Authoress' Notes: Here it is, the long-awaited third chapter of Return to Gotham! Sorry it took so long, but hopefully it's up to standards. By the way, I finally set the time period this story takes place in, which would be after the fifth season, but before "Things Change", most because Terra would majorly complicate things. Anyways, sorry about the Kid Flash/Jinx drabble, I couldn't resist. Read, review, and with any luck, enjoy.

Return to Gotham

Chapter 3: The Long Road Ahead

"Thanks you two. Sorry this was such short notice . . ." Robin began, the Titans grouped outside the tower near the T-ship.

Jinx interrupted. "Don't worry about it. With him as partner, everything is short notice."

"Aww, comm'on Jinx, I'm not that bad." Kid Flash grinned. The bad luck witch looked away, a rosy tinge to her cheeks. Stupid Kid Flash and his stupid grin. One of these days she would kiss-kill him. Yes, kill. She meant kill, really.

"Just don't go in my room." Raven added ominously.

"Sure thing." Kid Flash nodded. The consequences looked at the least very painful. Besides, he had better things to do, like trying to ask Jinx out to dinner without tripping over his own tongue.

"Bye!" Jinx waved to the departing Titans.

"Shall we start patrolling? I remember most of the hotspots for crime around town." Well, that and Robin had left him a detailed map of Jump City, but he could have remembered on his own.

"Let's go then." Jinx walked over with a faux-resigned sigh. She loved patrolling or rather how they managed it. But it was really just the patrolling. Denial was only a river in Egypt . . .

Kid Flash swept her up in his arms and took off, Jump City spread out before them in the glow of the first morning sun.

— T-ship —

"Ah man, did we have to go this early? Most villains aren't even up by now." Which was true, but mentioning this to Robin probably wasn't the most intelligent idea ever.

"Beast Boy . . ." Robin growled.

"Enough! We haven't even been in the air five minutes and you're already snipping at each other. Now sit down and shut up." Raven said forcefully, if monotone. At this rate, she'd never find out what happened to the sorceress and her knight . . . Letting the dark barrier between the two boys fall, she returned to page 197 and started again with an exasperated sigh.

Beast Boy pouted. All he had done was made an offhand comment and Robin blew up, which in turn interrupted Raven, who got mad at them both. His ears drooped. Pissing her off on purpose was one thing, but this . . . "Rae?"

"Raven." He winced. Way to go Beast Boy, piss her off more while trying to apologize. Only he could do something like that.

"I'm, uh, sorry. For interrupting you and all, so, uh," he went on hurriedly, " I wasn't, um, thinking 'cause it's early and uh, forgive me?" Beast Boy could have sworn he heard a mumbled "Thus assuming you think at all . . ." before he heard the words he so desperately wanted.

"I forgive you. Now let me get back to my book." Smiling with satisfaction, Beast boy grabbed his portable game and sat back. High score, get ready for the Beast Man . . .

Cyborg sighed. Three hours to Gotham and no one was dead yet. At least Starfire was keeping her cool . . .

"Robin, who is this man of bats we are helping?" Starfire innocently enquired. Robin mentally chuckled. Man of bats? Star was hilarious and she wasn't even trying.

"Um, the best way to put it is that he taught me to be a super hero. All the gadgets and martial arts and stuff I use I learned from him, except the acrobatics."

"Please, where did you learn these 'acrobatics'?"

"Later Star. In the mean time, how's Silky been?" The little thing was kina cute . . .

"Oh dear. I forgot to tell friend Jinx and friend Kid Flash about Silky." Identical looks of horror I their eyes, each reached for their communicators. They had to tell them before they found the little worm.

— Titans Tower —

"Wally! There's a thing in here!" Jinx screamed.

"What?" Kid Flash was confused. What thing? Doze off for five minutes and suddenly you have no idea what's going on.

"The worm!" Jinx's obviously mortal peril was interrupted by the tower computer as they listened to Starfire's frantic explanations. Her pet? The partners exchanged a look and simultaneously agreed the Tamaranean was perfect for Robin. They were both completely nuts.

— T-ship —

"Thank goodness Silky is now safe. I hope friend Jinx remembers to rub his belly after she feeds him. He is rather prone to aches of the stomach." Starfire bit her lip. She should have brought Silky with them. She was such a terrible glnorfka . . .

"It'll be fine Star. Jinx'll take good care of him. You know, even the best, um, gorfna needs a break." Starfire tried in vain to hold back her giggles. Gorfna? She was relatively certain the correct Earth term for him was 'cute'. It was very 'sweet' of him to try to use her language, even if he had completely mangled it. The point was that he tried. She wondered vaguely; she had gained his Earthen language with a 'kiss', Raven had called it. Could Robin learn her language like that as well?

"Robin, how do humans learn a different language?"

"Well, we study it for a long time and use it as much as we can so we remember it." Robin explained patiently. He couldn't help being curious though. Why would she want to know that?

"Would you like to perhaps learn Tamaranean Robin?" So that was why . . .

"Sure Star. Where do I start?"

"We must first start with greetings."

Cyborg smiled. Robin and Starfire were occupied with languages, Beast Boy was celebrating his recent high score, and Raven had just polished off at least a hundred pages. Everything was good for now, even the sky was clear. He had a bad feeling though. Something just wasn't right. He couldn't quite put his finger on it though.

Mentally shrugging, he sighed. If push came to shove, they would fight and they would win. He'd heard rumors about this Joker guy, bad ones. Insane with no morals, the worst kind of villain. No way he was going to let this guy hurt his siblings. The Titans were his brothers and sisters and if someone wanted intended to take them from him, they would have to get through him first.

— 3 Hours Later —

"Here we are team. Gotham City."

Disclaimer: If I owned Teen Titans, they would not be cancelling season six, which I realize is the network's fault, but still!

Authoress' Notes: Cyborg is taking on a more serious role, while Kid Flash and Jinx may show up later during the darker moments for a bit of much-needed fluff and comic relief with Silky. I'm starting to get inspiration for this story again, so with any luck, I'll right a little faster now that I'm excited about it again. An update to "Behind Closed Doors" is in the works this month. All hail the Rae/BB goodness! See ya minna-san!

Sword of Romance