Second Chances: Artemis

Chapter 15

Thea could tell that the entire time she and Donna were on their way back to San Francisco that Donna was nervous, probably because she was worried about how Garth was going to take her rejoining the team and about their baby.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Thea asked.

"No, but I need to get this over with. I've kept the truth from Garth for too long. It's time that he knows the truth." Donna said as the elevator door opened and the other titans were surprised to see Donna exit the elevator with Thea, a bag over her shoulder.

"Donna, are you staying for a few days?" Dick asked her.

"Actually, I'm here to stay for good, if you'll have me." Donna said, though it was clear that her attention was on Garth as she said it.

"How do we know you won't ghost us again?" Garth asked.

"Garth, can I talk to you in private please?" Donna asked and Garth could tell that he was finally going to be getting the explanation he'd wanted from her for years

"Yeah." Garth said as he let Donna lead him out of the room.

"What was that about?" Dick asked.

"It's a long story, but let's just say that Donna did not leave because she wanted to." Thea said.

"It's been 15 years Donna. 15 years since you took off without even leaving a note. Are you finally going to tell me why?" Garth asked Donna when they entered his room.

"It wasn't because I wanted too Garth." Donna said, taking a deep breath.

"Then why did you do it?" Garth demanded as Donna just reached into her pocket and pulled out a picture and handed it to Garth.

"What is this?" Garth asked, seeing it was a picture of a baby.

"That Garth is our daughter." Donna said.

"Wait, what?" Garth asked, thinking he'd misheard her.

"The reason I left is because I was pregnant and I was trying to protect all of us from the fallout that we both knew would come." Donna said.

"You should've told me Donna. I would've found a way to make it work." Garth said.

"I know and believe me, I hated doing what I did, but at the time, it seemed like too big a risk. I didn't want us to have to go on the run, constantly looking over our shoulders, waiting for the day that one of our peoples find out about our daughter and honestly, we weren't ready to be parents." Donna said.

"That still should've been a conversation we had." Garth said.

"I know and Garth, I'm so sorry, but I did what I thought was best for our daughter. Besides, I didn't think that either of us were ready to be parents, especially since we were still Titans. I didn't want our child to grow up in that life, I wanted them to have a shot at a normal life, something they'd never have with us raising them." Donna said and Garth finally calmed down.

"And you've kept this secret for the past 15 years?" Garth asked.

"And I've hated every minute of it and it turns out that Diana knew about it anyways." Donna said.

"Wait really?" Garth asked, unable to stop a chuckle, only to have Donna smack his arm.

"Shut up. But anyways, Diana gave me permission to stay in this world permanently if I want to and I do want to. That is, if you want me to." Donna said nervously.

"I've been wanting you to come back ever since you left. But Donna, I'm still hurt that you left without even saying goodbye." Garth said.

"I know, but Garth, if I had tried to say goodbye, I wouldn't have left and I knew I needed to." Donna said and Garth sighed as he took her hands.

"Do you promise me you won't do that again and if we find ourselves in a situation like that again, you'll talk it out with me instead of ghosting me again." Garth said.

"I promise. But just to be clear, I am not going through childbirth again, since that hurt worse than any injury I got in my Amazon training or in our fights as Titans." Donna said.

"Oh I don't know, I think I can get you to change your mind about that." Garth said with a smile.

"Really, how you gonna convince me?" Donna asked with a smile of her own as Garth closed the distance between them.

"I've got some ideas." Garth said as the two of them kissed, reigniting the spark between them as if it had never gone out and honestly, it never truly had.

A few days later found all the Titans chilling out in the tower after a training session and by now Dick, Kory and Roy had all been brought up to speed on why Donna had left and by now Donna and Garth were happily back together, much to Dick and Kory's delight.

Anyways, that was all ruined when Thea's phone rang.

"What's going on?" Roy asked.

"It's my mom." Thea said and she had an idea what this was about as she answered it.

"Hi mom." Thea said.

"Thea, your brother's been found." Moira said and even though she knew it was coming, Thea couldn't help but sit up straight as she felt the emotions come back to her.

"What?" Thea asked.

"Oliver's alive. They found him on an island in the North China Sea. I'm heading to Hong Kong now to bring him home and I expect you and that boyfriend of yours to be in Star City by the time we get back, since you are not missing your brother's homecoming." Moira said, since Thea had finally made the introduction when she'd gone back to Star City last Christmas.

"Don't worry, Roy and I will be on the first flight out to Star City." Thea said, since she knew that her mom was taking the private jet to get Oliver.

"Good. I'll see you soon." Moira said.

"Bye." Thea said as she hung up.

"What was that about?" Kory asked.

"Roy and I are going back to Star City now. Not up for debate." Thea said.

"What's going on?" Dick asked.

"My brother's alive." Thea said, causing all eyes to turn to her.

"What?" Roy asked, even though he already knew and he was very happy to have Oliver back.

"They found him on an island in the North China Sea. He's coming home and we are not missing that. Dick is in charge while we're gone." Thea said.

"Go." Dick said, having a bit of understanding for what Thea was going through right now.

"Thank you." Thea said as she rushed to the room she shared with Roy to start packing.

And that brings this story to the present like the rest of them. Now I will be working on bringing the rest of the stories in this series up to date chapter wise. I hope you liked this arc.