This is my first story, let me know what you think. )

Disclaimer-I don't own Teen Titans or any of the characters

He was Irritated, no scratch that, he was pissed. Running his hand through his shaggy black hair, he thought about all the trouble gone through to attain the stupid gem that this man wanted, what the guy was going to do with it really didn't matter much, as long as the thief got paid. Not only had security been unusually difficult to get by and disarm, but the Teen Titans decided to drop by for a visit. Sure, he had escaped but he had received several blows, and had to deal with numerous cuts and bruises. Most of them were healed by now, not that he was worried much about them at the moment. What he was worried about was his payment.

He had been instructed when and where he would receive his payment, and he was there….but the "drop-off" guy was nowhere to be seen. In fact, the "drop-off" guy was two hours late. Red X, or Jack considering the fact that he was wearing jeans and a T-shirt (wearing the suit while waiting around in a park would be a little too conspicuous), was beginning to lose his patience. If the new owner of the gem had decided to take everything and run, X could easily hunt him down and get the money the hard way. The only problem with that was that it was the hard way. Having to go dig through files and talk to all of his contacts to find out who and where this man was would be a hassle. He'd rather the man just pay him, so they could go their separate ways.

Closing his jade-colored eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose with a sigh, Jack decided that maybe the "drop-off" guy had gotten confused and was waiting in another part of the park. So he sauntered his way through the park, glancing at every tree and bench that the bozo with Jack's money might have mistaken for the meeting point. He continued down the path, going into the dense forest part of the park.

He was contemplating whether or not this guy was worth the trouble to hunt down, especially since once out of the wooded area, Jack would find himself in the children's playground area. The "drop-off" guy may have been dumb enough to confuse drop off points, but not dumb enough to think the transaction would take place in one of the most crowded parts of the park would he? "You never know," he chuckled to himself, "they say good help is hard to find these days."

As he entered the child infested part of the park, the smirk on his face fell to that of shock. "Am I seeing this right?" There, about ten feet away from him was none other than Raven of the Teen Titans. Not only was Raven in the park, but she had a young child in one arm, while trying to comfort another. The latter looked to be about four or five while the one she was cradling, "quite skillfully," had to have been around two or three years of age. He watched in awe as a third child walked up to her, this one around seven or eight.

His mind was desperately trying to wrap itself around the image that was playing out in front of him. "Who's kids were they? Were they hers? They couldn't be…I surely would've seen a baby bump at some point." His thoughts were racing, coming up with a barrage of questions. "Maybe someone left them in her care, or they were abandoned at the doorstep of the Titan Tower? But if they were hers… that would mean she had actually physically been with someone, actually with more than one person."

Carefully he noted the children's physical features. "The oldest is a blonde, and so is the youngest. The middle child is a red head. So she had to have hooked up with a blonde guy twice and a red head once." He quickly tried to recall all of the blonde and red headed members of the Teen Titans and had started to mentally sift out who he believed would be possible candidates. "Well Speedy is a red head…but he's kind of arrogant, although she may find that attractive. It could be one of those love/hate things…"

"Your friend saw me and took off running, so I think any business you might have had here will have to be postponed." Raven's voice interrupted his rambling thoughts. Realizing that he had been standing there gaping like an idiot, Jack quickly recovered and was attempting to pull together a plausible excuse under the scrutiny of Raven's cold violet gaze.

Scratching the back of his head all he could come up with so far was an introduction, which would buy him some more time to explain his way out of this. "Hello…My Name's Ja-"

"I know who you are X and you obviously know who I am, so there's no need for introductions," Raven quickly cut him off and then glanced back at the two children playing on the swings.

silence"WHATTT!?" The friendly smile on his face was quickly replaced by that dumbfounded look again only this time around he regained his composure at a rate that even Raven herself could contend with. "how did she figure it out? Why isn't she jumping into a battle stance..? Oh, the kids, not around them, I get it. Well the least she can do is tell me how she knows." He turned to say something to her, only to see that she had walked back to the children, all three of whom were now on the jungle gym crawling around the various colorful sections. Calmly but cautiously he made his way towards her. He saw her semi-relaxed position stiffen as she sensed him walking up.

"I thought I told you to leave?" Raven stated as dryly as Jack had expected it would be. "Well sunshine," Jack was now standing next to her smirking, "I was just wondering how long you've been stalking me. I've worked twice as hard as Boy Blunder to conceal my identity. I wouldn't put it past him with his little bruised ego or personal vendetta or whatever you want to call it, but you? Just couldn't get enough of me, eh?" With that, he turned to look at her expecting to see her blush or squint through angry slits, but she was smirking, an eyebrow raised amusedly, and a hint of laughter in her eyes.

"As hard as you might have worked to conceal your identity, your aura is still very much the same. I sensed your aura and recognized it from our previous encounters. So I'm sorry to disappoint, but no stalking required." Jack was flabbergasted. She just kept throwing him through loop after loop. "Well then if it was that easy, why hasn't Chuckles had you hunt me down and apprehend me before?" A little bit of the bitterness from his bruised ego had slipped into his voice.

"He doesn't know," she replied flatly as if to end the conversation right there. Jack caught the subtle hint, but decided to ignore it. "Won't bird boy be a little upset when he finds out you could have hunted down every villain in Jump City and had them locked up?" Jack said smugly, his eyes full of mischief as he pictured of Robin's reaction in his mind. "Hahaha. The kid would probably blow a gasket."

"It wouldn't be admissible in court. It'd be hearsay, no one would be able to tell if I had actually sensed the same aura as a criminal and therefore would not be able to tell if any of the actions involved in his or her arrest were under jurisdiction." Raven stated as if the answer was as clear as daylight. "hmm, that makes a lot of sense. So she can't arrest me since she hasn't caught me doing anything against the law. Verry nice. This gives me an opportunity to ask about the tiny tots." Jack had been so caught up that he didn't notice that Raven had walked away, and was now crouched down trying to comfort the little red-headed youngster who had fallen down while running to the slide.

He took this chance to observe something very few people were lucky enough to see, Raven's soft side. There was care and concern in Raven's amethyst eyes as she cooed comforting words to the tantrum throwing child. Slowly the crying stopped then they embraced in a quick hug, and the little red headed boy was off and running again, this time determined to make it to the slide without falling. Jack saw the smile on Raven's face as she watched the little boy run off. "Whoever's kids they are, she sure does love them."

Jack strolled over to the still kneeling Raven and sat down next to her. He was amazed at how quickly her façade came back, it was like watching a vault slam shut and lock. "I don't think that babysitting is a requirement for being a Titan," Jack smirked, "so who's kids are they and why are you on diaper duty?"

"I don't understand what you're still doing here," Raven said while looking at him out of the corner of her eye. "Well, sunshine, I have every right to be here. You're not able to arrest me and as far as everyone else is concerned I'm just a normal citizen relaxing in the park. So I've decided that as a normal citizen I'd come and have a chat you, especially since you and the kids have sparked my curiosity."

"Fine. They're mine," was Raven's short and to the point answer. With an amused but curious look on his face, Jack responded with, "You know I never would have-"

"-Pegged me for the motherly type? I get that a lot." Raven cut him off with a sigh and the look on her face made it clear that she had heard it one too many times. "Actually Raven," Jack said using her actual name to help emphasize the point that he genuinely meant what he was about to say, "I was going to say that I never would have guessed that you actually had children. As for motherly, that's obvious, I mean you take care of your team as if they were family, healing their wounds and offering sound advice and solutions. You also put them before yourself, their safety is more important than your own which is exactly what a mother does." He looked over to Raven and saw something he had never seen, and probably never see again. "She's Stunned! She didn't expect something so deep and understanding. I'll have to store this at the back of my mind and cherish it forever. I put a dent in that vault of hers!"

"Rae Rae," came a small voice that snapped them both back to reality, "who's that guy you're talking to?" asked the little blonde girl while holding the other blondie. She handed him over to Raven. "This is a friend," the emphasis on the word and the look that Raven gave him saying "don't start any trouble" did not go unnoticed, "of mine Melvin. He saw me in the park and decided to stop by and catch up on things." Raven finished while pulling out three bags of fruit snacks for the kids to munch on. "Melvin can you go get Timmy and tell him its 'snack time?'" Melvin nodded and ran off to go get Timmy. Raven turned to Jack and continued with their previous discussion while keeping a watchful eye on the toddler, who was caught up in enjoying his fruit snacks, sitting in front of her.

"They aren't biologically mine, I kind of adopted them. It's not legal and there isn't any documentation, but I still consider and treat them as my own." There was a short silence while the information sank in. Long enough for Melvin and Timmy to return and eat their fruit snacks. Jack jumped when he felt someone poke his side. He heard a giggle as he looked down to see the little blonde boy, who's name he had yet to find out, raising his arms up clearly indicating that he wanted to be picked up. At first he tried to ignore the youngen, "Raven will probably castrate me if I laid a finger on any of these guys," but that little bugger was persistent. "Umm…Raven?" He looked over at her, "this one wants to be picked up." His voice, normally smooth and suave, wavered a little.

She eyed him cautiously, a smirk forming on her lips. "Then pick him up. His name is Teether," and then warned under her breath, "If you try something sneaky though, I'll personally make sure your death is slow and excruciating." Jack nodded, and then picked up the boy. "Teether? What a weird name." Giving out a yelp, Jack felt a sharp pain in his shoulder.

"Whoops, I forgot to mention that he bites," Raven chuckled, "but that's a good thing, it means he likes you. You'd be missing an arm if he didn't." Jack glanced down at the little boy in his arms, and then inspected his shoulder. "I thought for sure he broke skin. Wait a second, how did she know whether or not he liked me? I could have lost an arm! That would definitely not be good for my line of business" Melvin, with Timmy in tow, stood up and walked over to Jack. "My Name is Melvin," she offered her hand, which Jack shook, and then she pointed, "this is Timmy, and you already met Teether."

"Hey there Melvin, my name's Jack. I'm a friend of Raven's." Raven had been pretending that she was distracted, but Jack could see her watching him through the corner of her eye. "Jack," Timmy's feeble voice asked, "will you play with us? Rae Rae needs a break." Jack chuckled a bit at the nickname they'd given Raven. He made a mental note of it, planning on using it sometime in the near future.

"I don't know about that Timmy," interjected Raven. It was clear she was still uneasy with him being around the kids, correction, her kids. "Awe, its okay Sunshine, unlike them I don't bite." Jack chuckled, and saw her try to stifle a smile. She nodded, silently giving him permission to go play with Timmy and Melvin. The two kids cheered as Jack stood up and handed Teether over to Raven. They ran ahead of him towards the swings.

The rest of the day was spent with sort of a routine. When Jack was tired, he would take over Raven's spot watching Teether. Then after Raven was tired, Melvin and Timmy would play with Teether, giving Raven and Jack time to talk. They would talk about their likes, dislikes, and favorites. Neither one of them brought up business, it was an unspoken understanding. Then the cycle would start over again with Melvin and Timmy wanting Jack to go entertain them. At first it was a little awkward but as the hours progressed, so did their comfort levels.

Today Jack wasn't a thief, "Although I am one hell of a thief," and Raven wasn't a Titan, "although she's quickly becoming my favorite Titan. She's smart, caring, calm and collected, not to mention very attractive. Starfire may be built like a model but she probably couldn't hold a conversation for the life of her. With Raven she always keeps you guessing," they were just two people enjoying a day in the park. A day that, sadly, had to end sometime. The children had started yawning and sluggishly dragging their feet, and to be honest Jack was feeling a little bit tired himself. He would have spend the whole night there with them if he could have.

"I should get them back to the Tower," Raven said quietly. She stood up while holding Teether, who had fallen asleep, and pulled Timmy up into her other arm. Timmy tried to stifle a yawn, but failed miserably. Melvin ran over to Jack and hugged his legs. "Jack," her blue eyes growing wide and her lip starting to tremble, "are going to play with us again tomorrow?"

Jack looked over at Raven to see a smirk on her face, and an eyebrow raised waiting for an answer. Her eyes shone bright, obviously trying to force down an emotion or two. "Hope maybe? Pfft, keep dreaming Jack." He looked back to the child currently attached to his knees. "Well Melvin, you'll have to talk to Rae Rae about that one," Raven blushed. "Hah, I bet she's wishing she had a hand free to throw that hood of hers up."

Melvin ran back to Raven, "Rae Rae, can we play with Jack again tomorrow? Pleeaaseee?" Raven was silent for a moment as she considered how to answer. "Well Melvin, if I don't get called out on any missions tomorrow we might be able to make it to the park. Whether Jack is here or not is completely up to him." "That sounds like an invitation to me." Jack walked over to Raven, and pulled a card out of his back pocket, handing it to her with an arrogant smile. "It's a date, Sunshine," he said as he turned and made his way out of the park. The card he'd given her was his business card.

Jack

(746)-748-9637

Speaking of business… let the guy keep his money, and the gem. He'd had one of the best times of his life today, with at least one more just like it to come. That was payment enough.