Chapter 6: Count the Stitches

Walking down the hall, Raven let her mind wander. What would the last healing ritual do? How was it going to work? Could it hurt her, or Robin, through their link? No answers. Did she care for him more than she thought? Was it a good idea to keep entertaining the notion of dating? Could it work out for her? Could anything? Again, no answers. She wondered if the sharpened questions were a product of her altered mind, or if things were just getting more complicated.

Just then, the lights in the hallway went out, and she sensed something above her. Before she could identify it, it fell on her and began attacking. Calling out for the others, hoping they would hear, Raven blasted it with her powers, sending it reeling, it flew at her again and knocked her down. Wrestling with it, she pulled at it and grabbed a small metal link from around its form, grasping at others, but unable to get them. Again, she blasted the thing off of her and scrambled to her feet. Regaining her footing, she looked around; no longer sensing what attacked her. Then the lights came back on. She reached to her side, feeling an open wound, holding it so the blood would cease trickling down her leg and flowing into a puddle on the floor. In her other hand, she felt the metal link she had snatched and put it into a pocket on her torn cloak.

Robin appeared from around the corner, briefly stunned by what he saw, he rushed to her side. "Are you alright? What happened?" Robin asked.

"Aside from the wound and the bruises, I'm okay... I was just walking down the hall, the lights went out, and I was attacked by...something, I don't know what it was, but I did get a piece of some sort of chain from around its body," Raven said, "where are the others?"

"Cyborg is checking the power, Starfire is with Terra in the living room checking for a break-in, and I think Beast Boy is sleeping, I didn't get an answer when I called him... But I'm glad you're okay."

"Sleeping? Ass... Agh, this hurts! Would you help me to the infirmary so I can put something on this wound?"

"Of course."

They went to the infirmary together, Robin watching for any sign of movement. As they walked, Raven realized she was limping, cursing herself for not being quicker to repel the attack. Walking in to the infirmary, Raven sat down on the operating table, while Robin got the stitches. She took off her cloak and ripped her leotard more so that the wound was the only thing exposed, conscious of who was going to be helping her. While she doubted he would pressure her then, she wasn't going to take a chance on giving him any more ideas. Walking over with the stitches, needle, and alcohol, Robin looked closer at Raven's wound, judging how many stitches he would need.

"I'm going to be laid out for a while, aren't I?" Raven asked.

"I don't think it's... that bad..." Robin said.

"You're lying."

"Just don't worry about it, if you are laid out for a while, we can handle things."

"Maybe you're right..."

"We need to find out what did this to you. Do you remember anything about what it looked like, felt, or acted?"

"It felt like a creature, just none I can really describe... almost savage, but... it seemed like it had a purpose, or it would have kept attacking me, I doubt I seriously hurt it."

"I'm sure it is crawling through some of its own blood somewhere, you fought well."

"No, I didn't, I should have-."

"You're alive, and it is gone, you fought well."

"Sure..." she said, unconvinced.

"Stop doing that to yourself... Hang on, this is going to sting," he said.

Robin poured some of the alcohol on her wound; Raven cringed from it, gripping his shoulder. Getting the stitches threaded through the needle, he moved to start closing the wound, and stopped as the tip of the needle touched her side.

"You ready?" he asked.

"Yeah. Um...Do you mind if I hold onto your shoulder?" she asked.

"Not at all, go ahead."

When he touched the wound with the needle and applied one stitch; she cringed a little, barely gripping his shoulder. Repeating with another stitch, Robin felt her grip tighten more. The gash was pretty bad, but he didn't want her to worry if she could help it. As he continued with another stitch, he started thinking about what could have done it. The wound was shaped as though one claw had torn in, and a few scrapes parallel to the gash supported that observation. His eyes shifted to the rest of her form for a moment or two, and he briefly thought of saying something, but kept stitching up the wound.

"How many more?" Raven asked.

"At least six," Robin replied.

"That sounds serious to me..."

"It's not."

"I had to give eight stitches to Terra when we were in that battle with some remnants of the Hive forces and she had to stay at the tower for the next month..."

"That was Terra, and a different wound. And...you're different."

"What do you mean?"

"You can heal yourself."

"Not while my mind isn't whole..."

"...You didn't tell me that..."

"I didn't think it would be an issue, these kinds of wounds are rare."

Watching Robin stitch up the rest of her wound, Raven was impressed that he wasn't thinking past her wound to the rest of her body. He was behaving professionally, which actually made her wonder just how interested he was in her. Was it the situation, or was she not appealing enough for him? As Robin finished and she cringed at the last stitch, Raven slapped the thoughts back into her head, she should be thinking about what attacked her, not him. Of course, she had no idea what did or could have, all she had was a metal link, so there wasn't much she could think of in that regard. Might as well keep thinking about a relationship... Right?

"There," he said, finishing the last stitch, and placed a bandage over it. "Done, make sure you take the bandage off in a couple of days. You handled that well."

"So did you..."

"Huh?"

"After what we've been talking about lately, I thought you might act differently..."

"Oh. Well, we haven't exactly acted on anything, until we decide to; I'll try to act normally. But, it was hard for me to hold the thoughts I did have back. I guess you can't hold some of yours back either..." he said, grinning slightly.

"Some I can't help... We shouldn't be discussing this now... we should take this metal link I got from what attacked me down to the evidence area."

"Right, but I'll take it down after I help you to your room."

"Why can't I-"

"You were attacked, you weren't exactly fine before you were attacked, and you needed stitches; you are going to go and rest."

"But-"

"This isn't up for a debate. Come on."

Reluctantly, Raven stood up and followed Robin out of the infirmary. After a few feet, pain reminded her of her limp and she called on her powers to levitate a couple of inches off of the ground. Robin walked with her to her room and led her inside. She ceased levitating and turned around to face Robin.

"Thank you...again. I've been saying that a lot, lately, it seems," Raven said.

"You don't have to. Now, I'm going to take the link down to the evidence room, see what the others found, and I'll talk to you about it tomorrow. Are you feeling alright right now?" Robin asked.

"Well enough to sleep... Um, come and find me in the morning... you can let yourself into my room…"

"I will, is there-" he started. He stopped speaking out of surprise when she embraced him. He returned the embrace gladly, as he had been thinking of what she would be okay with him doing because he wanted to show some kind of affection. Raven wasn't wearing her cloak and Robin could see past his arms, down her back, and saw that her leotard had been ripped more and there were other scrapes. Looking at that, he couldn't help letting his eyes move lower, she had a nice-. No. Not now. Raven stopped embracing him and stepped back, studying his face.

"I'm sorry - I didn't mean...I mean I wasn't-." she started.

"It's alright, I understand. I wanted to...too," he said.

"When we decide to spend more time together and explore this...we cannot tell the others...at all."

"Why?"

"Please, you think they would be as mature about handling it as we are?"

"Right, that is a good point... Uh, you said 'when'..."

"Did I? I didn't mean to... I'm just overwhelmed right now..."

"I'm actually glad you said that, I'm feeling more attracted to you. I can't picture being anywhere else right now..."

After Robin had said that, Raven had to fight herself from touching him again. Her mind was still overloaded from pain, increased power, wonder about what attacked her, and the feelings she was having. She felt a little embarrassed, her cloak wasn't covering her, and the side of her stomach was exposed; he was completely covered, and it didn't seem... fair...If she took off his cape to-. Shut. Up...she said to herself. The others wouldn't give them enough time alone to explore anything...Then, she had an idea.

"Hey, you and I both know that the others won't handle this well, I need to teach you to meditate with me, and you are concerned about that creature attacking me again... What if you told them you needed to be with me while I recover to ward off any possible future attack? We could spend more time together without them knowing anything else was going on." she said.

"They're our friends; I don't want to lie to them..."

"You aren't lying if all of what I said is true for you. Do I need to re-enact how they behaved when you started seeing Starfire more?"

"No, please don't... Okay, you made your point, I'll tell them that and we'll spend more time together."

"It's for the best for all of us. So... come back here after you've taken the metal link to evidence and checked on the others..."

"You can count on it."

Robin smiled at Raven and left her room, closing the door behind him when he left. Going to the living room, he was met by Terra and Cyborg.

"Status?" Robin asked them.

"I checked the power, it was working fine. Must've been a power surge..." Cyborg said, "what were you doing?"

"I was helping Raven, she was attacked, she needed stitches, and she's resting now," Robin replied.

"Attacked by what?" Terra asked.

"We don't know, it happened when the power was out, so she couldn't see it. She described it as a creature, and it looked like claws caused the wounds," Robin said.

"So she's okay?" Terra asked.

"She will be laid out for a while until she is fully healed, but other than that, she'll be okay. I'll be around her until she is better, so she can't be ambushed like that again while she is recovering," Robin said, "Where are Starfire and Beast Boy?"

"Starfire went to go and wake him up, or check on him, I don't know what he could have been doing," Cyborg said.

"Okay, you need to talk to him when he gets out here," Robin said.

"Why aren't you?" Terra asked.

"I need to get back to Raven," Robin replied, "anything show up as far as a security breach?"

"No, the alarm would have sounded, I checked that too, it says the tower is clean, nothing is here but the six of us," Cyborg said.

"That is just weird...and kind of creepy," Terra said.

"Damn right," Cyborg said.

"Can you take this to the evidence room and get it analyzed?" Robin asked, handing Cyborg the metal link.

"This looks familiar..." Cyborg said taking it.

"What?" Robin asked.

"I know I've seen this somewhere before. Shit, I'll just run it through our system, it might take a few days to work through everything it could be from," Cyborg said.

"Right. I'm going to go back and stay with Raven," Robin said.

"You're going to watch her while she sleeps? That seems...weird," Terra said.

"I don't exactly have a choice, we don't know if that thing will come back or not, and if I don't stay and it does come back, I'll be responsible," Robin said.

"No you won't," Terra said, "but I can see what you're saying."

"Good night, Titans," Robin said, turning to leave.

"Night," Cyborg said.

"Good night," Terra said.

Leaving the room, Robin walked back down the hall to Raven's room. He knocked and listened. "Robin?" Raven asked.

"Yeah," he said.

"Come in."

Opening the door, he crossed her room and sat at the edge of her bed. Raven was already lying down under the covers, she had her head propped up on two pillows, and she was looking at him...differently, was the only word he found to label it. Something in her eyes made him want to lie beside her, yet he knew she wouldn't let him, or want him to at that point. Finally, he decided to speak.

"The others didn't find a security breach or a problem with the power..." he said.

"You're joking..."

"I could hardly believe it myself."

"So, it could still be here..."

"I doubt it; it would be attacking if it was."

"Would it?"

"Just don't worry about it, if it comes back to hurt you, it will have to deal with both of us."

"That's...comforting?"

"It should be."

"Right..." she said.

Robin sighed. He had to get her mind off of the whole thing somehow, and he didn't exactly have anything to add to the matter then, he needed Cyborg's analysis to be finished so things would move forward. Bringing up something equally frustrating to her might get her mind off of it...

"What's on your mind, exactly?" Robin asked.

"Hmm?" Raven asked.

"You've been looking at me ...differently for the past few minutes. Almost like you want something."

"Oh...I want to talk to you... but I'm afraid that conversation will have to happen tomorrow, it is too late to have it now."

"What is it about?"

"Guess..."

"...I don't think I need to. I'd be happy to talk about it tomorrow," he said, smiling at her.

"Good." she said, returning a small smile, "It's late and I don't think I can stay awake much longer..."

"Alright. Where can I sleep?" he asked.

Raven tossed him a pillow and said, "at the foot of my bed, sideways, I won't make you sleep on the floor..."

"You're okay with that?"

"If I wasn't, I wouldn't have agreed to, or suggested, that you stay in my room until I was better."

"Thanks."

"Now, I'm going to go to sleep. Good night, Robin." she said.

"Good night, Raven." he said.

Raven fell asleep within the next few minutes. It didn't surprise him in the slightest, she had been through a lot that day, she didn't even bother changing out of the torn leotard. Laying down carefully across her bed and putting his head on the pillow, he realized he would have to get some things from his room the next day. He couldn't keep sleeping in his uniform. There was the morning to think of, too: showers, changing clothes, and the other rituals. It was a chance for him to see her differently, and maybe undres-. Stop. It was already starting; he couldn't control those thoughts forever, could he? She trusted him, he wouldn't betray it, but he would talk about what he might want from her in time. There was no doubt in his mind that she had been having similar thoughts. Maybe she would bring it up... He was looking forward to their conversation the next day, but was worrying about the meditation she had planned for them. Tomorrow would be...well, different. Robin fell asleep, thinking: what exactly hadn't been different this past week, anyway?

(Chapter 7 will be up in two weeks this time, have a bit on my plate and I'd like to get a little more ahead of the chapter updates. Hope you've enjoyed the story so far. ~RavensMind~)