And here is the chapter. Not in the final, final form that is trapped on my dead computer, but one that I put together from the remains of an old email. Anyway, I took a suggestion to make this one. Any other suggestions for things she could learn?

Thank you for the patience. Partially beta-ed by Vo

Disclaimer: I don't own it.

Quote:

"Learn as if you were going to live forever. Live as if you were going to die tomorrow."

-Mahatma Gandhi

Chapter 2

Driving for Dummies

The next time that Raven came to visit him it was in the evening, after everyone had eaten (spaghetti with optional meatballs). It was dark and he was in his office, working on the crime reports that had to be submitted everyday. It was a tiresome job that none of team besides himself seemed able to do. Not that he had ever asked.

There was a light knock on the door which Robin assumed was Starfire though the fact that it wasn't an excited pounding should have raised his suspicions. He sighed and walked over to the door. "I'm sorry Star, but I'm pretty busy ri-"

The door slid open and a dry voice said, "Oh, I'm sorry if I'm bothering you. I'll leave you to your crime reports then."

"Wait," he said quickly and she turned around with an eyebrow raised. "What did you need?"

Raven tilted her head to the side. "I thought you were busy."

Robin suddenly realized that Raven had noticed that she was allowed and Starfire was not. He gave silent thanks for not blushing as he quickly said, "Starfire has a habit of coming in and then not leaving for quite awhile. Which isn't to say that I'm expecting you to leave quickly, it's just that…," Robin sighed and ran a hand through his messy hair, "You know what I mean."

"I can take a hint a bit better than Star can," Raven said succinctly.

Robin gave a quick grin and leaned against the door frame. "What did you need though?"

"I wanted another lesson," Raven said without a single emotion on her face.

"In cooking?" Robin asked, "I don't think we'll get another chance at the kitchen until this Sunday."

"I know," Raven said. "I wanted a lesson in something else."

Robin's mind quickly flitted to something that this time forced a blush out on his cheeks and he forced his mind back to reality. He was immensely relieved to see that Raven wasn't looking at him. "Which would be what?" he asked in a slightly choked voice.

"Would you teach me how to drive?"

There was silence for a moment. "Drive?" Robin echoed, "Why would you ever need to learn that? You can teleport."

Raven looked up at him, fully in the face as she couldn't see his eyes. "We aren't going to be the Teen Titans forever. You can't expect a normal life if you continue to vanish and emerge from black shadows."

Robin thought instantly of his mentor whose entire life consisted of what she had just described. "Wouldn't Cyborg be a better teacher than I would?" Robin asked, "I mean, he has the T-car."

"Do you really think that he would be willing to let me, a completely inexperienced driver, ever get behind the wheel? And besides, if Cyborg came then so would Beast Boy and then Starfire would want to join and I don't work in that sort of setting."

Robin had to stifle a smile as he pictured the scenario. Raven seemed to know what he was thinking anyway, judging by the glare she was sending him. "I could teach you how to ride the R-Cycle," he offered.

Raven's glare turned into that ghost-smile. "When?"

"I don't know," he said. "Anytime during the day we will have an audience."

"What about the evenings?" she asked.

"That's when I have to write up the crime reports," Robin said gesturing towards the rather impressive stack of papers on the desk.

Raven raised an eyebrow. "I'll help you finish them," she said as though stating the obvious.

Robin hesitated for a moment. Raven stared at him. "Is it seriously that hard to decide? Less paperwork and more R-cycling? Do you really not want to teach me?"

"No, it's not that," Robin said quickly as he realized what he had inadvertently been expressing. "It's just…you don't know how to fill the forms out, and it might take longer to have to teach you than…" he trailed off as Raven's expression grew darker.

"Have I given you the impression that I cannot read?" she asked in decidedly dangerous voice.

It ticked Robin off that her voice could make him jumpy. The voices of most criminals didn't sound as dangerous as Raven could. "I know you can read," he said, "It's just that you have to splice in all of these details and-"

"Give me a blank one, and a filled out one and I'll use the model to learn," Raven said as she walked into the (his) office and made herself at home.

Admittedly, with the right motivation Raven learned astonishingly quickly.

"How do you breathe through this?" Raven asked from behind the shades of the helmet Robin had given her.

"You don't entirely. Just, don't pay attention to it."

She had already pulled it off. "I can heal myself. I'm not wearing a helmet."

"Come on, Raven. You've got to wear the helmet," he said as he pushed it back into her hands.

She stared at him for just a moment and then put it back on her head. It was tight and hard to see through and muggy. Robin mouth twisted into an ill-concealed smile as he saw her grimace, irritated.

Seeing his expression was the last straw. "No," she said as she yanked it off. Her hair was a mess, but she clearly didn't care.

Robin calmly pulled his helmet on. "See," he said by way of demonstration, "It's not that bad."

"You look like an idiot," Raven said flatly.

Robin scowled. After a bit of silence he reached up and yanked off his helmet as well. "If you get hurt then don't blame me."

While Raven's mind seemed to be occupied with learning the mechanics of balance, speed, and stopping, Robin couldn't help but notice how entirely close one had to sit with two people on a motorcycle. Especially one that wasn't necessarily built for two. It made it even worse for him that he was sitting behind Raven and had to reach all the way around her in order grasp the handles.

He was thankful that she didn't seem to notice.

"Okay, now let me steer by myself," Raven said.

"What?" he asked startled but then tried to recover, "You want to ride by yourself?"

"No," she said distractedly, "Just stop steering it with me."

"Then where should I put…?" his face flushed a bit.

Raven didn't seem to hear him, instead she simply pulled on one of his wrists, in an uncharacteristically impatient gesture. He couldn't pull back immediately or else she would lose control and they were moving at a fairly fast pace, so instead he slowly let his hands fall to her wrists and then slide backwards along her arms. Finally he placed his hands just above her hips, fingers on hipbones, nearly encircling her waist.

Raven, if she noticed, didn't care. Robin's attention was divided between where his hands were placed and just how fast they were actually going. It had never struck him that Raven would decide to ride as fast as he did. Granted, once he thought about it, the more he realized that Raven flew a lot, and likewise fell a lot, and it followed that she wouldn't necessarily be afraid of any of it anymore.

But he was human. And wasn't wearing a helmet. And he had never ridden his cycle behind someone, he was always in control of it. So naturally, he was on edge. Raven took a corner at a high speed and his fingers itched to reach forward and take charge of the controls. At the beginning of another turn, he could feel the tires begin to skid a bit and he did suddenly lunge forward and grab the handlebars over her hands to help straighten them out. Raven jumped at the movement, their bodies were suddenly pressed so closely together that even she noticed.

As soon as the cycle was under control again she stopped it and stepped off. "Well," she said warily, "It was going well."

"It's going very well considering the amount of time you've spent practicing."

"I don't want to do anymore," she said flatly, then relaxed her expression, "Not tonight anyway."

Robin looked at her consideringly. "Okay, get on back then and I'll take us home."

Robin actually paid attention as he noticed Raven's sudden trouble finding a handgrip as she sat behind him. Finally he reached back, took both of her hands and pulled them forward so that they were wrapped around his chest. He could feel her surprise, but he started up the cycle and moved forward before she had a chance to fully react. Her grip instinctually became tighter and she leaned closer.

Robin began to realize that Raven was one of those people that had no idea what her touch felt like. It was evident in the way that she would constantly change her grip and graze her fingers along his chest before finding a steadier hold of clothing. They changed a corner and Raven leaned forward fully, resting her forehead against his back and he did his best to ignore it.

She didn't realize that they had stopped for the night as she had her eyes closed while resting her head against Robin and so he let her stay a few extra moments. Finally he switched the cycle off before she could become suspicious. There was very little true physical touch between the members of the Tower and so he felt the desire to take advantage of the inadvertent contact.

Finally he turned it off and she pulled away and stood up. "Am I an expert?" she asked dryly.

He blinked a couple of times before deciding that she was joking.

And there it is.

Any suggestions for new skills to learn?

Please Review.