AN: Welp, this is the last part in Secrets. I hope you like it. I'll probably do the Babs chapter a little later but I think a few light hearted chapters are in order.

"I know you're there," Batgirl said. She was sitting on the island in the kitchen eating extra-crunchy peanut butter out of the jar. The Dark Knight sighed and walked into the light.

"Are you going to tell them?" she asked, not looking at him. She instead decided to look at the clock on the stove. 3:17 AM.

"Does he want me to tell them?" he shot back, raising an eyebrow. She sighed and slowly shifted around to look at him. Her red puffy eyes with deep purple bags didn't surprise him. Her sunglasses were propped on her head.

"I disabled the cameras. The shades were giving me a headache," she explained, rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands. "Will he be able to fight? I mean- will you let him? Because he's been doing a damn good job! And just because everyone found out doesn't mean anything changes."

She took another spoonful of peanut butter and shoved it into her mouth. She chewed slowly, trying to figure out what to say next. He waited.

"You should tell them. I don't- um, I don't think I would be able to." she said and swallowed hard. Batman nodded. She sighed and relaxed a little, looking away again.

"He's going to be fine," he assured her gruffly.

"I just don't want people to treat him differently. I mean, imagine if they treated him like a- a china doll, you know, like 'poor kid'. He'd go insane."

There was a pause. She could hear the clock in the hallway.

"I'm sorry, Barbara. You would have been a great mother." She whipped around but he had already disappeared into the shadows. She hopped down off the counter with half a mind to call him back and demand that he take responsibility for the bomb he'd just dropped in her lap, but as soon as she felt the cold shock of her bare feet on the tile the fight went out of her and she stumbled. The kitchen was so terribly cold. She smacked her fist down on the counter (once, twice) and tried not to think.

"I'm keeping it."

Wally dropped his pen and shot his head up to look at her. "What?"

"The baby. I'm keeping it," she said evenly. Wally sighed and rubbed his temples.

"Babs, you need to really think about this. You have your whole life to consider," he tried to reason with her.

"I know that. I also know I have another life to consider."

"What made you decide this?" he asked, searching her eyes. Babs sighed and turned around to stare off into space.

"It's just… I would rather people believe what they may."

Wally raised an eyebrow. "Care to elaborate?"

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'd rather be judged as a whore then pitied as a poor girl who got raped."

"You're not a- a whore. Christ, Babs, don't even say that. Tossing that word around- blaming yourself- he took advantage of your trust and that's- you're just looking at it all wrong-"

"LOOKING at it wrong? Sure. Whatever, man," she spat. "You know, I am really sick and tired of people telling me how to feel. Always well-meaning, almost always men, and it's really a pain in the ass."

"Sorry! I'm sorry. I'm just worried about you."

"I know," she leaned toward him and he wrapped an arm around her. "You're my best friend. It's your job to worry. I shouldn't have snapped at you."

"I think you have enough on your plate just now to excuse a bit of a short temper."

She laughed. "Well, so do you. You ever think things are just so tragic it's funny?"

"All the damn time."

"Story of our lives, practically."

"I wish you'd let me kick that bastard's ass."

"I can fight my own battles, West."

"Can you?"

"Yes! And I'm still keeping the kid. I want to take responsibility-" He threw up his hands in exasperation. "-And I want something good to come out of this mess. You can agree with that if nothing else."

"It's your choice."

"Damn right it is."

The minutes of the wait while Batman finally told them all the truth out in the hall felt like hours to the two teenagers in the too-white hospital room. Batgirl sat cross-legged on the side of Wally's bed. She held his hand (the one that wasn't attached to a broken arm) in hers. His fingers trembled in hers. He was scared, his eyes half-closed, face turned a little away from her as if to hide against the pillowcase. She rubbed the back of his hand with her thumbs in slow circles, trying to comfort him.

They both tensed when they heard the gasps, soon followed by frantic footsteps toward the room. Babs gave Wally's hand one last squeeze before the rest of the team burst through the door.

M'gann had tears streaming down her face, a look of complete pity on her face. She moved toward him hesitantly and stretched out a hand, then stopped. Connor had his usual expressionless face, with a slight frown, but you could see the sorrow and pity in his eyes. Kaldur too was trying to be composed but only held sorrow in his eyes. Robin looked hurt and betrayed. You could see, even with his shades, the anger and deep pity he felt. They seemed almost afraid to approach him. Batgirl tensed, gripping his hand more tightly.

Zatanna walked in last, supporting Artemis, who was clinging to her teammate and dragging her feet, looking at the floor. After a moment they stopped near the foot of the bed and Artemis looked up. She was tough as ever, blinking back tears as she searched his face. He looked back at her for a moment before shutting his eyes.

"Who are you?" she murmured.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm not- I don't-" suddenly she rushed forward and kissed him, very gently, on the mouth. "I just love you, ok?"

He opened his eyes and smiled a tiny bit. "Ok."

"We're… so sorry," Dick was grasping for words. "So sorry. I don't know what to say."

"I don't understand how this could have happened to you," Kaldur mused.

"You poor thing."

Wally's face went white. That was exactly what he'd feared they would do. Pity and horror were written all over their faces. She knew he felt he was being written off as another victim, an innocent civilian caught in a situation that was bigger than he was able deal with. That really did not sit well with the sort of person who was used to being the hero. Babs tensed her jaw a bit. She knew that mindset because she had lived it.

"I just… wish you'd told us. We could have helped you," Dick added.

Zatanna shushed them and spoke slowly. "We understand. These things are very hard."

"Will you still be part of the team?" Connor was ever practical.

"He needs rest! All of that can wait," she scolded.

"Yes, of course you must rest," he agreed.

"He doesn't have to hear discussions on his place in the team."

"Just know we're all here for you while you are going through this."

Wally shut his eyes again. Babs knew this conversation wasn't going anywhere and decided to take matters into her own hands.

"Hey guys, think we could leave these two alone for a bit? I'm sure they have a lot to talk about."

It was a loaded statement and she knew it. They had little choice but to leave. She shooed them all into the hall with some vague mention of seeing the couple later and shut the door behind them. As soon as she felt they were far enough down the hallway she took a calming breath and began.

"Just what did you think you were doing in there?"

"Comforting our friend," M'Gann replied without hesitation.

"Yes, I believe you thought so," Batgirl said gently. She decided to try a different tactic. "Guys, you need to stop this."

"Stop what?" Kaldur asked politely.

"The way you're treating him. He's still the same guy he has been and it doesn't help anything if you start to look at him differently because of what he's going through."

The others looked thoughtful.

"He's still a hero. The fear of everybody suddenly thinking of him as- breakable? Fragile, weak, whatever- is exactly why he never told anyone until now. I know you're trying to be sympathetic but he's pretty sensitive about it."

Zatanna nodded. "I can see that."

"Yes, Wally's dad, he…" She pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath. "abused him. And yes, he didn't tell any of you. But the worst thing any of you could do would be to start treating him like a fragile doll. This isn't exactly a new development. Wally has been an amazing hero, an undistracted and devoted hero, since he has started with our team. So please try not to think that just because you just found out about it Wally's some different person. He's the same guy, just with a few more battle scars than you knew about."

"More than WE knew about," Connor said.

"Excuse me?"

"He's right," Robin added. "You knew, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did."

"And you didn't tell anyone?" he said coldly. "That was a pretty rotten thing to do."

"How could you let that happen to him?" M'gann asked in a small voice.

"That was… not a wise decision," Kaldur added.

"I tried- he didn't want-"

"He didn't want to tell anyone, so you gave up and abandoned him to deal with that monster alone."

"No! I would never-"

"We are supposed to have each other's backs," he waved down her protest impatiently. "Can we really count on you to do the right thing for the team after this? Even when it's the hard choice?"

"Yes!"

"THEN COULD YOU EXPLAIN WHY IT TOOK HIM ALMOST GETTING KILLED FOR YOU TO TELL SOMEONE THAT ONE OF OURS WAS IN TROUBLE?" he roared. Batgirl stumbled back slightly, her back hitting the door.

"Please-"

"You call yourself his friend. If you had spoken up earlier, when you should have, it never would have gotten this far," he said with growing disgust. "So what was the reasoning? Why keep it in your pocket? I WANT ANSWERS."

He was right in her face now and the others were too stunned to intervene. His temper had always been an issue, but this was different. If Babs had been running at full capacity she would have recognized the almost hysterical fear driving his outburst. He had grown accustomed to the deaths of heroes in the line of duty, but the force that had driven Wally to the brink of death was a wholly different beast. He was terrified and lashing out, and she was too emotionally compromised by the situation to see it.

"You think I didn't want to tell?" she gasped.

"I have no idea what you wanted."

"I did want to! Desperately," she tried to shrink against the wall and stared at him, willing him to understand. "I would have, should have. But I couldn't! It wasn't some… power trip, or whatever it is you are thinking. I really couldn't."

He shifted his weight slightly, as he usually did when about to change tactics. The team was about to go into another round of questions when they heard the door open. They all looked up to see Wally, in a wheel chair pushed by Artemis, in the doorway. He glared at them.

"Seriously?" he spat. "That woman saved my life and all you can say is that she didn't do it soon enough?"

They all paused for a moment and stared at him, startled. Batgirl took the opportunity to run. She pushed through the doors at the end of the hall and disappeared.

"No, wait," Wally lifted his hand as if to stop her but to no avail. The group in the hallway seemed to be getting ready to explain themselves but he was tired and having trouble breathing. He shook his head at the rest of them and let Artemis roll him back into his room.

AN: Well there it is. I know it was kind of open ended with the team's reaction and Babs but like I said I'll adress that later. Please review and tell me any ideas you want to see worked into a story or one-shot!