The Return:

By Jaina Solo Fel

Chapter 3

The reaction was almost instantaneous. The Teen Titans were utterly dismayed by Robin's words, how could he lie to them? Why would he lie to them? What else had he lied about? And most importantly, what did this mean?

"WHAT??!!!!" the collective voices of the Titans rang through the air. Each one began ranting about this new development, until Robin's voice rang out,

"Enough! Everyone shut up!" the voices died down, but Starfire managed to squeak out,

"Robin, why did you lie to us? Did you not trust us?"

He sighed. This wasn't how he wanted to tell his team the truth. Not here in Madrid, not in the middle of the warehouse with no other options left open to him. He took a deep breath.

"Look guys, I'm sorry. It's not that I didn't want you all to know the truth. But, there were circumstances when I left Gotham, and I figured, the less you knew, the better. I don't even know how to begin, what to tell you…" he trailed off and sighed again. He looked back at Batgirl. "Do we even have time for this now? You never got a chance to update me on the Slade, Joker situation. What exactly are they up to? How much time do we have?"

"I really don't have much more information then you do right now. From what I understand, there's no catching them right now. Until we get some idea of what they're after, I don't even know where to start. Nothing with these two makes sense, the partnership, Madrid, nothing." She bit her lip, "As for explaining things to your increasingly impatient team mates, maybe we should get to explaining." She turned towards the Titans and forced a smile. "I guess we haven't really had formal introductions, I'm Batgirl. I, ah, I've worked with Robin here a lot in the past. See Batman trained both of us, well, I more forced him to train me, but that's not the point. Oh I don't know what to tell you! None of this was supposed to happen!" She let out an exasperated breath.

This time Cyborg was the one who voiced his confusion and anger. "Robin, look man, we've been team mates for a long time now, I just can't understand why you were keeping this from us, I mean sure we all have pasts, I'm guessing something went wrong that forced you to leave Gotham, but that doesn't give you the right to keep secrets from us. You need to get to explaining. Now."

The entire room went silent, except for the sound of dripping water from one of the remote parts of the warehouse. Robin surveyed his team again. Starfire, desperately clinging to the hope that everything would be the same at the end of this night. He knew it wouldn't. Cyborg, angry, betrayed, and hurt. He felt like he just lost his best friend. Robin hoped he hadn't. Beast Boy, more confused than anything else. He couldn't comprehend just how far life had spun beyond the close knit circle the Titans formed. And Raven. Beginning to comprehend just what his words meant. She knew of all of them. The world had just turned upside down.

Robin closed his eyes, tried to block out the pain he felt at having hurt those closest to him. He was beginning to recognize the mistake he made in lying to them. He searched for the words that would make them understand. He hadn't meant to hurt anyone, not again anyway. After the fight with Batman on the roof that night, he had honestly believed that getting close to anyone was a surefire way to meet disaster. But he had let himself get close to these people. No, not people, his third family. But by lying from the start, he might have destroyed any hope of maintaining this family, keeping his friends, like he had been unable to thus far.

He opened his eyes.

"Look, Slade, the Joker, and their mission are our primary reasons for being here. But to be able to take them down, we need to work as a team. I'm going to try and give a brief synopsis of everything. Well, no. Not everything. Not right now. We don't have time to launch into all the gory details of my past life.

When I was young, something tragic happened to me. I became angry, I wanted revenge, and I would do anything to get it. I was driven by that sole emotion. I was drowning, but I found my outlet. I met Batman, and he took me under his wing. Gave me a way to channel my anger, and focus on making sure that what happened to me, didn't happen to anyone else. He trained me. I was a fast learner, and pretty soon, I had become Robin, Batman's sidekick. Part of the Dynamic Duo.

I felt like I had a purpose. I fought the criminals that regular cops couldn't take down. I brought down the likes of the Joker, the Scarecrow, the Penguin, so many complete crazies. So many deluded missions. So much suffering.

For awhile, it was just the two of us. Fighting crime by night, living ordinary lives by day. Then Batgirl showed up. Batman was none to pleased with her at the beginning let me tell you. I was sort of her partner by default. We didn't know who she was, and she didn't know us. It was a tentative and strained relationship, but Batman trusted me, and I trusted Batgirl. We entered a time in Gotham's history, where it was just the two of us. Batman, he had other…obligations to attend to. Batgirl and I, well, we worked well together." He looked over and smiled at Barbara.

"Then things changed. I was getting older. I couldn't look on all of Batman's actions with the same sense of detachment and justice. He was crueler in some cases, and I never wanted to become so focused on my night life that I forgot to be human. I needed to be more than a sidekick, more than just a symbol of the night.

"Finally one night, I'd had enough. I saw things that I never wanted to see, and I took off. I promised myself that I would never be like that. I would fight crime, but be better….somehow. " Robin trailed off. He looked around at the faces of his friends again. He could tell the story wasn't sinking in quite yet. He thought about telling them everything, but somehow he couldn't share all the personal drama that had occurred on that roof. Almost losing Barbara. Losing his father. Losing his identity.

"That's it. I took off and traveled around a bit. Honed my skills. Settled in Jump City and here we are. End of story." He took a breath and waited for the barrage of questions. Strangely, it didn't come.

Only one voice was heard, and it wasn't whom he expected. "But Robin, why not tell us that in the first place? Why all the secrets, I mean, we don't even know you're eye color." Beast Boy questioned.

"I left Gotham with a chip on my shoulder, I guess. I never intended to find another team. Once I did though, I figured, I might have to leave just like I did from Gotham. Maybe not for the same reasons. Maybe I'd decide to go home. I don't know. At the time, it seemed like a better idea not to get to close. If I kept my personal and….working life separate this time, maybe I wouldn't get burned so badly. It didn't quite work, and I'm more like Batman than I'd ever care to admit. But…it seemed like the safest thing to do at the time."

"So you always intended to leave us? Is that what you're gonna do now? You and Batgirl must have worked out your differences, so your just gonna leave us in the dust?" An angry Cyborg questioned.

"Look, that was never my plan. I know it's hard for you all to understand, but I had a lot of personal issues to sort out, and most of them still aren't resolved. I've been away from Gotham for three years, and I'm still a mess. I need time to figure out my next move. I don't know what it's gonna be. I'm sorry. That's really all I can offer you right now."

Robin looked at his team. They were angry and hurt. And he caused all of that. Again. He sighed, and noticed Batgirl had moved away from the group and was at the computer station again. He shook his head, and said, " I truly am sorry guys" before moving towards Batgirl.

She looked up at his approach. "Hey, how'd it go?"

"Not as well as I would have hoped. I can't give details. Not here, not like this. I will. When we have more time."

"I understand. I think they just need time to cool off. Give it a few hours…or days. Though I hope we can all still work together. I just took everything off this computer, and wiped it clean. I don't want to risk anyone finding my tracks, so I was hoping one of you're super powered friends could blast it. We won't be able to use this for a hide out anymore. "

"So where do you propose we go?" Asked Raven. The whole Titans team had approached Robin and Batgirl and overheard the last bit of the conversation.

"Well, I do have one place we could go. I mean, I was using it as my civilian base of operations, but I figure we need some sleep, and I doubt that you're…accommodations will be as nice. I have plenty of space."

"Where is this place then? And you're sure there's enough room for all of us?" Robin asked.

Batgirl smiled. "Oh yes. There will be plenty of space and food. Though a few of us might have to sleep on couches. It's the penthouse suite at the Palace Royale. I figure with room service and three bedrooms, we can make it work, at least until we figure out our next plan of action. I can go in through the lobby, they should see me returning, and then I can open the balcony door to get the rest of you in."

"And just how can you afford all that? We fight crime the same as you, but we got nothing!" Cyborg lamented.

Batgirl just smiled again. She turned towards Robin and said, "Well, you might have nothing, but the tab is being picked up by …a benefactor of sorts. I guess you could almost say….an entirely different acquaintance of Robin and mines. He looks after us…like we were his own kids." She laughed at the gobsmacked expressiones on the Titans' faces. Robin couldn't help but laugh with her. Somehow, he thought, somehow, everything is looking up.