ALICE

Chapter Sixteen

A/N Thanks for reading! I hope that you enjoy this chapter! God bless you all. 

- Emma

Artemis' POV

My eyelids flutter open and I groan. Good god I hurt.  "How do you feel, Baby Girl?" I hear Mom's voice ask me worriedly. 

"Like crap," I respond. 

My mother smiles weakly at me, and gently strokes my hair behind my ear. She looks at me lovingly. She sighs. "I figured as much. That was an awful lot of lashes that you took."

"Yeah," Says Jade. "Thanks for that, Sis. I owe you one."

"No problem. You wouldn't've done the same for me." I say.

"Don't you mean would've done the same?" Jade asks, seeming concerned about my sanity.

"Nope," Says I. A/N Is it just me, or does "says I" sound really medieval-y? "I'm subtly saying that I'm better than you. Suck it, punk."

My sister grins. "You're lucky that you're hurt so bad, or I'd beat you into next week."

"I'd like to see you try."

"Girls, girls," Mom says with a slight laugh. "Stop arguing over every little thing, please."

"Yes, Mom," Jade and I say in unison, grinning. 

Mom gets up and leaves the room, coming back a minute later with two cans of beer, from Dad's stash in the fridge, no doubt. Dang, Jae and I must've really annoyed her. Less than I thought, though, as she hands one to Jade. She sits down on my bed and pops open hers and takes a deep swallow. She then sets the can on the bedside table.

She pulls back the blanket that's covering my back, which is no doubt covered in gauze attached to my skin with medical tape. We don't use actual bandages in this house for anything less than a possibly fatal injury or a broken bone. As my torn-up back is neither of those, it has to be gauze and medical tape. She runs her hand along my back, making me grit my teeth. God, that hurts.

Mom notices my reaction and says, "I know it hurts Sweetie, but I have to change them. I'm sorry." She picks up the can that she had set on the bedside table and holds it to my lips. I take a few sips of the disgusting beverage. She coaxes AKA makes, me drink a few more so that a little more half of the can is empty. She waits a few minutes, then removes the gauze and tape from my back. Which hurts, but the small amount of alcohol in my veins distracts  me just enough that it doesn't hurt very much. 

The door opens partially and Dad sticks his head around it. "I'm off. Assignment." Mom nods and Dad closes the door again. I can barely hear his surprisingly quiet footsteps as he walks down the hallway to the door.

"So your sister told me what happened while you two were gone. You and Kid Flash now, right? I bet that you're happy about that. You've only been crushing on him since you were twelve." Mom says as she puts disinfectant on my back and covers it with fresh gauze and med tape.

"I have not!" I yelp, my face reddening.  "I swear upon all things holy, I have not!"

Jade snickers. "You totally have. You just didn't realize it. On the other hand, it was obvious to anyone who was paying attention to you. Why did you think that you wanted to be friend with him more than Miss M?"

I pout and Mom and Jade laugh. Traitorous scum. "I could say the same about you and a certain Red Arrow." I say to my annoying older sister with a snicker.

Jade glares at me. Mom just laughs and says, "Yeah, yeah both of your hero crushes were ridiculously obvious to anyone who was paying attention except yourselves. Now, stop fighting."

"Yes, Ma'am," Jade and I say, laughing.  I fall back to sleep feeling completely safe.