Well, hello everybody. Happy Mother's Day! Hopefully, you'll all be able to do something nice today. Here's another chapter of Smile for the Camera. To all readers, enjoy, won't you? I'm not certain when I'll be able to get the next chapter up. With any luck, it won't be too long. However, I'm leaving for a summer exchange program for the last few weeks of school, and I've heard horror stories about how expensive Internet cafés are.

I had a blast writing this chapter. It might show at some points, or maybe not. Anyway, I command you to have as much fun reading it as I had writing it. :-) Once again, a very special thank-you to my reviewers.

Smile for the Camera

Beast Boy shivered for a moment as Raven's power withdrew. She had taken them to just outside of the safe room. A quiet, almost nonexistent banging was coming from the other side of the door. Even Beast Boy had a hard time hearing it. The good news was that it only sounded like one person was hitting the doors.

"Care to explain what that was about?" Raven asked with a smirk. It was the closest she had come to being civil to him while he was awake for a while. And Beast Boy had no way of knowing how nice Raven was to him while he was out cold.

"Like you haven't been waiting for a reason to do that ever since you met them," Beast Boy grinned back at her. Raven didn't object.

The banging suddenly died down from inside the safe room. Whoever had been attacking the barrier so insistently had probably just hurt themselves and given up.

"No," Raven answered eventually. "I wanted to do that. I didn't before now because it seemed like a bad idea."

"It's a better idea now?" Beast Boy asked with a half-hearted chuckle.

"No, it's still a horrible idea. The only difference now is that there's no documentation of it," Raven responded curtly. "As long as they don't have cameras, I don't need to deal with them." Raven turned and swept away, leaving Beast Boy to shuffle his feet.

"Hey, Raven!" Beast Boy called when he heard the elevator doors open. He snapped his head up and saw Raven standing in the elevator, holding down the open door button. "I know you probably want some alone time and all, but do you think you could help me? Sawchak reminded me of something."

"What did he remind you of?" Raven arched an eyebrow at Beast Boy thoughtfully. She waved him forward, and the changeling hurried to the elevator. Once Beast Boy was inside, Raven let the doors slide shut.

"Well, Sawchak said we met him six years ago, right? He said… he said we saved his life. And that his sister owes us, right?" Beast Boy looked over at Raven to see if she remembered any of this. While her face was impassive, Raven hadn't interrupted him yet. Beast Boy took that to be a good sign. "I was thinking that we probably met Sawchak a while back. I think he's been holding a grudge against us."

The elevator continued up in silence. Beast Boy stole a look at Raven and saw that she was biting back some smarmy remark.

"That's pretty smart, Beast Boy," Raven said haltingly. Beast Boy beamed at the compliment, completely elated by the compliment, even if it had been given hesitantly. "What happened to your zombie hypnotist theories?" Beast Boy could feel himself deflating until he realized that the words barely had a hint of sarcasm in them. Raven's smirk set him completely at ease.

"Well," Beast Boy answered with a toothy grin, "you didn't let me finish. Sawchak's obviously angry with us because he didn't want us to save his life. The zombies brainwashed him into thinking that death was better than life. That way, he could join their undead army and they could start planning their invasion of the surface world."

"You're not allowed to watch any more bad science-fiction movies," Raven chuckled with a playful roll of her eyes.

"Hey! Those movies are good for your soul," Beast Boy rebutted with an ever widening grin. "Besides," he added under his breath, "I got that idea from a comic book."

Raven scrutinized Beast Boy until he felt positive she'd somehow heard his last remark. He was just beginning to feel nervous when Raven moved on; "What did you need my help with?"

"Oh, right," Beast Boy chuckled. "We just got a couple hours away from Drew and…" Beast Boy hesitated as the phrase "pixie girl" flitted through his head. Raven rescued him once she realized he was waiting for a name.

"Sarah Rose."

"Right. We just got a few hours away from Sarah Rose and Drew so we can start digging. As long as we avoid the other cameras, we've got the tower back." Beast Boy waited for Raven's answer. He thought he knew the answer, but he wanted to be sure. It was almost as if she'd destroyed the cameras so they could do this. That was just his imagination, though.

The elevator doors slid open with a delicate chime, and Raven stepped out into the hallway. After giving Beast Boy a small nod, Raven started down the corridor. Beast Boy kept his eyes and ears peeled as they moved through the tower, keeping watch for any unwelcome eyes and their virtual swarms. Raven and Beast Boy managed to avoid problems as they traveled, save for a close call in front of the bathroom involving Stewart, Robin, and a serious privacy issue.

"That was when the prank was supposed to happen," Beast Boy whispered as they turned around and started taking the long way to wherever Raven was headed.

"Am I supposed to be reassured?" Raven hissed in response. Beast Boy kept quiet for the rest of the trip. Raven would have to lighten up sooner or later, but Sawchak was more important at the moment.

As Raven approached Beast Boy's room, the changeling slowed down. The hydraulics pushed the youngest Titan's bedroom door open and Raven picked her way around one of Beast Boy's homemade claymore mines. The clothing sat by impassively, waiting for somebody less cautious to wander too close. Raven flicked Beast Boy's computer mouse and the screensaver of self-dedicated love notes vanished.

"Why are we in here?" Beast Boy asked as the doors closed behind him.

"Can you think of anywhere else nobody in their right mind would go?" Raven asked as she opened an Internet browser.

"Your room," Beast Boy offered automatically.

"And since you're in your right mind, even if ever so slightly, we're going to be in here."

Beast Boy thought about what Raven had said for a moment, mulling it over in his head. "Does that mean you're not in your right mind?" he asked astutely, a sly grin playing across his features.

"I tolerate you; there's your answer. Do you want to look online or through the archives?" Raven sniped back, her playful manner melting away as she settled into her task. This was why Beast Boy needed her help: Raven could focus enough for both of them.

"Online," Beast Boy answered quickly.

"You'll take the archives," Raven told him matter-of-factly as she started typing. "I wouldn't want to tempt you: there are so many ways to get distracted on a computer."

"Glad I could have an opinion," Beast Boy mumbled as he turned around. He had never looked through the archives before, mainly because looking at the reports involved reading. Another was that Beast Boy had already lived everything in the reports, save for Robin's intentional mistakes and omissions. Robin usually fudged the official reports – a fact Stewart and Sawchak would love to get their hands on if they could.

Beast Boy trudged to the library next to Robin's room, careful to avoid any cameras. The door slid open quietly and allowed the green teen to enter. Bookshelves lined the walls, filled to bursting with novels that couldn't fit into Raven's room, literature that Beast Boy had never heard of before, and old instruction manuals that nobody other than Silkie had ever looked at. And Silkie had only been interested in eating the things.

Random papers lay forgotten on the floor. Most of them were covered in Robin's chicken-scratch handwriting. The rest were covered in grids, graphs, and math equations that looked like they defied the rules of logic. Beast Boy knew both Starfire and Raven spent time in here, but they were apparently better at cleaning up after themselves than Robin and Cyborg.

Beast Boy wandered into the cluttered space. He had no clue where Robin logged the archives once they were written and submitted to the mayor and police force. There were copies on the Tower's mainframe, but Beast Boy knew he couldn't access those. There were hard copies in here somewhere. There had to be.

Eventually, Beast Boy's eyes landed on a row of file cabinets that were grouped in the back corner of the room. Beast Boy walked over to the file cabinets and read the dirtied labels above each handle. The changeling grabbed the handle under the oldest looking label and pulled.

After a short battle against the over-stuffed drawer, Beast Boy successfully opened the cabinet. Large paper collections, barely held together by paperclips, stared up at Beast Boy. This drawer alone looked like it had over three hundred pages stuffed into it. Beast Boy glared at the papers, willing the massive records to shrink.

Beast Boy grabbed one of the stacks and yanked it out of its grove. He glanced through the first page, looking for key events or phrases that would indicate the time frame. Beast Boy was about to put the stack back when the phrase "chronoton detonator" caught his eye. Beast Boy kept reading and found "nanoscopic probes." He hadn't known what those were before, and he didn't know what they were now. All Beast Boy knew was that it had happened around five years ago. He was in the right file cabinet.

Beast Boy slammed the papers unceremoniously into the cabinet and forced the drawer closed. Then the youngest Titan wrapped his arms around the thick metal furniture and dragged it to the door. Beast Boy had what he needed. Beast Boy was just in front of the living room when the doors slid open unexpectedly. Starfire floated up the stairs, her shadow only a few feet behind her.

"Beast Boy?" Starfire queried when she saw the changeling dragging the file cabinet across the carpet. "For what purpose are you taking Robin's files from the archives?"

"I was going to help re-organize them; Robin's been talking about doing it for a while," Beast Boy shrugged, the lie rolling off his tongue with more ease than he should have been comfortable with. Starfire's eyebrows inched toward her hairline. Luckily, the camera was behind her and couldn't see. "But I can't stand staying in the library. Besides, I've come this far – my room's just a little further."

Beast Boy stopped pulling the cabinet and moved out from behind it.

"What are you up to?" he asked as casually as he could, hoping Starfire would stop asking questions.

Starfire gestured behind her toward the living room, a small spark of understanding flaring to life in her eyes. Beast Boy stole a glance into the room. Everything looked all right. It took a moment for him to realize that there was a shiny coat of slime on one of the windows. Resting on the floor was the culprit – Silkie.

"Dude! What happened to Silkie?" Beast Boy asked, completely shocked. The larvae didn't get four feet from the ground and leave that mark on his own, and the mutant bug usually moved more than he was now.

"Claire does not appreciate insects. Silkie startled her and…" Starfire tapered off. Beast Boy looked at Starfire's shadow – Claire apparently – and noticed that her bronze hands were shaking. "I was going to fetch the Cornexian salts."

Beast Boy gulped. The Cornexian salts that Starfire had in her room were the most putrid things he'd ever smelt. It looked like regular salt, but there was no mistaking the acrid scent for anything from Earth. The good news was that they could wake anything with a nose up without trouble.

Starfire started flying down the hall, Claire tagging behind her. Beast Boy turned back to the file cabinet and started hauling it after them, heading for his room. That was a close one, but Starfire had caught on quickly enough.

"Where's Drew?" Beast Boy's eyes widened. He couldn't tell the truth on this, and he'd used up his best lies already.

The green elf twisted his head around and measured up Claire. Her hands were still shaking slightly, but her toffee eyes were focused and clear. Beast Boy couldn't shake the impression that Claire was a professional reporter. There was something about her that screamed security and confidentiality. It was almost like staring down a younger and infinitely nicer version of Stewart. In fact, Beast Boy wouldn't have been surprised if the two were related.

"Well, um… you see, I…"

"Beast Boy!" Beast Boy sighed internally when he heard Raven calling him. She would know how to handle this. Claire and Beast Boy turned as one as Raven rounded the corner. Raven's eyes darted from the file cabinet, to Beast Boy, to Claire, to the camera, and then to the file cabinet again.

"What are you doing?" Raven asked eventually. Beast Boy could tell she was referring to why he'd tried to drag the file cabinet to his room. "Drew is looking for you."

"You know where Drew is?" Claire asked politely. Raven nodded slowly. "Could you remind him of what Stewart said before choosing him for this job, please? I'd really appreciate it." Without another word, Claire brushed past them in pursuit of the long-departed Starfire.

Beast Boy held his breath for a few seconds, making sure Claire was gone, before cracking up. Raven scowled at him, and Beast Boy managed to stifle his giggles.

"That was close," he chuckled nervously.

"Why were you moving the cabinet? We can't afford to get caught doing this. We can't afford mistakes."

"You're starting to sound like Robin. Chill. Everything worked out. Besides," Beast Boy waggled his eyebrows, "that was an awesome adrenaline rush." Raven narrowed her eyes at him, and the changeling lapsed into silence.

"Why were you looking for me?" Beast Boy asked as he grabbed the file cabinet again.

"I passed Starfire in the halls, and she mentioned you probably needed saving," Raven smirked. With a quick wave of her hand, the file cabinet was engulfed by ebony light and lifted from Beast Boy's arms.

ooooo

Beast Boy's room had transformed. The changeling could do little but stare, mouth agape, at what Raven had done to his bedroom. He didn't remember spending very long in the archives, but the change he was seeing now had to have taken a long time.

"Dude, what did you do?" Beast Boy shrieked after they entered his room. The windows were thrown open, but they weren't venting toxic fumes anymore. The tangled and discarded sheets that he'd thrown from his top bunk that morning were back in place and neatly made. The floor had been cleared. Three old pizza boxes were resting in a corner, accompanied by a moldy shoe that Beast Boy vaguely remembered bringing home a few months ago when he was in his canine phase. Other than that, it was impossible to tell that Beast Boy's floor usually looked like a battlefield.

"I couldn't concentrate," Raven stated simply as she set the file cabinet down next to the pizza boxes.

"So you decided to go Mr. Clean on my room?" Beast Boy quipped as he rediscovered the color of his carpet. "Where is everything? I had everything in an exact place."

"Right," Raven drawled from the computer, "living in a pigsty really is an exact science. Everything that was trash got thrown away, everything that looked like clothing is in the hamper, and everything else is in the closet. I wouldn't recommend opening it anytime soon," she added as an after-thought.

Beast Boy frowned at Raven's back before giving in. "Thanks."

"Read," Raven commanded. The lowest drawer in the file cabinet popped open. Beast Boy frowned again and set in on the papers.

He wasn't sure how long they worked. It felt like a long time, though that could have just been his deeply engrained hatred of research talking. Raven spent most of the time sitting in front of the computer, jumping from one webpage to another. Aside from the occasional flipped page, opened drawer, or exasperated sigh, the room was completely silent. Every time Beast Boy found himself getting distracted, Raven was there to redirect his attention.

The official reports were pretty funny in Beast Boy's opinion. The things that had been changed or omitted made sense, but it didn't change the fact that, compared to the actual event, there were some very big differences.

"Well?" Raven asked after what felt like a few hours. "Did you find anything?"

"Yeah," Beast Boy responded lazily as he turned a worn page. "Puppet King didn't take control of our bodies, and the HIVE never kicked us out of the tower."

Beast Boy looked up just in time to see Raven smack her forehead.

"Okay. Did you find anything Sawchak related?" Raven tried again. The slight strains in her voice warned Beast Boy that her nerves were a little frayed. It looked like Raven hadn't found anything on the Internet, or at least not something she liked.

"Not yet," Beast Boy sighed. Grinning weakly at Raven he added, "But I haven't gotten through all the records yet. It would be easier if I could just remember when I saw him."

"You remembered Sawchak and didn't say anything?" Raven snapped.

"No!" Beast Boy shouted with his hands out in front of him, as if to ward off an attack. "I remember… I remember his hands," Beast Boy finished lamely. "I know I've seen Sawchak before because I remember his hands." Raven crossed her arms across her chest skeptically.

"So, this has been a complete waste of time based off one of your hunches," she said coolly. Beast Boy tensed in anger.

"I know what I saw," he replied acidly.

"I know," Raven sighed after a tense silence. "I believe you. Just close your eyes and try to relax." Seeing the strange look Beast Boy was giving her, Raven added, "If you can't remember, maybe I can remember for you."

Beast Boy eyed Raven warily. She was talking about going into his head and rooting through his conscious and subconscious memories. From the little he remembered about that kind of thing, once a person's mind was penetrated there was nothing to do but wait. He'd be giving Raven an all-access, VIP pass into his mind. Slowly, Beast Boy closed his eyes.

"Just relax and breathe," Beast Boy heard Raven instruct. "Azarath… Metrion… Zinthos…" In an instant, the blackness behind his eyelids shattered and Beast Boy was jerked back in time. The sights, smells, and sounds blurred together into a tangled mess as Beast Boy felt himself losing control of his own mind. The young Titan panicked and started trying to fight back, to regain control. The helplessness was unbearable – crushing. He felt completely defenseless. Grasping frantically with clumsy mental fingers, Beast Boy tried to snatch his mind back.

In a flash, the changeling bolted up from the floor, breathing like he'd just run a marathon. Sweat was trickling from his temples despite the winter cold drifting through the open windows.

"Why'd you stop? You could have just pushed through," the changeling panted when he noticed Raven watching him from the lower bunk.

"A person's mind is a sacred place. If you don't want to let me in, I'll stay out," she deadpanned.

Beast Boy stayed on the floor for a while, collecting his thoughts and regaining his bearings. Raven could help him remember where and when he'd seen Sawchak. All he needed to do was trust her (even if it was with the contents of his entire mind).

"Alright," Beast Boy grimaced, "let's try again. Just… take care of me, okay?"

Raven looked at Beast Boy as if to ask if he was sure. She was seeing a part of him that Beast Boy usually tried to keep hidden. Then, with a small nod, she crossed her legs and hovered off the bottom bunk. Raven's eyes started to glow white with magical energy as Beast Boy prepared himself for the helplessness to consume him.

"Azarath… Metrion… Zinthos…"


Author's Note: Well, there we have it. Drop me a review and tell me what you liked, disliked, have questions about etc..