Chapter drop 2 of 3!
It was a new day in Titans Tower and, thankfully, it was a free day for Cyborg.
He stood in the garage, covered in grease and oil, smiling smugly as he listened to Beast Boy's car purr the way it did when he first built it. There had been an odd ticking noise, a tapping that his buddy had barely heard as the car ran, that turned into something louder over time. It had taken Cyborg a bit to figure out that it was a component of the valve train that had been making the sound, then even longer to disassemble the engine to get to said part to replace it. It was probably one of the only times he'd been annoyed with his own ingenuity.
Still, it had been fun. He had really come to enjoy mechanical work over the years, particularly since he had developed the skills to make vehicles from scratch. There was quite the sense of fulfillment in doing so.
Of course, sometimes he got carried away. Sometimes, like right now, he went ahead and changed the oil in all the vehicles, rotated the tires, cleaned the headlights, all that good stuff. Sometimes he even got so carried away that he finished half of the hybrid car he was making for his not-girlfriend Jinx. It was fun working on something wasn't a Titan Tower.
Whistling cheerfully to himself, he closed the hood of his car and almost hit the ceiling in fright when he came face to face with Raven.
"Raven…I swear to God…you have got to stop doing that!" He said as he crammed his heart back in his chest.
"Stop doing what?" She asked innocently as she floated through the car and set down upon the hood of her boyfriend's car.
"Scaring me!"
"I haven't the faintest idea of what you're talking about." She feigned ignorance with a small shrug.
Cyborg glared at her and shook his head. "Damnit Raven-"
"Damnit Cyborg." She clapped back.
He stopped, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. Damnit, this girl had gotten so sassy since Rose moved into the tower. When he opened his eyes, Raven was still sitting there with that smug grin on her face.
"What did I do?" He asked.
"Do?" More feigned ignorance. He sighed.
"Yes, do. This is the third time this week that you've popped up and tested to see if my heart still works and I'm not really feeling it anymore. So, what did I do to deserve this?"
"The better question to ask is what haven't you done?" She said cryptically.
He stared at her, the cybernetic half of his brain running through chores and tasks, appointments and meetings, work projects and game days. Everything on the done list was exactly that. No, wait…
He frowned. "I am not calling my father."
Still smiling, Raven cocked an eyebrow.
Beside him, his car unlocked.
He looked at it, then back at Raven. She leaned forward, propping her head up and stared back at him as the trunk to his car popped open.
He nervously looked back at his car. "That's dirty, Rae."
"You and Jericho are the only people left on my list, Cyborg, though Jericho says he's already been going to a psychiatrist for a year now. I've been lenient with you for a month now so I could tend to Red Star and Kilowatt, but I'm done with them." She said firmly, all amusement dropping away. "You are not getting out of this any longer."
"Look-"
"No."
"Raven-"
"No."
"Listen! I-"
"No."
He glared at her, angry now.
"I made Robin sit down and talk to Batman. I made Aqualad sit down and talk to Aquaman. Speedy with Green Arrow. Beast Boy with Mento." She floated off the car and brought herself face to face with him, staring him down. "Everyone has had to address the skeletons in their closet. You are no exception. Period."
"I don't want to talk to him!" Cyborg snapped.
"I know."
"Then why-"
"Because you need to." She interrupted. "Listen to yourself, Victor. That isn't your pride making you angry. It's the scars on your heart."
He stared her down as he processed this.
Sometimes…just sometimes…he really hated how quickly his cybernetic half could process things, how fast he could connect the dots when he saw them.
And sometimes he really hated how Raven was right.
"One call. And that's it." He huffed.
"Okay." Raven said in a way that clearly stated that she wasn't actually going to accept only one call.
"Shoo!" He waved her off. "Before I change my mind!"
"If you do I'll just have Gar hack into your mainframe and change it back." Raven said nonchalantly, floating towards the door.
"Don't even joke like that." He growled at her. "That one is going too far."
"Sounds like someone is still mad about the whole Furby thing." She snickered.
He snatched up and threw an aluminum foil ball at her, a greasy leftover from brunch. It harmlessly phased through her and bounced off the wall. She was still laughing when she left the room.
As angry as he was about being reminded of the Furby incident, he still couldn't figure out how the hell Beast Boy had transferred his mind into a Furby while he was powered down. Raven and Robin swore they had nothing to do with it, but they just had to be involved…right?
Right?
Amused and temporarily satisfied, Raven meandered through the hallway towards the elevator. The past five months, while stressful, had gone rather well. The entirety of the Titans had been evaluated and helped, as well as a few freelance heroes and a few Justice Leaguers. Raven discovered that she had a knack for this sort of thing and had been considering taking a few classes in psychiatry and whatnot to become an officially recognized specialist in the field. There were many ways where this could be beneficial, particularly if it was slipped to the public. Making the Titans and Leaguers more humanized to the civilians would more than likely work in their favor.
It was a tasty food for thought, but she tucked that morsel away for another day.
She hadn't been entirely honest with Cyborg. Jericho wasn't the only one left on her list. Rose and Eddie needed to be evaluated as well, but Raven outright dreaded those forays. Eddie's mind had been through Hell, quite literally. There was no telling what he had seen and experienced down there and Raven most certainly did not want to find out. He hadn't shown much distress over what he had been through though. The most prominent things she had sensed in him was insomnia. He apparently only slept a few hours each night, if that.
Given his healing factor, such a thing wouldn't effect his physical health. However, his mental health…very much so. She'd been keeping an eye on him over the past five months since Slade's defeat and capture but hadn't seen anything to be concerned about. Yet.
Rose, on the other hand…well, Raven just really did not want to take a walk through her mind.
But then again, the former assassin had been acting a little odd the past couple of weeks. Raven had felt her resolution bolster and waver more times than she could count, which meant Rose was feeling very conflicted about something she wanted to do. It made her wonder if it had anything to do with the discussion between Rose and Eddie that Garfield overheard where they were considering moving to Los Angeles. They apparently missed it quite a bit, having a lot of good memories there and all. Raven most certainly would not try to dissuade them should they choose to leave. She missed her peace and quiet.
Humming to herself, Raven made her way to the common room. Her relationship with Garfield was going rather well. They were nearing their six month mark within a couple of weeks, which tickled more than a few of her emotions absolutely pink. And they were finally going to take their vacation starting tomorrow! She hadn't meant to take so long with her self-anointed task, but Garfield had been surprisingly patient about it.
His own evaluation had been…well, rough. He had more skeletons in his closet than she thought, but it didn't stop her from helping him the least bit. She also didn't show him any leniency or favoritism during it, completely separating her personal life from the work she was doing. It worked out well in her favor despite having to fuss at Garfield for flirting with her.
The common room was empty. Garfield had just left to go on patrol about thirty minutes ago, Jinx, Robin, and Starfire had Martin and Emelia (and Mister Spooky, damned astral demon) out shopping, and now Cyborg was going to avoid Raven for the rest of the day (cause he was being grumpy). This left only Rose and Eddie, who weren't even in the city. It was the third time this month that they had gone down to L.A. on some errand or another, though it was likely that they were just killing time at the new Titans Tower with Eddie's friend Zachary Zatanna.
Satisfied with how the day had turned out so far, Raven began to float around and tidy up the room. Errant toys returned to bins, crayons and color pencils (which, apparently, were not the same thing as she had thought) arranged themselves in their cases, miscellaneous trash found its way into the trash bin (which led to the incinerator she had to clean before the day was done), and best of all, her tea kettle filled itself up and set upon the stove.
Raven had never really minded cleaning up after the others unless it was excessive. It was, after all, just an exercise in control for her and it took far less time for her to do than it did anyone else. It had almost become therapeutic, relaxing even. Granted, she knew that one day in the future she would probably dread cleaning up. She figured her and Garfield's natural born children would probably have their fathers energy and run her ragged. It was an amusing thought that always brought a smile to her face. Yes, her life had changed so much and Raven didn't regret it the least bit. She had a greater sense of fulfillment now than she ever did before.
That was about the time Raven noticed she was floating a few extra feet off the floor. Shaking her head, she dropped down and chastised herself for sticking her head in the clouds again. She really was just riding high on Garfield's love for her. Still. But that was okay.
She refocused her attention on the kettle before her as the last of the room was cleaned. Today she was going to try a new flavor, lemon balm. Thanks to Garfield, she had come to discover that she rather enjoyed the taste of lemons, whether it be lemonade, lemon warhead candies (which she could eat with no issue), or just a lemon in general. Naturally, her curiosity peaked when she saw this tea-
She felt the disturbance before it arrived. Shit. She thought.
BAMF
"You sure babe? I mean, I can come back-" Eddie started to say before Rose cut him off.
"No no, it's fine, I'll just hang out with Raven when I'm done." She waved him away. "Go on, get back to your card game."
Raven sighed. There went her day.
"But-"
"Go, you red-skinned stepchild!" Rose smacked his butt, but there actually no anger in her words. Only…trepidation?
Curious. Raven thought to herself. What is she expecting to happen?
BAMF Eddie disappeared back to L.A., presumably.
Rose stood there, looking at the spot he teleported from. She was waiting with bated breath, it seemed. Raven raised an eyebrow when she looked around, then ran to the main computer. The eyebrow raised even further when Rose pulled up all the camera feeds and started cycling through them.
"What are you doing?" Raven couldn't help but to ask.
"Making sure Eddie isn't here." Rose said distractedly.
"He is neither here nor in the city."
Rose glanced at her. "Are you sure?"
Raven nodded. "Yes. He has a rather unique existence that I can locate with my powers if I concentrate and if he's within a certain radius. The radius being the size of Jump City, to give a rough estimate."
Rose raise an eyebrow now. "Since when could you sense people that far away?"
"Since I started using my psionic abilities more and developed them further to help people psychologically." Raven crossed her arms as her kettle started whistling. Within moments her cup was ready and floated to her waiting hand.
"Oh. Yeah. Right." Rose cut off the camera feeds and stood there awkwardly.
"What's wrong, Rose?" Raven asked, cutting straight to the point. She didn't feel like playing Twenty Questions today and the feeling she was getting from Rose was weird.
"I…need a favor. A big one." Rose said slowly.
"Nothing sexual or intimate, I take it? 'Cause that's a hard no."
"No, not this time."
Okay, Raven was more than a little curious now. "So what is it?"
"We're friends, right? I mean, its been kind of a bumpy road for us but we did like, put away a few villians-"
"You murdered at least five that we know of."
"Yeah, I did, but I did it for-"
"Selfish reasons including just to spite your father."
"Yeah, I know. But still…we've done a bunch since then, including catching my father and Brother Blood, Wintergreen, and that freaky purple guy who's name I can't remember. Not to mention that I've helped around since then."
"Mhmmm." Raven sipped her tea. These things were true. No sense in denying them. "And by helping you mean giving me a migraine on a daily basis-"
"So, like, we're friends? Right?" She asked again.
"Yes Rose, we are, somehow, friends. Now stop beating around the bush and spit it out already."
Rose looked at her, looked at the floor, looked out the window, looked back at the floor, and sighed.
What is going on with her? This is completely out of character. Raven wondered as she made her way to her friend and put her hand on her shoulder.
"Rose." She said gently. "Talk to me."
Rose looked at her and managed half a smile. "I like your butt."
"Irrelevant. Now tell me what's wrong."
"Okay okay, geesh." Rose sighed. "I need you to go to Canada with me."
That wasn't what Raven was expecting to hear. "Canada? Why? Why would anybody go there?"
"I hid something there from my father and now…now I feel like it's safe to go get it."
Again Raven's eyebrow raised. "What is it?"
"Something that belongs to Eddie." Rose said softly, looking away.
Raven ran through a number of things in her head and very few things stood out as something for Rose to hide from Slade concerning her relationship with Eddie. First and foremost was an engagement ring. Slade loathed Eddie's very existence for taking his daughter away, after all.
"Why Canada?" Raven couldn't help but to ask.
Rose shrugged. "Dad hates Canada. Something about someone named Wade Wilson. Might just be a family member I don't know that he hates beyond reason."
"Hm. Alright. Let's go."
Rose looked at her, surprised. "Really? Just like that?"
Raven nodded. "It's not like it'll be a long flight with the T-Ship, not that I could teleport us there anyways. So yes, let's take a day trip to Canada. Just let me call the others first."
To Raven's surprise, and worry, Rose didn't make a joke about it being a date.
"Raven?"
"Hmmm?"
"Could you please put your hands on the steering wheel?"
"The T-Ship doesn't have a steering wheel."
"The sticks, Raven, the sticks!"
"What about them?"
Raven chuckled when Rose groaned so loud that she didn't need her headset to hear it. While the empath had agreed to fly to Ontario with Rose, she never said she wasn't going to enjoy herself.
Besides, Garfield's Christmas scarf wasn't going to knit itself!
Well, technically it could, with Raven's powers. But they were piloting the ship and Raven was knitting. Taking a sip from the floating tea-filled thermos beside her, Raven tuned out Rose's grumbling. Getting to know the girl had been very trial and error, but Raven knew enough to know that Rose wasn't as agitated as she made out to be. She did trust Raven, after all.
That didn't mean it wasn't fun to annoy the hell out of her though.
This was most prominent when the T-Ship occasionally 'hit turbulence'. Rose cursed up an absolute storm each time and Raven came to guess that the former assassin wasn't too good with airplanes.
Another interesting tidbit to use at a later date.
"Alright, we're here! Please land this thing the right way!" Rose said in a rather cranky tone a bit later.
Raven indulged the request, a smug smile on her face the whole time. She'd been smiling a lot since she started seeing Garfield and it still felt good.
Here was, in fact, a private landing pad owned by none other than Bruce Wayne, who apparently had authorized all his landing pads to be usable to the Titans after Robin had 'saved him from certain doom' during a particularly nasty Joker related incident in Gotham. Raven had rolled her eyes at that ploy, but it was useful since the Titans could get into big cities easier now.
"So where are we going?" Raven asked as they exited the T-Ship and walked across the landing strip. Despite having never been there before the attendants (she wasn't sure what the guys working out there were called) didn't do anything other than wave at them. Raven politely waved back but Rose didn't bat an eyelash their way.
"Well, down to get a cab, for starters." Rose said, pulling out her phone. "Then to this address."
Raven raised an eyebrow. This place was on the opposite side of the city. Taking a cab would take too long, not that they had local currency anyways.
With barely a thought she raised a shadowy platform beneath them and lifted them into the sky. Rose yelped and almost fell off, but caught herself.
"Dude, what the fuck?!" She asked, looking over the edge from her seat.
"I made a taxi, can't you tell?" Raven said dryly, directing the platform in the direction she had seen on the screen.
Rose thought about it. "So…I get to ride you?"
"I will leave you here."
"Please don't, it smells like maple syrup."
"What's wrong with maple syrup?"
"Too sweet."
"Too sweet? I've seen how you make coffee, don't give me that crap!"
"What's it matter to you, you don't even look at syrup when eating waffles!"
"Why would I ruin a perfect good waffle with syrup?!"
"'Cause that's how you're supposed to eat them!"
"Blasphemy."
Their bickering was as normal as it usually was…until the GPS dinged and told them they were a mile away.
That's when Rose got deadly quiet.
Raven looked around the area. Toronto was nicer than she thought it would be. Even this part, which was noticeably not as nice as a few other places they had passed over, was still far nicer than some places she had seen in Jump City. It honestly looked like Toronto didn't have a single ghetto.
Raven's attention was brought back to their task at hand when Rose's GPS dinged again, informing them that they were five hundred feet from their destination. Raven eyed the onscreen map, then their path.
They were headed straight for a little blue house in the middle of a rather quaint neighborhood.
She found herself second guessing the whole ring theory. A safety deposit box was what she was expecting, not a whole house. Perhaps it was just left with a far away friend?
"I think it's that one, Rae." Rose said, pointing at the very house Raven had eyed.
"Mhm." Raven did her best to ignore Rose's maelstrom of emotions. There was so much angst and worry.
This can't be a ring, she's far too emotional about it. Knowledge murmured.
Raven said nothing as they landed before the door. Rose was silent too, staring at the door as if it were the ledge to the end of the world.
"Let's just rip this band aid off already." Raven sighed before she hit the doorbell. As she listened to the ding dong echo, she eyeballed the two cars in the driveway. Older and well worn cars, but still good looking. Were those burn marks on the back seats?
The door opened to reveal a brown haired man in his thirties, his beard a bit scraggly and half covered in shaving cream. He looked quit shocked.
"Miss Rose? Wha-" He said, gawking at them.
"I'm here to pick up a package. The Christmas lights and tree stand you sold me." Rose interrupted him.
He stared at her blankly for a moment as he processed this and it gave Raven enough time to realize that this was another code.
"Oh, yeah! Yeah yeah yeah, come right in!" He said, ushering them in the door and closing it behind them. Raven felt no hostility from him, but tensed a little when he locked the door.
"I uh, well, we weren't, ya know, expectin' ya." He said. Raven noted his American accent right away. He was also quite nervous.
"Cut the crap, Al. Where is it?" Rose snapped. She seemed irritated with his demeanor but internally she was quaking. Raven's eyebrow rose once more.
"Yeah, yeah, sorry Miss Rose, I'll get Frankie and show ya." He darted off to another part of the house and Raven felt his panic spread to another person. Within a minute another man came back with Al, this one a dirty blonde with glasses and missing half of his left ear.
"Miss Rose! Hey, how ya doin? We-" He started to say.
"I will stab both of you, repeatedly, if you don't hurry up." Rose threatened them.
They flinched in fear and Raven had no choice but to step in.
"Rose." She said sternly. "We don't threaten civilians."
Rose snorted. "Their citizenship is fake and they're both ex mob members. I think I will threaten them, especially since they wouldn't answer any of my calls!"
"It was an out of country call, do you know how much those cost?!" Frankie protested.
"Ex mob?" Raven asked, looking at them. "I didn't think anyone could leave the mob alive."
"Ah, well, Miss Rose was gracious enough to, uh, fake our deaths and hire us on under her da', who wanted some, uh, employees here in Toronto." Al said as he edged away from her. "But, uh, we've been, well, uh, busy."
"Why are you idiots so nervous?! Is there a gun in my hand? No!" Rose snapped again.
They both looked at Raven, who suddenly realized at least part of what was going on.
"Rose, they don't know." She said. "What happened five months ago never went public."
All three of them stared at her before Rose facepalmed.
"Shit. Right. Okay." Rose sighed, her anger subsiding a bit. "Deathstroke is in prison and he ain't getting out. I put him there with the help of Raven here and her superhero friends. I'm with them now."
They stared at her now, dumbfounded, and spoke in unison. "You're a superhero?"
"Trainee, but yes." Raven spoke for her friend, who glared at her.
They gawked at the girls before looking at each other.
"Well, uh…what about us?" Al asked slowly, looking back at Rose.
Frankie frowned. "Yeah, what happens to us now that we ain't on yer da's payroll?"
"I don't give a single flying fuck what you two do. I want what's mine and I want it now." Rose snapped once more. "And for the record, you were on my payroll the whole time, so that makes me your boss, not Deathstroke!"
"Oh." Both of them said.
There was a moment of awkward shuffling between them and Raven saw a vein pop out on Rose's forehead.
"Gentlemen." Raven said. "I can only contain her so much. I suggest you give her what she came for."
Once again in unison they looked, but at the clock on the wall this time.
"Yeah, good time I reckon." Al said. "Go ahead Frankie, I'll grab the stuff from the den."
Frankie motioned for them to follow and they did, passing a messy living room, a crafting room, and a half clean kitchen. Curiously enough, there appeared to be burn marks scattered about the premises. Were they pyromaniacs?
It wasn't until they stopped at a door did Raven realize there was something else in the house.
No, that wasn't right.
There was someone else in the house.
The pieces started clicking together at light speed and now she stared dumbfounded at Rose, who had come to a dead stop in front of the door as Frankie entered it.
"Rose? Is that…?"
Rose nodded slowly and Raven's eyes widened.
"I thought…?"
"I lied."
There were entirely too many things making too much sense now and Raven had to literally stop thinking about it to make sense of it. Rose, however, hadn't moved.
Raven put her hand on her back and slowly pushed her in, following closely behind.
Frankie was in there at a crib, there being so very obviously a toddlers room. There were lots of toys in there and there were more than a few burn marks floating around too. They had to shuffle past a particularly large pile of stuffed animals to get to the man, who turned to them and smiled.
"She just woke up." He said softly. "Please don't be loud, if you scare her she breathes fire."
Raven and Rose peeked over the crib to find a red skinned, yellow eyed, and white haired little girl in a white bear onesie rolling back and forth on her back, one foot in her mouth. She stopped dead when she saw them.
Nobody said a word for the longest time, but Raven could feel the baby staring at Rose, processing…hell, she didn't know what.
And then the little girl sat up and grabbed Rose's hair (which was hanging over the side of the crib), pulling it (and Rose!) down to look at it. Awkward as it was, Rose didn't fight it. She just…stared back.
"Can she…understand us?" Rose asked slowly.
"To an extent, yes." Raven replied, then looked at the man beside them. "Is she speaking anything yet?"
He nodded vigorously. "Oh yeah! She can say byebye and moomoo, which is that really burnt cow doll over there, and no, her favorite word, and a few others."
Rose made a face. "Uh, what about-"
"Mama."
There for a brief moment, Raven thought Rose was going to breakdown completely. But somehow, she didn't. She just stood there stone faced as the little girl kept saying mamamamama and playing with her hair.
Now, there was absolutely no possible way that the girl knew Rose was her mother. Raven didn't have all the details yet, but it was very likely that Rose had induced labor early, had her as a preemie, and sent her off with these two men. Cutting off all contact afterwards only ensured that they didn't know each other at all.
But Raven could feel that the girl knew her mother at first sight. Absolutely baffling.
That being said, Rose's original exclamation that the girl was dead wasn't entirely inaccurate, retrospectively. Her identity as Rose and Eddie's daughter was dead even if she was very much alive. Rose was very, very clever to hide the truth in plain sight.
"Is taking her from here going to affect her?" Rose asked, her voice wavering.
Raven hesitated. "Yes, but I can deal with anything she experiences, like separation anxiety and the like."
Rose's voice was small and soft, very un-Rose-like. "Okay."
She didn't say anything as Raven and the men cleaned and packed up all of the girl's toys and clothes. She just sat in the crib with her daughter in her lap, who was absolutely fascinated with her matching white hair and completely uninterested in the cup of Cheerios that Al had brought her.
"Are you too really okay with this? I mean, haven't you gotten attached to…whatever her name is?" Raven asked as they moved into the kitchen.
"Felicity? Well, I mean…" Frankie shrugged.
Al made a face. "Yeah, Fifi's kind of…um…"
Raven raised an eyebrow again, waiting for them to continue.
Al sighed. "Look, do you know how terrifying it is to live with a fire breathing baby?"
"A baby that scares herself with a fart and breathes fire all over the car." Frankie said, waving his arms.
"Scares herself with loud burps and breathes fire!"
"Rolls over too fast and scares herself into breathing fire!"
"Two words: hiccup fire."
"How about fire when she's happy?"
"Fire when she's sad too!"
"And let's not get started with the super strength!"
Al cringed and rubbed his ribs. "Yeah, and the teleporting!"
"Shaved fifteen years off my life one day when she took the car, wit' us in it, ten feet to the right!"
Raven listened to the men complain as she gathered up the things that appeared to be Felicity's. They really didn't have much attachment to the girl, but at the same time she also felt a sense of relief from them concerning her too. Also a bit of traumatization, but it was a bit of a moot point considering their former occupation.
"So, if Rose had never come back for her? What then?" She interrupted them.
"Dunno." Frankie shrugged. "Probably woulda gotten attached to tha' little firebug one day and seent her as my kid."
"I dunno about if I'd go that far. Uncle Al might be okay though."
Raven didn't say anything as they packed up the last bit of stuff. She didn't really know what to say to them, but she did accept their awe and compliments when she dropped all of Felicity's stuff into a portal. All that was left now was Rose, Felicity, and the crib.
She did some quick math in her head as she made her way back to that room. She didn't know Felicity's exact age since Rose had discovered her pregnancy shortly after Trigon's death and because Rose had had her prematurely, but she was somewhere between a year and two years old. She would need to locate as many reference books and baby guides as she could for Rose, not to mention have flame-retardant clothes made for the baby, though she really needed a more precise timetable to determine age. Damn Rose and her deliberate vagueness!
"Hey, we got everything, it's time to go." Raven called out. Both Rose and Felicity jumped, causing a small burst of flame to come from the girl's mouth and barely missing her mother.
Raven decided to skip the flame-retardant clothes and nip that problem in the bud by turning her powers off right then and there.
"Is there anything that can be done about that?" Rose asked distractedly, patting out a few smoldering hairs.
"Two steps ahead of you, I just turned her powers off." Raven gestured and the crib sank into darkness, leaving Rose on the floor.
"I didn't know you could do that."
"Mhmmm." Rose didn't need the details for that, nor did she need to know that Raven had long since turned off Rose's precog powers to keep her from overloading her brain like she almost did during her fight against the Titans.
"Yeah, that's cool." Rose looked over to Frankie and Al in the doorway. "I'll…send you a severance package or something later, okay?"
"Sure, yeah."
"Fine by me!"
Nodding, Rose turned back to Raven. "So is there like a safety harness or something we can get for her or…?"
Raven rolled her eyes and teleported them right to the ship, leaving Frankie and Al alone.
"Soooo…." Al said. "What do we do now?"
"Fuck if I know. Wanna rob a bank?"
"We haven't done that in forever! Let me get my blaster!"
And that's how Blastermaster Al and Frankie Foureyes restarted their criminal career.
And that's how they ended their career too, 'cause the Flash caught them before they even got out of the bank with the money.
"Dude. Is that…?"
"Yes, yes it is."
Raven stood next to her boyfriend, watching as Starfire gushed over Felicity and how adorable she was in her onesie.
"I thought.. ?"
"Apparently Rose had a few more secrets squirreled away and it makes me wonder what else she's hiding from us." Raven said derisively and a bit loudly.
Everyone looked at her, then at Rose, who made a face.
"You know what, I'll take that jab cause I deserve it." Rose smiled ruefully. "The only thing I got left is that Jericho is my half brother."
The Titans, sans Jinx, all stared at her in shock.
"Dude!"
"What!"
"Friend Jericho is your sibling?!"
"Oh for Azar's sake, HOW MANY TIES TO THE TITANS DO YOU HAVE?!"
"Okay guys, let's just chill." Cyborg said loudly, waving them all down as Felicity began to fuss and cry. It wasn't until after her daughter calmed down did Rose respond.
"Yeah, Jericho is my half brother. Slade is his father too, but 'cause of some shit back in the day dad thinks Joey is dead. So, you know, we kept it that way."
"Speaking of hiding things," Raven said irritably, "When are you telling Eddie?"
"Tomorrow." Rose said firmly. "He'll come home, find the room next to ours full of Fifi's stuff and Fifi in there and he'll freak out and it'll be great."
You wouldn't have even known her name if you hadn't of asked me. Rude grumbled.
And then Raven had a really messed up thought.
It was petty, a minutely spiteful revenge for the recent revelation. She knew she shouldn't do it, but she couldn't stop herself from stepping behind Garfield and making a call.
"Hey Raven, what's up?" Eddie said as he answered.
"You need to come home right now." Raven said quietly, peeking over Garfield's shoulder to make sure Rose was still preoccupied.
"Is there something wrong? Is Rose okay?"
"Everything is fine, but Rose's errand today had a…very unexpected result."
His brow furrowed on screen. "Well, that's ominous. Kitchen clear?"
"Yes, and remember, you didn't hear this from me." She ended the call and stepped back beside her boyfriend.
"Really babe? Really?" He asked, shaking his head.
"Karma." Raven muttered back. "It will be the last time she pulls one over on us."
Garfield just laughed as a few of her darker emotions roared their approval.
BAMF! "Hey babe, I was wonderin'-"
Rose whipped around and locked eyes with the now wide eyed Eddie as he gawked at the sight before him.
"You were supposed to come back tomorrow." Rose said breathlessly, looking like a deer caught in headlights.
"I…uh…yeah." Eddie could barely comprehend what he was looking at. "Umm…who's baby is that?"
Rose looked down at Felicity, then back at Eddie, an incredulous look on her face. "Whose baby is that? She's yours, dumbass, she looks just like you! Literally!"
"Buuuuuut you saaaiiddd-"
"Well I obviously lied, you idiot!" She groaned and threw up an arm in aggravation. "What the hell was I so nervous for again? Thick-skulled motherfu-"
Everybody jumped when Fifi let out an ear shattering squeal and tried to jump out of Rose's arms. She was barely able to set the girl down before she scrambled over to Eddie and latched onto his leg. She looked at her hand, then his leg, then her hand again, then up at him with a smile.
Eddie melted on the spot and Rose (finally) broke down shortly after.
"Now would be a good time to exit, stage left." Raven pulled Garfield to the door. He paused only pick up Emelia, who was eyeing Felicity.
"I wanna play with the baby." She said, looking over her fathers shoulder intently.
"She's not quite old enough to understand playing with others yet." Raven said with a chuckle. "Besides, she has a lot of catching up to do with her mom and dad."
"But-"
"No." Raven said firmly.
Emelia pouted but stayed quiet.
Well, that was until Martin wandered into her parents room a bit later to play with her. Then she loudly exclaimed that the baby was her new friend that she was gonna play with her this week.
"Your daughter." Raven rolled her eyes and sighed.
"Pft. She's your daughter after sunset!"
"The sun hasn't even set yet."
"…dangit."
A/N: for those of you that might wonder, yes, that is the exact same frankie and al from the comicon chapter. They were there seeing al's ma, undercover of course. And yes, they had Felicity with them but a coin i flipped determined that they didnt encounter the trio.
