Disclaimer: No, I don't own Teen Titans.

Chapter 62

"This is ridiculous."

"Dude! You said you were cool with this!"

"I'm here, aren't I?"

"Yeah, but your heart's not in it, Rae!"

Raven groaned.

"There has got to be a better way to-"

"Hello?" A cheery voice rang out as the door opened, "who's th-"

The woman stalled, taking in the now-beaming green boy holding his hands respectfully behind his back, and the mass of hooded fabric beside him.

"A-are you the Teen Titans?" She asked in awe.

"Yes ma'am!" Beat Boy flashed her a wide smile, the sun glinting off of his fangs, "may we have just a second of your time?"

Raven rolled her eyes.

Beast Boy had this split personality - okay, maybe split was a bit aggressive. He had...masks. Different ways he presented himself, depending upon the situation. Raven was well aware of the deep nothingness that dwelled beneath his constant smile, so really, "mask" could be the only word for it.

In general, that mask was immature, thickheaded, cocky, and irresponsible. In battle, he was focused and...maybe not smart, per se, but definitely smart-er, and aggressive. When with the Doom Patrol, or as a leader, he was serious, clearheaded - logical, even. And everyone knew what happened when the Beast took control. But then, there was this other part, this other mask he wore, when he met absolutely anyone new - and non-threatening, of course.

That Beast Boy, was the one Raven had met, those many years ago. The Beast Boy that spoke properly, and smiled at her, and made easy conversation despite her quiet. The Beast Boy that locked eyes on her and made her feel like she was the only person in the world that he wanted to see. It had been...flattering. But also frightening. Frightening how much she wanted to disappear into the warm gaze of a boy she'd barely met, and believe she was dazzling as his eyes seemed to claim she was.

He'd made a joke, and it hadn't really mattered what it was. He had treated her like a person. A person worthy of the vulnerability it took to reach his hand out, when there was no guarantee that she would take it. She'd laughed. "You're funny!" She'd said, and he had stared back in awe - as if the fact that he had won her over was anything but a complete certainty. He'd said something like "...you think I'm funny?" And her laughter faded.

It wasn't that none of his subsequent jokes were funny. It wasn't - well, not always - about the persistence with which he told them. It was that, as soon as she had said those words, Beast Boy's mask had changed. She realized, at that moment, that she wasn't special. That Beast Boy hadn't reached out for her. He was reaching out for anyone. She just happened to be the only one to reach back.

She couldn't blame him, this boy she'd only met that very day. She didn't know - still didn't know - the full extent of what events caused his desperate thirst for approval, a desire so deep that he would search for it with even total strangers. But she hadn't cared. He had made her feel important, for reasons other than her demonic heritage. He had made her feel like he had seen her, and not the spawn of Trigon. Just a normal girl, cool enough to be worth the attempt to get to know her. And realizing that any other person would have satisfied him equally as well, upset her. Not so deeply that she lost control - she hadn't cared enough about him at that point for his actions to have quite that great of an effect - but it was enough for her to shut the door Beast Boy had opened. A door for which so few were ever privileged with the key.

He'd sealed it, that day. And ever since, he'd tried so very hard to open it. He'd thought, for those few months when the team had first formed, that he was just too loud, or annoying, or disruptive for her. And on the surface, those things were true. But deep down, the lack of patience stemmed from something more. A little voice inside her core that kept repeating, "you made me think I mattered, and you lied."

When Beast Boy asked, so many times, what her problem was, or why she hated him, she had relied upon the obvious. The yelling and the interrupting, the invasions of privacy and immaturity. She couldn't just have said "you hurt my feelings", because they weren't children. And children raised as Raven was, would not have been allowed to feel pain anyway. The only option given was to suppress it. Which is exactly what Raven had done.

Until that fateful day when he and Cyborg burst into her mind, and convinced her that yes, Beast Boy did care. Only then, did she begin to believe it. She'd kept her guard up, as she was wont to do. More so for him than anybody else. But the door that he'd sealed shut reopened, just a crack. A sliver, that not even the tiniest mouse could crawl through. But still, it was open.

Raven watched Beast Boy ask he chatted with the woman, exchanging pleasantries about her day. Paying this random stranger all of his attention, beaming at her like she was the only person in the world.

"Raven," Beast Boy held his hand out behind him, and Raven stared at it. He reached back like she was nothing, not even bothering to turn. She knew it meant nothing. That the woman at the door was just on the receiving end of Beast Boy's pleasant, "first meeting" mask, and he cared less for her than Raven and the other Titans. But that was also exactly what had hurt her in the first place.

"Raven!" Beast Boy turned to her this time, snapping in her face to get her full attention, "I'd like to show this lovely lady," he grinned again at the woman at the door, "the picture."

"Don't snap your fingers in my face," she growled, before producing the screen capture from the mall.

"Do any of these people look familiar?" Beast Boy asked the women, who studied the image carefully, "take your time!"

Now, after it had been so many months - multiple years, Raven could look back, and now, with clearer eyes, she wondered - what had happened to make Beast Boy who he was?

The woman shook her head

"I'm sorry," she said, handing the picture back.

"That's ok," Beast Boy said brightly, but still dimmer than before, "and, just to be sure, you are the only 'Lily' on the premises - correct?"

Here they were, searching so hard to learn the backstory of a villain they had only met that once, grasping at straws to the point where they were literally knocking on doors to make sure not one 'Lily' in the city could escape them with the act of hanging up. "It's better if we go in person," Beast Boy had said, "it'll make it more personal - so they can't turn us away."

"I'm afraid so," the woman sighed.

"Oh," Beast Boy frowned, then forced another smile, "well, thanks anyway, ma'am! You have a good day now!"

"Are you sure you wouldn't like to come in for a snack? Or a glass of water? It's the least I could do. You save our lives all the time, after all!" She smiled sweetly. Warm. Genuine. But was it?

Yes, they were here, searching blindly for Ravager, trying to get inside her mind by studying her past. But would it help? Did you need to know a person's past to truly understand them? Because truth be told, the Titans didn't know each other's.

"That's ok," Beast Boy declined politely, "we have a lot more houses to hit today. But thank you! It was great meeting you!"

He smiled earnestly. The woman waved and closed the door. He turned to Raven, and the smile dropped.

"Guess we're crossing this one off the list," Raven stated, taking the mentioned list and doing so.

"Only three-hundred fifty-five houses to go," Beast Boy tried to joke, but his tone fell flat.

"I still think this is ridi-"

"Can you stop it?!" Beast Boy snapped, "please? You said you'd do this with me," he reminded, "but if you don't want to," he grabbed the pen and paper from her hands, "then I'll do it alone."

It was ridiculous. It really was. But Raven recognized herself in him, as he walked away. She was the one he'd thought that he could count on. Who'd approved of him - or his idea, at least. And her sarcastic comments and reneging were destroying the image that he had formed. A team of people on his side. A team that included Raven and Marie. Team Logan. And they'd already lost one member. This time, Raven had been chosen, due to future, unexpected circumstances - but chosen nonetheless. She had wanted to be wanted, that day, so long ago. To have someone to see her, and make her feel like she was worthy of companionship, of friends - of being alive. And Beast Boy failed her. Just like she was failing him now.

Raven glided over to him, the all of six feet that he'd walked ahead, and took the list back from his hands.

"Ok," she said, "who's next?"

Beast Boy held her gaze and smiled.

/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\

Robin looked left, then right, before entering the common room. He listened. Then, barely having satisfied his paranoia, he let the doors swish open and stepped inside. He scanned the room. He peered over the kitchen counter. He checked beneath the mainframe, and when all was done he tiptoed to the couch and whispered, "Cyborg!"

The older boy didn't hear him.

BOOM!

"Awww yeah!" Cyborg raised a victorious fist in the air, "now who's got the high score?" He snickered, replacing Beast Boy's name with his own. "Wait 'till the little grass stain sees that!"

"Cyborg!" Robin hissed, stepping out from behind him.

"AHH!" Cyborg jumped, dropping the controller, "don't sneak up on me like that! "

"Keep your voice DOWN," Robin whispered harshly.

"Why?" Cyborg asked, at a completely normal volume.

Robin glared beneath his mask.

"I need you to go out on a secret mission."

"A secret mission?" Cyborg folded his arms skeptically.

Unless Robin himself was the one sneaking out, the Titans didn't do secret missions. And no one liked it when Robin did. They were a team. And teams shouldn't keep things like that hidden. Transparency was important to all of them. Robin just seemed to have a blind spot when it came to himself.

But this seemed weird, Robin approaching him in daytime, when literally any other Titans could walk in. If it was a REAL secret mission, then Robin would meet Cyborg in some dark, and serious place like the evidence room, when everyone else was asleep. But broad daylight in the living room? Something was off.

Robin looked over his shoulder, running another check around the room.

Cyborg watched and shook his head.

"I need you to follow Beast Boy and Raven."

"I'm not stalking BB, and I'm definitely not stalking Raven."

"I said 'follow,'" Robin corrected, as if that somehow made a difference, "I need to know where they keep going."

Well, yeah, BB and Raven had been disappearing together, but they told everyone when they were leaving, and they always made it to whatever alerts the Titans had. Yesterday Raven had pretty much beaten Overload single handedly. He hadn't picked a great location - water plants aren't ideal when water is your main weakness. A few broken pipes courtesy of Raven, and the guy was DONE.

Robin, on the other hand, hadn't just left them hanging on his own "secret" missions - he actually was the bad guy.

"Uh-uh," Cyborg sat back on the couch and picked up the controller, "not gonna happen."

"Cyborg," Robin tried again, blocking the tv as Cyborg tried to restart the game behind him, "you know they aren't dating."

"Oh, I know," Cyborg affirmed, "BB wouldn't be able to keep quiet about it, and I haven't heard any humming from Raven."

"Exactly," Robin said, "which is why I need you to find out what's actually going on."

"Look," Cyborg sighed, tossing the controller aside once again, "just because you want to be up in everybody's business doesn't mean you have the right to spy on us!"

"It's not spying!" Robin cried, then, glancing wildly around the room, whispered aggressively, "it's not spying."

"Uh - yeah it IS," Cyborg stood up, "and I'm not gonna be a part of it."

He moved to walk away but Robin blocked his path.

"Ravager is out there, and we don't know what they're doing or who they're meeting and..." Robin could see Cyborg was not convinced, "I'm worried, okay?"

Cyborg raised his eyebrow.

"We're all going through a rough time," Robin sighed, "and I just want to make sure Raven and Beast Boy aren't doing anything to hurt themselves, or compromise us finding the kids."

"Lemme get this straight," Cyborg's asked condescendingly, "two of our friends find out they have a future kid together and decide they want to hang out away from the tower for a couple days, and YOU automatically think that means they're doing something they shouldn't be?"

Robin frowned.

"Sorry Robin - count me out."

He pushed Robin aside and headed for the doors.

"If they're not dating then they HAVE to be up to something!" Robin cried after him.

"Check it out yourself," Cyborg called over his shoulder.

"I CAN'T," Robin admitted angrily.

"Oh?" Cyborg turned back, "and why not?"

"I...promised Star I wouldn't spy on them..."

"See?" Cyborg pointed at him accusingly, "you DO just wanna spy on them!"

"Look," Robin didn't want it to come to this, but sometimes a person has to bend to get what they want, "what if we make a deal?"

"I'm listening," Cyborg folded his arms.

There were many instances where Cybort felt the need to save his pride...but selling out to Robin was NOT one of them. If Robin wanted to bargain, Cyborg was 100% down.

"You get to miss one training session," Robin smiled.

A generous offer. Surely.

Cyborg smiled back.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Robin frowned.

"If you think THAT'S enough for me to trail them, then you're crazy," Cyborg dismissed the offer, "no way."

Robin scowled.

"Two training sessions."

"Make it two weeks of training and you have yourself a deal."

Robin continued scowling, and Cyborg shrugged.

"Hey man, take it or leave it."

Robin was silent, mulling it over.

Cyborg shrugged, "if that's all, then I-"

"FINE," Robin growled, "two weeks."

"Deal!"

Cyborg reached his hand out Robin shook it begrudgingly. He hoped Cyborg found something to make his sacrifice worth it. Robin was loathe to limit training time. Sure, half the team hated it, but it was necessary. Literally life-saving.

"I'll get on it tomorrow," Cyborg told him, "it'll be easier to stalk them if I follow them as soon as they leave the tower."

"It's NOT stalk-"

"Whatever you say," Cyborg brushed him off, walking out the doors.

"Robin's eyes widened, realizing he'd forgotten an essential component of the mission.

"WAIT!" Robin cried, running after him.

"What?" Cyborg raised a brow.

"Do NOT," Robin looked around the room once more, then whispered, "tell Starfire."

Cyborg laughed.

"Ok lover boy," Robin scowled at the name, "I'll keep it quiet."