Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans.

A/N: This... This is what happens when I'm allowed to think at late hours of the night. I wrote this in my journal last night near midnight. It's a combination of a few ideas that were roaming my head at once. I was too overwhelmed to write three separate stories, so they're all in one now! :D Hooray for creativity and adjustability!

Chapter 1:
The Root of the Problem

"I thought your earthly marriages were supposed to last forever," her normally sweet voice dripped like acid in the stiff silence of the dining room. Her demeanor was as cool as ice.

The man rubbed his weary blue eyes with one hand, "Not forever, but 'until death-do-us-part,'" he corrected. "But, yeah, me too."

His wife folded her arms over her chest defiantly, "Well, this is my second marriage, is it not?"

The man stroked his shaggy black hair with a nervous hand and effectively avoided making contact with her piercing green eyes. He reached for the giant packet that contained their divorced papers, all twelve pages. He began to scan its contents once more before responding to her, "Yep."

Kory's eyes narrowed at his short answer, "Emotionally inclined as always, I see."

Dick's eyes broke away from the clause that he must have read at least ten times already. He could almost swear that his heartbeat could be heard a mile away. It was a wonder the packet hadn't slipped out of his hands yet. Betraying anxiety, even in personal relationships, was not how he was trained, so he ignored his physiological reactions to his emotions, "If that's your only problem with me-"

"Oh don't start that shit with me!" Kory interrupted loudly. Dick couldn't help but wince at her word choice. His Star never cussed at anybody she was close to unless she was absolutely livid. Dick remembered wanting to kill the poor bloke who taught her. Luckily for Beastboy, Raven didn't take too kindly to her boyfriend's life being threatened.

Dick merely rubbed his taut neck and shook his head in disbelief. A defeated sigh escaped his lips. Momentarily, he thought about how he was betraying years of training but immediately forgot about it when he saw the sorrow etched in his wife's eyes. His own blue eyes softened at the sight, "Star, I... I wish I knew how to fix this... What went wrong?"

Kory almost broke down. She almost leapt out of her seat, ran to his side, and embraced him in a long, warm hug enriched with unspoken forgiveness... Almost. Instead, she fell back into her cold, unforgiving stare, "I would blame it on the fact that you never come home anymore, but I suppose to truly get to the root of the problem, we'd have to go back in time about nine years ago."

Dick's jaw went slack, "Kory, how could you possibly be angry at me for attempting to provide for our family?" His fists were clenched, nails digging in to his sand-toned skin, "Furthermore, how can you blame me for the sloppy decisions you made after I left the team?"

Kory was standing now; her hands were also formed in tiny fists. Her eyes were glowing bright green and she could feel the hot tears escape her eyelids. "Dick, you never simply 'left the team!' You faked your own death. We spent over a year trying to find your body. Nobody gets over a loss like that quickly, nor the shock." She paused as she attempted to stop all of the painful memories from flooding into her mind at once. She sniffed and wiped away a single tear, "You were my best friend in the entire universe, Richard, and we were dating. I loved you with all of my heart and then you were gone, just like that," she snapped her finger and dissolved into fits of tears again.

Dick sat awkwardly in the chair across the table from her. He wanted to say something, anything, to comfort her. He wanted to apologize for everything he had done, all of his actions that wounded her so awfully. He couldn't, though. His lips wouldn't move and his arms and legs remained limp. Kory had at least one thing right; he was never good at expressing his emotions.

Kory dried her eyes and sat back down. Her face was red and puffy; her eyes seemed to sparkle more than before because of the left over tears in them. She took a deep breath and exhaled. "So I did what I thought was common human mourning behavior," her voice cracked. "Once it became evident that you were really gone, I went to a bar and drank. I was of legal age at this point and it was shocking how easily the burning liquid soothed my raw throat and my broken spirit. I've been regretting that night ever since."

Dick felt almost completely vulnerable at this point. After all, he felt that it was partially his fault. He didn't put the booze to her lips, but he broke her heart in one of the worst ways possible. "I-I thought it was the best way to go, Star." It wasn't the apology that he expected to come out of his mouth but he figured it was close enough. He reached out for the tan hand that remained idle on the table. She moved it when she felt his skin brush up against hers. "I didn't know how to say goodbye."

Kory have the muscular man a weak smile, "I know, Richard. You told me a long time ago." She pushed a stray strand of her cherry red hair out of her face, "But no amount of explaining, apologizing and forgiveness can erase those memories Richard. You've explained enough, apologized too many times. I've been forgiving you ever since. Those memories can't disappear. They're there, no matter how much I don't want them to be."

Her husband took a moment to contemplate their situation carefully. "Maybe... Maybe we don't need to erase those memories, but heal them... Why don't we talk about them and make a better attempt at understanding, Kor?"

His sapphire eyes met her emerald eyes. The connection was never truly lost. Kory almost smiled at the glimmering hope she found in his eyes, but she still had her doubts. She didn't see how discussion of memories already understood could help the hurt packed so tightly within them. His hope was too evident, however, so she gave it a chance, just to see what would happen.

"It's... too late to fix anything, Richard. But... I will give it a try, if it truly means that much to you."

Starfire's eyes danced around the Boy Wonder's long-abandoned room mournfully. A single tear escaped her left eye but she knew more would quickly follow. She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself weakly, "Oh, why did you have to go?"

After a year of absence, his dresser was covered in a light coating of dust. Nobody dared to move a thing, for the million-to-one chance that their beloved leader returned to them, alive. Not even Silkie attempted to enter the bedroom.

Starfire was the only one who dared to cross its threshold. Every night she would toss-and-turn in her sleep. Every night she found herself sliding his bedroom door open and collapsing in his bed. Occasionally, she would allow herself to wander the room. Her slender fingers would trace the newspaper clippings taped to his walls, Slade's mask, Robin's weapons... Once, she debated taking the ball that held his hologram from his days as Red X. She would have tossed it onto the floor, just to see him and hear his voice once more. She knew it wouldn't give her what she wanted, her best friend would never return to her again.

No matter what she did in his room each night, she always wrapped his bedding tightly around her slim frame and breathed in his scent that was practically buried in the fabric. For the longest time, that was the only way she could fall asleep.

That night her teammates decided to call the official search for Robin off, Starfire quickly adjourned to his old room and begged it to give her answers. Much to her chagrin, she received none. She didn't bother attempting to seek answers from her friends. They offered her comfort, they offered her all the love they could, when they could. Starfire couldn't accept any of it. As they healed with each other, she drifted away from them. She knew her friends were well-intentioned and that they were hurting too, but they couldn't give her what she wanted. They couldn't give her best friend back to her.

In an episode of one of her favorite soap operas, Starfire had witnessed a woman going into a bar to get drunk when she lost her loved one. Starfire believed that was a normal human process of mourning. Normally, she would resort to Tamaranian mourning rituals, but she knew it would ruin Raven's concentration and possibly damage Cyborg's circuits. Her pudding of sadness never reached the effect she wanted it to. At eleven that night, she left Robin's room after placing her communicator on the top of his dresser. She journeyed into her room, dressed herself in civilian clothing, and flew to a local bar.

As she settled herself in a seat at the counter, a man with floppy brown hair slipped into the seat next to her. "Hey there, Cutie."

A/N: Hm. So WHO could possibly be Starfire's surprise guest at the bar? I'm sure y'all can figure it out. Please leave me a review and let me know if I should continue writing this!

God bless,
Rose