A/N: So this is an idea I got after watching Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. This is my first fic, and I would appreciate any reviews. I hope you enjoy! :)
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters.
Chapter One
"Bruce, please. Just let me in. I want more. Let us be something more."
Diana felt her eyes water up again as she thought back to the argument she had had with Bruce. "I feel so ridiculous. I mean, there I was, opening myself up to him, and he outright rejects me," she lamented between sniffles.
"Diana, forget about him. He's a jerk." Shayera rubbed her back while passing her another tissue. Diana dried her tears and launched the wadded up ball into the trashcan, which was already filled to the brim with used tissues. "You know what would make you feel better?"
"What?" Diana asked listlessly.
"Ice cream!" Shayera tried to inject enthusiasm into her voice as she pulled out a tub of Cookies n' Cream.
Diana forced her mouth into a smile. "Thanks for being here, Shayera. But I refuse to be the stereotypical heartbroken girl, eating ice cream out of the carton while rewatching old movies."
"Then what do you want to do? Beat up some bad guys? It could help you release some anger."
Diana smiled genuinely this time at her friend's obvious love for violence. "As much as I like a good beating, I don't think that's the solution." Her voice wavered as the memory suddenly returned.
"Diana, I've told you this before. We can't be anything more." Bruce's face is turned from her, wearing a deep scowl.
She notices he has reverted to calling her by her name instead of "Princess." A brief flash of pain passes through her chest, but she refuses to give up. Steeling herself, she continues, "I know you're scared -"
At this, Bruce jerks around, his face contorted in anger. "I am not scared of anything. Before, I was trying to spare your feelings, but I have better things to do than deal with your one-sided little crush -" He stops, looking stricken.
Diana feels herself going numb, although she is sure her face has hurt written all over it.
"Diana, I didn't mean -" Bruce tries to backtrack in a softer voice.
"I know exactly what you meant," Diana snaps. Internally, alarm bells are going off, telling her, "RUN! RUN!" She takes a deep breath, trying to remain composed as she crumbles on the inside. "Look, this - this was a good talk. Thank you for being honest with me."
"Diana." Bruce's voice pleads with her to understand.
"Goodbye, Bruce. I can see myself out," She interjects, her voice much lighter than the heavy darkness enclosing her within. She speeds out of the Batcave, passing a confused Alfred along the way. Only once she's in the air again does she allow the first tear to fall.
"Diana!" Although not the touchy-feely type, Shayera reluctantly wrapped her arms around Diana as she burst into a new round of sobs.
"I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm like this." Diana calmed down after a while.
"Your heart is hurting. It's perfectly understandable."
"But I can withstand pain. I don't cry when I get an injury." Looking into her friend's sympathetic face, Diana apologized again. "I'm sorry for burdening you with my problems."
Shayera shook her head. "It's fine. I understand what you're going through. When John and I -" The Thanagarian looked caught up in the past for a moment. "Well, anyway, we're friends again and we'll see where this goes."
Diana looked at her questioningly. "So you are content just to leave your relationship in the hands of fate?"
Shayera smiled. "Whatever is meant to happen will happen."
"You sounded almost philosophical." Diana cracked a smile.
Shayera laughed. "Besides, you know what they say. It is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all."
"Ugh, I don't know about that. Right now, if I could, I think I would choose never loving at all."
"Too bad you can't go back and just delete all the memories you two share." Shayera noticed as her friend's expression turned pensive. "You realize I was joking, right? You can't actually delete your memories."
"But what if I can?"
"How?"
"I could ask J'onn if he can help me. He can manipulate memories."
"Di, this is a bad idea. If you erase all your memories of him, how are you going to work with him?"
"Not all my memories of him, just the ones that - the ones that made me fall in love with him. And the ones where he hurt me. I will still respect him as a teammate, but I won't want more. I'll just love him as a friend."
Shayera looked at Diana worriedly. "Okay, assuming J'onn will even agree to this, just promise me you'll think this through before doing it."
Diana smiled at her friend's concern for her. "Thanks, Shayera. Of course I will." She felt carefree all of a sudden, as though a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. In a few days time, all this pain could be behind her. "Thanks again for being here for me, Shy. I'm going to find J'onn now."