Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans

-"I tried to do handstands for you, but everytime I fell for you.
I'm permanately black and blue, permanately blue for you." Bruises, Chairlift, 2008-

Five weeks had past and the terror had subsided and the media attention finally began to dwindle. Dick was forced to stay in the hospital for two weeks straight and then another three weeks on bed rest. Kory stayed by his side the entire time, and took full credit for nursing him back to health. Raven handled the buiness side of things, and Wayne Enterprises was able to reopen it's doors one week after the incident. Raven was given a complimentary new office, and her old office was made into a utility closet. It was a windy day in early November when Dick finally got the okay to return to work. He was eternally grateful because if he had to sit through one more talk show or any other form of daytime television he was going shoot himself.

Kory never once brought up the subject of marriage after that night, but there was an inexplicable coldness about her. She didn't want to derail Dick's attention on getting better, but it really bothered her that he had said no. After everything that they'd had been able to overcome, even certain death, he still didn't want her. She knew without a doubt in her mind that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, why didn't he want the same thing?

Despite all that Kory dolled herself up and came to work early to surprise him. She joined Raven in her newly furnished office. "Did they have to give me the brightest office in building?" she immediately began to complain. Raven had been moody and irratable lately, probably due to having to take over the work load. Kory sat across from her and looked around.

"I kind of like it." she said non chalantly. Raven rolled her eyes. Kory put a brown paper bag on her desk. "You want a bagel, they gave me two by mistake."

"No, thanks I had a grapefruit for breakfast."

Raven had been very irritable lately. She refused to give Dick the satisfaction that she may not have been able to handle the intense work load. Speak of the devil, a very pleasant looking Dick casually strolled into Raven's new office. "Wow this room is really bright." Kory jumped up to give him a welcome back hug, but he quickly declined. "Nobody touch me. I'm sterile." he handed Kory a flyer that had been floating around the office since last week advising workers to get their flu shots. "Sorry Kor, but I got the flu last year and I vowed never again."

Raven sneezed. Dick pulled out a bottle of hand sanitizer and squeezed it into his palms. "Ew." she rolled her eyes.

"Dick, when you took a shower this morning did Old Spice shoot out of the shower heads?" she said rather bitingly.

He looked slightly offended. "I did not put on that much. Kory do I have too much cologne on?"

Kory shrugged indifferently and turned towards Dick. "How are you-"

He interupted her. "Please, don't ask. If one more person asks how I'm doing I think I'm going to claw out my own eyeballs. I wasn't the only one in that room. How are you guys? Raven, how are you holding up? I haven't seen to much of you lately. "

She picked her coffe mug off of her desk. "That's because I've been doing all of your work for the past five weeks. Oh, and that reminds me." she handed him a large stack of papers and files. "Welcome back."

He rolled his eyes, and began to scan through it. "Kory do you want to-"

"No." she answered curtly.

He sighed slightly annoyed. Maybe watching daytime television wasn't that bad. "Never mind, I can get this done by the end of the week. It looks like I have a lot of catching up to do. But before that Raven," he said directing himself to her. "I heard from a very reliable source that you Gar called it quits."

"Is that so?" she said half glaring at Kory who turned away innocently. "And just who is this reliable source?"

"The grapevine."

Raven was about to answer him with a snarky retort, but was stopped when low and behold Garfield was standing outside of her office canoddling with Terra. Shit. She had forgotten that his office was on the floor. After the break up Raven did what she always did to distract herself, work. Garfield on the other hand didn't seem that torn up about it at all. She had heard from various co working sources that in fact he had actually used the time to get closer to Terra. This, for no explainable reason, annoyed Raven. But she was over it. Or at least that's what she told herself everyday. She held her coffee mug up to her face, but didn't take a sip. She watched with half mast eyes as Garfield stood a ways from her office kissing Terra on the lips. It made her sick to see them. It made her absolutely sick.

Suddenly Raven leaned over, and grabbing the waste basket vomitted violently. She sat back up coughing slightly. They really did make her sick. "I'm sorry you had to see that." she told Dick and Kory who looked grossed out and horrified.

Dick stood up and his chair pushed back. "I knew it! I knew you have the flu!"

She rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me your going to get caught up in this season's mass hysteria. I've just been working too hard. I'll take a vitamin and double up on my fluid intake."

"Oh no, you won't. You'll go home right this minute, and won't return if you have so much as a tinkle in your throat."

Kory laughed. She couldn't help it. Dick was recovering from a gun shot wound, had forty pounds of work to catch up on, and there he was freaking out over what was probably a slight cold and too much work. Kory offered to take some charts off of Raven's hands, which she graciously accepted. Usually she wouldn't but there was way too much for her to do by herself and have finished by tomorrow afternoon. Raven leaned her head back and sighed.

Dick picked up his stack, and left for his office. "I should get started on this." he said hanging in the doorway. "Oh and Raven, I need you to review these reports for the interns. When will you have the decision on which intern will get to be my personal assistance?"

Dick had waiting for this for months. No more having to keep track of things himself. No more fetching his own coffee, setting reminders on his palm pilot, or making his own flight reservations. He'd have some post graduate doing the work for him, for little more than minimum wage. Raven took a sip of her coffee and scowled.

"Hopefully by tonight." she said dumping it into the waste basket.

Kory watched the spot where Dick had been for a long while after he had alreadly left. She sighed deeply. Raven glanced up at her from her computer. "I'm debating whether or not to ask what the hell is wrong with you."

Kory sighed tragically. "Nothing." even she didn't believe it.

Raven shrugged and continued typing. This was one of those times when not knowing or asking was just plain better. Kory sighed again trying get her attention. "Oh nothing." she said. "I just you know the usual. I have to do the reports on the resturant, and I've been seeing my therapist a lot more lately, I asked Dick to marry me and he said no, I think it's going to rain today-"

Raven almost choked on air. "What!"

"It's going to rain today?" Kory offered.

"No, before that."

"I've been seeing my therapist more often?"

"After that."

Kory was silent for a moment. "It's going to rain today?"

Now she was just being silly. Raven scoffed and shook her head. "You asked Dick to marry you! When? Where? How? Why? What?"

Kory began to twiddle her fingers. What would be the best way to explain this. "Well," she started slowly. "The- the night of the shooting I- I don't know what came over me. Maybe it was the heat of the moment, but there was a moment when all my thoughts about the future proved me wrong. I realized that you can't plan life, because is unex-"

"Yeah, yeah stitch it on a pillow sister, I want dirt." Raven cut in.

Kory rolled her eyes. "Anyways when we were at the hospital and I don't know it kind of slipped I guess."

Raven looked at her amazed. "Slipped? Kory, slips are confessing pet peeves when you're drunk. Were you drunk? I don't think so." she sighed. "Kory, I've known Dick for a very long time, so I know what I'm saying when I say it isn't easy for him to commit. You're probably not going to like what I'm about to say but, he used to be a notorious womanizer. Hearts broken before their heads hit the pillow. So, it's a huge step for him to stay monogomous to you. He obviously cares about you a great deal. You've come this far. Marriage might be pushing it. If I were in your position, and at this point I'm very glad I'm not, I wouldn't push the marriage issue too much. Listen leave it alone, and hopefully this problem will solve itself."

Kory was silent for a minute. "Yeah," she said rather sadly. "I guess you're right. I hope I didn't freak him out too much. We haven't actually brought it up since it happened, and I would tell him to forget I ever said anything but I suppose that would be counterproductive. In the mean time how can I move the attention away from this little...episode?"

"Well," Raven started. "When I have- had man troubles I found sex to be a very effective method of going on the defense. Or offense, it doesn't matter."

Kory suddenly snapped her fingers and leaned forward. "I've got it! I'll sneak into his apartment before he gets home tonight, and when he gets there I'll already be waiting for him. Naked."

That's not really what Raven had, had in mind. "Kory that's not what I-"

"Thanks Raven you're a genious. Raven just shook her head as she watched Kory gallop off. She sighed. "That girl doesn't listen to me." she said to herself.

But then again it wouldn't be the first time.

"Raven?" Dick asked reentering her office much later in the day. The office officially closed two hours ago, but only the truly dedicated namely himself and Raven stayed later to get work done. He wasn't surprised to see the light emitting from the door as came down the hallway. He was surprised to see Raven with her head on her desk, asleep. He gently nudged her on the table. She was startled awake.

She took a moment to collect herself. "I fell asleep?"

"Uh, I'm sorry for waking you. I just wanted to know if you finished going over the intern portfolios." he said somewhat confused.

Raven looked at her watch and almost screamed. "Shit!" she said jumping up and wildly grabbing her jacket which was on the back of her chair. "I can't believe I fell asleep. The Stevens biography is due tomorrow. I have to go over those portfolios and- and-" she suddenly leaned over and wretched into the wastebasket.

Dick watched her as she fell into her chair, trying to catch her breath. "Raven, slow down you're making yourself sick. It's flu season you need to take care of yourself. Here let me take some of those portfolios."

"No." she said picking up a W.B Mason box full of heavy white portfolios, scooping up an armful of manilla envelopes, topping the large workload with a book on New York investors. "I'm their mentor. Dealing with the interns is my responsibility, and I'll deal with it. Besides you have enough on your plate as it is. Plus I'm not going to get the flu. Good night."

"Bye." he called after her.

Raven hastily wrapped a scarf around her neck, and tried to balance the pile as she moved down the empty hallway. It was a startlingly chilly November night. The garage was frigid and bitter. Raven was forced to walk to the far end towards her car. She dropped the box as she attempted to pull the keys out of her coat pocket. She popped the trunk, and dumped the box in her trunk. She got in the car and pulled out of the garage.

"Shit." she cursed at a red light. She forgot she recently ran out of sleeping pills. She thought about just picking up the prescription tomorrow, she had to stay up late working anyways. No. Begrudgingly she turned around at the next turn. Luckily for her, her presciptions were filled at a twenty-four hour pharmacy. It was late, she noted as she found a parking space. It was actually only shortly after ten, but she'd been working so hard lately. She yawned and slammed the car door shut. She slid through the vacant isles of the drug store to the back of the pharmacy. There was a little old lady filling a presciption. She got in back of her and waited impatiently. She glanced at her watch and tapped her foot more times than necessary.

Finally it was her turn. "Raven Roth." she said handing her the note. The pharmacist was an older woman, with dark blond hair almost mustard brown.

The the woman, nodded and went into the back. Raven waited until she returned. The woman silently handed her the full orange bottle. Raven paid for it an cash, and turned around to leave. She had gotten about half a foot before she realized there was a mistake. Good thing she made sure to the pills were right before leaving. One time they had accidentally given her someone's pain killers. What a trip that was. She returned to the counter, slightly annoyed.

"This isn't right." she told the pharmacist handing her the bottle. "I need Ambien, these are prenatal vitamins."

The woman looked at her oddly. "Yes." she said simply. Raven noted that she had somewhat of a gypsy look to her.

She looked at her blankly for a moment, trying to control her temper. "So that's not right. I want the sleeping aids."

"No, no you can't haf sleeping aids." her Hungarian accent told her.

Another blank look. She didn't have time for this. Raven was contemplating getting the manager. Anything to speed up this little process. "Why not?"

"You can not take sleeping aids, when you are pregnant."

Raven almost laughed. Almost. That's what this little misunderstanding was about. "Look," she said leaning into the counter. "I'm not pregnant. I don't know why you think I am, but...Anyways now that we've- cleared that up can I just get the right pills and be on my way."

The woman gave her another strange look. "You are not pregnant? But you haf the glow. Are you sure?"

"I'm positive."

The women took Raven's wrist and felt around as if feeling her pulse. She seemed to find something interesting and held her finger there. Apart from the few "um hum" sounds that she made. She was pretty much silent. Raven wanted to ask her what the hell she was doing. This was really getting ridiculous. There was no way she could be pregnant, and felt stupid for letting a complete stranger almost convince her otherwise. The throwing up, the fatigue, the back aches they were all because she was developing the flu. Besides her period wasn't late or missing. Or was it? It was late she couldn't think right now. Panick began to rise in her chest.

Or maybe it was just the flu.

Kory had been laying naked in Dick's bed for over an hour. He wasn't late coming home or anything, he just wasn't there. At the office no doubt. Working too much already. If all went according to plan it would be the first time that they made love since getting back together. It had been an excrutiating five months. His silk sheets felt rather cold against her skin. It was practically winter, he needed new bedding. She kept her mind on the objective: seducing Dick.

In all honesty she couldn't wait to make love to him. Oh, silly girl! How stupid she had been. Marriage. The mere idea was laughable now. What was marriage besides a joint bank account and a certificate? They were practically married already. Sure they didn't live together, and her last name wasn't Grayson, and they weren't recognized as a couple under a Christian (or any other) god or the state of New York. So what? She should just count her blessings that she didn't end up like Garfield and Raven. She sympathized with Raven. She made a mental note to ride Gar about that later.

No. She didn't need to marry Dick. They shared their hearts and souls. They knew all of each others deepest darkest secrets. There was nothing between them anymore. Right? Of course there wasn't. So why did she even bring up the subject of marriage? A brief lapse of judgement perhaps? Temporary insanity maybe? Just plain stupidity. What did she expect from marriage? A suburban mom and dad life. They'd live in a large penthouse and raise a few kids. They'd live a fairytale life. A doll house life like she had imagined when she was a little girl. She never had a dollhouse.

He would love and chesire her now and here after. She loved him and loved her and that was enough. Right?

No.

It wasn't. Tangled in the silk sheets of Dick's king sized bed Kory had an epiphany. It wasn't enough. Love wasn't always enough, certainly not this far in their relationship. There were so many things she wanted in life, that they had never discussed. She wanted lots of kids. Did he? She wasn't sure. Her mind raced back to the conversation that they had certainly had. They must have. She began to wonder, if Dick wanted kids. Would he even make a good father.

God she felt so stupid. Here she was trying to please him, again. Here she was apologizing to him, again. And for what? Being honest with him? Wanting to be with him for the rest of her life? Sorry I've been bugging you with my annoying and obsessive habit of loving you unconditionally. It was at that moment that Kory realized she was always the one trying to make the progress in the relationship. He was perfectly content with the relationship that they had now, and didn't seem to care if she was. Maybe she wanted to move on. Maybe she wanted other things. Did he care? She doubted it. She tip toed around his feeling afraid that everytime she wanted to further the relationship he would push her further away. If Dick really wanted her he was going to have to prove it. He was going to have to try a lot harder.

Kory silently slid off of his bed, and pulled on the rest of her clothes. She left Dick's apartment without another word, with no real intentions of coming back soon.

Next time he had to show up at her place naked.

Kory was right it had rained.

Raven had decided to humor the pharmacist and buy a pregnancy test. It was going to come back negative. It was. She was sure. She drove in part of daze, her mind kept wondering back to what she would do if she were pregnant. She couldn't be someone's mother. She promised herself when she was twelve years old that she would never have kids. Her mother always told her that once she was older she would change her mind. Nope. Here she was more than fourteen years later, and she felt more strongly about it than ever. But what was she worrying about. She was not pregnant.

She quickly forgot about all the work she had to do tonight, leaving her box of work in her car trunk. She almost ran back to her apartment and into the bathroom to take the test. She had to wait four minutes for a result. She didn't remember too much about it, except that it was the longest four minutes of her entire life. So long, in fact, that she had to leave the room. She couldn't bare to wait in the bathroom. She decided to leave the room, and maybe...she didn't know boil a pot of tea or read a magazine. Do something, anything, to proccupy her mind. And then the test would be there waiting for her with an answer. She actually could go into the bathroom and read the test right now.

Actually she could have read it an hour ago.

She didn't know what was holding her back. Fear maybe. Fear that it was positive. Fear that she'd have to become someone's mother. No, that wouldn't happen because she was not pregnant. She was overworked and stressed out. It could happen. It could. There was just no way she could be having a baby. She had a life, a complicated life and responsibilities. None of which involved caring for a child. Her child with Gar. Oh no. She hadn't thought about Garfield and how much he complicated the situation. Would he be happy that she was having his baby? She shook away the thought. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Take it one step at a time. The first step was getting into the bathroom.

Raven had been sitting on the window sill, huddled under a large black sweater and watching the rain against the window. She willed herself to move, put she couldn't actually bring herself to do it. Her heart was pounding in her chest. She cleared her throat and rubbed it, in attempts to calm herself. She took a deep breath before moving off of the window sill. She slowly, ever so slowly, moved back into the bathroom. She froze in the doorway. There it was the little white stick that held the answer to her future. What was she afraid of now. This was silly. She convinced herself. She was being silly. Raven took the rip-the-band aid- off route and before she could punk out of it marched over to the test and picked it up. She closed her eyes tight, and took a deep breath before reopening them.

Oh.
My.
God.

Raven didn't scream. She didn't hyperventilate. She didn't even curse. She just stared silently. She wildly grabbed the instructions that were sitting on the counter. She held them up to her eyes, and compared the instructions to the test. Positive meant she was pregnant. The test was undeniable positive. She was pregnant.

Her legs could no longer support her. She pretty much fell into her bedroom sitting on the edge of her bed, her eyes never left the test. She just stared. No thoughts passed her mind just that she was pregnant. An hour and a half passed and she finally let the test fell onto the carpeted ground. She ran back into a bathroom and pulled open another test. This time she waited in the bathroom. She paced and tapped her foot very impatiently. Another four minutes passed, another positive. No! This couldn't be true. She couldn't even remember the last time she had sex.

Raven dashed into the kitchen and grabbed her pocketbook off of the kitchen island. She fell onto her knees and madly dumped all of the contents of her purse onto the floor. Loose change, packets of splenda, and a tampon rolled out. She found what she was looking for. She picked up her day planner and quickly began to flip through the pages until she landed on the calender for October. She always marked the start of her period with a sharpie. October was empty. She flipped back to September and there it was right before her birthday. She flipped back to October. The second had been the day of the shooting, and that was five weeks ago. She gasped. She did have sex that morning. But they had used protection. Didn't they? She picked up her pack of morning after pills. Traitor. In a moment of anger she threw them against the wall. She realized that in the course of events that took place that night she had forgotten to take them the next morning.

She stood up and ran her finger through her hair. She was really panicking now. What was she going to do? All her plans would be destroyed. She'd have to leave Wayne Enterprises and she could forget about her law firm. She would have to raise it. Who was she kidding, she didn't even have enough time go through a few portfolios let alone raise a child. She couldn't afford to have a baby. Could she? She couldn't think. She needed to talk to someone.

Raven picked up the phone and was half way through her mother's number, before she decided against it and hung up. Kory wouldn't understand. Dick definately wouldn't understand. That left Gar. Gar. She almost forgot about him. She wouldn't have to raise it alone. Gar would help her. Or whatever she decided to do with it. But how? His life was complicated. He was married (to a stripper). They didn't even speak anymore, and a baby would make things even more complicated. Her head hurt. She had to tell him now, if she didn't she would go insane. It was past midnight. Terra was was "working" right now, it was the perfect oppurtunity to talk to him alone.

She grabbed her coat and ran out the door. There was no time to waste. She hopped in her car, and drove straight to Gar's place in Midtown. She parked in a space that had a sign that read: no parking after ten, but this was an emergency. She fell out of her car and fast paced to his apartment. Daniel, the doorman who recognized her by face and name, greeted her pleasantly. She mumbled in response. After what felt like forever she arrived at his door. Her heart was still thumping. Adrenaline pumped through her.

Garfield appeared at the door. He looked confused. "Raven...what?" he mumbled half asleep.

Suddenly she couldn't remember why she came here. She never thought about what she would say to him. She stared at him for a moment. "C- can I come in?" her voice was trembling and her hands were shaking. "It's important."

He stared at her blankly and pushed open the door. "Sure." he rubbed his eyes trying to wake himself up.

She stepped inside. It was a lot cleaner than usual. Terra she expected. She moved into the living room. She was brought back to her first ballet performance and couple months shy of her fourth brithday. Even then she hadn't been this nervous. She clasped her left hand in her right in attempts to lessen the shaking. "Is Terra here?" she asked innocently. She really needed to do this in private.

"No, she's out." he said slightly irratable. He rubbed the back of his head. "Raven, what's all this about? You said it was an emergency."

She cleared her throat and opened her mouth to speak. Words refused to come out. She could hear her breath shaking inside her throat. She stepped forward. "Gar, I've- I've been thinking. You know about us. And well- maybe, maybe we ended things too quickly. It all happened so fast, I- I was confused and I wasn't thinking. We can-"

Garfield scoffed. "Really? C'mon Raven. I finally started to figure things out. Things aren't complicated anymore and now you want to work things out."

She sighed. "Gar." she couldn't come right out and say it. "Please give me a second chance. We-we can work this out. We can. We can make it work. I'll do anything, I promise I won't be complicated anymore." she grabbed his hand. "Please." it came out as a whisper.

He yanked his hand away. "God Raven!" he turned around, and then back to face her. "What! What do you want! What do you want me to say?!"

She came over to him and stared into his eyes, her small hands on his shoulders. "Tell me you love me." her voice was so unlike her own. So desperate and scared.

"Rae." his voice was decided and definate. She looked into his eyes pleading. She leaned in to kiss him, but he pulled away. "Rae." she tried again, but no go. He grabbed her wrist with such force that she gasped. For a moment she was scared of him.

"You're hurting me." she said in a scared breathless whisper.

"This has to stop. It's over." he said harshly letting go of her wrist, pushing her back slightly. She was silent. Her heart literally hurt. They stood in silence. There was nothing between them anymore. It really was over. A week ago she could have accepted that and taken her dignity and self respect. Things were different now. She couldn't look at him.

"I'm pregnant." she told him quietly.

His head snapped up, but she didn't look at him. She watched her in shock. For countless heartbeats no one said anything. "I-" he started slowly. "I think you should leave."

This time her head snapped up. She couldn't believe it. Any of it. She couldn't belive that she was having his baby. She couldn't believe that he was rejecting her and it. Their child. She couldn't believe she had ever been in love with him. Most of all she couldn't believe that at this moment, no matter how much she wanted to, she didn't hate him. She loved him. She looked at him the sadness in her eyes, and didn't move for a moment. Finally she slid silently out the door.

She was, once again, alone.

Hey two updates in one week, I haven't done that is awhile. All the reviews really made my summer so thank you all for that. I wrote basically this whole chapter in one night, but don't expect it too often because I have 10-16 pages of notes to complete, a ten page essay, and I have to study for driver's permit. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind is taking longer than I expected to write so I'll try to get that plus at least one more chapter of South Pole up before I have to go back to school. I warn you the next chapter of two will be more Raven centric than Kory and Dick.