Listen to Your Heart Chapter 5, a teen titans fanfic

A/N: I took this Peer helping course and they said the worse thing you can do when helping someone with real issues is look at the clock or your watch because they immediately feel less important and like they're on a time limit. I just remembered that when I was going to write this story. So if Richard does that, you have the right to call him a bad 'Peer Helper' with Kori.

Sorry about the wait for this chapter. My further apologies are at the end of the story.

Chapter dedication: This chapter is dedicated to all those of you who figured out what the dandelions represented. This includes Emily, titandancer21, BlondeEarthGoddess183, Maiyuna, Koriand'r Grayson, Skyler-A-Teloiv, TTHPfan, and lalala5812. A lot of you got it. Kori is going to be replacing the dandelion…with someone else wink wink.

Disclaimer: I, by no means whatsoever, do not own any of the characters in this story. I did not make up their personalities or names, however I did take them and use them for fun in a plot I made up. And I own one beautiful character; Violet. I also do not own 'Wisemen' by James Blunt.

By the way, when the part that includes that song comes up, you should really listen to it while you're reading. I highly recommend it.

Chapter Five: A Change of Wheel

If you pass by the colour purple in a field and
don't notice it, God gets real pissed off.
- Alice Walker

"So Kori, how are you feeling today?" Richard asked pleasantly.

"Hm."

Kori's head was down, buried beneath her arms.

It was now November and their sessions had been going on for about two months.

Richard raised his eyebrows and sighed. This wasn't the only time Kori had come in like this. From the garden episode she had seemed pretty normal…well sort of. "Are you okay?" he asked.

After a moment Kori raised her head. "What type of wood is this?" she motioned to the desk.

"What?" Richard asked confused and a taken back.

Kori sighed. "I liked wood," she murmured, "so sturdy."

Richard didn't know what was going on so he changed the subject quickly. "We're going to an amusement park!" he said—drumming up as much cheerfulness as possible.

"In the winter?" Kori stated more than asked. Her eyes depicted that she was evidently somewhere else.

"No it's in—"

"Yay!" Kori suddenly jumped up and Richard almost had a heart attack. It wasn't from Kori's yell but more from his surprise and shock of her drastic mood change. Nevertheless, Richard was happy that she was suddenly more cheerful.

Richard chuckled, "You mean the roller coaster."

"Yes I believe that is what I meant."

Richard glanced at his watch—a simple gesture yet meaningful. "It looks like we should go…" Richard trailed away. He had looked back up at Kori and took a sharp intake of breath. Kori looked like she was about to cry. "Kori…what's wrong?" Richard forgot the past experiences and reached out and touched her arm.

Instead of running away or locking herself in the washroom, Kori let out a yelp and clutched her arm. Then she blushed. "I am sorry friend. You did not harm me it is just that my arms have been hurting lately."

Richard nodded—and suddenly having flashbacks of the last time he touched her arm, was glad that she trusted him enough now. "Maybe you should get more rest…or you've been working too hard lately."

Kori offered a smile that did not reach her eyes. "Thank-you for the suggestions," she nodded.

There was a silence, not awkward but more where Richard was trying to read Kori's face for some clue or suggestion as to her weird behaviour. Finding nothing, he sighed and grabbed his coat. "We'd better get going if we want to beat the lines."

"Oh yes!" It was as though Kori had suddenly been told that moment that they were going to an amusement park. She grabbed her coat as well and skipped joyfully out of the room leaving a dumfounded, gaping Richard behind.

Julia yawned and in the most non-enthusiastic way, typed in the code name for the jeans. She briefly glanced at the tag size and then at the lady's figure. She raised an eyebrow. "Don't you think a size four is a little too small for you? I mean you won't even get your butt in here, let alone anything else…"

The lady's face clouded with anger. "Well I never!" She threw the jeans at Julia—but as her throw wasn't, er, the star of the team, the jeans hit a man standing at the magazines. Julia just dully raised her eyebrows and yawned again. "Nice throw," she said not even bothering to add sarcasm into her tone.

The lady fumed. "I am never shopping at this store AGAIN!"

Julia shrugged her shoulders, "The stuff's too small for you anyways."

The woman growled and turned on her heel. "You will hear from me again," she said warningly as she walked—or rather bounced away.

Julia actually giggled at the last comment but subsided when—

"Julia," Mrs. Polly said in a warning tone. "If you keep offending all the customs I'm going to have to let you go."

Julia made the captain signal. "Yes M'am!"

As she turned back to the cash register she heard someone chuckling. Julia gasped as she looked over to the man at the magazine stand. It wasn't that he still had the pants around his neck but rather who he was.

"Wally!" Julia gasped.

Wally smiled and came over with the pants. "Don't worry, no harm done. Maybe just to my throat because I was laughing so hard. That was the funniest thing I've seen in my life."

"Were you spying on me?" Julia asked teasingly.

"No." Wally said suddenly seriously.

Julia had no idea why Wally had suddenly become so serious. But at that moment something dawned on her. "Yo, it's only one o'clock."

"Yeah…?"

"Um, aren't you supposed to be teaching my kid?"

Wally sighed, "Yes. Technically I'm supposed to be in front of Violet's class right now, or sick in bed but there were a few things I had to take care of."

It seemed like he was hiding something but didn't want to talk about it so Julia did press any further. She checked her watch. "Hey it's my break right now. Uh-want to get a coffee or something?" Julia wasn't used to asking out a guy since the nightmare with her past ex.

Wally seemed to hesitate at first, as if debating something in his head. He suddenly smiled, "I'd love to."

Julia signed out and put a dark sweater over her uniform. She led Wally to the nearest coffee shop. When their drinks had been ordered and they were sitting in front of a warm fireplace, Wally broke the silence.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, but I might not give you a truthful answer."

Wally went ahead with the question anyway. "Why do you always wear dark clothes?"

Julia thought for a moment. "Because I'm a dark person," she laughed dryly but stopped when she saw Wally waiting expectantly for her real answer. It was like he saw right through her. Julia shivered and held her tea closer to herself. She took and deep breath and said, "And because of my past."

She was sitting in a quiet café. It was Sunday afternoon and there were only a few others like her sitting in the restaurant. Odd as it may seem, around there it was a normal happening.

She said to me, "Go steady on me.
Won't you tell me what the Wise Men said?
When they came down from Heaven,
Smoked nine 'til seven,
All the shit that they could find,

Many people in the area were strictly religious (well how else would they have achieved such high status positions and becoming so disgustingly rich?) and Sunday afternoon was a time with the family. A family that she didn't have and would probably never have now that everything was messed up.

But they couldn't escape from you,
Couldn't be free of you,
And now they know there's no way out,
And they're really sorry now for what they've done,
They were three Wise Men just trying to have some fun."

It was a mess.

Look who's alone now,
It's not me. It's not me.

Rachel watched the Sun reflect on the nearby trees of the park. Though quite chilly out, the trees still had a few red leaves left.

Those three Wise Men,
They've got a semi by the sea.
Got to ask yourself the question,
Where are you now?

Blood red. So red that you wanted to reach out and touch them just to see if they felt like they looked…or maybe even taste them to see if they were as deliciously red or crisp as they looked.

Really sorry now,
They weren't to know.

Suddenly a thought flashed into Rachel's head and she became so alarmed that she actually gasped and stood up, tripping over her own feet.

They got caught up in your talent show,
With you pernickety little bastards in your fancy dress,
Who just judge each other and try to impress,

A man nearby saw her and stood up. "Are you okay Miss?"

Rachel steadied herself. She took a deep breath and then sent the man a bone chilling glare.

"Yes," she replied coldly. "I'm not a child, I can handle myself." She grabbed her stuff and rushed past the gapping man. She rushed to the park that she had been gazing at. She saw that a couple of red leaves had already fallen in her commotion and it only made her feel worse inside.

Look who's alone now,
It's not me. It's not me.

Rachel didn't care at the moment though because she had her eyes focused on the single red leaf that lay left. The leaf, all alone by itself.

Those three Wise Men,
They've got a semi by the sea.

And then Rachel heard it. It was in the wind. The poem from not so long ago…

Faith is…

To breathe the flower

in every seed.

To see a star in every drop of dew.

To await the promise of the

rainbow, despite the cloud,

To believe in someone

Even when they are silent.

Faith… Rachel didn't know what that meant anymore. But she had the sudden inspiration to move on with her life…however hard it may seem to be.

Got to ask yourself the question,
Where are you now?

Kori and Richard walked into the theme park. It was part of a mall; it was a huge space, glass windows completely covering one of the walls. Rides were everywhere, and little kids' screams could be heard from every direction. The smell of hog dogs and popcorn hit the two as they came into the park.

They had paid at the front, and once they were inside Richard asked Kori what she wanted to do. "What ride would you like to go on first?"

Kori was jumping up and down like a little kid on their birthday. Richard had to laugh.

"Everything here is simply exciting—" That's when Kori's eye caught something.

Richard looked over to see what she was gapping at. He laughed. "Oh I see you've seen the Ferris wheel!"

Kori nodded. "May we go on it?!"

Richard smiled, "Of course! This day is for you after all."

Kori threw her arms around him. "Oh thank you, thank you!!" Then she skipped happily over the pink Ferris wheel.

Richard stayed behind for a moment, a little in shock to the hug he had just been given. He couldn't deny that he felt a little pleased that she was finally okay with the physical contact he could offer.

A little while later, Kori and Richard were up on the Ferris wheel, the rest of the park far beneath them. Kori kept clutching Richard at every lurch the machine gave. Richard felt a little weird and yet at the same time happy at the contact.

When the ride stopped, leaving Richard and Kori alone, Richard felt the silence descend upon them. Although he saw that Kori's eyes had become large pools as she was taking in all the miniature people and figures underneath them.

Richard would have been happy to watch Kori looking at the new sites, the whole time, but he knew he had to get her to talk.

He cleared his throat, and Kori immediately looked at him expectantly. "So it seems like you've never been on a Ferris wheel before."

Kori nodded, "I have only been to the 'parks' that have the coaster that rolls, quickly."

"Wow so you're parents never took you out to these amusement parks?"

Kori cocked her head, avoiding the question for a moment. "They are called amusement parks? But how will they know that I will be amused? Do they have cameras that know these things?"

Richard smiled, "No, no…they call them amusement parks because—" wait, why did they call them that? Now that he thought about it, it did seem kind of odd. He continued, "Well I guess because a lot of people have fun and are amused so they generally call them 'amusement parks'."

"Oh…" Kori thought for a moment. Richard thought that she would move to another subject but instead, she didn't avoid his original question. "My parents are dead," she explained. "They died a long time ago, when I was a little girl. But you already know that. I was adopted into a 'foster' family along with a boy called Gar." Suddenly Kori's eyes were filled with warmth that Richard had never seen. "I love Gar; he is like my brother. He has helped me so much, when I was down or in trouble; he has always been there for me.

"We may not have gone to the parks of amusement but we did do many fun things together. I think Gar understands me, do you know what I mean Richard?" Kori looked at him.

Richard had been feeling a little weird ever since Kori had said the words, "I love Gar". Even though he knew he was like her brother, he felt jealous that this 'brother' understood Kori, and not him. He knew it was pathetic so he tried to put on a smile and show that nothing was wrong. "Oh yeah, I know exactly what you mean."

Kori went on to explain how Gar had saved her from getting raped once in school, and how he had saved her from getting caught for being late, or when he had saved her from the bully in elementary school etc…

Richard knew he should have felt glad that he was getting Kori to talk but well, he felt jealousy. But after a while, Richard realised that Kori wasn't even talking to him anymore—it was more that she was recalling these things for herself.

And for that, Richard understood that she needed it. Kori needed to be reminded of how much she really did have in her life. That it wasn't over and only the beginning.

Richard also realised that Kori seemed to be normal after a while of talking about her family. She wasn't overly happy nor depressed just…normal. After a while, Richard ignored his jealous feelings, and smiled. He liked this Kori, and it dawned on him that the world was a selfish place. How could anyone want to even destroy Kori's innocence? He was so deep in thought that that he didn't even realise that the ride was over.

"Coming Richard?" Kori asked smiling, already halfway down the stairs.

Richard jumped up. "Oh! Yeah, coming." He felt bad all of the sudden that he hadn't really been listening to Kori talk. But when he looked over to see if Kori was mad at him, he was surprised to see her smiling very contently to herself. It was almost as though none of the bad things in her life had ever happened. He watched her lightly walking, as though she was on air, while a small smile played on her lips. She looked a little bit like an angel. Richard was struck by this thought and he couldn't help but stare at her.

"What are you staring at Richard?" Kori asked innocently.

Richard blushed and quickly looked down. "Oh, just how beautiful you look when you smile."

Kori giggled nervously and also blushed. "Oh um, you are also beautiful when you smile."

Richard laughed put his arm around her uncertainly. Though he was certain about one thing; things were changing in a good way.

Later that night, Richard was in his office organizing some papers when Karen came by. It was a medium sized pale blue office. It wasn't an ideally huge room like Bruce's office at Wayne Enterprises, but Richard had decided long ago that he could live with it. The large mahogany desk took up the back wall completely. There were two deep blue comfy chairs around the desk.

Richard and Karen's relationship had become a little rocky from their last meeting, but they had come to forgive each other.

Richard was currently buried in a huge pile of papers that he trying to organize. His white blouse sleeves were rolled up and his face was red. He looked quite frazzled and frustrated.

When Karen found him, he was muttering to himself, "No, no, NO! That's not it! What the—! Why is this here? Where did I that dratted thing!! ARgh!"

Karen leaned against the doorframe and chuckled to herself. Richard was too busy looking for a paper in the heap, to hear or see her. But the site before her was too funny and Karen eventually couldn't hold in her laughter.

Richard immediately looked up, "Oh…it's you."

Karen had tears of mirth in her eyes. "Hey! What do you mean it's 'just me'? I'm a lot you know. Even asked Vic."

"Oh, I'm sure he would know," Richard muttered.

Karen sat down on one of the blue chairs. "So," she smiled, "how was your day?"

Richard—who had sat in the opposite chair to join her—immediately got up again and began sorting through other papers. "Oh, you know, fine…so how was your day?"

Karen's smile disappeared from her face while a look of concern replaced it. "You're avoiding the subject…something must have happened I assume?"

Richard looked up and his voice caught in his throat as he saw the intense look of concern on Karen's face. It suddenly dawned on Richard. "You really care about Kori, don't you?"

Karen nodded, "Very much. I think that if we had grown up together or gone to same high school, we would have been very good friends."

Richard stared at her for a moment. He could have shouted, "No!". He could have completely avoided the subject. He knew Karen only pushed to a point and conveniently she knew the breaking points of all her friends. It was just how she was; always knowing, just knowing. You didn't even have to anything sometimes, and she would just know. Richard realised that he didn't have anything to hide from her, especially after what happened in high school.

Richard threw the papers he was holding down, and flopped into the same blue chair as before. He sighed, and paused a moment before speaking. "You know, today I took Kori to the Woodbine Centre Theme Park."

Karen nodded, prompting Richard to continue.

"Well everything today was a little weird with Kori. Lately I noticed she was still down, even depressed. But when we got to the fair it was like all that happiness she missed during those weeks had built up and let loose. It was like she was happy, except too happy. Like overly happy." Richard was trying to make Karen understand the way he'd seen it.

"I know," Karen said simply. "I know exactly what you mean. That usually happens to patients I have. They do seem a little 'overly' happy at times. It has to do with that, but not entirely. But I sense that's not what's bothering you completely." She peered at him. Her eyes seemed to go right through his soul.

Richard put his hands up, "Caught me." He laugh lightly, "Never could keep anything from you."

Karen put her elbows on her knees, "Just tell me."

"Okay, see when we went on the Ferris wheel, Kori started talking about this guy called 'Gar'. He's her foster brother, but apparently so close to her. She 'loves' him. And, more, when she was talking about him, she seemed so, I don't know, normal. Incredibly different from the person she shows us." Now Richard was even more confused thinking about this.

Karen nodded and thought for a moment. "Richard…you're jealous?" She asked in disbelief.

Richard turned a little red. "NO! Why would you think I'm jealous?"

"Because you are. You're jealous that you weren't the one to help Kori in her previous times of need. That it was this Gar that is her confident. The one who happens to always know what to say to her in her times of need. You're jealous that it took you more than a month to get this far, whereas for Gar, he will always be able to help Kori because he has he trust and confidence."

Richard only stared at Karen, wondering what her technique was on mind reading was.

"That's how you're feeling, isn't it?" Karen asked.

Richard nodded numbly.

"And you feel selfish and guilty, yet it feels right."

Richard eyes went wide, "Yeah, that too. How do you know all this Karen? Who taught you to read minds?"

"I don't read minds, I just—I went through the same stuff you're going through for another person."

Richard stared at her dumbly. "You went through that for Victor?"

Karen looked up sharply. "I didn't say Victor, did I?"

"No but it's a good guess."

Karen stood up abruptly. "Richard, there is something about life you should know. Everybody has there secrets." And with that Karen was gone.

A/N: Well that's it! There's a bit of foreshadowing there at the end, I wonder if any of you picked up on it. It's not as long as other chapters and I'm really sorry that it took a stupid 6 months to send this in.

It's just that I'm getting a little bored with this story. I don't watch Teen Titans anymore and I don't really read Teen Titans fanfiction anymore. This chapter fought me tooth and nail. I actually wrote some of it back in the summer. I kept adding bits and pieces through the year but I didn't really know what to put or write.

Tell me if you think I'm losing my touch or if anyone is interested in the story anymore. I promise though, that I will try to update as much as this gr. 11 year will let me.

Oh an REVIEW:)

Violet