Strays

Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice and/or any and/or all concepts and/or characters. It all belongs to DC Comics and Cartoon Network. I also do not own Batman, any other characters and/or anything else from those comics. Those are copyrighted and trademarked by DC Comics; I am a mere Fanfiction author. With far too much time on her hands and no social life.

Prologue:

It was a well-known secret that Batman, the unholy avenging angel of Gotham's darkest nights, had a soft spot for children. A very dangerous soft spot. Dare harm a child and he would make you suffer. That, combined with his inherent desires to help those less fortunate than he, to stop children from suffering what he had suffered, and the soft spot for strays of all sorts led him to adopting one Dick Grayson, the last living Flying Grayson and now Batman's partner, Robin.

But he was the only stray everyone knew about. Secretly Bruce Wayne had collected orphans of Gotham and of crime itself. Dick was only the first, the eldest.

After Dick, a year after actually, came one Jason Todd. At nine years old Batman had found the boy trying to make off with a Batmobile tire. His mother had abandoned him while he was an infant and his father, desperate to provide for his son, had become a henchman for Two-Face. That, predictably, didn't end well and the boy was left to the streets as an orphan. So, Batman had gassed the boy, settled him into the passenger seat of the Batmobile, and headed home with him. A few calls to Gotham Child Protection Services, some well-meaning bribes lining the pockets of the right people, and Jason Todd was now legally a Wayne.

Timothy Drake, the next to join the Lost Boys as Dick called their motley family, was at least a legal adoption. His parents, new money but great friends of one Bruce Wayne, had died when their jet took a nosedive into the Atlantic Ocean. This left their adorable but quite intelligent eight year old in the hands of his godfather, Bruce Wayne. Bruce Wayne managed to hush up the adoption, tucking the grieving boy away into the Manor where he had people who could understand what he had gone through and help him through it.

Next had come Stephanie Brown, six, the daughter of a two bit Rogue who had died at a crime scene. So, it went along that Batman had dropped her onto the doorstep of Wayne Manor where Alfred Pennyworth, the lone Butler of the massive property, had discovered her not even seconds after Batman had left her. Taking this discovery to his Master it was inevitable that Bruce Wayne adopted her too.

Then came Cassandra Cain. Discovered at a League of Assassins crime scene Batman had scooped her up while he worked to find that although she was only four she was as decent a fighter as Robin and could not speak a lick of any verbal language. He had, after retrieving all the evidence he could from her, made to pass her off to Black Canary; Cassandra screamed bloody murder, hid in Batman's seemingly endless black cape, and could not be coaxed or forced from his person. Three guesses as to where she ended up.

The last to join their merry band was Damian Wayne, son of Batman and an Assassin. He had been passed from Cheshire of the League of Assassins to Artemis of Young Justice with a pedigree and explicit instructions to pass him onto Batman. After DNA testing confirmed the boy's heritage the two year old was welcomed with open arms.

Unfortunately Bruce Wayne/Batman was a very busy man, working two very different shifts and although he loved his children, for they were his no matter what DNA or paper said, dearly he almost literally had no time for any fatherly pursuits beyond making sure they were each still breathing and in one piece day after day. And Alfred, despite the very real possibility that he was God in human form, was getting up in years and couldn't corral all five non-vigilante children at once. So this led to yet another secret, in the day to day life Dick functioned as the Dad of the house. Bruce had not meant for his eldest to take on the role but he was already such an attentive and helpful big brother and things had happened that required Batman's attention to the point that by the time he had realized what was happening it was too late. And traumatized children could be highly disturbed by changes in the status quo.

At least Dick had a so called Team Mom on his side. It wasn't a secret that Dick had developed a crush on Wally West, AKA Kid Flash, nor was it a secret that said feelings were returned and that the two boys were now dating.

The Wayne children had accepted the speedster as a mother figure of sorts, even going so far as to call him 'Walma' which seemed to be some unholy union of Wally and the word 'ma'. After his introduction to the family it was he the children turned to for the more emotional parts of growing up. Dick, although not quite as emotionally damaged as Bruce/Batman by the murder of his parents, was still a little too distant for his younger siblings to seek for emotional support.

However, for all their dedication they too were starting to have problems corralling the kids. Something had to give.

In the end it was the biggest Secret of all.

Part One:

"Walma!" Stephanie whined as Wally wiped some invisible dirt from her face as they waited for the teleporters to warm up.

"Just wanna make sure you don't look like you're a spoiled brat..."

"Yeah," Robin, for he was costumed so there was a difference, "Bruce nearly had a heart-attack about this so we don't need to make him any angrier, or worried. Got it. Okay folks, line up now, Cassie, Steph, hold onto my hands. Wally, you've got Damian and his stuff handled right?"

"Yeah, I got 'im."

"Okay, go first,"

"Right." Wally and Damian left through the portal.

"Tim, Jason, you go next."

"Fine." Jason rolled his eyes, but Tim was a little timid, "Are yo-"

"C'mon you pansy!" Jason grabbed his younger brother by the collar and dragged him through the portal.

"Ready girls?" Robin asked his sisters cheerfully.

They both shook their heads in the negative. He smiled softly, he remembered being terrified of the Zeta Beams when he first used them. In fact, he had clung to Batman like a baby monkey for the first several trips, "Want me to carry you through?"

Instantly Cassie was on his back, hiding beneath his cape and holding on tightly. Stephanie was in his arms, holding onto his uniform.

"Next stop, Mount Justice..."

The entire team was assembled, hanging out and munching on goodies stocked by the Martian Manhunter, although they knew to stay away from M'gann's stash of Gofer Cakes. And even though they knew who was coming it still gave them a shock when Wally appeared, pushing along a stroller with a black haired, blue eyed giggling baby boy.

Wally paused in the living room, setting the stroller's brakes, before bending over and picking the child up and then setting him on his feet. Quickly Wally put a harness and leash on the child before letting him toddle away, incidentally towards M'gann who looked about ready to give out that squeal that most women do when confronted with infants of any species. Instantly she scooped the boy up, gushing about how adorable he was. Damian stood under the incessant stream of baby-talk quite well, instead fascinated by her green skin and the good feelings washing over him like a tidal wave.

"Hold this." Wally gave the handle part of the kid leash to Kaldur'ahm before easily folding the stroller up and placing it out of the way. As he was doing so Jason and Tim arrived, Tim crying out for 'Walma'.

Wally zipped away, coming back almost instantly while holding the hand of a very annoyed nine year old and carrying an eight year old. He was reprimanding the elder child, "Jason Todd Wayne! How many times have we told you not to bully him! You are so lucky Dick didn't see, or Alfred or Bruce. You better grow up young man or the Robin mantle will skip you to go to Tim!" (The Young Justice team was quite shocked to see the class clown rebuking anyone.)

"No fair!" Jason protested, "I'm the next oldest! I've been training way longer than he has! He hasn't had to survive on the streets like I did! Robin is my right!"

"Donning a Bat-mantle isn't a right, it's an honor," Wally clamped down on that entitled line of thought straight away, "One that you don't seem mature enough for. Now, see that corner over there?" Wally jerked his head to indicate the corner he was talking about as his hands were full, "You're gonna stand in it for nine minutes and think about why it isn't right to pick on younger kids."

"But-!"

"I'll can double that and tell Dick, Alfred and Bruce. And you know what Dick and Bruce will do."

Jason scowled but nodded, going to stand in the corner. Wally looked to Tim and softened, "Hey, let's go get some ice for that eye, and candy bar...Deal?"

Tim gave a watery nod, sniffling, and they headed to the kitchen, just as Robin and the girls arrived.

"See? Wasn't so bad was it?" Robin spoke to the girls he was carrying. Each one shook her head but stayed close to him as they entered the living room. Minutes later Tim and Wally appeared.