Soldier of Fortune

When Wally woke up again it was to a surprise.

"Bear!" the child smiled, his small hands grabs hold of the stuffed bear and holds it close to him.

He looks around the room, frowning when he didn't see his Uncle, though he was a little curious about the room.

"Wally, how can you live like this?"

"Whatta mean?"

"It smells like something died in here!"

Wally blinked and shook his head, the pictures already disappearing, holding his bear tightly he crawled out of bed and towards the door, jumping when it slide open. Green eyes peeked around the corner before Wally shuffled out the room and down the hall.

The child looked up and down the hall, he shifted nervously in the middle of it before going left, while continuing down the hall his ears perked up at the sound of voices, was that Uncle Barry's voice again? He quickened his pace, stopping short in the kitchen doorway, his eyes widen at the sight of the unfamiliar people he encountered earlier.

"In a way, it kind of makes sense"

"How does any of this make sense?"

"I think what Robin means is in Wally's mannerism, before the team, it was just Robin, Wally, Roy and I. The three of us after a while noticed something was…off about Wally."

"Wally was…innocent"

"There's no such thing in our line of work"

"Wally's the exception"

"We quickly realized he would look to us when he wanted to learn how to be a normal kid"

"Normal?"

"Considering what we've just learned, yes, normal"

Wally listened to the conversation with curiosity and confusion, they were talking about Wally, he was Wally but he didn't know them, were they his Uncle's friends? Or maybe he's Daddy's. Something wet and cold poked at his cheek, Wally gave a startled squeak and whirled his head towards the source.

It was a large creature, white and was looking at him with a curious tile of the head, Wally shuffled back.

"Wally?"

Wally turned back to the people, then back at the big creature, he whimpered slightly when he found he had nowhere to go. He gave an eep of surprise when the large white creature sniffed him then gave his cheek a big lick.

Wally stared wide-eyed at the creature, frozen, then he slowly smiled and giggled, the giggling getting a bit louder when the creature licked him again.

"Bear!" Wally then said, holding out his bear for the creature to lick, giggling when the creature sniffed at it.

~.~

The team watched their young friend play with Wolf, neither of them sure what to do, should they go over? Or let him be? It was taken out of their hands when Wally finally noticed them again. Big green eyes widen, and the small body froze.

"Uh hi" Robin finally said.

Wally remained frozen though he did blink.

"Uncle Barry?" he finally said.

"I'll get him" Artemis said, standing up and out the room before anyone could say or do anything.

"Uh, do you want to sit down, until your Uncle comes?" M'gann then asked standing, freezing when Wally took a step back.

Big green eyes suddenly glazed over, the others became worried for a moment, then Wally shook his head and blinked at M'gann, the Martian looked over at her teammates for help, but they were just as clueless.

"Wally?"

Barry blurred into the room, and instantly Wally latched onto his leg.

"What's wrong?" Barry asked as he lifted the boy up in his arms.

"Big" Was his answer, before Wally buried his face in the man's neck.

Barry rubbed his hand up and down the small back, softly murmuring comforting words; his blue eyes glanced at the team watching, with a reluctant sigh he went over and sat down on the couch. Wally peeked at him before hiding his face again, this time in the man's chest.

"Wally, there's nothing to be afraid of, they're friends" Barry reassured.

"Friends?" Wally looked up at his Uncle with a slight tilt of head.

"Yep, friends, like Auntie and me" Barry said figuring it was the best explanation he could come up with.

Wally blinked at his Uncle before looking at the team.

"You help Aqualad, I'll get Kidmouth"

"Will you stop touching yourself!"

"Hello M'gann!"

"Wally stop bothering wolf"

"Damn it West, it's not funny!"

"Batman is not going to be happy about this….although it was a little funny"

Wally frowned when the pictures disappeared, but when he looked back the team, he felt something….it felt like how Uncle Barry felt.

"Good?" he said to his Uncle.

"Yes, good" Uncle Barry said with a smile.

"Good" Wally repeated before hiding his face once again in the man's chest.

~.~

Barry left Wally with the others, he didn't go far, just out of sight, though Wally seem to accept that the team were safe, the older Speedster knew that meant nothing if his nephew wasn't comfortable with them.

So he took a page from Batman's book, he stood in the shadows and watched, watched as he nephew clung to his bear as he sat huddled in the corner of the sofa, he watched as the team shifted nervously, hesitant on what to do.

"And Bats thought it was a good idea to leave them in charge of my Wally" Barry thought.

Suddenly Wally's stomach growled, the small Speedster looked down at it in surprise, as did the others, until M'gann got up and went into the kitchen, some minutes later she came back with a sandwich, and juice. Quietly she held out the plate.

Wally stared at them, then slowly he shifted Bear until it was tucked at his side, then took hold of the plate and juice.

Barry sighed in relief when Wally took a bite.