I am soooooooooooooo sorry for the looooooooooooooooooooooooooong wait. I had this huge problem with fan fiction. You see, (if you even care) I had this problem w/ my account when I went to bring up my stories ya know to update them, nothing came up. I went on fan fiction support and they fixed it I guess after I sent them a letter.

So again I apologize, and know that I AM going to finish both of my stories, this and Another Chance at Love.

My New Name is: TheXRealXStarfire (previously: Baby BunnyBoo)

Chapter 7: I Think I Love You

"Okay, everything looks good, you three are free to go," the doctor said not looking up from her clip board. She flipped pages looking at Kori, Richard, and Raven's evaluation sheets.

They were all standing by the door, waiting for the doctor to finalize everything. "Just, try to stay off your feet for a few weeks as much as you can you three."

"Great thanks," Garfield said with his arm around Raven protectively holding her up as a little extra support.

The doctor left to tend to another patient and they all sat in Garfield car. He was the designated driver, dropping each person off at their homes.

  

3 weeks later

Kori was in her room changing into her outfit for school. She had tons of work to catch up on and she knew she was way over her head. Suddenly there was a knock on her door, "COMING!"

"Oh, Richard," Kori said with a smile from behind the door frame, "how are you feeling?" "Fine, you?" "Great" "You seem like you're in a hurry, going somewhere?" "School, I have so much work to catch up on seeing as I have missed weeks."

"Oh, right, well um, can I interest you in dinner later tonight. I kinda wanted to tell you something." Richard looked down awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck, a trait he exhibited when he was nervous. Kori gave him a reassuring smile, "sure, does 7 o' clock sound okay to you?" "Great! I'll pick you up around a quarter to." "Alright"

Richard left with a wave good-bye and Kori headed to school.

  

"Raven!" Kori screamed from the other side of the campus. Raven turned around and smiled, "hey what's up?" "I'm going to dinner with Richard tonight." "Like a date?" Kori's eyes widened, "No! Not a date!" Raven smirked, "too bad, I'm going out to dinner with Garfield tonight also." "Really?" Kori said excitedly. "Yeah," Raven said brushing it off like it was nothing. Even though she really couldn't wait.

"Great, I hope you have fun," Kori said then they split company and headed to their final class.

  

"You look great," Richard said with a smile. "Thank you, "Kori said turning her head slightly to hide the blush on her cheeks. Kori wore a simple spaghetti strap light blue dress with a cris-cross design in the back. She also wore light blue strapless 1 inch heels and small hoop earrings. Her hair, which was about 2 inches past her shoulders, was resting on her back and shoulders and the two front pieces hanging in front of her ears were curled.

"Ready to go?" "Yes, I believe I am."

  

Kori and Richard were in the middle of their meal when Kori cleared her throat slightly.

"Um, Richard." Richard looked up at the sound of his name. "Yeah?"

"You had something to tell me, something important?" Richard pulled at his collar and swallowed. "Um, yeah," he said slowly.

"Yes," Kori said expectantly. "Well, Kori I…wanted to tell you this since I saw you again…I lo-"

"RICHIE-POO, WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF FINDING YOU HERE?"

  

"Who's there?" Raven said as she opened the door. "Hey," Gar said awkwardly, "Gar, what are you doing here? You're early, really early." "Yeah, well, I um kinda wanted to see you" he laughed shyly. Raven wore a silk black robe and her hair looked only half done. "Come in, I'll be ready in about 10 minutes." "Sure," Gar said as he took a seat on the couch. "Are you thirsty?" "Naw, I'm fine thanks."

Ten minutes later Raven came out staring at the ground shyly. She had recovered from the accident and was walking fine. She still had a few healing scars and cuts on her arms and shoulders from the glass, but she was okay.

Raven wore a pure black tank top with a shining black blazer over it, to cover her arms. To match she wore a silk skirt that went to her ankles with a slit on the right side and black strapped heals. Her hair was curled with two strands framing her face while the rest of her hair was pulled into a clip.

"You look beautiful." Gar said standing up.

  

Richard's eyes went wide. 'Kitten? No! What is she doing here?' "Richard," Kori said looking toward the woman hastily making her way over to them. "That woman, she seems to want to see you." She looked very confusedly at Richard.

"Oh, Richie-poo, hhhhheeeeeeeellllllllooooooooooo!" Richard looked into Kori's confused eyes and sunk lower into his chair. "Hello Kitten," "Hello, Kitten, I am Kori" she said sticking out her hand, "yeah great," Kitten replied in her preppy voice not even bothering to look in Kori's direction.

While Kori excused herself to the bathroom Kitten wasted no time in pulling Richard into a vicious kiss. Kori only needed a bit of fresh air and came back just in time to see Kitten and Richard kissing. Missing the scene where Richard was trying to stop Kitten, Kori assumed the worst.

Kitten and Richard pulled apart, both gasping for breath. Richard looked behind Kitten to see Kori standing in the middle of the restaurant completely still, hands at her sides, wide eyes.

Richard's eyes widened. "Richard," was the only word the escaped Kori's lips.

"Kori, no," Richard got up and began to walk toward Kori. With every step he took towards her she stepped back.. Wide eyed, shaking her head Kori stared straight at him, "no, no,"

Suddenly she couldn't back up any longer, she hit the glass doors. "Kori, please, it's not what it looks like," Richard begged still walking towards her. Without any other place to go she did the only thing she could, she turned around and ran out the door.

  

Richard chased after her and gripped her arm stopping her from running. She was panting and looked around, avoiding his eyes. Kori please I-" Richard was cut off by a piercing pain in his cheek. She had slapped him, as hard as she could; after all, he deserved it. Kori had the angriest look on her face, she was fuming. He had never seen her so mad. He stared at her wide eyed.

Through eyes full of tears and gasps for breath Kori looked straight into his eyes and without hesitation replied the only thing she could think of, "I loved you."

With that Kori turned and ran, as far from Richard as she could.

  

"So, you all caught up in school?" Gar asked. Gar had taken Raven to an exquisite Italian restaurant.

Raven placed her Herbal Tea on the table and looked up, "yeah, I'm all caught up," Raven said with a smile. 'She still has a nice smile,' Gar thought to himself.

Suddenly Gar cell phone rang, the sound caused him to jump and he rushed to answer it. "Hello?" "Hey Gar baby, you doing anything tonight?" It was Tara, his girlfriend, Gar looked up at Raven who was quietly sipping her tea and looking out the window. Truthfully Gar really didn't want to be with Tara tonight; since he met Raven things have been different between the two of them.

"I'm actually out tonight, sorry" "That's okay," Tara said disappointed. "Talk to ya later?" Gar asked "yeah, sure," With that Gar hung up the phone.

Raven looked up, "may I ask who that was?" "Oh," Gar was a little shocked by the question, "just a friend." He smiled as the waitress arrived with their dinners.

  

Kori wiped tears from her eyes so she could see as she ran down the dark streets of the city. She knew where she was going but, she just couldn't focus her eyes or her mind.

Kori turned down Park Drive and stopped at a two story brick colonial. The lights on the top floor where on and she hopped the residents were home, after all it was 8:20.

Kori ran up the steps to the front door and rang the bell. 'Please be home, please,' she thought bouncing on her heels. Her right shoe's heels had broken while she was running and she held her shoes in her hands.

  

"Hey Sparky, look at this," Karen, or Bee as she liked to be called said as she held up a photo album. She and Victor were not married, yet, they were engaged to be married in April, and it was February.

They were in their attic going through some old boxes that still had not been opened after their move in to their new house. Victor looked up from a box her was looking through and laughed. "I haven't seen that in years." Bee got up off the floor and went down stairs to the living room and sat on the couch. Victor followed and sat next to her.

As they were looking at pictures there was a knock at the door. Bee handed the album to Victor and stood up to answer the door.

  

Kori looked down as she saw the knob begin to turn. Then the door opened and Bee's eyes widened. Suddenly Kori dropped her shoes and threw her arms around Bee's shoulders and cried. Bee didn't even have time to react. She put her hand on Kori's back and hugged her back, she didn't know what was wrong, but however made her cry was going to pay. "It's okay Kori, its okay; come on you must be freezing."

It was winter and Kori didn't have a coat, and that dress was so thin. Her hair was completely disheveled and mascara ran sown her face from all the time she'd been crying.

"Victor!" Bee yelled up the stairs, "get a blanket and some Tea," Bee looked down at Kori who was visibly shaking. "Why?" Victor said from upstairs, "Just do it!" she yelled. She heard Victor's footsteps moving upstairs.

She led Kori upstairs and helped her to the couch. Victor came in carrying a cup of Tea and a fleece black blanket, "okay, Bee what did ya need this stuff f-" Victor stopped in his tracks as when he saw Kori, she was like his little sister. They had known each other for years. Garfield had introduced them.

"Kori," Victor said with sad eyes "what happened Kor?" Kori was shaking from the cold holding her arms tight to her sides. She was rocking back and forth silently crying. Bee had her arms wrapped around Kori's shoulders trying to calm her down. Bee looked up at Victor with sad eyes; Kori didn't even seem to notice his presence, like she hadn't registered what happened.

He walked over and placed the blanket over Kori's shoulders and put the tea in front of her. He sat on the other side of her on the couch and gave her a hug as Bee got up and went into the kitchen to make a call.

  

"So anyway, then he goes-" Garfield was telling Raven one of his many jokes when her cell phone went off. "Oh, I'm sorry," Raven pulled out her black version cell phone and put it to her ear, "hello?"

  

"Raven?" Bee said from her kitchen. Bee stood in the doorframe of her kitchen looking into the living room. Victor was in there talking to Kori, trying to comfort her.

"Hey, Bee I'm kind of busy right now can I call you later?" "I no I no your date, I wouldn't have called you if I wasn't an emergency," "It's not a date!" "Raven, Kori came to my door about 10 minutes ago in tears. She was completely disoriented, I don't think she even new where she was going."

  

Raven's eyes went wide, Gar noticed this and immediately began to worry, "what's wrong, what is it?" "Kori, something happened," Raven said panicked getting up. Gar stood up as well, "I'll drive" he said pulling out his keys.

  

"Man, what did you do?" Alec asked as he gave Richard a cup of coffee, "it was Kitten," "no, not her." Alec also knew about Kitten, she worked as a secretary at the law firm and had once dated Richard for a time, but he never really felt anything. After all he was the love of every woman's affection in the city.

"She just kissed me man, I don't know why, but unfortunately, Kori saw." "Kitten's always been in love with you man," "but I LOVE KORI!" Richard's eyes widened, 'I do love Kori' he had to find her; he searched for her for hours, but couldn't. He just happened to stumble upon Alec's apartment building. 'I have to find her, she said she loved me, she has to know that, I love her too.'

  

"Honey, what happened?" Bee looked into Kori's depressed eyes, "I loved him," "Loved who?" "Rich-Rich-Richard," she stuttered. Victor's eyes filled with realization, "Richard Grayson?" Kori nodded her head. "You know him?" Bee asked standing up. "Haven't seen him in years, but yeah we went to high school together, with Kori and Garfield." Kori wiped her eyes with a tissue and looked up. "This woman, he loves her, not me" "Richard's loved you since the 3rd grade," Victor said putting a hand on Kori's shoulders.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. "Oh, I'll get it," Bee stood up and headed to the foyer. She let Raven and Garfield in and told them what had happened. Raven ran up the stairs and saw Kori and Victor in the living room.

"Hey Vic," "Hey Raven," Victor got up and left them alone. Raven sat on the couch with Kori and gave her a loving hug. "I heard what happened," suddenly Kori burst out in tears. Raven rocked her back and forth. "I no, I no it's going to be okay."

Victor went into the dining room, "Hey Gar," "Hey," they both said solemnly, they were all worried about Kori.

  

'Where could she be,' Richard was speeding down the streets of town on his motorcycle. He had gone back home knowing he could get around faster on his motorcycle, especially the way he drove.

Suddenly he was hit with an idea, I'll call Raven, she'll know. He pulled over and dialed her cell number.

"Raven?" "Richard?" "Do you know where Kori is?" "Yeah, I do," Raven sounded angry; he knew this was not going to be a pleasant conversation. "She's crying her eyes out."

Guilt washed over Richard as he let out a sigh. "Oh, man" "I'll give you directions, she's at, a friends," "Thanks,"

  

Richard arrived at the front door of a brick colonial, and knocked at the door. A tall well build African American man opened the door and Richard's mouth dropped open, "Vic!" "Yo Rich," Victor tried not to sound happy considering he did make Kori so upset, but he was ecstatic to see Richard again after years. He was lucky enough to keep in touch with Kori and then live near her again, and now this, it was really amazing they all still knew each other. He had recently met Raven, but loved her already.

"Man, I don't know what you did, but-" he trailed off. "I no, I no can I see her" he pleaded. "Ya, sure." He hesitated. He was okay with it but he wasn't sure what Raven and Bee would say.

  

"Karen," she said holding out her hand. "Richard" they introduced each other and Raven just stood there wondering how he knew all of the people she did. It was too weird.

"Can I see her, please," "I have to make things right, she just came in at the wrong time."

"She's in the living room." Karen sigh.

  

'How could he, how, I loved him so much, loved, I still love him' thoughts raced in Kori's head. "Kori?" Her eyes went wide. 'It was him' she turned around and stood up. She tried to say something; anything but she just didn't now what. "Please listen to me." Richard begged. She wouldn't even look at him.

"Could you at least look at me," he pleaded again. Kori's emerald eyes locked with his piercing blue eyes. "Alright, I'm listening."

"I'm so sorry, Kitten she, I don't love her, and she just took me by surprise." "I love you Kori, I always have. I never had the courage to say it, but I've loved you since I met you. I just, I don't know I was young and I, but now-" he trailed off.

"Richard, I've loved you for so long, as long as I can remember, but I just I just don't know if you love me as much as I love you, I mean how can you, I'm nothing great , and that woman she was-"

Kori was cut off by his lips on hers. His hands were holding her arms to her sides. Kori's eyes went wide and then slowly closed as she fell into the kiss. Soon they parted and Kori looked up into Richard's eyes. "Richard," she whispered. "Your right, I don't love you as much as you love me," Kori looked down.

Richard smirked and lifted her chin. "I love you more."

Kori smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck in a passionate kiss.

  

Raven and Gar were outside sitting on the steps in front of Victor's apartment. "So, how do you know Victor?" "Friends since elementary school." Raven stood up and looked at the sky, "beautiful isn't it." She said referring to the star filled clear night sky. "That's not the only thing that's beautiful out here," Raven blushed.

Raven turned her head and looked into Garfield's eyes. She smiled. God did he love that smile.

Suddenly before either of them new what was happening Garfield had captured her lips in a loving kiss.

Electricity shot through them, a feeling neither of them had had before.

"GARFIELD!" Raven and Garfield pulled apart. "Tara," Gar turned around. Tara stood at the street corner, awe struck. "Garfield how could you," Raven stood there silently watching, not having a clue what was going on.

Suddenly she was jolted from her thoughts by a harsh slap on her face. "You little bitch; you stay away from my boyfriend."

Raven just starred at Garfield, "you're…boy…boyfriend?" 'Why does this keep happening doesn't anyone love me? Why?' Tears streamed down Raven's cheeks.

"I'm…I'm sorry," she stuttered. "I… didn't know, it won't happen again," she said slowly and began to walk backwards. She just wanted to get away. "Raven wait," Garfield said.

Tara grabbed his hand. "Stay with me, she won't bother us again baby," Gar's eyes narrowed. He whipped his hand away, knocking Tara over in the process. "No, I'm going after her, Tara I'm sorry, but I just can't see you anymore," surprised at how easily that came he turned in the direction Raven went and ran off.

!PLEASE R&R!

IN THE NEXT CHAPTER:

"Kori I'm here to take you back,"

"RAVEN NO!" "Don't please don't!"

"Kori, are you okay, did he hurt you?"

"Please, Raven, I, I love you!"

Sorry Roy wasn't in this chapter but he will be in Chapter 8.