Wow, you people are good! Nearly all of you guessed correctly what was going to happen next! LOL, well done! I've been doing a Beast Boy today and doing my Christmas Baking. I think I ate too much mixture... rubs stomach Never mind. Next Chapter tomorrow! What made me really happy was that when I came to check my emails today I have 81 new emails and about 75 were reviews! Love you guys so

Chapter 10

THE JUMP CITY ORPHANAGE

Raven stared at Beast Boy. He opened his coat to reveal that he was wearing a Father Christmas costume.

"And the boxes?" She asked.

"You think I was going to eat all that stuff myself?"

"Let me get this straight. You have been baking for days and sneaking around town to bring a few cookies to a bunch of orphans."

"Sure. I come every year. This is the first time anyone's found out about it though." Beats Boy said. He looked at his watch.

"OK, these kids are up past their bedtimes. Let's deliver the goods and get back to the Tower. Wait…"

He eyed Raven, who glared at him.

"What?"

"You can't go in there looking like the angel of death. Hang on a sec…"

The doors to the orphanage flew open and about forty children of various ages jumped to their feet. Beast Boy burst in shouting, "HO HO HO!"

He stopped and turned to look behind him. Raven entered, looking seriously miffed. Her blue cloak had been replaced with a red, fur lined one and a halo was sticking up from the band Beast Boy had thrown onto her head.

"I'm not saying it." She told him. He looked at her.

"Raven. They're kids."

"Fine… ho ho ho." She said in her usual monotone. Beast Boy beamed at her and then turned.

"Who wants a Christmas Treat?"

"ME!" Came the deafening roar. Beast Boy handed out cake tins and bowls of treats. One of the adults came over, smiling.

"I can't thank you enough. They've been looking forward to this all week."

"No problem." Beast Boy grinned. He pulled Raven forward.

"This is my friend, Raven. She helped me out tonight."

"Thank you so much." Said the woman, hugging the bewildered Raven. "You've really made it a good Christmas! We don't get much funding so it's not like we can pay someone to come and cheer up the kids. But Beast Boy comes every year since… oh, about five years ago?"

"Really?" Raven said, staring at him. He blushed.

"Yeah. Hey, look at them. They're so happy. And full of sugar."

The woman ran away to stop a child stuffing cookies into the stockings. Raven turned to Beast Boy.

"I don't get it. Why so secretive?"

"I was wondering how you'd react. No particular reason. I just like teasing you. You do this thing with your nose when you're irritated."

"What?" Raven said. Beast Boy smirked.

"When you're irritated your nose sort of… wrinkles up. Its fun, making you do it."

Raven stared at him.

"My nose does not wrinkle."

"It does too! It's cute."

"Cute?"

Beast Boy shrugged.

"Hey, I'm only human. Sort of." He turned back to the children. "Well, kids, I gotta get going! Lots of people to see before the big day!"

"Bye Santa!" they cried. Beast Boy grinned.

"Bye Miss Angel!" A small girl said, smiling up at Raven, her mouth covered in chocolate. Raven nodded, unsure how to react. Beast Boy grabbed her hands.

"Come on."

"So… are you gonna 'fess up?" Beast Boy asked. They had returned the van and were now sitting on top of an abandoned building, looking at the beautiful city below. You could very nearly feel the warmth rising from the houses.

Raven eyed him.

"'Fess up?"

"Why you've been all grinchy?"

"Grinchy?"

"You know… the Grinch. Green guy, lives on a mountain, hates Christmas?" Beast Boy laughed. Raven hunched up, her knees under her chin. She stood morosely down at the lights.

"You don't want to know."

"Sure I do. Otherwise I wouldn't have asked."

"I mean it, Beast Boy. You… you love Christmas. You don't want to end up hating it."

"I won't. Tell me."

She took a deep breath and stared over the lights.

"It was… before I joined the Titans. My first Christmas here on earth. I knew the basics. Birth of Jesus, presents, family, tree corpses…" Beats Boy chuckled. "But I'd never experienced it. It seemed like such a waste of time. But I could see how happy it made everyone. So I figured… couldn't be that bad. Not if it could drive away all the sorrows people experience the rest of the year."

She put a finger to the ground she was sitting on and started to trace patterns. No imprint was made on the concrete but it looked as if she were creating a masterpiece, giving her full attention to it. Eventually she said, still fidgeting,

"It was Christmas Eve. I was in a city. I can't remember where. Not here. But it's the same everywhere. You get the happy families. The people coming home and being welcomed with open arms and love. But I didn't see that. I ended up in the bad side of town. And do you know what I saw there? Death. It was snowing and there was this girl. She couldn't have been older than us. Sixteen, maybe. Anyway, she was huddled up under this pathetic little blanket and she was shaking. I didn't know what to do. I hadn't been on Earth very long. I… I just walked past. I could see she was cold and hungry but I just left her."

Beast Boy stared at her. Her eyes were fixed on the ground. She licked her dry lips.

"She died. I saw her on the news the next day. She died. I could have saved her life but I didn't. I just… let her die. And there were others. I saw so many people. They didn't have anywhere to go. I walked straight past, just like everyone else. No one wants to think about them at Christmas."

She looked up at him. Her eyes were piercing, but they looked brighter than usual. She whispered,

"That's why I hate Christmas. Because it's no different from the rest of the year. No, I'm wrong. Its worse. People pretend that everything is lovely and happy because they don't want to have to think about a teenage girl dying on the street. Every Christmas, I go into the town and I see people dying there. And there's nothing I can do about it. That's why I resent Christmas. It doesn't open your eyes and make you see the world as a beautiful place. It closes your eyes and your mind, telling you that everything's OK, don't worry about it. People are blind. But I'm worse. I saw it and I still didn't do anything. All that time ago… I let a girl die."

A shuddering breath escaped her and she bowed her head, her hood hiding her face. Beast Boy stared at her.

"Rae… Raven…" he didn't know what to say. Raven stood up and paced the rooftop. Eventually she turned to him and glared down at the city.

"Look at them! They're so happy… Robin, Starfire, Cyborg… You. That's why I couldn't tell. I couldn't ruin Christmas for you. You love Christmas, you truly believe that everything can be alright at Christmas."

"No."

She stopped and stared at him. He was on his feet. He shook his head.

"No. I don't believe that. Why do you think I take that stuff to the Orphanage? Because I know they're not getting anything else. I know things are bad, Raven. That's why I do that stuff. Because I can. I can change the world. Well, if not the world, I can make a few little kids happy at Christmas. You don't have to suffer alone with everything you know. You don't like what's going on down there? Then make a difference."

"I can't-"

"Sure you can!" Beast Boy said, "I have. I cheered up some kids. Haven't you heard that song? Whatsit called… that aid thingy?"

"Band Aid?"

"Yeah! They sang that song and raised loads of money for people in Africa. They made a difference. Come on."

He seized her hand and turned into a bird. Before Raven could stop him he had flown her down to the City Centre. Still holding onto her hand he said,

"Look. Look at them." He gestured at some carollers holding tins. "They're collecting money for Cancer charities. And him, over there? That guy's from the Help the Homeless organisation .And I'll be you twenty pounds of tofu that if you went into the next street or the next one after that you'd find someone collecting for another charity. So don't you dare say you can't make a difference. Because you can make all the difference in the world, even if it's just for one person, on one day."

Raven gaped at him.

"Beast Boy… when did you get so smart?"

"About the same time you got so stupid." He smiled. A smile broke across her face. Before he knew what he was doing, Beast Boy put his arms around her.

"You made a load of difference to me." Raven hugged him back. He was so… warm. She buried her face in his shoulder.

"I do?" she asked, fearing that he would say no.

"Of course. You change me for the better, Rae. You make me a better person." He pulled back and stared her straight in the eye. They were moist. She cuffed them quickly.

"I can't believe how stupid I'm being." She muttered.

"You're not. Stop putting yourself down."

The bell in the clock tower next to them started to peal. Beast Boy smiled at her. She smiled back and he said,

"Merry Christmas Raven."