I'm back, and I come bearing holiday fic! Except, instead of it being a sweet and fluffy Halloween fic, it's dark and depressing...yeah, I'm writing angst again. *sigh* By the way, this is kind of a prequel for my recent Thanksgiving fic.
"Raven."
It's the words and tone that she reacts to first, not the voice. She hears the frustration and, half-asleep, covers her face with her arms, trying to shield herself from another bruise.
"Raven?"
The second time, the voice clicks in her mind, and she realizes that it's familiar and safe.
"Beast Boy?" She lowers her arms, and meets green eyes, worried yet comforting.
He takes her arm gently between the fingers in one hand, and with his other hand he pushed up the short sleeve of Raven's hospital gown to reveal finger-shaped bruises.
"What're these?"
Raven closes her eyes to hold back the tears that suddenly well. "It's nothing." Her voice is a near-whisper, and they both know that's a lie.
Beast Boy slowly strokes Rae's hair, trying to hold back his anger and comfort his friend at the same time. "I thought things got better." As hard as he tries, he can't make that sound like anything but an accusation.
"I'm sorry, I just...I thought he'd stop, but he didn't and I couldn't leave, because he'd get mad and everything would've gotten even worse. And with the baby, I couldn't handle that." The tears fall then, but Rae doesn't wipe them away. Her mind is chaos, her emotions torn between what she knows is best for her and her newborn, and what she wants to fix. The problem is, she know that she can't fix a relationship this broken, not by herself. Taking a deep breath, she takes Beast Boy's free hand and looks him in the eye.
"Beast Boy," She says in a whisper. "Can you please help me?"
Without hesitation, he nods. "Yes." He looks like he's about to say more, but Rae stops him.
"I just need you to help me leave him, alright? You don't need to hurt him."
Beast Boy almost objects, but he sees the stubbornness in Raven's eyes and stops. As beaten down as she is now, the persistence is rare, so he nods again, and leaves it at that.
Yeah...so, when you review, can you tell me what this story needs (other than more detail)?