Well, as much as I hate it, there has to be some drama. What would they be like without drama? Oh, probably happy. But we'll get there, if all goes according to plan. Don't get too upset and please keep reading.

I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter. I really enjoyed the repetitive, "Oh my gods!" They made my day. :)

I own nothing. The Teen Titans belong to DC and their respective creators.

Chapter titles are taken from the song "Valerie Plame" by Peter Tracy.

Raven's day was going…in a complicated way.

When she woke up this morning, she hadn't been expecting the turns the day had taken. At the beginning, it had gone quite well.

She wasn't blind. Garfield was handsome, funny, clever, good at his job - despite his cavalier attitude sometimes - and clearly interested in her. And she interested as well.

Which is why she hadn't moved away. She could have. If it had been during the op, perhaps they could have blamed it on the adrenaline. But he had chosen a calm, quiet moment.

He had kissed her because he wanted to. And now she wanted him to again. Logically, she knew that they should table whatever this was until after this job was over. They didn't need an added complication in the midst of this job. Worst case, moving forward would ruin their working relationship and jeopardize the mission. Best case, it would work out and still jeopardize the mission.

Realistically, as Garfield pulled out her chair for her and brushed her shoulder, she knew that the two of them would combust long before this was over, mission or no.

Then, they had lunch with Blood.

"Good afternoon," Blood greeted Kori and Raven as he arrived at their table. "Sorry I'm late, I was held up in another meeting. I hurried them along, as I couldn't wait to see the two of you."

Raven's smile was painted on as Blood came around to say hello. She stood, letting Blood take her hands and kiss her cheek, just as he did to Kori.

Her skin felt colder as he let go of her and took his seat, somehow taking the one next to Raven, despite the fact that Kori had been there before he arrived. Without a reaction, Kori sat down across from them, and graciously asked Blood how his day was going. Raven kept her smile fixed as she sat down again, unable to help glancing behind Kori.

Garfield's mouth was in a tight line, but he kept his calm, his hands in his pockets and his eyes on the windows and doors. The waiter came to take their order and Blood put his arm over the back of Raven's chair as Kori ordered. She glanced Blood as he smiled expectantly at her.

"Have you made a decision regarding my offer?" he murmured.

Raven glanced down at her empty place setting, "I've definitely thought about it, Mr. Blood."

"Then continue thinking," he said, placing his order.

As their meals arrived, Blood spoke positively and engagingly about the Pure Water project to Kori, almost completely ignoring Raven's presence. That would have been ideal for her, had it not been for Blood's hand on the back of her chair. Cold fingers stroked up and down the back of her neck. The urge to move away grew stronger by the second, but if she wanted to keep Blood amiable, she'd have to play along.

The closest she could get to playing along was not moving or breaking his hand, but her self-control slipped as he unknotted a lock of her hair and twisted it around his finger.

Garfield had moved to speak with Blood's bodyguards, the men laughing quietly at something Garfield had said. Raven envied his role in all this. A waiter came to clear the tables, stopping to speak briefly with Garfield and the guards.

Blood tugged lightly on her hair and Raven opened her mouth to tell him to-

"Ms. Finn."

Raven nearly jumped when Garfield spoke in her ear, his quiet tone still drawing the attention of the table.

"Apologies for interrupting," he said, glancing at Kori and Blood with his easy-going grin, "but you have a phone call."

"Surely it can wait," Blood argued.

"If it could, I wouldn't have bothered you," Garfield said apologetically.

Raven stood up, escaping Blood's hand. "I'll just be a minute."

Garfield glanced at Blood's guards, who nodded at him, then walked with Raven to the front of the restaurant, out of sight of Blood and Kori.

Raven looked for the phone, but Garfield leaned against the wall in the lobby, completely at ease. When she raised her brow at him, he grinned. She realized, "There's no call."

Her smirk was unavoidable and he shrugged, "Well, there was. But it was me."

She leaned on the wall next to him, "Why?"

His smile slipped off his face as he glanced back towards the table. "You know why."

Purple eyes fought the urge to fall to the floor. She'd done her job, which was nothing to be ashamed of. So the flush on her cheeks was for another reason entirely, that she couldn't quite put her finger on. "You saw that."

His hands went back into his pockets, but she saw the way his jaw tightened. "Yeah."

Raven sighed quietly, suppressing a shudder. "Yeah."

"Anyway," he said, his voice returning to his usual upbeat tone, "I thought you could use a break."

She chuckled slightly, "I'll take a vacation when this is over."

"Yeah, where to?"

"Anywhere that's not this place or a club."

He laughed. "That's a pretty open plan."

"Well, I haven't taken a vacation in five years, so I don't have much to go on."

"Five years?" Garfield asked, shocked. "Do you have a thing against fun?"

She scoffed, "I like my job. I have fun."

"Geez, Tasha," he said with a grin, "you need to learn how to relax. When this is done, we should go somewhere."

She wasn't quite sure what she wanted to focus on: where they would go or how it became "we."

"I vote somewhere where we can do some sightseeing," he continued. "Ever been to Italy?"

"For work."

"We should go and check out Rome," Garfield said. "I've never had a chance to really see the sights in Rome. Sound good?"

"Sure," she chuckled, glancing at him.

He grinned and winked down at her.

She stared at him for a minute, then sighed, glancing back in the dining room. "I should go back in."

Garfield sighed, "Yeah."

"Thanks for the break," she said, straightening up from the wall.

"Anytime. Just give me the signal."

"What would that be?"

"You shooting Blood in the knee?" he suggested.

She smiled, "Sounds good."

"Just say the word," Garfield promised.

The lunch didn't end soon enough.

Garfield had been hard pressed not to do physical harm to Blood during the meal. When he'd turned from chatting with Blood's bodyguards, who seemed to be a moderately decent, if thick, group of guys, to be honest, and seen Blood's hand on her as he spoke to Kori, he'd started to see red. The only way he'd kept from acting on it was that he noticed how hard Raven was trying not to do the same thing.

She'd argue and say otherwise, but he'd seen the way she'd stared blankly at Kori, smiling at the appropriate times without it ever reaching her eyes, the way her back was ram-rod straight and her movements were far more precise than they needed to be.

And Blood just smiled.

"After speaking with you and your lovely assistant," Blood said near the end of the meal, "I believe that Pure Water is something I would like to be a part of."

"That is wonderful news," Kori gushed, smiling brightly.

"I have a meetings all day tomorrow, but after I speak with my board and trustees, I would love to have dinner with you. To solidify our future working relationship," Blood raised his glass and nodded to both Raven and Kori.

They both smiled in return. Garfield kept his hands in his pockets as he leaned against the wall. The gun was a comforting weight against him, and he entertained his mind with the thoughts of the numerous ways he could make Blood's smile disappear.

"I'll send you my card once I make a reservation, but does Thursday night sound agreeable?" Blood suggested.

Kori looked at Raven, who opened up the tablet, "You have your photoshoot Thursday night at midnight."

"Of course," Kori responded, nodding as if she hadn't already been aware.

"But dinner is open," Raven added, closing her tablet.

"Excellent!" Blood said, standing. Raven and Kori got up and Garfield strode over to meet them. "Then this is only a temporary goodbye." He grasped Kori's hands and kissed her cheek, doing the same to Raven. He whispered something that Garfield couldn't hear normally, but which resonated through his comm.

"And I look forward to hearing from you very soon."

Raven's smile was just polite enough as she stepped back behind Kori, allowing the model to take the lead out of the restaurant.

They stepped outside, into the sunshine. Garfield pulled out his sunglasses, listening to the girls.

"You have drinks with a Mr. Gustav in an hour," Raven was telling her.

"Right," Kori sighed, rubbing her temples briefly. "Well, at least there's alcohol involved."

Garfield muffled his chuckle, catching Raven's quick glance. The sunglasses hid his eyes, so he just smiled. A glint of humor appeared in her eyes and some of the tension she'd been carrying in her shoulders since the lunch disappeared.

Making their way to the ocean side bar, Kori strode across the wooden floor and greeted an older gentleman at the bar. Taking a seat on the bench, Kori crossed her long legs and smiled engagingly at him.

"Mr. Gustav is one of the charity liaisons who works with Kori on Pure Water," Raven told Garfield quietly.

"Huh. An actual good guy," he murmured.

"Right?" Raven answered. "Hard to believe."

Kori gestured her over and Raven smiled, but sighed, "Off to work."

He watched her join Kori at the bar, drinks arriving in moments. He tuned out their conversation as he eyed the surroundings. Everything appeared normal, except –

Garfield frowned when he saw Steve at a table. His mentor eyed him, tapping his ear.

Checking the area again, he saw that Raven and Kori were deep in conversation with Mr. Gustav and the area was as secure as he could make it. Turning off the comm in his ear, he approached the table casually, leaning on the railing near Steve's table and not making eye contact.

"What's up?" he asked, casually.

"How are you doing?" Steve asked.

That seemed strangely courteous. "I'm fine."

"Blood?"

"He's a scumbag."

"I meant, how are you proceeding with the mission?"

"I'm fine. It's Kori and Rach who's got the worst of it," Garfield murmured.

"Hmm. And the girls are holding up their end of the mission?"

"They're great. Kori's on point and Rach is a great partner."

Steve scoffed quietly, staring at the ocean. "Partner. Right."

Garfield cut his eyes over at his boss. "She's good."

"She's a liability."

"She's an operative," Garfield argued.

"An operative who has to parade around in outfits like that?" Steven asked sarcastically. "Truly she's relying on skill."

"Wasn't your idea for the girls to be straight up bait? At least this way they're not going to get sucked into that damn ring," he snapped back. "And Rach hates dressing up like this, she's doing it for the mission."

"Of course she is," Steve drawled.

"She is."

Steve sipped his drink, "She set you up with the Hoods."

This again? "She didn't and you have to drop this, Mento. We're working together. Why are you so against this?"

"I'm your mentor. I'm trying to keep you from being blindsided by emotion and getting taken advantage of," Steve said, rubbing his eyes. "Years before you, a man came into my life. Mine and Rita's. He convinced me he was working for the betterment of our agency and our country. He became like a father."

Garfield had never heard any of this.

"It was only when it was too late that I realized the man had been using my agency, my resources, my agents, me, against one another, corrupting us from within and using us to carry out his own agenda. He used us, because we trusted him. And this girl is the same to you. She is-"

"My partner," Garfield finished, but without the previous venom. Steve had a point. But he was also wrong. About this. About Raven. About him.

"Excuse me?"

"Raven is my partner. I trust her. So…get over it," Garfield told him, pushing away from the railing. He turned his comm back on, cutting off Steve's comment and ignoring the glare he received.

Returning to his post, Garfield returned his eyes to his team. When he next looked over, Mento was gone.

Raven kicked off her heels and slid into the computer chair with a sigh, her aching feet killing her. Even Kori seemed exhausted, the usual flawless model rubbing her eyes and taking a seat on the couch to close her eyes.

The only one who only seemed moderately unfazed was Garfield, but he certainly didn't complain as he sat on the couch as well, tossing his jacket over the arm of it.

"I don't know about you," Garfield muttered, stretching slightly, "but I could do with some room service."

"And a drink," Raven added, taking her hair out of the ponytail she'd put it in earlier. "Order some?"

Kori already had the menu in her hands as she perused the options. Raven slipped away for a moment, ditching the skirt and blouse for sweatpants and a tank-top. Curling back up in the computer chair, she enjoyed the quiet moment. Kori was flipping through a magazine and Garfield had turned on the tv, switching mindlessly through the channels. Raven closed her eyes and sighed.

Then someone knocked on the door.

"That was fast," Garfield muttered, getting to his feet and checking the peephole. He frowned and stepped back, staring at the door.

"What is it?" Kori asked him, tensing.

Garfield sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, "Probably not good news." He opened up the door and let in three men. None of whom were carrying food or drinks.

Vic shut the door behind Dick and Steve.

"What's going on?" Raven asked Dick, straightening up.

The frown on his face didn't bode well, "Mento insisted. He said he had something-"

Raven stared as Steve came further into the room, a packet in his hand. She was beginning to hate that image.

"Mento," Kori said with a polite frown. "What can we do for you?"

Steve's eyes latched on Raven, "Nothing, but is there something you'd like to share with us?"

She scoffed, keeping her emotions in check, "No." Had he found out that she lied about the Hoods? Was he truly that upset about it?

"Fine, then I have no choice," Steve stated, opening up the packet.

"What is this about?" Dick asked shortly, clearly not the first time he'd asked that.

Steve announced, "I have a problem with the caliber of people you employ."

Garfield checked the peephole, "Maybe keep the noise down."

"Beast, you should hear this, too. Seeing as how you helped," Steve said, waving him over.

Garfield glanced at Raven, the same confusion she felt mirrored on his face.

"I did a bit of a background search on you, Rachel," Steve said.

Raven remained calm. He wouldn't have found anything. He couldn't have. Not without –

"Raven Roth," he began, "born in-"

She went cold. How could he have gotten her name? Unless…

Raven stared at Garfield. "You told him my name?"

Garfield's face twisted, "It slipped out, I'm sorr-"

"Interesting," Steve continued, undeterred. "Seems like you got your start young. Paperwork beginning as a child? So ambitious."

Raven glared at Steve, her shoulders tight. "Put it down."

"First kill at age sixteen? Quick study, are we?" Steve said, a cold smirk on his face.

Raven felt the blood drain out of her face. Her nails were digging into her palms. She was so far beyond angry at this moment. She dragged in a breath through her nose, trying to reign in her emotions.

"Two bullets in the chest and one in the head…Completely what I would expect from a child," Steve read sarcastically, adding his own editorial comments as he saw fit.

"Mento." When Garfield spoke sharply, Raven felt her shoulders grow even tighter. "Enough."

"This is none of your business," Dick stepped in, Kori's green eyes so angry she was shocked they weren't burning through Steve's skull. "I know Raven's past and I still deem her to be a perfectly capable agent and a woman with a moral center of a her-"

"Of a cockroach," Steve cut in. "I'll say when it's enough. The police found you, gun in hand, sitting by the body," Steve said, his eyes on Raven. When she didn't respond, when all she did was glare, he turned back to the paper. "In fact, there was the body of a woman there, too. Kill her, too, Raven?"

She could remember the blood on her hands. How she'd stared at him until the light finally left his eyes and he was cold to the touch.

"Tristan and Arella Roth were pronounced dead at the scene and their daughter…" Steve's voice grew harder as he glared at Raven, "Your own parents, Raven? Deplorable."

Raven didn't blink as she stared at him.

Steve did, the smirk on his face slowly fading as he came to the end. "It was later discovered through forensics, as Raven refused to speak during any of the multitudes of interrogations, that Tristan Roth, head of the Tri-Gun gang, had killed his wife before turning on his daughter. Raven showed multiple injuries that denoted years of abuse, resulting in extensive therapy and loss of hearing, in addition to-"

Finally able to move, Raven marched across the room and ripped the packet out of his hands. When he looked about to argue, Dick and Kori stepped forward and Vic straightened.

Her fingers shook as she clasped the papers. Her jaw hurt form clenching it so hard. She saw a figure just behind Steve, but refused to look at him. She turned, the papers crumpling in her hands.

"You murdered your own father?" Steve's accusation rang out, slightly less forceful than he had been.

"It was self-defense," Raven snapped over her shoulder, her iron control over her temper slipping.

"Two in the chest is self-defense?"

She shut her eyes, remembered the way her father had come after her. How she'd barely managed to get the gun out of her mother's cold hands. How the first bullet didn't even slow him down. How the second only made him laugh. He only stopped laughing when she put the third through his skull. She kept the gun trained on him until the police showed up, terrified that he'd just start laughing again.

Some nights, she still heard it.

"Mento," Garfield tried again, "drop it. We've all done things."

"We haven't murdered our own family! She turned on her own flesh and blood!" he shouted.

"Flesh and blood who tried to murder me," she pointed out, heading towards the door.

"We don't work with people we can't trust," Steve said.

She noted the plural pronoun and her eyes flickered over to Garfield.

"Explain yourself," Steve demanded.

She stopped in her tracks and spun slowly. She had control now. She knew her face was frozen in a mask of serenity, though her emotions twisted uncomfortably just beneath her skin. As angry as she was with Steve, it was just anger. Garfield brought up more things she hadn't quite been prepared for. Like hurt. Betrayal.

"I do not have to explain myself to you." Her words were so quiet one could hear a pin drop. "Robin cleared me. That's all you should care about."

Steve didn't back down, "And what about me?"

"I don't give a damn about you. I care about the mission. So how about you focus your research on things that actually matter," Raven hissed. "From now on, stay out of my business and out of my way, Steven Dayton."

While he reeled, Raven walked to the door and paused, her hand on the knob. She looked back for a second at Garfield.

Who hesitated.

With the faintest tightening of her lips and a far more painful sensation in her chest, Raven walked out.

"What the hell was that, Steve?" Garfield turned on his mentor as the door slammed shut. No point in the codename now; Raven had dropped his full name as she walked out, proving that she could've done the same exact thing he'd done to her. But she hadn't.

"She is a complication."

"She's a great agent," Robin shot in, still livid. "You had no right to put her on trial for something you didn't understand."

"I understand enough."

"Raven was abused," Kori spoke up, her voice ice cold. "Her father beat her and her mother. The night he killed her mother, he turned on her. If Raven hadn't stopped him…" she trailed off and shook her head. She started out of the room, "You had no right to do that to her," she whispered as she left.

Garfield's chest tightened and he glared at Steve anew. "Dammit. And you had to bring that crap back up for her?"

"Raven ruined the job at the club by bringing in the Hoods. She knew about your history and-" Steve argued.

Robin walked around the table, "Raven would never-!"

"Especially not with a gang!" Cy jumped in.

"Obviously she did!" Steve turned on them, "Because-"

Garfield's temper snapped, "Fucking hell - Raven had my back!" Steve turned to him, mouth open. "The gang recognized me and came after me. Raven stepped in and helped. She had no idea they were Hoods until after they had me in that alley!"

Steve stared at him, "But she-"

"Lied to cover for me," Garfield interrupted. "She saved my ass and then you go and drop a fucking inquisition on her!"

Steve scoffed, "She's still a complication."

Garfield refused to say anything else to Steve just now. He turned on his heel and left the room, charging towards the elevator. Halfway there, Kori stopped him.

She smiled apologetically, "She's already gone."

"Then where-"

Kori shrugged. "Anywhere. She'll come back when she's ready."

"When might that be?" Garfield asked.

"A few hours. Maybe the night."

He sighed, running his fingers through his hair. If she wasn't here, he couldn't talk to her, and if he couldn't talk to her, he couldn't apologize.

Kori touched his shoulder. "She'll be okay."

He nodded without really agreeing and let Kori back into the room, Robin, Cy, and Steve were beginning the argument again.

"Beast," Steve snapped, "where do you think-"

Garfield walked right past him and into his bedroom, shutting the door behind him. Collapsing onto his bed, he pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes.

And this morning was going so well…