A/N: Thank you to all the faithful reviewers who commented on the last chapter. I just want you to know that I really appreciate them and that I enjoy reading them!
Anyways, at the beginning of this chapter, we're with Speedy in New York. Enjoy!
The young businessman sighed dreamily at an enamel-glossed photograph of an attractive, young woman with a graceful, childlike, but nevertheless, charming smile across her face.
The cab driver glanced behind him to find a lovesick man gazing longingly at the portrait.
"Who's 'dat? You girlfriend?"
His head snapped back to reality. "Uh, yeah." He regained his posture. " She's beautiful, isn't she, Mr…"
The taxi driver continued to cruise along the traffic-jammed streets, with blazing horns honking echoing constantly from impatient citizens. His overbearing coat made it hard for Speedy to see his face.
"Call me Phil," he said as his toothpick wriggled continuously in his mouth. "And yeah, you got a gorgeous woman there in your hands. So tell me," he added, "How do you get woman like that?"
Roy chuckled. "Your not serious, are you?" He shifted so that he could get a clear view of the 30 year-old man's face, which had an expectant look on. "Oh, you are serious," the redhead mumbled.
"Course I'm serious, kid! Wanna see my wife?" Phil ignored the timid protests from his stuttering passenger as he rumbled through his pockets until he found what he was looking for. He pulled out a picture and stuffed it into the poor gentleman's hands.
Speedy looked at the image, trying to hide his surprise. It was of a slightly overweight woman wearing what looked like somewhat of a shirt. He couldn't really even find any garment of clothing on her; just strips of fabric-woven material that managed to cover some of her body. He winced in disgust and put on shaky, weary smile at the beaming man staring directly at him through the rear mirror.
"She looks…um, nice…I guess."
"Are you kiddin'? She's like a swimsuit model! Sometimes she doesn't wear much though."
'You don't say,' Roy thought sarcastically to himself as he slumped back down in his seat, ignoring Phil's ramblings about how hot his wife was. It was only then when he came back to his senses and noticed that they were going at a rapid speed.
"Hey, uh…Phil?"
"- And this one time she said-"
"PHIL!"
"-Huh?"
Roy pointed frantically at the speed meter. "We're going 90 miles an hour! And we're heading downhill!"
Phil simply shrugged. "I do this all the time."
"They don't TRAIN taxi drivers to do this all the time!"
There was a sudden silence from Phil. Another voice took the New York native's place.
"That's because I'm not a taxi driver," he stated.
That voice sounded strangely familiar. "Slade?"
"How'd you guess," the newly masked man asked sarcastically. He took off his large coat and thrust it towards Roy's face. When he finally threw it aside, with Slade out of sight, he noticed one thing in front of the car that would decide if he lived or died. A building.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
Kori gently pressed the button with the icon leading back to the tenth floor her room, along with where the rest of the titans' rooms were. Nightwing had gone up there an hour ago to his room to acquire more thinking time. She sighed. Sitting on the island's rocky shores for the last two hours since her conversation with Nightwing had really helped her.
Her hand reached into her jeans pocket as her cell phone rang furiously. Her long fingers found the "talk" icon and she pressed the phone to her ear.
"Hello?"
"Yes," came a business like voice. "Is this a Miss…Kori Anders?"
"Yes," Kori said as the slow elevator only progressed by going up three floors. "May I ask who's-"
"This is officer Jean Harwood. There's been an accident."
An uncomfortable silence followed after that statement.
Kori pushed all of her thoughts of the possibilities aside and finally found her voice. "Uh-um…yes, Officer…what's going on?"
She heard a sigh from the other line as she listened intently. "I'm sorry to be the one telling you this, but…I believe you and a Mr. Roy Harper were currently in an intimate relationship?"
Slightly panicked, the former titan had a sudden pain stricken look upon her face. "What-what…what do you mean 'were'?"
"Well, I...you see, it all started when...I mean, what I meant to say was-"
Sudden rage crossed the red-haired beauty. Why was this cop constantly stalling? "Tell me! I demand that of you this instant! If you don't, I swear I will-"
"OKAY! Roy Harper…is in a coma right now…he…he collided into a building," Jean confessed as she lost her strict business tone.
A shocked Kori froze. "Wh-wha…what are you talking about?" After a few moments she added, "You're lying! Stop it! Your such a-"
"Miss Anders, I'm not lying. Your boyfriend is at the New York hospital right this moment, he-"
Kori shut her phone and slunk down against the elevator's walls, staring wretchedly at the reflection bestowed upon her. She didn't want to hear the rest of what the cop was going to say. She didn't want to know what else happened to Speedy. Her panting subsided into tears that escaped from her cheeks when she realized what she didn't want the most. She didn't want to be lonely again.
Now sobbing, she slammed her fists into the cold, metal floors, causing the elevator to shake violently. The emergency stop rang out as she jammed her hand against the tiny button, waking one titan up- Raven.
And when she finally were able to ease the elevator up with the cable, out tumbled a traumatized young woman leaning against the walls, sobbing freely now and desperate for comfort. She looked up at her shocked friend as she spoke barely within a whisper.
"He's at the hospital…almost-he-crashed." After a solemn moment she paused, teardrops rapidly increasing the rate at which they splattered against the floor. "Speedy's…going to leave me. He-...he could die."
She looked up at Raven, who too was crying. It wasn't fair that Kori's life was like this. She didn't deserve to be constantly hurt after something good actually happened to her.
The purple-haired girl rushed to her aid almost immediately. "Shh, shh…it's okay. Speedy's going to be okay," she soothed her as she embraced her best friend sympathetically.
As she knelt down rocking her slowly and softly in the halls, the rest of the Titans came out to see what the commotion was about. Nightwing ran down the halls and caught a clear sight of Kori.
Her hair was mangled slightly. He watched her face as it glistened with tears, each one holding a piece of the pain in her heart. Only there was so much more pain inside of her that nobody thought she had; only Nightwing saw this at that moment. So many people called her weak and timid; but they didn't even know the slightest bit of what she had been going through all her life; almost losing Speedy was only part of the troubled past she hid.
Upon realizing this, he cleared his way through the Titans and sat down beside her as he gestured for the rest of his concerned friends to leave. He waited for her to make eye contact with him, and when she did, she looked even more beautiful than ever.
"Richard?" she sniffled lightly.
"Yeah?"
"Do you know what it feels like to loose the one person you depended on with your life? To loose someone you loved?"
'Yes, I do,' he thought forlornly to himself, 'I lost you.'
"Richard?"
He regained his posture and snapped out of his thoughts. "Oh! Um, yeah...I lost a lot of people, some of them are my parents."
She continued to weep on his shoulder. "Yes, but what about Speedy? What if he...dies? What am I going to do then? Who will I go toRobin?"
His mind froze at the familiar name. Soon Kori realized her mistake as well. "Oh! I am so sorry, Richard! Please, I didn't mean to-"
Her smiled warmly as she kept on ranting on and on about how apologetic she was. "It's okay Kori, I...kind of miss you calling me that."
They both finally stood up and brushed their clothes. Walking down the hall side by side but not too close, Kori responded, "Me too, Richard. Me too."
A/N: Did you like it? REVIEW! I didn't get too many last time, so if you have any ideas or suggestions for the story, then review please! Thank you!