A/N: Okay, I know it's been 2 years since I updated and there is no excuse for that, but as I already mentioned in my profile bio, I don't really have much time and energy for writing with everything going on in my life right now. Recently I felt like updating this story and here's what I came up with. Thank you if you're still reading it :* Reviews are always welcomed.
Disclaimer: Still don't own YJ.
Wally walked into the kitchen of the Wayne Mansion where Dick was drinking his morning coffee flipping through TV channels in case there was some crime report. Wally plopped onto a bar stool with a grunt.
"Why life sucks so much sometimes?" he asked rhetorically grabbing a cracker from a huge bowl.
"Hello to you too Sleeping Beauty. I take it you didn't convince her to stay?" straight to the particular topic Wally was unsure he wanted to discuss right now.
"She said it was a mistake." Wally sighed.
"Ouch." Dick cringed. "So what are you going to do about it?" It wasn't the first time they were sitting in this exact kitchen like this talking about Wally's girl problems.
"I don't know man. I just don't know…" he rubbed his eyes with his palms. "I should probably tell Linda I was with someone else, so she wouldn't want to renew our relationship. Again."
"She broke up with you again?" Nightwing raised his eyebrow. "Damn, that girl is crazy. No offence." He lifted his hands up in surrender.
"None taken. She really is. Especially now, after what happened between me and Artemis, I could never look at Linda the way I did. Artemis is just…. Man…" he sighed dreamily.
"Spare me the details." Richard wrinkled his nose. "She was my teammate, you know. I really don't want those images in my head."
"What do I do, Dick? Did she tell you where she was going?" Wally glanced at his friend hopefully.
"Actually no, she just thanked me for the invite and left. But you, my friend, have Nightwing for a best buddy. So finding her wouldn't be a problem." He smirked.
"Amen." Wally exchanged a high-five with Batman's protégé.
~XXX~
After some time of using the detective skills and powerful searching software Nightwing found what he was looking for. "Got it. I found her. She bought a ticket to Paris; the plane is taking off… uhh… fifteen minutes ago." Dick sighed.
"So I take it no cheesy chick flick cliché scene at the airport." Wally stated.
"Seems like it. Sorry man. So what are you going to do now?"
"I don't know… I want to see her again, tell her how I feel." Wally looked completely lost.
"And how do you feel?" Dick really wanted to help his friend. Maybe asking the right questions would do the trick.
"I… I don't even know how to explain it. I just… I'm not a teenager anymore who has a crush on her afraid to tell her about it. I want to see if this could work for us." Wally said with a frustrated sigh and threw a couple of crackers in his mouth.
"Well… it's a good thought, but I think you should come up with some better lines if you want to convince her." Nightwing patted his ginger friend on a shoulder.
"What do I do, Dick? Should I text her? Send an email? No… I need to tell her everything in person. I'll find the right words when I see her." Wally beamed. "I am going to Paris!" To be honest Dick wasn't surprised in the slightest. "When is the next flight?"
They looked through departure table on the airport website to see the closest flight in two hours was canceled. "The next available flight is in six hours. Are you going to take it?"
"Yes, I'm taking it. I am definitely taking it."
~XXX~
Being back in the apartment he shared with Linda he found it exactly how he left it the previous day. It was a mess. They had a fight, again, and Linda was running around the place throwing her stuff in a duffle bag. He didn't try to stop her. Not anymore. He'd seen it far too often. When she was yelling at him her usual accusations he didn't even listen. There was nothing new in what she was saying. A thought crossed his mind – why doesn't she keep all the necessities in her duffle bag anyway? Like people on the run do, ready to leave any minute. That would save so much time! But apparently Linda enjoyed this little play and the main role of a hurt girlfriend way too much. Thank God she left. He doesn't have to explain anything to her which would be very awkward.
He took a backpack from the closet and started packing. Wally didn't want anything to hold him in the airport longer than needed so he didn't take a suitcase on purpose. The backpack was the exact size that would pass for a cabin baggage.
When he finished a thought popped into his head that he probably should leave a note for Linda in case she comes back. Wally knew that he doesn't want to have anything to do with her anymore; especially after what happened between him and Artemis. The relationship with Linda was long dead and it was time to bury the corpse for good. He took a piece of paper and pen, twisted it in his fingers for a few moments. Writing a short note was harder than he thought it would be. After all they had their good happy moments once and he didn't want to be a jerk to Linda.
Wally sat down in the kitchen and brushed his fingers through his hair. This is tough. His confidence slowly started fading away. When he paid for the ticket and rushed to his apartment to pack he was so certain he's doing the right thing. He wanted to tell Artemis he wants to be with her, or at least try to express all of his feelings, let it all out. He realized he was tired of keeping it inside for all these years, he needed to let her know everything on his mind. But a small pang of doubt bit him. What if she rejects him? What if it doesn't matter to her? And never mattered? What if he's acting like a fool? For some reason this little note to Linda he had to write sparked all these doubts and apprehensions. No, he didn't want to keep Linda on the side as a backup plan in case in doesn't work out with Artemis. He just didn't know what to say. After all, they have been together for a few years; it's not something you just throw away. The longer he stalled the more he realized Artemis just helped him to finally open his eyes on his life. He's going to Paris and he will try to figure things out.
Wally was already renting this apartment when Linda moved in, so technically it was his place. Of course she paid her part of the rent but he was the one responsible to the owner.
"Linda,
I'm gonna be out of town for a while. In case you come back while I'm gone, please pack the rest of your stuff. I'm going to pay full rent for this month, but I'm going to move out the next one. Don't want you to lose anything you own.
Take care,
Wally."
He wasn't sure if he was being a dick leaving such a note on the fridge like they always did, but after all she was the one calling him names and accusing him in all possible sins the other day. He was just tired of caring about what she might think. She made it clear she doesn't want to be with him and this time he's going to go with it. No turning back now.
He made sure he took his passport, credit cards, phone and keys and left the apartment giving it one more glance.
On the plane he was lucky enough to have his seat located as far as possible from all the crying babies. He was sitting by the window looking at the clouds go by.
"What am I doing? Is it insane to go across the ocean to follow your teenage crush? What am I going say to her? What if she's not going to want to talk me? What if she's seeing someone else?" As the pile of questions grew bigger the more paranoid he became. "Argh, stop it, Wally! This is pointless. Ten hours flight, ten hours up in the sky, nowhere to run from your thoughts. You need to sleep." He said to himself.
After ten hours of bad dreams he landed in the Charles de Gaulle airport feeling completely broken. Great. Plus the time zone change. He passed through passport control and headed straight out of the airport. Thanks to Dick he had Artemis's address. He took a cab and prepared for the inevitable.
Wally knew Oliver Queen was paying for Artemis's education and rent, but apart from that he didn't really know anything about her new life. And once again he asked himself is he making a mistake? Is it worth it? What it might bring? Is she even thinking about him like he does think about her?
She lived on the third floor of a cozy house with no elevator. He stopped in front of her apartment door and didn't dare to knock for good five minutes.
She was a few hours ahead of him. She's as tired as him. She might be sleeping…. "Excuses." He thought to himself. "Get a grip, West!" he inhaled deeply and knocked on the door. There was no sound at first but then he heard some shuffling noise and finally the door opened. Artemis had an expression of an utter shock on her face once she realized who was standing in front of her.
"Wally?"
"Hey, can I crash at your place for the night?" He gave her a cheeky grin, the one that had the boyish charm to it he didn't know about.
"What are you doing here?" She seemed like she couldn't comprehend what was happening. She just took a very long flight from across the globe to hide from the fact she had sex with her teenage crush and this exact guy was standing at her doorstep five hours later.
"I … I need to talk to you. Can I come in?" She was so dumbfounded she took a step back letting him in. Somewhere in the back of his head he registered the unzipped suitcase in the corner, a towel on the couch in the living area and a smell of some herbal tea from the small kitchenette.
"Do you want some tea? It's a Vietnamese recipe, really helps me with jetlag." Apparently Artemis decided to play a good host.
"Uhh, yes please." Wally dropped his backpack near her suitcase and set on the couch while she took a second cup out of the cabinet in silence neither of them dared to break. She handed him a cup with a steaming drink and set in the chair across the couch.
"So?..." she drawled.
"So…" He sipped. "Hmm, this is good."
"Yeah, it's a family recipe." She nodded awkwardly.
"Nice…" he took another sip. They were sitting not saying anything for a few more minutes until Artemis decided she had enough.
"Wally, let's not beat around the bush. I know that you didn't fly across the Atlantics only for a small talk and herbal tea. Spill." She was tired and they were at her place where she felt a lot more comfortable than in Wayne Mansion, so her usual snarky attitude replaced the confused one from the "morning after" scene.
"Well, that was very straight-forward. Uhh.." he coughed clearing his throat. "To tell you the truth, coming here, buying the ticket and actually taking the flight was a pretty spontaneous decision, and I thought that I could come up with the right words on the plane. I mean – it's freaking ten hours after all." He chuckled nervously. "But I couldn't think of an articulate version of everything that's on my mind." When Artemis didn't say anything he continued. "Probably at the very beginning I should say that Linda just broke up with me the day before Dick's birthday party, so technically I was single at the moment we…" he stopped for a second thinking of a way to put it "…made love, and you don't have to worry about being the other girl. It's not like that at all."
She exhaled a breath she didn't register she was holding. For some reason it made her heart flutter when he said made love. She also felt relieved at the same time but a gnawing feeling of doubt still didn't leave her head.
"But isn't it too fast? I mean jumping in bed with another girl right after your relationship ended?" Even though she knew it is a break-up coping mechanism for a lot of guys, it seemed unfair to her that Wally acted like everybody else. For some reason she thought more of him.
"I know how it looks like… but my relationship with Linda started falling apart I guess more than a year ago… I don't even know why… We split up a few times and these breaks were more frequent lately. She even packed her stuff and left our place a couple of times, but always came back begging me to forgive her blaming those outbursts on fiery personality but I guess both of us knew deep down that's it coming to an end." He stopped to make a sip of a delicious drink Artemis has brewed. She was listening to him very carefully watching his expression. She needed to know if he still had feelings for that girl. "And the night before Dick's birthday she freaked out again. I was too tired of this to listen, too tired to care, so when she left I didn't feel any pain or regret or anything like that. I was just exhausted and frustrated she did this before my best friend's birthday, whom she doesn't really like actually." Wally seemed more relaxed now. This conversation was supposed to be about his feelings for Artemis but letting this all out about Linda seemed right. Artemis has to know the truth.
"I guess deep down I already knew I won't let her back in this time. So when I saw you… God it felt like time stopped. All I could think of was you." He looked up at her afraid of what he might see. She flinched. No one ever told her anything like this. But that tiny little voice inside her head didn't let her dive into these sweet emotions.
"Was I your rebound girl?" She asked him with a bit of bitterness in her tone.
"What? No!" His face looked so genuinely upset she sensed he was telling the truth. "That thought never even crossed my mind!"
"What was it then?"
"We should probably go down the memory lane here. You see… after the accident… when you died… I felt so broken… so hurt and wanted revenge so badly… When we all woke up I had to seriously think about what happened… Even Canary pointed out my extreme reaction to your death… I didn't know what was happening to me, I was in denial for a while but I guess a part of me already figured out I had feelings for you… Not yet clear and formed out but I knew I cared about you." He inhaled deeply. "But I was an awkward teenager and I didn't know how to tell you about it or even should I tell you at all? As you remember, we didn't get along much and admitting I actually like you even for myself was a hard thing to do. I was insecure and feared your rejection, that you're just going to laugh in my face and say you don't feel the same. I was a coward… And the longer I kept stalling the more agonizing it felt knowing I have feelings that you probably not going to reciprocate. And then you left. Just didn't show up one day… Artemis, you didn't even say goodbye." The archer felt a pang of guilt. "I was lost and confused and then I got so angry at you! The team lost a member and we didn't have an explanation from you. And I was also angry at you for leaving me with my unresolved feelings. You didn't even give me a chance to tell you about it." His heart was beating faster in his chest now as he was living through those memories over again. He didn't even know he still had that anger in him. He thought it was long gone when in reality it was just kept deep inside his heart sealed. "I couldn't fully focus on missions and it became clear I'm not suitable for the team anymore. So a year after, when I found out I got a scholarship to Stanford I decided to follow my other passion – science." He smiled for the first time after the conversation started. "Being in college was an incredible experience. I was a typical student, attending classes, going to parties, drinks, girls, studying for the exams all night long. Somewhere in between short flings I met Linda. She studied journalism. She seemed very cocky and smart. It felt like she had a witty comeback to every line I had to say and I was drawn to her because she was the only girl I met who could keep up the banter… after you…" An awkward silence fell after he said that. Apparently Wally didn't even realize it before he said it out loud today. Soon he continued. "We began dating and during senior year in college we moved in together. All was well at first. She found a job in a local Newspaper; I got a job in Wayne Tech. We felt very grown-up and mature. Honestly I don't even know what went wrong. We grew distant, had fights and broke up, reconciled and all over again. Feels like I'm talking too much about my ex, when I actually planned to make this conversation more about you." He chuckled nervously. "When I saw you at the party… and when you called me by the nick name you gave me on the very first day we met… I don't know, something just clicked in me…" He looked up at her to see her expression. "Artemis, I don't regret about what happened between us. I'm sorry if you do."
"I… I don't know what to think, Wally…" She trailed off.
"Then let me tell you what I think." He set his cup on a small table next to the couch and leaned in resting his elbows on his knees. "I enjoyed being with you. It was everything I dreamed of and more. The moment you kissed me I realized those feelings I had for you, they didn't go away, and they were always there… I like you, Artemis. And I don't care if it's right or wrong, I like you and I wanna be with you." He reached for her hand and entwined their fingers together. She didn't pull away. "I'm not that insecure sixteen year old goofball I was. I'm not afraid to tell you about how I feel right into your face. I wanna try this, try us. If you didn't feel anything the other night, well that would certainly break my heart, but I can't keep this hidden anymore. I need you to know how I feel and now you do."
Artemis couldn't understand what she was feeling at the moment, after everything he just told her. So much information. So he had a crush on her too back then. She's got an idea of a grown-up Wally and she liked being with him a lot. But… Why there always have to be a "but"? They liked each other seven years ago – yes. But they were just teenagers. Last night they had sex and it was awesome, but they were drunk, so they didn't really know what they were doing. How can he base a desire to be with her after just one drunken hook up right after he was dumped by his long term girlfriend? Artemis couldn't shake off the feeling she was a rebound girl. Teenage crush doesn't mean anything; it was a long time ago. How can he be certain he's not mixing the urge to finally get the girl he couldn't years ago with an actual affection? What if it's just a hunt for a high-school crush? But on the other hand… one night would be enough in that case… he wouldn't come all this way just to tell her that… right?
"What if it's just a temporary insanity? A fluke? Cause by all those old emotions and it doesn't really have anything to do with nowadays us? What if it won't work?" She finally said.
"We'll never know unless we try." He squeezed her fingers.
"So where is it taking us?" she asked hesitantly.
"Artemis Crock, will you be my girlfriend?" He slid from the couch to stand on his knees in front of her. The gesture made her heart swell.
"Yes." She smiled at him and he beamed back with that boyish grin she secretly liked so much seven years ago.
A/N: Thank you for sticking around and reading it!
I'm thinking about one more chapter, probably a smutty one, but I'm still not sure if it's necessary, so don't hold your breath :D
~ Roxy x
