She writhed in bed as if someone or something was burning her, the pressure building within her core was nearing torture but the pain hadn't reached her conscious yet. The fire began to freely ebb and flow, the energy coursed aggressively. Her bodybegan to respond to the turmoil in her head. Deep in her mind lust stumbled forward clumsily but effectively...

Beast Boy woke with a start and sat up in bed. Something tugged at his heart and mind simultaneously, a distinctly important name appeared in his head. Raven.

Raven was sweating, her conscious was acutely awake now but her body was very much trapped. Her head started to ache and for a few forced breaths she feared she wouldn't wake up when and if the excruciating pain ever ended.

Beast Boy felt another pang race through his form and bounded out of bed; half dressed he rushed down the hall and around the corner to find Raven's door.

He didn't even think, he simply started knocking quietly and franticly, if she was really asleep then the worst she could do was yell in his face and possibly stop the blood in his veins...but if she was hurting then he'd have no reason to apologize.

"Rae...hey...come on now, come answer the door...Rae?" his voice was low and rough with both sleep and angst. He could hear her breathing, hear her moving, but had no way to know what was going on.

He wanted to turn into something really small and just slip under the door but Raven had gotten wise about his interest in her personal life and put a powerful curse around the edges of her room, he'd have to break the door down if he really wanted in. He mentally cursed Robin for demanding Cyborg to upgrade the internal security, why did they need impenetrable door on the inside of the tower?

Raven heard his voice calling and it made the pain worse. The energy trapped in her core began to yank and push against her chest, threatening to break her bones...it just wanted to escape.

I. Can't. Get. It. Out.

Tears brimmed behind her tightly closed eyes.

Her deeply rooted lust had manifested into a physical mass of power and was threatening to rip her apart from the inside out.

Beast Boy became a little more frantic when his sensitive hears picked up intensified sounds of distress; heavy breathing and quiet, angry groaning.

The next thing Beast Boy knew he was in the room and the steal door was in oddly shaped pieces across the floor. He wasn't even sure what had happened...all he knew was that he was now where he needed to be.

Raven's body looked contorted and haggard in the middle of the bed; her arms and legs were tightly twisted in the sheets and silent tears fell in heavy streams down her cheeks.

Beast Boy didn't even think as he crossed the space remaining between them. It took no more the two moments to untangle the small woman and pull her against his blatantly bare chest. Her skin felt clammy and chilled, a fine sheen of sweat covered her silky skin, her breathing hitched painfully and caused her body to convulse.

Beast Boy could practically see the mass of energy forcing its way out of her chest. He panicked for a moment, unsure of how to make it stop. His hand moved to press soothingly but firmly against her chest, his large palm splayed securely between her breasts.

It moved against his palm, rolled restlessly towards his heat...and then slowly the hectic motion slowed, the energy receded back into her chest and her body stilled.

Raven's face smoothed and her color somewhat returned; but the tears continued to flow effortlessly down her cheeks, making a path over her jaw and down her neck. A wet spot had formed on the neckline of her tank top.

He pulled her lifeless body closer and stroked her face franticly, "Hey, hey...I don't understand what's happening…"

Raven's body, her lust, had sent her a powerful message and in response her mind had made an unbreakable connection...BeastBoy'stouchrelievesmypain.

She didn't want to believe it but now it was undeniably true, she'd literally just experienced the worst pain in the world, even been pushed to pray for death...and then Beast Boy's touch had filled her senses and calmed the storm.

It hit her hard that hehad the potential to calm her most violent storms with simply his presence...his touch? That did just a little bit more.

Beast Boy was still in the dark and very worried that Raven was still suffering, his voice was low and panicked when he spoke again, "Raven, please open your eyes."

His command resonated in her head for a few torturous moments and then slowly her eyes opened, whatever tears had been trapped behind her lids seeped out quickly and her vision blurred.

"Hey!" his voice was gentle and shocked, one arm tightened and pulled her closer while the other moved to stroke her still wet face a little too roughly.

She almost laughed...he was like a small child, forgetting to be cautious with his actions, caught up in whatever emotion he was experiencing. His fingers slid frantically over her cheeks still…

Newly realized despair and conflict descended with crushing force onto Raven's shoulders after a short moment of amusement, whataproblem…but it was worse then a problem, this was horrifyingly serious and she had almost no control over anything at all.

Her body refused to move, too afraid that if she left her place against his firm chest the pain would return. She couldn't even convince herself that that couldn't happen...for all she knew it would.

Beast Boy was distracted by her expression, she looked confused and peaceful all at the same time. Her eyes on the other hand held a disturbingly deep turmoil and he was immediately worried for her well being.

Whatever had been forcing its way from her chest had hurt her very badly, made her cry.

Raven didn't cry and he now felt an undying need to destroy whatever had caused her such suffering and doscomfort.

"Raven...are you...ok?" he didn't know what to say...but the silence was getting to him; and unlike Raven, he wasn't as good at hiding what he felt.

Raven was unsure...unsure of what to say, unsure of how to act, unsure what her next moves were supposed to be. Not knowing made her sick to her stomach, sick to her core.

She didn't have an appropriate response.

Beast Boy shook her gently, "Hello? Will you answer me or do I need to wake Cyborg because you've sustained some brain damage?"

Raven slowly shook her head, and uneasy tiredness swept though her body and her head lulled backwards, "You can stay." her eyes closed peacefully and she leaned into his embrace.

He shifted nervously, his legs were crossed and she was in his lap comfortable, "What in the world aren't you telling me?"

He stood with her still safely in his embrace and fixed the sheets on her bed. Once the sheets were pulled back he moved to place her head against the pillow gingerly.

For the first time he noticed that she wasn't wearing pants, her body looked beautiful in only a tank top and underwear.

He covered her body quickly, shamed by his disrespect, and nearly instantaneously turned into a puppy. He snuggled up next to her, his head against her stomach...after all, she'd told him he could stay, and he got the feeling that that was her way of saying that she wanted him too.

What's hurting you?

A/N:

I can't even begin to explain how honored I feel right in this moment, the comments on this chapter, and every chapter, inspire me majorly...the response on this chapter was great :) the support is so lovely (hence this fancy-dancey midweek chapter).

Soooo...the reason I haven't been responding directly to comments is because I can very rarely get the private messaging to load right...ug, so I'm going to try to do them on here, but only till my browser stop screwing with this site :P

black rose: I'm glad you like it :P, fluff is my favorite.

child who is cool: simple and direct, how refreshing :)

dark fire: lol yummy stuff, I don't think I've ever heard it called that.

wolvmbm: that's really what I was going for, I'm glad you figured it out.

angelic toaster: HUGELY different is an understatement... this new side is certainly happier :P

gray areas: messy emotions... my specialty, completely. ;)

vampire: so far so good, lol. I'm rather new at writing romantic moments so its a new experience, being tasteful is hard sometimes. :P

kelly: request received, update delivered; wonder no longer :D

phfeww... that was hard work. You guys are all absolutely amazing, gratzi.

-Kay