Unknown To You: Conversations
Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans
The atmosphere was constantly changing in the household; it had when Kori was raped, when she announced her preganancy and when everyone had thought she had finally gotten her life back on track. At the moment, the past was repeating itself as the atmosphere was once again depressing, awkward and uncomfortable. The friends hadn't seen Kori or Richard for days unless it was for food. Even when Richard did come out for food, he wouldn't say anything. He'd blank them entirely. So it surprised them when Richard started talking to them after a week.
"Vic, can you go down to the store? Kori's got a headache and we don't have any painkillers" It wasn't much, the friends had to admit, but they knew that it was a start. Vic nodded in agreement and travelled down to the store with Karen. Gar and Rachel sat together in the common room, watching Richard make some soup for Kori. Gar couldn't help noticing how shaky Richard was.
"Here, let me help," he said, getting out of his seat and taking the can away from him. Rachel and Richard were both amazed to see how well Gar had been handling things and Rachel couldn't help thinking that maybe Gar had finally grown up. Richard didn't bother to disagree and sat next to Rachel on the sofa.
"You wanna talk?" she asked, her monotonous voice filling the silent room.
"Maybe later," he whispered. Rachel nodded her head and went to see how Gar was doing.
"Hey, can you take that to Kori for him? I need to talk to Richard, so don't come back right away, OK?" she asked her boyfriend, watching as he carefully poured the soup into a big bowl. He had already prepared a piece of bread and butter for her as well as a glass of water. Rachel smiled at her boyfriend; he was so caring to everyone. He looked at her and nodded. He slowly lifted the tray and walked towards Kori's room.
"Wanna talk now?" she asked once again. He nodded, slowly, but surely and she walked over to the sofa.
"There's nothing really to talk about," he mumbled.
"Nothing at all?"
"Nope" he replied. Rachel stared at him. She could tell when Richard was lying. Everyone could tell when Richard was lying. Growing up with Bruce Wayne meant having to always tell the truth, making Richard less inexperianced in that department. He scrunched up his face. He didn't like it when people could figure out when he was lying. He sighed again. He seemed to be doing that more often nowadays. Rachel took his hand into hers. She gave her friend a worried look. Damn, I hate it when she gives me that look...Even though everyone thought as Rachel as a dark gothic girl, she still did what every girl would normally do, including pull sad faces to get boys to talk. He gave in and sighed once again.
"The first night we came back from the hospital, you remember she was sleeping? Well, I went to check on her and I found her crying into the pillow, clutching our first ultrasound picture in her hands. She told me that she'd had a nightmare. She'd woken up because she thought she'd killed the baby. She thinks it's all her fault she had a miscarriage. I tell her it isn't her fault, but she won't listen. Rachel, I'm scared for her. This has destroyed her. It's like when the baby died, her soul went with it. This shouldn't have happened to her. Why her? She's been through so much these past few months. I promised to protect her. I've let her down. I feel so ashamed," he confessed. Although he was trying to be strong, Rachel could see the vulnearable weak Richard, desperate for someone to comfort him. Rachel hugged him, like a little sister would do to her big brother, and he cried. She cried along with him, sharing in his pain. Even though she wasn't as close to Kori as Richard was, she was still her best friend. Heck, she was almost like a little sister to her. The two sat there on the sofa, each crying for their own opinions, but both for the same reason.
Gar slowly tapped onto Kori's bedroom door. She had hidden away for days and he was starting to worry. He didn't know what was happening to his friend. He didn't like that thought; not one bit.
"Kori?" he asked, opening the door. He stared at the scene in front of him. The normally clean bedroom looked a mess. Used tissues were strung all around the floor. The curtains were drawn so very little light was allowed into the room. A small, pale figure lay on the bed. She looked dead. Gar put the soup onto the table and ran towards the figure. She checked her breathing and breathed a sigh of relief. She's not dead. He shook her softly, not wanting to break her as if she were a tiny china doll. She didn't answer. He shook her a little harder, making it his target to wake her up.
"Kori! Kori!" he bellowed. Finally, Kori woke up. Her skin had lost it's tanned glow and she was extremely pale. Bags hung around her grey eyes; the green shine was nowhere to be seen; her hair was messy and bushy like a lion's and she looked like she had been crying a lot. Gar broke down at seeing his friend like that. A few tears escaped from his tear ducts, slowly falling down his cheeks. He hugged her tightly, never wanting anything to happen to his friend.
"Thank you Gar. I never told you this, but you're just like a little brother to me," she whispered into his ear. He clasped her even tighter to him and more tears escaped. She was sobbing softly, glad to know that someone other than Richard cared.
"Does everyone hate me?" she asked him, after he had finally let go of her. Gar gasped. Has she been thinking that the whole time?
"Kori, no-one hates you. We all love you so very much. We're your family. We'd never hate you. What made you think that?"
She looked away from him and whispered softly, so softly that Gar had to lean in just to hear what she was saying.
"Because I killed my baby"
Suddenly, she felt a firm grip on her shoulders. She looked up to see Gar staring at her with his big green eyes.
"No, Kori. You can't blame yourself for this. None of this was ever your fault. Miscarriages happen all the time. It wasn't your fault in anyway whatsoever. Kor, we've all been so worried about you. You won't come out of your room, we haven't seen you for days and frankly, we're scared for you in case something even worse happens to you. Richard and us love you very much. Don't block Richard out. He really is trying to help you. He loves you so much, Kori. We all do," he finished. Tears were welling up in Kori's eyes and for the first time in days, she smiled a genuine smile. She flung her arms around his neck and squeezed him softly.
"Thank you, little brother"
"No problem, big sis. Now how about having some soup?"
Just then, Rachel and Richard returned to the room. It was obvious to all of them that they had all been crying. They joined the other two on the bed and with that, the four friends sat together and talked just like old times, just like nothing had ever gone wrong.