Artemis

Wally, what the hell?

"Sure, Beautiful. I totally believe you."

Oh, shit.

Why would he say that?

Maybe he was just messing with me?

Maybe he… meant it?

I have no idea what to do right now. I'm lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, wide awake with no idea what to do.

I shouldn't care. I shouldn't be confused. I hate Wally. Who cares if he thinks I'm pretty? I hate him.

Don't I?

I have to hate him. I can't like Wally West. He's so arrogant and whiny and flirtatious and oblivious and cute and obnoxious and…

Wait a second.

Cute?

Wally West isn't cute.

I mean, sure, the red hair thing works with his personality and he's got the body of a speedster which definitely isn't a bad thing and I've always had a thing for freckles, but that doesn't make him cute.

Oh, wait.

"Damn it." I say it under my breath, but it sounds a lot louder in my head.

I, Artemis Crock, think that Wally freaking West is cute.

When the hell did that happen?


I open my eyes to find myself somewhere else.

It seems that I finally fell asleep, and as I look around, I'm in the middle of some sort of fancy restaurant.

There's a guy across the table from me. He's smiling. That's all I can see. The rest of his face is blurred out.

Stupid cryptic dreams.

I look down at myself and I see something really weird.

I, Artemis Crock, am wearing a dress. A really, really nice one.

That's new.

I don't think I even own a dress.

I hear myself talking to the guy. Laughing.

I feel myself smiling, too.

Happiness is practically radiating off me. This guy, whoever he is, has actually made my cold exterior melt.

He's laughing with me. He reaches across the table, grabs my hand, and squeezes it.

I feel myself smiling. I really, really wish I knew who this guy was.

"Artemis, I love you."

I blush. And now that I think about it, this guy sounds a lot like…


And I wake up. My train of thought is totally gone now. I have no idea who I thought that sounded like.

I try to shrug off the dream, but as I lie in bed, wide awake, I can't.

Who could that have been?

For all I know, somebody I haven't met yet. Or somebody that doesn't exist.

But still. That was… special.

I look at the clock next to my bed. 4:13 in the morning.

I yawn and go to make myself some coffee. I would have woken up pretty soon anyway.

My surprise when I walk into the kitchen is that Wally's already there.

We're both silent for a minute, remembering what happened just a few hours ago. He's eating a sandwich, and I'm making my coffee.

He speaks first. "Sleep well?"

"Eh. Not too bad for being up at four in the morning."

"Can't argue with that. It is awfully early. Why're you up?"

"Weird dream. Couldn't get back to sleep. You?"

"Same, actually. I'll share if you do?"

"Nah. This one wouldn't make sense to you. It doesn't even make sense to me." That's true, but he doesn't have to know why.

"Try me."

"I'd rather not."

He nods and drops the subject.

He speaks again a minute later. "Any plans today?"

"Nah. I don't think we have training until later, though. Maybe around six?"

"Yeah, I think that's it. Listen, Kaldur's in Atlantis again, Dick's doing his whole Dynamic Duo thing, and I don't want to think about what Conner and M'gann are doing, but it's definitely not appropriate. So I was going to go to some festival they're having in Central City - rides, food, all that good stuff - but I have nobody to go with. Would you want to, um, well, uh…"

I smirk. "I'll meet you at the Central City zeta at ten. It'll be fun."

"Yeah. And do you, um, maybe wanna go to dinner after before training?"

I can barely keep from laughing. "Wallace, are you asking me out?"

He shakes his head violently. "No, no, no, no, no, purely platonic."

I raise an eyebrow. "And would you be paying for this purely platonic meal?"

"I guess so?"

"Doesn't sound so platonic… but I'm not one to turn down free food. It's a date. A platonic date." I'm enjoying how flustered he is right now.

"Um… great! I'll meet you at ten!" He speeds off, and I start walking back to my bedroom, smiling.

And then I stop dead.

I just agreed to go on a sort-of date with Wally West.

I take a detour and knock on a door.

A bleary-eyed Martian opens it a moment later. "Artemis, it's 4:30 in the morning. What could you possibly need?"

"IjustkindofagreedtogoonasortofdatewithWallyandIdon'tknowwhattodobecauseihaven'tdoneanythinglikethisbeforesopleasepleasepleasehelpmeM'gann!"

"English, please?"

"I'm going on a sort-of date with Wally and it all happened so fast and he was asking and I was saying yes and M'gann what do I do?"

Suddenly, she's not very tired anymore. "When is this happening?"

"Ten?"

"You're telling me I only have five and a half hours to get you ready?"

"It takes that long?"

"Get in here, Artemis. We have work to do."


"Conner, you have to help me! It's Artemis, for crying out loud! I don't even know what I was doing!"

He sighs. "Get in here, Wally. We have work to do.