AN: Heyyy! I know it's been years, but I have been itching to write again! After years of writing my original fiction and joining other fandoms, I decided to go back and update… "Christmas Colored Arrows"! Yeah, that's right!

Now I know most of you have seen "Overwhelmed", and let's be honest, unsatisfied. Even I was not thrilled with how they handed the relationship between those characters in the third season, but you know what? I'm still somewhat loyal to the show because I truly loved it, and I'm glad we have it back. Part of me will always ship them romantically and want more of a brother-sister relationship, but even I knew that the circumstances around those characters did not build up a good excuse. To me, it's really two people connected by marriage and raising a child together who find solace with each other because they are literally family.

This story is based off a "Traught accidental baby" prompt for Youngjusticeslut on Tumblr (I think Waiting For a Flame here), and it was for the Traught pairing, but here I am expanding upon it as an angsty Longshot brother-sister story because I feel the need to write more of that given what clearly happened in season 3 and in the years between seasons 2 and 3. If you have any other prompts for brother-sister relationship, please let me know.

Warning: mentions of abortion and unplanned pregnancy. I am not interested in explaining if I am pro-life or pro-choice, I respect everyone else's beliefs, but this is based off another story with permission, so do not judge me for how I expand on someone else's story.

Artemis struggled to look casual and calm. She held her breath for long periods of time and smiled at the clerk, who scanned the three boxes. The clerk smiled back. She probably didn't care or notice what the boxes contained. She typed on the register. The total came to about $25. Still costly for Artemis's budget.

As soon as the receipt printed out, she mumbled a quick "have a nice day" and calmly, gently left the pharmacy. Then she bolted.

She bolted all the way to the house.

Still high on adrenaline, she hated having to stop and fish her pocket for the house key and wondered why the house couldn't simply open with a thumbprint or retinal scanner that would have been quicker than a piece of shaped bronze. She threw open the door, slammed it closed behind her, and hurried for the bathroom, hoping that her niece didn't wake from her nap yet or that—

"Ah!"

Artemis never screamed when she ran into someone—her father instilled that in her years ago—but the first and possibly last time it ever happened was bumping right into her brother-in-law and that stupid beard of his and those stupid blue eyes that glanced at her with concern.

"Art, you okay?" he asked.

"Y-Yeah," she stammered. She took a deep breath and swallowed but noticed that his stupid blue eyes were not on her anymore; apparently, she had dropped the bag, and apparently her recent purchases had fallen out of the bag.

His eyes widen, and Artemis felt like vomiting again. He knew. It didn't take someone with half a brain to realize what they were. He opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. She had never seen him at a loss for words like this.

"I...uh...how...did you—no, I mean...uh…" He bit his lip, torn between speaking his mind and being polite. "I'll…push Lian's bath time to later."

Artemis swallowed as though she had a large pill in her throat. She wanted to thank him, but she couldn't muster the humiliation that this had come to. Where had she gone wrong in the first place?

She nodded, picked up the bag, and carried the tests into the bathroom. She knew it was in vain, for even the instructions had said that the tests were more accurate if taken earlier in the day when a certain hormone was much stronger, but she couldn't wait that long. If one of them didn't match the others, she'd buy another in the morning.

Even from the bathroom, as she read the instruction, she could hear everything downstairs. She heard Will chopping vegetables, trying his best at stir fry and a kid-friendly salad for little teeth. She heard Lian laughing and singing along to 'Paw Patrol'. She heard the AC kick into high gear. All of this made her want to vomit out her heart.

She used all the tests at the same time. She couldn't make herself take a break and drink water or go downstairs and play aunt/babysitter. She couldn't go back to the life she was settling into when she was afraid that one little thing would destroy it all. She scrubbed her hands, flushed the toilet with her foot, and stared at the watch while fighting the temptation to look at the counter.

Time was up.

Swallowing, she turned her head…

Artemis could not remember the last time she vomited. She knew it was rare but horrible enough that she tried to vow to herself that she would never vomit again. Even as a kid, she said that she never wanted to vomit, even if she got food poisoning, but her mother said that herself feeling nauseous was how she found out that she was pregnant both times. Even when she dated and had fun, Artemis wondered if she would be willing to tolerate that should she want a child of her own.

Nevertheless, the first time it happened was a Sunday. Will and Lian were fortunately sleeping in, and Artemis woke up dehydrated as hell. She didn't even get to the stairs before she rushed to the bathroom and emptied her stomach of what must have been everything she ate in the past twenty-four hours. It lasted twenty minutes, but luckily she managed to clean it up and get rid of the smell by the time father and daughter woke up. To make up for it in case she missed a spot or the smell didn't go away, she took them to an outdoor cafe for brunch, followed by a walk in the park with her beloved pitbull and niece.

On Monday, however, she turned on the shower so Will and Lian wouldn't hear her. It was disgusting, but then Will took his daughter to daycare, and Artemis went back to her life but could not concentrate on her schoolwork. She could still taste the rice and pork from the night before, and she never vomited two days in a row...two mornings in a row.

Artemis clung to her dog as he napped on her lap while she read aloud to him, which he liked. She had to stay calm. She was meeting with her friends for lunch tomorrow, so she couldn't have contracted some virus or something. It was obvious. If she had something, then Lian would have had it, too, and feeling sick with her head in the toilet.

Artemis loved Raquel with all her heart, but in that moment she wanted to hate her. For suggesting it. She didn't intend to bring it up at lunch, why she ordered something well-done instead of rare-medium. She mentioned getting sick and vomiting in the morning, afraid it might have been something she ate.

Megan was in the bathroom then, but Zatanna and Raquel exchanged a look, before Raquel gently took her hand and brought up the possibility of her being pregnant; that was how she found out about Amistad. Artemis casually laughed it off, but she instantly froze. She remembered when that happened, how her friend complained about being sick all the time and missing combat training. Then Raquel, as Artemis heard, missed that time of the month, took a blood test, and found out that she was expecting.

Zee and Raquel were slow to change the subject, but to Artemis's knowledge they didn't tell Megan in case it didn't lead to what they feared it would. Artemis finished her lunch, paid, and took the zeta back to her home and pulled out her calendar to see when "it" was supposed to be visiting.

"It" never came, and Artemis woke up ill every morning of the week that it was supposed to happen.

Artemis didn't cry when she found out. She couldn't bring it to herself to let anyone know, call her mother or Raquel or...him. The shame and stupidity was a bitter taste that urged her to cry. She knew what she had to do, what she wanted to do, but she just needed to process it. Those little sticks said the same exact thing. Same, exact thing. That enough made her feel sick again. She lay on the cold tile floor so that it would cool her burning face and probably melt her into a puddle of shock and shame. How could she have been so stupid?!

Then she saw a pair of stocking feet and recognized the gray socks. He sat on the floor with his back to the edge of the tub and handed her the green water bottle she always kept in the refrigerator. Great. Now her brother-in-law had to know and share this humiliation with her. She dared herself to look up, but he seemed to focus more on her hair and not her face. As much as she was glad that he understood that she didn't want to make eye contact, she wished that he didn't look like he wanted to stare at the sticks on the counter.

"So… positive, huh?"

Artemis swallowed and trembled. "Yup."

He didn't say anything for a while. She appreciated the silence but wished he would say something. What was he supposed to say? He didn't knock her up; what was a brother-in-law supposed to say to his stupid sister-in-law who got herself in this mess? Congratulations on a baby you clearly don't plan to have? Artemis wanted him to pull out a towel to cover her as a blanket.

"You gonna…?"

"Seems like."

Will didn't make any facial expressions that expressed emotion. They sat in silence for so long that Artemis wondered if an hour or more had passed. Who was keeping track of time? What was Lian thinking when she didn't see her father or aunt? Was dinner burning?

"So…" Will hesitated. "Did I ever tell you about what happened two weeks ago? I got a call from the daycare, heard that Lian nearly got thrown out. I had to leave early and drive over...just to find out that my daughter had brought a kitchen knife with her. She wanted to play ninja but couldn't find any plastic knives at the daycare or this house."

For some reason, Artemis thought of that—Lian carrying a knife with her in her backpack and showing it off to friends, and a teacher seeing what was going on and having a heart attack about it. Then Artemis started to laugh. Lian was so much like her mother that it hurt but was too hysterical to take in. She was like if her evil grandfather had been training her to be an assassin from the moment she was born.

Speaking of the little nugget, Artemis heard a familiar voice scream, "DADDY! CAN YOU MAKE ME A SANDWICH?! I'M HUNGRY!"

"Coming, Lian! I got dinner—oh, no, it's probably burning!" Will jumped to his feet but hesitated when he reached the door. "You coming?"

Fortunately, Artemis found it in herself to push herself off the floor. "Yeah, I don't want to burn down this house either," she croaked.

For some reason, Will actually chuckled and laughed. Before they reached the kitchen, however, Will put his hand on her shoulder. "You know that I'm here for you no matter what," he said. "Whatever decisions you make...I won't judge you. You won't have to say anything, but you don't have to be alone."

Artemis could have embraced him and cried in his arms and kissed his cheek had Lian not screamed again that she was going to make her own pizza if she didn't get a sandwich soon. "Let's hurry," Artemis whispered. "I can't tell if she's joking or serious."

"I hope joking, but she takes after your mother!"

Will had been on the couch reviewing files, and Lian was reading and scratching Brucely's ear when Artemis arrived home. She did not greet her family. She ran up the stairs, ran to her room, and closed the door with a slam that startled even her dog.

Lian craned her neck to get a better peak of her aunt's door but was scared to leave her seat. "Daddy…"

Luckily, her father knew to give his successor space, but he smiled and nodded. "I think she was having a bad day, Lian," he said. "Give her some space. She'll need it."

Lian bit her lip but shrugged and went back to her book. Will didn't say anything until he asked Lian to come with him as he picked up dinner—pizza and all her favorite Vietnamese dishes that Grandmommy Paula makes with love.

Artemis came down as Lian started digging into her noodles, but the toddler didn't notice that her father carried his plate out of the room, followed by her aunt. The adults sat in silence, and Will hesitated to bite into his dinner.

Artemis kept her voice low. "I...I told him."

It was a few days after she took the tests. She called Dick and told him that they needed to meet and talk. He assumed it was about a ring they could bust, but he could tell from her voice that it was slightly worse.

In a twisted way, Artemis knew that he had as much fault in this as she had. She didn't like to admit it, but she sensed some chemistry between them. And of course they were still grieving; even after a year, she could not see or hear something without thinking of that redhead. Dick very nearly turned into a hermit, and even when he did pop out, he looked dreadful. Even Bruce was worried for him.

Sometimes they would meet at her old apartment complex. Sometimes he invited her to his own apartment. They talked, held each other, wept together, and laughed and cried. It was well over a year, and...Artemis couldn't remember how it started, but the next thing she knew, she was in his arms, wearing his shirt, and in his bed. In an even more twisted way, she liked it. It seemed to comfort her. Unfortunately, it was really awkward—awkward enough that when he woke up, they swore they would never talk about it again. And they didn't—not even after it happened again...and again...and again...until Artemis was sure that's when she started feeling sick.

Naturally, the blood drained from his face, and his eyes grew wider as he internally processed what she had told him. It was so painful that Artemis had to look away, too afraid of his reaction. It took him a while to say something back.

"If it's a boy, let's name him Wally."

She did not expect either that comment or him to say something in such a casual tone. It infuriated her, to think of the first man she truly loved and the fact that he, of all people, had to bring him up. She very nearly tackled him for not empathizing with her, for not understanding how she felt. Instead, she just stamped a foot and screeched, "Are you out of your fucking mind?"

Artemis didn't cry, but she was still torn between pain and anger. She slowly spilled her guts to her brother-in-law and told him everything. She told him how they fought, how Dick wasn't thinking straight, and Artemis tried to get him to see reason. They could not have a baby. More than that, she didn't want to have a baby. Dick accused her of not wanting his baby, saying he knew all about the scare she and Wally had a couple years back. Artemis recoiled, and called him an asshole before leaving.

At this point in the story, Will stood up and walked away for a while. Artemis worried if he was upset that this wasn't the first time she had a scare, only this time it was true. Maybe he was upset that his sister-in-law and one of his closest friends had fought like that. Perhaps he was horrified to hear the terrible things that Dick had said. He might have been upset to hear about their late friend and that Dick, of all the wrong times to mention that name, chose the absolute worst time ever. When he sat down, he hung his head and kept his eyes closed. "Sorry," he whispered. "It's okay. Go on."

Artemis shook her head. "No… I feel bad. I may have lost a friend, I…"

Will hates seeing this strong woman at a loss for words. He hesitantly put his hand over hers and squeezed. Fortunately, she squeezed back.

She chose a day to go to the clinic. He made sure he requested off that day so he could drive her to the appointment. He suggested that he ask if Lian would want to have a playdate with Donny and Dawn, or Anissa and Jennifer, but Artemis said no. Their parents might have suspected something if Lian went to their houses and not daycare. Besides, she didn't even want the little one to go to daycare; even if Lian was too young to notice anything, she would want to see the little one as soon as she was done.

As he had every day since, Will made sure his daughter was up and munching on breakfast while 'Paw Patrol' played so she wouldn't hear her aunt retching upstairs. Sometimes, Will sang along in a loud tone in case the sounds grew louder.

On that day, Will excited his daughter by saying that she had to miss daycare to go with Auntie Mouse to an appointment and that if Lian was a very good girl, she would choose what they would have for lunch—and yes, lots of ice cream afterwards. She entertained herself with her dolls and swung her feet, while the adults sat silently in the front.

For a moment, Artemis wondered if this would ruin her relationship with Will. How do you look at someone whom you've driven to such an appointment? What if, eventually, he came to regret helping her and kicked her out of his house? What if he never let her see Lian again? Maybe he would have a change of heart and call her a 'murderer'—like her father was.

Will could hear the protestors before he saw them. He hated them. He knew that those clinics did more than what he drove his sister-in-law for: He once dated someone who went there for birth control, who went there for exams because her family couldn't afford health insurance, who actually went there with a pregnant friend for a sonogram and prenatal vitamins. Even when Will parked, despite all he knew about the good things they did for women, he hoped that his own daughter would not have to go there. He would afford health insurance so she wouldn't have to go there for exams and have people scream at her. He would talk to her about puberty and sex, as awkward as it would be, and do his best not to scream like one of those overdramatic fathers when she began dating. Should she decide to have sex before marriage (as he obviously had with her mother and women before her), he would provide her with protection but remind her that she had to want this; she should never do this to please a guy. And he couldn't tell her what not to do with her body, but she needed to be safe.

Will knew that his evil father-in-law had never done any of that to his daughters, and he became even more determined to be a better father to his child than her grandfather had been as a parent.

He noticed that his daughter had fallen asleep in the back and carefully buckled her out of her seat, sliding over his arm a bag of toys and books he snuck from home. Artemis picked her up and carried her, Lian only twitching in the heat and with the noise. Will shielded her face as best as he could while they darted around protestors.

"Hey you!"

Will and Artemis turned around to an angry-looking guy holding up some picket sign that Will didn't even want to bother looking at. The guy looked to be in his teens. "I think that beautiful baby in you wants to live. Don't you think you should consider that God has blessed you with a gift that most women would kill for?"

Artemis would have laughed at that had she not been so nervous. If you're saying that most women would kill for it, why is there an overpopulation crisis? she thought to herself. Instead, she took a deep breath, but Will cut in. "First of all, she's not pregnant, and second, do you want to test me for infertility? I had a pretty nasty accident some time ago, and I just want to make sure I'm okay."

The teenager was silent and opened his mouth but didn't say anything. Will nodded. "Thought so." He escorted his sister-in-law into the clinic and shivered when the AC hit him. Lian trembled in Artemis's arms.

"That was the stupidest excuse you had ever come up with," Artemis muttered.

"I know," Will whispered, "but I knew that he would care more about me than you. Like if I wanted a vasectomy, he wouldn't bat an eye, but even if you needed something, he'd shame you no matter what."

Artemis didn't respond, but she handed Lian over and approached the front counter. The receptionist smiled. "Please have a seat. We will be with you shortly."

Will carefully sat down just as Lian woke up. "Daddy," she mumbled, "am I going to have a little brother or sister?"

Will's stomach did a horrible somersault. "What—What makes you think that?"

Lian shrugged. "Heard someone. Something about a baby…"

"No," Will said with a smile. "No, you're not going to be a big sister. Just some angry guy." Then Will felt a wave of sorrow in his heart. He wouldn't have minded being a father again, if he and Jade could have given Lian a little brother or sister.

"Good," Lian yawned, "because Donny and Dawn hate each other, and Ani and Jenny fight and scream, and Jon's stinky." She wrinkled her nose in a cute little frown. "I don't want a little stinky brother or sister."

The pain in Will's heart faded as he chuckled. Somehow he needed to explain that Lian was a little stinker herself as a baby.

Artemis joined Will in the waiting area, a fresh magazine in his hands, and Lian on her knees, playing with blocks she brought from the house. She made a house, a tower, a circle, and an oval. She hummed to herself and laughed until Will gently shushed her every now and then.

Artemis studied the back of the child's head, how Lian's eyes were those of her mother's but her hair was her own. Lian was the light of everyone's life—Ollie's, Dinah's, Artemis's, Will's, Paula's, even Cissie's even though she didn't really see Ollie's recent protege. Lian was innocent yet strong—like her father, like her mother, like her aunt, like all the adults who loved and cared for her. She was engaged in her own world and had the opportunities that her mother and aunt had not—she had loving parents, a home in a safe neighborhood, friends to play with, a parent with a reliable job. Nevertheless, Paula's activities led to her imprisonment, and Jade took off. Artemis wondered why the hell her sister would leave her kid when all she used to talk about as a kid was that she would never let anything—a job, a man, an apocalypse—get between her and her offspring.

Artemis turned to her brother-in-law and took a deep breath. "Hey Will…can I, uh, ask you something and you promise not to get upset?"

Will carefully looked up from his magazine. "What?"

Artemis wondered if she could say "forget about it". "Do you, uh, ever wonder what would have happened if...if Jade...if Jade aborted…"

She didn't finish, and she didn't have to. Will clearly looked distressed at the thought of that. Of course Jade had to have considered it. She worked as an assassin, her husband was a disaster looking for someone whom everyone else thought had died, her father would have reported her, and of course she would have lost her "job", if not her life, for being pregnant. She might have been too scared to be a mother after the childhood trauma that bothered her even after she and Will reconciled, found the real Roy, and became a family.

But for all the bad things that Jade experienced or threatened to tear her from her baby, she still saw the child as a chance of healing—not just her marriage but herself. She would think of everything her parents had failed to give her, all that her mother had regretted, and give everything to the unborn child whom she helped create. She would let the baby go to the playground—a safe playground in a safe neighborhood—enroll the child in an excellent school district, teach her self-defense not to become an assassin but to defend herself and understand balance. Most of all, she would have given her baby two parents who would laugh and love more than Lawrence and Paula ever did.

Will glanced at Lian's head, bent over blocks and giggling as Wonder Woman and Kid Flash climbed up the tower of blocks she just constructed. How many women thought of this question every day? How would his life have been different if Jade aborted a pregnancy she didn't tell him about? Where would he be?

In that space of a moment, Will missed his wife all over again. He wanted to reconcile. He wanted to create another Nyguen-Harper. He would have supported Jade from conception. He would have made up for what he missed out on the first time. He would have been in the delivery room with her, actually witnessed childbirth, and cut the umbilical cord. He would have bought her maternity supplies and clothes, and reassured Lian that he and her mother would still love her as they always had.

"No," he said with a heavy heart, "but I know she almost did. And I'm so grateful that she didn't." Then he tore his eyes from his daughter's back and faced his sister-in-law. The similar shape of her eyes with his daughter's made him shiver. "But I know that this isn't the same. This—your—situation isn't hers, and ultimately, you need to do what's best for your sake."

Had Artemis learned to be more in touch with her emotions and was in a more private place, she probably would have cried. There's no way she could have done to this embryo what her sister had to Lian. How would Lian have ruined anything? She felt more nervous than ever, but…

As Will stared at her with concern until she pretended to be on her phone and she watched him go back to his magazine, she took a deep breath. Will wasn't there for Jade, but he was in no state to anyway. However, he was there for his sister-in-law. Artemis thought of their house, and then of her mother's apartment on the other side of the country. She thought about the first time Will spoke to her directly, back when he confronted her in the alley about her identity and lack of relation to Ollie, and warned her not to hurt his friends. It seemed like such a long time ago.

"Uncle Dick!"

Artemis's head shot up just as Will shushed his daughter bringing attention to the absolutely last person she expected to see here of all places of all time. Before Dick—what a dick—walked over, Lian was on her feet, ran as fast as her little legs could carry her, and threw her limbs around his legs. He managed to smile, lift her in the air, and carry her back to her father and toys.

Will shook his hand, clearly forcing a smile, and gingerly took back his daughter, who fortunately went back to playing. Dick then glanced at the blonde, who slowly met his eyes.

"May I sit?" he asked.

Will made room for him, and Dick and Artemis sat in silence. Then he took her hand and squeezed it as though someone or something was threatening to pull them apart.

"'m sorry," he mumbled as he pressed her hand to his lips and pulled away as though she gave him an electric shock. She saw in his eyes how desperately he wanted to make her feel better, but everything that had happened since they first met, so young, just teenagers, had clearly taken a toll on him. Who would have ever suspected that it would lead to this?

Artemis had to hide a smile and squeezed back. "You better be."

They sat in silence until Artemis stood up. Dick watched her disappear behind the door and shivered as soon as she vanished. Will continued to ignore him, and Lian continued to play, and Dick wished he had noted what time she left so he would know how long it would take.

Lian munched on her grilled cheese, corn, croissant, and apple, and chugged her chocolate milk as though she had been deprived of food since she woke up. She "fed" her Wonder Woman doll and spoke in silly voices while Artemis and Will watched. Artemis was tired and silent for most of the ride, but she had both men in the room, and Lian was always full of kisses and hugs. Will took them to Lian's favorite cafe and let her eat a little more than he would have allowed a small stomach.

"Hey Will," Artemis said in such a low voice that he almost didn't hear her, "thank you again for, uh...all you've done today."

Will tried his best not to smile with pain, but he didn't know how to respond. "Of course," he said. "We're family. I would have never let you go through something like that alone, no matter who it was."

Artemis raised her eyebrows. "Even if it was with my childhood friend, good old Icicle, Jr.?"

Will made a choking noise that made even Artemis laugh over her sandwich and chips until Lian accidentally knocked over her cup of milk. Then they ordered her a refill and ice cream, and Artemis played with Lian in the back. She gave Lian a bath that night and tucked her in, fortunate that she didn't have to worry about her own future but worried that she would someday regret it. The only thing she could be grateful for was that not only had Lian changed her father and he was there for her, but he was also there for his sister-in-law when she needed him.

Brucely fell asleep at the foot of her bed, and Artemis thought of how she was going to thank Will, eventually deciding to pay the electric bill for at least six months.

Secret: I've always hated adding too many characters at once (it was the one thing I absolutely hated in the last season of Teen Titans), but I think that it would be a good excuse to bring the comics back: provide backstories for characters who joined in the gaps between seasons, show what has happened in the meantime (e.g. how Karen and Mal found out about the Team and joined), and add to what was not shown in the video game or episodes.