Steal the Show •On Hold•

Chapter Four

WOW! WORD COUNT 1,204!

Artemis woke up, still in the awkward position that she was in when she fell asleep. Her head hurt a little again. She reached for the pill bottle by her bed, taking out two of the blue, oval-ish pills. After downing the Advil, she she tried get up to use the bathroom, but Cam tightened his grip on her. "Cam," She whispered. "Let go. I have to pee."

Cam stirred, waking up. He groaned. "What?"

"Let go. I have to pee."

"And I need to shower so I guess you're getting your way."

Artemis grabbed her clothes and stumbled to the bathroom. She tried to close the door, but Cam stopped it. "Uh uh uh. You'll need help changing."

"I'll be fine."

"Did it sound like I was offering?" He shoved his was in, locking the door. He started the shower. He glanced over at Artemis. "I thought that you had to pee."

"I do." In fact, she was about to wet her pants.

"Well then pee!" He snapped.

"How about you hurry up and shower?"

"You wanna play that game? Pee, or take a shower with me. Your choice."

Artemis reluctantly peed. Cam smirked and climbed in the shower. Artemis tried to change, but found Cam had been right. She couldn't balance well enough to put her pants on, forcing her to wait for Cameron's help. He got out of the shower and got dressed, all the while staring at her. Then he helped her. "What do you say, Baby?"

"Thank you."

"And?"

"You were right."

"Good girl."

She went back to bed. "I'll go get us some food," Cam said. "I'll be back."

A few minutes after Cam left, there was a knock on Artemis' door. She stumbled to the door and opened it. Wally stood there. "Hey, Arty! How are you?"

"A little better."

"Good. Where's Cam?"

"Breakfast. Why are you here?"

"To check on you."

"Well, I'm ok."

Cam returned. "What's Wally doing here?"

"He just came to check on me," Artemis said, blinking at the light. Cam noticed, but ignored it, leaving the door open.

"I guess that's fine. C'mon, Arty, get back to bed."

"Ok." Cam grabbed her arm, leading her to the bed. He set the bowl of grits he had gotten her on the table. Wally has followed them.

"You guys good?"

"Yep," Cam said, spooning some of the yellow breakfast food into her mouth. "Go have fun with those friends of yours."

"Bye, Arty. Feel better. See you at the airport this afternoon."

"Bye."

Artemis ate the food, and ended up taking a nap. She woke up as Cam was shaking her. "It's time to go."

Artemis stumbled to her feet, and Cam shoved her bags into her arms. He grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the room. She blinked as she went outside, the light blinding her and making her head ache. Cam ignored her until he realized that she genuinely couldn't see well, and took off his sunglasses, putting them on her. Now she could walk easier, without the light bothering her. She put her stuff in the trunk and Lawrence drove them to the airport. Artemis and Paula sat in the back. The second that they arrived at the private airport, Wally greeted them. He and Dick took Artemis' and Paula's bags to the plane. As soon as the plane took off, Artemis went back to sleep.

When she woke up, she was on a hotel bed, covered in blankets. Cam was next to her, playing on his phone. She could hear her parents arguing. They must've gotten a suite, because she could tell that the door was the only thing blocking the noise.

Artemis cringed as she heard a slap. "B****!" She heard her father snap. There was a familiar crash, the sound of her mother's wheelchair being slammed against the floor. Artemis was unfortunately used to the sound.

Cam glanced over at her. "Hey, Babe. You're awake."

"Yeah. What are they arguing about?"

"You, actually. Your mother is furious about your concussion. Betcha that they have a little fun tonight and she's forgiven him for your injury by morning."

"But she doesn't like-"

"I know she doesn't. She'll be so ticked at him that she'll forget to be angry about you." Cam scoffed. "Plus, it doesn't matter what she likes. She's just his sex slave."

Artemis cringed. She knew it was true; her mother had told her the story of how Crusher bought her in Vietnam and brought her back to the US to be abused by and forced to marry him. He wasn't happy when Paula got caught in the illegal activity he had forced her into, leading her to get shot and arrested. He didn't care that Paula was gone, he cared that his toy was gone. And so were the pretty pennies he made by selling her when she was deemed bad enough. He couldn't do that after she was paralyzed. Artemis was glad her father hadn't done the same with her. He had with Jade, the night before she ran away. Crusher took the hint.

Artemis tried to push out the horrible memories and go back to sleep. But a couple minutes later, she heard a sharp cry from her mother. She didn't listen when Cam told her that it was just her imagination, she ran to her parents' room. She was horrified by what she found. Her mother, bare chested, her father dragging a knife across his wife's skin. Artemis could see scars, old ones mostly, shaped like letters, forming words, horrible, insulting words, on her chest. From what Arty could tell, he was writing another.

"What the h***, Dad?!" Artemis exclaimed, not caring how bad the yelling made her head hurt.

"She was bad, Baby Girl. She had to be punished." He got up, allowing Artemis to read the word freshly carved into her mother. 'B****'. Artemis gasped.

He father walked up to her menacingly. "And now you do, too. You interrupted."

"You were done!" Paula said desperately. "You already hurt her last night! Don't hurt her anymore! Please!"

"No, I think Artemis wants a word of her own."

"No! Put another on me! Anything! Just leave her out of it!"

Cam walked in to see Artemis trapped against the wall. "What's going on?"

"She interrupted. An idiot, this one is. Gotta carve a word into her, teach her a lesson permanently."

Cam smirked. "Then might I suggest dumba**."

Lawrence laughed. "Perfect." He turned Artemis around and lifted her shirt, slowly carving the word into her back. Artemis bit her lip so hard that it bled.

Paula was sobbing until Crusher snapped at her. "Shut up or you get another one! B****! God, you're such a pu**y!" Paula went silent, but Artemis knew that she was still crying.

Her dad finished. "Now get out and go away. I don't want to see you until at least tomorrow!"

Artemis nodded. Her head was exploding again. She went back to the room she was sharing with Cam and took some medicine. Cam came and patched up her back. The lines were shallow enough that stitches weren't needed, but just deep enough that they needed to be washed and covered with gauze. Cameron tucked her in, scolding her for being an idiot and telling her that she deserved her punishment. Artemis ignored him the best that she could, and stared at the blank wall, scratching her arm, until she fell asleep again.