Memories

Part 2- Truth is Mandatory

Barry Allen was having a good day. A great day, actually. He had woken up on time for once, and his dear wife Iris had made him an amazing breakfast which he scarfed down in under three minutes. He had then made the short ride to where he worked, and had managed to slve a case earlier this morning.

He smiled as he packed up the many documents scattered across his desk, and took his lab coat off of his broad shoulders. His smile widened as he waved goodbye to his coworkers and was nearly close to skipping when he strode out of the building and towards his car.

Suddenly he heard a loud ringing, and stopped in his tracks. What was that noise. . .? Barry blinked and his mouth turned into an 'o' a he realized it was his phone in his jacket pocket. He smiled again while he fished around in his jacket pocket for the small device. It must be Iris calling to see when he'd be home.

His smile turned into a confused frown as he looked at the caller ID. It was a private number, so he couldn't help but get extremely curious to know who was calling him. He blinked again, flipped the phone open, and raised it to his ear.

"This is Barry Allen," He said into the phone, smile refusing to drop from his face as he continued to stroll towards his car.

"Uhm, hi Barry it's Artemis. I. . . Kinda have an emergency here and I don't know what exactly to do. . ."

Barry's eyebrows raised. Why was Artemis calling him?

"Try me," He replied, his gaze narrowing as he walked along, but his voice never wavering from its usual happy tone.

"Uh, well you see. . . Me and Wally were. . . Watching a movie. . . and he just started crying and calling out for you. . ." Artemis answered warily, her voice obviously uncomfortable with telling this information to Barry.

Barry imediatley stopped in his tracks and his mind filled with thoughts on why Wally was crying. And then it focused on one.

Oh shit, please be okay Wally, Barry thought as he took a deep breath in. He closed his eyes and forced himself to start walking towards his car again.

"Barry?" He heard Artemis ask on the other line.

"Yeah. I'll be there in a second," Barry finally reached his car and shoved his briefcase into the front seat. He pulled the phone away from his ear and clicked the 'End' button. He sighed and quickly rubbed at his eyes before locking his car. Barry then speedwalked into an alley and ejected his bright red speedster costume from the ring on his finger. In seconds, Barry was zooming through the streets of Central and heading towards Wally and Artemis' apartment.

It didn't take Barry long to find his way to the small apartment, where he rushed out of his costume and fished the small spare key he had gotten from Wally out of his pants pocket. He was close to ramming into Wally and Artemis' front door before he stopped himself andinstead opened it and quickly closed it behind himself.

Down the hall, he could hear Wally's wailing and he zoomed towards the sound of his poor nephew. His heart nearly broke into a million pieces when he saw his precious nephew laying on the floor, his head in Artemis' lap as he held his shaking hands over his eyes and cried miserably.

Artemis looked up at him and gave him a weak smile. Barry frowned and made the short walk to his nephew before kneeling down and picking Wally up into a tight bear hug.

"Wally it's okay, he's not here. He can't hurt you anymore, Wally, do you hear me? I'm here now, Wally. You're okay," Barry whispered quietly into his nephew's ear as he continued to sob into his Uncle's chest.

"Uncle B-barry why didn't they love m-me. . .?" Wally wailed, his voice muffled by Barry's chest.

Artemis remained near the bed, her brow furrowed as she watched her lover sob and wail what seemed like nonsense to her ears. She gave Barry a questioning look, and he met her gaze with a short shake of his head. 'Not now'

It took Barry about fourty-five minutes to Wally to calm down and get him to fall into a deep sleep. Barry had sighed and layed his nephew on the queen sized bed; pulling the duvet up to his shoulders. He then ran his fingers through his blonde hair and put his head in his hands.

Artemis was confused as she stood up from the floor and brushed the dust from her pants. She tapped Barry's shoulder and gave him a look that said 'What in the hell just happened?'

Barry's gaze was exhausted and dull as he motioned for her to follow him into their small living room. Artemis sat down on the small couch they had in the room, and Barry plopped down into an armchair across from her.

"So. . . What happened? Why did he freak out?" Artemis questioned.

Barry looked up at her and his eyes narrowed. Artemis shrunk back in the couch, not expecting the suddenly accusing glare.

"What were you really doing before you called me, Artemis."

Her eyebrows went up, and she switched her gaze to the floor, which she suddenly found very interesting. "We were. . . Uhm. . . We were. . ." She stumbled over her words, intimidated by this new version of the Flash she had never seen before. If her father were here right now he would be so dissapointed.

She returned her gaze to the Flash, and sighed deeply. "We were. . . Making out. . . And I grabbed his hair, and he just suddenly freaked out. . . I mean, I don't know why he did it but he kept calling out for you so I called you. . ." Artemis once again was staring at the floor, avoiding eye contact with Barry.

"Fuck." Barry cursed.

Artemis' head swung upwards, surprised that Barry had cursed so bluntly.

"Artemis, did Wally ever tell you about his parents?" Barry quized, his voice soft now.

Come to think of it, everytime Artemis had brought up something about his parents, or had asked him any questions about them, he would quickly change the topic and continue on like it was nothing. Her eyebrows furrowed as she answered 'no'.

Barry sighed and once again put his head in his hands. His voice was muffled as he spoke "Artemis I'm going to tell you something, but you can't repeat it to anybody unless Wally says you can, okay?"

Artemis nodded lightly.

"When Wally was a kid, he was verbally abused by his father and neglected by his mother. Eventually his mother divorced Wally's father when he was five, and in under three months his father wasn't just verbally abusing him, but he was sexually and physically abusing him as well. Wally was kept from going to school or doing anything other than care for his father, clean, and anything else his father wanted him to do. Wally was found in Central Park by himself when he was nine and when he was asked what he was doing he said that he was waiting for his Father to come get him. God, Artemis, his father just left him in the park!" Barry said quietly.

Artemis had placed her hand over her mouth, a quiet gasp leaving her. She thought Wally was normal. Why hadn't he trusted her with this information? Artemis felt betrayed, angry, sad, and confused all at the same time as she watched Barry scrub at his eyes fiercly.

"When Iris and I adopted him, he was such a sweet kid it was hard to believe he had such horrible parents. We only realized the full length of it when I went to ruffle his hair and he closed his eyes and started to cry. I asked him why he was crying and he said when his father touched his hair that he was going to put it in him. Fucking hell, I was so surprised and that's when I realized that Wally was extremely traumatised by his father. I didn't know what to do so I just held him until he fell asleep and godIlovehimsomuch. . .!" By the time Barry had finished his rant, he had small tears dripping from his eyes and he was wiping at them furiously. He took a deep breath.

Artemis couldn't believe it. By this time, she also had tears rolling down her cinnamon cheeks. She covered her face with her hands, and let out a shaky breath. This wasn't happening. She had known Wally since she had joined the team, and he had always been a happy and bright guy.

She let out a shaky breath as she absorbed the information she had just heard.

"Oh my god. . ." Artemis said, her voice wavering.

Barry shook his head softly and stood up ubruptly.

"I'm sorry, Artemis but I have to go," He said while walking towards the door. "Iris will be waiting for me. Tell Wally to call me when he wakes up, okay?"

Within a three minutes, Barry had told her something horrific and then walked out of her house right after. Artemis sighed. She didn't blame him. Having to look back at all those horrible memories must have been hard for him.

Artemis wiped at her eyes again before reaching out for a small blanket that was left on the arm of the couch. She quickly layed it over herself and leaned back on the couch. She didn't want to sleep with Wally tonight. She was scared if she brushed against him in her sleep, he might shatter into a million pieces.

Artemis curled up in the blanket as she leaned over onto her side and closed her eyes. Her mind was rolling around in thoughts and memories, but in under minutes Artemis was asleep.

AN-

Thanks for reading! There is another chapter after this one, which should be the final chapter! Please review, constructive criticism would be great!