DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the Teen Titans characters, or the DC Comic Characters. Nor any of the brand names found in this story!
Summary: Kori Anders, news reporter, has seen a lot in her time. With the recent killing of civilians, Kori is putting away her papers, and testing out her investigation skills. Not only worrying about becoming the next target, she is worrying about her old flame Richard Grayson who seems to be appearing a lot more often, especially when she is with billionaire and rival to Bruce Wayne, Slade Wilson. Who is killing the people and will Kori be next? Oh, and who is Nightwing?
- - - - - - -
Seventeen
Richard rubbed his tired eyes as he leaned up in bed. He seemed to stop though as his sheets restrained him. Confused, Richard looked over to his side. A smile came to his face as last night's memories replayed in his head. He looked at the sleeping red head and felt his heart warm. Last night was amazing, and he could only hope there would be more of those nights in the future.
Richard forgot about getting up and stretching, and turned to his side. His hand instinctively found Kori's face. He gently stoked her creamy skin, soft to the touch, hot on his hands. She stirred slightly and readjusted herself under his touch. Her eyes were still closed, but her face looked at more at peace.
"Kori," Richard only whispered. His voice a bit tired, a bit husky as well. He had a beautiful woman next to him, who could blame him?
She stirred no more and now lay on her back, flat, and looking up at the ceiling. He chuckled as he moved closer to her, his skin touched hers and he almost lost composure and let out a small squeak. Of course they were naked; the thought had left his mind. A small blush came to his face as he thought of Kori's curves, her skin…her moans.
Richard's mind left the gutter and he looked at the girl again. The covers were pulled tightly around her. She had always been a cover hog. Richard lightly chuckled as she stirred again this time facing him. Her sheets fell down a little, and Richard took full advantage of the view he got.
He looked back up to her face though, her body not as important to him now. He moved closed, and lightly kissed her lips. This was enough to make her yawn slightly and blink her eyes, yet never once opening them to reveal her emerald green orbs.
"Sleep…," she snuggled back under the covers and Richard chucked again and quickly kissed her lips. She kissed back, never once opening her eyes.
"Kori…it's the morning and you stayed here all night." Richard smirked smugly, happy to say he had charmed Kori into bed…with many other reasons of course.
"Lovely," she breathed out. She turned away. Richard rolled his eyes as he got out of bed, naked as the day he was born.
He stretched and Kori chose at that moment to look at him, her eyes fully open. Her eyes danced and glittered with happiness as well as other feelings, like lust. She looked at Richard's body up and down, her gaze landing on a particular sight. Richard coughed and Kori looked up, a blush coming to her guilty face.
"I guess I can take it you like the view?" Richard raised his eye brows up and down. Kori giggled. Her laugh was small and fragile.
"I like the view, but I love last night's memories." The mischievous smile came to her face as Richard came forward, coming towards her beckoning finger.
"Well then, I guess we'll have to make some more memories this morning? What do you think?"
"I think you should stop talking…and kiss me."
- - - - - - -
After their activities, the two lovers had fallen asleep again. After all, Richard had gotten up at seven in the morning, much too early after staying up practically all night. They cuddled in each other's arms, legs intertwined, arms wrapped around each other.
It was nine in the morning Richard woke up again. The sun was brighter than before and Richard chuckled as he was in a different position then when he last woke up, and he enjoyed this position a whole hell of a lot more. A satisfied smirk was once again on his face as he felt warmth in his stomach.
Richard had slept in. Before when he got up around seven, that was still early for him. Of course after their activities for an hour or so, he felt tired again. After napping successfully for a half hour, Richard felt no more time could be wasted. It was now nine o'clock, time to get up for him.
It was challenging for Richard to get up without stirring the beauty next to him. He gently moved her own arms onto her body. He also somehow had managed to untangle his legs. A victorious smile was on his face as he rolled out of bed, Kori still sleeping soundly next to him.
Stretching again, his muscles cracked, a yawn escaped his lips. Walked around his room, finally finding the scattered boxes discarded next to his bed. He pulled them on and walked over to his drawer, finding a pair or old black sweatpants and putting them on as well. He remained shirtless as he walked over to Kori. His lips touched her forehead. She seemed to smile into her pillow.
Richard left the room and went downstairs to smell pancakes. He then remembered Alfred was here. He prayed to God that Alfred didn't hear or have a chance to see this morning's activities; he would never let Richard live it down.
"You slept in quite a bit, Master Dick." Richard was in the kitchen, Alfred at the stove flipping pancakes. "Then again, I take it by chance that you had a long night with Ms. Anders?"
A blush crept on Richard's face and he looked down embarrassed. Alfred had a pleased grin on his face, satisfied with his teasing. "Possibly."
"So should I be making breakfast for Ms. Kori as well?" Alfred smirked as he flipped the four pancakes on the pan one last time before putting them on a plate, and pouring four new circles of batter.
"She'll probably be sleeping for awhile, so I wouldn't if I were you."
"Very well then," Alfred flipped the new pancakes; they sizzled on the hot stove pan. "Tonight should be interesting. I hope you didn't lose your suit I had picked up from dry cleaning."
"What are you talking about?" The stove clicked off, and eight pancakes sat on a plate in front of Richard. Butter, syrup, and a cup of milk were soon brought over as well. They both took a seat at a small kitchen table made for two. Alfred sipped coffee, Richard, his milk.
"Have you forgotten already? Mr. Slade Wilson's party is tonight. You said you would attend with Bruce. It's the annual Christmas party."
"Oh…that." Richard's face turned downwards into a small frown.
"Ms. Anders is attending, yes? I hear with Mr. Wilson himself. I wonder how that will go."
"What do you mean Alfred?" Richard stuffed a pancake in his mouth, savoring the goodness.
"Well just this morning in the Jump City Post, an article written by Ms. Anders herself about Slade Wilson lying and cheating appeared. Bruce had a feeling this was true, and Ms. Anders proved his point. I'm sure there will defiantly be sparks flying tonight between them, and not good ones."
"Can I see the paper?" Richard questioned. Alfred nodded and reaching over he grabbed the paper off the counter and handed it over to Richard.
Richard skimmed the article. Kori had done an amazing job. She had people working inside and had found out that Slade was running an underground business. He was working closely with weapon and drug dealers. Richard was shocked that he didn't know this. Of course this was Slade Wilson; he had to have been doing something illegal.
"Wow…all this is true?"
"Yes, that's what I am led to believe."
"Kori had some guts to write this."
"Ms. Anders has always been something hasn't she?"
"Yeah, she' still sleeping, and I have a feeling she won't be waking up for awhile."
"Well, what are your plans for the evening Master Dick?"
"Well I was hoping to work out this morning. I was going to hit the gym with Gar and Victor. Later on I need to do a late business lunch. Showering and preparing for the rest of the evening I suppose." Richard had finished his pancakes without Alfred even noticing that Richard had stuffed his mouth and talked the whole time.
"What about Ms. Anders."
"I guess I'll leave her a note telling her where I am. She'll understand and will thank me later for letting her sleep in and get some beauty sleep."
"Good luck with that." Alfred scoffed.
- - - - - - -
Kori stretched in bed. She felt good extending her arms and legs. She smiled as she blinked open her eyes to find no Richard. Her lips pursed and she sighed. Where was Richard? Regardless of where he was, the smile on Kori's face couldn't go away. She had, had such a wonderful night and morning, and she knew today would be a good day.
"Richard?" Kori called out. No one answered and sighing Kori removed the warm covers from her body. The chilly air hit her and Kori remembered she was naked. She looked around and pulled on her black lacy panties. She then searched for her bra.
A bra was never so hard to find in her life and Kori was unsuccessful in her attempt to locate the missing piece of lingerie. Where had Richard flung it? Without finding it, she took Richard's dress shirt that was scatted on the floor. She took the red button up shirt and put it on, buttoning the buttons in her chest area.
"Richard?" Kori asked in a sing song face. She frowned as she checked the bathroom. "Where is he?" Kori murmured to herself.
Walking back out into Richard's room, Kori noticed Richard's closet door open. She walked over to the closet, opening the door fully. The closet was dark and Kori flicked on the light to the large walk in closet.
It still amazed Kori every time she came here. Richard's closet was huge, probably the size of her room. Okay…Kori was exaggerating a little, but Richard still had a very large closet, and the most surprising thing was clothes filled all the racks.
Kori couldn't help but giggle at all the clothes Richard owned. He seemed a bit anal and OCD about his closet because everything was color coordinated. His slacks were hung nicely, and his shirts all had been dry cleaned and pressed.
"Are you trying to jump out and scare me?" Kori answered. No answer again and Kori opened up an area of clothing. Rather than finding a person she found an open metal door, which led into a very dark, secluded room.
- - - - - - -
"Mr. Wilson." Slade Wilson's ever so faithful butler came in early eight o'clock in the morning. Slade room was dark and dreary. Dark curtains lines the windows covering what little light would have come in. His floors were as cold as his heart.
"Wintergreen, I expect that the house be in preparation for the party sharply at three. I hope you have everything organized and under control. You are one of the only ones I can trust these days."
"Sir, everything will be perfect for tonight. I have your breakfast hear and this morning's paper."
"Well bring it hear then. Let's see what the scum have to report today."
Grimly Wintergreen brought over Slade's breakfast on a tray as he watched Slade sit up in bed. His black silk pajamas covered his muscular body. His back cracked as he stretched. Breakfast was set down in front of him and a satisfied grin was on Slade's face.
"The paper," Slade took a sip of his coffee.
"As you wish, sir." Wintergreen nervously handed over the paper and closed his eyes as he heard the rustling of papers was heard. He swallowed sharply as the next sound was heard, an angry boss yelling.
"That little bitch! How the hell did she find out about this? Oh God, I could kill her, I could slit her throat and not even care about the plan." His voice was furious and as Wintergreen looked up he met the burning, furious eyes or Slade. He was in pure rage and in times like this he did many stupid things.
"Sir, as much as I agree with your anger, I think its best you calm down. Don't make any rash decisions. Tonight will go as planned and you will get all the revenge you need."
"This isn't just revenge on Nightwing; it's on Kori Anders too."
- - - - - - -
"What is this?" Kori gulped as she looked back. No one was coming and chances were Richard wasn't here.
Kori looked into the room before setting foot in there. She couldn't see a damn thing; it was too dark for that. She pushed the clothes aside in a frustrated manor, curing about herself. She then gulped and took a deep breath as she walked into the room.
The lights automatically came on and Kori looked around stunned. What room was this? What was Richard doing? Kori felt uneasy, like she knew she shouldn't be in this room. She ignored her feelings as she walked in more. Looking around high tech gadgets surrounds Kori. She felt as if she had just entered a foreign world, the only occupant, Richard.
"Richard…what are you doing?" Kori shook her head as her fingers lightly traced a full metal keyboard. It let up and Kori backed up startled. She almost screamed as she bumped into something.
"What the h-" Kori turned around and gasped.
Kori's voice escaped her. She didn't know whether her heart had slowed down so much that she couldn't feel it, or whether it had gone to such high speeds it was hard to tell what was going on. Her knees were weak. Her heart and mind felt betrayed. She shook her head multiple times. Backing up she got a good look at the class case.
The black costume was unmistakable. Her heart seemed to skip a beat. She was at a loss for words. She shook her head again. It was all there, the mask, the utility belt, and even the boots. It couldn't be a recreation. No, it had to be the real thing. It had to be the real Nightwing costume.
Nightwing, was Richard her Nightwing? Was he the beloved hero that had saved the city, saved her life even? Sure they had their similarities. They both had black hair. They were about the same height and had good body builds. Nightwing had even gotten shot in the right shoulder, saving Kori. Richard had a mark in his shoulder.
Kori hadn't noticed before the large red patch of his skin. The skin was tender. Then there was a marking, a large hole almost. It had looked like he had been shot…or stabbed with a pencil?
"Is that from Xavier?" Kori lightly traced the now scaring area.
"What?" Richard forgot for a minute until he looked down to see that Kori was staring intently at his scabbed right shoulder. "Oh, yeah, he got me good with that pencil, broke flesh." Kori looked horrified, a hand covering her surprised face. "Don't worry Kori, didn't hurt at all," Richard spoke.
Last night replayed through Kori's mind. He blamed it on the pencil. Kori then felt like screaming. She felt like hitting something to get out her anger, crying, to get out her sadness, and finding Richard, to get the truth. She felt stupid, dumb. How could she have ever been a reporter when the signs were so obvious?
"Hurry up and come in before someone sees you." Kori shoved him in as she then closed the glass doors and the curtains. "What are you doing here and how do you know where I live?"
"Well…I wanted to check up on you…make sure your okay." He rubbed the back of his neck gently. Something Kori always remembered Richard doing when he was nervous. She shook Richard out of her mind as he continued to talk. "Also see if you knew any more then I do about the S murders."
"That doesn't answer how you knew where I lived." Kori gave him a glare and she imagined him rolling his eyes at her under his mask.
"Do you really want to know?" He chuckled slightly.
"No…I guess I don't."
Richard knew where Kori lived. He had been here several times before. Nightwing wouldn't know where Kori lived. She had even made sure her address was almost impossible to find to stop crazy fans. He had managed to get past that? No way.
"We both know you already know that you have the perfect amount of information for a paper about me. Those questions the public wanted to know…what about you?"
Kori was surprised with his broadness. She nodded her head nonetheless agreeing with him. There were more personal questions she wanted to know, questions that wouldn't be printed in the paper at all.
Kori watched as he stood up from ledge and went back on top of the level roof. Kori stood up as well, but stayed on top of the wide ledge. They began to carefully stroll around the square rooftop.
"How old are you?" She asked him. He let out a low whistle.
"I'm in my twenties." He looked at her sideways, her hair frayed in the wind.
"Are you always a hero, or do you have some life out there?" Kori watched the stars as she spoke. They watched the two quietly, only sparkling in the dark.
"That depends how you look at it. I always try to do good…whether I'm in my costume or not."
"Are you single?" The question blurted out of Kori's mouth before she had time to take it back.
Her own word vomit had caught her off guard causing her to pause. She began to sway on the roof, her feet losing their balance. Before she could even begin to fall, or let out a squeak, Nightwing's arms came to her rescue. Gently lifting her carefully, he pulled her off the ledge and on to flat surface.
Kori was so pissed. How could she have been this stupid? This naïve? The whole entire time he was practically giving away his identity. She was stupid enough to just find out now. She was always either by Nightwing or Richard, he was always around. She felt dizzy.
She hurried out of the room, the light turning off behind her. She ran out of the closet and on to the bed where she crawled over to one of Richard's nightstands to get her phone. She turned it on, cursing for it to go faster.
"How could I have been stupid? All along…all along I thought they were two different people." Kori's phone turned on and she felt excited. She quickly waited for her contacts to load before calling Richard's number. He had a lot of explaining to do.
As the phone continued to ring the questions poured into her mind. Did anyone else know Richard's secret? Did this mean he was a superhero before? How did he keep it secret so long? How was his gunshot wound? Did he really plan to keep stringing her along as two different people? What the hell was he thinking?
The phone reached voice mail and Kori hung up and pressed redial. She did this for the next fifteen minutes, with no answer. She had to talk to Richard. She couldn't go through her day like this, not at all.
Kori threw down her phone in frustration and knew she had to go. She had to find Richard. She had to find him now. She looked down to realize she was still in just Richard's button down shirt. She threw it to the floor and found her clothing from the previous night, including her bra which was hidden behind his bed.
Throwing on her clothes Kori ran downstairs. Phone in hand, and her purse on her shoulder she looked around. Richard was nowhere in sight and she swore she could hear Alfred's hurried footsteps.
"Did you find Master Dick's note?" Alfred asked.
Kori felt bad storming around the house, but so many emotions filled her head, she couldn't control herself. She shook her head and then kept listening to Alfred. Apparently he was running a bunch of chores all day and promised to meet Kori at the party.
"Alfred…I have to go."
Kori rushed out the door not waiting for a response and let out a loud curse as she realized her car was left at the bar, last night she had driven home in Richard's car. She pulled out her phone and scrolled though her contacts to find Rachel's number. She picked up the first ring.
"I need you to come and pick me up now from Richard's house."
- - - - - - -
"Kori, are you okay?" Rachel asked in genuine concern for her friend.
"I'm fine. Let's just get ready for this party tonight." Kori felt like telling Rachel about Nightwing, about Richard, about everything. She couldn't though. Even though Richard had betrayed her by lying, she couldn't, she wouldn't do the same to Rachel. She ignored the subject even though she repeatedly called Richard, with him still yet to answer.
"Our spa appointment is at two. So I was thinking what if we caught a movie, got lunch, and then went to the spa. A nice relaxing day is the start to a great night."
"Sounds good," Kori barley listened as she looked at the window. She had given up on Richard calling back or answering. Her phone was discarded in her purse.
"Kori are you sure you're okay?" Rachel asked again. She quickly glanced over.
"I already said I am, why?" Kori huffed.
"You're crying."
- - - - - - -
AUTHOR'S NOTE
*Well, that was a quick update kind of? This is about eight and a half going on nine pages which make me pretty happy. I really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Kori was finally smart enough to discover with the help of finding Richard's costume. I also should also note that the italics represented some clues in past chapters!
I am hoping to update again tomorrow or Thursday. I have testing a lot this week so sorry if I lack on the updating. Thank you all so much for all of the positive reviews. I have a goal though; let's get up to a 100 review this time? Ha, no it doesn't matter. If you are confused about anything you can PM me. Hopefully you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.