A/N: I told my friend that this chapter wasn't going to be nearly as long as chapter four. It's a full nine pages and so was chapter four…... Fine! I lied! What're you gonna do! Hua, hua! (I just had chocolate chip cookies… it's the sugar rush talking so please excuse anything crazy I may say.)

Disclaimer: I do now own Teen Titans… I hate these things… they just rub in the fact that you're unimportant and not rich or famous.

Undercover yet Head Over Heels

Chapter Four: Family Bonds

Richard sat at a round wood table in the center of the school library. He was working away on an English paper he had due the next day while he waited for Regina and Wendy. Wendy was coming for her first tutoring session and Regina was coming along simply because the three of them had a bond ever since the hospital wing incident. The three of them were becoming quite a bunch of friends much to Richards likes. The mission was becoming more and more simple everyday.

"Oh my God!" Wendy shrieked as she sat down next to Richard. She had walked in the library with a slight limp.

"Shhh!" hissed the librarian. Wendy merely glared at her.

"What happened?" Richard asked. Wendy put on a face of up most disgust and anger.

"I saw Bruno coming down the hall in building five and I was planning on walking right by him and ignoring him but then he started calling out my name so I panicked and turned around and ran down the stairs in building six but on the last step I tripped or did something and now my ankle won't stop hurting. But Bruno was still behind me so I had to keep going and when I knew he wasn't going to give up, I hid in a janitor's closet until I was sure he was gone. Then I limped all the way back up here," she finished. Richard noticed she was slightly out of breath as she began rummaging through her bag. "Great! And to top it all off I forgot my damn math book in my dorm! I'll be right back, let me just go get it."

"No, you stay here," Richard said. This was his perfect chance. "I'll run over to your dorm and get it. You shouldn't be walking on that foot anyway. It looks like you twisted it. It's the least I can do after how you helped me with my stitches and everything."

"Oh, thanks Richard! It's dorm 342; here's the key. My book should be right on my bed. It's the one with the surf board bedspread."

"Okay!" He called as he made his way out of the library. Finally, after all this time, he was going to be able to do some snooping and truly get the goods for the mission. He began mulling over in his mind everything he could find in her room. He could come across anything from pictures of Wendy and Windsor to letters Windsor wrote to Wendy to keep in contact. Before he knew it, he found himself in front of dorm room 342. Richard looked left and right down the hall to make sure it was deserted before he slid the silver key into the lock and turned it and then turned the handle.

Inside were two twin beds which each had a night table beside it. In the middle of the beds stood a large dresser that he supposed the girls shared. On the opposite side of the room stood an isle which he supposed Wendy painted on since she was on an art scholarship. Very little pictures were on the walls since term just recently started. The bed on the left had a pink and black skull and crossbones bedspread while the one on the right had a surf board and beach like design. He knew only too well that even if Wendy hadn't told him whose bed was whose, he still would have been able to decipher the not so mystery.

"Okay, where would I be if I were a clue…" he muttered to himself. He walked over to the night table beside Wendy's bed in three large strides and began rummaging around in the drawer. When he came up empty handed after finding nothing but new paint brushes, he decided he would just have to go through the dresser. He quietly slid open the top drawer to find clothing he would rather not have to look through separated by a strip of wood in the middle. This is a total invasion of privacy, he thought to himself as he pressed down on the clothing on the right just to see if there were any objects hidden beneath. Quickly, he pulled his hand out from the drawer and shut it tight ashamed of what he just had to do. Next, he opened the second drawer and found only sweaters. After checking between each of them, he once again came up empty handed and carefully put everything back just as it was.

Finally, he opened the last drawer to discover it held no clothes whatsoever. Richard's heart leapt. He may have struck gold. In the middle of the drawer was an old worn photo album with objects scattered around it. The album seemed to be the main focal point of the drawer. The picture on the cover suggested that it was taken in front of Ms. Cassandra's orphanage because a large plump woman was sitting in the middle of a crowd of children in front of a cottage looking house. Richard quickly glanced through the book but only found that it held nothing but photos of Wendy, Regina and other children from the orphanage. Richard turned his attention to the objects lying haphazardly around the album. There was a boxing medal and trophy that had Regina's name on it and an art award that held Wendy's name on it. There were many ribbons for first, second and third place that held no names at all. He supposed the girls knew by heart which ribbon belonged to which girl regardless of the lack for writing. There was also Wendy and Regina's scholarship acceptance letters to Sacramento's Finest on each side of the album. Richard was about to close the drawer when a charred piece of paper caught his eye. Picking up the piece of scrap, he wondered why Wendy or Regina would keep such a piece of trash along with such treasured pieces until he read the writing in black ink.

To the Orphanage,

This is our daughter Wendy. She was born September 10th, 1988 at 3:14 PM. Please take care of our little angel as we cannot. And please let her keep the name we wish for her to have as that is the only thing we can give her, something priceless. We hope you can make her understand we are trying to give her a life we cannot provide her with.

This must have been written by her parents when they left Wendy at the orphanage. Richard pulled the cell phone from his pocket and snapped a quick picture of paper before setting it back in place and closing the drawer. Maybe Cyborg could scan the handwriting of the photo and the handwriting of the note to see if they matched. If so, there was a definite connection between Windsor and Wendy. Richard heaved himself up off the floor, sent the picture to the Titans communicators and glanced around the room once more to see if he had missed anywhere. Swiftly, he dropped to the floor and looked under Wendy's bed. All that was there was a couple of blank canvases and a water polo ball. He got up and sat down on the surf board and beach comforter. He had checked everywhere he could think of. Well, at least he had the note as something of evidence.

For fear that he had spent too much time in her room, Richard picked up the math book at the foot of the bed, smoothed out her comforter and placed his hand on the door handle just as it opened pulling the brass knob away from his reach. There in front of him stood Regina looking like she had just run a dreadfully long marathon.

"Oh, hi. Um, what're you doing in my dorm?" she asked looking at Richard with a feeling that he'd gone through her stuff. Which he had but he would just keep that to himself. He had a sure feeling that Regina wouldn't hesitate to knock him out.

"Wendy had to outrun Bruno and twisted her ankle and then forgot her book so I came and got it for her. She was kind of limping."

"Oh, well, we'll walk to the library together then, let me just get my stuff."

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened to you?" Richard asked as the out of breath girl shoved past him and over to her bed. She quickly began throwing things into her bag frantically.

"Um, can you keep a secret?" Regina asked. Richard almost wanted to laugh. He was lying about his identity, was sneaking into a school to spy on this girls best friend, was really a Titan, and to top it all off he had just gone through this girls room. Of course he could keep secrets. Instead, he offered a small smile rather than saying all that out loud.

"Course I can keep a secret. What happened?"

"Well, you have to promise not to tell Wendy or she'll flip out and then when the shock is over she'll bitch a fit."

"I promise."

"Well, a couple of years ago… I had been in a gang. Surprise there. Actually, it was just one year ago. But anyway they had put me through hell for a while and I would come back to the orphanage at all hours of the night and I would be all bloody and stuff because of little 'jobs' they made a few of us do. I don't know if you've noticed or not but I'm not little Miss. Innocent. But I gave up being a gang member when I got accepted to Sacramento's Finest last year for my water polo playing. I was coming to a new school to make new friends with Wendy so I wanted to start a new life; a clean slate. Well, as you can imagine, my gang wasn't thrilled about me leaving and ever since then I haven't exactly been at the top of their list. Today I ran into one of them, the one that's bound to become the leader if something ever happens to the current one right now. I guess you can call her the vice-president."

She sighed and sat down on her bed with her bag slung over her shoulder. Richard entered the room more now and sat on Wendy's bed. "What did they do to you, Regina?"

"Nothing. I ran. She has a new posse and by her orders they all came after me. They don't go to Sacramento's Finest though. I know because as soon as I entered the building I lost them easily. And they didn't look like they knew their way around. I could tell. It's not usually like me to run, but I didn't want Wendy knowing they're here. She wouldn't like that they're here again…" Regina rubbed her right forearm and for the first time Richard thought she looked scared and uncomfortable. "Those were bad times. I don't want to get into that crowd again. It hurt too much to see Wendy when I put her through all that. I guess I'm trying to live up to the person that Wendy is. She's been there my entire life always setting a good example and always being there for me. I look up to her. I just want be that person someone can look up to. Being a crook won't get me there. A want to be a person Wendy can look up to. She's been like a mother to me and I guess I want to make her proud. She's not just my best friend. Wendy's my family. The only family I've ever had and I was stupid to risk all that. And if Wendy wasn't there for me, I probably wouldn't be alive right now," she finished. Regina inhaled deeply and held on to her bag tightly as she stood up. "C'mon, let's go. Wendy's waiting."

"Regina…" Richard started. Regina stopped and looked at him.

"What?"

"Wendy does look up to you. You're like an older sister to her. You protect her and stand up for her. You're strong for the both of you. That's all the reason she needs to be able to look up to you."

Regina smiled sincerely. "Thanks. I think I needed to hear that right about now. C'mon, she's gonna get pissed if she thinks we both ditched her."

Richard nodded and together they walked to the library in silence, each of them understanding the stronger bond they now shared and the secret they held. As they walked staircases and hallways Richard noticed Regina hastily trying to fix up her hair and steady her breathing.

"You look fine and you're not breathing that hard anymore. She won't notice," Richard told her. She cast him a worried expression.

"Are you sure? My hair doesn't look too messed up? Trust me, she notices these things."

As Regina and Richard approached the table Regina called out, "Hey Wendy, look what I found in our room!"

"About time too! I thought he got lost or something. What's wrong Regina?" Wendy said almost immediately after Regina sat down across from her.

"Nothing, my bag's just kind of heavy. Lots of homework," she answered. Richard gave her a hard stare with a smile on his face. Regina stared at her notebook determined not to look at him.

"Okay, so in section one Richard, what do you do?" Wendy asked. After a few minutes of explaining Richard just now became aware of just how difficult teaching Wendy math problems was going to be.

"But why do you have to do that? Can't you just put this over here and cancel those thingies out?" She asked while pointing to a paper scribbled with numbers.

"No, for the last time you can't do that!"

"But why not? It makes so much more sense."

"Wendy, it's a rule! You can't just move things around to your liking."

"Richard, I'm not moving things around to my liking but doesn't it just make more sense if you move this over here and cancel those out!"

"Wendy!" Regina yelled. She had begun to get irritated with their bickering and couldn't concentrate on her own paper. "It's a rule. Learn it. Accept it. Deal with it. I have."

"Wow, that's the first. You obey a rule before me," Wendy commented sarcastically. Richard was about to explain the rule to her once more when a boy with thick rimmed glasses tapped him on the shoulder.

"Yeah?" Richard asked. He hadn't met or even seen this guy before.

"You have a visitor waiting in the front office for you," he answered dully. Richard would have liked to have asked who it was but in front of Wendy and Regina he couldn't. If it was anyone of the Titans, then the names Cyborg and Beast Boy could draw attention.

"Oh, okay. I'll be right there," he said. He turned back to Wendy and asked, "Do you mind if we finish this tomorrow?"

"Yeah sure no problem. I'll just make Regina help me with the homework."

"Um, Richard, are you sure you can't stay for like… until Wendy gets smart and starts understanding math? I'm sure your visitor won't mind waiting for like, a few years," Regina whined as Richard packed his bag. Wendy began to argue she was in fact smart but she was purely experiencing math blockage.

"Richard! I can't believe you're going to subject me to teaching this idiot! Come back here and fulfill your duties as the tutor while I sit here and laugh at your failed attempts! Richard!"

"Bye Regina. Bye Wendy. Have fun with the tutoring!" Richard called over his shoulder on his way out. He could clearly hear Regina screaming his name even as he walked down the hallway toward the office. He was sure the librarian wasn't going to be too blissful with the noise level.

He scampered off to his room hastily and practically threw his bag on his bed. He intended on leaving just as quickly as he entered until Diffy jumped in front of the door blocking him from leaving.

"Dude! You have to see this. Duke put tape around his toe like an hour ago and it turned this sick purple color! It's so cool! Look, look!" Richard allowed himself to be pulled over to Dukes bed where he was laying to examine his toe.

"Fascinating," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "But as much as I'd love to sit around all day and watch Duke's toes fall, I have to go. Bye."

"Later dude!" The two roommates called together. Richard left the room once again feeling a twinge of anger toward Beast Boy and the demented roommates he set him up with.

He half walked, half jogged to the front office. It had to be Raven. She was the only one of the bunch who could pull off getting by as normal. Or maybe it was Starfire. If the rest of the team taught her some normal ways of speaking she too could get by despite her orange tinted tan. Cyborg and Beast Boy were definitely out of the question. They were too obvious that they were members of the Titans. No, it had to be one of the girls. But as Richard opened the door to the front office he found that it was neither Starfire nor Raven. A man in a black expensive looking suit stood just before the front desk gleaming at Richard with a smile on his face. Richard's jaw dropped immediately.

"Bruce!"

"Long time, no see Richard," he stated calmly.

"But, how did you know? How are you here?" Richard whispered to him. A secretary was sitting nearby going through paperwork.

"I've already signed you out of school for the afternoon. Hungry?"

"What? But…"

"I'll explain everything over lunch. C'mon," he answered pushing open the office door. "Alfred's waiting in the car."

"Alfred's here too! But, I don't understand," Richard stammered. All the same he followed Bruce out to a waiting black car. The two slid into the back seats.

"Hello Master Richard," Alfred said happily from the front.

"Hey Alfred."

"Richard, know any good restaurants around here yet?" Bruce asked.

"No. I haven't been off campus in days. Are you gonna—."

"Just take us anywhere Alfred," Bruce requested while cutting off Richard.

"I shall see where the nearest pizza parlor is Master Bruce."

"That's fine," Bruce responded. Richard sat quietly staring at his shoes. He was utterly and profoundly confused. How could Bruce know he was at Sacramento's Finest? Did he know he was undercover? If he didn't, had he let slip anything at the front office? After a moments silence in the car, Richard spoke up.

"I want answers. And not until we get to wherever we're eating because I want them now. How did you know I was at the school? That I'm a student? Most of all, do you have any idea that this is all just an undercover operation?"

"I knew you were at the school because I got a letter from it."

"What letter?" Richard shrieked. Bruce pulled a folded piece of paper from a pocket inside his suit jacket and handed it to Richard who read it over quickly.

Dear Mr. Wayne,

As the guardian of Richard Grayson, it is our duty to inform you that while Richard was moving to another class this previous Monday, he sustained an injury from an angry classmate. He merely received a small cut across his cheek and was seen by me, the Head Nurse of Sacramento's Finest, Mary E. Rowe. Richard was treated with eleven stitches and his condition is perfectly fine as of now. He will be under the close eye of the nursing faculty in order to ensure he heals well and will have his stitches removed by next Thursday.

The student who injured him has been severely punished and we only hope an incident such as this will refrain from occurring in the future.

We ensure that Richard is in good health and condition. There will be no need for a visitation unless you, Mr. Wayne, feel the need to do so. Thank you for your cooperation.

Signed,

Mary E. Rowe

Head Nurse

"They sent you a letter telling you about my stitches!" Richard nearly screamed. Bruce chuckled.

"At first I thought it was a mistake. I was about to call up the school saying I don't have a son that goes there until I decided I should check with you first. I called the Tower and Titans East answered and they told me how you were working undercover at Sacramento's Finest and that the rest of the Titan's were staying at a headquarters nearby you. Told me they were in charge while you all were away. Only thing I don't get is how you got your face cut open. And here I thought I taught you well and that you could defend yourself."

"Funny, Bruce, real funny. You know just as well as I do that I wouldn't have been able to do anything. I'm Richard Grayson here not Robin. I kind of had to let myself get hit. Didn't know the guy was wearing such a sharp ring though," Richard finished. He pressed his fingers to his bandage. He was so used to having it on; he barley noticed it was there anymore.

"So what are you doing that you need to go undercover? Titans East didn't tell me much in detail."

Richard explained the whole story of Wendy and how the operation came to be. Everything from the cell phone Cyborg invented to the fight with Bruno. He became especially happy when he told Bruce how he'd brilliantly came up with a plan to search Wendy's room. It wasn't often that Richard could gloat about his success to the Dark Knight.

"And then I found a note in her bottom drawer," Richard finished. He produced Cyborg's cell phone and showed him the picture of the note. "I've sent it to Cyborg to see if he can match the handwriting on the note, to the handwriting on the back of the photo. If it matches, then we have solid concrete evidence that Wendy is somehow definitely connected to Windsor. The note definitely came from her parents. That's why she's kept it all these years. I mean I kept everything… from my parents I mean, after they died…"

"I understand Richard. I do too even after all these years," Bruce answered. Alfred pulled up in front of a nearby pizzeria and spent lunch talking not about the operation but about the Titans and what's going on back at Gotham.

"What's going on with you and that Starfire girl?" Bruce asked smiling once again. Richard couldn't remember seeing his surrogate father smile so much in one day.

"Nothing."

"That's more like a something."

"No, that's more like a nothing as in she's my teammate and ever having a relationship with her would be dangerous," Richard retorted. Maybe that's why he felt a deeper feeling in his gut for Wendy. She wasn't Starfire so she wasn't off limits. If Robin ever established a relationship with Starfire then criminals would know and would use that to their advantage and as their weakness. But if Richard Grayson established a relationship with Wendy then it wasn't dangerous at all. That's why he felt a growing sense of longing for Wendy; she was within his grasp.

Richard trudged into his room after his afternoon with Bruce. For no reason at all he felt viciously tired. He flopped down on his bed but sprang back up rubbing his back. He had laid down on something pointy and hard. Turning around he noticed the silver digital camera in the middle of his mattress.

Richard picked it up and scanned through the pictures. There, as the first picture, stood the headmaster with an expression of anger and shock upon his face as he stood in pink polka dotted boxers. Richard couldn't help but laugh. Now, more than ever, he wished he was back with the Titans just sitting in the hotel room hanging out and having fun. As much as he loved hanging out with Regina and Wendy who had miraculously become great friends with him, there was nothing like hearing Starfire take apart every word and place 'of' in between them, or listening to Beast Boy's lame jokes while Raven had a sarcastic remark for each of them, or trying to beat Cyborg on the Game Station. Just as Wendy and Regina were family, the Titans were Richard's family.