I'm Baaaaaaaaaaack! :P lol. Miss me? I know I've been neglecting some stories, but the creative juices have been flowing for this story, so... oh well ;)

ENJOY THE LONGER THAN USUAL-SOMEWHAT DEPRESSING/INTROSPECIVE(did i use that right?) BUT ALSO WITH RANDOM HUMOR CHAPPY :D

Ch 19

Beastboy's POV

I hold my head in my hands, ashamed. I'm supposed to be Beastboy! A Teen Titan! A superhero!

… Yet I couldn't even save myself. And because of it, I put other people in danger – namely the kid that pretty much saved my life, and is now unconscious in the room next to me, waiting for an ambulance. Smooth, Garfield.

Raven's POV

I go to class in a happier mood than usual. The group project thing went surprisingly well this morning. John and Tim are actually pretty nice. Speaking of… "Hey, Tim!" I wave to him as he passes by. Almost immediately I notice something's up, and start following him. "Tim? Everything okay?" Suddenly, he stops.

"Have you seen John?" he asks, worry evident. I shake my head.

"I haven't seen him since this morning, before lunch- he's got a different lunch period than me… why?" He swore under his breath, and started walking faster.

"Knew it… can't stay outa trouble for a week, can he?" I hear him mutter.

"Wait, trouble? What's going on?" John seemed like just about the LAST person to get in trouble.

"You didn't hear? It's only the only thing the whole damn school is talking about… at lunch. Some football players were messing with –" he stopped again, "God, you don't KNOW? You of all people should-"

"Tim! What the hell is going on?" He doesn't say anything. Instead, he grabs me by the arm, and starts dragging me down the hallway. After a while I recognize where we're headed – "Why are we going to the nurse's office?"

He still doesn't answer. He just pulls me into the office. "Mrs. D? You here?" A frantic looking woman scurries over towards us.

"Yes? Yes? What is it? I don't have time to answer questions if that's what you're wondering about –"

"I'm his brother," Tim stops her, "can… can I see him?" His voice starts to shake.

"Oh, of course, of course! Though I'm not sure you'll really want to in the condition he's in…"

"What happened to John?" I cut in, worried. Why can't anyone just tell me what's happening?" The nurse's head snaps over to me.

"Oh, and you're Raven. I suppose you're hear to see Beastboy?" I stare, confused.

"Beastboy? But- why is he here? What happened? What's going on?" Tim starts dragging me back to the curtained off areas.

"I'll explain soon. But for now… he's just gonna need to see a familiar face – both of them, anyway…" A girl who introduces herself as Jenny comes out from behind one of the curtains. Recognizing me, she points me inside. "Beastboy is in there." I hear her direct Tim over to John even as I brush past her. My jaw drops when I see him.

"… Beastboy?"

Beastboy's POV

I look up groggily, and see… "Raven? What're you doing here?"

"Trying to figure out why you're here," She answers, worry evident. "What happened?"

"Some of the football players gotta hold of my tofu… you know I wasn't gonna just let that happen…" she rolls her eyes, and I smile, "I stood up to them, and head doofus attacked, but then he evened things up and the rest of his gang jumped me. And so here I am."

"What about him?" she asks, pointing to the other curtained room. I sigh.

"When I started going unconscious, that dude stepped in, and got them mad. They started chasing after him. I don't know what happened after that." I see Rae's still pretty worried. "I mean, I'm sure he's gonna be okay… they called in an ambulance, and it should be here any minute-"

"An ambulance?" she asks eyes wide. "It's that bad- why didn't you say so sooner, stupid!"

"Holy atomic alliteration…" I mutter, "I only found out a few minutes ago when Jenny came in here."

"Great… just great…" she grumbles, "Azar, Tim has got to be beyond worried right now."

"Tim? Tim Drake?" I ask. "What's he doing here?"

"You know him?" she asks, avoiding the question.

"Yea, he's in my fencing class. So what's he doing here?"

"He's John's brother. Well, almost-brother." At the new name, my eyes widen.

"Dude, John's the one who saved me?" Of all the people… how could he even survive? I mean, he's pretty good at fencing, but that doesn't really help with hand to hand combat… how the heck is he alive right now? If those dudes were causing damage to me, a trained fighter with faster healing and immunity thanks to the animal blood, well, he's gotta be a mess right now.

"Yea," Raven answered. "I found out about this all from Tim." Her expression turned sour, and she was starting to look murderous. "Where's Cyborg?"

"What?"

"Where is he? If he can't get his friends to keep their grubby fists off of you, then I'm gonna have to teach them myself, and-"

"Whoa, Raven! No need to go all 'overprotective-big-sis' on me. Though it is kinda nice," I say with a smile. "But seriously, please, don't get him into this."

"Why?" she asks, "You two used to do everything together, and now he's trading you for all of those-those assholes? Give me one good reason on earth why I shouldn't go murder him and his jock-squad."

"'Cause I asked nicely?" I try. She smirks.

"What if I just throw him out a window?" I laugh, and for a second, things are back to normal.

Tim's POV

I walk through the curtain and see… some random chick? "Who are you?" I ask her.

"Mickey… I'm a friend of his… I was with him and Beastboy when all of this happened. And you're his lil brother to be, right?" I start to answer yes, then stop – that 'step-brothers' story we only gave to Raven. How would she know about it? Raven and Mickey definitely don't seem the type to talk…

As if reading my thoughts, she responds, "Its okay, I know," Seeing the dubious look I'm giving her, she quietly adds, "Robin, I know that 'John' here is Robin is Grayson." Oh. Well that changes things up a bit.

"And how exactly…?" I whisper back, conscious of the fact that a kid with super hearing is about 20 feet away.

"Mary Jay was messin' with Starfire's communicator this mornin' and tried to call Robin. I heard his communicator go off in his bag before he could shut it up."

"And the whole Grayson part," I ask.

"You know any other ex-carnies with Batman- or should I say Bruce Wayne's funding to back 'em up that conveniently showed up in Gotham and left Gotham at the same time that Robby did?"

"That's a damn good point… and congrats, you have passed the detective test," I say with a smirk. At her confused expression, I continue, "That's how I got Batman to train me- figured out who he and Batgirl and the Robins were. So, if you really wanted to, you could now become a crime fighting vigilante. Congratulations."

I say this all with a straight face, which immediately cracks into a smile when I hear her response, a hearty "Hell no." Our smiles fade immediately when we glance back at 'John.'

"Is he… is he gonna be okay?" Mickey asks, suddenly.

"He's recovered from worse. Much worse," I say, trying to cheer her up through Bat-Speak. Obviously not working.

"I guess that shows just how much I know about 'em."

"This," I look at him, "Only proves just how dedicated he is to his friends."

"But then why didn't he beat the crap outa them? Why let this happen to himself? They deserved a hell of a lot more than a punch to the face." Punch-? She looks sheepish, so I'm going to assume the punch was from her. Nice.

"Why didn't he beat the snot out of them?" Good question. But the answer's simple. "He's beyond dedicated to his friends. He's even more dedicated to Batman. Coming back to the same school with colored contacts and a polar opposite personality can fool people, but only for so long. Opinions need to be reinforced. This was his way of reinforcing everyone's opinion that he's some quiet little nerd that's beast at fencing."

"By getting' himself half killed?"

I answer this question with as much of my own opinion as his, "Robin would rather be dead than betray Batman."

"But he's not just Robin," Mickey argues. "What about him? The real him? Dick Grayson? What does he think about all of this?"

"I think… I don't think even he could answer that question." I turn my head as I hear footsteps outside the nurse's office, and the door open. The footsteps become louder and faster as they get closer. "The paramedics are here."

"I'm stayin'" she asserts, watching over the still unconscious 'John'.

"We'll both be here for him."

Well that was longer than I thought it'd turn out... lolz. And Raven's back! I didn't want to randomly jump to her with all this drama, so I'm gonna work her into this drama ;) romance issues and jake will be back soon enough ;D