No Need To Ask

Exhaustion

Summary: Raven does everything she can to prepare for the date...perhaps too much.

Author's Note: To all those who were looking forward to the date... I'm sorry.

It is a road out. Raven is offering her to say no, but Luna doesn't want to. Even if she knows this isn't a date, Luna is attracted to Raven like a magnet, and finds herself nodding.

Raven most definitely meant it as a date. Her heart has finally caved. Luna is gentle, caring, and giving, and Raven can no longer lie to herself, because Luna would probably be better as a parent to the unborn child than Raven could ever be. Luna was no fool, and Raven knew she didn't need to lecture the woman on the consequences that dating her came with.

Luna could've ran away so many times, but she was still here, and she had said yes to Raven's date.

She has run over all the possibilities that could go down tonight and attempted to prepare for every single one of them. Nobody can blame her for being a little paranoid since she hasn't gone on a date in the longest time. Raven wants this to be good in a way that makes Luna smile that small, warm smile of hers.

As she chews on her sandwich, Raven mentally checks off her checklist again. She has the reservation, the rest of the day off as long as she rushes through the tasks she has on hand (today has been a fairly busy day in the workshop), and she has to go pick up Luna and surprise her, which means she has to catch the bus. Of course she has to change-. That's where Raven freezes because she realizes she hasn't even thought of what to wear yet.

There is no time to think about that however, because her lunch break is almost over. So she shakes her head to clear it and starts to get up from the break room chair. That's when the world starts spinning. She's been tired and her limbs have been feeling like rubber, but this is the first time that the world whirls around her. The whir of the machinery outside of the breakroom starts to blend together, mushing like gum being contracted and pulled apart again and again, but in sound form.

Raven attempts to grab onto the table so that she doesn't fall over, but only succeeds in knocking over the fork she was using before the edges of her vision close in.

-0-

Luna is wiping down a glass for beer when she receives the call. She tucks the phone between her cheek and shoulder. "Luna Rivers speaking."

The raspy, crying voice is over the line (Clarke's) sobs, "It's Raven, Raven's in the emergency room."

The glass drops from her hands like her heart drops. Her mind whirls. "What?!" Luna rips her apron and towel off, throwing it over the counter and pulling her keys out, already dashing out of the door, wrenching the key into place so that the doors locked. The only thing on her mind is that something happened to Raven and the baby and she wasn't there. Then she's off down the boardwalk, the only time in her life that she ever remembers using such good use of her long and lean legs. It resounds that perhaps Raven would never walk again, and the last thing Raven would know was how badly that bastard treated her. Never in a moment did Luna wish she did more than now.

Her employees on their way to work attempt to ask her what's wrong but she ignores them, opting to save her breath to ask Clarke for directions. Gravel kicks up in the parking lot as she races to her car, flinging the car door open, collapsing in and slamming the door shut.

By then, Clarke has told her the hospital they are at and she roughly shoves the phone back into her pocket. The car chokes on the ignition and then splutters back into silence. Luna stares in horror at her car. There's no way her luck could be that awful right? "C'mon, c'mon", she murmurs as she tries to start the car again. This time it tries to start for an even shorter amount of time.