A/N: You've got to remember for this chapter that all the Titans are older, about 19-20.
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans.
"Cyborg, don't put that there." Kale cautioned, her laughter creeping through her voice.
Cyborg peered sideways at her over his bulky shoulder. "Why not--" He swiveled his head back to attention, "- oh."
"Yeah, dude." Kale giggled and stood on her toes to reach and take the streamer from Cyborg's hands. Where he wanted to put it, the decoration would belt guests in the head with its papier-mâché Chinese decoration. "I still don't know why you insist on these ridiculous things. Af- Oof." She fell off her tiptoes and onto the floor, where she quickly rolled and propped herself onto her back. Being close to the Titans had taught her not to stay on the ground too long.
Cyborg chuckled and easily took down the streamer. He held it out for Kale like a cat toy, "Looking for this?"
Kale crossed her arms and pouted. "You know I hate it when you do that." She grabbed the streamer and jogged across the living room to put it in another, more suitable, spot.
Cyborg watched her go with interest. Remembering what the party was about, he thought about the changes all of them had went through.
The Titans had changed the way they operated, making sure that the lazy police force did not sweep the mess to the poor corner of the city. Most of the Titans had changed their clothes to something more suitable to their age and their private profession. Starfire had begun to buy clothing from Earth, though most of her clothes were still purple, with the occasional green thrown in for good measure. Beast Boy had finally abandoned the suit of his previous team, and now wore a black and green suit with double T's at the cuffs, collar and ankles. When the threats of the neighborhood 'baddies' got bigger (and subsequently, 'badder') and Beast Boy's animal forms could no longer keep him completely safe, he had added a utility belt much like Robin's (though, of course, neon green) to his new uniform. Raven, after quite a few scarring battles, had taken to wearing pants (black, of course) to hide her legs; Robin, both in an effort to look older as both of his other male friends matured (though Cyborg considerably less, having only added three inches to his six-foot-two frame) and remembering Starfire's trip into the future (and her blush describing his future, alone persona) had taken to wearing black, though he kept the mask, cape, and whatever on his previous uniform that was yellow.
The Titans were not the only ones that had changed, either. Although she still hated writing reports on cars, loved the kids at the orphanage to death and was as strong-willed as ever, Kale's appearance had noticeably changed. Her black hair was at least three inches longer, now resting a little farther along the middle of her back. Her navy blue elbow-length shirt complimented her eyes nicely, which had been darkening over the past year. Her jeans hugged her waist nicely and fanned out over her legs, which Cyborg had noticed (when they were innocently splashing around in the Titan pool yesterday) were much more muscular now than they had been before.
Cyborg also happened to know those legs were muscular because he had been on the receiving end of one of her kicks; it wasn't a pleasant experience. Neither was having to yell at her, again, for coming on missions with the rest of the Titans. She seemed to take care of herself, but Cyborg worried.
As if sensing his eyes on her, Kale turned and smiled at him. "What are you staring at?"
Cyborg grinned evilly, "Your beautiful bod."
Kale caught the glint in his eyes. Her eyes widened and she pointed at him threateningly with a roll of decorations. "Don't even think about"
She was cut off when Cyborg tackled her and started tickling her unmercifully. She was extremely ticklish and Cyborg had the children at the orphanage to thank for this power he held over her. "Stop…. I give…. I give!" she panted.
Cyborg, being the gentleman that he was, helped her up. "Hey, where'd B go? He's supposed to be helping us."
Kale thought for a minute. "Oh yeah, he turned into a flea and hid on Raven's cape because he did not want to help decorate the place."
Boom!
Kale smiled. "And that would be Raven finding a green flea on her clothes."
Beast Boy flew in the room a minute later as a crow. When he saw Kale, he changed back. He grabbed her leg and held on tight. "Help me," he said meekly.
"Don't worry, I'll help," she whispered. "RAVEN! BEAST BOY IS LOOKING FOR YOU!" Kale shouted.
Raven was in the room seconds later, scaring Beast Boy out of his wits. As he started pleading for mercy, Kale turned to Cyborg.
"I think we had better go find the lovebirds," she said, wrinkling her nose and leaving the room, ignoring a pleading Beast Boy.
"Yeah, we can't leave those two alone for a minute can we?" Cyborg said, following her into the elevator.
"Were we like that our first month?" Kale asked rhetorically.
"No. If I remember correctly, you didn't let me kiss you until we were three months in," Cyborg said teasingly as they walked down the hallway to the garage.
"Hey, a girl has to have her limits, even with a charmer like you." Kale shrugged.
They receded into quiet. They stood in comfortable silence for a few minutes while they went down. Kale looked at the numbers on the wall. She paled slightly.
"I have fought Control Freak's weird remote robot thing, Jonathan's dog, and that weird magic guy's hat and I still can't believe I went all those floors. I have never done anything that crazy." She said, shaking her head.
"What about the time you jumped into Cardiac's heart and used a compact to ruin the inner walls, causing him to malfunction?"
"Ew, it took a week for me to get all of the gunk out of my hair." Kale made a disgusted face.
Ding!
They exited the elevator and stepped onto the concrete of the garage. Right in the center of the enormous room the newest couple of the Teen Titans, Starfire and Robin, were embracing in a more than friendly way. Kale giggled, drawing their attention. Robin blushed, but Starfire greeted them joyfully.
"Friends, is everything prepared for the celebration?"
"Yes, and nothing will hit anyone in the head." Kale answered, looking sideways at Cyborg.
"Careful, or I'll tell everyone your secret," Cyborg said semi-threateningly, referring to Kale's ticklishness.
"Try it and I'll fry your circuits," Kale said poking his chest.
She turned on her heel and made for the elevator, grumbling about metal men being just like all men. Starfire quickly followed, bouncing with joy. Robin and Cyborg exchanged a look before following the girls, slipping in just before the doors closed.
They reached the top of the tower, where the living room was. Kale disappeared into the kitchen and started to make platters of food, shooing Beast Boy out and trying to politely keep Starfire from putting mustard on everything. Beast Boy, not wanting to bother Kale or Raven, slumped on the couch next to Cyborg and Robin, waiting for his turn to play video games. Raven was meditating in her room. It was relatively quiet, save Robin and Cyborg's yelling at each other and the volume on the T.V. being turned up annoyingly loud, so everyone heard the doorbell ring. They all started to move for the elevator, but Kale waved him or her back down.
"I'll get it. Cyborg, Beast Boy, if I find just one cube of cheese gone, I'm going to lock you both in the closet for the entire party," she said without turning around.
After a few minutes of walking down the stairs, as she refused to take the elevator if no one was with her, she opened the door. A woman, two men and two short teenage boys were there. She smiled.
"You must be the West Titans. Bee, Aqualad, Speedy, and Mas and Menos, right?" She said, pointing to each.
"Yeah, and you must be Sparky's girlfriend, Kale, right?" Bee came forward and shook her hand, smiling warmly.
"Yep. Go on in, we're just finishing up," Kale said, happy to have made a new friend.
She shook hands with each of them as they went past her.
"Hi, I'm Speedy, don't confuse me with Robin; I'm much cuter," The orange-haired crime-fighter said as he shook her hand.
Kale's smile broadened, "I'll have to remember that. Note to self: Speedy is the one without the girl attached to his hip."
He raised an eyebrow. "Robin finally got Starfire to go out with him?"
"Well it was kinda the other… you know what, it's a long story. Go up and ask them for yourself." Kale smiled, knowing the long story.
"Mas y Menos! Sei Hola!" The twins said together.
Kale giggled and ruffled each of their hair. "Hola, simpatico ta encontarse tu."
"Ehhh…." The boys wavered and blushed. Noticing each other's blush, they started to argue, speaking rapidly in Spanish. Bee came back and led them away, careful not to get caught in their little cloud of punches and kicks.
"Well… that was interesting," Kale said, speaking to herself and forgetting someone was there.
"Yes, it was."
"Oh!" Kale turned around to see Aqualad, who smiled at her. "I'm sorry, I kinda forgot you were here."
Aqualad waved her apology away. "That's all right." He raised an eyebrow, "You speak Spanish?"
Kale nodded and stuck out her hand. "I spect a month in Barcelona a few years ago and the orphanage has a couple of children who don't speak English, so I pick up things here and there. I decided to take a course last year to understand them better." She looked into his eyes, which were surprisingly black.
"Cyborg told me something about that, the orphanage, that is." He said shaking her hand. "I…" he trailed off, staring at her intently.
After a few minutes, Kale started to get uncomfortable. She cleared her throat. "Um… is something wrong?"
Aqualad seemed startled out of his reverie. "That's a very interesting eye color you have."
"Um… yeah." Kale was surprised by the change of topic. "I've had it ever since I can remember, but lately they've been getting darker."
"Oh," Aqualad said politely.
"Erm, we'd better get upstairs, Cyborg will think that I left without telling him, again," Kale said, starting towards the elevator.
A/N: Review!