Beast Boy's eyes grew nearly to the size of watermelons as he saw a familiar shape approaching Titan's Tower. His mouth dropped open and he bounced away from the window exclaiming "Dudes!" Starfire, Raven and Cyborg turned around, their faces solemn from lack of sleep and worry.

"Has something of interest appeared?" Starfire wondered, yawning. She ran her fingers through her hair, frowning. She needed to brush it or take a shower. It had been too long of a night for all of them.

Beast Boy shook his head, but took back his notion and nodded instead. "Y-yeah, uh, I mean, not interesting, but great! Just come see!" He sped back to the window, followed by the rest of the Titans.

Seeing their faces through the glass, Terra glided over to the window, smiled at her teammates and waved.

All of their faces were wide-eyed, but otherwise blank, as if they thought they were for sure seeing an illusion. Raven closed her eyes tight then opened again, to still see Terra. "Looks like she's the real thing," she said.

Terra saw Beast Boy's lips form the word "Dudes!" again, and a grin took over his face. He waved her inside, gesturing up at the roof.

Terra agreed with a nod and landed on the roof, putting the boulder aside. In just a few seconds, Beast Boy and Starfire broke through the doors that led to the roof of the Tower and came running towards her. As they both hugged her simultaneously, Raven and Cyborg joined the group on the roof. Then, Beast Boy and Starfire fired questions.

"Please, friend Terra, you are unharmed?"

"Dude, I thought I'd never see you again, we all thought Slade killed you guys and-"

"Robin is not with you? Where has he gone?"

"No offense, Terra, you look kinda bad. What'd he do to you?"

Terra took a breath and held her hands up in front of her chest. "Wait," she said, trying to sort out both voices separately in her head. "Just, uh, one at a time, okay?" Beast Boy and Starfire nodded.

"We are filled with joy from your return," said Starfire, at a much slower pace this time. "However, it concerns me that Robin has not returned with you." She wore a frown and looked away.

It was Beast Boy's turn, and he repeated, "Yeah, I'm glad you're back too. But what happened? I mean, we tried to pick up on your signals on the monitors and we ran all over the city, all night, looking for you guys. Found nothing."

Terra folded her arms. "Slade . . . he kinda . . . he kept Robin." She chewed on her lip a little, nervously pulling at the fabric of her shirt. "He let me go in replace of Robin." This time, she felt worse about what she said. "But I let myself go back for one reason." She looked up at the team. "I know where he is and I know we can go get him back." She tried to smile, to show some hope for the situation, but it didn't work well so she let her lips fall back to a frown. "As for what happened, I can't really explain now, okay? Trust me. Right now, we need to get Robin back. My story-our story-can wait."

"So you know his location?" asked Cyborg, walking closer with Raven. "We can go grab him right now."

Terra shook her head. "It's complicated, but listen. I think we should wait a day to get him. If we went right now, it would be too obvious. Slade probably suspects we'll show up. If we wait, maybe he'll let his guard down."

There was silence from the team, but eventually Starfire spoke up. "But could not Robin be in danger, alone, with Slade?" She cupped her hands together behind her back, almost bursting with anxiety.

"I know, I care about him a lot too, okay? But I'm trying to do what's best, because I care."

Beast Boy looked away in confusion, but didn't say anything. Starfire just nodded, as if too worried to do much else.

"Besides," said Terra, "It looks like you guys could use some sleep. Just saying."

"We've been up ever since you two disappeared," Raven commented, knowing what Terra said was the truth. "You're right." She paused. She didn't like admitting Terra was right to instruct them on what to do. "Why don't we get some rest?" She glanced to each face to the team.

They came to an agreement, after some light talking, to have breakfast then rest during the day. They could plan during nighttime, for a few hours, then go for Robin sometime the next day. Even though she wasn't too tired, Terra knew she should try to get quality sleep as well. Her night had been rough, not to mention uncomfortable.

Wanting to take a shower after laying around on Slade's cold and probably dirty floor, Terra prepared a pile of her pajamas and a towel. She threw them over her arm and headed down the hall to the bathroom. Outside of the bathroom door was Beast Boy, with pajamas and a towel slung over his arm as well. He leaned against the wall and looked lifeless, but perked up when Terra approached. "Hey," he said. "Looks like we'll be waiting. Star's taking forever."

Terra smiled at him. She had a strange appreciation for the typical ways the team functioned-always waiting for someone to get out of the bathroom, always fighting over the sofa, always wondering who drank the last soda. It was nice to be back. "It's alright," she said. "I can handle the wait."

Beast Boy grinned and played with the towel he held, pretending to inspect it. Now he was trapped with Terra until Star got out of the bathroom. No, not trapped-it was a better thing than trapped-but he did feel stuck on words.

"So, um." Terra's attempt at starting a sentence failed, so she slid over next to him on the wall and focused her gaze down the hallway.

It was quiet for a little bit longer, but Beast Boy finally found a topic. "What happened to you guys with Slade?" He knew it was the worst topic ever, and she probably didn't want to talk about it, but he wanted to know.

Terra took a breath. She had to tell him now. "He wants us back as his apprentices, Beast Boy." It was still quiet ten seconds later. Beast Boy hadn't said anything. She turned to see his expression, but his head was down, looking away. "But I told him to back off, I guess. I don't really remember." He still looked somber, silent, strange. "Anyway, he gave up on me and kept Robin instead. He only used us both as motivation to not leave the other. Okay, more Robin. He knew Robin wouldn't let Slade have me as an apprentice again. So Robin took my place."

Finally, Beast Boy raised his head. "It's not fair, Terra. He used you as a useless toy again. That's all you were there for? To motivate Robin to join him? It's stupid." He folded his arms, angry.

"Doesn't it bother you even a little that Robin's stuck there now?" She frowned. Why was it always about her? Besides, she knew as well as anyone else, it was her choice to be Slade's toy. She messed up, it was true, but it wasn't because Slade forced her-or maybe it was. She didn't want to think about it. "I shouldn't have left him, because he didn't leave me. He helped me, even when he had problems of his own to deal with."

"He helped you?" Beast Boy thought a moment and looked at her. "What'd he do?"

"I don't know," Terra said, growing a little uneasy. "He sat with me on the floor, talked to me, made sure I didn't get hurt."

"On the floor?" asked Beast Boy. He made a confused, slightly concerned face.

"Yeah, that's where Slade told him to sleep. Slade gave Robin a blanket and pillow on the floor."

"So where did you sleep?"

"On the floor there." After a second, it occurred to her that Beast Boy thought she slept with Robin, at the same time in the same spot. To clarify, she added, "But Robin didn't sleep there. He was up all night doing something, but I don't know what. I was sleeping." She blushed a little and hoped he didn't notice. She didn't even know why, so she was embarrassing herself.

"Oh," said Beast Boy. "Well, I'm glad someone took care of you."

"Me too," said Terra. She was about to tell him about the white-haired girl who was hanging around Slade's place, but she stopped, realizing he could use some cheering up after the bad news. "But, Beast Boy, look." She put her hand on his shoulder, hoping he'd turn to her. "You've helped me so much, through a lot of things. You know a lot about me, a lot of bad about me, but you still want to be my friend. I mean, that's . . . not something everyone does. A lot of people give up. I think I would even give up on me." She frowned and closed her eyes.

"Don't give up," Beast Boy told her. He did look up at her, but she still had her eyes shut. "We can set this straight again. Slade should've known to stop trying the first time we kicked his ass. But he's crazy, so what can we expect?" He smiled, and she opened her eyes again and smiled with him.

"I wish I had your optimism," Terra said. "But I guess cheering people up is more your thing, not mine."

"You can make me feel better. You always do."

"I do?"

"Sure, of course you do." He smiled again, but it was a softer smile, a quieter one.

Terra blushed and tried to turn away, but Beast Boy held her shoulder in place. She looked back at him, nervous. What was he trying to do? He raised the hand on her should up into her hair and brushed it. All she could hear was the sound of the shower spraying out water in the background. She wished he'd say something, because she couldn't think of anything.

Suddenly, the shower noise stopped. Terra heard the shower curtain get pulled away. She felt his gloved fingers on her cheek. Before she had time to think, Beast Boy leaned in close to her. His lips barely reached hers when the bathroom door slid open. They both stepped away from each other, startled and confused, their faces light pink.

"You may use the shower now," said Starfire, dripping wet in a towel, oblivious. "I have finished. I apologize for my time, but I was very unclean." She grinned and stepped between them, continuing down the hall to her bedroom.

Author note:

I'm sorry for the BBxT stuff here, for those readers who are reading for other reasons than this pairing.

But they are one of my favorites.

I promise I'll finish this soon, ASAP. I should be punished for being so slow. D'x