About an hour or so after I had called Uncle Barry, he came to the cave. Artemis came to my room to let me know he was here and offered to walk with me to the mission room where he was picking me up. I accepted and we walked there together.

She didn't say much as we were walking down the hallway. In fact she was way more silent then usual. Whenever we talked about anything she could normally keep up with me since I was the fast talker, but now it just felt weird.

"Is something wrong?"

She just looked at me. "I just never felt so helpless before."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, growing up I've never had my sister to go to for help, she abandoned me. My father was never helpful with things like this. All he ever did was train me harder and harder. My mother was in prison, and by the time she got out I had learned to be self-sufficient."

She had stopped walking and shrank back to the wall of the hallway, arms crossed and looking away from me.

"And now this morning, I couldn't help you. I'm supposed to be your girlfriend and I couldn't do anything, except go to someone else for help."

Now I understood, Artemis had always been able to solve her own problems, heck any problem that was thrown against her. She wanted so badly to help me with this, have the answers for me because she was my girlfriend, now she was upset because she didn't have any answers. That's what was bothering her.

I walked over to her and grabbed her shoulders. "There was nothing wrong with that, I needed help with this and you got it. That's why we have the team and the league. "

"But this isn't a team problem Wally."

"So what? Just because we're together now doesn't mean we have to rely solely on each other to solve our problems. That's why we have people like Robin and Zatanna, even Black Canary."

I could tell that what I was saying wasn't making a difference in her mind so I tried to think of something else to say. After a couple of minutes I remembered how I felt last night, just when I had walked into the kitchen and told her that I had a nightmare.

"You did help me this morning." She looked up at me. "When I told you I had that nightmare, you dropped everything you were doing and just hugged me. When you did that I could feel my fear leaving my body. Holding you that close to me, it felt so good and comforting that I never wanted to let go. That was what I needed more than anything, just to hold you in my arms and make sure that you were still here. "

This seemed to get through to her because she was hugging me again. Just like last night, the feeling of holding her in my arms was incredible and I didn't want to let go. Judging from the way she was hugging me she never wanted to let go either.

Unfortunately, we did have to let go because I couldn't keep my uncle waiting forever. We started walking again and even though she was silent again I could tell that she was happier.

We got to the mission briefing room and there was Uncle Barry, out of costume wearing jeans, sneakers, a long sleeve shirt and a t-shirt over that. He was talking to Black Canary about something and I'm pretty sure I knew what. His expression looked a little serious but he smiled when he realized I was here.

"Hey Kid!" He said, running over to me and grabbing me in a soft headlock. I was used to him doing this, it was his usual way of greeting me.

"Hey Uncle Barry!"

"And Hello to you too miss Artemis." He said, noticing Artemis was there and bowing. Artemis just laughed.

"Nice to see you again Mr. Allen."

"Please, call me Barry. You ready to go Wally?"

"Yeah, just give me a sec." I walked back over to Artemis and kissed her goodbye. "I'll be back later ok."

"Sure, have a good time."

I walked with Uncle Barry back through the Zeta Beam teleporter and we were suddenly in Central City. We came out of an alley and began walking down the sidewalk.

"So, you hungry?"

"Yeah, a little bit."

We went to my favorite Burger restaurant in Central City, the one Uncle Barry, Aunt Iris and I went to a lot together. We sat down and both ordered a couple of burgers, fries and milkshakes. While we were waiting for the food, Uncle Barry was talking about some new equipment he was using at his job, going into great detail about the tech that was involved. I was only half paying attention, I found myself looking out the window. I couldn't help it, my mind kept wandering back to Artemis and my nightmare. Uncle Barry seemed to notice this too.

"Wow, Canary was right, there is a lot on your mind isn't there?"

"Yeah, there is. What did she tell you?"

"That you had a serious nightmare, that you had talked to her and Artemis about it and that you may not be yourself today. And she was right, normally you'd be all over me about this new equipment, today you don't seem interested."

"No I am," I said raising my voice a little higher than necessary, "it's just that…"

"You have a lot on your mind." He said finishing my sentence.

"Yeah" I said, shifting my view toward my sneakers.

He put his hand on my shoulder and I lifted my head up.

"That's fine, it's nothing to be ashamed of Kid. Everyone has stuff like that happen from time to time. Do you want to talk about it again or have you had enough of talking about it?"

By now, our milkshakes had arrived along with the fries. I picked up one of them and just looked at it. Talking about it didn't feel like it was getting easier, which of course probably meant that I would feel better.

"Sure, I could talk about it again." I started talking again, going into detail about the training session and watching Artemis die. I also talked about what Canary had told and me along with her advice. As I talked, Uncle Barry listened, munching on his fries and drinking his strawberry milkshake. By the time I had finished, our burgers had arrived. I suddenly didn't feel like eating so I began drinking my shake.

He ate half of his first burger before he spoke. "Do you remember the condition I put down for you to be Kid Flash?"

I nearly choked my shake. Why did he ask this? It seemed like such an odd question to ask. Once I was able to breathe again, I answered the question. "Yeah, you said I had to do exactly what you said when you said it."

"Well now you understand why I put down that rule. This line of work is dangerous, VERY dangerous and the last thing we want is to lose someone. Batman obviously set up the scenario to prepare you guys for that possibility."

I grabbed my burger and started eating it, thinking. That would be what Batman would do. And he and Uncle Barry were right, what we faced was a very real possibility, not the alien invasion, but the deaths of our teammates. I suddenly had a new appreciation for the exercise. We needed to face that possibility even if we didn't want to. Everyone else in the league understood that.

"Canary is absolutely right about one thing though." Uncle Barry said, finishing his burger and grabbing his second one.

"What was that?" I asked.

Uncle Barry added ketchup and mustard to his burger before he answered.

"You can't let this fear control you or your life."

"How do I do that?" I asked while grabbing the ketchup bottle.

"Simple." You live your life."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, take what we're doing right now for instance. We are having lunch together, enjoying each other's company just like any other Uncle and Nephew."

"I don't understand."

"We're not letting our fear of the unknown or the future stop us from enjoying our meal. Despite what you've been feeling, you're still here, still eating, still moving forward."

I think I understood now. I was afraid of this thing, but at the same time, I was still living my life. Even though we were talking about this horrible thing that had happened, we were still hanging out together like we normally did. Being afraid of the future wasn't stopping that. That meant that it wouldn't stop me from enjoying life with Artemis, or any of my other friends.

I smiled. "Thanks Uncle Barry."

"No Problem Kid."

We finished our lunch and then went to somewhere I hadn't been to in a long time, The Zoo. I had a great time. We looked at as many animals as possible, the tigers, bears, elephants, and wolves, the only thing neither of us wanted to see was the gorillas or monkeys. On the way out I stopped at the gift shop and picked out a stuffed Tiger to give to Artemis.

It was close to five by the time we got back to the alley where we had come into the city earlier that day. I thanked Uncle Barry for lunch, the Zoo and his advice. After he told me that he I could call on him whenever I needed him I left for Mount Justice.

Aqualad was at the computers when I got back. "Hey Kaldur, Where is everyone?"

"Hello Wally. Conner and M'Gann went to the mall with some friends from the high school. Robin and Zatanna are on the beach outside and Artemis is helping Black Canary make dinner for everyone, you will find them in the kitchen."

I thanked him and went down the hallway towards the kitchen. I got there and saw Canary teaching Artemis how to cook something, which judging by the smell it was giving off was Chili.

"Hello Ladies."

They both looked up from what they were doing. Artemis took off the apron she was wearing and walked over to hug and kiss me. "I missed you. You can't leave me alone with Robin and Zatanna ever again."

"What are you talking about?"

"Long story that I don't really want to go into."

Canary moved the pot they were using off the stove and began grabbing bowls and spoons from the cupboard. "How was your day with Barry Wally?"

"It was good," I said sitting down at the counter and putting the Zoo gift shop bag down in front of me, "better than good. I got my head back on straight."

Artemis sat down next to me and wrapped her arms around my neck. "I'm really glad to hear it. What's in the bag?"

"See for yourself Beautiful." I said moving the bag towards her.

She let go of my neck and opened the bag. Her face lit up when she pulled out the stuffed toy tiger.

"Oh Wally, No one's ever given me something like this. Thank you!"

She wrapped her arms around my neck still holding the tiger. She began kissing me again. I have to admit I was enjoying this reunion. "You're Welcome Babe."

Artemis held onto that tiger throughout dinner and the group movie session we had later that night.

As we sat there, her head against my shoulder, my arm at her waist, I realized that Uncle Barry and Black Canary were right, the fear I had from the nightmare would always be there but it didn't mean I had to stop living my life. And having Artemis with me could only make it better.