A New Beginning

Rejoining The Team

Artemis' POV 

I leaned against the couch as Batman briefed us about the mission that we were assigned. Everyone kept glancing at me, looking happy. It was honestly making me uncomfortable, but I acted like it wasn't.

Ollie was standing next to me, his arms draped over my shoulders. "Your new getup is pretty awesome, Artemis." He said.

 I rolled my eyes. "It's literally just my original outfit, without the crop top part, in black and silver, with no mask. But thanks."

"And you're wearing your hair down," Dinah added. "And short."

"I do that quite a lot now, actually. And I like it short. Not as much to handle."

She smiled at me. "You look really nice. You're getting to be a gorgeous woman."

I smiled a little and looked down. "Thanks."

"Well, first mission in two years! Aren't you excited?" Ollie asked with a grin after the briefing was over.

I shrugged. "It's not like I haven't secretly been doing hero work from time to time since I got kicked to the curb."

"You're never gonna let everyone live that down, are you?"

"Nope." I popped the 'p'.

"Fair."

"C'mon, Artemis!" M'gann called. 

"Comin'!" 

-On the bioship, after the mission-

Wally's POV 

I looked at Artemis, who was leaning back in her chair. She'd been amazing on the mission, making smart moves and decisions. She hadn't missed a single shot, and she obeyed every order from Kaldur without comment or complaint. 

There was a problem, though. She had barely said a word to any of us, and acted rather aloof. Of course, we deserved it, but that didn't mean that she should act like that. We missed her and felt terrible about what happened to her for two years, and she comes back to everyone's delight, but she ignores everyone except Kaldur! It was honestly annoying. I made it my goal to corner her and get her to talk after we got back to the cave. 

-At the cave-

Artemis' POV 

I was about to leave when Kid Idiot shoved me into a corner in the souvenir room. "Ok, spill," He said. "What the h*** is wrong with you?!"

"What do you mean?! You're lucky I even decided to rejoin! Do you know how painful it was to get kicked out?! To know pretty much nobody wants you?! And now you expect me to be like, 'yeah, I know that you hated me and completely sabotaged me in an attempt to make you quit, but you felt bad about it, so who cares?' What planet are you living on?! That hurt! It hurt so much! I need to get used to you guys again. It's not exactly easy to trust people who have betrayed me! Just give me time, da****!" 

Wally looked taken aback, no doubt he had expected it to be harder to get info from me. News flash: all you have to do is ask, Wally! You stupid boy!

"I'm sorry, Artemis! I'm so sorry! I really am! I wouldn't have done it if I had known that your mom kicked you out!" I opened my mouth to to interrupt, but he saw it coming. "And I know that's so not an excuse, but it's true. I should have never done that to you. I'm sorry. Is it ok if I hug you?" 

I was surprised, but I nodded reluctantly. He wrapped his arms around me and held me tight. "I really am sorry, Arty. I realized after you left that acting like I hated you was my way of ignoring my feelings for you. I really like you, Artemis. And I understand that it will be a while before you return those feelings, if you ever do at all, but you deserve to know that. I was an a** and I've never been sorrier about anything in my life. Will you please forgive me, Missy?"

I took a deep breath, processing all the stuff that he had just admitted to me. "I'll have to think about it, Wally. You really hurt me. I might not be able to forgive you  for a long time to come."

Wally smiled at me. "No matter how long it takes to earn your forgiveness, Artemis, I'm willing to wait for it."