Volte-Face

Ah, this is a few days early, but that's okay.

Thank you...
ferretgirl-1124
DiamondOasis
Xment2bursX
Aime Atem Itsumo- Did you get a PM...?
NemesisMuse
Sockhunter
Sugar-Hype-Queen
xxxpheonix-girlxxx- Thank you for the dedication, and the motivation to actually sit down and write something. For the Papers got me back into the SpAqua mood and spurred me into writing this—I usually don't update before a deadline—after days of procrastination. "¿Puede hacer usted que y la caminata, por favor!?" (The day we directly communicate is the day the world blows up, eh?)

This chapter is (sigh) pretty much dialogue, although I promise the next one will be better. (Ohh, yes, chapter six will be interesting...) I just want to sit and write Garth-Roy smut and insanity, for goodness sakes!

One more note before we begin: If you check my profile once in a while, it'll tell you when the next update is coming and may also have a bit of the chapter as a teaser. Right now, my "Edit Profile" option isn't working, but I think it's just a bug in the system... check it in a day or so, and I bet it'll be fixed.

Onward, ho!

"Is it progress if a cannibal uses knife and fork?"
—Stanislaw J. Lec

If it were possible to slam a hydraulic door, Karen was sure Garth had invented a way. She heard him storming up through the bedroom wing of the Tower, going through each section as loudly as possible. She was already out of the shower and robed when he got there—the thunderous "BEE!" from a few feet down the hallway alerted that Aqualad had finally reached his destination.

She opened the door for him but moved out of the frame at once in fear of being trampled. As expected, Garth barely slowed in his fury; he swept through the door and reached the back of her bedroom before finally stopping to face her.

"Something's bothering you," she surmised, trying to hide her amusement. Whenever either of the older boys got angry, she thought it was funny, mostly because they were always mad at the other hothead in the Tower. Sometimes, their bickering turned into such a ridiculous argument that she could swear they were an old couple.

"It's Speedy," Garth growled, forcing Bee to bite back a laugh.

"He came by a while ago and said he was leaving for the West Tower," she said evenly, sinking into a chaise at the side of the room. "Do you know why? He didn't specif—"

"He's dating Raven!" Aqualad exploded, fists clenching at his sides. "He went to see her!"

That broke the camel's back. Karen let out a tiny chuckle and then slipped into a fit of giggles, howling with laughter at one point. "That's the most idiotic thing…!" she panted, waving a hand in front of her face to dismiss the idea. "Where did you even—"

"Don't laugh!" He gritted his teeth, tapping his foot in an obvious show of impatience until she stopped a few minutes later. "I mean it, don't laugh. I think it's a serious relationship!"

She wiped a humored tear from her eye, shaking her head. "Speedy doesn't even relate to Raven, much less like her! And there's no way in hell those two would date!"

Garth exhaled sharply, angrily. "But they are!" he insisted. "Whenever Speedy goes out, where does he go?"

Bee shrugged. "I have no idea, a lot of the time. He's nearly an adult—"

"But where do you think he goes?"

Again, she shrugged, a straggling laugh making her pause. "He hasn't had an excursion in a while… I think he went to visit Raven last night, though, right?"

A triumphant sneer twisted up Garth's lips. "Exactly," he hissed, pacing a few feet to the right. "To our knowledge, he went to see her once, but what if all those other times he was gone were dates?"

Karen quirked a brow, adjusting the neckline of the robe. "I agree with the date theory, but I doubt any of his dates were Raven. Some pretty blond girl he picked up at a bar, sure; but not Raven. Honestly, Aqua, I don't know why it would matter anyway, especially to you."

"Raven's my friend," he tried. "And so is Speedy. If they get together—"

"You should be happy for them." Karen sighed, standing, playing with a stray piece of hair. "But that's so unlikely, them getting together. Even if they are dating, it's not as if they're stupid. They know the risks with the media, with the fans, the criminals…" She looked at him, smiling. "Maybe they're already being secretive about it. Maybe they don't even want us to know about it, because they think the news will spread from Titan to Honorary Titan to police officer to the general public to a felon. I'm sure—"

"What if," Aqualad interjected, slow but confident, "I told you that Raven was pregnant?"

His leader's eyes narrowed dangerously, lips instantly slipping into a frown. "That's a brazen claim to make," she answered. "Unless you have some justification, I'd appreciate you keeping—"

"No—Bee, I do have proof!"

"Did either of them directly tell you?" she asked, folding her arms across her chest.

"Well, no, but—"

"Did you see a pregnancy test?"

Garth sighed. "No."

"What sort of proof, then, can you possibly have?" Karen rolled her eyes, wandering to her closet. "Really, Aqua," she reprimanded as she rifled through clothes, "I thought you were a tiny bit more logical than that."

"I am being logical! Will you just listen to me? Raven called Speedy this morning—I was there, don't give me that look!—and when they were talking, he got all pale and started sweating. He was in panic-mode, Bee!"

"Did you actually hear the conversation?" she shot over her shoulder.

"Well… kind of. I picked up the phone and Beast Boy was on the other line—"

"I thought he got Raven pregnant, not Beast Boy," Karen grinned.

"Oh, be quiet—so he picked up the phone and freaked out, shocked that I was on the line. It was like he—or Raven, because she was there, too—wanted to tell Speedy something, but wasn't sure if I should be in the room. So then Speedy got the phone from me and was all tense and angry at the kid, so I think Raven took her phone back and that's when he started to get nervous!"

While he talked, Karen had straightened, intuition taking bites into her conscience. Something wasn't right about the situation, she had to admit. And so far, the phone call made sense, although not enough to be incriminating.

"Anyway, it sounded as if Beast Boy had heard or seen them doing something—either talking about the chance of Raven being pregnant, or actually… er, procreating, I guess. Whatever it was, Speedy got mad and kicked a few things before Raven told him something really serious, which made him go quiet."

"What did she tell him?" Karen wondered, taking her seat on the chaise again, engrossed.

"I can't say for sure, but I'm almost positive she told him that she had the results to the pregnancy test, but hadn't opened them. And then she asked him if he wanted to know what it said—"

"Wait, hold on," Bee interrupted, raising a hand for him to stop. "Why was Beast Boy there?"

"Moral support?" he guessed. "She had to explain things to him after he found out, and since they're friends he decided to be there for her when she gave Speedy the news… I think. And like I said, he was the one who was actually on the phone first, so maybe he was encouraging her to call Speedy and then took the liberty of doing so when she didn't."

Karen sighed and shook her head. This was too surreal, and yet Garth's retelling made sense. Would they need a daycare service soon? "Go on, please…"

He thought for a moment. "Where was I?"

"Results for the tes—"

"Oh, yeah. So she had the results and was going to tell him, but Speedy asked 'Over the phone?' and I'm pretty sure Raven said no, and instead wanted him to come over so they could find out together."

Karen cut him off with a groan, burying her face in her palms. "Those two cannot be together like that." She stared at the floor, and then lifted her gaze to Aqualad. "I guess I can kind of see them having sex or something—Speedy's just like that, maybe—but all this stuff about pregnancy tests and wanting to find out 'together' and…" She left off, unable to continue. "Do I even know Speedy anymore?"

"Well… maybe Raven's in love with him, but Speedy doesn't feel the same?" he theorized awkwardly, shifting his weight. "I mean, at first he said he couldn't come over, like he would prefer to be distanced when she told him."

"So why did he go?"

Garth shrugged. "She convinced him, somehow."

"Did she ask him nicely? Say please?" Karen suddenly laughed, though her tone was empty of humor. "Did she threaten him?"

"No idea, but it took her a while to do. Then they hung up, and Speedy put on a good front and told me nothing was wrong. He wasn't sincere, I know that much." Garth sat next to her on the chair, facing away from her and yet sharing her confusion.

"I… don't know what to tell you," she said after a long moment. "I can't say I'm a full believer in it yet, but there's no way to ask Speedy right now. He never takes his communicator with him unless he's in uniform, so we can't call him…" She leaned to one side, dropping her head onto the Atlantean's shoulder. "You think we should talk to Robin?"

"He'd kill someone."

"But I'd rather ask him for information before bombarding Shafty. If we don't have absolutely solid proof he'd only lie to us, as much as it hurts to say." She knew her team—at least, she knew how they would react to confrontation.

"If this is what he's been keeping from us…" Garth stopped his sentence short, eyes widening in realization. "You know, he was talking about how hard 'coercing intellectuals' into sleeping with him is when he got home last night. I don't remember why, but…"

"We should talk to Robin."

Garth nodded. "And then he made breakfast this morning; did you see that?"

"No. Smelled it, though."

"Eggs, bacon, omelets—the whole shebang. Not like him at all, is it? Oh—and he burned his arm in the process, but he didn't seem to care."

Bee mused on it for a moment, and then let out a heavy sigh. "Call Robin for me."

Aqualad nodded, pulling his communicator. He flipped it open, pressed in Robin's code and waited for the Boy Wonder to pick up.

"Robin here."

"Hey," Garth said, a half-hearted smile on his face. It actually looked rather like a grimace. "I don't really know how to say this, but—"

Karen snatched the yellow device away, too baffled by everything to be subtle. "Rob, your Tower might have a baby Titan on the way. We need to know everything you know about Raven's behavior these past few weeks."

I'm not sure if NemesisMuse is doing the next deadline (Are you? xD), but in case not...

Question: What does 'Carnifax' mean? (Hint: Not a happy occupation—I'm not even sure why it's my username.)