AN: Hey All! I'm back with the next chapter. I apologize for the sporadic updating. School's been getting harder lately especially with my creative writing class, with all the crap that my teacher gives me. But hopefully its all worth it. So here it is, Chapter 9!

Disclaimer: I know I forgot the last chapter so here it is twice…I don't own the teen titans… I don't…own… the teen… titans. Sigh I hope I never have to do that again.

Raquel POV

I pulled on a pair of jeans as I was getting ready to leave the hospital. After Richard left he came back, within a couple of hours, giving me a set of clothes he got from my dorm that I could change into when I leave (which earned him a good punch on the arm.) Fortunately it was my favorite pair of jeans with a comfy shirt and my Ed Hardy shoes. I had just taken a shower that was well deserved and long time coming.

It had been 2 days since I accepted a date with Richard and I still couldn't stop blowing stuff up. Every time the nurses came in for a checkup they had to bring a janitor, it became that frequent.

I haven't seen my doctor and Richard since that day. I'm starting to become a little doubtful about accepting his offer for a date. I mean, what if the reason why he hasn't come to see me is because he regrets his decision about asking me out? What if he doesn't want to see me again?

Raquel, I'm 100% positive that he wants to see you again.

I turn around to see the person who just spoke up but found that the door was closed and that no one was in the room.

"Where did that come from?" I said.

Well it sure as hell didn't come from your ass!

There it is again! I crouched down and scanned the room for anyone who could've spoken.

"Whoever is here show your face. This joke that your playing is getting real old." I spoke out.

If your waiting for someone to come out your going to be real disappointed.

"Why? SHOW YOUR FACE!" I kept turning around in circles as things started to blow up as my anger rose to new heights.

Your looking at her.

I turned around and came face to face with my reflection. My eyes were wide and my mouth agape. Horror was written all over my face. I composed myself and things slowly but surely stopped exploding. I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. "What is happening to me?"

Your powers are growing stronger.

I snapped my head up as I heard that voice again.

Don't bother. I'm in your head.

...What!

I'm intelligence. Remember me.

"Your one of my emotions."

Yes, very good. Now your probably wondering why you can hear me all of the sudden?

"Whoa, how did you know what I was thinking?" I asked.

I'm in your head. I can hear every thought that you have.

"Oh..."

Yes, well the reason why I can suddenly speak to you is because your powers are evolving. Not only are your powers evolvong, but so is your mind, body, and soul.

"Jeez, that sounds like something a yoga instructor would say."

Yes, well that's just to get you to relax. Unfortunately, this information is not very comforting.

"Why not?"

Because your body is going to change in ways I do not understand, and that is something very rare for me.

"Wow, that must really hurt your ego than doesn't it!" I snickered.

Be serious. This is not something you should be joking about. Whatever it is, it may be harmful to your body.

"In what ways?"

Like I said, I don't know. But what I do know is that whatever is going to happen, its going to happen soon.

"Well then I might just get the surprise of my life. Now, when you first spoke you said that you were 100% positive that Richard wasn't doubtful. Why would you say that?" I said, quickly changing the subject. I heard a sigh.

That wasn't me who said that. It was wisdom.

"So she just randomly started talking to me? Can all my emotions do that?" I then continued getting dressed as I spoke to intelligence.

Yes.

"Oh... Well then, let me talk to her."

You know I'm here the whole time. Its not like a phone where you just pass it to another speaker. I'm in your mind. I hear everything you say or think and, whether or not its obvious, I'm not going anywhere. *sigh* Anyways, the reason why I said that is because I could feel his emotions.

A little annoyed by her rant, I roughly pulled my shirt on as I asked, "What do you mean 'feel his emotions?' Can you read his mind or something?"

Its not mind reading its called empathy, and its not me who's doing it. It's you.

"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. Don't you think that if I was the one doing it something like that would've been obvious to me?" I questioned in shock.

Ahh, but you did. Why did you think you suddenly agreed to his proposal? His affection and curiosity radiated off of him and affected you, hence the reason for your change of heart. You, my dear, are an empath. Your pow-

"-let me guess, it's part of my powers evolving isn't it?" I commented, already knowing the answer.

Pretty much.

"Well that makes things a lot more interesting... And easier." I said, pulling on my shoes.

Yeah.

"Well, Thanks for the info."

No problem. But you might want to stop talking to yourself cause the nurse is about to walk in.

"How do you- I mean me- know that?"

Her emotions are radiating off her. But not enough to the point where you would be able to notice. If you did, let's just say that would've been nothing short of amazing.

"Gee, thanks-" the door suddenly opened as the nurse walked in.

Your welcome and if you ever need to talk to one of us just think the name of the emotion and we'll talk to you.

I nodded as I pretended nodding my head to an unknown beat as I finished tying my shoes. I looked up and took notice of the nurse. It was the same one that freaked out when I originally woke up. This time she had a janitor tailing her, just like all the others, with a clipboard in her arms.

"Ok Ms. Roth, the results from the tests you took earlier tested negative for any drugs in your system. You are officially free to leave." She tucked her clipboard under her arm and smiled at me. All the while, the janitor was cleaning up all the broken glass and debris.

"Thank you so much. I apologize for all the damage I have caused. I'll be sure to send a check to replace everything." I said, sincerity lacing my words.

"I appreciate the kindness Ms. Roth but there is no need. Mr. Grayson has paid for everything before he left." She smiled and instantly got a lovestruck look upon her face. Suddenly a wave of affection hit me and I knew that it was coming from her.

While she was in her daydream about Richard, I thought of one word.

So soon?

'You told me I wouldn't be able to sense anything that strong until later.'

And I fully stand by that. I'm assuming that your powers are evolving at an unusually fast rate.

'Well isn't that peachy.'

Over the couple of seconds that our conversation took place, the janitor had left the room and the nurse was still in her little wonderland with Richard. I decided to play on my assumptions.

"I'm assuming that you have a crush on Mr. Grayson?" I smirked, hoping to catch her off guard. She seemed young, maybe in her early 20's so I thought it completely understandable if she thought she had a chance with him.

But she surprised me when she shrugged and said in a matter-of-fact tone, "Of course. Any woman who doesn't is either blind or in a mental hospital." Well that caught me off guard.

"Actually, I'm pretty sure that all of the women in Gotham envy you."

Wait. . . . . . WHAT?

"There was a rumor that went out that he came to visit you and you alone in the hospital (which was obviously true). Of course you can always trust the media to turn it into some sort of relationship between the two of you. So now every woman in Gotham thinks that there really is a relationship and the paparazzi are now swarming the main entrance as we speak."

I took that all in as I walked toward the window of the room. I pulled open the curtain and looked down towards the entrance. Fortunately, my window faced the street so I was able to peer down and seen the hordes of people with cameras that were standing at the front. Every time a car drove up, they swarmed it taking pictures of the poor souls who they assumed had something to do with either me or Richard. Which made me assume that he must be here since I've been here this whole time and no one has even cared. Only one word came to mind.

Shit.

"Anyhow, I have to leave. But before I go-" I turned to see her at the door with a mischeivious smirk on her face,"-Richard is in the lobby waiting for you." With that said, she turned around and left the room.

Good job, Richard. Come pick me up and add more fuel to the already blazing fire. I sighed as I picked up my mother's cloak and my jacket, along with my cell phone and left the room.

XxXxX

Richard's POV

I stood at the lobby desk, waiting for Raquel to walk out. I was starting to get a little—ok, maybe really—annoyed by the woman at the desk who kept staring at me every 5 seconds. I know I'm famous but, seriously, take a picture. It's not just her though. Every time a female nurse or patient passed by they always took a long glance at me and kept walking as if I didn't notice. I felt like a statue waiting to be appraised. *sigh* I hope Raquel walks out soon.

Just as I thought my wishes were about to be shot down, Raquel walks down the hallway. Her dark hair wet from what I assume was a shower, her t-shirt clung to her figure accentuating her generous chest, with a pair of skinny jeans that enhanced the curvature of her hips and her jacket thrown over her shoulders with her cloak in hand. I would swear that I was the luckiest man in the world. She walked to a stop about a foot from me with a small smile on her face.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. I simply shrugged and in a cool voice responded, "I was hoping that I could give you a ride back to the dorms. Maybe even go out for a cup of coffee."

"Well, I don't know about you but I don't want to get bombarded by the media. I don't even know how we are going to get out of here without being spotted." She sighed, running her hand through her hair making me wish it was my hand that was running through her silky locks. I smirked as I dug my hands into my pocket and tossed my hair to the side to get a stray out of my eyes.

"What if I told you that I know a secret entrance out of the back way that no one except the people who built this hospital know of?"

"And how would you know something like that?" My smirk turned into a grin as I leaned toward her and whispered into her ear,

"I helped build it."

I leaned back and suddenly noticed the attention that we were getting from the staff and patients. I focused my gaze back onto Raquel as she bit her lip and looked down in thought. She focused her eyes back to mine when she whispered a small, "Ok."

My grin broadened as I grabbed her hand and led her to the elevator. As the elevator doors opened to let us in, I looked out and noticed all the women who were craning their necks to peer at us. I glanced at Raquel and saw that she, as well, noticed the peering women. We entered the large, metal box as she dropped her head and chuckled to herself in amusement. The doors started to close and Raquel and I were the only two in the elevator.

"Something funny?" I asked.

"It amuses me by how desperate and predictable women are." She responded, looking up at me as the doors closed. "Are you sure it's not just because I'm the sexiest man in America?" I pulled out an ID card and slid it into the control panel. It beeped and I entered in the code to get us down to the parking level. "Actually it's because I'm the sexiest woman in America." She bit back with a sly smirk on her face as the elevator slowly started to descend. I laughed as I then noticed the magazine rack that held People magazine's most recent issue with the 50 sexiest men and women in America. I picked it up and started to flip through it.

"Are you sure?" I then found the page with number 1 male, and would you guess who it was? "Richard Grayson. At a delectable 6"2 with a body that makes any man wish they had and any women wish that they could touch, we chose him as our sexiest man in the nation. With his dashing good looks and charming personality it's more than enough to turn the heads of any woman in the room and make them drool after him. Son of Bruce Wayne, who's ranked number 8 on our list, it's no wonder where he gets all the charm. Not to mention his motorcycle which gives him the bad boy image and his deep blue eyes that can melt any women's heart. He's been able to catch the hearts of some of our top 10 ranked sexiest women. Such as Danielle Shelby (pg 62), sisters Michelle and Marissa Pagan (pg 65, pg 67), and there have been rumors that he's caught the attention of the dark yet sexy beauty, Raquel Roth, who's ranked number 1 on our sexiest women chart (pg 57). Whether these rumors are true or not, there would be not doubt that Raquel Roth and Richard Grayson would be the sexiest couple in America. Now there's a question. Has Richard Grayson caught the heart of the mysterious and incredibly sexy Raquel Roth?" I finished as I looked at her, waiting for an answer. She looked up at me through her long lashes as she responded in a deep voice that had shivers running up and my spine,

"The world may never know."

I only smirked as the elevator slowed to a stop. Raquel took note of what floor we were on and suddenly went from amused to annoyed. She sighed in frustration, "The parking lot? Are you serious? That's the first place they would go." I could only chuckle at her when I put my sunglasses on. "We're not going out that way."

"I don't know if you noticed but there's only one way out." She huffed. I then turned around so I was facing the back wall of the elevator.

"Well if you turned around then you would notice that there is more than one way out." The wall in front of me then opened as I was vaguely aware of Raquel turning around to face the same direction I was. I could only smirk as I heard her gasp.

XxXxX

AN: I am very happy with the way this chapter turned out. The next chapter should be very exciting though with very little between the two cause I'm pretty sure I've written enough about the two in the last two chapters to last me awhile. But don't be discouraged because I will enter little bits here and there. I will start churning out chapters a little faster now since basketball season is coming to a close and I just got a new blackberry that has word on it so I can write on the go (its so awesome!) I will updating around every two weeks now. But for now, reviews are very much appreciated.

Until later,

MyDemonicSide