This idea was rattling around in my brain last night and this little one-shot was the result. Hope you enjoy!
Artemis leaned on the bathroom door and marveled at her situation. Or, really, at her sister's situation. Two hours before Jade had showed up at her apartment and asked to stay the night. Initially Artemis had refused. How would she explain it to Wally? Before she could close the door in Jade's face, however, her sister stopped her.
"Artemis, please." Jade met and held her gaze. "I need somewhere to stay tonight. It's important."
There had been a long moment of silence between the two. Finally, Artemis sighed and stepped aside. "Come in."
Afterwards, Jade began to explain what she had been up to in her absence. Cheshire had vanished off the radar for some time. Her sister quickly informed her why.
"I fell in love." Jade explained as Artemis handed her a cup of tea. She sipped it, ignoring the shocked look on her younger sister's face. "Your little friend Red Arrow and I got married. Turns out he's not just a pretty face."
Artemis sank down into the closest chair, her own cup of tea clenched in between her hands. "You got married to Roy? When?"
"Not important. What's important is that I left him." Jade sipped at her tea again. She had a slightly pained look on her face as she talked about what had happened. "He's so obsessed with finding the real Roy. It just keeps getting worse. Every damn day and night…and he treats himself like he's second best because of it. Worse than second best. I couldn't take it anymore."
There was real grief in her sister's voice. Artemis became convinced this wasn't an elaborate ploy to trick her. Somehow Jade had ended up in love with Roy. And now that their marriage had failed, her sister needed someone to turn to. Who else did she have to tell about this? She hated their father. She refused to talk to their mother. Artemis was the only person left who might listen to her. So she felt it was her duty as a sister to be there for her. They didn't often get chances to act like sisters. Fate had placed them on opposite sides. But neither of them wanted to see the other get hurt. Artemis set her cup down on the table and looked at her sister with a frown. "How'd he react?"
"Didn't even say anything. Just watched me pack." Jade leaned back in her chair with a heavy sigh. "I gave up being Cheshire for that boy. I gave up a lot of things for that boy. I thought it would be my shot to live a half-way normal life."
This news cheered Artemis slightly. Her sister had really given up crime! She felt guilty for being so happy about this. After all, Jade had just left her husband. But perhaps some good had come out of this crazy mess. "You really stopped?"
"Cold turkey. All for him." Jade frowned again and sipped her tea. For a few long moments she was silent. Then she said, "But that's not why I'm here."
"Then why are you here?" Artemis asked. Her tone was a bit friendlier. Now that she knew Cheshire had ceased to exist all together, she felt renewed compassion for her sister. Perhaps there was still hope for Jade after all.
"I need to use your bathroom." Jade replied.
"…wait, what?" Artemis raised an eyebrow.
With another sigh, Jade reached into her bag and pulled out three different boxes. She set them down on the table in front of her. "I didn't want to take these in a gas station bathroom. And…I'm not sure what I'm going to do when I have the results. I need time to think about it."
It took her younger sister a moment to realize what she was looking at. Jade had set out three unopened pregnancy tests. All three were different brands. Artemis figured Jade wanted to be absolutely sure she wasn't going to get a false positive. Which mean she was incredibly serious about her situation. "You really think you're…? When was the last time you got your period? And when did you two last…ya know?"
"You're a big girl now, Arty, no need to beat around the bush." Jade rolled her eyes slightly at her little sister. "Yes, I think I'm pregnant. My period is a week late. And the last time we fucked was just a little over a month ago."
The girls finished their tea in silence. Artemis felt like her head was spinning. First Jade showed up on her doorstep and asked to stay the night. Since then it had been bombshell after bombshell. Jade got married to Roy. She gave up being Cheshire for him. Then she left him. Now it was quite possible that she was pregnant with his child. Finally Artemis said, "The bathroom is connected to the bedroom."
Now she was standing outside of her bathroom door, waiting for Jade to finish taking the tests.
"You know, little sister, you might want to invest in a few of these two." Jade taunted her from inside the bathroom. "Since you're sharing this bedroom with your boyfriend and all."
Artemis felt her cheeks go red. "Are you done yet?"
The door opened suddenly, surprising her. Jade walked out. "Yes. Now we wait."
Artemis had no idea how to kill ten minutes, so she simply turned on the TV and left Jade to her own devices. She curled up in Wally's armchair and did some more reading for her literature class. Her mind was calmed by the mindless noise of the TV and the steady stream of words inside of her head. Artemis didn't even notice when her sister rose and disappeared into the bedroom once more. When she finally realized Jade was gone, she got up quickly and peered into the bathroom. Jade was standing next to the sink, holding one of the pregnancy tests and staring at it in silence. Artemis walked over and looked at the other two.
Both of them were positive. The younger girl glanced at the one in her sister's hand. Positive.
"Three out of three." Jade said. It was hard to read her tone. It seemed like a mix between sadness, anger, shock, and happiness. "Looks like you're going to be an aunt, Arty." Without another word she tossed all three of the tests into the trashcan.
Artemis hesitated. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do in this situation. All she could think to do was put a tentative hand on her sister's shoulder. "What are you going to do?"
Jade was silent for a minute. "I'm not sure. I need to sleep on it."
"You can crash on the couch." Artemis told her at once.
xxxx
When Wally got back from his class, Artemis told him the bare minimum of what he needed to know. She left out who Jade's estranged husband was, and only told him that her sister had gotten married and was now pregnant. At first Wally was uncertain about letting her stay the night. But after a hushed debate with his girlfriend, he finally consented.
Artemis woke up early the next morning, as her first class started at eight. Jade was already up fixing herself some toast.
"Morning." Artemis said, still trying to overcome the awkwardness that existed between her and her sister.
"Good morning." Jade helped herself to a glass of water. She sat down at the table, staring at her toast with a slightly disgusted expression.
"Morning sickness?" Artemis asked after five minutes had passed without Jade touching her food.
"Big time." Jade got to her feet. "I think I'm just going to go."
"Go?" Artemis frowned slightly. "So have you decided…?"
Jade grabbed her bag and threw it over her shoulder. "Yeah. I'm keeping it. But I have a lot of work to do."
"Do you need me to help?" Artemis asked. The least she could do was help her sister search for a place to stay. A baby was no small undertaking. Jade would need every bit of assistance she could get.
But her older sister just smirked. "You wouldn't want to help me with this kind of work, baby sister…just tell your friends not to arrest me."
It took Artemis a moment to realize what her sister meant. Once again, all hopes of a normal relationship with Jade were shattered. Artemis had given up the 'hero business' at the same time Wally did, but that didn't change how she felt about her family's history of crime. This was even worse than before. Not only was Jade a felon, but she was going to be a felon with a baby. Artemis had promised herself that she would never force her children to grow up in that sort of environment. She knew what it did to kids. Now here was her sister, off to make the very same mistake her parents made. "You're really going to go back to being Cheshire? Don't you remember how terrible things were when we were growing up? And now you want to do the same thing to your kid?"
"Relax, Artemis. It's completely temporary. Cheshire just needs to come out to play one more time so I can reaffirm my connections and call in favors." Jade began walking towards the door. "I'm not raising this kid on my own; so I'm going to do everything I can to either get a lead or get conclusive proof that the original Roy Harper is dead. Maybe then my husband can clean up his act."
Without another word Jade walked out, shutting the door behind her.
Artemis was left alone to think about what had happened in the last twenty four hours. Everything had ended as quickly as it had begun. Jade was gone once again. And, once again, her sister had no idea where she had gone or what she would be doing. It would be easy to go after her. But doing so would require using League resources, and Artemis didn't feel comfortable using them if she wasn't contributing to the League in any way. Besides; Jade obviously didn't want her help.
All she could do, she supposed, was hope everything worked out for her sister.