Raven was afraid.

Admitting her emotions was a necessity. Any time she denied emotions, things tended to blow up. Or monsters climbed out of her psyche and terrorized the tower with her powers. Either option was a possibility, she knew that now. Hell, she'd known that for years.

So yes. She was afraid.

Sweat trickled down her neck, sending chills down her spine. She cursed silently as she paced, the rhythm of her steps creating a dull beat against the carpeted floor of her room. Her stomach was in knots, and she felt rather nauseous.

Then again, she'd been nauseous since this morning now that she thought about it.

The thought did little to calm her, rather it only added to kindle to the already raging fire. She was afraid, more so than any other moment in her life, and that was saying something. After all, Raven had literally stared hell in the face, and yet the situation she was in now was ten times more terrifying.

She was pregnant.

Raven supposed she had every right to be afraid. After all, she was the spawn of Trigon the Terrible; not exactly great parenting skills there. Plus there was her powers and how fickle they could be. But that wasn't why she was scared shitless.

Okay, so yeah, powers exploding near the baby was a pretty decent possibility, but Raven was much more experienced now, and even if such a thing occurred, she knew how to handle it. And even though a small lurking fear worried about how good of a parent she'd be, Raven knew she was at least okay. After all, Timmy, Teether, and Melvin all loved her, even now that they were older. Plus, she enjoyed babysitting little Mar'i every now-and-again.

No, her real fear was whether or not she'd unintentionally cursed this unborn child. Even though she'd defeated Trigon, there was still a small chance he could return, especially with a grandchild running around.

That, and she had to tell Garfield.

Logically, Raven knew Garfield would be overjoyed by the news. Hell, he'd been talking about marriage and kids since the first few months they'd started dating. He was head over heals for her, and would probably cry or something when she told him. And yet this stupid, irrational fear that he'd flip and abandon her latched itself to the core of her being and wouldn't let go, no matter what logical argument she came up with.

With a sigh, Raven slumped into a nearby armchair and gazed daggers at the clock on the wall. It was only twelve, and Garfield wouldn't be back from patrol for another half an hour. Far too much time to keep from freaking out. Raven contemplated distracting herself with a book, but she knew she was too frazzled to actually get into reading. Although Raven had suspected her condition for about a week, she had just gone to the doctor to confirm it earlier that morning.

Hence the waves of terror that coursed through her. With another frazzled sigh, the empath decided her best course of action would be to meditate while she waited. After all, it would be a shame to break the new vase she'd bought the other day.

She floated in the lotus position and focused on breathing in and out, feeling her body calm as her breathing stabilized. Her mind stilled, only the occasional fleeting thought dancing around the exterior of the empty barrier set in place for meditating.

Raven wasn't sure how long she meditated, perhaps only a few minutes to an hour, but her concentration was broken when the sounds of a door banging open rattled the apartment. She drifted to the ground and turned towards the entrance, the image of Garfield wriggling out of his shoes making her heart flutter.

She was so not ready for this.

Her boyfriend collapsed onto the couch with a groan, his hand running through his dark forest colored hair, making the sweaty strands stick up in odd places. A wry smile tugged at Raven's lips, and she shot him a curious glance.

"Sounds like you had a fun patrol today."

Garfield scowled. "There was nothing there! I dunno what Bats is thinking, but those cultists aren't here in Jump! I literally checked everywhere! It doesn't help that those kids don't know what they're doing either. I'm telling you Rae, they have no clue how to look for clues. None! These new Titans need a helluva lot more training before they fight anyone, or they'll get killed!"

Raven rolled her eyes. About a year prior, she and the rest of the original Titans had graduated onto bigger and better things. Starfire had become an intergalactic diplomat, working to start up an maintain a sort of United Nations between galaxies to keep the peace. Robin, now Nightwing, along with her and Cyborg, had been official inducted into the Justice League. Garfield was now the head of the Titans organization as a whole, though he worked some League missions on the side. She knew the Justice League was waiting to snatch him up as well, though the shapeshifter seemed to enjoy working with the kids still.

Even when he griped about it.

"Hmm. I'm sure it wasn't that bad," she teased lightly. Garfield grunted, a scowl etched onto his features. Raven toyed with the hem of her cloak silently, internally freaking out. She had no clue how to initiate the conversation, and her panic level was quickly rising. After all, there wasn't really a manual for this sort of thing.

Right?

"Uh, Rae? Everything okay?"

She blinked, having been staring off into space during her internal meltdown. A flush stung her cheeks, and she forced a grin onto her face. "Y-yeah, of course," she stammered, wishing nothing more than to bang her head onto the wall repeatedly for the rest of eternity.

Garfield made a face at her. "You're lying," he said. Raven huffed.

"No I'm not."

"Yes, you are. What's up, Rae?"

Biting her lip, Raven perched precariously beside Garfield on the couch, a tidal wave of emotions sloshing around in her belly. She took a deep breath, her gaze fleeing to anything but him. This was it, she was going to tell him.

Now, Raven prided herself in being well spoken. She didn't often stutter, and was often very blunt and straight to the point. The fact that she was an avid reader helped too, it provided her with a wide reaching vocabulary, which she used often. As such, the empath had poured countless hours into thinking of just the right words to say all week for this particular occasion, and despite her terror she thought she was well prepared with her little speech.

Oh how wrong she was.

"I..." One look at Garfield and the words died in her throat. This only concerned him more, the flood of worry battering her emphatic senses. She blinked, silently cursing herself. Say something, dammit, she thought.

"Lovely weather, huh?"

At this, the shapeshifter blinked in utter confusion, and Raven dropped her head in her hands. This was going terribly. Oh, so very horribly. The strong feelings of bewilderment from Garfield only added fuel to the fire, and soon enough Raven was laughing hysterically at herself and her current predicament. This of course, only scared Garfield, who had grabbed her shoulders and was peering at her with an expression of pure terror.

"Raven? Raven, what the hell's going on?"

The sorceress managed to gain some level of control over herself, her hysterical cackling subsiding into giggles as she attempted to calm down. She blamed her changing hormones, after all, Raven wasn't much of a giggler, until now anyway.

"S-sorry," she giggled. "I dunno why I'm laughing!" Tears streamed down her face from her previous episode, making Raven feel quite ridiculous. She was quite a hot mess at the moment, which was definitely not helping the situation.

Garfield gently cradled her face in his hands, swiping the stream of tears away with his thumb. "Yeah, well me neither. You're kind of freaking me out here Rave."

With a sigh, Raven carefully removed his hand and gazed at his face, fear once again coiling in her gut. She took a deep breath. And another. Finally, with a glance at their entangled hands, she said it.

"I'm pregnant."

Silence.

She clenched his hands desperately, her throat thick and dry. Why wasn't he saying anything? Raven risked a glance at his face, her breath catching at his expression of complete awe and wonder. In a second, he was on his knees, tugging her close.

"Marry me," he breathed, catching her by complete surprise.

"What?" she asked, bewildered. Garfield chuckled.

"I-I know this seems silly Rae, but I love you so damn much. I've been waiting for the perfect moment to ask, and now just seems...right."

Raven smiled. "You know I'm going to be huge here in the next six months right?"

He shrugged. "Let's go now then."

"Now? As in get married at the courthouse?"

"Sure, why not?" he asked. "We already live together, and now we're having a kid. Might as well just tie the knot now. Besides," he quipped with a grin, "I'm not very patient."

Raven thought for a moment. She was never an impulsive person, always thinking things out before rushing in, but this was something she couldn't see a downside too. She'd known Garfield since they were teens, and had been dating the man for three years and lived with him for many more. She was utterly in love with him, and though the prospect of marriage was daunting to her, she could see no one else she'd rather take on the challenge with.

And so, she shrugged. "Sure," she murmured, kissing him softly. And with that, the shifter gently scooped her up in his arms and toted her out of the apartment, the two laughing all the while.

Author's note:

Hey there! So sorry for the delay, I just hadn't had a decent little idea until this came along. Oops. Anyway, I hope you guys liked it!

Thanks again for the support,

-vixensheart