Disclaimer:I don't own these guys. But I sure wanna get my hands on TIM! If you find him, please send him my way.

YAY FOR INVASION! Just a fun blip like 'Necessary Lies'. Not near as funny, but a good look at what Tim has to go through. ^^V

Give Me An Excuse

Tim ran a hand through his hair, looking at one particular contact on his phone. The most important contact. Since his dad woke up from that coma, it was becoming harder and harder to hide his Robin identity. The worst part of it all was having to lie to his dad.

Dick and Jason had it so much easier than him. Since Bruce was their legal guardian, they never had to lie to him, just the general public. There had been times people accused Bruce of hurting them, but since Dick was a daredevil and Jason a temperamental street punk, those claims were quickly refuted. They could also come up with excuses together.

But Tim? He had to avoid getting hurt even more than they did. If his dad caught on that he was fighting, he'd ground him for certain. Didn't matter if the man was currently in a wheelchair. Crossing the line with his dad was one thing he never wanted to do. But to keep his dad safe, and the rest of Gotham (not to mention keep Batman SANE), he had to come up with excuses all the time. For his injuries, for being out late, for breaking promises, for everything.

Thing is, how many ideas could a kid come up with that his dad would believe? Smart as he was, even he was fallible. He couldn't keep saying he was staying at so and so's place, or say he lost track of time, or that he fell off his bike coming back from school. He wasn't a daredevil acrobat and he wasn't a street punk with issues. He was an upper middle class, lower high class techie who read detective novels at school. The only logical explanation he could use for missing time or random bruises was bullying.

Not that he wasn't bullied, but he didn't want to make any more trouble than he already had. Ruining another kid's life wasn't the best way to keep his secret safe.

Tim closed his phone again, worry staying on his face. What excuse could he give his dad if he was gone for days? Weeks? If he ended up in a body cast because of an explosion? Got an alien virus from going off world? These were the kinds of things Dick had to face as Robin, and thanks to Bruce he didn't have to think too hard to explain it. But he had to come up with excuses, hundreds of them, and make them believable. It'd be easier if Batman didn't have a gag order on their identities to their teams, but that wasn't the case, unfortunately. He couldn't introduce Conner or Cassie to him and say he was out with these friends of his, then they could back him up.

Thinking of his teammates, he blinked. He didn't have to come up with all the excuses did he? He had friends. He had his 'big brother'. They had to have ideas, didn't they?

Smiling slightly for a moment, Tim put himself back in his Robin mindset and joined the others in the common area. The younger teammates were working on their homework while older ones had other projects to work on. Nightwing wasn't there this time, but that wasn't too surprising. He was attempting college and had to be there for class that night. So far he didn't care much for it, rather be out on the streets than in the classroom. Typical Dick.

But the others weren't without their creative sparks. "Hey guys. Got a question for you."

They all looked at the current Robin, some less impressed than others. Conner, M'gann and Gar knew the original and the second, and they had certain expectations of the new boy wonder. Cassie, Jamie and the rest had mixed impressions, mostly unsure. Right then Robin wished Batgirl hung out at the cave more often. But even Barbara had school to get to. She knew of Jason's feelings of inadequacy when he was the boy wonder, and she knew very well how Tim tried to make the role his own. She and Nightwing tried to make the team understand that the name didn't mean the same person or skills. It was just a legacy.

"What's the question?" Jamie asked, curious.

Robin looked away for a moment, second guessing himself. "More of a scenario actually. You see, I need excuses. Lots of them. You know, for being out here and doing all the crazy stuff we do. And I can't keep using the ones I always do because it's redundant and my dad will figure it out and—"

"Wait," Conner interrupted, some confusion on his face. "Batman's not you dad?"

The boy wonder tried not to give his are-you-stupid glare as the others all exchanged glances. "No. He's not."

"Then why does Nightwing call you 'bro' all the time?" the clone asked, his mind starting to turn inside out. Everyone there continued to exchange looks of confusion. Since everyone who worked with Batman was called the Bat Family, they thought they literally were family. It was an illusion said members never bothered to correct. After all, Bruce, Dick and Jason kinda were family, and Babs and Dick had off and on dated for years. Then Tim kinda barged in and Dick loved having someone else to take care of.

"Because I inherited his name," Robin stated with a groan. 'Plus he's practically the brother I never had' he added mentally, shielding his thoughts, a practice he had since before meeting M'gann. "Anyway I need excuses. Good ones. Can't have my dad knowing—"

"He doesn't know?" Cassie started, staring at him. Rolling his eyes, Robin nodded. "How'd you get a way with that? Wonder Woman would kill me if I didn't get my mom's approval first. Why did Batman—"

"Because I'm good at it," Robin cut her off, frustration growing. Maybe he really shouldn't have brought it up. "And I can lie through my teeth if I have to. Either way, I need excuses, stories, lies I can tell my dad and convince him I'm not doing anything dangerous or illegal. Something to keep him from worrying about me."

"The way I see it," Lagoon Boy started with a smirk, "everyone's always worrying about you, no matter what you say. No powers, only a few months as Robin before joining the team, and you're always on the gama team."

"And don't think we haven't seen Nightwing holding you back for a quick talking to every other mission," Gar joined in, grinning.

"Yeah, and Bats is always looking for you and him," the Atlantian continued on, screaming cockiness. "What, he's so worried he'll lose one of you that he has to keep you all 'safe' at all times?"

Robin's glare was nearly on par with Batman's at this point. Already he was coming up with a way to get back at these two. "Yeah, he is. Just remember if either of them hear you guys talking like this, you'll have bataranges and wing-dings coming out your arms. And that's if you survive a few rounds with me."

Cassie and Jamie turned away with smirks while Conner and M'gann hid their knowing frowns. Gar turned into a harmless bunny rabbit in hopes to escape the Bat Family's wrath. Lagoon boy continued to act like he didn't care, but Robin knew he was quivering in his skin. Robin gave a small smirk of satisfaction. Sure he was the third Robin and wasn't the natural Dick was or the spunky fighter Jason was, but he had about a year's worth of training before ever going into the field. Hard training. He whooped each and every one of them at least once in practice. Lagoon Boy may be on par with him, and that was a maybe.

"All that aside," Robin started, trying to return to the real reason he came to them instead of just going home, "I need excuses to tell my dad why I'm not home or when I get hurt. Ideas?"

They all stared at him for a moment in silence. Slowly Robin rolled his eyes. This really was a bad idea. Now he let out some sensitive information about himself and had nothing to gain from it. "You know what? Forget it. I'll just come up with something on my own. I always do."

As he turned to leave the room, Jamie spoke up. "Got lost on your way home from the library. Couldn't get out of a video game melee soon enough. Books dropped on your head when you were in the library, maybe even the whole shelf."

The teen wonder looked back to this team's version of his childhood hero. He always did like Jamie, and the fact he was Blue Beetle was an added bonus in his mind. Course he never told them he was a fan of the previous one. Just like Superboy never was told that Dick was a fan of Superman. "Those… might work. But the library doesn't close that late and I've lived in Gotham all my life. Getting lost isn't likely."

"How about a hot girl?" Cassie offered. "If you met a girl on the street and started talking at a coffee shop, it'd go late. If you make a fictional girlfriend—"

"I actually have a girlfriend," he retorted. "And my dad knows her, and her parents. If I suddenly have another girl I'm hanging out with it'll be suspicious."

"What about an old friend then?" Jamie countered. "I bet Nightwing or Batgirl would be your alibi then."

Robin leaned against the doorway in thought. "They can only be my alibi for so long, but that might work. What about when I'm gone for a few days or a couple weeks?"

The two shrugged helplessly. "Pray it's a world wide crisis? Something that'd separate the two of you?"

"Hey, what about your mom?"

Gar's question sent pins and needles into his chest. He decided not to answer him. It was getting pretty late anyway. Best not to worry his dad anymore than he had to. Robin straightened from his post. "That'll work for now. If you guys come up with any other good ones, tell me 'kay?"

"Um… okay…"

He gave them a weak smile then left them for the night. "Later then."

As he reached the Zeta-tube, he could vaguely hear the team starting to talk excitedly. Someone brought up his parents again while another tried to get them to stop asking about them. Someone else asked if Nightwing and Batgirl had different parents too and that they might be gone. Knowing he screwed up a bit, Tim quickly ran into the light to avoid hearing anymore. He missed hearing someone else telling them to shut up and keep thinking of new excuses for Robin to use. Unknowingly, he started a new game for the team: making excuses for parents.

END

A/N: May I start with this. YAY! TIM! It is 100% confirmed. We have Tim! And, judging by what Dick said to him when no one was around, Jason existed to! Looks like we have the real Tim there, not the one who's actually Jason with his name. X3 I'm loving this show more and more. Now all we need is Bart and I'm one happy girl. Must be Impulse, not KF2. I so wanna see how Wally-Flash handles him.

Now I'm not sure how long Tim's been Robin or how old he is. I used to think Dick and him had a 7-8 year age gap, but since this is only 5 years in the future, and Tim doesn't look 11, I'm really curious how old he is. Dick's 18 clearly, and even if Babs is his age, they're both probably in college (in Dick's case, trying it. He didn't finish in the comics). But Timmy did have a lot of training before being allowed in the field. His mom died early on and his dad was in a coma then a wheel chair before actively trying to be part of Tim's life. When the guy's 16 his dad finds out, and dies shortly after. It's clear Tim hasn't been Robin long though. Still may be the youngest member of the team, but with Gar being 13, it's up for debate.

Oh so many questions… Anywho, like Dick's gotta fight all the abuse charges, Tim's gotta come up with some great excuses for why he's gone all the time. Gone and injured. If you've got some good ideas, do tell. Might make a list of them later. Trees won't work with this one.