Raventhedarkgoddess: Let me just say I love this story as much as it's many fans love it- You guys rawk so hard, lik OMG! Sorry, I had to do that… Pip dared me because it's not my style. Anyway, thank you to all my reviewers and… On with the story!

Chapter Five: Angel's Embrace

No lights here. Not in this part of Jump City's largest park. Raven stood alone, running her hands through her hair, nerves coursing through her body. Robin was on her mind, even though she didn't want to admit it, and she was scared to death of what might happen. His face ran through her mind and stayed there- Nothing was going to remove it, not now, probably not ever.

For whatever reason, she brushed on her brief relationship with Cyborg, realizing it didn't matter as much as she wished it had. Instead, she thought back to a time before that, when Robin had asked her for her hand….

"Raven?" His voice was soft, echoing through the small room between them, the room where many central computers were kept and the lone leader scanned the city by himself on the night watch. As he saw his teammate, he wondered what she was doing there. "Can't you sleep?"

"No. I thought I'd come monitor, but apparently that's your job."

"You could sit with me," he offered, pulling a nearby chair over and offering it to her. She sat down quietly, tucking her cloak under her, and smiled at her. She smiled back, loosely.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

Robin seemed to hesitate. "Are you doing anything any time soon? Friday?"

Her mind had raced then- This was all too good to be true- mind whirling and hands sweating slightly, her nerves barely controlled. "No."

"Would you like to hang out with me?" The question hung in the air, loose and unwavering, ringing in Raven's ears until she couldn't' take it anymore.

"I… I can't." Emotions raging, she had run out of the room.

She moved over to the stone bench, below the stone angel Robin had asked her to meet him by. Her skirt billowed and she hugged herself, cold in spite of the rather warm night. "Raven?" A voice asked in a silent, soft way that she had heard before.

Raven turned and looked up before extending her hand to the stranger standing before him. "Robin… You haven't changed much." Indeed he hadn't- Same stocky build, same black hair, and the same cocky attitude.

"You have. You're as beautiful as they come." He moved over to her, touching the ends of her longer hair before she could offer resistance. She watched him smile- And felt herself smile too. No, she thought to herself. No… This is just like last time.

Just like the last time I fell for him.

"….Thinking about you."

"You have?" A stupid reaction, but some sort of reaction none the less. "I… I've thought about you too. A lot."

"What about your poems? Your stories? How's your life been?"

Raven hesitated- Should she tell him about her lonely apartment, her need to be around someone? Instead, she hugged her thin black coat closer to herself and shivered, trying to think of a way to answer him that wasn't totally dishonest.

"You know, it's all right to say you haven't been well." He reached over and touched her hand, then looked up at the stone angel statue above them. "I haven't been here since last time we came up here together."

I'm on Angel Hill? The force of the memory hit her hard, and she was forced to see the scene again in her mind.

"Robin…." The two of them were sitting on Angel Hill, smiling at one another. "Robin, we shouldn't be doing this." It was shortly after her refusal of him, her refusal to go out with him on Friday night.

That Friday night.

"I know. I know. You've already told me how you feel. But still, can't you…. Please make an exception?" He held onto the back of her neck, keeping their faces close, keeping those deep amethyst eyes locked onto his own before bringing his lips against hers.

At first it was little more than a butterfly kiss. Lips on lips vaguely and briefly, then again and again and slightly harder. She returned the kiss all the more eagerly, until she could feel herself starting to lose control.

She shoved him away from herself on the stone bench and watched him fall back against the angel. Without a second look, her hair flying around herself, she moved, running away, down the carved steps and toward the safety the tower would offer.

That was a long time ago, she reminded herself. A very long time ago, before you grew to dislike him… This isn't for you, this relationship… Forget about it, Raven, just forget…

Even just looking at their intertwined hands, resting against their touching legs, would not permit her to forget.

"Cyborg wanted me to tell you he says hi, and that most of his feelings are finally gone. He says he's sorry for hurting you."

"…I don't want him to worry about that."

"Yeah… I'll tell him you're fine, then?"

"Yes."

More silence. Not uncomfortable- More undefined than anything else. Neither knew whether it was just like the last time, or if things really had changed between them.

"Are you sure you won't come home sometimes for a visit?" As he spoke, he slipped his arms around her, and she felt her heart beginning to race. I really am falling for it again…

I'm falling for him all over again.

Still, she did not drop his hand. She let him, in fact, inch closer and closer, until they were at the edge of the bench, under the beautiful stone statue of the forgotten angel. It's eyes were closed and it's hands were out, almost in promise.

Promise of what, though?

His hands came up to brush her silken hair away from her eyes, and she found himself looking into his clear blue ones- He had removed his mask. He took advantage of her shock to bring their lips together slowly, carefully.

She kissed him for a second, then pulled back from the emotion as she saw a wave of black energy hit against the wings of the angel, causing it's detailed wings to come closer to them, the waves in it's dress to almost move even though they were cut out of stone.

She was back on her feet now, moving away from him, having slid off the bench, a piece of her black fabric still stuck against the nearby angel's wings. "Robin…. Just… Please… Don't make this harder than it has to be…."

He stood up too, catching her hand before she could make the sprint away across the barren ground of Angel Park. "You'd really leave me again?" His voice was not full of itself for once- He was depressed, maybe even actually cut to the core.

"No…. But can we please take things slowly?" She jerked her hand out of his, taking a step back. "Look, I'll come back to the tower again…."

"Are you doing anything Friday?" The question hung in the air between them, final and yet not.

And that's when she noticed how he held onto that single piece of her skirt like a prayer, a promise. It was a connection- One she would not let herself break now that she'd seen him again, now that she had been forced to remember that life.

"No. I'll see you then." With a quick armed hug, she was gone from him, headed down the hill and toward the bus stop.

Robin found himself alone on top of the hill, but there was no depression or anger in him. Instead, he moved the paper to his pocket. "I'm going to see you again, Raven."

You're a part of my world again now. And I'm going to make you smile.

You're going to come back to us. Because you're not a heartless demon…

And I love you, Raven.

I love you.


Alone in her apartment, the pen went to paper in a poem not even she could understand.

Stone

Hard heart and broken mind,
I try to resist you but the angel cries.
There was so much we didn't understand.
Would it be better if it just dies?

This feeling I keep burns to the core.
I don't understand why I shove you away.
There's nothing I want more now.
It's been so long since someone would stay.

I vaguely wonder why the angel doesn't smile.
Did she once feel this too?
And is there something I don't understand?
The reason I want to keep away from you?

But this sensation burns inside.
Ruining my heart of stone.
Love confuses and uses me.
But I refuse to let it work me to the bone.

Raventhedarkgoddess: Well, there we go. I tried to make it a little longer since you guys have to wait so long… Another update soon, okay? Read and review, keep me motivated!