But A Number Part 12

Wally and Artemis walked through the halls of the base and into the kitchen. M'gann set down the pot she was washing and put a finger up to her lip, pointing to the sleeping form on the couch with her other hand. Artemis smiled as she waltzed over to the toddler sprawled on the couch.

"He has a little cold, just so you know." M'gann informed them as she handed Artemis the camera she loaned to her. The archer looked through the photos as Wally gently picked up the sleeping toddler. Artemis grabbed Robin's bag before heading home.  

Wally opened the door to his uncle's home as he felt the toddler in his arms move. He smiled down to Rob as the boy rubbed his eyes and his stuffed nose.

"Hey buddy, how're you feeling?" Wally asked while Artemis prepared everything they would need to take care of the toddler for the weekend.

"Not good." Robin replied flatly.

"Well how can we fix that?" Wally cheerfully asked. Robin shrugged his shoulders and wiped his nose on his sleeve. Wally set Rob down on the couch before bringing a box of tissues over to the sick child. He grabbed a tissue and held it up to Robin's nose.

"Blow." Wally told the boy. Robin shook his head stubbornly. Wally sighed.

"Come on Rob. If you blow your nose, you won't have to sniffle as much." Wally tried to convince the toddler, but when Robin was stubborn, it took a lot for him to give in.

"No." Robin rejected. He went to wipe his nose again on his sleeve, but Wally gently took the boy's head away from the sleeve and over to the tissue. Robin pushed the tissue away. Wally was getting frustrated with the boy.


"Rob. You can't use your sleeve as a tissue. Then it will be gross all day buddy." Wally again tried to convince the boy to use the tissue, but Robin continued to resist.

Seeing that Wally was getting nowhere in getting Robin to blow his nose, Artemis intervened.

"Robin." She said in a kind and relaxed tone as she bent her legs down enough to be at Robin's eye level.

"If you promise to do what we say for the weekend, we can watch movies and play all day long, and if you're better on Sunday, I'll make sure you get an extra special treat, okay?" She negotiated with the toddler. Robin looked at Artemis intensely, trying to see if she was lying.

"Pomise?" Rob asked. Artemis smiled as she held her pinkie up to the child. "I pinkie swear."

Robin locked his pinkie with Artemis before blowing his nose in the tissue Wally got the boy. Wally through the used tissue into the trash bin that sat next to the couch as Artemis grabbed the movies that were in Robin's bag.

"Which movie do you wanna watch?" Artemis asked as she showed the toddler's options, but he shook his head. Robin had already watched the four movies they bought during the shopping trip so many times he could recite each movie. Wally got up from his sitting position on the couch and opened the cabinet next to the t.v. Inside the cabinet was a vast array of movies and cds. Wally grabbed almost the entire bottom shelf of movies, all perfect movies for Robin's current age. Robin's jaw fell at all the movies. He crawled over to the movies Wally was arranging on the floor and picked one out. Wally popped the movie into the dvd player and sat next to the toddler.

As the movie played, Artemis cooked up a pot of soup. After another movie, Wally picked Robin up off the couch and carried him into the kitchen.

"Lunch time!" Artemis three bowls with the chicken noodle soup she prepared and set them on the table. Robin inhaled the soup almost as fast as Wally had. As Artemis took the dishes and Wally grabbed Robin out of his chair, a knock came from the door. Wally shifted Robin into his other arm as he opened the door. Standing on the front porch was Mrs. Enter, the older woman that lived next door, holding a dog in one arm and the newspaper in the other. She smiled at the site of Wally until her eyes fell down to Robin.

"Oh Wallace! You are much too young to have a child! I thought they taught you children about the dangers of having children at such young ages!"

Artemis walked to the door to see who was there. Mrs. Enter turned to Artemis and gave her a stern look.

"My dear, you are far too young to be having kids! I understand you two must love each other, but you are not ready to be having kids together!"

"Mrs. Enter, this is my girlfriend's little brother. We're just babysitting him for the weekend. Don't worry, we won't be having kids anytime soon." Wally assured her. She exhaled a sigh of relief as she smiled to the couple and Rob.

"Good. I'm glad you two understand. I just wanted to give you your newspaper, and tell your aunt and uncle I say hi." She said as she walked away from the door.

Artemis laughed after Wally shut the door. Robin smiled and giggled. Wally smiled as he looked down to Rob.

"You're definitely gonna scare me out of having kids anytime soon, aren't you buddy?"

…

After watching another movie and putting together some puzzles Wally found in the game room, Robin held his head up as he put a puzzle piece into the puzzle. Wally picked Rob up and started walking towards the stairs.

"Looks like its time for a nap, buddy."

"'M not tiwed." Robin pouted.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that." Wally counter argued. Robin squirmed as Wally kept moving to his room. Artemis plucked Robin out of Wally's arms before the kid fell.

"Come on Robin. Time for a nap." She said as she made her way closer to the steps.

"No!" Robin yelled stubbornly, throwing his small fists in the air.

"What did I say about doing what we say and getting a treat tomorrow?" Artemis reminded Rob. He just continued to fuss and yell.

"Don't wanna go seep!" Robin yelled.

"You mean sleep?" Artemis asked. Robin just got madder and started kicking his legs. Artemis put him down on the floor after he kicked her thigh a few times. Robin just sat on the floor, crossing his arms and pouting his lips.

"It's nap time right now, okay? We can play more later." Wally told Rob.

"No! I don't wanna go bed!" Robin continued to yell and scream as he pounded his fists and kicked his legs. Both teenagers panicked, looking at each other and hoping the other would know what to do.

Wally picked Robin up, getting a plan as he walked away from the stairs and into the family room. Rob stopped screaming and kicking as they went farther away from the bedrooms. Artemis followed, curious to see what Wally was planning. Wally sat in the rocking chair that sat in the corner and slowly started rocking.

Robin began to calm down, but rocking wasn't enough to calm him into sleep. Wally prepared the lyrics to a song in his head before he started singing softly.

"Here's another pity, and there's another chance.
Try to learn a lesson, but you can't.
We can burn a city, in futures and in past.
Without a change our lives will never last.
And we're going fast."

Robin slowly started relaxing and calming down. Artemis, knowing the lyrics, stepped in to help Wally keep calming Robin down.

"You can sit beside my when the world comes down.
If it doesn't matter then just turn around.
We don't need our bags and we can just leave town.
You can sit beside me when the world comes down."

Wally and Artemis sang through the song, watching as robin's eyes started to close. By the end of the song, Robin was sleeping lightly on Wally's shoulder. Careful not to wake him up, Wally carried the now slumbering toddler into the spare room that he designated for Robin and tucked him into the bed.

Quietly and carefully, Wally shut the door and walked into the family room, taking a seat next Artemis on the couch.

"How did you think of that?" Artemis asked, still shocked at the fact that his plan worked.

Wally shrugged. "My friend sang his little brother to sleep like that sometimes."

Artemis sank into the couch. "I knew kids were a handful, but I didn't think they got that mad over having to take a nap."

"I really hope he was just cranky from being sick and tired. Maybe he'll be better when he wakes up."