DISCLAIMER: Unfortunately, none of these characters belong to me. If Wally West belonged to me, I would be the only one allowed to play with him ;-) Any dialogue or plot that looks familiar belongs to DC and Greg Weisman and other people who are not me.

Summary: This is the story of Artemis and Wally and their evolution from teammates, to friends, to boyfriend and girlfriend, to husband and wife, to soul mates and everything and anything in between. Please review! XD

Genre: Friendship, Romance, Action/Adventure, Humor

Rating: T (just to be safe, it might go up later if I'm feeling particularly ambitious)

Characters: Artemis Crock, Wally West

The EVOLUTION of SOUL MATES

Evolution: the gradual development of something, esp. from a simple to a more complex form.

Chapter 3: Replacement

Wally West was not a happy camper. First of all, he was hungry. Starving in fact. The cafeteria at Keystone High School had served some sort of mystery meat that afternoon for lunch, and the only mystery that Wally found was how the school district was allowed to serve them such an abomination. It was a good thing he kept a large stash of snacks in his locker. Without a sizeable lunch though, his hunger became unbearable once his metabolism kicked in.

So, he had gone to the Cave in search of something to eat. It was just his luck because Megan had been trying out a new recipe and Wally had been more than happy to be a test subject. The way he figured it, the situation benefited him in two ways: one, free food; and two, he got to spend quality time with his favorite Martian.

The only thing that put a damper on this was the fact that the new girl, Artemis, or The Replacement, as Wally thought of her in his head, just so happened to drop in around the same time. And she made Wally…uncomfortable.

It wasn't that he hated her or anything. The only people he hated were villains and bullies. No, he didn't know why he felt the way he did. Their initial meeting had been filled with tension. Maybe if she hadn't called him out in front of his friends, three members of the League, and his crush, he wouldn't have become so defensive, things would be different, but she had.

Plus, and he didn't know why he was the only one that seemed upset about this, she was taking Spee—Red Arrow's spot on the Team! Sure, he had said he didn't want it, but Green Arrow hadn't given Wally, Kaldur, and Robin enough time to convince Roy to join before he went out and got himself a new protégé—a snarky, stubborn, amateur of a protégé at that. And sure, she was mildly attractive and had admittedly one of the hottest bods he'd ever seen that wasn't on a poster or in a magazine, but that was beside the point. Roy was one of his best friends, and as the expression goes: bros before, well, never mind.

Anyway, this girl would not leave him and Megan alone. He couldn't tell if she was doing it on purpose or not, but really there was no way she could have missed his nod to her and then to the door and his gesturing between himself and Miss M. That was a universal sign, wasn't it?

He was beginning to think she was choosing to ignore his hint. She smiled at him, not in a nice way either, in a creepy, challenging kind of way that gave him goosebumps, and turned her attention to Megan.

"What're you making there, M'gann?" the Replacement asked.

"Zucchini casserole!" the Martian girl exclaimed. "I've been trying to improve my cooking, and I found the recipe in a book that Wally gave me!"

"Wow," Artemis mocked subtly, shooting him another delightful smile. "That's so thoughtful of him."

"Thoughtful's my middle name," Wally replied smoothly, ignoring the blonde archer in favor of smiling at Megan.

"Your middle name is really Thoughtful?" Megan asked him, looking perplexed.

Wally blushed and shot a glare at Artemis who had unsuccessfully tried to cover her laugh with a cough. This was the second time the girl had embarrassed him in front of Megan. She was diabolical. Her presence was throwing him off his game.

"Uh, no, it's not really my middle name," Wally admitted. "It's an expression. You know, like 'Danger's my middle name.' Like that."

Megan smiled bashfully, playing with her vibrant red hair. "Oh, I'm afraid I don't know many Earth expressions yet."

"Don't worry," Artemis told her, smiling in her wicked way. "We'll teach you everything you need to know." She looked at Wally for a moment, before looked back at Megan. "Starting with the phrase, 'It takes two to tango.'"

Wally glared at her. She was deliberately making fun of him now. The little harpy knew what she was doing. He would not be beaten though.

"I don't know that one," Megan said uncertainly. "But I think the Tango is a dance, right?"

"Yeah," Wally said, unattentively, staring Artemis down. To her credit, she didn't look away either, her grey glare super intense. "You know what phrase I like better though? 'Two's company and three's a crowd.'"

"I know that one!" Megan exclaimed brightly. She looked between them, noticing that they were staring at each other intently. "Did you two want to be left alone? Is that why you said that one?"

Wally jolted as if struck my lightning. "What? No way!" he all but yelled out.

Artemis snorted and crossed her arms. "As if," she sneered, looking in the opposite direction.

An awkward silence fell over them until it was thankfully interrupted by the timer on the oven.

"Hopefully this will come out better than my other dishes have," Megan said, using her powers to take the casserole out. She set it on the counter and Wally sidled up to her side, trying not to drool. His stomach growled loudly.

"Mmm, smells delicious, babe," he said, taking a deep breath. "Can't wait to taste it—"

"Kid Flash," Red Tornado's robotic voice sounded over the Cave's intercom. "The Flash called and requires your assistance. Report to Central City via zeta tube immediatey."

"Aww, man," Wally whined, looking longingly at the casserole.

"Bad luck there, Wall-man," Artemis teased in that tone he was beginning to despise. "Don't worry, we'll save a plate for you."

Wally narrowed his eyes at her. Joking about food was always a no-no in his eyes. He ignored her and turned to Megan.

"Well, duty calls, Megalicious," he told her regretfully. "Later, beautiful."

He blew her a kiss and would have walked straight past Artemis without saying anything, but he was a gentleman afterall.

"See you later, Replacement."

"Hopefully not, Kid Idiot."

He didn't even spare her a glare. Uncle Barry needed him, so he kicked his super speed into high gear and entered the zeta tube that would take him to Central City. He would have liked to say that his thoughts were on Megan's sweet face as he was teleported, but in his head all he saw was long blonde hair, two almond shaped eyes, and a pair of dark pink lips curved into a mischievous smile. She was diabolical. He would need to be careful around her.

Things would have been a lot simpler if Roy had just joined the Team.

A/N: You all are the best! So much thanks to everyone who has reviewed and put my on their favorites list and put this story on story alert or me on author alert! I'm truly flattered so thank you so much! I'm so glad you all are enjoying this. I'm really enjoying writing it. This chapter's a little short, but I got to have a little fun with it, so I hope you all will like it. Please please review! I'm not really sure what I have coming up next, but if there's anything you would like to see I'll definitely put it on my list. Thanks! XD