-So funny story: I actually wrote the Aqualad part first, but my pen leaked while inking the sketch, and was so pissed I decided to give him a full page of drawing instead, so that part is slightly delayed-

-Also, TW for mention of domestic abuse, as with basically every Wally West story ever made-

Friday night

Iris West had been terrified when her husband had told her that something happened to Wally's team. But once Barry started sending her photos, she couldn't help but be ecstatic. Sure, it was terrible that something hurt Wally and his friends, but it had been ages since she'd seen her nephew so small. 

She loved children, and she loved her nephew, so Iris was so excited to hear that Wally was coming to stay with them a few days.

When Barry brought Wally home that evening, she'd prepared a very simple dinner she'd trusted the boy would eat, and made sure his bedroom was acceptable for a four year old.

"Auntie Iris!" 

"Wally!" She swept him off the floor for a better look. "WOW! Look at you!"

"What's for Dinner?" Wally asked, wiggling a little, he didn't like being kept still."

She carried the boy to the kitchen. "Pasta."

The boy squirmed to be put down. Once placed on the floor, he began running circuits around the house, eagerly. 

"How was your day?" Barry planted a kiss on his wife's cheek.

"It was good. A lot calmer than yours, I'm sure." She lead the way the way to the table. "Something to drink?"

"Water please." She got two glasses and they toasted, enjoying a moment of quiet with just the two of them. 

Finally, they called Wally down for dinner, and the boy sped in, slipping on the tile and smacking into the cabinet. He hopped up on his chair to eat. 

If there was one thing about Wally, it was that he couldn't sit still, which had only been accelerated by first his super speed, and now his deaging.

"Wally, what do you want to do after dinner?" Iris asked her nephew, reminding yet again to sit still and eat, she'd been sure to give him a small serving considering his age. "We could watch a movie, or Uncle Barry could take you to the park..."

"YEAH!" Wally exclaimed, eyes lighting up. Park meant running. Park meant playing! and for a kid who's been stuck indoors, or at the store for almost a whole day, that sounded like the best idea ever! 

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Wally really had a blast on the playground. There were a lot of children there, as it was a Friday night in summer. Wally actually befriended a few of these kids, being pulled around for games of tag, or role-playing games using the tiny counter under the playground for  make believe ice cream shop. 

This really showed Barry how crazy their little heroes were. Most of these kids seemed like tiny angels. Then again, he was pretty sure none of them had superpowers.

Wally was there for almost two hours burning off energy, the other kids came and went home, but Wally stayed, living it up like a king.

But eventually it started to get dark, and Iris started texting him that he better not have kidnapped her nephew for himself, so he called Wally to come home.

"Come on Kiddo!"

"One more minute!" Wally cried.

"Aunt Iris was going to give you cookies when we get home."

The boy slid off the slide and bounced over, leading the way to the sidewalk. "Come on!" 

Barry hurried after him, and they headed to the house. Thing is, to get there, they needed to cross a busy street, it hadn't been so busy on their way there. Wally arrived to the crosswalk before him, he looked up at the cross walk sign and saw that the countdown on the was still happening, He skipped across the busy street contentedly.

Barry let out a sharp shout as he saw the four year old hop into the busy street. There was no way Wally wound make it to the other side before the countdown ended. 

He kicked off the ground, and in seconds, he was sweeping Wally off the asphalt, setting the child down just as the count down ended, and cars began flying by again. 

"WALLY!" The boy flinched. "Don't do that! You could have gotten hit!" 

Wally cowered back a little, and then quite a bit more, until he was nearly sitting on the sidewalk. He forced his hands over his ears, eyes screwed shut. and then he started crying.
"Stop! I'm sorry!" He whined quietly. "Stop."

"Wally stop, calm down. Nothings wrong, just wait for me, and hold my hand next time."

But Wally wasn't stopping, or calming down. He rolled back on the concrete and sat there, hugging his legs, and quietly bawling into his knees. Barry tried to pick him up, but Wally let out a sharp cry, kicking and scrambling backwards, still crying. 

What really worried Barry was that he didn't seem to be upset about getting told off,  he just seemed scared. Terrified, actually. And Barry really didn't have the slightest clue how to help.

They were only a block or so from home, and Wally wouldn't even let his uncle touch him. Barry settled on the concrete next to the boy and called his wife. She knew Wally even better than he, and was arguable much better with kids. Frantically, he explained what had happened, all with Wally crying in the background.

Iris was there in less than two minutes. "Wally, sweetie what's wrong?" She cooed, bending down and successfully scooping the child off the ground. "What happened baby?" She bounced him a little, carrying him back up to the house with Barry tailing concernedly after.

Wally didn't say a word the whole way back, but as soon as he was put down, he ran. he just ran, so fast that one of his new Velcro shoes came flying off.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know? he just started crying, you say?"

"Yeah, I told him not to run across the road, I don't think I was that hard on him, but..."

"and I'm sure you weren't, but something must have really scared him!" She replied. Iris sighed. "I'll go find him, and-"

"No, darling, I'll find him." Barry assured his wife. "You relax, you've done a lot already. " 

"Okay," She relented. "We never gave Wally Dessert, so I'll get a couple cookies for him, help draw him out."

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It took some searching to find Wally, but hw was eventually located; in the linin cupboard in the upstairs hallway. 

He'd curled up inside, hiding, still crying. In fact, the only reason Barry had found him was that the sound of his footsteps had sent Wally back into hysterics.

"Shh. Wally. It's just me. it's just your uncle Barry." He assured, sitting in the doorway. "Can you tell me what happened? Please?" Wally didn't reply for a while.

"You yelled..."

Barry wanted to curse himself out. Of course! Poor child! "Oh, Wally, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you! I just-"'

"...Like daddy does.

Well shit. That just dialed up to eleven. Barry felt wally sit up and crawl over, hugging him around the middle. 

"Does daddy yell at you?" Wally nodded a little, his face burried in Barry's shirt. "Oh." He said. "How long has that been happening?"

Wally shrugged a little. "Forever." He concluded.

"Oh." 

"Uh huh."

Barry sat there in silence for a bit, Patting Wally's head gently, with the boy still wrapped around his middle. There was an elephant in the room question he needed to ask, but didn't think he wanted to get the answer to.

"Where'd you ge those bruises, kiddo." He asked as casually as possible, still stoking his nephews hair affectionately. Wally didn't actually answer, he thought that ignoring the question would make it go away. This did nothing to quell his anxiaties. "Wally, did dad give you those?"

Wally kept hugging him around the middle. "Can I have cookies now?" He sniffled.

"Yeah, sure thing bud." Barry told him, pulling the child onto his lap to be more comfortable. "We can get you cookies in a minute, but first, can you tell me? Did your dad give you those bruises, Wally?"

With the incentive of getting cookies motivated the boy to actually answer. "Yeah."

"How?"

"This one; he grabbed me." Wally answered simply, cradling his wrist. "This one; I was being loud." He explained with the honesty and casualty only a child could manage. "That's all."

"Ohhhhh-kay." Barry replied "What about your mom?"

Wally shrugged earnestly. "She's okay. because he does it to me now."

"Okay.... let's get you those cookies, huh?"

Wally nodded, and let himself be carried downstairs. Stiill sniffling a bit, he accepted a small plate of two cookies from his aunt and sat at the table.

"Are you feeling better?" Iris asked gently.

"Mnhm." Wally took his first cookie. He didn't feel like talking any more, the day had been too exciting.

"Can we talk for a moment?" Barry pulled his wife aside.

"What's up?" She asked nervously. "Is something wrong?"

And a mere fourteen minutes later, Iris West was ready to crack skulls.