Ch 26: Validation

AN: Woo! Good news: Another chapter! Bad news: most of this chapter was already written, and I realized there was more stuff that needed to be wrapped up that didn't fit, so I'm going to have to whip up another chapter and mix it with some of the stuff that was going to be in this one… which may take a bit, depending in if it ends up as one chapter or two, and given my schedule for the next few weeks. I'm so sorry. But for real this time, there should only be, like, one or two more chapters, then the Epilogue. We're almost there!

P.S. I made a couple of edits to J'onn's section in Termination. That should make it a little more... natural, characterization-wise. I think? I don't know, as always, comments welcome.

XxXxX

After many protests and questions of Wally's authenticity, ("Oh my god Uncle Hal! Don't make me tell them about the time in middle school when you were supposed to take me to the science museum and instead we-" "Okay, that's enough! He's ours.") the group was able to move back inside. Once they return to the privacy of the West-Allen household, Wally is able to truly embrace his family. He slowly makes his way around the room to offer hugs and words of consolation, waving off requests for explanations until he's finished.

Finally, he plops down on the carpet where the Birthday Girl and Boy are waiting – only a little sullenly – for attention to return to them.

"High Don, Dawn," Wally waves to them. "I'm your cousin Wally, but you can call me 'Uncle Awesome' if you want."

The twins giggle at his joke and stick out their hands. Wally doesn't miss a beat. He crosses his own arms, and takes both their hands to shake at the same time. "I'm really happy to finally meet you, cousins, and really sorry for interrupting your party. May I sit with you guys and tell you a story to try and make up for it?"

Again, the kids ascent, and Wally scoots over to sit across from them, so that he's facing most of the rest of the room.

"This is the story of a speedster – much like yourselves – and his adventures in an alternate dimension that's very different but also very like this one."

The adults were more than capable of reading between the lines to learn what he'd been through these past few weeks and years, but Wally did his best to make the story entertaining for the little ones too. So he's never technically fought off a horde of ninjas or saved a princess from a dragon, but the story needed more dragons and ninjas, okay?

Plus, a running stream of jokes and fabrications helps keep the story light. By the end, there are more smiles in the room than frowns. As he finishes (…and they all lived happily ever after!) Wally blocks attempts at further questioning by reminding them all of his appetite and wondering if there was going to be birthday cake soon. The twins – and Lian, who's suddenly quite willing to give her opinion now that dessert is involved – cheer and everyone else looks on fondly. So, they have cake and ice cream, and the party begins to actually feel like a party again.

Wally notices, though, that even as everyone else becomes more at ease, Bart continues to act strangely. Well, more strangely than everyone else is still acting. The young speedster keeps glancing at his cousin, only to drop his eyes and turn away the moment he notice that Wally's look back. Combined with the teen's refusal of desert and generally subdued demeanor, and Wally can't help but be concerned. He can't shake the feeling that Bart's strangeness is somehow related to him.

He tells himself that it probably isn't his business, but he remembers that he was beginning to grow closer to the teen and wants to offer his support. It's something of a godsend when Barry gets a call about a disturbance in the southern part of the state right as the twins are about to open their birthdays presents.

"Stay here with your kids, Barry, we'll take care of it," John offers.

"No, it'll take you too long to get there, the risk if the fire spreads…"

"I can take care of it!" Wally pipes up, much to everyone's horror. Wally just rolls his eyes; between the League and the Team, he's starting to get used to this overprotection. "C'mon, guys. It'll be fine. Look." He pulls out his Flash ring, and quickly switches into his costume. "I'll take Bart with me, and everyone will just assume that it's Flash and Kid Flash, like always."

Eventually, with Artemis' support, everyone consents to Wally's suggestion. Even Bart, who still won't look at him.

XxXxX

They're passing through some cornfields on the way back, when Wally decides they're isolated enough to stop. He tugs on Bart's arm, signaling for the younger speedster to slow down and stop with him. Bart does. What he doesn't do is look at Wally. Instead, Bart stares at the ground, scuffing his feet as if he's hoping the ground will suddenly rise up and swallow him.

Wally decides to be direct. "Bart, talk to me. You have to tell me what's wrong." Wally hopes he will. There're too many things that might be bothering the younger speedster for Wally to make a confident guess. Is he worried about his mantle now that Wally's back? Annoyed at how Wally's attendance sort of ruined the party? Mad that he wasn't allowed to help fight Klarion? It's probably the last one, Wally thinks, remembering his own demands to be treated as an adult when he was Bart's age.

When Bart does finally looks up, though, it's with a sniffle; his cheeks are damp, and it doesn't look like they'll be drying out any time soon.

"I'm s-so s-orry!" Bart finally sobs, throwing his arms around his cousin (and when did he get so big? Wally curses Lex and Klarion. He's missed so much here.)

"Wait. What?" Wally finally gets his mind off of his cousin's size, and realizes what Bart just said. Frankly, he's flabbergasted.

"I th-thought you were dead! We all did! And everyone w-was so miserable and I knew it was m-my f-fault!" Bart chokes on a sob and hold his cousin tighter.

Wally reciprocates the embrace and begins rubbing his cousin's back to comfort him. He doesn't immediately deny the boy's words though. Bart's "confession" is from way out in left field. Wally's too stunned to even begin to find the words for how wrong Bart is. He works to soothe the boy's crying instead.

"Shhhhhh. It's okay Bart, everything's going to be okay. You don't need to cry. But, like, you totally can if you want to. I'm pretty sure Dinah would say that that kind of thing is good for you. Oh, no. I'm not very good at this, am I?"

Bart makes a choking sound that could be either a sob or a laugh, Wally can't tell. His breathing does begin to even out after that, though, and soon the story comes spilling out: Wally's original future, his and Artemis' families, everything he and the Team missed out on while going up against the Anomaly.

"Wait, you lost me again. I still don't see why you thin

"Really? Because Damian says-"

"Damian? That kid Dick was telling me about? B's son? Talia al Ghul's kid?" Barts nods, and Wally splutters for a moment. "Okay, I'm going to try not to judge, because I don't know the kid and Dick adores him but I have to say: why would you ever believe the spawn of Talia "Lying Manipulative Assassin" al Ghul and Bruce "Magnificent Maniuplator" Wayne?"

Bart scuffs his boot on the ground again, but at least he doesn't look down. "Yes?"

"Yeah, that may have been a bad source of opinions. Just a thought."

"I guess maybe I should have asked for a second opinion?"

"Yeah, probably. Although to be fair to you, Bat machinations are really, really hard to deal with, so I wouldn't feel too bad about it." Bart cracks a little bit of a smile at Wally's assurances.

"But, seriously – well, seriously for me; it's all relative – none of this was your fault, and none of us think it was, and it all turned out well in the end! Look at me Bart." The younger speedster obliges. Wally pulls back his cowl, and takes Bart's goggles off so he can look straight in the boy's eyes. "It may take a little while for us to pull it together emotionally, but the pain is only temporary. The things we've gained from our adventures, the things we gave back… those, I think, are permanent. So it's all for the best, really."

"Do you really really think that?"

"I do." Wally throws his arm over Bart's shoulders. After a moment Bart leans into the touch, and begins to nod slowly.

"I… I guess if you're not mad. And everyone else seems happy. And if you really think this was good for you… maybe It's not my fault? Or at least, if it was, that it's not a bad thing, in the long run?"

Bart seems to be perking up, even if he does still seem to be a little lost in thought. Wally feels for the teen. He makes a mental note to mention Damian's possible machinations to Dick. The acrobat will be most displeased at the possibility. Yeah. Sic'ing a disappointed Dick on the kid is probably good retribution for his cousin's extra distress. Seriously, Dick's puppy dog eyes... they should probably be illegal.

Suddenly, a more positive thought occurs to him. His grin is only a little devious as he slips his cowl back on.

"You know, if everything hadn't happened this way, who knows how many universes Klarion could've got to before he was stopped? Which, by the way, means I win. You saved this one universe with time travel, I saved dozens with 'space' travel… and now I'm going to beat you back to the party and finish off the cake!" Wally calls out the last bit at speedster-rate as he takes off for the house.

Bart stands stunned for a moment before he can process what just happened.

"Wha- you… Cheater! Don't you dare eat all the cake!"

XxXxX

Ollie finds out that Artemis is back from Roy.

He tries not to let that hurt too much. He's sure she has her reasons for going to see the Flashes before him. Artemis is hurting – especially right now, when they probably just lost another Wally – so of course she'd seek comfort in his family first. Maybe someone told her about Bart, and she left the Tower immediately to comfort her youngest brother.

Maybe she just wanted to go celebrate with the other side of her family, and was running late, and forgot to call…

He won't be jealous if that's the case. Really.

He doesn't voice his concerns to Roy; his 'eldest' is too busy (and, quite frankly, sounds too happy) to be worried about his old man's insecurities. Instead, Ollie promises to babysit his granddaughter next weekend, wishes Roy well, and hangs up the phone. He gives himself one minute to get over his melancholy.

Sixty-four seconds after he sets down the phone, the door to his penthouse closes behind him as he heads for the nearest zeta tube. Within minutes, he's in Gotham.

Whenever Artemis is home for a little while – and it's always only a little while, because she won't risk losing another Wally due to negligence, even for family vistis – he always meets her at her mom's house. It helps her squeeze moments in with as many people as possible, and has become a tradition for them.

His breath is visible in the chilly November air as he hurries to Paula's apartment. He always seems to forget how much colder it is in Gotham than in Star City. Luckily, Paula seems to have been expecting him. The door opens only moments after he knocks, and a steaming cup of hot chocolate is pushed into his hands not long after.

"Jade said I should expect you guys." So Artemis hadn't called her Mother either. Ollie's hurt is immediately replaced with guilt and concern; guilt that he had doubted Artemis's desire to contact him and concern that she was doing even worse than she hoped. It is almost his birthday after all. Paula doesn't seem to think anything is amiss, and continues, "She seemed… very happy. I'm glad. Your boy is good for my daughter."

Ollie forces a smile. Paula wheels herself to be across from his seat on the couch, and Ollie passes her a mug of her own once her hands are free again. "Your daughter is good for him. I'll still never repay her for getting through to him when none of the rest of us could."

Paula's smile slips, and her eyes become wistful. "Yes. The women in our family are awfully stubborn when it comes to the men we love."

He reaches out to grasp her hand, "Don't say that like nothing good has ever come from it. I know Roy, at least, is glad for it." Paula shrugs, and they sit in silence. They might have remained like that all night, had they not heard a familiar laugh in the hallway.

"Oh my God! Stop that! We do not need a repeat of your introduction at the party!"

A muffled voice replies.

"No, wait here, let me-" Artemis cuts herself off as Ollie throws open the door. For a moment, he doesn't even realize what so odd about this picture; Wally and Artemis had shown up at his door together often enough for it to be a familiar sight. But then his brain switches gears from she's smiling, to why is this Wally-ghost here? His body reacts before his mind, though, and does the only reasonable thing it can in a situation like this.

He punches the guy holding his little girl's hand.

"Are you kidding me? Why is that everyone's initial reaction?" The boy shouts from where he dropped to the floor, but he doesn't move to get up. Artemis steps between him and Ollie before he can follow through.

"Artemis? Oliver?" Paula's made it to the doorway, adding to the chaos. "What is going on here?"

"Ollie, stop. Let me explain." Artemis' eyes are open and pleading. He trusts her, so he backs down.

From behind him, Ollie hears Paula huff. "Well, this should be interesting."

XxXxX

Artemis gets Wally ice as they move into the living room. "I told you to let me come in and explain things first," She admonishes as she presses the cold compress to his eye.

"Yeah, yeah. I know." She wants to kiss his grumpiness away, but her Mom and Ollie are looking at them with confused, distrusting eyes, so she jumps into an explanation instead. As with at the Party, it takes a lot of explaining, cajoling and testifying to convince Paula and Ollie that yes, this is the real Wally, and yes, I'm quite sure neither of us were replaces with pod-people, and no, we're fine, really.

When it's all said and done, Wally and Artemis retire to her old room, and Paula and Ollie spend several more hours calling Dick and M'gann and the Wests and many League and Team Members to corroborate the young heroes' story.

"It's really him." Paula finally whispers in a daze as she hangs up a phone call to her other daughter.

"They really did it." Ollie adds in a sort of agreement. The two in-laws spend a few more moments like that; blankly staring into space as they try to process the monumental changes tonight has brought them. For once, they're good changes, and the luck of such things just seems to be too good to be true.

Suddenly, Ollie's convinced it is. He surges to his feet, and, with all the stealth he can muster in his impatience (and trusting that the two wouldn't get up to anything too embarrassing with himself and Paula right in the next room), cracks Artemis' door open.

Ollie smiles as he peaks into Artemis' room. She must have collapsed into bed a little while ago, exhausted from the day's revelations. Wally has curled up around her, pinned between her body and the wall. He silently closes the door again, only to turn and realize Paula had followed him, and is giving him a strange look.

He clears his throat, embarrassed. "I uh, I know it's irrational, but I can't help but feel like this is still a dream, or that something's going to happen to them if I let them out of my sight."

"I understand the sentiment." She says, wheeling down the hall to the living room with him.

"Listen, Paula. Would you mind terribly if I stayed over tonight? I've got a bow just down the street…. I really feel like I need to… keep watch, I guess. Protect them."

Paula smiles at him. "You can keep me company, then." She flicks her wrist and a crossbow reveals itself to him with a click. "Because I'm way ahead of you."