The T-Ship landed on the outskirts of the City in a damp field the storm had left in its wake. It was nearly 1:00AM and the T-Ship's engines could easily wake the entire neighborhood if they landed any closer. They were a few blocks from Terra's home and Terra knew she had no choice but to do what the Titans wanted and follow them to her home.
As the engines whirred to a stop Cyborg and robin both got out landing in the wet grass with a small splash. They both reached up to Terra and gently lifted her off the step she stood on and set her down softly. She held her rain coat in her left arm and looked up at the two Titans with disappointment and sadness.
The two lowered their heads unhappy with themselves that they had to trick her into taking her home but they felt they had no other choice.
They had a bit of a walk to Terra's home and the silence between all of them was haunting. But something was bugging Robin ever since Terra was found by Beastboy. What happened? And why did it affect Beastboy so much? It bothered him so much that he spoke up and it nearly startled both Cyborg and Terra as they quietly walked.
"Terra," Robin started, "something has been bothering me ever since Beastboy came back from seeing you a few weeks ago."
Terra looked back at Robin like a scared child. She thought she had done something wrong and she was in trouble.
"Beastboy hasn't been the same since he talked to you," Robin continued, "what happened between you two? What did you say to him?"
Cyborg looked at Robin and his curiously peaked. He was also wondering the same thing. He looked down at Terra and waited patiently for her to answer.
Terra looked down at the sidewalk they were about to begin walking on to enter the neighborhood. She thought back to when he asked her to get a pizza. How he followed her around her school. He was committed to talking to her no matter what the cost.
"He said he knew me," Terra began to explain, "I told him he had the wrong girl but he seemed positive that I was the one he was looking for," she looked up at Robin who was still watching her closely, "he seemed so sure that I actually believed he might have known me. From a long time ago. Back before I lost my memories."
"What made him go so crazy after you guys talked then? He seemed like a completely different person," Cyborg said pressing the original question.
"I... might have... told him what I thought he needed to hear?" Terra said looking out the corner of her eye towards Cyborg. She wasn't sure if they were going to like what they were about to hear, "he started stalking me and I got really creeped out."
"Stalking you?" Cyborg and Robin said together. They looked at each other like the were surprised but they knew it was entirely possible. If Beastboy was gonna stalk anyone... it was Terra.
"Yeah..." Terra continued cautiously, "he wouldn't leave me alone. He nearly followed me into the the girls locker room."
Robin and Cyborg stopped in their tracks with a dumbfounded look of concern on their lifeless faces. No wonder this girl told him what he needed to hear. He was literally following her around like an obsessed puppy. After Terra got a few steps ahead of them they quickly sped up to rejoin her slow pace to her home.
"So what did you tell him to get him to finally go away?" Robin asked, embarrassed for Besstboy.
"I don't remember exactly what I said," Terra explained, "I said something like... 'Things change. I'm not girl you want me to be.' Or something."
Robin and Cyborg looked at each other. With a small amount of confusion. That's what set Beastboy off?
"Wait..." Terra said catching herself, "I actually said, 'The girl you want me to be is just a memory.' Yeah. That's it."
They looked at each other again with a little more understanding. It sounded like Terra laid it on thick that she was pretending to remember everything so that Beastboy would leave her alone.
"So you made it seem like you could remember so that Beastboy would stop talking to you and accept your decision to live your own life?" Cyborg said trying to clear everything up.
"Yeah. That's pretty much it," Terra replied, "but I can see now that I meant a lot more to Beastboy than I originally thought," She stopped in her tracks and stared at the ground in front of her. The others stopped next to her looking down at her wondering why she had come to a halt, "can I ask you guys something?" She started, "and be completely honest with me."
"Of course," Robin answered for both of them, "you can ask us anything."
Terra took a moment to work up the courage to ask them both straight forward. But she wasn't sure if she was going to like the answer.
"Did... Did Beastboy mean a lot to me as well?" Terra asked softly.
The two Titans looked at each other and panicked. They had no idea. They knew Beastboy cared about Terra A LOT. But they had no idea if Terra had any feelings for Beastboy what-so-ever.
"Well... uh..." Cyborg said tripping over his words.
"If were being completely honest..." Robin continued for him, "we don't know. I don't even think Beastboy knows the answer to that," Robin quickly continued to add to his statement realizing how that must have sounded, "you guys had a lot between you. Way more than any of the rest of us could know."
"I thought so," Terra said with a heavy sigh. It was as if she already knew the answer, "I mean... what kind of girlfriend would try to kill her boyfriend's best friends?" She lowered her head futher and continued walking.
"That was... dark," Cyborg said speaking his mind looking at Robin, "like... darker than what Raven would have said," he emphasized.
They both started walking next to her and continued towards her house. The street was lit with light poles every 20 feet. It was just enough light to see but not enough to keep anyone awake if the light shined into their bedroom. As they walked past each pole Terra's house got closer and closer. When they finally arrived in her driveway she looked back at the Titans who looked almost just as upset as she did that she had to leave them.
"You'll get a chance to talk to Beastboy soon," Robin said reassuring her, "I promise."
"Don't worry," Cyborg said with half a grin, "you haven't seen the last of us."
Terra flashed them a small smile and turned to walk into her home as quietly as possible. After watching the front door close slowly and carefully the Titans turned and started to walk back towards the T-Ship.
Above them on the second story of the house, a pair of fingers held a single blind up from the the rest that completed the shutters of a bedroom window. Someone was peering out the window at whatever might have been in their driveway. Lindsey was standing at her window in her night gown. She was furious. She couldn't believe that Terra had disobeyed her and snuck out to see the Titans.
"Honestly," she whispered under her breath, "what were you thinking? You could have gotten yourself killed."
She gently let the blind realign on the shutter and walked back towards her bed where her husband slept soundly without a care in the world. She stood next to her nightstand and opened the top drawer quietly and reached inside. After feeling around the darkness of the drawer she found what she was looking for a pulled it out, shutting the drawer just as quietly as she opened it.
She walked towards the master bathroom that was connected to her bedroom and turned on the light after shutting the door behind her. The light illuminated what she was holding. A small card with a name and phone number typed in bold print.
Melissa Wallace Attorney at Law
"If you won't listen to me," She muttered to herself, "then I'll have to do this the hard way."
Once they were a fair distance away from any of the houses Cyborg and Robin began running to the T-Ship. They still didn't know what was going on with Beastboy and were worried they would need to expand their search. Robin pulled out his communicator while they were in a dead sprint and called to the others.
"Starfire, Raven, Report! Have you found Beastboy?" He said in a rush.
Cyborg and Robin made a swift turn into the field where they landed the ship and started sloshing through the damp grass kicking water up behind them.
But their steps grew slower as the communicator respond to them. It was Raven and she replied with her usual dark monotone.
"Yeah, we found him," she looked back behind her to see Starfire still choking the life out of Beastboy with ther alien strength hug. Watching this almost annoyed her, "though Statfire might suffocate him by the time you get here."
Cyborg and Robin breathed a sigh of relief with a slight chuckle as they heard about Starfire's powerful hug. They calmly boarded the T-Ship and the engines roared to life and the ship hovered off the ground and made its way into the night sky. They took off in a hurry in the direction of Raven's transmission.
Beastboy, Raven and Starfire sat on the steps outside the house of mirrors waiting for their ride to arrive. Raven sat in between Beastboy and Starfire. They all didn't know what to say to each after what took place that night.
They looked up to the sky as they heard the T-Ships engines echoing through the air. Once the aircraft was in sight they flagged down their friends and the T-Ship landed a safe distance from them. Robin and Cyborg got out and walked over to their friends.
"So..." Cyborg said trying to break the tension, "you alright B?" he said looking at his best friend.
Beastboy looked up at Cyborg and smiled, "yeah. I think I am," he looked at Raven who he found was staring back at him, "Raven said some things that I think really helped me."
Raven blushed and looked down at her feet tilting her hood to cover her face. The rest of the Titans grinned and starred at her. Starfire even let out a little giggle covering her mouth with the tips of her fingers.
"Well it's about time!" Cyborg said with enthusiasm getting the wrong idea.
Beastboy was confused as to why everyone was acting this way, "what do you mean?" He asked looking at Cyborg confused.
Raven looked up from her hood at Cyborg with a death stare and Cyborg realized he misinterpret what Beastboy said and misread the situation entirely.
Cyborg's face went red with panic. He scrambled for something to say to cover his tracks.
"Uh... I mean... It's about time... For waffles!" He said carrying his enthusiasm from what he said earlier, "who's hungry?" His face dawned a massive smile to cover up his embarrassment.
Robin covered for Cyborg by picking up where Cyborg left off.
"Cyborg's right. We'd better get home and get some food and some rest," he urged his team, "tomorrow we hit the streets. This city needs to know we are still here and we are going to protect them however we can."
The team all nodded in unision and gathered in the T-Ship to head home for some much needed rest.
The T-Ship docked in the hanger and the Titans disembarked. Beastboy seemed upset but looked as if he was doing much better. Even though he hadn't heard from Terra herself just knowing that she was thankful for him was helping ease his mind.
The team made their way to their individual rooms. Raven felt awkward for what just happened and couldn't let herself look at Beastboy.
Beastboy had been keeping a close eye on Raven. He also felt awkward but he didn't want Raven to feel that way. He felt bad that he almost forced her into that situation by gripping her hand tightly and not letting go.
The team was splitting off one by one to go to their individual rooms. Cyborg was the closest and he split off with an optimistic farewell for the evening.
"Night y'all! I'll have waffles ready for us in the mornin'!" Cyborg said. He felt he had to continue his charade to make up for almost letting Raven's secret slip out in front of Beastboy.
Beastboy's room was next and he stopped at his door and watched Raven start to fade away down the hallway with Robin and Starfire. Before he went inside he decided to call out to her.
"Hey Raven?" He said loudly down the hall.
Starfire and Robin turned around, while Raven stopped in her tracks unable to face Beastboy.
"Um... Could I talk to you for a second?" Beastboy sounded nervous. Like he did something to hurt her feelings.
Raven turned sideways towards Starfire looking towards Beastboy out the corner of her eye. She looked up at Starfire who was staring intently at Raven wondering what was about to happen. She gave a small smile to Starfire reassuring her that everything was going to be fine.
"You guys go ahead," she said to the others standing next to her, "this won't take long. Goodnight."
Starfire lit up with excitement but kept her actions well hidden to make Raven feel more comfortable. Robin saw Starfire's enthusiasm on her face and he grinned hoping this could help bring the team back to normal.
"Pleasant shlorvax!" Starfire yelled back to Beastboy.
"Night. Get plenty of rest. We're gonna need it for tomorrow," Robin add. His leader mentality never seemed to take a break.
The pair started heading down the hallway to their rooms giving their friends privacy to speak alone.
Raven dipped her head so her hood could conceale her face a little more and she turned to face Beastboy. She made her way over to his room where he stood outside his door. When she was close enough she stopped and looked up from under her hood to see Beastboy standing with his mouth slightly open like he didn't have the slightest clue what he was going to say.
"What is it Beastboy?" She asked gently.
Beastboy snapped put of his stupor and swallowed the knot in his tongue. He cleared his throat and started to speak.
"I uh... Just wanted to say I'm sorry about what happened earlier," Beastboy put his hand to the back of his head with a blush, "I don't know what came over me and uh... well..."
"You don't have to apologize," Raven said interrupting him, "you were emotional," she explained for him, "people do things they don't mean when they under a heavy amount of emotion."
"Oh... Well... Uh..." Beastboy didn't know how to respond to that. If Raven really meant that, then why didn't she stop him? Normally, she would have broke his nose before he even got anywhere near her face but it seemed like she was reciprocating the moment they shared.
Raven felt his nervous confusion and titled her head back slightly. She raised her hands and removed her hood, revealing the pale skin of her flawless beautiful face. Beastboy blushed a little more and he shrugged his shoulders trying to retreat like a turtle into its shell.
"Yeah... I guess you're right," he said with a chuckle, "my bad."
Raven could feel his disappointment. She wanted to tell him how she truly felt now more than ever seeing that Beastboy might have similar feelings for her. But what she told him she truly believed. He was very emotional and when your emotional you do things you don't mean. It was too soon for her to know for sure. Besides... if she said anything now it could futher complicate things with everything else that's going on.
She reached under her cloak and grabbed something soft from the large pocket on the inside.
"Here... you might need this," she said holding out Beastboy's night cap to him.
Beastboy's face went bright red with embarrassment. He relaxed his shoulders and set his hand down at his side reaching to grab his night cap with the other.
"That's... For... Um..." Beastboy was desperately looking for an excuse as to why he wore a night cap to bed, "it helps... Uh... with my dreams?"
Raven raised an eyebrow at Beastboy. Seriously?That's the best you could come up with? She thought.
"Uh... Aren't dream catchers supposed to do that?" She said in her monotone voice, holding back a laugh.
"Well yeah. They do," Beastboy said trying to recover. He looked down at the soft cap with a fuzzy ball at the tip of the pointed hood, "but this is a... Dream catcher... night cap? Yeah! That's it!" Beastboy looked up at Raven still red as ever. He sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than he was trying to convince Raven.
Raven closed her eyes and chuckled as she let go of the night cap in his hand. She looked back up at Beastboy who was also chuckling with her. It was like the world stopped spinning for a moment and they could just be themselves for a second. The energy around them was warm and inviting with a glimmer of promise for the future. It felt good. It felt right.
"Get some sleep you idiot. You've had a long night," Raven said jokingly trying to end the conversation.
"Yeah. Now that I have my cap I'll have some amazing dreams," he said joking back at her, "goodnight Rae. And thank you. You know... For everything," Beastboy said with a smile.
Raven smiled and couldn't take her eyes off Beastboy. She didn't want this moment to end.
"You're welcome," she said softly and sincerely. She was sad she had to go but the joy she was feeling from talking to him was too strong for her to even notice, "goodnight."
She turned and started to walk towards her room as Beastboy's door finally shut. She had a grin on her face that seemed to be indestructible. Nothing could bring her down at the moment. She thought about Beastboy and his night cap. How they help his dreams. She giggled and whispered to herself...
"I think my dreams will be amazing tonight as well, Beastboy."