A/N: Hey guys, I'm here, and with an all – new one - shot. I really was short on time to say the least between softball, school, friends and other miscellaneous commitments, but I really hope this came out quite fine on a ranking scale for all.

Now that all of that's out of the way, lets get on with the story. This really is just something that came to the top of my head a while ago when I was sad and I just never found time to write it, but now I've found the heart to finish it. For time purposes and everything, this is merely going to be a one-shot. It may be short in length and kind of choppy but please, enjoy.

REDEMPTION

"You're late."

Richard Grayson stopped in mid motion of shutting the door, hesitantly turning away from it and to his fiancé. He was surprised when he saw her face that she had not gotten out of the leather chair she was sitting in to come punch him square in the jaw. But oh no, the beauty kept an air of cool around herself, merely speaking to him with her eyes. And at that very moment the amethyst orbs were drilling into him as if they could see his very soul.

And right then and there Richard didn't doubt it if she could.

Slowly, he closed the door fully, feeling caged at the zoo with a ferocious mountain lioness. He could lose his life at any second now, and it made him edgy as he gradually made his way to Raven. Deliberately, with slow motions, he took off his Nightwing mask and discarded it on the floor, leaving his own eyes to show their sincerity and hoping to calm her down.

He could tell even by her casual position that she was having an internal battle with herself. He took in her posture, how her right leg was crossed over her left and how both her arms were laying flat across the arms of the recliner. She wore her pajamas, black lacy panties with white polka spots and a matching tank top. She had carelessly put on a short, silk white robe, blending in with her creamy complexion. She looked like an absolute angel.

And yet Richard was absolutely terrified of her.

When he finally made if over to the dark woman he leaned down in front of her in his Nightwing costume, resting his gloved hand gently on her thigh, caressing it. He looked her in her eyes, smiling for a slight second before pressing his lips against hers in trying to steal a kiss, hoping she'd forgive him. But without even so much as returning it, she turned her head to the side, her above shoulder length violet hair whipping around with her. Richard sighed and pressed his lips against her cheek, closing his eyes in defeat. She was mad.

"You're late…" she said again in the exact same manner.

"Hun, I'm sorry, but…"

"Again." She cut him off, deadpanned.

He sighed once more and pulled back a bit from her so he could see her full face, but still not taking his hand from off her exposed leg.

"Baby… sweetie… you know what me being a vigilante means. Things are going to be hard, it's a demanding task to clean up Gotham's streets, but I'm willing to do it. I thought you'd have my back on this as well…"

She glared at him. "You can't possibly use that excuse all the time, Richard. You can't always be the only one protecting Gotham. What of Bats? And the other Titans? They promised to help us out with Gotham as well ever since we got together so we wouldn't be the only two former teens on the job. I thought you wanted a life for us." She stopped to catch her breath and sighed, her eyes softening a bit and almost going sad. "You were with her… weren't you?"

Richard groaned and stood up, pacing away from here and running a hand through his shaggy ebony hair. "You think that I was with Star of all people?" Raven solemnly nodded her head yes.

"Raven, that one time that me and Star went out was when we had ran into each other in the city and sat down to have some coffee, that was it. I haven't seen her since. She's only a friend, a sister at most. Honey we're engaged, remember?" he asked, taking off his left glove and holding his hand up while motioning to the ring he wore. She glanced down at hers in response, stroking it. "I love you more then anything in this world."

Raven looked up and she met his eyes once more. Richard looked into them and saw her shield was breaking, her hardness slowly faltering as he spoke such words to her. But he could sense a sadness like never before from her. She uncrossed her legs and brought them up fully on the chair, criss – crossing them and dropping her hands in her lap.

"Richard…" she whispered out his name, closing her eyes and biting on her bottom lip. She seemed as if she were loosing control of her emotions and Richard quickly went at her side and kneeled before her again, taking her delicate hand in his and stroking it gently.

"Shhh… Raven, please don't cry… why are you crying honey?"

She opened her eyes again and tears fell from her amethyst orbs.

"Richard… I can smell her perfume on you." She muttered, the tears continuing to slide down her cheeks. His eyes widened.

"Raven, you have to believe me… it's not what it looks like." He whispered, gently wiping away the tears that were sliding down her face continuously. She had begun shaking a tad bit, and Richard was surprised when she suddenly sat still before him, her face clear from their former tear held eyes.

"Then what is it, Richard? What is going on? Please do enlighten me." She hissed out, gaining back her rough edge and putting herself back up on attack. It took him off guard and he didn't know how to reply at first.

"I… Raven. Please, stop thinking to be what it isn't because nothing's happened." He begged to her, clutching her hand a bit tighter. He wished her eyes would falter their harshness for a mere minute at least.

"Richard, save it. You don't know how much you've been hurting me. Between your late nights and sleeping in so much till the afternoon… I don't know what to think anymore. I thought I was enough for you…"

"Raven! You are, god dammit you're all I need and ever will! All I want is you, why do you keep assuming the worse? Baby please." Richard pleaded.

Raven eyes shifted from their focus on the wall behind his head and finally to Richards own eyes. The blue in them had never looked as pure as they did right in that second, and it tore Raven's heart in two to not truly know if she could trust her gut feeling and believe him or go by the evidence and say he was cheating on her with her best friend, Kori.

"I want you out." She whispered. His mouth dropped open and he looked at her with shocked and weary eyes.

"R-Raven. You aren't serious, Hun. You can't possibly be." He said, trying to laugh airily and force a smile on his face so she would realize he had caught onto the joke. But her stare was unmoving, and her face dead serious. "Oh god… you aren't kidding. You have to be fucking kidding me!!"

Raven merely slipped the ring that had occupied her ring finger for almost 5 months now and placed it into Richard's hand slowly, cupping her hands over his large ones and bending her head down in utter hurt. Richard's eyes welled up with tears, wanting nothing more then to sob in her arms, have her hold him like she used to and beg her that this wasn't all happening.

"But… Ra-"

"Enough." She hissed, not being able to control her voice well. "I want you out of here."

"You can't… this is… this is both of ours house." He stated matter of factly.

She shook her head. "Not until I allow you to be in here once again… if ever."

Richard stared at her in absolute pain. It felt as if she had just jabbed a knife through his heart and twisted and twisted until all that was left was a mangled object that couldn't be named. He could feel his heart pounding at an erratic pace and he could hear his breath coming out in rasps. He leaned his forehead against hers, whispering against her lips all the while.

"Please Raven…" he whispered. "You have to believe me, baby. Don't throw all we have out because of this, all our love and all we've been through. Please…" he was pleading softly, kissing her lips gently between breaths. Raven sat there almost immobile, trying to pull away from his alluring lips but lightly kissing him back, almost regretfully. His hands flew to her waist to hold her, trying to kiss her more deeply and wanting nothing more then to continuing exploring every part of her. Finally she pulled back and he saw tears had bubbled over her eye - lids and were streaking down her cheeks.

"Goodbye, Richard." She whispered sadly, turning her face away from his while trying to steady her breathing down to normal.

Richard didn't know what else to do then to stand up from his kneeling position in front of her, bend down to pick up his Nightwing mask, turn away without a glance back and walk out the door, running outside into the dark twilight where it was now pouring outside. He couldn't think of anything else to do but run, and run far, far away. He didn't even bother to put his mask on, but finally let the tears he had held in their home spill out and mix into the rain from the sky.

He ended up on top of one of Gotham's tallest buildings, in which he could see his old home from. At last he saw Raven's thin form get up from the chair she had been sitting in, turn the light off and walk off down the hall. He glared out at it, wanting nothing more then to go back there and kiss her with everything he had.

He didn't know how, but he was going to redeem himself. He needed Raven back. He needed her comfort. Her trust. Her friendship. Her kindness. But most of all he needed her love. He needed her.

And he would do anything to get her back. Redemption would come…

And before he could control his anger and pain any longer, he let out a pain-filled scream, blending in with the booming thunder and crackling lighting, completely fading in with the rest of the night.

END

I absolutely loved writing this… I don't know why but I found it very refreshing and new for me considering my usual happy endings. My emotions have been on end lately, and this felt so good to just... write like this to get so much anger and undescribable feelings off my chest. Hope you enjoyed, so please review.

xDeepestDepressionx