She'd never really had a true Christmas. A long time ago, she used to dream about it; waking up to a lit Christmas tree with piles of presents underneath. But Jade had laughed at her when she told her about it, so she had kept it to herself from then on out. Every Christmas she woke up disappointed when there was no one there and there wasn't so much as a Christmas song playing on the radio.
Holidays aren't really popular when your sister skips town and your mom is fresh out of prison. Who knew where her dad was. Not that she cared. The less she saw of him, the better. But the lack of happy Christmas memories had made her bitter, in truth. She hated Christmas. All of the happy kids and couples in love and the people and rushing and the spending—it was all a big reminder that she didn't have any of it.
Artemis liked to tell herself she didn't want any of it either.
She knew that was a lie, though.
M'gann was so excited about her first Earth Christmas it was nauseating. She liked M'gann a lot. But her excited squealing and sickeningly affectionate behavior towards Connor was about to send Artemis over the edge.
"Artemis, don't you want to come and decorate the tree with us?" M'gann called. Artemis gave a disdainful look at the monstrosity. It was amazing the damn thing fit in the cave. M'gann would have to fly up to get the ornaments up on the highest branches. She shook her head.
"No way. I don't do Christmas." She mumbled. M'gann pouted, just as Artemis anticipated that she would. With a sigh, Artemis shoved herself off the couch and sauntered over to the kitchen.
She should have just gone ahead and gone home. Everyone else had already gone home. Wally and Robin and Kaldur. Only the lovebirds remained. It would make complete sense for her to go ahead and take the tubes home.
And yet here she was. Making hot chocolate while Connor attempted to wrap a never-ending strand of lights around an obnoxiously large Christmas tree.
Artemis took the mug from the microwave, taking a sip. The scalding liquid spread along her tongue and she almost choked from it. Connor and M'gann didn't notice as she went over to the sink and poured the mixture from the mug and placed it in the dishwasher.
This was why she hated Christmas; Everything just went wrong. She couldn't even drink cocoa without injuring herself.
It was definitely time to head home.
She grabbed her jacket as she slipped away from the kitchen.
"I'm headed out, you guys!" Artemis called over to the two residents of Mount Justice. They were laughing at something and M'gann reached up and pulled a stray Christmas tree needle from Connor's hair. It was getting way too intimate in there for Artemis's taste. Definitely time to go.
The walk to the tubes was short enough, but Artemis found herself wishing that it was a longer trek. She didn't want to go home. Home would be lonely. Home would be her and her mother while Jade was out there somewhere doing something she probably should while her father was definitely out there doing something that he shouldn't.
"Recognized. Artemis. B07." The computer called lowly. There was the audible whirling of the tubes starting up before the blinding flash of light overtook her and then she was on her way home.
She flew headlong into the snow, getting a face full of slush before she pushed herself up.
What the hell was that?
Artemis spun on her heel, ready to kick the stupid phonebooth for screwing up on her at a time like this when it was snowing and cold, only to see that there was no phone booth. There was nothing. It was just an empty wall.
"Oh you have got to be kidding me." She growled, going over and running her fingers across the bricks. Nothing gave way. There was no computer recognition. Nothing.
"You have got to be kidding me!" Artemis yelled, jamming her foot into the wall. The pain radiated up her leg and she hissed. Good move, she thought to herself, let's just get you nice and injured to add to the stranded bit and see what happens.
The pain began to dull and she made her way towards the mouth of the alley. The shop-lined streets were deserted for the most part, and the night sky was dark above her. Everywhere she looked, shops were closed, earlier than they probably would have due to the holiday. There was not a light on in sight.
Her hands fumbled with the phone in her pocket, speed-dialing her mother. She listened as the dial tone rang and rang until she heard the beep of the answering machine.
"Look, Mom. The tubes are screwed up and I got sent somewhere. Call me back." She hung up the phone before trying three more times to get through to her Mother with no luck. She cursed as she tucked it back inside of her pocket. Looks like she was stuck.
It was colder here than it was at Happy Harbor, somehow, and her civies were not doing a great job of keeping her warm. She tucked her scarf tighter around her neck and crossed her arms. She wished she had her uniform on her. It would have kept her warm. But she was stuck in wet jeans and a wet shirt, shivering out in the cold.
Her eyes squinted in the darkness, until she finally spotted a light a few blocks over. It was a miserable trek in the snow, and by the time she came to the grocery store, her boots were soaked and she could barely feel her fingers. She still had no idea where the hell she was, either. She walked towards the doors of the 24-hour superstore, already imagining how good the warm heat was going to feel.
"Artemis? Is that you?"
She squinted against the light to the silhouetted figure in front of her.
"Wally?" The speedster ran towards her, at a normal human speed, thankfully. He dropped the bag of groceries he was holding to the ground and stripped off his jacket before throwing it over her shivering shoulders.
"What are you doing out here? You're freezing!" He said. Before she could even say a word he had picked her up and walked her back over to the stores entrance.
The heat that kissed her skin was just as amazing as she had imagined it would be. He set her down on the bench, taking her hands and rubbing them until she had the semblance of feeling in them again. She flexed her fingers and sent a glance to Wally. His brow was furrowed, concentration centered on warming her hands.
"The tubes got messed up. I was supposed to be heading home but it sent me here. To the middle of an alley about a block away." She said. Her speech was broken due to her still-chattering teeth, but the message got across all the same. Wally untied the scarf from his neck and wrapped it in addition to her own around her neck.
"You're soaked." He mumbled to himself before turning his bright green eyes towards her. "Why did it send you here?"
"I don't know! Ask The League, they're the ones who installed the damn things." She grumbled. Her shivers were starting to diminish, and she suddenly realized how surreal this all ways.
"Were you the last one to leave? That could be the reason it sent me here." She mused. Wally shook his head, red hair falling into his eyes.
"Nah. Robin left after me, so if that was the case, you should have ended up in Gotham." He said. Artemis kept quiet. If only she had ended up in Gotham.
She groaned and let her head thump back against the wall with a dull thud.
"So what are you going to do?" Wally asked. Somewhere in her mind, Artemis felt his hands still running across hers to warm them, even if they were perfectly fine now. Yet some part of her didn't want him to stop.
"I don't know. I've tried calling my mom and no one answered. I'm stranded." She groaned. Wally shifted beside her, unsure of what to do. She didn't blame him.
"Well you can't stay here all night." He mumbled. The snow was beginning to pick up and flurry outside the doors, and Artemis fought another groan.
"I know." She mumbled. Wally's hands were still moving along hers.
"Shouldn't your Mom be worried? It's Christmas."
"We don't do Christmas."
"Hannukah?'
"Nope."
"Do you do anything for the holidays?" Wally asked, looking at her wide-eyed. Artemis shook her head.
"No. We don't do holidays."
"What do you mean you don't do holidays? It's the holidays!" Wally exclaimed. She bit her lip.
"It's not exactly the best situation right now at home. I was just going to go home and go to bed." She said softly. Wally's eyes softened and for a minute she really hated the look in his eyes. It was a strange mix of confusion and pity and Artemis despised pity.
A silence stretched between them.
"Come home with me."
Her head whipped around so fast she swore that her head spun.
"What?"
"You heard me. Come home with me. You can't stay here all night. My parents will be cool with it."
Artemis looked up at him, every instinct in her body commanding her to tell him that she had every intention of staying right here. She was not a damsel in distress who needed Wally to save her. She wasn't.
"You're my teammate. Come on." Wally said, pulling her up by the same hands he had been warming. No matter what she didn't like about the situation, she climbed onto Wally's back and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He was warm against her, even as he wrapped arms around her legs.
"You forgot your grocery bag outside." She said. Wally Adjusted the way she sat against his back and smiled at her.
"It'll be okay. I was craving ice cream. We'll grab it on our way out." He said as he began to walk forward. The biting cold wasn't as bad with Wally's body heat against her. Or the fact that had covered her in his own clothing layers. She took one of her arms from around his neck and partially unwound his scarf from around her neck as he crouched down to pick up his forgotten grocery bag. She wrapped the other half of the long, knitted fabric across his neck without a word.
"You ready?"
"Yeah. " she said.
It wasn't the first time Wally had run with her. But it always was a crazy feeling, moving so fast. The sensation was a strange one. Mentally, she knew that she was safe with Wally; he did this all the time. But those few seconds of super speed left her breathless with adrenaline pumping in her veins like a drug. It also left her mind spinning and her legs like jello.
The journey couldn't have lasted for more than four seconds, if that long. They stopped outside a modest, two story house in a small subdivision. It was nothing like her ratty apartment in Gotham. This actually looked like a home, she thought. Complete with Christmas lights and garland.
Wally set her down on the porch and let her lean against him as she got her land legs back while he fumbled in the pocket of the jacket around her shoulders. He managed to grab a loaded keyring weighed down by keychains and unlocked the door.
"Go ahead and take your boots off, they're soaking wet. I'm going to go get some blankets." Wally said before disappearing down a hallway.
The house smelled like warmth, Christmas tree, and cider. The Christmas smells you expected to fill the houses you saw on TV. It made Artemis uncomfortable in stripping off her boots and socks. It felt better, but it didn't help the fact that the rest of her was soaking wet from her falls in the snow. But there was no way that she was going to be asking Wally for a change of clothes. This was already weird enough.
Wally came back a second later, two plush blankets in hand. Then he saw the dark stains on her jeans and the wet material of her shirt. He winced.
"Probably should have seen that. I can throw them in the dryer if you want?"
"No!" She said, a little too hastily. She cleared her throat. "No. I'm fine. Really." She said. Wally raised an eyebrow, and put the blankets down on the stairs, before grabbing her. He picked her up in his arms and then they were upstairs, outside a closed door.
"Wally!" she hissed.
"Look. It's either this, or you get sick. You're usually cranky, so I don't even want to see what you're like when you're sick. So let me just get you some warm clothes to wear, and we'll go back downstairs, okay? Okay." He opened the door and led her inside.
Wally's room was almost exactly as she would picture it; posters on the wall with bright red pain and a plain black comforter on the bed. It was messy, but cleaner than she had expected if she was going to be honest. Wally sped around her as she hovered in the doorway and dug through a few drawers of his dresser before shoving a pile of clothes in her arms.
"Just come downstairs when you're done and I'll throw your stuff in the dryer." He said before speeding back down the hallway, shutting the door behind him.
Artemis sighed. She hadn't expected thing to go great this year, but she certainly hadn't expected this big of a catastrophe. Wally was never going to let her live this down. Not in a million years, she thought as she stripped off her shirt and shimmied out of her wet jeans. The warm air was heavenly against her skin, and she finally looked at the clothes he had handed her. The shirt was as red as his walls and was so large it nearly fell off of one of her shoulders. Sweatpants were better. They were still big, but if she tied them tight enough, they sat well on her hips. She pulled the elastic from her hair. It had become mussed up during her fall in the snow and the run that there was more hair falling out of it than being kept. Artemi adjusted the strands as best she could before finally giving up and slinging it all over her shoulders and out of her face.
She bundled up her clothes in her arms and began heading towards the door before catching her reflection in the mirror hanging on the wall. She blushed as she looked at herself. God, she was wearing Wally's clothes.
And the shirt had The Flash's symbol on it.
Of course it did.
She walked the short way down the hall and down the stairs. Wally was nowhere in sight.
"Wally?" She called softly. A whoosh of air and he was already beside her.
"Gotcha covered, Babe." Another whoosh of air and her clothes were gone and he was back.
He'd managed to change to; into a pair of sweatpants and a white t-shirt sporting the logo for 'Keystone High'. She pushed a hand through her hair.
It was awkward. More than awkward. Painfully awkward.
"So…Wanna watch TV?"
"Yeah. That sounds good."
"Cool. Cool… Living Room is this way." He led her down the hall and over to the large, homey room that sported a sparkling Christmas tree so large that it would have given the one back at Mount Justice a run for its money. She blinked.
Wally gave her a sheepish grin that was almost endearing.
"Yeah. My family is huge with Christmas."
"So I see.." She mumbled, following him as he went and collapsed onto the couch with a sigh. She sat next to him, careful not to get too close. Wally flipped through channels at a lightning speed before finally settling on an older-than-time-itself version of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.
"Rudolph. Really?" She sent a sardonic little look his way with a soft smirk on her lips. Wally gave her a sheepish smile back.
"It's Christmas. These things are the only thing on this late at night." He shrugged.
"I don't understand it. I mean, if you've seen Rudolph once, you've seen it a thousand times. It doesn't change."
"No, but It just reminds you of your childhood!" Wally said. Artemis scoffed.
"Not my childhood." She mumbled. She felt Wally's eyes on her, but she kept her gaze glued to the television.
"Why do you hate Christmas so much?" His voice was soft and tentative, as if he didn't know whether he should even ask the question or not.
"I don't hate-" She started, before she sighed. "Okay. I hate Christmas. Kind of."
"But why?" he asked. She pulled her legs beneath her and leaned deeper into the couch.
"I just do. I didn't really get any of.." She paused, "this." She said, waving a hand towards the glimmering tree and stockings hung on the fireplace mantle.
"There wasn't anything like this when I grew up. My family isn't the best when it comes to being a family. And when you're little you see all the other kids on TV getting things that you never get. And I'm not talking about presents or anything. I'm talking about things like decorating a fluffy tree and building a snowman. Do you know that I've never even made a snow angel? It's just the way I was raised. There was no time for things like that. There were more important things to do in my Dad's eyes." Artemis said. She risked a look to Wally and caught a glimpse of that damnable pity in the green of his eyes.
"I shouldn't have said anything. Sorry." She mumbled, resting her head back on the couch as Santa laughed on the television.
"No. I'm glad you told me." He said, taking one of her hands and running his thumb across her knuckles. The contact was surprisingly welcome to Artemis, and she found herself looking up at him.
Something crazy grabbed a hold of her then, and not even she could really understand what she was doing until she was hugging him. Wally's hands came up into the air, not quite sure what to do before slowly wrapping themselves around her.
It felt good to be held. Better than she had imagined, somehow. Just the simple act of putting his arms around her gave her so much more solace than any combination of words could. And it was Wally. And somehow that made it different-More meaningful even.
She felt his hands run along her back as she breathed in his scent. Wearing his clothes and being so close to him caused it to surround her. She loved that. The smell of snow still clung to him, but it wasn't enough to cover the mixture of scents that was specifically Wally. Artemis knew that she couldn't hold out on the hug forever, and that she'd eventually have to pull away and deal with the consequences. He'd never let her live this down. But God, she really didn't want to let go.
It was Wally's hands on her arms that made her pull away. Even if she didn't want to admit it, she was scared he was going to push her away. She shouldn't have hugged him in the first place. It was stupid. She shifted back on the couch, feeling his fingertips trail across her arms.
"Sorry, I shouldn't have-"
"Artemis." He cut her off. She couldn't read the expression on his face. It was strange. Wally was always an open book.
"Stop apologizing and shut up."
He leaned forward in a smooth motion and cupped his hands along her jaw, guiding her face closer. Then his lips were on hers.
If there was one thing she hadn't expected to happen during Christmas, it was Wally West kissing her. But she couldn't deny the sparks it sent spiraling off inside of her and the way it sent a hot thrill running through her veins.
Artemis closed her eyes and leaned into the kiss, letting her palms rest firmly on his chest. Having his lips against hers was addictive, she found. It made her blood boil. She smiled against his lips, her heartbeat beating loudly in her head. Wally's hands trailed down over her shoulders, and down her arms before settling on her hips.
One swift move and he dragged her forward. Artemis adjusted herself clumsily until she was resting securely on his lap. Her hands tangled in his hair, pulling him closer. She couldn't seem to get enough of him. She couldn't' get close enough, or get enough of the taste of him on her tongue.
She pulled away slowly, with Wally placing soft, fast kisses against her lips as she smiled down at him through hazy, dark eyes. Artemis pushed strands of red hair away from his face, fingertips brushing across a few, faint freckles.
She'd never thought that she could feel this good; this content. And with Wally, no less. She'd always known that there was something there, buried deep down and hidden behind the walls of sarcasm and teasing between the two of them. But she had no idea that it was going to feel this good when the walls finally came down. His body was warm against hers, and she felt herself stretch out against him like a cat.
His hands rested on her hips, fingertips occasionally straying to the small of her back.
"Thank you for telling me to shut up." She murmured softly.
"Never thought I'd hear you say that."
"Yeah well. It's either thank you or slap you. And slapping you just didn't seem right." She said, nuzzling into his shoulder. His arms stayed wrapped tightly around her, and he played with the blonde strands that fell into her face.
"Can't say I'd enjoy it too much." He mumbled.
They settled inside a comfortable bubble of silence while Rudolph continued to play on the television.
The steady motion of his hand through her hair was soft and wonderful and dizzying. She fought a yawn and Wally bent to kiss her forehead from where he had laid back against the arm of the couch.
"If all Christmases were like this, it really wouldn't be that bad." She said softly. It was true. She was going to make a point in including Wally into all of her holidays from now on. He seemed to make everything better. Wally's rumbling laugh was slow and languid and she fought another yawn. Sleep wasn't far away, she could feel it coming on strong. Artemis fought it, trying to keep her eyes open. And she continued to fight until she heard the first breathy little snore from Wally.
Artemis rolled her eyes, but didn't bother to hide the small smile that spread across her face. She snuggled in closer to Wally's side, wrapping her arms around his waist and letting the heat from his body warm her, before finally letting sleep drag her into dreams of Christmas and kisses.
Welp. I'm finally posting this up. It's a little gift to all of my readers and fellow Spitfire enthusiasts. I actually wrote this directly after I finished Nanowrimo, but since it IS a Christmas themed story, I wanted to wait until closer to the actual holiday.
Read, Review, and Enjoy.
And most importantly, have Happy Holidays!
MadameSheep