Artemis grabbed a few pancakes and sat down next to me. She grabbed the orange juice container and poured herself some orange juice. I watched in silence as she spread butter over her pancakes and I could hear Canary pouring herself coffee. Zatanna and Dick were still staring at us and not eating, Conner was getting milk out of the fridge for another bowl of cereal, M'gann had finished making pancakes and was moving onto cooking eggs.

"Hey Wally, could you pass the syrup?" Artemis asked.

I grabbed the syrup bottle and passed it to her. She tried to grab it out of my hand but I wouldn't let go.

"What happened out there Artemis?" I whispered, hopefully low enough so that Dick and Zatanna wouldn't hear.

Artemis grabbed the syrup bottle from me and covered her pancakes. "It's not as bad as you think, I ran into her on the way back to my room and I couldn't think of a good excuse as to why I was walking away from the kitchen without eating so I kind of had to tell her."

"How much did you tell her?"

"Everything, but we're not in trouble. Canary wants to help you Wally. And I'm worried about you that's all."

I couldn't help but smile, Artemis was still worried about me. Well to be fair, if it was her who had the nightmare I would be doing everything I could to help her. I guess talking to an adult who was in the immediate vicinity would qualify as help. We were still sort of new to this relationship thing and it seemed we were still in the proving grounds.

"Thanks babe." I kissed her on the cheek and began to eat my pancakes. As soon as I was finished, Canary put her hand on my shoulder. "You ready to talk?"

"Yeah." I went to grab my plate to put it away, but Artemis grabbed it.

"I've got it, Go get better."

I kissed her on the cheek. "Thanks. I'll talk to you later."

I followed Canary out of the room, down the hallways and toward what I called the "therapy room." I called it that because that was where Canary talked with everyone whenever we had problems. Artemis talked to Canary there a lot and I knew she considered Canary like an older sister, which was great considering the sister she was born with. I made a mental note to thank Canary for both of us one day.

She unlocked the door to the room and motioned for me to sit down. I sat down in one of the chairs and waited for her to finish her coffee. She was the first one to speak.

"Ok, Artemis tells me you had a pretty bad nightmare last night."

I just nodded.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

I took a deep breath and leaned forward in the chair I was sitting in. "It was about the psychic training session we had last October, the one where I watched Artemis, umm…"

"Die?"

"Yeah, I understand that the whole thing was like a simulation, but it felt so real. The sight of her disintegrating, and all the feelings I had after her death."

"Well I'm glad to see that you're no longer in denial. What kind of feelings did you have?"

I took another deep breath and told her about my rage towards the aliens, the surge of hope I had at the possibility that she wasn't dead and finally the huge amount of grief I had when I had to be told that she was gone.

"The grief is something I could easily understand, but why do you think you felt so angry?"

I lifted my head and glared at her. How could she not know or understand? "They took her away from me. They KILLED her! They killed her and I just stood there and watched it happen. I could have saved her. I should have saved her and I didn't. I was paralyzed."

I felt Canary's hand on my knee. "Wally you are blaming yourself for something that never happened. I understand how real the simulation must have felt, but it didn't exist."

"I know it never happened, but I can't shake the feeling that it did. What can I do to get rid of that?"

"I don't think you'll ever be able to get rid of them considering how much it affected you, but you do know that Artemis is alive and seeing her helps you and will keep you grounded in reality."

I felt better but that just brought up another fear. "But, what if we go on a mission and she doesn't come back? What if I don't come back?"

It took a little while for Canary to answer. "Wally we all take that risk when we put on our uniforms and go on missions. It's part of the job. That's why we train you the way we do, to minimize that risk as much as possible."

"So you're saying it could still happen?"

"Yes, it could still happen but you can't let that fear paralyze you, or let it control your life. You are with Artemis now. With you two watching each other's backs in the field, you both have a better chance of making it home in one piece."

I felt better, but I still wasn't really convinced. I'm sure I would be but for the moment the memories of the nightmare were still fresh in my mind.

Canary seemed to pick up on this. "Why don't you spend the rest of the day away from the cave? Go talk to your parents or uncle. That way you could come back to the team and Artemis feeling like your old self."

That actually sounded like a good idea. Between spending time with Artemis, my obligation to the Team, school and my parents, I didn't get to see my aunt and uncle anymore and they were always incredibly supportive of me.

"I think I'll do that. Do you think Artemis will understand?"

"I'm sure she will. Go clear your head. That's an order."

I jumped up and did a mock salute before leaving the room. I closed the door behind me and turned to see Artemis standing with her back against the wall and her arms crossed.

"Did Canary help you out?" She asked.

"Yeah sort of. She suggested I take the day off, get away from the cave and clear my head so I think I'll do that."

"What are you gonna do?"

"I think I'll visit my uncle, he and my aunt have always been a little more supportive of the hero gig than my parents. Look I know we had some plans today…"

"It's fine, your mental health, what little of it there is, is more important. And we still have four more days of our spring break, still more bonding time."

I kissed her again. "You are really the best babe."

"Just come back in one piece alright?"

"I'll do my best." She hugged me and said good bye.

I went back to my room and grabbed my cell phone, bringing my bags was kind of pointless, after all I was only going to be gone for the day. I dialed Uncle Barry's number. After a couple of rings he picked up.

"Hey Kid, what's going on?"

"Not much, Uncle Barry. Umm can we spend the day together? Just like old times?"

"Sure pal, you lucky you caught me on my day off. Your aunt's working but we could have lunch or something. I'll pick you up at the cave."

"Sure I'll see you soon." I hung up the phone, maybe today was going to be just what I needed.