D Wire back again with another chapter. Sorry for the wait. I've actually had this chapter mostly written I just didn't feel like the dialogue was right so I've been editing when i could till it felt more in character. I also have been caught up with other stories.

Just so all of you know I love Starfire in Teen Titans and was a huge Rob/Star fan throughout the series. For me though that changed in season 4 and I just couldn't see any pairing other than Rob/Rae. I do acknowledge that Robin and Starfire are together in this story and they will be facing real problems that I think would come up in their relationship.

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans

Trouble in Paradise

"The Mayor is throwing a ball in our honor," Beast boy yelled at the top of his lungs.

It had been an ordinary day until Robin had come in with a letter from the city. The Titan's were to be honored at the Mayor's Ball this year for their defeat of the Brotherhood of evil and for making the entire city virtually crime free.

"I have to find a date," Beast Boy yelled. He stopped for a moment eyeing Raven who sat alone on the couch her legs tucked under her as she read from her book.

She felt his gaze on her. Her eye's glared at him as they flashed red. "Don't even think about it…," she said letting her voice take on a demonic tone.

He backed away bumping into the counter. "It's not like I was going to ask you anyway! I'm sure there are plenty of girls in the Titans who would want to go with me!"

Cyborg walked up behind raven his arms crossed as he leaned over towards her. "Think I should warn them?"

"No… it will be amusing when the only person who accepts is Pantha."

"It won't be Pantha! It will be someone hotter and more awesome than you," Beast Boy yelled storming off to his room.

"Oh I'm so hurt…," Raven said rolling her eyes. She froze momentarily. She could feel again the slight shift in her mind that told her something was wrong with him. Raven knew she should ignore it but Curiosity and Knowledge were getting the best of her.

"You ok Rae."

Raven snapped out of her daze to see a concerned Cyborg.

"I'm fine I just need to meditate," she said standing up and seeking out the disturbance in her mind.

…

"I do not understand," Starfire said her gem like eyes full off curiosity and a hint of anger. "Why would you not go?"

Robin and Starfire stood out in the hallway just in front of her door. He had hoped that she would just accept that he wasn't going to go but he could already tell. This wasn't going to go over that easily.

Robin let out a sigh. "Someone has to patrol the city Star it's just how it is."

"Then why must it be you? I do not understand," Starfire said, cutting off his path and preventing him from leaving. "Could not one of the others take your place instead?"

"And who would you have me ask," Robin yelled his temper rising.

"You and I both know friend Raven never wish to go to the events of socializing!"

"It's not my place to ask her!" Robin froze at the hurt look on Starfire's face and knew it was his fault. Her eye's seemed to dim and that once vibrant color that he loved so much seemed to disappear entirely. "I'm sorry I yelled Star but I'm responsible not just for this city but this team. I don't just get to take a break."

"So you are not embarrassed to be seen with me in the public," she questioned.

"Star… where would you get that idea?"

Her gaze was frail and looked like she could shatter like glass. "It's just that you never seem to go to the events of socializing with me, ever."

"It isn't like that Star. We went out to the movies just last week."

"You know that the two are incomparable," she said waiting for his response. "Yes we go to places like the theater of movies or to eat the food of Italians but those are when we are alone." She stopped for a moment her anger and sadness weighing her to the ground. "When does this end Robin."

He stared at her for a moment unable to move.

"Are we to do this forever," she asked. "We have been together for an earth year now Robin and still you keep things that our personal from me. Should we not be able to tell each other anything?"

"Starfire I can't. Just let it go." He felt it closing in on him. The thing he had been fighting against for so long.

"Till you are ready to share personal secretes with me Robin I do not believe there can be an us," She said walking through the door to her room, sadness weighing her to the ground.

The door swished shut leaving him to stand there alone with just his thoughts. The conversation echoed through his head replaying over and over as it quickly began to eat him up inside. Robin felt it all crashing in on him that anger that burned through him constantly.

He could hear it clearly his mentor's voice running through his mind a memory so old but came through so clear that it could have been happening right now.

"You can never have a relationship, Richard. No one will be able to handle the kind of life we live."

"You're wrong and how can you even say that you've been with plenty of people! Diana, Selina, Vicky! What are you just an exception to your own rule!"

"No, it's because I know better now. Everything I've done Dick from day one was to prevent you from turning into me, to keep you from making my mistakes but while you have that mask there won't be anyone who can handle this life. Very few of us can even survive it."

"That's not true!"

"You will hurt the people you love…"

Robin hated to admit it but Bruce might have been right about all of this. He knew it but chose to ignore it. Chose to love instead of be wise, believing he could prove that Bruce was truly full of shit but he wasn't. This latest argument was proof of that. He was always going to hurt Starfire and there was nothing he could have done about it.

He walked towards the gym seeking out the only place he could focus. He wailed on the punching bag his strikes growing faster and more powerful. "You will hurt the people you love" He jumped throwing a round house kick that snapped the chain and followed with a powerful haymaker that sent the bag slamming into the wall and spilling sand across the floor.

"You are not meant for this life it was a mistake."

It wasn't enough. He rushed forward delivering ferocious swings his fists connecting and making large dents in the metallic wall.

"You are not Robin anymore. You are just Dick Grayson"

"YOUR WRONG," He yelled his arm making one final hit with all the force he had in him. His arm held there stiffly. He felt the pain echoing through his knuckles as blood dripped to the floor.

He didn't have to see her to know she was there. He didn't even need his honed senses.
He turned around finally feeling a sense of peace running across his mind that had always let him know that she was near. "I'm fine Rae…" He turned around eying the shadows he knew she was in. "How much of that did you see," he asked.

"Enough..." She watched as Robin moved towards the living room and sat down on the couch. He laid his head back and stared at the ceiling let it all soak in. He felt her move beside him but what shocked him more was when he felt her fingers rest on his hand. He jerked away his hand still tender from beating on the wall.

"I'm fine."

"Sure you are...," she said seizing his hand pulling it towards her. She concentrated the white light slowly growing from her finger tips as she began massaging small circles around each knuckle with her thumbs.

"You can ask me Robin, to do the patrol." Raven said looking up towards his. She was met with the wide blank stare from his mask that blocked her vision disguising his true emotions. She hated it, but realized the hypocrisy and forced herself not to dwell on the topic.

"I'd say take your hood off first but it's not like I haven't already seen your face."

She stared at him for a moment and stopped she should of felt his presence if he was pulling info from her mind.

"Didn't have to you were practically screaming."

She looked at him momentarily scolding herself for the lack of control. She gave his swollen knuckle a small squeeze. "I'm not here to talk about that."

"What you going to give me a hard time too?"

She squeezed his knuckle harder this time to get his attention. "Of course I'm not if anyone can appreciate needing space it's me and if you really think I'm here to give you crap then I wouldn't have bothered." She loosened her grip. "I'm here because you want to talk about something."

"You sure about that…"

"If you didn't it wouldn't be broadcasting across our bond as loud as the time Beast Boy tried to play an electric guitar."

He gave half a smile. "I am fairly confident I have better control than that."

"You are talking to the person who meditates every day to have control. Pretty sure I wrote the book on handling emotions," she said pausing for a moment. "What's really bothering you about this whole thing."

She watched as he sighed for a moment. "Someone has to do patrol."

"Look you and I both know Starfire is right. I don't like these public meetings. You don't have to be the one to do it. "

"I just can't, Raven. If I don't do it something could happen and if anyone of you got hurt I couldn't live with myself." He looked at her his face giving away nothing.

"That's an excuse that's not the reason," she said staring deep into his ocean like eyes. "You are going to need a better poker face."

"You do know the more you read off of me the more open this connection becomes."

She didn't even blink. "Please I'm a half demon who happens to be the spawn of trigon and has seen hell you think I'm afraid of what the great boy wonder has bouncing around in his head."

"Last time I checked you were having nightmares about my life."

"That's because you can't keep things sealed up on your end."

"Says the girl who keeps thinking about ripping my mask off."

"Can you really blame Curiosity and Knowledge? They both have to know."

Robin sat there for a moment half a smile on his face as he looked away. He sat there for a moment enjoying the silence. He knew she was waiting for him to say what he wanted to. She knew he would and he knew she knew it too.

"The Mayor's Ball is on a day very important to me."

"Then why not have Starfire with you? I'm sure she would rather be with you than at some crummy ball."

"Sure you are not self-projecting."

"How'd you guess?"

"Starfire doesn't know the word crummy and if she did she wouldn't use it to describe anything that involved dancing and music." Robin paused for a moment letting everything soak in for a minute. He had to admit Raven was good. She knew when to alleviate the situation and when to press for answers. Even greater was that she knew when he needed the silence, till he was the one who actually wanted to talk. He'd have to let her interrogate someone next time.

"It's not the kind of day you bring someone as bright as Starfire around. I don't think she's ready to know all about that yet."

"You guys have been dating for over a year now. Maybe it's not her. Maybe it's you who's not ready."

"So I'm not ready to talk about it. So what it's not like you guys don't know me."

"No Robin, we don't. We just know Robin the Boy wonder, leader of the Teen Titans, combat expert, hot head, and the most anal person I know. I want… We all want to know who you are the real you."

"You will only hurt the people you love."

"I can't Raven," he said pausing for a moment as he looked away. "Not yet."

But she was fine with that. She knew who robin was even if he didn't want to tell her just yet. He was afraid to show everyone the true person he was and unlike Raven who had set up a wall and tried desperately to not let anyone in, he displayed himself out in the open while hiding the true darker parts out in plain sight.

She wanted to hold him close to herself, tell him it was ok. That she accepted him, not just the person who was her leader or the friend that had risked everything to bring her back, but the man deep inside as flawed and damaged as he pretended not to be. She also wished Love and Happy would stop feeding her these impulses.

She released his hand. "Guess I got a stupid ball to get ready for." She stood up leaving him there and walked towards the exit. She stopped and looked back at him again as he sat there staring at the blank TV screen in the dark. "When you are ready to talk…" She said gently. "I'm here." She turned and walked away back to her room.

Well I hoped you guys enjoy. Please read and review.

D Wire