I KNOW YOU ALL MEAN WELL, SO DON'T WORRY ABOUT THAT WHOLE RANT OF MY BOSS. SHE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT FANFICTION IS, I DOUBT SHE EVEN KNOWS WHAT TEEN TITANS IS; SHE'S AN OLD ASIAN WHO LIVED IN ANOTHER COUNTRY FOR MANY YEARS BEFORE MOVING TO AMERICA, I DOUBT SHE EVEN READS ENGLISH AT HOME. BESIDE'S, WE'VE ALL COMPLAINED ABOUT HER BEFORE. SHE'S NOT MY MAJOR BOSS, SHE'S MY SUPERVISER. MY REAL BOSSES ALL LOVE ME. ESPECIALLY SINCE I TOOK THE JOB NOBODY ELSE IN THE WHOLE STORE WANTED: BEING IN THE FOOD COURT. ONE OF THE GIRLS IN MY DEPARTMENT GOT A JOB OFFER AT ANOTHER STORE, SO NOW THERE ARE ONLY FOUR OF US WORKING THERE, MYSELF INCLUDED. I'VE BEEN WORKING NON-STOP ALL THIS WEEK AND WAS ONLY ABLE TO WRITE A PAGE A DAY SINCE I GET KEPT UP WITH INTERNET STUFF. AND MAYBE WRITER'S BLOCK. AND MAYBE I'M LAZY. AT LEAST I'M COMPLAINING ABOUT WORKING TOO MUCH, WHILE I KNOW OTHER'S MAY NOT HAVE THE SAME LUCK AS SAYING SO. I WAS LUCKY; I APPLIED AS SOON AS I TURNED SIXTEEN, BACK IN '06, WHILE EVERYBODY ELSE IN MY CLASS JUST EXPECTED A JOB AS SOON AS THEY GRADUATED. THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE WAITED, BUT I WAS JUST THIS WORKACHOLIC WHO WANTED A JOB AS SOON AS POSSIBLE TO SUPPORT MYSELF; OTHER'S DON'T HAVE THAT SAME MOTIVATION, THAT AND THAT THEY WAITED TOO LONG WHEN THE MARKET CRASHED, WAS THEIR UNDOING.

The next day, Garfield had woken up early in the morning. He tossed the blanket by his side as he looked around the room; he was wearing only the cheap hospital clothing that barely covered him up. He saw Raven, in the bed next to his, sleeping with her back turned to him. He smiled, as she let out a soft snore. He slowly lifted up from the bed, trying not to pull on the needles that were inserted in him.

He wanted to get out of bed, but knew he couldn't. He slowly and gently sat up, turned to face Raven, and then slowly put his feet down on the floor below him. As he tried to stand, his bed made a loud creaky noise, which made Raven stir in her sleep. He scolded under his breath, as he felt the bed was outdated and wondered why Robin wouldn't get new mattresses for the infirmary. But his own cursing was what caused Raven to toss to her side, causing her to wake up. She turned to her other side, wondering if she would sleep better, with her eyes barely opened. When she did this, she saw Garfield.

"Garfield!" She said surprised, tossing her own blankets to the side to get out of bed. She stood up, in her night attire, stopping herself short from running and jumping up to him. They stood there awkwardly for a minute with the only sound heard being his heart monitor. After composing herself, she walked over to his side, trying to hide Timid from him.

"How's Lydia?" Was all he could ask, as she persuaded his body to lie back down with her hand. She sat down on the bed next to him, her eyes scanning his face and body to see if she could find any place for her to relieve him of pain. "Rae?"

"Lydia's fine." She said, releasing her black energy on his arm which was developing a small infection on it due to the needle. "Cyborg babysat both her and Bruce while Robin and Starfire went out. When they came home, they were glad to have Lydia sleep with them in their room for the night, as they thought that maybe being close to Bruce would cheer her up and not make her feel too much."

He flinched as she cleared away the small infection on his arm. Her touch had the same effect as burning alcohol, but then it would cool down to feel like aloe vera. She massaged his arm, just to comfort herself.

"And how are you?" He asked, grabbing her hand that was massaging him.

"Fine." She said, looking into his eyes. "Barely." She accidently let slip out. Something broke in the room, but it was too dark to find out what it was.

"That didn't sound fine." He said, looking around the room to find the broken item.

"What do you want me to say?" She said softly.

"The truth; what you are feeling." He said.

"I don't know what I could say that won't be taken the wrong way."

"The wrong way?"

"You have a tendency to feel guilty when I get upset about something, even if you didn't cause it. I don't want you to take responsibility for what I feel." She said in her monotone. "I am the way I am before you came into my life."

"But I just want to make it easier because I know how I complicated your emotions more. Don't act like I am not aware of it myself, I'm just wary of anything that upsets you." He said, allowing her to continue to massage his arm. "Please. Just be honest; you're mad at me for making you feel too much and of having to handle a difficult situation."

She didn't say anything, but looked back down at his arm, pretending she was more interested in the massage she was giving him.

"Okay, I guess I was expecting that answer. I did act a bit dramatic when I walked into our room, with me breathing like that."

"Dramatic?" She snapped with her voice in a very low, harsh tone, her eyes glaring at him. "You were having a heart attack. I know you like to be a jokester, but now is not a time to act like a clown! You nearly scared me to death and I can't feel that way!"

She yanked his arm toward her at the word 'way' and somewhere in the room, a piece of glass shattered. She widened her eyes, realizing she had not meant to expressed her feelings, and if she did, she would not have expressed them so strongly.

"I'm sorry." She said, looking down.

"No, no, it's fine. I'm actually glad you did that." He said, grabbing her hands. "We've been together for a long time, but sometimes I just need reassurances that you're feeling something. Even if you don't want to feel at all. You're still human."

"You are too, despite your shape-shifting abilities. What were you thinking about all those nights staying up? About me? Or something else? Why weren't you eating right? It just can't be me alone you're worried about; you've been worried about me for a lifetime."

"And I think all that worrying has finally caught up with me." He said.

"Has finally caught up with you?" She said, standing up, clenching her fists.

"Rae, don't—"

"—No, I will." She said, wagging her finger at him. She was putting up her defenses because she didn't like the answer he was giving her. She knew it was something more, but his mind wasn't giving her any hints, because he blocked it with a song stuck in his head. "It's not as if we rushed into anything—"

"—Rae—"

"—Maybe before, I didn't know how to properly tackle the issue of….Lust. But I do now. And now I know what it was. But that is the least of my worries—"

"—Rae, I knew you would have found the answer, but—" Waving his arms in defense.

"—But, you managed to doubt me anyway and continued to stress out—"

"—What? I just told you that I knew you would have…you're not making any sense right now—"

"—I'm not the one who almost killed myself…..!" She unintentionally shouted, allowing herself to take few deep breaths before she realized what she had said. Another piece of glass broke somewhere in the room, but she didn't care about it. "I'm sorry, I know better." She said, turning around so he could barely see her as she was covered in the darkness. "It's just that, I know you say it's unhealthy to keep my emotions bottled up, but I've learned that it is also unhealthy to allow your emotions to get the better of you and you have allowed them to take over your life, to the point it almost claimed you as its victim." He could hear her shuffling her feet back and forth.

He allowed some silence to past between them, allowing her to collect her thoughts before he decided speak.

"You know," He said, looking down at his own hands in his lap, chuckling a bit. "It's funny, when you think of it."

"Think of it? Think of what? Funny how?" Her voice asked somewhere in the darkness.

"It's funny that," He said, looking out towards the direction of her bed. Even though he couldn't see anything, he was hoping he could make out her silhouette in the dark. "I'm here asking you how you feel and you say that you don't want to offend me, so you keep it a secret and lashed out at me. Meanwhile, I won't tell you exactly what I was really thinking over and over again, because I don't want to offend you, so I keep it a secret, and you still end up lashing out at me. We're both cowards about telling each other how we feel and what is motivating that feeling; maybe Robin is right when he says that we're too 'high school' for him."

"Well, you have an advantage over me, you already know that I—"

"But I think you have the advantage, because you know what I am thinking—"

"—Not right now, I'm not concentrating—"

"—Well, then concentrate." He said in a begging manner. He heard her shift her feet and began walking. He could then see her body slowly descending towards him. She took back her spot on his bed, sat next to him, and gripped his hand firmly.

"No. I want you to tell me. And I'll tell you mine." She said, looking into his eyes. "I have told you time and time again to take care of yourself, but I think you didn't take the caution seriously. Now, this heart attack should give you some idea of what can happen when you allow your emotions to run your life. That is what I was thinking, that is what I was feeling. I warned you, begged you not to feel this way, but you still did. And I feel betrayed by you. As small as this feeling is, and it is very small, I still feel betrayed." She said in her monotone, before looking down. He couldn't defend himself for that, for she was right. "There, I have told you my piece, now tell me yours. What was the major cause of your stress? Tell me directly to my face, not in my head."

She had a way of getting her teammates to come to compromises, of bringing a sensible perspective on an issue, and not letting it alter her outlook on a dire situation. She had felt betrayed by him and that word was a heavy word to hear from her. Betrayal meant a lot of things to him as well as her, but he didn't think it could be made by a loved one. A real loved one. He swallowed his dehydrated mouth, as he was trying to think of what to say. She looked up at him with her helpless eyes, almost as if she was sorry herself that she had to say the word 'betrayed' to him. He held her hand tighter, as he looked down.

"I was okay when you were searching for answers….two weeks ago…..I wasn't stressing out then…" He said, looking into her eyes.

"Two weeks ago?" She questioned as she held his hand tighter. "So, it was something recent?"

"Yeah. Very recent. Remember when I asked you, two weeks ago, about your Lust? And then I was by your side the next day? Well, I brought Trigon up….and…and…..and the look on your face when you remembered…"

She looked at him in horror, but tried to suppress the urge to look away from him. He didn't question her; he knew this was as hard to listen to as it was to talk about it. And he knew she couldn't take back what she said; she asked him a question, wanting him to answer it instead of intruding on his thoughts.

"Raven?" He asked, taking his one free hand and grazing it gently on her cheeks. She closed her eyes and kneeled forward, keeping a hold onto his hand.

"Trigon."

"Yeah, Trigon." She looked up at him.

"…..And you were thinking about him forcing himself….on me?" She asked, trying to compose herself. He nodded and looked down to her hands that were gripping onto his. She couldn't say anything. She didn't know what to say. If it had been a simple problem, yes, possibly she could have maintain some self-control and whisper sweet nothings in his ear, but it wasn't a simple problem. She had passed on the same stress she had felt herself many years ago to her husband.

"Trigon." She simply stated.

"Rae," He looked into her eyes. "Look, I know I pulled out the album, just to make you forget about that. But…I didn't. And even though Trigon isn't a threat anymore, I somehow feel this guilt, eating up inside of me."

"Guilt? For what?"

"Just, for not doing more. For not protecting you more. I felt like such an idiot giving you that penny."

"The penny? You mean the penny—"

"Yeah, for good luck. But I didn't know what Trigon was capable of. If I could take it back, I wished I had stayed there in with you, comforted you. Possibly stop you from going outside. I probably could have stopped you. But no, I gave you a penny and walked away."

"Is that all you feel guilty about? I mean, Robin wouldn't let you stayed even if—"

"—No, I just…" He said, before he stopped. She brushed a piece of hair out of his face, giving him a reassuring look. "Those eyes…they could stop the world from spinning."

She blushed from the unnecessary compliment, but she knew he was only trying to comfort himself. She looked down as he traced his finger along the corner of her face.

"I can't imagine him touching you. The bastard." He said scoffing to himself. "If I had known—"

"—You didn't know because I was the one who kept the secrets. I was still new to the whole 'team' thing—"

"—But I should have just known. It should have been some kind of animal instinct that I would sense, you know a lion protecting his cubs kind of thing—"

"—We weren't even dating. Plus, he just turned me into a nine-year old instead—"

"—But ," He said, pounding his fist into his hand with each word he was saying with emphasizes as he was getting angry. "Had I known, I would have given him one hell of a beating then the fucking stupid one I gave him before!" His heart monitor started to beat faster, his eyebrows sweating, and his one fang sticking out just gleamed with spit. She took him by his arm and released more of her energy.

"Calm down." She stated in a soft whispered. She released as much as she could before his breathing had lowered down to a simple whimper.

"Thanks." He said. She stayed quiet, allowing him to compose himself. He looked at her violet eyes and put his arm around her, swaying her back and forth. He knew she wasn't going to say anything more on this topic, but he could sense that she was shaken up herself. She didn't like it when he was angry, especially if he was angry about her father.

"I know why my Lust was overacting." She said, changing the topic, with her resting her head on his chest, trying to listen for his heart. "Demon's are chaotic and narcissistic creatures. They want to dominate and dictate. But just like any other species, they want to breed as well."

"So, that was what? Your hormones? Because I thought your emotions controlled how you felt…"

"The human body is a little more complicated than that and when you add an unholy being with it, things tend to get messy—"

"But I thought you created Lust—"

"—Well, my Demonic side exploits it. It does that. What more can I say? Lust herself is not much help to work with either."

"But you were controlling Lust, weren't you?" He asked. She advert her eyes to the side. "Rae?"

"Well, you do tend to flirt a lot." She said.

"In other words, you weren't."

"I thought it was safe, I thought Lust was satisfied. And I thought you would be happy to be close to me…..so soon." She said, brushing away a piece of hair that got stuck on his eyelash.

"So, is there anything I should worry about?"

"Not with this, not with me. Let me be the one to take care of that. All you have to worry about is getting better, taking it easy." She said, rubbing her hand on his abdomen, staring into his green eyes. He took her hand in his and massaged the soft skin. She listened to his heart monitor, as the gentle rhythm of his heart was making her drowsy.

"Now," He said, inhaling deeply so she could feel the gentle weight of his body. "Don't try to change the subject. I want to talk about Trigon. You asked me, so…..I know nothing happened and Trigon is dead, but he would have done it if he found you attractive. Wouldn't he?"

"I thought we were done with this—"

"—We aren't Rae, I feel like this thing has caused you a lot of suffering, much more suffering than you would admit, and it's only healthy to talk about it, to let it all out, otherwise it will eat up inside of you forever." He said, looking into her helpless eyes. "Remember when you told me about Malchior—"

"—Now, let's not go there—"

"—I won't. But remember what happened after you told me everything. The pain he caused you. He made you mistrustful of others helping you. The fact that you stop reading your books for three months and resorted to reading the same story over and over again just so you wouldn't pick up a new book—"

"—Stop it! I get it!—"

"—Let me finish. Remember how many emotions you unleashed, how much weight was lifted off your shoulders? How much better you felt?" He asked. She looked down at her own hands, holding onto his. She squeezed it tight, suggesting that she did remember how much she felt better after she told Garfield all about Malchior. "Now this is one of those few stories you haven't told me. And the two times I brought it up, you said you weren't ready. It's been years, Raven, don't you think it's about time?"

"I'm just," She started, trying to compose herself. "I'm just…..afraid…..afraid of what we'll unleash if I talk it out."

"It'll make you a better mother. The mother you always wanted to be. It's healthy, Rae." He said, kissing the top of her head to try and comfort her. She gave him a small smile. "Look, if it makes you feel any better, we already got through the hard part; you admitted your greatest fear to me. Now, all we have to do is just talk about it more." He said, holding her hand tight as he could hear her breathing becoming heavy. "It'll make me feel better. And isn't that the most important thing right now?" He added.

"Now that's not fair, you're using your health as an excuse." She said.

"You know you would do the same if the roles were reverse." He said.

She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths in, before looking up into his eyes again, trying to hide her anxiety from him. He squeezed her hand once more for comfort.

"Okay." She said. "But let's wait until tomorrow or another time. I already broke some expensive equipment in here; I don't want to break anymore. Right now, I'm just happy you're alive. Let me be happy for a while."

"Sure, Rae, anything you want." He said as he used his other hand to pet her hair before he kissed her head again. He rocked her back and forth, trying to erase everything from her mind with his gentle movements. "My Supreme Empress." He added quietly, as they both dosed off to sleep.

The following week, Raven was solely devoted to Garfield getting better. He stayed in the infirmary, as the good little boy that he was, even though he wanted to be back in his own room, with his own nurse. A couple of times, Robin wanted to ask what happened to Garfield, but Raven would always give him a death stare when he did so, causing him to stop asking anymore questions, and focused more on treating Garfield instead.

Each time Cyborg checked up on the Logan's, he saw more of Raven's vulnerable side than any other time in his life, and that included when she was pregnant and being targeted by Trigon. However, she only broke a few pieces of the medical equipment each time she felt a little too much. But she cleaned it up right afterward. Out of all his times with his ex-girlfriends, Cyborg never had that same connection with anyone one of them that Garfield and Raven had. Maybe this mushy feeling thing that people called love wasn't for everyone.

Hell, sometimes hanging out with Bruce or Lydia was a more enjoyable evening then hanging out with Bumblebee or Jinx, or any other girl he dated. Or those desperate fan girls out there that would take Cyborg in a second if it meant they could come to the Tower or brag to their friends that they were dating a Titan.

But he had hope; if Raven and Garfield could find each other, he could find someone too. Maybe he was just a late bloomer to all this 'love' mess. He just liked having a good time, without the pressure of being in a long term commitment.

Robin and Starfire had made up and if nobody knew that then, they sure knew it now. They were now worse than before. Instead of backing off from each other, because the 'honeymoon was over', they were constantly in each other's presence, with Robin always making sure he had an arm around her most of the time, as Starfire tried to balance Bruce with one arm.

Their big fight didn't do anything to humble their romance; it just inflamed it even more. Every time one of them would make an observation or say something rather enlightening, the other would make a comment about how smart they were, and kiss them in front of everybody. Needless to say, both Garfield and Cyborg started to imitated gagging noises anytime both of them were in a room at the same time. Raven didn't encourage such behavior, but she didn't stop it either.

Bruce was now everybody's favorite in their family.

START SCHOOL SOON, AND THEN I WORK…..AND WORK.