A/N: Ahahaha, Guest Cameron & Jade do have a few interactions in this fic, including in this chapter. No spoilers about who else shows up later though...

Age: Cameron is 21, Artemis is 20.

Family Dynamic

Summer, Team Year 5

Cameron opened his eyes and blinked a few times, letting the blurry figure in front of him come to focus.

Dark messy hair flowing out of a cap. A woman. A vaguely threatening aura radiating from her direction. It took a few seconds for him to realize he was looking at Cheshire, who was staring right back at him. His pulse heightened for a few moments when he didn't immediately recognize his surroundings, or how exactly he got here, a scenario that was ingrained into his mind as danger danger danger.

Am I at a safehouse? No

Am I captured? No

Am I in danger? Maybe.

It took him a second to remember that he was in Palo Alto, in Artemis's living room. That he'd come last night for a TV dinner, sans the already packed TV, for the company but also to make sure everything was ready for the move that was happening the next day. That they'd fallen asleep leaning against the wall – the couch had been donated last week – while watching adult channel cartoons on his phone, a throwback to their childhood days.

Jade definitely hadn't been there last night.

"Junior," she commented, looking at him the way some of the prisoners used to look at him in Belle Revve. Like a predator surveying their prey.

He wasn't sure he'd ever really seen her without that look, even from their few interactions together as kids. Guess motherhood doesn't change people that much he thought.

"Jade," he said frostily.

The elder Crock child gave both of them an exaggerated look, her eyes deliberately moving back and forth between him and the person next to him. All of a sudden Cameron was acutely aware of how Artemis was leaning into his body, arms around his torso, and how his arm was draped around her.

"Didn't think baby sis would be moving on that fast," drawled the raven haired woman.

"Say that when she's awake and she'll slit your throat," warned Cameron, already irritated by her presence. With his experience with Jade limited to being threatened by her or dealing with the emotional damage her absence did to Artemis, he already didn't have any patience for her antics.

"Like she could take me."

"I'd freeze you in place and let her do her worst," he answered, tone devoid of any sort of humor.

Something akin to interest flashed in Jade's eyes. "Well, someone's gotten brave since he was a little boy."

Picking fights with trained assassins? Do you have an active death wish? a voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Crystal asked. The voice also added And give me a call you forgetful dumbass but he chose to hit the imaginary mute button on his fictitious internal monologue because Artemis started moving next to him.

"Urghhh, words. Who is it?" she groaned, unknowingly slicing through the ratcheting tension. She picked her head off of Cameron's shoulder and squinted up, rubbing her eyes as she took in the figure standing in front of her.

"Oh, hey Jade," she said indifferently, extricating herself from Cameron to stretch. He moved his arm to accommodate her, pretending not to notice the sudden lack of warmth by his side.

"Hey baby sis. You ready?" the elder sister asked, though her eyes were still observing Cameron.

Artemis blew a stray strand of hair out of her face. "Ready as I'll ever be."

…

In the end, there wasn't that much to move out of the house. With Cameron overseeing the disposal or donation of so many items, they had managed to strip the load down to clothes, archery equipment, textbooks, and a few memorabilia. Even though moving out was supposed to be part of moving on, he didn't say anything when he noticed that a suspiciously large amount of said memorabilia had Wally's imprint on it.

"Are you sure no one is going to notice I used your secret transportation system?" he asked.

"Don't worry, I took care of it," Artemis answered. There were enough instances of non-JLA superheroes using Zeta Tubes that requests for guest access didn't drew barely any scrutiny, and Nightwing hacking the system to get her said access didn't draw any scrutiny at all.

"And her?" he asked, motioning to Jade.

"Please," Jade scoffed. "I've had a backdoor into these things since before sis knew she was an aunt," and Cameron did not want to any more details about that, thank you very much.

Using zeta tubes was a new and weird experience for him, but somehow using the Justice League's secret instant transportation system – which was apparently hidden throughout public cities in shady areas, like the comically seedy Star City parking garage they landed in – was only the second weirdest part of the move.

No, the weirdest part was definitely the house they were moving Artemis's stuff into.

If you asked him what he thought the home of Cheshire & Red Arrow would be, even with a kid amidst them, Cameron could have spent all day formulating different answers. Concrete barriers lined with booby traps. Eleven feet tall compound gates with a fatal electric current running through it. An underground bomb shelter. An island castle, League of Shadows style. An assuming farmhouse in the middle of California wine country that was loaded for bear.

He wouldn't have come anywhere close to the cookie-cutter, suburban, downright normal house that he found himself standing in. A house that was in the middle of an actual suburb. With normal neighbors. And a homeowner's association sign.

"I can't believe it." he said in awe, standing in the house foyer. They had a foyer.

"Hey, you better believe it," came a deep voice from behind him, and Cameron turned around to come face to face with a larger, athletic looking redhead sporting a lot of beard fuzz. But it was the cute little bundle of life in his arms that really got the cyrokinetic's attention, and for good reason: She was way too freakin' adorable.

If Ro-Will was surprised to see Cameron in his house with his his wife and sister in law, he didn't show it. Instead he handed her over, – Lian Cameron remembered – ver to Jade, switching out his child for some of the moving boxes.

"Cameron Mahkent, right?" he asked.

"Eh, different last name depending on the day. I'm told you're the fabled Red Arrow. Or, er, one of them." Cameron bit his tongue, and he could feel Artemis shoot a glare his direction.

"Yeah, something like that. Those days are behind me now though."

Cameron's brain picked that moment to realize that his previous affiliation with The Light might put him in an especially negative light amongst present company. Eyeing Will nervously, he spoke. "I didn't have anything to do with your uh, clone thing. If that's what you're thinking."

Will snorted. "I know you didn't," but Cameron's brain was already jumping ahead and he continued his awkward defense. "Seriously, I literally had no idea about any of that. I can't really prove it but I mean, you know, you have my word?"

"We know you didn't have anything to do with it Junior," drawled Jade, who managed to sound condescending even as she was making baby faces with Lian. The sight of her doing something maternal was, in and of itself, further disorienting for Cameron.

"Right. But, uh, how do you know that?" he asked.

Artemis turned to give him a look straight out of their childhood. It was the are you really this dumb Cam look, and if he wasn't suddenly so nervous at insulting the current homeowners, he would have had a rush of nostalgia.

"Cam," she started with a tone that matched her look, "That started like eight years ago. You would have been what, 12, 13? You weren't exactly Light material at the time. I should know."

Ohhhhh. Right.

"Oh, right," he echoed sheepishly.

"You know sis, he got taller, less scrawny. But somethings stay the same."

"Play nice Jade," warned Artemis.

"You know I never do that."

"Artemis said you retired to live the dad life, but I'm pretty sure living with her is more dangerous than the hero life," Cameron told Will, changing the topic.

"So you do have some brains in there," Jade interjected.

Will chuckled. "I'll take this over the old days with the bow and arrow. Now I barbeque, stop Jade from poisonings the homeowner's association president, and clean up barf. And I love it."

"Well you won't hear me complaining. I don't exactly miss those boxing glove arrows," Cameron responded dryly, and Will let out a hearty, dad-esque laugh.

And just like that, any concerns of the day being awkward fizzled out. Cameron and Will spent the next couple of hours moving things around and setting up Artemis's room, exchanging surprisingly pleasant conversation on all manner of things that never touched on any of their misadventures outside of civilian life. Artemis supervised to make sure she approved of the layout, but was otherwise preoccupied with her sister and niece, with the trio occasionally popping in to comment about 'men with power tools'.

It was refreshing, to just talk to someone like a normal civilian. Especially when you'd literally tried to turn that someone into a popsicle more than once. He was almost sad when the setup was done. Despite Artemis's insistence that he could spend the night – "They've got a guest room Cam, like rich people" – he felt it was time to head out. After all, if Artemis was here he'd probably be back sooner rather than later.

"So, you'll be around?" asked Will, as if to read his mind.

"I've still got a few loose ends to tie up, but yeah. I think I'll be around," Cameron answered, standing in the foyer with him and Artemis.

"Around as iinnnnn not in jail, right?"

"Will," groaned Artemis.

"What, I'm just curious! No judging at all, I've got no standing there. God knows the things I've done the lost couple of years."

"God & me," shouted Jade from the living room.

"Is she always on ninja-mode?" Cameron asked.

"Yes," Will & Artemis answered unanimously.

"Welp. Teenage Lian is going to have sooo much fun with that. But yea, to answer your question, 'Icicle Junior' is going to be out of commission for the time being. I need some time to uh, get some things in order."

"Well you're always welcome here. And if you're planning to stay in Star City, I've got a job here that could use your particular set of skills."

"Really?" asked Cam just as Artemis let out an exaggerated groan.

"Please, not this again," she muttered.

"I'm starting a security contracting firm," he said, taking out a business card. Bowhunter Security. "The name's still up for debate, but I figure security is something right up your alley."

"Cameron was thinking about going to school for something like that," Artemis remarked.

"Yeah, if I was staying in town this would be a no-brainer. But Star City's a bit too...warm for my permanent residence. I'm still moving around here and there, but I think Gotham or maybe Metropolis is the place for me."

"Fair point. Well, if you ever change your mind or just want a quick gig, Bowhunter security will always have a spot for you."

"Sweet!"

"Bye Cam, leave while you still can, before he starts fitting you for a uniform," Artemis urged.

"Hey what's wrong with my uniforms?"

"Everything!" Jade yelled out in the background, and Cameron chuckled as his phone notified him that his Schoober had arrived.

"That's my cue," he said, bidding them all farewell as he headed for his ride back to the Zeta Tubes.

Yea, I'm definitely coming back.

...

Later, sitting in her new room and looking up at her new ceiling, Artemis took a moment to let the finality of her new living situation sink in.

Her door was still open, so she could hear Will making baby noises at Lian down the hallway. Jade was making fun of him in the background, but her happiness was seeping into her words. Their mom was going to come by tomorrow, which meant a lot of jabs about their cooking (especially Jade's) and some grandmotherly doting.

Yeah Artemis thought to herself.

This is a good thing.

A/N: Harper/Crock family fluff, and it only took 32 chapters to show up. Thanks to everyone who read/commented! You guys are awesome.