(Enjoy and please review! ~RavensMind~)

Chapter 7: For the Excluded

"Hatred's assault on the occupying force of Despair's making had started. Within Raven's first waking hour, the walls of the memory tower were scorched, the floors scarred, and the foundations nearly cracked. Still, visions of Trigon and the end of all things slipped into Raven's view. Hatred had to recruit Courage to help fight off the infestation. Passion and Happiness were brought in to soothe Raven as the fighting went on. This was the beginning of the end for this depression. It would only be a matter of time. The day ahead held so much more than she could have hoped for along with a new threat to the city."

After her shower, Raven got dressed and left her room, heading for the living room. She was feeling a little better, but knew it would take some time before she was back to normal, and a bit longer for any further improvement. There was little to do now but wait. She wanted tea badly.

Walking into the living room, she was greeted by the sight and sounds of the TV. Some cop show was on and the volume was low. She walked over to the couch and found Robin, still in his uniform, fast asleep, with their journal face down on his chest. She smiled and then quietly went to the kitchen. Turning the coffee pot on, she set Robin's mug next to it, and then started making her tea in her own cup. She drank her tea slowly while she waited for the coffee. When it was done, she poured it into Robin's mug and walked back to the couch. She set the mug down on the table and sat down on the couch by his feet.

"Robin?" Raven asked, shaking him awake gently.

Shaking his head a bit, Robin slowly woke up. He smiled at Raven and sat up.

"Morning, Raven," Robin said.

"Morning," Raven said, taking his mug and handing it to him.

"Hey, thanks!" he said, grabbing it and taking a sip.

She smiled and nodded to him.

"What time is it?" he asked.

"Around nine," she said.

"Guess I slept in a little."

"Yeah, what were you doing sleeping out here?"

"Thought I'd take advantage of having the tower all to ourselves. Want to join me tonight to watch something?"

"Sure, that sounds nice."

He smiled and looked at her for a few moments.

"You seem like you're feeling better."

"A little. I worked some things out with my emotions, so I should be back to my normal self soon."

"That's great! Do you still want my help?"

"Yeah, I still need to try to give my emotions more freedom."

"I'll help however I can."

"I believe you will. How's your wrist?"

"Stiff, it still hurts, but I don't need the splint for it just moving around here, so I took it off."

"Just tell me if it gets worse."

She sat back against the couch and drank her tea, as he drank his coffee. While she had turned her attention to the TV, he was stealing glances at her as he watched too. She caught him looking at her a few times, which made her half-smile and laugh softly at him. He smiled at her as she laughed. When he finished his cup of coffee, he stood up and set their journal on the couch.

"I'm going to go take a shower and everything. See you in a few," he said.

"See you soon," she said.

When Robin left the living room, Raven set her cup down and then got up and went over to the chair in front of the TV. She accessed the Titans computer and pulled up a few recent files. The timestamp indicated that Robin had been looking at them last night. One was a message from Batman, describing the team's mission in Gotham, another was a report on recent illegal weapon shipments to Jump City, and the last two were criminal files on Slade and someone called The Penguin.

She frowned, he had promised her he wouldn't touch the computer last night. Though what she saw worried her. She hadn't recognized the name of the second criminal, but knew she had seen or heard the name somewhere before. Slade's file had his recent activities and sightings listed, the last two stuck out. One was about his appearance in Jump City aiding Trigon and then helping the Titans defeat Trigon. The second was a black and white photo of Slade walking into a warehouse near the docks with a timestamp of four days ago.

Turning off the computer, Raven went back to the couch and picked up the journal. She sat down and opened it to the most recent entry. Robin had written a list of things to do with little checkboxes next to them: dinner, haunted house, costume party, horror movie marathon, carnival, café. Followed by a little message: "Any of these sound like fun to you?" – Robin. Underneath that, he had taped a small teabag of a brand she found and had loved while they were in Tokyo. She smiled and peeled the bag out of the journal and the off the tape, holding it up.

The door to the living room slid open and Robin entered.

"Do you like it?" he asked.

"I do, thank you," she said, stoically.

"Don't sound too excited," he said dryly.

"I'm excited, but I'm also angry at you for breaking your promise last night," she said.

"You looked. Why did you have to look?"

"So I could see if you kept your word, and you didn't."

"Raven, I'm sorry. Batman needed me to look into a few things around here. And now we may have our own case."

"You do know you don't have to do what he says immediately, right?"

Robin crossed the room and sat down next to her. He sighed heavily and bent down, running his hands over his face, and then resting them on his knees. She looked down at him, waiting for him to say something else.

"I know. I know. Believe me, I hate it, it's why I left. Having anyone looking over my shoulder like that is just – it's more than I can take. Do you think I wanted to send any of you guys up there? It's just another way for him to try and mess with me. I was done always being the one who had 'more to learn' I didn't feel at home anymore, but it was the only home I had," he said.

Raven put her hand on his shoulder and gently squeezed as he sighed again.

"I know how you feel," she said.

"Do you?" he asked, staring at the ground between his feet.

"Yes. More than you'd want me to… Right now, you're feeling as bad as you do on that one day, the same day every year. That day, you're the last to get up, you don't eat, you spend most of the afternoon in the gym, you fight harder than any of us if there's trouble, you don't say much, then in the evening – you go into the evidence room saying you're checking a case… and you nearly break down, fighting back tears. Then, you go up to the roof, and I join you, to look at the stars," she said.

He looked up at her, surprised, and nearly horrified at how much detail she knew. She nodded to him and squeezed his shoulder again.

"Y-you…you knew?" he asked.

"I did. Why do you think I check in on you so much that day? I know what that day means to you, I know it's the day you lost your parents," she replied.

"It's stupid. It shouldn't affect me like that," he said, staring back at the floor.

"No, it's not stupid, what's stupid is not talking about it with anyone," she said.

"I tried once, Raven, I tried to tell Starfire when we were dating, but she wasn't treating the conversation seriously. So I kept it to myself. I guess I couldn't share it with anyone and I haven't."

"Robin."

"What?"

"Look at me."

He turned toward Raven and sat up straight. She wrapped her arms around his neck and ran one of her hands up through his hair, with a small smile on her face. He returned the smile and shifted closer to her.

"I should've talked to you, you were trying to help, and I didn't," he said.

"Yeah, but at least I could distract you, at least you spoke when we watched the stars," she said.

"I umm, think I'm seeing stars now."

"Must be hard to appreciate them with that mask on."

He reached up and carefully peeled his mask off, dropping it on the couch. His bright blue eyes reflected in her dark blue eyes. She smiled and Robin saw the small spark return to her eye.

"You were right; I really like what I see now."

"So do I, Richard."

Robin froze for a few moments. It had been so long since anyone aside from Batman and Alfred had used his name. He liked how it sounded in her voice. He put his arms around her back, his fingers digging into her cloak. She sunk her fingers into his hair as he swiftly pulled her to him. Their lips met. Passion cheered with Happiness in the recesses of Raven's mind.

She tugged him down on top of her as her back found the cushions of the couch. His hands slid to the side of her stomach and her thigh as he pressed his lips into hers again. She moaned softly into their kiss as she ran her hands along his back. He groaned a little as her leg moved to rest against his inner thigh. She let out a small giggle as she sank her teeth into his lower lip. He kissed her again, then broke away, holding himself up with his arms. One of her hands found its way to the back of his head. He ran his hand along her bare thigh as he looked down at her with a smile. She returned a small smile and slid her other leg closer to his.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, silent and content. Robin was thinking of what they would do together over the next few days, while Raven wondered how her emotions would handle the next few days with him. They both thought of how much more deeply they found they cared for the other.

"Raven?" Robin asked.

"Mhmm?" Raven asked.

"This might sound weird, but could you say my name again?" he asked.

"Richard," she said with a small grin.

He leaned down and caught her lips in his. She laughed softly as he broke away again.

"Mmm. How will I deal with you now?" she asked.

"It's probably best not to, and just give in," he teased.

"Careful what you wish for, boy wonder," she said with a wicked grin.

"I was and just look at what I have here," he said, smiling at her.

"Lucky you, wish I was so fortunate," she teased.

"Ha ha. Very funny," he said, pinching her.

"You're right, I think I lucked out. Your eyes are like crystals, by the way. Shame they're hidden all the time," she said.

"They have to stay hidden, just not for you. I've been an idiot, I should have trusted you with more," he said.

"You did what you thought you had to."

"I'm going to trust you more, okay?"

"Okay. Umm…are you going to get off of me, or are we staying like this all day?"

"Why not? It's not like we have to go anywhere."

"Either move, or I'll move you."

"I'll think about it."

"Fine, Richard, one more."

She slid out from under him a bit and sat up, taking his face in her hands and seizing his lips with her own. He held her close and ran his fingers through her hair, stroking it as he deepened their kiss. She melted under his touch and had to force herself to break away.

"Seems like you want more than just one," he teased.

"I do, but we both have things to do. Maybe we'll get back to this tonight," she said.

"Promise?" he asked.

"Maybe…" she said, looking down and tracing the R on his chest with her finger.

"Raven…"

"Yes, I promise. Now let me up."

Robin got off of Raven and moved back to his original spot on the couch, as she sat up and grabbed her tea cup. She took a sip and looked out the window, relaxing. Robin stood up and went to the kitchen to refill his coffee mug.

"Hey Raven, what flavor of tea is that? Strawberry?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said.

"Thought so. Guess the taste stays with you for a while," he said.

"It does… Do you like it?"

"Is that a serious question? I want to try some more, only from you though."

"Robin, knock it off," she said as she blushed slightly.

"Fine. So, does anything on that list sound good to you? Thought we might try to get to one of them today."

"I feel like doing the horror movie marathon, I'm not sure you're ready to go to the café I like yet, and I don't know if I want to go to the carnival at all."

"Why not?"

"Didn't you take Starfire on one of your first few dates when we got back from Tokyo?"

"Oh, yeah I did…but it's okay, if you don't want to go, we don't have to. Besides, I was hoping you'd pick movie night," he said, rejoining her on the couch with his coffee.

"Okay, we'll do that then. Um, earlier you said something about having our own case here, want to tell me what that's about?" she asked as she turned to look at him.

"I need to hear back from Batman before we can start doing anything, but it involves Slade and a criminal from Gotham, Penguin. Slade is dangerous enough by himself, but if he has Penguin's help, I don't know how we'll stop them, especially if it's just the two of us," he explained.

"Maybe, what else do we know?"

"Nothing else but what I have already, that's why I need more information from Batman. I could try and meet with my contact that I made when I was undercover looking into that reactor, but I don't think it's safe anymore."

"I could go with you."

"What about your powers?"

"I didn't mean now, but once I've had some time to recover, and you've helped me a little."

"Once you feel better, yeah, you can go with me."

The Titans computer screen lit up and Robin's communicator went off with a tiny alarm. Robin hopped off the couch and went over to the computer chair with his coffee as Raven followed, drinking her tea. He punched in a few numbers and several other keys and Alfred's face appeared on the screen.

"Alfred? Where's Bruce?" Robin asked.

"My apologies, Master Grayson, Master Bruce is seeing to another matter with your friends in the city, but he's-," Alfred said, he stopped when he noticed Raven standing next to Robin in the room. Robin turned to Raven and then back to Alfred.

"It's fine, Alfred, she knows," Robin said.

"I see, well, I hope Master Bruce does not take issue with that. He's found some information which may prove helpful to you. It seems Penguin has left Gotham and is flying into your city tomorrow. He has expanded his illegal weapon market to Jump City as well as Gotham, and he's been looking into more advanced weaponry there to send back to Gotham for some unknown buyer," Alfred explained.

"Strange for him to come here, does it have anything to do with Slade?" Robin asked.

"No. Slade has been out of the country since you last saw him, pursuing various contracts, but he bought up the stores selling legal firearms in your city for some income on the side. Slade's business would suffer if Penguin were to expand into Jump City, he would not be assisting Penguin, that is certain. Master Bruce has said to keep your eyes open for Slade to make a move if he's there. Penguin may not know you're there, but Slade certainly does," Alfred said.

"How is the rest of our team? We haven't been hearing much in the way of updates," Raven asked.

"Master Grayson, Miss Raven, I know Master Bruce wouldn't approve of my telling you this, but he and your friends are being targeted by the same buyer of Penguin's weapons. If this buyer gets their hands on them, there's no telling what they'll do next, but your friends are in serious danger," Alfred said.

Robin and Raven were quiet for a few moments.

"We'll stop Penguin and find those weapons, you have our word, but we need you or Bruce to let us know what's happening there – or we'll come to Gotham to find out for ourselves," Robin said.

"I understand. I shall tell Master Bruce when he returns, and I promise that he will contact you when he learns more," Alfred said.

"Thank you, Alfred," Raven said.

"Of course. Take care, Master Grayson, you as well, Miss Raven," Alfred said before ending the call.

Robin leaned back in the chair and took a long drink of his coffee before taking a deep breath. Raven stood still, resting her hand on his shoulder, and looking down at him. He eventually looked up at her and she could see the worry in his eyes. She took a sip of her tea and squeezed his shoulder.

"If anything happens to them, it's my fault," he said.

"Don't be an idiot. It will be the fault of whoever hurts them," she said.

"Sure…" he said.

"Or it could at least be Batman's fault, if you like."

"Now you're talking."

"I was kidding."

"I wasn't."

She frowned at him for his comment. She didn't know a lot about their relationship, only that there was a lot of bitterness on Robin's end, and Bruce had been a father to him. She surmised that that role changed as Robin learned more. Looking down at him, she wondered how much he had seen of crime as he had worked with Batman. Then she became distracted by something else. She smiled at him, almost looking through him.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Nothing, I just…I can't get over how much I like your eyes," she said.

He smiled, rising from his chair with his cup, his gaze fixed on her.

"I've always liked yours, too," he said.

Leaning in, Raven gave Robin a quick kiss on the lips.

"You really know how to make me feel better," he said.