She's a Star

An: thank you so much for all the lovely reviews I have received thus far. Just so you know how to find this, after this upload I will changing the rating to M so if you do a specific search to find it, keep in mind of that. Please keep reviewing so I know to keep this story going! I hope to hear from you soon, enjoy this next instalment! 3

Chapter Three : Something About Her

"Okay Star, let's go again." He called from across the training room as he set up the targets and then got out of the way and stood with his teammates as they watched the young alien girl focus. Her eyes fired up within seconds and she came flying towards the target, releasing a volley of star bolts from her hands, hitting every target in the bulls eye.

Landing on the ground when she was done the princess turned around to smile at the group nervously. She eyed the destroyed targets and bit her lip. "Oh dear, I have destroyed your training implements..." she whispered, turning towards them, "My deepest apologies."

"Apologies? Dude that was sweet! Good job!" Shouted Wally as he walked up to her and smiled. "I'd give you a smack on the butt but Dick would probably kick my ass something terrible."

"You're damn right I would," growled a voice from behind him as he stepped up to smile at Starfire, "You did wonderfully. You're skills are amazing."

"Please explain Richard, what does Wally mean when he says that he should attack my bottom?"

"One, don't ever say it like that again and two, it's something some guys do in sports when one of them does something good. Wally gets a little too friendly with from time to time."

"Oh, understood," she turned on her heel and started to clean up the mess she had made with the many targets that were now trash. The routine had become something she was growing found of. Every morning she woke up and ate breakfast with Richard. The others would join from time to time but both team members were up before most. They would go over the plans for the day and what needed to be done while Richard read the news paper and told her about what was going on in the news. She may have been able to speak the language but that was much different than having to read it. She found the symbols difficult to interpret due to her own written language being so far off from that of the English format. Instead she rejoiced in the telling of the many stories told in his wonderful voice, even his laugh when he would get to the comic section.

From there they would dress in their work out gear and head to the training room to run drills. Starfire was well versed by this point in the many attack formations that were needed for situations, Aqualad was most kind in going over things with her and making sure she understood them as clearly as possible. She fell into the team's placement with a strong attachment to everyone. M'gann developed a sister like bond with her, they spent time together aside from training and often baked (which was improving greatly.) Artemis was a little different, but they would train together with target practice and various agility exercises. Superboy was definitely competitive though he had yet to win in their weight lifting competitions, but she did give him pointers. She herself was not versed in methods of lifting; it just came natural and to those whom she hugged apparently it needed some reigning in. Kid Flash was always there to make her laugh, showing her how to play video games and what junk food was but they raced from time to time. Being able to fly as fast as she could the races were close but he was still the fastest boy alive and it was a work out she enjoyed.

Though her closest relationship of that of Richard's. Aside from training and their morning ritual they still did not separate. She could sit for hours as he fixed things and worked on computer programs. At night he would watch a movie or a documentary in the common room with her, letting her sit on his lap like she had when they first met. It was not uncommon for her to fall asleep in his arms, to which he would carry her to bed, tuck her in and stay with her until he knew she was completely asleep. She would feel his warmth go but knew not to keep him, he still lived at the Wayne Mansion. He would return in the morning before she was even awake and come in, laying on the other side of the bed until she woke up, there were days that she would pretend to sleep just to have him close for a while longer. The princess knew she was falling for him, she knew the moment she met him but that was silliness of course.

Instant attraction was foolishness, though each day she grew even fonder of him. He was so kind, so careful with her and all she need do is begin to frown and he was there to bring the smile back or in some cases let her cry for hours on his shoulder, drying her tears all the way. Then again, perhaps he was just being kind to her because he felt he needed to be. Sighing heavily she set the used targets on the far side of the training room and sat on the bench, watching Richard move over to the rings and start up his routine on them. He had told her of his circus past, though avoided any details about his parents, what had happened to them or how he ended up with Batman as a father figure. None the less she did not pry, she knew what it was like to have secrets, there were still many of her own she kept from him.

"Careful there, staring can only lead to trouble," giggled M'gann as she sat next to her.

"What? I...I was not doing the stare..."

"Oh course you weren't," she then looked over herself, "he is dreamy."

"Richard is not a figment of my subconscious..." Starfire said with the hint of a question in her voice.

"No, I meant he's handsome, gorgeous. I mean, I have my own handsome guy but I've got to admit, you've got girl pretty jealous."

"Oh dear..."

"Don't worry about it. Trust me, they never had a chance."

"What makes you believe I have such a chance, or that Richard would ever want such a thing...with me..."

"Let me tell you something about Bird boy over there," she leaned in and whispered more personally, "None of us have seen him this happy in the last five years. So trust me when I say that you're something special." He gave her a soft smile before a siren when off through the gym and they headed off to the control room.

They had changed quickly from their work out clothes and into their uniforms, along with Starfire who was wearing hers for the first time. It was a pair of low riding purple pants that were tight to her form, with the sides cut out on the outer thighs. She wore a silver belt, purple knee high boots and matching silver gauntlets. Her shirt was long sleeved and purple like her pants, both having a metallic sheen. It was cropped high, having covered just under her breasts and a silver neck plate was placed on her. She was stunning as she came out and saw Robin cough slightly and look away, but she caught the slight hint of blush on his cheeks.

Aqualad was already there when they grouped and explained the situation. "Robbery, east side." He explained as they headed out.

"In the middle of the day?" Wally asked, it was out of place.

"Probably some kind of diversion, be on the lookout." He then turned to Starfire. "You ready for your first appearance?" he asked with a smile, only for her to nervously nod and stand beside Robin.

He looked at her and offered his hand. "Come on, you can ride with me. Save your energy of flight for those goons." He smirked as she smiled brightly as they went to the R-cycle and she climbed on the back, embracing him from behind and making sure to press her body to his warmth, tucking her head between his shoulder blade as he leaned forward and drove out of the garage. Wally ran up beside him and shouted, "Way to rub it in man..."

"Jealous much?" he chuckled, his laugh echoing as he revved the engine up and felt Starfire squeeze tighter before they arrived on the scene.

The heroes dashed into the bank, seeing people fleeing as the criminals were inside and waiting. As they arrived they knew it was a set up within seconds. The goons were lined up, shutting the door once the heroes were inside and aiming their guns towards them with smirks on all their faces. The group formed a circle around each other, facing outward to the group. "You guys have got to be kidding, don't you know you're supposed to send invitations to a party? And to think we also ignored this call, we would have missed an awesome bash." Kid Flash teased.

"Oh you're gonna get a bash alright." One of the goons said as he stepped forward.

"Oh...I know we're super heroes but it's really too early for puns." Robin droned.

The goons were closing in and they made the mistake of leaving an opening for Kid Flash to speed by. The formation was broken around them and the heroes dispersed amongst the gang members and began to pick them off one by one. Starfire flew into the air and tried to survey the situation as to what needed done when she spotted a man raising his gun towards Robin. She glared and summoned her eye beams, firing at his hand to knock the gun away and skid across the floor out of reach. The man looked up in shock as the girl came flying at him, knocking him to the ground before she turned to his friends.

"Oh would ya look at them, we got ourselves some fresh meat. Nice and tender. What's your name sweet heart?" one man purred in a disgusting tone. She grimaced and as he came closer she grabbed his arm and flipped him over onto his back, turning to round house kick another man the jaw, sending him flying across the room. The other looked at her and paled, this was no ordinary chick they were dealing with.

She smirked, reverting to own language, cracking her knuckles, "Zouta..." she then came at them, grabbing one man in his each hand and swinging them together to knock bodies, collapsing to the ground in an agonizing heap. She brushed her hands off and was about to look around when she felt an arm snake around her chest and pull her back, the cold metal of a gun pressed to her abdomen.

"Hey baby now that wasn't very nice."

"Neither are you!" she grabbed the gun and melted it with a star bolt before he could even think to squeeze the trigger and she flung him into the pile with the rest of her defeated opponents.

The rest of the team was going through the paces as usual, this gang was well known in the city but they always did stupid things like this to try and make a name for themselves by defeating the Young Justice team. Robin had yet to break out of my his gadgets, sticking to hand to hand combat once disabling their use of weaponry. He noticed he wasn't the only one simply playing with the goons.

It was a carousel ride at best, but a good warm up for Starfire in the minds of the team. That was until a man grabbed her as she went to fly and slammed her to the ground. The sudden shock knocked the wind out of her and he pinned her. She froze. There she was pinned to the ground again, this man looking over her and he stunk with a terrible odour. She was shaking, she could not summon her strength. Her trance was broken when the man cried out in pain, an arrow knocking him off her as Artemis came running to her side. "Hey are you okay?" she asked, shocked at how she froze up like that.

"I am, fine. I thank you."

"No problem. Let's finish these guys." Starfire nodded and within the next few minutes the criminals were tied up, and being carted off in vans to the city jail.

The team then turned to Starfire who was standing next to the R-cycle, arms around herself and staring at the ground. Robin came over and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, Artemis mentioned you froze up...what happened?"

"He simply surprised me, I did not see him come up from behind. I was careless, I will do better next time."

"Hey, we all make mistakes from time to time. You took on those guys like they were toys. So one got the better of you, no sweat. We can teach you some tricks about how to get out of the situation." Robin wasn't about to bring up more personal questions in the public but he knew he had to ask her why she got so scared. That guy hadn't been any bigger than the others, what had set her off?

Back at the head quarters Starfire was quick to separate from the group, choosing to go to the workout room. She was standing there alone for a longest while staring up at the rings that she had seen Robin on earlier. She gave a deep sigh before turning around to see Superboy standing next to the weights. "Need someone to spot you?" he asked, knowing he was the only one who really could spot her at her max weights.

She gave a weak smile and took her position on the lifting bench, setting her jaw and she made her first few reps, relaxing into it after a while. "I thank you friend," was all she said as they went through her exercises. Superboy always found it amazing how she never really broke a sweat with any of it, and today she seemed to be, but more so in her own frustration. He wasn't one to handle emotions, he could barely handle his own in relation to M'gann, let alone that of another alien girl.

When she was done lifting and made the move to sit carefully he handed her a water bottle and went to the door, tossing a towel at Robin who stood in the doorway. "Take that to her, she's all your man." With that Connor left in search of his girlfriend.

The former circus flyer walked over to her carefully, kneeling down in front of her and handing her to the towel, though he lifted it to dab at her face on his own. "Working hard there princess?" he asked softly, trying to bring a smile to the beautiful face he'd come to adore secretly in his heart. God he would do anything for this girl, he knew that the second he laid eyes on her. No one in all his life had lit up his world the way she did, it was like anything could happen and as long as she still standing there smiling at him he'd make it out okay. Dick hated how sappy or corny he sounded in relation to her but it wasn't like he was saying these things out loud. "So uh...look I didn't want to say anything in front of the others but...what happened out there?"

"What do you mean?" she had yet to look him in the eye even though he was inched from her face.

"Star, don't lie to me. Please."

"I just...when he...pinned me. I couldn't control it, I just froze up. I was trying to get control and summon my strength but nothing came. All I could think of was the Psions..." she didn't need to say any more as Robin reached out and touched her face with his gloves hand.

"Look at me Star," she finally raised her eyes and saw him looking at her seriously. "It's okay; I intend to keep my promise. No one is ever going to hurt you like that again. I swear it." He then reached to hold her hands in his but she moved quickly and wrapped her arms around him tightly, hiding in his chest. He just smiled and held her back, sitting there in the gym and stroking her hair. She wasn't crying or shaking but she just needed him and who was he to object?

"So, how did it go?"

"Not so good, we got our asses kicked sir...they arrested most of us but some escaped, like myself."

"Not important. What about the team? Did they display any weaknesses?"

"Well, there's a new girl on the team apparently. She's strong for sure..."

"Well then, we'll just have to keep a close eye on her now won't we?"

"You got it boss."

The group was lounging and watching television together, trying to decide on a movie while Starfire came in with the pop corn. She eyed the movie choices and saw the one that Flash had chosen, it had a couple laughing on the front of it. Setting the pop corn she pointed to it, it was rare that she really asserted herself in the group but as the others looked at her flash cheered. "Oh yeah! She' breaks the tie." He went and put it in, sitting down next to her. "It's a romantic comedy. You now, if you need someone to snuggle with I'm always..." he trailed off as he watched her settle into Dick's arms and laid her head on his collar bone, hands on his chest and eyes fixed on the screen, "never mind..."

"Sorry to interrupt the movie fest but we have a transmission." Aqualad said as he saw the blink light from the computer monitors. Using the remote he switched the screens and Batman came up before them all.

"Sorry for the intrusion."

"No probs Batty ol'pal. Whatcha got?"

"Artemis, cuff him for me." Batman droned and Wally yelped before the conversation continued. "I just need to let you know that myself and other members will be dropping by tomorrow. We have business to attend to in the city and it's a convenient time to drop by in one shot."

"Who will be coming?"

"Myself, Wonder Woman, Superman, John and Flash. I shall see you then. And Robin?"

"Yes?"

"Go to the private monitor I have to speak with you in private."

Nodding to his father he had Starfire move off of him but he stroked her hair one more time in a silent promise that he would be right back. "So Star, while he's gone..."

"Give it a rest Wally..." M'gann complained.

Dick took a seat at the monitor and watched as he appeared on the small screen in the other room. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong, but I have a suggestion for you and I did not want it broadcast to your team."

"Ok, what's up?"

"M'gann has informed me that Starfire has been waking up with night terrors since her arrival and they yet to decrease. She believes that Starfire may only feel safe with you staying around. Her body may have healed but we cannot expect years of mental abuse to heal over night if at all completely."

"What do you suggest? You kicking me out old man?"

"Quite the opposite. Alfred suggested that she might come and stay with us. She could enter the house under her civilian name of Kori Anders and stay with us in the guest quarters next to yours. Not only will she know you are right there but she will have the safety of my presence as well."

"And you're actually okay with this?"

"I would not offer the option if I was not. Besides, it's nice to see you happy for once. I was beginning to worry when you had no women in your life."

"Not all of us have to be a play boy."

"That's beside the point."

"Defensive much?" he smirked at his dad before dropping the subject. "Anyway, I'll ask her before I tuck her into her own bed tonight."

"You tuck her in?"

"Shut up okay..." he looked away from the screen with blush on his face.

"Fine, whatever you decide, I shall see you at home tonight. Have a pleasant night with you girlfriend."

"She's not my...!" the transmission had ended and Robin sighed heavily before returning to the movie. "Asshole anyway..." he grumbled as he flopped on the couch and got close to Star again.

"Was everything okay with K'norka Batman?" she asked softly.

"Yeah, I'll tell you after the movie."

"Glorious." She then turned back as the movie started again.

By time the movie was done the group was already set for bed for the night. They went their separate ways and Robin was walking back towards Star's room when he started to get nervous. It wasn't that big of a deal for Bruce but here Dick was about to ask a girl to move in with him. His palms were sweating, his eye brows were knitted and his jaw was clenched. "Richard?" he heard a soft voice call.

"Uh, yes?"

"Do you feel alright?"

"Yeah why?"

"You exhibit the symptoms of someone who is experiencing the stomach troubles."

"No Starfire it's ok. I'm just...I need to ask you something."

"Have I done the wrong doings?"

"No not at all," 'you're perfect' he added as an afterthought before continuing. "M'gann has noticed that you've been having nightmares...since you came to this place to live."

"Oh, I was not aware I was causing such trouble."

"Not trouble Star, don't worry. They're just considered for you and want you to feel safe. So my dad gave me this idea and if you're interested I love to have you come and live with me at the Wayne manor. You'd be living there as Kori Anders but once inside the house you wouldn't have to wear the hologram ring. You'd be staying in the room next to mine."

"You would like that I should stay in your home?"

"Yeah..." he scratched his neck nervously. "I mean, I want you to feel safe too and you seem to feel safe when I'm around. At least I think so..."

"Very much so Richard."

'Why does she have to say my name so perfectly?' he thought to himself before snapping out of it and asking, "So what do you think? Should I help you pack?"

"I love the idea..." she smiled sweetly to her, her own blush painted on her cheeks.

Thats all for now! I hope you like it!