Artemis was jolted awake by a knock at her door. Light streamed in through her blinds and created thin rectangular patterns on her blue walls. She could faintly smell something unfamiliar cooking in the kitchen. Her sheets were twisted around her legs, most likely because of the dream she had been having. One about her mother. It wasn't a nightmare but one of those happy-sad memory dreams she was going to have to live for a long time.

"Artemis, Ollie says it's time to get up," Roy's voice called from the other side of the door. She sat up and stretched, confusion clouding her already foggy brain. Roy never stopped by the Manor.

Sliding out of bed, she replied that she'd be down in a bit and checked the clock to find out just how late she had slept in; it was almost ten. Pulling a pair of jeans and a black tank top out of her dresser, she paused to glance at the top of her dresser. When she had arrived, the furniture had been bare and austere but in the last few days alone she'd filled her room with the things she'd found most important. A picture of the team in a thick black frame was a welcome-back-we're-sorry-for-doubting-you gift from M'gann, Zatanna, and Raquel. They had been embarrassed when giving it to her, mostly because of the doubting her part but it was one of the most important things she owned. The small birdarang Robin had used to talk to her was leaning against the mirror. There was an older picture of Ollie, Dinah and a young Roy shoved between the mirror and its frame. She had found it lying around the Manor. It was accompanied by the bent photo of her and her mother, still blocking Jade and Lawrence from being seen.

A pile of crumpled and folded papers sat next to the picture frame. They were notes she and Wally had passed back and forth while at the cave, mostly to keep their not-quite relationship on the down low. Though she suspected some of their teammates already knew. Even in their crumpled state, she could see Wally's scrawled handwriting flowing across the pages accompanied by her own meticulous cursive. She smiled to herself as she realized she was becoming Wally with all these "souvenirs".

She grabbed her favorite brown leather jacket on her way out and worked her way through the labyrinth that was Queen Manor. As she entered the kitchen, she was hit full on by the smell from before. Ollie was standing by the stove, whistling as he attended to the source of said smell. Dinah was at the counter, packing four sandwiches into a large bag.

"Hey, Shorty," Roy said from his place nearby Dinah. He handed her a bag of chips to pack as he greeted Artemis.

"What's going on?" Artemis glanced at Ollie as if to justify her worry. He was a decent cook most days, only a few mess-ups here and there, but whatever he was making now smelled... well, terrible.

"We're going on a picnic," Dinah replied with a touch of annoyance in her voice.

"Don't mind her," Ollie called as he lifted the lid to the pot in front of him and smelled his concoction. "She's just upset because she couldn't say no to my charm and good looks."

Dinah rolled her eyes, leaning over the counter to get closer to Artemis. "He used his 'I got shot' eyes on me. We're just humoring him."

"And," Oliver said in a sing-song voice as he funneled the contents of the pot into a large thermos. "I made my famous chili." Dinah let out an exaggerated sigh as he slid the thermos into the bag. Roy laughed and murmured something that sounded suspiciously like "famous for being deadly". Despite both reactions, Ollie kept on smiling and whistling. "We're doing this right. Like a normal family."

Roy stared at the bag for a moment before turning back to Artemis. "Sorry, Kiddo but if you had gotten up earlier you would have gotten a normal breakfast instead of Ollie's death chili."

Twenty minutes later, Artemis was helping Dinah spread out a large green blanket in the shade in Star City's largest park. Ollie began to unpack the food as soon as they had all sat down. A cool breeze tossed Artemis's hair, whispering the threat of an end to the nice weather. Dinah handed out paper plates as Roy pulled the bag of chips open.

"See, isn't this nice?" Ollie asked as he offered up a bowl of chili. Dinah politely turned it down but Roy just had to raise an eyebrow as an answer. Uncertainly, Artemis took the bowl. She'd been warned numerous times, by both Dinah and Roy, to stay away from Ollie's notorious chili. Apparently, it gave you third-degree burns inside your stomach and could cause a person to go mad. But, as she looked at it, it didn't look dangerous or bad and it wasn't out of the ordinary for Dinah or Roy to make fun of Ollie's cooking.

Picking up a plastic spoon, Artemis tried a small spoon full. The reaction was instant, her eyes watered and her tongue burned. "Here, honey," Dinah said handing her a bottle of water. "Drink this." She did as she was told, carefully swallowing.

"Well, what do you think?" Ollie asked excitedly.

She took another drink before replying. He looked so happy that she hated to tell him the truth. "Under the burn... it's not that bad," she answered, forcing herself to take another small spoonful and accompanying it with water. Ollie's face broke out into a grin. "You kind of get used to it." Her mentor laughed and dug into his own bowl.

Dinah sighed and shook her head but she was smiling too. "Don't encourage him."

"Since we're being a 'normal family'," Roy began nonchalantly as he started on his sandwich. There was a touch of awkwardness in his voice. None of them had experience in a normal family. "I believe it's my job to be the... 'protective older brother'? Stop dating my friend."

Ollie looked up. "I thought you said I didn't need to kill Wally." Artemis crossed her arms defensively and glared at Roy for bringing the subject up.

"It's not like that. We're not dating."

"That's not what Rob tells me." Of course, it would be Robin to tell Roy about her and Wally. Of all the team members, he was the most observant, for obvious reasons.

"Like you have any room to talk," she shot back. The banter brought her back to when they had just met. She would have never expected to be sitting on the grass eating toxic chili with him. "You're dating my sister."

Before he could deny it, Dinah cut in and stopped the bombardment. "Guys, let it go. We're supposed to be enjoying this picnic." Roy shrugged and took another bite of his sandwich as if to say he'd let it drop. "Artemis obviously has better tastes than me when it comes to guys." It took a moment for her words to sink in and Ollie to understand the not so hidden meaning.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he cried. Artemis snickered but when his hurt eyes turned to her she hid her amusement behind another bite of food. Dinah raised an eyebrow at him, causing him to take a deep breath. "Right, enjoying the picnic." He lapsed into silence allowing Dinah and Artemis to chat about school and the team. The younger blonde recounted events at Gotham Academy. Roy let out a soft laugh when she mentioned the super genius, Dick Grayson, that was helping her in math.

All the while, Artemis couldn't help but smile. Her whole life she'd never had a normal family that had picnics. Even before her mom went to jail and they were still a "happy" family, they'd never done anything together because of her parents' "work". After her mother was arrested, any family time that wasn't her father's rigorous training was out of the question. Her mom had tried to make her feel normal but there was always that nagging reminder of her past, either her father or her attempts to keep her real identity from the team. Her smile faltered at the thought of her mother. She had to turn her thoughts back to the present to maintain her composure.

"Artemis, are you ok?" Dinah asked, obviously noticing her change in attitude.

She forced another smile. "I'm fine." Ollie put a hand on her shoulder, concern showing through on his face. She could practically hear his silent question. "I'm fine, Ollie."

Doubt flashed in his eyes but he nodded anyway. Artemis went through the motions of being fine, finishing her food, smiling, and laughing, mostly to draw them away from thinking she was upset. But she was also trying to convince herself she wasn't troubled. They were supposed to enjoying the picnic and that's what she was dead set on doing, not dredging up the past.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to clear her mind. The fresh air hit her lungs in waves. The wind rustled the leaves in the tree above them and Artemis caught a hint of a storm approaching. Shouts of children, barking dogs, and the faint drone of traffic accompanied the symphony of leaves as the noise occupied her thoughts enough for her to completely compose herself. As she reopened her eyes, she was able to put on a real smile despite how much she missed her mom now.

Ollie began chatting about his latest business deal, looking to Dinah for advice even though he was the one who owned the multibillion-dollar company. Roy, who had said next to nothing almost the whole picnic, jumped in on the conversation, surprising everyone. Artemis listened quietly as they talked about business, slowly working on the fruit that was brought and not really paying too much attention to what exactly was said.

The conversation was cut in two by a sudden piercing scream. At first, it was ignored and thought of as a child playing but the noise was soon followed by several other screams. The four of them scanned the park for the source of the screams and found a large group of people running away from the same spot. Artemis and Ollie jumped to their feet as soon as they got a glimpse of the cause of the commotion. A familiar face walked calmly through the park, disregarding the chaos around him. Every few seconds he'd turn towards another fleeing citizen and launch a shard of ice at them, freezing them mid-step. With over exaggerated movements, he bowed to no one and surveyed the terror he'd caused. "It's good to be back under that nice Californian sun," Icicle Jr. called to no one in particular. He continued his attacks relentlessly.

"Come on," Oliver protested as Roy, Dinah, and Artemis prepared to leave to get their uniforms and bows. "We're supposed to be having a normal family picnic."

Artemis turned back with a smile. "We're anything but normal, Dad."