THIS IS A BIRTHDAY FIC FOR ARTEMISBLOSSOM! HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIRL!

I heard it was her birthday so I scooped this half-finished fic out of my documents and said 'I WILL FINISH THIS FOR HER'.

And so I did.

Like, I've had this for months. Just sitting there.

Enjoy!

"Can I change the channel?" Wally asked, setting his box of mini-muffins on top of Artemis's ankles; since the girl had decided to stretch her feet out over his lap.

"No," Artemis responded, tucking her cold toes into the fabric of Wally's hoodie.

"But haven't you already seen this episode?" He griped.

"So what?" She smiled, amused by his annoyance. The redhead sent her an exasperated scowl.

"Why do you like this show anyway?" The speedster groaned, "It's all bogus, and ridiculously difficult to follow,"

"One; the main characters are super-hot guys," She pointed to the screen where Sam and Dean Winchester were exploring some dark building, Wally just rolled his eyes, "Two; it's interesting. And three; this is only like, season two and they haven't even gone to hell at all yet,"

"All I know is that you sit here drooling at these guys that talk gibberish about things that they obviously don't understand," Wally popped another muffin into his mouth.

"Would you like me to change to the SyFy channel then?" Artemis spoke with false innocence.

Wally threw her a look, "Arty you know that channel just pisses me off," He brushed a finger against her foot experimentally, laughing when she squirmed, "Can't we watch Mythbusters? I think that's on,"

"Hell no!" Artemis chuckled, "That show only gives you and Rob ideas,"

"You're just mad because we used your furniture," He snickered, tickling one of her feet. Artemis let out an involuntary laugh and shot her other foot out to push his hand away. "Alright, alright!" Wally yelped when a kick came dangerously close to his face, "Truce?" He asked, holding out a muffin.

Artemis sat up and scrutinized the pastry with narrowed eyes. Wally rose and eyebrow but smiled when she finally took the mini-muffin and popped it into her mouth. The speedster decided to eat one as well; in celebration for making a truce, of course.

The archer turned to the Food Network where she and Wally could always agree before she suddenly felt it. Her heart was speeding up for no reason and her throat started itching.

"Wally!" Artemis gasped; sitting upright on the couch as she grabbed for the box the muffins came in scanning the nutrition label.

"Artemis, what's wrong?" Wally asked hesitantly, confused by her sudden behavior. The blonde's eyes widened and she threw the box to the coffee table, one hand flying to her throat as the other reached out for the speedster.

"M-my b-bag," She wheezed, her face growing red.

The redhead leapt up and kneeled in front of the archer, placing his hands on her shoulders and his face outwardly showing his panic, "Are you choking? I can do the Heimlich! If you just stand up I can-"

Artemis pushed one of his hands away and pointed down the hallway frantically, her other hand still holding her throat. She opened her mouth to try and convey a message but her throat was nearly swollen closed and all that came out was strangled breaths.

"Wait!" Wally shrieked as it dawned on him that she was having an allergic reaction, "You're in anaphylactic shock! Do you have an epi-pen?" He asked quickly while Artemis focused on trying to get him to get her bag in her room and not punching him for being such a slow idiot. But the speedster seemed to catch on now to her waving arm and disappeared down the hallway.

He came back a moment later, his hair wild from the speed, "It's not there! I looked everywhere!" Wally explained, kneeling down and eyeing her with extreme concern.

Artemis pushed him to the side and attempted to stand so she could go look herself, but in hindsight it was a stupid idea anyway. She was already getting lightheaded from the little oxygen she was getting through her swollen trachea and the moment she stood the archer wavered on her feet.

"I'll take you to the hospital," Wally spoke decisively, scooping her up without warning and racing off toward the exit of the cave.

Artemis gripped his shirt weakly, her mind hazy as her body focused solely on trying to retain oxygen.

"We'll be there in just a minute, hold on Beautiful," Wally spoke slowly, trying to make sure she heard him, but the panic within him had turned his voice angry and he winced from the tone he used. Artemis, however, hadn't even heard him. She had lost consciousness.

"Beautiful?" He glanced down when he noticed her hand was no longer gripping onto him, "Artemis!"

Wally ran even faster, nearly forgetting to skid to a stop outside the hospital to protect his identity.

"HELP!" The redhead yelped as he ran at a normal speed through the emergency room doors. A nurse noticed him and pressed a button to call a stretcher as she waved him over, "She's having an allergic reaction!" He explained quickly, "Her throat swelled up! She couldn't breathe! She still can't breathe!" Wally's voice steadily grew louder.

"Did you give her an epinephrine pen?" The nurse asked calmly, looking around for the stretcher to arrive. Wally shook his head a bit too fast but the nurse didn't notice, "Alright well we have a-" She stopped as a group of people rolling a stretching burst through the door.

Wally didn't even ask if it was for Artemis, but ran over and carefully placed her on it before anyone could stop him. They didn't though, and the nurse gently nudged him away as she led the way for the stretcher to be taken, explaining the situation as they went.

He tried to follow them but a nurse caught him at the swinging doors and explained that he wasn't allowed through.

Wally sat in the waiting room with his head in his hands and his foot tapping wildly. A couple of people had asked him to stop already, but his foot would just start up again a few moments later without his conscious knowing. He'd called Robin first and had the boy hook him up with the rest of the team via a conference cell phone call. But there were reasons they weren't at the cave in the first place and couldn't come away to wait with him.

The chair was uncomfortable, stiff even, with the little padding it had. And it felt sick, dirty. Although he knew, logically, that hospitals were one of the cleanest places around. His green eyes wandered around the room as he took in the wilted forms of other visitors. Chatting quietly among themselves and making calls much like he had. His head dipped again as his thoughts turned back to the blonde that had been whisked away from him. No one had come to tell him anything. It had been nearly half an hour. But no news was good news. Right?

"Wally,"

The speedsters head shot up, and his lips formed the beginnings of "How is she?" before he realized that it wasn't a doctor or nurse in front of him.

"Ollie?" The redhead asked curiously as he took in the civilian ID of Green Arrow. The blonde man nodded and slumped into the chair next to him, no longer looking anything like the confidant hero he was used to.

"Have you heard anything?" The man grumbled as he fiddled with the corner of his jacket.

"No," Wally watched him for a moment before continuing, "You know, the team knows that you aren't actually Artemis's uncle. You don't have to keep up appearances anymore," He held back the biting tone his mind wanted him to use. It upset him that GA would do this. Artemis was hurt, and she didn't need someone around if they were only going to pretend to care.

But Oliver gave the boy a sharp glare, his eyes flaring, "You don't think I'm actually worried about her?" He snapped. It was a rhetorical question and Wally kept his mouth shut, "Just because I'm not actually her uncle doesn't mean I don't care. I've still taken her on as my new sidekick, and I've been training her for months now," The archer paused, his anger ebbing, "And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't trying to give her a decent father figure. One who isn't going to put her through what her own flesh and blood did,"

Wally's head fell in shame, "Sorry…" More words formed on his tongue but he wasn't sure which ones could mend the situation.

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gone off on you like that," He sighed, clasping Wally's shoulder weakly, "We're both on edge,"

"Wally West?" A nurse called out to the waiting room at large.

"That's me!" Wally answered breathlessly as he ran as fast as he could at a normal speed until he is standing in front of the woman. Oliver followed at a quick pace.

"Is Artemis alright?" The hero asked breathlessly.

The nurse nodded before reading off of the check board in her hands, "Miss Crock has had an allergic reaction but she is fine now. However she is still recovering and cannot be disturbed for at least another hour. I cannot say how soon she will wake," She told them professionally. Neither male had any questions so she quickly took her leave as the two made their way back to their chairs.

Wally slunk into his chair with a hand scrubbing his face, "Another hour?" He whined.

"Do you have somewhere you need to be?" Ollie inquired, hunched over with his elbows on his knees.

"No," Wally answered quickly, wanting to dispel any ideas in Oliver's head that portrayed him as an uncaring friend, "I just want to see her for myself," He sighed, "To make sure she's okay,"

"I understand," The archer nodded, clapping a hand on the boy's back, "We don't have to worry anymore though," He smiled.

The speedster had opened his mouth to ask a question when Ollie's phone began vibrating in his jacket pocket. The man held a finger up and pulled out the device.

"Oliver Queen," He answered professionally.

Wally distracted himself from eavesdropping by looking at the other people waiting and spotting who looked the most closely related based on physical features, something he often did to keep his mind occupied. He had almost convinced himself that two women with matching recessive alleles were long lost sisters when Oliver hung up with a frown.

"I'm afraid I'm needed back at work and can't sneak my way out of it," The blond frowned. Wally only nodded because he could see the disappointment in the man's eyes from having to leave, "You'll call me when they allow visitors?" He asked; his tone hopeful.

"Of course," The redhead smiled, recalling that yes, he did in fact have the man's number in his cell phone contacts, "As soon as they allow it,"

"Good boy," Ollie gripped Wally's shoulder roughly. Wally's eyes bugged a bit from the strong grip but he knew it was meant to be a sign of affection so he held in the grimace wanting to form.

The hero left with the loud clacking of his business shoes on the hospital tile, and Wally wondered how he would possibly be able to handle the wait that was ahead of him.

An hour. The redhead thought, running a hand through his disheveled hair. An hour was like forever to a speedster; not to mention the fact that the speedster was Wally.

He momentarily pondered on the idea of leaving and coming back, but the thought passed just as quickly as it had come. There was no way he was leaving Artemis alone. All the staff, patients, and visitors didn't count. It was one thing to wake up and find yourself in a hospital. It was entirely different to wake in a hospital with no one waiting for you.

The speedster picked up a nearby magazine to browse, frowning at the pink pages claiming to have the secrets on how to 'Woo the guy of your dreams' and 'clear your pimples overnight!'

He had browsed over nearly every magazine on every table (being an absolute annoyance to the other visitors as he jogged around to find new material) when a nurse finally called for him.

"Wally West," He grunted; a clipboard in one hand and a stethoscope in the other.

"That's me!" The redhead called out enthusiastically, walking briskly to the nurse who raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"You can visit your friend now. But keep the noise to a minimum," He spoke gruffly, leading the way down the hall.

Wally eagerly looked in every door they passed; just to be sure they didn't accidentally miss her or take him to the wrong room.

They reached a nondescript room and the nurse paused in front of the door, "Don't disturb the other patient," He warned before quickly walking away to his other tasks.

The redhead walked into the room quietly, taking in the dimmed lighting and the elderly man asleep in the first bed. His heart sped up as he reached the curtain that withheld the only other bed in the room, his anxiousness inciting terrible images of what might lie behind.

He swallowed his nervousness and slipped pass the thin sheet, releasing a breath at what he saw.

Artemis was sleeping peacefully away on the hospital bed, a heart monitor clip attached to her finger and reporting to the machine by her bedside that was beeping softly. Her hair had been taken out of her pony tail and it laid about her like a halo. Wally was relieved to see that she seemed fine.

"Artemis?" He whispered, not wanting to wake her if she was very deep into her sleep. Wally scooted a chair to the side of the bed and relaxed into it, finally feeling calm after an afternoon of panic, "Artemis?" He tried a little louder.

The blonde stirred slightly, her brow furrowing and her head turning into the pillow. Wally laughed, enjoying the unguarded sleepy state of his friend that he never got to see.

"You gonna wake up?" He grinned, leaning forward and prodding her arm lightly.

Artemis groaned in protest and her eyes fluttered open, still half lidded from a sedation-induced sleep.

"Wally?" She asked; her tone one of innocent confusion.

"Afternoon Beautiful," He smiled, internally loving the pout she was unknowingly forming, "You gave me quite the scare,"

"Wallyyyyy," Artemis repeated, her pout reaching one of childish degrees as she turned on her side and stuck her hand out towards the redhead.

Wally frowned, and allowed her to grab his hand, smirking when she pulled it to her face and rested it beneath her cheek as a pillow, "You're still on drugs, aren't you?" He raised an eyebrow.

She smiled and cuddled into his hand.

"Arty stop being so cute, you're gonna regret this later," He warned her, his tone reprimanding.

The pout came back.

"You're terrible," He chuckled "How long until this wears off, huh?"

Artemis didn't answer, Wally wasn't really expecting one.

He sat with her quietly for a while, playing a game of 'If Wally smiles at Artemis, Artemis buries her head in his hand'. Eventually the archer sighed and scooted closer to the edge of the bed, her free hand reaching out once more. Wally understood and allowed her his other hand, curious to see what she would do with it.

Artemis guided his hand to the top of her head and placed it upon her hair, mimicking a petting motion. Wally couldn't hold in a laugh and complied, his smile stuck on his face as she nearly purred from the action. He moved from his chair to sit on the side of her bed so that he could reach her without stretching his arm out.

"So you're a cat," He declared, "Still no talking,"

"I'm kind of loopy," She breathed, her eyes closed and her head still turned into his touch. Wally's eyebrows rose. Speech was progress.

"Yeah you are," He agreed, trying to get her to continue.

"What happened?" Artemis's voice was rough and her tone wasn't as childish or whiney as it had been when she'd first called out to him, so he suspected the drugs were wearing off.

However she still insisted that he pet her, and her hair was extremely soft, so he'd moved on to carding his fingers through it instead.

"You had an allergic reaction to a mini muffin," Wally explained, "So I ran you to the Happy Harbor Hospital,"

"That's alliteration," Artemis hummed.

The redhead blinked a few times, "Uh, yeah I guess it is,"

She opened her eyes again, watching him with intense purpose. Wally wondered if maybe her cognition was coming back.

"I like your freckles," She declared.

Wally pursed his lips in thought, "Thank…you?" He tried, not entirely sure how to converse with such a strange acting teammate.

"I don't like freckles," Artemis added.

Wally said nothing, the archer wasn't making sense.

She opened her eyes a little wider and her mouth gapped open a few times before she spoke again, "But I like your freckles,"

"Okay," He decided that a neutral approached would be best.

"I like them because they're your freckles," Artemis explained.

Wally felt his ears growing red and a smile played at his face that he had to fight down, "Hey Arty, how about you go back to sleep, you've got to work off the drugs in your system," He didn't know if he could handle her like this any further.

Her favorite pout returned with a vengeance, "Wally I don't do drugs,"

"I know you don't Beautiful," He bit his lip when her nickname just kept falling into his speech.

Artemis smiled widely, her face lighting up in happiness, "Beautiful," She repeated.

"Yeah," Wally laughed, "You're beautiful Artemis, now go to sleep,"

She settled back into the pillow, releasing the hand she'd been cuddling close to her face, "My hair," She whispered.

"Your hair is beautiful too," He told her.

Artemis let a small laugh bubble up, "No," She chided, "Keep doing…" She gestured to the hand that Wally was still running through her locks. He nodded in understanding.

"Okay, I won't stop," Wally agreed, "Now go to sleep,"

The blonde nodded with a sigh and sunk fully into the pillow, a pleasant smile gracing her face.

Wally sighed as well and pulled out his phone to look at a clock.

He wondered how long she'd have to sleep before she wasn't an adorable pouter any longer. Artemis was wonderful, and Wally already knew that he had it for her bad. But he didn't think he could handle her much longer like that before he would be unable to not scoop her up into his arms and cuddle her right back.

Yeah, he had it bad.

"Wally?" The voice is far away and he pushes his face farther into the sheets, trying to escape from it.

"Wallace West you wake up right now,"

The redhead awoke with a start from Artemis's tone and the underlying threat it held.

"What?" He grumbled, blinking his eyes into focus and realizing where he was.

He was in Artemis's hospital room.

In her bed.

And she was next to him.

Oh. She looked angry.

"I feel asleep didn't I?" He squeaked, throwing himself off the bed and back into the chair he'd abandoned an hour ago. Artemis was sitting up with her arms crossed, her sharp grey eyes narrowed.

"Yes, in my bed," She hissed. Wally cursed himself for noticing how wild she looked with her hair undone and her favorite scowl in place.

"I wouldn't have been there if you hadn't pulled me up! I had no choice!" He defended.

Artemis's face morphed into one of utter terror, "What?"

"You were totally out of it, really wanted to use my hands as pillows," He laughed, his voice wavering as he remembered what else the archer had done. She wouldn't be happy to learn that she'd complimented his freckles.

She gave a deep frown and her eyes darted to the wall, "Lovely," She scoffed, "Can you remind me why I'm here?" Artemis held a hand to her forehead.

Wally leaned forward, settling his elbows on his knees, "You had an allergic reaction to a mini muffin, I ran you here when I couldn't find your epi-pen,"

Artemis nodded slowly, her memories returning.

"What are you allergic to?" The redhead blurted out.

She paused, as though considering if she wanted to give out that information, before heaving a sigh, "Poppy seeds,"

"Poppy seeds?" Wally repeated, "But the muffin-"

"There's poppy seed oil in some breads and things," Artemis shrugged, "Usually pretty unavoidable,"

"Ah," Wally breathed, dropping his head and running his hand through his hair, "I'm…" He paused, biting his lip and unintentionally drawing Artemis's full attention, "I'm really sorry,"

"What for?" The blonde asked.

"For giving you something that could kill you," His voice got louder, growing a bit strained as well.

"It's not your fault, you didn't know," Artemis said sharply, "And you got me here too, so I guess it evens out," She smirked.

Wally gave her a reluctant smile, relieved that she didn't blame him, "I'm glad you're okay," He told her quietly.

Artemis returned the smile and was about to respond, when a tall blonde menace traipsed into the room.

"West! I told you to call me when she woke up!" Ollie snapped.

"Ollie!" Wally grimaced, shrinking into his chair.

"Hey there Ollie," Artemis smirked, drawing the man's attention.

"Artemis!" The archer grinned, striding up to the bed and yanking her into a hug. Artemis grunted in frustration and awkwardly patted his back, "I'm so relieved you're okay!"

"Thanks," She grit out, pulling an exaggerated face of unhappiness at Wally over his shoulder. The redhead chuckled.

Oliver released her and promptly sat down at the side of her bed, sending another glare towards the speedster.

"I would have called you, but I fell asleep waiting for her to wake up," He explained, his hands held up in surrender.

Artemis nodded when her mentor turned to her for confirmation, "It's true, I woke up and he was snoring away,"

"I don't snore," Wally retorted.

"Yes, you do," Artemis crossed her arms.

"Anyway!" Ollie cut in before Wally could speak up again, "The doctor says that you can leave in another hour, once they're sure that all the drugs are completely out of your system,"

"Another hour?" She huffed, wrinkling her nose in distaste, "Can't they at least bring me some food? I'm pretty sure they pumped my stomach,"

Wally started laughing and Artemis sent him a look, "What? You sound like me,"

The blonde whipped her head around to glare at the older archer, "Ollie get me out of here,"

"No can do Sweetheart," He clapped a hand on her knee. Wally raised an eyebrow at the affectionate term that Oliver seemed accustomed to using, smiling when Artemis refused to me his gaze and a flush spread across her cheeks.

"And," Oliver continued, "I have to leave again. I only managed to get away from the office for a little while, I have to go back or they'll gut me," He sighed, "I'm sorry Artemis,"

"It's alright Ollie, thanks for checking up on me," Artemis smiled.

"And I'll be checking up on you later when I'm off work too," He threatened with a smile, his cheeks nearly rosy with paternal pride.

"Bye Ollie," Wally gave the blonde a small smile a wave as he headed out of the room.

"Goodbye Wally," He responded, his eyes a bit narrowed in warning. Wally understood the message clearly. It wasn't the first time he'd gotten the 'I'm watching you' glare from him.

Wally suspected that if things went as well as they were going already, he might be getting a little more than a warning glare before the year was up.

Of course, that depended both on Artemis herself, and his own courage.

"Any chance I could get you to run me out of here?" Artemis smirked, leaning back into the many pillows on her bed.

"Not really," Wally laughed, "But I could run to a store and get us some snacks," He suggested.

"That sounds great, actually," The blonde grinned, "Could you get me a drink too?" She added as the speedster was getting up.

"One straw or two, Beautiful?" He wiggled his eyebrows.

Artemis let out a laugh before launching a pillow at his head.

It was worth it.

Things returned to normal after Artemis was returned from the hospital. Her teammates fretted over her for a bit but after a week everything had calmed down and life was the same again.

Except for one thing.

Artemis had always been resilient in checking the ingredients of products in the cave. (Her mother never bought anything with poppy seed in it at home.) After every trip to the store the blonde would scour the cabinets and check to see if there were things she'd need to avoid.

Wally had brought the mini muffins straight from the store the day she'd been caught unaware, a simple mistake on her part to assume that he'd gotten them from the kitchen.

However, each week after the incident Artemis was shocked to find that not one product had poppy seeds or poppy seed oil in it.

And she'd been careful not to tell M'gann what she was allergic too, the archer didn't want to inconvenience the girl that was already shopping for a whole team.

Which meant that someone was scouring the food for her.

And there was only one person that had recently learned of her allergy.

"Wally," She called loudly, knocking on the speedster's door. She could hear some of his music through the wall so she knew he was in there.

The door opened and Wally stepped out, "Yeah? What'cha need Arty?"

"I need to talk to you about something," Artemis told him, her tone all business.

"Alright," He nodded.

Artemis was about to speak again, accusing him, when her eye caught sight of something in his room, "No way," She breathed.

"What?" Wally frowned, "Hey wait!-"

Artemis shoved him out of her way as she burst into his room, her eyes growing wide as the massive amounts of food products he had begun hoarding, "Wally…"

"I'm too lazy to run to the kitchen sometimes," He defended, trying to wave the blonde away from his collection. However Artemis had already grabbed a box and was reading the ingredients.

"You've been taking all of the food in the kitchen that I'm allergic to," She turned to him, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she brandished a box of cereal at him.

"So?!" The redhead answered, his ears growing red in embarrassment, "What's wrong with that? I'm eating the stuff anyway,"

"You idiot," Artemis threw the box to the ground and raised her eyes to the ceiling, a flush crawling across her cheeks.

"I don't get it," Wally let out a breath, inching closer to the girl carefully.

The blonde let out a shuddering sigh and took the last step forward to bring them together, dropping her face into his neck and wrapping her arms around his neck. Wally stiffened briefly before returning the hug.

"Wally," She spoke into his shoulder.

"Yeah," He whispered, as though he might have been dreaming.

"It's really sweet of you to do this, but I can take care of myself," Artemis pulled away giving the redhead a smirk.

"But what if you accidentally eat poppy seed stuff and choke and no one is here," Wally said, speaking in one long breath.

"What happened was an accident, I keep track of everything I can't eat in the cave," Artemis shrugged.

Wally frowned as he thought things through, attempting to come to a decision.

"Besides," Artemis cut off his thinking, "If you're eating all of this," She gestured around the room to his collection of food, "Then it becomes too dangerous for me to kiss you," The blonde crossed her arms, a large smirk on her features, "So I think you better put this stuff back,"

After her last word, Artemis turned and strutted out of his room, closing his door behind her with a satisfying thud.

"What?" Wally mumbled, continuing to stand in the middle of his room in shock. His mind trying to catch up with Artemis's words, "What?"

I hope you liked it Catey!

This fic struggled with me, fought with me, but eventually I beat it! Haha! Victory!

I chose to give Artemis a poppy seed allergy because it's a semi-common allergy (or so the internet says) that it's pretty easy to handle but can have very intense reactions. I didn't want to give her something like a peanut allergy because I wanted something that might seem more realistic for the show. And superheroes never seem to have allergies.

Love, Veg