"You ready?" he asked, looking behind him to see Starfire's face.

She smiled back at him.

"I am always ready."

"Well then, Here goes!" he said, pulling the thrusters to full power. With a slight shudder, the engine roared to life and the T-Ship headed for the sky.

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Home

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Nightwing had an irresistible smile plastered on his face as Starfire sat behind him with her arms wrapped around his waist, her cheek warming the small of his back. He was actually quite disappointed to see that he had only a few hours time before he would arrive back on earth.

"Your suit is different than what I remember," Starfire murmured thoughtfully.

Nightwing twisted his head around to see her face, but could only catch a glimpse the top of her vivid maroon hair. "Really? You mean from when you went to the future?" he asked.

She nodded, and Nightwing could feel her cheek move along his spine. "Yes. You still retained your utility belt, although it was no longer yellow, but gray." She rubbed her face into his back just a little; just to remind herself he was real. "You had gray arm guards as well. The blue emblem on your chest did not extend to your shoulders."

A small bleeping on the radar forced Nightwing to face forward. He adjusted a few buttons before speaking.

"So…what do you think of it?" he said, his voice somewhat nervous, slightly jealous of his former future self, however odd that may seem.

Starfire saw his expression mirrored on the ship's windshield, and smiled slightly, knowing very well that Nightwing wouldn't be able to see her. "Do you really wish to know?" she teased.

"You liked the other one better?" questioned he, his face noticeably darkening.

Starfire burst out in giggles, attempting to smother them against Nightwing's shoulder.

"What?" he complained.

She lifted her face from his back and straightened up so that she could reach his ear.

"I like this one much better," she whispered, her hot breath tickling the inside of his ear, sending shivers down his spine. "It makes you look most warm."

"Hot, Starfire." he corrected automatically, his face flushed crimson with embarrassment and pleasure. His teenage shyness had never completely disappeared, even though he was now married.

She merely shrugged, returning her cheek to its former spot on his back.

Nightwing kept his gaze on the window, his smile now a full-fledged grin that made his face muscles ache. But he couldn't wipe it away.

Starfire just tightened her grip on his middle, a knowing smile on her face. She just loved to make Robin feel like this. Nightwing now, she reminded herself.

She must have fallen asleep then, because she was suddenly aware of Nightwing's hand on her shoulder, shaking her lightly.

"Star? Wake up, we're here. We're home."

Raven had just herded the boys to bed, finally forcing them away from the Nintendo. She had been in the middle of some late-night meditation when she felt something incredibly familiar at the edge of her consciousness.

No, it can't be!

Her aubergine eyes widened as her mind identified the two souls that were emitting such unfathomable joy from the edge of the island. As her concentration snapped, she fell out of the air and toppled onto the floor below. But she was too preoccupied with this new revelation to care.

She closed her eyes, feeling both her hands curl into fists as the emotions assailed her with such force that it actually hurt physically. She took three deep breaths, attempting to calm herself, knowing that if she met them in this state, she would make the tower crumble into a few piles of dust.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos…" she murmured. Convinced that she had things under control once more, she searched the two presences over and over again, like a small child turning a river stone rounded by the swirling waters in her hand, observing in its entrancing mix of colors and reveling in its smooth surface.

There was absolutely no doubt about the fact that it was, indeed, them.

"Beastboy! Cyborg! They're here!" she cried, rushing through her door, her shout ringing throughout the hallways of the Tower.

She could feel them approaching, closer and closer.

"Beastboy!"

"Rae, what is it?" Beastboy asked in a voice blurred with sleep as he kept his pace beside her.

She didn't need to look behind her to know the rest of the inhabitants of the Tower were running alongside her.

"They're here," was her terse reply, her expression tense and reserved as the heavy footfalls of Cyborg, the light tapping of Bumblebee, and the soft tread of Beastboy's feet accompanied her to the space in front of the elevator.

"They?" Cyborg asked, confused.

Raven didn't answer. Instead she faced the elevator. Everyone could see someone was coming up, ascending floor after floor. Everyone, with the exception of Raven, fell into battle stances, determined to be ready for whatever it was that had gotten past the high security system.

The elevator gave a slight ping as it reached the top floor.

The double doors slid open.

"I wonder if our friends are awake at present," Starfire said as she leaned slightly against Nightwing. He looked at her rather worriedly, but put it aside as fatigue.

"I doubt it," he answered. "It's past their bedtime."

"What bedtime?" she asked, one eyebrow raised. "We are all overage now, Robin."

Nightwing draped a hand around her shoulders for extra support. "Yeah, but Raven'll make sure they get proper sleep, so they won't be drooping if there's any trouble."

Starfire attempted a smile that was interrupted halfway by an immense yawn.

The elevator's bell rang, indicating that they had arrived at the top floor.

"Oh, thank X'hal we have arrived," Starfire mumbled.

The doors began to slide open.

Both parties stood like stone statues on either side of the open metal door. Only when the doors began to close did Nightwing reach out and step across into the darkened hallway, pulling Starfire along with him.

"Starfire," Cyborg whispered.

Tears welled up in Starfire's eyes as her eyes locked with her four shocked friends. She hadn't realized just how much she had missed them all.

"Friends…"

She reached out and gave Raven a tender hug. This was so unlike the usual rib cracking, jubilant hugs that Raven felt compelled to wrap her own arms around her alien soul sister.

Through the baggy Citadel slave uniform, Raven could feel how thin Starfire had become. She had always been slim, granted, but never bony like this. Raven let her tears fall on Starfire, and felt Starfire's own soak through the shoulder of her navy pajamas.

After a slightly tightening her grip, Starfire reluctantly let go of Raven, her touch lingering. Then she turned to Cyborg and Beastboy and locked them both in a uniting hug. Beastboy awkwardly patted Starfire on the back, still looking rather stunned.

"It's good to see you again, Titans," Nightwing said, arms crossed over his chest, his face adorned with his trademark lopsided grin, attempting to loosen the tension that was flowing through the air. But his attempt was promptly ignored.

"We watched you die," Beastboy uttered softly, voicing his thoughts. "We were there when you took the cup and disappeared."

Starfire shook her head ever so slightly. "No. That was not I." She spread out her arms, wide, as if to encircle the whole Tower, no, the whole universe, in her embrace. "See! Here I am – true, real, alive."

All three tackled her, tears of joy and relief dripping along the curve of their cheeks, letting out their pent-up grief that they had never expressed, since they had never held a funeral for her, nor spent a time of mourning for her, finding comfort in the assuring touch of each other's skin. It had been Nightwing's request not to hold a service for her until he had returned from his vengeance spree.

Bumblebee stood at one side, utterly perplexed at the tears they were shedding at Starfire and Nightwing's arrival. She did not know what Beastboy meant by saying 'watching her die'. No one had told her of anything that critical happening. She didn't know what to do, what to say.

The foursome remained huddled together, comforting each other with whispered words and slight touches on each other's shoulders. Beastboy's sobs had been reduced to hiccups.

Nightwing saw Bumblebee's confusion and went towards her.

"Cyborg didn't explain, did he?" he said knowingly. Bumblebee shook her head. She felt so awkward and out of place, and she didn't like it one bit. She was usually in the leader's position, on top of everything that was happening.

Nightwing eyes were still on Starfire's kneeling form. She was now murmuring soothingly to a hooded Raven. "We'll explain everything tomorrow," he promised to Bumblebee before addressing the whole team.

"I know how you're all feeling, but I think Starfire needs some rest now. You can ask questions later."

Without waiting for an answer, Nightwing scooped Starfire in his arms, bridal style, and swept off to his room.

Nightwing sat on the edge of his bed, waiting for Starfire to return from her shower. He fiddled with a team picture on his bedside table that had been taken at the park. That innocent time seemed eons ago. It was like something from another life, not something that had been their life only a few years ago.

A swish of the door announced Starfire's entry. Nightwing looked up, his face mask-free as he always was when alone with Starfire.

"What are you pondering with such a serious expression, Robin?" she asked gently, lowering herself onto the bed to sit next to him.

"Oh, you know, just reminiscing the good old times," he said lightly, setting the frame back on his bedside table and turning his attention fully to her.

He needed to say something to her, something regarding a promise he had made, a promise he had broken not long after. (A/N: Read my oneshot Give Your Word to understand what he means.)

"Star, I owe you an apology."

"What about?"

He stared at his toes, unable to meet her questioning gaze.

"The promise we made right before we got married, I broke it. I left my team helpless while I raged to avenge you. I'm…I'm sorry."

Starfire leaned her head against his shoulder. "I am glad you broke the promise, for without your actions, I would still be at the Citadel, as a slave. You need not be sorry."

Nightwing's arm snaked around her waist instinctively.

"Will you tell me what happened?" he asked, his voice low and soft. Starfire bit her lip, indecision coursing through her. He must have felt her body stiffen, because he added in the same soft voice, "You don't have to if you don't want to. I can wait until you're ready."

"No. I will tell you." Starfire looked up into the blue eyes she had dreamt about and missed every hour of the day. They looked into her soul, and she read the soul behind them.

Are you sure? they seemed to ask.

She put a confident light into her gaze. Yes. I am very sure.

Nightwing took her hand into his own, and she reveled in that simple contact that spoke so loudly without making a sound.

"The Gordanians wished to speak to me. We arranged a meeting in one of the conference rooms."

She took a deep breath before continuing.

"We had the room inspected before I entered. However, Blackfire had knowledge of the techniques the guards would use, and thus avoided scrutiny. I was captured almost immediately.

Ambushed as I was, I had no time to do the fighting back of any sort. I was rendered helpless. Blackfire showed me a duplicate of myself that she and the Gordanians had created. She spoke to me of her plan to seemingly murder the false Starfire in your audience, with I watching but unable to do anything. She knew that this would pain both you and I, far beyond any other actions she could have taken.

She told me it was her revenge against me, revenge she had promised me that day she was caught by the Centauri police. As you know, that is exactly what she did."

A tear escaped an eye and disappeared into the collar of her nightshirt.

"I called out to you, Robin, but I could not stop your heart from breaking. I could not tell you that the Starfire you saw was not the real thing. I so wanted to, I shouted with my voice and mind, but you could not hear me."

As Starfire shivered at the memory, Nightwing tightened his grip on her waist, still remembering that day with a hideous clarity. Every scream, every movement the Starfire android had made was burned into his memory. Even when he thought back, the "Starfire" seemed so real…

"They took me back to the Citadel, to fulfill my duty, they said. Trogaar gave me to some of his male attendants and informed them that they could do with me whatever they wished.

I knew at once what he meant. But at first, they merely mocked me and used me as a servant girl, ordering me to bring them various objects. I relaxed for a moment, thinking that I had been mistaken in their intentions.

Then one night, one of the higher Gordanians that I had been assigned to summoned me to his room. I did not think this odd, as I had been asked to fulfill many tasks that way. I went without much thought or suspicion.

The moment that I had entered, I felt that something was wrong. There was no mess that I should clean, there seemed to be no reason that I should be there. He was lying on his bed, but sat up at my entry.

'You asked for me?' I asked, my eyes on the floor, as it is considered disrespectful to directly look at your master.

'Yes, Koriand'r.' he said in this voice I did not like. 'Come here,' he told me, indicating the space next to him. I obeyed."

She suddenly stopped talking and trembled uncontrollably. Her eyes looked up to Nightwing, wide and fearful.

"What is it, Star?" Nightwing asked, afraid of the answer.

"You will not think me unclean? You will not hate me?"

"Never, Star. Never." Nightwing reassured her, shaking his head hard to illustrate his point.

"He tried to…he…"

Starfire's mouth was one thin compressed line as she unsuccessfully tried to dispel the tremble from her voice.

"Oh, Robin, I was so afraid! So afraid that you would not be the only one, that he would take that away from me…" Before she knew it, the tears were falling thick and fast on her skin.

"No…" Nightwing whispered. "He didn't…"

Starfire attempted to rub the tears away.

"Even though they had put a power inhibitor on me, I still had enough strength to resist him and to run from the room. I could hear him cursing behind me, but I could not care.

This happened almost every day for the next few weeks, until one time…"

The tears were back and flowing, and Starfire couldn't stop it.

"He had come too close, and I pushed him away. He crashed into something, I could hear it, but I did not look back. They told me afterwards that I had killed him."

Nightwing was kneeling on the bed now, holding her tight to himself, wishing he had the power to reverse what she had been through.

"It wasn't your fault, it wasn't your fault. It was his own fault…" he murmured, knowing that this is what she was worried about. She had broken what he had lived for his whole life, and the team's unspoken code. "It was an accident, it wasn't your fault…"

Nightwing held her tightly to him, still murmuring, stroking her back until her tremblings subsided. Time was insubstantial as they held on to each other.

"It's okay...it wasn't your fault...shh..."

He wiped the tears away with one swift stroke and kissed her gently on her forehead. Starfire looked up at him with large, tear-filled eyes, her face riddled with guilt. He could see she was still worried at what he would think of her.

"Nothing could make me love you less, never worry." he told her, his voice softly lilting.

Starfire gave him a watery smile, rubbing the tears down, relief flooding her senses. After many a deep breath, she continued her narrative once she could get her voice to work again.

"The Gordanians did not care much, because he had been of low rank, and I was still subject to this nightmare. But one day I was assigned to Blackfire and the overall cleaning of the Citadel. However, the Gordanians continued to harass me in the corridors."

"That's how you got all those bruises, isn't it?"

She nodded. "Yes, they were quite displeased at my continued resistance…that is how I learnt what Blackfire had done for me.

One particular Gordanian who was the most insistent of them all, screamed to me that they should never have listened to my sister and should just have killed me as they had planned to. After some prying, I found that she had convinced Trogaar to place me under her rule after she had heard what they were attempting to do. Then you arrived, saving me."

Nightwing didn't say anything, just held on even tighter than before.

"What of you? What did you do?" she asked him, tugging slightly at his arms. He looked at her, not wanting to answer now, not when he had so much to swallow and process, not when he was ashamed of his own actions during her absence. But he knew that he must answer; he owed that much to Starfire.

He started his narrative by twiddling with his pajamas, the poor edge already frayed with his continued attentions during the years.

"I escaped to Gotham soon after we came back to earth, after finishing my costume. I needed to train to do whatever's necessary to complete the mission, and I knew Batman could help me there. You know that's why I ran away in the first place.

I didn't tell him about what had happened to you, but he found out anyway, and warned me not to do anything rash. But I already knew I couldn't. Whenever I got that urge to end my revenge with murder, your voice would be speaking in my ear, telling me you wouldn't want that."

He twisted the cloth until it resembled an azure length of rope.

"When I saw the light disappear from your eyes, I told myself I would never smile again. It was a sort of promise I had unconsciously made, because you were my laughter and my joy…but I found myself smiling at Tim's antics…enjoying my previous home. There were times where I wasn't thinking about you at all. It seemed like I was betraying you. I couldn't live with that...

That's when I flew to the Citadel to take my revenge against your death and found you, and I thought I was dreaming, because you alive was too good to be true."

"You need not have felt so, dearest," Starfire said, reaching over to his cheek and administering a gentle kiss. They stared at each other, knowing that they would never completely understand what the other had gone through, yet that they would always be there for each other. Starfire smiled, a smile full of past hurts and fears, yet completely engulfed in love and peace. Nightwing returned her smile with one of his own.

Nightwing lifted back the covers inviting her to slumber, and Starfire welcomed the long missed softness of the pillows and mattress.

They fell asleep almost instantly, leaning against each other the whole night.

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Gaahh!! I haven't updated in ages and ages and ages... Forgive me!!

I think I should change the rating to T for suggestiveness in Starfire's narrative... What do you think? Should I?

Starfire hugs or Nightwing smiles for reviewers! Your choice.

Please review...? It wasn't THAT bad, was it??