To Forgive A Sin
A Justice League fanfic by Aisling Yinyr Ngaio
Pairing: Bruce x Diana
He stood staring at the conference room. He wondered if he did the right thing. Only six chairs were arranged around the circular conference table, with a gaping hole at where the seventh should be. Was this the reality then, that the circle would be incomplete if she never returned?
While he would never condone the betrayal she dealt them, he couldn't help but think of his Protocols and feel... empathy. Granted, her intelligence was collected in the full knowledge of their being passed over to the Thanagarian authority, but maybe she had more in common with him than he thought: always paranoid, always mistrustful... always alone.
He sighed - something he rarely allowed himself, and never in front of company - and turned to leave the room, when he sensed another presence nearby. Which was odd, given that all the engineers had finally been allowed to leave the construct a few hours ago, having completed their share of the top secret project by Wayne Aerospace.
"Diana," he greeted the newcomer brusquely in his usual style, though the woman, alternately amused and exasperated that she had yet to be able to surprise him, detected in his tone just a bit of... warmth? Comfort? Ease? She smiled in return and - uncharacteristically quiet - walked up to him to stare at what his attentions were previously focused on. He could sense tension in her as she digested the furniture placements around the table.
In an attempt to diffuse the tension, he asked casually, "A little early for the launch party, aren't you?"
She shrugged casually as she turned back to face him. "Well, since you refused to let us help you out in Gotham..." They shared a grin at his inflexible rule. "J'onn and I came early. He's at the command centre, no doubt trying to familiarise himself with it already." A pause. "A marvelous piece of architecture yet again, Bruce, but what does your... what do you call them, stockholders?... have to say about the expense of building two Watchtowers in two years?"
He smirked his Bruce Wayne smile. "You should see the budget for our Aerospace R&D, Princess. A mere 10% increase from a line item won't faze them unless we're actually making losses."
Diana nodded, understanding only just enough about his words to know that nobody would make a big fuss about the money being thrown around to finance the League. She ran her fingers across the cool metal of the table, and commented casually, "I saw many crew quarters on the way here. A good decision to add technical personnel on board I think, what with our discussion about expanding the League's ranks soon."
Bruce raised his eyebrows at the remembrance of exactly why he added them when he first drew up the blueprints. In a tone only those close to him know as conspiratorial, he deadpanned to her, "Well, it did only take Alfred two whole days to replace that window of mine, the one Wally destroyed?"
Diana broke out in peals of laughter at that reminder. "And you don't want him or anyone like him to wreak your beloved Watchtower while in orbit, huh?"
He nodded mock seriously as he dryly said, "I'm not made solely of money, Diana, though Kent seems to think otherwise when he showed me his potential recruitment list the other day."
She chuckled at his rare burst of snarky humour. Having spent the last three months living at the Manor, it wasn't hard to figure out where he learnt that particular trait from, for all that he appeared cold and emotionless most of the time. But she was surprised when he was the one who addressed the elephant in the room with, "Do you think this is right?"
They shared another glance at the offending spot. They'd rarely had opportunities like these to speak; he was as busy with Gotham as ever, and neither did the rest of the criminal underworld go on holiday after the end of the invasion. After that last, emotional expulsion vote, it was easy to bury the shared feeling of betrayal beneath patrol, rescues and investigations, yet now... "Do you think she'll ever come back?"
"If she is truly one of us, she will eventually."
Diana's face crumpled into sadness. "How could she do this? One of my own sisters - the only one in our League... I don't... I can't..." Struggling to control her feelings, she looked at him and spoke, "I've never felt betrayal like this before, Bruce."
Swallowing as he thought of his Protocols, he tried replying in his steady, Batman voice. "I know, Diana. I don't think I can trust her again either. But... Princess, sometimes things are not always black and white. In some ways, I... understand she chose whatever choices were right at the time..."
"Her choices were right?" Diana echoed disbelievingly. He had voted the same way she did, yet... "Bruce, she betrayed us..."
"To the Thanagarians, her home people." Bruce stepped towards her, trying to make her see. "Diana, you've lived sheltered for so long, you don't understand the concept of nationhood. Shayera's loyalties had and should be to Thanagar, even if, on the other side of the fence, we feel otherwise. How would you feel, Princess, if you were forced to choose between Themyscira and Man's World?"
Diana flinched back as if struck. "I chose to do what was right! When Aresia came, I fought against her, if you recall-"
"-yet when Faust threatened Themyscira, you would have chosen to save your island, your mother and your Amazon sisters, even by unleashing Tartarus on Earth, Diana."
Feeling suddenly cold at his harsh reminder, she wrapped her arms around herself and turned away from him. He suppressed a sighed, and was about to comfort her when her plaintive voice sounded, "Then were we wrong? To vote against her return?"
He paused, thinking of how best to answer that question, knowing that she'd accept what he said on this matter. Finally he settled for, "No. Second chances are Clark's thing but... maybe she does deserve one." At this, Diana turned back to him, and he was pleased to see her colour return to normal. "I will trust his judgement on this. He of all people knows how hard it is to earn second chances, let alone deserving one."
"Yes, perhaps you are right." She placed a hand on his shoulder, which he squeezed as a sign of camaraderie. "But Bruce... when will you take your second chance?"
Immediately, his spine stiffened visibly, and a shutter seemed to descend over his features. "I don't know what you're talking about." He was every inch the Bat now.
Diana refused to give up. "Alfred told me, Bruce. When will you ever forgive yourself for surviving? You were eight. No one could've helped what happened, certainly not you. Please, don't drown in the guilt and push away the people who love you."
Facade threatening to crack, he choked out, hopefully in a normal tone, "Diana, don't. Just... please don't."
"Bruce..." A frustrated sigh, but she knew he was as intractable as a mountain when he dug his heels in on something. "All right." She hesitated, then came forward and, like so long ago, kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you for opening your home to us, Bruce. I shall never forget your kindness, or your lovely home. And," she giggled, partly to break the tense air between them, "I shall miss Alfred too."
Blushing just as much as that day, he managed a faint smile. "He is certainly one of a kind." All the while however, his mind was racing rapidly. He could not help the arguments now having a battle royale within himself. Should I tell her? ... No, the eventuality of it being used may never occur... Even with the existence of the Justice Lords... But if they... she... discovered it the wrong way...?
"Bruce?" He jerked himself out of the internal debate to look into her beautiful blue eyes. Her beautiful, worried blue eyes. "Is something the matter?"
Forcing a clamp on his feelings and promising himself to re-examine the points later, he replied, "No, Diana. I was just... cataloging what still needs to be done here."
Her brow creased into a small frown. "Isn't the Watchtower complete?"
"Almost, but not quite." Leading the way out of the conference room, he surreptitiously checked the time. Wally should be at Hawaii by now, while John apparently felt the need to check in on the other planets in his sector 2814 and won't be back for a couple of hours yet. Clark, however, was running late... or was pulled into an emergency assignment again. He slid a sidelong glance at the woman beside him. "There are a few things I don't trust anyone to have the blueprints of, just in case." Diana looked on, intrigued. "I hope you don't mind helping me out. It's a prototype of the emergency teleporter I'm going to install in the command center. We'll do it after launching the Watchtower into orbit."
Diana smiled, pleased that he actually asked for her help, even if the phrasing didn't actually involve any asking. "Of course, I'd be happy to help. Your innovation never cease to amaze me."
Accepting the piece of compliment, Bruce inclined his head as the duo reached the command centre. He greeted J'onn, and announced that they were launching in half an hour if that's all right with the other two.
They were just about to launch when Diana belatedly remembered, "Wait, what about Superman and the Flash?"
Bruce just grinned... evilly. "Remember the teleporter, Princess? Who do you think is going to test it out?"
– Finis –