Chapter 8

okay... sorry... I've got writer's block... again... it's very common for me actually. Well, good news is finally something came up for this story.. Bad news... my horse is lame... so she'll be off for a while.. So I can't ride her... WAH! Okay... enjoy the rebuilding of the stroy...

Burned down complexes

There were construction workers, home owners, and the neighbors across the street were all walking around, carrying boards, nails, drills, hammers, design plans, etc. to help rebuild the complexes that had fallen a couple weeks before. Richard had stopped by that afternoon, on the weekend. He wanted to stop by and help work so that the homes could go up as fast as they came down. He was surprised to see that they had already gotten most of the inside structure of the house, like the planks the help hold it up. You could here the pounding of hammers, the drills going, saws cutting, etc. on the construction sight. Richard had on a black, big, short sleeve t-shirt and shorts that were ripped at the knee. He walked around to try to find Ms Roth or Rachel. He finally found Ms Roth talking to some women that were, probably, her neighbors.

"Ms Roth!" he shouted over the noise. Ms Roth turned around to see Richard coming toward her.

"Hello dear." She said as he was in hearing range.

"Hi, have you seen Rachel?" Richard asked as he stuck his hands into his pockets.

"Hmm." Ms Roth tapped her chin. "You know yes! I think she's over there helping the workers put up the foundation." She pointed to the area to where her house was being set up.

"Okay thank you!" Richard turned and took off to find Rachel. The women talking to Ms Roth told her that Richard was cute and she agreed. Richard got to the area where Ms Roth said she last saw Rachel. "Rachel." he started calling out. "Rachel!"

"Up here!" her voice came from above him. Richard shot his head up and saw Rachel sitting on one of the planks that was supposed to be the base for the 2nd story. She was up kinda high. She waved at him with her left hand, her right hand was occupied with a hammer, a box of nails was in front of her and a beam that was almost finished being pounded on by her, was in front of the nail box. She was dressed in a black tank top and really short shorts.

"What are you doing up there!" Richard shouted up at her. She hit the board a couple more times then set the hammer down.

"I'm coming down, hold on!" She swung her leg over the board she straddled and turned around so her stomach could help support her. She slid down to the second board below that one. This time she did that same thing but instead of sliding down she swung her legs, she let go when she got enough force, and she slid her self down and landed on the ground, 5 ft in front of Richard. "Hi!" she said as she straightened her self up after the landing.

"Hi.. Where did you learn how to do that?" Richard asked.

"Hmm, what?" she asked. "Oh, that. Well, I guess I just figured out I could do that."

"How are you doing?" Richard came over and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I'm doing fine." She said as she wrapped her hands around his neck.

"I'm glad to see you up and about, but I don't want you hurting your self."

"Has anyone ever told you, you worry too much?" Rachel leaned her head on his chest. "Come on, we need to start to build this place up if I'm going to have some place to sleep next week." She turned and started to walk away, with Richard's hand in her grasp. They followed each other all over the sight. Richard helped Rachel lift and bring a couple boards to the workers that needed them, they brought water, nails, drills, hammers, anything they needed they would get it. But if no one needed anything they'd help hold, hammer, or get up in some places where the bigger workers couldn't get. They had the boards, stairs, and floors in that day, before night. Everyone went home, Richard had a hard time parting with Rachel, he didn't want to leave her.

Next morning, everyone was their bright and early. Everyone was already putting up insolation boards on the inside. Richard came again, early in the morning too. He found Rachel once he turned to look and saw Rachel talking to a couple of the female workers.

"Oh, Shoot!" The female worker said as she searched her pocket.

"Hmm? What is it Stacy?" Rachel asked as she turned around to see what her friend was talking about.

"I don't have any more nails. Could you get me some, this board isn't going to hold up it's self." Stacy stated.

"I'll get them." Rachel said as she sat herself down on the edge, where no insolation wall was. She fell back, using her legs to hold on to the floor, to keep her from falling from the 2nd story. She bent her back backwards to flatten her self against the non-covered ceiling. "Hi, Joe!"

"AH!" She jumped back and fell on her butt. "Don't do that Rachel!" Joe put her hand over her heart."You scared the living crap out of me!"

"Sorry." Rachel blushed, "Could we have some nails up here, we're out." Rachel stated as she held out her hand, her shoulder blade length hair fell off her shoulders.

"Here." Joe got up and grabbed one of the extra boxes of nails and handed it to Rachel.

"Thank you!" She said joyfully. She swung back up to be greeted by Stacy. Rachel handed her the box, "Here you go, a nice full box."

"Rae! Could you get me some water?" Another worker called.

"Sure." Rachel bent backwards again. This time she didn't scare Joe. "Hey could we get some water up here?" she asked.

"Here, take the small cooler." Joe handed Rachel the small cooler full of water bottles, she swung back up and put the cooler down by her side. "And pull your shirt down!" Rachel looked down, her white shirt had some dirt patches on it, one on her left shoulder the other at the right base. It was also torn at the bottom having a good 3-5 inch gap of skin showing, her jean shorts were light blue and torn too, about 3 inches of the fabric was showing. Rachel put on a sour face and pulled her shirt down as far as it could go, which wasn't far.

"Could we get another hammer or two up here?" one of the 3 males asked from the 2nd floor.

Rachel bent back down and asked Joe for a couple hammers. Once she received them she came back up to her normal sitting position. She handed the worker the hammers. "Any thing else." she stated with venom, she added a death glare.

"Could I get a drill please dear?" Stacy asked as she put some boards up that needed to be screwed into place.

"Very well, anything else?" She glared at everyone, everyone shook their heads. "Good." Rachel bent back wards and was expecting to see Joe, but instead she was face to face with Richard. "AH!" She jumped a bit, she lost her grip with her legs and grabbed on to the nearest beam to help hold her up. "Oh my god! Richard don't do that!" she shouted as she put her right hand over her heart to try and calm it. "What are you trying to do? Kill me?"

"Nah, I wouldn't do that." Richard stated. Rachel let go of the beam that helped to hold her in place. "You're too precious to kill." Richard quickly pecked Rachel on the lips. Rachel blushed.

"So are you going to help us or not ghost boy?" Rachel asked, she was referring to his white shirt and how he was so quiet when he moved. "Come on." Rachel swung her body back up to the top of the 2nd story floor. Richard jumped and pulled himself up with ease. "Dam your strong." Rachel helped some others put up one of the 4 last remaining insolation walls that needed to be put up on the 2nd story of their house. It took a couple hours to put up the inside walls, wires, and cut the window frames to where they would be going. The roof still wasn't on, they needed to get it on before Wednesday, or else the floor would soak up water. The men started to put up the foundation for the roof. The female workers were busy painting the walls or putting doors in. Rachel was painting her own room, she couldn't reach the top of the wall. Richard saw this and came over and bent down and gave her a lift. He put her on his shoulders. "Woah!" she wasn't expecting him to do that. She looked down. "Hey there muscles." She stated. She could now reach the top of the wall. "Hey, Richard. I need some more paint." Richard bent down and gave her more paint. "Careful! You have precious cargo here." Rachel stated, as she almost lost her balance.

"Your right." He said as he kissed her left thigh. "You are precious."

"Don't push it." Rachel said as she bent over his head and put both hands on his head and kissed him on the nose. Once Rachel was done painting, she dropped the paint brush on the tarp. She had some white paint on her finger and whipped some of the paint off on his nose.

"Hey!" He said as she put the paint on his nose. She giggled.

"You look so cute like that." She kissed his forehead.

"You better be careful, I can drop you easily." Richard warned.

"I know you wouldn't." Rachel said.

"Rachel?" Ms Roth called from the new hall way.

"In here mom!" Rachel called.

"Rachel." Ms Roth poked her head in the door. "Oh, hello there Richard."

"Hi!" Richard said as Rachel crossed her arms, put them on Richard's head and put her head on her arms. "Hey, do I look like a head rest?" he looked up at Rachel.

"Maybe." Rachel dragged.

"Richard dear, put her down before you throw your back out." Ms Roth insisted.

"No, she's fine." Richard stated.

"Isn't she heavy?" Ms Roth asked

"Not really." Richard said.

"Well, just put her down. I'm afraid that she'll fall and hurt herself." Ms Roth said. With that Rachel slid down from his shoulders and on to his back. "Rachel..." Ms Roth got annoyed. Rachel wrapped her arms around his neck.

"But mom!" she whined.

"Now!" Ms Roth yelled. Rachel got off Richard and stood on her own 2 feet. "Thank you. Now we need to help bring in the down stairs furniture."

"Wha?" Richard questioned.

"What furniture? All of it was burned." Rachel stated.

"No, the city gave us new furniture to replace the old ones, no charge." Ms Roth said. "Now come on!" she walked out of the room, the 2 teens looked at one another and shrugged and followed her down. After a couple hours of moving furniture, the workers got the outside shielding on the roof, so now the owners could sleep in their houses tonight.

"Let's just get their beds in then we'll call it a day." the head worker said as he wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked at the setting sun.

"Well, I guess I'll be seeing ya." Richard said as he turned to leave.

"Thank you." Rachel stated before he left. "For everything." Rachel sat on her bed.

"Good night Rae." Richard said as he kissed her forehead. He walked out and left. Everyone went home that night. Rachel lay there on her bed, listening to the leaving traffic outside. Everything quieted down after a couple minutes. Rachel buried her head in to her pillow. Then something was tapping on her window. She looked up. It was Robin. She slowly got up, she looked over at the window we she sat up. She reached over and unlocked the window. He opened it up and crawled in.

"Wow, this place is looking good." Robin said as he looked around. "And in a couple of days too." he looked over at Rachel, she didn't look happy. He raised an eyebrow. "What's the matter?"

"Robin?" Rachel asked. Robin came over and sat down next to her. She laid down on his lap. He brushed the hair that was falling on to her face away. "What if... you had some body that you loved... and they loved you too... but then... there's another person... that loves you just as much... and you love them too... what would you do?"

"Is there something your trying to say?" Robin asked. "Like you have some one else but, you like me too?"

"That's kinda it.." she blushed.

"So who's the lucky boy? What's he like?"

"Oh, he's amazing Robin! He's kind, strong, brave, handsome... in a lot of ways... he's like you." Rachel turned and looked at Robin. Robin felt uncomfortable, she was getting so close to reveling who he was under the mask. "But, I know that can't be possible." Rachel sat up and looked down. She suddenly burst into tears.

"Shh... Shh... it's okay, it's okay." Robin held her and tried to calm her down. They sat like this for 10 minutes. "Heh, I wouldn't be a good boy friend any ways."

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked as buried her face further into his chest.

"Well, for one, I'm always worrying about the city. Two, I have a lot of responsibility and I'd just be adding on more if I had you as a girl friend. Three, if the villains knew you were my girl friend they'd come after you and hurt you, just to get to me. Four, I can't visit you everyday like a regular boy friend can." Robin held her tighter, this was hard on him too. "We can still be very close friends. And if you ever need to talk to some one, I'm always here." Robin stroked her head. "So you'd be better off going with him, then me." Robin untangled him self from her and stood up. "I need to go." he turned and was about to hop out the window when Rachel grabbed his arm.

"Could I ask one thing of you before you go?" Rachel's eyes pleaded with him. Robin turned and gave her a kiss on the lips, nice and sweet. Rachel wrapped her arms around his neck as tears rolled down her face.

Robin parted, "I'm sorry." Robin jumped out the window and left Rachel there, standing in her own misery. She soon was engulfed in her own black aura and disappeared from her room out into the night as Raven.

Jump City

Raven was standing on a clock tower as Robin walked up behind her. Raven knew he was there, once Robin got close enough. Raven turned and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pressed him up against the wall and forced her lips on his. Robin quickly wrapped his arms around her waist. Her grip on his shirt lightened, he took this as a chance to flip their positions. Now Raven was on the wall and Robin was the one in charge.

"Oh, Robin." her voice was husky.

"What?" he panted. She said nothing and leaned forward and kissed him again, this one was chaste. They were too caught up in the moment that the clock struck midnight above them.

Dinnggg Dinnggg Dinnggg

The two broke apart, "I have to go." Raven disappeared in her aura as she faded through the wall. Robin was just left there leaning against the wall, out of breath, and sweating. Then someone came and pummeled Robin to the ground. It was Red X. The 2 rolled around for a while till Robin couldn't flip X over any more.

"What's the matter Robin? Getting soft?" X grunted. "What? You trying to move on my girl? Can't you picture it? Her under me, moaning my name, squirming, gasping and moaning with pleasure, begging for more. Doesn't that make you... Jealous?" Robin kicked X in the gut. "Oof!" Robin was now on top.

"She's nothing like you say she is! She's not a slut!" Robin growled.

"Oh really? Do you know her as well as I do?" X smirked and flipped Robin over and pulled out a dirk.

"Stay away from him!" Raven's voice came and her black aura took hold of X and threw him off Robin. Raven landed and ran over to Robin. "Robin are you okay?" she put her hands on the sides of his face. X got up from the ground and threw the dirk aiming for Robin, but instead, got Raven on the upper right thigh, on the outside. "AH!" the dirk dug in deep, she fell down in pain, clutching her leg.

"Raven!" Robin yelled as she fell, he looked up to see the man who threw it was gone. Robin bent down over Raven. "Here let me help." Raven was trying to pull the dirk out, but it was painful. She groaned and grunted as she tried. "Here." Robin took hold of the dirk gently. Raven looked up in surprise. "Lay back, this is going to hurt." Raven did as she was told. Robin slowly eased the dagger out, Raven groaned in pain. "It's almost out." Raven arched her back, she clutched her cape tightly. Robin took one good pull and the dirk came out.

Raven gasped. "Oh god." she relaxed. Robin looked at the dirk in pure hatred. He crawled over her.

"Are you okay now?" he asked.

"Yes... much.." she sighed. She sat up, he moved. She chanted something and her hand was engulfed in a blue aura.

"What the..." Robin jumped back. The open wound was healing before his eyes, it soon was nothing more then a scar on her leg.

"Better. Now I won't bleed to death." she stated dryly.

"Thank you." Robin whispered, in to her ear.

"Your welcome." She turned and kissed him on the lips.