Wally was thrown across the warehouse floor. His super speed was no use to him in the air. He hit the concrete wall with a bone-shattering thud, gasping as he felt the whiplash across his chest. This villain was tough, and the team was loosing. He knew that all he had to do was bide time for Robin though, so he taunted his adversary,

"That all, you've got?" He gasped, struggling to his feet. He ran forwards but the man grasped a handful of his red hair and pulled it so hard that Wally had to bite something. That something appeared to be his opponent's arm. The man screamed, outraged, and sent Wally flying once more. Wally landed on his side this time, and could not get up.

The rest of the team was all occupied with their own problems, Miss Martian was fighting off some thugs outside, and Aqualad was guarding Robin while he hacked the system. Superboy was fighting another guy like this one, so that left… Wally shook the thought from his head, and put all his strength into standing up. He looked around for a weapon: There had to be something he could use to defeat this guy. He spotted a broom closet to his left, he reached inside and grabbed the first thing he laid eyes on. He had been hoping for a broom, or something vaguely weapon like, but pulled out an iron instead. He then had an idea. He grabbed it by the cable, and spun it round above his head at top speed, then sent it hurtling towards the enemy. It hit him in the knee, causing him to loose his balance and fall. This was his chance. He could win while he was down. But it was then that he heard glass breaking, and looked up just in time to see a figure falling from the high roof.

Wally had no time to check if it was ally or enemy, he ran forwards, and caught them just in time. In his weakened state however, his knees gave way on impact and they both fell to the ground. Wally's vision was blurry and he had taken too many falls. His eyes slowly focused in on the figure on top of him, and he was about to complain, when he noticed the red liquid pooling around him,

"Artemis?" He tried to sit up, "Hey are you…" He turned her over carefully, and saw the throwing knife lodged into her chest. His eyes widened at the sight of it. He hesitated before pulling it out. He was about to chuck it to the side, when he was lifted off the ground from behind. He spun round and thrust the blade into his enemy's arm, causing the man to retreat, and Wally to be released. He could barely stand on his own, let alone carry someone else, but he had to get Artemis out of here. She blinked, slowly coming round, and coughing up blood,

"H-hey-" she said, rolling onto her side, clutching the wound in her chest. She looked up at him and frowned, "Well don't just stand there," she ordered him. Wally picked her up, even though his limbs were screaming at him to lie down.

Artemis was taken by surprise, "I didn't mean…" She just looked at him, confused. She had wanted him to go after the enemy, not stay and help her. She then looked at the blood on her hand, and realized how badly hurt she was. She then looked up at Wally, as he carried her away from the fight. She could see a glimmer of something new in his green eyes: was it resolve? She had found him confusing from the day they met. He had seemed lazy and uncaring; yet he was so determined to protect people. She wondered if she had misjudged him. She had pictured him as arrogant and stubborn, but had not bothered to try and understand why. Now she could see it: What he had been hiding behind those green eyes, the will power that kept him going. It made Artemis Smile.

"I'll take you…" Wally tried to pick up his pace, "somewhere safe." He gritted his teeth and broke into a run. No normal human could have moved much after a battering like he had taken, but Wally was not fond of walking. He ran faster, out of the warehouse, along the road, and onto a grassy hill just outside the dockland area. He looked around, then seeing no enemy, finally collapsed onto his knees. He held Artemis carefully, looking at her wound, then noticed her gazing up at him, "You got beat up pretty bad." He told her,

"You're one to talk bruise-face." She replied, and tried to grin, but then coughed up more blood,

"Hey, its okay, don't talk. I'll get an ambulance and…" Wally stopped as he saw the look of horror on her face,

"You can't! You have to get back to the warehouse!" She coughed again, and Wally realized what he had to do,

"This is way out of our hands anyway, we should have already called the league by now." He picked up his communicator and was about to use it, when it buzzed at him,

"Hello?" He asked, hoping it was the league,

"Robin here, I've finished hacking the system, we're good to go… Why hasn't Artemis picked up her communicator?" Robin paused, and Wally noticed the broken half of the earpiece that was now caught around her neck.

"Its broken,"

"Awh, Batman will blow a fuse."

The following day, Wally was munching his way through a large order of hamburgers, chips and other junk food. This was the only way for him to regain his strength, or 'recharge'. He needed to heal properly before he could go on another mission. He figured that fifty-six extra large burgers should just about do it.

When he finally felt full, he left the diner and tried running around the block. Finding this satisfactory, he ran to Mount Justice. Upon arrival, he headed straight for the medical unit.

"Artemis?" He called, after knocking on the door. There was no reply, so he walked in. Seeing the girl asleep, he shut the door behind him carefully. He sat down by her bed, and rested his chin on his hand. He wondered what he would say when she woke up. Little did he know, she was not going to wake up, because she was not sleeping.

Artemis was lying there with her eyes closed, wondering what she would say to him, and what he would say to her. She decided it would be best to just continue pretending to be asleep and see what happened. Wally on the other hand was more proactive; he began speaking softly,

"Artemis, I guess you won't remember this cause you're asleep, but I want you to know something. I can't say it with you looking at me, so I'll say it while you don't know that I'm here. Seeing you get hurt like this, it felt bad. I mean really bad, and it made me realize something." He paused for a moment. Artemis tried to keep as still as possible, but inside she was full of anticipation, "I can't let that happen again. I can't let people get hurt, and I really sucked on that last mission. I'm fast, but I'm a slow thinker. I'll have to do something about that before I can go on another mission, I need to go and train." He sighed, then got up to leave, but Artemis caught his hand,

"Wally, wait." She stopped him. Surprised to find her awake, he turned to face her,

"You… heard all that didn't you…" It wasn't a question. She nodded though, and slowly sat up. Wally went to stop her, "Hey you've got to be careful," He reached out without thinking, and put his hand on her cheek. He stroked it gently, then zoned back in and realized what he was doing. He put his own face in his hands and moaned in frustration. This was the girl who found him unbearably irritating, what was he thinking?

"Wally?" Artemis looked at him, wondering why he had suddenly looked so gloomy,

"I have to go, I'm not letting something like this happen again, to you or anyone else." He mumbled into his hands,

"Wally there was nothing you could have done, it was a difficult task, and there were several strong opponents. You had your own fight to concentrate on, and I was up on the roof." She smiled, then took his hands gently in hers, moving them away from his face. He looked up at her, and saw something in her that made him feel calmer again.

"Why are you being so tolerant with me?" Wally asked the girl in front of him. He could not understand why she was not telling him to leave.

"You're the one who got me out of there right? Even though you could barely stand…" Artemis ruffled his red hair lightly,

"Hey, stop- never mind. It's okay. You can ruffle my hair if you want to." He felt Artemis pull him closer, and folding her arms around him. He could feel her warmth, and a gentleness he could not see before. On the surface she was a fighter, strong and stubborn, but now she was holding him sweetly in her arms, and he had to smile.

"I'm one lucky guy," Wally said, before sighing, "being hugged by such a beautiful lady," This made Artemis smile,

"Its nice to see you've cheered up enough to flirt." She told him,

"Is that what I was doing?" Wally smiled back, seeing how she was gazing into his green eyes, "How wicked of me." Kid flash was not one for holding back. He traced her jaw line softly with his fingers, before bringing his lips to meet hers. He kissed her lightly, and then breathed deeply before caressing her lips with his; again and again, each touch more passionate than the last. He could feel Artemis respond, pulling his body closer to her, receiving each kiss willingly. She moved her arms to wrap them around his neck, before pulling him forward and onto her bed. Between every other kiss now she gasped, demanding more.

When Wally finally stopped for breath, he could only stare at her. He was breathing so deeply now, and she was feeling dizzy with pleasure. He began kissing her neck instead, allowing her to recover her breath as well. She lay there in bliss, wondering why she had kept him away before.