Robin sat on a large rock at the shore's edge, oblivious to his girlfriend who was nearby, setting up a picnic spread for them, humming happily as she removed items from her large wicker basket and placed them on a brightly colored quilt she set on the ground.

The Teen Wonder had just turned twenty. Richard Grayson would never be tall, though he was taller than when he first met the princess. Unfortunately for him she had grown even more and was now a full head taller than he was. Their height discrepancy had become a joke within the extended Titans family, though no one actually dared to tease Robin about it.

Robin had something else on his mind. It was only two days ago when the Chromatically Challenged Couple™ announced that they were now a couple to their friends. The reactions were festive. Cyborg bellowed a few booyahs and Starfire sang some bizarre song about X'Hal rewarding lover's patience, which was cut short after the 47th verse. Apparently they weren't that patient.

But Robin said nothing upon hearing their news.

"Robin, our lunch is ready! Do come and partake of the picnic!"

The Teen Wonder snapped back to reality. "Did you say lunch?"

"Yes, I made plargbork sandwiches, they are most delicious."

Robin did a double take. "Star … plargbork … aren't those giant Tamaranian slugs?"

The princess burst out laughing. "Oh, boyfriend Robin, you are so easy to fool! Of course they are not plargbork sandwiches! I purchased the entire basket at the local deli, and it contains sandwiches made of conventional Earthly ingredients like the pastrami and salami. Someday I will make us a traditional Tamaranian picnic. Perhaps I will even prepare some plargbork, which is tasty, you should try it sometime."

Robin halfheartedly got up and walked over to his sweetheart, sitting down next to her. His demeanor remained distant.

"Robin, something is disturbing you. Are you obsessing about Slade again? You promised you would not think about him during our date."

He made eye contact with her. "Sorry, Star. Actually, I'm thinking about Raven and Beast Boy."

She broke into a huge grin. "I am so happy for them! Have you not noticed the change in Raven's personality? She is so happy!"

"Yeah, I have noticed the change, and that's what I'm worried about."

She handed him a plate with a sandwich and some potato salad. "You are worried that Raven is happy?"

Robin took a small bite from his sandwich. "Raven doesn't do 'happy'. And you saw what happened last night when we shut down for the night."

"I do not understand, did something unpleasant happen that I did not notice?"

Robin crossed his arms and frowned.

"They kissed each other, goodnight … on the lips! Starfire, Raven isn't like that. Look, I'm not saying that she shouldn't kiss him. But you and I both know that Raven is a person who values her privacy. Public displays of affection aren't her thing; it's always been that way. Now she's all … lovey dovey."

Starfire looked thoughtful as she pondered his remark. "Perhaps she has changed."

"And that's what I'm worried about. Slade's gone and done something to her!"

"My beloved, you worry too much. Things change, we are not the children we once were. Raven is a woman now. She is more mature and is now ready to have a boyfriend."

Robin locked eyes with her.

"Things change? I'm not buying it."

-( scene break )-

One week later …

Dinner that evening was simple; it was take out Chinese food, which was quickly consumed. The changeling and the sorceress volunteered to clean up, which basically amounted to loading the dishwasher and wiping the counter tops. But even that simple of a task kept getting interrupted as the trio who remained at the table heard them repeatedly stop and giggle.

"Gar, stop it." She ordered him in an unconvincing voice. "Stop tickling me!"

"You know you like it." He cooed back at her.

"After we finish cleaning the … mmmmmm." She ended with a moan.

Robin frowned while Starfire clapped her hands. Cyborg grinned as he rose from the table.

"OK, you two, go find yourselves a room or something. I'll finish cleaning." He snickered.

Raven, who still had her arms wrapped around the changeling's neck, turned to face the tin man. "It's OK, Cyborg, we can do it."

"Not while you're sucking his face. Now vamoose out of here and find someplace private to make out with your boy toy."

Cyborg herded them into the lift and they were gone. The elevator display showed that it went to the lobby. Cyborg laughed with glee and ran to the couch, turning on the TV, switching it to the network of cameras inside the Tower. After flipping between a few cameras he found the one in the Tower's Lobby. They were seated on one of the couches and were engaged in a heavy duty kissing and groping session. Cyborg giggled like a small child as he watched.

"Cyborg! You are being a bad friend! You are spying on them!" The princess chided him.

"C'mon Star, tell me you don't want to watch this … whoa … she's letting him onto second base, and she looks like she's enjoying it too! BB, you lucky dog!"

Robin cleared his throat. "Starfire is right, turn it off, Cyborg."

"Oh, c'mon Rob, it's getting juicy."

"I don't care. Turn it off."

"Robin, do human females enjoy the caressing of their grebnaks by their boyfriends? Raven's face looks … ecstatic? Maybe we should also …"

"If you won't turn it off, I will!"

Cyborg grabbed the remote and raised it above his head.

"I'd like to see you try, spike."

Starfire giggled as the two jostled for the controller. When she looked back at the screen, she shrieked. Robin and Cyborg stopped their rough housing and turned to the screen. They gasped in unison.

The Tower's huge front doors were wide open while an army of Slade-bots poured in, with the Chromatically Challenged Couple™ trying to stop them. They stared incredulously at the screen.

"How did they get past the security system!?" Cyborg howled.

"It doesn't matter now. We have to stop them and do it now. Titans Go!"

-( scene break )-

The Tower lobby looked as if it had been hit by an atom bomb. All of the furniture was destroyed; there were scorch marks and holes in the walls and the floor.

Over 100 destroyed Mark IV Slade-bots were strewn across the room. The new droids proved to be more formidable than the models they replaced. They had been clearly optimized to fight the Titans as they were more resistant against sonic cannons, starbolts and even Raven's dark energy than the old Mark III models. The situation had become so dire that Beast Boy summoned the Beast to even the odds and even then they only won out of sheer luck.

"Is everyone OK?" Robin shouted.

One by one his teammates checked in. Starfire had a large cut on her arm, which Raven was busy healing. The sorceress had a huge bruise on her face. The changeling was doing his best to hide a limp while Cyborg's left hand was crushed, which he was in the process of replacing. Robin was also covered in cuts and bruises.

In spite of the overwhelming odds and the element of surprise his team performed admirably. The invading horde never made it past the lobby and even though they were new, enhanced models they were completely destroyed. Had it not been for one small issue, Robin would be celebrating their victory.

It was very troubling issue: How did they get into the Tower?

Robin saw Beast Boy hobbling towards him, his limp worsening with each step. He ran to his teammate and helped him by wrapping an arm around his neck. The changeling smiled appreciatively.

"Robbie, you guys sure came down fast to help us. It's a good thing you did; I don't think Raven and I would have lasted long against all those robots."

"Yes, it was fortunate." Raven added. "But how did you know? We didn't hear any alarms go off."

"It was dumb luck; Cyborg was spying on you guys while you were making out." Robin replied.

Raven glared at the tin man. He instinctively flinched, expecting a dark energy clobbering from Raven.

"That wasn't very nice of you." She chided him in her monotone before returning her attention to Starfire's words. The cybernetic Titan heaved a sigh of relief, somewhat surprised that he got off so easily.

"Yeah, chrome dome, that was way uncool. Just how much did you guys see?" Beast Boy growled.

"That doesn't matter. We have a real problem on our hands, Titans. Slade was able to breach our defenses without us even knowing it. Cyborg, I want to know how he did it." Robin interjected.

Cyborg was already examining a holographic display projecting from his arm. "I already know, Rob."

"Good, then fix it."

"Uh, it's not gonna be that easy."

"Use all the resources you need, money is not an issue."

"That's not what I meant Rob. Slade was able to get past our security because he had our access codes. Just 5 minutes before the attack our entire security system went off line. He even got past our firewall."

"What? But you need the root access code to do that. We only share that with the extended Titans family."

"I already changed the code … so … who do I share it with?"

Robin stroked his chin while he mulled his decision.

"Titans East only. I'm afraid we have a spy, or at least a security breach with the honorary Titans."

"They're gonna take it the wrong way if you withhold the codes." Raven remarked. "You might as well take away their communicators while you're at it."

"That's too bad, but at this point we can't risk another invasion. We have to play it safe."

Beast Boy sat down on the remains of one of the chairs. Raven was finished with Starfire and began to tend to his gimpy leg.

"Dude, there's no way any of them betrayed us."

Robin sighed. "We once thought the same way about Terra. I know it's not something we want to face, but there is no other explanation … we have a traitor in our extended family. Cyborg is going to change the access codes. I'll brief Bumblebee when I give them to her, for all we know Slade might be targeting Titans East as well. Don't tell anyone about what happened here. I'll send out a bulletin saying that we had an accident and that the Tower is closed to visitors until further notice."

"That seems to be a bit extreme, Robin." Raven commented.

"We have no other choice. Now let's get to work and fix the damage."

-( scene break )-

Raven and her beau decided to spend their "private time" in her room, where there were no surveillance cameras. Raven was sitting on her bed, resting against a pile of pillows while she read a book. The changeling, who was morphed into a feline form, was curled up next to her, purring while he slept. She caressed him absentmindedly while she read. After a while she placed a bookmark on the page, closed the book and set it aside.

"Gar … Gar." She roused the sleeping cat, which raised its drowsy green face, looking unhappy about having his nap interrupted. He got up and stretched, after which he morphed back into his default form.

"Wassup, Rae?" He yawned. "Ready for some more 'quality time'?"

"Actually, I wanted to talk with you about that."

His eyes widened with alarm.

"Oh oh, I'm in trouble! Whatever I did … I'm sorry."

"What? Why would you think that? Oh … I get it … I said the word 'talk'. Relax; it's not that at all. It's about the others."

"Really, what about them?"

"I'm sensing unease from them regarding our relationship, especially from Robin. They seem to feel that something about our relationship is wrong."

"Wrong? What do you mean?"

She took her head.

"I'm not sure, but when you think about it, I have been … different … you know … I'm not being the grumpy, dark Raven that I usually am."

"And that's bad, because?"

"Exactly. Once I accepted that I love you, when I was trapped in Slade's lair, it was … like everything changed. Like if a veil was removed from my eyes. No … it was more like a burden was removed. I … I felt like I was a new person. And I really like that."

He stared at her wide eyed.

"Gar, are you OK?"

He gulped.

"You … you love me?"

She nodded and smiled softly. "Yes, I do."

He gulped before replying.

"I … I have been thinking a lot, you know, about us. About … the future. For the longest time my goal was to get you to smile, and now that I see you smile … I don't want to stop seeing that smile."

She placed her hand behind his head and pulled him into a deep and long kiss.

"I don't intend to stop."

-( scene break )-

The door to Robin's office slid open, and Cyborg poked his head in.

"Yo, Rob, Star said you wanted to see me."

Robin was hunched over his desk. "Come in, and close the door behind you."

The tin man complied. He approached Robin's desk and sat down.

"So, what's up?"

"I want you to set a trap."

Cyborg raised his human eyebrow.

"A trap? What kind of trap?"

"A trap that will expose the traitor. And you have to keep this a secret, only you and I can know about it."

"Are you serious? Have you forgotten what happened when you kept secrets from us last time?"

"This is different. My earlier idea won't work. If we withhold the codes, Slade will know that we're on to him and whoever his spy is, he'll just vanish again. We need a trap."

"OK, so let's hear about this hare brained scheme of yours."

Robin picked up a sheet of paper and handed it to Cyborg, who read it carefully.

"Well?"

"I think I can make this work Rob, but you will destroy any trust the team has left in you."

Robin crossed his arms. "I know. Go ahead and set it up."

"But …"

"I'll assume full responsibility; no one will know that you were involved."

"I… I think this is a bad idea."

"I'm open to suggestions, Cyborg. We're in great danger. Do have a better idea?"

Cyborg sighed. "No … I don't."

"Let me know when it's ready."

"I will. I hope you know what you're doing, Rob. You do realize that you might not like what you find out."

"Trust me, Cyborg, I know exactly what's at stake, but I'll be damned if I'm just gonna let Slade hurt the team. Even if I have to quit later, I won't allow it."

Cyborg folded the sheet if paper in half.

"Whatever you say. I'll pull an all nighter. It'll be ready in the morning … but Rob …"

"Yes?"

"It's your funeral."

"I know."

-( scene break )-

OK, I know what you're thinking; this is turning into a huge fluff job of a story. Believe me, there is a reason for all this mush. You'll just have to be patient to find out why.

Until next time.