6.

We walked arm in arm But I didn't feel his touch A desire I'd first tried to hide, That tingling inside was gone And when he asked me: 'do you still love me?' I had to look away I didn't want to tell him That my heart grows colder with each day "

- Bat for Lashes

Seeing Icicle Jr. after who-knows-how-long at Artemis' door was like a slap in the face. Wally stumbled back in shock, his foot stepping on the flowers. Even though Cameron Mahkent had aged noticeably, there was no denying that it was he. Just the pasty white hair and sickly gray and flaky skin was enough to prove it was he. Unless they had discovered Jack Frost while he was away. His jaw had become more angular and now sported a sharp, short beard. He was taller than when he last saw him and wrinkles vaguely covered his forehead and around his eyes like cracks in the ice.

"So the rumors are true, Kid Crash," Cameron said, crossing his arms. "You really are back from the dead," he teases, challenging him by raising a sharp, frosty eyebrow.

"Where is Artemis?" Wally spits out forcefully, carefully pronouncing each word.

"She doesn't want to see you. You're a couple years late,"

"I'd like for her to say it to my face!" Wally says, recovering and taking a challenging step forward, fists clenched.

"Sorry, if she sees you she might puke" Cameron retorts.

"I'm not going to say it again, Mahkent; where is Artemis?" Wally reiterates through clenched teeth. Cameron's hands quickly materialize into icy claws, but before he can strike him a nostalgic voice cuts through the tension.

"Cameron, who's at the door?"

"Nobody babe, just some hobo" Cameron responds, his head turning as he addresses her.

"Babe?" Wally repeats, eyes narrowing. Babe was his nickname for her. He was the only one who could call Artemis babe. Taking advantage of Cameron's distracted state, he speeds past him and into what appears to be a hallway. He sucks in a breath as soon as he sees the body casually leaning against a doorframe, cup of coffee in hand.

She had changed since Wally had last seen her. Then again, everybody has. Her hair was cropped and now rested just above her shoulders. Wally doubted even she could scrape it back into a ponytail. Her eyes were a hard gray with faint crows' feet at the corners. Her full lips were pulled into a slight frown and she was wrapped up in a dark green bathrobe, a mug full of steaming coffee in her cupped and wrinkled hands. Despite not physically looking old, the hard line of her lips and the coldness of her eyes proved that she had seen enough to be centuries old.

"Artemis" Wally said weakly and she stiffened noticeably, staring blankly at Wally as he took a ginger step forward. Artemis cringed and Wally faltered.

"What are you doing here?" The coldness of her voice literally froze Wally in his tracks and he could see how she and Icicle Jr. could be a couple.

"I came to see you babe," Wally says and Artemis cringes again from the term of endearment.

"Don't call me babe," Artemis scolds and Wally's eyes widen.

"What's wrong?" he says, biting his tongue so he'd heed her words.

"Nothing's wrong with me, Wallace." Artemis says and Wally steps forward so he's now standing right in front of her.

"Why're you acting like this, Arty?" Wally says, staring down into her eyes. From the proximity he could map out all the small specks of color in her gray eyes. It was like staring at the stars trying to map out the constellations, but those irises had shifted, burying the stars he was looking for.

"Wally do you know how long you've been gone?" Artemis asks, narrowing her eyes so he could no longer stare into them.

"A while?" Wally guessed in that same joking voice.

"Sixteen years. Wally, sixteen years! So don't think you can run your way back into my life because things may not have changed in whatever bullshit dimension Dick was babbling on about, but they changed here." Wally says, her voice faltering slightly as she choked out the last few words.

"They changed so much that you decided it'd be a good idea to be dating a criminal!" Wally exclaims, pointing towards where Cameron Mahkent was watching warily from the front door.

"Ex-con," Artemis corrects him. "And yeah, a lot can change in a couple years. Like my childhood best friend being released on parole and seeing me," Artemis says matter-of-factly, staring hard into Wally's green eyes.

Wally sighs and rubs a hand down his face. He hardly had time to look in a mirror or fix himself, so his hair was messy and stuck up at impossible angles. Other than that and the bruises and scars that littered his body, he looked exactly the same as when he had disappeared.
"Artemis, when I was in the Speed-Force, I could see you. We had kids Artemis, kids! Where are they now?" Wally says.

"School. And don't say 'we' because I was the one who raised them because you were off in some magical dimension having the time of your life" Artemis argues.

"Yeah, time of my life. Being stuck staring at white walls for sixteen years sure doesn't drive a man insane or anything and it definitely was the time of my life." Wally fights back, sarcasm dripping out of his voice like water overflowing from a bathtub.

"Well you can see your kids when they get out of school, so come back in a couple hours when someone will actually care" Artemis dismisses him rudely.

Wally bites his tongue before he retorts something rude or admonishing. Instead he simply nods and turns away "I'm not giving up, Artemis," Wally says as he pushes back Cameron and moves out the door, swiftly shutting it behind him.

As soon as the door slammed shut with a raucous bang, Wally pressed his back against the wooden white door and slid down so he was curled up on the front porch. He stayed like that for a minute, pondering over his current predicament.

He had thought Artemis would be ecstatic to see him again, he really had. Maybe he thought that sixteen years away wouldn't be that much time for her. But when had she decided to move on? A day after he left? A month, a year? Maybe he was only a few days too late, maybe a few years. Either way he was late.

"Aww man, I knew we'd be the last ones here!"

Instead of bringing a smile to his face, it only brought tears to his eyes as he realized how distant that memory was. He had joined the team over 21 years ago according to Artemis. Had he really disappeared for that long? Was he really stuck in a different dimension for almost half his new life? How could so much change in such a short time? It was sixteen years, was that really enough time for Artemis to move on, have kids and find the new love of her life?

Yes, it was. Wally realized this, as he lay curled up against her cracked and weathered porch. Artemis only knew Wally for about six years. He was gone for sixteen. Besides, wasn't this what he wanted? Trapped inside that SpeedForce, Wally practically begged for Artemis to move on, to end her suffering and pain and grief. Artemis was happy now, and from what he saw before she wasn't always like this. He saw days when she was crying when Iris and Jai were at school, when she worked well into the night to pay for the house. She needed this, and he should be glad. She had needed to move on and he couldn't pull her back into that pit of pity and sadness.

And as Wally got up and moved away from the house he had thought he could live in with Artemis, he knew it was for the best.

A/N: So new chapter! So far I got 20 pages on Word so I'm pretty content. I got the YJ companion comics so I'm kinda addicted to those right now.

I also went to a record store today and bought a bunch of Nightwing and JL comics.

My camp is starting up again starting Monday so I may not be able to write/edit quickly meaning the updates may take a bit longer but i'll write what I can. I also want to write the next chapter for my other fanfic but whenever I try I start crying over Spitfire.

They were so perfect!

I'm really starting to hate this story though.