Chapter 7

Raven yawned, walking into the main room. The scent of a newly cut pine tree filled the room. In the corner the large evergreen sat where Cyborg had put it the other day, taking up a large portion of space.

The room was empty as Raven walkedto the stoveand began making her tea. She was sitting on the couch, reading a book and drinking her tea, when Beast Boy walked in. Unsurprisingly, he looked like he was only half-awake, as he flopped down on the couch. He stretched out on his side, as there was plenty of room on the large sofa.

They sat in silence as Raven read and Beast Boy watched TV. After a while, Beast Boy turned off the television and sat up. He looked at Raven. Sensing his eyes on her, she looked up. He seemed like he was about to say something, but stopped and shook his head. Silently he walked over to the kitchen area and made himself a bowl of cereal with soymilk.

The rest of the Titans began to fill the room and eventually everyone was seated around the main room.

"Friends, I believe we should put up the decorations of Christmas!" Starfire exclaimed as she floated around the room.

Robin agreed and he and Cyborg went into the basement to drag the decorations upstairs. They made several trips up, but after about twenty minutes, they announced that all the decorations were upstairs.

Robin, ever the leader, quickly began assigning everyone jobs. He told Cyborg, Raven and Starfire to put up the lights outside, since Raven and Starfire could fly and Cyborg would know the best way to put the lights up. He and Beast Boy would hang up garlands and wreaths around the tower.

"All right!" Beast Boy exclaimed, happy that he didn't have to go outside. He looked around the main room. "So, where are the garlands?"

Robin pointed at one corner of the room and Beast Boy's jaw dropped.

"Those are the garlands!" he pointed at the pile incredulously. "That pile is bigger than I am!"

"Most things are bigger than you, Beast Boy," Raven commented sarcastically. The boy shot her a glare, but for the most part her comment went ignored.

"Yeah, it took Cyborg and I about five trips down to get them all up," Robin admitted, looking at the large pile that was indeed bigger than Beast Boy. "But it's a big tower, what did you expect?"

Grumbling, Beast Boy picked up an armful and followed Robin down the hall. Raven suppressed a giggle, and followed Starfire and Cyborg outside.

They spent over an hour attaching the lights to the tower, under Cyborg's instruction. They started at the top, where Cyborg's ladder couldn't reach, and made their way down. Once they had almost reached the ground, Cyborg told them he would take over. They smiled and went inside the tower to warm up.

The two girls made hot chocolate and sat down on the couch. Starfire turned on the TV and Raven sat down and tried to read her book. Robin and Beast Boy came in a few minutes later and began hanging garlands around to room. After about twenty minutes, Raven gave up trying to read. She couldn't concentrate. It wasn't because of the noise from the TV, or because of Robin and Starfire talking over the sound of the TV, or Beast Boy's rather off key singing of Deck the Halls... well, at least mostly.

The empath's thoughts kept drifting to Beast Boy. Questions had constantly been tugging at her mind the past few days, and she wasn't sure about any of the answers.

Cyborg came in as Robin and Beast Boy were putting up the last of the garlands that twisted around the room.

"Lights are up!" he announced.

"Glorious! Now we must all do the decoration of the tree!" exclaimed Starfire.

The group of friends gathered around the large tree. Each had their own box of tree decorations, and Beast Boy and Robin had put small lights and tinsel on the tree already.

Robin reached into the box and pulled out a shiny red Christmas ball. As he placed the ornament on the tree, the others reached into their own boxes and pulled out the tree decorations.

They each put on shiny balls and baubles and they chatted happily as they decorated the tree. Finally, Starfire placed the shiny gold star on the top of the tree. She floated down the ground and stood with her friends. Cyborg turned off the light and they all admired their handy work.

Everyone could tell which ornaments belonged to whom. Robins were all red or gold, Beast Boy's were green and pink, Cyborg's were blue and white, Starfire's were orange and light purple, and Raven's were dark purple and silver. The different colors looked pretty together.

"It is most beautiful!" exclaimed Starfire, eyes twinkling in colorful lights.

"Yeah, it is," agreed Robin, looking at Starfire.

Cyborg and Beast Boy sniggered a little at Robin's expense, but were both still in awe of the beautifully sparkling tree.

After a while, Cyborg turned the light on and announced,

"It's finally dark out. Anyone want to see the lights outside?"

Everyone agreed and ran to the door. After bundling up in snow gear, they went outside and lined up in front of the tower. Snow fell down gently. Cyborg walked over to the extension cord and plugged it into the outside electric socket. All of the Titans gasped as the tower lit up.

On an ordinary night, the tower was impressive when all it's lights were on, but this was different. Red, green and white lights shone onto the sparkling snow. The snow softly falling seemed like sparkling fairy dust in the colorful lights.

Beast Boy looked over at Raven, who was standing at his left. The bright colors lit up her skin, making it look like silver, and the smallest hint of a smile played on her lips. He wasn't sure what made him do it, but he grabbed her hand in his. When she looked at him to ask why he was holding her hand, he had already turned back to look at the tower. Beast Boy expected her to just shake his hand off, but was surprised when she just looked back at the tower. He smiled and continued to gaze at the magical sight.

Cyborg, Starfire and Robin watched silently and smiled at each other.

Robin was overcome by a sudden surge of confidence. If Beast Boy could grab Raven of all people's hands, surely he could place his arm around Starfire.

Casually, he lifted his arm and draped it around Starfire's shoulders. He almost sighed in relief when, instead of pushing him away, the alien princess leaned into him.

Cyborg felt un-masculin giggles rise in him, which he suppressed, as he watched all his friends. He was happy for them, he really was. He just hoped that all his friends would get together soon.

As the five Titans stood together, looking at the brightly-lit tower, Raven felt a bit more Christmas spirit rise up in her.

I didn't really like this chapter, I'm not sure why though. It just wasn't very good. It wasn't very long either. Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed for the last chapter, I love hearing what people think of my work.

Tammy Tamborine