Gah! 30 chapters! Wow! Hopefully this will upload okay. Fanfic . Net has been acting all kinds of crazy the last few days.

In this chapter more sweetness between Kori and Richard and a peak at Kori's past.

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Chapter 30

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Thunder and Lightning

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On Sunday morning Kori returned to her hotel room, having just returned from Mass at St. Thomas' at nearby Villanova University. She loved going to beautiful churches. She enjoyed Selina's company and felt they could be friends. Like Kori, Selina didn't always feel that she fit in. She gave Kori no real detail, but hinted that she had a difficult past and that she did things in the past that she was not proud of.

Kori found that she was tired again. In spite of being a bit sleep deprived from working Friday night, after Dick had left her room after the ball last night she was so excited that she had only slept half the night. She was still so apprehensive – what would happen during this trip? What did she want to happen?

There was not anything scheduled for this morning and afternoon at the horse show, so Kori had suggested she and Dick go to nearby Valley Forge Park for a run that afternoon. It was still early and Dick wasn't due for at least another 40 minutes, but Kori decided to go ahead and changed into her running shorts, a sport bra and tank top. It was forecast to be blistering hot and humid – not at all out of the norm for late May in the Philadelphia area.

She looked longingly back at the bed, wondering if she could fit in a cat nap. She flipped on the TV to the Sunday morning political chat shows and laid on top of the made bed. She remembered thinking that nobody would ever be as good as Tim Russert had always been as she listened to one of the moderator's poorly veiled biased diatribe as she drifted off to sleep.

She awoke to a knock at the door.

"Kori, you up?"

"I am here Richard," she answered, noted how dark the room was, shaking off sleep. She looked out the window and saw that it was raining as she walked over to the door.

She opened the door to a very wet Dick Grayson in her doorway. She giggled.

"The skies opened just as I got out of your car. Guess jogging is out. Can I borrow a towel?"

"Come in, come in! I am sorry Richard, of course you can borrow a towel." She got a better look at him. "You are soaked!"

She ran into the bathroom and brought out a towel and handed it to Dick. She then walked over to the closet and produced one of the Inn's terry cloth robes. "Perhaps you should change out of those clothes and put this on for a bit. I can use the hairdryer to dry out your clothes while you are in the shower."

"Kori, its okay, I'll just dry off..."

"Richard, it is fine. You are quite wet and it cannot be comfortable in those sodden clothes. Now get undressed in the bathroom and hand me your clothes through the door. I'll work on getting them dry while you shower." Her voice was full of mirth and she gave him a wink, "I promise I won't peak."

"Alright Kori, I'll take off my clothes if you say so." Dick playful replied, and he realized he was actually blushing.

Dick stepped into the bathroom and stripped out of his wet clothes and turned on the faucet. He opened the door and held the wet clothes out. "Now don't look!" he jokingly admonished. Of course, he would have been perfectly happy if she did.

Kori giggled at the situation. She examined the clothes, completely soaked through including his boxers. Kori started using the hairdryer on those first, and wondered if there wasn't a better way to dry out Dick's clothes. She saw the iron in the closet and reached for it when she heard the first rumble of thunder. Better not use either if the storm gets closer.

She opted for the iron for the time being so she could listen to the storm. As the iron heated up, the sound of thunder gradually became louder and more frequent. Kori quickly ran the iron over his boxers, shirt and shorts but feeling the storm was closer, she stopped and unplugged the iron. She hung the three now warm but still damp pieces up in the closet and waited for Richard to come out of the shower.

No, no, no! There was nothing in the forecast about a storm today! She was beginning to panic. She hated thunderstorms. No, hated would be an understatement. But how could she not? Ever since surviving the bombings in Tamaran, loud noises were very tough on her. And there were no fewer than 5 bombings that she was within a few dozen yards from while she was still in Tamaran. The final one was much closer, it was the bombing that killed her parents and brother, and left her full of shrapnel and with blown out eardrums.

Eventually she accepted losing her family. It was long ago and she grew used to life without them but storms began to get to her. The loud, unpredictable noise, the flashes of light, and the way buildings sometimes shook when the thunder would get too close was more than she could handle if a storm was close enough, severe enough. She had medication to take to help calm her nerves, but it was in with her makeup kit in the bathroom, where Dick was taking a shower. Why is he taking so long?

It had crossed her mind earlier that she and Dick really hadn't shared their pasts and had hoped to during this week away. A flash came that was quite visible in the now even more darkening midday light.

One one thousand... two one thousand... three one tho – her counting was broken off by a long rumble. Kori heard the shower running through the door. Her mouth was going dry and the world started crashing in on her. Just then she heard Dick shut off the water. She deliberated as to whether or not to knock on the door to get her meds. Surely he couldn't take too much longer. I really do not wish for him to see me like this...

Another flash, this time followed by a second one and nearly immediately by the sound of thunder. She wanted to wait at the door, but Kori wanted to appear as composed as possible. Another flash. She retreated to the bed a stifled an "eep" when this time the thunder rolled and the hotel shook ever so slightly.

She let out another "eep!" when Dick opened the bathroom door as it had stuck slightly from the steam of the shower. Even though he was trying to control certain urges, Dick nevertheless had been looking forward to Kori's reaction to him only in a terry cloth robe. He looked around for her and saw her. It was in no way what he expected – she was sitting at the edge of the bed, her arms hugging her knees lightly to her chest, her head down. Was she rocking?

He was trying to make sense of what he was seeing. There was another flash and an immediate sharp crack. Kori shrieked and jumped.

Dick was at her side in two strides and pulled her into his lap. She was shaking and her eyes were tightly shut.

"Kori, what's wrong?" He asked, full of concern.

Another flash occurred and her answer was a stifled sob. A long roll of thunder played out, and Kori's rocking resumed.

"The storm?"

She managed a nod. Another flash.

"What can I -?" A sharp crack had interrupted him and she began to shake. It was obvious she was completely panicked.

She swallowed hard and managed, "My meds... in my make up kit... in the bathroom – eep!" Another flash that this time was coupled with its thunder.

"Okay, I'll be right back." Dick got up and went into the bathroom. He grabbed her makeup bag off the counter and paused a second before grabbing a glass and filling it, seeing she might need it to take her pills. He was back at her side and sat down next to her. She opened her eyes and he noticed immediately how dilated her pupils were with nearly all the green was replaced by black, not unexpected in severe panic. She reached out for the bag – her hands were trembling so much they would be useless - when there was another flash.

In a calm soothing voice, Dick said, "its alright, Kori, I'm here. Can I get it for you?"

She managed another nod. He tentatively looked into the bag. It felt like such an invasion of privacy but she was in no condition to open a pill bottle. He noted mascara, blush and her other make up, three prescription bottles and a pill pack. Interesting.... He pulled out the three bottles to read them. The first was for Atarax 50 mg, 1-2 PRN q 6-8 hours anxiety, the second for Atenolol 25 mg PRN daily anxiety, the third Ativan 2 mg, 1 PRN q 2 – 4 hours anxiety. Pretty hard core, guess this has happened before.

"Kori, which one?"

She looked embarrassed and replied quietly, in a word only another health care person would understand, "Shotgun."

Whoa. Shotgun approach – use everything you got, something's bound to work.

He needed to verify, "All three?" She gave him a small nod. Another simultaneous flash of lightning and thunder, she jumped again. She's really panicking, shotgun it is...

He opened each bottle and handed her the pills. She swallowed the Atarax and Atenolol and then held the Ativan under her tongue so it would work faster. And then she grabbed onto him holding him like she was drowning.

She continued to jump at every flash and rumble, and after 9 or 10 minutes, the jumps lessened until they finally became slight startles. The storm was not cooperating and remained spectacularly active and close, but at least the meds were kicking in.

Dick had certainly seen and treated people with panic attacks, but this had to be one of the worse he'd seen. He knew there must be quite a story behind it and held on tight doing his best to comfort her. He knew Kori would be embarrassed by all of this, he knew how she hated to appear to be weak.

Kori had been getting more in control, her thoughts more coherent, when a particularly powerful rumble of thunder shook the hotel and then the room plunged into darkness. She was still mostly just reacting, not communicating with Dick other than by clinging to him, and this was finally too much. They had been perched on the edge of the bed, Dick waiting to see what she needed, not wanting to push her into getting under the covers, even though he figured that was where she'd want to hide instinctively. But with the loss of power she lost what little resolve she had left to appear at all in control, and crawled backward to the center of the headboard, dragging Dick with her. But just like a person drowning, she would not let go nor did he, and she pulled him with her as she got under the covers.

The emergency lights came on but they were not noticed by Kori. As the storm continued, she felt herself float a bit and to begin to get sleepy from her medications. Dick could feel her muscles begin to relax ever so slightly. His words of reassurance continued as he held her. When her breathing began to deepen after another 10 minutes or so and her heart rate began to drop as the storm finally seemed to be moving away.

Dick loosened his grip a bit and shifted his weight off of Kori, but Kori stiffened. "Richard," she squeaked out, "please don't go!"

"I wasn't Kori," he said softly, pulling her closer and onto his lap, "just relax and try to sleep now, I'll be right here, I won't leave you."

As the storm pulled away, Kori began to relax more and more, feeling safer and safer in Richard's strong arms, and finally fell asleep.

TtTtTtTtTt

Kori woke much later, her mouth dry from the medication and from her own terror. She felt Dick in the bed next to her, essentially spooning, his one arm under her neck and his other arm draped over her waist. Memories of the events earlier in the day were coming back. She quickly remembered the fear she felt as the violent storm had passed over head. Dick had gotten her through it, but she worried what he would think of how difficult it had been for her.

She saw the glass of water on her nightstand that Dick had thoughfully left out for her. She reached out for it, careful not to wake Dick and drank it. Her head was clearer now but she needed more rest. She could hear that it was still raining rather heavily but there was no thunder and the power was back on.

Temptation won out and Kori turned to look at Dick. He was asleep with a very serene look on his face. She had never noticed his long black eyelashes before and was a bit envious. As she scanned his body, she noted that the covers were pulled down to their waists and Dick's robe had fallen open. Oh my.

She smiled a bit and felt her cheeks flush as she quickly turned back around and laid her head down, sleep beckoning her again. She felt Dick's arm around her waist pulling her closer a bit as she drifted off. I do enjoy doing the snuggling with Richard.

TtTtTtTtTt

Kori awoke to more thunder. Dick was no longer holding her but he was not far, sitting on the edge of the bed, watching the Weather Channel with the sound off. Kori stretched and Dick turned to her.

"There you are," he said warmly, touching her cheek. "Here you go," he handed her a small white pill, "Its been four hours since your last Ativan and there is another line of storms coming."

"Thank you Richard," she said quietly, taking the pill and placing it under her tongue, her eyes falling on the red, yellow and green images of the the radar on the TV.

Dick waited for her to say something else as she stared at the screen. He could hear her breathing change as she became more anxious.

When she finally spoke it had been so long that it was his turn to be started. "We were all dressed and ready for church," she started, her voice detached, almost monotone. "but I decided my shoes did not go with my dress so I ran back to my room to change them. I was still in the foyer when the bomb went off. Mom, Dad and Ryan died immediately. My vanity kept me alive that day," she said with the tiniest of ironic chuckles. "Ever since then I cannot tolerate loud noises, and close-by thunderstorms cause me to panic."

"Oh God, Kori, I'm so sorry." Dick said, pulling her into a hug, feeling the burn of tears in his eyes. She did not react, her eyes glued to the screen. He held her tight, waiting to see what she needed, what to do. Just then there was a bright flash and the thunder followed within two seconds. He felt her jump and then she finally looked up at him. "I've got you, Kori," he reassured her.

A ghost of a smile crossed her features as said, "yes you do, Richard."

TtTtTtTtTt

A/N:

Yes, I'm stuck in sappy mode, can't help it. Will this change Richard and Kori's feelings for each other?

I will not promise that my muse is back, but my symptoms of writer's block have abated. Reviews are the best medicine for any form of writer's block and are what I live and breath for!

LJ

Ativan (generic: lorazapam) - a benzodiazapem antitanxiety medication.

Atarax (Visteral, generic: hydroxizone) - antihystamine used also as an antianxiety agent

Atenolol (brand: Tenormin) - a beta blocker used to regulate and slow the heart rate, used sometimes for anxiety