Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, but I do own the plot of this story and the original characters I create.

Thank you Xaphrin and echosong258for reviewing last chapter! I continue to enjoy your support as I write on! Now, I just wish more people would review!

This chapter has been proofread by the author, but the author wouldn't mind more beta's! (HACK, HACK, CAACHOO)

Happy Mother's Day!

Chapter 7

Recuperation

The common room was active for thirty minutes after Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy arrived back home. The situation panned out much to Robin's favor, Beast Boy was tired from the long day he and Raven had, so Beast Boy explained what happened in their investigation to Robin after a lot of teasing at Robin's expense. Afterwards he claimed he was "hitting the sack," and left the room to the others.

The other Titans stared at the door he retreated behind, Robin turned to Raven who was making a kettle of tea and salad, and approached Raven curiously. He leaned against the counter beside her, "What's up with Beast Boy?" he asked digging for information, Beast Boy normally was one of the last Titans to leave the common room, even when tired. Raven shrugged and yawned; she was tired and beyond sore from her day of excitement.

Her legs felt like pudding, she felt like falling apart on spot because riding on Beast Boy's back was no easy task, but it does bring a smile to her face. 'It was enjoyable,' she thought to herself as Robin watched the smile warm her face, Robin blinked, Raven didn't do random smiles, she had random smirks of malicious intent.

"You okay?" he asked while straightening himself out from the counter.

"Yeah, just tired," Raven replied as the smile disappeared and her stoic exhaustion was evident, her stomach growled as if someone offended it, and Robin laughed.

"Alright then, get some rest, and tomorrow me and Cy will try to find background information on this underground facility," he told her before walking back to the couch. In 'Robin behavior' this translated to "I see I'm not getting anything out of you tonight." Starfire was no longer at the couch but floating around the kitchen near Raven.

"Friend Raven! You are 'the okay!'" the alien princess beamed and Raven gave her a small smile before nodding. Starfire was always a mixed bag for Raven, the alien princess "felt" too many things in a rapid succession, and the density of her emotions were always more vast than any human. Raven would get headaches if she stayed around Starfire too long because Starfire felt for three people at once, it was disorientating.

Raven liked to keep Starfire happy due to the simple fact that happiness was the easier emotion to process rather than sadness or disappointment. Starfire was capable of going from being happy to being sad in one second flat, which always took Raven for an emotional ride. The tea kettle whistled and Raven took it off the stove top, poured herself a mug of tea, and took her bowl of salad to the dinner table located near the giant lounging couch.

Dinner went by relatively quickly, Starfire made small talk with Raven to figure out how her day went, and Raven told her everything except the confessions inside the cabin and riding on Beast Boy's ancestral wolf for the first time. Raven kept those experiences to herself not because she was embarrassed of those experiences, but that Raven didn't feel emotionally adept enough to handle everybody else knowing those events yet, it was worse enough that Beast Boy could possibly run his mouth about them.

Raven blinked as she realized Beast Boy didn't tell Cyborg or Robin about their first ride together, or their consummation, he purposely left them out. "Why?" she thought, from her understanding it was programmed into men to brag to other men when they accomplish something regarding relationships, so Raven filed the question away for later, it just didn't make sense.

Once she finished her meal she excused herself to her room, and Starfire followed her chatting away about her day at the grocery store with Robin. Cyborg and Robin wished her good night without looking away from the videogame they were engrossed in; this was normal nightly activities for the Titans, and Raven grew tired of her friend's eager desire to talk. "Star, we can do the, girly talking, tomorrow. Okay?" Raven turned to Starfire as they approached her door.

Starfire beamed at her proposal and hugged Raven, they didn't sit around and talk specifically girly stuff often, and Raven realized there was a high chance of her getting a pedicure or her hair braided tomorrow. Raven chased her discomfort of those activities away as Starfire dropped Raven from the hug.

"That would be most glorious friend Raven! We will start at Noon!" Starfire proclaimed before hovering back towards the common room, "Good night!" she called as she hovered backwards, waving. Raven let her words die in the hallway before she entered her room, sighed, and leaned against her door. Mud was caked upon every portion of her body, clothes, and she needed a shower before bed.

Raven quietly set about collecting her sleeping clothes, exited her room, and made her way to the shared restroom she had to share with Beast Boy. Restrooms in the tower were spread sporadically, there was only one around Beast Boy's and Raven's rooms, and there was one around Robin's and Starfire's rooms and one near Cyborg's quarters which resided on an entirely different floor than the other four.

Raven approached the restroom to find the door closed, she pressed her ear to the door to attempt to find life, but right as she went to press the door open, the door pulled open on its own accord to reveal Beast Boy. He was naked except for a towel wrapped around his waist, his shaggy hair weighed down with water, and streams of water dripped from his hair and trailed down his face to his chest. He looked down at Raven in surprise, looking much like a wet shaggy dog, and his body froze like a deer caught in the headlights.

Raven's eyes locked onto his chest, followed the streams of water, and then slowly roamed his body. They roamed until they rose up to his face, her eyes stopped on his eyes, they were reflecting light off of her own eyes, which made them sparkle lightly, and Raven felt her heart flutter as his warm breath tickled her hair.

Beast Boy's words rang in her mind, "I want to be with you," the words echoed in her mind, and made her heart flutter even faster as similar thoughts drifted through Beast Boy's mind. His mind was somewhere lost in the middle of exhaustion, and Raven, as he stood dead on his feet. "I, want to be with you to, Garfield," Raven thought to herself, knowing she was one of the only Titans to know his true first name.

"All yours," he told her, his words broke the trance they were both under, and he yawned for at least five seconds afterwards, before shifting his body so that Raven could walk into the restroom. Raven's mind finally caught up to what he was referring to, blushed maroon, and quietly moved into the restroom. "Good Night Rae," he called to her before walking down the hallway.

The door remained open for a few more seconds before she replied, "Goodnight, Gar," she whispered before shutting the door.

Beast Boy quietly fled to his room, he could feel his blood boiling as the beast inside him wanted out, he knew The Beast only had two objectives, one, the beast was a highly territorial being, it wanted to gain territory and protect it, and two, it ran off instincts and was beyond paranoid, it wanted Raven in its immediate vicinity at all times and to claim her as a mate.

Beast Boy knew the beast didn't want sex, while sex is a primal desire and sometimes a need for various animals, sex wasn't good enough to claim mates because it was a physical act and nothing more. Beast Boy grinded his teeth as his door swooshed open for him, he walked into his half-restored room, his bed was beyond broken and was melted down in the incendiary trash disposal down in the basement. So he pulled out a Hammock he bought from Jump City's local sports and outdoors store.

He set up the hammock rather quickly by tying it to metal loops he installed in the room years ago, and once the hammock was secure enough, he wrapped his towel on his head and grabbed a ratty quilt he kept with him since he was a young teen. He collapsed into the hammock in exhaustion and his legs hung off the hammock, but didn't quite touch the ground, and the hammock held his weight perfectly as he laid diagonal in it.

The swaying allowed Beast Boy to relax as he battled the beast within him. He knew the Beast could understand him with primal communication, and sometimes even verbal communication, but it flashed him images of Raven, naked and showering, in attempts to sway the man. A growl erupted from his chest as he pushed himself to swing the hammock more and a headache developed as he sent an image back.

He sent an image of the Titan Tower; the tower was as safe as they could get with as many enemies that pursued them for locking them up, and security was high on the tower, so high that sometimes Beast Boy himself triggered the sensitive security by accident. Beast Boy felt the beast seemingly hum from within him as it replied with another image of Raven, except this time the image was of her getting attacked.

Beast Boy closed his eyes and tried to relax further, paranoia held no place in normal society but in the hero business it kept them alive. He couldn't count how many times Robin's paranoia saved them while fighting against Slade and his butler, Wintergreen, but Beast Boy questioned whether the beast was providing him useful habits or selfish desires.

He pegged all the images he received in the next hour as selfish desires, The beast was acting on primal instincts, what it saw was potential in Raven as a strong mate and wanted to seize the opportunity. Beast Boy rolled in his hammock in distress; the animal world and human world was different by leaps and bounds, in the wild, animals take what they want or need and make others suffer, but in human world people showed respect, free will was highly respected and always desired.

Beast Boy knew it was wrong to simply take what he wanted from anyone. He was lucky to be in the hero business, and he chose to put his life in danger every day for the general populace, but the difference was that animals lead different lives because they live in harsher conditions; but even in controlled conditions they acted wild. Beast Boy knew it wasn't the environment that made them do what they did, their actions were due to their deeply ingrained instincts.

Two hours passed as Beast Boy battled the beast, it disallowed him sleep, and his exhausted body only wanted to shut down into sweet slumber, yet it twitched awake every time he got close to sleep. His heart would pound as he fought and argued with the beast inside him, and eventually Beast Boy gave up. He crawled out of his Hammock and walked about the tower after slipping on a pair of pants.

He walked the habitat level's hallways trying to find relief. The habitat level was a square by design, Beast Boy's room was in the farthest corner away from the elevator, stairs led up to the common room beside the elevator, and the habitat level had a hallway that was a looping square.

The hallway held doors to all of the Titan's quarters, except Cyborg's room, since his quarters were located on a different floor. Beast Boy was dead silent as he paced the hallway in the never ending loop, every time he passed Raven's room his moderate paced walk would turn into a crawl, and he eventually found himself sitting against the wall, in front of her door, tired.

Sleep overcame him after sitting for a few minutes, and his head lightly bobbed down against his chest, as his body slumped against the wall in exhaustion. Beast Boy was finally asleep in a position that the beast felt adequate enough to protect what he considered his. Beast Boy's last few thoughts were, 'This feels oddly familiar.'

Morning came quickly for Beast Boy, he regained consciousness from Starfire opening her door to use the restroom, and Beast Boy silently scurried back to his room. He luckily made it back to his room without anyone finding out about his sleeping spot, Beast Boy heaved a large sigh as he found a shirt to slip on, he was still exhausted since he only gained a few hours hours of sleep. It was five in the morning.

Beast Boy abandoned his room and went to the common room, located on the top floor of the tower, to start his day. He quietly went about making himself tofu eggs and coffee to wake himself up completely. He could feel the Beast's whisper in his mind but the beast no longer had leverage over him, the constant images as to why he should post out of Raven's door were ignored with the start of a new day.

Starfire walked into the common room once Beast Boy sat down to eat his meal, and she hummed a cheery tune as she approached him. "Good morning friend Beast!" Starfire told him before she went on to find her own breakfast, Beast Boy blinked, she shortened his name to just Beast and it surprised him, his heart throbbed in excitement.

"Mornin' Star," he drawled out before he went back to eating, the coffee was always plain, bitter, and strong in the Titan's tower and it was almost always on brew. The coffee was brewed bitter on purpose so that if they had to be active at any time of the day, the brewed, bitter, coffee could help revive their vitality. Starfire quietly went about making herself a tamaran delicacy as Beast Boy became lost to his thoughts.

The next to come through the door was the very person he was dreading to see today, Raven, she came in without greeting anybody and warmed up the pot of tea from the night before. She also put some bread in the toaster, got a mug ready for her tea, and once her small meal and mug was full she put it on a plate. She set her meal onto the same table Beast Boy was at, sat down, and Beast Boy couldn't help but stare at her.

"What?" she questioned as she noticed his staring.

"Nothing," he mumbled before getting up to put his plates and cup in the sink. He suddenly felt sleepy and excited, at the same time, now that Raven was in the room. Raven ignored his morning activities as if they were everyday occurrence, which wasn't far from the truth, because Beast Boy was never a big morning person, but he was a huge night person.

Beast Boy jumped onto the couch and turned the television on to the Jump City news channel, a curfew was now put on the outer city limits, near the forests, for an indefinite amount of time due to the Titan's investigation. The civilians were not allowed to be out and about past 8 o' clock at night, which was near sundown, and Beast Boy chuckled to himself. Civilians were allowed to drive home past 8 but all businesses on the outer limits were in compliance with the city, so even the businesses had to shut down at 8.

After Raven finished her breakfast, she moved to sit on the couch as well, and began to read a book to pass the time. They were waiting for Robin and Cyborg to wake up so they could get their assignments for the day. Beast Boy yawned as he leaned back on the couch, eventually he sprawled out on the couch and his face became slack in relaxation.

Raven looked over to him; he was asleep on the couch with the most peaceful look she had ever seen on a person. Before, Raven believed that the most peaceful look a person can have was when they died when they were happy, but Beast Boy put up a decent fight for that position in her mind. Her empathy subconsciously prodded Beast Boy's mind, only to feel him prod her back, and without her sensing any emotions.

She frowned slightly before prodding him intentionally, and more roughly, with her empathy, and this time he didn't prod back, but she got nothing from him. Beast Boy's ability to not broadcast his emotions bothered her, for the first time since she could remember there was an empty shell in her empathy, and that simple fact dug underneath her skin until she tried to pry into his emotions forcefully.

'Let me in!' she hissed mentally towards him, she wasn't expecting a reply to her frustrated prodding but when one came it shocked her.

'Rae,' she heard Beast Boy's voice echo through her mind, and he rolled over in his sleep after she received it. Raven blinked, he could still hear her mentally, and she thought his mysterious ability would fade as more time was put between his transformations into the beast. Was it him invading her thoughts, or was she invading his thoughts? What was happening? Raven returned to her book to try and avoid the questions, but they piled up inside her. The situation between her and Beast Boy perplexed her.

Two hours passed by as Beast Boy slept, Starfire cleaned and played with Silkie, and Beast Boy slept, and then finally Robin came into the room followed by Cyborg. Beast Boy stayed in his slumber until Raven shook him awake, the others didn't want to wake the green man since his reactions to simple things have been unpredictable lately. Robin stood in front of his team and cleared his voice.

"We have no information about the testing facility Raven and Beast Boy found, so I will go out to the police department and to the Library to try and dig up any information about it. In the meanwhile, Cyborg will try to dig up any information through the web," he told them, and then he looked at Beast Boy and Raven before continuing.

"I want Raven and Beast Boy to rest for the day. Starfire will come with me to dig up any information," he ordered and Raven wondered what he wasn't telling them. Starfire could read basic English, was he pairing himself with her to teach her more earthly ways? Or was it more personal? The memory of Starfire and Robin close to each other, on the couch, last night came to mind, Raven smirked.

"Alright, come on Star, it's going to be a long day dealing with the police department," Robin sighed out before turning around and walking to the common room. He skipped breakfast all together, which was normal for him to do since he hoarded protein bars like a nanny during the great depression.

"Yes friend Robin!" Starfire called out in happiness before hovering after him. Beast Boy shook his head, yawned, abruptly laid down on the couch again, and rolled over to where his back was facing Raven.

"Be good grass stain! I don't want to hear Raven throwing things around the room while I'm gone!" Cyborg yelled as he grinned from ear to ear, Raven shook her head before sighing, if they had the day off then she would make the most of it. She would meditate, read books of magic all day, and spend the time she promised with Starfire.

"Yeah, yeah, go on grease monkey," Beast Boy called out and waved his hand in the air, He was tired and Raven could see his exhaustion.

'Shouldn't he of gotten enough rest last night? He went to bed before I did!' she thought to herself as her gaze was stuck on Beast Boy. Her curiosity finally got the best of her once Cyborg left the room, "Fess up! Why are you so tired?" she mentally sent to him. Beast Boy acted like he didn't hear her until he sat up with dark bags underneath his eyes.

"It's nothing," he said aloud before rearranging himself on the couch so that his head was beside her legs. He looked up at her curiously before shutting his eyes again. Raven blinked in surprise, he was hiding something by deflecting her question, and she wanted to know what. She wanted him to open up to her, but she didn't know how to make him without going out of her comfort zone.

A light blush colored her cheeks maroon as she let her hand gently brush his forehead, she cared for him, and she wanted him to know it. Beast Boy's eyes opened up and he peered up into her eyes, she could see the intense desire and need in them, so she done the next logical thing, she stroked his hair and after a few seconds she pulled her hand back completely. Raven stared out the window as her face glared maroon, she was way out of her comfort zone.

Beast Boy knew that Raven acted outside of her comfort zone, but he didn't want her touch to stop, so he crawled forward and laid his head into her lap. Raven glared down to her lap and at his head, which seemingly leaped into her lap, and he pointed his head away from her stomach and towards the window she was staring out seconds ago. Raven was dressed in her usual leotard and cape, the position they were in was almost intimate. His cheek lay against the bare skin on her thighs, and Raven felt electricity coarse through her spin.

She watched as Beast Boy's eyes closed, his breathing evened out, and after ten minutes of her staring at him she slowly let one of her hands come down and stroke his hair. Her lips formed a small smile as she let her hand rest in his hair as he slept, and she slowly realized that nothing around them was exploding, or catching on fire, or creaking under unknown pressure. She let the emotion slowly settle in, and then she returned to the text she was reading with her other hand.

For the first time in a long while, Raven was happy, and nothing was blowing up from her flaring emotions. She could feel Beast Boy's emotions through their touch and the empty shell that was on her radar filled with slumbering emotions. She felt his peaceful happiness as he dreamt; she could feel the depth of the emotions rather than the power of the emotions, and she felt connected to him in a way she couldn't explain.

The duo stayed in that position for the remainder of the morning, Beast Boy slept while Raven read, and occasionally she ran her fingers through his hair. No one bothered them until noon arrived and Starfire returned to the tower, Beast Boy awoke to the common room doors opened, and he sat up beside Raven with a yawn escaping him. The action was so quick and concise that Raven lost her book progress from the sudden jolt on the couch.

"Friend Raven! Let us do the girl talk!" Starfire yelled out happily as she plopped down in between Beast Boy and Raven. Raven felt disappointment from her and Beast Boy's peaceful rest being interrupted, but she did agree to spending time with Starfire.

Beast Boy yawned again before saying, "You two have fun. I'm going to check on Cyborg." He excused himself faster than Raven could protest and she glared at his retreating back as he left.

'Gee, thanks for suffering with me!' she hissed sarcastically through their mental link, and Raven heard Beast Boy laugh back at her through their mental link before disappearing into the staircase. Raven sighed, shook her head, and realized Starfire was talking to her, "I'm sorry, what did you say?" she apologized.

Beast Boy invited himself into Cyborg's computer area and sat down beside his best friend. Cyborg ignored his entrance until he pulled up a wheeled chair beside him. "Oh hey, what's up green bean?" Cyborg asked as he looked over to him.

"Nothing, the girls are talking about things I'd rather not hear about," Beast Boy explained before looking at the six monitors in front of them, each of them was executing a script, and only one monitor wasn't running a script. The non-scripting monitor was filled with bars and charts regarding the tower's security systems. "Any luck?" Beast Boy asked.

"No, it's as if the place never existed. I'm beginning to search for research groups that were centered on cures to deadly diseases humans gain from animals, and where those groups' origins are from," Cyborg told him. "I have a feeling that this facility isn't going to be on the grid anywhere, except for the people who used the facility," he continued.

"So, you're looking for scientists?" Beast Boy asked.

"Yeah, something along those lines," Cyborg replied as a monitor pinged for his attention, the script stopped running and Cyborg's attention was instantly glued to it. "Huh, it seems we found a group of researchers that disappeared five years ago in the Amazon Rain forest," he read aloud the results.

"Huh, why is that important? That's half way across the world," Beast Boy grumbled, leaned back, and scratched his head. He felt less exhausted after his nap on Raven's lap, and the nap put Beast Boy into a good mood. Cyborg hummed as he stopped a few searches on other monitors and redirected them to concentrate on the research group he found.

"I don't know, but it's the only group that big to disappear like that. Five people miraculously disappeared without a trace, sounds a little fishy to me, especially since private jets are popular these days," Cyborg told him as he rubbed his chin. Beast Boy held back a laugh as he watched his friend; once Cyborg became focused he would scratch himself in the most unpredictable manners, it was an old habit from his college days.

After five minutes of searching a name displayed on the screen that rung familiar with Beast Boy. "Mark Logan," Cyborg read the name, and Beast Boy's eyes widened while his breath hitched. His father showed up in the results. "It says that this man was the pioneer in the field, almost fifteen years ago, says here he suffered from a death on one of the Amazon's rivers with his wife," Cyborg continued reading aloud.

Beast Boy felt a twinge in his stomach as it twisted painfully, his father was a part of this association when he was alive? Memories of that unfortunate day flooded Beast Boy's mind, the Titans didn't know his full name since their secret identities were kept secret unless they wished to share it with their team. All of the Titans had no other family, their "secret identities" died long ago and their hidden identities were like past lives. All of the Titans were orphans, an accidental coincidence when they formed the team.

Raven suddenly phased through the floor and placed her hand on Beast Boy. "Beast Boy, I need you for a minute," Raven told him in monotone, and then both Raven and Beast Boy disappeared through the floor. Cyborg looked over to where his friend was only moments ago and shook his head.

"I swear, it's only a matter of time for those two," his voice trailed off as another monitor pinged a result.