Late Nights and Bunk Beds

An AU of sorts

He woke up feeling dazed and to the sound of sirens blaring. Of course an hour after he went to sleep his unit would be called for another mission. Sliding down the ladder of his bunk he swiftly changed into his uniform and sprinted outside for his mission briefing. Only when he got out there no one was there.

"GOD DAMMIT!" He yelled, this was the second mission he had slept through. Grumbling, he shuffled back into the housing building, specifically the kitchen unit. When he got there he flung the freezer door open, grabbing his rocky road ice-cream to calm him down. What he didn't notice was that one of his teammates was sleeping silently on a stool close by. Her golden hair cascading over her face, shielding it from any interruptions, that someone (like Wally) could cause. "Stupid missions, being so god damn early in the fucking morning." The golden haired harpy stirred in her sleep and her eyes flung open.

"You know it was a false alarm right?" Wally jumped back a bit after hearing her groggy voice. "The siren malfunctioned at headquarters, so it went off here, everyone left because they thought someone broke in, up there. We were left to hold down the fort while they sort things out." She sounded annoyed, most likely because of him.

"So I woke up for nothing?" He sighed.

"Indeed you did Baywatch." Even at midnight Artemis could be a snarky little thing. Wally noticed she hadn't changed from their required sleep attire. Army issued green t-shirt, and fleece pants with a green camouflage pattern. Besides that there was something he never saw usually, her hair was down, and not in its usual constricting confines of a black hair tie. "Keep staring and you won't be able to jack off for a week." Her growl held no threat, they both knew that she would get kicked off the team if any inter violence took place between them, which frankly, neither of them wanted.

"Well, I see someone woke up on the wrong side of her bunk tonight." A glare that could kill was shot at him.

"You have no idea." Her gaze shot back down to the steel counter. Wally walked over and sat on the barstool next to hers.

"Tell me about it." He propped up his elbow and leaned his head against the raised palm.

"For one thing I'm stuck with you." She smiled a bit. Good, as long as he could get her to smile then the rest of the day could go smoothly. "But before you came in here to chow down on your ice-cream and woke me up from my pleasant dream, Megan told me that she would leaving the team soon on a year leave. To see her parents or something, she said that she was going to make amends and tell them some important news?" Wally knew exactly what she was talking about, Meagan and Conner (another teammate) had recently gotten engaged. Artemis was out of the loop because, well, she was going to be the only girl on the team for a while, and Meagan wanted to surprise her, since they were best friends. "Then Kal suggested that we (Artemis and Wally) bond or something, which is absurd because we are already somewhat friends. Dick told me that he found something and needed to show you it, and well Conner just said not to die." Comforting. "You know, it's really weird that our teammates or better yet friends thought to surprise me with Meg and Conner's engagement, I mean seriously, did they think I was stupid?" Wait, what? "Your look is priceless you know? I need a photo."

"How did you find out?" She gave him a look of disbelief.

"Wait, I got it right?! Brilliant!" Oh no. "I knew they weren't telling me something!" Wally face palmed, why did he have give her reassurance? "Now that that is settled, I really want sleep, so I'll see you later Flash Boy." Pushing herself away from the island, she tossed her hand back in a way to say goodbye, as she walked in the direction of her room, on the opposite side of the base.

"Should probably be getting back to sleep myself." He mumbled. Getting up he sluggishly stumbled his way into his room. Climbing up his ladder to go to bed he heard a bang. A bang that sounded like it hurt, a lot.

"FUCK!" Yup, Artemis hurt herself. "SHITTTY FUCKING HELL!" It probably hurt like hell. For the second time in the last hour he slid down his bunk's ladder and ran down the hallway, this time towards Artemis' room. The first thing he saw was blonde hair, the second was dark red. "Oh, hey Wally." WHAT THE HELL!

"Are you okay?" Wow, great question Wall-man.

"Peachy." She spat. "I fell from my bed. Luckily I don't feel too broken." She tried standing up but almost immediately flew back to the ground. "Okay, maybe a little broken." Wally helped her up. He assessed the picture before him, her nose and lip were bleeding, not to mention her obvious broken leg. That fall must've done a real number on her confidence too, since she kept looking down at the floor.

"Let's get you to the Med Bay." Before Artemis could protest Wally pulled her into his arms and carried her out the door towards the Med Bay. "How could you fall out of bed anyway? They have guard rails and everything." The rhetorical question hung in the air creating a silence between the two. Once they reached their destination Wally laid Artemis on the closest cot, then rushed around gathering supplies to clear up the blood on her face, and to further inspect the damage done to her poor leg.

"What's the diagnosis Doc?" He looked down on her, with bandages and gauzes occupying his hands he leaned down, and covered a head injury that could probably lead to a concussion.

"Well, you have cuts, bruises, a broken leg, and you might have a concussion depending on how hard you hit your head on that floor of yours. We'll get the full extent of your injuries when Dinah gets back, speaking of which, how long have they been gone?"

"It takes an hour to get there, then fix the problem and then get back, so they should be back within the hour."

"You didn't answer my question, how long have they been gone?" She rubbed her hands nervously and looked everywhere but at his general person. "Artemis, what happened?"

"They called in earlier. They, um, they." Right then and there Wally had no idea what to think, until she burst out laughing. She was going insane. "I can't do this anymore it's too funny! They never left Baywatch!"

"What." She nodded laughing hysterically. "The." Dinah came out of hiding to fix Artemis' wounds. "FUCK!" He was ready to run out of the room when a hand was laid on his shoulder. He turned and saw his mentor/uncle laughing as well. "I hate you all. How could you do this? Why? Did I mention I hate all of you?" He felt like punching everything and anything he saw.

"If it makes and constellation Speedy, I didn't know either, until they scared the shit out of me and made me fall out of bed." Now the injuries made sense. "An ass that boy wonder."

"Well, excuuuuuuusssssseeeee meeeeeeee!"

"Dick, are you gay?"

"No why?"

"No reason."

Bruce Wayne the founder of this co op teenager thing said it was a training exercise for the two, to see how they would respond and how well they could cope with one another. Dinah retired for the night to her room and everyone else followed in suit, except Wally and Artemis.

"At least we didn't get stuck with Dick." Wally said sitting next to the medical bed.

"True, but it's worse when he laughs at you for falling to the floor, when you try to go to bed but you know can't." Artemis pouted. She was cute when she pouted.

"You know it wasn't a total bummer that we were stuck together." He noted.

"Why's that?"

"If we weren't stuck together then I wouldn't've been able to carry you." She gave a him a questioning look. "Or do this." His head swooped down and his lips captured hers. The kiss was soft and short. "I'll see you later Arty." He would probably regret not kissing her more later, or at least not talking it out.

With that Wally made it back to his room and climbed up his ladder into his bed. Almost on instant impact to the pillows and cot he fell asleep dreaming about kissing Artemis and a future with superheroes. And as his final thought, it was one late night.