Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, I just enjoy using them.

(Just to be clear Robin is actually Nightwing in the present, but Raven will refer to him as Robin because it's what she (and I'm) used to.)

Taking the Fight Out of the Girl

She had the habit of staying at the clinic long after her shift was over. A usual day was 16 hours long, and she didn't mind one bit. She was touching lives in ways she never thought possible. She had her own identity; she wasn't just part of a team, fighting evil. She was a person, helping the innocent, it was different. Samantha Jenson, her alias, was well liked and respected for her tireless efforts at the clinic.

At first, some of the seasoned nurses told her that she wouldn't last. She was young and there was so much hard work. But she proved them all wrong. She was usually the first person there in the morning and the last to leave at night. She was driven to help, to prove herself. Maybe, she also liked the attention. For once in her life she wasn't the person in the background. She had stepped out of the shadow of her teammates and into the light. Nurse Sam, favorite nurse at Bludhaven City Clinic.

That day was a particularly good day. Traffic at the clinic was light, and those that did come in weren't in terrible condition. No emergencies and no need to use her powers. It was those days she liked the best. The days she was able to help everyone that came in there with her own hands and her brain, not with her powers. It was the most gratifying thing in her life. When she left that night, at 12:30 am, she felt as though nothing could bring her down.

She was about half way home when she noticed it. There was someone following her. From what she could tell, he was about 10 feet behind her. She didn't live in the best part of town, but it certainly wasn't the worst. The most she ever had to deal with were muggers and some rapist looking for easy prey. This guy didn't seem like either. Surely, if he was one of the two he would have caught up to her and dragged her into one of the many dark alleys they were passing. This guy wanted something more. He wanted to follow her home.

She decided on her plan of attack. She would turn down the next street, phase into the wall, wait until he passes, and then attack. But, as she knew, the best laid plans…

He rushed her about 15 feet before she reached the end of the street. He grabbed her hand, twisted it behind her back, and then held a knife to her throat. She was about to retaliate when he started yelling.

"Let me be or I'll cut her throat! I swear I'll do it!" He was looking into the air, as though someone was watching him and Raven thought she had a new problem on her hands. It was highly possible that he was mentally unstable, and she had to be timid in her actions.

"Who are you talking to?" She tried to stay as clam as possible when she asked the question.

"None of your damn business! You're just bait sweetie," at this point he raised his voice, "And if he doesn't leave me alone, you're going to get it!"

It was at that point she felt another presence. It must have been the person he was talking to. Now things were going to get difficult. She doubted that the person chasing him was someone on the wrong side of the law, or it wouldn't have mattered if she was killed or not. The police usually aren't so covert, so it must have been a Super.

"Fine! You asked for it!" Right as he said "fine", she encased the blade of the knife with black energy. He was too busy looking at the rooftops to have noticed. Right after he "sliced" her throat, she went limp.

"NO!" Before she knew it she heard metal hitting metal. She was on the ground, playing dead until the right moment, but it never came. She heard the man running off and she felt another lifting her up. She opened her eyes and saw someone from her past.


Robin had changed the most. The new name was just the beginning of it. Nightwing was quite the terror. He had abandoned the Teen Titans soon after they expanded and joined up with the League. It was rumored that he left because of an ill-fated affair with Starfire. Raven didn't really care about all the rumors flying around. She knew his real reasons for leaving.

He had outgrown the team, just as she had. That's why he changed his identity as well. Nightwing and Sam Jenson were cut from the same cloth. Two people who progressed beyond the confines of the Teen Titans. Robin was always the leader, but the winds had changed and he no longer ruled absolute. There was much influence from the Justice League and too many big heads. Raven had assumed that it was too annoying for Robin, and that's why he left.

Nightwing was a practical choice. Robin tried going out on his own, but he was too closely tied with Batman and the Titans. So, he came up with a new persona. Few people knew that Nightwing and Robin were the same, but you could tell if you knew what to look for. Raven was watching the news when she heard the buzz about a new hero. She saw some of the work he was doing in Gotham, and knew that it was Robin. Fighting style and technique were the same. Even the weapons were the same, just different color choices. She was glad that he had moved on. And she was glad that she had the chance to run into him tonight.


Nightwing looked down at the girl. There were no visible wounds on her, but he had seen Malcolm run the blade across her neck. It made no sense. After a few seconds of silence she shook her head.

"I'm fine, I'll explain later. Just, go get him!"

Robin nodded and ran off down the street. It was a close call. Frankly, she didn't want to explain it to him. She was just glad that the image spell held out through the attack. Had it failed, well, she didn't want to think what would have happened. It was a spell she had been working on since before she left the Titans. It went trough some trial and error, like when her hair was a different color everyday of the week. But she had finally fixed it. She had olive skin, black hair and steel blue eyes. It was the look she felt most comfortable with, and it helped her to feel like a normal person, which is all she really wanted these days. So, for that reason, she picked herself up off the sidewalk, and went home.

She was microwaving some leftovers when she heard someone outside her window. She decided to ignore the noise; it was the best way to get the upper hand. That's when she noticed it. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the small flashing light on her jacket. He put a tracker on her. Raven slightly panicked, thinking that maybe, somehow, he discovered who she was. Maybe he was going to confront her after all these years. But, it was more likely that he just wanted to know how she dodged that knife to the throat. She continued on with her business, knowing that he was waiting for her to notice him. Apparently she was wrong, because before she knew it he was in her apartment, giving her the third degree.

"You seem pretty calm for a woman who almost got her throat cut."

She was able to disguise her voice pretty well. It was a little higher and much more feminine. She just hoped that she wouldn't slip into her old voice while they were talking.

"It's a tough city. I've been mugged a few times, you get used to it."

She was still refusing to make eye contact, but she could feel his eyes on her. As if he knew there was something that she wasn't telling him.

"No one gets used to a knife being held to their throat. And people rarely live when the knife is used."

For the first time since he entered her apartment, she looked him in the eyes.

"I guess I got lucky."

She knew he wasn't going to like that answer, and it would probably bring about more questions, but she didn't know what else to say. She really was never the best liar.

"No one is that lucky. If you know Malcom, and this was all some kind of set up, I'll have to take you in too."

She needed to stay calm above all else, she wasn't going to let him get to her.

"I don't know him, and this wasn't a set up. It seems obvious that he was trying to bother you, and buy himself some time. He used me to get away from you. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to eat my dinner in peace. So, please, show yourself out."

Raven sat down at her table but, instead of leaving, Robin came closer to her.

"You're hiding something and I want to know what it is."

She looked down at her food, refusing to look at him, she didn't want to give him any reason to accuse her, but she sure wasn't giving him any reason not to. So, she was going to try something totally drastic.

She stood up from the table, looked him right in the eyes, and began to cry.

"Look, I didn't ask to be attacked tonight! First that psycho and now you! Don't you superheroes have anything better to do than bugging us citizens? I'm sure there are other crimes going on than me NOT dying. So, if you don't mind, I'd really like to be left alone!"

She hoped beyond hope that her acting was good enough to fool him. The old Robin used to crumble at the sight of a woman crying, but she wasn't so sure that this new Robin, this Nightwing, would do the same.

"I'm not attacking you! I'm trying to help you. I'm trying to find out what happened tonight! But, maybe we can do this another time, when you're not so upset."

"Thank you Robin."

He was heading for the window when she said it. Neither of them really noticed that she had slipped, until he noticed his reflection in the window. He wasn't Robin anymore, and no one was supposed to know that he ever was.

It was when he turned around and that she realized that she had slipped. She tried to keep her face composed, hoping she could fool him into thinking he was hearing things. But to no avail…

"What did you call me?"

She wasn't ready to be discovered, especially not like this. She wanted to come out on her own, not be outted by Robin, because of a stupid slip of the tongue.

"I don't know. I can't keep you superheroes straight. I just picked the first name that came to mind."

She could tell by his face that he wasn't buying it. Hell, she wasn't even buying it.

"Look, I don't really have the time to play these games. You either tell me who you are, or I'll have to find out for myself." He had taken out his birdarang and got into a fighting stance. Raven knew that it was too late at this point. She was going to have to give in.

"Okay, put your weapon away and let me explain"

"Not a chance. I'm not putting this away until I know who you are."

"Robin!"

She said it with a certain forcefulness she hadn't used since she was with the Titans. She was commanding him and she did it in a voice that he recognized. His position relaxed and the weapons were put away. He was completely dumbstruck.

"Raven?" He squinted at her.

"Yeah, it's me."

"You…you've changed."

He looked her up and down, and she did the same to him.

"So have you, no more boy wonder?"

"Hey, I may have changed my costume, but you've changed everything else."

She had almost forgotten that her identity shield was still up.

"Oh, this is just a spell", she chanted the counter spell and was back to the Raven that he knew, "this better?"

"No...I mean, yes…no I mean…Raven, where have you been? What happened to you? Do you know how hard we tried to find you? We didn't know if you were alive or dead! All these years and you've been playing dress up?"

"Wait a minute! You don't know anything about who I am now, Robin! And the only reason I 'play dress up', as you so nicely put it, is because my normal appearance is usually cause for alarm."

They were both standing in the middle of the room. Neither of them talked for a while, both too stubborn and angry to admit that they were more frustrated than they needed to be. He broke the silence first, with the one question she hoped he wouldn't ask.

"Why Raven? Why did you leave like that?"

Her face softened. She hadn't really thought about that night for a while, and Robin being here made the emotions came back to her. She was raw again, and she hated that feeling.

"It was all too much Robin. Everyone was more upset then I thought they would be about me leaving. I just wanted to make sure it didn't hurt so much. So I left."

"You didn't think us walking into that empty room in the morning wouldn't hurt? Did you think we would all just shrug our shoulders and say, 'oh well, I guess she left. Let's go fight crime now."

She sat down on her couch. Of course she hadn't thought that, but did he think that it was the easiest thing for her to do? Leaving was something that needed to be done. She needed to do it or she would have slowly deteriorated into nothing. After all these years, he still didn't understand her, and it killed her to know that.

"Robin, I left because I didn't want any of us to have to deal with the inevitable good-bye scene. I didn't want any of us to deal with the awkwardness or the emotion."

"We all would have dealt with it, for you Raven. You were our teammate, part of our family. We would have went through anything."

"It was for me Robin! I couldn't stand thinking about saying good-bye to all of you. I knew that I would have ended up staying if I spent one more minute with any of you. And I knew that if I stayed, it would have killed me. So, I left. I took the easy way out, but I needed to do it. I needed to get the balance back in my life."

She got up and walked over to the wall opposite the window. It was covered with pictures and cards. The people she had helped showed their gratitude in ways Raven never experienced before. Pictures of her drawn by 4 year olds, thank you cards from parents, greeting cards for every holiday from all her regular patients.

"This is what I do now. I help these people when they're injured or ill. Sometimes I'm their only life line. Robin, a three year old girl would have died, had I not been working here. When she recovered, she hugged me and thanked me for saving her life. Her mother called me an angel! That never would have happened if I stayed with the Titans. So maybe I have been playing dress up, maybe you've been going crazy looking for me, but does it really matter? So I took the easy way out, so what? They helped me recover myself. My powers have never been stronger. I could never get my image spell right when I was with the Titans. I can heal better too. It's amazing Robin, and it's all because I left that night."

She watched him and he scanned her wall. She knew that she had at least gotten his sympathy. But it wouldn't go far when he brought up the lack of contact. Which he was about to do.

"This is a really nice collection Raven, but it doesn't tell me why you never called. Or even dropped a note to say that you were alive."

"As if I could just write a letter to you guys! You and I both know that you or Cyborg would have dissected that letter until you knew exactly where it came from!"

He turned to her.

"We would not…We would have dissected the envelope."

For the first time that night, they laughed. Raven felt like a kid again. Being with Robin, laughing like this…she missed it. And in that instant she wanted to see them all again, right away.

"Is there any place where you original team members get together? Somewhere where you can just talk?"

He smirked, knowing what she wanted to do.

"We keep the original tower for orientation purposes only and there haven't been any new recruits in a while. Should I tell them why we're getting together?"

Raven smirked, casted her image spell, and started walking towards the window.

"Just tell them that you found an amazing new recruit."

He followed her towards the window.

"Amazing, huh?"

"I told you, my powers have improved."

And to further prove her point she cast a spell to put him back in his Robin outfit.

"Make your call Boy Wonder."

AN: So, next chapter. Raven is reintroduced to the rest of the Titans. How will they react? Only time will tell! So tune in next chapter, same bat-time, same bat-channel!

Seriously though, I tried to keep this as genuine as possible, emotion-wise. It may have come off a little cheesy-ish, but I didn't want to do anymore re-writes and delay the story even more. And as far as the criminal in this story, well he wasn't as psychopathic as I had originally intended, but it wasn't really essential to the story so I cut most of it out and made him sort of your average jack of a trades kind of criminal. Comments are much appreciated. Thanks.