Starfire sighed, stretching out, keeping her eyes closed against the morning sun. She was so warm and comfortable, her body laid against something hard, yet warm. It took her a minute to realize that she was laying on someone. Her eyes flew open fast, and she raised herself on her elbows, glancing down at…Robin. Her eyes widened as he grinned up at her. "You know, you're really light weight for a woman who can lift twenty times Cyborg's weight."

She groaned in embarrassment. "I am so sorry. I did not realize that I was even in here. I am so, so, so sorry."

"You mustn't be that sorry, considering you're still on top of me." She tried to scramble off and gather the remaining shards of her dignity when his grip on her waist tightened.

"Star, there's no need to apologize. I was actually…comfortable. I have to admit it was strangely relaxing."

She bit her lip, raising one arm to push her mass of red hair back. It slid over her shoulder again and fell across his chest.

"In my world, this would be immoral. I would either be forced to marry you or be pulled from my rank as Grand Ruler."

"I have gamophobia, so can we side step any talk of marriage?"

She grinned down at him. "You have a fear of marriage?"

"Yep. Hate commitment. Never want to have to bother with it."

"But how can you stand being alone?"

"Technically, I'm not alone. I have a houseful of friends and when I do have a…let's just drop this entire subject, how 'bout? Now, you have a really, really strict home planet, don't you?"

"Yes. The daughter of the Grand Ruler is not allowed to 'date' as you call it. We are not even allowed to hold hands or hug or kiss the opposite sex. But my sister snuck away to meet men. She started bending the rules when she was only thirteen years of age."

"Why does that not surprise me?"

She slid off him, much to his disappointment, and sat down with her legs crossed right beside him. She threw her hair behind her shoulder. "I still cannot believe I slept here."

He grinned. "Me either."

She blushed, folding her arms under her chest. She turned her head to stare at the colleage, and sighed. "I am sorry."

He rolled his eyes and sat up. "Jeez, Star. It's not like anything happened and this little incident is, like, life changing or something. You slept in my room, in my bed, next to me…or…on top of me, but that's not the point. It's not like we're having an affair or something. It just happened. Nothing lost, nothing gained. So, how about we drop this and—"

"Pretend as if this never happened." She stood up and scooted off the bed. "It has already been forgotten. You have nothing to worry about." She gave him a false smile and walked away.

He made a few sounds as if he wanted to say something but nothing would come out except little grunts. Finally, he scrambled off the bed, almost tripped over the twisted covers, muttered a curse, and made a grab for her.

"Wait, Star." She sighed and turned. He ran into her and barely managed to keep them both from falling. Since when was he so clumsy? Usually, he was graceful in most things he did, like walking….now, he was tripping and cursing and stuttering.

Clearing his throat, Robin said, "Look, Star. I didn't mean it like that. It's just that…"

"Robin, I agree completely with you." He snapped his mouth shut and watched her with narrowed eyes. "What?"

"I agree with you."

He gave an aggravated, speedy sigh, and held her shoulders. "Yeah, that much I know. But…why?"

She looked him in the eye. "As you said before, it would be unwise to fool with a teammate, and this is the exact thing that would spark my attraction to you. If I forget it ever occurred, then I am saving myself from any pain that could come. You know as well as I that I will latch on to a man quickly when I find one, and I would hope that you are not the one. No offence meant."

"Yes, well, that is still offending." Robin's brain tried to process the fact that she could be attracted to him…but she wasn't. Well, so much for his pride.

"It has nothing to do with you, believe me. I am not very happy to admit it, but I am…soft, when it comes to love and such. It would be easy to hurt me and I know you don't want that, so, I agree with you."

"But…"

"There is no 'buts' about it. I now it is selfish of me, but I do not want to be hurt emotionally by you. I am still not completely sure of myself as it is now."

"But…jeez. Wait a second…you don't find me attractive now?" He watched as she threw her head back and laughed at him. He bit back the urge to pout. "Of course. More than you know. But that has nothing to do with it."

"Uh, yes, it does."

"No, it does not."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes, it does."

"No, Robin, it does not."

"Yes—"

"How does me thinking that your are attractive have anything to do with our conversation?"

"What was our conversation again?" He joked, but immediately regretted it.

Her eyes narrowed. "Nothing important."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!" He sighed. "Okay, so…maybe we shouldn't forget this…"

Her eyebrows drew together in confusion. "And why ever not?"

"Because…we just shared the same bed as friends, so that isn't as bad, right? I mean, we both know it meant nothing really, so why should it be forgotten?"

Her green eyes darkened with fury and pain as she jerked out of his grip. "For you, Robin, it might have meant nothing. But for me…it meant a great deal." She walked out of his room before he had a chance to gather his jumbled brain together and call her back. But hell, what was he supposed to say?

"Way to go, Robin," he groaned, burying his head in his hands. "Way to go."

Sprawled out face first in his pillow, Beast Boy moaned in pleasure. He was so comfortable…so warm…he didn't want to get up. He snuggled deeper into the worn mattress, and then sprawled out completely. But then he caught her sent. His eyes snapped open to find Raven grimacing at the mess. She glanced at him and straightened her shoulders.

"You're up. Finally." She sidestepped dirty piles of clothes and stood at the bottom of his bunk. With a grunt, he crawled at the edge and peered down at her, his green gaze colliding with her violet one. His heart jumped in his chest as usual.

"Go 'way," he mumbled, shoving his head into a pillow. He heard her quiet sigh and peeked his head out from under the pillow just enough so he could say, "What you doin' in my room, anyhow?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, sliding a finger across his desk to inspect the dust. "What a vocabulary."

He yawned loudly and turned his back to her. She got an eyeful of his muscular backside and berated herself for drooling.

"It's getting late and you probably forgot that today we work on that case."

He curled up in a ball, snuggling a pillow to his chest, and made a sound of complete pleasure.

She rolled her eyes, pushing down the thought that he was completely adorable, and levitated to sit on the edge of his bed. What she was doing here, only God knows. But she was here, in his room, sitting on the top bunk of his bed, watching him snuggle with a pillow. When she had stood outside his door, she had told herself that it was payback for all he had done to her. But now, it seemed as if that were not the reason.

"Beast Boy."

"I said go 'way. It still early, go back to bed. Me tired." He stretched back out, almost kicking her off the bed.

"Look, I am in no mood to deal with you—"

"Then why you come to my room?"

She gave an aggravated sigh and jerked the covers off him, already at the end of her patience. He sat up, his hair sticking up in different directions, his eyes still cloudy with sleep. He threw her a look between a glare and a pout, snatched the covers back, and rolled into a little ball a couple of times. By the time he was through, the only evidence that a human was in there were the green spikes of hair sticking out of the blue-cotton covered ball.

"Get up."

"No."

"Yes."

"No way, Jose. I ain't comin' out a' here."

"Yes, you are. Quit talking like a preschooler and get dressed." She wrinkled her nose. "And take a shower while you're at it."

"How 'bout you pull that big ol' stick outta your butt, then I'll get up."

"Beast Boy," she growled out his name but he merely snorted. "Why won't you leave me alone? Tell you what…I leave you alone you leave me alone. Deal?"

She rolled the thought around in her head for a moment. "Tempting, but no."

The big ball sat up and a head poked through. "Go away, for the last freakin' time! I wanna sleep and you're not allowing me that one little pleasure."

She leaned forward, watching the way his eyes widened. "Get up."

He sneered at her, lay back down, and snuggled deeper.

"Beast Boy, why must you act like a child?"

"Why must you act like a prickly old maid?"

She yanked the covers down and, before he could utter a complaint, leaned into his face. He blinked his forest green eyes, fringed by dark lashes that were too long for a man, and stared, transfixed.

"Get. Up."

He leaned forward, almost nose to nose with her. "No."

"Yes."

"No."

"I will not lower myself to your position and have this grade school fight. Get up, take a shower, get dressed, and come to the main hall."

"When I'm darned good and ready. And now…I'm not ready." He glared at her. "Since when have you become my mother?"

"God forbid. Now, get up."

He threw a minor fit, bouncing up and down. "No. I don't wanna get up!"

"Beast Boy, now."

Now he was nose to nose with her. He ground his teeth. "No."

"Beast Boy, I said—" Quickly, he close the space between then, pressing his mouth against hers in a soft, butterfly kiss.

He pulled back with a wide grin. "I'll get up now."

She blinked rapidly. She heard his laugh as he grabbed clothes. The pillow lifted, encased in a black light, and slammed into the back of his head, almost knocking him down.

She glanced around to see him with an irritated look, rubbing the back of his head. "Jeez, what was that for?"

"Never do that again."

He shrugged, kicking a pair of jeans out of his way. "I needed a wake up call and since you were there, I thought it would do perfectly. Now. I'm off to my shower." He strutted out with a grin.

Gracefully, she levitated down and popped up in front of him. He squealed, pressing his hand to his chest.

"Damn, you almost gave me a heart attack. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to take a shower."

"Why did you do that?"

He sighed and threw his clothes over his bare shoulder. " 'Cause, I needed a wake up call. Thought I told you that."

She crossed her arms under her chest. "You could have gone to Star."

He snorted. "Yeah, and risk Robin dismembering me."

"And, you truly think I would not."

He grinned. "Yep."

Offended, she gritted her teeth. "And why not?"

"Because, that would mean that, first off, you would have to touch me, and second, that you would never sully your hands with my blood."

"Would you like to make a bet on that?"

He grimaced. "Uh, no. But hey, at least you didn't throw me across the room."

"Today's not even begun."

His whole body tensed. "Oh. Damn." He wrinkled his nose, and then grinned. "At least I know the element of surprise. At least where you're concerned."

"You will not do it again."

"All right. Look, I'm really, really sorry. You woke me up at," he searched for the time, glancing at his walls.

"8:30."

"Yeah, 8:30 A.M. and you expect me to just…do nothing."

"Yes."

"Well, I don't function that way. So, I got you back, so…ha."

"Who knew you would sink so low as to—"

"Kiss you? Yeah, well, I'm full of surprises. Now, Twain's gonna be here anytime and I want to take a shower. Wouldn't want to scare the guest away with my smell, now would I?"

He moved past her smugly. She closed her eyes and took deep, calming breaths. How dare he surprise her like that! No one threw her off guard like that, especially someone like Beast Boy.

She stalked down the hallway, making her way to the main room. And realized her heart was still pounding in her throat. She stopped and shook her head. "And damn if I didn't like it."

Alexander Twain slapped at his alarm clock when it buzzed in his ear. Oh how he dreaded today. Not only did he have to deal with five hormonal teenagers with feelings they were still trying to figure out, but he was also endangering them all. Anything could happen and if one of the died, he couldn't forgive himself.

"Umm, what time is it?" Lex felt his heart skip a beat as his wife sat up and stretched, her golden hair tousled around her shoulders.

He leaned over and kissed her with a grin, resting his hand on her swollen stomach. "It's early. Go back to sleep. Don't forget you have a doctor's appointment today."

She sighed. "How could I forget? We find out what it is today."

His heart contracted in guilt. "I wish I could be there."

She grinned smugly. "I'm glad you're not."

"What?"

"Because it'll be a surprise." He smiled and kissed her again.

"Yuck." Lex glanced at the doorway to see his four-year-old son, Connor, with a grossed out look on his innocent face.

"Can I sleep in here?"

Lex chuckled. "It's already morning, Connor."

He pouted, his bright blue eyes mischievous. "So. I wanna sleep with mommy until she goes to the mean ol' doctor." His wife laughed and patted the space between them.

He jumped on the bed and crawled between his parents. Reluctantly, Lex crawled off the bed and grabbed his clothes to put on after he hopped in the shower. He was already running behind schedule. He was supposed to stop by at the office and pick up his partners. Now, it was 8:45 and he had not even called them.

The meeting with the teens yesterday had been…unusual. He had not mean to goad the dark one, but if they did not help, they could not find this man. God, had his career sunk so low that he had to depend on two young teenagers to do the dirty work? He was endangering teenagers, who were probably still dealing with acne and feelings of puppy love.

After drying off and throwing on his clothes, he kissed his wife and son and headed out, his heart clouded with guilt.

"This, Titans, is Darcy Phillips. She will be the one doing you're make-up. She's one of the police officer's older sister and she is a master in cosmetology." Raven studied the woman from her seat. She was petite with short, bright red hair and was watching them with a mixture of awe and fear.

"And this," Lex said, pointing to the man next to her, "is Marty Rays. He'll be doing your clothes." Marty grinned when the men exchanged looks. "You'll be happy to know I'm not gay. I'm actually married with two kids. I just major in clothes design."

Raven nodded. "So, what is your big plan?"

Lex sighed, rubbing his hands over his eyes. "We have decided. We think that it would be better if, during this whole ordeal, that…you don't use your powers. Actually, it would be better if none of you did."

Ignoring the confused glances of the titans, Twain went on. "We have decided that it would be too suspicious if two members of the team vanished."

"Hold on," Beast Boy said, sitting between Raven and Starfire. "I though that they would be walking the streets during whatever time, but coming right back here."

Ortega held up a finger. "Ah, but you see, if our plan actually works, then this man just might follow them. And if he was to trace you back to here, then our plans are ruined. But, if you were to taken on completely different lives', then he won't suspect a thing."

"So you just expect us to leave them out on the streets, in the middle of January, with a rapist on the lose. They wouldn't be able to defend themselves if they don't want to draw attention to themselves." Robin glanced at Star and pushed down the thought of her being defenseless against a murderer.

"Well, last night we did a little talking…and…we think it best if…" Waylin drifted off, leaving the teens in suspense.

"What?" Raven was losing her patience quickly with these men… or, actually, all men in particular.

Lex growled in annoyance at his softhearted partner. He got right to the point. "Until this case is over, we think it best that you all drop your rank as the Teen Titans."