The next morning dawned clear and cold, a thin layer of ice having spread itself over the shoreline during the night. Raven thought absently that the frosted buildings of Jump City, mist shrouded as they were, resembled the spires of Azarath before they had burned. You're morbid this morning. The voice in her head was definitely Happy's, who resented even the slightest of bad moods. There were times when she was grateful to have physical manifestations of her emotions – it made them easier to subdue, for one thing – but now was not one of those times.

With a sigh that sent a faint cloud drifted from her mouth into the chilled air, Raven turned back to the tower, intending to seek breakfast before the others came hunting for food. She liked their company sometimes, more often than she tended to admit actually, but today she felt vaguely wrong in a way that she couldn't quite pinpoint, and leaned towards solitude.

Even as she thought it, she sensed a presence behind her. When her eyes caught up with her body, she winced.

"What are you doing up here?"

Robin shrugged, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

"You know I always watch the sun rise."

She had known that. She had forgotten.

"Oh. Right."

Raven was forcibly reminded of that morning, months ago, the last time they had watched a rooftop sunrise together. That day had been the end of the world. Seriously? What is up with you? Happy was as close to not-Happy as she ever got. Raven put her fingertips to her temple, easing the tension headache that was threatening at the edges of her consciousness. Robin had joined her at the edge of the roof and was radiating worry like some kind of sympathetic microwave.

"I'm better."

He gave her a quick glance, then returned his gaze to the sun, which was peeking over the horizon, resting in a molten bed of orange-dyed clouds.

"I didn't ask."

She shivered a little and wrapped her arms around herself for warmth.

"You didn't have to."

"Hey! You said you didn't do that unless we were in battle."

She rolled her eyes, smiling slightly despite herself.

"I didn't have to, idiot, you're projecting all over the place."

His emotional energy receded slightly, chagrin coloring its edges.

"Sorry. We don't have to talk about it."

"Maybe we do. If it's going to make things weird."

He leaned too-casually against the wall.

"What's weird? Nothing's weird. Everything is totally normal."

She shot him an irritated glance, but a smile tugged at her lips.

"Quit it."

He sighed and pushed himself away from the wall.

"Look, Raven, I just…I want to make sure…"

"It wasn't your fault."

He stopped, and she sensed guilt as he looked at the ground, speaking to it rather than her.

"It felt like it was."

She sighed and turned to face him, noting how oddly anguished his expression was.

"It wasn't. Trust me. Anything can set it off. Anything. If it hadn't been you, it would have been the television. Or my communicator. Or my uniform. Or…the freaking doorknob, for all I know."

She faced the sunrise again, feeling the edges of its rays touch her face.

"It's just…there, and there's nothing I can do to prevent it. Nothing you can do either, so stop beating yourself up."

He sighed.

"Okay. But for the record, I'm still sorry."

It was her turn to look at the ground. Robin saw purple in the shine of her hair, the sun illuminating every piece of her.

"I want to keep training."

"But – "

"I want to learn. I need to learn, Robin."

Still he hesitated, remembering the look on her face, in her eyes, which shone like amethysts now in the sunlight.

"Please."

"Of course I'll train you."

He paused.

"Just…next time…stop when you have to. You don't have to learn everything in one day."

She dipped her head briefly and looked at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Robin…thank you…for…for knowing what to do."

Caught by surprise by the sincerity, he shrugged.

"Anyone would have – "

"No. They wouldn't. I mean it, thank you."

Then, to Robin's utter shock, she hugged him briefly, pressing him to her just long enough to leave the scent of her shampoo in his mouth. After a moment of hesitation, he reached up to touch her back until they broke apart, both blushing. Grinning in spite of himself, Robin rubbed the back of his neck with one hand.

"I…uh…you're welcome."

There was a pause during which they both looked out at the sunrise, waiting until it had lifted above the horizon, dispelling most of the mist that had settled through Jump City. When it had, Robin checked his watch, already running through schedules in his head.

"Breakfast?"

Raven smiled slightly and followed him to the stairs.

The rest of the team was already seated, Beast Boy with his usual heaping plate of tofu eggs – Raven could never decide whether he was vegetarian or vegan – Cyborg standing over something that sizzled and smelled enticingly like ham, and Starfire with a strange gelatinous goop that made Raven feel faintly sick just to look at. Robin led the way into the kitchen, heading straight for the eggs, while Raven went to put the kettle on before noticing that it was already whistling. She gave Cyborg a sideways glance, and he winked back at her.

"Heard you get up this morning. Figured you'd want your tea."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Thanks, Dad."

Cyborg was, as usual, unperturbed.

"I prefer big brother. Now eat your breakfast."

She smiled in spite of herself and glided to the counter, sliding into a seat opposite Beast Boy then immediately regretting it when he burped and grinned at her.

"Heya, Raven! How's things?"

She sighed.

"Hey yourself."

She didn't miss the look he exchanged with Starfire, but thankfully neither of them had the chance to ask how she was doing before Robin sat down, wearing his announcement face. Raven paid attention like the rest of the team, wondering vaguely if this had anything to do with his mysterious phone call of the other day.

"I've got some news."

Cyborg settled down next to him, giving his eggs a loving glance before he dug in with almost indecent enthusiasm.

"Sup, chief?"

Robin was, as usual, somewhat humorless as he pulled a flash drive, presumably full of complicated files, from his pocket.

"I had a call from Batman in Gotham."

That got everyone's attention. Particularly Beast Boy, who idolized Robin's adoptive father almost to the point of creepiness.

"Seriously?" he squeaked, popping briefly into a mouse.

Raven and Cyborg rolled their eyes in tandem as Starfire giggled.

"What was it about?"

Robin met her gaze, and she thought she read a confusing mixture of feelings in his eyes before he looked away again.

"He's got a lead on our mystery man. There's…some undercover involved."

That got people's attention, Beast Boy in particular.

"Oh man! I am so good at undercover stuff? Is it like a James Bond movie? Is it? Is it?"

Raven gave him a bored look.

"Please tell me he's not coming with us."

Beast Boy looked indignant.

"What? I can be stealthy! Watch," and he zapped into a fly, buzzing irritatingly around Raven's head until she flicked her finger and seized his wings in dark energy. When he morphed back into human form, she held him by the collar for a few moments, then dropped him unceremoniously on the ground, where he glared at her for several seconds. Robin raised an eyebrow, ignoring the giggling emanating from Cyborg and Starfire.

"Actually, we will need Beast Boy to go undercover. Just not at the same place."

Garfield, having climbed sulkily onto his abandoned stool, perked up.

"Undercover? Awesome! Where?"

"I need you to investigate the cave network around the cliffs where the robots came from. It'll be a risky procedure, but worth it if you can gather information. Cyborg, you'll be collecting data from this – " he held up a small, rectangular piece of glass and looked at it almost reverently. "It's a camera, of sorts. It also picks up high quality audio and electronic interference. If we strap it to your ankle, Garfield, it will collect information that Cyborg can analyze. Star, I want you on backup. If things go wrong, you'll get in there and help him out."

Starfire nodded, looking excited to be fighting again. She had dutifully given him reports from her first meeting with city council, and it sounded like things were going well, but he had sense restlessness in her smile and had thought it would be best to postpone further meetings until after this mission. Lastly, he looked at Raven again, willing himself not to blush. It wasn't a real date. It was an undercover operation.

"Raven, you'll come with me to Gotham."

She frowned slightly, but Robin detected interest in her eyes and elaborated.

"Bruce is hosting a party, and one particular guest will be a person of interest. Your perceptive field thing could come in very handy."

She nodded.

"When would we leave?"

"The party is in a week, but Bruce wants us there a day or two beforehand…he's quite the host."

He smiled slightly, then returned to business, giving the team a brief rundown of his conversation with Bruce. They all grew serious, shadows darkening their faces as they began to understand the magnitude of the conspiracy they had found themselves in the middle of.

Cyborg eventually broke the silence. He had hacked into Robin's flash drive in a matter of seconds and was looking through files, frowning intensely.

"A couple of these evil dudes might have hackable IP addresses. I'll get on that."

Robin stood up as Starfire collected dishes from around the counter and Raven floated to the sink to rinse out her teacup.

"Good idea. Everyone else, stealth training. Now."

Starfire, elbow deep in soapy water, gave him the dirtiest look that ever came across her face.

"I am in the middle of what humans would call 'something'."

Robin colored slightly and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Sorry. When…when you get a chance. Thanks, Star."

She softened as Raven retrieved a dishtowel from under the sink and began to dry while Garfield hung from the ceiling in monkey form and put things away. Cyborg wandered off to the master computer, muttering to himself as he scanned various files. Raven followed him with her eyes and flicked the water from her hands.

"If you all want to go to practice, I can finish here."

Starfire smiled brightly and drained the sink.

"For this, I thank you, friend."

Beast Boy dropped to the floor and flashed her a grin before he took off.

"Thanks, Rae."

As she ran the towel over the rim of her mug, Robin looked across at her from where he was propped up against the wall, arms folded across his chest.

"Want to help Cyborg?"

She raised her eyebrows and looked pointedly at their half-metal friend, who was smoking slightly as his fingers flew over six different keyboards at once. Robin grinned despite himself as he followed her gaze.

"Oookay…I'll rephrase: Do you want to get yelled at by Cyborg?"

Raven laughed a little.

"As fun as that sounds, I have therapy."

"Oh, really? Globe guy?

She scowled as she hung the towel over the oven handle.

"On second thought, I'll take the angry metal guy."

Robin smiled slightly as Cyborg slammed his hand down on a button that made the screen flash alarmingly.

"I would rethink that if I were you."

She sighed.

"Yeah, I should go. Ugh. He's going to ask a lot of questions."

Robin felt a flash of sympathy as he straightened up and clapped her shoulder.

"Good luck with that. I'm going to go try and teach Beast Boy how to be quiet."

She groaned softly and grabbed her coat on her way to the door.

"Good luck with that. See you later."

! Thanks so much for all the reviews! I'm glad so many of you are getting the human-ness of the characters. Let me know how you like the updates.

xxxxx