So... this has been done for about a week, but I held off posting it because I wanted to see if something better came to mind. No such luck :( But, still, it's something. Thanks to KittyKatMeow-Chan for being the great, faithful beta. Everyone, give her a hand!

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes and holiday cheer. Hope you're all having a great new year, since we're about through the first month. I didn't make a resolution, but I suppose that's good, because now I can't fail it, right? Heehee. Have fun.

Long after her friends had left, Raven continued to sit in that corner, contemplating the information she had accidentally received. Should she confront him? Should she try talking to Star herself?

She looked at the Faulkner in her lap, still very interested in its contents. Idly, she opened it and began skimming the pages, taking in the words but letting her mind dwell on other matters.

Down the hallway, Cyborg and Starfire walked together, continuing conversation, but on different topics. Cyborg had mentioned something about being hungry, and Starfire had begun to rattle on about traditional puddings. He tuned her out and waited for her lips to stop moving, then started telling her about fruit smoothies. Their feet carried them towards the kitchen.

Beast Boy was uncrumpling a certain paper, then carefully folding it, and adding it to his wastebasket. He logged onto his computer and his homepage popped up. He began writing a blog, under the alias MunsterBoy. He was pretty sure no one knew who he actually was… since all he ever did was whine about girls. He hadn't been on in quite a while, the last time was a futile lament about losing his 'Rock Skipper.'

Robin was in his room, looking for a list he'd been working on. He hoped it hadn't fallen in his trash, since he was pretty sure it'd been emptied out recently. His computer notified him that Beast Boy was blogging again. Robin shook his head and smiled, watching as words appeared on the screen. The intention was to make sure his teammate didn't post any information that could get him or any of the other Titans in trouble. He was amazed by how normal Beast Boy managed to seem, though angsty.

Then something happened, something that hadn't happened in quite some time. There was an obnoxious, blaring tone. There were flashing red lights. On Robin's screen, there now appeared something new. Trouble in Jump City. The alarm was sounding. Robin quickly assessed the description of the danger that had been sent to him.

"Titans! Go!" He ran out into the corridor, whipping out his communicator. "Beast Boy, Cyborg, Starfire, Raven! On the ready! The City needs our help!"

It had been a fair battle. The crooks were trying to make off with a shipment of crude oil. They'd had weapons they shouldn't have, but the Titans had powers others didn't. Raven had been placed on defense the entire battle, protecting the highly flammable cargo as much from Photon cannons and Star bolts as stray bullets.

The threat was eventually neutralized, and the city was safe again. Sweaty and showing signs of the struggle, the Titans waved off a few onlookers. Starfire lagged behind to sign a few autographs for the sailors. Raven elected to ride in the T-Car back to the tower.

Once home, a small celebration ensued. There were coke floats and fruit smoothies all around. Cyborg was instructing Starfire at the blender, and Robin was loading parfait glasses with soda and vanilla ice cream. Beast Boy was packing his own glass with a soy based alternative. Raven was sitting on the couch, facing backwards, watching her friends. Robin noticed her all by herself, and loaded a tray precariously with floats and headed in her direction.

"Root beer, or cola?" He flashed her a crooked grin. "Or both, but… actually, I can't tell them apart, now, so…"

"Thank you, Robin." She gingerly removed one from the tray. He moved around the couch and set the tray on the table before sitting next to her.

He began spooning out the ice cream as she slowly drank the creamy soda from the straw. They watched their teammates making a general disaster of the kitchen. Raven's eyes began to droop, but she sat straight back and emitted an aura of alertness still. She took another drag from the straw and noticed her leader staring now in her direction.

"It's Cola." She then started to eat the ice cream.

"Are you ok, Raven?"

"Yes… I…" She mulled over what she had just accidentally learned prior to the alarm going off. While fighting, all that had seemed to vanish, and they were all just soldiers, home relations set aside. Now it was settling in on her like a ton of bricks. She avoided meeting his gaze.

There he was, sitting not two feet away from her. She loved him, and he loved her. How does one in love behave? Does he know how she feels? Raven cleared her throat and decided not to read too much into anything, at this point. Right now, he was just her leader, he was just her friend, and they were just two people sitting together enjoying some cold treats after putting away some terrorists.

"We haven't had this in a while. It's good to be able to celebrate. As much as crime is terrible, it did serve pretty well to break up the monotony that had fallen on the tower, right Raven?"

"That it did." She began to sip the very last of the soda from the bottom of her cup.

The three other Titans eventually joined them on the couch. Cyborg popped in a movie and they began to settle down for the evening. Raven stubbornly refused to let her eyes close, though she was quite tired and the proximity of the Boy Wonder was warming her in the most blanket-like sort of way. Eventually, though, they all went to bed, and she could set about cleaning the kitchen before anything became too dried on.

A little sapped of energy from the battle, she did all the lifting and moving by hand. She cleaned the blender, and had set all the cups to soak in soapy water before transferring them to the dishwasher. She began to wipe down the table when she felt a chair conveniently behind her legs. Sitting for a moment couldn't hurt… no, it wouldn't hurt… she just… a moment… Azarath… Metri…on…Zzzzz….

"So, this was your secret?" There was a voice in the darkness. She knew it was Robin's, but what would he be doing in her room?

Wait… her pillow wasn't this hard, nor did it smell like lilacs. Oh no, and the darkness was just the backs of her eyelids.

Raven peeled her face from the kitchen table. Her arm was outstretched, a sponge in her hand. She hadn't showered after the battle.

"M-my secret?"

"I had my suspicions… how long have you been doing this? And why?"

She slowly sat up, working out stiff muscles and limbs. "Robin, I'm a little off my game, today. What is it you're talking about?"

He took the sponge from her hand and sat down beside her. "Give me some credit, I'm a detective. You don't have to be so coy about it
with me. I know, now, and nothing's going to change that. You've been doing all our cleaning. Picking up after we go to sleep, or when we leave the room. I thought we were just a really 'with-it' bunch of teenagers, but it's you…"

Raven sat silent and still, a little embarrassed to be put on the spot like this. It was true, there would be no hiding it from him, now. "It's not what you think… I'm not so humble as to consider myself beneath all of you."

"Well, that's good to hear," considering how I've put you up on a pedestal already. "So, why have you been doing this?"

She weighed her answer carefully. "I care about you. All of you. It's the least I can do… to show my appreciation… to protect you all. I didn't want anyone to know."

"How does all this cleaning protect us?"

"All the germs that could infect you, all the things you could trip on, and relieving you each of one more burden. Just fewer things in your lives to trouble you. A little help to get by."

"I… don't understand. We're all grown enough and fully capable of doing these things ourselves. Why didn't you tell anyone about it? Wouldn't you like to hear praise for your good work?"

"Robin, that's selfish. If you do something just to hear your praises, it's no longer a selfless act, it's a means to an end. By not telling anyone, it stayed that, simply that, a nice thing to do… for my friends… my family…"

Robin looked at the purple-haired half-demon sitting beside him. He considered her statements. He considered where she'd come from. She'd been raised in a temple in a rather monkish atmosphere. She'd been taught to subdue her emotions, something the Titans were trying to undo. With this in mind, it made sense that the best way to show appreciation or love was through servitude.

"Oh, Raven…" He got up and pulled her up out of her chair and into a hug. "I get it… I understand, but you really don't have to. We love you anyway! We're equals, we share these responsibilities, and you don't have to… mother us. But thank you."

Raven stiffened in his arms, not sure of how to react. Would it be too much to hug him back? Would she lose control? While she was concentrating on how her arms should behave, her mouth took off on its own.

"I love you, too, Robin." His grip on her tightened almost imperceptibly. All previous conversation had been lost to him. Fearing the worst, she tried to recover. "I love all the Titans. You're my family."

A feeling of disappointment washed over Robin. He'd thought… thought that… but of course not. He collected himself and pulled back to attempt talking this out.

"So… er, what exactly have you been doing for us that we've taken for granted, and for how long?" There was still a slight tint to his cheeks.

Raven chewed her bottom lip, regretting slightly turning the situation like she had. But she continued on, ignoring every impulse to break off and wrap her arms around him. Ignoring every emotion speaking to the back of her mind, telling her how wrong she was for what she'd said. She told her leader when she'd taken to early morning cleaning, she told him everything she'd been doing. The latter he began to write down so he could divide it up amongst the five Titans. Raven reached out and put her hand on his notepad.

"Please… don't. Be more mindful that the others complete the chores already assigned them. I am a creature of habit. Don't make me change my ways."

Robin saw she was sincere. He tore the page out of the notebook and handed it to her. "But you have to promise you're going to let up, maybe let me take over a few things?"

"Like scrubbing the toilets?" She cocked an eyebrow.

"I was thinking more like maintaining the gym equipment." They chuckled together, the tension finally breaking. "What do you say we go
out for breakfast?"

"The others won't be up for at least another hour—"

"Just you and me, let them sleep."

"Ok… but I haven't showered." She brought her arms close to her body self consciously.

"You've got 10 minutes." He pulled out a watch. "I'm timing you, you'd better hurry."

Raven rose from her chair and swaggered out of the kitchen. "Uh-huh, try and rush me, Boy Blunder. See how far that gets you. I know you won't leave without me."

Robin sat back in his chair and laughed softly. When she's right, she's right.

5 am and they were at Raven's favorite tea house. They enjoyed some locally baked goods. They mostly just enjoyed the changing light in the sky and the sounds of the city waking up.

"Hey Raven?"

"Yes, Robin?"

"Thanks for keeping a shield up by the crude oil during the battle yesterday. It really helped the team to not have to worry about it exploding from their fire."

She smiled at him knowingly over her warm mug. This was a good moment.

"Hey Robin?"

"Yes, Raven?"

"I know that you like me in a more than 'just friends' sort of way."

"I love you, Raven."

"I love you, too, Robin."

The End? Whaaa, it's over already? Yeah, it seems so. It feels sort of... weird, almost like I didn't do it right. But, this is it. Unless, of course, I do an epilogue. I've been working on a multi-chapter high school setting fic. I know there are plenty of those, but, um, I don't know, I'm a sucker for my own stories. Well, if you would like to beta/preview a chapter of that, email me-- been fun, and I've appreciated all the great reviews. Thanks to everyone!