i.

Find your own little spitfire.

He just can't get that out of his head all the way back to the cave. Kent Nelson, in his dying words, told him to-

"Still trying to figure out that last bit of magic?" Artemis asks wryly from her seat in the bioship.

"It wasn't magic," he bites back. "Just a construct, molecular manipulation. Simple!"

He doesn't turn back to look, but he can almost hear her roll her eyes.

As they're leaving the bioship, however, Artemis stops him by the door. He's the last one out; the others are long gone.

"What?" he snaps.

"Look, I just wanted to say…" she exhales sharply. "Thanks. If you hadn't, y'know, done the helmet thingy, we'd probably have died. So…"

An apology? To him? It's a little out of character for her, but he'll take it any day. For a second he thinks maybe…

They both incline their heads at the exact same time, not entirely sure what they're doing. It just feels right.

Wait, is he trying to kiss her? But he hates her! What is he doing? Wally pulls away quickly, rubbing the back of his head. "Magic still doesn't exist, though."

Artemis blinks once, then narrows her eyes at him. "Whatever, Wally." With a flip of her ponytail, she walks down the gangplank, leaving him in the dust.

ii.

When he wakes up, all he sees is desert. Miles and miles of it. So he goes into hyperspeed and zooms up and down dunes, looking for something, anything, anything but sand. He almost trips when he finally sees it.

It's just a little shack, but its somewhere to stop by and focus. Now that he thinks about it, he can't really remember much from before he woke up…

So he swings open the door of the shack and marches right inside, barely noticing the girl fast asleep in the corner.

And then all of a sudden he does, tripping backward over his feet.

"Whoa, sorry miss, I didn't realize-" Oh. Smooth one, KF. She's sleeping. "Do I… know you?"

No, there's no way he could know her. He never gets to meet pretty girls like her.

But there's something about her…

"Wake up, beautiful…" he mumbles, leaning over her.

So she does, and he introduces himself, and they talk for a moment. He's really hoping she won't actually kill him, although- WHOA! Yeah, okay, maybe that missile will get to him first…

Wally speeds this gorgeous girl away from the tanks and sets her down when they're safe. Then he formally introduces himself, trying his best at flirting with her – and surprisingly, she reciprocates it! He's starting to like this Artemis girl.

He tells her just that, and she blushes just a little.

"You're not so bad yourself," she says.

Taking that as his cue, Wally takes a tentative step forward and thinks maybe he could kiss her. She leans in as well, when-

Tanks come over the nearest dune, firing at them nonstop. They jump apart, fearing they've been caught in more ways than one. He glances at her, and she says exactly what he's thinking.

"Run!"

iii.

He's dead, he's so dead, and he never got to tell Artemis he-

But then he's not dead. There's darkness, and then light, and then he's waking up in the cave. Is this some sort of heaven? But he doesn't believe in heaven…

No. No, there's Megan, and Superboy, and Robin. They're alive! How could this – and Batman! The other Justice Leaguers! How is this possible? He thought- but if they're alive, maybe- no- a flash of blonde hair- sitting up on a table near him- and-

Before he knows what he's doing, he's up and running at top speed and smothering her in a hug because ohgodohgodhethoughtshewasdea d.

"I thought you were dead," he mumbles into the top of her head, unable to believe that she's here, that he's here, that somehow… He doesn't understand what's going on, he can hear Batman explaining, but it doesn't matter.

"Wally? Mmmfphh- what are you doing?" She pulls away from the hug. "We were just- the beam, I-"

He takes her in, her gray eyes and the cute little crease between them because she's confused. He never thought he'd see those eyes again. "Artemis, I-" Because even though it's crazy, even though he doesn't know how he's alive, he knows that if they die right here, right now, he wants her to know.

But he doesn't know what to say, he's never been any good at this stuff, especially not with someone like Artemis, so he just leans forward before his overactive brain tells him to stop.

Before he can kiss her though, Megan's run forward to envelope Artemis in a hug as well. And then Robin, and Superboy, and suddenly she's not just Wally's anymore. The moment's passed. His panic fades as he realizes what's going on, she's not going to die, and he can wait just a little longer.

iv.

He can't believe it. He just can't believe Artemis would do something like that, sabotaging a mission for her own pride. He thought they were supposed to be heroes, that heroes did what was best for the world, not best for themselves. It disgusts him that Artemis, Artemis, doesn't believe that too.

So he yells at her about it, and then he doesn't talk to her for a few days. It takes him a while to cool down. She completely ruined a week's worth of work, and with Cheshire on the loose, who knows what'll happen.

He knows he can't stay mad at her forever. She's still Artemis, and he still cares about her. But he'll try pretty darn hard.

One day, he's training in the practice arena alone when he turns and finds her in the doorway.

"What do you want?" he says.

She raises an eyebrow. "Can we talk?"

"Whatever." He's still not ready to face his anger. What she did was wrong, and there's nothing that can remedy that.

"I just… wanted to explain why I did what I did last week."

"There's no explanation. You wanted to prove yourself."

"A little while ago you said I had nothing to prove. Are you really that hypocritical?"

"We're supposed to be heroes, Artemis. I might ask the same question of you."

She sighs, coming over to where he's training and kicking a dummy. "You don't get it."

"No, I don't, and I don't care. I thought you were different, Artemis."

"I am different! Wally, you don't understand! You think I'd do that to my own team?" She reaches over, grabs him by the collar of his shirt, and looks him in the eye.

"I didn't, not until last week. You're selfish, Artemis." But then he stops, because there's something in her expression, and okay, even when he's mad at her, he's got to admit she's beautiful too. And he didn't realize before just how close she was to him.

Her face falls into a thoughtful expression, and then she says very slowly, "Maybe I am."

Artemis leans her face in just a little closer to his. He's frozen like Captain Cold. Is she going to-

Robin takes that moment to pop in the doorway, shouting, "Hey, guys, Batman wants us in the briefing room! I think he's got a mission!" before disappearing just as quickly.

Artemis lets go of Wally's shirt, avoiding his eyes, and turns and runs after Robin.

He straightens his clothes, rakes a hand through his hair, and thinks maybe his anger has abated just a little.

v.

"I should have done this a long time ago."

"No kidding."