Sorry that it took so long for me to put up another chapter. I really hope that I will manage to update more regularly and with longer chapters, but I might not be able to as I am writing something else that is not on this side as well as 'Operation Granger' alongside it. Anyhow, enough of my rambling and on with the story.

3rd of February

She had knocked at my door at about fife in the morning. I should have known not to let Starfire in when she asked me to "perform the ritual of testing out" again. It should have been obvious to me what she was talking about, after all it was not like I had not thought about that nonstop the last few days. However, I had only realized what she was talking about when she was already standing in my room and her clothes pooled in a heap around her feet. I had been fighting a lost battle afterwards with trying not to let this get any further.

Lying on my side while looking at the red curls spread out on the pillow beside me, doused in the first rays of sun, I wondered how I had gotten here. I had found Starfire attractive from the beginning when I first met her, but back then I would not have thought of tricking her into something like this. Come to think of it, I still did not know why I did it. It would do me no good to once again remember all the reasons why what I did was wrong, and that I just made it worse by repeating my mistake, that now I could not even think of it as a single lapse in judgment. The question was what to do now. The bad thing about it: I had absolutely no idea how to go on.

I took the slumbering Starfire in my arms and teleported her back to her room. It would not do for her to be seen emerging from my room in the morning. I did not need Robin to find out what had happened between me and Starfire. Which brought me back to my problem. How would I resolve this situation without telling anybody what I had done? It was impossible.

With a sigh, I started my morning meditation. I would blow up everything even halfway within my reach if I did not put a lid to my raging emotions.

"Would you like to accompany me on my journey to the mall, friend Raven?"

"No", I answered, flatly. I really had to sort out my emotions before doing anything with Starfire again. It was barely eight hours ago that she had left my room, and even through nonstop meditation I had not been able to shake the images that remained from earlier out of my mind. Right now I was liable to blow something up or accidentally hurt someone.

"Please? Boyfriend Robin will help me do the shopping, but you doing these things with me is more fun", she said, with her best expression of a lost puppy look.

I heard the shatter of glasses behind me but did not dare look how many I had hit. It certainly were more than a few. Despite the fact that guilt was the first emotion that had surfaced, the second one also followed her mention of her 'Boyfriend Robin'. I did not really want to analyze it, afraid of what I might find, but the notion that it might be jealousy slipped past before I could shut the door on that line of thought. I was not sure yet whether it was, but one thing I knew for sure was that, if it indeed was jealousy, I really had a problem, or to put it more bluntly: I was totally screwed.

As suspected, I did not really have much fun at the mall, though it was entertaining to watch Starfire while she was fussing over shoes and earth customs. Other than that, the day was entirely uneventful, but the night was not.

I slept with Starfire again that night. This had several reasons, number one being Star's puppy dog eyes. I had been immune to them for years, so why they did affect me now I did not know. I did not want to think about it either, afraid once again of what it might mean. Secondly, I had already overstepped the boundaries that allowed me to still claim this was a one-time mistake. I could already feel guilt gaining more power, but right now, as it had already had happened, I could just as well ride it out – both figuratively and literally, given what we were doing.

My emoticlones held different advices for me. While wisdom still kept silent (though I had no idea whether she had not yet stopped feeling insulted at my former disregard of her opinion or whether she just had no idea how to solve this situation wisely), the others were willing to offer up their opinions (even though some were more helpful than others).

Lust's idea was to wake Star for another round, Guilt offered coming clean to Starfire about the situation, Happiness wanted to simply snuggle up to her and forget about the whole thing for a while, Timid stuttered that she would rather hide until everything blew over, Brave advised challenging Robin for a duel, Knowledge said to try and gain more, well, knowledge about how the others would react, and rage wanted to kill some innocent passer-by in a backstreet to blow off some steam. For once, I took Happiness' advice, something I rarely allowed myself to indulge in.

So I did what felt right and snuggled into Starfire's back, letting the comfort I drew from spooning her drown out the guilt, if only for the night.