Dick looked anxiously over at his fiancé as he rung the doorbell to Wayne Manor, praying to god that this was going to go smoothly. That they would like her and wouldn't say anything too embarrassing. He supposed it wouldn't be too bad. Alfred and Bruce were always polite, and Damian would be tolerable. Maybe he had nothing to worry about.

"Master Rich-"

Alfred's welcome was cut short when an all too familiar voice said: "So...this is the girl you ditched Kori for? She's hot."

Jason Todd. A.K.A: The most annoying little brother in the universe, and a criminal. What was he even doing here? It wasn't like he ever stopped by to say hello. Hell, Jason hated coming to see Bruce and only did it when he absolutely had to.

Dick shot his brother a warning glare to which the outlaw responded to with a smirk.

"What's the matter Dickie? Didn't miss your baby brother?"

It was then that Alfred decided to interrupt the awkward moment.

"If you would like to come inside?"

"Thanks Alf," he said, patting the old man on the shoulder.

"Come now, dinner is this way. Bruce has ordered master Richard's favorite," Alfred said after he had taken their coats.

It was on the way to the dining hall that the former boy wonder dared his first glance over at Raven. Her face was expressionless, as if she didn't care here nor there about the event that was taking place.

As they walked into the dining hall, the first thing Dick noticed was the smell. Warm and rich, like it had just been taken from the oven. The food looked amazing. Lazania, pasta, meatballs, chicken and eggplant parmesan. It seemed that the bat had ordered takeout from that old italian place they used to go to. The one place he and Bruce had a happy father son memory. It was Dick's favorite.

Once they were all settled at the dinner table Bruce began to speak.

"So Dick, this is your fiancé?"

He nodded nervously, hoping they would approve. After all, Bruce had probably expected him to marry Kori or Babs.

"She's very pretty Grayson, what's her name?" the young voice of Damian cut through his thoughts. He had not expected him to be so polite and excepting. Perhaps Bruce had spoken to him before dinner. He chuckled inwardly at the thought.

"My name is Raven," it was the first time she had spoken since they'd arrived.

"That's a fairly nice name," the eleven-year-old responded dryly.

"Why thank you, Damian," the corner of her lips twitched up in a barely visible smile. She liked this kid.

The table fell into awkward silence as Dick picked at his food, feeling too uneasy to eat.

"So Dickie Bird, why is it you chose her over the beautiful alien princess? Something special about this Raven?"

He swallowed his food nervously, giving his brother a looked that begged please stop!

"I mean, sure this girl's hot, but Kori, have you seen her?" Jason grinned.

Silently, Raven got up from the table and abruptly began to walk toward the exit.

Now Bruce was angry.

"Jason, can I have a word with you?" he said through grit teeth.

"No thanks," the boy sat lazily back in his chair, feeling that his work was done. The alien princess had been avenged for how that bastard mistreated her.

Dick scrambled up and chased after her. By the time he caught up with her she had exited the manor and walked halfway across the grounds toward their car.

"Raven! Wait up!" he called, desperately trying to keep pace with her. "Hey," he placed a tentative hand on the half-demon's shoulder. "Rae, talk to me."

"There's nothing to talk about." the empath's voice was level, but he could hear emotion choked beneath her calm façade.

Before the former boy wonder could stop her she had disappeared into a cloud of black smoke.

Raven felt bad leaving him when he clearly did nothing wrong, but something about the way his brother talked about Starfire that made her wonder if he ever had second thoughts. She walked around the side of their car to the driver's seat, trying not to cry. With a sharp pull to the car door she realized that it was locked, and he had the key.

"Dammit," she cursed under her breath, "Dammit all to hell."

With a sigh she sat down on the cold wet grass next to the vehicle. It must have rained while we were having dinner she concluded as she ran her fingers up and down the green blades.

"This is a pretty cliché moment don't you think?" a voice spoke from behind her.

Richard John Grayson plopped down in the grass beside her, his spiky black hair drenched from the rain.

"I'm sorry about my uh...brother." he rubbed the back of his neck, nervous about how she was not responding.

"He's a bit of an ass sometimes."

"Sometimes?" she finally looked up, her gaze meeting his.

He laughed, "Okay...all the time."

Despite her better judgement to stay angry with him, a smile tugged at her lips until finally she was laughing too.

She was laughing so hard in fact, that she didn't even notice when a certain bird's arm wrapped itself around her waist and pulled her towards him.

Their laughter faded and the half-demon struggled to form the words she wanted to ask him.

"Dick?"

"Mmmh?" he smiled goofily at her.

"About what Jason said..." Raven trailed off, not sure how to ask this.

"Yes?" his expression suddenly became more serious, his blue eyes searching hers, as if trying to anticipate what she was going to say.

"Do you ever have...seconds thoughts? I mean, there was a point in time when you loved Kori more than life itself."

"Oh, no," he whispered in disbelief, "Raven I love you. No one else. Just you. Don't let anyone tell you different, okay?" he smiled half-heartedly.

"Okay," she returned the smile with a faint upturning of her lips.

Suddenly a smirk made it's way onto the hero's face.

"What is it?" she asked in mild wariness.

"I think I was wrong before. This isn't a cliché moment. Luckily, I know how to fix that."

"What're you-"

She was cut off when his lips met hers.