Riiiing...riiiing...rii-" Hey, this is Linda. I'm probably busy right now so just leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as pos-"

Beep.

Wally hung up the phone, removing it from his ear before checking for any messages or missed calls. It was highly unlikely that he had gotten any that had passed his notice considering that he had been on his phone nonstop for the past hour, but it couldn't hurt to check anyway right?

Nothing. Wally sighed. He wished that he could say he was surprised. Linda had departed a little over an hour ago after their argument, not nearly enough time to cool off over the revelation of her boyfriend possibly having a kid, but some small part of Wally had hoped that she wouldn't completely cut him off.

...Well that certainly wouldn't be the first thing he was wrong about.

Opening his contacts app, Wally spotted Linda's cell number. His finger hovered over her number for a long minute- well long for a speedster anyway.

I should probably leave her alone. She won't answer anyway...

He pressed the call button.

"Hey, this is Lin-" He hung up. Great, now it went straight to voicemail.

Wally leaned forward, resting his elbows on the kitchen table as he buried his face in his hands.

"How long do you think that you can provide for the kid financially when you already have yourself, this apartment, and all the costs of daily living to pay for?" Linda's words echoed in his mind.

Wally had more or less brushed off the question during the heat of he and Linda's argument at the time, but now the more he thought of it, the more it occurred to him just how real all of this was.

He had a five year old kid living in his apartment for an indefinite amount of time. Not only that, but the kid could very well be the child of his currently AWOL ex-girlfriend who was possibly on the run from something and until she was found, this kid -this young, impressionable, fragile tiny human being- was his responsibility. If anything happened to Arlynn, that would be all on him. He was expected to care for her, to make sure she was safe, that she was fed and healthy. With his already busy schedule as a civilian on top of his other life as Kid Flash, how was he supposed to take of her? He could barely afford to take of himself! Linda was spot on when she explained all of that to him. The only source of Wally's income was from a burger joint that he worked at part-time for minimum wage. It was rough, but he managed to take care of himself fine, though being careless with his money was not an option if he wanted an apartment to come home to. From what he'd heard, kids were expensive. Heck, he'd experienced that first-hand in the mall and they'd only gotten a few clothes! What if Arlynn had to stay with him for another week? Or another month? Or another year? God, would he starve to death? With his metabolism, he'd always needed to go grocery shopping at least every other week. It was difficult enough to feed himself, let alone another person.

The more he thought of it, the more he realized just how screwed he really was. It was painfully evident that he wouldn't be able to support Arlynn, at least not long term. What would he do when his wallet finally ran dry? He couldn't just drop out of college and get a full-time job, not when he was already more than halfway through to earning his bachelor's degree. He couldn't exactly just ask people for financial help without giving them a real explanation either. Usually Wally liked to think that he was an expert pertaining to improvisation, but somehow he wasn't sure that would work out for him this time around. Wally felt guilty thinking it, but he really hoped that Dick would hurry up and find Artemis already so that he was finally relieved of this kid.

"You zone out a lot." Wally jumped in his seat at Arlynn's sudden arrival. The blonde was dressed freshly in one of her new outfits, a pink lace up tunic hoodie paired with black leggings. It was clear that she had just gotten out of the shower (Wally had been beyond relieved when she insisted that she could take one by herself) signified by the way her hair fell in damp waves down to her waist, wetting the back of her hoodie slightly. Wally hadn't even heard her coming, if a child could sneak up on him so easily maybe he did need to be more aware of his surroundings.

Arlynn held out the hair brush they had gotten the day prior, staring at Wally expectantly, "Aren't you gonna help me?" she asked.

Wally furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, "With what?"

Arlynn rolled her eyes exasperatedly, as if she had heard the most dumb question ever before replying, "Well I'm handing you a hair brush. What do you think?"

"What am I supposed to do with it?!"

"Brush my hair." Arlynn said slowly. Wally found it both insulting and ironic that a kindergartner was speaking to him, the adult, as if he were the child. Though he had to admit, he did kind of walk right into that one.

"You can't do it?"

Arlynn crossed her arms, drawing her gaze to the wall as she flushed red in embarrassment, "I...Mommy always does it for me, so I never had to worry 'bout it till now, okay! But...she's not here right now."

"So you want me to do it?"

"Haven't we already been over this?!"

"You know, you could try asking nicely."

"I am asking nicely!"

"Really? Because I didn't hear a please once throughout your whole request." At that point, Wally was only teasing but it seemed that if Arlynn had inherited any trait from Artemis, it was her temper.

"Fine! Can you help me, please?" The last word sounded almost painful for Arlynn to get out and, feeling slightly bad for getting amusement out of it, Wally conceded.

Accepting the brush from Arlynn, the two moved from the tiny kitchen to the only slightly larger living room, Wally sitting on the couch as Arlynn took a seat on the floor in front of Wally with her back facing him. With an initial moment of hesitance, Wally tugged the brush through Arlynn's hair only for the girl to yelp and pull her head away.

"Ow! That hurt, Wally!" she complained, rubbing the now sore spot on her head.

"What? You're the one who asked me to brush your hair!"

"Yeah, brush it, not tug it all out!"

Wally rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah..." he muttered, though he took care to brush her hair much more gently.

"...Wally?"

"Yeah?"

"Sorry about your girlfriend."

Wally paused in brushing Arlynn's hair for a moment, taken aback by the sudden statement. However, it only lasted a second as he picked up where he left off.

"I already told you it was fine." he replied.

"Yeah, but you look like a kicked puppy and it's making me sad."

Figures. "Oh. Well, sorry for expressing emotion." Despite the sarcastic wording, Wally's tone had no real bite behind it.

Arlynn rolled her eyes in annoyance, "That's not what I meant." Then, just as Wally finished brushing out the last few strands of her hair, Arlynn turned around.

"Are you okay?" she asked bluntly, her eyes refusing to meet his as her cheeks heated. Wally didn't reply immediately, surprised at the question. Though Arlynn wasn't necessarily a conceded kid, she hadn't struck Wally as the empathetic type. Judging on how she couldn't even look him straight in the eye as her face reddened in embarrassment, it was clear that talking about emotions wasn't exactly her strong suit. Yet she had asked him anyway. Wow, and he thought that he was concealing his feelings pretty well. It must've been plainly obvious how he really felt if it got Arlynn concerned enough to ask about it.

So, he forced on a smile -a feat that came easily to him after years of being Kid Flash- and ruffled Arlynn's hair, "Don't worry about it kid. I'm fine."

Arlynn's reply was an irritated glare as she pushed his hand off of her head, smoothing her own back over her hair in an attempt to re-calm it, "Yeah. Whatever." Wally would be lying if he said he wasn't shocked by her easy dismissal of the subject. However, he wisely chose not to linger over it since talking to a five year old about his relationship issues was definitely not on his bucket list.


Arlynn was bored.

Like no joke, slightly losing her mind, bored. It had been roughly an hour since Arlynn had asked for Wally's help with brushing her hair and the two had a conversation, brief as it was. Now, she sat cross-legged in the center of the living room, Mr. Teddy and Ms. Unicorn adjacent from her with Mr. Teddy Jr. cuddled securely in her lap. In the center of their makeshift circle was a plastic toy teapot along with matching tiny teacups that sat in front of each stuffed animal. Huffing a small sigh, Arlynn unenthusiastically poured Ms. Unicorn yet another cup of imaginary tea from the teapot, sneaking a glance at Wally. The man sat on the couch, green eyes focused as he typed something furiously on his laptop. Whatever he was doing on his laptop, he seemed fully concentrated on it- well, aside from the few glances he'd take at his phone every other minute, that is. Arlynn sighed again. While she could usually play for hours it just wasn't the same when you were doing it all alone. Mommy had always been busy with work a lot too, but she had always found the time to play with Arlynn-even if just for a little bit. It had been a makeshift tradition of theirs, playing tea party with her stuffed animals. Of course, back at home Arlynn had a lot more of them She smiled slightly at the memories of the games she and Mommy would play, how sometimes she could even convince Mommy to dress up (even if Mommy said that it was stupid every time) and Arlynn would lead the both of them into her world of fantasy, explaining in vivid detail everything that was occurring and laughing as Mommy acted it out all wrong. Her happiness quickly faded however. I miss her. She missed Mommy more than she could ever know, more than she thought was even possible. Wally was nice, but the truth of it all was that he barely knew her, and she him. Arlynn didn't know why Mommy had decided to leave her with him or leave her at all, but she trusted her. Mommy would come back, Arlynn knew it, she just didn't know when.

Back to the current matter at hand...

"Wally." Arlynn said in an attempt to catch the redhead's attention. He didn't reply and all Arlynn could do was roll her eyes, honestly was this starting to become a habit?

"Hey, Wally!" she repeated in a slightly louder tone. And that was what caught his attention. Wally looked up from his laptop, gaze meeting Arlynn's. Arlynn had gotten Mommy irritated enough in the past, to recognize the annoyed look in his eyes but just as she did with Mommy (when she wasn't really mad anyway), she ignored it.

"Arlynn. I really have to get this homework done-"

"Didn't you do it yesterday?" Arlynn interrupted. To the best of her knowledge, Wally was an adult so she didn't get why he even had homework to do in the first place but she had just decided on simply accepting it as another weird trait about him.

"I forgot about this assignment." Wally replied, checking his phone once more before looking back to his laptop and continuing his typing, "So if you could just-"

"Do you wanna play tea party with me?" Arlynn cut in once more, sensing the conversation heading to a stand still point.

Wally sighed in exasperation and Arlynn puffed her cheeks in a pout. Nothing good ever came out of that.

"Kid," And there was that name again, "I really have to get this done. Maybe later, 'kay?"

Later never happened, Arlynn had learned the hard way on multiple occasions from Mommy. Arlynn stomped her foot, glaring at him stubbornly. While attempting a tantrum like this with Mommy would automatically result in a stern glare and a demand to go to her room, it seemed to have worked better with Wally. At least, it worked pretty well at the mall.

"Why can't you just do that later and play with me now?" Arlynn insisted.

Wally's patience was running thin, she could tell.

"Because I have class tomorrow." Wally replied. Then his eyes widened, as if coming to a sudden realization. Arlynn stared at him in confusion as he checked the calender on his phone.

"Tomorrow is Monday." he said, an emotion that Arlynn couldn't place in his tone.

Arlynn tilted her head curiously, "Yeah...?" she replied. What was his problem all of a sudden?

"I have classes until four."

"So you've said."

"And I have a shift at work starting at five." Wally continued, as if not having had heard Arlynn.

Confusion was an emotion that Arlynn was getting much too familiar with, but with Wally's ramblings, she really couldn't do much about it.

"...Okay..." Arlynn had no clue why Wally was saying all of this and judging by the way he said it, he was speaking more to himself than he was to her. Weird...

"Shi-shoot." Wally said. Arlynn watched as he ran a hand through his hair-a telltale sign that something was wrong, Arlynn had come to learn rather quickly. But what happened? Arlynn had only asked him to play with her.

"I don't suppose you've ever been home alone for long, have you?" Arlynn furrowed her eyebrows as she stared at him inquisitively. Why would that be important?

Wally must have taken her answering silence as a no considering the way he frowned at her reply, "Of course not. Stupid West luck. Of course I'd only realize just now that I have class and work tomorrow with no one to babysit a mystery doorstep kid who is prone to setting toasters on fire. Great."

Arlynn frowned at that, "I don't need to be babysat! I'm not a 'mystery doorstep kid' either! And that was one time!"

"You're missing the point!" Wally exclaimed, "I can't afford to miss any of my classes to watch you! And you can't exactly be left alone!"

"Why not?" Arlynn asked defensively, "I'm a big girl! Mommy says so and once she left me at the house all alone for five whole minutes while she stepped outside to make a phone call." Arlynn pridefully puffed out her chest upon saying the last sentence. However, Wally didn't seem to be reassured upon hearing her statement.

"I'm doomed." Wally moaned burying his face into his hands.

Arlynn frowned more deeply and was just about to give her own reply when Wally's phone suddenly vibrated from its place next to him on the couch. Arlynn would be lying if she said that she wasn't even slightly impressed on how fast Wally answered it.

"Linda?" he blurted, almost desperately. Arlynn couldn't hear who was on the other line, but judging by the way Wally's face fell for a moment before slightly paling in fear, it definitely wasn't Linda. Wally winced and held the phone slightly away from his ear, as if someone was yelling at him from the other end before slowly holding it back up to his ear. When he offered a greeting, his tone was shaky and nervous, almost as much as it was when Arlynn had overheard Wally and Linda's argument.

"H-hey, Mom." he stuttered. Uh-oh. Now to this one, Arlynn could relate.

And voila (hope I spelled that right)! The 7th chapter of 'Congrats! It's a Girl!'! As promised, I made it a lot longer than the previous chapter (a few hundred words more, give or take) and we even got to see a little bit of Arlynn's perspective! Yay! Next chapter we'll get to meet Mary West (because I honestly believe that she should've gotten at least a little more screen time on the show). Will Wally tell her about Arlynn? Maybe he will, maybe he won't (no seriously, I'm still trying to figure out if she should learn about Arlynn now or later in the story). Once again, thanks to all of my reviewers and hopefully I'll be getting more in the very near future, hint hint! See ya!