"You're mother was right, you didn't go very far."

Rory looked up from the swing that she was sitting on, her eyes meeting those of The Flash, staring back at her live and in costume.

"What did she do, call the Justice League to find me?" Rory said, looking back at her feet. She had always wanted to meet members of the League, but it was a bit hard for her to be happy right now.

"Not exactly." Wally said, sitting in the swing next to her. "Just me."

"So, is my mom even looking for me?"

"Of course she is. Just in a different city." He put a hand on her shoulder. "Anything that you want to talk about?"

He smiled when she looked at him, trying hard to make her more comfortable. Rory couldn't help but produce a tiny smirk back. After all, she was actually talking to a League member.

"Did you know my mom when she was a hero?" She asked, turning the swing to face him. She didn't want to talk about everything that had just happened.

"Sure did." Wally said with a chuckle. "Fought with her like a sister most of the time. We were friends though."

Rory nodded. Something about him seemed familiar… You know, other than the pictures in the hundreds of comics that she owned. She recognized his voice.

"Can you tell me anything about her past? She won't talk about it."

"Well… you're mom has the right to keep that a secret. There's a reason that heroes have secret identities. Coming out about it could be dangerous not only for her, but for you too."

She sighed, "I understand, I guess…" She mumbled.

"So," Wally started, "Do you mind telling me why you ran away from home?"

"It's kind of complicated…" Rory said. "I grew up without a dad, and I turned out fine, but that doesn't mean that I never wondered about who mine was." Her eyes were on her feet again. Was she seriously talking to a League member about her family problems? Did superheroes do personal therapy sessions now? "I've asked about my dad so many times… After years of getting no answers I was actually starting to assume that he was dead. How am I supposed to feel about him just showing up at our house? It isn't even a situation where he ditched during the pregnancy… My mom was the one who ditched. She never even told him. I don't have a dad because my mom decided that she didn't want me to have one."

Wally nodded. This was the first time that he had really heard the whole story.

"Now the real question is whether or not you want a father in your life." He said. "What do you think?"

It took Rory a moment to respond.

"I don't know." She said. "I don't not want one. It's just kind of awkward."

She looked at him again, "Do you know who my dad is?" She asked. "A tall red-headed man. I don't know his name."

"Yes. I know him very well." Wally answered, smiling at her. "You know, it's pretty late. Don't you think that you should be getting home?"

Rory sighed, spinning herself around in the swing.

"I don't know… I don't really want to go back yet…" She said as she released it, twirling back around. "How'd you know my parents?" She asked.

"Let's just say they were on the same team."

He wanted to hug her. Would that be weird in costume?

"What's my dad like?"

"Let's just say that there were many debates over whether or not he was funny."

Rory chuckled, causing Wally to giggle. He knew he was funny! "I like to think that he was a good guy," He continued. "Maybe not the most serious person in the world, but always himself."

"I'd like to meet him…"

"He'd like to meet you too."

"My mom would freak."

"There isn't a lot she can do about it." Wally said. "You have the right to meet him if you want to."

Rory laughed out loud, "That's what you think." She said. "I mean, I know that you knew my mom, but you don't know her like I do. If she doesn't want me to do something, I have no say in the matter. I wasn't ever even allowed to go trick-or-treating outside of the kid's museum. Too dangerous."

Wally smiled at the thought of Artemis taking a little kid trick-or-treating.

"Well," He said, "Gotham isn't exactly the safest city in the world."

"Isn't that what Batman is supposed to be for?"

Wally laughed. "You got me there." He said.

Rory had never really seen Batman in real life. There would be a silhouette every so often, but the man was an expert at blending in. Maybe if Artemis had opened the blinds every once in awhile she would be able to watch him beat up a pick pocket in an alleyway.

"You know, we really should get you home." Wally said. "Your mother is really worried about you."

"Maybe she should have thought about that before hiding half of my life from me."

Wally took her hand, pulling her up from the swing.

"How about we have a race?" He said with a smile. "I'll slow down for you."

"No going easy on me. I need the practice."

Wally laughed. "I'll be at your house in about a quarter of a second if I don't go easy on you." He said rubbing his hand on her head. He wanted so badly to unmask himself, knowing that he couldn't do it in public.

"Fine…" She said. "Just not too easy. If you lose, I'll know that you did it on purpose."

Wally had called Artemis before they departed; she wouldn't be home for another twenty minutes though. It wasn't as though he thought that he needed her permission to reveal his identity to his daughter, but it would be nice to have it.

"I should probably wait until my mom gets home before I go to bed. If I don't she'll wake me up, so I'll get yelled at either way."

Wally sighed deeply, kneeling down to Rory's level.

"Do you know who I am?" He asked her.

She scrunched her face in confusion.

"Um, yeah. You're The Flash, duh."

He put his hand on her cheek, "My name is Wally West." He said. "Before you were born, your mother and I were very unique friends."

"Unique how?"

"Well…" Wally said with a slight chuckle, "We kind of hated each other at first. I was immature and, if I do say so myself, funny. You're mother was a seventy year old woman trapped in the body of a teenager, and had no sense of humor."

Rory laughed. "Is this going anywhere?"

"We were different alone than we were with the rest of the team. Alone, we were friends. We talked about our lives, our pasts… We were able to really open up to each other and be ourselves. I was never much of a private person, but your mother was, and I was happy to listen."

Wally paused for a moment. Rory seemed completely oblivious of where he was going with this story.

"I loved your mother very much…" He continued. "I could never tell if she felt the same way… Then one day, she just left the team. We all kept expecting her to come back some day, but as the years went by, we knew that it wasn't going to happen."

He pulled his mask down, taking Rory's hands. "Rory, I'm going to ask you again… Do you know who I am?"

Tears were forming in the young girls eyes, and she had to remind herself that superheroes didn't cry.

"Can I hug you?" Wally asked, still holding her hand tightly. When she nodded, he pulled her close to him, finally wrapping his arms around his little girl… "I know that I don't know you very well, but you need to know that I love you very much."

She rested her head against his shoulder, still not completely sure how she was supposed to feel about the situation. When she was a little kid, all that she ever wanted was a father. Now she had no understanding of how she was supposed to deal with having one.

She pulled away for a moment, looking Wally in the eyes. After a second, a tiny grin found its way to her face.

"Can I meet the rest of your old team?"