Judgment
Part 3
[All standard disclaimers apply.]
Damian took a shower, glad to wash the blood of the boy off of him. He changed into civvies and headed to the common room. He found Jaime and Donna arguing about what to have for dinner while Bart crammed granola bars in his face. Gar was already on the couch, flipping through the channels on the TV.
"Damian! Excellent!" Donna announced, seeing his arrival. "You can help decide what we're having for dinner: pizza for the millionth time or Thai food."
"Nothing wrong with pizza," Gar called from the couch.
"We have pizza almost every night for dinner," Donna said. "Can't we branch out?"
"I'm fine with Thai food," Bart said.
"Bart, you'll eat anything," Gar stated.
"Not true! I am not eating whatever that the blue mold thing is in the fridge," Bart replied.
"Ew! We have mold in the fridge!" Donna said. "Gar, it's your turn to clean out the fridge."
"Yeah, and I'm doing it tomorrow."
Jaime sighed. "Guys, dinner. What are we going to pick?"
"Thai food," Damian said. "Get me red curry and Raven green curry. It's Bart's turn for pick-up. Let us know when it's here."
Damian headed back to the elevator.
"Dude, where are you going?" Jaime called.
"To find Raven."
"They're going to the roof," Gar said in a stage whisper. "They're totally going to go make out."
"I can hear you," Damian said, "and I can kill you."
"Yeah, but you can't! Dick won't let you!"
"Dick's not here, Garfield," Damian reminded him as the elevator doors closed. He allowed himself to smile as he heard Gar's panicked voice talking to Jaime.
scene changescene changescene changescene changescene change
Damian wasn't surprised to find Raven on the roof, watching the sunset.
She was dressed in one of his hoodies, a t-shirt for her favorite indie bookstore and dark jeans. She was toying with the necklace he had gotten her for her birthday as she watched the sun fade into the bay. To anyone else she would look merely pensive. But he could see the worry on her face.
"What's wrong?"
She turned toward him as he stopped to stand beside her. "Damian."
He tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "You're worried. What's wrong?"
She turned back to the water. "I keep thinking about that old woman."
"What about her?"
"I felt something when she made her curse."
"Are you saying she had magic?"
Raven blew out a breath. "I don't know. She didn't feel like a real practitioner but her words had something behind them."
She continued to play with her necklace. "I don't know if I was able to fully block her curse earlier. Something may have gotten through."
"I wouldn't worry about it."
She jerked her head to stare at him. "Seriously?"
"What?"
"You who never have less than five contingency plans for any situation. You who probably have plans to take out everyone in this tower. And we're your friends." She stepped away from him. "And you're telling me not to worry?"
He frowned. "You don't know if the old woman has any power or not. You don't know if she was able to do anything. You don't know if your shield was able to block whatever she did try to do. So until we know if she was successful in her pitiful attempt, worrying is pointless."
"Unbelievable," she scoffed.
"Can you pinpoint what her curse was? Do you have any idea what she was trying to do?" Damian pressed.
"No," she admitted grudgingly.
"Then worrying is pointless."
She growled her frustration. "And what if she does have some power? If she did manage some kind of curse and I wasn't able to block it?"
"Then we deal with it," he said with a shrug.
"Gah, you really are an insufferable ass!"
He chuckled as he tugged her to him. "Witch."
He kissed her before she could say anything else. After a moment, she relaxed against him. Sensing the fight leaving her, he pulled back.
She gave him a look. "Don't think that you can win every argument that way."
"Wouldn't dare." He ran his thumb over her cheek. "But worrying is pointless, Raven. And if the old woman did manage to curse us somehow, we can handle it. Like we've handled everything else."
She sighed. "I guess you're right."
"I'm always right."
She rolled her eyes. "Look, I think I should stay in your room tonight."
"Raven, I think you should stay in my room every night."
She poked him in the ribs. "I swear to Azar I'm going to throw you in the bay."
"Okay, okay." He held up his hands until she relaxed. "But seriously you can stay in my room tonight if you want."
"Thank you."
The doors to the stairs slammed open and Bart stepped out on the roof. "Hey, lovebirds! Dinner is here!"
"Thanks, Bart," Raven said. "We'll be right there."
"Better be quick," Bart warned, "or I may eat all the spring rolls. Running to get dinner and bringing it back has sure given me an appetite."
"Okay, Bart," Raven said.
The speedster gave a cheeky salute before racing back down the stairs.
"Well, let's go eat," Damian said, taking Raven's hand.
"What are we having for dinner anyway?" she asked as they headed to the elevator.
"Thai. Got you green curry. But you can have my red curry if you want."
"Green curry is fine," she said as the elevator doors closed. "But I may take a bite of yours."
He squeezed her hand. "Whatever you want."
