Thank you for the reviews, and sorry I didn't update for a long time (well, long for me. I'm impatient.) I have a problem with getting the Internet to work in hotels.

The next day, when Mari went down for breakfast, a surprise met her her mother. Cooking. Humming. Happy.

"Mom?" she asked tentatively. Kori turned around.

"Mari! You slept in again! Coach won't be happy about this!" she chirruped.

"Coach?" she repeated, confused.

"Yes! Your soccer game was at eight o'clock!" she scolded. Mari felt a lump rise in her throat. She hadn't played soccer since she was ten.

"Mom, I..."

"No excuses! Now, when Richard gets home from work he wanted to take you to the fields to practice. He should be home any minute now," she said, turning back to the stove. Mari felt tears roll down her cheeks. So that was what her mother had been doing for the last two days. Imagining her life if Richard had been in it. Now she has convinced herself. She had gotten to year ten in two days. Dylan was right. Kori was insane.

"Mom, I...um...he said he'd be home at noon," she stuttered. Kori nodded, humming happily again. Mari ran back upstairs and locked her room door, falling on her bed, sobbing. What had she done? What was wrong with her mother? Weren't the Teen Titans supposed to be strong people? Then how come her mother could barely take this without losing all sense?

She heard the doorbell ring, and Rachel's voice when her mother opened it. Not five minutes later, Rachel was at her door. "Mari..." she was about to say something, but then she must have noticed the tears on Mari's face. She sat down beside her and hugged her awkwardly.

"It's all my fault, Rachel. I killed him, and now I'm killing her. I'm a failure, I'm pathetic, I'm--"

"Shh. You're not a failure, and if you'd stop crying, you wouldn't be pathetic either. You did the right thing, Mari, it's just that your parents can't see what's best for them and for you. Once they realize that, everything will be okay, I promise. You didn't kill anyone, Mari, Richard's coming home today!"

"If you hadn't saved him, he would be dead," she sniffled. Rachel sighed.

"Mari, if you hadn't told me to save him, I would have let him die. It's the will that counts. If you could have done anything, I know you would have." Mari stayed quiet, she knew all this was true. "And I brought someone here to see you."

Mari looked up, expecting to see some other relation she had no idea about. "Dylan!" she cried. Dylan looked down sheepishly. Rachel glared at him. Mari did, too. "If you're just here to apologize because Rachel made you, then leave."

Dylan shook his head. "I didn't tell my mom anything, but she kinda guessed something was wrong, so..."

A compact mirror exploded nearby. "Dylan Logan, you will apologize and you will apologize properly for whatever you did to this poor girl," Rachel said in a deadly calm voice. Dylan looked up.

"I was going to, I was just waiting for you to leave," he said angrily. Rachel stood up and sank into the floor. Mari jumped up and shrieked.

"She just--I didn't--the floor--it just--"

Dylan sighed, silencing her. I'm supposed to be angry at him. She threw him a dirty look. "What do you want?"

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry, and I didn't mean any of it."

Mari snorted. "Of course you didn't, that's why you were yelling at me."

"Mari, I wasn't in my right mind--" he pleaded, but Mari cut him off.

"Don't talk to me about that!" she screeched. Dylan recoiled.

"I'm sorry, I--I forgot," he admitted. Mari sank down on to the bed again, exhausted.

"Lucky you."

Dylan joined her, and they sat for a while in silence. Mari leaned back and laid down, wishing her parents could have had two kids, so she wouldn't be alone in this. Dylan, as usual, seemed to read her mind. Apparently he had inherited a lot from his mother.

"Hey. You know me and my parents and Vic'll always be here for you. We won't leave you out on the street to fend for yourself. Your parents're gonna be okay. I know it. I was just worried before, but I can tell. It'll all work out." Mari shook her head.

"You were right. I shouldn't've gotten mixed up in this. We were perfectly fine before, and now..."

"Of course you should've gotten mixed up in this!" said Dylan, agitated that she wasn't getting it. "You gave them another chance to be happy. They blew the first one, and you're not going to let them blow the second, and you shouldn't beat yourself up for that. It's...I can't find the word, but it's amazing how you never really gave up. You can't do that now. Do you think my mom would've listened to you and saved him if she knew they didn't have a chance?"

It was uncanny how he always seemed to be right, no matter what he was saying. "No, I guess."

Dylan took her hand in his. "Don't give up now, Mari. They need you. They can't do this on their own."

Mari hugged him. "But neither can I."

Dylan turned her head to face him and cupped her chin. "I'll be here for you." He brushed her lips with his, ever so slightly, but it sent Mari reeling. I can't do this, he's my best friend! What if we go out, and then break up, and then never talk to each other again? Her mind went into overdrive. Yet, in her confused and messed up world, this was the only thing that seemed right.

Dylan pulled away when he noticed Mari wasn't kissing him back. "I guess I should--"

Kori burst in the door. "Mari! There's a monster in the kitchen!" she shrieked. Mari and Dylan exchanged looks of fear before following Kori, who had already run down the stairs. When they got to the kitchen, Kori was standing, pointing, terrified. "Right there!" Mari looked.

An ant.

Kori was shaking. "Do something, Mari! It's coming for me! Richard, help!"

It was going the other way.

Suddenly, a bolt of green light formed in Kori's hand and she fired it at the poor thing. A black hole was left in the floor, and the ant had been burned to a crisp. Kori sighed in relief. "That was close." She returned to her cooking.

Mari could only stare in shock, and beside her, Dylan was doing the same. "Should we do something about that?" he asked Mari. She shrugged. The doorbell rang.

"I--I'll get that," she said shakily. Dylan ran after her. Mari opened the door, and again, she could only stare in shock. "M-mom? It's for you."

So, who's at the door? Blackfire, Galfore? How about Speedy? LOL.