Speedy was in a deep dreamless sleep when the sound of beeping began to penetrate his sleep fogged mind. It grew louder and louder until it finally stopped. His mind began to again drift off into sleep when the sound started a second time. It was then he realized the sound was coming from near his head. Groggily he reached a hand out until it rested upon his buzzing communicator. There was no alarm blaring which would have woken him instantly so with a tired shove he pushed his body to a sitting position on his bed. He quickly grabbed his mask and opened the communicator.

Staring back at him was Cyborg. Speedy gave a yawn and stretched. "Yo Cy, What's up?"

"Where the hell is my girl?" An irritated voice came over the communicator. Speedy's sleepy brain was not yet processing anything fully. It was only now dawning on him that Cyborg didn't just look irritated. He looked pissed.

Despite that, Speedy answered with a very intelligent, "Huh?"

This obviously was not what Cy wanted to hear. He bit out the next sentence emphasizing each word as if talking to a very young child. "Raven…you know…my girl…the one I left there? I want to know where the hell she is and I want to know right now!"

By now Speedy was starting to get dressed and his brain was almost fully awake. "How should I know? I've been asleep. Why would I know where Rae is?"

"Because when I talked to Aqualad he said that you were the last to see her and she wasn't up when he and the twins went out. He also told me it was a bad night for her but wouldn't go into detail. Something about confidentiality of a friend."

By now Speedy saw the worry causing Cyborg's gruff tones. He was still confused and starting to worry just a bit himself. It was not like Raven to sleep in no matter how late they were out. They had midnight calls that lasted hours and she was still up at the crack of dawn with her tea.e also He also told me it was a bad night for her but didn't really tell me about it."

Still it wasn't time to worry….yet. "Why call me? Why not call her?"

"I tried. Six times! That was when I called Aqualad. I even tried calling the main room of the tower. I got nothing. So I repeat. I want to know where my girl is."

Speedy gave a quick nod of his head. Something was not right. It was very unlike Raven to sleep in and even more unlike her to not answer a call. He frowned at Cy. "I'll go look for her and call you back." Cyborg gave a curt nod and ended the call. By now he was fully awake and dressed. There was no reason to panic and yet a tiny voice was tickling the back of his mind. With a determined air the young hero went in search of his temporary leader.

First he tried the main room and the kitchen. He did find the open communicator sitting on the couch which did nothing to relieve the tiny voice but did explain why she was not answering her communicator. When the search of these rooms proved fruitless he moved to the roof and the outside perimeter of the tower. Next he checked the gym, the library, and finally the med lab. The tiny voice had now magnified and Speedy was almost frantic. The last place to look was Raven's room. She had not been staying there much as of late. Part of the team leader and training she had in place required that she was as available as possible. If she was awake, she was out of her room. The team knew from talks with Cyborg that this was unusual for Raven and thus they respected the privacy of her room even more.

Very rarely did any of the titans go to her room. If a call came in, she was the first to the main room. She was the first up and almost the last one down every night. She did seek out her privacy, but it was always somewhere she could be found quickly. She would meditate on the roof or in the main room when everyone had gone to do other things. She developed training schedules and filled out paperwork in the kitchen. She sat quietly and read books while the others talked and played. She helped cook and clean, but very rarely did they ever find her in her room. Because of that, they were very respectful of her time in her room. In fact, the only time any of them had been in her room was to help set it up.

This was the last place Speedy could think to look. He began to bang on the door calling out, "Rae…Hey Raven. Are you in there?" Much to his surprise the door was engulfed in a black aura and swooshed open. There sat Raven with large sleepy eyes and a slightly bemused look on her face. Speedy was not sure which emotion he felt more strongly, irritation that she was in her room the entire time or relief that she was safe in her room the entire time. He chose to go with relief after looking at her sleepy eyes.

This was not the Raven the team had seen very often. Last night she had been open…eventually, and emotionally drained. When she had finally taken his hand to dance Speedy's heart had skipped a beat. He had not thought she would really dance with him and he certainly had not expected her to be so good. Now here she was, blinking at him with her hair in tangles. Her pajamas were rumbled and curled next to her lay a large stuffed chicken.

In a very unRavenlike gesture she raised her hand to rub sleep from her eyes. It was in fact such a childlike gesture that Speedy felt all irritation melt away. He smiled at her softly as Raven stifled a yawn. "What is it Speedy?"

He tossed her communicator at her watching her catch it effortlessly. Even sleepy as she was her reflexes were very much intact. "You left this on the couch and your big brother has been searching high and low for you. Called me demanding to know where you were because he couldn't get a hold of you. You probably want to call him asap."

Raven's eyes widened. "Crap." Within seconds her communicator was open and she was calling Cyborg. Speedy grinned as he crossed his arms and leaned back on the doorway. This was going to be an interesting call and he was not going to miss it if he could help it. Before Cyborg had even picked up however, Raven seemed to realize that he was still there. He felt her power give him a light push and the door slammed in his face.

With an indignant shout Speedy stared at the door. "Hey, you could have just asked me to leave." When she didn't answer he began to pound on the door. "Hey, Raven! Raven…answer me! Is this any way to treat your friends?" But the door remained shut. He tried listening to the door but heard nothing. After a few minutes he gave up and headed for the kitchen to start lunch, but he was grinning. She was back to the Raven they all knew and loved.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Raven was woken to the sounds of someone banging on her door. It took just a moment to realize that it was Speedy and the emotions she was feeling were ones of slight panic. Even half asleep she knew he was starting to get frantic. As the door slammed open she propped herself up on one arm and rubbed sleep from her eyes. Her brain was slow to wake up this morning. The emotional drainage had also drained all energy from her as well. She had made a conscious decision to sleep in knowing that her team could get a hold of her on her communicator. Raven ran her hand up and over her hair trying to smooth its appearance. "What is it Speedy?"

As she became fully awake Raven felt Speedy's emotion change to one that was calmer. He threw something in her direction and she caught it on reflex. It was her communicator. With a soft smile Speedy spoke. "You left this on the couch and your big brother has been searching high and low for you. Called me demanding to know where you were because he couldn't get a hold of you. You probably want to call him asap."

That was enough to wake her fully. She sat up in bed. "Crap." She had opened the communicator and was calling Cy when she realized that Speedy now rested comfortably leaning against her doorway. He had a smirk on his face waiting to listen in on the conversation.

It was then it dawned on her that she was not in her usual state of mind. They never saw her sleepy with her hair a mess and cuddling next to her chicken, Arnold. A faint blush began to bloom on her cheeks. Before Speedy could see her embarrassment she flung him outside and slammed the door. Outside she could hear him yelling but she ignored it all. With a small smirk she turned to face a very irate Cyborg.

"Just where the hell have you been? I have been worried sick. And why weren't you picking up your communicator? Honestly Rae, I was ready to drive over there and find you myself. Well…." As he took a breath Raven quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Are you done?"

That was the wrong thing to say as Cy began to rant anew. After a few minutes he finally calmed down and looked again at Raven. "So why didn't you answer my calls?"

Raven shrugged. "My communicator was on the couch."

When it became apparent that she was not going to offer any more information than that Cyborg pressed her. "Why was it on the couch?"

"Because Speedy threw it there and I forgot about it."

Now he was just confused. "Why would Speedy throw your communicator?"

"Because we were finishing a conversation and he didn't want the call I was getting to interrupt that conversation."

All of this was said with her usual deadpan expression. Cyborg had been on the receiving end of this expression many times and he found it extremely irritating when he was trying to get information about where his little sister had disappeared to for the last few hours. She was never one to willingly offer up information. It all had to be extracted by a deft hand or as a set of rules like with their questions game. It was just part of the rules that she had to share information and so she did. Even then it was sometimes a tricky operation to extract the desired information. It was something Cyborg was getting better and better at but he was by no means an expert yet. With a huff he moved onto more direct questioning. It seemed that was the only way to get her to answer questions sometimes.

"So was it a conversation about your little team night last night?"

"Yes."

"And do you want to elaborate on that conversation?"

"No."

Cyborg gave a small growl. "Then do you want to explain the issues you had last night?"

Again Raven shrugged. "Not particularly."

"Will you?"

"I guess."

Cyborg waited a few moments for Raven to continue the conversation, but she remained silent watching him with unblinking eyes. He narrowed his eyes. "You can start any time Rae."

She gave him a small grin. "I know, but I wanted to see how long you would wait me out. Not very long."

He stared at her, dumbfounded. After a few more moments he began to laugh and all the tension he had been feeling seemed to melt away. "Alright, alright, I get the idea. I will try to calm down and loosen up."

"Thank you."

"It doesn't mean you get out of explaining. Now spill."

"Nothing really to it. We went to a club. I hadn't meditated and I couldn't handle the people so I left in the quickest way possible. The boys found me. The were confused and angry. We talked and went to bed. End of story."

"Is that it?"

"Basically."

It was Cyborg's turn to sigh. "The way Aqualad was talking it was a major event."

"Not really. My guess is he wanted you to hear the information from me since I told my team. He likes to keep confidentiality going that way. He takes it very seriously."

Cy nodded at her and then he grinned. "So what are you doing still in bed?"

"Sleeping in. It was a long night."

"Yeah, the bed head is cute." Cyborg chuckled at her.

With a sniff Raven tossed her hair a bit. It was getting longer and she was now able to easily tuck the offending strands behind her ears. "You're just jealous I have hair."

"Har har Rae."

It was finally time that Raven looked at her clock. It was 11 in the morning. If Cy had been up for at least an hour looking for her then he must have been up by 7 am at least his time. That was odd for a Saturday. It was his favorite sleep in day. She looked at the smiling titan. "Just what are you doing up so early?"

Cyborg scowled. "Our fearless leader woke us up at 5 this morning to work on drills and training."

Raven raised both brows at that news. "Did you have a big defeat this week?"

"That's the thing, we have been really at the top of our game this week. Everyone has put in extra practice and really worked on teamwork and everyone we have come up against we have defeated in the end. I don't know what's going on with him."

"Odd. He usually only pulls that when we have a big defeat. Is there something else going on?"

Cyborg scratched his head. "Nooooo, not that I can think of. In fact he was in a really good mood after we hung up with you last night. Did you talk to him later that night?"

"No, but that could have been the call I got on my communicator when Speedy and I were dan…talking."

That caught Cy's attention. "When you were what Rae?"

"Talking." If Cy had not known her he would have believed that he had heard things, but Raven was blushing ever so slightly. He had to squint to see the color gracing her cheeks but it was there.

"Rae, what were you and Speedy doing?"

"None of your business."

"Wanna bet? I am making it my business. Now what were you two doing?"

"Talking."

"Rae, we both know you are lying to me. Now I want to know what you were doing or do I have to be persuasive?" Raven saw the glint in his eye and she knew what it meant. Her eyes narrowed into dangerous slits.

"You wouldn't dare."

With a smile Cyborg began to sing. "You…….Are…….My….."

"Don't do it Cy…." but the threat fell on deaf ears as Cyborg began to belt out a tune.

"Sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray."

Raven tried to cover her ears. "Make it stop…."

"You can make it stop Rae, just tell me what you were doing…."

She shook her head. Cy gave an evil smile. "What was that? Sing louder?" The volume increased tenfold. "You never know dear, how much I love you so please don't take my sunshine away. Again…. You are my sunshine…"

"I will hang up this phone"

"And then I will be forced to hack the system and broadcast myself onto every communicator I can think of. Soon everyone will know this is your song and they will be happy to join me in singing it."

"You wouldn't!" Raven was horrified at the thought of Beast Boy and Speedy having that kind of information. They would never let her live it down.

One look told her that he had won this round. With a defeated slump of her shoulders and a scowl Raven mumbled into the communicator. "We were dancing."

"What was that?"

Raven looked him in the eyes and squared her shoulders ready for the teasing to begin. "We were dancing." Her mask was back in place as she noted his shocked expression. She sighed and elaborated. "It was one of the night's rules. I had to dance at least once and since I had to phase out before I did so Speedy made me hold up my end of the team night. We were dancing so I didn't answer my com."

Instead of laughter she heard a whistle. "No wonder Rob has been so steamed today."

"Excuse me?"

"I mean first getting blown off because you were 'talking' to Speedy and next to find out you were dancing with him. No wonder Boy Wonder is trying to work out some issues. I think it is finally dawning on the oblivious one."

Raven's scowl deepened. "You are not still on that kick are you? I will repeat that Robin is not interested in me. Not in that way."

"And I repeat that some guys don't know what they have until it is gone. We see it over here with you gone. He gets into little moods all the time that seem to disappear after you two talk. He still leaves out tea things for you in the morning waiting. He constantly mumbles to himself that you would be a big help during this fight or that one. Face it, he misses you."

"And I miss all of you, but that does not mean he is pining after me as you seem to believe." Before he could begin the conversation again, Raven gave him a look. It was the look that told him to back off. She had no energy for this very long conversation. Besides, she had thought she had finally gotten a hold of these emotions that Robin seemed to evoke. Apparently she was wrong.

She sighed. "Look I have to meditate. I will talk to you all later."

Cyborg gave her a sad smile. "Ok Sunshine. Later then."

As Raven signed off she missed his closing remarks. "If only you could see what we are all starting to." He sighed and left to get some relaxation in before their irate leader started the next round.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ok I am so sorry I have not been writing. Between school and two jobs I have no time for anything anymore. I know it isn't much of an excuse but it explains where I have been. Thank you to everyone who continues to read and review. To those of you who have sent messages, I am so sorry I have not responded. I feel like all I have time for is work and sleep. I do know how this will end and I think you will like it. It is just a matter of actually getting the time to write it. Hope this will tide you over until the next one. Again thanks to all the readers. I am glad you have enjoyed this story. I am always open to suggestions and ideas and if I do not respond right away please forgive me but work and school are kicking my butt at the moment. Until next chapter….