AN1: Hey all! We're back for shot 3! In this one, I had a request for some Spitfire relationship stuff and I thought, what goes better with that than Wally trying to propose, but Murphy's Law keeps butting in. I hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own a thing.

He'd had the ring picked out months ago and it had been burning a hole in his pocket for weeks. Honestly, he was a little surprised he was able to keep it hidden for as long as he has; she was always the sneakier of the two of them and she always seemed to know when he was hiding something from her. It had made getting presents for her a nightmare. On the other hand though, it was their last semester of their undergraduate studies and both of them were kept busy trying to keep their "family" in line. Though the group of Dosed that had fallen in under their leadership was running much more smoothly these days it didn't exactly stop them from having issues pop up every once in a while. Tonight though, he had put out the call and everyone knew not to interrupt unless someone was actually dying. Even then, their first call was supposed to be to someone in their network close to the area and then the hospital.

Wally smiled as he went through the plan one more time. He'd managed to convince his lab professor to let him take off early that night so he could get home and set everything up before Artemis got home from class. As neither of them were all that big on fancy restaurants with overpriced, under portioned meals, he took it upon himself to do all of the cooking for dinner tonight. He'd rushed home and immediately started pulling together her favorite meal. While everything was in the oven he'd dashed back out to pick up a small bouquet of peonies. Artemis had remarked on more than one occasion that roses were overrated and when he'd asked the girl at the shop what he should get she'd smiled and handed him the bouquet.

"They mean a lot of different things," the girl had said. "But if you're proposing to your girlfriend then starting off with a happy life, happy marriage, and prosperity seems like a good omen."

Wally smiled to himself as he carefully set the flowers carefully into the vase he'd put on the table and coasted his hand over the lump in his pocket one more time. This was it; he was finally going to do it. They'd talked about it off and on as the years marched on in their relationship, but it was finally time to actually ask her point blank to marry him. His grin widened when the oven beeped and he rushed over to pull the dish out. A frown quickly followed when he heard the intercom buzzer chime and hoped that Artemis had somehow just forgotten her keys, but a quick glance at the clock shot that down rather quickly. Reaching over, he pressed the button that would allow entry into the building and waited for the knock on the door. He didn't have to wait long and sighed when he heard multiple voices on the other side of the door. Already resigned, he pulled the door open to allow Roy and Jade to step into the small apartment.

"I forgot to call you," he grumbled as he shut the door.

"Are you expecting company or something?" Roy asked, shooting a look over at the nicely laid out table.

"Cause we're still going to need you to babysit anyway," Jade added as she handed Lian over to Wally and dropped her bag on the floor. "Something came up and Red and I need to go look into it."

"As much as I don't mind watching her, can't you take her with you?" Wally asked, even as he adjusted his hold on his almost-niece she she'd be more comfortable on his hip.

"Into what could potentially be an active fire fight?" Jade asked with a raised brow in his direction and mock outrage in her voice. "What kind of parents would take their one year old daughter into that kind of situation? Who do you take us for?"

"The kind that regularly use her in covert, undercover operations, especially if your free babysitting service happens to be unavailable," Wally deadpanned right back.

"Point," Roy agreed, "but we'd still feel better if she stayed here with you two instead. It shouldn't take us more than a couple of days. We'll be back by Sunday night."

Wally glanced between the two, gauging if he could push it, before he sighed and shook his head. "Yeah, sure, all right."

"It's not like your company will mind," Jade said flippantly. "All of your kids already know about Lian and anyone in the League just think she's already yours and the two of you just won't admit it," she added with a Cheshire grin.

"I don't think it was company he was looking forward to," Roy said as his own wicked grin spread across his face and he shot a pointed look at the lump in Wally's pocket.

"You're spending far too much time with your wife," Wally scowled back and turned to hide his pocket from view. "I remember a time when you were actually fairly nice."

"Don't worry, there will be other times to propose," Roy just grinned wider, laughing when Wally let out a distressed noise.

"Excuse me, what?" Jade demanded, looking back and forth between the two men in the room. She shot another look at the table and burst out laughing. "Maybe it's a good thing we showed up. Artemis hates peonies almost as much as she hates roses. Your proposal would have been a disaster from the start. Anyway, have fun, keep an eye on my little girl, and no spiriting her off to South America!"

"That only happened once!" Wally shouted as Jade and Roy made a quick exit out of the apartment building. He sighed once more and looked over at the table. "Guess I'd better get some of this cleaned up before Artemis gets back; can't exactly go through with the plan now."

SJaOS

The second time he tried to propose it was more or less an attempt to actually ask Artemis before any of their "family" had the chance to blurt it out. He cared about the rag tag bunch of suddenly super powered teens they'd more or less adopted all those years ago, he really did, but sometimes they could be some of the nosiest pains in the ass he'd ever known. He'd already stopped three people from saying anything on two different impromptu missions they'd been called in for and he'd put out a general gag order on any written communications that even hinted at the idea he was going to ask Artemis to marry him. He was quite proud of himself for the last one, to be honest. Maybe watching your girlfriend write computer code or hack into various databases and systems over the years does help you learn a thing or two. Still, there was only so much he could do to keep it from getting out and he'd had just about enough.

They were sitting on the couch, just watching a movie and enjoying some rare down time and Wally thought it was now or never. He couldn't keep running interference forever and honestly, he was damn lucky Artemis hadn't seemed to notice anything suspicious yet. He'd just resolved to go grab the ring hidden in his dresser when their communicators simultaneously went off.

"Of course," he mumbled to himself, letting Artemis go from where she had been cuddled up next to him and grabbed his communicator.

"You've got Impulse," he said as he flipped it open, frowning when he noticed Artemis' was still ringing.

"Hey dad!" a cheerful voice chirped on the other end. "It's Shifter. If you're not too busy, we could use a little help down here in New Mexico."

"What happened?" Wally asked, far too used to everyone in their "family" calling him dad to even comment on it anymore.

"Well, see, Shade and I were looking into a few things and we may or may not have knowingly wandered into restricted territory." Shouting could suddenly be heard over the other end, though it only sounded like one man. "Hey!" Shifter shouted back, his voice sounding further away. "I'm allowed one phone call!" The line abruptly cut off and Wally immediately went to work running the tracer program.

"So where are you headed?" Artemis asked as she came out of the bedroom where her communicator had been.

"New Mexico," Wally answered shortly. "Shifter and Shade seemed to have gotten themselves arrested or detained."

"My money's on detained," Artemis smiled. "Nothing short of maximum security could hold those two anywhere."

"True," he sighed as he rushed out of the room and suited up in seconds. "You?" he asked, his cowl still hanging down around his neck.

"New York," Artemis replied. "Poison Ivy is making a nuisance of herself apparently and two of ours got caught in the blast. Normally I'd just let the League handle it, but Twister called it in. Ivy's got Quake and Nocturne."

"I wouldn't want the League anywhere near those two," Wally agreed with a wince. "You gonna be okay on your own?"

"Twister's there," Artemis said with a shrug. "And we don't actually have to take Ivy on, we just need to get Quake and Nocturne away from her. Between the two of us, she and I can handle that no problem."

"Just be careful," Impulse replied as he pulled his cowl on. "See you back here in a few hours?"

"You'll likely get back first, but sure," Artemis agreed, stepping up on her tip toes to kiss him once before the speedster rushed off.

SJaOS

Attempts three and four were interrupted much the same way and even carefully planning out attempt five, including remembering to let everyone (Jade and Roy especially this time) know about his plans, that was shot down faster than he could run the second Leaguers called them in to help deal with a bunch of villains banding together to try and take them down. After that, he made a mental note to at least let Nightwing know next time he tried to propose. He and Dick were still friends, especially after the younger boy had seen the sense in striking off on his own as well, and he'd at least be able to delay the call long enough for Wally to actually pop the question, maybe.

SJaOS

Wally wasn't even prepared for attempt six. Honestly, he's not even sure he could call it an attempt because he hadn't been planning on it, the ring was a continent away in his sock drawer, and the words more or less just slipped out. He blamed a combination of fast acting sedative and piling frustration over not being able to ask.

He and Artemis had gotten a tip on a human trafficking ring they had been trying to bust holing up in the middle of nowhere Australia and immediately made a run for the other country. The tip turned out to be a trap and Impulse had taken a dart to the arm filled with a sedative engineered to work against his bodies fast acting response and put him under. It didn't work quite as well as they'd hoped, Impulse was going strong for another five minutes, before a wave of nausea hit and vertigo became a real problem.

Artemis acted quickly and got them both out, though Impulse was becoming increasingly less than helpful. She'd finally managed to find them a small shack to hide out in and wait for the drug to run its course. She had thought the sedative would just put him to sleep, but instead she was dealing with a very high boyfriend that seemed to have lost his brain to mouth filter somewhere along the way. He wasn't saying anything she didn't already know, but it wasn't exactly anything she wanted anyone else overhearing either. Once they managed to get out safely, she looked back on the night with amusement.

Wally, on the other hand, was mostly mortified. He remembered everything he said or did, including his drunken proclamations to truck driver that had been kind enough to pick them up off the side of the road, that he could make his truck run more fuel efficient if he let him under the hood to tweak a few things. It had been a good thing Artemis had redirected him, especially since his plans involved using a gallon of milk and a protein bar. Unfortunately Artemis' attempts to redirect him only led him to loudly, and off key, start serenading her and then promptly ask her to marry him.

"Try asking me again when you can actually string the sentence together without slurring any of the words," she had laughed in reply.

SJaOS

Following that disaster, Wally made sure to plan out every last detail for attempt seven. He made all of the calls he needed to make, made sure both of their schedules were clear, and made sure to double check everything. This was going to be it, damnit! He was going to ask her after their night out and nothing was going to stop him. Except, of course, Artemis coming home early from class running a fever and ready to throw up at even the mention of food, or moving, or anything that required any sort of energy.

SJaOS

"Are you sure you're feeling better?" Wally asked as he and Artemis cuddled on the couch that weekend. "You're still looking a bit pale."

"I'm fine, promise," Artemis sighed as she snuggled closer into his chest.

"All right, I'll stop asking," Wally chuckled softly as he ran a hand up and down her back.

"That's what you said the last time," Artemis reminded him, looking up briefly to grin at him.

"What if I asked a different question then?" Wally asked, his mouth running away from him and his mind not even paying attention.

"Well now, that depends. What kind of question?" Artemis returned as she turned her head and propped her head on his chest.

"Something along the lines of, will you marry me?" Wally said, grinning at her.

"Took you long enough," Artemis laughed as she leaned in to kiss him. "I was beginning to think I was going to have to ask you."

AN2: Hey all! Just a reminder to send me prompts of things you'd like to see, scenes you wished were longer, etc. from Who We Are. This project is driven entirely by all of you! Also, just as an fyi, I'm in my last semester of grad school and working on graduating and finding a job. So bear with me if it takes a while to answer your prompts, but I promise I will get to them! Thanks all! Your reviews/favorites/follows give me life!