The aroma of French Roast coffee awoke Donna Troy from a sleep so restful, she mused the thought that she had been under the thrall of Doctor Psycho. It was sleep well deserved, and, these days, much sought after. She sat up, arched her back, and stood with a powerful stretch, bending to touch her toes and elongate her spine. She slowly rotated her neck first clockwise, then the counter, all the while with eyes closed and breath calculated. Mmmmmm, she thought, I must have some of that coffee. Gently rising erect, Donna slid her feet into a pair of fluffy pink slippers, reached for her satin robe, and began toward the kitchen.
The Tower had recently been destroyed; well most of it, anyway. Some of the living quarters, however, remained wholly intact, all except for Roy's and Dick's. Roy had been camping out on the sofa in the common area, and Dick, whose main residence was in Blüdhaven, really only used his Titans' quarters as a place to visit on rare occasions. Donna felt both sympathy and irony for Roy; it was only a week since she'd asked him to stop sleeping in her room and head back to his own bed before their headquarters went up in a fireball.
As she made her way to the kitchen, following the aromatic trail of brewing morning delight, she passed the common room and there lay Roy, sprawled on the sofa. She stopped for a bit to steal a look at Roy Harper, her friend who had, on more occasions than once, stolen her heart with his smile and charisma. He wasn't wearing very much, save for a flimsy pair of cotton boxer briefs and his tribal tattoo; the sight made Donna's stomach flutter for a moment. She even felt a warm blush come over her cheeks.
"Voyeurism like that is considered a crime in some places," said Jesse Chambers appearing out of thin air, causing Donna to gasp and blush ever more rapidly. Jesse continued, "So, he still does it for you, eh?"
"Jesse," Donna said, exasperated, "I know you're all super-fast, but would you mind not sneaking up on me like that? It could get you hurt." Donna, hands at her hips, poised herself for a confrontation, but chose to leave it at a glare. She stormed past Jesse, back en route to that much needed cup of java.
"Dude, you need to lighten up," replied Jesse, known to the public and her crime fighting friends as Jesse Quick for her incredible super speed. She continued, "I was just trying to make a joke, you know, like how friends are supposed to?"
Donna stopped. It bothered her that she was so easily affected by Jesse's attempts at play, despite the tactics therein. "Jess, listen," she said as she turned, only to find Jesse Quick long gone, nothing left behind but a cool bluster of air. "Damn," muttered Donna.
She made her way to the kitchen, half-expecting to find Jesse there and sipping from a Titans mug, but found only Garfield Logan, her younger green-skinned, greener-haired teammate. "Wondy!" he exclaimed as, in a flash of light, he was suddenly an emerald sparrow headed to perch on her shoulder. "Good morning to the hottest Titan around!"
Donna chuckled, glancing peripherally at the green bird on her shoulder. "Gar, what are you doing in New York?"
Sparrow-Gar flapped his small wings and, in midair, changed form to a wolf, landing front paws first on the countertop. "What? No warm welcome?" Gar taunted, "No real close hugs?"
Donna reached for a mug from the drain board, and wolf-Gar trotted next to her, claws tapping lightly on the Formica. "Get down from here, I don't need you shedding in my coffee!" Donna said, grinning as she shooed the Beast Boy.
As he leapt off the countertop, he switched into human form and Donna noticed, for the first time, Gar was beginning to grow up. There was something new, different about his nose, his eyes, the way his posture gave him an odd yet welcome gallantness. His shoulders were broader and his chest more protrusive. It was noticeable that his teens were over. Gar grimaced curiously, one eyebrow lifted, chin wrinkled, and said, "Donna? Whataya lookin' at me like that for? Haven't ya ever seen a green-skinned Adonis before?"
That was one of Gar's most endearing, and sometimes most obnoxious, character traits: his consistent ability to make light of any situation. Donna shook her head and sat at the dinette in the center of the room. "Forgive me for gawking, Adonis," she retorted sardonically.
Before she could say another word, Gar Logan shifted form into a poodle, standard sized, garnished by pom-poms for tail and ears. Donna sipped her coffee, savoring the taste she'd sought since awakening. "So," she began, "seriously, what are you doing here? I haven't seen you since you moved to San Fran. Is everything okay?"
Poodle-Gar sat on his haunches and patted at Donna's thigh with his left paw. He said, "No, everything's good in the hood, Wondy." Mysteriously, Gar Logan was able to speak in each of his animal forms, though a noticeable impediment usually accompanied each varying voice. This voice was small and comforting. He continued, "I just had, you know, an urge to stop by and see you guys. Call it nostalgia, I dunno."
The two Titans sat for another twenty minutes, Beast Boy shifting shapes sporadically from lizard to chicken to kangaroo, and neither of them missed a step in conversation. They shared a sense of home that seemed, at least to Donna, suddenly so very necessary. During the dialogue, a disheveled Roy Harper meandered in for his eye-opening java - black, lots of sugar. He seemed to not notice his friends as he freely reached into his boxers and scratched, coughing and cracking his neck all in the same motion. Roy's indecency was fodder for laughter between Donna and Gar, and before they knew it, he was ambling back out of the kitchen.