She met him on a case. She was working undercover, jogging in the park to catch a super powered mugger who targeted young women. M'Gann, Raquel, Barbara, and Cassie had their own sectors to cover, and Dick was getting frustrated enough with the whole thing he was about ready to go out in disguise as a girl himself.

She had been running in the park all morning, and was hot and sweaty and a nearby ice cream stand was calling her name when she realized that she didn't have any money with her. She hit the water fountain instead, and when she finished her drink he was standing there with two ice cream cones.

"You look like you could use this."

He was kind of cute, she decided. Not too tall, not too short. Her age or a few years older. Black hair. Green eyes. Decent shape. Nice enough smile.

"My mother told me to never take candy from strangers." She's surprised by the flippant tone in her voice. She's had five guys already ask for her phone number this morning, but he's the first one to try the ice cream approach.

"It's ice cream. Doesn't even have sprinkles on it. No candy at all. So it's perfectly okay. And I'm Kyle. Kyle Rayner. So now we're not strangers anymore." He offers both cones. "Pick one. You know you wanna."

It's the smile that did the trick. She'd dressed to lure in a super powered pervert, but his eyes never left her face. She liked that. "What flavors do you have?"

"Chocolate and vanilla swirl. Or vanilla and chocolate swirl. Take your pick."

"What would you have done if I said I was a strawberry ice cream kind of girl?"

"Eaten two ice cream cones all by myself." He grinned at her.

"Well, we wouldn't want that." She took one of the ice cream cones from him. "Artemis."

"What?"

"That's my name." She had seen him two or three times this morning. He had a sketch pad, a blanket, and a book under a comfortable looking shade tree. He had looked at her, of course—but she had expected that. That was the whole point of being bait.

"Hi, Artemis. Nice to meet you."

There was no sign he recognized her name or face. Not really that surprising. She had been semi-retired for several years before Dick had talked her into going into the field to help Kaldur.

They chatted a little bit about the weather and what they do. He's a college student too, working on a graphic artist degree. His family still lives in California.

It was … different.

It had been almost a year since she lost Wally. Since they all lost Wally. The others … the others didn't seem to know how to react to her anymore. It had been Artemis and Wally so long that they didn't seem to know how to react to Artemis without the "And Wally."

Her presence seemed to put a damper on their conversation, their actions. Laughter would stop as though it were somehow disrespectful of Wally, of her, for them to find something in life to laugh about. Couples would pull apart if she walked in on them as though it was cruel to subject her to their happiness, their love …

She had come back because she didn't want to be alone with her memories, alone with her grief, but she felt even more isolated with the team than without it.

Now … now she's talking to a stranger, and she's suddenly not that girl any longer. She's not Wally West's almost-widow. She's not being looked at with pity and sympathy.

She's not being defined by tragedy for the first time since she lost Wally.

It had been so long that she had forgotten what that felt like.

Artemis, it's M'Gann. Nothing here. Anything on your end?

She sighed and finished her ice cream cone. Not yet. I just took a break. I'll get back on it. "Thanks for the ice cream, but I have to get back to—jogging."

"Okay. Here. I have something for you." He tore off a piece of paper from his sketch pad and handed it to her.

It was a half-finished picture of her. She was impressed. "It's not done."

"No. But if you bring it back with your next Saturday I'll finish it. And if you want to get together before that—maybe for dinner or a movie—that's my phone number at the bottom." He smiled hopefully at her.

In spite of herself, she had smiled back. "You're a sneaky man, Kyle Rayner."

"Hey, a guy's gotta make the effort."

She looked over at him. "Why? Because you think I'm pretty?"

She wanted him to tell her she was pretty. She didn't quite know why, but she wanted him to say it.

"Pretty, hell. I think you're beautiful. You're also smart, funny, and I'd like to get to know you better."

She blushed at that. "Thanks. I tend to travel a lot so I can't guarantee I'll be around anytime soon, but I think I'd like to get to know you too."

"All right. That's all a guy can hope for. Nice meeting you, Artemis. Hope to see you again."

She didn't want to go, but she forced herself. Carefully tucking the picture into a pocket, she jogged down the sidewalk. When she glanced back, he was still watching her.

"Men," she laughed and waved at him.

He waved back.

And for the first time in a long time, she didn't feel quite so lonely.