Chapter XV: Team Grayson
Robin and Starfire giggled softly in the moonless night. Cyborg sighed to himself in frustration. His group had decided to take a short break but no one was sleeping. This was worse than camping out with a bunch of eight-year olds.
"Will you two cut it out already," Cyborg whispered to the offending couple. "The rest of us are trying to catch a little shut eye."
"No we're not," Haley's voice erupted from the darkness.
"Not you too," Cyborg said a bit louder. "Samuel, you awake?"
"Yup."
"I thought we all wanted to try get an hour of sleep," Cyborg said in his full voice.
"How can I sleep with my parents fooling around," Haley said in disgust.
"We are not fooling around," Starfire insisted.
"Yes we are," Robin's voice quickly answered. Both Robin and Starfire erupted into another round of giggles.
"Gross," Haley replied to her parents unwanted antics.
"I'm going to have to throw some cold water on you two if you don't cut it out," Cyborg said half laughing.
"You'd better hurry up or Haley's going to have a new brother or sister to contend with," Robin's voice cheerfully called out from the dark. Starfire began to laugh even louder.
"Dad, cut it out!" Haley hissed in disgust.
"Were they this bad when they were our age Cyborg?" Samuel asked.
"Absolutely not," Cyborg replied. "Robin barely even noticed your mother. He was all business back in the day."
"Not that story about the first time they kissed again," Haley protested. "I've only heard that one about a billion times."
"Aw come on," Cyborg chided her. "It's a great story. Did they tell you about the double date with Beast Boy and Terra when Robin split his pants?"
"We've only heard that one a million times," Samuel said with a slight laugh. His sense of humor was a bit more advanced than his sister's.
"That had to be one of the greatest nights of my life," Robin called out from the darkness. Some how Cyborg knew Starfire was squeezing him tightly after his announcement.
"OK, so what took you so long," Samuel asked. His question was met with silence. "Dad?!?"
"Um, sorry I got distracted," Robin's voice came out of the darkness. Starfire giggled again confirming Cyborg's suspicions. He could hardly contain his laughter at this odd situation.
"Can you repeat the question again?" Robin asked trying to stifle his laughter.
"Come on Dad; stop fooling around with Mom," Samuel said slightly disgusted. "For the love of Pete, both your kids are within ten feet of you!"
"All right, what's up?" There was another pause. "Dear I think we're stuck together, wait a minute…..OUCH!" Starfire began to laugh hysterically. "Take it easy woman!" Robin said in jest than began laughing again.
"I give up!" Samuel cried out in frustration.
"No, come on give us another chance," Robin pleaded with his son. "What's the question?"
"I forget," Samuel said. He began to laugh realizing the sudden humor of the situation.
"What took you so long to show your feelings for Mom?" Haley's dry voice steered them back to the topic. In truth she was slightly intrigued that there was a time when her father didn't constantly fawn over her mother.
"That was a different time I guess," Robin answered meekly. In truth he wasn't really sure why he hadn't noticed his wife's affections earlier. "Dear can you help me out?"
"Certainly," Starfire began. "You were what they say, clueless!"
"Ain't that the truth," Cyborg added. "The rest of us knew she had a thing for you almost from day one."
"So what changed your mind," Samuel asked.
"A wet T-shirt," Cyborg blurted out before Robin could reply. This was the truth of course and had the added bonus of putting his good friend in an embarrassing situation.
"What?!?" Robin cried defensively
"You remember your double date at Blue when Kitten drenched Starfire and Terra in the bathroom," Cyborg continued. "You told me at Sal's that she looked hot in her wet outfit." Cyborg laughed as he teased his partner.
"Oh yea," Robin answered unabashedly. "That was the moment all right!" He began laughing. Starfire screeched then began giggling uncontrollably again as Robin's hands roamed over her body in the dark.
"I think I'm gonna be sick," Samuel said in disgust.
"Not before I am," Haley chimed in.
"You should take a lesson from your father Samuel and get a clue," Starfire's voice called half out of breath from her husband's's assault.
"What are you talking about Mom?" Samuel replied unsure what his mother was referring to.
"I'm talking about a certain someone who's been watching you for the past few years," Starfire replied in a more serious tone.
"Who?" Samuel said genuinely perplexed by his mother's accusation. "Haley do you have a clue what Mom is talking about?"
"Yes," Haley replied.
"Cyborg?"
"I'm afraid I do"
"Dad?"
"What was the question again?" He pretended to be distracted fondling his wife. The others briefly burst out in laughter. "I'm sorry Samuel," Robin said with genuine remorse. "Yes I do know what your mother is talking about."
"OK is anyone going to fill me in?" Samuel called out in frustration after a short pause. Everyone knew this secret except him.
"Jane!" they all replied in unison.
Samuel was stunned. "You're all kidding, right?" he replied.
"Boy," Haley said with a slight laugh, "you really are clueless aren't you."
"But she's my partner," Samuel stammered. "You're not supposed to date your partner. It's against department rules."
"Funny," Starfire replied, "Raven told Terra and me the same thing. Good thing we didn't listen to her."
"So when was the last time you were out on a date," Robin asked his son.
"What is this, the Spanish Inquisition?" Samuel protested.
"That long, huh," Robin replied to his son's non answer.
"Bro please show some class and take her out to a nice restaurant and not some shooting gallery or gym," Haley added.
"Man everyone's on my case tonight," Samuel said.
"Come on now," Cyborg added, "we just don't want you to blow it, that's all."
"He'll do fine," Robin said in defense of his son. "He's a Grayson. When we put our minds to it we can do anything."
"As long as Johnny Rancid doesn't show up and spoil dinner," Cyborg piped in. Robin and Starfire both laughed at his response.
"All right, if my interrogation is over can we move on to someone else's love life?" Samuel piped in as he desperately tried to direct everyone's attention away from him.
"Well since we're talking about dating," Robin spoke up, "how's my little angel doing?"
"Fine Dad," Haley answered. She was thankful that it was dark so no one could see she was blushing under her father's interrogation.
"She's not seeing anyone that I know of," Cyborg answered.
"The boys are probably too scared to ask her out," Samuel quickly added with a laugh.
"Ha, ha, very funny Mr. I-don't-have a clue," Haley sneered.
"That's all right with your father," Robin called out. "Remember our little agreement; you're not allowed to date anyone until you're twenty-six."
"That's one promise she won't have a problem keeping," Samuel quickly added.
"Shut up you little prick," Haley sneered. Her brother's comments were beginning to wear on her. She knew her social life was pretty crappy. Most boys avoided her like the plague. She didn't need Samuel to remind her.
"That's enough Samuel," Starfire's stern voice called out to put an end to his teasing. She knew it upset her daughter to talk about her lack of contact with the opposite sex.
A short silence followed as fatigue finally set in on all of them. The crickets chirped in the night and the group became enthralled with the star-filled desert sky above them. Haley looked up as her eyelids began to grow heavy.
"Haley," Robin's voice called softly to her.
"Yea Dad?" she replied wearily.
"What's the rabbit all about?"
"Huh?"
"The rabbit on your outfit, what's it all about?"
There was a short silence as Haley tried to figure out if she wanted to reveal the source of her unusual emblem. "You're not going to laugh, are you?" Haley asked.
"No, I don't think so," her father's soothing voice called out from the night. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
Haley paused again then surprisingly decided to reveal the inspiration behind the image that adorned her costume. "It's Mr. Stubbs."
"That old pet rabbit you got when you were four?!?" Samuel replied in surprise.
"You had a pet Rabbit?" Cyborg asked. Haley did not seem like the type to have cuddly critters, heck she didn't even own a stuffed animal of any type as far as he knew.
"Yea," Robin explained. "She saw it in the pet store and begged me to buy it. It was a fat old gray rabbit. I couldn't say no, so I bought it and we took it home."
"Yes I remember him," Starfire broke in. "The choice of names was most unfortunate."
"What do you mean?" Cyborg asked.
"We thought it was overweight, but it was really pregnant. Mr. Stubbs was a girl." Robin explained.
Cyborg laughed at this revelation. They all had a good chuckle. Haley lay under the stars in moody silence. Like so many other times when she had started a conversation with her family it had become hijacked by someone else. Being the youngest had its disadvantages.
"I'm sorry honey," Robin called out realizing they had interrupted Haley's story. "You were saying?"
Haley took a deep breath and tried to decide if she wanted to continue. She was becoming convinced that they would all think her story was silly.
"Come on Haley, we're sorry we interrupted," Samuel called out to his sister. They all waited patiently for her to continue.
"Well, one day I took Mr. Stubbs and the babies out of their cage to let them play in the back yard," Haley continued. "One of them leaped away and I ran after it. When I turned around Tiger was in the yard chasing after the others."
"Tiger?" Cyborg asked.
"He was our neighbor's cat. A big Maine Coon. Liked to chase Dobermans," Robin briefly explained.
"Well I froze, I didn't know what to do," Haley continued. "Then I saw Mr. Stubbs run up and jump on Tiger. She just kept going after the cat trying to save her babies. Eventually she chased Tiger off and gathered her babies back up like nothing had ever happened. I couldn't believe a rabbit could be so brave."
"Why didn't you tell us what happened," Robin asked somberly.
"Because I didn't want to get in trouble," Haley replied. "You told me not to get Mr. Stubbs out of his cage without you or Mom so I just kept it to myself."
There was a pause as the others took in Haley's story.
"So whenever I was scared of something I would always think of Mr. Stubbs and how she risked her life to save her babies and then I wasn't scared anymore. When I joined the Titans I figured I needed some inspiration. So that's the story behind my emblem."
"You drew that?" Robin asked her.
"Yea," Haley replied. "Sensi didn't just teach me martial arts you know."
Robin smiled to himself wondering how much else he didn't know about his daughter.
"OK," Cyborg called out wearily. "If we're all done talking we can still manage a half hour of sleep."
The others grunted in approval. Soon the sound of light snoring drifted into the desert night.