might still shine bright;
a justice league unlimited vignette
by june for allaine
2006 valentine's dcau ficathon
They are going to play this game, because it is what they have.
The very first thing Audrey says to her after seven months is, "You've cut your hair."
Diana's hand, against her will, travels up to feel the edges of her own short, straight hair. It feels unfamiliar in her fingers. She remembers the scissors, remembers the act of doing it, remembers putting the thick, black locks into a drawer that she hasn't opened since, but doesn't remember feeling this naked without them before. "You don't like it?"
"It's different." Diana has the distinct impression that Audrey hates it, and waits for her to say so, since the woman has always voiced her displeasure before, but Audrey says nothing. "Frames your face nicely."
"You're still blonde," Diana points out. Audrey laughs the same laugh she had when she was twenty-three and takes Diana's arm in the same way she took it then, says something about shopping, and yanks a bright scarlet sweater over Diana's chest. And then they're in the hotel lobby and then out on the streets of Paris -- Paris. Diana hasn't been in Paris for over two years, and she feels apprehensive. Not nervous, because she doesn't have time for nerves anymore -- although, tonight, she supposes she does. She's out of uniform tonight. This will be off the record, if there is such a thing anymore.
-----
They are playing this game and Diana does not care.
Audrey opens all the shops that are already closed by a simple ring of a cell phone or a waving of a hand. Diana wonders why that, even though Audrey has been living in luxury for so long now, she's lost more weight than before, but she doesn't ask, and Audrey doesn't volunteer information. They buy shoes and skirts and rent a few movies before returning home in the limo, in which Audrey rests her head against Diana's tall shoulder and pronounces it too boney.
The night goes fast. Diana watches Audrey curl her hands into her own hair and then Diana's, later, in Audrey's hotel room. This is a visit that she had to plan months ahead. This is a visit that she had to get authorization for -- to come out of costume -- to be here. Bruce was the one who gave her the codes and told her to have a good time. Not in those words. Diana doesn't know whether Bruce is capable of those words -- not when he's in the cowl -- but she knows him well enough to know that for that moment, right there, he had been Bruce, not Batman, and that she had been Diana, not Wonder Woman.
She hasn't seen Tim for months. She's afraid to ask.
"Audrey," she murmurs, trying to pace herself against Audrey's thin, pink lips and thick, pink tongue that tastes like alcohol. It had never been this rushed, this furitive with her sisters. Never. "--'drey, commlink--"
"Is off." There is a sharpness there. Diana's breath catches as a set of perfectly manicured fingernails brush across her neck. "What, you think I'm stupid? I drowned the thing in the drain. The jaccuzzi finally proves its worth." Diana tries to reply and can't. "Why would I ever need all that water? And all that soap?" Fingernails against her collar bones, then that tongue. "--A waste of money."
"Audr--" She can't finish the syllables. Seven months of paperwork for this and she still can't finish the syllables. "--ey."
"Diana," Audrey replies, and Diana can tell that she's laughing at her in the dark, and then Diana can't tell anything at all, because Audrey's tongue is right below her ear and oh, oh.
-----
They are playing this game and Diana cares too much.
"We're trying to make the world... safe, Audrey." She doesn't know why she's defending herself. Diana is used to being the offender, and finds herself in the awkward position of defending a way of life that she can see is so utterly right but that Audrey can't. Diana suddenly finds the word for Clark's frustrations with Lois, which he's mentioned over board meetings and long flights: aggravation "A place where children can -- can play in the streets. Where women don't have to go through what you did." Audrey visibly flinches, and Diana doesn't feel guilty at all. Not really. "Where people are safe."
"What I went thr-- you call this safe? You call this--? You-- you believe everything that you're saying." She turns away from Diana, red bath robe brushing against too-gaunt shins, and gulps down some more of her vodka stinger. "You disgust me."
"Audrey--"
"Go save your world, Princess." She finishes the drink, and throws the glass over the side of the balcony, breathing out through her nostrils at the sound of the soft tinkle of glass against pavement. "Go and save your god damned world."
Diana leaves. And Audrey is alone again with the lights and Paris and the towers.
And this is what they have.