"Tigress to League. Coordinates have been sent."
The temperature was dropping and they were stranded in the middle of nowhere, last time the coordination's had given off their location they were a few miles off the shores of Santa Prisca. Batman had ordered a small covert team to head over and investigate a new shipment of possible Kobra activity. And at the same time he'd insisted to send one of their newest recruits out for some field experience.
"Any response, Crock?" the boy in the domino mask demanded.
"Robin, for the last time out in the field its Tigress." She sighed, "We have our secret identities for a reason."
"Yea, like anyone doesn't know I'm the Bat's son stuck on some babysitting mission." He grumbled to himself.
"Damian!" She hollered after him as he climbed back off the ship.
She followed after him and as her head reached the surface of their small vessel, she began scanning out for the young boy wonder but he was out of sight.
"Everything alright?" he was soaking wet as he climbed back onboard to join her.
"Kal, you're back." She said wrapping herself from the cold night air. "Please tell me you have good news."
"Depends," he sighed "did the League receive our coordinates?"
"Not sure." She said shivering through her teeth. "I sent the distress signal and to our last traceable location, but all of our locating systems were ruined."
Their lead from Batman had ended up being no good. They arrived and found the island empty. No guards, no experimentation, no sign of any Kobra activity whatsoever. Kaldur eventually decided the mission was a failure and they should head back to report to the League. But as they departed off the island, some abandoned automated system designed for intruders must have gone off. The vessel managed to avoid major damage but their navigation system started failing when they realized they were miles off course. Now they were stranded in the middle of the night and it was getting colder by the second. And it appeared there was no sign of any rescue coming anytime soon.
"What do we do now?" Artemis said.
"Get to land." He answered.
"But –"
"I was able to find a small deserted island probably half a mile from here, just straight ahead." By now he was searching for any gear they would need to take with them. "We can start a fire and if we haven't heard anything from them by morning then we figure out what to do."
He was explaining the plan out for her but she remained silent.
"Come on," he said turning back to her, "Damian already went ahead, said he could manage with a re-breather he had on hand."
"You go ahead," she turned away from him, "I'm good here."
"Artemis, I'm not leaving you out here alone." He walked up close to her and turned her around. Her soft blonde hair was loose and she'd removed her mask, but there was no hiding the look of fear in her eyes.
"You might have overlooked something…"
And then it hit him. How careless of him, he'd completely forgotten. She noticed when he put the pieces together and let go of his hold, "I'll be fine."
"I'm not leaving you behind and you know that, I'll carry you," he held out his hand for her, "I promise you'll be fine."
Artemis smiled.
After checking for any other extra gear they might need they headed back down to the end of the vessel. Kaldur dove in first and quickly resurfaced back up for Artemis. She'd always wondered how he managed to do these types of kind gestures time and time again. Finally she grabbed onto his cold wet hands and held on tight as he secured her onto his back. Since he was carrying her, she had to hold onto the supplies they gathered. They water was extremely cold for her body and she shivered closer to him. He then felt her wrapping her arms around his neck in a secure fashion. The blonde realized she would probably not feel much of a chill if she'd kept her armor on. But it would only make it harder for Kaldur to carry her, so she stripped down to her civies; an extra t-shirt and some jeans she'd brought along.
"Are you doing ok?" Kaldur called out to her.
"Can't feel my feet…" she replied in a chilly voice.
Kal immediately reached for her legs, gently picked them up and had her wrap them around his torso area. Their body heat collided together and it felt reassuring knowing he was by her side.
"Better." She whispered close to his ear.
He nodded back.
Artemis remained quiet for a while and Kal busied himself with his own thoughts. Their team was growing every day and over the last few years they had added several more respected members. And from afar standing as their leader he watched his closest friends change around him. It wasn't until over a few months ago that he really got a good look at Artemis. Compared to their earlier years when her hair was long and free, she now kept in short and loose. And he respected her as both his teammate and longtime friend. But then their insane drinking game happened.
It really had been Zatanna's idea. It was shortly after Karen and Mal had accepted the League's invitation to become full time members. So to celebrate some of the Junior and Senior (present and former team members) had gathered for the occasion. The night had been full of joy but by the end of it they had reduced down to a drinking game along with an inane battle of truth or dare. In truth most of them were light headed and drunk but Zee had insisted the game continue. Kaldur had managed to avoid most of nonsense by answering truth for almost the entire time. But by three in the morning he was the opposite of who he was. Finally it was back to his turn and Ze to asked the question. "Kaldur, truth or dare?"
"Come on we all know it's time for our round of truths with Kaldur." Dick joked and totally wasted.
The group hollered out giggling with an outburst of laughs. So he took a drink from his beer bottle.
"Not this time," he answered, "Come on Ze what do you dare me?"
Everyone cheered at hearing this new challenge and Ze got up and insisted he get up on his feet too. "I dare you Mr. Team Leader to –"
He then felt her cover his eyes and spin them once then twice around the room.
"Ze, you're gonna make him barf or something." Artemis called out sluggishly.
"Plant one – on my best friend."
Kaldur landed right in front of the blonde thanks to Zatanna's assistance; and approached her side.
"Listen Kal you don't have to do this if you don't –"
She was cut off as his lips collided with hers. He could feel the room around him grow quiet but didn't care. According to the game this was just an innocent challenge but it didn't feel like it anymore. Not to him. Finally he pulled away from her and looked her in the eyes.
"– want to." She finished, with eyes completely taken by surprise.
Some of the members of the group were giggling behind them too drunk to take in the dare that just took place. Kaldur tried to push the look on her face out of his mind and turned back to Zatanna, "so who's –"
Suddenly he felt Artemis tug a portion of his shirt and pull him back to her. Then she crushed her lips to his once more and kissed him back as if her life depended on it. The group then broke out in hollers of whoops and cheering at what was happening between their friends.
But before anything could move any further they heard the arrival of Black Canary.
"What is the meaning of this!" she yelled, "Everyone break it up now!"
Everyone then began to scatter and the two of them pulled apart from each other without a word. Immediately after this everyone began to scatter and head back home through zeta tubes. The only one who didn't manage to escape Canary's bickering was Kaldur.
"Kaldur! Care to explain." She insisted.
He went off into giving her pieces of information but everything was so jumbled and confusing in his head. "Oh god, are you all like this?" Canary shook her head but he was unable to clearly listen to her because his eyes were looking straight at Artemis who was helping Zatanna pull herself together, heading into the zeta tube. She sent her friend through in first and then quickly turned back to meet his eyes just as the beam announced her exit and she was gone. The next morning most of them had woken up hung over and with headaches. Kaldur pulled his thoughts of the night before together and remembered their kiss. When he tried to track Artemis down she was gone off on other missions for several days and by then he just pushed the thought aside. Until now.
"Hey, are we getting close?" she spoke up quietly next to his ear, breaking his chain of thought.
"Yes," he assured her, "we're nearly there."
She sighed close to him, "not because I'm frightened or anything, but I can feel your heart beating. Its running really fast, sure you're –"
"We're here." He said intentionally cutting her off.
They reached the shore of the island he'd been referring to and placed her down gently. He was hoping he could keep it under control but having had her so close to him it was enough to make his heart go wild. He left her a few feet behind and walked ahead.
"Kal, wait a minute," she called out as she chased after him, "could you just tell me what I've done wrong?"
"Nothing"
"Nothing," she scoffed out stopping in her tracks, "then why can't you even look me in the eyes?"
At her words he turned around to face her. Her eyes were hard on him and she was still dripping wet from their swim. There was only silence between them. Then a voice spoke up interrupting the tension.
"And I thought Grayson had problems." Damian announced from around a corner where it appeared he had dried off and was now standing beside a warm fire.
Neither of them said a word as they walked over to him. The boy wonder only looked at them for a moment then went back to turning the fire. Artemis found a spot near the boy and sat down feeling the heat warming her body instantly.
"Hey Crock," Damian spoke up, "anything in that gear we can use for food?"
Artemis glanced at the pack beside her then turned to answer him, "sorry kid – unless by any chance you got a pizza speed dial button in that utility belt of yours."
"I've mentioned this to Pennyworth," he replied, "said he would look into it and consult my father."
While the two had been speaking Kaldur must have disappeared somewhere into the island, because when she looked back up he was gone. She hugged her knees and pulled them closer together, as she sighed loudly. Burying her head into her knees she just wished this entire mission was over.
"You two are horrible sitters by the way." The boy wonder said still busying himself with the fire.
"Kid, come on for the last time it's a mission."
"Oh I may not have been on real missions for this team yet, but I've been on patrol plenty of times with Grayson, and this is nothing." Artemis wanted to tell him he was misunderstanding things but instead she listened as he continued, "he's just doing this to keep me busy, he thinks I can't handle myself. And who's he kidding I don't belong here."
"Damian," she paused before continuing and waited for him to look her way, "don't you ever allow yourself to think that."
He frowned at her, "why do you care, Crook?"
"Because I remember being just like you." At her words he perked up, "becoming part of the team was probably one of the most challenging things I've ever had to do." The Bat brat still glared at her wondering where she was going with this, "but I don't regret a single minute of it."
Damian huddled close to her and Artemis didn't question this she simply accepted his strange embrace. He laid his head down beside her, after a few minutes with hearing nothing from him she figured he'd drifted off to sleep.
But after a short while she heard his hushed words, "you're hopeful."
She moved in closer to hear him but he pauses then and finally continues, "That's probably why he likes you so much."
Artemis felt the heat rising in her face, "Damian, what did you just day?"
And with the kid being a part of the family full of bats there really was no use arguing considering that after a few pokes she confirmed he was asleep.
She sat there poking the fire for who knows how long until she perked up noticing an incoming figure. It was Kaldur.
They met each other's eyes but it was Artemis that ignored him and went back to stirring the fire.
Kaldur circled around her and placed a handful of cut up coconut slices by her side.
She took one look at it and looked back up at him, "isn't that a little cliché?"
"If you don't want them I'll be happy to eat them." He replied.
"Whatever." She turned away and placed her hands closer to the fire. It was awkwardly silent between the two of them so after a while she began to lower her head and decide to let sleep come.
But as she was closing her eyes, he finally spoke up."
"I'm sorry."
The blonde turned to listen to him but didn't utter a sound.
"It's just I –ah" he sighed and pulled his hand to his face, "I wish you weren't frightened of the water."
"What?" She finally spoke up.
"Well at least you're finally talking to me." He chucked, although she still sent him this cruel confusing look. "It's just all of this sounded way better in my head about five minutes s ago."
"Just say whatever you need to say…" she mumbled out.
A fire spark cracking was heard and a moment of silence set in before he could answer.
"Fine," he waited another second before he spoke up, "…I think I'm in love with you."
Speechless. Nothing. There wasn't a single thought in her head.
"….what?" She quietly gasped.
"Remember the night of Karen and Mal's celebration, the drinking, and the game?"
She stood there letting everything sink in and unable to form any words together. He was still staring back at her but was now smiling. "So I'm not upset I just think I'm in love with you."
Finally he was able to pull himself up and he started taking a few steps away. He figured his best bet was to walk away and let her think everything through. But he didn't expect to have her pull him back.
"Kal wait," she stood up and came closer looking him straight in the eyes, "that night. You mean after all the drinking and getting wasted you were serious? You weren't just messing with me?" She continued. "I mean we were drunk, we were confused and it felt like you didn't know what you were talking about."
"You really think I would mess around about something like this?" he felt his tone rise without really meaning to but she was standing there asking if he was using her. "Look I apologized about earlier but that night is something I'm not sorry about."
He turned around once more and this time started walking back towards the shore.
"Except I kissed you back."
Kaldur slowly looked back as she silently reached up to him.
"And I meant it too."
The breeze blew a cold wind then and she wrapped herself around his arms then they inched their lips close to one another's as they kissed and really meant it this time. After one another followed and another kiss and another.
"Hey, I'm trying to sleep over here." Damian jumping awake hollered out.
Later after returning the boy wonder to sleep they swam back up to the vessel and had the ship to themselves. By morning the bio-ship had arrived and Damian simply pointed the team to their direction.