Disclaimer-Sadly, I don't any of the rights to the DC universe, just to my thoughts.
So, I ran out of chapter names that fit because I still have on in mind for the last chapter...
Anyway, sorry about how long it took to get out but it's a long, fluffy chapter! Gotta say, not a M'gann fan so when I had to write that at the end of last chapter, I wasn't real happy (*cough* main reason of dislike *cough*).
But, enough of my ranting, enjoy the fluffiness!
Artemis smirked. The smell of a home-cooked meal wafted through the cave. Dinah walked in, followed by Ollie, Batman, Aquaman, Zatara, J'onn, Barry, and even Superman. They had rolling carts of food with them and were all dressed in civilian clothing, Batman still wearing sunglasses, as only the older heroes, Dick, Wally, and Artemis knew, though the man himself didn't know about the last one.
"Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!" Dinah said, grinning. The teenagers looked a little surprised, but only just barely, except for Robin. He was smirking. Standing behind everyone, he held up a communicator, and seeing it caused Artemis to smirk, too.
"We're all glad you're awake, Artemis." Dinah said, still grinning. The other heroes agreed with her, though she had to nudge some.
"Thanks, I guess." The youngest archer said. "So, we gonna eat or what?" Most of the people in the room laugh and Artemis could've sworn she saw Batman's lips tug up in an almost smile.
An hour later, everyone was sitting in Artemis's room, except for Conner and M'gann. The Kryptonian walked in not much later, carrying a Christmas tree and the Martian followed, levitating boxes of decorations. She was grinning so widely, it was hard not to look away.
"We figured we'd probably be spending Christmas in here, Artemis. So, we wanted to set the tree up here!" the cheerful redhead said. Conner had put the tree down in the only unoccupied corner in the room and M'gann was already stringing lights on it.
Artemis smiled sadly. "That's great and all but I don't really have anything for you guys." She said, biting her lip. Now she felt kind of bad, even though she knew it wasn't her fault. Nonetheless…
The teenagers, most of them, just laughed. "Seriously, that's what you're worried about? You almost died and you've been in a coma for a week and that's what you're worried about?" Wally asked, shaking his head and coming over to stand next to her, soon followed by the others, except for Roy. Wally held her hand and they enveloped the archer in a group hug. The adults were looking on, some smiling slightly, thinking the moment was sweet.
Artemis winced but still smiled. When they broke away, she winced again. "Well, yeah, actually. That was what I was worried about." She smirked at Wally, definitely okay with holding his hand. She could see Robin smirking behind the rest of them. Almost everyone had this face like 'Took long enough', except for Batman, but that was no surprise.
"Anyway," M'gann went back to decorating the tree. "I'm really excited for my first Christmas." She turned to grin at her team again. "Especially to spend it with you guys." She turned back to the tree, humming a song she must have found online.
Artemis looked down again, thinking. She really did feel bad about not having anything to give the Team and Zatanna, maybe even Roy. She sighed, causing Wally to look at her, slight concern in his eyes. Everyone else had gone back to their seat but Wally had sat on the side of her bed. She shook her head. "It's nothing." Though, honestly, she'd rather spend the moment with just her friends, her 'family'.
Dinah seemed to understand her thoughts. "Come on, let's leave them be." She said, leading the older heroes out of the room. She was last to leave. "You're welcome." She winked and left.
"There!" M'gann put the star on top of the tree using telekinesis, as she wasn't tall enough. Everyone turned toward the tree. It sparkled with light and glittered with silver ornaments. The star was also silver and it reflected the light of the room back at everyone.
"It looks great, M'gann." Zatanna said, smiling. The others nodded in agreement, even Roy.
"Hey, Roy, you staying for tomorrow?" Wally asked, looking over at the archer whose hand he wasn't holding.
The aforementioned redhead shrugged. "Why not? Not like I've got anything better to do." He muttered the last part to himself.
Artemis bit her lip. "Ok, not to sound rude or anything, but I want to tell you guys stuff individually. And, if you want to ask me stuff individually, then that works, too. Is that alright with you guys?" She asked, looking a little nervous.
Robin shrugged. "Alright. That's fine, right, guys?" He said, looking around. He got nods and shrugs in return. "Then, we'll wait outside?" Artemis nodded. "Alright, let's go." It was rather obvious that they planned on letting Wally go first, considering the fact that he was already sitting on her bed and holding her hand.
Once the door closed, Wally turned to her and hugged her. Initially, it surprised Artemis, but, hiding her wincing again, she returned his hug as best she could with her cast. She felt her eyes prickle with moisture. She hated for people to see her cry, hated for people to see her weak.
When Wally pulled away, she saw the tear tracks that were made down his face. "I thought we might have lost you." He said, voice cracking on the last few words. "I hated that feeling of helplessness. All we could do was watch as…" He didn't finish and more tears rolled down the speedster's face.
"Wally," Artemis said, smiling somewhat sadly. "I don't die that easily." And then she kissed him. It was slightly awkward, like the hug, because of her cast, but she reached around his neck, holding onto him like a lifeline. He returned the kiss, hugging her as best he could, while trying not to hurt her.
Eventually, they pulled away. They wiped away the tears on their faces. "Just don't ever do that again." Wally said, holding onto her, still. She nodded. As soon as they looked normal, evidence of the tears gone, Wally walked outside to send M'gann in.
The Martian girl walked in and immediately hugged the archer. "Artemis!" The archer winced rather visibly. M'gann seemed to forget she had super-strength for a moment.
"M'gann…need…to…breathe…" Artemis said hoarsely. The Martian immediately let go and started apologizing. "It's ok, just sore." She said, smiling slightly. The girl was sweet and meant well but she was kinda clueless.
"Anyway, I'm really glad you're alright. We were all so worried. And Superboy wouldn't talk to anyone, neither would Wally. Robin was on his wrist computer most of the time. Kaldur was really quiet and he went swimming a lot. Zatanna and I talked a lot about you. We were really worried. Even Red Arrow stayed around, though he pretty much kept to himself…" She trailed off.
Artemis laughed, causing the Martian girl to look rather confused. "Wow. When did I become so important?" M'gann looked rather surprised but soon joined in the archer's laughter. "Anything you wanna know, then?"
The Martian thought for a moment before shaking her head. "Nah, not really. I just wanted to say how glad I was to see you doing well." She grinned before walking out of the white room.
Conner walked in, angsty-looking as ever. His fists were clenched as he sat in the seat next to her bed. "I-I'm glad you're alright." He said, looking down.
"Conner, are you okay?" Artemis said, looking at him with concern. And yes, she did see the irony in this situation.
The clone didn't look up. "It's just…you guys have been my family and I really don't want to lose any of you…" He looked up when he felt Artemis's hand on his, obviously a friendly gesture. She was smiling at him.
"I'm not going anywhere, not for a long time." She said, still smiling. What happened next surprised the Kryptonian. She reached over and, awkwardly, hugged him. At first, he stayed stiff before returning the hug.
"Thank you." He whispered, leaving both of them rather surprised. He got up and left because he knew if he stayed much longer, he might, dare he even think it, cry.
Zatanna was the next one to walk into the room. She was biting her lip, looking nervous. She took the seat Conner had vacated. "I'm sorry!" The magician blurted out before Artemis could say anything, leaving the archer looking confused. The dark-haired girl continued. "I couldn't help anyone. I wasn't even awake…" She trailed off, looking pretty depressed and not at Artemis.
"Zatanna, that wasn't your fault. If anyone's to blame, it would be me for being so stupid to get caught…" Artemis trailed off, looking down at her lap where her hands had folded. She really did feel like this was her fault, because it was. If she hadn't been so stupid, had fought back, hadn't let surprise give them the advantage…
"It doesn't matter." Zatanna's voice jolted her from her thoughts. "What matters is that we're all safe, together, and we're spending Christmas together." Artemis looked up at the smiling girl and smirked.
"Do you have any idea how corny that sounded?" She asked, causing the younger girl to smirk. "Um, thanks for coming to rescue me, sorta." She said the last part because things hadn't gone exactly to plan.
The magician smiled. "What are friends for?" With that, she left the room.
Kaldur walked in to take the seat Zatanna had left. He looked, well, just plain sad. He looked like he blamed himself for everything that happened. "I am sorry, Artemis. We were not able to rescue you and we almost got ourselves killed." He said, looking down.
Artemis sighed. "You guys have got to stop apologizing. Like I told Zatanna, if it's anyone's fault, it's mine for being stupid enough to get caught." At her words, Kaldur looked up. He opened his mouth to say something but the archer cut him off. "Yeah, yeah. I know that's not what matters. So, let's just forget about that, at least for now."
Kaldur hesitated before nodding. "Though I do have a question, Artemis."
She almost said 'shoot' but, remembering the events of recent, decided not to. "Go ahead."
"Your mother, she was Hutress, wasn't she?"
The question, while not entirely unexpected, did catch Artemis by slight surprise. "You know, I was almost waiting for someone to make the connection… But, yes. She was, was being the operative term. She-she's in a wheelchair now. Took the fall for something her and my father were in.
"That was more than six years ago. She got out of jail a few months ago. She wanted to straight and wanted me too, as well. I never wanted to kill people so that was all fine with me, considering the only reason I hadn't done something before was because of my father. She kicked him out and I got that scholarship. And well, you know the rest." She said, shrugging.
Kaldur just nodded. "Alright." He stood up. "And Artemis," He looked back at the archer as he started to walk away. "I really am glad you are alright." Without a chance for Artemis to reply, the Atlantian walked out.
Roy walked in next, hands shoved into his pockets. He didn't bother to sit down or even to look at the other archer. "Got any questions for me, Roy Joy?" Artemis asked, smirking.
He looked up at the nickname, obviously surprised before smirking. "Roy Joy? Really?" He shook his head. "That the best you got, Arty?"
"I'd punch you if I could." Artemis said, smirking.
"Just get better, kay?" Said the redhead as he walked out. Artemis could hear the smirk when he'd spoken.
The boy Wonder walked in, smirking. As soon as he closed the door, he took off the sunglasses. "Remind me to thank Bruce for the scholarship sometime." Artemis said almost thoughtfully. Dick smirked.
"Will do." He said, sitting down on the chair. "I really am glad you figured out my identity, though." He shook his head and cackled his signature cackle. "If you hadn't figured it out after this, I would've thought you were pretty clueless." He said, smirking.
In reply, Artemis stuck her tongue out at him, not caring about how childish it looked, before laughing. "I'd had my suspicions; you simply supplied the proof I needed." She said, still smirking.
"So, we should hang out sometime. Not like I don't have money to go to movies or something." He said, smirking. "And of course I mean as friends."
"No duh." Artemis said, smirking. She yawned.
"Go to sleep. It's late." Dick said before smirking again. "Besides, I have no doubt that at least one speedster is going to be up rather early in the morning." He stood up to leave, putting on his sunglasses.
"And Dick?" The Boy Wonder turned around. "Thanks for not listening to my messages." He smiled and left, turning off the light. Almost as soon as it was dark, the, surprisingly, exhausted archer fell asleep, smiling.
Don't forget to review and it looks like my next story will be a sequel! Only probably two chapters left! . Might take a while because they're going to be FLUFFY! XD