Barrowed Time

John and Mary Grayson are sucked into the future by Warp, they arrive in Jump City; trying to make sense of it all when they meet the Titans. Robin's been keeping a dark secret that may be brought to light soon as Slade has plans for an unsuspecting husband and wife…

Ha Ha! Lot's of people do fics where the children of the Titans come back to the past, but nobody's done one where one of the Titan's parents come to the future! Ha, I'm finally coming up with pure genius here!

Quick Sticky:

Italics: present
'': thoughts

Normal font: past

This is only for the first chapter. The rest of the story will be as follows:

Italics: past
'': thoughts

Prologue: To Change the Past

"Do you know what you must do, Warp?" Slade's voice echoed through the dark room.

"Yes," was Warp's solemn reply as he waited for further instruction.

"What is your objective?" Slade demanded.

"To eliminate the one who is in our present time known as Robin of the Teen Titans," Warp replied.

"Good, my friend. Remember, he calls himself Richard 'Dick' Grayson, and today's his birthday." Slade smiled. "When this is over, the Teen Titans as we know them will never exist."

"I will not forget, Sir."

Warp opened a portal and stepped through, vanishing completely. "So far, everything is going as planned." Slade grinned behind his mask and his one eye gleamed in the darkness.

Monday, March 20th, 1999

It was a warm, sunshiny day in Gotham City where the Grayson family, known to the rest of the world as the Flying Graysons; were going about their day preparing for a very special occasion: Dick Grayson's birthday.

Mary Grayson smiled broadly. Today was a happy occasion, she loved her son more than anyone in the world, besides her husband John, she reminded herself, he was her only child, and she loved to spoil him as much as she could. Not that the Graysons were rich, they were circus acrobats.

They were upper middle class, making about 40,000 dollars a year, and 3,000 a month with their work. After paying bills however, it seemed like they had little left over. Still, Mary couldn't help but spoil her sweet son Richard 'Dick' Grayson. It was his birthday, after all.

"Mom, are you alright?" Dick Grayson walked into the room. Looking up, Mary smiled.

"Of course I am, Little Robin," Mary replied using the nickname she had given him since he was five. "I'm just thinking about you."

"Do you always think about me, Mom?" Dick asked playfully.

"Of course Dick; besides, it's your Birthday, whether you remember it or not," Mary wrapped her son in a firm hug.

"Mom, you're squishing me!" Dick protested loudly. Mary could only smile at him. He pulled away and she stared at him intently.

"Well I'm sorry about that," she said looking at him. "You better go on, practice starts in a few minutes. Show's tomorrow, you know." She pushed him lightly towards the door.

Dick Grayson ran out into the arena to begin practicing their performance routine. Mary quietly followed him into the arena, deep in thought as they practiced their stunts. Finishing up, they washed themselves and prepared to eat dinner.

Finishing their meal, Mary Grayson removed a small package from beneath the table. "Son, this is for you. It's not exactly a normal present, though."

"What?" Dick asked, "You didn't get me what I wanted?"

"Maybe we did get you what you wanted," Mary said coyly. "But I wanted you to have this." Dick gingerly opened the package. He looked at it with a slight frown on his face.

"Mom, you bought me a diary?" he asked, puzzled.

"Journal, honey, it's a journal," Mary gently corrected.

"Now, Dick, this is for you," his father John Grayson grinned widely. "Open it."

Dick opened it, "Wow, a MP3 Player!" He looked up at his father, beaming. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome, son," John laughed. He ruffled his son's dark, jet black hair. He was very much like his father, in looks mostly. But he swore Dick was a carbon copy of his mother. His temperament, his personality, his emotions, all came mainly from his mother.

Mary grinned, "Hey, what about a picture? We should take one right?" John looked at her.

"Yeah, of course," he went and grabbed a camera." He pulled out the camera. "Hey, Pops, Pops Haley, can you take a picture of us for Dick here?"

Haley happily complied and took the photo and smiled. "Always glad to help some old friends."

"Thanks," John replied. "It's been a good day, hasn't it?"

"It's been the greatest day of my life," Dick smiled. "Mom, Dad, you're the greatest." He hugged them both tightly, he never wanted to let go."

"Easy little Robin, you're crushing me!" Mary laughed. Life was good, and it always would be.

Dick Grayson silently stared down at the faded photograph. He had been nine years old then. He had been a happy child with a wonderful family. Life had been good then, but that life was all gone now. Dick Grayson, known to his friends as Robin, stood in the secret room down in the basement of Titans Tower. He was staring at old posters, pictures and keepsakes of his old life. The life he left behind seven years ago.

Today had been a long, hard day for him. On the outside, he appeared to be the calm, collected leader of the Teen Titans, but on the inside he was secretly counting down the hours to when the day would end. It was the first day of spring, but unknown to his friends it was also his birthday. He hated his birthday. He had a reason, and it was this: His parents had died the day after. A day of celebration followed by a day of mourning; he hated it and hated himself because he couldn't save them.

He knelt before two lit candles and sighed. "I'm sorry, Mom, Dad. I couldn't save you."

He prepared to leave the room, blowing out the small candles he had lit in their memory. Slipping the mask back over his eyes, Robin, Dick Grayson, gave one last glance back at the old faded poster of the Flying Graysons, and left the room without a word.

He made his way up the stairs as stealthily as possible, not wanting the others to know where he was. He didn't want them to discover that life; the life he had left behind. He wanted to forget, forget that it had even happened, but for some strange reason, he just couldn't let go of it.

He wasn't Dick Grayson anymore, he reminded himself. He was Robin, leader of the Teen Titans, vigilante and protector of Jump City. He didn't have that life anymore, his dreams that he had were gone. Gone with his parents lives, gone with the snap of a high wire; he sighed, trying to suppress these feelings of sadness. His friends didn't need to see him like this.

He climbed out a window and using his grappling hook, he climbed up to his room.

"Robin, are you in there?" Starfire's voice asked, staring at the door outside Robin's room. She could see the light gleaming from the inside of his room. She hesitantly knocked again. This time the door opened and Robin stood before her. If she could see his eyes she would have been shocked at the redness of them, and the sad, exhausted, grief filled look in them. But she could not, so she did not know his true emotional state, she only knew that he looked disturbed, but she didn't know why.

"Friend Robin, you seem…" she tried to think of a good word, "tired."

"Maybe I am, Star," Robin said quietly. "Maybe I am."

"Thinking about Slade?" she asked. That was all he thought about, at least, that's what he implied. But that was far from all he thought about. And today, he was thinking about his parents, and how his life could have been different. Life was far from fair, and life was far from good…

John, Mary and Dick had all decided to take a walk, away from Haley Circus, in an attempt to relax before the big show that weekend. They had walked for a few hours, before turning around to head back. Without warning, a man stepped out from the shadows.

"Are you Richard Grayson?" the man asked.

"Hey, wait a minute Mister, why's my boy so important?" John asked, stepping between Dick and the stranger. He had an evil look about him and what John saw, he didn't like.

"Doesn't matter now," the man said, raising a laser gun at the frightened, wide eyed boy. His mother suddenly knocked him out of the way as the man fired. Warp smirked at him. "And here I thought he was the 'Fearless Leader. He's nothing but a frightened little coward. Finishing him off will be easy." John moved to shield his boy from the gun. Warp prepared to pull the trigger.

"Happy birthday, Robin," the man smirked. John stared. Who was he and how did this man know it was his son's birthday? Mary stared, how did this man know her son's private nickname she had given him?

"Dick, run, get out of here!" she ordered the frightened boy. But Dick simply stood, unable to move, Mary pushed him away as hard as she could and he finally snapped back to reality. He did as he was told and ran back to Haley Circus as fast as his legs could carry him.

"Stupid fools," Warp growled. "You can't stop me! And even if you do, you won't be able to escape your fate."

"What's that supposed to mean?" John snarled a reply. Mary had had enough of this strangely dressed man with his strange weapons. Without warning she pounced on him, her fists flying in his face. Warp was blocking as much as he could.

"I will accomplish my mission here, and the Teen Titans will be no more!" Mary paused for a split second, throttling him.

"Who?" she asked; "Who are these Teen Titans?"

"Doesn't matter lady," he spat back sarcastically. Mary smashed a closed fist into his face.

"Tell me who these Titans are!" she demanded.

"Too bad, you won't be around to see it," Warp suddenly threw her off. John tackled him to the ground and tried to keep him pinned, but Warp decided that his mission would have to be abandoned. 'Blast his parents, they've ruined it!' he thought. 'Slade will have my head for sure!'

His hands reached for the device that would open the portal for him to escape. He had to get out of here. It was either be destroyed by Slade or be pounded to death by Robin's parents. He made a split second decision, he opened the portal.

But before he could step through the portal, he was tackled into it by John and Mary. They continued to pound him as he struggled to break their grasp. The portal was opening. It was back to the future for him.

The alarm suddenly blared as Robin stared at Starfire. "Emergency!" he shouted. They prepared to leave. "Warp's been spotted downtown."

They charged downtown until they came to the intersection. Robin looked up as Warp was being chased by two people. A man and a woman; they tackled him to the pavement as the man rained blows down on his head.

"John, John, STOP!" the woman shouted.

"No! He tried to kill Dick!" John shouted. "Mary, don't get in my way!" Robin could only stare at them in shock. John. Mary. Those were his parents' names!

The woman tried unsuccessfully to pull the man off Warp. "John, don't kill him! We need him to talk."

"Yeah, but this'll make up for what Zucco's boys did to me earlier this afternoon."

'It couldn't be them,' he thought. 'Could it?' He moved closer as they came into view. The Titans were staring and Robin could barely believe his eyes…