Chapter 45

Starfire sat on the floor of the Batcave, her knees drawn up to her chest, her back up against a rock, watching as Batman tapped away at the computer.

Cyborg was standing a little way off, strapping several cold packs to Nightwing's bruised and battered chest. There were two dark bruises on his chest, one across the front and one on the back and Starfire likened them to fingerprints. Massive fingerprints. Raven was far too tired to heal him tonight, she'd offered but Nightwing had refused , saying he could wait until she'd rested and restored herself. Batgirl was on the other side of Nightwing assisting Cyborg.

Raven sat on the floor nearby, cradling the small bowl of water containing the sleeping Beast Boy on her lap. Kid Flash was standing beside her, absolutely still which was strange for him as he always liked to keep moving and Starfire guessed it was because he didn't want to bring the wrath of Batman down on him.

Starfire was still waiting for that wrath to fall squarely on her. After all, he'd been right. She'd given away their position with her star bolt. She'd hovered there stupidly and watched as the Joker had turned toward them and fired his gun. She'd been the reason that Beast Boy had been hurt.

"Well," Cyborg said , breaking the silence. "All done. That ice can come off later, before you go to bed if you like, or you can replace it then. There's no internal bleeding and those ribs will be all right for tonight. Dose yourself up with some painkillers and anti-inflammatory's. Take it easy, which means no hanky panky tonight for you."

Nightwing cast him a scathing look. "Cyborg, I think I can safely say that's the furthest thing on my mind right now."

Cyborg waggled a finger at him. "Ahh, but you are thinking about it aren't you?"

"Eww," Batgirl complained while Nightwing scowled at him. "Really too much information. I don't need to hear that."

Cyborg cast her a cheeky grin. "Really? What would you like to hear instead? I have plenty of Nightwing-Starfire stories to share."

"And I have a really cool video of a chicken to share," Nightwing snapped. "Cut it out."

Cyborg snorted. "Like I said to BB and Raven. If you were going to do that, you would have done it already."

"Yeah, but that was before you started flirting with my ex. Now I'll be happy to show it to her."

"His ex?" Kid Flash blurted, casting a glance at Starfire.

"I am not flirting with her!" snapped Cyborg at the same time Batgirl said; "Do I detect a hint of jealously, Nightwing?"

"Yes, you were and no, I don't really care."

Starfire placed her head between her knees and hugged her legs to her chest tighter.

The chair Batman was sitting on squeaked and they fell silent.

"Are you going to tell me how you got those bruises and broken ribs?" Batman asked coolly.

Nightwing was silent for a moment. "No."

"Are you going to explain to me what happened after Beast Boy was injured?"

"I lost control of my emotion," Raven said quietly and Starfire lifted her head to look at her friend.

Batman's expression was hard. "Is this a frequent occurrence with you?"

"Not so much anymore. I've learned to control them."

"Obviously not as well as you think."

"Wasn't her fault," Nightwing snapped. "How would you have coped?"

Batman narrowed his eyes at Nightwing. "The point is, I don't have to cope. I don't date teammates. It's a liability."

"Can I ask you something?" Kid Flash asked, raising his hand.

"What?" Batman snapped and Starfire closed her eyes, unable to stand the anger she saw in his face.

"We're teenagers. We have raging hormones and stuff. Who would you rather we date? Each other or some random person that we might blab our secret identities to and stuff." He took a deep breath and plunged on. "Have you ever just sat back and watched these guys work? It's amazing. They are so in tune with each other. Nightwing doesn't need to give orders half the time cause the others already know what he's thinking. I saw that every time the Titans Network gathered. Nightwing knows the ins and outs of his team, his entire team. He knows our strengths and weaknesses. He trusts us enough to keep out of trouble and to follow his orders when he gives them. And he trusts us enough to listen to what we have to say if we disagree, or have a better idea."

"Are you done?" Batman asked blandly.

Kid Flash floundered and his voice got higher. "Um… sorry, Mr Batman, sir."

"Starfire."

Starfire flinched and blinked open her eyes, staring down at the floor. "Yes, k'norfka Batman?"

"You were stupid and reckless and you disobeyed a direct order that almost resulted in the death of a teammate."

Starfire closed her eyes again. "Yes, k'norfka Batman," she said meekly.

She could almost feel Nightwing's tightly reined anger getting ready to snap.

"However…" Batman began and Starfire opened her eyes to look at him. "Beast Boy is still alive and we captured the Joker. And as it's been pointed out to me quite forcefully, you're not on my team and its not my job to discipline you. Mistakes were made tonight and we need to be thankful that we have the opportunity to learn from them. All of you, go and get some sleep. The party's over by now. Barbara, if your father has already gone, ask Alfred to give you a lift home. I'm sure Alfred would have given him a plausible explanation for your absence."

Batgirl nodded before she quietly gathered her costume from the party, slipping into the small room beside the console to change.

"Dick, I need to speak with you in private."

Nightwing narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, sure. Gimme a sec." He looked at Kid Flash. "Can you come back here tomorrow? Not as Kid Flash. I need to talk to you."

"Sure thing Boss," he replied with a nod. "The name's Wally."

Nightwing's lips twitched into a smile. "Dick, but I'm sure you already knew that." He crossed the floor to kneel painfully before Raven. "Are you okay, Raven?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Yes."

"That thing that happened, it's not going to come back and bite us in the ass later?"

"It's under control," she replied tonelessly.

"Raven," Nightwing said, his tone warning and Starfire found herself wondering what had happened. There must have been more going on than just Raven being unable to control her emotions.

Raven gave him a bland look. "There are things I can do to ensure that will never happen again. I should have expected that. It won't reoccur."

Nightwing's face softened. "How's he doing?"

Raven glanced down at the newt in the bowl. "Was a lot of work, but he's going to be alright. The hardest one was the one in his lung."

Nightwing nodded. "Go and get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning."

"You really should let me heal those ribs now. Or at least set them so they won't shift."

Nightwing shook his head. "You're dead on your feet. You need some sleep before you drain yourself too much. I'll keep until morning." He looked over his shoulder. "Cy, can you make sure Raven gets to bed please?"

Cyborg gave him a swift nod. "Sure thing."

Raven scowled at Nightwing. "I don't need help."

"Course not," Cyborg said, helping her to her feet. "We know that." She snarled at him when he tried to take the bowl of her and he held his palms up to placate her. He gathered her normal clothes and her and Beast Boy's hologram rings and tucked them under his arm. He reached for his own ring and slipping it on and tossed Starfire's to her. She caught it before fiddling with it in her hands.

"It's for our own peace of mind ,okay?" Nightwing said soothingly. "Brothers are allowed to fuss."

Raven seemed to accept that as she allowed Victor to place a hand on her back and lead her toward the stairs.

Barbara came out from the small room and placed her uniform back in its proper place, before looking between Nightwing and Batman. "You two are going to play nice, aren't you?"

"Goodnight, Barbara," Batman said sternly.

Nightwing rocked back on his ankles, getting painfully to his feet before he looked at Starfire. Go to bed, Star. I'll be there soon okay?

She looked at him sadly before she gave him a nod and got to her feet, following Victor and Raven up the stairs.

"Are you okay, Starfire?" Barbara asked, coming up the stairs behind her.

Starfire shook her head. "I do not mean to come between them."

"You didn't," Barbara replied, looking over her shoulder. "They're always like this. They're like rams, always knocking heads. They mean the world to each other, they just have a few problems expressing it that's all." She looked back at Starfire. "It will be okay."

Starfire chewed her lip, desperately hoping so as she continued to toy with the hologram ring in her hand before slipping it on.

Barbara nudged her. "Hey, don't worry. They're not half as mad at each other as they were when Dick left Gotham last time."

Alfred was already waiting in the foyer for them. He cast a glance at Kori's bloodied clothes. "I do hope no one was badly injured tonight."

Raven shook her head. "We'll live," she muttered as Victor led her up the stairs. "Goodnight all."

"Night, Kid Flash, thanks for your help tonight," Victor called.

Kid Flash gave a sharp nod. "See you tomorrow," he called over his shoulder before he vanished out the door.

"Please leave your uniforms by the doors, I will see that they are returned to the cave," Alfred called after them.

"Thanks, Alfred," Victor said over his shoulder. "Can you also see if you can find a small heater for Raven's room? We need to keep this water warm."

Alfred nodded. "I have something that will serve." He turned his eyes to Barbara. "I informed your father that you and Master Dick and his friends had retired to the games room and that I would return you home when you were ready to go. He left an hour ago. Shall I take you home now?"

"Yeah, that would be great Al, thanks. Be with you in a sec."

Alfred inclined his head. "I shall fetch the heater for Mister Victor and return in moment."

Barbara turned to Kori and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Having him mad at you is a good thing in my book. It means he actually cares what happens to you. Don't worry about it too much. It blows over pretty fast, and believe me, I know."

Kori nodded. "Thank you, Barbara."

Barbara cocked her head and smiled. "And please, call me Babs, would you?"

TTTTT

Nightwing eyed Batman carefully after his team had filtered away. He would have loved to fold his arms across his chest and glare, but the painful bruises and numerous ice packs prevented that.

"Kid Flash had a point."

Nightwing did his best to mask his surprise but he wasn't sure he succeeded. "He did?"

"To a degree. You are teenagers. You're still learning the way of the world. The majority of the time you spend is with your friends. It's inevitable that relationships bloom."

Nightwing frowned slightly; waiting for the 'but', when it came it wasn't the one he was expecting.

"But he was wrong about one thing. I have sat back and watched your team fight crime. I watched you at the beginning when you first got together, ill organised and chaotic that you were, you still got the job done. I've watched you a lot over the last two and a half years. It's incredible the difference in you now. You have trained your team very well."

"I know you've watched us."

Batman glanced at him, his eyebrow raised.

"Come on, Bruce," Nightwing said cheekily. "There's a Wayne Enterprises building in Jump City. Not hard to tell that when Bruce Wayne is in town, Batman will be watching. I've kept track of you, just as much as you've kept track of me."

Batman snorted at him. "I have also watched you and Starfire closely in battle since you started dating."

Nightwing wasn't surprised at that. "And?"

"Nothing changed."

Nightwing smiled smugly. "See? Star and I have always tried to be heroes first, especially in public, but our private lives are our own. She knows I can't go running to her side in the middle of the battle because it looks like she needs help. I trust her to do her job as part of the team. And she trusts me to be there for her afterward. We were friends first. I can count the amount of times she's disobeyed me on one hand, and every single time she's done it, she saved my life."

"She's still a liability to you."

"Yes."

"She still has too much influence over you."

"Yes."

"There will be those that use her against you."

"I know."

"And you're okay with that?"

"Yes." Nightwing sighed, wincing slightly as he took a deep breath. "Dad, I'm a big boy now. I can make my own mistakes and learn from them. I don't need you holding my hand, or catching me when I fall. I'm not you; I can't live completely in the dark. I won't live alone. Star's my world, Dad. I'm going to marry her. I've nearly lost her twice and although all I want to do is retire her for good so I won't risk losing her again, we're heroes first. There will always people that try to be use our loved ones against us, no matter how hard we try to protect them, but we can't close ourselves off from the world. Love happens, whether you want it to or not. Look at you and Catwoman."

Batman considered him before giving him a sharp nod and Nightwing knew that was all the acceptance he was going to get from his father. "I want to show you something." He turned back to the computer and pulled up a blueprint. "I'm calling this the 'Watchtower'. It's essentially a large space station where I can monitor everything from, if needs be. It can also be used as a base of operations, a second home, training grounds, you name it. It's still in the planning stage, but I'd like you and Cyborg to take a look at it and offer suggestions."

Nightwing raised an eyebrow as he studied the plans, confused at the change of subject. "Why build something like this?"

Batman shrugged. "Few reasons. There has been talk of the heroes of the world uniting under one banner. The teenagers have the Titans and a lot of the heroes are a tad jealous that their 'sidekicks' are all striking out on their own to join you. And since you're my 'sidekick', they're all looking to me." Nightwing could almost see Batman's eyes rolling beneath his cowl. "I'm not interested in joining or leading a team, I'd rather leave that to Superman. But I do have the resources to produce something like this. Besides, it may prove useful in the future."

"Looks interesting. I'm sure Cyborg would love to offer some advice."

"I'll send the blueprints back to the Tower. You should get some rest."

TTTTT

Kori wandered aimlessly through Wayne Manor. She'd gone back to her room and showered to remove Garfield's blood from her. She'd checked in with Rachel to make sure Garfield was all right. Rachel said that he was still asleep and she was going to keep him asleep until the morning at least, but that Kori would be the first to know when he woke up.

She didn't want to go to bed yet. Didn't want to have to face Dick just yet. Batman had spoken of disciplining her and she knew that Dick would have serious words with her after he'd gotten her alone. He'd barely been able to look at her in the Batcave earlier.

So she wandered aimlessly, completely losing track of time as she delayed the inevitable. She looked upon the paintings hanging in the numerous halls, studied the ceramics and the ornamental suits of armors she discovered. She tugged her pink dressing gown tighter around her as she trudged through the halls. She passed a window and paused to look out into the dark, snow covered lands around the Manor.

"Miss Koriand'r?" a voice asked and Kori turned to see Alfred watching her, still looking immaculately pressed and distinguished even though it was the early hours of the morning and here she was in her rumpled pink robe, looking like a lost waif. "Are you lost?"

Kori blushed. "No, I do not wish to sleep yet."

"I gather it was a poor night. Master Dick has requested that I have some painkillers and cold packs taken to his room and I saw the blood on you before."

Kori nodded sadly. "Things did not go so well."

He regarded her. "Perhaps you would care to join me for an early morning snack?"

Kori blinked in surprise before offering him a slow smile. "I'd like that."

He inclined his head and walked away and Kori moved to follow him. He lead her down a small flight stairs, a small staircase that she'd never seen before and found strange since she'd past by that way before and hadn't seen them.

"There are many secrets in this house, Miss Koriand'r," Alfred said conversationally as he walked and Kori wondered how he knew what she was thinking. Dick always said he was very intuitive like that, always knowing what was needed before it was asked for. "And you are one of the lucky few that will learn them."

Kori nodded in agreement as Alfred lead her into a kitchen. Kori almost immediately likened it to Fyria's kitchen. There was a large stove against one wall, a huge bench with stools surrounding it in the middle of the room and large white benches against the walls. Except there were no pots and pan's hanging from the ceiling and it had a very crisp, white, sterile sort of feeling to it.

Alfred gestured a stool beside the bench in the middle of the room, giving her a small bow as she sat down. She watched him potter around the kitchen, a sudden ache flaring in her chest. She should have just remained on Tamaran. Stayed with Fyria and Galfore. Stopped being a Titan. Then Garfield would never have been hurt. She wouldn't have come between Dick and Bruce. Things would have been better.

She sighed and placed her elbows on the bench before her, holding her head in her hands and allowed her hair to fall around her like a curtain.

"It cannot be that bad," Alfred said and she looked up at him, resting her chin on her hands.

"He was so very angry with me."

Alfred raised his eyebrows slightly. "Who? Master Dick?"

Kori shook her head. "K'norfka Bruce."

"What does k'norfka translate to?"

Kori cocked her head in consideration. "On my planet we call those who look after us and raise us that are not our parents k'norfka. It is also used as a sign of respect when we are speaking of k'norfka's that are not our own. It means a guardian or protector although Garfield has likened it to 'nanny'."

Alfred let out a short sharp bark of laughter. "Nanny Bruce, I like that. Why was Nanny Bruce angry with you?"

"He believes I disobeyed his orders."

Alfred's face held no emotion. "And did you?"

"I do not believe so. I believed I was acting for the good of the team. We could not see the Joker approaching and did not know which direction would suit us to evade him, so I produced light. My actions allowed the Joker to locate us and Garfield was injured."

Alfred continued pottering around the kitchen. "And what were Master Bruce's instructions?"

"We were not to engage the Joker in battle."

"I see. So you produced light so that you could see the location of the Joker so you would not have to battle him and Master Bruce got angry. Would Master Dick have been angry if you'd done that in Jump City?"

Kori shook her head sorrowfully. "No. I have produced light many times for our team and Richard has always been full of the thanks." She hung her head on her hands again, hiding behind her hair again. "I was preparing to protect us with a large star bolt. I was not expecting Garfield to act as a shield against the bullets. We were taken by surprise, but he would not allow me to explain."

"I think you've been very hard on the young lady, don't you agree, Master Bruce?" Alfred said sternly.

Kori whipped around, almost falling off her stool in the process, startled to see Bruce leaning against the door frame watching her carefully. She jumped to her feet. "I am sorry, I should not be in here-"

Bruce waved his hand at her. "Sit back down, Kori."

Kori sat, her back stiff so that she could bolt at any moment as Bruce came to sit beside her.

"What are you making Alfred?" Bruce asked.

"I was in the process of baking a chocolate pudding when I heard Miss Koriand'r upstairs. It will be ready momentarily."

Bruce smiled. "You'll love this, Kori, Alfred makes the best chocolate puddings."

"You are only saying that because you would like some, Master Bruce."

Bruce rolled his eyes before he looked at Kori who stared back at him slightly fearful. They stared at each other, Kori getting more nervous with every passing moment, waiting for him to be angry with her once more.

"I'm not going to yell at you, Kori."

Kori blinked in surprise and she chewed her lip.

"I meant what I said," he said tonelessly. "You were stupid and reckless."

Kori tried to make herself smaller wishing that the ground would swallow her.

Alfred cleared his throat and Bruce's eyes flicked to him before he clicked his tongue in annoyance and pursed his lips. "But I should have checked your reasoning behind producing that light before I yelled at you. Your star bolts are energy based. It's not like you can hide them."

Kori gaped at him.

"Miss Koriand'r, has Master Dick ever told you how he came to be Robin?"

Kori turned to look at Alfred in surprise. "No."

"You're not going to trot out that story are you?" Bruce asked, rubbing his face with his hands.

Alfred ignored him. "When Master Dick's parents died when he was eight, he was placed in Gotham orphanage for quite a while. He was a very angry young man and very consumed with guilt for being unable to prevent his parents deaths. He escaped the orphanage and had a chance meeting with Batman."

"He didn't like me at first," Bruce said. "But I saw a lot of myself shining in his eyes. And he was very dexterous; it took me quite some time to catch him. He needed guidance and direction or he was going to get himself killed. I convinced him that I needed his help with his parents' case and that he wouldn't be in the orphanage for much longer if he went back. I returned later as Bruce Wayne to adopt him."

"He and Master Bruce did not initially get along."

"Aww," Bruce complained. "I did my best. Being a parent was quite new to me."

Alfred raised an eyebrow at him and Bruce fell silent once more. "Master Dick was obsessed with trying to solve the mystery behind his parents deaths. He snuck out of the Manor one night and returned to the circus, where he saw the owner being murdered. He tried to help but was knocked unconscious."

"I showed up and had to rescue him."

"He would not have been there at all if you had trusted him, Master Bruce," Alfred said sternly before turning back to Kori. "Master Dick saw Batman with his cowl removed when he regained consciousness and Batman offered to train him to be his partner."

"Six months later, Robin was born."

Kori nodded, confused as to why they were telling her this.

"Ah, it is ready," Alfred exclaimed, pulling a pudding out from the oven and began serving. He placed a plate before Kori and passed her a spoon. "Eat up, Miss Koriand'r. It is better when it is warm."

Kori nodded and took a bite. "Oh, it is glorious!" she exclaimed after the smooth, warm chocolate had slid down her throat and spread a warmth though her belly.

"Told you," Bruce said as he accepted his own plate from Alfred.

"I must take you back to Tamaran. Fyria would love to learn this from you."

"Who's Fyria?" Bruce asked as he licked his spoon.

"Fyria is my k'norfka Galfore's wife. She is a very good cook and loves to learn new recipes. She would be delighted to learn this one."

"I would be honored to exchange recipes with her. I am very interested in learning how to make this Zorkaberry pie that Master Dick has spoken off."

"I am sure she would love to teach you."

They dipped into silence for a while as the three of them ate their pudding.

Bruce broke the silence. "So, Kori, why do you call Dick, Richard?"

She looked at him. "You are the second person to ask me this tonight. Barbara was also curious."

Bruce shrugged. "I find it interesting that's all. To my knowledge, the only other person that has ever gotten away with it was his mother. He even spent months ignoring Alfred until he started calling him Dick."

Kori's mouth dropped open in surprise. "I… er… he said he liked it when I called him Richard."

"Hmm," Bruce mused before he changed the topic. "Tell me about this telepathy that you and Dick now share. Is this a normal Tamaranian thing?"

"No. It was quite by accident." She pulled her arm out of the sleeve of her robe and removed her e'ara from beneath the holo image. "This is a Tamaranian e'ara," she said, showing them the armband. "It is designed to replay memories. It will only bond with one person, attuning to that person's brainwaves. I gifted Richard with one. We are not entirely certain why, but occasionally two will become compatible, creating a link between their wearers and we call this the a'tiyk valm. Rachel translated it to be something similar to 'soul mate'. It can only happen between people that already share a connection. It is extremely rare; there has not been one on Tamaran in several generations. For Tamaranians it is an empathic bond, but it has always had unexpected results when offworlders share it. For Richard and I it is telepathic."

"That reads brainwaves?" Bruce asked, a strange gleam in his eye.

"Yes," Dick said from the doorway. "And before you follow that train of thought any further, the answer is no. It doesn't interfere with them, nor does it create emotions or thoughts that weren't already there."

Alfred immediately got to his feet to serve another plate of pudding. "I see your pudding sense is still working, Master Dick."

"Nah, I was looking for Star, pudding was just a bonus." Dick walked into the room, placing a small kiss on Kori's hair before sitting down beside her. "Hey Star."

Kori placed the e'ara back on her arm and smiled timidly at him, pulling her robe back on.

"How's the ribs?" Bruce asked, pointing his spoon at Dick.

"Painful." Dick shifted on his seat slightly trying to get comfortable and pulled his robe tighter around his chest. "I've taken as many painkillers as I can. Hoping they will kick in soon. So, you guys finished regaling Star with my virgin days as a crime fighter?"

"We would do no such thing," Alfred said with dignity.

Dick raised an eyebrow. "So you haven't been trotting out the story of how I became Robin and my first year of mistakes? Or haven't you got up to that yet?"

"Well, since you put it that way, we could always tell Miss Koriand'r a few stories."

"But there are just so many to choose from, where do we begin?"

Dick rolled his eyes and smiled at Kori. "I was nine, what do they expect?"

"A nine year old knows better than to get stuck in a chimney."

"Or try and attempt a jump that even I can't do."

"Hey, I nearly landed that one!" Dick protested.

"And then there was the grappling hook incident."

"And the stray birdarang."

"Okay, okay, enough. You've had your fun."

"On the contrary, Master Dick, I believe we have only just begun."

TTTTT

Kori had not laughed so hard in a long time, while Dick kept getting lower and lower in his seat, trying to hide without straining his ribs to badly.

Finally after several embarrassing stories and several plates of pudding, Bruce announced that it was time for bed something that Dick would be eternally grateful for. It was nice to see Kori laughing, even if it was over something stupid he'd done as a child, but the painkillers were finally beginning to kick in and were making him drowsy. Kori practically had to carry him back to his room and Dick was glad that there was no other staff around at this time of night.

She helped him into bed and assisted him in changing the cold packs on his chest and back. He saw her cringe at the rapidly darkening bruises on his chest.

She disappeared into the bathroom for a moment and came back with a glass of water that she placed on the bedside table within easy reach before fetching a beater for him to wear to bed, which she helped him into.

"Do you require anything else, Richard?"

"My pillow needs a little fluffing."

She reached behind him and he got a lovely view down the front of her robe as she adjusted the pillows into a position that would hurt his back the least. He watched her as she fussed around with the blankets, smoothing out the wrinkles and making sure he was tucked in correctly.

"Star, what's wrong?"

She looked at him and he saw her trying to keep that smile on her face. "Nothing is wrong, Richard."

He caught her elbow. "You're fussing."

"You are injured. I am allowed to fuss."

He shook his head. "Wrong sort of fussing. This isn't the 'Richard-is-injured' fussing. That stopped a few minutes ago. This is the 'there-is-something-troubling-me' kind of fussing."

She frowned at him.

"Yes, I named your fussing. Now, come on. What's wrong?"

She twisted her fingers together nervously and sat down beside him. "Batman spoke of discipline because of my actions today, and you could barely look at me in the Batcave and you said-"

Dick raised an eyebrow. "That's what this is about? Star, I'm not going to discipline you. You did what I would have expected you to do. I didn't know Batman had pulled that 'no one is allowed to approach the Joker' crap. Seriously, what was he thinking? We've taken on much worse criminals than Joker." He sighed and took her hand. "Yes, Beast Boy was hurt and you think its you're fault. But he's going to be okay. Besides Bruce has already forgiven you, even though I think there was nothing to forgive. He'd never say it, but he was talking and making jokes. That all the signal you'll ever get from him that he's forgiven you."

"Why could you not look at me in the Batcave?"

Dick tilted his head slightly. "I was afraid that I would just go nuts at Bruce over what he did to you. It wasn't very fair of him and it was taking all my concentration just to remain calm. I could see the misery in your face every time I looked at you and if I kept seeing that I was just going to let him have it, I really was. I didn't mean to make you think that I was cross with you." He smiled at her and squeezed her hand. "Now come on, get into bed so we can get some sleep."

Kori nodded meekly before standing and moving around the bed to the other side of Dick. She removed her dressing gown and slipped into bed beside him.

"What? No snuggling?" he pouted as she turned off the lights.

"You are injured. I do not wish to damage you more. How is it that you became injured?"

He chewed his lip. "Had a run in with Raven's dad. He tried to take control of Raven while she was so upset over Beast Boy. I somehow got caught up in the middle of it. He didn't manage to do get control though, Raven fought back."

Kori sucked in a startled breath.

"She's okay now, Star, don't worry. Now get over here. I want a snuggle."

He heard Kori giggle lightly before she shifted on the bed, sidling over to him. He wrapped an arm around her as she rested her head on his shoulder, her hand warm on his stomach and her leg entwined with his.

"That's better," he murmured into her hair, his eyes drifting closed.

"Richard?"

"Yeah?"

"I am curious. Both Barbara and Bruce have asked me this today. Why do you allow me to call you 'Richard'?"

Dick blinked open his eyes. "Huh?"

"Barbara said when she called you Richard, you snapped at her. And Bruce said that you ignored Alfred for months until he called you Dick. He said the only other person to call you Richard was your mother. Why do you allow me to 'get away' with calling you Richard? Have I made a mistake again? Would you prefer that I called you Dick?"

He frowned. "No. I've already told you, I like it when you call me Richard."

"Yes, but why?"

He ran his fingers up and down her arm as he chewed his lip, considering the best way to tell her. "Do you remember the first time you called me Richard?"

"Er-"

"It was during our first time. You made my name sound so incredibly sexy; I just lost what little control I had." He gave a light chuckle. "I can't imagine I would have liked hearing 'Dick' called out at that point. I like the way it rolls off your tongue. You can put so much meaning into a single word. The way you used to call me Robin did the same thing for me, it was like the word was invented just for you to say. It still sends a tingle down my spine when you call me Richard."

"Oh," she replied in a small voice before it got incredibly cheeky. "Well… I cannot tell them that."

He laughed, abruptly stopping as his chest clenched in pain. "Please don't. They'll think I've gone soft."

Kori giggled and snuggled in closer although he was thankful she was careful not to press against his chest. "I love you, Richard."

He gave her shoulder a squeeze; his eyes drifting closed once more. "Love you too, Star."