A/N: I'm really bad at updating, that's all I have to say.

Disclaimer: Teen Titans? Not mine.

TT2

Sunday September 27, 2019

They landed on the helicopter pad on the top of Titans' Tower, and Sara ushered Kimi and Richard out of the vehicle with Kori in Richard's arms. Kimi stopped for just a second to realize two days had already passed on Earth for how long they had been flying to and on Tamaran. "Come on," she started. "I can open up a portal for you to the hospital."

Sara first chanted a spell to take them out of uniform and put them into more suitable clothes. She then started a mantra that opened up a yellow slice in front of them, and grew wider and wider until Richard and Kimi could slip through. "We'll be there soon!" They could hear Sara's voice saying after them, but they had already been ushered out of the portal, which was directly in the center of the emergency room.

"Quit staring!" Richard snapped at the people around him, and they immediately went back to their own business. He rushed up to the counter where a kindly-looking woman was sitting, reading a magazine.

"Um, excuse me?" Richard started hurriedly, watching the woman behind the glass. She looked up and gasped.

"My God, what happened to the poor dear?" the woman asked, putting down her magazine and coming out of her cubicle to examine her. "Oh, this is bad. Follow me." They did as told and the woman led them through a series of doors and hallways, until they hit a closed -off section of the emergency room. "Lay her on the bed." The woman looked out the door. "Dr. Carter! Dr. Thompson! We have a Code Blue, Three-fifty nine in section C oh-five!"

"Dad, I'm scared," Kimi admitted.

"It's ok Kimi. It'll all be ok." He hooked his arm around her and pulled her close.

"I'm sorry, but you're going to have to leave," the woman told them as four doctors rushed in with a few medical tools in their hands.

"But-" he began to argue but the woman wouldn't take no for an answer.

"I'm sorry! The emergency room is for patients and doctors only, you'll have to wait in the waiting room until a doctor tells you it's ok!" Richard and Kimi looked defeated as they trudged out and back through they way they had come. Richard still had his arm around his baby girl, and she was leaning into him while walking very slow.

"She'll be ok," Kimi whispered to her father, but she know he had a hard time believing anything at the moment.

"She has to be ok. Your mother...she's a strong woman."

"I know," Kimi breathed in response. They both sank into chairs in the emergency room, watching other people waiting nervously for their loved ones. A black and white television was broadcasting some sort of news program, and though Richard tried to tune in, it was almost impossible over the din of the others in the room.

It must've been thirty minutes before Victor, Raven, and Danny all came crashing in through the emergency room doors, looking about wildly for any sign of anyone they knew. They spotted Richard and Kimi slumped in their chairs, resting against each other, looking worn and defeated. Raven sank next to Richard and Victor took Raven's side, while Danny made his way to Kimi.

She looked up at him through tearing eyes and he sat next to her, immediately embracing her with all her might.

"We wanted to keep it light," she heard Victor explaining to her father. "We told the others they could come visit when we had an update on her condition."

"How could this happen to someone like her?" Kimi asked Danny as he rubbed her back gently. "You should've seen her. She was downright mutilated. I couldn't stand looking at her. How could her own sister do that to her?"

Suddenly, a swarm of reporters entered the emergency room, and made a beeline straight for her father. "Richard! Richard!" they yelled. "How is she doing? Is she alive? How does it look?" and various other questions were spouted off.

"Follow me!" The same nurse that they had talked to before yelled, and she pulled them through the emergency room doors, out of sight of the reporters. They dare not enter the emergency room, for there was a law against press in the emergency room in Jump City. The nurse led them to a quiet, bright white room, that held a bed, three armchairs, and two plastic chairs. Richard, Victor, and Raven took the armchairs, while Kimi and Danny sat on the bed. Danny was still rubbing her back as she dried her eyes.

"It's ok, Kim," he whispered in her ear as she leaned her head on his shoulder. "Your mom is tough. She'll pull through. She's a trooper, just like you."

She smiled slightly at these comforting words, burying her head in his shoulder and beginning to feel calm. Only Danny could do that to her.

Richard turned on the television hanging from the ceiling, something greatly needed to cut the tension in the room. It displayed the news, now telling the story about how Starfire (Kori Anders) had been found.

"How did they figure out, anyways?" Richard asked quietly.

"No idea," Vic started, looking at everyone else who just shrugged. "I guess they have their ways."

The room was silent except for the soft rumbling of the television and the words the anchorwoman was speaking. Kimi sniffled every now and then, but it wasn't that noticeable. It felt like an eternity before the nurse came back, this time with a clipboard in hand and solemn expression on her face. "Richard?" she asked, and he stood with a sense of urgency. "Can I speak with you, outside?"

The nurse led him to just outside the door, shutting it with a soft click. She looked down at her clipboard and sighed, her shining eyes coming up to meet his. "How is she?" he fired off almost immediately.

"She's not in any life-threatening danger at the moment, but she's in a coma. Well, that's what we're presuming. She has no heartbeat, but she's breathing steadily and even moving a little. We've never seen this before in any of our medical records. We don't know what to make of it so we're thinking your daughter might be able to shed some light on her condition, in case it might be a Tamaranian thing," she explained. Richard turned around to stride back into the room. "Wait!" The nurse called, and he turned to look at her once more.

"Is there something else?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm sorry to say that well...she lost the child," she spoke slowly and clearly, yet Richard still didn't understand her.

"What?"

"Your wife lost the baby during some sort of struggle. She had a miscarriage," she explained further, looking up at him. "I'm very sorry."

Richard tried to ignore the shock of both being told he was going to have a baby and that his wife had lost it. It didn't work very well, seeing as his eyes welled and he choked on his next words. "Can my daughter and I see her now?" Richard asked.

"Yes, but only you two. They're barely allowing you two in, so anyone else besides family will have to wait outside," the nurse told him. She watched Richard walk back into the room to gather up his daughter and the others. He explained to them that only he and Kimi were allowed in to see her at this moment.

It finally hit him, the seriousness of what the nurse had just told him. He knew that, as much as it hurt to say it, that the baby had been an accident. They planned not to have children until at least after their honeymoon, and once they were settled in together. It hurt just the same, though, as if he had known, if not worse.

The nurse let them settle before she led them, very quietly, to the room Kori was being held in. "Dad," Kimi started in a whisper. "Why are you crying? What happened to mom?"

"I'll explain later, I promise," he whispered back, wiping his eyes with the back of his sleeve. Kimi looked to Danny who was walking alongside her, his fingers intertwined with hers. He smiled reassuringly, as if to say everything would be alright. It seemed that became the favorite phrase around here lately.

"Right in here," the nurse directed, pointing to a closed door.

Kimi embraced Danny quickly. She felt him tenderly kiss her hair and she felt that calm sensation once more. She looked up to her father who was taking deep breaths, preparing himself for this moment. He reached for the doorknob and pushed the door open with ease, letting his daughter first step inside. He then followed her, shutting the door behind him.

All they saw was white. White linen, white chairs, white floors, white walls, white machines, everything was white. Then, the single splash of color in the room, Kori, came into view. She was tucked into the bed, the sheets at her waist showing she had been changed into a paper gown. IV's were attached in her arms, and she had tubes in her nose, all connected to different things. Her eyes were closed and she looked relaxed, though the scars and bruises on her face and arms said otherwise. She was definitely breathing; deeply, for that matter, but the heart rate machine was at a steady beeeeep.

Kimi took one side and Richard took the other, immediately taking her hand in his, caressing it with the pad of his thumb. "Kimi, is this some sort of Tamaranian thing?" Richard asked. "She has no heartbeat, but she's breathing."

Kimi looked unsure and regretful at the same time. She didn't want to be the one to tell him this. "It's a very rare type of...coma, I guess is what it's related to on Earth. It's when the person who went into the coma either has the choice of whether they shut down their body completely or restart their heart and wake up."

"Wait, what?" Richard asked, though he had a pretty good idea of what was going on.

"She can choose whether she lives or...dies."

"But, then, why isn't she awake?" Richard asked. "Of course she would choose to live. She wouldn't leave us! She promised me she'd never leave me!"

"Only Tamaranians who have suffered terrible trauma will ever go through something like this. She is...questioning something about her life right now, which is making her mind hazy about all the reasons there are to live. She may not know it, but she can subconsciously hear us, so the only thing we can do is be here and support her," Kimi told him, ending in a soft whisper, her voice beginning to crack. "I'm sorry dad."

"Kimi...Kori...no!" he began, his voice cracking as well. He looked down at his fiancee, his hand running over the ring on her finger. "Kori, I love you so much. Please, don't do this to me. Don't leave me. I need you so much, baby." He kissed the back of her hand.

Kimi watched her mother, hoping to see some sort of movement. "I may be able to connect with her, to see why she's having this dilemma. Only mothers and daughters who have a strong bond can connect, or so is Tamaranian legend, but I'm sure..." she trailed off. "I just need to know how." Kimi took her mothers hand and squeezed it in hers. "Dad, let go of her hand for a second."

Kimi concentrated on infiltrating her mother's mind, and soon she was flying from her body at the speed of lightning and she was dropped with excessive force upon a stone floor. She recognized it as the jail cell she was in earlier that day. Her arms and legs were in immense pain, the inside of her head felt like it was being stabbed at, she felt the sting of millions of tiny cuts and bruises. She could barely keep her eyes open to see both the beautiful moons of Tamaran in the brilliant violet sky.

"I cannot believe it..." a voice that sounded much like her mother's resounded in her head, and she almost immediately knew she was in her mother's body, experiencing what she was experiencing at the time. "He loves Blackfire. He really does not love me anymore."

Kimi was jerked back into her own body, her vision readjusting to see her father looking hopefully at her from across her mother's bed. "She thinks you're in love with Blackfire," she started, furrowing her brow. "For some ungodly reason."

His features relaxed and his mouth opened as he began to fit everything together. "That's it. That's just what happened! Blackfire wanted her sister dead and she wanted to get me to think she was the woman I loved so I would marry her! Somehow she gave Kori insubstantial proof that I loved Blackfire instead of her, and that's why she wants to die. Because she thinks her sister stole her fiancee!"

Kimi's head was spinning from so much revelation at one time. "Then, all you need to keep telling her is that she's the one you love, and no one else. If she hears you and truly believes you, she should wake up."

"But when?" Richard asked.

Kimi looked away, thinking, but then turned back to face her father and shrugged. "I don't know. It depends on how long it takes her body to start up again. Weaker systems could take months, but with her being as strong as she is, I would say it can't be any longer than a few weeks."

"A few weeks?!" he asked incredulously, looking down to the pale, lifeless woman tucked into the bed sheets. "But...but..." he stumbled over his words before sighing in defeat.

"But don't take my word for it. It could be more, it could be less. I've never really seen this before," Kimi told him hesitantly. "I've just read about it in a few Tamaranian tomes and scrolls." Kimi hesitated, once again, and then looked up at her father. "Dad?"

"Yea, Kim?" he asked.

"I don't want to alarm you or anything, but I want to prepare you. There aren't many cases where the victim chooses to live. It's very uncommon. I've only heard of a handful, out of the hundreds of cases I've heard of," she told him.

His face fell, and he looked speechlessly between his daughter and the love of his life. His gaze stuck upon her and tears welled in his eyes, and Kimi could see he was fighting for words, for anything to say to her that could help make this situation better. "I-I'll leave you two alone," she breathed, tears filling her own eyes as well as she walked lifelessly out of the room. Danny, Raven, and Victor were standing at the door, looking impatient with the nurse who refused to let them in.

Danny saw Kimi close to tears and opened up his arms. She collapsed into them, sobbing like there was no tomorrow. "It's not fair!" Kimi cried, but her words were slurred so he could barely understand her. "It's not fair! Why does she have to go? Why is this happening to her, to us?"

"It's ok, Kimi," was all Danny had to offer. "She'll pull through. She's tough."

But this only made Kimi cry more. She had lost all hope that her mother would wake up.

TT2

"This isn't fun," Clara stated aloud. "I don't want to wait to hear news about Kori. We should be able to visit her."

"For now, we're stuck here waiting," Kyle returned. "We should be hearing news any minute now."

"It's been five hours," Taku announced with an impatient sigh. "You would think they know her condition now."

Sara was quiet through all this. She fiddled with her fingers, sighing quietly ever so often. She was concerned for Kimi's mother, all of them were, but this was deeper than that. She was wondering what had happened between her and Kyle. Did he really mean everything he said or was it just to comfort her? Did he really want to give them a chance?

Saying Sara had trust issues was a major understatement. And what would any relationship be without trust? How was she supposed love someone if she couldn't trust them?

Sara jerked, a buzz spreading through her body. When she came back to her senses, she realized that Clara was talking on her cell phone, a smile spread across her face. Though most people don't believe in twin telepathy, it's real. Sara and Clara were living examples. If Sara was happy, Clara felt happy. If Clara was sad, Sara felt sad.

"Who are you talking to that's making you so happy?" Sara snipped at her, not being able to stand the happiness flowing though her veins at the moment.

"Jake," she started, covering the mouthpiece and giving Sara a small wink. "We might go out tomorrow night, but I told him I can't enjoy myself until I know Kimi's mom is ok."

"That's sweet," Sara spoke softly, letting her get back to her conversation. She was deep in thought once more when she heard the phone snap tightly shut. The others around them were in conversation, but Sara and Clara were now quiet. "Clara," her counterpart began.

"Yea, Sare?"

"Can I talk to you, privately?" she asked, without waiting for an answer. Instead, she took her sister's hand and dragged her out of the living room, stopping when the door closed with a hiss.

"Clare, I don't know," Sara began, confused with what she was going to say. "I like Kyle and he's such a great guy and he's so sweet...but you know how I have trust issues and I'm not sure if I can trust him yet and...is that such a bad thing?" She asked her sister desperately. "After all he's done for me?"

"Sare, I can't really tell you what to do," Clara told her. "You have to know what to do. Kyle's a great guy, but it's not like I know anything about your relationship except what you tell me. There could be a whole other level that I don't know about, something deeper than anything I know."

Sara couldn't remember a time when Clara wasn't able to help her. She sighed in defeat and held her head in her hands. "I'll be up on the roof. I need to think a while." Sara took off in the other direction, while her sister watched her retreating back. The both of them knew what she intended by going up to the roof.

Clara entered the living room, her arms crossed firmly over her chest. She slunk down on the couch next to Taku, who was asleep on Kyle's shoulder. Clara stifled a laugh. "Cute," she shot towards Kyle, who childishly stuck his tongue out at her.

"Where'd Sara go?" came the instinctive question.

"The roof."

"Oh." There was a long silence, in which all they heard was Taku's soft snores. "I think I'm gonna go up to the roof," Kyle started, taking Taku's head and setting it on the end of the couch. "I wanna talk to Sara."

Clara let out a hum of approval, reaching for the television remote. "I'll just sit here and watch Taku sleep," Clara remarked disinterestedly, in her usual drawl which had been lost ever since Jake came around.

Sara knew he was coming. She could sense his footsteps on the stairs, hear his soft, even breathing, feel the hard and fast beat of his heart. She felt his hand on hers as he turned the doorknob, then heard the soft pad of his sneaker as he laid his foot on the roof. Sara pretended not to notice him.

He sat next to her, pulled his knees up, and looked out towards the ocean. The sun was almost completely below the horizon, and it was beginning to get dark. They both watched the ocean and the sky, neither one looking towards the other, and this is just the way they liked it.

Please, don't speak, Sara prayed silently. She wanted it to be quiet and serene, just like now. She wanted it to be the perfect moment, in which they would not speak but merely enjoy each other's company. Sara leaned her head against his shoulder, and she felt him sigh contentedly although she did not hear it. She felt his hand on her back, rubbing gently, but before long it fell to the ground behind her.

And Sara couldn't help but think she had gotten her wish. They had put off talking about all that had happened, and in her opinion, never might be the best time.

TT2