Say Your Name

Part Two

Cyborg's words had bothered Celine more than she had let on. She had messed up. Her work was slipping and everyday she was ignoring her real work for the benefit of the company (and inherent drama) of the Titans.

At the moment, Celine was standing on the roof under a makeshift greenhouse. Beside her, Beast Boy and Terra were helping her load soil into small pots. Neither of them had any idea why she was so interested in gardening all of a sudden, but didn't waste the opportunity to spend time with Celine. Celine and Beast Boy were the only two people in the tower who seemed to regard Terra at all as the days past. In the weeks since her return, Terra hadn't expected open arms, but had wanted more than going two for ten, those odds were no good.

Celine had noticed that Terra had been spending more of her time near her, but whether it was because Beast Boy tended to spend a lot of time around Celine, she couldn't be sure. Celine looked over the green teenager, who was being increasingly dissatisfied with his task, and observed Terra. She was quiet, quiet even for her. She treated each small seed with utmost care, as if they were as delicate as they would be when Robin gave them to his intended receiver. Something was wrong.

Beast Boy looked at his rows of pots and noticed that his were much more ragged looking than Celine's or Terra's. "Oh man! I'm not doing this right am I?"

"It's alright Beast Boy… I guess gardening takes a feminine touch." Celine replied, trading some of her orderly pots for Beast Boy's… less than orderly ones.

"Why are you doing this anyway?" Beast Boy asked.

"Robin asked me to. He wants to give them to his crush apparently." Celine replied.

"Starfire likes Snapdragons?" Terra asked.

"I don't know." Celine replied¹. Beast Boy shifted his eyes, picking up that Celine knew something that he and Terra didn't.

"What's with girls and flowers anyways? There are so much cooler things! Like game station and comic books!"

Terra and Celine sweat dropped. Boys…

"Girls like flowers Beast Boy. Just like you like mega monkeys." Terra replied, teasing obvious in her voice. "I like daisies."

"Daisies are nice." Celine replied. Celine reached over and exchanged more of her pots for Beast Boys. Her actions were almost mechanical, lifting the pots, tapping her seeds into them and laying them out. She gazed fondly at the rows she had made; the little sigh almost went unnoticed.

"Celine, what kind of flowers do you like?" Beast Boy asked.

Celine's gaze broke. Terra and Beast Boy were both staring at her, waiting for her answer.

"Oh… I don't really like flowers." Celine lied.

"I don't buy it! You're a girl! You have to like flowers!" Beast Boy prodded.

Celine shook her head. Beast Boy would not take no for an answer.

"Oh come on! I know you like flowers! I bet Cyborg buys you them all the time! I'll just ask him."

That sad looked returned to Celine's face. The look she got when anyone mentioned her name and Cyborg's at the same time. Terra noticed, she'd have to beat up Beast Boy later for not.

"I guess I like Day Lilies." Celine finally replied.

"I knew it!" Beast Boy's victory dance ended abruptly when Terra stomped on his foot. A huge tear drooped from his left eye. He turned sniveling to Terra, ready to produce full out water works. "What was that for?"

"What? What are you talking about?" Terra asked innocently.

Before Beast Boy could tell her exactly what he was talking about, Celine turned and leaned forward to address Beast Boy.

"Hey Beast Boy… it's really hot out, would you mind going inside and getting something cool for us to drink?"

"Sure thing! Three ice cold tofu smoothies coming up."

"NO!" Both girls cried, but Beast Boy was already running down the hall. Terra and Celine sweat dropped.

"It would be good if we finished before he got back." Celine said.

Terra nodded. "Umm, Celine…"

"Hmm?" The older girl continued to pot seeds, laying them out in neat rows.

"When I stomped on Beast Boy's foot… I was trying to get him to leave us alone."

"We're alone now." Celine stated, continuing with her work.

"Right. I just wanted to say thank you." Terra finally said.

"For what?"

"You're the only one who's been nice to me. Beast Boy told me you stayed up for weeks trying… trying to free me."

"You don't need to thank me for that Terra. I was happy I could help."

"Why?" Terra stepped close to Celine, making her stop working. Celine narrowed her brow. "Why are you nice to me? You know all the bad things I did, but you don't treat me like the others do."

"I'm new… you haven't given me the opportunity to dislike you yet." Celine replied. She tried to go back to work, suddenly uneasy under Terra's gaze. Terra grabbed her wrist.

"How can you act that way? I'd rather you hate me now than disregard me until you finally do." Terra admitted.

Celine pulled herself from Terra's grasp. Celine knew that it had nothing to do with her heightened intellect that allowed her to realize what Terra was really saying. Her brown eyes met Terra's blue ones. Terra didn't trust Celine's genuineness, it was often the curse of those who had done wrong; they constantly feared that those around them would do wrong to them. Terra had broken other's trust and had her trust in others destroyed by the same move.

"I don't disregard you Terra. I like the person you've showed me…" Celine had to be totally honest. It was the curse of her nature. "Give me a reason to hate you and I will. But for now, I can tell you that I don't…" Celine took a deep breath. She made sure she held Terra's eyes when she continued. "I'll say this to you now Terra… if you hurt them again… if you bring that heartbreak to Beast Boy again, I will hate you and I will have no reserve in my retaliations. My compassion does not extend to my mercy."

Terra nodded. Celine realized she had sounded meaner to the small blonde girl than she had meant to. Terra had made mistakes and, in her own mind, Celine felt she had paid for them. The geomancer was making an effort to put the past behind her. It wasn't Celine's place to remind her of what Terra already knew… but she couldn't say the same for the other girls.

"Terra, what are you doing later tonight?" Celine asked.

"I haven't thought about it. Why?"

Just as the last seeds were sown, Beast Boy returned with his smoothies. Both girls fled.

…

"So Speedy, it looks like you've been updating your training regiment. I've never seen anyone hold their own against Sakura before." Robin said, sitting down beside Raven. His arm draped over the couch behind her shoulders casually. Only to Starfire did it seem out of place and unusual.

"Yeah… The Lantern² didn't like my progress, so he put me through a heck of an ordeal." Speedy replied. He was sitting only a few inches from Sakura, who was listening to him, but not looking at him. Her eyes were closed, her arms crossed over her chest. They weren't exactly speaking to each other at the moment.

It had started out as friendly competition. They challenged each other: friendly fights in the training seminars, races across the beach, seeing who could do more pushes (At first Sakura had won, but when Speedy upped the ante to one handed push-ups, Sakura found herself outdone.) Eventually the friendliness dropped out and it seemed every day they were one upping each other; seeing who had better aim and precision with their weapons, who could do a handstand longer (Sakura), it was who could do something better… it was the strangest courtship Blackfire had ever witnessed.

That morning Speedy had challenged Sakura to a climb. The two would have to scale the tower with whatever previsions they could find. Sakura refused. After questioning her for a few minutes he found that Sakura was afraid of heights. He had ridiculed her until she punched him in his handsome smile. She hadn't spoken to him since. Speedy wouldn't admit it, but it bothered him. He'd known Sakura only for about three weeks, but he generally enjoyed the brown eyed girl's company. It wasn't just when they were sparring or competing; he liked eating dinner with her, teasing her about this or that or just talking to her. There was absolutely no one like Sakura and having her mad at him was not sitting well with the masked archer.

"You've never stayed away for so long before," Raven said pushing her hair behind her ear. "You missed a lot while you were gone."

"Yeah. I missed weeks of Sakura gloating." Speedy's smile took over half his face. She was going to talk to him eventually, even if he had to push every single button he knew.

"You're a smart boy, you'll catch up." Sakura said, opening one eye to look at him.

"Ha! You are talking to me!" Speedy shouted as if her words were some symbol of an apology accepted.

"I'm not talking to you. I'm talking at you. Last time I checked, I'm still mad at you and you're still a jerk." Sakura's arms tightened across her chest, both eyes were open.

"Oh come on! How was I supposed to know that would make you sore? I've gloated before and I'll gloat again! You've got to give me opportunity to realize I'm crossing a line before I cross it Sakura!"

Blackfire and Starfire scooted away from the pair, neither of them wanting any part in the grade A meltdown approaching. The team waited for Sakura's reaction, Raven readied a barrier and the others prepared to run.

"You're right."

Raven, Robin, Speedy, Star, and Blackfire crashed face first into the carpet.

"But, you didn't beat me, so you can't gloat."

Speedy pulled himself from the carpet. Now that she was talking to him, teasing her would be much more satisfying. "I didn't beat you today. If I recall correctly, I did more push-ups than you, I outran you twice and can hold my breath longer than you. So that makes it five to…"

"Eight. Two rounds of hand to hand, the first push-ups challenge, the handstand challenge, both games of chicken, I completed the obstacle course in a faster time, and I won the most locations to hide Beast Boy's tofu challenge."

"Sakura that last one wasn't a challenge; we were all just trying to hide Beast Boy's tofu." Speedy replied.

"Oh… Then, it's five to seven."

"I bet I can make it six to seven." Speedy said. That cocky grin would be the death of Sakura, she knew it.

"You mean five to eight? You're on. What's the challenge?"

"One round, winner takes all, Mega Monkey's throw down!"

"You're on!"

At that moment Raven stood up and turned to leave the common room. "Raven? Where are you going?" Robin asked.

"I want no part of this. I'm going to go to the roof. The sun is going down and I'd like to watch it." Raven replied.

"Oh, Raven! That sounds most enjoyable! Might I join you as well?" Starfire asked.

"Of course Star." Starfire and Blackfire followed Raven from the room. A few minutes later, Robin stood up as well. "I guess a sunset would be nice." Robin jogged to catch up. Speedy turned an eye to Sakura as the two continued to mash buttons furiously.

"He's got it bad." Speedy stated.

"Oh yeah." Sakura replied. The two continued to beat at each other in virtual form until Speedy reached over and pushed Sakura's buttons. Sakura's character staggered and a deluxe upper cut laid her fighter out. The screen flashed a victory symbol over Speedy's character.

"Six to Seven!" Speedy shouted.

"You cheated!"

"But I'm cute so it's okay!" Speedy replied.

Sakura stomped her foot against the ground. She wasn't going to say anything about that one way or the other.

End of Part Two

¹ Beast Boy and Terra have no idea that Robin likes Raven. Even though Sakura said in a previous chapter that everyone was aware, really only she and Celine knew.

² The Lantern The Green Lantern, Speedy's master. In canon, Speedy's original master is the Green Arrow, but a little change never hurt anything.