I'm afraid.

I can't help it. I'm afraid. I'm afraid that this is some kind of horrible, sick joke that he's playing on me. I'm afraid that he's going to laugh at me and call me a sucker for believing that he did care.

I'm afraid to believe my father loves me.

I've spent years learning that I couldn't trust him. Years learning that my father wasn't like other fathers. That he was a stone-cold killer who valued nothing but himself. I've spent most of my life trying to hate him.

But he's my father.

He's my Daddy.

Wally has his own issues with his parents. Even when he learned who I really was, who my parents were, he didn't pry. He didn't ask me anything that I didn't want to give.

I'm scared of Wally, too.

I'm scared that this feeling is too strong. I'm afraid that I'm going to get used to having Wally in my life. I'm going to start counting on him. I'm going to start needing him …

Oh hell. I already need him.

He stays with me when I go back to my room to sleep off the rest of the drugs. He's there when I wake up—eating what looks like two vending machines' worth of snacks, but he's here.

What scares me is that I knew he would be.

"Hey you."

"Hi, Artemis. How are you feeling?"

Damn those eyes of his eyes. I want to get lost in them and forget everything.

"Tired, but the good non-drugged kind of tired."

"Glad to hear it. You about ready to blow this Popsicle joint?"

"More than ready." I stretch—and I know that Wally's watching so I make it last a little longer than I had to. "Wally?"

"Yeah?" He sounds a little dazed and I can't help smirking.

"My—Sportsmaster. How is he?"

"He was fine, last I heard. Your mother came to check on you while you slept and said to tell you that he's weak but that they're cautiously optimistic." He pauses. "I think he's going to be okay."

I relax a little. Wally wouldn't say it if he didn't think it was true. That honesty of his is one of the things I lo—like! Like!— about him. "After they check me out, can we go see him?"

"Of course."

I smile wryly. "Well, it's not exactly the first time you met my father…"

Wally smiles at me. "Well this time we won't be trying to beat each other up."

A half hour later, I'm given the okay to get back into civilian clothes and Wally and I are heading to my father's room.

We're holding hands.

I'm trying not to get used to that.

Young Justice is the first time I belonged. The first time that I felt like I had a place for me. The first time I had friends.

Getting used to having friends … getting used to having a boyfriend … is something I never thought I'd have to worry about.

Once you let someone into your heart, how do you live with the possibility you might lose them?

The Guard nods at us when we walk to the door. "Go on in, kids. You've already been cleared."

"Batman," Wally says by way of explanation.

I nod and swallow as I open the door. "Hi, Daddy …"

And I scream.

"Artemis! What?" Wally shoves his way past me.

My father is gasping on the bed. His IVs have been torn out. The machinery that's supposed to monitor his condition has been disconnected.

And the room is quiet except for my father's labored breathing.

"Daddy!"

I can't move.

I know CPR. I know first aid. I should be able to do something. I should be moving.

But I can't.

All I can do is stand there and scream "Daddy!"

Wally saves me. He saves my father.

He's a blur as he reconnects the equipment, puts the oxygen mask on my father, yanks the door open and screams for a doctor.

Medical staff rushes in and begin working on my father.

Wally pulls me back. "C'mon, Artemis. We have to give them room to work."

"Move it, people! Crock is dying!"

I'm shaking. I'm crying. I'm holding onto Wally because he's the only thing keeping me on my feet.

Daddy!

Suddenly, my mother is there. Some chubby girl that I don't know is pushing him towards Daddy's room.

"What happened?" My mother's voice is harsh, like iron. I can't remember ever hearing her sound like that. There is a cold fury in her eyes.

My mother is suddenly a stranger to me.

"He—" I try to talk. I can't.

"Artemis. What. Happened. To. Your. Father?" Mother's hands are twitching like she wants to hit me. "What happened to my husband?"

Wally saves me again.

"Someone sabotaged the equipment. He was taken off all life support and the alarms shut off. A damn good job of it."

Mother spits a curse. "Who? Who was the last one to see my husband?"

The pudgy girl with her speaks then. "Arrow …"

Olllie?

No. Not Ollie. He wouldn't do that to my father. He wouldn't do that to me.

And the voice … I know that voice.

I look at the girl. "Jade …?"

The girl smiles at me. "Hello, little sister."

"Um, girls? I hate to break up this reunion, but where's your mother going?"

Mother is wheeling herself down the hallway. "Archer! Where are you, you coward?"

Green Arrow is standing near a vending machine. He's holding a cup of coffee and turns at my mother's words. He opens his mouth to say something—

And then my mother is on him.

She leaps out of her chair and knocks Ollie down to the floor. Her fists are a blur as she punches him in the face. Again and again.

"My husband! You tried to kill my husband on his sick bed!"

Ollie tries to raise his hands up to defend himself, but my mother slams his head to the floor with stunning force. "Everything you love, Archer! Everything you treasure. Your family. Your friends. Your city. If my Lawrence dies I will turn your world to ash! Do you hear me, Archer? I will make you prayfor death!"

"Let him go, Paula. Don't make me force you to stop."

The Batman is there as though he materialized out of the shadows. "Don't make me have to say it again, Paula."

Mother lets Ollie's head fall to the floor and drags herself back to her wheelchair.

I go to help her, but she waves me off.

"He tried to kill Lawrence."

"I didn't." Ollie coughs and spits out a tooth. "I won't deny that I went in to kill him, but he was fine when I left."

I'm shaking again. "No …"

"I'm not lying, Huntress." Ollie turns to look at me. "Artemis, listen. I promise I'm not lying. I didn't hurt your father. God knows I wanted to, but I didn't."

"Liar!" Mother spits out.

"He's not lying, Paula. Green Arrow didn't try to kill your husband." Batman's face is as unreadable as ever, but his voice is gentle. "No one tried to kill Lawrence Crock. This wasn't an attempted murder.

"It was a failed suicide."