It was only when maternity leave ended that Raven realized what a complete blessing it was to be able to work from home. There was no need for an office when all she had to do was translate languages. Most of her work was done with history nerds. Archivists, museum curators... On very rare occasions she would have to go on-site but Dahlia was fine at a daycare while she was gone. Otherwise, everything was digitized and sent to her through certain web portals. It was easy but often time-consuming, and any artifacts that needed deciphering were just pictures that didn't show the entire work. Working with them was difficult, sometimes like pulling teeth, because the communication was horrible depending on the company or people she was working with.

She had no issues translating other documents though. Just being the only one who could translate dead or extinct languages...being the only one anywhere near, and far, from the vicinity of Barrier Breaker's headquarters...a ton of work tended to be dumped on her, and it could get rough keeping up with so much of it while still making all those deadlines. Management was only flexible to some extent.

Thankfully, her ability to provide the company with such a rare translator gave her a job security unlike any other—she was the epitome of indispensable.

And the main office supplied her with unlimited and free pens and paper. While she could change programs a million times on her computer, nothing quite compared to old-fashioned handwriting. She would look up at any digitized object or document, look back down at her paper, and write the translation. Then she could transcribe it onto a different document on her computer and send the translation back. Sometimes she would be asked by clients to double check her work and proofread anything she sent them, for accuracy's sake. It was annoying but she'd decided to just cheat on those requests and wait a day or two before sending the exact same copy of what they'd previously received. They were always happy with that. Shocking.

The quality of her work and satisfied clients hadn't gone unnoticed. A small raise and that was why she was allowed the free pens and paper.

And having a one-year-old to care for wasn't easy either. It took up most of the free time she had, if not all of it. She'd thought, after Dahlia was born, that her baby would be so much fun. And...instead...she had been so much work... Very little fun. Maybe she was just tired, maybe that was sucking the enthusiasm out of almost each day. The only excitement in motherhood now was watching her daughter try to walk. She could already stand up. Almost there. Any day now. Maybe one day, after Dahlia had learned how to walk and be as mobile as any adult, Raven could start levitating again. Normally using that energy could be draining, depending on how much she used at once.

But she really wanted to reach the top shelf again and right now Dahlia was learning by observation. She had to act normal...

It was also looking more and more like Dahlia had no powers anyway. It was possible that she would just have to walk everywhere and never levitate or use her powers again, not even privately since this kid somehow saw everything that happened. The last thing anyone wanted was for her to walk, then start jumping off things to levitate like mom.

"Mamamamamamamama..." Dahlia burbled from her playpen.

The first time she heard "Mama", she'd nearly cried. Not just her first word but her mother's name. But then she heard it for 437th time in less than twenty minutes and everything changed. Now that Dahlia had found her voice, the talking never ended. When it wasn't her name, it was random baby noises. Naps were the only break, and she managed to get more work done during that time of blissful silence. Who knew why.

She also stopped worrying about her hair. It was barely past her shoulders now but she was lucky enough just to use the bathroom, cutting her hair was out of the question. It wasn't uncommon for her to put her hair up into a ponytail so people couldn't see she hadn't washed it yet.

Lots of laundry and diapers. So many bibs and clothes dirtied now that Dahlia was eating baby food instead of milk. So many of her clothes dirtied for the same reason. Clothes and face. And hands. Both of their hands.

It just...wasn't that fun. Sometimes funny faces were made, Dahlia had the biggest and cutest smile, and she was so close to walking. But generally, Raven's new life with a baby was messy, noisy, exhausting, confusing, frustrating when she didn't know what her daughter wanted, required tons of cleaning, and she was constantly figuring out how to parent.

Even though Dahlia was just a year old and she'd been managing to keep a human alive, online sources and parenting books provided little help in actually raising her. They all acted like there was a one-size-fits-all parenting style but there wasn't and that was very apparent with Dahlia. With any child, she assumed. She kept making everything up as she went. She never knew what to do with any new situation—or sometimes the same ones—that popped up. She just knew she couldn't afford to mess all this up. Every time she thought she did something wrong, what if that was the end and she'd ruined her daughter's life? Or...hurt her, in some way?

And she was absolutely terrified for the future. She could handle a baby right now. It was tough and draining but she could do it. Barely. What would happen when she couldn't physically restrict her? When Dahlia could do her own thing and possibly get hurt?

And just thinking about these things... What if Raven herself became a helicopter parent? What if she was too overbearing? What if she became too attached and couldn't let go? What if she didn't get attached enough and let go too soon? What if...what if a lot of things...?

She didn't scare easily but this... She was petrified...

"MAMAMAMA!" the little girl continued, wildly screaming both "Mama" and baby babble.

The hardest part…of all this…was maintaining patience.

She turned from her desk and irritably tapped her pen against paper. Her face was expressionless as she wrestled all negative emotions down.

"Dahlia," she said smoothly. "Let's try to keep our voice down so Mommy can work."

"DahhhhMAMAMAMA!"

She was standing up now, tightly gripping the side of the playpen while bouncing up and down excitedly.

Occasionally—very occasionally—she wondered what it would be like to have the luxury of delegating the work. She had chosen to be a single mother but if Beast Boy had wanted a child, this would probably all be a lot easier. But even if he did, Terra would be absolutely furious, and rightfully so. Dahlia was by every definition an affair baby and she, the side piece who produced her. It was the ultimate slap in the face to Terra, or any committed woman for that matter. Hopefully she and Beast Boy could sort things out and live happily ever after and Raven would have all the more reason to stay away and stay out of the way.

It was too late to speak to her friends as well, so she really didn't even have that going for her anymore. It had been about a year and a half now since she had dropped off the face of the planet. No one would take kindly to that. She knew they had probably been worried, she knew they had wasted time and resources to track her down just to ensure her safety. She repaid them by avoiding and ignoring them, leaving them a note that could've been written by anybody and nothing else. Hearing from her after all this time and not understanding why she'd chosen to do what she did would land her in some really hot water.

But she was adjusted now and had no shortage of things to do so she wasn't ever bored or lonely. This place was actually pretty safe and quiet, for the most part. There was still some crime, but nothing like Jump City, and the telltale noises of city life weren't as prominent as they used to be. Instead of Plasmus or traffic waking her up, it was just her own baby's cries. And even those were uncommon now. If Dahlia did wake up, it was only because she wanted to be rocked and would play with Raven's hair until she went back to sleep. She went to her crib, Raven went to her bed, and the night continued and ended much too soon.

Babies. Were. Exhausting.

Raven had to take a break from work. When Dahlia started screaming at the top of her lungs—even if she sounded happy—it typically meant naptime. Naptime only happened if she got so tired she passed out on the floor or if a certain individual rocked her to sleep. If she passed out on the floor, she would wake up cranky and irritable and the whole routine would be thrown off for the rest of the day. It wasn't much of a choice, really.

Raven picked the little girl up and sat with her on the rocking chair not too far from the playpen. Without supervillains or roommates that didn't include babies, life here was peaceful but boring. When Dahlia slept, both of those became more exaggerated. Some online sources said the fun would come when they got a little older. Right now she was going through the motions and holding out another day, every day.

Maybe when she saw her daughter take her first step, maybe when she could take her to a playground, maybe when she could help her read and swing and jump and just...be a kid. And her communication skills would improve and it would be great to know what she wanted. Figuring that out could be a pain sometimes.

But for now...one year, going on two. Then three. Then four.

A/N

Raven doesn't enjoy spit up and dirty diapers. Who knew.