Chapter Eleven :: Rejection

Raven opened her eyes. She stood there unblinking, beads of sweat forming on her forehead. A single tear ran down her face as a vase of fake flowers on the counter exploded. She dropped to her knees, dropping the test on the floor. Her hands went to her face as she sobbed silently.

She was pregnant.

"Raven!" Starfire was pounding on the bathroom door. She had been walking to her bedroom when she heard the vase explode. "Friend Raven! Are you alright?" She yelled into the door. She put her ear up to the door and thought she heard crying from the other side. "Friend Raven! Are you hurt? Did you get cut? Can I be of assistance?" There was no answer. Just Raven's muffled sobs.

Cyborg came upstairs and asked what was going on.

"Star, something must've happened. Maybe you should just leave her alone" He told her.

The bathroom door opened. Everything seemed to be in order. Raven had used her powers to clean up the mess and had hidden everything related to the test under her shirt. She came out of the bathroom and walked past them to her bedroom, locking herself inside.

"She was crying" Starfire said to Cy after Raven had past.

"We should give her some time. I'm sure we will be able to find out what happened soon" Cyborg put his arm around Star to help assure that things would be fine. Raven was strong. He knew that whatever was wrong, would be fixed out soon. He prayed that she just needed to meditate.

Starfire went downstairs to help Beast Boy cook dinner. She hoped that a nice dinner would help Raven to feel better.

"Hey guys. That smells great! Is it almost ready?" Robin asked BB as he came into the kitchen.

"Yeah dude, ready in 5. Take a seat" Beast Boy replied.

The kitchen door hissed open and in walked Cyborg, followed shortly by Starfire.

"I went to Raven's room, but I can only assume she does not want dinner" She said with a worried look.

"It's ok Star. We can save her some for later. She's probably not hungry. She must just be stressed about something." Cyborg said comfortingly.

Robin raised an eyebrow. He seemed to be the only one who was confused.

The team ate their dinner in silence. Robin finished first, thanked the team and left for upstairs to Raven's room.

He knocked on the door. "Raven, it's me. Can I come in?" She used her powers to open the door but did not budge from her bed where she lay, still sniffling though her crying had past. He looked over at his depressed lover.

"Sweetheart" he said rushing over to her side after he locked her door behind him, "Is everything ok?" He lay next to her, taking her in his arms. She began to cry again.

"Honey, please. Talk to me. What happened?" He asked her, his voice soft and concerned. She pulled the pregnancy test out of her pants pocket and handed it to him.

"I'm pregnant" She said before bursting into more tears.

Robin sat in silence for about 20 minutes. He couldn't believe it. They had been so careful. The only time they hadn't been careful was that first time, but it was too long ago... how could it have been what caused this. He looked down at the test. 'Pregnant?' he thought, 'How could I have gotten her pregnant? She...she cant be pregnant. She just can't!'

He dared to ask; "Ar...Are you sure?"

Raven looked at him, hurt in her eyes. "Yes, do you think I would be this upset if I wasn't?"

"Raven... we..." he paused to think. He wanted to say what his head was telling him to say delicately. "We can't have a baby. We... we aren't ready for that."

Raven looked at him, the hurt in her eyes was now blending with the anger in her face.

"What would you have me do? Give up this baby? Do you want me to go and kill this baby before it has a chance to live?" Blind tears were streaming down her face. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. The sensitive man she had fallen in love with was practically telling her to kill the baby, or never hear from him again.

"Raven, I can't be a father! I'm not ready to be a father!" he stood up and walked towards the door.

"So what are you saying Richard? That if I have this baby you don't wish to be a part of its life?" she stood up and began to walk towards him.

He took a deep breath, bit his bottom lip, and looked back over at her, tears coming from his eyes. "Yes Raven, I think that's what I am saying."

He walked out the door.

"Robin your being unreasonable!" she yelled after him. She went out the door and into the hallway. "Robin!" she yelled after him as he went down the hall and into the living area. It was no use, she knew he wasn't going to come back, no matter how many times she called. She rubbed her hands on her face and turned around to see three pairs of eyes looking at her.

Starfire had come out of the bathroom and the boys had come out of their bedrooms when they heard her yelling at Robin. They all wanted to know what was going on, but none had the guts to ask what was up.

Raven looked at her friends, and then the ground. "We.. Err..." she was cut short by an alarm sounding.

They all rushed out to the living area to where Robin was looking at the television monitor.

"Robin! What's up?" Cyborg asked when they had gotten to the room.

"Slade."