:Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. The two week old chicken in my fridge is starting to scare me. Over ten inches of snow is a good reason to go outside for once. Don't look into the sun- it burns. It's not good to get only three hours of sleep... Math hurts my brain.
:Author's Notes: Mary Ann is explained; for those of you who might not catch it, she's Tim's sister.
PS: Much thanks to IsaacGSO for unclaiming my disclaimer.
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Ever Forward: Paper Work
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How do you do it? Why do you wait so long to admit to yourself
That
You
Are
Wrong?
Just breathe…
It'll pass soon.
You're only human, after all.
-Mary Ann, in a poem from her Collection 'Once They Told Me', dedicated to her brother Tim Erics
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The sound of footsteps in the otherwise empty garage echoed slightly, giving warning to the man under the car that someone had entered his private domain.
"Who's there?" With a push, he rolled back out from underneath the SUV, wiping his hands on a greasy rag as Jacob sat up, eyes scanning the area.
"Tim?" His former leader stood in the doorway, worn out to the point of dropping. "Why're you here?" Not anger, just cautiousness in the question as Marls got to his feet.
"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry, Jacob. That, and ask that you go back to the System Force, because I'll be leaving." Blank silence as the addressed man mulled over the words.
"You're leaving?" Surprise. Tim sighed, nodding tiredly.
"Yes." Another pause, and then Marls came over, putting one hand on Tim's shoulder.
"You really do sound like you mean that. Do you?" When Tim looked up, meeting the serious brown eyes, there was a true regret in them.
"Yes." Just as he started to crumple, Jacob lifted him up and slung him over his shoulder.
"Damn it, Tim, what have you been doing to yourself?" Then, considering the unusually light weight of the man, "Or rather, what haven't you?"
"Have to get things done…" Came the tired mutter. "Fricking paper cuts…" Jacob blinked and then laughed.
"You, working yourself to exhaustion over papers? Man, there really is something wrong with you."
Later, fully restored to his senses with the help of pizza and alcohol, Tim sat on the couch and finished the last slice.
"Why are you leaving?" Jacob asked, flipping through the channels of his old TV. His friend was surprised.
"Because that's the only way I thought you guys would come back. The city needs the System Force; the police are struggling with the overload and crime rate has risen. And… it's not a one man job." With an approving look on his normally serious face, Marls slapped Erics on the back.
"You see, that's what you've been missing this entire time. It's the one thing we all (beside you, obviously) knew you needed to learn. You just took the hard way." Tim absorbed the words, then began to laugh, putting his head in his hands.
"All along. Hah! I've been a real ass." It wasn't a question, but Jacob nodded anyway.
"Have you talked to any of the others?" Coughing slightly, Tim nodded.
"Miranda." A hesitation. "Did you know…"
"That she lost the baby?" Jacob finished the sentence. "Yes. And?"
"… She didn't say whether or not she come back."
"I think she will." Tim raised an eyebrow as he lifted his head. "It's in the blood," Jacob explained. "To the System Force." A weary toast, to a team that had been... and might be once more.
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