Lame ending is lame.

So, I know I said that I would try to make this to near the end of the first season, but I messed up. I realized that if I drag it out that long, it would probably become boring and repetitive. And all the readers of this don't deserve that. That, and I have loads of ideas for things and feel that I need to finish this first. Sorry for the cheesy title of the chapter, by the way.

I really, really, really wanted to thank everyone that read/reviewed/followed. Every time I got an email telling me that someone else has read this bad excuse for writing (I like to call it 'word vomit'), I got the biggest grin on my face and just wanted to say thank you so many times that I would lose my voice. But it also gave me this feeling of dread that I would post the next chapter and there would be one more person that I disappoint with my word vomit, so you also drove me to improve. Also, I see that this has earned 37 reviews, 26 favs and 40 follows.

*SPITTAKE*

GUYS WATER U DOING?

Forty follows?! Forty people have been reading this?! Omigodthankyousomuch. You are lovely, tolerant people that have put up with me and I really, really cannot thank you enough. By following this story you've shown that it is actually possible for people to like my writing. My story is on twenty-six people's favorite stories list. Jesus. Christ. That... that's so extremely flattering. I'm grinning. My face is actually splitting in half.

By the way, sorry to the person that suggested I put Wally as a Whovian. I forgot. But i did manage to heavily suggest it at one point. Also I just wanted you to know that I LOVE DOCTOR WHO TO VERY MUCH THAT SOMETIMES IT HURTS. MY FAVORITE CHARACTER IS ALL OF THEM. THE WRITING IS AMAZING. IT IS AMAZINGLY IMAGINATIVE. IT. IS.

BRILLIANT.

So anyway, I hope you like the last chapter of 'Welcome To The Team', and I just want to thank you all so, so much. You all get a virtual cookie.

Title: Welcome to the team

Characters/Relationships: Artemis, Wally, Spitfire, the team (kinda)

Summary: AU. Artemis joined the team before Wally. Follow the two team mates as they try their best to deny their feelings for as long as they can.

Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice, or any of it's characters.

"So..."

"So."

"Connor and M'gann, huh?"

"Yup."

Wally and Artemis sat awkwardly on the beach just outside Mount Justice, looking over the beautiful, if dark, sea view. It was getting late and they could barely see anymore, but M'gann and Connor had started making out in the Cave. And when M'gann thinks something hard enough and you're too close, you could get a pretty detailed image if what she was thinking about. A good reason to stay away, in their opinion.

The night when Connor first told Wally had been about one and a half weeks ago, and this was the first time that Artemis and Wally had mentioned the two in the same sentence to each other since. Artemis, because she thought Wally might be sore about it, and Wally because he had no girl to pretend to like anymore without a punch in the face from a half-kryptonian. Now that Artemis had bought it up, she was regretting it. Wally had stiffened - she couldn't see him, but could hear it in his voice. She cleared her throat, unsure of what to say next. "Uh... Sorry, I... guess?"

He looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Why?"

She shrugged and hugged her knees, still gazing at the horizon. She found herself fascinated with how the water reflected the stars. "Dunno. You seemed really into her, I guess."

He blinked before also looking forward, leaning back on the palm of his hands. He sighed and shook his head. He guessed there was no harm in telling her, as the flashing light of a plane flew overhead. "Actually, I didn't like her that way for very long. I did at first but it went away quickly."

It was her turn to raise her eyebrows. "But what about all that stuff at the café? Y'know, your hotness combined with her cuteness?"

He sent her a sly grin that she could almost see. "Oh, so you admit I'm hot?"

She punched him on the arm. "Answer, Wally."

He smirked for another moment, happy that she didn't deny it, before trying to think of an answer. He came up with nothing other than the truth, so he decided to tell it. "I just thought she was cute and stuff, I guess. I never thought anything would come out of it. I only said stuff like that because... because of pride, I guess."

She expected herself to feel lighter, or something sappy like that. But instead she just felt... confused. She knew that Wally liked someone. She could tell. Sometimes, she would walk into the Cave's living room to find him just sitting there with this look in his eyes. When she would say something, he would seem surprised and would actually blush. To her, that was a clear sign. But if that was true, then who did he like? Of course, there's always the possibility of her, but she highly doubted it. He had made it clear what his type was, and she definitely was not it.

After a moment of comfortable silence, he bumped his shoulder against hers. "Hey, you seem to know a bit about my love life, what about yours?"

She shook her head. "There isn't one for you to know about. I used to like someone, ages ago, but then he went to pris-" Her eyes widened and she froze for a moment, realizing what she was about to give away. If he found out her past crush on Cameron she would be out of the team in an instant, probably. She stuttered for a moment to come up with a different ending to what she had been saying. "He, um... he went to... he moved away! Yeah."

Wally raised an eyebrow at her once again. "Oh-kay. Basically, you're trying to tell me that you've only ever liked one guy?"

She paused. "Well, uh... it's..." She started, unsure. She guessed that she could tell the truth and just be vague about it, not letting him know who she was talking about. She just had to stay away from the words ginger and annoying. She let out a quiet huff. Why did he have to ask, anyway? It was none of his business. She gave a sigh and stood, turning towards the mountain. "None of your business. The lovebirds probably done now and it's dark. I'm going to bed."

He got hold of one of her ankles, almost causing her to fall over. She caught herself and sent him a glare. He shrugged and smirked. "Hey, I'm just curious."

"Yeah, well, you shouldn't be." She snapped, pulling her ankle from his grip and fast walking back to cave. Of course, this was nothing to Wally, and he caught up in seconds.

He slipped his hands into the pockets of his faded jeans as he walked, shrugging. "Okay, okay, I get it, it's a sore subject. Sheesh, bit of an over reaction."

They had just stepped into the cave and she stopped and turned to him, glaring. "I am not over reacting. It's late, I want to sleep, and you are nosing into my private life."

He frowned at her. "It was just a simple question. It would be so much simpler if you answered. So, who'd you like?"

She threw up her hands in frustration. "Ugh, don't you get that I am not going to tell you?! As before mentioned, it is none. Of. Your. Business." She hissed the last four words, glare intensifying.

Wally thought for a moment, slowly becoming aware of how she had leaned forward in her anger and their faces were much closer than before. He reviewed his possibilities. He could admit defeat - uh, no, definitely not. He could just be a coward and walk away, but it was a given he wasn't doing that. He could do what he was thinking of doing, and it was extremely tempting. Also, it was the only option that seemed even mildly appealing in his head. So he gave a small shrug and smashed his lips against hers.

It wasn't graceful by any means, and as soon as it started, Artemis pulled back, eyes wide as saucers. She was unable to produce any words or even think properly. Wally himself seemed to realize just what he had done and in a moment there was a strong gust of wind that blew up her ponytail and Wally had ran away. Artemis shook her head, finally able to produce coherent thought. 'C-coward.' Was all she could think at first, then she started trying to wrap her head around what had happened, putting a hand to her head and walking to her room.

'Okay, so... uh... Wally just... kissed me?' It sounded strange in her head but, to her annoyance, not in a bad way. She really should be furious at the red head. She certainly wanted to be. He had been prying into her personal life, been lying to her for weeks about his 'crush' on M'gann, and had just kissed her and ran! She hoped that tomorrow she would get a good chance to whack him on the back of the head. Hard.

With a sigh she stepped into her rather bare Mount Justice bedroom, slamming the door behind her. She got some night wear and changed into it on auto pilot, mind still kind of hazy. Now that she had gone through confusion and anger, mild happiness was starting to set in. Did this mean he liked her back? And if he did, why did he look so nervous before he had ran? She shook her head and fell into her bed, sluggishly pulling her quilt over herself and snuggling into it. Her bed at the Cave was much more comfortable that her bed at home, and even if she still wasn't okay with leaving her Mom for a large period of time, she still found herself spending more nights in it.

Her eyes widened as she got a pretty loud thought of M'gann's in her head and thought, as loud as she could; 'M'gann, people are trying to sleep!'

For days after, Wally and Artemis didn't even acknowledge each other's existence.

When M'gann walked into the living room two days later, they were both sitting on the sofa, the only noise coming from the TV, which was up way to loud. Be it a normal day where there was no tension between the two, Artemis would have leaned over him and snatched the remote to turn it down a while ago. But, that day, you could cut the tension with a knife, and Artemis had a feeling that it would get even more awkward if she even came in contact with the speedster.

M'gann blinked as she watched the two for a moment. Their backs were to her and they hadn't noticed her presence yet. It was a strange sight. For weeks these two had been best friends, and at the moment they should be laughing at how badly acted the film was, but no, they just sat there. Doing nothing. "Uh, Artemis?" M'gann called from the kitchen, and she looked up in surprise.

"Uh, yes, M'gann?" She asked, standing and turning to the other girl.

"Can I talk to you... please?" She asked tentatively and Artemis nodded, following her into the hallway, where Wally wouldn't hear them. She frowned at her friend and crossed her arms. "What happened with you and Wally?"

Artemis blinked, surprised by the question and looked away. "Nothing happened. Why do you ask?"

M'gann rolled her eyes. "It's obvious something did happen. You two are usually best friends and lately you won't even look at each other." She said with confusion and suspicion in her voice.

Artemis hesitated. She supposed she could tell her what happened, but had a feeling that she would make it bigger than it should be. However, it would feel good to have someone to talk to, other than Kaldur. She sighed and sent M'gann a serious look. "If you tell anyone else or laugh or anything like that, you're dead, okay?" M'gann nodded, smiling at the fact that she had succeeded in getting her to open up. She was surprised when Artemis grabbed her wrist and started pulling her down the hallway. "We're going to my room. I'm not taking any chances."

"So, spill."

M'gann and Artemis sat, cross-legged, parallel to each other, on Artemis's bed. M'gann leaned forward expectantly, hoping for something interesting. She had seen on 'Hello, Megan!' the whole 'girl talk' thing, and was eager to try, since it had looked like fun. Artemis seemed less willing, sighing and glaring at her hands. "Fine." She snapped, making it sound more menacing than she had intended. "Well, you know a couple of days ago, when you and Connor were making out in the cave?"

M'gann blushed lightly but nodded.

"Well, me and Wally went outside to escape your thoughts - really, it was so disturbing, what were you two-"

M'gann cleared her throat and spoke loudly. "So, you and Wally were on the beach."

"Uh, yeah, and we were talking about Wally's crush on you-" M'gann blinked and Artemis rolled her eyes. "Well, turns out it only lasted, like, less than a week and then he faked the rest of the flirting. So, we were talking about that, and he just randomly asked about my 'love life'. I told him the truth, that there really wasn't one to talk about, but he kept asking."

M'gann listened intently, waiting for the good bit. Artemis paused before continuing. "I started walking back inside, but he followed me and I stopped him just after we walked inside. I was kinda angry and instead of answering me he just... uh..."

"He just what?" M'gann asked excitedly.

Artemis sent her a glare, but it didn't hold her usual flare. "Fine, he kissed me, okay?"

M'gann squealed, clapping. "Yes! I knew it!" She said with a laugh, and Artemis narrowed her eyes at her, crossing her arms.

"What do you mean?"

"I knew you two would make a cute couple!" She answered, leaning towards her and grinning like an idiot. The tips of Artemis's ears went red and she made desperate hand gestures.

"No, no, no! We're not a couple, okay?" She hissed, shoving M'gann and glaring.

M'gann frowned, looking disappointed and cocked her head to the side in a way that conveyed confusion. "What do you mean, you're not a couple? You kissed." She asked, making it sound like she was completely mad.

Artemis sighed, rolling her eyes. "Look, just because we kissed, doesn't mean that we get together like that." She clicked her fingers. "Now we can't even look at each other without getting embarrassed! I don't want to do anything, because it's his fault, so he should be the one to fix it, right?"

"Wait, so, am I the only one you've told?" She asked, hoping that she was. It could be their secret and they could have more talks like this. She was loving it.

"No, Kaldur knows." Artemis answered and M'gann's face fell. "He says that I need to tell him, but I can't do that."

M'gann rolled her eyes. "Well, you can't just sit and wait. You have to do something."

Artemis sent her a glare. "And what would that be, since you seem to be the expert when it comes to this?"

"Well..." M'gann thought for a moment, tapping her chin. Artemis sighed as the Martian thought. She hadn't expected her to start giving her advise on the situation. She wondered how good that advice would be, since M'gann seemed to think that old sitcoms were an accurate depiction of human life. She would probably come up with some elaborate plan, or tell her to make him jealous, or something else that screams television. M'gann grinned, and looked at Artemis so enthusiastically that it was almost frightening.

"Hello, Megan! It's obvious!"

Artemis didn't want to do what M'gann had told her. She really didn't, because it would be embarrassing as Hell, but she was going to.

She just wanted to get something out of the way first.

She had discussed it with Batman, and he said that he would give her a bit of time before the next mission briefing, so that she could tell the whole team at once. She had had to think a lot about whether to tell them. A lot. But she had been on the team weeks and weeks, she had a strong bond with each of them, they trusted her with their lives and she trusted them hers.

She expected that Robin might have worked it out. He had been trained by the world's greatest detective since he was nine, so he probably would have heard some things, looked into her past, because there was no way he believed that she was Ollie's niece.

She hoped that Kaldur and Connor would be forgiving. They were never one to judge others without good reason, and even if they saw her family business as a good reason, they had bot told her that she was a sister to them. They wouldn't judge their sister, wouldn't hate their sister, so she wasn't too worried.

M'gann wouldn't hate her. She was her Earth sister, so - did she really have to repeat herself?

The only person she was really worried about was Wally, but that was a given. She was actually a bit frightened with how highly she held his opinion. She really shouldn't care so much, since he was just another person in the world that had the potential to hate her, but at the same time he was more than that. If he hated her, if she had to go every day without him making a joke about how she should be trapped in a tall tower by a witch (If you didn't get that, he means she should be Rapunzel. Har-de-har-har, very original) or without her joking that she was surprised he even knew something besides Doctor Who references ("Hey, Arty, look what I found in the cupboard at my house! I wear a fez now, fezzes are cool!"), then she didn't know what she would do.

So, the night before their mission in India, Artemis sat on her bed in her Mount Justice bedroom, mentally preparing herself for if it might be her last night on the team.

When the team gathered in their costumes, ready for the briefing, they hadn't expected Artemis to be standing before them, not Batman.

She sighed and scanned the other five team members, took in their confused looks and prepared herself. "Uh, I just wanted to tell you something before we went on our next mission." She told them, but this didn't help their confusion. Well, Robin didn't look confused. Artemis guessed that she had been right to think that he had worked it out. Huh. "I didn't tell you before because I was scared. I was scared that you wouldn't trust me. But, I realized I probably should just, uh, let you know.

"I'm not Green Arrows niece, like I told you I was." None of them seemed surprised. Looks like she still wasn't doing to well on the lying thing. Acting? Yeah, she could act like he was her Uncle, but she couldn't say it without a hint of dishonesty in her voice. She sighed and tapped some buttons so that Sportsmaster, Cheshire and her mother appeared before them. She didn't look at them as she spoke. "My father is Sportsmaster. My sister is Cheshire. My Mom used to be Huntress, before she saw sense and retired." She looked at them then. Kaldur looked surprised, M'gann's face was pure sympathy, Connor looked a bit protective, Robin just looked like he was watching something he had seen millions of times before and Wally... Wally looked like everything made sense. She let out a sigh of relief.

Kaldur stepped forward. "Artemis, we wouldn't let that get in the way. You're not your family. The very fact that you managed to stray from the path laid out before you by your family's work shows courage, and that you are a valuable member of the team." He told her with a kind smile and she smiled back gratefully.

Just as she was opening her mouth to reply, Batman stepped forward. "Thank you, Artemis, but we have a mission to brief." He told her and she nodded, quickly taking her place with the team. As Batman started explaining their mission, Wally slid up beside her and sent her a look that clearly said; 'I'm sorry I've been ignoring you and I'm sorry I messed with your head, friends?' She just smiled and nodded, and the smile he sent her in return lit up his face.

Even if he was fixing it with friendly looks and jokes on the Bio-ship, she knew that she was going to go with the plan. Eventually.

Artemis was drowning.

It was less peaceful than you'd think.

Well, that was probably because she was being dragged under. By a crocodile. Wearing a collar. She half choked on how tightly her quiver was being pulled and half gagged on the filthy, polluted water going down her throat. If she had to drown, she wished that it could be peaceful. She wished she could be floating down and be able to have that feeling of complete weightlessness. That would be much better than the knowledge that she was floating just above the jaws of a crocodile.

"ARTEMIS!"

A voice came from above the water, sounding more distorted than it should, thanks to the lack of oxygen. Not even a moment later, there was a splash as someone dived into the water towards her. She couldn't tell who it was and soon closed her eyes, since the sting of the the dirt in the water was irritating her. She felt hands grip the quiver and wanted to bat the hands away but found that she just wanted to float. So, she let the hands remove her quiver, therefore removing the object the animal had been using to pull her down. She felt herself being held in arms that were way to warm, considering that they were underwater, but she didn't mind. They felt nice. In a moment, she burst out into the cold air and the person holding her seemed much warmer, so she snuggled into their chest, only half conscious of what she was doing.

She felt herself being laid down on the hard ground and moved onto her side. Her arm was lifted and suddenly water rose in her throat and shot out of her mouth. She gagged. It wasn't nice. Soon, hands moved her onto her back again and shook her. "Artemis? C'mon, Artemis, open your eyes. Say something!" She heard and she recognized that voice, that voice that somehow reminded her of the colour green. "I swear to God, if you don't wake up, I will kill you." She heard and felt like smiling. Now she recognized him.

"Oh, shut up, Wally." She muttered and he let out a shaky laugh. She opened her eyes sleepily to see him sitting next to her on the ground, smiling down at her with relief.

"I thought you were dead for a moment there. Don't scare me like that." He said and she tried to sit up but felt a stabbing pain in her side. She cried out and he caught her before she fell to the ground again. He lifted her hand, which she had put to the area in pain as a reflex, and suddenly looked concerned again. She looked too, to see a large gash where the crocodile's teeth had caught her. Luckily it had mainly missed, so it was nothing lethal, but it still hurt like Hell.

He shook his head as she closed her eyes and grimaced, putting her hand to the wound again. 'Guys, Artemis was pulled into a lake by some crocodile in a collar. I got her out before she drowned, but she got injured and it needs treating immediately.' He said through the mental link and Artemis sent him a look that clearly said that she didn't appreciate the protectiveness.

'You need to get her back to the cave.' Came Robin's reply.

'But we need to stay.' Connor added.

'Kid, can you pilot the Bio-ship?' Kaldur asked in a calm tone, but Wally could tell the team leader was concerned.

Wally thought for a moment. 'Well, M'gann taught me some things, but I guess this could be good practice?' Beside him, Artemis let out a sharp noise of pain. 'Yes, yes I can.'

'Take it.' M'gann answered, sounding concerned for her Earth sister. 'You'll be out of my range when you get there, but I guess I can radio you when we need it to go back.'

'Thanks.' Wally said quickly before he scooped Artemis up in his arms and was running. She let out lots of muted noises of pain when he went over roots or rocks, which just made him go faster. By the time he had placed her in the Bio-ship, she had actually let out a few tears. He flew them back to Cave as quickly as he could, and when he got her into the infirmary, he didn't even wait for someone else. He got straight to it, cleaning her wound and wrapping a bandage around her torso.

"W-Wally..." She said after a while of him sitting next to her bed. She was only just re-gaining the ability to speak, since the pain had been so intense before that every time she had tried it had come out as a strangled cry. He turned to her and smiled, taking her hand.

"Yeah, beautiful?"

She smiled a little at what he had called her. "Thanks... f-for helping me."

His smile was so soft and comforting that she felt happy, despite the pain. "S'okay." He answered, squeezing her hand. She struggled to sit up so that their faces were level, and it took a while and a lot of soothing from Wally, but she did it. She just looked at him for a moment, the pain keeping her wide awake. She knew what she was about to do, and felt a mixture of anticipation and dread. Eventually, cupped her hand around the back of his neck and kissed him.

It lasted much longer than their last one, and this one, Artemis was able to enjoy. When they finally broke apart, Wally laughed. She didn't know whether to take this as good or bad, but quickly pulled her hand away from his neck anyway, mumbling apologies. He stopped laughing abruptly and blinked. "Why are you apologizing?"

She shrugged. She was still blushing, to her annoyance. She hated it when she blushed. "I dunno." She sent him a small smirk. "So, still wanna know who I like?"

He laughed again. "I think I can work it out for myself, actually." He said and Artemis expected the situation to be awkward, since she just kissed him, Artemis Crock just willingly kissed Wally West, but lots of unexpected things had been happening to her lately. They just talked easily, like they were best friends, which they were, but now they just had this silent understanding that they were also more. Now Artemis did have that sappy lighter feeling, like everything was okay, which it wasn't, but her and Wally kissed and that's all that mattered at the moment.

They were laughing about how stupid they had been for so long when she passed out.

"Evening, beautiful."

Artemis opened her eyes slowly and as soon as she did, she regretted it. A white light blinded her and she blinked rapidly, raising a hand to shield her eyes. After a moment she lowered her hand to see that the white was the walls of the infirmary, and the voice she had heard a second ago had been Wally. He was standing beside her bed in civvies, smiling at her. She frowned. "What happened?"

"You passed out from blood loss. Seems that you bled more than I thought on the way here." He said, taking a seat. He placed a hand on her arm at her worried expression. "You're okay now, don't worry."

"How long was I out?" She asked.

"About a day. You're lucky - the crocodile that did that had a lot of bacteria on it's teeth, but I cleaned it off in time." He smirked and his face turned smug. "I guess I'm your hero now."

She punched him on the arm, but she was still a bit weak, so it didn't hurt. "Don't get to full of yourself, Kidiot." She said with a grin on her face. Wally opened his mouth to reply just as-

"YOU'RE AWAKE!"

Artemis was suddenly being tackled and she let out a noise of surprise which wasn't noticed by M'gann, who had just flew into the room and attack-hugged her. After a moment, Artemis patted her on the back awkwardly. "Uh, yeah, I am."

The rest of the team walked into the room then, having seen M'gann's reaction to sensing that Artemis was conscious. Robin was the first to speak and the smirk on his face was evil. "So, I heard you and Wally made out."

Wally choked on his own spit. "Du-ude!"

Artemis just laughed at the two and everyone looked surprised, but didn't mention it again. They could see that it was new to the two of them. Though, later on, when Wally had gone home and Artemis was once again asleep in the infirmary, they worked out who had made the right bet and paid them the money. Robin won, obviously.

And, in the following weeks, the couple grew closer and closer. On missions they protected each other and were always on a team with each other when they split up. At the cave they shared food (Artemis was the only person Wally allowed to even get near his food) and spent even more nights watching horror movies, and one night Artemis had given in and they had watched Doctor Who episodes. Artemis had actually really liked it, and had laughed when Wally had declared that she was 'finally a fellow whovian'. Even if sometimes them shouting at each other could be heard all through the cave, they knew that they were happy.

They were happy to never leave each other's side again.

~~FIN~~