"Well lookie here..." One of two men said to the other. "I didn't know Wayne had a wife."

"He doesn't." Diana growled, holding Dick closer to her.

"Who are you then? The babysitter?" The other man said, leaning toward Diana and Dick. "Is this Wayne's baby?"

"What do you want?" Diana bristled, stepping back and turning so that her body was shielding Dick.

"Oh, I think we hit on something there." The first man said. "I didn't know Wayne had a kid. Or was this one adopted too?"

Diana knew she wouldn't be able to fight very well while she was holding Dick, but she also didn't know what these men were planning on doing. She definitely didn't want to risk Dick getting hurt, so her only option was to fight.

The first of the two men continued talking, but before he could finish whatever he was saying, Diana kicked out a leg and knocked him to the ground. The man got up faster than she would've thought, this time with a gun in his hand.

Diana tried to kick the gun from his hand, but the second man fired his weapon before she could. She cried out as a bullet pierced her side. Dick started screaming and crying too, Diana couldn't tell if it was because he was hurt or just startled.

The first man put down his gun and came at Diana with a knife. She dodged as best she could, but she was losing a lot of blood. Her eyesight was swimming and she barely registered that the man's swing had caught Dick on the cheek, causing blood to drip down his face, mixing with his tears.

While Diana had been focusing on the first man, the second one had gotten behind her. He raised his gun over her head and brought it down as hard as he could, knocking her out.

Diana fell to the floor with Dick still crying in her arms. The first man went in search of something to write a note on, and the second one grabbed Dick.

The two men eventually left Diana unconscious and bleeding in the entryway of the manor with a ransom note taped to the wall next to her head. The man who had grabbed Dick tied a wad of fabric in the baby's mouth to muffle his loud wailing cries.

"We'll have to make a stop on the way home if this little demon doesn't quiet down." One of the two thugs said to the other, chuckling at the implication of what he had just said as he drove off into the depths of Gotham city.

—

Bruce looked at his phone when he heard it buzz for the second time in the past few minutes.

'Security Breached; Front Gate' was written in bold letters on his phone screen, underneath which it said, 'Front Door Left Open'.

Instantly, Bruce's thoughts turned from the menial task he had been completing beforehand and he read the messages on his phone screen again. A breach in security from the front gate was most definitely someone climbing over the fence and tripping the motion sensors. Bruce had got that notification when Dick used to sneak in and out of the manor before he figured out about the motion sensors.

Not wanting to make a fuss about nothing, Bruce called Diana, hoping she would answer, but he was disappointed, and a bit scared, when the call went to voicemail.

A feeling of unease was growing in Bruce's gut, and he quickly decided that he should go back to the manor and check on things there. If it turned out that everyone was fine, he could simply work from home for the rest of the day, but if something had happened... No, he didn't want to think about that.

Bruce stood up from his desk and swept all of the papers that were on it into a locking compartment in one of the drawers before hurrying out to his car and starting the drive home.

—

Bruce gasped when he opened the door to the manor, falling to his knees next to Diana who was still unconscious and looking very pale from blood-loss. He located the source of all the blood, and immediately put pressure on the wound with one hand and called Alfred with the other.

"Hello Master Bruce. Is there something you need?" Alfred answered cheerilly.

"Alfred, something happened at the manor. I need you here stat." Bruce said into the phone, trying his best to remain calm.

"I'll be there right away sir." Alfred said, his voice sounding much more serious this time.

Bruce took off his suit jacket and pressed it to Diana's wound before scooping her up and carrying her to the medical area of the batcave. He examined the wound to the best of his ability, and it seemed to be a gunshot wound. There was both an entrance and an exit wound, so Bruce assumed that the bullet had gone completely through. Nothing vital seemed to have been hit which was good, but the wound would definitely need stitches.

After about 30 minutes Alfred arrived. Bruce had finished stitching Diana's gunshot wound closed, and she was currently laying on a medical bed in the batcave with white bandages covering the wounded area.

Alfred checked Diana over quickly, making sure Bruce hadn't forgotten to do anything important before turning as a thought came to his mind.

"Where's Master Dick?" Alfred asked, turning to face Bruce.

Bruce's eyes widened. "I... I don't know. I totally forgot about him when I saw that Diana was wounded."

When Bruce had seen Diana bleeding on the floor he'd immediately jumped into Batman mode. Batman didn't have to worry about his Robin, because to him his Robin was still in an entirely different city with his team of teen heros. So it had been natural for Bruce to push thoughts of his son from his mind.

Alfred and Bruce were about to rush upstairs and start searching for the missing baby when Diana suddenly shot before clutching her side and falling back to rest against the hospital bed.

"Diana, what happened? Where's Dick?" Bruce practically yelled, rushing back to Diana's side.

Tears formed in Diana's eyes. "They... they took him." She whispered.

Bruce stumbled back as if he'd been struck. "No..." he breathed. "No." Bruce said again, louder this time, a tear close to falling from his eye.

"I'm sorry... I couldn't fight them off." Diana said, looking anywhere but at Bruce.

Bruce turned and ran up the stairs to the manor, desperately searching, harboring the foolish hope that he'd open a door or look under a table and find Dick under there. He stopped when he saw the handwritten note on the wall.

'Wayne,
We hav yer brat. If u evr want to c him alive agen u'l breng us 4 million in cash. We'l b wating at the docks bi the bay. Com alon. No cops no capes.
Twonite 7PM.'

Bruce almost laughed at the horrible spelling of the note, but he couldn't bring himself to because of the seriousness of the current situation. He carried the note back down to the Batcave solemnly, showing it to Diana and Alfred, who cringed at the poor spelling.

"What are we going to do?" Alfred asked.

"Gather the money." Bruce said. "We'll just have to pay the ransom. I can't imagine what they're going to do with a baby for more than 7 hours." Bruce said, plopping dejectedly into a nearby chair.

"Why don't you ask the team to help?" Diana asked, feeling a bit guilty about the whole situation.

"The Titans?" Bruce asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, the Justice League covert ops team." Diana said, an unspoken 'obviously' in the tone of her voice.

"None of them know yet..." Bruce trailed off.

"That Dick's a baby?"

"Well that, and none of them know his secret identity. Besides Wally that is." Bruce said, running a hand through his hair.

"You'll have to tell them eventually sir, and besides, if they know your identities they may be willing to help you with the babysitting of Master Dick while I am taking my holiday next week." Alfred said.

"Fine..." Bruce finally agreed.

—

"Uggghhh. That baby is more annoying than a police siren." One thug (Jeff) said to the other (Stan).

"Stop your whining Jeff." Stan said. "I've got just the thing to make this little brat quiet." Stan pulled a bottle of anesthetic and a syringe.

"So that was what your stop was for." Jeff said, smiling evilly. "Make sure you don't get too much, we need the kid alive."

"Ya, ya. I know, give him enough to make him quiet, but not enough to actually knock him out. Blah blah blah..." Stan said, reading the bottle's label before inserting the needle of the syringe and starting to draw some of the liquid up into it.

Once Stan had gotten the right amount he had Jeff hold the screaming baby as still as he could before he inserted the syringe in one tiny leg and pressed the plunger down.

The effect was almost instantaneous. Dick's eyelids drooped and he quieted, going limp in Jeff's grasp.

"Much better." Jeff said before laying Dick on a blanket they had laid on the floor.

—

Batman was at the mountain. He stood in the mission briefing room with the original members of the young justice, minus robin, standing in front of him.

Wally was basically vibrating from excitement. "What'sthemissionwhat'sthemissionwhat'sthemission?" He chanted over and over.

Artemis smacked him upside the head. "Shut it Baywatch." She growled.

"Ow babe, I'm just excited, that's all. We haven't had a mission for a looooooong time." Wally whined.

Batman cleared his throat and thought about tackling Wally to the ground and duct taping his mouth shut. He could totally do it too, he had some duct tape in his utility belt... Once he had everyone's attention, Batman sighed and said, "I need you to help me get my son back." He pulled his cowl off of his face, revealing himself as Bruce Wayne. "Someone captured my son, Dick Grayson, known to you as Robin."

The entire team was speechless. Batman was  Bruce Wayne?!

"Dick Grayson is Robin?" Artemis asked in disbelief.

"I thought Robin was gone with the Titans." Superboy grumbled, seemingly not phased at all about the knowledge of Batman's secret identity.

"He was... but their team had a run-in with some sort of a sorcerer, and he turned Dick into an infant." Bruce said, dragging a hand through his hair.

"I knew we shouldn't have let Rob go to Jump. I told him it was a bad idea. Going somewhere where he wouldn't have anyone to protect him... No wonder something like this happened." Wally ranted.

"The reason he left in the first place was because he felt too coddled by all of us. He can handle himself... well he could, but we just didn't see it." Bruce said, looking Wally in the eye as if daring him to challenge his statement.

Wally just scoffed. "If he could take care of himself he wouldn't have gotten turned into a baby." He said, folding his arms over his chest defensively.

"He took the hit for one of his team members." Bruce growled, giving Wally a look that made him back up a few steps. "Now..." Bruce said, going back to their original problem. "The men who took him left a ransom note saying to bring 4 million to the docks by the bay at 7 PM. They want me to come alone, but I'm going to take two of you with me. I'll make the trade, and when I have Dick the two of you I bring will take out the thugs and retrieve the ransom money. Any questions?" Bruce asked, looking around the semi-circle of teens.

"Who are you taking with you?" M'gann asked.

"You can decide that amongst yourselves." Bruce said, pulling his cowl up over his head again and turning towards the door of the room. "The two who are coming, meet me at the docks at 1830 hours."

When Bruce emerged from the zeta tube into the Batcave he pulled off his cowl and let out a tired sigh. He was the only one in the cave. Alfred had gone upstairs to work on more stress-cleaning, and Diana had gone home.

Bruce exited the Batcave and walked up the stairs, stopping in front of Jason's bedroom. There were sniffling noises coming from inside the room. Bruce quietly opened the door and peeked inside. "Jay? You ok bud?" Bruce asked, stepping into the room and walking over to Jason's bed.

Jason was covered by a thick blanket with his head pressed into his pillow. He had tears running down his face, and he sniffled as he looked up at Bruce. "Y-you're gonna get Dickie back right?" He whispered, looking on the verge of tears.

"Of course Jaybird. The men who took him left a note, and we're going to go get him back in a bit." Bruce said, rubbing circles on Jason's back.

Jason relaxed a bit. "They didn't hurt him did they?" He asked, his worry clear in his voice.

"I don't know bud..." Bruce said, not liking the uncomfortable feeling the idea gave him.

"I don't want him to go away again... like before." Jason said, sliding out from under his blanket so he could sit next to Bruce.

Bruce looked down at his second son. He was suddenly reminded of just how young he was. The boy wasn't quite 12 yet, but he had already had to go through so much. Just like him. Just like Dick. "Jay..." Bruce began. He had to prepare Jason for the possibility that if they ever got Dick back to normal he might want to leave again. "If we get Dickie back to normal... there's a chance he will still want to leave, to go to a different city again."

Jason looked a bit panicked. "Why? Why can't things just stay like they are right now. You could leave Dick as a baby—

Bruce cut Jason off. "Jason, I don't know if Dick would want to be left as a baby. He's already lived through 17 years of his life... That's a lot to have to repeat."

Jason folded his arms, a sad frown on his face. "Aren't we good enough for him?" He whispered, more tears dripping down his face.

Bruce wrapped Jason in a hug. "Things are complicated, but maybe he'll decide to stay, who knows." Bruce tried to reassure his son while holding him in an embrace for a few moments longer. He looked down at his watch and checked the time. It was almost 6 and he'd have to get going in a few minutes.

"Hey Jaybird." Bruce whispered mischievously. "Alfred's busy cleaning, so why don't we go downstairs and raid the freezer."

Jason smiled broadly, nodding his head vigorously.

The two snuck down to the kitchen, checking around every corner for the ever vigilant Alfred. They eventually made it to the freezer, and the sweet reward held within. ICE CREAM! Bruce scooped out a generous portion into a cup for Jason and a cup for himself. The treat did help somewhat to ease the panic in Bruce's mind that had been compounding ever since he got home, but it was still there.

Eventually it came time for Bruce to leave. He gave Jason a hug and grabbed his briefcase before walking to one of his cars and climbing in.

—

Bruce stood on the docks. He could see two men walking forward in the misty darkness. Wally and M'gann were hiding in the shadows. M'gann had turned invisible, and Wally had turned his suit to stealth mode.

Stan and Jeff walked up to Bruce. They were both wearing full face masks, trying to keep their identity as secret as they could. Stan had Dick held in one arm, covered by a blanket.

"Where's my son?" Bruce growled.

"So he is your son..." Steve said with a wicked grin.

"Where's the money Wayne?" Jeff said.

"It's all right here... in this briefcase." Bruce said, lifting the case into the air.

"Good." Stan said, lifting the blanket from Dick's face and revealing the baby's half-lidded eyes.

Bruce put the case on the ground and slid it over to the two men. Jeff opened it and counted the stacks of money. When he finished he nodded at Stan who walked over to Bruce and handed Dick to him.

"What did you do to him?" Bruce asked, looking down at the virtually unresponsive child in his arms.

"We just quieted him down a bit." Stan said with a laugh, turning with Jeff and running towards the car they had parked a few blocks away.

Bruce vaguely heard the sound of fighting, but he was more focused on his son. It was obvious the two thugs had drugged Dick. Bruce gently ran his thumb over the cut on his son's cheek. He did a quick scan to see if he could find any more injuries. Besides the cut on his cheek, Dick had a wound on his side, possibly from the same gunshot that had wounded Diana. Bruce hurried to his car after making sure there were no life threatening injuries that he needed to take care of. Wally and M'gann rushed over to the car with the briefcase of money in hand.

Wally peered over Bruce's shoulder, looking down on Dick's tiny face. "AWE!" He whisper-yelled. He grabbed M'gann and pulled her over. She looked down at Dick and took in a breath. Wally covered her mouth before she let out a squeal.

"He's SOOOOO cute!" M'gann whispered.

"Yes yes. He's adorable, but right now he really needs to get to Alfred. Kid Flash can you handle that?" Bruce said, placing the baby in Wally's arms.

"S-sure... I mean... Yes sir." Wally said before he sped off towards Wayne Manor.

"Thank you for your help Miss Martian." Bruce said.

M'gann nodded to Bruce then flew off towards the nearest zeta tube.

—

When Bruce got back to the manor he found Wally standing with Dick in his arms. Dick's eyes were closed and he had some gauze taped to the cut on his cheek. Wally held a bottle in Dick's mouth, the baby was drinking formula with one small hand grasping the bottle.

Jason was standing next to Wally. He was chattering while Wally listened halfheartedly.

"Did you know Dick got turned into a baby by an evil sorcerer... Bruce said he got to meet the teen Titans though. If it were me I would think that hanging out with superheroes would totally be worth getting turned into a baby." Jason said, smiling up at Wally.

Bruce walked over to Jason and Wally and gently took baby Dick from them. Bruce could now tell that the baby had bandages wrapped around his torso as well as the gauze he had on his cheek. Bruce cradled Dick to his chest as he walked him up to the room Alfred had set up as a nursery. He changed the baby's diaper and put him gently in his crib.

Dick was soon fast asleep with his blanket covering him and his small hands grasping onto his stuffed elephant.