Hey everyone! Guess what?! A new chapter! Granted, I SO meant to have this finished and posted this Monday; but hey, such is life. And that being said, hopefully this chapter will be good enough to more than make up for the wait (in spite of the somewhat depressing note this chapter ends on). In this chapter, Robin and Beast Boy set the final phase of their little plan into action. But at the end of this night, just how well will things work out? The answer may not be what you guys were hoping for just yet. And with that out of the way, here's to hoping you read, review, and (somewhat) enjoy.

A/N: But first, I'll just remind you guys again that I do not own Teen Titans, or DC, or anything else that I may or may not have in here that belongs to a higher legal power than myself. Get that? Got that? Good. Onward with the new chapter!

Chapter 8:

A Heart Twice Broken

It was now 7:00 pm, February 13, 2018, and the Titans were all having a very good time in the Jump City tower together. And to sweeten the deal, in spite of how many people were in the Tower, they were all still able to find time to spend either alone or with their partners of preference in peace. Raven, however, wasn't in the same room as virtually everyone else was at the moment. Rather, she was in the corridor where her room was located, peacefully snacking on the second overture she'd unexpectedly found in the tower that afternoon; a box of dark chocolate dipped strawberries from the local MaryAnn's.

She was actually quite glad that she was alone while eating this little snack. After all, she knew that quite the large majority of the other Titans would be quite surprised and never let her live it down; plus, she herself knew and had made clear that there were very few, if any, sweets that she liked to eat. But once again, much like with the orchids, her apparent secret admirer had proven himself to know her quite well, for this very snack from MaryAnn's that she was now feasting on was among the small number of sweets that she was both willing to eat and actually enjoyed. She popped yet another one of the berries into her mouth. To be honest, she'd actually lost count of how many she'd eaten at this point. But right now, she was too happy to care.

"Well someone's certainly having fun right now."

Raven's eyes widened, and she hurriedly slammed the lid back onto the box and slid it onto the floor next to her before turning her head to her left. As it turned out, none other than Robin was now standing a couple feet away with a quite amused look on his face. Raven groaned, her heart sinking at the sight of her fearless leader standing right there. "How long were you there?"

"Relax Raven." Robin walked calmly up to the teen sorceress. "I'm not gonna make fun of you. We all have our guilty pleasures and personal tastes." He pointed at the incriminating MaryAnn's box lying next to Raven. "And clearly, your secret admirer knows about this particular one of yours and loves you for it anyway."

Raven turned her head to look at the box of chocolates, then back at Robin. "Well yes," she admitted. "That is true."

"Indeed." Robin walked up closer to Raven. "And now that I think about it, I was actually planning right now to inform you that I found another little gift for you lying around in the common room."

Raven's eyes involuntarily widened at the sound of this. "Another one?"

Robin nodded his head. "Another one." He drew out what appeared to be some sort of book from the folds of his cape and handed it to Raven.

Raven grabbed onto the book, tore off the small sticker that read 'From your Secret Admirer', and looked intently at the cover. Her eyes involuntarily widened once again. The book in question was the newest released book of poems written by one of her favorite modern dark poets. "This book," she said. "It just came out yesterday."

"Like I said, this guy certainly seems to know you quite well."

Robin drew out a rolled up sheet of paper from a compartment within his utility belt. He extended it over to Raven. "I also found this lying right next to it."

Raven glanced at the paper, and then gingerly took it into her own hands. She unfurled it. As it turned out, it was a note from her apparent secret admirer. "Dear Raven," she read. "If you are reading this, then I presume that you have by now almost certainly managed to receive both the book I just now gave you alongside this note this evening as well as the box of chocolate dipped fruit I gave you this afternoon and the flowers I gave you this morning. If that is truly the case, then I truly do hope that you've enjoyed them. I've worked very hard to make sure that you received exactly the kind of gifts you'd actually want to have, especially on an occasion like tomorrow." Raven closed her eyes, a small smile and blush on her face. "He really does know me well," she thought to herself.

She opened her eyes and resumed her reading of the note. "That being said, with this final gift, I also wish to ask one request of you this evening. I will admit, yes this probably is rather early of me considering I only just started actually making this kind of effort for you today. And if you feel creeped out, uncomfortable, or likewise like you don't wish to jump this far ahead just yet, I'll understand. Heck, if our roles were reversed, I'd probably feel pretty weirded out to." Raven rolled her eyes when she read that part. "Well this definitely rules out Speedy," she thought to herself. "He'd never admit to something like that. He's too proud."

She directed her attention back to reading the note. "But nonetheless, either tonight if you wish to, or at some other time of your choosing if you don't feel comfortable just yet, I would be very happy indeed if we could perhaps meet somewhere in the city, relatively alone, face to face, and talk things out. I'm not sure if I have the experience to truly understand, let alone know, what love is, but I really am willing to see if perhaps that is in fact the way I may very well be feeling towards you. Again, if you decide to take me up on this offer at a later date, I understand; especially as long as you inform of what alternate time and date you'd prefer in a response to this note. And in the event that you accept the currently offered time, then in the event that if I don't make it to the planned rendezvous point and you end up waiting there for me all night without me ever showing up, I promise you now, that it will be for perfectly good reason." Raven sighed upon reading this line. "I sure do hope so," she said to herself. Then she directed her attention back to the note one more time. "That being said, if you accept tonight's offer for this rendezvous, I shall hopefully meet up with you in the town square located between Jump City Park and the area where Cook's Electronics used to be . . . at about 9:00 pm maybe? Either way, I hope to meet up with you and stop working from the shadows. You've already got enough shadows around you; I deserve to work more in the light to balance you out." At that Raven felt another small blush come on her cheeks, genuinely touched by the comparison. "Signed, 'Your Secret Admirer'," Raven then finished.

The sorceress looked up at Robin, who had a small smile on his face. "Well that certainly got heavy," said the Boy Wonder.

Raven rolled her eyes, and then looked back at the note, carefully considering the offer presented in it. "What do you think I should do?" Raven asked. It was really more of a formality at this point then a genuine need for advice.

Clearly, Robin knew that as well. "Don't ask me Raven. It's your call." He folded his arms across his chest, a wolf-like grin now starting to come onto his face. "Though personally, I'd recommend you make that call real soon and get a response ready. It's already 7:15 now, and clearly your secret admirer means business. And we certainly wouldn't want him to go to that location tonight at 9:00 and learn the hard way that you never even came without even giving him a response."

Raven thought to herself, and looked at the note once more. She considered the offer. Admittedly, the offered time was rather early, something the admirer himself appeared quite aware of. Then again, depending on who it was, and she was now starting to get a very idea of which of the two most likely suspects now was the secret admirer, if he perhaps truly did feel actual love for her, and possibly maybe even already felt that kind of love without even realizing it for quite a long time beforehand, then just maybe meeting up with him this early and getting the whole situation resolved at the very least and possibly blossomed into something even better at the very most wouldn't be such a bad idea.

In that moment, Raven made up her mind. She looked back at Robin. "You'd best get back to Starfire right now," she then said. She turned around and started walking in the direction of her bedroom, picking up the now half empty MaryAnn's box as she went. "Right now, I'll be in my room writing up a worthy response to this newest overture. Once it's prepared, I'll find you and let you know so you can drop it off someplace where it should be easy enough for my secret admirer to find it. And he'd definitely better find it, because my answer's yes."

. . . . .

At around 8:00, Beast Boy was lying on the sofa in the common room. The gathering that night had finally started to wind down around 5 or 10 minutes ago. And as of this moment, all the visiting Titans from the extended branches had departed back to their ships (in the case of Titans North and South), private personal apartment suite (in the case of Titans East), and the basement (in the case of Titans Central). Now, Beast Boy was feeling quite tired. In fact, at this rate, just about the only thing that would prevent from possibly flat out blacking out into sleep right there on the couch within the next few minutes would have to be . . . he heard footsteps walking towards him from behind the sofa.

In a flash, Beast Boy reared up and turned his head to look in the direction of the footsteps. As it turned out, none other than Robin had just now arrived in the common room and walked up to him. Beast Boy slumped, practically glowering now in annoyance. "Oh," he grumbled. "It's you."

"Indeed it is," said Robin. He came to a stop practically inches away from Beast Boy's position. "And I sure as Hell hope you weren't about to fall asleep just now." He drew out a rolled up piece of paper and extended it out towards the changeling. "Because I'd very much prefer you not keep Raven waiting."

Beast Boy's eyes snapped wide open upon hearing this, and he quite noticeably straightened up in his position on the couch. He practically snatched the paper out of Robin's hand and unfurled it fast enough that Robin thought it a miracle that the changeling didn't accidentally rip it up in his excitement. Beast Boy read it as quickly, yet carefully as he could, and he couldn't have possibly felt happier. Against all odds, Raven had accepted the offer to meet up with him at 9:00 pm that very night, and had even gone so far as to repeat his own words back to him in describing how she would hopefully have good reason to be absent in the event that he came and she never showed up.

"She's in her room right now getting herself prepared as we speak."

Beast Boy looked up at Robin, who carefully pointed towards the window in the direction of the city. "Now would be a good time to get out there; get a head start so that you're in position when she arrives."

Beast Boy grinned, slipped the note into his pants pocket, and got up from the couch. "Don't you worry Robin," said the changeling. "I'm on my way." He turned into a peregrine falcon and flew off towards the door leading to the staircase to the rooftop entrance. He reverted back to human form just long enough to open, go through, and close the door to said rooftop entrance. Then he assumed his peregrine falcon form all over again and took off towards Jump City. And as he flew through the skies towards his intended destination, his falcon eyes were narrowed in determination. "I'm gonna do this," he thought to himself. "I'm gonna do this!"

. . . . .

Meanwhile, hanging around the entrance to the docks was the goth boy. And at that particular moment, he was not entirely in the best of moods. "The things I'm willing to accept before I realize the full magnitude of what it is I have to do," he grumbled out loud to himself, quite glad that he was the only person present in the area. He turned his head to face the relatively distant shape of Titans Tower, a glare on his face. "How the heck does Mr. Organization XIII expect me to meet up with that witch tonight? She's bound to be in the Tower with the rest of her team mates by now! And there's no way in Hell I could possibly meet up with her in there without having to kidnap her! Heck, even if I did that, there's no way in Hell that things would work the way Shadow Man wants it to!" He shook his head angrily, practically growling now. "This is so not worth the rewards he promised," he grumbled venomously.

Then he noticed a movement in the sky out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head, and his eyes involuntarily widened in surprise at the sight of what was now hovering in the air towards the city. "I may have spoken to soon." Sure enough, he could now see none other than the very person that the black cloaked figure had tasked him with meeting with that night levitating through the air towards the city.

The goth boy remained absolutely still, watching intently as the teenage Azarathian sorceress levitated past his location and further towards somewhere within the interior of the city. Right as she was virtually seconds away from getting dangerously close to escaping from his eyesight, he abruptly managed to remember what his mission was, and he hurriedly started running off to try to follow her. "Can't lose sight of her," he thought to himself. "If I screw up this mission, Shadow Man will so not be happy." And from what he'd managed to gather about the mysterious cloaked figure's aura alone, he had a feeling that he'd be capable of inflicting punishments that would make him wish for Ra's al Ghul's worst torture tactics.

For what seemed like hours (and as far as he cared probably actually were hours), the goth boy pursued the airborne sorceress from the ground, swearing mentally every time he came close to losing her, and gasping just as profusely in relief every time he finally managed to successfully get her firmly in his sights once more. "Good grief, she could really give the League of Shadows agents a serious run for their money," he whispered to himself as he continued his pursuit. "At this rate, she'd definitely better come to a stop soon," he continued. "I'm not sure if I'm can continue to keep up with her for long if she stays airborne."

As if on cue, the sorceress started to slowly lower downwards. In a flash, the goth boy started running faster, desperate to see if he could be in position to properly glimpse where she'd be landing. As it turned out, much to his luck, he was able to catch sight of her coming increasingly close to some town square type location not too far away from where the old Cook's Electronics store used to be. At this point, he finally started to slow down to a walk. Now that Raven was so close to coming to a landing, he was certain that he could afford to take the risk of slowing down.

"Finally," he thought to himself. "Scratch what I said earlier, things are definitely starting to look up for me tonight."

He came to a stop inches away from the nearest entrance to the town square he'd noticed Raven heading towards, and then carefully took a peek around the wall he was standing by to look inside. He could now see Raven standing near a lamppost on the side opposite where he was located. She appeared to be waiting for someone. Though of course, from what he'd heard about her, and actually had somewhat gotten a hint about from an encounter with her before his first death now that he thought about it, you could never really tell what she thinking, feeling, or likewise up to unless you knew her really well indeed. And he was not too proud to admit that he was most certainly not among the people who knew her at that strong of a level.

For a brief moment, he tensed up as if about to go ahead and walk right into the area and make himself known. Then he paused, shook his head, and calmed himself down. "No," he thought to himself. "Not yet. She's only just arrived. Odds are, she'll be on guard. Best I wait, give her a chance to calm down somewhat; not to mention see if she's expecting anybody else to show up here with her." He checked his watch; it was now 8:20. "I can probably afford to wait a little while or so," he thought to himself.

So he waited. And for a long while, nothing happened. Then at one point, after very narrowly managing to avoid falling asleep, he checked his watch once more. It was now 8:50. "Holy smokes," he thought to himself. He hurriedly looked into the town square again, and mentally sighed in relief upon seeing that Raven was still there. He took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Now's probably a safe enough time to make my move." He carefully entered the square and took five or six cautious steps in Raven's direction. So far, by sheer luck on his part, the sorceress hadn't noticed him. He mentally steeled himself, quietly taking another deep breath. "Here goes nothing," he thought to himself.

His mission, as explained by the cloaked figure the previous night, was seemingly quite simple. All he had to do was meet up with Raven, have a little talk with her if able, perhaps maybe develop a small inkling of a friendship with her if lucky, and then somehow convince her to take a walk in the local forest sometime tomorrow evening. As long as he didn't screw up right now, that kind of series of tasks really wouldn't be all that hard. He cleared his throat . . . loudly . . . and Raven snapped her head around to face the direction she'd heard the sudden noise coming from.

. . . . .

Raven hadn't been entirely certain what to expect when she'd turned her head upon hearing an unexpected noise that sounded like someone clearing his throat. But she certainly hadn't been expecting some random goth looking boy standing around on the opposite side of the town square, and she partially lowered her guard, her outer appearance betraying no hint of any such lowering.

"Sorry," said the boy, clearly aware of what Raven's facial expression and body language meant. "I was just walking by and I noticed you here." He lowered his hands from their initial placatory position and slipped them into the pockets of his grayish black leather jacket. "A bit late in the evening to be out and about don't you think?"

Raven raised her eyebrow. "I do believe I could say the same for you."

The boy opened his mouth as if about to respond, then thought to himself, and then nodded in concession. "Touché."

"And for the record," Raven continued. "Last time I checked, knowing who I am, I'm sure you'd be well aware that I'm usually more than capable of taking care of myself."

"Well yeah, that is true," the goth boy admitted. A sheepish look came on his face. "Instinctive courtesy act I guess. Sorry."

Raven softened a little more, now realizing how rude she'd likely just acted. "No need, it's fine," she said. "I probably could've been a bit politer. And thanks for the concern. It's appreciated."

"Hey it's fine," said the goth boy. "I've experienced worse levels of rudeness. Your behavior just now is hardly that bad." He paused for a moment. "So what exactly are you doing out here right now?"

"Is that entirely your business?"

"Well you don't have to tell me, I'm just curious." The boy stretched his arms skyward, yawning slightly in the process. "Me personally, I like to go for a late night walk before bed. Helps me relax and get in the right state of mind I need in order to sleep properly. I hear activities like this tend to have that kind of effect on a lot of people."

"I can imagine," Raven responded politely. She then thought to herself. "What time is it?"

The goth boy checked his watch. "It's about 8:55 now," he responded. He looked back up at Raven. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh I was just curious."

The goth boy just stared blankly at the sorceress, clearly not satisfied with the answer. After about a minute, Raven relented. "I'm supposed to meet with someone here around 9:00."

"Ah," said the goth boy. He briefly turned his head and looked towards the sky, now feeling a little nervous. "I'm guessing one of your teammates?"

"Likely," said Raven. "I mean, whoever the person I'm supposed to be meeting here tonight is, he's recently been playing the role of my 'secret admirer'." She folded her arms across her chest. "And quite frankly, considering the fact that all three of the little gifts he's left for me as overtures have been left directly within the tower and been among the kinds of things that I really like a lot; and believe me, that information isn't something I give out freely, even to my four fellow founders; then it would only be logical that he's one of my teammates."

"I see," said the goth boy. He thought to himself. "This could complicate things," he mentally noted. "Well even so, maybe it would be ok if I kept you company and talked while you wait?" He mentally face palmed. This was Raven. She liked being on her own. "I mean, if you want to anyway . . ."

"I guess I wouldn't mind."

The goth boy raised his eyebrow. He hadn't been expecting to get the chance to talk to Raven that easily.

Raven seemingly was quite aware of this factor. "I mean, if things work out to the point of me developing . . . that kind of relationship . . . with my apparent secret admirer tonight, then I could very well have some need to have somewhat better social skills; and having a little talk with you right now while I'm waiting could help me get some much needed practice."

The goth boy thought to himself. "That . . . does sound reasonable I guess." Mentally, he was just as much cheering and celebrating how surprisingly easily he was now getting the chance at fulfilling his assigned mission as he was acknowledging the logic behind Raven's comment. Then he smiled as he realized a legitimately true comment that would possibly help Raven feel somewhat even more comfortable around him. "Heck, now that I think about it, it's probably about high time we had a little talk together. After all," he directed a purely companionable smile towards the teenage sorceress, "you never did tell me whether or not you liked any show tunes."

Raven raised her eyebrow. "I'm sorry," she deadpanned. "Have we met before?"

"Actually yes," said the goth boy. "Five years ago."

"Oh that so narrows it down."

"Around late July or early August?" the goth boy stated, now regretting having forgotten the exact date.

Raven also noticed how he was starting to question himself. "That tone of yours is most certainly not making it any easier for me to believe you."

"At some warehouse," the goth boy continued. "There was a party going on there . . . and then some flying robotic squids attacked."

For a quite brief moment, Raven still remained skeptical. Then her eyes widened as she finally remembered exactly what event the goth boy was talking about. "Oh yeah," she commented. "I do remember that day now." And indeed she did, at the time that the boy had now mentioned, Starfire's elder sister Blackfire had dropped by to visit (albeit, while on the run from some alien cops from the distant Centauri Moons system and had attempted to frame Starfire for the theft of a valuable gemstone from said star system) and had brought her sister and the rest of the Titans to a party going on at what she'd described to be a creepy rundown warehouse in an effort to further get in the good graces of her sister's four fellow founders and make sure her sister would be out in the open for yet another attempt by the alien cops to apprehend Starfire in her place. And that being said, she now remembered how, over the course of that party, she had been approached by this very boy and had a small conversation with him before he had then fled in fear from the sight of one of the alien cops' robotic flying squid-like drones rocketing right past them with Beast Boy in its grasp. Since then, she had never once seen, talked to, or mentioned this boy at all . . . until now.

The goth boy himself, as he'd made clear in his efforts at helping Raven herself remember it, also remembered the event in question quite well (apart from having forgotten the exact date it had occurred). At the time, it had been at least one or two months after he'd first gotten adopted, and the likewise appropriate number of months before his death. His adoptive father, having managed to successfully figure out the exact location where his previous ward had holed up, had decided to travel there to check on him from afar, and had brought him along to put him through one final minor test before joining him in the 'family business'. At that time, he'd taken on the public guise of a goth boy strictly as a disguise. This same disguise had, after his death, resurrection, and escape, had become a genuine interest and default public identity as part of his work in keeping himself hidden from the League of Shadows. And over the course of his work in keeping watch over the boy in question, he had attended the party and engaged in social interaction with Raven as a means of blending in and working to improve his own social skills that had been severely stunted by his time in the Gotham City Orphanage. Now, after multiple years, and more than one encounter while in his somewhat more sinister hidden identity, he was finally encountering Raven yet again, and for the second time ever in the identity that he'd first met her as.

And for a time, without even realizing it, the pair soon ended up taking part in quite the lengthy discussion. And the goth boy found himself enjoying the conversation so much, that he completely lost track of both time and his original intended goal. Then Raven suddenly stopped talking, a wide eyed look of shock on her face. The goth boy noticed this, stopped talking, and raised his eyebrow.

"What time is it?"

At the sound of this question, the goth boy's eyes widened in surprise of his own, and he hurriedly checked his watch. "It's 10:00," he responded.

Raven frantically started looking around, then she sighed, and hung her head. "Pity," she said. "He never showed up."

At the sound of this, and the sight of the somewhat deflated and upset look that Raven had now taken, the goth boy felt his heart legitimately sink in genuine sympathy and sadness. He himself had occasionally made an effort at initiating courtship with local girls, only to end up getting stood up by almost every single girl that he'd hoped to engage in a relationship that consisted of more than a one-night stand, of which he'd managed to take part in a quite large number that would very likely impress even his surrogate father, who actually had quite an impressive record of his own when it came to sexual romantic matters. And he knew exactly how Raven was likely feeling at the apparent tardiness of her apparent 'secret admirer'.

"Hey it's alright," said the goth boy, briefly tempted to place his hand on her shoulder, but managing to hold himself back from doing so out of fear of how she'd react to the not necessarily wanted physical contact from him. "I'm sure that whoever it is, he had perfectly good reason to be late." He nodded his head as if to confirm both Raven and himself of the truth behind the statement. "And besides, since he's likely your teammate, odds are he's also truly at least a good friend of yours as well. And if he truly is your friend, not to mention if he truly loves you, then he'll almost certainly make an effort to try this out again! I'm sure of it! You don't have to give up this early on just because of one little disappointment. Not at all!"

For what seemed like an eternity, Raven said nothing, seemingly deep in thought. The goth boy found himself getting increasingly nervous from Raven's continued lack of response. "Well," she eventually said. "I guess you're right. I mean, he did say in his note to expect him to only be late if he had an especially good reason." The goth boy mentally exhaled in relief. "And besides," Raven continued. "Giving up right now over this would go completely against the words of the very song that I like that's virtually the only upbeat song that I know of that I actually like." She nodded her head. "Yeah," she admitted. "I guess you're right. I'll give him a chance to make another attempt."

"That's good," said the goth boy. And he genuinely meant it to. "Perhaps we could discuss that again the next time we talk?" Raven turned her head to face him, her eyebrows raised, and the boy mentally face palmed once again. "I mean, if you want to meet and talk with me again. I mean, I'd understand if you don't. After all, talking to random civilians and having strong friendships with them isn't exactly included or encouraged within the job description and all."

Raven continued to stare at the boy, and he found himself feeling increasingly nervous. Then Raven nodded her head. "I guess it would be ok to talk with you a couple more times." The goth boy mentally exhaled in relief. "Is there any time in particular you're willing to try to meet up and talk again?" Raven asked.

"Actually yes," said the goth boy, now finally remembering his original goal. "Perhaps sometime tomorrow evening in the forest? I like to go for walks there every now and then."

Raven thought to herself. "I suppose I could," said the sorceress. She folded her arms across her chest, still deep in thought. "Granted, it depends on when my little outing tomorrow ends."

"Outing?"

"Oh sorry, I forgot, you're not on my team."

The goth boy raised his eyebrow, a rather amused looking smirk on his face.

"Not remotely what I meant," said Raven.

The goth boy chuckled. "I know, I know, I'm just messing with you. But otherwise, what's this about your little outing you mentioned?"

"For Valentine's Day," Raven clarified. "One of my teammates and I are going to spend the majority of the day at the zoo . . . Valentine's Day week special ticket offers you know? And well, this particular teammate of mine really loves animals, and he and I both thought it would be a good idea to take advantage of this . . . seasonal opportunity, and we could spend the day there on a date as friends. And our leader even managed to score our tickets in advance yesterday so that we could arrive as early as we wanted and be in time to enter at the zoo's opening time."

"I see," said the goth boy.

"But nonetheless," said Raven. "Like I said, depending on how long it takes before our time at the zoo ends, I could at some point meet you in the woods later that evening."

"In that case, I'll be waiting there." The goth boy nodded to himself, now feeling quite glad that Raven would have at least virtually one entire day's worth of happiness with a friend beforehand in the event that whatever the shadowy cloaked figure had planned for her succeeded.

Raven thought to herself, and then nodded. "If I'm able to meet up with you tomorrow, I'll send you a signal to let you know that I can do so. Fail to see my signal, you'll know to expect a need to reschedule."

"Got it," said the goth boy. "Wait for signal. I can do that."

"Good," said Raven. She sighed in a mixture of content and tiredness. "I'd best head back home now. Considering how early me, my friend, and our leader have registered the beginning of tomorrow's outing, I'm gonna need all the sleep I can get."

"Understandable," the goth boy admitted, now feeling very tired himself. "I'll see you later."

Raven nodded, turned around, and tensed up as if about to take to the air. Then she paused, and she turned around to face the goth boy once more. "Actually," she said. "There's one more thing I probably should do before I go."

The goth boy raised his eyebrow. "Ok then?" he asked.

Raven pointed at him. "I never got your name did I?"

The goth boy thought to himself, and then nodded in agreement. "No you did not."

Raven waited for about a minute or two, but the goth boy didn't respond. The sorceress folded her arms across her chest. "Perhaps you'd be willing to tell me? I mean, if we're going to be friends, then I might as well at least know your name, because I'd very much prefer not to constantly refer to you as goth boy or some other random nickname."

The goth boy thought to himself upon hearing this. "Fair point," he thought to himself. He looked back at Raven. "In that case," he said, "I guess I can go ahead and give you that courtesy." He hung his head, took a deep breath, and then exhaled. Even after how many years he'd spent safely hidden from the League of Shadows in the last few years that had followed his escape from them, he always got nervous whenever he had to give anyone a name to refer to him by. After all, as the cloaked figure had made quite clear the previous night, an especially smart and observant individual would not be fooled by the false name he used as his civilian alias. He looked back up at Raven. "It's Todd," he responded. He smiled slightly. "Todd Jameson."

Raven thought to herself. "Hmm, nice name," she said out loud.

'Todd' smiled. "Glad you think so." He jokingly bowed. "And now, we shall be very good friends."

Raven rolled her eyes at the boy's joking bow. "So we will," she droned. She turned around to face the direction of the tower once more. "See you at a later date."

"Copy that," 'Todd' responded. He nodded his head. "Have fun on your outing tomorrow."

Raven nodded her head. "I'll see what I can do."

The sorceress took to the air and flew back towards Titans Tower. The goth boy remained standing where he was for a moment, feeling a small sense of nostalgia at the sight of the flying teen sorceress. "Man," he thought to himself. "I used to idolize Superman so much before my parents' deaths." Then he sighed, remembering how negative and dark his life had become since the final day in which he'd so fervently been at the point of almost worshipping the Man of Steel. "Pity I had to grow up," he thought to himself. "And at such an early age to." He sighed once more, shook his head side to side, and turned around to leave the town square he'd spent the past hour or so and return home. And for once, the negative emotions he felt as he made the long walk back to his home were genuine regret as opposed to irritation and disdain.

. . . . .

Meanwhile, in a small alleyway a couple miles or so between the park and the town square, a forlorn looking green wolf loped across the path with its head low, its tail hanging limp, and a now seemingly wilted bouquet of black orchids in its jaws. Beast Boy was not happy, not anymore. He had arrived around the area where he'd planned to meet up with Raven with about half an hour to spare. Unfortunately, due to unexpectedly taking longer than he'd initially planned in finding the exact area in Jump City Park where he'd hidden the flowers and then briefly getting lost on his way from the park to the town square, he'd ended up arriving around 15 minutes past 9:00.

Unfortunately, right as he'd been about five steps away from stepping out of the shadows and though the entrance he'd chosen to use, he'd caught sight of a very unwelcome and disheartening image. Raven had been present within the chosen location . . . and she'd been deep in conversation with someone else. And of course, the other person had been a boy; and a very familiar looking goth boy at that. For what had seemed like an eternity, Beast Boy the wolf had remained practically frozen in position with a stunned look on his wolf form's face as he watched, too stunned to even hear what the two dark aura bearing teenagers were saying. And by the time he'd finally regained the ability to move, he'd been so overwhelmed by thoughts of what had apparently been going on that he'd turned away and proceeded to swiftly, yet silently, run away from the area as far as he could without even giving himself a chance to hear a word that they were saying.

Needless to say, he was now quite despondent. Unlike Raven, he had recognized and remembered the goth boy directly upon sight. And thanks to the context that he'd caught sight of them under, and a mixture of his shock and despair, he'd come to a very disheartening and somewhat logical, albeit inaccurate, conclusion. "God curse me," he thought to himself despondently, still in wolf form. "I'm too late. I know I should have hidden these flowers closer to the rendezvous point!"

The green wolf turned its head and directed a despondent look back in the direction of the intended rendezvous point. "She probably thinks that he's the secret admirer now."

It had to be admitted, under any other circumstances, Beast Boy would have been more than capable of realizing how illogical it would be for Raven to come to such a misconception. But at that particular moment, he was so flooded now with his own despair that the more rational side of his mind was too heavily emotionally clouded for his better judgment to properly come into play.

Beast Boy turned his head away, mentally sighing despondently in defeat. "Oh well," he thought to himself. "I guess I'd best say goodbye to going to the zoo tomorrow." He hung his head. "Or if not that, at least to whatever chance I may have currently had at not being single this Valentine's Day . . . or ever."

Slowly, carefully, and quite despairingly, the green wolf placed the now sadly seemingly no longer needed bouquet down on the ground in front of him. He lifted his head, still staring down at the flowers, sniffling and whimpering like a dog in his wolf form. "It's not fair." He turned his head, forlorn look still on his face, and gazed in the direction of the tower and his intended rendezvous point. "It's. Not. Fair." He sniffled again; and then, very slowly, fighting to avoid breaking down, lifted his head up towards the sky. With a sniffle, followed by a deep breath, he closed his eyes, directed his wolf form's head at a complete vertical angle, and uttered a mournful, despairing, heartbroken howl at the moon.

And just like that, the new chapter's over. And like I said, I hope you read and somewhat enjoyed this new chapter in spite of how it ended. Heck, to be honest, in the original idea for this chapter's events I had in my head before I wrote it, it would actually have been somewhat more depressing how this chapter unfolded. For starters, I was originally going to have Raven bring along the first bouquet to the rendezvous point and be fooled into thinking that the goth boy was her secret admirer. Also, my plan was for Beast Boy to arrive and be present the entire time that the goth boy was present and overhear the entirety of the conversation between him and Raven. And finally, I was going to have the goth boy smash the first bouquet under his foot after Raven left and likewise act very much like a huge jerkass after our favorite teen sorceress's departure before departing in time for Beast Boy to despondently walk in as a wolf long after both Raven and the goth boy were gone before doing his 'mournful howl'. But over the course of writing this chapter/story and the stories that came before this one, I realized that, by this point, I've already fit in too much BBRae ship tease and similar elements and whatnot that would make this chapter's events the way I'd originally planned them far too out of left field. So instead, as you can see, I've had it unfold so that Raven would really view our infamous goth boy, 'Todd Jameson', as just a friend, have 'Todd' remain somewhat more characteristic to the way he was in the previous chapter (and the actual Teen Titans cartoon) as more of a somewhat sympathetic character than an outright jerkass and borderline villain, and have Beast Boy just mistakenly THINK that Raven now thought that 'Todd' was her secret admirer and decided to become his girlfriend. So yeah, this chapter could have been worse huh? On another note, here's a couple notes I might as well mention.

A: That little bit with Raven eating the contents of that box of MaryAnn's chocolate dipped strawberries? I got that idea from NeneJPhilly's 'Day of St. Valentine' story.

B: I'm sure you noticed that little nod to how the goth boy (aka. 'Todd') made an appearance in 'Sisters'? Here's to hoping that I did a good job in fitting what I've set up for this character's story to properly fit within the events of the DCTTAU and it's fanfiction continuation now being written by 'moi'. And for that matter, I'm sure you can now not only DEFINITELY guess who 'Todd' actually is (in regards to his civilian name), but also understand what the 'master' meant when he referred to how very similar his chosen false civilian name is to his real civilian identity.

And just like that, I'll leave you to your reading, hopefully to some degree enjoying, and reviewing this new chapter. And once again, I require a minimum of 1 review for this new chapter before I post the next chapter (once its completed). Again, have fun!

Coming up next: Valentine's Day has arrived. And in spite of Beast Boy's fears, he and Raven still manage to have their outing together at the zoo. Meanwhile, at the same time that our favorite chromatically challenged couple is having their little day trip (sadly still as friends at this point in the DCTTAU) at the Jump City Zoo, the other Titans, especially the couples, find their own ways to happily spend the day. But just how will the day's outcome be affected after what has now unpleasantly managed to unfold in this past chapter? Find out next time, on Shadows of Love!