One Month Later

Kaldur was settling into his old bedroom in his parents house, having moved back in hoping that it would get him back on his feet faster. He refused to attend the mandatory therapy sessions for PTSD. He had gone to one session when he first got back. And then he left about ten minutes into it.

The shrink, named Harleen Quinzel, was clearly just out of shrink school and she had spent the first eight and a half minutes telling Kaldur, in a nasally Brooklyn accent, how honored she was to be helping him, how proud she felt, and how honored and proud Kaldur must feel to have served his country. It was obvious she had never actually seen a battlefield, much less ever been on one.

Besides as far as Kaldur is concerned, he is not suffering from PTSD. He is grieving. He had watched the love of his life die right in front of him, and he had been totally and completely unable to do anything.

The "love of his life" in question was a woman named Tula McCauley. Short red hair, big light blue eyes, pale skin and a spray of freckles across her nose, her good looks had caught his eye and her strong will had held it in place. He had fallen hard. Tula? Not so much because, as she explained to Kaldur, she had a fiancée back home named Garth Finn. So Kaldur respectfully backed off, though it didn't make his feelings go away.

The feelings didn't go away when he watched Tula get gunned down by enemy fire either.

His phone buzzed, bringing him back to the present. It was a message from Wally, who had accepted Kaldur as a friend from the minute they meant, saying that he, Dick, and Conner where going to go out and "have random, meaningless hookups with every good-looking lady we see", are you in? Kaldur told him no right away. He was still cringing internally from "The Morning After", as it was permanently engraved in his brain.

*Flashback*

The first thing Kaldur's half conscious mind registered was light. Bright, blinding light. And pain. In his head, kinda like a chain gang was breaking rocks right in the middle of it. The second thing was the feel of carpet on his bare back, butt, and legs. The third, vague, thing was that there was something curled up against him. Not that he minded. After all the thing was warm, and soft. So he just pulled the thing closer to him, thinking about going back to sleep.

And then "The Thing" gave a soft, sleepy moan.

That really got his attention. He opened his eyes, and was blinded instantly. When the spots faded away, he looked down. He saw a very beautiful woman, blonde but with very Asian features. And very naked. And very in his arms.

Kaldur was absolutely speechless. This was not a normal thing for him. Sure, he wasn't exactly a virgin. He had had his fair share of sex in college. But those had been completely different experiences. For starters, he actually remembered the entire thing. For another, he remembered the name of the girl.

Artemis. Artemis Crock. That was it. She is the young sister of Jade, Roy's fiancée... no, no wife. The wedding was last night. And at the reception, Wally brought them both a drink. And then another. And then another. And another and another until... that was all Kaldur could remember.

Kaldur was really at a loss. So he got up off the floor, got dressed and left the room. He left the building. He spent the entire day wandering around Star City. It almost midnight by the time he returned to his hotel room. And by then, Artemis was long gone.

Meanwhile, over in Gotham City, Paula Crock had just returned from work, and she was dead tired. The only thing she wanted to do was take a shower, maybe have a little dinner, and go straight to bed.

She and Artemis had moved into a newer, much nicer apartment in a much nicer part of Gotham some three years prior, partly on their own money, partly on the money Jade had sent them, though with a little fear on that end. Paula hadn't had any contact with Jade since she ran away, and could only imagine how she got the money. Her biggest fear was it was through work as an assassin!

Now Jade was happily married to a police officer, and Artemis had graduated from college with honors three months ago, had gotten a degree in teaching, and is set for three job interviews this week, with three more the next week. In Paula's mind, things were looking up for the Crock-Nguyen women.

Paula wheeled herself to the bathroom, where she found Artemis, kneeling in front of the toilet, clearly having just thrown up.

"Artemis? Sweetheart, are you feeling alright?"

"Not really Mom," said Artemis as she got to her feet.

"Oh God, please don't have the flu!"

"I wish", Artemis stated, unconsciously placing her hand to rest on her stomach.

Paula took one look at the action and recognized it instantly.

"Oh God, please have the flu."

Artemis weakly, ashamely shook her head no, pushing past her mother so she could go to her room and lie down on her bed. Paula followed quickly behind.

"Why do they call it mrning sickness if it lasts through the morning?"

"Morning sickness is obviously what some lying man named it. Honey, are you absolutely sure?"

"I'm a week late, so I took a test. And when it popped positive, I took another. When that one was positive I went to see a doctor who outright said it."

Paula let this run through her mind before asking, "Who is the father?"

"You remember Jackson Hyde, Roy's best man?"

"Vaguely. It's his?"

"Yes."

"You have to tell him!"

Artemis snorted, telling her mother, "We were drunk out of our minds, and I woke up alone. I waited until seven p.m. to see if he would come back. He didn't. He hasn't tried to get in touch with me, I don't know how to get in touch with him-"

"Roy probably does", Paula interjected.

"Yeah, that's a conversation I wanna have with my new brother-in-law."

"Artemis", Paula started, holding her daughter's face in her hands so that she would look at her, "Jackson Hyde has every right to know about his child."

"I know that Mom. I don't want to be one of those spiteful one night stands that does that kind of crap. But I don't know how to tell him. Hell Mom, I didn't have the nerve to tell you!"

"While we're on that subject, I want you to know that whatever decision you make, I will stand by you."

Artemis' face softened greatly at this, telling her mother "Thank you", hugging her as tightly as she could. Both women stayed in this position throughout most of the night, only moving when their hunger for food became too great to ignore.