Well, I know you all are shocked and mayhaps dismayed at the events of the last chapter. Let us all take a moment of silence to remember our lost friend…Speedy, you were gone from us too soon.
Rest in Peace. ?-2005 –He saved the world – A lot.
(Yes, that is an homage to Buffy, but when will I ever be able to do that again?).

So, I guess THANK YOU's are in order for those of you who just happened to catch my last chapter. It was only a small amount of you dedicated readers this time, but I just love any of you that did review, so HUGS for you all: Tritium, Techna, IoEuropa (Oh, I have much in mind!), yeah…, CuTtErWiThAcAuSe, evilsangle, Cherry Jade, and MCD.

They call me sweetsnow: hehehe…were you clapping for me? Or for Speedy? Cause if you were clapping for Speedy, that was a sad attempt at getting him to live…anyway, hope I do not disappoint with the "awesomeness".

Raven1777: Thank you for your kind sentiment. It's just been a long hard road for me and now it has come to a heart wrenching conclusion. I really do appreciate the support. And thank you also for calling this a kick ass story! Though I do not think I'm a great writer, I do try to entertain!

TeenTitansObsessor: You are so cute. You really shouldn't worry so much. None of the reviews I've gotten from you are "stupid reviews". I always appreciate each and every one!

Now comes the somewhat long-awaited chapter for at least a few of you all. Yes, this is Rob/Rae and yes, there is SOME fluff, but you know me…I'm not much of a "fluff writer". I like to write it more "real", but don't get me wrong, I don't mind reading fluff, so I have tried my best to produce a tiny amount for y'all. I hope to not disappoint.

Disclaimer: Roses are red, (yes) Violets are blue, (yes) I do not own Teen Titans, -if I did, I would certainly tell you!

Birds of a Feather

Raven awoke with a headache to the sounds of quiet grunting at her feet. She lifted her head from the pillow of cloth that it had been resting on and looked down to see Robin putting the finishing touches on a bandage that he had wrapped around her ankle. "What are you…?" she started, but stopped as she began to feel woozy midway through her question. She started to faint, but Robin anticipated this and caught her head before she thumped into the floor.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy Raven. That's a bad bump you've got there already and I don't think you need another. Until we can figure out just how bad it is, you should just lie back down, alright?" Without even looking away from her, he laid her gently back on the makeshift pillow and smiled.

Raven was too tired and achy to argue so she allowed it to happen, but spoke once again when the spinning stopped, "Okay Wonder Boy, but answer me one thing…how the hell am I still alive? The last thing I remember is nothing but darkness and eminent death." Of course, even while she said these words –which would register fear on anyone else's face, her expression was one of near boredom.

"Oh you know me," Robin shrugged playfully as he tended to her other wounds, "always saving people from disastrous situations," he turned to raise his eyebrow and give her a half smile, "…even one's they create for themselves."

She chuckled a bit at her foolishness and sighed, "Fine, I get the point. But really, what happened?"

"I heard you call out to me so I tried to run to you, but slipped into the same chasm that you had inauspiciously found," He began to illustrate his story with large hand gestures (mostly as entertainment to lift her spirits, but it was useful anyway), "I could barely see as I plummeted to my doom, so I flicked out a flare-disk and I caught sight of you out of the corner of my eye. You weren't moving or screaming and I knew something was wrong so I had to think quickly to save both of our lives. Thank goodness I had these baby's with me!" he patted his grappling hooks, which were now resting on the floor inside his utility belt, "I shot one toward you then I shot one back into the cave, hoping that it would catch on something and luckily it did. The rest is really just a whirlwind."

Raven placed her hand on top of his now non-animated one, "Thank you Robin."

"No," he responded, "thank you."

She was rightly taken aback, "What?"

"Thank you."

"I heard that part," she rolled her eyes in frustration, "Why?"

He shifted his body so that he was leaning on one elbow and draping the other arm across her stomach, playing with a torn edge of her shirt. As he gave his reply, he looked directly into her eyes, "For trusting me to be there."

Raven's face flushed against her will, but she recovered quickly, "You know that I've always trusted you with my life Robin. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have asked you to be on the team."

"That's not exactly what I meant," Robin leaned closer turning her cheek delicately with his fingers. Her eyes closed as she felt her lips part instinctively, but before she became too caught up in the moment and before he could bring his lips to hers, Raven came to her senses and quickly changed the subject.

"So, wait a minute…what are we doing here?"

"Excuse me?" Robin questioned, too startled to regain his mental capacities quickly enough to come up with a better reply.

"I mean this place," she gestured around the room as much as she could in her condition, "I just noticed that we are lying on a thatched rug, on a wooden floor, next to a roaring fire."

"Oh, this?" he was fully prepared for a totally different question, but was pleasantly surprised at this, "After I dragged us out of the cave I found my way out the other side. You know, the opening you were headed for?" she gave him a threatening look so he moved on quickly, "Well, once I got out, I saw this shack. I checked it out and there was a distinct layer of dust on everything; no one had been in here in a while. So it seems that the island wasn't uninhabited at one point, but now it looks like it's just the two of us."

"Well, at least we don't have to sleep in a cave again tonight," Raven shrugged, looking on the bright side for once.

Robin chuckled, "Yeah, and guess what?"

Raven raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"There's a hammock in here as well. So I can get you up off the floor tonight!" he smiled as he stood, wiping the dust from his shirt.

"No really Robin, I'm pretty useless as it is. You might as well let me stay on the floor and then you can get some good rest so you can go out and gather things we'll need tomorrow," Raven stated seriously.

But Robin would have none of it. He held up his hand to quiet her speech. "Raven, I don't need it and you do. That's that. Besides," he started with a sigh, "You know I'd give it to you anyway and you know how stubborn I can be." He winked at her and moved to the door, "I'll just try to make another one for myself tomorrow. Right now, I'm gonna go get us some food cause goodness knows I'm starving!"

Even though she wanted to protest once again, Raven knew he was right. Instead, she grasped her now growling stomach, "Good idea." She looked around the room and then down at herself, "I guess I'll just wait here then."

"You'll do no such thing!" Robin protested, turning back. He bent down and easily scooped her up in his arms, "I've taken such 'pains' in making up your bed, you may as well rest there while I make dinner for you."

As he entered the bedroom, she looked at the hammock and smiled. He had placed a makeshift blanket on the bottom of it so that it would be more comfortable for her to sleep in. After he laid her down, he ran back to the living room and grabbed the "pillow" to place under her head. "You're too good to me," Raven spoke. She really did mean it. She didn't deserve such treatment after the hellish day she had put him through.

He closed his eyes, tilted his head down, and held his hand out which meant: "don't worry about it" and then he left.

Raven awoke from a drowsy sleep a while later to a fruity smell that wafted into her room. Robin came in seconds later holding a "plate" full of freshly cut assorted island fruits. "Sorry I didn't get any protein today," he said, placing the food on her lap, "I just wanted to get back here to you as quickly as possible. Tomorrow, I shall venture back to the ocean and see what sort of fish I can catch and grill us for supper." He seemed proud of himself and Raven and her growling stomach thanked him immensely.

After finishing what to Raven seemed to be the most delicious meal of her life, she looked over to see Robin dragging the thatched rug into the room with him. He set it perpendicular to the wall and sat down on it, shoving the remainders of Raven's cape behind his back before leaning against the wall. He interlaced his fingers behind his head and kicked one leg over the other. "So…how are things?" he said with a grin, obviously making light of their situation.

Raven picked up on the sarcasm and joined in, "Oh just splendid…and yourself?"

They both laughed and Robin began to ask Raven about her time on earth, mainly the time before she was a Titan as that was the time when Robin had not known her. Interestingly enough, she began to talk openly about it; she also went into how life was for her on Azarath as well as her life with the Titans. Having Robin to listen and actually be interested in what she was saying just made her feel even more like she was free from all of the emotional bonds that held her back in life. Someone was asking her about who she was -and for once, they cared to hear the answers.

When she was through and had answered all of his supplemental questions, Raven graciously lent Robin her shoulder to talk about his life and what caused him to become the man she saw sitting by her today. While listening, she realized that his life was as almost as complicated as hers, though in a different way. She had seen into his mind before, but that was mostly prying. It was different to hear the words come out of his mouth.

Before long, they were talking about a multitude of things from Robin's plans for a technological redo of the workout room, to Beast Boy's annoying antics. After a few hours and a couple of sore stomachs from laughing so hard, Robin spoke to Raven more seriously, "Rae, this morning, in the lagoon, I swear I didn't mean you any harm. I wasn't even planning for it to happen. I know how you think I feel about Starfire, but when I kissed you, I meant every feeling that I expressed and I think you sensed it too –even without your powers."

"Robin," she started…but as she turned to look down at him, she felt that something wasn't right. So she motioned him over to her, "Robin, come up here."

He looked shocked but did as he was told. Luckily there was ample room for him to climb into the hammock next to her. She turned to him and looked into his eyes, "I know you meant everything that you think you felt for me. But Robin, this isn't real. This isn't us. We're in a setting where you think that you have no other choice and you just gravitated to the only other person around. You know that there's no way that you could feel these things for me, and if we weren't here, this would never have happened."

"Raven, you're wrong," Robin protested, "You have no idea what I feel for you. You have no idea what I have felt for you before! You try to avoid me so much that you don't even have a clue! The only reason I was drawn to Starfire is because she has taken such an interest in me and evidently looks up to me for guidance -and it's nice to feel wanted. But I have always seen you as a kind of seductive temptress, also someone who can hold my interest and compliment me on many different levels. You fascinate me and I have wanted you from the day we met. You know, for being an empath, you sure don't know how to read me very well."

Raven's jaw just dropped and she touched her hand to her chest, "Maybe you're right. I just don't have enough talent to see what is right in front of my face." She looked down at the floor then back up at him, "You've always fascinated me as well. The way you handle things, the way you dive in headfirst with all of your emotions on your sleeve, or hold back and reserve emotional judgment. You have a kind soul, but drive enough to not let it overrule everything. It just pained me to see you teaching Starfire all of these things, even though I knew that she needed you more than I and that you had faith in me to begin with. And I've avoided you because every time I'm near you I have this odd feeling in my heart. It makes my emotions go haywire and I couldn't have that. So, I guess what I'm saying is, I've wanted to kiss you like that for the past year and a half that we've been together under the same roof. I just didn't know how to tell you."

Robin raised one eyebrow slyly, "You've been wanting to kiss me for a year and a half and now you only stop with one?" He placed an index finger under her chin and leaned toward her. He parted her lips with his, starting slow, but building up the emotion with every tantalizing moment.

They never broke from the kiss as the intensity built and a ripped and tattered piece of cloth marked with an 'R', was tossed to the ground.

Oooo! Sexy…I wonder what they're up to now?
Heh heh heh…

Well, only one chappie left…
Do you want to see the ending?

Then this time I'm making an addendum caviat:
I'm going to wait to post chapter 14 until I get at least 15 -maybe even 20- reviews…

That can't be too hard now can it? (maniacally evil laugh is heard)

Though I do not profess to be great, I do not profess to suck either.