Neither Wally nor Artemis were the jealous types. They trusted each other, of course, but neither would hesitate to tell someone to back off of whats not theirs.
Jealousy, was not the problem here. Artemis had always freaked out when people had called her 'baby girl' or 'baby' whenever someone did, it reminded of her father and she would go crazy.
It wasnt like if someone said 'look at my baby/ baby girl' she would freak out, it was if someone called her one of those names.
It reminded her of what used to happen, the things she couldn't control. When she was scared and vulnerable. She hated that.
It also reminded Artemis of Cameron, her ex-boyfriend. He was emotionally abusive to her, while her father at the same time was both physically and emotionally abusive to her.
Wally had made this mistake once. He never did it again, he's never even almost let it slip out, it had never crossed his mind to call her those names again after the first time.
The couple were walking in Happy Harbor, it was the summer and they were at a carnival. Laughing and just having a good time. Wally jumped up quickly and pointed to the cotton candy.
Artemis smiled and just nodded to the redhead. "I'm staying though, Im not waiting in that line for you to eat everything." she just grinned and rushed over to the line and she sat down on the bench, pulling her phone out.
After awhile, she looked at the line to see Wally ordering and peoples eyes around him widening. Yup, that was her Wally. She stared at the scene for a few minutes, a smile on her face before standing up and stretching.
"Hey baby girl." a deep, yet calming voice spoke from behind her, whoever said it was especially close. Artemis tensed and froze, her face paled.
Her breaths quickened and eyes darted left and right, she wanted to run away, run to Wally, but no, she felt like if she were to move she would be beaten, like how it was.
A hand touched her shoulder and traveled down her arm, the hand was rough and was just barely touching her, when it pulled away she flinched, waiting for the hard hit that usually came next.
Wally was still in line, talking to the person behind him while he was waiting for his food. In the middle of the conversation Wally looked over to Artemis, and his brows furrowed.
There was a man behind her, a smile on his face, he kept looking back at his group of friends gesturing what he should do next.
Artemis was pale, her eyes were wide and she was shaking. The only other time he's seen her like this was when-
Wally cut himself off and he ran as fast as he could without exposing his powers. The man behind Artemis raised an eyebrow, and just stood still until Wally stopped in front of the blonde.
"Get your ass away from her!" he yelled out. He had no patience for this man. He caused Artemis to be like this right now, and he didn't care about the people staring at them, all his attention was on the blonde in front of him.
He carefully gripped her shoulders and lead her to the bench, sitting her down, her breathing was still fast and she was tense. Upon noticing Wallys face and soothing voice color returned to her face.
His hand went over hers and he handed her a water bottle, still speaking comforting words to her.
After a few minutes her breathing began to slow down, and she began to loosen up. He raised the blondes hand to his mouth and he gently kissed it.
He was still on his knees, Wallys head dropped onto her thigh for a moment and let out a sigh of relief. He looked up and smiled. "Next time I see Lawrence or Cameron I'm going to-" Artemis put a finger on his mouth, making him stop.
He got up and sat next to her and she laid a head on his chest. "Just be with me." he nodded. The speedster wanted to just pick her up and run her to their apartment, but seeing how peaceful she was now, he wouldn't dare to do so.