Artemis touched Wally's shoulder, gently pushing him out of the way and shutting the door.
"I don't want to wake her up." She said quietly. "I would appreciate it if you and Roy would leave… It's getting late."
The red head nodded, his expression still giving an appearance of shock. This had been a lot to take in, and in very little time.
"I just need to know," He said. "Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant? I mean, you know that I would have been there."
"Actually, I didn't know that." Artemis answered. "We're grown up now, but we had only been teenagers. There was no way for me to know for sure that it would work out."
"So you just left? You took her from me before she was even born. I never even got to hold her."
Artemis shushed him, turning her head to Lian's cradle. Roy had picked her up, now holding her in a bundle in his arms. They really were cute as father and daughter…
"I did what was best for her. I stopped being a hero and I became a mother. Do you think that I wanted to give all of that up?"
"You didn't do what was best for her; you just did what was easiest for you." Wally looked angry. "You were afraid to deal with me and the rest of the team, so you chose not to."
"That's not true!"
She hadn't realized that she had started yelling until she heard the creek of the opening bedroom door. She jumped back at the noise, blushing as Rory walked into the living room. She walked up to her and brushed a hand down her cheek, trying to smile.
"I'm sorry I woke you, honey." She said. "Go back to bed, adults are talking right now."
Rory looked at Wally, rubbing her eyes.
"Were you just in my room?" She asked him. "I thought I dreamt that."
Wally tried to approach the little girl closer, only halting when he caught the glare in Artemis's eye.
"Uh… yeah..." He stuttered. "It's just that, I thought you looked familiar, so I wanted to get a second look at you. You look a lot like my mom; you're grandma- I mean, my grandma, too."
Artemis's glare was worse than Batman's, and her blush had started to darken.
"Rory," She said sternly, "Please go back to bed, you have school in the morning."
Rory shrugged, rolling her eyes and going back into her bedroom.
"Sorry…" Wally said, "I didn't mean to-"
"Like I said," Artemis interrupted, "I think it's best that you go home. I really can't deal with you right now."
Wally sighed, embracing Artemis lightly. She chose not to hug him back.
"Thank you." He said. "For letting me meet our daughter."
It was strange for Artemis to hear her referred to as their daughter. For Rory's entire life she had been a single parent.
"Wait here for a minute…" She said, pushing her way out of his arms. She walked into the hallway, opening a closet and pulling a photo album out. She opened the cover and removed a photo, putting the album back and walking back into the living room. "Here." She said handing it to him.
The photo had been taken at the hospital the day that Rory had been born. A close up of her face, her body swaddled in a light pink blanket. Her emerald eyes were open as wide as they could be, looking around the room in what appeared to be either shock or confusion. Her full head of orange hair looked unusual on her newborn body, sticking up at all angles.
Wally smirked, looking the photo over carefully. The baby picture made him feel proud, giving him a real joy of realizing that he helped to create something.
"Thank you." He said.
When Wally got home that night, he sat on the couch to stare at the picture. He couldn't help but wonder what Artemis had been like pregnant. It was hard to imagine her with a nine month belly, especially on her small frame.
He tried to picture her changing a diaper, or getting up at three in the morning to nurse. Then he would look at the picture again. He had missed so much of her life, and she didn't even know that he was her father. When she had woken up during their argument it had killed him to know that he couldn't run to her side and embrace her.
She could be what brought their old team back together.
They had grown up and parted ways; they all had their own cities to look after and their own lives to live. Most of them hadn't seen each other in years. Maybe the thought of them all getting back together was a little bit farfetched, but it would still be nice to just grab a cup of coffee as a team at some point.
Wally had never before thought about his old team mates having children. He knew that Nightwing was childless, and Roy had Lian.
He started to wonder if Conner and M'gann were still together, or if she was still as beautiful as he remembered. Could two different species have a baby? Probably not… Anyway, that was probably a good thing. He had seen Conner go insane in anger when he ran out of toothpaste. He couldn't imagine him with a kid.
Of course, last week he couldn't imagine himself with a kid either.
I wonder what they'll think about the situation… He thought to himself. He and Artemis had kept what was going on between them a secret, as far as the rest of the team had known they had never stopped hating each other. Then again, maybe they won't be that surprised… He remembered Dick poking fun at him about having a crush on Arty, something that he had completely denied throughout the entire time they were on a team together.
He had loved her… He knew that she hadn't felt the same way, and probably never will, but he really had loved her… and it had killed him to wait for her to come back to him, then it had killed him even more when he had begun to realize that she never would.
The immature jokester inside of him had never been an act, but at the same time, Artemis had finally allowed him to talk about his past.
They shared secrets while the other listened. Even if they had never gotten together as a real couple, it was still safe to say that they had become very good friends within that last year.
She had broken his heart, and the time had finally come where that might be able to change.
Just maybe…
Artemis shook her head, walking to her own bedroom. She placed her hand on the doorknob of Rory's room, opening it a crack to make sure that she had gone back to bed.
Both girls jumped back startled, neither expecting to see the other.
Rory's eyes were wide, and her mouth hung open slightly, her face containing a very similar expression to the one that she had in the baby picture.
Artemis felt her stomach drop, thinking back on what had happened right before Wally had left.
"Thank you for letting me meet our daughter." He had said.
And their daughter had stood at the door listening…
"Rory!" Artemis said in shock and worry, "Let me explain!"
But there was no explaining,
Because in less than a second, Rory was gone, Leaving behind nothing but the feel of wind off of her body as she sped out of the house.
Shit…
A/N: Yay! We're finally getting close to the old team getting back together! Did that take forever or what?
K, here's the deal: I am an idiot. Now that I have fully admitted that, will someone please explain to this idiot what a spitfire is...?
