Despite Robin's warning that Joker had put the 'hit' out for me, my flight to the meet up location was uneventful. As an added precaution I flew at cloud level. My destination turned out to be an abandoned farmhouse. A long winding road lined on either side by tall trees led me to the front door. Knowing now that Robin and his father were extremely wealthy I assumed that they had purchased many of these seemingly unimpressive locations to use for keeping the low profile.

Because of my visit to the hospital I was the last Titan to arrive, but I could not have taken much longer than the others because as my feet touched down on the front porch I saw a flash of red and green off to my left. Robin was in the process of locking the barn door where I assumed he had concealed his new motorcycle. He had not noticed me yet, because once the lock was secure he rested his forehead against the wall of the barn in a rare display of weariness. I hesitated. He could be most unpredictable in moments such as these.

"Starfire," he said. I flinched. How many times would I forget how aware he was of his surroundings? But how could he have known I was there? Uncertain, I walked over to join him by the barn. He kept his back to me as I approached and a feeling of trepidation closed over me.

"I encountered no trouble," I blurted out. "I made certain to use the utmost stealth in contacting Babs. I realize that you did not want me to visit her, but I could not leave with her thinking that the Titans did not appreciate everything her help and that we were grateful for the chance to have met her, and-"

"Starfire," Robin repeated, twisting his head at last to look at me, and there was a small half-smile on his face. "I'm not mad that you went to see Babs. If I'd have known you felt that strongly about it, I'd have found a way to sneak you in. I just thought...given some of the things she's said that you two..."

"I invited her to visit the Tower, once we have rebuilt it of course." His smile grew, though the humor he found seemed directed more toward himself than toward me.

"Of course."

"Then, you are not angry with me?"

"I was," he admitted, "but I got over it. That new bike is amazing."

"You will refrain from lecturing me because your bike is amazing?" I repeated, confused by his line of thinking.

"Uh Star, about what I said earlier," he cleared his throat with sudden discomfort. "You know, about how I...uh..." Now that we were face to face he could not put it into words. Still, I knew what he referred to. How could I not? It was his declaration that had sent me soaring through the clouds with such ease and abandon. I should have known better than to believe such a thing could be true. Humans are not so free with their emotions. They often express feelings they do not feel, and use words with deeper significance on trivial things. Robin's love for me was no more than Cyborg's love for the meat-covered pizza. I felt suddenly foolish for having taken his words to heart. Perhaps some humans could feel and express an emotion of such a deep, personal nature, but certainly not Robin, and not in such a short time frame.

"There is no need to explain what you meant, Robin. I realize you were not referring to the eternal affection felt between two life partners, but the casual affection one feels for the video games or depressing poetry."

"Huh? No, Star, I-"

"Well it's about time!" called Cyborg, coming out onto the porch. "What took you so long Star? We're starving and we need you to break the tie between Chinese or pizza." I glanced at Robin, but at Cyborg's arrival he had closed himself off, assuming his mask of leadership. Internally I sighed.

"What vote did you cast?" I whispered.

"Chinese, but it's your choice."

"I select the taking out of the Chinese," I called to Cyborg. His metallic shoulders sagged in defeat.

"Really? Man, I thought you'd be on my side." He turned his head toward the still open door of the house. "You win, Grass Stain. She wants takeout, but that means you're picking up the order."

"Me?" Beast Boy whined, coming to join him outside. "I thought we were supposed to be laying low. You think nobody's going to notice if I walk in with green skin and fangs?"

"Well unless you or Raven can pull a car out of thin air, I'm not going anywhere."

"Guys, just have them deliver and I'll answer the door," Robin sighed.

"Right, because no one's going to be suspicious that Dick Grayson is spending the night in some creepy old farmhouse out in the middle of nowhere." Beast Boy rolled his eyes and waved his long arms to point out the deserted farm.

"You don't like it you can always sleep in the doghouse out back," Robin replied with a suddenly hard glint in his eye. I gasped. Beast Boy flinched as though Robin had punched him. Cyborg put a hand on his shoulder and glared at Robin.

"That was uncalled for."

Robin pinched the bridge of his nose. "You're right. I'm sorry. Just order the pizza and come get me when it gets here." He started walking around the back of the house but Cyborg called after him.

"Don't tell me you've got a crime lab here too."

"I...I just need a minute," he mumbled. I considered going after him, but decided to give him a few minutes of privacy. There must have been something more on his mind if he would stoop to treating Beast Boy like an animal.

"I don't know what you see in him, Star," said Cyborg grimly, staring in the direction Robin had gone.

"After meeting the Batman can you blame him for being the way that he is? Do you believe such a parent would encourage openness and the sharing of feelings? Robin is good and kind and he would sacrifice himself for any one of us-"

"Alright, alright, I get the picture. He's Prince Charming."

"Robin is royalty?" Elation flared inside me before common sense reminded me that the United States was not ruled by a monarchy.

"So...Chinese?" Beast Boy reminded us. Cyborg made the phone call.

Robin's Point of View

The urge to pretend I'd never said it was eating me up alive. It just came out of nowhere! I love you. Three simple words that changed everything. And she hadn't said it back! Did she really think I could say that word and mean love like 'I love cookies.' She knew me better than that. I think that was the trouble. She did know me better, knew that I wouldn't just let those words casually slip out in a throwaway conversation without having a major meltdown about how she'd take it, and what that meant for our future and...pretty much exactly what I was thinking right now.

But Starfire had warned me. Tamaranean love is eternal. Once given it couldn't be taken back. Did that mean that she wasn't willing to risk falling in love unless she was sure I felt the same, or was that her way of saying that she'd already fallen and didn't want me to break her heart?

On top of that I had the team to consider. The Tower needed to be rebuilt and that would take time and money. How were they dealing with everything we'd just gone through? Raven had been incredible, pulling me back from the brink of death and keeping Bruce on his best behavior. How had that healing affected her? I hadn't asked. I was too caught up in my feelings for Starfire and Babs to ask about her. Or Beast Boy. We'd just been through some dark stuff and he was easily the most innocent of the Titans being the youngest.

"You need to stop worrying," said Raven from just behind me. She might have surprised me if I hadn't felt the sudden chill from her portal. "We've all been through a lot together. You don't need to blame yourself."

"Can I help you?" I didn't need her to tell me what I already knew.

"Dinner's here. Apparently you're the only one normal enough to open the door." She didn't give me a chance to respond, just jerked me through the portal to land just inside the front door of the farmhouse as the delivery guy stabbed the doorbell with enough agitation to suggest that he'd been there a while. Quickly I peeled off my mask and pulled my shirt up over my head.

"Coming!" I called through the door. There wasn't time to change, so I just finger-combed my hair into my eyes and pulled the door open a crack, being sure to keep my green pants out of sight. It wasn't a guy on the other side but a girl. Her eyes hit my scarred chest first and then jumped to my face. She turned so red I felt bad for her.

"What do I owe you?" If she recognized me as Dick Grayson then there was just enough cocky flirtation to go with the persona from the papers, a guy that chased anything that walked. Ha! If only. The girl of my dreams was in the other room and I was terrified to look her in the eye.

Before the girl could answer, her eyes sweeping over my chest again, I pulled a fifty from my wallet and gave it to her.

"Ladies, dinner's here!" The delivery girl went, if possible, even redder. Quickly I closed the door in her face Before I could feel too guilty about using my alter ego against her.

"Dude! Seriously, put a shirt on! We're trying to eat!" Beast Boy complained loudly as he skidded into the room. Starfire floated in behind him. Her eyes appraised me softly.

"I believe I shall quit the Titans and take up the food delivery business if this is the welcome they receive."

"EWWWWWW! Cyborg, you won't believe what Star said!" Beast Boy snatched the food from me and ran off to tell on us. I grinned.