As promised, fluff to be followed by fluff! And then action.

A Tangled Web:

Patient And Patience

By the time Raven landed in front of the tower, it was early evening, the air brisk but not cold, and the sky only starting to lose its vibrancy. Like the Tower in which she lived, the tower of Titans East lay beside the sea, and she closed her eyes, the scent making her feel as if she was still home.

"Penny for your thoughts?" asked Aqualad, exiting the tower and making his way towards the Empath. At the sound of his voice, a smile shone on her face, brighter than the glare of the tower's windows in the ebbing light.

"I bet it cost more than that to get Control Freak to hurt Speedy so you could bring me over here," Raven said, a teasing glint in her eyes, "Convenient that it's not that serious, but still something that needs to be taken care of swiftly."

"I can't take credit for that," Aqualad laughed, taking her by the hand and pulling her close, "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to take advantage of it."

Smirking, he placed his other hand on the small of her back and then dipped the surprised girl, leaning in and stealing a brief but smoldering kiss. The tinkle of breaking glass rung in the distance, followed by the sounds of an angry female. Raven looked sheepish.

"Oops," she said, gently pulling herself away from Aqualad, "Guess we'd better go in before anything else breaks."

"As you wish," the Atlantian replied, going ahead to open the door for her, mock-bowing as she passed.

Raven was barely three steps in the Tower before Bee jumped her.

"Girl, you have no idea how happy I am to see you," she said, grabbing her by the arm and nearly dragging her across the room, "I have had it up to HERE with Speedy. One more minute and I might have done him in myself."

The Titans East leader stopped in front of the couches, and for a moment, Raven stared. The area looked like a toy box had exploded – there were Legos, remote controlled cars, puzzles, game systems, puppets, paddle boards, yo-yos, and bouncy balls everywhere.

And, overlooking the mess, was Speedy, who was giving sulky looks while trying to operate a yo-yo.

"I see what you mean," Raven said, shoving a stack of comic books off the couch so she could take a seat, "What is he, six?"

Ignoring a cry of "HEY!" from the patient, Bee managed a smirk.

"He has no attention span, so he might as well be. We've been throwing anything at him to keep him quiet."

Raven smiled to herself.

"Did you try a mirror?" she said in a dead-panned voice, and Bee gave a real smile.

"Can't say I've tried that."

The Empath turned to Speedy, who was grumbling over their remarks. His ankle was propped up on a mountain of pillows, an ice pack atop it.

"How much can you move it?" she asked, summoning magic to her hands for an examination. His answer didn't matter, but Raven found that most people were more comfortable if they were being distracted by light conversation.

"A little," Speedy replied as Raven dipped her now-glowing hand to his ankle, "Is this going to hurt?"

A whooshing sound followed, and the twins popped up on the couch, chattering in Spanish. Raven had no idea what they were saying, but she assumed it wasn't good by the color that Speedy's face was turning, an assumption proved correct when Bee started yelling at them.

"He's not going to die, you two, so SHUT IT!"

The twins skittered away, leaving a trail of dust in their wake.

Raven sighed.

"As I was about to say, it shouldn't hurt. Right now, I'm assessing the damage, and it's definitely just a sprain, although it is a nasty one. I'm going to lessen the sprain now, so you can have some mobility, but it will take at least one more session to completely heal it."

With that, Raven brought her other hand to the ankle, it glowing a slightly different color, and began to work. It was quiet work, only broken by the occasional "Are you done yet?" from Speedy, which was silenced by one of her trademark death glares. After a half hour, she stopped, standing to her feet and stretching.

"Are you do—" Speedy started, but Raven interrupted.

"For now. You need to let your body heal itself for the next twenty four hours and then I can repair more of the damage. If you're lucky, that's all it will take."

Looking less sulky, Speedy nodded. Bee tossed him a pair of crutches.

"Get up, Arrow Boy, it's dinner. No more TV trays for you."

Speedy immediately started to argue with Bee, and Raven suppressed the urge to laugh, heading towards the kitchen instead. She could smell something delicious and she was starving, as healing always took a lot out of her. Looking inside, she felt the need to laugh return, as there was Aqualad pulling something out of the oven, with fish-shaped oven mitts and a fluffy white apron.

"You can cook?" she asked, startling him so that he nearly dropped the pan.

"Yes," he replied, after a quick save, carrying the dish to the table, where a salad and a bowl of garlic bread already rested, "You like lasagna?"

"If it tastes as good as it smells," Raven said, sitting down at the table. Aqualad sat next to her, leaning in close.

"Raven," he said in a low voice, "Do you want to sneak out with me tonight? It could be our first real date."

The girl's cheeks flushed a becoming shade of pink, and she nodded. Before they could say anything else, the rest of Titans East swarmed in, grabbing at the food as if they were a horde of starved weasels. Raven sighed, then grabbed her share of food before it was all gone. Night could not come quickly enough.