"You know, stake-outs in movies never take this long." Vic had been ready to jump from the squad car for three hours. They were sitting outside a greasy apartment. Neither liked the neighborhood, but it was where the predicted next victim of Morrigan would be.
"I know. Keep scanning. What do you have going?"
"Heat, motion, fear, adrenaline, and a piggy-back on the place's security, as paltry as it is. If someone dies, walks in, becomes afraid, or messes with security, I'll know."
"I never thought I'd have a CSI lab for a partner. I'm doing this the old-fashioned way- looking."
"I'm doing that, too. The rest is just for good measure."
"There! Female in all black, full-body unitard with gloves- can't be many of those. The mask is another giveaway, when it's this hot out. Move in, and remember that you can't give her any leverage. She's a wild card."
Inside, they found Morrigan as she dispatched her target. She (obviously a female- some things just couldn't be faked) didn't taunt, tease, or in any way draw out her act. Seeing the police, she whipped a blade from the other sleeve. She had a knife in each hand, and neither officer doubted she could use them.
"You won't get me," she said in a monotone that reminded Vic of Raven's affected speech patterns. Now, he only recognized her voice because of a gradual change. Inflections changed everything about a voice.
"We don't want to 'get you.'" Mare took charge. "We want to share sources. Nightwing works with Bludhaven cops, Batman works with us- they're doing fine. They get backup when needed, and all we ask is the occasional favor."
"I work alone."
"You still can."
"I will not be the department's pet crime fighter." She had a poisoned blade a hair away from Vic's face before he could move, nearly touching him before pulling back. "I will always work alone."
"Don't threaten my partner, Miss Morrigan. Bullets don't avoid you, and you're wearing a cotton jumpsuit."
"Are you taking me into the station?"
"Vigilantes who register with the GCPD aren't considered criminals. You can get aid, medical care, benefits, protection-"
"You couldn't keep me safe, and you won't know who I am. My secret identity is secret. I know that might be hard to get through your thick heads, but there's something called confidentiality. No hints, no clues- I'm just better informed than you. Am I free to go?"
"Anywhere else? No. But Gotham has harder acts to cover, and more criminals than you can shoot a Taser at, so we'll take help. The instant you hit someone not actively a criminal, though, we'll be shooting."
"That's all? Have a nice day, officers." She back flipped out an open window, gone from the alley before Mare could even look.
"She back-flipped out of a window, Rae. Is that even normal?"
"Vic, I don't think anything any of us is ever remotely involved in is normal." Raven kept dry humor, even after she ditched the monotone. She could show emotion without being a danger to nearby people, animals, plants, or inanimate objects- usually. When the monotone returned, someone was in trouble. "Besides, you've been going on about this assassin for twenty minutes already. I haven't heard this much about a girl since Bumblebee broke up with you."
"I broke up with her."
"Same difference. You're not together. I think somebody has a crush."
"Crushes are for teenagers, Rae. I'm twenty-one. Besides, I like a different girl. Maybe," he added quickly. He was too late.
"Spill. Name, age, occupation, relationship status, hair color, eye color, nationality, and all relevant information." Raven had to look out for her almost-brother, after all. Starfire was too trusting. That left her to give a third-degree.
He knew there was no escaping the interrogation. If he wouldn't give it up, Raven could ask Kori about details. "Jenny Wilkinson, twenty-ish, secretary/payroll clerk/primary booking/paperwork management/claims handling, never has dated a guy more than once since she's come to the station, very red naturally, green-grey, pure Irish, and she's been on a date with me. Last night we saw a movie. I'm done talking. I'll listen for a while- how's the grass stain?"
"Impossible. He took me out to dinner about a week ago, after I won that case. We went to a fancy restaurant, he was giving off the most nervous vibes I've felt since I threw myself into a temporary coma after healing a little girl, and I swear he was going to ask me. But he didn't."
He knew what she meant. The Titans had a running bet on what year they would get married. Vic had this year in a pool with Kori and Dick, and felt very good about his chances. At least, he had until he heard her sounding like this. "What would you have said?"
"Yes." There was no hesitation.
"How long have you been going out, exactly?"
"Since a few months before my eighteenth birthday, and I'm twenty-two. He jokes about white being my new color whenever a wedding dress comes up- movies, advertisements, that kind of things. He just. . . I can't tell."
"Just give him time. We both know that he doesn't do confrontations with relationship issues, if he does them at all. You're a lot more open, Rae, but he could be nervous. Before you two started going out, and even about three and a half years ago, you did verbally and physically assault him for less."
"He deserved it."
"You know you needed the attention."
"That's beside the point. Is there anything I can do, Vic?"
"That would help your cause here without giving yourself away? No. Patience is a virtue," he reminded her, the argument sounding weak even to himself.
"Tell that to my emotions. I can barely calm them down. Happy's optimistic enough to make Rage never settle, Timid's having a self-confidence complex, Bravery wants me to ask him. You know I can adapt to being unusual. I just want one thing in my life to be normal. I didn't go to high school, I didn't have a prom, my first date was interrupted by a shootout, my first kiss by someone throwing a grenade at me. Something elaborate would be adorable, but all that matters is that he'd ask me. I need to know, once and for all, that he's as serious about this as I am."
"Have you guys used the big L?"
"Every day for a few months, at least twice. We're living together. But he'll joke about everything and anything."
"You know that's his way of dealing with something too serious."
"Well, it isn't mine. He jokes too much about things that matter. And it's just- he's home. Vic, he has a little white velvet box, and he's looking at it. Well, he really should know that I can see the parking lot perfectly well. We're only on the sixth story, and my optometrist told me I have impossibly good vision- 50/20 or something like that. He's pacing- that's a good sign, right?"
"I've never proposed, Rae." He considered even as he spoke. "But I'd guess so." She hadn't been this anxious since Kori and Dick's wedding, when she had been the maid of honor to Beast Boy's best man. Cyborg would have been the choice, but no one was about to split up Gar and Raven.
"He's coming inside. I'll- shoot, Vic, I don't know what to do." She didn't say shoot. "I have to look natural. I'll- read, that's it." He could hear the nervous rustling of a newspaper, and the muffled grousing at the headlined sports scores. "I'll just leave the phone on- you do want to hear, right?"
"If it wouldn't be intrusive. If you two decide to start consummating the union early, regardless if you've done it before, just click off the phone. I don't need the trauma."
"He's here," she whispered, half as happy as she had been in years and half-terrified. This was one of the biggest moments of her life, after all. She didn't want to be proposed to more than once.
"Rae? I'm back." He fumbled with the door as he closed it, dropping his keys (as usual). "You're feeling better, right?" Healings always made her tired, but she shook off the feelings easier than others for some. Don's was one of them- he had been more than willing to meet her half-way.
"Peachy."
Listening through speakerphone, Vic barely remembered to push 'mute' in time to hide a laugh. He had never in his life expected to hear Raven say that.
He heard something crinkle. As far as he could guess, someone was kneeling on a newspaper casually flung to the ground in nervous anticipation. "Rae, I hate to bother you- would you mind?"
"Would I mind what?" she prompted without a single hint of sarcasm.
"Getting this knot in my shoelace? It just won't get out, and I'd hate to cut it."
"Sure." Her tone was guarded. This was a very stupid joke, letting her 'find' a ring on his shoe. She untied it. Nothing. He already stood, pulling off the shoe. He was walking away.
"Thanks, Rae."
"Anything else?" The question still wasn't sarcastic. It was quiet, as if someone had cut the usual volume in portions and only returned one. He had a final chance.
"Well, there was one thing." He paused, remembering. "Could you get dinner tonight? The other guys in vet research are golfing today, and I'm trying it out."
"No. I can't. I've visiting Kori- she's home today." She grabbed her shoes, stomping into them as Cyborg pressed the 'mute' button a second time. "Just get take-out. I'll be back sometime. Don't wait up for me."
Vic waited until the door had shut with a quiet click before talking. A click meant that she was angry, far more so than a slam would signify. "Okay, Raven, I'm back." They often had paused conversations, but usually, he didn't hear what went on in the interim.
"She just left." Gar got over the initial shock of a voice quickly. "She'll be over at Kori's, but you could try her cell phone."
"I'll just talk to you for a while, if you have a minute. Anything going on with you?"
"I can be a little late- they don't expect me to be on time. It's just golfing, anyway."
Vic let that perfectly viable opportunity to harass Gar slip by. Golfing, of all things- odd sport to take up in mid-twenties, after proving many times to be lacking coordination. He could always make fun of Gar. He had to make sure Gar and Raven didn't have some problem. "What's eating you? I haven't heard a single joke. Something's up."
"It's- it's Rae. You can't tell her," he said urgently. "Not a single hint, Vic."
"All right, she won't hear a work." Gar didn't say a thing in response. "Or get some clue through visual or technological capabilities." Too bad Gar knew him so well- all he wanted to do was tell Raven she didn't have to worry.
"I'm- I'm thinking about asking her. The question, the big one," he said in a rush. "But she'll say no, and think I'm rushing things, and hate me forever."
"Gar?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm not asking her for you."
"Not even a hint?"
"I give you a hint, I give her a clue."
"I know she's said something to you."
"Probably," Victor acknowledged.
"About me proposing?"
"Ask her."
"Vic-"
"Ask Raven."
"Cyborg-"
"I'm not telling you, B. It's no use."
"Well, I'm going to ask her . . . next week."
"Why not go over to Kori's? Save us all the suspense. I want to know if I'll be buying a tux or sifting through rubble for your remains."
"And give her and Kori the perfect chance to laugh when she says no?"
"How long have you been going out?" Vic already knew the answer, but that was the point of a good question.
"Four years, three months, and- two days, I think. I asked her out. She'd just threatened to throw me out the window for accidentally dropping tofu in her herbal tea."
"Romance in the highest form. Gar, there is one way to know what she'll say."
"What do I have to do?"
"Ask her." Vic dropped his phone into its cradle. Sometimes, you just had to step back and wait, no matter how difficult it was. Those two had to work it out on their own.