"...ster? Mister? Mister!"
A gentle shake was what awoke Wally out of his fitful slumber. With a quiet groan, the man slowly peeled open his forest green eyes, his gaze blearily meeting a nearly identical pair. For a moment, he was confused but as his sleep-addled brain gained more awareness, the events of the previous day caught up to him.
The kid. Right.
Wally sat up and stretched-man, his back was killing him-while yawning widely. He glanced at the kid. Apparently some time after she had awoken, she had taken her hair out of its ponytail, causing it to fall in a cascade of golden waves down to her waist, albeit messy with sleep. She wore the exact same pink knit sweater dress with black leggings that she had been wearing the day prior however, but she had taken off her twinkle toes skechers, leaving her feet only in her white low-cut socks.
Wait, he was getting off track.
Wally made a face as he detected a certain scent, "Is that...smoke?" he asked.
With her green eyes still shining, Arlynn nodded innocently, too innocently, "Mm-hm. Your toaster is on fire." she said in a matter-of-factly tone.
It hardly took Wally a second to process this, "What?!"
He leapt up from the couch, all traces of sleep escaping him as he scrambled to the kitchen, barely remembering to not use his powers in front of the kid. Sure enough, the toaster was on fire. Wally searched his kitchen relentlessly for a moment as he sought out the fire extinguisher which he knew was somewhere around there, and upon retrieving it, he aimed it at the toaster and pulled the pin before squeezing the handle, effectively smothering the fire.
After a moment, Wally breathed a sigh of relief as he placed the fire extinguisher down, now taking the time to mourn his toaster. Arlynn peeked around the corner of the room cautiously.
"Is the fire out?" she asked.
"Yeah, no thanks to you." Wally knew that he was being unreasonably short with the girl, but he was tired, hungry, and now he couldn't even make himself some toast for breakfast.
"I'm only five and three quarters years old! What was I supposed to do?" Arlynn replied defensively.
"I dunno, maybe tell me before the whole thing went up in flames?!"
"How was I supposed to know that would happen?!"
Wally opened his mouth to reply before realizing how ridiculous he was acting. You're arguing with a five year old, West. Get ahold of yourself.
Sighing exasperatedly, he ran a hand over his face, "Fine. Whatever. How'd you even manage to set a toaster on fire anyway?" he asked.
Arlynn shrugged, a clueless expression on her face, "I don't know."
"You don't know?!" Wally stopped himself and took another breath. He was doing that a lot now.
"Okay. Fine. What were doing with the toaster before it caught fire?"
Arlynn gave him a look as if he had asked something completely ridiculous, "Um, making toast. Duh."
God, were all five year olds so mouthy? Wally had a newfound respect for his parents and everyone else that tolerated him as a child. Knowing that this conversation would get him nowhere, Wally changed the subject.
"So are you hungry?" he asked, opening up the cereal cabinet.
"Obviously." Arlynn replied, climbing up onto one of the two chairs that Wally had for his small rickety table. Hearing the chair creak under Arlynn's light weight, Wally made a mental note of possibly buying a new one.
Wally pulled out a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Cheerios. He only had two boxes left? He really needed to go grocery shopping. Taking out one of his very few clean bowls (maybe he should clean up around the apartment a bit too) he placed it in front of the five year old along with a spoon before turning around and opening his fridge, searching for any milk.
Huh. It seemed he had half a gallon left though it's sell by date was two days ago. That didn't necessarily mean it was spoiled though right? Unscrewing the lid, he gave it a small sniff and wrinkled his face in digust. Yep. Definitely spoiled. He poured it out in the sink before throwing away the now empty container.
"Well, I don't have any milk..." he said.
"It's fine. I like to eat my cereal dry." Arlynn said. Wally turned around, and to his surprise, Arlynn had chosen to pour the box of Cheerios into her bowl rather than Cinnamon Toast Crunch. He grabbed a bowl and spoon of his own and sat across from Arlynn on the table, pouring himself a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
He ate a spoonful of dry cereal as he looked at the girl inquisitively, "Who prefers to eat their cereal dry?"
Arlynn ate a spoonful of her own, "You're doing it."
"Only because I have no other choice." Wally retorted.
Arlynn shrugged, "I don't like milk."
"Oh now I know something is definitely off about you. What kid doesn't like milk?" he asked.
"I don't." Arlynn replied, eating another spoonful.
"You're weird, kid." Wally said, pouring another serving into his bowl.
"Arlynn."
Wally blinked, "What?"
"Arlynn," she repeated, "that's my name. You haven't used it once since I got here."
Wally stared at her blankly for a moment before a small smile crept onto his face, "Fine. Arlynn. But only if you start calling me Wally instead of 'Mister'."
"Deal."
For a moment, the two didn't speak, the silence in the air filled with the sound of the spoons clanking against the bowls as they ate. Wally awkwardly cleared his throat before breaking the silence.
"So kid, what...um...what brings you here? To my apartment, I mean." Wally asked. There, now it was finally out there.
Arlynn placed down her spoon and glanced at the table, downcast.
"I don't-I don't know. My mommy brought me here and then she left. She said she'd be back but..." Arlynn trailed off sadly.
Wally instantly felt guilty for practically forcing Arlynn to talk about such a sore subject but pressed on anyway, determined for answers, "Can you tell me about her? Your mom?"
Arlynn met his gaze with a small smile, "Mommy said that you'd know her. She didn't tell me how but whatever, " She put her final spoonful of cereal into her mouth, "Her name is Artemis Crock."
It was as if Wally's heart had dropped into his gut. Was her mom really...? Despite the fact that Arlynn seemed innocent enough and had no real reason to lie to his knowledge anyway, limited as it was, Wally couldn't help but find himself doubting her words. Artemis had been gone for years, he had only stopped searching for her about two years ago after he met Linda. And Dick, Dick had used every tool he had access to and utilized every ounce of his detective skills. Not to mention the efforts of the Team (back when they were one anyway) and a few members of the League. Everyone had come up empty, devoid of even a single clue as to where she could have disappeared to, it was as if she had merely disappeared off the face of the Earth.
And now, there was a possibility that she turned up again, only to dump some kid that may or may not be his onto him? It wasn't completely unreasonable for doubt to linger in his mind, was it?
It took a moment for him to develop any words, "A-Artemis Crock, huh?"
Arlynn nodded, "Mm-hm. Do you know her?" she asked eagerly.
Wally hesitated in his reply, "We've...met a few times before, yes."
"Really? How?" Arlynn asked, green eyes shining with curiosity.
"Um...that's grown-up stuff." Wally replied evasively.
Arlynn groaned exasperatedly, "Ugh, everything is grown up stuff! Mommy tells me that all the time!"
Wally couldn't stop the small smirk that formed on his face, "Don't worry, you'll know why when you're older."
Chuckling at the glare Arlynn had leveled him with, Wally pulled his buzzing phone out of his pocket and glanced at the caller ID to see that it was Linda before answering the call.
"Hello?"
"Hey babe! I am so sorry I didn't call yesterday! Things were crazy at the studio and-"
"Linda!" Wally cut her off mid-rant, "It's fine, babe. I'm been pretty busy too, to be completely honest."
"Oh, well that's good. So I was thinking that maybe we could go out for lunch today. It'll be mid-day so there shouldn't be as many thieves and crooks running about the streets. Unless of course Captain Cold decides to have a visit. He just broke out of prison last night, you know that?"
"He what?!"
"I know. It's crazy right? I wanted to be the one to report the news live at the prison last night but your aunt beat me to the punch yet again. Honestly it's like she gets all the really good stories. Aw well, you win some, you lose some right? Cold's going to attack sometime eventually and I'll make sure that I'm the one that reports the coverage. You know-"
"Ooh! Is that your girlfriend?!" Arlynn exclaimed in a teasing tone.
"Who's that?" Linda asked on the other line, confused.
"Oh! That's just a um...movie I'm watching!" He explained hurriedly, "Now if I could only put the darn thing on mute!" He said the last part while leveling a glare at Arlynn.
The five year old blew a raspberry in response.
"Movie? I thought your TV wasn't working."
"I um...it isn't! Yeah! I'm um...watching it on my um...my phone!"
"We're talking on the phone right now babe."
"Um...yeah! Obviously I didn't mean this phone! I meant my other one!"
"Why do you have two phones?"
"Well it's actually my old one. It broke a while ago so I had to replace it..."
"If it's broken, then how you are you watching a movie on it?"
"I um...I fixed it!"
"After you replaced it?"
"...Yes."
"..."
"..."
Linda sighed, "You know what? Forget I asked. Anyway, lunch?"
Wally let out a breath that he didn't know he'd been holding once Linda dropped the subject. Man, guess his nerves were even more frayed than he thought, he usually wasn't that bad at lying...
He opened his mouth, ready to agree and make it a date but then- "Ow!"
His gaze was then drawn to Arlynn. The five year old had fallen off her chair and was now glaring at the piece of furniture from her position on the floor, rubbing a sore spot on her head as she did so.
"Wally? What was that?"
Wally focused back on his girlfriend's voice and quickly made up an excuse, "Oh, it's nothing babe, I just uh, stubbed my toe against the table. Anyway, I don't think I can do lunch today."
"Oh, that's too bad. You're busy?"
"Yeah. Um, a...situation came up last night and I have to take care of it."
"You sound oddly cryptic."
"Have you ever considered pursuing the career of a detective?"
"Har, har." In the background, Wally could hear someone call out for her, "Shoot. I gotta go. Love you."
"Yeah. Bye, babe."
Wally hung up the phone with a silent sigh of relief.
"You're not very good at lying." Arlynn said blatantly, breaking the brief silence in the room.
Wally looked down at the five year old with a glare, though there was no real malice behind it, "Yeah. Well you don't make it very easy. Ever hear of taking a hint?"
"I've heard it but I don't know what it means." Arlynn replied, following him into the living room.
"It means to use your context clues."
"I think you're forgetting that I'm not even in the first grade yet."
"...Fair point." Wally glanced at the girl, finally taking note of the wrinkles in her clothes and the tangles in her hair, "Don't you wanna, I don't know, change?" he asked.
Arlynn blinked innocently, "Into what?"
Wally raised an eyebrow, "Into another set of clothes...?"
"Oh, I don't have any other clothes." Arlynn replied.
Wally stared at her incredulously, "What."
Arlynn's green orbs filled with an adorable confusion, "What?"
"Artemis really sent you here without any other clothing?" Wally asked disbelievingly.
"Well...mommy actually didn't have time to help me pack." Arlynn admitted.
"And you didn't think that it was at all relevant to have any other article of clothing?" Wally elaborated.
Arlynn blinked at the confusing word, "Relevant...?"
"Important." Wally clarified.
Arlynn nodded in understanding and then replied to Wally's earlier question, "Well I thought that it might've been important-"
"Might've?"
Arlynn continued on as if not hearing Wally's statement, "But then if I'd done that, Mr. Teddy wouldn't have fit into my bag!"
Wally stared at her inquisitively, "Mr. Teddy...?"
"He's my teddy bear." Arlynn explained.
"Your teddy bear." Wally echoed, disbelief in his tone.
Arlynn continued. "Anyway, so after I managed to fit Mr. Teddy in my bag, I realized that I had left Ms. Unicorn behind and I couldn't do that!" She leaned closer in to him and lowered her voice to a whisper as if telling him an important secret, "She gets really grouchy whenever she's not with me at bedtime."
Was she serious? Wally could only stare at Arlynn in disbelief as she continued her tale.
"And so after I got Ms. Unicorn to fit-"
"Real original names you've come up with there."
"-the bag wouldn't close so I had to take out my shoes too-"
"Your shoes?"
"-and then I remembered that my tea set was still in my closet so I had to take the rest of my clothes out of my bag in order for it to fit in because Mr. Teddy is even more grouchy than Ms. Unicorn whenever he doesn't get his tea-"
"You replaced the rest of your clothes with a toy tea set?"
"-and then I saw that my tablet was on my nightstand so I had to take out my hairbrush in order for that to fit in and I also had to take out my toothbrush for the charger to fit. And that's what happened." Arlynn released a breath after finishing her story and stared up at Wally with wide, innocent eyes expectantly. Wally stared back at her, his mouth slightly open agape as he processed the information that Arlynn had just told him.
Then, he sighed and ran a hand over his face, "So you're telling me," he said, his voice muffled by the hand still over his face, "that you left behind pretty much all your clothing and basic essentials for your toys and a tablet?"
"Oh! And my blanket too!"
"Your toys, a tablet, and a blanket. Great."
Arlynn glared at Wally, "Mr. Teddy and Ms. Unicorn aren't toys!" she said defensively.
"Right. Of course not," Wally groaned, "we'll have to go shopping."
Arlynn brightened, "Really?!"
"I can guarantee you that it won't be much fun."
Aww...isn't Arlynn precious? Anyway, and here is the third chapter of 'Congrats! It's a Girl!'. Once again, thank you to everyone who has taken the time to leave a review! This chapter was really fun to write so I'm glad you guys like it! And thanks for wishing me luck Fanficjunkie93! Lord knows I'll need it. Next chapter will be Wally taking Arlynn shopping so we'll see how that goes...