Hello again, Sora here! I'm up earlier than I said I would be. This has to be points to me, right? Well, technically, the theme for this story is on the late side. It was meant to be a Thanksgiving gift, but oh well. I should be on time with my Christmas piece. Anyway, there's not much else for me to say save for my standards.
This is a Robin/Raven fiction. I accept and encourage everything except pairing flames. They are a nasty pet peeve of mine.
I don't own the Teen Titans, but I guess I'll be okay. Although, they're on my Christmas wish list. Hint hint. Anyway, on with the story. Here we go!
It had been just over two months since Robin and Raven paid their interesting visit to Bruce. The month had been fairly uneventful. Raven's morning sickness had finally subsided to the empath's mild delight. However, in its place, hormones had taken residence. In fact, both women were now known for sudden and unexpected mood swings. All of the men were steadily learning to tread upon eggshells. Unfortunately for them, they still seemed to step on land mines more often than not. Beastboy with an usually special frequency.
At any rate, the month of November was upon Jump City and with it, the season of Thanksgiving. Indeed, Robin awoke Thanksgiving morning to find Raven long absent from her side of the bed. After a momentary heart skip, he sat up and looked around. It was rare anymore for Raven to be up before him. Curious as to where the love of his life had gone, he climbed out of bed.
Robin walked over and opened the closet door. He groaned. No. Raven had not been kidnapped. No kidnapper, not even Slade, would be cruel enough, or have enough foresight to abscond with both his pregnant girlfriend and his favorite pair of training sweats. However, those very pants were missing. All he would have to do, though, was find Raven and he would find his clothes. They had spent good money buying maternity clothes for her, it was true, but she seemed much happier wearing his looser training clothes. Robin had considered talking to her about it, but he decided he wasn't completely suicidal. As he made his way out the bedroom door and toward the control room, he entertained a brief but wicked thought about making Beastboy talk to her about it. He chuckled lightly as he began his search.
On his first try, Robin hit pay dirt. He found both Starfire and Raven in the control room. Or, more specifically, in the kitchen. They appeared to be cooking. Suddenly, a green hand shot out and grabbed his upper arm. Mildly startled, Robin turned to see Cyborg and Beastboy cowering behind the couch. Both had a haunted look in their eyes and Cyborg was clutching the gamestation as though it were a security blanket. "Dude," Beastboy whispered softly but insistently, "don't do it."
"Don't do what?" Robin asked curiously in his normal tone of voice.
"Shhhh! Get down here!" Two pairs of hands reached out and dragged him down.
"What is going on?" Robin demanded.
"Shhhh!" the two hiding Titans hissed. Robin rolled his eyes.
"Okay," he whispered to humor them. "What is going on?"
"They're cooking," Cyborg replied in a hushed, terrified tone.
"So," Robin prompted. He wasn't awake enough to see the direction of the conversation.
"Dude! Hello!" Beastboy hissed. "They can't cook! Remember Raven's pancakes?"
"Or any number of Star's pudding." Cyborg tacked on. Robin flinched; the point had been driven home.
"I'm sure," he said slowly, struggling to maintain loyalty to his girlfriend, "that they are following recipes and it will be better than last time."
"Don't count on it," Cyborg replied, puncturing Robin's feeble dream. "They fed Beastboy here some black stuff awhile back. It glued his teeth together for, like, an hour. I took a sample of it. Man, the labs came back saying there wasn't a trace of food in it." There was not an ounce of humor in Cyborg's face and Robin could feel himself paling.
Then he steeled his back. "Well," he said carefully, "be that as it may, I'm going to go see them anyway. I want to find out how Raven is feeling today."
"You are a brave man," Cyborg said gravely. Beastboy snorted.
"Dude, he's a stupid man," he muttered. "What are we going to do with two pregnant chicks and a poisoned leader?" Cyborg shrugged.
"I've only gotten as far as planning our own funerals," he replied.
"Dude, you've signed me up for the faux fur lined coffin, right?"
"Yeah, and your gravestone says 'Died a Hero, Died of Thanksgiving Food Poisoning'."
Robin rose and rolled his eyes at their dramatics. He left the two to their 'plans' and strode toward the kitchen.
Raven and Starfire were too wrapped up in their industry to notice him. So he took a moment to simply study them. Raven was trying to chop some vegetables. She wore a black headband to keep her hair out of her face. She was clothed in one of her modified black leotards and his gray sweatpants. She had outgrown her favorite belt, so she no longer wore it. Despite her casual appearance, Raven still looked pretty and elegant.
That thought drew Robin's eyes to Raven's midsection. Her flat, toned abdomen no longer existed. Instead, the empath was rounding with new life. The thought caused a small rush of affection for the sorceress to course through Robin.
Then his eyes shifted to Raven's workmate. Starfire was dressed in a light violet maternity top and white capris which seemed to complement her skin tone and hair, which was held back by a matching violet bow beautifully. She was stirring a pot cheerfully while her other hand rested atop her abdomen.
Over the past month, Starfire seemed to have suddenly ballooned up. Though she was only a month farther along than Raven, she seemed nearly twice the size of her best friend. She had assured them, though, that this was perfectly normal in Tamaranian pregnancies. Everyone pretty much accepted it with a raised eyebrow and slow nod.
Finally Raven took notice of him and beckoned Robin into the kitchen. He entered nervously. His conversation with Cyborg and Beastboy had not instilled in him much confidence. "Morning girls," he said, trying to remain calm.
"Morning," Raven answered succinctly. Her brow was furrowed in deep concentration as she tried to chop some celery. Starfire was a bit more exuberant.
"Good morning dearest friend!" she said cheerfully and stepped away from her pot to give him one of her traditional hugs. It was not to be though. The moment Starfire stopped stirring her concoction, something gelatinous and orange began slithering over the edge of the pot.
"Er, Star," Robin began and pointed toward the culinary nightmare. Starfire followed his gaze and frowned in displeasure. She hurried back to the stove.
"Not again. Get yourself back within the confines of this metal!" she commanded as she smacked her spoon upon what appeared to be a tentacle. Robin could feel sweat begin to trickle down his neck. He spied the pale faces of Cyborg and Beastboy poking over the couch and watching the situation in horror. Cyborg had graduated from clinging to the game station to sucking his thumb. Robin opted to apply a don't-ask-don't-tell policy to what he had just witnessed. He turned to his girlfriend.
"So, Rae, how are you feeling today?"
"Fine, thank you." She paused her work long enough to spare him a quick kiss.
"You guys seem busy today."
"Starfire thought it would be a good idea to cook Thanksgiving dinner this year. I agreed with her. As Earth holidays go, she thinks the only one better is Christmas."
"So, you're cooking all of Thanksgiving dinner?"
"Yes. Is there a problem with that, Richard?" Raven asked. Her eyes were flashing dangerously.
"Nothing!" Robin answered hastily. Raven probably would have grilled him further but Starfire spoke then.
"Friends, have you seen Cyborg or Beastboy? They have been missing for quite some time and I wish for them to take my latest dish."
"I haven't seen them," Robin answered promptly, lying through his teeth. Raven raised her eyebrow but said nothing. "What did you guys give him last time?"
"Sweet potatoes," Raven answered simply. Robin grimaced. He had never known something as innocent as sweet potatoes could become black, sticky and potentially deadly. Starfire's eyes then lit up as a well meaning idea struck her.
"Friend Robin!" Perhaps you would enjoy tasting my new dish, soft boiled glorkaroaches, a wonderful combination of my home world and this one."
Robin could feel the earlier trickle of sweat become a small flood. He began backing out of the kitchen rapidly. "Err, thanks Star, but…I was just leaving. I have to go grocery shopping and, um, Christmas shopping." Cyborg and Beastboy appeared at his side from out of nowhere.
"We're going too!" they said quickly.
"You know, mans day out," Cyborg explained.
The two promised to be home in time for dinner as they carried their excuse for freedom (Robin) out the door.
Finally, dinner time rolled around and the boys were forced to reluctantly return home. (Beastboy left claw marks in the pavement as Robin and Cyborg dragged him back to the T-Car).
When they arrived at the tower, they found the formal dining table had been pulled out and set. Starfire and Raven were setting out the food and waiting patiently for them.
When everyone was seated, Beastboy reached for a white, fluffy substance sitting in a purple bowl. "Mmm," he murmured happily, "something familiar." He loaded large globs of it onto his plate and began eating it rapidly. Starfire stood up abruptly.
"Oh, Raven, we have forgotten the turkey and the potatoes of mash! Please come with me to retrieve them." Beastboy with his spoon halfway to his mouth.
"These aren't potatoes?" he squeaked.
"No, they are still in the kitchen," Starfire replied.
"Then what the hell are these?" he demanded. Starfire tilted her head and identified what he was eating.
"Whipped mucopolese, an insect native to my home planet." Beastboy turned a mint green and toppled from his chair. Meanwhile, Cyborg was staring at his plate. A bowl was placed upside-down upon it he could have sworn it rattled.
"Er, Star, before you go, what's this?" he asked.
"My glorkaroaches," she answered. "Once you uncover them, you must eat them quickly, or they shall crawl away from you." Then she walked into the kitchen.
"Crawl?" Raven asked incredulously. "Starfire, you promised nothing would be alive for this meal."
"Does that include the guests?" Cyborg muttered to himself, still watching his plate warily.
"They are not alive," Starfire called back. They can merely move for up to twelve hours after death. I hear your common earth chicken is similar, though they move for a much shorter period of time." Robin blanched at the mental image. Raven didn't look very pleased, nor did she look like her stomach was feeling settled.
Then, Starfire arrived carrying purple potatoes and a raw turkey. Robin watched in horrified disgust. "Err, did you guys cook the bird at all?" he asked. Raven frowned deeply.
"Shit, I knew we forgot something." Starfire looked sorrowful. She hated seeing her friends upset. She wracked her brain for a quick solution.
"Please, do not frown. I can fix it!" A starbolt lit up her hand. However, in her excitement to fix the problem, she overpowered her bolt of energy. There was a spectacular explosion.
When the dust finally cleared, Beastboy was still comatose on the floor, Robin was still watching in horrified, and silent, fascination, Cyborg was trying to catch his glorkaroach, which had managed to get away despite the bowl, and Starfire and Raven were watching the ash-like remnants of the turkey snow down upon them. Starfire released a small sob and both women fled the room. Robin frowned.
"You two, try to comfort Star. I'll take Raven. Err, Titans go."
Robin found Raven in their room curled up on the bed. Her shoulders shook, giving away exactly what she was feeling. However, the black floating objects were doing a pretty good job of telling him as well. "Hey," he said quietly, sliding in next to her. Raven was silent save for shaky breathing. "The meal wasn't so bad, if that's what's bothering you."
"Yes, it was," Raven answered morosely. "How am I supposed to be a parent, if I can't even cook?" Robin rubbed her back.
"Have you ever cooked before, were you ever taught?" he asked patiently. Raven shook her head.
"It wasn't exactly an emphasis between unstable powers and the whole being-the-damnation-of-the-earth thing," she answered.
"Well, there you go. You just need to learn, and you'll be fine."
"And who exactly is going to teach me? Mr. Tofu-is-my-life or Mrs. Eat-your-glorkaroaches-before-they-crawl-away?"
"How about someone a bit closer?" Robin asked.
"You can cook?" Raven asked incredulously.
"Yes. Why?"
"Well, it's not like you've ever given us an inkling of your vast culinary talents," Raven returned.
"Ah, well, yeah. Alfred wouldn't let me leave the house until I proved I could feed myself."
"You haven't exactly done so great so far. Do the blue fuzzies in the fridge ring a bell?" Robin shrugged.
"Pizza has gotten us fed just as well."
"A home cooked meal would have been nice too. You will suffer for holding out on us," Raven warned him. Robin laughed softly.
"How about I make it up to you today? I'll teach you how to make something simple. Does spaghetti sound good?" he asked.
"Sounds good enough," Raven answered. Robin helped her stand up and they wandered back to the kitchen. There, Cyborg and Beastboy waited for them.
"Well," Cyborg said quietly, "we couldn't coax Star out of her room. She's really upset." Raven's eyes widened slightly as she remembered something.
"Here, try this." She fished a letter out of the pocket of the sweatpants. "It's a letter from Speedy. We got it this morning. I was going to surprise her with it at dinner." The two boys took the letter and went to try again.
When everyone had finally re-congregated in the kitchen, the rest of the evening was spent teaching the two women how to cook and how to cook using earth customs. As Robin watched everyone carrying out the small tasks to make the simple meal, he drew his girlfriend very close and silently thanked whatever higher power had granted him this family.
Happy (belated) Thanksgiving everyone. I hope you all have something or someone to be thankful for this year; I know I do. Well, this is the end of chapter 10. It's a bit longer than my usual chapters. Once again, I want to thank everyone who has stuck with me thus far. I really appreciate you. Happy holidays and I'll see you at Christmastime (which is only 12 days away, so no worries). Until next time! Sora out.