Author's note: I stink so much at fluff. This chapter is awkward and weird. Not the touching reunion scene I'd hoped for. Suggestions will be given serious consideration and thanked a million times over. Also, thank you to everyone who reviewed the last couple chapters! I feel warm and fuzzy inside.
If I'm getting on your nerves with my erratic updates, I'm sorry. I'm totally in love with this story, even if it's awkward and needs work (all my stories are unbeta'd, by the way), and as soon as I finish a chapter I post it so that I can work on the next.
A Matter of Pride: Chapter twenty; Coming
Her room was just as she remembered it. Everything. The ceiling sparkled with tiny pinpricks of light. The circular couch, the glass wall, the computer in the corner... They were all the same.
Terra felt tears prick in her eyes. She had really messed up. The Titans had given her all this, a home, and yet she had betrayed them. She felt like trash once again and it was all she could do not to collapse, sobbing. Instead, she took a steadying breath and walked over to her dresser. It contained, or should contain, multiples of the outfit she had always worn. It did. Experimentally, she tugged at the metal plate on her chest. A clasp in the back popped and the entire piece came off in her hands. Delighted, Terra rid herself of Slade's uniform, bandages included, and donned the familiar black long-sleeved shirt and yellow shorts.
Terra glanced out of the window. The sun was rising over Jump City. The Titans would be awake soon and she wouldn't have a chance to leave, hide somewhere else. She really shouldn't even risk leaving this room. Her room. That was alright. It was nice to rest here, in a place she was so familiar with.
Even so, the wait until nighttime when she could meet Beast Boy was excruciating. Every once in a while, footsteps would pass by the door. Voices would sound just outside. Terra would tense, hide under her bed or in the closet, or crouch behind the dresser. But no one ever came in. In between moments of hyper-tense adrenaline rushes, Terra was bored. She didn't dare do anything for fear of making noise and attracting someone's attention. By the time the sun set, at about seven that night, Terra was bored out of her mind. She still had three hours to wait until she could go to the roof. Sighing, Terra flopped - quietly! - onto the couch to wait.
---
The clock was taunting her. She was sure of it. That was the only reason it could be changing numbers so slowly. An eternity and a half after she had flopped down to wait, the digital green numbers changed to 9:45. And Terra couldn't wait the last fifteen minutes. She had to get out. Now. Even if it meant being spotted and attacked by the Titans. Humming the Mission Impossible theme song, Terra crept through the hallways towards the roof. Maybe a day of self-imposed containment and utter boredom had driven her insane. It seemed likely.
The first breath of night air sobered her quickly. Terra sighed in contentment. She sat on the edge of the roof, knees tucked to her chest, and waited.
"Terra?"
The voice surprised her so much that she almost fell off the roof. Terra sprang up and whirled around. A green figure stood in the doorway, staring at her in utter disbelief.
"Terra?" Beast Boy said quietly, unable to process her presence. Terra gave a small smile.
"Yeah," she replied.
"But... but... how...?"
"No idea." Terra was practically trembling with happiness and nerves. "Listen, Beast Boy... I know that I did some awful things back... you know... And I'd understand if you wanted me to leave right now... but I'm really, really, really sorry and... can you... forgive me?"
"Terra, I forgave you a long time ago." He hugged her. "I can't wait to tell the others! They'll be so happy! We really missed you."
"Beast Boy, please! Don't tell them!" Terra was frightened of the prospect of facing all the Titans, all at once. "I just... I can't take it... I'm afraid of what they'll think."
Beast Boy stared at her for a long moment and then nodded, smiling his understanding. "Maybe I could just tell one person? Cyborg? He won't tell a soul."
Terra stood torn by indecision. "Beast Boy? I, uh... I wrecked his car."
"Ah... good point... Starfire?"
"Insulted her intelligence."
"Robin?"
"Threatened his girlfriend."
"... Raven?"
"Oh, no, please don't tell her!"
"Oh, uh, hey guys. What's up?" Beast Boy laughed nervously. Terra turned... and found herself face to face with the Teen Titans.
The Titans stood there, gaping at her. Even Raven's mouth was wide open. Terra hid behind Beast Boy, knowing that the surprise would not last. The Titans never lost composure for long. Beast Boy knew this, too, and spread his arms protectively. Sure enough, Robin drew a few bird-a-rangs. Raven's hands began to glow and she scowled. Cyborg's arm morphed into a canon. But it was Starfire that attacked first.
With a squeal, the Tameranian launched herself at Terra, shoving Beast Boy aside. She grabbed the smaller girl in a bone-breaking hug. "Terra! You are alive! You are not dead! Oh glorious day!" Terra felt her face turn red, and then blue. She struggled to breathe, let alone talk.
"Star, you're hurting her! Ease up! Ease up!" Beast Boy cried, tugging futilely on Starfire's arm in an effort to get her to let go. Giggling sheepishly, Starfire released her. Terra staggered back, gasping for breath.
"Okay," she said when she could breathe normally again. She gingerly poked her ribs, wondering if anything was broken, as she continued, "as I obviously was an idiot to come here, I'll just leave. I hear that China is quite nice this time of year. You guys will never have to hear about me again." Terra backed away, toward the edge of the roof, but she found herself instantly surrounded.
Once, back when she was about twelve, Terra had stayed in New Mexico for a few days, watching a pack of wolves. There had been two wolves that no one messed with, some puppies, some wolves that didn't seem to be anything special, and one that got pushed around constantly. When this last specimen couldn't take it anymore, he would whine and push his ears back, crouch low to the ground, tuck his tail between his hind legs and smile. He would be left alone for a while, until the others thought he'd had ample time to recover, and then start right back in on him.
Terra thought the lowly wolf had the right idea. She decided to forgo the whining, but she hunched her shoulders and smiled nervously. Robin pressed one end of his bo staff to her throat.
"Where's Slade?" was the first question he asked. Oh, great. Interrogation time.
"Buried under seventy tons of volcanic rock," Terra spat. "Dead. Serves him right."
"How did you come back to life?"
"Not by my choice, I assure you!"
"What are you doing here?"
Terra's shoulders slumped. "I don't know," she confessed. "It was spur-of-the-moment. I wanted to see Beast Boy."
"Just Beast Boy?"
"Yes. I was afraid that something like this would happen. I don't want to fight anymore. I wasn't sure if you guys would ever forgive me."
"Don't you dare get teary-eyed," Raven warned in her monotone. "Crocodile tears don't work on any of us."
"I'm not getting teary-eyed, and if I was they wouldn't be crocodile tears! Look, if you guys hate me so much, just let me leave! I'll go to some far off land where you'll never have to hear about me, and everyone will be happy! I don't really want to die again, as it's not as nice as I always thought, so if you would be so kind!"
"You guys!" Beast Boy snapped, breaking ranks to stand beside Terra. "She's sorry for what she did! She had good reasons, and I know just how good they are! Terra's powers - they're pretty much out to get her. Slade saved her life! She owed him big. She didn't have a choice. So drop the hostilities and let her be our friend again!"
Terra stared at Beast Boy, half in gratitude for his defense and half confusion and wonder that he knew all that.
"Yes, please!" Starfire agreed. "Terra has not tried the killing of us since she got here!"
"Rae, you're an empath. She out to get us?" Cyborg asked, turning to Raven. Raven caught Terra's eye and stared hard for a minute. Terra longed to break her gaze, but she didn't dare. Finally, Raven shook her head.
"She's scared more than anything," Raven admitted. The expression on her face was anything but sympathetic.
"Out of my wits," Terra muttered.
Robin sighed. "You wanna be a Titan?" he asked her.
Terra perked up momentarily. Then, thinking it through, she shook her head. "It's best if I just leave. You'd never trust me. I can't blame you for that. I think I'll just be on my way."
"Now hold on, little lady," drawled Cyborg, placing a hand on her shoulder as she turned to leave again. Terra tensed. "You're alive. You're here. You're not trying to kill us... at the moment, anyway. So we need waffles to celebrate! And if you try anything funny, like leaving, I will never forgive you for wrecking my baby."
Terra winced. "I'm sorry about that, too."
"Waffles, then!" Beast Boy proclaimed, grabbing Terra's hand. Cyborg and Beast Boy led the way to the kitchen, despite the late hour, with Starfire swooping happily behind. Robin and Raven were left on the roof with a strange sense of de ja vu.
"And the verdict is?" Robin prompted.
"She doesn't mean us any harm," Raven said, "but I have a funny feeling about this."
"What kind of feeling? Like Terra might do something unintentionally?"
Raven shook her head. "Like something is... coming. Something big. And Terra's involved. I'm not sure if it's going to be a good or bad thing."
They were silent for a while. Cyborg called up to them, "If y'all don't get down here now there won't be any left!"