Okay, I lied. This is fluffy and action! With a bunny! Can it get an better than this? Yes, it can! But only if you REVIEW!

"Conner! Conner Conner Conner! Conner!" Sparrow ran through the halls of Mount Justice, practically vibrating with excitement with the box under her arms.

"What?" Conner stepped out of the kitchen, his fast reflexes allowing him to catch Sparrow as she stumbled.

"Guess what I got..." she sang, holding the box in front of him

"A box?" Conner guessed, raising his eyebrows.

"Not the box, silly, what's inside the box!" Sparrow giggled.

"Um... a snow globe?" Conner tried, intrigued by what the kid had now.

"Nope! A bunny!" Sparrow opened the box and handed Conner the snow white bunny, and Conner, not knowing what else to do, took it. It was the best thing he'd ever done. It was so soft, like a little fuzzy cloud, but it was warm and had a twitchy nose...

"Wow..." Conner nuzzled it to his cheek, and Sparrow smiled.

"I named him Taco." Sparrow grinned.

Megann walked in. "Hey guys, what are you... awe!" she cooed, seeing the bunny. "Can I hold him?"

"No. My bunny." Conner said, but then he saw how disappointed Megann looked. "Fine..."

"Yay!" Megann nuzzled the bunny close to her chest. "You're so adorable!" she cooed. "Who owns him?"

"Conner does." Sparrow said.

"I do?" Conner asked, looking surprised as Megann handed him Taco back.

"Yup. Happy birthday, Conner!" Sparrow said.

"It's my birthday?" Conner asked, looking even more surprised.

"Of course it is, silly!" Megann said. "The fourth of July, the day Robin, Kaldur and Wally found you!"

"Oh, yeah." Conner said, smiling. How could he have forgotten? "So, I... I get a bunny?"

"Of course you do! It's your birthday! People get presents on their birthday!" Sparrow said, grinning. "Just make sure Batman doesn't find him and Wolf doesn't eat him..."

At his name, Wolf trotted into the room before sniffing Taco and then turning to leave.

"What kind of cake do you want, Conner? Chocolate or vanilla?" Megann asked, about to head back to the kitchen.

"Chocolate." Conner said, smiling. Who knew birthdays were so... fun?

Black Canary had given them the day off from training, since it was the forth of July, and just then Wally, Kaldur, and Robin entered.

"Happy birthday, Conner!" Robin said, placing a wrapped box on the table.

"Yeah, happy birthday, dude." Wally grinned.

"Happy Birthday." Kaldur said, smiling and setting his package, a wrapped blue ball about the size of a basketball, on the table.

"Hi guys." He said. Artemis entered with a smaller box. "Happy birthday, Conner." she said, smiling for once.

"Thanks, Artemis..."

"I made pudding! And there were no complications!" Megann flew into the room with a mixing bowl filled with pudding, setting it on the table. She quickly dished it out and Robin handed out party hats.

"Good times. Remember last year, Supey? Right around this time you were trying to kill us."

"Yeah... sorry about that..." Conner said, blushing, and they all laughed.

"Don't worry about it." Wally said. They all fell into silence. "I remember that day. That was the best day ever- when we stood up to the Justice League and held our ground." Robin said. Everyone nodded there silent agreement, and they were in silence for a minute before the timer went off.

"The cake!" Megann flew into the kitchen. "I have to frost it. Start without me, guys!"

"You sure?" Robin asked.

"Yeah, go ahead..." Megann said, and Conner looked surprised. "Start what?" he asked, confused.

"Well, you are he same age physically as us, Con, but this is your first birthday." Artemis explained. "So we thought we'd show you some party games most kids play when they're younger."

"It'll be fun." Wally promised, and hey all filed into the main room. Conner eas surprised to find a picture of a horse without a tail on the wall.

"Now, you have to try and pin the tail on it." Robin explained. "But you can't use your x-ray vision. Wally, please demonstrate..."

Robin blindfolded the speedster and spun him around, before he stumbled forward, ending up not even pinning the tail on the poster.

"Nice one, Baywatch." Artemis smiled, and Wally huffed. "Like to see you do better." he said. The archer did do better, pinning her tail jut above the donkey's back.

"We did not do this in Atlantis..." Kaldur said. "Is this part of surface dweller culture?"

"Yes. It's funny to see everyone fail." Robin explained. Conner was frustrated when he didn't get it, but then when Sparrow accidentally pinned her tail on Wally, he got the humor in it and laughed.

"Did I get it?" Sparrow asked, pulling off the blindfold.

"You pinned it on the wrong donkey, Sparrow." Artemis said, and everyone burst out laughing again. Things only got better from there. They played hide and seek, (Robin and Sparrow, being Bats, won, of course.), limbo, capture the flag, hot lava, and even taught Conner what a fire drill was, promising to practice one with him later. Finally, they settled down to cake, Conner blowing out his candle, since it was, after all, his first birthday.

As they all nibbled on Chocolate cake, one by one, they gave Conner their gifts.

"This one's from me, Conner." Artemis said, handing him the smallest size box. She was slightly embarrassed, but she hadn't known what to get the clone and they didn't have a ton of spare money...

"My own action figure- of me! Thanks, Artemis! It's pretty cool." Conner said, smiling at the mini him in the blister pack. Artemis smiled, relieved he liked it.

Conner opened Wally's gift next. "What is it?" he asked.

"Your own personal remote. Now you can watch more than just static all the time when I loose the community remote." Wally said, grinning.

"Wow. It's nice..." Conner ran his finger tops over all the colorful buttons, and Robin handed him the next gift.

"It's a cage for Taco." Robin explained. "I figured we don't want him running loose while we're on a mission, since we don't want the leaguers to find out..."

"Good idea." Conner agreed. Kaldur handed him is present. "Be gentle with it." he said. Conner opened it to reveal a fish bowl with a goldfish inside...

He stared at it, winging effortlessly through the water, and it calmed the wildness n him. "Thanks, Kaldur, it's very... calming..."

"You are welcome, Conner. You must feed it a pinch of this every day." Kaldur handed him a can of fish food, and Conner nodded...

"Let's not forget this, shall we?" Megann handed him a small box and he carefully opened it to find a gold chain with a glowing green stone on the end. He dropped it, terrified...

"It's Mars Emerald, Conner... Megann said, looking hurt.

"Sorry, Megann, I thought it was kryptonite..."

"No. It's Mars tradition for a male who is dating someone to wear the chain and show he's in a relationship..."

"Then of course I'll wear it. I love anything you give me." Conner said, putting on the necklace. Megann beamed, and they all went in eating cake.

"So, this begs the question, are we going to see the fireworks tonight?" Wally asked.

"I think we should asked Con. I mean, it is his birthday." Robin said. They all turned to Conner.

"Sure. I like fireworks." Conner said, nodding. And so they left.

They were in disguise, waiting with the other crowds of people. Conner lifted Sparrow onto his shoulders, since she was only about four foot six. She grinned, looking up at the stars in the velvety night sky...

The first firework exploded, then the next, and then there was a deafening boom and screams...

"Team! Assemble!" Kaldur yelled. Conner set Sparrow down and the team ran for the woods, moving to throw off their clothes- they'd gotten into the habit to of wearing their costumes under their civvies...

"Evacuate the civilians!" Robin yelled, already charging into the fray as a second firework exploded. Sirens screamed along with frightened civilians who started running. Sparrow was almost trampled by the people...

"We have injured civilians!" Wally yelled. He was running injured civilians away when another blast knocked all the heroes off their feet. Megann and Kaldur were levitating water over the fireworks, trying to fight the flames and heat...

There was another explosion. Their throats were burning from the smoke, lungs starving for air, and exhaustion and pain set in, but they didn't stop until every civilian was accounted for and most of the flames were put out.

Just then, the League crackled across the comms. "We have a report of fireworks gone wrong in Happy Harbor..." Batman said. "All units respond..."

"Taken care of, Batman. The team will be returning to the cave now." Kaldur said, and with one last once over to be sure everything was alright, they staggered into the bio-ship, which Megann had stashed in the woods, and they left.

Batman stared as the seven haggard, charred, soot-covered teens staggered out of the bioship, torn clothes testimate to the grueling battle they'd just fought.

"You left without securing the scene?" Batman asked, tone deadly.

"We secured it before we left. All civilians accounted for, injured treated, no clear and present danger..." Robin muttered, before he broke out coughing.

"Aquaman, how did the team do?" Batman asked in over his comm, and there was a beat before Aquaman answered. "Adequately. Civilians saved, scene secured, injured treated..."

"Good." Batman ended the communication before turning to the team. "Get to the Med Bay. We have beds prepped for you..."

Wordlessly they proceeded, all too exhausted to speak or do anything less than fall into bed and occasionally cough.

Batman watched Red Tornado and Black Canary proceed to treat the team's injures, stopping to treat Sparrow and Robin himself. Both children had minor burns, but were left otherwise unharmed. Robin had inhaled the most smoke, and he was under observation, but Batman was satisfied his son was fine and he proceeded out to meet with the Leaguers who'd assembled.

"Overall, they did well..."

"Yes, but did we authorize them to enter the situation?" Aquaman asked.

"No, but they didn't need permission. Innocent lives were at stake. That's enough ramification for the League, so why not for them?" Batman asked.

"But it could've ended in disaster." Superman pointed out.

"Yet it didn't. Because they've been learning." Batman said. Everyone was silent for a moment.

"They're still just kids, Bruce." Superman pointed out.

"Yes, but you should give them some credit- for all the situations they get themselves into, they always manage to get out and then some."

"I have to agree with Batman here- they certainly knew what they were doing out there. No civilians dead, no major injuries- that's certainly an accomplishment for such an impromptu mission." Wonder Woman supplied.

"If you're going to scrutinize our performance, you might as well do it to our faces." Robin said.

Everyone turned to find the team had snuck in behind them, and were all leaning on each other or the walls to keep from staggering from the exhaustion.

"I thought you guys were all comatose. You should be, after that incident." Black Canary stepped forward, looking concerned.

"We're fine. Just wondering what you were discussing. This is, after all, our base." Wally said, and Sparrow nodded, blood still gushing from her nose. She had had the option to grab gauze, but she didn't- battle scars looked more impressive if they were still bleeding.

"Sparrow- someone keep her steady. She looks ready to pass out." Aquaman said, noting the pallor on the youngest's face.

"She's fine, Aquaman." Batman said, knowing his youngest would be fine by the morning.

"You performed adequately under such unexpected circumstances. But you'll have to do a lot better if you want to make it to the League." Batman said.

"We know, Batman, We're willing." Aqualad said.

"I that a challenge I hear?" Sparrow grinned.

"Because we're all ready. By the way, do you have a mission for us?" Artemis asked, and Batman smiled slightly beneath his cowl. "None yet. Get some rest. You could all use it."

The team nodded cooly to him and all turned to go, taking this as their dismissal.

Sparrow and Robin turned to him. "Latcha rati, Tati." (goodnight, Daddy) they each said, and Batman nodded to them both, the corners of his mouth turning up almost imperceptibly. "Latcha rati, miro tikno chirriklos. Lesti kaeravva annika." (Goodnight, my little birds. You did well.)

Though no one could understand what the Bats were saying, they understood something had passed between them, since the children headed upstairs to their rooms with more spring in their step, and there was a small smile on Batman's face, and his fists unclenched...

As well as the way the team had all deferred to Batman and spoke easily with him. If they hadn't been sure before, they were sure now. The team was Batman's team.