Chapter 7: Memories

Dick felt Barbara squeeze his chest as they leaned against a particularly sharp turn in his motorcycle. It hadn't taken them long to spread the news of Raven's offer to M'gann, Kaldur, and the rest of the available Team members. He and Barbara took a zeta-tube to the west coast so they could tell Artemis in person. The Star City platform was less than an hour drive away from Artemis's home in Palo Alto. A feeling of bemused nostalgia swept over Dick as his bike followed the familiar roads with Barbara's comfortable weight at his back. Artemis was right when she said it would be like old times. It felt just like when he and Barbara had a day off and would go over to Palo Alto to hang out and play board games or watch a movie together. How many months ago had that really been?

They parked in their usual spot outside Artemis's place as dusk fell. The flicker of lights behind a closed curtain told him that the elderly couple that they were renting the upstairs apartment from was watching television. Dick took off his helmet and held it under his arm.

"Here, hold this for a minute," asked Barbara handing him the backpack she wore while pulling off her own helmet. She rearranged her hair that had been blown out of place from the wind. He always liked Barbara's hair in a loose bun. Then again, she didn't have a way to fix her hair that he didn't like. He smiled to himself. There was just something about redheads.

"Okay, let's go tell Artemis," she said taking back the backpack.

"Lead the way, Babs."

Dick followed the redhead up the wooden steps to their friend's door while enjoying the view the steep staircase afforded him. She knocked, and they heard rustling inside. Artemis opened the door and hugged both her friends.

"Come on in guys. Have a seat," she welcomed them with a sad smile. She was wearing one of Wally's old high school jerseys. It hung loose on her. "Dinner is almost ready."

The pair stepped through the door and into the living room. Dick noticed the enticing aroma of Artemis's cooking as he sank down on the large green bean bag beside the worn couch. At the same time, their bulldog Nelson walked out of the bedroom to greet them. Dick scratched the dog behind the ears.

"Dinner smells fantastic, Artemis," commented Barbara.

"It's called pho," Artemis explained. "Sort of like a beef and noodle soup. It's the recipe my grandfather taught my mother before she moved to the United States. It's been forever since I last made it, so no guarantees about what it's going to taste like," she joked.

Artemis walked back into the kitchen to stir the pot of soup. For a rental place, their kitchen was huge and fully stocked. Dick guessed that it was one of the main reasons that convinced Wally to call it home when they both got accepted into Stanford.

"Artemis, do you have some glasses?" Dick pulled a wine bottle out of the backpack. "We ran into Ollie on the way here, and he gave us this to celebrate. We just had to promise that we wouldn't tell anyone else who gave it to us."

"That has Ollie written all over it. Dinah is going to lecture him about giving alcohol to minors when she finds out. Here," Artemis replied carrying two glasses in her left hand to the living room. "But I just poured this." She indicated the glass of cola in her right hand. "You two go ahead." Artemis sat down on the end of the couch beside Barbara as she poured a glass for herself and Dick. "So I guess Dick told you the good news on Alpha's end. How did Beta fare?"

"That's actually something that we wanted to talk to you about, Artemis," Dick interrupted.

Barbara recounted the tale of rescuing Raven from Egypt.

"So this girl was able to protect herself and two other people from a collapsed building, and she can shrug off Psimon's mental assaults?" asked Artemis. "She's tough."

"Combine that with her ability to sense people's emotions," agreed Barbara. "For our sakes, I'm glad Queen Bee never got her under her control."

"First we get Bart traveling through time and now a twelve year old girl coming from another dimension," Artemis complained. "We are such a magnet for weirdness. Why is it that all the people who make these epic one-way trips have barely started puberty?"

"I never thought about it like that before," commented Barbara with a laugh.

"You got one thing wrong, though," said Dick. "For Raven, the trip isn't one way."

Artemis cocked her head in confusion. She asked, "So what does that mean? Does Azaroth need us to come save the day?"

"Not exactly," replied Dick. "Raven says that there is someone on Azaroth that may be able to help us find Wally."

Artemis choked on the cola she had been drinking. She coughed trying to clear the liquid from her lungs.

"Kaldur is putting together the logistics to travel to Azaroth as we speak," continued Dick. "We should be ready to leave late tomorrow morning."

"I'm there," stated Artemis looking directly into Barbara's eyes.

Dick fully expected Artemis to come with them to find Wally. She deserved to be there more than anyone. He didn't understand why she felt the need to emphasize the fact to Barbara, though. They were practically best friends, and Barbara knew how effective that Artemis could be in dangerous situations. Why would she object to her being there? The women were having a silent argument between themselves through pointed looks and body language. Artemis got up to stir the pho again.

"This is almost ready," she said with her back turned to them. "Go ahead and grab some bowls."

Dick could tell that Artemis wasn't telling him something. She was acting exactly like on Oa before they made their report to Kaldur. "I'll be right there," he said as he made his way to the bathroom. The women continued their argument in hushed whispers when he shut the door behind him.

After he had finished, Dick turned to the sink to wash his hands and noticed an opened pink box in the trash can. Suddenly, everything clicked together in his mind. He fished the box from the garbage and brought it back to the kitchen. The women stopped talking as soon as he walked back.

"How long have you known?" Dick questioned Artemis. He held up the empty box of pregnancy tests to show Artemis.

"I'm still going with all of you. It doesn't change anything about that," asserted Artemis with steel in her eyes. "I found out I was pregnant about a month and a half ago." She glanced at the couch and then quickly looked away. "It happened after the Reach's summit with the Light," she continued. "We were so excited to be with each other again. To be safe together. It had been months since we had seen each other beyond a hurried intel exchange or in a battle. We could barely keep our hands off each other by the time we got back here." Artemis pinched the bridge of her nose and blushed. "We found out that condoms aren't designed to go over a certain speed."

"So what's…" asked Dick pointing between Barbara and Artemis.

"After the night that…" Artemis began. She swallowed. "I just needed something familiar in my life to hold onto. I couldn't handle coming back here alone every night while my friends were saving the world. I told Kaldur and Barbara because as Team leaders they deserved to know. They agreed to keep my secret in exchange for only assigning me non-combat missions."

"Artemis," pleaded Barbara, "you know how dangerous going to Azaroth could be for your baby. Let us go find him."

"No. I'm going with you to find Wally. I'm not sitting this one out. That's final. Stop trying to convince me," she answered.

Barbara threw up her hands. "Fine," she relented. "You can go with us to Azaroth, but once we find out where Wally is, we have this argument again."

"That's all I'm asking," agreed Artemis as she turned back to her soup and grabbed a ladle. She handed a bowl to Dick. "I'm hungry. Let's eat."