CHAPTER THREE

Robin and Starfire were the first to enter the med. bay the next morning. But Robin had to quickly slap a hand over Starfire's mouth and drag her back out into the hallway to keep her from awakening the two sleeping figures on the bed. Once he had made Starfire understand the need for silence, Robin allowed her to peek her head into the room with him. But he made sure he was in a position that would make it easy for him to grab her if she so much as squeaked.

What they saw was so surprising to the two Teen Titans that they almost fell over. Beast Boy and Raven were curled up on the bed. Beast Boy's back was against Raven's chest, and she had her arm tightly around his waist, almost like she was protecting him. Her cape was flung back, and her hood had slipped down, revealing her face. Robin suddenly realized that he had never seen Raven that relaxed. He had seen her asleep, she had fallen asleep on the Teen Titan couch one night. But even then she had seemed tense and guarded. Laying there with Beast Boy, Raven was at peace. Beast Boy stirred slightly, and Raven's grip tightened on him instinctively. Sensing that neither of them would be pleased with an audience, Robin grabbed Starfire around the waist and dragged her off to the kitchen.

Inside the med. bay, Raven and Beast Boy both woke up at the same time. Beast Boy looked around in confusion, then yelped when he turned and found Raven and he sharing a bed.

"Raven! Are you all right?" He asked anxiously. Raven nodded and stretched, pulling her hood back up as she did so.

"I'm okay. It's you I'm worried about." She said truthfully. Beast Boy looked at her, startled, but her hood was hiding her face and he was unable to tell if she was serious or being sarcastic again.

"I'm fine." He snapped, deciding that it had to be sarcastic. He swung his legs over the bed and tried to stand up. But he swayed and would have fallen if Raven hadn't jumped forward and caught him. But he was a little heavier than she expected and they ended up sprawled across the bed, Beast Boy on top of Raven.

"Knock it off." Raven ordered, wiggling out from under him. "Your hurt. Lay still."

"I'm fine." Beast Boy insisted. But he did stay down. His head hurt like crazy and the room was hanging at a weird angle.

"The Beast got out again." Raven told him bluntly. Beast Boy looked stunned for a moment, then turned away with tears in his eyes.

"I know." He muttered.

"It wasn't your fault Beast Boy." Raven told him, sitting down and putting a hand on his shoulder. "You don't have any training in controlling it, you didn't even know it was there until those chemicals messed with your DNA and unleashed it."

"Yeah, but what am I supposed to do now?!" Beast Boy yelled, sitting up so suddenly that he almost threw Raven off the bed. "Do you know how horrible it is to have it lurking just under the surface now? To feel it in my brain, laughing at me, just waiting for a moment of weakness so it can force it's way out?"

"Yes. I do." Raven said softly. Beast Boy looked up and blushed slightly.

"Yeah, I guess you do." Beast Boy muttered. "Your probably the only person who does." He hugged his knees to his chest, or at least tried to. But when he moved his right arm he winced in pain. Raven noticed and moved to his side.

"I guess I never did take care of that arm, did I?" She asked, reaching out for it. After all, she had promised Beast Boy's mother that she would take care of him. This time, Beast Boy let her hold his arm in her hands. When she finished, Beast Boy smiled at her.

"Thanks."

"Your welcome."

Raven and Beast Boy sat in silence for a moment. Then Beast Boy sighed and fell back on his back, staring up at the ceiling.

"How long do I have to stay in here?"

"I have no idea." Raven told him truthfully. "But Cyborg will probably want you to stay here for a few days. He'll want to find out why the Beast is back."

"Great." Beast Boy said disgustedly. He looked at Raven out of the corner of his eye. "Umm, Ra?"

"Don't call me Ra." Raven said automatically, then sighed at the pleading look on Beast Boy's face. "What?"

"It's probably silly, but. . ."

"Just tell me."

"Could you go and get something from my room?"

"Why can't you go get it?" Raven asked by reflex.

"Because I think the Tower is tilted about twenty degrees to the right." He replied. Raven flinched under her hood. After everything he had gone through last night, his body was still recuperating. He shouldn't be walking anywhere. The least she could do was go get something for him.

"I guess. What do you want?"

"In the drawer in my night stand there's a picture in a black frame. That's the all I want."

"All right." Raven slid off the bed and left the med bay.

She took the stairs, instinctively avoiding everyone. She had no desire to answer questions about why she had stayed with Beast Boy last night. The truth was, she had swore she would be nicer to Beast Boy ever since the Beast first burst out. She had never seen him as devastated as he was when he thought he had hurt her. He had avoided her for days, convinced that if he stayed away, the Beast couldn't hurt her. Raven had finally cornered him in his room and convinced him that he had been protecting her, he hadn't hurt her. He had attacked the other Titans because he hadn't been himself and had thought they were a threat to Raven. Since then Raven had been nicer to him, sitting with him quietly on the roof or down at the beach. She hoped she could help him with the Beast.

Raven shook her head when she realized she had passed the door to Beast Boy's room. She backtracked and opened his door, smiling inwardly at his room. It was messy and cluttered, but was also bright and airy. It fit him perfectly. Raven floated over to his night stand and opened the single drawer. The only thing in it was a picture in a black frame. She picked it up and almost dropped it when she saw the picture. In it was the woman she had seen in Beast Boy's mind, his mother. She and a man who must have been Beast Boy's father were both kneeling behind a young Beast Boy, a Beast Boy who wasn't green! The young boy was beaming at the camera, on his knees next to a small tiger cub. The cub had rolled over on it's back and was looking up at Beast Boy adoringly. Beast Boy had his small hand on the cub's stomach.

And taped to the corner, stuck under the frame, was a picture of her. She had no idea when it had been taken, but it could have been any time. She was floating, legs crossed, eyes closed, hood down, meditating. He had trimmed it down from a regular picture, and then taped it the frame of his parents picture. She wondered if he remembered doing that. Probably not, she realized. If he had, he wouldn't have asked her to get it for him. Raven smiled at made her way back down to the med. bay.

Beast Boy smiled when she came back into the room. Without a word, she handed him the picture. Beast Boy froze when he saw the picture of Raven taped to it, but when Raven didn't say anything he decided that she must not mind.

"Thanks." He said, holding the picture on his lap. He smiled down at it, touching the face of his mother through the glass.

"Is that you and your parents?" Raven asked quietly.

"Yeah." Beast Boy said with a grin. "They were the greatest. How many parents do you know would take their toddler son to Africa with them, or let him grow up playing with baby animals?"

"You grew up in Africa?" Raven asked in surprise.

"Yeah." Beast Boy smiled, still looking at the picture.

"I noticed you weren't green." Raven said bluntly. Beast Boy looked up, startled, then let out a short bark of laughter.

"Yeah. This was taken right before I got sick."

"What?"