Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans.

Chapter 4

Kori woke up, startled in the middle of the night. Instinctively, she wrapped her hands tightly around her round stomach. "It was just a dream," she whispered. "It was just a dream." She inhaled an exhaled deeply, trying to calm herself. She didn't want to wake her husband, but despite her efforts, she broke out crying.

The lamp on the nightstand turned on almost instantly, "Kori?" Richard moaned as he sat up from his side of the bed, "What's wrong, my love?" His right hand found the small of her back and he began rubbing it soothingly.

"N-nothing is wrong!" Kori hiccupped, "J-just some weird pregnancy dreams. Do you not recall all of the bizarre dreams Rachel experienced when she was pregnant with the twins?"

Richard glared at his wife. She should have known better by now that he didn't fall for her brush-offs of things that truly upset her. "Kori."

"Yes, Richard?" Kori asked sweetly.

"You've been having these night terrors every night for the past few months. Are you sure it isn't something I need to be concerned about?"

Sensing the firmness and don't-you-bullcrap-me hinting in his voice, Kori sighed. "I do not know if is to be of concern or not... But, Richard, it's the same dream everytime."

"Kori, if it's causing you so much distress everynight, if it's bothering you in any way, you need to tell me." Richard pulled himself up enough so she could turn her head and look at him in the eye. "If you can, tell me please. I want to know. If I can help, I want to help."

Kori nodded, "It begins with you holding me close to your chest-my clearest memory of my brother's machine. You pull me tightly to you and say, 'I'll never let you go.' You then turn and yell some words to the other Titans." She let out a deep sigh, "I feel the pressure escape from around my head but I'm still in pain."

She was silent for a moment and Richard waited patiently for her to continue. She focused her breathing, hoping it would return to normal soon. "Suddenly, we are no longer in the dungeons of Tamaran, but in a room at Jump City Medical Center. Everything is white around me, I'm still in a lot of pain, and you're holding my hand. Your hand is broken just like it was when Mari was born, but you still let me squeeze it despite my protests." Starfire giggled at that memory. "Raven forces you to put on a boxing glove on your other hand and let me hold onto that instead so she can repair your hand."

Richard chuckled at that memory, "Ooh, yeah, I remember that... Ow..." He subconsciously rubbed his hand where the pain had once been.

Kori's smile faded as she continued her description, "Mari is standing next to you. She is confused. I beg everyone to take her out of the room as I'm pushing and someone finally does. Everything gets frightening very quickly then. The scanners in the room go haywire and everyone gets anxious and is rushing to figure out what's wrong..." Starfire bit her lip in an attempt to hold back a tear, "Richard, our son is going to die when he is born."

Richard picked her up and made her face him at that point. He looked at her long and hard, blue eyes on green. "No, Star, no." He embraced her tightly, not wanting to let her go. His mission was to comfort and understand.

She wiggled out of his embrace and curled herself in a ball next to him, "I fear our family is on the brink of destruction."

"Kori, if that was on your mind, why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I didn't want you to worry," she mumbled into her arm.

Richard had to physically restrain himself from slapping his forehead. "Kori. Come on."

She sat up in a whiny nature, "I know, I know. I'm sorry. I just-"

"What?"

Kori pulled herself out of bed, "Perhaps the truth is that worrying just might help us prepare for the very worst." She walked over to his side of the bed and kissed his cheek. She gave him a sad look, "I just wish we didn't have anything to worry about, is all." She began walking out of the room then, "You forget my brother's threat.

"That was all it was, Kori! A threat! How do we even know if he's still alive? He must have run out of your sister's blood a long time ago. We haven't heard from him since you were pregnant with Mari!" He stopped arguing when he realized she was leaving, "Where are you going?" Richard asked with concern evident in his voice.

Kori merely smiled at him from the doorway, "Do not be alarmed, my love. I am merely making myself a glass of hot tea."

She walked slowly and quietly down the dark hallway, not wanting to wake up her slumbering child. She placed her left hand lovingly on top of her stomach. She wasn't due for another few months, yet she was as big as a flarnop. She shook her head incredulously, hardly believing that if it had been seven years ago, she'd be trapped in her own castle. It was even harder for her to believe that she was still able to marry her best friend and create a family with him. She placed her other hand along the wall so she wouldn't stumble.

She began humming a Tamaranean folk song as she turned on the kitchen light and pulled out her light purple mug. She walked over to the sink and put water in her cup, turned around and put it in the microwave for a minute and thirty seconds. She then turned to grab a tea bag out of the pantry. Her favorite was vanilla chai, as was Richard's.

Moments later she sat down at the kitchen table and took a sit of her warm drink. She inhaled deeply, allowing herself to relax. She couldn't help her my from wandering, though. She thought back to her wedding night, when she and her new husband received a transmission from her brother. Bee had been terribly wrong; her brother wasn't attempting to find a replacement for his thrown. He was attempting to save his own life by destroying another.

Kori, who had just changed out of her wedding gown and into her silk pajamas, pulled Richard flirtatiously over to the hotel bed, giving him a long, tender kiss as they reached their destination. Richard kissed her back but seemed hesitant. He caressed the small of her back and his nerves were electrified at the brush of her touch. They were finally married, he was finally united completely to his best friend.

Having been trained not to let reason become overshadowed by his bodily desires, Richard broke off the kiss and placed his hands on Kori's upper arms. "You took that pill that Rachel gave you, correct?"

Kori pouted, "Richard, I have been on that pill for months on end making extra sure that my body was used to it by the time we reached this night."

A wicked smile tugged at the Boy Wonder's lips, "I'm happy to hear that." He pulled her tightly toward him, crushing her breasts onto his chest. Then, he rolled them onto their white bed. He pressed her firmly to the bed and she squealed in delight.

Richard took his time to memorize every inch of her body and Kori did the same, their lips hooked onto each other like they would never see each other again. As he was about to slip off her pink top, something came crashing through the window.

The newly weds groaned. Richard wanted to think it was some little kid who accidentally hit his baseball through the window. Hotels aren't surrounded by suburbia, though, and bats weren't even allowed on the property. He pulled himself off of his new wife, and both of their eyes bulged at what they saw.

"This is extremely awkward, is it not?" Kori whispered as she sat up to face the spherical machine that was floating in front of them. Its screen displayed her brother's face. To their relief, it was a recorded message set to play as soon as it had Kori's attention.

"Dearest sister," taunted the image of her brother, "I wanted to congratulate on your wedding night. You see, I am not entirely evil; I did let you have your night."

Kori huffed, "Yeah, and then completely destroyed the mood."

Richard tried his best to suppress his laughter and remain focused at what his brother-in-law had to say. The recorded video was still playing. "I'm giving you a fair warning. Sometime in the near future, I will be coming for you and your first-born son. In case you're curious, it is because I am in need of... genetic help, and it can only come from a male." Richard and Kori exchanged glances then, "I am sick with a rare Tamaranian form of what your earthlings call cancer. Since Tamaranians are superior to earthlings, we have discovered a way to cure it, by destroying the life of one who is of the same sex in our gene-pool."

Kori's eyes became giant green orbs and she grabbed for her husband's hand immediately. The screen switched over to an unconscious Blackfire with tubes attached to nearly every inch of her body. There was a red substance travelling in one of the tubes, "For now, I have temporary relief from the blood of our sister. Do not worry about her for she is dead now, but her blood should last me a few years. I only have to drink the essence once every month."

Kori gasped at the sight of her lifeless sister and the blood being removed from her body. She didn't like her sister, but she never wished that on her.

"Tata for now, sister dear." Ryand'r finished, "I have a planet to rule."

The screen went blank. Richard got up, dismantled it, then began picking up the pieces of the window. Kori was left gaping at the wall as her husband disposed of the trash. "It looks like we have nothing to worry about, then."

"Wh-what do you mean?" Kori managed to get out, feeling like her chest was about to explode.

"You can't have children," Richard insisted as he pulled himself back on their bed and wrapped a comforting arm around her waist. "We'll be careful."

Kori chuckled bitterly, "Yeah, oops."

A/N: As you've probably realized, the rating for my story has changed... Hope your weekends are going well!

God bless,
Rose