Raven was thinking about her relationship with Garfield. She couldn't help but wonder..

Why?

Why Garfield, of all people?

Of course, he was the first person to accept her. Everyone at their school shoved her out of the way, bullied her, ignored her, made her feel like more of an outcast than she already did.

Then came along Garfield.

When they first met, she considered him an enemy, a person to stay away from. But he insisted on getting to know her and she had finally given in.

And around him, she felt different.

There really was no other word to describe the feeling.

He was the first to try and get to know her. They were friends, then they kissed..

There was the feeling again. It snuck up on her constantly, making her feel things. She still couldn't identify it, and she didn't know whether or not she liked the sensation.

She continued to let her mind wander about the scrawny boy, still not believing the fact that he accepted her.

Of course, Garfield was simply one to be nice, wasn't he? And the fact that a teacher forced them to work together on a project didn't help her case either. What would've happened if the teacher didn't?

Before she could mentally answer that, she heard stomping on the first floor of her mansion. He came back.

No, it couldn't be. He was still supposed to be on a trip. He never returns early.

Garfield was on his way to her house, they were going to be working together on the project.

Her mind went into a panic, creating scenarios about the possibilities that could occur when Garfield knocked on her door. But, of course, none of them would end very well for either of them.

She felt the floor under her quake with every footstep her father made. It didn't take long for her to figure out that he was going to her room.

And he was mad.

She didn't have time to reach for her phone and tell Garfield she had a change of plans, but she didn't want him to walk in on her father beating her. She didn't want him to see her so vulnerable.

What would he think of her?

His strong, capable girl being unable to defend herself against her own father.

The last she wanted was for him to feel the need to step in and defend her.

The only thing she could do now was wait.

Her door swung open, revealing her father with a green bottle in one hand. The other hand was clenched.

"Good evening, father." Raven greeted, avoiding to see him. She looked all around her room, her back facing him.

"Good evening, my ass!" He yelled, his tone indicating an attack was slowly approaching.

She pressed her lips together. It was better she didn't say anything and give him even more of a reason to start swinging.

His attack was more brutal than normal.

He swung his clenched hands up into her chin, creating a force that pushed her across the room. He took advantage of her disadvantage and towered over her. Her face and stomach was being imprinted with the footprints of his boots.

She tried to protect at least her face from it, but barely succeeded.

He picked her up and threw her onto a wall. The impact created a crack in the wall.

Raven slid to the ground, hardly conscious. She hung her head in defeat and waited for Trigon to throw more blows at her.

It never came, though.

She looked up, hearing two voices struggle against each other.

When she saw what was happening, she could hardly believe anything her eyes were showing her and weakly squeaked out a denial to the events.

Garfield was wrestling against her father, struggling to keep him away from his Raven.

"Raven, go now!" He yelled over his shoulder, his hands being occupied with trying to push Trigon away from her.

Trigon wasn't a fair opponent against Garfield, for Garfield was a small, scrawny teen. Whereas Trigon was in his early fourties and he trained almost everyday.

Even though Garfield was loosing the fight, Raven managed to slip away because of Garfield distracting Trigon.

She ran out her house, entering Garfield's pick up truck. Hopefully, he'd be back soon.

After a few minutes of hellish wait time, Raven watched as a beat up Garfield exited her house.

His face was a combination of scratched, swollen, bruised, and maybe even scarred.

Raven couldn't bear to see him.

She still looked up at him, "What did he do to you?" She asked, possessing an unusually fragile voice. She brushed his cheeks with her thumbs, holding his face in her palms.

"Nothing, Rave." He grinned, "At least you're okay."

She moved her thumbs across the purple blotches of skin, he flinched lightly at her movement and smiled at her.

"Start the car." She whispered at him

"Where to?" He asked, holding her hands, which were still pressed gently on his cheeks

"Anywhere." She kissed him softly, "Anywhere but here."

*  *  *

He pressed his forehead to hers for a few moments.

They were alone in his room. He decided that he would do anything, anything, to keep Raven away from her father.

After seeing what happened to her, the effects he left her in..

Never again did he ever want to see her in that position again.

Because he truly did love this girl.

"God, Raven," He said in a hushed tone, "Even with all these cuts and scratches, you still look beautiful."

She blushed, but refused to move her head from its position, "Nobody's ever called me that."

"They should." His voice was soft, but firm and he moved a loose strand of her hair behind her ear, "Because you're beautiful and that's only one of the reasons you have my heart."

She kissed him, mostly to make it so he could close his eyes, unable to see her blush. "How are you so nice to me?"

"I'm always nice to girls that are as cute as you when they blush." He grinned

"Shut up." She said and moved her head slightly so her lips were hovering over his.

He pulled her face closer to him, impatient about kissing her.

She gasped when he did so, but played along with his kiss.

She chuckled when he let go of her, causing Garfield to pout, thinking he did something wrong.

"What's so funny, Rave?" He asked

She shook her head, "Nothing it's just..never in a million years did I think I'd fall in love."

It was then that she discovered the unknown feeling...

It was love.