How Can We

Chapter Twenty Three

Chapter Twenty Three

Artemis decided to go against her better judgement and give her sister another chance. She was still angry at her, there was no denying that. It was going to take a lot to get her to forgive her sister for abandoning her when she needed a family most.

Until then however, Artemis still needed answers and she felt like their last meeting didn't give her the ones she deserved. There was still so much unanswered which is why she had to go back.Originally Artemis wanted to keep her distance indefinitely. Her sister already walked out on her once, and now there was no reason for her to come back.

There was one thing that changed her mind, Wally's speech about second chances and owing it to herself. It was stuck in the back of her mind constantly nagging her. Every time she thought about shutting her sister out of her life for good, she had Wally's voice in her head as a reminder.

He was probably right, but until she went to see Jade there was no telling for sure. It made her infuriated that Wally could have so much on an impact on her. They haven't really known each other for that long, a few months really.

It scared her, how much she let him in within a short amount of time. She trusted him, maybe even cared for him, but any feelings she had were deeply hidden. They were masked with denial stemmed from fear and insecurities.

If her own family would leave her, what's stopping Wally from doing the same?

She couldn't let him in, although it was getting harder each day. She was warming up to him bit by bit, until he eventually thawed out her heart. Ignoring him wasn't the answer for so many reasons. The first being that she wouldn't want him to go through what she did when he shunned her. And the second being that she couldn't stay away from him.

He has made an impact on her. When she was upset, he got her to smile and actually forget about her problems for a a little bit.

The bottom line was that he was sweet and she didn't deserve him, and she feared the day he would realize that and walk away. How could she even consider a possibility that they would end up together?

It was out of the question, and entirely unrealistic. She didn't know why she was spending so much time thinking about it if it was never going to happen.

The main point was that she was going to see Jade because of Wally's influence, but there was still something she had to do first.

*******

"Mom?" Artemis called out in the apartment, trying not to be too loud because her neighbors were ***holes. She set her bag down by the door and found her mom sitting by the table with a cup of tea in her hands.

"So I see you've stopped ignoring me." Her mother replied. Artemis knelt down so she was looking up at her mother.

"I haven't been able to deal with my issues." There was nothing new there, she has never known how to channel her anger and find a way to fix her problems. "And I'm sorry for shutting you out instead of dealing with our issues, but I have some news." She paused. She didn't want to label it as good news because of the sour taste her last meeting with Jade left behind.

"I found Jade."

Her mother dropped the cup. It shattered across the table.

"What?"

"Jade, she's here in Gotham, pretty close actually."

"I need to see her." Her mom made a move to get her coat and leave at that moment to reconnect with her elder daughter. Artemis stopped her.

"There's some things you need to know first." Artemis was unsure on how to approach the news. "She's been dating my archery coach."

"Oliver?" Her mother gasped.

"No, Roy." She cleared her throat uncomfortable. "There's more, they have a daughter together."

"What's her name?" Artemis was just as clueless as her mother. She was so angry at Jade and Roy, she neglected to find out the name of her niece.

"How old is she?"

"I don't know for sure." She could have been one or two, at most three, but there was no way of telling for sure.

"Then what can you tell me?" Practically nothing, just the basic details like the fact that Jade had a daughter.

"Nothing more than I already had." Although she knew exactly where to get more information.

*******

What sparked Artemis to even think about Jade again after she tried to block it out of her mind was her archery practice. Archery was for clearing her mind and relieving a lot of the stress she's accumulated over the week. That was until Roy showed up to work again. She guessed he had no reason to hide anymore once she found him.

It was the first time Artemis wanted to leave practice early. In fact, she wanted to skip the second she saw Roy and didn't want to give him the satisfaction. She figured ignoring him would do the trick nicely and hopefully he would catch the hint easily.

Throughout the entire practice she thought about what Wally said. How could she forget about his words when a reminder was standing less than 3 feet away from her.

Unfortunately for her, the hint was apparently too subtle for Roy to take. He approached her at the end of practice, just as she was trying to leave. Just because she was going to give Jade another chance didn't mean she had to forgive either of them easily.

"I don't want to hear it Roy." She planned on making it as difficult as possible for him. It might have been petty on second thought but there was no going back.

"Give her another chance Artemis, she wants to talk to you properly without anyone else there. Just the two of you talking." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Do it for Lian's sake."Artemis was just about to ask who the **** Lian was. "You should get to know your niece."

"What's her number?" Artemis asked, her voice slightly less harsh. Despite hating Roy at the moment, she did want to meet up with her sister. Not because he asked her to, but because she had already made up her mind.

Roy quickly wrote it down on a piece of paper. "Here."

Artemis tore it from her hand, the pettiness coming back for just a second. "Is that all?" She asked sassily.

Roy sighed. "Look I know you're upset and I understand why-"

"I doubt you know. When was the last time that someone you've known lied to you for years?" Roy stayed silent. "Jade may have told you about what happened in the past, but you have no idea what is going on now." She hated when people tried to empathize with her pain when they clearly had no idea what she was going through.

******

Artemis did make plans to meet up with Jade the next day. She needed an extra day to muster up the courage.

Somehow she found it in herself to get dressed and meet her sister at the cafe by her house. Jade was already waiting for her there, Lian right beside her happily munching away on a chocolate chip muffin. Artemis could tell from the chocolate smeared on her face.

"Artemis."

"Jade." Artemis sat down across from her sister. "You wanted to talk."

"I think there's still much we need to discuss." And that was something they could both agree on. 

A/N: I am so tired and I've been writing for the past 5 hours and it'slate so I'm going to sleep and try to come up with a new chapter in a few days. I'm still unsure if the next chapter is going to pick up where this left off, although that seems like the most likely outcome.

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