Disclaimer - Well, ah do disclaim.
A/N – It's nonsensical. It's out-of-context. It's my favourite character meeting Shadow Diva's favourite couple. It's only short and cracky, but its writer would still appreciate some feedback.
Now with added future!
The Time Between Moments
© Scribbler, July 2005.
'Being a husband is a whole-time job. That is why so many husbands fail. They cannot give their entire attention to it.' – Honoré de Balzac.
Speedy thinks he should be doing more. He knows it. But Starfire has such a commanding presence when she's pissed, or worried, or pissed and worried that he stays in his chair.
"Do not be anxious. We shall find her."
Sure. Just like they found Red X when he went AWOL and started raiding covert labs again.
He pushes the unkind thought from his mind. The Titans are trying to help. They aren't the enemy.
But that's kind of the point – he doesn't know who the enemy is. Brother Blood? He's supposed to be dead, but since when has that ever stopped anyone? Slade? Ditto. The Peeler? Shred-Head? Dr. Light? Fucking Teddy Ruxpin? His face hits the palms of his hands before he even realises what he was doing.
Cyborg and Robin work tirelessly at the computer. It's better than the one at Titans Tower – Cyborg had know-how, but so do Mas Y Menos after an hour, the entire computer section of Central Library, and the Internet. Speedy can hear the tap-tap-tap of Cyborg's fingers, and the beep-beep-beep of his cerebral cortex interface. Robin keys in constantly changing styles, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes making fractious noises and holding down one key for several seconds.
They aren't even close to finding her.
He remembers the sound of her com-link being suddenly terminated, cutting off what she was saying; finding her headset on the ground by the docks and smelling fresh blood and oil. He remembers calling for her. He remembers a long fruitless night and finding the Polaroid in an envelope on the Tower door. He remembers clenching his fists so tight his nails cut into his palms, and then gentle hands uncurling them for him, realising time has passed, the Titans are there and already taking command.
He feels like he should be angrier with them just stepping in and assuming control. He's second in command. He should be organising things. This is his patch.
But he wants answers. More than he wants to stamp his mark on what's his, he wants to find her. The ring on his finger burns like hot metal. And if that means swallowing his pride? Well then, so be it. The rest of Titans East are okay with it – hell, they made the call. He's not stupid enough to ignore that he's not thinking clearly. He's too emotionally involved. He needs to step back but he can't, so instead he waits.
Raven hums to herself in the corner. She's glowing black, doing something magical and freaky. But if it works he's prepared to clean monster gunge out of the carpet with his own toothbrush. Mas y Menos call in. Nothing on the Lower East Side. The tap-tap-tapping goes on.
Fingers wrap around his own, pulling his hands away from his face. The palms are calloused and don't match how softness and vulnerability of the eyes that go with them. "Hey." Terra pushes something at him. "Eat."
Speedy looks down. It's a Twinkie. Hardly the most nutritious thing, but he downs it in two bites. "Thanks."
Terra smiles that anaemic smile she's worn since she Woke Up. She seems pleased at the gratitude. "It was all I could find," she mumbles.
Speedy isn't listening. He's watching Robin whisper furtively into his communicator. Aqualad and Beast Boy went out searching and asking if any of their ocean allies had seen what happened on the docks. Robin's voice never rises above a murmur, but the complete lack of expression says they have as much as Mas y Menos found on land.
Terra follows his gaze. Her smile fades and she lays a hand on his shoulder. Speedy jerks at the contact. The hand flies back, clutched possessively to her chest. She takes a hesitant half-step towards Starfire, who looks up with the comforting expression she throws around for those she loves to catch.
He runs a hand through his hair. He doesn't have time for this. He needs to find and punch whoever is responsible. Or just punch something. He squeezes his eyes shut, banishing all thoughts of what might have already happened…
She wouldn't let herself get taken by surprise. She's too good for that.
But there was blood. Fresh blood. And they have so many enemies…
He gets up and walks out. Somehow he ends up on the lower levels, in a service corridor leading to the weapons rooms. The security codes are complicated and numerous. He spends a long second just staring at the keypad, not trying to remember but trying to think.
The person behind him doesn't know how to breathe properly – silently, like a night breeze curling over the sill. He doesn't turn around, even when the quiet footsteps halt and bad boots squeak self-consciously.
"You shouldn't…" Terra starts, and then stops.
"Shouldn't what?" he asks, because he really would like to know that. Truly. Honestly.
She clears her throat. She does that a lot, he's noticed. "You shouldn't blame yourself."
He chuckles. "That's funny. Get that off a cereal box?"
"I'm serious."
"I know you are." He links his hands behind his head. His palms feel hot and too dry. You're such a kid, he wants to say. You still believe…
She still believes because that's what links and separates her from her chequered past. She fought for it. She came back from the dead for it. He can't spit on that, no matter how hackneyed it sounds to him. She hasn't had time to grow up yet.
A small, bitten-back sob makes him turn. Terra hasn't looked away; doesn't do so now, either. Her eyelashes are dark and spiked with moisture, but her eyes are distant. "She's important to me, too."
An eternal moment is spent just staring at her. He recalls meeting her when she was still fragile, much more so than she is now – fresh from her stone womb and all agog at how the world had changed in her absence. She reminded him of those people they found in a nuclear bomb shelter, who'd been hiding there since the 60s without word that there hadn't been a nuclear holocaust.
"I don't know if I trust her," he'd said when they were alone.
"Like you an' I ain't got stuff we done that we ain't proud of?" Bumblebee had replied, pulling off her boots and tossing them into a corner. "She's still just a kid."
"She's our age."
"Only technically."
"She said she was aware while she was stone. She was conscious. She knew what was happening around her.."
"Only some of the time. I was there, chumley. I heard it too."
"That's enough to send anybody crazy. And she wasn't exactly playing with a full deck to begin with."
"That's what's botherin' you? The Titans can handle her. They done it before."
"But - "
"C'mere, you idiot." And then she had taken him to bed and done such wicked, wicked things that all worries were forcibly driven from his mind. Afterwards, her cheek pillowed against his chest, she'd said in a soft voice, "I kinda like her. She seems a sweet kid. Lil' messed up, but sweet."
When he approaches Terra she snaps back to herself. Surprise etches her features when he wraps his arms around her shoulders and touches his forehead to hers. Her breath is like mint toothpaste and chewing gum, while he is redolent of Twinkie, saltwater and dried sweat. She stares at him, big-eyed and cautious. Her cheeks begin to go pink, and he realises just how pale and sickly she looks.
"Terra, come in." Robin's voice crackles through her communicator.
Terra jumps away like they've been caught in flagrante. Speedy just looks sadly at her, this little girl who doesn't understand what he was trying to say. Someone else could say it better, he's sure. Someone like –
"I'm – I'm here, Robin."
"Is Speedy with you?"
"Standing right next to me."
"Then he'll be able to hear me. Speedy, buddy; we got a lock."
Speedy's stomach clenches. "Where?" he demands. His voice is clipped and hard. It sounds like knuckle connecting with cheekbone.
Robins tells him the coordinates and location. "BB and Aqualad can meet us there."
"Tell them to wait. They're backup in case this is a trap."
"Your playing field. Robin out."
When Speedy looks at Terra her expression seems hurt. But he doesn't have time to think about that, because he's grabbing her wrist and dragging her into the armoury, already ticking off which stuff to take and which to leave.
"Speedy, you're hurting me," she says.
All he can say in reply is, "You said she's important to you, too. So help me get ready."
Bumblebee's spare Stingers are hanging on the wall. On a whim he stops and picks them up, testing their weight and haft. Then he shoves them into Terra's hands. She fumbles, nearly drops them.
"But I don't - "
"You do for now. For her."
It takes a few seconds. Terra holds the Stingers deferentially, even though they've been designed to withstand anything short of an A-bomb. Then her expression sharpens to a point, and she says in a voice he's never heard before, "You have to show me how. I can't do it on my own."
He reaches to help her. She's surprisingly natural. He doesn't know more than the basics, but she picks them up in seconds, making him wonder if Bumblebee already did this before.
"Good."
"Thank you, Sl-peedy."
FINIS.