Jade

"No, Roy, it's fine. She's with me. Yeah, we're headed up there now. Take your time. He was your friend, too. Work things out with Kaldur, also, do you hear me? He's prime babysitting material. Alright. I'll take care of things on this end. Yeah, you too. Bye," Jade sighed and hung up. She glanced into her rearview mirror, and a small, cheerful face looked back. "Okay, Lian," she spoke softly, "time to go!"

"Go! Go!" the little redhead giggled softly and kicked her feet in her car seat. Her mother smiled lightly as she opened her door and stepped into the Palo Alto sun.

It was not her first time in the city, but it was certainly to first under the current circumstances.

As she eyed the apartment, Jade settled her daughter on her hip. Was it really a good idea to bring her? It's not really as if she had a choice… Roy needed time to grieve on his own, and she would give it to him.

She rapped neatly on the door. Only silence. She was about to raise her hand again when it slowly creaked inward.

Her sister was pale, thin. Thinner than Jade remembered, when she saw her just a few weeks ago. Dark rings circled under bloodshot eyes, and she chewed on her chapped and torn lips. She slumped tiredly against the doorframe.

"What do you want, Jade," Artemis' voice scratched, coarser than it was normally, "I really can't deal with anything you want me to do or not do or whatever right now."

The elder sister released a small sigh and softened her posture. "Oh, Artemis," she breathed, "that's not why I'm here."

A look of broken confusion swept over Artemis' face. "Then why?"

"I'm here to be your sister."

Jade could see the walls behind Artemis' eyes crumble, and when she spoke, her voice wavered. "My…?" Jade nodded, opening the arm that was not balancing her child. Artemis stepped forward, wrapping her arms around her sister's neck and silently, brokenly cried into her shoulder.

Lian reached forward and patted her matted blonde hair. "Shush, shush, Ar', shush, shush."

Jade's first order of business was forcing her sister into the small apartment's shower. She left her daughter to play with the dog (surprisingly gentle for his size, and moderately cheered to have someone to play with) and set about picking up around the place. There was not much to clean, as Artemis was a naturally tidy person, but she did enough to where to apartment seemed brighter when she was finished. In fact, opening the blinds and windows did much to achieve that goal.

Once Artemis emerged, she looked much the same as she had – thin, pale, and tired – but she seemed more refreshed after the steaming shower Jade had pushed her under. She blinked at the bright sunlight streaming into the room, but then she turned her attention to her niece. A wan smile stretched her face. "She getting so big, isn't she?" Jade could not tell if the question was rhetorical, so she hummed in a noncommittal agreement. The blonde took a seat on the floor next to Lian, who immediately forgot about Brucely to crawl into her aunt's lap. "And so pretty, too," she cooed, rubbing her thumb against Lian's baby-soft cheek.

"Well, I must admit, she gets that from me," Jade teased lightly, earning a quick grin from her sister. The best and quickest way in the past to humor Artemis had always been to poke fun at her fellow archer. "To myself, I also credit her intellect and sparkling personality, since she most definitely didn't get those traits from her father." Artemis chuckled lightly, lifting the baby girl into the air.

"Yeah, I can see that."

Jade smiled, joining her sister and daughter on the carpet, and Artemis put Lian down to play again with Brucely. They sat in silence a while, the quiet settling over the pair like a downy blanket. Then, the blonde leaned into her sister, and Jade knew that the "heart to heart," which she had never been particularly good at, was about to begin.

"Wally wanted kids." The silence quickly staled. Jade was in uncharted territory, here. "Not right away. Not soon, even. I mean, we were both still at school. But," she gave a wet sigh, "eventually. Always eventually." Jade looked down at her younger sister, at the faraway look in her eyes, which told her that Artemis was not looking at Lian, but at another fire-haired child, a child that would now never come to be.

"What did you want?" Slipped out before Jade could help it, and she inwardly cringed. This was seriously not her forte.

A smile turned up her sister's lips. Jade caught movement of her sister's fingers playing with something around her neck. "I wanted what he wanted."

Jade waited a few beats before she gestured to whatever Artemis was toying with. "And that?" Her sister seemed to only just notice her actions and stilled, clutching the object tightly for a moment. She lifted a thin golden chain from the collar of her shirt, and what dangled from it made Jade pull her closer.

"When?"

"After my mission. It's his mother's. I tried to give it back when I-" her voice choked off. She cleared her throat. "Mary wouldn't take it. Said it was mine, now." Artemis traced her fingers over the ring, ghosting over the ridges of the inlaid gems. The brunette pulled her closer, leaning back against the couch behind them.

It had been a long time since Jade had been a sister, but she decided that it was time that she figured it out.