A series of fifty words documenting the relationship and bond between Artemis Crock and Oliver Queen, because there are few Arrow mentor/protege stories.
My second attempt at fifty words/stories after "A Kindler, Gentler Cadmus" and "50 Shades of Contract" (wow! Available since last December and the last one already had 2,648 views!) I'm surprised.
A/N: Though I never liked Spitfire, I dropped hints of it throughout the story in how Ollie would realistically handle the relationship. The last five words are Frostbite, but if you don't like the pairing you can skip the last five. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy the story.
1. Tattoo
"I'm thinking of getting a tattoo," Ollie proudly declared, "of a heart over my heart, with a ribbon wrapped around it bearing four names."
"Don't you dare put my name on there!" the other blond yelled.
2. Heels
It hurt the first time he bought her high heels in case she ever needed to wear them, but she grew used to wearing such high shoes and he held her hands to support her as she learned to walk around in them.
3. Graduation
The moment she ran to her mother and mentor in her long robes and graduation caps, whether it was high school or college, he was always there with columbines and open arms for her to run into, and to serve as the father who would willingly take a rare day off of his job.
4. Tears
When Barry informed him that Wally had given his life, Ollie's first concern was Artemis, who wept waterfalls on his shoulder. He did not know if he could ever help her in such turmoil.
5. Laughter
Artemis tried not to burst into flames with every second her mother played that video of a five-year-old Artemis screaming/singing in the kindergarten musical to the laughing millionaire.
6. Goal
Even as he watched Artemis happily play with his redhead adoptive granddaughter, even as much as he loved the little girl who called him 'Grandpa,' he convinced himself that Artemis would not have a baby. Ever-or at least until he was dead.
7. Tuition
"I cannot accept this!" she gasped pulling out the check that read $35,000.
He shook his head. "This is for a good cause...I will not let you graduate college with a major debt, nor would I ever let you rely on student loans."
8. Hug
Every time they hugged each other, he felt closer to her. Every time they hugged, she felt more secure and safe.
9. Hold
Looking down at his sleeping partner in his arms, having fallen asleep in the cave and compelling him to carry her to her house, he felt a tight pang in his heart and severely wished for a biological daughter of his own-one that he could claim legally and biologically.
10. Award
Oliver shook hands with Scott, the president of the Star City Humanity Club, and held up the beautiful plaque while his Arrow family clapped at the dinner table in front of him.
"...and finally, I want to thank my protégé and niece, Artemis Crock, for being the wonderful woman she is growing into. I love you, Arty. This is for you."
Although she could not stay to pose with him for a newspaper photograph, her mother managed to print one out of him holding the award, and Dinah took a private one of Artemis kissing the award Ollie held out to her.
11. Dinner
When the blonds invited themselves to dinner with her and her mother, Artemis failed to come up with valid excuses to why she would be absent, but he reminded her that the state of her home and the size of her apartment was not as half as important as their own mentor/protégé relationship.
12. Catch
The man wrapped his arm around her waist and aimed for the top of the building with his rope gun. "I got you!" he yelled.
Suddenly the rope snapped and the falling felt faster and more deadly. Amidst their screaming, Artemis reached forward and the rope wrapped around the head of a gargoyle.
"No," she said instead, "I got you."
13. Sacrifice
The villains had prepared for his intervention, but in the space of a moment, he pulled her to her feet, screamed at her to run run run...and then he threw down his bow and stood with his arms apart, ready to take the physical and painful attack before Superman dashed in and the ball of fire bounced off his steel chest.
14. Car
Artemis was relieved that Ollie, unlike her father, did not explode during or after her horrible first driving lesson-true, there were dents and scratches and broken glass, but he guaranteed her that he had insurance and that he was going to mentor her in everything.
15. Belief
"Who are you?" Wally repeated before her first mission with the Team.
When Ollie said she was his niece, for a second he almost believed it.
16. Grief
ARTEMIS LIAN CROCK
Sometimes, as he laid flowers under her name, he wished there was more than just "Beloved Daughter"-those two words were just not enough to describe such a wonderful human being.
17. Language
She was fluent in more than just English, but having Ollie quiz her in Spanish was a waste of time with every moment she laughed at his poor pronunciation.
18. Thong
The fifteen-minute embarrassing lecture/confrontation over Ollie finding a bright green thong in the dryer ended only when Dinah interrupted and reminded him that Art never washed her clothes in his house.
19. Hair
When Ollie opened the envelope and dumped out fistfuls of long blond hair and a letter reading Guess who? he wept.
20. Dance
Dinah watched the older blond teach the girl how to move her feet, lean back, twirl, and when to move her feet, and in the space of a second she missed her own father fiercely.
21. Fire
She did not care that Kaldur and Aquaman were putting the flames out, or that the fire department was already there, or that the rest of the present heroes refused to let her run in-she dashed into the flaming building, breathing into the mask, jumped over flames, and screamed his name until she found the green of his hood. She threw his arm over her shoulder, dragged him to the door, and raced from the flames to give Dinah her unconscious lover.
22. Recovery
The tubes in his arms and the mask connecting his mouth and nose to the oxygen tank nearly scared her away, but it was the relief in his eyes and the small croak he made that convinced her to walk to his side and squeeze his hand in tears.
23. Television
No matter what went on, every Wednesday she would set her homework aside, excuse herself from training often with Dinah, zeta to the Queen estate in fuzzy sleepwear, and spend an hour with her mentor watching Arrow.
24. Donation
Ollie had flown all the way to Bolivia, paid almost half his fortune, flew back to Gotham City, and forced the nurses to give Artemis the life-saving treatment that was still unavailable in America.
25. Threat
Artemis had left the fresh apartment to carry in a different bag when Ollie tapped Wally's shoulder. "Hey...you touch one hair on her head or even lay a finger on her in bed...I will castrate you before you even have the chance to escape and before your uncle can even save you!"
26. Childhood
One of the hardest pills for him to swallow was that he could never go back in time to read bedtime stories or read her the original Robin Hood novel or convince her from babyhood on that she was beautiful.
27. Meal
Ollie happily let Artemis come over to his house for any meal of the day-there was no way she was eating enough with that famished little speedster eating ten tons of food daily.
28. Crowd
When he was set to fire firework-arrows from the capital building on Independence Day, she stood in the middle of the crowd and cheered at each green and red firework that glowed in the sky, and he could still see her from the roof.
29. Kitchen
Artemis never was a good cook, but even temporarily lessons with him made her more relaxed about dicing tomatoes and other vegetables and fruit.
30. Burn
Artemis closed her mouth around the spoon and her wide eyes watered. She pulled the spoon away, spat out the contents of his famous chili, and coughed. "My mouth! My mouth!"
He watched her run to the refrigerator and gulp milk from the jug, white lines streaming down her jaw to her throat.
31. Regret
Sometimes Paula wondered to herself why she could not go back in time and joined the heroes and married Oliver, who was the closest thing she had to a platonic friend and who was displaying more care and concern for her youngest baby?
32. Gift
He never expected her to give him a birthday present, nor did he expect the small box to be a framed photographs of all his protégés laughing and smiling, a handwritten thank-you card, and a Vietnamese poem about the love between a father and his daughter.
33. Denial
Dinah grew more panicked with the number of times he kept muttering, "She's not dead, she's not dead, she cannot be dead at such a young age..."
When Artemis became engaged, Dinah could hear him muttering, "She's still fifteen, she's still fifteen, she is nowhere close to her twenties, she is still my sharp-tongued, witty protégé..."
34. Reunion
Dick had walked her himself to the estate. When Ollie opened the door, he recognized the hair and the face in a heartbeat and did not take a moment to hear the whole story-he threw his arms around her and rubbed her back as her own limbs tightened around his shoulders and neck. "Don't you ever fake your own death again!" he screamed in her hair once she whispered what she did. "I had lost one sidekick before, and I refuse to lose anymore or another one again! I cannot ever lose my daughter again..."
35. Hardship
Whenever somebody at school taunted or tried to hurt her for her mother's poverty, the shape of her family, or even how "Vietnamese children can't be blond" and she was "whitewashed" Artemis always saved her self-esteem by imagining Oliver riding in on a horse and threatening to hurt the schoolmate if he ever went near his partner again
36. Cheerio
Ollie did not know at first of her appreciation for him and his fatherly guidance to her until he eavesdropped on the story she was telling her baby niece using Cheerios as the baby's mother and maternal family and paternal adoptive grandfather.
37. Relief
It never occurred to Ollie how anything was so strong and manipulative that it would propel him to attack his own partner, but Artemis reminded him that nothing would have ever destroyed their unbreakable bond.
38. Walk
It was a simple walk, but once they finished she began craving more father-daughter walks whether in Gotham City or Star City.
39. Bond
No matter what activities they did, he was sure they were long-lost biological relatives when he picked her up from school early to catch a movie, took her to buy ice cream late at night, let her purchase half the items in the mall with his money, and accompanied her when she took the dog for a walk.
40. Secret
No matter if it was patrol or just a day of uncle-niece acting, not telling Paula made their adventures more magical and more like a pirate ship.
41. Chocolate
Once upon a time, Oliver Jonas Queen bought chocolate only for Dinah Laurel Lance. Nowadays, he buys chocolate for Dinah Laurel Lance and Artemis Lian Crock.
42. Skin
It always disgusted Ollie when he ordered or made chicken, that Artemis would tear at the skin like a starving person, pile layers of chicken skin on her plate to eat later, and leave the meat either abandoned on her plate or for her niece to nibble on.
43. Communication
Sometimes emails, telephone, Skype, letters, text messaging, online conversations, and even...any other form of communication were not enough for him and the daily feeling he had that he missed her when she lived just a handful of miles away.
44. Forever
He believed she would be his daughter-figure to him forever...but forever had not lasted for all eternity as he had hoped.
45. Change
Ollie could see a big change coming when the boy whom Artemis developed a new romance with...was the same boy whose icy rump he kicked the day the team was formed.
46. Courtship
Ollie hated the idea of Artemis dating and holding hands with the rehabilitated Cameron, but then Dinah would pull him to the side and remind him of how her father did not exactly approve of him or any of the other boys she dated.
47. Ring
Ollie was surprised that it was him and not Paula whom Cameron came to, and it was with Dinah's persistence that Ollie permitted Cameron to propose marriage to Artemis...even still, the picture of Artemis wearing the engagement ring made him want to cry and vomit.
48. Aisle
Outside the church, Artemis wanted to turn around and cancel the ceremony, but it was Ollie's hand on her elbow that encouraged her to walk down the church at his side to her ice-skinned love.
49. Butterfly
Nobody would have ever noticed that the CEO of Queen Industries was silently weeping as he and Artemis danced to 'Butterfly Kisses,' nor would they have known that she was singing the song to him in his ear.
50. Birth
Ollie opened the envelope and his eyes watered at the card. The photograph showed his protégé/adoptive daughter in a hospital bed and gown with her husband beside her and a red-skinned baby swallowed in pink blankets, her little hand in her mouth. In perfect cursive the lettering said Isabelle Rose Mahkent.
Secret: It did not surprise me when I saw the parallels between 'Failsafe' and 'Endgame.'