Robin walked into the common room in a tired and distraught manner. He didn't get any sleep the night before, as he had been trying to pinpoint any areas that Beast Boy could be. He hypothesized that he might have gone back to the Doom Patrol's base. Even though they were gone, he knew that Gar had ownership of their home and would often visit it to make sure it was still kept up. He figured if any more searchings don't turn up anything, they could give it a shot.

He went to make a cup of coffee and grabbed a bagel. Cyborg watched him out of the corner of his eye, trying to gauge if he should talk to him or leave him alone. He could tell his leader was stressed beyond his limits. The mask couldn't hide how his eyes seemed to barely be keeping his eyes open. His disheveled hair and slow movements were also a dead give away. Seeing as he doubted much would have any better effect, Cyborg spoke to get his leader's attention.

"You find anything on B?"

A sigh escaped Robin's lips and he dropped his head. Running a hand through his hair, Robin turned around to speak to his friend.

"Not a damn thing."

Cyborg gave a defeated sigh and rubbed a hand over his scalp. He figured that he wouldn't have, he just hoped he'd be wrong. He was starting to miss his friend and the thoughts of everything that had happened had swam around in his head all last night.

He knew he hadn't been a very good friend and that he had messed up. The constant banter had turned very demeaning towards his once best friend, and he was killings himself for it. And Gar just seemed to take it on the chin, just like he always did. He never retorted, or even much as seem to acknowledge it. But he knew deep down that his friend was keeping track of everything.

The way he changed had been instantaneous. Never had he thought that Gar had the ability to be serious. He was supposed to be the lighthearted, laugh everything off, joker of the team. He went from wanting to be on the gamestation 24/7, to forgo anything technology if it didn't relate to training or working out. He didn't smile or laugh and it had unsettled Cyborg. Once Cyborg had realized his mistake and that he had wrong his buddy, it was too late.

Anytime he tried to get the green hero to hangout with him, he was turned down. It was polite, but at the same time cold and disheartening. He'd give an excuse regards to training, and speak it in a calm but monotonous voice. No matter how hard he tried, it was as if it didn't matter.

Robin had felt the same way. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get his friend to interact with him any more. He had forgone showing up to movie night, therefore making it much more boring. Most of the time the team would lose interest in whatever they were watching not even halfway through the movie. It also seemed as if Gar would use Robin as his own punching bag during sparring sessions. Many of times, Robin would need to be healed by Raven and Gar hadn't had a scratch on him. It seemed as if it was boring to the hero.

Sitting down at the table, Robin looked over to the huge plate of meat that was sitting in front of Cyborg. He gave a hollow laugh thinking back again to his green friend.

"What's so funny?"

Picking up his bagel, he stared out towards the bay surrounding the tower.

"I remember when Beast Boy would accuse you of murder for cooking so much meat. Fast forward, and he was the one scarfing it down."

Cyborg turned back to his plate and let out a sigh full of sorrow. He too remembered when they would go back and forth in the morning, trying to tell which one of them had the better choice of food. He had always wanted his friend to eat meat, he just wish it hadn't come to what it was now.

"Why did he even change his diet? I mean, he would preach nonstop about how disgusting he thought meat was. And he never seemed to be getting less nutrients than us. If anything, he probably got more from all the fruit and vegetables he had been eating."

Cyborg shrugged his shoulders and rubbed his scalp again, deep in thought.

"I don't know man. Maybe he wanted to start bulking up. There was a time where I would've given anything to see him eat meat. Now, I'd give anything to hear him tell me why tofu was a better option."

Robin nodded his head in agreement. Although it had only been a day, the atmosphere was so downtrodden it became suffocating. He never realized how much the green hero had held this team together until he was gone.

Taking a sip of his coffee, Robin prepared himself to break some news to Cyborg that could turn the situation into a temper filled argument. Taking a bite of his bagel, he chewed and chewed until he was able to steady himself for the reaction of his friend.

"I'm thinking about adding someone or some people to the team for the time being."

Cyborg turned his head so fast to look at Robin, he could've sworn the cybernetic hero cracked a couple of screws.

"Are you thinking of replacing B?"

None of the boys had heard Raven walk into the room. They both had been so deep in thought that when the doors slid open, neither one of them heard her. Unfortunately for Robin, she happened to walk in right as those words left Cyborg's mouth.

"Excuse me?"

Both heads turned to the girl. Robin had paled dramatically just by the look on her face. Her eyes were dangerously narrowed and a deep scowl looked as if it were waiting for Robin to say something. Her tone didn't make things easy either. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he calmly spoke.

"We're down a team member and we could use the back up. I'm by no means replacing Beast Boy. But let's look at the facts here. There's only four of us now and we just lost our best fighter. What if Cinderblock or Adonis come out to fight? Who's gonna be able to knock them out quickly?"

Although he had made a good point, neither Cyborg nor Raven were hearing it. Raven's fists were balled up and she seemed to be seething. Cyborg, although not nearly as scarily as Raven, was glaring daggers at the boy. He was not about to let him replace his best friend.

"That's why we need to keep looking for him Robin. The sooner we find him, the better. We might be able to express our regret to him and give him the option of coming back."

Her tone was dangerously low and sent shivers up his spine. He turned to Cyborg for help, but found none. Instead, he seemed to be siding with Raven.

"How would you have liked it if we replaced you with someone else when you were working for Slade? I'm sure you wouldn't have wanted to come back to that, so what makes you think he would appreciate that?"

Sighing Robin held his hands up in defense. He had only meant for Cyborg to hear it, but unfortunately, whatever higher powers were above were not wanting to help him right now.

"Guys, I'm NOT replacing him. If we find him, I'll do my best to bring him back to us. Just take a breath and think for a second. We need speed and we need power right now. Cyborg, you have power, but aren't anywhere near as fast as Beast Boy."

He turned to face Raven who looked very close to beating him to a pulp. Swallowing back the dread, he looked her in the eye and spoke as calmly and reasonably as he could.

"And Raven, your powers are second to none, but what happens if we come across someone who can deactivate them? None of our hand to hand skills come close to what Beast Boy's were."

Glancing between the two still steaming hot team members, he sighed and rubbed his temples in a mixture of frustration and tenseness.

"We need someone who can somewhat be as effective as Beast Boy. I'll repeat it as many times as I have to, I am NOT going to replace him. But we need someone here until we find him and bring him back."

Raven had heard enough. Without another word, she turned on her heel and stormed out of the room. A shattering sound and a boiling hot splash of coffee on his pants was her way of saying goodbye for now. She would've felt satisfied at the yelp that came from Robin, but she was too pissed to care.

After grabbing a paper towel and a cold wash cloth, he cleaned up the mess and turned to Cyborg. The sight that greeted him let him know he was also in disagreement with him. Taking a chance, Robin cleared his throat to get his attention.

"You see where I'm coming from right Cy?"

Cyborg just shook his head, got up, and walked over to the sink to clean his plate. Once he was satisfied, he threw it in the dishwasher and left without another word. Sighing in defeat, Robin dropped his head in his hands and groaned. Things were becoming way worse between him and the team.


Gar and Rose were laying together in her bed, both tired and very satisfied. He had went to her room to knock before entering and she grabbed him by his shirt before he could even utter a greeting. A few steamy kisses later and a bunch of clothes tossed to the side, the were both in bed and naked.

Rose was in utter bliss. Truth be told, she had never done anything with another guy. For Gar to be her first, she was beyond content. Her legs were still shaking and the area between them was sore as well. But she couldn't care less because it had felt amazing.

Rubbing a hand on his chest, she leaned up to give him a light kiss on the lips. Pulling back, she smiled at him and he returned it. She laid her head back down and sighed in happiness.

"You seem to have enjoyed yourself."

She chuckled and looked back up to him.

"Oh I did. Now I see why they call you Beast Boy."

He laughed and pulled her closer for another kiss. He enjoyed every second of it as well. He rubbed her back as she put her head back down on his chest and breathed in her scent. He would never get tired of her.

They laid in silence for a little longer until Rose poked her head up and turned to him.

"Gar?"

He looked at her and could see she was curious about something. Giving her a small smile, he nodded his head.

"Can I ask you something?"

A brief chuckle escaped his lips at her hesitance. He found it adorable.

"Of course Rose."

She scooted up so that she could be right next to him. Looking into his eyes, she asked a question that had been on her mind for a while now.

"Do you actually enjoy being here?"

A look of disbelief briefly crossed his face before he schooled himself and gave her a warm smile.

"Yeah I do. Everyone has been great to me and it means a lot. Granted, I never would've seen myself working with Slade, but it's not as bad as I would've thought before we met."

She gave him a smile and leaned down to kiss him again. Pulling back, she cupped his cheek and ran her thumb across it.

"I just don't want you to be how you were with the Titans. I know they treated you badly, but we're all different than them. I don't want you to shut us out or think you can't go to any of us if you need someone to talk to."

He grabbed her hand and gave it a kiss. He reached out to run a hand through her hair and smiled.

"You know, Rae told me that before I came in here."

Rose looked surprised, and he chuckled.

"We had a mini heart to heart out in the main room. She was going to train and we briefly talked about some things that were on my mind."

He gave another chuckle as his hand continued to run through her hair.

"She makes quite a good big sister."

She smiled and nodded her head in agreement. Rachel was 22, and she was 20. When they had first met and clicked, Rose had often found herself going to her about a lot of her problems. Now, she pretty much felt as if Rachel was all but her sister in blood.

Leaning down to rest her head on his shoulder, she took hold of his hand and interlaced their fingers together. Taking note of how much his dwarfed hers, she spoke again.

"If you don't mind me asking, why did you change your diet?"

He sighed and glanced at their hands as well.

"I wanted to get faster and stronger. Truth be told, I have always preferred meat over that stuff I used to eat. The only problem was, it would make my instincts go haywire."

She looked up to him and calmly waited for him to go on. After a brief pause and another sigh, she got what she wanted.

"I got enough protein, but I wasn't putting on a whole lot of muscle. It took time, but I finally got ahold of my instincts and got control of everything. Once that happened, I upped my protein intake and included meat in my diet again. As you can see, the results followed shortly after."

She chuckled and nodded her head. Glancing down at his body, she indeed saw the muscle and toning he had worked to get. He wasn't a body builder, but his six pack and defined chest showed proof of how much it helped.

"The Titans thought I was changing into the Beast again. However, once I briefly explained that I was in control and he wasn't an issue, they understood."

A slight chuckle escaped his lips again.

"They thought I was doing it out of spite and pettiness of course. Little did they know I was actually working hard to control and progress my powers."

She looked back up to him and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"How do you think they feel now?"

His eyes still on their interlaced hands, he shrugged indifferently and spoke.

"Don't know. Truth be told, don't really care about it either."

He finally turned his gaze towards her and smiled.

"I have you now so I'm much happier than I was when I was with them."

She returned his smile and gave another peck to his lips.

"Well, their loss is my gain. And I plan on keeping you with me for a very long time."

He gave her a playful smirk and quirked an eyebrow.

"Is that a hint that you're expecting a ring in the future?"

She shrugged her shoulders and leaned in closer to him.

"If that's what you want then I'd be more than happy with it."

He gave her a warm smile and she leaned in to give him a kiss. She pulled away from his hand and wrapped hers around the back of his neck to deepen it. He reach around her waist to pull her closer to him and he smiled into the kiss. After a the need for air caused them to pull apart, she placed her hand on his cheek in an affectionate manner and looked him in the eye.

"I love you."

A surprised look on his face was followed with a happy smile and it made her heart flutter.

"I love you too."

They stared at each other for a brief time before a beeping caused Gar to reach for his wrist communicator on her nightstand. Pressing a button, he spoke into it.

"Gar here."

Keeping his eyes on Rose, he could see the disappointment in her face that their moment was ruined.

"Gar my boy, I would like to see you in the training room. I need you for a brief moment to test something."

At the sound of Slade's voice, both of them looked at each other in shock and slight worry. Rose held her breath as she tried to stay quiet so her father wouldn't have any idea of what they were doing.

"Don't worry, it's nothing involving any sort of medical devices. I have a hypothesis about how your powers work. I want to see if it's something we can use in combat."

He looked at Rose, hoping that Slade hadn't heard her, and spoke.

"Yes sir, I'll be down in a minute."

A brief silence greeted them both, before they heard Slade chuckle and his voice again.

"It won't take long. Once we're done and run the test, you can go back to my daughter."

A beep indicated the call was over and the couple looked at each other in shock. After a moment of silence, Gar chuckled and shook his head.

"I'd ask how he does that, but I'm not sure I want the answer."

Rose chuckled and gave him a playful smile.

"He probably talked to Rachel. She never was good at keeping things about me from my father."

He laughed and got off the bed. Pulling his pants back on and his shirt, he fixed his hair to make sure it wasn't too obvious at what they had been doing. Once he was satisfied, he walked back over to Rose to give her a kiss.

"I'll be back. Why don't you get some rest and I'll see you when we're done."

She gave a smile and nodded her head. She watched as he walked out the door and went to lay back down. While she was tired, she couldn't help but feel happy and excited as she thought about Gar. There was no doubt in her mind that she loved him, and it felt amazing to know he loved her.

She rolled over and breathed in his scent that had been left on her pillow and smiled. Her stomach was full of butterflies and she couldn't help the happy sigh that escaped her lips. As she slowly drifted off to sleep, she couldn't help but think of the future she had with Gar.