I awake to the light streaming in from the window in the bedroom, filtering through the tightly drawn curtains. Turning my head to the side, I see the alarm clock and its digital interface reading 9:15 in the morning. Laying back against the pillows, I bury my face in her hair, breathing in her unique scent. She is still sleeping, and when I look down at her I can see her peaceful face, her obsidian-colored hair splayed out across the white pillows as if it were a painting on a canvas. I run my finger gently across her collarbone, feeling the soft skin underneath my fingertip.

"Mmmm," she hums contentedly, snuggling up closer to me, burying her face in my chest. "Morning, Garfield."

I pull her even closer until she hovers over me, and sit up slightly to press a gentle kiss to her forehead, right on her gem. "Hey, sleeping beauty," I murmur. "Did you sleep well?"

"No nightmares," she confirms. "I don't know how, but your prescence always keeps them away."

I chuckle softly. "It's my job. Both as a Titan and a boyfriend. To keep you safe from the monsters." Brushing a strand of hair out of her face, I capture her lips in mine, her hands resting in the middle of my chest, over my pounding heart. The taste of her lips is on my tongue and she starts to run her fingers through my hair as I continue to kiss her.

Warmth spreads throughout my body, emotions that are not mine starting to flood through my mind. I sense apprehension, shy nervousness, and the underlying sweet taste of Raven's affection, her love for me. I send a wave of calm her way, and her body responds almost immediately to the positive emotion, tense muscles relaxing as I gather my arms around her small body, pressing her chest flush against mine.

She starts to pull away from me slowly, her cheeks flushed and eyes shining. Her slim fingers trace the outline of my jaw as her lips turn upwards into a smile.

"Hungry?" I ask. "If you want, I'll make you something. You don't have to eat whatever future food Bart cooks today."

She sits up so that I have room to move and shakes her head softly. "No need. I might just have a cup of tea this morning."

"Well, I'm probably going to have to make my own food. I don't know if it's because Bart's a bad cook or if it's supposed to taste like dog food, but if he's cooking again today, then I'm making my own."

The corner of her lips turned upwards in amusement, and my heart does a flip in my chest at the sight. I move across the room and take off the t-shirt and gym shorts I had been wearing before suiting up in my purple and white uniform and putting on the steel-toed combat boots that go with it.

"Why suit up now?" She asks from her position on the bed.

"Armor or no, S.T.A.R. Labs did a pretty good job making it comfortable to wear around the Tower," I reply. "I don't know what exact materials they used for it, I just know that it's comfortable and practical."

I open the door, peeking my head out, before stepping out into the hall, Raven heading out before me in simple casual clothing. The door slides shut when I move away from it as we both head for the kitchen, hand in hand.

Bart is already up and running around the kitchen in a yellow blur, humming a tune to himself while tending to about a half dozen pans on the stove. He stops for a second to look up at us and waves.

"Heyguyswhat'supI'mmakingpancakesdoyawantsometheydon'tactallytastethatbad," he babbles. It takes a solid five seconds for me to register what exactly he said, then I look over at Rose, who's sitting on the barstool with a bottle of beer in her hand.

"Is he telling the truth?" I ask, pointing a thumb in the speedster's direction.

She looks up, her steel blue eye meeting mine. "I don't trust his judgement. Last time I did, I got food poisoning. Not taking that chance again," she responded.

"Aw, come on, Rose. Have some faith in me. I'm not that bad of a cook."

Rose just rolls her eye. "Whatever you say, Bart. I'm not going to argue with you about the quality of your food."

I hear the sound of a door opening and look up to see who is coming in. Tim walks in with a bathrobe and a newspaper bundle, looking like an old man as he gets his coffee ready. One by one, the rest of the Titans file into the kitchen for the standard breakfast-with-the-team tradition.

Bart brings about a dozen plates of pancakes to the table and sets to work on them, while Conner watches from across the table with unease.

"You, uh, you might want to take it easy on the syrup," Cassie points out.

"Nonsense. You can never have too much maple syrup," Bart replies, pouring nearly half of the bottle onto his plate, while Tim turns the news on.

Almost immediately, a BREAKING NEWS report blared to life on the TV, replaced with the headline "FLASH ARRESTED FOR MURDER, GOVERNMENT RESPONDS TO PUBLIC OUTRAGE"

Almost everyone stops eating and focuses on the TV. The cameraman shows a scene from the arrest as the reporters talk about what happened. The shot then cuts to the President's Oval Office as he begins to speak.

"These people call themselves heroes," he was saying, "yet they are just as dangerous as the so-called villains. The public is calling for action, and I agree that something must be done to stop these costumed "heroes" from running amok and without government authorization. Until something is agreed upon, I am ordering that all people with these "superpowers" stay inside their homes, caves, towers, wherever. If you step foot upon the street, police and military forces have authorization to arrest you, and they will not hesitate to do so."

"The Flash that was arrested last night has been charged with second-degree murder, assassination, and may face an additional charge of capital — " the reporter starts to say, before Bart shouts, "turn it off!"

The screen turns black as the power shuts off, leaving the room in silence. I look around the table at the rest of the team, all of whom have mixed reactions. Tim looks across the table at Bart, who looks two seconds away from punching the wall. Raven's hand grasps mine underneath the table and I squeeze it in reassurance.

"No one is to step foot off the island," Tim says, his voice grave. "No exceptions. The tower is on lockdown as of right now. No one comes in, no one comes out until I can get into contact with the Justice League about our first step. You're all dismissed."

Rose is the first person to leave, grabbing her beer bottle by the neck and saying, "we better not run out of beer, or I'm going out to get more, screw the government." Taking a swig, she casually walks out of the room as if nothing on the news mattered to her — which, in all consideration, probably doesn't. The rest of the team disperses off in different directions, while Bart aggressively continued eating the pancakes he made.

Tim sits there watching him, looking concerned, and says, "Gar, Raven, you two can leave. I'll, uh, try to conduct damage control with him."

I take Raven's hand and gently pull her out of the room, away from the negative emotions that are no doubt plaguing her mind.

Once a safe distance away, I stop and look at her. "Are you all right?" I ask. "What are you sensing?"

She closes her eyes and nods. "Bart has faith that whatever happened in Central City, Barry cannot be blamed for the senator's death. The general public, however, feels the exact opposite. They do not hesitate to condemn the man who once may have saved a relative or friend. Perhaps some of them have doubt that Barry did anything wrong, but they feel that if they spoke out, no one would pay any heed to them." She looks up at me and whispers, "so much hate. So much contempt. And for a man they don't even know."

"Hey, hey, calm down. I won't let that hurt you. Focus on me. Good feelings. Positivity. Just as you said. Focus on me," I say, placing my hands on her shoulders and thinking of good thoughts. Once I sense that she's calmed down enough, I dip my head and kiss her. Raven brings her hands up to the sides of my face and returns the action.

I pull away prematurely, searching her eyes to see if I can find a hint of something she's not telling me, and find nothing, to my relief.

"I don't know what we can do, now that Batboy has placed us under house arrest. We could use the holorings and sneak out," I suggest. "After all, there's only so much you can do here. Or we can go swimming in the bay," I suggest, cracking a smile at her.

A few seconds pass by, before she slowly nods her head and says, "I think that would be nice."