Bargains and Balance

This is annoying. Let's just assume and know that I don't own Teen Titans from this chapter forward.

So as you peeps know, I added a curve to the story to make it longer and more interesting. Have fun and read!

Chapter 13

Two Days Later

The world had frozen to Raven since that conversation with her best friend. Well, rather than frozen, just seemed to pass in almost a dream-like state.

Garfield Mark Logan! Isn't that sad?

Raven wanted to hit something. Someone. Herself. The wall. She had known his name since before they were together, together. It should've rang a bell immediately but did it? Um, of course not.

She sat down on her bed in a t-shirt and loose shorts and mentally scolded herself. This was really bad. She couldn't go and see him! Not now, and apparently not ever. He'd definitely be safer to not see her again. And yet. . .

A large part of her really wanted to see him again. Needed to see him again. And she knew that if that happened and Trigon found out, and he would find out, Garfield would become a little Trigon puppet for the rest of Trigon's existence. Which wasn't good. At all. Raven had heard stories of her father's minions. Things that had once been human, but now were creatures of corruption; created from the presence and the mere essence of Trigon himself.

She really felt torn. Stupid Gabbi. Dragging her into things like this. But Raven knew it wasn't her new friend's fault.

The phone rang next to her bed, causing her to give a startled jump. She reached over and picked it up.

"What?" she said dryly.

"Well, aren't you a little miss sunshine," came Gabbi's voice from the other end of the line. "Anyway, I called to see if you've checked the news lately."

"Obviously I haven't. What happened?"

"It isn't what has happened, it's what's going to happen." Gabbi sounded like her head was about to explode with excitement.

Raven just blinked. Sometimes she didn't understand how she makes friends like Gabbi. Friends with the opposite personalities and such. Friends like -

"I'm guessing you're going to tell me?" Raven asked as she fell onto her back on her bedspread.

"You know me so well, hon. Well here it goes," Gabbi took a deep breath. "You're officially a New York Times Bestselling Author - overnight!" Gabbi gave a short loud squeal.

Raven blinked with more surprise. "How? I haven't even submitted my book to - no. . . You. Did. Not."

A nervous chuckle. "I kinda sort of did. But sweetie, you are amazing and you don't know it. Weren't you considering just putting that thing on your own bookshelf for forever? Uh, uh. Nope. I shipped it to an editor. And BAM. Magic."

Raven sat up and pinched the bridge of her nose. "You ever heard of decaf?"

"Coffee's not my thing. And don't change the subject! Seriously, you are so in right now! Well, you aren't. 'Eve Remron' is. Nice pseudonym by the way."

"I try." A million thoughts were racing through her mind. Robin, also known as Richard, would definitely know who she was based on her writing style and what she had written about. Cyborg aka Victor . . . he probably wouldn't figure it out too quickly. But he was pretty intelligent and it would eventually click. Then there was -

"Mark got Gavin and Dylan into your book. I didn't tell them that Eve was you. I assumed you used a pseudonym for a reason."

Of course. "So when's the whole Music Festival thingy?" Raven asked, trying to see how fast she could get everything over with and done with.

"Tomorrow."

YES!

"And the next day."

Great…..

"But after that it's done. Do you really not like Dylan that much? He's like perfect in almost every girl's mind and out of everyone, picks you."

"I . . . it's complicated."

There was a thoughtful pause. "There's someone else," Gabbi said slowly.

Raven's heart skipped a beat and she scolded herself as she fought to keep her voice neutral. "No."

But of course, the Queen of Relationships knew what she meant. "Oh. My. Gosh."

"Bye, Gabbi."

"Noooooo! Who is it? I've got to know! This guy must be so good to be better than Dyl-"

"Bye, Gabbs." And Raven hung up on her talkative friend. She chuckled a little bit. That felt good. She knew Gabbi wouldn't take offense to that action and frankly, Raven was amused at the moment.

Raven rolled off of her bed and walked to her bathroom to get ready for bed.

It had been an interesting day at the small shop. Gavin had come with Dylan who had immediately started small talk with Raven. Or Rachel. She really didn't mind either.

Gabbi had taken her break then and she and Gavin had gone on a lunch date. Leaving Raven with Dylan, who was a constant reminder of the one she was trying to keep alive.

Raven looked into the mirror at herself and let out a puff of air. She had let her hair grow out. It was a little past shoulder length, and still quite straight, and very dark.

Tomorrow was Saturday. Great. Festival time. Raven pulled out her brush from a nearby drawer and began to brush her hair.

Bring it on.

My child, my how you have thrived in the mortal world. I see you are still lonely. I can help you with that.

There was a deep chuckle and Raven turned restlessly in her sleep.

All you have to do is surrender completely to me. It would be so easy, and it is not as if it would make a difference to those you are protecting. I know you, child and I know you are searching for a crack in the window, but let me assure you, there is nothing you can do that I won't know about. There is no one you can talk to that I won't know about. There is no where you can go that I won't know about. And there is no way, no way you can get away. We are linked, you and I. By our blood. By our minds.

Raven's head twitched in her sleep.

Oh, my child. How ignorant you are of my true power. I know your heart yearns for the ones you love. For those who understand you and accept you. I was like that once. And the people you yearn for yearn for you as well. But this is all part of my plan for you see, you injured me and made me weak; you tore me down painfully. I am doing that to you; making you crumble slowly, feeling the weight of the life you have to live. I am still able to destroy your precious family. Remember me, my child, and you will do perfectly.

Raven sat up in her bed, alert and awake. When she lay back down and controlled her breathing again, it wasn't a surprise when she felt something wet run down her face like a soft reminder that she was still her, and that she was almost hopeless.

"So, anything new?"

"I haven't found anything new in the past two months, Gar."

Garfield Logan sat back in the booth that he was sitting in and looked at the tall, clean-shaven, lean figured, short dark haired man across the table from him.

"This investigation hasn't gone anywhere in forever. The people I work with will not let me continue if something doesn't pop up soon enough. You know this, Gar."

Garfield pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yeah. I do. Thanks Richard for trying. I guess after almost a year and a quarter with nothing . . . I don't know what to say really."

Richard (previously Robin) gave a small smile. "Don't give up, man. Seriously, the fact that you're still searching speaks a lot to me."

Garfield put both hands on the table in front of him and fiddled with the purple stoned ring on his right hand.

"She didn't get to see me with my powers back."

"I know. But remember? Beast Boy's gone."

Garfield ignored him. "She didn't get to help train the new Titans."

Richard looked down. "Yeah. I know."

"Do you know why I had Cy make my holoring look like this?" Garfield held up his right hand and Richard looked at the ring closely. Purple stoned, with a silver band that had wings etched into the sides. The wings of a -

"Raven," Richard said with a fond smile.

Garfield's only response was a quick twitch of the corner's of his mouth. "We were pretty close, you know. Before the entire mess that started this."

"And to think, y'all could've ended up like Kori and me," Richard joked as he gave his menu to the waitress who had approached the table. "Uh, two of the Special Salads please and I would like a re-fill. Thanks."

Garfield nodded his thanks and watched the waitress as she walked away. "I don't think Rae would've let me marry her. Plus, I'm only eighteen."

"You're birthday isn't that far away at all."

"Still."

Richard accepted the newly refilled glass that the waitress offered him. "Have you tried dating at all?"

"It's pretty awkward. I haven't really."

Richard raised an eyebrow. "You make it seem like you're the lonliest person in the world."

"I have friends! I'm actually going to a music festival with them this weekend."

"Do they have girlfriends?" Richard grinned.

Garfield rolled his eyes. "Yes. Well, one of them. Another is bringing his friend's girlfriend's friend. But seriously, I highly doubt I'm going to pick up a girlfriend at a music festival."

"You never know." Richard took a sip of his drink. "You just never know.

"Well, here we are! Jump City's famous music festival!" Gabbi swung her arm in an arch above her head to gesture to all of the surrounding crowds and entertainment.

"You'd think they'd think of a more creative name than that," Raven said monotonously.

Gabbi looked Raven up and down. "Rachel, my friend, I do believe you and that color just stick like glue."

Raven glanced down at her blue shirt, blue jeans, indigo jacket, and dark sneakers. "I'm not one for extravagant colors."

Gabbi just hummed in response, since she was entirely distracted looking for her boyfriend and his friends.

"Anyway, shouldn't you guys be in college or something?" Raven huffed.

"Gavin and Dylan are taking online courses. I legally own the shop once I actually get the paperwork done, so I don't see the point. Oh! There they are!"

Raven felt her heart race and she turned so that her back was to Dylan, Gavin, and the other person she knew was going to be there. Why did she agree to this? This was complete idiocy to let Gabbi talk her into this. Not to mention letting herself talk herself into doing this as well. She didn't know how she'd react to seeing him after all this time. And if he found out about why she left . . .

"Hey, guys!" Gabbi greeted Gavin with an enthusiastic kiss on the mouth.

"PDA, dude. Sheesh," Dylan said with a grin.

Gavin pulled away. "Not my problem you don't have a girlfriend."

"I'm working on it. Hey, Rachel!" Dylan greeted Raven.

Raven slowly turned around and saw only Dylan and Gavin. "Where's G - the Mark guy?"

Dylan shrugged. "He got caught up in the security stuff." Dylan smacked a palm to his face. "Dude, Gav, we need to buy tickets for food!"

"So do we! Hehe, uh, Rache?" Gabbi spun to face Raven and gave an innocent little smile.

"No. Whatever you're going to ask, no." Raven wanted to avoid anything that could possible cause trouble.

"Fine. I was going to ask you to go buy the tickets but since you won't do that, you can wait on Mark while we go get our tickets."

"Wait, what?!" Raven just stared at her friend. "Why do both of them have to go get tickets? Why can't one of them stay with me?"

Gabbi put both hands on Raven's shoulders. "Dylan's buying food tickets, Gavin's buying tickets for the shows. Which, we have already bought."

"Of course we did," Raven spoke out loud in what used to be her own signature monotone.

"Knew you'd understand! See you guys in a bit! I have my phone with me in case you guys need me."

Raven opened her mouth with a sarcastic reply ready to launch, but they had already gone and left.

"Great." She kicked a rather large pebble and watched it roll into someone's foot.

"You could seriously hurt someone doing that," said a familiar voice behind her. A voice that sent chills down her spine and made her heart skip a beat.

She slowly turned around and looked up. He had gotten quite a bit taller than he had been in the Titans Tower. His hair was a little tousled, still dark brown and hanging just a tad over his ears; his body still obviously lean. His eyes were emerald green, sparkling with humor, but Raven could still read him like she had always been able to and she saw a certain sadness in his eyes.

He's still searching she realized. She glanced down and saw a purple stoned ring on his right hand. A ring with raven's wings. A holoring. She smiled on the inside. He has his powers back.

She looked into his emerald eyes and with a straight face replied, "And you could seriously hurt someone sneaking up on them like that."

He grinned. "I assume you're Rachel, Gabriella's friend."

"That's me. Sadly. You're Mark?"

He tilted his head, still with his charming smile. "That I am." He held out his hand. "Pleased to meet your acquaintance."

She tentatively took his hand and shook it. "….And you."

Mark froze and looked at her closely, his grin fading a little bit. "Do I know you from somewhere? I feel like I've talked to you before. . ."

She forced a smile. "Yeah, right. Out of all the people in Jump you've already met your best friend's girlfriend's friend? Unlikely."

He smiled. "True. It's just -"

"MARK!"

Raven watched in amusement as Mark was barreled off balance by to relatively large figures.

"Woah! Dudes! No noogies! NO NOOGIES!"

"You're face's a noogie."

"You're mom's a noogie."

All three guys chortled with laughter.

Gabbi and Raven rolled their eyes at each other.

It was around two in the afternoon when Raven let her new friends walk ahead while she went to the bathroom. When she came out, she found Dylan standing outside, obviously waiting for her.

"You need something?" she asked almost playfully.

"Just wanted to make sure you were okay."

She looked up at him with a small smile. "It's a bathroom."

"Still," Dylan said with a large smile.

"Where's everyone else?" Raven and Dylan began walking towards who knew where.

"They're at some special event thingy. Apparently, the people who run this whole thing are trying something new: a dance."

Raven stopped walking and looked at Dylan with amazement. "You knew about this beforehand."

He didn't deny it, but put a hand on her back and gently pushed her forward so that she'd walk in the direction he pushed her. "I think it's a nice surprise."

"You think every surprise is nice."

He gave a small laugh. "Totally not true."

Raven nudged him playfully with her shoulder and he laughed.

"I just wanted to make sure I got the first dance with you," he said with a small smile.

Raven looked at him as they continued to walk towards a large white building that she assumed was in the center of the whole place.

"You're too nice."

He laughed. "I'm not joking. I'm serious."

When they entered the place, they couldn't find their friends. Dylan sent a text to Mark and Gavin then looked at Raven with his head tilted like a puppy dog.

"Wanna dance while we wait?" he asked her.

"Still serious?"

"Definitely."

She took his outstretched hand with a small smile while at the same time cursing her bravery and forwardness of the day. "I guess it wouldn't hurt."

The live band began to play a moderate waltz and Raven followed Dylan's steps.

"When did you learn to dance?" she asked him curiously.

He flashed a mischievous grin. "My secret."

Raven felt a pang of guilt and sadness travel down her spine as his grin so closely resembled anothers that she had grown increasingly fond of.

Dylan apparently noticed, and he stopped their dancing and put a hand on her face. "You've always seemed so sad, so detatched, you know? You're beautiful inside and out, and you don't know it. I saw you and I knew you needed someone to help you. I want to be that person. I want to help you. I want to make you feel free and feel love."

Raven felt tears well in her eyes. This kind young man deserved go be loved, and she felt horrible because the love that she had, was already with another. He deserved be loved, and she had none to give to him.

Garfield knew he had seen her somewhere. He had seen that smile, heard that laugh somewhere, but he didn't know where. She didn't look familiar, but her actions were quite familiar.

He had asked Gavin, but his friend had said she hadn't talked to Mark in his entire lifespan. Gar had then walked in confusion.

Rachel was actually quite pretty. Dark hair, grey eyes worthy of Athena, not to mention the intelligence inside them. It was a match that was rare, practically unheard of, and yet she pulled the appearance off with a grace that reminded him of a particular someone he had known in his time as a Teen Titan. Garfield smiled fondly at the memory.

"Here we are!" Gabbi said enthusiastically, practically dragging her boyfriend into the building.

Garfield followed with a grin. They found Rachel and Dylan sitting at a table next to each other; her sitting back, relaxed, him leaning back with his arm on top of the back of her chair.

"You two look comfortable," Gabbi commented.

Gavin rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that comment was totally not obvious."

Gabbi elbowed him in the stomach.

Rachel and Dylan looked at each other then back at Gabbi. Rachel shrugged. "We danced. Then decided to wait on you guys."

Garfield caught her gaze as she looked his way and he felt his palms start to sweat. When she looked away quickly, he found that he wanted her to look back. He wanted to ask her to dance, to talk, to sit with him. Why was she having this effect on him? He met her at 8 o'clock this morning. How could one girl do what countless have been unable to do in a year and three months?

"No need to now!" Gabbi practically squealed and dragged her boyfriend onto the dance floor while a quick song was getting to it's climax.

Dylan excused himself to the bathroom and left Garfield alone with Rachel.

"So . . ." she began awkwardly.

He rubbed the back of his neck in his nervous habit. The corners of her mouth twitched.

"You . . . uh, you wanna dance?" he asked almost cautiously.

In response she stood up and put the crook of her elbow into his and he walked them to the dance floor with a grin.

The fast song ended before they could join the dance and a slow song came on. So cliche, he thought.

"Don't worry. One of my best friends made me take a class. I can dance," Garfield gave a cheeky grin.

Rachel looked up into his eyes with a soft smile. "Then dance."

They started to slowly move around and Garfield decided to start a conversation.

"You know how I said I feel like I've seen you before?"

Rachel nodded.

"Where did you live before you moved to where you live now?"

Rachel seemed to hesitate before answering. "I lived near the coast."

Gar nodded. "It's nice in that area."

"It was," she said almost wistfully.

"I used ot live there as well. I had some pretty good friends. You kind of remind me of one of them."

"I do?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah. Well, not your appearance. More like your eyes."

Rachel smiled, somewhat amused. "My eyes?"

He suddenly felt really awkward. Why the heck did he just speak his thoughts aloud? He was acting so dumb.

"Like I can never really tell what you're thinking. I look into your eyes and I see my own reflection, nothing more, nothing less. But at the same time, I can occasionally see bits and pieces of you through them. Sometimes only your eyes will show surprise or anger or annoyance. It's . . ." Garfield looked into her eyes that were looking into his soul and found he could hardly breathe right. "Captivating," he breathed.

Garfield noticed the closeness the dance had forced them to create and he looked down at her. All it would take was one simple action.

C'mon Gar! Lean down, tilt your head a little and -

Garfield realized that he had actually begun to lean forwards, and stopped himself so that the sides of the tips of their noses were brushing against each other.

"I - I need some water," Rachel said quickly and breathlessly before rushing to their table at the other end of the room.

Garfield stood there by himself for a few seconds before heading towards the bathroom to maybe find Dylan and see how the D man was handling the fried food.

On his way he mentally grabbed himself and dropped kicked his own body.

I. Am. So. Dumb. Acting on impulse like a young teenager?! Sure she reminds me of Raven. That doesn't mean that she is Rae. I'm not falling for her. I'm attracted to her because she reminds me of - of her. No one falls for someone in nine hours. Wait till Richard hears about this.

I am soo tired.

REVIEW! I definitely need it.

-Belgaria