I woke feeling uncomfortably warm and wincing thanks to a crick in my neck. My pillow was harder than usual and I shifted my head, thinking I had fallen asleep with my laptop under my cheek again. Then my pillow shifted and the night's events snapped me in the face like a rubber band. My eyes flew open to see that I was using Starfire's inner thigh as a pillow. Sometime we had curled ourselves around each other like a living ying and yang symbol. Her head was on my knees facing me. She was still asleep, but she was smiling. I froze. She looked so happy. Morning sunlight landed on her hair from the window behind her and gave her a pretty glow. Hesitantly, I lifted my hand to brush the hair back from her face.

"Yo, Robin!"

Crap! Across the hall Cyborg banged on my door.

"We've got a lead on RyAnd'r." There was a beeping sound as he overrode the code on my door. I cringed as he gave a loud shout.

"Whoa!" He went stomping back into the hallway and pounded on Beast Boy's door. "Wake up. Robin's missing again. Get Raven, I'll go wake up Starfire."

By now, Starfire was already awake and was frowning at me. Her peaceful smile was gone and a trickle of doubt was creeping into her eyes. We both jumped as Cyborg thumped on the door.

"Starfire, get up, Robin's not in his room. We've got to go find him."

"Everything's fine, Cyborg. I'll be out in a sec," I called. Even though he couldn't see me my face was burning with embarrassment. There was an audible pause on the other side of the door. I could picture the look on his face.

"BEAST BOY!"

It was lucky Star kept her uniform on and I still had on my pants because Cyborg punched in the code and the door slid open to reveal the other three standing on the threshold. Starfire and I sat up slowly. In hindsight, I can imagine how our position must have looked. I know Cyborg's mind definitely went there because he smirked. Beast Boy's mouth hung open while Raven looked bored. Quickly I pulled on my shirt before anyone else got a good look at my scars.

"Cyborg, you know better than to barge into the girls' room like that," I said, grasping for any excuse to not be on the receiving end of this morning's humiliation. His eyebrow went up and I knew I'd picked the wrong argument.

"I'm pretty sure there's a lot of things we're not supposed to do in the girls' rooms, Robin."

"You said you had a lead on RyAnd'r," I said, desperate to change the subject.

"Uh huh," he said, making sure everyone knew I what I was trying to do. "I ran a scan on the heat signatures in Jump and I got a couple of hits where there's some unusually hot spots." The longer he kept talking the more serious he became. He raised his arm and pressed a button so that a holographic image of the heat tracers he was talking about displayed for us to see. There were three abnormal spots. Two were located along nearby fault lines, but the third was just along the coast. There were all sorts of caves and dug out from erosion. If RyAnd'r had taken refuge he would definitely go for a place that would easy to protect.

"That one," Starfire pointed to the same one that had grabbed my attention. "Right now he is the trapped gerdelsklorp. He will want a place that provides both shelter and cover should we attack him. Aqualad took me to visit those caves the last time he came to visit and the only entrance is by the water. It would be the most strategic hideout." Aqualad did what? When was this and where was I?

"Well great, we narrowed that down, but like she said, he's a cornered tiger in there. It's crazy to come at him head on." Cyborg looked to me for a plan.

"So we lure him out," I said with a shrug. RyAnd'r seemed to share his oldest sister's hot temper.

"We gonna' leave now, or do you want us to give you and Starfire a little more time to uh...finish up?" Cyborg fired the loaded innuendo with all the precision of his sonic cannon. A blush exploded across my cheeks, but I was also angry. Nothing had happened between me and Starfire. In fact, I seriously doubted whether there was much hope of things getting much further than they had last night considering how quickly she'd been repelled by the sight of my bared chest. Maybe the sight of my scars brought home just how weak I was compared to her. I didn't doubt that she cared about me any less than she had before, I mean we were best friends after all, but maybe I wasn't as physically appealing now that she saw what was beneath the cape. It was a depressing thought. Raven suddenly tilted her head and frowned at me. She must have picked up on the sudden dip in my emotions and was wondering what had caused it. Now there was one conversation I really didn't want to have.

"You are implying that Robin and I have engaged in sexual intercourse, yes?" said Starfire. I don't think I've ever wished so hard to be struck dead on the spot. Cyborg's mouth formed a perfect 'o' of surprise, and Beast Boy's eyes bulged. Even Raven's eye twitched as unwelcome images undoubtedly flashed before her eyes. Starfire put her hands on her hips. "He is my betrothed now. On Tamaran it is expected that a pair sleep together in order to establish a bond."

"Yea, but you guys haven't even... You're both... You really went all the way?" Cyborg looked at me as though I'd suddenly sprouted a horn out of my forehead and started prancing around on golden hooves.

"What happens between Starfire and me is none of your business."

"Robin is not yet comfortable sharing his naked form with me," said Starfire as simply as if what she was saying was no more personal than what color gloves I was wearing. Beast Boy was so shocked that his body spasmed into the form of a cat with its back arched before reverting to his human form in the blink of an eye.

"You mean you offered and he turned you down?" he blurted out. A black band of power sealed itself over his mouth.

"Robin's right. What happens between him and Starfire is really none of our business. Stop picking on them and give them time to get ready," Raven said. "As for you two, don't rush into anything. I can tell you're both all over the place with your emotions. You don't need to explain, and frankly I don't want to know. Just know that there's no hurry or anything..." A faint blush crept over her face. I rolled my eyes.

"Thanks, Mom," I muttered. "Right now I'm more concerned with catching RyAnd'r before he causes any more damage than figuring out how to score with Star." Starfire tilted her head to the side in that way that meant she was confused.

"Score?" she asked curiously. "Does Earthen mating include a point system?" I groaned as Cyborg burst into loud laughter. I narrowed my eyes.

"You think this is funny? We've got a situation on our hands and you're all standing around." Finally it was getting easier to push the embarrassment aside and channel the authority I needed to get us all back on track. All this could wait until we had RyAnd'r taken care of. Not for a moment did I think Cyborg or Beast Boy would forget and simply move on with their lives, but at least they knew when to put it aside and focus on what was important. Still smirking, Cyborg nodded.

"I'll check the city maps and double-check that there aren't access tunnels to that area. See you in five." I needed to restock my utility belt and put on a fresh uniform. Starfire had to put her gorget back on and lace up her boots. Raven and Beast Boy quietly slipped away, though I noticed Beast Boy's lips trembling with barely contained laughter.

Starfire put a hand on my shoulder, making me jump.

"Robin, if you-"

"Not now, Star. We've got more important things to worry about." It came out without thinking, an old defense mechanism from my days of denial. No Star, I'm not crushing on you right now, I'm too busy working...see? It hurt her every time I did it, but this time I could see that it really stung. Like an ass, I ignored the crestfallen look on her face and hurried across the hall to my room, eager for some distance. When the door slid shut behind me I pressed my back against the metal panel and leaned my head back against the door. This was all going too fast for me. I'd told her I was ready for this and I was wrong. I needed to punch something. I needed to vent my frustration at my own shortcomings on an enemy. Muttering under my breath, I hastily kicked off my green pants and hauled my shirt over my head. More uniforms hung in my closet, and the double doors of my wardrobe opened to reveal all of my gadgets, birdarangs, and devices that I needed to keep my stores replenished.

RyAnd'r was a bigger threat than most that we faced in Jump. Trigon was power incarnate and luckily Raven had been strong enough to handle him because I would have been virtually useless against him. Guys like RyAnd'r might have super strength, but at least they had physical weaknesses too. If I was smart, I could find them and use them against him. Fortunately I already had practice sparring with a Tamaranean. I knew how to subdue him, but to keep him that way... Buried at the bottom of my closet was a box with the bracers Starfire had been wearing when she first showed up on earth. While they didn't stop her strength, they prevented her from using her starbolts and that was a serious advantage. The only problem was that they were bulky. There would be no hiding them in one of the compartments on my belt.

There was a knock at my door.

"We await your presence," Starfire called formally through the door. I winced, understanding that I had seriously hurt her feelings. Oh well, it couldn't be helped now. We were heroes first, and that's the way it would always have to be.

It was easy to find the cave where RyAnd'r was hiding with Cyborg's heat tracer's to guide us. Initially we had a little bit of a problem getting a read with Starfire throwing off her own thermal heat and confusing the sensors, but eventually he calibrated it so that it projected away from us and guided us to the little cave we'd pegged on the map.

"Robin, he is my brother. I believe I should try to engage him first. Perhaps we can discuss this and there will be no need to fight." Starfire sounded hopeful, but she hadn't seen him. Still, I could see the sense in her plan. She was the best suited to dealing with him. She was the focus of his hatred, and if she went in first it might be easier to contain him to the area which was a far enough distance from the city that we didn't have to worry about collateral damage.

"Be careful," Cyborg warned for me as she glided forward. "I don't think he's playing with a full deck.'

"I am prepared to do what I must," she said in a small voice. God it must be hard for her. How do you face a sibling you thought was dead and know deep down that he wants nothing more than to see you dead? She hid her emotions well. They disappeared behind the facade of a warrior. Maybe I was wearing off on her a little bit.

Raven formed a black disc that Beast Boy, Cyborg, and I crouched on behind an outcropping of jagged rocks as we watched Starfire disappear inside the mouth of the cave. My heart hammered in my chest. I hated sending her in there. I knew she was strong and that she could probably take him, she was after all older than he was and a seasoned warrior whereas he had been hidden away all these years by Blackfire. Still, he was desperate, and in my experience, desperate men could always be counted on to do the unexpected.

Starfire disappeared into the shadows, and we waited...

A/N: I went back and forth on this chapter. It felt wrong to not have a morning after scene, but at the same time I wanted to get to the confrontation with RyAnd'r sooner. Robin is entirely too awkward to just wake up in Star's bed and not have some kind of meltdown about it and I really wanted to explore it. Oh well. In the next chapter I can promise plenty of action to make up for it.