Ch. 6 - The End
The final chapter is finally here. Thanks so much to you readers that read and reviewed this story. I know it took forever to post but it is finally here.
Enjoy!
"Babe, be careful!" Wally said. He helped Artemis into his car. Artemis having several wrappings around her arms, part of her legs, her stomach and her head.
"I'm fine." She replied. "I can do it myself."
"Right." Wally rolled his eyes as he put her crutches in the back and walked around to the driver's side.
On the ride home, Artemis thought of something. "So everything's really okay now? No Speed Force, no alien invasion, no Zoom?"
"Yeah, everything's normal again. Well as normal as we can be." Wally answered. "Sounds boring doesn't it?"
"Not really, after everything that's happened it sounds peaceful."
"Wow. I thought you'd want back in the game."
"Me?" Artemis to count on her fingers. "After I've had my stomach sliced, kidnapped, and sucked into trans-dimensional portal. You think I want to go back? Regular life sounds amazing." Wally chuckled.
"I mostly don't want you back." Wally's smile was replaced by a frown. "I was scared I'd never see you again. I don't know what would happen to you." Artemis looked down as she explained. Wally took one hand off the wheel and held her hand.
"Don't worry." Wally said. "I won't let it happen again. I'm sorry."
"You know, when you were gone, I-I thought it was my fault." She kept looking straight ahead at the road as she confessed. "I know you're going to say 'It's not your fault. It was my choice.' and whatever to that. But if I hadn't gone along with Dick's plan and went undercover with Kaldur, it wouldn't have happened. If I hadn't been so stubborn and listened to you this whole thing wouldn't have happened."
"Dick told me, you would blame yourself. And now that I know that you do. I say bullshit." Artemis looked at him. "I'm glad you didn't listen to me. You did a good thing, bringing down the Light and the Reach. You shouldn't doubt that."
"I just.. I thought of you everyday I was gone. I regretted it the moment I walked away with Kaldur. I thought I could handle it but I missed you. Especially, after Sportsmaster and Jade invaded the sub."
"They what?!"
"Not important." Artemis dismissed. "I just wish that-"
"Don't regret what you did. Me disappearing was my fault and my fault alone." They stopped at a red light. Wally put his hand under her chin and made her face him. "What matters now is that its over, you and I are together and well happily ever after, right?" He shrugged.
Artemis rolled her eyes and he pulled her in for a kiss. When Wally pulled away she couldn't stop smiling.
It got very quiet in the car as Wally continued to drive. Artemis tightened her hold on his hand. "Let's get home soon. I want to eat some real food. Everything in that hospital tasted like medicine."
"You know, this is why I love you. You're a food hog too." She leaned over and kissed his cheek.
When they returned home, Wally carried Artemis up the stairs. "How does pizza and a movie sound?"
"Sounds great." Wally put her down to open the door.
"SURPRISE!" They jumped when the lights were turned on and were ambushed by family and friends.
"Ahh!" Jade had Artemis in a giant bear hug. "Jade! So much pain!"
"Welcome home, guys!" Dick said, while wearing the most ridiculous party hat on.
"How did you get in our house?" Wally said, still in shock.
Dick fumbled inside his pockets. "Uh, oh. I have a key." He held it up.
Zatanna held up her own. "So do I." M'gann, Conner and Raquel held up their own keys. The couple turned toward Kaldur.
"Kaldur not you too."
Kaldur shrugged. "I'm the one who made copies of your spare key." Wally and Artemis facepalmed.
"You two have been through so much over the past few- well this year." M'gann started.
"So we decided you needed a party." Raquel continued.
"To celebrate?" Artemis asked.
"That Zoom is gone, we beat the light and the fact that you're both still alive!" Barry cheered.
"Celebrate!" Dick shouted.
Wally and Artemis stood next to each other, with blank expressions on their face. Their faces slowly turning to grins.
"You guys are the best." Wally concluded.
"We know!" Everyone said in unison. Wally lead Artemis to the couch, where she started to relaxed.
"Okay," M'gann said as she sat in front of Artemis. "Can I plan your wedding?"
"Huh?"
"I'm organized, pleasant and I've been planning your wedding to Wally since your first 'I love you'." M'gann said.
"Wow, that's not creepy at all." Artemis stared at her.
"I think you may be taking this too far." Wally added.
"Please!" M'gann begged.
"I was going to make you my honor maid thing anyway." Artemis shrugged.
"Maid of honor and Yes!"
"Just know nothing is happening until after college." Wally said. M'gann's face fell.
"What? You finally have the guts to ask her and you still make us wait?" Dick said.
"I should hit you." He and M'gann said at the same time.
"Please don't. I've been through a lot." Wally defended.
M'gann sighed. "You guys are trolls." Wally and Artemis smiled at each other.
"You know, I never really gave the marriage thing a thought." Artemis shrugged. "I wasn't in to all that girly doodling and stuff."
"Yes you were." M'gann cut her off.
"What are you talking about?"
"Remember when you guys were in the honeymoon stage, which took like 3 months to get to. Artemis was drawing little doodles in her notebook."
"Oh yeah," Raquel joined in. "She used to draw things like Mrs. Artemis West." Artemis signaled for her to stop. "Or Mrs. West-Crock or Crock-West."
"I, ha, never did that." Artemis defended weakly. Wally smirked.
"Yeah, you did." Zatanna said. "Dick showed me," Artemis glared at him. "and there was at least one page in every subject." Wally busted out laughing along with the adults. Artemis' cheeks turned a darker red as they laughed.
"That's so cute." Mary commented.
"So which one are you going with?" Wally asked through his laughs.
"My last name sucks. And you know why." She pointed at Wally and he laughed even more. She turned to the girls. "You had no right to tell him that." She said through her teeth.
"You're right, I should have saved it for my speech." M'gann said.
"Nothing is stopping you from still using it." Wally grinned.
Artemis scoffed. "I can." She struggled to stand up.
"Oh really?" M'gann blew a puff of air at her and she fell. Artemis growled after she fell back in her seat.
"Now that you know there's no escape, let's talk about the honeymoon." Iris said. Artemis felt her face heat up again.
"Wally." She whined.
"Sorry, what was that?" In a instant he was across the room with Barry and Dick, stuffing his face with cake. It had three levels and each level was a different flavor. He, Barry and Dick smirked at her.
She buried her head in her hands. "I hate him." She muttered. "I hate him so much."
After the embarrassment of both Jade and Iris telling her the do's and don'ts of a honeymoon, Artemis had some time to herself as she watched the others mingle. She when she saw her mom enjoying a drink with Mary. Soon Zatanna sat with Artemis and started to pet Nelson sitting in front of her.
"I wonder, if you're not going to get married right away. What is your plan after college?" Zatanna asked.
"You and M'gann are obsessed," Zatanna smiled bashfully at her. "We're planning to buy a bigger house and have Bart live with us. The kid is only 13, let him enjoy living in semi-normal house hold."
"Semi-normal?" Zatanna smirked.
"Okay, a weird house hold. But the point is it would be a start toward a new life." Artemis said. "After what's he been through, he deserves it."
"Plus it's like practice for when you guys have a kid of your own."
"Let's not look that far ahead." Artemis chuckled nervously.
That night, Wally ran his fingers through Artemis' blonde locks to help her sleep. It was a surprisingly calm setting after the massive party they just had. Suddenly his stomach growled and Artemis chuckled lightly.
"Hungry?" She said.
"Uhh..." He felt his cheeks grow warm.
"There should be leftover cake from the party. If you and Uncle Barry didn't eat it already." She yawned.
"Thanks babe." He kissed her cheek, knowing she'd be asleep when he got back in bed.
Wally walked toward the kitchen and was expecting to see his leftover food still on the table. What he didn't expect was Sportsmaster sitting on the couch casually with his legs crossed and his arm over draped over the top of the couch.
With wide eyes, Wally tried to think of something to say but all that came out was "Uh..."
"Hello Wally." His raspy voice said from the couch. "We need to talk."
"About?" Wally didn't bother to cover his face, Spotsmaster had already seen him without the mask. Why he never told anybody, Wally would never know.
"I heard through the grapevine that you're engaged to my daughter."
"Why do you care? I thought you only wanted her as your slave."
"She is still my daughter and if you do anything like that stunt you pulled in the Arctic while you're married," He threatened. "I'll make sure you'll never run again."
Wally could not believe what he was hearing.
"Are we clear?"
"Crystal." Wally said plainly. "Just one question. Why now? Why do you suddenly care about Artemis?"
"I'd rather have her furious at me then see her depressed. I have never seen her so miserable. She was sad when her mother went to prison and she was sad when Jade left. But she never shed a tear. You 'disappear' and she cries a river. Pull that stunt again and I will be paying you a visit." Sportsmaster explained. "Understood?"
Wally nodded.
"Good. And I expect an open setting so I can watch over your wedding. Good night Wally." The lights flickered and when they stabilized Sportsmaster was gone.
Wally walked back to the bedroom and just as he expected, Artemis was fast asleep. He crawled into bed and pulled Artemis close to him.
"You have no idea how loved you are." Wally whispered. Her only reply was snuggling into him and resting her head on his chest.
The next few days were lazy as Wally and Artemis relaxed in the Watchtower. Artemis was healing up quickly and was down to one crutch. She was even wearing one wrapping around her stomach and both arms.
Artemis watched Wally run around the track. She lost count of how many times she'd seen his red hair run around in circles.
He skid to a stop in front of her, a cloud of dust disappearing.
"It feels great to run just for fun." He smiled.
"Be careful. I don't want you running that fast for that long." Wally put his hands on his hips.
"Babe, it's cool. I'm fine." As he said this, Artemis noticed his right bicep disappear for a moment. She gasped, making Wally stop smiling.
"What's wrong?"
Artemis rubbed her eyes. "You-you just.. pixellated."
"I'm not a cartoon, Arty. I don't pixelate." He said, before running around the track again.
Artemis watched him as he began to pixelate on the track. She gasped again and shot up, ignoring the pain. "Wally Stop!" She yelled.
He stopped immediately. He then watched his arms and legs pixelate. He looked up at Artemis with her hands over her mouth.
"I'm going to get Nightwing." Artemis moved as fast as she could. "Nightwing! Nightwing!" Wally stood there watching Artemis leave. He then looked at his hands in confusion. They pixelated before settling back to normal.
Zoom had ended up in some dark alley. He stood and leaned against a wall. He looked at his surroundings to figure out where he ended up.
"There you are." A feminine voice spoke from above him. "I've been looking all over for you." The figure jumped down and landed in front of him. Zoom was met with a pair dark brown eyes.
"Artemis." The figure stepped out of the shadows and hugged him. This Artemis still had her tanned skin but had dark brown eyes. Her hair extended to her mid-back and was a jet black color.
"Wally, I thought you were.." She trailed off. Zoom didn't hug her back nor did he stop her from hugging him.
"Well, I'm not. Stop pretending to care." She sighed but didn't let go of him. "How long have I been gone?"
"Three weeks."
"Seemed like a few days to me."
"Where were you?" She looked at him. "You had me worried sick. I searched and searched but I couldn't find you." Artemis stated.
"I thought you didn't care. Heroes and Villains shouldn't be together." Instead of replying she crashed her lips against his. This time he wrapped his arms around her and didn't hesitate to kiss her back. It was a very passionate kiss that lead to Zoom pressing her against the wall.
When they pulled away, she spoke first. "I don't care about that. It's a stupid rule that's not going to stop us. I'm sorry for what I said. But I really don't care anymore."
"What would you say if I said I went to an alternate reality where things were different?" He stepped back from her and let her off the wall.
"I'd say you were high on a drug rampage. Did that really happen?" She smiled.
"The Speed Force." He answered. Her brows raised in surprise then lowered when she came to understand. Zoom stumbled a bit when they tried to leave the alley.
"Come on, I'll take you back to my place. You need some rest." She held him tightly and shot a zip line to the top of a building.
"So what was it like, Wally? The other universe I mean." Artemis asked. She had brought Zoom back to her loft apartment. He sat on her bed as she looked at his wounds.
"Not so different. You were blonde and had grey eyes. I was a red-head. I was part of the justice league, well a younger version of it." He explained.
She looked up from her work. "You were a good guy? As in from the start?" She gave him an amused expression.
"Yeah, we both were. Except you were Tigress for a bit."
"Tigress? Are you sure it wasn't my mother? She was Tigress."
"I'm sure." His eyes clouded with regret. Artemis left it alone and went back to fixing his wounds. It was quiet for a few moments. All that was heard was Wally sucking his teeth from the alcohol Artemis put on his leg.
"Stop being such a baby." He gave her a look. "You know things happened while you were gone." She turned her back to him.
"Like..?"
"I quit the Justice League." The way she said, it was like a normal everyday thing.
"You're quit the Justice League?! Why?!"
Artemis shushed him. "Walls have ears. I was already on watch for trying to hunt down my father. They said if I didn't stop looking for you they'd kick me out." He continued to stare at her. "So I quit."
"Y-you can't just quit. And for me? Why-"
"Not just because of you, I have my reasons. Who says I have to be apart of the League to be a hero? Plus I should be able to be with anyone I want." Artemis explained.
"I still don't think that-" She cut him off with a chaste kiss.
"It was worth it." He smiled. Though it was short-lived after she put alcohol on the scars on his chest. Then his smile was forced out in pain. Artemis smirked at his face.
"Why did you enter the Speed Force?" She started to put the supplies away.
"I went for a run and I didn't stop, I just kept going for some reason. Then the next thing I know, I'm walking into a weird looking Central City." Wally explained.
"Why?" Artemis asked. "You weren't pushing yourself right?" She walked in to the bathroom to put her first aid kit away.
Wally shook his head. "No, It had nothing to do with me. Alternate Wally was too slow while trying to stop some sort of crisis and it trapped him in some pocket dimension. It was so strong I got sucked in while I was running. Except I was asleep the whole time." He explained.
"And you know this because..?" Artemis sat next to him.
"Your alternate self told me."
"You kidnapped her, didn't you?" Artemis raised a brow.
"Duh, I always kidnap you. It's sorta my thing." She smiled as she shook her head.
"Well," She stood on her knees behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Now that I'm off the League I need to find my new thing." She leaned in close and whispered his ear. "Think you can help me?" She said in a low, seductive voice.
Wally flipped them so that she was on her back and he was on top. "I'm all over it." He said before leaning down for a kiss.
"Nothing to freak out about. Zoom was just entering his home universe. Wally's not fading or disappearing, Artemis calm down." Nightwing explained.
"Wow he's just getting to his universe. Slow." Wally mocked.
"Don't say that. Zoom wasn't all that bad." Artemis defended him.
"He sliced your side and kidnapped you. Not to mention how many cars he's slammed me into." Wally exclaimed.
"Come on Wally. He's you, if he really wanted to hurt me he would've done much worse. Don't you think?" Artemis raised an eyebrow. "He didn't know it was me when he cut me. And he didn't hurt me when I was kidnapped."
Wally scowled. "Are you sure nothing happened between you?"
"Nothing happened. I promise you, Wally. You're my one and only. But if you pull that stunt again, I'll force myself to move on."
Wally crossed his arms. "I get it."
"If he found his way back home then I'm happy for him."
"I guess someone should." Nightwing commented. Wally gave her a look, smirking as she walked away.
A few weeks later, Artemis and Wally walked into the lecture hall at Stanford. As they walked Wally noticed a glint of light shine off Artemis' finger.
"Why are you wearing the ring this early?" Wally asked.
"Very important reasons that involve high levels of jealousy." Artemis said. She couldn't hold back the smirk on her face as she approached a pale, black-haired girl by the name of Linda Parks.
Wally shook his head as he walked past them, completely ignoring Linda's stare and sitting in classroom where he could see them.
"So, Linda. How was vacation?"
"Why ask? It's not like you care." Linda crossed her arms.
"Things happen over break. Bad things, obviously." She gestured to herself. She still had a wrapping around both her arms. "But good things too, like change. Notice anything different about me?" Artemis started to stretch, her hand in Linda's face. Constantly, waving her ring finger back and forth. "Time a minute, some things are just hard to notice." She continued to wave her hand in Linda's face.
Linda gasped. "Whoa, what a ring!" She grabbed Artemis' hand and stared intently at the ring. Her eyes widened in shock. "No. This can't mean.. It can't be!"
"Yep! Wally and I are engaged." Artemis smirked sinisterly at her before walking into the classroom. "Try not choke on the jealousy."
She left Linda seething in anger while walking toward her seat.
"Was that really necessary?" Wally asked when Artemis sat down.
"Yes. Yes it was." She took off the ring, placed it carefully back in it's box and put it in her bag. The bell rang again after that and class started.
Artemis sat next to Wally, she put her head on her fist as she was lost in thought.
'Back to the same ol', same ol'. It doesn't sound boring to me, it sounds great. I got Wally back, I've made Linda furious and we're starting our life together. I never thought I'd be this happy. Getting back in the game made me wish it was all just a dream and I'd wake up with Wally's arms around me. But it wasn't and because of that I don't crave fighting like I used to.' Artemis thought.
'I'll miss the team but I can visit the cave and invite everyone over. They're my family, I could never forget about them. And if they need help we'll be there for them. But what Wally and I have is way more important. I'll never let this go, not for anything. The life is in my blood but that doesn't matter to me. If anything..'
'I've got to thank Nightwing when class is over. This whole invasion thing was a complete and utter disaster, but it made Artemis and I even stronger.' Wally looked up from his book to look at Artemis. 'It definitely gave me the guts to propose to her now then chickening out again. And no little thing like Linda could come between us now. Plus I'm faster than I ever was before.'
'I thought putting on the suit again would make me miss the life, it just made me miss being at home with Artemis and Nelson. It's not like we'll never see the team again, we'll help out if needed. And it's not like Nelson will stop them from walking in with their spare keys. And really..'
'I wouldn't have it any other way.' They thought in unison as they stared lovingly at each other.
Oh yeah, Happy 19th Birthday Wally!