Garfield felt his heart in his throat as he ran to the rooftop entrance; Alexa's corpse on the rocks below was all but forgotten. He morphed into a sparrow and went into a virtual free fall, zooming down between the concrete flights of stairs, heading towards the basement where the holding cells were located. As he descended he heard explosions, crashes and the twang made by the laser weapons the Slade-bots wielded. The battle had spread to most of the levels in the Tower, and he remembered the last time their defenses were breached, years ago, when Terra betrayed them. Unlike that time, today he wouldn't join the fight, in fact, he was almost unaware of it. The only sound he wanted to hear was Raven's voice, even if only through a telepathic link, but all he heard was silence.

Precious time slipped away until he reached the bottom of the stairwell and spreading his wings he decelerated, resuming his human form as he landed. He ran out into a hallway and that was when he saw her. She was prone on the floor, her body look crumpled into an unnatural pose, which was how she fell. He bolted towards her, his heart pounding like a jackhammer in his chest. Tears flowed from his eyes and his heart was consumed with dread, fearful that he was too late. As he ran it hit him that because he believed what Alexa told him that there could be two deaths that day that were his fault.

He dropped to his knees next to her and thanked the Almighty when he heard her raspy breathing. He quickly examined her wound. The laser rifle drilled a hole in her chest, a small tunnel that was a quarter inch in diamerer. It wasn't bleeding, as the beam cauterized the wound it created, though the trauma it left in its wake was horrific. What was providential was that it missed her heart, causing its damage only in her right lung. He heaved a sigh of relief. While she was in terrible shape, she would recover from this, but he had to get her to a hospital. He then realized that there was no way he could safely get her to one in her condition. He made a snap decision to take her to the infirmary and treat her himself. Once she stabilized she could go into one of her healing trances.

He gently rolled her over so that she was face up, cradling her head with his left hand, while pushing a stray strand of her hair out of her face with his right. Her complexion was nearly white, almost albino looking … she was in bad shape.

Raven's eyes shot open and she grabbed his hand. She pulled it over her forehead and his fingertips made contact with her chakra stone. The hallway around him vanished and found himself in the familiar landscape known as Nevermore. It was the place with the floating islands of rock. Raven stood before him. She looked gaunt and exhausted. They made eye contact and hugged each other.

"Rave, I gotta take you to the infirmary. I can't stay here, but don't worry, I'll be with you the whole time, you're gonna be OK."

She looked deep into his eyes. "What happened to me?"

"You were shot with a laser rifle."

"But how? I destroyed all the Slade-bots in the hallway."

"Alexa shot you."

She grimaced upon hearing his words. "Where is she? Once I recover …"

"She's dead."

Raven frowned. "Forgive me for saying this, but good riddance."

Her husband pursed his lips. "Rave … I killed her … she said she killed you, in fact she gloated. I lost it and became the Beast … Rave … I'm a murderer."

Raven fell silent, after a prolonged silence she spoke. "You weren't yourself; you never are when he takes over."

He sighed. "It doesn't matter; I have to get you to the infirmary, now."

"Where are the children?"

"Safe, with Starfire."

Garfield felt a tap on his shoulder. He blinked a few times and found himself back in the corridor. Rose was kneeling next to him.

"What happened to her?"

Garfield quickly figured out that there must have been a power loss and Rose was able to escape from her cell. This was most inopportune; he didn't have time to fight with her.

"She was shot; I need to get her to the infirmary. I don't have time to deal with you now; you're free to go."

Rose stared stoically as Beast Boy morphed into a green Sasquatch and lifted his wounded spouse, bridal style. "There's a lot of fighting going on, I'll help you."

The green giant considered her offer with a healthy dose of skepticism. This was Slade's daughter, after all. But she was also Jericho's sister. And she was right, the Tower was crawling with Slade-bots, it was virtually certain that they would encounter some of them on the way to the infirmary. He wouldn't be able to fight the robots while carrying his maimed wife, and even if they miraculously made it to the infirmary, they would be defenseless while he treated her wound.

He nodded his agreement. Rose got up and sifted through the ruins of the droids Raven destroyed earlier, collecting a small arsenal of weapons. Satisfied she had what she needed, she looked up and made eye contact with him.

"Let's do it."

-( - )-

Pain.

A demon once told Raven that life was defined by pain. Birth was pain, death was pain and everything in between was pain. And at the moment, the only thing the gray sorceress was aware of was pain. Every breath she took was simply agonizing and she finally understood how it was possible to lose the will to live, as death was a release from the shackles of overbearing pain.

But amid all that suffering, there was also clarity, and it was powered by love. In her mind's eye she saw her infant daughter, suckling at her breast. A tiny face, gray like her own, but not burdened by having an evil father. She saw Mark … his face ever smiling. Would he still smile when he learned that his mother was gone? She recalled him saying that he didn't like Alexa, but never asked him why.

Then Garfield appeared in her mind. Regret consumed her. She treated him so poorly when they were teens, yet he always repaid her cruelty with kindness, always looking out for her, never rubbing in the many mistakes she made.

Voices … she heard voices. They were a blur, unintelligible. She opened her eyes and the room around her slowly came into focus. Her throat burned and she felt the ventilator, and she was intubated. Her chest felt on fire and every muscle in her body ached. People often speculated what dying felt like. Raven suddenly felt that she had a pretty good idea.

"She's awake." A female voice whispered.

She felt a warm hand take hers and squeeze it.

"You scared the hell out of me … don't ever do that again." His soothing voice swept over her. He could see the pain in her eyes. She took his hand and squeezed it.

"You're in the infirmary, in case you're wondering, and we won. The Tower is trashed, even worse than last time. Besides some scratched and bruises, everyone else is fine."

He looked over his shoulder. "Star?"

The princess approached and fought back the wetness that was forming in her eyes. She was carrying Coraline and Mark was next to her.

"Thank X'Hal that you have woken up."

The princess gently placed the gray baby at her mother's side. Raven's expression softened and she gently caressed her daughter's face. Mark pulled up next to the bed and she also caressed him.

Her vision now sharper, she looked up and saw that others began to arrive in the infirmary. She also noticed a solitary figure, hiding across the room with her arms crossed. Rose looked … soft?

"Do you feel strong enough to go into a healing trance?" H asked her.

She nodded her affirmation and he began to gently remove the ventilator from her, carefully peeling away the medical tape that secured it to her mouth. He carefully removed the intubation and as if he could read her mind, he gave her a drink of water. After consuming the entire cup, she spoke.

"How long?" she croaked.

"Six days."

"That's … an eternity."

"It sure felt like it, you're past the worst, but don't talk, wait until you've completed your healing trance … you still have a hole in your chest."

She once again pulled his hand onto her chakra stone. This time he wasn't sucked in Nevermore.

"Can you hear me?"

He nodded. "Loud and clear." He replied through the telepathic link.

"Watching over me … it must have been hell for you."

"It was; you've never been hurt like this before … you almost died."

"Good thing I didn't. How did you cope?"

"Everyone took turns watching over you. The Teens were really worried … I've never seen Superboy so shaken up. And they kicked butt too; they trashed those Slade-bots, big time. Rave … I have some news."

Her eyes widened. "Good news, I hope."

"Actually, yes … during the time I watched over you, I decided to do some tests on Mark, since he's ours now and we don't have any medical records for him. I did some DNA tests on him … we already know he matches me 70%, but I was curious about the other 30%, we never looked into it."

"Please tell me Alexa isn't his mother."

"She isn't."

She gave him a weak smile.

"I knew that bitch couldn't be his mother … did you find out who the real mother is, or is she anonymous?"

"After I found out that she wasn't his mother I contacted Lex Luthor. Cy went back to Metropolis and with a court order he ransacked her home … he found a lab notebook … it's all in there. Alexa combined my DNA with multiple donors. In every case the embryo died within days of conception. Apparently my DNA is just too wacky to combine with anyone else's genome. Until … she found a candidate that was compatible with me. Once she had a fertilized egg she grew it in a cloning tube in one of Luthor's labs."

"Gar … that's amazing! Do you know the mother's identity?"

"As a matter of fact, I do."

"Well, don't keep me in suspense. What's her name?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Gar, I'm too exhausted to play games … please, just tell me who she is."

A huge grin appeared on his face.

"Raven … it's you … you're Mark's mother."

She stared at him, completely dumbfounded and stupefied.

"I know what you're thinking … that this is one of my dumb pranks, but it's not. Mark is our boy, for real."

"But … how?"

"We don't know how Alexa got a sample of your DNA, but she did. We already confirmed that Mark's mystery 30% really is yours. There's no doubt about it."

"Does he know?"

"Yes, I told him."

Raven looked at the smiling boy. "Mark, sweetie." She rasped. "Do you know who I am?"

"You're my mommy, my real mommy … and I love you."

Raven began to cry. A light bulb somewhere in the room exploded. Gar lifted the boy up onto the bed and Raven kissed him. "And you're my baby. And I love you too." She continued to weep.

Starfire began to bawl and her daughter hugged her. Every eye in the room was moist. After a few minutes Wally cleared his throat. "Guys, there's plenty of repair work left ... the Tower isn't gonna fix itself."

The Teens, along with Rose, the Graysons, the Wests and the soon to be Stones quietly left the room, leaving the Logans to have a moment of privacy. Gar leaned over and gave his wife a tender kiss.

"I feel awful." She continued to rasp. "But I've never been so happy."

-( - )-

OK, this was a very short update, but I felt that this revelation deserved its own chapter.

And now, the epilogues! There is much to cover still:

The legalities and blame behind Alexa's death, and Luthor's involvement with Mark's conception.

Cyborg and Karen's wedding

Rose's ultimate fate.

Slade's aftermath.

Starfire's second child.

More children?

The Teens graduation

Will BB and Raven remain heroes or retire?

And more.

But there will be no more arcs in the story. There will be, to quote Starfire from the episode where she and Raven switch bodies: Peace, calm and tranquility (and a lot of fluff!)