A week or so later, things had calmed down a bit at the tower. A couple of days after Robin and Raven announced themselves to the team, Raven had taken the neutralising bracelet off (Slade had explained how to her). It was a hard thing to do; not only was she afraid that she wouldn't be able to control her powers after two and a half months without them, but she was also sad that she had to go back to controlling her every emotion. But she kept the bracelet safely locked in her room for times when she couldn't think about managing her emotions. Like when she and Robin were alone. She meditated everyday now. She had control, she just had to get used to having it again.

Starfire's angry outburst had not been forgotten, but she seemed to be back to normal now. Only once or twice had Raven caught Star glaring at her with suppressed rage. Raven tried not to think about it; she hoped that Star would get over it eventually and things would be back to normal. Hopefully.

Raven was beginning to worry about having to keep her whole ordeal with Slade a secret. She didn't like keeping it from Robin. Maybe it would be better to just tell him so that he wouldn't get as angry as she expected he would if he found out on his own and go and seek him out for retribution. The last thing she wanted was for them to fight over her. Plus, the air would be cleared between them; the secret wouldn't be hanging between them.

One evening, Raven was meditating on the roof at her favourite time of day - sunset. She heard Robin's tentative steps behind her; he was afraid to startle her out of her trance.

"Rae?" he said softly.

"Yes?" she replied just as softly, her feet coming to touch the ground.

"Am I disturbing you?"

"You never disturb me." She said smiling.

He smiled back. "How's the meditation going?"

"Good."

He came and stood next to her, taking her hand, lacing their fingers. Lifting their interlocked hands, he kissed the back of hers. With his free hand, he took his mask off, setting it down on the concrete banister. The gesture never failed to touch Raven; it showed the level of familiarity they shared. He felt that comfortable around her and he trusted her that much to be his true self with her. Her smile of pleasure turned to one of tenderness. Then he moved behind her, putting his arms around her, his chin on her shoulder, and they looked out to the breathtaking sunset together. Raven leaned her head back, resting it on his shoulder, her left cheek against his right one. She sighed contentedly; she had never felt so happy.

They stood together for a long time, watching the sun go down amid the reds, oranges, blues and purples. When it was dark, Raven shifted out of their embrace, turning to face him. Hesitantly, she opened her mouth to speak.

"Robin..."

"Yes?"

"I... I think it's time I tell you everything."

He seemed surprised. "You mean about the time that you were gone?"

"Yes." She could tell that he was pleased that she was telling him, but he knew that it was serious matter, and so his face was sombre.

"Go on." He said.

"But you have to promise that you'll hear me out until I'm finished, and that you won't do anything rash." He raised his eyebrows at that, suspicious of what she was going to tell him.

"Robin..." she said warningly. "Promise?"

"Is it that bad?" he said.

"Please, just promise me."

He sighed in frustration. "Okay. I promise."

"Good. Okay. Now, where to start..." she struggled for the words to explain. "Well, I told you that I was kidnapped, but I didn't tell you by who. It was Slade - ."

"I knew it!" Robin cried. Raven could already see anger and retribution rising up in his eyes.

"Robin," she said sharply. "You promised. Now hear me out."

He frowned, but stayed silent.

"He kept me at some remote place, which I still don't even know the location of. I was angry about my capture; he caught me when I was preoccupied and unprepared. I was also extremely frustrated that I couldn't use my powers; I was afraid of not being able to get control back. After about a week, I tried to escape, but he caught me and from then on kept a much closer eye on me." Raven had decided to leave out a few details... like that she had to sleep in his bed. Robin didn't need to know everything.

"From then on, it wasn't quite as bad. Now, don't get angry, but after a while, we sort of... became friends. I know that's hard for you to believe, but it's true. It's not like it happened overnight; we just started to get used to each other, and we tended to forget that we were enemies. I was reminded of it though; I found a room that showed all the security cameras in the tower. I pretty much flipped; I saw you in your room... without your mask. I was shocked to see how exhausted you were. You looked terrible, and it was awful to see you like that. But he apologised to me; he wanted me to understand that he had to keep tabs on you guys. I did understand, but needless to say, I was unhappy about it. But I tried to forget about it."

"So that's why you freaked out after we - you know..." Robin said.

"Yes. I don't know if he saw us or not, but I don't like to think that he did. At least they're gone now. Anyway, the last few days were nice; we had fun; it's hard to believe, I know. But I was worried about you; I was afraid you'd run yourself flat. So I just asked him to take me home."

"And he agreed?" Robin said sceptically.

"Well, reluctantly, yes. You have to understand, we developed quite a close relationship. That's why I have to tell you the most difficult part now."

She saw him almost brace himself; an emotion that she couldn't place crept into his eyes. The closest comparison she could think of was hurt. She swallowed. "So, I have to tell you... that I won't fight against him. I won't stop you, but I will not raise a hand against him."

The nameless emotion changed to surprise, then anger. "What about us? Your team? Do we mean so little to you?" he said quietly, the anger suppressed in his voice. "What if he were to hurt one of us? Kill one of us? Kill me?"

Raven blinked, trying to control her emotions - she wasn't wearing the bracelet.

"If he hurt or killed you, our truce would be over and I would kill him." She looked away to hide the moisture in her eyes.

Robin's eyebrows rose in surprise at her harsh answer. He touched her cheek gently, sorry that he'd got so angry so quickly.

"I'm sorry."

She looked up at him with glistening eyes. "I love you, Robin."

He ran his fingers through her silky hair tenderly. "I love you too." Drawing her into his arms, he whispered into her ear, "Thank you for telling me. We'll talk more later. Right now, however... we're going to do this." and his lips moved softly to her neck.