Chapter 12—Transfers and Tribulations

As the sun shone brilliantly in the sky and threw glittering stars over the rippling surface of the water below, three creatures raced side by side, gradually coming closer to the surface until the skin of the ocean ruptured, and two whales, accompanied by a man dressed in blue leapt from the depths and soared in a graceful arc over the water before crashing back into the dark blue depths.

The superheroine known as Terra soared over this scene and shook her head as she commanded the chunk of land she rode upon to dip lower.

"All right, playtime's over! It's time for lunch!" she shouted. Her husband smiled playfully and shot water at her before using the water to lift himself up high enough to climb up onto the rock with her.

"You've got to try that, honey. You have no idea just how exhilarating it is to come crashing back into the water with a whale on either side of you," Aqualad replied, flopping onto his back on the rock as she steered them back toward Titans Tower. The wind felt good for both of them as it whipped by. Before they knew it, Terra landed them on the roof of the tower, where the kids swam in the rooftop pool with Robin, Beast Boy and Speedy. Aqualad smiled as Beast Boy made the kids squeal by turning into various creatures. Aqualad didn't hesitate. He bounced from the diving board and executed a perfect cannonball into the water. The guys laughed, but Jinx didn't think it was so funny. She had been trying very gingerly to sink into the water and was subsequently splashed. Aqualad joined her on that side of the pool and he shyly apologized.

"Cyborg insisted that I come up and sit in the pool for a while. He said it might take some of the pressure off my back for a while," Jinx said, resting her hand on her already bulging midsection. Aqualad nodded, knowing that this pregnancy had been hard on the pink haired heroine.

"Let me help," Aqualad said, taking her right hand in his and then placing his left in the middle of her back. "Go on, lie back." Cautiously, Jinx did as she was told. She wobbled a bit, and choked on water from an unexpected splash, but after Aqualad erected a wall of water around them, Jinx relaxed and let Aqualad hold her.

"That's amazing…I didn't know water could do that!" she muttered, closing her eyes.

"It's the best therapy I know of," Aqualad said, smiling gently. Terra had watched this and smiled that her husband could be so sensitive to the needs of other people. Satisfied that all was well, she descended the stairs into the living area of the tower. Little did she know she was walking into a battle zone.

When Terra walked into the kitchen, a stream of water shot past her face, accompanied by sounds of laughter from two of her friends. What had begun as Torque and Raven preparing lunch had degraded into a full-on water fight. Torque had the sprayer from the kitchen sink and Raven used whatever she could reach with her powers to shield herself and occasionally used the water being shot at her to fire back. Both Raven and Torque were already soaking wet and laughing so hard that their cheeks were rosy. Terra smiled. Having known Raven long enough to remember, she knew that this kind of emotion had once been rare. Before Terra could contemplate this situation further, she found herself a human shield in Torque's effort's to fend off Raven's return attack. Terra gasped as she tried to duck, but got a face full of water anyway. She waited for Torque to fire again and then twisted, whipping an unsuspecting Torque directly into the line of fire. Once she was free, Terra summoned the sand from the kids' sandbox on the roof and Raven used her powers to lift the water from the sink. Between them, they swiftly made a human sand sculpture from their friend and then ran, heading back up to the roof laughing even harder. Torque followed, jumping into the pool right behind them as Raven shed her shoes and cloak, and Terra tossed aside her shoes and goggles. The guys and the three oldest kids had moved from the pool to the hot tub, so there was plenty of room in the water for the sudden splashdown. Torque came up for air, the sand washing easily out her hair, and came within inches of a familiar face.

"Hey, baby," Speedy murmured, slipping his arms around her.

"How's it going, hot stuff?" Torque bantered back. "Where did our son run off to?"

"He and Emily went downstairs to change and rest for a while. I suggested that they set the table for lunch, but I take it from the looks of the three of you that it didn't get done," Speedy teased. Torque tickled him for a moment and then wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself close enough to kiss him. After a sound, lingering kiss, Speedy still hung onto his wife, holding her close in his arms.

"So," Speedy asked. "What was for lunch before you ladies got into what must have been a very interesting battle in the kitchen?" Torque batted him in the shoulder and both of them laughed.

"Wanna come downstairs and help me finish it?" Torque asked, genuinely wanting his help but liking the idea of the added bonus of his company.

"Why not?" Speedy replied, sharing his towel with Torque as they got out of the pool.

Meanwhile, Beast Boy scooted aside to make room for Raven to slip into the hot tub with the rest of the group. Olivia got up and came to sit on her mother's lap, and Raven smiled. Beast Boy slid a hand around her waist and gently kissed her. Raven could tell that he was genuinely happy and it made her happy, too.

"What do you want for your anniversary, honey?" Beast Boy asked. Raven looked at her husband with undisguised pride. He had remembered that their wedding anniversary was little more than 10 days away.

"That's our cue to leave, son," Robin said, getting up and helping Jason up out of the hot tub. The Logans laughed. When Robin and Jason had gone, Raven leaned over and whispered in Beast Boy's ear. Beast Boy's cheeks and the tips of his ears turned as crimson as they could turn as she spoke. Toby rolled his eyes and Olivia gestured for them to make an exit of their own.

"We're gonna go in and dry off," Toby said, holding Olivia's hand so that she could get up the steps out of the hot tub. Their parents nodded and then went back to their conversation. Aqualad had long ago helped Jinx back into the Tower, so now Beast Boy and Raven were alone.

"I think I can handle that," Beast Boy murmured, replying to her whispered request.

"I know you can, Tiger," she replied, stroking his face. Subconsciously, Beast Boy purred and leaned into her hand.

"I love you, so much," Beast Boy said, smiling as Raven moved to sit astride his thighs. In this more intimate position Raven ran her hands through his hair, using her nails to gently massage his scalp, a treatment she knew he liked. Beast Boy looked up at her and smiled softly. He enjoyed this quiet time with her without speaking until Torque called up the stairway that lunch was ready.

Once lunch was finished, the amused Titans took their children to put them to bed for a well-earned nap. Several of them hardly made it through their meals without falling asleep in their plates. With this accomplished, the adults settled back into the living room; Robin had something to say.

"I've been doing some thinking," Robin began, but before he could continue, Speedy grabbed the opportunity.

"Did it hurt?" he quipped. The others laughed and Beast Boy leaned across to share a high-five with him. Robin simply laughed with them and smiled as he continued.

"I had a talk with Bumblebee and we came to the conclusion that it would be beneficial to balance out the teams a little," Robin said.

"What are we talking here, Rob?" Speedy asked.

"We'd like up to five members of this team to transfer to Titans East," Robin said. "That's what we're talking. We decided that it would be best to give you the opportunity to voluntarily transfer rather than choosing who goes and who stays." Robin tried hard not to avert his eyes. This was plainly a difficult thing to do. What team leader liked having to ask his best friends to leave? After a few seconds of silence, there was a soft murmuring among the group as the couples debated amongst themselves. After several minutes of watching this, Robin twitched subconsciously as Starfire slipped her hand into his. He looked down from where he sat on the arm of the chair to see her sitting in it with her other hand on her expanding middle. Starfire lifted herself up into the air a bit, and Robin slid into the chair, grinning as she floated down into his lap.

"How are you feeling?" he whispered.

"Our baby is growing," Starfire whispered back. "I can feel it."

"That's good to hear," Robin continued. "Do you suppose we have a little girl in there this time?"

"Perhaps." Starfire replied. "It would be nice to have a daughter."

"I agree," Robin said, running his hand through Starfire's hair before he caught hold of her chin and guided her face to his.

By the time Robin and Star finished their kiss, the murmur among the others had died down.

"We'll go," Speedy began. "Aidan hasn't started school yet, so we wouldn't be uprooting him as much. Plus, my sister is already there. It will be nice to have my whole family under one roof."

"Agreed," Robin replied. He was glad that allowing them to choose to go was working. Seconds passed before Aqualad spoke up.

"We'll go, too," he said, winding an arm around Terra's shoulders. "It's closer to Atlantis and Shayeris if we should need to be there."

"We?" asked Torque. Terra rested her hand on Aqualad's knee and looked up at him, encouraging him to speak.

"I'm not really comfortable telling a lot of people this, but I was born with more mystical abilities than I've told you. I discovered that I have the ability to cast a spell that allows Terra to breathe underwater and tolerate the water pressure for a period of time. The Palace in Atlantis in actually in a cavern—there's air to breathe. She'd only need the ability to breathe under water in order to come and go. For the princess who would become my queen, it's the least I could do."

"I know Terra means a lot to you, Garth, but princess?" Beast Boy teased.

"Yeah, okay, I've got a secret, too," Terra mumbled. "As long as we're sharing…There's more to me than a homeless girl with a troubled past. My father was the King of a country called Markovia. I have two older brothers—one is Brion, and the other is ruling now, King Gregor—but because I was his illegitimate child, I was a disgrace and the parliament insisted that I was ineligible for the throne. So, yeah, I'm a princess by blood." Terra and Aqualad looked at their friends. The looks of shock and bewilderment slowly wore off and then disappeared when Beast Boy finally broke the silence.

"Cool! We have more royalty on the team than we thought!"

Laughter once again rang out in the tower. When the noise died down, Aqualad turned to Mammoth. "What do you say, Baran? Come with us?"

"Why me?" Mammoth replied. Though he tried hard to hide it, the team knew he had been dealing with a lot of repressed feelings of inadequacy. As this was going on, Toby and Olivia shuffled into the room, still waking up from their naps. Olivia curled up beside her father, while Toby crossed the room and climbed into Mammoth's lap. Mammoth looked down at Toby and wrapped a massive hand around him. Toby smiled and yawned as he situated himself on Mammoth's knee. Mammoth looked at his teammates. The Titans knew that Mammoth shared a special kinship with Toby, but they also knew that because of his reputation as a villain, that the people in Jump City had been reluctant to trust him.

"Bumblebee said she could use some extra muscle power. You're the best candidate I know of," Robin added.

"What's going on?" Jason asked, joining the group.

"We're making some pretty big decisions here, buddy," Robin replied as Jason flopped into a bean bag chair.

"I'll go," Mammoth said finally. "It'll be good for me to branch out. A new place like Steel City might be just what I need."

"Are you leaving us, Uncle Mammoth?" Toby asked, looking up at him with his wide blue eyes. Mammoth swallowed hard.

"Yes. I'm going to go help Auntie Bumblebee and her team," Mammoth replied.

Olivia snapped to attention at this. She immediately quit her father's side and crossed the room with Jason to join Toby and throw her arms around Mammoth. Emily and Aidan arrived on the scene and both joined the huddle of little arms around the massive Titan.

"Don't go, Uncle Mammoth!" Emily wept. The gentle hulk swallowed his tears.

Mammoth's lip trembled when he noticed how big Emily and Aidan were getting. When they were babies, both of them had been able to comfortably sleep in his hand at once. Now they had grown so much that the two could barely share his hand sitting side by side.

"Who'll play Marco Polo with us?" Aidan asked.

"You promised you'd teach me to sneak up on a bad guy!" Jason cried.

"You can't go—I'm a part of you," Toby said, tears sliding down his face.

"And you're part of me. I won't be whole without you."

Mammoth carefully placed each child back on his or her feet and then stood and went to the door.

"I'm going. You'll all be all right…without me. Everything's going to be fine," Mammoth said, pain evident in his voice. He paused here only a moment and then left the room. The parents gathered their mourning children close and held them. They didn't know what to say. When Aidan found out that he was going to be moving, too, he started to cry again.

"Mommy, I don't wanna go," Aidan mumbled.

"But, Sport, listen," Speedy said, using his thumb to brush away Aidan's tears. "We're moving to be on Auntie Bumblebee's team, too. Uncle Mammoth is coming with us." At this, Aidan perked up considerably. He clapped his little hands and threw his arms around his father's neck.

"I'll go talk to him," Jinx volunteered, slowly getting up off the couch and making her way down the hall. If he would listen to anyone, it would most likely be her. After everything they had been through, no one knew him better than she. It was decided that day that the transfers would take place in one month.