A/N: Yeah, another chapter. Call me crazy. This one may seem a little… different than all the others, but it does fit in with the continuity that I'm going for.

Sidenote: I loved this review. music-is-luv commented that she's waiting for Batman to pop up and be like "Hey, guys! Robiiiiiin, what up, big dawg?" This got me cracking up because A) that's not how Batman talks, and B) because he's dead. I'm not sure how much more clear I can be with you people. D-E-A-D. Capiche? And thank you to music-is-luv for my laughs of the day ^.^

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own.

Barry's train of thought was this: if Wally, a friend, could help, what could a whole team of friends do?

Sure, taking him back to Mount Justice was a bad idea, but come on, he needed a place where he could hang out with the others and a place where he could still feel at home and not threatened. It was the home of heroes, but still, it was where all his friends would group and hang out. Why would taking him there be such a bad thing?

Well, there was a long, long list of reasons, but Barry figured worse things could happen to the bird.

"Robin!" was Megan's immediate cry as she saw the young boy walking in with his hands shoved in his pockets and his sunglasses over his eyes. Because she still couldn't quite get it right. Richard, not Robin. Dick, not Robin. The girl immediately put down her plate of hot cookies and floated over to where the child stood, a big, welcoming smile plastered on her face.

Superboy looked over from his position on the couch. Uninterested, he looked back at the static-filled tv screen.

"Hey, Miss M," said Dick with a bit of a timid smile; he responded to Megan's massive hug with a one-armed return hug as he tried to keep from being strangled. "Good to see you again."

It really was good to see her again. He'd been in school a month now. He'd been working out all his issues with Wally as his therapist; instead of taking notes, the speedster was spending all his listening time drawing pictures that would make his friend laugh. Because laughter was the best medicine, right? In all that time, Richard had missed his friends and spending time out of the house like a normal kid.

"Is Wally with you?" asked Megan, her head tilting to one side as she looked a little past him, wondering where her fellow ginger was today.

"School." The only reason Dick was out was because he had one day off every week for therapy sessions and resting time. Stupid school, treating him like a little kid. The nerve they had... If they only knew the half of it... "It abducted him and whisked him off for learning purposes." The boy cracked a genuine smile. He was feeling better than he had in a while.

The nightmares had gone away a little bit. It was still every night, but he wouldn't wake up screaming anymore. Just terrified. No one knew. It was fine.

Wally was now living with Barry. He and Dick were sharing a room, one bed against one wall, another against the adjacent wall. They didn't chatter into the night like girls at a sleepover, but they did talk a lot. About family. About the team. About Richard. About Robin.

And with school, Dick had more time to keep himself distracted. Keeping himself away from the painful memories was the key to making it through. Distractions, that was what he needed.

Everything was going just fine. He just had to get his life back on track and everything would be fine again.

Megan gave a little giggle before floating off to the kitchen, Dick following close behind, figuring she had a good reason for just leaving without warning. He wouldn't question. He would just follow. It was something he'd picked up from-

"Try a cookie?" offered the Martian girl with that same warm smile and holding the plate out to Dick. "I tried gingerbread today." She was clearly proud of herself for this, the confidence in her voice a bit obvious.

"Gingerbread are more for wintertime," remarked the boy as he took one of the cookies, "but I'm not complaining. Alfred never made them enough for me." He smirked as he took a bite.

Man, did he miss having cookies every day...

Barry scampered on into the cave. His green eyes found Superboy who was just looking away from the newcomer, again uninterested, before settling on M'gann and Richard in the kitchen. He zipped on over to the two and immediately ruffled Dick's hair. "Hey, kid, I'm gonna jet. You good here?"

Another bite of his cookie and a nod. "I'm good, Uncle Barry."

Flash ruffled the thirteen-year-old's hair a little bit more before bolting off again to go get his job done. Forensic science didn't do itself...

"He isn't your uncle," noted Megan, looking after Flash before looking back to Richard who was reaching for another cookie. Her brow was furrowed slightly, confusion rippling across he'd features.

"Nope. But's he's like an uncle to me." Richard again chomped down on the latest cookie. Crumbs on his face and his eyes looking around for any changed, he swallowed and asked, "So who all's around today?"

Megan put down her plate and began to count on her fingers. Even though she really didn't need to. "I'm here. And Superboy's here." Her heart gave a little extra flutter as the clone looked up at his name. Uninterested, he went back to staring at the screen. "And Artemis is here. Somewhere." The green-skinned girl shrugged and rolled her eyes in a "What can we do?" sort of way. "Kaldur is in Atlantis taking care of some business with Black Manta."

"Ah." Robin jammed the cookie in his mouth and held in in his front teeth for a moment before boosting himself up to sit on a counter. Then he took the cookie again and continued to eat. "And what have you guys been up to?"

Needless to say, he was still curious to see what was going on the business. It was something he couldn't forget about. He was being shuffled between Justice League members, for crying out loud, how could he forget about the hero world? It was always there, hanging over his head, lingering just out of his reach. He wasn't planning on going back to it yet; the idea was just a thought, just a tiny little thought.

"Took care of some issues in Hong Kong, dealt with a mind-controlled Blue Beetle, managed to successfully save a sinking ship without being spotted, and stopped an uprising of a drug cartel in South America." Megan watched as Richard took another one of her cookies and promptly began to eat it. She was glad he liked her cookies. "So not much, really. But Superboy and I started school! I'm a cheerleader," she continued, now feeling free to rant about her life. "Superboy made a friend."

"That's surprising," laughed Robin curtly as he shot a look at his blue-eyed friend. He heard a snort from the other room and then silence. The clone clearly wasn't going to pursue that discussion any further.

"And we've been doing really well." Her smile was a bit contagious. She noticed that he was smiling too, maybe a bit less, but still smiling. "We even have a team pet."

"My pet," came Superboy's voice from the couch. "Mine."

"He's kind of overprotective of it," murmured M'gann with a giggle as Richard's grin grew wider.

"That's great for you guys," said Dick as he picked up another cookie. He missed having cookies. Yeah, Barry and Iris bought the little suckers all the time, but there was no comparison between those and the hot, freshly baked cookies that you're not supposed to eat because they'll burn your mouth. It's just not the same.

"And how have you been?" asked the green girl politely, hoping she wasn't prying. She really didn't want to pry. He was a good kid who deserved a better life but had always gotten the bad end of the stick. She kept wearing that big, warm smile of hers, brown eyes glittering.

"Good," said Dick after swallowing another bite of gingerbread. "Wally moved in a little while ago. He and I are in most of the same classes, too. Except for I actually do my homework." He took another bite of cookie. He really missed her cookies... "And things are getting a little bit easier. Iris and Barry are really nice and everything and I get taken care of. It's all good."

There were a lot of up-sides to this new life. More time with an actual family. More time for school. More sleep, definitely, although whether that was a curse or a blessing, he wasn't sure. And he got to hang out with Wally more. It wasn't bad.

But still, he missed Bruce, he missed the manor, he missed Alfred, he missed the Batcave, he missed his room, he missed his bed, he missed Gotham, he missed fighting crime-

"Is that Dick?"

He was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of a certain archer's voice. He looked up to see another one of his former teammates coming forth. "Hey, Artemis."

She had a towel thrown over one shoulder and a little sweat dripping down her face. A long hour of martial arts training had left her in a tired state, but she was still putting on a smile. "Long time, no see," she said, a little out of breath. Her blue eyes were looking up at him where he sat on the counter.

"Been a little busy with school," said Dick as he offered a cookie to Artemis; the archer took it. Megan still couldn't get over the fact how much everyone loved these cookies! "I only got today off for my therapy stuff. But I'm blowing it off. Barry says I can deal with stuff better on my own."

Artemis let one eyebrow raise a little bit before shaking the comment off. She just resumed talking as if it were a normal conversation. "I'm off today for Dent Day." She shook her head. "Stupid holiday, corrupt politician shit... Yeah, I'm off of school, so I really don't care."

"Superboy-" Once again, the clone looked up. Finding he didn't care, he looked to the screen again. "-and I have the day off for a school improvement day." Megan smiled again. She smiled a lot.

"So therapy, huh?" asked Artemis, boosting herself up on the counter a little ways away from Dick. "Any fun?"

"We talk about feelings and I get coloring books. Sound like fun?"

Megan loved coloring books, but she knew what sarcasm was and kept her mouth shut.

Artemis gave her snarky smirk. "Don't you just hate that?" asked the blonde as she took another cookie from the plate that sat between her and the raven-haired child.

"Yeah." He took another cookie for himself and began to munch on it. "So what's everyone doing today?" he questioned after gulping down gingerbread.

"I was going to make more cookies," announced M'gann as she looked at the now nearly empty plate. "It looks like I have to now." And she moved towards the refrigerator to get back to work.

Robin shrugged and reached for another, planning to horde them if push came to shove. What he wouldn't give for fresh cookies in Central City...

"I just wrapped up some tae-kwon-do practice," said Artemis. "I was planning on asking Superboy if he wanted to spar with me." Her blue eyes looked towards the couch where the Boy of Steel was sitting with his bored face and his bored temperament of the day. "But I'm not sure if he'll want to."

"No." That was the clone's blunt response.

The archer took a moment to sigh and blow a stray blonde lock out of her eyes. "Well, that's out the window." She looked to her left only to find that it was void of the boy who had been there only a heartbeat ago. Her azure gaze widened in fear. "R-"

"Are you coming?" asked the boy as he shrugged off his jacket while walking towards the training pad, sunglasses being shoved in a pocket. He glanced over his shoulder to see her moving slowly. Who was he to pass up an opportunity to just hang out with his friends? This was his normal day… or at least what used to be normal. Before things started to… spiral… out of control… He missed training for hours on end, he missed having his fist punch something human, and he missed being able to hide behind the fighting, just being able to hit something and forget about everything else.

She wasn't sure what he was thinking, but who was she to deprive a child of what he wanted? He hadn't even asked, just done. In a Robin-esque way, of course. So Artemis took in a deep breath and followed, pulling gloves out of her pockets and over her fingers for padding. She didn't want to hurt the kid.

"Let's go," he said, now in a white t-shirt and his usual skinny jeans. His fists were up and those sapphire eyes were ready for anything, his face suddenly harder and his appearance went from child to hero once more.

Artemis knew he never should've left.

The girl threw the first punch, which his forearm caught and moved aside while kicking a foot at her knee. She barely managed to bend the leg in time to avoid him, but she did receive a nice knock to the back of her head; the raven-haired ward had used her own extremity against her, her hand smacking into the back of her head as he moved around her in a fashion of almost tying her up. His free hand clasped her other arm and pulled it tight behind her back, her elbow bent at a bad angle and his grip tightened on her other arm, pulling that behind her as well.

She pushed up, legs moving her upward and back. She heard an "Oof!" and the sound of swishing fabric against the floor. Turning around, she saw him rising up from a somersault and turning on her, fists ready once more and eyes set with determination.

"You haven't lost your touch," remarked the blonde as she charged forward and dropped low as his fist tried to connect with her face.

"Never will." He felt a hand on his ankle and quickly twisted to step on the arm it was attached to. A cry of pain came from the archer and Richard got to pull his leg away and do a quick backflip. She wouldn't lay another finger on him if he could help it.

Artemis, now with a little fire in her, surged forward; she still hadn't learned her lesson.

With one swift movement to a side and a missed left hook from the archer, Dick landed a kick on her back, sent her sprawling to the floor, and put his foot between her shoulder blades. "Checkmate."

A sharp bark came from the other side of the training pad. "Richard, let her up."

At Black Canary's command, Dick moved his foot and reached down to help the archer up. "She's fine, don't wor-"

"What was Allen thinking? Bringing you here?" Her arms were folded across her chest and she was glaring at the boy as if he knew what he'd done wrong. Dinah's glare was as hard as steel as she watched Artemis get hauled up off the ground by the acrobat. "He's such a fool. He should know better than to bring you back."

"But Canary, I'm fine," he said, looking at her with desperate eyes that screamed "Don't make me go home, don't make me go home, not yet, please don't make me go home". "She didn't hurt me and I didn't hurt her, it's not a pro-"

"Dick, you're not supposed to be here. We don't want you training or having this sort of influence."

Artemis was a bit offended by the unsaid remark of her being a bad influence.

"We want you to just be a kid again." Dinah was standing in front of Richard before he could fully comprehend what was going on. "The whole League is backing this up. We want you to be a kid as long as you can. Find something else." Her eyes were still hard. "You lost your childhood once, we're trying to help make up for it. If you can't find another career path, you can come back, but we don't want-"

His eyes were wide and afraid. Without the sunglasses as his shield, his soul was readable. "You can't-"

"Richard."

He was feeling good, better than he had in a while. Fresh cookies, a good fight. He lashed out.

She grabbed his arm, twisted it backwards and held him against his will, one arm around his neck. "Not up for negotiation, Dick. It's just you against the League, and we all know that's not a fight you can win."

Artemis was staring after him as the blonde heroine carried him away. If she just hadn't mentioned fighting or training, maybe-

"I just put the cookies in the ov- Where's Black Canary taking Robin?" Megan stared after the thrashing boy and Dinah. "What happened?"

"The League doesn't want him back."

A/N: Now you know. He wants back, he isn't getting back. Even tried to punch Black Canary. Pretty badass for a former Robin, am I right? ^.^ Anyways, sorry that the end seemed kind of rushed. It just felt better writing it that way. Less detail, more dialogue. Reviews are welcomed with open arms!

~Sky

P.S. Yeah, I know Superboy was being a jerk. Yes, there's a reason behind it.

P.P.S. Sorry if Dinah was a little OOC. She just seems to me like a badass Momma-figure so that's the way I portray her.