AN: Roses are red, violets are blue, I don't own Teen Titans, and neither do you!

Chapter 9

It seemed like Aqualad had invited every Titan there was to his party. Beast Boy grumbled at the Atlantian's popularity. The Titans East had an extra large pool and it accommodated them all. The whole pool room was decorated and there was a large banner that said 'Happy Birthday Aqualad!'.

"I wish you a most glorious birthday friend!" said Starfire giving him a bone crushing hug.

"Thanks… Starfire," said Aqualad through his collapsing lungs.

She released him and went to greet all of her other friends, of course stripping her clothes off first to reveal her bikini. Needless to say, Mas e Manos followed her around just as closely as Robin.

"Hey man, happy birthday," said Cyborg, giving him the mound of gifts they had brought for him.

"Thanks, you can put them down on the table over there," said Aqualad.

"You know, I needed two tables to hold all of my gifts at my birthday," said Beast Boy with a smirk.

"No you didn't," said Aqualad smirking back. "I was there." He saw Raven and he smiled. "Raven! You came."

"Yeah," said Raven, feeling like she was about to have an anxiety attack.

"You look great," said Aqualad with a smile. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yes, for the first time in a few months," said Raven.

"Great, well, have fun," said Aqualad. "I've got to go yell at Speedy, he made clam dip!" And with that he ran off, screaming at Speedy who was at the other end of the pool.

"See?" said Beast Boy. "No one's acting weird around you."

"I've only seen Aqualad so far," said Raven. "Who knows how everyone else will act."

"Raven!" called Melvin and her team, who were now nearly teens themselves.

"Oh no," said Raven.

The three ran over to her and wrapped their arms around her. She was taken right off of her feet. "You're here! Are you okay? Were you really shot? Can I see the bullet hole? What's a pacemaker? Is it like a communicator? Can we see it? Why was Beast Boy holding your hand?" they all asked at once.

"Yes, I'm here, yes, I'm okay, Yes, I was shot, I'm not making any promises about seeing the bullet hole scar, a pacemaker makes sure my heart beats at a regular pace, no, it's not like a communicator, you can see the pacemaker under my skin, and none of your business," said Raven, answering all of their questions.

Once they were satisfied they jumped back into the pool. Raven was starting to feel a little better. One by one Titans came up to her to see how she was and tell her how happy they were to finally see her. No one acted weird around her at all. Of course, she still had her shirt on and her scars weren't showing yet.

"Aren't you gonna come in?" asked Beast Boy from the pool.

"I'm here, isn't that enough?" asked Raven.

"Nope," said Beast Boy with a grin. "Come on, once you get in you'll feel much better."

"It is rather humid in here," said Raven, sweat glistening from her forehead.

"Then get in here!" said Beast Boy, splashing some water at her. She jumped back and just missed the wave of water.

She sighed and slipped her pants off. Now for the hardest part. She ever so slowly began to take her shirt off. Once it was off she held it in front of her chest for a moment and then slowly began to lower it. She had expected the whole room to stop and everyone to gasp and stare. But no one was even paying attention, except Beast Boy.

"Good, now get in here!" he ordered.

She gave him a small smile, went over to the pool, and slid in. The water was warm, what with it being an inside pool, and it felt great. Almost like a bath. She dove under and came up, feeling the sweat being washed off of her.

"See? I told you you had nothing to worry about," said Beast Boy swimming over to her. She smiled and just as she was swimming closer to him, Speedy jumped over the two and landed in the pool with a splash. Aqualad was right at the edge of the pool screaming at him.

"I told you no fish!" he screamed. "Why can't you understand that?"

"Well how was I supposed to know that you considered clam a fish!" Speedy yelled back. Aqualad growled and stormed off. "Sheesh, picky picky. Oh, hey guys."

"Hello Speedy," the two said, rather upset that he had practically jumped on top of them.

"Raven, didn't know you came," said Speedy. He looked at her chest and his eyes widened. He gave a whistled and said, "Whoa, nice ones." Ravens eyes went wide and she was ready to slap him. "No, your scars! Nice scars." This really didn't help the situation and Raven immediately covered her chest up by crossing her arms. "You wanna see mine?"

Raven looked at him oddly and said, "Uh… okay."

Speedy smiled and flexed his right bicep, revealing a two inch scar running across it. "Look at that baby," he said smugly.

"Ha! You call that a scar?" laughed Kid Flash. He sat up on the side of the pool and showed them all the bottom of his left foot. It had a slash going diagonally across it. "Not that is a scar."

"Puh-lease, look at this," said Bumble Bee showing a jagged scar going up her left under arm. "Now tell me that isn't a winner."

Jericho waved his arms around and pointed to the long scar going across his throat.

"Come on, y'all," said Cyborg shaking his head and smiling. "I've got most of me missing! I think I win."

"No, we're talking about scars, not amputations," said Jinx splashing him.

"Oh, I got the crème de la crème," said Hot Spot showing a burn mark on the side of his stomach. "See, that's what happens when you forget to turn into fire and go to play with it."

They all laughed and Raven suddenly understood what Beast Boy had said. Everyone did have scars, and none of them were ashamed by them. They were actually… proud.

"Okay, but who has the most?" asked Robin.

Everyone began to go over their body and count all of their scars. Now they were having a contest. Robin had the most scars, Jericho had the oldest scar, Jinx had the most hidden scar (and she wasn't about to show where it was in public), Aqualad had the funniest scar story, and Beast Boy had the most spread out scars. Raven won the scariest scar story, the longest scar, and the most visible scar awards and she was actually rather… proud of it.

Of course, everyone was curious about her pacemaker and she had to explain what seemed a hundred times what it was. Everyone, especially the boys, wanted to touch it, since it was elevated and could be clearly seen. This, of course, she did not allow.

After the party, Raven felt much better about everything. No one treated her differently, no one babied her. And, if anything, she was the one acting differently. She smiled and had even let out a chuckle or two, especially when Cyborg panced Beast Boy in front of everyone. Luckily he had reacted quickly and not too much was seen, just enough to throw the whole party into a laughing frenzy. Needless to say, Cyborg went home without his left arm, which Beast Boy had torn off and thrown into the nearby ocean.

On the way home Raven and Beast Boy sat extra close in the car, both with soft smiles. Their three teammates were so relieved that it was all finally out in the open. Yes, Raven still felt a little odd about it, but she also felt the love that Beast Boy exuded for her. She simply soaked in his feelings and felt quite content. They were genuine and that was all she asked for. And she believed, with time, she just may be able to feel love for him as well. She already had what could be considered a crush on him.

Now that she was feeling better about her situation she began to rethink her whole stand on going out on missions. She talked to Cyborg and asked him if there was anything he could make to protect her pacemaker. She knew that the easiest way for a villain to take her down was to be given an electric shock that could mess up her pacemaker and cause her to have another heart attack.

He came up with a small disk that could absorb any electric shocks that he simply implanted into the clasp of her cloak. It also absorbed any odd frequencies, from, say, a cell phone, that could mess with it as well. Now, she felt ready to go back out there. As long as she was sure her heart was kept safe.

She was deep in meditation when she heard the alarm go off. She was actually excited to go back out there. She quickly made her way to the common room and was surprised to see that she was the first one there. The others quickly arrived as well and they saw where the trouble was and who was causing.

"It's Cardiac," said Robin.

"Seems fitting for my first day back on the job," said Raven, crossing her arms, but smiling softly.

"He's scaring the kids at the playground again," said Robin.

"Well let's go!" said Raven and she flew off with the others, who were stunned at her eagerness, following right after her.

They found Cardiac going after frightened children who were running for their lives. It was just attempting to suck a little boy on the jungle gym up when the Titans arrived. Cyborg and Beast Boy, as a gorilla, tackled Cardiac and pulled it away from the boy. Starfire quickly grabbed the child and flew him to safety. She and Robin were doing their best to get the children out of there.

Cardiac threw Cyborg and Beast Boy off and tried to run off before it could be taken down. Raven saw this and knew this was her time to shine.

"Oh no," she said. "You're not getting away that easily." She took in a big breath and said with all of her might, "Azerath metrion zynthos!" Her dark powers flew out of her and wrapped around Cardiac completely. She lifted it off of the ground and tore it completely apart, and this time she kept track of all of the pieces. She bunched it together in one big ball of metal and dropped it to the ground.

"Whoa," said Cyborg, expressing what all of her teammates were feeling.

"I don't know," said Raven, touching down. "I still think I'm a little rusty."

"Raven that was most extraordinary!" said Starfire, clapping.

"Not only did you take down the bad guy, you compacted him!" laughed Beast Boy, poking the metal ball that used to be Cardiac.

"How's your heart?" asked Robin.

"Fine," said Raven with a small smile. "I didn't feel a thing the entire time."

"Great," said Robin with a smile.

"Come on, y'all, let's go get some pizza to celebrate!" said Cyborg.

They went out for pizza and then went back to the tower. The other four weren't going to say anything, but they could all see the proud look Raven had on her face. She was back in action and feeling normal again. It had taken nearly six months, but life in the tower was finally getting back to normal. Or as normal as life in a giant T shaped tower could be with five superheroes living in it.

A month had passed and Raven sat on her bed reading when she heard a knock on her door. "Yes?" she asked.

"It's Beast Boy," he said.

"What do you want?" asked Raven.

"Can I come in?" asked Beast Boy, who was sick of having to go through this whole questioning routine they had. She could never simply say that he could come in.

"Alright," she said.

He slide her door open and entered. He saw her turn the page of her book and not even look up to acknowledge him. He walked over to her and sat down in front of her, waiting for her to respond. She knew what he wanted, so she continued to read until he said something. Minutes passed and the two sat there in silence. Finally, Beast Boy, being the impatient creature he could be sometimes, spoke up.

"Aren't you gonna say anything?" he asked.

"I was waiting for you to say something first," she said with a small smirk. "Now what do you want?"

"Well, I was wondering if you'd like to go out tomorrow night," he said.

"Out? Like… a date?" she asked.

"Well, yeah," said Beast Boy nervously rubbing the back of his head.

"Oh, um, okay," said Raven, feeling her cheeks heat up slightly. It had been a month and the two hadn't actually gone out yet. They had hung out alone, but they never actually went out on an official date. So this was going to be a big step.

"Awesome!" said Beast Boy.

"But," said Raven.

"But?" asked Beast Boy.

"But, I want to know what we're going to do," said Raven.

"Well, I was kinda thinking that we could go to dinner and a movie," said Beast Boy. "You know, a typical date. Is that alright?"

"Actually, yes," said Raven slightly smiling. "That sounds just fine. I was just nervous that you were going to take me to an arcade or something."

"Ha! I know how much you don't like videogames, Rae," he chuckled, mentally thanking Cyborg who told him she wouldn't want to go to the arcade, which was his first idea.

"Raven, Beast Boy," she corrected him.

"You mean I still can't call you Rae?" he whined. "Not even after I told you I love you?"

"I don't care how much you love me, I don't like that nickname," said Raven.

"Fine, what nickname do you like?" asked Beast Boy.

Raven shrugged and said, "I've yet to hear one that's appealed to me."

Beast Boy thought for a second and then a smile spread across his face. "I know what I'm gonna call you," he said.

"I can only imagine," said Raven, turning a page in her book.

"I'm gonna call you my mate," he said with a sweet smile.

"Excuse me?" asked Raven, actually looking up from her book.

"Well, that's what you are," said Beast Boy. "You're my mate."

"Okay, are you calling me mate as in I'm your friend or mate as in I'm your significant other?" asked Raven.

"My significant other, of course," said Beast Boy. "Although, I think a more better term would be girlfriend."

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable with you calling me your mate," said Raven, putting her book aside. "It makes me feel… like we're animals or something."

"Well, can I tell you why I want to call you my mate?" asked Beast Boy. She nodded and he proceeded. "Well, all of those times you were near death I wanted to be close to you and I didn't want anyone else to be near you. I didn't know why I had all of these new protective feelings, but they were there. I mean, I knew I loved you, but I was willing to sleep outside of your door to make sure you were safe and out of harms way. And then it occurred to me. This is how animals act when their mate is in trouble. So, that means I've chosen you to be my mate for life."

"For life?" said Raven, a bit shocked. "So… you want me to be with you… forever?"

"If that's okay with you," said Beast Boy with a shy smile.

Raven thought for a moment, her mind racing. Her heart was a flutter as well and she felt her pacemaker go off. Sometimes it would give her a little zap and usually it was when Beast Boy was around her. She was quite aware that he was the only one who could truly put her pacemaker to the test.

She smiled and said, "I suppose I can live with you loving me for the rest of my life."

"That's all I ask," said Beast Boy leaning in and giving her a light kiss. "And, you know, you could love me too if you want."

She gave a slight chuckle and said, "Of course, you better love me forever. Because I don't think I can survive another broken heart. Literally."

The End

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