Two Days in December

Wally & Artemis

Dec. 24 – 6:57pm

"Daddy, teacher says, 'Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings.'"

The TV with an image of a little girl and a joyous father gave off the only light in the room. Its lone occupant, a redheaded young man, rolled his eyes at the scene on the screen. He felt as if he had to hold back his frozen dinner from erupting out of his stomach as the father exclaimed how 'It's a wonderful life.'

"Yeah right," Wally said as he threw his fork at the TV. "Sucktacular life, you mean."

Muting the TV, he ran a hand through his hair and exhaled forcefully. "I hate Christmas."

He looked across the room and stared at a picture of him and the young blonde woman he fell in love with. Since partaking in Nightwing's plan to infiltrate The Light, he has only rarely seen her. In fact, the last time he saw her was when she donned a mystical charm necklace and left with his former leader after faking her own death. They had to go all out with the plan and went so far as to lie to her mother and had a funeral for her to complete the illusion. Now he wished more than ever they had never gone on with the plan to begin with.

"One more night. I wish I had just one more night with her."

Across Palo Alto, a lithe female figure journeyed across the rooftops. The cold night air failed to register with her as she continued on her way under the bright light of the moon. A trail of vapor floated behind her from her warm breath with a path of disturbed snow following her across the city. She didn't care though, she had a mission and was determined to see it through to the end.

It had only been two hours since she donned a brown and tan costume with matching mask. Her weapons of choice clung to her body, ready to be used at a moment's notice. She would not need them on this night for it wasn't a battle she was going into but a meeting.

Arriving in a quiet neighborhood, the lone female hopped over fences and landed lightly in a backyard. A few strips of beef jerky were tossed to a dog that was doing its business to keep it quiet as she rushed up to a window and peaked inside the darkened house. She could make out a lone figure sitting on the couch who was staring at a wall full of photographs despite the TV being on.

"Can't believe he left you outside like this," she told the dog as it waived its tail. "Come on, let's go inside."

Throwing away the plastic tray of his Salisbury steak dinner, Wally ran a hand across his face and headed to the back door where he heard his and Artemis' dog scratch. No sooner had he opened it when the dog rushed in and shook the white flakes of snow off.

"Thanks for the shower," he told the dog as it trotted into the kitchen. "Food's in your bowl, so is water. You need me, I'll be in bed. Just want to get this day over wi-"

As he turned to head into the hallway, he was shocked to find a darkened figure standing in the shadows. He froze in his tracks at the sight of the female from, taking a few seconds before bringing himself to say something. His words went unheeded as she continued to silently stand before him. Taking a slight defensive posture, Wally ordered the shape to come out when it did so.

"Hey, babe," the mystery woman said as she stepped into the dim light of the living room. She took off her mask, revealing a familiar face.

"Artemis?" Wally gasped. "Artemis!" Faster than a normal human could have, without super speed, Wally wrapped his returning girlfriend tightly in his arms, "Oh thank goodness you're safe."

"I've missed you so much," the blonde archer said with her arms wrapped around his neck. To others, she was a dark-haired brunette with strong Asian features and a deep voice, but to Wally and two others, she was the same Artemis as always.

He kissed her deeply as he held her face and she held his arms. "What happened? Why are you-"

"Wally," she said gently, "just shut up." The two kissed again as she moved him to the bedroom.

Around half an hour later, Wally and Artemis sat in the kitchen with the light on over the sink, providing the only illumination for the two. They sat on opposite sides of the table, eating out of a cartoon of ice cream and softly talking. Actually, it was more along the lines of simply staring at each other while being grateful for the time they had been granted.

"So, how long until you have to go back?" Wally asked as he ate another spoonful of Rocky road. He sat at the table, wearing only a pair of boxers and stared at the woman before him.

"I can stay as long as noon tomorrow," Artemis said through a mouth full of the chocolate ice cream. She too was dressed down to her panties and a large sleep shirt. "As soon as I could, I left. I told them I had a mission to carry out. One set up by Kaldur. What I didn't tell him was I wanted to wish my boyfriend a Merry Christmas."

He smiled at her words then remembered what Nightwing told him about their former leader. "How is he? Nightwing told me what M'gann did to him. You're lucky she didn't do the same to you."

"That's just the thing." She gathered her hair and made a knot out of it for a quick ponytail. "I think I was next but something happened to her. Wally, I think she may know the plan."

"Great, that's all we need." Leaning back in his chair, Wally ran both his hands over his face. "We need to get you out. We need to end this."

"We're not pulling me anywhere," she said as she stuffed her spoon in the softening ice cream. "This is something I'm seeing through to the end."

"Artemis-"

"No. We are so close to finding out what The Light and The Reach's master plan is. Yes, it was a mistake not including the others but it was the only way to completely get in league with our enemies. It was just a mistake on Kaldur's part that he ran into M'gann instead of Nightwing like he had planned."

"Artemis, this is way too dangerous. Something's going to happen to you and I…I don't want have to go to another funeral for you. I couldn't take going to another one and neither could you mother."

"Don't bring her into this," Artemis said bitterly. "Do you have any idea what I felt knowing she thinks I'm dead? I stopped by her apartment today and had to see her cry as she saw a picture of me. Imagine my surprise when I saw my father and sister standing there as well. Unlike you, Nightwing, and Kaldur, I have to live with more guilt than you could imagine. The guilt of deceiving my friends, the guilt of deceiving my mother, the guilt of knowing the only way my family would get together was through my death, and the guilt I have with not being with you. I'm taking a big risk in being here with you right now, so don't kill the mood, shut up, and lets you and me enjoy the few freakin' hours we have together."

Usually Wally would have retorted with a smart mouth remark or a sneer but that wasn't the case tonight. In fact, he missed this. Him and her in what one could call a "lovers spat". He missed these little back and forth sessions they would have. Sometimes it would be over Wally eating the last Twinkie. Sometimes it would be because Artemis would put the toilet paper roll to dispense from the top instead of the bottom. It didn't matter what the spat was about, just as long as they had one. It was the way the speedster and his Spitfire would say 'I love you'.

"Lord, how I missed this," Wally said as he looked upon the blonde woman sitting across from him.

She developed a small grin as she reached for another spoonful of ice cream. "So, have I."

She placed the frozen dessert in her mouth and made her way over to him and sat on his lap. The two engaged in a kiss, sharing the treat as they did so.

"What to go back to bed?" She asked as she stroked his head. "I'll bring the ice cream."

He tightened his grip around her waist. "Promise me one thing. If we fall asleep, wake me up before you go."

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she leaned in close. "It would be a mistake not to."

This time, it was him that led her into the bedroom after another kiss. He told their dog to stay as she brought the ice cream.