Chapter 13

Beastboy woke up. He was at the hospital. Sunlight streamed in through the window and fell onto Raven's face. She was sitting up, looking out of the window. Beastboy sat up straight.

"Raven, you're awake!"

She turned to look at him.

"Of course I am."

"But… I thought…" He was confused. She laughed.

"Oh, BB. You must have been dreaming."

"You never called me BB before." He grinned. She shrugged, still smiling.

"Maybe I decided to start."

"Fine with me."

Beastboy looked around. His eyes fell upon the heart monitor. He frowned.

"Hey, did you knock the monitor off?"

Raven looked down. The bandages were still attached around her wrists.

"No…"

"But it's… Raven, it's saying you're dead."

She looked up at him. Her violet eyes met his. And she began to disappear. She was disintegrating. Beastboy jumped up.

"Raven!" Her mouth moved, but no sound came out. Her skin fell away, revealing glistening muscles which began to fall apart. Her hand fell away from his. Within moments all that was left was a skeleton. Beastboy stepped back and fell over something. It was the body of Timid. Littering the floor were the Emotions, blood spilling over hideous wounds. Accusing eyes stared at him for every direction. Mouths were open in frozen screams. Hands were splayed in twisted forms, reaching for him…

"NOOOO!" Beastboy screamed.

"Beastboy wake up!" His eyes snapped open. Starfire was shaking him, concern filling her eyes. Cyborg and Robin were standing behind her. Beastboy blinked as cold sweat dripped down his face. He looked quickly down at the bed. Raven was still sleeping.

"I had… I had a nightmare."

"Got that much." Cyborg said with an ironic smile. Beastboy wiped his face and shook his head, trying to get rid of the image of Raven dying.

He couldn't have been asleep for more than a couple of hours. Rain spattered the windows, the sky a miserable grey colour. Starfire stroked his hand.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah… just a bit shaken…"

There was a knock at the door. The Doctor entered along with a Chinese man. This was clearly Chi-Hey Wu. He smiled at them and the Doctor introduced them.

"Mr Wu wants to tell us about his discoveries."

The man smiled broadly.

"Please, call me Chi-Hey. Now then… as you know, no source of Raven's illness has been discovered. We still don't have a name for it. At a stretch we could call it excessive exhaustion, but we have never seen anything like this in the field of Science. As you know, I examined Raven last night and have done some tests. These tests haven't shown me much, so I have to the conclusion that we should try Raven on a drug."

"What kind of drug?" Beastboy asked quietly. Chi-Hey looked at him.

"It is one that I recently developed. It's been tested on coma patients and most of them have woken up."

"Most?"

"I used it on ten patients, with their family's permission of course. 7 woke up, 3 didn't. One of the 7 patients died recently, but not as a result of the drug."

"Isn't there any other way?" Robin asked. Chi-Hey hesitated.

"If we leave her, her chances of waking up are very slim. The Doctor informs me that some standard medication has already been administered. But my drug has a very high success rate. If we use the drug, plus the standard issue medication I believe that Raven's chances of a full recovery increase greatly."

The Teen Titans looked at each other. The Doctor said,

"We haven't been able to find any records of Raven's family. We need permission to use the drug."

"We're her only family." Starfire said. The Doctor nodded.

"Still, I need to speak to an adult." They looked at each other and Robin said,

"Bruce Wayne. He's our official guardian."

"Very well. I'll call at once." The Doctor said. Robin and Starfire went with him. Cyborg excused himself, sensing that Beastboy wanted to talk to Chi-Hey

Chi-Hey sat down and looked at Beastboy. Beastboy found himself studying the man more closely. He wasn't particularly tall, but was strongly built. He had a round face, clean-shaven with dark eyes and slightly windswept hair. His English was good, but his Chinese accent was clear. And Beastboy was trusting Raven's life to him.

"Have you got any questions?" Chi-Hey asked. Beastboy nodded.

"Can you save her?"

"We can try. In this field of work, we can never be positive."

Beastboy didn't speak. He still held Raven's hand in his own. Chi-Hey noticed and looked up at him again.

"You love her?"

"More than anything. That's why I need to know. Can you save her?"

"I'll do my very best." Chi-Hey assured him. Beastboy nodded.

Starfire, Robin and Cyborg came in, with the Doctor. The Doctor said,

"Mr Wayne has given permission, but says that you four have to decide ultimately." The three others looked at Beastboy. Beastboy looked down at Raven. He brushed a lock of hair away from her face.

He looked up at the Doctor.

"Give her the drug."

Beastboy couldn't sleep that night. His fear of the nightmare, along with his concern for Raven, kept sleep at bay. Eventually he gave up and went to get some warm soy milk. However, when he turned on the light, he found Robin already there, eating a sandwich. He put it down, when he saw Beastboy though. Beastboy frowned.

"Why are you sitting in the dark?"

"It's easier to think in the dark." Robin replied. Beastboy noticed his guilty expression.

"Dude, it's OK."

"No, it's not. I did it again. Abandoned everything just to get at Slade."

"You did what you thought was best."

"Yeah, but I was wrong, wasn't I?"

"Well yeah… but you're forgiven. So what's up with you and Starfire?" Beastboy said, changing the subject. Robin grinned.

At about 5 in the morning the phone rang. Beastboy and Robin had fallen asleep, but Cyborg and Starfire rushed in and Cyborg seized the phone.

"Hello? Yeah. What's up? Is she OK?"

The Titans stood close, watching the half robot for information. His face didn't change from the worried expression. Eventually he said,

"OK… thanks. We'll come right away." He hung up the phone.

"What is it? Is it Raven? Is she OK?" Beastboy asked desperately.

Cyborg nodded.

"It's Raven. They gave her the drugs…"

"What happened?!" Beastboy shouted. Cyborg met his eyes, face still solemn.

"She's moving. They thinks she's gonna wake up soon."

Beastboy stared at him. Cyborg's face cracked into a smile. Starfire started to laugh and Robin hugged her. Beastboy could barely breathe. Cyborg hit him on the shoulder. The green teenager grinned and said,

"We'd better get to the hospital!"

Raven was still sleeping when they went in. Chi-Hey was making notes on a clipboard, and he smiled as they walked in. Starfire cocked her head to one side.

"She does not look different." She commented. Chi-Hey nodded.

"To you, she probably doesn't. But to the medical staff, it's a world of difference." They all jumped as Raven's head moved on the pillow, just slightly. Beastboy smiled. Chi-Hey put down the clipboard.

"We've estimated that she'll wake up in the next 24 hours or so. You've been given special permission to stay here as long as you want." He yawned and smiled, "I'm going to get some sleep. I've been up all night."

They said goodnight and sat down as he left. Robin said,

"I can't believe that she only came back a few days ago. It seems like forever."

"I know what you mean." Beastboy agreed. He was holding Raven's hand again. Cyborg looked across at Starfire and Robin, who were holding hands too and groaned.

"Geez, I hope there's a hot nurse around here somewhere. Everyone's pairing off, apart from me!" Starfire patted his shoulder and said,

"Do not be afraid, Cyborg. I'm sure you will find a person soon."

They played cards for a while and eventually Cyborg complained about his hunger. Starfire nodded.

"I would very much like some mustard."

"Starfire!" Robin reprimanded her. Starfire looked disappointed. Beastboy grinned.

"You guys go ahead. We've been here for hours. Get a pizza or something."

"Sure you don't want anything?" Robin asked. Beastboy shook his head.

"I'm good, thanks."

They left, talking loudly. Beastboy laughed and settled back. He glanced over at Raven.

"You know, Rae… I think I HAVE grown up. Depressing, isn't it? I'm all responsible and that kind of crap. Well, you'd probably disagree. Or would you? It's scary that I don't actually know what you'd think. You used to be more predictable. But then you'd go and do something I wasn't expecting… I guess that's why I'm so crazy about you."

He looked away and spoke to the ceiling, her hand still in his. He ran his fingers over the palm of her hand, touching each of the fingers tenderly, caressing the back of the hand, being careful to avoid the needle in it.

"Because I am crazy about you, you know? I'm also just plain crazy, but that's something else entirely. I know what I see in you, but what do you see in me? I mean, I pretty much loved you since I went into your mirror and saw the real you. But nothing like that has ever happened to make me understand why you like me. I'll have to ask you when you wake up.

I can't believe I almost lost you. It hurts inside when I think about how close I came to losing you for a second time."

Beastboy swallowed. There was a lump in his throat. He felt tears pricking his eyes and squeezed them shut.

"God, Raven. I love you so much. Don't leave me again, OK? Just stay with me. Like in that song. 'A Thousand Words'. I don't know which thousand, but the song kind of makes sense for us. How does it go? Oh I remember. A thousand words have never been spoken, they'll fly to you, they'll carry you home and back into my arms, suspended on silver wings. What do you think? Does it make sense? I don't know Raven."

He looked down at her and closed his eyes again, squeezing her hand in his.

"You've got to come back, Raven. You've got to. I can't think without you. I can't be me without you. You ARE me. Please… just come back."

He opened his eyes. And his heart stopped. Because Raven was watching him, with dark eyes. He couldn't speak. She continued to watch him. Eventually he managed to stammer,

"Y-you came… You came back." She tightened her fingers around his hand.

"I never left."