Hi everyone, welcome back to my story. Hope everyone took the time to vote today.

Disclaimer – I do not own the Teen Titans, on which the characters in this story are loosely based. They are owned by DC. Nor I do not own TMZ. It is owned by Harvey Levin.

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Double Take

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Chapter 39

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Friday Continued: Unwanted Publicity

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After a long day at the show on Thursday, photographer Amy Draco had worked into the night developing, reviewing and cropping the hundreds of pictures she had taken. She had submitted the pictures from Nightwatch winning the Grand Prix to her own paper for the next edition the following week, and contacted the Philadelphia and Washington papers to see if they would want to run any of them. She then set out to get some more details on Dick Grayson and Kori Anders.

Still in her 20's but a bit of a news junkie, Amy knew some things about the history and troubles of Tamaran. She started her research and after an hour had some early pictures of Kori with her family before the bombings. She then researched Kori professionally and had a pretty good bio together. With this information, she was also able to substantiate Dr. Kori Anders, PhD was indeed Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran.

Amy, like any other red blooded woman who was a regular at the Devon Horse Show, had noticed Dick Grayson. She remembered seeing Dick at the show a few years back with Barbara Gordon on his arm, and she quickly realized she was the same person that had tipped her off on Kori's real identity. She briefly wondered about any ulterior motive that Barbara might have but had already substantiated the information about Kori. It might have been a malicious for Barbara to tell Amy, but it wasn't a lie. Amy wished she had a way to contact Barbara for some more information and hoped to see her at the show later.

Amy also knew Bruce Wayne from the show as one of its benefactors, and along with Dick, as a philanthropist and a regular on the Washington social scene. Bruce's Dark Night Farm had done very well at this show and had been gaining its reputation over the previous years. She was able to do a lot of research on Bruce and his adopted son Dick, pulling together some interesting info for their bio's as well. One of the most interesting fact she found was that Bruce had been the US Ambassador to Tamaran.

Bruce and Dick were definitely high profile and certainly Kori as the princess of Tamaran should be, so Amy decided to roll the dice and make a call that she hoped wouldn't impact her career negatively. She was only assigned as a photographer by the Suburban so she figured any investigating and reporting beyond the blurbs and captions for the pictures was her own work product. With that in mind she made the call. She only hoped that Harvey Levin and TMZ paid the way she had heard they did.

Because of the three hour time difference, it took a while to get a firm contact with someone at TMZ. She had hoped to deal with Harvey Levin directly, but was relegated to one of his minions. Once she had the call back, she ran back to her apartment and emailed her research and some of the photos that she hadn't submitted to her work, sure to include the one of Dick and Kori kissing on Thursday morning. It was a great shot: They were in the middle of an obviously open mouthed kiss. Dick was in breeches and boots, his unruly black hair pulled back out of his eyes by the sunglasses he had pushed to the top of his head. Kori was in a lovely sun dress that showed off her figure beautifully, her long red hair flowing down her back. There were a few others she forwarded to TMZ of the two of them in the box with Bruce, along with ones of Dick and Kori and the others in the winner's circle.

Not ones to be beaten to the punch, TMZ had the pictures and story up on its website before midnight on Friday and had contacted some videographers in the Philadelphia area to try to get some shots of the couple. It took some digging, but by the wee hours of Saturday morning they were able confirm that Kori was staying at the Devon Inn and that Dick had spent the night more than once. Normally quite discreet – celebrities were known to stay at the Devon Inn – the lure of the cash available from TMZ was too much of a temptation for one soon-to-be-former employee of the hotel who was going to face more than just the lack of paycheck considering he had signed a confidentiality agreement.

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The show went well for 'Team Dark Night' on that Friday evening. Nightwatch was holding up well in warm up so they decided to definitely go with keeping him in the competition that night. The field of 35 was whittled down once again, this time to 22, with some horses scratching to rest up for the bigger stakes class on the following night, the last night in the show. No one was going to touch Nightwatch's first place position in the standings unless someone who already had placed well won the last two classes.

Nightwatch did not disappoint. Greg actually listened to Dick and after a clean first round, took it easy on the jump off and still managed 3rd place. The championship was going to be their's the following night, as no one else had consistently placed in the classes of the division. Needless to say, there was celebrating at Bruce's apartment that night.

Richard and Kori remained inseparable during the evening session at the show and headed over with the others to Bruce's for some celebration.

"I cannot believe the week is almost over," Kori said with a sad tone on their drive from the show grounds to the apartment.

"I know. I've been trying not to think about it," Richard said, adding a stroke of his thumb to their already entwined hands.

"'Back to life, back to reality'"

"En Vogue. Good pop culture reference, Star."

"Are you teasing me?"

"Of course not," he said with a smile and a wink as he glanced over to her, briefly taking his eyes off the road. He added with a serious tone, "We are going to be okay when we get home, aren't we Kori?"

"Absolutely Richard. I love you. Things will be fine," Kori said emphatically, and then in a softer tone, "I will miss our nights together however."

"I will too. I don't even want to think about how much."

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The party was in full swing when they arrived. They made an attempt to circulate, but the reality of the show ending the following evening had a subduing effect on Kori and Richard. Still so well in sync, they made the rounds and then excused themselves and headed back to the hotel by about 11:00 PM.

The ride over to the hotel was quiet. Kori was thinking about how she would approach Galfore about needing more freedom. She certainly wasn't going to embarrass herself but the nature of her relationship with Richard was close enough that she knew they would need more and more time together.

Richard was thinking about the next step in their relationship as well. The situation with Karras still bothered him. It wasn't just his jealousy, but also the concern about if Kori would really want to marry him or if she would prefer a Tamaranian man. Galfore had supported their introduction and for the most part the relationship, but as far as a permanent union, Richard wondered if he would get Galfore's blessing. He wasn't ready to propose, but he wanted to be sure where they stood. He couldn't be positive that they would be together forever, but he wanted to be sure they could be. For the first time in his life, he was worried about getting his heart broken. In all his relationships, it had only been broken once before and that was when he thought Starfire or rather Kori was killed.

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They walked through the lobby hand-in-hand. Had either of them not been completely focused on the other, they might have noted an odd smirk they got from the hotel desk clerk.

Kori and Richard were apprehensive after entering the room. Kori just wanted to snuggle and not think about that by Monday they would return to their normal lives. Richard on the other hand didn't think he could go on any longer without somehow verifying that she would be willing to spend her life with him. It hadn't occurred to him until that evening that she might not want to be with him. He felt emotionally vulnerable and it was a feeling he needed to shake, one way or the other.

"Kori, we need to talk," he said gently.

Kori's issues with self esteem reared its ugly head, the look on her face made it obvious she was expecting the worst.

"If we must," she said weakly.

They sat on the couch and Richard read her change in mood easily.

"Kori, its nothing bad, I promise. I just need to talk to you about our future."

His serious tone did not alleviate her fears.

Almost reflexively she said, "Please Richard, no more talking, lets just enjoy our last few nights together."

He realized she thought he was breaking up with her. He couldn't help but get a little defensive about it, "Kori, do you think I'd break up with you, after everything we've been through?"

"I would hope not Richard, but you are scaring me."

He took a deep breath and let go of the hurt that she would even think he would leave her, knowing that he had to reassure her.

"Kori, I am not planning on breaking up with you, ever. That's what I wanted to tell you."

Kori smiled, relieved.

"I am sorry. You had not acted as though you were breaking up with me, but you are being so serious."

"I am serious. I'm serious about you, about us. I need to know that you want our relationship to continue once we return home."

Kori's eyebrows knitted. "Do you think I do not?"

"I think you do but I have to ask you if you are absolutely certain that you'd want a future with an American."

It was Kori's turn to be defensive, "Richard, how could you think that? I have shared myself with you-"

"Kori, please don't be upset. I just want you to know that I want us to stay together, that I see us together."

Kori's face softened, "I want us together, I see us together."

"Good," he smiled but needed to verify, "but would you rather spend your life with a Tamaranian?"

Kori hesitated, realizing what he was asking. Would she be happier with another Tamaranian? She already knew that the only person she could see herself with was Richard. "The answer I have for you is no, I do not see my future with a Tamaranian man. Richard, when I look into the future, all I see is you. All I want is you."

Richard smiled broadly, "I feel the same way, Star. When I look into the future, all I see is you. All I want is you."

Kori let out a small squeal at that. The conversation was quite a roller coaster ride, but she was glad he had clarified where they stood. She certainly wanted to marry him, she thought he knew that she did, and was beyond thrilled that he felt the same way.

"Ready for bed?" Kori said with a seductive smile.

"Absolutely," Richard replied, leaning in for a kiss when his cell phone rang. "I'm going to ignore that," he murmured as he captured her lips.

The ringing continued until it went to voice mail and then it rang again.

"Perhaps you should see who it is Richard. It may be something important."

"This is important," he said as he started to kiss her once more.

The ringing began for a third time.

"Okay, I'll check."

It was Bruce on the line. He switched on the phone, "What's up Bruce?"

From the other end of the line he heard his father reply, "We've got a problem."

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"What?!? Are you kidding me? Who could have told them?" Richard shouted at his father as he pulled out Kori's laptop and opened up the browser. He had to see for himself the report on TMZ's website that had 'outed' Kori as Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran and had shown that more than friendly kiss at the horse show the day before.

"Don't yell at me, Dick," Bruce replied trying to contain his own anger. He wasn't worried about Dick ending up on the TMZ website, Dick and Bruce had some history of scandal although not usually on a national scale, But Bruce did worry about how this would affect Kori and also Galfore.

Richard grumbled as he brought up the website. Kori looked at him, concerned about what was upsetting him so much, wishing he'd tell her.

"Let me talk to Kori," Richard said.

"I'm going to see if I can get a hold of my old pal Harvey Levin," Bruce said. "Don't leave that hotel room until we figure this out."

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Kori stood in shock from seeing the report on the website. The caption, 'The Princess and the Playboy' was bad enough, and then to see the picture of the two of them kissing like that in public was overwhelming. She was embarrassed, ashamed of her behavior. How could she have been that indiscreet? Who could have told someone in the press that he was the princess? She had been in the US for 12 years and other than Galfore, Taryia and Karras, no one knew she was the princess although perhaps some other Tamaranian immigrants had figured it out.

It was possible that another Tamaranian might have remembered her, but why say anything now? She knew the answer to that one – she was dating a fairly high profile person in Dick Grayson. The only other people who knew her royal status were Richard of course, Bruce, Selina and Barbara. She knew Bruce wouldn't say anything and there would be no reason for Selina to, but Barbara on the other hand...

Kori pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them as she started to cry. It had to be Barbara. The thought hurt her a great deal since they had been getting along so well during the trip. She now considered Barbara a friend.

"I'm going to kill someone when I found out who did this. They will pay!" Dick grumbled as he read through the story, his right hand in a fist hitting into the palm of his left hand. "Someone did their research. It is obvious who took the photo, but how could that photographer know you are the princess?"

Richard finally realized that in his anger, he had forgotten how upset Kori would be over this. He shut the computer and put his arms around her.

"I'm so sorry this happened. Bruce will make sure the story comes down-"

"But it is already out there on the Internet, Richard. It will not go away. Why did this happen? It is my past and I chose to leave it in the past."

"I'm sorry Star."

"I never wanted a public life. Being royalty got my family killed."

"I know. These things do blow over, I assure you."

"I fear it will not ever do the blowing over completely, Richard."

"It will get better though, Kori."

"And that picture of us," she said blushing slightly.

"Not our most discreet moment, I'll admit, but it shows two people in love kissing."

"That kind of kissing is not meant for public viewing."

"I know," he replied with obvious remorse. "You know I'm not a huge fan of PDA, but I got carried away."

"PDA?"

"Public displays of affection."

"No, you are not and either am I. I guess this week we have been so caught up in ourselves that we allowed our behavior to become inappropriate at times."

"I'm not sure if I agree there. We are in love and I don't care who knows it. But I'm sorry if I embarrassed you."

"I love you and I am very happy, I am proud to be your girlfriend but we should only kiss like that when we are alone."

"Its going to be fine, you'll see," Richard said with a smile, hoping to convince both of them that it was true. He briefly considered dropping to one knee and proposing right then and there, but dismissed it quickly. He knew that it would have been as a reflex rather than for all the right reasons when they were both ready.

"I think I know who told Amy," Kori swallowed before continuing, "Barbara."

"Babs? No, she wouldn't, you're wrong Kori!" Richard said before he realized it.

"Are you defending her?" Kori said as tears fell again.

Oh crap.

"No. Maybe you're right, but I don't think so. Maybe Amy figured it out."

"You are defending her!" Kori's temper flared a bit.

Double crap.

"I'm not. We will find out who did this and we will get it straightened out. Please Kori, let's not fight. If someone did do this maliciously, let's not let them win. We can't let this affect us."

"I hope it does not Richard. I hope it does not."

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Oh, there you have it – the beginning of the scandal! Hope it was an interesting read. I actually like Harvey Levin a lot, but if you watch he TV show, you have to agree his employees are really his minions (but in a good way...)

Please review.

Also, I forgot to see if anyone picked up this in chapter 37 – please PM me if you think you know where Kori's expression 'chipped heart' came from.

And in this chapter, where is this line from? "When I look into the future, all I see is you. All I want is you."

Thanks for reading!

LJ

Star of Airdrie