A/N: Beware; this will be a long author's note. You've been warned.
Thank you to everyone who has read this. You guys are awesome. You were all incredibly supportive. It was so helpful since this was my first story and before starting this story, I had always had an immense fear of people reading my stories. I am proud to say that I am mostly over that, thanks to you guys. I am happy that so many people have enjoyed this story and I hope you all will check out some of my future stories, which will be coming up soon. I have some specific people I would really like to thank for reviewing this story multiple times and for always bringing a smile to my face when I saw their reviews.
Kamil the Awesome, Bookworm2700, arbrick, ISCMHF, Irenerb, alamodie, noaverageangel, Awsomaniatica, RockyLover, better-in-black-since-1234, Spitfire1017, andrea-ninja girl, dancekiwidance, Artemis173, Blak-Ice, .94, TheRockingWriter, Ann b-010, beautifullove521, fischgrl, Sirens in the Water, EmpressPyrus, Oxoxmem17 and all the awesome guests who reviewed. Sorry if I missed anyone.
I'm going to do a sequel. It will focus mainly on Roy and Jade, but there will be plenty of Spitfire. Unsure of names yet, but it will happen sometime in the future. Look for it towards the end of May or June; I think I'll probably start work on it then. Alright, before I start rambling or ranting even more, without further ado, the epilogue.
Epilogue
Sixteen Years Later
Artemis stared up at the large boat. It was huge; Ollie had really outdone himself this time. It was even bigger and sleeker then the one she had lived on as a teenager. She felt a tugging on her shirt and she looked down to see her youngest daughter.
"Mommy, Irey and Jai won't let me play with them and the others." She pouted. Artemis brushed back her daughter's blonde hair and looked into her emerald green eyes.
"Why don't you let them play with their friends sweetie? I'm sure they'll let you play with them later or tomorrow." Artemis suggests lightly, not wanting a fight to start. "You want to help daddy and I? And then maybe we can see if Auntie Megan and Uncle Conner are here with Maria. Okay?"
Artemis watches as Allie inwardly debates what she wanted to do. Before she could make a decision, a familiar figure walks up behind Artemis, exciting the little girl.
"Grandpa Ollie!" Allie screeched in her high pitch four year old voice. She ran at the older man, grabbing on to his leg. Artemis smiles at the man she considered her dad. She walked over and hugged him as well. He looked almost identical to the man who had greeted her on this very dock sixteen years ago. He wore a polo shirt, shorts, and Sperries and had the same smile. The only real difference was the gray hairs that had begun to sprout up much to his distress.
"Hey dad." Artemis says smiling.
"Artemis, I'm so happy to see you guys." He and Artemis broke apart and he bent down to pick up Allie. "Did you grow since the last time I saw you?"
"Maybe." Allie says giggling.
"Where are your..."Artemis shakes her head furiously before Oliver could say siblings. "Bags?" Oliver quickly says.
"Daddy is getting them." Allie tells him. She looks over his shoulder and spots somebody else. "Grandma Dinah!" She wiggles in Oliver's arms until he puts her down and she runs to the other blonde woman.
"When did she get so big? Seriously?" Oliver says shaking his head.
"Don't ask me. She has Wally's eating habits though which may have some contribution to it." Artemis says and the two of them laugh.
"Where are the twins?" Oliver asks her.
"They've run off with Sarah Grayson, Amistad Ahm, John Kent, Damian, Lian, and Rebecca Todd. They're somewhere on the boat. I made them all promise to stay close by." Artemis says. Oliver is about to say something when his phone suddenly vibrates.
"Oliver Queen." He answers giving Artemis an apologetic look. "Alright. I'll be up there soon." He snaps his phone shut.
"Hal having a problem?" Artemis asks smiling. He nods.
"We haven't even launched the new boat yet and we're already having problems." Oliver says rubbing his neck.
"Careful dad, you don't want any more gray hairs now do you?" Artemis teases. He glares at his youngest child.
"You're even worst then Roy." Oliver says. "I need to go now. I'll see you all at dinner?"
"We'll be there." Artemis assures him. Oliver smiles and hurries away to the ship. Artemis walks over to Dinah, giving the older woman a hug.
"Mommy can Grandma Dinah show me the new art display?" Allie asks with a pleading look in her eyes.
"Of course Allie, just stay with Grandma Dinah alright?"
"I will!" She assures her mom. Artemis smiles and turns to Dinah. She had never been able to call her mom, like she called Oliver dad. Even after her mother died a few years ago, Dinah was still just Dinah. Dinah didn't mind at all though.
"I'll keep an eye on her." Dinah assures, taking Allie's hand. The two of them walk towards the gangplank. Artemis smiles and turns around, colliding with her husband. Artemis goes flying to the ground.
"Seriously Baywatch? I thought we got this out of your system a long time ago." Artemis grumbles as he helps her up.
"Sorry Blondie." Wally responds, pulling her in for a quick kiss, baggage temporarily forgotten.
"Still a fan of public displays of affection I see?" The couple hears from behind them. They turn around to see Zatanna and Dick Grayson, Zatanna holding a sleeping Giovanni, or Gio for short, in her arms. The four friends all exchange greetings and hugs.
"So great to see you guys." Zatanna gushes.
"Zee, we just saw you guys like two weeks ago for Allie's birthday party." Wally states.
"Yeah, well I'm still used to living with you guys and constantly seeing you all." Zatanna responds. Dick wraps an arm around his wife's waist.
"Well, its about to happen again." Artemis responds.
"But this time we get the nice suites on the top floor." Dick replies. "No more cramped single bedrooms."
"That's for the new crop of teenagers they got." Wally replies.
"That will be our kids someday soon." Zatanna responds.
"Ugh, don't remind me." Artemis responds. "I'm already dreading the amount of trouble Irey and Jai are going to get themselves into."
"Oh, they'll be fine 'Mis." Dick assures her. "We all turned out okay."
"You sure about that?" Wally jokes. Dick elbows his best friend. "Hey!" Zatanna and Artemis exchange looks.
"Will you two ever grow up?" Zatanna questions, shaking her head. Gio wakes up at that moment, smiling and waving at his Uncle Wally and Aunt Artemis.
"Hi Gio." Artemis says.
"Is Allie here?" He asks sweetly.
"She's on the boat but I'm sure she'll love to see you later." Artemis tells him. Gio smiles satisfied, before falling back to sleep. Wally looks pensively at the little boy.
"Grayson, your son is not allowed to date my daughter." Wally states. Artemis face palms.
"Really Wally? They're four and three, isn't this a little premature?" Artemis asks her husband.
"I'm just saying." Wally grumbles.
"Gio is going to be the perfect gentleman that Allie would be lucky to date." Dick gloats. This time Zatanna is the one to roll her eyes.
"You want to head up onto the boat?" Zatanna asks Artemis as the two men continue to argue.
"I thought you would never ask." Artemis says, leaving her husband and best friend to bring up all of their bags.
"You would think that they haven't aged a day past when we all started here." Zatanna says, shaking her head as they approached the gangplank.
"I know, I mean seriously." Artemis says shaking her head. "You think this is a good idea Zee?"
"What do you mean?" Zatanna asks.
"I mean, bringing all the kids here, working on the ship again." Artemis asks. "I loved my years on board, but all the trouble we got into, that's going to be our children. I can remember several things we did that were borderline illegal and not to mention all the dangers and risks we always seemed to be taking."
"You're over thinking it Artemis." Zatanna assures her. "Everything will turn out okay and we all get to be near each other again. The children get to see the world and I doubt they could get into as much trouble as we did. It's a win win situation." Artemis thinks for a moment.
"You know, you're right."
"I'm always right."
"And that thing when we were eighteen..." Zatanna cuts her off.
"Okay, maybe not always." Artemis laughs as the two reach the top deck of the boat. The begin walking along the deck, just like Artemis did when she first arrived, only this time she had a friend besides her.
"Artemis! Zee!" Two voices exclaims from behind them. They spin around to see a pregnant Raquel and Megan bounding towards them. The four women embrace, a bit awkwardly on Zatanna's end with a sleeping child in her arms.
"When did you guys get here?" Raquel asks.
"About a half an hour ago." Artemis responds.
"Same." Zatanna responds.
"Where are Dick and Wally?" Megan asks.
"Arguing about Allie and Gio's apparent future relationship status." Zatanna responds. The two girls give them a blank look.
"We'll explain along the way to our rooms." Artemis replies with a laugh at her friends' confused faces.
^^^^^^^Line Break^^^^^^^^
"So we can do that everyday now?" Allie asks excitedly as Artemis tucks her in that night. Artemis leans down and kisses her forehead.
"Yes. You can play with Gio, Maria, Adam, and Tessa all the time now. And you can spend lots of time with Grandma Dinah and Grandpa Ollie." Artemis tells her.
"I like that. Do you think we'll see dolphins?" Irey says from across the room. Since she was very old at the age of eight, she didn't need her mom to tuck her in at night. Artemis still walked over and kissed her forehead.
"Probably. Did you have fun today?" Artemis asks her. Irey nods.
"It was awesome! This place has a pool and a basketball court. You should have seen me mom, I beat John in one on one." Irey states, beaming with pride.
"Wow, that's exciting."
"He claims that I cheated, but I didn't." Irey assures her mother.
"I'm sure you didn't." Artemis responds, smiling. Her daughter resembled Wally in so many ways from her freckles to her fiery red hair. But she had Artemis' gray eyes and personality. "I'm going to say good night to Jai, daddy should be in here in a second. Good night."
"Night mommy!" Allie replies.
"Night." Irey says.
Artemis walks out of the girl's door and goes across the small hallway to Jai's room. She knocked gently before opening. Her eight-year-old son was propped up in bed reading a book. His blonde hair was crazy, sticking up at odd angles. She wanted to walk over and smooth it, but she knew her son hated.
"Hey mom." He says, barely looking up from his book with his green eyes.
"Just saying good night." Artemis says.
"Night mom." Jai responds. Artemis smiles softly and closes the door behind her. She walks out of the hallway into the main room of their suite. Her and Wally's room was next to the girl's room.
When Wally came out of the girls' bedroom, he snuck up behind his wife, wrapping his arms around her. She put down the last bag she had begun to unpack and spun around to face her husband.
"You ready to feel like a teenager again?" Wally teases, kissing her lightly.
"You never stopped." Artemis tells him, smiling. "Neither did Dick or Jason. Really, only Kaldur and Conner are the mature men around here."
"I'm going to not take offense at that. Besides, they were always mature." Wally states.
"Doesn't matter anyway, because I still love you."
"I love you too."
^^^^^^Line Break^^^^^^
"You did not!" Artemis shouts loudly.
"Guilty as charged." Barbara says with a small smile. The ten of them all burst out into laughter.
"You seriously started dancing on a table? Wow Babs, didn't know you had it in you." Dick comments. Barbara punches him in the shoulder.
"It was one night alright. The kids were with the babysitter and it was fun." She says shrugging.
"Definitely." Jason responds with the usual bat clan (long story) grin.
"No more, I don't want to hear anything else." Megan declares at that point. Jason smiles deviously as he takes a sip of beer.
"You know, I really feel like I'm having déjà vu right now." Conner states.
"I know. I feel like we are all sixteen again." Zatanna says in agreement.
"Oh totally. The lounge chairs, starboard deck, it's pretty much all the same as before." Raquel responds.
"Except for we're all old now and have kids." Artemis points out.
"You know, around you guys, I'm pretty sure we all revert back about sixteen years." Barbara says smiling.
"Definitely." Kaldur says nodding his head in agreement.
"At least now it won't be such a hassle to see you guys." Conner says.
"Oh don't forget that the younger kids are coming for a reunion in like a month. Then the whole gang will really be united." Jason says.
"They aren't kids anymore Jay." Wally says. "I mean Cassie, Tim, Jamie, Garfield, and Bart have all graduated from college."
"Weird." Zatanna comments. "In my mind, they are still the annoying little kids trying to follow us around on deck all the time."
"Cissie's graduated recently too." Artemis says, remembering the little girl whose life she saved. She usually talked to the girl once or twice a month to catch up. She was considering getting a job onboard.
"That too. We're so old." Raquel moans, resting her head on Kaldur's shoulder.
"Speak for yourself." Jason says.
"Your not that much younger Jay, you're what, six months younger then Dick? A year younger then Kaldur? It's not much." Barbara says to her husband.
"Do you guys ever miss being teenagers?" Conner asks a few moments later. They are all quiet as they muse on the question for a few moments.
"Sometimes I miss it, but I wouldn't trade Sarah or Gio for anything in the world." Dick finally says. They all nod. "But if I could travel back in time and change a few things, I could think of a few things."
"Agreed. I can definitely think of one or two embarrassing moments I wish I could go back and undo." Kaldur says. The whole group knew exactly what he would change, a night when they were all twenty-one and Kaldur went a little overboard with the alcohol. Yeah, it was a shock to all of them.
They all could think of some things they would change if they could and they all knew what each other would change as well. They had all experienced so much together. They had seen each other at their worse and at their happiest. Together, they experienced great happiness and great tragedy. They had all loved and lost. Living on a boat was not always easy, but none of them would ever have wanted to live anywhere else.
"I guess we've all come full circle now haven't we?" Megan asks.
"I guess so." Raquel responds. "I'm happy to be back."
"Me too." Artemis replies. Arriving on the boat, she hadn't known what to expect. She assumed she would hide out there for a few months but then move on when her dad got out. Now here she was at age thirty-two. She had lived twelve years past what she had thought she would. She had a family, friends, and a job. Everything she needed was right there on the ship.
She leaned back, resting her head on Wally's shoulder. The friends stayed up late that night, reminiscing about old times and anticipating new times. She looked up at the sky and quickly found the familiar constellations that she had made up as a child. She sighed contently and closed her eyes. She could worry about things later, be responsible later. For now, everything was perfect just as it was.
Reference for the kids
Wally and Artemis - Jai (8), Irey (8), Allie (4)
Dick and Zatanna -Sarah (7), Giovanni (3)
Conner and Megan - John (9), Maria (4)
Raquel and Kaldur - Amistad (8), Tessa (5)
Barbara and Jason - Rebecca (9), Adam (3)
Others:
Lian Harper (11), Damian Wayne (9)
A/N: And Fin. Once again, thank you to everyone who read this story. Did you like the epilogue? The idea came to me about a month ago. I briefly considered having the epilogue be the wedding of Dinah and Oliver, but I really wanted to show them all in the future. Everyone got his or her happy ending:) I hope you all check out my new stories, which will be coming up soon. This story was a joy to write and I hope you all found some joy in reading it. Thank you once again to all of you awesome and beautiful readers. Review and tell me your thoughts on the epilogue or the story as a whole. Peace.
-Lia