Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans.


Chapter 4:
Deceit

"The Titans had been searching for you," Richard whispered, "from the night you left. You worried them sick. They thought you had killed yourself, they thought you had returned to Tamaran... They all had different theories and they couldn't figure out which was correct."

"I know." Kory whispered, shaking her red locks, "But I couldn't bring myself to return. I couldn't. I just couldn't. No matter how abusive Jason got. I couldn't bring myself to admit to them that I had failed. I did not wish to admit to them that I was and am rutha. That is not the way of a true Tamaranian warrior, that is not the way of a Titan."

"Admitting you're wrong doesn't make you weak, Starfire." Her old name slipped off his tongue smoothly. The couple exchanged an embarrassed glance and Richard blushed. "Sorry."

"It's alright..."

"But, really, being wrong or in trouble doesn't make you weak. It doesn't make you any less of a Titan or Tamaranean. It makes you, well, human, for lack of a better term. Admitting that you're wrong is probably the strongest thing any person could do because it's the hardest thing to do, Star." He bit his tongue as he realized he had called her his old nickname, then cursed silently.

Kory shifted uncomfortably in her seat, clutching her mug tightly in her hand. Richard shook his head, "Imagine their surprise when they saw the headline news in Gotham that Bruce Wayne's adopted son was engaged. They still didn't know your location, and here I was getting engaged to someone else when they presumed me dead."

The mug shattered in her hands, and her teeth clenched, "You were engaged?"

Dick's eyes widened as he realized he hadn't shared that with his wife, "Shit."

"Richard, what are you talking about?" Being such a prisoner in her own home, Kory never went out enough to hear about the local Gotham news. Even when she was out and about, she didn't take time to look at the news. She knew Gotham was the old home of Robin and figured she'd read something about Batman-a trigger for her to lapse back into her depression.

Richard shook his head. He knew he'd have to come clean eventually, but he didn't intend for it to happen that way. "I... I'm sorry Kor. I lied to you."

"You really were dating Babs?" Kory glared at him, trying not to pay attention to the sting penetrating her hands. Richard was already picking the glass pieces out of her hands and cleaning the shattered mug off the floor. He then rushed into the kitchen to get a towel to wrap her hand in. He applied pressure to stop the bleeding but Kory was still enraged. She felt nothing but tingling hurt inside.

As he was cleaning her wound, Richard explained himself, "It was mostly for business purposes. Bruce had a deal going on with her dad. It was some weird agreement. I'm not really sure how it made sense to them. To Babs and I it seemed pretty medeival, but we were friends. Neither of us had an intention to get married to anyone else. I had you in mind, but you thought I was dead so it seemed pointless. We agreed. I shouldn't have kept that from you. I'm sorry."

Kory gritted her teeth and pulled her hand from him, applying her own pressure instead. "So, if I remember correctly, the Titans decided to meet with you right away."

"I got a call at three in the morning," Richard chuckled, not realizing that Kory's anger had not completely subsided.

"Hello?" Answered a groggy voice. He glared at the alarm clock and bit his tongue to keep from cursing at his late-night caller.

"Yeah, Richard Grayson?" Replied an all-too-familiar voice, "Or should I say, 'Robin the Boy Wonder'?"

Dick nearly choked on his spit, "Cy-Cyborg?

"The one and only." His voice was like acid and Richard cursed under his breath.

"How did you get my number? How did you find out?"

"Dude, it wasn't that hard. Once we heard that the Prince of Gotham was to be engaged, it wasn't too difficult to fit the pieces together," chimed in Beastboy.

"And we got your number from a phonebook," droned, none other than, Raven.

Richard groaned; he had paid the phone company to keep him unlisted. Apparently, he was going to be getting his money back very soon.

"Dude, why didn't you just tell us?" Beastboy inquired, "We would have understood if Bruce wanted you back in Gotham. We'd be okay with that. Why couldn't you just tell us?"

"And keep us from all the heartache and pain and trouble that went along with that?" Raven hissed.

Cyborg piped up now, "We searched for your body for over a year, man. We were completely devastated. Why couldn't you have just told us the truth?"

Richard gripped his cell phone tightly to his ear, "Yeah. I should have. I'm sorry, but at the time I thought that was the best way to go about it. Bruce wanted me to become Nightwing and he wanted me to leave y'all. I didn't know how you'd react. I hate goodbyes. I panicked."

"No kidding." They said in unison and Richard winced at their voices.

Silence emitted through the line. Richard waited patiently to hear her sweet voice, the voice that sounded like honey and always managed to make his knees go weak, somehow. It was the very same voice that remained silent on the other end of the phone, and Richard couldn't tell if it was out of fear or anger or sadness or a combination of it all. It was driving him crazy not to hear her voice, the voice he'd missed for so long.

A minute passed by and Richard was surprised that she hadn't said anything yet, "Starfire? Aren't you going to say something?"

There was no response on the other end, other than a few uncomfortable coughs from Beastboy. Finally, he heard a silent question, "Dudes, who's gonna tell him...?"

"Tell me what?" Dick growled.

There was a loud sigh, coming from Raven. "Robin, erm, Nightwing, Starfire's been missing for over two years now."


A/N: Silly Richard got caught! Now that Kory knows he hasn't been telling the truth, what will happen to their marriage now? Does Richard even realize they have ANOTHER problem to work out? Leave your reviews, I would love to know your thoughts! :D

God bless,
Rose