Clearly the Titans were still needed.

All day long, and even into the night, the Titans were making their rounds, trying to stop the terrible from happening. But of course the terrible always happened, as it was inevitable. Crime of any kind, and they were always there to stop it.

Nightwing had spent many hours arguing their case, and throughout the Tower they could hear his voice becoming more and more insistent, rising loud with rage and anguish. Beast Boy had snuck away from him, not wanting to get right in the middle of a heated argument between two formidable heroes. Cyborg seemed to be avoiding it too, not getting too close to the shouting, but staying just close enough to monitor everything that was being said so he could tell the others later.

Should Nightwing not tell them.

And for all of his yelling and arguing, and even pleading and begging, it had paid off, for it had bought them time.

Perhaps another year or two or three…

Maybe even four or five if they were lucky enough. If Slade didn't show his face and the citizens of Jump City had them in good graces.

Starfire was ecstatic, as always. "Oh, Raven, isn't it exciting!" she proclaimed, wrapping her arms around her and squeezing her tightly. Raven did have to agree with her, it was exciting that they weren't disbanding after all. Still, she kept rubbing her skin, as though the bullet they had dodged had been real, and had grazed along her skin.

"Good fortune has bestowed us once more!" Starfire said, still hugging her.

Raven leaned forward on the railing, looking out across the small section of ocean to the skyline, aglow in the night sky. She kept trying to smile, but in the end it took Starfire to coax it out of her.

"Oh, Raven! Why are you not overjoyed at the news. We are staying together. All five of us!" She pulled away and put her hands upon Raven's shoulders, looking her squarely in the face and taking the sight of her in. Green eyes peered deep into her's, and Starfire came to see the excitement in them, the happiness past the muted exterior.

"I am happy, Starfire." A small smile graced her face.

With a sigh of happiness, Starfire floated into the air, turning this way and that and extending herself over the Tower. She levitated there, simply enjoying the gift of flight, spinning without a single care in the world. Raven watched her happily, with her own emotions started to stir far too excitedly. An eeriness had crept over her, onto her skin, and she knew her powers were coming to life.

Starfire faced her lover once more.

"Raven, please. Join me," she said, and Raven couldn't have denied her for all she was worth.

Raven's feet left the ground, and she was flying towards Starfire, joining her in her dance across the sky. Starfire kept spinning in circles, and reaching up high into the atmosphere, Raven following close behind, before they both dropped back down dangerously towards the earth, their bodies skimming the surface of the ocean water. Small waves crested and sea water splashed up against them when they flew too close.

Raven reached forward and captured Starfire in her arms, now deciding to levitate instead of fly. She kissed her deeply, putting into the kiss all her love and passion and emotion and thought. She could feel Starfire returning all of this and more, slipping her tongue past Raven's lips and making her barriers crumble into the dust.

Upon breaking the kiss, they found themselves lying down upon the rocks once more, on the edge of their small island.

"I never imagined I could be so happy," Starfire murmured.

She nuzzled into Raven's neck, and brought her hand to her cheek, stroking Raven's smooth skin with her thumb. Raven smiled back at her, for she felt the same happiness when she was with her. She never wanted them to part, not ever in their life. Even if they would not be lovers forever, she wanted to stay friends with her. Be near her, no matter what role she played in this grand scheme of their life.

Even her fears couldn't break her.

Not this time.

Starfire, her lover, her friend, her solace, was with her, and there was nothing that could tear her down. Raven wondered if Starfire knew this, how much power she had over her, how much love she had put into her. Deep down, somewhere past the surface layers of her conscious being, Starfire knew. Raven believed that.

"We may still part, though," Raven said, voicing her thoughts without even knowing it. "Nightwing might have saved us for another couple years, but then after that we might still—"

Starfire put a finger to her lips, quieting her.

"Hush," she said softly. "The future is far away. For now, we are together. For many more years to come."

Raven brushed some of Starfire's hair away from her face, exposing her bright green eyes to her. She tucked the fiery red strands behind her ear, then stroked her hand down the soft locks.

"I have been reading some of your books. And some of your poetry," Starfire told her. Rolling onto her back, she fixed her gaze up to the night sky above them, alight with millions of glittering stars. Raven rolled over in turn, looking up to see where Starfire pointed. She could recognize all of the constellations in the sky, name them all in several different languages.

The empath felt her lover's overwhelming sense of sorrow at gazing at such beauty. Starfire had always loved the nights of Earth, for she said that the stars almost never shone back on Tamaran. For the first week on Earth, she stayed awake every single night, looking up at the night sky for hours on end, unblinking, taking in everything.

Raven remembered that that had been the first time she knew she loved her.

Platonically, all the way back then.

"Much of the poetry you read says that the stars are everlasting. That no matter what happens, no matter how much time has passed, the stars will always be there. Be a constant within the life. But that is not so. They always change."

Starfire turned her head to the side, and Raven looked back at her.

"On my planet, it is a well known fact that the stars are something only temporary. In fact, many of us came to know that much of the stars we see no longer exist." She straightened her head. "Because it takes so long for light to travel through the universe, what you see is the glow that stars had first put out millions of years ago. I know that specifically that star there—" she pointed "—is dead, and has been for the past two thousand years. It no longer exists."

"That doesn't make me feel better," Raven replied.

Before Starfire could say anything more, she rolled over onto her side and embraced Starfire. Starfire welcomed her warmly, letting her body nearly melt together with hers.

"What I am attempting to say is—" Starfire's voice was barely a whisper, "—even if this does not last forever, it is my belief that it will last for many long times. Even if it ends, the after effects will still be there."

Raven sat up suddenly, her head swimming.

"I'm sorry," she said.

She got to her feet, flustered and her hand on her head. Casting a sympathetic look back at Starfire, she escaped back into her solitude, not knowing what else to do. The feelings that were pulsing through her body were becoming too much, and one of them was bound to get her. Raven would prefer it to be her, instead.

Somewhere beyond her sight, a pane of glass shattered, and Raven winced.

"My lover," Starfire said sadly, wrapping her arms around herself to feel less alone. "Complicated is she." But she is worth it, Starfire thought to herself, even as her head dropped lower to her chest and she squeezed herself harder.

"Raven."

"Hello, lover," Starfire said, her voice low and smooth as silk.

She dropped down from out of nowhere, floating down to the ground like a feather, her hair floating around her head like a majestic aura. Raven blushed, unable to control herself around such beauty. Even flustered, Starfire leaned in closer to Raven, letting her hands brush up against her slowly, lightly, almost teasing her.

Raven's heart was hammering in her chest, and Raven felt it nearly burst when Starfire stole her breath as she kissed her swiftly, letting them share the taste of their lips. Pulling back, Starfire cupped Raven's face in her hands, looking at her deeply before kissing her again.

The darkness of the hallway surrounded them, seeming to cloak them and hide them from the harsh reality of the world around them. It felt like they lived within their own dimension, between space and time and reality, a feeling of suspension.

But then…

"The window you had shattered could not be fixed."

Starfire brought her crashing back down, a slap to the face more stinging than anything could ever be. She put her hand to her chest, as though that would somehow help. Like she had fallen from a hundred feet and slammed into the pavement, and she needed to make sure her bones weren't broken.

Starfire put her hand over Raven's.

"Do not worry," Starfire said, in a voice so cheerful that Raven could almost believe she could. "I have your heart in safe keeping. All of us, the Titans, have you in safe keeping."

Raven's eyes started welling with tears, but she brushed them away quickly.

"Lover, come with me," Starfire said, slipping her hands into Raven's and guiding her back into her bedroom. Raven followed, her emotions tearing into the numb horror of what she had done, and the lovestruck woman who was about to be pleasured by the woman she loved.

"I shall ease your distress."

They fell upon the bed together, kissing deeply and letting their hands wander beneath their clothes. They undressed each other, taking their time pulling off the garments, stripping away all the confines that separated them from being skin on skin. Heat rushed through their veins at every brush of their naked skin, and when their breasts finally met together, they could no longer stand it.

Into the bed they went, lost in their private moment once more.

"Wait," Raven said suddenly, moving to the edge of the bed.

Starfire watched with impatient eyes and Raven reached out, grabbing a small container from her nightstand and holding it out. When she lifted the lid, Starfire gasped. Raven held the crystal in front of both of them, letting the dark glass play with their eyes.

"You have fixed it," Starfire said in wonder.

"And it is yours now," Raven said, pressing the crystal into Starfire's palm and pressing her fingers to make a fist. Starfire's eyes closed, and contorted as a tsunami of emotions passed through her. When she finally opened her eyes, she shook her head, no, and pressed the gem back into Raven's palm.

"No. It is yours."

"Star—"

"Please. Do keep this. For me."

Raven fell silent. She looked back down at her heart, encased in the gemstone and meaning so much to both of them. Did Starfire no longer want her heart? Had she truly ruined it all in the end?

"Raven, I still want you. I need you for me to be well."

Starfire's starting to become an empath of her own, Raven thought.

"I will always have you—all of your body parts and metaphysical self—and that together is far more important than only one aspect of you."

Raven clutched the gemstone next to her heart, protecting them both from something she didn't know. Starfire's lips were at her throat again, kissing her tenderly and warmly, and a soft moan escaped her lips.

"So I keep my heart, and you keep me?"

Starfire seemed puzzled by that question, but then nodded, yes.

"I will not lose you," Starfire said to her. "I will always be there when you need me."

"You're getting all mushy on me, Star," Raven said, a reluctant smile gracing her face.

"That is because I wish for you to remember this," said Starfire.

Without another word, she let her lips travel down Raven's body, let her hands touch her all over, and listened as Raven moaned softly and whispered her name, her pleasure fueling her lust and her lust fueling her pleasure.

In the morning, they could worry about the window, and the years ahead of them to come, and the crime that was still rampant throughout the city. But right now, they became lost in the moment, suspended in a small section of time where nothing existed but the two of them. And hopefully, it would always be this way.

The End