Hope you enjoy chapter four of Never Again. You should be seeing some more BB/Rae moments real soon.

I do not own Teen Titans.

Chapter 4 (Gar's Big Question)

Sunlight flickered from the living room window as Raven tried to get comfortable in her chair. Now that most of the drama had ceased, she could finally finish the book that she had been dying to read for the last week. The book Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks was pretty good, even if it was a romance story. The plot was really getting exciting and she was nearly at the climax...

"Raven? Did Richard call while I was in the shower?" Kori's voice yelled out from the bathroom.

Scowling, Raven did not lift her eyes from the pages. "No Kori, he did not call, just like he didn't call yesterday or the day before!"

"What was that? I couldn't hear you. So Richard called?" Kori asked again.

"For the last time no!" Raven yelled back angrily. "If you are so concerned why don't you call him yourself?"

Kori walked into the room, drying her hair off with a towel looking at Raven with hurt eyes. "But he might be busy. He did promise to help me..."

Raven sighed and used bookmaker to save her page. Standing up and stretching she sighed. "Look Kori, I know you miss Richard but waiting around for him to call is not going to make him work any faster. Maybe if you could supply him with the name of...your ex then maybe he would find the guy faster."

The other girl just looked away, her green eyes lost in thought. "I've been trying to do that for awhile now. Trying to remember if he mentioned his name or even where he came from. See when I had first met him, I had just finished up my first big fashion shoot. I lost the first round but when he saw me crying, he gave me a bouquet of red roses to cheer me up. He smiled kindly and said that he was my biggest fan. To be honest I was kind of flattered by the attention. He looked familiar but I could never place his name. I thought he was a nice guy up until he followed me home..."

Silence entered the room for a moment, aside from the noon chimes of the old grandfather clock in the next room.

Suddenly a few knocks on the door distracted the girls and Kori instinctively shrank towards the other rooms. Raven sighed and went to answer it. It was probably Victor coming to check on Kori again or maybe it was Richard with good news? She hesitatingly opened the door in a crack and was surprised to see Gar's face grinning back at her.

"Garfield? What are you doing here?" Raven asked, taken aback for a moment.

"Hey Raven! I'm glad I caught you. I wanted to show you something! Got a minute?" Gar asked, his eyes betraying his excitement.

Raven nodded her head, feeling a little flustered. What could that annoying neighbor want now? Before she could react, he grabbed her hand and dragged her towards the backyard. She blushed at the sudden contact but Gar didn't notice. He was too distracted with his surprise. Finally he stopped and held both her hands in his, looking the most sincere in his life.

"I've been meaning to ask you this for a long time Raven and now that Kori's here, I think this is the perfect time." Gar said solemnly.

"Gar, what are you trying to say?" Raven whispered gently.

"Will you be willing to adopt Silky for me?" Gar asked, pointing to a pile of fluff sitting in the corner of her yard. To Raven's horror; a slobbery and quite hairy snow-white terrier was tied up to a tree, tugging playfully at the leash that held him prisoner.

"Yes of course I...wait. What?" Raven stuttered, looking from the white pup to Gar's grinning face in disbelief.

"I promise he's a great dog. One of the best." Gar promised. "He was going to be put down tomorrow and I just couldn't do it Rae. I just couldn't! So I thought maybe you and Kori would like to take care of him for me. He's very lovable and it might make Kori feel better!"

Raven was silent for a moment, her eyes betraying her hurt. Before she could reply however, a delighted squeal came from behind them as Kori rushed over. She had seen their visitor from the window and when she saw the fluffy little dog, Kori could not resist to go over up to pet him. She giggled happily as the dog began licking her hands enthusiastically.

"Oh Gar is this your puppy? He's the most precious creature I've ever seen!" she exclaimed happily. "Please, what is his name?"

"His name's Silky." Gar said, smiling softly. "And he's yours if Raven agrees. I thought I'd give him a second chance. After all, I wouldn't let this little dog go with just about anybody!"

Kori turned to her with big green eyes. "Please, oh please can Silky stay? I'll take care of him I promise and once I'm back on my feet I'll take him with me. He won't bother you at all!"

The dark haired woman scowled angrily, hating to be put on the spot like this. Why did she have to be the bad guy? The friend who is the least fun to be around and the one everybody seems to walk all over. For some reason, she had a feeling she was being manipulated and hated every bit of it.

"Fine, keep the stupid animal." Raven growled angrily. "However, it will be up to you to take care of it Kori. He is YOUR dog not mine."

She stormed back into the house, leaving Gar and Kori to coo over the little puppy. Kori rubbed the little dog's stomach before glancing curiously at Gar. His eyes were on the house, and he looked disappointed for some reason.

"Gar, do you really think it was a good idea to force Raven to adopt Silky?" Kori asked softly. "I mean, she might not like dogs...what if she's allergic and it's all my fault for convincing her to keep him? I wouldn't want to do that to her. She's my best friend."

The young man turned his attention to the girl and smiled reassuringly. "I wouldn't worry. Believe it or not, Raven can be quite a softy even if she won't admit it. Whenever there's something new that she's not used to, she puts on a tough front but I know better. After all, that's how she was when she met me. She'd either ignore me or hit me upside the head. Now we are practically on speaking terms and she calls me her friend."

"You really seem to like her." Kori smiled knowingly.

Gar blushed. "What? All I said was that she was my friend. Now come on, I want to show you this special trick I taught Silky while I was working at the shelter. He's really smart; he learned this trick almost right away!"

Kori laughed and watched him lead the dog around. The three romped around the yard until the sun was beginning to set in the sky.

The young man gave a small wave and headed back to his own house across the street, while Kori held Silky in her arms, cuddling the little dog as she went into Raven's house. Silky had fallen asleep in her arms and Kori whispered little words into the dog's ears. Crickets chirped in the summer twilight, and in the sky were soft pastel colors, painting the clouds red, orange and pink.

It seemed incredibly peaceful and for the first time in awhile, Kori did not look over her shoulder. Didn't flinch when the grass rustled or when a random bird started twittering in high chirps. She didn't even notice a fancy black car driving particularly slow behind her.