Disclaimer: Teen Titans is the Property of DC Comics

Chapter 26

"She did not!" said Taye.

"Yeah huh, she did," said Crystal.

"There's no way," said Taye.

"I saw her do it!" said Crystal.

"Were there balloons?" asked Nicole.

"No, but this really loud siren went off," said Crystal.

"You're lying," said Taye.

"How do you think we were able to get all those cool prizes?" said Crystal.

"Easy, you bought them," said Taye.

"No, we didn't!" said Crystal. She ran over to Raven on the couch and pleaded, "Mommy-Raven, tell them that you beat the skee-ball high score."

"I beat the skee-ball high score," said Raven.

"See!" said Crystal.

"Did you really?" asked Taye, still not believing her.

"Would I lie?" said Raven. "And, if you don't believe me, you can go ask your Uncle Beast Boy. He was there, too."

"Alright then, I will," said Taye and he went running off with the two little girls following right after him.

Beast Boy walked down the hallway, whistling to himself contently. He felt quite good today. Really good, though, not good enough like he usually felt. He felt genuinely good. He knew it wouldn't last for long, nothing lasts forever, but for now he was going to take it all in.

"Uncle Beast Boy!" Taye called from behind him.

He turned around and saw the three kids running at him. "Whoa, what's going on?" he asked.

"Did Auntie Raven really beat the skee-ball record?" asked Taye.

"Yeah," said Beast Boy. "She sure did."

"Told you!" shouted Crystal.

"Cool!" said Nicole.

"Wow, I'm gonna tell everyone at school!" said Taye.

"I'm gonna tell everyone, she's my mommy-Raven," said Crystal. "Come on, I'll show you guys my other cool stuff she won for me." And with that the three children went running off back down the hall.

"Don't run!" he yelled after them, though they chose not to hear him.

Suddenly four hands grabbed him and yanked him into his room, which he'd been stopped in front of. The door was closed and for a moment he believed he'd been kidnapped. He took a fighting position, but saw that it was Nightwing and Cyborg. He lowered his hands and sighed with relief.

"Dudes! Jesus, you scared the hell out of me!" he yelled at them. "What's your deal?

"Beast Boy, we know how to cure Raven," said Nightwing.

He stared at them for a moment with wide eyes. "Are… Are you serious?" he asked. "How?"

"You need to get her pregnant," said Cyborg.

Again, he stared at them, only this time he looked at them as if they were crazy. "Excuse me?" he asked.

"You're aware of the fact that children have kept her alive, right?" said Nightwing.

"Well, yeah," said Beast Boy.

"That's because when she's near children her body feels like it has to live to take care of them," said Nightwing.

"It's her maternal instincts keeping her alive," said Cyborg. "And she said she feels better when she's with you intimately. That's because her body wants to get pregnant and, of course, the whole process starts with being close and kissing and stuff. So if we want to keep her alive she's got to get pregnant."

"Which is where you come in," said Nightwing.

Beast Boy felt very overwhelmed by all of this and leaned up against his wall. "So… if she gets pregnant she'll really be cured?" asked Beast Boy.

"For a while, at least," said Cyborg.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Beast Boy.

"We can't really be sure about anything," said Nightwing. "But this makes the most sense."

"Yeah, I mean, what other explanation could there be?" said Cyborg.

"Well, when you say she'll be cured, does that just mean she's just gonna be physically better or will she actually have her powers back?" asked Beast Boy.

"We really aren't sure about that," said Nightwing. "But, for all we know, she could."

"You up for this, B?" asked Cyborg.

"Well, I mean, I guess," he said, feeling his mind spinning. "Have you told her?"

"No," said Nightwing. "And we don't think we should."

"Why not?" asked Beast Boy. "I think she has a right to know."

"The only reason we don't want to tell her is because of the off chance that we're wrong," said Cyborg. "We don't want to get her hopes up."

"Oh, so it's okay for me to know?" he said. "Now my hopes are up!"

"Beast Boy, calm down," said Nightwing. "We had to tell you because you're the one who has to make this happen."

"But what if she gets pregnant, but her body continues to die?" asked Beast Boy. "What happens to the baby? Or to Raven, for that matter? She'd blame me for getting her pregnant and then I'd probably lose her and the baby."

"Then, either way, she's going to die," said Nightwing. "We might as well take our chances."

"I'm telling you, B, we've got a good feeling about this," said Cyborg.

"But it all depends on you," said Nightwing.

"Yeah, no pressure, right?" he said. He sighed and said, "Well, I've done it before, I'm sure I can get a girl pregnant again."

"And we're thinking as soon as possible," said Cyborg.

"Jesus, you guys, you want me to go grab her and knock her up right now?!" he said. "I told her we'd wait until she was ready and if I force her to be with me before she's comfortable with it she'll never forgive me, no matter the reason."

"Then figure out the soonest possible time," said Nightwing. "Her health is declining fast, you know that."

"Alright, give me a second," Beast Boy sighed, trying to think. "Well, I was thinking that this 'happy' event could happen on our honeymoon, which she still doesn't know about. I think if I woo her enough, be all romantic and stuff, I can talk her into it. I just hope I'm able to perform, what with all of this lovely pressure you guys are putting on me."

"Don't worry, with the way Ravens body's been acting she'll probably get pregnant after the first try," said Nightwing.

"And our theory is as soon as it takes she'll get better," said Cyborg.

Beast Boy let all this sink in and he took a seat on his bed. He ran his fingers through his hair and let his shoulder's hunch forward. The other two men saw this and went to him.

"Hey, you okay?" asked Nightwing.

"Yeah, it's just… this is a lot to take in at once," said Beast Boy. "I mean, can things get anymore complicated?"

"Look, we can only imagine what's going through your head right now," said Cyborg. "I mean, you've got a lot riding on your shoulders. But we're here for you, man."

"He's right, Beast Boy," said Nightwing. "If you ever feel overwhelmed or just need someone to talk to you can come to us."

"I know," said Beast Boy. "I just hope this works. I mean, I'm really getting my hopes up on this. If this works I'll end up not only married but with a healthy wife and another baby on the way. But if it doesn't work this could just be the end of everything in my life. The stakes are really high here, dudes."

"We know, B," said Cyborg. "We know."

After that the men took their leave of each other and tried to put everything out of their minds. But this was very hard for Beast Boy. He decided to go find Raven and spend some time with her. After all that he'd just discovered he needed to be close to her.

He found her in the kitchen making her self a cup of tea. As he entered she turned and saw him. She gave him a small smile and went back to what she was doing.

"I was wondering where you were," she said. "Turns out our little night out is the talk of the tower."

"Yeah," said Beast Boy, walking over to her. He went right up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waste, pulling her close.

"What're you doing?" she asked a bit uncomfortably.

"I just… I need to hold you for a sec, okay?" he said, closing his eyes.

Raven was about to object, but she heard the sincerity in his voice. Something was a little off with him. She released the tension she was holding and let him embrace her for as long as he needed. She wondered if perhaps he was having a reality moment; a moment when he realized that he'd only have her for, at best, a few more months.

"Are you alright?" she asked softly.

"Yeah, I just wanna be with you right now," he said.

"Okay," she said, leaning into him.

He held her a little closer and buried his face into the back of her neck. This sent shivers through her body and Beast Boy could feel it. He knew he was going to have to be extremely gentle and careful with her. She was so very delicate right now. The slightest bit of intimacy made her act a bit queer. He wasn't sure she'd be ready to have sex by their honeymoon, but he hoped she would be. Once she was pregnant he knew he could relax. But until then, he was going to feel sick about all of this.

"I love you," he said into her hair.

"I love you, too," she said in return. She then went back to making her tea while he continued to hold her. He moved with her as she moved about and she found this all quite comical. She soon moved them over to the couch where he released her for a moment so they could sit down. Once she was settled in he sat close to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She leaned a little into him and began to drink her tea at last.

Just then the children ran in yelling at the top of their lungs. Taye had a doll in his possession and was being pursued by Nicole and Crystal. He was laughing, Nicole was nearly in tears, and Crystal was fuming.

"Give it back!" cried Nicole.

"You gotta catch me," the little boy laughed.

"Taye, give Nicole her doll!" yelled Crystal.

"You're never gonna catch me," he said as he ran about the room.

"Daddy, would you tell Taye to give Nicole her doll?" Crystal called to her father as she continued to chase Taye.

"Taye, what's going on?" asked Beast Boy.

"Nicole lost my robot so I'm gonna feed her doll to my dinosaur," said Taye.

"I didn't lose it!" said Nicole. "I never play with your robot, ever!"

"Yes you do!" said Taye.

"Give back the doll!" ordered Crystal.

"Find my robot!" said Taye.

"I don't know where it is," said Nicole.

"Cuz you lost it!" said Taye.

"No I didn't!" Nicole cried out.

"Alright, enough," said Raven calmly, placing her tea down. She stood up and grabbed Taye as he passed her, ending the chase. "Give me the doll."

"No, you're just gonna give it back to her," said Taye.

"And I'm going to tell you where your robot is," said Raven.

"You know where it is?" asked Taye.

"Yes, I do," said Raven. "But I won't tell you until you give me the doll." Taye debated this for a second and then handed the doll over. "You left it in the bathroom next to the bathtub."

Realization covered the boys face. "That's where I left him!" he said and went running off.

"I told you I didn't lose it!" Nicole shouted at him and reclaimed her beloved doll. She and Crystal went running back out of the room after Taye to give him a piece of their mind.

Raven sat down once again and took hold of her teacup. She sipped it and relaxed against Beast Boy. He only smiled and kissed her cheek. He knew one thing for sure, if this all worked out, Raven was going to be one hell of a mom.