Time had passed with the consistency of thick treacle and Wally found himself staring at the clock on the wall, willing the hands to tick at a pace that was not so frustratingly slow. Kaldur and Conner had disappeared at some point in the past hour and Rob was sat at the other end of the room. Every few minutes Wally would catch him staring, then glance away quickly. He fidgeted, crossing and uncrossing his legs on the chair before getting up and pacing around.

What if Black Canary heard what Artemis had to say and still was not convinced? What if Batman didn't see her as a victim and refused to offer protection? What if Artemis was sent to Belle Reve, what if the team never truly accepted him again, what if what if what if-

I'd leave, Wally thought. I'd take Artemis with me and we could run away together, keep her away from the Shadows and the Justice League... But then what?

It was the inevitable question. Where would they stay, how would they cope, on their own, on the run. They would maybe last a week or two before being tracked down, by either the JLA or the shadows.

Wally dragged a hand through his hair, sighed, then sat back down. His eyes flitted from the clock to the door, behind which Artemis was desperately trying to justify her actions.

She had been so brave, standing her ground when she had been interrogated by Batman, it would have been easy to see Black Canary as the lesser of two evils. But Wally knew how she worked, he knew how good she was at wrangling the truth from people, no matter how good at keeping secrets they were. But as far as he knew, Artemis had no more secrets left to tell.

"Why do you care about her so much?"

The words shocked Wally out of his train of thought and he jumped, looking around the room for the speaker. His eyes rested on Rob, gazing back at him with curiosity.

Wally brushed him off. "You wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

They stared each other down for a few seconds, then Wally relented.

"She was kind to me. She didn't have to be, and it got her in trouble, but she did it anyway. So... I guess I feel like I owe her this, at least. She's had a really awful life and just I want to help make it better."

"She said she hurt you."

Wally paused, his brow creasing at the memories of being kicked and punched and shocked until he was a twitching mess on the floor.

"Yeah." He nodded and opened his mouth like he was about to say more, then closed it again.

"And you still want the League to take her in?"

"You want her to die?"

"I want my best friend back."

The words hit Wally like a punch to the gut. It was a cheap shot, they both knew that, but it hurt to hear it out loud. He decided not to take the bait, sitting on his hands so Rob could not see them curl into fists.

"I don't need this right now. If you still want the old me, you're chasing ghosts. Things have changed, Dick, you need to accept that. And you need to accept her."

Behind his sunglasses, the boy wonder frowned.

"She's a shadow."

"Was a shadow. Not by choice. You think this was easy for her, talking about her past like this? You think she chose to kill people, that she enjoyed it?"

"No, but-"

"Then just give her a fucking chance, okay? She's scared, you've got no idea what she's been through or how she feels, so just shut up."

Wally finished his tirade and leaned back against his chair, chewing the inside of his cheek. Had he gone too far? He wanted to see Rob's expression but he didn't dare look up. Silence filled the space inside the room.

Then, just as Wally could not bear waiting any longer, the door opened. He was standing up within a heartbeat, ready to rush up to Artemis, ready to hold her close and tell her that whatever happened, she was going to be okay. Artemis emerged from the interview room, her head down, her eyes looking like tears had left them. She marched past Wally, moving towards the door at the opposite end of the room and only stopping when M'gann flew out of the same room and called her name:

"Artemis, wait!"

The archer stopped, then turned, too late to avoid M'gann who rushed up to Artemis and wrapped her arms around her. Not sure quite what to do, Artemis froze, her arms hovering, unsure, by her sides. Then she seemed to relent and hugged the Martian back, her eyes tightly closed.

"...Thank you." Wally thought he heard her murmur.

The two girls broke apart and Wally approached Artemis.

"How'd it go?" He asked, but at that moment Black Canary appeared in the doorway and everyone was quiet.

"I'm going to speak to Batman now. We may be some time." She nodded at Wally and Rob, then left the room.

Wally turned back to Artemis.

"Was it okay?"

She shrugged. "I... I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know?" Wally grabbed her shoulders, making her look at him. "Either she believed you or she didn't, I don't see how-"

He cut himself off after seeing how tired Artemis looked, the way she leaned into him like every fibre of her was exhausted. Wally softened.

"We'll go back to the room and wait there."

Artemis had walked the whole way in silence, and now stared blankly into space as Wally tried to think of something to say.

"Are you okay?" He blurted, cringing at how loud he sounded.

Artemis just nodded.

"How was Black Canary? She wasn't too hard on you, was she?"

"Black Canary was... nice."

Wally frowned at Artemis' choice of words. "Nice?"

Artemis shrugged. "I think she understood, I think she gets why I did what I did. I just..." She paused, then let out all her air in one sigh. "I don't know what's going to happen, it's all one big mess, and Batman-"

"Don't even worry about him." Said Wally. "The guy dresses like a bat for a living. You got through to me, and that's got to count for something, right?"

Artemis snorted through her nose, and for a second Wally thought she was about to laugh. Then her face changed, her eyes clouded and Artemis ducked her head, covering her face with her hands.

"Hey, hey- don't do that, please don't cry-" Wally rushed to her side, arms wrapping around her. He felt her body shudder beneath his, her face pushing into his shoulder. "Whatever happens, I'm on your side, okay? Remember that."

They stayed like that for several minutes, Artemis softly crying while Wally tried his best to soothe her, one shaky hand smoothing her hair, the other tracing circles on her back.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Wally felt Artemis tense against him but neither of them moved as the door swung open to reveal M'gann.

"Um, Black Canary says they've finished discussing everything, they want everyone in the mission room." Her brow creased when she saw the two of them together, limbs tangled, Artemis' face hidden. "Artemis?"

Wally let go of the archer, waiting for her to shoo the Martian away or make some disgruntled comment, but Artemis said nothing. Her eyes flitted to his, dried by one of her shirt sleeves, and her expression shifted from hopelessness to cold steel in one second. She turned to face M'gann.

"Tell them we're coming."

M'gann nodded, and seemed to hover in the air for a moment, uncertain, before taking off back down the hallway.

Artemis looked back at Wally, an almost perfect image of confidence. Almost. Wally could read the fear behind her eyes and in that moment knew just how afraid she was.

"Let's go." He said.

They were the last to enter the mission room, the rest of the team already assembled in a group facing Black Canary and Batman. All heads turned to face Wally and Artemis as they walked in, Wally particularly uncomfortable under the heat of their combined gaze. They stopped near the centre of the room, wally standing directly between Artemis and his team. He stole a glance sideways and caught Rob looking right at him. Probably. It was hard to tell with the sunglasses.

"I'm sorry to keep you all waiting, but the two of us have reached a decision." Black Canary told the group. The air was heavy with anticipation. "Artemis, we have decided-"

"That you are too dangerous to be left without supervision." Batman stated. "The League cannot let trained assassins run amok, whether or not they seem to redeem themselves."

Beside him, Wally felt Artemis sink, her shoulders slumping.

"But we do not think you deserve to go to Belle Reve, Artemis." Said Black Canary. "Batman and I have decided to offer you a place on the team, where you can use your skills for good."

Wally was taken aback, he heard M'gann squeal somewhere to his right, he saw Conner raise his eyebrows while Rob and Kaldur exchanged looks. Next to him, Artemis stared at Black Canary with wide-eyed wonderment, frozen in disbelief.

"What do you say, Artemis?" Asked Black Canary, smiling at the girl stood next to Wally with her mouth tipped open. "Are you in?"

The rest of the team murmured amongst themselves, but Wally didn't care. He took her hand at the same time as she grabbed his, and they shared a grin.

"Yes," Artemis said, her voice filling the room. "I'm in."

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wOAH, that took me one hell of a long time to write. I am very sorry to all of you that it took me so long to update, and if I had one specific excuse I would tell you but I don't, I'm just sorry.

First thing, you guys have all been great. Better than great, really, I wouldn't have finished this without your kind words, so thank you so so much! You are gorgeous cinnamon rolls and I don't know what I would have done without you.

Second thing- I'm planning on writing a companion piece to this one, noting how well it has been received. There are two options: I can write about what the team got up to while Wally was with the shadows, or I can write a sequel, where we continue on with the story and look at how Arty copes with the others and missions etc (very spitfire). Please let me know what you want, but I'm not going to start immediately, this would be more of a post-exam summer project.

Again, thank you all so much!