Gaze Into My Eyes Where The Fire Starts
by Cerulean Leader
For my best friends, J and K. You'll probably never read this, though, because I won't tell you guys about it and to everybody who supported me with Heartstrings. This one is for you guys, too. :)
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Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or DC Comics. :)
Warning: None
"If you're going to raid the fridge, could you leave something for me and Lati?" a voice whispered, startling Wally and causing him to hit his head on the top of the refrigerator, rubbing it with a groan. He looked up at her, smiling sheepishly with his eyes going all innocent. She was just looking at him with a smirk while she attempted to braid her hair once again.
He quickly finished swallowing the piece of cheese he had shoved into his mouth before his wife came out to seek where the warmth of his body had got too, and reached over to pull her into a hug. She had been looking ridiculously tired lately, with the college lectures and taking care of their baby taking up a bit of their time. She sighed in content as his arms enveloped her slightly chilled form and was pulled against his bare chest.
"Mm…" she moaned, closing her eyes and nuzzling his skin before pressing her lips right in the middle of his lean muscle set gently. "I miss this…" He responded by kissing her forehead tenderly, continuing to hold onto her tightly.
A whine interrupted the moment the two were having, and Artemis groaned as she disentangled herself from Wally and walked towards the sound. "Beautiful, why don't you go get some sleep? I'll go see what's wrong with her." The speedster suggested, coming up behind her and ushering her back towards the bedroom they shared. "I'll be there soon. You need the sleep more than I do."
Artemis smiled at him gratefully, and he rubbed her shoulder before heading in the directing himself towards their daughter's room. The baby was sniffling now, tears forming at the corners of her apple green eyes. She let out a cough at the sight of Wally, reaching a hand up towards him while he leaned over the cot and smiled down at her.
"Hey, there, pumpkin." He smiled, stroking his finger against her soft cheeks. Small fingers curled around his, making his heart swell up in pride. He couldn't help it. She seemed to have stopped her tearful endeavour, now staring up at the redhead. "C'mon, Lati, close your eyes." he whispered, his husky voice seeming so tender, like a petal to the harsh winds during the rain. "Don't make me sing, we all know how bad my voice is."
"Are you sure she or Brucely won't bother you today, Mary?" Artemis asked as she wheeled the pram into the living room of her in-law's home, their pitbull following. His tale was wagging in excitement because it was not often that he spent the day somewhere new. Usually he was just snoozing around their home. Senior year of college had grown really hectic for the little girl's parents, who was beginning to walk (more like run, driving the two insane because she was just so cheeky - Atlanta was honestly like a mini-Wally; a full bundle of endless energy), and they had final exams coming up. Upon hearing this, Mary had jumped at the chance to babysit her grandchild. "We don't mind having them at home."
"Nonsense, sweetie. You two need to study, now you go do just that." the ginger-haired woman laughed, and smiled at her daughter-in-law when she kissed the older woman on the cheek. Rudy wasn't going to be home, working until he came home to his wife, so only the two West girls would be 'hanging out', like Lati's grandmother liked to call it.
Artemis quickly gave her daughter a kiss on the forehead, and a scratch behind the ears to Brucely who barked in response happily. "Alright, thank you so much." she said as she left, closing the door behind her with a mournful look at Lati who was beginning to tear up at the sight of her mother leaving.
The older woman sighed, her granddaughter was extremely attached to her parents, much like Wally had been with herself and Rudy. As soon as they dropped him off somewhere, he would waddle over to the door and bang on it for an hour or so before tiring himself out or something more interesting came along.
Speaking of her son, seeing him on television once again, running around with Barry and Bart was nostalgic. Ever since Wally had returned from the 'dead', his powers had increased, even going as far as being faster than both his uncle and his cousin. Artemis, while they had been over for dinner the night before, recalled the way that Atlanta seemed to recognise him on the news as well when all three speedsters made their way onto the camera. It was kind of cute.
The media had gone to calling Wally "Flash II", him even going as far to don a very similar costume to his ex-mentor. Some people didn't understand that there were now in fact two heroes using the same name, like the Green Lanterns, and just thought that the scarlet speedster could be in two places at once.
To them, though, it wasn't that hard to tell the difference between the two speedsters. They both ran differently out of habit, their attitude they allowed the world to see and just their costumes in general.
America loved their speedster hero, and with two of them running around now, it caused the uproar of fans to double even further.
With the announcement of their diplomas and all the cheering that could be heard in the audience at their graduation, it was highly doubtful that Wally or Artemis would be able to forget that day very easily.
After Artemis had been called and walked across the stage in a red gown, and a matching graduation cap, she waited patiently for Wally to join her, as his name came after hers now that she had changed her last name to match his after they had gotten married just a few weeks after the birth of Lati. After he walked up and shook hands with the announcer, he had let out a loud yell of "Yeah!" (much to the embarrassment of his parents, but humour of everyone else) and jogged to meet up with his wife, of whom was scooped up in a hug and spun around with a laugh.
"Wall-man," she said, her voice husky. "C'mon, time to be quiet, you science dork."
He just chuckled in response, waiting as all the other people in their year lined up near them. "But I'm yours, ever since I put that thing on your finger." he answered her, lacing their fingers together affectionately while she glanced down at them with a smile.
"Here you are, ladies and gentlemen, the graduating class of 2017!"
All the students looked at each other, with Wally sending his wife a wink, before they all began to throw their graduation caps into the air. No one could see anything except the red in the sky and the excited people on the ground who were relieved to be done with college and final exams. Paula was holding her granddaughter who was standing in her lap, trying to get a good view of her parents while she clapped enthusiastically. The year-old girl's green eyes were lit up in excitement, her small piggy-tails bouncing while she moved around.
"Lati, sweetie, sit still."
The photos were entertaining too. As soon as Dick and Conner saw Wally, they doused him in a bucket of water, a tradition that had risen from M'gann's tale of what the Bumblebees did to her when she got inducted into their cheerleading squad back in high school, and their little group of friends had done it ever since. One can only imagine the 'impressed' look on Mary's face when she went to take a photo of her son with Artemis. They all found Wally's mother a little intimidating, even Conner, who also had the decency to smile sheepishly like Dick did.
Barry had only let out a booming laugh in response while Iris chased after the twins who had gone to seek fun with Lati.
Artemis had been tackled by the girls, Zatanna and Raquel each choosing to jump on the girl's back at the same time, making her tumble over with a loud shriek and a few giggles from M'gann. Kaldur just shook his head while Amistad stood beside him with a confused look on his face.
"Dad, can I jump on someone like mom is to Aunt Artemis?"
"No, son."
Strangely or not strangely enough, Lati was possibly the closest to Amistad, despite their obvious differences in behavior. Even though they didn't live in the same area, Lati would often see her friend when Kaldur came over for dinner, when Artemis was out on patrol with Arrowette or just when their parents organised play dates between the two. It was cute watching Amistad trying to chase the little speedster.
Being three years old, both of them had wild imaginations. Wally would often catch the two playing with his chemistry set in his lab downstairs at their house because the two wanted to play 'Mad Scientist' because of those weird cartoons that Raquel would allow them to watch on television, or riding around with fake horses and cowboy hats.
Apparently, Kaldur had also begun to teach his son about the his hydrokinetic background, which often made Lati a walking target, by accident of course, when Amistad decided to put these teachings into practice.
They were also smart, both of them, as they often devised plans to get on their parents good sides when they wanted something.
"Do you think I could get my dad to teach me the Wind Funnel because he does it better than Bart?"
"Your mom used food, right?"
Pre-school was fun for them too. Especially when they made new friends. Whenever Amistad saw Lati's room where she had stuck up a collaboration painting that she had done with another kid during the day, his mint-green eyes would water slightly, but the two would forget any conflict immediately between them when they found something else interesting.
Cissie enjoyed spending time with Lati, too. The amount of photos that Artemis found of her daughter and her sidekick on Facebook together was overwhelming ("I'm not whelmed, not whelmed at all."), especially when some of them included Bart in them as well, pulling utterly silly faces or their eyes just lit up from the enthusiasm. With the two of them at seventeen now, they had entered a relationship (with Bart subtly or not so much implying that he had liked the girl for a while.
When Lati had heard the story of how Cissie had only agreed gone out with him because she had lost a bet from Cassie and Tim, and how she had continued to date the other speedster ever since, the little girl was unable to stop laughing for a good hour, even when Artemis had told her off because she sounded like she was cackling. Not to mention, Amistad had also been there at the time and had looked absolutely disgusted at the mention of Bart and Cissie kissing (because of cooties, c'mon, the kid was three) and even holding hands with a girl.
Which also explained the weird expression Raquel had gotten from her son when he walked in on her and his step-dad cuddled up together in their bedroom.
Wally experienced his first challenge as a father when Lati came home one day from school announcing that she had to choose a boy to give her Valentine card to someone at school which the students in her class had been making for the past two days. He had literally fallen backwards on the swivel chair he had been sitting at, letting out a pained groan when Artemis came rushing into the room, holding a spatula.
"Wally, what are you doing?"
"Babe, I think we have a problem."
Not to mention, Wally and Artemis' two year old son, Jay (who was named in honour of the first Flash who had died a few years ago), was now also beginning to show his powers as a speedster, something both of his parents were hoping wouldn't happen because there hadn't been any signs of him being one while she was pregnant with him or for his first two years of life. He had been relatively easy child until he learned of his abilities.
The kid wasn't as hyperactive as he older sister, definitely a lot more shy, but did enjoy frustrating his poor mother nowadays, especially now that she had his undivided attention when she had days off work and Lati was at school.
"She's too young to have a boyfriend! She shouldn't have one until she's at least thirty!"
Artemis just rolled her eyes at her husband, tugging on the ponytail that was beginning to fall out, mentally noting that she should get it cut soon because it was beginning to grow towards her hips once again, sitting now just at the curve of her waist. "She's six, relax. I don't think that there's going to be any boys in and out of here anytime soon."
Wally was glaring at his clenched fists that were sitting on top of the mahogany tabletop. "Amistad has to stay away from her too."
"They're best friends. My gosh, you sound like Roy. We all know how bad he is with Lian."
This didn't stop Wally from scowling and calling up his daughter's school in annoyance, though.
Tibbar was fun. Zatanna and Dick had gotten the little white rabbit for their godson when he turned four, and he honestly couldn't have been more excited. When he eagerly asked his magician godmother what 'rabbit' was backwards, she had responded with the word, and from then on, that's what the carrot-eating animal was known as.
Brucely found the rabbit to be funny. He enjoyed lying down next to Tibbar's cage in Jay's bedroom, snoozing loudly and Lati and Jay found it funny when their dog's ears would prick up at the slightest amount of sound. Lati would enjoy holding her brother's pet in her small hands, her green eyes bright while she watched him nibble at the lettuce Jay offered him. She never demanded her own, though, which was good.
Bart had gone on to tell the younger members of his family the embarrassing things he would have to put up with whenever he and Wally would go on patrol together (even going as far to tell them some things that Barry had told him about Wally). The redhead had not been happy when he found out about this either.
They would often to get Cassie and Cissie to babysit them at the Cave, now that it had been re-built, with M'gann and Conner keeping a close eye on the speedsters as well, when Artemis and Wally were out.
Amistad had been taking classes in Atlantis, something that made Lati upset because she hardly ever got to see her best friend anymore. It was frustrating for the girl, who had a temper to rival her mother's. Hardly ever seeing her friend was not fun.
"Mom, do you think that I could go to school in Atlantis too instead of going to normal school?" Lati had asked one day when she sneaked into her parents room one night. Wally was out like a light, sprawled on majority of the bed with his arms around Artemis before the blonde pushed him away so that she could make room for their daughter.
The onyx-eyed woman just stared at Lati with a sleepy expression. "That's not necessary. You'll see him, Lian and everybody else soon, okay?"
Jay spotted his sister kissing a boy for the first time when he was ten. She was fourteen.
"Oh my gosh!" he yelled, tearing his eyes away and the dark hair on his head almost flying off as he turned around from the scarring picture of his older sister's awkward first kiss. She was taller than the boy, him standing on a spare brick he must have found beside the school building. They both had their eyes clenched shut, their lips puckered as well as they leaned in, almost reluctantly.
Jay knew that this boy liked Lati, but that didn't stop him from letting out the disgusted shout. "Jay!"
He had also been too embarrassed to look her in the eye without turning red for a week. Artemis, almost instantly, had caught on that something weird had happened between them, so she didn't hesitate to pester both of them until they coughed up the information she wanted.
"I saw Lati kissing a boy!"
"Jay saw me kissing a boy from school!"
Artemis raised an eyebrow, surprised that this was the first she was hearing of it. Usually, her daughter would tell her everything, but apparently she was getting to the stage where she would start to keep secrets, even if they did share a close relationship.
"Look, guys, it's a normal part of life. The amount of times I caught my sister kissing a boy was seriously ridiculous, and I was a lot younger than you, Jay, when I first found out what kissing was. Now that I think back on it, I was actually your age when I had mine." she said thoughtfully, shuddering at the memory of kissing Cameron by accident. She had given him CPR one time when they he had fallen unconscious, and then the two had pursued a proper relationship when she was about fourteen for a year before they broke up when Artemis wanted out of the family business. Then Wally happened. "What do you think dad and I do when you're not around? Just sit there?"
"Ew, mom, not helping!"
The blonde woman in front of them just laughed. "Sorry, anyway, you're both getting older so there's nothing to be ashamed of. Jay, you're a lot more mature than this, so I know you can handle this situation properly. And you, young lady," she said sternly, pointing a finger at her daughter. "I would appreciate some insight next time. If you like a boy, or someone has asked you out or whatever, I would prefer not to be kept in the dark."
Lati giggled, twisting a strand of her strawberry-blonde hair around her forefinger. "Ba said you did it all the time. How long after you started going out with dad did you tell her?"
"In my defense, your dad is a wuss and didn't ask me out until a month after we kissed for the first time, no matter how many hints I dropped."
This was the same year that Lati decided she wanted to stop being Kid Flash, and graduated into the persona of 'Impulse', though was still under the guidance of both Wally and Bart, leaving the yellow and red costume for Jay to wear. His first mission when he joined the Team was a success, hardly embarrassing himself at all ("I beg to differ!" Lati had disagreed while laughing, with Amistad just punching her in the shoulder when he saw her brother scowling). Even the new Robin, Damian Wayne, had been impressed with the boy's self-restraint, which, according to Dick, was something to be proud of because Damian wasn't easily impressed by people.
He had warmed up to the position pretty quickly, and at least didn't get a hard time about replacing the original 'baby Flash' like Bart had when he first took up the mantle all those years ago. The media actually managed to get the title right, even though he didn't like getting interviewed because of his shy personality while he stood behind his grinning father who spoke confidently and made it look easy.
"How do you do it, dad?"
"Just be confident. Look, I know it's not as easy as it sounds, but you'll get there eventually. You're a great kid, just be yourself."
Brucely's death was devastating to them all. He wasn't just their dog, he was a member of the family. Wally was probably hit the hardest though, because of all the months the pitbull had spent with him while Artemis had been on the undercover mission with Kaldur when he was twenty-one.
He had been sick for a while, growing old and only padding around the house with his tongue hanging out as he inhaled his last breaths. They had buried their beloved dog in the backyard, and Amistad had helped Lati and Jay build a small tombstone one night when he had stayed over to comfort his best friend. The two had been close since birth, and now at the age of seventeen, even more than ever.
Jay was thirteen now, wanting to become independent as well so he just shut everyone out really. Even Dick, his godfather and probably the man he was closest too other than his own father, couldn't get him to talk.
It also didn't help when they found out that Paula was dying either. Artemis tried to spend all the time she could helping her get better, even forcing the paraplegic woman to move in with them, but their grandmother knew her fate already, and did it just to humour her blonde daughter. Wally would hug her at the most random moments and then Artemis would walk off to calm herself down, often taking her husband with her by the hand and Lati and Jay could hear the muffled sobs through the wooden door.
It was a downward path in their lives, an extremely sad time.
Their Aunt Jade came over a lot to see her mother as well, to "make up for the lost time", she had said. She didn't bring Lian, though, because the girl was way to emotional for her own good because of a bad break up with Damian, the little prick.
But they were supportive of each other, even Jay after Lati knocked some sense into him (literally).
"I think we did a good job with them, beautiful." Wally stated one day, out of the blue, while he reached over to hold his wife's hand. She was finishing off some paperwork that needed to be handed in to her boss the next day, and momentarily paused to glance at him.
She smiled back, squeezing his hand in response gently. "I love you, you know that? I'm glad that I can wake up every morning to see your face, and know that my life is perfect just because I know you're in it. We have two amazing kids, and we've set up a pretty good life for ourselves. So, I think we've done better than 'good', so far."
He just raised an eyebrow at her response.
"Even after all the trouble I caused when I was stuck inside the Speed Force?"
"Tugging at my heartstrings again, Wall-man." she laughed, leaning over to press her lips to his.
He couldn't wait to be an old man with her by his side, knowing that with everything that they had gone through together, that they were strong enough and would always have someone to look forward too. He had always wanted this type of relationship, to be like all the adults in life, and everyone knows that Artemis definitely felt the same way. It was her own little fairy tale.
They were happy, and it was going to remain that way, for as long as they both shall live, now and forever.
~Long live Spitfire.
A/N: You know, the casual angst at the end. No biggie. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed this. It was supposed to just be a one-shot, but I kind of made it the epilogue after the epilogue of Heartstrings, even though that hasn't been published yet. And I just randomly created Jay on the spot, like, however long it was that i began to write that scene about her Valentine and blah blah. Lati's been around for a while, now, so nothing really knew with her. Except that she took on the Kid Flash and Impulse mantle than the one I had created as her own. But that's another story. :)
Uh, if there's any mistakes, please don't hesitate to point them out. I like my writing to be realistic as possible, and I often miss my own grammatical errors.
Reviews are definitely appreciated! :D Please consider leaving one.
Word Count: 4,002
Thanks for reading,
~CL