The Peace Contract Chapter 36: Awakenings, a teen titans fanfic

A/N: This chapter starts with a series of quotes from this story, said by Slade to Robin… so please don't be too confused… ;o)

Chapter thirty-six: Awakenings

Robin had been dreaming again, and he had heard voices. No. Not voices. One voice. Slade's.

"Missed me, Robin?"

"I have a proposition for you."

"This is exactly why you are here, my boy. Your disrespect. Your pride. Well. I will not tolerate that any more."

"Nervous, Robin? Afraid to die?"

"You will lead a very interesting life from now on. Isn't that exciting…?"

"I am a teacher. But only yours…"

"This is the true source. The true Pax Romana. This… is a peace contract."

"The contract holder gains full control over the person who signs it. Guess what, Robin?"

"I want to own you. And as soon as you have signed, I will."

"My, my, Robin. Have you already forgotten who you belong too?"

"I do control you, Robin. I control only your body, however… not your mind. How much fun would that be?"

"It's very simple, Robin. You have given them to me."

"Come sit at my feet, Robin. Good. You belong there."

"Say, Robin… isn't that your city?"

"You will not be fighting, boy. You are too fragile, too special, to be used like that. There will be other… uses… for you, in time."

"I will do anything to win, Robin, sacrifice anything. Will you?"

"My little hero."

"Stop worry about the world and your friends, my boy, and start worry about yourself."

"Remember, pet, the only thing I have to do is keep you alive… How much alive though… that doesn't matter."

"Poor boy. I will claim you as many things, but not as my son… No. I have no… desire… to do that."

"Don't worry, Robin. You will learn."

"How does it feel to be this vulnerable, Robin? Having no control? You are mine, boy… and tomorrow you better start being nice to your owner…"

"You are not a killer, Robin. Not yet. As I said, you just don't have it in y-"

"Kneel in front of me, Robin. Good. Now. Lick the blood off."

"Why don't you take your mask off, boy?"

"No, nothing of great importance. Just… your name."

"You think beating Starfire was bad? Robin… I can have you rape her."

"I can. I always do. And you will learn exactly what I want very soon, Robin."

"'Saving' people again? Tell me, pet… do you wish to take her place?"

"Surrender to me… There's no one around to help you… You realize that Batman knew, don't you?"

"No, pet... I won't stop. This will happen… and Bruce knew it would…"

"I have no wish to fuck a rag doll."

"Little pet… I will be hard again in moments… prepare for a long night…"

"That was a privilege, pet. You think I was rough with you? That was nothing… you'll -learn about real pain soon enough…"

"It is said that crucifixion was the preferred punishment before this one…

"I'll decide the amount of pain, if any, you will be in, do you understand?"

"Yes, I will fuck you… but I will make you enjoy it."

"Spread your legs for me, Robin…"

"What do you say, boy? Pleasure or pain?"

"Do you know how good it feels, Robin? To control you? To watch you obey? To make you kiss me, to plunge into your tight little body and feel you squirm beneath me? To take you, a proud and confident little hero, and make you my whore? And do you know what the best thing is? That everybody knows, Robin. Everyone knows what you have become… Even if an attack should succeed tomorrow, even if you were set free…. they would still know. And you will never be anything more than that. You would never be a hero again."

"Look at them, Robin. Look into their eyes… and now… I want you to come."

"That man will die slowly and painfully tomorrow as a direct consequence of your actions. And you will watch the whole thing."

"I will let you chose… Your mother or your father?"

"Hello pet. I have some bad news for you. You lived."

"You will learn, my boy, that everything you receive will be provided by me. Every drop of water, every bite of food. Every moment of peace, every second of pleasure. Every ounce of fear and every stab of pain. I am your world. The only one you can turn to, must turn to, for every little need."

"Don't tell me you don't want an eternity of this…?"

"If he troubles you, you may kill him…"

"Enjoy your little gift, pet… he's all yours…"

"I won't hurt him, Robin. I will kill him."

"As attractive as you are when you are bloodthirsty, no sane man listens to his pet."

"I have a very polite pet, don't I?"

"I rather like your little imperfections. It makes you more fun to play with…"

"You are becoming who you pretend to be."

"I want you to know that I have decided who will carry the baby. You will."

"I'm not playing, Robin. I AM your god!"

"Looking forward to motherhood, Robin? It's amazing what a bit of magic can do, isn't it?"

"I love it when you lose your dignity like that…"

"Take this time and think about how you want to live your life from now on… because as I have told you before; it could be much worse. Do you really want that, Robin?"

"Don't beg, Robin. It won't do any good."

"You'll never see anyone again!"

"I don't care how you feel about the baby, but if you disrespect it, you disrespect me… I won't tolerate that."

"I expect you to be grateful for what you get, not try to get more."

"As your Master I demand respect, I have never been, and never will be your toy, Robin. You are mine."

"Well, no one else would do."

"It's fine, Robin. It's alright to be cruel… maybe, after the pregnancy is over, you would like to hurt her with your own hands? Would you, pet?"

Robin sat up slowly, sobbing quietly and cradling his head. Everything had fallen into place with a frightening speed and he was reeling from all the different emotions washing over him. He looked over at Slade's still form and an anger he hadn't dared to feel in a long time came to life. This man, this monster, had robbed him of everything, and Robin wasn't even allowed to look at him. Moving closer slowly, Robin expected the man to open his eye, but after weeks of sleeping in the same bed with someone, who repeatedly ran to the bathroom or thrashed around in nightmares, had dulled the man's senses. Robin reached out.

It was surprisingly easy, in the end, ripping the mask off. It was only cloth after all, but somehow Robin had always seen it as an impenetrable shield, like the metal mask had been. Of course Slade woke up, Robin never even tried to do it carefully. A hand closed around the boy's windpipe forcefully, and, in a hopeful moment, Robin thought that Slade would kill him.

Not that I really want to die, but it would solve some problems, he thought dryly to himself.

The man let go, though, as he realized what was about to happen. Robin stared into that unknown face for some time.

"You are still a monster." he eventually mumbled hoarsely.

"Explain yourself." Slade demanded.

They were both still on the bed, Slade leaning back against the headboard and Robin kneeling on his side, tangled up in the sheets from his nightmare.

"I remember. I remember everything." Robin was calm now. He didn't know if it was just the overwhelming shock, opposed to a real calmness, but he felt slightly detached. The anger had somehow dissipated, at least for now.

"I see."

They sat just looking at each other for several minutes, each waiting for the other to… react? Attack? Slade picked the scraps of the mask away from his neck and looked up at Robin with a dry smile.

"I should be flattered. You regain your senses and all you want to do is see my face?"

"Oh, that wasn't all. I just found myself lacking in the weapons department." Robin smirked back.

"Lucky me."

"Indeed. You might want to sleep with one eye open. Ops. You can't." Robin's smirk grew nastier, pointedly looking at the patch that covered Slade's right eye.

"Funny… but I don't fear my pets, Robin."

"Maybe you should."

"I think not."

Another moment of wary silence.

"Tell me, pet…Why didn't you try to hide this?"

"Hide it? From you? I could try, but I would fail… and the consequences would probably be worse. At least I got to see your face. I'm just surprised that it's human… it will help me remember who did this to me. To my team."

Slade watched the boy carefully. Robin was too calm. He should be trembling and begging by now, terrified for his and his friends fate, but the boy was… not cold, exactly, more like… relaxed. Comfortable. Slade smirked. Robin was one of the few who ever had been comfortable in his presence. Slade was even more surprised when the boy threw himself down next to him on the bed, put his arms behind his head and looked up at the ceiling, like he was chilling out with a best friend.

"I was so happy, you know…" Robin said.

"Really?" Slade chuckled and rolled over on his side, leaning a bit over the boy. It was time to put some pressure on Robin, to crack through this strange façade. However, his actions didn't seem to faze the boy in the least, as he just continued talking.

"Yeah… I think I never been happier since I was a kid… maybe not even then, because you take stuff for granted, you know? I never thought I would lose my parents back then, so I didn't really know how happy I was… or should be… whatever…" Robin grinned a bit sheepishly and glanced up at Slade.

"A pity, then, that your memory came back." Slade commented, still not knowing quite what to do with the boy. Now Robin grew more serious again, though, his face darkening slightly.

"No… I could feel that there was something wrong… something fake, with my feelings… that was horrible… and thinking back…" Robin's face eyes grew even more somber, darker, filling up with pain. "I lost my soul… almost… it was almost gone… somehow I could feel my… myself slipping away…" Robin looked up at Slade again, and finally the man saw some of the fear he though ought to be there. "Will…. Will you break me again?"

"Do I have to?" Slade looked down on the boy, noting the surprise and the wild glimpse of hope in those blue eyes. He slowly ran a finger down the boy's face, continuing down his throat and over his collarbone. Robin didn't try to pull away, he didn't even flinch. Slade suppressed a wide grin. The boy might have regained his memories and his feelings… but he still knew who he belonged to… "You see, Robin… I think you are still broken…" Slade purred and leaned down over his pet for a kiss. Robin parted his lips as soon as Slade's tongue pressed against them. If Slade was surprised, it was nothing compared to when Robin made a small, needy noise and pressed himself up against the man. It was enough for Slade to break the kiss and look down on the boy with a raised eyebrow.

Robin blushed fiercely.

"I… I don't know what…"

Slade did, though.

"Your memory doesn't affect your hormone levels… you might not really want too, but your body still needs to play…" he grinned.

So what? Robin thought to himself. This is the only source of pleasure in my life now, I don't even have friends to talk too… so WHAT if I enjoy it? I don't care! I'm just using you to escape for a few moments…Yeah… I'M not the one who will be used from now on. YOU are.

Robin pulled Slade's head down for another kiss, but that, the man couldn't possibly allow. He pushed the boy down and pinned him the bed, making sure he couldn't even squirm enticingly.

"Looks like I have to break you, then." he threatened.

Robin stilled immediately

"But... but then I'll… I'll lose it… I'll lose my soul…"

"And what do I care about that?" Slade smirked. "I want only two things from you, boy. Your life, so the bond of the contract will hold, and your body, to entertain myself. That's all… your 'self', your spirit, your soul, or whatever you want to call it… I can't care less about."

"I don't believe that." Robin told the man calmly.

"And why not?"

"Because there has to be a reason… there has to be a reason as to why you picked me… it couldn't all be strategic, there must have been better targets than me… And I'm not much more than a scrawny teen, there are thousands like me, so it couldn't have been my looks… there must have been something that caught your attention…"

"You might be right… maybe, if there was a way, I would like to keep your spirit… but it can't be, Robin, because the thing I really want to crush lies beneath that…"

"And what is that?"

"Your hope."

Robin searched inside himself, and Slade was right. There was still some left… some hope, probably too burnt into the walls of his heart to be scraped off. He wondered how it had survived for so long. He sighed and looked up at his captor, who still held him down.

"I understand. When will you begin?"

"I intend to do it thoroughly this time, boy, and that means I can't start until after the baby is born."

"So I… so I might not survive?"

"That is a possibility. The child surely wouldn't." Slade admitted. He loosened his grip on Robin, and again let his fingers run over the boy's chest. "My pretty little toy… it's a good thing that Raven can remove scars…"

Robin tried to stifle a gasp and stop his body from arching up, pressing itself against those nimble fingers. He didn't succeed, though, and Slade smiled, letting his fingers play some more, just to see what kind of reactions he could get from the boy.

"I will still teach you a thing or two about your place, Robin, without too much pain… I'll start right away, and if you are a good enough student…"

"No! No more deals, Slade… If you want me to be the perfect submissive pet I was, you have to break me again, so start planning…" Robin half gasped, half growled, as Slade's fingers circled his areolas.

"I see… and still… you want this, don't you…?" Slade teasingly pinched both nipples simultaneously, pulling on them until Robin had to arch his back up, just to avoid pain.

"Y-yes… but… that's… only…"

"Hormones, yes…"

"Yes…" Robin's eyes were half closed, and Slade was not sure if the boy responded to his words or his touch.

"Well, then you don't really want it, do you?"

"N-no…"

"And as I would never dream of doing anything to you that you didn't want…" Slade smirked and withdrew his hands.

"Since when?" Robin wanted to know, his frustration obvious. Then the stubbornness seemed to leave the boy, who just sighed and fell completely back against the mattress. Slade noticed that Robin's eyes were brimming over again, and this time, silent tears started to fall down the boy's cheeks. "Would you want me to spend the next six month begging, Slade? Because right now… right now I might just do that… but if you don't intend to touch me, just say so… please, Slade… please no more games? Just… let's just be honest? Please?"

"Then be honest, little bird…" Slade prompted.

"I want you to touch me, all right? The pleasure…It… it washes everything else away… I don't know if it's the hormones, but I don't care, either… this is the only thing you give me that… that doesn't hurt… doesn't hurt that way, at least. Even the pain is good. It's… distracting…"

Slade let the boy go completely and rolled off him, stretching out next to him instead.

"So you use me?"

"What? No!" Robin was horrified that Slade had come to the same conclusion he had. He also felt… guilty? "Well… I… I… I guess I do. I'm sorry."

Slade barked out a short laugh.

"You're sorry?"

"Yes." Robin turned a serious pair of eyes towards him. "I shouldn't have done that… using people is wrong."

"Ouch." Slade said dryly and to his surprise Robin laughed.

"Well, now I wished I had thought about that argument months ago… because how will you be able to use me now, when you know I use you as well?" The boy teased him.

Slade mentally rolled his eyes. Mood swings. It must be.

"Maybe I'll decide that I'll let you?" he offered.

"Generous? You?"

"Oh, I can be very generous, Robin."

"Show me."

"Insolent little…" Slade chuckled.

"Oh, Slade…. It's just for another six months… if you are so generous, then let me be myself for that time… then I'll be gone and you'll have the little slut who worships you back for the rest of my, well, his life… isn't that a good deal?"

"I thought no more deals?"

"Well, no more of your deals… your deals sucks."

Slade sighed and shook his head.

"You should be better behaved by now. Where did I go wrong?"

"Do you want me to write up a list?"

"Be quiet, pet."

Robin sighed but obeyed and curled up on his side, closing his eyes.

"And what are you doing?" Slade wanted to know, not liking to be dismissed in that manner.

"Well, it's the middle of the night. If you're not going to fuck me, I'm going to go to sleep." Robin informed him, not even opening his eyes.

Slade snorted, but he soon pulled Robin closer. Before the boy's smirk could grow into a chuckle Slade hissed.

"Well, you are pregnant, and I'm under orders to keep your stress levels down…"

"Oh, great job so far… beating Raven didn't affect me at all." Robin snorted ironically.

"You know what? I don't think it did… not as it once would…" Slade purred.

After showering the morning after, Robin was about to get dressed when he spotted something important missing.

"Where are my clothes?"

"You'll do without." came Slade's answer.

Robin gaped. He had suspected that Slade would find a way, or probably many ways, to get back at him, but this? Well, he knew how to make the man change his mind.

"Really? All right… Chang claimed he had no interest in my ass, but I guess that we'll find out if he was telling the truth now…"

"No need. You won't leave this room."

Damn. Another blow. Counter strike-time.

"He still needs to see me for examinations… but it's much cozier in here then in the examination room…"

"Well you will not be completely naked."

Score!

"You will be allowed to wear this."

Shite…

"What is that? A handkerchief? With chains?"

Slade laughed and threw the thing at Robin.

"Wear it or go without. It won't matter. I'll see you tonight…"

Thus started another little game. Robin would pretend to be completely fine with his confinement and clothing, and Slade would do his best to find other little ways to mildly, almost playfully, torture the boy. The 'hankie' turned out to be a loincloth of sorts, covering his front scantly and leaving his backside completely bare except for a thin chain. It made sure the tattoo showed as well, something Robin had almost forgot. If Robin hated his clothes before… but he would not show it. In fact, although boring, the confinement was pretty comfortable. He could take long baths, and he had the whole bed to himself during the day. He was even let out once a day to go to the examination room and his training. For this he was also allowed to wear sweats, so maybe his words about Chang had made a little impact after all… Not that Robin thought Chang posed a danger in that area… the man had told him so, after all, and even though he touched him intimately during examinations, Robin never got treated in any other way than professional, and he was glad for it. Having to stand two pair of groping hands would have been too much. This didn't make him like Chang any better, though. The man might not see him as a sexual object, but he was no less an object… a guinea pig to be carefully studied.

Starfire was the one who usually accompanied him on these little 'outings'. Apparently he couldn't be trusted to walk alone anymore… it irritated Robin, because there were places he really wanted to go… Today the girl had been excited about the Doppler-test Chang would do within the next couple of days. Robin had hurried up his training session just to get back to the room and away from her… she was impossible to get along with when she was in baby-mode. He wasn't so lucky, though, as Starfire followed him into the room, still talking.

He was, some time later, saved by Slade who had finished his work for the afternoon.

"Hi honey, how was your day?" Robin greeted the man in the sugary but completely sarcastic voice he had started using during this new game.

"Just great, sweetheart" Slade answered in the same tone, catching Robin and steeling a kiss. "I see you have a friend over?"

"She was just about to leave." Robin said. "Weren't you?" he asked Star hopefully.

The girl was watching them with big, round eyes, before rushing up to them and hugging them both at the same time.

"You are most sweet!"

Robin and Slade gave each other a disbelieving look, and then carefully got Star to let go before she crushed them all.

"Yes, well… maybe you have other things to do?" Robin asked again.

"Naturally! You would like to have the sex now? I understand."

She bade them farewell and disappeared out the door. Robin stared at it for a few moments.

"… would like to have the sex now..?" he repeated slowly, shaking his head at Starfire's complete lack of… shame? Grammar?

"If you insist." Slade smirked and pulled Robin towards the bed.

"You misunderstood that on purpose…" Robin growled.

"Maybe. The result is the same, though." Slade shrugged, pulling off his mask. He only wore it in contact with the outside world now, and Robin knew there must be a reason for it, but had still to figure out exactly what. Robin only grumbled a bit as he was lifted onto the bed, but as soon as it was evident that Slade wasn't just fooling around, the boy relented. He had stayed true to his intention, taking what pleasure he could from the man, not giving a fuck if it was morally wrong or made him a slut. He was cooped up in a room for most of the day, and frankly, he was glad for whatever attention he got.

Maybe Slade is right… maybe I'm still broken…

A bit over a week after being confined to the bedchamber Slade finally decided that Robin could accompany him for the day, just to see how he did. Robin was almost glad to see his old pants. Putting them on was no fun, though.

"I'm swollen again!" he complained, cursing Chang loudly.

Slade put his hand over Robin's lower abdomen and chuckled.

"I don't think a change of diet would make this swelling disappear…"

Robin drew away from the touch with a horrified expression on his face.

"You-you mean…?"

"Oh, yes… with being more or less naked for over a week you haven't noticed, I guess…"

Robin closed his eyes briefly, feeling very sick. Somehow he had put it all out of his mind, decided that he would probably never show, that it would all go away until then… it hadn't. Wearing only the loincloth or baggy sweats he hadn't noticed, just as Slade thought… it wasn't like he studied himself in the mirror… quite the opposite, because to completely ignore what was happening he had stayed away from that area as much as he could. Now his hands strayed there, feeling their way, shaking slightly. Yes… there was a small bulge. Not hard, but definitely there. Robin tore the pants off and threw them at the wall. It wasn't his fault Slade was in the way, was it?

The man made a small 'ouff-ing' sound as they hit him in the face. The zippers made the pants quite heavy, after all. Robin was already kneeling over the toilet, throwing up. Just the thought of the thing inside him getting so big it was extending his stomach made him physically ill.

Robin refused to leave the room after that, but Slade punished him for the pants-incident by ordering him into a new pair, these having a more flexible waistband, and making him come along anyway. This did not make the boy calm down, and poor Chang was hit in the head with an orange during breakfast. It was Slade's fault, really, since he was the one who had ducked it in the first place.

Chang, having regained his composure and not feeling that the world was spinning anymore, announced, a bit grumpily, that he had prepared the Doppler test. This, again, did not improve Robin's mood. It did increase everyone else's, though, especially Starfire's, who asked to be allowed to stay for it.

"Get it away from me!"

"-he-he-now, Robin, it won't hurt… I will just put this on your stomach and-"

"Just try!" Robin, being held by the arms from behind by Slade, kicked out and almost managed to destroy the expensive piece of electronics. Slade tightened his grip somewhat and the two men exchanged a look. The test was not, by any means, necessary since Raven was perfectly capable of keeping track of the heartbeat on her own, and Chang himself would be able to hear it through a stethoscope soon enough… they had discussed, though, that being able to hear the sounds from the child might make Robin more prone to accepting it. It had become clearer to them both that if Robin's stress wouldn't cause any damage, he needed to do that. Before regaining his memories, that might have been easier, and Slade had started slowly working on it, but now it was like attacking a brick wall with a rubber ball… the harder the attack, the more likely it came back and hit you in the face.

For once, Starfire saved them all. The girl had tears in her eyes, not understanding why the boy was so upset.

"Please, Robin? Please let us listen? Do not be this way, please, my friend?"

Robin looked into those stunningly green eyes and lost.

"Yeah… well, get it over with, then…" he said gruffly, making Chang draw a big breath of relief.

The boy lay back on the table, still fuming, and the professor placed the equipment on Robin's stomach and almost immediately a very alien sound echoed through the room.

"S'that it?" Robin asked sullenly.

"Yes. About 130 beat per minute. Perfectly within the normal range." the professor explained.

"Pfft… it sounds scared to me…" Robin replied. "Doesn't even sound human. Big surprise…" he added.

The sound was weird, not the clear beating that you might expect from a human heart, but more like a fast shush-shush-shush-noise. Star, though, looked like she was listening to a rare, sacred hymn.

Robin was less then impressed, and that was a relief to him. One reason he had not wanted to go through with this was that he was afraid that it would make him feel differently, and he didn't want that. The spawn was a monster, a thing, and so it would remain, if Robin had anything to say about it.

"Do be nice to our son, pet…" Slade chided him gently. "Can we have a recording, Chang?"

"-heh- well… Yes? I guess? May I ask what for?"

"Oh, just a little present for the child's grandpa…" the man chuckled.

"You wouldn't dare!" Robin snarled, mortified, and jumped off the examination table.

"Oh, why not? I have no idea were to send it, but I bet that if I put it in the lesser security section of the mainframe that Cyborg had been nice enough to construct, it will be picked up there in a matter of hours. They won't know what it is, Robin, but it will give them something to think about."

Robin was about to curse at the man when his brain kicked in.

"You want them to make contact?"

"Precisely."

This made Robin smile widely.

"So you have no idea where they are, do you? You actually lost track of them?"

"For the moment." Slade was not happy that Robin figured this out. He was supposed to be in complete control after all.

"They wont take the bait, Slade… and even if they do, you won't be able to track them… Bruce is great at electronic shields."

Slade didn't like the pride in Robin's voice. Not one bit.

"I don't plan to track them, Robin." he clipped the boy off, and refused to explain anything further.

"No arguing in here, please." Chang interrupted before one or both of them exploded. "If you would take your little family off my hands, now, Slade I-" A naked foot connected with Chang's chin.

"Never say that again! Never!" Robin was boiling with rage and looked like he wanted to kill the professor, who, frankly, though he had not earned all this violence in one day. If it wasn't for Slade, holding Robin firmly back, Chang might have had to endure a lot more, though. "Never EVER call us a family!" Robin continued and then started sobbing. "We're not! We're not! I had one! I… I…" Robin collapsed completely, shaking , and Slade changed his grip to lift the boy up.

"Good one, Chang." Slade growled sarcastically as he carried the boy to the bedroom for some rest. Chang was just grateful that Slade's fist hadn't joined Robin's foot.

As Robin slowly calmed down, he made a request that Slade had expected him to make a lot sooner.

"I- I would like to see my parents again. May I open the safe?"

Slade nodded, and Robin gracefully rose from the bed and walked over to the wall with the hidden safe. Slade sat back on the bed instead, it being the most comfortable place in the room, and watched Robin open the safe and, very carefully, take out the two pieces. To Slade's surprise, Robin returned to the bed with them and made himself comfortable beside him before looking at the old, faded Polaroid. For several moments the boy was still and quiet. Slade watched him intently, and noticed as Robin started to tremble.

"They are gone." Slade heard Robin whisper, and snorted softly.

"I thought that was old news…" he sneered.

"No… I… I used to look at this photo almost every night… now… I haven't seen them for so long and… I… I don't recognize them! I used to be able to almost hear her laugh and his voice! Now… now they are only two people in an old photo…"

"I see." Slade nodded. Not that he cared, but he understood.

"How do you do it, Slade? I lost them years ago, and yet you managed to take them away again…"

"Practice makes perfect." the man replied. If Robin heard, he pretended not to.

"I'll put these back." the boy said, rising from the bed again. "Maybe I'll remember again some day… or maybe not." he added at second thought.

After returning the photo, Robin sat down heavily on the bed.

"He… he had no right to say that." he complained softly.

"He was thoughtless." Slade agreed, thinking that the boy had enough for one day, and idly wondering what the hell it would take to make sure Robin wasn't stressed out 24/7.

"I will have a family one day!" The boy looked over at him defiantly. "You and this-" the boy pointed to the small bulge on his stomach, "will be dead, and me and my family will be happy. We will."

"Do you really believe that?" Slade asked, not angrily, but softly. He didn't want to upset the boy further, but heaven help him, he couldn't resist pushing.

The defiance in Robin's eyes slowly faded.

"No." the boy said softly. "No, I don't. But I'm still allowed to hope… for a few more months…

"You say that quite calmly, my pet…"

"I won't spend the last sane time of my life screaming at you." Robin answered with a small, sad smile on his face. "At least I'll try not too… it's damn difficult, though…"

"I know. Because of the hormones." Slade nodded.

"No," Robin disagreed. "because you're an ass."

To be continued…

A/N: Yeah… even I'm confused about Robin's behavior in this one… although I kinda like parts of it, and others I just don't really understand, but… well, this character has taken on a strange life of his own and is starting to be as hard to control as Slade… I never planned the rage-episodes, for example, but they just happened, and they fitted, so I let them stay… I also hadn't planned that Robin would be willing to let Slade touch him, I REALLY hadn't planned that, but he just about told me to mind my own business and write… and I kind of understand the reasoning, so… and it doesn't upset the plans I DO have for the story, so I decided to let him have his way. For now. All right, so I'm a pushover. ;o) Not starting to sound all too wacky now, am I? Not scaring you? Good.

The drabble I mentioned? It's actually not finished yet… but I'll take a look at it soon, don't worry…