It Only Takes A Moment

by EmaniaHilel

...or a few of them, anyway. A series of vignettes exploring random moments between Robin and Raven. What makes one fall in love? A thunderbolt of sudden inspiration, or a handful of random moments? UPDATE: Part XVI: Night Shift.

14. XIV: Wishes, I

A/N: Whew! Wow. What a run! I feel like I've run a marathon to get this baby out! To make up for lost time, this baby has 103 pages in word. You've all been so patient, I hope you guys enjoy it.

Special Thanks: To GuardianKysra, newpoint, and Aileene25 who served as my betas this time around. A great big HUG to Guyute24 who will be sending me out some beta-work once she gets un-mired down from RL issues weighing her down, so I'll probably be reposting this in a few weeks time, but I wanted to get it out to you guys before I leave out of the country.

General Thanks: Look for them on my emsscraps journal after May 14th, kay? There's a lot of ya (yey!) but I can't do them all tonight...

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It Only Takes A Moment
Part XIV: Wishes, I
by Em

"When you wish upon a star / your dreams come true."
- When You Wish Upon A Star, from Pinocchio

The 'Happiest Place on Earth' looked very much like a dozen other small towns anywhere in the country and not very much like any sort of kingdom at all, magic or otherwise. As a matter of fact, Raven might have very well believed she was stuck dead center of Anywhere, U.S.A. Why, if the overwhelming flux of people, the fresh faced, starry eyed kids, the harried adults following them around, the strange people in costumes, and the plastic and plaster 189 foot castle at the end of the road were not present, she might have believed it.

Actually, Raven was of a mind that no one really believed this was a magical kingdom at all. She had read and heard of many magical kingdoms and this place had none of the signs of either.

"You've got that face."

Raven frowned at the speaker. "What face?" she asked, "I only have the one."

"The 'this smells as fishy as Gar's room' kind of face," Robin answered, trying very hard not to smile at her obvious confusion.

She looked offended at being caught. "Well, it does," she defended. "Why call a place a magic kingdom if it is neither magical nor a kingdom?"

Robin did laugh then. "You're just upset that you couldn't refuse to come once Kori gave you the puppy dog look." He tsked, "You're getting weak, Rae...very weak."

Raven recognized it as teasing of course, but that didn't mean she liked it. "No one would believe this place to be magical--" she continued to insist on her argument. She stopped however, as Starfire giggled at the store front window where a period dressed man was kneading bread.

"Oh!" Star clapped, looking at them. "This is truly a magical place!" she exclaimed, overjoyed.

Raven frowned and crossed her arms. "Alright," she allowed, "So, no one other than Kori or children would believe--"

"C'mon! Let's get the magic started!" Beast Boy exclaimed happily.

Raven, sighing, dropped her argument.

Robin laughed, "The magic of this place is in the hearts of the people who visit it."

Raven's only response was to tighten her lips and follow where Beast Boy led.

Robin watched her go with a wry smile. 'Raven, meet the Happiest Place on Earth,' he thought, 'Happiest Place on Earth...meet your match.'

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Mainstreet, USA
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"The monarch here is much beloved, is he not?" Starfire asked as they made their way toward the bronze statue of Mickey and Walt at the end of Main Street. "His image is everywhere and children line up to take their photograph with him."

Cyborg looked at Robin and Robin looked at Starfire and was about to start the arduous explanation process of who Mickey Mouse actually was and why he was not a monarch and this was a 'kingdom' but not really when Raven spoke.

"Yes, he is," she answered stoically.

Starfire beamed at her and looked up at the statue of Mickey and Walt with warmth in her features. Cyborg grinned at Raven and snapped a picture of Starfire looking up at the statue. When Robin came up next to Raven, Beast Boy was posing with Starfire and Cyborg was busy telling Beast Boy not to hang off the statue like a monkey or they would be thrown out.

He didn't have to say a word.

"Magic," Raven answered.

She didn't have to say anymore.

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"Well, lookit what a sour puss we have here!" the old man in the rag time get up, complete with straw hat and colorful stripped vest, exclaimed as he approached.

The rest of the team winced in expectation of Raven's response. She, of course, merely met the man's eyes with calm indifference.

"We can't be having a frown like that on a beautiful day like this, can we?" he asked. When Raven continued to stare, he took off his hat and scratched at the remaining wisps of white hair on his aged, balding head. "Say..." he started conversationally, sidling up next to Raven conspiratorially. "You ever heard of this Beethoven fellar?" he asked. "One what makes music?"

Raven sighed and figuring she couldn't get out of it, nodded.

He grinned as if she had offered him the world. "Did you know he used to breed chickens?" he asked in amazement.

Raven raised a brow.

The man took that as enough invitation to continue. "He did, but you know, he had to get rid of 'em all; they nearly drove him nuts."

Raven still couldn't figure why this man was talking to her and about Beethoven's chickens of all things. Weren't they just waiting to take their picture in front of the big fake castle? Couldn't they just wait in peace?

"Do you want to know why?"

Raven was disinclined to answer.

But Beast Boy wasn't. "Why?" he asked.

The old man grinned and elbowed Beast Boy, "Because they kept saying, 'Bach! Bach! Bach!' all the time!" he said, laughing uproariously at his own corny joke.

Beast Boy, of course, collapsed in a fit of laughter.

The old man watched Beast Boy for a moment before turning back to Raven. "Say, you know what this kid reminds me of?"

Raven looked at him, but didn't answer.

The man turned to Robin, "You sure she's alive, kid? This is some of my best stuff!" he asked.

Robin smiled, nodded, and approached Raven, elbowing her none too gently, "He's just trying to be nice, the least you can do is try to be friendly back."

Raven sighed, "What does Gar remind you of?" she asked.

The man smiled brightly. "The pig that wanted to be an actor."

Raven glanced at Robin with something like pleading in her eyes, but he was unsympathetic and motioned for her to say something, so she rolled her eyes and sighed again. "A pig that wanted to be an actor?" she asked in a stilted deadpan. "Why would a pig want to be an actor?"

The man smiled, "Because he was such a ham!"

Beast Boy slapped his knees, erupting into laughter once again. "Oh, that's a good one!" he said between guffaws.

"I like this kid," the man said to Raven in a stage whisper.

"You like him, you can have him," Raven deadpanned.

The man looked at her in surprise, his eyes open wide and a grin slowly spreading across his face as Cyborg and Robin chuckled. "Heh, look at this, suddenly everyone's a comedian," he said to the air.

In response and in a show of good faith to be friendlier and enjoy the locale, Raven thought about it for a moment, and then actually smiled.

Marty smiled at her tenderly. "That's more like it!"

Beast Boy, meanwhile, had thought something through. "Wait a minute...who's Bach?"

Raven exhaled and just barely resisted lowering her face into her palm.

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"Haven't we taken enough pictures?" Beast Boy whined, "I want to get to the rides before the park closes, you know!"

Robin chuckled. "I hate to say this, but I'm going to have to agree with Gar."

Beast Boy grinned, then, when he realized the subtle jab, he frowned and pointed at Robin, "Hey!"

"Listen here, green bean," Cyborg, now Victor Stone, pointed at Beast Boy, "Jump City paid for this wonderful vacation as a way of saying thanks, how are we going to show that we had fun and how much we appreciate it if we don't take pictures?"

"Just be glad he hasn't started in with the video camera," Raven offered.

Cyborg threw an arm around Raven's shoulders and grinned brilliantly at her, "Oh, don't have to! I installed a video camera which is picking up everything even as we speak!" he said excitedly. His grin grew, if at all possible, even brighter, "Think of it as CY-TV!"

Raven sighed, "Of course you did."

Robin laughed, but Beast Boy looked very worried.

"You mean you've been recording this whole time?" Beast Boy squeaked.

Cyborg nodded. "Sure have."

"Even last night? In the room?"

"You mean your impromptu rendition of George Michael's classic, Faith, to the mirror?" Cyborg asked innocently.

Robin was chuckling too hard to make a comment and Raven raised a brow. "I knew we couldn't hear the birds on the lake from our room," Raven mused.

Starfire's brows knit in confusion. "You mean we did not hear the lovely honking of the geese on the lake?"

"Dude!" Beast Boy exclaimed to Cyborg. "Delete that!"

Cyborg grinned and shook his head, "No way."

"Yo, that's not funny!" Beast boy insisted.

"Oh trust me, it is!" Cyborg argued gleefully.

"So!" Robin spoke up before Cyborg and Beast Boy's argument could fully develop, "Where shall we go first?" He stood in the middle of the group and opened up the glossy park map.

"Oh, may we go to the land of the Fantasy with the Princesses and the lovely colors?"

"Adventureland!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "That's where all the fast rides are!"

"Tomorrowland, dude!" Cyborg offered. "They've got all things futuristic there!"

"This is going to be a long day," Raven offered monotonously.

"Okay," Robin said, taking up his role as mediator once again. "How about we start here," he pointed on the map where Adventureland was, "since its entrance is right over there," he pointed to their left where the log bridge with the sign over it proclaiming Advertureland was visible, "and work our way around?"

"Yeah, I guess I can live with that," Cyborg allowed.

"Woohoo! Disney here we come!" Beast Boy exclaimed, sprinting off.

"Yo!" Cyborg called out. "Wait up, you monkey!"

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Adventureland: Jungle Cruise
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"Why couldn't we get one of those 'fast passes' for this ride, too?"

"Because we decided we wanted to get a fast pass for Pirates of the Caribbean," Robin answered patiently.

"But why couldn't we get one for this ride, too?" Beast Boy whined.

"Because we already have one for Pirates," Robin answered, slightly less patiently.

"But why couldn't we get one for both?" Beast Boy insisted. "It's not like the times would overlap or anything!"

"Because you can't have two at a time, and if you paid attention when we explained things the first time you'd know that," Raven answered sharply.

Beast Boy made a face and raised his hands in mock surrender, "Well, excuuuuuuse me," he intoned, rolling his eyes and turning to Cyborg, "Boy, someone's grumpy."

"I am NOT..." she paused and exhaled, realizing that arguing the point her teammates had decided to associate her with a cantankerous dwarf again would be pointless. She looked instead at the line of people behind her, seriously considering for the fifth time in the last half hour they had been in line, whether or not she could get out of the line and wait for them at the exit without anyone noticing. Well, she didn't think she could make it all the way to the exit without anyone noticing, but maybe far enough away?

"Don't even think about it," Robin warned, correctly guessing the subject of her thoughts. "We all suffer through this together."

The line in front of them moved a few paces and they walked along, only to stop two inches from where they were previously. "I gotta agree with Grumpy over here," Cyborg mused, motioning to Raven who glared at him but was ignored. "Why are we wasting our time in a line for this ride anyway?"

"Cause it's the Jungle Cruise!" Beast Boy insisted as if that should have been answer enough. It obviously wasn't.

"Because we're here to do all the rides and shows that everyone wants to do," Robin answered apologetically. "That's what we agreed on, remember?"

Cyborg nodded. "You're right." They moved another few paces. "At least the line moves fast," he added thoughtfully.

"Even if it is long."

But Cyborg wasn't listening to Robin anymore since his cursory inspection of the line had brought something to his attention. It seemed to him two of the guys, in their late teens to early twenties, standing in the line about ten people ahead, were staring right at them. Not only were they staring, but as the line moved the two guys did their best to keep their gazes right in the Titans' direction.

Cyborg's first reaction was to look down at himself, thinking that perhaps his or Beast Boy's appearance modifiers had glitched, but they looked as human as anyone else did. When they moved again and the guys went out of their way to keep one particular spot in sight, Cyborg concluded that the two guys weren't staring at them but at the girls.

At his girls.

'What the hell?' he thought. Wasn't this supposed to be a family place? Did it particularly cater to horny guys?

Before Cyborg could do anything about catching the two guys' attention or maneuvering his way into blocking the girls from their sight, Raven must have felt their stare on her because she glanced up and met the eyes of the tall blond one. Having finally gained her attention, he grinned as brightly as he could right into her eyes. Raven blinked, frowned, and looked around herself.

Cyborg almost laughed. And when he noticed Robin noticing Raven's confusion, he did chuckle, but just a little and only in anticipation. Robin did not disappoint and although Cyborg would have been a whole lot less subtle than Robin's casual shifting of position which placed him directly in Raven's personal space, one glance at the boy who had dared to smile at Raven and Cyborg was satisfied that Robin's actions were enough.

The Boy Wonder surprised him, however, by taking it one step further, using his other hand to pluck a couple kernels of popcorn from the bag she held. Cyborg turned to glance at the boys and his small smile turned into a full-out grin. 'Alright, Rob-o! Score one for the home team!' he cheered internally,

The rest of their friends, of course, were blissfully ignorant, even as Raven unconsciously leaned in his direction, and whispered, "I think that boy is staring at me."

Robin stole another couple kernels from the popcorn bag and raised his eyebrows. "Who?" he asked, as if he didn't already know.

Raven sighed. "The one over --" she paused, raising her finger and pointing in the direction of the two boys somewhat down the line. Robin reacted quickly, however, and took her hand before she could complete the pointing action. She glared at him as he brought her hand down in front of them but he only smiled at her sweetly, letting her go.

"Don't point."

Raven shrugged. "Whatever," she said, "The guy a few people in front of us in the line with the blonde hair and the Led Zeplin t-shirt."

Cyborg scoffed. "Maybe because he's a pervert," he offered, shooting said named pervert a warning glare. He turned back to Raven, "And you're practically giving him a free show with the way you're dressed."

Raven glanced down at her shorts and halter top, but at seeing that there was nothing showing that shouldn't be showing, she raised confused eyes to Cyborg, "Kori said this is what we had to wear to come to the theme parks," she defended.

Cyborg rolled his eyes while Starfire was looked down at her own short and tank top ensemble.

"It is what the lady who makes the sales at the mall of shopping said would be appropriate," Starfire looked worriedly down at herself and frowned, "Is it not appropriate?"

"No."

"No."

"Yes."

Robin and Cyborg glared at Beast Boy as the only dissenting voice but Beast Boy was oblivious.

Raven narrowed her eyes at Robin and Cyborg, figuring that something was going on she wasn't getting. "Everyone here seems to be wearing more or less the same style of clothing, so I do not think it is because we're not dressed appropriately that they're staring," she surmised. She looked around herself and back to her friends. "I think they might recognize us."

"That's not it," Robin argued seriously.

"How can you be so sure?" Raven asked.

"It isn't," he insisted.

Raven blinked in the face of such non-compromising certainty. "But how can--?"

Beast Boy rolled his eyes and interrupted before she could finish her question, "What, the dude that looks like he's high on crack?" When Raven nodded he scoffed, "Tch, he's just checking you guys out."

Before Raven could argue the validity of such an observation, however, Starfire had eeped in alarm. "Oh no!" she exclaimed. "Checking us out of what?" she asked Beast Boy, glancing at Raven for her answer, "Certainly not of the kingdom itself!"

Raven glared at Beast Boy as if saying, 'Now see what you've done?' before awkwardly patting Starfire's arm. "Checking out as a colloquialism to mean he is interested in us sexually and is analyzing our body types for form and function."

"Oh, I see!" Starfire exhaled in relief and smiled.

"No!" Cyborg exclaimed. "There will be no seeing of any kind. There will be no checking out of any kind, forform or function, and there will certainly be absolutely no smiling!"

Raven just barely restrained from smiling and managed to maintain an emotionless facade only thanks to years of training. "No smiling in the Happiest Place on Earth, Victor?"

Cyborg looked confused for a moment. "Well, that's not...that is to say you can -- just not at--"

"Easy there, Vic," Robin patted his shoulder, grinning. "Before you blow a fuse."

"Woohoo!" Beast Boy jumped in excitement. "We're here!"

The rest of the team realized for the first time that they were next in line and that the boat they were to ride (Irrawaddy Irma by name) was at the dock and waiting for them to board. They were pleasantly surprised that the time in the line had gone by so quickly.

"Oh, look! It is the friend who is doing the checking out!" she exclaimed to Raven, pointing to the blonde in the Led Zeplin shirt who just happened to be sitting in Irrawaddy Irma near the front.

"We need a bigger boat," Robin mumbled under his breath.

Cyborg scoffed his agreement.

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Frontierland: Splash Mountain
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It would be easy to think that Cyborg was the very picture of happy-go-lucky tourist. What with the Stone facade firmly in place and Bermuda shorts, short sleeved cotton shirt and flip-flips he was wearing no one would ever suspect that every single move Cyborg made was carefully calculated.

Cyborg did, however, have a plan.

He was tired of watching and waiting from the sidelines. So, okay, he had sworn he wouldn't meddle and he was fairly certain that Robin might have a plan of his own. Still, Cyborg had decided that a paid vacation to Walt Disney World was the perfect excuse to accelerate whatever plan the Boy Wonder might have come up with. It wasn't like his plan was working very well...or, at least, it wasn't working very expeditiously. If left up to their own devices, Cyborg was certain Robin and Raven wouldn't be getting together until they were at least fifty, and that was something Cyborg just couldn't let happen.

After all, what would happen to Cyborg's hopes for little nieces and nephews to spoil if he did?

No. Cyborg had to take action. But he couldn't make it obvious. He knew that without a doubt. And when dealing with two (usually) observant people the likes of Robin and Raven, he had to plan out for every contingency—every possibility.

Hence, The Plan.

Cyborg had started The Plan by researching which of all the rides in the theme parks they were going to ride were two seaters. With uneven numbers as they had, it'd only be natural that two people end up sitting together regardless of whether it was a two seater ride or not, but the two seaters were especially tricky being as how someone would be, by necessity, left to ride by themselves.

The rides they had been on until that point had not been a problem. Both The Jungle Cruise and Pirates of the Caribbean used bench style seating, so the whole group of them could take up a full row and they'd be fine. No one had to pick anyone else to ride with and no one had to be left to ride alone.

This next ride, however, was a two seater. The whole group of them could go in the same boat, but they'd have to sit two by two and the trick would be how to make certain that Raven and Robin sat together while he was left alone in the back.

Knowing Raven as he knew her, Cyborg was certain that these two seater rides were the kinds of rides where Raven would attempt to either go by herself or to not ride at all. He knew she did it to prevent anyone else from having to ride by themselves, but he couldn't have that, despite feeling proud of her generous and selfless nature.

So the second course of business was to figure out a plan to thwart Raven's attempts to be the lone rider. He couldn't exactly offer to be the lone rider all the time, because that would be suspicious and he couldn't shove those two together either, because as oblivious as they seemed to be (well, as she seemed to be mostly) to his subtle attempts at facilitation, if he started handing out seating charts, it would be pretty obvious what The Plan was.

So...he had to be shrewd. Subtle. Sly.

No matter how much he wanted to curse Beast Boy's incessant movement which inevitably had him standing equal parts between Robin and Raven and between any grouping of the others, he couldn't. And not only because that would be a rather suspicious thing to do, either. He had to be extra special to not only keep the birds which were the subject of The Plan from figuring it out, but also the others. It wouldn't do to have Starfire or Beast Boy gum up the works. Especially during this incredibly fragile time.

Still, that didn't mean he didn't think about how much he would love to just handcuff those two together so they couldn't even think about standing apart. It would make his job so much easier.

When Beast Boy leaned against the banister solidly between Robin and Raven and seemed to settle there to actually talk to Raven about something, Cyborg looked at how far away from the entrance of the ride they were and realized he didn't have much time to get the younger boy out of the way. And, considering his time restraints, and that he wasn't the best at coming up with lies and excuses, he really had no idea what to tell Beast Boy to get him out of the way.

"Garfield, you're blocking my view," Cyborg announced, trying not to wince as he spoke. He realized how ridiculous his excuse was even before the others looked at him incredulously, but he was running low and pressed for time.

"I'm blocking your view?" Beast Boy asked. "Of what?" he wondered, "the floor?"

Cyborg looked around the fake cavern-like enclosure the line had taken them through and within which they were currently stopped waiting to walk another few inches, and he searched for something interesting he wanted to see, but he couldn't find a damn thing.

Beast Boy shifted on his feet and seemingly lost interest in Cyborg's possible excuse. "Isn't this supposed to be the fast lane?" Beast Boy whined instead.

Cyborg thanked nature for Beast Boy's short attention span and continued to plot.

And just when Cyborg had come up with a rather complicated, intricate scheme involving the two-step and a half shuffle, Raven saved him the trouble by moving Beast Boy aside and reaching for the backpack Robin was currently carrying. He turned to give her access never once breaking in his explanation to Starfire about the wonders of plastic and how it could look exactly like rock. Raven emerged from her scavenging with the bag of popcorn they had bought before the Jungle Cruise, and she handed it to Beast Boy with a warning glare.

"Eat and be silent," she commanded imperiously.

"Sweet!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "Popcorn! I'd forgotten we kept it."

When he attacked the contents of the bag with a satisfied vengeance and there was respite from his whining, Cyborg grinned broadly at her. "Good thinking, Rae. I thought I was going to have to stuff his mouth with a sock."

Raven frowned, "If you had told me that was your plan, I never would've wasted the popcorn."

Cy laughed. "I think we need to get our communication in order, or develop a plan of attack for future Garfield Whining Moments, so this sort of thing doesn't happen again."

Raven smirked, "How about you just tackle him the next time he starts whining?" she offered. "Or, I could always stick the sock in his mouth? We shouldn't completely dismiss the 'sock-in-the-mouth' idea."

"Hey!" Beast Boy exclaimed around a mouthful of popcorn. "I heard that!"

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Gar," Robin said, entering the conversation as Starfire turned to look at the walls and delighting in her newly acquired insider knowledge about the possibilities of plastic.

Beast Boy closed his mouth, chewing furiously and pointing between Cyborg and Raven as if Robin could actually understand what his wildly flailing hands were supposed to mean.

"Yeah, I'm sure they were cruel and unfeeling toward you and they won't do it again, right, guys?" Robin guessed.

Raven shrugged but Cyborg looked unrepentant. "If he keeps whining, I make no promises."

Beast Boy finished swallowing and stuck his tongue out at Cyborg, who did the only logical thing and reached out to grab it. Beast Boy, of course, tucked it back inside his mouth and smirked at Cyborg. The others ignored this display of immaturity, seeing as how it was quite common between the two.

Meanwhile, the line started moving and the whole lot of them shuffled forward a few steps before stopping again.

"Man!" Beast Boy whined. "This sooo does not fit my definition of fast!"

Raven exhaled, very obviously filling herself to the brim with patience, but when Beast Boy appeared, by his countenance, about ready to begin to whine again, she decided she'd had enough.

"Look, Garfield," Raven said, in mock excitement, "isn't that Goofy?"

"Where?!" Beast Boy turned his head this way and that, looking for signs of the tall green hat and the floppy ears. "Where?"

"Goofy's not here," Robin said, glancing at Raven warningly.

Raven shrugged. "If you'd have let him go looking, we'd have a few moments of peace, at least," she explained.

"That's not funny!" Beast Boy said. "Getting my hopes up..."

"Oh look!" Cyborg pointed to the space just around the curve from them in a clear attempt to change the subject, "We're almost there!"

The rest of the team craned to see the loading and unloading dock of the ride, bustling with activity.

"So," Beast Boy spoke, before the others could comment, "Who's riding with who?"

Cyborg felt himself go cold as he watched the others realize they'd have to pick who to sit with. He could have happily killed Beast Boy. He watched as his carefully crafted plan of making certain Robin and Raven were standing next to each other and would just, unthinkingly, end up sitting together flew out the proverbial window.

"I call dibs on the back," Beast Boy declared as they thought.

"Why would you wish to sit in the back?" Starfire asked.

"You get way more thrill on this kind of ride from the back."

"Oh?" she wondered, grinning, "Then may I call the dibs for the back as well?" she asked. "I would like to experience the hurry."

"The rush," Beast Boy corrected.

Starfire grinned.

"Well, I don't mind," Beast Boy said.

"Fine by me," Robin confirmed, "I prefer the front anyway."

"Well, that's settled then," Cyborg decided, clapping his hands decisively.

"It is?" Raven asked when Cyborg looked at her expectantly.

"Alright, Rae," Cyborg conceded, doing a decent job of not showing how ecstatic he was at how perfect it all turned out. Raven looked at him as if she didn't know what he was referring to because, of course, she didn't. "You can ride with Rick in the front," he explained magnanimously.

"I never said—" Raven started, only to be interrupted by Cyborg's hand on her shoulder.

"It's alright, I understand," he assured her. "I know you've never ridden this ride before, so of course, you should get the thrill of the front."

"You've never ridden this ride either--"

"I don't mind, really," Cyborg continued, as if she hadn't spoken. "We can always ride it again later and I'll take the front and you and Rick can take the back then."

Raven realized she wouldn't be getting a word in edge-wise and closed her mouth with an audible snap, turning instead to look at Robin for support on her 'Cyborg is nuts' theory.

Robin, however, was smiling in that way that told her he knew exactly why she was looking at him, but still wouldn't be backing her up. So, when he decided to pat Cyborg on the shoulder instead, she wasn't surprised and only exhaled in frustration.

"You really are a good friend, Vic," Robin said.

Cyborg grinned from ear to ear and tried to look humble. "I know, man, I know."

Raven, for her part, decided to remain silent.

Which was a good thing, since the line moved again and the ride attendant was asking them how many in their party.

"Rows 1, 2, 3, and 4," the bright eyed girl told them.

They went to their respective rows, Beast Boy jumping in place from excitement, Starfire chatting up the people in the row adjacent to theirs, Cyborg calmly looking at the tracks of the ride as if trying to figure out how they were put together, and Raven frowning at Robin who was looking at her with that smile on his face that told her he had picked up on exactly how steamrolled she had been and wasn't about to let her live it down anytime soon.

"You could've helped me, you know," she said pointedly.

"Why should I?" he asked, shrugging. "I wanted the front."

"I never said I wanted the front, though," she pointed out.

"Aw, c'mon," Robin cajoled. "Have you already forgotten how much you love thrill rides?" he reminded meaningfully.

Raven knew she couldn't argue, so she frowned and crossed her arms. "No," she admitted, "But there doesn't seem to be much 'thrill' to this ride."

Robin looked at her, wide-eyed. "Don't tell me you don't know what this ride is?"

Raven raised her brows and looked at him expectantly. "It's one of those storybook rides, isn't it? Like the pirate one we just did."

Robin laughed. "Well..." he trailed off and almost nodded, but ended up shaking his head. "Not really."

Raven's expression turned decidedly wary, "What do you mean, 'not really', Richard?"

Robin drew close and, hands on her shoulders, turned her to face the unloading area of the dock where the log-like boats were approaching after having been through the ride. He waited a moment for her to take in the looks of adrenaline-high amusement on the faces of the disembarking riders, as well as the slight dripping-dampness before speaking in her ear, "This ride isn't called Splash Mountain for nothing, Rae."

When their boat pulled up and the gate before them opened, Beast Boy ran into his seat, Starfire had to be reminded by Cyborg not to fly in her joy with a well placed hand on her shoulder and Cyborg calmly sat right in the middle of his seat. Robin stepped onto the front seat, turning back to extend a hand to Raven.

Raven accepted the hand and let him help her onto the boat before it occurred to her that she hadn't needed his help to get in. So what was a little water? This wasn't a rollercoaster and she didn't need his assurances that he'd protect her.

Cyborg, meanwhile, tried not to giggle like a fangirl. Especially when the ride attendant winked at Raven as the boat moved passed her, "Best hold on ta yer beau, darlin'," she drawled, in character, "'Tis a steep drop yer headin' fer."

"He is not my --" Raven started, only to stop as the ride jarred forward onto the watery track and she jerked in response. It was about that time when she realized there ride was possessed of no restraints. Whatsoever.

"Is this normal?" she asked, looking around at the seat.

"What?" Robin asked as they entered the storybook part of the ride.

"The lack of restraints."

"Is Rae freaking out already?" Beast Boy called from the back. Raven turned around to glare at him.

"It's normal," Robin confirmed.

"Oh, look, Braer Rabbit is getting away!" Cyborg said loudly, not really following the story.

"He is quite clever is he not?" Star asked -- obviously she was following the story.

"Just bring on the drop-baby!" Beast Boy exclaimed.

Robin looked at Raven and could tell just what she was thinking, so he leaned over and, smiling, whispered, "You can hold on to me if you're scared."

She narrowed her eyes at him and slid away from him on the seat, frowning when her thigh encountered water.

'Smooth, Boy Wonder,' Cy thought sarcastically. 'Real smooth.'

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Later, Beast Boy laughed at the picture taken as they dropped, showing their purchased copy to Raven. "You were so ready to pee yourself, weren't you?" Beast Boy exclaimed as they walked away from the gift shop.

Raven took the picture from his hand and glanced at the image of them all in the boat, focusing particularly on the way her hair flew behind her, the look of naked shock on her face at the realization that she was dropping and eventually, at how she had clutched at Robin as soon as gravity lifted her slightly off her seat and said nothing.

"Too bad they didn't take a picture right after the drop," Robin mused, glancing at the picture over Raven's shoulder.

"Why?" Beast Boy asked, taking the picture back. "This is the keeper right here."

Robin raised a brow at him. "Do you have any idea how many people would pay good money to have a picture of the goofy grin Rae got after the drop?" Robin asked.

"You manage to get a picture of that, Boy Wonder," she drawled, wiping at her moist left side, clearly unconcerned, "And you'll probably deserve what you get."

Robin did not fail to notice the subtle vagueness in that promise.

"Oh, dudes!" Beast Boy exclaimed, "Wait time's only 20 minutes for Big Thunder Railroad!" he put the picture away and started to hurry toward the entrance to the ride. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!" he hurried them, pushing at Cyborg's back to get them moving. When Cyborg didn't budge, he stopped trying and grabbed at Starfire's hand instead. "C'mon, Kori, let's leave these slow pokes behind," he said, leading Star some distance ahead of them.

Cyborg watched Robin and Raven walk casually behind Beast Boy and Star and sighed. Although he did notice how Raven had clutched at Robin's arm when they started to go down, she only released him as if nothing were different as soon as the ride was over, and the way they were walking now led him to wonder whether or not she was any closer to realizing that Robin was more than an anchoring post, despite all his scheming.

'This,' Cyborg thought, inadvertently echoing Raven's earlier comment, 'is going to be a long day.'

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Lunch?
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"Next up should probably be The Haunted Mansion," Cyborg said, looking at the map.

"Dude, I'm hungry!" Beast Boy interjected.

"Yes, I could use some nourishment as well," Starfire added. "They do have mustard here, yes?" she asked, suddenly worried.

"I hate to agree with him," Raven started, "But it is lunchtime."

Robin looked at her, as did Cyborg and Starfire. Raven, agreeing with Beast Boy? And offering up that agreement? Something couldn't be right.

"Well," Cyborg said, coming out of his surprise and looking back at the map. "We could eat at the Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe, which is on the way to Liberty Square where the Haunted Mansion is," he offered, pointing on the map.

The others crowded around him to look over his shoulder, despite the fact that they had their own maps.

"Funnel cakes," Raven's finger found the Sleepy Hollow listing inside Liberty Square.

"Oh, really?" Robin asked, craning his neck to see the listing.

"Food," Cyborg said pointedly. "Not snacks." He looked at the map, "We could do this Columbia Harbor House?" he asked. "Chowder and baskets sounds promising."

"Are you just looking for places that might have the biggest servings?" Raven asked dryly.

"You sound surprised," Cyborg said simply.

"Ewww...fish? Chicken? Chowder?" Beast Boy asked. "There's nothing I could eat there."

"I'm sure they have some sort of vegetarian fare, Gar," Robin tried to mollify him.

"Pizza!" Beast Boy said, his eye catching on the familiar word. He pointed at the map on the pink area. "Pinocchio's Village!" he said triumphantly. "Let's go there."

"Look how far that is," Robin said, showing the distance on the map.

"Plus, it's in the forbidden area..." Cyborg said sotto voce. "Once you know who enters that land, we'll never get her out."

Beast Boy winced as he recognized the truth, but it was too late. Starfire had found the listing for Pinocchio's Village Haus on Cyborg's map.

"Oh, is this not the land of the princesses and the lovely things?" Star asked, recognizing the names of the nearby rides. "I wish to have the nourishment in this place as well!" she enthused. She looked at her friends hopefully.

"But what about the Haunted Mansion back in Liberty Square?" Robin asked.

"I suppose we could hold off on lunch until after we do the Haunted Mansion?" Cyborg thought out.

"But I'm starving!" Beast Boy whined.

"You know," Cyborg started. "You're more spoiled than some of the kids we've seen around here, you realize that, don't you?"

Beast Boy grinned, unrepentant.

"We could always come back around to Liberty Square," Raven offered. The others looked at her. "It's not like it's really that far, anyway. Nothing in this place is too far from any other place."

Starfire squealed and hugged Raven tightly. Robin smiled at her. "We should stop by there and grab a fast pass for the Mansion when we walk by," Robin said. "Go to lunch at Pinocchio's place and that'll let us make some time before we go back for our time on the passes."

"Great idea, Rick!" Cyborg enthused. He folded up the map and clapped, "Food! Here we come!"

Starfire giggled and jumped excitedly. Unfortunately for Raven, she was still hugging her as she did so, and Raven was left with no choice but to jump with her or risk losing a limb or her head.

Cyborg, of course, snapped a picture.

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Fantasyland: It's A Small World
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"I knew we'd get caught," Cyborg groused as they made the relatively fast moving line. "No way we'd come all the way to Kori-Heaven and get out without riding at least one ride."

"Not to mention we sat down next to the glass wall that overlooked the ride," Raven pointed out.

"Well, the wait time's low," Robin offered apologetically. "And even after lunch, we do still have some time before we have to be back in Liberty Square for the Haunted Mansion."

"Don't remind me about lunch," Cyborg sighed. "I'm still hungry."

"You ate two of the personal pizzas with everything except anchovies," Raven enumerated, "Three of the real boy sandwiches with everything in them, and, on top of that, one of the large buckets of the Lentil Soup with Frankfurters..." Raven held her index finger and thumb about two inches apart, "...actual Frankfurters about this big, inside the soup."

Cyborg blinked at her, "Your point?"

Raven sighed. "You worry me," she said. "You really do."

"What should worry you is the full grown man in the Peter Pan getup directing the line," Robin said to her, under his breath.

Only Raven could have seen the man with white hair in the getup and manage to not make a comment or even crack a smile, but it tested even her limits.

Beast Boy, having nowhere near such limits, began to laugh.

"I think he is most adorable," Starfire chastised Beast Boy with a look.

"You think everything here is adorable, Kori," Raven said, not unkindly.

Starfire laughed. "But everything is!"

"How can you argue with that kind of logic, Rae?" Robin asked laughingly.

Raven smiled, a minuscule thing, and shook her head. "I suppose I can't."

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Raven was glad to be sitting between Cyborg and Robin on the long bench style seats of the It's A Small World boat. She had the strongest feeling that if she had been made to sit through the 'happiest cruise that ever sailed the seven seas!'(1)and not been able to make sarcastic comments under her breath, she really would have exploded.

And considering Raven did not have those kinds of thoughts often, her feeling was not to be taken lightly.

But how could anyone sit through several renditions of "It's a small world after all! It's a small world after all! It's a small world after all! It's a small, small, world!" in several different languages (many of which Raven actually was fluent in, so she was actually processing what the brightly colored animatronic dolls were saying rather than it being just pleasant white noise) without wanting to blind themselves with the nearest sharp object and cut off their ears rather than see and hear any more of it?

"If I cut off my ears," Raven wondered, "Would I still be able to hear through the auditory canal?"

"Oh yeah," Cyborg answered. "I already thought of that."

"Damn."

"I don't think Germany is really that close to Russia, do you?" Robin whispered to Raven from the edge of the row.

"I think I want lederhosen," Cyborg deadpanned from her other side.

"Can't possibly make you look cuter than you did in Robin's tights," Raven whispered back to Cyborg.

"I still can't believe you didn't take any pictures of that," Robin mused from her other side, his eyes still on the dolls.

"I can't help it if I make everything look sexy," Cyborg said seriously.

"These dolls are actually frightening, aren't they?" Robin wondered.

"I think I'll have nightmares," Raven agreed as they traversed Asia.

"Although the costumes are actually pretty cool," Cyborg added thoughtfully.

Raven tore her gaze away from the dolls to look disbelievingly at him. "You collected dolls as a kid didn't you?" she asked.

Cyborg smirked. "My grandma," he confided.

"And isn't this like watching them all come to life?" Raven asked, seriously.

"With their little beady, glass like eyes?" Robin added, leaning almost over Raven's lap to whisper directly to Cyborg.

Cyborg's grin slipped from his face and he looked back at the dolls, "Dude, thanks," he frowned. "Now I'll have nightmares too."

Any response any of the three would have made stilled as they turned to watch both Star and Beast Boy singing along with the music of the dolls.

Cyborg, Raven, and Robin turned very slowly to stare at them, then very slowly away, Cyborg and Robin looking at each other across Raven and Raven looking straight forward.

"Are we there yet?" Raven asked.

"No," Cyborg answered, his tone about as dejected as if he were explaining how someone had canceled Christmas. "No, we're not."

Robin rubbed at his forehead, "This is going to be a long day."

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Fantasyland: Cinderella's Golden Carousel
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Raven was usually the one to take the least amount of time in the bathroom. She could only guess that this was due to the fact that she didn't have to adjust any image enhancers like Beast Boy and Cyborg (her pale skin and chakra stone saved from drawing unwarranted attention by the minor glamour she had used to hide them). She didn't have to check make-up or the positioning of clothing like Starfire, and she (unlike Robin) didn't really care if her hair was keeping its intended shape.

So the time after their bathroom pit stops between rides was really the only time she'd had alone since they had arrived in Orlando the day before. And, standing near the back of the castle, waiting for her friends to finish their primping and adjustments, her attention was drawn to the relatively simple lights of color in front of her.

She didn't think she'd ever really seen a carousel in person. She'd read about them and seen them in movies, but the carnivals and fairs that came to Jump never brought with them such a bulky ride.

Without hardly realizing it, she took several steps until she was standing near enough to the fence surrounding it that she could see the gaily painted horses and sleighs – the dull gleam on the polls, holding their wooden horses up and the smiles of joy and wonder on the faces of the children and surprisingly the adults that had just clambered onto their choices.

Its concept was simple, its premise completely illogical and really rather boring, so why, Raven wondered, was everyone so happy on it? She could feel her happy emotion itching to get on it, but Raven tampered it down. No way was she – a practically grown woman and a superheroine besides -- riding a carousel by herself and no way was she asking her friends to ride it.

Even if it was just to find out what about the ride made everyone so happy and especially not just because the most frivolous of her emotions wanted on.

Maybe Star would want to ride it, and if she did, she'd ride it then, but there was no chance of her giving in to Happy just like that.

"Isn't it lovely?"

Raven heard the awed exclamation but paid it no need, thinking the young voice couldn't be directed at her. That was, until she felt the tug on the hem of her shorts. Raven looked down at the little girl – a vision in a puffy pink dress she had to be hot in, who appeared to be around Timmy's age.

"Have you ridden it yet?" the girl asked.

"No," Raven answered, looking about for the child's parent or guardian.

"Me neither," the girl offered.

"Where are your mother and father?" Raven asked her.

"Getting water," she said. "I wanted to see the carousel," she announced.

"This is dangerous," Raven said in the voice reserved for stopping Timmy's tantrums or averting Teether's grip on a hapless inanimate object. "Find your parent at once."

"Kallee!" came the frantic cry to which the girl in front of Raven perked up and looked around. She pointed to a woman, about thirty, with brown hair picked up in a loose bun at the back of her head, who was approaching in a wheelchair.

"Here mommy!" the little girl called out happily. She turned back to Raven and grinned, "Found her," Kallee said.

"You shouldn't have made her worry," Raven said to the little girl.

"I didn't mean to," Kallee answered sincerely. When Kallee's mother finally approached, Kallee jumped into her arms. "I'm sorry for worrying you, mommy," she exclaimed.

Her mother stroked her hair and smiled at Raven. "Don't do it again, Kallee, you know how sad we are when we can't be with you, bebe."

"I won't, mommy, I promise!" Kallee said.

Kallee's mother looked up at Raven. "I'm sorry she bothered you," she said.

Raven didn't know what to say. She was caught between telling the woman to get one of those child leashes and remaining silent.

"But I wanted to ride the carousel," Kallee argued.

"Honey, you know it's too hard for mommy to get on there right now – you have to wait for daddy."

"But daddy's no fun," she insisted. "He never wants to ride."

"He'll ride this time," her mom promised.

"Maybe," Kallee allowed, "But he'll be grumpy while doing it."

"Kallee!" her mother chastised.

"I'll take her," Raven offered suddenly.

Kallee yelped and hugged Raven impulsively, "Yay! Let's go, let's go!" she said, tugging Raven's hand.

Raven looked at her mother. "Is that alright?"

The mother nodded and smiled. "Thank you..." She trailed off, obviously waiting for Raven to supply her name.

"Rachel," she offered.

"Thank you, Rachel," the mother smiled even brighter. "You're her new hero."

Raven shrugged it off and let Kallee lead her into the line. It wasn't that she engaged her in conversation while they were in the line that surprised Raven, however. But, by the time she helped Kallee onto the green and white horse ("just like in Mary Poppins"), and Raven knew that Kallee was in fact Timmy's age, that she lived in Houma, Louisiana, had no brothers or sisters, but a bestest friend named Beth-Anne that was soooo jealous that she got to go to Disney World that she just had to promise to bring her a Mickey Mouse plush, Raven started to get worried.

When Kallee managed to get Raven to agree to sit on a horse rather than just stand by her which had been her original plan, however, Raven began to consider just how she got into such situations in the first place and whether or not she was possessed of some sort of child magnet.

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Raven was always the first to exit the bathrooms and he was usually the second. This was a given. So when Robin emerged and didn't immediately see Raven, he was slightly worried.

He knew she wouldn't go off by herself, so his first thought was that something had happened and she had gone off to help. But when the park's flow and atmosphere looked unruffled, however, he was really at a loss.

He looked around, searching for signs of purple hair and a red halter top amidst the sea of people for a few minutes to no avail. He was just starting to consider the possibility that one of their enemies had abducted her or at the very least, made her run or hide, and was beginning to think that it might be time to use their emergency communicators. He was about to bring it out of his pocket when he realized someone was staring at him.

He glanced at the amused woman in the wheelchair who was looking at him. Too preoccupied to wonder why she was staring, he merely smiled absently when she smiled at him before wondering if he should ask whether she might have noticed Raven. But the woman spoke before he could.

"Are you, by any chance, looking for a very pretty girl, wearing a red halter top with amazingly purple hair?"

Robin blinked at her for a few moments, surprised that the lady was speaking to him and for all intents and purposes, describing Raven to a T. "Yes, actually," Robin spoke. "I am." Robin approached her, "Do you know where she went?"

The woman grinned at him. "Sure do," she replied in a slightly southern accent. Before Robin could ask where, the woman pointed toward the carousel. "Actually, she should be coming into view right about..." Robin turned, disbelievingly, to stare at the carousel which he had never even thought of looking at when searching for Raven. "...now!" the woman said as a green and white horse with a small blond rider came into view, waving madly in their direction with one hand while holding onto Raven's hand with the other. She lost her balance for a bit and Raven automatically reached out to steady her. "And that's my little Kallee what conned her on the ride, the poor thing."

It took Robin another circuit of the carousel to figure out that he had not been seeing things and that Raven had, in fact, been sitting astride the purple and yellow wooden horse alongside the little girl. When she came around again, the little girl waved at her mother again, as enthusiastically as if it were the first time and Raven caught Robin's stare as her horse bobbed gently up and down. Robin couldn't help but smile at the utterly bewildered and slightly lost look to Raven's expression. By the time the carousel made its circuit a fourth time, Robin had recovered enough to smile broadly at her and wave the way the child was waving. Raven, still bewildered, waved back weakly as if she weren't sure this wasn't a dream.

Kallee's mother, meanwhile, had spent that third go-round looking at the countenance of the handsome young man as he looked upon her little girl's new hero. And when she recognized the look, she couldn't help but smile in tender remembrance. "Is she your girlfriend?" the mother asked.

Robin blinked out of his contemplation and looked at the mother again, having temporarily forgotten she was there. "Pardon?"

"Rachel," the mother said. "Is she your girlfriend?"

Robin looked at the woman for a bit, trying to determine whether he should tell her it was none of her business in as polite a way as possible, but the sincerity in her expression and the wistful smile on her lips made him decide, strangely, to be honest.

"No," he answered, smiling at her. "But I'm working on it."

The woman's smile broadened and she winked, "Best be working on it then, boy. You're obviously quite taken with her."

Robin tried not to blush as he stared fixedly at the turning carousel, waiting for Raven to come back into view. "Maybe not so obviously," Robin mused.

"Well, if you'll forgive my saying so," the woman continued. "It seems to me worth the effort." She noticed Robin had turned to look at her so she shrugged, "She seems about as comfortable on that carousel as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rockin' chairs, yet, she offered to take a talkative little girl on it anyway." The woman looked back at the carousel as Raven and her little girl made their rounds again. "Definitely one worth working for, if you'll permit me saying so."

Robin watched as Raven once again bobbed into his view, the little girl now too preoccupied with pretending to actually be riding the horse to take much heed of her mother on the sidelines. Raven met his eyes and turned to keep his eyes when the carousel continued to turn, 'Help,' she mouthed before the carousel took her out of range.

He laughed aloud. "I agree," Robin answered the woman's earlier comment.

"Hey, where's Rachel?" Cyborg asked, coming up to them.

Robin looked at Cyborg and, an amused smile on his face, pointed toward the carousel.

"You've got to be kidding---" he was cut off as Raven came back into view and Cyborg's cybernetic eyesight immediately zeroed in on her. "--you're not kidding."

"Nope," Robin said, highly entertained.

"Is that Ray--" Beast Boy started, only to stop as Cyborg glared at him, "chel?" he finished lamely smiling nervously at the woman who was obviously listening to their conversation.

"It is," Robin answered.

Beast Boy watched as Raven came into view again, listening intently to the little girl as she babbled about little girl things. "Nah," he decided. "It can't be."

"Friend Rachel rode the lovely fake horses without us!" Starfire said in surprise.

"Only to make my little girl feel better," the mother added.

"It is alright, I am certain she would not mind riding it again," Starfire enthused pleasantly.

"You care to rethink that statement?" Raven asked, coming up next to the mother, holding the little girl's hand.

"Are these your friends?" Kallee asked excitedly. "Oh, they're just like you described them, Rae-Rae," she enthused.

"Rae-Rae?" Beast Boy snickered.

"Don't even think about it," Raven warned, glaring.

Kallee stepped up to Beast Boy, "Do you really like all those different animals?" Kallee asked.

Beast Boy smiled awkwardly and rubbed at the back of his head, "Yeah."

"Even elephants?" the little girl asked, awestruck.

"Sure," Beast Boy added.

"Wow," Kallee breathed, turning to Cyborg. "And you look as strong as Rae-Rae said you are! Could you really carry me with just one hand?" she asked, smiling shyly at him.

Cyborg smiled, "Are you kidding?" he asked her, bending down to be eye level with her, "I could pick you up with this little finger right here..." he told her, holding out his pinky for her to see.

"Nuh-uh!" Kallee argued, giggling.

"Want me to try?" he asked. Kallee grinned and nodded, so Cyborg wrapped his finger around the top part of her dress and pulled, lifting her up off the ground, but steadying her with his other hand as he held her up over his head.

Kallee laughed and laughed until he put her back down. "But you used your other hand," she said, giggling.

"Well, I said I could pick you up...not hold you up," Cyborg pointed out.

Kallee laughed. "Ah! Caught you!" she exclaimed happily. "Still, that was awful high."

"You're just used to being closer to the ground, squirt," he said, laughing.

Kallee laughed and turned to find Starfire there. "Oh! You're Kori, aren't you?" she asked her, smiling.

Starfire nodded and curtsied. "I am little Princess," she admitted in an amused sort of formality.

Kallee did her best to imitate Star's curtsy and smiled even brighter. "You are pretty," she confirmed.

Starfire giggled and beamed at her. "Thank you."

Kallee grinned and walked back to look adoringly up at Raven, "But not prettier than you, Rae-Rae."

Raven nearly stammered in the face of the little girl's blunt expression of her feelings. "You're biased," she answered monotonously.

Kallee turned back to finish her inspection of the group, and found Robin next to Cyborg, smiling shyly at him. "Can you really do a headstand with one hand?"

Robin smiled at her and looked at Raven over the little girl. "Did Rae-Rae tell you that?" he asked her.

She nodded. "And she said you could do cartwheels and juggle..." she continued in awe.

"I can," he told her. "But probably not all at the same time," he joked.

Kallee giggled and clapped, "Oh, can I see?" she asked. "Please?"

Robin looked awkward for a moment, and just as he was about to consider doing a handstand to not disappoint the little girl, they were interrupted.

"So there you are, sha," a deep, masculine voice said from their left.

"Daddy!" Kallee exclaimed happily, running at her father. The tall man scooped her up easily into his arms and she giggled. "I met the nicest girl, her name's Rachel and her friends and her live in Jump City, where's Jump City Daddy? And they all live together but they're really nice and Kori is pretty, but Rachel is prettier and Gar likes animals a lot and they have lots of pets and --"

"Easy there, petite," the father said laughingly. He looked at the unbeknownst to him, Titans, and smiled warmly at them. "You've made quite an impression on her," he said to them.

Kallee looked at Raven, "Rae-Rae, look," she put a hand on her father's chin, "This is the Daddy."

Raven nodded to him, "Very nice to meet you, sir."

"That's the Rae-Rae, daddy!" Kallee enthused.

"Rachel took her on the carousel," the mother offered.

"Well, that was very nice of you," the man said. "I've made reservations at the restaurant back over there for lunch, can we get you to join us?" he asked them.

"No, thank you, we've just eaten," Raven answered politely before Cyborg could let his stomach be his guide and accept.

"Well, thank you again," the mother said.

"Bye Rae-Rae, come play with me again, 'kay?" Kallee called over her father's shoulder. "And get Gar to bring the elephant next time!"

Raven waved as they walked away and when they were out of earshot, without turning to face her friends whom she could just feel were staring at her, announced, "The first person who makes a comment will wake up with something essential missing."

"So, who's ready for the Haunted Mansion?" Cyborg called merrily into the silence.

It wasn't until then that Raven turned.

"We've still got another forty minutes before we can use the Fast Pass," Robin reminded them.

"Oh, then let's do Mickey's Philharmagic while we're here!" Beast Boy offered.

"Oh, yes, please!" Star enthused. "I am most eager to see the music which the much beloved monarch of this kingdom can create!"

"The wait time for that is thirty minutes," Robin pointed out. "We won't be able to do that and get back in enough time to make the Haunted Mansion."

"Well, how about Snow White's Scary Adventures?" Beast Boy suggested. "It's right across there," he pointed to where the sign could be seen in the near distance.

"Wait time's for that one is 40 minutes," Cyborg said, using his cybernetic eye to read the time counter.

"Dude," Beast Boy exclaimed. "That's just wrong."

"Why would Snow White's ride be a longer wait than Mickey's?" Raven asked logically.

"Because Mickey's is a theater style thing," Robin answered. "They can sit more people per show than they can in Snow White which is a ride that you can only sit two or three people at a time."

"Two," Cyborg offered up before thinking it through, "Three if you're tiny." He noticed what he had said when everyone else had stopped to look at him. "What?" he asked. "I can see the ride thing from here," he excused. This, of course, wasn't exactly truthful. Not that he couldn't see the seat things from where they stood, just that he didn't have to.

Fortunately, it was enough for his teammates because they went on considering what they should do next.

"Well, the only other things around here are it's a small world and Dumbo."

"I don't think any of us fit on the Dumbo ride," Cyborg scoffed. "Except maybe Raven cause she's so small."

Raven raised a brow at him.

"Well, you are," he said, moving so that he was no longer within glaring range.

"May we go on the small world ride again, please?" Starfire asked, her eyes glimmering with hope.

"I'll go," Beast Boy enthused.

"No thank you," Raven said seriously. "Once was more than enough for me." She looked at the others. "Don't look at me like that," she preempted Robin, "We said we would all ride the rides but we never said anything about repeats."

"Fine, but if you get off riding this one, so do I," Robin said.

She shrugged. "Suit yourself."

"Alright, let's go," Cyborg said enthusiastically, grinning like an idiot.

"Vic?" Robin asked, "I didn't think you liked Small World so much," Robin said wonderingly.

"I thought you hated it," Raven added.

"I need to cleanse myself of your comments before I can go back to my grandmother's house, thankyouverymuch," he said defensively. "Alright come on, or we won't have any time," he told Beast Boy and Starfire. "And you two, don't disappear," Cyborg told them as he led the other two into the line.

"Where does he think we'll go?" Raven asked, watching them follow the line down the ramp and disappear.

Robin was looking around, initially, for a place for them to sit. What he found was much, much better. "Wait right here," Robin said, going off somewhere behind them and getting lost in the crowd.

Raven frowned and thought, "He has ten minutes."

Six minutes later, when Robin came bounding up to where Raven was staring up at the large clock that seemed to be the centerpiece of the Small World facade, Raven made a conscious choice not to look at him.

"I'm back," Robin announced.

"Joy," Raven deadpanned.

"Aw, c'mon, you know you missed me."

Raven looked pointedly at her watch. "You had precisely three minutes twenty-two seconds before I went off in pursuit of my own enjoyments."

"You mean I was three minutes and twenty-two seconds shy of letting you loose to befriend another hapless child?" he teased.

Raven looked at him like she knew exactly what she wanted to say to that but wouldn't because they were in a public place. "Maybe," she offered instead, her expression turning neutral. "There are many of them around."

Robin grinned and extended one hand to her. "Here."

Raven blinked down at his hand.

"Quick, before it melts," he hurried.

"What is it?" she finally asked.

"It's ice cream," Robin told her.

"In the shape of a mouse?" Raven asked, clearly skeptical.

"In the shape of a much beloved monarch," Robin corrected her. When Raven didn't take the proffered treat, he chuckled. "Come on. You can bite his ears off..." he tempted.

Raven took the ice cream and watched as Robin went about unwrapping his own. "You went off just to buy this?" Raven asked, before mimicking him.

"Yeah."

"Why?" she asked seriously, looking down at the happy face of Mickey Mouse in frozen cream.

"Maybe because I figured that after small world you might jump at the chance to bite Mickey's head off, at least in effigy?" When Raven did not seem amused, but rather seemed to be considering his reasoning, he chuckled and took a healthy chomp at Mickey's left ear, "Plus," he spoke around the ice cream, "No one is allowed to leave the Magic Kingdom without eating at least one Mickey Ear Ice Cream."

She watched as he went back to finish off the left ear. "Is that a rule somewhere?" she asked.

"Absolutely," Robin answered, swallowing.

"Really?" she questioned, licking experimentally at the chocolate covered ear, feeling only mildly cannibalistic.

"Oh yeah," Robin assured her. "It's in the manual." He seemed about to continue when he noticed that she was licking her frozen treat and not biting. "If you keep licking it, it's only going to make the chocolate –" He cut himself off as a section of the chocolate coating started to fall.

Visibly unperturbed, Raven saved it from the floor with her left hand, then looked about for a moment, wondering what to do and where or how to get it off her fingers. Robin watched, enthralled, as the different options flit almost visibly across her face and he could practically hear the moment she gave in, seconds before she raised her fingers and the rapidly melting chocolate into her mouth, sucking the chocolate off her index and ring fingers in quick succession before returning to her ice cream.

Robin choked a little on a stray bit of chocolate in surprise at the unexpected decision, but Raven continued their previous conversation as if she had not just done something completely out of character at and least slightly erotic.

"I didn't get a manual," she spoke, biting into the remaining bit of her ice cream's right ear.

"Did you ask for a manual?" he countered.

Raven raised a brow as she licked her lips, "I didn't know we had to ask for one."

Robin shook his head pityingly and started in on the right ear himself, "Ignorance is no excuse." When she raised a brow at him, he shrugged, "You'll just have to take my word for it then."

"Hm," she said and took another experimental lick at the now exposed vanilla ice cream of Mickey's ear.

"You'll never finish it before it melts if you just keep licking at it," he told her imperiously.

"I'm supposed to gnaw at it as you are doing, I suppose?" she questioned doubtfully.

He took another healthy bite and smiled at her as he chewed and swallowed. "Otherwise, it'll just melt and make a huge mess."

"Who ever thought it would be a good idea to serve ice cream on a stick?" she wondered aloud.

"Hey, it's good stuff once you get the hang of it," he assured her.

She looked back at the ice cream and tried, tentatively, to bite into the vanilla, teeth first which of course, didn't work out. She pulled back and sucked on her teeth, trying to warm them from the sudden, unexpected sting of the cold.

Robin must have seen her problem, because he chuckled. "Rookie mistake," he teased. She raised her brows at him and he shrugged. "To avoid teethfreeze—"

"—teethfreeze?" she interrupted.

He continued as if she hadn't spoken, "-one must prevent the teeth from making direct contact with the ice cream." Raven looked at him skeptically, so he brought his ice cream close to his mouth and took on the air of learned teacher. "Observe," he commanded, pulling his top lip over his teeth and using the modified bite to take a chunk out of his ice cream.

"You look absolutely ridiculous."

He laughed. "Go on, try it," he prodded.

"I refuse," she said stoically.

"Well, then, you might as well forget about the rest of the ice cream." He went back to eating his ice cream, the way he had showed her and Raven looked at hers thoughtfully.

After a few moments of consideration, she began licking at the ice cream with almost visible vigor, as if to prove him wrong and when, a few moments later, a small trickle of melting vanilla ran down the side of her hand, she didn't think twice about turning her hand and licking it away.

Primal instincts had taken over.

What else could excuse the fact that she didn't feel embarrassed when she noticed Robin staring at her, pausing in her licking of the ice cream only long enough to frown at him. "Richard," she called his attention, her tone serious.

He blinked and tried not to blush as he realized he'd been caught staring. "What?"

"Your ice cream's melting."

"Rae?"

"What?" she asked.

"You eat ice cream like a little kid."

She paused to raise a brow, unconsciously licking at the corner of her lip, the Raven-Gesture somehow only making her seem more child-like when she had vanilla and chocolate ice cream spots along her lips. "Pardon?"

He chuckled and shook his head. "You have--" he broke off to point at his own chin. "--right..." he pointed again, but the other brow rose clearly showing her confusion.

"A chin?" she asked.

He frowned. "No," he said pointedly, knowing she was purposefully being facetious. "Some ice cream, right there," he said, pointing again on his own chin.

"I can feel it, thank you," she said, continuing to eat.

"Here," he handed her a napkin, but she only took it in one hand and continued to eat without using it.

"Aren't you going to clean it off?" he asked.

"Yes," she answered, devoting her attention on where she should lick at her ice cream next for best effect.

"Not now, though?" Robin asked after a moment passed and she still didn't move to clean off the ice cream.

"No."

Robin frowned, "Why not?"

"It would be pointless and illogical to clean up now, when I will likely get dirty again before I am through consuming the ice cream."

He couldn't argue with that, except that it was hard to resist the instinct to reach out and clean her off himself.

"You really are like a little kid eating ice cream," Robin was saying.

"So?" Raven asked. "Why does it bother you so much?"

"It just surprises me," he admitted. "You're usually so neat about everything."

"The ice cream will melt and there is no neat way to eat ice cream on a stick in nearly 95 degree tropical heat," she answered.

"I didn't get that messy," he pointed out.

She shrugged, unconcerned. "You've also had more practice at it, I'd wager." He couldn't argue with that. "I suppose that is why it seems to you that I am eating ice cream like a child," she said.

He smiled teasingly at her. "That's no excuse."

She licked at her ice cream and smirked, or as close to smirking as Raven ever got which really had much more to do with the look to her eyes than the curve of her lips, "This is really bothering you isn't it?" she asked, licking off another bit.

"Yes," he admitted, even though he would never tell her why. Then, unable to resist any longer, Robin struck out for her cheek with a balled up napkin in his hand, but she looked up at him just in time to dodge his hand and step back and away from him just out of reach.

Robin parried, and for a few moments, it almost looked as if they were dancing. Robin, long having finished with his own ice cream, was devoting full time and attention to wiping at Raven's cheek and chin, but she dodged him blithely while continuing to lap up the last of the ice cream on her Popsicle stick.

It was a good thing they were both extremely conscious of not appearing 'super' at all, or it might have degenerated into the ice-cream clean-up equivalent of a full-out sparring match.

"Why are you so stubborn about this?" he asked, stepping forward and darting in.

She slipped under his hand and stepped gracefully away from him, "Why is it so important to you?"

He paused just long enough to exhale. He certainly couldn't tell her that watching her eat her ice cream had been the most sensual thing he had ever seen her do. He looked up at her, hoping some answer might come to him, but then she stopped moving away, lowered the bare Popsicle stick and he saw his chance.

"It just is."

Raven stood still and let him capture her face, standing immobile as he wiped at the ice cream. Her eyes focused on the top of his head as he bent to his task and there was a bit of smile in her voice as she asked, "Because you have discovered the sudden need to be my father now?"

Robin stopped wiping and raised his eyes to meet hers. "Not exactly."

Neither of them had noticed the approach of their friends from the exit of the ride, so how could they have noticed the way that both Starfire and Beast Boy had stopped a few feet away from them, staring at them or how Cyborg, towering behind them, was grinning like a fool.

Eventually, however, Cyborg noticed that Starfire and Beast Boy had both stopped a few inches in front of him and a little bit after that, he noticed what they were staring at.

'Aw, crap,' Cyborg cursed internally.

He racked his brain for a few moments, trying to come up with some way to distract them or something to diffuse the potential situation. What were Beast Boy and Starfire seeing when they looked at the two birds? Cyborg wondered, but he didn't really want to find out. Not here. Not when things were still so tentative and fragile between them. So he did the first thing that came to his head.

"Who's ready for some turkey leg?!" he called out in a deep, booming voice, that carried clearly over Beast Boy, Starfire, Robin and Raven.

"Dude, that's disgusting!" Beast Boy exclaimed automatically, turning back to glare at him, his expression normal.

Starfire watched Cyborg approach, waiting until he reached her before asking, "How many stomachs do you have, Victor?"

Cyborg laughed. "Just the one," he told her, winking, "But I'm a growing boy."

"You're a carnivore is what you are," Beast Boy mumbled unhappily.

"You're just now starting to figure that out?" Raven asked Beast Boy.

"Actually..." Beast Boy thought and then sighed, giving up.

"The turkey legs are sold in Tomorrowland," Robin told Cyborg.

"So, let go, what're we waiting for?" Cyborg asked. "Tomorrowland sounds like the place to be, anyway."

"Our tickets for The Haunted Mansion are active now," Robin told him.

"We gotta do the Haunted Mansion!" Beast Boy enthused.

"He's right," Robin said. "Plus, it's closer," he pointed the direction they needed to go for the Liberty Square part of the park.

"Oh well, that Columbia Harbor place with the chowder was in Liberty Square, wasn't it?" Cyborg asked.

Beast Boy groaned and lowered his head, "This is going to be a long day."

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Liberty Square: The Haunted Mansion
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The moment they were all crammed into the round picture parlor, Raven tensed.

It was a little known fact that Raven seriously did not like enclosed spaces. Oh, she could control her fear of them well enough and if it was a transient thing, like an elevator or a car or a big enough area, she didn't really care. Normally, a room the size of the one they were standing in should have not been a problem – if there weren't also fifty or so people crammed in with them.

It didn't help any that she had dulled down her empathy purposefully so as not to be overwhelmed in the press of people she knew she'd encounter in Walt Disney World. That she was successful was a promising show of her increasing control. However, that she could not even feel her friends, even though they were near to her, the way she normally could was disconcerting. She knew that Star was on her right, and Robin on her left and she could see Beast Boy and Cyborg in front of them, but when the door closed with a sudden bang, she wished they were close enough for her to feel their auras. She didn't realize she had shifted at all until her shoulder bumped Robin's and he looked at her in question. She was still debating what to tell him when the show started and any explanation she might have been willing to share was, by necessity, cut off.

When the lights went out completely, she tensed instinctively, her first thought entirely focused on bringing light back into the enclosed area however necessary – until she felt a warm, strong hand slip around hers and squeeze around her fingers. She knew as soon as their skin touched who it was and it was a purely instinctual reaction that had her return the hold.

And then through her immediate sense of panic, calm descended. The fear and anxiety, the yelps and nervous laughter of the people all around her fell away and grew muted and distant under the weight of that calm. It felt to Raven not unlike the utter sense of peace she felt in the midst of her meditation, but she knew she had not even thought of meditation—perhaps in another few moments she might have, but not then, not that immediately. Not as soon as Robin clasped her hand.

It was the strangest thing she had yet experienced but the lights flashed back on throwing the room around them back into her immediate perception before she had much of a chance to explore the emotion. She blinked back the light and looked, she was sure, in utter amazement at Robin's profile. Still, despite her intense stare, he didn't turn to her. Raven thought about saying something, anything, but he was acting, for all the world, as if he wasn't still holding her hand and she was at a loss as to how to handle the situation.

Not that she felt uncomfortable, but she was starting to feel embarrassment at the thought of someone (especially Robin) catching her staring at him like a landed trout, so she turned away and when they began to be herded through a new door like so much sheep, she started forward, determined.

Robin let her walk ahead of him, and when she opened her hand, he didn't try to keep her fingers from slipping out of his.

When they found themselves in a new line, winding through a Victorian inspired, appropriately morbidly lit hallway, Robin followed behind Raven, occasionally looking behind him to make certain the others hadn't been lost in the crowd during the formation of the lines.

"Dude, do not make me baby-leash you!" Cyborg exclaimed, pulling Beast Boy away from his investigation of one of the sconces adorning the wall to their left.

"I just wanna see how real it is!" Beast boy defended.

"I'll do it," Cyborg warned.

When Beast Boy left the sconce alone without Cyborg having to gerry-rig a Beast Boy Leash, Robin turned back to watch Raven in front of him, as she looked around appearing, for all intents and purposes, as if she were ready for a true monster to attack at any moment.

It was easy to forget that Raven didn't like situations of the kind she had voluntarily walked into by coming into a haunted house, especially when she was so composed all the time. But he knew. And he hadn't needed the press of her hand in his when the lights went out to tell him either.

He closed the short distance between them and leaned on the line division next to her, "You don't like haunted houses, do you?" he asked.

She didn't even pretend, just shook her head. "There are some emotions," she said, "that I'll never understand--"

"For instance?" he prodded.

"Whichever emotion it is that prompts the desire in people to submit themselves to being intentionally scared."

Robin couldn't help it – he smiled. But he wasn't laughing at her, he was smiling at her. Smiling at her uncanny logic to things and smiling even more because she wasn't denying what she felt in this situation and especially because she had come onto the ride anyway.

"If you don't like it, why'd you agree to come on it?" Robin asked as they walked steadily onward toward the loading platform for their 'Doom Buggies'.

She looked at him, "We all ride the rides together," she repeated what they all swore to before entering the park that morning. "Besides," she said, looking around, "I'm sure this can't be worse than it's a small world."

Robin chuckled, "Entirely different kind of scary," he said.

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, "I don't know, those dolls --" she trailed off and shrugged, turning as she walked, and starting a little at finding they were already at the head of the line, the cast member in dark green and gray Victorian garb motioned for them to wait and watched as the ride cars, resembling armchairs, approached.

Robin must have sensed her nervousness because he smiled at her, "Hey," he said lightheartedly, "It's Disney – how bad could it be?"

The cast member motioned for them to go onto the moving platform. Raven squared her shoulders and walked onto the moving platform. She was a little unsteady on her feet when she first stepped on, but in no time she was moving steadily toward their Buggie, too concerned with keeping herself on her feet to worry about Robin and the others until she was already seated. When she reached the Buggie, she sat quickly, as if afraid it might get away from her, sliding over to the far side of the seat, just as quickly, making enough room so Robin and Starfire could both fit.

When she finally looked up, it was to find Robin walking easily across the moving platform while Starfire, Beast Boy and finally Cyborg followed close behind. When Robin and Starfire started for her car, she turned to watch as Beast Boy and Cyborg practically ran for the car behind theirs.

She was paying attention to Cyborg and Beast Boy's antics as they argued over which side of the car they should sit in and then to Beast Boy's ridiculous arguments as he informed Cyborg that he took up all the space on the seat so that when Robin slid into the seat next to her, she didn't immediately notice that the lap bar was lowering and Starfire hadn't sat down.

"Where's Kori?" Raven asked, looking at where people were walking onto the platform, half standing to try and catch a glimpse of her, wondering whether she had somehow gotten lost in the line.

"She followed us onto the platform," Robin said, about to get out of the seat altogether in order to go find her before the ride could move them beyond the loading area.

"I saw that," Raven confirmed. "Kori?" she called out.

"I am not lost, friends!"

Robin and Raven both twisted until they could look over the side edge of their seats to stare at the seat behind them. Starfire, wedged between Beast Boy and Cyborg, waved sheepishly. Cyborg and Beast Boy waved in turn.

"What are you--?" Robin started.

"Why did you--?" Raven said simultaneously.

Starfire grinned sheepishly, "I lost sight of you and came to the wrong car, and I was hurried without time to find yours." She looked from Cyborg to Beast Boy. "Now they are squished."

"No worries, Kori, we're fine, really, aren't we Beast Boy?" Cyborg asked.

"I feel like tuna," Beast Boy said laughingly, "But hey, I'm not complaining."

"Oh, Kori," Raven exhaled.

"Are you really okay?" Robin asked.

Cyborg scooted as far to his side as he could to give both Beast Boy and Starfire room and grinned his 100 watt smile. "Peachy!"

Raven shook her head and turned in the seat, facing forward and leaning against the backrest. Her voice, when she spoke, was casual, "Maybe we should consider a baby leash for Star?"

Robin was about to comment when he noticed her posture. Her hands were gripping the lap bar as if she expected being snatched out of her seat at any moment, her shoulders were bunched and she looked around her with suspicion at every shadow and corner.

The last thing Robin was paying attention to as the ride started was their Ghost Host's narration through the speakers behind them. He was much too preoccupied with wondering when Starfire's absentmindedness had translated into a bad sense of direction and speculating on whether Raven would ever relax enough to enjoy the corniness of the ride.

The ride itself held his attention for all of three minutes, after which Robin glanced at Raven. He was happy to note that she seemed to be relaxing somewhat. There was only the slightest hint of tension in her shoulders instead of the rock hard way she was holding them before, for one. She wasn't gripping the lap bar at all now, for another, and it actually looked as if she was watching the ride for its own sake rather than for signs of an attack. Yes, he might've hoped for a different seating arrangement (she was still sitting so far away from him on the seat, three people could've fit between them) he could've sworn there was actually a bit of a smile on her lips as the seat turned them around to face the car behind them. When she returned (albeit half-heartedly) Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Starfire's wave, he knew she was as comfortable as she was going to get.

By the time they traveled backward down the hallway with the blacklit doors creaking and doing a decent imitation of straining to warp outward, Raven was almost smiling.

Of course, it was at just that moment, as they passed a particularly dark corner, that one of the Disney cast members decided it might be a fun idea to knock briskly against Raven's side of the car while moaning ominously.

Raven reacted immediately, jerking away from her side of the car, and sliding across the seat pushing against Robin. He was certain if the lap bar hadn't been restraining her, she might have ended up on his lap or, worst case scenario, on his other side. She instinctively raised her hands in a gesture Robin knew all too well.

Thankfully, Robin also reacted quickly, going from amused to intent in five seconds flat. He wrapped his arms around her back and grabbed a firm hold of each of her wrists, bringing her arms in against her chest, using the leverage afforded by his positioning to hold her hands immobile by pressing her against him until she calmed.

"Just part of the ride," he said in her ear.

She was so surprised that she didn't struggle, or try to get away from him. Instead, she went completely still, only the rapid beat of her heart thumping against his chest giving her surprise away.

In half a minute, her heartbeat started to calm, and the tension in her arms slowly eased, but he didn't let her go and she didn't try to move. He could feel the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed and he wondered whether or not he might get out of this with his life intact. This was more than holding her hand in the dark when she was scared. He knew it. He just wondered whether she knew it.

"Did you get his name?" she finally asked, her voice low while the ride continued, and their 'Ghost Host' continued his narration, as if one of Disney's cast members hadn't been within a word whisper away from certain doom.

"No," Robin lied.

"Tell me his name, Richard," she insisted, and her voice sounded eerily calm and logical.

Robin smirked, satisfied that if she could take that tone, she was calm. "You're going to hunt him down and hurt him if I do that, Rachel," he answered in just the same calm and logical tone of voice.

"No," she said, and at his obvious disbelief, she blinked innocently. "Just scare him – my word."

He knew the value of her word. He respected it. And it wasn't that he didn't trust in it either. But in that moment, he knew her notion of what constituted "scaring" and what might be considered cruel and unusual punishment by act of law might be just a little blurred. "No."

"Fine," she said. "I'll have to get it myself, then."

Her heart beat was considerably more composed, but still not the steady rhythm he knew was the norm for her. "Behave, Rae," he said only somewhat in his leader voice. He was too amused to make it sound any sterner.

"You can't hold on to me forever," Raven pointed out.

There was a heavy pause, wherein Robin seriously weighed his options between what he wanted to answer and what he should answer to such a casual statement. In the end, he decided on a safe halfway point. "I'd be willing to give it a try."

She hesitated for a moment, and he knew if he could have seen her face, he'd find she wore a deeply concentrated look. She was considering her options. "Fine," she allowed. "I will take no retaliation against him at all."

The ride jerked them a little and pulled them both away from the side of the car where Robin's back was currently pressed in order to hold her in the position they were in. He felt her tense and shift a little and clucked at her. "I don't believe you."

She turned to glare at him, but started at finding his eyes so close. The seat jerked again and she slid another few inches closer to him. "My word that I will not harm – or scare – the cretin who thought it amusing to surprise me," she avowed seriously.

Robin frowned and slowly loosened his hold on her hands, pulling his arms away, "You give up too easily, Rae," he said as she settled back into the seat. He smiled, though, when he noticed that she didn't move back to her side entirely.

She was about to answer when she saw the optical illusion of the ghosts waltzing and feasting in the ballroom just beyond the glass of the ride's displays. She leaned forward to get a better view and the moment between them, such as it was, passed.

When she leaned back against the chair, their shoulders bumped.

"Thank you," she said, her eyes on the scenes of the ride before them.

He watched her profile for a moment, then smiled. "For keeping you from murdering a Disney employee?" He shrugged. "No problem. Anytime."

She glared at him. "I would not have committed murder."

"Well...any form of battery, really," Robin corrected.

"Your faith in me is sadly lacking," Raven said, deadpan.

Robin smiled at her. "Just kidding, Rae," he said sincerely. "I know you wouldn't hurt him." Apparently satisfied, Raven turned back to looking at the cemetery scene with the ghosts. "Much," he added as an afterthought.

"So long as we're clear," Raven answered, frowning at the hitchhiking ghosts in their 'Doom Buggy' in the mirror.

"Hey, look! Rae got the one with the hat!" Beast Boy exclaimed as their car approached, now next to them.

"I'm surprised even a ghost fits in that car," Robin mused.

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Liberty Square: Liberty Bell Riverboat
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"She is so lucky!"

"I know! Three really hot guys--"

"Well...two really hot guys and one that's kinda cute."

Their giggles grated on Raven's nerve endings, but she remained still, hoping they'd walk on.

They didn't.

"Tell me about it."

"I wanna be part of that club."

"I wonder who's with who?"

"Maybe they're all with each other?"

"Eew!"

"You're such an innocent, Ginger!"

The giggling started again and Raven was just about to walk away when what the blond spoke stilled her.

"I think I hate the one with the purple hair, though, I've gotta admit."

Raven frowned.

"Why don't you hate the red-head, too, while you're at it?" the red-head asked sarcastically.

"Well," the blond defended, "What do those girls have that we don't?" she asked on a sigh.

"Three hot guys to play with," the red-head offered seriously.

"And I hate to admit it, but they're pretty hot themselves, you know," the brunette offered up logically.

"You know what they say about beautiful people."

"Hey, I'm beautiful!"

"Not that beautiful."

"Gee, thanks."

"A girl can dream, can't she?"

"Yeah," the others agreed reluctantly.

"I wonder where the short one gets her hair dyed?"

"Did you see that?" the blond enthused. "It doesn't look fake at all, it's such a good dye job!" she said, totally in awe.

"So she gets three hot guys and a fabulous hair dresser?" the red-head asked. "Okay, so I hate her, too."

"Now you see what I mean?" the blond asked.

Raven rolled her eyes and started to walk away again, when the brunette spoke up again.

"Oh hey! It's hot guy #1, with the blue eyes, walking this way."

Raven looked and found that Robin was, indeed, heading in their direction.

The girls preened and smiled right at him. Robin walked right up to them and, smiling politely, excused himself through where they stood blocking the width of the deck since he couldn't walk around them. He ignored their looks of disappointment and walked right up to where Raven was leaning against the red balustrade of the Liberty Belle. Raven continued looking out at the Rivers of America even as Robin settled into leaning against the balustrade next to her. The big red paddle-wheel turned and the boat chugged along lazily as the automated narration piped around them.

"I think you've just broken about four hearts," Raven commented when it was obvious the girls had decided it was useless to try for his attention.

Robin glanced back as the girls walked away, "Four?" he asked, turning back to her and grinning, "I counted six girls."

Raven raised a brow at him. "The brunette with the polo shirt prefers Victor and the red-head thinks Gar is cute."

"Damn," Robin whistled. "I lost one to Gar?" He shook his head. "I must be losing my touch."

She barely resisted a smile. "Peacock," she announced.

He shrugged and smiled at her. "I could've sworn that would make you smile," he analyzed.

"It did." At his raised eyebrow, she looked away. "On the inside."

"Well, why not on the outside?" he asked. "This is the Happiest Place on Earth!" he said, motioning around them. He leaned a little toward her, and narrowed his eyes at her. "Do I need to take you on Splash Mountain another dozen times to get your adrenaline pumping just to get a little smile from you?"

She didn't look at him.

"I'll be soggy and squish when I walk, but I'll do it."

She did smile then. "I apologize," she offered. "I will try to show my amusement more openly."

"That's all I'm asking for."

She nodded.

"Vic, however, wants you to friendlier."

She turned to glare at him and he raised his hands. "Hey, not me – him – but I gotta say, you're all the way over here, alone, first chance you get..."

"Some alone time is warranted before the urge to strangle Garfield becomes unbearable," she excused.

He smiled but didn't give up. "Even so, I think scaring little kids is taking it a bit too far."

Raven frowned and looked to find where the little boy, about 10, who had asked if she liked sea monkeys had scurried off to his mother. "All I said was no," Raven defended.

"It's the way you said it, Rae," Robin explained.

"He probably shouldn't be talking to strangers anyway," Raven said, staring back out toward the shore.

Robin laughed. "Probably not, but still..."

Raven sighed. "I shall try."

"Alright," Robin nodded and smiled at her again. "Cause seriously, I don't think I'll be able to stop Vic from buying you that Grumpy t-shirt if you don't mend your wicked ways."

Raven opened her mouth to tell him exactly what she thought of that threat when Beast Boy came bounding up to them.

"Dudes!" he exclaimed, Starfire and Cyborg following behind him. "We gotta get to Main Street when we get off here. The parade's gonna start!"

Robin looked at his watch, "It's not for another 45 minutes, and we'll be off the Riverboat in like 5," he pointed out.

"Tch," Beast Boy said. "We gotta get seats!" as if it should have been obvious.

"Forty-five minutes before the parade starts?" Raven asked.

"I am not standing behind two dozen people to see the parade," Beast Boy announced. "And then we'll just be pushed around, kids can get lethal when they're trying to get a glimpse at Mickey, and then we'll just end up missing it all."

"Oh, I do not wish to miss the parade!" Starfire added.

"I'll turn into a giraffe or something, dude, I swear, if I have to," Beast Boy warned.

Robin looked from Beast Boy to Starfire, then to Cyborg who shrugged and Raven who rolled her eyes. "Main Street it is," Robin announced, looking at them all.

"Woohoo!" Beast Boy exclaimed, while Starfire clapped happily.

Robin looked pointedly at Raven who smiled, but only minimally. "Huzzah," she announced, just slightly warmer than her usual deadpan.

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Mainstreet, USA: Share a Dream Come True Parade
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"I smell meat," Cyborg announced once they were seated.

Beast Boy made a gagging noise. "Dude, you need to fix that nose sensor of yours, cause really...that's gross."

But Cyborg was looking around and not paying attention to Beast Boy at all as he spotted the storefront with the baseball player standing outside proclaiming itself "Casey's Corner".

"Oooh, hot dogs!" his eyes lit up like he had just been shown the inside of heaven.

"We just had lunch," Raven pointed out.

"Two hours ago," Cyborg retorted. "And it was only a measly--"

"--hearty German Lentil stew with Frankfurters in it," she reminded him.

"Tiny ones..."

"Any larger and they would've needed their own plate."

Cyborg grinned. "That's what I'm talking about! Where can I get me some of those?"

"I worry about you."

"Excuse me, but these are the dogs that are hot but not dogs, correct?" Starfire asked.

"Mmm-yummy hot dogs with relish and chili and cheese, and sauerkraut and loads of ketchup and mustard--" Cyborg enthused.

Starfire's stomach growled, or one of them did anyway, and Raven looked at her. "You too?" she asked.

"Well," Starfire blushed. "Only one of my stomachs need be filled at a time, but Victor's description sounds so appetizing."

"Alright, Kori!" he exclaimed, standing up. "How many do you want?" he asked her. "Three? Four?"

Raven lowered her head into her hands, but Robin saw the flash of her smile.

"Three will suffice," Starfire answered. "I believe," she turned pensive. "Are they large?"

"Well..." Cyborg thought about it. "I don't know," he admitted. "Maybe you should come with?" Cyborg asked.

Starfire nodded and stood up.

"Anyone else?"

"Actually," Robin started.

"Et tu Brute?" Raven asked.

Robin smiled, "Hey, I didn't have nearly as much food as those two and plus, we've burned off a lot of calories in walking..."

"Dude!" Beast Boy whined. "Now I'm hungry!" he said, clutching at his stomach.

"Fine, what do you want?" Cyborg asked.

"Perhaps there is a tofu hot dog for our friend?" Starfire asked.

"Alright," Cyborg said. "One tofu hotdog. Rick, you?"

"One with the works," Robin answered.

"You got it," Cyborg turned to Raven. "Rae, one with relish, hold the onions and ketchup?"

"I might as well," she said in a very put upon voice, as if she were succumbing due only to overwhelming pressure.

"Boo yah!" Cyborg enthused. "Hot dogs all the way around. Be right back, you three hold our seats."

"Hey, wait up!" Beast Boy called, starting after them. "How do I know you'll really get me a tofu hot dog?" he ran after them as they made their way across the street.

Raven rearranged their bags to save the space for their friends and turned to Robin sitting next to her. "What?" she asked.

"After getting on poor Vic's case --" he started.

"He really does worry me," she defended.

"And making Kori feel self-conscious about her stomachs--" he continued.

"She surprised me that was all."

"And calling me Brutus--"

"It was a saying, Richard, just a saying."

"You get one too," he finished as if she hadn't been defending herself the whole time.

It took her about a split second before she smiled. "When in Rome..."

Robin smiled widely, and couldn't help but up the mental tally he had been keeping. 'Raven 2, Disney World, 2 and the score is even.'

"Are those fries?" she asked, motioning subtly to the boy sitting next to Robin with a cup in his hands.

Robin looked at the cup, "I think so," he answered, then turned a mischievous smile on her. "Want some?"

Raven didn't need to answer – her eyes did it for her. He stood fluidly from his seat on the sidewalk and bowed to her with flourish. "I'll be right back."

Raven shook her head at him a bit, but was keeping true to her promise and she smiled before he left.

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As she stared up at the children playing happily with the storybook castle at the end of the street as a backdrop, Raven couldn't help but admit, albeit grudgingly, that Walt Disney World did have a certain charm.

She knew that it looked as if she wasn't enjoying herself, and she knew that she did come across as…well, grumpy. She wasn't. (No matter how much the others might insist in comparing her to a diminutive cartoon miner.) Beast Boy kidded that she was unhappy as a direct result of the happiness of the place itself, but she knew that wasn't true either. (She knew Beast Boy didn't really believe it either – not really.) She was just pensive and a little surprised because of the happiness of the place. And she knew that might make her look upset or unhappy, but although her mood was a direct result of the happiness of the place, it wasn't as anyone might believe. She wasn't annoyed by it – she was confused.

Here was a place, a whole world for all intents and purposes, meant to celebrate children and childhood. A place where 'children of all ages' could forget the ugliness of the outside world, where a mother wouldn't have to be afraid to let her little girl ride a carousel with a complete stranger and where kids could dress up like Cinderella and Peter Pan and play with plastic swords in the middle of a street lined with storefronts straight out of their sugar coated dreams.

A place where even adults were encouraged to forget the pressures of the everyday and remember what it was like to dream and pretend.

And although she could understand the concept – might even admit that she thought it was a nice idea if she were pressed – she was confused by it, too. Not because she didn't know what it was all about, but because she wasn't sure how to react to it.

It seemed that everyone acted differently here, as if there really were some kind of magic in the very air. Beast Boy was acting as if he were ten years younger, Cyborg had apparently decided to eat at least one of everything the ark had to offer, and Star…well, Star was the only one who wasn't acting any differently, really. But even Robin, with his affinity to rules and doing things 'by the book', seemed more relaxed here. And she? Well, she had never wanted to smile as often in one day as she had in the first few hours of being in this place.

And ultimately, that was really why she seemed concerned and pensive. It was why she looked no different standing in line for a ride than she would standing in the checkout of their local supermarket.

They all knew how to react, almost instinctively to a place like this. It had taken her nearly half a day just to realize something different was expected of her at all. She was still trying to work out the particulars. She would never be as bubbly as Starfire or as enthusiastic as Beast Boy, but she was enjoying herself (when she got used to the idea that the theme for the day was just to enjoy themselves) and if a show of that would please her friends...well, she could do that...she thought.

"Lolli for your thoughts?"

Raven blinked and focused first on the multi-colored wrapped lollipop thrust in front of her, then, slowly, at the hand holding it and finally up to the pleasant, young face of the Disney employee holding it.

"Pardon?" she asked.

He smiled. "You looked so solemn," he said, crouching down on his haunches to be at eye level with her. "I wondered what could make such a look of seriousness cross your face in such a place as this, so I thought I'd bribe it out of you." He extended the lollipop again. "So? Is it working?"

Raven felt the desire to smile tug at her lips at the look of earnest hope on the guy's face. She didn't give in, though. It still wasn't in her nature to smile outright at strangers. "No."

The guy actually laughed and stood again, scratching at the back of his neck. "Well..." he thought, "Ah, I know!" he exclaimed, putting the lollipop in his shirt pocket and digging through his other pockets. "I've got some chocolate here somewhere," he said, half to himself. He paused, "A-ha!" he exclaimed, looking at her as he pulled out a wrapped string of pulled toffee. "That's not it," he frowned down at the candy, then held it out to her. "Laffy taffy?" he asked wryly.

He reminded her quite a bit of a subdued Beast Boy then and she actually found herself smiling – just a little. After all, hadn't her friends been asking her to be nice and be friendly all afternoon? "They pay you to do this?" she asked.

He grinned and nodded, crouching down in front of her on his haunches again, "Great gig, huh?"

"I think one of my friends would sell his kidney for the chance."

The boy (Jerry, if his name tag was to be believed) laughed heartily and winked at her, "Oh, they don't ask for all that much."

"Just your soul?" Raven tried.

Jerry put a hand up to his lips, "Shh...it's a company secret," he said in a stage whisper.

Raven raised her brows. "My lips are sealed," she promised in all seriousness.

Jerry nodded and looked pointedly at the space she was obviously saving. "So, you're the designated seat watcher, huh?" he asked, motioning around them.

She nodded.

"I'd say it's no fair that they left you here by yourself, but if they hadn't, I wouldn't have been able to talk to you."

"If they hadn't, we wouldn't have seats to watch the parade," Raven answered logically.

He laughed again. "So, where'd your friends run off too?" he asked. "Shopping?"

"Food."

"How many of you came?" he asked conversationally.

"Five including me."

"And all four had to go get food?"

At his look of surprise, she found herself almost smiling, "They really like food," she said. "Well, two of them anyway, and one especially..." she trailed off. "It's complicated."

He must have seen something on her face, a look of amused acceptance that prompted him to ask, "Why do I have a feeling your boyfriend and you have had that discussion before?"

Raven blinked in confusion. "Who?" She shook her head, realizing what he was getting confused. "No, Victor is the one with the food fetish," she answered. "He loves meat."

Jerry laughed at her phrasing. "And the others went to help bring in the haul, huh?"

She nodded. "Except Richard, he went because I wanted fries."

"Oooh, the fries at Casey's are really good," Jerry agreed.

She nodded.

"So, where are you from?" he asked, seemingly getting comfortable in the conversation.

Raven wondered if this was all it took to 'make friends'? She wasn't being particularly friendly, but she was answering his questions and not frowning at him. "Jump City, California," she answered.

"Oh?" Jerry raised his eyebrows and opened his eyes wide. "Isn't that where those teen superheroes are?" he asked.

She pursed her lips. She had nearly gotten over her wariness of being discovered but now she wondered if she shouldn't have lied about where they were from. "Yes," she said carefully.

"Have you met 'em?" Jerry asked, excited. "That must be so cool!"

"S'aright," Raven answered without really answering.

"I'm from Aimes. Aimes, Iowa, originally. You know what we have in Aimes?" he asked and waited, so she shook her head. "Corn. Corn fields, corn niblets, cornmeal, corn paste, corn husk art, corn bread – actually, the corn bread's pretty good -- and corn oil."

"No popcorn?" she asked.

He chuckled, "County I was born and raised in swears they invented it."

He sounded so wryly proud, she almost smiled.

"So you can probably imagine why Jump city having superheroes sounds pretty darn neat to me."

"They pretty much keep to themselves," Raven offered.

"That's not what I heard," he said. "I heard they tend to hang around just like regular kids."

She frowned, "That was before the riot last month at the mall."

Jerry nearly lost his balance and the grin split his face. "Wait—riot?"

"Long story," Raven dismissed, but at his continued look of interest, she sighed. "It wasn't their fault," she started. "They avoid going to enclosed areas on the weekend when there are more people around, but how could they know the local junior high was going to take a class field trip to the mall on some random Tuesday at Noon?"

Jerry laughed, "Say no more." He shook his head and removed the lollipop from his shirt pocket. "That story deserves this, here."

Raven took it and allowed a small smile to lift the corners of her mouth. "Thank you."

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"Oh, for cryin' out loud!" Cyborg exclaimed as he turned around and caught sight of Raven in a break of the crowd.

"What?" Beast Boy asked, "Didya drop my tofu dog?"

Cyborg shifted the tray loaded with food he was holding as if he wanted to find a place to put it, but didn't trust any of the places around him. "We've got another one," he said, grinding his teeth, looking pointedly at Robin who had stepped up to him at his exclamation.

"Oh! Rachel has made a friend!" Starfire enthused, noting what the commotion was about.

All four of them watched as the tow-headed teen laughed and Cyborg growled. "I—you—he--" he considered giving the tray to Robin, then Beast Boy, then going out with it in his hand and exhaled. "Rick, do something about that, would you?" he asked. "If I have to put down my Casey's Out-Of-The-Park Jumbo Frank I'm gonna hafta kick his ass."

"On it," Robin confirmed, taking a cups of fries and a soda before heading out of the eatery.

If Jerry had seen Robin's approach, he might have been worried at the easy grace of Robin's smile in contrast to the look in his eyes. But, seeing as how Jerry was too preoccupied showing Raven the intricacies of a paddle ball which happened to have a Tinker Bell picture on it, it was as much a surprise to him as it was to Raven when Robin appeared behind her, reaching over her left shoulder to present her with the cup of fries.

"Whoa!" Jerry exclaimed, surprised, "You came outta nowhere."

Raven frowned at him, "He likes to do that," she said dryly. Then, "Why did you come from behind me when you were over there?" Raven asked, pointing to Casey's across from them.

Robin shook the fries and she took them but remained staring at him questioningly.

"The crowd pushed me around – didn't let me approach that way," Robin answered, taking the seat next to her. He looked up at Jerry and smiled, "I'm Richard, hi."

"Jerry."

Robin's smile brightened as he leaned back onto the palms of his right hand. "Thanks for keeping her company, Jerry, awful nice of you."

Raven turned to look at Robin who was looking casually, and outwardly pleasant at Jerry. She looked back at Jerry and confused, back to Robin. "Jerry was teaching me how to use one of these things," Raven said, showing him the paddle ball in her hand, the rubber ball on the string bouncing about blithely as she moved it.

Robin turned to her and smiled, "You wanted to learn how to use a paddle ball?" he quirked a brow at her, "That's cute."

Raven narrowed her eyes at him. "I only said he was teaching me."

Robin reached over with his left hand, still leaning on his right and picked at a fry from her cup. He popped it into his mouth. "These are good, you haven't even tried them." He reached for another fry and held it out to her. She quirked a brow and Robin turned suddenly to Jerry, "Oh, sorry man, do you want a fry?"

"Nah, that's okay, thanks," Jerry said, smiling a little. He looked away and noticed that the other of the Disney Cast Members in the street, who, like him, had the job of mingling with the crowd and keeping them entertained, were all starting to come back to the center of the street, starting to get the little kids back to their parents on the curb. He looked at his watch and back to the purple haired girl in front of him. "Parade's about to start in a bit, your friends on their way?" he asked Robin.

"Oh yeah, they're on their way," Robin confirmed, taking a sip from the cup of soda Raven had just drunk from.

"Well, then, I'll go back to help the others reign in the kiddies," Jerry stood and saluted Raven.

"Bye," Raven said, handing him back the paddle ball.

He smiled at her. "Keep it," he said. Raven inclined her head in a thank you and he leaned down a little toward her, "Hey, maybe I'll look you up if I ever find myself in Jump City, California?"

Raven opened her mouth to answer, but Robin leaned forward, his shoulder brushing against hers, "Sure thing, man," he smiled. "Rachel and I'll be glad to show you around! It'll be fun."

Jerry looked from Raven to Robin and back again, smiling. "Yeah, okay, so..." he stood straight. "See ya."

"Later," Robin told him.

"Enjoy the rest of your magical day!" Jerry gave them the party line and walked off just in time to spare himself the wrath of Cyborg as he approached.

"Was that dude leaning?" Cyborg asked as he approached.

Robin nodded.

"Good thing you got rid of him," Cyborg groused. "I didn't want to have to put down my food to do it."

"Wait, leaning?" Raven asked. "What are you talking about?"

"You mean Rachel's new friend?" Starfire asked, sitting down on Raven's other side and drenching mustard on one of her hot dogs.

"What new friend?" Raven asked.

"The one who was leaning," Starfire answered, taking a bite.

"No one's safe, man," Cyborg groused. "Not only do we have to worry about the damn people at the park, but we've gotta worry about the cast members, too?" He took a healthy bite from his hot dog and swallowed it before continuing, "Next thing you know, the guys in the costumes'll be trying to get a glimpse down her shirt."

Raven frowned. "If you're talking about Jerry--"

"He gave you his name?" Cyborg asked.

Raven frowned, "Can we get back to this leaning thing?"

"Oh, look, here comes the parade!" Starfire exclaimed as the first of the snow-globe floats rounded the corner, the uproar of the crowd thwarting any comment Raven might have made.

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Fantasyland
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After they flew over London along with Peter Pan, explored just a few of the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, decided that Snow White's Scary Adventures was really a bit too freaky to be a kids ride, that, as Star said, "the music that the benevolent ruler of such a happy kingdom makes is certainly fit for such a joyous reign but if he were a little less lenient with his subjects like that impertinent Duck, he might not have such problems with obedience," and Cyborg, Robin and Raven threatened madness to get out of riding it's a small world, again, it was 4 o'clock, the sun was shining, there was not a cloud in the blue, blue sky, and the temperature on Cyborg's internal thermostat said it was a sultry 98 degrees…in the shade.

In layman's terms, it was hot.

Even Raven was sweating, and Raven might have been inclined to insist that she was not equipped with something as undignified as a sweat gland. Still, even she had to admit that it was hot and that they could use some cooling off.

Which was why, of course, Robin was in the bathroom trying to keep his hair in shape, while Cyborg and Beast Boy both were in there trying to figure out the best way of keeping cool without disturbing the mechanical bits of the imagers that kept them from looking metal and green, respectively.

The girls, however, had a lot less luck, and emerged from the bathroom much sooner than the guys did, having been unable to find any method of cooling themselves down that did not require a big body of cold water (which they didn't have). The measly trickle of tepid water from the faucet (when they could get one – the women's bathroom was a veritable cat house of women trying to do the same exact thing Starfire and Raven were attempting to do) was insufficient to do much more than make their already sticky skin a little more wet.

All to no avail.

Oh, they felt cooler in the moment, but as soon as they stepped back outside the heat assailed them like an oppressive wave and even Starfire's enthusiasm wilted.

"It is not so very hot where we live is it, Rachel?" Starfire asked.

Raven shook her head. "It's the humidity," she answered.

"I wish I could take a bath," Starfire announced. "That always serves to cool me down when I am heated at home."

Raven nodded, absently, wondering whether it might be worth it to fight for a spot on the benches in the shade next to the bathrooms. She was so involved in trying to figure out whether the family of three that was currently seated on the shadiest bit of the bench was or was not going to stand that she didn't notice when Starfire walked a short distance away from her or even when she came back.

Ultimately, this was a mistake.

"Come, Rachel! There is a way for us to cool down!" Starfire enthused, grabbing Raven's wrist and pulling her away from the bathrooms.

Raven blinked and allowed Starfire to pull her, seeing nothing particularly cooling anywhere around them. "Where are you taking me?" Raven asked.

"The Grotto belonging to Ariel!" Starfire answered, smiling from ear to ear. "It is most refreshing!"

Raven blamed her ultimate predicament on heat induced lethargy numbing her mental capacities. It was the only logical excuse as to why she didn't realize exactly what Star was leading her into until she was smacked right in the chest with a cold burst of water.

She made a mental note to start paying more attention to where she was being led even as she tried to process the fact that she was now dripping. Off to her left, she found Starfire playing with several children, all of whom were making a valiant effort to be the single wettest child in the whole Grotto (maybe even the entire park). Starfire practically floated to Raven's side and pulled her further into what Raven was starting to realize was primarily a child's cooling off area.

"Are you not cooler?" Starfire asked Raven.

Raven couldn't argue. She was.

She was also wet.

Very wet.

Starfire pulled Raven under the cascading water from a fountain and Raven re-thought her previous statement. She was sodding wet. She blinked under the spray of water and didn't even bother to pull her hair out of her eyes. What would be the point?

Starfire's laughter unfortunately brought Raven's attention back to her. This was a mistake. "Oh, you think this is funny?" Raven asked, serious.

Starfire nodded, "Most amusing!" Starfire never confused Raven's serious look for thinking she might have done wrong, so when Raven, quick as lightning, grabbed Starfire arm and turned them around so that Starfire was under the spray of the water, she wasn't surprised.

Laughing, Starfire pushed her hair out of her eyes and pointed, "You still look like a drowned snarfblat," Starfire said between laughter.

Raven wasn't sure what a snarfblat was, let alone what it might look like after drowning, but it didn't really matter. "But now you do too," Raven countered, smiling.

"Not as much as you do!" Starfire insisted.

"Oh, really?" Raven asked.

Their intelligent conversation was interrupted by a spray from behind Raven. They turned to see a little girl, about seven, spraying them with a hose. "Nyah-nyah, can't catch me!" the little girl exclaimed, sticking her tongue out and running off.

Raven and Starfire looked at each other and when Raven's eyebrow rose, Starfire smiled.

Raven definitely blamed the heat for the events that followed.

Not that anyone asked.

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"Dude," a guy about Beast Boy's age broke the silence that had fallen over the predominantly male populace surrounding the enclosure.

"That's so hot," Beast Boy agreed, his jaw slack and his eyes wide in disbelief, the way he would be if he suddenly found himself face to face with a naked supermodel.

Cyborg came out of his shock at Beast Boy's words with an automatic swipe at the younger boy's head, knocking him out of his daze.

"Ow! What was that for?!" Beast Boy exclaimed angrily.

"Stop it!" Cyborg exclaimed.

"But it's..." Beast Boy motioned to where Starfire and Raven were playing with children while getting good and thoroughly soaked in the children's cooling off area called Ariel's Grotto.

"WRONG," Cyborg insisted, turning to Robin on Beast Boy's other side, "Right, Rick?" He frowned as he noticed that Robin was staring in much the same way the others had been. 'What the hell?' he thought, about ready to lay the smack down on him as well. Okay, so Robin showing interest in Raven was part of The Plan, but Cyborg wasn't sure he appreciated anyone staring at Raven as if she were the last coca-cola in the desert. And okay, Robin was probably the only person who he'd be okay with…ah, who was he kidding? No one should stare at his little sister like that! Not even the man that was going to marry her if he had anything to say about it! Not where he could see it, at least! It was one thing to look at her like that in privacy of their own bedroom, but...'I am NOT thinking this!' Cyborg told himself firmly. He would not stand for anyone gaping at any of his girls like a landed trout!

He flicked Beast Boy in the back of the head again, "You," he told him, his voice no-nonsense, "Go buy a couple of towels over there," he motioned the store behind them. "You," he motioned to Robin but when the other boy still wasn't paying attention, he threw the bag he was carrying right into Robin's gut. Robin caught it on reflex, grunting at the suddenness. "Stop staring and go get them outta there," Cyborg told him meaningfully motioning to the men and boys around them staring at the show. Robin tightened his jaw and walked into the Grotto.

With one last glare from Cyborg and one last glance at the show inside the Grotto, Beast Boy walked toward the souvenir shop to purchase the towels. Cyborg turned to the several men still staring and flicked a napkin at the closest one, narrowing his eyes dangerously at him, "Move it along, son," he told the boy about Beast Boy's age, "nothing to see here." The man with him started chuckling and Cyborg glared at him, "And you..." he pointed at him, "...you should be ashamed of yourself, man, get outta here."

The man frowned, but didn't question the look in Cyborg's eyes and continued on his way.

He glared at the remaining men, "Do the rest of you really want a piece of me?" he challenged them in his Cyborg-booming voice. By the time Robin emerged from the Grotto with Raven and Starfire in tow (and only a little humid for the effort) Cyborg had managed to clear up the area from all the perverts and Beast Boy had returned with two towels. As expected, Starfire went for the towel showcasing the Princesses and Raven went for the dark purple and black one with all the villains.

"What did you two think you were doing?" Cyborg asked the girls adamantly.

Raven blinked up at him as she rubbed at her arms. "We were cooling down," she told him stoically.

"You seem displeased, Victor," Starfire said, coming up next to Raven. "As does Richard. Why?"

"Because you were both giving all those horny guys quite a show, that's why," Cyborg answered.

Starfire quirked her eyebrow. "So?" she asked innocently.

Beast Boy choked on his gum in laughter and Cyborg glared at him before turning to Raven who was combing her fingers through her hair. She looked at him, waiting calmly for him to tell her what the problem was.

"And I suppose you're fine with it that there was more wood around that Grotto than there is in most national forests?"

Raven raised a brow, "Rather crude, don't you think?" she asked, turning and walking away as she rubbed at her hair with the towel. "We should be going if we want to make the meet and greet with the characters at Mickey's House," she called over her shoulder.

"Oh, yes! And the Judges' Tent!" Starfire enthused, walking after Raven. "And the Princesses! They hold Court as well, do they not?"

Cyborg, Robin, and Beast Boy watched as two teens heading their way made the fatal mistake of staring and walking at the same time as Raven and Starfire passed them. They walked right into a standing trash can and toppled over in a chaos of trash and gangly limbs. Raven and Starfire walked on, oblivious.

"I think we need to get them dry shirts," Robin announced, starting to walk.

Cyborg snorted as he followed, "Sweatshirts..." Robin looked at him and he motioned to the neck, "...with high necklines...and hoodies."

"Hn," Robin agreed.

"Those idiots fell over..." Beast Boy was laughing as he brought up the rear. "You should really watch where you're walking, dudes," he called to them on a snicker as he passed them, still trying to get themselves together enough to stand.

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Tomorrowland: Indy Speedway
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"You realize she's going to want to get each and every character's autograph now, don't you?" Raven asked, occupying herself with watching how Starfire flipped through her newly purchased autograph book with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Donald's scrawls across the pages.

Robin chuckled. "Well, I don't know that there are that many more character meet and greets left today, right?" he asked reasonably.

They walked forward in the line and Raven waited for the roar of engines of the speeding race cars to die down before answering him, "This is Disney World, there are always characters around."

"So, Rae," Cyborg interrupted, sidling next to her. "You coming with me in the winning car, or what?" he asked.

Raven glared at him, "You wanted to put me in a hoodie in nearly 100 degree heat," she answered stoically. "I don't think I'm ready to speak to you yet."

"Aw, Rae, c'mon," Cyborg said pleadingly. "I didn't make you wear the hoodie, did I? It was just a joke!" he said, to no avail as Raven's face did not turn to look at him even a little bit. Cyborg looked at Robin for help, but he was just grinning. Cyborg frowned, "It was Rick's idea, anyway."

Robin's grin fell right off his face and Raven turned to glare at him, making him forget to walk forward when the line moved. "What? I didn't! I wanted to get you a dry shirt!" he defended. "It was his idea to go for the hoodie!"

"Was not!" Cyborg exclaimed.

"Oh yeah?" Robin demanded.

"Yeah!" Cyborg answered.

Raven rolled her eyes and stepped away from the squabbling teens, stopping next to Starfire. "I think I'll ride with Starfire," she decided.

Starfire squealed and jumped up and down. "You will let me do the driving?" Star asked.

Raven nodded. "Sure, Kori," she said.

Starfire squealed again and hugged Raven. "We will definitely hit their backside protrusions!"

Raven sighed, and couldn't help but smile.

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Raven was going to die.

Nevermind that the little race car put on more noise than speed and that no matter how much Starfire pressed down on the accelerator (this was after she learned which was the accelerator) it went no faster than 10 miles per hour.

Raven was still certain that somehow, she was going to die.

Maybe internal bleeding from all the banging around inside the thing as Starfire tried to actually navigate (this was before she had actually learned to steer).

Maybe she'd be jerked out of the car and rather than out them all as superheroes she would crash against the asphalt...and maybe be run over by the annoying brat that kept bumping them from behind?

Could she heal asphalt burns?

Probably.

She wasn't sure, so she held on even tighter and turned to glare at Starfire as she twisted and bounced her way through another turn, laughing uproariously, head to the wind.

Her attention was caught by an arm waving wildly from next to them. She turned to see Robin in his little red car on the track next to them, waving and grinning.

She thought about asking for help, but then Starfire noticed Robin.

"Friend Richard!" she exclaimed, letting go of the steering wheel altogether to wave back at Robin.

Raven dove for the wheel and tried vainly to keep it on a steady course.

Starfire laughed, "Do you wish to drive, Rachel?!" she exclaimed over the sound of the cars.

Robin, Raven did not miss, was laughing.

Starfire started to stand up in order to switch places with Raven but Raven reached out with one hand and pulled her back down.

"Sweet Azar, I am going to die," Raven mumbled.

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Tomorrowland: Astro Orbiter
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Raven's hair was still moist. The sun was hot enough that it was no longer dripping, but it was still wet enough to keep the back of her neck cool and she was incredibly thankful for it.

She was not however, thankful for the fact that her shorts were still humid. Given, they were not a very heavy material were mostly dry, but it was a bit like walking around without having dried herself properly after a shower.

She hadn't minded the wet halter top, actually, as much as she had the shorts, but she had intended to buy a dry one anyway. She might not see what all the fuss was about, but she didn't like to go about showing anymore than Cyborg apparently liked to have her show it. That didn't mean she wanted to be taken by the hand and practically forced into a sweat shirt like a five year old by the only brother figure she had ever known. Sure, she knew why he had done it and was a little touched at his protectiveness, but did he have to pick the tee he did?

"Hey, look," Beast Boy called out, "Raven looks just like her shirt!"

Raven glowered at Beast Boy, but lowered her arms from being folded across her chest, anyway.

"Sorry," Beast Boy said laughing. "But you really do look like Grumpy."

"Which would make you Dopey?" she asked as they walked into the line for the Astro Orbiter.

"Hey!" Beast Boy exclaimed.

"She's got you there," Cyborg said. "Sorry, man."

"Then you'd be Hungry," Beast Boy countered petulantly.

"There is no Hungry Dwarf," Robin pointed out.

Raven snorted, "There should be."

"So, you're Sneezy," Beast Boy said, filing into the elevator with the others.

"Man, that makes absolutely no sense at all," Cyborg told him.

"More like Doc," Raven offered, shrugging. "If any of them."

"I think Doc suits him," Robin agreed. "He was always checking up on everyone and acting like a father to the others, wasn't he?"

Raven nodded and Cyborg raised a brow at Robin, "Which leaves Bashful for you, Rick."

Robin frowned and looked back at Cyborg. "What are you trying to say?"

Cyborg grinned, "Just that you're Bashful..." Cyborg shrugged and continued walking. "You don't talk much about yourself and you don't like people to make a fuss about you," Cyborg answered.

Starfire's laughter brought their attention to her. "Which diminutive creature would I be?" she asked.

Robin, Raven, Cyborg and Beast Boy all shared a look for half a moment, before turning back to her and unanimously declaring, "Happy."

Starfire clapped and laughed.

"Picture in front of the sign, friends?" A Disney cast member with a camera asked.

Raven wordlessly began walking toward him and handed him the photo card they had received at the entrance.

"Learning my young padouin is. Good, yes!?" Cyborg enthused in a really bad imitation of Yoda.

Raven rolled her eyes but didn't stop him when he put one arm around her shoulder and the other around Beast Boy standing next to her.

"Alright, everyone, on three say, 'Astro!'" the photographer prodded.

On three, even Raven called out 'Astro'. There would even be photographic evidence of a non-frown.

Robin's didn't even try to hide his smile as he helped Raven into the space ship waiting for them.

"What?" Raven asked watching Robin climb in behind her.

"Nothing," Robin answered and thought, 'Disney 3, Raven 2.'

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Tomorrowland: Carousel of Progress…
er...Buzz Lightyear
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Robin took one look at the turkey leg baking on the other side of the counter and decided he didn't need one.

"C'mon, man, how could you look at that delicious hunk of meat all tasty and well cooked and not want one?" Cyborg asked him, practically drooling.

"I think Raven's right," Robin said dryly, "I think I'm starting to get worried about you too."

"I would like to try the oversized leg of poultry!" Starfire told him.

"You're my kind of eater, Kori," Cyborg said, turning to the vendor. "Two turkey legs, my man," Cyborg told the cashier happily. "And one for the little lady!" At everyone's looks of disbelief and amazement, Cyborg laughed heartily. "Kidding!" he assured. "One for each of us," he leaned forward and winked at the girl next to the cashier, "I can always come back for seconds."

The girl grinned and went to fill their order.

Robin shook his head and grabbed the frozen lemonades they had already been served and walked to the stone bench cut out of a wall where they had left Raven. He found her sitting demurely in a corner of the stone bench, a family of four taking up the bench on her immediate right and a group of what looked to be college kids sitting on the bench next to them and along the top of the wall where their friends were.

Raven looked out of place but only because she was so calm, her eyes taking in the people around her and the flow of life as it passed her by. He watched her a moment as she looked at the people, her eyes shifting from the little girl riding on her father's shoulders to the young pair of lovers stopping to take a picture in front of the lake. She looked tired, but not as exhausted as he'd seen her after a full day of crime fighting.

She didn't look at him as he approached, but she must have known he was there because she wasn't surprised when he held the cool plastic cup in front of her. She looked up at him and at his smile, her eyes crinkled a little at the corners.

"I come bearing cooling gifts," he said.

She took the frozen lemonade and took a sip. "Is Victor getting his turkey leg?" she asked.

Robin shook his head, "Yeah...I don't know where he's going to put it..."

Raven did smile then, "He probably still has room for the All You Can Eat Midnight Buffet at the hotel."

Robin leaned against the concrete wall from which the bench was cut out. "You didn't tell him about that, did you?"

Raven looked at him in disbelief as she sipped at her drink. "Are you joking? The first thing he did was meet with the chef."

Robin laughed. "I worry about him."

Raven nodded. "That's what I've been saying." She noticed the fact that he wasn't sitting and started to scoot over, only glancing at the boy who she was scooting closer to in order to make room for Robin against the corner.

"No, that's fine," he told her. She looked unconvinced, so he smiled at her and in two quick steps, had climbed onto the top of the wall, letting his legs hang on either side of her so that she could lean back. She didn't.

He leaned forward and took hold of her shoulders, gently pulling her back until she was leaning against the wall his legs on either side of her shoulders. "I'm comfortable," he told her.

She looked up at him, squinting in the sun, "Showoff."

"Hey, anyone seen Garfield?" Cyborg asked as he approached, turkey leg with noticeable bite marks in one hand and soda in another.

"He did not stand to look at the legs of poultry," Starfire offered, somehow not looking as out of place as a skinny girl like her holding a huge hunk of meat should.

Raven shook her head, "He never came this way with me."

"Damn," Cyborg cursed. "If that boy makes me put away my turkey leg to go find his skinny butt I'm going to--"

"I think I know where he is," Raven interrupted, motioning to a spot almost exactly across from them.

The sign above the room read, "Tomorrowland Arcade".

"I'm gonna go find a leash," Cyborg declared. "THEN, I'll go find Gar."

Robin came off his seat on the wall as easily and gracefully as he got onto it and Raven simply stood.

"I think we should go get him, Vic," Robin told him. "Why don't you guys go save our place in line for the Carousel of Progress?"

"I thought we were doing the Buzz Lightyear thing?" Cyborg asked.

"Carousel is air conditioned," Raven announced.

"We get to shoot at things on Buzz," Cyborg challenged.

"Boys," Raven sighed. "Fine, Buzz Lightyear it is," she said, turning and heading for the Arcade.

Robin smiled, "We'll meet you in the line."

"It was not necessary for both of us to come search for Garfield," Raven said when Robin jogged up to her. When they stepped foot inside the loud, brightly lit arcade, her head began turning from one side to another, searching for a sign of the blond hair Beast Boy sported as Garfield.

"I figured two could search a lot faster," he offered.

"I don't really need to search for Garfield," she said, unconcerned. "I just need to search for Space Monkeys 10 and a half." She stopped as she caught sight of the drawings of the Space Monkeys on the side of the video game and could just barely see the form of Beast Boy's human guise playing it.

Robin smiled. "How did you know he'd be at this particular game?" he asked.

"He's been talking about the fact that this game has so far only been released in certain arcades for about three months." Raven sighed as if remembering how incredibly put upon she was. "He said it in the hotel last night, too." She stopped to look at him. "How he figured out that this particular arcade had the game, I'll never know."

Robin shook his head, "I don't remember."

She shrugged. "Despite my best efforts, some of what he says filters through regardless."

"You poor thing," Robin said without one hint of sympathy.

"Oh, hey guys!" Beast Boy enthused. "I'm almost at level 5, can you believe it!" He looked from one to the other and asked, "Is it time for Space Mountain?"

"Shouldn't you tell us where you're going before you go off, Garfield?" Robin asked.

"I told Vic!" Beast Boy said.

"Who was under the spell of turkey leg," Raven said monotonously.

"Okay, let's rephrase that," Robin started, "You should tell one of us," and here he motioned between Raven and himself, "when you're going off, okay?"

"Yeah, okay, no prob," Beast Boy said, unpausing his game.

"Let's go, Garfield," Raven said.

"Ooh! Time for Space Mountain!" he exclaimed.

"No."

Beast Boy stuck out his tongue in concentration. "I don't want to go on the Carousel of Progress, it's boring!" he declared.

Raven frowned. "Vic and Kori are in line for the Buzz Lightyear ride," Raven answered something less than enthusiasm in her voice.

"Ooh! Cool! We get to shoot at aliens in that one!" Beast Boy said, taking his attention off the game long enough to lose. "Aw, crap," he bemoaned.

"Are you done yet?" Raven asked dryly.

"Unless you've got any more change?" he asked hopefully.

"If you prefer to stay here playing video games than go on the rides, that's up to you," Raven turned around and started to walk away.

"Hey! I never said that!" Beast Boy exclaimed, following after her. "I'm going to sooo kick Vic's ass on this ride!" he said, hurrying beyond the door.

Raven sighed, "It's going to be a long day."

"Maybe we should let Vic get that leash?" Robin asked, following.

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Tomorrowland: Space Mountain
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"This is so trippy," Robin said, looking at the walls of the inside of the Space Mountain building.

All of the Titans were looking at the optical illusion of the black sky with the stars that seemed to shift and move depending on where they stood, as if it were the strangest thing they had ever seen. Of course, it wasn't. Still, for some reason, they stared and were astounded.

"Trippy," Raven agreed.

"I do not feel the urge to fall over my own feet," Starfire said, confused.

Cyborg laughed. "Trippy, like messed up, whack."

Raven glanced at Starfire's continued confusion. "Strange or weird," she explained.

"Oh, I see!" Starfire said, then moved ahead as the line progressed.

Because they were in the Fast Pass line, this was a considerable amount.

They turned the corner and came up to the bridge like area before the loading platform, watching as a newly loaded car took off just under them.

"I'm riding alone, y'all," Cyborg announced as they all gathered to wait.

"What?" Beast Boy asked. "Why?"

"Because someone has to," Cyborg announced, turning to Raven before she could open her mouth, "Shut it!" he warned. "I'm the biggest one, and I take up the most space...I'm more comfortable riding alone."

Raven frowned, "Is this because I wouldn't ride the race car with you?"

Cyborg grinned at her and hugged her close impulsively. She withstood it with her usual grace. "Nah, Rae, c'mon, watching your panicked expression with Kori nearly driving you off the track was more than enough payback for that."

Raven narrowed her eyes at him. "Did you know that was going to happen?"

Cyborg smiled, "Considering no one's ever taught Kori to drive?" He pretended to think about it for a moment, "Yes."

"I shall do better next time," Starfire promised sincerely.

Raven scoffed, "Next time I'm riding with Victor."

All three boys laughed.

Starfire blushed. "So does that mean you do not wish to go on the Space Mountain with me?" she asked. Raven looked at her as if she had grown another head. "I am much better at maneuvering space crafts than I am earth crafts," she offered.

"Rae's riding with me."

All four remaining friends looked at Robin. "Oh?" Cyborg asked casually, "Is that so?"

Robin ignored Raven's raised eyebrows directed at him. "Rae and I have a rollercoaster thing, remember?" he asked, casually. "We ride all the coasters together," he looked at her and raised a brow of his own. "Don't we?"

Raven met his eyes and could read them even in the semi-darkness. She smiled very slowly as she recognized that he still remembered the promise he'd made those months ago at the Jump City Carnival. "Yes," she answered. "I suppose we do have a rollercoaster thing at that."

"A 'rollercoaster thing'?" Cyborg asked, making quotation marks in the air. "Is that something like a growth thing, or a spring thing?" Cyborg teased.

"Richard taught me how to ride roller coasters," Raven answered. "So it is a tradition, I suppose."

"Wait," Starfire asked, "This is a coaster on rollers and not a space craft at all?"

Cyborg nearly spit out the gulp of water he had just taken. "You don't--?" he trailed off.

"It's not just a rollercoaster, Kori!" Beast Boy enthused. "It's the granddaddy of all roller coasters!" he said excitedly. "It's mostly in the dark with some flashing kind of lights and it goes really fast and it dips and stuff," he was bouncing he was so excited. "It's the bomb, yo!"

"I do not like the coasting on rollers," Starfire reiterated.

"Even people who don't like rollercoasters like this one," Beast Boy told her.

"Does that mean it is unlike a rollercoaster?" Starfire asked.

"No, it means it's just fun," Beast Boy finished.

"But it is in the dark, yes?" Starfire asked. "What might be worse than the feeling of the uncontrollable coasting on rollers in the dark?" She looked from one of them to the others. "How could this be fun?"

"You don't have to ride it if you don't want to, Kori," Robin told her, seriously.

"Aw, c'mon, Kor!" Beast Boy cajoled. "You've gotta ride with me! Otherwise, I'll have to ride alone since Vic wants to go it alone! Please? Pretty please!"

Raven looked at Starfire and could read the uncertainty in her. She knew Starfire wasn't really afraid of rollercoasters, just that she didn't enjoy the experience. It wasn't about the fear for her. Still...

Raven glanced at Robin, expecting him to speak up to reassure her at any moment, but Robin didn't say what she expected him to say.

"You shouldn't do anything you don't feel comfortable doing, Kori," Robin said gently.

"If you want to get out of the line, I'll go with you," Raven told her. "I can get you out without anyone noticing," she assured her.

Starfire looked at her and smiled in pure gratitude, nodding and taking Raven's hand. "I suppose I can try it this once," she told Beast Boy.

"Alright!" Beast Boy enthused.

"Okay," Robin smiled at her. "So, Gar and Kori can take the second car in the back," Robin announced. "Vic can take the first car, by himself in the front, since he insists, and Raven and I can take the third car in front of the next set."

"Shouldn't I take the third car?" Cyborg asked. "Since I'm riding by myself, I mean?"

"No," Robin argued. "You shouldn't have to ride by yourself in a car with complete strangers behind you," Robin explained. "And Kori shouldn't ride in the first car if she's not certain she's going to like the ride, and if Raven and I take the third car, we wouldn't be as awkward in a car with strangers behind since we wouldn't be alone and if anything were to happen with Kori, we could see it too," he added, glancing at Raven for confirmation.

Raven nodded.

"You're good at those A sits next to B but can't sit next to F problems, aren't you?" Beast Boy asked in an accusatory tone.

Robin looked at him and smiled, "Yeah."

"Figures," Beast Boy muttered.

"So? Agreed?" Robin asked.

"Sure," Cyborg agreed.

"Yeah, whatever, I'm cool with that, how about you, Kori?" Beast Boy asked.

"If neither Richard nor Rachel mind going in a car by themselves?" Starfire asked.

"I don't," Robin assured her.

Raven shrugged. "Whatever."

When they were told to stand on their particular dots on the ground and await their ride, Robin passed the book bag with their things in it to Cyborg. "You carry it in front with you."

Cyborg took it and grinned at him. "See ya on the other side!" he called to them as he got into his seat.

Beast Boy and Starfire got into their seats easily enough, laughing and giggling as they figured out the procedure for strapping themselves in, but Raven paused for a moment, looking down at the seats.

Robin walked passed her, squeezing her shoulder as he did. "It'll be okay," he assured her, standing on the back seat, waiting for her.

Raven sat awkwardly in the seat and strapped herself in. She hadn't been worried about it being a rollercoaster before, so why was she feeling the small niggling sense of dread she felt before she tamed The Beast?

She couldn't figure it out until she saw Robin's jean clad leg slide into place along side of her. She had nothing to hold on to in this rollercoaster. No, actually, that was incorrect. She had the bar in front of her put there for such a purpose to hold on to. The specific problem was that she had no one to hold on to. She could feel him behind her, separated by the padding and metal of the seat backing, and she had faith that if a situation should present itself that she could not handle, he would do as he had promised back when they went to the carnival those months ago.

Still...she couldn't deny, at least to herself, that she would feel better if she could hold on to someone...him.

'Why?' she wondered. He could protect her just as well from where he was, he was still within grabbing distance should something go wrong.

His legs were brushing against her sides, he was that close.

She stared at his legs as he got comfortable and by the time the car hitched forward, clanking on unseen tracks into the darkness, her hands ignored the bars in front of her and clutched at his knees instead.

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Tomorrowland: Transit Authority
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By the time they came out of the Space Mountain building, the sun was nearly gone.

Starfire looked up at the sky, pebbled with pink and orange tinted clouds. "How beautiful," she breathed.

"Florida is known for its sunsets."

Robin turned to Raven and smiled. "You can't just say 'yes, Kori, it's a beautiful sunset?"

Raven turned to him. "Yes, Kori. It's a beautiful sunset," she said unemotionally.

Robin narrowed his eyes, but he was smiling, "Smart ass."

She opened her eyes wide, "Did you just call me a smart ass?"

"Me?" Robin asked innocently. "Why, no, of course not." Robin walked across the paved streets of Tomorrowland. "So, what's next?" he asked Cyborg.

"Well, the nighttime parade is in an hour, so we can go get seats for that, or," Cyborg said, peering down at the map, "We could take advantage of the fact that everyone's going to the parade now to ride the last rides we haven't ridden yet and catch the second showing of the parade after the fireworks."

"Stitch!" Beast Boy exclaimed in answer.

"I think that's a good idea," Robin told Cyborg. "By the time we catch the second parade, the park's about to close and there won't be that many people left in the park anyway."

Cyborg nodded as he folded his map neatly. Raven nodded and Starfire smiled their agreements, so Robin looked around them as the lights of the park started to twinkle to life with the dying light.

"So, what should we do first?" Robin asked.

"Stitch!" Beast Boy insisted.

"We still haven't done the Carousel of Progress," Raven offered.

Robin stopped Beast Boy before he could once again state his position on the level of fun the Carousel of Progress offered by pointing to an area behind Cyborg. "We could always do that."

They turned to find a chain of about four smallish blue cars lazily strolling along a track above the ground.

"That's the Transit Authority," Cyborg said. "I think it's just a ride around Tomorrowland."

"I don't know about you, but I could use something to sort of let me get off my feet for a little while right about now without waiting in a long line to do it," Robin suggested.

Raven nodded as did Starfire and reluctantly, Beast Boy.

"Transit Authority it is," Cyborg announced, folding his map and leading them toward the entrance of the ride.

The problem, unfortunately, didn't arise until they were already filing into the little blue car. The line had not been long at all and within moments, they had been presented with their turn.

Starfire climbed into the car first, sitting on the chair and smiling at Cyborg as he sat down next to her. Beast Boy followed him and sighed in relief as he got off his feet across from Starfire. By the time Raven walked into the car, Robin had already noticed the problem.

Raven, however, didn't until she started to sit down next to Beast Boy when she realized that there wasn't enough room left for Robin to sit.

The others noticed just as Robin smiled at them and moved to the car directly behind.

"Richard?" Starfire asked.

"No worries, I'll be right behind you guys, it's not a big deal."

A couple got into the car behind Robin's and in the moment his attention was drawn to the retro advertisements for far away places along the walls of the "Blue Line" of the Transit Authority, Raven stepped into his car.

Robin automatically scooted over so that she could sit down and when she did, he smiled in a bit of confusion at her. "Hello," he greeted.

Raven turned to him and actually smiled, just a little. "Hello," she answered.

"Funny meeting you here," he offered flippantly.

"Indeed," she agreed.

His smile turned into a grin. "What are you doing?" he asked. "It's dangerous to be moving from car to car after it was already on its way."

She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back, raising a brow at him the way she did to Beast Boy when he was being especially difficult about catching on to something that was blatantly obvious. "You don't think I'm going to let you abandon me to those lunatics, do you?" she asked, motioning the remainder of their friends in the car in front.

He chuckled and leaned back as well, "I didn't mean to."

"If I stayed in that car without you as a mediator, I would likely be highly inclined to toss Garfield off the side," she expounded.

"Of course," he said, the smile leaking through into his voice.

She sniffed delicately and turned her head to watch their surroundings.

A moment or two passed in companionable silence, watching as the beauty that was the Magic Kingdom at night sprawled out below them.

And then she leaned back. "I'm sorry."

Robin snapped out of his reverie to blink at her. "Sorry?" he asked.

"For back there," she motioned Space Mountain in the distance. "I shouldn't have..."

Robin noticed how uncomfortable she seemed and smiled. "Aw, c'mon, Rae, you don't have to apologize for copping a feel of my legs, I know they're hot. I've come to terms with--" he was interrupted from completing his boast by a sudden sprinkle of water across his face.

"Oh, apologies," Raven said, notably unapologetically. "I was trying to sprinkle myself," she explained, capping the water bottle once again. "Must've mis-aimed."

"Getting hot, are you?" he asked, cocking a brow.

"Mm," she answered affirmatively. "Must be all the hot air that appeared out of nowhere," she said innocently.

Robin laughed and wiped at the water on his face. "Well, Florida is known for its hot air."

"Hm," she said, noncommittally and turned her face away from him so he wouldn't see that he had almost gotten her to smile. He watched her for a moment, but when it became apparent she was inclined to watch as the people milled about under her side of the car, he turned to his side, just as there was a break in the scenery and a view of Cinderella's Castle, lit up in a nearly impossible shade of light red, came into view.

He smiled in awe and turned to Raven, only to find she was still turned away and was missing it.

"Look, Raven," he said, tugging on her arm to get her attention, too amazed by the sight to remember to call her by her civilian name. When she turned to him, he pointed to the Castle and was rewarded with a soft sort of smile as her gaze fell upon it.

When it subtly changed color into a sky sort of blue, her eyes opened wide for a moment and she looked at him, silently asking if he saw the same.

"Not bad for a plaster and plastic castle, is it?" he asked cheekily.

Raven decided she wouldn't deign that with an answer. "I think you got the side with the better view," she said instead.

"Who's stopping you from looking?" Robin asked.

"You're right," Raven answered, starting to stand with every intention of switching over to the seat across from him, which would then let her have full access to both sides.

Robin's hand reached out and took hold of her wrist before her knees could fully extend to standing so she fell back onto the seat with a sound of surprise.

She raised a brow at him and he shrugged.

"It's dangerous to stand up while the ride is in motion," he said, raising his own brow. "Don't you listen to that voice that talks when the ride starts?"

She frowned at him. "I think I can switch seats without incurring the wrath of Disney and certainly without putting myself in any undue risk."

"Best not to chance it." He smiled at her and slipped his arm behind her, taking hold of her shoulder and pulling her toward his side of the car, leaning his back against the backrest, giving her an ample view of the skyline just beyond. "Can you see now?" he asked.

Raven stilled for a moment, but then she looked beyond him and stared at her now unobstructed view. "Yes," she said. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Robin answered.

"This is a really beautiful view," Raven allowed as she stared at the 'city' below them.

Robin smiled as he felt the mild Florida wind caress his face. "Hm," he agreed. "It's nice."

She looked at him, "Are you falling asleep?"

He opened his eyes and glared at her, "Of course not."

She smiled at his reaction and leaned back against the seat, their shoulders bumping as the ride entered a tunnel of sorts. She rested her feet on the seat across from them, looking around, relaxed, as they passed through the room with the small diorama of Walt Disney's original idea for Epcot Center.

When they entered another tunnel and everything went dark, he felt Raven tense beside him. He leaned in close to her to peer into the darkened room beyond the window along which they were passing. "I think that's Space Mountain," he said.

She opened her mouth to answer when a sudden scream tinged with laughter erupted beyond them in the room. "Did I sound like that?" she asked, humor tingeing her voice.

He chuckled. "Worse," he confirmed.

She sighed.

"But hey, it's okay," he assured her. She turned to look at him as they came back out into the covered tramway. "When you scream, you're enjoying yourself," he told her. "You only go silent when you're really--" he stopped himself from saying 'scared' and searched for an alternative.

"Scared," she said for him.

He smirked. "Yeah."

She nodded. "I know."

"Tom Morrow...paging Mr. Tom Morrow," the intercom of the People Mover said into their silence.

They looked at each other and smirked.

When they emerged back onto the covered track with the park around them, Starfire looked back, her mouth opened to point out to her friends how beautifully Cinderella's Castle sparkled in the distance. The words stilled in her throat however when she caught sight of her friends. Robin's arm was extended over the back of the car and Raven was leaning into the curve of his body, his arm, her eyes closed, and they looked so peaceful, Starfire found herself smiling in a bit of confusion. She didn't think she'd ever seen either of them look so peaceful before.

Robin's face was turned just slightly to the left, watching the scenery pass by but as Starfire watched, he must have seen something that he wanted to point out to Raven because he turned to her, mouth opened to speak, then stopped when he looked on her face. He smiled for a moment, then poked her in the arm with his left hand, speaking something to her that must have been teasing if the look on his face was any indication. Raven glared and looked indignant but she didn't move away and when he pointed at something just over his side of the car, Raven leaned even further into him, her hand unconsciously bracing on his leg just above the knee for leverage.

"Hey, Kori, what's up?"

Starfire blinked and turned away from the car behind them to look at Cyborg. She smiled suddenly, and answered, "I do not know what the material the roof is made of, Victor. Why do you ask?"

Cyborg chuckled, "I meant…"

Starfire smiled, "I know," she interjected. "I was merely…breaking a joke?"

Beast Boy laughed loudly.

"You looked really thoughtful or something," Cyborg tried.

Starfire shook her head and smiled. "I was merely contemplating how full of miraculous wonders this magical kingdom truly is."

Cyborg hugged her. "Yeah, sure is."

"So," Beast Boy spoke up, "Does that mean we can ride Stitch after this?"

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Tomorrowland: Cosmic Ray's Starlight Café
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"So the nice lady behind the counter says the best places to watch the fireworks are right outside here by those steps," Cyborg informed them, pointing out one side of the Café. "Or, next to the rose garden behind the castle itself, but she says that here is better because it doesn't get too packed and it's less awkward to look up at them."

"Way to go Vic for a successful recon mission!" Beast Boy enthused.

"Thank you, thank you..." he said setting his tray down across from Raven and starting to dig into his hamburger without further ado.

"So we've done Stitch--" Robin started.

"Most unpleasant life form..." Starfire added pensively standing to go in search of more condiments.

"The Carousel of Progress," Robin continued.

"Sooo boring!" Beast Boy thought to reiterate.

"Dude," Cyborg agreed.

"You seemed to enjoy yourself, Victor, during the future scene."

"I was laughing in incredulity," he explained.

"Well, if nothing else, it was interesting to learn what people imagined the future to be like," Raven mused.

"Anyone else still have that song stuck in their heads?" Cyborg asked.

"There's a great big beautiful tomorrow!" Beast Boy sang off-key.

"Shut up!" Cyborg told him, "or it'll never go away!"

Beast Boy grinned mischievously and began again, "There's a great big beautiful tomorrow!" Unfortunately, he was still off-key.

"Somebody stop him," Raven deadpanned.

"Shining at the end of every day!" Beast Boy continued.

"Victor," Raven started, extending a hand to him. "The sock, please."

"Hey, can I help it if the song's catchy?" Beast Boy defended.

"Cheesy?" Robin asked. "Why, yes it is."

When Starfire sat down next to Raven, setting her newly acquired packs of mustard on her tray and began humming the song as well, Raven calmly put down her chicken finger and started to stand up. Robin's hand on her shoulder made her pause, and when he gently pushed her back down, she heaved a sigh.

"So, as I was saying," Robin continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. "Should we go stake out seats for the fireworks after dinner or is there something else you guys want to do?"

"I think we should go get seats for the fireworks show," Cyborg announced.

"I agree," Raven added.

"Okay! Let's go now!" Beast Boy enthused, finished with his personal cheese pizza.

"Oh!" Starfire exclaimed, drenching her last two chicken fingers with mustard, then stuffing them hurriedly into her mouth.

"Kori!" Robin exclaimed, surprised. "Don't choke, we can wait!"

Starfire grinned at him and chewed and swallowed and chewed some more.

"And I worry you?" Cyborg asked Raven.

Raven nodded, "She worries me too."

Starfire finished chewing and swallowing under the watchful eyes of her friends and when she was done, she smiled brilliantly. "I am ready!" she exclaimed.

"Why haven't we ever entered her in an eating contest?" Raven asked.

"Great, let's go!" Beast Boy stood up next to Starfire.

"I don't know where you're going, string bean, but I'm not done yet," Cyborg said, chewing into his burger.

"Neither am I," Raven added, biting into one of three remaining chicken strips.

Robin took another bite of his hamburger and let that speak for him.

"Aw, man!" Beast Boy whined, plopping back down onto the seat. "You guys are so sloooow!"

"Why don't you go find us a spot, Gar?" Raven asked.

"You think that's wise?" Robin wondered.

"It's right out there," Raven said, pointing in the general direction.

"Yeah, what kind of trouble can they get into...?" Cyborg trailed off before he could finish. Neither Raven nor Robin needed to answer the unfinished question. Cyborg wolfed down the last of his burger in two bites, took his fries and soda and stood up, "Alright, let's go."

When the others were gone, a chicken tender halfway to her mouth, Raven realized that Robin was staring at her. She put it down and met his eyes across the table, "What?"

He bit into a fry and smiled, "Nothing."

Raven shrugged and found her attention drifting to the family of three seated to her left, of course, because the little boy, no more than three, was watching her intently. Robin watched as the boy smiled and raised a hand to her. Raven raised a hand to him back.

"You know, when you don't frowning and scaring them, you really are a kid magnet," Robin mused.

"I think I'm starting to realize that," Raven agreed. "Although I don't know why."

"I think it's because you look at them," Robin suggested.

Raven raised a brow, "Many people look at children."

Robin smiled, "Not the way you do." At her continued raised brow, he shrugged. "I can't explain it, but you look at them like you're wondering what they're thinking. Most adults don't. They look at children like they're cute little pets, not their own individual people. You don't." Robin shrugged again. "I bet they sense that."

"Hm," Raven said noncommittally, finishing off her food.

The family stood up and walked away, the little boy waving shyly at Raven again. Raven's eyes followed their exit.

"Did you ever come here when you were a child?" she asked, out of the blue.

Robin was surprised from taking his last bite of burger. It took him a moment to process what she had said. "I think I did, but I don't remember."

"You think?" she questioned.

He nodded. "When I was about 9, I found a picture of my mother holding me on her lap on the monorail. I was about three in the picture." He paused for a moment and focused on soaking his fry with ketchup, but when he looked up at her and found her eyes attentively on him, he surprised himself by continuing. "She said that the Circus had stopped here one summer for a few weeks and on their day off, mom and dad brought me here with a few other families from the circus."

"And you remember none of it?"

He shook his head. "I was too small and we never came back."

"Garfield and Victor," Raven said pensively. "They both remember this place."

Robin nodded. "I know."

"Now I'll remember this place, too." Raven looked at Robin. "We both will."

Robin smiled at her and leaned across the table a little bit. "Have you enjoyed yourself today, Rae?"

Raven's lips fought with a smile and lost. "I have."

He leaned back in his seat, "Good."

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Wishes
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There was a sense of expectation, even in the smallish crowd around them where they sat on the steps leading down to a closed off seating area.

"It's Spring Break week," Cyborg was saying on her other side. "If I would've known that..."

"The lady in the store inside the castle said there was like sixty thousand people in the park today," Beast Boy reminded them.

"And sixty percent of those are horny college kids," Cyborg groused.

Raven rolled her eyes but in the darkness she wasn't sure Cyborg could see it. She drank from her bottle of lukewarm iced tea instead of commenting. She caught sight of Starfire's profile from her place on the step below her. She leaned forward. "What's wrong?" she asked.

Starfire looked up at her in surprise, "Wrong?"

"You look..." Raven trailed off, searching for the word, "...sad."

Starfire smiled, but it was not her usual ray of brightness. "Perhaps I am a little," Starfire confessed.

Raven frowned, "Why?"

"The day is almost over," Star answered.

'Typical Star,' Raven thought and smiled a little. "But our vacation is not over," Raven pointed out. "We still have six more parks and seven more days left," she added and tried to keep her internal cringe out of her voice.

Starfire nodded and smiled somewhat bittersweetly. "But no more todays," she answered.

Raven paused as she thought and might have answered if it wasn't for the sudden lowering of the light all around them, leaving only the castle as a shining beacon. The crowd around them hushed and every face looked up.

Robin leaned over Cyborg at her right and seeing he had Raven's attention, tapped on Starfire's shoulder. "Pay attention to the point of the tower," Robin whispered.

Raven raised a brow, but at his look of insistence, she turned her head to stare up at the castle, her attention focused on the peak.

Robin's gaze lingered on her for a moment after he made certain she was looking, then lowered to find Starfire's eyes still on him. She appeared to be deciding whether or not to believe him, and he frowned. "What's wrong?" he whispered.

She smiled suddenly, "How do you know what will happen from the Tower?" she asked.

"I don't," Robin answered, grinning. "I heard some guy next to me tell his little girl to focus on the tower." He shrugged.

Starfire grinned and turned to look at the castle again.

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The show began with some voice she didn't recognize waxing poetic on wishes coming true if you wish upon a star, the first of the fireworks popping behind the glittering castle as the lovely voice began singing, but she wasn't really listening. She was too busy watching as the little girl in her father's arms just down and to the left from her looked up at the castle in awe. Then a voice she did recognize, despite her limited instruction in such things, as Jiminy Cricket from Pinocchio spoke.

"I'll bet a lot of you folks don't believe that, about a wish coming true, do ya?"(2)

Beast Boy jabbed her in the side and looked meaningfully at her. She narrowed her eyes at him which resulted in him smiling sheepishly and looking back at the castle.

She had been thinking that she didn't exactly believe it about a wish coming true, but she didn't need Beast Boy to jab her in the ribs to make the point. She was a skeptic, they all knew that.

Still, when Tinkerbell's light flashed at the peak of the Castle Tower and she flew down from the top to an unseen destination, Raven gasped, even though she knew it was a special effect of some sort. When she looked to her right, she found Robin's eyes already on her.

He smiled at her and the explosion of fireworks in front of them brought her eyes back to the show as the loudspeakers continued to play music and the various Disney characters spoke about their wishes.

"No request is too extreme..." Jiminy said in between wishes.

And not even Raven could keep the amazement off her face as the fireworks seemed to dance in time to the beautiful music and when Jiminy told them how, "Sometimes wishes can be granted in the most unexpected ways," Raven couldn't help but wonder about her own wishes.

The ones she'd had as a child, even though she had determined not to have any and the ones she hadn't admitted to having even while a Titan even after they had been granted.

She had wished for friends when she was a child. She looked around herself, at Starfire's face illuminated brilliantly by the flashing spots of color and by her own joy, at Cyborg's sincere enjoyment of the experience, Beast Boy's naked amazement and Robin's peace. She glanced down at the t-shirt she wore, and her lips relaxed in one of her rare almost-smiles. She had been granted that wish in the most peculiar, unexpected way. She had even been granted more than what she ever thought she might. Certainly more than what she deserved.

When the Blue Fairy reminded them that, "we must always believe in our wishes, for they are the magic in the world," Raven felt goosebumps along her arms and just barely resisted a shiver. It was so much like what Azar had told her when she was young about the true nature of magic.

She had forgotten that; until the Titans had reminded her. She had forgotten how powerful pure hearted wishes could be until they had done the impossible – saved her and believed in her and brought her back from her own personal hell.

"Like a bolt out of the blue / fate steps in and sees you through. When you wish upon a star, your dreams...come...true!"

Raven watched in awe as the fireworks spread across the sky behind the castle and thanked Azar for granting her wish. For giving her friends who accepted her for what she was and loved her anyway, for helping her best her demons, for helping her deny the prophecy of her birth and most of all, for giving her hope.

Robin had told her once that she was the most hopeful person he knew, but if that was true, it was because of them. Before, it wasn't hope so much as fear, responsibility...

She had never even known what hope felt like until she learned to believe that Robin wouldn't let her down. Even when she thought she was saying goodbye to them forever...

When she gave them her power, it was because she believed that they would be able to find a way to use it to save the world.

She never hoped that they'd find a way to save her...

But Robin did.

She didn't know what hope looked like until she saw it reflected like determination in his eyes.

Robin.

She looked at his profile as he sat on the other side of Cyborg, looking up at the fireworks. Why had he saved her?

"...wishes can come true if you believe in them with all your heart!" the Cricket assured his listeners.

And as Raven turned back to watch the final burst of brilliant wonder, she couldn't help but wonder what part of her wishing had brought her Robin?

And as the last of the fireworks lit the sky, Jiminy Cricket's question echoed in her mind, "See what a little wishing can do?"

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Main Street, USA: Shopping
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"Hello."

Raven turned from her inspection of the wares on display and looked at the man-boy who had obviously directed a greeting at her.

Her first instinct was to give him the look she knew effectively communicated the question, 'why are you talking to me?' without her having to utter a single syllable, but then she remembered the insistence of the others that this was a place where people often came up to you and struck up conversation so she should be "nice".

So, rather than simply walking away, she made a conscious effort not to frown, and nodded, once, in something resembling a greeting.

Then, she walked away.

This left the rather good looking young man staring after her in a confusing mix between a smile and a frown. He wasn't quite sure whether she had just dismissed him outright, or teased him.

"Dude, don't even go there," Beast Boy said, walking passed the man with a consoling shake of the head as he walked by.

"Garfield," Raven greeted as Beast Boy stood next to her, making facial expressions like he thought she was sharing some insider knowledge with him, which she was not.

"That guy was soo leaning," Beast Boy said in something just slightly more subtle than a stage whisper.

Raven looked at him in mild surprise. "What guy?"

Beast Boy laughed. "That's great. Some guy was macking on you and you didn't even notice!" he said, laughing as he walked away.

Raven blinked after him. 'Didn't Cyborg mention this 'leaning' thing before?' she wondered.

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Later, as she considered between the malt balls and the peanut clusters, she glanced absently at the door just as Robin was making his way through the crowd toward her. She looked back at the chocolate packages on display in front of her and decided on the malt balls just as Robin reached her side.

"Vic's settled with the packages right along Main Street," he informed her. "He almost fought it out with an old lady for the spot just in front of Casey's, but I talked him out of it before she brandished her walker."

Raven smirked, "Aren't they closed already?"

Robin tried to look serious, but he couldn't help but let a bit of a smile show through, "He said he could still smell the hot dog residue."

Raven sighed and moved along the wall, wondering whether she should take the chance of buying some jelly beans for Timmy and dealing with his sugar high afterward.

"Where're Kori and Gar?" Robin asked, following her as she stopped to inspect the character shaped sugar cookies.

"I saw Garfield last as I stood in front of the glass case with the candied apples over there," Raven turned around and pointed. "Kori was watching as they pulled toffee over there," Raven turned and pointed in the other direction. She looked back at the cookies. "Jellybeans or Sugar Cookies?" she asked.

Robin blinked at her. "What?"

"Which do you think induces less of a sugar high?" she clarified.

Robin thought, "I don't know."

Raven looked at him in mild surprise, "There is something you don't know?"

Robin smirked, "Give me a computer and five minutes and I could find out for you, but off the top of my head?"

"Which helps me how right now?" she challenged.

"Sugar cookies," he answered.

She raised a brow, "I thought you didn't know?"

He smiled. "I don't," he said, shrugging, "but they taste better than jellybeans."

"You're no help," she said, taking the cookies anyway.

Robin looked around at the confectioners, "Hey, don't you think it's dangerous not knowing where those two are?"

Raven opened her mouth to comment, but paused as a loud clapping was heard from the direction of the toffee station. Raven looked up from the brownies and met his eyes. Without a word, they turned and found the crowd around the toffee station, making their way through it to stop in front of the glass counter separating the actual pulling area from the rest of them.

"Friends!" Starfire called out from behind the counter, waving at them and then laughing joyously when she lost the rhythm of the toffee she was being taught to pull. The crowd laughed with her as the toffee went from string to ball.

When Robin registered that Starfire was wearing a white apron with her hair was hidden under a big fluffy baker's hat, and that she was, actually fighting with a string of toffee much to her own (and the crowd's) amusement, he laughed.

Raven smirked.

"This is glorious, friends!" she called out to them. "Come!" she beckoned. "Come try the pulling of the candy, Rachel!"

Raven held her hand out to Robin, "Give me the camera."

Robin smiled and dug in the back back for the digital camera.

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Main Street, USA: Spectromagic
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They had been seated and waiting for the parade to start for a good five minutes. Not a particularly lengthy amount of time in the general scheme of things, but when Robin tried to ignore Raven as she delicately sucked on a lollipop, five minutes seemed like an eternity.

"I never would have pictured you as a lollipop person," he said finally, in the hopes that getting her talking would divert both their attentions from the candy.

She removed the multi-colored globe from her mouth, leaving her lips and tongue tinged red in its wake. "Neither would I." She held up the lollipop to her line of sight and looked at it, considering. "I do not know that I am, actually," she confessed.

"You don't like it?" he asked, somewhat hopefully.

"Its taste is adequate," she replied. "But the concept of having to work for it is rather illogical and tiresome."

"It's busy candy," Robin answered.

"Pardon?" she questioned.

"It keeps you busy, keeps your mouth occupied, like gum."

Raven thought about it for a moment. "Maybe we should give one to Gar?" she wondered, glancing at where he was currently chatting up some girls who had the misfortune of sitting next to him.

Robin smirked and was about to answer when she placed the candy back inside her mouth. "When did you even buy that?" he asked, suddenly. She raised a brow. "I didn't see you pick it up."

"I doubt you saw every piece of merchandise I bought, Richard," she answered speaking around the candy.

He didn't argue with her. "You didn't buy that in the candy store we were just in, though." He was with her when she paid. He knew she hadn't bought a lollipop. He would've remembered.

"No," she answered. "I didn't buy it at all."

"No?" he raised a confused brow. "Then…?"

"That guy gave it to me," she answered.

Robin's expression darkened, just a little. "Who?" he asked.

"The guy," she said. "The one talking to me before the parade this afternoon…" she thought for a moment. "Jerry?" she wondered. "I think that was his name."

"Oh," Robin said. "You mean the guy flirting with you this afternoon before the parade."

Raven glanced sideways at him. "Flirting?" she asked. "He was just talking to me."

Robin nodded, looking at where Cyborg and Starfire were talking with the cart vendor in the middle of the street, trying to find Starfire one of the glowing fluorescent necklaces she had seen other people sporting. "He was flirting with you."

Raven sighed and the exasperation in it caught him by surprise. "I am seriously beginning to believe that with the exception of Kori, all of you believe that anytime a male of the species speaks to either of us, he is flirting." He looked at her and she took her lollipop out of her mouth to better speak her point. "He was doing no more than the old man did in the morning when he tried to get me to smile."

"No, he was doing more," Robin insisted.

"How can you tell?" she asked, still frustrated. He was simply conversing, asking me why I was so serious and then from what I understand, typical small talk – where I was from, what it was like there, whether I was enjoying myself…" she trailed off meaningfully. "How is that flirting?" she asked. "You weren't even around during most of the conversation," she pointed out logically.

Robin looked at her as if she was asking a very stupid question, "I didn't have to hear it," he argued. "I could tell by his body language." Raven raised a brow. "Well," he searched for a way of explaining it to her, "he was leaning."

Raven raised an eyebrow as if he were daft. "Of course he was leaning," she replied. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to hear him."

"No, he wasn't leaning so you could hear him, he was leaning because he was interested," Robin insisted.

Raven's look of incredulity increased. "How can you tell the difference?" she wondered aloud.

Robin sighed and smiled. "Never mind, Rae."

"No," she insisted. "I need to know."

"It isn't important," he tried.

"Obviously, it is," she argued. "Victor has mentioned it, Garfield mentioned it just a little while ago, and even Kori'ander recognized it this afternoon. Does everyone know about this leaning distinction except for me?" She pointed at him with the lollipop, "And how, exactly, is this leaning associated with flirting?" she pressed. "And how can one tell when the leaning is just for practical purposes such as hearing the person you are speaking to or being heard and when it is for flirtatious purposes? Is there some sort of guide book you Earth children are given when you reach a certain age as a type of rite of passage?" she asked, growing increasingly more exasperated.

"There is no real way of explaining it," Robin said, awkwardly. "It's just a feeling you get."

She nodded as if she finally understood, and the lollipop went back into her mouth, finding a niche between teeth and right cheek while she spoke. "It's illogical and senseless," Raven countered. "That is why there is no way of explaining it."

"Illogical?" Robin shrugged. "Maybe, but that doesn't make it any less real that most people recognize leaning as a way of showing interest through body language."

"Yes," Raven said. "Interest in actually hearing what I say during a conversation."

"No," Robin argued. "Interest in you romantically."

"That is impossible," she insisted.

"Why would it be?" Robin questioned.

"Because he was not speaking of anything romantically inclined."

"He doesn't have to speak of anything romantically inclined," Robin assured her. "He just has to show interest with his body language, which he was doing."

"Which brings me back to my initial question," Raven said. "How am I supposed to know that distinction?" she questioned.

"Well, you were encouraging him," Robin pointed out.

Raven raised both her brows in instant amazement. "You cannot have it both ways, Boy Blunder," she said, surprised enough to slip into her nickname for him despite being in public. "Either I ignore people's advances for conversation or I do not."

"Did you want to speak to him?" he asked.

Raven exhaled. "You wanted me to be friendly," she reminded him.

"Not that friendly."

"I do apologize," she countered, her tone heavy with sarcasm. "I seem to have misplaced my 'friendly-meter'." She looked at him, very close to glaring. "Do you want to give me some hand signals so that I can know when I'm being overly friendly?"

Robin watched her and knew she was right. There really was no reason for her to know about the subtle flirtations. She had a very limited set of experiences when it came to 'normal' human interactions, after all. It was something he should have known, but which was quite a bit of surprising revelation anyway.

A guy could subtly flirt with Raven until he was blue in the face and she probably just wouldn't get it.

"You're right," Robin said seriously. "I'm sorry, Rae," he smiled at her, "I'll try to be more clear from now on."

Raven drew the lollipop back into her mouth with a decidedly unsatisfied air and stood up, joining Cyborg and Starfire as they perused the cart vendor's wares, coming back to their carved out seats along the sidewalk only when the Disney cast members started to clear out the street for the parade.

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Walt Disney World Monorail
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As the train started, Raven shifted over on the seat and motioned Cyborg, standing near to her, to take the space she created. Raven raised a brow and slid over a little more, making even more room between Starfire who was wedged against the wall of the train and herself. He knew when he couldn't argue with her, and just sat down, shaking his head and chuckling.

"I was perfectly fine standing, Rae," Cyborg said. "You didn't need to go through the trouble just for me to sit."

Raven looked at him seriously. "I had an ulterior motive," she confessed.

"Oh?" he raised a brow.

"Hmm," Raven answered.

"What's that?" Cyborg asked.

In answer, Raven shifted and laid her head against his shoulder, his height preventing her from actually resting it on his shoulder, even had Raven been the type to do such things.

Cyborg melted and grinned. "Well, why didn't you say so?" he asked, adjusting himself to make them both more comfortable as the train started.

"I thought I just did?" Raven asked, stifling a yawn.

"Poor Rae," Cyborg said sympathetically. "Quite a day we've had, huh?"

"Never walked so much in my life," she conceded.

Cyborg realized exactly what she meant and chuckled. "How about that time you and Kori got stranded in the desert?"

"We hitched," she reminded him. "On a chicken truck."

Cyborg laughed. "And you're saying today was worse than all that?"

"The walking," Raven admitted, "Not the experience."

Cyborg grinned as her words filtered through. "Wait," he said, craning to look down at the top of her head, "Are you actually saying you enjoyed yourself today?"

"Hm," Raven answered in an affirmative tone.

"And that you might want to come back...?" he trailed off hopefully.

Raven looked out of the monorail windows as the Magic Kingdom lights passed them by and smiled, despite the tiredness. "Someday," she answered.

"Like next year?" Cyborg prodded.

"Don't push your luck," Raven mumbled.

"Ah, well, worth a shot," Cyborg said, resting his hand on the top of her head for a moment.

Robin, watching them from where he stood in the middle of the car, smiled and surreptitiously took a picture. The flash drew their attention, however. Still, even though Raven glared at him, he did not fail to note that she did not lift her head from against Cyborg's shoulder. 'And it's Disney World for the win,' he thought, pleased.

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The Grand Floridian
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By the time they got to the hotel, bathed, changed, convinced Cyborg that the midnight buffet had already ended (considering it was way passed midnight) and that no, they would not consider opening it for him even if he asked especially nicely, and everyone was finally settled down for the night, it was well after 3 am.

Still, despite how incredibly tired she was, Raven was awake. She could feel sleep tugging at the edges of her consciousness, and although her eyes were closed and her breathing started to even in that way just before sleep, she found it hard to turn off her mind enough to allow for sleep to claim her completely.

She had already meditated for the day, bringing all of her emotions back into alignment, readjusting her empathic shields after the emotional beating they had taken throughout the day, and all she felt as she lay between the cool sheets was the warmth of the sun still on her skin, the utter exhaustion of her muscles, and the slight throbbing of her feet.

She could sense that Starfire, sprawled at the foot of her own full size bed, was awake as well, even though she was sprawled out, head hanging over the side the way she usually slept.

"Raven?" Starfire whispered after a few moments of stillness.

Raven opened her eyes, even though she stared only at the ceiling. "Yes?" Raven spoke, her voice not a whisper, but low just the same.

"Did you enjoy yourself today?" Starfire asked.

"Yes," Raven answered simply and closed her eyes again.

"Raven?" Starfire asked again, in the same hesitant whisper.

"Yes?" Raven asked, keeping her eyes closed this time.

"Did you enjoy the iced cream from the Magical Kingdom of Mickeymouse?"

Raven smiled in the darkness at the memory of how much it bugged the Boy Wonder that no matter how much he insisted on her wiping her chin, he hadn't been able to make her. "Yes, Starfire, I did."

There was silence for a few moments and Raven thought that perhaps Starfire had asked all of her questions for the night and was content enough to sleep.

"Raven?"

Raven sighed. "Yes?"

"I love you."

Raven blinked for a few moments in mild shock while Starfire's words filtered through her tired, usually astute, mind. Starfire was always affectionate, and Raven had never doubted her love for them all, but Raven could not remember one time that Starfire had ever stated it so bluntly. If she were less tired, she might have come up with a witty retort to hide her surprise. As it was, Raven exhaled and nodded in the dark.

"I know," Raven answered when she realized Starfire might not be able to see her nod.

"And I love Robin, too."

Something inside Raven twisted for the briefest of moments, too quick to really put a name to, but enough for her to recognize its presence. "I know," she answered.

"I want you both to be happy," Starfire continued.

Where was this coming from? Raven wondered and where was it leading? "We are," Raven assured her, lacking anything more intelligent to say.

Starfire shifted on the bed again and as Raven's eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could pick out an outline of her friend's form against the balcony doors, where, despite the thick drapes, some light still filtered through.

"I do not think I have ever seen you as happy as I have seen you today," Starfire mused.

Raven smiled, despite herself. "That was only because I was bullied into agreeing to show my emotions a little, that's all."

"No," Starfire argued, still in the same soft, considering tone. "Well, yes," she rethought. "But more than that. You were..." she trailed off, searching for an appropriate description, knowing this was no time to be lazy about her vocabulary. "...happier...every time you were with Robin."

Raven frowned. She was not stupid, even in her current, less than peak performance, state of mind. She could tell that Starfire had something in mind, she just couldn't tell what. "That's because he was the one that bullied me," she answered. "I had to look happy around him."

Starfire paid no heed to Raven's attempt at derailing the conversation and plowed on. "I do not think you had to look happy..." she trailed off. "I think you simply were happy."

Raven frowned even harder and sat up. "What are you talking about, Starfire?" she asked. "I know I do not go around showcasing my emotions at the drop of a hat, but I always am happy whenever I'm with my friends, you know that."

"He looked happier with you, too," Starfire said, as if Raven hadn't spoken.

Raven got the sinking feeling of dread that this encounter might not end well. She had visions of assuring Starfire of her disinterest in her boy as anything other than a friend and she fought back the momentary pang of anger at having to do so at all.

It wasn't Star's fault.

"Star..." Raven said. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Through the darkness, across the room, came a sigh. "I am happy when I am with him, but I think not like you," she spoke. "I did not feel the need to be constantly around him as you did--"

"I did not," Raven argued, the insinuation that she needed to be around anyone insulting to her strong sense of independence.

"But you were," Star insisted, something like humor in her tone.

Raven silently ran through the day in her mind's eye, searching for proof in her own memories of Star's assertions. "Star, I--"

"I love him," Starfire interrupted. "But perhaps not as you do and certainly not as he does you."

Raven shook her head. "I love all of you in the same way," she argued.

"Yes," Starfire agreed. "I think this is the way I love all of you," she decided. "But I do not think that is the way you love all of us. I think you love Robin differently." Her silhouette nodded firmly. "And I saw it in him, Raven. He loves you differently as well."

Raven frowned as it became increasingly clear what Starfire was trying to say. "I don't know what you think you saw, Star, but--"

"I saw the way in which you both seemed to...what is the word? Gravitate to each other, as if driven together despite your conscious will. I saw the way you smiled at each other and shared moments together."

"This is no different than the things Beast Boy and Cyborg do," Raven argued firmly. "Or the things you and I do," she added. "We share things we have in common."

Star's laughter echoed. "It is different."

"I don't see how," Raven insisted.

"If you do not know," she turned and suddenly, Raven could make out shadows on her face, could see the smallest glint of a smile, a flash of green in the darkness. "you will soon,"she assured her. "I know he will make certain of it," her voice was smiling again. "And when he does, I want only for you to know that I understand now."

"Understand what?" Raven questioned, realizing for the first time how determined Star could be outside of battle.

"I understand that there are different sorts of love," she answered. There was movement and before Raven could determine what Star was doing or where she was going, she felt the dip in her bed as Star climbed onto it. She took hold of Raven's hands and leaned in close enough for them to see each other. "And I want you to be happy, my friend," she said sincerely, "the way you have been today..." she smiled and squeezed her hands. "Always."

Raven tried to piece together Starfire's words, searching her memories for meaning even as Star crawled back to her own bed. The only conclusion she could determine Starfire was trying to get across, however, was illogical.

"It doesn't make sense," Raven decided aloud.

"It will," Starfire assured her.

Raven closed her eyes. "I think you're misreading things."

Starfire's laughter echoed in the room, "I always thought you knew Robin the best of all of us, friend, but perhaps in this instance, you are too close?"

"I think we should go to sleep," Raven decided.

"Yes," Starfire agreed. "It promises to be a long day tomorrow."

'I have a feeling it's going to be a long night,' Raven thought and closed her eyes.

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Notes:

(1) This is actually what they call the cruise. Most of my Disney direct references have come from a website, but that this is what the ride is called, I got from Wikipedia, I think.

(2) Okay, so I've been to this fireworks show, probably three times in the last two years. I'm vaguely familiar with it, but not enough to be able to quote from it exactly, sooo what I did was find someone who took down the transcript of what the show says. So, here's where I found it: Alright, I need another trip to Orlando Theme Parks to write Wishes, II now. Hee. But really guys, I know it's been a long time, and I'm sorry. bows And hopefully, it won't be so long for Wishes, II because I know what I want to happen to that one and I don't think it's going to be this long, so hopefully it will come out sooner, but I think I want to take a small break from IOTaM for a bit...

Estranged is on deck next. I hoped to finish it tonight...dunno if I will, but I'll try!

Soundtrack:

1. Someday My Prince Will Come, Barbara Streisand
2. Somos Novios, Andrea Bocelli & Christina Aguilera
3. The One, Shakira
4. I Like the Way, Bodyrockers
5. Let My Love Open the Door (to your heart), Pete Townshed
6. Once Upon A Dream, Sleeping Beauty
7. When You Wish Upon A Star, Ashley Gearing
8. A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes, Daniel Beddingfield

Extra:

I know for sure that there are going to be several deleted scenes posted from this. I've got a partial list. I'll post that on emsscraps when I get back into the country. Look for it, k?