A/N: I know this is sad, but I have a clear kind of outline in my head of how the last few chapters are going to go. It's been a lot of fun writing for you guys. We still have some more chapters to go though. Get excited because here comes Chapter 21! There isn't a lot of action in this chapter but it's setting up events for the final few chapters.
Disclaimer: Young Justice in no way or form belongs to me.
The Letter
Artemis wrapped her arms around Wally's neck, pulling him closer. Kissing him felt right. She smiled against his lips. Neither of them heard the door to the room open.
"Finally." Dick's voice says causing the two of them jump apart, both of their faces turning bright red. Dick and the rest of the gang stood by the door smiling. Conner carried a bouquet of flowers, which he promptly handed to her.
"From all of us." He explains.
"Thanks guys." Artemis says, her face still bright red. Wally shuffles back to his seat as the group filters around her bed.
"How are you feeling?" Megan asks.
"Better. Still kind of tired." Artemis explains.
"You really need to do a better job at avoiding dangerous situations." Kaldur tells her.
"Danger and I are just attracted to each other I guess." Artemis says, shrugging. They all laugh.
"So are you two like together now?" Jason asks, voicing the question that had been going through all of their heads. Artemis and Wally exchange a look.
"Are we?" Artemis asks Wally.
"If you're okay with it, I'm okay with it." He finally responds after the longest ten seconds of Artemis' life.
"I guess we are then." Artemis says, turning to Jason. Megan squeals and begins to clap, just like they all knew she would.
"This is so exciting! Now we just need to get Jason and Barbara together!" Megan proclaims.
"We're just friends." Jason grumbles.
"Sure baby bro." Dick says, patting the boy on the back. Jason rolls his eyes, but Artemis could tell that he enjoyed having Dick as a brother. She smiled at her friends.
"Where's Oliver?" Artemis asks.
"Dinah sent him to grab the mail in town. He hadn't left the med bay since you got in here. He was really worried about you." Raquel tells her.
"Wait, so are we still in Miami then?" Artemis asks.
"Yep." Megan says. "We were going to stay in port a few days, but Uncle John said that they are doing a tune up in the engine room that might take longer. We had to cancel the next week's cruise, so we're stuck in Miami for the next week and a half."
"There are worst places to be stuck." Zatanna says.
"We could be stuck in the Arctic." Jason jokes. Everyone rolls his or her eyes at that. Artemis' eyes had slowly begun to droop again.
"Hey guys, I think Mis is about to fall asleep." Dick says.
"Maybe we should clear out." Kaldur suggests. Everyone says some form of good-bye before filtering out the door. Wally lingers behind though.
"You should go with them. I'm just going to sleep." Artemis tells him. He begins to protest but Artemis stops him. "I'm fine Wally, just tired. I'll come find you all as soon as I have the all clear from Dinah to walk around again."
Wally closes his mouth and walks over to her bedside. He kisses her forehead.
"Sweet dreams Blondie."
"Go do something fun Baywatch." Artemis mumbles before drifting off to sleep again.
^^^^^^^Line Break^^^^^^^^^^
"You're pathetic! I thought I taught you better then this!" Lawrence shouts at eight-year-old Artemis. "Jade is gone, stop crying. The bitch is not worth the tears."
Artemis tried to stop crying, but it was no use. Her mom was gone and now her sister was too. She clutched the bear closer to her chest, hoping that it would protect her.
"Stop crying you useless piece of trash!" Lawrence shouts, slapping his daughter across the face. He storms out of the room that Artemis had previously shared with Jade. She furiously wiped at her tears, begging her eyes to stop crying.
The scene shifted suddenly to her father standing over her friends. Each one of them had one of his signature javelins through them, pining them to the wall.
"Don't do this!" Artemis shouts, begging her father to stop from lowering the javelin into Wally. "Please, I'll do anything. Just stop this!"
"You can't stop this. You should have thought before you turned me over to the police." With that, he lowers the javelin into Wally's heart.
"Nooo!" Artemis screams sitting upright in her bed. Oliver is quickly at her side trying to calm her down. She begins to shake though.
"Artemis calm down, it was only a dream." Oliver tells her. She shakes her head, tears forming in her eyes. Oliver sits down on the edge of the bed, hugging her close.
"It, it was so real." Artemis chokes out.
"You want to talk about it? I know I'm not as good as Dinah at these things but I can give it a try." Oliver tells her. She contemplates it for a moment, before nodding.
"It started out as a memory from the night Jade left." Artemis says, shuddering. The night will be forever etched into her mind. Her father came home to see her sitting on her bed, crying and clutching onto her bear for dear life. When he asked what happened, she told him that Jade left. After yelling at her and slapping her, the one time he ever really intentionally hurt her; he left for two days to search for her, leaving Artemis to fend for herself.
"Alright, go on." Oliver tells her encouragingly.
"Well then the scene shifted and all my friends were dead because of him. I begged him to stop, but he drove a javelin through Wally's heart." Artemis says, shivering at the memory.
"Oh Artemis." Oliver says, hugging her close. She rests her head on his shoulder, finding comfort from the older man. "Artemis, it was only a dream. He's locked away in jail, remember?"
"But what if he get's out? I saw Jade again a few days ago." Artemis says.
"You did? When?" Oliver asks.
"Puerto Rico." Artemis says, leaving out the part where she was on the boat and Roy knew.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Oliver asks her.
"I don't know. I just didn't want to talk about it. She said that it's only a matter of time before he finds a way to escape." Artemis tells him. "She's right."
"Artemis, Belle Reve is a very secure prison. And even if he did get out, you're on a cruise ship that is only in the United States for a week at most at a time. He's not going to find you. And if he did, that's what I'm here for, to keep you safe." He assures her, rubbing her shoulder.
"Promise?" She asked him. He smiles.
"I promise." Roy walks in a few seconds later.
"Oliver where did you..." His eyes land on Artemis. "Artemis, you're awake again." She nods.
"What were you going to ask me Roy?" Oliver asks the red haired young man.
"Where the mail is. I think my Archer's monthly was coming in." Roy says.
"Really? Aren't they doing the interview with that girl who is the Olympic hopeful?" Artemis asks.
"Yep, that's the issue." Roy says.
"I want to read it too." Artemis tells him.
"You can read it after me." Roy replies.
"It's up on my desk in the Watchtower." Oliver tells him. Roy moves towards the door.
"Wait, can I go too? I really feel the need to get up and walk around." Artemis says.
"Sure." Oliver responds. Artemis gets up out of bed, happy that Dinah put her in her comfiest pair of sweatpants and her favorite t-shirt. She, Roy, and Oliver all walked out of the med bay towards the elevator. Oliver stopped for a moment along the way to talk to Barry about something, leaving just Roy and Artemis.
"So Artemis, West really?" Roy asks her teasingly.
"You heard already?" Artemis asks.
"Dick told me. I stopped him when he tried to go into detail about what he say though." Roy says, shuddering. Artemis laughs.
"Now you know how I felt when I heard about you and Jade."
"Jade and I weren't together."
"Sure." Artemis says sarcastically.
"No really, we weren't."
"Fine, but you wanted to be."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Harper, I've figured out when you are lying so give it a rest." Artemis tells him. He just sighs.
"Fine, maybe I did, but she's gone now, so it doesn't really matter."
"Don't worry buddy, Jade shows up when you least expect her too. You'll see her again." Artemis tells him. The two of them stop in front of the elevator, waiting for it to arrive. Just as they are about to get in, Oliver appears again. They type in their room numbers and ride up to the Watchtower, announcing their arrival.
Green Arrow 08, Red Arrow B-06, Artemis B-07
Oliver waves to Clark as the pass by him, talking with a pretty woman on their way towards Oliver's desk.
"Who's that?" Artemis whispers to Roy.
"Lois Lane, Clark's girlfriend. She's the one always trying to get him to spend more time with Conner." Roy whispers back.
"She's obviously not doing a very good job at it."
"That's because Clark is almost as stubborn as you." Roy jokes, earning him a glare from Artemis. They walk right over to Oliver's desk where there was a pile of mail from the past week. He sighs, and begins sorting through it. He hands Roy his magazine. He opens it and begins to read with Artemis standing on her toes to read over his shoulder.
"Artemis, there's a letter here for you." Oliver says, furrowing his eyebrows at the blank envelope.
"It's probably a letter from my mom." Artemis says, grabbing it and tearing it open.
"But they usual have the logo of her prison on the envelope." Oliver says in confusion. Roy looks up from his magazine at Oliver's concerned tone.
Artemis pulls out the letter, throwing the ripped envelope into the trash. She unfolds the letter, frowning when she she's the Belle Reve logo on the top of the paper. By the time she had finished the letter, the expression had turned to one of pure panic.
"Artemis, what's wrong?" Roy asks in confusion. Wordlessly, Artemis hands the letter over to Oliver. Roy reads over the man's shoulder as well.
"He got out." Artemis finally says in a low voice.
"Artemis, you're in a safe place, he won't harm you. He doesn't even know you are here, remember?" Oliver tells her, bending down a bit to stare her straight in the eye. Her expression was blank until something dawns on her. Her face screws up in pain.
"Oh god." She said. "No. Ollie, he doesn't know where I am, but he knows where my mom is and she knows where I am."
"You don't think..." Roy trails off.
"Either way, if she doesn't tell him, he'll kill her. He's going to kill my mom." Artemis says, swaying a bit. Roy helps steady her.
"Your mom will be fine, everything will be alright." Oliver tells her, speaking soothingly. Artemis just shakes her head.
"No, nothing is alright Oliver. Nothing is okay."
^^^^^^^^Line Break^^^^^^^^
"I will not tell you." Paula Crock says.
"Then you have no use to me." Lawrence is about to lower the javelin into his wife when something catches his eye. On a small desk against the wall there was a pile of papers. Lawrence spotted the handwriting of his youngest daughter immediately.
"No." Paula says trying to reach out and stop him. He kicked her hand away, with little effort, picking up the nearest letter.
"Dear Mom, today Oliver and Dinah announced their engagement, finally. Dinah wants me to be the maid of honor. I'm really excited about it. Maybe they'll let you out for a few days to come. Oliver said that he would ask since both he and Dinah would like you there." Lawrence stops reading out loud, spotting a picture of Artemis with another blonde haired man and woman. He recognized the man in the picture as Oliver Queen. "So Artemis has traded up? Staying with the one and only Oliver Queen."
Footsteps suddenly echo coming down the hallway.
"Don't you dare harm my daughter."
"She's my daughter too Paula, and I think it's about time she gets a visit from her dear old father."
"Please, Lawrence, don't do this." Paula begs. Lawrence doesn't listen though.
"Nice seeing you again. I'll be back." Lawrence disappears out of the room. Paula shouts for guards to come but it was too late.
He walked up to the women behind the ticket counter.
"One ticket to Miami please."
A/N: Hope you guys like the building suspense. Hopefully the next chapter will be up sometime by next weekend. I can't promise anything though. Thanks for reading. Please review and tell me what you thought. I still want to know what you guys would like to read next, a Steampunk version of the original team or a story of another team in the same universe made up of OC's that you guys submit.