Two tense days passed while they scoured the city for Mike to no avail. They traveled as a group, any forays at less than full strength having being absolutely forbidden by Robin. No sign of Mike could be found. Formal training gave way to exercise pretty much used only as stress relief, except for Beast Boy. When he wasn't out pursuing a lead with the group he was in the gym.

It reached the point that Raven, in a reversal of their usual roles, prepared a meal for him when he seemed to be skipping dinner and took it to him. The door opened and what she saw surprised her. He wasn't using the weights or machines and the martial arts accouterments were idle. She watched him curiously as he stood still, his back to her and the door, bathed in sweat and breathing heavily. He visibly steeled himself for some kind of effort and in an eye blink, he was gone. A hummingbird buzzed a few feet towards the weight rack and was suddenly replaced by a massive gorilla, far larger than any living animal. That was when it hit her. Usually when Gar transformed there was a moment, a bare second, where he didn't move. He was moving now. In the brief instant before the transformation was complete, he had seized a weight bar that she noticed was loaded to exactly half a ton and flung it across the room. The instant the massive piece of steel left his hands, he was a hummingbird again. In that flash of time, she saw the gorilla's face contort with pain. Then he was in the middle of the room and back to his familiar T-Rex shape. He smashed the reinforced wall with his massive tail and again, without stopping, shrunk. It appeared he was becoming something small, possibly the hummingbird again but he instead became himself in mid-air with a cry of pain and slammed to the padded floor. He rolled onto his back, face contorted and eyes closed as he rested for a heartbeat and then began to get up. Raven was already at his side, on her knees and gently holding his shoulder. "What are you doing?" she asked, her cold tone showing exactly how emotional she was.

"I have to be faster," he said, still catching his breath.

Raven thought very carefully about what she next said. "When you change," she said, "you always freeze for a second."

"It hurts if I move," he said shortly.

"A lot?" she asked. He looked as if he were going to deny it but then nodded agreement. He started to get up but she restrained him gently. "Rest a little," she said. He fell back onto the mat. "Gar, does it also hurt more if you change size really fast? Like from a hummingbird to a dinosaur?"

He nodded again and repeated "I have to be faster." She understood. Mike was going to attack her first and hardest. It was his only chance. If he succeeded in incapacitating her, he could run roughshod over the rest of the team. He was just so damn powerful.

Gar wasn't going to let that happen. He couldn't match Mike head on but he could occupy the formidable man for a short, crucial time. It had been exactly his part of the plan Robin had formulated. His job was to protect her for so she could raise her defenses and go on the attack. Robin had chosen well and cynically and she resented it a little.

She didn't know what to say or do and it made her feel helpless. It was an unfamiliar and unpleasant sensation. She stroked his shoulder and almost gasped when her hand touched his quadriceps. It wasn't just tight or tense from exercise, it was actively cramping in what had to be an extremely painful way.

"My God," she said, quickly checking him over. Every major muscle was also in spasm. It must have been excruciating. "Gar, what the hell?" she asked in a quiet, shocked voice.

He slowly got up, his face a mask. She reluctantly let him. "I'm fine," he lied, stretching his convulsed muscles and popping various joints. His face cleared a bit and he said "See? All better." He shook himself to loosen his muscles and saw the plate where she had hastily put it in the floor. "Cool! Food!" he said in a voice he clearly hoped would conceal his discomfort from her.

Rae watched him make his way towards the door where she had all but dropped the plate and wasn't fooled. She thought hard about what to say, nearly overcome with a wave of emotion swirling through her; admiration and respect for the pains he was suffering, guilt that on any level he felt that he had to suffer so; rage for the man who had forced it on him; love. It would make him feel condescended to if she tried to talk him out of his efforts. It would hurt his pride, a thing that he had far less of then he should. She realized that she had to remember that though he was sometimes silly and often boyish, he was a warrior who was preparing for a struggle that he could not, in his mind, lose. He was wolfishly devouring the sandwiches she had brought him. "Enough for today," she said.

He shook his head. "A while longer."

Raven regarded him carefully and ordered her thoughts before she spoke. "Gar, I know what you're doing and I respect it but please, rest now." He shook his head in refusal. "I'm not trying to stop you," she said, "just… call it a day, Okay? What if he showed up right now? What kind of shape are you in?" He shrugged in feigned indifference. Then she pulled out the big guns. "Come rest," she said, "for me? Please."

"Cheater," he said grumpily, stuffing the last of the third faux ham and cheese in his mouth.

She knew that his near legendary appetite was the result of how much energy his transformations used. "Still hungry?" she asked. He nodded agreement. "Go up to my room and take a shower. I'll bring you something and you can relax." He glanced around the room briefly and she added as she left the room "So help me if you try to sneak in 'just a few more minutes'…"

"Okay," he said, raising his hands in a gesture of surrender. Once he got to her room, he realized he had neglected to bring anything to change into. He started out the door but paused, glancing at her dresser. Mostly out of curiosity, he looked in the same drawer she had produced clean clothes for him from a few days before. There, neatly folded, were the things he had taken off that day. He grabbed them and ducked into the bathroom.

He heard the door open and close and Raven called, "Did you find your clothes?" He called back that he had and she placed the plate on the desk before sitting on her bed to wait. In addition to the meal, she had borrowed an economy size container of Tiger Balm from Robin, who swore by the stuff. When Gar finally emerged he was moving like an old man; slow, stiff, and careful. "Hurry up and eat," she said, holding up the jar, "then I'll work you over."

"Oh, baby…" he said with an eyebrow wiggle. She rolled her eyes. Knowing her intent, he was carrying instead of wearing the shirt, his wiry musculature on display. He attacked three more sandwiches with the save fervor he had the first plate. She watched him fondly and was amused that it took exactly nine bites, three per sandwich. She gestured for him to come to her and he lay face down, wearing only a pair of shorts. Raven began spreading the balm on his shoulders, the glow of her healing energy also infusing slowly into his strained muscles. He gasped a little at the initial burn but the feeling of warmth and well being that followed made him relax. "Don't waste your energy," he said.

"Shut up," she answered softly. She tried to be clinical and detached at first but quickly gave up. There was no reason not to let herself enjoy this a little. She knew she was making him feel better, which she was obviously glad of, but his bare skin under her hands felt so good to her. She silently worked, kneading his muscles to the accompaniment of various sounds of pleasure. She went over his back and arms, then his legs.

He turned over, reaching for the jar. "I can…" he said but she caught his hand and placed it back down on the mattress. She started with his pectorals, moving over his shoulders and down his arms rhythmically. She tried to pay attention to her work but the naked emotion in his face made her unable to do anything but meet his eyes. "Thank you," he said in a quiet, surprisingly deep tone.

"Of course," she said, starting on his legs. She sat on her knees and rhythmically leaned back and forth, using her slight weight to bear down on the muscles of his thighs. She finished and found to her surprise that she didn't want to move and break this intimacy. Instead, she wiped her hands on a damp towel she had brought for the purpose, caressed his face, and smiled at him. Gar took her hand and kissed her palm. "You're staying here tonight," she said.

"Getting to be a habit," he said.

"I'm fine with that," she replied. Shifting to his side, his hand was freed to begin stroking the small of her back where her shirt had ridden up, taking his turn to enjoy the feel of his hand on bare skin. She lay down and time passed pleasently.

An while later, Rae got up to use the facilities and Gar lay back contemplatively. He took the opportunity to stretch and try to further loosen his still painful muscles. A thought had been nagging at him so when she came out, he said, "Rae, why don't you levitate people? You create a platform when Cy or Rob need a lift."

Rae hesitated and spoke diffidently. "I have to extend my soul-self around things to lift them like that and if it's a person, it's… I can feel them. I don't like it. It's too close."

"I see," he said.

She went on carefully, "I think I could with you and it would be okay. With the others, even Robin and I'm closer to him then Cy or Star, it would be unpleasant."

"Part of the plan is for you to levitate him," Gar said sounding displeased.

"And it's going to be kind of awful and I hate being that close to a mind like that but..."

"Can you do anything else?" he interrupted. "Maybe just a platform or a cage or something?"

Rae shook her head slowly. "I don't think so," she said "he has to be held." He did not look pleased. "Gar, I get that you don't like it. I don't much care for what you're doing to yourself but as much as I want to yell and scream at you to stop, I'm not. It's your job, it's for the greater good, and it's for me."

"I need to show you the same respect you're showing me," He interrupted. "I get it." His displeasure was plain.

"These are the waters," she said in an obvious and even a little ham-handed effort at lightening the mood, "that we noble young super heroes in love have to navigate." He tried to go there with her. He truly did. Humor, or at least attempts at it, in the face of terror and danger was usually what he did best. He couldn't even smile right then. "It's a good thing we're like the best couple ever," she said.

That did produce a hard earned little chuckle. "Yeah, I guess it is." He looked at her and actually opened and closed his mouth, beginning to speak but changing his mind.

"What is it?" she asked.

Gar shrugged and spoke, "Raven, there will come a day... maybe a day very soon, when we're not having a disagreement and not under imminent threat and neither of us is in pain."

"Oh, baby..." she said with a wicked smile.