"I still don't get it!" Artemis complained. She looked at the equations Wally had laid out on her paper, it looked like another language.
"You can get it." The redhead assured her. "Let's try it a different way."
"Okay." Artemis agreed with a sigh.
"It's actually pretty simple once you get the hang of it." Wally said. He wrote out the chemical equations again. "We just have to make this one, equal that one. Like in algebra. Whatever is leftover is what we made."
"Stupid chemistry." Artemis grumbled. "How are you so good at this?"
"I don't know. I've just always really liked science." He said with a grin. "Try it again." He pushed the notebook across the coffee table to her and leaned back against the bottom of the couch.
"Is sitting on the floor not uncomfortable for you?" Artemis questioned, eyeing Wally's pregnant stomach.
"Everything's uncomfortable." Wally laughed. "Finish the equation."
"Are you excited?"
"I don't know. I guess so. I'd never really considered this as a possibility." Wally admitted. "I'm a boy Artemis. I know I'm not a normal boy, but I am a boy."
"I know Wally…I'm sorry." Artemis told him.
"Don't be. I never expected them, but I wouldn't give them up for anything now that I've got them." He said. "Finish the equation."
"Watching those kids, Ollie." Dinah said, slipping off her uniform. "It's heartbreaking." She let it fall to the floor of their apartment.
"I'm sorry Dinah." Her lover told her, pulling her into an embrace. "You should ask for some time off from Mount Justice. Even Watchtower duty has to be better than that."
"No, I need to be around for them." She shook her head. "Do you know what Robin said to me the other day?"
"What, baby?"
"I was making cookies for them and he took one." She sighed, eyes watering. "And he says, 'these are just like my mom made. I miss my mom' and then he starts bawling."
"God." Ollie sighed. "He's too young."
"He's already too broken. He's fourteen and has no family."
"He's got Bruce." Ollie countered.
"Who won't even let him tell his closest friends his name." Dinah insisted. "I know he told Wally, but still."
"What's he gonna do with the kid?"
"He's been looking into adoption."
"What about Wally and Kaldur?" Ollie wanted to know.
"Kaldur is keeping the baby." Dinah told him. "He and Roy."
"Roy told me Kaldur wanted him in the baby's life. I wasn't sure what Roy would do though." Ollie admitted.
"Me either. I thought the guilt might be too much for him. Kaldur is certainly helping though." Dinah said.
"Wally and the twins are another matter. He wants to keep them but…"
"Mary and Rudolph." Ollie sighed. It was no secret the Wally's parents weren't the most understanding people in the world.
"I'm not sure if Barry and Iris can afford to help him. The League certainly can but the team is under Batman's control, so it's really up to him whether or not Wally gets any help." Dinah told him.
"Bruce will let him, after everything he's been through? Bruce has to help the poor kid out." Ollie tried to reason.
"I don't know anything anymore." Dinah said. "Nothing's ever going to be like it was. I won't be surprised if the team is eventually disbanded. I'm shocked it's lasted as long as it has, given the situation."
Aquaman stood awkwardly in the doorway to his protégé's room.
"You can come in if you would like, my King." Kaldur offered. He pulled out a chair for his mentor.
"Thank you Kaldur'ahm. Please, sit down. There's no need to get up for me, sit." Aquaman insisted. He took the seat that had been offered and watched Kaldur slowly, awkwardly, lower himself to the edge of his bed.
"To what do I owe this visit, my King?" Kaldur asked. Aquaman watched Kaldur make slow circles over his stomach.
"I wanted to see how you were doing. I apologize for not being here sooner, but with the queen pregnant herself it is hard to get away."
"Someone must protect Atlantis, I understand." Kaldur nodded.
"How have you been?"
"Well, the child is quite healthy and my friends are nothing but kind." Kaldur told him with a smile.
"Good, good. I have heard things though, from the League, that concern me Kaldur'ahm." Aquaman confessed.
"What is it you have heard?" Kaldur questioned.
"That Roy Harper is to be a part of this child's life."
"He is the father."
"He is a criminal, and the one who landed you in this position." Aquaman said a little angrily, gesturing towards Kaldur's stomach.
"Roy was forced to do what he did. I cannot hold a grudge against him. Particularly, when his actions gave me my child." Kaldur retorted.
"He raped you."
"He did no such thing. In the prison, I was the one wo initiate…relations." Kaldur admitted with a blush.
"Kaldur."
"He was being forced to make an impossible choice…I made it easier."
"He doesn't belong in your life or the child's."
"In two months' time, there will be a baby and Roy Harper will be in that baby's life. It does not matter what you think of him, because I love him." Kaldur said.
"Kaldur."
"My King, I think you should leave now."