Rachel relaxed into Mark's shoulder, closing her eyes and listening to the two men talk. The warm water and red wine relaxed her mind as the activities had done for her body. Even with three bodies, they were seated comfortably together. Jason had separated himself to one side, while the couple leaned together on the other.
"I don't know, usually we don't get this type of activity for nothing." Jason murmured. Their voices were low and deep, lulling her to sleep. It was clear enough they often warned each other of upcoming dangers, but Mark would cover anything important in the morning.
"Yeah, I agree. But it could also be from that dip in the stock, we usually have extra break ins after that." Mark replied. Rachel tried to hide her smile, she never knew he would keep up with that sort of thing.
"It feels different though." Jason paused for another drink. "I heard the Tan twins left town."
"They also left last year for awhile."
"True." Their tones were calm, and they portrayed only pleasant emotions towards one another. "But," Jason said, "this time I think the older Tan is also leaving. I'm just saying, there could be something coming."
Mark's body moved slightly as he nodded. Then somehow their conversation shifted to sports, though Rachel couldn't tell which one. The last thing she remembered was Mark taking her glass from her.
Rachel awoke the next day in one of the plushest beds she had ever lain in. Looking around the dimly lit room, she rolled over and grabbed a pillow to cuddle with. All alone in the silent room, she started reaching out her senses till she hit Mark. A toilet flushed and he stepped back into the room. Without even seeing him, she could picture his brilliant smile.
"Good Morning, beautiful," he whispered, crawling across her and giving her kisses all over her back till he landed on the other side. There was no need to ask where Jason was, he was probably gone before Mark even fell asleep.
"I can't believe we did that," Rachel mumbled, hiding her face partly in the pillow.
"Heh, as in I need to take 5 showers or still reveling in the joy?"
Rachel laughed, rolling over to face him and shifting the pillow under her head, "The second. Had you asked me a year ago if I would do something like this..."
"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself," Mark touched his hand over her face. Then slowly traced it down till he found her finger and took off the ring. Leaning over, he kissed her deeply, pulling back with his beautiful green skin.
"Not as bad as you thought?" Raven teased, poking his stomach.
"I was really nervous... did you...did you do something?" It took her a few seconds to realize what he meant.
"Yeah, I wanted you to understand what I was feeling like I could with you. I wasn't sure if it would even work, but it seemed to."
"I couldn't tell what it was. It was...odd. Is that what it's normally like for you?" Reaching over, he ran his fingers lightly over her chest. Raven watched his fingers, the green contrasting greatly with her pale skin. Smiling she thought about her intrusive powers. A year ago she would have also been wary to talk about them, especially with Gar. Though, she also wouldn't have pictured him asking. Her eyes rose to meet his and she wondered if that were her fault and not his.
"I'm not sure. But I imagine it was similar. It's strange when you don't know where the emotions are coming from. If it's you feeling those emotions, or someone else you didn't realize you were listening to." She closed her eyes and scooted to lay her head on his chest. "What did Jason say?" When he didn't respond she continued, "At the beginning? It worked just about as well as my whole thing did." She gestured her hand from her chest, referring to pushing her emotions on him.
"Oh, ha, just admiring your beautiful body and skill." Raven smiled. Though she wanted to roll her eyes, Jason was the one that had to show her what to do.
"You two seem close," She rolled over to lay her chin on his chest. She wasn't trying to act jealous or angry and smiled lightly as he glanced down at her.
"Eh, not really." Gar shifted an arm comfortably under his head. "Close enough for good sex I guess."
"Do you think it has ever affected you on a mission?" The question was only partially meant for him. Really she was thinking about herself. Even as she had started to contemplate sleeping with X she had wondered what that would do to her when she ran into him next. He had been so gentle and charming last night, imagining throwing him in jail seemed a bit hypocritical now.
"No," he laughed a bit, shaking his head, "he can still be an ass at times. I find no problem in throwing him around... when I can get a hand on him anyway. I mean I haven't seen him that much, and when we do, that's just not who we are." Raven raised a brow in disbelief. "Alright," he admitted, "for the most part. He did warn me about the Henderson heist." Raven's mind quickly flashed back to that job. Dick had been the one to raise the alarm. Gar must have hidden these things well.
"Though," Gar grumbled, "probably for his own benefit. He did try to rob it himself 3 days later." Raven lightly giggled, mostly because they had stopped X from robbing it as well. Rolling back over she watched as their left hands became intertwined.
"Still, he seemed to care at least a little bit," Raven said.
"Yeah," Gar started running his fingers along the back of her hand, "we've each probably prevented harm to the other a few times." She nodded, Red X had been her savior a few times now that she thought about it. "But our conversations are pretty shallow. We don't really know a whole lot about each other."
Raven recalled the way with which they had communicated last night, silent and in sync. Rolling over again, she propped up on her elbow.
"What do you mean?" She asked.
Grinning with a lopsided smile, he held out his hand, "Well it's not like I went "Hi I'm an orphan constantly dealing with the sense of failure that tries to cope with often misplaced humor."'
Raven coughed once before she was forced to place her hand over her mouth, "Sorry," she said between laughs, "that's not something I should laugh at." But his smile told her it was meant to be a joke. Pushing up on his own elbow, he rocked forward to kiss her. She held a hand to his face, keeping him close for an extra second. The night before she had almost put herself on the same level as Jason. They both had experience with the same man, both loved having sex with him. But Gar had a point, it wasn't just sex between the two of them.
"I love you," she whispered into his lips.
"And I love trying new things with you." He replied, laughing as she pushed him away.
"You picked up on a lot from one night," he said, laying back down. "I don't remember you being so perceptive."
"Yeah, I wasn't exactly sure how much I wanted to read from you two. But once I started, I couldn't stop. It was just..." Raven raised her hand, trying to explain the sense of two extra emotions. Even with his small taste of the experience, it was hard to quantify what that was like. "It just... felt good."
"Mhmm," he smirked, "so next is an orgy?"
Laughing, she pushed at his side, "Not a chance in hell. I don't think I could handle that. Besides, I like to be able to focus on you. I could handle two, but with too many, you could be diluted so to speak." For a second his smile was genuine, till his mischievous crooked grin returned.
"Well, if you can handle two..."
"No," she cut him off. "Besides, Dick has been sticking around lately. She doesn't even need me. And, well I wasn't even sure if I wanted to continue now that..." Raven looked from her own hand laying on his chest to his eyes before shrugging. A ringing caught their attention, sounding from both their clothes.
"Well," he said, rolling back over her and kissing her along the way as before, "if you do, just remember to record it." He didn't make it two steps before a pillow hit him on the back of his head.
"Hey," Raven said, sitting up as Gar reached for his pants, "speaking of shallow conversations, I haven't heard about your trip."
"Yeah," he smiled and flipped the phone over in his hand, "maybe we can do lunch after..." Looking up from the phone, his voice died down as his face and emotions clouded in worry.
"What?" Raven didn't bounce to action this time, instead, she slowly rose, watching him.
"It's Kon. He's in town... for you."
"Oh," Raven tried to hide the shiver that ran down her spine. "At least it's me and not Marcus." Raising her chin she forced an air of fearlessness.
"True." He didn't point out her panic and instead turned to the dresser. Opening drawers to the courtesy food, he tossed her a bottle of water and meal bar. Raven didn't say thank you. Gar's face was already set in determination, his mind shifting from playful to serious in a flash. Using her one reserve of each of their uniforms she pulled open a hidden pocket between dimensions and dressed both of them. Gar purposefully waited for her to at least drink something before showing her the screen with the location.
She took one last deep breath and raised her hands, focusing her own mind on that frustration she had felt for the past several days. It was all Kon's fault and she was finally going to finish it. The black wisps began covering over them in slow motion. Glancing to her side, she caught sight of the bed and their strewn clothes from a different day, when they were different people. Right before the field closed, the soft skin of Gar's lips brushed her forehead and his hand pushed into the back of her head, holding her close.
It was hard to tell what all was going on when she appeared somewhere. The site seemed safe enough, but as they phased into the street Gar immediately pushed her down to the ground. A blast sounded on the wall beside them as they landed. Kon was yelling obscenities about Raven but Gar's voice blocked them out.
"See you for lunch?" He smiled, stuffing down the growing anger and worry.
"Yeah," she smiled in return and watched him charge in without her. For her.