YJ- A Shot in the Dark (part 16)
It had taken three more times of waking up before Artemis could keep conscious for more than two minutes. After Ollie's initial getting kicked out, she'd woken up just in time to keep her mother from killing him. And she vowed never to translate what the former villain had threatened him with. Granted, Jade probably told him anyway. Though she had only been able to greet Jade, Lian, and Roy with little more than a wince and a few nods in response to her niece's questions before she passed out again.
Ollie was back again after that, along with Dinah who cooed over her and seemed to be something of a wall of peace between Oliver and Artemis' mom. Though, really, after the initial reaction, Artemis doubted her mom held any more hatred towards the elder archer.
Each time she fell asleep to the different rhythms of their voices, enjoying the different tones as they either tried to entertain or distract her. And it was honestly the most comforting thing she could've asked for. Even if she did keep waking in the panic that it was all just a dream.
"…long's Barry covering for you?"
"Couple weeks… said as long as I need."
Her neck was sore and she fought down a moan as she forced her eyes open. The room was a little bright, but not from over-head. Someone gave an incredulous snort. "Batman'll let you?"
There must be a window, she acknowledged and turned her face away a little before she opened her eyes again.
"Ask me if I care."
Squinting, Artemis's gaze managed to take in the sight of a certain redhead seated next to her, kicked back and balancing on the back legs of his chair while his feet must have been settled on the base of the bed. Next to him, the black haired college kid was in the exact same pose. And neither seemed to notice her being awake. Not that they were looking at each other to talk, though. For all she could tell, they were just staring at the window across from them.
Which made her smirk.
"Dude," Dick chortled. "You are so lucky she's not in a coma."
"Even if she was," Wally responded. "We'd both still be sitting here, waiting for her eyes to open. At least we know they will."
"Though, it'd probably hurt less," Artemis pointed out, wincing at the dry and strained sound of her voice.
"Artemis!" Wally breathed and seconds later had her face cupped between his hands as his eyes searched her as though hoping that her blue-grey eyes being open would magically make her injuries disappear.
So she closed them again for a moment, basking in the warm that radiated off him like a space-heater. She couldn't stop the tear that leaked out when she opened them again, even though she was still smiling. "It's Linda, remember?"
Wally choked on a laugh and shook his head as he leaned his forehead against hers. "I don't care," he affirmed. "You'll always be Artemis."
She closed her eyes for another moment, just taking in his touch, before he backed away a little and she was handed a glass of water. Her eyes drifted towards the dark haired man just past Wally's shoulder as she swallowed several mouthfuls.
Dick smiled down at her from behind his sunglasses. "Doc says you're recovering fast."
"Yeah?" she asked skeptically as she handed back the cup. "Compared to who? The crypt keeper?"
His smile spread into a grin as he held back a chuckle. "Hey, that's a pretty good distinction."
She huffed a laugh even though it hurt. "Troll."
"How are you feeling?" Wally asked. There were only a handful of times that he was more serious than her or Dick, but she could remember each of the reasons behind them and her own amusement faded as she accepted being one such cause.
"Like I was a test dummy for an assassin," she responded, shifting with an effort to relieve the discomfort in her neck.
The boys were helping her instantly and after a few quick moments of brash, unintentional pain, she was at least one notch higher on the comfort scale. Though that might've also have been from Dick playing with the morphine drip setting.
"Well," she sighed and rested back into her pillows, glancing from one of her boys to the other. "This must be decidedly unglamorous."
"Nah," Dick brushed her off with a roll of his eyes. "We've definitely seen worse."
"And, Babe, you are by far the most beautiful woman in the ICU," Wally informed her as he sidled up next to her in the bed, draping one arm around her. Or, well, across the pillow behind her head.
The laugh it brought made her wince a little, but it was worth it. "What a title!"
She was met with smiles and Wally took to gently rubbing the exposed skin on her hand. Dick gave one of his contented smiles and perched himself on the bed by her feet. Artemis sighed, fully content to stay like this for… well, for a good while anyway.
But rapid chatter was growing louder in the hall and moments later another familiar redhead bounded through the door, with a teddy bear and two more familiar faces behind her.
"Artemis! Hey!" M'gann cried out, looking like she was ready to tackle Artemis in a hug, but knowing it was probably a bad thing to do.
"Hey," Artemis breathed, her smile growing even though her eyes felt watery.
Wally scooted closer to her on the bed and adjusted his arm to function as her headrest. Conner, looking as though he didn't know which emotion he wanted to give into, took up his vacated seat as M'gann gently tucked the little bear under Artemis's arm.
"It is good to see you again, Artemis," Kaldur said with a smile as he stood next to Dick, though his eyes were suspiciously pink.
She felt her own eyes sting with the start of tears as she feebly held out her hand towards him. Their leader moved to lean on the bed and took a gentle hold, wary of the thick bandages that encased her digits.
"It's good to be seen," she managed to choke out.
"And we are never letting you go it alone again," Wally announced, leveling a look at his best friend. "Next time one of us will be with you."
Dick, having taken up examining her patient chart through the projection from his watch, held his hands up in surrender and shook his head.
"There won't be a next time," Artemis said softly, trying to turn her hand to grasp his. He quickly adjusted for her, taking her hand in a tender grip. She avoided the questioning looks on their faces, staring instead at her damaged limbs before looking up at Dick "What happened to Slade?"
"He's been dealt with," Conner voiced, looking mildly murderous.
M'gann's hand went to his, pressing lightly to calm him down. Then she gave Artemis another smile. "I modified his memories," she reported. "I couldn't erase everything, but I made sure he doesn't know who Linda Park is. Or Wally. And his issues with Green Arrow are gone."
"What about Dick?" Artemis asked urgently, her eyes flicking to the hacker.
He shook his head before looking up with a weary smile. "There's too much bad blood between us," he told her, looking more pained than he'd ever admit. "Not even Miss Martian could erase that."
"I wish I could," M'gann commented, with a little self-loathing. "I couldn't even get him to forget Artemis. So far as he or anyone else knows, he killed her."
"What?" Wally demanded. "Then how's she supposed to come back?"
"It doesn't matter," Artemis said quickly, her vision growing glassy. "I can't be Artemis again anyway."
Her old team looked at her with wide eyes. "Why not?"
She looked down the bed to Dick, the only one who didn't seem surprised. He sighed before reactivating the projection of her chart. "The damage he did," Dick explained. "She'll regain some dexterity, but she'll only get back to about seventy-five percent if she's lucky."
Artemis couldn't hold them back anymore. Her tears spilled over and created warm tracks down her cheeks. She'd known that she would have had to leave the life someday. Hell, she'd been living as a civilian for over three years now! But even when she'd been in hiding, there was always that hope - however small it was - that she'd survive and get back to what she knew and loved best.
That she'd be there to guard Wally as he stupidly charged into a fight or Dick when he overworked himself or M'gann when she lost herself in a trance. Even Conner when he couldn't bring himself down from an anger spike. Or Kaldur when he tried to hide those spikes of lingering post-traumatic stress. Hell, even the new kids. Especially the new kids!
"Slade's going after the team," she heard herself saying and she got her eyes to stop their waterworks.
"What?" The young man at the end of her bed regarded her with a frown. All signs of Dick Grayson were gone and in his place was Nightwing, the protector of all and dedicated friend.
"He- he had a phone call," Artemis remembered. "W-when he was giving me a break. Something about a girl turning fifteen and who her parents are."
"Turning fifteen?" M'gann echoed as Kaldur cursed in Atlantean.
"He's going after a kid?" Conner growled.
"Did he say anything else?" Dick pressed.
"Hey, everybody lay off!" Wally commanded, holding a hand out as though it would stop their bombardment. "This is the first time she's been awake for more than ten minutes, give it a rest!"
"Black bird," Artemis mumbled, her eyelids feeling heavy even as Wally talked about her being awake. She knew she wouldn't be for much longer. "He said he'd visit the black bird… after me."
Her teammates exchanged glances, but Artemis couldn't really focus anymore. Her eyelids were feeling far too heavy, but she didn't want to sleep.
"We'll let you get some sleep," M'gann said, fixing Artemis' blankets a little. "But if you need us, just let me know and I'll link us up!"
Artemis smiled in thanks, trying to alleviate the guilt on her friends' faces. "Thanks."
M'gann, Kaldur, and Dick returned the smile. Conner gave something of a nod and those outside their circle might have thought that he was merely sulking, but the woman in the bed could understand all the underlying messages and (even though he'd never admit to it) he looked like he needed a hug.
"Uh, yeah, I'll catch up with you guys outside," Wally said, rubbing the back of his neck. A telling habit that warned of something he didn't particularly want to say.
The others nodded, taking the hint to get out of the room and allow the couple a little privacy. Artemis watched them go, half wishing they'd stay even if she wanted to be with just Wally for a while. But the door clicked softly shut and she lifted her gaze to those large green eyes she'd been dying to see again.
Though she wished they'd looked troubled.
"You're not staying."
. -. -.
Pain pulsed through his heart at the statement, but Wally could only hang his head. "I want to," he replied, leaning his forehead against hers. "But I can't."
He would've taken it back if he could've. Or blamed the rest of the League for interfering with his personal life. But Batman had made it clear enough. Being around Artemis - or, well, now permanently Linda Park - especially this soon could trigger a memory and ruin all the work Miss M and J'onn had put into modifying Deathstroke's brain.
"I understand," she assured him, though her voice was tight and tears had gotten free to moisten her cheeks again.
Wally gently wiped them away with his thumb, letting his hands cup her face faintly. Yes, he was a scientist, but if wishing all their problems away could do anything…
"How long do you have?" she asked, sniffing a little as she tried to pull amusement into her voice. "Since I doubt Bats actually said to take all the time you need."
Wally sat back and gave her a sheepish smile. "Well, no, he- ," he paused, then looked at her suspiciously. "How long were you awake before we noticed?"
She smiled back. "Long enough to know the boy wonder doesn't believe you either."
His smile broadened, even with her injuries her beauty was something else. "Yeah, but it's hard to fool him with much," he pointed out. "But, no, Bats didn't approve it."
"Then how are you pulling off work?" Artemis asked.
"I had some vacation time coming at the lab," he informed her, to witch she raised an impatient eyebrow. "And Uncle Barry's covering scarlet duties. We've been splitting calls since I got back, so he's just going to be doing a little bit of fulltime."
"He's got twins at home," Artemis pointed out, entirely exasperated. "You can't do that to him!"
"I didn't! He offered!" Wally yelped in defense.
Artemis just let out a groan and shook her head, but he could still see her smile. "Wally- ."
He didn't let her get any farther, quickly leaning in to kiss her and take the lecture away. There were very few times this technique didn't work between them and, to Wally's delight, it looked like that much hadn't changed. So they were going to have to separate again. So that meant a few more months (or years, if Bats had anything to say about it) of maddening time away from her.
So what? He was going to find a way to get Artemis back into his life. To get Linda Park into his life. Even if it meant quitting the League.
"Mmm," she hummed as they broke apart. "You always opt out of words."
"Yeah, well, what can I say?" he chortled softly. "I'm good like that."
"Oh shut up," she groaned through her smile. He grinned, but a moment passed between them and their happy expressions started to droop.
Not saying a word, which would have opened up the pain and tears again, he returned to the spot next to her on the bed. Curling his arms around her as she let her head drop to his chest. One shuddered breath made him hold her as tightly as he dared, but that was all he could do as the loud clock on the wall let him know that their time together was ticking by.
A/N: Okay, first off: to my dear follower who's been frantic about Barry, happy? Second off: Sorry it's a short chapter, but as we're getting close to the ending it's harder to keep them linked with just line breaks. *shrug* I hope you're all enjoying your January! We just got snow here and I have lmited ways to get anywhere (yes, hence another post). Keep toasty and such! And I'm really looking forward to the next chapter, if that gives you any hint O_o