Any delays in posting can be blamed on some combination of homework, studying for tests, doing chores, tutoring a few elementary kiddies about bugs, having difficulties in altering a few events after the plot was changed, and working on the musical. The last is the most likely, since I'm working on Oliver! four and a half hours a day, and that's just at rehearsal. But, it does make sense- at the time this was posted, it was six days to curtain and Dots was not foremost in a first-time lead's mind. (Giving rather neurotic author-wannabes lead roles in musicalsdoes odd things to their eccentricities.) I don't expect to have another chapter up before curtain, but this story is far from being over. Just to repeat the usual disclaimer that can be assumed for the entire story: I do not own the Teen Titans, or Jell-O.
Chapter Forty-four: A Run of Good Luck
"So, basically, we're talking very little gang activity until Sunday," Victor said, trying to sort out facts. Jinx had very happily announced that Trigon was suitably distracted, but he wanted a little clarification.
"Yes," Jinx said. She was beaming. "I listened in, last night. Trigon had a talking-to you wouldn't believe. For the next week, every last employee that doesn't have the personal approval of a new power in Forston is going to be on their toes. That means that there aren't many people at ease."
"I take it you're one of them," he said.
"Naturally- what high-level powerhouse of authority wouldn't just love to have little old me around? Don't answer that." She paused, trying to find the right words. Rachel still insisted that the Titans shouldn't know. Jinx understood the idea, but the theatrics that usually accompanied a serious talk were a bit much. Jinx was a criminal. Only Richard still twitched a little when he looked at her, but he was the suspicious sort- and he had heard that she knew about a certain Red X. "Trigon's reorganizing his operation."
"Is that good or bad?"
"Reorganization? It won't help or hurt your team, Stone. This is internal stuff. If you do run into a fight, I'd be surprised- just think of this as a break while the gangs get ready." Jinx fumbled for words, again- she really did not like this idea of Rachel's, but she wasn't going to pop a secret that big. Besides the fact that she worked for Rachel- Jinx was not going to be any more involved in the revelation than she had to. That was a Titans-only moment- especially since she had known exactly whose daughter dear Raven was for years.
"So, after this Sunday, it'll be a madhouse."
"Not a madhouse- more like a . . . mess," Jinx said thoughtfully. "My boss is going to share power with Trigon- it's an unusual arrangement. My boss isn't interested in power- don't look at me like that, it's the truth- and Trigon finds security in that. Starting in March, he's going to be pulling in foreign heads of operations. Madame Rouge and such- she's in Russia. She's French, originally, but she's been up in the land of snow and vodka for a long time. She's lugging Brain and Mallah over here with her."
"I think I've heard of Rouge," Victor said mildly. "She's pretty famous in news broadcasts. She's a big name- behind lots of murders, kidnappings, the usual."
"She's very high in Trigon's share of Russia's organized crime. She is the contact for narcotics, hallucinogenics, alcohol, weapons, and money-laundering. Brain doesn't come up much- I'm not sure of his real name. He runs day-to-day under Rouge. Imagine a dork. Pocket-protectors, bent glasses, twiggy frame- the whole deal. He has a double-holster that holds a graphing calculator and a gun. Brain runs tactics and strategy. Mallah is pure muscle- not much in the brains department, but he's huge. He fights well enough to be a bodyguard, and is just dim enough to be trusted with a few big orders," Jinx said.
"I feel like I should be taking notes."
"I can give the spiel to your group, if you want- or you could ask Rae-Rae for a few details. Except- I wouldn't call her that. She tolerates Rae from one person on the planet. Rae-Rae is somewhere that even people who could beat her in a fight hesitate to go."
"Someone calls her Rae?" Victor asked.
She should have known there was a problem with the boy- good-looking, charismatic, polite, fighter, superb listener. The last was the issue- she liked talking to him, and then she forgot a few careful lies. "I think you know that I've met her folks. I don't talk about that. Rachel wouldn't want me to."
"I know- but can I just ask you something? I know her dad's not right, but does she have at least one good parent?"
"Her mom was- in denial for a time, I guess. I don't know what else to call it- and it's not like I know that much," Jinx said. It was partly true. She had only known intimate details for two months. "She's shaping up, though. Rachel has her mom back." Victor wasn't the paranoid sort- but Jinx would be careful not to let Richard know about too many coincidences.
"Gar said he'd call me," Victor said, changing the subject. Jinx looked ready to drop the matter. They'd spent the day people-watching at the mall, after sitting through a horrible movie they happily ripped apart. "He had to go into the hospital this morning."
"Oh?" Jinx said, pretending a touch of interest.
Victor knew that was the most he would get. Jinx didn't like to look too interested in anything. "Rachel took him. If he's showing up for patrol, he better have been resting- Rachel's designated herself the one to bother him about taking care of himself and resting properly."
"Are you going to call him?" Jinx asked, interested. If Victor used the communicator, Jinx would be very happy to talk to Gar. An opportunity to hear someone else talk about Rachel was always fun- especially when she could bother someone. If Gar didn't have a crush on Rachel, Jinx would apologize for a few snide comments made to Rachel. Jinx hated apologies.
"I might as well," Victor said. "If he's not showing up, the rest of us will have to decide if we're going without him- from what you said, it'll be a slow night." He didn't want to wake Gar up, if he was sleeping- but there was one way to find out.
Gar groggily sat up when his communicator rang, answering as he yawned. "Hello?"
"Okay, I guess you were asleep," Victor said. "It's half past eight, so this would be about time to wake up anyway. Are you up for patrolling? Because if you aren't, I'll just hang around my place with Jinx."
She waved. "Hi, Gar. You look greener than usual."
"Friendly," he grumbled, but he was smiling a little as he rubbed his eyes. "I don't know about today. I'll be up for tomorrow, but-"
"Don't even think about feeling bad about calling off. I'll tell Rachel on you."
It was dark in the room, even with the curtains on the front window open. That was Gar's best explanation for how he could have missed her. "Okay- one, you wouldn't have to call her up. Two, don't talk too loud."
"What?" Victor asked, trying to make out the dark image on the communicator.
Jinx saw a book. "That's a pretty thick story- and I'll guess that Rachel's asleep, if she looks that sprawled over. If she's awake, she tends to have much better posture. If you ever see her slouching, there are really two possibilities. She's either that relaxed around you- or you better be ready to comfort or run."
"She stayed over?" Victor asked.
"Well, it looks like it- I just woke up," Gar said, remembering what Jinx had said. It never hurt to have a little information about Rachel's moods. "I think the drugs were worse than usual, today. Besides being completely tired- I don't think I remember a few details right."
"Make-out session?" Jinx asked idly, dodging a slow elbow from Victor. He was just jealous that he couldn't dead-pan that.
"No!" Gar protested. He paused, considering- she wasn't going to be happy without some sort of explanation. "Just- flirting."
"Flirting-flirting or it-might-have-been-flirting?" Jinx asked, unimpressed. Victor had figured out that she was the girl getting results. She could take over interrogations.
"Flirting-flirting."
"Oh?"
Victor knew that Gar wasn't used to Jinx's cool looks. Raised eyebrows were a sign that Jinx was impressed- but she still managed to look fully disdainful. "I don't need details," she said. "Second-hand romantic diatribe is never as amusing- but did the lady in question admit it was flirting?"
"Yes."
"Did she return it?" Jinx watched as her victim squirmed, just a touch. "I thought so. Victor, we have ourselves an infatuation,at the least. So, Gar," she said, changing subjects very quickly, "when are you going to ask her out?"
"What?"
"Do I need to use smaller words?" Jinx asked. "I prefer intelligent conversation, but I did deal with Mammoth for a few years- if necessary, I can reduce banter to monosyballic commands."
"No, I just- haven't thought of it."
"Liar," she said with a smile.
"Well, would you be able to ask her out?" he whispered urgently, very conscious that Rachel was very near.
Jinx considered the idea. "She's a nice girl, for all that she puffs out her feathers and tries to be scary whenever someone figures out that she isn't a demon- but she's really not my type. I mean, if I liked girls that way- we'd have been together for years. As it is, I'd just be playing with her heart."
Victor couldn't help but laugh at that. "Jinx, don't tease him so much- he's too worn out to retort properly."
"Hm- a worn out guy who just spent all day with a rather spent girl . . ." Jinx mused, keeping her face impassive as Gar colored. "But- I don't think so. I don't think she would still have the book, for one- well, she is pretty attached to her books, but to that extent? That's just a little odd, you know, but I suppose it might be possible to keep hold of a book if she was really determined. . ."
"Okay, Jinx- he's already red. We don't need to see Gar go to vermilion."
"Victor, you're supposed to protect friends from a vicious girlfriend," Gar admonished. "I mean, if Rachel were awake-" He froze when she moved just a little, yawning. "Um, speaking of that, hi, Rachel," he said awkwardly.
She blinked away sleep in a minute, keeping quiet until she remembered exactly what was happening. "Hello, Gar." She looked at the communicator. "And Victor and Jinx- charming. Three people staring at me while I'm waking up- just what a girl wants."
"I didn't think you'd stay," Gar said.
"I wasn't planning on staying long, to tell the truth," Rachel said. "I was just going to stick around to make sure that you were fine on your own, but your house is a lot calmer than mine. I finally finished the infernal book."
"Infernal?" Jinx asked. "Which one would this be? Divine Comedy?"
"No, Pride and Prejudice."
"No wonder you found it horrid," Jinx said with a straight face. Not even Rachel and Victor could always tell when she was joking. "Two people just won't admit that they're right for each other, until many, many people interfere and cause general havoc." She noted with great satisfaction that both Rachel and Gar were uncomfortable with that idea. "So, Gar, you're not going to patrol?" It was time to leave the pair of them.
"No."
"Good," Rachel said. "And good night, Victor, Jinx."
"Good night," Victor said. Rachel had something to say.
"Fran and I didn't think you would be doing much today," Rachel said. "You know I have sense enough to keep discretion about the Titans. You're on heavier doses today, so she thought you'd sleep for awhile."
"Just what did you and Fran talk about?" he asked.
"Besides the fainting? And yes, that was fainting," she said before he could insist otherwise. "Just- assorted things."
"In other words, you're not going to tell me."
She nodded cheerfully. She didn't have to smile to be in a good mood. "Of course not- what would the fun be in that? Instead, I'll remember the charming little anecdotes until I have use for them. Your mom will be home soon."
"You don't have to go. You could stay for dinner- I could use someone to protect me from my parents."
She only took a moment to consider. "There's just one problem in your logic."
"Oh. Well, if you don't want to stay-"
"Gar, you know me better than that. I'm just far more likely to side with your foster parents, that's all- teasing people from the safety of large groups is fun. Your advantage of the chemo is pretty good, for a sympathy pull- but I'm the guest," she said as her communicator rang. "Just a moment- hello, Kori."
"Rachel, are we patrolling today? Richard's pacing- it's cute, in a way. He wants to go out to dinner, but he also wants to patrol."
"The Titans are calling in a break, just like Eve keeps ordering. Victor's spending time with Jinx, I'd rather take a break, and Gar agrees. So, three Titans say no."
"And if I also decline to wish to patrol, he'd hardly go against four," Kori said. "Thanks, Rachel- he really needs the break, and he knows it, but he can be most stubborn."
"Can't we all?" Rachel hoped that Kori recognized a rhetorical question.
"Rachel, are you at friend Gar's house?"
"Yes." There was no point in denying it.
"You stayed over, then?"
"Yes, and I'll probably be over here for a while more- dinner with his folks and all."
"I shall see the both of you tomorrow, then."
"I'll see you in first hour, yes," Rachel said. She waved to Richard, gave a quick recommendation for a good place to eat, and put the communicator on her book. "Friends are complicated," she said awkwardly. She didn't know what to say to get back to the comfortable give-and-take they had made earlier. Kori obviously would encourage them, but that didn't matter. Rachel couldn't remember exactly what they had done, to find that mood- it probably was the fact that he was too tired to be a little scared of her. Most people were, after all, even if it just was a little- and she did not want to try guessing his reaction, if she ever told him about Trigon. Their fragile relationship couldn't handle anything like that. Taking a nap killed it efficiently enough.
"Yeah," he agreed weakly. He didn't know what to say, and certainly didn't know how to regain the old mood. He had been mostly asleep. That was probably the only reason it had happened. He hadn't been awake enough to mess it up completely. She put her book back in the car, his parents came home, and they had a perfectly enjoyable dinner- but that wasn't enough anymore. That was the trouble with getting one's hopes up- it made disappointment that much worse. There was no use giving up hope, even with that. Someone had to be optimistic, after all.
.Reconnaissance.
Jinx watched Victor for a long moment after he left for a brief time in the bathroom. "You just called someone- a lady. Don't get offended- I could recognize Kori's voice from here. You started getting antsy about calling her just after calling Gar, come to think about it. I think you're planning something, Stone."
"Maybe I am."
"Oh, relax- 'maybe I am' indeed. I'll help. I can get to Rachel, even when she's avoiding you and Kori. Your little plan just needs to account for one thing."
"What's that?"
"They can't know at the same time that we're interfering. We call them separately- and if you'll let me call Rachel, I can make sure that she goes to another room to talk. That's when you and the other two spring the plot on Gar."
"Who said anything about Richard?" Victor asked, guessing who could be part of 'the other two.'
"If Kori's involved, she'll get Richard in somehow," Jinx said. "What's the grand plan? You might as well spill. I was in the HIVE, remember? Hook-people-up games were a part of the politics."
"We were working on a plan."
"You're going to the big fancy hoopla Sunday. You've mentioned that Rachel dear agreed to dance with Gar a while ago, before it was obvious that she was interested. It's simple. You tell each of them- out of the other's hearing- your ultimatum. If Rachel doesn't make an effort to talk to Gar by Sunday morning before the wedding- you'll tell him. The same goes for Gar, with a few changed words. It leaves the stress on them, they won't compare notes without revealing what they're being pressured about."
Victor processed the speech for a minute. "Jinx, do I even want to know why you have a good plan for just about everything?"
"Probably not," she said with a grin. "Let's just say there is a reason my boss wanted me working right under him. I'm safer when I like people."
"So, you'll call Rachel?"
"And I'll keep her on the phone for four minutes. You explain things to Kori and Richard and call Gar- it doesn't matter if his parents hear. Call his land line."
Victor called Kori, but handed the phone over to Jinx. The two of them planned. He bet that he wouldn't understand the conversation if he wasn't just hearing half of it. Kori obviously approved, from the look on Jinx's face. She only looked that happily self-satisfied when all was going the way she wanted. She hung up smiling.
"Do we have nothing better to do than interfere with a pair of lovebirds?" Victor asked. "In time, they'd come around. We're in a relationship of our own. Why are we messing with those two?"
"You started to interfere before I showed up. We are in the steady state of a relationship- it's fascinating to us, when we do other things, too, and no one really wants to sit around and watch an established couple. That would be like watching Richard and Kori. They have their inside jokes, faces, gestures, mannerisms- we wouldn't get it. Gar and Rachel- well, they're starting off, and watching people fall in love is fun."
"Is it?" he asked.
She didn't like the look in his eyes, or the new tone in his voice. He wasn't this way often, but when he was- she couldn't stand seeing him just look at her like she was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen, and sound the part. If he kept looking at her like that, she wouldn't be able to stay back. Ease up, girl. You need to leave an escape route, remember? She turned away, purposely shattering the dangerous mood. "I'll call Rachel."
He knew that she was wary about going too far- but not in the usual ways. She was fine with kissing- but she'd only rarely admit to liking him. Even that much was usually in jest. If he tried to say anything remotely serious, she was either joking or out the door or angry. She always came back as if nothing had happened, as if she hadn't yelled that she was not his girlfriend.
Jinx resolutely ignored him. He never actively tried to make her feel guilty- but she still felt that she should apologize. Jinx hated apologies as much as she hated goodbyes. Neither ever went right, in her experience. "Rachel, I need to talk to you," she said quietly and very quickly. Victor guessed that was the instant that Rachel had picked up the phone. "Could you?" Jinx said. "It might be better- it's hard to not get a reaction. I have two things to tell you." Jinx gave Victor a thumbs-up, his signal to call Kori.
Rachel tried to not be irritable when she took her phone into the bathroom. She trusted Gar and his parents- but she'd rather not let them overhear anything too incriminating. "What is it?"
"Remember, Rachel- two things. First, you and Gar."
"Don't make me hang up on you."
"No, no- it's short," Jinx said. "I've talked with Kori, Victor, and Richard. If you haven't talked to Gar about this issue by the wedding Sunday morning, they'll tell him."
"Tell him what?" Rachel asked coolly.
"Don't play cold-mistress-of-darkness with me, Rachel. I buy you toothpaste. We'll tell him about the obvious infatuation. The boy was blushing like neon lights when he admitted the two of you were flirting-flirting- and don't take it out on him, I know that you're pretty deep if you're letting anyone try flirting. I'll take the blame for that much- and I'll say that he didn't look too mad about what happened."
"We're good friends, Jinx."
"Honey, you and Victor are good friends- and I know you don't flirt with him."
Rachel glowered, even if no one was there to see. "It's different with Gar- and don't call me honey."
"That's the ultimatum, Rachel. You tell him- or we tell him. Other than that- that was just a brief talk- I wanted to tell you about Angela and Trigon. I can give details about what she yelled at him, what she threw at him, and how he stopped protesting a few minutes in. He's running an inside overhaul."
Rachel considered. The bathroom door was closed, and Gar knew that she liked talking privately. If she said that Jinx had time to talk- it would be fine. She winced as the phone shrilled in her ear- someone had left the cordless in the bathroom. Luckily, it stopped after two rings. Rachel listened to the beginnings of Jinx's monologue, ignoring the answered phone.
Gar answered the phone in the kitchen. The phone had a cord that would stretch to four feet, which didn't give him much room. "Hello?"
"Gar, I do not have much to say, but it's important."
"That sounds kinda foreboding, Kori."
"Oh, it isn't all that bad," she said. "I was just talking with Richard, Jinx, and Victor."
"See, that does sound bad."
"It's about Rachel."
He should have known. "If I was talking to Victor or Richard or Jinx, I'd have sense enough to hang up. But- you're the nice Titan."
Shelia had been listening. When her son was five feet away, it was hard not to. "Gar, realize that I'm hearing half of this conversation."
"The half I'm hearing isn't much better," Gar said.
"It is very simple," Kori said, ignoring distractions and remaining very conscious that Jinx could only keep Rachel busy for so long. "Patrol is tomorrow, when we'll be ready to assure you of our sincerity. You have until Sunday to tell one Rachel Roth of your feelings for her- no denials, please, we all know by now. If you do not tell her by the time the wedding starts, we'll tell her for you."
"Kori, you-"
"Sorry, Gar, but some people just need a deadline to work best." She paused a final moment. "And this is for the best. You'll thank us, later- we hope, at least."
He heard Richard's protest ("Kori, that's not going to encourage him") before the phone disconnected. He stared at the offending piece of technology.
"Gar, what was that about?" Harry asked.
"My friends being irritating," he said with a scowl.
"Hon, you don't glower often," Shelia said, noting the scowl. "Even on chemo days- and you were okay today, right? Fran said you slept through, but I still worry."
"I was fine, Rachel was fine- my friends are convinced that Rachel and I are not fine, and that I need to- um, yeah. Let's just say that they're interfering."
Shelia smiled. "About Miss Roth? You know that I'd have no objections. You can date whoever you wish, of course- but I like her."
"Not you, too," he grumbled.
"Why not?" Harry asked. "Don't fuss, she's still talking- I can't hear her words, but I can hear her. I can't say that I'm certain- but she certainly does seem to be much closer to you than any of her other friends. If you need to talk-"
He shook his head. "Nope. Sorry. Maybe - if – I happen to say something- I'll consider that. Until then- sorry, but teenage guys do not talk to their parents about girls. Okay? It doesn't help that she's about fifteen feet away."
Shelia smiled. "I know, I know- but you don't have to be so typical. Maybe, if you don't make a move- she will."
"Your mother certainly did," Harry said. "She came in to ask me out on a date- and then sat herself on the hood of the car I was working on until I needed to get to the engine. I have no doubts that Rachel is just as persistent."
"What cars did you work on today?" Gar asked.
Harry recognized a forced subject change. "I didn't have anything exciting- just a few new imports, no muscle cars. Your mother had the pediatric surgery."
"It went very well," Shelia said. "Dennis will be up and running the nurses ragged in just a few days." She yawned before she continued. "And I'll be sleeping in tomorrow- the surgery ran over. I won't give details."
"The blood, I know," Gar said. "Fran talked to Rachel, all about the time I got blood work last year."
Shelia smiled. "Fran's a friendly nurse- and Rachel knows enough to keep the grouchier ones talking. I take it that they talked about uncomfortable topics?"
"I don't even know," Gar admitted. "I was asleep."
"She definitely heard the story about the blood?" Harry asked.
Rachel heard that much. "Yes, and quite a few other tales," she said, taking a seat at the table. "Sorry about the phone call- Jinx insisted that she had to talk to me."
"Jinx can be pretty persuasive," Gar said. "What did she want to talk about?"
"She talked about my mom a little- it's pure chance that Jinx knows my mother. Then, she talked about how she had an interesting conversation with you, confirmed the rumor that I was going to wear a dress at Vic's mom's wedding, and hung up." Rachel was used to abrupt ends by now.
"Anything else?" Gar asked.
"Just- girl talk," Rachel said. "Nothing very exciting to talk about" but it'll be exciting when I throttle Jinx, Kori, Richard, and Victor, all at once. "I heard the phone ring- was that anything interesting?"
"No, just Kori telling me that we're patrolling tomorrow" and that she and Jinx and Victor and Richard want to interfere in my life, and probably get me killed. Maybe they're just too cheap to hire a hitman.
"That's all, then?" Rachel asked.
"That's all."
Jinx called Kori after a minute. "Did you get him?"
"Yes, and I delivered the 'ultimatum,' as it is called- but it still feels that we are pressuring them," Kori said.
"A little bit of pressure's fine- and trust me, I need the distraction. Trigon's going to be busy for the rest of the week, so you guys can take it easy- if he starts to try getting back to business as usual, a jerk over on the other end of the big operation is just asking to be narced on." Jinx knew she had a temper, but she liked to think she only held grudges for a reason.
"That's all we do," Kori said.
"That's the most intervention that we can do," Jinx said. "Push any farther, they'll start resisting- and then you have two moody single teammates."
Richard still was skeptical. "We could just let them go on their own timeline."
Kori disputed that. "They're too uncertain about themselves. This way- maybe one will be bold enough to make that first step. I still think that it's odd, that we're all so involved in this relationship- if they want it to happen, it will happen. We have only given them a restraint on time- because if neither makes a move, we will not fulfill the ultimatum."
"What?" Victor asked with Richard and Jinx.
"I insist," Kori said. "We have interfered. If this doesn't work- maybe they simply are not meant to be."
"'Meant to be' nothing," Jinx protested.
"We will give them a chance," Kori continued serenely, as if she had not been interrupted. "If they do nothing- we will simply say that we should not have interfered. The guilt from that would draw them into a later confession more than anything else."
Richard was the first to grin. "Kori, have I ever mentioned that I'm very, very glad I go out of my way to not make you angry?"
"No, but you can mention it," she said.
"Okay, kids, we're hanging up," Jinx said before she could hear the reply to match Richard's facial expression. "Don't do anything you wouldn't want to imagine your parents doing, Kori- and Richard, for you- imagine Selina and Bruce." She smiled impishly at the disgusted faces- traumatizing teenagers, two at a time.
"Does the same go for us?" Victor asked.
"I don't know, Stone," she said. "There certainly has been a lot of relationship drama around here- do you think we can avoid any thorny issues today?"
"I think we can."
This wasn't right- she had to fix this. He was closing off a little, to make her comfortable- "No, forget that. Let's talk."
"Jinx, are you about to start a cliché on me?" he asked.
She stuck her chin in the air. "Let's talk about us," she said, dropping the impression after that sentence. "I don't know, Stone- I'm bad with all this kind of stuff. I- I need to know that you understand. I am a criminal. I am in a gang. Someday, I could end up dead- or gone. I could have to skip town. I could just want to leave."
"I'll try convincing you that you don't want to leave- and maybe, if I was done with high school, I would come with you. As for the first option- I worry about all my friends, Jinx, but not nearly as much as I do about you."
"I don't want to hurt you, Victor."
"That's a start."
She usually objected to the way he got when his voice sounded a little lower- but maybe that was because she hated feeling weak, and that voice made her knees shake just a little bit. Forget it, Jinx- you're head over heels into the guy, and your knees are about as steady as HIVE cafeteria Jell-o that's been lefttoo close to the stove. "Starts are good, right? Maybe someday we'll finish this talk, Victor." She decided they had talked enough for the day. Words could only say so much, after all, and they had plenty to think about- later.
