Disclaimer: Teen Titans is the Property of DC Comics
Chapter 9
Nightwing and Cyborg sat in Dr. Hill's office waiting for said doctor. He was Ravens head doctor and was in charge of making all decision that came to what treatment she was to take. The two men were there to ask questions since the research they'd done at home wasn't going anywhere.
The door opened and in walked the doctor. "Hello, I'm Dr. Hill," he said, shaking both their hands. He was a very distinguished doctor and very professional. Nightwing liked him right away.
"Hello, sir," said Nightwing. "Thanks for meeting with us."
"Well, I always make time to work a little on Ravens case every day," he said with a smile, taking a seat in the chair behind his desk. "After all the times she's helped to save the city and the world I think I owe it to her. So, what can I do for you?"
"We'd like to know why Ravens taking those three medications," said Cyborg. "I've tried looking up the names of the meds, but two of them have no result and one of them is just a pain reliever."
"And they have inconsistent results," Nightwing added. "Sometimes she takes them and she feels great for a few hours, then she crashes. Then the next day she takes them and she's in bed all day, unable to even sit up. And sometimes the effects last all day and into the night until she's ready for bed."
"Either she's got to up the amount she's taking or she needs another medication to balance it all out," said Cyborg.
Dr. Hill listened to all of this and went into deep thought. His brow was furrowed and he shook his leg as if he was anxious as he thought. "Well, it sounds to me she's doing better than ever," said Dr. Hill, stunned.
"Better than ever?" said Nightwing.
"Though her unstable health intrigues me," said Dr. Hill. "After her horrible reaction to the medication I prescribed her I've had her on these three and as far as I knew she said she felt the same everyday. But she hasn't been contacting me every two days, like she used to, to tell me her progress. How long has she been at the tower?"
"About a week and a half," said Cyborg. "And, when you say 'horrible reaction' are you talking about when she carved up her arms?"
"Unfortunately, yes," Dr. Hill sighed. "That medication was our last hope, unfortunately."
"What do you mean?" asked Nightwing.
"Well, the truth is, that out of her three medications one is an aspirin and the other two are placebos," said Dr. Hill.
"You mean you're given Raven an aspirin and sugar pills to keep her alive?!" said Cyborg, shocked.
"No," said Dr. Hill. "They have no affect on her, other than the aspirin that dulls the aches she feels."
"So, you've given up on trying to save her?" said Nightwing.
"No," said Dr. Hill. "Like I said, I work on her case every day. But at this point we've run out of treatments to help her. No matter what we did, her condition continued to slowly get worse. She pressured us to keep trying, to give her anything available to keep her going. Because there's nothing left, I gave her the placebos to quiet her until I could think of something else."
"You couldn't tell her that you'd run out of options?" asked Nightwing.
"No," said Dr. Hill sadly. "She told us that even if such an event came up she didn't want to know. So, I gave her the placebos and didn't tell her."
"So nothing's ever helped her?" asked Nightwing. "She's still dying?"
"Slowly but surely," Dr. Hill sighed. "I mean, she's lasted far longer than I could've predicted. When she first came to me everything in her system was beginning to shut down and I gave her about four months to live. She's lived six years passed that date!" He sat back in thought and said, "Something's keeping her alive… but it's nothing I've prescribed."
"Now, you said that for a while she'd been feeling the same every day," said Cyborg. "And she'd been reporting to you how she'd been doing. Can you tell us how she felt throughout the day?"
"Sure," said Dr. Hill opening one of the many files on his desk that belonged to Ravens case. He looked through it and found what he was looking for. "The usually routine was she'd wake up feeling weak and achy, took three pills, within one hour the aches would be gone. She'd arrive at work and feel perfectly fine throughout the day. When she left the library, where she was working at the time, she'd feel tired again. The rest of the evening she'd feel weak and would go to bed."
"And that's how she'd normally feel?" asked Cyborg.
"Most of the time," said Dr. Hill. "Even with all of the medications she was taking that was usually how she'd feel throughout the day."
"A week and a half ago she fainted," said Nightwing. "Any reason for that?"
"She has had fainting spells in the past," said Dr. Hill. "It's never a good sign. Usually that means her heart's grown a little weaker. Make sure to always tell me when she faints so I can put it in her file." He immediately began to write this information into her file.
"So, is there anything else you can tell us?" asked Nightwing.
"I wish I could," said Dr. Hill, rising from his chair. "I'm sorry, but I've got to go. I have another patient to see."
"Well, thanks for your time," said Cyborg, shaking his hand.
"If you have anymore information please contact us," said Nightwing, shaking his hand next.
"Same with you," said Dr. Hill. "And good luck. By the way, how's Raven doing? I mean, is she happy to be back with your team?"
"At first she wasn't very happy, but she's gotten very comfortable," said Cyborg. "She's usually very pleasant to be around, which is actually an improvement to when she used to live with us a few years back."
"Well, that's good," said Dr. Hill. "She went through a very low period and grew very depressed. It was the depression medication I prescribed to her that caused that terrible… reaction."
"So depression pills made her want to kill her self?" said Nightwing. "I'm sorry, but aren't they supposed to cause the opposite affect?"
"Yes, but some people react as Raven did," said Dr. Hill. "Just keep an eye on her and inform me if she grows depressed again."
"Thank you, sir," said Nightwing. "We'll keep in touch."
The two left the doctor's office and headed back home to the tower. They'd hoped to find out some answers, but they only left with more questions. Something was keeping Raven alive? Something that had nothing to do with medication? What could that possibly be? Now they knew they'd have to watch her carefully and figure out what it was that made her feel so well at times.
They arrived home and found Raven sitting on the couch with Beast Boy. On the floor lay Crystal, Nicole, and Taye watching a movie. They looked Raven over, from afar of course, and saw that she was at a high point. She looked well and happy.
"Where'd you two go?" asked Beast Boy.
"Oh, you know, nowhere," said Cyborg coolly.
"Then what took you so long?" asked Taye.
"Traffic," said Nightwing simply.
"If you're wondering where your wives are, they went shopping with the twins," said Raven. "I told them to leave the boys with me, but they insisted on taking them."
"That's cuz you took care of them all morning!" said Beast Boy. "You're gonna run yourself ragged!"
"Oh please, as long as I feel up to it there's no need to worry," said Raven, brushing him off. "And I happen to enjoy taking care of the twins."
"Of course you do, they never cry when you have them," said Beast Boy. "I'd take care of babies all day if they laughed and kept quiet twenty-four seven."
"Speaking of which, Cyborg, do you and Bumblebee think you'll have anymore?" asked Raven.
"It was hard enough having Taye," said Cyborg. "We're happy with what we've got."
"Yup, cuz I'm perfect," said Taye proudly.
"That's right," said Cyborg with a smile.
"What about you, Nightwing?" asked Raven. "Are you and Starfire done?"
"I hope so," said Nightwing. "I wanted two, she wanted four. I think three is a pretty good compromise."
"I bet she wasn't planning on having two at once, though," said Raven. "That must have been interesting."
"Trust me, you don't want to be around a pregnant Starfire," said Beast Boy. "It was bad enough when she was having Nicole. When she was pregnant with the twins she was so bad we had to move out of the tower the last three months until they were born."
"Wow," said Raven. "I'm kind of glad I wasn't here for that."
"Trust me, it wasn't pretty," Beast Boy shuddered.
"Yeah, like Terra was any better?" said Nightwing getting a little tired of hearing them say all of this about his wife. "She complained more than any other living creature on this planet when she was pregnant."
"Hey, nobody knows that better than me," said Beast Boy. "I was the one who had to be with her day and night every single day. At least you guys could go to your rooms or something and escape her."
"Are you talking about mommy?" asked Crystal, who'd been paying more attention to the movie than to the adults' conversation.
"Oh, uh, yeah," sputtered Beast Boy. It was clear he wasn't comfortable talking about Terra in front of Crystal. Raven saw this and decided to help him.
"We were just saying how much she loved you," said Raven with a soft smile. Crystal smiled back and went back to watching the movie. Raven looked back to Beast Boy and saw him look a bit relieved.
"Thanks," he said softly.
"No problem," said Raven. "So, do you think you're done having children?"
"I dunno," he shrugged. "I don't exactly have a girlfriend or anything at the moment, but I guess if I met the right girl and she wanted to have kids I wouldn't be against it. Why are you asking all the baby questions?"
"No reason," said Raven. "I've just been curious, that's all." And with that she stood up and stretched a little bit. "Well, if anyone needs me I'll be in my room."
"Doing what?" asked Cyborg.
"Reading," said Raven. "Why?"
"Oh, uh, just curious," said Cyborg with a smile.
Raven raised an eyebrow at him, but shook it off and left. Once she was gone Cyborg and Nightwing took a seat next to Beast Boy. They told him where they'd really gone and all of the information they'd found out and all of the new questions that had been raised. Beast Boy listened closely and took in all they told him. He agreed with them that they had to watch her closely.