Palo Alto

June 21, 13:16 CDT

Artemis lay on their bed, now her bed and sobbed. The love of her life, her partner in crime, her baywatch- was gone. He wasn't even dead for god's sakes, he was just gone. She curled up into a ball, holding onto his extra Kid Flash suit as if it was the only thing tethering her to the world anymore. She just layed there for a while until she fell into a painfully dreamless sleep.

June 23, 8:33 CDT

Artemis woke to the smell of breakfast, forcing herself up from the bed; she proceeded to take a whiff: Blueberry pancakes. Wally's special recipe. She shot up in an instant Oh thank god, it was all a nightmare. He hasn't really left! She ran from their small bedroom, through the narrow hall into the kitchen. her face fell when she entered, for instead of Wally, a solemn looking M'gann stood.

"Go away!" Artemis growled, she was not ready to put on a brave face, and tell everyone that she was okay, that this is the risk that they all take when they put on the mask. She needed to mourn him and be cowardly.

"I can't possibly know what you're feeling," M'gann started.

"No, you can't! You have never lost the one person in the entire world that makes you feel safe and loved and at peace! For god's sake, you used him as an excuse to shack up with Conner." She screamed. M'gann was quiet, and with a guilty face she reached for her bag and headed toward the door.

"We're here whenever you're ready." She said in a voice almost as soft as a whisper before exiting through the door. She held it together until she was sure that M'gann was out of range before she collapsed onto the floor in a puddle of tears.

June 24, 14:15 CDT

Artemis sat on the couch, mindlessly petting Brucely. She and Mary had tried to go pick out a headstone but neither had been up to it, and after a long embrace they retreated to their respective houses. A knock came at the door, which caused Brucely to tackle Artemis and bark protectively, trying to guard his mourning master. The door opened, and Artemis could feel the large dog's muscles tense before he relaxed and lept of of Artemis to greet the stranger. Artemis turned to reveal Kaldur'ahm standing in the threshold.

"You really should not leave your door unlocked." He said.

"Please, just go away." Artemis pleaded.

'"I have found that when one wants most to be alone, they should not be left so." He replied, before sitting down on the adjacent chair. Artemis didn't have the strength to chase him away, so she just layed there in silence with him for a long, long time. She was almost asleep when his league alert went off, and he quietly left locking the door behind him, leaving her along- again.

June 30, 12:23 CDT

Artemis had actually gotten herself up this morning, granted it was noon but that was still a start. She sat on the edge of the bed for a while just thinking about all of the times she had had to shake Wally awake, and remind him even the Flash has to get up in the morning. She was pulled out of her daze by Brucely's whining. She was so thankful for that dog, and Wally for using his puppy eyes and guilting her into adopting him. She wrapped herself in his robe, a giant red flannel thing that smelled so stongly of Wally that Artemis began to cry a little, not because of the horrible smell but because she knew that Wally would never refuse to wash the robe ever again. She padded into her kitchen and opened the fridge, vaguely aware of the fact that M'gann had been sneaking into the house and her leaving food.

"Hey Dick," she said, without even turning.

"Hey." He responded. The lack of his natural tone intriguided Artemis more than she would care to admit, so she turned.

"How's Zee?" She asked.

"About as well as you'd expect a normal person to be." He said.

"If you consider this situation to be normal," Artemis remarked. To which Dick let out a small chuckle, before a thought dawned on Artemis.

"We shouldn't be laughing like this, not after what's happened." She said, her tone guilty.

"Well, I don't think that Wally would want you to be like this either." Dick replied. Artemis was taken aback, none of the others had actually argued with her.

"You don't get to tell me how to feel!" She hissed, her voice growing louder, "You sent him to his fucking death, Dick, why the hell are you even here?" She was shouting now, "How can you even look at yourself anymore, he was your best friend and you just let him die!" Then he did something that Artemis had never seen before, he caved.

"You're right." A lone tear rolling down his cheek. Artemis was swathed in regret. Wally was not just her's, he was Dick's best friend too.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that." she said.

"No, you did." He responded, "But that's a good thing." He continued, "You need to get rid of all of these emotions inside of you or they will eat you alive... trust me, I know." Artemis remembered the loss of his parents, the news really had a field day when Bruce adopted him, too. So for the rest of the day Artemis just talked, about how she was angry at Wally for leaving and guilty for letting him go at all. Eventually, the two just started talking about their memories of Wally. It was the first good day Artemis had had in a long time.

July 27, 15:45 CDT

"I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!" She yelled to nothing in particular, feeling a little bit like the White Rabbit.

She ran into their small bathroom and slammed the door behind her. "God, Wally what did you do?"

Brucely whined outside the door as Artemis sat inside. Five minutes later she finally opened the door, edging herself to the edge of the bed. She pulled out her phone and dialed.

"Yello?" answered Dick.

"I need you to come over here." Artemis said softly, her voice trembling ever so slightly.

"What is it?" Dick asked, growing concerned over the emotion in her voice.

"I-I need some help," she responed.

"Are you okay?" Dick replied, his body tensing.

"No," Artemis replied, raising the white stick in her left hand to eye level. "I'm pregnant."