Chapter 6: Therapy Time

She didn't know how it worked, didn't care to know how it worked. Dr. Adam Greg P.H.D had been the Titans private therapist for three and a half years. Raven was surprised they had even managed to find a specialist willing to meet with superheroes when everything was supposed to be confidential. She couldn't imagine how many people berated him for any kind of secret information he might be holding, not that there was anything important to know, but the public was nosy and actually cared about their private lives as though they were celebrities.

God forbid she went to a different tea shop and there had to be some cheesy tabloid picture filled with ridiculous speculation about why she chose a different place to purchase her tea. Did the last place not sell her favorite brand, were the owners disrespectful, or was Raven a pretentious snob who didn't think the previous shop met her standards? The truth: Raven was curious about another shop and decided to go in and look around.

There were so many instances where people misread or elaborated things about them. Once a gossip sight insisted that her and Beastboy were dating because there were dozens of snapshots where he was fighting by her side or helping her up from being knocked down in a fight, never mind the fact that the rest of her teammates did the same. One particularly cruel journalist tried to convince the media that Robin was cheating on Starfire with Batgirl and Robin was nothing more than a player toying with the alien girl's heart.

Raven had been so strongly opposed to therapy because Azar only knew what misconceptions or opinions this man already had about her. She wasn't looking forward to it no matter how much Beastboy tried to convince her that he was really good at his job.

"Raven," a voice called for her.

She looked up and remembered she was still in the waiting room, Dr. Greg was standing in the doorway of his office and looking at her curiously. "Ready?"

His office was bigger than she expected, and more welcoming. She expected white walls, ugly leather chairs and degrees hung all over to show how qualified he was. Instead the walls were grass green, there was a large tan sofa and two loveseats, the walls had landscape paintings and shelves filled with books.

Overall the room was warm and non-intimidating. Raven still didn't feel any better about the situation as Dr. Greg sat down in one of the loveseats and waved his arm to the sofa inviting her to sit down. She was glad there was a coffee table separating them, the farther apart they were the better.

The one thing she was a little glad about was that the doctor was older, probably near his sixties, which meant he was at least experienced as opposed to some newbie just getting out of college.

His hair was nearly gone and white around the edges, his face had deep wrinkles and age spots, his eyes had big deep bags underneath. He was exceptionally handsome and charming with a deep baritone voice, dark brown skin, green eyes and an impeccable white smile; no wonder Beastboy and Starfire liked him, he was a nice man, which meant him and Raven weren't going to get along.

"So, we finally meet," he started the conversation with a light smile aimed at her waiting for a response. Raven didn't give him one, instead she chose to look out the window at the neighboring building which showed nothing of interest. "Beautiful day isn't it?" he asked glancing out the window as well.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. It wasn't going to help the time pass if she just sat there like a log and he talked at her. "Yeah I guess," she answered in a deadpanned tone.

His brows rose up as though he were surprised she actually answered him. "I suppose it doesn't feel good being forced here against your will," he offered sympathetically.

"Yeah you think," Raven spat sarcastically. She felt a little bad when his face fell into an expression she couldn't read, perhaps just more curiosity. "Sorry," she grumbled out tiredly. "I just don't see the point in any of this, not the evaluation, but therapy I guess."

He shrugged his shoulders in understanding and became more comfortable as though he had some assessment of her. "It could be for self discovery, it could be for venting, or it could be for the mere purpose of talking and letting someone know how you feel."

"I don't think this is necessary," she repeated flatly. "Just because I lost my cool in a fight doesn't mean I need a psychiatrist. I mean, who in their right mind would tell a complete stranger their feelings and thoughts?"

He regarded her question seriously even though she hadn't meant for him to. "Some people find it easier to tell a stranger their private thoughts and feelings, someone they know won't reveal anything, someone who doesn't know us so well and unable to properly judge us. Sometimes we don't want the people closest to us to know the truth because it might hurt them," he explained wisely. "Our main goal here is to make sure you can function at your job in a healthy and safe way, nothing more nothing less."

Raven grimaced and tucked her lips in stubbornly. This is why she didn't like therapists; they were so damn knowledgeable when they were good at their jobs.

"And what if you determine that I'm not fit to properly do my job?" she asked lowly and anxiously.

"Then perhaps we assign another one of your teammates to monitor Slade Wilson and you get put on suspension," he said it so matter-of-factly that it seemed to be no big deal to him, but to her it was a very big deal.

It was a double-edged sword, on the one hand she liked the idea of having an excuse for not being the one to monitor Slade, and on the other hand she wouldn't be able to assist her friends in battle. She didn't like the idea of being termed "unfit" for any kind of job assigned to her.

But mostly she didn't want anyone thinking she couldn't handle Slade, least of all herself.

She supposed the best thing to do was to be honest with Dr. Greg, lord knows there had been times she wished she had been more honest with people about certain things. Her being honest about her father and birthright probably would've been a prime example.

Anything he asked she would answer, anything he didn't ask didn't need to be brought up as far as she was concerned.

He gave her a tight smile and let her process her feelings before speaking again. "So I take it you're not going to return once this mandatory regulation is over?"

She shrugged her shoulder uncommitted. "Do my teammates find this helpful at all?" she asked curiously. It seemed to put Beastboy more at ease, but how helpful could that source be?

He gave her a similar non-committed shrug. "For some it's helpful, for others it's just another thing to do, another chore. Not like it does any harm in talking to someone about things" he said vaguely.

"I find it pointless to talk about anything that's not important or necessary," she replied trying to kill the time as quickly as possible. She still had forty minutes left of this nonsense.

"You think your feelings aren't important?" he asked inquiring.

"My feelings and my emotions are dangerous if not controlled," she said gravely. "I only use them for my powers, to protect my friends."

"Well that's important then isn't it?" he watched her pause thoughtfully and continued. "You talk as though your emotions, if not contained, are going to hurt those around you. Yet it seems to me that your friends allow you to feel more than you realize, and your friends put a great deal of trust in you."

She furrowed her brows at him, "Based off what exactly?"

"Based off of what your friends, Starfire and Beastboy tell me and based off how many times you've gone into battle and saved dozens of people. You can't discount your feelings when it's the core reason for why you choose to use your powers in the first place."

Raven continued to sit there silently as the man continued to summarize her and her reasoning.

"You care about people, like any decent person you worry that you might hurt the ones you love, but you fail to credit yourself with all the good you've done," he exclaimed calmly, pausing to let her react.

"I haven't always done good things," she stated seriously. "I've done a lot of terrible things too, a lot of really horrible things." She didn't go into detail, he knew as well as anyone else her history.

He only stretched out his hands as though it didn't matter. "And yet you have friends who love you, you still have a city that looks to you for saving. You're not perfect Raven, all good men and women make mistakes; the worst of mistakes, but what matters is how you make up for those mistakes." He stopped, waiting for her to respond but she didn't, instead she sighed already worn out from the session, thirty-five minutes left to go.

"Is this suppose to make me feel better…or enlightened? Spouting inspirational quotes of romantic optimism?"

Her dryness and sarcasm didn't put him off like most people. She couldn't decide if she liked it or loathed it.

"I don't want you to feel as though I'm trying to force anything out of you," he said leaning forward and looking her in the eye. "I want you to feel free to talk about anything without reprimand or judgment, and ultimately I want you to feel better about your situation, because even though it seems like torture now…doesn't mean you can't get something beneficial out of this."

Wow… this guy was actually trying to be helpful to her, he was actually trying to reach out to her; the fact that it was part of his job kind of put a damper of his sincerity, yet he was taking his job seriously. Beastboy was right, the doctor was good.

Noticing that he now had her full cooperation he sat all the way back in his chair getting comfortable, Raven couldn't help but feel as though he had trapped her in a way. The beautiful entrapments of reverse psychology.

He smiled at her and started, "So…what would you like to talk about?"


"Anger."

Raven blinked and saw a vision of herself in a red hood and cloak.

"What drives you to anger?"

"My father," she answered bluntly. "Even in death I hate the fact that he's a part of who I am."

He nodded at her and leaned so that his elbows rested on his knees. "So what about your enemies? Do you usually go at them with the same amount of force that you did with Slade?"

No thought Raven but answered differently. "It's different."

"Explain that," he urged.

She lifted a shoulder and shook her head as though there was no proper way to explain it. "He has put me and my friends through more pain than any other villain, other than my father, and even then he was my father's accomplice."

"You stated earlier that you have the ability of empathy." Had she? It felt like the time was suddenly flying by, she realized they now only had ten minutes left. What else could they cover in that time? She had explained her powers to him a little further and just now they were barely getting to Slade which she expected the bulk of this meeting to be about.

"Yes, I can sense exactly what people are feeling, sometimes it helps...other times it's a hindrance," she explained rapidly wanting to get to the point.

"Does it give you a good idea of what people are like, does it give you a good understanding of their overall character?"

"Where are you going with this?" she finally asked knowing that the subject of Slade and her anger hadn't been taken off the table.

"What does your empathy tell you about this particular man, had it clouded your better judgment in some way? You've made it very clear how it is you feel about him, what emotions does he project to you, or rather at you? 'Cause it seems to me that he put a great amount of personal energy into targeting you these past few days."

He was right about that, the amount of anger Slade aimed towards her was unlike any other, but his reasons behind it she couldn't dissect. She wasn't a mind reader and she didn't have enough of a psychological background to summarize or explain where the feeling rooted from.

"It's a very strong kind of hatred followed by…some strange curiosity."

"Curiosity?" Dr. Greg piqued interested. "He knows a great deal about you already, probably more than you'd like, what is it about you that he's so curious about?"

Raven looked to the ground thinking of the fight for the millionth time today: The way he had studied her, the tilt in his head, the amusement in her reactions to him.

"Well if it isn't my favorite Titan."

Raven shook her head and muttered, "I don't know."

She glanced at the clock and realized their time for the day had finally ended.


A/N: When I write Dr. Greg I always reference him to , the psychiatrist from House MD, someone who I think would be perfectly equipped to deal with someone like Raven.