Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to the Teen Titans or any characters in the DC Universe.

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Raven made her preparations to create her inter-dimensional portal while Raptor watched. She once again pulled the strange looking round blue bottle from her knapsack and drew a circle on the ground with it. Meanwhile the rest of Robin's team made the rounds bidding farewell to their new friends and colleagues. There was a great deal of bantering, back slapping and hugging going on while the sorceress made her preparations. Amid all the commotion the Empress Starfire grabbed Princess Starfire by the elbow and led her aside, out of earshot from the rest of the group.

"You are not serious about bonding with the human?" The Empress asked her twin.

"I am. Why do you ask?" The princess replied.

The Empress gave her a very stern look.

"You know as well as I do that you will be unable to mate with him."

"I am aware of the anatomical issues." She replied dryly.

"Then why? Why not chose a Tamaranian as your mate?"

The Princess glared at her twin.

"I see that I made the right decision in abdicating the throne."

The Empress returned the glare.

"That was a selfish act on your part."

The princess crossed her arms.

"I wish you well, your Majesty. May your house prosper and may you have many offspring." The princess replied as she walked away.

Meanwhile, across the room Beast Boy and Terra were exchanging their own goodbyes. The geomancer looked tearful but tried to smile as they exchanged words. Raven and Raptor both watched the pair and Raven visibly cringed when Terra hugged Beast Boy and kissed him goodbye. Raptor sensed Raven's discomfort and decided to have some last minute fun at her doppelganger's expense.

"So what are you going to do with him Raven?"

Raven was still on her knees preparing the circle. She looked up at Raptor and replied.

"What do you mean?"

Raptor grinned. "Come on Raven, he's a babe magnet. How are you going to keep the other girls away from him?"

Raven ignored the taunt and resumed her preparations.

"What about the Terra in your universe?" Raptor asked, unwilling to give up.

"She disappeared years ago." Raven replied in her monotone as she completed her task and stood up. A line had formed and the locals said their goodbyes to the monotone speaking girl. Eventually all the goodbyes had been said and Raven was joined by her teammates inside the circle. Raptor was still with them.

"Time to get out of the circle Raptor."

Raptor looked at Raven and smiled. She then swung around and wrapped her arms around Beast Boy and kissed him.

"Thanks for teaching me how to love, Gar." She said in a soft voice. Then she glanced in Raven's direction.

"Be good to her."

Raptor stepped out of the circle. Raven wasted no time in beginning the spell and the vortex once again appeared. As it gained momentum and began to howl Raven heard Raptor's voice over the din.

"You're a lucky bitch, Raven!"

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Just as it had the first time around the whirlwind that Raven conjured began to weaken and as it did the common room began to appear outside of the vortex which quickly died away. Beast Boy sniffed the air and was greeted by the familiar smell of his home. He was the first to step out of the circle and he cautiously explored the room, as if unable to believe he was actually home at last. He walked up to the circular couch and sat down as he picked up his green GameStation controller, which was covered by a light layer of dust.

"Ah man! All the food in the fridge is spoiled" Cyborg moaned. This of course was not surprising as they had been absent for nearly three weeks.

Robin, being the obsessed leader that he was, stepped over to the mission console to check on the status of crimes reported. To his immense relief nothing major had happened during their absence. Meanwhile Starfire grabbed a feather duster and had already begun to dust the common room.

Raven silently walked to the couch and sat down next to Beast Boy. The changeling was dressed in some civilian clothes that were handy in the parallel Tower as his Doom Patrol costume had been ruined when he had been shot. He put the controller down and the couple sat together silently for a few minutes.

"We're home." He said as he finally broke the silence. "I thought I would never see this place again."

Raven nodded silently.

"I'm gonna get changed." He announced suddenly. "If the alarm goes off I can't go out dressed like this."

"Of course." Raven replied. "When you're ready, meet me in my room." She said as she stood up and walked away.

"Yeah, sure Rae." He replied as she walked away.

As soon as the doors slid shut Starfire approached the changeling and gave him a hug. The young man hugged her back and smiled.

"Beast Boy, I must speak with you before you go to Raven's room."

"Sure Star, what's up?"

The princess released him and held his hands.

"You do know that Raven loves you very much?"

He nodded.

"Friend, you must be very patient with Raven for some time."

Beast Boy looked confused. Starfire recognized his expression of bewilderment and took that as her cue to explain.

"You must understand that Raven suffered tremendously during your absence. For the longest time she was unsure if she would ever see you again."

"I know. Is that it?"

Starfire shook her head.

"No friend, it is not. When we finally located you she was overjoyed, I had never seen her so happy. But then the unfortunate truth was learned."

Beast Boy's ears drooped.

"You don't have to remind me of that, Star."

The Tamaranian sighed.

"I am afraid that I must. On the surface Raven gives us the impression that she has done the 'dealing with' to the unfortunate truth, but she is still suffering from it, Beast Boy."

"You mean she's still angry with me?"

Starfire paused before replying.

"No, she is not angry with you. But she is still very shaken up. The damage was done to her self esteem and she is unsure of how to proceed with the relationship. The truth is that she would struggle with this even under ideal circumstances."

Beast Boy looked troubled.

"So what do I do Star?"

The princess placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Be patient and always let her know that you love her."

The changeling pecked Starfire on the cheek.

"Thanks Star. That's just what I'll do."

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Beast Boy entered his room and found it immaculately clean. His laundry was clean and put away methodically in his closet and bureau. Both beds were made and there was no trash on the floor. His knick-knacks were organized in his bookcase and his desk was tidy and only had a light layer of dust on it. He saw a greeting card on the desk and opened the envelope. As he read it he saw that it was dated shortly after he had been pulled into the other dimension. It contained a short letter from Raven. She briefly apologized for keeping their relationship a secret and promised to make it public upon his return. It also said that there was a surprise waiting for him in her room.

He put the card back into its envelope and quickly changed into his costume, wondering what surprise Raven was talking about. The card had been written months before and he wondered if perhaps the message on it was out of date and perhaps no longer true. Nonetheless he changed quickly and rushed out his door.

The hallways in the Tower felt familiar and at the same time foreign to him, which helped put into perspective just how long he had been gone. While Raven had spent months worrying about him he had spent the time having an affair with Raptor and later in a growing relationship with Terra that was only nipped in the bud by Raven's surprise arrival.

He stopped in front of Raven's door and raised his hand to knock when the door slid open by itself. He peered into the room and was surprised by what he saw.

Raven's room had been completely changed. The only thing he recognized were her bookcases which were still loaded with books, otherwise it was a completely different room. For one thing it was missing her collection of creepy artifacts and was overall much brighter than it used to be.

But what really stood out was that her bed had changed. The old bed, with its hooded headboard was gone. In its place was a traditional four poster bed. A king sized four poster bed.

Raven was seated at the foot of the bed and Beast Boy sat down next to her.

"I see you went for the full makeover." He said lightheartedly. He had immediately understood the significance of the new bed, but said nothing about it.

"I did this four months ago." She replied softly.

Beast Boy took her hand.

"So what do we do now?" He asked.

"What do you want to do?" She replied.

"I don't know." He answered honestly. "I think I'd be kidding myself to think that we can just pick up where we left off."

"You told me a few hours ago that you loved me, Gar."

"I do love you, Rae."

"So what do we do, Gar?"

"Do you trust me, Rae?"

She bit her lip before answering.

"I do … but I'm not sure I trust myself."

"I don't understand. What do you mean?"

"I'm afraid, Gar. I really am."

The changeling looked troubled.

"Of what?"

She fought back the tears as she answered him.

"That I'll never measure up to her."

Beast Boy looked aghast.

"Rae, what are you talking about? There's no comparison between you and Raptor. "

She sighed before continuing.

"Gar, there was an incident when Raptor and I had to establish a telepathic link to save your life."

"Yeah, you already told me about that."

Raven's heart began to pound in her chest. It was hard enough to deal with the memory. She had told Starfire that she would try to make it her own, but she had no idea of how to do that. Raptor had been so relaxed as she seduced Beast Boy. She could see his worried face in the memory and also saw how her twin had taken charge to calm him down and soon had him eating out of her hand. Raptor was an expert in the art of physical love and she played Beast Boy as if he were a fiddle. The eventual outcome was as expected, Gar's inhibitions melted away as her twin took him on a journey of sexual ecstasy. She despaired at the thought of ever competing with that.

The thought made her angry. The way it should have been would have been for them to learn together, to discover each other when they were older, more mature and in a permanent relationship. Of course they were now both older and more mature. But she still worried about the relationship.

"Gar, when I did that I was able to see her memories. I was able to see what she remembered when she took your virginity."

Beast Boy said nothing. He was overwhelmed with remorse over his foolish choice.

"I know I should be able to deal with this Gar. She is me, my counterpart in that universe. But it's still not easy. She makes me feel inadequate, incompetent. She's so suave, so self confident with her sexuality. I just can't believe that I'll ever be able to please you like she did …"

Beast Boy covered her lips with his fingers.

"That's not true Rae. You're the one she doesn't measure up to."

Raven gave him an incredulous look.

"You don't understand Gar. I've always prided myself in understanding things, in being in control. You often joke about me always being right, but it's not a joke Gar, I want to be right. Unlike you I can't improvise, and right now everything feels out of control. I don't know where we stand; I don't know how to give you what you need…"

Beast Boy cupped her face with his hand.

"Rae, you always give me what I need."

She fought back the tears.

"You're joking? How can that be possible? I'm uncomfortable with my emotions and can't even bring myself to kiss you in public. I kept our relationship a secret from our closest friends, our Titan family."

"I know you struggle with that Rae, but that's not important. What does matter is that you're genuine and true. That matters more to me than if you kiss me public."

"And what about sex?" She asked. "I really don't know when I'll be able to share myself with you that way."

He gave her that sweet smile she adored.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. It can wait."

The couple shared a loving embrace that lasted for several minutes. Finally Raven broke away.

"So what do we tell the others?" She asked.

"That we're in a committed relationship."

"How committed?" She asked wide eyed.

"Permanently"

The sorceress rested her head on his chest as she wrapped her arms around him.

"Permanently … sounds nice."

"Shall we go tell them now?"

She shook her head.

"Later, I'm tired now. Conjuring that portal exhausted me."

Beast Boy smiled. In the other dimension they had shared a room, but slept in separate beds.

"I could use a nap too. I'll go back to my room, oh and thanks for fixing my room, it looks great. I promise I'll keep it that way from now on." As he got up to leave he felt her hand around his wrist.

"Stay with me, I don't want to be alone."

"Sure Rae. I'd love to."

Raven pulled back the covers on the bed and calmly stripped down to her underwear. Beast Boy followed her example and did the same. She slipped into the bed and he followed her. They snuggled together until they were comfortable. The room was quiet and peaceful and they both felt that way as well.

Beast Boy was beginning to doze off when he felt her kiss on his lips.

"I love you Gar."

He smiled and replied in a sleepy voice.

"I love you too Rae."

THE END (of part 1)