A/N: I don't own Young Justice… at least not yet anyway :) … and probably never :/
Wally was sitting in the living room after the news. The mission had been hard enough physically, but this had just knocked him over.
Robin was with the computer uploading scans he had taken and filling mission reports. He hardly seemed shocked; he probably had figured it out before all of them.
Conner was outside with Wolf. He'd taken it hard, the secrets, the lies. It had taken everything from him not to blow up when he heard.
M'gann was sitting outside watching Conner play with Wolf. She didn't know what to do. Should she me helping? Should she be stopping it? She had no idea what she would have done on Mars, much less what she would do here.
Kaldur didn't even know yet. He had been injured on the mission was in the medical bay resting. That's what had led to this, when someone had been hurt by it, and the strive to protect the rest of the team had overpowered judgement.
Zatanna was with her, telling her she could stay. She was reaching out, actively keeping their team together.
And Artemis… she was packing.
She'd told them everything about her past. About her sister, about her father, about her training and her life before the team and everything, and now she was packing. She said she was leaving, that she didn't want the team to be torn between their duty and their ability to trust her.
Wally sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. This was the longest he'd sat in a while. He stood up and walked down the hall. He didn't know what he was going to do when he reached her room, but he needed to talk to her.
He passed rows of pictures as he walked. M'gann had picked up photography as a hobby and the walls were covered with pictures of the team. He glanced at some of them as he walked. Just who was she? Teammate or assassin? Good guy or bad? Everything seemed so much simpler when he was just a sidekick. Listen to Uncle Barry, put the bad guys in jail, smile for the pictures. It was easier, but at the same time, he didn't want to go back to it.
He finally reached her door and found it wide open. Zatanna was still arguing with her, but the stubborn archer wouldn't listen. It was half opened already, so he pushed it open the rest of the way. Both girls turned to look at him.
"Look maybe Wally can talk some sense into your thick head." Zatanna said before walking out. She pulled the door shut behind her and left Wally and Artemis along. They stood there in silence for a few minutes.
"Just say it." She said.
"Say what?"
"Call me a liar and a sneak and some two-faced bitch. Go ahead and yell all those things you're thinking at me." Wally wanted to. He wanted to scream and yell at her and curse her out. But right now, watching her slowly pack her things and prolong every moment, he just couldn't.
"There's no way I'm going to let you prove me right." He said smiling at her. She completely turned away from him, "Okay, wrong thing to say, sorry." She threw a few more shirts in her bag, "Look I don't know what the right thing to say is. I just know… Arty you don't have to go."
"Yes I do." Wally grabbed her arm. She turned to face him.
"No, you don't. None of us think that."
"Conner does."
"Conner's 8 months old. He doesn't understand secrets and things like that, not yet anyway."
"Robin does."
"No he doesn't."
"He hasn't said anything."
"That's cause he already knew, Robin knows everything. If he was going to say anything, it would have been months ago when you joined." She didn't say anything. "None of us want you to go. You're a part of our team now; you're part of our family." Artemis slung her bag over her shoulder. She didn't have much here anyway, only a few changes of clothes and such.
"Good bye Wally." She said then, on a whim, leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. Wally turned to watch her walk away. Something boiled inside of him and he ran in front of her.
"No, no good bye." He said and pulled the bag off her shoulder to take it back to her room.
"Wally, give me my stuff back!"
"You can't leave! Especially now! You're going to walk out on us now? Zatanna needs you to be her best friend, especially since she just lost her dad. Robin needs someone he can be a ninja with because, even though he never says it, he gets lonely and fed up being the only one without powers. And Megahn and Conner and Kaldur need you. We all need you!" Wally took a step forward. "I need you." He whispered.
"No you don't." She said just as softly. "You need three times the amount of food a normal person needs and a new suit every other week because you trashed your old one in a mission. You need Robin to swing in to save your ass because you run in recklessly every single time. You need all of them and they need you, but none of you need me. There's a reason I joined the team last."
"What about Zatanna?"
"Batman planned for her to be on the team this whole time. I was the last one because I'm a charity case I'm just a replacement for Red Arrow." She said. Wally pulled her forward, throwing any and all caution to the wind, and kissed her soundly. She didn't kiss him back, despite how much she wanted too. She wanted to throw her arms around him and bury her hands in his soft hair, but she was determined to make this a clean break… but it wouldn't break. He kept kissing her, and the butterflies kept fighting her until finally she joined him, and ran her hands up his strong arms and wrapped them around his neck. They slowly separated, foreheads still touching. They stood there together, each breathing the other in.
"Please, don't go" He whispered. She bit her lip and smirked.
"I think I need some more convincing." Wally smirked and threw her over his shoulder.
"Wally West put me down!" She said hitting his back and laughing as he carried her and her bag back to her room.
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