Helping Hand: stand alone

Cyborg finished disarming one of the bad guys, "Not for a few minutes, not since ol' sparky here fired that paint bomb on her."

Starfire walked over by Robin, "Oh, I hope she is alright."

A green wolf transformed itself into Beast Boy, "Uh, I think she's back by that lake, you guys go on, I'll get her." His voice was quiet with concern.

"You sure, BB? I can come with you?" Cyborg looked in the direction of the lake, it couldn't be seen through the trees.

"Naw, that's okay, you help take those guys in, I'll make sure she's okay." With that, the short, green skinned young man switched himself into the wolf again and trotted off to find their missing friend.

Cyborg shrugged and scooped up two of the bad guys on his shoulders, as Starfire took the other two unconscious ones and Robin prodded the one who was still awake to walk on his own.

As Beast Boy got near the lake he could hear wild splashing, but he knew that the person making the noise wasn't having any fun. He got to the edge of the trees near the lake and watched for a moment.

Raven was waist deep in water; she was splashing her arms and then rubbing and scratching at them where the paint had landed. It had soaked through her sleeves and stained her arms. She'd pushed up one sleeve and tore apart the other to get at the paint. She was muttering, "No, it has to come off, please, I can't look like this." There was real panic in her voice and Beast Boy realized why, the painted had slid down her skin, red paint, and it made her arms look like they did when her powers were being used by her father and lately, Slade.

Beast Boy's heart ached as he saw his friend being so tormented. He changed back to normal and walked into the lake, he was right behind her before she noticed. Raven spun around, she opened her mouth to say something like, go away, or I'm fine, but nothing came out. Beast Boy gave her a gentle smile and spoke softly, "It's alright, here, lemme help." He reached out a gloved hand for her arm and she jumped backwards, misjudging the deepness and ended up falling backwards with a big splash. She managed to get her feet mostly under her, only now she was up to her chest and her feet were slipping in the mud.

Beast Boy walked over and took her hand, helping her back to more shallow ground. Raven's hood had fallen back, he looked into her purple eyes, "Please Raven, let me help you. You'll hurt yourself if you keep scratching like that. I promise I won't tell if you're embarrassed." He gave her his best reassuring smile.

Raven looked away, she realized he was just trying to help, and it meant something to her that he came alone and was willing to respect her feelings on this. She managed a nod, but still didn't trust herself to speak, she was embarrassed and ashamed that she'd let herself get so emotional about a little paint. Silently she was glad it was Beast Boy who had come to find her.

Beast Boy looked around, he seemed to spot something, "Hold on a sec." He walked over to some bushes growing near the edge of the lake. He grabbed a fist full of leaves, then waded back to the other Titan.

"Here, these have a little bit of a rough side, it should help." Beast Boy handed her a few of the leaves, then he dipped what he'd kept into the water. Taking one of her arms, he rubbed the leaves gently along her pale skin. Using as little pressure as he could, the paint started to wipe away. He noticed that her arms were red where she'd scratched, but nothing looked deep. He was glad he'd found her before she'd hurt herself.

Raven watched him for a few minutes, he was being so careful, and it was working. She wanted to help but she couldn't use the hand he was holding, and it was awkward to reach the top of that arm with her free one and still see what she was doing, so she stood as patiently as she could and let him work.

Halfway up her arm, the leaves started to fall apart. It was a little pink where Beast Boy had rubbed, but that was just her skin reacting to being touched for so long. "Are you okay? I'm not hurting you am I?" He frowned as he saw the pink skin.

Raven found her voice, "No, no it's okay. It'll go back to normal in a second." She pointed with the handful of leaves, "See, no more paint, and no harm done." She managed a small smile as he worried over her.

Beast Boy took a few more leaves from her hand, "Still, I don't want to have it take so long, I know it's not fun scrubbing paint." He morphed into a gorilla, now his hands were twice as big and he could do a bigger area at a time, lessening the time she'd have to suffer.

A chuckle escaped Raven's lips as the green gorilla went back to work on her arm. Beast Boy gave her a surprised look, then the best smile he could in his current form. It was so rare to hear her laugh, and he was glad he could make her feel better. In much less time, the rest of her arm was clean.

Raven looked out towards where the fighting had ended before, "We'd better hurry, they're bound to get worried and coming looking for us soon."

Beast Boy nodded then scooped up water in his hands to rinse her arm of leaves and any last flecks of removed paint. The water was cool and soothed Raven's skin. Her arm was back to normal; she held it up to show him. He nodded again, then took the remaining leaves from her and started on the other arm. He tried to work quickly, but carefully.

As Beast Boy finished, getting this arm all at once, he noticed that Raven's face had gone back to it's more neutral self. He knew he was probably going to get yelled at for what he was about to do, but he had to try once more to get her to smile. He loved to see her smile, even if it was at his expense sometimes. So, he took a step back then morphed into an elephant. Before Raven could react, he sucked up a trunk full of water and sprayed it on the young woman. Beast Boy had managed to accomplish both of his tasks. He'd rinsed clean her arm and, after a death glare, a smile spread across Raven's face.

The green elephant reached down with his trunk and wrapped it around Raven's middle. "Beast Boy what are you doing?" Raven half-heartedly pushed on his trunk. He picked her up and placed her on his back, then started heading for where they could meet their friends. Raven laid down on his back, it was easier to hold on that way. He wasn't certain, but it felt like she patted his head for a second as they walked. Beast Boy was glad she'd let him carry her; she needed the peace, if only for a moment.

As they neared the other edge of the woods, Beast Boy stopped and bent down on his front knees so that Raven could slide down. After she had done so, he morphed back to normal. Raven's hood was still down, and there was a slight blush to her cheeks. Beast Boy opened his mouth to say something, when they both heard Cyborg yelling their names. Raven quickly put her hood back up and started walking. Beast Boy sighed and started to follow. Right before they got passed the trees into the clearing, Beast Boy felt Raven squeeze his hand briefly and heard a very quiet, "Thank you." He smiled to himself as he saw Raven walk out in front of him.

"Sorry, had something to take care of, Beast Boy found me." Raven's voice had returned to normal, Beast Boy was glad, he knew how upset she'd be if it were still showing so much emotion. He didn't completely understand it, but he knew why she couldn't show or even feel much emotion. He was certainly glad she'd shown some with him.