A New Beginning

Coma

A/N This chapter is for Artemistigress and BatMac.

Wally's POV

I walked into the hospital room in Royal Memorial and gently took the Arty's hand. Her stormy gray eyes were closed, as they had been for the last three months. The blonde archer was currently completely reliant on life support, and no one knew when- or even if- she would wake up. I rubbed circles on the back of Artemis' hand. I remembered all of the time that I had lost with her because I was an idiot. I should have never tried to get her off of the team.

I was furious about the fateful mission that had placed Artemis in this position. Not at myself; but at her sister for distracting her; at her father for possibly killing her. Artemis' biological family was disgusting. I ran my hand over her cold forehead, sighing at her pale complexion.

There was a knock at the door and Artemis' adoptive father, Carlos, came in. "How's she doing?" He asked.

I shook my head. "No different." I had become close to Artemis' new family. Carlos and Justin were awesome, caring people, who were deeply worried about their daughter. Baby Melanie was too little to understand what was going on; Carlos had explained the situation as that Artemis was like Sleeping Beauty, only no kiss would wake her up. Unfortunately, she had to do the waking up herself. Mindy, who had always acted like hateful little demon, was deeply upset about Artemis' condition. I had caught her sobbing about it. When I tried to comfort her she just kept sobbing and repeating that she wanted her big sister back, and that she shouldn't've acted so horrible to her, and now she couldn't apologize. I had never heard her call Artemis her sister except when she first introduced herself. It was heartbreaking, honestly.

Carlos sat on the other side of Art's bed and took her other hand. His eyes were brimmed with tears as he slipped his free hand over her blonde hair. "My poor baby. My poor, poor baby." A tear slid down his brown cheek. There was another knock at the door.

"Can we come in?" Justin asked. He clearly must have Mindy and Mellie with him if he didn't just walk in. Carlos and I quickly wiped our faces of tears so that the little girls wouldn't notice them.

"Yes, of course," Carlos replied. Mindy ran over, and Justin walked behind her, holding little Mellie. When the reached the bed, the toddler squirmed out of her daddy's arms, falling onto the bed. She crawled up next to Arty under the covers and snuggled close to her. I shattered my own heart with the thought that if Arty died, Mellie probably wouldn't remember her.

Everyone awed when Mellie gave Art a kiss. "Wove you," She said. She fell asleep. 

"You gotta wake up, Arty! Christmas is in two days! You don't wanna miss Christmas, do you?" Mindy said.

Carlos and Justin exchanged looks. I knew that that couldn't be good. Carlos took a deep breath. "The doctors said that if she's not awake by Christmas, she isn't going to wake up. They'll pull the plug."

I dropped Artemis' hand in shock. "What," I whispered.

"What does that mean?" Mindy asked, though I suspected that she knew.

"It means that they'll take her off of life support." Justin said.

"Isn't that the same as killing her?" Mindy's voice dripped with anger.

"Basically," I said.

"Not really," Justin said. "She wouldn't wake up anyway. Sportsmaster would still technically have been the one who killed her."

Another knock on the door and a the doctor and a nurse entered the room. "We have to examine her again now. Only parents can stay in here now. Sorry." The doctor said. He looked at Mellie, who was still asleep, her brown ponytails all messed up. "The baby can stay, too." He said, pulling Arty's blanket down.

"Why? Why not me and Wally? I'm her little sister, and Wally's her boyfriend!"

"You're not gonna leave me alone unless I say yes, are you?" The doctor was very familiar with Mindy's ways.

"Nope!" Mindy said enthusiastically.

"I don't think you wanna stay. It will be boring."

"And you gotta pull her gown up so you can see the injury so we'll see her private parts?" A/N I had her say this because it sounds like something embarrassing that little siblings wouldn't miss the opportunity to say. At least, that's what mine would say.

"Mindy!" Carlos snapped.

"What?" She asked with mock innocence.

I couldn't help but burst out laughing.

The doctor cracked a smile. "She's not completely wrong. Which is the other reason why I told you to leave."

"I'm a girl, though! If anyone should leave, it's our dads and Wally! And you!"

"Yeah, well your dads are her dads, and I'm her doctor, so it's ok."

"Why?!"

"Cuz reasons."

Mindy laughed hard and actually left the room, dragging me along with her. The doctor and nurse left a few minutes later and we went back in.

A while later, Mindy and Mellie's babysitter, Chloe, came and took them back to the hotel they were staying in while Artemis was in the hospital. Ollie and Dinah came eventually. They told me that I had to go, my parents said that I had to come home for the night.

I reluctantly got up and left, shooting Artemis a worried look before leaving the room.