Running After You: By Luna Mrow

Warning: High T, so that means language :O

~X~X~X~

Artemis finally made it out of her bedroom and downstairs to the kitchen. First she checked every room of the house to make sure Jade really was gone, which thankfully she was. Dinah was sat down to coffee and the young woman muttered something like, "Sorry about the cold waffles."

Dinah looked up from her coffee. "Well, at least you got dressed. We have a guest."

"I know, me," Artemis yawned.

"No, me," another voice corrected.

The blonde turned towards the voice. "Megan?"

"Hi!" smiled the auburn-hair colored young woman. "You told me you were coming here and today is my day off. Since you're working at the club tonight I thought we could hang out during the day." Megan was standing in the middle of the kitchen, with the bright sun rays from the glass sliding doors radiating off her. She was wearing a beautiful purple sequined dress with matching Mary Jane shoes, her hair was brushed down and tied in a braid that rested over her bare left shoulder. Megan really looked beautiful.

But to Artemis... she looked odd. There was something about her. Almost like the pale freckled skin on her wasn't right. She unintentionally kept staring at her. There was something... about...

"Arty," Dinah then said. "Megan was talking to you."

"Green," Artemis then murmured.

"What?" Megan asked.

"Green skin..." she mumbled. Suddenly, she snapped out of it. "Sorry! I don't know what happened." Green skin? Did I really just say that? She asked herself.

Dinah laughed. "Artemis, Wally West wouldn't be causing the scatter-brained behavior, would he?"

Her head snapped to her soon-to-be aunt. "What?"

"I'm not stupid. I know you have a thing for that boy. Woman's intuition," Dinah said.

Artemis snapped her head at Megan. "You told her."

"Sorry," the other girl smiled. "If you wanna take your waffles to go, Dick called and invited us over to his place."

This threw Artemis off a bit. "Why?"

"He said he wants to catch up more and wants us to meet his girlfriend." Now that the young woman thought about it, she remembered him mentioning a girlfriend. One who was specifically shorter and younger than him. "I think it's great Dick wants to be our close friend again. We kinda grew apart after high school, but I'd love to hang with him some more."

"Ha," Artemis grinned. "You're just saying that because Conner Kent is a good friend of his."

Megan blushed. "Well... that too..."

~X~X~X~

At Dick's Apartment...

Zatanna and Robin were on the floor, out of breath and panting, their clothes torn and bloody. Her hair was in a ruffled mess, as well as his, and they both somehow managed to get tangled in each other with their legs and arms. Of course, Robin caught his breath first. "That was the best training session... ever."

"Yeah," she agreed. "I can do a spell later to fix our clothes." The two had just got back from a special 'Justice League' training session. They fought almost all the league members, two-on-one, Robin and Zatanna as a team. The reason they were panting heavily and on his apartment floor, was because Zatanna had the great idea of, 'race you to your house!'. Now the two could barely move.

Well, that's a little dramatic. After about ten minutes they finally did get up and they changed into regular clothes. Dick came out wearing a pair of black jeans and a red t-shirt with red converses. Zatanna had a pair of blue jean shorts, a purple tee, and slip-on-shoes. Her black hair was in a ponytail. "Artemis and Megan should be here soon," Dick informed.

"Oh yeah, I forgot you wanted me to meet them," Zatanna answered. "Why, again, do you want me to meet them?"

"You'll like them, don't worry. And they'll like you." He reached into his fridge and got out two cokes. "Plus, it'd be good if you were friends with Artemis."

Zatanna opened her coke. "Do you say that because... of what happened to her and Wally?"

He didn't answer immediately. "There's nothing fake about Megan and Artemis's friendship. Or her friendship with me, or Wally. Megan even retired from being Miss Martian after her first year. She wanted to stay Megan Morse and didn't want to feel like she was back-stabbing Artemis, even though she wasn't."

This seemed to surprise the younger girl. "Whoa, Megan Morse is Miss Martian? As in Martian Manhunter's niece, Miss Martian? She quit?"

"Yeah," Dick smiled.

"Oh, so you think if I become friends with Artemis I'll quit the superhero gig. Is that it?" Zatanna teased. She pretended to be hurt. "Not cool, Rich. Not cool."

He tugged her ponytail and pulled her into a hug. "I'd never want you to quit. We're the most kick-ass team," he chuckled.

"Well, then I guess I'll stick around," she grinned. He smirked and gave her a kiss on her pink lips. Zatanna returned his kiss and after a moment they broke off. "I'm glad we're not those annoying couples who do this in public," she chuckled. He agreed.

It was a good thing they got their affection out, because there was a quick two knocks at the door and then it swung open. "Wally. I can always trust you to barge in," Dick said sarcastically.

The red head shrugged. "I knocked, didn't I?"

"Yes, and then you're supposed to wait for me to either answer it or yell 'come in'."

Wally smirked. "Was I interrupting something, old buddy?"

Zatanna laughed. "Please. You probably told him to come here on account of Artemis, huh?"

Wally looked at Dick. "Artemis is coming here?"

"You didn't know?"

"No!"

"Rich, why didn't you tell him?"

Dick laughed one of his famous troll laughs. "Cause trust me, it's a lot more fun to do it this way. Grow up, Wally. You can't avoid Artemis."

"I am not avoiding her. I'm just... taking a safe distance from her... for now," he defended.

Zatanna turned to Dick. "But he likes Artemis, why is he staying away?"

"Cause he's an idiot."

"No!" Wally defended. "Because Jade is after her and it would complicate things a lot less if I kept my distance and made sure she was safe. As soon as Jade is gone, I'll see her again. But for now, I'm... just... distancing. Yeah."

The raven-haired boy chuckled. "You tried to stay away from Artemis once before. Look how that turned out for you."

"Hey, I had no idea why she was at that bank."

"That's just it. Artemis walks into the Gotham Bank on the same day Kid Flash runs into Gotham and happens to save it. That's too rare to be coincidence. Then, Artemis just happens to walk past the Gotham Museum when Robin and Kid Flash are saving it from criminals. Dude. Whatever higher power or whatever is controlling fate, it WANTS you to be with Artemis!"

Zatanna awed. "That was actually really sweet. You get a kiss for being so sweet." She gave Dick a quick peck on the lips.

Wally sighed and headed back to the front door. "Look, I gotta go. I just dropped by for a snack, anyway."

"What are you afraid of?" his best friend asked him. His voice wasn't as teasing anymore, now it sounded rather serious. "Dude, you're obviously in love with her. What's so wrong with telling her that?"

Wally then looked at the raven-haired couple. His green eyes were gleaming with a mixture of hesitation and a small bit of remorse. "If Artemis..." he muttered. "If she... ever remembered... what really happened to her. If she really remembered what happened to her she wouldn't love me. She'd never forgive me, and I wouldn't blame her."

"Then tell her," Zatanna encouraged. "Tell her everything." The young man shook his head slightly and left the apartment. The door clicked shut. She turned to Dick again. "Why won't he tell her? Would the Justice League get mad at him or something?"

Dick sighed. "Wally is just bull-headed. The only problem Batman had was he didn't want Artemis to remember witnessing her father's death or Kid Flash's identity, because that could put her in danger. That was what he wanted to erase from her brain..."

When his sentence started to stammer off, the young girl knew there was more. "But?"

"It was Wally's idea to have Miss Martian plant the memory that he stood Artemis up for prom. You see, the events happened on prom. Well Wally had Miss M put a fake memory in Arty, so she thought that he was going to take her to prom and he stood her up. Then he wrote her a letter saying that they couldn't be together and he didn't like her, because he knew it'd get her upset enough to never talk to him or move away."

Her face was a mixture of shock and sadness. "Why would... why would he do that...? Wait, so all the Justice League wanted to erase was her knowledge of the attack and KF's identity? It was Wally's idea to make her think she was mad at him?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because Wally honestly believed that Artemis was better off without him, that she needed to move away from her abusive past with her father, move away from her sadistic sister, and start over."

"But now they're back in Gotham three years later, brought back by fate?"

"Yeah. It's looking like that."

Zatanna sighed. To lighten the mood, she wrapped her arm around him. "If only we could Tivo our friends' lives..."

He chuckled. "If only."

~X~X~X~

"Are you sure you're alright, Arty? You seem kind of... dazed."

She turned her head to be met with a concerned pair of eyes. "Fine, Megan," Artemis dismissed. "I just... hate buses. Y'know? When I have enough money to buy a car, I'm never riding a bus again."

"You should get a mini cooper. They're so adorable."

"Ha, yeah, no. I just want a car that will get me from point A to point B." Artemis straightened herself out. "Megs, have you ever felt... out of place?"

The auburn-haired girl nodded. "Oh yeah. I've felt out of place about a lot of things."

"Well... maybe that's not the right word. Have you ever felt... like something was wrong? Something was off? But you had no idea what and everything around you seemed right but somehow it wasn't?"

Megan blinked a few times. "Wait, what?"

"Never mind."

"No, you feel like something is wrong. What's wrong?"

Artemis tried to answer her, but she couldn't. "I don't know," she finally admitted. "Forget it."

~X~X~X~

She would be lying if she said she didn't want to reconnect with Dick and meet his new girlfriend. When Artemis met Zatanna she immediately liked her, and of course Megan liked everybody. In fact, Artemis was the one who was wary of people. But there was something about Zatanna that she liked about her. The four were sat down at Dick's kitchen table playing 21. Zatanna was the dealer.

"Hit or hold?" the young woman asked.

Megan bit her lip. "Oh... gosh this is hard. Uh..."

"Hit her!" Artemis exclaimed.

Zatanna slapped down a card. "Twenty-four. Too high."

"Ugh! Artemis, I was going to say hold."

She laughed. "Well, you didn't."

Megan shook her head. "Just wait when it's your turn."

Zatanna turned to Dick. "Hit or hold?"

"Hit me," he replied.

"You got a '2'. That gives you nineteen. You either need a three to get to '21' or anything under a three. Anything higher, you lose."

He wondered about this. "What the hell. Hit me babe."

Smack!

"Ouch!" Dick exclaimed. "You hit me!"

Zatanna started laughing. "I'm sorry Rich, I couldn't resist. Okay, here." She slapped the card down on the deck. "A '3'! You win!"

He smirked and rubbed his arm. "Not without a battle scar."

"Oh, don't be a baby." Zatanna turned back to Artemis and Megan. "Ready for another round?"

Megan smiled. "Actually, we need to be getting back to our uncle's houses. I live with my Uncle John Smith, and Artemis is staying with her Uncle Oliver Queen. Plus Arty, you need to get ready for your night shift at the club. But it was great making a new friend, and we should hang out by the end of this week."

"Definitely," Artemis agreed. "Thanks for having us over." Zatanna and Dick waved them out and the two girls headed downstairs and outside. "I brought my change of clothes with me," Artemis said, referring to her large purse. "So I'm just going straight to the club."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow at the diner."

Megan smiled. "Okay. Be careful, alright?"

"Of course."

Artemis waved down a taxi and started to drive off.

~X~X~X~

For once, she enjoyed her shift at the night club. The same amount of drunk losers still hit on her, the same amount of alcohol was still served, the same few guys started bar fights and had to be kicked out, and the same lousy tips were given to her. It was the same old chaos.

Which was what she needed. Chaos to crowd her mind so she didn't have to think about that nagging feeling inside her. Artemis finally got off her shift and it was 2:00 in the morning. Her shift at the diner started at 7:00. It would take her an hour by bus (half an hour by cab) to get to Oliver's house, and another half hour on a bus (fifteen minutes by cab) to get to the diner. "Screw it, I'll sleep on a park bench," she grumbled to herself.

But she knew that she had to change into her waitress uniform and that sleeping on a park bench in Gotham wasn't exactly safe. She didn't have enough money for a cab so she hopped on the bus. There were surprisingly a few people on the bus with her, excluding the bus driver. Too bad, I'd prefer it if I were alone, Artemis thought to herself.

She leaned back in the uncomfortable seat and looked out the window. Gotham City at nighttime really was a spectacle. The city was alive, it was always moving, always something going on. It was the opposite of Star City, although Star City did have events going on. Star City had a home feeling to it. It was comfortably easing, it was still hustle and bustle, but in a different way. Gotham didn't have that feeling of home. But that was the reason she lived there, wasn't it?

Because she didn't want to be home?

Artemis blankly stared out the window of the whirring bus. The large vehicle came to a stop when an old woman pulled the string to be let off at a stop. The old woman had been on the bus this late before, she always stopped near the park, where Artemis guessed her home was near. As the bus pulled to a stop, and the old woman stepped off, the young blonde woman saw something outside her window view.

Quickly Artemis got on her feet and hurried out the doors before the bus drove off again. She went in the opposite direction of the old woman and J-walked across the street. She sat down on the park bench, leaning forward, but looking straight ahead at the street. Finally, Artemis said in a low voice, "Hey."

Beside her, a young man opened his eyes, and jumped in surprise! "Sheesh! Artemis?" Wally asked. "What are you...? Am I dreaming? Shit, did I miss the bus?"

She smiled. "No. I just got off the bus going the opposite direction. I saw you asleep on the bench." It took him a minute to process this and fully wake up. He ran a hand through his fiery red hair and shook his head. "You could use a Starbucks," she said thoughtfully.

He scoffed. "Yeah. Or sleep a week straight." His green eyes finally met her gray ones. "How's Uncle Oliver's house?"

"Fine. I was on my way there but I took a detour."

"Why'd you take the bus?"

"Not enough money for a cab."

"Oh." He released a heavy sigh and rubbed his eyes. "This has not been my day."

She gave him a crooked smile. "It looks like you have a lot on your mind."

"You have no idea," Wally replied.

"I've got a lot to think about, too. It's stupid. I just want to close my eyes and go to sleep, hell, I wanted to sleep on a park bench."

Wally gave a small amused chuckle. "That sounds safe."

"I know right? What could happen?"

He gave her a weak smile. "Well here, lemme pay for your cab back home."

"No, that's okay."

"Really Arty, it's not a big deal."

"I know it's not... I just... I don't like accepting money. It's not just you, it's everyone. I have this thing with it."

"Debt?"

"No, I..." she gave up trying to explain. Artemis crossed her arms and leaned her head on his shoulder. He didn't move or flinch, he let her lay on him. It was a cold night in Gotham. "Wally... have you ever felt like something wasn't right? But you just couldn't place what it was?"

There wasn't an answer for a few minutes. She wondered if he fell back asleep. Finally, his voice filled the silence. "There are times when I feel like what I'm doing is right, but it feels wrong to me." That wasn't really an answer to her question. "Sometimes I wonder if what I do is selfish," he continued, "Or if what I'm doing will end up hurting someone."

Oh crap, what if he's talking about an ex-girlfriend? Artemis wondered. He sounded so sad. She was surprised when the young man wrapped an arm around her torso and pulled her closer into him. "Should I even ask what's wrong with you?" she asked softly.

He buried his face in the bare crook of her neck. Her skin was warm, and she smelled like a Bath and Body Works store. "I just really missed you, Arty," Wally whispered against her skin. "You have no idea." That's when he felt something cold that was against her neck. He lifted his face an inch and saw a silver chain. Slowly, Wally moved his fingers to her collarbone, and lifted a small silver chain with a silver locket-charm. His eyes widened. "Where did you get this?"

Gray eyes met green. Artemis took his hand in hers. "You tell me," she whispered.

Author's Note:

Whoa! Awww I wanna give poor ol' Wally a hug. And Arty. They both should get hugs XD Who loved the season finale of YJ? I know it got mixed feelings from fans, but I loved it! :D I also like M'gann's new haircut for the upcoming season. My hair is short like hers. So that's kinda cool.

So yeah...

Not much to say about this chapter. Except some of you may be mad at Wally. Yes, it was him who told Megan to wipe Artemis's mind so she was mad at him. Not the Justice League or Batman. Personally, Batman is too busy being Batman to care about a teenager's love life. LOLOL XD I hope the RobinxZee parts weren't too lovey dovey. I just adore them, though :D

Thanks for reading and please review!

~Luna