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?
Twenty-Six
The snowflakes fell to the ground in a heavy flurry. The wind throughout the city banged on the shutters of every apartment window, Kori's included. She awoke to the shutters tap dancing with the wind. Her mouth opened to a small yawn and she looked around to find she was comfortable in her own bed, the covers pulled around her for warmth with her TV on a music channel playing soft Christmas music.
Glancing over at her alarm clock Kori found it was only three in the afternoon. She scrunched her nose in distaste for the lack of sleep she had received. Looking out her window she found the skies were dark with an even worse snow storm brewing in the midst. She felt her mood corresponded with the weather outside. She felt miserable, hurt, alone, lost, the emotions could go on and on and although she realized she had been through a horrible thing be kidnapped by Slade, all Kori really felt was distrust with Richard, so hurt he had not told her his secret identity.
Kori closed her eyes ready to let sleep overtake her again, after all she was oh so tired as was her body from the events that had occurred only hours before. She felt beat up and bruised, never able to be comfortable as she shifted for one part of her body would hurt as she turned to her side and her other side hurt as she leaned on that. Her bruises were not the only problem, her leg cast and arm had allowed little mobility. The redhead let out an uncomfortable sigh before closing her eyes slowly trying to find comfort when her body was the most uncomfortable place.
"Shit!"
Her heartbeat quickly as she heard a crash and a man's voice. Panic arose in Kori as she sat up and quietly pulled the covers off of her and tip toed out of bed. Looking around to only find a tall heel on the floor, Kori grabbed two heels and hobbled over to her door, peering out she saw a man walk by the door. Closing her eyes Kori now just heard her heartbeat. She ignored the happy Christmas music and the angry wind which took its anger out on the shutters. The melody of thumps stopped when Kori opened her door and looking around took each shoe and threw it at the figure in her living room.
"What the hell? That really hurt," the figure exclaimed. Turning around she saw the goofy face of Gar who rubbed the back of his head.
"What happened?" Footsteps clambered against the hardwood floors as Rachel ran into the room from the bathroom. She looked at the scene almost horrified for a second worried about everyone's safety until she actually saw the scene in front of her.
Kori stood by her bedroom door in the same clothes Rachel had changed her into from when they came home from the hospital. Her casts were still in place, the purple giving a glow when Kori looked so pale. Gar was by the small Christmas tree him and Rachel had started to set up, wanting to surprise Kori and bring in some Christmas spirit. Next to the tree which had fallen to the ground were two heels belonging to Kori. Kori's face was shocked whereas Gar's was scrunched up as he continued to rub the back of his head, the heels obviously hurting him.
"Kori, it's alright, just me…now in pain. Just me and Rachel here though. Just here, setting up a tree, which you failed to do. Just me and Rachel, I'm injured now, but just us." Gar mumbled as he leaned to the ground and began picking up the small tree which had fallen from the table Rachel and he had set up earlier.
That was the moment Kori fell against the wall and slid down to her knees, surprising Rachel a little with the bulky cast on her arm and leg. Her head fell into her chest where she began to shake without stopping. Rachel and Gar looked at each other in a panic unsure of what to do.
"Look, you upset her!" Rachel accused. Gar looked around dumbly for a minute.
"Me? Upset her? What upset her was that she thought I was a criminal! She threw a shoe at me! A damn shoe, Rachel! I'm upset now! Not even a show, two shoes! Two heels!" Gar threw up his hands in exaggeration.
Looking up from her spot on the ground Rachel and Gar noticed how Kori's eyes sparkled with tears, but she was not crying. No, she was laughing. Kori sat shaking from laughter where she began to hold her tummy from laughing so hard. She pointed over at Rachel; Rachel had her mouth open in both confusion and shock. Next Kori had pointed over at Gar. Gar stood dumbly his hands at his side now after readjusting the tree on the table.
"You're not two killers!" Kori managed to crackle out and she began to laugh all over.
As Kori's laughter began to bubble down. Silkie her adoring and lovely cat crept onto the table behind Gar. Pawing at the tree, Silkie had managed for the fake tree to fall on top of Gar. This action sent Kori into another fit of giggles which Rachel began to join in on and eventually Gar did as well.
The three of them sat laughing for awhile letting out all of their energy into fits of laughter. Kori had tears in her eyes that began to fall down her cheeks. Rachel soon found she grabbed her stomach in slight pain from how hard she was laughing. Gar himself couldn't control his laughter as he hit the ground with his palms, hoping that would do something to stop this raging fit of laughter.
Eventually the three of them managed to calm down, Kori being the last out of the group. It was then laughter turned into tears of pain where Kori held herself shaking as she began to cry out of hurt. Gar and Rachel each came over to Kori. They engulfed her with a much needed hug, squeezing tight, letting Kori know, they were never going to let go.
Before Rachel knew it, it was now four o'clock. She had been at Kori's house since twelve in the afternoon when she had finally gotten Kori released from the hospital. She and Gar had stayed the entire afternoon at Kori's house having brought clothes to stay a day or two to make sure Kori wasn't alone.
It was hard for Rachel to see her best friend in this state. Kori had gone from laughing about a fake Christmas tree falling on Gar to crying her heart out about the whole situation that faced her. Rachel couldn't assure her Slade was locked up, because he wasn't. The cops were still looking out to get him. Rachel couldn't assure really anything besides that she would always be here for Kori, no matter what happened. She showed exactly this by holding onto her those moments she was down and feeling alone.
As Kori began to settle down, Rachel had whispered to Gar to get up and go make some tea. Moving to the couch Rachel had turned up the Christmas music a little louder and Kori leaned against Rachel while the two watched the snow fall outdoors on this white Christmas.
"How are you feeling?" Rachel asked. Kori had now settled down from her crying episode and only had a sniffle here or there.
"I'm better now, thank you." Kori gave her friend's arm a squeeze and a small smile came to Rachel's face.
"You realize today is Christmas?" Rachel smirked. She knew Kori loved Christmas. She was so surprised when she had entered the house and found Kori had no decorations. That's why Gar had volunteered an old small Christmas tree he was planning to get rid of. It fit perfect in Kori's snug apartment. It gave some spirit to the room.
"Merry Christmas, Rachel," Kori let out a small laugh that she could almost forget what day it is.
"Merry Christmas as well," Rachel readjusted herself to look over to see Gar bringing a tray of tea with three cups for all of them.
"Merry Christmas, Gar!" Kori's spirit picked up a bit, at least that's what Rachel noticed.
"Today is Christmas?" Gar joked setting the tray down on Kori's coffee table. He gave Rachel a playful smile which she returned to him.
"Kori, you know it's a tradition we get together every year for dinner." Rachel reminded the redhead.
"Goodness, I had almost forgotten. I have no picked up anything for us to eat! My apartment is not ready for guests!" Kori sat up straight quickly and looked around. Rachel noted how Kori grabbed her side slightly from her quick jolt up from the house.
"I think she forgot the plan." Gar murmured quietly to Rachel.
"Kori, we were invited to Richard's to exchange gifts and have dinner."
Rachel saw Kori close her eyes slightly. Rachel figured Kori must have found out that Richard was none other than Nightwing. She watched Kori take in a breath and Rachel felt at pain that she had to reveal this news to her best friend. Her best friend who was not only hurting from her injuries, but who felt a pain inside her chest because of Richard Grayson, the love who lied to her about everything, he who had once broken her heart.
"We don't have to go if you don't want too." Rachel whispered to her. Gar's eyes looked up in protest at Rachel's. She knew he wanted a big feast and just to have things to back to normal. However, Gar also understood Rachel's current duty to make her best friend feel at east and comfort.
"No, I, I want too," Kori paused. "It is best we are around friends to partake in this joyous holiday. What time should we get ready to go?" Kori sat up from the couch and took her full cup of tea to the sink where she dumped it and rinsed it out.
"The dinner started at six. Kori look, you don't have to go if you don't want to. We can all stay here and order in for the night."
"No, nonsense, I want too. I will go and shower now and we can be ready to go around five thirty, yes? That way we can take our time on these roads to get there."
"Sounds good to me," Gar stood up as well. "Rae, I'm going to go home really quick to shower again and I'll grab gifts the gifts as well and pack them into the car. Are you going to come or…?" Gar trailed off.
"No, I showered earlier so I'm good. I'll stay here with Kori in case she needs help. I'll see you soon." Rachel stood up and Kori walked into her bedroom to shower. Rachel came close to Gar. Their bodies embraced in a long hug. Finally pulling away Gar gave Rachel a small kiss on her lips.
"I love you."
"I love you too, Gar."
Now being almost five thirty Kori had managed to shower and look presentable for the evening. Going through her closet for the night Kori had picked out a simple black and white dress. The dress looked beautiful against her naturally sun kissed skin and her hourglass frame helped her fill it well. The white material created a sweetheart neckline and went a few inches above Kori's bellybutton where the black material clung to her lower half to mid thigh. Kori sighed at her purple cast realizing it would be hard to wear stockings to finish her look. She grabbed a lone heel and placed it on her uninjured right foot.
"Kori, you look beautiful." Rachel walked into Kori's bathroom where Kori sat at a small vanity curling her luscious red locks.
"Rachel, as do you." Kori smiled. She looked to see Rachel had on a royal blue dress that fell softly against her body and gave the illusion of someone painting the sky. Her hair was up in a bun with pieces framing her delicate face.
"Gar called me saying he will be here in a few. Do you have everything ready?"
"I have the gifts all wrapped in the closet." Kori spoke as she curled her last piece of hair. It was amusing to watch seeing Kori still able to do it with her left hand despite the fact she was unable to use her right, the cast limiting what she could go. She then stood up and hair sprayed her head. She shook some curls loose before turning off the iron and moving out of the bathroom. She stood up and took crutches and shuffled over to the hall closet where beautifully wrapped gifts sat waiting to be opened. She had tied each one with a purple bow, her favorite color. Each gift came with a card that Kori had written telling how dearly she had cherished that friend.
"Let's see, Gar, Rachel, Victor, Karen, Alfred, Bruce…Kori?" Rachel spoke up.
"Yes?" Kori had put on her coat and scarf and had adorned her ears with two diamond earrings as well as a diamond necklace.
"Richard's gift isn't here…" Rachel trailed off as she moved the gifts to the counter.
"Shit! How could I have been so forgetful? Rachel, I don't know what to get him!" Kori panicked as she went about her room opening drawers. She mentally cursed herself for how forgetful she was that she had never picked Richard up a gift.
"Kori, don't worry about it so much, Richard will understand." Rachel tried to calm down her friend who began to tear apart her room searching for something to give to the host.
"I cannot show up to Richard's home, with no gift for Richard. That is so…wrong!" Kori sat down on the couch and placed her hands into her face. She had no idea why she was getting so upset about such a little thing.
"Well Kori, you can always just lie a little and say its shipping still or something," Rae suggested.
"No, I will not lie."
"Well, I mean Gar and I might have something…" Rachel began to think of what Kori could give Richard. She smirked at a thought but quickly shook the dirty idea out of her head knowing that it was not the time to do such a thing.
"I have it!" Kori declared.
Using her crutch to maneuver into her bedroom Kori went to her nightstand and opened the bottom drawer. She searched over some papers and finally found a small box with just what she was looking for. Pulling the box out of her drawer she placed it on the bed and wiped off the small amount of dust that was on it. She then saw written, "Belonging to Mom and Dad." She knew she had found just the gift for the guy she loved.
AUTHORS NOTE* This was revised because I had forgotten Kori broke bones! Silly me!
*Hello there, I am back. First sorry for spelling errors to excited to read this over! It has been quite awhile has it not? I won't bore you with the whole where I've been because that doesn't matter. I realize this is a short chapter, sort of a filler but it's just what's needed. I have finally come up with an ending and if I do say so myself it is quite the ending. Only four more chapters left! The next one will start with Christmas dinner, we have a surprise coming up as well, and the end to that surprise and the last chapter will be a special little article if that makes sense…probably not.
Any who hopefully these will be done soon, however it will be hard because I have this horrible school project about the book Jane Eyre which is the hardest book I have ever tried to read! I have to do a 5-7 page argumentive analysis on it and I am not looking forward to it. Know a thing about Jane Eyre, you should really message me…
Finally I just want to thank anyone still reading and for all the supportive comments. It's what really made me come to finish this story!