground. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. At first she seemed a little out of it, but I figured it was because of the whole ordeal; the kidnapping, ecetera. When we got back to the car, I chose to sit in the back with her, and that's when she seemed to be back to her normal self. She latched onto me and kissed me, thanking me softly. It's crazy how I can still remember all of this.." He chuckled quietly and gave a small smile. "She fell asleep against me, and I brought her in when we got back to the tower. I brought her to her room and laid her down. She grabbed onto me and invited me to stay with her, which I immediately obliged. It's funny to think that it was all an act; that only a few days after that, I'm guessing, she was going behind my back to be with your father. What really hurt was the fact that she went farther with him than me. Of course I was still young and never tried to get intimate yet, but she let him-"
"Okay, I don't want to hear this." He look at her and gave her a sheepish smile.
"Sorry, kind of lost myself there." She rolled her eyes, crossing her arms uncomfortably.
"You don't say." He cleared his throat and continued on.
"I never would have guessed any of it. Then one day, she came home from the mall. Well, now I know the truth, and it definitely wasn't the mall. She asked me to gather everyone in the living room, and of course I did it. I figured she had something good to tell us, or perhaps she had gifts that she had gotten at the mall. We all sat down on the couch, her standing in front of us. The thing that caught me off guard was the nervous look on her face. I remember thinking 'what could she be nervous of?'. I would have never guessed the truth. She didn't waste time to tell us; she said she had been unfaithful. I didn't really comprehend at first, and then she said she had been seeing Slade. Slade, of all people. She also made it clear that their relationship was intimate, and that really threw me over.
I wasn't aware of anyone around me. I was in shock by what I heard. At first I thought my mind was playing tricks on me, but everytime I looked up at her and her solemn face, I knew it wasn't. This waf reality. After I got over the initial shock, I stood up..I'm not proud of this, but I smacked her. Hard. She didn't look up, surprised, like I expected her to; she just took it, as if she felt she deserved it. She tried to plead with me, tell me that she loved him. This just made me angrier, knowing that the one girl I had loved betrayed me, and with my worst enemy no less. I was hurt in so many ways that I could barely stand it. My anger began to fade away, and complete misery took over. I tried to figure out what I did wrong, beg her to stay with me. She just looked at me, that solemn look still there. I hated it. The anger came swelling back, and I made her give me her communicator and leave the tower. I let her know that she was no longer welcome after this, but a part of me hoped that she would return.
For weeks I had always checked the phones and waited by the door, just waiting for her to come back and say she still wanted to be a part of the team, and say that she still loved me. But it never did happen, and the rest of the group could tell that I was beginning to go into a deep depression. They tried to cheer me up; get me our of the tower and go to the park or get a pizza. I would go to humor them, but nothing worked. Eventually, they made me go to the doctor. He prescribed me to some kind of anti-depressent. I was pissed that it came to this, and eventually all of the sadness turned to anger. I refused to take the pills. The anger was my drug, and it helped drive the pain away. It was always still there, but I was able to forget it sometimes.." Alessandra studied him, trying ot figure out his emotions as he talked. She could see his eyes glistening slightly. The last thing she wanted was to deal with a crying man; it wasn't exactly her forte.
"Well..I have nothing. Just, don't cry. It's annoying." She flinched at her words, feeling a little guilty for not caring as much as she should. She quickly shook it off. He glanced at her and sighed, opening his mouth to say something.
The door handle jiggled slightly. She could see Richard visibly tense. She looked over to the door, slowly creeking open, and then her mother appeared, dressed in a fitting green dress, a black trench coat, and black round-toed heels. She and her father walked into the room, and then that's when she saw Richard.
They both tensed, completely silent. Her mother opened her mouth, but no words came out. Alessandra looked over at Richard and noticed that his jaw was clenched, and he was trying awfully hard to keep a straight face. The tension was thick, and it was practically suffocating her. She looked over to her father, whom was watching the exchange with a stoic face. Her mother looked away, deciding to put her attention on her daughter.
"Alessandra! I am glad to see that you are all right." She hurried over to Alessandra and sat down next to her, on the side away from Richard. She grabbed her daughter and hugged her tightly, her face hidden in the crook of her neck. she let go and looked her over.
"Lean back a little, my bumgorf. I wish to inspect your injury." Alessandra did as told, and Kori lifted her shirt slightly. Before turning to the wound, she rose her eyebrow at the shirt.
"It's mine." She turned slightly toward Richard, and nodded her head.
"Oh, well. Uh, I thank you for taking care of her." She kept her eyes away from him.
"No problem. She's a sweet girl." Alessandra could tell that Richard wanted to break through the tension and talk to her mother. She looked up at her mother and saw that she wasn't yet ready to bite.
"Yes, she is." Kori continued to shift the shirt slightly to uncover the wound, and slowly began rolling off the gauze. Richard stood up slowly.
"I'll go get some more gauze." Kori didn't give any acknowledgment, and continued to unwrap the bandages. Once they were all off, Alessandra sighed as she felt the air brush against her now freed skin. Kori ran her fingers along the outsides of the stab wound.
"Oh X'hal, sweetheart. Are you feeling all right." Alessandra nodded.
"I'm fine, mom. Really; dad's taught me well in these areas." Her mother smiled at her, and then at her father. Slade walked over to the two.
"Indeed I have, my dear. In fact, I am happy that a situation such as this has happened. Now you have a little experience, instead of only my telling of encounters." She nodded. She knew that if anyone else heard what her father had said, they would be aghast, but she understood his nature. In fact, if she ever had children, she wouldn't mind having her father's point of view.
Richard walked in again, gauze in hand. He saw Slade standing close to Kori, and Alessandra could see his visible hatred, and a hint of jealousy. He walked right up to them, ignoring Slade completely.
"Here's the gauze, Star." She watched as her mother bit her lower lip, knowing she could no longer avoid him. She glanced up at him and grabbed the gauze, smiling slightly.
"Thank you. Slade, would you mind putting the bandages back on her?" He shook his head and took the gauze, motioning for his wife to stand up so he could sit. She got up without a word and moved toward the door, leaning against the wall. Richard took the opportunity and walked over to her.
"Hey." She glanced at him, then back down at the floor.
"Hello." Richard sighed and ran a hand through his hair, absolutely hating how she wouldn't look at him. He couldn't take much more of it.
"Why won't you look at me? If anything, it should be me not wanting to look at you." She tensed and looked up slowly, her eyes unreadable.
"I believe it would be better if we did not speak, am I not correct?" He clenched his jaw, trying not to lose his temper.
"No, you're not. I haven't seen you in god knows how long, and you can't even have the fucking decency to look at me? Are you kidding?" It was clear that he was beginning to seethe.
"Please, Robi-"
"It's Nightwing. You should know that, considering you saw it in the future. I guess it was right; you did leave us." Kori figeted slightly, looking down at her feet.
"If you agree to try and not be angry toward me, then I shall converse with you. Please, I do not wish to talk to you angry." Richard balled his fists, his teeth clenched.
"Well it's a little late for that, Starfire! You fucking left me! For that asshole over there!" He pointed toward Slade, whom just rose an eyebrow. "And now you're just acting like none of it happened? Have you noticed that none of us are together anymore? I don't even know where the fuck the rest of our - oh, I'm sorry, my - friends are! You know, maybe we'd still all be together if you didn't fucking desert us." Kori's eyes were starting to water, but she blinked back the tears and looked up at him.
"Have you not let go yet? It has been years, Ro-Nightwing. Please, do not hurt yourself any longer because of me." Richard rolled his eyes and grabbed her arm.
"I'm not hurting myself! You're the one who fucking hurt me, and you know it. We were happy, Star. How could you just let that die? I waited for weeks for you to come back, but you never did." He was starting to lose his fire, and his grip on her arm started to loosen. Alessandra looked to her father.
"Why aren't you stopping this?" Slade glanced down at her, his arms folded.
"Because it needs to be done. It was going to happen sometime." She nodded, excepting the answer.
"I-I was no longer happy, Richard. May I call you that? I could not help my feelings for Slade, no matter how guilty I was over them. I am truly sorry for everything." Richard let go of her and took deep breaths, his whole body shaking.
"Whatever. I'm really starting to wish you didn't come up here. Leave, both of you leave." Kori sent a pleading look to Slade, silently begging for them to go. She missed her daughter terribly, but this was too much for her to bear. Slade sighed and pushed himself off of the couch, going over to his wife. He put an arm around her waist and looked to Richard.
"You really have gotten soft, haven't you?" He opened the door and pulled Kori out, before Richard flew a punch at him. His fist hit the wall, and he let out a growl. He turned to Alessandra, whom looked stoically at him.
"You need to go back to your dorm tomorrow. They're going to wonder where you went. I'm leaving tomorrow, so you're on your own. Good night." His voice was quiet. He walked silently to his room, his breathing slowing slightly. Alessandra nodded and laid back down.
Woo, that was fun to write.
Hey, you guys remember when I said that there would be no Robin/Nightwing in this story? Well, I guess that ended up false, heh. But I'm sure you're happy with it!..Right?
Anyway, read and review my little minions.