"So, you and Jenny went for a date." Mare didn't even wait for Vic to shut his door after he climbed into 182. "Jenny didn't X out your name in the datebook. You didn't try convincing her to go home with you. How did it go?"
"It went well, I suppose. You really can't tell with Jenny."
"Where did you go for dinner?" Mare asked as she whipped out of the garage, far closer to the support beam on the passenger side than absolutely necessary.
"O'Malley's."
"Did you stay until she was in a cab?"
"She left the restaurant with me. She chose a movie after I offered. About the movie- I have to level with you, Mare." He was fiddling with his ring, a nervous habit. "About why the chief said I don't need bullet-proof."
"Steel plates?"
No one was nearby- they were guarding an abandoned warehouse until forensics arrived to test a years-old murder scene. He pulled off the ring. "Jenny decided we should see Robocop."
Mare was surprised, but she got over it. That was her usual reaction to life. "That was unexpected. Well, I believe you more now. I'm all for being open, but cops are firm believers in old-school tradition. Staying as fully skin might help them out."
"As opposed to robot?"
"I found the one person to beat Atlas, or at least to have his success published in a Jump City police byline. Cyborg- no picture, but described the victor as half-machine, mind all human. At least, that's what a friend of yours wrote in a press release."
"That would be me."
She grinned. "I'll tell Don- he was a fan. He said it was about time a techie wasn't a complete dweeb."
"Don?" he asked cautiously. He had heard about Mare's partner in passing, but no one had given any real detail.
"My old partner, close to being my second husband. I divorced my first husband years ago, and he's still doing time for what he did to my little girl- she isn't his any more. Don made the arrest. The department thought this was best to keep this between partners, and I did have the suspect under control." Mare had decided that locked in the closet, empty except for a few mothballs while she was waiting for paint on the walls to dry, the man wouldn't raise any trouble. "I locked him in the broom closet."
"Where's Don?"
"Paralyzed from the neck down, can't talk, takes too much out of him for yes/no blinking or going through the alphabet."
"His brain's alive, right?"
"The doctors say so, and I agree."
"I could call in a friend. She's an empath, and a bit of telepathy wouldn't be past her reach." He held out the ring, showing the Teen Titans insignia. "She was a Titan- Raven Roth, our resident Goth, as people called her. She was just shy, really."
"A few people in the department followed her. A few pegged her to end up with the leader, but the two are too similar. They'd end up obsessive and apart after a year- our guesses are always on. We can tell how anything will end up, except our own marriages. Charlie's might be on the rocks- everyone's looking out for him, and watching her." Mare remembered what she had wanted to get at, besides explaining office dynamics. "Would she bring Beast Boy? He saved Don's life, lifted a car off him after Slade went through. That's the only reason he's alive."
"I'll ask. She's a lawyer. Courts aren't open Sundays, so she usually can go around helping out if needed. She just finished a case, and Gar can leave the vet practice to the other partners. We're all off tomorrow- I'll call her."
"Would you?"
"Any time, partner."
Vic thought it very odd to see Mare out of uniform after four days in her cruiser. She was wearing worn jeans and rough tennis shoes, very unlike regulation creased black pants and shined Oxfords without a single scuff mark. She looked less threatening without her flint-hard police face, and the lack of a holster could have helped this image.
"Your friends are here?"
"She'll be here in a minute." He tapped his wrist. "Communicator. We all still have them- they're much better than cell phones. They have tracking devices, just in case old enemies come calling and we can't give directions."
"This is the room." She steeled herself before entering room 547 of the Convalescents Ward.
He could see why. Trooper (no one ever had suggested revoking the title) Don Shanahan was hooked up to enough machines that even Vic felt uncomfortable. At least his machines didn't take up half of a hospital room. Don stared directly ahead, but focused briefly on Mare and Vic.
"Hey, Don. I've heard a lot about you." Vic touched Don's hand, the closest the many tethers to keep machines in place would allow to a handshake.
"It's Sunday, Don, so time for the long visit. My kids are still at college. Gwen's in medicine, and Laurel's going into law. Laurel won the debate at schoolabout denying parole to child predators, without even going into personal details. I know I've told you all about the kids, but Vic hasn't heard all the details yet. Laurel's in a new support group, and her new boyfriend has survived lectures from everyone."
"Are you sure this is the right way?" a faint voice in the hall asked. "I think we should have taken a left."
"Remember what happened last time you gave directions, Gar? To your honors banquet for that college program? I ended up at a strip club. You're lucky I didn't even go into the parking lot."
"Raven, that wasn't completely my fault."
"Why did you have directions to the place, then?"
"Someone put it on my desk when I asked for directions. The guy next to me that got directions to a banquet hall was just as mad."
"If I didn't know you were telling the truth, I'd call you a liar, and we are going the right way."
"547! Here it is!"
"Told you so," Raven said as she knocked quietly before pushing the door open when no one yelled for her to go away. "Hey, Vic. Introductions?"
"Raven, Gar, meet Mare and Don. Don and Mare, Raven and Gar."
"Is he always this thorough?" Mare asked dryly.
"Just about." Raven focused on Don, already forgetting her previous comment. "Definitely brain activity. He can hear us, understand us, and come up with responses."
"Don, how do you feel? Really?"
"Fit as a fiddle that got run over by a semi," Raven translated. No one else understood thoughts that weren't their own. "He says you worry too much, he loves you, he's glad the bastard is in prison, and that if Vic lets you get hurt, he- Don- will have a replacement for hospital stays."
"Never, reciprocated, I am too, and don't threaten my partner." Vic was about to add some comment of his own before she continued. "That's my job."
"Thanks, Mare."
"Trust me- it's my job," Mare told Don and Vic.
"I never really did threaten him, so I don't have a claim. Gar here- I think I threatened him more than he ate tofu while we were in the tower."
"Am I the only one here who has no idea what's going on?" Gar asked.
"Yes," Mare, Vic, Raven, and even Don chorused, though only Raven heard the last.
"Who did this?" Raven asked, again distracted with the injuries.
"Slade," Cyborg, Marie, and Don said at once.
"This could get old fast," Raven said, not realizing for a moment that Gar was speaking at the same time. He continued alone.
"But- Slade?Scary half-face apprentice-obsessed seriously evil Slade?"
"Yes. Don was my partner when I drove to Jump City to help out police there. Slade didn't mind that I shot him in the upper left torso, what should have been a direct hit to the heart- I doubt the bullet even touched him. He threw our cruiser on top of Don. Gar took it off less than a minute later- that's the only reason Don's still alive. I-"
"Went a bit mad," Raven supplied when Mare trailed off. "I remember you- you were ready to take out an entire army of Sladebots to get to him. Starfire could barely hold you back, and Cyborg had to cover the 'bots behind you. We thought your partner didn't pull through."
"He did, but he's still completely paralyzed. He can't move a thing below his neck, even after about four years of continuous physical therapy."
"That can be fixed," Raven decided. "Gar, don't give me that look. I know using powers wears me out, but I'm off for a week- all that's next is sentencing. I have a speech written up, my client's ready to speak, and the judge has a history of being harsh."
"You mean- you could-"
"Heal him, Mare. That's the part of my power I still use occasionally. Vic, could you loop the machines in here for- two hours? No one comes in here, you all wait outside, and no mentioning what I did to the media- I can't help everyone, but I could never turn anyone down." She knew her limits, after a fateful battle with her father. She had tied nearly all her power into keeping all demons from entering the living world, and had barely any left. Unlimited requests for a miracle would kill her. It was ironic that a half-demon could be called a miracle worker, but irony and sarcasm had always been her forte.
"Done." Vic had pulled a cord from a human-looking wrist, then tapped a series of raised keys invisible on a dark forearm. He removed monitors, and the beeping stopped to let Don's shallow breathing be audible.
White magic flowed from Raven's cupped hands. The black influence had been her father's, and she no longer had the destructive powers she had bound. She didn't mind. She was still a healer, but her human half limited her stamina for doing magic. Closing the door with a gesture behind the others, she went to work.
Just a minute short of two hours later, Raven staggered from the room. Gar caught her, resigned to Raven's insistence ontoying with her limits. She had sometimes come close to killing herself, as in with the case of a little girl in a car accident. Raven had been in a coma for two days. Today, she was just tired.
"Brain injuries are hard. He's healed, but he'll start moving at his own pace. The therapy kept muscles pretty decent, but he won't be jumping up and tap-dancing any time soon. The doctors will be freaked, but they can deal with it. Keep the press out of it as much as possible, or he'll never have quiet again."
"He's better. You mean it, don't you?"
"He's healed- it's easy, healing someone who wants to get better that bad. His mind isn't at all hurt. He's sleeping. I think he has a chance of even walking, if he puts his mind to it. He's very. . . persistent."
"He's as stubborn as I am. Thank you. I'll never be able to say it enough."
"It's my pleasure. I like helping out. Warm fuzzies and all," she said, sounding the slightest bit delirious. "Besides, Gar looks cute when's he's all flustered." Raven giggled. Cyborg blanched. Gar only double-checked that his arm around her back would keep her from falling over.
"This happens about every time. She won't say it, and probably will invite you both to dinner, but she needs to sleep for about- what's the usual, twenty hours? I'll just drive us home. I'll call you later, Vic. Nice meeting you, Mare. Come on, Raven- we're leaving," he coaxed. When tired past exhaustion, Raven rarely listened to more than a few sentences, drifting off to sleep even as she leaned against him.
"No worse than you and your hangovers, Garfield. You take twenty-two hours, and that's after light drinking," she said severely through a moment of lucidity.
Vic smirked as they walked down the hall. Who would have thought? Raven I'll-break-your-face the untouchable Goth, and happy-go-lucky Gar, full of horrible jokes. His friends looked like an old married couple, even if they weren't even engaged. For a second, before he went back into the beige hospital room to restart monitors and IVs Raven had slipped back into place, he was jealous. An Irish girl came to mind when harboring envious thoughts, but he tried to delete the thought. The quick process usually worked, but not for the One-Date Wonder. He was wondering, that was sure.