Disclaimed

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"Fight"

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The three occupants of the small room were silent. Two sets of eyes were hard and unyielding in their gaze; but the third set of eyes was closed, completely ignorant of the occurrences in the little hospital room. The only sound in the room was the slow, steady beep of the heart monitor in the corner.

"You can't actually expect me to let the two of you go back to that apartment when she's released," Ollie gestured dramatically to the unconscious woman laying against the stark white hospital sheets. "Much less let you go back there alone tonight."

"It's where we live, Ollie," Artemis tried to stress to the man. "We can't just abandon our home when the going gets tough. Besides, I've been okay by myself for the past two nights. Why would tonight, tomorrow, or next week be any different?"

"You…wa…– WHAT?" Ollie sputtered indignantly for a moment before gaining his composure once more. Seconds later he had an accusing finger pointed at Artemis and was roaring angrily at her. "You told me that you've been staying at the hospital!"

"Yeah. I kind of lied about that," Artemis cringed at her own confession; she never had been very good at keeping track of her lies. "Obviously."

"Artemis…" Ollie sighed, his posture relaxing at the girl's unhappy expression. When he took Roy under his wing, Ollie had to learn the ins-and-outs of parenting, or at least enough to get him by. In the end, he had still pushed the boy that had practically become his son away. As Ollie closely regarded Artemis, who was staring down at the floor with her fingers twining together in an almost nervous pattern; he realized that he had the same chance with her. She was on the fast track to becoming the almost-daughter just as Roy had been his almost-son; though if he kept this up, she was on the fast track to becoming the next solo arrow as well. Ollie couldn't imagine losing her as well. "Look, Arty. You can't do things like that. Believe it or not, there happen to be a few people that care about your well-being. I know it sounds crazy to you, but it's true."

Artemis' eyes were still firmly downcast, but her hands had stilled at her sides. Even from his height advantage, Ollie could see the surprise that was etched into her facial features. Roy always had the same facial expression when he expected to be scolded, but was instead barely chastened in a more concerned voice.

"What would your mom do if something happened to you while she was in here?" Ollie continued. "Or the team? You just up and went on this hiatus without telling them a thing. What would they think?"

"I can take care of myself, you know," Artemis' voice was weak. Ollie just shook his head.

"You can come stay with me," Ollie said after a momentary pause, his voice firm and his jaw set. Artemis looked at her mentor; shock resigned in to her features, Ollie could only shrug in response to the look.

"No way! I have school! And what about…" Artemis trailed off, looking to her mother. "What about when she gets out? I have to be here. I'm not leaving Gotham."

"If you don't stay with me then you'll end up back in that damn apartment," Ollie stated unhappily.

"Yes! I will!" Artemis exclaimed, feeling completely exasperated. "We live there! That's the point!"

"I'm not letting you put yourself into danger like that! Especially after what happened to Paula. I don't want to see you in one of these beds!" Ollie's voice matched the teen's tone as her as he jabbed his finger in the direction of the unoccupied bed in the room.

"Why can't you just listen? I'M. NOT. GOING. TO GET. HURT!" Artemis snapped lowly at Oliver and for the first time since the night he arrived in Gotham, he saw her fatigue. The dark rings under her eyes were pronounced and stood out against her unusually pale skin. Her long hair was pulled back, as normal; but the sleek ponytail she habitually went for had been forgone in favor of a messy, high bun. Strands of her light blonde hair hung in her face and were falling from the loose up-do each time she moved. She didn't look like the well put together Artemis he was used to seeing and he didn't like it.

"I agree," Ollie nodded shortly. "You're not gonna get hurt."

"Finally," Artemis sighed in relief, rolling her eyes.

"Because you're coming to Star City with me."

"Oliver Oueen! I am not—" Artemis stopped yelling at the sound of a knock at the door.

"Hopefully, I'm not interrupting anything important," the door opened slightly and a familiar blonde's head appeared in the opening.

"Of course not," Ollie grinned at his longtime girlfriend.

Dinah chuckled and let herself into the room, "The nurses were scared that someone was going to end up through the door. I figured I'd stop you two before that happened."

"Nah, we're pretty much done here," Ollie shrugged and made his way over to the door. "Hurry up, Arty. We'll grab some dinner before we leave Gotham. There's this great little place on the same block as Wayne Enterprises that I wanna try."

"Ollie," Dinah groaned, hitting the tall archer. "Just because Bruce recommended it doesn't mean that we have to eat there."

"But he said they have some great pie," Ollie whined following the woman from the room. Artemis was left standing next to her mother's bed, staring at the door that was closing behind them. She sighed sitting on the edge of the mattress, hands fussing with the wrinkles in the comforter before taking the small, warm hand resting on the bed. A small frown pulled down her lips.

She wasn't going.

"Hey," another soft knock at the door pulled her attention away from her mother's supine figure. Artemis was on her feet immediately.

"What're you doing here?" the harshness she attempted to add to her voice didn't project, making her question sound monotonous.

"Dinah asked me to come," the other member of the arrow family shrugged as he responded. Roy Harper leaned against the wall next to the door, holding a clip board in one hand. He gave her a short once over and sighed. "You look like crap."

"Like you have room to talk," Artemis retorted, her expression now a scowl.

"Haven't been sleeping, huh? After I went solo, I didn't sleep for almost a month in my apartment," Roy walked closer to defensive blonde. He took a seat on the extra bed and looked at her expectantly.

"What? What's with the puppy eyes?" Artemis gave the red head a pointed look and he just rolled his eyes.

"Dammit, just sit down. I'm not going to bite," Roy snapped, glaring at Artemis. The glaring lasted for less than a minute. "Fine. Don't sit. I was just trying to be nice."

"And what reason do you have for trying to be nice?"

"I heard you told the team."

"Oh," was all Artemis said. Roy didn't say anything as she sunk onto the bed about a foot away from him.

"I didn't think you'd do it," Roy admitted, staring down at the clip board in his hand. "I'm glad you did though. I guess it means that you're not as bad as I thought."

"I guess not."

"You know Ollie means well, right?" Roy's gaze leveled with Artemis' and he gave a little smile. She noted that it was probably the first she had seen from him.

"I'm still not leaving," Artemis broke their stare to look towards her mother once more.

"Even when you say that, Ollie finds a way to make you do what he wants. He cares about you, Artemis. It's the people that he cares about that are manipulated the most," Roy's voice held an amused quality that she had never heard before. "Most of the time, the way he picks is for the best."

"I'm still not going," Artemis huffed, feeling three years old again. Roy just laughed.

"Keep telling yourself that," Roy patted the younger archer's shoulder and then surprising her by pulling her into a half hug with one arm. He stood and handed the clip board to the stunned girl, which she glanced at curiously. "That's the transfer papers for your mom. Ollie arranged a private room with one of the hospitals in Star City earlier today. He wanted you to look over them. They should be in to start moving her in a few minutes."

Artemis didn't respond as Roy shrugged and began to leave the room. She couldn't help the warmth she felt or the smile that was spreading across her lips. Maybe being part of the Arrow Clan wouldn't be too horrible; she could even deal with losing the odd fight here and there. In honesty, she wasn't sure that she had even wanted to win the fight with Ollie.

Roy interrupted her thoughts from the doorway. "Don't worry too much about Wally. He's a dumb ass sometimes. The two of you should talk it out."

Artemis snorted and didn't reply. That was a fight waiting to happen.

I love the Arrow Clan. I really do. Unsurprisingly, they're crazy hard to write interacting. Stubborn asses, the lot of them. Poor Dinah.

I wanna thank all of you who sent well wishes to my sister. They didn't have to do an emergency delivery; so my sister will get to wait until full term. Which is good because the family has yet to completely prepare for the baby. xD

Gotta say that I'm pretty stoked about the prompts from anubislover. Crack pairings are so fun. I hope to start on it tomorrow after writing another chapter for 'Christmastide'.

This is becoming a serious business fic as someone pointed out and it's weirding me out. I gotta be more random!

Hopefully you guys liked this one. I originally enjoyed the idea when I first had it, but I'm not sure how I like the way it turned out. Oh well.

._.

Until next time, m'dears!