A/N - No. I don't own them. Yet...
Sorry for the delay but my internet up and died and we've only just got it back...
:D
Dick was still asleep in his room, and the Titans were in the ops room.
"Okay, am I the only one who was way impressed with our guy's moves yesterday?" Beast Boy asked, lounging on the couch.
"No!" Cyborg said excitedly. "Dick was awesome! Did you see when he jump kicked that thing?"
"Yeah! And when he was falling but grabbed that rafter and, like, swung himself up onto it?"
Cyborg nodded eagerly. Raven was in the lotus position near the window, not mediating but blocking out the boys and reveling in her inner calm.
"I mean, dude, that guy had enough moves to make Robin jealous!"
Starfire's head jerked up from where she had been sitting on the floor, carefully sorting and folding the Titans' laundry. She had long since lost her squeamishness, and, in the case of Beast Boy's socks – fear – of doing this homely chore none of the other Titans could bring themselves to do.
Her mouth turned down and her lips drew together, but she turned back to Raven's black leotard soundlessly.
"Nice job," Cyborg mumbled to Beast Boy.
"So," Beast Boy said nervously, to break the silence. "Where do you think he comes from?"
Cyborg shrugged. "Dunno. But I really kinda want to. It's starting to bug me."
Starfire spoke, though she did not look up. "If it is giving you the bugs, I am certain it will be giving our friend them also." She did look up now, looking as though she had just won a battle against her tears. "We must help him."
"I agree."
They all turned to Raven, who had lowered herself and come over, without any of them noticing. "We should help him. We owe him."
Cyborg frowned, then nodded hesitantly at her, holding up a hand. "Yeah, but the computer came up with nothing. If the Titan Mainframe can't come up with anything, there isn't anything."
"Anything on the Internet." Raven corrected.
"Where else is there to look?" Beast Boy interjected.
"The library."
Cyborg turned up his nose. "The library? You mean, looking through old newspapers and stuff?"
Raven nodded slowly. "Can you come up with anything better?"
Of course, they could not.
Starfire stood. "Come, then, friends. We will go to the library. Whatever it is. If it will help our Friend, we must."
He heard a muffled voice from behind his door.
"Dick? Friend, it is Starfire."
He groaned, rolling over on the bed, rubbing his knuckles on his eyes. He had been tortured once more with dreams, dreams bordering on nightmares. They were mostly incoherent montages of images, and feelings more than anything. It was annoying at first, and when the images became more focused and yet so far away from him it became utterly frustrating.
The knocking persisted. "Dick? Are you unharmed?" She sounded worried now, and he begrudgingly swung out of bed and went to open the door for her. He leaned nonchalantly against the frame.
"What's wrong?"
She looked momentarily taken aback at his dishabille. He had forgone a shirt for sleeping and was just wearing some low riding sweatpants. He followed her gaze and pulled them up slightly, rolling his eyes.
She seemed to collect herself and beamed at him. "We are going into town. I just wanted to do the checking up on you before we left."
He nodded blearily. "I'm fine, Starfire. Just tired, stressed."
She nodded knowingly. "I know of the stress. Robin suffered from it frequently." She seemed the tiniest bit more comfortable uttering his name than she had been two nights ago at their encounter on the roof.
Dick nodded. "How did he usually deal with it?"
She blushed. "He, uh, spoke, with me about what was troubling him."
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Ah."
She smiled too, clasping at her hands. "I am glad you are alright." She gave him a brief hug.
Dick relaxed into her happily. He had felt starved of human contact for a while. He could not, of course, remember the last time he had hugged someone. He moved his hands, one up to her back and the other to the nape of her neck, hidden beneath all that shining auburn hair. He clasped the alien girl closer to him, putting his cheek on the top of her head.
They stayed that way for a little while before he broke away. Almost involuntarily he bent down to kiss her forehead. His lips brushed her skin lightly and he drew back. She suddenly tilted up her head and kissed the end of his nose in a familiar and loving gesture. It seemed to surprise her as much as it did him, and her face flooded pink as she turned and scurried down the hallway.
He looked after her, confusion setting in. He could not help thinking that that exchange had felt more right that it really should have.
"Okay, we're gonna do this systematically," Cyborg said, plunking two large cardboard boxes on the table in front of him, where Beast Boy sat, staring at them. Starfire and Raven, each carrying one similar box, moved to two chairs on either side of the table and set their cargo before them.
"So, BB, you're doing 2004," he told the green boy, pushing one of the boxes towards him. "Raven, you've got 2005, Star, 2006, and I'm doing 2007. Remember, we're looking for anything that might mean anything helpful, not necessarily that mentions Dick or Richard Grayson. Got it?"
"Got it, dude."
"Yes, I have it."
"Can we just get on with it?"
"Titans, go!"
The teens started pulling editions of the weekly Gotham Journal out of the library boxes and scanning the headlines on each page. They had already decided that it would be the most useful of all the newspapers the library kept on file.
They stayed there for almost two hours, keenly scanning for something that might give them a clue as to where their friend was from.
Finally a librarian came over to them.
I'm sorry, children, but we are closing."
"What!" Cyborg cried. "But it's only," he glanced at the clock built into his arm with shock. "Six o'clock." He turned back to the graying woman. "Have we really been here that long?"
"Yes, you have, my dear."
Cyborg shook his head dejectedly. "Can you give us a few more minutes?"
She looked as though she might refuse. But Starfire suddenly looked up, widening her eyes as far as she could.
"Please, madam?"
The woman sighed at Starfire's irresistibly innocent face. "Alright. Ten more minutes."
The Titans thanked her profusely and settled back in to searching the papers.
But almost ten minutes passed and none of them had found any success. The librarian finally came over to them once more.
"I'm sorry, but now you really must–"
"Dudes! I think I found something!"
The Titans leapt up. Cyborg called back to the woman as they ran for the door, Beast Boy clutching the newspaper he had just been reading.
"Thanks!"
The librarian looked back from the retreating forms of the Teen Titans and at the mess they had made in the library dejectedly.
The Titans piled into the T-Car.
"Dudes!" Beast Boy cried as they sped back to the tower. "I've totally figured it out!"
ok not the most interesting chapter, but pweese review!!!!
FunkyFish1991 xXx
