The insipid looking state official raised an unimpressed eyebrow at the mismatched couple standing before him at the counter. The woman, who he immediately recognized as a Thanagarian, looked nervous and was refusing to make eye contact with him. The man with her kept glancing over at her with some concern mixed into his expression. He also noticed that the Thanagarian was standing slightly behind the man she was with, as though hiding behind him would hide her from everyone else.
"Course its looking to be married," the official grumbled under his breath. He switched to a businesslike tone. "You both have IDs?" He asked, eying the woman with malcontent.
The Thanagarian cautiously looked at the man standing next to her and nervously swallowed.
"No, she doesn't," he answered for her before raising an eyebrow. "Like you don't know who we are."
The state official cleared his throat as he put on a pair of glasses, "Yes it is obvious but even superheroes don't get special treatment. John Stewart, the Green Lantern and one of the founding members of the almighty Justice League, should of kept a secret identity but your choice." He then lightly glared at the woman, "Then you, Shayera Hol, former Hawkgirl and traitor to Earth itself. Why the Justice League would even take you back I'll never understand. You honestly believe that you, of all people, can get a marriage license?"
"Yes," she answered rather bluntly. Shayera bit her lip and looked as though she was about to say something but changed her mind.
"So you think after you helped the Thanagarians invade Earth, which caused the deaths of hundreds if not thousands around the world, that we would allow you to get a marriage license? That's not even the beginning; there's plenty of countries that still haven't pardoned you for what happened. You are aware of that right?"
"I have more than made up for what I've done. There isn't a day that goes by where I don't regret what I did," Shayera quietly stated as she frowned.
"Are you telling me," the state official turned to John with a dubious look. "That you know she is a Thanagarian and have agreed to marry her?"
John frowned, "Yes, I have."
The official moistened his lips and eyed the Thanagarian. "I can't let some traitorous, filthy Thanagarian-"
John made a noise like a snarl and seemed about to blast the man with his power ring but, luckily for the state official, Shayera restrained him. He looked steadily at the official, although the anger in his eyes was evident. What unnerved the official more was the death glare Shayera was giving him.
"She's not a traitor or a filthy Thanagarian," He said firmly. "She's been vouched for by many respected people, namely Superman himself."
"Well Superman's not here to defend her, is he?" The official rhetorically asked. "How do I know that he even-"
"I'm sure you can call up someone in Metropolis so that you can talk to him personally."
"Listen, I can't just let someone marry a Thanagarian and then-"
"Isn't that my decision?" John said swiftly, cutting him off. "If you and the other officials are so dense as to think like ignorant fools, then fine, but there are people who know that Thanagarians aren't all bad. I'm a Green Lantern and I can assure you that I've met some of the worst aliens in the universe. Believe me Thanagarians are like docile kittens," John shot him a piercing glare. "I love her and that should be enough for anyone."
"I assure you he made this decision willingly," Shayera said quietly. The official could tell she was attempting to be the peacekeeper between the pair. "If you will refuse to believe me, at least believe him. We came for a marriage license, not an interrogation. Will you give us one or not?"
"Listen," The official looked uncomfortable. "Even if I wanted to, which I clearly don't, I can't. It just can't be done."
"Why the hell not?" She asked heatedly as a scowl appeared on her face and her eyes narrowed.
He looked nervously at the woman standing before him, her eyes flashed dangerously at him. "You're not a citizen of any country on this planet. The marriage would be invalid. You need proof identification which you can't get because you aren't a citizen anywhere on Earth, not that alien planet full of hawk-people that you came from," the official then swallowed before continuing. "I can't do anything about it. Perhaps, if the Thanagarian can get some type of citizenship and gain proof of ID then you two can come back," he looked behind the couple. "Next!"
"You were expecting that to happen, weren't you?" John asked in a low voice as they were walking down the streets of Detroit.
Shayera didn't answer him and he noticed how she was chewing on the bottom of her lip. She normally chewed on her bottom lip or one of her thumbnails whenever she was in deep thought. He also knew she did this whenever she was nervous.
"Shay?" Still not receiving a response, John cleared his throat as he spoke up, "Shayera!"
Shayera slightly jumped as she looked over at him, "What? Sorry I was just thinking."
John raised an eyebrow at that, "About what?"
"Nothing," she shook her head. She then pinched the bridge of her nose as she mumbled, "This damn headache."
"You've been doing a lot of spacing out for the past week now," he then lightly frowned. "Are you ok?"
"It's nothing to worry about John," Shayera forced a small smile on her face as she tried to assure him. "Trust me."
John stayed silent for a moment before he sighed, "Alright if you say so."
"Good, now what was it you were saying before?"
"I was asking if you were expecting that to happen."
Shayera shrugged as she looked down, "That's the way it has been since the Thanagarian Invasion. I had little reason to hope. Most humans still don't like or even trust me. Not that I blame them."
"Well, I wasn't expecting them to be exactly the friendliest either," John admitted quickly. "I mean, I knew there would be some trouble getting it but I didn't think they would be that openly hostile to you like that."
She smiled wryly at him, "Now do you see what it'll be like?"
He looked back at her stubbornly, "I don't know what you're talking about."
Shayera sighed as she frowned, "John, you know perfectly well what I'm talking about. This is only the beginning. I'll end up making life difficult for you if you marry me."
"Shay, I agreed to be a Green Lantern and a member of the Justice League. Do you think I wanted an easy life?" He rhetorically asked her with an unamused look.
She merely rolled her eyes before she replied, "You have time to reverse your decision about this. I don't want you to do something that's going to ruin your life."
John let out an exasperated groan, "You're just as dense as those state officials. When are you ever going to get it through that stubborn, Thanagarian skull of yours that I don't care? Don't you think I mean it by now if I keep saying it?"
"Of course I know you mean it John. I know you do, it's just that..." she sighed as she adverted her gaze and frowned. "You just don't understand what it's like. You're the one who's being stubborn."
"Let's discuss this rationally like adults before we start some stupid argument," he said firmly. "And none of this garbage about me changing my mind because I haven't thought once about doing so and I'm not planning to in the future."
Shayera gave him a resigned half-smile, "Alright then."
"It doesn't really matter to me," John said after a moment of silence. "What's in a little piece of paper anyway?"
"No, it doesn't mean a whole lot to you," she said with a slight frown. "But it matters to me. You know how I try to be more human since I now live on Earth."
"Shayera I don't expect for you to act like a human just because you live on Earth. There's nothing wrong with you acting like a Thanagarian."
Shayera simply shook her head, "You have to really think about this. I have little reputation to lose anymore but you," she lightly grasped his hand in her own. "You have the Green Lantern Corps. I don't want something happening that can get you expelled. The Guardians don't like Thanagarians and they made their point quite clear that they disapprove of us being a thing."
"I know all of that," John became serious too. "As for the Corps well," he frowned and sighed. "I don't know. I'm gonna have to have a long talk with the Guardians if they try to start any trouble about it."
"And it's not just about that either," she added. "It's about the rights I can't get otherwise without a citizenship. Joint property, things like that. I don't even care about owning property or some shit like that. It's the principle of the matter. If something were to happen to one of us, which could very well happen in our line of work, you humans have that thing called a living will and power of attorney, and I just..." she trailed off as though she didn't want to think of the possibilities.
They were silent for a while. Finally John said with a smirk, "What if I just happened to go in there brandishing an Nth metal mace and threatened them to give you citizenship and marry us?"
Shayera snorted as she rolled her eyes and muttered, "That's an original idea."
"Seriously though," he added after a moment. "We have to get you a citizenship here on Earth first. What if we went back to your old stomping grounds in Midway City? The people there still respect you."
"That doesn't change the law John," she pointed out. "They can't change the law just for me because they like me."
John stayed silent for a moment as he thought, "I'm sure Bruce could help. He's loaded and knows people."
"I don't want him getting into some kind of legal trouble for our sake."
"He won't Shay. He's just asking some people he knows for help. It's not illegal to ask for help."
"That certainly is true."
They were silent again; Shayera watched John thoughtfully for a moment before sighing.
"It's Bruce after all. He'll help," he retorted, kissing her on the cheek.
"I know," she mumbled before kissing him back.
A/N: So this has been a little pet project sitting on the back burner. Given I wrote this fresh out of high school and with little writing experience, the original story unfortunately did not age well.
Some chapters won't be receiving too big of an overhaul but some will be getting a bigger revamp. Though the same plot points will still be happening. Just updating and, hopefully, making the dialogue and details more entertaining and descriptive.