This is Alena's Christmas gift. It isn't holiday based, just a quick Rob/Rae one shot that I hope she enjoys :)
I hope the rest of you enjoy it as well.
Disclaimer: Not yet...I don't want to think about it, makes me cry that I don't own the Robin/Nightwing goodness :)
"You're a fighter, you know that?" It was said in an offhand voice, just his simple observation.
"A fighter?" She barely managed to conceal her how much it startled her, but she was well practiced at hiding her emotions behind an apathetic appearance. The only visible indication of her shock at his statement was a slight widening of her eyes. "I am more of an accepter than a fighter."
"No, if you weren't a fighter you wouldn't have made it this far. You wouldn't have left your powers to us at the end. You wouldn't have come with me or managed to defeat your father when all seemed lost." He was careful not to look at her, no matter his circumspect tone, this conversation was important to him. She had been depressed lately, even after their defeat over Trigon and Brother Blood. Even with him she seemed less than sure of herself.
"Robin I didn't…I don't fight for myself. It just didn't seem right to leave the rest of you without hope and without the ability to fight back just because of my own destiny. Nor should anyone else pay for something like that, it wasn't their fault I was born." She added the last as an afterthought. She watched the moon rise over the city that they had sworn to protect and that she had destroyed not that long ago.
Robin bit back his automatic denial that is wasn't her fault either, but he knew that would end the conversation right here.
"Raven," He sighed running a hand through his hair, trying to figure out how to say something that was hard to translate into words. "Why you decide to fight doesn't make you less or more of a fighter."
"I thought you said I was hopeful?" She asked with a smirk and he felt the familiar warmth rush his body at the sight of her tilted lips.
"You are hopeful. I believe that is what makes you the fighter that you are."
"Starfire is hopeful and a fighter, I just am." Her tone was dry, not self pitying just accepting, but she didn't flinch away when he laid a gloved hand on her arm.
"No, Star has an infinite joy and naiveté, as well as the ability to feel all the wide range of emotions to their dramatic extremes, but she tends to give up hope even while pushing us to keep going." Robin smiled at the fact that she didn't move away from him as he moved his hand down her arm and settled on her own hand, entwining their fingers together.
"So I am a fighter, how so?" She turned towards him and tilted her head slightly in query.
"The same way you embody hope to me. Even when things hit the wall, when all chance seems to be gone, you still fight…you still hope." He paused as if to consider his thoughts, as if he hadn't been working up to this statement the whole time. "You're like the moon, always there quiet and serene watching over everything." Raven turned away from him to gaze at the topic of his conversation. He smiled, letting go of her hand and running it over her hair before returning to hold it again, both were still unused to the jolt of pleasure that ran through them at their contact. "Though sometimes covered by clouds and overcast skies, everyone knows that it is still there, the same way we do with you. Even when you were gone, you were still here."
"So by default since I am always here, I am a fighter? Some logic." She hid a smirk at her remark.
"Now you are just being difficult." He replied with a laugh, glad and relieved he had brought her out of the hole she had been sunk into for so long. He wrapped is arm around her shoulders and settled her head on his chest, helping to keep away the coolness of the dark night.
"Well I suppose that is what you like about me," She scooted closer to get more comfortable in their position and laid her head back on his shoulder. "I am a fighter, remember?"
"How could I ever forget?" He adjusted their positions himself, laying his head against the side of hers and using his free hand to hold hers.
"Thank you," She whispered quietly.
Of course she had known what he was up to, but it didn't make his words any less true. It only made her feel more cared for than she ever had before.
"Any time," He whispered into her hair as he laid a kiss upon the top of her head. "I would do anything for you."
"I know and you have, but I never asked you to."
"You never have to," He paused, "I love you." The unfamiliar words were still rusty with disuse, but spoken from the heart all the same.
"Yes, I know that too." She gave a quick laugh, "It seems I know a lot about you. I love you too."
They sat quietly and watched the stars flicker over the water that surrounded their home.