AN: This is just an idea I had while rewatching the Apprentice episodes, I hope it came out okay.
Rose never really understood her father.
But then, she had never really tried.
No-one was meant to understand Slade, or Deathstroke as he was more commonly known, that was where Batman, Green Arrow and so many others had gone wrong...
They had tried to understand him.
Rose, on the other hand, was no such fool; she had never tried to defy Slade, not until she'd met Robin. She had always been forbidden from talking to strangers, and Rose had never had much desire to do so; but something had compelled her to walk up to the boy; lying, curled at the base of a dark, damp wall, having just received a vicious beating for his disobedience during a mission and insolence after. Rose gently took the first aid kit from Wintergreen and proceeded to fill a bag of ice from the freezer, unsurprisingly the boy had flinched away at her touch, seeing Rose's cowl and mistaking her gesture for a threat, at this Rose whipped her hand back and, biting her lip for a brief second, pulled the black and orange material away from her face.
Almost immediately the tension drained from Robin's body, "Who- who are you?"
The voice came out as a cracked, dry whisper,
"My name's Rose. I'm Slade's daughter,"
Even as she said it Rose could imagine Robin's reaction play out, and, sure enough, seconds later his body went stiff, poised for a fight. Ignoring this she picked up the bag of ice and attempted to place it on the left side of his battered and bruised torso; he shrank away, like her touch carried some sort of disease;
"Robin, I don't want to fight, I only want to help,"
Robin didn't react, except to say, "Why should I trust you?"
Rose took one of his arms and slowly began to bandage it, not answering Robin's question until she was finished; "Slade is my father, I legally belong to him until I'm eighteen, that's four years from now, think about it Robin; you're seventeen and he's got you here illegally, if he can do this to you every day for a month, imagine having to endure it ten times every day for five years, then imagine how you would feel about it,"
The silence lasted for about a minute before Robin shook his head, "That's- I wouldn't like it,"
Rose snorted, laying down Robin's other arm, "That's an understatement, Robin, I went insane, I gouged out my own eye just to try and stop the beatings, in the end I just wasn't good enough for him, he set his sights on securing you as his protégé and just tossed me aside, I'll admit I was a little jealous, I've been jealous of a lot of people, for a long time."
With difficulty Robin sat up, put his back to the wall for support, as one the two teenagers looked over at Slade, who was watching and re-watching the footage from Robin's latest mission at Wayne Enterprises; "Who?"
Robin's question caught Rose of guard and for the tiniest second she looked like what she was, a scared and lonely fourteen year old girl, then the moment was gone, her hard shell reasserted itself and she concentrated on finding another bandage in the nearly empty first aid box. Robin looked back at Slade, still wholeheartedly focused on the security footage, and started to peel his mask of his face, Rose looked up, surprised; Robin gave a small grunt as the mask came free and looked at it, then to Rose. She picked up a tube of antiseptic and smeared some around his blackened right eye, once this was done Robin stuck the mask firmly back on and exhaled deeply,
"Thanks,"
Once again silence fell between the two, Rose packed up the first aid kit and took it away, then came back, carrying a small object, as she sat next to him Robin saw that it was his old Teen Titans communicator, Rose held it up;
"Y'know, we could call the Titans, right here, right now."
Robin shook his head; "No. Slade would know, and then he'd kill them and beat us,"
"Oh," Rose stared at the communicator for a moment, then; "What if they got here and Slade knew it couldn't possibly have been you who told them our location?"
Robin shook his head again, Rose scowled;
"Robin I want to help, the Titans want to help. If they weren't willing to risk their lives they wouldn't be in this gig. They know you haven't turned, please don't prove them wrong."
Robin, for the first time, looked guilty; he rested his head on his knees and shook his head again, "I don't know Rose, I'm scared of what will happen if they do come, I don't think I could handle it if I got anymore blood on my hands..."
As his sentence petered out Rose sighed, "It's up to you Robin, they're your friends, but if I were your friend I know that I'd want to help you, and screw the consequences,"
Rose stood and brushed herself off, she began to walk away; "Rose, wait."
At the sound of Robin's voice the girl turned,
"You're right," Robin said, "My friends would want me to do the right thing,"
Rose smiled, "You've got a plan?"
Robin nodded, "Yeah, yeah I do."
-TT-
What felt like hours later Rose was back at her father's lair. A full twenty minutes had passed since she had left her message at Titan's Tower, and Rose was beginning to worry that the Titans wouldn't show and that she would have to step in instead. Leaning with her back against the wall several feet away Rose heard Slade say; "And from now on I'd like you to call me master,"
Rose balled her hands into fists, recalling a similar request that had been made of her three years ago, but before she could draw the swords strapped to her back there was the sound of energy discharging and a strong, angry order; "Leave him alone,"
Rose exhaled, even as Robin yelled, "Go, get out of here! You don't know what those beams did to-"
"Dude..."
"We know,"
"And we don't care."
"We are your friends Robin; we are not leaving without you."
At a distance Rose couldn't tell which of the Titans had spoken, but tensed as her father's threat became real; "Touching, but Robin doesn't need any friends,"
The sound of pain sliced through the air and it was all Rose could do to stop herself from tearing in there and running Slade though where he stood, then with a gasp she felt her precognition kick in, almost instantly she relaxed, she turned to the door and opened it, casting a final glance back as Robin stared up at Slade, "...and I know how you hate to lose."
-TT-
Titans Tower: Two weeks later
Robin walked into his bedroom, exhausted but happy, having spent the whole day catching criminals he was ready to drop; he took off his cape and hung it in his wardrobe, before noticing that the window was open. Going over he closed it, then looked around, lying on his desk was a square of white paper, written on it was a short note:
Did I mention that you have lovely eyes?
Glad you're back to normal.
There was no signature, only a letter R enclosed in a circle, smiling Robin folded the note and slipped it into a frame, behind a family portrait that showed three people in red and white leotards. He stared at the picture for a long while, before slipping off his mask and lying down on his bed.
Within seconds he was asleep.
-Fin-
So, there we are, hope you enjoyed it. Reviews are greatly apprieciated, even if they're to tell me how rubbish it is.