A/N: I had THE HARDEST TIME with this chapter. I started out with something completely different and then wrote this last night and I like it better. Basically, what I have besides this is just Denial from Artemis's POV but I don't really like it so I'm not going to post it. This is much more drabbly and shorter than the other chapters, but I think it still works.

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: Scientist

Artemis had only been on the Team for a week and a half before it was rocked by its first death. No, it hadn't been any of the team members, thank god, but Kent Nelson's death was hard for all of them to swallow. They had been deployed by Red Tornado to help him, and instead of bringing him back safe, they had brought back his body. The day of his funeral, it was apparent that no one was taking his death harder than Kid Flash.

Wally had been right there at his side when the old man's body had finally given out. He even admitted that he'd tried to revive Mr. Nelson using CPR but to no avail. Artemis felt for the guy. She ached to reassure him that Mr. Nelson's death was in no way his fault; after all, the man had been 106 years old. She just wasn't sure whether he'd accept it, coming from her. She definitely wasn't his favorite person at the moment after foiling his flirting attempts with Megan during the mission. She couldn't stand to see him moping about the Cave however. Not even Megan's snicker doodle cookies could get him out of his funk. So, Artemis waited until he was alone in the kitchen to try and snap him out of it.

"So, I guess you're a scientist, huh?" she asked, reaching into the fridge and grabbing the milk carton.

"What?" Wally asked, looking around to see who was interrupting his solitude.

"I asked you if you were a scientist," Artemis repeated, grabbing a glass and bringing it over to across where he was sitting. "You said on the mission that you recreated Flash's lab experiment."

"Yeah, that's how I became Kid Flash," Wally said, absentmindedly picking at the sandwich in front of him. Something was obviously wrong with him if he wasn't just inhaling it.

"That must have been pretty hard," Artemis prodded. She thought that if she could just get him to brag about himself, he might open up.

"What can I say, I'm a genius," Wally said, but without his usual gusto.

"Well, I know who I'll be bringing my biology homework to next time I need a tutor," Artemis joked. She took a large gulp of milk to hide her embarrassment. Oh god, I'm flirting with him. Stop it, Artemis, stop it! Just get to the point of the conversation.

Wally looked at her suspiciously. "Did Robin put you up to this?" he asked. "Did he tell you to come and try and make me feel better?"

"What? No!"

Wally sighed, pushing his plate away from him. "Everyone's been walking eggshells around me since the funeral this morning," he told her.

"Well, you've been looking a little depressed," Artemis pointed out. Her tactics weren't really working, so she decided to just go for the blunt approach. "You know, Wally, no one blames you for what happened to Mr. Nelson. There was nothing you could have done. He was old. These things happen."

Wally looked up at her and seemed like he was going to protest for second, but the words died in his throat. He looked back down at his half-eaten sandwich. "I know. If anything, it's magic's fault again."

Oh here we go, Artemis thought, trying not to roll her eyes. She had heard enough of Wally's opinion on magic during the mission. At least he was finally talking about it though.

"Why do you think that?" she asked.

"If he hadn't had to exert all that effort to protect us from Klarion, maybe he wouldn't have been weakened so much," Wally explained.

Artemis was confused. "Wait, so are you saying you do believe in magic?" His hesitation was all the answer she needed, but she remembered his stubborn refusal to believe the other day in his souvenir room. "What changed between today and the other day?"

"I've had a couple days to think about what Mr. Nelson said. Right before I put the helmet on, he said to me, 'Have faith in what you can't explain. Believe in what you can no longer deny,'" Wally recited. He shrugged. "Yes, a lot of things can be explained by science, but there are some things that are just illogical, like magic. I'm not about to enroll at Hogwarts or anything, but his words stuck with me. All of them," he added softly and the look he gave her made her blush inexplicably.

She cleared her throat and downed the rest of her milk. Suddenly seeming to have a ravenous appetite, Wally devoured the rest of his sandwich in 3 large gulps.

"So, all these Harry Potter references," Artemis said after a few moment's silence. "You seem like a bit of a fan. Who's your favorite character?"

"Ron, obviously," Wally replied. "He's the man. Besides, us gingers have to stick together."

"Huh, I've always been more of a Hermione fan…"

A/N: Yeah, that's it. Next chapter should be a lot longer. Also, everyone should go read my one-shot 'Spitfire' because it will eventually be a part of this story. It was out of order chronologically, so I didn't want to post it here.

I'm thinking about changing the name of this story to "Our Own Way," so don't be surprised if you see that show up in you e-mail instead of the current title. If you think I shouldn't change it, please let me know!

Thank you soooo much to everyone who's reviewed and put this on their favorite's list or story alert! You all keep me motivated! If you're on Tumblr, please follow me! My url is these-are-my-obsessions so find me! Sometimes I post previews of the next chapter XD

Next Chapter: Flirt (four times Wally flirted with other girls, and one time he flirted with Artemis)