Hello internet.

So, I'm not used to writing Teen Titan fanfiction, it's not really my style and they have a dynamic that I don't understand enough to write well, so… I'll be keeping that team's interactions to a minimum so I don't screw it up, and probably focus more on a one-on-one conversation when it comes to them…

Yeah, sorry TT fans!

Enjoy!

*One Year Later*

"How the heck can you eat that!" Beast Boy cried as Cyborg laughed at his friend over his nicely grilled steak.

"Easy," The larger boy smirked, pointedly taking another bite while BB gagged and pretended to faint. "This never gets old…" He chuckled.

"Speak for yourself." Raven mumbled from the couch in the living area, meditating—though not really because there were others in the room, more just thinking quietly in the corner—with her legs crossed and hovering a foot above the cushions.

"Oh, leave him alone, Cy." Nightwing scolded gently, but he was grinning in amusement at Beast Boy's discomfort as well.

"Who's side are you on?" Cy accused good naturedly.

"I'm on the side I get the most enjoyment from… which happens to be yours." Nightwing laughed as BB stood up again, and promptly turned green –uh, more green—at the sight of the steak again.

"And we find enjoyment in friend Beast Boy's discomfort?" Starfire asked, a bit confused.

"Yes we do Star, a lot of enjoyment." Wing grinned back, laughing again as BB started trying to convince Cyborg to try some of his salad… which didn't go over very well.

"Wing, there's a signal going off on the main computer with your signature." Raven called. Wing departed the kitchen and moved over to the main computer in front of where Raven sat, thinking/meditating.

"Did you see what kind?" He asked as he passed her.

"A 'found' alert for one of those searches you're always running." She said simply, not opening her eyes.

He turned and found that indeed, apparently one of his programs designed to continuously search the known internet and beyond, had found something. He was always searching for something: a lead, any news concerning certain criminals or high profile targets, new concerning his past that his current team wouldn't understand, or pretty much anything useful that could be used later.

He opened the found file and his stomach plummeted.

Raven opened one eye.

"Wing? You ok? You're giving off a lot of… strange emotions… rather loudly." She said carefully, almost wary.

Wing couldn't collect himself enough to respond.

"Nightwing?" Raven repeated, louder this time. He felt her move and stand behind him, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from the message.

"Dude, you ok?" Cyborg's voice called over, Nightwing's odd behavior catching their attention.

Nightwing jerked himself out of it.

"Yeah, just some surprising news is all." He said, forcing his voice to remain calm and casual. Only Raven could tell how truly messed up he was inside.

"You're not ok." She murmured as the others went back to their joking around. She glanced over his shoulder at what he was seeing too, but Nightwing knew she wouldn't be able to made heads or tails of it.

"Please Ray, just… give me a moment." He murmured back, letting some of his panic seep into his voice.

Slowly but surely he pulled himself together. His brain took over, his heart stopped beating a mile a minute, he started to think, and think hard.

How could this have happened? Perhaps he was interpreting it wrong… no, it wasn't possible, it wouldn't be said if it weren't exactly what was meant, he was sure of it. But then… now what?

"I'm impressed." He was ripped away from his thoughts at Raven's dry tone. "I've never met anyone who could school his emotions like that. It's always interesting to watch." She said, moving a few steps back now that she didn't sense that Nightwing was going to collapse in broken sobbing any second.

"Practice." He breathed, not turning to face her, but still staring at the screen in front of him.

"What language is that? I don't recognize it, and I thought I was decent with Earth dialects." She asked as she sat back down on the couch.

"It's not a written language." He said in a forced calm, his panic spiking again as he considered who'd sent it… and why…

He shook it off, focusing on thinking again.

"I'm primarily spoken," He continued, "But I adapted it to be written in case of emergencies..."

That caught her attention.

"And… is this an emergency?" She asked warily.

He hesitated, then sighed heavily. "Not for us. Not for you guys, I should say. I… I may have to look into it, for a couple days."

She was standing again, this time in defiance.

"We're your team, Wing, let us help you." She said evenly, but he could still hear the slight undertone of anger underneath it.

Finally, he turned and gave her a easy smile, but he knew she knew it was fake.

"This isn't a mission, it's… a family matter." He said reluctantly, and bit too tensely to keep up the easy-going aura.

She blinked, surprised.

Apart from being a good leader, an excellent fighter, and a bit of an obsessively-driven hero, she and the rest of the Teen Titans knew very little about Nightwing. This was the first time he even so much as hinted he had been anything but the vigilante Nightwing all his life. In fact, she'd heard Beast Boy's ridiculous theories about how Nightwing wasn't "born", he'd simply popped into existence as a full-grown (or half grown, as he was still only sixteen or seventeen) crime-fighter.

This was out of the blue to say the very least, and suddenly his mixed up emotions didn't seem so alarming.

After all, she had troubles with her family too.

"You want… to go look into this?" She asked slowly.

He pursed his lips. "I… have an obligation. I'm sure you understand… family…" He let it hang in the air, and for what felt like the thousandth time since meeting him, Raven got the feeling the Nightwing knew a lot more about her than he was letting on. He did that constantly: play dumb even though you knew he already knew, or act like a smart mouth know-it-all when he didn't need to. It was like he was messing with their heads, just trying to test the waters around him and see what others knew, keeping his own information so close to his chest they might as well be embedded in his heart. This give and take of information that constantly went on with him was ridiculous, and even with her powers, she never knew what he was gaining or what he did/didn't know.

He was a mystery, and here he was offering up that one little bit of information more willing than he ever had before.

"I'll cover for you," She finally said, and his eyes flashed to hers. "If… only if you tell me who you're going for."

Nightwing seemed genuinely surprised at that, but not unwilling.

"My brother." He said, but it didn't escape her notice the way his breath caught on his words like he couldn't believe he was saying them aloud.

She nodded to him. "Then go. So far as everyone's concerned, you're taking a few days off to see an old friend who's in town. You'll be back in a couple days."

"Yes, I will." He nodded back to her, managing a smile, though it was quickly marred by the flood of fear and dread building in his chest.

She noted this carefully, but said nothing as she sat down once more and tried to meditate again.

Suddenly, the emotions were gone and she knew he'd done his 'ninja thing' again and disappeared.