A/N I have been teasing around with this idea for MONTHS and finally decided to write it.
Artemis was at Ollie and Dinah's mansion in Star City. It was 3am and it had been decided that since it was Saturday, she could just stay at Ollie's. She never had before since she'd only known him for a month, and she still didn't really want to. She was worried that she would have a nightmare, which she had almost every night, and that she'd freak them out. But she hadn't had a choice tonight. Not unless she wanted to seem even ruder than usual.
She laid on sticking-out part of the L-shaped couch. She was wrapped in a fuzzy blanket, and pillow behind her head. Ollie and Dinah were cuddling on the other part of the couch, happily watching the movie. Artemis smiled at them. She snuggled deeper into the blanket and couch. She eventually fell asleep.
"Artemis how do you-" Ollie started to say, then looked over at her to see her fast asleep. He laughed and nudged Dinah.
"Oh, she's cute. Hey we're out of popcorn. Do you want me to go get some more?"
"Heck yeah. And I'm stealing whatever Artemis didn't eat." He grabbed Artemis' bowl.
Dinah walked to the kitchen and grabbed a bag of popcorn and put it in the microwave. Suddenly, she heard Artemis screaming, and Ollie trying to calm her down. Dinah ran into the living room. Artemis was still sleeping, having a nightmare. Dinah winced, feeling extremely bad for the teen. She walked over, sitting next to the girl.
"She won't wake up, or calm down," Ollie said, sounding extremely worried.
"It's a nightmare, Ollie. There's not much we can do."
Artemis went silent for a minute, though she still looked scared. She clutched the blankets so tight that her knuckles turned white. "No," She muttered. "No. No! No! NO!" She started screaming again.
Dinah ran a hand over the teen's hair. "It's ok, baby girl. It's ok." That didn't do zilch.
Oliver stood up. "I'm calling her mother." He walked to the kitchen where he left his phone and called Paula. She picked up, surprisingly. "Hey, Paula."
"Hello, Oliver. Is something wrong?"
Ollie sighed. "This sounds like a pathetic reason to call you, but Artemis is having a nightmare. A bad one, talking, screaming, the whole shebang."
He could hear Paula sigh. "I thought that she told you. She said that she would. She has nightmares like that regularly."
"Why?"
"Bad memories that she suppresses during the day."
"What kind of memories?"
"Let me guess. She didn't tell you that her father was abusive, either?"
"No!" Ollie said, outraged. Not at Artemis, but at her father. How could someone do that to their child? It was beyond him.
"Well she was. Right up to the day I kicked Lawrence out of the apartment."
"I'm going to go check on her. Any tips?"
"Just be there. That's really what helps."
"Got it." He hung up, heading back to the living room.
Dinah was next to Artemis, stroking the girl's hair. "Ollie! What did Paula say?"
"Just to be there."
"That makes sense," Dinah sighed, and Artemis bolted awake with another cry.
Seeing Dinah and Ollie, she started to cry, apologizing profusely. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I'm sorry!"
"There's nothing to be sorry about," Ollie said, reaching a hand out to her. She instinctively jerked away. "Hey, I'm not going to hit you!" He put his hand on the side of her head. She flinched. "I'm not going to hit you. I promise!"
"Deep breaths, Arty. Deep breaths." Dinah wrapped her arms around Artemis.
Artemis eventually calmed down. "I'm sorry," She whispered.
"Nothing to be sorry about. You couldn't help it."
"Thank you." The teen drifted back to sleep. Ollie carried her upstairs into the room that he'd set up for her, tucking her into the bed. He and Dinah looked at her, kissed and went to bed themselves.