Beast Boy finished the blanket two days later.

He hadn't known what possessed him to make it at the start. Maybe it was because she had been so sick, or maybe because he simply needed something to do with his hands. All he knew now was that he wanted her to have something: a gift that was only for her, and something that he made for her. So, two days later he finished the final stitch.

It was time.

He entered the med bay and found Raven sitting up reading a book that looked so ancient the binding was coming apart. He couldn't begin to guess at what it was.

"What are you reading?"

"An old book of spells," she told him, her eyes never leaving the page. "One second."

He waited, his hands behind his back, clutching the blanket out of sight.

"Okay," she said, her eyes meeting his own. Raven closed the book gently and set it on the little side-table next to her hospital bed. "What is it this time?"

"A gift," he told her.

Raven raised her eyebrows in surprise. Beast Boy couldn't blame her. He had barely left her alone in the two days of her recovery since she'd awoken and fallen back asleep with his hand in hers. He didn't want to leave her alone, he realized.

Maybe never again.

But that was a conversation for another time, he knew. Raven certainly treated his presence like a nuisance, but he could tell she was mostly kidding. Besides, he had been polite, quiet, and helpful during her recovery.

Yesterday he had brought her updated materials on the Titans' current case files and reports on villains that had been wreaking havoc while she had been asleep. The day before that he had brought her the tomes she requested, as well as a few comic books to read silently by her side.

Raven almost missed his jokes.

"A gift? That's new."

"Yeah, I figured you could use a laugh."

"A laugh?"

"Are you going to repeat everything I say?"

"Are your comebacks going to all be so contrived?"

Beast Boy gave her a fake frown and then a large grin.

"Behold," he said, pulling the blanket out from behind his back. "A DIY project by yours truly."

He unfolded it and held up the gift for her to see. It was a cotton blanket crafted in dark squares of violets and indigos, with a large red diamond resting square in the middle. It was like he had made a quilt of her cloaks and put a giant representation of her chakra in the middle.

It was her, she realized. The blanket was a representation of Raven herself.

"You… made this?"

Beast Boy bunched the blanket up and gently placed it on her feet in the hospital bed. He reached out a hand and showed her the small puncture wounds all over his fingertips from the needle.

"Yup, all me."

Raven didn't know what to say. She stared up at Beast Boy who's grin was growing from confident to sheepish with every passing second of her silence. He let his hand fall back to his side and he cleared his throat.

"Well, I just, you know," he stammered, "I figured you might want something to keep you warm. You know, now that you're mostly human, less demon, all that? I'd hate if you got sick again… Look I know it's crap. It was my first attempt! I can get you something else-?"

Beast Boy reached down to take the blanket away, but Raven moved forward and grabbed it instead. She pulled it up to her chest, pressing the soft fabric between her fingers and bringing it to her nose.

Raven hid her face in its folds when she mumbled, "no."

"No?"

She raised her eyes and looked at him again. "It's mine. I want it."

Beast Boy took a turn to stare at her before his face broke out into a huge grin again.

"You do?"

For emphasis, Raven pushed all the rest of her hospital bed blankets down to the foot of the bed and curled up beneath only the quilt. She didn't know how else to properly express what she was feeling to him; it wasn't often that she explained any of her emotions. The blanket was huge and awkward in some places, thicker in corners than in others, and it was made of materials that would no doubt keep her so warm she would suffocate beneath it, but he'd made it for her.

Just for her.

"Yes. Thank you, Beast Boy."

Her eyes peered over the edge of the blanket stared right into him. Beast Boy felt his grin waver again as he felt heat rise to his cheeks.

"N-no problem. Look, uh, I was just about to get lunch. Do you want me to bring you some?"

Raven was barely listening. Emotions were pouring off of Beast Boy that she'd never felt from him before, all directed at her. He continued to babble on about lunch, but she ignored it, instead reading him empathically, trying to understand.

He was trying to tell her something, but what? It seemed that even he didn't know. It was all beneath his skin, begging to be let out, but Beast Boy was the sort of person who needed words to fully communicate things. He had given her this gift, something that had taken him so long to do, but to him it wasn't enough. Raven felt that he had something to say, but she couldn't tell what.

All she knew, as she felt her own blush rise up her neck and into her face, was that it was very, very important to him.

"Lunch sounds great," she interrupted him quietly. "Thank you, again."

He stopped and blinked. Then he nodded and cleared his throat, leaving the room in a daze and closing the door behind him, his face warmer than ever.

It was another two days before Raven went back into physical training.

She stood on the grass in their large training field with a deep feeling of trepidation in her stomach. Raven watched as Starfire flew around the field, which was outfitted both with obstacles and high-tech foes, destroying Cyborg's training drones and flying with a precision that only a warrior from Tamaran could pull off. Robin called out commands or advice as Starfire ran the drill, and Cyborg and Beast Boy stood with Raven on the sidelines as the last of the exercise came to a close.

Starfire finished off the last of her opponents and landed on the grass with a victorious expression on her face.

"Great job, Star!" Beast Boy yelled in support. Cyborg clapped and Starfire took her place on the sidelines with them.

"You're up next, Raven," Robin called from the edge of the field. He was manning the control unit where the drones' commands were stored.

Raven nodded, and she took her first few slow steps out onto the field. Beast Boy felt himself go still with nervousness as she did, and he heard Starfire call out a phrase in Tamaranean which meant "good luck". Raven stopped in the center of the field and took her stance, her palms out, ready to take on anything.

"Okay, Raven," Robin called out. "We'll start slow."

Raven nodded, and then it began. It was almost as if her powers were happy to see her again, and she them. Raven began working through easy exercises: shoot this, levitate that, dodge this, fly here, etcetera, and all the while her powers were practically giddy with the exercise. They felt great, and Raven felt alive. Raven smirked with confidence as she fed off Beast Boy's 'good vibes' that he was clearly trying to send her. She sliced through a massive drone in a millisecond and watched with overwhelming relief as it fell.

She was going to be fine. For real this time.

"Yeah, Raven!" Beast Boy cheered from the sidelines. Raven felt herself beam back at him, only to be whipped on the shoulder by a rogue flying disk.

"Ah!" she hissed, hitting the ground, and holding her shoulder.

Robin paused the exercise immediately and Beast Boy, Starfire and Cyborg were at her side shortly after.

"Hey, Raven, you okay?" Cyborg asked.

Raven felt Beast Boy's hand on her back, and she felt comforted by the touch. It was like waking up and holding his hand in the med bay again.

"I'm alright," she said, looking up at the three of them. "Thanks."

They helped her to her feet and Robin approached them. He took a few moments to check her over. Once he concluded that she was fine, healthy even, he nodded.

"Do you want to continue?"

Raven smiled.

"Absolutely."

About a month later, Beast Boy knocked on Raven's bedroom door.

Raven had been meditating – or trying to – and had placed Beast Boy's quilted blanket below her on the bed where it had helped her sleep nearly every night since she'd awoken in the med bay. There were still nights where her dreams were plagued with Malchior, with nightmares of what had happened, but most were peaceful, where she dreamed no dreams at all.

Meditating these days had come less easily to her. Before her father's defeat, meditation was something that had calmed her emotions, kept her grounded, and protected her friends from any of her teenage, hormonal outbursts. Now, her thoughts were flooded with the reality of her new life: a life more human. Her emotions were less erratic than they were in her teenage demon years, but they were also more meaningful than they had been before.

Raven felt things so acutely that it was almost more terrifying than an overflow of her powers. It was, instead, an overflow of her. Who she was seemed to be stamped into everything she did, and while that might have been the case when she was younger, too, now it was all she could think about.

Who was she, and who did she want to be?

Malchior, the last of her emotional baggage, was either dead or lost to the ether somewhere, floating formlessly around until he regained enough strength to go on.

And Raven was here, a hero with a future. For the first time that fact was more overwhelming than she could possibly express.

The knock came at her door after an hour of fruitless meditation.

Raven floated gently down to the bedspread and then uncrossed her legs. She stood and walked to the door and, sensing who was on the other side, she stopped.

Beast Boy? She thought. Had he come to finally tell her what was on his mind at last?

Raven opened the door and stood with her arms crossed, her defensive pose a shield for whatever maelstrom of emotion Beast Boy was going to bombard her with.

But he didn't.

"Hey, Rae, did you wanna get dinner? Star and Robin are out on a date and Cy won't come out of the basement until he's upgraded something on the T-ship. I guess he's meeting some kind of personal deadline."

Raven blinked at him for a few seconds.

"Rae?"

"Oh, um, yeah. Sounds great. Fatigues or civilian?"

Beast Boy gestured down to his jeans and dark hoodie. "I'm going like this."

Raven was still wearing her hero's outfit.

"Okay give me a few minutes to change. I'll meet you downstairs."

Raven closed the bedroom door and she heard his calm footsteps retreat down the hallway. So he hadn't been there to tell her anything. Maybe she should just ask him? No, why bother him if he wasn't ready? Maybe those feelings had disappeared since she'd first woken up. There was no reason to pester him if there was nothing to say.

Raven felt an aching in her chest at the idea that the powerful torrent of Beast Boy's emotions toward her when she came back to her body had somehow just… vanished.

What had I been hoping for? She asked herself. That something big was going to happen?

Had she been hoping? Or dreading?

Raven still wasn't sure.

Raven met him downstairs five minutes later in a casual set of dark jeans and plum, cropped crew neck which bunched at her hips and fell past her hands. She felt comfortable like this, and Beast Boy smiled at her and the two of them flew off toward Jump City for dinner.

There were only a few places that a grey girl and a green boy could go without being gawked at - they were two of the five most recognizable people in Jump City - so they opted for one of Beast Boy's favorite sushi bars which not only had dark rooms inside, but the owner reserved a special table whenever Beast Boy called ahead.

They were greeted kindly at the door by a starstruck hostess, and then the owner came out of the back office and shook Beast Boy's hand. Raven smiled, introduced herself, and then they were shown to their tables. Raven sat with her back to the wall and Beast Boy sat across from her.

Dim lights hung above them and reflected in their dark, polished table. Raven picked at the wrapper that had come off her set of chopsticks as she considered the menu. Beast Boy wasn't even looking at the menu.

"Do you know what you want?"

"I have a 'usual'," he told her with a grin. She smiled back and then ignored him so she could read the specials.

Beast Boy waited patiently as Raven looked through the menu and he stared around the nearly empty restaurant, which wasn't uncommon on a late, Monday night. Working your own hero hours meant that you had a few perks, like taking your friend out to a quiet, classy dinner when she needed one. No curfew required.

"So," Raven finally said, her violet eyes rising from the list of sushi rolls, "what is Cyborg upgrading?"

"I'm honestly not sure, something about the 'thrusters' or 'turbines to speed', I didn't really ask."

"You made those up."

"I mean, the T-ship totally has thrusters, but that's all I know."

"How long has he been at it?"

"A few days. I know he's grateful we haven't gotten any big villain scares or 911 calls this week."

"Yeah, me too," Raven added quietly.

Beast Boy watched her carefully. "You okay, Rae? It's been a month. I mean, you look great and all, but?"

"I've gained weight back, the cough is finally gone, I just…"

He waited, his body language relaxed, patient. Raven suddenly felt so at ease that she started talking openly for the first time in weeks.

"Sometimes I still feel like I'm there. In my dreams I go back to him and every single time he asks me to stay. I don't know. Maybe it's starting to get harder to wake up each morning. To tell him no, to… come back to myself."

"Do you think it's actually him?"

"No," Raven answered truthfully, "I really think he might be... Well, the point is that somehow I'm still letting myself get dragged back there in my mind, in my subconscious. Locked in memories. I don't think it is about Malchior, so much as it is about how I feel like I could've done more. If I'd tried to help him-"

"Don't say that," Beast Boy interrupted. "He's the one who hurt you. You don't need to fix him, or help him, or even feel sorry for him. You don't even have to forgive him. I know that you did, I know that you're finally moving on but, Raven, maybe you're not?"

Raven stared at him with her eyes slightly widened and Beast Boy felt color rise to his cheeks.

Oops, he thought, so much for a nice quiet evening.

"I just… if you're not ready to move on, that's okay. Take your time. Whatever you need."

Raven tilted her head just a few degrees to the side and appraised him quietly. Beast Boy wasn't sure if she was upset, but then she nodded.

"Thank you."

Beast Boy let out a breath of relief. "You're welcome."

The owner came back shortly after that, talking to Beast Boy like he was family and offering them whatever they wanted, even if it was off-menu.

Beast Boy ordered two vegan sushi rolls and a mushroom ramen, and Raven ordered a Somen noodle nori and a California roll. The owner shot Beast Boy a grin and took their menus away, leaving them alone in awkward silence.

"So," Raven finally said, breaking the tension, "what made you decide to eat in the city tonight?"

Beast Boy was about to tell her that he was hoping she would enjoy a night off, that he wanted to spend time with her, but he also couldn't come up with the courage quick enough and said instead, "I was hungry."

"Right, but we could have eaten at home."

"I didn't want to cook?"

"Beast Boy."

He sighed. "I just wanted you to have a nice night. Now I went and ruined it by trying to dictate how you should cope."

The conversation was heavy and drained on them both.

"You didn't say that I couldn't forgive him," Raven responded carefully, "just that you think I shouldn't have to. I appreciate your concern for me. It means a lot."

"You're welcome. I just hate that you can't sleep."

"The blanket helps," she said smiling at him.

"It does?"

"Yeah. I'm not sure why but… yeah."

The evening came easier after that. Beast Boy updated Raven on the things that he was working on: learning Japanese, trying to program his own simple video game idea. He was even considering taking introductory classes in veterinary medicine so he could better understand his own body from a scientific level.

Raven was impressed. She couldn't believe how passionate Beast Boy had become about his own future, about who he wanted to be. Raven still wasn't sure what she wanted, but she was glad someone else seemed to know what they were doing.

"What about you?"

Raven didn't answer at first, sipping green tea and rolling the question over in her mind. What had she been doing all month? It felt like nothing.

"I'm… preserving some history, I guess you could call it."

"Is that your fancy way of saying that you're reading a lot of spellbooks?"

Raven smirked at him. "Yes, and no. I'm reinterpreting them. I've even thought about writing my own series of them for apprentice sorcerers. I'm not the only witch on Earth you know."

Beast Boy sat back and let out a low whistle. "Whoa, that's impressive. You'll be like a mentor. Gonna take on your own apprentices someday?"

Raven hadn't thought about that. She wasn't exactly the social type, but she couldn't be a worse mentor than Malchior had been that first time they met. There was still so much that she didn't know that he had already mastered, and her refusal to learn from him meant that she was on her own.

But Raven liked it that way.

It gave her purpose.

"I don't know. Maybe someday. I think I'll stick to writing for now."

"Well, for how much you read, I know you'll be great at it."

Raven blushed. "Thanks, Beast Boy."