Disclaimer: Characters do not belong to me. But I love 'em anyway.

Author's Notes: Sorry for the delay and I'm even more sorry that there will be another delay of about two or so weeks. I'm in a crunch spot at work. I apologize. But hang in there! Thanks for everything!


Flying Home

by Kristen Elizabeth


"Starfire?" Balancing a tray in one hand, Aqualad knocked on her door. "Starfire…I brought you some dinner. Are you hungry yet?"

There was no response. He tried again. "We're all going to watch a movie later. Feel up to it?"

At the end of the hallway, Raven watched her teammate unsuccessfully coax the Tamaranian girl out of her seclusion. She'd locked herself in her room without a word for over a week, ever since her return from wherever she'd gone to find Robin, and a somber silence had settled over the entire Tower. Thankfully they'd only been called out as a group once, and just the four of them had been enough to apprehend the culprit with ease. Starfire was in no condition to do any sort of fighting.

Raven shook her head. Their newest teammate was doing his best, but Starfire's misery was just too great. They could all feel it. The angst was palpable. Under other circumstances, she might have enjoyed the uncommon quiet. But not when her good friend was in such pain.

Reluctantly giving up, Aqualad set the tray down to the side of Starfire's door. "Please eat," he said with a sigh. "We're all worried about you. I'm worried about you."

He moved off a moment later and Raven stepped out of her hiding place in the shadows. It was time for an intervention. She picked up the abandoned tray of food and prepared herself.

"Azarath, metrion, zinthos."

Starfire was curled up on her circular bed, staring out her window at the dark city. Underneath her cheek, the bedspread was wet from her steady flow of tears. When Raven stepped through her locked bedroom door, she sat up, startled beyond belief.

"It's just me," Raven assured her.

"Friend Raven?" Her surprise melted into an uncharacteristic scowl. "I have never invaded upon your privacy. Why have you invaded upon mine?"

"Because you need it." She walked to the bed and handed her the tray. "Starving yourself isn't going to accomplish anything, except making you sick and weak."

Starfire sniffed. "I am not starving myself."

"Oh? What do you call refusing to eat for a week?"

She had no witty or sarcastic comeback. All Starfire did was drop her chin to her chest in shame. "I cannot imagine ever having an appetite again."

Raven sat on the far end of the bed. "What happened with Robin?"

"I will not talk about it." Starfire grabbed her pillow and curled herself around it, putting her back to the other girl. Suddenly, the pillow levitated and moved out of her grasp. With the sheer force of her mind, Raven dropped it on the floor, well out of range.

Starfire snapped. "Why are you doing this to me? Are we not friends? Do friends not respect each other's wishes?"

"We are friends. And I do respect your privacy...to a point. We've come to that point." Raven folded her arms. "You can't stay locked in here forever, wasting away. It's pointless. You're allowing your emotions to rule your actions, and nothing good can come out of that."

"I am not you. My emotions cannot hurt others."

There was a long pause. "That's true," Raven replied, a bit too evenly. "Actually, no. That's not true. Your emotions are hurting all of us. Or do you think we like seeing our friend like this?" She gestured to Starfire's disheveled state. "We are friends," she repeated. "And as such, I need to know what happened with Robin…so I can help you."

"You want to help me?" Starfire's voice was tiny and unsure. Raven lifted one shoulder, her affirmative response. "I thank you. But I do not think there is anything that you can do…to help." She burst into fresh tears. "Robin does not want me in his life. Nothing can change that."

Raven hesitated before she gingerly reached out and touched Starfire's shoulder. Finding this easier than she'd imagined, she awkwardly patted her friend. "Tell me what happened."


Millions of light years away, on a planet so newly colonized that it had yet to be named, Bruce Wayne lifted his head from his hands and checked the myriad of monitors spread out around him. Everything seemed all right…except nothing was all right.

The burning scent of alcohol was making his eyes water, he'd told everyone who'd asked, refusing to admit anything else might be responsible. He'd experienced death and injury and the relentless silence of unconsciousness many times before. Why should it affect him now? Just because the person hanging off the edge of life happened to be the closest thing to a son that he'd ever had?

Impossible.

At least, that's what he kept telling himself.

"Bruce?"

He didn't turn around to see who it was; he knew already. "Come in."

Wonder Woman, or just Diana, as she preferred to be called by her close friends, came up behind him and knelt down next to his chair. "How is he?"

"No change."

She looked at the young man hooked into so many machines, and lying so still. His skin was as pale as the starched white sheets; his hair, a shocking black against them both. She sighed and leaned her own dark head against Bruce's broad shoulder. "I'm so sorry."

"I told him to wait," Bruce said, dully. "But he wouldn't. He just…took off after them. Like he wanted to take the risk. Like he didn't care anymore. I just don't understand."

"Bruce, he's going to pull through this." She studied the caped crusader. Right then, he looked nothing like a dark vigilante. His face was that of a father, terrified for his son's life. "You brought him up; you trained him. He's a survivor."

Bruce shook his head. "I should have made him go back to his own team. If he'd gone back, he wouldn't be here like this."

"Are you going to blame yourself for every choice Robin makes?" she asked. "He's still very young. He's going to be making a lot more of them in the future, so you're looking at about five to ten more years of beating yourself up. Ballpark."

"He has this warped sense of duty to me." He stood up and began pacing across the infirmary room. "But he doesn't owe me, Diana. If anything, I owe him!" She stood up, but stayed silent to let him continue. It was a rare thing for Bruce Wayne to open up to anyone.

"He came into my life when I was perfectly content to lock myself up in my cave and forget about the rest of the world until I was called out. This little scrawny kid who had no one…he needed me. Not Batman, but me. He and Alfred kept me human."

Diana cleared her throat delicately. "Have you ever told him this?"

"I've tried." Bruce continued pacing. "He's set on repaying me for whatever it is he thinks I did for him, and nothing I say will change his mind. He's so goddamn stubborn!"

"Gee, I wonder where he got that from?"

He looked at her. "I have no idea." She coughed loudly, but then caught his eye and winked. Bruce stopped beside Robin's bed and looked down at his youthful partner. "He's a leader, not a sidekick. He belongs with his team. And I do better alone."

"I don't know about that." Diana approached him from behind and slid her arms around his stomach. Resting her cheek on his back, she smiled to herself. "We worked pretty well together in Fiji."

"That was different."

"Not if you see sex as the ultimate partnership."

Bruce pulled away from her. "This isn't the time or the place."

"When is it ever the right time or place to talk with you about something emotional?" she sighed. "I'll let it go for now, but let's not forget that those Itrandian rebels are probably just regrouping for a new attack. Next time, it could be me knocked out by one of their blasters…me lying right where Robin is."

He rounded on her, grabbing her slender shoulders with force that would have bruised a normal woman. "Don't even talk like that."

"Well, what would you do if it was?"

"I…" Bruce stopped. "I don't know," he finally admitted. "I don't even want to think about it.

Looking up in his eyes, Diana relaxed her defenses. He was the most complicated of men, but for some reason, she was drawn to him. And when he looked at her with such raw emotion, emotion that he might never be able to vocalize, but was always there, her inner Amazon melted.

"Bruce, when he wakes up, tell him everything. Make him go back to the life he wants." She reached up and cupped his face, rugged with three days of stubble. "You won't slip back into your cave. I won't let you."

His forehead dropped to her collar and she could have sworn she felt the warmth of a stray tear.

'Alcohol stinging his eyes, my ass,' she thought, triumphantly.


"So she left," Raven concluded her retelling of Starfire's story. "What else could she do?"

Beast Boy shook his head. "Man, what is Robin's deal?" He looked at the other two Titans gathered around Raven. "I think I speak for any decent guy when I say, you just don't do that to a girl. Especially not after…um…" A faint blush colored his already oddly colored cheeks. "…you know. Right?"

"For once, I gotta agree with BB," Cyborg said. "Robin's really losing it."

"He's gone too far." Pressing the tips of his fingers together so hard that they turned white, Aqualad's tone was dark. "He's hurt her one too many times. The next time I see that bastard…"

Raven arched one eyebrow at him. "Starfire doesn't need a knight in shining armor."

"What does she need?" Beast Boy asked. "Whatever it is, we'll do it for her."

"In a heartbeat," Aqualad added.

"She needs…" Raven began.

"To go back to Tamaran," Starfire finished, entering the spacious common room and startling them all. She didn't appear to mind that they'd been talking about her personal life, if she'd even taken note of their conversation. Her eyes were glassy, but her resolve was firm.

"I want to go home."


To Be Continued

A/N: Hehehe...been watching too much Justice League Unlimited. I loves me some Batman and Wonder Woman;)