I don't own the characters, they are property of DC and Warner Bros.

Raven finally is explained what Beast Boy was trying to hide, and while she wants to be angry, she's more sad and disappointed he hid it from her

We hope you enjoy what we have been cooking up...

Chapter 17

In the end, she did release him, after getting a promise that he wouldn't run. Reaching out and finding their target, she dragged him off to find Cyborg, who didn't know what he was in for.

Cyborg's morning had gotten off to a good start. He had slept well, his coffee had turned out beautifully, now he had a bit of quiet time to work on his car before the rest of them stirred. This was rudely interrupted when his car started glowing in a way all too well, before lifting into the air and revealing a very angry looking Raven glaring down at him.

Who was also dangling Beast Boy upside down behind her, giving him a clue what she was annoyed about this time. Whatever it was he had done to annoy their teammate this time, wouldn't end well for anyone implicated .

"Heeeey Rae, whatever he did, I wasn't involved!" He protested, grinning nervously. He swears his little green friend had a death wish sometimes.

"Oh it's not what he's done i'm interested in, this time, but he says we need you to tell me what's going on with him." She leaned down, her face returning to its normal deadpan expression, all except the eyes that blazed with fury.

"Erm, BB, I thought you didn't want to tell anyone else yet?" Cyborg looked to the shapeshifter in confusion, who sighed.

"She worked it out Cy."

"Empath, please try to remember I can feel strong emotion. He's been moping around the tower for days now, he might as well be screaming from the rooftops and it was beginning to grate on my nerves! Now are you two going to tell what's going on or not?"

The two guys shared a look, before Beast Boy nodded and Cyborg got to his feet.

"Alright, but can you put my baby back down, please? She doesn't need to suffer." He pleaded nervously, Raven rolling her eyes and setting the car down gently; even giving it a quick polish.

"Alright, where are we doing this?" she asked, after giving Cyborg a few minutes to make sure his baby was alright.

"Let's go to the med bay," he eventually said, `"don't forget to bring green bean with us."

"Just, let's go." Raven growled, more than sick of this run around, Cyborg realising he was pushing his luck just led the way without further comment.

When they eventually got there, Raven checked to see what the other two members of the team were doing. If Beast Boy didn't want everyone knowing, she would at least respect that. Starfire was still asleep and Robin was bouncing around the training room several floors away. She kept an eye on them just in case, didn't want them walking in on, well whatever was going on.

With that out the way, she deposited Beast Boy on the medical bed, as directed by Cyborg, before turning to look at them both; crossing her arms and waiting for the promised explanation.

"Erm, so how much has he told you?" Cyborg asked, taking a queue from the silent room.

"Nothing, beyond you would explain it better." Raven replied, a smile almost making it onto her face as she eyed a sheepish Beast Boy.

"Huh, well ok then, makes it a little easier I suppose. You remember when Grodd kidnapped our little grass stain?" Taking the items that started levitating as a yes, he turned to his computers and pulled up some data. "We aren't sure what Grodd did to him, but here's what his blood looked like before, and what it looks like now."

Raven wasn't the most scientific, but knew enough to follow what she had been shown. The older scan showed what, as far as she could tell, was normal blood. The newer scan looked the same until you watched it for a few seconds. Then she watched it for a further minute, hands covering her mouth in shock.

The newer scan looked normal, until you watched it and noticed the cells pulsing at random intervals. Or maybe shivering was a better word. They didn't look to be breaking down, or dying, just something was off about them.

"What exactly am I looking at?" She asked quietly, turning to Cyborg, both looking grim.

"BB has a limit to his shapeshifting, besides the green thing. He can only turn into things at sizes possible for that creature, there are creatures too big for him to shift into though and he just stays his normal size if he tries. He also can't take the shape of creatures he has no reference for, if you told him to turn into say an owlbear, he couldn't do it without knowing what one is. He can turn into fictional creatures, but with the same limits." He paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts. "We aren't sure what Grodd did to him, but it looks to have damaged him on a cellular level somehow and I think removed the limitations. Only thing is, his body automatically shut off his power if he attempted something too big, as the energy required would kill him. Right now, that's not in place, if he tries to change into something too big, it could kill him. Means he also has problems getting the right size when shifting."

To demonstrate, he pulled up footage on the screen, ignoring Beast Boy's groan and hitting play. Images of things like a chicken size t rex, a car sized cat and so forth played. Normally, Raven would have found it amusing, as some of them were frankly ridiculous. But things were too serious, the way Cyborg put it, it's not that his powers were out of control, more that using them now had an extra strain; more control was needed than before.

"So as long as he doesn't do anything too stupid, he should still be fine, for now? Are you looking into a cure?"

"Rae, this is way beyond me. I've had to go to the League for help, with their better resources, they have more of a chance. But without finding Grodd and knowing what he did, it's a bit of a shot in the dark. Since you… put the fear of Raven into him, he's been keeping a low profile. All we know is that he appears to be stable, for now, but no idea if he will remain stable or not. It looks good, Grodd was rushed in his work, but wanted to keep BB alive, so we think it's not meant to be fatal."

She could feel a headache coming on. She knew he had been keeping quiet about something that was bothering, but she hadn't expected something this big. She was relieved it wasn't something he was dying of, but once her shock wore off, she felt Anger rising to the front. While her second eyes didn't open, both her fellow heroes took a step back.

Well, Cyborg did, Beast Boy could only scoot further up the bed.

"Cyborg, could you give me a moment with the patient…" Raven growled. "No I won't hurt him," she sighed when he went to protest, "I just want to have a word in private." He looked to the shapeshifter, who nodded. Hesitating for a moment, before turning and leaving, the door locking behind him.

Beast Boy braced himself, expecting her full wrath to be unleashed as she moved to the bed and grabbed his shoulders. He flinched, tensing up, closing his eyes and looking away; until he heard something he wasn't expecting. A quiet sob, barely suppressed, made him open his eyes in shock and look at the empath.

Rather than the rage he had expected, he saw tears in her eyes, some escaping to run down her pale cheeks. He took a few seconds to get over his surprise, reaching out with one hand and wiping her tears away with his thumb.

"Why wouldn't you tell me?" She whispered, sadness, tiredness, those were the only things left in her voice. The anger that had chased Cyborg from the room had burnt itself out, as she sought to understand why he had kept something so big from her.

"I didn't want to worry you Rae, you had enough on your plate without this." He sighed, scratching the back of his head and looking away in shame. Her hand moved from his shoulder to his face, guiding him to look at her again.

"I know we never officially decided what we were, but I thought you trusted me enough to come when you needed help?"

"Rae, you've saved me more times than I can remember, I can't rely on you for everything. You can fight gods, you have a whole world in your head, you have to manage to stay sane and are just the most amazing person I know. This isn't a problem that can be fixed straight away and isn't going to kill me, you have bigger things you need to be worrying about. I know you're not quite back to normal after that attack…" His gaze fell to the bed before him, before she growled and slapped him.

"You idiot! It's been affecting you for days, it could kill you if you're not careful, don't you dare pass this off as something unimportant! You know how people's moods affect me and with you ignoring me I didn't know what to think…" They both fell quiet at that, mutual insecurities playing on their minds, before Raven felt a surge of irritation again and dug her finger into his side.

When he giggled, they both froze, her lips growing into an unusually sadistic looking smile, while his face fell. Holding both hands up, wiggling her fingers and advancing on him, while he tried to protest and escape.

"No Rae, don't do it!" he pleaded, trying to fend her attack off, failing when he reached the edge of the bed and had to stop himself falling. Taking advantage of his distraction, she floated into the air, pressing her advantage and getting one hand past his defences. With him wide open, she began tickling him, pulling him back when he nearly fell off the bed from laughing.

Seeing his opening, now he no longer had to hold himself up, he went for her exposed side, grinning as she gasped and began giggling from the tickles. Wrestling with each other on the bed, alternating bouts of tickles left them gasping for breath, with Beast Boy pinning Raven down. She was no longer crying, smiling softly up at him as she fought to get her breath back.

Her flushed look, the way her chest rose and fell, the hand on the back of his head pulling him down; he knew it was risky with Cyborg outside. He didn't care as they kissed, fierce and demanding, her other hand grabbing his ass and he moved to do the same.

Suddenly, she fell through the bed, before he could recover from his surprise, he felt the toe of her boot on his back, giving him a not so gentle push to land face first on the pillow.

"Still mad at you, I'll see you in your room tonight." She grinned, knowing the frustration would make the sex that little bit wilder down the line. "You're on cuddles only, for now. Seriously though, you don't need to keep things from me, I'm here for you if you need it." She finished more softly.

"I'll try Rae." He promised, before she unlocked the door and departed, telling Cyborg to run a specific test on her way out. Surprised to see his green friend in one piece, he set to the request, wondering what she had in mind.

Authors note!

Well this was a long time in the making! Was originally going to take a month out, what with everything going on at the time, uncertainty with work and the like, that ended up becoming several months...

Chapter 18 is in the works, this won't be updated as often as it was before, but we are back and working on this and others.