Arousal
Is that all there is to an embrace? Is a physical contact between a woman and her love always to culminate in a physical desire for a each other?
I was amazed when Shayera warned me - "He is too weak, he cannot take you."
Why would she even think of it?
I hadn't seen him for three months. Unfortunately, the term 'seeing' seems to have a sexual connotation, so I make myself clear by saying - "I was not in his proximity." I was in Themyscira, for one last vacation with my sisters and my mother before the marriage. I was forsaken by them when I brought the league to Themyscira. But then I was forgiven. However marrying a mortal is something which could not be pardoned. I could not enter Themyscira as his wife. But that was the bargain I was willing to take.
When Superman briefed me about what had happened, I wanted to see him immediately. It was a natural on my part, and I would've expressed the same desire to see someone else on the team who was in a similar situation. The fact that it was him only made my responsibility. I was on my way to Wayne manor when I got this word of caution from Shayera.
Why?
He was broken. It was not just the body this time, it was his mind, his fortress which was scaled down. He was prone to severe panic attacks. He was ridden with guilt from every mistake he had ever made, everything he had committed to his subconscious memory, as Batman could not afford to be observant all the time. When I saw him cuddled up in his bed, I wanted to hug him, to kiss his pain away, to hold him in my arms and not let go until he felt normal again.
That's all!
He melted into my embrace instantly, his head on my shoulder, his breath incoherent, his tears drenching my clothes. I covered his face with my own, my cheek on his'. I caressed his matted hair, squeezed his arm. "Bruce", I whispered into his ears, my lips contacting his cheek as I did so.
"It's all right Bruce, I'm here."
He clenched my arm and sank deeper into the embrace.
"Please don't leave me, please!"
"I won't, I promise"
He was a wounded knight, vulnerable, broken by his foes, watched being broken by his friends.
As for me, I was his angel, his princess.
His love belongs to me.
His touch belongs to me.
He belongs to me!
And so...
His pain belongs to me!
And I was there to ease the pain which was troubling both of us now.
Minutes went by. Sleep, which had been eluding him for three days finally blessed him. His grip softened, his breathing was more rhythmic. I put him back on the bed and slid my arms away from under him. Just as the last of me lost contact with him, his arm gripped mine spasmodically.
"Please...don't...leave..." he moaned, his eyes still closed. His voiced trailed off into a whimper.
I sat by his side. All that time, I hadn't taken notice of the tears which flowed freely through my own eyes, because all that time, they were drenching him. But now, the drops fell from my cheek down to his palm which was covering mine.
It was like he said - "And your tears belong to me."
I leaned by his side, talking his head into my cradle once again. He sunk deeper into my embrace. I planted a kiss on his cheek, placed my palm on his forehead stroked his hair backwards.
"I love you, Bruce!"
Eventually I let my cheek rest on his forehead and slipped into a blissful sleep.
We were physically in contact, but our bond was an emotional one. The bond which transcended the boundaries of physical being. It wasn't an Arousal, it was a flooding emotion, Love...a feeling of being One.
He needed me, and I needed him, to be complete.
And there we were...complete!