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Epilogue

They wanted to stay with him. They needed to stay with him. Beast Boy was stable and bandaged, asleep as a dog in a corner of a First Responder's recovery tent. (He had refused to take a cot or commandeer a doctor for humans, allowing a veterinarian to stitch him up and bandage nearly every inch of him.) Robin stood with his teammates surrounding him, all watching their friend inhale and exhale, and the handful of men and women in the tent with them wondered if they should leave to give the young heroes some privacy.

"Robin," Raven ventured after a couple moments. "Robin, we should get back to work."

"Yes" was all Robin said, but he made no move to follow through.

A hand landed on his arm, and he looked into violet eyes. "He would want us to get back to work."

"We'll keep an eye on him," an exhausted paramedic said quietly. Heads around the tent bobbed in agreement.

Robin sighed, his smile small but there. "Thank you," he said, and he turned and led the remainder of his team out of the tent.

-:-:-:-

Beast Boy knew it was only a couple hours later when he awoke. He groaned, shifted, winced when the movement pulled at the stitches in his back, and sat up carefully, wincing again at his bruised paws. He wanted to sleep some more, but a sharp scent wafted through the air.

He knew that smell.

Hauling himself to all fours, he limped past the slumbering people on their cots.

"Where do you think you're going?" a soft voice groused.

BB froze and turned his head. A middle-aged fellow with wiry, black hair cropped short stared him down with keen black eyes. BB gulped and cocked his head, sniffing visibly.

"Smell something?"

B woofed quietly.

The paramedic, judging by his uniform, cast a glance at the other occupants in the tent before getting out of bed. "I promised your friends we'd watch you. If you're going somewhere, I'm following."

No, please, BB begged with his eyes. Go back to bed.

But either he didn't understand or he ignored him. Waving a hand, he said, "Let's go then."

It took all Beast Boy had to not roll his eyes, and he had to wonder if Robin had made the pale human promise. Still, it was nice to have company, and having an adult in uniform might help pave the way for what he was about to do.

They weaved their way through the haphazard crowds of mats, blankets, sleeping people and animals, and equipment. Dogs lifted their heads and sniffed curiously as he walked by, but pursued no further, recognising BB's determination.

B followed the scent. It was everywhere, of course – fear, worry and grief permeated every air particle – but he had learned long ago to filter out the young from the old; and so he bee-lined his way through the triage centre to a cordoned off area with tents and doctors and a whole lot of people with guns.

"Authorised personnel only," said the private who stepped in their way. Her face was haggard with exhaustion, but her eyes were keen. The name O'Brian was above the pocket on her left breast.

The paramedic beside Beast Boy swallowed. "Right. Uh, my name's Jefferson. I'm a paramedic…"

"I don't care if you're the Pope," O'Brian ground out. "No one's allowed in here."

"What is this anyway?" Jefferson looked down at Beast Boy.

BB didn't look at him, his nostrils flaring and ears perked.

"Makeshift orphanage" was the terse reply. "We got minors up the yin-yang whose parents we can't find…or…have already found." She trailed off, her voice losing its anger.

Beast Boy whined, and O'Brian looked down at him for the first time.

"Uh, why is that dog green?"

"Oh! Right. Well, this is Beast Boy –" Jefferson started.

O'Brian gaped at him, stopping him. "The Teen Titan who saved a kid from a falling building? That Beast Boy? Rumour has it he was holding up concrete for hours!"

BB huffed and dragged a bandaged paw over the floor. It was nothing, he wanted to say, but shifting was out of the question for now.

She snapped to attention. "Forgive me, sir. I didn't know it was you. Are you supposed to watch him?" she added to Jefferson.

"Yeah. He smelled something clear across the centre and he led us here."

"Here?" O'Brian looked down again at Beast Boy. "What's wrong?"

If you let me in, I can show you.

"He seemed pretty determined to get here," Jefferson added.

"Right." O'Brian's brain worked quickly behind her eyes, and then she nodded. "Go to that tent first," she said, pointing. "Tell Lieutenant Bell that I okay'd you being here. You'll get a clip ID that tells us not to shoot you if we see you. Put it somewhere visible."

Jefferson nodded, Private O'Brian stepped out of the way, and they passed through.

Beast Boy accompanied Jefferson towards the tent set out in front of the others and kept an eye on the guardsmen milling around. He meant to follow him in, but that scent washed over him, sharper and fresher than ever. His paws carried him away from Jefferson towards the smell.

It came from so many tents, so many…but he knew where it was freshest, and he poked his head through the tent flap.

There.

He padded in, grateful that he had chosen a dog breed that was large yet renowned for its gentleness, especially towards children. He paused at a cot and rested his chin on the edge, huffing.

The little occupant hiccupped, caught during a hard cry, and rolled over. "Doggie?" she whispered.

Beast Boy wagged his tail, ignoring the splinters of pain stabbing across his back, and licked her tear-streaked cheek.

She giggled and petted his head, the sound waking a couple of the others. They were older, BB noticed, and he wondered if they were her siblings.

"Oh, wow! Is that a dog? He's huge!" A boy hopped out of bed and ran over. "Aw, he's hurt," he said suddenly, spotting the bandages wrapped around B's torso and feet. "Poor guy. Hey, Sierra, quit hogging him."

Sierra giggled again and sat up, sliding out of bed and onto the floor. "There," she said, smiling. "Now you can lie down."

Beast Boy woofed, the children laughed, and more kids woke up at the sounds.

-:-:-:-

When Raven trouped back into the triage centre with her friends for some well-deserved rest, she was immediately assaulted by an emotion that she hadn't felt in hours: happiness.

Snapping her head around, she stared in the direction it came from, wafting on the air like an aromatic candle.

"Raven?" Robin asked. "What's the matter?"

But Raven barely heard, drifting towards the source. So pure… So positive… It was intoxicating. It was coming from the cordoned-off area reserved for children who had lost parents or whose parents had yet to be found. She was absently aware of her friends shadowing her, their uneasy confusion flitting through her senses.

They were met at the perimeter by a smiling private. "Titans," she greeted warmly. "I suppose you're here for Beast Boy?"

"He's here?" Cyborg gaped. "He should be resting!"

"He is. Sort of. He's also helping." She gestured them in and took them to an open section between two tents. "There." She pointed, and Raven distinctly felt Robin's jaw drop.

Because there he was. A great, green English mastiff lay on his side, long tail thumping, as children of every size and age ran gentle hands over whatever they could reach of him. A familiar-looking fellow in a paramedic's uniform with a bright yellow card clipped to his jacket leaned casually against a tent pole, his legs crossed at the ankles.

"We had to move him out of the tent when it got too crowded," the private explained. "He's been really good about it, and the kids are careful with his injuries."

"He looks so happy!" Starfire gushed.

Raven drank in the emotions from children and teammate, feeling her exhaustion seep away.

"He doesn't seem to mind," said Robin. "He doesn't mind being petted."

"Why wouldn't he be?" The private glanced at them. "I don't know how his powers work, but I know animals. My sister's got a farm with plenty of animals. She's got a mutt who's got this ability to know when you're sad. Even if you're not crying, even if you're putting on your best face and no one else knows, she does. She comes right on over and crawls into your lap and sits there until she thinks you're feeling better."

She canted her head towards Beast Boy. "When he arrived, he was accompanied by that paramedic who said that he'd smelled something. Anyone want to bet on how quickly your friend found a little girl crying in her bed because she missed her mom?"

Raven smiled at her friends' smiles and drifted forward into the melee of children. Many fell silent as she approached, but a couple smiled up at her. She sat down beside Beast Boy, having a care for his wrapped paws. Reaching out, she stroked his neck.

He cracked open an eye at her and woofed, tail wagging harder.

She smiled down at him, her strokes rhythmic, and didn't say anything. She simply basked in the glow that was Beast Boy's emotions, all the brighter now that she was touching him.

And the children congregated once more, petting and cooing; and Robin, Cyborg and Starfire, too, drew close and settled around them, taking comfort at last from their friend.

End.

-:-

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