Wally: Lost looooves review, Lost loooooooves reviews, Lost looooooo-

Me: Wally, shut up.

Wally: Somebody's high strung. -sing song- Lost is hiiiiiigh strung, Lost is hiiiiiiiiigh strung-

Me: Please ignore us and enjoy the story. Thanks for all the reviews/favorites/alerts! I love you all.

Wally: Lost looooooooves me, Lost looooooooooooooooooves me!

Barry took a deep breath. And then another. And then another.

Robin watched him from his position in line with the rest of his teammates, minus Wally. The brand new eight-year-old was still sleeping peacefully in the infirmary. It'd been a good thirty minutes since the battle with the monster, and Robin knew that his mentor would probably be in the lab, poking and prodding the samples he'd taken from the transformed scientist, if the complications of the mission hadn't been so… complicated. But Batman stood in front of them, positioned slightly behind Barry as if to let the Scarlett Speedster have point in the lecture.

Flash had gotten to Mt. Justice in fifteen seconds flat, all the way from Siberia where he was helping Wonder Woman save endangered tigers. Robin knew how passionate Wally's uncle was about endangered animals—it meant a lot to his wife, Wally's aunt Iris. But it was also understandable that his nephew came first. And this situation was a bit more unique than the other messes Wally'd had gotten himself into.

"How did this happen?" Flash said, slowly and carefully, sinking his teeth into every syllable.

Kaldur started to step forward, but Artemis held him back. "I saw what happened," she said, raising her chin. "Kid ran to me as I was trying to fire another arrow at the monster. There was this high pitched noise, and he shoved me out of the way of another yellow beam. The beam glanced off his back and he fell to the ground."

Megan spoke up at that point. "I'd been hit with the beam, too," she said. "It stung for a minute or so and kept me down, but I wasn't affected like Wally was."

"Neither was Superboy," Robin pointed out. "He'd been hit point blank and he's definitely not eight."

Barry closed his eyes from behind the cowl's eye pieces. When he opened them again, he stared long and hard through the infirmary's window at his nephew, who was curled up, red hair ruffled, green eyes closed. "I'm going to check out those samples," he said. "Something in that blast did this to him, and I'm going to find out what. Batman can help me." It was more of an order than a request, but Batman nodded silently, as always.

He paused and looked back at the team. A slow smile, slightly wicked, spread across his face. "As for you five, you're on baby-sitting duty. Alert me when he wakes."

The groan could've been heard from space.

…

"He's kinda cute," Megan giggled as she leaned over the bed to tuck the pillow under Wally's head. Wally stirred, but didn't wake up.

Artemis thought he looked absolutely adorable, but she'd never admit it aloud. As a child, Wally had an innocence to his that was almost heartbreaking, and his hair was a lot redder, as if that was possible. "Yeah, he's alright," she muttered, looking away and crossing her arms.

"Man," Robin said, laughing his signature cackle that drove everybody crazy. "Wally's gonna flip when he wakes up. How's he supposed to flirt with anyone if he's eight?"

"Duh," Superboy said, speaking up for the first time. At everybody's look he shrugged and went back to reading the magazine he'd gotten from the side table by the waiting chairs. "Girls dig the younger guys."

"Really?" Now Robin's face just looked hopeful.

"No," Artemis said firmly. "Not even close."

"Well, I think he's cute," Megan said, gushing. She even leaned over to give Wally a kiss on the forehead, when suddenly the kid's eyes flew open.

Startled, Megan backed up a couple steps as Wally turned his large, bright green eyes towards her, and then looked around the room. Robin got up and grinned at him. "Of all the messes you've gotten yourself in," he said, "this takes the cake."

Wally started screaming, voice full of terror as he scrambled his tiny legs in an effort to climb up the bed. "Kidnapper!" he shrieked. "Crazy kidnappers in costumes! Bad guys! Where's my mom?"

"Wally!" Artemis yelled, running over to block his escape as he leapt out of the bed. "Wally, chill out! We're your friends, remember?"

"Back off, lady," Wally shot at her, "I know karate and I have the Flash's phone number on speed dial!"

"You don't have a phone," Superboy said coolly, picking up Wally by the scruff of his too-big shirt. Wally screamed again and slipped out of the shirt, dodging him and making a beeline for the door. Robin was there in an instant, grabbing him in a bear hug and carrying him back to the bed.

Wally sat there, shivering, but did his best to glare up at the teens. "Where am I?" he demanded. "Who are you? Where's my mom?"

"Your mom?" Robin was the first to speak up. "Wally, your mom is—"

"What did you do to her?" Wally yelled. "I swear, if you hurt her, I'll—"

"Wally, calm down," Megan said soothingly. "Nobody did anything to your mom. She's fine, okay? And we're your friends. Don't you remember?"

"I've never seen any of you before in my life," Wally said. His voice was thick with venom, despite the fact that he hadn't even hit puberty yet. He peered up at Superboy, recognizing the logo. "Wait," he exclaimed. "You're not Superman."

Superboy's fists clenched. "You're right, I'm not."

Wally's face clouded. "You're some kind of an anti-Superman, right? Look, I don't know what you want with me, okay? I don't cost a lot of money! My dad—" He broke off abruptly and looked away. "We don't have money, if that's what you want."

"We don't want money, Wally," Kaldur said in his soft, soothing tone. "We're your friends."

"How do you know my name?" Wally demanded. "Why do you keep saying that? If you're my friends, let me go."

The team exchanged glances. "We can't do that, Wally," Kaldur said slowly. "You're sick, and you have to stay here in the infirmary."

Wally crossed his small arms. "You're lying. I can tell when people lie, and you're lying."

"Then tell me this," Artemis said, crouching down to get eye level with the eight-year-old. "Am I lying when I saw, you're our friend, Wally, and we're yours?"

Wally glared at her, arms still crossed. His bright green eyes faded a little bit and he bit his lip. She wasn't lying, but he didn't confirm it. Instead he looked away and said, "I want my mom."

"Then let's see if we can get your parents here," she said, starting to stand. Wally grabbed her hand and pulled her back down. This time his eyes were bright green with insistence.

"Not my parents," he said. "Just my mom."

Artemis blinked, confused, and Wally let go and crossed his arms again. He was hugging himself this time, she noticed, instead of it being a defensive gesture he'd used so much as a teen. Artemis looked at Robin, who knew him the best, and the Boy Wonder shrugged.

"Okay, Wally," she said softly, standing up fully. "Just your mom."

"Superboy will stay here and keep an eye on you," Kaldur said, waving at the dark-haired teen. Superboy scowled at Aqualad, but he shook his head. The four walked out of the infirmary room, the door sliding closed behind them.

…

"I've got it." Batman's quiet voice broke through Barry's reverie. He was remembering Wally as an eight-year-old, the first time he'd met his nephew. He didn't think he could handle going through that again.

Barry dropped everything and sped to Bruce's side, peering over his shoulder. "What is it?"

"The sample of your blood reacted the same way the sample of Wally's did," he said, picking up a vial of orange liquid. "The yellow beam of energy basically sped up the molecules to the point of a vibrating function, so fast that it reversed the age of the organs and the rest of the body and reverted him back to the size of a child."

"That's never happened to me before," Barry pointed out. "And I can't count the number of time I've been hit with an energy beam of that magnitude and still have fingers and toes left."

"Dr. Boyle's powers were altered by the Blockbuster theorem," Batman theorized. "We've never been up against a formula like that. It was probably a bonus that Wally was already speeding up to a vibrating function as he was hit with the beam."

"Okay," Barry nodded, accepting the idea, "so how do we reverse it?"

Batman looked at him.

"Forget it," Barry said darkly, "he's not being an eight-year-old again. It would kill him."

The other hero sighed. "We're going to have to stimulate the molecules again, see if we can reverse the process. I'll need another sample of your blood, however."

Barry rolled his eyes. "Just do it."

"Aqualad to Flash."

Barry tapped his ear. "Go for Flash."

"Kid is awake." There was a slight pause on the other end of the line that made Barry's stomach do flip flops, even as Batman stuck the needle into his arm. "He is a bit different than anticipated."

"How so?"

Another pause. "He seems to have the memory of himself as an eight-year-old."

"Oh." That was bad, Barry guessed. "He doesn't recognize you?"

"No. He tells us he wants his mother. Is there any way we can contact her?"

Barry's heart dropped to his toes. "No, um… she died a couple years ago."

The pause was even longer this time. "Oh. That is unfortunate. What about his father?"

"No," Barry said, and his voice was a lot darker than he meant it to be. "Keep him there, I'm on my way." Barry looked at Batman, who was through drawing his blood. "You hear all that?"

Batman nodded. "If he has the memory of an eight-year-old—"

"He probably thinks he's still living with his dad," Barry said grimly. "I'll be back soon. Let me know if the tests are successful, okay?"

Batman didn't bother to reply—Barry was already out of the room.