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SEVEN MONTHS AFTER Artemis broke down in front of Dick Grayson about Wally’s engagement to Linda Park it was finally evident upon the people around her that she has already moved on, and that everything was actually okay.
Dick played a huge part in the period of Artemis’ recovery. And the blonde law student was very thankful of that. They’ve officially moved up to Leaguer status, but they still assist The Team on their missions more often than not.
Everything was alright, and Artemis was sure that hearing about Wally and his current fiancée didn’t hurt her anymore. With the current work piled upon her table, she was sure that she has a lot more to worry about than the up and coming Park-West Nuptial to be held tomorrow.
Much to her dismay, she didn’t get an invitation – but Dick did. There was a bitter taste on her tongue when she found out that the couple started to hand out an invitation to everyone on the Team and the League but her. But then again, maybe it was because they didn’t want anyone making some kind of scandal on their wedding day.
An amused laugh escaped the blonde’s lips. They could keep their delusions to themselves, she thought. She was perfectly fine with her law firm internship, and her current status on the Delta Squad of the Justice League with Nightwing.
She realized it long before this very moment, that it was Wally who’d lost something valuable when he decided to end their relationship. And that put Artemis at ease. It made her feel some strange, yet twisted kind of comfort that she eventually settled for. It was him who decided that he needed someone new, it was him who was the main reason why this thing didn’t worked out.
At least, that’s what she wanted herself to believe. And that’s what she continued to believe in.
Dick had left about an hour ago for his next shift at the Bludhaven PD, thus, leaving Artemis alone in her apartment to fend for herself. She didn’t really require him to visit five times a week, but it was his own personal choice to do so – and it wasn’t like Artemis minded anyway. Dick Grayson was actually a great companion whenever her place got a little too silent.
The stack of papers on her desk were enough to guarantee Artemis a long night. She’d nothing to do on the weekend, and so she signed herself up for all the paperwork needed in the law firm. The entire place was quiet, save for the occasional flipping of paper and the constant tapping of her pencil on the desk.
It was only then that Artemis remembered that Dick left her a cup of coffee in the microwave. Though she didn’t really agree with his methods of putting the ceramic mugs in the microwave to make coffee, she genuinely liked it when he made her coffee before leaving her alone in the apartment to do her own work. It was an effort that she will always be thankful for.
Eagerly, she went over to the microwave and took the cup of coffee that surprisingly stayed mildly warm after an hour. She suspected that he placed the water in the microwave for too long before making her coffee.
A coaster was located conveniently to the far right side of her desk, and she safely secured the position of the coffee right there – just so she wouldn’t ruin the numerous evidence reports sent to her by her boss. Goddamn. If she ruined those, she might as well have ruined herself.
For three hours she worked endlessly. Highlighting phone conversations, reading between the lines of what these evidences presented, collecting information that wasn’t written verbally, and analysing every single thing down to the core.
If she was to be a great lawyer like she initially wanted to be, then she’d have to be more than willing to spend an all-nighter trying to decipher what the hell went down in this crime.
And just as she was about to highlight a phone call that occurred at midnight two months ago, her phone rang.
She sent a glare directly to the nightstand where her phone was currently located. With an exhausted sigh, she stood back up and took the phone.
Much to her surprise – and petulance – it was the person she least expected who was actually calling her at three in the fucking morning. She debated on whether she should answer the call or not. Because if he was just calling to push all her buttons and to open closed wounds, then she wouldn’t hesitate to take the nearest Zeta Tube to wherever he is to deliver a strong punch on his jaw.
However, Artemis also prided herself on being there for when people actually needed her.
Hesitantly, she answered the phone.
“Artemis speaking.” She greeted monotonously, as if she was expecting nothing but pure bullshit from the person at the end of the line.
Everything was perfectly aligned with her annoyance, especially when she was greeted with nothing but silence from the end of the line. This fuelled her irritation even more than she’d like to admit.
“I swear to God, Wallace West, if you’re here to deliver a prank call at three in the morning and irritate me further than you should hang up before I come over there and pun—“
“I’m sorry I just missed you.”
Artemis fell silent. And just like that, all the air was sucked away from her lungs. She couldn’t find herself breathing, in fact, she doesn’t even know if she was actually living through this at the moment. Her hands gripped the nearest thing, which happened to be the chair she was sitting on. The silence ensued between the two of them and Artemis couldn’t find the words to say.
“Are you mad?” She heard from the other end of the phone line.
Her other hand curled into a fist and she was trying her best not to scream at him.
“Am I mad? Yes, I used to be. But now I’m just fucking disappointed because you couldn’t even invite me to your goddamn wedding. Yes, I was your ex-girlfriend, but I was your friend too! Or so I thought.” A bitter laughed followed, the stockpile of papers on her desk finally forgotten.
His sigh from the other end of the line screamed exhaustion. She’d heard it before during one of their phone calls when she was at New York and he was still in their apartment in Palo Alto. This was foreign, yet familiar territory. Like an ocean they’d cross years ago, and were coming back to just now. Artemis didn’t like it, not one bit – but she couldn’t find herself hanging up.
“I’m sorry. I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to say ‘I do’ if you were right there in the pews.”
And that hit her harder than any other villain in her life had. He called her at three in the fucking morning just hours away from his big day, telling her that he probably couldn’t do it if she was there. Artemis doesn’t know how to feel. There was a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, and her heart was rioting in her ribcage.
“Don’t say that. You’re going to marry Linda Park, and you’re going to be really happy on the day of your wedding.” At this point, she doesn’t know who she was trying to reassure; herself or her ex-boyfriend.
None of this was what she wanted. It truly made her feel shitty that Wally still knew his way around her heart, even when Dick was starting to grow on her already. Just as Dick was already making himself a constant presence in her life, shining a light brighter than Kid Flash ever did – Wally came back with a single phone call at three in the morning.
“Mom still looks for you sometimes, you know? She would always ask me why I chose to break it off with you. And up until now I really don’t know why I did.”
“Stop talking, please.” She breathed out.
Clearly this was affecting her just as it was him. Or maybe he was doing this just to play an awful game with her; one that she was never going to play. And it sucked so much that Artemis had to be on the receiving end of this conversation, but did she really have much of a choice? She answered the call thinking it was about some petty little detail he’d forgotten to tell her prior to their eventual end.
What she didn’t expect was that the phone call would be filled with what could possibly be Wally West’s regrets.
Too bad they came a year late, though. And Artemis had already moved forward, way too ahead for him to even catch up with her. But that didn’t mean that some of pain wasn’t still engraved in her chest.
He knew how to get to her, and Artemis hated every single bit of it. She wanted to tear his part away from her system like it was a sticker and she was piece of paper. Even with the multiple reasons for her to crumble down, Artemis didn’t let it show. Instead, she kept her chin up and spoke.
“It’s too late for you to decide whether or not you want me back, Wally. Do you realise how hard it was for me to pick myself back up? Only for you to try and make attempts of bringing me back to square one?”
“I know, Artemis! God. I knew how wrong it was for me to break up with you when we’re already going strong, I thought you weren’t what I needed anymore but it turns out all I ever needed was you. And now I’m going to have to suffer the consequences of my wrong decisions. I love Linda, I really do. But I need you. And that says a lot.”
By now, her chest was almost heaving, and her tears are almost falling. It was taking every single inch of her willpower not to cry or sob. He couldn’t hear her falling apart because of him. It would make him think that she wanted him back as well, which she didn’t. It would also probably made him think that he still has an effect over her – which he actually does, she just didn’t want him to see it.
“You don’t just push people out of your life, make it all official and then want them back after a year. Life doesn’t work like that. You don’t know how hard Dick tried to get me to stop thinking about you and stressing about what could have happened between the two of us if I didn’t leave. But if this counts for anything, you know I’ll always love you. And I’m here if you need me. Just not in the way you wanted me to be there, not anymore.”
With that, she hung up and found herself sitting down on the ground with tears flowing down her cheeks.