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Trust Dick to show up to the Titans Lair with a baby like it was no big deal.
“Uh… Dick? What’s with the baby?” Wally asked, zipping over to look at the bundle of blankets in Dick’s arms. The sudden rush of speed and gust of wind startled the baby, causing her to start crying. “... it's not yours, right?”
“Wally! You made her cry,” Dick grumbled, taking a step away and rocking the baby in his arms. “She’s not mine,” he admitted, once the baby had stopped crying. “I found her while I was out on a solo mission. I think she was abandoned.”
“Do you intend to keep her?” Donna asked.
“Yes…?” Dick said, a little timidly. “Bruce would want to hand her over to the authorities. You know how they can be.”
“The surface world doesn’t always take great care of its young,” Garth agreed.
“So you want us to lie to Batman for you?” Roy said.
“… yes?”
“I’m in,” Roy said instantly, a grin on his face. “Does she have a name?”
“Not yet,” Dick said. “I thought, maybe… you guys could help me think of something.”
“A child as resilient as her deserves a powerful name.” Donna thought for a moment. “I suggest Atalanta, after the woman raised by bears who could outrun any man.”
“That’s a bit of a mouthful…” Wally mumbled.
Donna scoffed. “I’d like to see you come up with something better.”
“I’ve got one,” Roy interjected. “How about Wren? A little bird for our Robin.”
Dick looked down at the baby in his arms. “Wren… I like it!”
“You’re good with her,” Roy said, watching Dick feed Wren with a bottle of formula they had pooled money together to buy. “It’s kinda incredible.”
Wren finished drinking the bottle, and Dick patted her on the back until she burped, supporting her neck carefully. “In spite of everything, Batman taught me a lot. You never know when you’ll have to take care of a civilian child.”
“Of course he did,” Roy laughed. “Sounds exactly like him.”
“Indeed, it is most impressive,” Donna said, sitting down next to Dick. “Though you have been running yourself ragged by placing yourself as this child’s sole caregiver. Please, Dick. Take a break.”
Dick hesitated. “I don’t… she’s not your responsibility.”
“We’re a team, aren’t we?” Donna countered. “Rest, and Wren will still be here when you return.”
Begrudgingly, Dick went to take a nap, and by the time he returned, Roy and Donna had managed to get Wren to sleep. “I’m not the only one who’s good with babies, huh?” he whispered, creeping over to the bassinet where Wren was sleeping.
“I guess we’re learning a thing or two from you,” Roy said, with a little laugh. Wren wriggled a little, like she might wake up, before settling back down and staying asleep.
Despite being kids themselves, the Teen Titans were pretty good caretakers. Wren was always being looked after by at least one person, never went hungry, and was always changed as soon as she started fussing. She got a truly astronomical amount of cuddles, and even Wally, who was decidedly not great with kids, was getting good at looking after her.
Then, Batman found out. It was sorta bound to happen, really.
“I cannot allow you to look after an infant. You are all still children yourselves,” Batman said. “Hand her to me, now .”
Dick held tighter onto Wren. “No. She’s ours.”
“Richard. This is illegal. You have kidnapped a child. Give her to me, now, or there will be consequences.”
The last thing Batman expected was a punch in the gut from a pissed off Wonder Girl. Speedy shoved himself between Batman and Dick. “Richard may be your son, but he’s our friend!” she shouted. “And Wren is ours!”
“I appreciate that you are willing to defend your leader, even if he’s doing the wrong thing.” Batman growled. “Did it never occur to you that Wren might have a family?”
“She was abandoned,” Dick snapped. Wren started grizzling in his arms. “We’re looking after her.”
Batman froze. “Richard. You stole a baby.”
“I saved her!”
“ Richard .”
“This is why I didn’t tell you!” Dick shouted. “I knew you’d do this! You don’t get it! You never could! I’m helping her.”
“YOU ARE NOT HELPING HER!” Batman shouted. Wren immediately started bawling, frightened by the sudden loud noise. Dick shushed her, trying to calm her down. “Richard, I don’t… I don’t know what you want me to do.”
“I’m keeping her.”
“You are not keeping her,” Batman snapped. “I’ve let this go on for long enough. Wren needs a real family, who can give her a normal childhood.” His head fell. “She needs to go to school, and have doctor's visits, and… there’s so much you can’t give her, Richard.”
“You took me,” Dick countered. “You didn’t know what you were doing.”
“I didn’t, and that’s why I know this is a bad idea,” Bruce said. “I was twenty-four, I had a support system, and I still struggled. You five are children. It would be irresponsible for me to let this continue.”
Eventually, with great reluctance, Dick left with Bruce, and when he came back to the Titans’ Lair, Wren was gone. Dick cried himself to sleep that night, with Roy and Donna cuddling him. Roy was already planning to kill Bruce, but the others talked him down.
He hoped, at the very least, that Wren grew up to have a good childhood.
It had been many years since Dick was forced to give up Wren, and a lot had happened since then. Most importantly, he had been officially married to Donna and Roy for two years, and he’d helped Roy raise Lian for four.
One day, he came home from dinner with Bruce and the rest of his family in a strange mood. “Do you remember Wren?”
“You mean the baby you stole?” Roy said, wiping Lian’s face. “What about her?”
“Bruce kept in contact with her foster parents. She knows that the Teen Titans looked after her for a few weeks when she was a baby, and she wants to meet us in person.”
Donna gasped. “They kept the name?”
“Apparently, when Batman brought her to Child Protective Services, he was very insistent about it,” Dick said, the slightest smile on his face. He and Bruce had always had a complicated relationship, but things were definitely getting better. “Would you like to see her again?”
“Absolutely!” Donna cheered, hugging Dick. “Oh, this is wonderful news.”
“I wonder if she still remembers us,” Roy pondered, taking Lian out of her high chair.
“She was probably too young to remember something that far back,” Dick sighed.
Roy waggled his eyebrows. “I dunno… you two are pretty damn memorable. I definitely won't be forgetting you anytime soon.”
Dick rolled his eyes, batting Roy on the shoulder, while Lian giggled up a storm.
Later that week, when they met Wren again, she hugged Nightwing for twenty minutes straight. Even if she didn’t remember her time with the Teen Titans, she had grown up hearing about how Robin had rescued her, and he was one of her absolute favourite heroes.
Dick cried, as he left Wren again, but these were tears of joy.