Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Teen Titans
Chapter 3: Explanation
The next morning, Raven woke up to the smell of Nebula's famous breakfast brunch which consisted of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and a lot of pancakes. Raven got up and traveled down the stairs to the kitchen where she saw Nebula flipping pancakes.
"I haven't smelled the smell of Neb's famous breakfast brunch in a long time," Raven commented.
Nebula looked up smiling. "Hey. To be perfectly honest, neither have I. After you moved out, it seemed pretty pointless to make such a large breakfast for two people," she explained. "Did you sleep well?"
Raven nodded. "Better than I have in a while."
"Uh oh," Nebula said sternly. "'…Better than I have in a while…'? I smell trouble." She handed Raven a cup of boiling hot water with a tea bag. "Distressed emotions lead to the blowing up of my stuff. Herbal tea was the cure for that."
Raven took both items and sat down on a stool that was sitting next to the stove. "After Rin's transplant, I was convinced that Nightwing was a diamond among rhinestones. Now, it feels like I have dug a hole that I can't seem to get out of," Raven explained shakily.
"Let's start with the fight," Nebula suggested.
"It was a lot of things before this fight that made me want to leave. Actually, it was our last Slade mission. That was when we started fighting."
"He got all crazy, determined and a pain in the neck, didn't he?" Nebula let out a laugh. "I knew it. Slade's the only one who could push that man's buttons."
"Nebula," Raven said gravely. "Focus."
Nebula blushed. "Sorry, Rae. Please continue."
"We brought the twins with us," Raven continued. "Anyway, somehow we got separated from the twins. Nightwing and I were stuck fighting robots and the twins were face to face with Slade. We found them eventually still with Slade. Nightwing and I fought him only to be badly injured in the process. Rin was so scared that she froze leaving Jason helpless. Jason ended up with a concussion and Slade got away. I healed Jason when we got home, but Nightwing was still angry about the whole thing and blew up at Rin. He grabbed her arm roughly and was hurting her. That was when I stepped in…"
Raven's mind traveled back to that night.
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"Rin, I cannot believe you!" Nightwing shouted. "You let your brother get hurt and you let Slade get away!"
"Nightwing!" Raven shouted shocked by what he had just said.
Nightwing grabbed Rin's arm roughly causing her to wince on the brink of tears. Raven forced her husband off of their daughter quickly.
"Mommy," Rin said shocked.
"Go outside," Raven told her.
Rin complied and exited the room quickly.
"Don't ever do that to her again," Raven told him seriously. "Rin is just a child; she's not you. Don't expect her to be."
"Did you see what she did!" Nightwing asked her. "Look at our son!"
"I did!" Raven shouted, but suddenly felt like her powers would go haywire. She regained composure quickly. "I did," she whispered again.
Nightwing stormed out of the room with his long black hair flowing behind him.
Later that night, they all went to bed. All was silent throughout the tower. Nightwing and Raven hardly spoke to each other when they entered their bedroom. As soon as she entered, Raven quickly took off her cloak and boots and climbed into bed plopping her head down hard on the pillow. She then felt Nightwing gently sit on the bed and place his warm gloved hand on the side of her head. He brushed her short violet hair slowly and softly.
"I'm sorry, Raven," he said gently. "I shouldn't have done that and I promise that I will apologize to Rin in the morning."
"You think that makes it right?" Raven asked in disbelief.
"No," he replied dejectedly.
"You expect too much of them. They're just children. And it was Slade! Our most dangerous enemy!"
"I said I was sorry."
"I'm not the one whose arm you yanked," Raven said harshly.
"You think just because I wasn't around for the first seven years of their lives, that I'm entitled to stuff like that from you!"
Raven shot up. "Excuse me!"
"That wasn't my fault remember?"
"Know what? Since this whole thing is my fault, you can find somewhere to sleep!" She threw a pillow at him.
"Fine!" Nightwing yelled storming out of the room.
Raven buried her face in her hands trying to contain her anger. She then laid back down trying to lull herself to sleep.
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"He did that and he said that!" Dragon Nebula asked in disbelief. "Girl, you're good. I wish Jhun would say something like that to me. All the windows in this house would be blown from the inside out. One word: "Tornado"! That'll keep him in line!" Nebula flipped her pancakes. "More importantly, did he apologize to Lil' Rae?"
"He did, but Rin's been a little scared to be around him," Raven replied sadly.
"Can you blame her!" Nebula laughed flipping her pancakes once again. "What happened next?"
"Everything went downhill," she replied. "Nightwing was constantly upset with the fact that Rin didn't want to be around him and blamed me. Then one thing led to another and our marriage started going downhill." She sighed. "Two months. It's been two months. We should have gone to counseling or something."
"I don't. Masked men keep everything masked. Marital emotions are included. Good luck breaking that dam." Nebula sighed heavily. "You can stay here for as long as you need to. The twin beds are still in the twins' old room and you still have your room. We haven't done a lot of changing around here since you moved out."
Raven chuckled. "Thanks."
"Just one thing: Nebulae government and I have issues. You need to do something to make sure he has time with the kids."
"Must I?" Raven asked hoping that she would say no. "What did you do anyway?"
Nebula sighed heavily. "I was shopping for some groceries," she began playfully, "and this crazy officer decided to pick on me on a bad day. A very bad day. He made me drop my bags. I got upset. I cursed him with a rainstorm for twelve hours…" She trailed off. "That was when the Nebulae government gave me a citation for a pretty penny. I don't need withholding children issues making my bills more complicated than what they already are. Plus, you need to talk to him. It's good for you, it's good for him. Shoot, it's good for all of us. We all can't function in a negative environment."
Raven heaved a heavy sigh. "Fine. It may be a good idea."
"It is a good idea."
Suddenly Jhun walked in with the twins. "Morning," he greeted, "these two smelled breakfast. He placed his hand on Rin's streaked violet and black hair and Jason's deep violet hair.
"Breakfast smells really good, Nebula," Rin commented. "I miss your breakfast brunches."
Nebula sniffled. "Aww…Now I feel loved." She snapped back quickly. "Okay, sit so you can eat." Rin and Jason complied as Nebula set hot plates of breakfast in front of them."
"Thank you," the twins said simultaneously.
"I miss that!" Nebula said happily. "I loved that! It was so cute!" She turned to Raven. "Hungry, Rae?"
"Sure," She replied.
