Haha! Bet you thought I forgot the epilogue - I didn't. I wanted a bit of setup for the sequel(!), which will come, probably after I'm done with Shards Of Time. Tenatively, I'm calling it Don't Talk, but that may change.

I only dream of owning the Teen Titans.

The Power Of The Sea:

Loose Ends

It was fortunate that the other Titans were still gone when they arrived, as the sight of a dripping wet but smiling Raven being carried by Aqualad would have caused more than one dropped jaw. The Atlantian insisted on bringing her straight to her room, so she could change out of her wet uniform and shower. He waited outside her door for her, not wanting to leave after the events of the day.

"What are we going to tell them?" Raven's voice was muffled through the door.

"Tell them about what?" Aqualad responded, slightly puzzled, "About what just happened, or about us?"

If he could have seen Raven, he would have seen both a faint blush and her biting her lip.

"Both. They're going to be wondering where I went, and, well, after Robin's behavior lately—"

"You don't want him to know how we feel?"

"Exactly."

There was a pause.

"So—"

"Are we—"

They both started at the same time, then laughed.

"You don't mind if we keep this a secret for a while?" Raven asked, almost shyly, "It'll be easier without everyone else's opinions."

"I can live with that," Aqualad smiled, even though inwardly he wished they could be open about it, "Until we can gradually ease them to the idea."

The door slid open, and the now-clean-and-dry Titan smiled back at him.

"Then it will be our secret," she murmured, tiptoeing up for a brief kiss.

Moments later, they heard the sound of the other Titans returning, so they quickly parted, making their way to the main hall.

"Where were you?" Robin demanded, while at almost the same time, Aqualad asked "How did the mission go?"

Raven sighed.

"I was testing out the water alone, to see if I could do it. I didn't want my communicator to get wet, so I left it in my room," she lied, giving the leader of the Titans a cool glare, "Nothing you should worry about."

"The mission went fine," Cyborg hastily cut in, seeing a fight brewing between the birds, "Once we got to it, the bomb was a snap to disarm. We would have been back sooner, but we had to take out Johnny Rotten on the way back."

"So, are you better now?" Robin asked the Empath, ignoring Cyborg and the rest of the Titans, "Ready for Aqualad to go back now?"

As much as Raven wished she could say no, she recognized the look in Robin's eyes and knew it would be too suspicious to do so. With a quick glance at Aqualad, she knew that he thought the same thing.

With feigned indifference, she said, "Sure. I'm fine now – all I needed was a little push."

Cyborg looked a bit doubtful, but the other members of her team accepted it, Robin looking more happy than she cared for.

Aqualad cleared his throat.

"I'll head off in the morning then," he said, ignoring the pout that came to Starfire's face, his gaze lingering on Raven, "It's been nice working with you."

"Same," the Empath replied, reaching out for a formal handshake. They did not let on that each others' touch was almost electric, nor that Raven had telepathically sent Aqualad a message –

I'll be seeing you.

He smiled. No matter what, Aqualad was planning on seeing Raven again soon.