Consider it disclaimed.

enjoy.

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waiting up.

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She hated painting her nails.

The smell was so bitter and overwhelming. Then there was the stickiness of the polish if you accidentally touched it. The fact that the act was so tedious, and that you would have to turn every which way to actually paint the nail and then you would still manage to miss at least one corner or an edge.

Artemis absolutely hated painting her nails. It took too much time to actually sit still and paint them evenly, then you still had to wait until they were dry until you could go do anything else. Yet, here she was. Painting her toes that obnoxious, banana yellow that Wally had picked out ages ago to match his uniform.

Wally was actually the reason she was sitting on the couch messing with the acrid paint, she was waiting on her obnoxious speedster to finally roll in from a night out watching the game with his friends. It was strange, being back in their apartment. If she were honest with herself, she would admit she didn't much enjoy it. This was her home and no matter how long she had been gone, she shouldn't feel out of place. She really wished that Wa-

Oh, gross. There was now a sticky droplet of polish sliding across the top of her foot.

With a sigh, she yanked a tissue from the box on the coffee table and wiped it off before it made a bigger mess. Tossing the tissue on the table, she glanced at the clock on the wall.

1:12 AM

A small frown furrowed at her brow, but she dutifully turned back to her half painted foot. Dipping the brush back into the bottle, she dabbed at her middle toe carefully. As she moved on to the next toe, the mechanisms in the lock clicked and the door opened to a unsteady looking Wally.

He glanced around the apartment a little unsurely before his eyes landed on her.

"Hey you," Artemis glanced up shortly giving him a small smile. "It's about time you came home."

"Hey," his own voice was small and hesitant, adding nothing else. He moved carefully, closing the door behind him before making his way to the other end of the couch watching her the entire time with wide, glassy eyes. He finally took a seat next to Brucely and Artemis could smell the whiskey he had partaken in coming off him in waves.

Finishing the first coat of her second foot, Artemis switched feet and started on a second coat to make the color more opaque. From the corner of her eye, she could see Wally following her movements with much care. She stopped and looked over at him, patting the cushion next to her with a reassuring smile. Wally looked down at their sleeping dog as if consulting him on the possible move. It took a long minute, but his conference with Brucely eventually ended and apparently the idea of Wally moving down the couch was approved because that's exactly what he did.

He was hip to hip with her and Artemis already felt more at ease with him next to her. She turned her attention back to her toes once more, with only six toes to go she would not be deterred. The shaky, deep breath that came from Wally caused her to still once more in anticipation.

"Artemis." His voice was rough and sounded a little choked. She made a small noise at the back of her throat acknowledging her name. "I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you too, Wally," she replied as he arms circled her shoulders. His head bowed forward to rest against her upper arm. "We got home this afternoon though. Remember?"

"I wasn't sure," he answered, sounding muffled and she felt the arm of her jersey dampen the slightest. "When you were gone, I would think you were here. Now that you're here...I'm not sure I can believe it."

"But I am here," Artemis stressed. Putting down the nail polish and placing her feet back on the floor, she turned her upper body towards her boyfriend. Pulling him into hug, she rested her chin on his shoulder. "I am here. Believe it, okay?"

"I'm trying, but you've been gone for what seems like forever." Wally's arms tightened around her. "I never knew what was happening. I never knew if you were injured or worse. Dick didn't tell me anything."

"Wally, you know he couldn't. It would have put the mission in jeopardy. You know that," she whispered, rubbing her hand in a small circle in the center of his back. "But I'm here now. That's all that matters."

"Even if you're not, I'm glad I got to see you." His voice was so sad and it took every bit of control to keep the tears now prickling her eyes from rolling down her cheeks. Artemis wanted to shake him and convince him that she wasn't going anywhere. She wasn't going to ever leave him again. "And if it really is you, then I love you so much, Artemis."

"I love you too, Wally. And I'm so sorry." Artemis pulled back enough to look at Wally's red, tear-streaked face and her own tears slid down her cheeks. "I am so sorry. I didn't mean to make you worry."

His hand cupped her chin gently and his thumb moved across the apple of her cheek, wiping away a tear. "It really is you. You're finally home."

Artemis couldn't hold back the laugh that bubbled up in the back of her throat. "I've been home since this afternoon, you idiot. You're the one that decided to leave to watch the game with the guys. I've been here waiting for you."

"I shouldn't have gone," he muttered almost mournfully, unable to meet her eyes. Artemis chuckled and leaned in to catch his lips with her own in a chaste kiss.

"No, you should have. Your friends would think something's up if you missed a playoff game and I don't think we're ready to tell everyone that I didn't actually die three months ago," Artemis reasoned, giving a small laugh. It was hard trying to keep her boyfriend from feeling guilty about having his own life. "You had a life for those three months, it's going to take some time before we're back on the same page, Wally. We'll get there. I promise."

"I want you to promise me something else, Artemis," Wally's voice was serious as he spoke and Artemis couldn't help but to note the grave expression on his face.

"Anything." Her own voice was soft as she waited for his request.

"Promise me that if you ever leave again, that you'll always come back."

"Wally, I will always come back to you," she gave a small smile as she paused, "I'll always come home and wherever you are is home. I promise."

"Good," he breathed out and pulled her back into a hug. He buried his face in her loose hair as he held her.

"Now promise me. I always want you to come home to me, too," Artemis said thickly after a moment.

His voice was muffled by her hair, but his response was audible. "That means I'd actually have to leave you, Artemis. That's something I have no intention of ever doing."

"Good, because if you ever did, I don't know what Brucely and I would do with all of your food," Artemis laughed even with tears streaming down her face. Wally pulled back and shook his head, chuckling all the same.

"Finish painting your toes and let's go to bed already." Wally leaned back into the couch and watched carefully as Artemis picked up the bottle of yellow polish and put the second coat on the last of her toes.

"It'll take a few minutes to dry," she spoke giving Wally another look. " Go brush your teeth and I'll meet you in there when they're done."

"You got it, babe." Wally swooped in to place a kiss on her cheek before standing and starting out of the room. He turned back to her and the expression on his face was a familiar grin. "Oh and babe?"

"Hm?" Artemis paused in blowing the best she could in the direction of her toes.

"That yellow looks great on you," he called over his shoulder as he exited the room.

Artemis smirked as she responded, "I've known that ever since our fifth date, remember?"

"I don't recall," he called out over the sound of the bathroom tap.

"Well then I suppose I'll just have to give you a refresher, huh?" she called back, grin on her own face. She felt better about being in their apartment once again, not just because she was home, but because she was with Wally and Brucely again.

And to Artemis, that was the exact same thing as being home.

This one and the last one won't be as long as the previous ones, but I still personally like them.
This part especially.

Only one more to go, I'm going to go over it and see if there's anything I can add to make it a little longer because otherwise it's barely hitting 1k in the word count.
Either way it'll be up later tonight, probably close to midnight.

I hope you enjoyed this one!