Author's Note: Hey there kiddoes!! Guess who is back from hiatus? That's right, for the rest of the summer I have some fun played for you all…muahahahaha! No really, actually I had bunches of fun writing this chapter and the next, and I bet I'll have even more fun writing the rest! Why was it so fun to write? You'll just have to read to find out! Yeah.

And now time to give a big bow-out to some of the characters here, cuz for more than a couple you won't be seeing them all that much for the rest of the fanfic. So pick your favs and say thankies for the show—and for you worrywarts out there, I'm solely talking about my original characters. All the Titans are sticking around til the end, you can bet on it. And whaddaya know, that reminds me: after rereading the story, I know I've made a lot of mistakes…like changing my villain's name halfway through the story, messing up Raven's incantation… and now I'm sincerely apologizing for last chapter's notorious 'Michelle'. For those of you who got confused, for some reason I felt like calling Nicole 'Michelle' that day and couldn't shake myself from it. And for those of you who didn't notice and now are confused, don't worry about it and just move on with your lives.

For those of you interested, the preview summary of my next TT fanfic is posted at the end of this chapter. Also: I'm thinking of starting a mini-project for the summer where you give me TT scenarios and I write one-chapter shots of them! More info on that next author's notes! Have fun now! ;P

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in the Teen Titans show or comics.

Raven's expression matched that of Gar's as he stared back at her, mouth slightly agape. Both stunned, and taken completely by surprise, all either could do for the moment was stare unbelievingly at the other. Here? Now? It was unrealistic, but it was happening.

Raven heard Kid Flash's voice in her ear, but did nothing to acknowledge it—she didn't even know if he had realized she had stopped listening to him entirely by now. If Raven could turn any paler than she already was, she was sure she was doing so. Unreal. That was how she felt, as if she falling into a hole in the earth that had suddenly opened underneath her. She was looking at him…and he was looking at her.

And then just as suddenly as the contact had been made, they broke away from each other's eyes hastily—Gar looking wildly at the waiter as he tried to remember what he was supposed to be doing, and Raven turning towards Kid Flash with the shock still in her navy orbs and written all over her face. Luckily enough, he had been too involved in himself to notice anything was wrong…until he looked up at her when she moved so suddenly. Whatever he had been saying died from his mouth, and he gave her a quizzical look—she was breathing haltingly, as if she had just ran a marathon, her nostrils flaring.

"Uh…Raven? Are you okay?" he asked anxiously, leaning forward even further. She blinked at him, not really responding for a second as she belatedly registered that he asked her something.

"…Yes," she said, clearing her throat. She blinked a couple more times, knowing she probably was sounding as far from herself as she could. Her mouth and throat had gone dry, and she swore she wasn't seeing straight. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Kid Flash narrowed his eyes—her voice was way too bright-sounding for…well, for Raven. He reached out and touched her hands that were clenched tightly together on the table. "Are you sure? You look like you're about to hyperventilate."

For the first time since Kid Flash had meant Raven, she didn't reject him or his touch—instead she met his earnest stare with something he had learned to least expect from the dark, but nevertheless insightful, teenage girl: confusion.

From back inside the restaurant, Gar found it hard to pay attention to what was happening around him as he found his gaze jerk back to Raven as soon as he had jerked away. And what he had seen—the new hero in orange leaning too far forward, cocky grin, and then concern, and then further forward, and then reaching out to cup her hands in his—was causing Gar to feel something he had come to least expect from himself: jealousy.

The longer Gar's forest green eyes focused on the interaction between the two outside on the patio, the more tense he became; his eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched as incoherent thoughts clamored around his head. What did that kid think he was doing? If Gar had taken a moment to step back from himself and the situation, he might have realized Raven hadn't ever been one to be shocked easily, and so when it did happen of course her friends were concerned. He would have noticed Cyborg, Robin, and Starfire had ceased their conversation to inquiry about Raven's odd behavior as well. He would have noticed Cyborg shift and put his hand lightly on Raven's shoulder as well. He would have noticed Raven shakily trying to recover her wits as she looked at Robin, letting him know what was going on through a mere glance. But he didn't, and all he saw was that kid leaning forward, watching Raven with eager eyes.

And so of course he didn't notice the waiter talking to him, either.

Kassie, who was sitting next to Gar, elbowed him hard in the ribs and brought him back to his surroundings. With a grunt, Gar snapped out of his former trance-like state and looked around bewilderedly to find almost everyone at the table, including the waiter, watching him expectantly. "…uh, what…?" Gar hesitantly asked, knowing he had missed something somewhat important, or at least pertaining to him.

"I said, and what would you like to drink…?" the waiter answered dryly, a bit amused at Gar's total oblivion to the situation at hand. Gar heard some snickers from over in John and Michael's directions.

"Um, right, just water," Gar replied quickly, looking down at the table just as quickly. With some surprise, Gar realized his fists were clenched rather tightly in his lap, and proceeded to relax them. He also slumped back in his seat a little, since he had been sitting nearly stock-straight a second ago. Feeling his face redden ever so slightly, Gar refused to look back at the patio where the Titans had been—what the hell had that been? He had reacted too fast to what he was seeing to actually think about why he was reacting; and Gar now sat feeling utterly confused. Why had he felt such…rage—he would not to admit it had been anything else—over seeing that guy with Raven? So strange, like he hadn't even been in control of his body or feelings at that moment…he saw Raven's hands cupped by the guy's hands once again in his mind's eye, and—

Gar suddenly stood up, catching the attention of Kassie and Benji who had been talking happily between themselves next to Gar. "I…have to pee," Gar blurted in response to their questioning eyes. Kassie snorted, but Gar barely heard—he just had to get out, at least for a couple minutes, he felt as if the room was closing in on him…suffocating him. But of course, things weren't about to go as he planned.

"Garfield! How nice to see you!!"

At the sound of the bright, high-pitched, on-the-verge-of-squealing voice, the whole table groaned—excluding Michael, that is. Garfield's shoulders sagged, helplessly realizing he was going to have a very hard time escaping as he felt Nicole slide up next to him. Yes, felt—he almost shivered as her hand came dangerously close to his behind and then proceeded to run up his spine until it came to rest on his shoulder. Nicole was not far behind, coming up and practically leaning on him as she gave him a wide, mischievous grin. She was clad in the usual, extremely low-cut tank and way-too-short skirt, sporting an overwhelming perfumed scent. Out of the corner of his eye, Gar saw Kassie roll her eyes with disgust.

Gar sighed. "Hey, Nicole," he said, moving away from her clinging grip to face her and the rest of the table. She watched him intensely, sending glances at the rest of the group only ever so slightly as if to let them know she knew they existed but didn't want to be bothered with them at the moment. "I was just—"

"Hope you haven't started having fun without me, guys," Nicole interrupted rather cheerfully, though only with eyes for Gar and seemingly oblivious to the effect she had had on the party.

"Oh, we wouldn't dream of it," Kassie muttered as John, Tye and Nick snickered.

Gar took another step back as Nicole ignored Kassie and attempted yet again to latch herself onto Gar. "Listen, I'm just gonna head to—"

"Heya, Nicole!! What's up??" Michael leaned forward eagerly, trying to draw Nicole's attention—for his sake, mind you, not Gar's. "We're deciding on a pizza—"

"Oh, you haven't ordered yet?" Nicole said, turning more towards the table. Michael's face brightened instantly, and then abruptly fell again when Nicole turned back to Gar—who was still trying to inch away—and promptly continued, "I put my vote in with Gar's…"

At that moment the waiter decided to return with their drinks, cutting into Nicole's little chase—Gar had been backed up to the potted plant on the wall separating the booths. "Okay, which two of you had the Pepsis?" the waiter called out, somehow managing to balance the tray full of drinks.

"That'd be me and John!"

A call-out game then ensued—of which Nicole decided against allowing to distract her from what she had come for.

"The iced tea?"

"Hey Gar, isn't it just a beautiful evening? I was wondering—"

"Ooh, that's me!"

"—if you would come out to the patio, I wanna take a picture—"

"Pibb Extra?"

"—so my online buddy can see the two of us, I've told her all about you, being the new kid and all—"

"Over here!"

"Nicole, I have really bad allergies—"

"Mountain Dew?

"Awww, but look, I have a digital camera and everything!!"

"That's mine!"

"Nicole, I really have to—"

"Oh, you have to?! How sweet!"

Much to Gar's disdain, it appeared that Nicole had chosen to finally quit playing nice—grinning almost a little too harshly, she grabbed Gar's wrist and swung him around to follow her to the patio even before the waiter had finished handing the Mountain Dew to Benji. Of course, he immediately began struggling. No way he was going out that door.

"Nicole I really don't want—"

They dodged a waitress heading in from the patio, Nicole's grip tightening as she jerked Gar towards the door, who was frantically twisting his wrist back and forth in an effort to break free.

"Come on, silly, your allergies can't be that bad. I'm sure you'll last a few minutes," Nicole chirped forcefully, turning on the camera with her free hand. They were at the door…she reached out to push it open…

Gar stubbornly dug his heel into the carpet and pulled with the strength he had gained from being a crime-fighting superhero for the last couple of years; just because his powers had gone didn't mean his training and strength had left as well. His wrist was ripped from Nicole's hand…but not before she came along with it, completely taken by surprise with the force and strength Gar had used. She stumbled backwards into him, and all Gar could do was catch her by her shoulders so she wouldn't take them both to the floor. What resulted was very awkward, but very close sort of embrace between the two—Nicole half-slumping into Gar as he held her up by her shoulders, blonde locks of hair falling into his face along with a powerful whiff of her perfumed scent.

The two stayed like that for a second, stunned, before Gar hastily pushed Nicole away—but not before he heard a couple snorts and chuckles from the table full of his friends, not before he felt his face flush with a mixture of embarrassment and horror. He instantly looked down at his feet, his mind reeling…he really hoped…no one…had been looking in from the patio at that particular moment.

Unfortunately, Nicole recovered much faster than Gar did—she stood facing Gar for a second, blinked, giggled, and then promptly grabbed Gar again and pushed him out the door.

Out. The. Door.

Gar barely had time to think, let alone panic, before Nicole was dragging him towards the edge of the patio where the honks and whirrs of the evening traffic could be heard on the street below. A seagull cawed and flapped away as Nicole stomped across its former feeding ground. Within a few more seconds Nicole had whirled Gar around to stand beside her at the patio edge, leaning on the railing. "Don't worry, Garfield, we'll be done in two seconds," she said cheerfully. She began to hold the camera up. "Just say cheese for the camera!"

"Nicole! Honestly, can't you tell when the poor guy has had enough?!"

Kassie's angry, sharp voice was more than enough to cause Nicole to flinch ever so slightly. She sighed, rolled her eyes and let the camera drop back to her side. Kassie strode across the patio, Benji standing half-way out of the door himself with an exasperated look on his face. Gar had a feeling he had unsuccessfully tried to persuade Kassie to let it alone. John and Michael had their faces plastered to the window at the booth—Nick and Tye at least had the decency to act like they were ignoring the situation by watching with disinterested expressions.

Gar refused to look to his left.

"We're just taking a picture, Kassie," Nicole purred, although there was an obvious edge to her voice.

"Gar clearly said he didn't want to, you dolt." Kassie was fuming, and Gar helplessly realized this was going to last awhile. And of all the places in the world… "When are you going to learn that there are some boundaries you don't cross?!"

Nicole's eyes flashed. "I'm hardly crossing boundaries! I'm taking a freaking picture!"

"Um…ladies, maybe we could discuss this inside?" Gar futilely suggested, alarmed at the faces the two were making at each other. They ignored him.

"You have your man, Kassie. Step down off your pedestal and quit acting like you own Garfield, or the rest of the guys, for that matter."

Oooh. Not good.

"That does it!! Nobody even ever wants you around, Nicole. You think the groans that meet your arrival every single time are groans of joy or something?? Michael's the only guy around here that actually wants you, and you treat him like a bug!"

"Oh-ho, and what, now you're the spokesman for all of them? Know what's always on their minds, or something Kassie? Of course you do…I think your just jealous and out of place, losing your mind over the fact that you have to share the guys every once and a while."

"Jealous? Jealous? How much of a fucking idiot are you?? You're the one who's always acting like the freaking slut!!"

Silence.

"Huh…okay, so then it be perfectly in character for me to do something like THIS, now, wouldn't it?"

With that, Nicole swung around, grabbed the collar of Gar's shirt and slammed her mouth onto his, kissing him full-on. She wrapped one of her legs around the back of his, moving her arms to hook around the back of his neck and pressing her body up against his, cornering him against the rail. Completely taken aback, Gar gripped the rail as if for his dear life—and then felt Nicole's tongue pushing into his mouth. Shit.

And all he had wanted was some pizza.

The sudden bright flash of a camera going off caused Gar to see spots, and then to flinch and shove Nicole off him amidst the faint catcalls, whistles and hoots of rowdy laughter coming from a certain booth inside the restaurant. Gar immediately straightened himself and stared with an expression of utter astonishment at Nicole, who calmly returned his gaze with a smug look upon her face as she snapped the camera's lens shut. Somehow she had managed to keep herself from falling even though Gar had given her a pretty hefty push. She gave a weird, guttural giggle. "That one is going on my blog…"

"For the love of—" Kassie more or less lunged at Nicole, whose face scrunched up in fear for about a millisecond until Benji calmly encircled a strong arm around Kassie's waist and pulled her back, though not without an accusatory glare from Kassie. Gar hadn't noticed whenever Benji had snuck up on the preoccupied three, but thanked all that was holy he had decided to step in on the situation.

"Okay, girls, I'm positive this little show has gone on long enough," Benji muttered loudly enough for the small group to hear, giving his own glares towards both Nicole and Kassie. Nicole recomposed herself and gave a small Hmph, and Gar swore he heard Kassie grinding her teeth. Benji pointedly glared at each of the girls. "You've…ahem, interrupted enough meals already, which might not have been entirely appreciated by some," Benji slightly jerked his head to the left. Both Nicole and Kassie stopped sending bad vibes at one another long enough to glance curiously at Benji. Nicole's eyes darted to the side, although she didn't move her head, and Gar saw a flustered look cross her face before she trained her eyes on a distant building, clearly wishing she hadn't looked. Kassie glanced around Benji, and Gar saw her eyes first widen in shock, and then her face flush and red splotches appear on her cheeks. Gar swore quietly under his breath, knowing what was coming.

Feeling as if he was marching towards doom itself, Gar turned slightly to meet the direct gazes of all five Titans.

The scenario could've been an ordinary, nothing-special-or-unusual sort of teen drama with nameless faces, and Raven could've rolled her eyes at the mess and moved on. But no, it had to be anything but that, didn't it?

It hadn't taken long for the Titans' dinner to be interrupted and their attention to shift from each other to the little skirmish between the two girls—Kassie's biting voice was hard to ignore when broadcasted throughout the entire patio. What had not been expected by the majority of the team, however, had been the silhouette the girls were arguing across. Cyborg choked on his Mountain Dew, Robin furrowed his brow and glanced swiftly at Raven again, and Starfire gave a small gasp. Her green eyes lighting up, she almost jumped out of her seat. "Is that friend—?"

And that was the instant Nicole decided to slam one on Gar.

There was a stunned silence across the patio from both groups of teens, until Kid Flash—who had remained totally oblivious to the rest of the table's reactions and had just been watching curiously the whole time—thumped a hand against the sputtering Cyborg's shoulder and said animatedly, "Damn, I'd give anything to be that sucker right about now!"

During the whole thing, Raven had stayed completely motionless, from the moment she had peered back into the restaurant to see Gar…supporting…the blonde girl by the door until now, as Gar pushed the girl off him with the flash of her camera going off. To the startlement of her friends, she more or less leaped up from the table, fighting a clamoring of emotions building up inside her—and for Raven that was quite literal. She felt a headache coming on as faint voices filled her head, and she hurriedly tried to push it all down as her face became heated. "Raven?" she heard Robin's voice quietly question in her ear. "Are you alright?"

Raven found she had somehow squeezed her eyes shut, and now opened them to face a worried-looking Robin. Thankfully, Kid Flash and the others were still watching the clashing troupe of teenagers to their right and didn't notice Raven cringing or Robin leaning over her with concern etched into his face. Raven opened her mouth to respond to the Titan leader, but stopped as her eyes caught sight of the two girls staring rather abashedly at the Titans. One then chose to look quickly away—the blonde—but the other continued to grow very red in the face. Robin turned to watch as well. The other girl—Raven now recognized her as the redhead from the mall that day—struggled to break free from the grip of the other boy who had joined them, and when she did, straightened and dusted herself off a tad. She cleared her throat.

"Ahem, erm…sorry?" When no one leapt at her throat, she blushed a bit more and added, extremely fast, "Didntmeantointerruptyourmealwellbegoingnowsorry!!"

And with that, she hastily dragged the boy who had been holding her back inside the restaurant. The blonde stared after them for a second, then followed—although not without glancing quickly back once more towards the Titans, and then towards the only other one left standing one the patio, watching the Titans. Except he wasn't really watching the Teen Titans.

Raven's heart skipped a beat as Gar's gaze caught hers, and she felt a pressure building in her head and chest once more. Seeing him was nearing unmanageable; his face was like an open-book to her, always had been. Now, the completely mortified expression he was wearing should have said it all—but Raven still felt confused, and even more so when she saw the same confusion reflected in his forest-green eyes. There was also something else there, though Raven could not put her tongue on it…resurfacing hurt, memories…but also something directed directly at her and no one else…she sensed it, felt it almost pounding into her, echoing…longing?

With a start, Raven ripped her navy orbs away, squeezing her eyes shut again. "I…I have to go," she strangled out to the rest of the team before she enveloped herself in obsidian energy, taking her anywhere away from there.

As the last of the black shadow whipped out of existence, the rest of the Titans traded glances, speechless. They stayed like that for a moment, undecided—then a semi-truck blared by on the road beneath the patio. When it had passed, Robin cleared his throat and took out a hookshot. "You guys wait for the pizza and pay," Robin said to the rest of the team over his shoulder as he ran for the edge of the patio. "I gotta go find her." Then he was gone.

Starfire, Cyborg, and Kid Flash remained silent for a little longer until Kid Flash searched the faces of the other two for some sort of explanation as to what had just happened. When the they didn't meet his questioning face, he rolled his eyes and leaned back with folded arms, keeping himself balanced by hooking a foot on the opposite side of the table. "Ooooookay," he snorted. "I'm just gonna be smart about that one and not even ask."

At the swish and creak of the doors to the restaurant closing, though, Kid Flash swung around to look behind him with his lightening speed just in time to see the redhead kid duck inside, hurrying off the scene as if he had seen a ghost or something. Watching him go, Kid Flash couldn't help but wonder at the emotion-filled look he had seen Raven and the kid exchange moments before. Just what in the hell…?

Down far beneath even the sewer systems of Jump City, Melina Ragonu looked up from shuffling a stack of files as a small blinking green light on the side of some sort of monitor suddenly halted in the slow but mesmerizing track it had been following for the past two and half months or so. The monotone beep that had aroused her from her task in the first place continued, crescendoing in noise—Melina's face broke into a smile that grew with the sound until it stopped.

After a few seconds of complete silence throughout the lair, save for the quiet dripping from collected moisture falling to the ground in one corner or another, a faster, more intensely blinking blue light replaced the former green one. At the sight, Ragonu's eyes widened, not in surprise or astonishment—no, rather in excited anticipation. A low rumble started in the back of her throat to erupt forth and echo eerily across the empty walls in a harsh bark of laughter. Her pet henchman looked slowly up from its perch on a nearby table, inquiring. Ragonu once again laughed, and then raised her arms in a triumphant gesture.

"Soon, so soon," she said harshly to no one in particular but herself, "it will begin. And then…"

Ragonu crossed her arms and glared at the monitor with streaming figures and windows she had been working on before. "And then, I will emerge victorious with what I have planned. The only victor."

From its perch, IDR56 made a strange chittering, seemingly to match Ragonu's earlier laughter. She gazed over to where it crouched. "Yes, yes, my little one," she crooned almost motherly, but still with an underlying, overwhelmingly murderous tone to her voice. "Your time to play is once again nearing. And oh, how much fun both of us will have with our prey, won't we?"

She began laughing again, accompanied by the inhuman chittering of her pet. She than began humming a strange, haunting tune that carried across the walls of her lair, shoving the files away as she sat down once again at the monitor. "Mmmm…oh yes, my little lost boy, so much fun…mmmm…"

So there you go. Nicole's fabulous farewell, as you won't be seeing her again, if I'm correct…but you never know. Anyways, onto the preview summary! If you read this and like the sound of it, let me know in a review so I can start working on it!! For starters, this will take place a few years into the future, after the whole TT series and the Tokyo OVA or whatever you call it; and, as you will see, a future where the animated series and the actual comic cross, in my mind. And now, drum-roll please:

With the eve of Beast Boy's eighteenth birthday nearing, things have definitely changed around the Titan Tower; Robin and Starfire are still going strong, Cyborg had gotten an invitation to join the Justice League, and the original five-member team has made some new additions to the team. Crime is at an all-time low on the west coast, thanks to the growing membership of both the Teen Titans and Titans East. Nationally, the branch of teen superheroes has gained incredible recognition, and continues to battle crime successfully everyday. Yeah, things seem to be going great for the Titans.

That doesn't necessarily quell the doubts and fears Beast Boy seems to be having about the changes happening around him.

Seeing Robin take on an apprentice, seeing Cyborg seriously considering membership to the League, seeing new, younger and extremely enthusiastic mew members taking up residence in the Tower—it isn't hard for Beast Boy to wonder at how he and his friends are changing, have changed…it isn't hard for Beast Boy to have sickeningly nostalgic wish for the return of good old days.

But while Beast Boy feels as if the Titans he knew are slipping from his grasp, the rest of the world doesn't have time to stop and reminisce with him. Soon, the Titans discover what seems to be a deeply involved and thickening drug circle conspiracy of sorts that leads them from the familiar traffic noises of downtown Jump City to the foreign jungles and death-traps of Africa's terrain—well, maybe foreign to all but Beast Boy…

Faced with what appears to be the last mission of the original five, and the dark troubles and secrets of his haunting childhood in Africa, will Beast Boy discover more about his friends and himself on an entangling journey of emotion and crime?

Hop aboard to find out!

Sorry, I couldn't help but add that last part in! Heh…so anyways, tell me watchya think, okay? Til next time, then!!