Chapter 7 - Take these broken wings...

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A few moments later, Bobby was on his way to sit in Diana's car and talk with her, perhaps to smooth out the situation. He was still a bit shaken, but willing to hold himself together.

He sat down beside Diana in the passenger side of her Mercedes.

"I'm sorry if I scared you with the gun." was the first thing Bobby said.

"You know, i'm not mad at you...you're right, you did scare me." Diana replied.

"I"m always screwing something up...i'm an idiot." Bobby replied.

"No, you're not! You're just...different." Diana replied.

"But i'm not normal." Bobby turned to look into Diana's eyes intentionally. "Not like you are."

"You saw what happened today? You know who I really am." Diana chuckled a bit. "And you want to call me normal?"

Bobby turned back away, as he couldn't force himself to stare into Diana's piercing eyes any more.

"You're not aspergers like me, though. You're neurotypical. I would kill to be like that."

Diana paused for a moment.

"Tell me why." She prepared for a speech.

"Diana..." Bobby took a breath and turned back to her again. "I'm 28 years old. I'm still a virgin. Girls don't like me because i'm different." Bobby turned his head away again "They say it's not attractive."

"That's not true...there's got to be a girl out there..." Diana took a pause to think if saying such a thing was a good idea. "..Who thinks it is."

"No." Bobby turned to look Diana in the face. "There isn't. Picture yourself dating a guy who keeps track of all the scores he kept playing along with Jeopardy. Picture a guy who talks non-stop about the same thing, over and over. That's not attractive. That's weird." Bobby turned away once again. "They think I have no life."

Diana began to understand a little better.

"And then there's my Vanna White obsession." Bobby said the name of his obsession very, very quickly. "I wish I could wake up one day, and just not think about her. I like her, she's pretty, but what would happen if I showed up in Myrtle Beach in North Carolina? I know all there is to know about her. She'd think I was watching her and following her and stalking her."

"But you're not." Diana replied.

"I feel like I am...and I hate myself for it." Bobby quickly replied.

"Going back to the girls..." Diana jumped back to the original topic. "Here's my advice. When you like a girl, don't be afraid to just talk to her. If she calls you things...she's just shallow and rude. Don't generalize women. Trust me..." Diana paused for a moment. "When I came to the United States from Themyscira, I generalized men...and learned that was dead wrong because not all men are pigs...just like all women aren't shallow."

"But I don't generalize about Erica, she's a girl too...and she's a lesbian, and I don't care that she is."

"That's one of your better traits...I like Erica too." Diana smiled "I don't care that she's a lesbian either...back home in Themyscira, lesbians are part of culture."

"I just wish I could be like you and her, neurotypical." Bobby added.

"Bobby, you've got an amazing gift. Your talent with numbers, the computer, the security set-up, it's super. It's a superpower. It really is."

"Superpower? Diana, Don't you understand? I'm the only person I know with this disorder. No one understands me! NO ONE! I don't even understand myself! I'm alone! I would throw it away because I don't want to be alone inside this mind! Don't you know what being like this is like?"

"You would throw your aspergers away? You had the security set up all over the mall, you were watching over us, bobby. With your aspergers...you're an angel."

Then Bobby shed a tear out of the corner of his eye.

"If i'm an angel..." Then another tear flowed"...I'm an angel with broken wings."

Bobby choked up and the first thing Diana did was hug him and hold him together.

"It's Ok, Bobby." Diana whispered in Bobby's ear.

For a good 5 minutes, Bobby sobbed and tried his best to hold himself together. He really did feel alone in a world full of neurotypicals.

"I wanted to bring something up that might cheer you up." Diana started.

"What?" Bobby couldn't muster much of a reply.

"I want you...on my team for future missions. If I need a computer-support-numbers person, I want you working with me...is that OK with you?" asked Diana.

"It is." Bobby wiped his eyes, which were red from the stinging of tears.

"That's good." Diana replied calmly. "Bobby, you're not a bad person. You're just different, OK? Can I give you some advice?"

"What?" Bobby was calmed down.

"You know what you face. Accept it for what it is, and keep learning, never stop learning. And if I know women in man's world..." Diana took a bit of a depressed chuckle "...There's always going to be a girl for you...somewhere."

"What makes you say that?" asked Bobby.

"Because there are some girls with worse self-esteem than you. They're looking for love in all the wrong places. One might come along and take her chances with you..."

"..And then find out that i'm a weirdo."

"...just wait, let me finish." Diana cut back into the conversation. "And she'll see you, and she'll like your eyes, your truck, the amount of money you make, your hair, and she won't care about the way you are, she'll figure out how to work around it...but you have to be willing to sacrifice certain aspects of your life for her sake, otherwise she'll realize it won't work. Sacrificing habits...that's called being a good boyfriend."

"You mean not be true to myself?" Bobby asked.

"No, it's not like that, it's a compliment to her." Diana replied. "Girls love it when you do what they say, because it shows you really do like them, and you like them enough to change for them to make the relationship better...and also, they prefer you always, and I mean, ALWAYS say nice things about them. Even if it's not true."

Bobby nodded his head.

"Are you going to be fine? See you at work tommorow?" asked Diana.

"I'm in from 4pm to 11:30pm, Steve wanted me to do a defragmentation on IRA, it's due."

Diana didn't understand what that meant, and she didn't really care.

"I'll see you then, i'm in from 12 to 5, it's my short day." Diana replied.

The 2 agents hugged one last time, and Bobby got out of Diana's 1973 mercedes 450sl to get back into his 1984 Chevrolet Scottsdale.

"I'll call you when I need a support guy." Diana reminded Bobby.

"I'll await the call." bobby replied.

"You've got it, Bobby. See you at work."

And with that, the 2 agents went their seperate ways, and left the mall for the Biohazard specialists to deal with, leaving behind a nightmare.

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THE END