The months started to slip away, the days growing longer and the nights mercifully shorter. There had been no more incidents with the was quiet, which allowed Dick and his family too, for the most part, live an unordinary life.

Dick had been taking tips from Raven on how to keep his emotions in control. For the time being, there had been no sudden changes in his appearance. He had not given Alexander any reason to drag him away from his home to Europe. He wanted to keep it that way as long as possible. If any of the adults knew about the appearance of his vampire abilities, they never mentioned it.

On one of the rare occasions when both the Titans and Young Justice were free to have some down time, the sun was shining and the heat of the summer was in full force. Suggested by M'gann and supported by the League, all of the teens descended down to the beach in Happy Harbour. Their beach was hidden behind the mountain in which they made their base. Away from the eyes of the public, it was their own personal beach where they didn't have to worry about revealing their secret identities, or hurting a member of the public with their powers.

The Titans were excited to see Robin again and to meet his previous team members. As they walked down to the beach, the group was loud with friendly chatter. They set up a small camp on the beach, towels laid out under a large umbrella for some shade. They spent the majority of the morning playing games on the sand and in the water until it became too hot and they hid under cover.

Dick could honestly say he hadn't been this relaxed and happy in months. As they sat eating sandwiches on their towels, he watched all his friends getting along. M'gann and Starfire were getting on like a house on fire. Wally, Artemis and Beast Boy were debating the logic of time travel and Super Boy and Cyborg were discussing bikes. Even Raven and Kaulder were deep in conversation about something philosophical. Relaxed and happy, Dick took a moment to relax his eyes behind his sunglasses.

'No, I'm serious, without his Tardis, Doctor Who wouldn't be anything! He would pretty much have to live like a human! Rob, back me up on this!' Wally moaned, looking over at his friend to support his argument with Artemis and the shapeshifter. (who were suggesting the Doctor would still be able to save the universe without his time machine.) When Robin didn't answer, the speedster turned his full body around to face him. Robin was curled on his side, his head supported by a folded towel. Without his shirt, it was easy to see his thin, scarred body move slowly with his deep breathing. From behind his sunglasses, Wally could see his friend's eyes were shut in contented sleep.

'Is he asleep?' Asked M'gann.

'Yeh, let him sleep if he needs it.' Said Wally, smiling down at the young hero. Despite the scars that covered the boy's chest and arms, he still looked so young and innocent when he was asleep.

'Who wants to have a water fight?' Asked Beast Boy. Most of the team agreed but Star Fire looked over at Robin with hesitation.

'He'll be fine Star,' said Cyborg. 'He's in the shade and I'm pretty sure his Mom attached him with sunscreen before we left.' The Cyborg chuckled, it was amusing seeing their fearless leader be mollycoddled by his mother. It was also amazing seeing how red Robin's cheeks had become after Christine's show of protectiveness.

The teams rose from their camp and went back to the water, where they proceed to take part in a water fight that took a dangerous turn after they started using their powers. Soon they were all amerced in their game and in trying to stay above water. As their game proceeded, none of them noticed the sun rise in the sky, or the shadows moving across the beach, or how the sun had slowly crept over their sleeping friend, leaving him in direct sunlight as he slept.

An hour or so passed. Exhausted from their fun, the two teams started to make their way back up the beach, laughing as they went. Their smiles fell from their faces when they heard the unmistakable scream of pain from further up the beach.

Wally ran on ahead and was at his best friends side in seconds. The younger boy was sat hunched over on his knees. From the looks of the area where they had left him asleep, he had thrown himself back into the shade with some force. As Wally drew closer he saw what had caused Robin to cry out. Down his back and across one of his arms was a burn mark. Angry and red, the swollen patches were already starting to blister.

Wally stared. They had left him in the shade. There was no way, he had been in the sun long enough for this to happen! Human bodies don't burn that fast. Wally caught himself mid-thought. Human's don't burn that quickly, but vampires do. He had seen Christine in the daylight, but she rarely went out for long on days like today. The sun was too much for her. But Robin wasn't a vampire, not yet. Was he?

The boy before him was whimpering in pain, his cheeks were flushed and his eyes glassy and unfocused. Wally grabbed his sunglasses and put them back on the boy wonders face.

'Rob, dude.' Said Wally, kneeling down in front of the younger, gently taking him by the arms, avoiding the burns. His body was hot to the touch. Bringing his hand to the boy's forehead he could feel a fever burning under his palm.

'Is he ok?cried Star.

'He's got a bad burn and I think he's got a bit of sunstroke.' Said Wally.

The team were upon them now, they tried to hold back gasps when they saw the state of the boy wonder.

'What should we do?' Asked Beast Boy.

'We should get him back to the mountain as soon as possible.' Said Kalder. 'Kid?' He looked to Wally, who nodded.

'On it. Robin, I need you to wrap your arms around my neck, I'm going to carry you but I don't want to touch your back.'

It took a few moments for Robin to understand what Wally was trying to tell him. But eventually, he reached his arms out and wrapped them around the gingers neck. Wally slid his arms under the boy's knees and gingerly picked him up. The kid was shaking, his breathing ragged from the pain. KF held on to him as tightly as he could without hurting him. Nodding his head to his team leader, he sped off back to the mountain. Begging Robin the whole way to hang in there a bit longer.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Christine's head was hammering. She hated the summer. It was too hot to sleep as she normally would be this time of the day, but it was too hot to do much else either since she couldbe outside for very long. Her father had managed to change their genes to allow them to walk in the sunlight. The heat was another matter.

She rested her head against the somewhat cool metal surface of the kitchen island counter. Today of all days she wished she could be up in the watch tower, there was no humidity in space. But with so many teenagers in the proximity, there was the need for more supervision, and it was her turn.

She felt a presence beside her, large and hard.

'How are you not dying in that suit?' She asked, 'And if you say it's because you're Batman, I swear I will rip your heart out with a spoon.'

'Why a spoon?' Came the voice of Batman, though it held humour, knowing what she was about to say next.

'Because it's dull you idiot it will hurt more.' She looked up and smiled at him. One of the things the two heroes had loved to do, before the incident with the training simulation, was watch movies together. They had got into a bad habit of quoting the movies to each other. It was a secret joke that passed between them. Since Robin had returned to the manor, it was a pass time they had taken up once again. Last night had been Robin Hood the Prince of Thieves. One of Dick's favourites.

'But seriously, how are not dying in that?'

'It has a built-in cooling system. It's cooler in the suit that it is outside it. Jealous?'

'I hate you.' The vampire put her head back down on the island. 'At least the kids are having fun.'

The back door to the mountain burst open and Kid Flash entered carrying a very red Robin. The two Bats were on him in seconds.

'What happened?'asked Batman, taking his son from the speedsters arms.

'He fell asleep on the beach, the sun moved and he was led in it. Oh man, we thought he was in the shade, I shouldn't have left him!' Kid rambled.

'Wally.' Christine said, taking the redhead by his shoulders. 'This isn't your fault. Go and fill a large beaker with water from the cooler.'

As Wally went to do as he was told, Batman and Christine headed to the infirmary. They sat their son down on one of the beds and set about cleaning the burns to his back. When Wally appeared with the water, Christine instructed him to soak a towel and try to cool his friend down, whilst also trying to get him to drink as much as he could manage.

'These burns are bad.' Said Batman quietly. 'West, how long was he in the sun?'

'I dunno, maybe half an hour. As I said, we left him in the shade.'

Batman frowned, thirty minutes was not long enough to create burns like this, even in this heat.

'Why isn't it healing?' Asked Wally in desperation. 'The cut on his head from the mine shaft healed in a few hours.'

The adults looked at each other, taking in the situation. What Wally said was true. As a fledgeling, Dick's healing ability was pretty fast, he should of at least recovered from the heat stroke once he was out of the sun. But Dick seemed to be getting worse, not better.

'You don't think...' Batman trailed off.

Christine moved to one of the draws and pulled out a hypothermic needle. Unwrapping it she drew Robin's hand to her, pressing the needle into one of his fingers tips. The metal drew blood and Christine placed the finger in her mouth for a moment.

Wally looked at her in concern. He had never seen such vampiric behaviour from her.

'His platelets are down.' Said Christine. 'He needs blood. Now.'

Batman went to gather the equipment for a blood transfusion but the vampire took the bag of blood from his hands.

'No time, his body isn't healing, even at a human rate. His heat stroke is only going to get worse.'

Wally didn't understand what she meant but he understood what she was doing when she opened the bag of blood with her teeth, sucking some of the contents out before leaning over the boy on the bed. She put her hand behind Robin's head and raised his mouth to hers. Robin tried weakly to fight her as the blood passed from her mouth into his.

When she removed her mouth, she placed her hand over his lips.

'Swallow it, Dick, please, for me.'

After a moment, Dicks' throat bobbed as the blood ran down his throat.

Releasing his mouth, Christine held him upright for a moment, her eyes scanning over him. She sighed in relief as his skins redness receded and the blisters on his back began to lessen. Dick, himself, sighed in relief as the pain was relieved.

Laying him back on his side, Christine looked to Bruce. 'Hook him up to a transfusion. I want to be sure he won't regress.'

Batman inserted the needed into the crook of Dick's arm and hung the new bag of blood from an IV stand.

'Kid Flash, stay with him, notify us if there are any changes.' Said Batman before turning back to the immortal. 'We need to talk.'

Once outside, Bruce rounded on her. Something he had never done before. Even after finding out the truth about Dick.

'What the hell is going on?'

'I don't know.' Christine admitted. 'It's like his body is already going through the change. But I don't understand, it takes a huge amount of trauma to activate the vampire gene. That's why vampires are thought to be the undead because the trauma of being killed and dying triggers it...oh God.'

'What?'

'The training simulation. You said that Dick thought that he had died. Even though it wasn't real, his mind still went through the trauma.' Christine had paled and Batman had to wonder how that was even possible.

'But that was years ago. Why start showing signs now?'

'He's coming of age and...I told him the truth. I told him his life was a lie, I told him he was at risk of becoming a monster. Oh god, I did this.'

'But even that,' said Bruce, still trying to wrap his head around the situation. 'Surely he would have started showing signs before now?'

Something seemed to click in Christine's mind. 'Maybe he has. Maybe he's been hiding it from us.'

'What do you mean?'

'I never could work out how he and Kid Flash got out of the mine shaft. What if his abilities aren't just showing...what if he's worked out how to use them?' Suddenly everything about that situation made sense. If Dick was able to tap into his vampire strength, it would have been easy for him to carry Kid Flash out off the shaft, even with a broken leg.

'So what are you saying, that Dick's becoming a vampire?'

Christine shook her head. 'No, he's still protected by his fledgeling status. But once that wears off, once he turns eighteen...I don't know what's going to happen.'

A/N Another chapter? So soon? I know, I'm scaring myself. so duh duh duh! Everyone is on the same page now, can't hide anything from Batman...or your mother. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Will try and get another one out for you as soon as I can. Please review. Karin xx