TWACK!

…..

…..

Okay, she's definitely out cold.

Deep breaths, Raven, deep breaths.

Raven inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly

Once, twice, three times.

She opened her eyes and saw the disaster zone the bathroom had become. She grimaced and began chanting her mantra. "Azarath...Metrion…Zinthos…"

Various towels, bottles of shampoo, assorted toiletry, and a handful of other miscellaneous objects became encased in her magic and floated back to their predesignated locations. It only took a minute for her little panic attack's mess to be cleaned up. She knew she was fully within her rights to be emotionally agitated about her impending bathing session with Garfield, but that didn't mean Timid was allowed to have a meltdown and send her powers on the fritz.

The poor little emotion, literally the embodiment of her fear, shyness, loneliness, self-loathing, and aversion of people, simply hadn't been able to process the fact she was fixing to be almost naked in very close quarters with an almost naked boy. The pool was one thing since there was plenty of room, but this...

Needless to say, she had to be knocked out again.

Previously mentioned boy was, in fact almost back to the bathroom, no doubt in his own bathing suit and hers in his hand. Raven took several more deep, calming breaths. She could do this, she had to do this. At this point she was literally stopping her back from bleeding with her magic. She had lost enough blood to make her weak, but not enough to make her helpless. The pain had been forced into a corner of her mind and cut off from the rest of her. She could feel it, but it was a sort of distant pain like a consistent throbbing ache. It was not pleasant by any means.

I'm willing to bet his hands will feel wonderful on my bare skin. Desire murmured.

Hush! Raven scolded herself. Not the time, not the place!

She said on the edge of the tub, willing herself to calm down as he approached and knocked on the door.

"Rae? Are you…dressed?" He asked. Even without her empathy she could tell he was nervous.

"Yes. Come in."

Raven was indeed correct: Garfield was extremely nervous. This was not a scenario he had figured he would be in with Raven at any point in the next year or two time period. Even though this was a serious situation (and what he assumed a serious relationship), he really wasn't prepared to be near a borderline naked Raven. His line of thinking was just like Raven's (not that he knew it): a public pool was one thing, a private bathroom was another. He didn't want to take the next step in their relationship for sometime and this would be toeing the line something fierce. He was, after all, extremely physically attracted to Raven and he was certain that Raven was physically attracted to him too. Toss teenage hormones/animal instincts into the mix and he just knew he was going to embarrass himself before this was over.

Control yourself. They both thought to themselves as they made eye contact.

"Hey." Garfield softly, slightly blushing.

"Hi." Raven replied as her own face started warming up.

Garfield held out her bikini set, looking away. "So, uh, here! There were just where you said they were! I'll just uh, be outside."

"Okay." Raven nodded as she took it from him. He scurried out the door immediately, but not before Raven got a nice eyefull of his muscular body.

I take that back, I wanna run my hands all over him. Desire licked her lips.

For Azar's sake, shut up! Raven mentally groaned.


Outside in the hallway, Garfield was picking at the bloody hole in his shoulder. It hurt. A lot. But it was making him think; lizards and starfish were famous for regenerating limbs, axolotl and sea cucumbers could regenerate everything, and even bugs and mice were regrowing things too…so why couldn't he do it?

He closed his eyes and focused on both the pain and his inner sea cucumber. Regenerate. He mentally commanded himself. This had to be part of his powers, so if he figured out how-oh!

The pain from his wound started to fade and he could literally feel it healing, the flesh regrowing as his muscled repaired themselves. It was a really weird sensation, a cross between a stinging itch and a fever-like heat from an infection. Within a minute it had fully closed, both sides, and it had stopped hurting.

It left him strangely tired though.

"Gar?"

Garfield looked up from his healed wound towards the cracked door. He made eye contact with Raven. "Yeah?"

"I…need your help." Raven said with a hint of embarrassment.

"Huh?"

"…the zipper on my uniform…it's6 stuck."

"Oh, okay." He said as he went to the door once again. He stepped in and quickly shut the door, then turned to Raven, who had her back to him. All he had to do was fix the zipper, right? How hard could that…

"Uhhh…." He stared at it for a moment, frowning. "Rae? That zipper ain't gonna move. The whole thing is trashed from top to bottom."

Raven sighed and sat back down on the tub. "Alright. I'll need you to cut it off then."

He raised an eyebrow. "Can I do that? Aren't those uniforms specially made to resist that stuff?"

The empath shook her head. "Not quite. My uniform is actually made of Kevlar, but my cloak is made to resist tears and punctures. That's why I try to keep it wrapped around me during fights."

"Ahhhh, okay." Garfield said as he moved to the first aid cabinet next to the sink. Once upon a time he didn't understand why these cabinets were in every bathroom in the tower. These days he knew better than to ask that silly question

It took him a minute to find the scissors (top shelf, far from the kids reach) and he immediately moved to sit next to Raven after he got them. She turned her back to him and he frowned again. He wasn't entirely sure where to start. Raven's back was covered in debris and blood and her uniform was in tatters.

"Some time today, Gar." Raven said impatiently. "I can only block so much pain out."

"Alright alright." He said as he started snipping away, starting near her neck. He cut all around the zipper and straight up to her hairline, then moved down. He cut all the way down the side of the zipper until her reached her tailbone. There he paused.

Raven felt his hesitation and sighed. "Cut it from the side. I'm throwing this uniform away anyways."

He muttered okay and moved the scissors over to the upper part of her lovely butt. Carefully he pressed the scissors against her undamaged skin and slipped them up under the uniform, running a straight line to where it met the cut next to the zipper. When it was done, the freed part covering her bottom flopped down and left him with a rather nice view of half her bare butt.

He bit his lip and forced his eyes away from the sight. He moved the scissors back up towards her arm and repeated the previous process, cutting from the shoulder blade and running it all the way up her arm to the wrist. She moved her arm to accommodate his cutting and pulled the ruined sleeve from her arm afterwards. Garfield moved the scissors to snip away at the remaining cloth on her shoulder and the top bit slipped from its perch down her unseen chest. Her arm came up automatically to keep the chest piece in place as the remaining back piece fell away from her injured backside. Garfield then repeated the entire process on the other side of her back. He had to cut and pull threads from several gashes, eliciting a whimper from her each time.

Very soon he was left with a bare backed Raven, her front covered only by the ragged remains of her uniform.

Don't look at her butt…He thought as his eyes trailed downward. …daaaaamn…

Raven cleared her throat and his eyes snapped back up to find her glaring at him over her shoulder, a blush on her face.

"Sorry." He said meekly. Raven rolled her eyes and turned away, muttering something that sounded like 'typical boy'. He rolled his eyes, his embarrassment shifting to minute annoyance. "Oh come on, a guy can't look at his girl's butt?"

"I didn't say that." Raven muttered. "But this isn't the time or place to ogle me."

Garfield paused, connecting the dots instantly. "So…you don't mind if I check you out?"

She glanced at him. "We…are together, aren't we? That does mean that we can look at each other."

"Oh, sweet." Garfield grinned. "I thought you would get mad."

"Not at all." Raven mumbled, turning away once more. "I…like the way you look at me. It makes me feel…attractive."

"You are VERY attractive, babe, trust me." Garfield chuckled.

"Don't try to sweet talk me while I'm practically naked, Gar. I might think you're after something I don't want to give up yet." Raven turned her head and stared hard at him. "It should be very obvious that we're going to take things slow."

Garfield nodded. "Yeah, I know Rae. I'm perfectly okay with taking things at your pace. I'm not gonna push you for anything, I promise."

Raven let her stare soften before she nodded and turned away once more. "…thank you."

Garfield nodded and stood up. "I'll step out real quick so you can put your suit on."

He walked out without waiting for a reply. As soon as the door closed behind him, he leaned against it and let out a breath he didn't know he's been holding. The urge to grab her ass and kiss her had been particularly strong a moment ago…but second base had to wait. He had to keep his instincts in check. He might be half animal but he was half man too. When a girl says no, it means no.

Inside the bathroom…

Geesh, did you have to be so harsh? Desire huffed. Now he's gonna think I don't want him!

For Azar's sake, Desire, shut up. Raven mentally sighed as she stood up and let her uniform fall away. It fluttered to the floor and she reached for the bikini bottom. You know that's not true.

You can fuss at me all you want but you know that I'm not just your mental and emotional desire for physical contact with Gar, I'm your physical desire for it too. I literally crave his touch. Desire snapped.

And you know we took a vow of celibacy to decrease the chances of summoning Trigon through a break in control! Raven snapped at her emotion.

Okay, one, Trigon is DEAD. Desire snapped back. Two, I'm not saying I want to jump his bones and get pregnant, I just want to touch him and be touched by him. All we every do is kiss and halfass cuddle. I mean seriously, he barely has his arms around me half the time! It's not like I want to pop the girls out and smother his face in them, though I wouldn't be against the idea-

Desire, just stop, okay? Not the time, not the place. Raven sighed in exasperation as she floated up into the air and used her powers to slip her bikini bottom up her legs until it was in the right place. Then she floated back down to the floor and telekinetically grabbed her bikini top and pulled it up to cover her breasts. In the back of her head she heard Desire harrumph and her chain rattle. Raven rolled her eyes and stepped into the shower.

She has a little bit of a point, you know. Knowledge spoke up while cutting the other emotions off from their private conversation.

Raven paused, her hand inches from the water knobs. How's that, Knowledge?

Well, after extensively reviewing the knowledge I have of anatomy and psychology, I have to say that we come remarkably close to suffering from skin-hunger.

Touch starvation… Raven pondered as the memories of the medical article flooded her mind. A recently confirmed psychological condition where an individual intensely craves the physical contact of others due to the lack of contact that they have received in their life. One that the individual has developed a close bond with will be the primary subject for these desires, which may or may not be sexual in nature, depending on the environment the individual was raised in.

Yes. Knowledge replied. We had borderline non-existent physical contact until we joined the Titans and what we got from them wasn't actually wanted most of the time. But after we defeated Trigon things began to change. There was nothing to fear anymore so we began to open up. This skin-hunger surfacing due to our feelings for Garfield is something we should have expected, especially considering how much of our hormone-driven emotions were suppressed. Add that to the reproductive inclinations of our demonic blood…

Raven was quiet for a moment. I understand and acknowledge what you're saying. What can I do to alleviate this without going too far?

I don't have a good answer for that other than picking up some reading material to...research…

Raven rolled her eyes. She's getting to you too, I see.

I never said I didn't want to get close to Garfield.. Knowledge said in an even tone. He is, after all, rather attractive now that he's matured a bit. I would be willing to inspect him up close and personal, then retreat to go over my findings…for scientific reasons, of course.

Noted. Raven snorted as she stepped to the side and turned the water on. With a few adjustments she had it warm.

I mean it, Raven. We need to vent a little bit of the sexual tension least we have another Fear incident. I'm not saying a full on groping session, just a little something to shut Desire up for a while. I suggest letting Affection take the reigns on that though. I'm getting tired of hearing her whine about not getting enough attention. Knowledge said as she reconnected them to the rest of Raven's emotions. They were curious but kept quiet. It amused Raven to no end that her emotions were wary of Knowledge (Raven's intellect) and the fact that she could cut the emotions out to think solely with her head with no interference from her heart.

But then again, that was precisely why Knowledge had been the first emoticlone created.

"You can come in now." Raven called out, looking down to make sure she had her top covered.

Dunno why you're doing that, he already knows what my nipples look like. Desire muttered in the back of Raven's mind.

Hey, doesn't that mean we can go topless? I hate bras anyways and a bikini top is just like a bra! Brave piped up.

SHUT. UP. Raven mentally shouted. Both Brave and Desire grumbled something and got quiet.

Garfield came in the shower at that moment, Emmy's footstool in his hands. The little girl was insistent that she had to get in the tub on her own, so Raven had gotten her a little stool to help with that.

Whiiiich was kind of a moot point since Emmy couldn't get out of the tub by herself.

He gave her a small smile and set the stool down. Raven eased herself down onto it as he reached up and detached the shower head from its mount and pulled the hose down. He moved behind Raven and sat on the time, warm water splashing on the back of Raven's feet.

"Okay Rae, how are we doing this?" he asked, eyeing her rather painful looking wounds that were covered in a layer of her magic.

"Start at the top and wash any dirt and debris out. It fine if it bleeds and if any debris sticks to the lower gashes, its all getting washed out anyways." She instructed as she released a section of her powers from holding her flowing blood back. "When you have a cleaned spot about the size of your palm, tell me so we can heal that part."

"Yes ma'am." Garfield said as he brought the shower head up to her upper right shoulder. He snapped the head setting down to the wider standard shower setting and began to sweep it back and forth. He did, however, have a question. "So…how come you can't just use your healing trance on this?"

"Technically I can, but the regrown skin would trap the rocks and dirt and debris under the new layer of skin."

"What? Really?"

Raven nodded. "My healing trance doesn't expel foreign objects from my body, it just repairs anything damaged."

"Ohhh, okay." Garfield said as he paused his washing to pick out a particularly sizable chunk of glass from her flesh. Raven flinched when he did so, but said nothing. "I didn't think about that a few minutes ago when I healed my own wound.

Raven turned and looked at his shoulder (giving him a remarkable view of side boob), eyebrow raised. "Since when could you heal yourself?"

He shrugged and tore his eyes away from her chest. "It was just one of those things I'd been wondering about on and off for a while. I finally decided to test it out a few minutes ago, but I didn't clean it out."

"I'll check it later and phase out anything I find." Raven said as she turned back around. After a moment she let out a small chuckle. "Never thought I'd play doctor with you so much after joining the Titans."

"I'd rather you not make doctor jokes, Rae." Garfield said as he continued rinsing her wound out. It was almost clear of tiny rocks. "I don't particularly like doctors."

"Why's that?" Raven asked, surprised. She had never heard him mention something like this before, so she was more than a little curious.

He shook his head. "I'll tell you about Dr. Registar another day."

"Alright…" Raven said slowly. That sounded like a sensitive topic, judging from how somber his emotional spectrum became.

"Yeah, so…this spot is good." Garfield announced seconds later. "How are you healing it?"

"Put the showerhead down and give me one of your hands." Raven said, reaching her free hand back. Garfield did as instructed and grabbed her hand. It felt small in his own and he couldn't help but to run his thumb along her smooth skin.

"Hold your other hand up to my wound and keep it there. I'm going to connect my senses to yours through our telepathic link." Raven murmured, quietly pleased with the way his hand felt in hers. "Be warned…I've never done this before, so it might hurt you like it does me."

Garfield took a deep breath. "Alright, lets do it."

Hot damn! Desire shouted.

"Phrasing, Gar." Raven sighed.

"Hehe, sorry."

Raven rolled her eyes again before closing them and focusing on her link with Garfield. She felt her mind connect to his and she slightly cringed when she came in contact with his animal instincts. The cat incident was something she do without being reminded of. Pushing this to the side, she followed his senses down to his sense of touch, specifically his hand on her cleaned wound.

Heal. She thought.

Within seconds she felt a distant prick of pain, but it wasn't a clear sensation. Judging from the way Garfield tensed up, he could feel the pain.

"Sorry." She muttered.

"You don't have to say sorry, Rae. Heck, I'm just trying to figure put how you were still walking with this."

"Mind over matter."

"That stuff works?"

"Mhm."

"Jesus, Rae, you're so tough…its ridiculous." Garfield muttered. Raven felt his emotions sink into darkness and it startled her greatly. Why was he feeling like he was worthless?

It was a question Raven would mull over for the remainder of the wound cleaning process, which would end forty five minutes later. It was not pleasant by any means, especially when Gar had to yank out what felt like a whole brick out of her back (it was a piece of mortar the size of a dime). She wasn't able to stop herself from whimpering with each of the more painful pieces and even blacked out twice for a few seconds. Because she had compartmentalized her pain and shoved it to the side she hasn't realized just how bad some places were, like the bit of exposed spinal cord halfway up her back or the severed nerve on her neck. She was definitely thinking of getting a better made uniform, that's for certain.

It didn't help that Garfield's mood never improved, but she still had no idea why he felt that way.

"Alright Rae, that's the last of it." He murmured as he ran water down her back one last time. Raven sighed in relief. The drawback of healing herself was that it took twice as much stamina to do, though it didn't hurt like healing others did.

"Thank you Gar." Raven said softly, thinking that a short nap after checking on Starfire sounded wonderful right now.

"You're welcome Raven." Came his reply as he set the shower head down. Warm water rushed by her feet but it was his hot hand on her bare back that gave her goosebumps.

Forcing herself to not shiver under his touch, she glanced back at him. His mood was reflected on his face and his eyes were dark. Now Raven was getting worried.

"Gar?" She said softly, turning more towards him. "What's wrong?"

"You got hurt again." He said slowly, running his hand down her back.

Raven raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"If I had stopped Ternion sooner you wouldn't have gotten hurt."

"Gar…we're superheroes. We get hurt every day. Hell, you took far more hits than I did." Raven said incredulously.

"I know and that's fine. I don't mind getting hurt if it means you don't." He said, still looking at her back and running his hand across it.

Raven's eyebrow shot way up. "Excuse me?"

He looked up at her. "What?"

"Where the hell do you get off on it being okay for you to get hurt but not me?" Raven turned all the way around now, glaring at him. "Do you think I'm some sort of doll that needs to be handled carefully? Do you think I need you to hold my hand for everything? Because news flash, I don't-"

"You're my mate, Rae. I'm supposed to protect you." Garfield interrupted her, his eyes turning sad and his tone softening. "I failed and you got hurt again. I mean, what if you had got hurt worse? What if you broke your neck or got impaled on rebar or-"

"Garfield. You're an idiot."" Raven said quietly, interrupting him in turn as her glare faded into annoyance. Change of plan girls, time to knock some sense into him. Affection? Ideas?

I have onnnneeeee... The violet emotion said mischievously.

He raised an eyebrow and stiffened. "I'm an idiot for wanting to keep you safe?"

"No." Raven shook her head before doing something neither of them were expecting.

She slid off the stool and into his lap.

His eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as she wrapped her arms around his head and brought it to hers. He couldn't help but to glance down to find her magic pulling the strings of her bikini back, presumably to tie them.

"Gar." She said softly after placing her forehead to his. "You are an idiot."

He looked back into those big beautiful violet eyes and felt his self-loathing slowly starting to fade into confusion. "Why?"

"That hyperactive imagination of yours is making you think that you're responsible for something that you weren't responsible for and the more you sit and think about it the more you'll blame yourself. There is no blame on your part, you stupid boy." Raven gave him a little kiss and a little smile. "I swear, your alternating between not thinking at all and thinking too much is going to be the death of me."

He frowned. "But Raven, I'm supposed to-"

"Garfield Mark Logan, don't give me any of that testosterone bullcrap. I swear, you boys are so-"

"No, its not that." Garfield said before he hesitated. "Well, it is a little of that…but it's more of my animal side than anything. You're my mate, Raven. I'm supposed to provide for you and protect you. I have to do these things, they're literally a part of who I am."

Raven was quiet for a long moment before she said something she knew she would probably regret.

"I don't remember you being that way with Terra or Rose."

"There's a vast difference between you and them." Garfield parroted back at her without missing a beat. Raven couldn't keep the smile from her face. He just continued to surprise her.

"If that's the case, Gar…" She said slowly as she leaned in. "Then because you are my mate, it's my responsibility to keep you safe as well, especially from that unstable thing you call a brain."

Garfield was quiet for a moment before he blew a wet raspberry at her. Raven laughed.

"You're an immature idiot, you know that right?" She said, unable to keep the smile from her face at all.

"Pft, who's the bigger idiot, the idiot or the idiot talking to the idiot?"

"I'd say it's the idiot making out with her idiot." Showtime, Affection.

Garfield rose an eyebrow. "The idiot that's wha-"

Whatever he was asking was lost as Raven pressed her lips to his. This wasn't a normal kiss though. It didn't last for a few seconds and then depart. No, it was slow and repetitive, full lip to lip contact, over and over again until all they could taste was each other. Garfield's hands came up and pulled her closer and Raven buried her fingers in his soft hair.

The more they kissed, though, the harder it was getting to breathe. Hearts were pounding harder, faster, as Garfield's hands began to travel up and down Raven's sides. Said girl made no move to stop him, but she did pause her kissing long enough to gently bite his lip. He growled and she grinned at him before he pressed his lips to hers once more, but harder. It surprised Raven, but it was a welcome one. His tongue dipped into her mouth and brushed her own. Raven responded with her own, though she had no idea just what exactly she was doing. His hands slid up her sides, eliciting a pleased shiver as they brushed against her breasts and settled on her jawline. In her head, Desire was rattling up a storm.

Raven finally pulled away, needing to breathe. Between her pounding heart and his dizzy head, she couldn't really think straight. Garfield's emotions were pouring through her from both their kisses and their latent psychic link and it was starting to overwhelm her. As wonderful as this was, they really should stop-

Whatever Raven was thinking flew from her mind as Garfield's lips made contact with her neck. All she could taste was his lips on hers. All she could feel were those very lips traversed across her skin, leaving a flaming trail of ecstasy in its wake as his hot hands slid down her back. All she could smell was that intoxicating musky smell his skin seemed to be emitting. His lips found her jugular vein and she made a very un-Raven-like noise as he kissed it up and down. This noise repeated itself a little louder when he gently ran his tongue up her neck.

"You taste delicious." He growled as he peppered her neck with more kisses.

Raven barely heard him. Her mind was starting to go numb from the pleasurable sensations she was now experiencing. This wasn't part of Affection's plan and a part of her wondered if they should stop as Garfield's hands took a firm grip on her butt. She was starting to feel rather hot and rather tingly. Though his lips felt amazing on her neck and she was starting to want to feel his lips elsewhere, she could only bring herself to make another un-Raven-like noise as Garfield started nibbling on her earlobe. His tongue scrapped across it and Raven bit her lip hard to stop herself from shivering in his arms.

"Gar!" She finally squeaked out when he moved back to her neck. He pulled away and her hands came down to press on his chest.

"Yes Raven?" He growled in a way that Raven felt travel through her arms and into her own body.

"We…we … Raven panted. The hot tingles were rapidly turning into a hot ache, especially since she was now staring at Garfield's muscular chest. His emerald green skin was rippled with goosebumps from excitement just like hers and he was breathing just as heavily as her. She ran her hands down his chest, feeling his firm muscles. She was rapidly losing her train of thought as a newer one started up, this one about his body pressed to hers, pinning her down on the tile as he- no, she needed to stop thinking about that. But…her body was pressed to his and she knew that he could feel her and that she could feel his excitement pressing against her. She could feel his desire for her through his emotions too and it was so powerful. This was bad, she needed to-

And that was the moment she made the mistake of looking into his eyes.

Those hungry emerald eyes.

Hungry for her.

Garfield himself was lost in everything that was Raven. Her delicious taste of her skin, the sound of her soft moans and whimpers, the softness of her skin in his hands, her aroused scent, all of it. He knew he needed to stop, he knew he needed to get away from her until he could calm down. But the problem was that he was a little more attention starved than he let on and he just couldn't keep his hands off her right now. His animal instincts were practically screaming at him to take his mate here and now, but he knew he couldn't do that...

So he settled for biting Raven. Yes, he could bite his mate. That was okay, right? Yes, it had to be, she wasn't pulling away from him. His mate wanted him as much as he wanted her. He could smell her need. And he needed to bite her so bad…

"Gar!" She gasped softly as he sank his teeth into her neck. "What…are you doing?!"

"Marking my territory?" He growled half-jokingly as he began to suck, scrapping his tongue across her skin once more. Where was that rattling noise coming from? He pondered as he did so.

"No marks!" Her hands slid around him and her nails dug into his shoulder blade. "The other's might notice-"

"I don't care of they see. You're mine and I'll mark you how I want." His growl was deeper this time and he could feel it reverberate through her. She whimpered but didn't argue when he finally released her neck and started nipping down her collarbone. Each place he bit he licked, running his tongue over the bite mark and making Raven whimper more and more. He was beginning to think she liked being bitten. If that was the case, there was something much more tender he could sink his teeth into just a little further down. Yes, his mate would like that too and he needed to please his mate.

He couldn't keep the excited growl from rising to his lips as he hit the low point of her collar and started trailing downwards. He continually nipped her and swirled his tongue across the bites. Raven was making a variety of noises he had never heard her make before and it was addicting to listen to. He wondered what kind of sound she'd make when he sank his teeth into her nip-

"Mommy, Daddy, what are you doing?"

It was like they had been dumped into sub-arctic waters, those six words bringing them to a dead stop as the reality of what was going on really hit them. Garfield pulled back from Raven, his wide eyes meeting her own wide eyes. They stared at each other for a long moment, wordlessly.

"Mommy, Daddy, what were you doing?" Emelia repeated from the door of the shower. She was genuinely confused.

"We were…just kissing. That's all." Raven said slowly as her heart rate began to slow down and her hormones started to fade.

"Yeah…just kissing " Garfield nodded, trying to breathe through his mouth so that he wouldn't inhale more of Raven's intoxicating scent. He (reluctantly) pulled his hands from Raven's butt.

"Really?" Emelia said skeptically. "'Cause it looked like daddy was about to bite you on the boobie."

"Emelia." Raven said sharply. "Do you want to sit in the time out corner?"

Emmy's eyes got huge and she shook her head rapidly. "No!"

"Then stop asking questions when we already answered you."

"Yes mommy…" Emmy ducked out so sight and the sound of the bathroom door opening came a moment later. Both teens stared at each other for a long, quiet moment.

"I'm sorry Rae." Garfield finally said, one hand coming up to scratch the back of his neck nervously. "First time making out…I wasn't prepared for such a strong reaction from my animal instincts. Please don't be mad."

"We're both to blame for that." Raven said softly, a tiny smile on her face. "I'm glad it didn't go farther than that though."

This was both intriguing and saddening to Garfield. "Can I ask why?"

Raven thought about it for a moment before shrugging. "I took a vow of celibacy along time ago. I intend to keep it as long as I can."

"Might be hard to do if we make out like that every time." Garfield chuckled. I need a really cold shower SOON.

"We'll just to be more careful then." Raven said firmly. Garfield chuckled and nodded again. Raven then got up and helped him up before telekinetically grabbing the shower head and putting it back in place. It was still pouring warm water, so Raven rinsed herself off and exited the shower. Garfield followed suit and within five minutes they were walking down the hall hand in hand, feeling remarkably better than when they went in.

I expect you to be quiet for a while, Desire. Raven mentally called out.

Sweet dreams are made of theeeeseee! The perpetually promiscuous emotion sang out, not having heard a word of what her whole self had said.

Maybe a nap isn't the best idea right now. Knowledge murmured. Raven was inclined to agree.