A/N: This is my second fanfiction, so I really hope you guys like it. I just wanted to thank everyone who reviewed, favourited, or followed my last post since all those positive comments really motivated me to write and post more. :)

Any criticisms are really welcome, seriously, since all I want to do is to improve.

Special thanks to these following people who have been nothing but nice to me, and for welcoming me to this website:

monzepelmoon

Irenerb

spitfireforever

Greendogg

piggythelaw

(I wasn't sure if I could link profiles, sorry. _)

**I'm aware that Artemis was undercover when Lian was revealed in the series, but for the purposes of this story, let's pretend that she'd been born a few years before the events of Invasion. Thanks again!**

The Impromptu Reunion

It had happened on a Sunday morning during the summer, when neither Wally nor Artemis had classes for another week or so until the new semester began.

They'd been up late the night before chatting to Nightwing and M'gann, reminiscing about their younger superhero days, and they'd both slept in, too tired and comfortable in each other's warmth. As sunlight streamed through their half open window, and a cacophony of bird calls sounded outside, Wally was the first to wake up before Artemis stirred in his arms, feeling his ever piercing gaze on her face.

The sight of his smiling green eyes peering down at her the moment she'd barely opened hers was a welcome sight every morning, and she couldn't help but wonder what she'd done to deserve it. If someone had told her six years ago about this exact moment, she would have probably shot them. No kidding.

Her lips stretched into a wide smile as Wally leaned forward to give her a kiss. "Morning, beautiful," he greeted.

"Morning to you too," she mumbled in reply, giving a contented sigh.

The hand painted clock on their bedside table- the one give to Wally by his mother as a 'departing to university' gift- revealed that it was already half past eleven, but neither of them were in a hurry to get up, content in their shared warmth and silence. Wally watched the sunlight play on the golden strands of his girlfriend's hair, feeling the urge to run his fingers through the long, silky strands, but he stopped himself before he could, knowing that one thing would lead to another and his stomach was already running on a low, having not eaten before going to bed last night.

Artemis glanced at him, noticing the internal conflict in his eyes and with a knowing smirk on her face, she stretched upwards to kiss him, before reluctantly pulling away to lick her lips. It had left the effect she'd wanted as Wally's gaze strayed downwards and he swallowed nervously. Artemis only laughed in his face.

"Hungry?" she asked, and her sculpted blond eyebrows rose as she looked at him with wide, innocent eyes.

Wally's eyes glanced towards her lips again before he gave her a wolfish grin. "Like you wouldn't believe, babe."

Artemis laughed and smacked his arm before untangling her legs from the covers to get out of bed. She had barely had one foot on the ground when a tiny, childish giggle coming from the other side of their apartment stopped her in her tracks.

Tilting his head to one side, Wally's eyes widened as he looked at her. "Was that a kid in our apartment?"

Artemis was equally shocked and immediately, her arms shot up in defence. "It wasn't me, I swear."

Had it been any other time, Wally would have laughed at his girlfriend's terrified expression, but there were more pressing issues to solve at the moment. Reaching for the covers, he pulled them off his legs and crept to the bedroom door, with Artemis following in suite.

He cracked the door open by a fraction and both of them peeked out of the door cautiously, eyes surveying their house for any signs of children running around. They took their time waiting to hear more of the sound, but when none appeared, it was a silent agreement that they had to investigate.

"Ladies first," Wally said, pushing Artemis gently forwards and earning a scowl from her in return.

"Wimp."

Wally opened the door wider for Artemis to exit the room, and watched in amusement as she tiptoed slowly in stealth mode, wearing one of Wally's old t-shirts. The situation was highly comical now that Wally wondered if they'd heard their neighbour's kid, or if someone else's TV had been on too loud.

He'd begun to relax and had followed Artemis down the corridor casually when they heard another giggle coming from their very own living room. Faster than even Wally could blink, Artemis had pressed him against the wall with a loud thud and had made a hushing motion with her finger.

Slowly, after she gave the signal to advance, they edged towards the living room and Wally raised an eyebrow when Artemis pulled out a small, portable crossbow from one of the potted plants. "Seriously?" he whispered. "It could just be a child, Artemis. Not to mention, all this time you had a crossbow hidden and I've been unknowingly pissing you off?"

She cupped her hand over his mouth to silence him, and rolled her eyes. "Security measures," came her casual reply as though it was customary for everyone to hide loaded crossbows in their potted plants. They started moving again, but didn't get far before a voice spoke from the same direction as they'd heard the laughing child.

"I know you're there; I heard you both minutes ago," drawled the female voice. "Are you guys going at it in the middle of the corridor? Kinky."

Artemis' hold on her crossbow slacked and it clattered to the ground as she froze mid-step. She knew that voice. No sooner had the name popped into her head that the mysterious infiltrator had decided to show herself, along with an adorable little girl with short auburn hair and grey eyes- the very grey eyes Artemis had inherited from her father. The child looked like she could've been their daughter, but her features were distinct from Wally's- and they would've known if something like that happened.

"Cheshire?" Wally asked, his voice sounded strangled as his eyes focused on the child in her arms. At a closer look, there was no doubt that she was related to her, but there was something else familiar about the little girl's features too; her auburn hair, sleek jawline, and high cheekbones as she smiled at them.

No way. No freaking way.

He spared a glance at Artemis and noticed that she had come to the same realisation too.

"You? You and Roy?" She spluttered, and Jade had to give herself credit for owning the most dramatic entrance. She didn't think she'd ever seen her little sister so flustered.

"Yes," she drawled, shifting Lian onto her other hip. "Jealous I got the hotter redhead?"

"No," both Wally and Artemis deadpanned.

Artemis still couldn't believe her eyes. She had a niece. And her sister was with Roy. Roy. Out of everyone she could've picked, she had chosen the most difficult, irritating, egotis-

"Does Roy know about this?" Wally interrupted her internal rant, and Artemis' eyes whipped upwards to analyse her sister's face.

There were dark circles underneath the older woman's eyes, and Artemis guessed it was probably from the child-rearing, but even though she looked like something the cat had dragged in and mildly irritated at Wally's question, there was a gentle softness in her eyes that she'd never seen there before. It almost made her smile, but she caught herself before her sister could call her on it.

This observation, however, was lost on Wally as Jade scowled at him, and he had half expected her to throw one of her poisoned daggers in a rage.

"I thought you were the smart one, carrot-top. Of course Roy knows," she snapped.

He shut up immediately after that, but still couldn't believe that his friend had done it- had made a baby- with one of their enemies. He couldn't blame him entirely though, the Crock women were certainly beautiful.

"So..." Jade began, her eyebrow raised almost patronisingly.

"So, what?" Artemis asked hesitantly, an ominous feeling prickled at the back of her spine and Wally placed an arm around her waist, feeling the distress emanating from her.

Her sister rolled her eyes and placed Lian on the ground before seating herself on the armrests of the couch. "How are things?"

Artemis almost choked on her own saliva as she stared wide-eyed at her sibling. "Who are you?"

Narrowing her feline eyes, Jade ignored her. "Just answer the question."

"I don't know- things are fine, I guess."

"Great," Jade said with mock enthusiasm, clapping her hands together as she hopped up from her seat. "Just wanted to check I wasn't leaving my child with complete psychopaths."

"Have you looked at yourse-" Wally started but Artemis cut him off with a deadly, calm voice.

"Leaving? What do you mean by leaving?"

His eyes widened as he realised a little late the insinuations of Jade's response, and he felt Artemis go frigid in his arms.

The woman in their living room- practically a stranger to Wally- sighed, and bent down to kiss her daughter on the cheek before putting her trademark mask on. "Aren't you two meant to be getting smarter in university? I meant what I said. You're babysitting. Surprise."

Artemis gaped at her sister, and stepped out of Wally's side-embrace so she could grasp onto her sister and convince her to stay and take her child home, but the assassin was too quick for Artemis' rusty moves and darted out of the way in a blink of an eye.

"I'm picking her up in two days and I left all the stuff you need at the front door. Think of this as... Training. For your own future."

Wally blushed and a pink tinge had appeared on Artemis' cheeks. "You can't just leave me with her, I have no idea what to do with a kid," she protested.

"It's simple. Just make sure she doesn't die. You'll be able to handle it," she shrugged before turning to wave at her little girl. "Lian, irritate Aunt Artemis as much as you want, okay? Mommy will be back soon."

Lian nodded before sending them a mischievous smile that rivalled her mother's.

"She's her child, all right," Wally gulped next to her.

As soon as Cheshire vanished out of their living room window, Artemis felt the sudden need to rest her head against something, and she leaned on Wally's shoulder, feeling like her mind had imploded. An arm wrapped around her as they both watched the little toddler play with Brucely, though they weren't sure if they could call it playing. The little girl had begun poking the poor pit-bull's nose, and the well-behaved dog just sat there, sneezing after every poke as Lian laughed in his face.

"Man, she's evil," Wally observed, though not unkindly, and he had to admit that the child had inherited her mother and aunt's charms. He sneaked a glance at Artemis beside him and tightened his arm around her when he saw the blank look on her face.

"We can do it," he reassured her, trying to keep his own paranoia buried, but Artemis didn't seem to hear him, or if she did, she was completely sucked into her own thoughts. Wally caught the words 'niece' and 'crazy' as she mumbled to herself.

"Artemis," he called, placing his hands on her shoulders in a placating gesture. "Hey, it'll be fine."

When she finally looked up at him, her eyes were a shade lighter than usual, and it didn't take long for Wally to realise that she wasn't distressed, in fact she was quite the opposite.

Her thoughts reeled as she replayed the earlier conversation in her head, confused as to what she should be feeling knowing her sister had named her daughter Lian after her middle name. The part inside of her, the one that Jade had abandoned eleven years ago in her mom's apartment, almost felt relieved to realise that her sister did have some feelings for her- at least enough to name her first child after her, even though it was only her middle name.

The older Artemis, however, the one who was still recovering from the discovery of her niece and the sudden and unexpected babysitting job, knew this information would give her the upper hand when her sister returned. And Roy- Oh, this was good.

She couldn't help the huge grin on her face as she watched the little girl giggle when Brucely rolled over. Artemis was an aunt. It had never occurred to her that her sister, the cold and unfeeling Cheshire, would ever give birth to a child, and no less with a Leaguer. She wondered if they were married, and cringed at the thought.

Beside her, Wally was thinking the same thing and out of nowhere, he voiced the question that had been bugging him ever since he laid eyes on Lian. "Does that mean they're intimate?" He blurted and Artemis smacked the back of his head while glowering at him.

"Don't talk about my sister and Roy-" Choke. "-like that. Don't you even dare mention it to the others. I want to have the satisfaction of knowing Roy has to be the one to spill his dark, dirty secrets."

With a raised eyebrow, Wally mulled it over. "We could speed up the process," he suggested. "We have his daughter. Wouldn't it be kind of us to take her to the Cave for a little visit? Invite everyone, have a little reunion."

A slow, twisted grin appeared on Artemis' face, and she stretched up to peck his cheeks. "That's why you're my boyfriend."

Without waiting for a response, Artemis crossed over to her niece and bent down as Lian began chatting animatedly, letting out high-pitched giggles whenever Artemis pulled funny faces at her stories.

Wally watched them with a smile on his face, admiring the way Artemis had befriended the little girl so effortlessly, and a random thought popped into his head that caused all the blood in his body to rush to his face.

There was no denying that Lian could be mistaken for their own, considering she had his hair colour and Artemis' eyes, and for a split second he'd almost felt like they were a family. That stray thought led him to wonder, that if they ever did have a child, would he or she resemble Lian? Or would their child have blonde hair and his eyes?

Wally's green eyes traveled sidewards from the little girl to sneak a peek at Artemis, and a soft smile appeared on his lips. It was a future he was looking forward to, and he was just going to have to convince his girlfriend of it too.

Once again, thank you so much for taking the time to read this, and I'd love to hear/read your opinions/criticisms. :)

Ps: Just wondering if I should make them connected somehow, or just come up with a plot that occurs during the 5 year gap between season one and two?