Keystone City
10:45 AM

When Wally wakes up late the next morning, he did not expect this. What he sees is almost comical.

In the kitchen, Nightwing and Tigress are quietly laughing as they make breakfast for the three of them. Both of them aren't wearing their masks. They talk to each other as if they were longtime friends. Instead of enemies... Yet again, She is not THEIR Tigress.
Wally gets up and approaches the pair from behind.

"Mornin' Guys," he says cheerfully. "What's cookin'?"

Artemis, her back to the speedster, stirs some eggs in a pan, half-consciously replies, "Well, Kid Genius, since it's Saturday, I made us eggs, bacon, french toast, and waffles. A little bit of..."

She turns around and stares into his soul, a look of shock covers her face as she starts to realize what she is saying.

"A...A little bit of e-everything," she continues disheartenedly. "Your....your favorite...."

She slowly puts the frying pan down and takes a seat at the counter. Her face in her hands, as a moment of grief takes hold. She should have known better...

But with his doppelganger standing across from her on the other side of the counter, it's kinda hard to avoid any possible triggers. It's not entirely his fault....that he looks, sounds, and feels almost exactly like her lost object of affection.

Almost.

For he stares at her with that same guilt filled expression from the night before. The one he had when he tried to comfort here, before she fell asleep...in his arms. An expression she wished she'd never see.

Wally feels guilty as he stares at the distraught former-archer. He just realized that his very presence must be causing her emense pain. For he realized...

"You and him," he states, referring to his alternate. "I mean you and my alternate...you two were close... Weren't you...?"

Sensing that he'll just get in the way, Dick Grayson silently excused himself after shutting off the oven and stove.

"I don't know, Kid Genius," she says faking anger. "Does spending five years together, three of which in a cramped one bedroom off-campus apartment sound close to you?"

"You loved him...didn't you...?" he says slowly, seeing tears pool in her eyes as a result.

Artemis squeezes her eyes tightly as she tries to prevent the tears from flowing. She painfully says, "Yo-He... He wasn't my first love... but he was the longest... and... and the best..."

She knows that, dispite her best efforts, she is crying now. For she feels the warm, gentle touch of the speedster's hands on her cheeks as his thumbs slowly rub the tears away.

God! How I've missed this! her mind shouts as once again her brain confuses this stranger for the real thing.

"He...," she starts again, staring at the blurring visage of his face. (She swears that if she squints hard enough, she can see Him!!!) "He... was the best thing that ever happened to me. That bright light at the end of the tunnel. That thing that everyone is working so hard to find to give their life meaning...fulfillment... The thing that brings them neverending happiness..."

She sighs into his touch; opening her eyes and staring into his turquois orbs. Her hand clutches one of his and refuses to let it drop from her face like the other one did a few seconds earlier.

"And mine just so happened to trip and land in front of my face," she says as she reminisces about the first time they met. "At first, we didn't like each other. Despised each other, actually. I found you annoying, repulsive, self-entitled, and disgusting."

She breaks a small smile as she leans back in her seat and says, "It's funny, really. Because he had the same feelings about me... and more. So much more. Although we fought and argued literally everytime we saw each other, there were moments where he was kind and understanding. Especially after I revealed the truth about my family. By the end of the Team's first year, we got together. Been inseparable ever since."

"That is until that undercover mission," she sighs defeatedly, staring at the floor. "We might have been apart every once in awhile, when we disagreed on something...but never longer than a week...never three months...

"Then when I came back...it was the best moment of my life. I was so happy to be in your arms again...If only I could have held on longer... tighter... not let you out of my sight, then maybe..." her voice dies in her throat as she starts sobbing once more.

Wally, not one for seeing a friend--or atleast his alternate's friend--be consumed by pain, tries to comfort her. He pulls her into a strong, yet comforting, embrace.

He whispers, "It wasn't your fault. There was nothing you could do. If I know Wally's--which I do--, then I know that once I set my mind on something, I see it through to the end, regardless of the effect on myself and, unfortunately, those that care for me. Especially, if it was to save the woman I love. I'd die over and over again, just so that she keeps on living," the speedster emotes. "...even if she doesn't remember me."

This time it is his turn to cry...for the woman he lost.

The archer takes notice.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asks. Her tears stop, as she sees his.

Wally sighs and takes the seat next to her; his eyes are focused on the pattern of the graniye countertop. "To put it simply, I'm a man out of time."

"So...your from the future...?" she asks, thinking of Bart.

"No. An alternate timeline," he clarifies. "Something stole time from my universe, as a way to weaken all of us. It...It's complicated."

"Yeah...It certainly sounds that way," Artemis replies.

After a few moments of silence, Artemis asks, "Do you want to help me finish making breakfast? Cause I know you just have to be starving."

Wally just chuckles. He grabs a frying pan and starts cooking the eggs.