"I Love You" (Book Three In The "I Promise" Series)

Prologue

"Stupid traffic," Richard Grayson muttered, pressing down on the horn hard.

"I told you we should have flown," Richard's gentle wife, Kory said putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Baby! Baby! Baby!" Their one-year-old daughter, Mar'i shouted from her car seat behind them.

"We'll be there soon, Starshine," Richard reached a hand behind his seat and tickled his little girl. Mar'i squealed loudly and Kory smiled at them.

"Oh, Richard, the light is green!" She said suddenly.

"Oh dangit," He muttered, pressing on the gas pedal.

"I hope we are not too late!" Kory said as they drove into a parking spot outside the Jump City hospital.

Their old friend, Victor Stone, was waiting for them outside the hospital, "Hurry up!" He called when he saw the two running across the parking lot, "I don't know how much longer it's gonna be!"

"Who else is here?" Richard asked, running and carrying Mar'i at the same time.

"Karen, Rachel, Garth, and Brion."

"So we're the last ones to come?"

"Yup, and I'm telling you, I have never seen Garfield this way before. Off a sugar rush, that is," Victor smirked at them and Kory laughed lightly.

They met the rest of their friends outside the hospital room. Rachel and Garth sat in a couple chairs with their ten-month-old, Andre, next to Brion, while Karen paced back and forth in front of the door.

"How much longer?" Kory asked.

"Terra went into labor a couple hours ago. All we can do now is wait," Karen said, giving Victor a quick peck on the cheek.

Mar'i stubbornly tried to wiggle out of her father's grasp, reaching for her mother. Kory took the baby girl from her husband and began to sing to Mar'i in a foreign language that was strange, rough, and melodic at the same time. Soon enough, Mar'i was asleep, and Richard nearly fell asleep himself. How could you blame him? He'd been out on patrol for five hours last night! Not to mention it was almost nighttime right now, and Kory's voice was beautiful.

Richard was jolted out of his reverie and looked up as the door opened.

"Are you all friends of Garfield and Terra Logan?" The nurse asked coldly.

"Yes," Brion answered for all of them.

"Congratulations," the nurse said without really sounding excited at all. She stepped aside and let them enter the room.

Garfield looked over at his friends with a big smile, "Titans, meet my daughters," he said, gesturing to one bundle Terra's arms and one in his own.

"Twins!?!?" Rachel and Brion asked at the same time.

"Whoo, you and Terra must have been very busy," Victor said, teasing his old friend once more.

"Victor, stop teasing my husband," Terra scolded in the same teasing manner.

"I can't help it," Victor admitted.

Garfield scowled at his old friend a moment, "This is our eldest daughter, Rose," He said, holding up the baby in his own arms.

"She is most adorable!" Kory squealed quietly.

"Why does she have white hair?" Richard asked.

"I don't know. I think she's an albino," Terra said, "That's what the doctor said anyway. She'll be fine."

"She's a cute little thing, isn't she?" Karen asked Victor, tickling the baby under her chin.

"And this is baby Rachel!" Terra said. Rachel had blondish-brown hair with a bright green streak, and slept soundly in her mother's arms

Mar'i began to whine, "Well, I guess we should go, Mar'i gets cranky when she doesn't get to sleep in her own bed at night," Richard said, rubbing his little girl on the back.

"We shall return tomorrow!" Kory said as they left.

"We should get going too. Congratulations, lil' sis," Brion said, patting his sister and her husband on the shoulder.

"You have some amazing kids, Gar," Rachel said, putting Andre on her shoulder.

"We'll come and visit some more tomorrow." Garth promised

"Same. Sparky's got a big project that he doesn't want to leave alone for too long." Karen said as Victor gave her a playful glare.

"Congratulations, BB," Victor told Gar.

"Thanks, Cy," Garfield gave his old friend a fist-bump as they walked out.

-------

Later the following day, the doctors came to do a checkup on the twins, and Terra was almost sad to let her daughter's go, but she knew she'd see them again. She held them tightly for a moment and kissed each of their foreheads.

It was an hour before anyone came back. A doctor entered with a clipboard and a grim expression on his face.

"Are you Terra Logan?" He asked nervously.

"Yes?" Terra said, nervous to know what he was about to say.

"I'm sorry, there was nothing we could do but...both of you daughters are dead."

"What?" Terra asked, as if she couldn't believe it.

"I'm sorry. I can't offer anything more than my condolences." The doctor said before leaving the room again.

Terra laid back on her bed and cried. She was too tired to do anything else.

Garfield burst into the room, followed by Richard, Kory, Victor and Rachel.

"Terra!" He shouted.

She looked up at him, her face soaked in tears as he ran over to her bed.

"Terra," he whispered gently.

"Oh Gar, they're dead! Rose and Rachel, they're dead!" She said through her tears.

"What? Terra, they're not dead," Richard said from the doorway.

"They...they're not?" She asked.

"They've been kidnapped. All the doctors who've been helping you are robots. I don't know what kind, but they're not human at all. Not from the aura I've been getting from them." Rachel told her best friend

Terra took a moment to digest this before the adrenaline kicked in. She jumped up out of bed and glowed yellow a moment, and in that moment She had changed into her superhero uniform.

"Where are my daughters?" She asked.

Terra and her friends ran out of the hospital and found the "doctors" who had been working with her loading her babies onto a white van.

"Let them go!" Gar cried as his skin turned green and he turned into a dinosaur.

"Titans! Go!" Richard cried, pointing at the robots. They attacked. Kory threw green bolts of energy at them and they exploded, Rachel made them explode with her dark energy, and Victor attacked them with his sonic cannon.

Terra used he  power next, and tore up the street with her earth powers so that they couldn't escape. Then she and Gar opened the back of the truck.

"I can't fond Rose!" Gar cried, turning into a hound dog and sniffing around.

"Rachel!" Terra screamed, opening a box and and seeing the babe attached to so many different wires and tubes. She grabbed her and held her close.

"Beast Boy, Terra, you've gotta get out of there!" Nightwing warned, locked in combat with another robot.

Holding Rachel and Terra tightly, Beast Boy jumped from the back of the van seconds before  it zoomed away.

Left in the alley behind the hospital, Terra held her one daughter close and cried.