Shadows of Love

by A-LionGleek

Valentine's Day will soon be upon Jump City, and the Titans are ready to celebrate. Even Raven has managed to find someone to celebrate with just in time for the Holiday. Beast Boy, however, has some words of his own to say about Raven's choice, and they're not nice. Question is . . . why? And is that the only thing the Titans have to worry about?

10. A Valentine's Day to Remember

Hey everybody! At last, at long last, we FINALLY have a new chapter! I can only say that I am SO sorry it took so long this time. This chapter has turned out to be so long (and thus took quite longer to write then I expected; particularly combined with the fact that I also at this point have school to worry about as well). But regardless, here's to hoping this chapter proves more than worth the wait! In this chapter, Beast Boy and Raven have their planned outing at the zoo (all in spite of Beast Boy's fears from the previous night), and all the other Titans likewise find ways to keep themselves entertained this Valentine's Day. The couples in particular have plenty of time for fun together. But just how well will this day end? Find out, in this new chapter!

A/N: But first, let me remind you again, I do not own Teen Titans, or anything else DC based or similarly owned by a higher legal power.

Also;

Jack Whitty: Sorry I didn't respond to your review earlier, but I'm afraid I'm gonna have to pass on writing that Seitokai no Ichizon/Teen Titans crossover. For starters, I don't know Jack about Seitokai no Ichizon. And secondly, just look at my profile, and you'll see quite clear as a crystal that I've already got enough on my plate fanfiction-wise as it is. So I'm afraid you're gonna have to turn to someone else to get that crossover.

Msbkw0rm: Well I'm glad you had so much positive stuff to say and that you're enjoying this story! I'll definitely make sure to keep up the good work! Heck, feel free to continue reviewing and to comment on my previous two stories as well! That being said, it's a real pity you don't have an account. I'm sure that there's so much I could ask you and talk to you about regarding my stories if you did! Oh well.

Chapter 9

A Valentine' Day to Remember

The very next day, at exactly 6:00 am sharp, Raven was the first of the Titans to awaken. In fact, at exactly 6:15, she was already seated at the kitchen island, patiently waiting for Beast Boy to wake up and come out of his room. As she patiently waited, she briefly directed a glance at the small picnic basket lying right in front of her on the kitchen island surface. For some odd and, for the moment, undisclosed reason, Robin had insisted on preparing and packing up a breakfast for her and Beast Boy to have in the park for an early morning picnic at around 6:30 before they went to the zoo just in time for when it opened at 8:00. She wasn't entirely certain why, but since Robin had very clearly put a lot of hard work into getting this element set up just as he'd done for the zoo trip itself, she hadn't had the heart to turn down the offer. And so, she was now still waiting for Beast Boy to arrive so they could leave for the park.

At around 6:25, Raven got up from her seat and began to make her way to Beast Boy's room. "Something's wrong here," she thought to herself. Granted, it wasn't rare for Beast Boy to complain about being woken up too early. But at times when he believed it really mattered, he was usually the first one awake . . . and considerably earlier than the current time to. The fact that he still hadn't apparently woken up yet today, and especially considering the important event that had been scheduled for him, was more than enough reason for Raven to feel concerned.

The door to Beast Boy's room opened automatically as designed once Raven was three steps away from it, and she entered. At the sight of Beast Boy still asleep in his bed, she found herself feeling both annoyed and also concerned. She levitated up to the top bunk, placed her hand on Beast Boy's back, and rubbed on it hard enough to shake the sleeping changeling side to side. "Wake up," said the sorceress.

Beast Boy grumbled for a few moments, but then his head snapped up with his eyes likewise snapping wide open when Raven started shaking him a little harder. "What? Danger? I'm up!" Beast Boy shouted frantically, not entirely in a rational state of mind from his abrupt awakening. Then he calmed down, raised his eyebrow, and turned his head in time to see Raven still hovering near his bed. "Um, what are you doing in my room?"

"Zoo today remember?" said Raven.

For a brief moment, Beast Boy said nothing. "We're . . . still doing that?"

Raven nodded her head. "Of course we are," she responded. She drew the two tickets out from her cloak. "Robin got the tickets for us yesterday and everything. He even prepared a picnic breakfast for us to have in the park this morning before the trip."

For another brief moment, Beast Boy was speechless. Then he shook his head side to side as if clearing his thoughts, and a small smile came on his face. "Right, of course," he managed to say, smile still on his face. "Sorry, must have been sleep muddled. Went to bed surprisingly late last night. But no worries, I'm up. Just give me a minute; I'll be ready to go real soon."

Raven thought to herself, and then nodded. "If you say so, but I'm holding you to that." She lowered herself down to the floor and departed from Beast Boy's room.

For a brief moment, Beast Boy remained in his bed, both stunned and overjoyed at what had just happened. "Huh," he thought to himself. "It seems we'll still be going to the zoo together after all." He nodded his head. "I guess last night hasn't entirely screwed things up as much as I thought." His smile faded and he briefly had a noticeably unhappy look on his face. Then he closed his eyes and shook his head side to side to clear his head of these unworthy negative thoughts.

"No," he growled to himself in his mind. "I am not going to devote any thought to that now. Later today, maybe I will. But not before Raven and I take care of our little zoo trip, and especially not during said trip." Steeling himself up and pushing the more negative information on his mind from the previous night as far into the back of his mind as he possibly could, Beast Boy got out of his bed, stretched and scratched himself a couple times, and likewise made the preparations he deemed necessary. Then he left his bedroom. "Best not keep Raven waiting," he whispered to himself. "Today's a big day."

. . . . .

At 7:50, the chromatically challenged duo was sitting nearby a tree at an edge of the parking lot for the Jump City Zoo. As of that moment, Beast Boy was actually in somewhat pretty good spirits. By sheer luck, he and Raven had managed to take part in the entirety of the picnic breakfast Robin had allowed to be set up for them in absolute peace and quiet (save for the occasional bird or some other animal). The food that had been packed had fit both of their tastes. And even better, they'd managed to finish to the point that they'd now arrived at the zoo with time to spare. Beast Boy sighed in content, and leaned up against the tree. "Perhaps today won't be so bad after all."

Raven, meanwhile, discreetly kept her eye on the green shapeshifter. Much like Beast Boy, she hoped very much that today would unfold somewhat happily and was looking forward to their time at the zoo in her own way. But at the same time, she also couldn't help but feel as if there was something off. Throughout the entirety of the morning so far, she'd noticed that Beast Boy's emotional feedback had somehow reverted back to the healthy state of guard that had been basically his default emotional feedback level for the entire time she'd ever known him up until that one fateful day earlier this week. Granted, she wasn't worried about him reaching the dangerous level he'd been at before said incident. But even so, after having managed to relatively get used to him giving off emotional feedback at beacon level strength, she had to admit that she actually quite missed that beacon of emotion, and was very concerned and worried as to what may have happened to cause the unexpected change back to what she'd originally been used to detecting from him.

After a while, the two friends heard noises coming from the entrance to the zoo, and they turned around in time to see a man unlocking the gates while several other people moved around as if getting into position somewhere for whatever job they had at the place. Among these people, were a couple of people entering the areas where tickets were sold and admissions were granted.

The two friends opened their communicators and checked the time. It was 7:58 am. "I guess now's probably a good time to head on over," said Beast Boy.

Raven nodded, and the chromatically challenged duo slipped away their communicators. "Right then," said Raven. "Here goes nothing." She turned her head to look at Beast Boy, a small smile on her face. "And for what it's worth, I'm actually looking forward to this little outing. Through and through, you truly are a great friend." The sorceress turned her head and started walking off towards the gate.

Beast Boy, for about a minute, remained standing by the tree, a half happy and half regretful look on his face. "More than you know Rae," he whispered to himself. "More than you know." He started walking off in the same direction as Raven, making it to her side just in time to avoid her noticing that he'd been at all hanging back.

. . . . .

By 8:15, the chromatically challenged duo had already managed to gain their admission, enter the zoo, and proceed from the entrance pavilion all the way to the first enclosure on the map, which they were currently even now in the midst of viewing in the relative peace and quiet that came with they're currently being the only guests. The animals on display in this particular exhibit were Komodo dragons; and at the moment, the lizards were currently either lying around on their bellies or slowly crawling off to scout around the enclosure.

"Don't let their appearance and currently docile behavior fool you," said Beast Boy as he continued to intently watch the magnificent reptiles. "They may not look much, and they may not have any of the commonly known abilities of their namesake animal, but they're not entirely unworthy of being called dragons." He pointed at one particularly large male that had opened its mouth and started extending its tongue into the air. "With the bacteria they've got in their bites, they most certainly don't need fire breath to take down their prey in the wild."

Raven nodded her head, genuinely interested for once in listening to what the changeling had to say about his animal knowledge. And while she thought about it, considering her unpleasant history with an actual dragon, she was quite happy to know how very little, if any, similarities these lizards had with their namesake. "And how are these bacteria any different from the kind in your room?"

Beast Boy chuckled slightly, clearly understanding that this time Raven was, surprisingly enough, actually joking, but also still understandably miffed at the comment in question. "Well with these guys, all that needs to be done is for them to give their intended victim a single bite, and that poor animal is doomed. Just one bite contains enough bacteria to cause virtually any animal that gets bitten by these guys to be dead by the end of the day. And not only is there nothing that can save the victim, but the Komodo dragon even goes so far as to patiently follow the animal just about anywhere it goes so that it will be right there waiting when its victim inevitably succumbs to the bacteria and drops dead; at which point, the lizard is more than happy to dig in."

Raven actually gulped, and turned her head back to the Komodo dragons, noticing with a slight tinge of worry that the large male that had opened its mouth and extended its tongue earlier was now seemingly looking right at her with a look that would have translated on any human's face to 'Are you scared of me now?'

"I see," Raven admitted. "In that case, good thing they can't bite me from here." She shook her head side to side, shuddering slightly. "I have to admit, from the description you just gave, I'm not really sure if I'm all that willing to try my natural demonic resilience to poison on a bite from one of these things."

"Totally know the feeling," Beast Boy agreed. He took one more brief look at the massive lizards. "Moving on?"

Raven thought to herself, and then nodded. "What's next?"

Beast Boy looked at the map, and then pointed off to his and Raven's right, straight towards none other than the lion enclosure. "To the court of the King," said Beast Boy. "The court of the king."

. . . . .

At 9:30 am, the chromatically challenged duo had made good progress through the zoo. In fact, they were currently at their 9th enclosure; the wolves. At the current moment, the entirety of the pack was gathered around the center of the enclosure, a couple of them having even howled in greeting at other members.

Beast Boy chuckled. "Man, they act so much like dogs sometimes," he commented after watching one of the wolves yawning. "Makes me forget every now and then how much more dangerous they can be."

Raven nodded her head. "I can imagine."

Beast Boy chuckled again, and directed his attention to the wolves once more. "I've always more than a fair share of intrigue in wolves. They've got what has to be among the strongest social dynamics when it comes to nonhuman animals."

Raven looked intently at the gathered beasts. "I can see what you mean."

"I know right? They even howl together; granted, except for when they mourn. Then they howl alone."

"Yes they do," Raven admitted. She looked up at the sun. "You know, now that you mention social work, I'm really starting to wonder what everyone else is up to."

Beast Boy turned his head to face the direction Raven was looking. "Whatever it is," said the changeling, "I'm sure they're all having plenty of fun." He looked directly at Raven. "Want to stay at this area a little longer, or are you ready to move elsewhere?"

Raven thought to herself, and then looked back at Beast Boy. "What's next on the map?"

. . . . .

Meanwhile, back at the tower, Bushido was standing in the common room, looking almost dumbfounded at how very empty the tower seemed to be. At the current moment, the only Titans present at the tower were himself, Kilowatt, and the three kids with the giant teddy bear. Everybody else, on the other hand, was out and about; and while happy that his friends were likely enjoying themselves, he was really not entirely certain as to whether or not he was entirely ok with having such limited company.

The teenage samurai warrior sighed, walked over to the sofa, and took a seat. "Why did Thunder and Lightning have to stay behind?" he asked himself. "They'd have some idea of something for me to do with them out in the city so that I wouldn't have to risk boredom here in the tower on my own."

Then Bushido thought to himself. "Well ok, I'm not entirely on my own. I've still got some of my direct teammates with me." Then he frowned as he thought of another little detail. "Then again . . ."

"Hey there."

Bushido turned his head, and saw none other than Kilowatt standing near the now open doors of the common room. At the sight of the gray sweatpants and greenish hoodie that the blue skinned and pink haired electrokinetic was wearing, the leader of Titans South raised his eyebrow. The fact that his teammate was dressed in his current outfit, let alone any clothing at all apart from his virtually undergarment level outfit that he was always in during either times of battle or peace time at home, meant that the electrokinetic planned to go out into the city on non-combat related business. "Where are you going?"

Kilowatt smiled, and gestured down the hallway to his left. "Out on the town. Raven's entrusted me with babysitter duty for Melvin, Timmy, and Teether today." He folded his sleeve covered arms across his chest. "She's allowed them to have time to get to know me better, and they already view me as an honorary uncle. And so, to show them how truly honored and worthy I am of the title, I've decided to spend the rest of this morning playing with them somewhere at the park, then drop by Chuck E. Cheese's in time for lunch and spend virtually the rest of the day there before we come back here to the tower."

"Oh really?" asked Bushido.

"Yep," Kilowatt confirmed. "And believe it or not, the kids are actually really looking forward to spending time with their dear honorary uncle Kilo today. In fact, they're right outside the front door to the tower right now as we speak. And considering how especially excited Timmy and Teether are, I'd best get out there and join them within the near future. Melvin's usually more confident with having a teen or adult around to help keep her brothers in line and Bobby strongly prefers to not have to get involved in disciplinary measures."

"I see," said Bushido. He looked over at the windows of the common room, and then sighed. "Do you really have to go?"

Kilowatt chuckled. "Don't worry pal," said the electrokinetic. "You shouldn't have anything to worry about. You're the leader of Titans South, and you're pretty darned smart; I'm sure you can think of something or other to keep you entertained while I'm out entertaining the kids and everyone else is getting all lovey dovey. Heck, you've faced down Lord knows how many of the freaky henchmen of that mean old Tengu fellow you keep talking about. I'm sure it shouldn't be too hard for you to conquer such a simple enemy as common garden boredom."

Bushido sighed. "It's not that simple Kilowatt." Then he narrowed his eyes into a glare. "And for the record, I still don't like it when you joke about Tengu like that. You know how disrespectful I feel it to be towards my mom."

"Look man," said Kilowatt. "I get it, Tengu really hit you where it hurt; and believe me, I don't mean any disrespect when I talk about him, I never do." He walked up to his leader and placed his hands on the teenage samurai's shoulders. "But really, just let yourself loose a little today. Trust me, everything will be fine. And besides, I'm sure your mother wouldn't want you to live your entire life without having ever had any fun and enjoyment in your life throughout all your hard work, don't you think?"

Bushido sighed again, and then nodded, but this time with a small smile on his face. "If you say so."

"That's good to hear."

The sound of a crashing noise from outside the tower caused the two teen boys to turn their heads towards the windows.

"What's taking him so long!?" yelled a frantic boyish sounding voice from outside near the bottom of the tower. "He promised he'd be out by now!"

"Calm down Timmy," yelled another, more girly, voice. "Uncle Kilowatt will be here soon to take care of us, and besides, you're scaring Teether."

"I gotta go," said Kilowatt. He turned around and ran out of the common room to hurry to the elevator leading outside. "The kids are gonna blow if I don't get out there soon. I'll talk to you later! And remember, loosen up! Have fun!"

"I'll try," Bushido managed to say before Kilowatt zipped off down the hallway and out of earshot. After about 5 minutes or so, Bushido sighed, turned his head to face the windows once more, and hung his head. "Easier said than done." He looked back at the windows, then at the clock, and then at the windows again. "Kami," he thought to himself. "Why is it so hard for me to put aside training and my search for Tengu in favor of having fun? How do my teammates do it?"

He directed a glare towards the common room doors. "Whatever everybody else is up to, they're almost certainly having an easier time at having fun and avoiding boredom then I am." Then he thought to himself. "Well for one, I certainly won't have any easier a time at having fun if I keep myself all keyed up like this." He got up from the sofa and departed from the common room, making his way down to where the gym was located. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to start the day with what I know. Who knows, maybe a bit of training will help me blow off some steam and leave me in a better state of mind for thinking of more fun-type activities to take part in." And that, he was quite certain, would beat moping around in boredom on the sofa and thinking grudgingly at what sort of fun activities all his teammates, both direct and otherwise, were already up to that were very likely allowing them to have achieved a state of fun many miles ahead of him.

. . . . .

Red Star was not feeling entirely all that comfortable at the current moment. Granted, at first things had seemed perfectly fine the way he saw it. Soon after waking up, having breakfast, and departing from the local tower, he, Pantha, and Wildebeest had gone off into the city, seemingly to head to someplace that would be a good location for all three of them to hang out together. But then, much to Red Star's surprise, they had ended up dropping off Wildebeest at a local preschool, much to the apparent great joy of all the students, before then heading over to a local Mexican themed bar an impressive number of city blocks away from the preschool. And it was this very bar that Red Star and Pantha were currently still sitting at.

Pantha, much to Red Star's discomfort, seemed to be quite enjoying herself and appeared to fit in disturbingly well among all the other patrons. He, however, very clearly was not entirely comfortable, as he A: hadn't even touched the drink that Pantha had ordered for him, and B: kept nervously looking around the bar and at the numerous intimidating and almost thug looking patrons that were present in the bar alongside them, a glaringly obvious look of intimidation on his face. "This is not what I was expecting for us to take part in on a day like this," he thought to himself.

He felt someone smack him on the back of his head. "Come on!" he heard Pantha yell. "Don't be such a killjoy! Enjoy yourself!"

Red Star sighed, and turned his head to direct an annoyed glare at Pantha, his solid green eyes clearly showing that he was not amused. "Do you not know what kind of establishment we are in?"

"With the number of visits I've made to this place as of today, I'd be surprised not to."

Red Star groaned. "Perhaps you misunderstand," said the aggrieved former soldier. He turned around to completely face the heavily built female wrestler, gesturing towards the area to his left, and her right. "We are in a bar!"

"So we are," said Pantha, a small smirk of amusement on her masked face. "What's the problem with that?"

Red Star face palmed, groaning irritably at Pantha's continued apparent casual dismissal of the location they were in. "We. Are. In. A. Bar," the Russian boy practically growled.

"So?" Pantha asked.

"So?" Red Star asked in an incredulous tone. "What do you mean 'so'?! This is a bar!"

Pantha's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "I think I got that the first time you said that."

"I'm serious!" Red Star gestured to the entire area around them. "Do you not know how dangerous places like these can be for people our age?"

"You worry too much," said Pantha. "She turned around so that she had her entire body facing Red Star just like he was completely facing her, flexing her muscular arms in a stereotypical strong man position. "We can handle ourselves perfectly fine, and besides," she gestured around at all the other patrons. "These people know me well. They know not to hurt me too badly, and they know to extend that same courtesy to you. As they've made clear to me in the past, and especially before I arranged for us to hang out here, a friend of mine is a friend of theirs. You've got nothing to worry about."

"Says the girl who's already emptied her glass five times!" Red Star shook his head side to side. "We're both still 20! I don't know what the legal age was down in Mexico, but here in America, the law clearly says you have to be 21 in order to legally drink alcohol!"

Pantha rolled her eyes, glared towards her empty bottle, and then looked back at Red Star with a deadpan look on her face before pointing at his still full first glass. "Relax," said Pantha. She picked up his glass. "It's sparkling cider. Both our drink orders are sparkling cider. There's not a single drop of alcohol present in our drinks."

Red Star raised his eyebrow, still not entirely convinced.

Pantha sighed, and handed the glass over to him. "Come on," she growled. "Just at least take a sip. I promise, it's exactly what I say it is."

Red Star glared at her for a little while longer; then he sighed, and took his glass. After a deep breath, he took a sip. He let it stay in his mouth for a minute or two, and then let it slide down his throat. His eyes opened. "Hmm," he said, an intrigued look on his face. "It is sparkling cider."

"Told you," said Pantha.

Red Star chuckled sheepishly. "So you did." He proceeded to drink the entire rest of the glass. "I guess I can abide a visit to this place somewhat under the current conditions."

"Good," said Pantha, a small smirk now on her face as she picked up a conveniently located wrench that had been lying on the floor right behind her chair. "Because now the real fun starts."

Red Star's eyes widened in a shocked manner upon hearing this, but then they narrowed in clear nervousness. "What do you mean by that?" he asked.

Pantha chuckled, a devious smirk still on her face, and then lifted up the wrench. Seconds later, much to Red Star's shock and horror, she slammed one end of the wrench in her hand on the back of the right hand of the man sitting to her left. The man hissed, and grasped onto his hand, growling and snarling from the pain.

Red Star continued gaping incredulously at the clearly amused looking Pantha. "Why'd you do that?" he asked.

"You'd better get ready," said Pantha, seemingly ignoring the unnerved Russian boy's question as she casually handed the wrench over to Red Star, who almost numbly took it in his grasp. "Things are about to get rough." Pantha got up from her chair, turned around, and loudly yelled, "Alright boys! It's party time!"

Virtually every single one of the other patrons screamed and whooped in joy and excitement as they all started to get up from their seats. The only patrons who didn't get up from their seats were the still confused Red Star and the one man whose hand had gotten smashed by Pantha's wrench. But by that point, the pain had numbed down just enough for the man in question to let go of the hand in question, and snarl angrily at it as if cursing both it and the person who'd smacked it.

Red Star, still completely clueless as to what was going on in spite of how virtually everyone but himself and the one man whose hand had been smacked had stood up from their seats and now seemed to be moving around and gleefully positioning themselves as if preparing for a fight, nervously yelled. "Pantha, what's going on?"

Unfortunately, the sound of Red Star's voice attracted the attention of the unlucky man with the smashed hand, and he turned his head in the former soldier's direction. Upon sight of the boy, or more specifically what was in his hands, the man's eyes narrowed, and he snarled angrily in a very disturbingly animalistic fashion.

The sound of the snarling caused Red Star to direct his attention towards the man. At first he remained confused at the sight of the angry looking African American man with a quite injured hand glaring and snarling at him. Then he noticed the man direct his eyes downward towards his own hands, and he instinctively looked towards them himself. At the sight that greeted him, Red Star's heart plummeted, and his eyes opened wide. He'd completely forgotten that the very wrench that Pantha had smacked this man's hand with was now in his own hands.

Gulping mentally, Red Star nervously looked up to face the man once more, only to see that the man's eyes had narrowed even further, and he now seemed very much angrier than before. Without warning, the man clenched his hands as if tensing up for a fight.

Red Star grimaced, and braced himself for impact. "Oh Hell," he managed to say, not even bothering to lift or drop the wrench. The man whose hand Pantha had smashed screamed in rage, drew back his left fist, and throttled Red Star in the face with a powerful upper cut. And just like that, within seconds, the entire bar erupted into a vicious brawl.

. . . . .

Kole stared intently at the skeletal apatosaurus that stood before her. At the moment, she, Gnark, and Jericho were at the Jump City Museum of Natural History; in the Hall of Prehistoric Wildlife to be exact. Admittedly, she was hardly the type one would expect to take such vast interest in a dinosaur display considering how long she'd lived in a subterranean world very heavily populated with them, plus multiple other creatures long lost to prehistory for several years or so of her life. But even in spite of this, she couldn't help but feel a sense of wonder at the ancient beasts that the museum had on posthumous display.

It wasn't until she felt a tap on her shoulder and heard an almost annoyed sounding 'Gnark' come from behind her that Kole even realized that she'd spaced out. Knocked back down to Earth, she turned her head to Gnark, who pointed over towards Jericho. Mentally gulping, the girl turned her head to face Jericho. Clearly, if the look on Gnark's face combined with his behavior were any indication, the deaf boy had been attempting to talk to her about something, and she hadn't been paying attention. And the confused look on his face only strengthened this theory.

"Sorry," Kole said, Gnark simultaneously moving his fingers to speak the same word in sign language. "Got distracted. Did you say something?"

Jericho nodded his head, and then patiently signed, "You seem to be quite intrigued in the display."

Kole let out a somewhat nervous half chuckle, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "Yeah," she said, with Gnark signing. "Sorry about that." She turned around and gestured at the skeletons and stuffed corpses on display of the various prehistoric animals within the room. "I'm just so used to seeing these animals alive now," she explained. "I'd completely forgotten what it's like to live in a world where they're all dead and on display in museums."

Jericho made careful note of what Gnark signed, and nodded in agreement. "Understandable," he signed. "I imagine there are quite a few scientists who'd make a fortune off of the kind of information you'd probably be able to tell them about these ancient animals."

Kole chuckled. "Yeah well," she spoke, with Gnark signing once more. "They're just gonna have to wait. And even so, they certainly haven't asked me any questions yet."

Jericho smiled, and nodded his head.

"And now that I think about it," she said, this time just as much to Gnark as to Jericho as she pointed over at a t-rex skeleton located further into the room. "I can certainly admit, it certainly is nice to for once be in the presence of a t-rex, not to mention all the other carnivores on display here, without having to worry about them trying to eat us."

The two boys smiled in agreement, and Gnark even nodded his head. He remembered all too well how many times he and Kole had been forced to either fight off a pack of smaller creatures such raptors or run away or sneak around a larger animal such as a T-rex.

Kole then directed a sentimental look up towards the skeletal pteranodon hanging from the ceiling. "Still," she then said with Gnark signing as best as he could, "it's a pity that the majority of them are skeletons. They always look so much more impressive when they have more than just their bones to look at." Then she took note of the formidable looking stuffed woolly mammoth, rather comically adorable looking stuffed megatherium, and the savage looking roaring stuffed smilodon on display alongside all the skeletal ancient beasts, and a small smile came back to her face. "Then again," she admitted. "At least the ice age critters they've got on display still have skin on them. Look pretty impressive that way. Heck, I think Gnark and I once saw a saber tooth that looked just like the one they've got here back at our base down below."

Gnark nodded in agreement. Jericho meanwhile, simply smiled. "It's family had good genetics," he signed.

Kole chuckled, and she rolled her eyes playfully. Then she looked back at the t-rex skeleton. "You know Jericho," she began. "There's actually this really cool story about an encounter Gnark and I had with a t-rex back home that I really think I ought to tell you." Jericho was instantly intrigued upon catching the signing of this phrase from Gnark. Kole giggled at her boyfriend's reaction. "Come on," she said and signed. "Come on over, and I'll tell you about it right at the skeleton." She grabbed Jericho by the hand and happily dragged him over, the boy willingly letting himself go along with his pinkette girlfriend. Gnark, meanwhile, briefly stayed standing where he was by the apatosaurus skeleton, directing a stern and careful look towards the couple. Then, with a grunt, he made his way over to catch up with the young couple.

. . . . .

"Good grief," Argent groaned, swatting her hands in the air as she tried to smack away all the gnats that had seemed to be quite taken with swarming around her head while also working equally hard to somehow avoid getting annoyed by all the branches and other plant elements that kept seemingly popping up out of nowhere. "I thought you said this would be an easy walk!"

Hotspot, currently in his non-flaming civilian form, calmly continued making his way through the forest path directly in front of his friend. "Technically," he explained, "I said it would be relatively pleasant. Subtle difference."

Argent groaned, and swatted around at another small group of gnats. "Good God man," Argent hissed. "Why do you have to do this to me? Couldn't we have just flown?"

"Where's the fun in that?" Hotspot chuckled. "This is Valentine's Day! Believe me, the way we're doing it right now, it will be way more romantic."

"Well it certainly ain't feeling that way right now."

"Oh you'll be eating those words right up later," Hotspot responded. He turned his head and extended his hand just long enough to help Argent clamber over a small partially fallen tree. "Don't worry," he said in an effort to reassure her. "It will be over soon."

Argent hopped off the tree and came to a landing right next to her admittedly rather hot headed, in more ways than one, boyfriend, and rolled her eyes. "Whatever it is you've got planned for me right now," Argent began. "It better make up for this piss pool of a walk you just put me through."

"Oh it will," Hotspot replied nonchalantly.

"I mean it Isiah," Argent hissed. "This better be worth it, or you'll be getting silent treatment, and a couch for a bed, for the rest of this month."

"Trust me Toni," Hotspot replied, seemingly not at all concerned about the threat. "This will be worth every step, every thorn, and every bug."

Argent sighed, slightly feeling hopeful that her boyfriend would turn out to be correct, yet now also considerably annoyed at his current apparent overconfidence in his own opinion. "Hothead," she grumbled under her breath. Resigning herself to whatever fate awaited her, she continued following Hotspot down the forest trail he was leading her down.

After what felt like an agonizingly long time to the poor girl, she finally felt reason to let out a sigh of relief when she heard Hotspot yell, "We're almost there! Just another couple feet or so!"

Argent let out a low chuckle. "If you say so," she muttered.

Sure enough, minutes later, Argent walked right through a small group of bushes and found herself in a surprisingly sizeable clearing. However, it wasn't so much the clearing itself that caused her to come to a stop and widen her eyes in shock, but rather the fact that there appeared to be an almost boy scout level campsite set up within the clearing complete with a tent and a fire pit. As she continued to look around the area, she felt herself feeling happier and happier as she realized the full gravity of what Hotspot had done, and a happy smile came on her face.

"Had a feeling you'd be impressed."

Argent looked to her left and saw Hotspot standing nearby one large tree, his arms folded across his chest and a half smug half excited smile on his face. Argent directed a small smirk of her own towards the pyrokinetic, and folded her arms across her chest. "Color me impressed hotshot," said the red and black haired girl. "You set up a little campout for us to take in honor of the ones we used to take every summer. Nice save."

"Damn right," said Hotspot. He chuckled. "And you've certainly got it correct about this being in honor of all those other trips from back then." He pointed towards an area to Argent's right. "I even allowed Cody to be with us in spirit."

Argent turned her head to look in the direction her boyfriend was pointing, and felt her heart warming up at the sight of what appeared to be a scarecrow-like figure made almost entirely out of sticks and similar forest material standing tall at the end opposite the one Hotspot was positioned at. However, it wasn't so much the scarecrow itself that was currently making Argent feel so happy about its presence. Rather, it was the fact that it appeared to have been very painstakingly decorated to resemble a somewhat passable life-size model of their old friend Cody Driscoll. To be exact, it was wearing a surprisingly well fitting t-shirt that looked exactly like the kind of shirts that Cody typically liked to wear, had a boy-style golden blonde wig across its head, and even had a fake face drawn on the head with what appeared to be a mixture of chalk and charcoal. Argent shook her head, now feeling very sentimental. "It's been so long," she thought to herself.

"Well then," said Hotspot. "Now that we're here, what do you want to do?"

Argent looked back at Hotspot, her eyebrow raised. "You're asking me what I want to do?" she asked. "I do believe tradition demands for you, the boy, to have it all planned out."

"Indeed," Hotspot admitted. "But right now, considering your unpleasant little experience earlier with the trip we took to get to this place, I have a feeling that you deserve a chance at deciding on something we could do that won't involve very much, if any trekking through the woods. After all, from how much you complained, you deserve a break from that right now."

Argent smiled, both happy and touched that her boyfriend was now being so thoughtful and caring. She thought to herself. Then she noticed what looked very much like a soccer ball lying around nearby the tent, and her smile widened. She looked over at Hotspot. "I know just what to do."

. . . . .

"Is this seriously the best you could come up with?"

"Trust me Jennifer, I've got it covered. You'll totally love what I've got planned for today."

"That's what you've kept telling me; and yet here we are at the mall. Why?"

Kid Flash stopped walking, took a deep breath, exhaled, and then calmly turned to face Jinx. At the moment, just as Jinx had made clear, the two of them were at the Jump City Shopping Mall. And for the sake of allowing Jinx to feel comfortable with being present in the city, not only was Jinx now wearing her holo-ring, but they were both in civilian attire as opposed to their usual superhero outfits.

"Jenn," said Kid Flash. "Please just trust me on this. I know what I'm doing here." He let a small grin come on his face. "Besides," he continued. "Have I ever let you down when it really mattered?"

Jinx thought to herself, and then sighed. "I'd like to think not."

"Good, because to my knowledge, I haven't," said Kid Flash. He turned around, with only his head now oriented in Jinx's direction. "Now come on," he said politely. "Just keep on following along behind me. It will be perfectly worth your while."

Jinx sighed. "If you say so Wally." She followed along behind him for another couple minutes or so. Then, right as Jinx was starting to get quite tempted to ask him just where they were going, she noticed a very attention grabbing detail a good couple yards ahead of them on the floor they were currently on, and her eyes widened in shock and moderate horror. She looked over at Kid Flash and saw how very briskly he was now walking towards the attraction in question, and her fears were confirmed. Kid Flash had done it again. He had decided to try to take Jinx to another magic show.

Jinx hurriedly ran up to Kid Flash and grabbed him by the shoulder, quite forcefully causing him to jerk to a stop. Kid Flash had literally just turned his head to face Jinx before the disguised probability manipulator pointed her finger towards the area where the magic show was to take place and whispered incredulously, "Are you out of your mind? Have you no memory at all of what happened the last time? Or better yet, every magic show we've ever attended together period?"

"Jennifer," said Kid Flash, "contrary to what you may think, I am not that stupid. I remember perfectly well what has happened all the other times we've gone to one of these shows."

"Then why the Hell are you trying to have us attend another one?" Jinx hissed, her disguised dark eyes narrowed in incredulity and borderline anger that very creepily contrasted with her illusionary pale blonde hair. "You know that I hate it when you behave the way you do while we're watching them!"

"This time will be different," said Kid Flash.

"You said that the last six times," Jinx countered. "And look how those turned out."

Kid Flash sighed. "Look Jenn," he said. "I mean it. I won't heckle myself out this time."

Jinx crossed her arms across her chest, a glare on her face. "Every time you say that, you do."

Kid Flash groaned, pinched at his hair, and sighed. "I'll rephrase; this time, just for you, as a special Valentine's Day gift, I'll try my absolute hardest, harder than I've ever before tried, to keep my mouth shut and grin and bear my way through watching the entire show with you without a single heckle or likewise giving myself reason to be kicked out. I swear it."

Jinx sighed, and shook her head side to side. "You know I don't like it when you make that kind of a promise Wally."

"Jenn please," said Kid Flash. "Just one more try ok? And if things head south this time, I promise you, I'll do whatever necessary to avoid setting foot towards anymore magic shows, even if you have to zap me away from them. Ok? Just this one more time?"

Jinx thought to herself, tensed up as if very tempted to say no, and then hung her head and sighed. "One more chance," she said. "That is all I'm giving."

"Thank you," said Kid Flash.

"But I'm warning you," said Jinx. "You'd better keep your word. If this ends the way all the other attempts have, you'll be sorry; and I do mean sorry."

"That's perfectly fine," said Kid Flash. "Really it is."

"It better be," said Jinx.

"Hey," said Kid Flash as he instinctively placed his hands on his girlfriend's shoulders. "Whatever happens, regardless of whether we both make it through the show together or not, I love you. That's all that matters right?"

Jinx thought to herself, and then slowly nodded, a small smile on her face. "I love you to Wally."

Kid Flash smiled, and he repositioned himself so that we standing next to Jinx with his arm around her shoulders. "That's good to hear." His smile widened, and his blue eyes brightened in happiness. "Now come on, let's get over there. The show's in another half hour, and I want to make sure we get good seats before the rest of the audience shows up." And with that, the Titans' very first couple took the last few steps needed to reach the area where the magic show would be taking place, the speedster eagerly awaiting the spectacle to come, whereas the probability manipulator, on the other hand, was feeling both excited and hopeful, as well as more than a little nervous.

. . . . .

"Mas!" Bumblebee yelled as she flew over the area of the park that she, Herald, and the twins had traveled to. "Menos! Where are you!?"

The group had arrived at the park a good hour or so ago, but then, Bumblebee and Herald had gotten distracted for just a couple minutes looking in the direction of an area where Bumblebee could have sworn she'd heard Cyborg's laughing, and they'd looked away in time to find that Mas and Menos had somehow managed to pull a Houdini and were now gone! Thus she and Herald were now wandering around the park a good distance away from the area they were supposed to be at within the next half hour trying to find the hyperactive twin speedsters. "God darn it you little termites! If I miss this concert because of you, I swear . . ."

"Found them!"

Bumblebee halted in midair and looked down in time to see Herald holding the two boys by the back collars of their shirts. The two boys in question both had a mixture between a pout and a frown on their faces while the Herald himself had a wide smile on his face. "Caught these two little buggers asking every random citizen they could find if they'd seen Robin and Starfire anywhere. It would appear these two are still hoping to either steal a moment or two with Starfire from Robin today, or at least be able to spy on them during their date today."

Bumblebee face palmed, groaning in irritation. "Seriously?" she thought to herself. "What is wrong with you two?" She lowered herself down to the ground directly in front of the three boys. She took a deep breath, exhaled, and then glared at the two twins. She pointed at them. "Do not do that again. Understand?"

Mas and Menos gulped, looked each other in the eyes, and then looked back at Bumblebee, nodding their heads up and down to indicate that they understood.

"Good," said Bumblebee. She yanked Mas out of the Herald's grip and slung him over her shoulder. "Now, we are going to attend that concert today. And I don't care how much you two want to cash in on Robin's time with Star today, but you are going to stay here with us and leave our power couple alone."

"Pero el jefe!" the two twins shouted in unison.

"I mean it!"

Bumblebee stopped, turned around, and placed Mas on the ground on his feet. Herald, confused, came to a stop as well. Then Bumblebee looked up at him and gestured with her head to indicate for him to put Menos down. Her boyfriend did so, and thus Bumblebee found herself facing both of the two boys. "Look," said Bumblebee. "I get it, you're still unhealthily precociously in love with Starfire, but right now, unless by some miracle Robin finds a way to stay here with us past the end of this year, this could be both the first and the last Valentine's Day the two of them get to have a happy time together as an official couple as befits this holiday. And even without that in mind, if anyone deserves to have a proper happy Valentine's Day right now after 5 damn years straight of sexual tension, it's them. Now what's more important to you two brats? Starfire and Robin's happiness? Or your selfish and inconsiderate desires?"

For a brief moment, Mas and Menos just gaped at Bumblebee in shock. Even Herald looked quite surprised at what Bumblebee had just said. Then, as one, the two twins gulped, looked each other in the eyes, and then hung their heads, clearly ashamed of their behavior now that Bumblebee had placed it under such a scathingly harsh light.

"La primera opcion," said Mas.

"Lo sentimos," said Menos.

Bumblebee sighed in relief. "Good." She placed her hands on their shoulders. "Now come on, let's go get our seats to watch the concert that we'll be going on within the next hour. Won't that be fun?"

Mas and Menos smiled, for they too were just as big of a pair of fans of the band performing as Bumblebee and Herald were after all the time the couple had spent the previous day getting them educated and oriented with the band in question in preparation for the concert they were now about to watch.

"Good," said Bumblebee. She clasped her hands together. "Now come on! Let's get moving! We can't let all the other bozos among the audience today steal all the good seats!"

"You got that right," said Herald. He bolted right past his girlfriend and the two twins as he started running off in the direction of the concert's location. "Race you!"

Bumblebee hesitated for a full three seconds, purely out of shock. Then she snapped out of her daze and ran off after her boyfriend, more than a little annoyed. "Oh no you don't!" she yelled as she ran, not flew, after the laughing and in the lead Herald. "You are not running off ahead of me! I already have enough races and challenges with Sparky! And you are not beating me to a concert from my favorite band!"

Meanwhile, Mas and Menos ran along trying desperately trying to keep up with Bumblebee and Herald; all while quite noticeably avoiding locking hands or likewise boosting their speed in an effort to avoid getting into any further trouble. "Eh!" they yelled. "Esperanos!"

. . . . .

Aqualad sat by the changing room building located near the beach parking lot, patiently waiting for Terra to finish her business so that they could enter the beach. Much like the other boys had doubtless felt in regard to their own respective outings today, he was quite looking forward to what he had planned for his day out with Terra today. To be specific, their Valentine's Day date consisted of spending virtually the entire day together at the beach. And this was something that he believed would prove especially romantic for the two of them since, due to the time at which this Valentine's Day was taking place, virtually every civilian in the city would be either at school, work, or likewise preoccupied with other things that didn't involve the beach, thus allowing them to have the entire beach all to themselves. Admittedly, for just about anyone else, such a situation had the potential to prove quite dangerous. Aqualad, however, being who he was, was quite certain that he would more than qualify for taking on the role of a lifeguard in the unlikely event that any trouble came at risk of befalling Terra. Right now, all that needed to happen was for Terra to finish what she was currently up to in the changing rooms, and they could get started on their date.

He looked down at his attire. As usual, he was dressed in his usual blue unitard with some streaks of white combined with black gloves and boots. "It certainly pays to virtually wear your swimsuit 24/7," he thought to himself. He looked back in the direction of the changing rooms building, a small smile now on his face. "But even so, I'm certainly not gonna complain. However long it takes for Terra to get ready, what follows will be more than worth the wait." He looked off in the direction of the wooden walkway that led over the dune area to the beach proper, smile still on his face as the wind blew comfortably in his face. "This is going to be so much fun," he thought to himself.

"I'm ready."

Surprised, Aqualad turned his head, only to find himself briefly unable to coherently think or speak at the sight of Terra. In his eyes, she looked just that stunning in the current moment. She was dressed in a dark red two-piece swimsuit that he had to admit contrasted quite well with his own light blue unitard and also managed to show off her body, yet still maintain a respectable level of modesty for her. She had her hands on her hips, a bright smile that made her entire face as well as her blue eyes glow, and her golden hair was gently blowing in the wind. Terra noticed her boyfriend gawking at her in awe, and chuckled. "Enjoying the view I see."

This comment knocked Aqualad out of his daze, and he chuckled nervously while rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry," he said. "Didn't mean to stare . . ."

"Relax Garth," said Terra, placing a hand on her boyfriend's shoulder. "Trust me, I saw myself in a mirror while wearing this suit right back in the changing room. I'm sure any other guy would have had a somewhat similar reaction to the sight of me like this." She folded her arms across her chest a half mock glare and half playful smirk on her face. "But still, you're lucky that your both my direct teammate and my boyfriend. If I'd caught any guy but you ogling me like that just now, it would have earned him a restraining order."

Aqualad chuckled nervously. "I see."

Terra chuckled and gave her boyfriend a playful slap on the shoulder. "Come on Garth!" she yelled good naturedly. "Lighten up! You know I'm just messing with you!" She took a few steps past him, turned her head, and gestured towards the walkway across the dunes. "Come on," said Terra. "Let's get to it. I've really been looking forward to this beach trip, and I know you can't wait to get started on it anymore then I can."

Aqualad chuckled, but this time in a clearly not at all nervous tone. "You got that right Tara." He got up from his sitting position, walked right up to Terra's side, and extended his hand towards her. Terra blushed at hearing Aqualad refer to her by the endearingly mispronounced form of her civilian name that he'd taken to referring to her by every now and then (after borrowing said behavior from her own brother no less), grabbed onto his hand, and the couple walked down the walkway, still hand in hand and with happy smiles still on their faces.

As they reached the halfway point of the walkway, Terra sighed in content. "It's so beautiful out here right now. I never thought that I'd ever casually visit a beach at this time of the year."

"That's not a problem is it?" Aqualad asked.

Terra chuckled good naturedly. "Not at all." She turned her head, directing her smiling face at Aqualad. "I'm actually quite glad to be visiting the beach right now; especially since it's with you."

Aqualad chuckled. "Good answer."

Terra giggled, shook her head side to side in content, and turned her head to face ahead once more. Aqualad did the same. They reached the end of the walkway, descended down the steps to the beach proper, and then set up a towel and umbrella before Aqualad sat under the umbrella and Terra lay down on the towel on her belly. For the next few minutes, they remained this way, silently watching the ocean together in companionable silence.

"Garth," said Terra.

Aqualad looked over at his girlfriend. "Yes?"

"Thank you," Terra replied. "For this; for everything really." She turned her head towards him, smiling still. "You're the best."

"Don't mention it," Aqualad responded in good humor. He looked back at the water. "I still remember seeing you again for the first time following your being released from petrification right here at this beach last summer."

Terra chuckled. "I'd be surprised if you didn't." She looked back at the ocean. "Boy if all the other girls back at Murakami could see me now; they'd be so jealous."

"Would they now?"

"You bet," said Terra. "You wouldn't believe how many girls there are at Murakami High who envy Lois Lane and Sapphire Stagg and wish that they could have a relationship with some bigshot hero like they do. But of course, the local heroes here aren't really going to look there way, and all the other heroes are likewise out of reach; so the closest thing they could hope for was to at least fawn over local civilian heart throbs like Jackson Carver. And even then, my pal Stephanie Troy was the only one among them who actually genuinely loved Jackson as opposed to being in admiration of the romantic ideal he represented or just superficially attracted to him for his body or what not."

Terra looked back at Aqualad. "And from what I've managed to learn over the course of our visits here following my officially joining Titans East, all the other girls have been especially crazy and over the top about it all ever since Jackson and Stephanie got together; and those two are still together even now. And with that in mind, just think of how green with envy they'd be of me if they knew that I was now the girlfriend of such a fresh bit of saltwater taffy as you."

Aqualad chuckled, and shook his head side to side. "Come on," he said. "I'm not that attractive."

"Like Hell you aren't," said Terra playfully. "Honestly Garth, how you can possibly not realize how much of a lady killer you are? There are like so many girls who've gawked, ogled, and likewise stared at you and liked what they saw! Heck, from what I've heard, even Starfire and Raven once had a brief crush on you!"

"They did?" Aqualad asked.

"Yep," said Terra. She giggled. "You seriously didn't notice all that?"

Aqualad shook his head, a stunned speechless look on his face. "Heck no. I mean really, all those other girls have ever done before you came along is just stare at me and look at me funny. How the heck is that supposed to hint at finding someone attractive?"

"Get out," said Terra, an amused look on her face.

"No seriously! The way all those other girls I've actually noticed staring at me have looked, you'd think that I had food on my face or some ugly blemish or something! They most certainly were not looking at me at all the way you and Tula have looked at me!"

Terra giggled, and playfully swept a small spout of sand at the Atlantean. "Geez Garth, you're such a fish out of water!"

Aqualad wiped the sand away from him, and then directed a capricious smirk at the half Markovian. "Oh that can easily be remedied."

Terra raised her eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"Gotcha!"

Without warning, and with a surprised squeal from Terra, the Atlantean jumped up from his position, scooped her up in his arms, and bolted off towards the water while carrying the still squealing and giggling Terra in his arms bridal style. "Come on Garth, put me down!" Terra yelled playfully.

"Oh don't be such a killjoy Terra," Aqualad responded back in a playful tone of his own as he continued rushing towards the water. "The fun's only just begun!"

"No!" Terra squealed as Aqualad started to get especially close to the water's edge. "Don't! Stop!"

"Don't stop?" Aqualad asked teasingly. "Alrighty then! As you wish!"

"Agh!" Terra screamed in mock fear. "Not what I meant! Not what I meant! No!"

With a chuckle, Aqualad took one step into the waves, and caused a small spout of water to propel him and Terra airborne towards further out into the somewhat deeper areas of the water. With a playful squeal from Terra and a joyful chuckle from Aqualad, the couple landed in the water with a big splash. And just like that, as Aqualad had said, the fun had indeed just begun.

. . . . .

Speedy was patiently waiting in the outer courtyard of the train station. Much like he'd made perfectly clear to his friends among the other Titans, he indeed did have plans for Valentine's Day this year. And right now, all that needed to happen was for his date to arrive, and said plans could begin right on schedule. He examined his outfit. He had to admit, after a considerable number of years that he'd spent wearing it, he was still finding it slightly difficult mentally to get used to the sight of him wearing any outfit that wasn't his trademark hero uniform. Right now, instead of the reddish orange jumpsuit and yellow boots he'd been wearing virtually every day of his life following his initially getting recruited as Green Arrow's sidekick, he was dressed in dark blue jeans, a Lincoln Green t-shirt with a picture of Robin Hood drawing his bow on the front, and a pair of Nikes running shoes. And even more unsettlingly, from his perspective anyway, he'd even opted to have his mask hidden inside the exact backpack he'd brought with him that contained his costume, thus allowing his natural blue eyes to be exposed clear as day.

He calmly looked around the area, outwardly showing no sign of his reasonably substantial nervousness that now came with being out in public without his mask on after having spent so many years keeping it on his face 24/7. "Everything we'll be fine," he thought to himself, his impassive face showing no outward sign of how nervous he was. "It's been at least 5, maybe 7, years since I was last seen without my uniform or mask on. Nobody saw me change out of my costume. And no one in Jump City has ever seen me as Roy Harper as opposed too Speedy. And as far as I know, none of the enemies of the Arrow family have ever figured out the secret identity of any of its members. I have no reason to worry."

But even in spite of this, he still felt nervous to the point that he thought it a miracle that he wasn't showing some blaringly obvious outward sign of it, let alone any outward sign at all. Then he thought to himself. Admittedly, his natural fear of someone discovering his identity without his mask on wasn't the sole contributing factor to why he felt so nervous right now. In fact, the over half of him was feeling the same level of nervousness for a completely different reason.

He briefly looked in the direction of the doors leading into the train station building, checking to see if the person he was expecting had arrived yet. "It's been so many years now," he thought to himself. Then he looked himself over once again. "God I hope I don't mess this up." And he had very good reason to be nervous about how things would unfold while hanging out with his partner for his planned activities for this day. Surprisingly enough, in spite of how much he'd bragged otherwise, and just how much his own mentor Green Arrow seemed to be valued as prime eye candy by various women both before and after successfully initiating a relationship with Black Canary, he himself wasn't entirely as big of a hit with the ladies as he liked his friends to believe. In fact, he'd only ever successfully dated and courted, let alone been attracted to, one single girl.

He sighed in content, his blue eyes misting over as he remembered the old days that he'd spent with his four first true companions among people his age range before the terrible drought of negativity that had begun to unfold for him not too long after Robin's departure from Gotham City and eventual relocation to Jump City. Granted, he'd certainly never trade the happy days he'd spent alongside his teammates, three of which were among the same group of friends he'd been associated with before the formation of the Teen Titans, for anything. But even so, at times like this, when he really thought hard to himself and let down his walls just enough, it seemed only yesterday when he went on so many great adventures alongside his four first true companions among his age group while their mentors were off on adventures and missions of their own. He sighed in contentment. As happy as he was with his lot in life right now, he'd always hold a special place in his heart for the days in which the only officially recognized group of teen heroes, basically both a predecessor for the Teen Titans and that very team in all but name, had a roster that consisted entirely of himself, Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, and most of all . . . he hung his head. "Donna," he thought to himself.

Speedy sighed. "All this time," he thought to himself. "I never thought that I'd still be affected this strongly by all that happened between us." And indeed, even when the whole business had first begun, he'd always been quite surprised and amazed at how strong of an impact it had left on his life. He still remembered the day that he and the other four had first met each other and properly teamed up together all the way at the time when they'd all been just 11-years old. He remembered the many missions they'd undergone, both separately and alongside their respective mentors, and together as a team that could quite simply be considered as the Teen Titans in all but name. But most of all, he remembered now how, in spite of all the odds, and how they'd both been at an age where neither of them, let alone either of their other three young comrades amongst their team's roster, should have even the slightest idea what love truly even was, he had precociously, yet genuinely, managed to fall in love hard with the one girl amongst the roster of the first generation of Titans, Donna Troy; the first, and as far as he knew only, Wonder Girl.

Speedy shook his head side to side, mentally snarling with his eyes closed, trying his absolute hardest to get his mind off of his old flame. "Stop thinking about her darn it," he growled to himself in his mind. "What we had back then is over, and I am going to move on if it's the last darned thing I do!" He looked at his watch. The estimated time of arrival that his partner for today had told him was about 5 minutes or so away. "God I hope she shows up soon," he thought to himself. "At this rate, I'll go crazy thinking thoughts about my being out of costume or Donna Troy without her around to keep me focused on what really matters now."

"Waiting for someone?"

Speedy turned his head to look behind him. "You could say that," he said almost robotically in response before turning his head to look once more at his watch without even really taking a close look at who he'd just talked to. Then he noticeably tensed up. "Wait a minute," he thought to himself. He turned his head to look behind him once more. It took all of 10 seconds for him to recognize the girl standing behind him that had just now spoken to him. Even though her eyes were now somehow a more naturally Vietnamese brown color and was dressed in regular American civilian garments as opposed to the green long sleeved battle kimono and grinning Cheshire Cat style mask she usually wore, he would have easily recognized the smirking teenage Vietnamese girl standing there behind him after having managed to see her unmasked face the previous summer and spent quite a bit of time talking and hanging around with her over the course of the months that had followed the adventure in which he'd gotten to see her unmasked.

The girl chuckled, clearly amused at the stunned look on the ginger haired boy's face. "Weren't expecting me this early now, were you Dreyden?"

Speedy briefly frowned at the girl, then sighed, shook his head side to side, and directed a half miffed and half smug look at her. "Maybe I was, maybe I wasn't. It's always hard to tell what to expect when it comes to you; isn't it Mei-Mei?"

Cheshire chuckled, shaking her head side to side in the process. Out of both a strong desire for them both to avoid running too high of a risk of her mysterious cloaked boss figuring out about her treasonous activities she'd been pulling against him since the previous summer as the Titans' double agent, and a pragmatic desire to avoid running the unlikely risk of someone in Jump City miraculously recognizing their actual civilian birth names, the two teens had chosen to go about under fake names. Speedy had chosen to take the name of Dreyden Rosemont, whereas Cheshire had chosen the almost adorably exotic alias of Mei-Mei Sukit. And as had just now been demonstrated, they both clearly wouldn't have too much trouble in consistently avoiding referring to each other by either of their real names.

Cheshire stopped shaking her head and looked directly at Speedy. "So," she said. "I'm here now. What's the plan?" Admittedly, she already had a pretty good idea of what the plan was in regards one half of the matter. One thing that they'd both agreed to for her visit today was that she'd bring fully up to date on what information she now had to offer about her master today. However, there was one other purpose for their meeting in Jump City today that Cheshire was not afraid to admit; at least to herself anyway; that she had no idea what to expect. Granted, she could now feel in hindsight that she probably should have seen the potential for this coming from miles away after her experiences with the archer during the incident with Geo-Force the previous summer. However, it wasn't until New Year's Eve that very same year that they'd both finally managed to realize just exactly what had unexpectedly managed to happen to them over the course of the months that had followed that adventure. Over the course of the months that had followed their managing to become allies and set things up for her to serve effectively as a double agent for the Titans, Cheshire and Speedy had quite unexpectedly, yet at the same time somewhat quite touchingly, managed to develop their working relationship to a quite strong relationship that had only later managed to develop into what they were both quite certain could be accurately classified and labeled with a certain four letter word that began with 'L'. And now, in spite of initial efforts to resist, they'd decided to allow for today to be a time for them to have a chance at going exploring and testing to see if perhaps they truly could work out in that kind of way. This was something that Cheshire found herself quite surprised to privately admit actually scared her infinitely more than her work under the leadership of Savage and her other, higher up, master, her work with the Brotherhood of Evil before then, and even all the assassinations and similar missions she'd undergone before that ever had. And quite frankly, she had no idea at all what to expect or how to tell for certain what would happen or if she knew how to do it all properly.

Speedy chuckled in a good natured way, stood up from his initial sitting position, and extended his hand towards Cheshire. "Come with me, and I'll show you."

Cheshire thought to herself, trying as hard as she could to avoid showing any signs of being nervous, yet at the same time unwittingly giving off very subtle hints that only Speedy managed to notice. Then she grabbed onto his hand, a small nervous smile of her own now on her face. "Very well then," she said. "Let's get going then."

. . . . .

"I WAS SAFE!"

"LISTEN KID, I'M THE UMPIRE, AND I SAY YOU'RE OUT!"

Sarah sighed, and all but one of the kids present rolled their eyes or slumped over with an annoyed look on their faces. "This is gonna be fun," they all thought to themselves in unison.

Admittedly, things had started off smoothly enough for them today. At exactly 9:00 am., Sarah and the kids had arrived at the park ready for their planned activities. And soon after arrival it hadn't taken at long for the entire group to notice that, much to the shock and joy of all the kids, none other than their virtual God among men Cyborg himself had been leaning up against the tree that Sarah had said they'd be gathering around upon initial arrival at the park. Sarah had been the only one amongst the group who had not been at all surprised. And soon enough, after almost half an hour of the kids enthusiastically greeting, hugging, and likewise showering praise upon the bionic teenage hero, Sarah had gotten them all to order and had engaged them in a brief meeting before then calling for them to get started on their first planned activity; and immediately after all the kids had started stampeding further into the park, clearly fully aware of just what the planned first activity was, Sarah had only paused long enough to greet Cyborg and quite joyfully, yet calmly, thank him for being there for her and the kids before they'd both calmly started walking off to follow the kids. And so, at the current moment, they were in the midst of playing baseball together with Sarah as their coach and Cyborg as the umpire.

Unfortunately, as indicated by the shouting that was now going on between Cyborg and one younger African American boy with a prosthetic metal hand, the somewhat unhappy look on Sarah's face, and the annoyed looks on all the other kids, a quite unsubtle pitfall had just now unfolded to interrupt their game when they were still only one out away from ending the 3rd inning and moving on to the 4th. The younger boy, Alan Cheadle, had only minutes ago finished sliding to 3rd base after having managed to successfully run without worry from home plate to 1st base, and from there to 2nd base, before then being forced to slide the rest of the way to 3rd base after one of the outfielders had managed to catch the ball while he was halfway between 2nd and 3rd and then tossed it over to the 3rd baseman. Now from the way he saw it, he'd successfully slid to 3rd base in time to just barely be ahead of the moment when the 3rd baseman had caught the ball.

Cyborg, however, with the considerably enhanced vision that his cybernetics applied him with, said otherwise. From what he'd managed to both directly catch sight of with his single biological human eye and very painstakingly record with the surprisingly high maintenance camera in his cybernetic eye, Alan's foot had slid onto the base just 2 seconds after the 3rd baseman had caught the ball. That being said, while 1/3 of the rest of the kids had seen enough to find reason to agree with Cyborg, another 1/3 had been miffed over hearing what Cyborg had announced but were willing to let it go and accept his call to avoid unnecessary drama, and the remaining 1/3 quite frankly didn't care and just wanted to resume the game, Alan had not at all been about to let the fact that the umpire was the bigtime personal hero to both him and all the other kids in the group stop him from complaining against Cyborg's call. And thus the two were now arguing about it.

"No fair, and not true!" Alan yelled. "Fowl call!"

"I called it fair and square pal," Cyborg responded. "You're out!"

Alan lifted up his hands and positioned them as if he were pretending to place the tips of his fingers in his ears. "Maybe you need to get your eyes checked!" he yelled.

"Excuse me?" Cyborg exclaimed. He pointed up at his blood red cybernetic eye. "This eye can record and play back digital images in a blink!"

"Especially that eye!" Alan yelled.

At that moment, Sarah walked up over to the two arguing boys. "Alright, break it up you two. No need to get all bent out of shape here."

"But Ms. Simms!" Alan complained.

"Alan," said Sarah. "Please, just calm down. It's just a game. And besides, your biggest idol is here. Surely you don't want to ruin the experience for all your friends?"

Alan thought to himself, then he sighed, and nodded his head. "You're right," said the young boy. "I'm sorry."

Sarah chuckled, and then pointed at Cyborg. "Him to."

"Sorry Cyborg."

Cyborg placed his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Don't you worry kiddo. No hard feelings."

The boy chuckled, and Cyborg smiled. Sarah also smiled, clearly happy that things had now ended happily before they could escalate too high. "Alright everybody," she then said. "Water break!" All the kids were very quick to agree, and so was Cyborg. It didn't take long at all for the kids and the two 20-year-olds to gather around a small hillside near where the baseball game was occurring.

When Cyborg finished his 3rd bottle of water, he eagerly let out a sigh as he practically slammed the bottle down on the ground next to him. "Boy what a day."

Sarah chuckled, her blue eyes agleam, and she shook her head side to side. "They sure are a handful aren't they?"

"Are you kidding?" Cyborg asked. "They're way more than a handful. Heck, I'd say they're about five handfuls." Sarah started laughing. "I'm serious!"

Sarah chuckled again, playfully slapped Cyborg on the left shoulder, and then turned her head to face the area where all the kids she was watching were gathered, a contented sigh seeping out of her lips. "Were they really that bad?"

Cyborg thought to himself. "Well, ok, maybe not that bad. But still, I'm surprised you're able to put up with them so well."

"It's actually not as hard as you think," Sarah said in a perfectly kind and polite tone. "Especially once you've worked with them as long as I have." She gestured her hand to indicate them all. "And believe me, when you know them as well as I do, it's almost as if they're your own children. Sure, some of them may not be all that keen on agreeing with some of your less pleasant calls . . ."

"You don't say," said Cyborg, briefly directing a dark gaze towards Alan.

"But even so," Sarah continued, seemingly not having noticed Cyborg's brief glare at Alan. "They all look up to you. And I'm sure that at least makes the less pleasant bits worthwhile right?"

Cyborg thought to himself, then sighed, and hung his head. "To tell you the truth, I sometimes wonder if I'm really worthy of being viewed the way they view me."

This caught Sarah's attention, and she turned her head to face him, an inquisitive, yet also concerned, look on her face. "Why?"

Cyborg sighed. "Well for one, just like you said last year when we first met, my friends and I so rarely get the proper recognition and thanks we should. I mean really, the Justice League always gets more attention, and I'm not entirely certain that those people don't view us as anything other than a ragtag and unorganized group of kids." He lifted up his right hand and looked at it. "And then there's my appearance. I know that my teammates are perfectly fine with me as I am, and obviously so are the kids you babysit. But even so, I still remember how so many people I used to know from before I met either member of those two groups who were either disgusted or terrified of me. Heck, there are still people here in Jump City who have similar reactions towards me, Raven, and Beast Boy. But of the three of us, I'm the only one who people like that are ever up front with about it to my face. And sometimes, I can't help but wonder if . . ."

Sarah placed her hand on Cyborg's left hand, and the unexpected contact caused Cyborg to stop talking. He turned his head towards Sarah, who smiled, and shook her head side to side. "Just because you're different doesn't mean you're wrong," said Sarah with an almost sage like tone of wisdom. She clenched her hand tighter around Cyborg's. "It doesn't matter what's on the outside. It's what's inside that counts. And that applies especially well to you." She took a deep breath, exhaled, and then looked Cyborg right in both his eyes. "Because whatever those other people say doesn't matter to me, or to these kids; and it shouldn't matter to you or your teammates either. They may look only at your armor and see a freak or a monster. But the rest of us look under this armor, and the kids here see a hero, and I see a man." She lifted her hand up from Cyborg's. "And that's what you should see yourself as."

Cyborg was blown away, both astounded and touched by what Sarah said. At the same time, he also felt a sense of Déjà vu from the line she'd said about what was underneath his armor; in fact, it was almost as if he'd once heard her, or someone very similar to her, say a very similar line long ago. Then he heard rustling from his left, and he turned his head in time to see Sarah getting up on her feet. "Come on," said the girl. "Don't want to keep the kids waiting."

Cyborg raised his eyebrow playfully. "Getting ambitious are we?"

Sarah guffawed, and rolled her eyes. "You know perfectly well what I mean."

Cyborg chuckled. "Indeed I do." He got up, and the pair promptly walked off to get the kids back to their game.

. . . . .

Robin couldn't have felt happier as he drove the R-Cycle down the path he was currently taking, feeling the wind rush at his sides. Then his smile widened underneath his helmet; he had to admit, he also quite enjoyed the company of the passenger sitting behind him with her arms wrapped around him for safety.

"Please Robin," said Starfire, a small look of anticipation on her face underneath her distinctive pink helmet, and the blindfold she was wearing underneath said helmet. "Do tell me where we are going."

Robin chuckled. "Not yet Star," said the Boy Wonder. "That would spoil the surprise."

"But must it be a surprise?" Starfire asked innocently. "Surely you could go ahead and let me know in advance?"

"And ruin the mood?" Robin asked back. "Come on Star. Where's the romance in that?"

"I will admit; you have the point."

"Thank you," said Robin.

"But even so," said Starfire. "I am getting quite the excited as to what it is you have planned for me today, and I am not sure I can handle being in darkness over this matter."

Robin mentally chuckled at his girlfriend's adorkable misquoting of a typical earthling phrase. "Don't worry Star," said the teen caped crusader. "You'll be out of the dark soon enough. We're almost there."

"Almost where?" Starfire asked, her tone now clearly showing signs of how excited she was to the point that she was almost squealing with anticipation.

"You'll see real soon," Robin said cryptically. "I promise."

Starfire sighed, but nodded her head, clearly willing to trust that her boyfriend meant what he said. After what felt like an eternity to the excited Tamaranean, she finally felt and heard the R-Cycle come to a stop, and heard Robin say, "Alright Star, we've made it."

Starfire instantly snapped herself mentally to attention, wondering just where she and Robin were. She eagerly let Robin help her off the R-Cycle when he offered his hand, more than willing to let Robin determine how best to let her figure out the answer to this question. Sure enough, she then felt her helmet get removed, and heard Robin say, "Ok, you can open your eyes now." Starfire took off the blindfold, and she found her emerald eyes widening as she recognized the area. It was the pier-based amusement park.

"Robin," Starfire said with a hint of both joy and surprise. "I . . . I was under the belief that this place had been abandoned."

"Officially, yes, it is," Robin responded, a small smile on his face at the sight of how Starfire was reacting to having been taken to this particular place. "But let's just say that, thanks to me, this place will be unofficially not abandoned for at least today, just for the two of us."

Starfire felt a wide smile come on her face, all while fighting to avoid crying tears of joy at just how far Robin was going to make sure this day was special for the both of them. "How . . . how did you manage that?"

Robin let off a cheeky grin. "I have my ways." In fact, as he had a very strong feeling would prove true, he would likely receive a very angry phone call from Gotham City considering just whose computer he'd managed to hack into and cause a donation to be transferred to Jump City for the sake of today's outing, all falsely under the name of the man who owned the computer in question. But of course, he planned, as usual, to ignore that phone call when it came; and it wasn't as if he really cared at the moment what that particular person thought of him. Today was a day for him and Star to enjoy, regardless of how pissed off Batman got about it. "And by God," Robin thought to himself, "if this is gonna be me and Star's first and last Valentine's Day together as a couple, then I am going to make sure that she and I enjoy it to the fullest, and with style."

Starfire giggled, and looked around the area. Then she looked directly at Robin, who was still standing by the entrance. "So, how do we get in?"

Robin grinned, and placed his hand on the top of the almost ludicrously small wooden gate that currently made a meagre effort at blocking their path. "Well since it's been reserved for the two of us just for today, and it's officially abandoned otherwise," he kicked the center of the gate, causing the two doors to swing backwards out of the way, revealing the gate to not even be locked, "I say we just walk right through the front door."

. . . . .

At 12:15, Raven and Beast Boy had decided to take a break and were now at a nearby food joint within the zoo. As Beast Boy chowed down heartily on his two double veggie burgers, he found himself thinking quite happily to himself about just how good things were currently going for him. Just this morning alone, things had already gone considerably better for him than he'd feared they would after the previous night's unpleasant revelation. He mentally took a deep breath and just as mentally exhaled to clear his head of those thoughts. "Not yet," he thought to himself.

On other positive notes, Beast Boy also had to admit that he and Raven had already managed to make quite a large bit of progress through the zoo by the time they'd decided to stop for lunch. In fact, the very last enclosure they'd visited before stopping was the 39th exhibit total in the entire zoo; the home of the zoo's resident herd of bison. And now that he thought about it all, he had to admit that he was quite glad that he and Raven had still been the only guests in this particular segment of the zoo when they'd visited the orcas on display in the zoo's 36th exhibit. "SeaWorld and other parks of the sort could really learn a thing or two from the way Jump City does it," he thought to himself. Then his eyes narrowed into a glare at nothing in particular. "Though if I ever hear another word of a debate on this matter, I swear. . ."

"Having fun I presume?"

Beast Boy looked up from his food, and he very nearly answered right away before remembering that he was talking to Raven, and he held his voice back just long enough to finish swallowing the mouthful of tofu burger he still had in his mouth. "You bet," he responded. He leaned back in his chair, sighing in content. "I have to admit, I don't think I've ever spent so much time here at the zoo without having to worry about some other bunch of guests getting all noisy and annoying; and don't get me started on some of the acts of blatant disrespect a bunch of the guests I've met have tried to pull around here. Good thing I've always been around to stop them, and if not me, the zoo staff."

"I can imagine," said Raven.

"Darn right," said Beast Boy. He sighed in contentment again. Then he looked at Raven, a small smile still on his face. "You know Rae," said the changeling, "I noticed that you seemed to be especially interested in watching the vultures while we were visiting them." And in fact, at the vulture enclosure, which happened to be the absolute last animals they visited before their time at the bison enclosure, Raven had seemed to be quite keen on sticking around for a while to watch the intimidating, yet in their own way valuable, scavenger birds.

Raven nodded her head, not even bothering to try to correct Beast Boy on referring to her by his preferred nickname for her rather than her actual preferred name. "Indeed I did," she admitted. She nodded her head, unintentionally dislodging her hair and allowing it to billow around slightly in the slight breeze that followed. "I've sometimes felt a bit of companionship with those birds."

Beast Boy lifted his eyebrow, clearly intrigued. "Do explain," he asked politely.

Raven thought to herself. "I suppose I can go ahead and do that. After all, we still have plenty of time to see all the other animals before we leave. And besides, I'm sure the others wouldn't mind if we continued to extend our time here as much as they're doubtlessly doing for their own outings."

Beast Boy's grin widened. "Oh now I'm definitely listening."

. . . . .

"See? That wasn't so bad now was it?"

Red Star chuckled, and then lifted up his bottle of sparkling cider in a victory gesture. "It was fun," he admitted. Then he looked down at the people who had been unlucky to now be passed out on the floor. "At least, that is, once I actually managed to get a solid standing in this fight." He unconsciously winced, and pressed a finger to his face, wincing again as he felt the area that would very likely be bruised after how hard he'd gotten punched there at the very beginning of the brawl that had occurred before lunch. "I will also admit though," said the former Russian soldier, "that I will probably still feel a thing or two from this battle tomorrow, and not in a good way."

Pantha chuckled, and slapped the Russian boy on the shoulder. "Don't be so dramatic," she damn near purred. "We had plenty of fun now didn't we?"

Red Star chuckled, and lowered his hand. "I don't know." He turned his head to face all the other gathered patrons who hadn't ended up being knocked out cold over the course of the two brawls that had occurred at the bar over the course of the last few hours. "What say you comrades?" They all heartily cheered. The former soldier smiled, and turned his head to face Pantha once more. "Yep," he agreed. "We definitely had plenty of fun."

Pantha chuckled. "That is good to hear friend. Good to hear."

"Indeed." Then Red Star seemed to think of something, and he winced both mentally and visually. "Though I will also admit, I am not looking forward to experiencing what might end up happening once komandir Robin finds out, not to mention how Wildebeest would potentially react if he were to find us here."

"You worry too much," said Pantha. She took a sip from her bottle of sparkling cider, emptying out the last drops. "What they don't know won't hurt them. And besides, it's not like they necessarily have to know about all this . . ."

"Excuse me, ma'am?"

Pantha tensed up in confusion. Red Star also looked confused. The pair turned their heads just in time to see none other than the bartender standing nearby with a half confused and half unnerved look on his face. All the other patrons also directed their gaze at the bartender. "Sorry to disturb you and your friend madam," said the bartender. "But you see, right now there's this strange animal boy standing at the door."

Pantha raised her eyebrow, completely uncomprehending of what was going on. Red Star, likewise, looked confused as well.

"He also appears to be holding onto a device similar to the ones you dropped off at the entrance, and a sheet of paper. And from what it says on the paper, he appears to be asking for his . . . 'mother'?"

Red Star raised his eyebrow, still confused. Then he turned his head to face Pantha, and his heart stopped at the sight of how Pantha's face had now very noticeably paled. And within seconds, he himself soon reached the same conclusion that Pantha had just now likely reached.

"Red?" said Pantha. "What time is it?"

Red Star gulped, and he hurriedly checked the clock on the wall to his left. His eyes widened. "It's 3:00."

At that moment, Pantha looked as if she would either scream, or curse. "Shoot," she hissed. "This is not good."

"No kidding," Red Star agreed. And agreed, their situation did not currently look good. Over the course of the brawl they'd taken part in before lunch, they'd completely forgotten a very important detail regarding their original plans for the day. They'd been supposed to depart from the bar at around 11:45 to pick up Wildebeest from the preschool they'd dropped him off at. And immediately after that, the plan had been for them all to stop at Esposito's Taco Joint for lunch before later going out on the town to some other location of Wildebeest's choosing just for fun. Right now though, as they had now quite unfortunately found out the hard way, things had gone quite off course in regard to the original plan.

But then things got worse. At the sound of thundering footsteps coming from the location of the door to the bar, Pantha, Red Star, and the other patrons still conscious turned their heads in time to see none other than Wildebeest come stomping into view with his muscles tensed up, his fists clenched, and a very angry look on his face. Pantha noticeably paled once more upon sight of the angry look on the humanoid wildebeest's face. All the time she'd known him, and she had never once seen Wildebeest be anywhere close to this level of anger. Then Wildebeest snapped his head in her direction, his silent snarl seemingly taking on a form that made him look even angrier, and she winced. "This can't be good," she thought to herself.

Wildebeest snorted, now clearly struggling to keep it together, and he reared his right arm back before then tossing what turned out to be two very familiar objects at Pantha and Red Star. The pair instinctively caught the two objects, and found themselves mentally wincing upon recognizing said objects as their communicators. They looked each other in the eyes, then at Wildebeest, and then at their communicators. They took a deep breath, exhaled, and then opened the communicators.

Unfortunately, upon opening the communicators and discovering the massive amount of unanswered 'texts' from Wildebeest, who had apparently been dropped off at Esposito's right on time, and had spent 2½ hours waiting before eventually getting fed up and storming off to find them. And evidently, he'd managed to successfully track them down; and judging from how angry he currently appeared to be, he was clearly not happy about where he'd managed to find them.

In complete unison, Red Star and Pantha lifted their heads just in time to see Wildebeest still standing where he was, but now with his arms crossed, and a blank look of disapproval on his face. The pair winced. Now Wildebeest looked even more unsettling then he'd already looked. They looked around, and mentally winced again as they saw the looks of sympathy and pity on the faces of all the other conscious patrons and the look of absolute nervousness on the face of the bartender, who clearly had no experience with dealing with nonhuman characters. They looked back at Wildebeest, who still had his unsettlingly blank look on his face.

Red Star mentally winced, cursing himself for allowing himself and Pantha to be knocked so easily off track. He looked over at Pantha. "We are going to die."

Pantha nodded her head, and this time Red Star felt far more unnerved then he would have if she'd agreed with him so readily at any other moment. "Tell me about it," she groaned.

. . . . .

Gnark was currently uncertain how to feel. At the moment, he was sitting around by the feet of the t-rex skeleton on display in the hall of prehistoric wildlife, waiting for Kole and Jericho to come back from their extended trip through the rest of the museum. He had actually been waiting around in this very room for virtually the entirety of the visit ever since the young couple had departed said room to explore the rest of the museum. Under any other circumstances, he would have followed the couple. Right now, however, he had too much else on his mind.

The caveman-like boy directed his head towards the stuffed smilodon, paralyzed forever in mid-roar. He mentally sighed. "For all I know, he may have died alone," thought Gnark. "But regardless, judging from his posture, he certainly died with dignity." He hung his head. "And I'd certainly be pleased to die with dignity as well; though preferably not alone."

Gnark hung his head, sighing in a resigned tone. "I should have known this day would come," he thought to himself. Granted, he probably should have brought this matter up a long time ago. But quite honestly, it truly wasn't until now that he finally found it a sufficient time to properly think on the matter in question, and it wasn't pleasant (at least from his perspective anyway).

Gnark sighed once again. Even after the day they'd first met each other, Gnark had always known that a world of difference existed between him and Kole in more ways than one. And throughout all the time they'd spent together and known each other, he'd always known that the life she was able to live alongside him was not at all like what she'd used to live up in the surface world before the events that had caused her to flee deep underground to the point of finding him in the first place. And with that in mind, he'd always had this deeply entrenched fear of Kole casting him aside in favor of a chance to return to the life she'd known from before meeting him, and only she was capable of convincing him to repress it whenever he encountered any elements that proved worthy of causing said fear to rise to the immediate surface of his mind.

Gnark turned his head away from the smilodon, gazing towards the side exit that Kole and Jericho had used to depart to whatever room had been the first for them to explore after they'd finished their time in the Hall of Prehistoric Wildlife. "And now," he thought to himself. "It seems very likely that such a moment in which she will finally leave the nest to fly without me will come in the very near future; and that this time, I may very well truly be cruel to try to convince her to do otherwise." He hung his head. "Not that it will be any less painful to let her go." He mentally cursed for thinking such thoughts, for even he was smart enough to know how selfish they were from the right perspective. As any fool could see clear as day, Kole was like the little sister he'd never had; and as a brother, he really was supposed to be proud of her and happy that she'd found that special boy worth giving her heart to. Admittedly, yes he was happy for her, but he also believed that what happiness he did have was too unhealthily watered down with his own worries about what sort of changes would befall the dynamic that he'd already had with her before meeting the mute, green eyed, blonde boy. And he didn't even want to think of what Kole would say if she knew just how worried he was about her leaving his life entirely when he really should have been hoping for the best for her own happiness with Jericho.

"Hey Gnark."

The caveboy lifted his head and saw Kole walk in through the very exit that she'd accompanied Jericho through so many hours ago. "I thought I'd go and check on you and see if you were alright. I mean, you've apparently been sitting here since Jericho and I left this room, and you never even joined us for lunch. Suffice it to say, I was quite concerned"

Gnark grunted, and then raised his eyebrow as he belatedly realized that Kole had come in alone. "Gnark?"

Kole smiled, for she could tell what Gnark was trying to say almost as easily as if he'd actually said the words out loud. "He's in the World War II Memorial Hall." She briefly turned her head to look behind her. "He likes to spend long amounts of time at every World War II or Holocaust related location he visits just to make sure he's spent absolutely as much time there as he can to give his respects." She looked back at her surrogate brother figure. "So, mind if I ask just why you spent all this time here today? Last time I checked, you were very keen on playing chaperone for me and Jericho, and I doubt chaperones can really do their job all that well if they spend a large amount of time in one location and let the people they're supposed to be watching over spend almost the entirety of their time together out of the chaperones' sight."

Gnark let out a small chuckle, a brief smile on his face. Then he sighed, and hung his head, not even sure if he could look his surrogate little sister in the eye without giving away the unworthy thoughts he'd had in his head not too long ago.

Kole sighed, and took a seat next to the hulking caveboy. "Look Gnark," she said patiently. "I know how you feel about my relationship with Jericho."

Gnark's eyes widened, and he lifted his head. Kole nodded her head without even looking at her stunned foster brother. "Don't try to deny it Gnark; I know you too well for you to fool me anymore."

Gnark tensed up slightly, pausing to think about how to respond. Then he sighed, and nodded his head. "Gnark," he then said apologetically.

"It's alright Gnark," Kole responded. "You don't have to be sorry. Believe me, any big brother who truly cares about their little sister would feel the same way you do." She nodded her head. "Yes indeed."

"Gnark."

"I know it feels that way to you Gnark," said Kole. She placed a hand on her hulking foster brother's shoulder. "But trust me, it's perfectly natural for you to feel this way. In fact, from the right perspective, it's hardly any different from how you felt when we first met and joined the Titans, or when we were all gathered at the tower together following our victory against the Brotherhood of Evil. Believe me, if you didn't feel concerned about me in this situation the way you currently are, I'd honestly be insulted." She looked ahead. "Trust me Gnark, there's no need to worry."

"Gnark."

Kole smiled. "Been watching a lot of Pokemon lately I see."

"Gnark," grunted the caveboy, who now sounded more than a little aggrieved.

"Right, sorry, bad time to joke," Kole admitted.

"Gnark."

Kole sighed, and turned her head to face her surrogate brother once more. "Look, let me put it this way. I know you're worried about eventually losing me in the future as my relationship with Jericho and my strong friendships with everyone else on this team grow stronger and stronger. But just like I've told you every other time you've felt this way, I won't leave you to live the rest of your life forever alone. And quite frankly, neither will Jericho or the rest of the Titans. And we'll never forget you either, regardless of if we ever get separated in any fashion whatsoever. Trust me, if you chose to leave the Titans North Tower in Wing City and have our old home beneath the Earth's surface become your permanent living space once again, the other Titans and I would always find time to visit you during times of peace. In the event that Jericho and I marry, we'll gladly make sure to name you an honorary uncle to our children. If you die, and we're still alive, we'll visit your grave and pay respects at just about every moment that we possibly can." She lowered her hand from the caveboy's shoulder. "Believe me, regardless of how things unfold between me and Jericho and in regards to the rest of our teammates, you'll always be my big brother. Trust me, the Titans and I, we're your family. And with families, no one gets left behind or forgotten."

Gnark thought to himself, and then sighed. "Gnark," he then said, clearly meaning to say 'if you say so'.

Kole gave the caveboy a sisterly pat on the shoulder. "Come on," said the pinkette. "Let's go back to find Jericho. Trust me, you'll be much better off sticking with us for the rest of this trip. Believe me, you'll fit in just fine, and you'll feel much better to." Gnark thought to himself, and then nodded. With a small bit of assistance from Kole, the caveboy got back onto his feet, and then the surrogate brother and sister departed from the Hall of Prehistoric Wildlife to join back up with Jericho at the World War II Memorial Hall.

. . . . .

"Totally worth the long walk we had to take to get here huh?"

Argent sighed. "Isiah," she stated almost through gritted teeth. "I gave you the answer to that very question without you even asking it hours ago. Must you keep asking?"

"Not really," Hotspot admitted. "I just like hearing your answer Toni."

Argent sighed. "Well I hope you've enjoyed the times you've already heard me answer, because for the last time, the answer is yes. And trust me, if you ask me that one more time, I will leave you glued to a tree with my red goo. And trust me, I'd rather you not try to find out the hard way whether or not it's flammable."

Hotspot gave a low nervous chuckle. "Ok then," said the pyrokinetic.

Argent chuckled, this one in good spirits. Then she looked up towards the sky. "How long are we going to be camping out here again?"

"Your call Toni," said Hotspot. "The way I see it, I'm more than willing to stay here as long as you want, regardless of whether or not you want to return to the tower before supper, return after dinner, or spend the night here like regular campers would."

Argent thought to herself. "Presumably, if I picked either of the latter two options, you're saying that you have food available?"

"You betcha," said Hotspot. He pointed over to the tent. "That rehydrator and batch of dehydrated food packets I brought along for lunch? I've got more of those packs ready to be placed into the device for dinner."

"Well then settles it," said Argent. She placed her hands on the log she was sitting on alongside Hotspot, already relaxing in her position. "We're spending the night."

"Oh really?"

"Really. Trust me, Red Star's teased us enough this week. And besides, we could really use some time to ourselves."

"Well when you put it that way I can certainly say that I agree," said Hotspot, a cheeky smile now on his face.

"Don't get ahead of yourself now," said Argent. "I may be saying yes to the two of spending the night together without any of our teammates around, but I am most certainly not giving you the all clear to go that far with me just yet. And if you even think of trying to pull anything on me, you'll regret it."

"Don't worry Toni," said Hotspot. "I may be a hothead, but I know how to properly handle stuff like this. And even if I were that kind of guy, you'd still be the girl that I'd always treat with respect."

"And thank God for that," Argent agreed.

Hotspot chuckled, and shook his head side to side. Argent also chuckled. Then, as one, they sighed, and looked up towards the sky. For another few minutes, they stared up at the sky in a companionable silence. Argent sighed, and then looked over to her left. "Isiah," she then said, a sentimental look in her eyes. "I'm sorry if this puts a bit of a downer on today, but, have you, by any chance . . .?"

Hotspot sighed, hung his head, and shook it side to side. "I'm sorry Toni," said Hotspot. "I wish I could say different. I really do. But I'm not gonna lie to you; and especially not over something this important to us."

Argent sighed, and hung her head. "No word from Cody?"

"No word from Cody," Hotspot confirmed somberly.

Argent sighed again. "I presume you've also neither seen nor heard anything about him from any other source?"

Hotspot shook his head. "Nothing." He sighed. "Honestly, it's almost as if the dude just vanished into thin air."

Argent sighed, and directed a sad, almost longing, look at the scarecrow figure designed to bear just the slightest similarity to their old friend. Her eyes narrowed in sadness as she stared at the figure, and she felt the slightest bit of moisture begin to build up in her eyes. "The Brotherhood of Evil never found him you know."

"Toni," said Hotspot warily.

"I mean it Isiah," said Argent. She sighed. "He wasn't with us when we got captured, or when we all fought off and defeated the Brotherhood together. And he's never once been seen or heard from at all in any way, shape, or form since the day we first split up to find our place in the world after we developed our powers." She hung her head. "Isiah, I know you don't like to think about this, and I don't want to believe it any more than you do. But honestly, times like this, I sometimes just can't help but wonder if . . . maybe . . . just maybe . . . perhaps Cody might very well be . . ."

"Don't say it Toni," said Hotspot. "Please Toni, don't say it. Not today."

"But what if he is?" Argent sniffled, and hung her head even further. "Like I said Isiah, I don't want to believe it any more than you do. But seriously think about it. What if he's dead?"

"He's not," said Hotspot. "I know he's not."

"Then why isn't he here with us now?" Argent asked, now clearly on the verge of tears. She didn't even need to lift her head and reveal how much on the verge of tears she was for Hotspot to know. "Why haven't we once seen or heard from him since the day we split up five years ago? Why has he been so off the radar all this time? Why didn't he come to try to save us last year when we got captured by the brotherhood? Why wasn't the Brotherhood or anyone else at all even able to find him during all that drama? Why . . . why . . . why . . .?"

Argent lifted her hands in time for her face to fall down across them, and she broke down completely, now crying without stop. Hotspot said nothing, but instead calmly wrapped his arms around Argent from where he was sitting to give his girlfriend a comforting hug to cheer her up. Argent all too eagerly repositioned herself so that she had her face pressed up against Hotspot's chest as she continued to cry. "It's alright Toni," he whispered as Argent continued sobbing into his chest. "It's alright Toni. Everything will be alright."

Argent sniffled, and turned her head around to look towards the bushes that she and Hotspot had walked through to enter the clearing. "I miss him Isiah."

"Me to Toni," Hotspot admitted. "I miss him to."

Argent sniffled again, and weakly rubbed a tear away from her eyes. "He should be here with us."

"Yes he should."

Argent hung her head, or at least as much as she could in her current position. "It's not fair."

"No it's not." Hotspot sighed. "But alive or dead, you know he wouldn't want us to be like this, at least not all the time. He'd want us to live our lives without him as best as we can, as good as we can, and as happy as we can; regardless of whether or not he is or ever will be here to enjoy it with us."

"I know," Argent admitted. "It's still so hard though."

"I know," said Hotspot. "But if it were easy, then that would mean we never cared."

Argent sighed. "Ain't that the truth?"

Hotspot sighed, and nodded his head. He reluctantly pulled away from his embrace with Argent and got up from the log. Argent turned her head in his direction, a slightly confused look on her face. "I know you probably really would rather not," said Hotspot. "But you're free to come join me on this little walk I'm about to take through these woods if you want. I mean, after all . . ."

"Say no more."

Argent got up from the log and walked up to join her boyfriend. "I'm coming with you." She let a weak smile come on her face. "Believe me, I'd sooner hike through a million forests like these without proper preparative measures then let myself waste away alone in sadness over what may or may not have happened to Cody. And besides, from what I remember about Cody, he'd totally kill you if you left me here on my own."

"True enough," Hotspot admitted.

Argent chuckled, her smile now somewhat stronger and happier looking. "Shall we be off then?"

"Right this way madam," said Hotspot. And just like that, the couple walked off into the woods to begin their second hike that day.

. . . . .

"So, pretty good huh?"

Jinx chuckled, tossing her holographic blonde hair over her shoulders side to side as she walked alongside Kid Flash across the mall parking lot. "I will admit, you certainly kept your word."

"Damn right I did," said Kid Flash. He chuckled. "I will admit though; I'm still pretty surprised myself that I was able to keep myself quiet."

"Well it's nonetheless a good thing you were able to keep yourself quiet," said Jinx. "You know perfectly well what would have happened if you hadn't."

"That I do," Kid Flash admitted.

Jinx sighed in content, and looked around the area. "I will admit; this is the first time I've ever felt happy to attend a magic show with you."

"Right back at you Jenn," said Kid Flash. He chuckled. "Heck, I'll admit it right now, there were actually a couple tricks that lucky magician pulled that I still haven't yet managed to figure out."

"Get out," said Jinx.

"No I'm serious," Kid Flash defended. "He's seriously got me stumped on a trick or two."

"The mighty Wally West stumped on a magic trick?" Jinx asked playfully. "It must be the end of the world."

"Ha, ha, ha; very funny," Kid Flash responded in a completely deadpan tone.

Jinx chuckled, and shook her head side to side. Then she came to a stop, Kid Flash stopping himself seconds later. "In all seriousness though," said Jinx. "I really did have fun today."

"Hey, don't mention it," Kid Flash responded. "My pleasure."

Jinx chuckled, and then directed a loving look towards her boyfriend. "You know Wally, I'm sure you've heard this to death from me, but I really am glad that you were able to convince me to leave the H.I.V.E. and life as a villain for good."

"I know you are," said Kid Flash. He placed his hands on his girlfriend's shoulders. "Believe me, I do; and I'm glad that you are. I really am."

Jinx smiled, and so did Kid Flash. Then they gave each other a chaste kiss right there in the parking lot. After what felt like an eternity to the couple, they pulled away, smiling still. Kid Flash then took a small step back. "Come on," said the speedster. "Let's get going. The earlier we arrive the better."

"What are you talking about?" Jinx asked.

"Well you see," Kid Flash explained. "I also managed to score us two tickets to visit the art gallery today, and I'd really prefer to avoid the rush of visitors to come for the Indian showcase tonight."

Jinx smiled adoringly. Her boyfriend truly had thought the whole thing out for today. "Lead the way, Wally," she responded. "Lead the way."

. . . . .

At around 5:30 pm., the concert was still going strong, and Herald and Bumblebee were likewise still having the time of their lives. Even Mas and Menos were quite clearly enjoying themselves.

"Woo!" Bumblebee yelled as yet another round of applause burst from the throats of the audience members. "You go boys!"

"Si! Si! Si!" chattered the twin speedsters.

Herald chuckled. "Someone's sure getting fan-girly."

"Damn right I am!" Bumblebee pointed up at the band still performing on the stage in front of them. "These guys are the best damn Rock & Roll band in the entire Goddamn United States of America!"

"They're certainly better than that crazy head Punk Rocket, that's for sure," the Herald agreed.

"Oh don't you get me started on that loser!" Bumblebee shouted. "That freak is a disgrace to the very idea of rock and roll! And the fact that he considers himself such a hardcore fan of rock and roll as to be at my level absolutely disgusts me!"

"You sure that's got nothing to do with him being one of the two punks responsible for nearly capturing you during all that drama with the Brotherhood last year?"

"Hey, those dummies could have sent any lame ass villains after me; I'd still hate that infidel as much as I already do!"

"Infidel?" Herald asked. "That's an awfully strong word."

"Strong yes," said Bumblebee. "But also one damn hundred percent true!"

"If you say so," said Herald. He turned his head to look back at the band, and then both he and Bumblebee let out a resounding "Woo!"

At this point, Mas and Menos nervously looked each other in the eyes, and then directed that same nervous look back at the two young adults chaperoning them.

"Que son estas personas, y lo que han hecho para nuestros amigos?" Mas asked.

"Ni idea," responded Menos. "Pero es de esperar que vayan a cambiar de nuevo a nuestros amigos una vez más de este concierto. Me gustaría mucho prefieren que no sean todavía excitan y aterrador como este cuando es el momento de volver a casa." Needless to say, at this point they were wondering if they'd perhaps have been better off spending the day with Speedy, or maybe even with Aqualad and Terra.

. . . . .

It was now 6:00 pm., and Aqualad and Terra were currently relaxing on the rocks by a large tide pool, resting and at peace from the large amount of time they'd spent swimming and likewise enjoying themselves at the beach.

Terra, still dressed in her bathing suit, remained peacefully lying down and watching the interior of the tide pool, sighing in content as she watched the creatures inside swimming, bobbing, and crawling about in their own little world. She smiled warmly. "So innocent and carefree," she thought to herself.

"Enjoying the critters are we?"

Terra chuckled, and turned her head to face Aqualad. "You bet I am," the geomancer responded.

"That's good," said the Atlantean. He pointed down at the tide pool, a grin on his face. "Because they all seem to really like your presence here."

Terra chuckled. "Aqualad, you know me better than that. I highly doubt that those critters even remotely care about that."

"Oh really?" said Aqualad with a sense of humor in his tone. "Because I was just talking with them not too long ago and they say otherwise."

"Oh stop," said Terra in mock annoyance.

"I'm serious," said Aqualad, now quite clearly enjoying himself.

"Oh please," said Terra. With a wave of her hand, she slapped the surface of the tide pool and sent water splashing towards the Atlantean. Her boyfriend chuckled, and repeated the maneuver in her direction. Terra giggled, and splashed Aqualad back, who splashed her right back, much to her delight. For another few minutes, the couple continued splashing each other playfully. When they finally stopped, Terra found herself briefly struggling to catch her breath as a result of both how much energy she'd put in and how much she was now still laughing. When she finally managed to get her breath back, she laid back down to her original position from before the splashing and sighed in content.

She felt Aqualad tap her on the shoulder, and she turned her head to face her boyfriend, who pointed down towards the tide pool. "Look at what they're doing," said the Atlantean.

Terra looked where Aqualad was pointing just in time to see a large group of hermit crabs inside the tide pool position themselves to the point that together they formed a large 'I'. As Terra and Aqualad continued to watch, the crabs proceeded to position themselves accordingly to form more and more letters. Thus, Terra witnessed the crabs forming a message that, when the individual letters were all connected together properly, clearly said 'I love you Tara'.

The geomancer smiled, and turned her head to face Aqualad. "You didn't have to do that Garth."

Aqualad smiled. "That obvious huh?"

Terra chuckled, and looked back at the tide pool just in time for the hermit crabs to scatter away back to their original activities, their task completed and their telepathic link with Aqualad no longer active. Terra sighed in content. "It must be nice to be able to talk to sea creatures like that. I'm sure that if Beast Boy had a similar ability with all animals, period, he could set up quite the romantic spectacle for Raven when they finally get together."

"Oh really?" Aqualad asked.

"Don't you deny it," said Terra. "I know you and the other guys talked about that matter to Beast Boy just like the other girls and I talked about it with Raven."

"So true," Aqualad admitted. "So true."

Terra giggled, and then looked out towards the horizon. "It sure was nice hanging out here at the beach all day."

"Indeed it was," Aqualad agreed. He turned his head to face her again, a smile on his face. "And I know something else we could do later this year that could possibly be even more fun."

"Oh really?" Terra asked.

"You bet," said Aqualad.

"Do tell," said Terra.

"One word," said Aqualad. "Atlantis."

For a brief moment, Terra was confused. Then her eyes widened as she finally realized the full import of what Aqualad had just said. "You mean?" she asked.

"Yes Tara," said Aqualad. "Later this year, when I make my usual visit to Atlantis, I'd like you to come with me."

"Garth," said Terra adoringly. Then she closed her eyes, snapping herself back to coherent thought. "But, it's under the ocean," she said, half dreamily and half in disbelief. "I can't possibly truly appreciate it the way you can . . ."

"It's easier than you think," said Aqualad. "You see, the actual city itself is surrounded by a large force field that contains just enough moisture to allow the natives to stay hydrated, but also allows for plenty of oxygen to be present to avoid the risk of anyone drowning. Not to mention it negates the effect of water pressure that would otherwise be felt from being located so deep beneath the ocean's surface." He smiled. "This comes quite in handy whenever any of the surface dwelling members of the league come to visit."

Terra thought to herself, carefully taking note of what Aqualad had just said to counter her suggestion of not being able to survive in Atlantis without some form of aid. Then she directed an adoring smile at Aqualad with her eyes clearly on the verge of tears of joy. "You'd really like to take me to Atlantis with you?"

Aqualad nodded his head. "Yes Tara," said the Atlantean. "I would."

Terra sniffled, now fighting to keep it together. In fact, from the way she was currently behaving, any civilian passerby would have assumed that Aqualad had asked her to marry him. "Garth," she managed to say. Then she hung her head, sniffled once more, and then said, "In that case, yes. Yes, I'll gladly visit with you." She lifted her head. "I'm looking forward to it already."

Aqualad smiled, happy that his girlfriend had accepted his offer to visit Atlantis with him later that year. "Me to."

Terra smiled, and looked back at the setting sun. "What time is it?"

Aqualad drew out his communicator and checked the time. "It's 6:30 now." He looked over at Terra. "Probably about time for dinner."

Terra smiled. "I can definitely agree with you there." She looked herself over, taking note of the fact that she was still in her bathing suit. "In that case," she said. "We'd best get over to the changing rooms. I doubt it would be very decent of me to be present at that diner I used to work at, or any other restaurant for that matter, in nothing but a bathing suit now would it?"

"Nope," said Aqualad. He winced, and then hurriedly backpedaled. "Not like you aren't perfectly good looking with it on . . ."

"Hey now Garth," said Terra. "No need to get your gills in a twist, I know perfectly well what that you meant no offense. And that being said," she extended her hand, letting her Atlantean boyfriend grasp it and help her up onto her feet. "This will be the first time we visit that diner together for dinner as boyfriend and girlfriend, and I'd very much like for you to be on your best behavior."

"Don't you worry Tara," said Aqualad, a smile on his face. "I'll be on my best behavior while we're at that diner. You have my word on that."

. . . . .

"You're absolutely sure that you're ok with eating here?"

"Dreyden," said Cheshire. "I've said it three times now; I'll say it one more time. I'm perfectly fine with eating here for dinner."

"Just had to make sure," said Speedy, a half guilty grimace on his face due to him now believing that he was needlessly getting on Cheshire's nerves. "I mean, I didn't want to make myself seem presumptuous by choosing to have us eat dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant and all."

"Ruh . . . Dreyden," Cheshire stated, very narrowly avoiding referring to the archer by his actual civilian name in her brief bout of annoyance. "If I'd taken any offense whatsoever to your choice of restaurant, I'd have let you know hours ago."

"Understood," Speedy said sheepishly, his eyes narrowing in slight despair at his screw up.

"Good," said Cheshire, then she winced, her own eyes narrowing in discomfort.

Speedy instantly grew concerned. "Are you sure you're ok?" he asked. "I mean, if those aren't comfortable for you to wear, I'll be perfectly fine with you taking them out . . ."

"I can handle it," said Cheshire, placing her hand on her forehead briefly to seemingly fight off the discomfort from the contacts she was wearing to disguise her unnaturally green eyes. "But even so," she then said, a small smile of gratitude on her face, "I appreciate the concern."

"You're welcome," said Speedy, a smile of his own now on his face. Then his face abruptly narrowed into serious mode, and he looked around to check to see if any of the other people in the restaurant would be able to listen in. After deeming it safe, he looked back at Cheshire. "So, perhaps while we're waiting for our orders to arrive, we could discuss . . . you know . . .?"

Cheshire nodded. "I was starting wonder when we'd get to that."

Speedy nodded, and gestured with his hand. "Go ahead then," said the archer. "Please."

Cheshire looked around the area, repeating Speedy's earlier check for safety. Then she looked back at the archer. "My boss is in town," she said.

Speedy's eyes widened, but he otherwise let no sign of a reaction be shown. "What's he up to?" he asked.

"Don't know the full details," Cheshire responded, briefly wincing again in discomfort from the contacts. "For some odd reason, he chose to leave me out of the overall loop on this one." She took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "But from what I've been able to covertly gather, he's mostly planning right now to attempt to see if he can find any people around here that he might find worth . . . hiring into the business."

Speedy let a brief grin come on his face at the sound of those last 4 words. He and Cheshire had already established months ago to always 'speak in code' when discussing the matters of information Cheshire had to provide for him and the Titans while in public locations, with a case in point being the restaurant they were currently at. He nodded his head, willing himself back into 'serious mode'. "Has he found anyone?"

"Two people so far," said Cheshire. "One of them I actually used to be one of my colleague in my last job." She shook her head side to side as if in annoyance over the possibility of having to work with this 'colleague' again, and with an irritated glare on her face to boot. "A whiny little dumbass named Donald Anderson."

Speedy raised his eyebrow. He most certainly did not recognize the name.

"He likes to compare himself favorably to some bigshot epitome of masculinity in Greek mythology, but really only fits the image when wearing his workout gear."

Speedy made a silent 'oh', and nodded his head, now clearly recognizing who Cheshire was talking about. "I see," he responded to confirm his understanding. "And the second?"

"Some shmuck named Todd Jameson." The Vietnamese girl shrugged. "Not really much else I can say about him to be honest; aside from the fact that he's an emo."

"Ok then?" said Speedy.

"But never mind that," Cheshire continued. She leaned forward. "Apparently, he's planning on submitting them to some form of testing before he hires them, just to see if they're worthy of the jobs he's offering them. And if they pass . . ." she took a deep breath, and then exhaled. She beckoned for Speedy to lean forward, and the archer did this. She leaned forward herself and whispered in his ear, "You and your friends could be in serious trouble."

Speedy's eyes widened. "How?" he asked, clearly feeling concerned about the safety of his friends. "Do you have any idea what he's planning?"

"Sadly, not this time." Cheshire shook her head side to side, sighing in an almost saddened tone. "I'm honestly starting to wonder if he's perhaps started to suspect me of treason and has chosen to lock me out of the loop just to test the theory."

Speedy impulsively placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Don't worry about that," said the archer. "I'm sure you're still perfectly safe."

Cheshire sighed, and hung her head. "I hope so." Then she noticed Speedy's hand on her shoulder, and a small blush came on her face. "Getting a little ahead of the game are we?" she asked teasingly.

Speedy's eyes widened, and he hurriedly withdrew his hand from her shoulder. "Sorry," he practically stammered. "Sorry about that. Really I am."

Cheshire's own eyes widened, and she looked relatively taken aback by Speedy's abrupt change in behavior. "Calm down," she managed to say. "I was just joking." She hung her head, blush now starting to somewhat return. "I actually kind of liked having your hand there now that I think about it."

Speedy mentally cursed. "Sorry," he said. He sighed. "Look, I should probably have told you this already, or maybe you already knew anyway, but I suck at romance."

Cheshire raised her eyebrow. "You're joking."

Speedy shook his head side to side. "I wish I were." He sighed. "Look, the reason I do all that bragging and get all egotistical and self-absorbed and proclaim myself at times to be a real ladies' man? That's just me trying to convince myself I'm really worth more than just what's deserved by a person with the background I have living under the shadow of the kind of man who raised me. Without all that, I really amount to nothing."

Cheshire was speechless. She was, legit, completely lost for words. She had never expected for Speedy, of all people, say such things. Then she mentally steeled herself. "No," she thought to herself. "I've thought kind of thing enough times about myself. I won't let someone else wallow away in similar thoughts." She placed her hand on one of Speedy's. "That's not true," she said. "You amount to plenty. You're better than you think you are. Honest you are."

"Don't kid yourself Mei-Mei," said Speedy, very bitterly using the false name he and Cheshire had agreed to refer to her by for today's outing. "I'm exactly as bad as I think I am. Sure I have all those many friends of mine these days, but out of all of them, only four of them have ever truly known who I was before I became . . . the person I am now. And out of all of them, only one of them was a girl, and she's the only one who, after all the time that's passed since the last time I saw her, has still never came back to me. Not even once. And what's worse, unlike my other three friends from before the team's formation, she still hasn't once actively shown affiliation with this team, not even after being given a communicator." He hung his head. "And I totally understand if what I'm about to say kills any further chances of anything developing further between us, but that girl I just mentioned, during my middle school days, long before I met you, or before Robin even formed the Titans as they currently exist, she used to be my girlfriend."

Cheshire let no outward sign of any reaction whatsoever appear. Inside, however, she briefly felt her heart stop and crack. Then she practically forced herself to shove the brief feeling of heartbreak and shock back down, and she willed herself to continue listening and stay in the restaurant with Speedy. She had a feeling the archer had more to say.

Sure enough, Speedy continued. "We had a lot of fun together; and at our young age, I thought that she was the one. But then, about a couple months after the first of my friends from my little group from back in those days ended up splitting from the group and moving away over personal issues, things went downhill from there, and eventually. . ." he sighed, "needless to say, things didn't work out between us." He hung his head once more. "And since then, I've kept my heart under heavy guard, not so much as daring to even consider letting my walls down for someone else for fear of getting hurt, and in such a savage and painful way for that matter, all over again."

He looked up at Cheshire. "And quite honestly, because of that very same incident and matter of my heart, there was actually a small part of me before now that wanted so badly to discourage myself from . . . feeling . . . the way I've started to feel over the course of having you work with me as a spy; and to discourage you from potentially developing similar feelings." He hung his head again. "But now, in spite of my efforts, it's too late now. We both know that we feel too strongly now to back out; and I'm not sure if I should be happy about that, or terrified of what might happen to make me feel even worse, or just jaded in that this could end up becoming either just like, or even worse, then what I used to have with that other girl I dated before you."

For several minutes, Cheshire allowed for a respectful silence. Then she placed her hand on Speedy's shoulder. The archer lifted his head to look at her, and she directed a sympathetic smile at him. "You're better then what you think you are," she said in an almost sage-like tone. She nodded her head, seemingly to convince both herself and Speedy of what she was saying. "And if I'm the only who can see that, then too bad. Heck, if that other girl can't understand that, then she can go to Hell."

Speedy felt a small smile come on his face out of a mixture of both being touched by Cheshire's being so caring and amusement of the idea of Wonder Girl in Hell. Then he heard Cheshire continue, "Believe me, I've seen you both with your mask and without it." A smile came on her face, what appeared to be small tears forming in her eyes that could have just as easily been a result of how she was genuinely feeling right now in regards to Speedy and their situation as they could have been a result of discomfort from the contact lenses. "And both times, I've seen the exact same person; a hero, and a good man."

Speedy let a small smile come on his face, but Cheshire didn't need to be a detective to see that he still didn't fully believe what she was saying, and she felt her heart sink. In that instant, she knew what she had to do. She withdrew her hands from Speedy and reached up towards her face. As Speedy watched, he was briefly confused, and then became quite surprised when he saw that Cheshire was now carefully removing her contact lenses. "Jade?" he asked, completely forgetting in his shock that he wasn't supposed to use that name. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Roy," said Cheshire as she successfully drew out one lens and set it in a case before setting to work on the second lens, "I could care less right now about blowing my cover. You clearly need a more effective means at me properly conveying my message so that you believe me. And there's only one way to provide this means." She drew out her second lens, placed it in its own case, shut the cases, and slipped them into her backpack lying on the floor next to her seat. Then she stared Speedy face to face.

For a brief moment, the blue eyes of the archer and the unnaturally green ones of the former assassin remained locked together in a passionate and longing glance at each other's respective hosts. Then Cheshire let a warm smile come on her face. "That other girl you used to date," she then said. "Did she ever . . ." she discreetly gestured at her mouth. "You know?"

Speedy shook his head. "Surprisingly enough, we never really got to that stage."

"That's good." Cheshire placed her hands on Speedy's shoulders. "I'd have really hated it if some other lucky bitch had managed to steal all the fun from me first."

Speedy's eyes narrowed in confusion. "What are you. . .?" Then his eyes widened as he finally put two and two together. For a brief moment he tensed up, then he relaxed. "Oh what the Hell," he thought to himself. "Might as well give it a shot." And indeed they did give it a shot, and found themselves quite enjoying it. In fact, they only managed to finally break away after they heard someone cough from behind Speedy, and they did so in quite an embarrassed mood that ended up increasing when they noticed that their waiter had arrived with their food.

. . . . .

"Bet you're feeling glad that I offered to take you home huh?"

Sarah sighed, and directed a half adoring and half mock annoyed smile at Cyborg. "You really didn't have to do this you know."

"I know," said Cyborg. A smile of his own came on his face. "I'm just a real gentleman like that."

Sarah's smile became a good deal more genuine after hearing that. "True enough."

In fact, Cyborg had proven himself quite adept in the field of gentleman behavior over the course of all that had gone down following the end of the scheduled time for Sarah to watch over all the kids she worked with. Immediately after all of the kids had been picked up by their parents or whoever else was able to take care of them at the time, Cyborg had wasted no time in offering Sarah a free ride home in the T-Car, all while still allowing her the chance to say no and walk home like she usually did. Sarah had taken all of five minutes to decide, through a mixture of exhaustion from all the activity that day combined with a desire and curiosity to get to know Cyborg a little more, to take the bionic local hero up on his offer. But Cyborg's show of skill hadn't ended there. Not at all. In fact, along the way to where Sarah lived, he'd even gone so far as to willingly drop by a local fast food joint to get dinner for himself and Sarah. And now, having finished eating at the restaurant, they were back in the T-Car and had now traveled half the remaining distance to Sarah's home.

"You know," said Sarah. "I'm sure I've probably already said this, but it was really nice of you to join up with me and the kids today."

"You're welcome," said Cyborg. "It was my pleasure."

Sarah chuckled. "Good thing to," she said. "Your presence really made the day for just about everyone."

"Ain't that the truth?" Cyborg asked.

"I will admit though," Sarah continued. "I still am sorry about your little scuffle with Alan today."

"Hey it's no problem," Cyborg responded, nodding his head with his eyes closed as if to convince both himself and Sarah of what he was saying. "Sometimes, disagreements like that just happen. Believe me, the fights me and BB get into over the remote control make that little argument look tame."

"I see," Sarah responded, though in a tone clearly indicating that she wasn't sure she wanted to know just how bad a simple disagreement could get among the inhabitants of Titans Tower.

Cyborg chuckled. "But never mind that," stated the bionic teen. "Now's the time to talk about good things; not bad."

Sarah's smile returned. "Definitely agree there."

Thus the two managed to spend the entire drive talking happily. In fact, they very narrowly avoided driving right past the apartment complex where Sarah lived. They were still laughing about the near miss by the time they reached the front door to the building.

When they both got themselves to stop laughing, they stood around on the front step for a while, staring at each other. Eventually, Sarah managed to say, "I guess this is goodbye?"

Cyborg nodded. "For now," he said. Then he winked. "Though it doesn't have to be for good." Then he realized how not entirely appropriate that comment may have been, and he hurriedly backtracked. "I mean, assuming you want it to be that way and all."

Sarah chuckled, and shook her head side to side, folding her arms across her chest simultaneously. "I'll have you know, I am free on weekends."

"I see," said Cyborg. He awkwardly thought to himself for about a minute. "How's Saturday?"

Sarah grinned, and poked Cyborg on the area where his heart was located. "Perfect."

"Very well," said Cyborg, and he nodded his head. "So we're good?"

"It's a date." Before Cyborg even had a chance to fully realize what she'd just said, she turned to face the door, let off a quick goodbye call, and then entered the apartment building to return to her own residence.

"Goodbye," Cyborg said in response to Sarah's farewell, just barely even aware of what he was saying as he was still trying to process what Sarah had said before entering the building. Then it finally clicked, and he found himself feeling actually quite happy, and he both smiled and chuckled as he proceeded to turn away from the door to the building and make his way over to the T-Car. "You sly dog," he thought to himself. "Looks like you've officially got yourself a girlfriend." Then he reached the T-Car, and he froze, a look of nervous despair now having taken the place of his earlier smug smile. "Oh man," he thought to himself. "Robin and BB will never let me hear the end of this when they find out."

. . . . .

At 7:30 pm, Robin and Starfire were relaxing peacefully in one of the gondolas (so to speak) of the Ferris Wheel, quite exhausted from spending virtually the entire day at the otherwise abandoned pier-based carnival. Starfire had quite a happy look on her face as she stared up at the night sky. She had very fond memories of this particular attraction. In fact, the way she saw it, that one night that she and Robin had been on this very Ferris Wheel watching a fireworks show five years ago might as well have been only the previous evening. Admittedly, that particular moment had ended on a not entirely pleasant note; but nonetheless, Starfire treasured her memory of her first time with Robin on this Ferris Wheel to this day.

"So, you enjoying yourself?"

Starfire turned her head towards Robin, smile still on her face. "I most certainly am friend," responded the Tamaranean. "And how could I not?" She gestured to the area around her and the night sky. "Here I am, at a place of great amusement, staring at a beautiful night sky, alongside my absolute dearest of friends. What's there not to enjoy?"

Robin chuckled. "Good answer."

Starfire giggled, and looked back up at the night sky. "I will admit though," she then said. "It is quite the pity that there are no fireworks this time. I'd think such an occasion would be quite meaningful considering it would be almost exactly like our first time on this very ride, though hopefully without the more unpleasant event of flying Centauri Moon police robots attempting to capture me occurring."

"Well I tried," Robin said in a playfully sarcastic tone. "But even with my best skills, I was sadly unable to get a fireworks show set up for us tonight. For that, I apologize."

Starfire giggled, and playfully swatted her boyfriend on the shoulder. "Don't be silly boyfriend wonder," said Starfire. "What you've managed is perfect enough." She pointed up at the sky, her green eyes dazzling with joy. "Besides," said the Tamaranean. "With all these stars, the night sky is already beautiful enough."

Robin chuckled. "If you say so."

Starfire then thought to herself. "You know Robin," said the alien princess. "There's something I must ask you."

"You go on ahead," said Robin. "I'm all ears."

Starfire checked the area around her to look for eavesdroppers or onlookers, purely out of force of habit. "I've noticed that you and Beast Boy seemed to be up to something over the course of the previous day. I also noticed that friend Raven seemed to be acting very strangely yesterday as well."

"Mm-hm," said Robin.

"Forgive me if I sound distrustful," said Starfire. "But is there something that you wish to tell me about all that?"

"Fear not Star," said Robin. "I'll gladly tell you." His smile widened. "After all," the Boy Wonder continued. "As of yesterday evening, I doubt there's really any need for secrecy anymore."

Starfire leaned closer to Robin. "Do tell," she said.

Robin took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Let's just say, I've been helping Beast Boy and Raven head off in the right direction."

Starfire raised her eyebrow, clearly confused. After about a minute, however, her eyes widened as she finally realized just what Robin meant. She leaned further towards Robin, now quite clearly excited. "Tell me more!" she squealed gleefully.

Robin smiled, and nodded his head. "As you wish," said the Boy Wonder.

For the next few minutes, Robin continued to calmly explain to Starfire every detail, starting with the private talk he and the changeling had undergone in the common room on the day the extension branch members had arrived, continuing on with both the second discussion from later that night and how he and Beast Boy had snuck out after all the other Titans present had either gone to sleep or likewise departed the Tower and worked together to get things set up, and then the entirety of the plan that had unfolded the previous day. "And in light of how Raven and Beast Boy appear to have gone and spent the entire day as planned without any drama or hassle, I guess it's safe to assume that the last stage of the plant worked out just as smoothly as the other stages," Robin finished.

Starfire squealed in delight once more, her eyes closed and her fists raised up towards her face as if in celebration. "This is glorious news! At long last, they've finally gotten together!"

"Someone sure seems to have been a strong shipper on deck," said Robin.

"Oh I've been that way since our encounter with the Puppet King," said Starfire. "It warms my heart so that after so many years since, they may yet have finally become a couple just like I was so strongly hoping!"

Robin whistled. "You were really supportive of the idea of them dating that long ago?"

"Mm-hm," said Starfire. "And I am the proud to admit it."

"Oh . . . kay then," Robin managed to say.

Starfire giggled, and then leaned back against her seat in the Ferris Wheel compartment, smile still on her face. "Oh I cannot think of anything that could possibly make me any happier then I already am."

"Um yeah, about that," Robin began.

The sound of a large whizzing from somewhere in front of them interrupted the Boy Wonder and caused both of the Ferris Wheel's riders to direct their heads towards the direction of the sound; just in time to see what looked like a small blue and silver chrome titanium alloy rocket zooming up into the air. After reaching a position at which it was about the exact same height as the area directly in front of Robin and Starfire's faces, the device exploded into a beautiful burst of what looked like blue flames and smoke.

While the colorful blast was still present in the sky, time seemed to stop for the couple. Starfire gaped in a mixture of shock and joy while Robin had a smile that appeared half giddy and half relieved. The explosion faded away, only to then be promptly replaced in the sky with a rapid fire series of similar rocket-like devices soaring up into the sky and brilliantly exploding in spectacular fashion into bursts of vibrantly colored smoke and fire. Clearly, a fireworks display was going on.

After about the 27th or so round of fireworks going off, Starfire managed to regain her voice. "Robin," said the Tamaranean in a mixture of shock and delight. "I thought you said that there would no fireworks here this evening."

"Really?" said the Boy Wonder in a slightly mischievous tone. "Last I recall; I do believe I said that I was merely unable to set up a fireworks show." He pointed in the direction of the fireworks just in time for yet another round of rockets to start going skyward. "But as you can see from the metal those rockets are built from, Cyborg was able to do me a very sweet favor."

Starfire felt a blush come on her face, gazing adoringly at her boyfriend. Robin also smiled, happy that Starfire appeared to be enjoying his little surprise that had sprung from, in his mind, a quite clever half-truth.

Starfire abruptly leaned towards Robin and gave him a big hug. Robin's smile widened, not even caring at how his girlfriend's embrace was as borderline suffocating as ever.

"Thank you," said Starfire. "With all my heart, thank you."

Robin chuckled, a considerable feat of endurance considering he could barely breath. "You're welcome Star."

Star let go of Robin and pulled back a little, half adoring and half on the verge of joyous tears smile still on her face. She sniffled, wiped her eyes, and then looked back towards the still firework filled sky. "This is truly the best day of Valentine's I have ever had; and for that, I couldn't be happier, or more proud, to spend it alongside you Robin."

Robin found himself blushing a little at the praise. He quite honestly couldn't have now felt any happier. "Thanks Star."

Starfire, still smiling, leaned over to her right, resting her head on Robin's left shoulder in the process. And thus she remained positioned this way while continuing to watch the fireworks show, sighing in content. Robin smiled at the circumstances. He had to admit, very rarely had he ever felt half as happy as he was currently feeling. "Life truly has brightened up for me since my departure from Gotham City," he thought to himself.

Starfire sighed in a mixture of tiredness and content, smile still on her face as ever. "I love you," she said in such a low tone that Robin was just barely able to hear it.

Robin smiled. "I love you to Star. I love you to." And indeed he did. And in that moment, he hardly dared think about anything else. Heck, he could care less at that particular moment about the very disturbingly real danger he was still currently at risk of undergoing on the first day of January next year. Right now, all that mattered was himself, and the gorgeous Tamaranean princess sitting next to him with her head on his shoulder, watching the spectacular fireworks show that Cyborg had made possible within the otherwise abandoned amusement park that he himself had allowed to be open to himself and his girlfriend one last time just for them.

. . . . .

At 8:00 pm., Raven and Beast Boy finally walked out the zoo's gate, finished with their visit. Beast Boy was still happily smiling, for he'd had quite a lot of fun; and in fact considerably more fun then he'd been expecting to have after the crushing apparent revelations of the previous night. Raven also had a slight happy look of her own on her face. She'd actually had quite a lot of fun herself. She had legitimately found herself quite surprised at just how knowledgeable Beast Boy had been about all the animals. "I guess he must have actually been paying attention while reading that Smithsonian Complete Encyclopedia of Animals yesterday," she thought to herself. Plus, she also had to admit, and she was sure Beast Boy agreed, it wasn't every evening that she got treated to an incidental late night serenading from lions and hyenas.

"Wasn't that fun?"

Raven rolled her eyes in mock annoyance. "Leave it to Beast Boy to cut to the chase," she thought to herself. She turned around to face him. "Normally I'd avoid commenting the way I'm about to comment to avoid the risk of your head getting any bigger than it already tends to be. But this time, you've earned the right for me to boost your ego a little. And I will admit, for once, I actually had quite a lot of fun hanging out with you."

Beast Boy chuckled, not at all insulted by the somewhat more negative aspects of Raven's response. "Glad to hear that Rae."

Raven mentally sighed. "By Azar," she thought to herself. "Now that ridiculous pet name is starting to get endearing to." At the same time as her annoyance though, she also felt a small part of her thinking that this detail wasn't really a bad thing either.

Then Beast Boy yawned. Raven directed a glare at the changeling, her face clearly screaming a silent 'really?'.

Beast Boy let a nervous grin of sheepishness come on his face. "Sorry," said the changeling. "I guess I must have really tired myself out today more than I realized."

"It's ok Beast Boy," said Raven. She nodded her head, just barely fighting the urge to yawn herself. She checked the time on her communicator. "I guess it's probably about time to head back to the tower anyway." And at that point, she legitimately was willing to go back to the tower. She was certainly tired enough right now. Plus, she also had a feeling that, having spent so much time with Beast Boy today, he deserved to be accompanied back home. And with that in mind, she also had a feeling that her new acquaintance from the previous night wouldn't mind having to reschedule to meet up with her another day. "I'm sure he'll understand," she thought to herself.

Then the two chromatically challenged teens both heard their communicators go off. Purely on reflex, they drew out the devices and checked to see what the alert was for, and groaned upon realizing just what the reason was. Turns out, Robin and Starfire themselves were on the way home from their own date. But as of sometime recent, they had managed to come across a group of bikers who now were a little overly keen on spending quality time with the Titans' power couple, particularly with Star. And over the course of the encounter that was apparently now going on, Starfire, understandably nervous, had now sent a text to call the other founders over for backup.

Beast Boy sighed. "Man," he groaned. "Trouble around here's always got the worst timing." He hung his head, sighing once more. "Well, guess duty calls."

Raven placed her hand on his shoulder, and he looked up to face her, a confused look on his face. Raven shook her head side to side. "Don't worry about that right now," said the sorceress. She nodded her head up and down at the changeling. "Cyborg and I can give them more than enough backup for this case."

Beast Boy raised his eyebrow. "I'm not sure if Robin would really be all that keen on any of us playing hooky for a moment like this."

"Yeah well, Robin can suck it this time. Right now, you're fit to drop. I can tell. You clearly need sleep right now." She placed her other hand on the changeling's other shoulder, still staring intently at him eye to eye. "Besides," the sorceress continued, "Starfire's the one who issued the alert. I'm sure she'll understand; and if she understands, then Robin will definitely let you off the hook for leaving us to handle this situation without you."

Beast Boy was momentarily about to argue, but then he let out another yawn, and this one was considerably stronger than his earlier yawn. "Hooboy," he said to himself. "You know what, you're right. Maybe it is better I go back to the tower right now. I could really use some sleep."

"I knew you'd see reason this time."

Raven removed her hands from Beast Boy's shoulders. "Well, I guess this is good night. See you tomorrow?"

Beast Boy grinned. "See you tomorrow."

Raven nodded, and then took to the air, levitating off in search of Robin and Starfire's location. Beast Boy sighed, shook his head side to side with his tired smile still on his face. Without saying a word, he morphed into an owl, a great horned owl to be exact, and took the air himself, but heading in the direction opposite Raven, towards the tower.

After what felt like hours to the exhausted changeling, he finally made it back to the Titans Tower island. He flew all the way up to the front door, and only then did he revert back to human form. He straightened up, stretching and sighing in exhaustion at the same time. Then he walked up closer to the door, more than ready to enter in the code necessary to summon the elevator that would lead up into the proper living space areas of the tower, and therefore the area where his bed was located. "High time I got back here," he said out loud to himself, still clearly tired.

"Indeed it is."

Beast Boy's eyes widened, and his tiredness seemingly became a thing of the distant past. The Beast had just now spoken for the first time since the last triumphant comment it had made the previous day before the unexpected screw up of the late night rendezvous. "Wha . . . why are you awake?!"

"No need to worry about that," the Beast said. "You need sleep? Go ahead and sleep. I'll take care of everything."

"What are you . . .?"

Without any warning at all, the changeling abruptly blacked out, and the top half of his body leaned forward and slumped over, his arms dangling down with the tips of his gloved fingers just barely touching the ground. Then the changeling suddenly straightened back up in an almost robotic fashion, his eyes now open to reveal that they now looked disturbingly more like those of a cat than those of a human, all the way down to being amber yellow instead of the usual green, and with slit-like pupils to boot.

"It is time," spoke a deep gravelly voice from Beast Boy's mouth. In a still seemingly quite robotic fashion, the changeling entered in the code and entered the elevator.

Oh dear. This doesn't look good now does it? On the bright side though, I'm sure you're all bound to look extra forward to the next chapter (which I shall remind you all now, will become available for you all to read once A: I have finished writing it and B: I have received at least 1 review for this current chapter)! That being said, once again, I really do hope that you all enjoyed this chapter! As long as it took for me to finish it, I quite enjoyed writing it! :) And quite frankly, I hope you all like what I had each of the Titans in Jump City be up to this Valentine's Day. And please, do feel free to comment on them (heck, on each and every individual one if you so desire ;). I'd greatly appreciate it.) And on that note, I might as well get a few things out of the way.

A: Yeah, so I had Kilowatt now be referred to by Melvin, Timmy, and Teether as their new honorary uncle. The way I see it, since Raven's been developing a somewhat strong friendship (and that's all that will be between them mind you) with Kilowatt, I'm sure it would only make sense for her 'kids' to likewise somewhat consider Kilowatt a member of their 'family'. And as for that character he and Bushido mentioned named Tengu? Look him up. He's a very nasty character from Bushido's past, as very conveniently revealed in what they said about him here.

B: I will admit, I personally thought it would be funny if at least one pair of Titans ended up at a bar. And that being said, you may also notice that I had the first half of this particular date unfold in a way not entirely all that different from a certain scene between John Stewart and Hawkgirl in the Justice League Episode Comfort and Joy (in which, as per Hawkgirl's personal definition of a 'celebration', they end up getting involved in an epic bar fight on some bar on a far out planet) complete with having Pantha bang on that one guy's hand with a wrench much the same way Hawkgirl pounded some luckless alien's hand with her mace before then handing the weapon over to her unwitting pawn boyfriend just before the battle started with the victim striking a blow at the unwitting pawn. So yeah, pretty nice huh?

C: The way I see it, Gnark would be both happy for Kole since she is basically like a sister to him, yet also concerned about what effect this could have on his own relationship with her. And really, what kind of brother wouldn't feel that way? And do feel free to let me know if you have trouble interpreting just what Gnark is trying to say when he has his little 'talk' with Kole.

D: I certainly hope you enjoyed the Hotgent segments of this chapter, and apologize if I made anyone cry alongside Argent during the part in which they have their little talk about their old friend Cody. That being said, feel free to look up 'Cody Driscoll DC' so that any of you who don't know what I'm talking about will get an idea as to just who this guy actually is and how much of a good friend he actually is to Hotspot and Argent.

E: I have to admit that the Flinx segments of this chapter were one of my favorites. And answer me this, were any of you surprised that Wally actually did manage to sit through the entire magic show this time?

F: I apologize in advance if I made Bumblebee sound overly mean in the way she handled Mas and Menos during the first half of the HeraldBee segment of this chapter.

G: The Aquaterra segment of this chapter was yet another strong favorite of mine, and I really hope you enjoy my hard work in writing this one up. Believe me, as far as I can tell, this ship still doesn't get enough love. And while we're at it, you'd best make a note of Terra's acceptance of Aqualad's offer to visit Atlantis with him. Later down the line, this information could prove quite important for you all to remember.

H: I also hope that I did a good job with the Cheshiroy segments and that I wrote them and their developing relationship in a realistic manner. And while I'm at it, for those of you who don't know, yes, Speedy used to date Donna Troy, the first Wonder Girl, in both the original comics and (per my vision for this series) in the DCTTAU.

I: The Cysarah segment was yet another favorite of mine! And that being said, I do hope you paid especially good attention to the argument between Cy and Alan during the beginning of the first half. No joke, that argument was almost entirely word for word from Issue 3 of Teen Titans Go (the GOOD Teen Titans Go, not the piece of shit that's even now still running around scot free on Cartoon Network). And yeah, as of this moment in the DCTTAU, Cyborg officially has a girlfriend.

J: I ESPECIALLY hope you all enjoyed the Robstar segments of this chapter (yet another favorite of mine). And that being said, I'm also sure you likely noticed the nod I made to their eventful time at this very amusement park during the 'Sisters' episode. On another note, yeah, according to the wiki, the familiar amusement park at the Jump City Pier has reportedly been abandoned and closed down. But thankfully Robin was able to undo that status for at least this one day, just for Starfire, and all thanks to help from Cyborg in setting up the fireworks, and Robin himself managing to pay for the necessary other stuff with some funds he managed to 'borrow' from Batman.

K: And finally, I hope you very much enjoyed the BBRae segments (yet another favorite of mine Goddammit!) of this chapter. And yeah, I personally believe that, when he's not fooling around, Beast Boy is actually pretty knowledgeable about animals of all kinds, and would quite enjoy the chance to spout off his knowledge at zoos and other places where animals are on display. And I might as well mention, that mentioning of Beast Boy and Raven getting 'serenaded' by lions and hyenas? Believe it or not, that happened to me once when I went on a late night tour of the Honolulu Zoo while living in Hawaii! Pretty sweet huh? (And that being said, feel free to ask me the order and list of animals/exhibits at the Jump City Zoo (as per my personal canon for this series to fit my vision for the DCTTAU) if any of you just happen to be curious about that.)

Well, now that all that's out of the way, it's high time I leave for the time being. Right now, in the area/timezone where I currently live, I REALLY should be in bed asleep right now (and am starting to feel just as tired as Beast Boy believe it or not). That being said, once again, I hope you enjoyed reading this long awaited chapter! And again, I very strongly advise that someone among you leave an absolute minimum of 1 review for this chapter. If I finish writing the next chapter and I still don't have even one review for this current chapter, then I guess I'll just have to wait until some lucky reader has the sense to fulfill this requirement, now won't I? Anyway, here's to hoping you read, review, and enjoy!

Coming up Next: Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, and Raven finally arrive home after the unpleasant business with the bikers has gotten all taken care of. Unfortunately, upon reaching the Tower, they soon find themselves arriving to a very angry Bushido, plus another extremely unpleasant surprise within the tower. And over the course of the discovery of said surprise, dots are connected that lead to more than one horrified revelation and a very real need to set more than a few matters straight. Sound exciting? I certainly hope so!