I think it's obvious by now that I don't own the Teen Titans.

Garfield watched from the corner of his eye as Raven took small, tentative bites of a bagel they stole from the kitchen. He wanted to let her know that she could talk about it- if she wanted to. He wouldn't force her to, but he would listen.

He wanted her to feel comfortable with him knowing, even though she obviously didn't want him finding out. He wanted to let her know it was okay; that it didn't change how he saw her. She was still the smart, witty, independent girl he had met on the plane. She was still beautiful.

Well, maybe he didn't want her to know that part.

Raven could feel his eyes on her. She knew he was curious, but she was pleasantly surprised that he was respecting her privacy. She really hadn't planned on him finding out- least of all from somebody else. That was something she had hoped to keep locked away in the past. Richard knew, of course- his father owned the hotel, and it was happening at the hotel. It happened at the hotel.

She knew she would tell Garfield eventually- he seemed very adamant on being her friend. But five days into the friendship wasn't the time to divulge all of her deepest, darkest secrets. That was probably more of a two-week kind of talk.

"How's your bagel?"

Raven slowly turned her head to face him. They were back in the conference room, sitting side-by-side and munching on their stolen breakfast. He had opted for some cold french toast, while she was content with a blueberry bagel.

"It's good," she replied. What else was she supposed to say?

"That's good." Pause. "How are you?"

She smiled despite herself. "I'm okay."

He nodded his head casually. "That's good."

Another pause.

She rolled her eyes in exasperation and turned her body to face him. "Alright, what do you want to know?" she asked bluntly, holding back a smirk at his shocked face.

He recovered quickly, and a somewhat serious expression replaced it. "Nothing you don't want me to know."

"I don't care," she deadpanned. "Ask about anything."

"Yes you do. You do care."

She was quiet for a moment; he was right. She did care. She probably cared too much. She didn't want him to see her differently; to think of her as the daughter of someone like... that.

"My parents died when I was six."

He wasn't sure why he said that. He never talked about them. He literally avoided anything to do with them. But maybe it was so she'd know something personal about him. So they'd be even.

Raven opened and closed her mouth slowly. She wasn't sure what to say.

"Oh."

He smiled slightly at her reply, before continuing. "It was an accident, obviously- a boating accident. I was okay; I made it out. But they didn't. They drowned."

Another long pause. Those were becoming quite common between the two of them.

"I'm sorry."

Garfield knew she was going to say that- everyone would say that. It was the standard reply when someone said something tragic. He hated it. It wasn't anyone else's fault.

"You have nothing to be sorry about," he shrugged, prodding at his breakfast with his fork. "It's not like you sunk the boat."

"I'm sorry that it happened to you."

He smiled bitterly. He was sorry, too.

Suddenly Raven slid off of her chair and crawled under the table. He watched in confusion, before she beckoned him under with her. He complied, sliding off his own chair and sitting beside her, their backs leaning against the cold, metal bar.

"My father use to work here," she began quietly. She hated that he made her feel obligated to tell him. She hated that she was telling him. And she hated that she wanted to tell him. "That's why I had lived here."

He didn't say anything, and she took that as an invitation to continue.

"They fought all the time; him and my mom. I don't think they liked each other. I don't know if they ever really did," she shrugged. "I think he only married her because of me. That was probably the most decent thing he ever did."

Raven really hated talking about this. Her and her mom avoided the subject like it was the plague.

She took a deep breath, before continuing. "He got the job here when I was about thirteen. Living here was the first time we could count on hot water and electricity every month. It was... nice.

"I met Richard, and we hit it off right away. Maybe because we were the same age, or because we didn't know how to make friends, and our awkwardness was something we had in common. I don't know. But anyway, he was my friend."

Garfield grinned at the small smile that appeared on her face. He suddenly felt like a total jerk for being annoyed by her friendship with the black-haired teen.

"Since we hung out all the time, I didn't really know about my father's 'side business'," she whispered, her smile fading. "Apparently the free housing and meals provided for working here, along with a nice paycheck, weren't enough."

She was quiet for about a minute, begging her tears not to fall. She hated crying- it was weak. And her father sure as hell didn't deserve her tears.

"It was kind of clever of him, actually," she laughed bitterly. "He worked security, and had several of those guys in on it with him, along with a few maids and valets; even a couple of cooks."

Garfield felt his blood boil as he remembered the two guys from the kitchen. How could they say such horrible things about her?

"I'm not sure where he got it from- some anonymous supplier, I guess. The police never could track him down."

Her teammate furrowed his brows. He suddenly remembered hearing about this drug scandal in a Gotham hotel two years ago- it was pretty hush-hush, but his foster dad was an ex-cop and got the scoop from some old work buddies.

"He'd use me, too," Raven sighed. She felt so completely stupid when she found out. "I obviously had no clue what I was delivering, but he'd have me take packages to random rooms."

She paused again, taking another deep breath.

"I-I was a fourteen-year-old drug mule," she choked out. "And I was too stupid to realize it."

Garfield didn't like that she called herself stupid. She wasn't stupid- she was the smartest girl he knew. He was about to tell her that, but she started talking again.

"One day, he found out this maid named April was stealing. I don't know if she was taking the drugs or the money, but whatever it was, he tracked her down to collect.

"He never touched her- he wasn't one to get physically violent. But he had some of his goons beat her pretty bad, and then leave her in an unoccupied room."

Raven could hardly keep the tears back any longer as she hugged her knees to her chest.

"She almost died..."

Garfield watched as a single tear escaped from her eye before she quickly blinked away the rest.

"Everybody liked April, and when her co-workers found out what he did, they turned him in. It was so scary when the police came- I was hanging out with Richard, and Bruce told us to stay in the penthouse. We were two teenagers, so we obviously didn't listen. We took the penthouse's private elevator down to the floor where all the commotion was coming from- we didn't even realize it was my floor."

She paused again, and Garfield used the opportunity to place his hand on her knee. She gave him a surprised look, but he only smiled reassuringly.

She smiled back, before continuing. "He went without a fight, which was surprising. I watched as they walked him out of our room handcuffed, my mother following them to the door with no expression. She leaned against the door frame with her arms crossed, as if she couldn't care less. At the time, I didn't know what was happening, or what had happened, so I started screaming at her.

"I knew about the drugs by then, and what he had made me do for a year, but I didn't know about April, so I just kept screaming at my mother. She gave me this look- I don't know how to explain it- it was like a mixture of pity and anger and heartbreak. She just looked at me, and Richard was holding me back when I started trying to hit her. I just wanted her to stop looking at me like that... but then she pulled me into a hug. I started crying all over her shirt, and Richard let go of me as I hugged her back.

"We moved out the next day. Bruce said we could stay, but we knew it'd be too hard, so we packed up and moved across the country. I never even said bye to Richard..."

Garfield suddenly felt like even more of a jerk as he thought about how rude he had been to the hotel heir. He had even commented on how Richard didn't even try to reach out to Raven, but now he knew why.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, cursing himself for using the phrase he hated so much.

She gave him her signature smirk . "You have no reason to be- you didn't sell any drugs."

"I'm sorry that it happened to you..."

Raven sighed, tentatively setting her hand on top of his on her knee. "I-I'm sorry, too."

So this story is labeled under "Romance" and "Humor", and this chapter was neither romantic nor humorous, so I'm thinking about changing the labels. What do you guys think would be more appropriate? Friendship? Angst? Horror?! Lol

So now we know about Raven! And why she acted so weird when she saw Richard and realized what hotel they'd be staying at! I hope this explanation wasn't a letdown, nor clichéd beyond comprehension, 'cuz even though I tend to get as clichéd as a greeting card, I do try to avoid it! Lol

Leave a review, maybe? Let me know what you guys think? Oh, and Garfield's pills and what they're for will be explained soon, but not til I bring in a little more lightheartedness after this big old ball of sad! Stay tuned! ;D