It was a good while before anyone found Cecilia. Apparently, no one had known that she knew any of the exits. To be honest, she hadn't, but a couple educated guesses could go a long way. She was in a mountain, so the exits would likely be on the bottom levels. At the bottom level there was a pool of seawater that might have extended past the far wall, so she took the hallway that was farthest from the water. And just like that, with a couple of wrong turns, she was outside.

The first thing she had seen when the ground had lowered into a ramp was the forest, a source of many wild terrors in Rome. But this was not Rome, and after such a long time underground, she could hardly care less and even ran up to the nearest tree in glee, tentatively feeling its rough bark. Cecilia stared at the tree for a while, forgetting why she had come outside in the first place as she observed that the tree wasn't entirely foreign. It was, after all, just a tree: a brown, upright, growing object that sported leaves and flowers or fruit.

Then she looked up at the sun filtering through the leaves and the blue sky beyond, marveling at how puffy the white clouds were, just like in Rome. And she tasted the salty, wet air and listened to the birds squaking at each other and watched the waves of the nearby ocean gently lap at the sandy shore. She laid down in the cool, green grass and felt the sun warm her face, thinking that it might be warmer at Mount Justice than in Rome but not particularly caring. If she closed her eyes, she could just imagine being in some costal city, her father humming a little tune as her mother snuggled up to him while Felix would sit beside Cecilia, making up stories about wars and love and noble quests.

But when she opened her eyes again, it wasn't her brother Felix sitting beside her, but Robin. Cecilia closed her eyes again and gave a low grunt, wanting to be left alone. Robin didn't take the hint and asked, "You know that everyone is looking for you, right?"

"You found me. The others will not be far behind."

"Actually, they're mainly searching the third floor."

"Then how did you find me?"

"I hacked the security cameras."

Cecilia didn't have to look to see his smirk, and she didn't even bother asking what a security camera was. Instead, she tried to forget about his presence and bring back that which she had promised not to dwell on. But the slightly taller boy wouldn't leave her alone, "What are you thinking about?"

'Great Lord Almighty, please make him go away,' Cecilia prayed. She peeked her eyes open a couple of seconds later. Robin was still there, looking at her expectantly. She sighed resignedly, "Rome."

"Ah. That would explain the turbed look on your face."

Cecilia's eyebrows knitted in confusion and she gave him a wary glare, not having the faintest idea of what he had said. He noticed her look and frowned, "You know, turbed. Like... the opposite of disturbed. Sorry, I probably shouldn't be throwing words like that at you yet."

"It is fine," Cecilia forgave him, sitting upright again and staring at the ocean. "I suppose M'gann and Artemis told you what had happened to me."

"Yeah...," Robin mumbled apologetically, rubbing the back of his neck. Cecilia let out a soft moan. So the team knew. Great. But she should have known after she had told her new "sisters" that the others would hear about it. Afraid that Robin might want to talk about it, she cleared her throat and changed the subject,

"What is that thing covering your eyes? Another mask?"

"No, these are sunglasses. Civilians wear them."

"Why?"

"To protect their eyes from the sun. I wear them because Batman told me to."

"Oh," Cecilia said, looking down at her feet. The good thing about pants was that she could sit cross-legged, the position she was in now, which was a whole lot more comfortable in her opinion than sticking her legs straight out. She stared at the grass under her, occasionally picking at it until she got up the nerve to ask, "So Batman does not trust us? Or does he simply not trust me?"

"There are very few people he does trust, I think," Robin replied with a small sigh, gazing off towards the horizon. Cecilia looked at him, head tilted to the side a bit in quiet thought. What did that sigh mean? Was it content or unhappy or simply a sigh? What was his story? What did his eyes look like? Was his real name even Robin?

Robin glanced at Cecilia, and she realized that she had been staring. Blushing, she apologized, "Forgive me. But I was just thinking about how I do not know your past. Or anyone else's, for that matter. It is... disconcerting that you all know mine when I know so little."

For a few minutes, Robin said nothing, making Cecilia wonder if she had spoken out of place or offended him in some way. But then he gave her a lopsided grin, "Consider yourself concerted, because we're going to change that."

Without warning, Robin leapt to his feet and raced back into Mount Justice, leaving Cecilia to try and process what was happening. She quickly gave up and scrambled to her own feet, chasing after him. But he was, unsurprisingly, a whole lot faster than the twelve-year-old, and she soon could only follow the sound of his voice, "Rendezvous in the kitchen... Yes, I have her... She's fine... Black Canary, can you give us about ten minutes? ... No, Wally! That's not what... Ugh, just be there!"

"Robin, wait!" Cecilia called, stumbling up a flight of stairs that she was sure he took. She was rewarded by him waiting at the top, smiling apologetically, before he resumed running at a slightly slower pace. Cecilia kept up with him this time, breathing hard at all the exercise. She distantly remembered a medical theory in Rome that a lot of exercise was bad for women. Clutching the stitch in her side when they finally entered the kitchen, she could see why. "Why did we have to run?"

"It was faster than walking. Plus, Black Canary only gave us five minutes before she wants you back in the Mission Room," Robin replied, clearly not experiencing the same symptoms Cecilia was currently suffering from. He could have just walked five steps instead of run through a mountain. Cecilia grumbled a bit, but didn't say anything else as the rest of the Team quickly trickled in. She realized then that, although Robin had obviously been talking to the others while he was running, they clearly hadn't been anywhere near him. She made a mental note to ask someone about it later.

"So, now that we're all here... Where's Connor?" Robin asked once everyone else had gathered. Cecilia watched as the others each did a quick head-count before either shrugging to themselves or looking at their neighbors. M'gann seemed to be one of the only ones who knew anything, "He was trying to find Wolf so that he could track Cecilia. He'll be back soon."

"I'm already here," Connor announced as he entered the kitchen, arms crossed. M'gann smiled before Cecilia could ask who Wolf was, "Great!"

"So what is this meeting about, Robin?" Kaldur asked in his deep, methodical voice. The younger teen smirked excitedly, "Well, we all know what happened to Cecilia, so it's only fair that she knows our own pasts. Black Canary gave us five minutes."

"Seriously? Can't we just do this later?" Artemis half-glared, suddenly looking as if she didn't want to be there. Wally almost choked on the banana he was eating, "Did Batman approve of this?"

"Well... no. It was more of a spur-of-the-moment thing, and I'm not going to reveal my own past for obvious reasons, but I thought that it would be important for everyone else to..." Robin's voice trailed off uncertainly, and even through the slowly breaking language barrier, Cecilia thought that she understood enough to guess what was going on. And by the look on Wally's face, he wasn't all that surprised. In fact, Wally just rolled his eyes in that way that best friends do while Kaldur nodded thoughtfully, "It would help lay a good foundation for trust..."

"It's not like there's much to tell anyway," Connor muttered bitterly. M'gann put a hand on his arm, visibly removing some of his apparent bitterness, and Artemis sighed, "Yeah, fine. Whatever."

The tone in Artemis's voice threw Cecilia for a loop. She had thought that the three girls - M'gann, Artemis, and herself - had gotten along reasonably well. She had even thought that there was already some semblance of trust. At least, even if it might have been an act of desperation, Cecilia had painfully poured her own past out to them. She had been crying in their arms. It was the whole reason they were currently standing in the kitchen. M'gann clearly had no qualms about sharing her story, but Artemis looked three wrong words away from outright refusing.

It... hurt. It hurt unlike anything Cecilia had emotionally felt before. Of course, she's been hurt worse, but this was simply a different kind of pain that she couldn't identify. And she didn't like it.

Artemis must have seen the pained expression on Cecilia's face, because her own demeanor softened and she quickly surprised everyone, "I'll go first. I'm Green Arrow's niece. Nothing special. Who's next?"

"Um, I can," M'gann offered tentatively, smiling. "I'm Martian Manhunter's niece. He was visiting Mars a few months ago, and I stowed away his ship. That's how I ended up on earth!"

It took a few seconds for Cecilia's politely pleasant, completely lost expression to sink in, and M'gann laughed, "Hello, Megan! I'll put the mind link up. There. Is that better?"

Cecilia nodded, relieved that she didn't have to speak up and ask again. After a brief minute of repeating both girls' stories, the Roman became flustered, "Wait, Wonder Woman had mentioned other planets a few days ago, but she never told me that you were not from earth! Well, she never told me any of your pasts anyway, but... you are from... you are not..."

Suddenly, "Miss Martian" made a little more sense. M'gann nodded shyly, looking at the ground, "Yeah... I'm from Mars..."

Kaldur spoke next, likely to subtly take everyone's attention away from M'gann and distract what Cecilia feared was Connor's growing resentment towards herself, "I was born in Atlantis. When our city was under attack, my best friend, Garth, and I defended our king, whom you may know as Aquaman. Aquaman rewarded us with the choice of becoming his protégé. Garth decided to stay in Atlantis, while I accepted the offer."

Next was Wally, who spoke with borderline arrogance, "I gave myself powers with my own chemistry set. Blew up my bedroom and ended up in the hospital, but once Uncle Barry saw how awesome I was, he couldn't say no to having me as a sidekick."

"Yeah, right!" Robin laughed, punching his friend's arm. "He probably only agreed because he felt bad about all those notes he left lying around, which is the whole reason you managed to become Kid Flash in the first place."

The others chuckled at this while Wally opened his mouth to say something snarky in return, but Kaldur interjected, "Black Canary will want to see Cecilia soon to continue her training. Connor?"

At first, Cecilia thought that he was going to refuse, which he could if he wanted to. It wasn't her place to pry, and it was his past. So when he hesitated, a deep frown engraved on his face, Cecilia picked up her courage and said quickly, "You do not have to tell me. I will understand."

She internally winced at how nervous her voice had sounded. Suddenly, the kitchen countertops were quite interesting, and she decided to devote. How did people make them? What were they made of? How long could she stare at them without seeming odd?

Finally, there was a sigh, as if Connor had given in to the inevitable, and his answer, "I'm the clone of Superman."

Cecilia looked up, wondering what a clone was, but Connor was giving her an "I dare you to comment on it" look that she really, really didn't want to challenge. So, after a moment of hesitant stuttering, she just nodded, "Okay. Um... Thank you, everyone, for sharing your stories with me."

"Except for Rob, 'cause Batman forbid him," Wally commented, earning a glare and almost another punch from the ebony-haired boy beside him. He dodged the blow and appeared on the other side of Cecilia, sticking his tongue out at Robin. Robin's expression was hidden by his sunglasses, but everyone knew that Wally was dead meat, and Artemis hit him upside the head anyway, "Grow up, Wally!"

"Ow! Will you cut that out?!" Wally exclaimed. Kaldur stepped forward, almost rolling his eyes, and announced, "Our five minutes have expired. Cecilia, I suggest that you head to the Mission Room. I have no doubt that Black Canary will be waiting for you there."

Cecilia nodded, reluctant to leave and yet thankful to have something to keep herself busy. She thanked everyone again and left the kitchen quickly, deep in thought. Some of the older teenagers had shared their past to some extent, and yet a couple (Connor and Artemis) had barely said anything at all. Still, at least they had trusted her with a one or two word explanation, and Cecilia found herself grateful to know anything at all.

A/N- Yeah, I know. Stupid filler chapter. Sorry... I... don't have an excuse for this except that it seemed better in my head. But anyway, please leave a review, because I want to know how to improve this story and what you guys think. Thanks for reading this far!

Thanks to Nightcat and Guest for reviewing!

To Nightcat: Yep! I'm just sorry that I took so long to update this time. I mean, all I'm doing right now is copying and pasting. Anyway, I shall forget about Billy, then. Yeah, it's kind of hard to remember that he's 10. The scriptwriters did a great job with his character!

To Guest: Interesting indeed, but I probably won't do anything with it. Thanks for the compliments, they mean more than you realize! And I understand your concern. At the moment, I agree: Robin is not right for 12 year old Cecilia. But she's going to grow up, change, mature. If I do everything correctly, their skills and personalities will balance each other perfectly, it's just going to take a (long) while to get there. Until then, one-sided relationship it is. I'm glad you're enjoying this anyway!