Shayera sat in the hallway of the courthouse. She looked down as she began to chew her bottom lip. To say she was nervous about the hearing would have been an understatement. She just hoped that this all wasn't going to be a waste. She knew she was being ridiculous but somehow that didn't stop her nerves. Deep breathing, counting to ten, none of it worked; she was still nervous.
The last time she had felt this nervous was when she waited for the League's vote after the Thanagarian Invasion and she had been mentally preparing her resignation. She had been through countless of deadlier situations before and had never been this nervous. She couldn't comprehend how something like this could completely unnerve her.
Shayera frowned as she sat there on the bench. She looked up at the doors to the courtroom and sighed. She was getting bored from sitting there alone as well.
Bruce had told her to sit there and wait to be called; if she was needed. He also told her that if she saw anyone from the press to hightail it and hide somewhere out of sight. Entering through the backdoor had been Bruce's idea of a good entrance. No one had seen them enter so his plan was working so far. The paparazzi currently weren't chasing them after all.
Rachel was the one who had first expressed concern about Shayera entering the courtroom and Bruce had agreed with her notion. She had said that they couldn't risk Shayera losing her temper in there and making matters worse. So here she was, alone.
The clothing she wore didn't help her mood either. She never felt comfortable wearing dresses or skirts and it added to her agitation. Also Bruce's choice of designer wear wasn't up her alley. For the past three hours she had been constantly fidgeting, trying to get everything to fit correctly.
The black Panelled Pencil Dress he chose for her was tight around her waist and she had to continuously pull it down whenever she stood up or sat down. She was getting a headache from listening to the jangle of the Lauren by Ralph Lauren Set of Three Freeform Bangles around her wrist. Shayera felt like tearing them off and throwing them at Bruce.
The only thing she did like was the necklace that Rachel had picked for her. The 2028 Jewelry Heart of Gold Large Vintage Locket Necklace was more her style. Something that was nice but not grabbing for everyone's attention. It was light and didn't bother her unlike the rest of her outfit.
Though the major complaint she had were the shoes, a pair of black Coloriffics Women's Avalon Slingback Pumps. When she had gone on that date with Carter years ago she wore heels that were barely a half inch tall and she had nearly tripped over herself with those. Rachel had now given her a two inch heel to wear. Shayera was practically grabbing onto everything she could so that she wouldn't fall and crack her head open. Thankfully, when she had tripped earlier, Bruce had the reflexes to catch her before she had the chance to hurt herself. Currently the shoes were making the backs of her ankles itchy.
Shayera had always hated waiting. She was an extremely impatient woman by nature but today she felt even more antsy than normal. Her nerves were strained to their limits and the constant tension in her body made her unable to sit still.
She glanced at the courtroom doors again. Stupid, useless humans. Always bothering her when she wanted peace and quiet but never there when she wanted or needed them. Though John was willing to be there with her except for the fact that she told him not to come and she now felt terrible for doing so. She had reasoned with him that he had to take her monitor duty shift and he had his own shift right after. He agreed with her even though she could tell he had done so very reluctantly. It would have been easy to find someone to replace them for monitor duty after all. She always had to be more stubborn than necessary.
Shayera bit her lower lip and lightly mumbled a Thanagarian swear under her breath. It shouldn't be taking so long. She forced herself to take several deep breaths and leaned stiffly back against the bench. She was starting to feel nauseous and she knew her nerves were not helping things. She started to tap her foot on the ground but the sound soon gave her a headache. She resorted to idly tapping her fingers against the bench.
Eventually the door opened and Shayera sprang to her feet. Rachel and Bruce stepped out, neither of them looking pleased but not particularly angry either. She looked at them curiously.
"What happened?" Shayera finally asked.
"Nothing," Rachel stated bluntly though she sounded annoyed. "Absolutely nothing! The judges are going to look over the paperwork in more detail, as they put it, and get in touch with me to schedule the next hearing. I'm warning you that they'll have you in there talking next time. You're going to have to defend yourself and your reasons for trying to obtain citizenship to them. You're going to need to be very civilized in there."
"Then they'll decide?" She asked.
"Yes," Rachel answered.
"And if they deny it?" Shayera asked with a light frown.
"They won't," Bruce gruffly stated. "We'll make sure of that."
Once home, and changed into more comfortable clothes consisting of a t-shirt and shorts, Shayera sat on the end of the couch. She was sitting with her back uncomfortably against the armrest as she was eating crackers, hoping to stave off her nausea.
She popped a cracker in her mouth and sighed heavily at the movie John had turned on. "Come on John, really? You're making us watch Old Yeller again?" Shayera held her hand out to him. "Hand over that remote."
John had mumbled something, rather lowly. It was borderline incomprehensible whatever he had said. Shayera could tell it was a monosyllabic word so the meaning of it was rather obvious. A simple implication that he wouldn't give up the remote so easily.
Shayera narrowed her eyes at him as she tossed the box of crackers onto the coffee table, "What did you say to me?"
John looked over to see that she was in fact smirking at him. The Green Lantern likewise smirked as he grabbed the remote and held it away from her. "Come and get it if you want it that bad."
Shayera's smirk turned into a sly one as she moved on top of John reached for the device, "Give me that remote Lantern."
"You'll have to do better than that Shay," he teased her as he wrapped an arm around her waist.
"I have my ways don't worry," she whispered to him and then pulled him into a kiss.
John felt her hand run up his side and then slowly up his arm. That was when he realized what she was doing. John felt like smirking as he flicked the center of her back, right in between her wings. The Thanagarian immediately jolted and let go of his arm.
Shayera scowled as she saw the cocky grin on John's face, "I hate it when you do that."
John continued to grin as he tightened the one arm wrapped around her, "What can I say? It's effective and efficient."
Shayera lightly rolled her eyes as she smirked, "Now you sound like me."
He kissed her cheek, "You've rubbed off on me."
The two were about to go in for another kiss before both of their commlinks went off, causing them both to groan.
"What?" They both snapped into their respective commlinks.
"Well, aren't we overly friendly today?" Mister Terrific's sarcastically commented.
"Oh, well, you know us. We're always pleasant and friendly," Shayera just as sarcastically retorted.
John could hear the eyeroll as Terrific spoke again, "Anyway, we need both of you in New York City. Star Sapphire, Sinestro, Ultra-Humanite, Firefly, and Killer Frost are causing chaos throughout the city."
"Alright give Shayera thirty seconds to grab her mace and you can teleport both of us directly there," John said to him.
"Roger that," Terrific replied as the commlinks went silent.
Shayera got off of John and stretched as she walked towards the bedroom, "So much for relaxing."
John gave her an amused look as he summoned his power ring, "When do we ever get a day off?"
"I don't think we ever have honestly," she replied as she entered the bedroom. "Who do we complain to about that?"
"I mean the majority of the funding for the Justice League does come from Wayne Enterprises," John shrugged. "Guess that makes Bruce our boss in a sense."
Shayera was smirking as she walked out of the bedroom with her mace in hand, "I'll file a complaint with Mister Wayne then."
"Careful, he might stop helping you get your citizenship," he quipped.
Shayera waved him off as she continued to smirk, "Bruce is too much of a teddy bear to do that."
"I dare you to say that to him," John slyly smirked at her.
"You're on Lantern," Shayera countered as they were both teleported away.