WOW SORRY EVERYONE. It's waaaaaaay past Christmas and I've been really slow at updating. I apologize to all who read the first part and then waited in dire agony for the second part to come. My bad. And I swear the second part to The Night Has No Companion is also coming VERY SOON. I'm really bad at updating…please forgive me. If you are angry with me, then don't review. That's a suitable punishment. Enjoy anyway…

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It was the morning of the 23rd and the Flash zoomed around putting Christmas lights up all around the Watchtower. He sang softly to himself. "Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg, the Batmobile lost a wheel and the Joker got away….Jingle bells, Batman sme--" Suddenly a (thankfully) non-explosive batarang hit the wall a few inches from his head. He slowly turned around. A full-fledged Batglare caught him in the face. "Umm…I mean…Jingle bells, Wondy smells…Hawkgirl laid an egg…" Flash gave an innocent smile, but Batman just narrowed his eyes and walked away.

"For your information, I do not lay eggs," said a woman's voice. Flash wheeled around.

"Oh, hey Shayera!" he said when he saw her. "Yeah…about that…Bats was about to strangle me…I just improvised."

"Right," she said. "You need any help with those?" She motioned to the string of lights.

"Sure, why not."

"Hey, are these…" She looked closely at the string of lights she held, focusing on one in particular. It was a logo, the Hawk symbol. Every seventh light was the Hawk symbol. The other six were the other original members' logos. Superman's family seal, Batman's Batsignal, Diana's Wonder Woman crest, Flash's lightning bolt, John's Green Lantern symbol, and J'onn's X.

"Yeah…had 'em custom made…cool huh?"

"Actually…it kinda is," she said sincerely, still examining the lights.

"I know. I'm brilliant."

"And I havta hand it to ya, Wally, this holiday party thing's a good idea. There's no better time like Christmas for people to bond." She lifted up off the ground and began to hang the lights above the giant windows looking out over the Earth. Flash looked up at her. Her face was sad.

"Shayera?" he asked.

"Yeah?"

"Are you ok?" Wally didn't really know how to ask a woman how she felt…especially one who was like an older sister to him.

"I'm fine," she said flatly.

"No, Shayera. I mean, is everything…ok…with you?" She turned and smiled lightly at him, coming back to the ground.

"I dunno…it's just…I keep remembering me and John's first Christmas together…well, it wasn't much of a Christmas. We went to another planet entirely but…I was so happy." Her voice was low and she looked down at the ground as she spoke. "I should have known the happiness wasn't going to last." Wally put a hand on her shoulder.

"I've always been on your side, and I always will be. He'll come around eventually. He has to." She looked up at him. Tears were threatening her bright green eyes, but she smiled.

"Thanks," she whispered and hugged him tightly. "I don't know what I'd do without you. You keep me sane…in an insane sort of way." They broke apart.

"Eh, at least I'm good for something." She laughed at his words and they both went back to hanging up the lights.

For about an hour, the two heroes transformed the Watchtower into a holiday wonderland, with the occasional assistance of other heroes such as Elongated Man and the Creeper. As they finished putting ornaments on the giant Christmas tree, Batman lurked by them attempting to go unnoticed. Unfortunately for him, it didn't work.

"Bats!" yelled Flash. "What'd'ya think?" The Batman turned and glared. "Oh and look at the lights! Look…it's the Batsignal!" Wally held up one of the Bat symbls on a string of lights. "And look, there's Supes'…and Diana's!"

"Well aren't you clever," grunted the dark knight. Wally stuck his tongue out and turned back to the decorations.

"Oh lighten up, Bruce." Shayera touched down on the ground in front of him. "You're gonna be there tonight, right?" she said in a lower tone. He gave no answer. "If you aren't, you're going to have a very disappointed princess, and a very ticked off friend of hers…who has a mace…" Batman folded his arms as well and the two glared at each other.

"Should I call that the Hawkglare?" he asked mockingly.

"Suppose you could. Hawks have excellent vision. Bats are blind. And you're blind as a bat, Bruce." The white lenses of his cowl narrowed at her words.

"Actually," said a deep, shadowy voice. They both looked to find the Question approaching them. "Bats use a technique called echolocation to navigate and find food. They emit high frequency sound pulses through their mouths and noses that hit an object and bounce back to them, which they hear as an echo. This allows them to determine the size, shape and texture of the object. It's a very sophisticated process."

"You totally just killed the mood," Shayera said to the faceless man.

"Yes, I'm known to do that." Off in the distance behind the Question, Shayera and Bruce both noticed a mocha-skinned woman with flowing, raven hair wearing a dark purple outfit emerge from behind a corner. She wore a devious smile, stretching from ear to ear. The Huntress was on the hunt.

"What do you want, Sage?" asked Batman, ignoring the predator-prey situation. The woman moved like a black panther, crouching in and out of the shadows, making no noise at all. She moved ever closer to her prey.

"Looking for Helena. She supposedly just arrived back from the mission in Egypt." The Huntress crept towards her boyfriend silently, still smiling. She prepared to pounce on him from behind, but just as she did, he turned around and caught her in his arms.

"Damnit, Vic!" she yelled, squirming in his iron grasp. Victor Sage laughed while he held Helena Bertinelli prisoner in his arms. "How the hell do you do that? I make absolutely no noise, but you always know!"

"Pure animal magnetism, Helena."

"Well, we sure have a lot of that, baby doll," said Helena.

"Yes we do. In terms of both the ethereal force residing within animate beings as well as the raw sexual attraction and charisma between us." She placed one of her hands against his masked face and let it slide down and around his neck. He visibly shivered. "Very…very much in abundance," he finished, his voice uneven.

"You two have no shame," said Shayera. She and Batman had just witnessed the strange display of affection. Helena turned towards her.

"Every group has to have its oddballs."

"And here we are, satisfying that societal rule," declared the Question. Without another word, the two oddballs of the Justice League walked away, Vic's arm around Helena's waist, her arm draped over his shoulders. After they disappeared, Shayera and Batman remained silent for several seconds.

"Y'know," said Shayera finally, "those two have the most functional and normal relationship in this whole goddamn team."

"Here come the prom king and queen," added Batman. Sure enough, Green Arrow and Black Canary walked by, sharing a strawberry milkshake.

"Tonight sounds like an excellent night to throw back a few drinks," scoffed Shayera.

"Open bar. One of Wally's better ideas."

"So, we will be seeing Bruce Wayne this evening?"

"Apparently he has nothing better to do," said Batman through clenched teeth. A triumphant smile spread across Shayera's face as she watched the dark figure escape in the other direction.

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to be continued…..(I promise)