When the three Titans arrived at the Tower, they bolted for the medical ward. Robin opened the door and found Beast Boy on a bio bed, still unconscious. By his side was Raven. Her hands were on his chest, glowing with a white aura. Cyborg and Starfire piled in with Robin, and watched. Cyborg deiced to make a move, and approached the bio bed.

A black force field rose from the floor between Cyborg and the changeling, blocking Cyborg's path. "Yo!" the bionic Titan shouted. "What's wrong with you?" Raven turned and glared, her eyes glowing white. "Easy, Raven," said Robin. He pulled Cyborg back, and walked up to the field. "Raven," he said. She gave him the same glare, but he wasn't intimidated.

Instead, he just asked, "How is he?" The glow left her eyes, and the field dropped. Robin walked up to the bed and put his hand on her shoulder. "He's stable," the empath said. "I've healed most of his injuries, but there's nothing I can do to counteract whatever Slade shot him full of." "Cyborg should be able to take a sample of BB's blood," Robin said. "He can run it through the Tower's mainframe and figure out what BB's on, and figure out how to counter it."

Raven nodded, but was reluctant to leave the changeling's side. Cyborg approached the bed. "He's in good hands, Raven," he told her. "I won't rest until BB's back to his annoying self." Raven just nodded, then walked out the door. "Man," Cyborg said. "She's really taking this hard." "Agreed," added Starfire. "I am worried for friend Raven. I fear that she will beat upon Raven." Robin winced. I do that too much, he thought. "Whatever she's feeling," he said, "we should let her deal with it by herself." The other Titans agreed, and went about finding a cure for Beast Boy.

***

Raven left the Tower and walked to the bay. It was sunset, half of the bright golden orb had already sunk below the horizon. She sat down where she and Beast Boy had fought that morning. She pulled out his broken communicator. It was no longer tugging at her, because she already knew where he was. But, she could feel that part of his essence that still dwelled within it. "Beast Boy," she said. "I'm so sorry! I didn't know!"

She felt a wave of sorrow sweep over her. At first, she tried to suppress it, because she didn't want to be vulnerable. But then she didn't care who saw, and let the tears flow freely from her eyes. "BB, if I could, I'd take back everything I said!" she cried. She pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She buried her head into her knees, and said, "What I would give to hear one of your lame jokes, or attempt to cheer me up with pranks, or movies, or…" she trailed off.

She sat there, watching the sun sink below the horizon, and watched the evening twilight fade away. Raven gazed up at the stars, but without him, it just wasn't the same. As the night dragged on, Raven began to feel tired, but she couldn't sleep. She just kept looking at the communicator, willing it to make BB well again. Then, she felt that familiar presence, stronger than the communicator's.

Quickly, she hid it in her cloak, picked up a rock with her powers and threw it. Splash!Splash!Splash!Splash!Splash!Splash! "Dude! Nice throw! That was what, six skips?" Raven nodded as the changeling sat down next to her. He picked up a rock and threw it too. Splash!Splash!Splash!Splash!

"How are you?" she asked. "I'm fine," BB told her. "Cy said that aside from the sedative, he couldn't find anything wrong with me."

"What did he give you?" "Nothing." He picked up another rock. "I just sorta woke up on my own." He launched it, but with a little too much force. SPLOOSH! "Aw, man!" Raven levitated another one in the air. "Retry?" she asked. The changeling took it and threw it into the night. As discretely as possible, Raven gave his rock a little boost. Splash!Splash!Splash!Splash!Splash!Splash!Splash!

BB pumped his arm in triumph. Raven gave him a small smirk. They sat there for a while, neither one speaking. Then, Beast Boy broke the silence. "Robin said you were the one who found me," he said. Raven nodded. Beast Boy kept prodding. "He said that you went out alone. He said you turned the quarry into a wasteland." Raven nodded.

One question kept nagging at BB, but instead, he asked, "How did you find me?" Raven blushed, and pulled out his communicator. "I used this." She handed it to him, and he looked at it, a little puzzled. "But, it's broken. How-" She cut him off. "It's complicated."

"Well, then dumb it down for me." Raven sighed. "Everything you touch, you leave a tiny part of your essence within it." "Like a scent?" "Yeah," Raven said. "I guess you could say that. Anyway, since you handled the communicator often, it had enough of your essence in it to allow me to activate it. Then, it tried to reunite itself with you, and I followed where it pulled me." Beast Boy looked amazed, partially because he didn't know Raven could do that, and partially because he actually understood what she said.

That question still tugged at him, but he tried to ignore it. "How did you do that?" Raven shrugged, and said, "I just did. Apparently if I have a powerful enough emotional attachment to whomever I'm tracking, then the essence activates." The significance of what she said dawned on him. He turned and faced her, and then he asked her the question he'd wanted to ask her from the beginning. "Why?"

***

The other Titans watched the two from the roof of the Tower. "They've been like that for hours," Cyborg said. "And not once has Raven tried to throw BB in the bay!" "That is most unusual for friend Raven, no?" asked Starfire. "Do they perhaps have the romantic feelings for each other?" Robin was resting his head on his arms, which were laid flat along the railing.

"I don't know, Star," he said. "Their relationship is…" He tried to find the right word. "…complicated." He finished. "On the surface, they do seem to hate each other's guts, and Raven seems like she's just waiting for an excuse to send BB to another dimension," the youth explained. "But I don't think that's how they really feel about each other."

"What do you mean?" Cy asked. "Well, I know Raven more than anyone else, and she doesn't like to broadcast how she feels, sometimes I can't even figure out her mood, even with our mind-link!" Robin stood up, and continued. "But I know that deep down, both of them care deeply about one another, and would do anything to protect each other, even from us." Starfire looked shocked. "But why would they do that?" she asked. "We're their friends!"

"Star, they know that. Like I said, it's complicated." "I see what you're saying," Cy said. "Remember after our first fight with Adonis?" Robin nodded. "When Adonis tried to attack Raven, BB protected her from anything he perceived as a threat. And in his werewolf form, he pretty much thinks everyone is a threat." "I have only seen Beast Boy use the werewolf one other time," the Tamaranian said. "When we were fighting Slade, trying to stop him from getting to Raven."

"But that still doesn't explain why Raven wouldn't let any of us near Beast Boy," Cy said. "Not true," said Star. "Raven let Robin near him." "I think she let me close because I actually stated my concern for him," Robin said. "She gave me the same glare she gave you, Cy." He turned back and watched the two Titans sitting by the bay. "Who knew that two completely different people could care that much about each other?"

***

"Why?" It was a simple question, but it had a complicated answer. "I-I…" Raven struggled to come up with an answer that explained all of her conflicting emotions, her utter dislike for him, and her undying…what? She couldn't even understand it herself.

"You, what?" the changeling asked. She saw him slide closer to her, almost to the point where they were touching. She turned away and put up her hood. "I don't know." "Yes you do," BB said. "You're just hiding your emotions again." He gently grabbed her shoulder. Raven tensed at his touch, but she allowed him to turn her so she was face to face with him.

"Come on Rae," he said, using her nickname, "please open up?" He reached for her hood, and gently lifted it off her head and laid it on her back. "Alright," she said, blushing. "I searched for you because I wanted to apologize." BB looked confused. "Apologize for what?" "For the way I treated you this morning," she said. For the way I treated you since we met, she thought.

"Raven," he said, "if anyone should apologize, it should be me. I shouldn't have yelled at you." He turned his head and stared across the water's surface. "You were just trying to cheer me up, and I blow up on you." Raven placed her hand on his shoulder. "No, you were right," she told him. "You did need time to grieve, as long as you needed." She, too, stared across the bay.

"And you were right about me not understanding how you felt about her-" "Raven-" "No, Beast Boy! Let me finish. I had never lost anyone I cared about." Beast Boy turned to face her. "I never meant to say that," he said. "It doesn't matter anymore, Beast Boy. Now I do understand." BB looked at her curiously. "What do you mean by that?"

Raven looked into his emerald eyes. "I recently lost someone I cared for deeply." She grabbed his far hand, and slid her fingers between his. "And I found him." She laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. She felt the changeling's other arm pull her even closer. She leaned into him, and he into her, gazing out at the sea. And finally, Raven felt like she wasn't alone. She closed her eyes and fell asleep, with Beast Boy keeping watch for anything that might threaten her.

***

A mysterious figure watched from across the bay. As the clouds passed, the moonlight shone upon him. Slade had shadowed the Titans to see if his experiment had worked. And judging by the way the changeling and the empath were acting, he assumed that it had. "Ah, Beast Boy," said the criminal mastermind, "I'll bet the Titans had told you that I didn't do a thing to you." Then, he held up a small vial filled with a dark red liquid. "But, they could never detect what I took from you, could they?" As the moonlight shone upon the vial, a faint label appeared. 'TITAN DNA- SUBJECT: BEAST BOY' Slade quietly laughed, and vanished into the dark of the night.

Episode II: Ultimate Titans Challenge see profile for link

Teen Titans Animated belongs to Glen Murakami, Sam Register, DC Comics, and Cartoon Network
Teen Titans created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez