Author's Note:

Adam: To quote Spiderman. Sometimes you have to 'give up the things we want the most'. True for heroes. True in a relationship. Doesn't matter how good you are, some things can't be won.

TickTock: Hehe fanfiction on my fanfiction. I think I'd like to see that. As long as I'm credited. I think there are a couple out there, or at least, people using elements of my stories and incorporating them. But, you're welcome. I really do enjoy writing fanfiction. It's very relaxing.

Chapter 14.

I trailed my fingers along Starfire's belly, dancing them around her belly button. "Where shall we go?"

"Hmm?" she asked sleepily, her eyes flicking open. Adjusting her head on my pillow, she curled the back of her hand against her face and smiled lazily. "Go where?"

"On holiday."

"Oh. Yes," she said, brightening. "We shall go away? A real holiday?"

I nodded. "It's been a while since we've had one." I adjusted my position so I could lick the skin just below her navel. "We haven't been away together for years. Any planets in mind?"

We never took holidays on Earth. I mean, when you can be practically anywhere in minutes, or when you have a T-Ship or a girlfriend that could fly, sightseeing on Earth became sort of moot. Plus, alien girlfriend, intergalactic holidays. Last holiday we went to the salt lakes of Gadoris Prime, lakes similar to the Dead Sea that you could actually walk across the surface of the water.

"Hmm," she mused. "What 'tickles your fancy'? Would you prefer the romantic holiday? The thrill seeker? The amusement?"

"Thrill seeker, definitely," I said, my fingers sliding lower, while my lips kissed their way up her body. "As long as there's a huge bed for romance too."

"Hmm," she said again. "Lasterous. They have the most the thrills there as well as romance. There are many activities you may enjoy, oh, let me see if I can remember the Earthen names… the bungie jump?"

I lingered at her peak, licking, sucking, tasting, nipping. Gentle touches, quiet arousal. Complete contrast to what we'd just done. "Yup."

"The sky dive. Amusement parks with the equivalent of the roller coaster. The deep sea submersible with terrifying monster aquatic life. They have… rapid rafting?"

I lifted my mouth from her breast for a moment. "White water rafting? Where the water's travelling so fast downstream and over rocks that it's white?"

"Something similar. They have the rocking climbing and there are physical tournaments too if you wish to enter. It is a popular destination."

I returned my attentions to her chest. "Sounds fun. Close to Tamaran?"

She cooed at me. "Sister systems."

"Shall we go see Galfore?"

Her back arched, pushed against my mouth, her hips urgent against my hand. "Oh…"

I grinned. "You're not allowed to react, remember. That's the rule."

Her eyes shone green. "Then perhaps you should stop with the teasing of me."

"Nope," I replied. "Having fun."

She sighed and relaxed her back and I continued with my play. "You are insatiable," she murmured.

"Your fault for being so sexy," I replied. "Tell me what else Lasterous has."

"Oh…" She seemed to lose her train of thought, smiling dreamily.

I chuckled. I loved this game. "Talk. Or I'll stop."

She swallowed. "They… have… um…" Her cheeks were getting flushed. "Oh, fydorka races!"

"Fydorka races?"

"A fydorka is an animal, akin to the… oh, Dick, please."

"Not yet," I murmured, even though I twitched in response. "Akin to what?"

She gasped, her hands clenching. "Shark," she squeaked.

"Shark? Really?"

She nodded. "An aquatic creature, quite large. They are not tame, first you must catch it in, first one to the finish with a captured fydorka is the winner. Razor teeth, a hump perfect for riding."

"Do you ride it hard?" I said, suggestive.

"Oh," she purred. "Yes. Very hard. It is quite vigorous."

"Vigorous, huh?"

"It is said to be quite empowering."

I grinned. "I suppose it would, mounting such a beast."

She groaned. "Dick, I swear to you, if you do not enter me soon, I shall be forced to—"

I shifted up, penetrating her in a swift movement. Her head arched back, her hands clenching and she wrapped her legs around my back. I dragged my lips along her windpipe and down her collar. "You do realise I'm not moving now. You broke the rules."

She glared at me. "I could simply take what I wanted."

I chuckled. "By all means. Do so. We both know it gives you greater pleasure—" I thrust my hips forward, "— if I have control."

She scowled at me, then whimpered. "Just kiss me, you fool."

I grinned and dipped my head to do just that. Warm and wet and tasting of soda. Soft lips, silky, sweet, parting to taste the tongue. She pushed up against me, deepening the kiss, turning it urgent, demanding. She drew my tongue inside her mouth with her oh-so-grippy one and sucked on it. Her spread fingers dug into my shoulder blades, forcing our chests closer while her legs flexed on my back, calves pushing on my hips.

I love it when she gets demanding. It's fucking hot. So very devious of her too, she knows kissing gets me going. She wants, she needs, but she's not going to get anything other than being teased.

Lovely contrast to how we were barely an hour ago. It was slow, aching, exploration and touch and kissing. Manipulation of the erogenous zones. It's tender and slow, sharing, joining, loving. This time, it's about her. The noises she makes are different. There's no yowling and demanding. It's all coo and moan and whispered words of love. Gentle. Tantalising sexual and romantic.

When she peaked, its slower, a gradual cresting rather than an explosion. It's longer too, the build up has been tempered, coiled tight and allowed to release slowly for prolonged pleasure. She moaned, her cheeks flushed, her head thrown back as she clenched me tight, so damn tight and pulsed around me.

I can tell she wants me to follow her, but that's not going to happen. I'm a little sore from last time. And sometimes it's nice to give. The quickies, they're usually all about me, not that she doesn't enjoy them, but often it takes longer for her to get there and most of the time we've decided to opt for the quickie it's because we want to be joined. So it's nice to return the favour when we have time.

Which I'm rapidly running out of. I need to go complete the first patrol for the evening, pick up dinner then go for a late night patrol too.

I sighed and stilled my hips, kissing her gently until she relaxed contently. "I gotta go."

She flicked open her eyes. "We have to go," she said, meaningfully.

"You're really going to come? Not too tired?" I asked.

She smiled. "I believe it is time to start living our life, yes?"

I grinned. "You bet."

There's a difference in the way you patrol when your partner has flight capability. But, Starfire also knows the art of stealth and that's a big thing here in Bludhaven. I don't want criminals alerted until I'm right on top of them. Her flight was really only used to get from shadow to shadow as we roamed across the city. Or to carry me over that particularly large gap in the buildings that I usually have to go around.

Probably should think about changing her uniform again, make it blacker, she does stand out, not that purple isn't sexy. I wonder if we should drag the Kory costume out again and have another look at that. Or a sleek looking bodysuit… black and trimmed with purple… hmmm… what'd she look like with fingerstripes of her own?

We talked as we patrolled, well, I talked, she listened and asked questions. I showed her all the hotspots, the alleyways that I always check and usually find something going down. I wanted to ease her into Bludhaven, not overwhelm her with information straight off the bat, but she's so inquisitive. And I was a little bit overexcited to finally share this with her. I'd probably go over the same stuff again later, but that was beside the point.

I know Bludhaven and she's never patrolled here. I've tried to keep her up to speed as much as possible in my reports and conversations with her over the year that I've been here, so she probably knows area by name, but not by sight. And it's always a little difficult to tell her everything that happens. I know I gloss. So does she.

I remember the first few patrols in Gotham when we were eighteen. She was timid, deferred to me, followed meekly behind. She's not like that here at all. But then, I get the feeling she's been preparing to come to Bludhaven for a while now, just waiting for the right time.

She knows the crime nooks. She knows the shadows of buildings that I hide in. She's matching things from my reports in her head, I can tell.

"Star," I whispered as we hid in the shadows of the rooftops, watching a darkened alleyway where a man looked to be watching for prospective people to mug. "Have you been stalking me?"

She glanced at me as she floated just below the opposite awning, lying in wait. "No."

"You know all the hidey holes."

I saw a flash of her teeth by the dim light of the streetlamp below us. "Or, you have trained me well."

I was pleased. "Could be that."

"Do you wish for me to make myself known?" she murmured. "Or would you prefer I am the back up?"

"Back me up," I returned. "I think I'd prefer not to inform criminals you're in town, especially if we're going away soon."

She drifted closer to the wall. "Very well."

Below us, the man had picked his target. I saw a flash of a knife beneath his dark overcoat and the way he flicked his head up and down the street, looking for people that might chose to stop him. Such a pity he didn't look up.

I climbed over the rim of the building, blew Starfire a kiss, then silently kicked off. A backflip and planted my feet on the wall just below her. I leapt frogged down the side of the building, they were close enough that I could plant a foot on one building and push off toward the other, dropping a level as I did so.

The idiot was still standing in the shadows at the entrance of the alleyway as I silently hit the ground. I crouched there for a moment, watching, I couldn't act until he did. If I did, I could get in trouble for beating up an innocent.

When the knife came out, the man's hand grabbing the collar teenager victim he'd chosen to drag into the alleyway and rob, I moved. A birdarang to take out the knife before I reached for my sticks.

It was over remarkably quickly. It usually is with the petty criminals. Less than a minute later, the would-be mugger is unconscious and handcuffed, the victim was on the phone to the police and I was scaling the walls again to return to the roof.

"Nicely done," Starfire murmured, creeping out of the shadows to join me on the roof. "I have missed watching you do that."

"Night's just beginning, lovely one," I said. "You might get some action yet."

Seemed to be a pretty uneventful night, the big boys must have been having a night off. Or scared that Batman was on duty, I'm not sure. We stopped a couple of robberies, a few muggings, one attempted rape which sent Starfire into a bit of a growling frenzy over. An easy night, but I couldn't help feel there was trouble brewing.

I needed intel and there's only one person to go to for that. I just had to hope she wasn't busy. As we paused on top of a building and a pretty nice vantage point, I hit my earpiece. "Hey-a."

It took a moment for Oracle to link in. "'Sup Wingz."

"Anything cookin' tonight?"

"Are you bored?"

"A little."

"Hmmm…" she mused and I could hear her typing. "Oh. Lookie here. Lady Vic's in Bludhaven again, according to her flight records, but I'm not getting any hits on the police scanner."

"Ahh. I'll keep an eye out at the usual places." Starfire raised an eyebrow at me. I waved a hand to ask her to be quiet. "Still trying to get a fix on you?"

"They'll never find me," Oracle replied confidently.

I smirked. "Any Blockbuster movement?"

"He's gone underground, but he might crop up a bit if Lady Vic's in town. I think I know roughly where he's lurking. Since you have time, I need you to splice me some eyes."

In other words, plant a bug on the cameras already installed in that location so Oracle could tap into them. I shrugged. "Yeah, we could do that. Send the locations you want."

"We?" Oracle asked, locking in on that one word. "Who's we?"

"Oh, just me and a little firefly."

"She came?" Oracle shrieked. "Why hasn't she got an earpiece?"

I winced, scratching at my ear. "She has, you just yelled in her ear."

"Oh." Oracle sounded sheepish now. "Hey Star."

"Greetings," Starfire replied, smothering a giggle.

"Dick, you're a dick," Oracle told me matter-of-factly. "Star, I'm glad you finally came, you would not believe how mopey he's been without you. Are you staying?"

"That is my hope."

"Good. About time."

"Don't start," I said. "Send those locations, we'll do that now."

"Guess this means I can't flirt with you anymore," Oracle said, but I could hear the humour in her voice.

"You may do the flirting with me," Starfire replied, sounding coy.

Oracle laughed. "I might just do that. Come for coffee when you get bored of the Wingerz."

"It is the date," Starfire replied.

"Wingerz?" I interjected.

"Buzz off," Oracle said. "Girl talk."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. Talk soon. Oh, and Babs, let's shake the Redhorn tree, see what comes loose."

"Gotcha."

The coordinates Oracle sent were down in the docks district. There's a lot of cameras down there, some of them we have eyes in, most of them we don't. There's a limit to the amount of information Oracle can process, so we only add as she requests. Oracle sent me the locations of three she particularly wanted to observe and we headed to one of those first.

The camera itself was located under an awning at the top of one of the warehouses. Bit difficult to reach normally, not undoable, just awkward. But with Starfire here, she could hold my chest, support my weight, floating close while I rigged the camera.

"Blockbuster?" Starfire asked as I worked, splicing a few wires so I could add our little modification that would give Oracle command over the camera.

I shrugged. "He took over the crime syndicate from Angel Marin, remember?"

"Oh. Yes, of course. He had the Angel Marin assassinated, if I recall."

"That's right. I've been making life miserable for him, stopping him from consolidating. Especially now I have Evans, Redhorn won't be far. Blockbuster's got a hard-on for me, several hired guns have tried to get me, Lady Vic included." There was a sudden pain in my chest as she squeezed too hard. "Ow! Owowow, stop!"

The pain lessened. "My apologies."

Her actions surprised me. "What's wrong?"

"Hired guns?" she asked in a stormy voice. "As in assassins?"

I shrugged. "They haven't even come close—"

"And you never deemed it important enough to inform me that someone is attempting to assassinate you?"

Oh… quicksand. "Um… no. I didn't want to worry you."

She snarled at me. "You did not want to worry me," she repeated, cynical. "I am entitled to be worried for you. If I had not informed you under a similar predicament, you would be very angry."

"Yes, but—"

"Do not give me the double standards," she snapped.

"It's in my reports."

"No, your reports consist of mentions of Lady Vic attacking you and of Blockbuster's activities. There is no mention of assassination attempts."

I sighed, stopped in my manipulation of the camera and twisted my head so I could look at her. "If I told you, what would you have done?" I asked. "You've have come straight away, wouldn't you?"

"Of course I would."

"And all your carefully thought out reasons for not coming, like, giving me a chance to prove myself on my own, forge my own identity, they'd have just vanished," I said, being sarcastic.

"You were in danger."

"Hero. Always in danger. Comes with the job description. You don't have to like it, Starfire, but you have to live with it. The Titans used to get death threats all the time."

"Yes, but—"

"There's always someone gunning for us."

"Yes, but—"

"But nothing. We've been apart more than a year. There are probably plenty of things that have happened to me you're not aware of and the reverse is true. So, I have a couple of would be assassins running around thinking they can have a piece of me. It's not the end of the world. On the Slade-o-metre they rank below one, that's how threatened I feel by them."

She wrinkled her nose, then sighed.

I pecked her cheek, we usually try to keep the romance to a minimum when patrolling. Little touches and small nuances to let the other person know what we were thinking, but never enough to distract. "I'm a big boy now. I can take care of myself."

As I fixed my attention back on the camera, she buried her face into the back of my head, so her voice was muffled. "I know." She let out a mournful sigh. "I used to have the mares of the night about waking in the morning to find you had been damaged or killed. And I had not even known."

I reached back and touched her head. "I've had the same. I couldn't even begin to count the amount of times I've seen a Titan alert go and worried for you and known I couldn't just drop everything and go help. It's not an easy life we've chosen."

She breathed in and let it out slowly. "Assassins," she said disdainfully.

"Yup. I'm a wanted man." I pressed my earpiece. "Camera one is done, moving to the next."

Starfire placed me back on the roof and together we journeyed through the docks until we reached the second camera. This one was easier, mounted almost the same, only I could lie down and reach it. "You remember how to do this, right?" I asked.

"Of course."

I held out a bug and a pair of splices. "Do you want to go do the next one and come back?"

You know, it's odd. We catch criminals, but we have no qualms about conducting criminal activities ourselves to catch them. Hacking into back accounts to transfer money away from Blockbuster. Taking control of cameras. Running around in costumes being a vigilante. Beating people up, cuffing them. We don't call it criminal activities, we call it research or justice. We're kin, almost, except that we're doing it for the greater good. To stop the violence.

God, if any of my co-workers knew my other job, I'd be required to leave the force.

The roof shuddered, as though something landed on it. Couldn't be Starfire, she was lighter on her feet and she would have come into my eyesight first so I wouldn't react. One hand holding onto the wires I was manipulating, I reached for a couple of birdarangs, waiting for the footsteps to come closer.

"Hello, baby."

I sighed as I replaced the birdarang. Crap, crap, crappity crap. Of all the nights for her to show up, it's when I'm on my stomach fiddling with a camera and my girlfriend's only a short distance away. "Go away, Tarantula."

"I've been lonely without you."

"Feeling's not mutual. Kind of busy here."

"I can see that. Interesting position for you to be in."

Oh, she's so looking at my ass. There are times, oh so very few, that I miss that damn Robin cape. "You really don't want to be here right now."

"You on a mission?" Tarantula asked, now standing right behind me. I actually felt her boot against my calf, so I moved my leg away. "For your pretty Oracle girl?"

"Maybe," I replied, hurrying to finish the camera installation so I could stand up. If I could have reached the damn camera, I could have crouched instead of sprawled on the roof. I glanced over my shoulder at Tarantula, disturbed to see her crouching between my legs. "Ahh… could you not do that."

She put her hand on back of my leg. "I'm sure your girlfriend wouldn't mind."

"I am certain that she would." Icy. Frigid. The words clung to the air, I was sure my breath frosted, I knew I shuddered in response. Green fire in the darkness, completely contradicting the arctic squall of her voice.

"Who's that?" Tarantula asked, flinching her hand away.

"That is my girlfriend," I said, doing the last little bit to the camera before I shifted so I could stand. I edged away from Tarantula, heading more in Starfire's direction. "I wouldn't piss her off if I were you."

"Girlfriend?" Tarantula asked. "I thought you two split. Didn't you come to Bludhaven to get away from her?"

"Nightwing," Starfire growled. So not good to have the righteous fury directed at me.

"This is Tarantula," I said, edging away from Tarantula. I'm sure Starfire read the reports on her. Wannabe vigilante. Hero worship. I've been discouraging. Remember that, Star.

"I see," Starfire snarled, her face twisting to something I couldn't recognise.

"So, you've come to Bludhaven," Tarantula said, then slyly looked at me. "Does that mean the rest of your girlfriends have to back off?"

I shot Tarantula a dark look. "I really don't think that's wise."

"I see," Starfire said again.

"Oh, yes, he's got lots of us girls all around Bludhaven," Tarantula purred.

"Do you have a death wish?" I asked. What was Tarantula thinking?

"Truly." Starfire's face was devoid of emotion, empty, as was her voice. Crap.

Tarantula's eyes gleamed. "He is such a terrific lover."

"Okay, that's it," I snapped. I couldn't believe she'd stoop that low. Really. I should have knocked her infatuation with me on the head ages ago, but to say something like that to my Starfire, it was just unforgivable.

"Yes, he is," Starfire said mildly and I gaped at her. "It is a pity."

Tarantula looked taken aback. "What's a pity?"

"That you have not known his prowess. See, if you had—" Starfire suddenly began to glow. Green surged up the length of her arm, coating it all in her shine. Raw energy dripped from clawed fingertips, dripped to the roof where it began to sizzle. Her eyes glittered green, her hair spiked away from her body, her face twisted to a snarl. She looked gloriously terrifying. "I would be within my rights to challenge you in single combat and raise your bloody, dismembered head on the pike when I am through with you."

Tarantula drew away, her eyes darting around. "Um…"

"Perhaps you would like to rescind your statement."

"Yes."

"Be gone," Starfire snapped, without releasing her hold energy. "Before I change my mind."

I don't think I've ever seen Tarantula run that fast. But that wasn't really my concern right now. I reached a hand toward the still glowing and growling Starfire, but she turned her snarling gaze to me and I retracted my hand before I was burnt. "I would never cheat on you."

"I know," she growled and huffed. "Another thing you forgot to mention."

"Um… refrained is more the term. Because we've done so well at telling each other important stuff lately."

She narrowed her eyes. "When we get home, we shall have the words," she said.

That didn't sound good. "Um… okay?"

"In the meantime," she said. "I believe I am done with the subtle approach."

"What?"

Starfire shot from the roof so fast she left a green trail in her wake. I watched her go and smiled to myself. When she gets like this, she's awesome. As much as I would have liked to keep the subtle approach, just for a little while, when Starfire makes up her mind about something, there's no arguing with it.

And it just reinforces that she's definitely made up her mind about coming.

As I expected, the night sky soon lit up green, a shining ball of glowing energy. Bright, big, a powerful show of strength. The light grew a tail, a spiralling flare, circling over the city. Wider and wider it spiraled, until the whole city was surrounded by a trail of green.

I doubt there would be little misunderstanding that message. At least for the criminals.

There was a ripping sound through the air, something flying fast, before Starfire pulled up in front of me, her expression daring me to object.

I smiled. "Welcome to Bludhaven."

Author's Note:

Tarantula. In the comics she succeeded in breaking Babs and Dick up by manipulating an encounter to make it seem like he was cheating on Babs with Catalina (Tarantula). She has a very strong infatuation for Dick, to the point… well… rapesex on the roof when he's at his lowest, but let's not go into that. Anyway. In my opinion, Tarantula happens to be very self inserted Mary-Sue, I'm curious as to why Devin Grayson (author of Nightwing) spent so much time turning Dick into the manwhore he is now, removing Starfire from his life completely to the point she was almost inconsequential (damnit they spent years together and she doesn't even rate a mention in Nightwing), getting Dick to cheat on Starfire with Babs and then giving Babs his wedding invitation to his and Starfire's wedding (after all that crap about him and Starfire and her getting married to Karras and then he goes and does that. So in character), then work out a way to break Dick and Babs up, just so her character can do him on a roof even though he said no!

Not bitter. Not bitter.

There are times where I wish I didn't research the comics and just stayed with the cartoon version.

Still, my dislike for the character will not sway my portrayal of her as she appeared in the comics. If she appears again.

-sigh-

Um… where was I?

So, next chapter will be on Monday, definitely, because I'm hit a major snag in first person writing that's kind've blown out into something bigger than I was expecting, as I was complaining to Star of Airdire (holy name dropping batman) last night and its just-not-WORKING. GAH. I need to clean it up.

So, seeya Monday. Unless of course the muse comes back from holiday's and makes everything all pretty for me. I should send her to Lasterous to ride the fydorka. Although, her coming back from that, the whole story will probably be about mounting beasts and having pure awesome power between your legs…