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Chapter Six

Alone in the elevator, traveling up to the infirmary, Gar gathered the nerve to ask, "Why did you lie? You didn't fall."

"Vic's made enough attempts on your life for one day," Raven replied in her normal monotone.

"Thanks." Scratching the back of his head, Gar turned away from Raven to face the doors again. Then in the silence Gar watched the numbers above the door grow larger and larger as the elevator carried them higher and higher; and just as the numbers grew so did Gar's guilt and curiosity.

"Rae….when you said you knew what a broken bone felt like….did I….did I ever break one of your bones? You know, playing tag."

Without any hesitation Raven answered, "No, Slade cracked one of ribs a year ago."

"Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"There wasn't any point. It was completely healed in less than twenty-four hours."

"You'd never accept that answer from Dick or anyone else."

"I would if they were able to heal themselves as quickly as me."

"Yeah right," Gar spat, turning towards Raven, who was still facing the metallic doors. Seeing Raven pressing her lips while shaking her head, Gar shouted, "What?"

Deciding she was tired of this bullshit, Raven voiced something that had been on her mind for years, "For the last couple of years you pick a fight whenever we actually have a nice conversation, whenever we actually start to get along. What does it matter if I don't tell anyone when I sprain my ankle or break a bone? I can heal myself. I don't need a doctor. I don't need anyone to worry over me. So what's the big deal? Why are you picking a fight?"

"Because when people care about you, you're suppose to tell them things like...you broke a bone! It doesn't matter if you can heal yourself. And I do not pick fights with you!"

Just as Raven opened her mouth to fire back at Gar, the elevator's doors chimed open, revealing an impatient Vic.

"It's about time the two of you got here."

Realizing she had lost her moment, Raven turned to Vic and mumbled, "Let's get this over with."

Following Raven's lead, Gar stepped off of the elevator and walked into the nearest examination room. Vic started the physical by listening to Raven's breathing, heart beat and testing her reflexes. Then he ushered the cuffed pair into the x-ray room.

"Rae, you're going to have to change into a hospital gown," Vic said, gesturing to the folded blue garment on the metal table.

"Where?" objected Raven, wishing she could cross her arms to emphasize her annoyance with the entire ordeal. Meanwhile, Gar acted as Raven's mute shadow, grateful that Vic hadn't found evidence of any serious injuries thus far.

"There's a bathroom down the hall."

Vic's tone and body language told Raven that it was fairly pointless to fight him on the matter, so Raven obeyed and left for the bathroom with Gar in tow.

Closing the bathroom door, Raven turned to Gar, "Alright put your hand over your eyes. And so help me, if you peek, I'll tell Vic how I really got hurt."

Continuing his mute act, Gar placed his left hand tightly over his eyes, letting Raven guide his right hand whenever she needed it to go. When Raven had swapped her clothes for a gown that not only opened in the back, but didn't go over her right arm, she gave Gar the ok to open his eyes.

Although it was awkward to walk down the hall with one arm completely exposed while clutching the back of the gown shut with the other, Raven somehow managed. Once she was lying on the table's cool metal surface, time seemed to drag. All she could think about were all of the things she would rather be doing. Being asked/told to lay still and hold her breath when she knew in her core that she wasn't hurt was simply infuriating.

By the time they were done, Vic had x-rayed everything but Raven's head.

"So are we done yet?" Raven sighed.

"Your part is done. And for being such a good sport I have a little something for you." Vic announced approaching the metal table, proudly presenting a lolli-pop. Meeting with only cold, angry, lavender eyes Vic pushed a little more, "Common Rae, it's a joke its suppose to make you smile."

"Dude, I've been telling her jokes for years and she never laughs or smiles," Gar said while snatching the sucker from Vic's hand.

"Yeah, well, you're not funny," Vic pouted.

"And apparently you're not either." Gar was quick to stick his tongue out, falling back into his normal rhythm with Vic.

"Are the two of you done?" Raven murmured from her seated position, looking up at her male teammates standing before her.

"Yeah….I'll come and get you when I've finished going over all of the film."

The process of changing out of the hospital gown was very similar to putting it on. Gar stood mutely beside Raven with his hand clamped tightly over his eyes.

As soon as Raven was finish, she marched to the elevator, pulling Gar's arm, brining him in tow. When the elevator doors chimed close, Gar turned to his raven haired friend and asked, "Now what?"

"Now? Now, we finish our conversation." Raven huffed.

"Pointing out the stupidity of hiding a broken bone is not trying to pick a fight, it's pointing out the stupidity of keeping secrets!"

"What would it have mattered? It healed in less than twenty-four hours!"

"It's about a pattern of keeping secrets! If I hadn't of tailed you last night would you have told anyone about your dreams and this whole thing with your brother?"

"If I thought you could help, then yes!"

"Even though we're teammates, roommates and your best friends, you wouldn't have told us if you didn't think we could help?"

"What would be the point?"

"Because we care about you; because we have that right to know if the person we love is in danger or hurt."

Just then as the doors chimed open, Raven wished she could storm down the hall, leaving this argument behind her.

Gar on the other hand wasn't ready to throw in the towel just yet. Spying his room a few feet from the elevator's doors Gar took the initiative and pulled Raven across the hall and into his room. As his door slide shut Gar asked, "What else don't I know?" in a dark tone.

"That's a very board question and considering its you, there's probably a lot."

"I'm serious Raven; do you have any other brothers, are they going to help Greed? Who's the people helping with the sacrifice? Are the people being sacrificed volunteers? Victims? What?"

"I don't know! I see flashes. I see jumbles of things. I don't know which ritual he's going to use, I don't know exactly what it requires. The point is I don't know. I went to Avocet because I needed answers, because I needed help!"

"Let us help you."

"Fine, help me!"

Silence. As the air grew heavier, Raven fumed, she was frustrated and scared.

Finally, Gar suggested, "Avocet said strengthening our bound would help."

"How do you suggest we do that? Play video games?" Raven replied cocking her head to the side.

"It couldn't hurt."

"Gar, I am not playing video games."

"We could try talking."

"Yeah, because we're so great at talking with one another."

"Fine! We'll sit on the floor and stare at each other until Vic comes to get us!" Gar screamed before abruptly lowering himself to the floor like a sulking child.

"What are you doing?"

"Just what I said; sitting on the floor!"

"You are not seriously going to sit on the floor until Vic's finished."

"Well, you shot down my other suggestions."

"Fine! We can talk. What do you want to talk about?"

Silence, followed; being put on the spot has a way of stilling a person's tongue. Finally, Gar ventured, "Well….there's a lot we could talk about….er….should talk about. I mean, how are we going to….you know….live together? Are we going to stay in my room? Or…."

Glaring down at a cross-legged Gar, Raven grumbled, "We are not staying in your room; your bed isn't big enough for two people."

"We slept here last night," he returned with a shrug.

Struggling to find her voice, Raven stammered, "I-I-I…" before pausing to shake her head, recalling how she spent the night spread across his chest with his arms wrapped around her. Then, continuing to shake head, pushing those thoughts away, Raven asserted, "I am not spending the night in your room."

"Why? You did last night," Gar whined, looking up at Raven's standing figure.

"There were extenuating circumstances last night."

"Well, I'm not sleeping in your creepy room!"

"Creepy?"

"Your bed has a giant bird's head that stares down at you!"

"Oh, the big brave Beast Boy can't deal with a bird looking at him," Raven mocked.

"Aw, and the mighty Raven can't deal with a little cuddling!"

"Do you remember when I told Victor that I would be the judge of what crosses the line?"

"Yeah."

"Well, demanding that I basically sleep on top of you is crossing the line!"

"I…I…just don't want to sleep in there….geez, you touch a mirror and you get zapped into your mind…books containing dragons talk to ya and God only knows what else is in there. I mean, is there any way you would consider sleeping in here again?"

Rolling her eyes, Raven huffed, "If you had a bigger bed…and we each had enough room…"

"Great! I'll get a new bed," Gar exclaimed shooting up to his feet.

"You can't just get a new bed like that," Raven replied snapping her fingers.

"Sure you can, I bet there's places that'll deliver same day."

"So you're going to buy one off the internet?" Raven queried.

Scratching the side of his head Gar responded, "Well…ideally I would like to give it a test run or something before I buy it. But we can't exactly go into a store like this. I mean, can you image the headlines? 'Half nake Titans, chained together, shopping for new bed!' I mean, even if I did put my halo-ring on, I'm still shirtless and we're still cuffed together. So I guess that means…we're stuck indoors until the cuffs come off. Dude, I don't know if I can take being in the tower that long. I need fresh air…and new faces, noise, sunlight….Rae, I don't know if I can take being locked up for too long. I get cabin fever super easy."

"We'll….we'll just take one problem at a time….we'll start with your shirtlessness," Raven paused taking in her topless green friend, "Where's the shirt you were wearing this morning?"

"I think its still on the floor someplace. I kinda lost track of it when Vic burst in here the second time." After locating the shirt that had been kicked to the side of the room, Raven gathered it in her hands before passing it off to Gar.

"Try putting it back on," Raven commanded.

"Rae, I can't go out with the side cut open."

"We could try sowing it shut. Or we could try sowing in a zipper or buttons, or something else. Something that's not too obvious."

"Yeah!" Gar shouted as the genius of Raven's idea fully dawned on him. "A zipper could work. I'll text Kori and Karen to stop at a fabric store and then we could sow up a couple of my shirts….wait, I don't know how to sow. Do you?"

"Not really….But, I think Vic does. And I'm pretty sure he wouldn't mind helping you cover up." As Raven spoke, the pair moved towards Gar's desk, where his phone sat. As Gar began typing Kori and Karen, Raven continued, "Ask them to pick up some zippers for me too, so I can wear something with sleeves."

"I'll ask, but I'm not sure that's going to stop Kori from buying you a whole new wardrobe," Gar chuckled, shaking his head. "So, what about the cuffs? How are we going to hide those?" Gar asked as he finished and placed his phone on his desk again.

Raven had one idea, but she wasn't crazy about it. However, she didn't want to deny Gar or herself the outside world, so she tentatively said, "Maybe if we stand close together." And on cue, Gar scooted closer. "And maybe if we held hands." And without any prompting Gar laced their fingers together. Blowing out her breath, Raven continued, "Maybe if we were both wearing long sleeved shirts."

"Too bad you couldn't go out wearing your cloak. That would totally hide the cuffs. But then you would be the weirdo wearing a cloak."

"Or….something cloak like….like a poncho….get your cell, we need to call Kori and Karen."