Screaming had become a norm in Artemis and Wally's home the last few weeks. Neither of them were screaming, out loud, of course, but the baby was. The baby never seemed to stop crying. Wally was usually the one to fix that.
"Suckie. Artemis, I need the baby's suckie." How Wally constantly got stuck doing child patrol, he wasn't sure, but he knew he had to get this baby to sleep. Pronto.
"Her what?" Artemis yelled from their living room. She was relaxing, laying on the couch curled up into a blanket watching TV with Nelson. She had no idea how badly Wally wanted to join her.
He sighed, "Her suckie." He yelled back, waiting for her reaction.
"what in God's name is a suckie, Wally?!" The blonde demanded, voice oozing in sarcasm and confusion. How was it that she could mix tones and still sound stern? He would never understand her. "Do you mean her pacifier?"
"Suckie, pacifier, suther, I don't care what you call it, Arty, but I need it. Now." That was when he heard her huff and Nelson landing onto the floor. He could also hear her distinct stomping. That was always a bad sign.
She stood in the door way, the blanket wrapped around her and the needed item in her hand. "This, right?"
He nodded, "That would be it. Thanks, babe." He said, taking it from her. Anger still seemed to radiate off of her. "Artemis, what's wrong?" He asked. She'd been upset all day, but constantly refused to tell him why. Now she just stood there, glaring down at him as he rocked the baby girl in his arms, the crying ceased. "Finally," he whispered softly, sighing. He turned back up to the girl standing across from him. Her anger decreased, but something was still wrong. "Arty?"
Her grey eyes were glued to the little girl in the crook of him arm. He couldn't help but notice how sad she looked. She swallowed before finally surprising him and answering his question. "I can't do that." she stated simply, only confusing him more.
"What do you mean, babe?"
"That." She said, nodding down to the baby. "You're a natural with her. You were meant to be a dad. Me? I pick her up and she starts screaming her head off." She huffed, shaking her head before continuing, "I just was not meant to be a mom."
"Artemis," Wally stated, his eyes narrowing a bit as he looked up at her. "This is all new to us, three weeks is not going to determine if you're a good mom or not. You will be, just give it time for you to get used to the idea."
"I had nine months to get used to the idea, thank you." She snapped, her walls of anger climbing high again. She sighed at the look on his face, "I'm sorry," she mumbled, "I just... I knew it would be hard, but not this hard. I thought either we would both be natural parents, or we would both suck. Not one of each." She told him, walking farther into the room. She went right up to him and looked down at the girl in his arms, sound asleep already.
"Here," Wally said quietly, standing, "Sit." He demanded. He was going to prove to her that she was a good mom, if he had to.
"But-"
"Sit." he insisted and, after a glare from her, she sat, looking up at him expectantly. "Hold out your arms... That's it." he whispered, carefully passing the bundled infant to her.
Artemis tensed up, terrified the child would awake and begin to cry. When the little girl was silent though, her green eyes still shut, her mother smiled a tiny bit, looking up to Wally. "See?" He whispered, crouching down to their height. "I told you, you're going to be a fantastic mom, babe."
She grinned and kissed their little girls forehead before doing the same to his cheek, "Thanks, Wally." She murmured happily.
"Anytime." He said softly, kissing the side of her head lightly before slowly backing out of the room. He grinned proudly, it was finally his turn to watch TV with the dog.