I'm Fine (book 2)

Mirror Mirror

Bee stayed in the hospital wing with their son Winston for the rest of the night. Cyborg sat and watched the two, sleep soundly. She was told that her capture was another Slade operation but they hadn't figured out his objective yet. Slade had escaped the fight behind the scenes because they were more preoccupied with finding Bee than chasing after Slade.

Raven sat at the opposite end of the hospital wing with Beastboy behind a curtain divider. Beastboy was starting to notice subtle differences in Raven's appearance that made him worry about the possible permanence of the situation. For starters, Raven's skin started to darken under her eyes leaving dark circles. Her lips were dry and cracked and she no longer smelled like her lavender self. Instead she smelled like the hospital wing. Beastboy curled up as a cat on top of her chest, and laid down, listening to her shallow heart beat.

Nightwing stood in the kitchen, making everyone dinner as Starfire sat at the table knitting a blue baby blanket. No one said a word. They didn't need to. They were both happy, relieved, and drained from the day. Robin had approached Nightwing with Intel earlier that morning from the underground fight club about an abandoned morgue on the outskirts of town. One thing led to another and they discovered Slade with five robots planning to kidnap Bee's newborn son in a sadistic makeshift prison. The whole scenario made no sense, which weighed heavily on Nightwing's mind, but he was too tired to fall down the rabbit hole of compulsion today.

Nightwing brought the soup bowls into the hospital wing with Starfire and passed them around. Bee sat up gingerly, still in a bit of pain and took her bowl. Beastboy stumbled around the curtain in a groggy sadness and accepted his bowl quietly. They all sat in silence, eating their soup.

After the soup, the team dispersed: Beastboy to his room to sleep, Nightwing to Starfire's room with Star, Robin to the city to do something mildly illegal, and Cyborg stayed to help Bee nurse the baby. Beastboy slept for about an hour before a dream about Raven dying woke him in a cold sweat. He had had similar dreams for the past month so he was getting used to not sleeping well. On most nights, he snuck over to Raven's room to sleep in her bed after a nightmare but tonight didn't feel right. He laid on his top bunk, zoning out at the blank wall in front of his face. He felt an overwhelming sense of sadness since Cyborg's outburst that felt like his old poisoning, but the worst part was that he knew this was authentic. He laid there thinking about what life would be like without Raven and couldn't get past it. He quietly got out of bed, suddenly realizing his cheeks were tear stained, and snuck out the door.

Beastboy quietly stumbled into the kitchen where he found a hidden bottle of vodka Damien kept for bad decision making. He carried it back to Raven's room and wrapped himself up in her black silk sheets. He put the bottle to his lips and sipped the relentless thoughts away until he blacked out.

Cyborg had wondered out to the kitchen for a snack and saw the cabinet door left open. Knowing Damien was out of the tower, Cyborg decided to go check on Beastboy. He knew he went too far earlier with his conversation about Raven's life support but he was in a bad mental state with Bee being missing past her due date. He opened Beastboy's door to see the empty room and a sweat spot on his top bunk. Cyborg walked over to Raven's room to see Beastboy on the floor next to an empty bottle. Upon closer examination, Beastboy was passed out clutching Raven's mirror to get into her mind. Knowing no one was able to get into Raven's mind since she was unconscious, he knew where Beastboy's  attempt had landed him. He scooped up Beastboy as the green Titan groaned and tucked him into Raven's bed. Cyborg took the bottle before whispering, "I'm sorry man!" as he left to let him sleep off his alcohol.

The next morning an alarm rang at 10 am for a small robbery with control freak. Robin, Nightwing, Starfire watched Cyborg run in without Beastboy.

"Bb ain't coming today!" Cyborg said solemnly. "He's sick." He continued keeping it short.

"Got it." Nightwing nodded sternly knowing he had seen the vodka bottle Cyborg threw in the trash that morning.

As the Titans rolled out, Beastboy felt the sharp pain of a hangover burn in rhythm to the alarm that rang through the tower. Sitting up slowly, he saw the bowl that Cyborg left on the bed for him just in time to throw up in it. He stared miserably, at his puffy green eyes in Raven's mirror. He heard a familiar whisper come from within the mirror as he fell back asleep.