Chapter 14
Robin had been pleasantly surprised at how calmly breakfast had gone. He knew his friends had questions about what had gone on, scarcely half an hour ago, and he was pleased to see that they kept them to themselves. For now. The only exception was when Blackfire had grabbed his arm as he entered the cafeteria.
"Just letting you know, Robin," she said after she had pulled him back into the hallway. "We may not have been on the best of terms most of the time, but she's still my sister. You break her heart, and I'll make you regret it."
Robin looked over at where Starfire had caught up with the others, and chatted happily. "I think you're going to have to wait in line, Blackfire."
Now they were, once again, seated in the waiting room ten minutes before the end of the two hours that Lyta said she'd need. Robin had just gotten up to start pacing, when Lyta entered the room pushing Liand'r in her layette.
"Good. You're all here," she said. "Vern'a has gone to inform Galfore and the rest of the fleet."
"Inform them of what, Healer Beckthold?"
It had taken a few days, but Lyta had finally gotten used to Starfire addressing her that way, even though it made her smile. Her smile broadened as she answered the question. "I'm very happy to announce that Liand'r is in nearly perfect health. All she needs is a day or two to build her strength up and she'll be right as rain."
"Well alright!" Cyborg shouted happily, and exchanged a high five with beast Boy after pumping his fist in the air.
"Now, I'm going to hold her, at least overnight, to keep an eye on her, and to let her get her strength back up. Also, just this once, I'm gong to let all of you into her room at the same time."
"We have a detour to make first, Doc," Robin said. "and I'd like for you to be there with us."
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Robin peeked his head into the conference room, and saw the small crowd of reporters. "Like you used to say, Dad; it's show time," he muttered to himself then pushed the door open and went in. The silence that fell over the room was only broken by his footsteps, and the occasional click of a camera and the whine of its auto-winder for its film. He stood at the podium and waited as a few more cameras flashed. "Ladies and gentlemen, the first thing I'd like to do is give you my personal thanks for respecting Starfire's and my privacy during this ordeal. We deeply appreciate it." He cleared his throat, and took a quick sip of the water that was in a glass on the podium. "A little over two hours ago, it was reported to you that our daughter had died. I am happy to correct that since it wasn't entirely correct. Apparently, Liand'r went into some kind of coma and only appeared to have died."
"So where are the child and her mother?" one of the reporters called out.
Robin took out his communicator and opened it. "Star," he said into it.
Every camera and head turned towards the door as it opened and Starfire came in carrying Liand'r and was followed by Doctor Beckthold. Robin smiled as there was a quiet smattering of applause. Once Starfire reached his side, there was another pause to let the flashing of the cameras die down again.
"As you can see, Starfire is perfectly alright, and Doctor Beckthold can attest to the same for Liand'r." He paused and turned to Starfire, who handed their daughter to him. He carefully unwrapped her from the blanket she was bundled in, then held her in the crook of his arm facing out toward the reporters. "Jump City, and wherever else this is being broadcast to, this is Liand'r, which means Whitefire in Tamaranean."
Once again there was a flurry of flashes from the cameras, and the TV cameramen stepped closer to get a better shot. "I hate to call this short, but our daughter is still weak and Doctor Beckthold wasn't too happy about her not going straight to rest," Robin said, and Liand'r punctuated his announcement by yawning hugely. He chuckled with the reporters at that, then they left with Robin still carrying Liand'r.
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It was a few minutes later and the Titans, plus Blackfire, were back in Liand'r's room.
"I'm planning on keeping her here for a few days, so she can get her strength back," Lyta told them.
"I don't think it will take that long," Raven said, then put her hand on Liand'r's head. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos. Transferatum vitale infantatum," she chanted. And Liand'r was enveloped in a white glow. After a moment, the glow faded and the others cried out in alarm as Raven staggered backward, and would have fallen if it hadn't been for Beast Boy standing behind her to steady her.
"Shalay'fa, are you alright?" Starfire asked as Beast Boy helped Raven to the couch.
"I'll be fine, Starfire. I just gave my Xa'shama a gift by raising her life force."
"By giving her some of you own," Starfire added softly.
Raven looked over at the now wide awake infant in Robin's arms and smiled softly. "I just didn't realize how much she needed. Like I said; I'll be fine, I just need to rest a bit."
"Well, it looks as though I've got two patients for the night," Lyta said. "Doctor Benson would have my head if I let you go when I was not convinced you were 100 percent."
"Good," Blackfire pipped up. "With Raven here to keep an eye on Liand'r, you two can go back to the Tower and sort things out."
The tension in the room suddenly became almost palpable, as Starfire gave her sister a scathing look.
"Dudes!" Beast Boy called out with a laugh. "Do you know how to tell the difference between a bull and a cow by the way they moo?"
Robin groaned, but noticed that the sighs that Starfire and Raven gave were ones of relief. "How, Beast Boy?" he asked.
"A bull moos one way, and a cow moos the udder way."
Despite himself, Robin chuckled as he shook his head as the horrendous joke. However, he did have to admit that it did its job and broke the tension
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That evening, Robin and Starfire watched the sunset from the roof of the Tower. For the first time that either of them could remember, however, they watched in silence and stood apart from each other.
"I will leave you to your thoughts," Starfire said softly as the sky darkened and filled with stars.
Robin watched as she floated over to the stairs. Even though her shoulders weren't slumped, and she didn't hang her head, he could tell how sad she was. Part of him wanted to call her back. To tell her that everything was fine. That he forgave her. But just as quickly, the memory of the events of that morning flooded in and stopped him. As did the events since they returned to the Tower. For the first time, Robin felt like an outsider from his team, those he thought were his friends. Every time he entered a room, particularly one with Starfire in it, he noticed the sudden silences that fell, and the disapproving looks that he got from Cyborg and Beast Boy. In his heart, he would have even welcomed that kind of look from Starfire, but she would look almost anywhere but at him.
When he had gone to the common room to ask Starfire if she wanted to join him in watching the sunset, he stopped just outside the door when he heard Starfire's laughter. He stopped for two reasons. First was because it had been so long since he had heard her really laugh. And the second was that he didn't want to be the cause of her laughter being cut short. As he heard her laughter trail off, he stepped forward and triggered the doors to open.
"No, Friend Cyborg, this is not something I can, or should influence his decision in," he heard Starfire say. "I also ask that you not hold this against him. What is going on between us is not entirely his fault. Part of it is mine. Liand'r is our daughter, I should have been helping him to try to revive her, not keeping him from doing so."
"But your own customs wouldn't let ya, Star," Cyborg said.
Whatever else was going to be said was cut off when the doors closing behind him alerted the others to his presence.
"Can I really blame her for doing what was expected of her, or as Nie'l put it, her duty?" he muttered to himself as he walked over to the other side of the roof and look out over the city.
"How long do you plan on torturing her?"
Robin sighed at the familiar voice. "I'm not torturing her, Blackfire, and she knows it."
"She knows that she loves you, Bird Boy, and that somewhere in that thick stubborn skull of yours that you love her too." Robin watched as Blackfire walked over from the stairwell, her arms crossed over her chest. "That's what's keeping her going right now, the fact that the crystals you two share are still glowing." She blew out a frustrated breath, and Robin could tell that she was trying to keep her anger in check. "You know you're not being very fair to her."
"Fair?! To her?! She kept me from seeing my daughter for the first month of her life because she thought I was some kind of threat to her, and the first time I get to prove her wrong, she does the exact thing she accused me of wanting to do!"
"So you're going to let those two things destroy your relationship with Starfire?!" she shouted back, then crossed over and put a hand on his shoulder. "Robin, I've seen the way you and Kori are when you're together. Your love for each other is plain to see, and when you fight together, so is the trust you have in each other."
"It's that trust that's the problem, Blackfire. That's what I'm trying to decide, whether I can trust her or not." Blackfire watched as he paced. "She was the one person I thought I could depend on the stand beside me, especially in protecting our daughter. Never did I think she would turn on me like that. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some thinking to do."
"That did not go as well as I think you planned, Koma," a male voice said from the shadows as Robin walked to the other side of the roof.
"Actually it, did," Blackfire said. "X'Hal, he can be as stubborn as you at times."
"Am I truly that difficult?" Kor'mel asked as he stepped up behind Blackfire and slid his arms around her waist.
"Actually I should have said as stubborn as my father," she hedged. "You, I can at least occasionally bring around to my way of thinking."
"I would believe that it is because you can use methods of persuasion on me that you could not your father."
Blackfire shivered slightly as her husband gently trailed his fingers over her cheek. "What methods would those be, mathad?" she teased.
"If you return with me to the TAMAR, I'm certain that I can jog your memory."
Blackfire sighed with honest regret. "Not tonight, Kor. If Robin makes what I believe to be the wrong decision, Kori is going to need all the support she can get, and I'll have someone to kill."
"Koma, you can't punish him for making whatever decision he makes. He is his own person, and must follow his own path."
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It was a few hours later, and Robin was no closer to reaching a decision. Part of the reason, he realized, was that over the last week he had gotten very little sleep, and he was exhausted. He got ready and climbed into bed, hoping that a good night's sleep would clear his mind. Just as he was starting to doze off, he noticed a gleam from his nightstand. Looking fully at it, he found that a shaft of moonlight had found a chink in the shades over his window and cast it's light on the two framed pictures that were on his nightstand. One had been in similar positions ever since his first night at Wayne manor. The photograph was still as bright as ever. His mother and father stood side by side, John Grayson had his arm around his wife's shoulders and Mary Grayson had her arm around her husband's waist. Both had a hand on each of their son's shoulders. The frame was slightly tarnished in a few small places. Places where a young man's tears had landed and not been wiped away. The other photo was of himself and Starfire taken shortly after they had taken the Oath of Bonding. It had been one of the few times that Cyborg had snuck up on them and caught them in a kiss. They both had their arms about each other, but were smiling hugely at the camera. As he fell asleep, Blackfire's comment on how he and Starfire behaved when together ran through his mind.