Prompt from DamnSmartBlueBoxes on Tumblr: Aged-up. Artemis is driving to have Christmas with the Wests (Because the Zeta tubes are down.) She gets stuck in a snow drift not too far from Central and is digging herself out, when Wally comes along during his patrol. :P
(I changed the last part. The "during his patrol" part. But the rest follows it)
Artemis inhaled heavily from concentration. She had learned to drive years ago when she and Wally moved to Keystone City, but she was still uncomfortable driving in such terrible weather.
"Shit!" The blonde cursed as the car pulled to the right to follow the tracks in the road. She hated snow. There was absolutely nothing beneficial about it. It was cold, and wet, and difficult to shoot in, and difficult to drive in.
Not to mention it made Wally want to have massive team snowball fights. And it's not like she can back down when a challenge comes up.
Artemis sighed as she passed another exit, mentally calculating how many were left to pass before she reached Central. She would have taken the Zeta tubes but the large Midwest snow storm had left the connection to Central City down; leaving driving there her only option.
The archer glanced at the speedometer and the fuel gauge. Normally it would take a little over half a tank for the trip from their apartment to Wally's parent's house. But at the speed she had to take for safety it looked like she was going to use a whole tank.
"Damn snow," Artemis grumbled.
Her phone began ringing in her pocket and Artemis turned down the blasting heater before dragging it out and sticking it to her ear.
"Hello?" Artemis greeted, contemplating resting her arm on the window before decided that would be stupid because the window was really freaking cold.
"Artemis, Dear!" Mary's voice came through the speaker, "We just wanted to make sure you were getting here alright. How far away are you?"
"I'm about half an hour away," Artemis answered with a smile. When she had first met Wally's mother she had been overwhelmed by the affection the woman showed, though in hindsight she shouldn't have expected any less from Wally's mother. Over time, however, Artemis began enjoying the unbridled care and adoration Mary held for everyone in her family. (This included the archer after she had come over to eat dinner with Wally's parents the first time.)
"Splendid! Hopefully you will get here before Wally and you can grab a plate before he devours everything!" She laughed and Artemis found herself laughing along with her.
"He should get done patrolling soon," Artemis mused, keeping her eye on the passing highway signs.
"Alright, well I'll let you go. Drive safe Honey!" Mary said, and Artemis could tell she was smiling.
"I will. I'll see you soon," She responded lightly, holding the phone to the ear until she heard the tell-tale click of Mary hanging up on the other end. Artemis dropped her phone in the cup holder carelessly, keeping her eyes on the bright road.
Artemis squinted, the sun was hidden behind the clouds but the snow all around her was still blindingly white. There weren't many other cars on the road. She guessed that most drivers would have already made the trip to see family for the holidays, but Artemis hadn't planned on the Zeta tubes being down. And of course Wally never had to worry about depending on the Zeta tubes.
But she wouldn't miss time with Wally's family for the world. Well. Artemis mused; if the world was at stake then I suppose I would have to skip out. She chuckled.
The wind started blowing harder and Artemis furrowed her brows in frustration. The highway signs were getting difficult to see through the flurry but she couldn't stop to wait it out. The car would get buried in a matter of minutes. The white flakes were light and airy, but that just made keeping the car on track the more difficult.
"FUCK!" The archer yelled as the car slid on a patch of new snow, skidding itself off the side of the road despite Artemis's attempt to right the vehicle. Her knuckles grew pale as she gripped the steering wheel tighter, the ring on her finger glinting in the shift when the car went over the shoulder and dipped right into a large snow drift.
She only had time to curse once more in her mind before her head collided into the airbag and her consciousness was stripped from her grip.
"Uhhh," Artemis groaned as her eyelids fluttered open. She let out a heavy breath and the first thing she saw was the cold air floating away from her own lips. Jumbled thoughts jumped through her brain as she grew more coherent. She curled her fingers to find out where they were as she leaned back slowly.
"Oh no…" The blonde breathed; her breath visible once more.
White; white everywhere.
Artemis tentatively turned her head to look at all the windows of the car, the muscles of her neck pulling like taught rubber bands. She had no idea how long she had been out but the snow had not waited for her to wake up.
She unbuckled and twisted around in her seat, looking for her phone that had been sitting in the cup-holder. "Well that's just great," Artemis grumbled when she found it. The device had smashed into the front console and was lying in unworkable pieces in the passenger seat floor.
Artemis knew that she would have no luck trying to start the car; the front was probably totaled from hitting the snow bank. So she crawled awkwardly into the back seat and stared at the windows.
"This side probably has the least amount of snow," The archer mused, scooting to the side closest to the road. "I'll need tools," She spoke aloud to herself as she grabbed around under the seats to find an ice scraper and a (What are these things called anyway?) Artemis settled on dubbing it a car-window-hammer.
It was unlikely that opening the door was going to be an option, but on the off-chance it was, she was going to try and open it.
The handle worked fine, but when Artemis shoved against the door the only result was the surrounding snow to crunch and compact more. Yeah. Just as suspected. Time for plan B. She smirked.
The blonde has always wanted to test the window hammer out. See if it really did break the glass without too much effort.
CRASH!
"Well I guess it does work…" She said, brushing the crushed glass off of her coat. The rest of the window that didn't fall on her lap fell away into the car easily at her touch. The crackled pieces breaking away like crumbling sugar.
It was at this point that the snow started falling into the car as well; and all the heat that had been held within the car started dissipating. Artemis sighed as she felt her skin begin to grow cold, the wall of snow before her was daunting. She had no idea how far away from freedom she was. And crawling through a tunnel of snow wasn't going to help keep her warm.
"Might as well get started," She scowled, using the ice scraper as a shovel to drop the snow outside the window into the floorboards of the car, "This dinner better be fucking fantastic," Artemis growled angrily. Even though she already knew it would be.
That is, if she actually made it there.
Wally didn't bother knocking on the door to his parent's house. Why should he? He used to live there.
"Hey guys!" He announced happily, dragging his cowl back to let his wild red hair run free.
"Wally!" His mother cheered as she rushed out from the kitchen to embrace her son. Iris followed her, leaning in the doorway to wait for her turn.
"Hey Mom," Wally laughed, waving at his father, Barry and Jay who had just entered the living room. Iris hugged him next as Joan meandered out from the dining room. "Hey-"
"Where's Artemis?" Wally and Mary asked at the same time.
A sudden silence filled the room.
"Wait," Wally's face fell, "She's not here yet?" His heart picked up speed as various members of his family shook their heads in confirmation.
"We thought you must have had trouble and picked her up to help," Barry frowned, having retired from being 'The Flash' a few years ago. Only joining up when he was most needed.
"No…Have you heard from her?" The redhead asked anxiously, the worry building in his gut.
"I called her over an hour and a half ago," Mary said quietly, sitting herself on the couch as the worry spread throughout the room, "And she said she was about 30 minutes away," The woman took a shuttering breath before continuing, "I called her again about half an hour ago…But there wasn't any answer," A deep frown imprinted itself on her features, "That's why we thought she was with you,"
"Let's go," Barry's grave voice cut in as he walked to the door where Wally was standing, his mouth slightly open as he tried to take in the fact that his wife was missing. The redhead numbly nodded before pulling the cowl back over his head.
"This way," Wally ordered, taking off abruptly in the direction of the highway he knew Artemis would have taken.
Barry was right behind him, his Flash costume the same one he used to wear in the Justice League while Wally's was a new design. But at the speed they were going, there was no way to tell there were two of them anyway.
"What color is her car?" Barry asked as they ran.
"Silver," Wally spoke quickly. There was no need for specifics; there weren't enough cars on the road for it to matter anyway.
The two speedsters got to the highway and ran a tad slower to keep an eye out for Artemis or her car, but they could see neither. Wally had the math in his head to calculate how far way Artemis would have been when she was half an hour away and was watching to make sure they didn't pass that point.
I should have never agreed to let her drive out here. Wally scolded himself. She's never been that strong of a driver! I can't believe I let her convince me she would be okay driving that stupid car in a blizzard.
"Wally, turn on your heat sensors," Barry said roughly.
"Right," He answered, the stress of the situation screwing up his thought process. A stab of guilt hit him at Barry's tone, but he knew his Uncle wasn't mad at him. Barry was upset and worried about Artemis, and who could blame him? He saw a young Iris in her, it was one of the first things he had told Wally when the boy had mentioned proposing.
Please be okay Artemis. The redhead thought, his eyes scanning the highway.
"Barry! Turn around!" Wally yelled. There was a heat mass under the snow off to the side of the highway.
In the shape of a car.
Her fingers were numb but she kept going. The goal was to go out and up, but going up was proving to be more difficult than she imagined.
And it wasn't until she climbed into the snow that she realized she had a cut on her forehead from the airbag. The red dotted snow told her that much. It wasn't even that deep, but it continued to bleed as she worked her way through the snow. Once she knew it was there Artemis couldn't ignore it, the back of her hand swiping her forehead periodically enough that it wasn't clotting, leaving her wrist smeared red.
Crunch!
Artemis's head turned around, searching for the source of the noise. Her heart jumping into her chest, was there someone or something above her? What if another car came? She had no idea what was around her. Only gravity told her where up and down where.
"Artemis!" A muffled voice came through the snow.
That voice…Artemis grinned. Not only had someone found her; it was her adorable, idiot husband.
"Wally?" She called back, still scraping at the snow around her.
"Wally over here!" Barry's voice sounded close-by.
Artemis closed her eyes as the snow above her started falling away, dropping into her hair and dusting her shoulders.
"Artemis!" Wally spoke breathlessly. Said woman looked up through the hole made in the snow above her in time to smile at her husband before he snatched her up into his arms.
"Hey Wall-man," Artemis sighed into his shoulder, her arms automatically snaking around his super warm torso. She laughed slightly as Wally pulled her in close; his fingers pressing into her skin, something she noticed he did after something particularly worrisome happened to her.
"Glad you're okay Firecracker," Barry patted her on the shoulder.
Artemis turned her head to smiled at her uncle-in-law, "I had things under control," She unwrapped her arm from Wally's side to give him their usual fist bump.
Wally pulled back from crushing her to give her a once over, scrutinizing the cut on her forehead and the residual blood on the back of her hand. Artemis rolled her eyes at the frown growing on his face.
"Wally can we just go? I'm really cold," She said, holding her goosebump covered arm up to his face for emphasis.
Wally laughed, placing a loud kiss on her cheek, "Sure Babe," He turned, "Ready to go Barry?"
"Whenever you are, Kid," He smirked, using his favorite nickname. Wally nodded and scooped Artemis up into his arms, her hands automatically snaking themselves behind his neck.
The redhead gave Artemis a quick glance to make sure she was ready before taking off in a flurry, Barry right on his heels.
"Artemis! Sweetie, what happened to you!" Mary yelped when Wally ran into the house with a snow covered blonde in his arms, "Iris will you get me a damp rag?" She called back to the redhead already heading to the bathroom for the object.
"I'm fine," Artemis explained as Wally set her on her feet. Her hand reaching out for Mary's shoulder to comfort the woman.
"Sure, now hold still," Iris smirked, placing the warm rag on the archer's forehead to clean up her cut.
"Just humor her, she's not used to people that can actually do that," Barry quipped.
Artemis scowled as the women fawned over her well-being, looking to Wally for rescue. The hero just laughed, his green eyes glowing with mirth now that his cowl was down. He placed a chaste kiss on her wet hair before rushing off to find something to eat in the kitchen.
Artemis tried to tell herself she was annoyed with Mary's exhaustive care and Iris's stubbornness, and Barry's teasing. And she knew Jay and Joan were only a second away from joining one of the crowds as well.
But she couldn't.
Wally slunk around the corner and leaned casually on the wall, a plate of cheese and crackers in his hand and a soft smile on his face.
Artemis knew better than to think he was already over what had just happened to her, she knew he was resisting staying at her side because his family was doting on her. One look into his eyes told her of the lingering anxiety he held.
"I love you". She mouthed. Instantly a wide grin spread across his face, the concern in his orbs dissolving just as fast.
"I love you too." He mouthed back, cracker crumbs tumbling out of his mouth. Wally abruptly covered his mouth, holding in the rest of the crackers.
Artemis grinned fondly, rolling her eyes. Why am I in love with such an idiot?
Please leave a review and let me know what you think! I'm not really used to writing oneshots and am quite self-conscious about them.
-Veg (Nexa)