I'm Fine (book 2)

The Wisdom of a Pink Rabbit

After a small funeral with just the team, Nightwing had Cyborg and Bumblebee take some time off to focus on themselves. Nightwing began his old responsibilities as leader and started to work his way though informing the various team captains. After, Nightwing began to pick through the recent Slade files to see what he might have missed.

Bee went back to bed after the funeral. She didn't want to be anything today. Cyborg sat on the bed, silently rubbing her back, unable to say anything. They spent a few days repeating this pattern, only moving to use the bathroom or for Cyborg to duck out to return with food. They stayed away from the team as much as possible in the first week.

Nightwing and Starfire kept their engagement under wraps until things died down in the tower. Starfire couldn't be wrangled into not wearing her ring so Nightwing had her wear is on her middle finger so no one would question it. Each night, Nightwing and Starfire would alternate between who's bedroom they slept in. Things were delightfully slow for Nightwing, because Tamaranian customs required the couples to wait until marriage for anything past kissing or cuddling. He found that having to wait for her, only made him want her more, which made everything much more exciting but spending the nights that much more difficult.

Beastboy and Raven began sharing their alone time. Raven would sit in her bed to read and Beastboy would sketch in his book. The two would spend hours working on their own hobbies before they realized they hadn't spoken to each other yet. They thoroughly enjoyed the comfort of simply being together, and enjoying the quiet companionship.

Nightwing was working with Damien so he would excel as the new Robin. Every morning at 6am he would train Damien and review tactics. Damien thrived off of Dick's leadership because he treated Damien like a little brother. Even though they weren't truly related, they both had the same rough upbringing through Bruce. Dick knew how to push Damien to his limits to inspire growth without pushing him too far. Damien was coming along as Robin and Dick could not be any more proud of the young man he was becoming.

Bumblebee's body was healing but her spirit was broken. She no longer had the contractions and her cramps were only occasional. She stayed in bed, even when Cyborg busied himself in his workshop. She felt death internally and that's something a woman can never forget. He body felt foreign and empty, even her stomach was becoming different. Swollen but not full of life as it had been, just empty. She knew her body was in the process of returning to normal but she didn't want in to. She rolled onto her back with her hands on her stomach as a cramp echoed silently. She stumbled out of bed for the first time in a few days and shuffled into an oversized hoody that belonged to Cyborg. Her body ached from the miscarriage and the poison so walking to the door had to come with a reward. She made her way to the bathroom and locked the door behind her. She filled the bathtub with warm water and dumped some vanilla scented bath salts inside as the waterline rose. She pulled off her close slowly catching a glimpse of her naked body in the mirror. The sight of her hollowed body made her cry so she turned the lights off in the bathroom. She sniffled in the dark as she found her way back to the bathtub and soaked her pain away.

Cyborg was not really working on anything except keeping himself distracted. He went from finding a space for the baby supplies to cleaning his workshop. He knew having a family was goal of theirs so they might need the stuff if they adopted in the future. There was also a part of him that couldn't throw any of the supplies out, because he wasn't ready to let go just yet. He found himself sitting on the floor, just holding a pink stuffed rabbit that Starfire had picked out when they went to the mall together a month ago while Bee was gone. Starfire was like a little sister to him so he was ecstatic about taking her to the mall to sneak her ring size for Nightwing. As they walked, she had seen the rabbit in a store window as they were talking about the future. Starfire loved Nightwing, everyone knew that but it was what she said about the future that startled Cyborg.

"Can we have a future if we never let go of the past?" Starfire said referencing Nightwing's obsession with Slade. Cyborg didn't have an answer for her then, but those words hung in his mind ever since.