Teen Titans Fan Fiction ❯ The Little Cherub by Beautifulpurpleflame ❯ Something's not right ( Chapter 3 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

A/N: I do not own the Teen Titans. No, really, I don't. I swear to you I DON'T! Oh whatever.

Chapter 3

The next day Raven moved back into the tower. She had had an apartment in the south end of the city and it took a while to move all of her stuff in, even with her powers. The Titans set up the room next to Ravens for Alex.

“Sweetie, don't touch that,” said Raven to her son as she moved various boxes into her room. The other Titans were helping as well. Alex was trying to look through one of the boxes and was really getting in the way.

“Ya know, I can take him out into the common room while you unpack,” said Beast Boy.

“Oh, I don't know,” said Raven nervously.

“Come on Raven, I'm great with kids,” said Beast Boy. “Besides, you know that he's just going to get into trouble in here.”

“He's got a point,” said Cyborg.

“I will take him,” said Starfire. “I am sure taking care of Alex will not be different than taking care of Silkie.”

Raven suddenly felt a rush panic. “No no! Beast Boy offered first,” she said quickly. She picked Alex up and handed him over to Beast Boy. “I'm trusting you,” she said dead seriously. “Just make sure he doesn't get hurt or into trouble.”

“You got it!” he said and took Alex out to the common room.

“Wow, you're really trusting Beast Boy?” asked Robin.

“Alex is a pretty docile child,” said Raven. “If anything, he'll keep Beast Boy out of trouble.”

Beast Boy turned the television on and put it on a cartoon he thought would be appropriate for a two year old. He really wasn't sure what would be appropriate or not, but it was just a couple of talking chickens and other various farm animals. He figured it would be okay. He sat down on the couch with Alex.

“So… how are you?” he asked with a smile.

Alex just stared at him with those deep soulful eyes. His face was so calm, so wise. It kind of made Beast Boy feel awkward. He quickly looked for someway to get his eyes off of him.

“Oh look, a talking cow,” he said finally and pointed at the screen. Alex turned and looked at the screen. Beast Boy was relieved to see that it had Alex's attention. He breathed a sigh of relief and began to watch the show as well. All of a sudden he felt someone climbing onto his lap. He looked down and saw Alex calmly crawling and sitting down on his lap. All the while he didn't take his eyes off the screen. He leaned his head back onto Beast Boy chest and began to sweetly play with Beast Boys fingers.

`Well… this is odd,' he thought to himself. But he couldn't help smiling and feeling quite comfortable. Alex seemed to have a calming aura around him.

Raven was working a little faster now that Alex was out of the room; and Beast Boy too. Cyborg and Starfire were in Alex's room unpacking his things while Robin helped Raven in hers. She really only trusted Robin to help her unpack her things.

“Are you happy that you're back?” he asked as he threw an empty box out into the hallway.

“I am, actually,” she said putting her clothes into her old bureau. “You have no idea how many times I've dreamed of being back here.”

“I just can't understand why you wouldn't call us or anything,” said Robin opening up another box.

“It's complicated,” she said simply.

He knew that she didn't really want to get into it and he decided to leave it alone. He began to take a few items out of the box and he laid them on her bed, where she would put them where she wanted them. While sorting through her things he suddenly found a stack of pictures. He quickly scanned through the pictures without Raven seeing. He saw pictures of Alex when he was really little and pictures of him playing. He certainly did seem to be a genuinely happy child. Then he found a picture of Raven with a man holding her around the waist. He had dark brown hair and olive skin. He was in a white tee shirt and jeans with black sunglasses. He was smiling and, oddly enough, Raven was looking at him smiling as well. It was a smile he had never seen on Raven before. He looked at the picture below it and it was the man again but this time alone and leaning against a building.

“What are you doing?” asked Raven.

Robin jumped and realized he had been caught. “Oh, I was just looking through these pictures,” he said almost stumbling over the words. He slyly slipped one of the pictures into his pocket. “Alex sure is cute.”

“I know,” she said taking the stack of pictures away from him.

“Can I have a picture of him?” asked Robin. “I could put it in my wallet.”

“Uh, sure,” said Raven taking one of the pictures and handing it over. She turned around and went to put the rest of the pictures away.

“Um… is that Jacob?” he asked hesitantly.

Raven stopped in her tracks and asked, “Is what Jacob?”

“The guy in that picture with you,” he said picking out the photo. “Him, is that Jacob?”

Raven paused for a second and then quickly said, “Yes.” She tucked the picture in with the others and threw them in one of her draws.

“Huh,” said Robin to himself, thinking.

“What?” asked Raven.

“Oh nothing,” he said quickly. “It's just that… I don't see any of Jacob in Alex.”

“Well he takes after me,” said Raven simply as she continued to work. She started to feel uncomfortable.

“He takes after you?” asked Robin very doubtfully. “Well, maybe the eyes, but you certainly don't have blond hair.”

She suddenly turned around sharply and looked at Robin with fire in her eyes. “Robin, are you insinuating something?”

“No!” he said quickly, knowing he had crossed into the danger zone. “I just thought it was interesting.”

Now she was mad and he could tell by the way she was slamming her things into draws. “I think I can handle my room from here,” she said in an agitated voice.

Robin knew that that was his cue to get out of there. He quickly exited and heard Raven slam the door behind him. As soon as he was gone Raven sat down on her bed. She leaned forward and placed her face in her hands. This was why she didn't want to come back. All of the questions. All of the lies. She just couldn't handle it. Slowly hot tears poured from her eyes and she wept.

Robin joined Cyborg and Starfire in Alex's room. They had set it up quite nicely and were just finishing up.

“Is Raven finished with the unpacking of her belongings?” asked Starfire.

“Almost,” said Robin.

“You look a little shaken, man,” said Cyborg. “Everything okay.”

“Well I just discovered something kind of interesting,” he said crossing his arms.

“What?” asked Starfire.

Robin reached in his pocket and took out the picture of Jacob leaning against the building. “You know who that is?” The two stared at it.

“No, I do not recognize this person,” said Starfire.

“It's Jacob,” said Robin.

“Raven's Jacob?” asked Cyborg taking the picture.

“Yup,” said Robin.

Cyborg looked at it and said, “Well… he's good lookin. So?”

“Notice anything a little odd?” asked Robin.

“No, he looks to be a normal Earthling to me,” said Starfire.

Robin took out the picture of Alex that Raven had given him. He handed it to Cyborg. “Now tell me if you don't see something odd now.”

Cyborg looked at the pictures back and forth. Suddenly his eye went large and his jaw hung open. “Hey, they don't look anything alike!”

“Exactly,” said Robin relieved that he had finally noticed.

“They do not,” said Starfire noticing the difference.

“So… does that mean Jacob's not Alex's father?” asked Cyborg.

“I don't know,” said Robin. “But Raven got really upset when I mentioned how much they didn't look alike.”

The three studied the picture and thought. Alex really didn't seem to have any of Jacob in him. So, was it possible? Was Jacob not the real father? And if he wasn't, then who was?

The cartoon show ended and another show came on. It was a non-cartoon show and Beast Boy knew that it was probably not two-year-old friendly. He grabbed the remote and began to flip through the channels. As he did Alex began to fidget and then eventually climbed off of Beast Boy. He then slithered his way off of the couch and started to walk around.

“Hey we're ya goin?” asked Beast Boy jumping up.

“I wanna snack,” he said in almost a question. Beast Boy had never heard anything so cute.

“You're hungry?” he asked with a smile.

“I wanna snack,” he said again heading to the kitchen.

“Hold on, dude,” said Beast Boy scooping him up. “I'll getcha a snack.”

He started to look through the cupboards and then realized that he had better ask Raven what he should feed him. He didn't know what his diet consisted of and he really didn't want Raven getting mad at him.

He knocked on Ravens door and waited for her to answer. Alex had laid his head on Beast Boys shoulder and started fingering his shirt. Raven opened the door and looked out. Beast Boy noticed that her eyes looked slightly red and her lips looked a little puffy.

“Hey Raven,” he said with a smile. “You okay?”

“Yes,” she said plainly.

“Oh, well Alex's is hungry and I wasn't sure what to give him,” said Beast Boy.

Raven looked at the two. Her son in Beast Boy's arms, his little head resting on Beast Boy's shoulder, his little fingers picking at Beast Boy's shirt. He looked at his mother with those peaceful eyes and gave her a small smile. “Just give him a bowl of dry cereal,” said Raven rubbing her eyes and then casually running her fingers through her hair.

“Oh, okay,” said Beast Boy. And with that he headed back out of the kitchen. Raven closed her door and started to cry all over again. She knew that this was a bad idea. She shouldn't have come back. She should have just gone back to her apartment and left the Titans be.