A New Year to remember

Yup, the party was in full swing at Wayne Manor. Seemed Bruce finally gave in to having a little shindig at his place to welcome the New Year. Everyone who arrived came as couples…well, almost everyone. Starfire, or Kory Anders as her civilian name was, sat by herself alone on a chair sipping champagne from a flute glass. She sighed dejectedly, already wishing she hadn't come, however it was her friends who had insisted and wouldn't take 'no' for an answer.

"Hey girl, what's up?" It was Bee, coming to sit beside the red head to get away from listening to her boyfriend's childish arguments.

Starfire turned lazily to give her a small smile. Bee already knew why she wasn't her normal happy self, but that was no reason not to have fun. "Come on Star, join the party, it'll make you feel better."

Starfire crossed her legs and leaned further back in her chair. "I'm fine just where I am. Thanks all the same."

"Are you sure? You-know-who's probably having fun, so why shouldn't you?"

Just then their half demon friend came along. "Mind if I sit with you?"

"What's wrong Raven, bored of the awesome Aqualad already?" the Titan's East leader teased, knowing she and Starfire had a thing for him a while back.

"Gar's at it again, apparently. He saw us talking and now he thinks he needs to...mark his territory as his last excuse was."

"His…last excuse?" Bee asks.

"Let's not go there," the half demon replied rolling her eyes. "Right now, they're arguing over whose better, just like before when they first met."

"Some things never change, I guess," Starfire said, smiling faintly at the memory of how things used to be.

"No word from Dick?" Raven asked. She got her answer when the Tamaranian lowered her eyes to her lap. "Do you want me to—"

"No," came the quick reply. Somehow Starfire knew what Raven was about to ask, but she couldn't let her do it. She wouldn't let Raven use her mind control powers to call him just for her. She valued the importance of his duties, to the city, his duties to justice. She would never stand in the way of that.

"How long was this mission supposed to be anyway?"

"It's hard to say, Bee. We had both assumed it would be for two weeks, but it's been almost a month. Richard said he'd talk to Bruce about taking a break, but I haven't heard of what became of it. I suspect Bruce wants him to continue until further development."

They all turned to the sound of Cyborg alerting everyone to gather around before the count down to the New Year began.

"Well, I guess it'll be almost time soon, better not miss out on the celebration." Bee eyed her boyfriend admiringly as he was pouring everyone's drinks. She had to admit, Cyborg, or Vic rather, looked very handsome when disguised as a holographic human. Not that his true form put her off any, she would love him no matter what he looked like. She thought perhaps she could sneak in a kiss or two before the countdown. "I'm going to head over to the crowd, you two coming?"

"Be right there," Raven replied in her usual plain manner before turning to her red haired friend. "Don't worry Star, he can take care of himself, he always does."

"Oh I'm not worried about that, I'm confident he'll return unharmed. I just wish he were here to see the New Year with me. I…miss him."

Raven placed her hand over Starfire's in a consoling way before Gar came rushing to take his girlfriend to the crowded friends all gathered together with drinks in hand. At that point Alfred was passing close by and seemed to have 'dropped' some of the dirty paper plates he was carrying. Almost immediately Starfire got up to help him with the cleaning up. She followed Alfred to the kitchen where he deposited his load of paper plates into the trash bags, after which Starfire followed suit.

"Oh thank you my dear, now I'm sure you're anxious to get back to your friends for the celebrations."

Starfire laughed half-heartedly that didn't go unnoticed by Alfred.

"You know, I happen to have it on good authority that the best place to enjoy this New Year would be the balcony."

She gave a confused look. Alfred chuckled at her expression, and then added, "I believe it would be a more…memorable moment for you."

And with a smile Starfire found to be a little strange, he left to fetch more wine from the wine cellar. Starfire took this moment to wander off out of the kitchen. She paused a moment before making her way out onto the balcony. It was a good place to be alone, there wasn't much reason for her to celebrate anyway…not without him. At least this gave her a chance to think in peace.

She missed her Richard more than ever now. All the while they were together they had gotten closer and closer. They were deeply in love, but these times of separation seemed much harder to bear. This mission appeared to require a lot out of Richard. He was trying to infiltrate the plans of a master criminal who was quite the slippery one to pin down. Batman had been finding it difficult to work on the case, what with the demanding responsibilities of his dual role as Bruce Wayne, so he appointed Nightwing to take over for him.

Starfire leaned over the stone balcony trying not to let the tears that threatened to fall leave her eyes. She could hear there was two minutes left from everyone's excited cheers when someone came and snuggled themselves behind her, planting soft kisses on her neck. "Hello Star."

She turned around to see…"Richard?"

"You didn't think I'd miss this special time with you, did I?" He smirked.

Stafire was speechless.

Richard took her hands in his and kissed them. "I tried especially to come and be with you tonight." He looked nervous, Starfire noted. "There's been something I've been wanting to talk to you about."

"Did something go wrong with the mission?"

"No."

"Did the criminal get away?"

"No Star, I-"

"You're not injured, are you?" He had to smile at the way she was showing concern. He soon silenced her with a finger to her lips. "The mission was a success, everything's taken care of so I can finally spend more time with you. This is about something else, something I've been thinking about for a long time."

He then continued, "Starfire, you know I love you, and there's no one who makes me happy the way you do. I've been thinking a lot about us you know, and I think it's time to make the next step."

He knelt down on one knee as the countdown had begun in the background.

10, 9, 8…

"Starfire, will you marry me?"

In his hand she saw a beautiful diamond ring embedded in a small box.

7, 6, 5…

"Oh Richard," she gasped, "Yes, yes I will."

4, 3…

Richard was so happy, he pulled her closer and they kissed lovingly.

2, 1.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Richard pulled away a moment to put the ring on her finger. "Happy New Year, Star."

"Happy New Year, Richard." And they kissed away under the stars.