Disclaimer: I officially declare I do not own Teen Titans, which is owned by DC Comics and Cartoon Network, so no suing me please! (BTW, Anyone want to loan me a few billion so that I can purchase TT? I promise to pay you back in maybe a 100 years time…)

Author's Note: Hi everybody! Finally, I've managed to type out the second chapter of this fic! First and foremost, thanks to everyone who reviewed, especially evilevergreen for her pointers, help and encouragement, kudos to you! Somebody asked when the Aqualad/Bee fluff will start, sorry I can't remember who, well this chapter does contain some of it (librastar starts to throw up cookies, I seem to be throwing them up everytime I read a pairing I don't like )). Since this is a challenge fic, I have no choice so all fans of this pairing, enjoy. Also, since it took me sooo much heroic effort to type the (cough) fluff out, please review! That's all for now, read on!

I Can Fly!

Aqualad shone his torch on the wall immediately but there was not even a hint of a shadow there. He scratched his head, perplexed. Was he dreaming? No, he couldn't be! But…it was gone…it looked like wings so maybe it flew up? He glanced towards the ceiling, but there was nothing there at all.

Suddenly, Speedy grabbed Aqualad's shoulder. "Hide!" he whispered. "Someone's coming!" They extinguished their torches and fled into a dark corner. Sounds of distinct footsteps could be heard, and presently someone came into view. The boys held their breath. Was it Blood? As the seconds passed and the footsteps drew nearer, both boys felt their pulse rate elevate.

The mysterious person came into view and Aqualad let out a relieved sigh. It was only a student. The boy walked quickly along the dark corridor, unaware and oblivious of the two nighttime prowlers hiding in some shadowy corner, poised to pounce on him at any moment if they wished. Fearful that the stranger should sense their presence, Aqualad shrank back in his corner as the stranger neared them. Thankfully, he walked straight on and turned left towards the toilet. As the sound of his footsteps died away to nothing, the two boys ventured out of their hiding places, breathing deeply.

"Close call," whispered Aqualad. His companion nodded. They lit their torches again, and prowled silently along the dark corridors, their torches softly illuminating every door that they passed. Finally, they reached the padlocked door.

"Okay, how're we going to break the locks?" asked Speedy. Aqualad shrugged. "I'll freeze them." He froze the locks, then Speedy quietly chipped them till the broke. The "ice" padlocks fell to the floor and smashed into a dozen pieces. The door swung open and the duo rushed in quickly, lest someone should come.

The room was dark, but their torches illuminated the room, and the boys played their beams along the walls of the room. Speedy cursed. This wasn't Blood's laboratory! It was a storeroom for books! The door must have been padlocked to stop students sneaking in to steal the spell books!

"Man, did we ever bungle this whole sleuthing thing," the archer groaned, as his boot kicked a dusty pile of books untitled 'The History of HIVE'. "Oow!"

"Robin's gonna kill us…"he mumbled. Aqualad muttered something unintelligible. Dejected, they went out of the room. "I'm tired, let's go to bed now. We can investigate more tomorrow night," mumbled the Atlantis teenager, covering his mouth as he yawned. As they were walking, Speedy suddenly stopped.

"What?" yawned Aqualad. "Why're you stopping?"

Speedy looked seriously at him. "Dude, we didn't lock back the door."

He yawned again. "So? Go and lock it back again then."

The archer looked worried. "We can't. You froze the locks, and I broke them. The locks are currently pieces of icicles lying on the floor." Aqualad's hand stopped midway stifling a huge yawn. His expression turned pale.

"God, what are we going to do!" he asked, shaking the other boy. "Speedy, what are we gonna DO!"

"Sshh!" The archer clamped his hand over Aqualad's mouth. "We'll just have to leave it. We can't do anything about it. Hopefully Blood will just think some students broke in to steal some books," he said. Aqualad sighed. "I hope you're right."

In a dark corner, a pair of eyes silently watched their every movement, from the breaking of the locks to the investigation of the room right until they went back to their dormitories. The owner of the eyes chuckled silently at Speedy's comment about the theft of spellbooks.

"That's what you think my friend," he hissed softly. "But I know more than you think I do…."

The next day was Saturday, so there were no lessons and the two boys had the whole day free. It was a nice day, so they decided to go to the park nearby to take a stroll before calling Robin.

They walked there, and found it crowded with people, especially young children playing in the playground. They strolled along the grassy path, enjoying the crisp, cool air and the greenery which was a welcome change from the dreary lessons at the HIVE.

As they passed by a majestic oak tree, they spotted a dark girl sitting on top of one of its thick branches, playing with some birds who had their nest there. Aqualad smiled as he recognized her as Karen. She fed them some things presumably bird seed which they pecked daintily from her hand without any fear or doubt.

"Karen!" he called, waving one hand at her. "Hey, KAREN!"

The girl looked down from her perch, and upon spying him, waved back. She spread her shiny gossamer wings and Aqualad looked in awe and envy as she landed gently on the ground. She bounded over to them and smiled.

"Nice landing," commented Aqualad, laughing. She laughed gaily, and said, "I've had lots of practice in flying, and besides, I hate a crash landing!" The two of them laughed together. Then Aqualad remembered the archer.

"Oh hey Karen, this is my friend, Roy. Roy, this is Karen," he introduced. "Roy Harper, I'm from Star City," he said, shaking her hand firmly. She nodded. "Karen Beecher, but Bee's fine. Wanna take a walk?" she asked them. Aqualad nodded, but Speedy had just spotted a group of teenage girls walking towards them. "Nah, you go ahead, I got work to do." The archer strode towards them, his hands smoothing down his carrot hair. "Hello ladies!" they heard him say. With that, he promptly began flirting with them. Bee looked questioningly at Aqualad, who merely shrugged his shoulders, smiling. "Shall we?"

They strolled along the path, chatting lightly about things concerning HIVE when they stopped to look at a few sparrows flying overhead. The five of them soared gracefully above their heads and flew away somewhere.

"It must be nice to fly," he said wistfully. She merely smiled. "When I was a little boy, one of my most precious daydreams was that I could one day fly like Superman. I would spend hours imagining what everything would look like from underneath the clouds, and sometimes I could even feel the roaring of the wind behind me as I soared in the sky," he confessed, blushing a little.

Flashback

Wheeeeeeee!

The little boy soared into the air, stretching out his arms to touch the clouds, and pieces of cotton wool came of in his hands. "It's great!"

The birds flew alongside him, surrounding him like his personal entourage in the air. He glanced below him, where the towns and cities of the world lay spread out below like a map. He passed dainty doll-like houses and sky-scrapers which had seemed so magnificent down below, but seemed so miniature now. The people down below seemed like only specks of black. He flew over peppermint-sheet fields, blueberry sorbet rivers and shiny grey cities.

The wind whipped and whistled all around him, and the little boy wished that he could stay that way forever.

End flashback

Swimming was fun, but it just wasn't the same. He had been swimming his whole life, he had always wanted to try something new.

Bee smiled even more. "Flying is truly a wonderful thing. I should know, for I was born with wings, like a bird."

He grinned. "So, tell me what it's like to fly?"

She looked a little startled, then replied, " What it's like to…it's like experiencing your first kiss over and over. The feeling is so…exhilarating, you'll never want to let it go. When I fly, I always feel that I would never trade that feeling of being up in the air for anything."

Flying is only part of that. The minute I spread my wings in the air, I knew that I had been born to fly. Racing along in the air at sixty kilometers an hour, the wind whipping my hair, that feeling of exhilaration, being above everyone else…you can feel so peaceful but at the same time a thrill of adrenaline pumping in your veins.

Aqualad was silent for a while. "Sounds great," he finally said. They walked again for a while, then Bumblebee turned to him, grinning. "How about some flying lessons right now?" she asked, a wicked glint in her eye.

"Huh?" he said. "Wait, I don't have wings!"

"You don't need them," she replied, the wicked look getting even more pronounced.

" Hey, what do you mean I don't need win…AAAAAHHHHH!" Aqualad yelled loudly as Bee caught hold of him, spread her wings and zoomed up into the air. "AAAAAHHHHH!"

"Hang on tight, we're going to break the birds' speed limit!" she cried, as they flew into the air, zooming past everything at a tremendously fast pace. Bee flapped her wings as fast as she could, and soon the clouds rushed past them in the sky and the wind was only a howling noise behind them. Their surroundings passed in a blur of colour as she flew companionably with the birds in the air. Pretty soon, Aqualad opened his eyes and looked in wonder around him.

"We're really in the air!" he said delightedly. "Man, is this real?"

She poked him. "Of course it is, I wouldn't be in your dreams would I?"

Aqualad grinned. Actually, you are…

Flashback

The setting: Beach, during sunset.

Aqualad and Bee were sitting side by side on the gleaming white sand, enjoying the sea breeze and the flaming red, pink and orange of the setting sun.

Aqualad put his arm around her and she snuggled into him. "Bee? I love you," he said. She kissed him on the cheek. "I love you too Garth…"

End flashback

Talk about embarrassing but yet sweet dreams. If only I had them more often.

He dismissed the memory of yesterday's dream from his mind's eye and focused on his surroundings. He sucked in a deep breath of the air, which was pure and fresh, as it was so high up and thus free from pollution. Closing his eyes, he savoured the feeling of excitement and exhilaration he felt in his present condition, the excitement of his childhood dream come true. He was also dimly aware of her hands gripping his shirt as she held him suspended in mid-air, rushing at 100 kilometres an hour.

The two of them flew on and on into the seemingly endless stretch of blue sky. But all good things must come to an end, and the ride ended too soon for Aqualad. Regretfully, he set his feet back on firm ground again, his heart still throbbing quickly in his chest.

"Whoa," he commented to Bee. "That sure was fun!" She smiled. "Glad you liked it," she replied. He smiled. "Thanks, really. You made an outgrown childhood dream come true." She only smiled in return, making his pulse race a little faster as he looked at her.

He cleared his throat. "Hey look, if you're not doing anything tonight, maybe you and I could…" "Yes?" asked Bee, looking intently at him. "He blushed. "Maybe we could go…"

Precisely at that moment, Speedy landed in a crumpled heap at their feet. They both jumped back, surprised. "What the…?" cursed Aqualad.

"And stay there, you disgusting pervert!" screamed a blond haired girl, who was standing a few feet away from them and was obviously the perpetrator of Speedy's current condition.

The archer groaned. "What did you do now?" asked Aqualad, looking down at the bruise on his head, and silently cursing that Speedy had to make his dramatic entrance at that moment. Speedy shrugged. "I just used some pick up line on her, but it obviously rubbed her the wrong way," he said, rubbing the bruise. "Ooww…it feels nasty…"

"Yeah, it is," agreed Aqualad. "It looks nasty too!" Speedy's bruise was dark purple and swollen. He shook his head disapprovingly. "Roy, you already have a girlfriend," he chided, referring to Terra, Roy's girlfriend who was currently at Titan's West Tower presumably fighting crime in Jump City.

He whined, "Can't a guy have some fun?"

Bee laughed. "Well, you'd better get back to school to attend to that cut. I'll see you guys later okay?"

They nodded. "See you!" called Aqualad.

"You can count on it," called back Bee, as she walked towards the playground.

You can count on it….Aqualad mused as he walked back to the HIVE. I hope she really means it…

Meanwhile, in Titan's West Tower, at the same time Aqualad was having his joy ride, Terra and Starfire were experimenting making cookies, Raven was meditating, and BB, Cyborg and Robin were sparring when suddenly the computer beeped, announcing trouble somewhere in Jump City.

Robin ran to the computer, and read what was on the screen.

"Security breach? At the Jump City Laboratories?" he asked in surprise. He turned to the other Titans who were clustered around him. "Sounds like some chemical theft to me," he commented, frowning a little. "So we'd better watch it."

He checked the computer again. "The Radioactive Department." "Looks like we're dealing with some nuclear stuff," put in Terra. The others nodded. "Is it Slade?" asked BB. He shook his head.

"The surveillance camera recorded three figures sneaking into the labs a few minutes ago. They headed straight for the Radioactive Department. Slade normally works alone and besides, he's in jail," the boy wonder replied.

"Well, whoever it is," said Cyborg. "He better get ready for the fight of his life."

Robin grinned. "You bet. TITANS, GO!"

Author's Note: Who are the mysterious thieves? And what do they want from the lab? Does Bee seem to return Aqualad's feelings? Find out next time when I post up Chapter 3, so please R n R!