You guys! Ohmylordy. Your responses to the first chapter of Knock Knock was like aslfkjasflakjfweifsldfkaa.
So I'm continuing it. Just a heads up, I think in the actual comics Ollie is 'Uncle Ollie' but pssh I want Grampa Ollie.
A/N: If I owned Young Justice Dick Grayson would join a swim team and be shirtless all the time. So yeah, I own nothing.
Dinah Lance is used to interrupted sleep. Phone calls, beepers, assassins, end of the world. The usual. Being part of the Justice League, little to no sleep was part of the contract. No seriously. It was in tiny, tiny print but it was there. Trust Batman to cover all bases.
But this phone call is different.
Firstly, it has Ollie up and out of bed within five seconds. And that in itself no easy feat. The archer is a heavy sleeper. Very heavy. And stubborn. The time Batman called an emergency Justice League meeting at four in the morning, Dinah was two seconds away from canary crying him out of bed.
Thank god she found the air horn she'd bought him as a joke last year instead.
Secondly, Ollie isn't putting on his Green Arrow get up so it's not Justice League related. Which makes it more intriguing and worrying at the same time.
"Ollie? What is it?" Dinah cracks an eyelid and sees her boyfriend with the phone clutched between his ear and shoulder while he tries to put a pair of pants on.
"Wally."
Wally? What on earth? Apart from Roy's intervention earlier, Dinah hasn't seen Wally since he quit. She assumed he was living it up at Stanford with Artemis. So why was he calling at five in the morning?
So many questions for so early in the morning.
Ollie indicates to the phone. Dinah can faintly hear Wally's incoherent babbling. He obviously hasn't noticed Ollie has stopped responding. Whatever is happened it's got the ex speedster really frazzled.
Ollie clicks the 'end' button. "We gotta go."
"To Palo Alto? Now? It's such a long drive." Dinah goes to her wardrobe and pulls out a pair of pants, a plain t-shirt and a jacket.
"We'll zeta tube." Damn shirts, they never button up right when you're in a hurry. He sighs and tries again.
"Wait." Dinah pulls on his hand, puzzled. "There's a zeta tube in Palo Alto? Since when?"
Ollie stop buttoning and avoids her gaze. "Since, uh…." Crap.
Dinah smirks and tries not to laugh. Busted. "Since you asked the League to install one?"
"Possibly."
This time Dinah does laugh and leans over to kiss her boyfriend. "Well I think it's sweet that you wanted to keep an eye on Artemis."
"It's not her I'm keeping an eye on. It's Wally."
Ah. Well, close enough.
Ollie looks down at his watch. "Come on. We gotta go."
"Hm." Dinah folds her arms in front of her chest. They have to go to Palo Alto at five am and she still doesn't know why. "Oliver Queen. What is happening? Why did Wally call you?"
"Roy."
"Roy what? What's happened? Is he okay?" After the failed intervention and the late night phone call and Ollie's behaviour now, her brain is making all sorts of wild conclusions. 99.9% of them don't end well.
No that's a lie. All of them don't end well.
"Lian Nguyen Harper." Is all Ollie says as he grabs her hand and half drags her outside. The night is chilly and the cold isn't helping Dinah's thought process right now.
Lian Nguyen Harper? What? Who is…and then it clicks.
Oh.
OH.
Oh my god.
I'm practically a grandmother.
Beeeeeeeeeeep.
"Mr. Queen? Hello? Hello?"
He's gone. Wally sighs with relief as he puts the phone call back on the receiver. Not the best phone call he's ever made, he's usually far more articulate. Usually.
He rubs his eyes tiredly. Any hope of sleep practically vanished when Roy knocked on the door. Wally sits down at the couch then groans as he remembers his unfinished essay.
He wonders what excuse he could use to get out of writing it. The truth?
Excuse me sir but I was unable to complete this essay due to my girlfriend's brother in law dropping off his infant daughter with us because he has to go with his estranged wife to find where the original version of him is being kept, because he is, in fact, a clone.
Yes. Perfect.
He stands up and prepares to suffer through the rest of the essay when Artemis walks into the room. She drops facedown onto the couch with an exaggerated sigh. Wally grins and perches next to his girlfriend on the arm of the couch.
"Rough day?"
"Smuf uhp." Artemis replies, her face still buried in the couch
"Hey it could be worse. You could still have to do your Vietnamese Lit Essay."
Artemis rolls over and sits up, pretending glaring at him. "Not helping."
Wally slips off the arm and lands next to Artemis. He puts an arm around her shoulder and she tucks her feet up before putting her head on his shoulder. They stay like that for a little bit; he comforting her, and her still freaking out about the fact that her sister actually had a baby.
And the fact that that baby is sleeping in her bed in the next room.
Spitfire, still a little confused about the events that have transpired, simply curls up at their feet. If it's one thing that dog can do is sleep through anything.
"You talk to Ollie?"
Wally nods slowly. "Yup." Talk to. Or blather at until he hung up. Same thing really.
"And?"
"I don't know he didn't say anything. And then he hung up on me."
Typical.
Artemis would never forget the face he made when she told him that she was quitting the superhero business to go to Stanford with Wally.
Perhaps she should have told him they were also going to live together then too.
Good times.
Artemis yawns loudly. The events of the night have left her worn out. "Well at least it's mostly sorted. I hope. But anyway, I'm going to go to bed. You're…uh…gonna have to sleep on the couch. Lian's on your side."
"Eh I'm used to it." Wally shrugs.
Oof!
Artemis wacks him in the face with the pillow. Wally mimes being hurt and she rolls her eyes before kissing him.
"You're a dork." She says, smiling through her obvious tiredness. Finding out you're an aunt really takes a toll on a person.
"I know." Wally grins back, leaning in for another kiss.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Artemis' smile quickly vanishes. "Now what?" She's thinking of putting a sign up that says: GO AWAY NIGHT TIME IS FOR SLEEPING.
Wally shrugs as he speeds to the door and opens it.
And there's Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance. Just casually standing outside like they're waiting to be invited in for breakfast. Except Ollie isn't smiling and they're totally not there for breakfast.
"Hi." Wally squeaks and then closes the door.
"What is it?" Artemis asks her boyfriend who rapidly backing away from the door. Even though she has a sneaking suspicion it's not a what but a whom. There are only two people in the world that can freak out Wally West. One of them is her mother. The other is Oliver Queen.
And her mother isn't the type to spring a surprise visit on them at five thirty in the morning.
Artemis sighs and gets up off the couch. She opens the door and sure enough, Ollie and Dinah are standing outside. Artemis: 1. She gestures for them to come in. Might as well get this over with.
They all stand awkwardly in the middle of the living room. Artemis wonders how to begin a conversation about how the child of your assassin sister and your brother in law, whom no one knew about until tonight, is less than ten feet away because her parents dropped her in your lap and are going to look for the person your brother in law was cloned from?
Because she assumes that's why they're here.
Not even mentioning the two people in front of you are practically the child's grandparents. Well, sort of.
"So…Roy and Jade have a baby."
How to start an awkward conversation 101 with Oliver Queen. Lesson one: get straight to the point.
"Um. Yes." Good start Artemis.
"And from what I gather from Wally's…phone call, is that Jade…Cheshire, has a lead on Speedy and they're both going to find him."
"Leaving us with babysitting duties." Wally finishes. "But I…I'm pretty sure I told you this over the phone so why…."
Awkward silence. This is going exactly as planned.
"Can we see her?" Dinah blurts out suddenly.
Oh.
Really? Couldn't they have waited until a decent hour?
Or called?
Artemis sighs, any hope of getting some sleep slowly vanishing. "Of course."
She carefully opens the door of the bedroom. Please be asleep, please be asleep.
Sure enough, Lian isn't asleep. She squeals happily when she sees Artemis and raises her arms like she wants to be picked up. Artemis obliges, sitting Lian on her hip. Lian looks up at smiles at her.
This is her sister's baby.
Her niece.
Christ.
Nope, still not over it.
Artemis watches re-enters the living room with Lian. All eyes turn to Lian who is happily chewing on the ends of Artemis' hair. Except for Wally who is looking sadly at his unfinished essay.
"Can I hold her?" Dinah asks, a little shyly, which is weird for someone who can turn your brain to mush just by opening her mouth. And if she doesn't open her mouth she could still kill you with one hand tied behind her back.
Artemis smiles and gently hands Lian over. Lian lets out a little wail but as soon as she's in Dinah's arms she stops and gurgles loudly.
"She looks like your sister." Dinah observes, smiling as Lian yawns and puts her thumb in her mouth.
"Thank god." Artemis jokes. "That hair is all Roy though."
"I think that was inevitable. I don't think that gene is recessive in the slightest." Dinah turns to Ollie and grins, "Want to hold her Grampa Ollie?"
Artemis laughs. Grampa. She was so going to wind him up about that some other time.
"I…uh, sure?" It's kind of funny really, watching giant Ollie try to cradle tiny Lian in his arms. Hand a man a baby and suddenly he forgets how to hold anything. Hand a superhero a baby and it's like giving Superman kryptonite.
It's a nice moment for about a second until Lian, sick of being handled so much, begins to cry. Ollie looks helplessly at Dinah who suppresses a smile.
Artemis steps forward and takes Lian back. "Time to go back to bed I think."
"I'll help." Dinah says softly, stroking Lian's forehead. She's glad Ollie half panicked at Wally's phone call and rushed over. This child is adorable.
She's totally going to volunteer for babysitting duties next time.
And every time after that.
While Dinah and Artemis take Lian to bed, Wally stands awkwardly with Ollie.
"So…" Wally starts. He isn't scared of the guy who taught his girlfriend over fifty ways to kill someone with an arrow. Nope. Not at all.
"I'm glad you called." Ollie says suddenly, taking Wally by surprise.
"You," he squeaks, "you are?"
"I mean if we had turned up and seen Lian without an explanation, what conclusions would Dinah and I have drawn? And I like you too much to beat the crap out of you."
Wally chokes on his own spit and turns bright red. "Yes…I mean no! I mean…no sir, Green Arrow, sir."
Ollie lets out a deep laugh and slaps Wally on the shoulder. Wally shoots forward and almost falls but manages to stay on his feet.
"I'm kidding! For a speedster you sure can't take a joke."
Wally coughs. "Heh. Sure. Joke. Of course. I knew that."
"Right." Ollie says, somewhat sceptically. "So are you two going to be okay with Lian for…however many days she's going to be here?"
Wally rubs his hands over his face tiredly. "I think so. Apart from food," he begins ticking things off on his fingers, "and clothes and diapers and food and going to classes and bedding arrangements and food…"
"I get the picture." Ollie laughs before pausing. "If you want I could get a crib or something for her tomorrow?"
"Really? Thanks! That would be great! You'd think I'd be used to sleeping on the couch by now, but, you know."
"I do know." Ollie winks at Wally knowingly, just as Dinah and Artemis enter the room.
"What?" They ask simultaneously, immediately noticing the suspicious grins of their respective partners.
"Nothing."
"Uh huh." Neither of them is convinced but they let it drop.
"Well I guess we'll be going now." Dinah says, a little wistfully and Artemis can tell she's really taken to Lian.
"I'll organise that crib delivery for later today," Ollie says, more to Wally and Artemis wonders what they've been talking about.
Wally grins. "Sweet. Thanks."
"If you need anything else, call. Really." Dinah says, just as Ollie opens the front door.
Artemis gives her a quick hug, "Of course. I'll be sure to offer your services to Jade next time I see her." She pauses, "After I kick her butt."
Everyone laughs as Ollie closes the door behind Dinah. They step into the cold morning and stand on the front porch for a moment, both still sort of reeling from the events of the night.
"I want one." Dinah whispers sadly. She doesn't offer anything else but it's clear what she means.
Ollie takes her hand and kisses her on the forehead. "I know."
As soon as Dinah and Ollie have gone Wally and Artemis wearily collapse on the couch.
"I am so tired."
"Tell me about it. And I still have to finish my essay."
"Poor Baywatch."
Wally crinkles his nose, "No, don't bring that back. Please. I only just got Nightwing to stop using it."
Artemis smirks before a massive yawn almost splits her face in half. "Ugh I am way too tired to argue with you."
"And that's how I win these things. Come on." Before she can protest Wally scoops her up and carries her bridal style to their bedroom.
Lian is curled up on Wally's side, surrounded by pillows so she can't roll off. Her thumb is in her mouth and she's snoring softly. Kind of like Jade did when she was a kid.
Wally puts Artemis down beside the bed and kisses her.
"Night babe."
Artemis gets into bed and pulls the duvet over her shoulders. "Night…Baywatch."
"Oh you're evil."
"I know."
Wally looks back and smiles at the sight of Artemis and Lian in bed. He's never used the word adorable to describe anything but in this situation, it fits.
He can't wait to sleep in his own bed though.
Back in the living room Wally sits down at the table and pats Spitfire on the head absentmindedly while he mulls over his essay. It's only then he sees Artemis' essay right next to it with a note:
You owe me.
x
Wally grins, "Babe. You rock."
Next up: I don't know. You guys decide!
Also I recently got tumblr (so late to the party) but I'll be posting updates and the occasional drabble on there so you know...just a heads up :P
imaginaryvigilante dot tumblr dot com
*shameless self promotion*
Oh also if anyone would like to be a beta for this story I would love you 5eva!
