Chapter Text
When Bart goes back in time, his first thought is to save his grandfather. His second thought is that he’s hungry. His third thought is that maybe he should listen to Grandma Iris and learn how to slow down his rapid aging.
(It’s not so much his cells aging prematurely as it is Bart existing on a different timeline from everyone else. He knows that, but he doesn’t understand it; no one else really does either.)
His family, a supply of food, and trying to age normally—honestly, that’s pretty much all Bart is concerned about when it comes down to it.
The Teen Titans are a bit of an accident. When Bart gets a sort-of handle on the aging thing, Grandpa insists that he get some practice working with others. Bart runs off before Barry can tell him, “By that, I mean be Wally’s sidekick for a bit.”
So Bart takes on the mantle of Impulse and makes his own mark on history.
It’s exciting, seeing these famous heroes in their youth. Wonder Girl before she retired, Superboy before he dropped the codename for just Kon-El, and Robin—it’s the third one, the girl one!
Everyone knows about that particular Robin. She was the smart one, the scary one, the one who fell empires by herself without anyone knowing until it was too late. Bart heard more than once that had she lived past the missile incident, the regime wouldn’t stand a chance.
Bart doesn’t realize because of him, that Robin never has the chance to exist. Not at first.
Obviously, Robin isn’t yet her future one-man army self, but her strategies are already good enough for heroes twice her age to follow. Robin is smart and diligent enough with her intel and communication that Impulse nicknames her Commander.
(The smile she sends him each time he says it is bright and wonderful and…!)
Better yet, Robin isn’t just a girl; she likes lots of things Bart likes! Well, okay, that sounds pretty bad, but unlike the other girls on the team, Robin doesn’t scrunch her face up when Bart decides to make a pillbug colony in the living room. She helps with it, in fact.
The two of them quickly become great friends. Maybe not the same way as Robin and Superboy, but that’s a high standard to reach for anyway. Everyone knows those two are practically soulmates.
Or, at least, Bart thought they were.
"Cassie and I are dating,” Superboy tells the team one afternoon, nervously grinning with a hand around Wonder Girl’s waist. Cassie rolls her eyes but doesn’t bat the arm away.
“What about Rob?” Someone blurts out in the sudden silence.
“She’s sort of like one of the guys?” Kon answers with an awkward shrug. “We’re just friends.”
Bart is the only one to catch the look of absolute devastation on Robin’s face before it smooths out into her normal teasing smirk.
“I have better taste than that,” Robin says firmly. There’s no sign of anything wrong, but Bart’s instincts scream: Commander in danger, get her out.
"Cool, awesome. Rob, let's go get party stuff to celebrate!" Bart’s mouth spits out for him before he grabs Robin and dashes off to the nearest mountain.
While the Speed Force keeps anyone he carries from breaking their neck or throwing up their insides, it doesn’t keep Bart’s passenger from experiencing the same nausea one would experience on a roller coaster. Wally’s still trying to teach him how to avoid that, but Bart, well, he gets bored.
"You okay?" He asks, setting Robin down as gently as he can. Her legs nearly fold in on themselves once her boots hit the dry dirt of the mountainside. The glare that she somehow manages to convey from behind blank lenses is positively searing.
"Why wouldn't I be?" She hisses like a wounded cat.
Robin and Superboy’s friendship was the stuff of legends, but looking at Robin now, he thinks friendship isn’t what she had wanted. He doesn't know what to say to make things better, so he does the only thing that seems right.
"Our trio's down to two,” he says gravely, “so you have to hang out with me more than normal, or I'll die from lack of attention."
If being around Superboy hurts Robin, then the obvious solution is to keep her away from him.
"You child," Robin snorts before throwing her arms out. "Well hurry up and take me to a theme park then. We'll tell everyone you got distracted." Her tone is one of long-suffering, but she's smiling.
"Sounds good!" Bart beams.
That’s neither the first nor the last time he plays up his impulses to take Robin far away from Superboy and Wonder Girl, especially when they make kissy faces at each other. Bart’s always the one initiating their sudden trips, so it’s Bart who gets teased about being jealous of the two. Robin frowns each time it happens, but he’s fine with it as long as the Teen Titans remain whole and unbroken.
He goes to sleep one day only to wake up to find Robin suddenly gone.
Robin ignores all attempts to contact her, and the word abandoned lies on everyone’s lips. Bart knows better of course; his Commander wouldn’t leave without a reason. He runs after her until she acknowledges him.
“Something’s come up in Gotham. Something that can put the team in danger. I’ll come back when it passes,” she tells him wearily.
And Bart? Bart takes her at her word because she’s Robin.
Everyone is mad and sad that Robin left in the middle of the night without a word. When she doesn’t return immediately, they firmly believe that she’s abandoned them. Which is dumb. She’s clearly working on solving a huge crime undercover because she’s Robin, and that’s what Robin does.
The one most put out by Robin’s continuing silence is Superboy. He gets angry and sulks, but Bart doesn’t think he has the right to ignore his girlfriend for someone who’s “just a friend.”
In any case, Robin isn’t ignoring Bart, and that’s all that matters.
Until she goes completely off-grid and never returns.
Impulse and Robin are great friends, but Bart and Tim are best friends. He searches the world over and over for her without a thought. He takes trips through Gotham at the highest speed he can go without causing damage and alerting Batman but finds nothing.
There’s no sign of his Commander in any part of the world or even other worlds. Bart’s not worried because Tim can take care of herself, but he has a new trading card game he’d like to introduce her to.
And a new flavor of ice cream. And a hidden hot spring he found. And an old game console he found at a garage sale.
Then Thawne and Evil Bart—what was his name again? Interceptor? Eh, he can’t remember—come from the future, and he has to put his search on hold. It’s fine, he tells himself, Robin’s definitely fine.
It takes a long time for him to realize the face of Joker Junior that gets pasted all over Gotham is the same as Tim Drake.
Denial is more than a river in Egypt.
When Bart finds her, he almost doesn’t recognize her. Instead of the loose, baggy clothing or the simple, elegant dresses she likes to wear, Tim is all lace and frills lining an expensive suit designed to show off her figure. Scars stretch from the corners of her mouth to each ear, and her eyes are a dark, dead blue.
She looks like a broken doll.
“Rob?” When that doesn’t get a reaction, he tries next, “Tim? Thea? Commander?” It’s the nickname that does it.
Tim’s eyes twitch before moving to his face. She blinks rapidly as if shocked to see him on the terrace of Wonder Woman’s penthouse. He leans against the railing, arms spread out behind him as he tries to make himself as harmless looking as possible.
“Impulse?” She whispers disbelievingly. “What—what are you doing here?”
“I came to find you.” Duh.
She shrinks in on herself, and it is so unlike Robin that Bart thinks he’s found the wrong person. He doesn’t know this girl who hides her face in her hands, who tries to become one with the plants around her.
But he does know her, and his fingers are digging into the railing so hard the metal bends under the pressure.
“I wish you hadn’t,” Tim says with a hysterical laugh. “I don’t want you seeing me like this.”
“Like what?” She doesn’t answer him, so he asks harsher than he means to, “Rob, like what?”
“Like a monster.”
“Who said that?” The image of throwing the perpetrator into a volcano comes to mind.
“You don’t know the things I did, what I’ve done.” Tim shakes so hard that if she was a machine she’d be falling to pieces. “There’s so much innocent blood on my hands. I’m so many people’s worst nightmares.”
Tim looks at him with a quivering lip, and Bart knows exactly what she wants to hear. That it wasn’t her fault, it was Junior’s. Or that it’s all her fault, and she deserves to suffer. Bart knows what she wants to hear, but he won’t say anything he doesn’t mean.
“I still like you anyway.”
Because this is his Robin, and he’d still like her even if she decided to make a regime of her own. He’d have to stop her, of course, but they could continue to be friends afterwards.
It takes her days upon days to tell her story, but eventually Bart learns everything.
The attack in Titans Tower that sent her crawling back to Gotham in shame, getting kidnapped and brainwashed by Batman’s worst enemy, the rescue that only happened because of two dimension travelers, and god, the forced pregnancies—
It’s a lot to take in, but Bart sits there and listens anyway because even if he doesn’t know this new Tim, they’re still best friends. He swings by any time she can stomach visitors, and Wonder Woman claps him on the shoulder, calling him a true comrade.
(But is he really? Bart did this to her to begin with. This never happened; he came back in time and messed things up, ruining Robin forever.)
Tim is recovering from her ordeal, but there are days where she can’t even eat without having an episode. The worst part is that literally anything can be a trigger.
“I can’t,” Tim retches into a bucket Bart grabbed the moment he saw her eyes widen. “I can’t!”
It’s the meatballs this time, but that doesn’t mean it’ll always be meatballs. Tomorrow, Tim might be fine with eating spaghetti, but the water she drinks afterwards might set her off instead.
Tim pleads with him to go away, to not see her when she’s so wretched, but Bart holds her until she cries herself to sleep.
It can get exhausting dealing with Tim, but the worst part is dealing with the relapses.
“My baby!” Tim, no, Junior wails while rolling around in shards of broken pottery. “Where is my baby?”
“They didn’t make it,” Bart tells her grimly before cleaning up the mess at highspeed. He has Junior bandaged and deposited on the bed before she can do any more damage.
“They were here! They were here!” Junior sobs, grabbing at her stomach and rocking.
The baby episodes are the most common, and though Bart has learned enough tact to never say it, he thinks it’s Tim who’s upset over losing her child rather than Junior. Which, considering who the father was, is a whole new can of worms for her therapist to deal with.
When Cassie shows up, Bart almost sinks through the floor in relief. He has to catch himself before he actually vibrates through it.
“Thank god, you’re here!” He exclaims, throwing his arms around her.
It doesn’t cross his mind that Cassie might not be here to help because why wouldn’t she be? They’re all amazing friends, and Tim is worth any effort.
“What’s going on Impulse,” she takes in his t-shirt and jeans and amends, “Bart. Diana said Tim was here and wanted to talk to me?” There’s a familiar anger in her tone, and Bart lets go like she’s burning him.
“You don’t know?”
“Know what?” Cassie scowls.
And oh, Bart doesn’t know if she’s angry because Robin left the Teen Titans, or if she’s mad that Kon is still hung up over Tim instead of his girlfriend.
“Promise me you will listen,” he says so seriously that Cassie gapes at him. “Promise you won’t ask any questions until you’ve heard everything.”
Whatever Cassie sees in his face makes her anger melt away. She glances towards the room Bart blocks with most of his body and frowns with concern.
“Okay, fine,” she says.
There’s the leader Bart knows and loves.
Cassie is understandably upset and horrified over Tim’s situation and is ready to hurl lightning bolts in Gotham’s direction. Joker being dead is not enough to stop her wrath. Bart wants to cheer her on—Batgirl is the only one sending letters—but Tim puts a stop to it before the rampage can begin.
“I can’t face them the same way they can’t face me,” she says with a shake of her head. “We’re not ready to confront each other, and it will only hurt at this point.”
Bart still thinks they could send a letter, but it is Tim’s call to make. Just like it’s her right to demand they keep her situation from the rest of the Teen Titans.
“Do you ever plan to go back to being Robin?” Cassie asks, trying to keep a lid on her emotions. Diana keeps a grip on her shoulder in solace.
“I’m more interested in dimension travel right now,” Tim shrugs.
“Dimension travel?” Bart tilts his head. He knows Tim is doing some science research, but he’s never actually thought to ask about it.
“My angels saved me, and while I can never erase my own sins, I wonder if I can be an angel myself,” Tim says.
I want to save others like myself, who had no one to save them, is what she actually means. Bart thinks about his own effort to travel in time and believes he understands. Diana and Cassie don’t seem to get it though by the way they stare at Tim.
“You know wondering through dimensions isn’t going to help you get better, right?” Cassie asks with a frown.
“I know that. I know I need to,” Tim takes a deep breath, “to make my apologies before I do anything so drastic.”
“Not apologies, peace. You need to make peace with this world so that you can live or leave it with no regrets,” Diana tells her. “When you are ready to confront Gotham, you will be ready to strike out on your own.”
Tim’s eyes light up with purpose for the first time since Bart found her, and he can’t help but encourage her even as he thinks she takes Diana’s words as a challenge rather than a goal to reach at her own pace.
Tim takes her medicine more diligently and visits her therapist with enthusiasm. She calls Batgirl on the phone and actually talks to her instead of sending a letter. She applies light makeup to her face without breaking the mirror.
It all comes crashing down once Tim sees an article about Gotham’s newest Robin.
“I’ve been replaced,” Tim stares at her laptop blankly. “They replaced me.”
Thankfully Bart is there to catch the computer before it can smash into the wall. Tim would have cried about it later. She’s made a backup of all her research of course, but it’s still an expensive piece of hardware that would be lost to one of her fits.
“They replaced me!” Tim lets out a hair-raising cackle. “They. Replaced. Me.”
He sets the laptop down gently and kneels before the couch where Tim is rocking back and forth agitatedly. He keeps his hands where she can see them.
“I can’t be Robin again,” Tim giggles hysterically. “I’ll never be Robin again.”
“You’ll always be Robin,” Bart says gently.
“No, no, no, no,” she chants, “it’s Batman and Robin. Robin and Batman. The light with the shadow.” Tears slide down her cheeks, and she absentmindedly rubs her stomach. “After what I did of course Batman needs a new Robin.”
Once she cries herself to sleep on the couch, Bart sends a text message to Batgirl for explanations. This is what she writes back: Batman’s previously unknown blood son showed up while Junior was still running around. He’s very brash, and everyone is worried about Tim’s reaction to him.
No one wants a repeat of the Titans Tower incident.
Considering Tim is unable to get out of bed for the next week, Bart doesn’t think it’s fair that it’s the snot-nosed brat they’re worried about.
It only gets worse from there when Wonder Woman leaves to deal with an emergency and never comes back. They worry at first, but it’s not until Wonder Girl shows up at the penthouse with the Lasso of Truth that the realization hits them.
“Diana’s gone,” Cassie’s voice cracks.
“No,” Tim shakes her head, “no, no, no.”
“She’s trapped in the Underworld. I don’t think she’s dead, but it’s only a matter of time,” Cassie says, and Tim is already moving towards her bedroom where her Robin suit lies.
“I’m going after her.”
“Me too!” Bart nods before changing into uniform.
“No, Tim, Bart. You can’t. You won’t be able to leave if you go,” Cassie looks at them with a strained smile, “but I can. So be good and wait here, okay? We’ll be back, I promise.”
Bart looks at his Commander for her orders and tries not to pout when she reluctantly shakes her head at him. They’re going to put their trust in Wonder Girl this time.
“Okay,” Tim whispers before pulling Cassie into a hug.
Cassie doesn’t return that day or the next. Not even the day after that. Tim grows paler and sicklier each time he sees her. When Bart accidentally touches her legs and she doesn’t give a response, he knows that she’s backsliding even if she says otherwise.
He runs around the world and does some thinking.
Bart has family; he has friends and mentors and friendly acquaintances all waiting for him. He has a life, and his own city to protect. There’s a girl named Carol waiting for him to ask her out.
But Tim has no one. If she manages to figure out how to travel dimensions, there will be no reason for her to come back. To stop in her efforts to ease her suffering.
He already let his best friend down once, when she still held hope of him saving her from her torture.
And it’s not like he can’t commute to school and work.
He decides to stay for Tim.
“Are you sure about this?” Tim asks as Bart’s suitcases stack up neatly to the ceiling. Wonder Woman’s bedroom is off-limits, but luckily there’s a spare room for Bart to claim as his own.
“This is going to be awesome,” he says before trying to find a place for all his mini fridges.
Living in the penthouse with Tim isn’t so bad. The worst part is waiting on the elevator to take him up, but most of the time he can take the stairs or run up the side of the building to the terrace.
They figure out the giggling and the crying in the middle of the night can be cured by cuddles, and Tim slides into Bart’s bed before she has a full-blown episode. Before he knows it, Tim has moved her books into his room, Bart has a favorite side of the bed, and his dresser is full of both their hoodies.
He knows what others would say about sharing a bed with a girl, but he can’t bring himself to care.
(If he had to choose between Carol and Tim, then it’s not really a choice. Sorry, Carol.)
Tim normally welcomes him home with a smile that lights up her face, but there comes a day he finds her reading a letter on the couch with a blank expression; her face is so white that for a moment he thinks it’s Junior sitting there. She folds up the letter and throws it onto the coffee table.
“They’re dead,” Tim says.
Bart is alarmed by the nonchalance in her voice. He pulls his mask off and looks for a sign of an episode. There is none.
“They finally died on their stupid business trips,” Tim tells him with a laugh. “Mother died first. Father went into a coma, but they had an accident with the medicine. Drake Industries was sold immediately.”
Tim breaks out in a long series of giggles that morph into sobs. Bart changes out of his suit and has Tim in his lap before she can even blink. He tucks her head under his chin and pets her hair.
“Junior drove her parents away. Thea lost hers. Robin is no more. Diana’s dead, and Cassie might be too. What does Tim have left?” She cries into his chest.
“You have me,” he says firmly.
“Don’t. Don’t say that,” Tim warns, pinching his side. “You’ll be the only thing keeping me alive, and that’s not fair to you.”
“Fine with me.” Bart doesn’t see the issue. “Either of us could die at any time, at any point. Don’t see why we have to be alone while waiting for it.”
Tim shoves herself off of him and attempts to crawl to the other side of the couch. Bart knows better than to touch her without her consent, but he stretches out a leg to make her freeze in place.
“I, I can’t. I can’t take it if you abandon me. I won’t be able to keep it together. I’ll die.” Tim scratches at her face, but she stops before she can leave any marks. She puts her trembling hands in her lap and looks at him with fragile eyes.
“Then it’s a good thing I’m not going to abandon you,” he says, opening his arms in invitation.
Tim throws herself back into his lap with a broken noise, and he wraps her in the strongest hug she can stand. He thinks he may have accidentally proposed marriage. He imagines Superboy’s face at seeing the wedding invitations and bursts into laughter.
Tim hits him, thinking he’s laughing at her.
“I’m still going to find a way to travel dimensions,” she says petulantly.
“Cool! It’ll be a road trip,” he says.
“Should I leave space on the cycle for bumper stickers?” Tim smiles against her will.
“Hell yeah! I want a bag of holding too. We’re not going without snacks.”
“I’ll talk to Zach about it.”
“Ew,” Bart makes a face, “I hate him.”
Zachary Zatara is a grade A ass that only seemed to get along with a mirror. It’s a shame he actually is a good enough magician to join the Teen Titans.
“Everybody does, but he’s the only one who won’t ask questions,” Tim says, and Bart sags with a sigh.
“Urgh, fine. But only because I love you.”
Tim’s breath hitches.
“Love you too,” she says, burying her face into his neck.