Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans
-"It can take a lifetime to make a friend, but a second to loose a friend."-
"Wait." her ragged voice told him, as she pushing her hips further into him. She suddenly shuddered on top of him. He grabbed her by the waist and continued to grind her hips into his. Her soft moaning quickly increased with every hardened thrust. Garfield threw his head back, a groan slipped through his teeth. She waited on top of him, until it was clear he was placid. The sounds of their labored breathing fill the otherwise empty and silent space between them.
"So I take it you forgive me?" he had meant it as a joke. Even in the dark he could tell she was upset with him. Obviously. She climbed off of him and disappeared behind the bedroom door. He had earned a slam of the door.
Four Months.
Four months, had passed and Garfield had failed to divorce his stripper wife, and end his "sham of a marriage" as Raven so bluntly put it. Raven had forgiven him, kind of, after three long weeks of apologizing and ensuring her that he would end his "marriage" as soon as possible. Every time she asked him about it, he came up with excuses. In July city hall was closed because of a water main break. In August he needed to consult his attorney before taking any legal steps. In September she couldn't even remember why he hadn't done it, but he was still married to Terra. To make matters worse Terra moved back to New York and into Garfield's apartment.
He told Raven that as his wife she had a legal right to live with him and he would solve the problem as soon as possible. Of Course Raven didn't handle the news well, but like a fool she stayed with him. They resorted to sneaking around and meeting when they could. She felt like his mistress. After awhile their entire relationship consisted of sex. They hardly spoke anymore. Raven was loosing the very little patience she had left.
Raven reappeared from the bathroom wearing a bathrobe. "So how goes the divorce?" she said bitterly.
He sighed. He was tired of her nagging him about this. "Raven," he explained. "We've been over this-"
"Annulments are more complicated than they seem." she repeated him. "So I've been told. Everyday for a third of a year. Four months, Gar. It's been four months and you're still with her. You moved in with her. She's sleeping in your bed, while I'm sneaking around like some sort of whore."
He wrapped the sheets around his bare waist and pulled her closer to him. She resisted slightly. He grabbed her from around the waist and pulled her into his lap. "Rae." he said brushing her hair over her shoulder and nuzzling against her ear. She was not falling for that again. Even if it did send shiver down her spine. She couldn't help but swoon when he kissed her neck, and ran his warm fingers along her exposed thigh.
"Gar." it came out more as a moan than she intended. She gently pushed him off of her. He sighed and laid back on the bed.
There was silence. "So," he said trying to make conversation. "Are you and Kory going out tonight?"
It was safe to say that Raven and Kory were completely over whatever they had been fighting about. In fact they weren't just closer, they were closer than they had been before. Irony worked in interesting ways. "Yeah." she answered simply. She always gave him blunt answers when she didn't feel like talking to him. It was her way of letting him know she was upset with him.
He nervously traced circles in the sheet. "I was thinking..." he said timidly. "You could...invite Terra." he finished quietly.
Was he serious? Raven scoffed and pushed him completely off of her. "No, it's girls night. Not girls, girls, girls night." Raven never missed an opportunity to bash Terra for being a stripper.
He sighed. He knew it was stupid for him to ask but Terra had been bugging him to introduce her some of his chick friends, having none of her own. For some reason Terra was the kind of girl who could have all the guy friends in the world, and girls tended to not like her. I wonder why. Kory had flat out refused having quickly sided with Raven on this one. It was annoying to him that he had been friends with Kory since high school and ever since their drunken night in Las Vegas they had been tied at the hip. Neither Kory nor Raven remembered that they had kissed. Oh well, at least he would always have the memory.
His cell phone began to ring. He leaned over the side of the bed, and fumbled to find his pants. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. It was Terra. He sighed. "I have to go."
Raven sat in the wicker chair across her room and watched him dress in the erupting twilight peeking through her bedroom windows. He finished and leaned into Raven for a kiss. She curtly turned away. He sighed.
"When can I see you again?" he asked taking her hand.
"When are you getting a divorce?"
Garfield let out an exasperated groan."Raven, I don't understand what the big deal is. Nothing has changed and it's not like we were going to get married or anything like that." He regretted the words the instant they left his mouth. Raven was silent for awhile. Her eyes glazed over in contempt.
No, she didn't really ever plan on marrying Garfield, but she had planned on never marrying anyone. What he had said made her feel like such a tool. She had never felt so used in her entire life. "That," she started slowly. "is the most hurtful thing you have ever said to me. What am I to you exactly? A girlfriend? A lover? A fuck buddy?"
"I didn't mean it like-"
She interrupted him. "As for things not changing look around. You've been here for all of a half an hour and you're already tip toeing back to your wife after passionate and steamy tryst of fiery love making in my bed." She threw her hands up. "Not that you could really call it that. I'm tired of it! I'm tired of sneaking around before and after work like some sort of whore!"
He roughly grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face him. His green eyes were wild and desperate. "What do you want me to do?"
Raven pushed him off of her. "End it! End it now or-" her voice trailed off. She was angry but even she knew what would happen had she finished her sentence. She was afraid of taking it there. There which was going to far. Crossing a line of no return.
She walked over to her dresser, and watched him behind her in the mirror. "Or what?" he asked behind her.
She didn't face him. "Or this is over." she said quietly.
His stomach lurched. Of course he didn't want to lose Raven. He loved her, and it killed him that he was hurting her. But another part of him was undeniable happy with Terra. He couldn' t bare to hurt her either. He just needed more time. He stood frozen in his spot, now it was his turn to watch Raven create a storm around her room. She stomped about slamming doors. The dresser drawer, the closet door, the bathroom door.
God, she was so angry with him. She pulled open the dresser drawer again and whipped out one of her many black pencil skirts. Allowing her bathrobe to drop onto the hardwood floor, she pulled the skirt over her sheer black panties. She pulled open her top drawer quickly snagging on her bra. She buttoned up her white blouse. She quickly stuffed a pair of jeans and a t shirt into her bag. He stepped in her way.
"Move." she practically snarled.
"Is that what you want?" he asked her sadly. "You want to leave me?"
She couldn't meet his eyes. "Yes." she said firmly."No. I mean...I don't know." she brushed past him. "I don't want to talk about this right now."
She was so mad at him she couldn't stand it. She didn't want to be near him. She couldnt bare the sound of his voice. She needed to leave.
Garfield stood frozen in his place as he heard Raven's footsteps stomp down the hallway, into the living room, and slam the front door with unnecessary force. He waited to hear the door reopen and making their way down the hallway again, so that they could make up and he could hold her like he so desperately wanted to do. He waited in the silent sunrise.
He waited for the footsteps that would never come.
Kory had never been to a firing range before. She admitted that when Raven suggesting going during their lunch break, she was very skeptical. They changed into casual wear and entered the underground room in uptown SoHo. Kory adjusted her goggles, and pressed the over sized red headphones to her ears. She was yet to even pick up a gun, and the sound of other people blasting away was startling.
Raven, on the other hand, blasted her rented semi automatic pistol like she had been doing it since birth. She easily made her target, with a steady hand and zero hesitation. When her rounds were gone she took out clip and shoved in another round.
She coaxed Kory over to the shooting table, and stood behind her getting her arms in the right positions. "For my sixteenth birthday my father bought me an antique World War I revolver." she told her. "Then for my eighteenth, he got me a semi automatic pistol. Now don't get me wrong I'm all for gun control laws, but you can't be a woman in the city and not know how to protect yourself."
Kory's hand was shaking. Raven pulled her arms around her waist and motioned her arms in the right position. Kory had definitely never fired a gun before. "That's very reassuring." she joked as she prepared to pull the trigger.
"Keep your eyes open." Raven told her.
She snapped her eyes open. Kory attempted to steady her hand. Her body pushed back slightly by the force of the blow."Umph." Kory handed the gun back to Raven. "I don't think this is for me."
Raven shook her head with disapprovement. Kory stepped out of her way while, Raven expertly stepped up to the table, a fired a perfect bullet into the center of the target. "Knowing how to fire a gun is a very useful skill." Raven told her. "Here try it again."
Kory hesitated. "I don't know."
"Kory," Raven insisted. "You never know when this is going to come in handy." Kory didn't move. "It'll be fun." Still nothing. Raven sighed. "It's set on safety. Fine, you win. If you fire one into the target I'll let you talk about Dick for ten minutes."
"Make it fifteen and you've got a deal." Kory said stepping back up to the table. She attempted to load the clip. "I don't need him. I don't. It's just-" she sighed. "It's been almost four months and I thought I'd be over by now, you know. Having him so close to me everyday, seeing each other at work. I feel... I don't know." she finished lamely.
"Sometime, you just have to know when to walk away. Sometimes you have to lay your heart on the line." Raven said taking the clip from her hands and easily shoving it into the gun.
"What do you mean?"
Raven sighed. "Kory, you still have feelings for Dick, obviously. And it is clear to me, and everyone else, that you never ever stopped loving him. If you really want to sort out your little fixation on him you need to lay your cards on the table."
"Huh?"
"Tell. Him. How. You. Feel." she said simply.
Kory sighed. "Yeah," she shrugged. Honestly she thought about Dick day and night. It drove her crazy. She was tired of all the lying and secrets. She wanted nothing more than to move past it. But if that were the case why did a part of her, and she didn't know how dominant that part was, that still wanted Dick. "Has there ever been a person that was the first thing you thought about in the morning and the last thing at night."
Raven remained silent. She sighed and lowered her hold on the gun. "Well, Kory now that you've killed my buzz. I met Malcolm when I was nineteen and he was twenty-four. I adored him from the moment we met at that bookstore in Boston. He was older and poetic and I was completely blown away by him. How young I was back then. We were together for six years and when it was over I honestly thought that I was finished with men and that I'd never love anyone again. And then I met Gar. And oh what a turbulent year and a half it's been, and now that I think it's coming to an end I don't feel quiet so dismal about romance and all that."
Kory gasped suddenly. "Wait coming to an end? Did you guys-"
"I don't know." she answered raising her hand and cocking the gun. "I just don't think Garfield is that into me anymore. If he were he'd divorce that tramp already instead of making excuses. I don't know if it will last, but what I do know is that if it doesn't I will be okay."
"Dick is the first person I've ever been in love with. Does it hurt? Breaking up?"
She shrugged. "It does at first. Like...like having your arm ripped out of your socket. It's unbearable at first, after awhile it becomes a dull pain, and eventually it goes away completely."
Kory growled lowly. "Sometimes when I think about him it just makes me so mad, I want to-" without another word she pulled the trigger sending a bullet right through the center of the target.
"Oh nice hit." Raven congratulated her. "Right through the center."
Kory had a feeling Raven was suddenly more interested in target practice than her light switch love story. She, herself, was suddenly feeling more spontaneous. She would take Raven's advice as soon as she got back to the office. The worst he could say was no, right?
And how bad could that be?
A hop, skip, and a leap later Kory was back at the office. She felt a certain nervousness bubbling up inside her as she made her way back to Dick's office. What would she say to him. The truth? What that sound to needy? Irrational fears also clouded her mind. What is he was over her? What if he thought she was too much trouble and didn't want her back. Kory shook away those thoughts, and focused herself on the positives. The worst he could say was no, right? Sure she'd be humiliated and devastated, but she would get over that eventually. Right?
The elevator stopped on Dick's floor, which was surprisingly abandoned. She forgot there was a staff meeting going on, on the third floor. She quickly weaved through the maze of empty cubicles, and down the dark hallway leading to Dick's office. The door was slightly open. Before she could knock she could hear voices inside. One was Dick's, the other an unidentified female.
"Stop it you're so bad." she heard the female drawn. Her mouth dropped open.
Before she could have a chance to chicken out and leave, she quickly rapped on the door and then did the parent thing and came in without being formally invited. There Dick was leaning against his desk with his arms crossed, while that air headed temp, Gabriella, stood across from him. They were both smiling as if they had just heard the must hilarious joke in the world. A joke in which Kory was not in on.
"Oh, hey Kory." Dick said keeping his attention on Gabriella. Kory wondered if he was doing that just to make her jealous. Probably. "What's up?"
Kory was beginning to have second thoughts. Maybe she should just...No! She had to do this. "Can I talk to you?" she asked.
"Sure." he said standing up straight. "So Gaby, I'll see you tonight."
The girl giggled stupidly, before skipping out the room. Kory watched her with amazement that she was smart enough to be employed. She had talked to Gabriella on one occasion, and it was like talking to a balloon.
She turned to Dick, suddenly mad. "So since when did you and Gaby get so close?" she heard the envy in her tone.
He scoffed. "Why does it matter to?" he said arrogantly. "Not jealous are you?"
"Don't flatter yourself." Kory snapped.
He stepped closer to her. "Because you broke up with me."
"Oh please. I love how the second I walk into your office you just assume I'm here to gravel and beg for you."
"Then why did you come here?"
This stumped her. She now felt all this pent up anger, and she wasn't really sure why she had come here. To...to what? Tell him that she still loved him? That whatever problems they had in the past they could work against? Whatever issues they had they could fix? That she would always love him?
Kory very suddenly felt stupid. This was a bad idea and she planned on telling Raven so the very first second she saw her again. "I...I just came here to tell you-" her mind was screaming at her to tell him, but her mouth was too proud. "Never mind."
Without another word she quickly exited his office. Unfortunately for her Dick had no intentions on letting it go that easily. "Just admit it you want another chance." he said keeping up with her pace.
"No." she said.
"Because you know you royally screwed up this time."
She stopped abruptly and turned around to face him. "I was the one who screwed up? If I do recall correctly youwere the one who liked to keep secrets. And we were broken up for all of five minutes, before you scheduled dates with the fun bag twins and Gaby 'does anything you want' O'day."
He smirked vainly. "So you are jealous?"
Kory scoffed and muttered something that sounded a lot like unbelievable, before spinning around to march off. he caught her arm and twisted her back to face him. "Tell me you love me." he said in that irresistible, gruff tone of his. Kory resisted and pulled her arm away from him.
"Richard Grayson," she said using his full name. "You are the most pompous, woman-eater I have ever met. I can't believe I ever loved you."
She allowed her anger to control her for once, but Dick wasn't done playing with her heart. He'd get her to come around one way or another. "You still do." he said matter-of-factly.
"No, I don't! In fact-" Kory couldn't believe how angry she was at him. Sure they had been broken up for awhile now but, while Kory was yet to go on a date with someone other that Garfield and Raven, he had been out with half of the Ford Modeling clients of Manhattan. He acted like their long term relationship meant nothing to him. "I hate you."
He had not expected that. Or maybe he anticipated it, but didn't think she'd actually say it. The words stung like dagger through the heart. His face fell. Kory though that if she had made him feel as bad as he had made her feel, she'd feel better but she didn't. In fact she felt worse.
She opened her mouth to apologize, but before she could say anything screams began to ring out from the corridor behind the glass door. They could see people running frantically, screaming mercilessly, and pushing others out of the way. The chaos was quick and ensuing. A few people began to fill into the space around Dick and Kory. Some taking cover under desks and others making frugal attempts to barricade the doors.
"What's going on?" Dick asked one very frightened looking intern.
The intern didn't respond. He was in shock. Suddenly the doors were kicked open to reveal to large men dressed in black and wielding machine guns. People began to scream again.
"Kory Anders we meet at last." said one of men, whose voice sounded oddly familiar. That couldn't be, Kory made a point not to hang out with wackos. "Oh you don't remember me? I wouldn't really expect you to. Maybe you'll remember me as the guy you had locked away."
Fear gripped her heart and her stomach lurched. "Black mailer." she whispered to Dick.
He took a defensive stance in front of her as the two men marched down the isle towards her. "Out of the way pretty boy."
"If you want her you'll have to take me first." he said bravely, no fear evident at all.
"No problem." he said poising the gun at his chest.
"No!" Kory screamed. "Please l-leave him alone!"
The would be shooter flashed Kory a sick smile, before the second guy whispered something in his ear. He nodded understandable and loosened his grip on the trigger. "Okay ritchie- rich you and the girl are going to follow us." he said motioning them down the hallway with his gun.
The other shooter shouted to the general public, "If anyone follows us, they're dead!"
Kory and Dick quickly followed the first shooter, while the second guy stood in back of them ready to shoot them with the slightest wrong move. The first guy went to the last door at the end of the hallway, which was Raven. He kicked the door in and shoved Dick and Kory inside.
Raven who had been sitting at her desk quickly stood up. "What the hell-" she started.
"Shut up." the first guy told her. "I want everyone to get against the back wall. Any funny business and I swear to whatever fucking god you motherfucking believe in that I will shoot your fucking brains out!"
Quickly Kory, Dick, and Raven moved to the other side of the room and sat on the floor as the were instructed. The two clearly psychotic shooters began to barricade the door by nailing boards across the door. The three friends watched in horror.
It was like a bad dream. Sure, you always heard about people getting shot at work, but itwas one of those things that you never thought would happen to you, until low and behold your back is against the wall and you're staring down the barrel of a gun.
The shooters began to whisper harshly to each other. They obviously hadn't thought this the whole way through. "What's going on?" Raven whispered. "Did some disgruntled employee finally go postal?"
"Black mailer." Kory whispered to her watching their every move.
Raven stared back at them surprised. Even she had never thought of preparing for something like this, and she was prepared for everything. She could not believe the farce of her life. She and Kory had been to the firing range not twenty minutes ago.
"Hey Kory remember the other day when you asked me the definition of irony?" she whispered.
Kory rolled her eyes. Even in a crisis Raven couldn't resist being right. "We...need to...plan." she said slowly so the black mailers would not catch on.
The first one turned to them but didn't raise his gun. "No talking over there."
The cnversation quickly went silent. The gang watched as the two shooters carefully closed the blinds, and made sure no one from outside could get in. Finally the second one went to the back of the office, to the main circuit breaker that controlled all the electricity from the fifteenth floor where they were up to the twenty-eight floor. Suddenly all the lights went out, and the irritating buzz of the refrigarator in the employee louge two rooms away became non exsitant.
The shooters placed a cell phone on Raven's desk, and leaned against it facing them. He chuckled. "Now here's how it's going to go. We're holding you three bitches hostage. We have the guns, you want to live so do as we say and no one has to die."
Kory shook his head at how unempathetic he was. "Why are you doing this?"
He laughed again and turned his head to his partner in crime. "It's always the same thing with these rich people. Why are doing this."
"What do you want?" his partner chimed in.
"Please don't hurt me. Why the hell do you think I'm doing? You got me sent to prison! My family virtually disowned me. My fuck damn piece of shit father, refused to pay my bail. My wife left me, and the bitch took my kid with her so now I have nothing. I want to take everything that you took away from me from you... or a decent ransom."
Kory didn't know what to say. She had always been a naturally sympathetic person, and she couldn't help but feel somewhat compassionate for this man who had lost everything important to him. But then again he was holding an AK forty-seven to her head.
She decided to be daring. "I'm so sorry." she said. She had seen something like this on Law and Order once. "I didn't want any harm to come to you-"
The shooter growled. "I thought I said no talking."
Kory immediately gave up. They would just have to wait it out. The first guy stood guard in front of the three while his partner pulled out a laptop from a sleek case hanging from his hip. He set the lap top on the desk. "Nothing yet Otto." he said.
The seconds went by like minutes. Time had slowed at an unbearable pace, like The Return of the Native. Kory, Dick, and Raven remained in complete silence and immobility,while the two shooters paced around the room like bees in a bee box. The one called Otto kept glancing out of the window. There wasn't much of a view, but he could see the hoards of people crowded around the window. The police had taped off the front entrance and news people had quickly gathered on the side walks.
News really travels fast. Kory thought to herself stealing a glance at the clock. It was three o'clock. It had been three hours already! Well what the hell was taking so long? Shouldn't the S.W.A.T team be swoopig in through the windows on grapling hook, while the CIA bust the door? At that moment Kory realized that the life was way different from the movies.
"They are waiting to find our exact location." Otto said still facing the window, as if he could read her mind. "They will use new age heat seekers to find our precise location, then track the nearest phone. From there the negotiator will try to bargain with me to let you guys go. I will of course turn down all their offers for the first few hours and then..." his voice trailed off.
"And then what?" Dick said through his clenched teeth.
Otto shrugged and turned to face him. "And then...we'll see."
"What does that mean?" Raven asked annoyed.
"It means shut your mouths and we won't-" Before Otto could tell them what they wouldn't do the cell phone sitting on the desk began to vibrate. The room stopped. Both him and his partner stared at it for a second. Otto took a nervous breath and snatched up the cell phone.
"Yeah, they're here...fine for now...well then Ken you should probably make me a real offer...when you do find it in your power give me another call." with that he abruptly hung up. "Negotiator." he explained to the waiting room. "Charlie, a moment?"
Otto pulled his partner, Charlie, into the back room and their hushed arguing could be heard through the crack in the door. Kory knew this was her oppurtunity, she had to take it.
"This is crazy." she whispered to Dick and Raven. "We need a plan."
"Plan? What plan, they have guns!" Dick whispered harshly.
Kory scoffed. "Gu- guns? I thought those were magic wands, of course I know they have guns! Even if the negotiator can cut them a deal it's only going to be slightly less jail time. There is no way they are going to walk out of here free as a bird. These are not normal criminals. They aren't here for money, they want to stand for something."
"Kory is right." Raven agreed. "There is nothing stopping them from killing us all when the time is right. If we won't to continue living an earthly life our best bet is distracting them long enough to escape."
"That's crazy. If you haven't noticed they have locked us in here. It's not like we can just waltz out the front door." Dick reasoned. "We'd have to...to-" his voice trailed off. "Never mind, it's a stupid idea."
"What?" Raven and Kory asked in unison.
Dick watched the door. Otto and Charlie were still arguing. Appearantly Charlie was punking out, and beginning to think this was a very bad idea. Otto was trying to convince him that the plan would pull through. Otto kicked the door closed. Dick turned back to Kory and Raven.
"We'd have a get a gun from one of them." he said quietly.
Neither of them said a word for a moment. "That idea," Raven started slowly. "maybe crazy enough to get us all killed!"
"He's right though." it was Kory's turn to be rational. "It would three against two, gun on both sides. If we wait until they get distracted or put it down for a second we could turn the tables on them. We all have to agree that if we see an oppurtunity to wrangle to the gun away from one of them we'll take it. No hesistation. Agreed?"
They all agreed just before the two captors returned. Although Kory had been publicly all for giving the shooters a taste of their own medicine she secretly hoped it wouldn't come to that. She was a strong believer in seeing the good in people, and she liked to think they would have a sudden change of heart and let them go. Yeah like that was going to happen. She sighed and glanced at the clock. Time was moving so slow.
It was funny the things that ran through your mind when you thought you were going to do. Kory thought about her sheltered upbringing and all the things she wasn't allowed to do. Homeschooled until the ninth grade, body guards, cotillions. The only thing she remembered really enjoying equestrien. She had to ride side saddle, because according to her finishing school teacher riding both legs on one side was "unlady like". When she left there were so many things she promised herself she was going to do. None of which she ever did. In fact she hadn't been a horse since she was seventeen, let alone bare back.
She looked at Dick. His head was resting on the back of his hands, which were casually sitting on his knees. She imagined he had here eyes closed. She wondered if he was thinking about they kids they might never get to have. Oh, how sorry she was. She wanted to tell him that. She wanted to tell him how wrong she had been. Whatever stupid fight they had, had it didn't matter right now, it didn't matter ever. The only thing that mattered was now.
Kory leaned into Dick. "I'm sorry." she said her eyes swelling with tears. He looked up at her. "I'm so sorry." her voice cracked. "I-"
Dick embraced her tightly, silencing her words. "Don't be. Don't ever be." he murmured into her hair.
Even in a hostage situation Kory couldn't help but smile. It was such a being in love means never having to say you're sorry moment. She thought those only exsisted in movies. She could feel Raven's rolling eyes burning into the back of her head, but she didn't care. Kory wiped eyes and gently pulled away.
"What the fuck is that!" she jumped at the shooter's sudden voice. Otto was standing at the window, with the curtain pulled back ever so slightly. Suddenly the phone rang. He snatched up the phone off the desk and instantly began screaming into the reciever. "Yeah Reggie I fucking see it. Where are you?....The fourth floor...is anyone with you...good...keep it that way." with that he hung up.
Kory gasped. "There's another shooter in the building." she whispered.
The phone rang again. Otto snatched it up. "You're fucking with me!" he immediately yelled at they assumed to be the hostage negotiator. "You think I don't see that fucking snipe! Tell the FBI that if they keep trying to play me someone is going to get hurt!" he threw the phone against the desk, startling Kory.
He sighed and began to slowly pace in front his hostages. Their eyes followed his every move. He was loosing his grip. This was good, they just needed him to break. In rage he kicked an innocent near by trash can, sending in flying into the wall. Kory jumped upon impact. It actually left a dent in the wall. Raven scowled, she was probably mad that he was damaging her office. He then laid his gun on the desk next to the cell phone, and pulled a pack of cigarettes. He slipped a cigarette between his lips and lit it with a lighter that was in his pocket.
He smoked in silence gazing at something that they didn't really know what. "I can't really say that I'm sorry you all had to involved with this. Especially you." he directed at Raven. "Not really you personally but...Well it's a long story that involves your daddy but, let's just say when I kill you I'll be doing the world a favor." he took a long drag. "One less Roth to worry about." he laughed. "Didn't your mom virtually abandon you? And your father, well there's no real need to explain that. But didn't grandfather flee Germany before the war started?" he shook his head. "Coward. I personally couldn't imagine being brought up with that family. Sucks."
Raven could take a lot of crap from people. It didn't bother her when people talked about her father, in fact she kind of expected it. She didn't even really mind when people said things about her mother, but her grandfather was the only person in her entire family who she felt had never abandoned her. When Otto called him a coward that tore it for her. She took it very, very persoanlly. She muttered under her breath. "Your mom sucks."
Otto slowly looked up from his cigarette. "What did you say?" he demanded. Raven was silent. She didn't at all afraid of him. She looked like she was trying to piss him off. He roughly grabbed her by the arm and yanked her up. For a second Raven was actually taken by surprise. He grabbed her face and forced her to look at him. Her eyes were glaring. "Do you have something to say bitch." he growled. He was seething for a moment. "Do you have cock sucking lips do go with that big mouth."
He then let go of her face, but kept his grip on her arm. He leaned against the desk and unzipped his pants. Raven stared at him disbelievingly before he forced her on her kness. "Go ahead suck it." he told her. "If you bit me I'll shoot your friends and make you watch." she didn't move. "DO IT!" he screamed at her.
For the first time in her entire life Raven felt completely helpless. She couldn't bare to look at Kory and Dick, it was to humiliating. So she did the only thing she could. She parted her lips slightly and began to move toward his exposed member. She grinned as if he'd just taken down Goliath. Her lips moved closer to him, and she carefully watched his arrogant face. At the last minute, however, she landed a hard punch into his stomach. "Oof." he double over. Raven then hit him square in the jaw with an upper cut.
He stumbled over slightly, knocking into the window. She knew those two years of boxing lessons would come in handy one day. Unfortunately for her Otto didn't plan to go down without a fight. Blood oozed out of his mouth from where she made him bite his tongue. His partner Charlie, looked on in shock. She continualy knocked cross punches into his cheek. Otto managed to block enough punches to land a hard jab into Raven's stomach.
She leaned over a bit, and he clasped both hands together and punched her down with the force of his fists. Raven fell onto her stomach, and coughed from the force. She quickly stood up began to repeatedly use a jab motion to knock his head back. She then positioned herself for a hook, but he grabbed her wrist and held it back. Otto used a bolo punch move to her face. Raven took another uppercut to his face, and at the same time swung his leg under her own knocking her off balance.
Raven landed on her back and the her head ricocheted off the floor, blackening her visions for a second. She groaned in pain. Infuriated at her resilance Otto kneeled over her and ripped her shirt open. He wrapped his hands around her neck and tightened his grip. Raven tried to claw his hand to no avail. She made a horrible gasping noise, as the oxygen left her lungs.
"Raven!" Dick was about to jump to her rescue. Charlie swung his gun around and pointed it at Dick. Dick froze.
"Don't even think about it." he warned. Dick watched helplessly as his best friend was being assaulted. Then something unexpected happened. Charlie's face softened. He made several lurching movements as if he were going to intervene. "Al- alright Otto, that's enough." he said.
Otto glared at him. For hesistated then let go of her throat. Raven gasped her air to soothe her starved lungs. Raven took a second to regain her composture before crawling back over to Dick and Kory glaring hatefully at Otto. Yet after all that she still didn't appear to be scared. "Your bleeding." Kory's shocked whisper told her.
Bleeding was an understatment. There was a large bruise on her left cheek bone, the right side of her lip was cut, and there were dark finger shaped bruises all around her throat. Raven wiped the trail of blood from her nose, shakily with the back of her hand. "I'm fine." she said simply.
Kory's heart sped up. She was suddenly feeling very claustrophobic. This could not be happening. She was a good person. This couldn't be happening to her. She stole glances at the door, the uncontrollable urge to get up and run right out of the room. This was so insane and surreal.
"Oh man! Oh man!" Charlie began pacing madly. "What were we thinking? This is crazy." he paced to the door. "I'm turning myself in."
Otto grabbed his shoulder and twisted him around. "No way! You're in too deep. If I go down, you go down. There is no way you are abandoning me now."
"Let go of me." he said ripping his arm away. When he pulled his arm away it swung in an awkward way setting the gun off. There was a loud bang, and a bullet hit the ceiling sending a cloud of dust flying into the room. Kory shrieked, and everyone in the room gave an involuntary duck. There was another loud bang where a shot flew in from the window. It hit the wall right above Kory's head.
Otto jumped up from the ground crawling military style toward the gun. With his back pressed against the desk he grabbed his gun and phone off the desk. The phone rang again. "Yeah...those fucking snipes took a shot. No, don't come up." he hung up and punched in another number jumping off the floor. "You made promises Eugene! No shots would be fired so tell me why the fuck a fucking bullet just came in through the fucking window...No, I'm nit make negotiations anymore! The next bullet is going to be fired into one of these hostages head."
He hung up, and sent the phone flying into the wall breaking it into two pieces. Charlie shoved him in the chest. He was breathing heavy and his eyes were watering with tears. He was loosing his grip. "Why would you say that to them Otto! They have guns! They're going to fucking shoot us."
Otto shoved him back. Charlie began pacing again, tears streaming down his face. "You said we were just going to rob the place! You said no one was going to get hurt." He turned to face the door. "I can't go back to prison. I'm sorry." He positioned the barrel of the gun under his chin. Otto quickly raced toward him.
"No!"
BANG!
Otto stopped in his track, his face splattered in blood. Charlie's dead body lay limp on the floor, a steadt stream of blood flowed from the wound on his face. Kory began to scream bloody murder. Charlie stood horrified, his plan was quickly falling apart.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
Three more shots rang through the office. It shattered small bullet sized holes into the window, and hit the wall. Kory, Dick, and Raven pressed low against floor covering their heads. "What the fuck!" Otto yelled in the midst of the chaos. Without thinking he yanked Koory up by the arm and pulled her towards the window. He pulled back the curtain shaking Kory in front of him. "I will shoot her fucking brains out." he screamed at the sniper across the street."DO IT! I swear to God I'll-"
Before he could finish his promise Dick pummeled him from behind sending all three of them to the ground. Dick reached over Otto's head to try to grab the gun. Otto tightened his grip and twisted his body over so that his body was on top of the butt of the gun. Dick grabbed a handful of his hair yanking his head up and punching his in the face. Otto involuntarily let go of gun, which Dick tried to pull from under him. Otto kept his hold on the gun, and was pull to his feet as Dick pulled up the gun.
Otto held the gun with both hands, and hit Dick in the jaw with the other end of the gun. Kory came from behind him and jumped on his back. He was temporairly stunned. Everything was moving so fast. He backed into the wall and continually pounded Kory against the wall. Dick tackled him from the side, again sending all three of them to the ground. Kory crawled from under Otto, as he and Dick began to both fight for the gun. Otto pushed the gun out of Dick's reach and hopped up to run toward it. Dick grabbed his ankle sending him crashing to the floor. The gun was between them and both Dick and Otto began to struggle for the gun.
BANG!
BANG!
Dick rolled onto his back clutching his abdomen. Red began to seem through his shirt as the blood flowed from the two bullet wounds. Otto took this moment of vulnerability to stand over him like a predator to prey. He positioned the gun to his head. Raven stared back in horror.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
Otto dropped the gun onto floor and stared at the wall aimlessly. He dropped to his knees before falling over unconcious onto the floor. Blood flowed from his unmoving body. Raven and Dick turned to Kory whose was holding Charlie's smoking gun pointed directly to the spot where Otto had been standing. Her eyes were watery and her hands were shaking. She had a look of unbelievable horror, like what-have-I-done.
Raven sat up and crawled over to Dick. She lifted up his shirt and winced at the sight of the bullets lodged into side of his stomach. "Kory, we need to get him help." she told her, pulling Dick into a sitting position. Kory didn't seem to notice.
Raven pressed her finger against Otto's lifeless body. There was a pulse. She kicked the gun out from his reach. "He's alive." she assured Kory knowing what she was thinking. "But we need to get out of here."
Kory stared at her blankly for a second, before nodding. She dropped the gun and ran over to Dick. She put his arm over her shoulder, and Raven did the same on the other side. "One the count of three." Raven told her. "One...Two...three." They hauled Dick up and began to half drag him toward the door. "Wait." Raven said sliding out from under Dick.
She picked up the gun laying near Otto's limp body and opened the clip allowing all the tiny gold colored bullets to fall onto the rug clanging together. She held the gun by the opposite end and began to smash it against her desk until the butt and trigger of the gun broke off from the barrell. She did they same to the gun that Kory used to shoot Otto. She got under Dick again. "Okay, let's go."
Kory and Raven began to look around for shelter. The hallway was dark. Kory sqiunted in the dark. She gasped. "They put locks on the door we can't get to the elevator."
Raven adjusted Dick's weight on her shoulder. "It wouldn't matter they shut off the electricity on this floor. And z besides, there is another shooter walking around, and he could be anywhere."
"They said...fourth floor...'bout hour ago." Dick added his voice sounded winded.
"You no talking." Raven snapped. "But he's right. After the chaos that just happened he'll be up here to investigate probably any minute now, so we need to move as soon as possible."
Dick groaned from the pain. Kory took a deep breath trying not to loose herself. "He needs to get medical assistance right now. If we take the stairs we can try to make it out the front door." she suggested.
"What if we run into the shooter? Besides that we're on the fifteenth floor." Raven reasoned. There was a loud crash coming somewhere from the abyss of darkness beyond the locked double doors.
"It's better than just sitting here." Kory said.
Kory and Raven turned carefully and began to pull Dick toward the doors of the staircase. Kory made sure not to look inside of Raven's office as they passed. It was more than she could handle. She pushed open the creaky doors to the stair case. Raven hopped down the first step and waited for Kory to hop down as well. They moved slow as not to agitate Dick's injuries. It took alot longer than they had expected. The first floor was thirty staircases down and with no electricity the air conditioning was not on. Three hundred and seventy two stairs and an hour and a half later, they were only halfway done.
"I'm beginning...to think... we should have just waited to be rescued." Raven panted. Her hair was damp and wrinkled with sweat, and she had her jacket tied around her waist. She and Kory had long since abadoned their shoes, somewhere on the twelfth floor. Kory's hair was pulled into a messy bun and her cheeks were flushed a deep red. She struggled to hop down the next step.
Dick groaned. "Wait." he hissed, swaying to the side. Kory and Raven gently helped him lean down so he was sitting on the bottom step. The blood was soaking through his shirt.
"We can take a quick break." Raven said leaning against the concrete wall. The grey felt good against her skin. Kory used her over shirt, which she had taken off a half hour ago to wipe the sweat off of her glistening neck. She took this moment to catch her breath.
"We have got to be almost there." Kory said exasperated. "What floor are we on?"
Raven sighed. "I don't know. I lost track after we past the eighth floor." Raven said.
"We past the eighth floor?" Kory asked.
"No...we past...ninth floor." Dick panted.
"Are you sure because the last I remember we were on the tenth floor." Kory said.
"You know what I think Dick's right. We just past the ninth floor, which means we're on the eighth floor." Raven said.
Kory moaned. "We're only on the eighth floor! This is going to take all night to-"
There was a loud crash above their heads. Raven and Kory jumped up and leaned over the side of the railing and looked up. About four stair cases up, they could a dark figure gazing down at them. "Oh shit!" Raven cried quickly pulling Dick up and Kory shortly following her movements.
They could the rapid footsteps shooting down the stairs. Raven moved forward a few feet and yanked open the nearest down. Just then two bullets crashed into the metal door above their head. Kory and Raven shrieked. The shooter was now two cases away, and had appearantly fair aim. Kor pushed the rest of Dick's body into the hallway. Raven nerogated Kory and Dick down the hallway.
What to do, what to do? They were running out of time. Without thinking too much Raven began to try to open the door in the hallway. The first two were locked. By chance the third door was open. Kory and Dick practically fell into the room.
Raven used one arm to push a stack of files off of a heavy filing cabinet. She knocked the cabinet onto it's side with a loud crash. She prayed the shooter didn't hear. She pushed cabinet in front of the door, with much difficulty. Kory laid Dick down in the back of the room hidden behind a desk. Raven could hear footsteps in the hallway. She kneeled down with her back pressed against the cabinet.
Suddenly a light flashed into the tiny window. Everyone was dead silent. Kory clasped hands over her mouth to silence her harsh breathing. The light lingered for second before moving on. They remained stiff until they heard the creaking of the stair doors down the opposite end of the hallway.
As soon as he was gone Kory hopped up, crying hysterically. "Oh my God! Oh my God we're going to die! And I'll killed someone! I'm going to hell."
Raven turned around. Her mind was racing. She didn't what to do. She looked from Dick's profusly sweating and bleeding form to Kory. Her mind was blocked. Dick needed help now. If they waited for an ambulance he was going to bleed to death. She took a deep breath remembering that she was the calm and collected on. After taking a minute to remeditate herself a plan began to boil, but she would need Kory's help.
"Kory-" she said calmy.
Kory wasn't listening. "I'm going to hell! I've killed someone."
"Kory-"
"What have I done!"
Dick laughed the best of his ability, in his delapidated state. "I think...she's going...into hysterics...maybe...you should...slap her."
Raven rolled her eyes. She went over to Kory but didn't slap her. She gently grabbed her shoulders. "Kory, listen to me." she looked her straight in the eyes. "You did what you needed to, to survive. You didn't kill him and even if he had died he did it to himself. I am proud of you." Kory stopped crying. "Now listen. I don't know when or how we're getting out of here but we are all going to survive got it." Kory nodded. Dick's needs our help. I can help him until medical help arrives but I'll need your help. In order for you to help Dick, you need to keep calm, understand?"
Kory nodded, and took a deep breath. "I got it. What do you need me to do?"
"Uh okay let me think." she said trying to keep calm. She had to be the level headed one in this situation. "Look in the drawer and find me tape, two straws, and a bottle of water."
Kory nodded and crawled over to the desk. She pulled out the first three drawers, digging through piles of papers to search unsuccessfully for the items. She yanked out the last drawer locating the tape and two straws. She looked around the office for another place to look. Her eyes landed on the closet in the back. She twisted the door open and began throwing various articles outside the closet.
She handed Raven a first-aid kit. In the back of the closet was an unopened case of water bottles. She pulled one bottle and handed it to Raven. Raven pulled her hair into a messy bun, and rolled up her sleeve. She unbuttoned Dick's shirt to where to bullet wounds were. She stared for a moment, preparing herself for what she had to do next.
"Okay." she took a deep breath. She untied her jacket from her waist and ripped the sleeves off forming a makeshift rag. She opened the medical kit and took out a long pair of tweezers and poured the bottle of alcohol on them dor sterilization. "Put this between you teeth. Kory hold his hand." she told them. They did as they were told. Dick tried to relax his muscles, to lessen the pain. Kory took his hand and placed it between both of hers.
He squeezed his eyes shut. Raven slowly inserted the tweezer into the wound. Dick groaned in pain. She slowly pulled it out. She had more difficulty with the second one. It was lodged in more deeply. She had to forced the tweezers through a bit of tissue to clasp onto it. Dick's breathing hallowed as he tried not to scream in pain. He wished had some whiskey right about now. Raven finally manuvered the bullet out.
Raven wiped away the seeping blood with her discarded jacket. Quickly she gently poked an end of the straws into the openly bleeding wounds. She taped in the straws together in the middle and then to the side of Dick's stomach. She then popped the cap off of the water bottle and stuck it into the water. There was a weird wheezing noise. Dick and Kory looked at her confused. "It's to keep oxygen out and from infecting the wound." she explained.
"Where did you learn that?" Kory asked.
"I saw it on an episode of In Plain Sight." she shrugged and wiped her hands on her jacket. "This is only temporary. We need to find an ambulance. Dick, I know it's hot but don't drink any water. We need to get an ambulance as soon as possible. Is there a cell phone in here?"
Kory leaned her back against the wall next to Dick. "I think I saw one in the top drawer."
Raven twisted her back around and pulled put a semi ancient looking phone out of the top drawer. She pressed her finger against the red phone button, and waited for a response. Nothing happened. "Damn it." she said quietly. "It's not charged."
She stood up suddenly and began to enact her next plan. She picked up a piece of tin foil off of the desk from where someone had abandoned their lunch. She folded it into a neat sqare and placed it next to the cell phone. She opened the closet door and began searching through the pockets of all the coats until she found a lighter. Sitting back down across from Dick and Kory and picked up the tweezers and wiped off the remaining blood. She opened the back of the phone and took out the square battery and placed it on top of the tin foil. Raven then used the tweezers to pull out two red wires inside the phone. She wrapped the wires around the battery and picked up the tin foil. She then switched the lighter on underneath of the tin foil.
"I learned this is physical mechanics class." she said to no one in particular. "I don't know how long it will take, or if it will even work, but if I can just get a little bit of power we can call the police and they can come in here and save us."
After there was nothing to do but wait.
Kory felt a familiar anxiety, but this time she was worried about Dick. He was sweating profusely and had two only partially treated gunshot wounds. There was a shooter trying to kill them, and there was no air conditioning. She couldn't imagine the situation being any worse if a spontaneous earthquake erupted engorging a giant hole in the middle of room, in which they fell in and landed in the center of hell. But then again hell couldn't have been to much hotter than this rooom. Dick tried not to complain to much. There was only so much Kory and Raven could do in their current situation. He groaned. Kory picked a gauze pad from the medical kit and taped it to a wooden skewer. She dipped it in an unopned bottled of water and swirled it around Dick's mouth.
"...thanks..." he said.
"No problem. Are you comfortable." she yawned. She hadn't realized how late it was. She glanced at her watch, which stated it was near midnight. They had been in the building for nearly ten hours.
"...Kory...if you're tired...should...sleep..." Dick sounded more concerned for her.
Kory took his hand. "No way. If you have to stay up I'm going to stay up with you. Are you in a lot of pain?"
"Pain is good...pain means...you're alive." he answered.
Raven sighed and continued to try to charge the cell phone. She was loosing patience. If there were cell phones in prehistoric times, this is the way cavemen would have charged them. She stopped for a moment and rubbed her eye and attempted to stifle a yawn. Kory graciously offered to take over for her, and suggested Raven get some sleep. She, of course, declined. Raven was leaning against the desk. Her head was tilted toward the ceiling. If it were lighter in the room, they would have able to see that she had fallen asleep.
After twenty wasted minutes Kory's hand began to cramp, so she curtly quit trying to charge the phone. She sighed indifferently. "This is ridiculous."
Dick looked at Raven for a long while. "Do...you...think she's...sleeping..."
Kory looked at him. "Why?"
"...want to...tell you something." He shifted his weight slightly to the side. "Kory, I was...so stupid. After we...broke up...I wanted...tried to convince myself...that-that I didn't...need you. But the thing is...I do-need you I mean. Your probably...not going to...like what I'm about to say...but it is to make...a point...so stay with me. I have been...with a lot...of girls...but..." he sighed trying to find the right words. "It's like...whenever I think...of you...I get all breathless...and when I...see you it makes me happy. Even...when we were apart. I've been thinking...and I realized something. When my parents died...I put up walls...and you knocked them down...with a chizel and a...sledge hammer probably. Anyways...you were-are...the only women whose ever really held my heart....and made me remember that I still have one. Kory, I guess...what I'm trying to say is...I love you. I'll always love you...I promise...and twenty years from now you can hold me to that. I-I'm...just glad your here with me."
Kory frowned, her eyes waterd. Why did she have to be such an emotional person. "Don't talk like that. You are going to be just fine."
Before Dick could resppond he began coughing. It started off as a light gasp but quickly transformed into hacking chokes. Blood spilled out of his mouth. Kory hopped up and held the rag to his mouth. The coughing woke up Raven.
"What do we do?" Kory asked panicked.
Raven remained silent. She didn't move. "I don't know." she said half stunned herself. "I don't know."
The coughing lasted all of a minute. Finallly they subsided. Dick leaned his head back to weak to say anything else. Kory took several gulping deep breaths, trying and failing to remain calm. Where were those damned police officers. Shouldn't they have been there by now. Dick couldn't wait any more. They need help right away or he was going to die.
Raven was silent. There was only one way that Dick might be able to get help, but it was pretty risky. She looked at Kory's crying form hovering over and tending to Dick's semi concious body to the door. She took a deep breath. "Raven I need your help-" Kory said distracted.
"Kory," Raven started slowly. "Dick needs help right away."
"Obviously." Kory said slightly urked. This was a very inappropriate time for Raven to loose it, or become hazy from a heat stroke, or whatever the hell was happening to her right now. "I think he's dehydrated, we need to close the wound. I think I saw some needles in the medical kit but I'll need your help to-" she was interupted by loud schreeching.
She turned around to see Raven moving the filing cabinet. "What the hell are you doing!" she said grabbing her by the shoulder.
"I need to get downstairs and outside to get help." she explained rather calmly.
"Are you insane! Did you bump your little head? Are you suffering from heat dimentia? There is a shooter out there, you're not going anywhere." Kory tried to reason with her.
Raven ignored her. "I have to go get help. We can't wait around for someone to save us anymore. I know there's a shooter out there, and I'll be really careful."
"Raven-"
"If I don't go Dick is going to die." Raven finalized.
That shut Kory up. She didn't feel comfortable splitting up the group, and it certaintly wouldn't help her psycologically to have to worry about Raven being gunned down. Raven was right, Dick could no longer be delayed professioanly medical attention. When Raven was finished clearing the door way of the filing cabinet she stared at the door reluctantly trying to will herself out. "Okay, when I'm out move the cabinet back in front of the door. If for any reason I can't make downstairs and have to come back up here I'll knock three times to let you know it's me."
She took several deep breath, but still couldn't find the strength to leave. "At least let me go." Kory offered.
Raven was silent as if she were actually considering the offer. "No, you should stay here with Dick. Don't worry about me, I'll be find."
As soon as Raven was gone, Kory did as she was instructed and moved the cabinet. Her eyes began wincing with sleepiness. She plopped back down next to Dick, and rested her head against his immobile shoulder. She felt the gentle movement of his breathing body before she drifted off to sleep.
Kory was asleep for about an hour. She felt dizzy when she woke up and even in the abyss of darkness her vision was doubled. She rubbed the sleepiness out of her eyes. It took her a second to remember where she was and the recent events of the night. She crawled over the case of water and gulped down half the bottle. "Are you dehydrated?" her dried voice asked Dick.
He was in the exact position as he was when she had fallen asleep. His head was still tilted back and his mouth slightly open. "Dick?" he said nothing. Kory thumped down in front of him panic rising in her chest. "Dick?" she began to shake him.
"Huh." he made a weird mumbling sound indicating he could hear her.
"No, don't go to sleep! You have to stay awake." she said fruitlessly trying to keep him awake. His head thumped against the wall. Kory ripped open his shirt and felt around his chest for a pulse, it was racing. She leaned against him and began to cry. "No, I can't loose you."
Before she give into despair, she heard the loud clumping of footsteps coming down the hallway. Fear gripped her, and she shrunk into the shadows like a frightened prey. She could see bright lights shining into the room. This was torture. She was almost ready to open the door and let death run through her.
"This is the NYPD. Is anyone in here." a booming unfamiliar voice echoed in the hallway.
Kory's head picked up. Without another thought she began screaming. "In here! We're in here!" she ran to the door and with super human strength picked up the filing cabinet and flung it to the side. Several police officers in thick bullet proof vests were surrounding them in a minute. One officer bent down to Dick and checked his pulse. He picked up a walkie talkie resting on his shoulder.
"This is Officer Daniel Walter, and we have victim of severe lacerations and ballistic trauma, requesting a stretcher to the eighth floor ASAP."
One female officer tried to nudged Kory out of the room. "C'mon you don't need to be here."
Kory however resisted. "No, I have to stay with him."
The next few moments were so quick and dream like, in the future Kory would be unable to recall them. She remembered the ambulance arriving and loading Dick up in what seemed like no time at all. She remembered the huge crowd outside watching from behind the yellow police tape, the flash of photographers and reporters shoving microphones in her face. It was all so hazy but she couldn't remember if she had made a statement or not. The ride to the hospital was surreal.
Codes were being called and attendents were rapidly moving about pulling out the materials they would need until they arrived at the emergency room. As soon as they were at the hospital Dick was wheeled away and out of her sight. She waited for him in the hallway and declined any offer made to check her out. She blow it off as "a few bruises". Raven met up with her, and as uncharacteristic as it was embraced Kory into a soothing hug. Kory hadn't realized she had been shaking until then.
It was early in the morning when the doctors were finished and Dick was out of surgery. It wasn't until the tired doctor in the boody blue scrubs told her that Dick was fine and expected to make a full recovery that Kory could breath again and time began to move a normal pace. Kory was allowed to see him. Tears formed in her eyes when she saw that he was sleeping.
Sleeping.
It brought tears to her eyes because it meant that Dick would be okay. It meant his body was cooperating with treatment. It meant that he would able to get tired again.
And mostly it meant that they were both alive.
Kory had fallen asleep in a chair right next to Dick's bed, holding his hand. She woke in the early afternoon and a blanket had mysteriously found its wat over her shoulders. She stretched her arms and back here unusually tense. She was surprised to see that Dick was awake and looking well. As well as a person who just got shot twice could look.
"Hey." he said meekly. His voice was still rather dry. There was a silence. "I guess I'm Fifty-Cent."
"Huh?" Kory asked. SHe was too tired to for this right now.
"I got shot and lived, that makes me Fifty-Cent. Now If I had died I'd be Tupac."
She scoffed and tried to hide a giggle. "You just got shot and you're making jokes?" she asked amazed.
He shrugged. "I guess I'm just that kind of person." There was another silence. Neither of them could find the right words to say after what had just happened. Dick tried comic relief but that was very temporary. "So," he tried again. "Bruce got on a plane from Tokyo as soon as he hear. He should be arriving any-"
"Marry me." Kory blurted out.
"W-what!" Dick said slightly horrified.
"Marry me." she repeated. "Dick I love you and I don't want to waste any more time. Last night...being in a hostage situation made me realize that tomorrow is not a gurantee. I almost lost you and I couldn't bare life without you. All the bad stuff that happened...forget them. They don't exist anymore. I don't want to end up being filled with all this refret wondering everyday of my life what could have been. I don't want to wonder, I want to know."
Dick looked at her blankly. He was hoping this was a drug induced hallucinations from whatever he was being hyped up on from whatever was hanging in that IV drip. No such dice. He watched her hopeful eyes waiting for a response. "Kory," he said as gently as possible. "I can't. I'm sorry." her face fell. He leaned his head back so that he was staring at the ceiling. "I just need more time."
Raven had spent three hours at the hospital being fussed over by nosy nursing, after insisting several times that she was fine. She was then whicked away to the police precint to give a thirty-three page detailed report of everything that had happened. It wasn't until after six in the morning that had been able to call Garfield (from a pay phone) and tell him that she was okay. He agreed to meet her at a cafe. There was something she needed to ask him.
He was sitting at a table alone. His clothes were wrinkled, his eyes bloodshoot, and oh hey look he even brought five o'clock shadow with him, indicating he hadn't gotten much sleep that night. He jumped up when he saw Raven. "Oh my God, Rae!" he said pulling her into a hug. She silently accepted it, but remained stiff in his arms. She was still in shock and world weary. She made a mental note to make an emergency appointment with Dr. Allie. She sat down across from Garfield and silently listened to him ramble on about watching the news and worrying like crazy. Raven drifted in and out of the conversation but nodded at the appropriate moments. She would make it a point to call her mother as soon as she walked through the door, as she had probably called ten thousand times, and depending on how slow news traveled from New York to California had concluded that she were dead otherwise she would have called back by now.
Garfield made a big deal about the bruises on her neck, and promises she knew he wouldn't keep. She wished he wouldn't she had been fussed over and coddled enough at the hospital. She stared into her cup of tea, completely exhausted. She couldn't wait to go home and sleep for ten years. Garfield's cell phone rang. He glanced at it and sucked his teeth. "It's Terra. She want to know where I am, but I can stay awhile longer if you need to talk or something."
She looked at him amazed. "Garfield I could have died. I almost died. And yet...you still don't want me, do you?" it was more of a statement than it was a question. "Gar, when I was trapped in that room I did a lot of thinking about my life. Don't think we're okay just because I'm here.I have come to the conclusion that there will always be a part of me that is in love with Malcolm, just like I'm sure there is a part of me that is in love with Terra. But the difference is I'm not with Malcolm. I'm here with you, but your not really with me. If you really wanted me you'd be with me, you'd realize that I might not be here tomorrow. The entire time I was trapped in that room I kept wondering would you be more upset if it were me in there or Terra...and I think I have my answer."
He shook his head. "Rae, what are you saying? What is this?" he frowned.
Raven sighed and stood up, and turned so her back was facing him. "This is me breaking up you. For good this time."
She left without another word. She didn't even look at him one last time. There was nothing really sure about her life, she realized, which hadn't been proven time and time again. All that complusive planning and she still found herself stuck at fork in the roads. There was one thing she was sure of though: when she broke up with a guy she really went out with a bang.
This is by far the longest chapter I have ever written. I wrote a lot of it while I was at work, stayed up very late into the night, and have a permanent wrist cramp so therefore I think I deserve at least 4 or 5 reviews. I realized that I've been so focused on this story I haven't written anything new in 2 years, so I will take a very quick break to write Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which if all goes according to plan will be three chapters and take me like a week to complete.