Disclaimer: The usual disclaimer applies.
Chapter Three
Miss Conception
Diana prepared herself for anything. But her instincts assured her she had just only one visitor. She assumed a warrior's stance nonetheless.
"I am not here to fight you." The smaller figure was still concealed by the heavy, lonely darkness.
She did not need the moonlight from outside, her blue eyes have already adjusted to the dark. "Why are you here, Shayera?" Her hand shot out to flip a switch and the room was suddenly clothed in light.
It was the first time she saw Hawkgirl again in months. It was the same, beautiful face. But the spark, the spirit was somehow absent this time as weary eyes stared back at her when the hood from the worn out, gray cloak was removed.
The other woman bowed her head in humility. "I need your…help."
"And you come to me," she said flatly. "You know very well that I voted against you."
"Yes…" Hawkgirl's voice trailed off. "I would have done the same thing…in your place."
"And you know very well I don't take betrayal lightly."
"Trust me…I---"
"Trust is so hard to come by these days." Her voice had a note of hurt even if she tried to keep it even.
Exhausted green eyes stared back at her, silently pleading. "I trust you."
The words, three simple but powerful words, and the way they were spoken by a proud warrior like herself, was enough to soften her initial reaction of anger.
"Please…Diana…if not for me," the tired voice begged for understanding.
She hid her surprise as Shayera's trembling hands slowly removed the garment that covered her form. Underneath, the soft material of the shirt strained against the obvious enlargement of the Thanagarian's abdomen.
"…for John's baby."
Shayera tried to step forward but her weak limbs wobbled and she fell forward. Diana caught her arms and steadied her in time, noticing with sorrow that the other woman's skin felt cold and her body was shaking all over, probably from her flight, she thought. Step by step, she assisted her former teammate and led her to the bedroom, thankful that the queen-sized bed was already delivered. Once settled, she felt for temperature, and was glad that there was no fever.
"When did you last eat?" she asked in concern as she offered a glass of water.
"Earlier, before I followed you." Shayera took generous gulps. "It was by chance that I noticed a familiar figure fly by…so I followed, keeping a safe distance. You lingered a moment at the building nearby…so I took the liberty of letting myself in." Shayera forced a weak smile. "I was a little cold."
She remembered her agent saying that he took the liberty of filling the refrigerator with food. "Are you hungry? Can I offer you something to eat…for the baby?" she looked at the protruding belly.
Shayera heaved a sigh of relief as the earlier expression of hostility was replaced by genuine concern. "Thank you, but we already had dinner. Besides, I'm too tired to eat."
She knew by heart that Shayera was a proud warrior, much like herself. And in moments like this, showing signs of pity would not help. To understand was what was needed.
She tentatively reached out her hand. "My…you've gotten so big. May I?" Diana almost laughed when she just in time she felt a soft kick. Then her expression grew serious. "Does…John know?"
The other gave her a rueful smile. "We aren't exactly on speaking terms. Last time…I sucker punched him."
She sighed in remembrance. "He is doing well, hiding a broken heart." Then she answered the unspoken question in the green eyes. "Shayera…among all of us…he was the most hurt."
"I know…I'm very so---"
"Shhh…no apologies." Diana removed her hand from the belly and clasped Shayera's. It was still cold. "Go get some rest."
The Thanagarian's eyes lit up a bit. "That means…I'm welcome to stay?"
She pretended to consider. "If you make me godmother," she joked. "Which reminds me…when are you due?"
The green eyes danced. "In about…a week."
"WHAT!" All expression of serenity was gone from the Amazon's face.
Shayera laughed, the first time in a long time, at Diana's incredulous expression. "I thought Amazons are experts on this…that's why I came to you."
"Are you kidding me? No men in the island remember!"
Shayera grinned. "But you have the wisdom of Athena. A few books and you'll learn in a short time." And added on a serious note, "And…like I said, I trust you."
Diana smirked and conceded. "Okay…okay. Just get some sleep. It's late."
She found a match and lit up several aromatic candles to ease some of the tension in her friend and provide a warm, subtle glow to the room. Before she turned off the lights, Shayera was already asleep, lightly snoring. With a smile and a sigh, she left the bedroom and prepared for her own rest, removing her uniform and donning a pair of comfortable, pastel colored pajamas. She retreated to the living room and settled form on the flush sofa while a gentle fire lit up the room from the fireplace. Her last thoughts before sleep warmly embraced her were that, she still was not hungry.
When her eyes opened the next morning, she almost thought she was on Themyscira as wonderful sunlight greeted her waking eyes. A few blinks more and she smiled, realizing she did not wake up on the island but on her new home. It was a pleasant feeling to wake up and see sunlight streaming through the windows…so very unlike on the watchtower.
After preparing herself for the busy day, she immediately checked up on her guest, who was still comfortably asleep on her side hugging a huge pillow close, heavily snoring.
"Shayera…" she softly called out. No answer. She walked nearer and softly touched the arm of her friend. "Shayera…"
Groggily, the other tried to open her eyes. "Yeess?"
"There's plenty of food in the fridge."
"Oh…okay…" The sleepy eyes turned away to prepare for sleep once more.
"And…Shayera," she tried a little nudge. "How will you contact me…if in case…"
In her still sleepy state, the pregnant Thanagarian managed a smile. "Still have my old commlink."
She smiled as the other drifted into sleep once more. She picked up a pillow that somehow managed to fall from the huge bed and placed it beside the sleeping form. Carefully securing the house, she made her way to work. And on the way, she felt something she had not felt in a day. She was famished.
Her priority was to appease the hunger and first stop was obviously the watchtower was the cafeteria. Carrying a tray loaded with fresh fruits, a bowl of breakfast cereal and a glass of milk, she joined Green Lantern who was on the middle of his sandwich and Flash, who just finished his third.
"Princess, we just found out that you moved out." Wally commented.
She smiled. "I cannot recall telling everyone." They must've eavesdropped again.
"Uhm…excuse me for a while." Flash was gone for a few seconds and was back with another plate of breakfast.
"So when's the housewarming?"
John's inquiry was lost on her as dread and panic overcame her. Her eyes stared wide with shock upon the sight of Wally's plate. The large ceramic was covered in several sunny side-up eggs and mostly golden brown pieces of hot and crispy…bacon!
In horror, she stared and felt as if everything seemed to be moving in slow motion as Wally picked up a greasy piece of meat, then lifting it up to his waiting carnivorous mouth. She cringed as if hurt when she heard the distinct crunch as Wally bit into his crisp breakfast, his white teeth cutting through the meat. As she watched him chew and grind, a nauseating feeling grew within her. A hand desperately shot to her mouth, covering her lips, afraid she would vomit in Wally's face. Two pairs of surprised eyes stared back at her as she made a strange sound before flying off to the comfort room.
To her relief, though, she did not vomit. The feeling of nausea slowly subsided and with it, unfortunately, her appetite. On her way to look for Zatanna to get the very elusive answers that she so desperately needed, she saw Superman and remembered her concern for Shayera. She abruptly snatched his hand before he could say a word and led him to the meeting room.
"Uhm, Diana…what's all this about?" Superman asked in surprise and amusement.
The way his smiling eyes were regarding her made her remember the infamous article on the paper yesterday. She blushed in embarrassment.
"I have something very important to tell you."
"Does this have something to do about the artic---?"
His inquiry was cut off by a loud thump on the closed door that was soon followed by a muttered curse and hushed voices. Shaking his head, he put a finger to his mouth and motioned for her to be quiet as he performed X-ray vision. There, behind door number one, he could clearly see some of the world's greatest superheroes in a fight…for the best position to hear whatever was going on inside the room. In the middle was Flash, kneeling, holding a hand to his injured head, glaring at the Elongated Man.
He shook his head and Diana understood. From somewhere, he produced a paper and a pencil.
"It's about Shayera," she scribbled the best way she could. His wide eyes and raised eyebrows told her to continue. "She's staying with me."
"What?" He asked aloud.
It was her turn to put a finger to her lips to silence him before scribbling away again. "She's pregnant with John's baby."
His eyes widened further. "Are you sure?"
She glared once more when he said the words aloud. She continued writing. "She is due anytime now. I'm telling you this because you're the only person I can trust with this information. I want you to help her just in case the time comes and I can't make it in time."
He was carefully considering the matter.
"Kal…" her voice begged.
"Diana…give me time. All of this…it's just…"
"Please," she touched his arm and the way her eyes pleaded for understanding was enough.
"Alright."
She gave him a peck on the cheek. "Thank you. This means so much." She wrote her secret address on another paper which he kept, the other he incinerated with his heat vision.
"Now…about the tabloids…" she began.
"What about them?" He smiled. "Don't worry…all of this would die a natural death."
Then she remembered another important matter. "Kal…now that you're in the mood for doing favors…can I ask for another one." She smiled sweetly at him.
"What is it this time?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Can I have…the morning off? I'm on monitor duty this afternoon anyway. I need to buy some things for the…you know what. And I have to take a crash course…in you know what too."
"You're shopping for the…" He made a big scooping gesture on his tummy. "…you know what?"
"Yes…unless you want to volunteer." She joked.
"This, clearly, is not a job for me." He gave her the permission. "But you can't go to the mall buying items in that state. You might be recognized."
"I can see the headline now." She chuckled and looked at her uniform. "Can I borrow a shirt?"
"Sure…you can get it on my locker."
They made their way to the door and they both could hear a scuffle, whispered oaths as someone stepped on someone else's foot. When the doors opened, the coast was clear, strangely clear. They smiled at each other before parting ways and she made her way to the locker rooms.
Just as she remembered, she had a spare pair of dark blue jogging pants with a white stripe on each side and rubber shoes that she left behind. After that, she rummaged through Superman's well kept locker and selected a white t-shirt with a logo in front. With a smile, she took his dark blue hooded jacket that matched her pants perfectly. Finishing touches were a baseball cap that hid her long hair and eyeglasses. One last look and she was assured that no one was likely to recognize her in this loose fitting ensemble.
Once in the mall, she had to work fast just in case someone recognizes her. Thankfully enough, it was not hard to find the items she searched for. First stop were the books. She grabbed anything that she thought would be of help and by the time she was by the cashier, she was proud of her time. It took her less than an hour and after settling her purchases, she went straight ahead to the baby department.
When she reached her destination after a curt inquiry with the saleslady, she had to keep herself from gushing as the sight of baby pinks and baby blues greeted her eyes. They were all so very…cute. And in the world she lived in, cute did not exactly fit in. And it was not everyday that a superhero finds herself in the baby department of the mall. Excitedly, she hopped from one display to the next, too engrossed in the baby blankets, baby dresses, bibs, mittens, booties among other things. If she had it her way, she would buy them all. But, she had no way of knowing if the baby Thanagarian would be a boy or a girl so she opted for the neutral hues.
With an armload of baby things, she could not help the sudden urge to approach a particular baby crib. It was very simple, made of wood and perched atop one of its sides was a musical mobile. She placed some of the items on the floor beside her to free her hand to turn the music on. A soft melody floated, a soothing tune as the little bears dangling on strings danced as the mobile slowly spun.
She smiled and sighed. Babies are wonderful gifts. But her smile faded when she remembered John. What would his reaction be? Would he even accept them? She shook off her thoughts. She may not know that much about their romance, but she knew very well the two people she had considered as friends. And John was not the kind to abandon his feelings for Shayera.
Not like Bruce.
Somehow, she could see John cradling his baby in his arms, smiling proudly, making goofy faces to make his child laugh. It was so very hard to imagine Bruce like that…though it did not stop her from trying.
Images appeared in her thoughts…Bruce proudly holding up a baby, him nuzzling the baby's tummy to make the child chuckle, him crawling on all fours to play with their children…
Their children…Here I go again. She sighed again, this time a sad one and realized that the music had stopped. As if waking up from a trance, she steadied herself, traced the outline of the crib with her fingers before finally moving away.
When she looked at the time, she had barely a few minutes to shop for a backpack to hide the things from the watchful eyes of everyone else at the watchtower. A few hours later when she returned for monitor duty, she carefully hid the bags and brought a book along with her to read during lull moments when no one else was around.
Later in the evening, Flash and Green Lantern were just returning from a mission, arguing along the way.
"I don't think so." John reacted as they walked down the quiet hallway.
"Oh come on GL!" Flash exclaimed.
John shook his head. "I really don't think so."
"Have you even been reading the papers lately?"
"Tabloids are not my style." John smirked. "Remember the item about you and---"
"That's not true."
"See what I mean."
"But…GL, just think about it! She doesn't eat…she has morning sickness," Flash observed. "And remember the talk they had early this morning, hmm…too secret…too weird."
"That's still not enough proof to say she's…pregnant."
A figure suddenly appeared behind them. "Who's pregnant?"
"Bats!" Flash grinned nervously. "You scared me. Which reminds me…I have to go."
With that Flash was gone to leave John to do the explaining.
"John?"
The ex-marine shrugged. "Flash has this strange idea that…because she wasn't eating a lot these days, that…she nearly threw up on him earlier…" It was not the easiest to explain to the Batman especially when it had something to do with Diana.
He almost felt like one of the crooks in Gotham as the Dark Knight stared at him, waiting for the next words.
"John."
"…that Diana may be preg---"
He was not even finished when Batman walked off in one sure direction. "This is one nasty love triangle," he muttered to himself.
Author's note: JLU eps are very hard to come by these days in our area (thank you so much to…you know who---and I meant that in the nicest sarcastically possible way), I really am not aware of just how much hostility there is between Diana and Shayera. So I decided to lessen it a bit, since this is a romance/humor fic anyway.