Disclaimer: Teen Titans is the Property of DC Comics
Chapter 7
With two of the five kids in school for the day, or half day in Crystal's case, the tower was a little quieter; that and the fact that everyone but Raven and Starfire were out taking care of a robbery downtown. Raven was up and in the common room helping Starfire with the twins. It was amazing how she could go from one extreme to the other so quickly. She was currently washing Jack off in the sink after a rather messy breakfast.
"Raven, I can not believe how well behaved Jack is being," said Starfire. "He does not usually like being bathed and does the crying."
"Well he seems fine right now," said Raven as she softly washed him with a washcloth.
"How is it that you got so good with children?" asked Starfire.
"I don't know," Raven shrugged. "I just seem to know what they want."
"And you seem much more, um, energized when you are taking care of them," Starfire pointed out.
"I know," said Raven. "Isn't that strange? Whenever I'm taking care of kids I forget about my condition completely."
She lifted Jack out of the sink and into Starfire's arms, who was ready with a towel. He immediately began to fuss and cry. "Oh, please, do not cry," said Starfire quickly as she dried the little boy off.
"Want me to take him?" Raven offered.
"If you wish," said Starfire, handing the fussing babe back to Raven. He quickly calmed down and Raven finished drying him off. She took him over to the couch and redressed him without a single complaint.
"Mommy!" Nicole called as she ran into the room. "Silkie ate my dolly again!"
"Oh no," said Starfire. "Raven do you mind watching Eric as well?"
"No problem," said Raven.
Starfire brought Eric over to the couch, placed him down, then she and Nicole went running off to save the dolly. Raven placed both boys in their roll-around chairs, took a seat on the floor, and entertained them with their little teething toys. She couldn't explain it, but she always felt such joy when she was around children. Even though her powers had left her, she could still swear that she could feel their happiness.
As she played with them the others returned from their morning robbery and didn't look nearly as beat up as they did last night. They each gave her a smile as they entered, happy to see her up and about. And, more importantly, still alive.
"It was a successful mission, I take it," she said.
"Yup, just Mumbo Jumbo," said Cyborg.
"Is he still around?" she asked.
"Still around and still annoying," said Bumblebee.
"Where's Starfire?" asked Nightwing.
"She's on a rescue mission," said Raven.
"What?!" said Nightwing.
"Silkie's attempting to eat one of Nicole's dolls," said Raven with a slight chuckle behind her voice.
"Oh," said Nightwing, quite relieved.
"How're you feeling?" asked Beast Boy.
"Fine," she said with a small smile.
He could tell this time that she really meant it and wasn't just saying it to get them off her back. "Hey, you want a cup of tea?" he offered. "I'll make you some."
"Oh, uh, that'd be nice," said Raven, surprised at his offer.
"Sure, coming right up," he said with a smile and went into the kitchen.
"Want me to take one of 'em off your hands?" said Bumblebee taking a seat on the couch.
"No, they're fine," said Raven, continuing the play with the twins. The boys laughed and giggled as she spoke to them softly. They were grabbing for her face, mainly her nose. "That's my nose. Nose. And this is your nose." She took each of their hands and held them to their nose and then to hers. "Nose."
"Nuh nuh," said Eric.
"Nus," said Jack.
"That's right, nose," said Raven.
"Are they repeating after you?" asked Nightwing, shocked.
"I'm pretty sure they are," said Raven, smiling at the boys. "Yes?" she said to them, nodding.
"Yesh," both boys said with smiles and they copied her nodding.
"Alright, who are you and what've you done with Raven?" asked Cyborg. "I thought you couldn't stand kids?"
"Sure, when I was sixteen," said Raven. "But, after working in the library for a few years and mainly working in the children's section I've learned to tolerate them."
"Tolerate nothing!" said Bumblebee. "You're like a baby guru! Those kids haven't done anything but cry and babble and suddenly you appear and practically have them talking!"
"I'm sure that's not true," said Raven.
"No, she's right," said Nightwing. "I can't believe how they're responding to you."
"I'm just playing with them," said Raven, shrugging. "I'm not doing anything special."
"Come on, Rae, you gotta admit you've got a knack for handling kids," said Beast Boy from the kitchen. "I mean, I didn't even know Crystal could read. Well, I kinda did, but not as well as she does. I can't figure out how you pulled that one off since I can't get her to sit down for even a second."
"I just sat down and read to her," said Raven. "After a while she asked if I could teach her to read, too. She picked it up really quickly. Speaking of which, shouldn't you be picking her up from school soon?"
"Oh shoot!" said Beast Boy, realizing the time. He quickly finished making Raven her tea and brought it to her. "I'll be back."
Raven took a seat on the couch and gladly sipped the tea. "Wow, he made it perfectly," she said, quite surprised. "I didn't think Beast Boy even knew how to boil water, let alone make tea to my liking."
"Yeah, he's constantly surprising us," Cyborg chuckled.
"He's certainly changed over the years," said Raven, looking into her tea. "The last time I saw him he was a nineteen year old boy who couldn't pry himself off of Terra for even a second. Now he's… he's…"
"Grown up?" said Nightwing.
"Yeah," said Raven.
"Well, trust me, he was still the same old immature BB a while after you left," said Bumblebee. "He only grew up when Crystal was born. And, let's say Terra preferred the old Beast Boy."
"Why?" asked Raven.
"Because he wasn't 'fun' anymore," said Cyborg. "I mean, they had Crystal when they were both only twenty. Terra still wanted them to go out and have fun like they used to. But B said it was more important that they take care of Crystal."
"I hate to say it, but Crystal really is the reason they broke up," said Nightwing. "Though we'd never say that in front of her."
"Eh, I don't think Crystal had anything to do with it," said Bumblebee. "Those two were having problems before she came along. Terra actually told me she was gonna break up with him like two days before she found out she was pregnant."
"So how'd he take it when she died?" asked Raven. "I mean, when I spoke with him last night I said that it must have been hard for him and he said that it was hard but my dying was going to be even worse."
"Well that's because he probably still hasn't forgiven her for what she did," said Nightwing.
"What did she do?" asked Raven. The three looked at her oddly. "Uh… did I miss something?"
"That's right, you don't know what really happened," said Cyborg in realization. "We made sure the public didn't hear."
"What happened?" asked Raven, quite curious now.
Just then Starfire entered, looking quite worn out. "Well, it was a most horrible battle, but I saved Nicole's plastic replica of a baby," she said, wiping her brow. "What is going on?"
"We're about to tell Raven about… Terra," said Nightwing.
"Oh," said Starfire, growing uncomfortable. "I think I will put the twins down for their nap." She quickly scooped up both boys and headed for their rooms.
"Alright, so what happened?" asked Raven again.
"A couple things," said Nightwing. "First she began talking about trying to take over the team. She didn't like the way I was running things, evidently. She wanted to be in control so badly she actually wanted to lead a mutiny against me, but no one got behind her. I offered her a leading position on one of our other teams, but she wanted this one. She wanted to be in charge of the Titans; all of the Titans."
"What the hell provoked this?" asked Raven.
"We don't know," shrugged Cyborg. "It was like one day she woke up and decided that how Nightwing was running the show wasn't good enough and she wanted to be in charge. And, no matter what we said, she refused to back down."
"She brought it up every single day for about three years," said Bumblebee. "It was so annoying! Finally, NW said she could be leader for one day."
"And how'd that turn out?" asked Raven.
The room grew quiet for a moment.
"The day she got to be leader was the day she died," said Nightwing frankly, shaking his head sadly. "We were fighting the HIVE five when it happened. She did her best, but her best wasn't good enough. And when things started getting intense she ordered us to retreat. And, of course, we weren't going to retreat."
"Then she said, 'Screw you guys!' and proceeded to go," said Cyborg. "And it was as she was running away that Mammoth cornered her. She pleaded for her life and even said she'd join their team if he let her go. Not only that, she started spilling out all of our secrets and weaknesses, doing her best to buy time. She gave him the code to get into the tower, how to override the security system, all of our room codes, and anything else she could think of."
"She sold us out again," said Nightwing.
"And in the end it didn't matter," said Bumblebee. "She took so much time trying to distract Mammoth that she didn't see Wykked come up behind her and… well, you know the rest."
"So you changed the story so she wouldn't look like a coward and a traitor?" asked Raven.
"Basically," said Nightwing. "After all that happened when we were teens, you know that the city wasn't sure allowing her back on the team was a good idea."
"I remember," said Raven. "We had to fight the city for months to get her back in the Titans."
"Exactly," said Nightwing. "So, when everything happened, we didn't want the public to think they were right and we were making poor decisions when it came to their safety. They'd question every person we made a member. So, to cover up what really happened, we said that Terra had died in the line of duty, which she did, but nothing else."
"And… how did Beast Boy take it?" asked Raven.
"Oh, he was crushed," said Bumblebee. "For a while he was in denial about it all and refused to believe that she'd really sold us out again. And when he finally did accept what had happened he took it as a failure on his part to, once again, save her."
Raven sighed and said, "He never could see her for what she was. He always saw her through rose colored glasses, though I haven't the foggiest idea why."
"She was pretty and laughed at his jokes," said Cyborg. "What more of a reason would a guy like Beast Boy need?"
"True," said Raven. She finished her tea and her shaking hands placed the cup in her lap as she relaxed into the couch.
"Raven, are you okay?" asked Bumblebee.
"Yeah," she said. "I'm just feeling a little tired… and weak."
"I'll take your cup for you," said Bumblebee with a smile and took Ravens empty cup.
"Thanks," said Raven giving a soft smile back.
Cyborg and Nightwing looked to each other. They knew that they had to help her. They had to start researching Ravens condition and talk to her doctors. They couldn't just let her die. She was a contributing member of society and a good person. There was no reason for them not to give everything to save her.