Chapter Thirty Four
Doctor Robbins
April 8th
The sweat on her clammy skin was already starting to cool due to the chilly morning air as Morgan arrived back home after a morning run. It was a routine she'd fallen into after they'd moved into the Warehouse. She'd run until her legs were aching and then she'd fly back, exercising two body parts in one go.
Taking a minute to regain her breath before entering her temporary home, Morgan downed half a bottle of water and tied her hair into a low ponytail before stretching her limbs. Her three weeks of no exercise were finally over and Morgan personally couldn't be happier about it. She was almost itching with the need to get back on track and resume her sparring sessions with Nightwing.
Once she entered the Warehouse, that news channel jingle that Morgan was very much growing to hate assaulted her ears.
An eye roll and a low groan was her automatic response when G. Gordon's unpleasant voice followed soon afterwards, the man having a field day with all the new juicy gossip he'd gained on the League since the Reach had arrived on Earth.
"The question isn't whether our world's finest are the galaxy's most wanted," The hated man, sitting in front of a picture branding the Justice League symbol with thick, red letters spelling 'Criminals', began. "It's not whether they've been using secret, undercover, covert operatives against targets of their own choosing. No, it's not even whether these interstellar hoodlums have their own watchtower in orbit over our planet!"
Morgan kicked off the ground and beat her wings twice, landing on the second floor of the building, spying Robin and Beast Boy watching the news.
"Jesus, guys," Morgan spoke up. "Why are you watching this crap?"
"No, old G. Gordon proved all of this a week ago, didn't he?" The man on the TV droned on. "The real questions is how long are you going to stand for this and do nothing to check these lawless heroes?!"
"Know thy enemy." Beast Boy eerily responded.
Robin winched as the man on the TV started all out shouting, his face far closer to the camera than what could be deemed professional.
Robin was about to turn the TV off, but Morgan pulled the remote out of his reach, G. Gordon's new topic grabbing her attention.
"I thought you were the one complaining about us watching it?" He pointed out.
Morgan shushed him. "I'm trying to watch."
A larger screen, showing a picture of the Reach's air craft took up most of the TV screen, G. Gordon still visible in the lower corner. "Meanwhile, Earth's true benefactors, the Reach have been working openly and without fanfare for the betterment of all mankind." The picture changed, now showing Lexcorp Farms, a picture of Lex Luthor, and one of the Reach Ambassador. "Exhibit 'A': Lexcorp Farms where the Reach has partnered with noted philanthropist Lex Luthor to increase food production. Lexcorp and the Reach are even allowing public tours. Just openness and an end to world hunger, now why didn't the Justice League think of that?"
Morgan sighed and turned off the TV after the man finished talking.
"He's good. I'll admit that." She sourly said. "Damn manipulative and subjective. But good."
"If people actually believe everything he says, we're going to have some serious problems soon." Robin agreed.
"I know that we're the good guys and we're supposed to 'save' the civilians and have pure hearts or something like that, but man." She threw the remote onto the couch, grunting in annoyance when it bounced off the cushions and fell to the floor below with a loud rattle. "I'd probably lend a hand if somebody tried to kidnap that guy."
Robin quirked a smile at her admission as Beast Boy picked up the remote and placed it neatly on the armrest.
Morgan started to shiver slightly as the warmth she'd gained on her run wore off and the sweat on her body had cooled completely. "I'm taking a shower." She announced before hopping off the small platform and landing by her bedroom/small-corner-only-concealed-by-curtains-that-did-absolutely-nothing-to-drown-out-the-snores-of-the-boys-at-night.
She dug behind the curtains and pulled out fresh underwear as well as a t-shirt and a pair of black jeans – the pair she got a really cute butt in, because she felt like feeling pretty today – as well as a towel before ducking into the bathroom.
The downside – well one of the downsides – to living in close quarters with all of these guys was that everything smelled of male.
And the bathroom worst of all.
Usually, before she used the bathroom, she'd take a deep breath before dashing inside and opening the window and the air vent before closing the door and waiting for another five minutes before entering. Just to take the edge off of that cologne, dirty socks and sweat stench.
So after opening her window and waiting her five minutes, Morgan poked her head inside to do damage control. The smell was bearable by now so she shut the door behind her and started up her shower, already looking forward to washing the sweat off her body.
She'd started taking longer and longer showers since joining the Team, finding that it was the time of day where she pondered the best. She used the time to thinking about everything that had happened in her life since she was picked up off the street in the middle of November.
Sometimes, after all these months, she was still struck with those moments of 'this all has to be a dream', so she liked to remind herself that it wasn't, in fact, a dream, while showering.
It automatically took longer too because she had to groom her wings as well. Make sure any soap that got in contact with them was properly rinsed out again afterwards to avoid any irritation later. Smooth out the feathers. Remove any dirt.
Having wings require some level of maintenance, it appeared.
Morgan wondered if Hawkgirl would regard her with the same level of disdain and disappointment now as she did back in November. She liked to think that the woman would be proud of the way Morgan was now treating her wings.
The way Morgan very rarely experienced those bouts of fear and hatred aimed at her own wings.
It happened sometimes. She'd lie in bed and a wing would get in the way and Morgan would feel that crippling hate again. She'd walk by a window and see them in her reflection until she couldn't see anything from the tears welling in her eyes. She'd find a shed feather lying somewhere in her room and it'd make her fall to her knees as she forcibly stopped herself from giving in to the need to rip all her feathers out.
It was like the hate was an old instinct, the remains of a mindset long gone – like when somebody who's been smoke free for years suddenly find themselves inexplicably craving another cigarette.
But it happened rarely now. Compared to the first five years of their existence. The bouts of hate had all but stopped for a few months and Morgan had thought she'd stopped having them altogether, that she had come to terms with them.
And then suddenly her father had told her about the experiments and the true reason why she had the wings and the 'attacks' had returned.
She hadn't told anyone. This was something she could deal with by herself. Something she had to deal with by herself. She was stronger than this.
Besides, most of the time, she liked her wings.
Morgan shook the thoughts from her mind and turned off the shower, wringing her hair to remove most of the water nestled in it.
Using her towel to quickly ruffle through her hair, she dried off her body afterwards.
Locating her clothes afterwards, she picked up the white t-shirt.
.. And found it completely soaked.
She picked her jeans up next and found them equally wet.
Turning her attention to the floor next, she spotted a huge pool of water emitting from the left corner of the shower. Apparently, there was a very inconvenient leakage in the shower, which had decided to sour her day just a little bit.
No matter. She could blow dry her clothes. It would take some time, sure, but she'd rather be stuck in the bathroom for another twenty minutes than go into the main room of the warehouse, which was undoubtedly containing at least one of her male companions, in nothing but a towel.
Most of those guys were hormonal teenage boys, no reason to give them any food for their imaginations.
She picked her bra and panties up and inspected them. They were dry enough, having been placed further away, and she quickly slipped them on. Morgan wondered why she'd even decided to put her clothes on the floor in the first place.
Maybe it was the universe trying to get a laugh at her expense.
Next, she crouched down and opened the cabinet to fish out her blow dryer and deal with this little mishap.
It wasn't there.
Wait.. hadn't she used it in her 'bedroom' because Beast Boy had been yelling at her to hurry up so he could take a shower himself yesterday? Had she left the blow dryer in the main room?
Was she really being forced to do this?
Morgan sighed harshly and leaned her head against the sink in defeat, wondering why her showers always ended in awkward nudity situations like this one.
Standing to her full height, Morgan thanked her lucky stars she'd brought one of her larger towels to use today before wrapping it firmly around her body making it look like a strapless dress. It stopped just above her knees.
Not so long after all, apparently.
She listened by the door for a moment, trying to figure out how many of the boys were in the room currently.
There was silence, except for the TV still going, sounding vaguely familiar. After a small moment, Morgan realized it sounded familiar because it was the same thing she'd been watching with Beast Boy and Robin an hour earlier. G. Gordon sounded just as angry the second time around, not even the door between her and the TV succeeding in muffling out his spluttering anger.
Other than that, the place was completely silent and Morgan thought that perhaps nobody was home at the moment.
The coast was most likely clear.
She took a deep breath and, in a swift movement, unlocked the door and opened it fully, stepping out.
.. And very quickly realized that the warehouse was, in fact, not empty at all, but rather literally every single male member of the Team was there in the middle of a mission briefing.
Or, well, they had been in the middle of a mission briefing. Now they were just kind of staring at her as G. Gordon droned on on the screen in front of them. She swore some of their jaws dropped, probably because the sight of a female in a towel – no matter which female – was more than their tiny, hormone-controlled man-brains could handle.
"Uh." Morgan was sure she looked just as horrified as she felt, eyes wide and mouth slightly open. She shook her head and decided that this was so not her day but also that this was absolutely nothing to be ashamed off. She was modestly covered.
By a towel. Which kind of didn't really count because you always look exposed and sexual in a towel, especially with the wet hair.
She cursed herself inwardly when her eyes unconsciously – but inevitably – strayed to Nightwing's form. The mentor was closest to the TV in front of the group, and thus, farthest from her. But even that this distance, she could see the tenseness in his frozen body.
For a short, delicious moment, she allowed herself to think that his strained look was due to the others seeing her in a towel when he should've been the only one who got to see that.
"Oh, get over it," She finally forced out when nobody had said anything for several seconds and they were all still staring at her. "I'm wearing underwear, you creeps." She narrowed her gaze at the small group before flipping some hair over her shoulder and marching towards her 'bedroom' disappearing behind the blue curtains before the fierce blush had a chance to appear.
It did appear as soon as she was alone, but at least now they couldn't see it.
There was a pregnant pause in the main room before Nightwing spoke up. "Uh, right. So, anyway." He said before clearing his throat. The news recording stopped. "Obviously, any partnership between the Reach and Lex Luthor is bad news. So Alpha Squad is going undercover to recon Lexcorp Farms."
Morgan finally found her blasted blow dryer and immediately turned it on as she set about drying off her traitorous, soaked clothes, blocking out the rest of the mission briefing.
It might've sounded weird, but listening to Nightwing's voice, a constant reminder that he was currently only a few feet away from her, behind nothing but a flimsy curtain, while she was only in her underwear, made her uncomfortable.
In the best way there was.
Which made her even more uncomfortable. In the worst way.
She was getting whiplash from her own emotions.
She sighed to herself. Her life had been infinitely less complicated back when she didn't have feelings for her –
Hold the phone.
She'd already established this. She didn't have feelings for him.
Slipping her newly dry t-shirt over her head, Morgan setting to work on her pants.
The thicker fabric took much longer to dry, but she eventually managed it.
The winged girl knew she could've always just have let the clothes dry naturally and worn something else today, but the drying stunt was just as much to drown out her mentor's voice than it was because she only wanted to wear that specific outfit.
She was such a train wreck. Morgan was prepared to admit that.
Once the pants were dry, she slipped them on and, when an urge she hadn't felt in several years suddenly presented itself, she attempted to somewhat brush her hair. When the entire thing simply turned into a frizzy nightmare – which she knew would happen so why did she even bother brushing it? – she braided it over her shoulder.
As she was applying her makeup she found herself taking greater care than she usually would and she growled in frustration as she realized she'd unconsciously been paying greater attention to her looks all morning.
Seriously, she was brushing her hair and had been blow drying a pair of pants for twenty minutes because she looked good in them.
Annoyance flared through her when she realized it was probably because she knew Nightwing was waiting for her to emerge so they could go to his apartment and track down her father.
She was making an effort to look good in the presence of some boy.
Upon realizing this, Morgan promptly smudged her eyeliner just a bit.
A small rebellion, but a rebellion nonetheless.
Clasping the charmed necklace around her neck, she pulled the curtains to the side and stepped into the main room, finding it blessedly empty of males.
Except for Nightwing of course, who was waiting for her, leaning casually against the wall as he typed away on the holographic computer installed in his gloves.
He looked up at her arrival and cocked an eyebrow behind his mask as if to silently comment on her earlier stunt in front of the others.
"SO, let's go." She quickly interrupted before he even had a chance to say anything, ducking out of the Warehouse.
Nightwing, chuckling under his breath with just made her flush all over again, followed silently after her and Morgan caught herself subconsciously hoping he was looking at her butt because it really did look good in these jeans. And then she immediately started internally shouting at herself to cut it out.
"So, what mission are the others going on?" She casually asked as Nightwing ducked into a small alley so he could change into civilian clothing.
It would look slightly suspicious if Nightwing came strolling down the street with some civilian girl that happened to look exactly like one of the other superheroes.
Slightly suspicious.
It was a small side alley that was stacked high with wooden crates, leaving him completely concealed from the rest of the world and Morgan stopped at the opening of the alleyway, keeping a respectful distance so he could change in peace.
"They're going on an undercover mission to Lexcorp farms to see what this partnership is all about." Nightwing explained, emerging in a pair of well-fitting jeans and a large, blue hoodie with a grey t-shirt underneath, sports bag slung over his shoulder.
Morgan nodded as the two teenagers continued down the street.
"Think they're up to shenanigans?" She questioned a moment later.
"Lexcorp and the Reach, or Alpha Squad?" He jokingly responded, a small smirk on his lips.
"The squad of course, we all know Robin is a trouble maker." Morgan quipped, rolling her eyes. "The Reach, you idiot."
He didn't take offence to her lighthearted insult. "Lex Luthor has always been troublesome." He admitted. "As for the Reach.. I don't trust them as far as I can throw them."
"Which, considering your lack of super powers, isn't very far." Morgan smirked.
"Tough words coming from the girl who I've been beating over and over again for the last five months." He reminded her.
Had it really already been five months? Morgan's mind started reeling with the fact. "It's been five months already?" She wondered out loud, voice kind of small.
Dick paused next to her for a split second before taking an extra large stride to not fall behind. "It feels like yesterday, huh?"
She nodded absentmindedly. "It does. And at the same time, it feels like I've been doing this forever. I can hardly remember what I used to do before I joined the hero gig."
Turning a corner, they found themselves on the street Dick's apartment was on. "I bet the only reason we're living in that shitty warehouse is because it's close to your own apartment so it's easier for you this way."
Dick rolled his eyes as he dug out his key and opened the door to the building, letting Morgan enter first.
He always did that, she noticed. Let her enter first wherever they went. It was kind of cute.
No it wasn't.
"Thanks for helping me with my family problems by the way." She suddenly felt compelled to say. "I know you don't really have to help me and I appreciate the effort."
"It's fine. You need answers and I can help you get them." He shrugged.
She left it at that, the moment bordering on mushy. And she didn't do mushy.
"Also, I've got something else you need to know." He admitted as he placed his laptop on the small island and dropped into a bar stool in front of it, Morgan seating herself next to him.
Her curiosity welled up at his words. What could he mean by that?
"Yeah?" She tried to sound casual. "Spit it out then."
"After the rescue of the abductees, Black Canary discovered why the Reach had any interest in you and the others." He began as he turned on the computer. "Apparently, some humans harbor a genetic anomaly that lets them develop special powers if they're exposed to trauma. It's what the Reach and the Kroloteans were calling meta gene."
The possibility of getting some answers to her peculiar situation sent her heart racing with excitement and adrenalin. "And you think my telekinesis is the result of a meta gene?"
"I mean, it makes sense, doesn't it?" He went on. "Why else would the Reach have any interest in you?"
"I discovered my power shortly after my wings started growing." Morgan pondered, her voice barely above a whisper. "Maybe the change the wings caused in my body kick-started the meta gene.. Made it active."
"You said the first time you used your power was when a school bully was trying to roughen you up, right?" Dick turned to her.
"I was in a stressful situation and acted in self defense, tapping instinctively into this power that the traumatic experience of suddenly getting wings had caused." Morgan excitedly answered, loving the way the puzzle pieces seemed to slip into place.
"Yeah and maybe your power's been lying dormant in your system since your father first performed the experiments on you." Nightwing said just as eagerly, the two teenagers facing each other, nearly bouncing in their seats with their excited discussion.
"It all makes so much sense!" Morgan happily exclaimed. "Thank you! I've been driving myself mad with all of these unanswered questions."
Dick suddenly smiled widely, such an open and gleeful expression on his face that Morgan was momentarily taken aback. He really was beautiful when he grinned like that, his blue eyes shining.
Awkward because of her own train of thought, she briefly returned the smile before turning back to the computer. "So, my dad?" She reminded him, bringing them back on track.
"Right." Dick turned in his seat himself and tapped a few keys, bringing up the security camera feed he'd been finding on her dad.
None of the recordings were of any real significance, he told her. Morgan still wanted to go through them. Maybe she'd see something he didn't. She did know her father slightly better than her mentor did, after all.
There was roughly ten minutes worth of small clips of her dad passing by security cameras, mostly in subway stations and as she watched the clips, Morgan felt that anger at him resurface, writhing around in her stomach like a snake. Seeing his face only reminded her that he'd used her as a guinea pig to satisfy his own curiosity. And that his curiosity had caused her that much heartache. He hadn't even care about the consequence this would have on the rest of her life, he only cared about his work.
She shook her head slightly to rid it of her thoughts. She was trying to focus here.
Morgan quickly agreed with Dick. None of the clips were of any significance, though they did prove that her dad was mostly in the southern part of Gotham.
Until seven minutes in, where something new happened. There was a thirty second clip of her father walking out of a fairly crowded subway car, where he bumped into a woman.
A woman Morgan swore she'd seen before. The two of them talked briefly before parting ways again, looking far too familiar to simply be two strangers bumping into each other.
She would've let it go, but something at the back of her mind nibbled at her. She got the feeling she'd do well to dig into who this woman was.
"Waitwaitwait," She rapidly said, deciding to follow that urge. Dick paused the tape. "Go back and focus on that woman's face."
He rewound the tape and zoomed in. The picture was slightly blurry but Morgan felt that prodding recognition intensify. "I've seen that woman before.." She mumbled. "Can you run a facial recognition scan or something?"
"Yeah, but it's gonna take some time." Dick responded. "This isn't CSI."
"So let's spar while it works." Morgan suggested. "My three weeks are up and I'm itching for a fight."
"You want to spar right in the middle of my living room?" He asked incredulously.
"Isn't there like a gym or an abandoned building nearby? We could go there." She shrugged, hopping off the bar stool.
He looked thoughtful for a moment. "I know just the place."
'The place' was in fact an old, rundown gym that looked like it hadn't been used since before Morgan was born.
It was dusty and several of the windows and mirrors were broken, but the place was private and had lots of space for the two of them to spar.
And spar they did.
"This was so much easier back when the Cave was still alive." Morgan pointed out, swerving to the left and blocking a quick jab at her shoulder.
"What do you mean?" He asked as he faked a blow to her left using the opening to hit her with his right arm instead.
Morgan grimaced and stumbled a step back at the blow. "Back then we didn't have to sneak into some old gym to train. We could just do it there. Much easier."
He tried for a hit on her left again and Morgan blocked it, keeping a firm grip on his forearm.
"True." He shortly replied, the conversation now over.
She used her grip on his arm to push herself away, jumping into a backwards summersault as he attempted to sweep her legs out from underneath her with a kick.
Morgan responded in kind, using her jump to aim a kick at his chest. He grabbed hold of her ankle before she could hit him and used her newfound imbalance to bring her to the ground, using one of his own legs to pull her other one out from underneath her.
Before she could fall, Morgan, in an attempt to stay up, grabbed hold of the front of his hoodie. Unfortunately, instead of having the desired effect of steadying her, it simply brought him down with her, his own balance lost as his leg tangled with hers. They landed with an "oof" in a heap of limbs, Nightwing thankfully managing to bring his hands out in front him so he didn't crush her underneath his weight.
The two teenagers suddenly found themselves in a rather awkward situation as they lay on the ground, Dick above Morgan, hands on either side of her face, legs tangled together and bodies pressed against each other.
Morgan froze in her spot and felt her eyes widen a fraction, her hand still clenched around a fistful of his hoodie, all too aware of all the places they were making bodily contact. For a moment, all she could focus on were those annoyingly blue eyes looking just as wide and unblinking as her own.
Two horrible seconds passed by, when movement beside her head somehow managed to wrestle her thoughts back into focus. She turned and spotted a huge, hairy, dark brown spider crawling along the floor right next to her.
A terrified and startled scream forced its way through her mouth and she leapt up. The only thing stopping her and Dick's foreheads from colliding – and bringing on the headache of the year for both of them – was the hand she still had a fistful of his hoodie in, which brought him up with her. In her desperate attempt to get away from the monster beside her, she simply rolled out of the way, landing on top of Nightwing.
He looked absolutely shocked at her reaction, perhaps thinking it was from him landing on top of her and not from the spider.
Her mad dash had been a panicked reaction to being so close to the thing and now that she'd done it, she found herself rooted to the spot, unable to do anything but eye the creature fearfully.
"What's wrong?" Dick asked after several seconds of silence, propping himself up onto his elbow so he could better follow her line of sight.
His body shifted underneath her and Morgan was suddenly very much aware of the fact that she'd ended up straddling him in her attempt to get away from the spider.
He finally spotted the creature and looked up at her with incredulous, blue eyes. "You're afraid of spiders?" Dick asked in a tone laced with disbelief. Morgan sucked in a small breath and allowed a timid nod, eyes still intently trained on the small creature which wasn't even moving. "You've faced down bombs, aliens, thugs, guns, and you're still afraid of spiders?"
Morgan finally let go of his hoodie, using the hand to slap his chest instead, frowning down at him. "Shut up, it's an irrational fea– ohmygoditmoved,"
He lay back down on the floor and started all out laughing. If Morgan hadn't been absolutely terrified, she'd have realized that this was probably the first time she'd heard him laugh this much. She'd have noticed that the deep belly laugh jostled her as she sat on his stomach. She'd have noticed that it was a really pleasant laugh that would make anyone close-by struggling to keep their own grin off their faces. She'd have noticed that he was heartbreakingly good looking with his wide smile and shining eyes.
She noticed all of those things later, when she had time to analyze the moment, but currently, she was too focused on the spider lazily walking along the wooden floor like it owned the damn place.
When the spider took another step closer, she let out a squeak and finally found the courage to jump away, severing the body contact she'd had with Nightwing. She quickly stood up, prepared to make a quick getaway if the thing tried to get any closer.
At some point her absolutely useless mentor seemed to pull himself together for long enough to stand up himself, using his foot to nudge the spider away. A small push and the thing seemed to panic, scurrying off and disappearing underneath a dusty stack of old floor boards.
"We are never training in here ever again:" Morgan declared, swallowing dryly as she kept a firm eye on the place the spider had disappeared.
"Not even if I promise to save you from any spiders we encounter in here?" Her mentor wryly asked, still in far too cheery a mood at her expense.
Morgan simply leveled him with a small glare before heading for the exit. The computer should've been finished with running its facial recognition scan by now anyway.
"I'm pretty sure my school friends think I'm in an abusive relationship because of all the bizarre injuries I constantly show up with." Morgan casually said as they reentered Dick's apartment.
"Bizarre injuries?" He questioned as he stalked towards his computer and checked the scan's process.
"You know," She shrugged out of her jacket and threw it onto his couch, ignoring the stern look he sent her at her careless treatment. "Two split lips, several bruises and cuts on my face, a large cut on my forearm, a sprained wrist, three bruised ribs.."
"So what do you tell them when they ask about it?" He asked as he seated himself in front of the computer. Morgan walked over and studied the screen. The scan wasn't completely done, but there were already a dozen profile pictures of women that matched the video of the lady her dad had bumped into.
"I told them I've picked up kick boxing." She told him, pursing her lips at the screen. "I'm not sure they believe me, though. An abusive boyfriend is much more dramatic, and those two thrive on drama. Also, they seem to think that they need to 'rescue' me from my sad life and the whole abusive boyfriend thing just makes my life sadder."
"Some friends." Dick mumbled as he got up from his seat and turned on his coffee machine. "Want any?" He offered.
Morgan nodded her head yes. "They mean well." She smirked slightly. "And they're not even that far off. Except, instead of abuse, it's sparring and crime fighting. And instead of a boyfriend, it's more of a mentor."
Dick raised an eyebrow.
Morgan spoke her next words without thinking, "Either way, they blame you. So they're actually closer to the truth than they realize."
He halted in his movement and frowned at her in confusion. "They blame me?"
Morgan wanted to swallow her tongue so it'd stop spewing stuff without her permission.
The truth was, ever since the winter ball and they'd been seen leaving the ball together, hand in hand, rumors had run amok. By now, most of the first years firmly believed that Morgan and Dick were in a relationship. And because Morgan vehemently denied it every time somebody brought up these rumors, a new rumor had surfaced. Accord to Esmeralda, the new theory was that the two of them were in a relationship, but they had to keep it hidden because Dick's evil and shallow guardian, Bruce Wayne, had forbidden him from seeing her because she was poor.
"Wait, you don't know?" She couldn't help but wonder at how all the gossip at school seemed to fly right over his head.
The 'epic' tale of the star crossed lovers. The good looking, rich Dick Grayson with the tragic past and the heart of gold, falling for Morgan Jørgensen, the street rat.
It was ridiculous of course, but it was just so dramatic and romantic that almost every girl in her year was sighing wistfully at the story.
"No, I don't." He was obviously waiting for her to elaborate.
Of course, because people thought that she was dating him, there was also a whole bunch of the girls and even some of the boys in her year that were relentlessly jealous of her good fortune.
To think that the school's most 'eligible' bachelor had fallen for the poor scholarship student with the wild hair and the bad attitude.
The rumors annoyed Morgan, but as long as her best glare could still ward off anyone's attempt to approach her about them, she would deal.
Morgan wondered how best to tell him. "Okay, so, remember the rumor about us sleeping together after the winter ball?"
Dick nodded.
"Anyway, the rumor kinda.. exploded. Everybody thinks we're dating. And that we're keeping it a secret because your adoptive dad won't let you date somebody from the middle class."
He stared at her for a few short seconds, an eyebrow slowly arching high on his forehead. "That's ridiculous." He concluded. Then he grabbed the coffee pot with a sense of finality and poured the black liquid into two mugs, handing Morgan one of them.
Morgan wondered which part he was calling ridiculous. The part about him not being allowed to date her because of Wayne? Or the part about them dating? Or both?
She firmly told herself that she didn't care if he thought that them dating was ridiculous. Told herself that it didn't hurt at all.
Morgan shrugged. "Yeah, well.. that's what I've been trying to tell them for months now, they don't seem to find it ridiculous."
When he didn't answer – probably because she didn't really give him time to – Morgan quickly brought their conversation back on track. "So, facial recognition scan?"
He nodded and walked around the counter, slipping into the seat next to her. She envied how easily he could reach the very high seat of the bar stool. Morgan had to practically scale her way up the thing to reach the seat with her much shorter legs.
As he stiffly brought up the newly finished results of the scan, Morgan vowed to never bring the topic of their 'relationship' up again. It was uncomfortable for her to talk about and it obviously made him uncomfortable to listen to.
"This is the completed list." He angled the computer so she could see better. "If you don't recognize any of the women, I could hack into the national database to find more that match, but I'd have to do it from the Batcomputer. This is as much as I can offer you right now."
"It's great." Morgan voiced her gratitude. "Thanks for doing this."
He tipped his head in acknowledgement of her words.
Morgan slowly scrolled through the pictures, hoping that, any moment now, she'd look at one of the pictures and something in her mind would just click and she'd know without a doubt that this was the woman.
Halfway through, she experienced that exact sensation. "This is the lady." She pointed at the picture of a woman from her shoulders and up, her brown eyes looking directly into the camera. "I'm sure of it."
"Doctor Fathiya Robbins." Dick read out loud as he opened her file. "Do you remember where you recognize her from?" The teen beside her asked as Morgan looked at the picture for a small moment, trying to remember why the woman looked so damn familiar.
"I think.." Morgan closed her eyes as a fussy memory entered her mind unbidden. A six year old Morgan was sitting in her father's office, waiting for him to finish his work so they could go home and celebrate her birthday. Her blonde curls were pulled into two bouncy pigtails, her short body clad in a polka-dotted, red dress with frills and bows. Her father entered his office and smiled widely at his little angel, the woman in the picture right behind him. She wished Morgan a happy birthday and pulled a small, colorfully wrapped present with a golden ribbon, out from behind her back, earning a gleeful squeal from the small girl.
Morgan reopened her eyes as the memory ended and leveled a wide-eyed look at her mentor. "She used to work with my dad." She breathed.
He frowned at her. "Are you sure?"
Morgan nodded. "One hundred percent. This woman was a fellow scientist. She must've been the one he worked with on the whole bird-slash-human experiments." Her fists clenched unconsciously in her lap as she looked at the picture of the woman in front of her, hating how she only seemed to have pleasant memories of her despite all the hurt she'd indirectly caused Morgan.
"Then she has to have a daughter your age." Dick pointed out. "Your dad said they used both of their daughters in the experiments."
"Can you pull up her family history?" Morgan questioned.
He tapped a few keys and four new pictures showed up. One was of a tall, blonde man, stated as her husband. Three pictures of what Morgan assumed were their kids appeared afterwards.
Her entire body froze and her eyes widened to the size of saucers as her mouth dropped open. Pure, unchallenged shock coursed through her system as she caught sight of the oldest of their kids.
It was Rachel.
If nothing else, at least this chapter was long, simply because I needed that cliffhanger in my life.
Sorry.
ALSO, IS IT JUST ME OR COULD THEY GET ANY CUTER? CAN I GET AN AMEN OR Is it just me getting all excited over here? Oh, okay.. *sad*
I feel like I should address the plot twist..
So.. Yup. Rachel's more important to the plot than we all thought. How many of you had totally called it? Despite the fact that I have given zero hints throughout the story?
Random thought: Seriously, imagine if Morgan and Dick ever got a kid. They'd be half american, quarter romani and quarter danish. Talk about cultural confusion. What do you think their kid would be like, though?
Fun fact: Because I listen to music A LOT when I think about this story, I sort of find songs that become each character's song, or a song that fits perfectly in a specific situation/scene. (Basically, if anybody wants to make a musical out of this story, I already have all the music you'll need.) I listen a lot to Defying Gravity when it comes to Morgan. The whole 'breaking out of your old life and rules and changing your destiny while using metaphors about flying' just fits a lot, ya know?