Artemis walked up to the door and unlocked it with the spare key. She opened it and saw Wally on the couch, his eyes closed and his head resting on his hand. Brucely pounced on her legs and welcomed her.
Artemis laughed quietly and knelt down to pet him. "Hey, boy. Mommy's home." She said affectionately, and hugged him tightly. She then stood and slowly approached Wally. She tilted her head to peer at his face, smirked, and then sat down on the opposite side of the couch. The TV was on and it dimly lit the room as the last rays of the sun began to set.
She decided not to wake him yet, and instead watched what was on the TV. She then heard something fall on the floor, and she saw that it was the remote from Wally's hand. As she reached down to pick it up, she noticed his open hand. Artemis hesitantly looked at his hand and then at his face, then slowly slipped her hand into his and gently intertwined her fingers with his.
"I'm surprisingly slow, aren't I?" Artemis said sarcastically and laughed quietly. "How embarrassing." She stared a moment longer and noticed the subtle flutter of his eyelids as they languidly opened. Flustered, she withdrew her hand and picked up the remote quickly.
"Artemis." Wally said tiredly as he yawned and looked at her. "When did you get back?"
"Uh, about five minutes ago? Maybe?" She replied quickly.
Wally smiled and got up to turn on the lights. "Did you eat yet? If you haven't, I'll cook dinner for you." He said and walked into the kitchen. His hand reached for the fridge handle when he stopped mid-action, and looked at his hand, feeling a subtle warmth that hadn't been there. He curled his fingers in several times and shrugged, the tingling sensation disappearing. As he opened the fridge and looked in, figuring out what to use, he felt arms wrap around his waist and small hands appear on his chest. He froze.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for making you wait, Wally."
Wally felt his knees tremble slightly. He unwrapped her arms around him and turned to face her. Her cheeks were flushed with a subtle red and her eyes darted from left to right. "...Artemis?"
She slowly, finally looked him in the eye. "Hey, did I ever tell you how much I love you?"
Wally's eyes widened and his jaw loosened, a breath escaping him. An incredulous look appeared on his face, and tears slowly started to roll down his cheeks. Artemis cupped his face in her hands, touched her forehead to his, smiled and whispered softly, "I beat you to it."
Wally let out a small laugh as his tears started streaming down. He closed his eyes, touched her hand on his cheek and held it there. "That's not fair, I was supposed to say it first." He said with a raspy voice, but he was happy. He then opened his eyes again and smiled at her.
Artemis smiled back at him. In her mind, she slowly felt her memories with him surfacing one by one, and then suddenly they all started to pour into her memory bank. Overwhelmed, her eyes started to well up with tears. Wally leaned forward and gently kissed her, pulling her waist closer to him and caressing her cheek as he wiped away her tears.
She kissed him back and they shared a long, gentle kiss. When they both pulled away to breathe, she grinned and said, "I remembered I loved you all along."
Wally's smile reached his eyes and he lifted her up and twirled around. Brucely decided to join and danced around their feet. "Oh you have no idea how long I've been waiting to hear you say that." Wally excitedly said. His eyes perked when he remembered something important and he set her down quickly.
"Hang on, I'll be right back." He said as he disappeared into their room.
Artemis stood there in the living room, an elated smile on her face as she waited. She knelt to pat Brucely on the head when Wally came back into the living room and motioned for her to stand up. "There's still something left for me to do."
Artemis crossed her arms over her chest and leaned her weight on one leg, a grin on her face. "What're you holding behind your back?"
Wally took three large steps toward Artemis and stopped before her with pursed lips. "It's kind of unfair again because you already know what the surprise is, but..." He smiled, and knelt down on one knee. "I've got a question for you."
"Oh? And what might that be?" Artemis said as she slowly leaned toward him. He opened the velvet red box and his lips met hers with a kiss.
"Will you marry me?"
Artemis paused and looked deep into his eyes. Time seemed to stop for them as they shared this moment together. She wished it would last like this forever, but she knew it would be a memory engraved in her mind and etched in her heart for the rest of her life. Never again would she forget the man before her, because you know you've found true love when you catch yourself falling in love with the same person over and over again.
"Yes."
A/N:
To all my wonderful readers,
This is the last time I'll be writing anything for a while. I hope you guys enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it lol. I know I wasn't the best updater and it took such a LONG time to write every single chapter and put it up. It's not perfect, but I'm glad I finished this one. I want to sincerely thank you for reading because without you I never would have been able to finish this story :) Your support, feedback, and presence has always been greatly appreciated~!
Love,
DreamBig808
EDIT 06/2015: Because it was previously mentioned that Kaldur and his potato self was still within the enemies' grasp, I felt bad. So, for closure, I'll say that after Artemis got her memories back they all went to save Kaldur. And once they fixed him right up, they kicked some bad guy butt together. Sorry for missing such a crucial detail, guess I got caught up trying to tie everything in with Arty and Wally to finish the story on a happy note. Hope you still enjoyed though!