Disclaimer: No, I don't own Teen Titans.

Chapter 25

Raven looked up from her book, yet again. Two pairs of eyes immediately glanced downwards. Raven sighed. She had been successful in keeping them quiet, at least. Aside from the whispering. She shot an inquisitive glance at the two coconspirators. They turned away. Raven had half expected them to be too terrified of her to want her even remotely near them. In this, she had been half correct. One of the two was terrified of her. The other one was just mad. She supposed that came from Marie's ability to adopt a similar, almost as lethal form as Raven. Both, however, had an internal conflict raging within them, which Raven, as an empath, was acutely aware of. The problem was this: both had every desire to be as far from the source of their displeasure as possible...but that source was also the only semi-adult in the tower. Their primitive, childish nature demanded that they seek comfort from their caregiver, so, though both of them desperately wanted to leave the room, neither of them could bring themselves to do it. She had a feeling that they kept looking at her more out of a need for physical affection than to communicate their fear and anger. Either way, it was extremely distracting. Raven had gotten through barely a chapter in her novel, and at the rate she was going-

"We're baaaaaack!" Beast Boy hollered, throwing the common room doors open.

Raven noted that he was in a much better mood than he was this morning.

"DADDY!" Marie jumped onto a woefully unprepared Beast Boy, who fell onto his back as the backwards force hit him, "oww..."

"Hey Marie," he smiled weakly, "uh, what's up?"

Ryan attacked Starfire in a similar fashion, but she was able to maintain her position aloft as Ryan cried into her shoulder.

"Hush, my bumgorf," she soothed him, "what distresses you?"

"Aunt Raven-"

"Mommy was SO mean-"

"-and then-"

"-she made us-"

"-and we-"

Beast Boy and Starfire struggled to make sense of the flood of words coming out of their children's mouths. One thing was abundantly clear. For once, a titan, and neither child, was to blame. They looked to her for some sort of explanation, or at least some semblance of a defense. Instead, Raven just shrugged.

"What?" She closed her book, getting up and heading towards the kitchen, "it was a rough morning."

Beast Boy and Starfire shared a glance, neither sure of what the correct response was. Luckily, Robin had the decency to interrupt them.

"Ok," he addressed the kids, as he stirred something cooking on the stove, "I think it's time for breakfast."

Ryan's tummy rumbled. He had been too overwhelmed to realize he was hungry, but now that his father had mentioned it...

"Breakfast!" He shouted, leaping off of Starfire and rushing to the kitchen counter.

Marie looked skeptical.

"Is Uncle Robin making breakfast?"

"Uh..." Beast Boy scratched his head.

"Did you even read the schedule Beast Boy?" Robin glared through his mask, "it specifically says that Cyborg and I are responsible for meals."

"Oh..." Beast Boy let this realization set in, "does that mean you're taking requests?!"

Beast Boy all but shoved Marie off of him as he jumped into the seat next to Ryan.

"One order of tofu bacon with a side of scrambled tofu eggs please!" Then, noticing a scowling Marie, added "make that two orders." He smiled back at her, but her expression remained annoyed.

"Not happening, Beast Boy."

The green teen's face fell, "awww! Why not?!"

"One," Robin took out two bowls and two spoons, setting them in front of Ryan and Beast Boy, "I'm not making anything for you," he put glasses out beside the bowls, "and two," he poured some orage juice in each, "the kids are only eating healthy food. I'm sorry, Beast Boy," he lifted two eggs, sunny-side-up, off of one of the pans and put one on each plate, "but tofu isn't really part of a healthy diet," he finished each dish off with a lump of something brownish-gray from another pot.

"Says who?!" Beast Boy demanded.

"Marie," Robin called over Beast Boy's shoulder, "it's time for breakfast. Come sit next to Ryan," he looked pointedly at the titan in her seat.

"Ugh, FINE," Beast Boy sighed dramatically, muttering under his breath as he gave up the seat to an unenthused Marie.

Ryan, who had struggled to restrain himself until his friend was seated beside him, attacked his meal with the voracity of a Tamaranean warlord. No scrap was unscarfed, no drop was dripped. What smudges of food were left on the plate, which Ryan found himself unable to shovel into his mouth with just his hands, was aggresively licked off by his rough lizardlike tongue. Beast Boy and Raven watched the spectacle with horror. Starfire was unperturbed. Robin smiled politely and said, "nice job."

Ryan beamed.

Marie, however, was still eyeing her food with disgust, poking at the gelatinous egg and pile of mush. She watched as the yolk wobbled.

"This is gross," she put her spoon down and folded her arms, "I'm not eating it."

"Marie," Robin said sternly, "you have to eat something. You need your strength - you have a full day of training ahead!"

It scared Robin how perfectly identical Raven and Marie looked as they rolled their eyes in unison. Well, his eyes, in Marie's case. It was weird seeing them uncovered. They just looked so...vulnerable. Just like his mother's, the night she... He shook his head. He had tried so many times to rewrite the memory. Reform it in his mind. But every time he dreamt of his life before the titans, before Robin, he watched his parents fall, again, and again, and again, and those beautiful, lifeless eyes looked back. His eyes. And now Marie's. That was one of the reasons he never took the mask off. No one knew that, of course. His mentor had thought the mask was a good way to protect his identity. However, he never knew that the boy put it back on after each battle, before he went to sleep, so that when he woke up and brushed his teeth in the mirror, he wouldn't have to be reminded of his nightmares.

"Robin?" Starfire tapped him on the shoulder, "is everything the ok?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine."

Robin tore his eyes away. This couldn't keep happening. How was he supposed to lead his team when just looking at Marie paralyzed him? Something needed to be done. Maybe he could get Marie to wear her own mask.

"I don't wanna!"

"But Robin said-"

"I don't CARE what Uncle Robin said!"

"Please, friend Marie - might you do the eating of the breakfast for my sake?"

"NO!" Marie banged her hands on the counter, dangerously close to a meltdown.

Raven tried her best to ignore the situation while preparing her tea.

"Raven!" Beast Boy interrupted, gesturing to Marie, "a little help?"

"It looks you have everything under control."

Beast Boy glared at her.

"Dude! Can't you just-"

"Marie," Robin inserted himself into the argument, "I'm the leader of this team. That means I'm responsible for making sure that everyone is healthy, and prepared for anything. That's why you need to eat what I make for you," Robin pushed the plate towards her, "so you can be a strong member of the team."

"I don't wanna be on your stupid team!" Marie shoved the plate back.

"Too bad," Robin shrugged, "because like it or not, while you live here, you're a titan, and I'm in charge of breakfast."

He slid the plate back.

"You're not the boss of me!" The food grew black. "You're not my Daddy!"

The scene in front of Beast Boy was way too familiar for his liking. Obviously, it wasn't exactly the same - he didn't get to go back in the past and chill with his own teen parents - but he and Mento had way similar arguments. Technically, both Rita and Steve adopted Beast Boy. But, in his opinion, only Rita acted like it. She was his mom - even if he didn't always call her that. It didn't mean he didn't feel it. Steve was...different. If Beast Boy didn't like something, Steve was never like 'do this because I'm your dad!' but was all 'do this because I'm your leader!' Both were true though, so it didn't matter much. That didn't stop Beast Boy from crying 'you're not my dad!' and flying out of the room, waiting for Rita to yell at Steve then come find him. Rita would usually comfort him, and then tell him to do exactly what Steve said because 'he's just looking out for you' and 'loves you but is bad at showing it' and blah blah blah. He'd do it then because they were his parents. His difficulty in thinking of Mento as his leader instead of his emotionally unavailable parent, or at worst just 'Rita's husband' was one of the reasons he left the Doom Patrol. With the titans, he joined knowing and accepting that Robin was in charge. Robin was a super cool celebrity when they started out, and he was just excited to be working with him. Now, it was just how things were. Sometimes someone else got to be in charge, like Cyborg with Titans East, before he came home, and Starfire on Tamaran, and even Beast Boy himself with the Brotherhood of Evil thing. But everyone supported whoever it was. Marie and Ryan were just born into it. How did that even work? Beast Boy scratched his head. Was Robin even in charge of them? Did they let the kids go out and fight with them? He had, when he was little. But not as little as them. And what about with non-fighting things? Like, if Beast Boy wanted to take Marie out for ice cream, did Robin have to say it was ok? If Marie wanted to watch tv - did Robin need to approve it? Beast Boy grimaced. That would be the worst. Then again, when they weren't fighting or training or doing other titan-related things, Robin didn't get to tell them what to do. He couldn't tell Beast Boy not to pull all-nighters playing video games or movie marathoning or whatever else he wanted to do. As long as he did training and stuff he was good. Maybe Marie had a point. Robin was NOT her father. So even if she was on the team, she still wouldn't have to listen to Robin if it wasn't training-related. She had to listen to her parents. Which included yours truly. Beast Boy smiled mischeviously. Oh, the power.

"Ahem," he cleared his throat, "stealing the attention from Marie and Robin's escalating confrontation, "Marie's right, dude. She can eat whatever she wants to."

"Excuse me?" Robin raised an angry brow.

"You heard me," Beast Boy grinned, puffing out his chest as he walked over to Marie and swung an arm around her shoulder, "I'm her dad," he proudly pointed a thumb at himself, "and I say she can have whatever she wants."

"Beast Boy..." Robin seethed, gripping the table to keep from leaping across it and strangling Beast Boy for undermining him. Beat Boy kept smiling, milking every moment of their conversation.

"Hey, if Marie and Ryan are part of the team, that's cool. You're in charge of training and everything - but off the clock? You don't own them!"

Robin shot a quick glare at Ryan, testing the boy's allegiance. Ryan bowed his head in acquiescense. He wouldn't be an issue. Robin looked back at Beast Boy, and a very smug Marie. He weighed his options. If Marie trusted her irritating so-called father to be in charge of her, then that trust should extend to her mother, too. Robin turned his attention to Raven.

Raven sensed someone was staring, and looked up from her book.

"Do you have anything to say?" Robin asked pointedly.

Raven took a slow sip of her tea.

"Nope."

"Raven," Robin pleaded, "can you please tell Beast Boy-"

"I'm not telling him anything," Raven put down her mug, "for once in his life, he's right. Beast Boy's within his parental rights to overrule you," then, to Robin's annoyance and Beast Boy's joy, "even during training."

"But," Robin protested, refusing to be beaten, "you're her mother! Tell her she has to do what I say!"

"This is pointless," Raven lifted her mug high enough for the titans in the kitchen to see, "do you see this?" She gestured, "I drink tea for breakfast," she lowered the cup, "Beast Boy has tofu - it's hypocritical to tell her to eat something that Beast Boy and I don't eat."

Robin tried to formulate a good counterargument, but came up empty.

"Fine," he ceded reluctantly, "but I'm not making them for her."

"But you have to," Beast Boy chided, "remember the schedule? You do breakfast. I do...whatever you said I do. So if Marie wants waffles," he pointed, "then YOU need to make them."

Robin's eyes darted between the remaining titans in the room. Raven was already back to her book. Starfire just smiled and said, "friend Beast Boy is correct. It is you that must do the cooking. Or are all of the rules that you have decided upon no longer the official?"

Robin muttered under his breath as he got out the waffle iron. Marie grinned at Beast Boy.

"Thanks Daddy! You're the best!" She threw her little arms around his shoulders.

"What can I say?" Beast Boy shrugged, "I'm awesome."

Ryan eyed the display sadly, envying the embrace so easily given to Marie by her own father. Starfire observed this, and flew over to her bumgorf.

"Are you also in need of the waffles?" She asked, misunderstanding the problem.

"No!" He cried, "Daddy said no."

"Very well then," Starfire smiled, "would you like to do the watching of the tv with me?"

He nodded happily, forgetting his momentary sorrow.

She scooped him up and the two plopped down next to Raven. The empath sighed, slapping her book shut. It seemed that this was not a chapter she was meant to finish.

/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\

"All systems charged to 100%" a mechanical voice rang out.

"About time," Cyborg pulled out his charging cables and jumped off his slab.

He checked the clock. He hadn't been out of commission for too long. He considered grabbing some grub before training. He knew Robin had a session scheduled today with the kids. Speaking of which... He poked his head out into the hallway. There were no crashes or screams or visible fires, so the kids were probably ok, and most likely taking up the attention of the other titans. Cyborg stepped fully into the hall, heading for the med bay. It was the perfect time for a little uninterrupted research.

Unbeknownst to Starfire, Cyborg had done a little more digging than just checking the compatibility of Starfire and Robin and Beast Boy's and Raven's DNA, respectively. Yes, it was obvious that Marie was Raven's, and everyone seemed willing to accept that Marie was Robin's biologocal daughter - but Cyborg remained unconvinced. There had to be other people out there with black hair and blue eyes. Robin didn't have a copyright on them. What Robin did have though, was human DNA. Raven, on the other hand? Cyborg had always thought or Raven as a metahuman. Like Beast Boy, for example. He assumed the purple hair was a side effect, or a unique dye job. It wasn't until she finally told them about her demonic parentage that he really though of her as another species. They had all done their research to prepare Raven's safe room. All of them had at least a basic knowledge of the mystical arts Raven was so familiar with. All of them were aware that she came from Azarath, in a different dimension. But again, their knowledge there was also limited to books. Since Raven had not been involved, she provided no insights. Cyborg couldn't even recall if Raven herself had told him where she was from, or if it was repeated to them by Starfire. His bet was on Starfire. So if Raven was from another dimension, with a demon father, and the ability to take her own demonic form - was she even human? Yes, he had access to all of the titans' DNA, but since Raven so easily healed herself after every injury, he rarely had to play doctor. Which meant that her basically empty medical file stayed bare. And believe it or not - Cyborg wasn't in the habit of messing around with his friends' genomes. He had better things to do, like crush Beast Boy in Mega Monkeys. Now? His curiosity had been piqued.

Cyborg sat down at the med bay computer and checked its progress. He had started the program to analyze Raven's DNA the last time he and Starfire were here, so it had had ample time to run. Typing away, he entered the various passwords needed to get through his heavy encryption of the titans' biodata, and pulled up the results.

"Man..." Cyborg ran a hand over his smooth head, staring at the screen.

Raven was 100% human. Which meant that she and Robin could 100% have children the...natural...way.

As far as Cyborg was aware, none of the other titans thought it unrealistic that Robin and Raven could procreate. None of them, however, had sat down and discussed how exactly Marie had been conceived.

Starfire seemed to be sure that whatever happened to create Ryan and Marie was completely intentional. Robin had busied himself with the mystery of how the kids got here as opposed to how they were created. Beast Boy and Raven were both still clearly in denial that any of this was possible. Raven probably thought that she would never hurt Starfire, and Starfire doubtlessly felt the same. But none of these facts meant that Raven didn't find Robin attractive. Or vice versa. Raven did seem pretty sure that she never wanted kids. And everyone had to agree that if she married Beast Boy, who was apparently able to impregnate anyone, it would be odd that she had chosen to have their child be biologically Robin's. Precisely because it didn't seem like a 'choice' at all. Cyborg had been on the bandwagon with everyone else, assuming the circumstances had been complicated. For Cyborg, that was because he thought Raven had her own demon DNA. He had been confident that she and Robin couldn't have kids without some scientific intervention. Now...he wasn't sure there was even any thinking involved.

Cyborg shuddered. He had no idea if Raven knew. Was it his responsibility to tell her? Or Robin? Or everyone? He slumped back in the chair. Why couldn't he had just let things be? Plus, if the knowledge wasn't enough, he now had some very involuntary and very unflattering images of Raven and Robin swirling around in his head.

"Ugh," Cyborg rubbed at his human eye, "I gotta find a way to delete those..."

He glanced at the clock in his arm panel. There was still some time before Robin called them for training. He picked up the gross kids' clothes from the day before, crinkling his nose at the smell.

"Might as well get started on that touch DNA."

/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\

"Oh, Cyborg," the dark-clad woman laughed behind her monitor, white locks falling over her eye patch, "you make this far to easy."

She isolated the image of Cyborg's fingers as he pressed the letters of his password into the keyboard.

"Far, far too easy."