I knowwwwww I'M JUST SO BUSY! I had part of this written in August...Well...sorry for the long wait...I hope that you all are still with me...Wow I'm a terrible person...

Undisclosed Drop-off Location

Friday, February 13, 5:13pm

"Artemis to team," The blonde archer spoke through the mind link, "Are you guys there? Is the link even established anymore?"

Breathing heavily, and clutching at a deep cut on her bicep, Artemis moved through the thick forest foliage trying to find where the team last stood together. Batman sent her, M'gann, Wally and Robin to some strange location, in some strange forest, to investigate some strange findings; but no it couldn't go easy for the team, just this once. Robin had disappeared with Wally to find something secret that Batman only told Robin to find, typical; while she and M'gann circled to find any threats. There had been movement in the forest below and Artemis had dropped down from the Bioship to see what it was, and that was when she was ambushed by Klarion and his stupid cat. He had blasted the bioship out of range and the cat, which had turned into a tiger, attacked Artemis. Which is why she was now marching through a forest with a bleeding arm and a scrunched up face.

With a huff Artemis sat on the trunk of a fallen tree to wrap the ever growing cut on her bicep. She heard a groan as she finished tying the gauze that she had found in her first aid pouch. She focused her attention to her right as she saw a small movement; pulling an arrow from her quiver and latching it onto the bowstring, Artemis crept to where the movements were coming from. A pained groan escaped from under a fallen tree and Artemis detached the arrow from the bowstring and placed it back into her quiver.

"Kid Flash?" Artemis called out to a sliver of red hair.

"Artemis...please help," Wally's voice barely whispered out.

Artemis ran as soon as her name escaped his lips, "Oh Wally," She whispered as she moved branches and leaves from the tree and off of the fallen speedster, "Hey, are you okay? What happened to you?"

"Artemis, I can't feel my legs," The speedster tried to move.

"Okay, okay, don't move. I don't want you to move your neck okay? I don't need you to be damaging anything else right now," Artemis swallowed fear down her throat and pressed her hands over the speedster's neck to find any broken parts, "Tell me if something hurts or if something doesn't feel right."

Wally grunted, "I don't feel anything wrong."

"Does that mean that you don't feel anything, because you can't feel anything or because your neck isn't messed up?"

"My neck isn't messed up, Artemis. I ran into Ivy and she stuck my legs with something."

Artemis moved to help Wally who was pushing himself up by his arms, "What did she stick you with? And where?"

"I don't know, some vine wrapped around my legs and there were thorns on it that I guess had poison on them."

Artemis leaned the red head against a tree trunk and ran her hands over his legs, poking and prodding in pressure points, "Do you feel any of this?"

Wally swallowed, his adam's apple bobbing, "No," His voice caught, "I can't. Artemis, I can't feel my legs," He breathed fast.

"Wally," Artemis looked up at his face, "Hey, hey. You need to calm down. You're hyperventilating," She placed her hands on his shoulders, "Wally, come on now," Breathing and rolling her eyes, Artemis slapped Wally's cheek, "Kid Flash, stop."

Wally gulped and nodded, "Sorry, sorry."

"Listen, I know this is freaking you out, because you're legs are like the most important thing you've got going on, but you need to be calm and refrain from freaking out."

He looked into stormy eyes and breathed in and out deeply, "Okay," He swallowed and found Artemis's hand with his own, "Can you just give me a hug for a second, I think, I just need a hug."

Artemis rose an eyebrow and nodded. Settling her arms around his shoulders, Artemis leaned her head in the crook of his neck.

Wally's arms came around her waist, "What if this is permanent?" His chin dug into her shoulder, "What if I have to go the rest of my life feeling the urge to run and I just won't be able to?" His arms tightened, "What if I have to watch my kids grow up from a wheelchair?" His hands gripped at her skin and Artemis's heart lurched as she thought of her mother, "What if-" His words were muffled by full lips against his own. The kiss was urgent and messy, her teeth clanged into his and there was a sticky taste of blood from her split lip, but it was their third kiss and it was amazing.

She leaned away, pressing her forehead against his, her hands cupping his face, "Wally, you will be okay. If it comes to those things, you'll press through it. Stephen Hawking once said, 'Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change' and you're so smart, Wally. You blew up your house when you were thirteen, because you wanted to be like the Flash.," She smiled, the dirt on her face cracking, "You will be fine, we just have to take this one step at a time," Artemis looked away from Wally and gave a snort, "You know, if you will be able to take any steps in the future."

Wally's mouth fell open, "Artemis!"

The blonde's nose scrunched and she laughed, "I'm sorry, sorry. That was bad. You're going to be fine. I'm sure it just has some paralyzing effect. It'll wear off..." She snorted, "Eventually."

"Why are you always so cruel to me?"

Artemis's playful smile turned sour as she focused her gaze behind her shoulder, "Shh," She shifted one knee to the ground, turning her back to Wally, she notched an arrow onto her bow; lifting her arms into position she scanned the surrounding area, "Here," Artemis pulled at her crossbow and handed it to Wally, "I'm going to look around. Don't get yourself killed."

Wally nodded at her, but she was already gone, stepping soundlessly across the forest floor. Sighing, the speedster set the crossbow on his lap and began to poke at his legs. His fingers spidered to the backs of his knees where he felt a sticky substance, pulling his hand up to his face he saw that his gloves were covered in blood.

"It was just a panther," Wally squeaked as Artemis dropped from a tree.

"Sheesh, don't do stuff like that," He cracked his neck.

Artemis smirked as she crouched beside him, "Did I scare the Wallman?"

"No! I could have shot you with your own crossbow!"

"Wally, it was sitting on your lap the whole time I was gone."

"Were you watching me?"

Artemis rolled her eyes, "Anyway, I found this abandoned outpost not too far from here." She secured the crossbow onto her person, "And I really think that we should get you somewhere that's a little more safe. At least until you're, ya know, able to walk again."

"Speaking of me, I think I might have found the problem. It's on the backs-"

"-Of your knees, yeah. I know. I felt it when I was assessing you."

Wally's eyebrow shot up in his mask as he glared at her, "Uh, how are you gonna get me to this place?"

"I'm gonna carry you, duh."

"I don't think that'll work."

"Why…?"

"You're you," Wally pointed at Artemis, "And I'm me," He finished with pointing at himself.

"Wallace Rudolph West, I know you're not saying what I think you're saying."

"Artemis, I'm just saying-"

"No, stop. You and I both lift the same amount of weights."

Wally opened his mouth to say something.

"No, don't say anything else or I'll leave you here without a crossbow. Just put your arms around my neck and I'll lift you," Wally secured his arms around the archer and she pushed off the ground with her legs, "One, two, three," She grunted on the last number as she stood, "My god, Kid Hefty. Did you eat all of Minnesota?"

"'You and I both lift the same amount of weights.'" Wally pitched his voice higher.

Artemis backed him into a tree.

"Ouch!" Wally rubbed at his head

"Whoops! I'm so, super sorry, Sir Wal-Mart."

"Yeah, whatever, Miss Cock."

The more they moved through the forest, the more Artemis breathed heavily. When they reached the outpost, Artemis dropped him, not too gently, on the ground and barred the door. She pulled a clay arrow out from her quiver and shot it at the door to hold it against anyone that might attack. Huffing she turned toward the speedster, she dropped her bow and watched as Wally's biceps bulged through his uniform as he lifted himself up onto a bench. Sighing, Artemis trudged over and helped him settle in his seat.

Artemis sighed, "Okay, let's take a look at those thorns."

Wally's eyebrows wrinkled, "You sure you're not too tired? You can rest."

"Oh shut up, Wally. Stop acting like you're grater than me. We're the same."

"No, Artemis, it's not that. It's just that your arm," He pointed toward her bicep, "It's really bleeding, a lot."

Looking at her arm she shrugged, "I'll be fine, but right now we have to get you up and running."

"And then you'll let me actually patch you up? You did a shitty job."

"Not like I had a lot of time...and hands."Artemis pulled a chair toward the bench and placed one of Wally's legs on top of it. She knelt before the speedster and prodded the back of his knee, "Ah, there it is."

"What are you gonna do? Just pull it out?"

"I mean I could. Should I?"

Wally's head hit the wall and he groaned, "Yeah, just do it."

"Okay," Artemis bit her lip, "Uh, here it goes..." She pulled and a long curved thorn came out of the wound, "Gross," She said to the blood that dripped to the ground.

"Here, let me see it."

"You can have it," Artemis squished her nose in disgust, "Does your leg feel any different?"

Wally huffed, "Not that I can tell."

"Well, let me get the other one's out."

Abandoned Enemy Outpost

Friday, February 13, 7:42pm

The archer released a heavy sigh as she pulled the last of eleven thornes out of the speedster's legs. Looking up at Wally, Artemis noticed that he had pushed his mask back so it hooded at the nape of his neck. The speedster's eyes were narrowed and his full attention was placed on one of the thorns that he had broken open. Artemis smirked at they way his tongue stuck out through his teeth in concentration. Standing, the girl stretched her arms above her head, which she really should have thought about not doing, because her body rocked and the edges of her vision went black.

"Artemis?" Wally's voice sounded so far to the girl's ears.

"I'm fine," She placed her hand against the wall, "Just a head rush, is all."

"No it's not," Wally picked up his limp leg and dropped it on the floor, "Sit," He said, pointing to the now free chair.

Artemis's hand dropped to the back of the chair and she straddled it backwards, leaning her forehead against the back of the chair. Wally leaned forward and grabbed both sides of the old wooden chair, pulling it closer toward him the wood scraped against the dirt ground soundlessly. He then began to unravel the bloodstained gauze that Artemis had wrapped around her bicep. Scrunching his nose and squinting his eyes the speedster removed his gloves as he tried to get a good look at the wound, but finding no luck due to the setting sun.

The speedster placed a hand on the girl's head, "Hey, babe, do you have a light in one of those nifty pouches of yours?"

"Left, hip, middle."

Wally reached for the middle pouch and with success he pulled out a flashlight and a granola bar, "Uh, babe-"

"Eat it. I feel like I'm gonna puke anyway."

"Sweet," Wally sang as he clicked on the light and tore the bar open with one motion; it was gone within seconds. Tossing the wrapper onto the ground the speedster shone the light onto the archer's arm, shit, was all the thought when he saw the red inflamed skin that was puckered with red dots around the cut.