*knock* *knock* *knock*

The dark hall stood still in the silence.

*knock* *knock* *knock*

The soft rapping against the door echoed against the grey walls of the still-sleeping tower. A moment later the door slid open an inch and a pale violet eye peered back through the opening. As it took in the sight it widened slightly and then disappeared as the heavy metal door slid to open fully and the young man entered.

"It's 4 in the morning."

Her voice drawled out, tired an uneven.

"I know. I wanted to talk to you before the others woke up."

She nodded though obviously still annoyed as she retreated further into her room to sit upon the edge of her bed.

"And it didn't occur to you that I might still be sleeping?"

He followed her further into the room and scoffed a bit as he stopped in front of her and folded his arms.

"Based on those dark circles beneath your eyes I'd guess that you weren't."

He smiled a sad smile as she flashed the same expression for a moment before looking down at the ground.

"I'm sorry. I haven't been able to sleep either"

He took a seat beside her on her bed placing a hand on her leg and giving a comforting squeeze. The feeling sent strange shivers through her nerve endings but she shrugged it off and quickly moved away to sit further onto her bed as she tangled her legs into a lotus.

"So are you just here to tell me how shitty I look or..."

Her eyes raised up to meet his gaze, a cool facade of control taking her features and hiding the emotions that lay beneath. He froze for a moment recognizing the insensitivity of his words and scrambled to find the proper phrase to save himself.

"I didn't mean that! You look fine. . . I mean good.. I mean. . ."

A blush quickly dusted his cheeks. In the embarrassment of his own words he failed to notice a matching shade of red begin to color her pale face.

"Stop."

He shut his mouth immediately.

"I know what you meant. Why are you here?"

The heat in his cheeks began to dissipate and he continued with the reason for his visit.

"I looked into that Cerberus group like you asked me to. I wasn't able to find much more than you did but I did dig up a contact in the area that claims to remember some of what happened."

Raven nodded understanding.

"What did they say?"

Robin shook his head.

"That's the thing, he wouldn't. He said he'll only discuss it in person."

Raven sighed as she began to realize the direction of his words.

"Of course. So what are we going to do? We can't exactly leave without the others knowing and I'm not really capable of teleportation right now."

She gestured to her wounded wing before wincing at the pain again. Robin flashed a concerned look her way before he replied.

"Yeah, that's what I was trying to figure out. So I think we just tell them the truth."

She glared daggers back at him, a concerned expression present on her soft features. Robin quickly continued to speak.

"I'm following a lead for a case. I need someone with me, but I have to be discreet so it has to be you."

Raven thought for a moment before slowly nodding as the sharpness in her eyes faded. Robin held a proud grin on his face as if he'd just figured out one of life's great mysteries. Successfully avoiding death at the hands of the young empath was a plus too.

"Alright, as long as you do the talking. When are we leaving?"

Robin stood from his spot at the edge of the bed before turning fully to face her.

"Today. In a few hours. I wasn't joking about being discreet either, this guy seems super. . . superstitious. . . We'll need to try and look as normal as possible."

Raven scoffed as she stood from the bed. Robin began walking to the door with Raven close behind him.

"What, the guy's not into capes and spandex?"

Robin laughed.

"No, I don't think so. I guess with everything their town went through they're kind of afraid of anything 'abnormal'."

Raven nodded, content with the reasoning. They stopped at her door as Robin turned to face her.

"That means no cloak."

Raven looked up at him, subliminally noting the slight height difference. She offered an annoyed look. The hood of her cloak offered her a great deal of comfort and protection from the scrutiny of others.

"Can I wear a hoodie?"

Robin sighed.

"Yes, but you can't keep the hood up the whole time. Something tells me that will rub these people the wrong way."

Raven rolled her eyes before they settled back on the hollow whites of his mask.

"That means no mask either."

Robin nodded.

"Or sunglasses indoors."

With that Robin's confident grin began to sour into a similar face that donned her features at the mention of her cloak. While she could not feel the emotion, she could tell that his feelings were pouring off him. His eyes narrowed for a moment before they softened and his expression turned to one of sorrow.

"Robin.."

She said softly, trying to offer comfort in the only other way she could. She brought her left hand up as if to reach out but she paused. He lifted the left side of his mouth slightly, presenting a halfway smile.

"Sorry, I just have a hard time being. . ."

"Richard?"

Raven finished his sentence.

"Yeah.."

He looked down with clear dejection. The name brought back memories filled with open wounds. It had been years since he'd gone by his real name, perhaps as a means to run away from the years of time spent under the wing of what should have been his father. An ember glowed a little brighter within him.

The image of a grand entryway came across his eyes as he blinked. He recalled the warmth of the wood, the kindness of the older man who worked there, and the cold shell of a man who called the mansion home. His blood boiled at the thought of his pseudo-father-figure.

He fought within his mind to find the memories of his blood, his true father. That kind and peaceful smile filled with love and care. Then that nightmare, the rope as it snapped and the terrified screams as they fell. He shuttered at the thought.

Finally he could see the eyes of his mentor staring back at him. Cold and lifeless as he chided him. A wrong move, a missed opportunity, a civilian hurt. No matter the mistake he would not relent in his scolding. The very image of his face brought heat to burn his skin.

Cold.

Suddenly he felt the heat that had threatened to consume him vanish. He opened his eyes, not realizing they had been closed. His eyes met the concerned stare of beautiful amethyst irises.

The cold lingered and began to chill his entire body. He trailed his eyes down to his right side to find her smooth, slender fingers grasping at his forearm just above his gloves. He could feel the cool chill course through him, calming his warring mind.

"Robin?"

She said softly again. Her soothing, low voice further calming his mind as he gained back control, but he still could not speak. He needed that touch, the coolness of her calm soul.

It took a moment and he wasn't sure how it happened but within the blur of the next few seconds Raven had one arm around his torso with the other tucked safely between them against her stomach. Robin had one hand on the small of her back gently pressing her to him while the other cradled her head at the base of the neck. She laid her head against his shoulder and he leaned into the embrace relishing the feeling of her small body against him, offering that soothing cool touch he so desperately needed.

Raven fought to stay a gasp from escaping her as they'd quickly come together. As she felt the warmth of his arms around her she could not escape, and strangely, she did not want to. The familiar feeling of safety encompassed her. Nothing could harm her so long as she stayed there. She nuzzled her head ever so slightly into his shoulder.

The two stood still a few minutes, lost in time, before Raven slowly stepped away, once again noting the warmth that left her and wishing she'd let the moment last a moment longer. She shook her head as a blush began to creep up on her cheeks.

"I need to get ready."

Robin, in a complete stupor, shook his head before nodding while sheepishly scratching at the nape of his neck. Raven smiled a little as she witnessed his nervous tic.

"Yeah, I'll go get ready to tell the others.."

He spoke quickly as he turned and left her room. The door shut behind him leaving Raven to stand by herself. Her eyes lingered on the door still trying to understand what she'd felt and what had happened. Once again she shook her head before retreating to her closet to pack.

—

The doors opened and warm daylight spilled into the hallway as he stepped into the room. A yawn escaped his lips as he stretched his arms as far out as he could.

"Morning, grass stain."

The words brought his attention to the kitchen where the large metal man stood with a perfectly sized and creased chefs hat atop his head.

"Want some grub?"

He held up a pan which he quickly recognized was filled with a stack of pancakes. His mouth was open in and instant and salivating at the thought of the fluffy breakfast food.

"Yes please!"

He yelled as he made a beeline to the kitchen to grab his plate. He stacked an obscene amount of pancakes onto his plate before his whole head morphed into an alligator as he ate it, plate and all.

Cyborg ate a similar stack but did so by jamming his face full of food with a fork and knife. Within seconds the kitchen was once again devoid of food.

As if on cue the towers resident alien princess floated into the room, opening the fridge to grab a bottle of mustard and flew to the table. The disturbing sound of the yellow condiment being slurped filled the room.

The ambience continued on in this way for a few more minutes, ignoring the dark girl on the ground in front of the couch. She sat leaned up against the seat with a book in her hands. Her eyes flitted across the page over and over again, unable to grasp at the words as she was too busy trying to wrap her un-aided mind around past events.

As nice as it was to be unburdened by her active emotions it made it difficult to completely digest her feelings. She thought perhaps it was how most normal people felt when confronted with such situations.

Her mind raced and the only thing that could draw her from her thoughts was the sound of heavy steel toed boots hitting the ground as the common room doors slid closed. She looked over her right shoulder, forgetting that she could not see over the couch from her position. She made to move but thought better of it and stayed in her spot.

"Yo rob, what's with the bag?"

A booming voice bellowed out filling the room.

"Another trip?"

She couldn't see the scene play out but she knew he nodded simply to his question.

"Magnificent, where is it that you will be going?"

Starfire chimed in though her voice was not nearly as bubbly as normal. Despite being the instigator of their split, Raven had noticed that she was still slightly bitter.

"Greece."

An arrangement of ooo's and ahh's quickly followed before a younger voice chimed in.

"Man, why don't we ever get to go to the cool places?!"

A headache began to form in the back of Raven's head.

"Man, we went to Tokyo like, less than a year ago!"

Beastboy made an audible 'hmpf' aptly portraying both his opinion and his childishness. To think he once asked her to be called 'Beast Man'. A small smile threatened to overtake her features but the thought of a wild blonde quickly staunched out the rampant emotion.

"Cyborgs right, it's not been that long since we made a big trip, not to mention our time abroad fighting the brotherhood of evil."

Raven could imagine the disappointed look on his face while both Robin and Cyborg glared at him.

"Besides I'm following a lead and I need to be as subtle as possible. No offense Beastboy but, you're green."

Finally Raven decided it was inconspicuous for her to join the group now as she stood and rounded the couch before passing her friends to make a pot of tea. Just as she imagined, a look of disappointment and slight annoyance was seated on Beastboy's face while Robin and Cyborg continued their exchange.

"I will need someone to watch my back while I'm there so. . ."

Cyborg and Starfire looked on at him with anticipation and expectation.

"Raven?"

The two sighed as they turned to look at Raven. She'd been listening but found herself half-dazed, staring directly at the steel kettle as it began to heat up. Recognizing her name had been called she looked over to Robin past the jealous glares of her teammates.

"What?"

She asked, pretending not to know.

"You're coming with me to Greece, you're the only other Titan that can keep a low profile."

Raven glanced at each of her teammates. One was half metal, one was completely green, and the other one might as well have had 'alien' written on her forehead. She looked back to Robin who gave her a knowing stare.

"Swell."

She let out in the flattest and emotionless voice she could before turning to her now whistling kettle.

"Great. Go pack up, we're leaving in 10."

Raven sighed audibly as she took her cup of tea in her left hand and made her way past her teammates toward the common room door. She bumped her right arm into Beastboy on accident as she passed and had to muster all of strength not to yelp in pain. As the doors closed behind her she felt her pace pick up ever so slightly. Was she excited to go? To be away from the rest of the team? To be just the two of them? She shook her head violently to break away from her train of thought.

'It's a damn good thing passion isn't hearing any of this.'

She thought to her self as she rounded the corner and disappeared into her room.