I'm Fine (book 2)

Memories

Raven and Cyborg sat in disbelief as the communicator went silent.

Nightwing stood up and headed towards the front of the bus to exit. He shook off any feelings of guilt that had surfaced from his communicator call and stepped down onto the sidewalk with his suitcase. He stood still for a second as the bus pulled away behind him. Almost reluctantly he began to walk down the sidewalk to the third house on the right. It was a cute yellow house with navy blue shutters, something he could've only dreamed to grow up in. Taking a deep breath, he stepped up to the door and rang the doorbell.

Beastboy woke up on his stomach in the unfamiliar hospital room with Raven sitting next to him. He was groggy but mentally aware of his situation. Turning his head out of the head rest pillow and towards Raven, he spoke. "What's for dinner?"

Raven smirked as she set down her book. "Tofu and veggie pizza?" She suggested knowing it was his favorite.

"Yesssssssssss." Beastboy whispered right as Cyborg came in. Beastboy noticed the bandage across the human side of his head. "Cyborg? What happened?"

"Just a blown eardrum... I calibrated my mic in my head to compensate for the damage until it heals but my hearing won't be as good for a little while..." Cyborg explained a little louder than he needed to.

"Raven? Are you okay?" Beastboy said with a bit a fear still in his voice as he started to piece together the magnitude of the explosion. Raven pulled down her hood to reveal a small circle bandaid with a yellow smiley face stuck to her temple which immediately prompted snickers from both Cyborg and Beastboy.

"It's not funny" Raven growled.

"You got three stitches and that's what they chose to put over top!?" Cyborg cackled in disbelief.

"Yup..." Raven pulled her hood back up to cover the scowl knowing she couldn't remove it until the next day. Beastboy laughed even though it made his back hurt. After he settled down a bit, he heard his stomach growl.

"When can we go home?" Beastboy whined on hunger.

"Bee is parked in the parking lot. We were just waiting for you to wake up enough to get discharged" Raven mumbled. The two slowly helped Beastboy up without disturbing his burns on his back. They waited until they were back at the tower for Raven to heal his burns so no one would see. Once they were all settled and resting, Cyborg ordered pizzas to be delivered to the tower.

Nightwing stood in the doorway as a silver haired woman opened the door.

"Oh, you must be Dick?" Nightwing nodded. He noticed her puffy eyes and assumed she was their adopted mother who he had been writing to. "Please come in!" He followed her into a small living room with a red leather sofa and sat down as she grabbed a shoe box full of photos. "Take your time dear. I know that box is going to be hard to look at with everything you sacrificed." Nightwing's eyes napped up in surprise. "I know who you are Nightwing. I'm good friends with Bruce." She said as she patted him on the shoulder and sat down next to him. He carefully lifted the blue lid to reveal a tiny Robin figurine on top of hundreds of photos.

"Did they know?" Nightwing said as he examined the figuring of himself.

"Yes. But I told them they could never write about it to protect your safety." The woman said. Nightwing set the figurine down on the glass table in front of him and felt the tears welling up in his eyes. He picked up a picture of himself holding his two siblings as babies in the hospital room. He was 8 at the time and was so overjoyed in the picture. As he flipped through each picture, he watched his brother and sister grow older and become less familiar. He pulled out a picture from their 10th birthday which was a few weeks ago. He had this same picture of them opening his presents back at the tower. He couldn't control his sobs as he let one slip out. The woman took the box and set it on the table and hugged him tight.

"How did this happen?" He choked out in between sniffles. The woman righted her arms around the young man to pull him in to the hug a little more to buffer what she was about to say.

"They we're playing at the playground in school." She took a shakey breath to delay crying, "a driver fell asleep at the wheel and drove through the fence.." she took a second to compose herself, "I was told they died instantly and were not in pain." She sobbed into his inky black hair and she squeezed him tight. They stayed crying for a while.

"Raven, are you alright?" Beastboy asked when he hobbled over to Raven who was staring vacantly out the living room windows with her book open and in her lap.

"Yeah..." she said softly... "Nightwing is going through a lot right now." She whispered and Beastboy gingerly sat down next to her and set her book aside on a different cushion of the sofa. Raven laid down so her head was in his lap and he stroked her indigo hair from off of her forehead.