10 Leisurely Days

by Blue Ten

Summary:

Robin finds out that Starfire will be leaving for Tamaran in 10 days. Keeping his discovery a secret, he has a little over a week to give her a reason to stay. But when things keep getting in the way, will he even get the chance? RobinxStarfire

Disclaimer:

I do not own Teen Titans.


Day 2, Part One: The Start of Something Good

The crest of earth's star at daybreak peaked above the ocean and shed its warm radiance on a city that, in the wake of a substantial storm, had nearly forgotten the sun's presence. A beautiful shade of pink and orange, the sky was calm and clear; the thin and wispy clouds that floated peacefully above, seemed set ablaze by the gleaming light. It was a welcome sight, the sun rising after a storm, like a light at the end of a dark and lengthy tunnel. The fresh and comforting breeze brought the sea to life, with the tranquil sounds of rushing water; crashing against the rocks of the island, and sending droplets into the air as it waved. The gulls began to sing in the forthcoming sunlight while they danced about the sky near the docks.

After the luminosity touched his face and woke him, Robin tried to pull the blanket higher to block the sun, as he was still quite tired. When the blanket wouldn't budge, Robin opened his eyes, expecting to see the ceiling above him; instead, his eyes were met by the bright sky, which caused him to squint. Robin spent a moment contemplating where he was, until he remembered that he had fallen asleep on the roof with... Robin looked to his left, there he saw Starfire wrapped under the blanket, resting her head on her arms. She was so close that he could feel her breath on his face. The light gave her a stunning glow as it reflected off of her shiny scarlet hair and tan skin. Her body moved hypnotically with her peaceful breathing; she smiled while she slept.

'Where did the blanket come from?' Robin wondered, still not entirely sure what was going on. Then it hit him; he was under a blanket, with Starfire. At the thought, Robin immediately burst out from under the blanket, his face beet red. His heart was thumping so fast that he swore it might burst out of his chest at any moment, as he found himself gasping for breath. After steadying his pulse, he noticed that Starfire remained asleep, even after his commotion. 'She must be pretty tired.' he thought, deciding to worry about how they ended up under a blanket later; but if he had to guess, he'd say that either Cyborg, Beast Boy, or both have a lot of explaining to do.

He didn't want to wake her, but he didn't want to leave her alone on the roof either, so he decided to carry her down to her room. Carefully, he slid his arms under, lifting her off the ground along with the blanket. Turning to the door, Robin began walking, but stopped when Starfire moved a little. Still asleep, Starfire shifted her weight inward, snuggling up against Robin's arm; it was now, that he hoped his frantic heartbeat wouldn't wake her. Robin opened the door, and cautiously began walking down the stairs. At the end of the staircase, he stealthily peeked his head around the corner, the others may not have woken up yet so the halls were quiet and empty; with Starfire in his arms, he tiptoed down the hall to her room. Sliding the door open with his foot, he quietly walked in, and stopped beside Starfire's bed. He set her down gently, resting her head on the pillows and fixing the blanket into a comfortable position. After standing still for a moment and losing himself in his thoughts, he shook his head and silently exited the room. Outside, Robin slid the door shut and let out the breath he had been holding in since he picked her up.

"Breakfast'll be ready soon." Cyborg's voice caused Robin's shoulders to tense up.

"Gah! No I didn't!" Robin jumped away from the door, and turned to see Cyborg standing at the end of the hall.

"What? I said, breakfast will be ready soon." Cyborg repeated, looking deathly confused. "You get enough sleep last night man?"

"Yes--Of course I did--Why wouldn't I?"

"...Yeah." Cyborg raised an eyebrow, "Anyway, BB didn't cook it, so you've got nothing to worry about." he said, turning away and walking to the common room.

Robin inhaled deeply, 'You're a real piece of work, y'know that?' he thought to himself, only now realizing just how much he had lost it back there. It seemed like Cyborg didn't know, so Robin figured that it must have been Beast Boy who decided to throw a blanket over them; some form of prank no doubt, though it wasn't funny at all. 'Not funny... Yeah, must've been Beast Boy.'

Robin walked into the common room, surprised to find that everyone was awake, and seemed to have been so for quite some time; seeing this, he wondered how late in the morning it was. Cyborg stood in the kitchen, whistling as he flipped pancakes, fried bacon, and scrambled eggs on the stove; apparently Beast Boy had lost the food war this morning. Raven sat at the kitchen table with her eyes closed, quietly sipping at a cup of tea. Beast Boy was on the couch with his arms crossed, crestfallen and irate, obviously pouting about the meat that was being cooked. Robin ambled to the couch and sat down, feeling like everyone was looking at him; ignoring it, he took in the aroma of bacon and eggs which was usually coincided by the sound of opinionated bickering.

­- - - - - -

Starfire yawned, stretching her arms out as she awoke. She opened her eyes, and was surprised to see the ceiling above her, expecting to see the sky. Feeling that her head was resting on the pillows, she sat up, looking a little puzzled; normally she would put her feet on the pillows and let her head hang over the edge of the bed. Giggling at the thought, she realized that Robin must have carried her to her room. Starfire removed the blanket and stepped off the bed; stretching once more, she reached down and tucked the blanket back onto her bed, where it belonged.

- - - - - -

Several minutes passed as the Titans waited for breakfast; Beast Boy's expression changed as he turned toward Robin, grinning absurdly. Robin lifted an eyebrow as Beast Boy continued to smirk. About to say something, Beast Boy opened his mouth; he was interrupted as Starfire burst into the room, smiling widely, looking more cheery and jovial than usual. Her skin was shiny and her hair was shimmering, fresh out of the shower; seeing her, Robin realized he hadn't even washed his face. He noticed that she seemed ecstatic about something, wondering if it was their conversation that night that had raised her spirits.

"A glorious morning to all!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together as she floated in. The room was brought to life when she spoke, everyone said good morning while Starfire hovered to the table, sitting across from Raven

Suddenly, Beast Boy developed a mischievous look on his face, "So, you two have a nice nap up there?" he asked slyly. Cyborg dropped a pancake on the counter and cringed as he heard this. To everyone's surprise, Raven, who had been drinking tea at the time, looked like she was about to choke; after forcing herself to swallow a big gulp of air, she coughed a little. Following their initial responses, Cyborg and Raven shot Beast Boy a look that seemed to say, 'We told you not to say that!'

"Oh yes, sleeping under the stars is most enjoyable." Starfire responded buoyantly, seemingly oblivious to the spin Beast Boy was trying to put on his question. Beast Boy was shot down by her answer, he didn't quite get the reaction he was looking for, and the reaction he got from Robin was a little more intense than he had anticipated. Thankful that Beast Boy would be blamed for the joke, Cyborg and Raven turned their attention away from him, laughing inwardly.

Beast Boy looked at Robin, and after being met with a penetrating death glare, started to panic. "Um... I'm just gonna go... sit over here now." he said nervously, running to the end of the table and hiding sheepishly next to Raven and Starfire, who were seated on the adjacent sides.

Robin sighed, relieved that Starfire was far too innocent to understand what Beast Boy meant by his joke. He decided to let it slide this once, no harm no foul; after all, it wasn't such a bad thing to do anyway, giving a blanket to someone on a fairly chilly night, it was almost noble. And as much as he didn't want to admit it, he couldn't say that he hated the situation; he was just glad that Starfire didn't wake up first, 'That would have been a mess.' he thought.

Much to Beast Boy's dread, Robin decided to join everyone at the table, sitting right next to Starfire. Now severely regretting his joke, he half expected Robin to slap him on the back of the head; but under closer inspection, Robin didn't seem mad at all, he looked relaxed, content, one might even go as far as saying happy. Relieved, Beast Boy began to settle down, then Cyborg tossed five plates filled to the brim with eggs, bacon, and pancakes in front of each of the Titans, causing him to shudder.

"Breakfast!" Cyborg hollered.

"Dude! You know I can't eat this!" Beast Boy yelled, pushing the plate away from himself, treating the bacon and eggs like toxic waste as he avoided them with his fingers.

"And why not?" Cyborg asked, already knowing the answer.

"There're animals all over that plate, if I ate any of it, it would be like eating... myself!" Beast Boy explained, for what felt like the thousandth time. "I've already got something to eat anyway." he said, pulling a plate out of nowhere, the contents of which seemed to be discolored versions of what everyone else had; he began to scarf it down, causing the others to cringe at the consumption of tofu.

"Oh well, more for us then." Cyborg said, grabbing the plate and scooping the food onto his, which he then proceeded to eat voraciously, causing Beast Boy to cringe at the consumption of meat. The others thought it was funny how Cyborg and Beast Boy's rivalries ranged from beating each other at videogames, to trying to gross one another out by eating the object of the other's culinary nightmares. Caught in the crossfire, Robin, Starfire, and Raven stepped away from the table, moving their breakfast to the living room as they attempted to stay far from the 'contest' that raged on in the kitchen.

"Robin, I very much enjoyed the watching of the stars with you. Please, will you join me again tonight?" Starfire asked with a hopeful smile, sitting beside Robin on the couch.

Robin felt his stomach flutter as he heard her question; her eyes sparkled as she gave him 'the face', he found that it was physically impossible for him to say no, his mouth could only say yes. "Of course." he conceded, "But we should probably try not to fall asleep this time." he joked. Embarrassed as he was about Beast Boy's prank, he couldn't pass up another chance to talk with her, alone.

"Yes, indeed." Starfire giggled.

"What is it?" Robin asked, raising an eyebrow. Her smile was contagious, and he couldn't hold his back.

"Oh... it is nothing." Starfire tilted her head to the side as she looked away, smiling shyly; Robin swore she looked like she was blushing, but he passed it off as Starfire just being her normal cute self. It was at this point, as he gazed amorously at her, that he decided to make every day from this one forward, special to her; nine more reasons to stay. Perhaps then she would consider remaining on earth, and he wouldn't have to say goodbye to moments like this, the moments he cherished most, among all things that took precedence in his life.

In due course, Cyborg and Beast Boy ran out of food; giving up on their competition for now, they joined the others in the living room, who had long since finished their breakfast. Cyborg had a question plaguing his mind since the day before; after damaging his eye in the battle and being beaten so thoroughly along with the others, he wondered how Robin managed to defeat Cloak and Dagger so easily.

"Robin, about the battle the other day," Cyborg started, entering the TV section of the living room, "How did you manage to beat those guys so quickly? ...I mean, it's like you didn't even need us there."

"Yeah, I've been wondering about that too." Beast Boy added sitting on the floor by the couch.

Robin, who was talking to Starfire at the time, reluctantly turned his attention to them, looking interrupted, "...Well, in battle, you're enemies won't always be in plain sight, so I was trained to focus on the actions people take. And if actions speak louder than words, then these guys were speaking volumes. They were clumsy, headstrong, and reckless; they gave themselves away with the way they moved." he answered, leaving Cyborg and Beast Boy to believe that Robin's mind, during combat, existed on some higher plane of thought that they could never hope to understand. "Speaking of them... When they were being arrested, Cloak made it seem like they were the ones who broke in and cut the generator." Robin said, tensing up as he remembered the last thing Cloak said. Starfire looked at him, sad to see his mood change; he had seemed so happy before...

"I heard him say that... Turns out the basement had been a security blind spot I had overlooked since I built the place, so I took the liberty of installing new security systems down there last night. Now no one's getting in here without us knowing about it." he tried to reassure Robin, also noticing his attitude shift. "But, the machinery those two had... I haven't been able to figure out who made it, the stuff looked like it was built from scratch, by hand. I mean, we really haven't learned more than what those kids looked like since your quick victory--"

"And a marvelous victory it was! Should we not celebrate?" Starfire cut in, wanting desperately to change the subject. The others looked at her for a moment, realizing that they were worrying too much about something that couldn't be farther out of their hands. A nice break did seem like the perfect thing to take their minds off of their troubles too, especially after the storm.

"Heh, good idea Star." Cyborg chuckled, "What did you have in mind?" he asked.

"Well, it is a beautiful day outside. Perhaps this calls for an outing to the park?" she suggested, adorably tapping her index fingers together. Everyone stared out the window; the sun was beaming in through the still rain-spotted glass, shining a warm light into the common room, which the Titans had overlooked until now. At the sight of good weather, everyone's face lit up.

Raven had been sitting in her usual spot, reading her usual book; standing up and closing it, she looked out the window, then back to the others, "Sure, sounds like... fun." she said, letting an atypical smile show.

"Yeah! We could have a picnic. Tofu dogs for everyone!" Beast Boy exclaimed, running to the kitchen.

"NO! No tofu dogs!" Cyborg shouted. But there was no stopping Beast Boy, who had already begun rummaging through the refrigerator.

"Robin, will you not come picnicking with us?" Starfire asked, taking his hand as she stood up from the couch. With his mind void of words due to her touch, Robin responded with a goofy smile.

- - - - - -

Jump city's central park, a lone patch of green situated amidst the gray urban jungle; as far as parks came, it was fairly modest, but large enough that one could almost get lost within it, and picturesque enough that one could forget about the skyscrapers that towered above the trees on all sides. Like a completely different world within the metropolis, the sound of rushing rivers and wind swept leaves overtook the busy noises of the city. The midday sun, brilliant and intense in the cloudless sky, shone brightly on the dew-dropped grass, evaporating away what the heavy rain had left behind. Compensating for the heat of the sun, a cool and gentle breeze swept through the park, adding a refreshing chill to the air as it rustled through the trees. The various bridged rivers of the area flowed heavy with water, serving as a reminder of the day that had passed.

The Titans stepped out of the T-Car, taking in the fresh air as they stretched, glad to finally be outside again under peaceful circumstances. Removing their belongings from the car, they ventured to the usual spot, a single picnic table that stood under a sizeable tree on a hill; it was a nice and simple area, far enough out of the way that the Titans could enjoy themselves without being mobbed by reporters and fanatics, and big enough to accommodate a game of football.

Along the way, Robin passed by a newspaper stand. Examining the front page of the Chronicle, he saw that they had already published a story about yesterday's events. The caption read, in several satisfyingly bold words, 'Invisible Burglars Apprehended by Teen Titans.' This was one of the rare occasions that the paper displayed good news on the front page, making Robin feel proud that his team was part of the reason. However, while reading the article, he noticed that they mentioned the stolen money was never recovered; Robin frowned as he read the last line, having forgotten entirely about the money, until now. Looking away from the newspaper, he saw that he had fallen behind; he decided to worry about such things later, for now, he would catch up with the others and enjoy the day.

Arriving at their destination, the Titans began to set up the picnic table. Between the two of them, Cyborg and Beast Boy had brought enough food to last the entire day; luckily there were two grills that could be utilized for cooking, so they didn't have to fight over which got cooked first, meat or fake-meat. Cyborg began to load up his grill with a variety of meats, ranging from ribs to steaks; to everyone's surprise, Beast Boy had brought more than tofu based food, with enough salad to make up for all the meat.

"It'll be a while before it's done." Cyborg said, turning away from his grill for a moment.

"Glorious! Shall we walk through the park while we wait?" Starfire asked the others happily, stepping away from the bottles of mustard she had set on the table.

"Cooking." Beast Boy responded, turning over a tofu dog.

"Meditating." Raven replied simply, floating cross legged under a tree with her eyes closed.

"Sure, I'll go." Robin answered, trying not to sound too eager in front of the others.

"That's right you will." Cyborg and Beast Boy said in unison with ridiculous looks on their faces. Cyborg, who had apparently forgotten about scolding Beast Boy for his joke earlier in the morning, popped up out of nowhere and joined in on elbowing Robin in the sides.

"Uh... heh, yeah..." Robin spouted nervously, pushing Cyborg and Beast Boy away by their faces, now realizing that their constant teasing would become a major problem over the next few days; but he didn't care, it was for her, and he would do anything for her. As though she didn't even notice, Starfire contentedly took Robin by the hand and pulled him away from the group.

As they walked along a cobblestone pathway next to one of the rivers, Robin noticed that Starfire had not let go of his hand. She gazed in blissful wonderment at the many stunning sights; gently swaying leaves, grassy green hills populated by beautiful white flowers, and a river that sparkled and rushed swiftly beside them, all of which were made increasingly radiant by the light of the sun.

"It is a beautiful day to be in the park, yes?" Starfire asked gleefully, looking to Robin.

"Yeah, and we owe it all to you Star. I mean, I'd hate to think where we'd be right now... if you weren't here." Robin stated, feeling stupid as he wondered if he said too much.

Suddenly, Starfire's expression changed to one of unwelcome surprise, as she let go of his hand and came to a stop, "Robin..." she said.

'Crap, you did say too much you idiot! Why can't you ever keep your mouth shut around her?' he demanded of himself in thought. Robin noticed that Starfire was pointing at something; turning around, he realized the situation was much worse than he imagined. Standing on the path in front of them, was a man clad in a black suit, his jacket flamboyantly bore the colors of his homeland. Resting his weight on a jeweled cane, the middle aged red-haired man stared at Robin and Starfire with a toothy grin.

"Ah, how cute. Strayed away from the lot have we?" he asked in his ostentatiously British accent.

"Mad..." Starfire trailed off, not quite remembering the second half of the man's alias.

"Mod... Of all the--" Robin finished for her.

"That's right my duckies, fresh out of lockup, and ready to pick up right where we left off." Mad Mod cut him off, raising his cane to point.

"If memory serves, they put you in a home for the criminally decrepit, not jail." Robin responded by hitting Mod where it hurt, frustrated by this most annoying turn of events. 'Why now? Any other time but now...' he thought, staring at Mod's unchanging expression.

"I had hoped to trap the whole bunch, but I guess I'll have to settle for the two of you. Who knows, this might be even better--" Mod muted his speech as a young, but incredibly deep voice interrupted him.

"Step aside gramps, this quarry's mine."

"Oy, sod off you--" Mod stopped as he turned around to see a ten foot tall figure, whose features were washed out by the sun; in sheer terror, Mod's eyes widened and his knees buckled. Suddenly the man reached a giant metal hand out, picking up Mod like he had the weight of a feather. With the other hand, he took and crushed Mod's cane, causing him to grow old and feeble in an instant. Robin and Starfire could only watch in horrified astonishment as the towering man hurled Mad Mod through the air; falling in a river, he proceeded to float downstream, looking dazed.

"Should we... go after him?" Starfire asked hesitantly.

"No, I think we have bigger things to worry about now." Robin replied, narrowing his eyes at the man who stood tall in front of them.

"Now that our obstacle has been removed, let's talk business." The man said, stepping into full view, shaking the ground as he moved. His form described that of a machine, much like Cyborg; but that's where the similarities ended, his strange armor was black, silver, and gold in color. He was a giant, to put it lightly, towering above Robin and Starfire. However much like a machine he was, his voice was most definitely human, but his face was well hidden behind a metallic black mask.

"Business? Who are you?" Robin asked suspiciously, stepping forward to confront him.

"Call me, Mr. Iron. We have become well aware of your exceptional abilities since you dispatched our newest recruits the other day, Robin." he answered, surprisingly direct and to the point.

"Cloak and Dagger..."

"Yes, granted they were just kids. He believes that with more training you could be a valuable asset to our establishment."

"He?" Robin glared, having heard this exact kind of thing from someone else...

"My orders are to recruit you. However, we can't have someone like you getting in our way, so if you refuse, I'm afraid I must kill you."

"Then I guess you'll have to kill me." Robin removed three metal spheres from his belt, throwing them at Mr. Iron. With three consecutive explosions, the man was enveloped in smoke; however, he emerged from the cloud soon after, without a scratch or dent on his armor.

"So that's you're answer is it? If you choose death, then I must deliver."

"You will not harm him!" Starfire shouted as she stepped in front of Robin, eyes glowing green. Charging energy in her hand, Starfire threw a starbolt at Mr. Iron. Confident as he was in his own abilities, he remained still, letting the energy strike him in the chest; with a grunt and an explosion of light, he fell down on to one knee, seemingly in a great deal of pain. Starfire's energy had burned a hole in his armor, revealing the inner mechanical workings of his suit. Breathing heavily, he shot a glance at Starfire.

"Who are you? Perhaps we have our eye on the wrong person..." he said, now staring at the gaping hole in his chest.

"You, stay away from her!" Robin yelled, readying his staff.

"If things work out, I will." Iron said, slamming a fist into the earth. Erupting from the ground, a massive cloud of smoke masked his image, "A parting gift from The Tempest!"

Robin stared into the billowing smoke, 'The Tempest?' he thought. Suddenly, something small swiftly broke through the cloud, whistling and catching the sunlight as it flew. Caught off guard, Robin felt a stabbing pain in his left shoulder as he was thrown to the ground by the impact.

"Robin!"

- - - - - -

"Robin! Come on man, stay with us!" Robin could hear Cyborg's voice, but he couldn't feel or see anything. He strained to open his eyes; managing to squint, he saw several blurry bright lights passing by above him, he recognized it as the halls of the tower. "Hurry, we've gotta get him to the infirmary, he's fading!" after Cyborg spoke, Robin's vision shifted to black and he could no longer hear anything.

The Titans stood in the infirmary, watching Robin closely as he was hooked up to a heart monitor. Beast Boy sat in a corner of the room, hardly able to believe what had happened; normally, he would try to lighten the mood with a joke, but he figured that if there was ever a time to keep his mouth shut, now was that time. Raven stayed silent in her section of the room, worrying more about Starfire, from whom she sensed great anxiety and despair. Cyborg stood next to the unconscious Robin, with Starfire. "Please, will he be alright?" Starfire asked worriedly, looking at Robin as he laid still on the examination table.

"I don't know, the poison's spreading fast. I gave him a sedative to slow down his blood flow, and I was able to synthesize an antitoxin from what was on the blade but..." Cyborg trailed off despondently, examining the small black blade he had extracted from Robin's shoulder. "Someone should stay behind and watch him. Starfire, I'm counting on you."

Starfire nodded in response, "What will you do?" she questioned.

"BB, Raven, and I'll try and track down this Iron guy you told us about. If there's anyone who'll know about the poison, it's him; we'll beat the info out of the guy if we have to. Only problem is, we don't know where to--" Cyborg stopped as he heard a beeping noise from the monitor.

Suddenly, Robin's heart rate increased rapidly, turning everyone's attention to him. "Iron... tracer." he fought out two words, as he struggled to lift his hand; losing consciousness once again, he dropped his communicator on the ground. Starfire immediately rushed to his side, taking his hand in hers.

"Robin, you must not move..."

Cyborg reached down and picked up the communicator, looking at the display, he saw that it was tracking movement, "Robin. He managed to get a tracer on the guy... BB, Raven, let's get going!" Cyborg said, rushing to the exit with the others.

Stopping at the door, Raven looked back at Starfire, "Are you sure you'll be alright by yourself?" she asked.

"Yes, I will make sure he is safe." Starfire reassured the others; mostly convinced, they left the room, focusing on the tracer. Alone, Starfire continued to solemnly hold Robin's hand, listening to the humming and beeping sounds of the machines, which she didn't quite understand the purpose of. Robin's grip increased.

"Starfire... please don't leave..." he said with his eyes closed, as though speaking through a nightmare.

"Do not worry, I will stay with you."


Author's Note: 23! That freeked me out when I looked at it! I'm overwhelmed, speechless really... I've never gotten so many reviews in such a short amount of time. Words can't express my gratitude. :)

About the part where Starfire wakes up, if you've seen the episode 'Switched' then you'll know what I was talking about when I described how she sleeps. Also, I kind of subtly explained who brought the blanket, read again if you missed it :) (It wasn't Beast Boy). This chapter marks the introduction of Mr. Iron and mentions The Tempest (a fairly important plot point).

Forgive me if I ease off the lightheartedness a bit to advance the plot. Don't worry, it will return.

Realfanficts, thanks for the correction, apparently astronomy's not exactly my forte... Even still, I probably should have taken a look at the sky before I wrote that part (slaps self). I gave credit to you for the correction when I changed it. :)

PrInCeSs 2006, I'll try to focus on the others a little more, I thought I was neglecting them too.

I'm glad that some people are offering constructive criticism, it really helps me to improve as a writer. So an extra thanks goes out to those who did.

Next Chapter Preview: Starfire stays behind at the tower to look after Robin, who is in critical condition. Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Raven follow after Mr. Iron, but are discouraged when they realize they'll need everyone to take him down. Next, Day 2, Part Two: Bedside Manner.