A/N: Standard Disclaimers Apply

Chapter Five: Ice Breakers

Starfire looked around the common room and sighed. Raven and Jinx drifted to opposite ends of the room. The pale witch had her book out, again, and the pink-haired sorceress looked around as if she didn't know why she came. Bumble Bee stretched out on the sofa and thumbed the remote while Argent went scrounging through the kitchen. The willowy girl scowled slightly. She wanted everyone to laugh and talk and finally bond, but the common room was almost eerily silent.

"Nice party, Kory," Donna said, sidling up to her.

Starfire drooped her head and said at barely a whisper, "Is it? No one seems to be enjoying themselves."

Donna smiled, "Well, a certain set of stimuli did just walk out the door, hon. It's okay."

"A certain…? Oh! The boys! Yes, they are high energy are they not?" Starfire's mood brightened considerably. "Perhaps it is time we should order the pizza!"

Wonder Girl agreed. "Exactly. Extra cheese, black olives, Canadian bacon and tomato on mine."

"I will try to remember," Star said.

"Um, we are on an island, how do you think they're going to deliver?" Jinx said joining the conversation.

"I shall order the pick up. The pizza establishment knows our number and can specially package our order to stay warm through the flight home," Star explained.

"Star, love," Argent chimed in, "it's your party, one of use should go instead."

A rolling, raspy voice said, "I'll go. If anyone can get the food here fastest, it's me."

The girls turned to see Raven, book closed, standing just outside their circle. Starfire smiled brightly and hugged her best friend, again, and pulled her into the group. "Thank you, Raven!" Star exclaimed merrily.

"You're hugging me," Raven complained half-heartedly, and the girls giggled.

…..

"Okay, Boss Man, what's the deal? Bowling? Pool? Kicking your butt on the basketball court again?"

Robin turned to Speedy and grinned bemusedly, "We're going to the docks."

"The docks?" Beast Boy complained. "The docks? Dude, we left five of the cutest girls I've ever seen, and Raven, to go mucking around on the docks? Where are your priorities?"

"Man, did you even see the girls?" Cyborg said, poking his small friend in the ribs with his elbow. "All I saw was you on the Gamestation looking up a dolphin's butt!"

"It was Reverb the Porpoise," BB countered. "One of the highest rated games ever…"

"Whatever, I'm sure there's a reason," Aqualad cut in. "Right, Robin?"

Robin narrowed his eyes. "Exactly."

The leader of the Titans briefed the others on the mission. They each had assigned areas and profiles. Beast Boy was to become a hound with Speedy for back up. Aqualad was to take to the water, Cyborg was to set up Command and Control at Warehouse Forty One, while Robin took reconnaissance.

"So, when we find the cache…?" Cy started.

"We don't make a move until we can bust them all," Robin ordered.

…..

Jinx took up the challenge of gathering the disparate pizza orders and phone it in. No one could agree on one or two pizzas, so, typically, it was going to be a smorgasbord. Donna had her order, Raven wanted spinach, Star wanted everything, literally, Bee didn't want pizza at all, but ordered pasta with no cheese instead, Argent ordered pepperoni, and Jinx really didn't care. She scowled as she waited in the hell-of-being-on-hold.

"You'd think that when Titans Tower shows up on your Caller ID, you'd pick up faster," she said coolly.

"You'd think," Raven agreed.

Donna smiled to herself. She sat on the sofa and started channel surfing with Bee.

Starfire walked up quietly, "Donna, why did you refer to Robin as 'Short pants' when you arrived?"

"You've never seen his first costume?" Donna said a wide grin spreading across her face. "Oh, honey, you're going to howl."

Donna retrieved her purse and fumbled through the contents. She blurted out an "Aha!" as she found her wallet. She opened it quickly, pulled out a small photograph, and passed it around. There were two boys and a girl, all about thirteen. The boy in the back was obviously Kid Flash; his costume hadn't changed, although he grew out of some of his freckles. The three kids were all laughing and Kid Flash held bunny ears over the other two. The dark haired girl with the long ponytail in the foreground was obviously Donna, but her red and gold eagle motif halter-top clinged flatly against her chest. She was standing a little to close to the other boy for Star's liking. It was Robin. Wirier, if that was possible, wearing a bright red tunic, yellow cape with a collar, green trunks, bare legs, and slicked down hair. His costume, as all theirs did, seemed a size too large.

Bee, and Argent could barely contain their giggles, and Donna had to admit her awkwardness and played off her own costume choices. "We were kids, what did we know?"

Starfire didn't get the humor. It was absolutely natural for anyone to go through a period where they looked silly.

Raven couldn't help but smile. She felt the fun, anticipation, and camaraderie between the three. The pale witch turned the picture over. Written on the back in blue, ballpoint ink was the date, almost four years ago, and the title "The Teen Titans."

"Who took the picture?" she droned before handing it back to Wonder Girl.

"Wah..." Donna glanced around quickly and corrected herself, "KF's uncle. I think that was, like, one of the few times we actually got together, so the Flash wanted to make a big deal about it. There was a big write up in the Daily Planet that just came out about this new breed of young hero (my foster mother cut it all out and scrapbooked the thing.) This whole series: Kid Flash, Speedy, Robin, and me. You know: pictures, sightings, and commentary. It was so cool. They didn't have a pic of Robin, so they made a pretty good artist's sketch of the suit. He liked it, made him look a lot older and tougher than he really was at the time."

"Wow," Bee admitted.

"No kidding," Argent agreed. "So what happened?"

Donna shrugged, "Well, nothing really. We tried to set up a clubhouse, but that never got off the ground. None of us could get together as often as we wanted to. And I had to go home, so that was that. And now, look," she smiled broadly, "The Titans are officially on the map."

"And the pizzas are finally ordered," Jinx announced and hung up the phone. She turned her neck as if stretching out the kinks. She glanced at the picture in Donna's hands. A wide, rueful grin spread across her face as she saw the beanpole red head with the numerous freckles in the background.

"It that… Wally?"