A/N: Three things:
Thank you for the reviews, thank you to everyone who kindly offered their prayers, and thank you for sticking with me throughout these drabbles. I hope you enjoy this last one.
Ocean
Diana's first memory had always been of the ocean. It was not her mother's smile, or the smell of a flower; it was of the colour of the ocean, even before her infant eyes were focused enough to realise what it was.
She remained in love with that colour, all throughout her girlhood. Should she and Hippolyta ever argue, the ocean was always her retreat. She was never taught how to swim; she took to the water as if born from Poseidon.
Space, she'd always found, was lonely. Even living on board the Watchtower with her friends, it wasn't...right. She needed to be by the ocean, not tens of thousands of miles above it. It was a long time before she found the ocean again, but when she did, she felt home.
The problem was, her home was someone else's home. And he was not inclined to share it. For years, they went around in circles, endlessly dancing in a waltz Diana didn't know the steps to. But she saw something Bruce didn't.
She saw they were gradually moving closer. She saw that sharing was inevitable. And it didn't matter that she didn't have the ocean itself yet. Because she still had its colour every time she looked in his eyes.
But then something changed. The tide went out, and no matter the movements of the moon, the ocean remained obstinately out of her reach. She forgot how to swim. One day, she realised that she would never relearn her lost skill. So she went to the ocean.
Alfred showed her in, directed her to the Cave. Bruce didn't look up at her entrance; growled something about being busy. She ignored him. When she took his hand and tugged him from the chair, Bruce tried to pull away. Diana tightened her grip.
This time, his growl was a warning. "Princess..."
"Please, Bruce. Just once. Let's do what I want to do."
She wasn't sure if he picked up on her words or the sad tone of her voice, but he acquiesced. She led him out of the Cave, out of the manor and onto the cliff-top. There, she stopped. Turned to him.
"I came to say goodbye."
He blinked, and for a brief moment the ocean came back again. "Goodbye?"
"Yes, Bruce."
"Are you going back to Themyscira?" His voice dropped an octave. "You haven't resigned from the League."
"I'm not going back to Themyscira," she shook her head. "I meant I'm saying goodbye to you. To that," she added, indicating the sea below them.
"Diana..."
She smiled when she turned back to him. "I don't know what else I can do that I haven't, Bruce. But for whatever reason, you don't want this. And I've known you for a long time, so perhaps I should have realised it before, but c'est la vie." She sighed and reached out to touch his face. "So. Goodbye."
She stepped away from him and moved closer to the cliff-edge turning her back and waiting for him to move away. This farewell, to the ocean itself, this was private. This was her own. Connected, yes, but not belonging to Bruce.
Then she felt his warmth at her back. "Why do you need to say goodbye to the ocean, Diana?" He tried to inject a note of humour into his voice, she heard. He failed. "Are you planning on moving inland?"
She smiled. "No, Bruce, you misunderstand me. I'm not saying goodbye to the sea. I'm saying farewell to my love for it. A love that existed long before you, but, as it turns out, cannot exist long after."
He turned her back to him. "What do you mean?"
"I love the ocean," she said simply. "I loved it from a child, and I continued to do so. But then I found it in two places." She took his face gently between his face, traced his eyelids with the tips of her fingers. "I found it here. And you have me another reason to love the ocean, Bruce. But now you've taken it away. You've taken it all away."
There was no anger in her voice. What good would anger do her now?
But her lack of anger seemed to utterly incense Bruce. "That's it?" he demanded.
"Yes."
"How can that be it, Diana?"
She quirked an eyebrow. "You've made it quite clear, Bruce. You don't want me. You won't want me."
"Princess..."
"Unless you're going to announce yourself a hypocrite," she said lightly. Knowing he wouldn't, she brushed past him and made to move away.
And then was once more grabbed.
This time, he kissed her. It was brief, but passionate. "Don't let me do it, Diana. Don't make me the reason you lose something you love."
She kissed him again. "Why not? You know me Bruce. I only deal with the truth. Whenever it comes. However late."
"Then answer me this," he said. "Could you love a hypocrite?"
She looked into pools of ocean. "Yes."
He leaned in, taking his time in tasting her. "Then I'm a hypocrite."
Caution returned to her, and she leaned back, scanning his gaze with narrowed eyes. She found what she was looking for.
The tide was coming in.
A/N: And that's the end! I hope you enjoyed these drabbles, and I'd be curious to see which was your favourite. Review please!
