This shout-out goes to Sirens in the Water for her amazing Spitfire FanFictions. They have brought tears to my eyes, made my heart pound, and made me squeal link a fangirl! If you love Young Justice and you love Spitfire (Wally West/Kid Flash & Artemis Crock/Artemis)...You will love her!

Raven's Story:

The Journey to Young Justice

I don't know what to do about Conner's recent behavior. So far all I've done is go along with it as lightly as I can. But I am really at a loss and don't know what to do. I'm trying not to zone in on his emotions or anything because if there really is something going on here (or if he THINKS there is) I want him to tell me, himself.

It's been a little awkward, though. I'm doing my best to act like nothing has changed at home, but really, just about everything has. I don't spend as much time by myself, like I did before, and if I do spend a little extra time alone...I end up feeling guilty. I don't know if it's because I don't want Conner thinking that I hate him or if it's just that I want to keep hanging out with him. I wish I could get answers to my own emotions like I do everyone else's...

After changing into a pair of black skinny jeans, a dark blue top with a silver "R," and my black mini-jacket; I went to my wardrobe to find a pair of shoes. I pulled a pair of black flats with silver studs, put them on, and went to my bathroom to finish getting ready. Ever since that one night where Conner and I both dressed up like we were going out for the evening, I've had a habit of putting a little bit of make-up on and actually fixing my hair. I don't really know, why, exactly. But I just feel like doing these things. It's weird.

When I was done with my hair and make up, which were fixed the same way as they were the first time, I went back to my room. I straightened up everything that I could until I was left with nothing to do but go out to the living room where Conner was. I don't know why I didn't really want to go out there. I guess I was just nervous at what he might do next.

I went out of my room and closed the door behind me, slowly, before walking down the hall to the living room. When I got to the living room, Conner was sitting on the couch, watching t.v. He was wearing jeans and a black button down shirt with a pair of nice, black boots. He looked nice, but comfortable. I guess he saw me come in because as soon as I noticed these things, he turned off the t.v. and smiled turned to smile at me. But before either one of us could say anything, my cell phone rang.

When Conner heard the phone ring, his smile quickly faded. He knows that if my phone is ringing, it must be Nightwing. Though they haven't had any luck on why Lagoon Boy (La'gaan) had such an interest in me, Connner was still afraid of every time he called. He was afraid that he would be called away again and that they would have to put someone else in his place or that he would be told not to stay any longer because he didn't think it was safe.

Whatever the reason was, he still didn't like the phone. But that didn't keep if from ringing as loudly as it could. I walked over to the desk, picked it up, removed the charging cord, and answered it.

"Hello?" I said.

"Hey, Rae. How's everything going over there?" Nightwing asked on the other end.

"Good," I said; looking over at Conner, smiling.

"That's good," he said. "I'm glad to hear it. Hey, Rae. Do you mind if I come pick you up in a bit? I want to hang with you, just us."

"Um...that depends," I said, sarcastically. "Can I wear normal clothes or do I have to throw on my cloak?"

"Normal clothes," he said with a laugh. "Something I'm sure I've never seen you wear..."

"Well, you will today."

"Interesting."

"When will you be here?" I asked.

"In about an hour," he replied. "I have to go home and change into normal clothes myself."

"Okay," I said. "See you, then."

"See you soon, Rae."

I shut the phone, put it back on the charger, and turned around to see a sad yet angry Conner looking over at me...

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

"When is he coming to get you?" He asked in response.

"In about an hour," I said. "Why do you sound so upset about it?"

"Because I'm worried about what he might tell you..." he said with his head down.

I walked over to the other side of the couch and sat next to Conner. I didn't like seeing him look this miserable. For some reason, it hurt me to see him like this. Maybe it's because we've bonded so much over the past couple of months...His face was still down, eyes closed. I scooted closer to him and put my hand on his knee. His eyes then opened, but he didn't look up at me. He just kept staring at my hand like he was waiting for it to move or disappear.

"Are you afraid that he is going to say that you need to go home, now? Is that what it is?" I finally asked after too much silence.

"That's not what I was thinking, but no, I don't like the sound of that, either." He answered in a whisper.

"Then what is it, Conner," I asked, almost pleading. "Please tell me."

"Don't worry about it," he told me, finally lifting his face to reveal a smile.

I could tell that the smile was fake, though. I could feel it. I was getting too deep into his emotions and I didn't want to go any deeper than what I already was...I felt like I was intruding. But I couldn't let him hide things like that from me. Not in my home...

"Conner..." I said. "I want to hear the complete truth, for once, please?"

He sighed and looked over towards the wall for about 5 minutes or so before he breathed a word.

"Rachel..." he started. "Do you understand how I feel about you?"

He caught me off guard, but I answered him truthfully...

"I believe I do, yes."

"Do you understand that I really like you? And do you understand how hard it is for me to say such personal thing out loud?"

"I think I understand more than you believe I do..." I told him. "I understand that you like me, believe me, I'm not ignoring it. And I do understand how hard it is to say personal thoughts and feelings out loud. My powers are derived from my emotions, remember? No matter what type of emotion it is, I have to be careful with expressing myself or my powers might be unleashed and I could hurt those around me. I could hurt the people who are important to me..."

I couldn't help but trail off at the end. I couldn't say anything else, it was starting to hurt. But when I looked over at Conner, his face told me that he was begging for more. He wanted to know more about what I felt and what I thought. His eyes were begging me to tell him more, but I just couldn't. I was afraid that I would do just what I said I could do...I was afraid that I would let out too much emotion and my powers would end up hurting him. If that happened, I'm pretty sure that he wouldn't like me anymore and that he would never forgive me for it...I was beginning to become terrified of the "what-ifs" when we both heard a knock on the front door.

"Here in half the time," Conner said. "Sometimes I wonder if he's a secret speedster."

I couldn't help but laugh at Conner's comment. I started laughing so hard and fast that tears came to my eyes and started to stream down my face. I wiped off the wet mess and asked Conner to get the door for me with about 3 pleases before and after the request. He agreed and as Conner went to get the door, I went back into my bathroom and fixed the damage that my tears had done to my make-up.

I walked out to the living room to see Nightwing standing and talking to Conner in what seemed to be a happy fashion. I decided to be an eavesdropper for a minute and listen to what they were saying...

"Soo...Conner...question." Nightwing said. "Does she actually wear normal clothes?"

"Yes!" Conner says with an "are you serious?" laugh.

"What? I've never seen her wear normal clothes...She didn't trust us much back then...she didn't trust much of anyone, really."

"So she said," Conner replied.

"She told you that?" Nightwing asked, skeptical.

"We sat up one night and told each other our life's story..." Conner said.

"Conner...I hope you realize how much trust that girl has put into you." Nightwing said in a stern voice. "I'm the only other person in the entire universe that knows what you know...Don't let her down."

"I don't plan on it," Conner said with a frown. "I can't believe you think I would."

"I don't think you would," Nightwing said. "I'm just asking you to be careful. This is someone very important to me and I can tell that she is obviously important to you, as well."

"She is," Conner said.

I decided that I had done enough eavesdropping and walked down the rest of the hallway and into the living room. When I walked up to them, Conner smiled and Nightwing's face went to shock. Like he said, he had never seen me in normal clothes before...let alone with make-up on and my hair fixed...

"We ready to go?" I asked, casually.

"Um, yeah," he said in a stutter. "I'm ready if you are."

"Okay then," I said. "Let's go. Oh! How long do you think we will be gone?"

"No more than a couple of hours...Is that okay?" Nightwing asked, looking over at Conner.

"Hey," said Conner. "I'm just the babysitter, remember? You're in charge of when she goes home otherwise."

"Hey! You and I are roommates now...that you means that you have a say, too." I said, with a wink.

"Alright," Conner said with a laugh. "If that's the case, have her home by 7, young man. She isn't allowed to miss dinner."

As soon as Conner finished, all three of us bursted out into laughter. It couldn't be helped. I'd seen this side of Conner several times but I still couldn't get over how hilarious it was and Nightwing as almost in tears like I was earlier about Conner's "secret speedster" comment. It was like three friends, in a room, just having a grand old time. It had a good vibe to it.

"Alright," Nightwing said. "Let's go so I can get you home in time for your curfew."

"Okay," I giggled. "Oh! Wait!"

I raced back over to Conner, who was about to sit back down on the couch, and hugged him. It took him a few seconds, but then he finally hugged me back with a really tight squeeze. When we both let go, we looked up at each other, smiled, and waved goodbye.

Nightwing took me to a park on the opposite side of Gotham City. It was beautiful. It was dark, but not overly dark. It was full of trees and cool breezes. It had many fountains and the water sounded like it was playing music. It was breath-taking.

"Wow," I whispered. "This is beautiful."

"I thought that you would like it." He said.

"I do. It's incredible!"

He couldn't help but laugh at my excitement. But I couldn't help but be excited. I was in complete awe. The place was absolutely wonderful. I wished I could live in a place like this, but you moved in...it would destroy the beauty of it. And then what?

"So, Rae..." said Nightwing. "Is there something going on between you and Conner?"

"Huh?" I said, turning around to look at him.

"Because you know, if there was, I would have to assign someone else to watch over you."

When he said that, I could feel my body go numb and I knew that my skin was turning as white as freshly fallen snow. What? Are you freaking serious? Do you know remember what happened the last time that you replaced him? And that last time was only temporary! Could you not imagine what a permanent replacement could do?

"You do know that I'm only joking with you, right?" He said.

"You. Are. A. Jerk." I said. "You know that, right?"

"Hey, it was the only thing I could think of to get the truth out of you. I mean, come on, Rae. I don't even think your realize how attached you are to Conner. And if I really did separate the two of you, it would be nothing but absolute chaos. I know this. I'm not that terrible..."

"What do you mean, I'm attached to him? And why would separating us be chaos?" I asked.

"Come on, Rae. If I actually separated the two of you, Conner would never forgive me. That I am absolutely sure of. Then I would lose one of my closest friends. And then I would lose you...and I can't bare to lose either of you..."

"Okay, I completely get the chaos thing. But what makes you think that I attached to Conner?"

"Really, Rae? Really? You defended Conner and told him that he was allowed to have an opinion on when you came home. You also made sure that you hugged him before we left. You trust him enough to tell him all about your life, even the things that haunt you every day. You look at him like he means the world to you and it's obvious that you mean the world to him...Just think about it for a second. Look back and pay attention to your actions towards him."

I did what he said. I went back, in my mind, and paid attention to what I did and said to Conner. And, as usual, Nightwing was right. I showed compassion towards Conner and hardly any of his actions made me mad. I actually liked being around him and that's why I was feeling guilty when I spent, what I thought was too much time, alone in my room.

And then I truly realized it. I had real, true feelings for the Superboy...

I could feel my face turn red as I came to my realization. But it wasn't because I didn't want Nightwing to know...I was embarrassed and, even more so, ashamed...that I hadn't realized it on my own and that I didn't figure it out until now.

"How do you know these things?" I asked him.

"Because I do the same things for someone who is close to my heart..." He said in a whisper.

"Oh, really?" I asked, curious. "What' her name?"

"Zatanna," he said with a smile that lit up his entire face.