You are not imagining things! I have updated! After 6 months! Wow, time flies by.
Anyway! Lots of fun, comedy and feelings in this chapter! And I really need to reply to people's reviews, I'm terrible at it.
For those not aware, I'm now replying to reviews through PM! So yeah, hang in for that, and holy cow, 192 reviews? I'm astounded, really! And to think the original plan was to make this a two-shot.
So, you guys get 2,700 words in this chapter to make up for my being a terrible author that didn't update this. But let me tell you, second year of Uni is hard! Really takes away time from you.
What else did I want to add? I always have a plan for these, and then forget what I wanted to say.
Well, please leave a review, and I hope you enjoy this!
==Inside the Apartment
Wally was glad that Artemis trusted him enough to enter the apartment with him. He had to get her out of this crazy spell, or whatever Kaldur called it, he just hoped that she'd still be interested in dating him after all of this.
As they settled on the living room couches, he made a mental note to thank Rob for coercing the rest of the team to go study somewhere else, because if Artemis was met with the gang again, she'd waste no time in finding that rusty spoon.
He took out his science binder and rifled through the content. It was then that he realized, he couldn't find the assignment sheet! Wally cleared his throat meaningfully, and Artemis turned to him, having been in the process of opening her bag, and raised an inquisitive eyebrow.
"Yes?"
"You, uhm, don't happen to have the assignment sheet, would you?" He smiled sheepishly. "I can't find mine."
"Why am I not surprised?" Artemis rolled her eyes, scoffing. As she gracefully took out the paper with the assignment information, Wally breathed a sigh of relief. The last thing he needed was to be stuck with a sirenified Artemis and no idea what to do.
"So, what topics are there?" Wally asked, moving himself closer to look over her shoulder.
"Ah ah ah!" Artemis literally put her palm on the middle of his face, and pushed him back a good distance. "Personal space, or else."
Wally couldn't help but frown. "Does violence solve everything for you?"
"It's worked for me so far, so why not?" She bit back, her eyes a stormy gray.
"Never mind." Wally slouched back onto the couch, and looked up at the ceiling. "Can you just tell me what we have to do?"
"You're serious? You didn't even read the assignment sheet?" Artemis exclaimed. "What possessed me to choose you as a partner! I must have been really out of it that day."
"Or maybe you are, now." Wally mumbled.
"What?" Artemis retorted.
"Nothing, can we just get this done?"
Artemis rolled her eyes as she skimmed the page. "We just need to create an experiment that will 'dazzle' Ms. Dot. We're stuck doing speed for our project."
"Velocity I can do!" Wally sat up, excited. "Now we just need to figure out how to dazzle her."
"Like what?" Artemis was clearly not understanding his enthusiasm on the subject.
"We'll think of something, first we got to do research!" Wally was starting to get giddy. Science and velocity? How could there be a better combo!
Artemis groaned, sinking her head into her hands. Why did she have the worst luck sometimes?
==Happy Harbor
Conner was walking around the harbour, trying to see if he could find Megan, and maybe get her to go out with him, shouldn't be too hard right?
He found her by the cafe, giggling with the other cheerleaders, standing a bit too close to this other guy, and Conner suddenly felt the urge to just push him away. He was sure that he'd seen the guy in one of the other classes, Clark? Or was it Joe? Either way he was dead meat.
He approached the group, but they didn't pay him any mind, until he let out a feral growl. The six or so teens all turned to face him, and some backed up a bit, seeing this muscular teenager with his hands balled up into fists, and deep scowl that vocalized hatred to whomever was in his line of sight.
He walked right up to the guy who'd been close to Megan, staring down at him, and through growls, got out, "Get away, from my girlfriend."
Whatever Conner was expecting as a response, a guffaw was not it. Or giggles coming from everyone else. Even Megan was laughing! Did he say the wrong word? He was sure the word was girlfriend, so what was so funny?
"Dude, what are you on?" The other guy managed to say between his laughs.
"What?" That was the only response Conner could think of, he didn't know what was going on. He relaxed a bit, eyebrows shooting up, his body not so rigid anymore, but his hands were still clenched.
"You're not my boyfriend." Conner whipped around to to look at Megan's confused expression.
"What?" He repeated, still not able to think of a better response.
"You aren't exactly smart, are ya?" One of the other cheerleaders pointed out.
"No." He shrugged. "But I do know that Megan's my girlfriend."
"Yeah big boy, you're clearly mistaken." The girl replied, walking up to him and placing one hand on her hip, body tilted to a side. "Megan doesn't have a boyfriend."
"Yes, she does." Conner growled. Could they not understand him?
Megan suddenly walked up to him and, grabbing his arm, pulled him away from the group. Well, he let himself be pulled away, for appearance's sake.
Once they were far away from earshot,she let go of his arm and rounded off on him. "Listen, are you feeling alright? There are much easier ways to ask me out, instead of pretending to be my boyfriend, not to mention the...incident, at lunch."
"But, you don't remember me asking you out?" Conner took a step closer to her, arms outstretched.
"No, I don't." Megan backed off.
"Well, uh- do you?" Conner wasn't sure if he was helping his case, or making it progressively worse.
"Do I what?"
"Want to go out?"
"I-" Megan looked at him. He might look intimidating, but from his expression, he just looked like a lost teddy bear, and she was sure getting a boyfriend wouldn't mess with the plans, it might make her fit in more! "Sure! Why not?"
Conner smiled, maybe he would be able to fix this! He then scratched the back of his head, looking down. "Great, do you want to go out tonight?"
Megan had to giggle, he was too cute. "I'd love to."
"Great, meet you here in a couple of hours?"
"See you then." Megan kissed his cheek and walked off.
==Back at the apartment
Artemis really wanted to give West a piece of her mind. But she was too busy trying to not get bowled over by the squirrel currently running around.
Yes, that's right, a squirrel. Blame Tropical Kid for needing to open the window, and one squirrel that thought the apartment was warm enough to call home, and there you have the basis of how a furry hyperactive woodland creature ended up running around, crashing everything in its path.
Of course, their attempts at catching said animal were so far a failure. It didn't want to stop running away, but then again, West's crazed look, coupled with an open plastic bag on his hands wasn't exactly the welcoming arms you'd want to jump into. Not that she wanted to jump into those arms under any circumstances, she'd have to be crazy!
"Artemis! He's running your way! Grab him!" His voice made her turn, and just then, the little critter jumped off the sofa armrest, but he must've miscalculated his jump, because he landed right on the front of her shoulder, and dug his claws to hang on.
"GAH!" Artemis could not suppress the pain she felt at the talons tearing at her leather jacket, and shut her eyes tightly.
Suddenly, the pressure lessened, and Artemis cracked one eye open, to see that Wally had plucked the squirming creature from her shoulder, and it was now pawing at the air, as if scratching the empty space would mean freedom. Wally used a bit of his super speed to put the squirrel in the bag he had, and went back to the window. Meanwhile, the squirrel furiously started to tear at the bag, making a hole, but before it could escape, Wally put the bag outside on the fire escape, and shut the window with a heavy sigh. He looked back at Artemis, who was inspecting her shoulder.
"Don't tell me you think it's infected." Wally commented with a smirk.
Artemis sighed, and Wally saw her roll her eyes. "Please, do you honestly think I'm that vain?"
"No, not at all! But here, I'll go fetch the first-aid kit." Wally quickly made his way to the bathroom where the first aid kit was, and came back to Artemis taking her torn jacket away, and pulling the sleeve of her shirt down a bit, revealing her shoulder, and the four punctures that, although they wouldn't do much damage, still needed to be cleaned.
Wally opened the kit, that really wasn't extensive, but it at least had the essentials, so he did what he could, wiping the area, and patching it up with gauze and tape.
Artemis, meanwhile, was sitting on the sofa, unmoving, except for the few times that she flinched and hissed at the sting of the wipe.
Wally saw the rigid pose and chuckled. "You can breathe you know."
Artemis whipped around and looked up at Wally, who was standing too close for her comfort. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You're so stiff! You're acting like you'd rather be anywhere else than here!"
"Who says I'm acting?"
"Hey, I'm trying to help you!" Wally just didn't get it, and obviously, he was the type to act and talk without thinking. "Why are you always on the defensive? Seriously, it's like you're allergic to human contact and emotions. Would it kill you to tell me just what exactly is wrong with you?"
Artemis' mouth was somewhat open, as if she was still processing what Wally had just said.
He realized that maybe he shouldn't have said that, and just sighed, looking away. "Listen, maybe I shouldn't have-"
"No, you-you hate me, and I'll just go now, I'll talk to Ms. Dot-" Artemis stood up and started walking towards the door, picking up her binder and hastily shoving everything inside, not caring what exactly she was grabbing.
Something was wrong with her. She was feeling sad? No, that wasn't possible, she was supposed to be focused on the mission, not getting emotional over what some boy is telling her. What did he even know? He didn't know what she had to go through, what her family had to go through.
Her family. She froze, thinking about everything that happened to her these past six months, though it was mostly foggy, the most recent events were the biggest blur. She faintly heard Wally talking to her, but she didn't bother to listen.
Wally saw Artemis walk over to her stuff, and he walked up to her, determined to fix this while she angrily gathered her things. "Whoa, who said I hated you? I just want to get you to relax, Artemis, you're attacking people that are on your side!" Artemis froze, but Wally plowed on. "Look Artemis, you-I, I don't know if this is the whole mind control thing, but can you just turn around? Are you even listening?"
Artemis wasn't listening. She was way too deep in her thoughts, the room she was in forgotten, Wally was ignored. It was just her, trying to piece everything together. Why couldn't she remember anything?
It was if the whole time before she joined the cheerleaders had been wiped. Of course, she could still remember her parents, her sister leaving, her mother being released from jail, all of Gotham, but what happened next?
"Artemis?" Wally had grabbed hold of her shoulder, and was gently shaking her. What had gotten into her?
Artemis jumped, and whirled around, ready to give that kid a piece of her mind, until she realized how close they were standing. She could notice all the details of his face, from his freckles to the bright green eyes, and was trying very hard to not look away. He looked confused, worried, his eyebrows telling all.
"You alright?" Wally asked, eyes searching her face.
"Does it look like it?" Artemis retorted, eyes not wavering, not bothering if tears came out. She was beyond caring. She was confused, hurt, and wanted nothing more than to take out her anger on something, someone, anything!
"No, sorry, force of habit." Wally attempted a half-hearted sheepish smile. "But hey, you-" Wally sighed. Where was he going with this? "You don't need to play the tough act all the time, you-"
"-Don't even know me. Why do you care?" Artemis started to turn around, shaking her head, but Wally gently grabbed her arms, keeping her there.
"Because, Artemis, I-you, really don't you remember anything from the past month?" Wally didn't know what to tell her, how to ask her, how to not make a fool out of himself.
"To be honest, not really. Just snippets here and there." Artemis looked down, having given up her facade. All she wanted was to crawl under the covers, and not come out for a good while.
"Well, does the name Kid Flash ring any bells?"
"The Flash's sidekick that always appears on TV? Sure, he's kinda cute." Artemis shrugged.
Wally had to swallow that smirk and response, trying to find something that might make her remember. Kaldur said to kiss her, but he couldn't kiss Artemis like this, she'd be freaked out, and this wasn't the right moment. "Alright, and Cub Flash?"
Here, Artemis paused. "The name sounds familiar, why am I being quizzed on the Flash family?"
"No! I was just trying to see if you remembered anything about me, or about us." The last part was more of an afterthought, mumbled under his breath, and he wasn't sure whether he wanted Artemis to hear that.
But Artemis had heard, and was confused. "Us? And wait, what does the Flash have to do with you?"
Wally sighed, he was going nowhere with this fast. But she remembered a bit of Cub Flash, maybe he could try through that. He smiled remembering that he'd brought Teddy along, just for the heck of it. "Wait here for just one minute, please stay."
Before Artemis could reply, Wally was off into one of the rooms. She decided, against her better judgment, to stay, and see where this was going. He was annoying, insufferable and creepy at lunch, but now he seemed adorkable, and curiosity got the better of her.
Wally came back smiling, holding a teddy bear in front of him. But not just any teddy bear, one wearing a modified Kid Flash costume.
"Artemis, meet-"
"Teddy!" The name escaped her lips before she could stop herself. Thoughts, questions were now flooding her mind. "Why'd you bring him along?"
Wally smiled, holding him out to her. She was remembering! "I thought he'd be a nice cuddling partner for the long nights."
"Wait? Along where? You-partners? Dating?" Artemis clutched her head, and Wally's smile disappeared. Something was wrong here.
Artemis dropped to the floor, shaking, face scrunched up in pain. Wally didn't know what to do, he hoped Rob would. Quickly grabbing his comm link, he turned it on and waited for his friend to come on, gathering Artemis into his arms, and holding her close.
"Wally?"
"Rob, man, you gotta help me out here." Wally quickly replied.
"Let me guess, Artemis denied-" Wally could hear the smirk on his friend's face, but he didn't have time for jokes.
"No, dude! Artemis is freaking out! I was trying to get her to remember, and she remembered some of it and now-"
"Her memories are coming back too quickly." Kaldur's voice cut through. "One of the things Robin and I were discussing was the instability of the mind control here. It is possible that she's getting a mental breakdown over all the confusion."
"Great, but what do I do!" Wally was scared, he didn't know what else to do! Artemis was still shaking like mad, and nothing was working.
"Sorry KF, I got nothing yet." Robin replied.
Wally did the only thing he could think of, cupping her face, he gently brought her lips to his, and hoped for the best.
Evil me! Leaving you all in a cliffhanger like that! How can I!
But I thought it was nice to leave it here, plus I thought that this last part was getting a teensy bit OOC. Also, sorry for the terrible SuperMartian scene. I love them to pieces, but I just can't write Conner, it's impossible!
Anyway! Hopefully I update soon [everyone's rolling their eyes now, am I right?] But if I take more than a month, I give you all permission to PM me and keep on bothering me until I update it. Next fic to be updated will be Family Business! Well, I need to update an ADJL story and then I'll get on Family Business.
As always, please leave a review!
Hezpeller
