Disclaimer: Characters here are property of their owners, none of which happen to be me. Correction – Yoko's mine.

NOTE: REWRITTEN AS OF 10-5-08. Yarr.

Initial Notes: Hit the books.

A Cup of Sugar, pt.7 Take two.

"Hmm."

Raven's ear perked, and she glanced up from the workbook she was currently engrossed in, an eyebrow raised as Jinx regarded her, tapping her lip with a pen. "Yes...?"

The former Thief was looking through Raven, apparently consumed in thought. "How much have you read of the second book?"

Reaching down into her pack, the young Titan pulled out the small, aged paperback and thumbed to where her bookmark had rested. There, around two-thirds through the book, the small slip of pewter rested. "I think they've just met the Longs, and are... sorting things out."

Jinx snickered and nodded slowly, her grin deepening, "Ah, well then I think it's time we took a break from your hard studies, and worked on the second angle, the one I mentioned the other day."

"I've been curious about that, actually," Raven replied, setting aside her notebook and stretching her back, unfolding from her position on the couch. The studying sessions had continued since their heart-to-heart the other day, and Raven had made good progress in getting her base of knowledge built up to the place needed for her current college endeavors. Already, her confidence and application skills were improved, and she felt like the material that her current and tutored studies meshed with a nice synergy. Her curiosity on what Jinx had planned to add to her tutoring had piqued Raven's curiosity, and after a few days of waiting, she was eager to learn what this next segment would add.

"Did you gather anything... unique from that part of the book I asked you to focus on?" The Thief's coral eyes glinted over the edge of her mug, the tea steaming lightly in afternoon's gentle light. Her student pondered the question. "Considering the material, I would think this one would be easy."

The Titan rolled her eyes, and sighed as she settled back in the chair, reaching up to tuck an errant lock of hair behind her ear. "I know what you're talking about. Zebidiah talked about studying his professors. Is that what you meant?"

"Precisely," the candyfloss haired girl purred, sipping her tea. "Like I said, there's no way with the time remaining, for you to learn everything you need. It'd be too hard to reassert all the background you'd need to be up to speed completely before exams," reaching out and snatching a candy from the dish on her living room table, the young woman peeled it slowly while pulling a satchel up from the floor beside her.

To her credit, Raven was intrigued by the idea, if unsure how it would play out. "The thing that confuses me though, is how this is supposed to work. There wasn't a lot of information in the novel, on this."

Nodding, Jinx popped the candy in her mouth and grinned. "he doesn't go into detail, which is why I did. That's why I didn't just leave it at the novel," pulling out a small wire-bound notebook, she opened it to the first page and dropped it down in front of Raven. "This is an outline of what I have in mind. It covers all the professors that could be datamined," running a finger along the numbers, Raven noticed that all but one of her classes was covered. "I didn't cover Lerhner, as I don't think it would help. Math teachers... well. I don't think it'd matter. I'm tutoring you in precalc, that's the best I can do for him.

"The bottom line on this is pretty simple. You learn, what it was they learned. Not the material, but how it was laid out. Next is the key, and that's the material they used in their education." Reaching back into the satchel, she retrieved a small stack of folders, all labeled. "These are the thesis, dissertation and graduate works of your professors."

Eyebrows rising, the Titan looked over the material slowly, then glanced back up at Jinx, "This is a lot to learn. Am I supposed to memorize all this?"

"Not at all. What you will be focusing on, isn't learning what they wrote or worked on, so much as how they learned it.

"Patterns, Raven," pulling up the outline, a book and a picking out one of the folders, she placed them all before the Titan and smiled. "What people learn, leaves an imprint on how they think, how they work. Teachers, especially. Since they are in the business of learning, how they did so becomes a critical factor in their method."

Nodding slowly, the Titan admitted that the idea had merit. She started looking over the folder and data that Jinx had pointed out, while the former Thief organized and looked over the other material, making small stacks on the table. Leafing through the thin folder, Raven had to admit, some of the structure of the thesis seemed familiar. Like her professor's method, the writeup had a certain focus and direction. As she kept reading, the pattern as Jinx had called it started to appear, and the depth of the plan Jinx had set up seemed to open up. "I think I see what you mean," the Titan observed, brow furrowing as her eyes roved over hastily turned sheets.

"With a solid understanding of those things, a syllabus and your texts, you can predict and plan on what the professors will assign, test and expect. It'll be less learning your lessons," pausing, the Thief sipped at her tea briefly, grinning up as Raven as the young woman seemed to warm to the task. "Less learning your lessons, as learning the teachers."

"It feels like cheating."

"It is." Grinning her cheshire smile, the pink-haired former Thief shrugged slightly as her pupil looked up at the blunt affirmation. "Like I said, there's no way I can fully get you up to speed with your classes, and in the niche to be fully independent. Your fault, currently, isn't in studying, or retention so much as groundwork.

"You lack the basic, fundamental things colleges expect you to know. Proper essay form, the normal curriculum. It's difficult for you to relate to some topics, due to not having worked with their predecessors."

"It... has been difficult. At times it's terribly difficult to relate to the material," Raven conceded, laying the papers down. "I feel so behind, like I'm missing pieces of a puzzle, but can see the idea of what it would look like, complete. But do I have to take this route, this method?"

Sighing slightly, the woman across the table nodded slowly, biting at her lip. "I can't think of another way, really. I'm slowly filling in the holes, from what you missed in these sessions between current topics. You've got too much to cover, and though I can hit the hard parts of what you'll be studying, there's no way to cover all this ground in time."

Raven sat, blinking slowly as she pondered. After a moment, she started shuffling among the papers and thin folders, her eyes searching out small details. After a few minutes of this, and a handful of curious glances from Jinx, the Titan settled back on the couch and leveled an intense look at the former Thief. "There's material here from all over the US. I've counted three colleges, and at least two out of state libraries, as well as library tags from all over... how hard was this to do?"

Blushing slightly, the former Thief busied herself with ordering the papers again by professor. "I said I'd help. I wouldn't be able to deal with my conscience if I didn't do all I could," satisfied finally with the ordering of the materials, she looked back up at Raven and saw violet eyes steadily peering back. "I offered to help. This was the best I could think of."

"I appreciate it. And... I'll do my best too. I don't want to fail at this." Her voice going soft, the violet-haired girl started shuffling her books and the new study items back into her pack. "I really want to make the most of this chance..." looking down, she paused. "And I can't think of going back to the Tower, a failure."

Crossing to where the violet-haired woman sat, Jinx wrapped an arm around her shoulder and laughed slowly. "Only you could consider yourself such a thing, after all you've done. You won't fail; I promise. We'll send you back there with a degree and then some."

Blushing furiously, Raven couldn't help but smile back at her tutor, spirit lifted. "Thank you."

"Forget about it. Now," rising she pulled the former Titan up after her, they walked to the door quietly. Hesitating a moment, Jinx grinned, subdued, "Meet me in the library tomorrow after sessions, we'll do some studying there."

"Yoko won't mind?"

Stalling slightly, Jinx's eyes clouded and Raven slammed her own mental probing back behind her awareness hastily. Curiosity and proximity made it difficult, but she respected her host's privacy, with some effort. She owed her that much. "It'll be alright," the coral-haired girl assured, and Raven let it go.

Nodding once, Raven stepped into the afternoon gloom and waved, setting a brisk pace to her own home. "See you tomorrow, then," she bade as the young woman left.

Leaning against the door as she let it close from her weight, Jinx breathed a sigh and tried to clear her mind. A noise from before her caused her lip to quirk, as she mumbled darkly to her new guest, eyes shrouded by her hair, "I was wondering when you were going to show up again."

OoO

Raven's first night of study, not assigned by Jinx but that didn't deter the Titan's curiosity, went quickly, and interestingly. She decided to focus on her Art History professor being the subject that likely would have the most robust data and material from her tutor.

What she saw, affirmed Jinx's theory. Alex Middlefield was a very regimented, intelligent man, and he obviously, shown by his comments and reviews on those published works, got along well with his professors. This was another point on Jinx's 'syllabus'. How well her professors meshed with their own. Her supposition was that if a person dislikes a teacher, they would often try to find other ways to learn, find their own paths. This would become apparent as a disparity in the data provided, and supplied between their instructor and the assignments. Raven learned to identify those patterns quickly, and her ability to predict the outcomes and essay material and grades was rapidly developing.

After one night, her mind so sharpened from years of pattern-recognition with magic and detective work, had found a sort of cypher in the correlation between her professor's grades, work, their teachers in turn, and the material she was now receiving.

That Jinx had come up with this system, on the fly for her, and wasn't even using it stunned the Titan, as she sat with a cup of tea halfway to her lips. "She's brilliant," the young woman observed, shaking her head slowly. She'd already developed a grudging respect for the young woman, after simply observing her grades and performance at the college, and that had only grown since learning she was also the criminal from her past.

Such things barely factored into her thinking now, usually having as much weight as an observation on a person's clothing being a certain color of blue, or the temperature outside. The young woman had firmly established herself as someone to be respected and also just good company.

A yawn stole from her, and the young Titan chuckled, realizing she was cutting it very close to not getting enough sleep to be functional, the next day. Long habits took over, and she simply phased through her clothes en route to her bed, crawling under the covers and settling barely a moment after. A flick of her will and the lights went dim, and she curled up contently, hope a warm core inside her.

I think this will work, she thought to herself, smiling there as her hair splayed about her pillow, unbound.

OoO

Hope was the only thing that kept her going the next week.

Since that night before, there had been little sign or shape of Jinx, and any inquiries she'd made at the girl's home had gone unanswered. Once, she was chased off the property as the local land-broker had come by, and told her that she was trespassing on private property.

Something about that smelled, and Raven was having some difficulty rectifying all the information in her head. She'd gone so far as to seek out Yoko, who had been in the library each day, as if standing vigil for her girlfriend.

"No word?" the Titan ventured, as she stepped up to the shelving desk. She knew the answer already, with how haunted and off Yoko had still been that day. Since Jinx's disappearance, the small girl's complexion had sallowed, and she seemed to withdraw into a shell, being less and less outgoing.

Shaking her head ever so slightly, the young woman sighed and placed the books she was holding back on the table. "Nothing. I'm worried, Rachel."

Settling on the side of the table, Raven bit at her lip and nodded. So far, thanks to Jinx, her grades had steadily improved, from near-failing to steadily passing. They weren't great grades, but time would let that even out. Averages still counted her failures, after all. Despite it, and her growing confidence, she missed those tutoring sessions, and the bolstering to her knowledge that the former Thief always managed to pull off, regardless of how lost Raven was in a subject.

In truth, she simply missed Jinx. "I think I'll start making some more direct inquires," she assured Yoko, laying a hand on the girl's shoulder. A small nod was her only reply, and Raven reclaimed her bag and set out for the bus station.

There were still two periods of class left, but she had something to do. If she didn't know, find out for sure, then what was the point of her friendship with the young woman?
An hour later, and she stood outside Jinx's house again, seeing for the second time that land broker shuffling about outside, this time speaking with a police officer. Raven decided it was high time that she find out what was going on, and phased herself into a shadow, using an SUV as cover along the street.

Her awareness surfaced in the darkness below the car parked a few yards away from the pair, and she eavesdropped with a grim focus.

"... there wasn't anything wrong with the purchase. I don't know who told you that, but it's unfounded. And those kinds of inquires are not, I repeat not, 911 material, Miss. You need to route that to the clerk of court, and they can instruct you from there."

"Sorry, I was just scared that my inspections would be met with violence," the woman placated, her tone oily. Raven felt herself shiver at the woman's obvious lie. "Regardless, there will be a bank forfeit of the home in a month, and I'd appreciate it if you could ensure there was no... trespassing on the property. Would you be able to help in that, Sir?"

The officer seemed nonplussed by her wheedling tone, and was already walking to his car. "You know the office supply store, a few blocks away?"

"Well, yes," the woman began, and as she took a breath to continue her greasy ramble, the officer cut her off.

"They sell warning signs. I suggest you take a business order on some. Good day."

Her face losing all it's false pleasantness, the woman stuck her nose up and turned sharply, heading back to the home as if it were a refuge. "Pompous ass." Settling by her own vehicle, the one Raven was currently waiting beneath with barely contained annoyance, the woman opened a door and Raven prepared to shift away, but when the door didn't close and the woman started talking, supposedly to a phone, the Titan remained.

"You lying little prick, I just made a fool of myself in front of a police officer on your claim!" Stilling, Raven's eyes narrowed as she listened to the woman's conversation, wanting nothing more than to rise up from the floorboards of the vehicle and throttle her. "No, nothing! Were you lying about the forfeit as well? I can ensure that the deed information passes to my office on it's release, but unless there's a bank buyout available, you're wasting my time!"

Silence reigned for a few moments, and the woman's words, when next she spoke, were quiet and held significantly less force. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry. I know, and yes. I'll keep that well in mind... I'll make a note and have my secretary watch for the release, yes. Daily? At about... six you say? Yes I saw her once, and did as you asked. No, not since."

She's talking about me, Raven foundered for a moment in realization. Whoever's on the other side of this phone, just asked about her! Feeling her anger rising again, she silently recanted her mantra, and focused on more important things. Jinx. She reached out, delicately with her mind and feel through the woman's memories, noticing a drop in her verbosity as she spoke to the man on the phone.

Raven could tell that now, with access to her memories. It did her little good though, as modified as the voice was. A filter was obviously being used. Sadly the woman had no knowledge at all of the previous occupant, beyond a name and the obvious address. That and the fact that her client had offered her a 50 percent cut of the value of the home, if she could acquire and sell it with minimal fuss.

Releasing her hold on the woman's mind, she took the next step in her investigation, and rose up, wary and quiet into the home's dining room.

A cup of tea, and the work that they had been looking over still littered the table.

Her anxiety rising, Raven reached out and felt for Jinx's mind, but didn't touch anything. She walked the house then, and after pausing in each room, extending her mind and still receiving nothing but faint echoes, she sighed and sat in the middle Jinx's living room floor. It wasn't unusual, she remembered, familiar with the young woman's mind. She kept so much tied up and centered in her psyche that it was no wonder there was little mental effluvia in her home. Raven had seen the well-worn exercise equipment, and had been impressed that Jinx had kept up such things, even outside the Hive.

She grumbled to herself about a lack of clues, and in a fit of pique, slammed her hand into the carpet. Blinking, she looked at the ball of her fist, as it came back with dried mud, curiously.

Jinx never wore shoes into her home.

Scrambling to her feet, Raven called on her heritage briefly, and the two other eyes that blinked suddenly above her others scanned the room. She altered the vision, focusing on differences, and she could see the footprints clearly, even among the lighter ones of simple passing that she and Jinx had made days before.

They, oddly, simply appeared in the middle of the room and moved about, as the person had. There was no use of door, or window, from their origin. More curious, there were footprints that seemed vastly out of scale in a place, like the print had been smudged or forced.

It made no sense.

And there, caught between the fibers of the carpet, she spied a single, green hair.

A low growl settling in her throat, Raven folded in on herself and set her mind to Titan Tower.

OoO

Jinx awoke the day after her brief... chat... with Beast Boy – Changeling as he insisted now, in a room that she did not recognize. There was a large plate of food, cold and stale, by the bed she lay on, and a single window high up that let in light.

She had no idea how, with the layout of the room, she'd been brought here. Or for that matter, how food had been left. It was obvious however, she was here against her will. Jinx was still trying, unsuccessfully, to puzzle out Beast Boy's mind in this. Where was she?

"Hello?" Her call made her head ache, and she regretted it immediately. A foul taste in the back of her mouth made her wince, and the former Hive operative recognized a sleeping agent that wasn't too hard to acquire, and it's aftereffects in her blurred vision and sluggish body. She knew, when she had the energy, that she'd be incredulous about this. Common kidnapping tactics use on her of all people. The irony of it all was stunning.

Rolling over on her side carefully as to avoid further aggravating her dislocated shoulder, she gingerly felt at her back and came back with her hand slightly damp. Falling back on the cot, she cast back in her memory for what had happened, what brought her here.

Beast Boy stood, staring at her shoes by all accounts. The fact he'd come into her home uninvited, and without her noticing wasn't lost on Jinx though. "So, I take it this isn't a social call."

"I told you to stay away from her," the young man replied, his voice quiet, toneless. Her thief's instincts told her to run, but she knew Beast Boy, despite his outburst the other night, and this, there wasn't a fight that she'd failed to best him in, one on one.

Shrugging, she walked back to her living room, keeping an eye on the changer as he tracked her. She also kept a number of yards between them. "She asked me. If you have such a problem with this, why not talk to Raven?"

When he laughed, she stopped taking him lightly. Jinx had heard laughter like that before, and it never boded well. Something was very wrong with the young man, and it never did well to let your guard down around people in that mindset. She had stopped and turned to keep her full attention on him, when he literally pounced.

His limbs seemed liquid, as in retrospect her mind tried to decipher his motions. He'd shifted his legs, something like a kangaroo maybe, and as he hit her, his upper body like a gorilla. "It won't work like that, Jinx." She'd bowed and recoiled from the hit, and was thankfully going to have some distance between them to move but a suckered tentacle drew her back far too fast.

A massive fist slammed into her kidney and she cried out.

"I told you to stay away..." Hauling her onto a shoulder, the changeling rifled in a pocket. Jinx's hazed mind registered the sting of a needle and she groaned inwardly. "She needs to come back. She belongs with us." She'd tried to argue, really. Tried to form some words at all, but the cotton in her mouth and in her head just kept the words from forming. And then it snuck over her eyes and she knew no more.

The blow she'd taken obviously had broken the skin, as well as a rib. More inspections occurred and the tally rose, causing her anxiety to grow. If she were not able to get proper food and medicine soon...

Shaking those ideas off, she managed to sit up with some difficulty. Honestly, she'd been treated to worse in the past, and come out of it fine. This was just more intense she imagined, after such a long time from the Hive and her work there as an operative. She did her best to set the broken bone in her chest, eyes watering terribly and a cry ripped from between her clenched teeth. The ankle would heal on it's own, nothing broken there. Her shoulder... sighing, she gripped her hand between her feet, growling as the heavy sprain in her ankle complained, then wrenched.

She woke up a few minutes later, after blacking out from the pain.

Jinx lay there, sobbing silently as her body quieted in it's screaming. She knew it was better to handle these things sooner. She couldn't fight with her shoulder fouled, or unaware that her knee or ankle were weak. The bitterness of actually loosing to Beast Boy welled up in her again and she spat, disgusted with herself.

It was then that her stomach finally decided to have it's turn in things. Stomach growling, she looked to the plate that was left here for her. Her eyes narrowed as she noticed it was all vegetarian fare. "Fucking hippy asshole," she muttered, but scooped up the dish regardless. Cold vegetarian food, she discovered, tasted a lot like cardboard and sawdust.

She awoke, again groggy and out of sorts, in a new room, with a new plate. Groaning, she felt the breaks and bruises had gotten somewhat worse, as she'd been moved roughly, and cursed Beast Boy again, with new fervor. She had been moved, no doubt slung over Beast Boy's back as he capered about as a gorilla, she assumed. Compounding her reawakened injuries with a dire thirst, and Jinx started feeling an edge of panic creep up her thoughts.

If this kept up, one day she'd not awaken. Was that his plan? Kill her by attrition in these places? All because Raven wanted a tutor?

He must be insane, she concluded, trying to rub the clouding from her vision with a hand. "I can't go like this..."

Despite her resolve, she was still too weak to do anything but sit up, and eat the obviously drugged food. If she didn't eat, likely she'd be subdued some other way, most likely violent, which could cause her more harm, and besides, if she had any chance to survive this, she needed to eat. Food wasn't an option, in these damned rooms.

Jinx's third 'morning' found her in much the same way as the last, though her injuries hadn't been too unsettled in her transporting, thankfully. Still though, her thirst was dire and the meager cup of water she'd been given did little more than awaken it's fury. A chamber pot rested in the room as it had in the others, and Jinx grudgingly used it, before settling back down to her meager cot.

How she wished for her bed. Tears welled up, and she snarled, banishing them. "I won't be weak, not for him," she railed silently, and stared out the small window, refusing to let her memory do more than idle slightly on things that could help her.

Nothing came to mind, though. These places were bare but for her cot, the pot in the corner, and the small ration left to her, likely after she was moved each day. Or days. She had no way of knowing how long she was out each time, with no way to measure the passing hours.

She felt a momentary spike of anxiety, for her studies and almost laughed at the absurdity of that intruding on her present dilemma.

Sighing, realizing there was nothing in her current state she could accomplish, with the lack of tools and her own reserve of energy, she picked up the food and ate grudgingly. If she could only manage a hex to break down a wall... but then, who was to say it'd not topple the house down on her?

She'd go that route, when things were more dire. If she could. Darkness crept up on her, and she managed to set the plate down before toppling into it.

The fourth, her fourth, morning arrived, but this time she wasn't somewhere else. Looking about her with foggy vision, she easily recognized the room she'd been in, when the drugged sleep had overcome her. The mostly finished plate of vile food was still there as well, with a few small additions. She shuddered at the dead cockroaches and flies littering it, and started shivering herself. "Oh, god..."

It didn't occur to her how little she'd minded that drugged sleep, but now with what could be a full day of this place arrayed before her, she eyed the plate with a slight longing. Her thoughts turned dark, and as the light outside faded, she did as well, sleeping fitfully with her arms wrapped around herself, the chill air seeping into her bones.

Jinx didn't wake on what she would assume to be her fifth morning, in one of those rooms. Instead she found herself in a hospital room, hooked up to an IV and with a few light braces and casts around her ribs, shoulder, hip and ankle. "Wha," she managed to croak before her throat failed, and her eyes watered savagely from the lack of use. Her croaking had awoken someone, though, and they padded over quietly, as she looked on through blurry eyes and a veil of anxiety.

"Jennifer?" Raven leaned down, smoothing her hair back as Yoko crept up behind the Titan, peering over her shoulder. "You are awake, hold on. I'll get a nurse." When the Titan moved to leave, Jinx's hand shot out, making her wince with the sudden motion but she caught hold of Raven's jacket regardless.

"Stay," she managed, and looked between Yoko and the young woman pleadingly. Working some moisture into her mouth with a bit of effort, she finally released the Titan's sleeve and managed a hoarse, "What happened?"

Sighing heavily, Raven turned to Yoko who gave her a slight nod and went to fetch the nurse before Jinx could stop her. "It's OK. She'll be right back. Besides... this is troublesome. I couldn't tell her some things because I don't know what I can..." pausing she shrugged a bit. "I think you get it." At Jinx's small nod, the Titan pulled up a chair noisily and sat down.

"It all started about a week after we met about the new study plan..."

OoO

Raven had wasted little time after finding her evidence, to locate and speak with Garfield.

Despite literally moving at the speed of thought, she felt impatient. This wasn't something she could wait on.

Arriving for the first time in a few months at Titan Tower was an odd feeling for her, to be sure, complicated further by the things fueling this impromptu visit. "Am I breaking in," she pondered silently, as she glided around the main room slowly. "Is this what Jinx felt like, coming here that time?"

Shaking off her odd reverie, the former Titan looked about herself. The room she was in had changed little, but small things were obvious. New names were on mugs in the kitchen, new smells in the room she was in. A few personal affects were strewn about and she spared a small glance to each. The place wasn't deserted though, her presence hadn't been noticed.

She needed to remind Cyborg to fix those alarms.

"Robin." Her voice wasn't loud, wasn't cast in a tone to startle, but the Boy Wonder practically leapt to his feet, spinning in place. He blinked a few times, before seeming to allow himself to admit it was really her.

Leaning forward, peering up into her jacket's hood, he let a small smile reach his lips. "Raven, it is you." Gesturing to the couch he made as if to sit back down, but when the young woman didn't move, he paused. "You can sit, this is still home you know."

There were a lot of things going on in her head, at that moment. She tried to wade through them but there wasn't much she could put a name to, not without time. "I can't. I have to speak with Garfield."

Long used to her, her silences and her quiet words, the strangled and clipped way in which the woman spoke set him on edge immediately. Looking about him, the young man turned up the television, previously nearly mute and stood, crossing to her. "Raven, what's going on?" He stood a few feet away, wary, as he knew her outbursts were dangerous, and he felt the odd tension in the air around her the usually signaled one.

"I... where is Gar?" She didn't trust herself to say any more.

Hesitating a moment, Robin just shook his head and sat down. "I'll call him, but tell me what this is about first. What did he do?"

Swallowing her heart, as it kept jumping up and blocking her throat, Raven just shook her head hard, before slumping into the chair beside her once-leader. "I think something happened to Jinx."

"Jinx. Jinx?" Looking around, as if there were queue cards he'd missed, Robin turned and rose a quizzical brow at the young woman, her face a study in conflict that sat beside him. "Start from the beginning, Rae. I don't have the slightest idea what's up, here."

So she told him. Some details were left out (she believed) but the rush of telling had left her brittle and unbalanced. It had taken only five minutes, as she really had no patience for this but to just go and snatch up Gar like he had Jinx... she'd not stoop to his level. The retelling only managed to reopen her recent mental wounds, her anxiety on edge when the door in the back of the room opened, admitting the remaining team.

She was on him before Robin could blink. "Where is she?"

Titans West had lost little of their edge, in the time that Raven had been away, and she wasn't surprised when she was pried from the changeling. He sputtered and grumbled but only stood, glaring at her with hurt in his eyes. "Nice to see you too, Raven."

A/N: Yep, rewritten. I do that a lot with this story... anyway. Date on this is ... 10-5-08.