Exist and Exhale

Despite the chaos that swirled around Gotham's streets at night, there was solace found in Chelsea's apartment. It was quiet, tranquil. Minus the hum of the oscillating fan in the corner of her room.

Wally had been bunking in the guest bedroom when he stayed over, which seemed to be practically every night now. Something about being a room away from Chelsea brought him security. It was just like before when they used to live in the Watch Tower.

Chelsea laid snuggled beneath her blankets, managing to fall asleep with a bit of effort. However, as a light sleeper, she was very alert of her surroundings while she slept. So when her bedroom door creaked open, she rolled over to see a silhouette in the moonlight staring back at her. She could make out some of his more defining features such as the bright red hair and slight hint of green irises in the dimness. She started to sit up, concerned, "Wally? Everything okay?"

"Yeah," he rubbed the back of his head, coming into the room now. He sat on the edge of her bed to the side. His expression gave a different answer, "it's just… I've been thinking…"

She rubbed her eyes and slowly sat up completely, prying herself from the lying position on her bed. Her hair was wavy and flowing every which way. A perfect mess. She squinted at him, letting her eyes adjust to the light.

He took a deep breath, "The thing you said earlier… about how you want to be with someone who knows you. The real you… Something comfortable and fun…" He stared at the floor, his hands seemingly shaking in his lap.

"Yeah?" she asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Something easy…" his voice trailed off, looking at her now, his eyes darting back and forth between hers.

"Wally?" she tilted her head.

"What's easier than this?" he asked her, placing his hand palm flat on the bed and leaning into her.

Their lips touched.

Gently, like a feather in the breeze. The sensation set her on fire. He began to suck on her lower lip, their tongues in a tango. She grasped his face, sliding her hands back into his hair, her grip becoming tighter and more passionate as they rummaged down to his plain white t-shirt she began to paw and pull to get the fabric removed. He used his chest to push her back against the bed and began entwining his fingers with hers, planting kisses down her neck and onto her chest.

They were tangled together.

Always tangled up in each other.

She felt her body slide off the bed, her shoulders colliding with the ground first, then the back of her head. Her eyes bolted open when she heard several thumps across the floor. Her door quickly jutted open, "Chels?"

Wally looked around the room to find a couple of books off of her shelf thrown about the room, her alarm clock in several pieces on the floor, and her comforter flung off one side of the bed and her off the other with her legs still tangled up in the sheets sort of on the mattress.

Chelsea rubbed her forehead, running her fingers back into her hair. She was sweating.

A dream?

She felt her face burning with embarrassment when she recalled the sort of dream. He came to her aid and untangled her foot from the bedsheet so she'd be on the floor completely. She laid flat on the floor embarrassed, "I see you did some redecorating." he joked with her. He raised an eyebrow when he noticed her flushed face, "Are you feeling alright?" he put his hand to her cheek and she quickly jerked away, "Woah, what's wrong?"

She shook her head trying to make sense of it, "I'm sorry," she apologized, sitting up slowly. She squinted at him, her eyes narrowing in an almost glaring way.

"Maybe I'm the one that should be sorry?" he asked, unsure why he was getting such a look.

"Did you come into my room last night?" she asked.

He tilted his head and then shook it, "No, why?"

She looked around the floor, "What happened to my room?"

"It was like this when I came in…" he told her, "Are you sure you're feeling alright?"

She pinched at her chin trying to make sense of it, "I'm fine, Wal. I just had a very vivid dream."

They moved their conversation to the kitchen. Groggy and still confused, Chelsea began to prepare her coffee maker for it's morning shift. He watched her work, once she got the first sip down, she sat down with him at the table, "I've been thinking," she started. He smirked at her. The woman loved her coffee and it was borderline comical how quickly it perked her up, "you've been staying here a lot lately… And your apartment is practically useless back in Central City…" was she going to ask him not to come over as much anymore? He could feel his stomach start to sink, "I know it's a distance but…" she grasped the cup in both hands and raised her shoulders, "What do you think about… living here?"

He didn't expect that, "Really?"

"We've lived together before. Not like it wouldn't be something we're not used to." She explained, "You're welcome to the guest bedroom and obviously what's in the fridge is free range."

"A bed and free all I can eat food? You spoil me, Chels." he winked at her.

She felt her face growing hot again in response. She started to laugh at herself and leaned back in her chair.

"What is it?" he asked, amused by her smile.

She stared at him for a long second, "Forget it."

"No what?" he asked, becoming more curious by the moment.

She paused, licking her lips, "I had a dream about you last night." she told him, sipping her coffee.

"Was it a dirty dream?" his tone was laced with sarcasm as he raised his eyebrow.

She kept the cup to her lips, a smile forcing its way onto her face.

"It was a dirty dream?" he confirmed, trying to mask the excitement in his voice. He leaned back in his chair, stretching casually, smiling a triumphant grin, "What can I say? Dream Wally can be rather irresistible."

"Still trying to figure out how it looked like a tornado hit my room…?" she murmured, staring into the contents of her cup.

Wally was still basking in the moment.

That's when they heard it.

"Starlight, Flash report." a deep, melancholy voice echoed on the com-link.

"J'onn?" she was surprised to hear his voice.

"Emergency meeting has been called to order by Superman." he explained to her.

Once the two were transported to the Watch Tower, they noticed from the view of the teleporter that everything seemed to be at its normal pace. Which probably meant that only the original members knew of whatever dire situation was happening. They hurried to the meeting room. The others were already waiting for them, except for Shayera for obvious reasons. Chelsea still felt a sinking feeling every time she laid eyes on the empty chair. Some habits died hard and no one could bring themselves to remove the extra seat.

Superman was standing up, gripping the back of his chair with his hands. Chelsea noted he was leaving small impressions in the metal from gripping it so hard. Something was very wrong, "Now that we're all here, J'onn has been keeping an eye on Amanda Waller and her Project Cadmus." behind him was a screen where photographs kept popping up to display whatever it was he was talking about at the time, "As it turns out, while we are doing the world a bunch of good, there are still those who have doubts about our intentions and the power we possess. Ms. Waller happens to be one of the most powerful ones that feel this way."

"When one doesn't understand another, fear is the first symptom to the cancer of war." J'onn murmured, his tone all-knowing. He knew it better than practically anyone.

"War can only be fought if there are two sides." John Stewart interjected.

"Not always." Batman muttered.

"Look, all I'm saying is… they have a right to be afraid." John Stewart argued his point, "Even against nuclear warheads, my bets would still be on our boy scout."

Superman had a pained look, "It will never come to that. I would never hurt anyone."

"We can't know that for sure." Green Lantern continued, "With any of our backs against the wall, who knows what any single one of us is capable of. If pushed to the extreme, there is always a possibility. And look at us." he gestured to the window, "We're miles upon miles away in space, above them I might add, and they have no idea what goes on up here. They're scared. And to some degree I do not blame them."

"They have nothing to fear." Diana said, lacing her fingers together on the table.

"We're supposed to be a sign of peace. To look up in the sky and know that there is security. Someone watching over them." Clark explained, folding his arms over his chest.

"We put a wall between us and them," John reiterated his point, "it was only a matter of time before someone started asking questions. We have thousands of us up here. We're not all Krytonian or Amazons, but you start crunching some numbers and people are bound to get paranoid."

Superman sighed, "That's not all." he started again, "there's been a tap on Amanda Waller's phone lines." his eyes went to Batman, as if he was to thank for the expensive tech, "some of the out-going calls have been received by Lex Corp." an image of Lex Luthor appeared on the screen, "This," he pointed his finger upward to cue a sound bit, "is a conversation held by Waller and Luthor himself."

"Your sizable donations to our cause are appreciated Lex." Amanda told him.

"Yeah, yeah," gruffed the bald business man, "We had a deal Waller: I fund your little military project and you do something for me. Where's the data chip?"

"Patience Lex," Amanda assured him, "stop by my office tomorrow and bring your checkbook. We'll… negotiate."

The call ends.

"She doesn't trust us, but puts her faith in Lex Luthor?" Chelsea interjected.

"My point exactly." Superman murmured.

"I think we're missing the real point here." John Stewart said, "What could be so important to Lex Luthor that he's making dealings with Amanda Waller. What is on that data chip?"

"Information about the league?" Wonder Woman took a shot in the dark.

"What are Lex's typical motives?" Chelsea asked rhetorically, turning her eyes to Superman, "My guess is it has something to do with you." behind the towering Man of Steel were security camera feeds in and outside of the Cadmus facility. Chelsea slowly rose from her seat, "Can we playback that last clip?" she approached the screen and took a closer look, "There. Stop." the image froze. There was a blur across the screen at one of the outside cameras. Clearly the figure was trying to avoid the camera completely. Chelsea caught a glimpse of a pair of legs with a weird shape behind them. Her eyes narrowed.

"What is that?" Wally wondered aloud.

"Something new." Clark said, squinting.

A light bulb went off in Chelsea's head, "I know that silhouette." she told them, "it's-"

"Shayera," John Stewart finished for her, recognizing the details they were able to make out.

Chelsea noticed one of the cameras inside going black. An electric pulse traveled in the darkness and dissipated, leaving blackness, "There."

"She got in." Wally murmured.

"She was attacked." Batman clarified.

"They've got her locked up in there." John stood up from his seat, "We have to go get her."

The meeting room door slid open. All eyes turned to the door and there she was: Hawkgirl. Everyone had a bewildered look on their face. She lifted her mace, resting it against her shoulder, some small sparks danced across the head, "I fought back." she no longer wore her mask. To her, the title Hawkgirl was no more, "I know I'm not allowed here, and I'm sorry for coming uninvited, but-"

In an instant, Wally was hugging her incredibly tight, "It's so good to see you."

She softened at his touch. She gripped his shoulder blade gently with her fingertips, taken back by the gesture.

"Welcome home," Wally said with a smile, pulling back from her.

Shayera looked past Wally to see some of the others did not share his sentiment.

Chelsea picked up on the tension in the room, which was divided by the sight of her, "Shayera," she approached her, "if I know you, you've been keeping watch over Project Cadmus for a while."

"Lex Luthor too," she replied, straightening her wings, "I'm not asking for any of you to trust me. In fact I'll leave. I just wanted to deliver a warning. There's something Waller has. When I breached the security in their computer systems, I discovered that there was a file labelled Lex Luthor." she held up a data disc in her hand, "I made a copy of the information." she tossed it on the table and it skidded across the surface, "I did some digging. It seems that Lex has been funding Cadmus to get his hands on a data chip. The chip appears to be the final remains of the entity known as Brainiac."

All eyes darted to Superman. His eyes raced back and forth, staring at the table.

A siren started going off. A flashing red light in the meeting room above all their heads. Someone tripped security to get all operatives to go to the main hall. Quickly, the original eight raced down the hallway, J'onn disappearing through the floor to get to the main computers more quickly. He immediately started typing away at the computer. The entire league was in this large room within minutes, watching a large broadcast of Lex Luthor in his battle armor, rampaging through Metropolis. Something was different though. His skin was a pale teal color and his suit was gold.

"We're too late." John Stewart muttered.

"He got impatient." Chelsea swallowed, "When she wouldn't give it to him, he went and took it."

Without another word Superman was on the teleporter. He nodded to J'onn and the Martian transported him to Metropolis. Programming the teleporter he turned to the others, "We must go."

The rest of the original members were in Metropolis in a flash. Quickly everyone snapped into action. Chelsea was about to take off up into the air when something else caught her attention. Standing before some of the rubble was Dr. XYZ. She froze, paralyzed by fear. She shook her head, closing her eyes. When she opened them, he was closer, like something out of a horror film.

"Now you must be thinking," he said to her with a smile, "in fact I know what you're thinking: there's no fear toxin… why is he here? Because like you've done your whole life… you took Batman's word over daddy's." he lifted his hand and she went flying through some of the debris. She landed awkwardly on the ground and tried to pull herself up, when a hand gripped her by her hair and jerked her upward, "You should have gone with your gut!" he roared, punching her square in the stomach and tossing her aside. She shook uncontrollably, her eyes igniting with light as she looked up at him from the ground.

Her focus caused some debris to fall on top of her father. Stunned by this, her eyes stopped glowing and she stared at the rubble. Did she just do that? Her eyes widened, remembering the sight of her bedroom this morning. Everything was tossed and broken on the floor. Suddenly she was kicked from the side and whirled into the broken building, crumbling to the ground, "Someone's learning about her new powers." Her father stood over her once more, seemingly unaffected by her crushing him moments before. He continued to keep kicking her in the ribs. She felt them start to crack and screamed out in pain.

"Chelsea," Shayera had noticed her on the ground. When Chelsea looked up at her, she looked back at her father to see he was gone, "What happened? Are you alright?"

Chelsea heard the voice of Dr. XYZ, "They'll never believe you."

The girl swallowed and limply got to her feet. She was in immense pain. In an instant a blur travelled between the two of them. Wally had raced by, faster than ever before.

Quickly the two girls followed after him to see him quickly cracking and tearing away at Luthor's suit. His movements were unpredictable. When he finally did stop, there was too much energy flowing through him. His image was jittery and unfocused, like a blurry photograph, "Chels?" he looked to her, "I'm not feeling so-"

He disappeared.

Chelsea's heart sputtered to a stop, "Wally!" she cried out. She came to the spot where he disappeared and looked around frantically. The others started to approach the spot as well.

J'onn's eyes lit up and then the light faded. Even the emotionless Martian looked panicked, "I cannot sense The Flash's presence anywhere." he lowered his head in shame, "I'm afraid… he's gone."

Chelsea's mouth trembled at his words. Tears were sliding down her face before she even knew she was crying. Her body ached, "No!" she protested, "No! Where is he?!" she roared, her eyes glowing, melting away the tears that wouldn't stop.

J'onn kept his head down, unwilling to repeat himself. The others started to realize the gravity of the situation.

The Flash was gone.

In an instant, Lex Luthor's body was suspended in air. Slowly, Chelsea turned to the man, and what little remained of his suit started to split and be thrown from his body. The villain began to scream out in pain, "How does that feel Lex?" her newfound telekinesis was ripping him apart from the inside out. Breaking bones and bursting organs. She focused on his heart and began gripping it tighter and tighter like a boa constrictor to its prey.

"Starlight?" Green Lantern questioned with bewilderment.

"How is she doing that?" Wonder Woman questioned.

"Stop! You're killing him!" Superman protested, coming toward her, but he was thrown back. The others were quickly thrown after him.

"Life is fleeting from Luthor's body. If she continues, she will surely kill him." J'onn explained with haste.

Batman retrieved something from his belt. He threw it as hard as he could. When it connected with Chelsea's back, it delivered a shock that caused her hold to seize, and she collapsed to the ground.

Somewhere else…

The Flash appeared in Gotham City. He wasn't sure what happened. He remembered a light and suddenly he was thrust forward. He thought he may very well get sick. Getting his bearings, he started to recognize the streets around him. He wasn't far from Chelsea's apartment.

Something didn't feel right.

Quickly, he took off to Metropolis. Lex Luthor had to be still attacking. When he got there though, the buildings were standing once more. There was no trace of the fight occurring. Confused, he raced back to Gotham. He had hoped Chelsea would be home.

When he got to the door, he got this bad feeling. Testing the doorknob, it was unlocked. When the door opened, his heart halted in his chest.

The apartment was a disaster.

Littering the floor was pieces of paper that came to one's ankles. Pieces of furniture had been broken and scattered on the floor. Along the walls were paintings and doodles. He trudged through the swamp of paper at his feet, stopped and picked one up. It was a picture of him, drawn rather quickly it seemed. He picked another off the floor and it was another picture of him. Taking a closer look at the pictures that completely covered the wall, overlapping in sections, they were all pictures of him.

He touched his hand to the wall, starting to tremble now.

What the hell?

The bathroom door opened, and the figure's instinct was to raise her hand with light beaming from her fist. It stopped when her eyes focused on him.

When he turned to her, their eyes met. She looked broken down. Her hair was a mess, she had circles around the circles under her eyes. She grew paler and paler by the moment, "W-Wally?" she breathed.

"Chelsea?" he questioned.

She approached him with caution. Her fragile hands slowly rose to touch his face, "I knew you'd come back." she said weakly.

He removed his cowl to reveal his face, "Chelsea, what-" he looked around the room, examining the many pictures of himself around them, "What happened? What is all this?" he handed her one of pieces of paper he picked up off the floor.

She held it in her hands, staring down at it like it was a picture of a ghost. Tears dotted the picture and she looked up at him, "Do you remember the time Lex Luthor attacked Metropolis? Brainiac and him were some sort of hybrid monstrosity..?" she slowly lowered herself to the couch that was tattered. Drawings were scattered about on its surface, "Wally… you beat him…" she started to explain, "But the cost…" she shook her head, staring at the floor without blinking, "You died that day…" his heart jumped at her words, "J'onn said you were gone. He couldn't find a single trace of your consciousness…" tears pooled out of her eyes.

"But I'm not dead. I'm right here." he told her, lowering himself into a kneeling position in front of her.

"That happened two years ago, Wally." she told him.

His eyes widened.

"When it happened," her voice cracked, "I died with you… I became… engulfed in rage." her hands trembled, unable to hold the piece of paper without it crinkling. He quickly grabbed her hands and steadied them, "Starlight died with the Flash. I-" she shook her head, "I was so angry… He took you away." she whimpered between tears, "And I had to make him pay. I had to give him the pain he so effortlessly ripped through me. So I started tearing him apart…"

Had she?

Did she kill Lex Luthor?

"I would have killed him. I wanted to kill him." she explained, her gaze was somewhere far off. She was reliving the moment, "Batman stopped me from ending it… but the media saw it all. The Justice League had narrowly killed a man… we couldn't be trusted with the amount of power we possessed. The League stood by me. Argued that I hadn't actually killed Luthor." she licked her lips, "He's still in a medically induced coma. They say he may never recover. That he may very well die in that state. His odds aren't good." she rubbed her eyes, "I continued to be apart of the League for a time… but I could see the stress it put on the others." more tears spilled from her eyes, "I was called a traitor… a villain… by the media… the government. They wanted me turned over for my transgressions, but the League continued to fight for me… and then…" she breathed, starting to sob, "I started to see it. Whenever I mentioned you… their memory of you started to fade. Eventually they didn't even remember you existed. Soon all they could remember was my aggression… so I resigned… to remove the controversy from the League."

She started shaking again uncontrollably, "But I feared losing you completely." she started sobbing loudly, "Everyone else had forgotten you and I started to feel my own memory slip at points. So I fought for you. I…" she looked up at the walls, "I kept you alive… in my memory. Several times a day just drawing you over and over to keep you around… as reminders. Something was trying to erase you completely and I refused to let you go." She covered her face with her hands.

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. The shell of the woman he once knew was before him and what felt like a single moment had been years to her.

She reached out to hold his face in her hands and leaned forward, putting her lips to his. He could feel her desperation. Every movement. Every slip of her tongue. She pulled away just slightly. Putting her forehead to his she murmured, "I love you, Wally West." she told him, "I never got to tell you… I wanted to… but I was so scared…" her tears decorated his cheeks.

The words he was dying to hear suddenly echoed in his ears.

A sad smile appeared on his lips, "You saved me Chels." he told her, and began kissing her more deeply, nibbling on her lip and tasting the salt from her tears, "Now it's my turn… to save you." he told her, pulling away and gently keeping hold onto her hands as he stood up.

"What do you mean?" she questioned, quickly standing up in panic.

"I'm going back. I can go back. I can fix this." He told her.

"No," she told him, "no, no, no. You can't!" she urged.

He leaned forward and pressed his lips to her forehead, "Trust me." he cooed.

She started to sob, clutching the piece of paper to her face she pulled it back and looked at it thoughtfully, "Please," she told him, "come home."

He nodded to her silently, and slowly let go of her. In a blink of an eye he was gone.

Quickly he sprung into action, trying to run as fast as he could away from this reality.

Moments before the present…

J'onn's eyes lit up and then the light faded. Even the emotionless Martian looked panicked, "I cannot sense The Flash's presence anywhere." he lowered his head in shame, "I'm afraid… he's gone."

Chelsea's mouth trembled at his words. Tears were sliding down her face before she even knew she was crying. Her body ached, "No!" she protested, "No! Where is he?!" she roared, her eyes glowing, melting away the tears that wouldn't stop.

J'onn kept his head down, unwilling to repeat himself. The others started to realize the gravity of the situation.

The Flash was gone.

In an instant, Lex Luthor's body was suspended in air. Just then a ring of light appeared beside them and out shot Wally like a cannon ball. He put on the breaks and was standing before them. In that moment, Chelsea dropped Lex's body. She didn't blink. Slowly, she started walking toward the speedster. They never broke eye contact. Her slow pace seemed fearful he would disappear once more. Once she closed the distance between them, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed him roughly on the lips. He immediately returned the gesture, putting his arms around her waist and lifting her off the ground only slightly.

The league members beside them melted at the sight.

"I love you too." Wally said quietly, looking her in the eyes. He was able to say the words he couldn't return before.

"I don't know how… but I remember…" tears rushed to her eyes, placing her forehead to his, "I remember all of it."

Wally pulled her into a tight embrace and she buried her face in his shoulder, "Thank you, Chels. Thank you for saving my life. Thank you… for loving me."

She trembled in his strong arms.

Later back at the Watch Tower once reports had been filed and Lex Luthor was taken into custody by authorities, Chelsea searched the Watch Tower to find a friend she hadn't spoken to one on one in quite some time, "Do you have a moment?" she asked.

The Man of Steel turned to her, his thoughts broken away from the view of the Earth from the Watch Tower, "Sometimes it feels like the entire weight of the world is on our shoulders…" he told her, "It's nice… almost therapeutic to be able to stop and just enjoy the view once and awhile." he turned his whole body toward her now, "What do you need?"

"I need some advice." she told him, "Lately…" how could she begin? "Clark I've…"

He could see the turmoil inside the girl, "Shayera said she found you pretty banged up back there."

"I'm pretty sure I have a few cracked and broken ribs." she nodded in agreement.

He used his x-ray vision, "Two cracked and one broken." he clarified.

"Thanks for the diagnosis doc." she joked, approaching him now. She sighed, "Something has… grown in me… my power is increasing. I can feel it." she closed her eyes, "My father has come back."

He furrowed his eyebrows, "Batman mentioned that this might come up."

"He suspected fear toxin, but Clark… this is real. I didn't do this to myself. He's somehow… still in my mind. He's still very real. And he appears whenever he sees fit…" she rubbed her eyes, "I know it sounds crazy…"

He offered her a smile, "Nothing you could tell me would ever seem impossible."

"I just…" she rubbed her arm, "I figured if there was anyone in the universe that could give me advice on how to control the uncontrollable… how to keep a grip on my emotions and my strength… it would be you."

"Your hands haven't stopped trembling all day. I noticed it. Even at the meeting. You're scared. Afraid of what you might do. But you're an incredible person, Chelsea." he told her.

"I narrowly lost control today. This isn't some reaction to a hallucinogen. This is real Superman. I've seen what I'm capable of… and based off of my father's confidence, it is only going to get worse." she explained.

He could sense the urgency in her voice, "We'll have J'onn take a look at you. He can dig deep and if there's anything, he'll know and we can go from there." he put his hand on her shoulder, "But you're not alone in this. You're surrounded by people that love you. People that want to help." he looked back to the Earth, "From experience, I can tell you that one of the greatest struggles I've faced is holding back. Part of your fear is not knowing just how strong you truly are. We have resources here. Battle simulators and programs that will allow you to explore these new abilities you're experiencing without the fear of hurting someone in the process." He gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze, "I know you've been through a lot lately…" clearly he was hinting at the whole thing with Bruce, "But don't beat yourself up. We'll get it figured out."

She had hoped that talking to him would make her feel better.

But it didn't.

Not being sure of what was truly going on was perhaps the thing that scared her most of all. Still the boy scout did have a way of making one feel safer no matter what the situation, "Thanks Clark." she appreciated him taking the time to talk to her.

She returned to her apartment some time later. When she appeared at her door she unlocked it and went inside. Wally was there waiting for her with a bag filled with tacos, "I got dinner. Are you hungry?"

Her stomach growled on cue, "Yeah, thank you." she sat down beside him on the couch and leaned back, seemingly sliding down in the seat, "Man, what a day…" she sighed.

"Everything go alright with Supes?" he wondered through a mouthful of taco.

"I have an appointment with one of the specialists at the Watch Tower. J'onn's going to take a look inside my head too." her tone sounded defeated. He looked at her. Putting his arm around her, he leaned her against him and she immediately curled her legs under her and balled up against him.

Silence filled the room for a few moments.

Chelsea could feel the damaged ribs inside her with every breath. It was like a reminder every time she breathed that he was still watching her, "It's strange that I remember a future that never truly happened." she pressed her face under his armpit against his ribcage, "I thought I lost you, Wally." he didn't say anything so she looked up at him. His green eyes were glimmering. He leaned down, fearful to close the gap between them. She leaned forward and kissed him gently on the lips. They stopped and stared at each other for a time.

He cracked a smile, "I hear your roommate is pretty protective of you."

Typical Wally. He always wanted to take her mind off of the heavy things clouding it, "You think he's bad, you should see my boyfriend." she joked back.

He blinked at her, "That's me right?"

She started giggling and shook her head at him mischievously.

"Also the one you have incredible dreams about." he raised his eyebrows, wiggling them up and down.

She pecked him on the cheek, "My best friend." she said with admiration and it instantly melted the sarcasm off of his face.

He leaned his forehead against hers and exhaled deeply through his nostrils, "I love you." he whispered.

Author's Notes: Something I think is so important here is the fact that Wally brings out the best in Chelsea. In every sense. And the moment he's gone she has the potential to turn violent, almost villainous and follow in her father's footsteps. That losing him changes everything. I had this idea in my head for a while and I wanted her to be the only one that remembered him. That he had such an impact on her that it was nearly impossible for her to forget him and the extent she went through to continue his existence. I'm excited to explore what's to come. Next up, Chelsea has a reunion with a few people I've missed writing for.