Heartstrings: Unforgettable

by Cerulean Leader

For Beautiful-Dark

ø,,ø¤º°°º¤ø,Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ,ø¤º°°º¤ø,,ø

Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice. :)

Warning: A bit of swearing and labour.

NOTE: For more information, see Chapter 1. Also, check out my new YJ one-shot which is a companion piece of Heartstrings. It's basically snippets of Lati growing up, along with her little brother. :D

Cover: I have no idea what's happening with this, so if anyone wants to design something for me, inbox me. :D

Thank you so much to everybody who has read this. You guys have made me so happy! :D Hope you enjoy.

"Wally, I swear to God…!"

Artemis heaved in a gulp of hair, wincing and clutched her abdomen with one hand as she held her communicator in the other, pressing the distressed signal button for the Watchtower. The bastard fiancé of hers wasn't home. He had decided to out with his friends for drinks in order to celebrate his last few nights of freedom before their wedding in a couple of weeks. They'd been hoping that their child would have been born by then.

He had been worried to leave her alone with her on the edge of labour, but she had assured him that she would be fine.

How wrong she was.

She screamed, leaning over to try and make the pain subside, but it wouldn't. How far apart were her contractions again? "Holy shit!"

Brucely, unsure of what to do obviously, because how often would a dog know what to do in a situation like this, trotted over to his owner and licked her face, trying to calm her down. He then turned to bark at the door, trying to alert someone, anyone, to help them.

"Wally!"

He flinched when he heard his name getting yelled in his head. He almost choked on the beer he was chugging down, and Mal slapped him on the back to help the redhead regain his breath. Dick looked confused for a moment, before glancing down at his lap where his phone was beeping, with the Tigress' symbol flashing. "Wally, there might be a problem." he said, passing the device to his best friend. Wally's green eyes widened, pressing on the symbol before a recording of Artemis' pained voice made the whole group grow rigid.

"Whoever the hell is answering this, can someone call Wally to get his butt over here? He's about to become a dad, and I can't really hold the baby off for that long! I need to get the hospital, now! Dick, Conner, Ollie, whoever, just help me!"

"Oh my god!"

He was staring at the phone, dumbfounded, barely able to register what words had echoed through his ears until Conner yanked on the shirt he was wearing, dragging the redhead away as Dick dropped a few bills on the table to pay for their drinks while them three, Mal, and Kaldur all ran off as they worried for their friend towards the nearest zeta tube.

As they were running, Kaldur thought it was probably best that they alert Barry and Oliver.

"Aqualad to Watchtower, requesting transmission to the Flash and Green Arrow."

"Copy that, Aqualad, but the Flash is already on the move. In fact, he's with you..."

"To the League member, La'gaan..." Kaldur replied in annoyance, sighing as they finally reached the zeta-tube.

Mal couldn't help but laugh at the situation. "Maybe it's time you went for your own identity once again, Wally."

He had called an ambulance on the way back to the apartment he shared with Artemis in Palo Alto. Even though he could get her to the local hospital a lot faster, he didn't really trust himself in a such a delicate situation involving the love of his life and their baby. He had literally bolted home, screaming into the speaker of his mobile at the receptionist on the other line, only to find the blonde clutching her swollen belly while she screamed in pain.

"Wally! This baby is coming!"

"It'll be alright, babe. I promise." he said quickly, pressing a kiss to her forehead before dashing off to retrieve the bag they had packed in case this happened. Also, he collected a few pillows from their bed and a blanket, setting them up against the couch so that she would be in a slightly more comfortable position when the paramedics arrived. He glanced to the side in a panic, noticing a small puddle of water in the kitchen. That's where her water must have broken. "Dick, I need you do me a favour and get Paula to the hospital, and my parents as well." Wally stated into the phone, hearing it beep once again.

"Wally, I don't think I can do this!"

He was about to tear his hair out. "Artie, remember those breathing exercises that they said to do?"

"Breathing exercises aren't going to help me- Oh, God!"

For the first time in his life, sirens sounded like angels singing. The blue and red lights were circulating the entire street, and Wally opened the door, directing them to the apartment. "Quick, she's up here!"

"Maybe they'll name the kid Bartholomew again, like how dad did with me when I was born - he named me after my grandfather." Bart said, tapping his chin while he conversed with his two confused friends; Tim and Jaime.

"Is there even another nickname for Bartholomew?"

Tim grinned, mischief showing up in his eyes behind his dark sunglasses. Maybe he was hanging around with Dick too much? "We could always call it 'Mew', as in one if the original 151 Pokémon?"

"That's just stupid, dude." Jaime deadpanned.

Tim just shrugged in response. "Whatever, do you think she'll be okay? We've been waiting for a long time, so I'm kind of worried. Everyone is; I mean, look at Green Arrow, he looks like he's about to explode from waiting too long."

"Robin, don't exaggerate." Dick said, interrupting the younger boys conversation, Zatanna giggling quietly beside him. "He sees Artemis like his own daughter, so, he kind of has a right to act like that."

"Jeez, lighten up. A baby is coming, so stop scolding your little brother and smile!" the magician said, bringing her forefingers up to her boyfriend's face and forcing his lips to be in an up-turned manner. "Seriously, another baby! That's number three when it comes to the originals!"

"Family of Wally West and Artemis Crock here?" asked a doctor as he walked into the waiting room. He was immediately bombarded with questions, specifically from a woman in a wheelchair who had a scary look in her eyes. He could pick out Wally's parents immediately, the middle-aged couple who had inquiring looks on the slightly wrinkled and tired faces. Standing beside them were a younger couple nursing twins along with a boy with auburn hair, and a gleeful smile.

"Is Artemis okay? Has the baby been born yet? Do they have a name yet?" babbled the boy, and the doctor just looked confused.

"Uh..."

"Bart, relax. Let the man talk." instructed the lady, glaring down at the boy whose smile turned into a sheepish one. Maybe she was his mother?

The doctor cleared his throat, and clapped his hands together. "The procedure ran smoothly. After at least six hours of labour, we managed to deliver the baby without any further complications. Artemis is now resting with Wally, and they request the appearance of parents and Oliver and Dinah." A blonde man with a goatie and a young woman with long hair, who was standing next to the man, looked at each other in surprise before following Wally's parents, and the paraplegic woman (the blonde man decided to push her towards the room).

The doctor led them to the room where Artemis and Wally were waiting, his black dress shoes shuffling gently against the white floors of the hospital. When they finally stopped in front of a closed door, he indicated them to stay quiet before allowing them to step inside.

"Mom," Artemis greeted with a small smile while she nursed a bundle of blankets inside her arms. She looked extremely tired, her golden locks thrown haphazardly over her shoulder, with Wally sitting on the bed beside her while he cooed at the cradled baby. An extreme grin had graced his lips and his eyes were practically twinkling in excitement. The paraplegic woman was wheeled over to the other side of the bed by the blonde man.

She looked extremely proud. "She's gorgeous, Artemis." she stated, leaning over and stroking the soft skin of the tiny girl in her mother's arms. Tufts of strawberry blonde hair could be seen poking out of the warm blankets she was wrapped up in. "Congratulations, you two."

"I agree with you, Paula, she's absolutely adorable." the young woman said, moving to stand closer to the woman.

"We're proud of the both of you." Oliver said, ruffling Wally's head who just continued to glance at his fiancé and kissed her on cheek.

"She's made me the happiest man in the world. Thank you so much, beautiful."

Oliver couldn't accept the words he had heard earlier that day. It had happened a couple of hours ago, but he still could not believe it as he unlocked the golden handle to the interior of his mansion, Dinah following close behind him. her heels clacked against the white and black tiles in the entrance hall, before making her way up the grand staircase and to their bedroom.

"Oliver, are you coming?" she asked, noticing that he hadn't moved. The door was still wide open as well, but he still had the same look he had on his face when those words left Artemis' mouth.

"Wally and I want you guys to be the godparents."

His blue eyes changed the direction they were looking at him to gaze at the young woman who was making her way back towards him. "We're going to be the godparents... I just accepted the fact that I'm practically going to be grandfather at the age of thirty-seven, but now I'm gonna be a godfather as well?"

"Firstly, I'm to young to be classfied as a grandmother; I'm only twenty-nine." Dinah laughed, looping her arm through his and began to drag him upstairs. "But are you really that surprised? Artemis looks at you as her father."

"I thought they would have chosen Barry and Iris or some other people..."

"Just accept the fact that you're stuck in that position, grandpa." she replied, cheekily, and Ollie glared at her in return.

"Hello, baby, I am your Uncle Dick."

Wally was watching his best friend like a hawk as Dick held his daughter, gently bouncing her in his arms with a large smile on his face. Zatanna watched with a fond expression from her place beside Artemis who just laughed. "Careful, you're going to contaminate her with her with your silly brain."

"'Mis, my brain is amazing."

"Have you guys decided on a name?" her best friend asked from beside her. Megan looked like she was about to burst if she didn't get a turn at holding the little girl soon, practically leaning over the former Robin's shoulder to catch a glimpse of the baby. Conner and Kaldur were standing quietly as they leaned against the wall, with the Altantean holding his own son.

Amistad giggled, looking up at his father. Raquel glanced at her little boy and blew him a kiss.

Artemis glanced over at Wally, who decided to answer. "We've decided to keep the goddess tradition going and we've decided to name her Atlanta. Atalanta was a favourite of the goddess Artemis and was known for her running, so we decided to change the variation of her name and name her Atlanta. 'Lati' for short, though."

"Dick, let me hold Lati!" Megan complained, reaching to hold the baby but the black-haired man just laughed and almost pranced away like he would have done when he was thirteen.

"It's a nice name." Raquel stated, nodding her approval.

Suddenly, a familiar beeping sound began to ring through the hospital room and all eight occupants groaned at it. Dick sighed, handing Lati over to a squealing Megan who took a seat in the armchair beside Artemis' bed, as did Kaldur with Amistad to Raquel. "The boys will take it, we can stay here. You need a break from Wally, anyway." she laughed. Wally gasped dramatically, bringing his hands to cover his heart.

"You wound me, Megs."

"Go on, Flash-boy. I'll see you later." the blonde just smiled, leaning into him as he raced over and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

Dick and Zatanna engaged in a short kiss, with Megan smiling sweetly at the exchange, letting out a loud "aw", and Conner just placed his lips on her cheek quickly.

"I'll be back soon." he whispered, and waved goodbye to the others as Dick, Conner and Kaldur followed.

"Who sent the alert?" Superboy asked, as they finally got to the Watchtower wearing their uniforms. All the members glanced at the four senior members of the Team. Batgirl jerked her thumb at the signal behind her, indicating that it had Captain Cold who had triggered the alert.

Aqualad quickly stepped forward to stand beside his second-in-command. "Apologies for the wait, everyone." he said maturely, bowing his head. "Has anyone sent word to the Flash?"

"He's on a League mission at the moment. Maybe dispatching a small squad would be the best idea for Captain Cold? And where's Miss Martian?"

"At the hosptial with Tigress, Zatanna and Rocket. Kid Flash and I know our way around Central, so we're in." Flash II said, grinning beneath his cowl while he sent a thumbs-up signal towards his cousin. He was excited to defeat one of the old criminals once again as it had been a while. His green eyes were twinkling once again beneath the lenses his cowl had inside it. When they were designing his new costume, he had requested that they leave the top of his cowl blank because he liked the feel of wind in his hair.

"Captain Boomerang just triggered another alert." Robin said, glancing at the holographic screen attached to his glove.

Aqualad nodded. "Okay, Flash, Kid Flash, Beast Boy and Superboy, I want you four to make your way towards Central City in order to defeat these two villains."

Batgirl grinned slyly at them. "Think you boys can handle it?"

"'Course we can!" Kid Flash shouted, throwing his fist into the air.

Beast Boy let out a yell as he was pinned to the wall with a blast of ice from Captain Cold's gun, with Superboy punching Captain Boomerang in the face as he threw a few of his weapons towards the young shapeshifter. Kid Flash quickly intercepted their path, before dropping them and joining the Flash as he began his tirade of running around Captain Cold to confuse him.

"Baby Flash, isn't it about time you thought of a new method?" the villain asked loudly with an annoyed huff as he continued to aim blasts of ice at the speedster. "And you've gotten faster, so it's not fair!"

"Why would I make up new methods when the traditional ones work?" the Flash asked, chuckling as he sped up.

Kid Flash sped up too, turning around to run in the opposite direction to unnerve the villain even further than he was earlier. "Are all the Central City villains this stupid?"

The second scarlet speester flashed a grin at his cousin. "Yep!"

Captain Cold finally stopped shooting, clutching his head from dizziness before he collapsed on the ground. "Urgh..."

The two heroes stopped running in time to watch Superboy slam his fist through the ice, allowing Beast Boy free. The changeling pouted unhappily as Superboy dragged Captain Boomerang over towards Captain Cold, and tied them together with Captain Boomerang's white scarf. "That was easy."

"Babe, I'm back!" Wally said as he pushed the door open. Artemis was asleep, her eyes closed in the direction of where their daughter was blinking, awake. The redheaded man smiled and walked over to Lati and gently picked her up to hold her. "Hey, gorgeous."

He raised his hand towards her tiny one, and the smile he had on only grew fonder when her fingers curled themselves around his forefinger as a reflex. She sniffled, letting out a small sound as she shifted slightly in her father's grasp. He sat down in the armchair, and continued to look down on her with a gentle expression.

He heard the sound of sheets moving, but didn't pay attention, still drinking in the fact that this was his daughter that he was holding, that Artemis was the mother of his child and just how lucky he was. Only twenty-one, and he already had a gorgeous family.

"I love you so much, Lati, and I cannot wait until I get to see you grow up. I already know that you're going to be as amazing as your mother, but please try and not to be as difficult as she can be sometimes; it'll make my life a whole lot more easier."

"Wally," Artemis called, her voice husky. He looked up, unsurprised at the sound of her voice. "You're back." Her tonne was almost relieved, as though unsure he was going to make it back to her.

He nodded at her, smiling.

"Bruce came to visit while you were out. Apparently, he bought us a new place. We have a maid to help us out with everything, and we're still located in Palo Alto because of college, but I told him it might take a couple of months." she began to explain. Bruce Wayne had been extremely generous, especially since the return of Wally and how Dick almost hit rock bottom after the disappearance of his best friend. "We can stay at our apartment until then, though."

Wally raised his eyebrows in surprise. "He's really up to doing that for us?" he asked, glancing down at Lati.

She nodded, patting the spot beside her. He slowly stood up, balancing his daughter in his arms and walking over to the woman he loved. "Go back to sleep, beautiful. I'll see you tomorrow." he said, grinning at her when she pressed a kiss to his cheek, and whispered the sacred three words against his skin and then leaned over to put her lips on her daughter's forehead.

"Goodnight, you guys." she replied, curling her blanket more around her form.

Having a baby around the apartment had been difficult getting used too. Stanford had been fantastic with the new addition to their family, offering services to help out and even cutting them a bit of slack when it came to classes and work too. Wally had even begun to look for a job somewhere to help save some money for their future. Their parents and friends had been really supportive.

Zatanna absolutely adored Lati, and would often come to their apartment to babysit the baby while Artemis and Wally had lectures to go too or work. Social gatherings for the young couple had slowed too, hardly ever going out anymore (they only went to the college parties when they were fully convinced but even then, they were reluctant to leave their child) and when a mission would come up for the Team, only sometimes would they go along.

With Lati at home now, it was hard. They hardly ever slept.

Artemis groaned in frustration one night when her daughter woke up screaming, glancing almost mournfully at her fiancé who just continued to snooze soundly. With a sigh, she stood up and walked down the hall to Lati's bedroom and opened the door, where the cries practically pierced her ears even further.

"Hey, what's wrong, love?" she asked quietly, picking her up and carrying her over to the change table. She switched the lamp on beside it and worked through the process of checking her nappy. but apparently there was nothing. She then tried breastfeeding her next but Lati wouldn't take it, and rocking her back to sleep but nothing would work. "Oh my gosh, Lati, please stop crying!"

The girl had been placed in her cot, with the white bars up and her face looked extremely uncomfortable as she continued to yell at the top of her lungs.

"Artemis?" asked Wally's tired voice from the doorway. He was rubbing his eyes, and Artemis had a hard time keeping her eyes off his abs as he stood there shirtless. "What's wrong, babe?"

"She won't stop crying, and I don't know what's wrong!"

He walked over and kissed her shoulder before picking up his daughter and gently placing on his shoulder, patting her back until she let out a burp, and a surprisingly loud fart. "Now she might need a diaper change..."

The blonde woman's mouth fell open at the sight. "How did you know what was wrong?"

"She looked uncomfortable." he answered, before changing the nappy and replacing it with a clean one. He applied the sticky straps and then fixed up the purple jumpsuit she was wearing, and after that, placed her in her cot again.

"I'm such a bad mother-"

"Artemis, do not say that again, alright? You are a great mother, and don't say otherwise."

She sighed, and nodded. "Okay."

"Good, now come back to bed, beautiful."

Lati's first birthday couldn't have come fast enough. They had decided to hold it at the Queen estate, courtesy of Oliver who had offered to hold it there for his 'granddaughter'. Majority of the ballroom had been decorated with red and yellow streamers to continue the tradition of Kid Flash colours (to the amusement of Barry and Iris), with a large pile of presents against one wall and tables upon tables of food lined against one wall (they had assigned one each to Wally and Barry alone, to which Lati had to eat from too because she was starting to build up her own appetite).

The strawberry-blonde haired girl was sitting in her godmother's lap, waving at her mother on the opposite side of the room as Lian walked up to her younger cousin and began to gently pat her on the arm to gain her attention. Jade nudged her sister at the exchange.

"They'll be close when they're older. Hopefully, they will stay close." she said with a smile. "I'm so proud of you, little sis."

"Thanks, Jade." Artemis replied, pulling the girl in for a hug.

Wally called her over where Oliver was standing at the table with a cake, a spoon in one hand and a glass of champagne in the other, tapping the glass in order to gain all the attention of the guests over at the large mansion. "Attention everyone, we've got a couple of speeches from the parents."

The speedster grinned, and placed an arm around his now-wife, who instinctively leaned into him. "Well, firstly we'd like to thank everyone for coming to Lati's first birthday party, and for being a huge part of her life so far. She really has grown from that little bundle I held a whole year ago, and it's been a huge rollercoaster, but the time has just gone by so fast. I want to thank my wife for actually giving me the chance to actually be a father, and for putting up with me for this long."

"It's about your daughter, not about you!" Dick cackled from the front, making the whole room laugh.

"Shut up, Dick!"

"Sorry to interrupt your latest bromantic moment, but let's continue with this speech." Artemis said with a roll of her eyes, bumping Wally's hip with her own to push him out of the way. "Anyway, first I'd like to say thanks to my mom, Mary, Rudy, Dinah and Ollie for being absolutely amazing to your grandchild, to the Bats for being there to help bring him back, to everyone for being part of our lives and contributing to Lati's as well in order to help mold her into the beautiful young lady I know she'll become, and to the original nine; Conner, Dick, Zatanna, M'gann, Raquel, Kaldur, and Roy for being absolutely amazing people. Lati and I are so blessed to have you in our lives. And of course, to my husband for being the wonderful man that you are-" he laughed, and kissed her cheek in response. "-and thank you for coming today to celebrate this day with us. Hope you're having a wonderful time!"

Wally then began to pull her away and into another room, leaving the social event for the moment, much to her protests. "You know what we haven't done in a while?" he said, gesturing to the cupboard behind him.

"We're not in high school anymore, Wally." Artemis said, clearly unimpressed, folding her arms.

"C'mon, beautiful, just this once?"

"Alright, but not for too long!" she replied, pulling him inside and allowing him to push her against the wall while his lips molded with hers, slamming the door behind them.

It wasn't long until Dick and Zatanna found them, the trolls, but apparently they had been missing for about ten minutes much to the despair of their daughter who had been calling out for them. They then had a stern lecture from Paula, Mary and Shayera while Artemis tried to calm her daughter down as well.

Well, that hadn't been awkward at all.

Not at all.

Note the sarcasm?

A/N: Oh, god, the ending was horrible and disgusting. I hate this chapter so much. I was hoping to make it more... -nice?- I guess, but not like that. The last two bits were last minute. I finally figured out the godparents, and I didn't realise that they would have such a little part at the end of the story. :\

I can't believe it's over. Oh, well. :( That's sad. I don't know what to write about now.

To absolutely everybody who has followed, favourited and reviewed Heartstrings, you guys are to thank for this. You've kept me going with the support, so thank you. :D And to the silent readers. :) Thank you for even looking at it. I never realised it would get this much positive feedback.

To Beautiful-Dark, I hope you liked it all. :) I'm sorry if it's been a disappointment.

Um... I don't know what else to say. D:

Word Count: 4,261

I love you all! :D

~CL