Raven was stunned. All this time... Slade had been doing this? She unconsciously moved forward, looking intently at the many monitors. Security cameras! In Titans Tower! And to think she had been starting to see Slade as a friend! Damn him! But Raven couldn't figure out why she was feeling betrayed. What should she have expected of Slade? He was her enemy after all, and she shouldn't have forgotten that. It was all an act; Slade was still the villain she had always known him to be and the Slade she had been seeing now wasn't really him. But damn he pretended well!

Raven's eyes roamed over the monitors. On one, Starfire was working in the kitchen, probably making some disgusting mustard concoction. Another showed Cyborg and Beastboy in the sitting room; Cy was working on the huge computer while Beastboy was looking through a stack of papers. But where was Robin? Raven scanned the rest of the monitors; there was one for each room. Raven's eyes stopped at the screen showing Robin's bedroom. It was empty. She had never really seen much of Robin's room, but from what she'd seen, she knew it was always neat and organised. But at the moment it was in total disarray. The bed wasn't made, papers lay strewn all over the floor and bed, cupboards were hanging open and clothes were carelessly dropped on the floor. Robin certainly wasn't himself.

Just then, Robin entered the frame. He was pacing, his fingers of one hand rubbing his chin thoughtfully, the other holding the piece of paper he was looking at. Reaching the one end of the room, he turned to pace the other way which turned him so that he was facing the camera Raven was watching him on. He stopped pacing and was frowning now. Raven's eyes raked him hungrily. She missed just seeing him. He didn't look as bad as his room did though. He was a little dishevelled; his hair was messier than usual and his clothes were a bit wrinkled, but other than that, he looked normal.

Suddenly, Robin threw the paper away from him in frustration. It landed softly among the others on his floor and Raven guessed that that was how the rest had got there. Robin's hand went to his eyes and grasped the bridge of his nose. Then – he did it so unexpectedly that she didn't register what she was seeing for a moment – he took his mask off. Raven held her breath as he rubbed his closed eyelids in tiredness. Then he took his hand away and opened his eyes. A jolt went right through her heart; green. He had bright green eyes. Raven looked at his whole face – they were perfect. She had imagined him with blue eyes, brown, hazel, green; but this green suited him perfectly. His face was complete – and he looked twice as handsome.

Once the shock of seeing his eyes started to wear off, Raven began to notice other things. Like the fact that his eyes were extremely bloodshot and under them were dark rings. Without his mask, she could see how exhausted he was. So – he was just hiding his strain behind his mask. Raven felt a great pain in her heart for him. Why did he always have to be so strong? It was no doubt adding to his strain having to keep up a façade of strength. She desperately wished she could go to him and wrap her arms around him. She felt like she needed it as much as he did.

Robin slumped on his bed, lying on his back – and Raven wanted to curl up in the crook of his arm. She looked at his beautiful eyes and she wanted them to fall on her and look at her with the love she felt back for him. She wanted to see love in his eyes so much it hurt. And she knew then that it was pointless to try not to think of him. She loved him regardless of how he felt in return. And she could no longer delude herself into thinking that she could forget about it all.

"Raven..." she whirled around at the sound of Slade's voice. Her tender thoughts vanished as she looked upon the man who was causing Robin this pain. It was Slade's fault that Robin was in this state.

"You – you bastard!" she hissed furiously.

"Now Raven, please understand..." he said gently.

"Don't give me that shit! You're – you're – damn you, you are the most disgusting human being I've ever had the misfortune to lay eyes on!" she nearly shouted. "How dare you act so normally around me, like – like a good person – when you're sitting here watching my friends' pain?!" They both knew who she meant when she said 'friends'. "Does it give you pleasure to see what you've caused? DOES IT?!"

"Raven, I'm sorry you saw this. It's not how you think..."

"Like hell it isn't! Damn you – if I had my powers you'd be unconscious already! I could just – argh! I hate you! I can't believe I fell for your little good-goody charade!" with that, she ran past him and back to the bedroom. Slade didn't try to stop her.

Once there, she paced around furiously, shaking with anger. Her roiling emotions scared her; she was getting too used to not having her powers to control and therefore her emotions. But where Robin was concerned, her feelings were not rational. To think that the titans were right there all along when she'd been longing just to see them again! Robin had been right under her nose. She was still in shock after her wish to see Robin's true face had so suddenly come true. Her emotions were all over the place – from anger to love to pain to sadness to longing and back to anger. She didn't want to imagine what would happen if that little metal bracelet around her wrist wasn't there to neutralise her powers.

"Raven..." came Slade's tentative voice from the doorway.

"I wouldn't try and talk to me right now if I were you." She said without turning around.

"Raven, you have to listen to me. I know you're upset, but you have to understand that it was necessary to keep an eye on them..."

"I don't 'have to' anything! Just do us both a favour and leave me alone!"

When she heard no movement from the doorway, she hissed warningly "I mean it, Slade."

"Please don't do this Raven. We've been getting along so well..."

"Why should that matter to you? I'm your enemy, your captive, and it was my mistake to forget that. I should have seen you for who you really are."

"But it doesn't have to be that way!" he said in a strangled voice.

Raven slowly turned around to look at him. "What do you mean?" she said slowly.

He seemed to teeter on the edge of indecision. Then, he suddenly came forward and stopped very close to her. This she didn't like; she had to tilt her head back to look into his masked face.

"I... I... oh for God's sake, I'm in love with you Raven." He blurted. His huge hands were now gripping her upper arms, as if he was willing her to understand.

Raven was completely stunned. Well she certainly hadn't expected that. She just stared up at him with wide eyes, her mouth hanging open a little in her shock.

"Please Raven, please understand. I don't want to do anything to hurt you. You do understand that, right?"

She nodded dumbly. For a moment, they stared at each other in silence. Then with a barely audible groan, Slade pulled her into his arms and held her. "I... I just want to hold you for a moment, ok?" he nearly whispered.

As they stood there, in the middle of the bedroom, his arms wrapped around her like he'd never let go, Raven, her emotions now churning more than ever, thought "What have I got myself into?"