Love is like a friendship caught on fire—in the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals—deep-burning and unquenchable.
- Bruce Lee

I started this story with no real plot lines drawn except for the first mission and what Artemis experienced under the influence of the enchantment. Everything from here on out is basically going to be on the fly. My favorite author once said that half the time he just lets the characters tell the story and do what they're gonna do, so that's what I'm trying here. I don't really believe this is likely what would have happened to bring them together but its the road I'm taking :p Enjoy

January 9th 2012 12:15pm

It was four days before Artemis was finally given leave to return to Mount Justice. Four long and agonizing days full of too many pain meds and too much bed rest.

Artemis was sure that Wally's squeal of delight had probably alerted the entire hospital as well as half of Gotham to the fact that she was no longer unconscious or at least that something had happened. It couldn't have been more than a few seconds before the rest of her team had burst through the door ready to confront whatever evil had caused Wally's inhuman shriek. However, the look on their faces when they realized his noise hadn't been made in anguish but in relief well, it made the world suddenly seem okay to the bed ridden Artemis.

After that it hadn't taken long for some of the other big name leaguers to make their appearances as well. Batman was the first to return, and in true Batman fashion at that. Door closed, windows closed, yet there he was standing beside the bed like everything was peachy. Nearly gave Artemis a heart attack, in fact the only who seemed unperturbed by the event was Robin, should have figured as much.

The Bat had needed her account of what had transpired within the warehouse to put into the report. The introduction of the chaos infused weapons had proved troubling for the League and were quickly made a top priority. Once he was satisfied the Dark Knight lived up to his name once again and was gone before the team could blink.

Dr. Fate was the next Leaguer to grace the team with his presence. Returning from who knows where in a flash of light he made quite the entrance. Zatanna noticeably left upon his appearance. However, the good Doctor asked that all other team members vacate the room while he talked to Artemis. He asked for her to recount her experience while unconscious and under the effect of the chaos enchantment.

That had been... difficult. Talking about it was almost like reliving the entire ordeal and she had to look behind her more than once to ensure there were no shadowy appendages reaching after her. Artemis hesitated when she came to the part about her savior and debated keeping Wally's role in her climb back to reality a secret but her conscious got the better of her. The well being of the League and the Team could be at stake if others fell victim to these weapons and she knew that knowledge would become their best defense against such tools. So she conceded and with a deep breath admitted that it was in fact the renown Kid Flash who had pulled her out of the darkness.

When she finally finished her tale she found her voice to be far shakier than she would have liked. She was Artemis, trained by the league of Shadows and then faced of against countless super villains with her new Team. She was supposed to be strong, supposed to be unmovable, isn't that what her father always told her? Why then did she still feel so afraid, just how strong did you have to be to look death in the eyes?

Dr. Fate didn't seem keen on answering. After her story concluded he had just stood there for many moments, unblinking, just looking at her. Artemis hated that stupid helmet he wore, it made it impossible to read any kind of facial expressions he could be making. She wondered if he even made any beneath that golden wall. As they continued looking at one another, another questioning thought came to her mind, just how does he eat with that thing on? It made sense that Zatara's body would need nourishment in order to sustain itself and Fate wouldn't be able to take it off to do so. Artemis was forced to suppress a giggle at the thought of Dr. Fate attempting to drink something with an abnormally long straw.

That seemed to be the turning point for the blue and gold hero, who gave a swift nod before turning for the door.

"You were lucky," he stated simply, "there is little that can cut through a chaos curse, yet your friend found a way," and with that he was gone.

After that the time passed by like one would expect in a hospital. The team was constantly by her side keeping her company, making sure she was comfortable all the fun stuff that came with being bed ridden. She was visited by her mentors Green Arrow and Black Canary who expressed their parental concern for the young woman they had both trained and cared for so vigorously.

Perhaps her favorite visit came in the form of Captain Marvel. He might have the wisdom of Solomon, the speed of Mercury, and the strength of Zeus or whatever it was but underneath it was still the ten year old kid calling the shots. After learning that during the split dimension fiasco it suddenly became so much clearer when dealing with the comedic superhero.

She did have to admit that she could understand why Wally so enjoyed his company the time he broke his arm though. It was hard not to have the more than willing hero running back and forth for her with snacks, or games, or anything else to try and occupy her time.

Unfortunately however, that was pretty much the extent of her excitement. The rest of the time was spent eating crappy hospital food, watching crappy hospital TV, and sleeping in a bed far to uncomfortable for how much time she was supposed to spend in it.

Artemis had hoped her transition to the cave would have made life a little bit easier, maybe a little bit more exciting, but no. She was still under strict order to remain in bed nearly twenty hours a day, ugh! She was so bored staring into the constantly blue lights given off in the medical wing of the cave.

She had woken from what must have been her hundredth nap in the past four days and was feeling extremely restless. Megan and Conner were off playing couple somewhere, Zatanna was likely doing some sort of sorcery/magic thing... well that or sleeping, that girl slept more than a regular person should be able too. Robin was with Batman doing the dynamic duo thing while Kaldur swam in the ocean. She couldn't remember where Wally had said he was going, the drugs attempting to stem the pain flowing from her rib cage made it hard to concentrate on too many different things.

"Ugh, screw this," she growled at the room as her stomach rumbled. Artemis threw back the covers and struggled to her feet, wincing as her skin stretched across her chest irritating her injured ribs. She ignored the pain and carefully made her way across the room. She was barefoot, her flannel pajama bottoms dragged along the ground as she worked her way towards the kitchen. The tank top she wore did little to quell the coolness of the cave and it wasn't long before goose bumps rose from her arms but she didn't care. It just felt so good to not be in bed for once.

Reaching the kitchen Artemis dug through the fridge and pulled out a small bowl of fruit she had been saving. It was from before the mission but it still seemed good, so she shrugged absentmindedly and took a seat at the bar to enjoy her snack.

Just as she was musing about how quiet it seemed to be in the cave today-

Recognized Kid Flash B03

"And suddenly the quiet is gone," she muttered.

Artemis contemplated Wally's likely course through the cave figuring he would likely have gone to check on her first then finding her not there, he would likely check the training room next and then the kitchen. So she began counting down adjusting for his increased speed.

"And 3... 2... 1-"

"Artemis?!" Wally appeared in the doorway.

"Right on cue, Baywatch"

"Huh?" Wally asked perplexed.

"Never mind," the blond archer replied turning back to her fruit.

"Shouldn't you be in bed," he questioned zipping to her side in the blink of an eye.

Artemis couldn't help but recognize how much warmer the air got around her with the speedster in close proximity.

"Shouldn't you be out filling that black hole you call a stomach?" she retorted with a smile unwilling to shy away from their usual banter.

"Way ahead of you," he lifting the bag he was carrying as he took a seat next to her. Artemis watched as he proceeded to remove what must have been a five course meal from the brown paper sack. She shook her ahead amused as she turned back to her own food.

They actually ate in silence for several moments before the blond arrow slinger was forced to look at her red headed companion. She was startled to see that he wasn't stuffing his face with everything in front of him, instead he was absentmindedly pushing around what appeared to be some sort of pasta with his fork.

As if that wasn't weird enough his eyes seemed to be a million miles away.

"What's up?" she finally asked

He sighed once before putting down his fork to look at her, "why did you do it?" he asked quietly.

"Do what?"

"Save me! You were clearly in a fight no less serious than my own yet you still managed to save my ass nearly at the cost of your life... so why did you do it?"

Artemis looked at the speedster, there was something new behind his eyes something she hadn't really seen before, was it compassion? Fear? Anger? It could have been none of them or all... she wasn't sure.

Finally she shrugged, "I don't know, we're hero's, isn't that what we do? Save each other?"

"Not when it could have cost you your life!" Wally retorted.

"Why are you making such a big deal out of this? I didn't die, I did save you, and we got away unscathed... well for the most part."

"Because it is a big deal!" Wally nearly yelled, "if I had been faster, if I didn't trip then you wouldn't have had to interrupt your fight to help me, I could have-"

Artemis hit him... hard... in the shoulder. Then she doubled over and winced as the blow sent waves of agony cascading across her ribcage. "Oh karma you heartless bitch," she mumbled before sitting straight again to look at the teen rubbing his arm.

"No," she said, "you are not blaming yourself, I did what I did because I wanted to. It was my decision and put in the same situation knowing the consequence I would do it again and again and again. It is not your fault, everything in that place was designed to pull us all out of our element. Was designed to make you trip."

Wally stared at her for a few long seconds before stating, "easier said than done."

"Hey, it happens, everything worked out okay, and I'm going to be fine in a few weeks, we can't change it now so lets just move on," she smiled.

He returned the smile, "we can try."

Silence fell over them again for a bit before Artemis turned back to the speedster who seemed to have regained his appetite as he was shoveling food into his palate at an ungodly pace.

"My turn," she said smugly.

"Hmm?" was the only response she got between his bites.

"You never answered my question when I woke up," she said simply, "what's a spitfire?"

Wally choked.

His face turned beet red as he began coughing trying to get what food he had in his mouth down his throat. Artemis thumped him once on the back to help him out.

"You remember that huh?" he finally managed to croak out.

"The drugs made me loopy, not forgetful," she replied simply, "I just need to know if your still making fun of me like you always do."

Wally laughed... "It's nothing bad, I promise."

"So tell me what it is!" she poked him in the ribs.

He recoiled at her touch and gave a mock exasperated sigh, "if I must."

"Oh you must," with an evil glare in her eye.

"How is it even injured you're still like the scariest person on this team?"

"Its a gift," was all the response he got before she motioned him to continue.

Wally let out a deep breath to steady himself, "you remember Kent Nelson right?"

Artemis nodded.

"Well when we were on the roof with Klarion, right before he..." the red head paused for a second clearly shaken. Artemis put a hand on his arm.

"Right... before he died he put a shield around us and the helmet. Told me I'd have just enough time to do what I had to do or something. At first I thought he just meant I had time to get ready to fight Klarion, you know speedster powers and what not. Yet right as the shield was about to fail I heard something, your voice actually," Wally smiled slightly. "You know when you said to me 'do you ever get tired of being wrong' well I decided accept your challenge. A test of faith if you will and that was what lead me to put on the helmet."

"Mhmm," Artemis let out hoping he would continue because she had no clue where he was really going.

"Its hard to explain really how the helmet works. It doesn't just give you the powers of Dr. Fate, the helmet is Dr. Fate. His consciousness, his being if you will and when someone puts it on, he gets complete control over your body. So my own consciousness was basically sealed inside the helmet while Fate fought Klarion with my body and his powers. Weird I know."

"While its nice to hear you actually admitting something magical for once instead of blaming brain waves or whatever but this doesn't really help me understand spitfires," she said when Wally paused.

He was forced to laugh at the irony of her statement. She was acting exactly like a spitfire while trying to figure out what the word meant.

"Alright there spitfire," he smirked, "I'm getting there. Either because he was in such close proximity to the helmet or because he spent like twenty plus years inside the helmet, when Kent passed his soul was sucked inside it too. So while I was in there I was actually able to talk to him just fine... well my consciousness and his soul did anyways. The point is that while we were in their he gave me some advice about my life. That was to find myself a 'spitfire,'" he made air quotes around the word, "one like his wife, Inza. His definition of the word seemed to be a girl who wouldn't let you get away with anything. Isn't afraid to challenge your decisions or keep you on toes if you know what I mean," a grin crossed his face as the definition was beginning to sink in to the blond archer.

Artemis laughed too as she realized what he was saying, "I guess I do sometimes like to argue with you," she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Uh, sometimes?!" Wally scoffed.

"Okay lots of times, but what is it about these 'spitfires,'"she air quoted the word as well, "that is so desirable?"

Wally seemed deep in thought for a moment before saying, "you know it took me a long time to actually figure that out. Even though Kent hinted that I should consider you way back then, I never really thought about it since we were constantly at each others throats... not that much as changed," he winked. "But I think what makes it exciting is that it can never be boring, you don't let me get away with anything. If I'm an idiot your the first to call me out, when I do something stupid you laugh just as hard as everyone else. You don't bring the lovey dovey boring aspect of most relationships instead you spit fire... figuratively of course."

There was another pause as Artemis tried to piece together exactly what he was saying.

He saved her the trouble however when he finally continued, "I don't know how much you remember but that's why while you were unconscious I asked if you know... you would like to be mine... my own little spitfire."

Artemis sort of froze, she hadn't really been expecting that... or had she? It was sudden, it was impulsive and it was so incredibly Wally. She couldn't deny the attraction that had been growing inside her as they became closer teammates, as she passed him a rebreather when fighting the injustice league, when he stood steadfast by her side when she finally admitted her family history. She smiled as she made her choice.

She grabbed the front of his shirt with her good hand and pulled him to her. Her lips touched his ever so lightly just enough to press them together and give him a taste before she pulled back a sly grin on her face.

"Does that answer your question?" she asked wickedly.

Wally stuttered for a second opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water before finally getting out, "god I hope so."

"Well its about freaking time!" came the voice from directly behind them causing both of them to jump. Artemis suddenly had a knife in her hand, where she got it would remain a mystery.

Robin laughed at his friends crazy expressions.

"How long were you there?" Wally asked sheepishly.

"Long enough," was the only answer he would get from his young acquaintance. "So does this mean you two are finally like together?"

The two looked at each other, a slight flush filling their cheeks before Artemis finally let out in a soft voice few even knew she was capable of, "you know I think it does."

"Yes! Finally!" Robin exclaimed hitting a few buttons on his wrist computer.

Seconds later Conner, Megan, and Zatanna filed into the kitchen.

"This better be good boy wonder," Conner said trying to sound intimidating.

"Oh very worth it! It seems that our little wager has finally concluded since, our young love birds over here are finally together!" Robin exclaimed dancing around Wally and Artemis. The latter of which took a swing at him every time he passed.

"Wait you guys actually bet on us?" Wally announced.

"Um duh!" Zatanna said mockingly, "it seemed you two were the only ones oblivious to it... so who won Rob?"

He pressed a few more buttons on his wrist, "well cause should be obvious Zee since you called that one, 'near death experience' after all."

"Hold up," Artemis said speaking up for the first time since the rest of gang entered, "you actually bet I would almost die before we would get together?!"

Zee laughed at her, "well a) I didn't specify whether it would be you or Wally here and b) I thought it would be what it would take to actually open your eyes... which it seems was correct," she stuck her tongue out at her friends.

"Gee thanks," Artemis huffed crossing her arms carefully.

"And time frame goes too," Robin announced pulling up another page on his computer, "Megan! Who picked January."

"I hate you guys," Wally muttered.

Artemis leaned over towards him smiling mischievously then, "its okay," she said just loud enough for everyone to hear, "we'll make our own money on the wager we have for Zatanna and Rob," she winked at her friend.

Zee blushed visibly as she started stuttering.

Robin noticeably vanished without a trace.

The rest of the team lost it, doubling over with laughter as Zee still tried to form words.

"It appears that I have missed something," said Kaldur as he entered the room

xxx

So a little bit of... okay a lot of spitfire drabble here but as we progress we'll see more of the team and missions and stuff. I just wanted to do this fic from a spitfire perspective since I like their characters and how much they've grown through the show.