A/N: I'm back with the next update. Thanks to those of you who have been reading and reviewing; and thanks to those of you who have added this story to your favorites list. Keep them coming. I love them all!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Young Justice or the Young Justice: Invasion series. Both series were created by Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti and were written by a team of writers consisting of Greg Weisman, Kevin Hopps, Andrew Robinson, Nicole Dubuc, Jon Weisman, Tom Pugsley, and Peter David. I do however own the entire plot of this story and all of the original characters featured in this story. This is simply because I created them from scratch and have turned them into characters and a plot that you will grow to love. With that being said, DO NOT REPRODUCE THIS STORY IN ANY WAYS, SHAPE, FORMAT, OR POSTING. I CREATED THIS STORY, AND ALL OF THE RIGHTS BELONG TO ME. Please read, memorize, and abide by this disclaimer.
Sincerely,
KairiAngel13
"The Reunion"
Dick Grayson was sat at the desk in Wayne Manor's study as he read over one of the board's latest business proposals. His secretary Karen Sheffield had left several file folders down at his office earlier that day, and he had gone to pick them up after his golf game with a fellow entrepreneur. Sadly, he had barely made a dent in his work and it was starting to take a toll on him. The former boy genius and tech wiz was now Co-CEO of Wayne Enterprises, his adoptive father Bruce Wayne's pride and joy. He was a huge part of the company and had his own private office down at headquarters, along with an extensive amount of vacation time, and even access to his own private jet. In spite of all the perks that came with the job, there was no place he liked to work more than in the private comfort of his own home. There was no one to bother him with annoying questions and he welcomed the solitude that accompanied him during his work, unlike the dreadful sound of overhead vents, copy machines running, file cabinet doors slamming shut, and dreadful office chatter. Then there was the paparazzi that chased him around just about everywhere that he went.
With a heavy sigh, he removed his aviators and pinched the bridge of his nose as he set them down on a stack of books. He had been ignoring the tension headache forming at his temples and the gnawing feeling of hunger clawing at the innards of his stomach for nearly an hour, and the thought of Alfred making him a club sandwich was enough to drive him crazy. He groaned as he leaned back in his swivel chair and stared up at the stone molded ceiling.
"Taking a break are we darling?" a sweet voice called out to him from the doorway. Dick sat upright in his seat, a smile on his face as he watched Kori walk into the room wearing an extremely tight black dress with no sleeves. The pathway to her cleavage was peeking very obviously over the top of the dress. She was also wearing a giant red belt with matching pumps. Her red hair was in waves cascading over her shoulders and down her back in a fiery blaze, yet none of it was hanging in her face or covering her ears, allowing her diamond studs to be seen.
"What are you doing here?" he asked with a small chuckle as he stood from his seat and pulled the beautiful siren into his arms. "I thought you would have left for the airport by now?"
"I decided to take a later flight to Europe so we could spend a little alone time together before I go. My flight doesn't leave for another hour, so we have a little time. I know you're a busy man Mr. Grayson, but everyone needs to stop and have a little fun every now and again."
Dick smiled as Kori pushed herself against him, forcing him to back up against the front edge of his desk. She smirked seductively and as if on cue, the young entrepreneur's hands wove their way into her long hair. He gently pulled her face to his, their lips melding together with a unified "hum." Dick held her face within the palms of his hands, his thumbs gently rubbing circles onto the smooth skin of her cheeks, as she leaned in closer to him. Her chest pressed against his as she raised her right knee, brushing it against the front of his dress pants. She smirked into their kiss as a moan passed through his lips, giving away just how badly he wanted her. She repeated the motion once, then twice before she was pushed away. She laughed as Dick turned around and pushed everything off the top of his desk sending the items crashing onto the floor. He then picked her up and tossed her onto the desk before climbing up and on top of her, the two of them playing an extreme game of cat and mouse with their tongues.
Of course, the incredibly handsome Dick Grayson won the battle and began to trail kisses along her jawline as his lips maneuvered their way towards her neck; all the while, his hands pushing up the hem of the little black dress that was squeezing her body tight. Just as Kori's hands slid from his back to the buttons of his dress shirt, the two were interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat rather loudly. The two lovers stopped immediately, their heads snapping towards the doorway where Artemis stood, her arms folded over her chest as she watched them with an amused look on her face.
"Oh, I'm sorry." she said playfully. "Am I interrupting you Grayson?"
"A-Artemis?" Dick stammered, his cheeks tinting to a bright pink that didn't even begin to compare to Kori's face that was a deeper red than her hair.
"Surprised to see me? I'd be surprised to see me if I were you too. After all, it has been months since we last saw each other; and I've got to say, I'm rather hurt. Not a call or a text? What's up with that?"
"Dick, who is this girl?" Kori asked, a warning tone in her voice that screamed 'explain before I rip off your groin here and now.' Dick climbed off of her quickly and smoothed out the wrinkles in his dress shirt before helping her up, adjusting the top of her dress.
"I'm Artemis West, but don't worry lady. I'm am no threat to you. Unless you consider me being his best friend as threat worhty."
"Yeah, my best friend who should have called before coming to visit." Dick said with a chuckle as he scratched the back of his head.
Artemis laughed and Dick couldn't help but to smile. It had been so long since he'd heard her laughter and it reminded him just how much he had missed her all this time.
"Alfred let me in." Artemis said with a shrug as she leaned against the door frame. "He said you were working from home today and that you wouldn't mind the distraction. Looks like he was right, huh?"
"Well Dick, I'd better get going." Kori said with a nervous laugh as she finished straightening out her dress.
"Hold on a sec Kori." Artemis said with a smirk as she walked over to her and tousled her hair, rearranging it so part of it draped in front of her neck.
"What are you doing?" Kori asked slowly.
"Saving you from the embarrassment of leaving this mansion with bright red hickeys decorating your pretty neck."
Kori's face darkened even more as Artemis continued to smirk at her. "Um...thanks. Dick, I'll call you as soon as my flight lands in Paris."
"Right." he said as Kori hurried out of the room.
Once she was out of earshot, Artemis burst into a fit of howling laughter while Dick rolled his eyes. He moved to collect the items from his desk that were littering the floor while Artemis held her sides and continued to laugh.
"I'm glad to see that you find this situation so amusing. You haven't changed a bit Arty. You are still quite the smart ass."
Artemis shrugged as her laughter died and left a smile in its wake. "Hate to disappoint you, but I am who I am."
"That's okay." he said with a smile as he grabbed his aviators and slid them back onto his face. "I wouldn't want you to change anyway. You're perfect just the way you are."
Artemis smiled softly as she thought about how things were just like they used to be. She and Dick spent a lot of time together back when they were younger and she wasn't with Lawrence. Dick would do anything he could to cheer her up and make her smile, and she would joke around like a smart-ass every now and again to lighten the mood. Her thoughts turned towards whispered phone conversations they would have when she would hide from Lawrence in the bathroom. The nights when they would go rollerblading after curfew when he sneaked up her fire escape. Their trip to the carnival in the eight grade that Bruce had taken them to. Artemis got sick after riding the tilt-o-whirl and Dick held her hair back as she puked into a trashcan. Later, the two of them made jokes about when they would get to Gotham University and find themselves in the same predicament, only a bottle of Hennessy would be the cause of their sorrow. Then there were the mornings when Dick had Alfred drive him to the rougher side of Gotham just so he could ride the city bus to school with Artemis. She had gotten mugged their freshman year and had all of the money in her wallet and track phone stolen. Dick wanted nothing more than to be there just in case something happened again and she needed backup. One of her favorite memories was when he hugged her during her wedding reception after all the guests had cleared out of the reception hall and onto the front sidewalk to see her and Wally off to Cancun. He had told her how proud he was of her for overcoming her fears and that he would always be there for her no matter what.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Dick asked with worry as he approached her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
Artemis hadn't realized that in the midst of all her reminiscing, her smile had fallen and her eyes had begun to leak tears. Her bottom lip was quivering as it struggled to hold back the sob that was climbing up her throat. She locked eyes with Dick as he removed his aviators, showing off his blue eyes that were filled with sadness.
"How could you?" she spoke, her voice just barely above a whisper.
Dick broke their gaze and looked over towards the open-faced window on the opposite wall. "Are you referring to the fight we had?"
"I came over here to help you." Artemis started as rage began to build in her chest and overpowered her sadness. "I wanted to talk to you and try to gain an understanding of what happened with you and Zee. She was a complete train wreck when I found her on my doorstep that night and I knew that you probably weren't in better shape. I came here to talk to you and help you through things and what happened? You slammed the door in my face and refuse to speak to me! That's not you Dick. It has never been you. Shutting people out is more my style, not yours. I refuse to accept help from others, you don't; or did you just happen to forget how to be Dick Grayson, my dorky and lovable best friend?"
Dick's face fell as tears continued to fall from her eyes. "Artemis, I pushed you away because I didn't want you to see my pain. I'm usually the one who's strong and holds it together when things get tough. I was angry not just with Zatanna, but with myself; and after I said all of those horrible things to you and shut you out, I felt I'd lost the right to come to you and the others with anything. I handled the breakup poorly; but I eventually healed. Only then did I realize just how much damage I had done; and I thought that after my outburst, you guys would favor Zatanna over me."
"How could you even think that?" Artemis demanded to know as she stomped her foot. "You are my best friend Dick. I was friends with you long before Zatanna even came into the picture. Hell, I was friends with you before I met and fell in love with Wally; and even after all the bullshit you put me through, I am still your friend. Can't you see that? Out of all the people you could have pushed away, I thought I was the last person who would ever get the cold shoulder from you. Do you have any idea how much that hurt and how much I've missed you you stupid idiot?"
Dick pulled Artemis into his arms and held her close as he rested his head on top of hers. His own eyes began to burn from approaching tears as he also thought over how much he had missed the time he spent with her. She was the only person when he was growing up who liked him for who he was as a person and not for the family fortune he was adopted into. She never pretended to be his friend just to get closer to Bruce Wayne's inheritance. She never lied to him and left him heartbroken like so many other "friends" that had graced him with their presence. She didn't sugar-coat things just to win his approval. She was raw and she was real unlike any other person he had met.
"Stupid." he sighed, the air that blew through his nose moving a few strands of her hair.
"What did you just call me?" she said in disbelief as she lifted her head and shot him a glare.
"Not you Arty." he said with a laugh, earning a satisfactory smile instead of more tears. "I'm the one who's stupid. I should have never pushed you away like I did. I've missed you so much. More than you will ever know."
Artemis's smile seemed to grow as he spoke to her and she shoved him playfully before wiping away the tears that were staining her cheeks. The two of them moved over to the sitting area in front of the long wall of book cases. Dick plopped down on one of the three black leather love seats and Artemis sat next to him before propping her feet up in his laugh.
"You're wearing the Golden Goose sneakers I bought you last Christmas." Dick said as he played with the shoelaces, twisting them around his fingers. "They look pretty worn out. You should really take better care of five-hundred dollar pairs of shoes."
Artemis smiled as she began to move her feet around playfully. "What can I say? They're my faves. I love them a lot better than my old Nikes, and that's saying a lot. I wore those Nikes until the soles were nearly disintegrated. I could literally feel the ground scraping against my toes when I would go jogging."
"I guess I'll have to get you an even better pair for Christmas then." he said as they started laughing.
The laughter died quickly and the two friends fell into a comfortable silence as they listened to Alfred vacuuming out in the hallway. Artemis sighed, breaking the silence, and Dick looked in her direction. She was biting her bottom lip as she wracked her brain for a way to approach the very sensitive topic of Dick and Zatanna's horrible breakup.
"What's wrong?" he asked sensing the tension radiating off of her.
"Dick, I know it's been nearly a year and old wounds could very well still be hurting...but since you refused to talk to me about it back then...I want to talk about it now. What exactly happened with you and Zee?"
Dick's eyes narrowed as he turned his attention towards the bookcase that held nothing but encyclopedias, dictionaries, and world maps. "She didn't tell you?"
Artemis shook her head as her hair brushed against the couch's leather surface. "I've tried so many times to get her to open up about it and talk to me, but she always brushes the topic off. She always says that there's a barrier between the two of you that prevented you from being close in the way she wanted. She feels your relationship was all a lie and that you never loved her as much as she loved you."
"That is not true." Dick scoffed before turning to look at her, a melancholic look on his face. "I...I did love her, but if that's how she feels, I guess there's no changing it. Look, the reason we broke up isn't important. I guess we just weren't right for each other; and in the end, she chose to let me go rather than to hold onto me and continue hurting herself."
Artemis's expression softened as he spoke. She knew his words were partially true, but she also knew there was so much more to the story than what he was letting on. They never lied to each other under any circumstance; and although he wasn't lying now, he wasn't being completely truthful. Zatanna had loved Dick with every fiber of her being and there wasn't a doubt in anyone's mind that he loved her just as much; and if not, even more. They were happy and in love, so it made no sense to their friends when their love came to an abrupt and disastrous end.
When you love someone, you fight for them no matter what. That's what Artemis believed and stood by her entire life. You don't just let that special someone walk out of your life without even making an attempt to rescue them and pull them back in. After all, that's what Wally had done for her. He had gone to Canton to save her from her father and Dave when they had her strapped against that column in her childhood home. In spite of the fact that he'd run off after learning that she was abused and that she was the Archer, he still loved her enough that he came back and fought for her; but the situation between Dick and Zatanna was handled so much differently. Zatanna had walked away from Dick without even looking back. Her actions would have been understandable if she no longer had feelings for the billionaire with jet black hair; but it was more than obvious that she was still madly in love with him. Otherwise, she wouldn't have reacted so badly to seeing him and his latest arm candy on the television at the mall.
Artemis sighed as she pushed her doubts about Dick's being truthful to the back of her mind. She was finally reconciling with him after all this time, and there was no need to ruin the moment when things were going so well.
"Okay then." she finally said with a sigh. "If you don't want to tell me everything, that's fine. I can't exactly force you to tell me anything about a situation that has nothing to do with me."
"Thanks Artemis. Anyways, I haven't been in touch with you or the others since the fight; and with my role in Wayne Industries becoming so prominent, it might be hard for me to meet up with everyone as much as I used to."
"Yeah Mr. Big Shot. I saw you at the gala event on television with your new arm candy. Does she taste as sweet as she looks?"
Dick's face reddened for what seemed like the millionth time that day, much to Artemis's delight. She threw her head back as she began to howl with laughter. Dick shoved her playfully before clearing his throat.
"She's great. We get along really well, you know? We like the same movies, the same foods, and even the same sports teams. I don't think I've been with anyone that's so compatible with me."
"Well I'm glad that you two are getting along so well. She seems to be crazy about you; and if what the reporters said about you being in a funk after you and Zatanna split is true, then I'm happy that you've found someone who's helping you find your way back to being happy again."
Dick smiled. "Thanks. So what have the others been up to? I miss them."
"Kaldur's off in California finishing up his marine biology degree. I Skype him a few times a week to keep in touch. He really likes being back over there so he can surf and enjoy the beaches again. He misses us of course, but he really missed the sunshine and clear blue skies that you can't find in the city. Megan and Conner are still in Happy Harbor. Megan's got plans to open up a bakery in the suburbs and Conner is working at the construction depot. He's supposed to be helping Megan with the architectural design of her new business. Then...there's Jade and Roy."
"I heard about him losing his job." Dick said. "I can't believe the factory laid so many workers off. When I saw his name on the unemployment list, I knew things were gonna be rough for him and your sister."
Artemis nodded, her mood darkening as she thought about the other night when she'd found him passed out in the living room of his and Jade's home. "He's a disaster Dick. He's an unemployed drunkard who spends most of his time on the couch not giving a damn about anyone but himself. Jade is pregnant again with their fourth kid and she's working two jobs to take care of their family. The least he could do is be a man and take the initiative to try and get a job or do something to help her raise their family; but no. He just sits there and does nothing. The two of them fight constantly and I'm scared that their marriage isn't strong enough to make it through this."
"I'm sorry to hear that Artemis. I hope things work out for them. Anyway, what about you and Wally? I hope you two are doing okay."
Artemis's smile returned as she removed her feet from his lap and rested her hands on her thighs. "People keep telling me that he and I are stuck in a honeymoon phase and that it won't last forever; but if that's true, why is our relationship just as wonderful and as strong as it was since the day I woke up to find him in my hospital room all those years ago? I love him so much Dick, and I wouldn't trade him for anything or anyone else in this world."
The conversation came to an abrupt halt as the door opened without a knock. Dick and Artemis could hear the wooden door's hinges creek and looked up just as Bruce was stepping into the room with an armful of documents and a smirk on his usually stoic face.
"I thought I saw your car out front." his deep voice vibrated through the air. "It's good to see you Artemis. It's been a while."
"It has been." she smiled at the man who was like a second father to her, right after Oliver Queen. "How are you Bruce?"
He shrugged as he shifted the documents in his arms. "I can't complain. Listen, I know you two have a lot of catching up to do, but I really need to have these files reviewed and sent off to the board by tomorrow morning. I've checked seventy-five percent of this month's quarterlies and I also went over our latest propositions. So I think it's safe to say that you can handle this. I have...a meeting out of town that's scheduled for this evening, and I'm not sure when I'll be back."
Dick nodded before moving Artemis's feet out of his lap and standing up to take the folders out of Bruce's arms. "I'll get right on it."
Bruce nodded at Artemis once before taking his leave. Dick then moved over to his desk as he flipped through the folders to keep count of all the reviewing he was gonna have to do.
"I guess I'd better be going then." Artemis said as she stood up and stretched her arms above her head. "I have to go over a few files myself. I have three neglect cases, a child endangerment case, and eight runaway cases to review by tomorrow. The job of a social worker is never done; but I wouldn't trade it for the world."
"Right." Dick said as he set the files down on his desk and walked back over to her to pull her into a hug. She returned the hug graciously and sighed, enjoying the feeling of being able to hug him again after being apart for so long.
"Don't be a stranger, okay?" she said as she pulled away from him. He nodded once before watching her turn and leave the study.
"Yeah...a stranger." he said as the door slowly closed.
A/N: And there we have it folks. Dick and Artemis are finally reunited! Yet still, we have yet to figure out the real reason behind Zatanna and Dick's split. When will that little detail be revealed? Not for some time hehehehe
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-KairiAngel13
