"Times like these... one feels the very weight of the world upon us."

Batman gave Wonder Woman a curious glance as she spoke, and from beside them, Superman gave a quiet little nod. They were standing near a window in the Watchtower, and Batman could see the entire world spinning beneath them, silently.

It was a nice change from all the noise and panic that he knew existed on the planet's surface (for a split second, he pictured Dick in his mind- the smiling, happy child that had emerged from the once deadly and feared assassin- pictured the bruises and panic attacks and misery that had hung over the poor boy like a cloud until just recently, and clenched his own fists in anger-)

Footsteps sounded behind them, and Batman forced himself to push Dick out of his head for the moment. He had decisions to make. Batman turned to see Aquaman approaching.

"Everyone is here," the Atlantian informed them. "Are you three coming?"

Batman was the first to nod and begin following the King, with Superman and Wonder Woman following slightly behind his swishing cape. The four of them filed into the meeting room.

It was almost completely silent inside, and save for the Flash's usual smirk and Captain Marvel's naive grin, most of the gathered heroes looked fairly serious. Aquaman stepped forwards.

"Our agenda is clear," he said. "What's at stake today... should not be underestimated."

"The decisions we make today will reverberate for generations to come," Superman added, and Wonder Woman nodded.

"And it will decide whether or not the world will continue to put their trust in the Justice League or not," she added solemnly.

As the weight of their words fell upon every Leaguer in the room, Batman raised his head.

"Please, take your seats," he said, making sure to meet as many of their gazes as he could. "We have work to do."

"Robin, NOW!"

Dick got a running start and dropped, sliding across the ground, crossing his fingers that Aqualad had gotten the timing right, and whooped when the newly-wet floor carried him across the training center, right between Superboy's legs and in a perfect position to lash out at the half-kryptonian, knocking his feet out from under him with a swift kick.

"Nice one, Aqualad!" Dick shouted, and Kaldur made a noise of affirmation as he desperately attempted to keep both Wally and Artemis away from himself with two water whips.

They were training, all together, for the first time in what seemed like forever (well, except for Miss Martian and Zatanna, but they were both in the kitchen cooking Thanksgiving dinner for themselves, so no one complained about them missing practice). They were all teamed up, as well- Wally was with Artemis, to both of their complaints, Superboy had paired himself up with Wolf, and that had left Dick and Kaldur together, and they were steadily wiping the floor with the other two teams.

Dick stood and hesitated for a moment, looking at the slick floor. Kaldur had sacrificed some of the water in his water-bearers to allow Dick to slide all the way across the room to Superboy, but now the ground was extremely wet- Dick's acrobatics would be hampered by the lack of proper footing. Despite that, though, Kaldur needed his help, so Dick took off across the room towards Artemis. The archer was attempting to hit Aqualad through the lashing tentacles of liquid that surrounded him, and Dick took advantage of her distraction to tackle her to the floor. Her bow went skittering just out of her reach.

"Ugh," she grunted, staring up at him discontentedly. "I take my eyes off of you for two seconds..."

Dick grinned, but then yelped when she dove for him, nearly slipping in the water but still managing to get a good punch in. Dick was forced to roll backwards out of her reach, but he bounced back like a spring, sending a kick rocketing towards her head. She blocked it and spun, attempting to get closer, and then they fell into a familiar dance of step-kick-block-step-duck-punch, on and on. It felt so familiar that Dick couldn't help but grin at her even as she tried to slam her knee into his chin.

Dick had slowly been backing up as they fought, and all at once he twisted, leaping up into the air. Artemis' eyes widened in surprise as he shot upwards and kicked off the wall that Dick had steadily been leading her towards. With the extra height, he was able to bring his heel crashing towards her, and a surprised yelp indicated that he had succeeded in throwing her for a loop. She dove backwards, finally slipping in the water across the floor, and Dick's leg missed her by a centimeter.

"Ooh, nice one, Arty," he teased, and she mock-glared at him from her position on the floor, wringing her hair out. He held up his hands while she stood up and got back into her fighting stance, bouncing on his toes in excitement.

"Come on, Rob, you can do- ohcrap-!

Her surprised shout had Dick whipping around, but it was already too late to do anything- a mass of fur and teeth slammed into both him and Artemis, pinning them to the floor. Dick only attempted to free himself for a moment, but froze again when Wolf snarled at him, baring his teeth. From next to him, Artemis let out a strangled laugh.

"We win," Superboy said smugly, staring down at them and patting Wolf's head. The venom-enhanced canine somehow managed to look triumphant.

"Who do you think won between KF and Kaldur?" Dick asked, craning his head back in an attempt to see. The two had battled before, and they were pretty equally matched- sometimes Kid Flash's speed won, and other times Kaldur's strength and water powers obtained the upper hand.

"Wally, I think," Artemis said, "Simply because I can't hear him whining about how he wasn't ready or something."

Dick snorted at that, and Wolf finally let them up.

Kid Flash had won despite the slippery floors, using them to his advantage just as Dick had to slide beneath Aqualad's feet and knock him to the ground. However, he froze when Connor stepped forwards, cracking his knuckles (playfully, but Wally didn't need to know that).

"I forfeit in favor of food!" the speedster yelped, disappearing down the hallway towards the kitchen. Dick breathed in through his nose and was amazed at the delicious scents that filled his head.

"That smells so asterous that I think I could live off of the scent alone," Dick gasped out dreamily, and it was Artemis' turn to smirk.

"So, where are you going for Thanksgiving?" she asked him, but as Dick opened his mouth to answer, he heard Connor gasp behind them, followed by a high whine from Wolf.

"Superboy?" he asked, whipping around, and frowned Connor's pained expression. His hands were firmly clasped over his ears, and Wolf's ears were flat to his skull. "Guys? Are you alright?"

It took Superboy a few more seconds to relax, and then he hesitated to answer, looking from Artemis to Dick to the floor.

"I- fine," Connor grunted finally, shaking his head. "There was just... nothing. It was nothing."

Dick shared a skeptical glance with Artemis, but neither of them pressed the subject.

"I'm gonna go walk Wolf," Connor said, nodding at Kaldur as he passed the Atlantian on his way to the exit. Dick shared another confused glance with the archer beside him before shaking the incident out of his mind.

The smells coming from the kitchen were too incredible to ignore anymore.

Icon, Rocket, The Atom, Guy Gardener, Red Arrow, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Zatanna, Dr. Fate, Plastic Man... the list of heroes- old and young, quickly rejected or extensively discussed- was huge. Batman was fairly sure almost everyone's name was said- everybody was considered, some, like Dr. Fate, were even reconsidered. All was going fairly well, too.

Batman zoned out of the conversation for a second and wondered if it was even possible for Alfred to outdo himself from last year's Thanksgiving dinner.

"-no one in the League knew the truth about Captain Marvel's age."

Wonder Woman's voice cut through his thoughts, and Batman immediately jumped back into the debate, saving a flustered Captain Marvel from the stares of the other Leaguers.

"I knew," he cut in, glaring at Wonder Woman, and receiving an equally icy glare back. It didn't really surprise him, she had always been one of the most objective of younger heroes in the field. He understood her reasoning, as well- that didn't mean he agreed with her.

"I should have known," she said. "After all, it was you who took in a thirteen year old child assassin, and turned him into your sidekick."

The entire League froze at her words, and Batman increased the intensity of his glare.

"And what of the boy, Batman? Why did you reveal your identity to him, of all people? He could go running back to his masters at any time, as I'm sure you're aware." It had been Aquaman this time, and despite knowing that the League was simply looking for answers, Batman couldn't help but clench his teeth in anger at the Atlantian's words.

"And can we even trust him? I do realize that he's been through a lot, but with everything that has happened recently..."

Batman interrupted Superman's words.

"Robin's masters were horrific to him, and used his parent's death to essentially brainwash him," he snapped, ignoring the startled looks thrown his was by his show of emotion. "If any of you think, for one second, that he would return to them, you would be completely mistaken. As for revealing my own identity to him... you have all seen the pictures, read the reports. Could anyone deny Robin the right to be happy after everything he's been through?"

He didn't wait for their answer.

"I am more than capable of keeping Robin safe from the Light that he has told us about," Batman growled. "And even if I couldn't, his skills are incredible enough that he can take care of himself. He wants to redeem himself, even though what happened wasn't his fault anyway."

Batman forced himself to calm down, unclenching his fists and lessening the Batglare.

"I'm not asking for you to let him into the League. But I can assure you that he can be trusted, and I expect every one of you to treat him with the respect that he deserves," Batman finished, and by this point the entire League was staring at him in shock.

There was dead silence for a long moment.

"I can second everything Batman just said," Black Canary said softly, a smile on her lips. Red Tornado also voiced his agreement, and the League finally moved on to a different topic.

Batman narrowed his eyes, composing himself. It was rare that he lost his cool during a meeting, and already he was regretting the entire conversation. But he couldn't not say something in Dick's defense, and most, if not all, of the League had finally seemed to understand Dick's situation.

With any luck, it would be enough for Dick to finally feel more comfortable around the older heroes, and vice versa.

Superboy took the Supercycle, even though he knew if anyone went looking for it they'd immediately know he was gone. He didn't care. He needed to figure out who that voice had been, and how they had known that he would be able to hear them.

When he pulled up to the assigned meeting point, the first thing he saw was a white limousine, sitting by the side of the road. It looked dimly familiar, but then again, most limousines looked the same to Connor.

The driver's seat door opened, and a woman stepped out, with straight brown hair and a serious expression- wait. Not a woman- Connor couldn't hear her heartbeat at all, just the whirring of machinery. A robot, then.

She (it?) walked to the other side of the car without a glance at him, reached down towards the door handle, and opened it.

Superboy saw red.

"Ah, Superboy. My name is Lex Luthor-"

"I know who you are!" Connor roared, stepping forwards without hesitation. "You! HOW DARE YOU SHOW YOUR FACE TO ME! HOW DARE YOU, AFTER EVERYTHING YOU'VE DONE TO ROBIN-"

Luthor didn't flinch at his shouting, so Superboy gritted his teeth and charged forwards angrily. The robot didn't even try and stop him as he grabbed Luthor's tie and lifted him off the ground effortlessly-

Sudden pain shot through his entire body, horribly familiar and unwelcome. Connor recognized it as being caused by kryptonite, and doubled over, struggling to stop himself from hitting the ground.

"I like to be prepared, Superboy," Lex Luthor said smugly, brushing Connor's hand off of his tie. "I realized you would be a bit... upset at me, because of what happened with Renegade-"

"It's Robin," Superboy snarled weakly, but Lex Luthor continued as if Connor hadn't even spoken.

"-but I have some information that you might find interesting."

Connor growled at him and attempted to stand, but his legs gave out.

"You can take your information and shove it up your-"

"CADMUS has created another superclone."

Connor froze, his entire body going completely still.

Luthor lifted a small grey case and placed the shard of kryptonite inside of it before snapping it shut. Immediately Superboy could stand and he did so, slightly unsteady on his feet, but with a glare on his face.

Lex smiled at him, but it wasn't a nice smile.

"I assume I have your attention?"

Connor knew he was going to regret this, and all he wanted to do was wrap his hands around Luthor's neck and squeeze- but another superclone...?

He could take care of Luthor after the man gave him all the information he needed.

Superboy glared harder and crossed his arms.

"Start talking."

Project Match wasn't like Connor at all.

He had knownhe was going to regret listening to Luthor.

When Superboy returned to the meeting spot again, fists clenched and ready to pound the bald idiot into a pulp, Lex Luthor had simply taken one look at him and grinned, holding out the little box that Connor knew contained the kryptonite.

"Ah, ah... I wouldn't."

Connor growled at him, and Wolf snarled as well, loyally staying by his side.

Luthor told him that he himself had been the donor for Connor's kryptonian side, and Connor's entire body went numb.

Lex Luthor, the person who had put Robin through so much pain and suffering... was technically his father.

Connor surged forwards despite the kryptonite box, and reached for Luthor-

"Red sun."

-and suddenly it was night, and Connor was left with a box full of steroids and tire tracks on the ground in front of him.

"You've got to be kidding me," he muttered under his breath, petting Wolf reassuringly as his companion whined in relief. "He knocked me out for that long..."

Superboy sucked in a deep breath.

"If he can do that... who knows what else he can make me do."

The dread of his current situation slammed into him like a train, and suddenly Connor found it extremely difficult to move. He pulled the shields out of his pocket and glared at them for a long moment.

He didn't want anything that had come from one of Robin's torturers.

But as he cocked his arm back and prepared to throw the offending item into the night sky, he hesitated.

The power had felt... so good. So addicting.

What if... what if something went wrong on a mission, and he needed heat vision, or the ability to fly? Yeah, it was safer to keep them, just in case. Connor could ignore Luthor, and just use the shields when they were absolutely necessary.

Yeah.

But what about Robin? What would he think of something coming from Luthor?

Connor shook his head. Luthor was gone now, there was nothing he could do to find him again. And besides... Robin didn't need to know, right? The shields weren't going to hurt him, right?

Completely at war with himself, Superboy returned to the Supercycle and began the trip back to the cave.

He had no idea what he was going to do.

Alfred had outdone himself.

Again.

Bruce was fairly certain that he had never had a meal as delicious as this, and that was saying a lot, considering all the incredible dishes the loyal butler had made for him over the years.

And from the appreciative moans Dick was letting out as he tore into the turkey, the boy felt the same way.

"It-" Dick had to stop for a second to swallow, "It's been so long since I've had a real Thanksgiving dinner... this is amazing, Alfred!"

Alfred smiled at the boy's enthusiasm, shooting a glance at Bruce that the billionaire had no idea how to interpret. Dimly, he felt a pang of sadness at Dick's words- he doubted Luthor and Slade had ever let Dick celebrate a holiday- but with Dick's crazy antics right in front of him, it was impossible to dwell on that now.

"Bruce?"

Suddenly Dick was standing next to him, his tone questioning but deadly serious. His blue eyes shone in a way that made Bruce smile.

"Yes, Dick?"

Dick sighed and wrapped his arms around Bruce, who froze in surprise for a moment before returning the hug, slightly confused.

"What is it, Dick?"

Dick said something, but it was muffled, and Bruce sighed, waiting patiently for Dick to remove himself from the hug.

"Thank you, Bruce," the boy said, true gratitude shining in his eyes. "Thanks, for everything."

Bruce wasn't sure how to respond to that, so he simply pulled the boy into another hug- but he knew it had been the right choice based on Alfred's approving nod and gentle smile.

"Master Bruce, you've been working at that computer all night, and I know it isn't a mission."

Bruce ignored Alfred in favor of clicking on another link.

"Master Bruce."

Bruce frowned.

"Alfred..."

"I simply wanted to alert you to the fact that it's 6:30 in the morning, sir, and you have a meeting in an hour and ten minutes.

Bruce tore his eyes away from the computer for a moment and met Alfred's gaze, too occupied in his work to really care about the meeting.

"Alfred, look at this." Bruce leaned back in his chair to allow the butler to see the screen. Alfred skimmed the article, his eyes widening as he did so.

"Luthor did acquired guardianship of Dick," Bruce breathed, "but he didn't adopt him. Those documents are incomplete."

Alfred blinked. While a guardianship meant that one was legally responsible for the care of a child, an adoption was much more than that- actually creating a parent-child relationship between the originally unrelated people. Adoption could technically overrule a guardianship.

"But that means..."

Bruce grinned.

"With the right allies in the right places, we can get adoption papers to go through the system without having to deal with a hearing... and we can overrule Luthor's guardianship over Dick, too!" Bruce stood up from his chair and began to pace. "And if we keep the entire plan to only those we trust, and pull on a few strings with some of Bruce Wayne's and Batman's power combined... it could be possible to keep the identity of Dick's new guardian a secret from Luthor, protecting both Batman's identity and Dick's location."

Bruce turned around and looked at Alfred.

"We could get this to work."

"They're making a run for it across the rooftops!" Dick yelled into his comlink, pulling out his grappling hook and firing it into the air.

They had been on patrol as usual when Batman had received a report that a jewelry store had been robbed, and they had arrived just in time to watch the culprit begin to dash away over the rooftops, although it had been too dark to make out who it was.

Dick raced after the sprinting figure, flipping over the random items in his way. The thief was incredibly agile- Dick was mildly impressed at their skill.

His comlink let out a burst of static before Batman spoke.

"Stay on top of them, Robin. I'm right behind you."

"Gotcha," Robin replied, narrowing his eyes as the thief used a thick pole to throw themselves up to an even higher roof, and followed them easily with his own acrobatics. Just as he reached the top of the new roof, something wrapped around his right leg and pulled, sending him crashing to the ground. Dick didn't even have time to see his opponent's face before he was facedown in the concrete and the thief's quiet footsteps were growing fainter and fainter. Dick scowled and pushed himself to his feet.

Whoever they were, they were good. Really good, but Dick was determined to be better.

The thief had already made it several rooftops away. They were fast, too, so Dick pulled out his grappling hook again and swung after them, gaining a lot more ground now that he didn't have to worry about avoiding the obstacles on Gotham's rooftops.

Suddenly, the thief swerved to the left, and Dick was forced to make a sharp turn as well, barely landing on the correct rooftop. He abandoned his grappling hook in favor of saving time, but he shouldn't have bothered- the roof was completely abandoned.

Dick blinked in confusion, looking at the surrounding rooftops. He couldn't see the thief- where had they gone?

His eyes caught sight of something glittering on the other side of the roof, and he approached it cautiously- it was a burlap sack, and there was an object shining inside it. Dick pulled it out, and was surprised to see a beautiful jade cat, masterfully carved, nestled in the center of the bag.

Wait... a... a cat?

Before Dick's mind could register what was going on, there was a crack, and a black whip curled around his chest, pinning his arms effectively to his sides and sending him reeling backwards. He nearly dropped the jade cat, but managed to cling to it even as the whip was tugged, sending Dick careening to the ground.

"I think you have something of mine, kitten," a voice purred, and Dick blearily looked up from his position on the ground as a shadow fell over him.

Catwoman.

The thief was smiling at him dangerously, but her body language spoke volumes- she was confused, and curious.

Catwoman plucked the jade cat from his grip easily and released him from her whip's grasp before backing up a few steps.

"Who are you exactly, little kitten?"

Dick glared at her.

"Stop calling me that!"

"I don't think so, kitten."

Dick sighed, staring at her.

"The name is Robin, I'm Batman's partner."

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Renegade."

Dick froze, eyes going wide behind his mask.

"No," he said. "No, I'm not..."

She 'hmmed' thoughtfully.

"I believe you," she said, and Dick blinked in surprise.

"So, kitten... you aren't Renegade, you're Robin, and you're Batman's partner?"

"Ah- yes?"

Dick felt himself beginning to panic- an opponent had never confused him as much as Catwoman currently was.

"And what do you think of Batman?" she asked, moving a bit closer and lifting her goggles up off of her face. Their eyes met, and suddenly Dick couldn't move under the intensity of her gaze.

"Batman... he's... he's a great person, he helped me when- wait, why am I even telling you this?" Dick hissed, digging into his utility belt for a shruiken. Catwoman leaned back against the rooftop wall, amusement written across her face.

"Hand over the cat, Selina," Batman said, finally landing on the rooftop just behind Catwoman. She turned and cocked her head at him.

"Bruce... you aren't even going to say hello?"

Batman glared at her, and she pouted, ignoring Dick's jerk of surprise at her use of Batman's real name.

"You... she knows you?"

Neither of the adults answered.

Catwoman approached Batman fearlessly, standing directly in front of him and standing on her tiptoes, getting into his personal space.

There was a tense silence for a long moment, and then Selina kissed Batman.

Dick's jaw dropped.

She.

Kissed.

Batman.

Dick was now, very, very confused.

(And slightly grossed out.)

When the thief pulled away, Batman's was as stoic as ever, but something different flashed across his face. It was gone too fast for Dick to identify what it was.

"Selina..."

"Yes, yes," Catwoman said, backing up from the Dark Knight. "I just wanted to meet the kitten everyone's been talking about."

She tossed her burlap sack into Batman's waiting hands, not bothering to hide her sigh of disappointment. She tilted her head again and tossed Batman a mischievous look.

"By the way... I approve. He seems like a good kid, apart from the ex-assassin thing... but I suppose if anyone can change that, you can, Bruce!" She took a running start and leaped off of the edge of the roof, tossing a smoke bomb behind her as she ran. Dick grabbed his cape and used it to cover his mouth and nose as the smoke rushed over him.

When it finally cleared, the thief was gone.

Dick cleared his throat and stared at Batman.

"Okay, what just happened?"

Batman narrowed his eyes at the remaining wisps of smoke and growled.

"I have no idea."

Dick lifted an eyebrow. If Bruce himself didn't know...

Suddenly, Batman peered into the burlap sack Catwoman had returned to him and froze.

"You have got to be kidding me..."

The burlap sack was empty.

A/N: Don't blame the League for being jerks. They're just confused, and worried. I'd be just as skeptical if I were in their shoes. Luckily, Batman has finally talked some sense into them.

DRUGS ARE BAD FOR YOU SUPEY! :(

Also, sorry if you prefer a tougher Bruce. You'll get to see a little of that next chapter, but for now I'm leaning towards a softer Bruce who will do absolutely anything for Dick. That's just what I love to write, so... sorry if you're overwhelmed with the fluff! Deal with me for a few more days...

I have never written Catwoman before, and I actually have no idea what her personality is like. I kind of made something up, based on her off-and-on love thing with Bruce, but I'm not entirely sure she's in character. Anything I should change about how she acts? Because I really have no idea how I did.

So, yeah, a slightly shorter chapter today. But did y'all notice how fast I updated? BAM, this is why I love summer. Also... I HAVE ONE THOUSAND REVIEWS ON THIS STORY AND I AM SO HAPPY! SERIOUSLY, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see you guys next update!