A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews and love, you guys are awesome! xD Enjoy the story :3
After about half an hour of crying on the library floor, Bart promptly fell asleep on me.
I carried him into the lounge wanting to tuck him in like the last time, but Bart's hands had other ideas, mainly involving a death grip with two fistfuls of my shirt. I tried my best to pry them off but unless I want to walk around the Watchtower with two huge gaping holes in my shirt while hunting for more clothes, it looks like I was staying put. With a sigh of defeat, I plopped on to the sofa with him curled up against me.
Even in his sleep Bart was still unable to rest peacefully. He tossed around, occasionally punching me in the face I couldn't dodge fast enough to avoid, and murmured incoherent garble. I glimpsed over my shoulder at the calendar tacked to the wall: 11 November.
I was only keeping tabs on the number of days passing, not the date though. With nothing to do, I stared gloomily at it for a while.
"Heh, happy birthday Wall-Man," I muttered after a minute. Bart shifted uneasily. I glanced at him; he seemed so vulnerable and depressed. Sigh I just wish there was something I could do and not just sit here pretending to be a pillow, feeling so helpless.
I heard footsteps approaching. Then a familiar, blonde face came into view. "Tigress," I whispered.
Over the past month I quickly learnt to respect her insistence to be known as Tigress at all times in the Watchtower, especially when in the presence of a Flash member. On the few times I blundered; the amount of guilt I would be treated to, when her eyes betrays the littlest tinge of distress, always felt like a punch in the gut. Artemis was Wally's partner. She is Tigress now.
"Oh! Hey Nightwing," Artemis replied hastily. Then hushed her voice when she saw Bart sprawled on me. "I didn't see you there." She must have been deep in thought; I wasn't that easy to miss, with a brightly coloured, snoring kid slouching on me and all.
Her eyes focused on the calendar pinned behind me. She tried to withhold any emotions from showing, but a flicker of well-concealed angst was all it took for me to see she was still hurting.
It was his birthday. She should have been busy the whole day: trying to bake a cake, with M'gann helping in their apartment and setting up or at least attempting to throw a surprise party for him, with me as Wally's main distraction for them to work behind the scenes. But no, here she was, missing him so much and can do absolutely nothing about it.
She needs to know. The awkward silence grew as I internal debated was this the right time to tell her about Wally. She may seem to be handling it quite well, but with keen eyes trained by Bats like mine, it was easy to see how paper thin her disguise was and how close she is to falling apart, like Bart.
At this precise moment, Bart's hands finally decided to release their hostage. He rolled over, away from me, and almost fell off the couch, but Artemis and I were quick to catch him then slowly eased him back onto the cushion.
I stood up and motioned over to Artemis, who had settled on a one-seater. "I need to show you something."
I grabbed two thick overcoats and some gloves from a nearby coatroom on the way towards the Zeta-tubes. "Where are we going?" The alarm was prominent in her voice, eying the overcoats suspiciously. She already knows, but was still in denial.
"The Arctic. There's something you should see," I seized her hand and dragged her along.
"No, I'm not going back there!" she struggled. I typed in the coordinates and hauled her along, earning myself a jab in the ribs and a crunch on my foot, then narrowly blocking a strike aimed for my jaw. I was fully aware that she could have done much worse damages to me if she really wanted to but I simply ignored the increasingly stinging pain and pushed her into the Zeta-tube.
"Nightwing!" she yelled, and tried to get out but was already on her way to the Arctic. Sigh I could only pray she wouldn't kill me as soon as I got out from the tube.
Recognized: Tigress B07, Nightwing B01
She didn't make a move to attack me, but she defiantly strut back to the controls. I activated my wrist-watch computer and proceeded to override the system to shut down the Zeta-tube operating in the Arctic. When she realized the controls wouldn't respond, Artemis grasped my shirt (I'll never get all this wrinkles off now) and pointed, "Un-hack the controls right now, or you're the one who is going home hacked up."
I handed her one of the overcoat with a pair of gloves.
"You need to see something first," I said, putting on my own overcoat and trudged over to the project site. When I looked back, Artemis was still standing there, coat slung over her arms with the gloves in the pocket, staring at the ground like it was the most fascinating thing she had ever seen. I walked back to her, held her hand. She looked up, her eyes were blatantly livid.
Why was I, arguably her closest friend now, doing this to her?
I wanted to tell her why I brought her here, that Wally was reforming, that there is still hope, that all isn't lost yet. But I couldn't, she needed to see this. No words would ever justify the situation now.
"I need you to trust me on this one," I breathed quietly, "please".
She didn't say anything and simply slipped on her coat and gloves, gesturing for me to lead the way.
I led her to the project site; she stood at the back, unwillingly to go any farther. Barry, Kaldur and Conner were the only ones there, hidden from her line of sight. "Guys," I called. Confusion rippled through the three of them; maybe I should've given them a heads up first, but there's no turning back now.
"She needs to know."
Oh and a favour please? Gimme some cute Spitfire moments I can put in for the next chapter: Artemis POV! :D
I can only remember the Eiffel Tower one…
Help will be very much appreciated! Thanks x)