Here's an extra long chapter, my Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate) present to you. I think you'll like this one, I did a lot of evil scientist laughs while writing this. There's a whole lot in there that'll have you gasping, maybe even crying (okay, I'm not that good of a writer), but there are a few moments that BB/Rae shippers will love.

Asinine11 wins my little contest. He (or she? Maybe?) was right in saying that all the chapter titles have four syllables in them. The first two were just coincidence, but now I do it on purpose. Your prize is… well, what do you want? Let me now and I'll see what I can do.

GirlAnachronism is my special friend now for offering me cookies and calling me babe.

Sorry for the long Author's Note, you know how I hate them. Here's the story, enjoy.

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Starfire's right eye twitched spastically and her hands, which she held behind her back, turned white from being clenched so hard. "BEAST BOY!" She suddenly exploded, throwing herself on top of the green titan.

"Ahhh!" He screamed in both surprise and pain.

"IwassoworriedandIthoughtyouwerehurt!" Starfire's words collided with one another. It was like a train wreck, there was incredible chaos. She squeezed Beast Boy so tightly blue could be registered on even his face. "Therewasbloodeverywherebutnocuts!" Still no one had the faintest as to what she was saying. Beast Boy tried his best to be polite and nod every once in a while, as if he was actually following. "AndthenyouwerenakedandtherewasmorebloodonyouandIwasreallyreallyscared!"

"Starfire! You're killing him!" Robin reached over and pried the frantic girl off of their bed ridden friend.

"I'm kind of dizzy," Beast Boy said, "I think I'm gonna puke and…. Wait! Why was I naked!" The poor fellow had grasped some of what Starfire had said. looking down at himself, he saw for the first time that he was not dressed in his clothes, but a hospital gown.

"Well, uh," Cyborg scratched at the back of his head and tried to search for an answer. "First tell us what happened."

"Well, I was actually gonna ask you that same question," Beast Boy said, still incredibly embarrassed. "Were we in a fight?"

Raven sighed. "You don't remember anything?" She asked, irritably. Beast Boy shook his head sadly. "Do you remember the little talk we had in my room?"

"Yeah," he said, "I do remember that." Beast Boy nervously fidgeted with the sleeve of his hospital gown. "I remember leaving The Tower, and then I was outside, and it was really cold and…. Then I was here."

"You want to know what happened?" Cyborg asked, his face was cast downward, he dared not look at anyone. "Something happened to you out there, and then you came back here covered in blood! You were drenched from head to tow in red, warm blood, Beast Boy, and it scared the shit out of us."

Beast Boy's lungs were burning. He had been holding his breath. Something churned in his stomach and the sudden urge to throw up was overwhelming. "I… I don't know what to say." His chest started to rise and fall in rapid succession and his hands began to shake. "I don't know what happened."

"Beast Boy," Raven grabbed his hands to keep them from shaking. "You need to calm down, you're having a panic attack." Beast Boy closed his eyes and took a deep breath and released it slowly. There was a long, quiet pause between the group as they let Beast Boy calm himself down.

"Hold out your arm, BB," Cyborg said after awhile. He had waited until Beast Boy calmed down, doing this while he was worked up wouldn't go over so well.

"Why?" He asked, timidly.

"I need to draw some blood to make sure you're okay." Cyborg's voice was incredibly gentle, soothing. Even if it hadn't been, even if he had been shouting, Beast Boy would have trusted him. He never doubted Cyborg's intentions. Beast Boy carefully, slowly held out his arm. Cyborg gently grabbed it and swabbed rubbing alcohol onto a spot just under the inside of Beast Boy's elbow.

"You can look away, you know," Raven said. Beast Boy had been staring fixated at the spot that he knew would be pierced.

"No," he breathed, "I don't mind." Raven could pick up the almost obsessive edge his voice had taken on.

"Okay, BB," Cyborg said, holding up a small tube with a needle at its tip, "just keep breathing normal, okay, and don't clench your hand or flex the muscles in your arm." Beast Boy nodded quickly. A metal hand gently placed the sharp point of the needle on BB's flesh and pushed until it sunk slowly into soft, green flesh. Beast Boy's eyes closed halfway for a moment, almost as if in pleasure. A warm jet of red blood shot suddenly into the metal tube at the end of the needle, and inside his stomach, Beast Boy felt a jerk of immense ecstasy.

"I need to take one more," Cyborg said, twisting the glass tube until it detached from the needle, which remained in BB's arm, and screwing in another, identical tube. Again, a jet of blood shot into the tube and the glass was suddenly filled with Beast Boy's life essence. This time Cyborg removed the whole apparatus, needle and all. Beast Boy reached his other arm over and brushed his fingers across the spot where he had been punctured, drawing a long streak of red, which look more like black against his skin, down his arm. Cyborg returned once more and sealed the hole with a band aid and a gauze ball.

"Okay," Robin said, "now we need to talk." Beast Boy's head snapped away from the spot on his arm and went up to Robin.

"About what?" He asked, almost shyly. He didn't like being surrounded like this. He knew these people's intentions were good, but it was still discomforting that they were all standing around him. And now he was being questioned.

"Come on, Beast Boy," Robin said a little irritably, "you know what about. I know you said you couldn't remember anything, but you gotta try."

"I…" Beast Boy felt so enclosed, trapped. "I want to talk to Raven," he said, "alone." Robin didn't look happy. "I promise you and I will talk after, but first I need to talk to Rae."

"We'll only be a minute," Raven said, placing her hand upon Robin's shoulder. She wanted to have this talk as much as Beast Boy.

"Alright," he said, "I'll be back in a little while." He turned away and walked toward the door.

"Wait for me, Robin," Starfire said, following him out. Cyborg turned toward his little green friend.

"I'm gonna go run some tests on these," he said, holding up the blood he had drained from Beast Boy. "Rest up, okay?"

"I will," BB said, "uh… thank you, Cyborg," his hands had gone back to nervously fidgeting with his hospital gown, "for everything." Cyborg smiled but said nothing. He followed Robin and Starfire out. Raven and Beast Boy were now alone. Raven turned toward her bed ridden friend. He was still nervously fidgeting. She didn't know what to say. How do you start a conversation like this one?

"So I was completely naked, huh?" Beast Boy asked out of nowhere. She looked down at him and his face had been painted with a blush. Raven could feel a laugh raising out of her, but she held it in, settling instead on a small smile.

"Well yeah," she said, "We had to get you out of those clothes and wash that blood off your body."

"Oh great," Beast Boy said sarcastically, "that's just fantastic."

"Me and Star left," she said, figuring it might ease his embarrassment a little. It couldn't make things worse. "It was just Cyborg and Robin."

"That must have been splendid for them," he said. He smirked a little, thinking about how they must have felt about it. He was grateful though, grateful that they would do that for him. It got quiet again. The silence dragged on for some time. Beast Boy cracked his knuckles, Raven coughed, these were the only sounds for who knows how long. Minutes, hours, could have been days. It seemed like forever.

"I think I can taste it," Beast Boy said suddenly. Raven looked up and watched as his tongue darted out and circled his lips carefully, paying extra attention to the corners of his mouth.

"What do you mean?" She asked. His eyes slowly slid shut for a moment and then opened again just as slowly, as if the ability to blink had become an incredibly draining task to him. He took a deep breath and then let it out in a long sigh.

"Blood." His mouth sagged into a frown and his hand went up to pull on a tentacle of hair that had fallen in front of one of his eyes. It was such a childish gesture. He looked so helpless. "I can taste it in my mouth, Raven, metallic and bitter."

"You're imagining it," she told him. His hand dropped from his hair and he shook his head.

"I'm not imaging it." He pushed himself up into a sitting position and pulled his knees to his chest. "I… what did I do?" His head was facing Raven, resting on his knees, and Raven could see that thick, wet drops were slowly falling down his face. "What the hell happened to me out there?" Raven closed her eyes and sighed. She reached out her hand and it hung in the air awkwardly for a moment before she let it drop onto Beast Boy's back. He jumped slightly but then welcomed the touch. Raven moved her hand in a slow circle, doing her best to comfort her friend.

"I swear to you, Beast Boy," she said, letting her hand explore the warmth of his back and shoulders, "that I… we will find out what happened out there, and that everything will be okay."

"Do you promise, Rae?" He asked, sitting up turning toward her. Raven was shocked to find that his eyes were focused dead center on hers. She could feel herself falling into his dark orbs that reflected the light of the room as bright rectangular boxes at the edges of his pupils. She was swimming in their infinite dark and murky depth, drowning in complete bliss. She nodded slowly, her hair framing her face like a veil, but her own eyes had yet to blink, as if they wanted nothing more than to be locked in eternal gaze with Beast Boy's, like they didn't want to miss a single moment spent in his glare.

"You know," she said, finally allowing her watering eyes to blink and hydrate themselves, "This is the first time you've ever looked me straight in the eyes." He nodded.

"Yeah." Her hand had stopped rubbing his back when he had made her promise that everything would be okay, but it now resumed it ministrations, making Beast Boy sigh comfortably.

"Why is that?" She asked.

"Because now you know my secret," he said darkly. She could feel the thumping of his heart even through his back. It was beating strong and fast, speeding up at an irrational rate. She knew what he was talking about.

"I didn't mean for you to see so much, Rae," he said, and still the beating increased. "Now you know why I'm so scared of this thing that's inside me. You know what it wants me to do."

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Back in the common room Robin waited quite patiently while Raven and Beast Boy talked in the infirmary. He hated being left in the dark, but he was going to have a little talk with Beast Boy later to clear some things up.

"I am most glad indeed that Beast Boy is okay," Starfire said cheerily. She sat to Robin's right on the U-shaped couch with her hands clasped tightly in her lap, a smile stapled to her face.

"Me too, Star," Robin said, "but he's not out of the clear yet." The alien girl's face contorted into a confused expression.

"But he is unharmed and awake," she said, "how is he not in the clear?" Robin shifted uncomfortably. He himself knew why, but he hadn't really thought about it, it had just sort of been at the back of his mind, drilling at him uncomfortably, but still sealed away, making him feel safe about it.

"Well," he started hesitantly, "there are certain diseases that are transmitted through blood." Starfire thought for a moment but seemed to follow. "We have to do some tests to see if Beast Boy caught any of them."

"Can these diseases be transmitted through infected blood just on Beast Boy's skin?" She asked. Robin shook his head.

"It would have to get into his body," he told her, "through a cut or something." She looked as though she were about to speak, but Robin stopped her before she could say what he knew she would, "even a really, really, tiny cut, Star, one that we can't see could potentially make Beast Boy at risk." Talking about it really hurt, and Robin's insides were squirming.

"What kind of…." Starfire bit her bottom lip for a moment before continuing. "What kind of diseases, Robin?"

"Um," Off the top of his head Robin knew of only two, but he was sure there were more. "First there's hepatitis."

"Is not that curable?" Starfire's eyes shined with hope.

"Yes," Robin said, "some types of hepatitis are curable." Robin nervously played with a loose string on the cushion of the couch.

"What is the other disease, Robin?" Starfire asked, "you said there were two." Robin took a deep breathe.

"The other disease that…. That Beast Boy may have been exposed to is HIV." He held his breath. Starfire's eyes darkened.

"I have heard of this," she said, slowly, "it is… very bad."

"Well, yeah," Robin said gently, "it would be very bad, yes, but if we catch it now we'll be able to stop it before it becomes full blown AIDS, which would be even worse." Starfire leaned forward and pulled Robin into a hug. The only noise in the room was the soft babble of the television and the breathing of two scared teenagers.

"I have much fear for our friend," Starfire said. "Not just for his possible maladies, but also for the fact that something else is very much wrong with him." Robin nodded slowly. They remained tightly clenched together for a moment more before they released each other and leaned back into the couch.

Something on the television caught Robin's eye. A breaking news report had just started and he listened intently. "We now go live to John Campbell who is at the scene of the horrific incident as we speak."

"Good evening." The camera cut from the newsroom to a tall reporter somewhere on the streets of Jump City. "I'm John Campbell, and today is a day that will forever be clouded by sorrow in the history books of our fine city. I'm here now in front of Marco's Deli where just one half hour ago the owner, Mr. Gregory Marco, went out into the ally behind his shop to discover what can only be described as a massacre. Four bodies have so far been discovered in the blood drenched ally, but so many of the bodies lay in pieces that police investigators speculate that there may be more uncovered as soon as they have searched the entire ally, which runs for two blocks. Police say that nearly every inch of that two block span is splattered with blood below head level. Not much information has been released yet, but police are saying that the victims have lacerations on them common to marks left by some kind of an animal, and police suspect that whomever is responsible for these killings is in possession of some sort of wild animal."

Numb. That's all that Robin felt. Numb from head to toe. Nothing worked. Nothing moved. He couldn't will himself to do anything. He couldn't breathe, and his lungs burned, begging him to take in a breath. He didn't care, he didn't want to breathe. This couldn't be real. This couldn't be true. It had to be fake. It had to be lies.