PROLOGUE

Raven's Point of View

"There's no point in kidding myself; I am afraid.

I don't know what I am doing, nor do I know what to expect. Motherhood, I mean.

Even as I stand in front of my mirror and just stare at myself… place my fingertips on my swollen abdomen and feel the tiny kicking movements now so familiar to me…

It doesn't seem real. How can it be?

But it is.

I'm carrying Robin's baby, and after it is born it will be another whole new person, and another whole new responsibility.

I don't think Robin has quite grasped that yet. He's in denial. He avoids me. He's moody. I don't know what he's thinking, but it appears that he believes that by pretending it's not true it will suddenly go away.

It's times like this when I feel sorry for him.

It's not just his denial that I pity; somehow, I sense that he is just as afraid as I am.

But I think our fears are different. His are easy enough to decipher; he's scared of the responsibility of parenthood, he's scared of what this will do to the reputation of the Teen Titans, and he's scared of what Bruce will say – and do – when he finally gets around to telling him.

Mine, I suppose, are a little more complicated. I worry about the baby, of course, and if it's okay, and I worry about giving birth.

But I also worry about its heritage; it will be the grandchild of Trigon, and the adopted-grandchild of the Batman, not to mention the child of Robin and me, Trigon's daughter.

It's not going to be… normal

And… there are other things that I have yet declined to tell Robin.

Things that I fear could change this whole situation…

…Uncertainly for better or worse…"