Chapter 8

Beast Boy and Cyborg were playing a video game viciously. It didn't matter how old they got, they would always have a passion for competing at video games. Over the years Beast Boy had gotten slightly better and was able to win once in a while, but it was never enough for Cyborg to consider him a good player.

"One more lap and I win," said Cyborg in triumph.

"Don't celebrate yet," said Beast Boy gritting his teeth and pulling out all of the tricks he knew. His car pulled forward and just pulled into the lead. He knew that if he could get a little farther ahead he would be assured of victory.

"Excuse me, Beast Boy," said Starfire coming up behind the couch.

"One sec Star," said Beast Boy moving his fingers so fast that they seemed to be a blur.

"But I must tell you something," said Starfire.

"Just give me a second," said Beast Boy securing a safe lead. "I'm almost at the finish line."

"But it is Raven," said Starfire.

"Is she okay?" asked Beast Boy not taking his eyes off the screen.

"I do not believe she is," said Starfire. "She has been in the bathroom for an hour doing the weeping."

Beast Boy stopped hitting the buttons on his controller and turned to Starfire. His car slowed down and Cyborg passed him just in time to reach the finish line first. "She's what?"

"She is crying in the bathroom," said Starfire.

Beast Boy dropped his controller and jumped up. He ran past Starfire and went to the bathroom. The door was closed and he pressed his sensitive elf ear to it. He could hear someone sniffling on the other side.

"Raven?" he asked and knocked on the door.

He heard her gasp and try to stop her crying. "Yes?"

"Are you okay?"

He listened closely and heard her start to weep again and say, "No."

"Can I come in?"

She didn't answer. He could hear her trying to hold back her sobs. He knew that she was thinking about it. Then the lock on the door clicked and unlocked. He turned the knob and walked in.

She was sitting on the edge of the tub, her head was down. She looked up at him with puffy, red eyes. Her whole face was red and raw. The moment she looked into Beast Boy's eyes she began to cry. He went over to her and kneeled down.

"What's goin on?" he asked taking her hands. She couldn't answer him. She just wrapped her arms around him and cried into his chest. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he held her tight and tried to calm her down. "Hey, it's okay. Calm down." He pulled her back and wiped the tears from her face. "Breathe, Raven." She started to take in a few deep breaths and slowly calmed down. "Now what's the matter?"

"Do you remember a week ago when I fainted?" she asked wiping her nose with some toilet paper.

"Yeah," he said rubbing her back.

"Well, I had a slight suspicion in the back of my mind as to what caused it," she said wiping her eyes. "But I really didn't think that it was that, so I didn't say anything. And then today I was checking my calendar because I wasn't sure if I was in charge of laundry duty this week, and I realized that I was due for my period three days ago. And I got really scared because I've never been late, ever. So…" She was speaking so fast and so broken, because her lungs were still having spasms from all her crying, that Beast Boy could barely understand what she was saying.

"Whoa, slow down," he said placing her face in his hands. "I can't understand what you're saying. Now what's wrong?"

"Look on the sink," she said.

Beast Boy let go of her face and turned to the sink. On the edge of it sat three white sticks. At first he thought they were thermometers. He stood up and went over to them, to see what they actually were. The white sticks weren't thermometers; they had small windows in them. He looked back at Raven, but she had buried her face in her hands and was resting her elbows on her knees. He turned to the white sticks and picked one up. On the small window read the words "pregnant". He felt a wave of shock pass through him like electricity. He looked at Raven again, but she hadn't budged. He put the stick down and picked up another one, but it read the same thing. He picked up the last one and saw that it said the same as well.

He placed the last one back on the sink and stood there for a moment. He wasn't sure if he was breathing. His stomach had dropped and his heart had jumped into his throat. "Fuck," was the only thing he was able to say. Raven started to cry again. He looked to her and saw her shaking.

"These… these are accurate?" he peeped out.

She nodded and then looked up at him. "Ninety-nine percent accurate," she said sniffling. "I don't know what the fuck we're going to do. I'm so sorry."

"What the hell are you sorry for?" he asked getting down on his knees again. "This isn't your fault, it's both of ours."

"No, you don't understand. Our first night together it was a full moon, and I knew it. Because I'm half demon I'm most fertile during a full moon. And then we did it without any protection, but I didn't stop it. I should have said something; and I didn't, and now I'm… pregnant."

"Raven, I knew that we weren't using protection. I should have said something, too. But I didn't, so this isn't your fault at all."

"I can't have a baby, Beast Boy. I'm… I'm not ready for this."

"Well neither am I! But there's nothing we can do about it now." Raven lowered her head and tears fell from her violet eyes to the cold, tiled bathroom floor. At that point Beast Boy felt like crying too. And he actually did. He took her hands, kissed them, then lowered his head and let a few tears escape. Neither of them had ever considered this happening to them. It was a slap into reality.

He slowly stood up and brought Raven to her feet as well. He wrapped an arm around her and moved towards the sink. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up," he said wiping his glistening eyes. He turned the water on and grabbed a washcloth. He soaked it in warm water and then wiped her red cheeks. Her nose was raw and her eyes and lips were swollen. She took the washcloth from him and wiped the salty tears off of her face. When she was done he gave her a towel to dry off with.

"Okay?" he asked, trying to smile. She took in a few deep breaths and nodded. "Good. What do you want to do?"

"I would really like to lie down for a while," she said pushing her hair back and out of her face.

"That sounds good to me," he said and kissed her on the forehead. They walked out of the bathroom with an arm wrapped around the other ones lower back. They were happy that they didn't run into any of the other Titans on their way to Ravens room.

They lay on her bed facing each other on their sides. Their eyes were closed and they tried to relax. Beast Boy rubbed Ravens smooth arm and took a hold of her hand. She smiled softly and weaved her fingers within his.

A few minutes later Beast Boy opened his eyes. Raven had fallen asleep and was breathing softly and calmly. He looked at her relaxed face and studied it. He hadn't really seen her face relaxed in a while. She had taken her cloak off before lying down and now he could see her small figure in the tight, black one piece. That's when he realized that within that small frame was a baby, slowly growing with each day. His child was growing within Raven. In that moment when he realized this he looked at Raven in a totally different way. She now seemed to glow in his eyes. He would never see her in the same way again.

He softly placed his hand on her abdomen, but made sure not to wake her. He looked at her again and another thought struck him. Things were in motion now that could not be stopped, and that meant he had to grow up. He was twenty-one, but in his mind he was still sixteen. Most guys remain this way until they're thirty. But now he knew that he had to mature, and it had to be his choice. He knew that Raven would never ask him to change. She loved him, this he knew for sure. It was his turn to step up to the plate and be a man.

'God, I'm not ready for this,' he thought. 'I had barely been ready for the news that me and Raven were meant to be together forever. Now, five months later, I have to start preparing to take care of a pregnant Raven? Not only that, I have to get ready to be a father? I'm only twenty-one for fucks sake! I'm a hot young teen idol and a superhero! I should be going to parties and having my way with every naïve girl that would have me. But no, my one and only love has been decided for me. I'm never gonna have time to go parties now that I have to be a dad. Why the hell does everything always happen to me?'

Raven sighed and turned to lie on her back. She still held onto Beast Boys hand and gave it a slight squeeze. This jerked Beast Boy right out of his thoughts. He suddenly felt guilty.

'Jesus I'm selfish. Here I am bitching and moaning about how bad my life has been, and there's Raven. This is gonna be ten times harder on her than it's gonna be for me. God, I can only imagine how hard pregnancy's gonna be for her. But she's strong; so strong. She's had to put up with so much shit in her life. She's half demon, her father almost ended the world because of her, she thought she was gonna die, and when she starts to look to a bright future she finds out that the one guy that annoys her more than anyone else in the universe is her soul mate. And now I've knocked her up. God she doesn't deserve this. As strong as she is, she's just as fragile.'

"I love you," he whispered. He knew she couldn't hear him, but he didn't care. He had to say it.

An hour later Raven woke up and found Beast Boy wrapped around her. But he was wrapped around her lower half, his head resting on her stomach. She found this quite odd, but didn't move him. She ran her fingers through his hair and laid her head back down onto her pillow. She could feel that he was scared and, for some reason, guilty.

"It's going to be okay," she whispered as she stroked his hair. "We're going to be okay." Hearing herself say these words made her feel a little better. She knew that he didn't deserve this. He was too young to be weighed down with the responsibility of being a father. She knew that she could handle anything that came her way. She was used to things like this happening to her. But he wasn't, and she wanted to make sure he knew that she didn't want him to get overwhelmed.