A/N: ok I know this is a longshot but if any of my viewers went to see the final four and the finals for women's lacrosse at Boston University, I hope you are as amazed as I am. And I'm SOOO happy that Northwestern won. I LOVE Northwestern.

Dislcaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. I wish.

TT2

Thursday September 24, 2019

Richard was sitting at home, in his office, listening to the soft rumblings of the television outside of his office. He was taking a day off, even though it wasn't really a day off since all of his work was with him at home. He sighed and tapped the pencil against his desk, trying to multiply 5.5 and 6,500 in his head.

This was not working.

Richard crossed his arm on his desk and let his head fall into his arms, and, hearing the sound of his own breathing, started to fall asleep. If it weren't for the incessant ringing of the God-damned doorbell in his ears. Did he mention he had a horrible migraine?

"I'll get it!" Richard yelled to Raven, who had presumably fallen asleep on the couch while watching cartoons. He stood from his desk and walked around, briskly striding from his office. The onyx-haired man kept his stride across the spacious and elegant entryway, before stopping at the door to comb his fingers through his hair and look as if he was not severely perturbed at the moment. Yea, like that would happen.

Richard opened up the door and his jaw fell. "Kori?" he asked softly, seeing the shy and unsure form in front of him. He stepped forward and examined her, to make sure it was really his wife-to-be. Yes, it was the exact same person. "KORI!" he screamed and surged forward to hug her tight to him, his arms tight around her waist and hers tight around his neck as he swung her around. She giggled excitedly. "Oh, Kori, it's really you?"

He pulled back but wouldn't set her down, and she smiled. "It's me, Richard." His smile would've dropped if he weren't so damn happy, for her voice sounded so different. And she actually used a contraction for once! "It's really me. I'm back."

"But, Kori, how? I heard Blackfire's plan." He set her down and looked her in the eye, and her jubilant smile seemed to drop.

"W-well, yes," she started unsurely. "I found out it was my sister a few days after she kidnapped me. Her whole plan was to try and steal you from me, but I couldn't let her do that! I was able to break out, and I immediately came back to you."

"Oh, Kori," he started and slowly came forward to kiss her tenderly. "You have no idea how hard it was for me without you. I love ya, Kor."

"Richard...I love you, too," she told him, before leaning in to kiss him again, and this kiss lasted longer. Richard was again suspicious, but ignored the fact that her kiss seemed much different than from before she disappeared. Unfortunately, his inquisitive nature was not working as it used to and he did nothing but shrug.

TT2

Victor wanted to surprise Jenna that day, so he took his lunch break at the restaurant where she worked. He entered quietly and was shown to a table, before quickly sitting down. Jenna came out, carrying a platter of food, and her expression turned jubilant once she saw him. Jenna quickly unloaded the food and took the seat across from Victor, putting the platter in her lap. "I love you! Please save me from this torture. I'm on lunch in two minutes."

Vic chuckled. "Love ya too, babe."

Jenna giggled, stood, then disappeared into the back room, coming out two minutes later without her tray but looking exactly the same. She took the seat across from him and smiled warmly. "How's life?"

"Great, you?"

"Horrible," she retorted, sighing, then looking up through tired eyes. "Can we skip lunch and take a walk? We need to talk."

Victor consented and they began walking towards the nearest park, which wasn't too terribly far. They both had their hands stuffed in their pockets, and both were in meditative states. They were in silence until they reached the park, and making sure no one was around, Jenna started talking. "You know how the HIVE has this whole big plan?" Jenna asked.

"Mhm," he agreed.

"Well, we're on to the next step. We have some super-secret something we're trying to duplicate, so now we've started pulling off heists and now we're expected to try and hurt the Teen Titans, because eventually we're going to need the moxy to-well-kill them," she told him softly.

"What?" he asked, stopping to turn around and stare her down. "But you won't, will you?"

"Of course not. But Jake is expected to be able to take care of Clara, and Sara's my responsibility. They've hired a new man to replace Matty, since no one's found him yet, and he nearly killed Kyle today. Stabbed his just above the heart in the shoulder," Jenna told him. "It was horrible. I immediately withdrew them from the fight and yelled at him for being such an imbecile."

"I heard about that. About Kyle. Don't worry, he's fine, Sara patched him up," he told her, to make sure she didn't feel any compunction for being a part of it.

"Thank God. I could never do that to another human being. Well, not after I started having second thoughts about the whole being a badass thing," she told him, as they continued walking along the gravel path.

"Well, I'm glad," he told her, and another silence filled their conversation.

TT2

It had been a seemingly short day, after informing everyone of Kori's mysterious reappearance. Not even Kimi knew yet. Richard wanted to wait until he had time to bring her to the tower, tonight, but something had come up. Raven was reading in her bed as Kori ate like a monster down in the kitchen. Richard was in the kitchen with Kori, watching her scarf down food. That aspect of her really hadn't changed.

"I was thinking we could go visit Kimi after this. She'll be ecstatic to see you again," Richard started, with a slight smile. "Y'know, you are her favorite person in the world."

Kori looked up at him. "Oh, uh, yea. Where does Kimi live?" she asked.

Richard furrowed his brow at her. "Titans Tower. She's a Teen Titan," he told her, watching her suspiciously.

"Oh, sorry. I forgot," she responded with a reassuring smile.

"Yea, it's understandable," he lied, before standing and quietly leaving the room. He had left the room, when he mumbled to himself, "What the hell".

Richard was heading towards his room, before he stopped and knocked shyly on Raven's door. Upon hearing her consent, he slowly entered. He was silent for a few moments, standing at the doorway, until he came forward and sat on the side of her bed, staring hard at the cover of her book.

"She's not herself," Raven first stated. "That's not the Kori we know." She had noted many behavior changes with her best friend, and finally concluded that something in solitary with Blackfire had changed her, somehow. She was not the same.

"But what's wrong with her?" Richard asked softly. "What happened up there on Tamaran?"

"We can only guess, Richard," Raven told him, looking up through her thick lashes, before sighing and setting her book-marked book down. "But the one thing we know for sure is that Blackfire changed her somehow."

"But...what if Blackfire didn't change her. What if she changed. What if she's not the woman I fell in love with? I mean, she forgot about our own daughter! The girl she raised and loved for thirteen years! What if I end up spending my whole life with a woman that really isn't the woman I love?" he asked her.

"I can't tell ya what would happen," she told him matter-of-factly. "You have to make the call, Rich. You're good at that. You've always been a headstrong decision-maker. Is she really the woman you love?"

"But-"

"I'm not finished. Or do you have to confront her about this mood change? Can you go up to her and ask her what's wrong? Is she normal enough that she would understand if you said you noticed something was wrong?" she asked. "Maybe I'm just babbling now, but you know I do that when I'm worried. And I'm worried. That is not my best friend."

"And that's not my wife."

"Besides the fact that y'all ain't married yet," came the strong masculine voice of their African-American best friend in the doorway. "I let myself in."

"Good, we need to talk," Richard started. "You noticed too?"

"Hell yea I noticed. I wasn't about to go through my day not noticing Kori using contractions and speaking in perfect Slang," he started, coming into the room and closing the door.

"You know that's an oxymoron," Raven pointed out.

"You get my point, oh Princess of Darkness," he retorted playfully. "That is not the Kori we know!"

"That's what I just said!" Richard started again. "She was been so different. Even the little things. When I try and be romantic, she pushes me away, and her kiss is so different. It's just the way she smells, looks, sounds, tastes, feels! I can't stand it. What's going on?"

"Richard, if you can get me the tape of Sara and Clara's vision, and the security tape in the med ward, I might be able to help you," Raven told him. Richard thought for a moment, stood from the bed, and left the room quickly. Victor took a seat at the end of the bed and stared hard at his best friend.

"How could it help us?" he asked.

"Something Blackfire said. Trust me," she assured him.

Richard returned several minutes later with his laptop in his hands, closed. He sat next to Raven once more and opened it up, pressing a few buttons before turning to show her the screen. "Kimi was able to transfer the files directly to my computer from the Titans' Mainframe," he told her, as she watched the tape fizzle and crackle into a darkened jail cell.

Raven fast-forwarded the tape just a little bit to hear her hiss, "It will be in 24 on Earth. It won't be hard to play off as confusion". Raven furrowed her brow. You could practically see the gears turning in her head.

"When was this tape recieved?" Raven asked.

"The time of day is at the bottom of the screen," Richard told her.

6:56

"And when did Kori arrive today?"

"I don't know," Richard trailed off. "I'd say aboutsevenat nightbecause it was aboutan hour after we came back from dinner."

In 24 on Earth. 24 hours. It won't be hard to play off as confusion. Play off her reappearance as confusion. Raven gasped. "She wants to marry you!" Raven breathed. They both looked at her expectantly. Raven grabbed the cell phone from her bedside table and looked in the contacts to find Taku's cell-phone number. She pressed the small device to her ear, and let it ring once, twice, three times, before he finally picked up.

"Yello?" he asked tiredly.

"Taku! It's me, Raven. How fast can you have the T-Ship done?" Raven asked excitedly, jumping up and placing the laptop aside, and rushing to her closet to grab a few things. He replied that it was already done, save a few minor adjustments. "Get to it right now. Richard, Victor, Jenna, and I will be over there in thirty minutes. Wake the other Titans (it was now about eleven) and tell them to be ready. Don't ask, I'll explain later."

Taku agreed and hung up, just as Raven did too. "Cyborg, go to your house and grab things you'll need for an overnight trip to Tamaran." Victor stared at her strangely.

"Cy-"

"You heard what I said, now go!" Raven ordered, and he scrambled out.

"Raven, what's up?" Richard asked.

Raven grabbed a duffel and stuffed her items inside, and looked tiredly up at him. "You ready to reunite the Titans? You know, minus BB?" Richard furrowed his brow at her and stepped forward, slowing her impatient hands on the broken zipper of the duffel.

"Raven, what is wrong?" he asked, stressing each word.

"You're right, Richard," she told him softly. "That isn't Kori. Kori is still on Tamaran, and she might die if we don't get to her soon enough."

"But, if that isn't Kori, who is it?"

Raven sighed and looked up at him through her thick lashes. "Blackfire."

TT2