A/N: Writing this on Christmas Eve, just returned from Christmas Breakfast and now I'm down for the count until dinner… *lol* Such an early morning… So this is the last chapter until New Year… enjoy!

Tuesday, 25th of December 2012

"Merry Christmas," Slade's voice whispered in his ear the next morning. Robin grinned and stretched carefully, his body aching even more now as he was healing.

"Merry Christmas Slade… aahh… I'm so stiff…"

"Romantic."

"No, I mean my muscles," the teen snorted. "And you Mr. You-don't-have-to-be-fully-awake-to-spread-your-legs' shouldn't talk about romance."

"You have an amazing gift for remembering specific situations…" the man chuckled. "But, as long as you're awake, how about a blowjob?"

"Yes, that will get me in the Christmas spirit," Robin snorted, but scooted down in the bed anyway, because… well… he wanted to.

"I should have put a Christmas stocking on it…" Slade admitted, making Robin laugh out loud at the thought. "…but I couldn't find one large enough," the man continued, almost making the teen choke.

"You're funny when you're full of yourself…" the teen snorted and licked the head of the man's cock teasingly.

"You're funny when you're full of me too," Slade smirked.

"Mmm.. hush or I'll bite," the hero threatened. "I'm hungry," he added and began to suck.

"I can feel that…" Slade purred.

The teen decided not to listen to the man and just enjoy this treat, number nine thousand eight hundred and sixty three if he wasn't mistaken. This was going to be a quickie, though, whether Slade agreed or not, because Robin wanted to go downstairs and open presents… he had never, and hoped he never would, grow out of that excitement.

When they had showered and dressed, however, Slade took the lead, actually letting Robin walk on his own, which was nice, but the man wasn't heading downstairs.

"Umm… are we waking up Bruce and Rose?" the Titan asked.

"Rose should really stay off her feet as much as possible," Slade said as he knocked and then opened the door to the master bedroom, "so we decided to spend Christmas morning here."

"Oh, okay… but there's no tree and- oh…" Robin stopped right inside the door, because there was a tree, a big, beautiful one, standing in the corner of the large room. A fire was smattering in the fireplace and soft, stuffed chairs had been moved up so they could all sit around, while Rose got the bed to herself. "Wow…" Robin mumbled.

"We're pretty proud ourselves…" Bruce grinned.

"Not that any of this was necessary…" Rose muttered, but then smiled, showing that she wasn't really angry.

"It's great!" Robin grinned and plopped down in a chair, only to be handed hot chocolate and cookies by Alfred. "And now it's even better…" he sighed blissfully.

They all enjoyed the very unhealthy breakfast, but it was Christmas, after all, and in the end Robin couldn't wait any longer.

"Umm… so… time for presents?" he asked.

"Oh, thank god you cracked, I didn't want to be the one!" Rose grinned.

The gifts were all under the tree, Slade must have collected theirs when he helped set this up, and looked as enticing as gifts always did. Alfred acted as Santa, and Rose cooed when she unwrapped the quilt for the baby.

"Oh, this is beautiful! The baby will love it!"

"The baby will spit up on it," Slade corrected, "But I'm glad you approve. Robin was worried about the colors… and the ducks."

"Don't mind him," Robin said. "Please?"

"Oh, I'm not," Rose snickered. "Now, open one of ours! That one!"

"This card?" Robin asked and then did as he was told. His eyes grew very big and then he nodded. "Y-yes… yes I would."

"What is it? What did it say?" Slade asked suspiciously.

"It says 'do you want to be a godfather?'" Robin answered, trying to keep the trembling away from his voice.

"And you do?" Slade asked. "You understand that it will make the strange family bonds here stranger, don't you?" he pointed out with a smirk.

"Can they get stranger?" Rose snickered. "Anyway, since Dad's already the kid's granddad, don't look so grumpy daddy, we couldn't ask him, so it's you and Alfred."

"Al, you too?" Robin grinned and got a proud nod from the old man. "We're going to spoil the kid rotten, you know that, right?" Robin asked.

"I have a feeling you were already going to…" Bruce chuckled. "But, there are some real actual presents waiting as well… who's turn is it?"

Robin was very happy with his gifts, especially the honor of becoming a godfather. He wasn't, after all, actually related to Bruce and Rose, and even though he never for a second doubted his place in their family, but as Bruce was going to have a real son or daughter soon, it still felt nice to have a special tie to the child.

Rose laughed herself into hysterics about the deerstalker and made Bruce wear it, but the detective had gotten Slade back by giving him one of those large blankets with sleeves. A pink one. Robin and Rose, of course, insisted that he'd try his gift out as well.

Soon there was only one present left, the one from Slade. Robin felt the man's eye on him very clearly as he opened it, and yes, it was a book… of sorts…

"A photo album? That's nice… oh, there's pictures… of the team and the Tower… and… where is this taken? That's a gorgeous living room and what a view! But I don't recognize it… the view is of the bay in Jump, though… huh, look, that bed has the same headboard as the one at our apartment had…"

"That's it, I'm kicking you out of the detective business…" Bruce muttered.

"What?" Robin blinked slowly, and then it hit him. "Ummm… Slade… this place… is it…?"

"It's our new apartment, yes. You said you wanted to keep the headboard, after all…"

"It's… it's…" Robin was too stunned to speak for a while. "But… where is it?"

"It's the converted warehouse at the docks we liked."

"But that was… you said they sold it!"

"Yes. To me. The renovations were finally done about two weeks ago. We can move in when we get back to Jump."

Robin didn't care if he embarrassed the hell out of the man; Slade got an armful of kissing and hugging teen who then refused to get out of his lap for the next hour.

As the day went on, especially as the evening began creeping in, Robin started to notice that Slade wasn't quite himself. He was tense and seemed far away. Something was obviously on his mind, but Robin waited until they had retired to their own room to ask.

"Ummm… so… what's bothering you? You're not having second thoughts about the gift, do you?"

"Hm? Oh, no… no, nothing like that. It's nothing."

"It's something. And sorry, Slade, but we have been through too much this last week for me to back off and trust the 'everything's fine' crap, okay? So for once in your life you are going to spill and I will try to help. Got it?"

"Now you are being bossy again," the man smirked as he sat down on the bed to remove his socks.

"Yup. That's me. Get started."

"Fine…" the man sighed and laid back on the bed, hands behind his head.

"What? You mean that worked?" Robin gaped and then sat down on the bed as well, drawing his feet up and watched the man intently. "So…? Go on…"

"How do I go to the hospital tomorrow and tell Joseph that not only is his mother dead, but it's because of me?" Slade asked in what was almost a rush of words, which was very unlike him.

"It's not because of you!" Robin snapped. "Jamie was crazy!"

"But if I hadn't gone after him… of if I at least hadn't beaten the shit out of him…Or if I had killed him in the first place. That's what I should have done."

"That game again, Slade?" Robin said dryly. "You know you can't win that. No one can."

"I know… but does he?"

"If you want, I can go with you…" the teen offered. "We talked quite a bit before Jamie… well…"

"You understand sign language? Of course you do, you're the Boy Wonder…" Slade smirked.

"Yeah… I'm pretty wonderful…" Robin grinned back. "So… do you want me to?"

"No. I think it's better if it's just us. He won't be able to communicate much anyway, although they said they would bring a writing pad for him… he can still hold a pen, even though he probably won't be able to sign a lot…"

"So you're afraid he'll never forgive you?"

"Wouldn't you be?"

"Yes, but… I'm going to be blunt now, Slade: you haven't seen him in years… yes, Addie didn't tell you where he was, but come on! You could have found him if you had really looked, couldn't you? It wasn't like he was hiding… I'm not saying that you don't care, but he is a stranger to you, after all…"

"He is. And I probably could have found him, but… I kept putting it off… Like I kept putting off finding Rose until we ran into her."

"Why?" Robin's question made the man's eye narrow for a second, but then he looked away.

"I don't know."

"You're lying."

"Fine. I'm bad news. You know that. I already caused Joey enough trouble in life and I didn't want to do the same to Rose… so I stayed away."

"But something made you change your mind?"

"Yes. Lately I've been beginning to think that…"

"You're not so bad after all?" Robin filled in with a grin.

"Shut your mouth, that was the worst insult I've ever heard," Slade growled playfully. "But in a way… I think that, as long as I'm careful, I might be able to be at least a small part of their lives…"

"Good for you. I think you can too."

"If Joey can forgive me."

"No, don't put that on him! I know you were looking for Addie's forgiveness all these years, and you know what? You got it. She told you to take care of him, didn't she? She could have said 'stay the hell away from him', after all, and a few weeks ago, maybe she would have. But she saw the changes too, I'm sure of it. But don't ask for Joeys forgiveness, not just yet… If, and I say if, he blames you, that's his right… all you can do is show him that you're there for him now, when he's ready."

"When did you become an old wise man?" Slade asked with a small smile on his lips.

"Pft, you complain when I act too young, and you complain when I act older… I can never please you, can I?" Robin snorted.

"You please me very well," the man chuckled.

"Of course I do, that's practically my second job," Robin grinned, and, carefully, minding his own bruises, straddled the man. "Now, how about we-"

There was suddenly a knock on the door and it was swung open.

"It's-" Bruce stared at them like a startled deer. "Are you having sex?"

"No, our underwear is in the way…. and you are also somewhat spoiling the mood," Slade said dryly.

"What is it?" Robin asked.

"Rose! She's gone into labor!"

TBC… On New Year's Eve… ;)

A/N: Yes, you have to wait a week. Yes, I'm a fucking bitch. No, I won't post it any sooner. ;) As the next chapter will be a nice, fluffy ending, you might just spend this week telling me what you thought of the story so far… ;)