Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans

"How are you?" Starfire asked quietly.

"Better," answered Nightwing, sounding cheerful. Starfire shrank back, sighing quietly. She hadn't realized it before, but she cared a lot more about Nightwing than she gave away. Maybe he'd noticed that, too. "Hey, Star? Are you okay?"

She nodded, sitting down on the roof of the new building they'd chosen as their tryst. "Nightwing, I found something."

"On what?"

"Roth Industries."

Nightwing's air turned grim, like it did every time she mentioned the huge company. "What did you find?"

"A few years ago, there was another experiment they conducted. A little girl named Koma Anderson. She was an orphan that one of the employees had adopted. They were trying to find a medicine, from xenothium, that would create some sort of meta-human. I'm not sure if they were trying to prolong human life, or if they were trying to better human characteristics. But..." Starfire paused here. It was the part that scared her the most.

Nightwing wrapped an arm around her. "But what?"

"But the government found out. At least, they found out that they had the girl, not about the experiments. There's no file on those. They rescued the girl, but...she died three days later from the large amount of radiation exposure." Starfire swallowed, starting to shiver uncontrollably.

Her boyfriend was thunderstruck. There were so many things he wanted to say, but he couldn't get them into word form. "Hey. You're fine, Star. You may be different, but you're alive and well. You'd know if you were going to...you'll be fine, Star," he tried to assure her. It was no use.

Starfire stood up. "I need to go..."

Nightwing stood, too, unable to hide the disappointment of the shortness of the visit, even through his shock. "Stay safe, Star."

She hugged him tightly, but not so tight as to hut him, and let go. Nightwing was sure her mask was sagging with the weight of her tears. "Good night."

"Rachel! Rachel, I need to talk to you!" Dick called. The dark girl turned and waited for him to catch up to her in the hallways, which took quite a while during passing period. "It's kind of a personal question..."

"Tell Gar I'm not answering if he made you come and ask about my--"

"No, no, it's not about Gar. Just, promise me you won't tell anyone." Rachel frowned at him, about to make a remark about him and Kory, but decided against it. He was dead serious.

"What is it?"

"Promise?"

"Dick, stop acting like a little kid, of course I promise."

Dick hesitated. "It's about...your dad."

Rachel's eyes narrowed. She hated talking about him. "What'd he do?"

"He...do you know anything about a girl named Koma Anderson?"

Rachel frowned. "No."

"She was an orphan, adopted by one of your dad's employees. He experimented on her, with xenothium, and the government found out. They tried to save her, but the girl died." Dick scrutinized her face, trying to figure out what she was thinking, but it remained completely blank, as usual.

"I knew about all the lawsuits," Rachel answered slowly, thinking about every word. "I was seven, then. It was a tough time. We almost lost our house. My parents almost divorced. My dad went from bad to worse." She paused. "I never knew why, though, but I never wanted to ask him. I didn't know it was so bad." Dick waited. "I'd rather not question him about it, if you don't mind. That's what you wanted me to do, right?"

"Yeah. But don't worry about it, I'd rather not have you yelled at." The bell rang, and the two hurried towards their classes.

"Wait a second, Dick. Why so interested?"

He paused, unsure of exactly how much he could trust her with. "It's...for a friend." And he knew that Rachel knew that he was talking about the escaped experiment from her father's lab.

"Dick, my dad's a ruthless person...keep her safe."

Dick nodded and walked into his class.

"Why is this taking so long? I want that experiment under lock and key as soon as possible!" Tristan roared into the phone. On the other end, Jaques stayed perfectly calm.

"By the end of this week, she will be yours, Mr. Roth. I have not forgotten. My partner and I are researching and planning. The action stage will come later."

"How much researching and planning do you need? It's a teenage girl!"

Jaques was quiet for a minute. "Do not underestimate the power of your creation. She has powers you and I cannot possibly dream of. I suggest you watch the recording of yesterday's news I am sending you." Tristan hung up the phone, growling about 'smart-mouthing the boss,' and his e-mail beeped.

Opening the video, he was amazed at the so-called 'Bird-lady' that flew everyone to safety. He didn't even know his experiment could fly. How much mutation had that xenothium caused?

And after this, she had the ability to fight off Slade. There had been a report about a tiny explosion, which fire-fighters and paramedics had seen first hand, but were sure it was because of the fire. What if it was the girl?

"Take all the time you need, Jaques, but make sure that girl is off my hands forever," he muttered.

"SNOWBALL FIGHT!"

Dick, Kory, Gar, Vic, Karen, and Rachel had gathered at Gar's house, some of them more downtrodden than others. Even Kory had a noticeable worry about her, but she had brightened when, in Math, the first snowflakes had begun to fall. She'd tugged on Dick's sleeve, asking if that tutorial on snow was still available.

Gar, unfortunately, had started chucking snowballs at people before Dick was done explaining the concept of snow angels, and the two had no choice but to join in. Rachel refused to play, but Dick, Karen, and Kory were on one team, since Kory had little knowledge of snowball fighting. Vic and Gar made up the other, hooting and howling about what they got to do to the losing team after they won.

Soon, though, it was evident that Kory was an asset to the team, rather than a burden.

She could hurl snowballs twice as far as anyone else, and managed to drag quite a lot of snow at once, so their fort was built faster than Gar and Vic's. Never had pounding the two pranksters been so easy and fun.

"This is very enjoyable!" Kory told Dick as they ducked behind the fort.

"Glad you like it--duck!" Another snowball went zooming over their heads. "Here, toss this one at Gar, his head's sticking out right there..." He handed Kory a snowball and it hit Gar square in the forehead. Dick and Kory fell backwards, laughing, while Gar desperately shook the snow out of his face.

"Dodge this!" Vic yelled, holding up a huge chunk of snow. Karen's eyes widened and she took up most of the sheltered space that the fort provided. Dick and Kory had no choice but to lay down in the snow behind her and hope it wouldn't hit them. They heard a grunt as Vic threw the behemoth, and Dick pulled Kory under him at the last second. The gigantic snowball exploded all overhim, showering him in white flakes. He sat up, spitting them out of his mouth, while Kory held her sides, afraid she'd split open for laughter.

Vic crowed with victory, slapping Gar's hand in a high five. Dick was still trying to get the snow off, and the cold was beginning to seep into his skin. As soon as Kory was able to, she helped him, brushing the snowflakes off of his jacket, his shoulders, his hair, his face...

Kory pulled away, blushing furiously. "I believe we must take the revenge now, yes?" she asked softly.

"Huh? I mean, uh, yeah...here..." He handed her another snowball, and her blush was not helped by the contact. He grinned at her and nodded. Kory stood up and shot the snowball straight into Vic's laughing mouth.

"I can't believe this...I'm a filthy, cheating..." Nightwing cursed at himself, debating whether or not he should go and meet Starfire. Even if he ignored his friends, it was obvious to him that he had feelings for Kory, and not the brother/sister type. But he was dating Starfire. He was her support. She might have been dying, and he was over there two-timing her. Well, not really, but it was close enough. And it wasn't like he didn't care for Starfire anymore either. He just had problems.

"Hey, Star," Nightwing greeted nervously. He'd finally decided to come.

Starfire was much quieter than usual. Maybe she had found something else, but Nightwing had the strangest feeling that she knew about him and Kory. He gulped and stayed a good two feet away from her.

"Hello," she said tiredly.

"Did you get to sleep, Star? After last night? You look exhausted."

She shrugged. "I got a job. A real one. It's difficult."

Nightwing wanted to reach over and hug her close, but it would feel wrong. She didn't deserve to have someone who couldn't keep his eyes off other girls. A playboy. That's what he was assumed to be in Gotham. Maybe that was all he would ever be. But it didn't matter at that moment. "I'm proud of you."

"Don't be. It's just an internship, and I still need to be...this. A thief," she replied bitterly. Nightwing said nothing. "But not tonight. I just wanted to see you. I need to go home."

He nodded and tried not to sigh. He was just too confused. "Good night, Star."

A minute after she left, Nightwing heard a yell. It was a man's, and it was coming from the direction that Starfire had gone. He rushed over, hoping she hadn't gotten hurt, but when he arrived on the scene, Starfire was nowhere to be found.

Instead, a man was holding up his arms in surrender against another man weilding a gun. "Gimme your money!" the armed man said.

"I don't have it with me!"

Nightwing jumped down on to the armed one, knocking him out with a swift punch to the forehead. He then grabbed the gun and glanced up at the other man. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Nightwing nodded at him, and the man scampered away after thanking him.

Unsure of what to do with the gun, Nightwing resolved to take it to the police station first thing in the morning. Then he noticed a moving, black shadow above him. Starfire. She'd taken her sweet time in getting there. But her movements were slow and jerky--she was too tired. He was about to call to her, but she passed right by him and into another house.

Nightwing frowned. It was a tiny house, one he didn't remember seeing before. But this was where Starfire lived, he inferred, the thought saddening him. He lived in Wayne Manor, and Starfire could probably barely fit a bed in there.

Unable to contain his curiosity, he climbed up on to the roof of a nearby store and stared at the little house. Only half of Starfire's body came into view, but, when her long red hair fell past her waist after she took her cap off, it was more than enough to Nightwing. His queries about Kory no longer mattered as those familiar bright green eyes looked out the window and up to the skies.

Starfire and Kory were one and the same.

Was that too rushed? It seemed to me like it was, but I can't pinpoint why...

Hope you all liked it! Happy President's day...that is, if you live in the U.S...