Rating: M, because some of this stuff will probably get up there. T, for teenagers

Pairings: Multiple, but mainly Raven/Robin, Raven/Red X, and possibly some Raven/Speedy. Ambiguousness abounds, mwahahaha

Genre: We'll be running the gamut, but there will be romance (or the seeds of) in most. Others will include Drama, Tragedy, Humor, etc. Drama/Romance/Comedy

Author's Note: I actually just found this the other day. o.o I had completely and entirely forgotten about it till I stumbled over it in a miscellaneous folder when I was cleaning out files. I think I originally started this as a prequel of sorts to Breaking Up the Girl, but it ended up going off in its own AU direction. Hmm... I just might, possibly, maybe, think of adding this to my To Be Continued list. Tell me whatcha think, eh?

Summary: There's something about Raven--and Richard Grayson's going to find out what it is. AU

Disclaimer: I don't own any of it (except the writing!).

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Richard scanned the afternoon crowd seated at the numerous tables of The Blue Cat, a fairly new restaurant that was caught somewhere between jazzy coffee cafe and midscale dining establishment

Richard scanned the afternoon crowd seated at the numerous tables of The Blue Cat, a fairly new restaurant that was caught somewhere between jazzy coffee cafe and midscale dining establishment. Since its grand opening two years before, it had been popularized by the local youth in the hours after school and before dark, after which the GenX crowd moved on and were replaced by businessmen and women cooling their heels after a long day of work.

Richard spotted the impressive form of Vic and smirked when he noticed that his ex-quarterback friend was chatting up a dark-haired waitress about their age, his warm smile oozing charm. The girl flashed a brief smile back, shook her head and said something unintelligible over the din, and left the table to return to her duties.

Grinning, Richard walked over and slid smoothly into the chair opposite Vic. "Hey man. Fishing for phone numbers again?"

Vic glanced up at him from his cream and coffee. For a moment, his eyes were guarded and expression blank, but it melted quickly into his usual smirk. "Nah. Just making nice, you know me, Rich."

Richard chuckled. "Yeah, I know you, ya heartbreaker."

"Welcome to the Blue Cat. Today on special we have homestyle apple pie for 2.50 a slice. What can I get you?"

The scripted words were dropped in such a bored, shoot-me-now deadpan that Richard's lips twitched into an amused smirk of their own volition. His brows arched high as he looked up to find the same waitress Vic had been talking to standing before him, pen poised over a well-worn notepad.

She looked very uncomfortable in her dark blue mini dress uniform and black apron with navy-stitched cat over the chest, and everything from the way she stood to her slight, impatient frown screamed "I don't want to be here!" Her hair, which he had merely taken for dark from across the room, was a deep violet, the unusually hued long locks held back in a messy twist and adorned by a headband with little blue cat ears. The small white rectangle pinned over the left side of her apron identified her as Rachel.

"Um, just a coffee for me, please. Black." Richard smiled politely and wondered to himself why Vic would be flirting with her. It wasn't that she was ugly, or even particularly plain, but she just didn't seem his type. He tended to like girls who were more upbeat and sassy.

"Rachel" sighed, rubbed her forehead, and leaned over the table, bracing her weight on her hands. "Look, I'm gonna get canned if I haven't sold twenty-two specials by the end of my shift, and I'm up to eighteen. Please, do me a big favor, and buy a slice of pie. I don't care if you eat it or not, just so long as you order it."

Richard, who didn't quite know what to say, looked at the determined, consternated expression on the girl's face, and thought it couldn't hurt to buy one simple piece of pie.

He allowed the silence to stretch too long, however, and Rachel rolled her eyes and stood up straight, shoving her notepad into her apron pocket and preparing to go, when Vic stopped her with a brief touch at her elbow. "I'll get one. I could never turn down apple pie."

He smiled that smile of his again, and again, the waitress returned it, short and relieved. "Thanks, Victor. You saved my ass."

"No prob, girl."

She nodded and moved across the way to another table of high school guys, and Richard watched her go, thinking for some reason that he wished he'd been the one to help her out. It wasn't like buying pie was a noble or heroic deed, but for some strange reason he couldn't touch on, he wished he'd helped her, if only a little.

Turning back to Vic, he raised his eyebrows and smiled. "Just being friendly, huh? Funny, she's not your usual type. And I mean, come on. Victor? What was that?"

Vic rolled his eyes. "Man, it's not like that. I kinda know her is all. She's not somebody I'd be attracted to, but she's pretty cool."

"Where do you know her from?"

"Here, mostly. I put in a lot of study time here when the business crowd rolls in. It's quieter than the dorms."

Richard inclined his head in a can't-deny-that agreement, watching his friend unwrap his napkin roll and align his silverware in size order. He hesitated for a moment, knowing from the lapse in conversation it was time to change the subject, but he found himself curious about their waitress, especially as she seemed to be somehow connected to Vic. The black man might say he only knew her from the restaurant, but Richard recognized the protective hunch to his shoulders too easily.

"So..." he began, lingering on the word until Vic raised his eyebrows and looked up at him expectantly. "So Rachel—"

Vic's brows lowered like thunderclouds and he made a fast cutting motion with his hand. "Drop it, man. You are not about to make this girl into one of your little investigations."

Richard sat back in his chair, his own eyebrows hiking up his forehead from surprise and intrigue. "So there is something to investigate? Why are you so defensive of a waitress you barely know and only occasionally see, Vic?"

Vic leaned back, mimicking his friend's open, challenging posture, and crossed his arms over broad chest. "Leave it alone, Rich. You can't keep making people into projects. Remember how well that went with Kori?"

Richard, who had been leaning the chair back on its rear legs, blushed and let the chair settle back with a clatter on all four supports. "That's completely over now. You enjoy bringing the whole thing up just to make me squirm, don't you?"

Vic grinned wide at the accusation, and the two meandered into more generic topics of conversation, interrupted only by a brief visit from Rachel to deliver Vic's apple pie and refresh his sweet tea.

The afternoon crept towards evening, passing in a haze of good company, inside jokes, and friendly insults. After the lowering sun began casting long shadows through the Blue Cat's picture windows, it came to wrap things up. The working crowd had begun to dominate the ration of tables, and the two friends were beginning to feel young and outnumbered.

"Alright, alright," Vic mumbled, pulling his wallet from his back pocket. "Let's do this so I can hit the head."

"That's whatcha get for drinking all that sweet tea," Richard jibed, indicating the four empty glasses on the bigger man's side of the table, whipping out his own wallet. "Save your money, I got this one." he glanced at Vic's instantly stubborn expression and rolled his eyes. "You can cover the tip, if it satisfies your pride."

Vic grunted and placed a ten and a five on the table, setting the salt shaker atop them and standing from his chair. "Meetcha outside."

Alone at the table, shook his head and counted out twelve dollars and seventy-two cents, exactly. He liked to be precise. It was one of his quirks. Curiosity was another, and Vic's ludicrously high tip was making it itch like crazy.

Even if he liked the waitress, a fifteen-dollar tip on a twelve-dollar check was kind of ridiculous. What was it about this girl? Richard slipped his wallet back into his jeans pocket as he wondered. It wasn't that Vic wasn't nice to everyone. He was. He was a generally friendly and charming guy. And he definitely had a protective streak a mile wide, but while Vic might be friendly, the big brother routine was usually saved for his small inner circle.

And being a member of that small inner circle, Richard couldn't help but wonder where in the hell this girl had come from, and why he'd never heard anything about her.

Curiouser and curiouser.

"Your check."

Richard's chin snapped up, eyes meeting briefly with Rachel's guarded blues before she dropped them pointedly to the faux leather folder she had pushed across the table to him.

Summoning a charming smile, Richard indicated the money he had laid near Vic's salt shaker. "Twelve dollars and seventy-two cents, between the two of us."

Rachel shot a quick, incredulous look at the bills and coins, her fingers briefly flicking over them, counting. Her eyes suspicious rather charmed or curious, she turned back to Richard. "How did you know before I brought you the check?"

He shrugged, still smiling. "I know things." The smile turned a little sly, his eyes squinting a little as he leaned forward, intent on her. Interestingly, she stood where she was, but leaned back just slightly, perhaps unconsciously. "What I'd like to know... is who are you to Vic?"

The girl's shoulders hitched slightly, her spine straightening and her face storming over. "We're acquaintances. Not that I can see how that's any of your business."

He shrugged laconically, watching her face unblinkingly. "Curiosity. Can't help it."

Seeming to suddenly remember she was on the clock, she scowled and dropped his gaze, busying her hands with gathering and stacking the detritus from the boys' meal, her sharp, quick movements underscoring her annoyance with him. "Curiosity killed the cat, remember."

Richard grinned wide, leaning his elbows on the table, tracking her face with his eyes. "But satisfaction brought him back."

Her arms full of plates and cups and the money stuffed in her apron, Rachel gave him a last hostile glance, said frostily, "Tell Vic I said goodbye," and marched smartly away.

Chuckling, Richard watched her disappear into the kitchens before taking leave himself.

Outside, Vic stood waiting for him on the sidewalk. When he caught Richard's eye, his face went stern and businesslike. "What took you."

Richard shrugged, unable to completely wipe the smile from the corners of his mouth. "Had to wait for the check."

Blowing out his breath explosively, Vic shook his head and fell in step with Richard as he began walking down the street, shoving his hands in his pockets like he might like to wrap them around his friend's neck. "I told you to leave her alone, Rich."

Richard chuckled and shot the taller man a wry look. "Might as well have handed me an engraved invitation. This keep-away game you're playing only makes her more interesting, you know."

Vic frowned at him. "You just gotta make everything into a game, Richie Rich. Leave the girl be. She's not interesting, just private. And if you piss her off, I ain't gonna save you when she kicks your ass."

Richard's eyebrows shot up in surprise, and Vic groaned, knowing instantly he should've just kept his mouth shut from the start. "You make it sound like she could kick my ass, Vic."

"Shut up, man."

"What? They won't let me spar with the Judo Club anymore, so if she's a fighter, I'm merely pursuing a healthy hobby that we may have in common."

"You spend too much time schmoozing with Wayne, talking like that." Vic shook his head again, keeping his eyes straight ahead. "I only meant hell hath no fury like a woman annoyed by rich white boys who poke their nose where it don't belong. So if you get your tires slashed, I warned you."

"She plays dirty when provoked, huh?" Richard laughed at Vic's heavy sigh. "Curiouser and curiouser."

Sighing again, defeated, Vic rolled his eyes heavenward and steepled his hands in a praying gesture. "Please, God. Let me be there to watch when she kicks him in the balls. I'm gonna put it on YouTube."

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AN: I changed the summary format of the story for this round, sort of a trial run to try and lure in new readers. Bwahaha. Did it work? Do you like? D8 Tell meee...