Artemis stared at the circle of people in front of her. All of their eyes were trained solely on her. They seemed to be gazing a her with eyes clouded with both question and sorrow. After about two minutes of silence, a matronly woman, named Kathryn, finally spoke up.

"Honey, it's okay."She smiled understandingly, "We all know what you're going through."

Artemis crisply nodded and sucked in a deep breath before shyly waving.

"Hi," Artemis started shakily, " My name is Artemis Crock. This is my first time at the support group, and I'm here because some one close to me has very recently died." A collective sigh of understanding chorused across the group, but no one said anything, they expected Artemis to continue.

"Um…I…U—'' Artemis stuttered at a loss for words. But luckily, a guy, who looked to be in his late thirties, saved her from her stumbling.

"What was their name?" He asked kindly

It took all of Artemis's training not to start crying right then and there. But she could muster up enough strength to say his name, right?

"Wally." Artemis muttered staring at her hands, "His name was Wally."

"What was your relation to Wally?" Bella, a woman in her late forties—who also happened to be the leader of the group—asked.

"He was my…uh boyfriend, this past new years would've been our 5 year anniversary."

"And if you don't mind me asking…uh…how exactly did he die?"

That's when he silent tears started. Artemis knew she couldn't tell them, and not just because it was classified.

"I.. I'm sorry…I….I can't d..d…do this." Artemis choked out between sobs.

Kathryn empathized, "For me it was my wife, Mary, she died only a few years ago. I've been coming to these support groups ever since."

Artemis just nodded

"I think I'm g…gonna go." She groaned

"You don't have to stay, but know that our doors are alway open." Karen consoled.

Artemis just stood up and walked out the door, but not before hearing the whispers. The sympathetic whispers that followed her everywhere. She thought it would be different here, but of course it wouldn't be. Wherever she went everyone looked at her in sadness and the murmurs of 'Oh poor girl!' And 'that's such a tragedy followed her wherever she went. The only place they didn't follow her, was here on the messed of streets of the Gotham Slums, or as Artemis liked to call it…home.

It was snowing. The frosty white flakes seemed to be mocking Artemis, who only had a light jacket. Also, Artemis couldn't stand snow, or cold weather. Not after what happened in the arctic. It was near Valentines Day, so the flowers, hearts, and chocolates everywhere only reminded her more of him.

The bitter cold was miserable, but it was also a way to numb the pain. A way to cloud her vision from the multitude of chocolates, from the teddy bears with little love notes attached to them, and from the love of couples that had never experienced the pain of losing a loved one.

From the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of a man following her. He was in all black, and seemed to only have a crowbar. As far as she could tell there were no gun-sized bulges on him, so he seemed to be relatively unarmed. And she needed a way to get her anger out. He was gaining on her, so she stopped and let him catch up, then she ducked into a dark alley, where she would be 'helpless' to defend herself. Oh, this should be fun.

When Artemis was done with him, he had about 3 broken ribs, a leg that definitely wasn't supposed to bend the way it was, a black eye, about 2 broken fingers, most likely some internal damage, and more cuts and bruises to count. But Artemis didn't have a mark on her. She didn't even need her crossbow for this idiot. Pathetic.

She left him out side of an alley with a simple note of 'your welcome' attached, if she was lucky the Gotham police would just pin it on Batman. She smoothed out her hair and headed down the street as if nothing had happened. The scream's of bystanders first noticing the body filled her ears as she walked calmly down the street, a smile on her face.

She had finally turned the corner to her mom's apartment, when a cocky voice sitting on the railing of her steps filled her ears.

"Tsk tsk tsk, I thought leaving random bodies in the street was below you Artemis, I'm truly disappointed."

Artemis scowled, "Shut up Dick. And don't pretend like you haven't vented your anger a bit. I saw what you did to the members of the 76 gang."

"True, but your supposed to be the mature one, you are older after all." Nightwing joked twirling his baton in between his fingers.

"Cut the crap Dick, why are you here?" Artemis heaved

"Is it so bad for a friend to want to visit another friend, just for the sake of doing so?" Dick asked sarcastically.

"When it's you, yes." Artemis deadpanned.

Dick sighed standing up, "Let's go inside, shall we." He motioned toward the door to the complex, which of course he had a key for.

When they got to Artemis's—or more specifically Artemis's mom's—flat Dick took off his mask, and his whole facade seemed to crumble. His usually electric eyes, seemed to have fizzled out to a dull blue, his eyes had dark bags under them, and he just looked so, helpless.

"Oh! Dick, I didn't know—"

"Artemis, I'm gonna stop you right there." Dick said tiredly holding up his hand. "I know I'm a mess, but quite frankly you are too, I know I'm broken, but you are too, and I know I'm hurting but so are you! So can you NOT give me that pity speech that I know you've been getting too!" Dick choked out.

"Then why are you here!" Artemis demanded

"Art—"

"No Dick, you got your little rant, now it's my turn! For once you need to shut up and listen! Yes I am broken! But at least I haven't spent the last few months going on a wild goose chase, trying to find one stray thread! Because Dick, you need to accept something!—''

"NO!" Dick yelled pleading with her to stop

Artemis looked at Dick with tears streaming down her face, but that didn't deter her in the slightest, "YOU NEED TO GET IT THROUGH THAT THICK SKULL OF YOURS—''

"NO! NO!" Dick bawled slamming the ground.

"WALLY IS DEAD!" Artemis screamed sobbing. Dick looked at her in agony, "And he's never..never..coming back."

And they don't know how it happened, but then they just cried. They don't know how long they were there. It could have been 15 minutes, it could have been 2 hours. But even though it helped, it was like trying to patch a dam with duct tape, it wouldn't hold forever.

Finally ,Dick said something

"One last try—"

"Dick, no—"

"No Artemis listen, we try this one last thing. If It doesn't work I'll admit he's dead.

"And if it does work." Artemis pressed.

Dick smiled, "If it works, then we get Wally back."

Artemis stared at him contemplating, for what to him felt like 12 hours, but in reality was about 30 seconds.

After an eternity, Artemis sighed

"Fine I'll help you, but you need to do me a favor first."

"What? Why do I owe you a fa—"

"GO TO SLEEP!" Artemis yelled throwing a pillow at him, but then her voice softened into a joking tone, "Grayson, you look like hell."

"Right back at ya, Crock." Dick laughed laying on the couch with a pillow. "You know what maybe a bit of sleep would help. But, Artemis when I wake up you have to help me."

"And when you get up, I'll be more than happy to oblige. But until then, get some sleep."

But Dick didn't hear half of what Artemis had said, he was already out cold.

Artemis smiled, and went to her child hood room. She din't even bother changing into pajamas. She just took a seat on her bed, and gazed up at the Alice in Wonderland poster.

"What happens if it doesn't work? Jade, what if I get my hopes up, and then he doesn't come back. Or worse what if he comes back as broken as I am? I can't see him like that Jade, I just can't." Artemis sighed in defeat

Artemis allowed one more stray tear to fall down her face, remembering the feeling she got when Barry told her that Wally was…that he was…gone.

"Maybe I should just take my own advice and get some sleep. And I should probably stop talking to a poster, and pretending like it's my sister." Artemis looked at the poster sorrowfully, "It's not like you'd care anyway, but just in case you do, Good night Jade."

Artemis crawled into her old twin bed, and allowed dreams of a certain red-haired speedster to lull her into a peaceful sleep. And as she slept, she remained blissfully unaware of the black-haired assassin looming outside her window.

The assassin sighed, "Good night, little sis. And just so you know, I never have, and never will stop caring." The assassin forced herself to take her eyes off of the sleeping blond, and disappeared into the night, just like the Cheshire Cat.