Disclaimer: own nothing as always, not even a decent pair of stocking to keep myself warm, don't believe what you hear about Australia kiddies, IT IS FREEZING! (Not even winter yet! Grrr!)

So thanks again to all the awesomes you brighten my day, dearies.

Also you may have noticed that I enjoy the occasional use of their real names however I must inform you that I will just be referring to Robin as Richard as I simply cannot bring myself to call him Dick. It's not really an immaturity thing I just think in this day and age it would be a bit dodgy. Also I just know that BB and Cy would make all these dirty jokes about it and I'm really not that type of gal.

And thus the plot begins (I hope):

Cold. So very cold.

Leotards are not really practical in December, I accept that, but one would think a floor length cloak would provide more warmth.

And why am I freezing to death at 4:30 in the morning, in a dimly lit surveillance room, I hear you ask.

Simply because some noob decided to steal a ring.

Not some new type of death ray that had the power of all the suns in the universe.

Not the security codes to the prison which held some of the most dangerous criminals known to mankind.

Not some top secret government...thingy.

Just a plain, old (and rather ugly in my opinion) ring.

And on top of everything, my vocabulary has clearly gone to hell.

Fun.

"Please! You must find fiend responsible for tragic loss!"

Must we? That thing cost, what? $250 at the most.

"Um, sorry Mr Gleeson, we really would like to help but it's just..." Robin began, glancing at us for help.

"You've got no security footage of the crime."

"You waited three hours after you noticed the theft to inform us."

"They didn't leave any DNA behind."

"Are you calling me a liar?"

The fat store manager's arm jiggled as he pointed at himself. I don't believe that I was actually giving up sleep to watch fat shake.

"No, it's just that..." Robin paused to think briefly. "We don't really do stolen jewellery... We're more evil masterminds in spandex with machine guns."

Oh yeah, that's going on the business cards...

Any decent human being would have accepted this but not the fat jewellery store manager in the tacky Hawaiian shirt, oh nooo.

"Are you the Teen Titans or not?"

"Er...I guess."

"Sworn to protect the meek and innocent?"

"Yeah..."

When did we swear that?

"I'm meek and innocent! Find my ring!"

No.

No, right?

I looked over at Robin and was appalled to see guilt in his eyes.

Awww damn.

"Alright, sorry sir, we'll...uh...do our best."

"See that you do." And he flounced off down the hallway, every ounce of him jiggling as he went, leaving us with an embarrassed looking security guard.

"Sorry about this...I fell asleep..."

And I wondered how the prisoners broke out. Silly me.

"Um, don't worry about it...TITANS GO!"

If Robin had hoped that that would achieve the usual springing into action, then I'm sure he was disappointed. We all kinda just shuffled out into the hall and Beast Boy groaned something about not yelling in his ear and douche bag.

One of the downsides of being protected by teenaged superheroes; we don't operate well before 9am-ish.

After searching for and failing to find any clues in the building, Robin braced himself for the full force of our insomnia-induced fury and told us that it was time to go search the rest of the city.

"What?"

"No."

"Please do not make us!"

"Why?"

He sighed and led the way out onto the sidewalk. "Because we're the Teen Titans and we said we would."

"You said we would. Don't drag us into this!"

"Oh, just shut up, I'm tired too! Let's just find the bloody thing so we can go home! Starfire and Cyborg, take the north, Raven and Beast Boy the East, I'll go west. Meet up again in an hour and if we haven't found it we'll just buy this guy a new ring."

He was about to run off in his chosen direction when he saw that we were all still looking at him expectantly.

"What? Why aren't you moving?"

"Aren't you gonna say 'Titans Go'?"

"I already said it; you walked away and called me a douche bag, you don't get any more motivation." And off he scurried.

Quite the pep talk, I must say.

"Well that was...inspiring..." Beast Boy muttered to me as Starfire and Cyborg ambled off.

"Well that's what happens when you call him names; he gets angry, he's very sensitive you know." I started down the dingy alley the Robin had pointed out for us.

"You know," he said, catching up to me, "I can't even tell if you're being sarcastic anymore."

I'm losing my touch...

"...Neither can I actually, I'm too tired."

We walked on in silence until my communicator went off rather loudly, waking up a stray (and possibly rabid) cat that had been sleeping in a pile of garbage. I answered the ringing while Beast Boy started fending off the creature that had seemingly decided to take revenge against the strange people whole woke it up on this cold winter's morning. Fair enough.

"Yeah?"

"Just thought I should remind you to check the gutters, in case the thief dropped it."

...

"Aww thanks Richard. I'm so glad we've got you watching out for us, it means the world to me."

"Sorry, Robin out."

I mentally bashed my head against a wall as I looked over my shoulder to see Beast Boy trying to stuff the cat into a dumpster.

"What are you doing?"

"Don't freak out but I think it has rabies..."

Knew it.

"...And it wants to kill us."

Why is it always us? I bet Starfire and Cyborg didn't have to deal with murderous cats.

"You're Beast Boy. You can't handle a kitten?"

"Oh...right."

Now I was expecting him to just turn into a cat tell the thing to bugger off so we could be on our merry way. Instead however, he just let out a rather violent hiss (still in human form, mind you) and the poor little rabid thing went running for the high hills.

He turned around to face me, looking rather pleased with himself and caught the look of utter confusion on my face, "What?"

...

Meh, whatever works.

"...Nothing, never mind let's just go."

We started walking again.

"So what did Robin want?"

"Oh, just to tell us to make sure we searched the gutters."

"Fan-freakin-tastic."

My sentiments exactly.

Well, that was 2 hours of my life I'll never get back.

We searched everywhere, yes, even in the gutters. We found nothing. The guy yelled at us. Beast Boy tried to kick him in the shin. You know, just the usual.

I'm not usually one for 'cosy' but I must say going back to bed was the most enjoyable thing I'd done in a while.

That says two possible things about me.

1. I was VERY tired, cold and angry.

Or

2. I have a very lame life.

Well, it's sad to admit, both are true but let's just ignore the latter until I'm more equipped to deal with it.

I might have gotten one, maybe even two hours of sleep in before I heard a knock on my door.

Azar, I really do hate that noise; it's never followed by anything pleasant.

"Raven! Awaken!"

Why? No. Raven doesn't want to awaken. Be gone.

"Nyehhhh."

"Do you not recall? We have to be in Steel City tonight for the birthday party of Mas y Menos."

...

Birthday party?

Awww! Birthday party!

So let's get this straight; within 24 hours of the pink lacy dress incident, my movie was ruined by a wannabe bad guy, I had to search the gutters in the dark, was almost mauled by a rabid cat (what's life if you can't dramatise your problems?) and now I have to go to a party?

Super duper!

"Do I need to come in there and awaken you myself?"

No! Say No!

"Nyehhhh!"

Good work genius, that'll stop her.

"Very well then."

I groaned as light flooded my room through the suddenly open door. Why don't I have locks? Hell, why don't I have a moat? In fact, I should have booby traps set up.

"Come on, up and greet the morning." She grabbed my arms and pulled me into an upright position.

Too perky too early. I might have to kill her.

"Aren't you tired?" I managed to croak. Good grief, I sounded more like a man than usual!

"Not anymore, I regenerated in the sun's rays and now am ready for whatever the day throws at me!"

Yes, I will definitely have to kill her.

"Well, not all of us are solar powered, so if you'll excuse me." I tried to flop back down but instead of pillows and blankets, my back met with hard, extraterrestrial muscle.

Which, you know, is never really a good thing.

Without any warning, Starfire promptly picked me up and dropped me on the floor! The cold, hard...well, carpet, but still!

"Starfire! Ow!"

"Now you are awake!"

Death is coming to you, child. Just you wait...

She let me sit in my exhausted silence for a few minutes before patting me on the head, "I have laid out your clothes for you, please hurry, it is a long drive to Steel City and you may sleep in the car."

Oh, now there's an appealing prospect.

Starfire left the room, closing the door behind her. I probably would have just sat there all day had I not been freezing my butt off. To remedy this, I slowly dragged myself off the floor and groggily changed into the selected outfit. My eyesight had not fully returned to me so I just had to pray that none of the garments were shiny...or frilly. I pulled my hair up into a rather floppy excuse for a ponytail; in no mood to bother myself with grooming and sank through the floor; hoping to end up in the kitchen.

"Aargh! Raven! What the hell?"

Whoops, this is definitely not the kitchen...

"Sorry! My bad! But at least my landing on you saves Star coming in here and manhandling you, Garfield..."

"That's not the point!" Beast Boy cried as I escaped his room of dirty socks and underwear.

Half an hour and one lukewarm cup of tea and a biscuit (see what I meant about our diet? Not good) later I found myself, as always, squashed in between Robin and Beast Boy. This time the reasoning was that seeing as both Starfire and Cyborg were rechargeable they could chatter away in the front while we mere mortals could try and sleep in the back. A good plan in theory. In practice...not so much.

"Er...Star, remind me again why we're taking Silkie..."

"Because last time we left him at home he was very sad and he is a part of this family; where we go he goes."

"But he ate my sunglasses..."

"We will get you new sunglasses Richard; that is the price of love."

That's the price of love? They were pretty cheap sunglasses...

"Hey ya'll let's have a sing-a-long!"

Oh kill me now...

"No! Cyborg we must be quiet! They are sleeping!"

"Er...no we're not..."

"Beast Boy is."

I looked to my right and saw that he was indeed. Well that would explain why he was so quiet. And why he was leaning on me and...

"He's drooling on me!"

Oh I just can't catch a break today!

"Shhh Raven, sleep now, drooling later."

Er...

"I know! Let's have a lullaby sing-a-long!"

"Perfect!"

And thus began the longest car ride in history...

A/N: So shall it just be an unwritten rule that I can't end chapters effectively?
Alrighty then.

Please keep reviewing

Much love