~.: "Oleander" :.~
~.: Mother Mother :.~
~.: De's POV :.~
I had no time to react before Aria was already storming away from my side and past Tim, Lexie, Riley, and Superboy right towards Artemis who stood against the far wall, arms crossed with a poker faced expression adorning her tanned features. Panic rose up in my throat and my body went cold as my stomach flipped inside out while rushing past the others to try and stop Aria but I was too slow. With an angry slap echoing off the rock walls around us, Aria's hand flew across Artemis's face and Wally darted to my side, Dick caught off guard by the sudden confrontation.
"Lousy man stealing whore!" Aria snarled, shaking off my prying hands as I tried to separate her from the blonde archer who took a threatening step towards us, gray eyes stormy, "How dare you!! Go find someone else's fiancé to hook up with, home wrecking slut!" Her ice blue eyes blazed snowy white and I gulped in panic, my gaze flitting anxiously to Wally who made a move to get between his girlfriend and his teammate- not that that helped at all. Dick's gaze was on us within microseconds, groaning in exasperation as Artemis pushed off the wall she'd been leaning against to defend herself.
"What the fuck are you talking about, psycho barbie bitch?!" Artemis hissed, lunging forward for Aria who shoves her backwards in retaliation as Zatanna hurriedly rushes to Artemis's side, her dark blue gaze flashing with concern and confusion as we exchange glances.
"Aria, what the hell-?!" Dick growled, nimbly making his way past our teammates to come face to face with Aria as I managed to pry her away from Artemis while Zatanna managed to hold back the blonde archer, "I told you to let go of whatever you'd seen in the simulation! It wasn't real!" He sighs, running a stressed hand through his hair while Aria merely snorts in defiance, throwing her black hair over her shoulder and whipping me in the face with it in the process.
"Sorry," she quickly mutters to me in apology before storming out of the room, leaving the whole team stunned to silence as Dick stares after her in disapproval.
"I'll- uh- I'll go talk to her-" Wally mumbles, rubbing the back of his neck while Artemis merely rolls her eyes bad temperedly.
"Sure, like that psycho would even listen to you," she hisses, swatting away Zatanna's calming hands, "Don't touch me. I'm fine." She growls, eyes narrowed as she leaves the room via the hallway in the opposite direction that Aria had gone while Wally zips away to go find his girlfriend. Dick sighs in agitation as Lexie walks over to us, ice blue eyes dull as Tim approaches from behind her.
"Uh-what now, Dick?" Tim coughs awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck while his older sisters stay where they are, still leaned up against their wall of isolation, Jason and Jared across the room from them, "Are we... are we still going after Justin like you were planning?"
Dick lets out a long sigh, putting one hand on his hip while he runs the other through his bangs in an attempt to get his hair out of his face, "I honestly don't know if the girls in the room who dealt with the simulation are fit to go on the mission after what Aria just pulled- I think they should stay-" I raised an eyebrow at him, minorly taking offense.
"Excuse me?" I find myself blurting out, crossing my arms over my chest as Dick warily meets my narrowed fed up gaze, "Are you being sexist now?"
"I don't think he was-" Tim starts to speak but Acacia cuts him off, storming forward with Octavia at her side as they stand on either side of me.
"It sure sounded like he was- so you're gonna send out a team of men-only now? Huh? Suddenly got a thing against women?" Acacia growls, gaze flashing with an unsaid challenge as Dick deadpanned at the three of us.
"I am not being sexist, you three are just emotionally unstable and hyper sensitive. Just. Stay behind on this mission, okay?" He grumbles irritably then nods his head at Jason, Jared, Superboy, and Tim, "We're leaving in a few minutes. Get ready to go." He murmurs then turns to leave as Acacia and Octavia choke in offense before turning on their heels and walking towards the zeta tubes. I paused, my gaze flitting from Dick to Acacia and Octavia while Lexie still stands beside me, eyes downcast.
"You okay?" I ask her, catching sight of how downhearted she looked and she nodded in response, waving off my concern for her, "Are you sure?" I hesitated, deciding to make sure she was okay before I went to follow Dick.
"Yeah," she laughs softly, smiling a bit though to me for some reason it felt forced and not very genuine- as though she were hiding something. I'd have to ask her about it later, I guess... "I'm okay, De. Go ahead and go after Dick before he leaves on the mission. I'll be fine." She reassures me and I purse my lips before sighing and bringing her into a gentle hug.
"Okay, I'll be right back though, don't you worry," I chirped good naturedly and she grins a little, eyes sparkling in laughter as I pulled away from her, "Stay right there." With those words being said, I rushed away from her and down the hallway Dick had taken, nearly slamming right into him around the corner. He chuckles a bit in amusement as I quickly recover and snuggle into his embrace.
"Couldn't stay away from me for long, could you?" He murmurs, smirking as he wraps his arms around my waist and presses his lips to my forehead, causing me to blush a bit in response before nodding and standing on my tiptoes to press my lips to his.
"Of course not," I giggled, smiling up at him, "Also- I'm sorry for what I said back there... I don't know what got into me- I think the simulation really has been fucking with all of us.. especially Aria." I murmur softly, resting my head against Dick's broad chest as he sighs in agreement.
"Yeah... that's why we need to find Justin as soon as possible so he can't do anything like that again. Especially not to you or Aria. The fact that he used Ryan and Wally against you and my sister... that was uncalled for. I'm sorry you both had to relive those memories..." he murmurs in reply, closing his eyes as he presses his forehead to mine sweetly, "Just know that I'm here for you. I'll always be there for you no matter what. I love you," he whispers into my hair and I smile in content, my eyes fluttering closed as well as I stand there in his embrace.
"I love you too, Dick," I whisper in reply then two loud familiar giggles sound down the hall a little ways away from us and we both raise our heads to see Alyssa and Bella running towards us, arms out stretched.
"Mommy, Daddy!! You're home, you're home!!" They cried out happily, bouncing up and down around us as we both pulled away to pick them both up.
"Only for a bit! Daddy needs to go on another mission, but he'll be back later," I murmured, rubbing Bella's back while she pouted at the fact that Dick picked up Alyssa and not her.
"For now, De will be here to watch over you two and Brodie! Can you guys be good for me while I'm gone?" Dick chuckles, tucking a stray strand of Alyssa's hair behind her ear as she smiles timidly up at him.
"Yeah, we can be good," Bella and Alyssa both instantly answer at the same time, causing them both to scowl in annoyance at each other, "Stop copying me- No, you-! I MEAN IT-!"
Dick sighs in exasperation as we both put the girls down, "And there they go again. Anyway, I better head out. I'll see you later, babe," he murmurs into my ear and then turns to leave while Alyssa and Bella are still busy arguing with each other. As soon as he's gone though, the twins stop and look up at me with their eyes wide and pleading as I glance down at them with an amused smile.
"What? Did you do that on purpose?" I giggled in amusement as I walked to our bedroom to check on Brodie who was soundly sleeping in his crib. I gently brought him into my arms as the twins followed me out of the room and towards the main room where I'd left Lexie.
"Hi, Lexie!" Bella greets with a broad smile, jumping up onto the couch beside the timid blonde, "Whatcha doin?"
Lexie purses her lips, scooting over a little bit so Bella wasn't invading her personal space bubble, "Nothing, I was waiting for De."
"Otay," Bella replies then hops off the couch and grabs Alyssa's hand, dragging her towards the kitchen as I sigh tiredly while sitting beside Lexie, "We'll get the cookies! It's girl time," the twins called over their shoulders and I shook my head in quiet laughter before glancing at Lexie with a faint smile.
"Balls of energy, aren't they?" I laughed softly as I lean back against the cushions while cradling Brodie close to my chest who hums sleepily in response.
"They're... definitely off the walls," Lexie murmurs, grimacing in distaste as the dishes in the kitchen clatter around a bit and I glance worriedly in that direction to see Alyssa helping Bella up onto the countertop to grab some plates.
"Girls, be careful in there! Those are breakable-" I called out anxiously, pursing my lips as I watch them from where I'm sat with Lexie on the couch.
"We're fineeee," Bella calls back to me, hopping down from the counter with two plates in hand, "I'm a big girl and Alyssa is the one that breaks everything, not me!" At that, her twin sister makes an offended noise and pouts, grabbing the cookie jar reluctantly as Bella takes confident steps over to us and sets down the plates.
"I do not always break stuff..." Alyssa grumbles in annoyance, setting down the cookie jar between the two plates and I smile at the both of them in amusement while Lexie reaches out and reluctantly pulls a cookie to her mouth.
~.: TO BE CONTINUED :.~
