DISCLAIMER
I's trying not to be in the slump, but I's in a frickin' slump! T-T I'm FORCING myself to open WordPerfect and at least attempt at making chapters... Sorry that I'm being very uninspired right now, but I's can't help it... Forgive me...

Chapter 10: Reluctant Reunion

"B Bug is in the room," Anna said as though she's in the military

"Anna... Enough... You SUX at being some soldier in the army."

"GAH... You always ruin my fun, Lara..."

"Why dun we focus here, guys?" Tess said as she rolls her eyes. She and the others finally came up with a plan to figure out who the cheetah is. It only took two weeks to come up with it, though...

"I know, sheesh..." Anna sighs out as she looks at the small screen that they're using to see whatever BB is seeing. "We managed to sneak BB into the room before the kitty went to it, so it should be easy from here on out."

"Not entirely, but it'll do," said Jesse with a grin. She's in a happy and mischievous mood, as ever. As it is the same with Mira, the Copycat Girl (commonly called lately with that title).

"OH! She's in the room now!" Mira said excitedly as she nearly pulled Anna's arm off in the process of looking into the screen.

"Hey man! Ow!!"

"SHHH!!"

"What would YOU do if your arm was nearly RIPPED OFF?!" Anna cries out as she rubs her shoulder.

"Anna, shush!" Lara clamps her hand over her sister's mouth before she could voice out any more complaints, pointing to the screen as they watch the cheetah wonder to the computer that she was given a bit back ago.

'Man, this is probably gonna be a slow-going progress,' BB thought as he scuttles to a corner of the room to watch from afar. To watch without getting squashed, anyways... 'Though, admittingly, it'll be impossible to work the keyboard with only her claws or tail or somethin'. So she SHOULD be transforming!'

"What I have to put up with these last few weeks..." Rose said to herself as she hits the power button to her computer. "Anna and Lara hovering over me like vultures... Blake being himself with his laid-back attitude... Starfire overly cheerful than she should... And Jesse, Mira and Beast Boy pulling pranks on everyone they see... How do Cyborg, Robin and Raven put up with this kind of place...?"

"HEY, Mira resents that!" Mira shouts out, though she instantly finds herself wrestled to the ground by Jesse and Lara.

"QUIET!!"

"The computer is finally up and running..." Rose sighs as she looks up to the monitor, not even hearing all the muffled voices outside her room. BB, as a salamander, creeps closer along the wall as she moves to sit in the chair right before transforming into her more humanoid form. "Now then..."

"DARN, I can't see her... It's too frickin' dark!" Anna complains.

"BB, you have to try and get closer to her," said Tess, completely oblivious of the ruckus behind her with Mira, Lara and Jesse.

'Oi, what I have to put up with for this job,' BB thought as he did as he could to get at least above the computer without Rose noticing anything. Aiming his head in the direction of Rose, he can at least glimpse that she has long hair and a scar on her face. But he's color-blind, so he couldn't see anything like the others can.

"...Long brown hair and a scar on her face?? And she has WINGS and a HORN!!" Anna said, instantly catching the girls' attention to make them move over to the screen.

"Wow, cheetah-girl looks like she's been through many battles," Mira comments.

Lara frowns greatly as she studies the girl's face. "Anna... I think..."

"You think... what? That you dun have a brain?" Anna immediately regrets saying that as she receives a bump on the head to gain a lump. "Owwies!!"

"No, dummy, I think that it's really our aunt!!" Lara said as a anger vein pops up on her forehead.

"...Aunt?" Jesse said as she, Mira and Tess looks over at Lara.

"Yeah, Aunt Rose... But we thought she was dead for nearly nine years," Lara explains as she looks back to the screen.

"Really?? Why Lara thought that??" Mira asks.

"Well... Because our family was murdered by some people, but me and Anna and Rain weren't there, nor was our mom. We thought that everyone else was dead and gone."

"..." Tess stares hard at the screen, though she was listening to the words of Lara.

"...Tess?" Jesse said after she came out of shock from the news from the falcon girl.

"...I think... I know her..." Tess said quite seriously.

"If you know her, how come she didn't seem to know you??" Jesse said in confusion.

"Guys-"

"I don't know, but I seriously think that I know her."

"Hey, guys, look!" Anna said to get everyone's attention, and they look to see that Rose is looking up at them.

'Oh crud...' BB thought as Rose suddenly snatches at him and gives him a hard glare.

"So... Who else was behind the spying?" she said as she moves away from the computer to the door, BB now caught.

"C-c'mon, Kitty, you shouldn't be angry..." BB pleads as he poofs back into his real form, big eyes and looking like he's going to cry.

"Who else was behind the spying...?" Rose merely asks again as she glares at him. BB only gulps as he looks to his right while Rose was opening the door. She looks as well and sees five heads looking at her from behind a corner. "..." She drops BB onto the floor and retreats back into her room, the door now tightly closed.

"S-she's scary..." BB quickly runs away from the door as though afraid of Rose to pop out and whack him in the head or something.

"How she find you??" Jesse said as though she's accusing him of being caught.

"I dun know, she sniffed the air and suddenly looked up to see me!"

"...She is a cheetah, and cheetahs has highly developed noses," Mira said as she frowns.

"Well, all-in-all, looks like we won't be seeing her for a long while..." Anna's lower lip quivers slightly.

"Grow-up, we'll make her talk," said Lara as she pats Anna on top of her head.

"Is she really your aunt, though? She was frozen for about a hundred years, she said." Now Jesse looks seriously doubtful.

"I'm positive!"

As Jesse and Lara argue back and forth to each other, Tess goes ahead and walks towards Rose's room, knocking on it.

"...What?!" Rose said without opening the door.

"We need to talk," said Tess as she patiently waits for the woman to answer her.

"..." The door opens after a minute and Rose stands there with her arms crossed. "So you now recognize me..?"

"I.. Yes... And your name... it's Rose, isn't it?" Tess is rather uncertain, but the name popped into her head as she takes a full minute to examine Rose's face.

"Yes, it is. I take it you had lost your memory...?"

"I had..."

"So you ARE Rose!!" Anna cries out as she launches out of nowhere and clamps onto Rose's arm, hugging it to death.

"Let go of my arm!" Rose tries to pull her arm out of Anna's grasp, but she's to find herself clamped by the other niece around the neck. "Stop it, you two! Let go of me!"

"We thought you were dead, Rosie! How did you live through it??"

"How'd you get to be so old, Rose??" Anna and Lara continue to barrage Rose with questions as everyone kind of stands away from this scene.

"ENOUGH!!" Growling loudly, Rose finally yanks herself out of her nieces' arms to stand away from them. She has such a hard, cold look on her face that Anna and Lara can only guess that she isn't used to hugs anymore, nor any affections.

"You can't get away from those that missed you, y'know," Tess said quietly as Rose looks over to Tess and the others.

"...Hmph." Rose turns to face her back on them, her arms crossed again. "I did not want to hurt them by letting them know that I was alive..."

"Hurt us?? By the power of Christ, you're so dense!!" Lara said, in which made Rose turn her head to give her a look of complete surprise by that. "We've missed you, aunt! And we're hurt by the fact you didn't want us to know that you were alive!" Lara gives a hard scrowl as she glares at Rose. "...But the murdering of our family changed you so much from what we remember of you..."

"You were, yes, a bit down about life, but at least you had always tried to stay positive about everything," adds in Anna.

"Well then, now you know that I am not very positive anymore," Rose said with a growl. She wishes now that she haven't opened the door to let Tess talk to her. "And I will not change back to the Rose you knew. I have had four thousand years to become this, to stay alive on worlds full of creatures and beings out to kill others..."

As Lara and Anna just sort of stare at her, Blake appears to see the group hanging about the door.

"I see that all of ya were caught," he comments boredly, snapping everyone to look at him as though they just realized they're still silent.

"They were caught, just a bit..." Rose said back to him, though the comment was a bit sarcastic. "I suppose you knew about this."

"Well, sure, but I didn't want to stick my business into it."

"Typical you." Rose rolls her eyes a bit before looking back at her nieces. "...I am not in the greatest of moods, especially catching a few stalkers did not improving my mood... Come back in a bit, then we could talk, I guess..."

"Eh??" Everyone was caught by surprise by that. Rose usually is the lone cheetah girl that wants to be left alone, but she's offering for them to go back to her to ask questions in a few hours. In which makes them think that there's the possibility of the Rose that the nieces and Tess knew is deep down in there somewhere.

"A-alright!" Anna said with a happy grin, hugging Rose tightly, as does Lara hug her. Rose looks completely uncomfortable as she looks to the side, blushing a little from the continuous affections she's getting. "Thank you!!"

"Yeah yeah yeah..." Rose pats the both of them on top of their heads awkwardly. Her face at least softened a little from the coldness that was on there before. But it's certainly some reunion for the four of them, the two nieces, the lost aunt, and the girl searching for her memories.

I've finally got another one done!! - #falls over with swirly eyes# I'm so sorry everyone, but I've been in a bad slump that I was having to FORCE myself to open up WordPerfect, though I'm usually with my hands hovering over the keyboard and no typing being done. XD;; I's happy that you all are sticking with me in my highs and lows, especially to (as it is, I call everyone by their character names) Jesse, Mira, and Blake!! And yes, even my nieces, Anna, Lara AND Rain! Thank you all!!!