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unknowntitans · 7 years

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Robstar Week 2017 - Day 1

This is a re-write of one of my older stories “Recovery”, enjoy!

Day 1 – Recovery Re-write (Hospital)

The quiet rhythmic beat of a heart monitor intermingled with the footsteps of heeled boots pacing back and forth along the floor of the small, private hospital room. The room sat by itself at the end of a long corridor, there was a few rooms like this that had been designed for people in government or other roles of importance, so that they could have privacy from the press and media. This fact gave the room an eerie silence that made the sound of the footsteps even more permeating into the minds of everyone else in the room. The other 3 Titans had considered numerous times begging their alien friend to sit down but they never found the heart to do so, the miserable expression on her face told them that her pacing was the only thing keeping her sane at the minute. Adjacent from where Starfire was walking was a hospital bed in which laid the Titans’ injured and unconscious leader. At the end of each of her walking cycles she would look over at him eagerly, hoping that after a few more steps his eyes would magically open, sadly this wasn’t the case.

Another fainter pair of footsteps mixed in with Starfire’s steady pace and once her ears picked up the sound she stopped and eyed the door. Moments later a doctor in his mid-40’s with greying hair opened the door and stepped in. In his hand, he held a clipboard which he quickly skimmed over before looking at Robin and then at the others. “Hi, I’m Dr Hartman. I will be monitoring Robin’s health over the next few days”

Starfire’s eyes grew wider, “His recovery may take days?”

The doctor gave her a sympathetic look, “Miss, his recovery may take weeks…even months”

The 3 Titans looked over at Starfire, she looked hollow and close to tears. Cyborg quickly stepped up and walked over to his friend putting a supportive arm around her shoulder, “However long it takes for Rob to get better, right doc?”

The doctor gave Cyborg a grateful nod, “Yes, I am confident your friend will make a full recovery, however long that takes. I assume you may have some questions?”

Raven and Beast Boy came over to join the others, “What are his injuries? I tried to heal him but I couldn’t sense the range of damages so I didn’t know where to start” Raven asked

The doctor flipped the page on his clipboard, “Most of his injuries appear to bone damage” he paused and continued to read the notes, “we haven’t found any cases of organ damage” to which Raven and Cyborg breathed a small sigh of relief. “However, our main concern is that he may have sustained some amount of spinal damage”

With that Starfire looked like she was about to pass out, the others noticed that she had to steady her legs to stop herself from collapsing. It was like her world was beginning to fall around her and tears began to trail down her cheeks, her breathing became ragged and she struggled to swallow the lump in her throat. That information was a worry to all of them but Cyborg knew his focus had to be on Starfire at the moment. “Star, it’s gonna be alright, Robin is stronger than this, he’s gonna be fine”

The doctor gave Starfire an apologetic look, “I’m very sorry Miss, I didn’t mean to upset you” he placed his hand comfortingly on her shoulder, “our analysis isn’t for definite, I’m just giving you as much information as I can so you can know the full picture”

Raven and Beast Boy both approached her too offering her comforting strokes, “Yeah, Robin’s way tougher than this. You think he’d let some stupid pebble monster stop him?” Beast Boy offered with a smile.

Starfire gave her green friend a nod and a weak smile, turning back to the doctor “Thank you…it is just not easy to see him this way” she said looking briefly over at Robin.

“Completely understandable. We’ve put him under sedation for the next 12 hours so that we can give his body some chance to starting healing before we do any more scans. After that I’ll be back to check on him” he looked over at the digital clock on the bedside reading “21:28”, “you are welcome to stay for a while longer but Hospital policy is that only partners or family members can stay past 10pm” he looked back at Starfire, “are you and Robin together Miss?”

Her cheeks flushed, “N-“

“Yeah, she is” Cyborg interrupted giving her a cue to go along with it

She gave him a confused look, “Yes we are together” she answered after a few moments of pause

“Ah yes, I thought that was the case. You are welcome to stay then” the doctor replied with a smile, “I’ll be back to check on Robin’s condition in the morning, until then it would be beneficial for you to all try and get some rest”

The Titans waved goodbye to Dr Hartman as he left through the door, after they heard his footsteps fade away down the long corridor Starfire turned to her cybernetic friend and mustered up the best smile she could, “Thank you Cyborg”

“No problem, Star, Robin would want you here with him. Me, BB and Raven will hold down the fort at the tower”

Starfire nodded in response, “What if there is an alert?”

“We’ve got em covered” Beast Boy answered

Cyborg glanced up at the clock, “We better get going then, do you need anything before we go Star? I think there’s a canteen somewhere around here if you want to get anything to eat”

“No, I am fine for the moment friend” she replied with a smile

“Cya tomorrow Star” Beast Boy said with a smile as he stepped out into the corridor, Cyborg followed giving Starfire a small wave to which she waved back. Raven started to follow but Starfire gently grasped her forearm, to which Raven gave her a questioning look.

“Could you attempt to scan for Robin’s injuries once more…before you leave” Starfire asked anxiously.

Raven gave a small nod, “I can try but I can’t guarantee I’ll find anything the doctors haven’t Starfire”

Starfire replied with a gracious nod, “Thank you”

Raven closed her eyes and placed her hands on Robin’s chest, dark energy spilled from her palms and sank into his body searching for damages. She spent a few minutes in silence as she concentrated her efforts but eventually her eyes re-opened, “I couldn’t find anything that I didn’t before, but I did feel an abnormality around his spine. I can’t be certain but it might be damaged”

Starfire let out a shaky breath and nodded trying to accept this possibility, “We can only hope for the best yes?”

Raven gave her a reassuring smile, “Yeah. Do you need anything else before I go?”

Starfire pondered for a few moments and another worry came to mind, “Cinderblock…I-”

Raven placed her hand on her friend’s shoulder, “Let’s not worry about that for the minute, focus on Robin and then we can deal with that”

“Okay, thank you for your assistance Raven”

“No problem, try and get some rest. Goodnight, Starfire” she replied as she left, closing the door behind her.

Starfire let out an exhausted sigh as her friend left, she had been attempting to maintain a barrier to keep herself stable but now that she was alone the barrier began to crumble. She sat sadly in the chair next to the bed and wiped a few of the fresh tears away from her eyes. Shuffling the seat as close as she could get to the bed she took Robin’s hand in her hers and squeezed it gently, she hoped that even through his sedation he was in some way aware that she was here for him and would continue to be by his side. Lifting his hand so that his palm rested against her cheek she gave a sad smile, she could imagine that if he was awake he would be telling her that everything was okay…if only that could be the case now. Crossing both of her arms on the side of the bed she used them as a makeshift pillow to rest her head and allowed herself to drift off to sleep.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Earlier that day

The ground shook as the monstrous rock creature stomped through the streets of Jump City, Cinderblock roared as he lifted empty cars and pointlessly threw them into buildings. Fortunately, the sun had already set and there were few citizens in harm’s way of the behemoth. As he tossed another car he watched in surprise as it was caught mid-flight by dark energy and lowered gently to the road. He looked over to see the Teen Titans stood along the road from him, he squinted his eyes and let out a roar of anger.

“Nice to see you too, Cinderblock” Robin said with a smirk

Cinderblock roared once more and began to charge in their direction, he lifted his fist back as he ran and he readied himself to smash down into Robin who still remained stationery. As Cinderblock’s fist came down towards Robin, the boy wonder leaped up onto his arm and ran along its length before slamming his staff into the goliaths face. Cinderblock staggered backwards, as he did so starbolts and blue energy blasts pelted him in the chest stopping him from regaining his balance, leading him to unceremoniously fall onto his back making the ground quake around him.

“The bigger they are…the harder they fall” Cyborg commented with a grin, Cinderblock managed to clamber onto his feet and began to charge once more. “Guess he didn’t have his pebbles from breakfast?” he asked with a nervous chuckle as he dodged the incoming charge. He had to move fast to avoid the quick movements of Cinderblock as he threw punch after punch in Cyborg’s direction. Eventually Cinderblock learned and instead swung his arm around catching Cyborg in the chest, sending the cybernetic rolling along the pavement.

“Cinderblock seems more aggressive tonight” Starfire commented as she helped Cyborg to his feet

“I think Cy was right about him not having his breakfast, what do rock golems even eat?” Beast Boy asked

“I doubt its Tofu” Raven replied monotonously

“Yeah, even living concrete won’t eat Tofu” Cyborg added with a laugh

Beast Boy was about to reply but Cinderblock had changed his attention to him, he turned into a cheetah to outrun the impact but he didn’t have enough time to dodge his other arm. Instead he morphed into a T-Rex and bit down on the arm stopping it in place. Cinderblock grumbled and began to shake his arm back and forth until Beast Boy was eventually flung off.

“Cinderblock!” Robin’s mocking voice called, “I’ve got something for you to eat, come get it” pulling out a small disc from his belt he awaited Cinderblock’s attack. Right as Cinderblock opened his mouth to roar the disc soared inside before exploding and freezing his mouth shut. A muffled roar came from the best and he attempted to shatter the ice using his fist.

“Dude! You gave Cinderblock brain freeze!” Beast Boy shouted through his hysteric giggling

Eventually the golem managed to pry the remaining ice shards from his mouth before focusing once again on the group. Starfire took stage this time and decided to go toe to toe with him, she flew in and out of his punches landing her own on his chest and then a few on his face before striking him with a forceful uppercut. He once again landed firmly on his back and let out a pained groan as he closed his eyes. The Titans cheered as Starfire knocked out their foe, she smiled as she hovered off the floor and began to move towards her friends. In what was less than a few seconds Cinderblock had rose to one of his knees and hurled one of his fists forwards, aimed directly for Starfire. Robin’s eyes widened in panic and he was already running towards her before she was aware of what was happening, as she saw his panic she turned slightly as Cinderblock’s fist collided with her back launching her forwards. Her body hurtled towards Robin and slammed into him forcing him through the air as well before their momentum was stopped by Robin’s back colliding with the wall with a loud crack.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

As the clock ticked to 6am Starfire felt herself being gently pulled from her sleep by a faint voice, she concentrated on the sound and could hear own name being softly called. After a few moments, her eyes creaked open and she squinted away her blurred vision, her neck ached from the uncomfortable position she had slept in but that was the least of her concern when she realised the voice calling her was Robin’s. Her eyes focused on him, trying to assess whether the voice was just her imagination but as he turned his head groggily to look at her she realised this was real. “Robin” she greeted with an exuberant smile.

“Hi Star” he said, his voice still groggy from sleep. He looked around the room and then back at her, “What happened?”

“You were injured when you attempted to block my fall from one of Cinderblock’s attacks” she replied sadly.

Robin repeated that to himself and memories of the incident began to re-surface, “Yeah…are you alright?”

Starfire gave a shaky laugh in response, tears began to pool in her eyes as she looked at him “You are a silly boy, you shouldn’t be concerned with me. You should be concerned with your own injuries…the ones that I have caused you”

He noticed her tears and he took hold of her hand gently, “It’s not your fault Star, you’ve done the same for me before”

“You should have allowed me to, I would have sustained far less damage”

“I couldn’t let you get hurt”

Starfire let out an irritated sigh, “And in doing so it has left you in a hospital bed with spine damage…”

The words hit Robin like a shockwave, “My-my spine?” he asked anxiously

His reaction made the situation even more real to Starfire and she covered her mouth in shock, her breathing became ragged and shallow as she tried to calm herself but failed. “No, no…this is all my fault” she moved closer to him and cupped his face with her hands as if begging him to understand, “I am so sorry, Robin. I would never have wanted this to happen” she said with a choked sob.

Robin took a few moments to calm himself and he gave her the best smile he could muster, “It’s alright Star. It’s gonna be okay”, with that she threw her arms around his neck and buried her head into his shoulder, he in turn rested his head on top of her mane of hair and stroked her back soothingly. After a few minutes she had stopped crying but they continued to stay in their embrace, she still clung to him and he was happy to offer her the comfort she needed. He wanted to keep his mind off his injuries as much as possible, he didn’t know how he would possibly react if he had suffered permanent spine damage, would he still be able to walk? Would he still be able to lead? There were so many questions that spun in his mind but he was brought out of his thoughts when his ears picked up the sound of Starfire’s soft breathing, she had fallen asleep still clung to him. A loving smile crept across his face and he gently wrapped his arms around her as well as he allowed himself to fall back to sleep.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Earlier that day…

The other Titan’s watched in horror as their leader crumpled and fell to the floor. Starfire shook her head to clear the daze and then fear took over her when she felt Robin pressed up against her, she turned around quickly and screamed as she realised what had happened. She put her hands on his shoulders and shook him, “Robin!” she cried. She began to grow even more fearful when he didn’t respond, she put her ear in front of his mouth and she couldn’t feel him breathing, next she checked for a pulse but it was either too weak to feel or non-existent. Tears poured down her face as desperately pleaded for him to be alright.

Raven ran to her side quickly and began to use her energy, her face turning even more pale than usual as she turned to Starfire “I can’t feel a heartbeat”

Starfire collapsed to the ground as tears blocked her vision she desperately wiped them away from her face and in her peripheral vision she spotted Cinderblock’s gigantic feet approaching. Something exploded inside of her and her eyes burned with a bright green blaze, she rose quickly to her feet with energy pulsating from her fists. Without any warning she launched at the monstrosity smashing her fists against him with full force, each strike chipping rock away from his body. Attempting to defend Cinderblock rose up his arm to grab her but beams of energy shot from her eyes cutting his arm off at the shoulder, his arm fell to the ground with a thud and the creature roared in pain.

“Starfire!” Cyborg shouted but she wasn’t paying any attention, it was like the world had disappeared from around her and only herself and Cinderblock remained.

As the rock creature recoiled from his wound, Starfire held both her arms out and focusing her power into a giant orb that englulfed both of her hands and continued to grow. Cinderblock began to swing his other arm but it was too late as the orb was released from her hands and rocketed towards him, burning a hole clean through his chest. The light from behind his red eyes faded away and the creature fell backwards to the ground motionless with a significant quake. It wasn’t enough for her though, she dropped to the ground and stalked towards the lifeless form, she lit a starbolt in her right hand and readied to tear off more chunks of rock but each of her arms were grabbed by Cyborg and Beast Boy.

“Stop this Star!” Cyborg commanded trying to restrain her.

“Please!” Beast Boy pleaded as he desperately tried to hold her other arm back.

The green blaze disappeared from her eyes and the red mist left her to see what she had done, she stared in horror at the lifeless form on the ground. “What have I done?” she asked in a panic, she spun around to her friends and they backed away from her defensively. That only upset her even more, “please tell me I have not killed him” she begged.

“I don’t think he’d recover from that” Beast Boy replied nervously

She clutched her head and tried desperately to fight back the tears, “Is Robin?...”

“He’s alive” Raven said with relief

Starfire let out a deep struggled breath, “Oh thank X’hal”

“I was able to start his heart beating again but we need to get him to a hospital” she said lifting his body with her magic.

Starfire looked back at Cinderblock’s broken body, “What do I do now?...”

“You come with us to the hospital” Raven replied

Starfire looked at her incredulously, “Am I not to be arrested? I have murdered someone” her tone was panicked.

“We don’t really know if Cinderblock was considered a person, Starfire” Beast Boy replied

“Yeah, he…it was sentient but at the same time…” Cyborg added

“Our first priority should be Robin, we can worry about Cinderblock later” Raven stated to which the other 3 Titans nodded in agreement.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

The sound of the door opening alerted Robin and he groggily began to awaken, “I’m sorry didn’t mean to interrupt, I can come back In a few minutes if you’re busy?” Dr Hartman asked awkwardly.

Robin was curious, what did he think he was interrupting and then as his eyes caught the sight of red hair he remembered the sleeping alien princess who was laid on top of him. “No, you’re not interrupting. We just kind of fell asleep like this” Robin explained with a nervous laugh.

“Ah I see, young love” Dr Hartman responded with a small chuckle and a smile, the statement made Robin blush even harder but he chose not to comment. “It’s nice to see you awake Robin, I’m Dr Hartman and I will oversee your care whilst you’re here. Do you think you could wake her up so we can examine you?” and with perfect timing a small team of doctors and nurses came into the room to stand alongside Dr Hartman

Robin nodded and tried to hide how flushed his face was, “Star” he whispered, “Starfire” he repeated as well as gently shaking her. Eventually she gave a small yawn and propped herself up on her hands opening her eyes. She let out a small squeak when she saw how close she was to Robin’s face and then she turned her head to look at the room around her and her cheeks turned bright red as she saw the group of Doctors looking at them quizzically, in an instant she hovered off of Robin and tried to make herself as small as possible at the back of the room.

Dr Hartman chuckled softly at Starfire’s awkwardness, “There’s no need to be embarrassed miss, me and my wife used to be just as affectionate with each other when we were your age”

Starfire’s face resembled a beetroot as she looked over to Robin anxiously, telling the Doctor that she was Robin’s girlfriend was something that had slipped her mind. She gave the Doctor a small nod and giggled nervously as she fled to safety in the corridor.

Robin was utterly confused but he supposed he could ask Starfire about it later, for now he would allow the Doctors to work.

“Now Robin we believe you may have suffered some amount of spinal damage from your injuries, we are going to ask you to perform some tasks for us so we can find out if that is the case.” Dr Hartman informed. The team moved around his bed taking notes on their clipboards and asked him to perform simple tasks, they checked the movement of his hands and his fingers to which he could move without issue. Next, they checked the rotation of his head and if moving it caused him pain, to which there wasn’t any. Finally, the Doctors began to press their hands against various parts of his legs, he felt relieved as loss of feeling in his legs did not seem to be apparent.

The Doctors all convened together once more and began relaying their notes to each other, eventually Dr Hartman took the seat next to Robin’s bed. “Fortunately, from your tests you have not suffered any loss in movement or functioning. However, we will need to do some more scans on your spine just to be certain there is no lasting damage”

Robin nodded, “That’s fine, when would you want to do these scans?”

“The MRI scanner is available for us to use in under an hour so we will come back to your room before then to take you there. Until then you we advise you to lay as still as you can, we wouldn’t want you to accidentally cause yourself further injury if a part of your spine is in fact damaged”

Robin nodded in response, “Thanks Dr Hartman” he said with a smile as the team of doctors left the room. After a few moments, Starfire stepped nervously back into the room and sat once more at the chair beside the bed. She fidgeted with her hands and averted her gaze from him. “What was that about?” he asked.

Her eyes briefly flicked up to his face before flicking away again, “I- I have something to confess” she said nervously. He noticed him gesture for her to continue, “Dr Hartman said that friends of a patient were not allowed to stay and that only partners or family members could stay overnight...so I-…um” she said struggling to clear her throat.

“So, you told him you were my girlfriend?” Robin finished for her, he smirked at her wide-eyed expression, “picked up a lot of detective skills during my time with Batman”

She averted her eyes away from him again and began to twiddle her hands together once more, “I understand if you are upset with me for saying that Robin…I did not wish to leave your side and-”

She was cut off as Robin reached over and took one of her hands, “I’m not upset, Starfire” he replied with a soft smile, the was quite a long silence as he pondered his next words “It’s probably accurate”

She tilted her head slightly at him in confusion, “What is accurate?”

His face flushed and he felt sweat beginning to form on his forehead, “I guess you pretty much are my girlfriend”

He saw her pupils grow but her expression was still of confusion, her face began to grow hot “I am?”

He chuckled sheepishly, “Listen Star, I’m not great with telling people how I feel…It’s never been something I even considered when I was younger. I was so focused on training with Batman and becoming Robin that I missed out on a lot of my…um…personal development. I didn’t and still don’t have any real clue how relationships work, so it’s hard for me to even try and explain this” She was transfixed on every word he spoke, desperately waiting for a confirmatory word in amongst the rambling. “We’ve always been close, right?”

She nodded quickly, “Of course, Robin. You are my best friend”

“But I mean we’re closer than most best friends are, I don’t think a lot of people would sleep on top of their best friend on a hospital bed” he said with another small chuckle. Her cheeks burned a bright vivid red and it was something Robin noticed quickly, “It just feels like…um…I’ve noticed us getting closer and I think it’s something more than just us being best friends” he looked over at her again as she remained completely silent, hanging on his every word.

She nodded, “I…um…yes…um” she stammered, repeatedly clearing her throat whilst her face felt like it would melt from the heat. She tried to speak again but then silenced herself, “Oh for the sake of X’hal” she said in irritation as she leaned forwards quickly, pressing her lips to his. The kiss only lasted a few seconds and Robin hadn’t even had time to properly respond before she pulled away. The pair stared at each other in surprise but then broke out into nervous smiles.

“I guess that answers my question” Robin replied a smirk

Starfire nodded, “I suppose I am not as good with the talking of feelings either” she replied with an anxious giggle.

“Sorry I didn’t choose a better place to tell you than in a hospital room…I wanted to tell you earlier but you fell asleep on me…literally” he said with a laugh

Starfire giggled in response, “You are very comfortable to sleep on. I am simply happy that I am aware of your feelings now…I have been very unsure for the last few years”

Robin let out a sad sigh, “I’m sorry about that, I couldn’t process my feelings properly and I didn’t want to hurt you and-“

“Hush” Starfire said with a smile interrupting his ramblings, she closed her eyes gently and pushed her face towards him allowing them both to participate in the action this time. The kiss lasted considerably longer than its predecessor and left the two breathless, goofily grinning at each other.

As she looked at his happy expression a dark thought crossed her mind and she visibly winced.

“Starfire?” Robin asked, concerned

“There is…there is something more I need to confess to you…”, she tried to take a breath to calm herself but it came out ragged and panicked.

Robin was instantly on alert “What?”

There was a long silence as she tried to piece together her memories to make a cognitive story, “After you went unconscious, I attacked Cinderblock” she paused again looking at his face trying to read his emotions but he was still waiting for her to continue “I believed that the impact had killed you…I lost control of myself and attacked Cinderblock…but…but in my rage I couldn’t stop myself and I-”her throat clogged up and tears began to spill down her cheeks. “I…destroyed him”

“He-he’s dead?” Robin asked in shock

“Yes” she nodded miserably, “I didn’t want to kill him but I couldn’t stop myself”

He was silent for a long time as he looked at her, “Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“I had already caused your injuries…I could not bear to hurt you even more by burdening you with the knowledge of what I had done, but I realised now that you needed to hear the truth” she went silent again as more tears began to flow, “do you hate me for what I have done?” she asked in a broken voice.

“No” he replied firmly

“But I murdered him…as Titans we do not kill, that is our code of ethics. One I have always stood by since I arrived, but now I have broken that code…”

“We don’t know if Cinderblock was even a man to begin with, it’s sentient somewhat but I think it is like Cardiac. It’s not a living creature…so you didn’t murder it”

“I only attacked him to avenge you, I would never normally go as far as to kill something”

He smiled empathetically, “I think I would have done the same if you had been hurt”

Wiping her eyes, she smiled gratefully “Thank you. I don’t think I would have been able to cope if you had lost faith in me for my actions”

“You are the kindest and most caring person I have ever met in my life…you wouldn’t do something like that unless you had a good reason for it”

Her emerald eyes shimmered with affection and she leaned in and kissed him again.

The doors opening split the couple apart and Starfire moved away from the bed once she saw Dr Hartman and a pair of nurses enter. Dr Hartman gave the pair a smile and moved to stand at the foot of the bed. “We are going to lift you onto a gurney to take you to the MRI machine”, he gestured to the two nurses who stood at either side of the bed and they along with Dr Hartman took hold of a section of the thin mattress and lifted it along with Robin onto the gurney. Starfire eyed the procedure nervously as if terrified that Robin was a priceless vase that they might drop. Dr Hartman noticed her worry, “Standard procedure Miss, nothing to worry about. We will have him back to you in an hour or two”

Her eyes widened slightly not realising she had made her thoughts visible through her expression, she gave the doctor an apologetic smile.

“Bye Star” Robin said in a soft voice, gently touching her hand as he was wheeled past her.

A vivid blush burned on her cheeks whilst she waved to him as Dr Hartman wheeled his gurney into the corridor. Her heart was still hammering in her chest and she had to sit down in one of the chairs to attempt to calm herself, her brain was spinning and her thoughts were disjointed but all revolved around him. None of the thoughts lasted for more than a few moments before the next one came flying in, her emotions had been affected by the rapid fluctuation as well. Excitement, happiness from finally kissing him, nervousness and panic wondering if kissing her was something he would later regret. A sound of the door clicking entered her mind and she leapt up in excitement, had it been an hour already? Was Dr Hartman bringing him back in? Her excitement diminished a little as she saw her dark cloaked friend step in.

Raven looked around the room and noticed Starfire but then looked over at where Robin once laid, “Did Robin go somewhere?”

“He is undergoing an MRI scan, he will be gone for a while” Starfire answered

“Oh okay” Raven replied simply

“Where are Beast Boy and Cyborg?...are they hurt, could they not come because they had been injured from a battle whilst I was here?” Starfire asked in a panic, her brain still completely frazzled.

“Woah, woah” Raven replied putting her hands on her friend’s shoulders “they went to get some food to bring you from the cafeteria, have you eaten today?” Starfire shook her head slowly, “Okay. How come your so on edge?” Raven focused her powers onto her alien friend, “your emotions are all over the place…did something happen?”

“Robin found out that I told Dr Hartman I was his girlfriend”

“Yikes” Raven replied sympathetically, “was he upset?”

“He started to tell me about he felt like I was his girlfriend already and how close we are and he was being very cute so I kissed him” Starfire replied in one breath

Raven looked surprised but her expression turned to a small grin, “Oh, well that explains why you’re so hyperactive, so are you guys-”

“I believe so” Starfire interjected immediately

“That’s good news” Raven replied with a smile

“What’s good news?” Cyborg asked stepping in carrying a large selections of different food items, sandwiches, bags of potato chips and surprisingly a plain yellow bottle of mustard.

“Where did you get mustard from?” Starfire asked curiously

“’Borrowed’ it from the cafeteria, doubt they’ll miss it that much” Beast Boy replied with a smirk

Cyborg unloaded the items onto the table in the room and took a seat in one of the chairs, “So, what was the good news y’all were talking about?”

Starfire opened her mouth to speak but Raven spoke first, “The good news is that you two owe me $20”

“What? Since when?” both Beast Boy and Cyborg replied angrily

Raven looked at Starfire for approval and Starfire gave her a simple nod, “Starfire and Robin kissed. Deal was that if they got together before the end of the year you both owed me $20 remember?”

“Awh man” Beast Boy replied in irritation, awkwardly pulling loose bills from his pocket

“Yeah, yeah I’ll pay you later. Spent all my change at the cafeteria” Cyborg replied before turning to look at Starfire, “that’s great news! Knew that spiky haired little idiot would open up eventually, so what was it like?” he asked with the interest of a gossiping 13-year-old girl.

“Dude what the hell is wrong with you?” Beast Boy asked incredulously

“Hey, there ain’t nothing wrong with me grass stain! I’ve been waiting on this for like 3 years now, so I wanna know the details”

“What so you can text Titans east and gossip about it?” Beast Boy asked with a mocking grin

“Nah, not like when you got really lonely on valentine’s day last year and you ended up sending all the other Titan girls that picture of you in the Hawaiian shirt?”

“Hey!” Beast Boy responded irritably, “the ladies liked the Hawaiian shirt”

“Yeah, the shirt wasn’t that bad. They just didn’t like the guy wearing it” Cyborg replied with a laugh

“Whatever dude, Argent seemed to like the picture” Beast Boy replied waggling his eyebrows

“Yeah but ‘cool shirt dude’ isn’t her asking you out”

Beast Boy growled and was ready to respond when dark energy surrounded the pair and slammed them into each other. “Enough. Can you two shut it for 5 minutes?”

The two mumbled insults at their empath friend under their breath but sat down in the chairs quietly.

Starfire smirked at the pair, “Did you bring any food for Robin?”

“Nah we didn’t get anything for your boyfriend” Cyborg replied with emphasis, grinning, Raven gave him a warning glare in response and he held up his hands “hey I’m happier for Star than any of y’all, I’m just teasing. We didn’t get him anything cos usually you can only have certain types of food when you’re on medication, didn’t wanna risk it”

Starfire nodded thoughtfully and began searching through the assortment of food her friends had brought her, she eyed the labels of a few of the sandwiches and gave them tentative sniffs before taking a bite. All of the stress of the previous night had made her completely forget about food, there hadn’t been much time to think or feel anything else than panic.

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Landing against the pavement with a thud, Starfire watched carefully as Raven floated their unconscious leader in through the hospital doors and towards the reception desk. Starfire matched Raven’s pace and stayed at Robin’s side watching him fearfully.

The receptionist looked up in shock, recognising the group of heroes but as her eyes fell on Robin she quickly grabbed a phone and began to dial in a number. It only took a few moments before a nurse arrived, he gestured the group to follow him and he led them down a long corridor to a single room at the end. He held the door open as Raven hovered Robin over to the before gently lowering him.

Starfire’s focus would not leave her injured friend and everything around her seemed to fade away, she could hear Raven trying to explain the situation to the nurse but they sounded distant, their voices muffled in her ears. She felt a metallic hand rest against her shoulder but she didn’t react, she had been trying to hold back her panic but she could feel her restraint starting to weaken. He was so still, the only indication that he was alive was the slow rhythm of his chest rising up and down as he breathed. She kept telling herself that he would be okay…he HAD to be okay. Tears started to well in her eyes, she couldn’t even begin to imagine what she would do if he wasn’t.

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“Star?” Cyborg asked, she shook her head to pull herself from her daydreaming and looked at him curiously, “it’s just that you’ve been staring at your sandwich for the past 5 minutes”

“My apologies, I was daydreaming” she took a bite of the sandwich and quickly consumed the rest of it. It didn’t take long for her to get through the majority of the food Cyborg had brought for her. She didn’t usually eat this much but she found that it was helping her clear her mind. Cyborg and Beast Boy watched incredulously as she devoured the assortment of food.

“Man, I wish I had 9 stomachs” Beast Boy said sadly

“With you on that one BB” Cyborg replied as well, continuing to watch the alien princess shovel the remaining food into her mouth.

After swallowing the final bite, she giggled at the pair “It can be useful for surviving long periods of time without food, however since moving to Earth I usually only utilise one of my stomachs”

“Doesn’t that mean you’re always hungry though?” Beast Boy asked

“No, the other 8 stomachs act as more of a reserve. I do not need to fill all 9 to feel as you would say ‘full’” she explained

“Dude, Tamaranean’s are awesome” Beast Boy commented with a wonder-filled smile.

Beast Boy and Raven nodded in agreement with their green friend and Starfire smiled gratefully, “Thank you, I find humans to be quite charming as well”

“One human in particular” Cyborg commented with a smirk, his ear perked up at the sound of the door handle being turned and he spun around. A smile forming on his face as he saw the gurney being wheeled back in “speak of the spiky haired devil”

Starfire’s face lit up like a light bulb and she quickly flew to his side as they lifted Robin off the gurney and gently back onto his bed. She quickly re-fluffed his pillows and aligned them behind his head to make him as comfortable as possible and for her efforts he gave her a soft, warm smile before joining his hand with hers.

The other three Titans gathered around the bed and smiled at their bed ridden leader, “How are you feeling?” Raven asked placing her hand on his arm, mostly to be comforting but partially it was to perform her own scan of him.

“Sore. Other than that I’m not too bad” Robin replied with a small laugh.

“I’ll bet” Cyborg snickered, “not many people would even be in one piece after a hit like that. Glad you still are”

“If Trigon couldn’t do it then Cinderblock never stood a chance” Beast Boy added supportively

Robin gave the pair a smile, “Thanks guys”

Cyborg noticed Dr Hartman still standing near the door and he gave the others a confused look, “Do you need anything else Dr Hartman?” he asked

“Oh sorry, probably should have explained. A team of radiotherapists are going over the X-rays we did of Robin’s spine, they are re-checking them to ensure their analysis is right and so one of them will be bringing the report to me in a few moments” almost on cue a person arrived at the doorway and handed Dr Hartman a folder with a series of documents and images inside. He gave them a quick read through before clearing his throat, “I will need to speak to Robin about the analysis in private, I’m sure you all understand”

Cyborg, Raven and Beast Boy headed into the corridor but Robin felt Starfire’s hold on his hand tighten slightly from her anxiousness and he gave hers a small reassuring squeeze. “May I stay to hear the analysis? I wish to offer him comfort if he needs it”

Robin stroked her palm affectionately, a grateful smile gracing his face. “Since you are his partner, if Robin consents then you may” Dr Hartman answered.

“I consent” Robin replied quickly, he was feeling just as much anxiety as Starfire was but he wanted to be strong, if not for himself then he would be strong for her.

“Very well” Dr Hartman replied with a smile, opening the folder he took out a document and gave it another read through before taking a seat on a chair close to the foot of the bed. “We are sad to say that we have found a small amount of spinal damage, whilst the damage isn’t extensive there is a chance it could worsen if measures aren’t taken.”

Robin swallowed the lump in his throat, he could feel his voice beginning to shake even before he spoke “Okay” he replied simply. He felt Starfire’s hand tighten around his own and he squeezed hers back in response.

“When you were flung through the air, your velocity meant that when you hit the wall it caused a part of your vertebrae to become dis-aligned from the rest. Image it being like you dislocating your shoulder or your arm for example. You are very lucky to have no received any nerve damage in that section” Dr Hartman paused for a moment and Robin let out a small breath of relief. “However, because the part of the vertebrae has been dislocated, it means that it is has become rested on top of some nerves” he pulled out an x-ray of the spine and pointed to the piece of vertebrae that had been dislocated, “our concern is that any exaggerated movement of that area of your spine could cause the vertebrae to push down and cause damage to the nerves or potentially even sever them”

Robin could feel Starfire’s hand beginning to tremble slightly and he stroked the back of it using his thumb in an attempt to comfort her.

“Because of this you will be required to wear a brace around your torso that will help re-align the vertebrae back into place. We would also strongly advise you to use a wheelchair whilst you are recovering, activities like walking or running could cause the vertebrae to move, you probably could walk small distances without any problems but any distance more than a few feet should be made in your chair”

Robin remained silent as he listened, he didn’t know whether to feel relieved or distraught that he would need a wheelchair. The thought seemed to be just as worrying to Starfire as her grip on his hand had tightened even more, looking briefly at her face he could see she was trying her best to be strong for him but the lost look in her eyes gave it away. Taking a breath, he decided to break the silence, “How long would I need to use the wheelchair for?”

Dr Hartman gave him an uncertain expression, “We…we can’t be certain how long it could take for your spine to re-align…it could take perhaps only a few weeks, however it could also take months… maybe even up to a year for it to fully re-align” Starfire let out a strangled gasp, she had been trying to steel herself for a response like that but it failed.

Robin let out a shaky breath as he tried to calm himself, “Okay” he replied simply. He found himself repeating a few times, mostly to himself but Starfire overheard him and her tone softened.

“Robin” she asked gently, when he didn’t answer she nuzzled her face against his cheek “Richard” she whispered into his ear. He turned his face to her and he looked like a lost child, “It will be okay, I promise” kissing his cheek and continued to nuzzle him affectionately.

He smiled gratefully and put his arm around her, “I know, thank you”

Dr Hartman gave Robin a sad and sympathetic look, “I’m sorry it couldn’t be better news”

Robin took another steadying breath, “I’ll be okay, it’ll be just like dealing with a broken arm…on a bit of a higher scale though” he replied with false confidence.

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The first day back at the tower had been one of the hardest days of Robin’s life, having to be wheeled everywhere in a wheelchair by his girlfriend had been extremely disheartening and partially humiliating to him. He was able to operate the wheelchair by himself and he had quickly learned to do so but Starfire refused to leave his side since they left the hospital. He had spent the first hour of his return getting used to using his chair so he wheeled himself around the tower along all of the corridors and passed the bedrooms, he even planned to head up to the roof until the reality of stairs hit him. With a sigh of disappointment, he knew that he would be feeling this lack of freedom for quite a while, he had come to terms with it in the hospital but actually experiencing this new disability was a completely different feeling. Coming back into the main room he found his team waiting for him with empathetic smiles, each of them had taken his accident to heart almost as much as he had. Raven’s gift of being an empath meant she was permanently tuned into his emotions, usually he was the pillar of confidence and consistency but now his mood fluctuated wildly and she could feel his unhappiness. Cyborg and Beast Boy had taken it harder than they first anticipated, seeing their strong and confident leader so vulnerable definitely didn’t sit right with them, they looked to him for strength and since his had took a dive it felt like theirs had too. Starfire obviously took it the hardest, It had been inevitable that she would blame herself for what had happened to him and no matter how many times Robin had told her it wasn’t her fault she could never truly accept it, in her mind she was the reason he was in a wheelchair and because of that she was determined to atone for it by caring for him to the best of her abilities.

“How are you feeling?” Raven asked gently

Robin scoffed and he looked over to the window, “How do you think?” he replied, his tone had a bite and Raven winced slightly. Noticing her reaction he sighed, “Sorry…I don’t think I could have ever prepared myself for this”

“No one expects that you should have, man” Cyborg replied supportively

Starfire nodded exuberantly, “It will take some time to adjust but it will get easier, I am sure of it”

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Another difficulty had reared its ugly head, quite literally, a few days later when Control Freak had decided to attack another chain video store, it was like the walking stereotype had never heard of the internet before… Of course the team had been called into action to deal with the pest but the realisation that Robin would not be leading his team had hit him harder than he expected. He had sadly nominated Cyborg as temporary leader of the team, but did so with a heavy heart. Not being able to walk was one thing but not being able to lead his team into battle was something that cut deep, it was his job to be their leader and now he felt like he could stand up to that role anymore. He felt like a burden to the others, just sitting in the tower doing nothing whilst his team had to pick up the slack he left for them. He had to spend 10 minutes arguing with Starfire just to convince her to go with the others, he had never really noticed it before but in certain circumstances Starfire could be just as stubborn, if not more so, as him. He wasn’t sure if he was happy with that realisation or not, he didn’t particularly like the idea that she was becoming more like him. Luckily for him he had managed to pull up video feeds from traffic cameras around the video store so he could watch parts of the battle himself, that gave him some level of comfort knowing that he could keep an eye on his team but it didn’t help his gloominess.

Returning less than an hour later Starfire had seen his declining mood and adamantly decided that in future she would be staying with him unless it was completely necessary for her to assist her friends. He had to tried to argue with her on that point but her will power matched his meaning he had lost the argument pretty quickly. The rest of the team had agreed with Starfire’s notion but Cyborg had offered the proposition that they would take turns staying with Robin until he recovered, that was something that Robin had accepted.

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Robin felt luckier than anyone else on Earth to have Starfire as his girlfriend, she had stuck by his side for the last few months, through every single one of his struggles. For every bad day, he had 10 good days spent with her. The couple had grown even more inseparable than they were just as friends, most of Robin’s time had been spent cuddling with his princess on the couch watching TV. In the last 3 months Robin had watched more TV than he had done in his entire life and he felt like he had either gained or lost quite a few IQ points from doing so. Starfire had always enjoyed watching almost anything that the hundreds of TV channels had to offer, so luckily for Robin he had pick of what they watched the majority of the time. Also as a result the couple had become unbeatable at Cyborg’s collection of video games, Starfire hadn’t found much interest in playing them herself at first but some days she would sit and watch Robin play them for hours on end, fascinated. This had quickly led to her picking them up herself, Robin even awoke one morning to find that she was still playing one of the more intense RPG games, and hadn’t gone to sleep the previous night. Cyborg and Beast Boy who once prided themselves at their video game skill had found themselves disheartened when Starfire began to demolish their scores.

Time began to fly by within 4 months Robin was taking his first careful steps again, he had been regularly going to physicians and doctors to check on his progress and luckily for him his recovery time was shorter than what they anticipated. Within another month he had started training in the gym once more to strengthen his body once more, both him and Starfire had found it rather amusing how soft and pudgy he was getting from the months of inactivity. To be honest Starfire didn’t see any problem with how he looked but she was just happy to see his enthusiasm to resume his training, she had assisted him in practising his martial arts and with a few weeks the boy wonder was back on the streets with his team. Rumours had circulated all around Jump City, most thinking that Robin had gone missing or that he had been tragically killed in a battle with one of their adversaries. But regardless of their theories the city was happy to see the return of its traffic light coloured hero.

The End

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Author’s Notes:

Apologies for the late posting.

Sorry about how long this story was, I wanted to try and be more ambitious with the re-write but that has led to it being a lot longer than the original. Let me know which versions you prefer.

#robstarweek #robstar #robin #starfire #teentitans

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