All Disclaimers apply
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Garrett opened the door to Raven's car and helped her out. After closing the door, he pocketed the keys and led her inside the restaurant. As Raven scoped the area for a table, he accepted menus from a nearby waiter and turned around to lightly tap on Raven's shoulder.
"We have a table on the dock." He said as he pointed towards the door that was being opened by the waiter. Raven smiled and followed Garrett outside.
As they got themselves seated and ordered the meals, Garrett turned to Raven and asked, "So, how's your arm?"
Raven smiled, pleased to know that he'd noticed and not just shrugged it off. "It's seen better days, but it's healing."
Garrett nodded, but got up and went to kneel at Raven's side, motioning for her to let him see the injury. Raven complied by slowly unwrapping the bandages—occasionally wincing—and offered her arm to Garrett. He took it and held it lightly in his hand as he examined the cut. He let out a slightly exasperated sigh and re-wrapped her arm as he took his seat again.
"Did Cyborg check your arm when you got back to the tower?"
Raven shook her head and explained herself as Garrett gave her a peculiar look. "I got back before the others and had a little talk with Robin. I ended up applying the bandages myself, but I couldn't find the disinfectant. I would've used my powers to heal myself, but I can't do it on an open wound as severe as mind was."
"You do realize that it may become infected don't you?" Garrett asked, genuine concern ringing in his voice.
She nodded. "Cyborg usually restocks on medical supplies every other weekend. But because of the recent battle with Red X and other villains along the two week period, all the antidote had been used to heal everyone."
He laughed and playfully warned, "You should take better care of yourself Raven. I wouldn't want you on a death bed." She laughed and he added, "Though, we should stop by my place—after we go to the beach—to get some disinfectant."
Raven nodded and thanked the waiter after they had their food delivered to them.
During the meal, they talked with each other about this and that. Raven told Garrett about some of the calls the Titans had to respond to. Garrett made comments here and there, but decided not to talk about his personal life very much, seeing as he was a thief.
As they finished, Garrett paid the bill and Raven decided that she'd pay for the tip—after all, it was the least she could do. After exiting the restaurant, Raven and Garrett made their way to the beach.
It was growing dark by the time they'd gotten there; most of the tourists had gone home for the night to rest. The moon peaked out from behind small clouds and cast a pale yellow light across the water. Few benches lay soundly on the beach for people to sit on, but by this time of night, they looked like old relics with no one to sit on them. The beach was bare and deprived of life—except for the occasional bird or clump of seaweed.
Raven marveled its beauty as she and Garrett leisurely walked its length. The waves gently crashed against the shoreline, causing a faint roar. Garrett smiled, pleased to see that Raven was enjoying the outing; he'd planned this night perfectly. He knew when the beach looked just right to where it was considered calming and beautiful—not the busy and crowed beach as it was during the daytime.
They night air was cut open as they walked near a newsstand. The man had the television on the news. The broadcaster was a brown-headed woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties.
An explosion sounded in the background of the film as the reporter flinched while she stated, "We're coming to you live from the streets as the well-known group of heroes—the Teen Titans—try to track down the suspect of a recent bank robbery. Unfortunately for them, they were delayed by this sudden car bomb. The culprit is unknown as of now, but if you look closely, you can see someone emerging from the smoke."
The camera zoomed in here and focused on the emerging form. The reporter gasped and began to speak again as the figure became clear. "It seems that Teen Titan, Raven, has been taken hostage by the infamous Red X. She appears to have been brutally cut on the arm. She's being held with a knife at the throat—" She cut herself short and pointed at the two while the camera zoomed in further.
"Wait, it seems that the thief is whispering something in her ear…" She continued to babble on, making comments on the Titan's responses to the upholding of their friend until she ran in front of the camera man, telling him to hurry up and reposition so that a better shot could be taken. Once in position, she told the man to zoom in on the action and get a good shot of how close Robin kept coming to slicing Raven. The reporter inputted a comment that caused Robin to momentarily glance her way, leaving him open to the kick he received from Red X.
The two of them moved again when X took off the bottom half of his mask. They zoomed in just in time to get a good shot of the two sharing a kiss, and then zoomed out again as Robin recovered. The reporter motioned for the camera man to zoom out and focus on her as she said, "Well folks, it looks like the Titan, Raven, will have a lot of explaining to do to her team. Is she a spy for Red X? Does she love him, or is this all one big misunderstanding? Either way, this relationship is assured to bring chaos into the team. Stacie Whitman here, signing off. Back to you Chuck."
The television changed scenes and became centered on the anchor. "I sure do hope that girl knows what she's getting in to. This new relationship could mean disaster for the Tee—"
He was cut short when the man in the newsstand turned the device off and placed the remote on the front counter. He grasped his coffee cup and began to drink from it when he saw Raven take hold of Garrett's arm and quickly lead him away. He almost spat it out, but he managed to refrain from doing so. He did a double take and quickly turned around to fumble through his many newspapers. He grinned mischievously when he found the telephone. He dialed the number to the news station and told them that he had another front page story about Raven…
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Garrett chuckled when Raven stopped pulling on his arm and teased, "What's the matter Raven? You're not scared of the newspaper man are you?"
Raven glared at him and continued to walk at a brisk pace. He smiled and caught up with her. He slung his arm across her shoulders when she finally slowed down. He apologized and promised to stop by the flower shop on the way to his house to buy her a bouquet of her favorite type of flowers. She nodded and smiled.
While they continued to talk, they were completely oblivious to the cameraman and reporter who'd just arrived on scene. They'd positioned themselves behind a nearby bush, making sure to stay just out of Raven's telepathic range in which she could detect auras.
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Garrett began to feel like he was being watched, but ignored the feeling as he asked Raven if she could sense any auras near their position. She shook her head and looked about. After a brief scan, they continued their walk down the beach. They were nearing the end when Garrett kissed Raven's forehead. She smiled and out-matched him by standing on her toes to lock lips with him. He grinned and leaned over to make it a bit easier for her. They parted and walked across the street to the flower shop.
The news personnel, silently followed them and continued to record as Garrett paid the shopkeeper and handed Raven the flowers. They headed for the door just as the crew darted to their van. They grinned wildly and drove away before Garrett and Raven could see or hear them leaving.
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Garrett left the keys in the car and told Raven that he'd only be a second. He hurdled over the steps and slipped inside the door. He mentally cursed himself for not cleaning up before he left as he looked upon the scattered loot and plans on the floor. At this time, it also dawned on him that he'd need to move all of the loot to his safe in the graveyard when he got home. He grimaced and maneuvered through the piles of valuables and opened the cupboards to reveal a series of medicines, antidotes, and medical wraps. He quickly scanned the labels on the bottles and grasped the one that Raven would need.
Bottle in hand, he sped out the door—almost tripping over a glass trophy. Once outside, he turned and locked the door. He clambered into the car and handed Raven the antidote. She smiled and thanked him as he drove off. He mentally reminded himself to not bring Raven here again while he was still into thievery.
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Garrett took the keys out of the car and scurried over to open Raven's door for her—just any gentleman would. Raven nodded in thanks and let Garrett lead her to the front door.
Once there, Raven asked, "Would you like to come in? Since my team knows we're dating, they might as well meet you, I guess."
Garrett shrugged and nodded soon after. They waited patiently before Cyborg answered the door. He smiled and welcomed Garrett inside the tower. Garrett shook hands with Cyborg and turned to see Beastboy and Starfire, racing towards him. He introduced himself and shook hands with the both of them. They smiled and began to bombard him with questions. He looked slightly overwhelmed at first, but quickly adjusted and caught up with them. When finished, they nodded and called Robin into the lobby.
Garrett glanced back at Raven, as if seeking approval to talk to her leader. She nodded slowly and hoped that Robin wouldn't start screaming at them for letting Garrett into the tower. Robin approached the group with a somewhat enjoyable expression, until he looked at Garrett. His eyebrows knitted together in frustration. 'Why did they let him in here? He could be the enemy!' Robin decided to resolve the problem by asking the question himself.
"Why is he in here?" He snapped.
The lot of them shrugged and Beastboy answered, "I don't see why it wouldn't be okay…"
"Yes Friend Robin, I too agree with Friend Beastboy. Why could Friend Raven's boyfriend not come into our home?"
Robin grit his teeth and answered, "Because he could be a spy! We can't take the risk of exposing ourselves! We—"
Garrett interrupted Robin and suggested, "Hey, I'm no spy…but I'll leave if you want me to." He stood, fingers interlacing with each other behind his back. His back was straight and stiff as if daring a hammer to come down upon it.
Robin looked surprised at first, but quickly pushed the feeling aside and nodded. He didn't want Garrett in his tower. In fact, he didn't even want him with Raven. 'Who is this guy to think he could date Raven? A Titan for the matter.' He perplexed himself slightly as he thought, 'Whoa! What was that all about? I shouldn't care who Raven dates! I'm supposed to have a thing for Starfire! Could I be jealous of him?' Robin was given no time to linger on the thought as Garrett grunted and turned towards the door, pausing to kiss Raven goodnight.
Once he was out of the lobby, Raven turned to Robin and glared. "What was that all about? You have no right to treat Garrett so rudely!" With that, she teleported to her room, leaving Robin in a ill-tempered mood.
The rest of the team nodded and went back to video games, cars, and rooms—all except for Starfire that is. She floated over to Robin and asked, "Friend Robin, why do you mistreat Friend Raven's friend? Does something trouble your mind?"
In response, he snorted and began to talk with a rather loud voice, only to soften when he saw Starfire withdraw a bit. "I just—he—" He couldn't find the words to describe what he was feeling at the time. He was so confused. Did he really have feelings for Raven? Or was it just an act of mistrust and jealousy? But then arose another question: Why was he jealous? He found himself dumbfounded and somewhat…angry. 'What's going on with me?' He decided to further decipher himself in the sanctum of his room. He sighed and shrugged at Starfire.
She seemed to take the answer for the moment, but he knew she'd be at his door later—trying to see if she could help. He turned slowly and walked to his room. When there, he found himself to be tired, and laid down on the soft red sheets of his bed. Lost in thought, he soundly drifted off to sleep—wondering what he would do to apologize. After all, this was the second time he'd insulted Garrett with almost no reason. He shook his head drearily and let his mind be almost completely engulfed with black. 'I'll get her some flowers…' He thought, as sleep finally overtook him.
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Well say, this is my longest chapter yet! Please review!