Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.

Also, look, guys! Look! Titled chapters! (If you have read anything else by me, specifically the Calm After The Storm, you will know that I hate titles. So I'm very proud of myself for titled chapters. Just saying. Okay. Go read the fic now. I'll shut up.)

Chapter One: Flight

Starfire stalked through the Tower. She was looking for Robin. The rest of the Titans wanted to watch a movie, and they'd left it up to her to drag him out of the investigation room. She didn't mind. She usually liked it. She stopped in front of the room and punched in the keycode. The doors hissed open obediently.

The room was a little cold, both in temperature and in spirit. The walls and floor were gray, and the lights in the room hung from overhead, illuminating the room with only severe slices of dingy yellow light. There were three tables in the room, presumably so that if more than one investigation was going on at once, one wouldn't disturb the other. They each had four metal stools situated around them.

Robin was perched on a stool at the middle table, his back to her. The white light from his laptop was by far the brightest illumination in the room. He should have heard her come in, but he was so absorbed in what he was doing that he didn't notice her.

She smiled to herself and wrapped her arms around him from behind. He tensed at first, but then he relaxed. "Starfire?" he asked, leaning his head back against her shoulder.

"Indeed," she confirmed, her breath tickling his ear.

He took her hand and pulled her around to sit on his lap. "What's the occasion?" he asked.

"I was simply missing you," she said playfully. She knew he didn't usually like it when she said things like that, but as long as the other Titans weren't around, it was fair game.

"Yeah, well, you know I'd get distracted too easily if you stayed in here with me." He looked over her shoulder at the computer screen.

She sat quietly in his lap for a moment before tracing her finger along the yellow clasps on his vest. "We were wondering if you wanted to do the viewing of a movie."

Robin sighed. "Star, I'm in the middle of-"

"Please?" she pouted and blinked a few times for effect.

He lowered one eyebrow. He glanced from the computer screen to his girlfriend. "If I leave now, I'm gonna have to come back later and finish this."

She leaned forward so that her mouth was by his ear. She rubbed her hands over his shoulders. "Perhaps later I may accompany you and we could-"

He caught her wrists in his hands hastily. "Star, come on, seriously."

"I was not doing jokes," she protested with a frown. She pulled her wrists out of his grasp. "What is it that you are searching for?"

"That white body-changing creature we fought. And any information on Terra I can find." And Slade. He didn't say it, but she knew it was true.

This irked her. Not that he was returning to how creepily obsessive he had been about Slade in the past- well, that bothered her but she could only expect that from him- but that he wasn't telling her exactly what he was doing. "That is all you are researching?" she demanded, her voice edgy.

Robin glanced at an unopened tab on his browser before looking at her again. "Yes," he answered defensively.

Starfire sighed. "What have you found of Terra?"

"I know a lot about her past now. Since Geo-Force came here looking for her and told us that she was actually the Princess of Markovia, I've been researching it. I've found out about other villains and heroes who were the result of Markovian experiments, and I learned about the specificities of why Terra was never able to control her powers. But that doesn't help much with where she is now or how that happened. I wish I thought to put a video camera by her statue."

Starfire was half-listening as he continued to ramble, but she was still annoyed. Perhaps, as his girlfriend, she should give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he really wasn't looking for Slade, but she knew him much better than that. She stood up. She didn't feel like being very close to him anymore.

"What the matter?" he asked furrowing his brow.

She should just go back. Tell their friends that he wouldn't be joining them for the movie… "Are you or are you not also doing the research in hopes of finding Slade?"

Robin blew air out of his cheeks. She was annoying him. She didn't really care- at least it was mutual. "I am. So what?"

"Why did you not tell me this?" Starfire asked softly, trying not to sound like she was scolding him. That would just make him unresponsive, she knew from experience.

"I don't know, I guess I just forgot to mention it," he answered rigidly.

She softened her expression. "So are you or are you not going to be joining us for the viewing of the movie?" She gave him her patented pleasing look- head lowered, blinky eyes, slightly furrowed eyebrows, mouth in a small frown-

He crossed his arms over his chest. "I guess not."

"Robin, please. You must give your eyes some rest," she advised worriedly.

"I don't think switching from a computer screen to TV screen is considered rest," he replied.

"Then we do not need to watch the movie. You and I could-"

"Not in the mood."

She felt her eyes widen. That hurt. She stepped back from him a little.

His glanced at her before turning his attention back to the screen in front of him. "Starfire, I'm sorry, but I don't have time to worry about hurting your feelings. I'm working three different cases, here. Can't you understand?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. The effect was lost as he had his back to her. "I am sorry that the welfare of my feelings require so much effort from you," she deadpanned.

He twisted on the stool to look at her. "Don't. Don't do that," he said in a warning tone.

"Do what?" she demanded.

"That thing you do where you try to make everyone think the same way as you," he deadpanned.

"I do know what you are talking about!" she cried indignantly.

"Yes, you do. In your 'emotions guide us' type of way. It's not like that for everyone. Some people have to use logic first. Whether we want to or not."

"And being nice to me is not logical?" she rebuffed moodily.

"That's not what I'm saying at all!"

"That is how you are behaving."

Robin sighed. He finally climbed out of his stool. "Do you really think I want to do this all the time? Do you think I wouldn't be happier goofing off playing video games and watching movies all day long? I have to lock myself in here for hours and hours because I'm the only who can do it. I'm the only one who can handle it."

"So the rest of us are incapable," she concluded.

"I'm not saying that."

"So what you are saying is that we are less fit than you? That because we enjoy doing other things we are not as good a Titan as you?"

Robin shook his head. "Look, just because you choose to act all naïve and lovey all the time instead of helping me in here-"

"Excuse me?" she interrupted sharply.

Robin paused, like he was replaying what had just come out of his mouth. "I mean…"

"You think that I choose to be naïve? Would you like to be dropped on a foreign planet after escaping from the ruthless war-crazy overlords of your star system after serving them for five years in order to secure your planet's safety? Would you like to be stuck on a blue rock in space filled with six billion inhabitants and know that not one of them could possibly be familiar to you at all? Would you like to learn all the intricacies of a strange planet, that eats strange food and speaks a strange language with strange words for strange concepts, and then see how naïve you appear?" She was shouting by the time she finished her frenzied speech, and the truth of her own words caused tears to prick painfully at her eyes.

Robin's face slackened. "Um…"

"I may be naïve, Robin, but I am not so naïve that I do not know when someone has no caring feelings for someone else." She crossed her arms over her chest, waiting for a response. She leaned forward like he was saying something she couldn't hear.

"I didn't mean that. But you know how I get when I do this stuff." He gripped the back of the stool he was standing next to for support.

"Correct. I do know how you get. And I was trying to help you to relax so that you would not get like this," she reminded him.

He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "I know that. But I can't just abandon the work. It has to get done…"

"Must it get done right at this moment? Can you not spare a moment even for me? Must you resort to the yelling and mean words so quickly?" she asked softly.

"Starfire… I really didn't mean any of that," Robin told her softly. He moved toward her, but she backed away from him.

She was still fighting tears, trying to hold herself together so that he would understand. So that she could say what needed to be said. "It does not matter if you meant those words, Robin. You still said them."

He stepped toward her again and she backed up again. He took on a pleading tone. "But I was angry."

She furrowed her brow and gaped at him. "I know that. Why should that diminish the meaning or the effect that your words have on me?"

"Because…" he stammered. "Because… because… I wasn't thinking."

She was so confused by his logic. "I do not follow your thinking. Is this Earth custom? Are you thinking very clearly when you are telling me that you care for me after engaging in lip contact?"

"I guess not, but-"

"So do you not mean that either?" she asked, genuinely confused.

"No, I do, but-"

"So how am I supposed to know if you mean what you say? Am I supposed to wait and see if you take the words back?"

"You're taking this way out of context," he told her.

"Because I am naïve?" she demanded dryly.

"No! Star… Jesus…" he took a step toward her a third time, and just like all the other times, she backed up. She was pressed against the door now, and she reached for the keypad to punch in the code and exit the room.

Before she could even react, he closed the distance between them and took her wrist that was reaching for the keypad. He pressed it firmly against the door. She looked at him, feeling so confused and a little scared and she couldn't help but react to how close they were. She didn't struggle against him.

He touched her cheek with his right hand and she leaned into his touch. He brushed his lips against hers softly before kissing her harder. She wasn't resisting him, but she wasn't really responding, either. He tugged her wrist up until she put it obediently around his neck. He put his hands on her hips and she let her other hand float up to grab his arm. When he broke for air, he rested his forehead against hers. "I don't want to hurt you," he whispered.

She squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn't stop the tears that were pooling behind her lids. She pressed herself against the door, shrinking away from him. "You are confusing me," she muttered, almost like she was talking to herself.

Robin stepped back. "Starfire…"

She reached for the keypad.

"Wait, Star-"

She turned away from him completely and punched in the code. The doors slid open and she almost fell through them. She looked up at Robin as the doors slid closed. He looked upset, and it made her want to go back in and tell him that it was okay, but some of the things he said made her need to think. She blinked back tears that were threatening to brim over her lower lids.

She made her way back to the ops room, as she needed to pass through there to get back to her room, and announced through a tight throat that Robin was not coming to watch the movie, and neither was she.

The three Titans on the couch turned to her worriedly. "Star? Beast Boy called as she blew past them.

She didn't answer him and she rushed on to her room. Once she was inside, she put in the locking command so that nobody would be able to get in, even with the code to open her door. Cyborg had the override code in case of an emergency, but she trusted that he wouldn't use it just to try to talk to her when he realized why she was upset.

Silkie was lying on the foot of her bed and he made worried warbling noises. She curled into a ball under the covers and he burrowed his way under to sit a vigil next to her.

"I don't know, dude, I think she'll be pretty ticked about it," Beast Boy warned as Robin typed furiously at the main computer in the ops room.

"Maybe you should just leave her alone," Cyborg advised, watching Robin worriedly.

"I've been leaving her alone for a week," Robin pointed out as he continued to clack at the keyboard.

"I told you… You gotta wait until she stops playing Taylor Swift songs around the clock," the changeling reminded his leader.

Robin scowled but didn't turn away from the computer monitor. "This isn't a joke, Beast Boy," he scolded.

The verdant teen sighed in annoyance. "I know that! I'm not joking! When a girl listens to nothing but Taylor Swift after a breakup…? It's bad news!"

Robin swiveled his chair toward Beast Boy. "We did not break up."

The other two male members of the team exchanged glances. "Um. Robin?" Cyborg asked slowly, like he was talking to a child. "You haven't spoken to her in a week, remember?"

"Yeah, but neither have you," the Teen Wonder pointed out as he swiveled back to the computer monitor.

Cyborg shrugged at Beast Boy, who took over. "Yeah, but dude, it's like… different. When your girlfriend refuses to speak to you for a week… It kinda means she doesn't wanna be your girlfriend anymore."

"Then I'll get her to change her mind," Robin countered simply, giving his friends a confused look, as though he couldn't figure out why they hadn't thought of that themselves.

"Don't you think that messing with the alarm system is going a little far? What happens if we get an actual call while you're doing this?" Cyborg asked gently.

"Guys, it's okay. I analyzed it, and statistically, this is the best time to do this. Based on the number of calls a day we've been getting and the amount of-"

"Okay, okay, Jimmy Neutron, we don't need to hear your whole study. But… like… what are you gonna say to her?" Beast Boy asked.

Robin sighed. "I'm not sure. But I'll think of something. I'll tell her I made a mistake."

Cyborg looked worried, but as he was in no position to offer any words of advice, he stayed quiet.

"What did you do, anyway?" Beast Boy demanded. "Was it, like, a sex thing?"

"A sex thi-?! No!" Robin spluttered. He pushed himself away from the keyboard and whirled toward Beast Boy angrily.

"No? So the sex was good?"

Robin shot out of his chair and spin-kicked Beast Boy so that the couch flipped over. The changeling landed in a heap after slamming against the counter in the kitchenette. Beast Boy groaned.

"Why don't you just ask Raven to put in a good word for you or something?" Cyborg asked, trying to ignore Beast Boy.

Robin shook his head and dragged his hand through his hair. "She won't. She won't even tell me what Star's saying to her when she goes in there. And you won't give me the override code for her door," Robin reminded his friend accusingly.

Cyborg raised his hands with his palms facing out. "Hey, I am not getting in the middle of this. If you wanna do something stupid like set off the alarm to get her to come out of her room, you go right ahead."

"Are you sure? Because I'm almost done. Once I put in the command… that's it." Robin looked at Cyborg almost hopefully.

The cybernetic teen purposefully avoided his leader's gaze. "Do what you gotta, dude. I'm out."

Robin sighed and looked up at the screen. He pressed the enter button on the keyboard and immediately red light flooded the room and the alarm klaxon filled the air.

"Good luck," Cyborg muttered doubtfully as Robin rushed out of the room.

Starfire had been going out on missions with the team, but she'd wait until they were all gone before she'd come out of her room and meet them wherever the trouble was. She'd help out, careful never to interact with Robin except to listen to any orders he'd give the team- he'd gotten a good punch in the face because of that, actually- and then she'd fly back to the tower, sometimes accompanied by Raven, and once Beast Boy went with them, before Robin or Cyborg could even offer to take her back. It was infuriating.

Robin pressed himself against the wall next to her door. He stayed like that for six minutes- a pretty negligible time, actually- before her door slid open. He grabbed blindly for her and his fingers connected with her metal gauntlet. She gave a cry of surprise and she tried to wrench her arm back, but he held fast. He was jerked into her room and this only seemed to make her panic even more.

"Starfire," he growled. She wasn't using her powers, so must not be that desperate. And it wasn't like he was going to do anything to her. He just wanted her to stop thrashing around so he could say something.

He wrestled her against the wall after about half a minute, and once her back was pressed against the steel, she stilled, looking up at him with wide eyes.

He'd missed her. Her eyes were such a bright green that it was hard to conjure up an image of it without underestimating just how bright they were. And her hair was such a deep red, and her skin such an odd orangey-gold that she could only just pass it off as a Mediterranean complexion- it was like seeing in color after being doomed to black and white for a week.

She looked shocked and definitely not pleased but she had more of a pouty expression than an angry one. She was waiting for him to say something, but all the words he knew in multiple languages all fled from his mind.

He let his head hang, feeling strangely defeated. "I missed you," he murmured, unable to look at her.

To his surprise, she dug her hands into his hair and tilted his head back a little roughly and kissed him fiercely. He made a surprised noise against her mouth but that didn't seem to slow her down at all.

He squeezed his eyes shut. He didn't come here for this. He needed to talk to her. He pulled away from her a little, panting. "Star, wait, I-"

She bit his lip. Hard. He let his mouth hang open and his brow knitted together. She rested her head back against the wall and raised her eyebrows expectantly. She was giving him a choice. He could talk to her or he could do what it seemed like she wanted him to. He should talk to her, he knew, but he couldn't even remember his first name, never mind recall what exactly he wanted to say. Cyborg was right. He should have planned this out better.

But he didn't. Even if he did, he never would have expected this. Even if he'd been told before tripping the alarm- which, he just realized, was still going off- he wouldn't have expected this. He couldn't handle the way she was looking at him- the way her lids seemed heavy so she had to look at him through her lashes and her mouth was slightly parted and the way her eyebrows were still raised a little. He didn't know how her eyes could hold so much heat without any trace of a starbolt in them.

He pulled her toward him and caught her mouth with his. She let him feel in control for only a few moments before she pressed against him eagerly. She ran her fingers over his chest, clutching at and undoing the yellow clasps on his vest. Without letting any space come between their lips, she freed his cape from where it attached to his uniform at his shoulders and at the nape of his neck. She pushed him back toward her bed and pushed him onto it before climbing on top of him.

"Star," he stammered, panicking slightly. This was going so fast, and she was acting so strangely. She ignored him and trailed kisses across his collar bone. He groaned and rested his head against her mattress arching his torso closer to her. He struggled to think of something to say, but it was getting increasingly harder to concentrate.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a purple backpack and a purple duffle bag. A wave of panic broke through him and he pushed her back, but she resisted. He flipped himself over so that she was under him. She made an odd noise that closely resembled a purr and she tried to rub herself against him.

Still bewildered by her behavior, he firmly planted a gloved hand on her hip to keep her still. Before she could distract him anymore, he demanded, "Why are there packed bags in the corner over there?"

Her eyes widened and her lips parted in surprise. He tried not to think of the way she kissed him before and looked at her eyes. They lost that weird heated look and she looked kind of scared now.

She sat up and he shifted so that he wasn't leaning over her anymore. She looked from the bags in the corner back to Robin.

Anger surged through him. He walked over to her closet and pulled the door open. The shelves and hangers were bare. He walked over to her dresser and started pulling drawers open. All of them were empty. His temper was growing with each empty drawer and he was yanking them open more and more roughly as he continued.

"What are you doing?" Starfire called timidly from her bed.

He spun around to face her. "What am I doing? What the hell are you doing?"

She looked down at her hands and he kneeled on her mattress in front of her. Trying to be gentle, he tilted her chin so that she had to look at him. "What's going on?" he asked, forcing calmness into his voice.

Her eyes shone as tears filled them. Great. She put her hand on his wrist and gently pushed his hand away. "I have been doing much thinking."

"You're not leaving," he snapped.

She squeezed her eyes closed like she was in pain. "It has already been decided."

"But you can't go."

"I must," she said softly. Her voice was coming out thin and unsure, but somehow he didn't think it was because she was unsure.

"Why? Because you and I had a fight? Don't you think that's an overreaction?" he demanded.

"No. Not because of our bickering. Because I have spent the entire time I have been on this planet doing the fighting of crime. I have not learned of its ways. I am thinking that perhaps I made a mistake in choosing to stay here instead of going back to Tamaran…" she looked away from him almost like she was ashamed.

He put his hands on her shoulders. "Aren't you happy? Don't you feel like you belong?" His voice came out pained and he swallowed in an attempt to regain control over himself.

She looked back up at him and a tear trickled down her cheek. "I felt like I belonged with you," she said so quietly that he almost didn't hear her.

Electricity crackled in his veins and he felt his face heat up. "You do, Starfire. You belong with me. You can't leave."

"But that is why I must," she explained. She blinked and more tears rolled down her cheeks. "I have not experienced Earth. I have experienced you. I fear that perhaps that was a bad decision."

Robin reached up and wiped her cheek with the heel of his hand. "It wasn't. I'm here for you." He pulled her into his arms so that her head rested against his shoulder and her back was cradled against his arm. He kissed her forehead.

She let him hold her like that for a moment before untangling herself from his arms. "You say that now, Robin, but how am I to know when you mean what you say?" She scrambled to the edge of the bed and stood, teetering a little on her feet like she was dazed. She bent and looped her arm through one of the straps of her backpack. "I cannot stay to wait for you to take it back."

He stood up. "I won't. I mean it, Star. Don't go."

She blinked and more tears cascaded down her face. When some people cry, their noses and cheeks turn red and their eyes swell and their mouth contorts into chapped and swollen grimaces. But she looked almost regal, biting a tiny bit at her bottom lip to keep it from trembling. The rest of her face was calm, her eyes soft and shining and her brow furrowed a little. He took her chin in his hand again and pulled her into a soft kiss. "Please stay," he murmured against her lips.

She pulled back and scooped up the strap of her duffle bag. She just shook her head. Her eyes closed gently as she stepped toward her window.

"Starfire, you have to stay. I don't know what'll happen to me if you go," he told her, his voice cracking under the weight of the truth.

She opened her eyes and sniffled. "And I do not know what will happen to me if I stay." She tore herself away from him and turned toward her window. She pushed it open and flew out of it.

Robin rushed to the window and called out to her. He fumbled in his belt for his grappling hook gun and took aim.

A transparent black mass in the shape of a Raven that radiated cold stretched out in front of him. Raven stepped out of the figure, not saying anything.

"Raven… I have to go after her!" he shouted wildly. The shouting kept his voice from breaking.

"I can't let you," she said softly.

"You knew about this?" he demanded. "You knew she was going to leave?"

Raven glanced down and to the side.

"How could you just let her go? How can you help her? She's leaving!" he shouted desperately, unable to keep more emotion than he intended from escaping into the last word.

"It was a decision she made," Raven told him mournfully.

"A decision you supported. You think she's right. You think I'm… bad for her…" He backed away from Raven until the back of his knees hit Starfire's bed. He sank down on it and cradled his head in his hands.

Raven sat next to him and put her hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "I don't think that. But, Robin, she's an alien. She does things differently than we do. You didn't feel it… Every single thing you said had such a great impact on her emotions. It was almost unhealthy."

"Where's she going?" he asked, looking out the window in hopes of catching her receding form. She was already gone, though.

"She didn't tell me. I don't think she knows."

Robin sighed. "I really screwed up."

"It's not your fault. " You were just a catalyst," Raven soothed.

"That's not very comforting. But thanks for trying." Robin pushed himself off the bed and strode the halls determinedly.

"Where are you going?" Raven asked, jumping up after him.

"I'm going to track her communicator."

"Um, Robin…" she called. She stopped and narrowed her eyes at him, annoyed that he was ignoring her. "Robin, I wouldn't…" She let her voice trail off. He wasn't listening anyway.

Robin walked into the ops room, cape billowing out behind him. The couch had been righted and Beast Boy was lying on it clutching his stomach where Robin had kicked him.

"Um, how'd it-" Cyborg began.

"Why didn't you guys turn the damn alarm off?" Robin snapped as he rolled the chair at the computer back to sit in it.

"Not well, then," Cyborg concluded.

Robin clacked on the keyboard and, after turning off the alarm, he pulled up a three dimensional globe with each Titan's location triangulated on it. He spun the 3-D image around carefully. While there were a few sporadic dots around the globe- Hotspot in Africa, Red Star in Russia, Argent in New Zealand- most of the dots were concentrated in the US. To the East were Bee, Speedy, Aqualad, and the twins, and to the west were the five of them and Kid Flash and Jinx.

As Robin suspected, there was a yellow dot on the screen moving east. He picked up his communicator and sighed. He pressed the talk button. "Starfire. Please come back. We need you."

No response. He glanced uneasily back at Cyborg and Beast Boy before leaning closer to the screen, like he was talking to that little dot. "I need you."

There was the sound of rushing wind for a few seconds and then the familiar sound of a starbolt, followed by static. The yellow dot blipped out. Robin swore and threw his communicator on the ground, barely stopping himself from crushing it under his boot.

Cyborg and Beast Boy were staring at him with wide eyes. "Star's gone?" Beast Boy asked softly.

"She'll come back," Robin answered as he stood and picked up his communicator.

"When?" Cyborg asked, sounding alarmed.

Robin looked from changeling to half-robot a few times before turning quickly and exiting the room, brushing past Raven in the doorway without saying a word.

"Robin?" Beast Boy called after him. Then he looked back at the computer. "You can track her, right, Cy?"

Cyborg clambered into the chair Robin had just vacated. "I don't know, B, but I'm gonna try."

Hello, everyone! I hope you don't mind long chapters. There are page breaks, so you could always stop at those if you need a break. Counting this as an update, there're gonna be three updates in three weeks. BLAM, BLAM, BLAM. This was originally intended to be a little drabble that I wrote because I was having writer's block with Love's Labors, and then it got kinda long and I thought that I could post it as a oneshot, and then it got even longer and I thought, "Okay, NBD, I'll two-shot it. One chapter and an epilogue type thing." WRONG. It kept growing. So, I present to you, the Finished Product. The Finished Product is 18,000 words long. (This chapter was 5,000 words, to give you a bearing.)

I'll tell you guys what, though. I kind of really want to hear feedback from you about this, because it's different in a lot of ways than I've written and I want to get used to writing like this. So if I get five reviews, I'll post the chapter before next week. (Yeah, I'm totally ripping of GhirardelliFan's technique. Go read their story, it's good.) Five reviews, and BLAM! Update. I promise. Even if it's today. I could have the whole thing up tonight, if you guys choose. All the chapters are already are already uploaded onto my manager, and this was supposed to be a oneshot, anyway. The five reviews and then another chapter thing go for the next chapter to. See you, guys! Thanks for reading!

Here is a teaser for the next chapter:

"I came all the way out here to come get you. Doesn't that mean anything to you?" he asked, his voice pleading instead of accusing.

Starfire shut her eyes. He was getting to her. "I came all the way out here to leave you. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

He stared down at her. "Why are you trying so hard to hurt me?" As he said it, a weird, cold pain seemed to spread out from his chest until it enveloped his body. Breathing hurt. Blinking hurt. Moving hurt. Everything hurt but looking at her.

She shook her head, blinking rapidly. "Robin…"

The way she said his name made a trickle of warmth pierce through the coldness. He needed that. He needed more of it now and he would need it tomorrow and the day after and the day after that.