Born For This

Promises

PHILLIPS RESIDENCE, STAR CITY

October 26, 09:24 PDT

I was fully awake, staring at the ceiling when my phone ringer sounded. The little theme reverberated off the walls loudly, alerting me of who was calling. Based on the song I specifically chose, I knew it was Dick. Of course, it had to be him. It was around noon in Gotham currently, while it was still technically morning on the West Coast.

Turning over, I picked up the device from my nightstand and stopped the Golden Girls theme song halfway through by pressing the answer button. I sighed, putting it up to my ear to listen.

"Hey," the Boy Wonder greeted softly on the other end.

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, groaning back, "Hi."

"How you feeling?"

I didn't know how to answer. How was I feeling? Angry. Stressed. Guilty. Lonely. What would describe how I was feeling?

"Not great," I responded with a shrug, sitting up in bed with my legs curled into my chest.

He hummed, "Wanna talk about it?"

Allowing myself to smile, I shook my head, deadpanning, "Not really. You know me, I keep my feelings bottled up until I explode."

"That's not healthy, Ems," he reminded me, using the nickname he gave me a while ago. He only called me that if the matter was serious. There was a brief silence, nothing out of the ordinary before- "Talk to me."

I took a deep breath, hoping that I wouldn't cry due to the conversation. I knew where this was heading and yet I decided to dive in anyway. He knew me and he knew I told him everything. After all, he was my best friend, why wouldn't I?

"I'm-" I paused, letting the words sink in. "...struggling. I wanted to tell Wally how I feel about him, but the simulation..."

He spoke up, trying to lighten the mood, "Yeah. Kinda put a damper on all our weeks."

I smiled a little before admitting, "I didn't mean to hurt you guys. I just..." I could feel the hot tears forming in the corner of my eyes. "...couldn't handle it anymore. I don't know how to function without my mom or Frank, or my siblings or Dinah. I had this sense of dread over the whole scenario after Artemis 'died'. It's like I was waiting for our inevitable deaths. And it hurt so much being there."

I did it. I got through it and still hadn't cried.

"Ems, believe me," the Boy Wonder replied quietly. "I know what it's like to be without your family, but trust me when I say that we're also your family. This team wouldn't have been complete without you and I can't think of anyone better by my side as my teammate and best friend. I will always be here for you, just as long as you promise to think about how we'd feel if you were gone. I wouldn't last two seconds without you. Hell, I ended up killing myself and Wally for the sake of the mission, because I didn't have you telling me I was being an idiot."

He did that because of me? I hurt him more than I thought. God, why am I so selfish?

My voice shook a little as I answered, "I'm sorry, Dick."

"Promise me," he pleaded, something he rarely did.

I hesitated a few seconds before nodding my head, "I promise."