An Unexpected Friendship

Selina Kyle casually made her way to the observation deck at the JLA Headquarters, it had been a long day for her and she was beyond tiered. On a whim, before slipping into one of the transporters and returning home, she decided to explore the facility. Initially she was both surprised and flattered when the League contacted her requesting her services, of course she couldn't charge them her usual rate, this mission was supposed to save mankind. Selina decided to send them a bill anyway, it wasn't easy to break into the underground bunker at Roswell, yet she managed to do so without getting caught and the files she had stolen stopped an impending alien invasion. Yes, she decided that the Justice League owed her and she would indeed send them a bill.

When she got out of the elevator, before climbing the stairs leading to the roof she heard what she believed was an argument between a man and a woman.

"We have to stop this Kal! Lois is alive!"

"I know that but I just can't go back to the life I had with her and forget about everything we shared!"

"Our time together was special, I will never forget it but it was wrong, we were wrong we should never have given in to our yearnings."

"It wasn't wrong Dianna! My feelings for you are real! Can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me that you don't want me as much as I want you?"

"What we want doesn't matter! You are married to Lois!"

"I don't love her the way I lo-."

"Stop it please! I can't take this anymore! I want you to stay away from me and leave me alone!"

At first Selina was shocked and stunned by what she had heard but her shock quickly turned to anger when she realized that Superman was ignoring Dianna's pleas. Without giving the matter any thought she strolled onto the roof and sprang into action

"Listen Blue!" I'm pretty sure I heard the lady say that she doesn't want to talk to you! Now I suggest you take your hands off of her or suffer the consequences!"

Both Superman and Wonder Woman were speechless. Catwoman stood alone on the roof, a small framed woman with courage to spare, commanding the strongest man on the planet to leave Wonder Woman alone.

"Catwoman! There's no need for you to intervene, I can handle this!" Dianna shouted.

Superman was embarrassed by his behavior and ashamed that Selina had obviously overheard some of their conversation. He immediately stepped away from Dianna and approached her.

"I don't know how much you heard but I didn't mean-"

"It doesn't matter what I heard the point is, your conversation is over and it's time for you to go!"

He looked at Dianna and she turned away from him causing him to come to his senses and see that he was upsetting her.

"Dianna-." He whispered.

"Just go Kal, go home to your wife." Superman gave Dianna and Selina one last look before reluctantly flying away.

"I'm sorry you had to hear that. I would appreciate it if you would keep this betwe--"

"I've never been into gossip; your secret is safe with me."

There was an awkward silence between the two women.

"Are you alright?" Selina asked.

"No. "She replied keeping her back turned and wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Dianna, I can call you Dianna right?"

Wonder woman nodded.

"Look, you're not the first woman to get mixed up with a married man, if it's any consolation as hard as it was to walk away from him I think you did the right thing." She handed her a tissue.

Dianna was surprised by Selina's kindness. In her previous dealings with Cat woman she had not seen even a trace of the sympathy she was showing her right now this made Dianna suspicious.

"Why? Why are you being so- so"

"Nice? Look, we've had our differences in the past but at the end of the day, I've got no beef with you. I don't give a rat's ass about him being Superman; he had no right to try to badger you into continuing to see him while he's still married to that man-eating shrew."

"I never would have let things go that far if I had known that Lois was alive."

"You don't have to explain yourself to me or anyone else. Super-powered or not, underneath that tiara you're a woman and you have the same weaknesses and frailties as the rest of us."

"Kal isn't usually so aggressive."

"No, you're right, he's one of the good guys but he's still a man and it's hard for anyone to let go of someone they love. But you were strong enough to let him know that he can't have his cake and eat it too. You should be proud of yourself."

"Proud? How can I be proud when I allowed myself to bed another woman's husband?"

"Like I said, underneath it all you're a woman and he's the man of steel. It's gotta be hard to resist him but you did."

Dianna's communicator went off, it was the Martian Manhunter.

"Dianna, we're having a wrap up meeting in the conference room."

Through her tears she composed herself and answered him.

"Give me five minutes Jonzz."

"You can't go to a meeting in the state that you're in, tell him that it's an emergency and you have to go to Amazon island or something." Selina suggested.

"That would be a lie."

"Sometimes a woman needs to look after herself; believe me, you don't want them to see you like this."

Dianna let her words sink in and hesitated before answering Jonzz.

"Jonzz, I have something I need to take care of right now you can fill me in later."

"Is it anything we can help you with?" He asked.

"No, it's a personal matter, I'll stay in touch." Dianna answered before she turned off her communicator.

"Good girl! Listen, why don't we go back to my place you can shower and change; we'll knock off a few bottles of wine and forget that any of this ever happened.

Dianna hesitated at first but she thought about what Catwoman had said. She was right; she didn't want anyone to see her in this state

"Catwoman I can't thank you enough for your kindness but-"

"My name is Selina and I won't take no for an answer. Hey, don't worry if you don't feel like talking you don't have to but you obviously need a friend right now and since no one else is available I'm goanna have to do."

"Thank you Selina."

"Come on, let's get to the teleporters before someone starts looking for me I helped you guys tonight but I don't want anyone to think that I've gone soft."

"And switched sides? "

"I still have a reputation to protect."

Dianna smiled at Selina before the women climbed into the teleporter.

While Dianna was taking a long shower Selina slipped out to buy a couple of bottles of Gotham's finest red wine(the finest available at that hour) when she returned to her apartment she found Dianna sitting near the stereo, listening to music and perusing Selina's music collection.

"If you're looking for something with an island flavor I can download Jimmy Buffet's greatest hits."

"Jimmy who? I'm sorry Selina I was just looking through your music until you returned. "

"That's okay; sometimes all it takes is the right music to help us exorcise a bad relationship. Whenever Bruce and I would split up I always turned to Patsy Kline."

"I'm not familiar with her."

"You don't know about patsy Kline? Obviously this is your first break-up. I'm not a country music fan but nothing says I've been dumped by a loser but I still love him like a good ole patsy Kline song."

Dianna reluctantly smiled at Selina and followed her to the kitchen. After consuming the first bottle in silence, Selina and Dianna settled into the living room and engaged in small talk while enjoying their second bottle of Gotham's finest red wine. The alcohol left Selina wasted, completely open while the same number of drinks barely registered with Dianna, mildly loosening her inhibitions. Dianna felt free enough to ask Selina a series of personal questions.

"What's the real deal with you and Bruce?"

The question caught Selina off guard she hadn't expected the Amazon to be blunt this soon but she believed that Dianna deserved an honest answer.

"Bruce and I well- we're-"

"Together, I know and I'm very happy for him, I am happy for you both. Though it seems that my wedding invitation has been lost in the mail-."

"Bruce wanted to put you on the guest list but I thought that having you there would be kind of awkward. "

"Awkward how?"

"Look Dianna, I'm a straight shooter too, so I'm not about to beat around the bush about this, I know you and Bruce had a thing."

"No Selina you're wrong about that, I care deeply for Bruce but he and I never, we toyed with the idea but we didn't, I mean we-."

"I know that but until tonight I had my own ideas about you and well to be perfectly honest I felt more than a little threatened by you."

"You have no reason to feel threatened by me or any other woman, Bruce loves you. I am his friend but two of you belong together."

"It's kind of hard not to feel threatened by you; you're so goody good and perfect."

"I don't see how you can say that about me after knowing my weakness."

"I'm sorry Dianna. I don't apologize often but when I do I mean it. You've always been kind and cordial but I let my jealousy get in the way of seeing who you really are. It's not your fault that men fall at your feet and the whole world idolizes you."

"Men don't fall at my feet Selina and it's obvious that I don't deserve anyone's admiration."

"You're wrong about that. Don't let this thing with Superman cast a dark shadow on all the good that you do. If anyone's halo is tainted by your affair it's his halo and not yours."

"I don't deserve your kindness."

"Sure you do."

"He's a married man."

"Who thought his wife was dead."

"I-we should have waited."

"Neither of you could have known that she survived, when you found out she was alive you did the right thing by ending it. If he's not happy with her then he needs to grow a pair and get a divorce. It's obvious that he's not happy with his life, badgering you into being his woman on the side won't make him happy in the end he'll only hate himself for making you help him live a lie."

"You're very wise, how is it that you have come to have such knowledge about the inner workings of men?"

"Chalk it up to life experiences and that I run a women's center on Gotham's lower west side and I can't begin to tell you how much you inspire young girls who have every reason to give up and accept that they can never be anything more than what they are. You're a role model."

"What kind of role model lies with another woman's husband? What kind of woman does that Selina?"

"The kind of woman who loves a man. A woman who may not be completely human but has a human heart. You weren't wrong to feel the way do about Superman or to give into those feelings when you thought he was free. But when it came down to it, you did what you had to, fact is, his wife is alive, and he doesn't have the balls to leave her so you ended things."

"I have had these feelings for him for a long time but I swear to you that I never gave into them not until-"

"I know Dianna, I know. You've gotta stop beating yourself up about this. It's painful now but someday you're goanna look back on this and you will be proud of yourself for the way you handled it. Now drink up, it's time we started the 3-step getting over a heartbreak plan."

"Three step plan?"

"Yeah, you've already started step one."

"What is that?"

"You get drunk with one of your girlfriends, talk about the guy who broke your heart and bitch about what a moron and a loser he is."

"What is step two?"

"That happens after you're totally plastered. That's when you reminisce about the good times and talk about how great he was."

"And step three?"

"You meet a new guy and focus all of your attention on him."

Dianna laughed in spite of herself. Selina was charming and witty; she could see why Bruce loved her so much. Now that she had a glimpse into Selina's heart her respect and admiration for her knew no bounds.

"A new guy huh? Do you have any idea how hard it is for a woman like me to find a man?"

"Oh come on Dianna, as hot as you are I'm sure you're beating them off with a stick!"

Dianna answered her question with silence and the drinking as well as the questions resumed.

"You have no idea, how hard it is to be-."

"You? No I don't, but as a plain ole ordinary broad from the wrong side of the tracks I gotta tell you that the redhead who took your place for a while made a big impression on us "working girls."

"Artemis? How so?"

"She was real! That chick wore her flaws like a badge of honor! Sure, she was here for the same purpose as you but she made no bones about being perfect."

"Perfect? Have I led the women of your world to believe I was perfect?"

"I can see now that you never intended to but you did."

"How did I give them that impression?"

"With your beauty, your perfect body and your unbending beliefs about right and wrong."

"As you know Selina I am far from perfect. You're right about Artemis though, she is who she is and I too love the fact that she doesn't excuse or deny her motives. Being perfect was never my intention; I came here because I wanted to help!"

"Whoa, hold it right there W, I'm not saying this to hurt you, I'm just telling you like is."

"And I appreciate that. I didn't mean to make you or any other woman believe that I was perfect; I didn't want to come across as some "ideal" woman. All I ever wanted to do was help all of you see how special you are and that you don't need to live under male oppression"

"If that was your purpose then you succeeded. We're both pretty wasted so I think it's safe to ask the question."

"What question."

"How is he?"

"How is who?"

"Superman. What's he like in the sack?"

Dianna gave Selina a puzzled look.

"In bed Dianna, how is he in bed."

"You're asking me about sex?

"Well duh, yeah it's the question every woman wants answered."

"It was great, he's great!"

"Details, I want details."

"He is strong, but you know that already and so am I, honestly Selina I have nothing or no one to compare him to but I can tell you that being intimate with him was like nothing I've ever felt before."

"So you were a virgin? Superman was your first?"

"And only. I can't imagine myself ever being with another man. Since we're being so open with each other, what's it like to be intimate with Bruce?"

"I wish I could tell you wild stories about us tying each other up and going at from dusk till dawn but the truth is he's very gentle and tender, every time we make love it's an intense emotional experience."

"Then it is as it should be, you and Bruce belong together. Please don't hurt him you know as well as I do how hard it is for Bruce to let anyone in."

"That's something you don't have to worry about, I love Bruce, I always have, he's safe with me."

"That's a beautiful sentiment. I wish I had loved Kal enough to keep him at arm's length."

"Oh come on Dianna you've gotta stop whining! You're an Amazon it's time you started acting like one!"

"I must take responsibility for my mistake."

"That's not what you're doing. You're wallowing in self pity. Beating yourself up over a situation that was beyond your control."

"What would you have me do Selina? We can't be together but I'm still in love with him."

"Well put on your big girl panties and deal with it."

"Big girl panties?" Dianna asked.

"This is new to you, I get that, Wonder woman is perfect, she doesn't screw up but Dianna gave into her feelings and regrets it, we've all been there, this is nothing new. Now you can sit around and keep punishing yourself over what you should have done or you can chalk this whole Superman thing up as a bad decision, one you've obviously decided not to make again and move on."

"You make it sound so simple."

"It's not simple, I know that and so do you, it hurts, its goanna hurt for a long time but you have to accept what you've done, grow from it and move on."

Dianna took a long drink and considered Selina's words. She was right Wonder Woman would never have made this mistake but deep down she knew that Dianna was different that her feelings for Kal-el made her weak. Perhaps it wasn't too late to regain her strength learn from this mistake and move on.

"Are you sure you're not an Amazon warrior? Never have I met a woman as strong and as wise as you." Dianna declared.

"Aw stop it; your compliments are making me blush."

"I mean it Selina, I can't argue with anything you've said, you're right I am not accustomed to following my feelings and punishing myself for making bad choices will only bring me more pain."

"Now you're thinking like the woman I know you are. So what you did him while you thought his wife was dead. It's not the end of the world."

"No, Selina it is not. Let us toast this evening and our new found friendship. Tonight, I am officially declaring you an honorary Amazon."

"Me? An Amazon? I'm just a two bit thief who decided to go straight."

"No, you are so much more than that. You're words of wisdom and your kindness to me will never be forgotten. You are truly a Themyscarian sister at heart and I will honor you as such."

"But you can't ju-."

"I am a princess Selina I can do as I please and right now I want another bottle of this delightful elixir you have been kind enough to share with me."