Chapter 10

Raven watched the large buildings of Steel City- all appropriately constructed of steel- from the passenger seat as they passed through. They were closing in on the Titans East Tower.

They hovered across the water and entered the Tower belonging to the other Titans. They were greeted warmly by BumbleBee. Beast Boy handed her the large basket of baked Christmas goodies and she led them into the main room. The other Titans East members were busy decorating.

Raven watched them for a few minutes. She noticed that decorating would have been a quick procedure, but Mas and Menos kept stopping to talk to everyone. They had been working on their English, and felt the need to stop and show off their language skills every five minutes, even if their comments were pointless.

"Welcome Titans!" They cheered, running over as they entered. Raven felt dizzy just watching the two boys run around like sugar high hamsters. "The dog run fast! We run fast too!"

The Teen Titans looked around. The party didn't start for hours, but they had volunteered to go early to help prepare for the party.

Raven walked over to the kitchen with Starfire and Bee. The guys decorated the tower, setting up even more garlands around the room than there had been before, while Raven and the other two girls spent their time in the kitchen, making snacks for the guests to munch on. Once several hundred sandwiches, cookies, cheese platters and numerous other party snacks had been made and put on trays and bowls, they set them all up on a long table set by the pool and covered in holly.

The guests began arriving around six o'clock. There were a few people from the JLA, as well as important people in Steel City and friends the Titans East had made. Once all the guests had arrived, the main room of the Tower was crowded with people and Christmas tunes were being played loudly through speakers Cyborg had apparently set up when he helped build the tower.

Raven looked around at the group of party guests and sighed. She would rather be back at the tower, or out getting Beast Boy's present. She could just leave, but she didn't want to be rude.

Sighing, Raven ran a hand through her hair. How would she survive the five and a half remaining hours until the party ended? Mulling over these thoughts, Raven walked over to the refreshment table.

She picked up a cookie on the tray nearest and took a bite. It was actually pretty good, despite the fact that both she and Starfire had been helping. Once she had realized how badly the two girls cooked, BumbleBee had done most of the work while Raven and Starfire had followed orders. Placing the last chunk of shortbread into her mouth, Raven picked up a cup of eggnog.

She had never tried eggnog before, but it was a popular holiday drink, so it had to be good, right? She looked into its depths wearily and took a hesitant gulp. The thick liquid sloshed into her mouth and she immediately spat it back into her cup.

"Very lady-like," someone laughed beside her. Raven turned to glare at the changeling standing next to her with a cup of eggnog in his own green hand.

"I've never tried eggnog before," she defended herself, brushing past Beast Boy and depositing her paper cup in a large trash can behind him.

"Yeah, I didn't like it the first time either," Beast Boy replied amiably. Raven didn't reply. Instead she walked over to a chair by the table and sat down.

She was suddenly feeling very uncomfortable around the green boy. She knew she shouldn't, and she couldn't for the life of her figure out why, but she did. She glanced up at him, hiding her nervousness. He looked at her oddly, as if wondering what she was thinking.

Then she realized. She felt uncomfortable around him because of their feelings. She knew they both liked each other, and she was pretty sure Beast Boy had some idea from the car ride the other day, but the unsaid words hung over them heavily.

She stood up awkwardly and walked towards the doorway.

"I need to go to the bathroom," Raven lied. If everything went well, she wouldn't have to come back at all and she could just hide out in the bathroom until the party ended.

"Wait!" Beast Boy called out when she reached the doorway. He ran over and stood in front of her awkwardly. She watched him blush and rub the back of his neck as she waited for him to continue. She watched his emerald eyes look up and she followed his gaze.

Above her head hung her worst Christmas enemy: mistletoe. She looked at Beast Boy and felt her face grow red. She felt a strong urge to just lean over and kiss the boy before he exploded from embarrassment- his face was already turning a bright red that could rival Robin's uniform- but she didn't. She felt too self-conscious.

"Did you know mistletoe is poisonous to ingest?" Raven asked quietly. She mentally slapped herself when she realized that that probably sounded stupid, or worse, like she was telling him to leave her alone. Sadly, her nervous rambling continued. "It can cause nausea, indigestion…"

She continued listing unpleasant side effects of mistletoe, internally yelling at herself to shut up the whole time. Luckily he just laughed lightly at her obvious nervousness and remained in his spot. She had listed several side effects when suddenly she found she couldn't any more.

She gasped slightly when Beast Boy abruptly grabbed her arms and pulled her closer, pressing his lips against hers. She returned the kiss quickly before he pulled away.

Blushing and mumbling something Raven couldn't distinguish and he disappeared into the crowd. Touching her lips lightly, Raven smiled and walked down the hall to the washroom.

She would still hide out in there until the party ended, but that was just because she didn't like parties.

As she closed the door behind her, Raven slid to the ground and stared dreamily at the turtle print shower curtains. She wondered vaguely if someone had spike the eggnog, but just smiled lightly and waited the party out in the bathroom.

-

Raven walked out of the washroom when she heard the music from the party start to fade. She walked back into the large room and saw that most of the guests had left already, and the Titans were all cleaning up. She silently joined them, placing empty trays in the sink and putting fold-up chairs in the closet.

Raven passed Beast Boy a couple of times. Every time she looked at him, he looked back at her and winked, causing her to flush happily and look away.

Once everything had been cleaned, and the tower was back to looking professional (AN: I really don't like the Titans East Tower. It seems more like a warehouse, than a place to live, don't you think?) they walked to the door and everyone got their coats and boots on.

"Well, we'll see you soon. You're all invited to our New Year party," Bee told them, smiling. "Drive safe, Sparky."

The Titans East leader leaned over and planted a kiss on Cyborg's human cheek. He smiled bashfully and Raven noticed a blush cross his dark cheek and nose.

"Oh, and Starfire," continued BumbleBee, turning to the alien floating a few feet away. "Here's that mistletoe you wanted."

Raven noticed with some amusement that Robin still had sparkly spots randomly placed on his face from Starfire's glittery lip-gloss.

'Looks like we weren't the only ones that discovered the mistletoe,' Raven thought, glancing over at Beast Boy, who was currently snickering with Cyborg at Robin, despite the fact that both he and Cyborg had been kissing girls that night too.

"Good bye!" Mas and Menos cried in unison. "Merry Christmas! Happy holidays! Low, low rates!"

Raven raised an eyebrow at the mini speedsters and made her farewells to the other Titans East, even though she had spent most of her time in the kitchen with Bee and in the bathroom alone.

They all left the tower and went to the T-car. As they were walking, Raven casually moved so she was standing next to Beast Boy. As she walked, Raven's hands swung lightly, and the hand closest to Beast Boy kept brushing against the back of his own hand. After this happened a few times, Beast Boy grasped her hand in his own. Raven looked down at their entwined fingers. They were both wearing gloves, but she could feel the warmth from his hand. She liked it.

They walked down the long driveway to the place Cyborg had parked the car, hands moving rhythmically back and forth.

They stopped and let go of each other's hands, before sliding into their seats. Once again, Raven sat in the front passenger seat, as Robin and Starfire had already claimed the back seat and were currently (much to Beast Boy's obvious discomfort) taking advantage of the sprig of mistletoe Bee had given them.

Raven smirked at them and turned around to look out her own window. As she leaned her head against the soft headrest, she looked at Beast Boy in the rear view window. He had a content look on his face, as he looked out the window and over at Raven every once in a while.

Leaning comfortably in her seat, Raven decided that maybe they didn't need to tell each other how they felt. They both knew without saying, and maybe for now that was the best way to say it.

Ok, I just wanted to say one thing. The part about mistletoe is totally true! Lol, I'm not sureif the side-effects are right, but I know I've read somewherethat mistletoe is poisonous. I found it pretty funny. Of course, in my mind, I sawa sprig of mistletoe fall in between a couple leaning in for a kiss, one of them sucking it in and dying. Lol, prettycynical, but it'salways made me laugh, so I decided to put it in somewhere.

As always, thanks to everyone who reviewed.You all rock!

Tammy Tamborine