AN: I do not own Teen Titans. Please refrain from reviewing until the end of the story. Thank you.

Chapter 9

It was the pain in her neck that woke her. She groaned and sat up, trying to straighten out her stiff neck that felt permanently cricked. She blinked a few times, trying to gain her bearings, and saw across from her Beast Boy was fast asleep. She did her best to stretch her limbs in her seat, without drawing too much attention or being too obvious about having been asleep, and looked outside. It was oddly dark out and that concerned her. She had an unpleasant taste on her tongue and decided to go get something to drink.

She was less than graceful as she made her way to the dining car, her legs still being tired refused to cooperate, but she did make it and ordered a juice. It got rid of the odd taste and helped to wake her up. She finished it in two goes.

"You look like you really needed that," the woman working chuckled.

"I did," she said matter-of-factly.

"Just wake up from a nap?" the woman asked, still smiling.

"How did you know?"

"Well you've got sleep lines on your face. You must've been sleeping on the wrinkles of your hood."

Raven as quite mortified and rubbed at her cheek. "Yes, well, I was bound to fall asleep after such a long ride. Do you know how much longer it'll be until we get to Applewich?"

"Applewich? Uh…we passed Applewich an hour and a half ago," said the woman.

The empath stared at the woman for a solid minute before she finally blinked. Her brain attempted to process what she'd just been told but it didn't compute. This absolutely could not be true. She shook her head and took in a breath. "I'm sorry, we've passed Applewich?"

"Yes, quite a while ago."

"That can't be."

"It was announced on the overhead speaker before we stopped. You must've been asleep."

She stared at the woman for a few more seconds before finally succumbing to reality. She collapsed onto the bar and buried her head under her arms. "You've got to be kidding me. This can't be happening."

Beast Boy was starting to nod off. He wasn't actually sleeping when Raven had woken up, just pretending to give him an excuse. But he was really starting to drift off now. But his fatigue quickly disappeared when someone slammed their hands on the table. His sensitive ears stung and he sat straight up, quite startled.

"We slept through our stop," she said through her teeth.

"What?" he asked, partly scared which helped him appear surprised.

"We slept through our stop," she repeated and sat back down very roughly. "This is unbelievable. A seven hour ride and we both fall asleep right at the end just in time to miss our stop. This is insane!" She began to rub her temples and breathe in sharply through her nose. She was obviously at the end of her rope.

"Well…we can't be that far off," he offered. "We'll just grab a bus or another train and get right back on track." He couldn't believe what he was saying. He'd done this so that they wouldn't be on that track!

"I don't even think I want to," she said with an aggravated sigh. "This has got to be a sign. We're just not meant to make it to Civic City." She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against her seat. "It's time we called it quits."

"No, come on, it's not that bad," he said as positively as he could. "Just think how much sweeter it's gonna be when we finally get to meet the author of Ashen Splendor. Everything might be going wrong but I know that someday we'll laugh about all of this."

"I highly doubt I'll ever be able to laugh about this," she said, her voice dead. "This is just…a disaster."

He hated what he was doing to her. She was so unhappy. And she didn't deserve it. None of this was her fault. And once she found out the truth…he didn't want to think about that moment. Was this all really worth it? Was keeping his place on the team worth the possible loss of a friendship? Why couldn't he have kept his big mouth shut in front of Aqualad those few days ago?

"Hey," he said, reaching across the table and placing his hand on hers. "We've still got plenty of time. It's only Wednesday and the signing isn't until Friday. Don't give up yet, Pollywog. This is your vacation and you need to enjoy yourself no matter what."

She looked at his hand then took hers out from under it. "I don't see how I can enjoy this trip. Every single place I wanted to go to I've either missed or had to give up. I'm so worried something bad is going to happen I'm beginning to feel sick with anxiety. I would rather go home and feel safe than pursue this venture anymore. I can always save up and go to Romania someday and visit Melita Funar in her home country."

He was losing her. "No, we can still save this trip. I swear you can still enjoy yourself, despite all of these setbacks. We're so close it's stupid to just turn around now."

"Your optimism is starting to rival that of Starfire's. How can you possibly want to continue on after all we've been through? Are you having fun? Is all of this bad luck amusing to you?"

"Of course not. I just don't want bad luck to make a chump out of me. Just because everything's against you doesn't mean you give up. You bite your lip and keep going until you reach your goal!"

She gazed at him for a moment before her eyes began to shift with thoughts. "Do you really think this trip can be saved? That we can still have a good time despite the constant omens that we should go home?"

"Absolutely. We're just gonna hafta stop going by your schedule and go with the flow."

At that moment the train began to ease to a halt. They'd arrived at the next stop. He hopped up, grabbed his bag, and held his hand out to her. "Come on, let's get off this train and not look back."

She hesitated for a few seconds before grabbing her bag and taking his hand, allowing him to pull her out of her seat. They exited the train and went about figuring out where they were. They were certainly off course but nothing they couldn't make up before Friday. Heck, they were only a few hundred miles away from Civic City, and even less from Empire.

Worn out from the ride, and the stress of the trip, they decided to call it quits for the day and find someplace to stay for the night. It was a small town, the train station seemed to be at the epicenter, but they did manage to find a Bed and Breakfast. It wasn't busy so getting a room wasn't a problem. The problem was that all of the rooms had only one bed. But at this point neither was surprised. Like Beast Boy had suggested, it was time to just go with the flow.

"Well it's not a small bed," he said as they entered the room. It had a very homey feeling, seeing as the establishment had once been a large house, and there was a sense of comfort. "But I'll take the floor if it'll make you feel more comfortable."

"At this point I honestly don't care," she said, dropping her bag and removing her sweatshirt. "I need to lie down for a bit. My back's killing me from sitting all day."

"Hungry?"

"Starving."

"Me too. I'll go see what the food situation's like. If you need me I'll be asking questions at the front desk."

She gave him a sarcastic thumb's up and he exited the room. He made his way down to the first floor and back to the desk where the couple that had checked them in still sat, chatting. When they saw him they smiled warmly.

"Can we help you?"

"Yeah, when it comes to food you guys only serve breakfast, right?"

"That's correct."

"So would you happen to have any menus for delivery?"

"Sure do." The man reached under the desk and took out a large folder. "Got a little bit of everything around here."

"Awesome. So…you must see a lot of tourists around here. Are there any places that are fun to visit?"

"I'm so glad you asked!" the woman gushed and pulled out a stack of three overflowing binders. "Now what sort of fun are you into, young man?"

Raven sat up and moaned. Her neck was still stiff from her nap earlier and her back was still aching. She forced herself off of the comfortable bed and began to do some stretching exercises. After doing nothing but sitting for the last few days she needed to do something that kept her muscles in shape. She managed a half an hour of exercise before Beast Boy returned.

"What took you so long?" she asked. She wasn't sure who had entered, she was bent over backwards and was currently looking at an old radiator, but she assumed it was him.

"I was talking to the couple downstairs," he said with exasperation. He was caught off guard by her being bent backwards but he quickly realized he'd be in danger if he was quiet for too long. So he cleared his throat and pretended not to notice her. "They were really helpful but, dude, they would not shut up!" He threw the menus on the bed. "I know what I'm getting so here you go. I'm gonna call mine in."

"What're you getting?" she asked, rolling back up into a standing position.

"Chinese. Veggie lo mein and veggie fried rice."

"Chinese sounds good. I'll have what you're having."

"You sure? It's all veggie."

"I don't mind. Just order a large of each…and add an order of beef teriyaki."

"There's the meat loving Pollywog I know and love."

"Shut up."

It was a long half hour wait for their food and Raven had grown quite crabby by the time it arrived. They didn't have a place to eat so Beast Boy, quick thinker that he was, moved the bedside table for them to use. Once they'd filled their stomachs the tension in the air finally evaporated and they could relax. Both got comfortable in the bed and each grabbed a book to read for a while.

"I'm glad you're still reading the book," said Raven in a voice that was light and genuine. "I take it you're enjoying it?"

"More than I thought," he admitted. "But, to be honest, if there was a TV in here I'd probably be watching that instead."

"Well I'd think something was wrong with you if you chose a book over the television."

He snorted at that then it went quiet. "So…what's the plan for tomorrow?"

She shifted uncomfortably at having to think about continuing their journey. "I guess get on another train and try to get to Civic City on as straight a route as possible. Luckily it shouldn't take too long. And once we get there…I guess we'll just hang around."

"How about instead of leaving tomorrow early in the morning we leave at night?" he offered.

"You want us to actually stay here? For a whole day?"

"Well yeah. I mean, we've got plenty of time to get to the city. I was talking to the owners and they said that there's a train you can ride overnight, there's beds and everything, and it'll take us straight to Civic City. So why not take a day off from traveling and actually enjoy yourself on your vacation?"

"How am I supposed to enjoy myself in this tiny little town?"

"I've already got it all planned out," he smiled. "Just leave it to me and I promise that tomorrow you're gonna have an amazing day."

"I don't know. I'd rather get to the city as soon as we can."

"Come on, trust me. Isn't it about time you started to have fun? You do realize that most people relax on their vacations and not get even more stressed out than usual, right?"

"Of course I know that. I just can't imagine you managing to put together a day where I'd enjoy myself, that's all."

"Hence the need for you to trust me." He watched her chew the side of her cheek and really think about this. He knew she had good reason to be wary about putting her faith in him. And if she only knew how much he'd already deceived her she'd definitely refuse considering anything that came out of his mouth. But he was actually trying to do something nice for once and did need her to believe in him. "Come on, Pollywog, what've you got to lose at this point?"

The mention of her nickname snapped her out of her thoughts and she finally said, "Alright, fine, we'll stay here tomorrow and do whatever it is you think will entertain me. And, just so you know, if you don't stop calling me that I'm going to start calling you by a name you won't particularly like."

"Ha! I'd like to hear what you come up with," he laughed. "I'm best friends with Cyborg, the king of demeaning nicknames. Hit me with your best shot, Pollywog."

"Oh I intend to…Garfield."

Beast Boy's eyes went wide and his jaw dropped. He hadn't expected her to use that against him. He hadn't heard anyone mention it in so long he'd almost forgotten that his teammates now knew his real name. "Oh come on that's not fair! That's not a nickname, it's my name name!"

"It's your nickname to me since I only refer to you by Beast Boy," she shrugged, a slight smugness in her lips. "And if you insist on calling me Pollywog then I'm going to call you Garfield from now on."

He opened his mouth to protest but realized she'd backed him into a corner. So he chose to pick up his book and pout into it instead.

One point for Raven.