A/N: Okay, I'm back to the main track, I hope. My brain keeps grabbing the wheel and trying to steer, dumb brain. Sorry, I don't own anything, and if you could just pretend you didn't see that pun, that would be awesome of you.

moyercat11 and Willowleaf2560, thank you both so much, you're so sweet. Sorry if i sound like a dork but it's true.

Chapter 9

Jump City Academy-Monday

Sean wasn't at school on Monday, and Jessie was driven by their dad. She picked up all his assignments from his teachers, telling them he was sick. She didn't speak to anyone unless she was spoken to. She kept her eyes on the floor when she walked down the hall, and she kept forgetting things and had to go back and get them.

What worried Raven most was Jessie's physical appearance. She'd tried to cover it with make-up, but there were dark circles under her eyes, and her shoulders slumped a little. She would stare into space for a while not noticing anything around her, or she would almost fall asleep sitting in her desk.

What had happened in that house? If Jessie had come to school like this, where was Sean?

Cyborg had suggested some of the team be staking out the school while Jessie and Sean were there. Especially today, they didn't know how much trouble they'd gotten their friends into. The others still had to deal with the normal emergencies of the city. Right now it was Raven and Beast Boy (again, heaven forbid Cyborg stick her with someone she could moderately tolerate) and, of course, Batman, standing on the edge of the roof like a breathing gargoyle.

They stood on the roof where no one would see them, but they could go and peek into a window if they needed to. Beast Boy was keeping a running commentary on the few feet of snow underfoot, and it was really starting to grate Raven's nerves. Batman seemed immune to it, lost in his own world. Raven decided she might as well ask him, that or stand there and listen to BB whine some more.

"What's got the Bat so quiet? Or, you know, quieter," Raven went to stand beside him. Beast Boy moaned on.

Batman didn't say anything for a minute, then," What do you know about human senses and the memory part of the brain?" he asked.

"You're not a subtle man," Raven said dryly," I don't, though, not much anyway. I think I read something once, but I'd have to look again."

Batman just gave a noncommittal grunt.

Beast Boy came to stand by them and Raven figured he was just going to start complaining again, until, "Are you talking short-term memory or long-term?"

Batman raised an eyebrow under his mask," Either."

"Well," Beast Boy drawled slowly as if recalling something," there are all kinds of cases about long term memory, people still being afraid of loud sounds when their adults because their parents yelled a lot, or even there was a case about this girl who was always weird about bright lights because of a car wreck she'd been in," he paused when he realized he was being stared at," What?"

Raven stared for a minute longer before she asked," How do you know this?"

BB shrugged," Nothing was on T.V., except Discovery Channel, I am capable of learning, Rae," he looked back at Batman," Anyway, there wasn't that much on touch, but they were saying how smell is probably the strongest sense tied to memory, something about the limbic part of the brain and emotion, it got really technical after that. Why do you ask?" Beast Boy looked at Batman.

Batman was staring over the grounds again, but this time he seemed to acknowledge the little changeling's question. He looked at them, measuring something in his head, probably them. But when he opened his mouth to answer the last bell of the day rang out, and the doors of building burst open with chattering teens.

He looked back at the grounds and instead muttered," Later."

They watched as the students ran to the buses or their parent's cars or just begin to mingle before walking home. It was so weird how completely normal this place was. All the couples and smiling faces, disgusted grunts over a homework assignment. One face stood out for the three on the roof, Jessie was one of the last ones out, and stood in front of the school waiting for her father.

"Should we talk to her?" Beast Boy peered over the side of the building.

Raven was about to answer as patiently as she could, but Batman spoke.

"I think we should," he said still watching Jessie.

"Seriously?" Beast Boy looked up at him, stunned.

"Yeah, what he said," Raven stared at him," I thought you were all about keeping a low profile."

"It's either ask her what happened, or I go over there and see for myself," Batman said simply. There was no arguing with that tone.

"I'll do it," Beast Boy was almost over the side of the roof when Raven grabbed him and yanked him back.

"What happened to "she'll run for the hills if she ever saw you again"?" She hissed.

"Oh, right," Beast Boy sat down on the edge of the building, shoulders sagging.

Raven sighed," I don't suppose you'd want to do it?" she looked at Batman. She had to go along with this. She didn't know what this Martin psycho was actually capable of, and she knew Batman would follow through with his threat. If he got caught, however unlikely, he could really get hurt. The mind was not something to play with.

"You're the people person," he murmured, never taking his eyes off the grounds.

How had she become the people person? She hated people. She'd ponder that later, might as well get this over with.

Jessie's P.O.V.

She walked outside, one of that last out the doors. She'd had to find Sean's last class and get his homework. She had it all loaded in her book bag, and it was really starting to weigh down. Father was supposed to meet her in front of the school.

It had been a long day. Because of her fitful sleep she kept forgetting things. She was also anxious to get home to Sean. It was like she was just trying to get the day to speed up.

As a matter of fact she'd been in such a hurry to get out of the school she'd forgotten one of her own books, and she needed it for her homework. She sighed and hurried back into the building.

There was no one else in the halls, except the janitor, and all the teachers were on their way home or in their respective classrooms. She walked to her locker and silently spun the combination. When she opened the door she heard footsteps coming toward her. She didn't look up; it was probably just the janitor. She pulled her book out and the steps stopped, whoever it was stood just to her left, hidden behind her locker door.

"Hi," they said, in a hesitant, non-enthusiastic voice. She shut her locker and blinked. Before her stood a very dark girl, who she recognized almost immediately, as one of Beast Boy's friends. The little green boy was weird enough for her, why did his friends have to bug her too.

When she didn't say anything, the dark girl spoke again," Um, listen, I don't know if you know who I am but your brother does. I was just gonna ask if he was all right," Jessie still didn't answer," So, is he?"

Jessie couldn't say anything for a minute; she knew who this girl was. Not only was she one of the little green freak's pals, she was the girl Sean had described to her, he called her Raven. She's the one who gave him that address. This Raven was the one responsible for getting her brother in trouble. Jessie slammed her locker door with more force than necessary; she was angry.

"I know who you are. He's sick," she said curtly, trying to control this new anger. How dare this girl come here?

"Oh," Raven looked like she didn't believe that," Well, you see he seemed really upset when he left yesterday, and I was going to make sure he didn't get into too much trouble. He didn't know about the storm it wasn't his fault . . ."

"Go away," Jessie's voice didn't sound right, it sounded scary.

Raven noticed too," What?"

"Leave, now," Jessie said it slowly and clearly," Leave us alone. We want nothing to do with you, any of you," her voice was rising.

"I'm sorry," Raven was looking at her weird," We didn't mean any harm."

"I don't care," Jessie's voice steadied again, she sounded herself, only mad," Stay away from me, and stay away from my brother. Your friends are dead, deal with it," she turned before the dark girl could say anymore and ran out the door. Father was waiting for her outside in the car, right where he said he'd be.

When she got in he was looking very pleased about something," How was your day, my dear girl?"

"Fine," she said simply," How's Sean?"

"He's better, he'll be back to school by tomorrow," he smiled kindly at her. He looked like she had just earned her degree in medicine. He looked . . . proud.

"You know, Jessica," he said as he pulled out of the school," I believe I was a little harsh about you and Sean going out on your own."

That was another thing Father took away yesterday. Not only did he want to drive them to school but he didn't want them going out on weekends anymore. Much to Jessie's dismay, that was one thing that really cheered Sean up, seeing the different places, especially the bookstores.

"I will keep driving you both to school, but I don't think I should keep you both cooped up on the weekends," he glanced at her stunned expression," You promised me you would keep yourself and your brother out of trouble, if you think you can keep that promise, I'll lengthen your curfew on Saturday and Sunday, how does that sound?" he watched her from his peripheral vision.

Jessie couldn't find words. Father never let up on a punishment. This was the weirdest day ever.

"That . . . sounds great," she finally smiled for the first time in three days," Thank you, so much, Sean will be so excited."

"Thank me by showing me you can be responsible," Father pulled onto their street.

"We will, don't worry."

Sean's P.O.V.

Sean was dreaming. He knew he was dreaming. He had to be. He didn't want to wake up, even though the dream should have been at least a little frightening.

In his dream he was a little kid. He knew this because everything else seemed so big. He was running down the hallway of a huge house that he didn't recognize, but he knew exactly where he was going.

He knew that as soon as he turned this corner there would be a door. He turned the corner and he was right. He didn't knock; he just went through and looked around. It was someone's bedroom, but he already knew that. He was looking for something, and he didn't see it.

No. He wasn't looking for something, he was looking for somebody. And he couldn't find them, and he was in a hurry. He knew this person was going to leave in a few minutes. Even though he knew they'd be back soon, Sean didn't want them to leave without a hug goodbye.

Then there was a noise from another door, Sean knew it was the bathroom door, and a voice said," I'm coming Alfred, I still have plenty of time . . ." then a man stuck his head out of the door and saw Sean. This was who he was looking for. The man smiled and said," Oh, sorry, little guy. Thought you were a certain over-punctual butler," he went back into the bathroom, and Sean followed.

He had never seen this dark-haired blue-eyed man before, and that should have sent him running. But instead Sean crawled up onto the counter the man was standing over and said," You wouldn't have left without saying goodbye, would you?"

"Of course not," Sean's question seemed to make the man happy. His answer made Sean happy to, happier than he could ever remember being.

Sean watched as the man picked up a bottle of amber liquid, and applied a little to his neck.

"What's that?" Sean asked, pointing to the bottle, now on the counter.

"That's my cologne, little guy," he answered.

Sean cocked his head to one side," I'm not that little. What's it for?"

The man turned to look at him and cocked his head to the side as well," I know you're not. It's so that I smell alright."

"I thought that's what baths were for," Sean looked at the bottle again," Is that why Alfred never bugs you about taking a bath?"

"No, I still take baths," the man turned again to look in the mirror, fixing his tie.

"Then why do you need that?" Sean pointed to the bottle again.

A horn honked outside, impatient. The man sighed and looked at him," It's just something grown-ups do. I have to go now. I love you," he paused and kissed Sean on the head," Mind, Alfred. See you in a few days, kiddo."

Sean smile," I love you, too. And don't I always mind, Alfred?"

At that the man gave him a look, and the horn went off again. He gave Sean one last warning stare and hurried out.

Sean almost followed in order to see him to the door, but he had an idea. Mischievously, he ran to the bedroom door and looked out, no one there.

Carefully, he crawled back up on the counter. He picked up the bottle of cologne, and slipped it into his pajama pocket. He'd bring it back, but he wanted to try an experiment first. If he smelled really good maybe Alfred wouldn't make him take a bath tonight. He giggled and followed this brilliant child logic. He ran to his room, and into his own bathroom.

Closing the door to his bedroom, he pulled out the decorated little bottle and opened it. He put his nose right above the opening, and took a long sniff. He coughed, and made a mental note not to do that again. It smelled good, but it was way strong if you put on too much apparently. He guessed that was why Bruce had only put on a little.

Somewhere, outside of Sean's subconscious, he wondered why he thought the man's name was Bruce, but this thought didn't form in his dream.

In his dream he was climbing up onto a small stool that let him see over the counter into his own bathroom mirror. He put just little of the liquid on his neck like he'd seen Bruce do, and set the open bottle on the counter.

Just then he heard someone coming. Alfred, uh, oh. The door knob turned, and he spun around to hide the bottle, but, to his dismay, he knocked it over, and it spilled out all over the floor.

"Oh, crud," he said to himself.

Alfred was still calling him," Richard are you in here?" the butler had walked inside the bedroom, and, not seeing Sean there, walked into the bathroom. Why hadn't Sean thought to close the door to the bathroom?

No matter, the butler walked in saying," You haven't even eaten breakfast yet . . ." he stopped when the smell hit him. He looked at the floor, then at Sean's guilty face and said," Not even waiting until noon, Master Richard?"

"Um, sorry?" Sean said and watched the butler's face. By his look he was more amused than angry.

He chuckled and said," It's all right we'll clean it up . . . . . ."

The dream cut off. Sean woke to an excited knocking on his door. He was back in Father's house, back in reality.

"Come in," he called, and then tried to sit up. He gasped. It hurt so much. His whole body hurt to move, and during the dream he'd forgotten about his pain that very morning, when Jessie woke him.

It was Jessie who walked in now," Feeling all right?" she asked as he leaned back on the pillows.

He shrugged, then winced," I'm better." He couldn't get over the dream. It all seemed so real to him, like a memory.

"Guess what," Jessie was all excited about something, and she was bursting to tell him.

"I give up," he said calmly, might as well let her have her fun.

"Okay, you know how this morning, I told you dad wouldn't let us walk anywhere on our own anymore?" She was actually waiting for the answer to a rhetorical question.

He smiled," Yes, Jessie, I remember."

"Well, he told me that he changed his mind and we can still go out on the weekends. He's still gonna drive us to school, but we get a later curfew Saturday and Sunday to make up for it," her smile was radiant.

Sean was shocked," What made him change his mind?"

"I have no idea," she said, still smiling," He picked me up from school and told me, but this is so great! I can still show you that new bookstore and this amazing pizza place . . ."

Sean listened, and as excited as he was about being able to leave the house, he couldn't get the dream out of his head. Who the heck were Bruce and Alfred? And where did he get Richard? He tried to shrug it off as his subconscious running away with him. It was still so strange though.

Once Jessie had told him about all the places she would take him and gave him his homework, she left to let him rest.

Before she walked out the door though, she stopped and grabbed his shoulder bag from the floor.

"You keep your school stuff in here, right?" she moved to hand it to him, but stopped. She looked at it weird then pointed to the once broken seam," When did you patch that?"

Sean almost told her about the pretty alien girl fixing it, but stopped. He knew she'd be angry, and she might even tell Father.

"I did that today, had some time on my hands," he lied. She smiled and handed it to him.

"Glad you found a new hobby," she gave it a last glance," But don't quit your day job just yet." With that she left.

Sean watched the door for a while. Then turned to his bag, running his finger over the mended seam. It really was kind of her . . .

He sighed and opened it. He might as well get his homework done; hopefully his teachers hadn't gone over anything new. He rummaged for his pencil case and couldn't find it. After a minute he just dumped the whole thing out onto his bed.

There, it had been way down in the bottom. He picked it up along with his notebook. As he did something caught his eye. Something he didn't recognize. He put down his school things and picked it up.

It was a tiny bat, completely black, and attached to it was a note.

If you ever need anything, all you have to do is call. Just press the red button.

There was no name, but he knew who it was from. Who wouldn't? For a moment he was angry. He hardly knew this man and he was already acting like some protective uncle . . . or father. Painfully, he got up to throw it in the trash, but when it landed in the basket he looked at it again.

He picked it back up, holding it in the palm of his hand. It was small enough to fit almost anywhere. He popped open the cover, and saw the red button, there were a few others that he had no idea how to work. Maybe it was some kind of tracker. He closed the cover as the anger drained from him completely. He thought back to his dream.

It really wasn't hurting anything if he kept it. Father didn't have to know, neither did Jessie. This was his secret. He closed his hand around it and walked back to the bed. His secret, his alone. He slipped it into his bedside table drawer. Then thought better of it. He pulled it back out and found some string. He tied around the little thing, so it wouldn't fall off, and slipped it around his neck. Tucking it securely under his shirt he pulled his books back toward him.

He could almost smell Batman's cologne.

A/N: This may be a bad place to end it but I'm getting a headache. Tell me about in a review.

Oh, and I don't own Discovery Channel either, I didn't even get my information from there, but it is an awesome channel. Next chapter soon. Ta ta.