"You are looking radiant as ever," Icicle Jr. drawled, his eyes grazing her form, "it's been a few years, beautiful. The second I heard about what you were doing these days; I knew it had been a trick. In all our time together, I never would have pegged you for a snitch." He spat the word, in their line of work, in the line of work Artemis had been raised in, it was one of the worst forms of insult. It didn't help it was true. Even though she knew it had helped, and she knew it was necessary, and that going under cover like that was something the good guys did... It was different from the training her father gave her on how to kill a man with a single blow. It was a life lesson, a moral code of a different level than the league of shadows. A code she didn't know she would ever loose.
"Well we didn't really chat a lot on our dates, Cam." She practically growled out.
"Wait! You dated him?" Wally shouted. Artemis only turned and glared at him, "wait. Wait." He was obviously processing the conversation that had just happened. "The one you wouldn't tell me about-" He paused as if a thought stuck him on the head, "it was HIM!?" He pointed a finger in Icicle Jr.'s direction.
"She never told you about me?"
"Can we NOT do this right now, Kid Jealous?" She asked, no more like informed, before running towards her ex-boyfriend and roundhouse kicking the smirk off his face. Wally zipped around Icicle Jr. and tied his hands behind his back before Artemis had repositioned herself to make another hit.
She huffed when she saw Cam had already been taken care of before glaring at Wally who only shrugged his shoulders in that infuriating 'well what did you expect me to do' way of his before he opened his mouth, "And I'm NOT jealous." He said before speeding off to help Zatanna.
The battle continued and everyone was getting exhausted. Robin had been knocked unconscious, quickly followed by Batgirl. Gar had tripped over the feet of a new animal and was now on the defensive. But at the very least, they had retrained a number of the bad guys. It was in that small sense of accomplishment that Artemis saw Wally run towards her and fling her out the way. She landed with a heavy thud on the ground a few feet away. Scrambling to get up, she saw that Nightwing had Killer Freeze on the ground, and that she had just shot a large icicle at Artemis, only Wally had pushed her out of the way in time. And was now lying on the ground, groaning in pain, with an icicle sticking out of his side. Once Killer Frost had been tied up, Nightwing made his way to the couple. Artemis had taken her boyfriend's head into her lap and was applying as much pressure as she could around the fast melting ice. "It's not going to stay long. Normally I would say leave it in until we get back but-" But his fast metabolism, which was no doubt working overtime to heal himself, was turning it into a puddle of water. They had no way to tell if anything vital had been hit, and could only hope he wouldn't bleed out before getting back to Mt. Justice.
As soon as they landed Black Canary rushed him to the medical bay. None of the team was allowed in while she and Red Tornado did what they could to save him. Artemis watched as The Flash, among a few other League members, made their way to the cave. They made their way to the med bay, and Artemis followed. She certainly deserved to be in whatever waiting area they were all gathering in. She refused to let them be the only ones who heard the news first, whatever that news would be. Then she saw they were all heading into his room. Suddenly furious Artemis stormed through the door, past Batman, and practically pushed Flash out of her way. "You MORON." She shouted at her boyfriend, who had the good sense to look sheepish at least. "What the HELL were you thinking?" She noticed Wally looked around at the surrounding adults, as though one of them might tell Artemis to calm down, or that he wasn't in any condition to be yelled at- which he wasn't if the bloodied rags beside the chair were any indication. But that only fueled her anger more. He had practically bled to death. There were at least three rags drenched in red. Her eyes bulged and she saw Wally in her peripheral look from her to her line of sight and back quickly. "Artemis." He said gently. She vaguely registered the whoosh of the door sliding and the sudden decrease in other bodies in the room.
She felt hot tears on her cheeks and rubbed them away, she walked closer to where he was propped up. She didn't dare touch him, too afraid she would cause even more pain, not even knowing what areas of him were unharmed. "I was fine! I could have-"
But he didn't let her finish; with obvious great effort, he lifted his hand and put it to her cheek, fingers brushing her hairline. "And I'll be fine too. Fast healing remember?" He nodded down to his injury which, while still looking worse for wear, was actually looking slightly better than it had in the field.
"You're still a giant idiot," she said, letting his smile calm her down.
He laughed quietly, the pain obviously still too much for him. Artemis's smile dropped and her hand hovered over his wound, "It's alright. Missed anything major. I should be better in a day or two, given no excessive activity." He winked at her and she gently swatted his shoulder. "Speaking of." He made to reposition himself before deciding that was far too painful an endeavor and settled for taking her hand in his.
She sighed heavily and let herself collapse into the chair that was beside his bed, catching herself before the wheels brought her too far away. "Wally, I-"
"I'm not jealous." She looked up and saw that he was staring right at her, determination all over his face. "I'm not. I just don't understand why you thought you couldn't tell me." His voice was gentle and... hurt.
"I don't- I don't know." She was quiet, not even sure herself why she felt she couldn't tell him about her history with Cam.
"Is this like with your family?" He asked. When had they decided to whisper?
She shrugged, realizing that it was exactly like with her family and he knew exactly how to interpret her.
She heard a grunt and looked up to see him forcing himself to sit up, off the bed, and reach his other arm out to her. He practically dropped it onto her neck after the force it took to move it at all, but as his fingers twisted into the fine hairs at the top of her neck, she melted into his touch. "I love you, Artemis. Everything about you. Even your history." She leaned forward and neither wasted any time turning the kiss she planted on his lips into a passionate embrace that was only stopped with a wince and sharp intake of breath when she went to put more of her weight onto his chest.
"Sorry!" She winced when she saw his expression.
"So worth it," he wheezed out as he let her help him back into a lying position.
She chuckled and the two sat in silence for a few minutes, lost to their own thoughts as their fingers intertwined and twisted about. Until Artemis came to a decision. She dropped her hand from his and stood up. "I want us to leave the team." She didn't know where it had come from, and yet also knew that she had been debating bringing it up to him for some time, if only subconsciously.
"What? Babe-" He was silent as his mind raced for all the reasons they shouldn't, and that leaving wouldn't work out, and would horrible, and how without them the world would crash and burn. But he couldn't come up with a single damn reason either of them HAD to stay on the team. It was as though he had been waiting for one of them to finally cave in and admit what they had both been hinting at for months, he realized.
All those late night talks, the constant stress. All of it. Both of them had wanted to broach the topic with the other for some time now, he realized. It seemed it took a near death experience to bring it about.
"Not-Not permanently. But for a little while." She wasn't looking at him, instead staring at her hands that she kept wringing over and over. "Until we graduate." Until she could get over seeing him fading fast in her arms.
They both knew it could never have been permanent. He had too many responsibilities, and she had too much to prove. But a temporary hiatus. A few years to get their lives together, to have a normal life. He wouldn't be lying if he said he hoped they'd never return to it. A normal life with Artemis. A two-story house, kids playing with the dog, a white fence. He could get used to the idea. He could get used to it real quick. He nodded absentmindedly before a thought occurred. "It's on you to tell Nightwing."